#picked up a back of nerd candy and i fell apart

[theblehthatbloos]

I'm out of the hospital, turns out I have some kind of emotional trauma that's making my body try to suffocate itself, honestly same but what a bitch way to do it. Making it so I can barely breathe but I still have 99% oxygen and my vitals are good. Fuckin' hell dude. Anyways wish me luck in figuring that out, didn't make a lot of progress crying in the parking lol at 4am while waiting for an Uber after the news that my mind and body have disconnected or something, but check the bracelet swag

Nice

[jben073]

Grace Chasity headcanon rambles!

Some silly Grace hcs for @nighthaterfrfr!! I tried to mostly avoid any of mine that you mentioned something similar to in yours bc we had a good deal of overlap! :D

(Just to preface, one of my biggest headcanons is that Grace is autistic so there’s a good chance that some of these may be influenced by that! I did try to pick ones that are more applicable to canon though! [But if anyone wants any of those, I have about a million :3])

When Grace was a young child in elementary school (or Sunday school), she very innocently kissed Alice Woodward and felt something™. (She entirely represses this memory for YEARS.)

^ During her eventual sexuality crisis, despite not having talked to Alice for years outside of polite conversation if they ran into one another, Grace reaches out to her for support/to ask questions because she was the only out queer person that Grace knew and trusted enough not to out her. (Alice big sister mode activated.) 

^ (They’re so silly, they’ve literally never interacted outside of a throwaway line about them knowing and possibly disliking each other but to me they're friends who fell apart and eventually find each other again when they're both more grown as people.)

^ Also, ignore me indulging my other biggest hc which is that Grace is a lesbian.

Grace took piano lessons as a child and is actually quite good because she wanted to be the pianist for her church’s masses when she got older! She stopped taking lessons in high school, but she keeps up with playing in her free time to maintain the skill and occasionally help out with music at her church.

^ Richie constantly tries to convince her to learn anime openings and music from games that he plays for him (he begged her to learn Megalovania for weeks until she finally gave in).

She has never celebrated Halloween because her parents think it’s satanic so Ruth and Richie (who definitely still go trick-or-treating in high school) make a point to bring her some of their candy on the following school day.

^ She definitely doesn’t cry about this gesture later when she goes home!!

She is an absolute monster while playing board games, like she gets REALLY aggressive about them.

^ (definitely influenced by Angela's chaos on smosh games, especially the “be a little more gentle!! >:(” clip)

She can’t go to sleep (intentionally) without getting a kiss goodnight. At home, her parents kiss her on the forehead before bed and if she’s at camp, she has to get a kiss on the head from Girl Jeri if she wants to sleep well.

^ It disrupts her routine which makes it harder for her to wind down!!

^ I like to think that before the events of Abstinence Camp, she thought of Boy Jerry and Girl Jeri as older sibling figures.

She has never been to a sleepover because she’s never had good enough friends to be invited to one :(

^ The nerds + Steph very quickly remedy this!!

^ (quick ramble related to the last hc) During the first group sleepover, Steph wakes up in the middle of the night to get a drink, realizes Grace is still up, and after Grace sheepishly admits her dilemma following Steph’s prompting for an explanation, Steph very casually plants a kiss on her forehead and then goes back to sleep. Grace’s face is beet red after this and now she can’t sleep for an entirely different reason.

^ They're in love to me!!!

LIB related

(Based almost entirely on Blinky’s line about watching Grace and the nightmare about Max/Richie that implies she has the gift.) 

^ Grace has been connected to the Lords in Black since long before we see her, Steph, and Pete summon them in NPMD.

^ Much like Lex was friends with Webby as a child and forgot, Grace was friends with the LIB when she was young but grew out of it.

^ (I have a whole little overanalysis/hc set of things for this hc if anyone wants to hear :3)

After she starts using the Black Book, her appearance starts to very slightly change so that she always looks just a tiny bit off.

^ Her teeth are just a touch too sharp, her ears have the slightest point to them, and her eyes almost seem to shift in colour (depending on which LIB is influencing her).

^ But hey, it must just be a trick of the light!! She's so normal!! Dw about it!!!

She will occasionally feel the sudden compulsion to bite others (Nibbly is feeling silly!!)

^ She does not act on this… most of the time :3

One more silly one to end on

She once owned a Tamagotchi and became so deeply stressed over the state of this virtual creature that she made herself sick from anxiety. 

^ Karen and Mark confiscated the toy very shortly after this.

Anyway ramble's over now but my 45 page google doc of Grace hcs continues to grow every day bc I am fixated hard on this silly little show :3

edit: had to add the '^' thing because the bullets didn't indent properly for some reason!! every one that has that is attached to the previous one without it!

also idk why on mobile the sleepover hc and the Alice hc got cut short?? The sleepover one is supposed to say that now she can't sleep for an entirely different reason and the end of the second bullet says (Alice big sister mode activated).

[whump-card]

Interlude 21.1: Candy and Cameras

Takes place during Arc 2, except for a little bonus moment at the end :)

Based off of prompts from this list by @whumperful as requested by an anon and @thecyrulik

~1160 words

CW: alcohol, toxic relationship, whumper/whumpee, manipulation, conditioning, restraints, dubcon kissing, fade to black dubcon

~~~

“Have another.”

“Have another.”

“Have another.”

~~~

Simon stumbled out of the bar clinging to Matthew’s arm, giddy and single-minded. He stood on tip-toe to breathe into the vampire’s ear.

“Can-dy, can-dy, can-dy!” he chanted.

“Okay, okay!” Matthew relented, “There’s a CVS or whatever-the-fuck down the street, let’s go.”

The bright lights of the convenience store were dazzling and magical. Simon spun in place for a moment, then spotted the candy rack and nearly fell to his knees in front of it. The clerk gave him the side-eye, but decided he wasn’t causing trouble.

“You pick out what you want,” Matthew ruffled Simon’s hair, “I’ll be right back.”

Simon barely noticed the vampire leave, too entranced by the bright colors and logos spread before him. Something plucked at his heartstrings.

Nostalgia.

He brushed the feeling aside and busied himself with picking out the perfect selection. A giant Mars Bar, obviously. A pack of Sour Patch Kids. An Almond Joy, because that was - that was somebody’s favorite. He couldn’t remember whose. Hubba Bubba bubble gum tape. A giant KitKat. No longer able to pick up anything else without it all spilling out of his hands, Simon staggered to his feet.

He convened with Matthew at the checkout, and the vampire tossed his own find onto the counter; a red and yellow box.

“Whassat?” Simon asked, leaning against him.

“Camera. You got fuckin’ Almond Joy?”

“I like Almond Joy,” Simon mumbled.

~~~

Back at the apartment, Simon flopped onto the bed while Matthew dumped out the shopping bag full of candy onto the sheets.

“Yessss!” Simon snatched up the sour gummy bag and struggled with it for a moment before shoving it towards Matthew. “Help!”

Matthew, who had been taking the disposable camera out of its box, glared at him.

“You know you’re a fucking demanding little bitch sometimes?”

Simon laughed, before he processed Matthew’s serious tone and a shot of anxiety ran up his spine.

“Sorry.”

“You can make it up to me.” Matthew opened the gummies easily. “Kneel.”

The command sent a drunken flutter of arousal through Simon, and he pushed himself upright, overshot and almost keeled over in the other direction, then sat back on his heels.

“Shut your eyes, open your mouth, and stick out your tongue,” Matthew ordered, plucking a sour gummy out of the package.

Simon obeyed. He wanted Matthew to have fun. He didn’t want Matthew to be mad. He wanted to do whatever Matthew wanted, forever.

“Now, don’t move until I say so.” Matthew set the candy on Simon’s tongue, eliciting a whine of protest. “Hold it!”

Simon could feel drool collecting in his mouth. Then he heard a click, and a bright flash lit up the insides of his eyelids red, dazing him. He automatically pulled the gummy into his mouth to say, “Hey!” He blinked up at Matthew, who stood over him with the camera, winding it back.

“I don’t like…” An old fear soured his stomach and jumbled his words as he slowly chewed the sour candy. “Don’t take pictures of me!”

“Aw, c’mon!” Matthew gently persuaded, “It’s just for us, nobody else will ever see them,” he combed a hand through Simon’s hair, “Except for the nerd at Staples who develops them, but what do we care what they think?”

Simon leaned into the vampire’s touch as Matthew brushed his hand down the side of Simon’s face and took a firm hold of his chin, turning his face this way and that.

“Man,” Matthew breathed, “You’re real pretty when you’re wasted.”

Simon beamed at the compliment, warm devotion drowning his anxieties.

“Open.”

Completely pliant, Simon opened his mouth and Matthew slipped his thumb in under Simon’s tongue to take an even stronger grip on his jaw.

“Ow,” Simon half-complained.

“Shh,” Matthew lifted the camera in his other hand, “Hold still, just like that.” He snapped another picture, and Simon cringed from the flash.

“Okay,” Matthew released him, “Take your shirt off.”

“Not if - Not if you’re gonna take pictures a’me,” Simon slurred, folding his arms and frowning.

“But I want to take pictures of you. You’re adorable,” the vampire cajoled.

Simon knew he should be able to resist the simple flattery, but couldn’t.

“Mkay but, nobody sees ‘em essept you. N’the Staples nerd.”

“Just me and the Staples nerd,” grinned Matthew.

Simon started to pull up the bottom edge of his turtleneck, but as he got it over his head the dexterity of his drunken limbs failed him, and his head and arms became trapped in the fabric.

“Agh!” He lost his balance and flopped over onto the bed, twisting uselessly. He heard Matthew laugh and the camera snap as the vampire captured a photo of Simon’s exposed abdomen.

“Matthewww!” he whined, muffled under the tangled shirt, “Help me!”

“Okay, okay!” Matthew took one more photo before climbing onto the bed and pulling the shirt off Simon’s head.

“Better?”

“Mhm,” Simon nodded, still disoriented. Matthew leaned in and kissed him, hard, confusing him further, and held up the camera and took a selfie. Then he pulled back with a self-satisfied smirk, winding the camera back.

Simon wiggled his arms above his head where they were still trapped in the shirt, blinking his eyes rapidly from the haze of the flash.

“Get it off,” he mumbled - but now that he was lying down, he was finding it harder and harder to care. Fatigue was settling deep into his bones, and the bed was so soft and comfortable.

Matthew’s eyes lit up, and he dropped the camera into the sheets to peel the shirt off Simon’s arms - but instead of taking it entirely off, he wrapped and knotted the fabric around Simon’s wrists.

“Hey…” Simon struggled weakly against the restraint, “I don’… I donlike that.”

Matthew leaned down to kiss him again, murmuring into his mouth, “Yeah you do.”

Simon would do anything for Matthew.

“Yeah I do,” he echoed.

Matthew reached down to unbutton Simon’s pants.

“Can I take pictures while I fuck you?”

“No, c’mon…” Simon turned his face away, but it was a half-hearted denial. Matthew grabbed his chin and pulled him back, nose-to-nose.

“Come on, say yes,” he coaxed.

Simon’s eyes wandered over Matthew’s face, only barely comprehending.

“Okay.”

~~~

Months later, Captain Isles stood in Simon and Matthew’s abandoned apartment, opened with keys taken from Matthew’s seized possessions. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he was looking anyway. He picked up and put down Simon’s books. He opened and closed the refrigerator. He rifled through dresser drawers.

That’s when he found it.

A fat yellow envelope, buried under Matthew’s socks. He opened it and pulled out a random photo from the center of the stack. Stared at it for a minute. Slid it back in and closed the envelope. Almost put it back in the drawer.

Then he tucked the photos into the inside pocket of his jacket and left the apartment.

~~~

Masterlist

Taglist: @flowersarefreetherapy, @pigeonwhumps, @sunshiline-writes, @seasaltandcopper

[radiant-reid]

All grown up

A/n: This went in a completely different direction than I thought it would.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Y/n

Genre: a little angst but mostly fluff

WC: 3.2k

CW: spoilers for season 13 | implication of sex | typical CM violence | mentions of getting shot + getting stabbed | mentions of Maeve

"Come on, Reid. I'll drive you home." Y/n announced, tugging at an almost sleeping Spencer's hand.

The last few months had been tough. A series of disastrous events. Every member of the team trying to hang on as each emotionally straining situation happened.

They all hoped they were out of the woods. Spencer was out of prison, Emily wasn't being held hostage by a psychopath, Spencer's mom was safe, but they were all still mourning Stephen Walker's death.

Spencer looked up at her with his brown puppy dog eyes, curls slipping on his forehead. She had never been more pleased to see him sitting in the office, doing paperwork later into Thursday night despite how much she knew he needed sleep.

Looking around the bullpen, she could almost imagine everything was back to the way it was 12 years ago when they were just kids. Baby Doctor Reid with his straight hair and babyface. Back when no one could believe he was over 18, much less a doctor with 3 PhDs. With Gideon and his odd ways of cracking cases, headstrong Elle, media liaison JJ, Hotch with a baby, not a teenage son, Morgan with hair, ageless Garcia, 23-year-old Y/n.

Y/n didn't know why she was reminiscing. Maybe it was Spencer who was so familiar yet so different. Still, Y/n got to tease him about being a few months older.

Their colleagues had come and gone, and some come back. It was just the cycle of the BAU.

Spencer struggled to keep his eyes open as he answered her. "Uh, yeah, that would be good, thank you." Still polite as the shy 22-year-old he once was.

It wasn't odd for her to take him home or any of their other friends.

"Let's go. You look like you're about to fall asleep right now." Y/n joked with a giggle. Spencer was almost too tired to laugh at her.

He gathered his things before following Y/n to the elevator, waving at Emily as they left. She actually looked alert, ready to tackle her reports.

As soon as Y/n put her foot to the accelerator, Spencer fell asleep, letting out little snores as he twitched his nose. Something he'd done since she'd known him, it never got less cute.

Spencer seemed much more awake after she stopped the car outside his apartment.

"Come in, Poppet." He insisted, looking over the center console at her.

The nickname was one he had used for a good few years, ever since he managed to not stutter when he talked to her. As soon as he had concluded they were friends- a year after Y/n considered them friends- he started teasing her about being shorter than him. Like everyone else in the world was.

Y/n rolled her eyes, pretending to hate the nickname. They both knew she didn't.

"Seriously, you can't be considering driving home this late." Spencer continued trying to convince her. To further illustrate his point, he held out his watch for her to read the time. 11:21.

He took her silence as refusal and gave one last plea. "I've got candy. Your favorite chocolate too."

"Alright, Nerd." She shot him a wink, using his special nickname. "It's been a while since we had a sleepover." She decided, determining in her head that date was almost a year ago.

"Yeah," Spencer smirked. "They don't let you have those in prison." He joked with a laugh, making her mouth drop open about how soon it was. "You can laugh. Please, reassure me my jokes are funny." He requested playfully, still smirking. Y/n let herself giggle at him. Spencer was surprisingly funny for being such a nerd.

Spencer picked up her go-bag from the back. His chivalry had never wavered.

She went up the stairs to his apartment first. Using the spare key, she kept to his apartment to unlock the door.

Routinely, she slipped off her shoes, placing her keys down. Spencer's apartment was always so comfortable. Warm, cozy, and filled with books. It was uniquely him.

Spencer placed her bag in his room, where she always slept next to him. It had taken him a couple of years for them to start that habit. But once they did, it didn't stop.

"Spence, bring me a hoodie." She requested from the living room, making herself comfortable on his couch.

"Uh, what one do you want?" Spencer asked her.

Y/n got off the couch, moving towards the door of his bedroom. She knocked, hiding behind the door. "Can I come in to choose?"

"Yeah, don't worry, I've got pants on," Spencer assured her, making her laugh as she stepped in.

She made her way through his room, past his leather armchair to the walk-through wardrobe.

Spencer stood there, in just sweat pants, looking at his collection of hoodies.

Y/n ran her fingers through the hung-up hoodies. She almost forgot what she was doing as she admired all the different labels.

"Did you get these all for free?" She asked him, frowning.

Spencer nodded with a chuckle. "Every single one." He affirmed as he stepped over, so he was in right next to her. He flicked through each hoodie. "Caltech, my favorite, naturally." He started with the first one. "Stanford didn't even offer me a full scholarship." He said with a scoff and an eye roll. The sass he had developed only started to show 7 years prior. It had always been there, just deeply buried.

"Really?" Y/n asked in a surprised tone. "There's no way." She continued in disbelief.

Spencer shrugged. "Apparently not enough extra circulars. Like I had time while I was accelerating through grades like no other student. Probably ever." He explained with a smug tone. That was a fairly new personality trait, one she enjoyed nonetheless.

He held out the next hoodie. "Columbia, too many people in New York," Spencer informed her why he didn't pick the college. "Yale, my first backup plan. Harvard, my second backup plan. MIT, I very nearly went there."

"Why didn't you?" Y/n interrupted him to ask. It wasn't something she'd heard him talk about before, besides that Yale was his backup plan.

Spencer shrugged. "MIT scores better in most things. 1st in Chemistry, 1st in Chemical, Civil, Electrical and Mechanical engineering, and 1st in Math." He listed off the statistics he just seemed to know.

"That's a lot of reasons to pick MIT," Y/n commented absentmindedly.

Spencer's voice got quieter. "Guess I wanted to be an hour flight from home rather than nearly six." He figured. He still wasn't sure if it was a subconscious decision or not.

"You really are the best, Spence," Y/n told him with a smile, lightly punching him on the arm.

He rolled his eyes at her, blushing nonetheless. "Which hoodie?" He asked, nodding at the coat hangers.

"Uh, I'll take Yale, your number two." Y/n joked, holding her hand out as she opened and closed her fist.

Spencer picked up a hoodie. "You can have Caltech, always my number one." He joked, flashing her a wink.

Y/n scoffed, taking the hoodie. "You're such a flirt." She reminded him. He had been for a long time. It just wasn't something a lot of people would assume about him. Mostly due to the babyface he had only just grown out of.

His flirting started when Morgan bet Spencer couldn't get anyone to give him their number. By the end of the night, Spencer had 29 numbers. He never used a single one, but the respectable, mutual flirting was actually fun.

"Okay, where's the candy you speak of?" Y/n asked once she'd put the hoodie over her head.

Spencer laughed at her, putting on one of his other hoodies. "Let's go." He said, taking her hand, pulling her towards the kitchen.

Something caught Y/n's eye on the wall adjacent to his desk. Photo frames she'd never seen before. She dropped his hand so she could look at them.

"I'll get the snacks," Spencer mentioned, noticing her intrigue.

Y/n nodded, running her finger over the framed photographs. Pictures of the team at Rossi's, around the table at the bar, on the beach in Florida, when Hotch gave them an extra day after their case finished, Spencer with his godsons, Spencer with each member of the team.

The wall was ordered precisely, lines of framed photos. Right in the middle of the was a photo of Y/n and Spencer. It was a selfie Y/n had taken when Spencer took her to the planetarium. Back when they were only 23, wide smiles and innocent faces. So much had changed, yet so much stayed the same.

"When did you do this?" Y/n asked, sensing him back in the room as he put bags down on the coffee table.

Spencer moved to stand next to her. "Uh, 5 months ago. Once I, um, got out." He figured, voice raising at the end of his answer.

"It's nice," Y/n stated, turning to look at him. "Why are we in the middle?" She asked with a playful tone, raising her eyebrows.

Spencer was far too specific for there not to be an explanation. "I like the photo." He replied.

Y/n shook her head at him. "There's a reason. What is it?" She pushed. "Come on, since when do we have secrets?" She asked, lightly pushing on his chest.

Spencer laughed awkwardly before starting his story. "It's super embarrassing, but I had such a big crush on you." He mentioned, shaking his head. "That trip wasn't, um, meant to be us as f-friends." He tried to explain, squeezing an eye shut as he thought about it.

"Wait, what?" Y/n asked, mouth falling open in surprise. "That was a date?" She questioned, rethinking the whole night. If it had been with anyone but Spencer, she wouldn't have hesitated to call it a date.

Spencer chuckled at her trying to figure it out. "Yeah, I mean, it's no big deal." He figured, shrugging it off.

Y/n still looked completely bewildered. Then it hit her. "I spent like the whole time talking about Ben." She remembered.

Spencer nodded at her, still finding the whole thing amusing. "Yeah, and how you were going to 'win him back through seduction.'" Spencer quoted, raising his pitch in an attempt to sound like her. Y/n hit the palm of her hand on her head, feeling like such an idiot. "I figured that was enough of a hint that my feelings weren't reciprocated."

"I'm such an idiot." She said, feeling terrible about potentially hurting Spencer. Even if it was years ago.

Back, then he was so self-conscious that asking her out would have been a big thing.

"Don't worry about it, Poppet," Spencer assured her. It still didn't make her any less annoyed at herself. "Seriously, it's okay."

Y/n reluctantly nodded, meeting his eyes for the first time since they'd started the conversation. She didn't realize how close he was, his eyes flipping between her lips and her eyes.

"So, you stopped liking me after that?" Y/n asked awkwardly.

Spencer shook his head gently. "Not sure I ever stopped."

His words took Y/n by just as much surprise. Somehow, it felt like things were falling into place, like every piece of the puzzle fit.

She could stop what she did next, leaning up to kiss her best friend. Two hands wrapped around his neck, his quickly moving to her waist. It felt so much better than anything she could have imagined. His lips were actually against hers. This was real life. She almost felt like her brain had stopped working, and Spencer felt the same. The whole thing was indescribable. It just felt right.

Neither of them could help but deepen it, desperate to be as close together as they could be.

"This is okay, right?" Spencer asked, pulling back for a second as his fingers twirled the hem of the hoodie she was wearing.

Y/n nodded at him. "Yes, please, Spence." She requested, tugging the hoodie off her frame.

Spencer didn't want to waste any more time as he took her to his bedroom. Laying her down on the bed they used to sleep next to each other in.

And everything changed.

~

"Pass me a gummy worm." Y/n requested.

1:13, and both of them were wide awake. Y/n wasn't used to having candy in bed after sex, but it was different. Everything with Spencer was different and infinitely better.

"Of course, pretty girl." Spencer agreed, handing her the packet in his hands.

Y/n could only smile as she looked at him, her cheeks starting to hurt. She could see every inch of his face, high cheekbones, defined jawline, and those pretty, big brown eyes. He was the same Spencer she had known for years, but somehow everything felt the same. "So I get 'pretty girl' now?" She asked with a raised eyebrows.

Spencer's nose twitched as he thought it over. "It's cause you are, baby." He replied, leaning over to stroke his thumb across her blushing cheek.

"Did you mean it?" Y/n had the sudden urge to ask as the self-doubt set in.

Spencer took his hand off her cheek, frowning at her before nodding. "Absolutely." He assured her. "I knew, but I didn't know." He attempted to explain as he chewed on his bottom lip.

Y/n thought she understood. "I didn't realize until just now that I always did." It was confusing, and she didn't know how to explain it. She just hoped Spencer got it.

Spencer did. "I just want you to know that I love you." He confessed. "I always have."

"I love you, Spencer," Y/n replied happily, leaning in to give him a soft kiss. There was nothing in the world that could deter her bliss. Spencer had never felt as joyful as he did. "Why didn't we do this years ago?" Y/n questioned rhetorically.

Spencer also didn't know, and he was annoyed about it. "The timing just wasn't ever right, was it?" He figured.

Y/n hadn't thought about it until he answered. "I feel bad, though." She announced. Spencer's confused look prompted her to explain. "I just mean that I've been with other people, and I could never fully love them because it's only ever been you." She was only just seeing what the cause of her past relationships falling apart was.

Then it was Spencer's turn to confess. "I tried. With, uh, with M-Maeve." He choked out.

"Did you love her?" Y/n questioned, not wanting to push it too hard. She had seen how broken he was after he saw her get murdered. So she had come to her own conclusion.

Spencer tilted his head, thinking about it all. "Yeah." He decided. "I loved her a lot. And I don't know what would have happened if she was, um, st-still here." He figured, trying not to cry. "But there's something different about this." He tried to explain, voice perking up.

Y/n squeezed his hand, letting him know it was okay. "I loved Liam." She admitted, thinking back on her ex-boyfriend. "But the problem was it didn't feel as good as I expected it to feel." She said like it was a question.

"Come here." Spencer requested, opening his arms so they could cuddle. Now that he had her so close, it was going to be impossible for him to let go.

Y/n moved into his arms, feeling more comfortable than ever before, laying on his bare chest. He ran a finger through her hair, gazing at the softness of her face.

Y/n traced her finger down Spencer's chest, trying to memorize every inch before she stopped at a scar he had on his lower. She looked up at him with a frown. "How's you get this?" She asked him.

"You know in Tenessee?" Spencer asked her.

Y/n hummed. "That time like 2 years ago?" She replied, preparing herself for the memory. It was a case she wouldn't ever be able to forget.

Spencer nodded. "Two years, three months, twenty-one days, and nineteen hours." He corrected her. "Give or take the minutes, I'm not exactly sure."

Y/n giggled at him. "How are you, of all people, not sure?" She asked with a cheeky grin, trying to find something to smile about with the memory of the day.

Spencer's face was anything but cheerful. "You got shot." He reminded her. She pointed to her abdomen, where she still had a faint scar. "I don't know how much you remember, but I was the one who found you, Y/n." His face paled, and he felt like he wanted to throw up at just the thought. "And I just froze because I didn't know what I would do without you in my life. I only knew Maeve for a few months, but you had been my best friend for years. I knew what I needed to do, but I couldn't move." He told her, tears welling in his eyes. "Thankfully, Rossi was behind me because he tried to keep you conscious while the paramedics came." He continued, letting a tear slip. It wasn't something he had talked about before because of how much it hurt. "You pointed to where he ran, and I knew you were alright, so I just went after him. Running as fast as I could until I caught up with him, he tossed the gun. Naturally, I went to arrest him, but my hands were so clammy that he got one loose, grabbed a knife, and stabbed me." He retold to Y/n, who was in complete shock.

"How did I not know?" She asked the main thing she didn't understand.

"You were out for almost 2 days. It only took a few hours for them to gave me stitches." Spencer figured.

"I remember you were there when I woke up." Y/n realized thinking about all the jello Spencer made sure to get her. She never got to thank him for it.

Spencer smiled at her, beyond grateful she was alright. "You have no idea how worried I was, Y/n. It was so bad that they gave me Diazepam." He admitted.

Y/n's eyes widened. "Spence." She reached out to hold his face. "You know it wasn't your fault?" She asked, fearing he might be footing the blame.

Spencer sighed. "I know, I mean, I didn't shoot you. But, I still feel so horrible about freezing." He confessed. "If you... uh... if you didn't make it... a-and it was my fault... I just couldn't have kept going." He voiced his worst fears.

Y/n shook her head, wiping the tears on his cheek. "I know you feel guilty. But you can't think about the 'what if's." She assured him. "I know because I felt like that. Before you went to prison when I knew something was up. And so many other times when I just couldn't help but think about if I could have done something. The most important thing is you're okay, I'm okay, and we're here." She reminded him, trying to offer as much reassurance as she could.

Spencer nodded gently. "I love you, and thank you."

"You never have to thank me, Spence." She reminded him. "And I love you too."

Those 3 words were something neither of them would ever get sick of saying.

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[jamespotterthefirst]

All-Nighter (Ethan x f!MC)

Pairing: Dr. Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr. Lilac Allende) Word count: 2.9K Warning: Language and alluded sexual situations Premise: He’d do anything for her, even fly across the country on moment’s notice. 

A/N: If Ethan had gone to Vegas to spend a full night with MC. Crack and fluff. Sorry! 

12:26 am

Ethan had never understood the appeal of Vegas. The city, crawling with gaudy exhibitionism, reckless gambling, and rowdy party-goers, had always seemed a tad tasteless to him. Even in his med school years when his cohort planned a trip to sin city, Ethan had preferred to find solace in an overpriced drink at a bar off the strip and not dancing against strangers in a stuffy nightclub. 

Now, he had been convinced (albeit too easily) to take a six hour flight to a city he would much rather avoid.

His phone pinged with a notification from her, reminding him of the adult rated texts that had inspired his impromptu trip. 

Miss you. Wish you could see me in this dress. 

Seconds after, a picture came in and Ethan almost dropped his phone on the concrete. 

And finally, she sent one final, maddening addendum: Or out of it. 

It was lucky for Ethan that he was already in the same city as her, one an elevator ride away from ripping that tempting thing off of her. 

I'm outside, he texted back. 

More than anything, he wanted to give in to the burning need to just have her in his arms.

------------------  

12:48 am

As Ethan waited outside the casino she mentioned in a previous text, however, the flashing neon lights making it almost difficult to distinguish that it was nighttime, he held a different doctor in his arms. A very drunk Dr. Lahela had haphazardly collided with him only seconds earlier, throwing an arm around him after recognition hit. Ethan was still unsure if the gesture was out of comradery or to maintain his balance. 

“Ramseyyyy,” he called out with a suave ease that was admirable in his current state. 

Before Ethan could answer, Varma and Sienna Trinh appeared at his side. The former looked just as intoxicated as Lahela, though she was doing a much better job at maintaining her balance and dignity. Sienna, however, looked sober, or sober enough to figure out why Ethan was there for she threw him a knowing smirk. 

“Dr. Ramsey,” she greeted casually over the noise of the busy boulevard. “I forgot Edenbrook sent you here because of our contract with Panacea.”

It was a feeble excuse to explain his presence to the other two. It didn't matter because neither of them was listening anyway. Ethan doubted they ever questioned why he was there in the first place. 

Lahela's arm gripped him tighter as he swayed. “Dr. Ramsey, you have to come with us to the Sugar Factory. They have this drink called the fish bowl. It's exactly what it sounds like except full of candy.”

It sounded like a drink straight out of his nightmare. 

“Lahela, tell me why—” 

To his horror, the young surgeon's face lit up as he started singing. “Ain't nothing but a heartache.”

“Tell me why,” an equally drunk passerby added. 

“Ain't nothing but a mistake,” Lahela continued as others laughed and joined in. By the time they were finished, all three residents laughed hysterically while Ethan remained unmoved, silently wishing he had stayed in the blissful quiet of his apartment in Boston. 

He was reminded of why he had left the comfort of his home to venture into the wild five minutes after the group had departed for the aforementioned Sugar Factory. His eyes found her as soon as she stepped out into the street, clad in the sinfully short dress from her picture. The effect it had on Ethan felt like a punch.

Lilac spotted him too, her face alight with a combination of surprise and unrestrained elation. Before either of them could stop what was about to happen, she rushed into his arms. On instinct, he lifted her off her feet, their lips meeting in a kiss charged with promise. 

“Hi,” she greeted breathlessly when he carefully set her down. 

“Hi,” he returned, sounding just as affected. 

“I had to come out here to make sure you were really here. I can't believe you actually came,” she all but exclaimed, voice laced with giddy happiness. It made his stomach leap pleasantly, inspiring a foolish grin he didn't care to fight back anymore. 

“Me neither,” he confessed. 

“Well, I'm glad you did. I like this spontaneous Ethan Ramsey who flies across the country on a whim.”

That admission sent a thrill through his body. He realized he'd do anything to see that winsome smile each time, even if it meant dropping everything and rushing to her side hundreds of miles away. 

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

1:32 am 

“Eight, six, seven,” Lilac was saying over the roar of the fountains and the Celine Dion song. “Five, three, oh, nine.”

She waited for a hint of recognition, but as 

she had suspected, the drunken frat boy did not understand the reference. Instead, he tapped the number into his phone and flashed her a sloppy smirk. “I'll call you later.”

Ethan appeared at her side after he was gone, shaking his head at her with a smirk. 

“Your drink, Jenny,” he said, offering her a cup that looked to be more ice than drink. 

Lilac laughed as she accepted it, her body gravitating to his side at once. A rush of dizzying joy almost overpowered her every time she realized she didn't have to fight that instinct here. 

“Funny. That's the name I gave him too,” she said taking a sip. “He was insistent and drunk beyond comprehension. I thought it'd be easier to give him a fake number.”

“You gave him a song,” Ethan commented with a laugh. A rare, taunting grin illuminated his face, rendering him the handsomest man she had ever seen. “And you could've just told him you have a boyfriend.”

She arched an intrigued eyebrow, already moving into his embrace. “I have a boyfriend, do I?” 

Ethan's free arm encircled her, casting a glow of warmth over her body. It could have been the small amount of alcohol in her system or this newfound energy that crackled between them, still fizzing with longing but considerably lighter than in the past months. 

He nodded in mock seriousness. 

“And is he the jealous type?” 

Ethan genuinely scoffed at that, his fingers aimlessly caressing her bare back. It made her skin blaze where he touched her. “Jealous of what? A sweaty frat boy crass enough to hit on a beautiful but evidently uninterested woman? Believe me, there's nothing to be jealous about.”

“Case in point,” she laughed, raising herself to kiss his nose.   

Ethan laughed too and took advantage of their sudden proximity to press his lips against hers, their kiss sweet and just as dizzying as the many desperate, passionate ones they had shared. When they parted, that fiery, striking gaze of his remained locked on hers, making her thighs quiver. 

The song in the background reached its final notes as the jets of water disappeared into the dark pool glittering in front of the lavish hotel. The crowd began to disperse but Ethan and Lilac remained on the sidewalk, basking in a content lull, his arm securely around her and her cheek pressed against his chest. She knew without asking that he was enjoying this small allowance of being a real couple just as much as she was. 

At last, her eyes fell on the replica of the Eiffel Tower across the street. In the span of a second, she wondered what it would be like to be in front of the real one, safely wrapped in Ethan's arms.  

“I wonder how it compares to the real one,” she wondered out loud. 

“I've never seen it but I'd wager it's not a true representation.” 

For some reason, she found that surprising. “You've never been to Paris?” 

“I've been for work but my time was spent doing just that. I didn't venture out much into the city to sightsee. To be honest, I didn't understand the appeal.” 

The pause that followed suggested he wanted to add more but he remained silent. When Lilac pulled back from his embrace to look at him, she found those piercing blue eyes studying her intently. 

“I know what we should do for that date you teased in your texts,” she said when she finally found the words. 

It was Ethan's turn to arch his brow at her in interest. “I thought this was our date?” 

“Yes, but we're in Vegas. There's so much to do at this hour. And besides, you promised me all night in one of your texts.”

The crooked smile he gave her along with the wicked glint in his eye should have been illegal. He leaned in and whispered darkly, “That's not what I meant.”

Five words and she was all over him, kissing him in ways that were inappropriate even for Vegas. They broke apart and Ethan looked at her expectantly. 

“So what's this idea for our date?” he prompted when Lilac merely stared at him, lips still burning from his kiss. 

“Oh, right. I was thinking since we were both two giant nerds who powered through med school and never traveled—”

At this, Ethan shook his head, amused. 

“—we could each pick something to do here in Vegas that feels like traveling to somewhere remote.”

“But instead we'll be in a loud casino, surrounded by obnoxious crowds and exposed to secondhand smoke?” 

Lilac rolled her eyes which made him laugh. 

“Fine, I'll do it. But you pick first.”

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

2:17 am

As they glided through the clear waters, Ethan had to admit he could see the appeal in the faux gondola ride. Even if it was romantic, the critical part of him dwelled on the fact that the canals of Venice did not smell strongly of chlorine. He almost voiced the cynical observation out loud, before he remembered this was her idea and the last thing he wanted was to offend her. Although, he was certain Lilac would only laugh and playfully shove him. 

But Lilac was not taunting him, which should have been his first indication that something was off. She wasn't even marveling at the painted ceiling of the casino or making snide comments about the high end shops at the edge of the water and the people who shopped there. Instead, she pressed firmly against his side, her nails digging into his shirt. 

“Are you okay?” he murmured. 

Lilac plastered on the weakest attempt at a smile. Ethan only waited until she dropped the act and said, “Is it weird that the water is freaking me out?” 

Ethan considered that. “Are you afraid of open water?” 

Lilac shook her head. “No, or I would have never suggested this. But once we got in and started moving, the water just looked terrifying?” 

Ethan gave her reassuring smile. “We can get off if you want.”

Again, she shook her head with a brave determination that made his stomach flutter. She was entirely too adorable, even without trying. 

“No, I'll be fine,” she said through a steadying breath. “I'll just refrain from looking at the creepy water. And I'll try not to think about what we'll do if this thing flips over.”

“Rookie, the water is three feet deep. If we capsize we can just...get up on our feet.”

Lilac's eyes moved to meet his at the words. They stared at each other in the golden glow of their surroundings, their expressions unreadable. The silent seconds stretched until they both dissolved into hearty and borderline hysterical laughter. 

Ethan tried his best to sober up first, but when he was close to regaining his composure, he would meet her eye and then they'd both continue to laugh relentlessly. He was aware that they were drawing curious looks from the people observing from the bridges. Even the gondolier cast them a questioning look but said nothing. 

Ethan didn't care. 

It was the happiest he had felt in weeks, amidst everything that had happened. 

They finally sobered and Lilac sighed, much more at ease than before. When she settled against Ethan, it was with her hand softly pressed against his chest, directly over the heartbeat that pounded fiercely for her. 

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

3:31 am

The plan had been to go dancing at the Egyptian themed casino, much to her companion's dismay. In the end, she won against his protest and Lilac was feeling particularly proud of herself for talking Ethan Ramsey into going to a nightclub. Then again, she hadn't missed how his eyes occasionally traveled along the expanse of her plunging neckline or how his fingers trailed along her exposed back whenever he held her. A lot of the credit was owed to the dress. 

Which is probably why they never made it to the nightclub. Instead, they hastily detoured to the penthouse suite the leeches at Panacea paid for, their hands and lips on one another for the majority of the journey there. 

Thirty minutes after ensuring they were truly alone, the miraculous dress lay pooled on her bedroom floor, completely forgotten. Meanwhile, Ethan moved against her in ways that made her scream out his name. As they both reached the peak, Lilac leaned in to whisper exactly what she wanted him to do. 

With a grunt, Ethan obeyed wholeheartedly. 

“Your turn,” she panted minutes later as she rolled off of him. 

“As you wish,” he said, the words interrupted as he too struggled to catch his breath. “Although you know I prefer it when you take the lead.”

She laughed. “No, your turn to pick a place to go next.”

Ethan flipped on his side, offering her the sexiest grin. God, she was really thinking about sleeping with him again, mere minutes after the first round. 

“I thought I picked this one,” he teased, his voice thick and heavy in ways that made her center pool with heat. 

“We both picked this one,” she argued before she kissed him. 

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

3:47 am

Ethan only pretended to consider their next destination. The truth was that he knew the answer since the moment she suggested it in front of the fountains. 

They only had to leave the bed, a feat that was more challenging than it sounded. 

Lilac, far more determined than Ethan, even got as far as slipping back into the lacy black underwear he had removed with his teeth earlier. The deliberately coy smile she sent his way when she realized he was staring, however, had his hands on her hips in seconds. 

“Fucking hell, Lilac,” he murmured against her mouth as he pulled her on top of him for the second time that hour. 

----------

4:59 am

After a third failed attempt to get out of bed, which resulted in both of them making good on the promises they made in their earlier texts, Lilac sat up in bed to look at him full on. She gave him what was supposed to be a stern, admonishing look, but she knew it was half hearted because he looked at her with such adoration that she broke a smile. 

“No more distracting me. You're not getting out of picking, Ramsey.”

Ethan's eyes remained fixed on hers in the darkness of the room, his expression betraying no hints of amusement. Outside, the sky began to glow with the first rays of orange and pink, the promise of the sun's arrival setting the inky blue sky ablaze. 

She frowned, noting the lines of exhaustion on his handsome face. “Are you tired? We can just stay if—” 

“We're already here,” he said quietly. “The place I pick.” 

“Bed?” she asked with a startled laugh. “Ethan Ramsey, you are almost a romantic.”

“Almost?” His mouth betrayed a hint of a smile. “I'm offended, Rookie. But no, as wonderful as we are in bed, that's not my choice.”

Ethan didn't elaborate, the small crease between his brows suggesting he was deep in thought. Every so often, his eyes flickered to hers, holding her gaze briefly before they moved away just as quickly.  

“I'm not—” he started, stopped, and tried again. “I'm not good at this kind of thing.”

A slight flush colored his angled cheekbones, so endearing that she couldn't help but kiss him. In all honesty, she wasn't any better at any of it either, only suggesting the date idea as a clichéd way for them to spend time together in a faraway city. It hadn’t been her proudest moment but had Googled ideas the moment he said he was outside. 

Nervous energy filled the room in their shared silence. 

“The only place in the world I give a damn about is by your side, Lilac,” he said at last, the words quiet but powerful enough to make her pulse clamor like bells. 

Ethan scratched the back of his head at her silence. “I was also hoping this goddamn penthouse had a balcony. I would've picked that as my date because of Miami and the first time we—” 

Lilac interrupted him with a kiss, the force of it over balancing Ethan and sending him into the pillows. She didn't care that their kiss was unceremonious and far from romantic. All she was aware of was the growing, urgent need to kiss this cheesy, romantic, brilliant man. He laughed against her lips, strong hands steadying her on top of him. 

“You're so much better at this than you give yourself credit for,” she informed him when they broke apart. 

“Good,” he said, lifting his head to kiss the curve of her neck. “I was worried there was finally something I didn't excel at.”

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

A/N: Meanwhile, her friends are still partying somewhere on the Strip, begging Bryce to quit drinking while he’s ahead. Those fish bowl drinks are no joke. 

Holy shit that was 3K of nothingness. If you made it this far, thank you! 

This was loosely based on my experience(s) going to Vegas, although I don’t remember most of it. Again, those fish bowl drinks will destroy you lol. 

Thank you to @aestheticartsx for your help with this mess!

P.S. Sorry about the dress in the pic not being the exact same one. I saw some that were close but the wrong color. Others were too crazy with that neckline. Ethan would’ve just dropped dead lol. 

___________

New Tags: (Hope I didn’t miss anyone!)

@openheart12 , @takeharryandgo , @ethandaddyramsey, @trappedinfandoms, @aestheticartsx, @aworldoffandoms, @paulfwesley, @myusualnerdyself,  @rookie-ramsey, @ohchoices, @colossalpainintheass, @enmchoices, @i-bloody-love-drake-walker, @choicesfanaf, @openheartthot, @octobereighth, @nazarihoe, @utterlyinevitable, @kites-in-our-skies, @maurine07, @schnitzelbutterfingers, @doilooklikeiknow, @snesdudes, @kingliam2019, @perriewinklenerdie, @cinnamonspongecake, @choicesstan1, @queencarb, @ethxnrxmsey, @missmiimiie, @jens-diamondchoices, @adamsdumortain, @mrsramseyy, @apphia12, @kalogh, @lucy-268, @binny1985, @queenbirbs, @honeyandsunfl0wers, @newcolonies, @lilyvalentine, @rigatonireid, @interobanginyourmom, @parkerattano, @custaroonie, @nikki-2406, @lilypills, @chasingrobbie, @nooruleman, @angela8756, @lonely-mxxnlight, @ruinedbypixels, @shadynaturehilariouscookie, @shadynaturehilariouscookie, @tsrookie, @mvalentine, @professorkingslay, @drakewalkerfantasy, @casey-v, @helloblueeyedcat, @mysticaurathings, @blossomanarchy, @thegreentwin, @togetherwearerapture, @rookieoh, @ramseysno1rookie, @rookiemarsswiftie, @natashajaniphil, @mysticalgalaxysstuff, @hatescapsicum, @choices-lurker, @kiara-36, @junehiratas, @danijimenezv, @macy-ray85, @adrex04, @canigetanawwjunk, @sanchita012, @overwhelminglyaquarius , @scorpiochick8, @skylarklyon, @starrystarrytrouble​

Interest in this fic:

@udishaman, @a-crepusculo, @khayy19, @mercury84choices, @jlynn12273, @fireycookie 

[toomanyfandoms02]

Evidence // Spencer Reid x Reader

HEY guess who's back. I'm SO SO SO sorry for the delay. I've been having the most SERIOUS case of writers block and I'm finally pulling myself out of it YAYYYY. So here ya go.

Not a request, but I couldn't resist this prompt!

Summary - Spencer and Reader get locked in the evidence room.

Prompt - “What on earth happened in here?"

Word count - 2.9k

Spencer and I often stayed after together to finish up work. We didn't like to have to wake up so early to make touch ups. So here we were, sitting on the floor in the back of the evidence room. We were sat behind tall filing cabinets, a dim lamp lit beside us.

We were working a case in Arizona involving 3 girls. It was running relatively smooth, the problem was that the police station that we were placed at was in the middle of nowhere. And that was proven by the signal warning on my phone.

*unable to send message.*

Good thing it wasn't anything important.

There were multiple pages sprawled out in front of us, we looked between them all.

"I don't think we will have to stay too long after today." I commented. "It looks like we are working pretty fast this time around."

"I guess we're getting the hang of this " Spencer laughed, writing something down.

*click*

I craned my neck around the cabinets, wondering if someone was coming in the door. Seeing no one, I turned back to him, shrugging my shoulders.

We continued for another hour (and 28 minutes by Spencer's count). I stacked the papers together, shutting them in a folder and tucking it under my arm. I stood from my previous position, stretching my back.

"That's enough sitting on a concrete floor for me." I complained, hunching over and dragging myself to the door. This earned a laugh from Spencer. I reached for the knob, eager to get to the hotel and sleep.

But the knob only jiggled.

And jiggled.

And didn't budge.

"Uh. I think, I think the door is locked." I whispered, turning to Spencer slowly.

"No way." He stated, lightly pushing me out of the way. I listened as he jiggled it, desperately trying to turn the door knob. His head was placed against the glass, hands framing his eyes while he looked out the small doors window. "The lights are all off out there. I think they are on night patrol."

"Well this is thrilling." I laughed, slumping onto the floor. I pulled my phone from my pocket, holding it in the air and attempting to call Emily. The call started, my excitement being crushed by a warning on my phone.

*Your call cannot go through at the moment, we are unable to find a signal.*

Well fine then.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?" He asked.

"If there was anyone that knows how to pick a lock, I thought it would be you."

"Why?" His posture looked stiff and offended.

"You know everything." I deadpanned offering a dumb look. He rolled his eyes at this and sat down across from me. "Do you think we'll die in here?" I asked nonchalantly. Spencer squinted his eyes at me.

"Well statistically, no." And that's all he said.

"Is that all you got?"

"I'm too tired to ramble." He groaned. His head was leaned back on a cabinet. "But I will say that on average night patrols and at around 3:30 to 4 am. So we have quite a few hours to kill." The clock on the wall read 11:17. Yeah, we had some time to kill.

"Alright, we aren't just gonna sit here. We are gonna play games, I can't stand to sit in silence." Spencer sat up slightly, flashing me a confused look.

"Like what?"

"We are going to start with would you rather. I'll start." My head started sorting through all of the would you rather questions I had been asked that I loved and found the perfect one for this genius.

"Would you rather lose the ability to read or the ability to speak." I watched as he opened his mouth to answer then closed it, thinking again. I thought this would be a pretty obvious answer for him.

"I think I would lose the ability to speak. I could do nearly everything the same. I would just have to write my findings down." He sat in thought for a moment. "Would you rather have unlimited international first class tickets or never have to pay for food at restaurants?" I was thoroughly surprised by the question.

"That's a good one! I definitely want to travel, but I do eat a lot... First class tickets. I want to see ancient ruins, can't walk to them." I laughed. We played this game for around 10 more minutes before getting extremely bored of it.

"Alright enough of this." I groaned, coming up with a new idea. "We are gonna play two truths and a lie. Pretty straight forward, I'll start and you try to guess which one is a lie." Spencer nodded and waited. "I broke my leg while falling from a tree when I was 9, I've had a crush on someone on the team, and I once ate nerds candy for a whole week when I was 7 and had to get my stomache pumped." The last one had his eyebrows furrowing. I remained still and emotionless so he couldn't read me as well.

"I completely believe that you ate candy for a week and had to get medical attention as a result." He pointed out oh so graciously. "And you're a total klutz too, so it wouldn't surprise me if you broke your leg. Plus I think I'd know if you ever liked someone on the team. Final answer you've never had a crush on anyone on the team." He looked so smug in the moment, this just got me more pumped to wipe that smile from his face.

"Nope." As expected, his face immediately fell.

"Who did you like!" Spencer's arms were flailing in exasperation.

"I don't have to tell you that." I chuckled. "Now you go." My foot kicked his lightly, egging him on. He gave a glare and moved on reluctantly.

"I'm afraid of the dark, the only reason I drink coffee is because I had a crush on a girl who liked it, and I drank 11 cups of coffee one day and was up for 39 hours straight."

"You definitely drink coffee because you like it and not because of a girl, lie." There was no question about it, that would be a dumb reason to drink something.

"Actually that is why I drink coffee."

Huh?

"The lie is that I was up for 39 hours straight, I was only up for 35."

"Christ Spence!" I shook my head in disapproval. "Tell me about the girl." I could see his cheeks flush in the slightest. ~~Silently wishing that I could make him feel like that~~

"Her name was Josephine and she lived on my street. She and I would play chess together in the park whenever I wasn't studying, and she would bring a cup of coffee every day. Eventually, in my own way to impress her, I started bringing coffee too. And she liked that, but of course we drifted apart because of how fast my life was moving. It's unfortunate." He was staring down at his hands now. "You and her are very similar. I think that's why we've gotten so... close." That comment got me very curious.

"How were we alike? If you don't mind me asking."

"She was kind and funny, never let anyone down. And she was intelligent. Not only in personality either, you have the same color hair and eyes. I bet you guys would have gotten along really well." I could see him making his thinking face, I assume he was looking into past memories.

"That's so sweet." I kicked his foot with a smile, bringing him back to reality. "So, last round until we are playing the dreaded truth or dare ooooOooOooOooo." Spencer laughed and rolled his eyes. "I use to have a cat named Piglet because of how obsessed with Winnie the Pooh I was, my first boyfriends name was Spencer, and I play guitar."

"There is absolutely no way your first boyfriends name was Spencer, it's the 828th most popular name. That would be nearly impossible or a crazy coincidence." His hand gestured were out of this world at this point, completely flabbergasted that I would even try to tell him such a *lie*.

"Wrong again pretty boy, that's true. His name was Spencer Allen Sallow. The only reason I remember his middle name is because I remember his initials being 'SAS'. Are you ready for truth or dare?"

"I guess." He mocked annoyance and threw his head back.

"Ok, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"If you could make one wish, right this second, what would it be?" He stared at me intently for a moment, as if he was looking for the answer in me. He then lightly shook his head, it was so small, but hard to miss considering we were practically having a staring contest.

"I would wish for the door to be unlocked so I could sleep at the hotel." His head nodded.

"Boring, I choose dare." I was now sitting much closer to him, waiting for whatever that beautiful brain could come up with. Spencer looked to the papers on the floor and then back at me, an evil smirk forming on his lips.

"Do a snow angel in our paperwork." My shoulders slumped.

"What if I rip something!" I wouldn't usually whine like this but *geez* I did not want to redo all this.

"Just be careful then." I looked at him with a pleading look. "Oh so you're *boring*." That's what got me.

"**Fine!**" I slowly lowered myself onto the papers, flattening out and looking up to Spencer, he was hovering over me slightly in a criss-crossed position with that evil smirk. His hands gestured me on.

I laid my arms and legs and and moved them, hearing the paper scrape against the floor and giggling. I had to admit, it was fun. And if having fun with Spencer meant I had to redo a few papers.

Then so be it.

I sat up after Spencer told me I'm done through fits of laughter, holding his stomache and nearly toppled flat on the floor. I looked around happily to see most papers were only crinkled, not ripped. I'll just have to flatten them out tomorrow.

"Okay asshat, truth or dare." He tapped his chin, looking daring for once.

"Dare." Perfect.

"Serenade me." I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched his face fall.

"With just my voice?"

"Oh no no, I have an instrument, the bag I carry with us on cases is like a never ending bag." I reached into the giant bag and pulled out a ukelele case, but not an *ordinary* uke case, a *mini* uke case. "Can you play ukelele?" I pulled it from the case, handing it over to him.

"No, but I may be able to pick it up."

"So you will actually serenade me!?" I got my hands ready to clap.

"Sure, why not." I clapped infinitely fast, watching him pluck at the strings a bit and lean back into the cabinets. Then he started on a beat, one that I recognized.

"Put your head on my shoulder, hold me in your arms, baby. Squeeze me oh so tight. Show me that you love me too." I listened to him through the whole song, knowing full well that as soon as he was strumming that ukelele I was already done for.

"How did I do?" He strummed the last chord and look up at me with a smile.

Oh how I wanted to tell him that he serenaded me to the sun and back.

"That was amazing! You learned that om the spot?"

"Yeah, like piano. It's basically just math and note remembrance." He shrugged, setting it back in my case. "Truth or dare."

"Truth."

"What's the first thing on your bucket list and your biggest secret?"

"You can't ask two questions, that's cheating!" I laughed.

"You technically never specified that so, answer."

This little shit.

"Fine. The first thing on my bucket list has been the same since I was an 8th grader, which is to fall in love. And I know that's cliche but I'm sticking to it." I didn't want to tell him my biggest secret. Truth be told I had a pretty normal life, so my biggest secret was my attraction to him. After telling my mom about it she told me workplace romances were dangerous and wrong, so I tried so hard to get over it. But it's not going away, it's doing anything but that.

"Come on y/n, I'm not going to judge you for your secret."

Yeah uh huh, sure.

"It's embarrassing, and I would prefer not to tell you in a locked room so I can immediately escape after I tell you. So can I just tell you when the door gets unlocked?"

"It can't be that bad."

"It is."

"Please Y/n!"

"I like you!" His mouth shut quickly, tilting his head like a confused puppy. Now that I had given out my biggest secret, I felt a little... powerful. I crossed my arms firmly over my chest, maintaining eye contact, my heart pounding out of my chest. He wanted the truth and he got it, I hope he's happy to be stuck with me in this room for another hour and a half.

"Really?" Was all he could say.

"No. I just said that I could have awkward tension swirling around the room for the next hour, I love doing that." I replied in the most monotone voice I could muster. A very faint smile was appearing on Spencer's face, making me a little nervous. He quirked one eyebrow.

"Are you sure it's not sexual tension?"

What?

My eyebrows raised at the question. Was he... flirting with me? I didn't know he knew how to do that, let alone so *well*. He began speaking again.

"Truth or dare?"

"It's my turn to ask you."

"Truth. Or. Dare." Who knew Mr. Sweatervest could seem so intimidating.

"Dare."

"I dare you to act on your biggest secret." Is this some weird way to make me kiss him, because it's working. If we aren't on the same page, this is about to get Mega embarrassing, but I don't think this could get any weirder. I crawled forward, placing myself on his lap and staring into his eyes. I've never seen him smile so big.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Actually no, this is awful you should really stop." He deadpanned, lightly placing his hands on my hips.

"One, since when do you use sarcasm. And two, I hate you." I giggled, pulling his face to mine. One of his hands fled to my cheek, rubbing his thumb across it. He pressed further into the kiss, all while pulling me impossibly closer.

Is this real?

I pulled one hand away from his face, putting it on the skin of my thigh and pinching myself.

"Ouch shit!"

And apperantly I don't know my own strength.

"Are you okay?" Spencer's face was a wave of concern, scanning over my face quickly to make sure he didn't do something wrong.

"Yeah I was just, pinching myself to make sure this was real." I lifted my hand to his shoulder, resting it there.

"Why? Is this like a lot of your dreams?" He winking obviously at me as I slapped his chest.

"Please stop." I whined, pulling myself off of his lap. "I'm very tired and we still have an hour left, are you up for a cat nap?" I pulled a blanket from my bag. "We can use this as a pillow, it's already pretty hot in here."

"Definitely." I made it into a pillow, giving him enough room. He slung his arm around me, burying his head in the crook of my neck. "Thank you for telling me. And for the record, I wouldn't want to be locked in a room with anyone else." And with many papers scattered messily around us, we fell asleep.

-

I shot up, hearing voices I knew all too well.

"What the hell is happening, since when it pretty boy a playboy."

"Finally! Now y/n can stop silently pining and telling me about it."

"I knew those two had chemistry."

I blinked slowly, trying to release the sleep from my eyes. Spencer's sleepy arm was still wrapped around my waist, unmoving. Once my eyes adjusted I was met with the staring eyes of Derek, Garcia and Emily. Then there was Hotch, just entering the room.

“What on earth happened in here?"

"We got locked in here and played some innocent party games." I explained gesturing to the messy papers. "Spencer dared me to make a snow angel in our files." I smiled sheepishly. Spencer was now stirring awake, sitting up and looking at our teammates. Derek held out his hand for a fist bump and Spencer highfived it weakly.

"Told you you would rope her in." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes at the comment and stood up.

"Let's finish up this case. We've only had 1 hour of sleep and I want this day to be over with already. Save the comments for when I'm asleep on the jet." And with that we were off.

But let's not ignore that Spencer and I's hands were clasped beneath every table we sat at that day, it's not to be ignored.

And I won't be forgetting that day any time soon.

[vanillann]

all too well (sirius black x f.reader)

sorry i’ve been in a sirius mood lately!!

inspired by “all too well” by taylor swift

word count: 3.0k (i went crazy)

warning: swearing, a small metion of sirius mother beating him (it’s barely mentioned), and ANGST 

“Black! Potter!”

Slughorn turned to the two laughing fools, each closing their mouths but small giggles managed to make it through the side of their lips.

“That’s it! Black move to sit with (L/N) and Evans will sit with Potter.”

Lily's face dropped from beside me, grabbing her book and giving me sorry eyes. She had a feeling Black wouldn’t be much better than Potter.

Both boys face lit up, Black grabbing his belongings and running to the seat beside me.

“Morning (L/N),” Black muttered, throwing his books to the table and turning to give Potter a thumbs-up behind Lily's hair.

“I think you might be a little too excited.”

“This is his chance,” Black finally turned from the two and let his head fall to lay on the wooden desk.

“Do you understand what he’s saying?”

“Nope,” I looked at the boy, a smirk playing at his lips as he slowly picked up his head.

“You’re telling me you weren’t paying attention?”

“Yep,” I popped the “p” giving a sarcastic smile before flipping through the pages of the book.

“I thought you were a goody-two-shoes.”

“You thought wrong.”

He looked to me with a little smirk, this quill passing between his fingers.

“Where have you’ve been all my life?”

*

“Sirius!”

I laughed as I felt my body collapse into the Black Lake, my body dripping in freezing water. I let myself sink further down, playing a prank on him as he waited for me to come back up.

I heard his voice muffled like he was calling my name but I couldn’t tell as I held my breath a little longer. I was about to break the surface when I saw his body dive into the water. I let his arms wrap around me as he pulled me up, my smile bright as soon as I reached the top. I took a few heavy breaths as he searched my face for god knows what.

“That wasn’t funny,” he mumbled, his arm still wrapped around me.

“It was hilarious,” I smiled, kicking off his leg and floating back to the rocks where our robes and my scarf laid. I turned, pulling myself out the water onto the rocks, Sirius at my side in seconds.

“You’re evil, vile even.”

I watched the water drip from his long dark locks, my eyes so fixated on it I didn’t notice him messing with my scarf until he turned around with him wearing it. The bright green color was wrapped around his neck, one I had found at a shop years ago but it suited him better than I ever could.

“Hand it to me?” I held my hand out waiting for the scarf but it never came.

“It’s mine until you learn to behave,” he spoke with a cocky grin, hiding the yarn behind his back as I stood up reaching for it. He ducked my hand, laughing at my bored face.

“Sirius gave it back,” I reached again but this time became closer to me, letting his lips rest on mine. My head started spinning but I quickly let my lips mold with his, my scarf long forgotten at this point.

“Oi, he did it!”

I slowly took my lips from him, looking over to the castle to see the other three of his little group waving at us, Lily standing beside Remus and James with a little smile playing at her lips.

“I’m afraid we’ve been caught, love.”

*

“Look at it!”

Sirius spun around in the center of the small apartment, his arms wide as he looked to the dirty walls and what looked to be a bloodstain on the floor.

“I see,” I spoke lightly, careful not to bust his ego in the moment.

“It’s three minutes from Moony, five minutes from Wormtail, and a direct Floo to Prongs,” he spoke with a little giggle, running up to my side and wrapping his arm around my shoulder with a kiss to the side of my face.

“It’s something,” I still couldn’t get over the bloodstain in the carpet and what looked to be a knife stuck in the wall little ways over.

“I know it’s a mess, but it just needs love like I did.”

I looked up at him, admiring the way he looked to the way with shiny new eyes. He always was much better at these things, the optimism of the relationship.

“Yeah, he can get a nice couch-” I pointed to the wall with the small curve in it.

“An L-couch, I looked it up cause I know you like sitting in corners. It can be blue, I like blue couches,” he skipped to the wall I pointed at, letting his hands run over the paint.

I smiled at his excitement and the way he knew the little things about me that I barely knew of myself.

“I like that,” I set my bag to the side and slowly walked up beside him.

“I think we should do black walls because one day you’ll have my last name and we need to keep the same energy,” he spoke as if the idea of marriage wasn’t some crazy idea.

“You want to share a last name?”

“Why of course, why else would I have stuck with you this long?”

He smiled down at me, that same cocky smile from those days at Hogwarts still played at his lips.

“Well, we have a war on th-”

“No talk of war in our new apartment,” he held a finger up to my lips, smiling as he turned to me and slowly backed me up til my back hit the wall.

“I-”

“Hush now, let’s look at where I’ll be living with the love of my life,” he turned back to my side and opened his arm to the room.

Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst with him.

*

“Look at these Polaroid!”

James came running around the corner, the pickles Lily asked for nowhere to be seen as he carried a box with stickers on it.

“Oi, blimey,” Peter jumped up, grabbing the box from James and opening it to see a box full of muggle Polaroid they’ve been taking since first year.

“It’s Sirius when he got glasses,” Remus held a Polaroid of Sirius sitting on his bed in his dorm with square-shaped glasses sitting on his nose.

“You wear glasses!” I reached for the photo, Sirius jumped for it but Remus held it back until my fingers were close enough to grab.

“That was second year,” he reached around me for it but I turned closer to Lily and her baby bump to look over the photo better.

He looked horrible mad, which made sense. I looked to the bottom that wrote ‘Sirius Nerd Phase’ and a small giggle fell past my lips.

“They’re for reading!” He finally got the photo from between my fingers, shoving it in his coat pocket most likely to burn.

“I found (Y/N) and Sirius when he brought her to the dorm,” James held up, showing Lily as I leaned over to get a look. I had all of Sirius's blankets wrapped around my body as Sirius had a pillow he was using as a blanket while he sat staring at me.

“You still steal the blankets,” he whispered in my ear, the smirk obvious in his voice as I smiled at the sight.

“I can’t help it, you fell in love with a blanket theft.”

*

“Whooo!”

I held my hands reach to the air in the convertible James let us borrow for the trip downtown. I heard Sirius giggle from beside me as we drove down the street with a smile across my face.

“I love this car, think James will want it back?” I turned to Sirius who was watching me as his eyes filtered back to the road every so often to make sure no cars came out of nowhere.

“He’ll sell it soon with the baby but I don’t think I can give my dear motorcycle up love,” he spoke gently, like you would when telling a baby no to the candy in the store.

“So you don’t want to see this image for the rest of your life?” I lifted my eyebrows at him while giving a great big smile.

“Trust me it’s drawn into my brain forever,” he reached over waiting for a kiss, the car still flying through the air as he waited for me. I reached for him but my eyes filtered to the bright red light not far above us.

“Red light!”

Sirius looked up, slamming on breaks as soon as he saw it. A giant truck flew past us as soon as the car stopped, I felt my hand reach for my heart as I let my breathing steady out.

“Sorry love wasn’t paying attention,” he mumbled out, guilt-filled. I only nodded and let myself calm from the almost accident.

“We definitely can keep this car.”

*

“Shit!”

I slammed my hand to the table, my eyes watering at the thought of the last meeting, knowing Lily and James and Alice and Frank were now going into hiding to be safe.

“Love?”

Sirius walked into the kitchen, his eyes soft for the first time in months. With the war coming up the trust he had in everyone was slowly dissipated and he felt far away so seeing him look at me with emotions felt weird.

“Hey, sorry,” I let my thumb wipe my tears, looking at the clock that read 3:28 and I felt bad for waking him up with my sniffling and anger.

“It’s fine,” he slowly walked around the counter, watching me as I turned to the fridge and opened the door to look at the empty box of cold air.

“I’ll be quiet,” I mumbled back when I felt his arms wrap around me, I was amazed as he barely touched me anymore.

“Come to bed, yeah?”

“In a minute,” I still couldn’t bring myself to sleep and I knew he’d watch me until I did.

He waited with his arms still around my waist, a small tune humming between his lips when he started swaying.

“Sirius-”

“Dance with me like we did when I proposed,” he whispered gently in my ear, bringing a shiver up my spine at how cold his breath was. I thought about it for a minute before turning in his arms and letting him sway us side to side.

When I felt tears reach my eyes I buried my head into his collar bone, small chuckles rubbed his chest.

“Stop acting as I’ve never seen you cry.”

“You act weird when I do,” my voice was muffled on his skin and I felt his gon ridge for a second before he calmed down.

“Hate to see you cry is all.”

Nothing was said as the only light that filled the room was from the fridge as we swayed back and front until I slowly fell asleep in his arms.

*

“Oh don’t go there!”

Sirius pointed a nasty finger at my chest, his once warm grey eyes cold as they color itself.

“I wouldn’t have too if you started trusting someone once in a while,” I felt the anger in my chest bubble but attempted to stay calm for his sake.

“Remus is a werewolf for crying out loud-”

“You act as he asked for it!”

He let his finger drop, his eyes full of hurt as he watched me.

“You’re sleeping with him,” his voice wasn’t even a question like he knew the answer.

“Oh my Merlin Sirius, no I’m not sleeping with your best mate-”

“James is my best mate, Remus is a traitor,” he mumbled the words, looking at me with wild eyes.

“He’s not a traitor, we don’t know who the mole is yet!”

“Oh my you are sleeping with him,” he dropped the paper that was once rolled in his hand to the floor and let his finger run through his hair.

“I’m not sleeping with him, I haven’t slept with anyone in months because apparently you don’t want to touch me anymore,” I felt the anger overflow with each word, tired of all these stupid fights were kept having.

“Oh so you’re horny so you sleep with him,” he spat out the words like venom, slowly walking closer to me with each word.

“Stop talking about him like that! He’s been your best friend for years even when you lost everything he stood right there and you’re going to backstab him? What are you going to do to me?”

I was roaring with anger, stepping closer to me with each step I took as I looked to him with anger.

“Is your plan to get me pregnant and run? Maybe ruin my reputation in the wizarding world with my dirty secrets?”

“Shut up (Y/N)-”

“Gonna beat me like mommy did you,” I wished I had stopped talking at that moment but it was too late.

“Get the hell out of this house.”

I didn’t fight, turning to grab my coat and ran out the door. I slammed the door and looked to the wall outside, my breath heavy as I ran to the phone box to call Remus, hoping for a place to stay.

*

“Merlin.”

I sat on Remus' bed, my eyes heavy as I read the letter in my hand from Sirius.

Dear (L/N),

I revoke my proposal, please send the ring back as it’s a family heirloom and has no business in a nasty hag finger-like yours.

From, you should know unless you have multiple proposals

Remus sat beside me, rubbing his hand up and down my shoulder with sad eyes as he read the letter himself.

“I’ve sent three letters apologizing and I even went to him himself,” I spoke with a shaky voice, slowly dragging the ring from my finger as I read the letter again just to make sure it was his handwriting and this wasn’t a cruel prank from James.

“Stakes are high right now, once this war is over he’ll be waiting for you.”

I tried to listen to his words but all I could focus on was the fact that all that love we once shared was fake like it wasn’t real anymore.

*

“I’m sorry about the bite, I was aiming for the rat.”

Sirius had the red-headed boy arm around him as he helped carry him from the shake.

“Hey, Moon?”

“Yes?”

“Have you’ve spoken to- uhm her?”

Remus was taken aback by the question, as he never thought he’d speak about the two in the same sentence ever again.

“After the Order broke she left for the states, haven’t spoken since.”

Sirius said nothing as they reached the end of the tunnel, sitting the boy down before looking to the Black Lake quickly. His heart broke as he knew that they'd kissed moons ago.

“Maybe you can write her-” Remus' voice sounded far away as he walked to the edge to look to the castle, where he’d meet everyone who ever meant something to him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to the air, hoping to carry his voice to the state for her to hear because she deserves that much.

*

“Wow.” 

Harry sat in amazement as I finished the many stories from Remus and I about his godfather, waiting in his empty house for the rest of the Order to arrive.

“He was on a trip,” I spoke in a cracked voice, Remus rubbing my knee as the emotions started hitting me. If only I came back a year earlier I could have seen him one last time, maybe I’d save him or maybe we’d run away together.

“He always knew what to say, you know.”

Remus picked up, sharing a few stories he felt Harry should know for the sake of the missing piece of him.

“He loved wearing another sweater,” Remus laughed at the distant memories when I fell into a loud fit of giggles.

“I never got that stupid scarf back, that bright green one with the flowers from the Black Lake,” I spoke most to Remus as he would remember it better than Harry.

“Green scarf?”

I nodded, smiling at his pleased face when he turned around with it hanging from his neck like a fashion show. Harry stood up quickly for where we sat on the floor, running to the cupboard under the stairs and looking through a box.

I couldn’t see what was in his hand until he turned back to the once-living room with it in his hand.

I felt my hand fly to my mouth, looking at that stupid scarf that Harry held between his fingers, still as bright as the day he stole it from me.

“It has something on it,” Harry walked to us, holding the scarf to me which I was scared to touch. The smallest piece of me hoped that touching it would bring him back like his soul was stuck to it or something.

I took the soft material from his hands, my brain working a mile a minute as I looked to the rolled-up letter that was pinned to the bottom of the scarf.

I quickly unpinned it, taking the parchment in-between my own fingers and read over the words that looked rushed.

Dear Goody Two Shoes,

You learned how to behave so I thought best to stick to one of my promises to you. I also returned the ring because it doesn’t fit on anyone’s finger as it did on yours, you were never a hag. Enjoy this photo and you better never show it to a soul.

From, Your Love

I felt tears stream down my face, looking at the old ring that was taped to the bottom of the parchment with the Polaroid of his beside it.

“Oh Merlin Rem, he kept it all,” my voice was strained as I spoke, Remus moved to sit beside me and brought me to his side.

Oh, Merlin, I remembered it all too well.

im horrible at angst so i’m sorry this is kinda a mess

general harry potter tag list:

@siriusmaraudeers @marauder-exe @haphazardhufflepuff

sirius black tag list:

@coldlilheart @inkhearthes

[chipsfics]

part 6 2/2

2/2 is finally here! sorry for the long wait!

rated: PG-13 for swearing and crying.

Down in the basement. It's dark, musty, and everything is still covered in cobwebs. Once Tissues flicks on the light, the only thing that changes is the "dark". His brain is buzzing with activity- What could go there, what could he put here? So much wasted space in the hotel- and he was 99% sure that nobody else had been down here in a long time. He had to try and avoid being suspicious- But he'd already pretty much failed when Trophy caught him tiptoeing down the stairs to the basement at 7pm on a Wednesday. He went over to the covered-up couches and the chair surrounding the television set and small table- He carefully lifted up the sheets as if they were going to fall apart like wet paper towels. Underneath, the couch was the same dull orange-ish color as the rest of the hotel's furniture- probably a spare put down here. The furniture was suprisingly in pretty good shape, although the covers were kicking up a lot of dust that made his nose itch. He stifled a sneeze. The TV was tiny and old, but still a flatscreen- Looked like from when Meeple HQ was just dipping into television production. The small, outdated meeple logo on the power button confirmed his suspicions.

He picked up the cord attached to the back of the TV and plugged it into the small, dusty, offwhite outlet. Surprisingly, the TV almost immediately turned on with a loud startup jingle that just about made Tissues jump out of his skin. He walked over and looked at the screen, which had the old Meeple logo spinning on it's screen as it tried to boot up. Once it finally finished the startup sequence, the screen was on an empty DVD selection menu. "Hm." Tissues scratched his head as he continued to explore the area. What else could he fit in there? And more importantly, how would he get it down the stairs? 

Tissues sat down on the couch and a puff of dust fluffed out of the cushion. He sniffed... sniff... achoo-! Tissues sneezed. Tissues pulled out his phone and started to browse online for something to buy to fill the room- He had a little extra cash, because despite being eliminated first, he was still compensated for participating in II. That, and the lawsuit against Mephone that OJ pulled a while ago got him enough money to last for a long time. A minifridge, a new game console, a recliner... too many options! He wanted to make this basement space absolutely perfect. 

The more he thought about how hard it'd be to order all of this stuff and not have OJ- or god forbid, Trophy- notice what he was up to was leaving him puzzled as well. Maybe he needed to call in some backup... Or just do all these activities at night (although that'd be even sketchier if he got caught.) In a moment of frenzied impulse, Tissues loaded everything he was pining after into his online shopping cart and purchased them all at once. He turned off his phone and rocked back into the couch, processing what he'd just done. It was a bad idea, he knew that, but something about it was so thrilling. His heart was pounding- It was like he was making the hotel into his home, cozy underneath the earth, exciting and secret and all his. He was giddy.

After that brief moment of happiness, Tissues paused as he realized something. Oops. How was he going to pull this off? He scratched his chin, and another lightbulb went off above his head. To find someone to help him... He went back up the stairs, clinging to the handrail as he tried not to look backwards- He /has/ to find a way to get up the stairs without having to scale them. Yinyang was, of course, busy that day (with some kind of... event? He didn't say), so his only option was... sigh.

Cheesy was in his usual spot- loudly unwrapping and eating fun sized candy bars on the couch, throwing the candy wrappers on the floor after he's done with them. Tissues waved to get his attention. 

"Hey Tissues, what's up?" Cheesy said, and looked around. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"He's not my-" Tissues sighed. "And he's doing something today. Listen, Cheesy, would you be willing to help me with something?"

Cheesy narrowed his eyes. "Like what?" 

"Something... against the house rules," Tissues said. "It involves snacks! And TV," 

"I'm interested," Cheesy said. "I'm always down to cause some trouble. What exactly are we talking about here?"

"So." Tissues looked around. "There's a place in the basement that's completely unused, and already has chairs and a couch and stuff, and i'm planning to fix it up into a kind of secret hangout spot?"

"Hmmm, interesting..." Cheesy nodded. "Sounds fun! But how're you gonna pull that off?"

"That's what I need you for," Tissues said. "I ordered a minifridge, some video games, and a couple other things that i absolutely can't carry down the stairs myself- That's where you come in." 

Cheesy looked deep in thought for a couple seconds. "I'm in. But you have to let me hang out down there too," 

"Of course! Just don't tell anyone, ok? Especially OJ." Tissues said.

"No problemo, Tissues." Cheesy said, winking. "Until then, do you wanna play Space Bubble with me? I need a player 2 to complete this level." 

"Seriously?" Tissues said. "You wanna play video games with me?"

"Sure, whynot. It's not a huge deal," Cheesy said. "You seem like a cool guy."

"Ah, really? sorry, ehehe, It's just that, people don't usually want to be around me... on purpose," Tissues said bashfully, smiling, and grabbed the second controller. In his head, he was wondering when Yinyang was getting back. This game would be really fun with 3 players...

----

The next morning, Yinyang was still nowhere to be found. It'd been like this a couple times before, and Tissues wasn't too worried- They were probably just sleeping in or taking an extra long shower or something. He figured he'd be able to catch up with him later. Although, the thought lingered in the back of his mind- something was wrong. Was it him? Did something bad happen to his friend? He pulled himself out of bed all at once, stumbling a bit and catching himself before he fell, sniffing and sighing. Down the elevator, no Yinyang. Into the kitchen, no Yinyang. Past the living room, Trophy was sitting in Yinyang's usual spot. Trophy sneered at him, but Tissues was too busy with too much on his mind to really care. 

Tissues took a deep breath. Into the basement. It'll clear his head. Stairs, step, step, stumble- whoops, back on his feet and step, step step again. Flick on the lightswitch. Vision blurs a little bit. Stress or vertigo? Doesn't matter.

Someone was sitting on the old couch, twiddling his thumbs, looking upset. 

"Yinyang?" Tissues said, and he jolted up and looked.

"Tissues," He said, his voice was shaky. 

"What- uhh, What're you doing down here?" Tissues said, sounding concerned, walking over and sitting next to his friend. "Are you... alright?"

"Umm.." Yinyang shifted in his seat, getting more choked up. "I... well."

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Tissues put his hand on Yinyang's, and he immediately melted into the gesture. "D-do you need a hug?" Tissues smiled sheepishly.

Yinyang wordlessly nodded and pulled Tissues closer into a soft embrace. He was shaking really bad. Clenching and unclenching his fists, gritting his teeth. Tissues pat him on the back. "Is there anything I can do to help..?"

Yinyang didn't respond. He was crying. They stayed in that hug for a long time before Yinyang stopped shaking.

Tissues pulled away, his eyes sparkling with sympathy. He pulled a tissue out from his head and handed it to Yinyang. "Here you- sniff.. go, buddy. Please feel better... It hurts my heart to see you cry." 

Yinyang laughed. "You..." He sniffed, smiled, and wiped his face off. "Have to stop being so kind to me. I'll just end up disappointing you, or hurting you," 

"Wh.... no way..!" Tissues' eyes widened.. "I think- I... you're the only real friend I've ever had..! I love you and- and I really do care about you!" Tissues was getting choked up..

Yinyang laughed again, tears rolling down his face. "Dammit... this is what I'm talking about." Yinyang sniffed. "You're the only one who's ever cared about me, and it hurts- it hurts because I know that I won't ever be able to let you go." Something about Yinyang's voice was so sad. 

"Stopp it- sniff, you're gonna make me cry too..!" Tissues wiped his nose, and paused for a moment... "and... sniff... You're gonna have to try really hard to get rid of me. I'm already imprinted on you like a baby duck you know like in the cartoons where-"

"Tissues, what the hell are you even talking about-?" Yinyang laughed. "You nerd...!" He punched Tissues on the shoulder. 

"Aahhh, ahaha, oww.." Tissues smiled. There was a moment of silence. "Are you feeling any better... do you need to talk about anything else, i mean..?" 

"ah.... Tissues." Yinyang sighed. "I'm so scared of scaring you away. But... there's something I need to tell you... I. How do I say this..." Yinyang took a deep breath, and seemed to have regained some of his composure. 

"It's okay...! You can tell me anything..!" Tissues put a hand on Yinyang's shoulder, and he shivered. 

"Tissues. I've never said this to anyone so ... i apologize if we mess up. But... I think I'm in love with you." Yinyang looked away in shame and embarrassment. 

Tissues stared at him, wide-eyed, his face red. "W-wait. that's a funny coincidence, because.. Nobody has ever said that to me. Yinyang, I..."

"It's okay if you don't-" Yinyang sniffed, "Feel the same or, whatever. It's been forever since we were able to agree on anything, and it's kind of... terrifying. But i love you. We love you. And..."

"I love you too!!" Tissues stood up on the couch suddenly. "I was so worried you thought that I was hitting on you because I was and I was scared that you didn't like me like that and I just realized that i like liked you a couple days ago and-" Tissues rambled on and on...

"Shut up." Yang said. "Hey!" Yin scolded. "Now is not the time," 

Tissues laughed. "Sorryyy... I just got- really excited, and emotional, and I've never been in a situation like this and-..... just, wow. What does this mean? How does this work, are we like, boyfriends now?"

Yinyang blushed. "I dunno, probably. I'm too busy fighting with myself to learn how relationships work..." Yin laughed. "It's not... can we just... hang out down here for a little while...? I'm... still kind of processing. A lot of stuff."

"Of course..!" Tissues scooted up next to him and cuddled up to him. "I'm so scared, and happy, and worried, and sad, and just... emotional. Everything is changing."

"We're in it together," Yin grabbed Tissues' hand. "Thank you... for a lot. for everything," Yang added. 

"I love you," Tissues smiled. "I love you too." Yinyang said.

Hotel OJ was a vague silhouette on the horizon when the sun finally set- millions and millions of uncertain years stretching before them, as inperceivable as the distance between stars.

[finn-ray-nal-beads]

HERE'S THE OFFICIAL ASK BABE, YOU CAN SAVE IT FOR NEXT WEEK BUT HIT ME WITH THE RONNIE GOODNESS. That boy has a serious sweet tooth (fight me it's my own canon) and I want to hear about the VERY MOMENT that it dawned on him that he can eat things off of us whenever he wants. ALLOW ME TO SET THE SCENE. Friday night. The Mandalorian is back for season two and you're both FUCKING STOKED. Ice cream sundaes. You have a little something on the corner of your mouth and he leans in to kiss it away. 💜

A/N: LET ME JUST SAY... THIS FIC GIVES ME ALL THE FUCKIN’ FEELS I COULD POSSIBLY HAVE AND I THINK IM IN LOVE WITH THIS ADORABLE NERD NOW... @millenialcatlady THANK YOU FOR PUTTING THIS NUGGET IN MY HEAD AND THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO RUN WITH WHATEVER I PLEASED AS FAR AS IT ALL GOES! I LOVE YOU MY MUSE AND I HOPE YOU LOVE THIS TAKE ON YOUR AMAZING ASK!🖤

Warnings: food play, pregnancy, pregnant sex, tit sucking, cowgirl style, DIRTY TALK (the good kind), slight breeding kink, stuffing/creampies, Use of the word Daddy but not in the kink way, absolute fluff, absolute smut, just pure marital bliss

(Text Thread) 

Ronnie: Hey, honey. At the store picking up some things. Anything you want for dinner? 

Y/N: Oh, babe, you read my mind. I would love some ice cream, chocolate sauce, cherries, the works… oh, and pickles! 

Ronnie: LOL. Okay whatever you and my lil’ pumpkin want. I’ll be home in a little bit. 

Y/N: We love you, daddy! 

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

You put the phone down to adjust your body on the couch, the further along you were getting, the harder it was to feel comfortable, let alone pretty. But Ronnie never failed to make you the happiest woman in the entire world. Always asking what you needed, rubbing every inch of your body when it ached, running baths to soothe you and your growing little one, and fucking you whenever you had the rush to eat him alive. 

He always went out and got whatever you needed, even if it meant waking up from a dead sleep at four in the morning all because ‘the baby’ wanted some black olives that seemed to be missing from the pantry. He was so selfless that way and in every way. You thanked whatever entity over and over again that he and you had met at the diner that one day. Both ordering the same cheeseburger and milkshake for lunch, sitting across the way, shooting glances as his mouth devoured the meat like the carnivore he was, and then proceeding to do the same to you in his smart car not even thirty minutes later. 

The both of you were inseparable at that point. Loving the same things, watching the same shows, eating the same foods. It was kismet in every single sense of the word and even more so when you found out that a carbon copy of you both was on the way. 

You sat there, contemplating the last year, waiting for your knight in shining armor to arrive home with the good stuff, rubbing your protruding belly as your little girl flailed around like the deviant she was. 

“I know sweetie,” you whispered to your bump, “daddy will be home in a little while,” glancing up as you heard the key turn in the lock. 

“Hey, there ladies,” your grinning husband beamed as he saw you cuddled up on the couch waiting for him, “how’s my favorite girls?” he put the paper sack down and knelt between your legs, pulling your face to him with his large hands, kissing you with the sweetest effort he could muster. 

“We’re good daddy,” you grinned, grabbing his face in your hands, rubbing your thumbs along his shaven cheeks, admiring his soft pouted lips, “we missed you today.” 

He sighed, bringing his hands to meet your bump, rubbing it to get his daughter’s attention, “I missed you girls too,” bending his head down to meet your clothed skin, kissing the baby, “So. Much.” 

A series of flutters hit his hands as your daughter squirmed at his honeyed voice, “I think we’re slightly hungry, huh, baby girl,” he laughed as he felt more kicks pummel his fingers. 

“God, yes we are,” you whined as he got up to pick up the sack and bring it to the kitchen, “comin’ right up ladies,” he smiled grabbing the stuff out of the bag and chuckling at your excitement when bringing the jar of dill pickles and a fork your way. 

He kissed your forehead after taking the food, “I’m gonna make our sundaes after I get changed, okay honey?” 

“Ronnie, I can make the food,” you said struggling to lift your body from your spot. 

“Woah there mama,” he pushed you and your pickles back on the plush sofa, “I can do it. How about you queue up the show and put your feet up. I’ll rub ‘em when I sit down.” 

“Honey I really wan-,” 

“No,” he scolded, “you and my daughter relax while I get the menial tasks done that you shouldn’t bother yourself with. You’re the one doin’ all the hard work after all,” he grinned again, his glasses moving up his perfectly chiseled nose, displaying his precious dimples. 

You prayed that your little girl would get those perfect features of his. The ambered eyes, the dark hair, the moles that littered his body. He was too damn perfect. 

“Okay honey,” you sat back, balancing the jar on your belly as you shoved one pickle down your throat, rolling your eyes back into your head at the satisfaction of sustenance. He chuckled again, padding upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes as you got your weekly show ready for viewing. 

He made his way down after changing into a pair of black joggers, and a grey t-shirt, the sight of him hopping down the stairs causing a warmth to radiate through your pussy. After a few minutes of cabinet opening, and fridge closing, he came into the room armed with the majestic concoctions he’d created for the both of you, grinning ear to ear at the sight of your doe eyes twinkling at the food. 

“Babe,” you looked at him, “I love you so much, this looks amazing!” 

“I thought you’d like all the fixings,” he grinned even wider, sitting down and handing your special sundae to which you located where the pickle jar had been. 

He situated himself with an arm around you, and the sundae on his thigh, lifting the blanket you’d had over him so he could scoot even closer. After some rearranging, you pressed play on the show you’d decided on and devoured your ice cream as if you’d never had any your entire life.  

Half an hour in you held the empty bowl, thinking about sitting up to put it on the coffee table. You started to strain up to put it there, when Ronnie noticed your movements before you could even put them to action, “honey, here,” gesturing his large hand to which you placed it in and he did the deed for you. 

Sitting back after putting both bowls down, he threw his arm back around your shoulder, and the other to meet your belly, rubbing the spot as you laid your head between his neck. He looked down at the scene before him, smiling and kissing your crown, taking in the jasmine-scented shampoo that emanated from your gorgeous hair. Grinning yet again as he saw his unborn daughter writhe under his touch. 

His eyes wandered to your plunging cleavage, where a stream of chocolate sauce had found its home. His eyes widened at the glimmer from it, thinking of how he’d love to cover you head to toe in the mixture and lick every single bit of it from your perfect skin. His loose cock straining in his joggers as he became restless at the thought of bending you over the couch and stuffing you fuller than you already were of him. 

“Babe?” you looked up at his lust-blown eyes behind his glasses, “are you okay?” running your hand to brush his painful erection. 

“What’s going on?” looking at him with concern, “do you need something?”

“Honey,” he calmly stared into your eyes, “I need to do something,” his lips fell into a pout. 

“Okay?” you gestured, “what is it?” 

“I need to fuck you,” he matter of factly said, gripping your belly with his hand. 

Your lower stomach twisted in a knot, “o-okay babe, that’s fine with me,” you chuckled at his desperation. 

“But I need to cover you,” he moved his hand to plunge in between your tits, the motion causing a gasp to leave your mouth, “with chocolate sauce,” he said showing you the amount that had found its way there in the first place. 

You were fully on fire at this point, willing to let him cover you in anything he wanted to get him to fuck you good and hard. 

“Get the bottle,” you gripped his forearm, pleading him to wreck you.

He jumped from the couch and ran to the kitchen to grab the large bottle of sauce, grinning like a fucking kid in a candy store. In the time he had grabbed it and run back, you were already completely undressed and sat upon the edge of the couch, tits, and belly protruding out as you arched your back towards him.  

“Fuck, honey,” he beamed at your changed body, opening the bottle to drip it on your delicate skin, “you look fucking delicious,” watching the cascade of sweetness drip into the crevices of your breasts.

You sat there, completely dazed as your husband painted a mural on your tits, musing as he watched the chocolate cover your engorged peaches. 

“Perfect,” he marveled, capping the bottle and setting it on the coffee table. He made quick to remove his shirt, displaying his thick body to which you shuddered at the sight. 

“Suck my fuckin’ tits babe,” you mewled, falling to pieces as he brought his lips to your aching buds, sucking the life out of them as he situated himself between your legs kneeling before you on the couch again. His hands caressing your luscious pregnant curves, rubbing the sauce all over his face and your jugs. 

“These fuckin’ tits,” he moaned, “they’re gonna be the death of me, honey,” removing his glasses as he devoured them, leaving no trace of chocolate as he finished his work. 

He gazed at your blissed-out face, taking in the sounds you made and the way your lips parted as he made you fall apart over his gestures. His hand wandered down to your heat, feeling the wetness seeping out of your weeping cunt for him. 

“So fuckin’ delicious,” he groaned, rubbing the skin with his middle finger. 

“I want you to ride me, honey,” he begged with golden eyes. 

You of course couldn’t resist his puppy dog pleading and made him lay back on the couch like the good boy he was. 

“Take your pants of babe,” helping him undo his joggers as his large cock sprung free from its cage. Grabbing it in your soft hands and pumping it as he guided you onto his lap, your juicy thighs straddling either side of him. You let him help you guide your pussy to his tip, settling down as the shaft was covered by your walls as you sank down. 

“Fuck, Ronnie,” you whined out, feeling every inch of him touch your fluttering pussy, “you make me feel so damn full babe.” 

Undulating your hips on his lap, his hands gripping your sides with a bruising touch, rocking you back and forth on his body. 

“Yeah, honey?” he panted, “you like bein’ all full of me don’t you?” 

Thrusting up into your cunt, knocking on your tight cervix, releasing a piercing moan from your open mouth. 

“Goddammit!” you screamed speeding up your motions, “I fucking love it so much!” 

Your tits bouncing at his gyrations, your belly on display, it was almost too much for your poor husband. Your walls began to clench around him, signaling your orgasm, to which he moved his left hand down towards your throbbing clit. Rubbing tight little circles as he watched you unravel in front of him for the millionth time that night. 

“That’s it, honey,” he growled, “fucking cum all over my cock. You know you want to.” 

Watching your face look down at him, screaming for release, “I wanna cum on your big cock babe!” 

“Fuck Y/N,” his eyes went wide as your pussy released its sweet nectar, causing his pulsations to quicken. 

“I’m gonna fuckin’ fill you up,” he gritted his teeth as you were rag-dolled on his thighs, sweat beading up on his forehead as he watched you grip your aching tits whining and moaning like a whore on his thick cock splitting you in half. 

“Stuff me full babe!” you cried out, rubbing your sensitive nipples, as he slammed your hips harder with his. He let out a feral growl as his dick twitched inside you, releasing his potent seed into your sopping hole. He pumped up and down slowly, watching the mixture began to seep out, only to have this bright red cock push it back in with a squelch and a groan. 

You both took some deep breaths, stilled in position, still gripping your tits as his hands left your hips to grip your bump, “you girls okay?” coming out of his haze in concern. 

“Yes babe,” you laughed moving to get off his lap to be more comfortable, “we’re just fine, I promise,” patting his blushing chest as he tried to control his pulse while helping you get into position. He sat up, grabbing your t-shirt from the ground as well as his, helping you place it back on, kissing every inch of your face and neck as he did so. 

“I love you, Y/N,” he grinned, pulling your face to his in a searing kiss as your fingers found his loose strands, pushing them back as your tongues danced over each other. 

You pulled off, gazing into the swirl of his ambered eyes, still petting the baby hairs that had stuck to his face, “I love you too babe.” 

At that moment, your daughter made her presence known again, sandwiched in between your sweat covered bodies. Ronnie brought his large hand to meet your over your belly, “she’s gonna be mad at us all night now, huh?” he laughed, rubbing on the spot where her little foot was poking in and out. 

“Ya,” you agreed, “I’m gonna be up all night with her I think,” putting your other hand over his and kissing his cheek as you both sat back into the embrace of the couch. 

Leaning down to press his lips to your bump, “pumpkin you’d better not give your mama any grief tonight,” he pecked a few times, rubbing his thumb over the flutters erupting, “she needs to sleep just as much as you do baby girl.” 

Your hands rubbed the back of his head as he nuzzled on your belly, cradling it as he shushed your squirming little one. The sounds of his hushing lulling you to sleep in the light of the tv playing the show you’d both been neglecting. 

After a few minutes of rubbing and cooing, he lifted his head to look at your sleeping form, admiring the way your face looked so peaceful in the white light of the tv. He kissed your forehead, gripping under your knees and back, lifting your dead weight into his hulking body. He sauntered up the stairs, carefully moving you out of the way of sharp objects and corners as he found your shared bedroom. He placed you gently on the bed, making sure you were on your side, and grabbed the body pillow you’d worn out over the last few months of its purchase. 

He placed it just so it supported the baby, and your aching body, watching as you closed in on its plushness, sighing in relief when you’d relaxed on it. He stared in the dim light of your bedside lamp in total adoration of you, noticing the baby moving in your body as you quietly snored. 

He bent down once more to kiss the appendage poking out, “go to sleep baby girl,” he whispered on your skin, “mama and I love you to the moon and back, pumpkin,” kissing it again and then moving up to you. 

“Goodnight honey,” he whispered into your ear, kissing it at softly as he possibly could, “I love you more than life itself.” 

He switched the lamp off, and slid into his side of the bed, enveloping himself around you, cradling his baby. Letting out a heavy sigh as he let the sweet sounds of your snores lull him to sleep. 

-----------

I. AM. A. FUCKIN’. PUDDLE. 

IF ANYONE NEEDS ME IM BURYING MYSELF ALIVE BECAUSE IVE DIED OVER THIS ONESHOT. I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH. 

🖤,

ray-nal-beads  

[normieexclusive]

How My MC wins the boys over:

Ah, um, this really went off from the original story line. This was also supposed to be a short simple thing but then I started thinking and two hours later Im left with a bunch of messy notes and thoughts

The first to fall victim is:

Mammon turns out to be easy, literally MC just shows him an ounce of kindness and he takes it and runs. 

Unconsciously MC gets much softer around him then the others (A combination of total trust in him and wanting to show how much love he deserves despite his brothers treating him harshly) 

 hes the one that gets the most kisses, the most hugs, and its great for them at first because they get to make fun of the dumb ass second born getting doted on but some silly little human and (while denying it constantly) loving it. 

But then the others start to actually like MC and Mammon can nearly feel the six pairs of eyes glaring him down as his Human showers him with all the affection before going about their day. 

(There’s one moment where, while Mammons sitting on the floor and MC is on the bed and he's making fun of one of his brothers that MC just grabs him by the back of his shirt collar- with only a finger- pulls him in between her legs (So his back is to her) and gives him a kiss on the top of his head as she coos "Mammon, be nice to your brothers" and he shuts down for the rest of the day) 

Second, but the bestest of friends!:

With Levi its by being a grade A nerd and overthinking.

 She reads all of TSL for their big quiz, and watches the movies with Beel and mammon, but on top of that the nerd goes back to the books and starts to annotate everything. 

She starts digging for any bit of subtext she can find and jotting down notes in the margins, in her notebook, on sticky notes. 

It becomes enough of an issue that she has to buy a new set because the first (Old and used) ones she got off of akuzon are ruined with her messy scrawling.

 During the quiz they are evenly matched (if only because shes given such easy questions. Shes pissed but at the same time oh gosh she is really not up to Levis level) and somewhere along the way she just... Goes off about this theory of hers and reading the subtext because she needs to get this out and it seems like Levis the only one that can really keep up with her 

(She tried to talk to Mammon and Beel but, honestly, they're as helpful as you'd think)

 She forgets about the whole quiz and yanks out her vandalized book in order to debate with Levi about a part. Levi is horrified at the state of her TSL book and nearly goes apeshit right there, but then she shows just how much of a nerd she truly is by showing him the much nicer version she brought along

("And its even signed! Can you believe that! I didn't order a signed one cause they were too expensive but somehow the boxes must have gotten switched up! Ah! Levi! You have a shrine in you're room for them right! You should have these copies, I think you'll take more care of them then I can!")

Whenever they have a conversation its gibberish to everyone around them but they get it and that’s what matters.

(They spend nights just in his room and no one knows what they're doing so they assume the worst. The others always send Levi dirty looks when it happens, and Levi always looks a little more refreshed after every one.

They're having anime/gaming/TSL marathons but Levi lives for the jealousy that rolls off his brothers so hes not telling them anytime soon)

Somewhere starting after her pact with Levi and after the Lucifer/Satan Body switch:

The whole fiasco with Levi actually leads to Satan warming up to her!

 He had initially brushed her off as a soon to be Lucifer Lapdog (and also kind of dumb) but now he's interested. 

Someone whos capable of dissecting a book like that has to at least have some ability to reason, he just cant figure out if that moment was a fluke or if shes actually smart. 

He refuses to start a conversation with her like a normal person and instead resorts to pranking her at every opportunity hoping to see if she’ll think her way out of it (He does leave some hints for when ones about to happen, but gets frustrated when she walks right past them)

 It backfires on him tremendously because, somehow, they never seem to work! it goes to the point where it becomes rube goldberg levels of pranks that are always almost-but-not-quite misses because she bent down at just the right time to pick up a shiny rock. 

Satan is at his wits end and ready to rip someone apart

 his pranks start to extend to the others, it’s only after mammon mentions such that it finally clicks in her...

That same day she willingly walks into a pie in the face and Satan nearly cries. 

After he starts to rile her up more often with words. He learns very quickly that she is a fantastic debate partner and, if he can find the right button to push, he’ll get her going for hours as they go back and forth

(And!! Even better!! Not only does she listen to everything he says and waits her turn! But Shes willing to change her opinion when she thinks he has a better point. When she loses She’ll come back hours later to drag more information out of him.

That’s usually not the case though, because Satan finds way too much enjoyment out of playing devils advocate and will simply choose whatever is opposition her POV. 

He tried to argue about how she couldn't possibly like a flavor of candy she was eating because he didn't like it and nearly gave her an aneurysm)

(To his complete embarrassment, though, he has gotten hard during one of their debates and nearly lost because she looked fucking amazing as she shouted at him)

A bond that starts right at their first meeting and grows throughout her entire time there:

Beel is scary at first, and Lucifer- for some forsaken reason- made it her job to make sure Beel doesn't clean out the fridge every single day.

Shes scared of the man that seemed more then willing to eat her, but shes more scared of whatever punishment Lucifer would deal if she didn't at least try.

 So she goes

 It only takes her one run in with Beel and his puppy dog eyes (Because how could she just stop him like that!! How awful of her!!) for her to figure out that

 A: this man is harmless and...

B:she knows what hunger pains feel like and the guilt wells up

Still she knows she can let him go so she spends her grimm allowance on buying ingredients to cook with and makes him huge meals as "offerings"

 It doesn't always stop him from eating half the fridge, but sometimes it seems like he's willing to actually savor what she makes. 

It gives her enough time to save the ingredients for dinner that night. (and If Beel sometimes wanders over to the kitchen while shes watching so shell make something for him, well there’s no harm done

The bastard pavlov dogged her and shes none the wiser) 

Slow and steady, the pieces fall into place naturally:

Asmo turns out to be another easy one, to her shock.

Even with MCs jealousy over how stunning Amso looks and how easy it is for him... they just seem to drift to each other

Starts with a comment on Asmos sharp eyeliner one day, and Asmo asking MC what shampoo she uses. 

Then the next day the same brand shampoo (And conditioner) will be left outside his door. And after MC will walk into the bathroom first thing in the morning only to wonder whom the fuck applied eyeliner to her in her sleep

It starts with days where they greet each other in the morning, to Stopping to chat for a few moments before heading on with their morning routine, to them walking down together, to Asmo fussing over her disheveled look after just waking up ‘-seriously Asmo not everyone can just roll out of bed like some Demons and look stunning’ - to ‘MC move over a scooch I need more room’ ‘Asmodeus this is my bed’ ‘Well how are we both supposed to fit when its so small!’, to weekly spa days and Gossiping about the others.

Its such an smooth transition that they both feel like it had always been as it was- two friends whispering secrets to each other late at night, pinky promises made over arbitrary things, laying so close that they can feel the others breathing. If maybe he leaned in a little closer they would--

--Oh... She fell asleep again. 

And he curls up next to her, blanket wrapped around both of them (That is, until Asmo hogs it later) and sleeps peacefully

A build up of trust, and a moment of venerability that finally knocks down his walls:

Swallows her pride for Lucifer

Its hard to explain in words for her, but she tells him of her family.

A family that is good but dosnt care, that used to leave her alone for hours on end when she was far too young. She says it with a smile too, admits that it helped her become as independent as she was, that she could cook for herself before she was 10.

She tells him of her younger brother. Someone she tried her best to love as much as she could only for him to, one day, just stop talking to her. Years trying to build back an abruptly cut connection only for him to snap one day and change his tune to something much worse. A family that watched as he screamed at her, berated her and never did anything. How she still stood tall, how she swallowed back every tear and tried to talk to him with a steady voice- only for him to become angrier.

How, when he did try to snap at other members, she was always there to stand between them. How she was the one to chase him off or take the yelling despite her family never doing the same for her. How she was the stable rock of the family where no one was for her.

Physical violence was only once, but it was enough for her to know things would never change.

She was like him in a way, same but different.

and She cant bear to see the same thing happen to him.

She wants to help, she knows shes just a little, useless human but please she needs to help. She cant bare leaving another broken family behind without helping. Her life had been stagnate before them, unbearably lonely, and she just wants them to be happy, even if that means without her

 even if it means she has to shove her nose where it doesn't belong

So... please... Please... Talk to Belphie. Please. He said he just wants to tal--

(She had earned Lucifer's respect not too long ago, and - to everyone's shock- the revel of what she came upon does not bring upon Lucifer's fury. Instead, he feels a deep understanding that he’ll never say aloud

Shes still going to get lectured, though. But he is too.) 

It takes time:

Spends what probably amounted to most of her time in Devildom with that little fu--

(No, No. Belphie needs help, she needs to reel it in for now.)

She gets what it means to be lonely. Despite her distrust of the man who caged up in a place where the bad people are, you know, supposed to be caged up and tutored feels like she needs to do something- if only to make sure he doesn't lose his mind from the isolation.  

(Rethinks a lot of her life and how she spent just hiding away from everything. How she would lock her door and never come out unless the sounds of another fight reached her. Thought about how it probably messed her up more then shes willing to admit and refuses to let the same thing happen to him

Oh sweet summer child)

Less trusting of him when its reviled that hes the seventh born, but more willing to help. If only for Beels sake

Brings stuff up to his room, a toy, a fluffy blanket, food that she snagged last minute. He complains hes cold one day and she yanks off her own sweater for him

(It all gets flushed down the toilet when she leaves, he scrubs his skin raw thinking about how his room smells disgustingly like that fucking human now) 

And then, one day, it just... changes: 

A human stands between him and the fucker that locked him up in there, his brothers that never knew he was there. All of them watching him with such pity in their eyes and he didnt want it- he didnt want their p-

The door was unlocked.

He was free.

Just like that.

it made no sense. He learns that they-- She-- spent hours dancing around Diavolo, deals were made. A room where it was just her and The Prince of Hell, promises not even Lucifer knew (And some part of Belphie relished in the fact that it was eating away at the fucker) 

("All those hours shouting at each other paid off” She looks to Satan with a smile. A joke he was not privy to. Lucifer huffed but said nothing. 

How much had changed since he was locked up?) 

A slow, downward spiral 

They're never alone, someone is always with her or with him (Beel sticks to his side like glue. after so long he finally gets to sleep next to his brother again) 

He finds food in the fridge with the words “For Beel <3″ in this awful chicken scratch handwriting. Mammon’s screaming interrupts his naps one day and he wakes up to see her smothering the second born in kisses. Her shouting wakes him up as her and Satan pass, her voice becoming high pitched as they argue about... the number of toes humans are supposed to have???? (she sits down next to him and rips off her shoes in a fit of rage, demanding that Belphie count with her because what the fuck-

Satan sneers at her feet and tells the only actual toes are her two big ones, the rest are just digits.)

There’s traces of her everywhere. Layers of clothing haphazardly thrown about after a day at RAD and then neatly placed away. A mention of her name at the dinner table before shes there. Not even his and beels room is safe from her- he can smell her scent on Beels pillow. Faint, but a awful reminder of the human down the hall. 

He hates it, he wants to throw it all away. He wants to erase her memory from his home, he wants to ripe her apa--

A blanket is draped over him one day, and he cant bring himself to open his eyes to see who did it...

She talks to him, Or more like at him. The longer he stays freed the harder is it to hide his distaste towards Humanity and- especially- to her. He thinks shes dense, because he knows his brothers sense there’s something wrong (Levis tail wraps around her when hes too close, Lucifer stands between them, Amso pulls her by the waist. Close to him, further from belphie) But she doesn't. She pushes closer. She asks him questions.

She never touches him, one small blessing in Hell. 

Beel believes him when he bashfully admits one night that he may start to enjoy his time spent with human. And for a moment he feels guilty about the lie but its all for a greater goal

When its just the three of them, Beel leaves for a moment too long. To get snacks, to grab something from another room, it doesn't matter. This was the moment he waited for. 

She smiles at him, all kind and gentle (And the words that leave her lips are unheard through the blood rushing through his ears) and leans forward

He puts his hands around her neck

She goes limp.

He-

He needed to-

He couldn’t squeeze.

Beel comes back with the biggest grin on his face, arms full of snacks (”Here MC I got your favorite”) He sits on the opposite side of Belphie, leaning into him with enough weight that his own shoulder presses against MCs, mushing her against the wall. 

Despite her smile he can feel her shaking.

[ren1327]

Sweet Survivor Ch.9 Final

He moaned as he woke up, hearing a loud but steady beep to his left.

Why was his right side so warm?

He took another deep breath and heard a hum in his ear from the warmth under him.

“Kenji?”

His vision cleared and he found Ben pressed against his side in robe matching his, legs and feet bare.

Ben had bruises on his collar and a cut on his lip. But he was smiling at Kenji so brightly, Kenji swore he had never seen him look so beautiful.

Kenji was in a bed with him curled against his side, an arm around his neck.

If this was heaven, he would enjoy eternity in Ben’s arms.

“Did I die?” He asked him, leaning close to kiss him.

“You better had not!” A voice said from over them, startling them apart.

Kenji looked up to see a short plump woman with mocha skin, her curly black hair put up in two panda buns. Her soft cotton shirt that said “Property of Kon Incorporated” stretched over her baby bump. Her soft green eyes looked down at him in worry and he wanted to cry as her always warm hands stroked over his cheeks.

“Mijo, you scared me!” She crooned and took Kenji’s face in her hands and kissed his forehead. Ben moved back to give them space.

Kenji sniffed as she used her thumbs to brush away his tears before they fell.

“Candy?” Kenji asked. “Where am I?”

“You passed out from blood loss, Kenji.” She said, voice shaky. “Your father got you and your friends private rooms. Ben is technically supposed to be in that bed over there, but…”

She chuckled and hugged him. “Neither of us could leave your side.”

The Puerto-Rican smiled sweetly, eyes shining with unshed tears. “I want to tease you, but I’m just so happy you’re safe. Your father was a mess and little Carmen kept kicking as if to tell us her big brother was still…”

She sniffed loudly, looking up and fanning her face. “Dios mio…”

Ben smiled at Kenji, who finally looked around to see he was in a large private room, a bay window looking out over a busy city. He and Ben were in hospital robes, the lights turned low and a curtain most likely hiding the other bed and the door where he could hear people passing by.

“You’re in San Jose, Papa.” She said. “We’re staying at my old apartment.”

“We’re…We got away.” Kenji said.

“We did.” Ben said. “And Bumpy is okay from what I saw…”

Ben shook his head, schooling his anguished face into a shaky smile.

“Candy was telling me how she and your Dad met when he first came here to see Jurassic World.” Ben said. “And we just kept talking.”

“Yes.” Candy said, sitting on a plush armchair with a groan and stroking her belly. “Your Dad went to go pick up your friends families. Ben told me about Toro and Bumpy and the suck-os.”

“Suchos, Mom.” He said and Candy squeaked.

“Baby boy, you’re lucky I can’t get up right now or I’d smother you with love.” She said with a blinding smile, reaching out a hand and waving it like a fan.

Kenji took the hand she offered, noting her nails were bitten and chipped. He looked at her again, noticing how red her eyes were. How tired she looked.

“So,” She said. “I’m assuming I’m going to be getting use to my future partner hanging around?”

“What?” Kenji asked.

“Ben here has some amazing ideas for new products. A white tea mask with carob seed extract? I had no idea it could be a daily moisturizer!” She said. “That nice girl, Yazmina? She had packed a lot of things in hers and Sammy’s bags, including a book Ben said you gave to him and he has been going off about how different plants can be crushed, or oils extracted. I always get so bored when my scientists tell me this and that, but Ben really has a zest for this!”

She waved her free hand around excitedly. “I’m thinking a new daily skin care line! The launching off point of my new and improved company!”

Ben smiled up at Kenji. “She likes my ideas.”

“And I need to try that banana carob loaf.”

“Ben!” Kenji exclaimed with a blush.

“I’ve was working on that vest of yours, honey.” She said and held up his vest with thick black stiches holding the claw marks together like torn flesh. “I can get it repaired at home.”

Kenji laughed, imaging Candy struggling with the needle and her excited face when she would make the thread connect the two sides.

“Thanks Mom.” He said again.

“Oh, Baby boy.” She said as the door opened.

“Candela?” Mr. Kon called.

“Kosei!” She called. “They’re awake!”

A woman with a messy brown braid threw the curtain open.

“Ben!” She yelled and gathered Ben in her arms, picking him up like he weighed nothing, holding him like a toddler. She was petite and thin, but obviously had hidden strength.

“Whoa! Mom—" Ben said, holding on tight to her shoulders.

“Oh, my baby! I’m so sorry! I will never ever force you to do something you don’t want to ever again—”

“Sandra, he might be injured!” A broad blond man in a rumpled and stained button up said. The poor guy looked like he lived off coffee and pure anxiety.

“David!” She hissed, making him flinch back. “I thought my son was dead yesterday!”

“Ma’am?” Kenji asked.

Her big blue eyes snapped to Kenji. Her husband came up next to her.

“He has a bruised tailbone, so he should take it easy.”

“O-Oh…Was he in the same bed as you?” She asked, looking very confused as Ben hugged her back and swung his legs down to stand. His father pulled him into a hug too.

“Hey, Son.” He said, voice thick as he rubbed Ben’s back.

“Hey Dad.” Ben sniffed and turned to hug his mom again. “I missed you guys so much!”

Mr. Kon sat next to Kenji and stroked his hair.

“Mrs. Pincus?” He asked in his stern voice.

Ben’s mom looked at the man in the clearly expensive business suit. “Oh, yes, Mr.…?”

“Kon.” He said. “Kosei Kon.”

“Of Kon…” She swallowed. “Kon Incorporated?”

“Yes. I am very sad to hear of what happened to Simon.” He said, face falling as he bowed his head.

“Yes. He was a good man.” She said softly. “It’s going to be hard without him. And I know it will displace a lot of good people who loved him, loved working for him…”

“Do you have a resume handy?” Candy asked from her seat.

“Candy!” Mr. Kon scolded lightly.

Candy blinked at her husband and pouted. Kosei stared her down and her bottom lip wobbled a bit as she stroked her baby bump. The older man’s cheeks reddened at the sight of her big eyes practically begging for something unspoken between them, and he sighed.

Ben was impressed with how she was able to break down such a stern looking man.

“Mrs. Pincus. My wife would like to rebuild her own business after our daughter is born and I…we were wondering if you would be able to help by joining her employ.” He said. “I was planning on asking you after our children had rested enough, but now seems as good a time as any.”

“I’m sorry, but how do they…how do they know each other? From the camp?” Mr. Pincus asked.

“He’s my boyfriend, Dad.” Ben said, making Kenji’s head snap in his direction.

“Kosei Kon’s son is your...” Mrs. Pincus said.

She sat on the bed.

“Yeah. We kinda confessed after I survived falling from a monorail when Pteranodons attacked us. After almost dying, like, more than once,” Ben said with a tilt of his head. “We thought it best to just be honest about our feelings.”

Mr. Pincus sat down next to his wife.

“Oh.” They both said at the same time.

 *

 “You’ll come visit, right?” Sammy asked as Yaz’s Dad loaded her backpack in the backseat of their cab and her Mom hugged both of Sammy’s Dads.

“Well duh.” Yaz said, taking her girlfriend’s hands. “Gotta come see my sponsor’s new investment!”

Sammy smiled and kissed her cheek, hugging for the umpteenth time.

Darius waved as his mom hugged him close.

“Don’t forget to message me!” Brooklynn called.

“Every day!” He promised her, sliding in his own cab behind his brother.

Roxy gave Brooklynn a big hug as her mom and aunt thanked Dave and Claire over and over, her aunt still crying happy tears.

Kenji held Ben’s hands as their parents waited for them in separate cabs.

Kenji rubbed his thumb over Ben’s bruised knuckles.

“It’ll only be a few months, right?” Kenji asked.

“Well, we need time to pack, pick a house and settle.” Ben said softly. “Besides…still…a little fast for me.”

“Scared of the B word?” Kenji joked.

“Scared of the expectations that come with being a boyfriend. Not to mention all the new things.” He said. “I mean, realistically…we might not even last.”

“Don’t worry.” Kenji said. “When you move to California…I’ll drive over whenever you want to see me and give you space when you don’t.”

Ben blushed and gave him a blank look.

“Who are you and what have you done with Kenji Kon?” Ben asked, making a face.

Kenji kissed the wrinkle over his nose. “I’m still Kenji. Being the best at everything. Including boyfriend.”

Ben leaned up and kissed his jaw. “You already are. No expectations needed.”

“Back at you.” Kenji said, kissing him softly. “Besides. I think my Mom and Dad love you too much for me to mess this up.”

Ben chuckled and smiled softly up at him. “See you later?”

Kenji put on his rose-gold aviators.

“You betcha, Sweet thing!”

Ben wrinkled his nose, but couldn’t hide his smile as they parted.

  THREE YEARS LATER…

 The shrill beeping of his phone went off.

Kenji took a deep breath and tried to sit up, but two arms refused to let him budge.

“Seriously, what’s with this grip?” Kenji whispered, trying to peel off his boyfriend’s fingers.

“No…” Ben whined, adjusting to hug him around the waist, the thin sheet covering their bodies falling to expose more of Ben’s skin.

“Baby, I gotta get my phone.” He said and Ben whined again, hugging a pillow.

He sat up and reached over to get his cell, seeing Brooklynn and Darius’s picture on it. He swiped it and sighed, seeing it was four am.

“What is it, Dino-Nerd?” He asked. “Ben has class tomorrow and I got a meeting I gotta shadow with my Dad—”

“Is Ben there?” Darius asked.

“My boyfriend of three years who lives with me? That Ben?”

“Kenji!”

“Yes! Ben is here!” He groaned and Ben sat up, pulling the sheet up to his chin. “Aren’t you supposed to be at Claire’s office or—”

“Put me on speaker.” Darius said.

Kenji tapped the button and sighed. “Done.”

“Ben?”

“Yeah?” He asked sleepily. “Did the relocation go okay?”

“Bumpy was moved.” Darius said, sounding out of breath.

“Yeah, you told me Zia said they were gonna be relocated to—”

“She wasn’t relocated to the island!” Brooklynn’s voice said suddenly. “We came to check up and—oh my god, they’re getting away!”

“What?!” Ben yelled, and Kenji hugged him close.

“I can see Claire and Owen!” Darius said in the background.

“Guys? Wait, then where is she?” He asked.

“She’s on the mainland!” Brooklynn said. “She was taken to Lockwood Manor and—Darius, duck!”

They heard a squeal. “We’re okay.”

“Lockwood Manor?” Kenji asked.

“She’s not the only one!” Darius said. “There’s so many! Wait is that…Toro?!”

“Get in the car, get in the car!” Barry yelled over the phone. “We’ll recon around the property and pick them up.”

They heard a far-off roar and the sound of an engine.

“Guys!” Ben yelled.

“We’re okay! But you need to spread the word! Get your families up north as soon as possible! We’re going to stay and help Claire and Owen!” Darius said. “There’ so many and I know Owen and Claire are going to need help. We hate to ask you…”

Kenji looked at Ben. His boyfriend nodded; determination set on his face.

“We’re in.”

[shipersanonymous]

Au

WARNING : MAY CONTAIN CONTENT NOT SUITABLE FOR READERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

************ Cliffhanger Warning ************

Earlier that day...

The alarm went off and Barry flung his hand out from underneath the covers towards the screeching device. One tap, two taps, three taps later and it finally grew quiet. As he drifted back to sleep the sound of a dragged shuffle grew louder as it got closer to him. A yawn sounded followed by a sleepy muffle that carried in it a message along the lines of "Dude, we're gonna be late".

His roommate shuffled out and Barry listened to his retreat before returning his attention to the task at hand but unfortunately it was too late. The need to sleep had left him. Like a brainless being he rose from his bed, tripping over everything before him (including air) and walking his way to the bathroom. As soon as the cold water hit his face his senses came to life. He awakened completely and with his new and alert state came a radiant smile that seemed to be permanently plastered on to his face. A quick shower and teeth brushing later and he was back in his bedroom, dancing around in nothing but his jeans and a pair of socks while he picked out a shirt.

"You can't find a partner use a wooden chair, let's rock. Every body lets rock. Every body in the...." a knock on his door stopped him mid lyric and he turned away from his cupboard to give the new comer permission to enter. Cisco popped his head in through the door with a licorice stick (his breakfast of choice) hanging from his mouth.

"Yoh Elvis Presley, can you hurry up with the sequins we're gonna be late."

"Late for what?"  Barry asked settling on a plain white t-shirt and throwing a navy blue cardigan on over it.

"The investors meeting at S. T. A. R. Labs? The people who are funding our internship are gonna be there so they want us to be there too? Any of this ring a bell?" he asked swinging the half eaten piece of candy in the air like a magic memory wand.

"Oh right," Barry recalled and Cisco shook his head, holding back the urge to slap his forehead. The house phone chimed and he left with a final "speed up" warning. Barry took a brush to his easy going patch of hair that caved to each gentle stroke without protest then made his way out to kitchen. He entered just as Cisco put down the phone. "That was Dr. Snow. Seems like there's been a death among the investors. The meetings been pushed up to later in the afternoon so we're going to have a late night," he informed while slumping down into a chair and reaching out for the TV remote. Barry shrugged to no one in particular, dismissing the information as unimportant and moving towards the cupboard for some turtle mix.

"Hey there buddy. You hungry?" he cooed as he unloaded a scoop of food into the medium sized glass case that housed their pet turtle.

"I honestly don't know why you talk to that thing. It's not like it's gonna answer back. I mean all it does is sit there and look ancient." Cisco remarked with his attention still trained on the ever changing screen.

"Don't listen to him McSnurtle, you don't look a day over a hundred." Barry responded with a goofy pout as he reached in and rubbed the turtles hard shell with his finger. He watched for a while as the reptile feasted at his usual languid pace and Barry just smiled, inexplicably entertained.

"You know maybe we should get McSnurtle a girlfriend. He looks lonely." Barry observed and Cisco snorted in response.

"You can barely get yourself a girlfriend and you want to get one for the world's tiniest dinosaur?" he asked and Barry rolled his eyes in response but his roommates eyes were too glued to the TV  screen for him to notice. Barry made his way to the other couch in the cozy apartment and sat down to join Cisco in his latest TV binge. They ended up debating the many scientific faults and accuracies in the show with a passion only mastered by stereotypical (and this is meant in the best sense of the word) nerds.

The clock struck noon and Barry grew stir crazy. "I'm gonna head out for a bit." he said but when his revelation was met with no answer he directed a questioning glance at Cisco and found that he was fast asleep. A very soft thunder rumbled in the distance and deciding that he would make it home before the downpour he left without an umbrella.

The sky was a light grey that darkened in hue towards the east where the storm, undoubtedly was coming from. Barry walked lazily down the street towards the cemetery. He could have gotten a cab but the weather was at the perfect interim point between sun shine and rain so a five block walk felt necessary. He took deep breaths in through his nose, enjoying the earthy smell of the coming drizzle that fluttered toward him on the back of a pleasant breeze. He passed by a group of high school girls taking a group photo and offered them a charming smile. That picture, it's safe to say, became a collage of varying shades of crimson cheeks.

He walked through the gates of the cemetery and the familiar feeling of nostalgia infused sadness crept into his heart as he neared his parents resting place. The graves laid side by side, an image of their devotion to each other that even in death their love carried on.

"Hi mom. Hi dad." he greeted once he'd reached them then exposed his pocketed hands to caress the cool stones, simultaneously wiping of some of the collected dust. He crouched down infront of them and continued his solo conversation. "Sorry its been a while, I've been busy." he blushed, hearing his parents condemning tones in his head. "I know, I know that's not an excuse and I promise I'll try to do better. I'm just really tired and I miss you both, a little more each day." The back of his throat burned with tears but before he could hang his head and cry he heard a distressed scream from somewhere near by. Ever the model citizen, his ability to sympathise and his need to help kicked in and he left his parents graves to go in search of the troubled soul. Barry didn't have to walk far before he came a cross an enchanting woman, beautiful even in her state of emotional turbulence and made more charming by her complete vulnerability. The wind blew her ebony hair in all manner of directions, concealing her facial features and adding to the mystery that seemed to draw him to her. He stepped in her direction just as she turned on her heel and made her way to him. She seemed to be leaving. Barry ducked behind a grave and waited for her to make her exit, convincing himself that she probably didn't want to be disturbed.

The mesmerising stranger stormed past him without noticing his presence and for the brief moment in which he watched her walk away he found himself running short of air. It was almost as if each step she took away from him decreased the levels of oxygen around him so finally he gathered up his courage and as he stepped out of his hiding place, he asked if she was alright. When she turned around to express her annoyance, their eyes connected and hers, he realised, were an intoxicating shade of brown. She drank him in and he felt himself grow afraid at the intensity with which she analised him. His face began to flush as he traced each detail of her feminine features, committing each line and curve to memory. The world around him seemed to dim in comparison and so when the rain fell, to him it looked like a painting being drained of its colour. All else washed away and there was only her.

[peterpumpkinparker]

Getting Better |2|~ River Lea

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2000

Masterlist

Spotify PLaylist

Constructive Criticism always appreciated!

“Parker,”

his last period’s teacher stated plainly, barely loud enough to be heard over the yell of the rowdy teens.

Peter picked up his tired head, his brown eyes looking up tiredly. The teacher’s stony face was evident with sternness as she looked upon the paper in her hand.

Peter’s stomach erupted with butterflies as he jumped up quickly. Did he do it?

He raced to her desk, signing a paper with tingling hands and looked at the paper, a hint of pale blue on the borders of the crisp white edges. His heart raced and his hands rubbed the soft interior of his sweatshirt as she looked at the paper with a face of steel.

It felt like an hour (when it was only a few seconds), but the stern woman handed Peter his report card.

“Not bad Mr. Parker,” she stated with the smallest hint of a smile, “much better than last semester. Just make sure you keep it up.”

Peter looked at the small sheet, the angry butterflies in his stomach transforming into what felt like soft clouds.

“Um uh- yeah, of course,” Peter replied as he still stared at the paper in disbelief.

He walked back to his seat, thumbing each letter grade in each class. A smile played on his lips- mostly B’s, and a hand full of A’s. Much better than last year- towards the end of that year, when being his alter ego was getting a little out of hand, he was skipping classes and not doing work, which resulted in him almost failing. He had worked tirelessly to start paying attention in class again and getting his grades back up- and to his surprise, he actually did it. Now he just had to do it over and over again throughout the year. But he would manage. Nothing in the world was going to make him repeat what he did last year.

In his transfixed state of self pride over his report card, Peter wasn’t paying attention to the clock, which was unlike him. Peter was the kid who counted down the seconds before the bell rang, his jitters making him tap his foot furiously on the floor or rap his pencil on his desk.

The shrill period bell rang, declaring the school day was over. The kids stampeded out of the room as the teacher yelled out about the test next class, Peter being the strangler. He stuffed his pencils and paper in his semi-new backpack, then carefully folding his report card and placing it in the pocket of his jeans. Peter nodded a goodbye to his teacher, and shuffled his way into the packed hallway.

A new type of joy bubbled in his stomach- this was going to top the already good day off- it was time to be Spiderman.

Peter put in his earbuds quickly and  jogged out of the school, weaving through the very familiar streets and sidewalks until he finally reached his favorite deli, the worn words “Delmar” clearly being seen from the streets. He walked in, a little chime going off as he opened the glass door. The smell of salty food filled the air as a loud Spanish conversation was being heard in the back room. Warm light filtered in from the street.

Peter was just pulling out his earbuds as someone shoved his shoulder, the person clearly in a hurry. Peter grunted from the contact, a “Sorry” already spilling out of his chapped lips as the person walked out the door. The person didn’t turn to reply, their rushing body walking out the door as the same chime sounded yet again. With one white earbud dangling from his hand, he turned to see only a glimpse of the stranger out of the window- a girl, the female’s hair being obscured by a red handkerchief that covered most of her forehead and neck, while black sunglasses obscured her eyes.

Peter looked at the now empty street, his senses making his fingers tingle and his abused shoulder thump with what felt like electricity- an unsettling feeling started traveling throughout his body.

“That was weird”, he thought with a confused look on his face.

He was still looking out the window when a familiar voice called his last name. He tentatively looked away from the window, turning to meet the expectant face of Mr. Delmar.

“Oh hey Mr. Delmar,” Peter replied hesitantly. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad, kid, not bad- been a pretty busy day but I aint complaining.” Mr. Delmar chuckled with an air of ease.

“Thats good….really good,” Peter said distracted, wondering why his Spidey senses reacted so harshly to when who-ever-that-was brushed his shoulder.

“You gonna order?” Mr. Delmar again broke his train of thought.

“Oh- yeah- yeah! Sorry, could I get my usual? With a pack of gummy worms, thanks,” Peter gave a tight smile, looking out the window yet again as Mr. Delmar told, in Spanish, the person next to him what to make for Peter’s order.

A few minutes later, Mr. Delmar laid his sandwich and pack of candy on the counter next to the cash register.

“By any chance- do you know who that was? The one with the-” Peter motioned to his head as he handed him a crumpled 10 dollar bill.

“The girl with the handkerchief? Nope, never saw her before, sorry kid,” he replied as he handed him back a couple ones with some change.

“Oh, its okay, thanks anyway,” Peter said as his stomach fell slightly. Something about his senses was rubbing him the wrong way- but he brushed it off, thinking that his high excited emotions were making them “malfunction” a little. He stuffed his change and food into his backpack, petted Mr. Delmar’s fat ginger cat, and quickly left the shop, his mind completely forgetting the girl and going to usual spot to transform into the friendly neighborhood Spiderman.

___

He loved being Spiderman.

At school, he was the kid who sat quietly in the back, did his work, talked only to his friends. He was ridiculed by Flash for being smart- but as Spiderman, none of that was there. He had no nervousness, no awkwardness- he was free to do what he wanted, when he wanted and help people who needed it.

He got to help all the little Peter Parker’s who didn’t have the luxury of turning into Spiderman deal with all the Flash’s of the world.

Spider Man did have its downsides though. Like instead of the high schoolers at his school ridiculing him for being a nerd, the “city” bullies were shooting gun ammo at him.

Every job had its down sides though- his was just more on the deadly side, but he could care less.

Today was actually kinda slow. Peter didnt have to deal with any wierdos selling alien tech in dark alleyways, no guys trying to shoot him down with their own homemade inventions. It was kinda nice to Peter. Dealing with those guys were sometimes fun because it let him test his power’s limits, but doing it constantly was stressful and draining.

It was now starting to get dark, the last rays of light beaming out on the horizon, as if the sky wasn’t ready to give up its pretty shades of pink, orange, and red at sunset. Peter’s day as Spiderman went very smoothly, to his surprise (because it never really did)- he stopped someone from jacking a car, helped an oldy cross multiple streets (it took forever), help a little girl find her lost puppy, and met a couple of little fans on the way.

After the whole fight with Vulture last year, many families were thanking Spiderman heavily for keeping the streets safe for their children, which was rubbing off on the little ones. A whole Spiderman Revolution had taken over the city, little kids now begging their parents to get them Spiderman t-shirts and costumes, and little kids now looking up at the sky constantly trying to catch a glimpse of the human Spider. He didn’t want to admit it, but he really liked it. It was nice getting some recognition- even if it was coming from citizens who were now just learning how to add.

He loved meeting the little kids- they always made his day with their outlandish questions and shocked, excited faces.

The wind was now whipping in Peter’s face as he did his last patrols around NYC, his webs detaching and reattaching to each building he was flying through on his pearly white webbing. This was his favorite part- just flying through NYC, above the heads of everyone, almost like he was in his own little world. This was when he could think at his best- really think things over and figure stuff out that was bothering him. But, the week had been exhausting, filled with tests and high point assignments he had to do well on, so all he really wanted to do was go home.

He stopped by his spot where he kept his clothes, the sunset finally giving up its bright colors and letting the cool of night take over. He quickly grabbed his backpack, the webbing he used to protect it from muggers now being dissolved into nothing.

He grabbed his backpack and began to walk home.

He entered his apartment, twisting the key against the old doorknob. The faint smell of burnt food wafted in the air, an all too familiar smell to Peter.

“Aunt May?” He asked tentatively as he wrapped his earbuds tightly around his phone screen.

“Peter?” Aunt May shot her head behind the counter of the kitchen sink, her long brown tresses Falling gracefully against her back.

She smiled, and walked over to give him a hug.

“So,” she asked as she released him, “anything at school? Anything new? Interesting?” She pressed him a little, as if softly coaxing a conversation.

Peter tightened his lip, shaking his head nonchalantly.

“Nothing?” She asked again, almost as she was trying to get the truth out of something.

Peter looked up in confusion. There wasn’t anything that big today. It was pretty normal-hanged out with Ned, helped MJ plan a trip for the Quiz Bowl team, took notes all day.

She sighed happily, trying to suppress a smile.

“So,” She busied herself with a pot of spaghetti on the stove, “I got in the mail a copy of your report card.”

“Oh,” Peter said in realization, looking up at his aunt as he waited for her to say more.

“I’m really proud of you Pete.” She smiles at him, placing a kiss on his forehead. “You really are maturing, getting your time management down, planning your future-you can’t lose this Peter. ‘Kay? You gotta keep truckin forward-your too smart to throw it all away.All A’s and B’s!” She spewed out, her pride radiating off her face.

Peter smiled again, a little bit of embarrassment evident in his face.

He shrugged.

“It’s really not that big of a deal,” he smiled nonchalantly as he set his backpack down.

“Well, it is,” May stated, “which is why I tried to make a cake… which clearly,” she laughed, “Didn’t go very well at all.”

Peter chuckled, shaking his head happily. His aunt wasn’t the most amazing cook by any means, but she did try.

“So...I was thinking we could get some Thai? Sound good?”

Just as Aunt May finished, Peter felt his phone buzz in his back pocket.

He fumbled for it.

“Yeah, Yeah sounds great!” He smiled quickly to his Aunt, his heart picking up pace as he dashed to his room to answer the call.

“Hey-uh-Mr. Stark! What’s up?” Peter asked, awkwardly stuffing his free hand into his pocket.

“Nothing kid,” Stark replied nonchalantly, “was wondering what’s going on with you.”

Peter’s face shifted to surprise. Stark never called unless it was important-and most of the time if it was really important, Stark would visit him with warning. And never just to see “what’s going on” in his life.

“Uhm..” Peter mumbled, “just was gonna go out to eat with my Aunt.”

Peter looked out his door, hoping Stark would finish a little quickly so he wouldn’t leave his aunt waiting.

“Great great,” Stark sweeped away Peter’s sentence. “Listen kid-I called you to tell you something- not a mission or anything-just an event.”

Peter’s heart fell a little. He was hoping he would be doing another team up mission with Stark-those were always so awesome.

“in a couple weeks I’m gonna have something special going on, ya know, the whole Stark wedding and all...and I was actually going to invite you to it. If your up for it.”

Stark continued to talk, but Peter was so surprised and elated he started tuning it out. He actually got invited to something important to Stark. He always looked up to him, so this felt like an achievement of some sort.

“I’m-uh-Yeah sure! I’ll be there,” Peter accepted politely, his body turning away from his door.

“Great kid, Pepper’ll be happy,” Stark sighed, “but I’m sorry to break it to you, but a theres catch to this whole wedding thing.” Stark threw in, catching Peter off guard.

“Is it bad?” Peter asked tentatively, hoping it wasn’t crazy.

“Well, depends…,” Stark drawled out.

“You need to get a date.”

“Wait-What?!?” Peter yelped.

Not another date Peter thought. The last time he had to ask someone out, it wasn’t-well-amazing. He had taken his crush to Homecoming, but it turned out that her father was a super villain and tried to kill him. And he had to ditch his date, so that kind of ruined any type of relationship after that.

“Your gonna have to figure it out kid.” Stark instructed, cutting against Peter stuttering.

“Wait-did-why do I-“

“I gotta go kid!” Stark ended, “I’ll have Happy send you an invitation and all that, but remember-Get. A Date.”

“Bye kid,”

Peter heard a click from the other end. He pulled the phone away from his ear, staring at his screen. He breathed out, turning his tired body away from his phone and suppressing the want to roll his eyes.

And with that, Peter’s night got instantly more stressful and a little annoying.

Hope you guys enjoyed! More parts will be up soon, but thank you for reading!

Taggings:

@petersshirts @just4muggles @starksparker @starksmile @bisexualparkers @spiderboytotherescue @hollandroos 

(I seriously cant think of tags right now ACK)

[negasonicteenagemess]

Gummy Bears || Peter Parker Imagine

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Request:  Can you do a peter parker x reader we’re mj and bed get so annoyed at how oblivious you and Peter are, so they trap you in a closet and they won’t let you out until you admit it to each other so out of sheer awkwardness you start shoot horrible nerdy pick up lines back and forth before you talk or kiss or something and it’s just Super freaking fluffy and cute love your work sorry if it’s really long

There is only one Homecoming spoiler, you’ve been warned

A/N: The ending is kind of rushed because I want to spend time with my family. I haven’t posted in a while so this is my gift to you. Merry Christmas!

masterlist

The group of teens walked into the not so crowded dollar store, grabbing a basket to fill with candy. “What do you guys want?” Y/N asked as they all walked directly to the candy isle,knowing exactly where it was due to the multiple times they’ve been there. “Ohhh, definitely Pop Rocks….and Nerds.” Ned effused, pointing at the candy.

The four friends, since they became so close, started an annual movie night on Friday’s to ‘de-stress’ from the awful week they typically had at school. Friday’s were also one of the only nights where all of them were free to hang out. So, they had decided to go to the local dollar store to buy candy and 'essentials’ for the night.

Peter grabbed a couple of bags of Gummy Bears and looked at his friends desperately, with his chocolate puppy brown eyes. “Can we get Gummy Bears?” He asked, almost begged, making Y/N chuckle softly.

“Hell yeah man.” She took the candy from his hands and chucked it into the basket she held. This simple gesture made Peter swoon. The simplest things she did always made his heart melt, and his huge crush on her wasn’t very helpful as he would always awkwardly blush around her. He shook his head, getting himself out of his awestruck gaze and focusing back on the candy.

The total came to be about forty dollars so they all pitched in to pay for it. They each grabbed a grocery bag and walked out onto the busy street of New York, starting their trek to the Parker household.

Peter unlocked the door to his apartment, pushing it open to wait for his friends to walk inside first. They all went to his living room while Peter went into the kitchen to see a note from his Aunt, saying that she won’t be back until late at night.

“So, what movie do you guys wanna watch?” Peter asked as his group of friends from his place in the kitchen. Everyone shrugged their shoulders, walking towards his living room to examine all of the movies that he had available after they all dropped their bags in the dinning room. “Well, the only movie that sounds any good is this stupid scary movie.” Michelle stated, holding up the CD case from an old movie.

“Oh, is it the one with a bunch of hot guys?” Y/N asked, turning to face her friend and hoping onto the couch. Michelle nodded her head, following Y/N’s movements by sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table.

“Guys…. I’m not a big fan of scary movies.” Peter nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his neck, entering the living room and throwing his backpack next to the T.V. stand. “Come on,” Michelle urged, “I heard that it was pretty cool.”

“Relax Peter. At least you’ll have Y/N to cuddle with if you get too scared.” Ned snickered standing next to the nervous boy, who hit his arm lightly. Y/N was too focused on her phone to hear their conversation. “Come on dude. Could you at least keep it down? I don’t want her to hear.” Peter anxiously looked back at Y/N to see if she overheard anything. He let out a sigh as he noticed she was completely oblivious, but Michelle was well aware.

“She’s going to have to find out sooner or later, right?” Ned stated matter of factually. He then moved to sit on the La-Z-Boy recliner next to the couch, leaving only one place to sit, next to Y/N. Peter cleared his throat, forcing himself to sit next to Y/N. His heart was already beating out of his chest.

He had known Y/N for a very long time, and he usually wasn’t so weird around her. Ever since he realized his feelings for her, he had been acting weird. All of his friends could tell, except for Y/N.

Peter soon realized that he was unable to protest the scary movie, as Michelle already played the CD. The candy that once filled the grocery bags was now littering the coffee table. He leaned over, grabbing one of the bags that held a sweet candy, gummy bears. He offered some to Y/N and she gladly took a hand full, keeping her eyes glued on the T.V.

“Oh shoot,” Michelle, over dramatically stated, “we didn’t make any popcorn. Ned, care to join me?” She stood up, walking near the boy and lightly nudging him.

“Nah, I think we'r-” Ned started, but wasn’t able to finish before Michelle completed his thought. “Great! Let’s go.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the kitchen to make the popcorn. Y/N grabbed the remote to pause the film and wait for her friends.

“That was pretty…weird.” Y/N said, tossing a piece of candy in her mouth. Peter nervously chuckled, hearing his other two friends whispering in his kitchen. “Yeah, that was strange.”

Y/N looked down at her lap and smiled lightly. This boy made her so happy, no one could even understand. She sighed, ruffling a hand through her hair. She was thinking, maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be a completely terrible idea to tell him about her feelings. She just couldn’t find the courage to do so.

Before their conversation could continue, Michelle and Ned appeared back in the living room. “Hey Peter, this movie is really boring. Let’s go to your room.”

Peter and Y/N gave each other a confused look, but he wasn’t complaining. He really hated scary movies. “Y-Yeah sure. Let’s go.”

He stood up, grabbing a bag of candy so they had something in his room. Peter lead the way to his bedroom, Y/N right behind him, and their other two friends trailing behind.

Unbeknownst to Y/N and Peter, Michelle and Ned nudged each other as they approached the largest closet in the apartment, and it was right next to Peter’s bedroom. Michelle grabbed Y/N’s arm and Ned grabbed Peters, pushing them both into the closet.

“MJ, what the hell!” Y/N shouted, banging on the door. Ned locked the closet, glad that the lock was on the outside. “Hey, I dropped my gummy bears!” Peter stated from the other side of the door. The teens kept fussing, trying to open the locked door.

“So, we’re not letting you out until you two confess your love for one another.” Once Ned stated those words, they both immediately stopped their ruckus.

Y/N and Peter stared at each other, the only light in the room illuminating their faces was coming from the cracks in the door. They both had scarlet red blushes as they were both flush against one another, due to the lack of space.

“I-I don’t know what their talking about,” Y/N exclaimed.

Peter was shaking his head, “yeah, me neither.” His voice cracked and he closed his eyes, pleading for this all to be over. He quickly noticed that his hands were on her waist, and when he pulled them away, they both tried putting as much space between them as possible.

“Come on guys!” Y/N begged, hitting the closet door. Peter looked down at his shoes, ready to confess his feelings.

“I like you.” He boldly stated, fiddling with his fingers. Y/N stopped hitting the door and looked at Peter. “I-I kinda figured from…recent events. I just didn’t think you had the guts to admit it,” she responded.

Peter let out a short breath, “I’ve liked you for a long time, but I just- I just kind of realized it a little while ago.” He moved closer to her, grabbing both of her hands in his. They were both quiet for a minute. “Please say something,” Peter whispered.

Y/N stood there, shocked. She grabbed Peter’s shoulders, still not knowing what to say. He moved his hands to hold her waist. “Peter Parker,” she whispered, “you have been my muse for such a long time.”

She leaned in slightly, and the action made Peter’s eyes go wide, but when their lips connected he was out of his trance. His eyes closed as they melted together. It was like everything fell into place, almost like they fit together like a puzzle.

Y/N pulled away giggling slightly making Peter’s face turn red thinking that it was because he did something wrong. “You taste like gummy bears Pete.” She was still giggling, her hands playing with the ends of his hair. His face softened because he saw that beautiful smile on her face.

“I’m so glad they locked us in here.” Y/N smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. Peter wrapped his arms around the small of her back.

“Yeah, I’m glad too.”

[steverogersnotebook]

Neighbors - Someone to Look Up to

NEIGHBORS

TJ Hammond and Steve Rogers (between TWS/CW) are neighbors who, after trying to find comfort on sleepless nights through baking and music, have forged a lasting friendship.

(my inbox is open for ideas, prompts and headcanons)

NEIGHBORS fluff | gen [platonic friendships] / Steve & TJ Hammond [SERIES of oneshots]

Many thanks to @avenger-nerd-mom for the idea behind this snippet (as well as her continued cheer-leading)

TJ let himself into Steve’s apartment, looked around the orange, brown, and black autumn decorations and saw why he’d heard the muffled “come in” when he’d rang. Steve was in an orange t-shirt and a black apron with a full-sized skeleton, and he was piping icing onto cookies.

“Um,” TJ hesitated, cleared his throat, and started again, “I hate to tell you this, because you look like you’re having a great time with those spooky cookies.”

“What?” Steve flicked his eyes toward TJ, not moving a muscle as his hand hovered over the latest perfect pumpkin cookie in the lineup. The piping bag stilled and a line of royal icing dangled from the tip.

“Well,” TJ’s voice rose an octave. “Parents don’t trust homemade treats. There have been too many urban legends about poison and people believe them. Then there are the dozen or so cases of pins or needles found in treats, which have clinics offering free x-rays of candy bags.”

“Why does everything have to be so –” Steve looked a bit deflated, and TJ felt terrible for opening his mouth.

“Shitty? I don’t know.”

“Why even do any of it then?” Steve set the piping bag to the side and broke the cookie in half that the stray icing fell onto. “Test cookie?”

“Yes, please. You know? Kids still get excited, they don’t typically know anything about the shitty stuff. Parents like to let ‘em dress up and they do the routine without making a big deal. I’m sure you can hand out cookies to the kids we know, whose parents know you. The rest we can take to the retirement home down the block. Unless you just wanna eat them all.”

“I’m sure I have a volunteer for that mission.” Steve smiled. “Y’ know, Ma used to call dressing up guising, she’d make soul cakes and she called trick-or-treating souling. It wasn’t ‘til I met Bucky that I knew that and trick-or-treating were one and the same.”

“Since you spend most of your life dressing up, have you decided not to?”

“Nope. I have a costume.”

“Oh really?” TJ asked around the bite of cookie. “I’m shocked. Or am I looking at it?”

“An actual costume. How about you?”

“I used to go to parties, not house-to-house. They were too busy for that. We did have a party once, at the farm. Apple bobbing, ghost stories around a bonfire, hay rides and scarecrows – please tell me you’re not going as a scarecrow?”

“Scared?” Steve laughed, before pulling back. “Sorry. If you’re scared – I mean…”

“As terrified as others are of clowns,” TJ laughed. “My brother was an idiot. He got his friends to prank me with a scarecrow. When I freaked out, he laughed and decided I should be a crow for Halloween or, as he put it, ‘a fraidy cat’.”

“Rest easy, it’s not a scarecrow. Or a clown. By the way, I was asking about your costume. Not that I’m not interested in your Halloween stories, because I am.”

“Oh, I might have to pick a different one,” TJ hesitated. Steve’s expectant look prodded him to continue. “I was actually going to be Tinkerbell.”

“Why would you have to pick a different costume? I hope you don’t think I’d judge something as important as self-expression?”

“I’m sure others will pick up the slack.”

“Do you have the costume? Maybe more important, do you have the legs for it?”

TJ laughed, relieved that he had one friend who was on his side, and amused at the important question. “Hell, yeah, I’ve got the legs for it.”

“Then do it.” Steve picked up another cookie, this time with no icing, and broke it in half. He chuckled as he offered the cookie. “We’re gonna look like a couple.”

“You’re gonna be a super-buff Peter Pan?” TJ asked, taking the cookie half.

“Pirate. Not Hook, but…” Steve stopped as TJ busted up laughing.

“But there’s no difference once people see Tinkerbell.”

“Exactly. Are you expecting anyone you’d rather not have think you’re seeing someone?”

“Cute dads,” TJ said with a smirk. “Single cute dads, of course.”

“Of course.”

“My homewrecker days are through. You really believed the Tinkerbell thing, didn’t you?”

Steve returned to the cookie side of the island and pushed a bowl and tray in front of TJ. “Ice these and talk to me. You do know I tend to take you at your word, right? You wanna be a jealous little pixie, you got the legs for it, like you said.”

“If I’m targeting single, cute dads, I need to be a little less over the top. I do think about it every year, but I just don’t have the guts.”

“You should do it. You’ll either love it and be glad you did, or hate it and know you don’t want to do it again. The one thing you won’t have to do is worry about whether you can pull it off or not.”

TJ was quiet, thinking about advice that he might not get from anyone else, even Nana would caution him to be careful because of his mother and the press. He concentrated on the outlines for the ghost cookies, and pondered where he’d get a decent costume on short notice.

~•~Ѽ~•~

Steve rushed to the door, plastic pumpkin full of candies in one hand, he hesitated as his free hand touched the knob. Taking a deep breath, he opened it, expecting to see costumed kids. He smiled wide when he saw TJ had followed through with his costume idea. “TJ, come in.”

“Hey, you look like a real swashbuckler,” TJ said as he entered the apartment, taking in Steve’s costume and the plastic pumpkin.

“And you weren’t kidding about your legs,” Steve laughed. “Remember, I traveled with showgirls. I know a great pair of gams when I see ‘em.”

“Whoa, gams huh?” TJ chuckled along with Steve. “I keep forgetting you’re older than Nana. You shoulda gone for the noir gumshoe if you’re gonna talk like that.”

“I lived through that era.” Steve shook his head, “Besides, I always wanted to be a pirate, the closest I got was a pair of Buck’s shorts that went below my knees, one of Ma’s scarves tied around my waist, and a hankie on my head. I wanted some boots or a hat, but those were too extravagant. I did cut an eye patch out of paper and scribbled it black with a piece of charred wood. I hated it, it looked ridiculous.”

“Sounds adorable,” TJ disagreed. “Is this your dream costume then? Your hat is very – commanding.”

“It’s over the top. I’m considering changing into my uniform, either of them.”

“As much as I love a guy in uniform, keep the pirate get-up. It’s Halloween, not work. That’s just cheating you.”

Just then, the doorbell chimed and a chorus of “Trick or Treat!” trailed after it.

“I guess I don’t have a choice.” Steve shrugged. “Why is this so nerve wracking?”

“Want me to get the first one? You can see how it’s done.”

“No. I should be able to manage this. They’re kids.”

TJ smiled and stepped away from the door, resisting the urge to mess with the skirt of his costume, or his wig. The door opened to three little ones, six and under if TJ guessed it right. Their parents stood across the hall, watching the trio. His smile grew as he noticed the littlest one, hiding behind a slightly bigger Harry Potter. The child’s blue costume was a little too big.

TJ wondered if Steve had spotted the tiny version of himself yet, and he stifled a giggle as he thought about the idea that he’d just talked Steve out of donning his super suit. He got his answer the second Steve saluted the child and lowered himself to one knee to offer the kid their choice of candies.

“Captain, are you keeping these wizards safe? Or are they keeping you safe?”

The tyke pulled a plastic shield up to hide their face, covering all but part of one brown eye.

“I think either way, it’s a very good plan. How about some treats?” Steve asked, careful to give the kid space.

Once each bag was a handful of candy heavier, they said “Thank you” in a staggered chorus. Steve and TJ both waved and wished them a Happy Halloween before closing the door.

“You did great,” TJ offered as he walked to the front window. “Looks like there will be more in a bit, they’re a building away.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Steve admitted. “You hungry? I’d thought about ordering a pizza, but decided to put one in instead. It should be ready in a bit.”

“Next time I’m ordering out so you can sit and relax.”

“It’s relaxing.” When TJ gave him the look, Steve leaned against the arm of the sofa. “You’re right, make it a local place and not a chain, and you have a deal.”

“As if I didn’t know that by now. That Mini-Cap was pretty cute.”

“They were all cute,” Steve countered. “You know, I should have talked you out of that costume after all.”

“I can’t tell if you’re serious or not,” TJ turned away from the window. “Why?”

“After I talked you into it, I had a dream about the show I did back in the war, when I took off after Bucky. A soldier yelled from the jeering crowd ‘nice boots, Tinkerbell’.”

“Flashbacks? You should have called me.”

“It didn’t bother me – well – doesn’t bother me. I was just teasing. Your costume is impressive. I’m glad you didn’t give in to self-consciousness.”

“There were a couple of minutes there,” TJ sighed. He put his hand into the pumpkin bucket, shuffling the candies inside. “You got the good stuff. Full size? Trick or treat!”

Steve laughed, “there are several packages, I know there will be plenty of extras, help yourself.”

“I’m fine, I’m holding out for pizza and some of those cookies. Did you end up doing soul cakes too?”

“Nah,” Steve was interrupted by the ringing doorbell. “Just the ghosts and Jack-o’-lanterns.”

TJ snickered as the door opened to a little more than a half-dozen kids, ranging in age from elementary to middle school. The older kids had turned word puns into their costumes. TJ thought it might be interesting to make a game of it and keep score.

He was rethinking his plan as Steve guessed every single one. TJ barely managed to figure out the slender girl in the cottony cloud costume with pictures tucked into the fluff: The Cloud, and there was the one he himself couldn’t figure out at all. A boy wearing a ponytail wig, a Starbucks cup, and the letters ‘R’ and ‘E’ on his chest: Ariana Grande.

The small ones were dressed as a fire fighter, two witches, and Max from Where the Wild Things Are. TJ was impressed that the only correction Steve received was that the witches were ‘princess witches’.

As that group left, two visitors replaced them. a two-foot Hulk with an Iron-Dad had Steve’s face alight. Hulk showed his muscles and roared. He held up his plastic Hulk fists, which were bigger than his little head. Steve crouched in front of him, “Can you show me your best Hulk Smash?”

The little green guy punched Steve’s palm, Steve groaned and rolled backward. With a smooth somersault, he landed upright on his feet.

“That was one super smash!” Steve announced with a grin, while TJ applauded both performances. Iron-Dad had a very cute smile as he pulled off his mask, and TJ chewed his lip before smiling back.

Hulk roared again before taking the offered candy and saying, ‘thank you’.

“Would you like a homemade cookie?” TJ found his guts and started toward the island, perfectly aware of how good his ass and legs looked walking away. “When he’s not moonlighting as a pirate, my neighbor here, is a great baker.”

“Sure, sounds great.”

TJ wrote his number on the napkin before placing one of his best ghost cookies in the center. “What about Hulk?”

“Hulk has enough candy to keep him green for the rest of the year.”

“I’m not going to take all the credit for that cookie, TJ decorated the ghosts.” Steve winked at TJ as he put a few more candies in Hulk’s bucket.

“It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

Steve’s grin was beyond devilish when he closed the door behind the pair. “He deserves to know how talented you are.”

“I’m improving, after almost a year.”

“Well, just wait until he hears you play. You did give him your number?”

“I did.” TJ was beet red and trying not to smile. “You’re a decent wingman. Thanks. He’s a very cute dad. couldn’t tell if he was single, but…”

“He was clearly interested. Just make sure he is single, you told me you weren’t into homewrecking.”

“Okay, remind me never to tell you anything.”

“No way, you tell me everything.” Steve laughed as he answered the door to another Captain America, this one in a tutu with blonde curls poking out of her helmet. She’d brought Thor and Falcon along. “My goodness, it’s a night for Avengers! Did you guys see Iron-Man and Hulk?”

“No. Have they been here?” Little Miss Cap asked.

“You just barely missed them.” Steve nodded, again getting on level with the children. “Look at you all. You look just like the bigger versions.”

“Hulk wrestled the pirate for his,” TJ announced. “Which one of you thinks you can beat this scallywag?”

“Tinkerbell? Did mean ole Captain Hook kidnap you again?” Falcon asked eagerly, “I would fight him for that.”

“You’ve mistaken my friend for nasty old Hook? No, Captain Blond Beard is my friend.”

“Oh, good. He’s a pretty big pirate.” Falcon admitted.

“I love your Tinkerbell costume. You look really neat.” The quiet Thor finally said. “I wanted to be Black Widow, but my mom said I had to be one of the boy Avengers.”

“I happen to know someone who knows the Black Widow,” Steve said, sitting back on his heels. “I’m pretty sure she’d be flattered. I think she might disagree with your mom, but she’d tell you to do what keeps you safe. I also know that if we had her ask Thor, he’d agree.”

“I think the Captain has some good advice.” TJ agreed, watching as the kids took candy and said, ‘thank you’. He looked down the hall as the kids left, seeing a couple of parents at the end of the hallway. They seemed stunned when the kids caught up to them, engrossed in whatever they’d been talking about. “Well, at least the mother didn’t hear us giving the ‘you be you’ talk.”

“Well, you know I wouldn’t get into a discussion of that sort in front of the kids, but in adult company, I’d have a few things to say.”

“More kids, more Avengers.”

“What? Aren’t they tired of us yet?”

“Not gonna happen.” TJ grinned, holding the door as one family approached followed closely by a second. A pop star, several pun costumes, a couple of princesses, a princess cat, two pirates, Jedi and Sith, and more superheroes filled the night and emptied several buckets of candy, ate cookies, and enjoyed both TJ’s Tinkerbell and Steve’s pirate.

Once the knocks and doorbell rings had tapered off, Steve pulled the ‘treats’ sign from his door and locked up after what he’d determined would be their final visitor. He looked at TJ where he was sitting on the sofa. The pizza had been removed from the oven sometime during the festivities, and TJ was piling pieces onto plates.

“You really think people are going to tire of you and your team?” TJ asked, looking up at him through glitter tipped false eyelashes.

“You really think Iron-Dad isn’t going to call you?” Steve countered, falling onto the sofa next to TJ. He took the plate TJ handed him. “There sure were a lot of little Avengers. I lost count.”

“Twenty-nine. Including eight mini-yous. I hope Iron-Dad is single and doesn’t throw the napkin away before seeing my lame attempt at a pick-up.”

“You were so shy, you shoulda been Bashful. You know one of the dwarfs?” Steve teased as he took a bite of the cold – but still good – pizza.

“Hahaha! You’re very funny. I just didn’t want to upset the little green guy.”

“Wise.” Steve chuckled.

“You were so nervous when this started. How do you feel now that it’s ended?”

“Like I could eat a whole pizza and a few cookies.”

“You were having so much fun with the kids, you didn’t give yourself time to eat. Did you even sneak a candy bar?”

“No. I figured after all of the sample cookies earlier…”

“Don’t you even think of finishing that statement. I’m the one who’s had to increase gym time.”

“You don’t have to come up every time I tell you I’m baking.” Steve shrugged. He put a large piece of his pizza slice into his mouth and shrugged again.

“I don’t come for the baking.” TJ tossed his head back against the sofa cushion. “You do know that right? I don’t come because of your hero status or your famous name. Fame sucks.”

“It has its moments,” Steve agreed. “But seeing those kids, happy and excited. They think some guy in tights is worthy of a Halloween costume?”

“They do. They plan their costumes with excitement too. You know, kids get these things in their heads and they don’t think twice. I want to be Captain America, but I’m a girl? Ok, make it a skirt. It’s not about tights, and you don’t wear tights anymore. That’s a combat uniform and you know it.”

“Thank you, TJ. I really didn’t expect to see anybody dressed as me, and as weird as it is, it’s really –” Steve set his plate aside and laced his fingers together across his middle, gazing up at the ceiling before turning to look at TJ. “– it’s just flattering, you know?”

“Only when you’re someone to look up to. When you’re the president’s kid, it’s far from flattering. Especially when you’re the family disappointment.”

“Yeah –” Steve sighed, “– well, I look up to you. As for being the family disappointment? No. You were let down. You know your father’s history, you know your mother’s ambition. Consider, coming from those examples, and the neglect you experienced, you and your brother made it.” He looked at TJ, knowing an argument was imminent. “Better late than never, you know?”

“Thank you, Steve.”

“It’s the least I could do. You still wanna deliver cookies with me tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Yes, I do.”

“How about a scary movie? No clowns or scarecrows, unless you’re feeling brave?”

“Not feeling brave. Not the least bit. Hit me with whatever else you’ve got.”

~•~Ѽ~•~

[gedachtenextracten]

the Laundromat

(Read on AO3)

“For fuck’s sake,” she heard the woman mumble under her breath. “Stupid machine.”

Holly glanced at the swearing woman. She had only just come in, slamming the door open and swearing, before striding to the nearest unoccupied machine. Well, admittedly, there were a lot of unoccupied machines, since there were only two other people apart from her and this newcomer. But still, it was quiet tonight. Must have something to do with –

Yet another string of loud curse words interrupted her thoughts. “Fuck, fuck, FUCK!”

This time she full on looked at the other woman. So did the couple a few machines down. They’d taken their laundry out of the dryer and had begun folding it. The newcomer kicked off her shoes, crouched down in front of the washing machine and started angrily stuffing her clothes in it. She sighed and ran her hand through her short blonde hair. It was then that Holly noticed the wet patch on the woman’s back. That, and the trail of water that probably led all the way back to the crime scene- erm, this woman’s house, or something. Wherever she came from. Definitely not a crime scene.

“What are you looking at?” asked the woman harshly, standing up as she turned to look at her. Holly’s eyes widened. She could practically feel the ice in her voice, and with her hands in her waist, this woman was quite terrifying. If looks could kill, Holly would be dead on the floor by now. She was sure of that. At least that would make for a real crime scene. No, Holly, keep your thoughts together. Stay on topic.

Holly gestured at her waist. “You, you, um, your...” Oh god, now she was stuttering too. She felt like being in high school all over again.

“What?” Yup, still angry. The couple had gathered their remaining clothes as quickly as they could and left.

“I’m sorry.” Holly’s face fell and she averted her gaze and took a few steps back. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Yeah, look. I’m sorry, too.” The woman visibly deflated. “I’m just having the crappiest day ever.” She leaned her back against the machines and folded her arms across her chest.

Holly looked up again.

“My boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend now,” she huffed. “Since he made out with my friend… Who’s also an ex-friend now, I guess…” Her piercing blue eyes met Holly’s. “To keep the story short: my washing machine broke a long time ago, so I used to use his, but now I can’t do that any more, can I?"

Holly frowned and slowly shook her head. "I guess not?"

The woman sighed. “It’s just that I really need clean clothes because I’m having dinner at my parents’ house tomorrow and my mom is going to kill me if I’m not looking like the little miss Perfect she wants me to be, and I really don’t need yet another lecture on her Peckspectations. So I thought I should try if my own washing machine hadn’t decided to magically work again. But it didn’t.” She glared at the wet backpack Holly had seen her carry when she barged in before. “So I ended up with a stinking wet pile of rags.” Her eyes found Holly’s again. “And that mess dripped all over the backpack and myself, as you so eloquently pointed out.”

Holly nodded. “Okay…”

“This is just perfect.” She sighed again and pulled at her sweater. “These were the last clean clothes I had. Oh well. In they go.” She started pulling her sweater off.

Holly’s eyes grew big and she spun around so her back faced the other woman. “Um… What are you doing?”

“I- am- trying-“ came a muffled response. ”To get- this- sweater- off.” She grunted. “But as you can see, I’m failing. A little help, please?”

Holly turned around again and crossed the small distance between them. “Erm, what do I do?”

“Have you never undressed anyone before?” came the incredulous response. “Help me get this thing off. Just, like, pull it up and over my head.”

Holly felt her face heat up again, which made her glad the other woman’s vision was blocked by the offending piece of clothing. She grabbed the hem of the sweater and helped free the woman. “I haven’t undressed someone in quite some time, really. I think I resign to cutting away clothing instead of gently undressing. And I also think I’ve asked people to undress for me more often than undressing them myself,” she mused. “Which is also difficult. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to convince people they should take their clothes off if they don’t really want to.”

The woman cocked her head to the side and gave her a strange look.

Holly’s face flushed immediately. “Oh, no. I meant- They were all my patients. I had to examine them. I’m a doctor!”

“Hm. I do hope that’s true. Otherwise I’d have to arrest you, being a police officer and all.” She turned around to toss her sweater in the washing machine.

Holly tried, but she didn’t manage to avert her eyes from the beautiful pale expanse of this woman’s back. She wondered how her skin would feel under her fingertips. Wow. She really needed to get back to dating people. Her hormones were doing things she was certain they shouldn’t be doing.

“I’m, um, doctor Holly Stewart. Nice to meet you.”

“Gail Peck.” The woman – Gail, Holly corrected herself – turned to face her again and wiggled out of her pants. They also went in the washing machine. She pushed some buttons until the machine started working.

Holly tried to look everywhere but at this woman, who was now standing before her in nothing but her underwear.

“Hey, do you think I could borrow a shirt?”

“Huh?” Great, now she had to look at her. Okay, that actually was kinda great. This woman was beautiful. Stupid hormones.

Gail pointed behind her, where the drying machine was beeping without Holly even noticing. “A shirt? Your laundry’s dry. Can I borrow one?”

“Oh. Yeah. Of course.” Holly opened the machine’s door and grabbed the first t-shirt she saw. “Here you go.”

Gail held up the t-shirt. “Thanks… Nerd.”

“Excuse me?” Holly wondered if she heard that correctly over the sound of the washing machines still going.

Gail chuckled. “A picture of a two dates with ‘Date night’ written underneath it? Definitely a nerd.” She faked a gasp. “Or was this actually your way of asking me on a date?”

Holly turned bright red. “I, um…”

Gail’s features softened. “Calm down doc. I’m just teasing you. Besides, you already managed to get me undressed. I’d say you’re not doing too bad.” She winked before pulling the t-shirt over her head. “And now you’ve even got me to wear your clothes. Feels like we’ve skipped some steps in this relationship.”

“We’ve… In this… What?”

“You know, for a doctor, you are very well-spoken. Let’s see if you can hold a normal conversation. With a normal person. Like me.” She hoisted herself up on one of the washing machines.

Holly turned her back to her. To take her laundry out of the machine. Not to hide her face, no. Definitely not. She began folding her clothes before putting them away in her basket.

Behind her, Gail had retrieved a stash of candy out of her backpack and had started munching her way through it. “So, what kind of doctor are you?”

“I’m a forensic pathologist. I just transferred to a new job here. I’ll be starting in a few days.”

"Oh, dead people?" Gail pulled a face. "Kind of a change from the living, no?"

“Yes, but not that different? I mean, both are like solving a puzzle, only dead bodies can't tell you anything. Well, not with words at least? You have to find out what the body can tell you. For example, what if someone was hit by a bullet? How'd you solve the crime?” Holly went off on an extensive explanation about ballistics. Talking about her most favourite subject, she felt herself loosen up. She was talking animatedly until Gail reached out and put her finger on Holly’s lips.

Holly lifted an eyebrow.

Gail grimaced. “I’m sorry. You just… You just had to stop talking.”

Right. Getting to excited. Holly’s shoulders sagged a little. That’s what happens when I get too excited about forensics. “I won’t say another word.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” said Gail softly. “It’s just… I worked a case today that was… emotionally hard. A girl got shot and she died. And I’m glad you’re so excited about what you want to do, and I do want to hear you talk, but today is not the best day because it’s reminding me of all this shit…”

Oh. Okay. “Do you want pants as well?”

“Huh?” Gail looked confused with the change of topic.

“To wear. You’re only wearing a t-shirt, you’re gonna get cold.”

Gail smiled. “Aw, doc. I thought you’d like being able to eye my legs.”

Holly dropped the underwear she’d just grabbed out of the machine. She felt the flush start up her face again. Again? Seriously? What is this woman doing to me?

“Oi, doc. Don’t drop your knickers just yet.” She could practically hear the grin in Gail’s voice.

Holly stood up and shot her her best glare.

“Sorry,” Gail said sheepishly. “But, don’t worry about me getting cold. My friends call me the Ice Queen for a reason.” She paused. “Well, maybe not because I like to walk around with few clothes. It has more to do with my personality. I’m kind of a bitch.”

And then Holly kissed her. Gail’s eyes fluttered shut. Before she knew it, it was over, and then Holly got up and took a few steps back until her back hit the row of machines behind her.

“Maybe you’re a bitch, but you do taste kind of sweet.”

That lopsided smile was the most beautiful thing Gail ever had seen. And I’m not even gay.

“What?” Holly looked confused. The smile had disappeared.

Oops, had she said that out loud? “I am super attracted to you,” she blurted out. “And I barely even know you. And besides that, I didn’t think I was gay.” She thought that over for a second. “I mean, it never crossed my mind? I don’t own enough fleece, or backpacks.”

Holly finished putting the last pieces of clothing in her basket. “You are insane. You know that, right?” And there was that smile again.

Gail shrugged. “I liked kissing you.”

“I did, too. We should do it again sometime.” She winked. She picked up her laundry basket. “When you return that shirt, maybe?”

Gail nodded slowly. “Where-”

“Same time next week?” Holly said over her shoulder, walking out of the laundromat.

Gail nodded. “See you then,” she said to the closing door.

She stared in wonder at door, her hand coming up slowly to touch her lips. Did that really just happen?