#she's here just reeeeally quiet

[verfound]

FIC: "I'm at the Hospital" (MLB; Lukanette; LBSC Sprints)

Rating: Teen

Characters/Pairings: Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Roger Raincomprix, Rose Lavillant; Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

Notes: I had some down time and wasn’t at a place where I could work on Honeymoon?  I have no other excuse.  For @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers September’s sprint challenge, using the prompt: My husband was worried.  I text him to say I was at the hospital and I would see him later.  He immediately phoned back all worried to see what was wrong.  He forgot he married a nurse.

"I'm at the Hospital"

Jet lag was a bitch.  Luka knew this, of course.  He’d been touring since he was eighteen – of course he knew this.  It wasn’t the first time he’d crawled in the front door three hours after he was supposed to be home (or even three days, in the worst case), and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last.  It also wasn’t the first time Marinette was already asleep when he finally got home, either her own schedule preventing her from waiting up for him or the delays making her fall asleep on the couch before he could get there.

So when he had gotten home later than expected the night before and found her already asleep, it hadn’t entirely phased him.  He’d popped in to the nursery to check on the baby, who was sound asleep in her crib, and after a quick shower he’d crawled in behind his sleeping wife.  She’d woken up just enough to greet him with a welcome home kiss – to turn and wrap her limbs around him in a koala hug he was more than happy to return – before falling back to sleep.  She was gone by the time he woke up again, which was perfectly fine.  Nothing too unusual.  Sure, he would have liked the chance to greet her properly, but he figured she had an appointment or some such he had just forgotten about.

She’d be home soon enough, and she would welcome him home then.  No big.

…except he’d barely had a chance to tug her pillow against his chest, burying his face in it and breathing in the lingering scent of her shampoo, when his phone started buzzing on the bedside table.  He groaned and pushed his face deeper into the pillow, intending on ignoring it (admittedly thinking it was Jagged or Penny or Dingo or someone he didn’t want to talk to when he could be sleeping).  The phone stopped buzzing, was silent a few moments, and then buzzed one last time before falling silent.

[endlessmidnightcreates]

Finally was able to finish the character sheet of my girl, Opal Skai for my most recent DND campaign. It's going super well so far!

Can you see all the lil notes I made, I had a lot of fun doing those :3

Here's the low down on her below the cut

She is a Fire Genasi Druid who is all smarts and like 2% fight despite her ferocious appearance (some would say). She is sometimes seen smoldering or glowing. But she is a Huge Nerd and Babygirl and a bit odd.

Opal is a Bookshop Keeper in Baldur’s Gate. Even though the town is regarded as a nest of vipers, she values knowledge and community and takes pride in the family library/store that she runs with her mother. People around it respect her and the store and it’s seen as neutral ground and is both used for gang negotiations and occasional toddler reading circles, sometimes in the same day. 

She Spends 50% her time in the store, 30% in nature and doing #HotDruidShit (like hot girl shit but with druids) and then the other 20% vibing. She’s quiet, but not shy and actually quite talkative when the moment is right (someone asks her a question about a book–or she’s drunk). She will talk and say hi and bye to people on the street. When it comes to fighting, she prefers not to but that won’t stop her from slapping a bitch (with her hand or staff). But like she reeeeally prefers not to (int. modifier Is -1). Mainly cus she’s Genasi and she is mostly untrained so she would rather not kill someone. But she’s capable.

More Deets

Occupation: 

She owns a small bookshop specialty store. Well, technically it belongs to her mother, but it will go to her once she retires or dies (god forbid).

Denizens of Baldur’s gate can get a wide range of books and scrolls as well as several common herbs and spell components. Everything from eye of newt to various animal bones. She partly keeps it stocked with her own foraging as well as having a supplier and an elderly mother (human npc) who watches over the shop and manages logistics. She manages the front of shop. Having read all the books and catalogued everything in the store, she has begun to work on her every-expanding growing “To buy” list that consists of various rare books and magical items. 

She has started to take on minor mercenary/adventurer jobs to build up capital. There are expensive texts and components in Elturel that she wants to get her hands on. These jobs have ranged from delivering 20 rabbit pelts to serving court papers in creative ways (read: transforms into a cat and tricks them into letting her in). Though, for some of the more rare artifacts, she figures, the easiest way is to tag along with one of the many Adventuring parties in BG to gather information on its whereabouts. 

Class: Druid

Why is she a druid. Druidism runs in the family. Opal’s mother and a few aunts and uncles are and were druids. Her grandmother was as well. It was only natural that Momma Opal taught the ways to her flaming baby. But Opal was resistant to the lifestyle as a young one. The spells, the philosophy, heck, being around leaves as someone whose average body temperature could easily reach 300°C made it difficult for her to find the value of the practice. She figured that blacksmithing would be more useful. Being a Druid helps her live more in harmony with the energies and elements that swirl around in her blood. She’s a valued member of the Druid Community in Baldur’s Gate because she’s just a cool gal, but also because she has helped many a druid get lava flowers (a flower that grows inside volcanoes)[i also literally just made that up] 

Combat 

Opal has only ever unwillingly killed once. She was on one of her many quests. She was an ox, lugging a massive stag carcass behind her. Bandits attacked her and she fought them off, maiming a few and kiling one instantly. The others escaped. She went straight home, fleeing the scene. That was the first time she had ever been attacked. She was rarely provoked or approached in human form because of her stature. But as an ox, people didn’t recognize or fear her. She missed a big payday that day. She doesn’t know if they survived or not. She tries not think about it often. 

Fighting and killing are not things she often does. She’s the type of gal to grab a spider and let it outside rather than smush it. But– She CAN do it. She CAN fight (in humanoid form) and she CAN and WILL hurt someone if they hurt or try to hurt her. She will turn into what the situation needs and act accordingly - need to make a quick getaway? HONSE. Need to serve court papers? KITTY. Need to slap a bitch? HUMANOID

She will not attack unless provoked physically. Her moral code is fuck around and find out but reeeally hopes that they don’t have to find out, cus she doesn't know herself tbh.

Childhood:

Opal doesn't know much about her Genie father’s side, though he comes to visit often enough from the elemental plane. She also has a way to contact him whenever she wants.

She has 12 aunts and uncles who are scattered throughout the country, quite a few of them are druids and frequent their local bogs while the others reside in normal villages and have average families and lives. Opal has ALOT of cousins.

She has an aunt and uncle who live in other parts of Baldur's gate. they sometimes take shifts at the shop. All of them contribute to building the shop’s library and maintaining goods. Her aunt is an adventurer while her uncle is a cook at a tavern.

Religion:

She believes in the spirit of nature. Thus she tries to respect it whenever she has the opportunity. Aside from that, she tries to be respectful of everyone else’s gods, except the evil ones (like bal) or the ones that expect an unhealthy blind devotion. She’s not a devout worshiper. Prays on occasion to the universe but other than that, she focuses on her own actions.

[butmakeitgayblog]

Why does E give you the creeps? I feel like at the time, she was more openly supportive and enthusiastic around Clexa and ADC was the one who was more cagey and was obviously a straight girl who just didn’t really know what to say/didn’t want to say the wrong thing. I have always loved Alycia, but that’s how it came across to me. I’ve been out of the fandom for awhile and am getting back into it so I’m out of the loop. Is it because she married Bob Morley?

Oh no, I couldn't care less that she married Bob. My issue with Eliza (which I've gone into deeper detail about before so I'm just gonna be more brief here) is because of BM's ex's allegations involving cheating, gaslighting, and manipulation that E was party to, and then how E has since treated Clexa and Clexa fans. She went from championing Clexa to claiming she can't really remember scenes very well? Ok. She went from calling it "bell*rke shit" that will probably never happen because that's just not Clarke and his relationship is, to telling his paying Cameo stans that oh no, no reeeeally there were these secret few times that blork almost did happened and it was in the script and they actually built whole sets for it!!! But gee golly gosh it just got cut for some reason and we super don't know how that happened! But it totally was going to happen! Blork was real!! Source: Trust Me Bro.

There's a lot more to it involving her charities and the fact that she milks hers and his stans for all the cash they can get, but in simplest terms, the writing is on the wall about who she is and how she conducts herself as a person, and I'm not a fan.

As for Alycia, if in the future she does something to piss me off I'll drop her too. Celebs get held on a pedestal way too often and forgiven for being objectively bad people just because fans like their artform. I don't care to be that way. That being said, I never held it against Alycia for not being outspoken about Clexa, that's just not who she is. She's never effusive or public on her opinions on much of anything aside from like... what flowers she likes. To her, it's a job with a clock in and clock out time, and I can respect that. I appreciate it, actually. She's always been kind and gracious with fans who have met her, or so I've heard, and that's all I think a celeb really needs to be.

Personally I never found her to be cagey per se, just quiet and kept to her own lane. She said herself that because she isn't a part of the queer community, she never felt comfortable speaking out on it because it felt like she'd be speaking over the voices of the fans and queer people who were using that time for speaking their truth and pain. While some held that against her or felt let down, I didn't because in more ways than not, she was right. There wasn't much she could've added to the conversation that wasn't already being said by people who were actually the ones hurt by what happened with Lexa and the bury your gays trope proliferation of 2016. And since then, she's shown her support. She came back to a show that she had left behind for years just to give fans closure, and she did it in a way that didn't suck money from fans by bleeding their wallets dry through endless conventions.

It's because of those very same feelings in conjunction with seeing how E has handled the whole blork/Clexa situation in recent years that has let me know all that "support" E was throwing our way was disingenuous anyway. She doesn't get to keep those points from me. Honestly I'd prefer celebs to just stay tf quiet on issues rather than virtue signal and fake support for their own interests, only to eventually show their true colors and act mystified and victimized when people feel fooled and pissed off 🤷‍♀️

[evorcy]

tell me more about your dark urge character ^^ What class is she ?

Ohhh thanks for the question!! Krista is a bard and warlock(just a couple levels), a really sad and cruel one and she is reeeeally old. She plays violin and she was learning in the College of Whispers, it's not present in game but thats what DnD have so I will use it as headcanon for BG3. She has to hide her identity though. Her signature spell is "Toll the Dead" which is also not present in game but I imagine it replaces default bard's dissonant whisper. Here's a small description I wrote to my friends a few weeks ago:

Playing an instrument still brings too much pain, being the only thing that connected her between the past and the present. She does not like gatherings around the campfire and loud music, she always smells of hot spicy wine, and sometimes it seems that she is a ghost - her steps are so quiet and inconspicuous. She really looks like a ghost in some way, just a little more - and she will start howling from desperation, spreading her sadness all over the world.

But this strange note with a list of names haunts her. Isn't that her handwriting? Or did someone put it in her pocket? Why do these names cause some kind of incomprehensible itching inside the skull and outrage, as if they are responsible for what happened to her?

[forjongseong]

rolex // jay (ENHYPEN)

pairing: jay x fem!reader

genre: fluff and a bunch of cute stuff tbh // warning: nothing except mentions/appearance of food! // wc: ~1.5k

summary: spending absolute quality time with a potential new love interest... who seems to keep throwing questions that feel like hugs.

author’s note: if you have read quiet, this fic takes place after that! it is also the first in the series of stories inspired by one of my favorite singers, Camilo. I also started this fic because I saw this post "questions/sentences that feel like a hug". I marked the questions by putting them in bold.

if you check my masterlist, the next three titles after rolex is also the name of Camilo's songs. I put snippets of the lyrics in the beginning of each fic. maybe I should start naming this the Camilo-inspired series of Jay x Y/N? idk. anyway as usual, reblogs and replies are very much appreciated! and check out the song rolex it's reeeeally good!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don’t want to know what time it is

I threw away my watch and it was a Rolex

I cancel everything, all my plans

Spending time with you is more important

The sun was shining and the sky casted the most perfect blue shade. At the end of the road, Jay saw his destination—a small and cozy bakery with an indoor-outdoor seating and woody aesthetic—and the person he was looking forward to see already sitting by the window.

As the door was being pushed open, the dainty jingle of the bell distracted Y/N from her phone. She waved to Jay who immediately made his way to her table.

“God, sorry I’m late. I left my watch,” Jay set his bag on the empty chair in front of Y/N and took off his jacket.

Y/N waved her hand, brushing it off. “I just got here.”

It was a lie, but Jay did not need to know that. The fact that she would always come early to any place no matter who she was seeing at the time is something Jay had not learned yet.

“It’s been a while! How have you been?” Y/N asked as her eyes followed Jay’s movement as he takes his seat.

“Work has been busy but fun,” Jay seemed distracted as he looks around the bakery and then towards the glass of iced tea in front of Y/N. “Are you hungry? Should I order something for you?”

Jay swore he saw a twinkle in Y/N’s eyes when she blinked before answering him. “Oh, I’m not that hungry, but I do want something sweet.”

Jay nodded and quickly scanned the glass box filled with pastries and cakes not far from where they are seated. “Split a slice of cheesecake with me?” he suggested.

“Oooh, yes please,” Y/N sounded way too excited than she should and Jay let out a hearty chuckle.

Minutes later, both their drinks are half empty and Y/N’s fork is set on the side of the plate with the cheesecake almost gone. Jay barely ate his half. Their topic of conversation varied from trivia about high fashion, TikTok trends, and Marvel characters.

When it came to personal affairs, Jay was not expecting that Y/N would open up to him real fast about her past relationships. She mentioned a couple of names he was not familiar with, and after carefully listening and exaggeratedly reacting to her dramatic stories of her exes, he decided to shoot the question he had on the back of his mind for so long.

“Forgive me, but I gotta ask…”

Y/N’s straw almost got stuck in between her lips as she tried to contain the surprise from the sudden change in tone.

Jay asked the following question with a significantly lower volume than his normal speaking voice.

“So Namjoon sunbaenim is really your ex?”

Y/N basically snorted trying to hold in her chuckle. “What do you mean ‘really’?”

Jay tilted his head and brought his hand to his neck, unsure if he had done the right thing by asking. “I mean, the members and I were just assuming…”

“Tsk…”

The way Y/N clicked her tongue sent a chill down Jay’s spine and he honestly thought he was done for.

“Well, I… I didn’t want to spread rumors. It’s just that, there wasn’t really a way to confirm…”

“What like you think I was just delusional thinking that THE Kim Namjoon is my ex?”

Y/N’s tone sounded cheery and it immediately clicked with Jay. She was cool enough to play it off. Before Jay could find a better direction to steer the conversation into, Y/N nodded and tapped her fingers on her glass.

“Did you ask him first?” She glanced at Jay who did not break eye contact before nodding. “I thought we were being discreet. I wonder why he told you.”

Because I was basically asking for permission to make a move. Jay shrugged and played with the straw in his drink.

They were supposed to stay for an hour and a half, but as their conversation continued to build, the sky became darker, and the grey clouds finally turned to heavy rain. Y/N’s eyes widened as she saw the mini storm unfold before her.

“Oh, no, I’m not wearing the right shoes,” she sighed with worry.

“You do have an umbrella, don’t you?” Jay glanced at Y/N’s handbag that looked deceivingly small.

Y/N nodded. “But the rain is too heavy to go through.”

Jay nodded. Then stay a little longer.

“Maybe we should stay a little longer? Do you have somewhere you have to be?” Y/N looked back at Jay and blinked as she waited for an answer.

Yes! Thank you, rain.

“Yes. I mean, no! Not until a couple of hours,” Jay tapped his phone to check the time before its screen went black again.

The temperature dropped as the rain made their surroundings damp, and the air conditioner in the bakery suddenly felt a little too cold for Y/N.

“Should have worn socks,” Y/N sighed looking at the aircon and then down to her legs. Her linen button-down also seemed to be the wrong choice of top for today.

Without missing a beat, Jay carefully took the jacket he hung around his chair and handed it over to Y/N. Y/N’s face looked astonished.

“Oooh, what a gentleman. I won’t say no to this,” she smiled and nonchalantly put Jay’s jacket on her shoulders, without putting her arms in the sleeves. Jay tried his best not to blush.

They continued to carry the conversation for what felt like hours, occasionally glancing out the window to check if the rain had stopped. When it did, Y/N excused herself to go to the restrooms, and by the time she got back to their table, Jay claimed he had already paid.

“How much do I owe you?” Y/N reached for her wallet in her bag. Jay shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Y/N took Jay’s jacket off of her and handed it back to him. “By any chance, are you wearing Jazz Club?”

Jay’s eyes widened in shock and Y/N found it so funny that she laughed.

“You recognize the scent?” Jay sniffed his jacket, not realizing he did have a faint smell of the perfume he sprayed on last night.

“It’s a memorable one,” Y/N grabbed her bag and hung it on her shoulder. “It suits you.”

Jay could not muster a thank-you so he just smiled really wide. They both stood up to exit the bakery and as they were about to walk out, Jay held the door open for Y/N.

“How are you going to get back home?” He asked, leaving the door to close behind him.

Y/N started walking carefully, looking up to the sky making sure the rain really had stopped. “I’m just going to take the subway. There’s a station nearby.”

“Do you want to walk there together?”

Y/N tilted her head. “Are you taking the subway too?”

“No, the company car.”

For some reason, Jay’s eyes looked hopeful, but Y/N did not want to make him walk all the way when she knew he had to go the opposite direction of her.

“It’s okay. Thanks for the offer, though.”

They stopped walking to say goodbye but Jay looked unsure. There was a brief silence before Y/N shifted her stance and Jay finally spoke up.

Fuck it.

“When can I see you again?”

By this time Jay was almost a hundred percent sure that Y/N already knew what his intentions were. He just hoped she was open to it. Open to him.

“Uhm,” Y/N sounded unsure. She took her phone out and checked the calendar. “Next week on Tuesday or Thursday, maybe? What do you have in mind?”

To take you out on a date.

“There’s this new restaurant that my dad wants me to test out before we go there for a family dinner,” Jay lied. He applauded himself for finding a legit excuse fast enough before Y/N got suspicious. “Would you go with me?”

Y/N chuckled. “What, Heeseung and the others are busy?”

“They all have individual schedules,” Jay answered, not missing a beat.

Y/N nodded in what seemed to be defeat. Or relief?

“Text me the address and time, I’ll meet you there,” Y/N said as she added the appointment to her calendar.

“I’ll just pick you up at 7. Tuesday.”

Jay was observing Y/N’s facial expressions more intently than before, and he is certain that she was trying to hold in a smile. She was looking down to her phone.

But she’s biting her lip.

“Sounds perfect,” she looked up and her eyes met his. She smiled. Jay saw an imaginary green light right in front of him.

“I’ll see you then,” he said as he nodded. Y/N nodded back and waved a little before turning around and walking away.

Jay almost did a happy dance when Y/N turned back and shouted, “Thanks for the drink and cake!”

He let out a sigh of relief, not noticing how long he was holding his breath. He checked the time on his phone.

Three hours and a half. A new record he wished to break for their next meeting.

-END-

© forjongseong 2022, all rights reserved

[wintergreen28]

Darkness in Colorado (2)

Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader, Aaron Hotchner x Fem!OGCharacters

Summary: They’re reeeeally going to hate Colorado after this. 

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: canon-typical violence and injuries, profanity, PAIN

A/N: Ok look. I know it’s been a while. Take me to court, I don’t give a flying kerfuffle. I apologize, but I hope this part makes up for it. 

All Aaron could think about was how tired he was. Rob Parsons had died a while ago, his blood staining the snow red. Liz was near unconscious from exhaustion and exposure to the cold, and he had a feeling he would follow suit as well. They could only hope that the voicemail sparked a search for them. He stood up on his shaky two feet, moving closer to her.

“What are you doing?” She asked groggily, barely making eye contact with him. He started to move her backwards, propping her up against a tree near them. 

“Trying to help you, you stubborn woman.” He replied, plopping down next to her, gathering her closer to him. “You took off your coat. Why?”

“Because, however unfortunate it may seem, everyone deserves a chance to be saved. I took an oath, and I have to stay true to it.” She said quietly, reluctantly letting his little warmth seep into her body. “I may have taken that oath in desperate times to help my brothers overseas, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t take it.” Aaron was silent for a moment, letting the quiet of the forest be the facet for the conversation while he gathered his thoughts. 

“You don’t talk about it much.”

“Talk about what?”

“Before you got here. Serving in the Army, being in NCIS.” 

“To be honest sir, it never felt like you were interested.” She looked forward, not wanting to face him at that moment. “I do talk about it, just never really around you.”

“I think you can drop the sir, Liz.” Another beat of silence sat between the two of them, creating an awkward atmosphere. “I didn’t know if I could ask, y’know?”

“I’m not as fragile as you think I am, Hotch.”

“I know that now.” What Aaron would give for her to call him by his name. He was getting sick of being called Hotch, especially by a woman he had grown to care about. Even if he didn’t show it the right way. He turned to look at her face, but she was still avoiding looking back at him. Her eyelids were drooping lower and lower.

“Tell me about it.” He said, trying to keep her awake. “Tell me about everything you’re comfortable with.” 

“I joined the Army as soon as I could as a combat medic. They needed more doctors and surgeons than medics at the time, so I got taught through experience while overseas, essentially doing medical school online. They certified me through the board as soon as they could, and I got right to work. It was really, really awful things that I had to operate on. I got offered a position higher up, in a special forces unit.”

“Where you trained to be a sniper?”

“Yeah. It was a good time. Or as good of a time as it could be. When I got out, medicine seemed like the natural pipeline that I would take, but an agent from NCIS got hurt and I took care of him. They recognized whatever it was they were looking for in a new agent in me, and I essentially got hijacked from the hospital. Classic Gibbs.” She let out a weak chuckle, and Aaron smiled, leaning his head against hers, face buried in her hair. 

“I worked there for a while. And then I decided I needed something new. Loved the psychology bit of the whole criminal justice process, so I started researching different units. And then Gibbs wrote me a recommendation to, um, the FBI. Yeah! The FBI.” Her voice got more strung out, as she was continuously getting confused from exhaustion. “And now–” She left a long pause, her breathing becoming more even. “--I’m here.” Her eyes finally closed, and Aaron rubbed her arms, trying to bring back some feeling into them. Her hands fell to her sides in the snow, and he quickly picked them up and folded them into his jacket, trying to avoid frostbite. They were going to die out here. They were. Liz could have very well been his only hope of tracking out of the forest and now she was essentially on her way to death. He wished it didn’t have to be this way, as he gripped her tighter towards him. 

If he did something right in his life, it would be making sure Liz was warm enough to survive for the two of them. He stripped his jacket off, wrapping it around her shoulders and zipping tightly to preserve what warmth she had left. He leaned on her, soaking in what he could before closing his eyes as well. 

Whether it had been hours or minutes, Derek finally found them. Emily’s advice had proven right about going to the high ground, and the scene in front of them was horrifying. A dead man in the snow sprawled out, blood seeped into the snow, and the two people that they loved unconscious and blue, clinging to each other against a tree. Derek rushed towards Aaron and Liz as Emily checked the man��s pulse. He shook them, doing his best to shake them awake, but to no avail. 

“Prentiss, I need you to call the med team.” He said hurriedly, trying to pry them from the snow that had fallen around them, and get them into a more temperate environment. She called for help through her radio, and ran to help Derek. Aaron’s eyes slowly opened, confusion evident. 

“You found us.” He groaned, lolling his head to the side. 

“How were we supposed to negotiate our days off if our boss was dead?” Derek joked, gripping his shoulders, pulling him forward and off the tree he was leaning on.

“No no no no no no, you gotta get her first.” Aaron protested, trying to shove Derek off of him.

“Em will get her, don’t worry.” He pulled Aaron up off of the ground, looping his arm around his shoulders, carrying his weight back towards the SUV. Emily moved to carry Liz off the ground, still unconscious, lips blue. They started to hike back towards the parking lot, fighting against the rough winds and the snow still coming down on them. It would be a while before any of them would want to see Colorado again. 

By some luck, they make it back, and as Aaron closes his eyes again, ignoring the yelling for him to stay awake, he knows that they’re finally safe.

Liz had trouble opening her eyes hours later against the harsh hospital lights. It felt like there were ten pound weights holding down her eyelids, and even moving her fingers required a great deal of effort, her muscles straining against the movement. The smell of the sterile environment around her was familiar and comforting, and the beeping of her heart monitor was starting to get on her nerves. If she strained her ears well enough, she could make out the whispering of what she could only assume was her team from the hallway. Gossips, they all were, no matter how well meaning they could be. 

She finally won her battle with her eyes, slowly fluttering them open, and groaning at the light. Looking down, she could see she was covered with a warming blanket, and could assume that the IV in her hand was hooked up to warm saline. Frostbite and hypothermia procedure. Damn it. She knew it had been a mistake taking off her jacket to try and preserve the unsub’s life, but ending up having her hospital protocol used against her was disheartening to say the least. Looking around, she found that she was alone in the room. Aaron. Where was he? Did they both make it out? She would be okay if she could see him, and know that they were going home far away from the snow for a long time. Where was her team? She didn’t want to be selfish, but she didn’t expect to wake up entirely alone. 

A knock sounded at the door and Liz jumped a little, before relaxing at seeing Derek. He came to approach her bedside, dragging over one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs to sit next to her. 

“Hey hot stuff.” He said softly, gently gripping her hand. “How are you feeling?”

“I mean, I didn’t get hit by a truck, did I? That’s how I feel.” Derek chuckled. 

“No sweetheart, you didn’t.”

“Is Aaron okay?” She almost felt scared to ask, dreading the possibility of bad news. 

“Yeah, boss man is fine. He’s been asking about you too.” Liz’s face got a little hotter, and Derek gave her a sly, knowing grin. “A lot. He’s been asking about you a lot.” Liz groaned and turned her head away from him. 

“So we both had hypothermia? Maybe some frostbite?” Liz tried to change the topic, and Derek let her. He nodded in response, glancing up at the saline bag behind her, trying to gauge whether he should ask the nurse if she needed more. Her hands were still cold after all of this, and he could only assume that the rest of her was too. “And Rob… he’s dead right?”

“Yeah. He bled out long before we got there.”

“How long was I out?”

“Hours. Five at least.” She was lucky to be alive, and so was Aaron. She was sure that the rest of the team was sitting in his recovery room, especially if he was awake already. With how early he got up every single day, she had no doubt that he would get up earlier than her in this circumstance as well. 

Commotion came from the hallway and protesting from familiar voices as the most stubborn man in Liz’s life came into view. Aaron Hotchner, in all his glory, in a hospital gown, bringing his attached IV pole, a blanket around his shoulders, shuffling into her room, trying to fight off Spencer and Emily. Behind them, JJ was giggling at the open back of the hospital gown, and trying to contain her laughter. Aaron came into the room, a weak smile on his face as he beheld Liz, and came to stand at the other side of her bed. Liz peeped a hand out from the blanket to reach out for him, and he took her hand, gently. 

“You’re okay?” He said quietly. She nodded, smiling a little. 

“And you?” She replied. He nodded in response, his smile getting a little wider. He rubbed the back of her hand in small circles with his thumb, and her entire body relaxed. She was keenly aware of the other people in the room, but all she wanted to focus on was Aaron and the fact they both made it out okay. She shuffled over more to the side, patting the space beside her. He sat down next to her, making to lean back against the bed, and she draped her blankets over his legs as well. 

To Derek and Emily, this was very similar to the position that they found them in the forest sitting like. Together. Conserving warmth and comfort. 

Liz gingerly settled into Aaron’s side, leaning on him with what little weight she could. His tense demeanor finally subsided, and the ease that the team was hoping he would find, came at last. The team all suddenly found other places more interesting to be than the suddenly stuffy hospital room, murmuring wishes of “Hope you feel better!” and “Glad you’re okay!” but Aaron and Liz were already in their own little world. Their hands intertwined, resting on Aaron’s lap, and she leaned her head on his shoulder tentatively.

“I was so scared.” His voice broke. “You went under, and I knew that we might not make it out.” When his voice broke, a small part of Liz crumbled and she squeezed his hand tighter.

“I figured that if we weren’t getting out of there, I was okay that it was with you. After all the shit that I’ve gone through in my life, I knew that going out with someone who cared just enough was one of my better outcomes.” 

“But you shouldn’t have felt that way. Dying in the freezing cold isn’t a ‘better outcome,’ no matter what.” 

“Trust me, Aaron, it is.” She lifted her head to look into his eyes, and she smiled a little bit. “I would have rather it been you than anyone else on this team and I mean that.” Aaron’s face finally cracked from its usual permanently concerned expression, into something of comfort.

“I’m glad it was you too.” His eyes darted to her lips, then back to her eyes. Now, as a profiler, or even just a human woman, this didn’t go unnoticed by Liz. 

“This might sound really, really stupid.” Liz started, looking at his mouth in turn.

“None of your ideas are stupid.”

“Your previous case reports would say different, but I digress.” He huffed, before leaning in a little closer. “Can I kiss you, Aaron?” He nodded, and their lips met softly, and it felt like Liz’s world was complete. The warmth that came over her as they kissed was indescribable, and wanted to make her peep up on her toes and pop her foot like the Princess Diaries. They broke apart shortly, and a shit-eating grin was on Liz’s face.

“Oh god, what?” Aaron asked, still smiling but leaning his head back against the pillow.

“You don’t hate me.”

“I never did.”

“But you know what this means, right?”

“Do I even want to know?”

“I could tell everyone you’re a god-awful kisser, and it’s my word against yours. I just happen to be voted most-loved at the office.”

[freeshephoun]

please please please tell your adrian headcanons im so curious!!!!! and also maybe gordon and barney if you like :]

oh boy this is gonna be a lot. apologies for any misstypes in advance!!

click to read my thoughts on the 3

okay ffirst off shephard! shes tfem which is why i will be using she/her for her. also ahes filipino-american. shephard is autistic and mute and struggles to understand the people around her sometimes. it makes her upset when she doesnt.

its a reason why she is better with aliens. they dont work like humans do and it is easier for her to connect with them even when they dont speak the same language. and the bond she has especially with spore launcher is indescribable.

spore launcher (or spore for short) is a creature she found in the black mesa facility. its an alien that, when you feed it something, it can spit it out and it works basically like a grenade launcher. at first shephard had no idea what to do with that thing. he gave it a little pat on the head and it chirped and since then theyve been best friends. you can not tear them apart.

shephard has a lot of little cat scrstches feom spores spikey exterior aswell as some acid burns here and there. it comes free with having an alien friend/pet.

Shephard also managed to get spore into stasis. everything else was taken but she could keep spore. also coming to stasis ive got some thoughts on it.

while gordon was basically in a coma in stasis, Shephard wasnt. she didnt even have a choice what to do. she was just taken and detained. and since she was detained, gman didnt put her to sleep. shephard has been in that osprey for all this time. awake. if it werent for spore she would've probably gone insane.

being in stasis also fucked up her feeling of like everything. ypu dont get tired, exhausted, hungry or thirsty. you cant even feel pain or die.

(cw sensitive topic, bit similar to sh) in an attempt to feel anything she sometimes did some stupid shit. mostly punching or slamming her body against walls or purposefully touching spores acid. that reeeeally fucked up her perception of pain and her tolerance and it still shows afterwards. (cw end)

outside of stasis she still struggles with the perception of pain. it is pretty dangerous and she basically relies on gordon or barney to tell her hey you got fucked up bad we should get you first aid.

and sometimes when she sees it she spirals down into this specific feeling where everything feels like stasis again. when was the last time she ate? why does it feel so alone again why is it so quiet? why is akl she can hear her own mind?

shes going thru it🔥🔥

jumping a bit shephard doesnt like physical touch. shes very sensitive to it and gets overwhelemed by too much physical touch. her lovd languages are acts of service. she isnt good at comforting someone or showing her care for someone so openly. its more that she guards you when around you. makes sure youre safe. you need a moment of alone time? she will make sure no one bothers you.

my friend wrote a scene that describes it perfectly so ill quote it: "In the distance, the parade could be heard. At the entrance of the alleyway, Shephard seemed to stand guard, occasionally looking back at them as the parade passed by."

for tthe other 2 and their love languages: barney is the physical affection guy. giving and receiving. hes also good at comforting people just by being there. gordon on the other hand is good with giving words of affirmation. its his love language. and on the receiving is quality time (shephard too i forgot to mention)

they are very dear 2 me.

also their fighting styles. ive thought of it before and how it differs. gordon thinks, finds an answer that works and then executes it. shephard thinks a little but she mostly just acts on instinct. and barney? hes jus tlike yeah no thinking is for nerds watch me solo this guy. hes silly like that

my friend (again) made smthg that portrays this very well: "Gordon would calculate the triangulation before he threw a grenade over a wall. Shephard would stand on a box so she could throw it over the wall without hassle. Barney would just lob it and pray"

gordon is a very sarcastic man. barney understands his saecasm oerfectly but shephard struggles to do so which is why gordon avoids sarcasm around her.

shep and barney on occasions have their 5 minutes. kind of like zoomies. it usually ends in chaos because they tried something stupid again. which is why gordon rarely allows them in his lab. actually never. but barney will still come down when it gets late and gordon hasnt even been up to eat something and basically force gordon to stop for the day.

how? he just scoops gordon up and carries him out. batney is a security guard who survived the resonance cascade, the 7 hour war, manages to get through as underciver civil service despite the hard security measures of fhe combine aswell as fighting agains the combine and staying alive for all these years. that man is strong.

he wwouldnt mamage to carry both gordon and shephard though. thats what shep does. she carries them both with one arm.

this also reminds me shephard needs a routine. she can not do without one. you will see her follow the military training camp routine eeveryday. if she doesnt do it it messes up her whole day.

also wwhile i will draw them a lot probably in their hl clothes and not hl2 clothes, if thes would have ever met its definitely in hl2 or after. i jsut dont like drawing barneys combine outfit thats why.

Shephard was thrown into the hl2 universe by gman. maybe ill even incorporate return 2 ravenholm im this if i ever elaborate on that more. she builds up her own wa yof living there. the camera drones dont manage ti actually detect her due to her gas mask. they detect humans by having a face and if they don't? thats not a human then. she doesnt know that though.

she made herself st home in an outpost outside of city 17. it used to belong to the residtance but got raided by thr combine and has since then become abandoned. at ome point shephard manages to boot up the equipment there. she gains access to a lot of old information that was stored in this outpost.

the resistance of cours enotices shit wait an old outpost was activated again whats going on there. they send a group of people to investigate but urrm uh yeah didnt work out. shephard had a little ace up her sleeve (spore and her acid). but eith that they hope to confirm it is at least not the combine because they have never used that alien species as it completely ceased to exist after the black mesa incident.

im not too sure abt thid though the way this goes might change very well depending om what i feel like.

anyway uuh sheohard goes into the city to restock some supplies. she has some good connections at this point and has heard from the resistance. and well when she goes there to restock she meets barney.

this is btw like a place where they help out citizens who are struggling, often wanted by the combine. they live off donations, mostly coming from the resistance themself.

when barney sees shephard, this guy in a fucking military uniform hes just like. boy you coming with me now. and drags her to the resistance thingy there.

or something like that. not too sure about that at all. again might change however i feel like it

also i definetly forgot a ton of things but ive been writing this for 1 1/2 hours now. if you want to know more about specific things feel free 2 aks i LOVE sharing my freeshephoun thoughts with people

also as a treat here i drew them as the power piff girls once

[waltermis]

Diner

MASTERLIST ↠ SPITFIRE MASTERLIST

"You have a WHAT?!" Dick screamed over the phone. He was currently trying to persuade his best friend, Wally West, to go out to play laser tag with him, before he found out that Wally had a girlfriend.

"I said, I have a girlfriend." Wally said.

"Since when?" Dick pressed on.

"Uh.... we've been dating for 3 years."

"3 YEARS!!!!!" Dick yelled. "Okay, that's it! I'm bringing the rest of the gang to hear this. Hang on," Wally stayed quiet as he heard the rest of his friends enter the phone call.

"Um... why are we here, Dick? And what's the emergency?" Zatanna asked, sounding like she had just woken up.

"Zee, were you still sleeping?!" Wally asked.

"Yeah, why?" Zatanna asked, yawning.

"It's 3:30!" Dick cried out.

"Yes, I am aware of that dumbass."

"Hey! This dumbass is your boyfriend! Also it's 3:30 IN THE AFTERNOON!!!!"

"What is this emergency, my friend?" Kaldur questioned, growing slightly impatient.

"Oh right," Dick said. "Wally has been dating a girl for 3 years and he didn't even tell us!"

"He's been what?!" Megan cried out, astonished.

"I don't buy it, there's no way he has been dating someone for 3 years and none of us know about this." Zatanna said, stubbornly "Okay, we need to talk about this in person!"

"OBVIOUSLY!" Dick yelled.

"Okay, we'll talk about this, meet me in front of Young Justice Diner in ten minutes." Wally said, hanging up before his friends could protest

↠↠↠

"Hi welcome to Young Justice diner, my name is Rhea. Blah blah blah, how many?" A raven haired girl asked bored.

"Uh, hey Rhea. Can we have my regular booth?" Wally asked.

"Oh, heeeeeeeeeeeeey Wally. You know, you look reeeeally hot today." The raven haired girl, Rhea, giggled as she looked at him. Wally suddenly felt uncomfortable at Rhea words.

"Uh thanks Rhea,"

"We should get together! Wouldn't we just make the cutest couple? Our couple name could be, Walhea or Rhally. Oh those both sound so cute!" Rhea said, her voice never loosing it's flirtatious tone.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Dick asked in a quiet voice so Rhea wouldn't hear.

"Listen Rhea, how many times do I have to tell you? I have a girlfriend!" Wally said, angry because whenever he came here Rhea would always flirt with him.

"Ugh, you should just ditch that looser. I bet she isn't as pretty as me." Rhea said, flipping her hair as she the word 'pretty'. Wally ignored her and just walked over to his regular booth sitting down at the left corner of the booth.

Rhea handed them each a menu (top picture, if u look at it closely then u can see some iconic thing they've said) and swiftly left. "So, I'm guessing that flirty girl isn't your girlfriend." Dick said amused, looking through the menu.

"Wow, what tipped you off? The part where I said that I had a girlfriend or the point where I had to walk away to get her to stop flirting with me?" came Wally's sarcastic response.

"Hey, just pointing this out to everyone." Dick said, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"So, this place is called Young Justice Diner?" Zatanna asked intrigued.

"Yep! It's based on the comics and the TV show Young Justice." Wally replied, going back to his happy self.

"Wow, look at all the options! They all look so good!" Megan cheered, looking through the menu.

"How did you find this place, my friend?" Kaldur questioned, skimming through the menu.

"My girlfriend told me about it."

"So she knows that you have a bottomless stomach?" Raquel asked, with a smirk on her face. Wally gave Raquel a look that said a lot 'I have a fast metabolism!'.

"Speaking of girlfriends, tell us about yours!" Dick said, slamming his menu onto the table, catching some looks from other people.

"Why do you want to know about her?"

"Well, as your best friend I have to know who it is!" came Dick's snappy reply.

"You want to look her up don't you?"

"Maybe,"

"Well, I'm not telling you anything so might as well give up." Wally said, taking a sip of his water.

Suddenly a deep voice rang through the small diner. "Rhea! Get back to work! Have you taken any orders yet?"

"That's Cyrus. He's the owner of this place, he's really nice and friendly but he can be freakishly scary at some points." Wally whispered, pointing to the middle aged man.

"That's it! I've had enough of your bossiness! I quit!!" Rhea's shrill voice screamed as she slammed her apron onto the bar. She stomped over to a handsome business man that had just walked through the door and she started to flirt with him as well. The gang heard Cyrus sigh as he ran a hand over his hair.

"Hey Cyrus! You okay?" Wally asked, concerned for the man.

"Oh hey Wally! How's my favorite customer doing? And yeah, I'm fine but I need someone to help at the diner since Rhea just quit." Cyrus smiled at him.

"Where's everyone else?" Wally asked.

"Well, Erica went camping with her boyfriend Ben, Zoe's out at a concert with Mike so they can't come. Chip's out attending his cousin's wedding and Jawa's going to his sister's graduation."

"What about Artemis? What's she doing?"

"I think she said that she was babysitting Lian, but I can give her a call and see if she can come help." Cyrus said, giving Wally a slight smirk. Cyrus picked up the diner's phone and dialed Artemis' number. "Hey Artemis! Can you come help with the diner?" There was a slight pause as the person on the other end said something. "She just quit... You'll come? Yeah sure that's totally okay if you bring her! Alright see you in a few. Bye" Cyrus said, with a big smile on his face. "She said that she'll be in a few."

"That's great!" Wally cried out happy. In a matter of minutes a gray Toyota pulled up and out came a beautiful blonde with olive tan skin and stormy gray eyes. The blonde went to the back of the car and picked up a small brown haired girl who looked to only be about 3 years old. They both walked into the diner, the blonde placed small girl on a chair and handed her some crayons and paper before leaving the child to play.

"Hey Cyrus!" The blonde haired girl said, giving the man a smile.

"Artemis! You have no idea how much I need your help right now! I don't think Rhea's even taken any orders... can you do that?"

"Sure! Just watch Lian for me will ya? Jade will kill me if I lost her baby girl." Artemis said, grabbing her own apron and walked over to a couple. "Hi Barry! Hey Iris! How are you guys prepping for Don and Dawn?"

"We're doing good but still slightly nervous, I mean I'm going to be delivering twins!" Iris said, handing over the menu's

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure you'll do great and seeing since you just handed me your menus you already know what you want? Hmmm, let me guess, Barry will have a 'Mount Justice' and you'll have an 'Aqualad'?"

"Yes please," Barry said.

"Okay, you're food will be here soon." Artemis reassured and left to take another table's orders. In less than 5 minutes the entire diner has had time to order their food, well everyone but Wally's table.

"Hey everyone. I'm so sorry to keep you waiting but I just have to deliver Mrs. Patterson her food and then I'll come over and take your orders." Artemis said, walking over to where an old lady sat. "Alright now that, that's taken care of. What can I get you guys?" Artemis asked taking out her pen and paper.

"Uh, I'll have a-" Dick started, but suddenly he was rudely interrupted him.

"Hey! Miss! I need a refill on my iced coffee over here! Chop chop lady! I don't got all day here!" A savvy business man yelled from across the room.

"Just give me a minute here sir, I'll be right with you once I take this table's order." Artemis said, over her shoulder.

"What?! But there's seven of them and one of me! Just take my order first and then take theirs." The man said rudely.

"Excuse me Cam-er-on!" She said, looking at the man's ridiculous nametag "But you've only been here for ten minutes meanwhile these guys have been waiting patiently for me to take their order for over 20 minutes now! Can't you just give me 5 minutes?!" Artemis' snapped, giving Cameron a murderous glare.

"Well, time is money and 5 minutes costs you half your salary! I bet don't know that I am the newest owner to Icicle toy emporium, so you better treat me right! In half an hour I will be my welcome party so I expect my iced coffee now! As they always say, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!" Cameron demanded, catching the attention of everyone in the diner.

"Oh my god! You are sooooooooooooooooooooo hot, I've never met a business man as hot as you are," Rhea flirted touching Cameron's bicep through his white button up shirt.

"Yeah, you're right, he customer is always right. I'll go get your iced coffee right now, s-sir." Artemis said, under her gritted teeth. Everyone was watching as the blonde went to go grab a coffee pot filled with iced coffee. Artemis made eye contact with Cyrus and the middle aged man nodded his head giving his approval.

"Guys, take out your phones. You'll want to record this!" Wally said in a hushed voice as Artemis' hand grabbed the handle of the coffee pot. The gang quickly pulled out their phones, as did everyone else in the diner. They all watched as Artemis approached the white haired man.

"Here's your iced coffee sir, but I know you're in a hurry so I'll just give it to you to go." Artemis smiled politely.

"Where's the cup?" Cameron demanded.

"Oh, since you said that you're in such a hurry. I figured that you didn't need a cup. Now, open wide." Artemis sang as she poured the entire coffee pot's contents over Cameron's head. "Oh, silly me. I forgot the ice!" Artemis grabbed a bucket of ice that Cyrus was holding next to her and dumped it on his head. "There! I hope you enjoy your iced coffee, sir!" Artemis spat.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HOW DARE YOU POUR COFFEE OVER MY NEW OUTFIT?! I JUST BOUGHT THIS TODAY FOR MY SPECIAL OCCASSION!!!" Cameron turned towards Cyrus. "AND AS FOR YOU! YOU SHOULD FIRE THIS HORRIBLE, INCOMPETENT MOST IMPORTANTLY RUDE WAITRESS! DID YOU SEE HOW SHE TREATED ME TODAY?! YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T SUE THIS DINER RIGHT THIS SECOND!"

"Listen here, Cameron owner of Icicle toy emporium, there are two rules here! Rule number one, never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER be rude to ANY of my employees! And rule number two, if your rude they're rude! You got me?" Cyrus asked menacingly. "And as for YOU!" Cyrus said, turning towards a cowering Rhea. "Clean your boyfriend's mess up and then I don't ever want to see any of you in my diner again? Capeesh?!"

"Y-y-yes s-sir," Rhea stuttered, before grabbing a mop to clean the mess up.

Wally spared a glance at his friends and saw that their mouths were slightly open. Thinking of another way of setting them off, Wally stood up and walked over to Artemis. "Nice work babe, you totally melted his cold attitude!" He said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Out of the corner of his eye, Wally saw that his friends' jaw were now practically touching the floor. He smirked and kissed her, they broke apart 20 seconds later and Wally turned towards his friends and said, "And you didn't believe me when I said that I had a girlfriend."

↠↠↠

2077 words

Rewritten Version : Iced Coffee AU

[radama-zard]

Dungeons & Drabbles - 2022 

Day 10 - Pride

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

Krook House QueerPlatonic PolyQuad - Modern Human AU

“Fuck, it's pride month already?”

Huh, how the fuck had that snuck up on him? Pride was one of the best times of the year, along with Christmas and New Years, and maybe also Saint Patrick's Day. Any excuse to get drunk.

Pride though was that time of year where, well, they kinda actually felt like maybe they didn't hate ALL of mankind. Sans his little fucked up family and bushel of bitchin’ oddities he called (only privately in his mind) friends. Even a disenchanted asshole like them couldn't bite back a smile when he thought of all those fruity fucks out there, a cacophony of queers like themself.

Huh, actually, like basically everyone they were friendly with, really.

“No shit, Sherlock. What gave it away? The rainbow flags on the cola cans or the sudden uptick in the word ‘gay’ being used god damn everywhere? Or maybe it reeeeally is that quiet and subtle that it never fails to surprise you!”

Like Anni, his favorite snarky, rude ass bitch. Aromantic as they came and twice as asexual, she’d kick your ass for hitting on her, and make sure you could never reproduce if you dared to try and bed her. Honestly? Respectable as fuck.

It was part of the reason why they loved her, platonically of course. He’d rather barf than lock lips with her, and he knew the feeling was mutual. 

But at the end of a hard day she was always willing to lend an ear to his bitching and curse out whoever had pissed them off, all while they lay slumped over her lap. Or in a big ass ‘cuddle pile’, as Letters called it.

She was one of his queerplatonic partners, and they’d slaughter any fucker that gave her shit… if they were still alive once Anni was done with them.

“Love you too, you heartless hag,” Ashton retorted with a teasing grin, earning themself a playful punch to their good shoulder.

“Get fucked, GrimerLocks!”

“Can’t you two ever start a day without insulting each other?”

Ah, there was Milo, his favourite nonbinary they/them! About as AroAce as Anni, but far less aggressive about it. Though they were also far less likely to leave the house, being more of a home body than just about anyone Ashton knew. Not that they were AFRAID to leave the house or anything, but 'outside is where the assholes live, and the only asshole I want to be anywhere near is my own’, as Milo had once said, causing them to crack up laughing. Not that they were wrong or anything, but still, hilarious.

Of course Ashton loved them too, just as much as he did Anni, and in much the same way. Milo was one half of the sensible side of their little queerplatonic polycule, and before Letters had come along they were the only thing that had kept Ashton and Anni alive. 

“Where's the fun in that, Mi?” Ashton laughed, steadying themself against the nearest wall when they suddenly felt rather unsure they were entirely steady.

It didn't go unnoticed by the pair, who shared a look before nodding. Swiftly Anni disappeared down the hall, returning only moments later with one of the household's canes. This one was bright yellow and covered in positive affirmation stickers… sooo it was safe to say it was probably Letters’. Eh, like they'd even care. Silently Ashton took it, grateful to have something to keep himself vertical.

“Need more than that?” She asked.

“Nah. Think I just need to get some food down. Meds too.”

Anni nodded, trusting his judgment yet still sticking close by. Her own silent way of showing she cared. A minute later Milo returned, holding out a travel cup with water and a small tub of yogurt.

“Start both, but don't finish them. Letters is coming with your meds.”

Right on cue, Letters wheeled around the corner, with a deep purple pill organizer box upon his lap.

“Smiley day to ya, Ashton! I got your meds right here!”

Letters. If sunshine was a person, they imagined they'd look just like this. Obnoxiously bright, yet entirely endearing. They might sometimes wanna hide under the covers from the brightness, but they’d be dead within him.

A fellow he/they, (honestly he'd been flattered when Letters had decided to adopt the same pronouns as them) who also lay somewhere within the nonbinary stream.

They’d had many a conversation about sexualities, about romance and all, and it had taken a couple of years for Letters to really figure themself out in that regard.

Eventually they’d settled on demi, both romantic and sexual, and only after a long while of thinking that perhaps they were AroAce like Milo and Anni. That was until they’d fallen in love with the woman who was now his girlfriend, and fuck had that been a surprise to Letters!

Ashton was happy for him though. They deserved all the love in the world, and now they had, what, four partners? Anni, Milo and himself all loved the cheery little fuck as much as they loved each other. A queerplatonic love for the ages.

And although they'd been slow to trust her… Marwa really did seem to love Letters as much as he loved her.

“Meds. Right. Fuck.” Ashton groaned around a mouthful of yogurt. Uck. Pills. The worst part of living life disabled. Well, that and the constant pain, and between making that pain worse and sucking down a handful of colorful disgusts, they’d take the pills any day. Which they did, as Letters poured this morning's meds right into his unoccupied hand. They all went down together, washed down with a swig of water and an entire mouthful of yogurt.

“Thanks. All of you fucks.”

“Always happy to help, Ash!”

“Rather you alive than dead. Shit’s boring without you.”

“You do the same for us. Just don't push too hard today, okay?”

Ashton couldn't bite back a warm smile.

“Yeah yeah… Hey, wanna push back the start of the day with some time in The Pit? Feels like today’s gonna be a bitch and Netflix just dropped a new season of that weird ass cookin’ show. You know, the one with the kink shit in it.”

“Cutthroat Kitchen?” Letters suggested.

“That's the one!”

“I'd be delighted! Today started with a pain level 6, so some time in The Pit sounds nice. I’ll grab the heat pods, it's always nicer when it's extra toasty in there!”

“Lemme grab some popcorn to put on. Can't watch Alton Brown introduce some serious BDSM shit into the kitchen without snacks.”

“Well if you're all going to be in there… then how can I say no? I'll go set the laptop up.”

Ashton watched as his partners all vanished, rushing off to go make this morning a brighter one. Fuck, whatever had he done to deserve the love of these three blessings? 

They didn't dare question it though, simply letting it be as they slowly shuffled their way into the lounge room. There they dropped into The Pit (a big old couch that had been gutted, modded and extended, now fused with several beanbags, cushions, pillows, doonahs, blankets and a scattering of squishmallows, to make the perfect pit of comfort) and let their exhausted body relax.

Heh.

Who needed to remember pride month when they had their own pack of colorful fucks to love 24/7? 

Not that they were gonna be quiet about it. No, as per usual Ashton was sure they all planned to be wonderfully obnoxious above their queer ass selves… and real fucking proud of it.

[sebastianshaw]

For Fanfic Friday: Haven and Shaw at the Quiet Council, from recruitment to cancelling each others votes.

So I reeeeally wanted to do more of this, this was just meant to be the beginning, but it's as far as I got. I kept sitting on it planning to write more, but alas I've come to terms with the fact nothing more is gonna come. Thank you though I enjoyed this prompt! *** It was a long, long story of how Haven had come to be on the Quiet Council, one full of twists and turns and complications as only a comic book saga can be. Yes, she was human. Yes, many members had a problem with that. Much of the island had a problem with that. Haven herself had a problem with that, she didn’t think someone of the oppressor’s class should be governing a nation of the marginalized class, she found it obscene. Just, she couldn’t do anything about it. Neither could anyone else. Again, it’s a long complicated story, but the ending of it was, she’s locked into this role and if she’s ever ripped out of it, all of Krakoa goes down. She tried to just be a figurehead at first. Not say anything at meetings. Her voice should not be the one that mattered here. No matter how right she thought she was, no matter how disgusting suggestions made by certain other members might be, it didn’t matter. She must not speak over the mutants here, the actual people of this place. Besides, for every point raised that she found foul, someone else on the Council answered to shoot it down, so it wasn’t as if she could even claim her moral input was needed to prevent atrocities. And after all. . .who was she anymore to judge what was an atrocity? Who was she to cast judgement on— “Tell me something, Ms. Dastoor—why are you even here?” They were all departing a meeting, some of them chattering with one another, and some, like Haven, in silence, just as she had sat through it. The one who had spoken her name was Shaw, of the Spring Court, the Black King, standing with his hands in the pockets of a suit that cost more than most luxury automobiles. “I do apologize for my presence,” she said, turning her gaze towards him, “I know that any human, or anyone not a mutant, should not–” “I’ve heard this spiel before, it’s not an answer,” Shaw gruffly cut her off, “I mean, why bother being here if you’re not going to speak? Don’t give me that bullshit you always give the others. I’m not accusing you of lying, mind you; I believe that you believe it. It’s exactly the kind of oversensitive, namby-pamby, lickspittle self-flagellating identity politics I’d expect from you.” “Then you ask me questions, Mr. Shaw, to which you already know the answer. Why?” He looked disgruntled, a bit more so than usual, “I suppose I should be more direct—you seek not to offend, thus you do not speak in meetings. But in doing so, you offend me. I don’t give a shit about your opinions, but I find this performative penance for the accident of your species to be ridiculous and revolting. I don’t think you’re qualified to be here but half the mutants aren’t either! What the devil do Pryde, Rasputin, or that clown Wagner know about running a nation?! Doesn’t stop them from running their mouths! Hell, you’re probably MORE qualified than they are, at least you ran something before, even if it was a blasted doomsday cult! And those philanthropic organizations surely taught you SOMETHING about delegation, allocation, and diplomacy! You’re not helping us, Ms. Dastoor, you’re withholding input that, while I’m sure MOST of it is sentimental claptrap, might have the occasional bit of HELPFUL INSIGHT! All to play the part of the “good human” for your precious liberal senses. Absolutely ridiculous.” Haven started talking at meetings more after that. But only ever after Shaw did, to gracefully and diplomatically pick apart his every morally devoid capitalist pitch.

[hey-hey-j]

tagged by @infini-tree in my first ever tag game! fun!

rules: if you get tagged in this, answer the questions that are written and make sure to swap out one question at the end of it for the next person to answer

*ahem*

1. Are you named after anyone? Nah. My birth name was some random gibberish my mom made up and my chosen name, J, started out as a nickname I went by when said birth name got too hard for people.

2. Do you ever go window shopping on sites like Etsy, and if so, what kinds of things do you look at? Back when I was super into Calico Critters I would go onto the website and click through all the sets I knew I could never buy 😔. My favourites are the super mundane ones like bedrooms, kitchens, and laundry machines because they are the cutest things ever

Look at that little vacuum cleaner 😭

3. What's your choice of listening material when doing stuff? If it's not music, it's a youtube video. My go-to youtube channels to have on in the background are Defunctland, Micarah Tewers, Nexpo, Nick Crowley, Danny Gonzalez, Drew Gooden, Kurtis Conner, Whang!, and Blameitonjorge

4. Do you use sarcasm? 90% of my brother and my's conversations are just us snarking back and forth at each other so yeah

5. What's the first thing you notice about people? Uhhh I guess notable features like hair, jewelry, if they're wearing glasses or not? Most of the time it's clothes.

6. What's your eye color? Brown

7. Scary movies or happy endings? Both! But if I really had to choose.....happy endings. Scary stories are nice but happy endings keep me going.

8. Any special talents? None. I am very bland 😔.

9. What trait in others draws you to them? I'm drawn to my fellow quiet awkward kids with dorky interests, but alas. In real life I am far too shy and socially awkward to ever approach anyone RIP.

10. What are your hobbies? Drawing, writing, knitting, reading, baking banana bread, biking (fun fact: I'm looking into getting a motorcycle license some day!), alphabetizing my spotify playlists, and transcribing TV Tropes articles for movies I like

11. Do you have any pets? I used to have a dog, an older chihuahua mutt, but we had to give him up a few years back 😔. I miss him dearly.

12. What sports do you play/have played? No thank you!

13. How tall are you? 5'3". Average as it gets.

14. Favourite subject in school? Best class I ever had in high school was an environmental studies course. The teacher was chill and friendly and the projects she had us do were fun :).

15. Dream job? Preferably none, lol. Though in honesty, I do think sometimes that it might be nice to have a job in illustration or comic making, as unfeasible as it may be. The pipe dream fantasy is to be a published graphic novelist, but I..... reeeeally doubt that's happening. Oh well. As long as I can keep making and sharing art here, I'm happy.

tagging @tornrose24 , if you're up for it, and anyone else who wants to do it!

and I'm changing #4 to: Do you like a song for its sound or for its lyrics?

[xiaojuun]

what if i were to say💐for the ask game?

ahh that's a sweet one, thank u <3

💐 can you share something that happened today that made you smile or laugh? so for any new people here i've been nannying the same baby for over a year, since she was basically a fresh to the world baby HJDBGH as u may have noticed, we call her baby bestie and she's the love of my life (real). anyways when she was reeeeally little i used to hum 'orange' by treasure to her to get her to fall asleep. today she woke up from her nap super cranky and just wanted to be held and cry so i decided to try humming it for her and she immediately quieted, and when i was done she looked up at me with the biggest most precious toothy little scrunch nose grin, as if we were exchanging the best kept secret in the world and just giggled at each other. she's the best part of my day anyways but that extra special little moment today was just 🥲🥰

gentle asks

[heymacareyna]

Trick or Treat!

Treat for you!! Thanks!

Here's a snippet I love but I'll have to cut from Wordless, in the time while Julie and Stellan are broken up:

Rolling her eyes, Rachael signed to her parents over video chat, “It’s been two weeks, and I’m getting reeeeally tired of this.”

“Give them time to heal,” her mom signed back. “Breaking up is hard.”

Rachael scowled. “You come listen to them mope, then.” If she wasn’t hanging out with mopey Julie, she was hanging out with mopey Stellan. And of course neither of them wanted to be alone, so they took up most of her free time. Her solo gym trips were becoming more and more precious.

“Can you invite their friends over to handle them for you?” Her dad stage-whispered the sign for babysitting.

She cracked a smile. “Not a bad idea. But I am so ready to stop hearing about—”

Julie opened the door, unsettlingly quiet.

Rachael stuffed her hands in her lap and tried to look innocent. “Heyyy, Julie.”

A suspicious look. “Why are you being weird?”

“I’m not being weird. You’re being weird,” Rachael said quickly. For her parents’ benefit she signed, “Julie just got here.”

Her dad laughed at her misfortune.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I’ve been thinking about one piece of dialogue Violet has when you’re walking back to Ericson, right before the bridge: “I've always wanted a basketball hoop.”

One of the issues I’ve always had with Violet’s writing throughout the whole season is that it never feels like she has anything to call her own. So much of her story revolves around Minerva and Clementine, which would be fine if I also felt like I got to know her more than I do. 

Like... aside from survival, what gets Violet out of bed every morning?  What does she like? We always hear about things she doesn’t like, but what does Violet do that is hers? I mean within the text of the story, not headcanons. Aside from her romantic relationships, there really isn’t something so tied to her character, if that makes sense. Something that’s in a more positive light.... though I guess her relationships aren’t always that positive.

I get that when the twins died, Violet shut down a little bit and turned everyone away, but do they ever make a point to be like “Violet used to enjoy doing this, but when the twins died, she stopped and hasn’t picked it up since.” because for the life of me, I can’t think of anything. 

Everyone memeified the chicken nugget thing but that doesn’t add much to her character. She makes Clementine a pin, but admits that artsy stuff isn’t her thing. I get that’s supposed to make you feel special because she likes you enough to do something she doesn’t like for you, but again, art isn’t her thing. If you say that she likes stars and that’s her thing, that’s not exactly true since it was Clementine who knows about constellations and Violet admits that she knows nothing about that stuff, so they’ll just make it up. I guess you could make the argument that she took an interest in it because of Clementine, and that’s fair, but that’s the thing.... why does Violet’s romance scene take place up on the bell tower in the first place? 

Like.... okay, Louis has his romance scene in the music room, right? That makes perfect sense with his character. It’s where we first meet him, and music is so interwoven with his character that it holds together his backstory of why he broke up his parents marriage, his coping mechanism, how the others view him, and how losing his tongue is even more tragic since he won’t ever be able to sing again. So having him and Clementine tune the piano, carving their initials into the piano, him naming a song he wrote after her, it’s all romantic and it makes so much sense. They didn’t do it just because they thought it would be romantic. 

The thing I struggle with the Violet scene is that I feel like if I asked the devs why they chose the bell tower and how it ties into her character, they would say “well, it’s romantic under the stars.” like.... they’re only doing it for the sake of romance without thinking about anything else? because when doing that scene we get the terrible mini-game [sorry, but I reeeeally don’t like the mini-game hahaha]  and it feels like we’re wasting a little too much time because I’m not learning anything about Violet through it, but we’re also not talking about anything important. The most I learn is that if I remain silent, then Violet will say that Minerva reminds her of the fish constellation: “Bright, pretty, good with other people. Always moving, tons of energy.”

Which, by they way, Clementine’s face when she says that? Oof. 

By the end of the mini-game, Violet finally says something about how she didn’t mean to talk so much, and how how she’s watched people leave before and all that.... stuff that I already know about her, and it’s not that it isn’t important for her to admit that she wants us here and she can’t imagine what it would be like if we weren’t now, because it is.... I guess I just want everything to tie together better?

Okay, when we first see Violet, she’s laying up on a high wall and you could link that to the bell tower [high places], but she never mentions it or how she goes up there when she needs the quiet until that very moment. And the more I think about it, I’m like..... why didn’t they give her something? 

Violet’s supposed to be this character who needs to warm up to you, who has shut everyone out for a year, she’s not a people person and has a hard time relating to others, she snarky and can come off as aggressive, she knows how to fight, she was in a romantic relationship with Minerva, she’s close with Tenn, she’s got a strained relationship with Brody and hates Marlon and...... like okay, this is going to sound harsh and I don’t like it either, but sometimes if feels like the writers neglected parts of her character for the sake of focusing on her relationships with Minerva and Clementine, that when you take them away, there isn’t a lot left... as if Violet’s only important or special if she’s in some sort of relationship with Clementine and I don’t like that. 

Characters, like people, should be more than just their sexuality and relationships. If Violet and Louis are supposed to be important characters in the game, they need to stand on their own outside of Clementine. 

You guys know me, you know every time I play I romance and save Louis, but in doing that, I learn pretty much nothing about Violet and that’s dumb. At least when you romance and save Violet, you know about Louis and his tie to music. The most I tie Vi to is Minnie and aggression because she and I spend two episodes butting heads about most things until she’s captured, and then she yells and attacks me in the cells and what was the plan here writers??

I get that they don’t wanna info dump about these characters and they want to leave things for when you play the different routes but that doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t give Violet anything to call her own because even when I played her route, it still didn’t feel like I got to know her and everything was done because you thought just having a queer option smothered in romance that doesn’t have to make sense was enough.

Are my ramblings making sense yet? I dunno!

This leads me to this piece of dialogue you get when Clementine says silent when Violet asks her what her favorite part of her house was: “I've always wanted a basketball hoop.”

Now stick with me a little longer and hear me out........ why wasn’t basketball Violet’s thing? I know this is a bit of a throwaway line that a lot of players probably didn’t even get, but think of the possibilities of extra layers to Violet’s character?

Instead of hanging out on top of a wall when we first see her, Violet’s off dribbling a basketball and shooting hoops when she spots you and Tenn goes to her, and she stops to stare you down as she holds the ball against her hip, or she continues to dribble but now she’s watching Clementine. A little intimidating, but enough to peak your curiosity about the girl shooting hoops. 

When Louis says he used to love baseball and Violet says baseball sucks, it’s because this is an inside joke they have about baseball vs basketball.

“Basketball/baseball sucks.”

“YOU suck.”

“Not as much as baseball/basketball.”

Instead of going up to the bell tower, Clementine and Violet shoot hoops together while talking about how Violet’s feeling about the situation, let her get some of those thoughts about Minerva out so they’re not weighing down on her, and then segway into her talking about how she’s glad Clem is here and let the romance/friendship play out. Hell, you could either do this in a gym or outside if you still want them under the stars. 

As far as this tying into her backstory, maybe her grandparents had a basketball hoop at their place, and after church her grandma would grab fast food and they’d go home where she and her grandpa would play while grandma watched. 

Then when you don’t save her, Violet becoming blind has a whole other layer to it because now she can’t fucking see to shoot hoops, something she genuinely enjoyed and can’t anymore. 

This would also compliment Louis and his tie to music. Violet’s more active, aggressive, sporty whereas Louis is musical, artsy and calmer. 

I dunno, what do you guys think?

[austajunk]

(Heyo, I hope you don't mind me sharing my thoughts in your inbox. I just think you're cool and have good opinions, so here I am.)

OK, so I love Komahinanami as an OT3. As friends, or romantically, or whatever. I just love them a lot.

What I reeeeally don't like about it, though, is (some of) the fans' portrayal of it. For some people, it's never Komahinanami as a three-way relationship, with them all caring for and loving each other equally.

It's either Komahina with Chiaki just "added on", or it's Hinanami with Nagito just "added on", or it's Komahina + Hinanami with no interaction between Nagito and Chiaki at all.

(Like... where's the Komanami love?)

And if they do interact, then it's almost always negative. Chiaki's made out to be the girl who Nagito hates more than anything else, the girl who gets in the way of Komahina. And Nagito's made out to be this jealous, possessive asshole who is disgusted by Chiaki and only cares about Hajime. Which is just 1) not true to the characters at all, and 2) really confusing to me, because I don't know where it comes from other than just projection.

People do realise that Nagito never showed one single hint of either hatred towards Chiaki or posessiveness towards Hajime, right? I don't know where this whole "Nagito hates Chiaki, is jealous of her, and wanted to kill her for the sake of Hajime" thing comes from. Maybe it's just some fans' projection, but... it's just not canon, and it's not part of Nagito's character at all.

And Hajime isn't the only person who Nagito is capable of caring about or developing a positive relationship with. Let him have friends and people he cares about other than Hajime, even if you only ship Komahina.

Bottom line: I love Nagito, Chiaki and Hajime, I love fan works where they interact, and I love it when they're actually in character, and not made totally OOC to satisfy fans' bad character interpretations and hatred of female characters.

(Sorry again about the inbox rant - just wanted to share my thoughts!)

Hooo boi. Hoooo boi. Oh anon, you just tackled one of my biggest pet peeves of this fandom right to its core. Also thanks for saying I’m cool. :3

Firstly, the denial of the Komanami side of KomaHinaNami, but honestly… that I could deal with. This is why I focus on a lot of the KomaNami side of things on my blog but I don’t mind so much the “Hajime has two hands” side of this ship because usually from what I’ve seen, people have Chiaki be Nagito’s best friend or wing lady with Hajime and he appreciates and adores her and confides in her about Hajime and shares Hajime with her and all three are happy. Like.. in a way, that’s still ultra pippity poppity cute!

But yeah, the KomaHina fans who like to portray Chiaki as just the girl who is in the way of their relationship, as if Nagito hates or is jealous of Chiaki… no, just no. It has never once been like that! Before he really got to know Hajime, Chiaki was the only person who accepted and tried to understand Nagito. She was kind to him and he seemed to appreciate her in turn, insisting that her being their class rep made her their biggest light of Hope. He even pleads with her not to take on Junko, that he knew they were no chance against them but believes in Chiaki anyways and is devastated to the point of breaking down and sobbing at her death. Of course, he twists things and beseeches Chiaki’s name, insisting that she can lift them up with her death… but only because he’s coping. In his own world in the Neo World Program, she is missing because the memory of her (and Hajime) hurt him so much that he had to block it out. His desire to see her along with the rest of the class brings her back to them as an AI that leads them all back to the right path.

As for the idea that Nagito is jealous of Chiaki… I think they get that from one scene in DR2 where Chiaki says she’s gonna go find Fuyuhiko in Chapter 2 to question him. She leaves and Hajime is irked about being left alone with Nagito, to which Nagito is like “Oh I’m sorry! You wanted her to stay?!” Honestly… people seem to ignore that before Chiaki left, Nagito expressed concern about her questioning Fuyuhiko and told her to not let him “get rough” with her. So… Nagito clearly cares. Out of everyone (including Hajime) in the main storyline, Nagito openly praises Chiaki and her talents the most. He will also politely oblige her and be quiet when she asks while he does not for anyone else. Also the thing is… Nagito is pretty protective of Chiaki. In Chapter 4, when Chiaki gets overwhelmed by Nagito being clingy, she runs away from him only for him to appear behind her five minutes later and urging her to remember that she could get hurt on her own and that she shouldn’t have run off.

More to the point, let’s pretend Chiaki and Nagito were like… rivals for Hajime’s affection like Chisa and Juzo were. That they directly mirror them (they don’t as much as we think). Even Juzo and Chisa loved and appreciated each other platonically. They were incredibly important to each other in this show while being in love with the same person. In the mangas furthermore, we have these scenes (So tell me, tell me to my face that Chiaki is the girl that Nagito somehow hates, that he never cared for her beyond a romantic rival. Just tell me. And yes yes I know the mangas are secondary canon, but when like two or three of them show all these moments of Chiaki and Nagito supporting each other, come the fuck on. I stand by that it enriches our current canon.):

[be11atrixthestrange]

“Don’t hesitate, just kiss me.” I can’t help myself, Romione please? 😘

So, I took some creative liberties with this and I gave the gist of that line to George. He reeeeally wanted it, and I felt bad for him because his brother died. 

Thanks for the prompt!!

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

Number Eleven

He could still count the number of times he’d kissed her on his hands.

With Lavender, it was hard to keep track because his mind would always wander elsewhere while they kissed. He’d start thinking about his schoolwork, quidditch, or Hermione. Mostly Hermione. By the time he refocused, it was impossible to know if they had shared one, two, or five kisses, and he didn’t really care anyway.

He couldn’t focus on anything else when Hermione kissed him, so he remembered each one vividly. Although amazing, it didn’t feel normal to be able to kiss her. He still hesitated each time, half expecting her to turn her head away and change her mind, but she never did.

First, the Room of Requirement. He’d never forget that one. Even if someone obliviated him, he was certain the sound of basilisk fangs clattering to the floor, and the feeling of her lips frantically meeting his would still be there.

Then they kissed again after the battle, on their way back to the Gryffindor common room. The heartbreak he felt for Fred must have been evident in the way he walked determinedly forward, face down, shoulders slumped, because she did exactly what he wanted her to do. She reached for his hand and pulled him to an empty hallway and hugged him. Then he cried into hair, and she just held him for as long as he needed to be held.

When he stopped crying, their lips came together. He didn’t know who initiated it, but it didn’t matter like he thought it would. Their second kiss communicated something completely different than their first one. Rather than ‘I want you’, it said ‘I’m here for you’, and Ron scanned every detail into his memory. It was softer, gentler and sweeter, and managed to burn away some of the sorrow he felt about Fred.

Their third kiss was in the boys’ dormitory, more specifically, his bed. Curled up in eachothers’ arms, under the blankets, they enjoyed a more passionate kiss that might have turned into a snog if he hadn’t been so damn tired. They silently agreed to put that on hold before sleep overtook them, and he was grateful, because he wanted to be fully present the first time they truly snogged.

They shared their fourth kiss the next morning, but Ron kept it short and sweet, because he hadn’t brushed his teeth yet, and he was a bit self-conscious…

The day after the battle was a blur. He spent most of the day making arrangements with his family, checking in with his classmates, and visiting victims in the hospital wing. They both remained distracted until later that evening, when they returned to the Burrow, and they shared their fifth kiss on the landing of the stairs before parting ways for the night.

Kisses number six, seven, and eight all happened the next day. In the garden after breakfast, quickly in the living room between chores, when they had a rare moment alone, and before bed, when Hermione managed to slide into his room, and Harry determinedly looked away.

Number nine was their first real snog. They took an afternoon around the orchard, and finally alone and obscured by trees, he embraced her. She let him press her up against an apple tree while he admitted her tongue between his lips, and it was a blissful oblivion.

Then there was number ten, earlier today, before the funeral. It was a lot like number two—comforting, supportive, gentle, hidden away from prying eyes.

The funeral ended hours ago, but Ron, Hermione, Harry and the rest of his siblings were still outside, passing around Butterbeers and telling stories of Fred.

Hermione was next to him, but no closer than she would have been sitting if they were still just friends. That was one thing about the last ten kisses, apart from Harry, no one else knew about them.

It was strange to feel such happiness with Hermione in the midst of his debilitating grief. Both emotions were so strong, yet somehow, they didn’t conflict with one another. He had enough room for it all.

Out of respect for everyone’s sadness, they’d been keeping their relationship relatively quiet. Ron was balancing both grief for Fred and excitement over Hermione, and he didn’t want to risk his family misunderstanding that. As a result, he still hesitated before each kiss, just to look around and make sure no one would see.

Then George brought it up.

“Fred and I would make bets with one another. There was one that never got resolved,” he said, staring directly at Ron.

He looked like he expected Ron to respond, so he did. “What was the bet?”

George motioned between him and Hermione with his butterbeer. “You two.”

“What about us?” asked Ron nervously.

“Are you together?”

Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance, and the grins that spread across their faces gave their answer away.

“Good,” said George. “Who kissed who?”

Ron looked back at George with wide eyes. “You bet on that?”

George nodded. “I reckoned you’d be the one to pluck up the courage and kiss her. Fred figured it’d be Hermione.”

Ron could feel his face reddening, Hermione smiled smugly in his peripheral vision.

“So,” said George, a little impatiently. “Who won the bet?”

“Erm, Fred won,” answered Ron.

“Bugger! He always wins,” said George, looking at Hermione with a hint of admiration. “Ron, why didn’t you kiss her?”

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but paused, unsure exactly how to answer. Hermione filled the silence.

“He hesitated,” she said, smirking. “So I took my opportunity.”

George smiled. “Of course he did. I’m happy for you both. Fred would be too.”

Ron looked at Hermione, and she slipped her hand into his. He wanted to kiss her, but was still unsure if it’d be in bad taste.

George didn’t seem to think so. “Well don’t hesitate, just kiss her,” he said, alleviating Ron of his uncertainty.

Hermione smiled as Ron reached a hand behind her head and gently guided her lips to his. Number eleven. He heard a chorus of “awws”, whistles, and even a groan from Ginny.  .

Now everyone knew. Did this mean he could kiss her whenever he wanted? If so, he would. He could no longer count their kisses on his fingers, and he couldn’t wait to start losing track of them.