#siren!Haley

[kitboy-catboy]

STARDEW VALLEY MONSTER AU!!!

Idk why but all I've been able to think about the past few days have been an idea for an AU where all the bachelors and bachelorettes are monsters so here's my thoughts!

I'm going to rank my ideas for what monsters they are going to be from a scale of "you can literally not change my mind" to "I barely know anything about them please help"

Abigail is obviously going to be a witch. With the theory of her being the wizards daughter as well as her spirituality, making her a witch would be the obvious choice.

Sam is a werewolf and you can't change my mind on this one. He is THE golden retriever bachelor so making him a dog is just a given. I could see him go full dog mode when he's around Abigail and Sebastian. I don't think he'll cause too many problems during the full moon, as long as he's fed well.

Sebastian being a vampire is also another obvious one. I could see him desperately trying to find an alternative way to quench his bloodthirst (literally) because he doesn't want to hurt anyone. He would probably try to feed on animals at first or something like that.

Shane is a zombie. I think it would be an ironic turn of events if he ended up dying and then came back to life. The rest of the village would probably not even notice anything because he already looked kinda dead, Jaz would probably be a little suspicious, but if a toddler told you that her alcoholic godfather was a zombie you would probably just think she's got a wild imagination.

Emily and Haley are definitely sirens to me, specifically the mermaid type of siren. I don't really have much to back this one up other than Haley being the typical "beautiful but mean girl" and idk it gives siren to me, also the thought of Emily and Haley swimming around with beautiful mermaid tails just makes me happy.

I literally have no idea what the rest of the bachelors and bachelorettes could be, if anyone has any ideas please send me an ask or something like that.

[sorceresslodge]

playing stardew again and i love how haley goes from "ew gross" to "oh no i need her"

[jasperssourlemons]

[sagehaleyofficial]

HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (12.14-12.20.22):

NEW MUSIC:

Sleeping with Sirens released an acoustic version of the title track from their latest record Complete Collapse. The original version was released earlier this year in October.

Bayside released a new single titled “Go to Hell” to celebrate their 22nd year as a band. The group just released their The Red EP earlier this year, featuring the song “Strangest Faces.”

Following the release of his latest single, City and Colour premiered a new music video for the song “Meant to Be.” The song is the first that the singer has shared since 2019’s A Pill for Loneliness.

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Head Automatica announced their first show in a decade, playing Furnace Fest next year. The event is taking place between September 22-24 at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama.

Billie Eilish invited Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl onstage at one of her Los Angeles shows this past weekend. The pair performed an acoustic rendition of the latter band’s hit song “My Hero.”

OTHER NEWS:

Paramore’s new single “This is Why” was given the title of Radio 1’s Hottest Record of the Year for 2022. Their new record of the same name will be released on February 10, 2023.

Chase Atlantic’s song “Swim” is now certified Silver in the United Kingdom. It’s the band’s second certification in the UK, with their 2017 song “Friends” also hitting Silver certification.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley”!

[greywoodrpg]

𝕒𝕞𝕪 𝕓𝕒𝕩𝕥𝕖𝕣

appears as though she was born thirty-five years ago but is actually thirty-nine, she is a siren who lives in mystic grove as a history professor at gsu, and she is in ocearian pod. she looks an awful lot like haley bennett.

“The worst things: To be in bed and sleep not, To want for one who comes not, To try to please and please not.”

tw: horror, drowning, trauma, ptsd, mental health

As the eldest of all Baxter children, Amy always had a lot of expectations to fulfill. Ever since the oldest brother in the family was born, she had taken it upon herself to be an example for him and every next sibling that followed, wanting to make her parents proud and help them lead as perfect of family life as they all could. This was why she’d never left Greywood in her teenage years or young adulthood, completing high school with stellar score and success and later on mastering in History and Archeology at the GSU, where she would also later on find a permanent workplace at. But Amy always wanted to see the world, travel and experience adventures the explorers on the television and movie screens had, like Indiana Jones or Jack Colton in The Jewel of the Nile.

Upon completing her master’s degree, she proceeded on to pursue a doctorate in Egyptology, Egyptian Art and Archaeology, her younger siblings finally independent enough to allow her to leave Greywood and visit the country of all her daydreams and longings. She’d joined numerous exploration expeditions, scientific and historical researches and visited many excavation sites in the region, following the trail of Nile, the cradle of ancient civilizations. But her love was for the pyramids, those magnificent old structures that marveled humanity for centuries and still held so many mysteries yet to be revealed. She wasn’t only watching mysteries and adventures in the movies or reading about them in the novels anymore - she was living this life and maybe, just maybe, if she ever got tired of the beautiful dunes of the Sahara desert, she may dedicate a portion of her life to the greatest mystery she’d ever heard of growing up. The remains of the Beast beneath Greywood . But she could return to her hometown whenever she wanted, first came exploring the world.

And what wonders awaited her there! Many of the yet to be explored areas within these ancient lands, the pyramids themselves and underground catacombs beneath the sand were indefinitely closed to the non-magical part of humanity and only accessible to those who grew up and lived knowing of the supernatural world or actively pursued that knowledge. Aside from what was researched and known of this ancient civilization so far, Amy set off to find out if there are any more mysteries and secrets the Egyptian pharaohs and priests hid, like hidden underground passageways beneath the Sahara sands, either man or magic-made or naturally created which revealed a system of tunnels and caves that even collected vast expanses of waters and created underground lakes under one of the driest, hottest places on Earth.

If werewolves, vampires and others existed today, why not back then too? As part of the society or even revered as divine beings, now existing only in legends and myths, part of folklore history and mythology of the region. There were so many wonderful questions to answer, with many possibilities and potential explanations. No one knew the answers to them but there were many theories and Amy spent days and nights talking them through to no end with her teams and colleagues either under the starry nights spent on sand or delving deep into the underground mazes where every corner could have a new discovery waiting.

She was finally living her dream, but maybe all the movies and novels she’d always watched and read, maybe all the myths and legends should’ve warned her about a darker side of mysteries. On one of her many expeditions into the underground catacombs beneath Giza plateau, while camping near a cave lake secretly named Osiris’ Pool, unknown and possibly never to be revealed to the non-magical public because it was believed that it had been connected to the side of the supernatural life after death, Amy had noticed an unusual stir in the otherwise perfectly calm, dark water. Under the sparse fluorescent red light of the headlamps they used so they wouldn’t stumble around in absolute darkness, Amy did what every stupid main character of such stories would - she leaned over the edge, peering into the bottomless abyss beneath. And then she was pulled in, so fast she’d hardly made a sound before black water engulfed her. No one noticed her disappear, all asleep in their bedrolls or conducting their research work elsewhere.

They searched for her for weeks - her colleagues, rescue teams, deep-divers and all sort of professionals were brought in to find at least a trace of her. And eventually, so as to not disturb the precious old places fragile with time, they gave up, the missing report put up left unresolved. Until she had finally emerged from the underground, dripping wet and clothesless, almost feral and confused. Everything between her being pulled into the lake and then being returned to a town with people who could provide help was a blur she is still working on with her therapist. The dream was over and Amy was back in Greywood, permanently, too afraid to set foot out of the safety of her town now. She never wanted another adventure again, the mere fact that her family thought she might be dead for weeks grounding her from having her head in the clouds so much.

So she settled, taking up a teaching position at the Greywood Supernatural University. She focused on her family. She hosted Thanksgiving dinners and participated in all the town’s major events actively. She picked up pottery and cooking. She went on a few dates with prospects of marriage (it didn’t pan out yet). And with every change of the tide, she turned into the same creature that drowned her.

“what power did she attain when settling in greywood?”

Amy’s Greywood-acquired power is to touch an item and know its whole history - who made it, where it’s been, who used it etc. This is under her control and requires conscious effort and focus to activate. May be very partial and fragmented if an item is particularly old with a lot of history and time behind it.

penned by... sandra

[findopulencerp]

                                             𝖆𝖒𝖞 𝖇𝖆𝖝𝖙𝖊𝖗

appears as though she was born 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 years ago but is actually 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞, she is a 𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐧 who lives in 𝐝𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 as a 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐬𝐮, and she is in 𝐥𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧. she looks an awful lot like 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭.

“The worst things: To be in bed and sleep not, To want for one who comes not, To try to please and please not.”

HORROR TW, DROWNING TW, TRAUMA TW, PTSD TW, MENTAL HEALTH TW

As the eldest of all Baxter children, Amy always had a lot of expectations to fulfil. Ever since the oldest brother in the family was born, she had taken it upon herself to be an example for him and every next sibling that followed, wanting to make her parents proud and help them lead as perfect of a family life as they all could. This was why she’d never left Opulence in her teenage years or young adulthood, completing high school with stellar score and success and later on mastering in History and Archeology at the OSU, where she would also later on find a permanent workplace at. But Amy always wanted to see the world, travel and experience adventures the explorers on the television and movie screens had, like Indiana Jones or Jack Colton in The Jewel of the Nile.

Upon completing her master’s degree, she proceeded on to pursue a doctorate in Egyptology, Egyptian Art and Archaeology, her younger siblings finally independent enough to allow her to leave Opulence and visit the country of all her daydreams and longings. She’d joined numerous exploration expeditions, scientific and historical researches and visited many excavation sites in the region, following the trail of Nile, the cradle of ancient civilizations. But her love was for the pyramids, those magnificent old structures that marveled humanity for centuries and still held so many mysteries yet to be revealed. She wasn’t only watching mysteries and adventures in the movies or reading about them in the novels anymore - she was living this life and maybe, just maybe, if she ever got tired of the beautiful dunes of the Sahara desert, she may dedicate a portion of her life to the greatest mystery she’d ever heard of growing up. The remains of the Beast beneath Opulence. But she could return to her hometown whenever she wanted, first came exploring the world.

And what wonders awaited her there! Many of the yet to be explored areas within these ancient lands, the pyramids themselves and underground catacombs beneath the sand were indefinitely closed to the non-magical part of humanity and only accessible to those who grew up and lived knowing of the supernatural world or actively pursued that knowledge. Aside from what was researched and known of this ancient civilization so far, Amy set off to find out if there are any more mysteries and secrets the Egyptian pharaohs and priests hid, like hidden underground passageways beneath the Sahara sands, either man or magic-made or naturally created which revealed a system of tunnels and caves that even collected vast expanses of waters and created underground lakes under one of the driest, hottest places on Earth.

If werewolves, vampires and others existed today, why not back then too? As part of the society or even revered as divine beings, now existing only in legends and myths, part of folklore history and mythology of the region. There were so many wonderful questions to answer, with many possibilities and potential explanations. No one knew the answers to them but there were many theories and Amy spent days and nights talking them through to no end with her teams and colleagues either under the starry nights spent on sand or delving deep into the underground mazes where every corner could have a new discovery waiting.

She was finally living her dream, but maybe all the movies and novels she’d always watched and read, maybe all the myths and legends should’ve warned her about a darker side of mysteries. On one of her many expeditions into the underground catacombs beneath Giza plateau, while camping near a cave lake secretly named Osiris’ Pool, unknown and possibly never to be revealed to the non-magical public because it was believed that it had been connected to the side of the supernatural life after death, Amy had noticed an unusual stir in the otherwise perfectly calm, dark water. Under the sparse fluorescent red light of the headlamps they used so they wouldn’t stumble around in absolute darkness, Amy did what every stupid main character of such stories would - she leaned over the edge, peering into the bottomless abyss beneath. And then she was pulled in, so fast she’d hardly made a sound before black water engulfed her. No one noticed her disappear, all asleep in their bedrolls or conducting their research work elsewhere.

They searched for her for weeks - her colleagues, rescue teams, deep-divers and all sort of professionals were brought in to find at least a trace of her. And eventually, so as to not disturb the precious old places fragile with time, they gave up, the missing report put up left unresolved. Until she had finally emerged from the underground, dripping wet and clothesless, almost feral and confused. Everything between her being pulled into the lake and then being returned to a town with people who could provide help was a blur she is still working on with her therapist. The dream was over and Amy was back in Opulence, permanently, too afraid to set foot out of the safety of her town now. She never wanted another adventure again, the mere fact that her family thought she might be dead for weeks grounding her from having her head in the clouds so much.

So she settled, taking up a teaching position at the Opulence Supernatural University. She focused on her family. She hosted Thanksgiving dinners and participated in all the town’s major events actively. She picked up pottery and cooking. She went on a few dates with prospects of marriage (it didn’t pan out yet). And with every change of the tide, she turned into the same creature that drowned her.

“what power did she attain when settling in opulence?”

Amy’s Opulence-acquired power is to touch an item and know its whole history - who made it, where it’s been, who used it etc. This is under her control and requires conscious effort and focus to activate. May be very partial and fragmented if an item is particularly old with a lot of history and time behind it.

this character is…taken

[duckprintspress]

Let’s Go Lesbians! 32 Books for Lesbian Visibility Day

TODAY! is Lesbian Visibility Day, the first day of Lesbian Visibility Week – April 26, 2024. We are, I’m sure you’re shocked to discover, celebrating with LOTS of lesbian books! 15 people contributed to making this list, all of us sharing our absolute faves, from graphic novels to epic novels, from memoirs to horror fiction, with explicit rep and implied. With this many awesome books to share, we’re prepared to guarantee that everyone who loves wlw lit can find something new to them on this amazing list!

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable & Ellen T. Crenshaw

She Wears the Midnight Crown Anthology

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

The Scapegracers & The Scratch Daughters by H.A. Clarke

Spinning by Tillie Walden

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

The Ruin of Angels by Max Gladstone

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Those Who Wait by Haley Cass

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Into the Bloodred Woods by Martha Brockenbrough

From Here by Luma Mufleh

Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

A Memory Called Empire & A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

Female General, Eldest Princess by Please Don’t Laugh

Clear And Muddy Loss of Love by Please Don’t Laugh

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin

Can’t get enough books with lesbians? Yeah, us neither – this new list for 2024 is on top of THREE rec lists of titles featuring lesbians that we posted last year.

Lesbian Visibility Week Recs Part 1

Lesbian Visibility Week Recs Part 2

Duck Prints Press Short Stories with Lesbian Characters

You can also view this list (along with all our other wlw faves!) as a shelf on Goodreads!

See a book you want to buy? You can grab it through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop!

What are YOUR favorite reads with lesbian characters?

[thewulf]

Murder at the Motel || Aaron Hotchner

Summary: Request - hiii !! can you write a hotch fic where him and reader (fem or gn) is in a rs and he suprise visits her and she was playing the hunt a killer game (which is like this game where you subscribe and you get a box every 6 months that's filled with details and clues and u solve the mystery case), or just any game like that... Read Rest Here

A/N: SUPER fluffy and sweet. Wrote this pretty quick for you guys! Let me know if you like :) As always, thank you for your requests!

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Y/N

Word Count: 2.2k

“Son of a bitch.” You grumbled after attempting the code you thought you cracked for the fourth time to no avail. Setting down the wine glass that was far too empty you looked up at the clock on the wall sighing seeing as it was already 9 PM. You’d just gotten your latest murder mystery game in the mail and dove in after work. It was a Friday night and Aaron was off hunting another serial killer. Of course, you’d hidden it from him, you weren’t sure how. The man had picked up on everything that you did. But you’d been able to hide it away.

Not being completely sure why you’d hidden it from him you got up from the couch getting ready to pout yourself another glass of Pinot Grigio while you attempted to figure out the damn code that the lockbox was hiding away. This box was challenging you. Murder at the motel. You were usually able to fly through them, but this puzzle was stumping you. By now you’d usually be on your fifth clue, but you were sitting here stuck on the second without a clue on how you were going to figure it out.

Once the glass was poured you dove right back in trying your best to pick up on something you may have missed. Being so enraptured by the fluidity of the game you were completely clueless to you phone silently buzzing off to the side.

Little did you know your loving boyfriend of just over a year was trying to get ahold of you. The team had figured out the case and made it home much earlier than expected. Aaron decided to give the team the weekend off to relax and recover as he had ulterior motives in mind, spending the entire weekend with you.

After the passing of Haley, he was in a dark place. But then you popped up. You were walking your neighbors dog through the park when a sweet boy ran up to you asking to pet the small Pomeranian that had far too much attitude. You nodded happily letting the sweet boy pet and talk to the small dog who was loving all of the attention. You hadn’t a clue at the time you were meeting the child of the man you were going to love. One thing led to another, and you and Aaron were inseparable. He found peace in the slowness that you adored, and you found chaos in the life he lived. The two of you clicked like peas in a pod. Two happy little clams that were meant to be.

So, when you didn’t answer your phone for the fourth time Aaron freaked, naturally. Were you alright? Did somebody get to you like they did Haley? What if you were laying in a puddle of your own blood and it was his fault? He couldn’t do that again. Not to you. God, that would actually destroy him this time.

Using the sirens on his vehicle, which he knew was wrong, but he didn’t really give a damn, he flew on over to your house. His heart rate dropped a little when he saw your house lights on, but it didn’t slow him down as he ran to your front door banging on it a little too hard, “Sweetheart? Are you alright?” He called not wanting to freak you out if you were just being careless about your phone.

You nearly jumped out of your skin when the banging on your front door started. You scurried to the front door once you heard his voice. What was he doing home so early?

Unlocking the door in a hurry you spotted the overly stressed out man standing there in his signature suit that looked far too good on him to have completely pure thoughts, “Aaron!” You grinned, “What are you doing home so early?”

He let out a breath of air he’d clearly been holding in. You watched as he placed an arm on the door frame trying to steady himself. Was he shaking?

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” He answered your question with one of his own.

You moved to the side so he could come in giving yourself a second to think. You didn’t really want to admit that you were far to engrossed in your fake killer game to look at your phone, that was too embarrassing to admit, “I was uh, busy?” You didn’t sound the most confident. You wanted to curse under your breath for sounding so unsure.

He cocked his head once he walked in, looking right at you with those damn profiler eyes, “Busy?” He questioned.

“Mhmm.” You hummed shutting the door behind you, “Crazy Friday night in.” You grinned pushing him towards the kitchen, away from the mess of a game you had sprawled out in the living room.

“Doing what sweetheart?” He was more curious now, nothing accusatory in his voice. This was just Aaron checking in.

He was going to find out, you just knew it. You’d been successful hiding the little side hobby from him for over a year. You weren’t going to get so lucky tonight, “Oh, you know. Doing things.”

His eyes scrunched together involuntarily as he studied you, profiled you. You knew it was just a habit but being under the gaze of the man who was profiling was much different than the soft Aaron you usually got. You shouldn’t have been surprised though. You were acting incredibly weird. Why couldn’t you just play it cool?

He smirked this time almost as if he knew he caught you doing something, “What kind of things love?” Pressing further he walked towards you giving you a quick kiss on the head before heading towards your living room.

Following him like a lost puppy dog you tried your best to walk around him. But his larger frame didn’t let you, “You know! Games and things!” In your futile attempt to push the papers away from the coffee table he grabbed you by the waist stopping you from clearing anything else. You would’ve protested but he pulled you right into him.

“Murder at the Motel?” His eyebrows raised seeing the box sitting right out in the open.

You sighed knowing you were caught, “Busted.”

His smirk grew further, “Hunt a Killer?”

You nodded, cheeks aflame with embarrassment, “Like I said, games and things.” Burying your head in his chest you hid yourself from the stupid feeling in your chest.

You felt his chest rumble into a fit of chuckles clearly finding the situation all too funny, “This says box number 23?”

You nodded still hiding away, “I’ve been subscribed for a while.” You had to admit to him. It’s not like you could lie to him. He was too damn good at calling you out on that bullshit. And truthfully, you were an awful liar. Far too many tells to try and get away with it.

He begrudgingly pulled you out of his chest. As much as he liked you cuddled up he wanted to actually speak to you, “No need to be embarrassed love.” He brushed your messed up hair away from your face, “Let’s play, yeah?” He sat down before reading the premise of the box.

“That wouldn’t be fair.” You huffed sitting down next to him.

He pulled you into his lap with ease, “And why’s that?”

You turned to him with that look on your face, “It’s not meant for profilers Aaron. You’ll figure it out in half a second.”

He shrugged, “I won’t say a word then.” Placing his hands up in defense he gave you a quick squeeze trying to get you to relax.

But you shook your head quickly, “We can watch a movie or something…”

“You don’t want to play?” He pressed knowing why you were likely uncomfortable with it. He was intimidating when it came to his job. The two of you rarely discussed it. He made sure to leave work at work and promised you he was just Aaron when he got home. He knew you probably felt insecure about the whole thing, he wasn’t dumb. He was a profiler. He sensed your rigidity the second he walked into your cozy home.

This time it was your turn to shrug, “It’s not that. I just… I just want you to relax?” God, why were you so embarrassing? Why couldn’t you just communicate to your partner of over a year?

He ran his hand gently down your back trying his best to get you eased, “This is relaxing. Being with you is relaxing sweetheart.” He leaned down giving the top of your head a quick kiss, “I’d love to play with you. But if you don’t want to that’s also completely fine. I just want to spend some time with you. This week has been tiring.” He admitted with a sad smile on his face, “Jack is at my moms for the rest of the weekend too.”

You peaked an eye up at him, “Promise you won’t judge if I mess up?”

He shook his head quickly. “I would never my sweet girl.” Finally, you relaxed into his touch admitting defeat to yourself. Fuck it? Why not play with Aaron. You needed help and here he was coming in to save the day.

“Alright Hotchner.” You sat up, “I’m trying to figure out the code for this lockbox.” You held the damn thing up dramatically, “I’ve already figured out that Rose is an absolute piece of shit liar, read her card. Doesn’t she just seem suspicious?” You tossed him the card of who you thought seemed to be the most suspicious.

He chuckled grabbing the card from you reading it over quickly. He nodded in agreement with you, “She does seem suspicious.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, “Are you being serious or are you being supportive right now?”

His smile finally reached his eyes seeing how seriously you really were treating the game, “Absolutely serious. There’s… inconsistencies in her story.”

“I knew it!” You grinned looking back at all the papers, “Which means we need to look into her fake ass alibi.”

Aaron couldn’t help but to watch in amazement as you worked through the puzzle with him. He knew how freaking smart you were, but he didn’t know how clever you were on top of it. He hardly made a sound as you worked through the second clue and finally pieced together the missing code. He watched in awe as you ripped through the third, fourth and fifth clues in no time at all. He had to question if you’d picked up on his profiling while he was with you for how well you were getting through the game without even a mere clue from him. While he wasn’t actively playing the game you were picking up on clues that went right over his head. If he wasn’t already madly in love his heart went into overdrive watching your brain work its magic.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when you spoke to him directly, “Why are you staring at me like that?”

His eyes glazed over your face once more. He loved the way your cheeks got a little rosy when you got excited about something. He adored the way you got animated when you asked questions or observed the world around you. He couldn’t get enough of your expressions that made him question everything. God, he was a sucker for you and only you.

He shook his head, “No reason love. You’re amazing is all.” In all your commotion you’d moved out of his lap and onto the floor spread out trying to piece together everything.

That stupid blush that always gave you away coated your cheeks once more as he watched you in awe, “Shush. It’s not that impressive Aaron.”

“Quite the contraire sweetheart. You’re remarkable. What can’t you do?” He joined you on the floor wanting to be close to you. Only you.

Looking away from him you didn’t try and stop the creeping smile that came from his continuous compliments, “Flatterer.”

“Not when it’s the truth.” He shot right back.

Ignoring his comment you continued, “You going to help me now or just continue to stare?” You pushed his shoulder lightly while shooting him a wink.

“Oh, I’m planning on staring at you love.” He threw the wink right back feeling all of the love in the moment. For the life of him he never could comprehend how he got so damn lucky with you, his girl. His forever. The best person to help raise Jack. The kindest woman he’s ever known. The full package was sitting right there in front of him and true to his word, he was planning on simply staring at you in absolute awe.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” You stuck your tongue out at him before turning back to the papers trying to figure out the last clue.

“You know what’ll last even longer?” He asked.

You shook your head turning your body to look back over to him, “What’s that A?”

“Marriage.”

You nearly choked on your own spit trying to comprehend what the hell he was trying to put down, “What?”

“Marry me Y/N.” He said as if it was the most simple thing in the world. Like he had all the confidence he could ever need.

“You want to marry me?” Your heart started racing faster. Sure, you’d talked about it, but nothing ever really came from it. You weren’t expecting this. Not in the slightest.

He nodded, “Fuck baby. I want to spend every single waking moment with you. You’re it. You’re the one. I can’t do this life without you.”

You grinned scooting yourself right back into his lap, “Yeah?”

He nuzzled his head into your neck peppering soft kisses up it along your jaw line, “And I’m an ass for not having the ring ready. But we’ll go and get one tomorrow?”

Your grin gave him the answer he was looking for, “You know I don’t care about a ring Aaron. I’d marry you without a single thing.”

He gave you a massive squeeze holding you close in his lap, “Is that a yes then?”

Nodding your head quickly your eyes found his once more, “It’s a hell yes Aaron Hotchner.”

He let out the breath he didn’t even know he was holding at your enthusiastic response, “Baby, you just made me the happiest man in the world.”

“Same.” You gave his cheek a quick kiss, “Now, will you help me solve this damn game?”

Aaron Hotchner/Criminal Minds: Permanent Taglist (Message me or comment below if you want to be added!): @loving-and-dreaming @kmc1989 @memeorydotcom @matisse556 @buckylov3r @taygrls @ah-blossom @daily-evanstan @hardballoonlove @14buddy22 @rosiahills22 @djs8891

[audhd-nightwing]

the eldritch Guardians of gotham notice batman when he first emerges- they see how he protects their city, so they gift him the abilities of a bat: wings, night vision, enhanced senses, fangs

bruce wayne becomes a shut-in after his parents die. then he travels the world only to come back the same old shut-in. he works from home, and doesn’t leave the manor. every window is covered. only lucius fox and alfred pennyworth ever enter or leave the house

one night the bat follows sirens to a circus tent, and he watches as a young boy is escorted out, crying for his parents. the next day alfred pennyworth shows up at gotham’s social services and requests to become a foster parent. a month later (money might speed the process along) dick grayson is out of juvie and the orphanage and into the safety of wayne manor

bruce tries to hide his wings when the boy arrives, but dick is fascinated by them and thinks they’re “awesome”. bruce explains how he got them, and that he is batman.

later, when batman gains a partner- robin- the Guardians of gotham bless the boy with gifts similar to his mentor: robin wings, enhanced senses, and nails that sharpen into talons

dick grayson becomes a shut-in like bruce, and is home-schooled by alfred. he doesn’t mind, he didn’t have friends his age in the circus either, and alfred and bruce are good company. bruce does let him get pets, though, a three-legged puppy he names Haley and a bloodhound named Ace

when he grows out of robin and away from gotham, the Guardians give him different wings (steller’s jay) to show they support his independence. he lives at titans tower for a while before moving to blüdhaven with his best friend donna troy. dick remains a shut-in, but takes online college courses and goes out often as a new hero- nightwing. he goes out in the mask during the day, something he never did in gotham, and spends most of his time as nightwing- not that he minds. (troia is only his nighttime vigilante partner since donna has an actual day job)

the cycle repeats with jason. however, when jason claws his way out of his grave, the Guardians guide him back to the manor where bruce finds him. when it seems like jason may never recover from his comatose state, the Guardians show bruce a lazarus pit beneath gotham, and despite his hesitation they assure him no harm will come to jason if they have a say in it

jason is revived without the nasty side effects (thanks, eldritch beings) and dick moves back to gotham. jason also leaves robin behind for a different name- red hood- and is gifted new wings (cardinal). in this au the bats & birds are more morally grey and will kill people, but only the worst of the worst/repeat offenders. jason still becomes a crime lord but he only kills when necessary and has no pit madness.

dick and jason notice their young neighbor tim drake is often home alone/without his parents and convince bruce to let him in on their secret and have him stay over at the manor. bruce eventually agrees and they later adopt tim. tim never becomes robin but he does know about their vigilante identities (og way- recognized dick as robin and connected the dots).

tim will help out on comms and basically this au’s Oracle. babs does not become a vigilante in this, instead she becomes a lawyer, but she is still paralyzed by the joker as a civilian (pre-jason’s death, bc bruce kills the joker after that)

steph works with the bats as Spoiler, and is eventually let it on their identities. she and tim bond over being the only ‘normal’ ones

when cass comes along, she is gifted the same powers as bruce, including bat wings. she goes by Black Bat and mostly communicates using sign language

bruce is never lost in time and damian eventually arrives in gotham. damian is given robin and the gifts that accompany it

since duke already has powers, the Guardians don’t give him any, but they protect him as their own

JUST. CRYPTID BATFAMILY <3

[ereardon]

The Back Seater and the Baker [Masterlist]

Summary: Bob hasn't seen Haley Nichols since he was fifteen. But when Haley shows up out of the blue with one sentence that throws Bob for a loop – "I'm turning thirty in two weeks, are we still on?" – all of the feelings from their childhood return. Bob never thought that Haley would remember the marriage pact the two made when they were just kids, even if he never forgot. So what happens when Bob falls all over again for his childhood crush? And what will Bob do when he discovers the real reason she came back to capitalize on the pact is to secure her inheritance and save her bakery from bankruptcy? Will he believe Haley when she confesses that she loves him, too?

Pairing: Robert "Bob" Floyd x OC [Bakery owner Haley Nichols]

Tropes: Marriage pact

Status: Series is ongoing

Overview:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Credit to @gigisimsonmars for the marriage pact trope!

Tag list (people I think would like this):

@wkndwlff @bobfloydsbabe @teacupsandtopgun @blue-aconite @clancycucumber230 @yanna-banana @whisperofsong @marvelshauntedhouse @that1nerd-20

@double-j @topguncultleader @momc95 @hangmandruigandmav

@minamisulemisa @shawnsblue

@seresinhangmanjake @brehonodea @babyminghao @crthurston

@angelbabyange @taytaylala12 @mizzzpink @mygyn @sadpetalsstuff @averyhotchner @oneelleandaneye @shanimallina87

@wittywhispers @wildlyobserving @eyesthatroll @localhockeygirl @xomrsalliej4787xo @rosiahills22 @xoxabs88xox

@sexytholland @djs8891 @rxmtoon @darkestbeforethedawn16

@cactajuice @purplevortexx @dempy @lemur46

@louie-bug @arson-tm @valkyrja-siren-blog @avengers-fixation

@fudge13 @phantomxoxo @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby @not-two-shrimp @horseshoegirl @abaker74 @evans-dejong @storysimp @emma8895eb  @briseisgone @katiedid-3 @beacheybabes97 @mandylove100

[rataslesbianas]

tricking myself into drawing by making it stardew related </3

[ID: Messily colored sketches of Theo, a Stardew Valley OC. He's a tall and skinny pale girl with long blue hair and bangs. He has red eyes, painted red nails, sharp teeth with braces, and pointy gauged ears. He wears a black overall-skirt, with a striped gray shirt, red boots, and striped leg warmers. His skirt has patches, one with red stripes and others in the shapes of bats and shadow monsters. He is wearing mushroom earings as well as the siren's pendant. The first drawing, from the chest up, shows him doing a claw gesture with his hands and smiling wide. In the second one he has his arm around Haley's shoulder, bringing her in to kiss her cheek, holding a void chicken in his other arm. Haley is smiling, she has one leg up and is holding her camara. She is drawn as a fat woman, and also wears the siren's pendant. The third drawing is uncolored, it's a full body of Theo standing with his arms behind his back, smiling smugly.

The text beside him reads "Theo! he/him, genderqueer lesbian. Has a wilderness farm and a concerning number of void chickens. Mischievous (evil cat smiling emote). Goth mean girl x preppy mean girl. Is besties w/ Sebastian, Krobus and Clint, and likes hanging out around Shane (it's not mutual)". End ID]

[xyvyl]

Modern Family Incorrect Quotes Collection

Alex, setting down a card: Ace of spades. Y/N, pulling out an Uno card: +4. Luke, pulling out a Pokémon card: Jolteon, I choose you! Haley, trembling: What are we playing?!

Mitch: You were stabbed. Do you remember anything? Cam: Only the ambulance ride to the hospital. Mitch: That wasn't an ambulance, I drove you. Cam: But I heard a siren. Lily: That was Y/N. Y/N: Sorry, I got nervous.

Mitch: Where's Lily? Cam: Don't worry, I'll find them. Cam, shouting: Y/N sucks! Lily, distantly: Y/N is the best person ever! Fuck you! Cam: Found them.

Y/N: Manny, what does IDK, ILY, and TTYL mean? Manny: I don’t know, I love you, talk to you later. Y/N: Alright, I love you too, I'll ask Gloria. Manny: Wait- Y/N, no-

[dekarios]

tagged by @gothimp thankies.. <3

5 Songs

crossing over - lawless

blame - echoes

weight of everything - ill factor

hurt - of verona

sirens alternative - black math

all songs from the eden x yrliet playlist hiiii ^_^

Questions

1. Three ships you like:

ive been thinking about new ships a lot recently so im gonna put down new ones ive been enjoying :) i assume this is not meant to include ocs ........

yrliet x gale theyre not even from the same universes but boy do i like it ^_^

orin x ketheric .... yeah ...!!!!!!!

companion au default durge x tavflayer ..... oohhhh i might kms... bonus points making it poly with gale hiiiii

2. First ship ever: oh fuck god . i dont know?? i grew up watching buffy and i suppose i liked the stuff going on there.. like willow and oz was cute...... buffy and angel... but god idk if i shipped them i was an infant..... oh i think i liked.. uhh.. tj and spinelli as a kid.. thinking about it i think i projected on tj and had a crush on spinelli .......... Huh that says a lot ... ok

3. Last song you heard: scream - dreamcatcher

4. Favorite Childhood Book: goodnight mr tom by michelle magorian........ u can tell im english

5. Currently Reading: scourge the heretic by sandy mitchell & konrad curze: the night haunter by guy haley ... we are warhammering

6. Currently Watching: uhh nothing ...... slkdfjsdl;fksdf

7. Currently Craving: yrliet merch.. theres just nothing and i feel like a yrliet keychain would fix me or smth yknow....

tagging.. . @ttrpgs @minscofrashemen @vitanithepure @heinrix @voigtvir @marazhaiaezyrraesh @prismbearer @johnnystorm @ikarons @moxley and anyone else who wants to do it.. ^_^ !!!!

[sagehaleyofficial]

HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (8.10-8.16.22):

NEW MUSIC:

Waterparks shared the music video for their recent track '”Self-Sabotage.” The live video was filmed onstage and backstage at their recent appearance at London's Brixton Academy.

Ice Nine Kills shared a new video for their recent song “The Shower Scene,” based off the horror film Psycho. The band also recently released an acoustic version of the song.

Anti-Flag shared another new song titled “The Fight of Our Lives” featuring Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath and Bad Religion’s Brian Baker. Their new album Lies They Tell Our Children is set to drop on January 6 next year via Spinefarm.

Coheed and Cambria shared a visual for their track “A Disappearing Act.” The song appears on the band’s most recent album Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind.

Sleeping With Sirens shared two new tracks that are set to appear on their upcoming album Complete Collapse. The first track is titled “Ctrl + Alt + Del” and the second, titled “Let You Down,” features singer Charlotte Sands.

Beauty School shared another song from their upcoming debut album Happiness titled “Oak.” The album is set to drop on September 9 via Slam Dunk Records.

Enter Shikari released their first new music in two years through a collaboration with Wargasm titled “The Void Stares Back.” The latter band are gearing up to release their debut mixtape Explicit, which will include the song “Fukstar.”

Maggie Lindemann shared another piece of her upcoming full-length album Suckerpunch titled “Self-Sabotage.” The album will be released on September 16.

Trash Boat celebrated the one year anniversary of their latest album Don’t You Feel Amazing? with a remix of their song “Alpha Omega.” The remix was done by the band Strange Bones.

Hot off the release of their new album Hotel Kalifornia, Hollywood Undead released a new music video for the song “Hourglass.” The song is a potent look at their home state, as well as the band's own relationship with each other and where they are from.

New Years Day returned with their first new music in three years in the form of “Hurts Like Hell.” The band's last full-length Unbreakable dropped back in 2019.

After releasing their new album Unwanted last Friday, Pale Waves released a new music video for the song “Clean.” The song is a love song that vocalist Heather Barron-Gracie says is for “for the LGBTQ community.”

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

When We Were Young Festival announced a series of special side shows surrounding their main event. The shows will include a 90’s cover set featuring Story of the Year, Sleeping with Sirens and The Summer Set at the Brooklyn Bowl, among others.

OTHER NEWS:

ONE OK ROCK's track “Wherever You Are” became the first of their songs to reach 100 million streams on Spotify. The track appears on the band's album Niche Syndrome, which came out back in 2010.

The All-American Rejects’ classic song “Swing, Swing” is now certified Silver in the United Kingdom. Their other songs “Gives You Hell” is certified Platinum and “Move Along” and “Dirty Little Secret” certified Gold, respectively.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley”!

[sequinsmile-x]

Home - Chapter Five

Revenge - (re·​venge: Noun.)

The action of hurting or harming someone in return for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.

She'd been comfortable and safe for so long that she'd allowed herself how to forget how it felt to be afraid.

A sequel to The Way Home

-x-

Hi friends!

Thank you so much for the reaction to the last chapter! This one is...potentially one of the most angst ridden things I have ever written. And that is truly saying something.

As I've said before, this universe really brings something out in me.

Please do let me know what you think <3

-x-

Words: 3.6k

A full list of warnings can be found on the Series Master List.

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Drip.

It’s chaos. Sirens and flashing lights as first responders yell instructions at each other around her, but she doesn’t hear any of it. She can’t take any of it in, just about able to shake her head as a cop asks her if they can call anyone else for her.

Aaron was on his way.

Drip.

All she can hear is the blood that hadn’t dried yet falling from her fingers and landing on the porch she was sitting on, the droplets against the wood absurdly loud given what was going on around her. Her friend's life force slipping past her grasp again, staining the wood Eleanor had played on countless times. 

Drip.

“Emily!” 

Aaron’s voice breaks through her trance and she looks up, her eyes finding him as he’s held back by a cop stopping him from entering the scene. 

“Sir, this is a crime scene you have to-”

“That’s my wife,” he says pointing towards Emily, his voice breathless, a sign he’d run from their house. He leaves no room for argument and the cop nods, letting him pass under the crime scene tape without further comment. 

He stops just short of the porch steps, his eyes fixed on Emily as he stands there frozen. When she called him she hadn’t made much sense, her words jumbled together as he heard sirens in the background, her shock evident even over the phone. All he’d caught was the basics. 

“Haley.” 

“Blood.” 

“Dead.” 

He’d knocked on their neighbour's door, a kind old woman called Ethel, and asked her to come to their house to watch Eleanor for him, the little girl fast asleep. If Ethel had any questions she didn’t ask them, his demeanour clearly enough of an answer itself. As he ran from their house to Haley’s, the two blocks that separated them never feeling so long, he’s overtaken by more police cars than he cares to count. Anxiety building in his chest when he watched them turn onto Haley’s street. 

It isn’t lost on him how similar this feels to when Ian had attacked Emily all those years ago. Eleanor was the same age Jack had been at the time, left in the company of someone Aaron trusts as he rushes to the side of the woman he loves. 

As he looks at her face, he remembers clearly the last time he’d seen Emily this scared. He’d run to her then too. His chest stuffed full of guilt as he found her crumbled on the sidewalk, a bruise in the shape of a handprint on her throat as she desperately tried to breathe. Despite how many years had passed, he’d recognise the look in her eyes anywhere. 

He saw it often enough in his dreams.

She’s staring ahead, as if she’s looking through him. He can see blood on her shirt and hands, and a smudge on her cheek. A stark, dark red stain that had started to dry on her pale skin. 

He walks towards her slowly, careful to miss the squeaky step on Haley’s porch so he doesn’t spook his wife. She was the strongest person he knew, he knew she’d seen a lot in her life, the things Ian had put her through, and the things she’d seen in her career, but he’d understood enough of what she’d said over the phone to know that this was different.

She’d found someone she loves, someone they both love, in a way no one should see someone they care for. 

He kneels down in front of Emily, and cups her cheeks, gently tilting her head so she looks at him, her eyes wild, almost seeing through him. 

“Em, sweetheart, what happened?” 

It’s as if his touch brings her back to herself, her eyes locking with his. Her lower lip trembles, the emotion she’d been holding back until he got here, until it was safe, escaping from where she’d locked it away the moment her call connected to 911. 

“Where’s Ellie?” she asks, moving to stand up, but he easily keeps her sat down, his hands falling to her shoulders.

“She’s at home,” he assures her, “She’s asleep and in bed, Ethel is with her,” he says, watching as she nods in response, “Where’s Haley?” 

Emily's chin wobbles as she replies, “She’s dead,” she chokes out, “I couldn’t…I tried…,” she says as she sucks in a breath that hurts, catching on every rib as it shudders in her chest, “I felt it when she stopped breathing. She just…she stopped breathing and I couldn’t help her.” 

He looks past her into the house, to the cops who he could see walking around the home his son had grown up in. His world is narrowed to the sound of the shutter forensic team's camera, to the flash of it that occasionally lights up the porch. He doesn’t have time to think about it, about the news that someone he had known for more of his life than he hadn’t, someone he had once seen forever with, is dead. He’s brought back to himself by a clearing of a throat, and Emily’s grip on his hand. He looks up to find a plain-clothed police officer standing in front of him, her badge held out in front of her. 

“I’m Detective Strauss,” she says, her voice clipped, almost emotionless given the situation. Any other time he’d be able to accept that it was a defence mechanism, that she did this kind of thing every day and had a job to do. But as she turns to Emily, an expression he could only call cold on her face, he feels anger, the easiest thing to feel in the moment, swell in his gut. “I need to ask you a few questions,” her eyes flick to Aaron, “Preferably alone.” 

Aaron stands up straight and places himself behind his wife, who was still sitting on the porch swing. He rests his hand on her shoulder, reminding her that he was still there, and he squeezes tightly. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says firmly, “I’m not just her husband, I’m also a lawyer so I know how this all works.” 

Emily places her hand on Aaron’s, the dried blood on her skin flaking onto his. She digs her nails into his hand slightly, a silent attempt to simultaneously calm him down and keep him right where he was. 

“No one is accusing your wife of anything,” Detective Strauss says, “But as the first one on the scene, we do need to ask her some questions.”

Aaron wants to argue with her, he wants to take Emily home and figure out what the hell they should do next. How they would tell Jack his mother was dead. How they would explain all of this to their 5-year-old daughter. 

“It’s ok,” Emily says, her voice cracking, speaking for the first time since Detective Strauss approached them. She looks over her shoulder at Aaron and flashes him a tight smile, a shake to it that he knows she won’t be rid of for weeks, before she looks back at the woman standing in front of her, “What do you need to know?”

“Can you explain why you came here tonight, and what you found?” 

Emily nods, “I was coming over for girl's night. I had a hard day,” she chokes out, shaking her head at herself as she says it. Visiting Ian felt like it had happened a lifetime ago, not just a few short hours, “And Haley had just broken up with her boyfriend-”

“What’s his name?” Detective Strauss interrupts, her attention half on her colleague who she beckons over. 

“Rick. Richard Bailey,” Emily says, her eyebrows creasing together as she realises why she’s been asked that question. The idea is so absurd it makes her laugh humourlessly and she shakes her head, “He’d never…he loves Haley.” 

“We still need to talk to him,” Detective Strauss says, “What did everything look like when you arrived.” 

“I have a key but the door was open. It was quiet, which is weird because Haley always has music playing. She hates the silence after raising Jack, her son, she always says the silence drives her crazy since he moved to college…” she trails off and clears her throat, “She always said that.” 

“Do you have contact details for her son?” 

“He’s my son too,” Aaron says, his chest aching with grief, “I’ll contact him when we get home.” He sees the confused look on the detective’s face, the way she raises her eyebrow at him, and for once he finds no joy in explaining the friendship that he knows most people find odd, “Haley and I had him when we were in college, we broke up and then I met Emily. We’re all friends.” 

Detective Struass looks at him for a beat too long, as if she doesn’t quite believe him, but she turns her attention back to Emily, “And when you entered the house, what happened?” 

“I heard a crash from the living room so I went to go see what it was. It was a vase. I think…I think she kicked the table it was on to get my attention.” 

“She was alive when you got here?” 

Emily nods, and her stomach rolls, nausea she’d been fighting since she’d arrived threatening to climb up her throat, “She was alive. She…I tried to put pressure on the wounds but there was so much blood,” she says, her body going numb as she thinks about it, the memory as vivid as it was hazy, “I felt her stop breathing.” 

Aaron feels her nails dig into his skin a little harder as she repeats what she’d told him when he arrived, and he sighs, rounding the porch swing to join her on it, his arm looped around her shoulders. 

“Can I please just take her home?” He asks, looking up at the detective, ready to plead in a way he usually never would. His love and concern for Emily far out weighing his pride. “You can come and ask questions tomorrow.”

She looks at her colleague who gives a short, sharp, nod and she relents, “Of course,” she says, “Detective Blake here will come with you, she’ll need to take Emily’s clothes she’s wearing for evidence. We’ll come tomorrow to finish collecting your statements.” 

Aaron nods gratefully, something he can’t quite call relief flooding through him, and he stands up, helping Emily as he does so, her body moving on autopilot. 

“One more thing,” Detective Strauss says, “Do either of you know if the victim had any connections to George Foyet? Preliminary examinations of the scene match with his MO.” 

Aaron freezes, his grip on Emily tightening, icy cold fear flooding through his veins, “No, she didn’t…” he says, his confidence fading with his words, the pieces falling into place in his mind, “Not really.” 

“What do you mean by that?” 

Emily feels Aaron hold her to the point of it almost hurting, but she doesn’t flinch. If anything she needs it, needs to remember that he’s there with her, the love and protection of his embrace breaking through the trance she was in. She clears her throat and answers for him, grateful that her voice doesn’t shake, that she’s able to be strong for him like he was being strong for her. 

It’s what they’d done for each other ever since they’d met. 

“Aaron is the one who prosecuted him,” she says, swallowing thickly, “He’s the one who put him in prison.” 

___

“It’s my fault.” 

Even though she practically whispered it, it sounds loud in their otherwise quiet house. Once they were alone, Ethel back next door with even more questions Aaron knew he’d have to answer eventually, and Detective Blake gone with an evidence bag with Emily’s clothes from the day, they sat on the couch. Silent and in shock from what had happened. Unable to do anything other than sit next to each other as the night passed them by and the sun started to rise. Light streaming in through the curtains to indicate the start of a new dawn. A grim new reality that they lived in. 

He turns to look at her, and she’s sitting staring straight ahead. Her hair is wavy, untamed in the same way that Eleanor’s often was. He’d helped Emily shower when they got home, gentle and loving as he washed the blood from her skin and the smell of iron from her hair until the water that flowed around them was clear as it disappeared down the drain. She hadn’t argued, hadn’t tried to stop him. She’d simply stood there in silence as he did something she’d usually call coddling. 

Once they were done in the shower she’d dressed in a pair of leggings and one of his t-shirts, the material loose and almost threadbare in places. It was one she’d bought him in college. One of the very first gifts she’d got him. ‘Harvard Linguistics Department’ emblazoned on the front in now faded writing, something she’d told him at the time he had to wear proudly if he expected her to walk around in his Harvard Law t-shirts in his apartment. She somehow looks younger again wearing it now, a flash of the 20-year-old he’d met back then. The young woman who had literally walked into him and his life and changed everything for the better.

“What do you mean sweetheart?” He asks, reaching out and placing his hand on her knee, squeezing it in what he knows is a failed attempt to provide comfort. 

She sighs and looks at him. The only warmth she can feel is his palm through the thin material of her leggings. Everything else felt cold. Numb. As if she was still trapped in the moment she found Haley laying on the floor. Frozen in time in a way that felt like a blessing and a curse. 

A curse because she couldn’t rid herself of it. Of the metallic smell in the air. Of the sticky feeling of the blood against her palms. Of the almost desperate look in Haley’s eyes. 

And a blessing because if she was stuck here, if she couldn’t escape, she didn’t have to feel or deal with what was coming next. All the grief she was yet to feel. Wondering how they would help Jack through it all, the teenager was already on the way home - driven by his girlfriend of only a few months after they called in the middle of the night. 

At first, they wondered if they should wait until morning. If they should give Jack one more night as someone who still had his mother, but ultimately they decided to call. If this was Foyet like the police believed it was, it would be on the news by morning. And they didn’t want someone else to get to Jack before they did. 

“Ian is the link,” she says, turning to look at him, “He and Foyet were cellmates. They would have talked. Ian blamed Haley for him going to prison because she was the witness. She…was the perfect way to hurt us both. For both of them to get their revenge. Ian…” She drifts off and closes her eyes, the action forcing a tear down her cheek, the first one she’d shed since she’d stepped foot off of Haley’s porch. Her grief and sadness trapped there, haunting what used to be a place she felt safe, “He said something before I left. I think he was warning me about this.” 

Aaron frowns, thinking back to the conversation they’d had when she called from the parking lot of the jailhouse, clearly afraid of something despite how she denied it. He’d planned on talking to her about it when she got home from Haley’s that night. On gently pulling at the threads of her fear so he could tear them down.

“What did he say?” He asks, aware enough despite his own shock wearing off, his own grief bubbling under the surface, that now wasn’t the time to have that conversation. That she’d only take it as confirmation she’d somehow caused this. 

“He said ‘who said any of this was about you and me,’” she says, looking back at him, her eyes wide and shining, “I couldn’t save her, Aaron. She saved my life and I couldn’t save hers.” 

He pulls her in for a hug, one that she returns, and he kisses the top of her head, “This is not your fault, baby,” he assures her, holding her tighter when he feels her chest vibrate with something that could have been a sob or a laugh, the noise muffled against his chest, “It isn’t.” He cups her face as he forces her to look at him, his thumb catching a rouge tear that had broken free from the barrier she’d built to capture them, “And I’ll tell you that as many times as you need to hear it.” 

She isn’t sure she believes him, but she smiles gratefully, turning her head to kiss the palm of his hand before she presses her cheek firmly into it. Seeking out the love and safety she always found with him.

“I love you,” she says, and he tugs her back into a hug. She isn’t sure what else to say. If there was anything that she could say that would help. So she simply says what she knows will be true no matter what happens next, “I love you so much.” 

“I love you too.” 

He sighs as he holds her as tightly as possible, his hand running up and down her back, and Ian’s words float around his head, sending fear through his body. Making him shiver in a way that has Emily holding him back just as fiercely, her hands grasping at the back of his shirt.

It wasn’t her fault, and he knew that because it was his. 

This wasn’t about Ian and Emily, at least it wasn’t anymore. It was about him and Foyet. The strange rivalry the other man had formed with Aaron because he had merely done what he was paid to do - to make Foyet face the consequences for the crimes he had committed. 

This was about him and Foyet, and he had a feeling it wasn’t over yet.

___

Neither of them gets any sleep at all, the usual time their alarm would go off, signalling the start of another day, well and truly behind them. They check on Eleanor throughout the night, the little girl fast asleep and content in her bed. 

Emily is exhausted but also knows she can’t sleep yet. That her body won’t allow her to. And she knows Aaron feels the same. They eventually make their way to the kitchen, aware that Jack would be here soon and that he’d need to eat. That they would all need to eat.

“Do you want some coffee?” Aaron asks, and it feels misplaced to both of them. Like it was just another morning. Like their lives hadn’t changed dramatically in the course of one night. Emily shakes her head, the mere thought of it turning her stomach, and is about to tell him no when there is a familiar thundering of small feet on the stairs and then the hardwood floors on the landing. 

It takes only a second and Eleanor bursts into view, her smile wide and her hair wild. She’s already dressed for the day, her outfit mismatched in a way that only a 5-year-old dressing herself in the morning could manage, and she has her backpack on. 

“I’m ready!” She says, her smile getting wider, revealing a gap where she’d recently lost a tooth.

Simply seeing her little girl makes something ease in Emily’s chest, and she gives her a half smile, “Ready for what, sweet girl?”

Eleanor looks at her as if she’s lost her mind, her eyebrows creased in a way that Emily knows Aaron would say was all her.

“To go to the zoo with Aunt Haley,” she exclaims, her innocence and excitement enough for her to miss her parent's reaction, the way they both look at each other, sadness flashing across their faces, “She said we’re going to feed the giraffe.” 

Emily heaves in a breath and blows it out slowly, everything she’d locked away for hours pushed down even deeper so she can look after her daughter, something she knows she’ll have to do once she gives her the news that will break her heart. Emily looks over at Aaron and he nods, abandoning his task of making coffee. 

She walks over and slips the little girl’s backpack off before she picks her up, the familiar weight of her daughter in her arms a comfort she desperately needs, “Let’s go to the living room, ok?” She says, her voice cracking. She’s grateful when Aaron wraps his arm around them both, his hand on the back of Eleanor’s head, “Daddy and I need to talk to you.” 

Emily had seen a lot in her time. She’d been shaped by so many things, good and bad. By her father’s absence. Her mother’s indifference. Ian’s violence and his misplaced need for revenge. 

She’d also been shaped by Aaron’s love. The way he’d held her together when she couldn’t do it herself. By Haley’s friendship, something that had come from the most unlikely of places. And the way Jack and Eleanor loved her, creating a space in her heart she now couldn’t live without.

She’d seen a lot of things, but the look on her daughter’s face as she tells her that Haley was never coming back is something she knows she will never forget. 

-x-

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[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Literary Fiction About College Students

The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever Old Enough by Haley Jakobson We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart Bonus: Small Joys by Elvin James Mensah is about a college dropout