#something about adding numbers by 9 messes with my brain

[bippot]

Adrian Chase Masterlist

Feel free to explore my Freddie Stroma associated stories. Don’t hesitate to leave feedback or drop a request if you'd like, and if you'd rather to read all these on AO3 - click here.

Wanna be added to a taglist? Either comment on this post or send me a message!

Current Peacemaker taglist: @kpopgirlbtssvt, @adriansboyfriend

1) Savage ~ Adrian makes a fool of himself in front of a pretty girl, but hey, when doesn’t he? She’s weird, funny, and treats him gently, which obviously makes him obsessed with her, and much to his surprise, she seems to like having him around too. Together, they try to carve out a peaceful life together, yet her less than perfect family messes up their harmony.

Click here for the story masterlist (17/45)

Would you prefer to read this on AO3? Click here!

2) Cowboy & Piggy ~ No, Adrian had not been crushing on his colleague. That's just, like, not true in the slightest. It's not as if the moment she became available, he said something he could never take back.

3) Calendar Girl ~ When his buddy goes missing, Adrian spends all of his time and energy trying to get her back to him. Because they're friends, obviously.

4) Hercules and Megara ~ Childhood friends have a habit of drifting apart. Usually, it's a natural thing. Usually, there's a slow detachment. Adrian never wanted to detach from his best friend. But he thought he had to.

Chapter 1: For Now

Chapter 2: Fatal Flaw

Chapter 3: The One That Got Away

Chapter 4: Earning A Soul Back

5) Squirtle Pyjamas - She knows how to calm Adrian down. And wears his clothes. And teases him relentlessly. And knows exactly what to do to rile him up. And knows his deepest secret. But, no, nothing can happen between them. He must resist the temptation to do something about it.

A Kid? ~ (Sequel to Squirtle Pajamas) In preparation for Allison's wedding, Adrian becomes the babysitter of her kid for a day and his girlfriend realises how good at the whole thing he is. The idea of marriage and kids suddenly seeps into Adrian's brain and he can't seem to shake them away.

6) Spot Over By The Fire Station ~ After his manager forces him to go to the emergency room for a concussion, Adrian meets an old friend and she looks worse for wear. But he can help with that.

7) Hopelessly Devoted ~ Well, they broke up a while ago and Adrian still isn't over it. Chris takes him on a night out and they get trashed. Adrian never imagined that he'd get up in front of people and serenade his ex, but he did. Now he has to face the consequences.

8) My Favourite Girl ~ Telekinetic powers can be beneficial sometimes. Other times? Yeah, not so much. After a mission gone wrong, it might be that her gifts are godsent. Adrian, however, knows she is godsent, especially with boobs like that.

9) Sweltering ~ It's way too hot in Evergreen for Adrian to even hide his attraction to Y/N. He tries. And fails miserably. Especially when the guy who delivers her hot tub is so swoon-worthy.

10) Wednesdays ~ While Peacemaker was in prison, Vigilante made another friend and she had a much lovelier voice than Chris did. After a takedown, Adrian can't quite get his thoughts off her.

11) What You Deserve ~ Vigilante has had a long night and just wants to see his favourite girl then go to sleep. Is that too much to ask for?

12) Big Strong Guy ~ No. Adrian is fine with scary movies. He's fine, okay? That's impossible, he doesn't have goosebumps. You're seeing things. Must be, because a big strong guy who doesn't get scared of shit like that.

13) Lucky Number 14 ~ A work outing let's some things come to light. Yet, Adrian isn't there to hear it.

14) Last In Line ~ Getting kidnapped is becoming more of a regular thing for Adrian. Yet, he knows this one. And she definitely knows him.

15) The Things You Do For Pussy ~ Living together means that Adrian's secret identity isn't really a secret to her. Yet, he doesn't know that so she loves to make thirsty comments about Vigilante whenever she can. It's not as if Adrian feels something more than friendship for his roommate, right?

16) Waller's Way ~ When the new government-issued 11th Street Kid arrives, the team soon finds out why Waller picked her. They don't really know how Adrian pissed off their boss so much, but he sure isn't happy with their new colleague.

Chapter 1: Build

Chapter 2: Demolish

17) Clingy ~ The Vigilante mobile breaks down, and Adrian needs a hand, transport-wise and socially, it seems. Once his coworker gives him a hand, it sets him off, and there is no going back to the platonic relationship they had before. A relationship that needs to have clear boundaries because Adrian is known to get far too excited to interact with her at any chance he gets.

18) Beautiful Things ~ Since he's now a representative of A.R.G.U.S. and, therefore, the government, Vigilante no longer has to work his shity busboy job. Yet, that does leave his schedule wide open for the rest of the day and he soon finds himself frequenting a quaint coffee shop, not only because the drinks there are good, but he's grown fond of the woman working there who he happened to save the night before. She's grown fond of him too - both versions of him - but will she figure out that she won't have to pick between them? Or will Adrian manage to keep his cool and hide his secret?

19) The Distraction ~ Every now and then, Peacemaker has a solo mission. Whenever these happen, Vigilante has to be distracted so he doesn't make the solo into a duo. The only person that is capable of that is the girl that Adrian hates... no, that can't be right. He doesn't hate her, not really. Quite the opposite, actually.

20) The Monarch Hotel ~ How many times does Vigilante need to get injured before Harcourt finally gives in and hires a medic to help out with the squad's injuries? Far too many times, that's how many.

When it's uncovered that a fancy hotel is linked to, not only what's left of the legion of butterflies, but also a string of weird deaths and missing persons reports, the only two for the job are lovesick Adrian and the newbie.

Will they both make it out of paradise alive?

Chapter 1: Butterfly Boobs

Chapter 2: BG3

Chapter 3: No More Velvet

Chapter 4: Posh Person Place

Chapter 5: Alien Perverts

Chapter 6: Milkweed

Chapter 7: The Bee's Knees

Chapter 8: Raw

Chapter 9: Afterglow

Chapter 10: Farmville

Chapter 11: Puppeteering

Chapter 12: Feeling In My Gut

21) Peacemaker Jr ~ Peacemaker scrubbed all mention of his kid from his file. But when the butterflies find out about her, he must admit to his team that he needs their skills to find her. Then, Chris really needs Adrian's help to keep her safe, but he's concerned that his buddy is going to get far too familiar with his daughter. And maybe those fears are warranted.

22) On The Road ~ Peacemaker's mother fled with her unborn child when Chris was a teenager. He'd always wanted to find his family again, but he was too slow. After annoying Waller, he must send his friends out to help save his family, and Adrian finds out that he is more than willing to throw himself into danger to ensure that Peace's sister is unharmed.

23) Slumber Party ~ Had Vigilante intended to find the missing Mayor's daughter? No, but he wasn't going to admit that. He'd completed the 11th Street Kids' mission entirely by himself and found himself caring for the kidnapped girl.

24) Damsel ~ Vigilante notices a girl and her not-so-nice boyfriend arguing, and just as the hero is about to reprimand the bad boyfriend, she does something unexpected. When she finds him a week later, they come to learn that they mesh together quite well. Will that chemistry remain when she knows who's under the visor?

25) Bacon and Bloodshed ~ When Vigilante came across a crying girl covered in blood, he didn't expect to have breakfast with her the next.

1) Joyride ~ There are three things Jakes loves to do at work. None of which are work. One: eating. Two: flirting with his girlfriend. Three: annoying Kevin. At first, he only thought he'd only get to do two of those three options.

2) Part Of The Crew ~ Kevin's niece shakes up Jake's little peanut head, in the best way possible. For the first time in his life, he's nervous to even flirt with a girl cause, like, what if he fucks up? That would suck.

Chapter 1:  Shoelaces

Chapter 2: Photo Day

Chapter 3: Best Till Last

Chapter 4: Keys To A Candy Store

Chapter 5: Three Ground Rules

Chapter 6: Sushi And Transformers

Chapter 7: Kevin Jr

Chapter 8: Heavy Disguise

Chapter 9: A Whole New World

Chapter 10: Hangover :(

Chapter 11: Just Friends

Chapter 12: Daytona

Chapter 13: For Her

Chapter 14: Pigeons of Peace

Chapter 15: Bottle of White

Chapter 16: Compatible Armpits

Chapter 17: Ferret Mones

3) 95 ~ A wardrobe mix up causes Jake's secret relationship come to light. Then when they happen to match one part of their outfit one day, a formal complaint is filed against them.

Chapter 18: Finale

4) Subconsciously ~ Jake has never watched the Fast and Furious films, so why can he quote them?

5) On the Same Paige ~ Jake is preppy and charismatic and dumb and talk, which is the complete opposite of Beth's niece. Why do they work so well together then?

1) A Dog On A Leash ~ Thanks to his attempt at total domination over the population of Evergreen spectacularly failed, Jeffrey was forced to be confined in his room. The only interaction he gets is annoying David whenever he brings his meals in. That is until another face appears. A familiar face. A face of someone he presumed had perished in the apocalypse.

[lanarist]

NSFW 18+ Plug! Dabi x Fem! Reader HC

a/n: first off, minors DNI. Second, this is my first time posting any of my writing on any platform. I have so much shit on Wattpad that just sits in the drafts. I am not confident enough to publish my shit writing. I’m shocked that i am even doing this. But I thought about this while breaking up 🍃🍃 for a blunt. I’ve seen so many hcs/Drabbles of stoner Dabi. ....but what about plug dabi

Also I want to mention that I do not condone drug use unless for medical reasons. it helps me with my extreme anxiety. literally saved me. And I 100% do not condone drug dealing. Just wanna throw that out there before you read.

a/n: this shit is SOOO long I’m sorry. I worked on this for like three days.

Summary: literally brain rot. Dabi being your plug HC.

Warnings: drug use, intercourse, dumbafication, oral (f receiving), sexual themes, mentions of alcohol.

I feel like you would probably meet him at some house party. Full of people drunk and/or high off of drugs that were given at the party, the supplier being Dabi for said drugs.

He immediately noticed you when you joined the circle of people passing blunts around, thinking you definitely did not belong here. You looked so innocent with those unsure doe like eyes when a random guy passes the blunt to you.

Gravely mistaken when he watches you puff that blunt like a champ, not coughing up a lung once and throwing back alcohol like it was water. Good girl on the outside but bad girl on the inside? Holy fuck he thought you were hot. He’s gotta get to know you.

After the smoke sesh, he would pull you aside to introduce himself just to get close to you.

Would definitely give you his number saying, “if you ever need anything, hit me up. I got whatever ya need, doll.”

Anytime you text him needing something, he would get so excited. He would drop whatever he’s doing. It don’t matter if he’s in the middle of a sell, dead asleep, at his part time job extra cash, or early in the morning. He’s gonna give you what you’re asking of him asap.

Definitely giving you discounts even on his best shit. Original price for 10 grams is $100? He’s giving it to you for $50.

Also would throw in extra without your knowledge. One time you noticed he gave you three extra grams and tried to give it back to him. “‘S okay. Just keep it, doll.”

Plug dabi would definitely get jealous if you bought anything from anyone else besides him. He will make sure to give you shit for that.

If he doesn’t have what you need at that moment. Baby, he’s going to make sure he gets it by any means necessary if it means he gets to see you for a few minutes.

Will always bring the drugs to you wherever you’re at. No matter how many times you’ve told him you’ll meet him somewhere or come to his place. He doesn’t wanna inconvenience you.

He would always look for you at parties. Once found, he’s dragging you away from everybody to a vacant room, outside, or to his car. He wants to smoke with you alone.

Loves when the smoke rolls smoothly out of your mouth after you inhale it. Thinks you look god damn sexy with the smoke floating around you and your low red eyes look fucking adorable.

If there’s something new you wanna try lsd or shrooms etc, he’ll offer to be with you and to stay sober incase you have a bad trip.

He knows he’s completely infatuated with you, but will not admit it to his friends. Especially Keigo. “You’re fucking whipped.” “Shut the fuck up, Keigo.”

Absolutely hates it when some random dude hits on you at parties or even stands close to you. He’s pulling you away to smoke.

Finally gets the balls to text you one night to smoke with him. “I got some good shit this time, doll. Wanna smoke it with me?”

When he gets to your house, he’ll already have the blunts rolled, a pipe, or anything you want ready for you.

Will hold the blunt to your lips when it gets too small. gets a boner feeling how soft they feel. He doesn’t want you to burn your pretty fingers.

Loves that you match his energy when it comes to smoking. No one has been able to smoke as much as he does like you do.

When he starts to notice the looks you’re giving him, the way your eyelashes bat at him and the lustful look in your eyes. He decides he can’t hold back anymore.

He’ll grab your chin with his thumb and forefinger to face him, softly blowing smoke onto to your lips as he stares at you. Will roughly pull you in closer to smash his lips against yours after the smoke disappears.

Gently pushes you to lay back on your bed so he can hover over you and rest himself between your legs.

No high from any drug could compare to the soft whimpers and moans leaving your lips when he pushes his hips into yours. It was fucking music to his ears.

Absolutely snaps when you tug on his white hair. He’s tearing yours and his clothes off now.

And don’t you dare try to cover that beautiful body of yours. “Don’t hide from me now, baby.”

He’ll start leaving marks on your neck, then down to your breast, taking extra time sucking, licking, biting, and kissing on them.

When he gets down lower on your body, he’s happy to set that you’re already soaking, showing that you wanted this as much as him. He’ll wrap his arms around your thighs, setting them over his shoulders and will go to fucking work on your pussy.

Swears that he could’ve came on the spot from the moans and whimpers leaving your lips. Especially the moan that you let out when he added two of his fingers into the mix.

Will make it a point to constantly praise you while his tongue makes you feel like you’re higher than cloud 9. “You taste so fucking good.” “God, so fucking beautiful.”

Will stop right before you cum. “Nah, baby. I want you cummin on my cock.”

After he’s got you all ready for him, baby you are in for it. He’s waited so long for this fucking moment. He ain’t holding back. He’ll grab your throat tightly as he seethes himself into you. You both gasp at the feeling of pure ecstasy.

Loves your fucked out face. Tongue lolled out. Tears brimming your eyes. Little bit of drool dripping of the corner of your mouth. Hair a complete fucking mess from the many times he’s pulled on it.

His stroke game? GODLY. He’s thrusting into you like a god damn rabbit but he’s hitting all of the right places and it feels so fucking good.

100% rough but his words are the opposite. “You’re taking my cock so well, doll.” “Look so beautiful while I’m fucking ya dumb.” has a degradation kink but that’s for another time.

Aftercare with Dabi is pure heaven. He’ll hand you his shirt from off of the ground for you to wear. He’ll clean you up, light up a blunt for you two, and cuddle you until you both fall asleep.

Oh and, you definitely getting shit for free for now on.

Tags: @bakugosbratx

[abigail-pent]

TLT Theory Redux: Secret Doors and Heists

gather round the fire, children, for I have finished my third reread and I have theories to spin. they are interconnected. they will also take the form of "a listicle, kind of". This is not as tightly written/cited as I hoped it would be, many thanks to tumblr for eating the first version of this post.

THEORY #1: HARROW WAS RIGHT

About what? Probably lots of things, but specifically about the secret door. You remember Harrow's "secret door theory," right? On GTN p. 303, Harrow and Palamedes are having an argument about what is going on in Canaan House. Harrow makes fun of Palamedes' idea that there is such a thing as a Lyctoral megatheorem. Pal lightly mocks Harrow's "secret door" theory, about which she says:

"But all this is more than unsustainable, Sextus. The things they've shown us would be powerful -- would bespeak impossible depth of necromantic ability -- if they were replicable. These experiments all demand a continuous flow of thanergy. They've hidden that source somewhere in the facility, and that's the true prize."

The action picks up pretty quickly after this, and you just sort of forget about Harrow's theory since Pal's theory is so quickly proven correct. It's set up to make you think these theories are competing, but they're not. Harrow and Pal are both right.

Proposition 1: An entrance to the River -- or perhaps the part of the River on the other side of the stoma -- is hidden under Canaan House.

Evidence for Proposition 1:

1A) On GTN p. 191, Teacher says, about Silas siphoning Colum in the facility: "He cannot empty anybody here, lest they become a nest for something else!" This is highly reminiscent of HTN p. 98, when Mercy says: " A Lyctor's body, empty, with its battery intact but nobody in the driver's seat? Do you know what could take up residence? Anything could get inside you -- any horrible or evil or lonely thing, any miserable revenant, or worse." These two places are described very similarly; they may well be the same.

1B) I'm missing the citation, exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's textual that the first time the Lyctors + John ran from RBs, they ran by dropping into the River. Quite possibly from Canaan House itself.

1C) Teacher. We know he hates the water (GTN p. 325), we know he was created for the "sole purpose of safeguarding the place" (GTN p. 373). Of course, the whole place is surrounded by saltwater.

1D) When Ianthe and Cytherea are fighting and Canaan House is disintegrating, "brackish water from the fountain spattered across the floor and trickled into the cracks" (GTN p. 418). It's been well established already that 'brackish' is the word used to refer to River water. It's also the word used to describe the water that emits from Colum's mini stomae when he dies (GTN p. 393). Why is the fountain water brackish when other water in Canaan House -- for example, the pool -- is saltwater? Seems like a clue!

Proposition 2: Whatever is behind the secret door is the source of John's power.

Evidence for Proposition 2:

2A) During the big confrontation with John in HTN (p. 478-479), Augustine's suspicions echo Harrow's from GTN p. 303, when she's describing the secret door theory. He says:

"You've offered us explanations for everything over the years. But -- some of them didn't hold up on examination . . . It was the power I could never get my head around, you know? I follow power back to its source, John. It's the skill you asked me to perfect. And the longer I looked at yours, the less things added up."

Leaving aside for now the fascinating question of why John would ask Augustine to cultivate this skill, he goes on to ask:

"You're God, John. But -- as the Edenites are fond of pointing out -- you were once a man. So whither that transition? Where does your power come from? Even if the Resurrection had been the greatest thanergy bloom ever triggered, it would drain away over time. And then Mercy said to me -- in a moment of true Mercy vileness -- she said, What is God afraid of?"

Proposition 2.1: The source of John's power is not exactly Alecto, but is Alecto-adjacent. Alecto is from the space behind the secret door.

2.1A) Alecto is called a saltwater creature (HTN p. 328).

2.1B) The oldest parts of Canaan House are where the power emanates from (citation needed, but I’m sure it’s there). They are also the parts closest to the sea. As Teacher says (HTN p. 110): "The base of Canaan House dates back to before the Resurrection. We first built upward, to get away from the sea; then we built outward, to strive toward beauty."

2.1C) The Sleeper is identified with Alecto. Like Alecto, she carries a weapon, she sleeps in a coffin, she can’t be killed, and the River bubble crew is warned that the worst and most cataclysmic thing in the world would occur if she were ever to wake up (HTN p. 112, 185). Since the Sleeper is so clearly identified with Alecto, and is also identified as the presence that’s haunting the River bubble version of Canaan House, it suggests the connection between Alecto herself and the physical version of Canaan House.

Proposition 3: John has dammed the River underneath Canaan House by trapping the Earth Resurrection Beast there.

3A) Per HTN p. 43, we know there's one missing RB, since 9-5=4>3.

3B) Abigail thinks something is messed up in the River and it's dammed, and spirits cannot get across. On HTN p. 396-397, she says:

“A spirit can be trapped, trapped as every spirit in the River is trapped . . . I think there is a whole school of necromancy we cannot begin to touch until we acknowledge its existence – I think these centuries of pooh-poohing the idea that there is space beyond the River has stifled entire avenues of spirit magic, and I believe the Fifth House is waning entirely due to us reaching a stultified, complacent stage in our approach . . . Something has gone terribly wrong in the River, Harrow, and I wish you’d find out what.”

She’s describing a dam in the River that traps ghosts there. This is extremely consistent with what Teacher tells Harrow about what’s down in the facility (see 3E).

3C) On GTN p. 213, Cytherea suggests that "something has been lurking [in the Canaan House facility] forever", and when Harrow insists that "[A spirit] cannot sustain itself", Cytherea replies: "But what if one could?" We know that Resurrection Beasts are revenants, and a revenant is a type of spirit; and if any spirit was going to be self-sustaining, it would be an RB.

3D) HTN p. 172: "The card up the sleeve of the revenant, and the Resurrection Beast, is that it can inhabit anything it's got a connection to. Anything thanergetically connected with their death." So what killed Earth? Climate change, plus a massive nuclear fission chain reaction. Historically, early nuclear fission chain reaction tests took place underneath the ground (see, for example, the facility at the University of Chicago). So an underground or underwater facility could very well be thanergetically connected to the death of Earth.

An RB may very well be a continuous source of thanergy; and if this is the case, John may want to kill or neutralize the other RBs to keep other people from rivaling his power. Or better yet: harness the other RBs the same way Earth's RB was harnessed.

3E) On GTN p. 152, Teacher literally tells Harrow that the ten billion are haunting the facility. Harrow says she is “repeating exactly – to the word—what Teacher said to [her]”:

“Down there resides the sum of all necromantic transgression. The unperceivable howl of ten thousand million unfed ghosts who will hear each echoed footstep as defilement. They would not even be satisfied if they tore you apart. The space beyond that door is profoundly haunted in ways I cannot say, and by means you won’t understand; and you may die by violence, or you may simply lose your soul.”

For those of you following along at home: ten thousand million = 10,000 x 1,000,000 = 10,000,000,000 = 10 billion, or the exact number of people who died in the Resurrection. This is of course completely consistent with the Earth RB being down there, somewhere in or under the facility, because the revenant of a planet includes the spirits of every living thing on it when it was murdered.

Proposition 3.1: Alecto is one of the physical anchors for the Earth RB.

3.1A) HTN p. 454: “The only sure way to banish a revenant is to destroy the physical anchor it inhabits before it can escape the shell.” If John’s cavalier is the physical anchor for the Earth Resurrection Beast, which is the source of his power, then this would justify the characterization of Alecto as the “death of the Lord”: if she’s a physical anchor and she is destroyed, then so is the source of John’s power.

3.1B) She was the first Resurrection, and it’s plausible that she would be thanergetically connected to the death of Earth.

3.1C) HTN p. 495: Pyrrha notes that the stoma “must think [John] is a Resurrection Beast.” Which is a super interesting mistake for the stoma to make! But if John’s cavalier is a physical anchor for a RB, this mistake becomes more understandable.

Proposition 4: The other side of the stoma is not a trash space, and John actually can access it. He uses it as a battery for his necromancy. It’s a storage space for RBs, and now I guess for Lyctors too. (this is the most galaxy brain proposition, and evidence is slim)

4A) On HTN p. 340, John says: “It is a portal to the place I cannot touch -- somewhere I don't fully comprehend, where my power and my authority are utterly meaningless.” But this is the kind of shit John lies about on the reg, so take what he says and apply opposite day rules.

4B) if the other side of the stoma is related to the River Beyond, it would be to John’s advantage to keep the Fifth House scholarship from treating the River Beyond seriously (see 3B). If they don’t take it seriously as a branch of scholarship, they can’t learn anything about it, and they can’t let the RBs out from where John is keeping them.

4C) this could be why John condemns soul siphoning (GTN p. 340). If soul siphoning sends the cavalier’s soul to the other side of the stoma, and the power that floods into the empty body is from the other side of the stoma, then soul siphoning threatens John’s monopoly on use of power.

This brings me to Theory #2, born out of a delightful discussion with @mayasaura: the heist in ATN is not going to open the Tomb at all. Instead, it’s going to open the part of the River underneath Canaan House, and the goal is to free the Earth RB. After all, the Tomb has been open for seven years already.

Extant questions:

1) Mercy seemed so sure that the RBs were coming back and targeting Alecto in particular. But Alecto stayed in the Nine Houses, and didn’t get eaten by any RBs, and the Ninth House is still there. So why does Mercy think Alecto is a target, or makes the rest of them into targets? If she was lied to, what is the purpose of this lie? 

2) Why does John want Augustine to hone the skill of following power back to its source?

3) If RBs eat Lyctors and both RBs and Lyctors are in the hammer space on the other side of the stoma, then, like… hey Augustine and Ulysses… are you guys ok??

[kuroo-shitsurou]

Bestfriend (College!Childe x College!Reader) PART 1

note: hello! i'm going to be making an entire college au series for the genshin characters ehe. this is a pretty lengthy one so i had to cut it into two parts. i hope you enjoy!

word count: 4.4k

"Why can't I get this shit to work?!"

You checked the clock.

3:28 AM.

Great. You had a half-seven morning class with professor Cyrus, and yet, here you were. Baking cookies at 3:28 AM. Although, baking wasn't really the appropriate term for it. Maybe... burning was a better fit.

You weren't a culinary arts major; Far from it, actually. You were in a college course that needed immense analytical and critical thinking skills: Accounting. You loved your course. You were always amazed by how numbers can always add up properly if you analyzed all the transactions properly beforehand. It also gave you more patience to thoroughly understand each problem presented to you so that you'd end up with the right answer in the end.

Which is why you were so dumbfounded when your cookies looked like pieces of charcoal the moment you took them out of the oven.

You followed the recipe, didn't you? Why don't your baked goodies look like those gorgeous gooey chocolate chip cookies on the website?

That was the... fourth batch of cookies you made that night. Frustrated, you carelessly threw the still-hot baking sheet in the sink. You didn't even mind that there were crumbs and burnt cookie residue in your damp sink. Like, there were burnt cookies on your counter, on your dining table, and even on your stovetop. Why be bothered about the sink, right? You could clean it up in the morning, anyway.

"Why am I even doing this?" You sighed, eyeing how there was a bit of black smoke coming out of your oven. You opened a window and fanned it out to prevent the smoke detector from going off. You didn't need more nuances adding to your already dwindling patience.

Taking in the sight of the flour, sugar, and egg-coated workstation you had, you realized that baking just wasn't your forte. If only your boyfriend was interested in receiving his complete financial statements for the year, then maybe you'd have an easier time in thinking of a present for his birthday.

You looked at the calendar.

July 20th.

It was the day of Childe's birthday.

He informed you yesterday that his friends had invited him to go to a party the night of the 20th to celebrate his birthday, and you politely declined his offer for you to be his plus one. Of course, he was disappointed. You could notice by how his cerulean eyes drooped to the floor and how his thin, pink lips pushed themselves into a pout.

"But... You have to be there, _____." He whined, taking your hands in his.

"I know, Childe. But you know that I have to review my presentation for professor An's class. It's going to make or break my term grade." You were disappointed. You wanted to spend the entire day with Childe, maybe cuddled up in bed, eating hot pizza and watching Netflix. However, you knew how much he loved partying and hanging out with his friends- Kaeya, was it? and the other boys in their fraternity. You disapproved of his frat-boy party-going lifestyle, but you didn't want to impose, so you just kept it to yourself.

"But it's my birthday," He reasoned, voice laced with sadness.

"I know, darling. I know. We can still spend the entire afternoon together before you head out to party with your friends... If you want. You're free for the entire day, right?" Your voice faltered a bit, unsure of whether he'd accept your proposal or not.

"Mhm! I'd be more than happy to spend the whole afternoon tomorrow with you, babe. We can hit the amusement park, or maybe watch a movie, or maybe have a picnic, or..."

As Childe continued to ramble on about all the possible plans you could do tomorrow, you couldn't help but smile at him. How his demeanor changed, and how he could never seem to hold a grudge against you even if he was upset. He spoiled you so much and you wanted to let him know that you appreciate him as much as he loves you.

And... Here you were.

You didn't expect baking to be so hard. You thought that following a simple recipe would lead to a great outcome the first time around.

Look how that turned out for you. Your tokens of appreciation for Childe were there. In the sink, on the counter, on the dining table, and on the stovetop. All burnt and inedible.

"Fuck this baking thing, I'll just get Zhongli to help me before lunch." You muttered, taking off your apron and retreating to your couch. You didn't want to sleep in your bed because your clothes were still messy, but you were too tired to clean up (too pissed to even care, to be honest).

And so, you flopped on the couch and set an alarm for 6:00 AM before you drifted off to sleep, dreaming of burnt baking pans and noisy smoke detectors.

-

The annoying sound of your alarm rang in your ears like a never-ending mockery of how your life is going. Why do morning classes exist? Why do alarms exist?

You groggily rubbed your eyes and rolled off the couch, landing on the carpet with a soft "thud". You blindly felt around the coffee table to look for your phone. Upon feeling the silicone texture of your case, you pulled it towards your chest and squinted your eyes as the bright display of the lock screen glared against your eyeballs.

You opened your phone by using the passcode (0720, go ahead and guess what that means) and tapped on the green message icon to open your texts. You then quickly typed out a message for a certain history major.

[ Hey, Zhongli, mind if you help me out before lunch later so I could bake some cookies for Childe? ]

Sent 6:04 AM.

You looked up at the ceiling and waited for a while, already planning out your itinerary for the day. The ding! of your phone was heard, waking you more than you already were.

[ I don't see why not. I have a vacant period right before lunch. I'm off at 9:00 and I'm vacant until noon. Are you free then? ]

Received 6:06 AM.

You couldn't help but grin. Zhongli was so kind. He was Childe's friend since high school, and although you found him somehow... creepy because of the knowledge he possesses (Seriously, was his brain implanted with a computer chip or something?), you still considered him a good friend.

[ Thank you so much! Yeah, I only have one class today anyway. I'll meet you in front of the main building by 9:00. ]

Sent 6:08 AM.

You got up from the carpet and stretched for a bit, wincing when the small burn on your arm stung. You had a few cuts and burns on your hands, fingers, and arms because of how clumsy you were in the kitchen, but it was fine. Who doesn't fuck up from time-to-time

You headed to the kitchen to clean up. You dumped all the burnt biscuits into a large garbage bag, wiped the counters, and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Most of the mess was already gone and disposed of, and you whispered to yourself that you could probably deep-clean later that evening after reviewing your presentation.

The ding! of your phone brought your attention back, and you smiled at Zhongli's response.

[ I'll see you then, _____. I appreciate you doing all this for Childe. ]

Received 6:15 AM.

You quickly made your way to your bedroom and grabbed different pieces to throw together a decent outfit. You assumed that Childe wouldn't let you go by the time that your little date would begin, so it's best to be prepared.

You hopped in the shower and did your morning routine, making sure to use your favorite body wash, which happened to be Childe's favorite scent. You dried your hair afterwards and threw on the outfit you prepared earlier. You checked your phone.

6:45 AM.

There weren't any new messages from Childe, so you assumed that he was still asleep. After all, it's his day-off from uni. The lucky bastard got to get one whole day without lectures, and the freest day you had still required you to attend one morning lecture.

"I have to rush to McDonald's if I want to make it in time," You whispered, grabbing your bag and slipping your shoes on before rushing out the door.

You wanted to buy Childe a nice breakfast before heading to your own class. So, you sprinted to the McDonald's just a corner away from your dorm and stood in line. You ordered his favorite breakfast meal: A big breakfast deluxe set with hot chocolate, five-piece nuggets, and a side of apple pie. You also ordered a McGriddle for yourself that you could sneakily bite out of in class.

Childe's apartment was right beside the McDonald's you went to, so it wasn't any trouble reaching where he was. You checked your phone again.

7:10 AM.

Crap. Twenty minutes until your lecture with professor Cyrus. Childe still seemed to be asleep, so you decided to leave his breakfast with the receptionist, Verr Goldet. She already knew who you were because of how often Childe invites you to his apartment.

"I'm really sorry to leave this with you, Verr. But I have to get to class in twenty minutes and I think that Childe is still asleep." You said sheepishly, placing the paper bag on her counter and fiddling with the strap of your bag.

"Oh, _____, you act as if I'm a stranger!" She laughed, taking the paper bag and placing it behind her. "Don't worry, I'll keep it warm for him. Would you like to leave a note?"

"Ah, yes please!" You took a piece of paper and a pen from your bag and scribbled a short message for the ginger.

Happy birthday, Childe! Have a hearty breakfast, I got your favorites. I'll see you later for lunch, okay? I love you! ♡

You tried to make your handwriting as neat as possible, and even added a messy doodle of the man himself. Although, it did look more like a potato than the man you were trying to draw.

"How cute you are." Verr sighed, "It must be nice to feel the wonders of youth."

"Thank you so much, Verr! I really have to get going if I want to get to uni in time."

"You're welcome, _____!"

You bid your farewells and headed out of the apartment's lobby, walking towards the shuttle stop nearest to you. You had at least fifteen minutes before professor Cyrus' class. The shuttle was about ten minutes away from uni, and it would take you a little over five minutes to get to his lecture hall. While waiting for the shuttle, you quickly tapped out a message for your boyfriend.

[ I left something with Verr for you downstairs. You better get it as soon as you wake up ♡ ]

Sent 7:15 AM.

The shuttle arrived as soon as you hit send. You showed your ID to the driver and scrambled for a seat, shoving earbuds in your ears to drown out the rest of the world with a bit of music. Fortunately, the shuttle ride was quicker than usual since there were lesser stops for that day. You gave a light bow to the driver before you rushed out of the shuttle doors and bolted to get to your lecture hall.

It was on the third floor of the left wing of the main building. You were desperately trying to catch your breath as you felt a burn rising in your lungs. You wanted to puke because of how hungry and tired you felt so early in the morning, but you brushed it off.

You sprinted down the hallway to professor Cyrus' lecture hall, seeing that nearly all the seats were occupied. There were still a few vacant seats at the back, but you were glad to see your friend, Xingqiu, waving you over from the middle row.

"Thanks for saving me a seat," You thanked your blue-haired friend, fixing your hair and disheveled clothes. You sat down just in time as professor Cyrus walked into the lecture hall and began setting up his laptop to present.

"No worries. I knew you'd be late. It's Childe's birthday today, no? You've been talking about it all week. I already expected that you'd do something for him this morning." He said, not even batting an eyelash as he carefully opened his laptop in front of him.

"That predictable, huh?" You chuckled, placing your own laptop on the table and taking out the McGriddle you shoved in your bag earlier. Professor Cyrus seemed to be tweaking a few things on his presentation, so you decided to use the spare minutes to eat the sandwich you purchased.

You scarfed it down in a few bites, leaving Xingqiu confused and a bit scared. He thought you were going to choke.

"Didn't you have breakfast before you left your dorm?" He asked, marveling at how you managed to eat the McGriddle in- four, maybe five? bites.

"I mean, I bought this," You said, motioning to the crumpled up wrapper in your hand. "It was getting late since I dropped by Childe's apartment to leave him his breakfast."

"How charming of you, _____." Xingqiu chuckled, slipping on his glasses.

"I wonder if he's awake now," You mumbled, loud enough for Xingqiu to hear, but he didn't react to it.

You opened your phone and saw seven messages from your dorky boyfriend.

[ _____ you're gonna make me cry ]

Sent 7:28 AM.

[ Where are you now? Are you already at uni? ]

Sent 7:29 AM.

[ God, I love you so much, _____! You even got me nuggets!! ]

Sent 7:30 AM.

[ I love you sooo much!! You're so cute it's unreal!! Btw, is this supposed to be me?? Do I really look like that??!! ]

Sent 7:31 AM.

[ I'm so lucky to have you, _____. You really are the sweetest!! ]

Sent 7:31 AM.

[ I'll see you later at noon. I'll pick you up at your dorm, okay? ]

Sent 7:32 AM.

[ You must be in class now. Good luck!! I'm already eating. Thank you so much, darling! I love you!! ♡ ]

Sent 7:34 AM.

You couldn't help but smile at how his aura radiated even through the screen of your phone. You clicked on the notification from Instagram and it opened to a video on Childe's story. It was a boomerang of him making a winky face and then showing his meal neatly placed on his table.

There was a caption beside a heart sticker which read:

What a great way to start my birthday. Thanks to my lovely @_____. I love you so much! ♡

A familiar warmth spread throughout your chest and you couldn't help but smile at how sweet he was. It was amazing, really. Childe's words and actions always had such an effect on you, and it didn't even matter how you were the one who did a romantic gesture for him because you were here all blushy and gushy over his sickeningly sweet messages of affection.

You put your phone away as soon as professor Cyrus soon started his lecture on the different trading policies limited by oversea regulations- or something like that.

The lesson itself was interesting, but you couldn't help to nod off and daydream about your wonderfully dorky boyfriend and his beautiful eyes, his cute button nose, his slim cheeks, his pink lips.

Childe sneezed.

-

As soon as the last bell rang, you quickly gathered your things and shoved them in your bag. You nodded a swift goodbye to Xingqiu before running off to the entrance of the main building.

Zhongli messaged you that his lecture ended earlier than expected, and that he was waiting for you by the entrance already.

You saw the brunette sitting on one of the benches, a thick history book in hand and reading glasses firmly sitting on top of his nose. You noticed a few girls just a couple of feet away from him. They were eyeing him up, probably drinking in the sight of this beautifully constructed creature.

You chuckled. It was common for you to be more aware of people fawning over Childe and Zhongli. They were a couple of incredibly hot males, you knew that. You got used to the sight of other people gawking and eye-fucking your boyfriend and his bestfriend that it was just hilarious and amusing at this point.

"Zhong!" You called, earning the attention of both Zhongli and the group of girls.

"Ah, _____. Glad you're finally here." He closed his book and tucked it away in his satchel (This man owned a satchel) before he stood up to greet you.

"Were you waiting long? Sorry." You said sheepishly.

"No, not at all. I was enthralled by this one chapter on the Ming Dynasty and their more underrated feats. History never fails to amuse me." Zhongli replied, a glint sparkling in his amber eyes.

"Hey, um," You inched yourself closer to him, "Mind if we go on ahead? Some of your fangirls are scaring the hell out of me." From the corner of your eye, you could see how they were drilling holes at your head from staring too hard. You could've sworn one girl was even holding her phone up, as if taking a photo.

"What?" The taller man whipped around to look at the girls and they scurried off upon seeing the intimidating glare in his eyes.

"You and Childe really attract attention everywhere you go, don't you?" You chuckled, walking towards the shuttle station.

"Childe, certainly. He, along with his... fraternity brothers do attract quite the crowd whenever they are together. As for myself, I doubt it. I'm more of the silent-type compared to him, anyway."

"Are you kidding me?" You bit your tongue to hold back the thought.

"I see."

"Those girls look familiar, though." He mentioned.

"Oh? Maybe history majors as well?"

"_____, if they were history majors, I would've at least recognized their faces more clearly. I feel like I've seen them somewhere."

"Ah, my bad. You and your eerily accurate memory." You teased, climbing onto the shuttle and sitting on one of the empty seats.

"It is not eerie, thank you very much." He retorted with a snarky tone, joining you on the seat.

"Of course it isn't. You remember what I said to Childe when we were watching that one movie Rex Lapis: Revenge of the Fallen?"

"Indeed I do. You said, "Rex Lapis would be hot if he was a human, don't you think?" and Childe replied, "Yeah, but I could probably beat him up. I'd be way hotter than him." It was comedy, really. Rex Lapis, although a fictional figure, has far more capabilities than Childe could even dream of."

"Do you... not see the eerie part of that?"

"What? That Childe thinks he can beat up an actual Archon?"

"No... Zhongli, we watched that movie three years ago."

"Your point is?"

"...I can't even remember what I had for lunch yesterday."

"Childe bought you some sushi."

"See what I mean?!"

"That means you have a poor memory, _____." Zhongli laughed at your face curling into a frown. "Anyway, while you were entertaining me with your banter, I recalled why those girls are so familiar."

"Do tell."

"They're part of Childe's posse."

You could've sworn your heart leapt to your throat. You knew that your boyfriend was pretty much sculpted by the Archons themselves, but, really? a fucking posse?

Zhongli noticed how the lump in your throat bobbed, and he decided that it was better to calmly explain how and why he knew about it.

"See, it was during the first year of university. Childe started hanging around Kaeya and his other fraternity brothers. There was this one occasion where Childe was nearly black-out drunk in a bar. If I didn't see on Kaeya's Instagram story, I wouldn't have known," You noticed how Zhongli's face visibly darkened, "These girls were hanging off him like koalas to a strong tree branch. It was unsightly."

"I... see."

"Although he was about to pass out, he pushed them away. Charming, really. He was already crazy about you even during the first year of uni. Even though you weren't together yet, he didn't want to "cheat" on you by entertaining other females." A soft smile made its way to your face upon hearing Zhongli's confession about how your boyfriend felt about you.

"I'm determined to make these cookies a success," You said determinedly.

"Glad to hear it. It seems we're already at your dormitory. You still have enough ingredients for the cookies, right? I assume you failed quite a few times yesterday."

"How did you even know?"

Zhongli once again laughed as you stepped off the shuttle, "Lucky guess."

Unbeknownst to the two of you, three figures were following you the moment you left the campus.

-

"_____ is so sweet! They got my favorite breakfast this morning." Childe mindlessly gushed over his significant other.

Diluc wasn't really one to listen to other people ramble on and on about feelings and love and romance, but it was his friend's birthday. He'd let it slide.

"Bro, that's just gross," Kaeya spat, taking a chug of his beer.

"Oh, shut up, Kaeya. Just because you don't plan on committing to anyone doesn't mean the people around you are obligated to do so as well." Diluc rebutted, without even looking up from his journal.

"You're in college. It's the time when you're supposed to have a shit ton of flings, no commitment. And yet you're here being loyal to _____?" Kaeya glared at Diluc, but the redhead only flipped him off.

"I don't see the problem with that." Childe spoke up, toying with the bracelet on his wrist. It was a gift from you during your first anniversary. You said you made it yourself, and although Childe could purchase all the expensive jewelry and accessories he wanted, this particular bracelet meant more to him than anything.

"The problem is _____'s going to hold you back!" Childe knew that Kaeya was half-drunk and it was still before noon, so he didn't really take his words seriously. "They aren't going to the party later, right?"

"No, unfortunately. They have to review a presentation for professor An's class."

"Hah! Review my ass. If I knew any better, that little toy of yours is just messing around with some other dude."

"Watch yourself." Childe stood up from his seat. He knew that Kaeya disapproved of their relationship because it wasn't really a "frat-boy" thing, but he didn't care about that. He cared about you more than a stupid reputation, and definitely more than a stupid lifestyle of partying, getting high, and getting drunk.

"Back up, softie. _____'s pussyness rubbing of on 'ya?" Kaeya's words were slurred, but Childe knew that there was malicious intent behind them.

"Look, I don't care about what you say about me. Call me a softie? Call me a pussy? I don't really give a shit. But the moment you start shitting on my _____? Don't even consider that I'd just stand around and let them be slandered, you piece of fuck." Childe was a few centimeters taller than Kaeya, and he always used that to his advantage when he wanted Kaeya to understand his point.

"Whatever you fucking say. It's your birthday, I'm not gonna fight with you on your birthday." Kaeya lightly pushed Childe away from him before downing the rest of the beer can in his hand.

"Don't mind him," Diluc spoke, staring into Childe's eyes. "He never thinks straight, whether drunk or sober."

"Yeah, I kinda got the message." The ginger chuckled, watching as Kaeya nearly tripped over his own feet while walking towards the case of beer supposedly for the party tonight.

"I'm glad that you and _____ are still getting along. It's refreshing to see normal people once in a while."

"Well, when you put it that way." Childe could only laugh.

"Where's the tall brunette at? Isn't he always with you?"

"Ah, you mean Zhongli? I don't know, actually. He has a lecture this morning and I wanted to meet him for a light meal before lunch, but he isn't answering my texts."

"I see."

As if on cue, Childe's phone emitted a soft ding!

He typed in his password and the screen faded into a photo of you. You were wearing one of his hoodies (it was way too big on you) and he could've fainted because of how absolutely adorable you looked.

He received a few Instagram DMs from Ellin. Ellin was a member of their posse. Childe would rather refer to them as "fraternity friends", but she insisted otherwise.

[ You're seriously praising _____ for being a good partner? Poor you, dear. ]

Received 9:41 AM.

He frowned.

[ What are you talking about? Mind your business. ]

Sent 9:42 AM.

[ Oh? It's not my business, sure. But you might wanna see this. ]

Received 9:44 AM.

[ 3 Images Attached ]

Received 9:44 AM.

Childe's eyes widened. Ellin sent three photos.

The first one was a photo of you and Zhongli standing awfully close to each other in front of the university's main building.

The second one was of you and Zhongli sitting beside each other in the shuttle.

The last one was... you and Zhongli entering your dormitory building.

"What the..."

He checked his messages to see if either you or Zhongli texted him about the ordeal. However, he was only greeted by messages wishing him a happy birthday from some of his family and friends back in their hometown. No messages from Zhongli, and no new ones from you.

"What the hell?"

He quickly typed out a message for his bestfriend. He didn't jump to conclusions; He trusted both of you, but what was this feeling in his gut? It felt icky, gross, and disgusting.

[ Where are you rn? Answer me. ]

Sent 9:46 AM.

His foot tapped against the floor at a rapid pace. Diluc wanted to question him, but the worried look on the ginger's face made him bite his tongue.

Childe wasn't the type of person to jump to conclusions, nor was he the type of person to get upset immediately over trivial things. But upon receiving an irksome reply from the amber-eyed bestfriend he knew and love, his blood began to boil.

[ None of your business. ]

Received 10:05 AM.

[spencesglasses]

sweet creature (spencer reid x f! reader) pt 2

a/n: ah yes, a case chapter. this was gonna be longer but i didn’t want it to just drag on and i just ended up cutting out some parts soooo enjoy this 3k word chapter of y/n using her big galaxy brain to solve a case with just a pinch of fluff w spence :)

part one | part three

It was only the beginning of the movie when the weight of the day hit her. She snuggled further into the couch, trying to gain some extra warmth. Spencer had his apartment so cold, she could nearly feel the chill creeping up her body. Her eyelids began to close shut slowly, and the sound of the television lulls her to sleep. She was far too tired to keep herself awake, so she hoped that Spencer didn’t mind if she rests, at least for a few minutes.

Spencer keeps his eyes glued to the television screen, having been making commentary throughout, he didn’t even notice Y/N fast asleep. “You know, it’s actually scientifically impossible for someone to-“ He turns his head to look at her, and she lets out a quiet snore. The TV’s sound was barely audible now, Spencer turning it down so it wouldn’t wake her. He stood up to his full height and the freshly cleaned floor squeaks as his feet carried him to the cupboard that held spare linens and duvets.

He laid a blanket over her figure gently, careful not to disturb her. Taking the extra blankets, he spread them out, making a makeshift bed on the floor below her. He flickered off the TV and all that could be heard was the pitter-patter of the rain against the windows. Spencer let the layers of blankets engulf him in warmth, letting his eyes fall heavy and drifts off to sleep.

The next morning, Y/N woke up to the vibrations of her phone ringing. It was Anna. Wait. I’m still on Spencer’s couch. Shit! I was asleep longer than I should have! She sits up, checking the time, “I’m late to work!”

She tossed the blanket off her and tried to push herself off the couch. But then she sees him. Spencer curled up with a blanket that was much too small for him. She stifled a snicker and covered him with the blanket she was once using.

Before Y/N could leave, she noticed a pen and notepad sitting atop his desk. Maybe I should leave a note, she thought. She grabbed the pen and the black ink slid smoothly across the page.

Sorry to leave so soon… and for falling asleep during the movie. Lets reschedule? Keep in touch, 187! xx

-Your favorite barista

She heard Spencer stir in his sleep, and just before he could wake up, she was gone.

-

“Surprise?” Garcia questioned. “What surprise? What’s going on-” and then she realizes. “Oh, Coffee shop girl! You’re the girl from the coffee shop!”

Y/N hid a giggle behind her hand as she stood. “You told them about me?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see JJ’s head shoot up. “Yeah, Spence,” she says, tilting her head at him. “You told us about her?”

“I told Garcia,” he grumbles.

Spencer can feel the five pairs of eyes on him. He didn’t think that not telling the team about her was such a big deal. Why was it such a problem he kept something to himself for once? They practically live together. Spencer just wanted to keep someone who makes him feel like a person. He wanted to keep her so close to him because he finally had the chance to think about something other than work and the cases, and the people he couldn’t save. He wanted to be someone; to feel normal. In the time that it’s silent, he understood why Y/N didn’t tell him, but he sure as hell wishes that she did.

Spencer’s eyes flicker back and forth between her and the team.  “We should focus on the case.”

-

The first case Y/N works on with a team is fairly close, which she appreciated. She wasn’t particularly fond of plane rides but that was something she had to get used to. Joy, who she found out is Rossi’s daughter, had been writing a piece about violence against women on campus, and noticed a series of mishap in the area. After finding what she believed was more of a case than a possible story, she brought attention to a series of disappearances to the team’s attention once a young woman by the name of Bahni Desai had gone missing.

“4 cases in 9 years.” Derek speaks into the cell, sitting in the driver’s seat. “How come this hasn’t been on our radar?”

“Because the disappearances were in different states with different M.O’s.” Rossi explained over the speaker.

Y/N claimed her spot on the middle seat in the back, reviewing a case file. “The first missing woman was Kathy Miller in 2006,”

Morgan questioned. “So what’s the plan once we land on campus?’

“Track Bahni’s movements. Campus police checked her room, she’s not there. They taped it off for you.” Hotch instructed.

“What about her cell phone?” asked Spencer.

Y/N shifted in her seat, passing the file to Spencer and whispered to him. “It’s kind of cold in here, don’t you think?”

He turned ever so slightly to look at her. “I have my jacket in my bag if you need it,”

She dug to find the much-needed jacket and threw it over her shoulders. It was his FBI issued jacket, tapered at the sleeves and a bit oversized. It smelt like him, she noted. Cinnamon and coffee. She offered him a gentle smile. “Thanks, Spence.”

Spencer returned the smile, handing her back the file.

“It just pinged in her room overnight,” Garcia informed. “No credit card activity. I’ve confirmed with all the ticket agencies she didn’t take a boat, bus, blimp, or plane last night. Oh! The Dean's office just sent us her file from Judy Temple College. It looks like- Oh dear…” She trails off.

“Looks like what, Garcia?” Y/N urged, tugging the jacket closer to her.

“She voluntarily withdrew!”

-

“She definitely didn’t plan on leaving town,” Spencer surveyed Bahni’s abandoned closet. “Her clothes, shoes, and luggage are all still here.”

“Well, it looks like she was trying on different outfits,” said Morgan.

Y/N shuffled past Spencer, standing next to Morgan, and observed the clothes laid out. “Miniskirts, heels. Seems like she was going out.” Y/N added.

“But why not take her phone?” Reid asked, picking up Bahni’s cell. “She’d need it to meet up with her friends.”

She spun on her heel and inspected her desk, noticing two chemistry textbooks. “Unless her friends were already here,” she suggests, her finger brushes against the lettering on the cover, then beckons Morgan to look at the books.

She turned the cover of the textbook, Morgan doing the same to the one to their left. Y/N pushes out a sharp exhale out of her pursed lips. Paddy Morris, she read.

Morgan is the first to speak. “Same textbooks, different names. “She wasn’t studying alone.”

Spencer moves closer to the pair and peers over Y/N’s shoulder. “That could be the last person who saw her.”

-

Y/N trailed behind Morgan and Reid with her hands tucked into the pockets of Spencer’s jacket, and her eyes wandered around the halls of the building. This is going to be her first interview. She wasn’t nervous, per se, but her mind couldn’t help but fill with possible scenarios. Don’t mess this up, Y/N. Only ask questions relevant to the case and remember, don’t say the wrong thing.

“Nice jacket,” Morgan commented, slowing down to reach Y/N’s pace.

“Nice face,” she joked, reaching up to tap his cheek.

Y/N quickened her pace, walking past Spencer, and she could practically feel his stare burning into the back of her head. She found the correct door, and it was Reid and Morgan’s turn to trail behind her. Finding Paddy’s correct door number, she taps her knuckles against the hard wood. “Paddy Morris, this is the FBI,”

“Very funny, Josh,” They heard through the door.

Y/N turned to the men behind her and they shrugged their shoulders in unison. She scrunched up her nose, knocking once more.

The trio held up their badges as the door flung open, exposing the girl. “You’re not Josh.”

“Great observation,” Y/N nodded.

Paddy opened the door wider for them, and they took their spot on the three chairs to the side of her bed. “We have a few questions about Bahni Desai,” Morgan told her. “Is there any information you have that might help us?”

She let out a sharp exhale. “I was with her last night. She was fine,”

“Any idea why she left her cell phone in her room?”

“We didn’t take purses, and we didn’t have pockets in our skirts.” Paddy draws out.

Y/N saw Spencer shift in his seat. “Ok, walk us through the night, you guys were studying before you went out?”

“Yeah, um,” her voice is shaky. “I knew about this party. She didn't want to go.”

It was Y/N’s turn to ask a question. “Did you two come back to the dorm?”

Not too bad, not too bad, she reassures herself.

“No. I made her stay.”

“Why?”

She gulped, looking over their shoulders and out the window. “There was this tennis guy that I’d been trading tweets with. He said he’d show up, but he was late, and then the later it got, the more I drank.”

“How much did you have?” asked Reid.

“Her, I don’t know. Me, a lot. Until Peter arrived…” she trails off. “She told me she was going right after that.”

“Did anyone walk out after her, maybe try to escort her?”

“Not that I saw,” she frowns, face streaked with tears and day old mascara wiped beneath her eyes. “God, it’s my fault, isn’t it?”

Morgan reassured her. “No, it’s not. But there’s still a way you can help us.”

She perked up, wiping the stray tears away. “Anything. Name it.”

Y/N straightens up and asks, “Where was the party?”

-

“This was the last spot she was seen. The next camera is 100 feet down,” Spencer pointed forward. “Which makes this the abduction zone,”

Y/N walks with him, investigating what the team has found, all thanks to Garcia, Bahni’s last location before she went missing. “Alexandria police searched the buildings, nothing was there.”

“Well, if she got in the car with him, they would have shown up on the camera down the street.”

Her eyebrows knit together, suddenly coming to a stop. “Right, so it would be too risky,” she looked to the camera, and observed the shops behind them. “Just shoving her in the trunk of a car. And out in the open like this? Someone would have been bound to see them,”

“Well, that leaves this.” Spencer gestures to the near alleyway. It’s empty. Secluded. Low chance of anyone seeing the attack.

Spencer and Y/N shared a look, walking further into the alley. His phone went off, signifying that he’s gotten a new message, and she watches him as he fetches his phone out of his coat pocket. She could see the wrinkle between his brows that he would when he was worried about something,

She stops in her tracks and gently places her hand on his bicep. “Is everything okay?”

“Actually, no. My mom’s not doing so well,” Spencer says, biting the inside of his cheek. “The doctors have had to change her medicine 3 times to try to stabilize the schizophrenia,”

Y/N knew about his mom and her conditions. He had mentioned it a few times to her when he would go into her shop during her break. She let out a soft exhale and rubbed languid circles in his arm as a comfort. “Spencer, why didn’t you tell me… or the team?”

“I- I didn’t want to bother you,” he averts his eyes

“You could never bother me,” Y/N’s voice is hushed. “You can never bother any of us, got it? How long has this been going on?”

Spencer’s frown deepens, looking down to the asphalt beneath their feet. “It’s gotten really bad the past few weeks.”

“As soon as we’re done here, you need to go help her. She needs you,”

Y/N watches as his eyes narrow, looking at her this time. “I know. Right now so does Bahni.” he said firmly.

She watches him as he moves to leave the alley, and a frown etched on her face. Y/N knew he would rather keep something to himself than bother anyone about his problems, but this was different. She just wanted to be there for him, to help him, to make sure he doesn't feel alone. He was her friend, after all. Spencer turned to her, looking at her expectantly, and she followed him.

“Alright, let's think this through,” Spencer said.

Y/N added. “Okay, so, if he took her this way, it is a busier street,” they both observed the cars passing. “The traffic was much lighter last night, but it would be a risk to abduct someone in plain sight.”

“So he was able to control a drunk woman and it didn’t look suspicious.”

“He probably just put his arm around her and walked off, and was too drunk to realize she was in danger.” she replied.

“You know, if this was just about the assault, he could have done that back in the alley. I think this gotta be some sort of long-term play,”

“Then he’s been watching Bahni,” she makes eye contact with Spencer. “Looking for the perfect opportunity.”

“Well, he certainly found it last night. She’s a straight-A student who never drinks and rarely goes out.”

Y/N nods, walking back to the alley to inspect it once more. She eyes the spot where the suspect was last documented, trying to think of anything that could possibly help them, and then it hits her. “Spence, tell Garcia to look for offenders with precursor crimes.”

“On it,”

-

The rest of the investigation went by smoothly and the team rescued Bahni successfully, arresting Tom Larson for abduction of Bahni Desai and Sam Burnett for the murder of Kathy Miller in the process. By the end of the night, Y/N stayed behind as the majority of the team left, having to finish paperwork for Hotch. She heard shuffling, and it brought her attention to Spencer sitting on the edge of his desk. Following his gaze, she noticed a framed photo of JJ’s newborn perched on her desk. Then she examined him closely, noticing visible bags under his eyes, and his hair slightly disheveled. She gathers the loose paper into a folder, then places them into the drawer of her desk.

“You were that little once,” Y/N says, catching Spencer’s attention.

“It seems impossible, doesn’t it,” he smiles fondly at the photo. “That we all start out so helpless.”

Y/N got up from her chair, joining Spencer at his desk. “Yeah, well, we all end the same way.”

A moment of looming silence passes between them and Spencer stiffens, suddenly becoming hyper aware of the proximity. It’s not that he didn’t like it. It made him more aware of the flutter and flit of the butterflies in his stomach. That he didn’t like.

Y/N is the first one to break the silence. “You’re gonna call your mom?”

Spencer is brought back to reality by the sound of her voice, and he’s back at ease. Y/N did a good job at doing that; easing him. He furrowed his brows, checking his watch. “It’s not too late there, is it?”

She gently grabs a hold of his wrist to check for herself. “Shouldn’t be,” she whispers.

Y/N let her arm fall to her side. “I wanted to tell you, by the way.”

“Hmm?”

“That I was joining the team,” she crosses her arms over her chest. “I wanted to tell you.”

“Why didn’t you?” he counters.

“I didn’t want to intrude. I thought it would’ve been weird if some girl from the coffee shop you go to just suddenly started working with you, but I guess that happened anyway,”

Spencer’s eyes flick down to her. “You’re not just some girl from the coffee shop,” he says slowly. “And if it makes you feel any better, I really enjoyed working with you today.”

Y/N’s lips curled upward, bumping his shoulder with hers. “Hmm, I guess we just make a good team,”

“Guess so,” Spencer says with a soft laugh that makes her heart swell. “You know, I actually didn’t mean to tell Garcia,”

“You didn’t?” She raised her brows.

He shook his head. “She saw your number written on my coffee cup.”

“I see,” she hummed.

There’s a moment of comfortable silence. Y/N scoots away from him slightly, barely realizing the closeness. Her stomach twists and tumbles within her, nerves spiking, trying to find words to add to the conversation. She finally looks at him and she feels heat creeping up her neck when she saw that he was already looking at her. And she finally says, “I guess I should be getting home,”

Spencer followed her movements, trailing behind her as she retreated to her desk. “Would you like a ride home?” she asks.

For a second, it is silent again. It’s clear to her he’s thinking way too into the question. “It’s no bother,” she adds, giving him a kind smile. “I promise.”

She held out her arm just like she did that morning and waited for him to link his arm with hers. He visibly relaxed, hooping his arm beneath hers. This is what he liked about Y/N, what drew him to her. She allowed him to break down his walls when he was with her, and he guesses that that was why he let himself be so comfortable with her because if he was being completely honest, he wouldn’t do this with anyone that wasn’t her. Yeah, he was close with JJ and Penelope, but the connection was just different. He just couldn’t put his finger on it, and for the first time, Spencer Reid didn’t know why.

-

taglist: @eevee0722 @ceeellewrites

[yourfavewriteress]

check you out (part 2) | connor mcdavid

part 1

Teaser: “Really wanted to get to know me, huh?”

You weren’t desperate. If a guy said he was going to text you, you waited until he did so. You didn’t count down the minutes, or jump whenever you got a notification to see if it was him. You just weren’t that type of gal. Usually.

It started with an email from your school, an hour after you got home from giving Connor your number in the parking lot. Even though your text messages and emails had clearly different ringtones, your shoulders still slumped when you saw that it wasn’t him. You thought you could tell when someone gave you longer looks, you thought you could tell when someone was interested in you. At least, a little. 

But, you still knew nothing about Connor besides his healthy eating habits and his somewhat shy but also strong demeanor. Maybe he’s just not actually into you, you finally sighed around 9:30 pm, hours after you had gotten home. You hated the way you were feeling and you hated how one guy you barely knew just decided to open up shop in your brain with clearly no intention to deliver.

To take your mind off of things, you took a long shower and prepared yourself for bed. While your music played, the song paused, alerting you of a notification. Coaching yourself, you ignored it. If it was him, he could wait a few minutes. If, it was him.

Exactly two minutes later, the music paused again with the same tone, confirming that you had a text waiting for you. You were basically done at that point, doesn’t hurt to end a shower early. As if someone was watching your excitement over, technically speaking, a work crush, you kept your composure as you dried yourself off and moisturized your skin. Once you were completely done with your rushed night routine, you took a deep breath and finally looked at your phone. 

Unknown Number: Hey, it’s Connor. Did you make it home okay?

You bit your lip, adding the number to your contacts before you began typing a response, I did, thanks! How about you?

Connor: I’m not going to lie, I did trip on my way up to my place and nearly lost everything I bought at the store today

You: Seems like you’re just destined for destruction, huh? First the store’s machine, now your own groceries

Connor couldn’t help but laugh at that. He knew you were never going to let that go, and if the tables were turned, he’d probably do the same. She’s funny, he thought. He was already interested in you and the fact that you even gave him your number meant that he had a chance. And, no matter what, he was going to try.

Connor: I accept no responsibility for that evil machine your store owns. But it did get us to meet so I’m not too salty about it

You didn’t know if you should laugh or swoon over his message, so you stared at it. Is this what flirting is? you asked yourself. 

You: Hey, I spend hours with that machine everyday, keep your swear words to yourself

You: But, now I’m wondering if you broke the machine on purpose that day…

Connor: I didn’t in the moment, but if I got the chance to go back, I’d definitely make sure it happened again

Connor: Do you have any free time this weekend? 

Holy shit, you thought to yourself. The movie that you planned on watching that night had clearly been forgotten as you had found your way in bed, under the covers with the only light coming from your phone screen. This is really happening.

You:  Besides working Saturday morning, I’m pretty free. Why?

Connor: Do you want to have lunch on Sunday? I know this place near where I live that has the best menu I’ve ever seen

You smiled then, taking a second to scream into your pillow before responding.

You: That sounds amazing, I would love to

Making sure to be clear that you accepted, you also wanted to keep things light.

You: But, I have seen what you buy at the store so is the menu filled with only kale and string beans? I just need to know if I should eat before or not

Connor: It hurts that you think I would really take you somewhere like that

You: I just had to make sure :)

Connor: So, can I pick you up around 4 on Sunday?

You: I can actually meet you there, if that’s okay. I don’t want you to go out of you way to get me 

Connor: It’s not a problem but we can meet there too

Connor: 4 works for you, though?

You: Yeah, it’s perfect

His heart clenched at that, and he was finally able to let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Not only did he get your number, he got a date with you, too. He was proud of himself for finally putting in the effort with someone and something other than his hockey career.

You didn’t stop texting there, continuing to go back and forth with him for a few more hours. It felt nice, to talk to someone new after a while. Connor was still trying to figure you and your story out, but you were doing the same with him. 

Since it hadn’t come up in conversation, Connor was almost certain that you didn’t recognize him from the league. Hell, he didn’t even know if you watched any sports. And, while this made it easier for him to talk to you, it also made it harder for him to come up with a way to tell you about his life that wouldn’t scare you off or make you look at him differently. He’s had too many experiences letting in the wrong people that were only after him for attention.

He could just wait until he fully trusted you to bring it up, but he had a feeling that would make you question him even more. He could tell you on your upcoming date, but that might end things before they even had a chance to get started. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he knew he wanted to find out.

He could feel the excitement in his body as the week went by and it only intensified as it got closer to the day you were finally going out. He wasn’t nervous at first, especially since you had kept in touch everyday since he last saw you. But, when he arrived at the diner he set for you two to meet up, he couldn’t help the nervous bounce of his leg as he waited for your arrival.

He got there early, because he wanted to make sure he was there when you showed up, especially since he was the one who extended the invitation. He also was just really excited to get to talk to you in person, without someone interrupting you because they needed help in self-checkout. He was finally going to be able to talk to you, and learn about you and your life.

You, however, were a mess. When you agreed, you had forgotten how long it had been since a guy had asked you out, and even longer since you’d been on an actual date with someone that you barely even knew. You didn’t know what to wear, or how to fix your hair, or how early you should be, or even how late. You were a mess.

Since it was still chilly out, you settled on best fitting black pants, a nice casual shirt, and your favorite boots. It was simple, but then again, you were meeting at a diner in the middle of the day. You prayed you weren’t underdressed as you finished your hair and the minimal amount of make-up that you were still working on perfecting, and if you were, you couldn’t risk being overly late anyway.

You were a few minutes late walking into the diner but you spotted Connor almost immediately, seated in a booth in the far corner. Taking a deep breath, you slowly made your way to him.

“Hey,” You said, softly. Connor looked up, standing at the same time.

“Hi, I’m glad you make it,” He smiled. He pulled you in for a hug and after the initial shock, you returned it, breathing in his scent. “You look amazing.”

Happy that he couldn’t see your blush, you gave him a gentle squeeze, “Thank you, you too.”

After you separated, Connor stepped back, motioning for you to sit down. You thanked him again as you sat, taking off your coat and placing it next to you.

“I hope this place is cool with you, I usually like staying in lowkey spots,” He said as he took his place across from you.

“Usually?” You raised your eyebrows at him. “You take all your dates here?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” He blushed, shaking his head. “I’m just not a fan of being around a ton of people and noise.”

“This place is nice,” You looked around. “I’ve never been here before so I’m kinda jealous that I didn’t know about it.”

He smiled, “Good.”

You shifted under his eyes, picking up the menu. “So, what made you finally ask for my number?”

It was a risky question to ask but after your past experiences with interested customers, you knew you had to. Although Connor had been respectful every time you saw him, that didn’t ease your fear of everything ending badly. Especially since it was the first time you actually gave your number out and didn’t regret it immediately after.

“Besides the obvious fact that you’re really beautiful,” He smiled as he looked down at his menu. “Every time we talked, you made me laugh. Which most people would say is hard to do.”

“So, I’m beautiful and funny,” You nodded, smiling slightly. “Thank you.”

He laughed, “What made you give me your number?”

You narrowed your eyes at him firing your question back at you but he just smiled again. Thinking for a second, you looked back at the menu.

“You laughed at my jokes,” You said as you glanced up at him briefly. He was still watching you as you continued, “And, you’re very easy on the eyes, I guess.” 

“Fair enough,” He responded.

“Plus, you asked.” He rolled his eyes at that but you could see the smile on his lips as he took a sip of his water.

You thought about it for a second, wondering how honest you should be. “Actually, do you want my true answer?”

You felt that since you had been texting back and forth with him for a few days, the least you could do was tell him the truth. He nodded, raising his eyebrows. 

“I was already hoping you would ask.”

You bit your lip nervously, but he grinned and you felt his knee nudge yours under the table. The gesture calmed your nerves a little, but your senses were all heightened by the contact. 

“How do you like working at the store?” He asked after a few moments.

“It’s alright,” You shrugged. “Not the ideal and I definitely don’t plan on doing it forever but it pays.”

“Do you have plans?” He asked, and you noticed that his arms were now folded on the table over his menu. His full attention was on you, and you could feel your skin tingling.

“I’m still in school, so I’m kind of in the process of figuring that out, especially since my mind changes every month,” You responded. “What about you? What are you doing for work right now?”

“I play hockey.”

“Professional?” He nodded. “Like, the NHL?” He nodded again. “Seriously?” Again. “Huh.”

“What?” He laughed.

“You’re a professional hockey player,” You said, slowly. “Did you see where I work?”

He shrugged, “What about it?”

“Nothing,” You shrugged as well. “Nevermind.”

“I asked you out because I really wanted to get to know you. Outside of the supermarket, and without all the peering eyes.”

You smiled, “Really wanted to get to know me, huh?”

He laughed, taking a sip of his water. He still held your eye as he did so and you narrowed yours at his next clear attempt to avoid answering. “What are you studying?”

“Sociology,” You answered, laughing after.

“You must be pretty smart, then,” He replied. “Soc is pretty complicated from what I remember.”

You let out a laugh, shaking your head. “Everyone thinks so, but I wouldn’t say I’m especially smart or anything. It’s not that bad.”

“The really smart people usually don’t,” He smirked, just as the waitress walked up to your table.

“Can I start you guys with any drinks or appetizers?”

“I’m good with this water, thanks,” Connor said.

“Iced tea, please,” You smiled.

“Okay, perfect. And, are you guys ready to order or do you need another second?” You were both ready and gave her your orders. With your menus in hand, the waitress disappeared to the back.

“No alcohol on the first date?” You teased, leaning on the table.

He laughed, “Yeah, I’m watching my figure actually.”

You rolled your eyes, laughing with him. 

“Where are you from?” He asked.

“Originally from Boston, moved here to Edmonton for school,” You said.

“So, you like the cold?”

“I do, actually,” You smiled. “What about you?”

You were nervous, that was a given. You had forgotten what holding eye contact with a guy could actually do to you, especially when you had no one to buffer. You worried about having something in your teeth or god forbid your nose, or suddenly making an embarrassing noise. But, when Connor basically slapped his drink off the table while talking, resulting in the loudest sound of glass hitting the floor, you couldn’t help the also loud and real laugh that came out of you at his shocked expression.

“I’m really sorry,” Connor apologized to the waitress as she appeared to sweep up the few broken pieces of glass. You tried to control your laughter as Connor’s face was now bright red.

“Don’t worry, it happens more than you think,” She laughed, standing back up straight. “I’ll be back with another water for you, no biggie.”

“Thank you,” Connor replied. “I’m sorry, again.”

Once she was gone, Connor looked back at you and you tried to hide your smile by taking a sip of your drink.

“I can’t believe you just laughed at me.”

“I’m sorry, I probably should have held it in,” You responded. “Bad first date etiquette.”

He smiled, shaking his head, “Evil.”

“You have to admit, it was funny,” You teased.

“I probably looked like a deer in headlights,” He breathed. “That was definitely the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me, especially on a fucking date.”

“Well, lucky for you, I won’t use it against you.”

The date was better than you expected it to be. Not because you both were overtly flirty or anything, but because you actually talked. You explained why you chose to move to Edmonton from Boston, what your studies meant to you, and what you hoped you could accomplish. Connor spoke about growing up in hockey, and struggling to be the player he is today. Even though the conversation was deep at times, it didn’t feel heavy or suffocating. The conversation flowed so smoothly that you forgot you were on a date at times.

While stepping out of the diner almost three hours later, you knew that whatever happened, you hoped to at least have Connor as a friend. Once you could get over the huge crush you had on him, you knew you both got along and could talk about anything. You hoped you wouldn’t have to get over your crush, though.

“I had a really nice time with you,” Connor said as you stepped back into the windy air in the parking lot.

“Me too, thank you for inviting me,” You responded, hugging your arms tighter to your body.

“Anytime,” You both reached your car, and you watched as Connor appeared to be contemplating something in his head, eyes glues to the ground.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” 

He laughed at the question, his shoulders relaxing slightly, “I’m trying to find the right words to use to ask you out again but everything I’m saying in my head sounds lame.”

You knew you were blushing once again, shaking your head at him as you locked eyes. “I’ll go out with you again, but I’m picking the location this time.”

“I can live with that,” He smiled. “I’ll text you when I get home.”

“Okay,” You nodded, finally unlocking your car. “See you later.”

“Bye, Y/N.” He waited until you were safely in your car before stepping back towards his.

[forsakenoathkeeper]

I Am Alive (chapter 7/?)

Chapter 7: Rising Tensions

Deviant!Connor[RK800] x (fem!)Reader Rated M(18+) for canon-typical violence and gore, medical procedures, and graphic sexual content

Chapters: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • more coming soon

You can also read on AO3 & thank you for supporting me ♥

The days that followed were quiet... until they weren't.

A demonstration was being held in the streets on an ordinary Friday morning. Charles Reaves, disgruntled former employee of Cyberlife, had started a frightening movement. He was calling it 'The Fight for Humanity'. He often accompanied that with 'against the machines'.

Charles claimed he had started at Cyberlife when they were a new company, watched it build and grow, participated in the rotation of androids as old models left and new ones came in. He helped build their AI. He even went so far as to call Elijah Kamski a hack.

Charles knew androids inside and out. He knew the exact layout of their internal workings, the purpose of each and every part. Charles was well rounded with their computer components, as well: how their processor worked, how their storage systems saved their memories, what could cause errors in their operating systems and how advanced their self-repair and diagnostic tools were.

Yet, he was of the firm belief that androids were nothing more than computers operating in the plastic shell of an object imitating a human. According to him, they were things owned by humanity, humanity's creation. He did not see them as a part of humanity.

You were at work, in the break room with a few other nurses huddled around you. All eyes were on the television, giving live coverage of the demonstration. Charles was up on a stage with hundreds of people watching from the sidewalk, the street, and, of course, thousands watching from the comfort of their homes.

When the camera swooped the crowd, you could see both humans and androids were in the crowd. The human's expressions were mixed, some looking on with admiration while others gawked in disgust. Some androids seemed afraid, others seemed enraged. None of the androids stood alone. They were in groups or partners, huddled together or holding hands.

"You know what makes up an android? Computer parts. Molded plastic. Silicone mesh and wiring," Charles declared from the stage, fire in his eyes. "They were designed with operating systems, clear instructions for behavior. They are components commanding a shell."

One of the androids in the crowd stood up on a crate. It made him stand out from the crowd; but, he still paled in comparison to Charles' stage. "How is that any different from humans!?" the android shouted. Charles eyed him with disgust, but was quiet, and let him speak.

"Humans' brains send signals to the body and interpret information the same way!" the android proclaimed. "You speak about our parts as if they are proof we aren't alive when humans are built all the same!"

Charles titled his head a little, annoyance present in his eyes. "Humans are the result of millions of years of evolution. You were made in our likeness because we chose to make you that way. We grow and we change and we adapt and we die. Androids never change. Androids don't die because they were never alive."

The android didn't step down, glaring at Charles. "We want and we fear and we love and we feel - just the same as humans!"

"Your 'feelings' are flawed programming by an incompetent programmer," Charles declared. "What you think is wanting is nothing but a fool's string of code jumbling the clear instructions given to you. I know your model, android. You were designed to drive trucks. Whatever purpose you think you have beyond that is a lie."

Your hands were clenched on the table, nails biting into the skin of your palm. In the corner of your eye, you could see nurses glancing at you occasionally, concern in their eyes. They all knew you were dating an android.

"We are alive!" the android shouted. Another joined in, calling out to the crowd, "we are alive!"

"I am alive!" Charles shouted in the microphone. He gestured to the humans in the audience. "We are born and we grow and we endure!" He pointed at the android standing up on a crate, elevated above the crowd. "YOU were made by US! YOU are NOTHING without us! -and you will be nothing when the absurdity of this is over..."

Unable to take anymore, you stood up and hastily exited the breakroom, crossing through the back hallways and stepping outside to get some fresh air.

'did you see the news?' you messaged Connor, tapping away hastily on your phone. You had started typing another message to follow it; however, Connor messaged you back before you finished.

'Can I call you?' the message read.

Worry bubbling up, you decided to jump the gun and called him instead. He uttered your name warmly when he answered.

"Connor, is everything okay?" you asked, some panic in your voice.

"Yes - everything's fine. I didn't mean to worry you," he replied, a bit startled by your outburst.

"No - it's okay," you replied softly. "I saw the protests and - just - was worried something happened."

"There's been more attacks on Cyberlife resource vehicles," he explained. "-and a fight broke out at a protest today. Some androids were attacked. They didn't fight back; so, there were no human injuries. I wanted to prepare you; but, it seems you were already aware."

"I saw the demonstration on the news; but, didn't hear about those things. That explains why it's been so quiet today. Androids are probably afraid to come in," you said sadly.

Connor knew the answer to that. Markus had told him himself. Their numbers had grown exponentially and the government was, mostly, supporting them. But, it would be a long time before things could be normal between androids and humans.

Groups were rising up against them; it was inevitable.

Afraid that you would put yourself in harm's way, Connor decided to keep that between him and Markus.

"With everything going on. I wanted to know if-"

Connor cut off for a second, going silent. When he continued, it was clear he was speaking to someone else. "No, she's fine," he said. "Well, I - that's none of your business, lieutenant," he added on, in a smug, sort of teasing, manner. You grinned into the phone, wishing you could hear whatever it was Hank was saying.

A few seconds later, Connor continued. "I - ah - wanted to know if - if you would stay with me, at my apartment - at least until things settle. As long as you feel comfortable, of course. I intend to make it more suitable. I don't expect you to-"

"Connor," you chuckled. "The answer's yes."

"Oh." He sounded surprised, honestly, like he hadn't expected you to cave so quickly.

"Though, it won't stay so clean with me living there," you said. "Humans make a mess. Sure you can handle that?"

"I'll have you know I'm very adaptable," Connor retorted, some pride in his tone.

"Is that so?" you giggled into the phone. "I've gotta pack some things first. So, I'll be late."

"I don't sleep; you don't have to worry about waking me," Connor stated, as if it was new information.

"Oh, that's right. You're an android. I forgot," you teased sarcastically into the phone.

"Recognizing your sarcasm is also one of my features," Connor replied. It was difficult to tell if he was joking without looking into his eyes. His voice wasn't always telling; but, his eyes were too expressive for his own good.

"Any other features I should know about?" you asked lowly.

Connor was quiet for a second. "Hank wanted me to tell you that being a pain in the ass is one of my features," Connor stated, perhaps dryer than he intended.

It had you doubling over in laughter.

"-and that I should stop being whipped," he added on, saying the word as if he didn't quite understand the context of it.

"Oh my god, Connor-" you stammered out between laughter.

"I haven't lost my freewill lieutenant," Connor stated, almost in an argumentative tone.

Oh no. He must have done a quick internet search on that term.

"Okay. I gotta go before you kill me," you chuckled. "I lo-"

Oh-

You caught yourself and dissolved the words into some coughs.

You almost-

"I gotta go, Connor," you added hastily. "Be safe."

-and hung up.

"Shit," you cursed at yourself, dragging your hand across your face. It almost slipped out. Was it too early to say that? For fucks sake, the first time shouldn't be over the phone.

It just-

-felt right.

You cursed at yourself again and hastily went back inside to find some work to do.

...

...

...

Seven PM rolled around and you were on your way out the door. Most other nurses had already gone home for the day, just one staying behind to help close up. You were just on your way to lock the door when two men approached.

You recognized one as a PL600 model. His companion was a tad bit taller with tan skin and short, nearly shaved, dark hair.

"I'm sorry it's so late," he apologized, immediately noticing you were about to close for the night.

"They're closing, let's-" the PL600 started, facing his companion.

Afraid they were going to leave, you gently interrupted him, "it's alright. Come in."

You held the door open, inviting them inside. The two men exchanged glances, the PL600 looking far more hesitant than the other.

"Simon, come on, it's gonna be fine," the tanner male encouraged him.

As you followed in behind them, you saw the other nurse shoot you a look, the kind that said, 'seriously?'.

"If you wanna head home, I can close up," you offered to her. She contemplated it for a minute, before tightening her bag on her shoulder and scurrying out the door.

Whatever-

-you trusted androids more than humans anyway.

"Alright. What's broken?" you asked them, brightening your tone with the hopes it would relax them. Both men looked uneasy, quite out of their element.

The darker of the two nudged the PL600 forward - the one named Simon.

Simon looked uneasy, like he had just been pushed into traffic. You gave him a small, patient smile. Simon lifted a hand and dragged his knuckles across his jaw nervously. "I - ughh - my right audio input is damaged," he stuttered, turning his head to show you his left ear. It seemed like he had either been hit or had something thrown at him. The outer shell of his ear was damaged, exposing some of the circuit board underneath.

"Can't hear out of it, huh?" you offered.

Simon turned his head back to face you. "No," he answered quietly. "-and it's - ugh - buzzing."

"I have plenty of boards that should be compatible. At least we can fix your hearing tonight. The ear will take some time. If you come back tomorrow, I'd be happy to repair it?" you suggested, looking up at Simon. His hair was pushed back and a little messier than his models typically had, and he had incredibly blue eyes.

Simon almost looked like he wasn't allowed to say yes. It didn't surprise you. He likely hadn't had a pleasant conversation with a human in a long time.

The other man, whom you assumed was also an android, stepped around Simon. "Thank you," he said sincerely. You looked up at him more properly this time. He had a kind smile, but tightness around his cheeks, suggesting he had some hasty repairs done in the past.

His eyes-

-one was mossy green and the other was pale blue.

You swallowed roughly, starting to recognize this stranger. It was Markus, the leader of the deviants, the face of the resolution. You didn't want to make it obvious that you recognized him, and did your best to maintain a stoic expression.

As much as you wanted to say something - you weren't quite what that would be - you also didn't want to put him on the spot. He likely had to deal with this sort of unwanted attention all the time.

"Just a second - gonna go grab that audio component," you explained, stepping away from them to head for the storage room.

Before rummaging around for the piece, you sent Connor a quick message. "will be a little late - guy came in with a fucked up ear," you had said, pressing send and tucking your phone back into your pocket to pull out the right piece for Simon's model.

As you approached them, component in hand, you called out, "Simon, can you sit down here, please?" You stepped around a chair, patting the armrest. The android shuffled over nervously. He took a seat, alert, facing you. He was sitting upright, hands in his lap.

"If it's alright, can you lay down? It'll make it easier," you requested.

Simon blinked slowly, looking uneasy. Markus' hand fell onto his shoulder for a moment.

"It's gonna be fine," he promised gently.

Simon shot Markus a look of understanding before shifting around, leaning back in the chair, presenting his damaged ear to you.

"Can you open your panel?" you requested softly.

Simon nodded, a little more fiercely than was necessary, likely to show you that he heard your request. The panel around his ear unhinged, allowing you to prop it open. You poked the edge with one of your tools to carefully push it aside, exposing the component underneath.

It was cracked right down the center.

"I'm gonna remove the broken one now," you explained, leaning in with a tool in either hand. Simon was still as you worked, his eyes focused on Markus, who was watching you. He didn't look untrusting or uneasy, and that gave you some relief.

"This new one will need a firmware update," you said gently as you slotted the replacement in and lined up the connectors. Simon flinched a little at the sensation. You folded the artificial tissue back over and leaned back, giving the android space to sit up.

He was quiet for a moment, LED flickering yellow as he downloaded the firmware update. Luckily, someone had taken ownership of Cyberlife's firmware servers in order to keep them running.

Simon sat up when it was complete, turning his head to look at you. "Diagnostics are reading normal," he stated.

"Is the audio input working normally?" you asked. Simon made a thoughtful expression. "Can you hear me alright?" you added on, mainly to help him judge the input feedback.

"Yes," the android replied softly. "Thank you," he added on, looking at you with a smile.

He looked so sincere, as if he hadn't expected such kindness. It melted you.

"Simon, actually, I can do the shell tonight, if you don't mind?" you offered.

"I've already kept you," Simon blurted.

"No, I can't let you leave like that," you explained. "Please?"

"I-" Simon stammered. "I should be saying 'please'."

"You..." you began, trailing off as you wondered if the words that threatened to leave your lips were inappropriate. "You got hurt at one of the protests, didn't you?" you asked gently.

Simon looked uneasy. Markus, however, was fierce. "Yes," he replied for the PL600.

You nodded in understanding. "I want to help," you whispered.

It was the first thing that came to mind. You wanted to help. You wanted to make it better, in whatever way you could. You could repair androids. You could diagnose their damages. That was all you could do.

"Okay," Simon suddenly said, sounding much more comfortable than he did a few minutes ago.

You smiled and rotated around to the end table nearest you. The tools you needed, extra membranous materials and plastic shell casing molds, were there. You pulled everything out and set them on the table nearby.

"Your model doesn't follow a protocol for the skeleton-base," you explained, information Simon likely already knew about himself. He was an older model, meant to be discontinued. That knowledge only made the situation harder. "So, I'll have to take my time. Ready?"

The android nodded and turned his head to give you room to work. In the corner of your eye, as you leaned over Simon, you could see Markus in the corner of your eye, an expression that looked like 'thank you' on his face.

"May I ask your name?" Simon uttered at some point.

You gave it softly, seeing as you were right next to his ear, poking and prodding at the artificial flesh there.

"Why did you suggest a manual repair and not a full shell replacement?" Markus asked, sounding more curious than judgmental.

"It's really hard to get shells, especially for smaller parts. We're lucky we have any pieces," you explained. "-and I guess I've done this enough that it doesn't bother me..."

'-like some of the other nurses' you almost said. You decided to hold your tongue.

"You've been doing this for a while?" Markus asked, almost hesitant.

"I suppose so," you answered quietly. You had gone to school for biomechanical engineering fresh out of high school and went straight to work repairing damages androids. It was potentially the most depressing time of your life; but, you had a childhood that conquered that.

The androids were quiet after that, letting you work in silence, if not for the overhead fan making annoying buzzing sounds.

"There we go," you groaned, sitting up and briefly stretching your bag. You set your tools down and fetched a hand mirror, offering it to Simon.

Markus walked around to take a look.

"I feel silly," Simon chuckled, looking at his reflection. You joined in his laughter, recognizing he meant the mirror and the vanity it was implying.

"Looks good as new," Markus commented with a smile.

Simon offered the mirror back to you. "I don't know if 'thank you' is good enough," he uttered, looking bashful. He didn't seem like the same man that walked in those doors an hour ago.

"It is, Simon," you offered with a smile. "I choose to do this."

Markus' multi-colored eyes landed on you. "There are many damaged androids afraid to come here. If I can get them to put their faith in you, would you be willing to go to them?"

You gawked up at Markus, who looked down at you with confidence.

"I don't know if I could get approval for that - the parts, I mean. I would try, if you believe they would want it? -from a human, anyway..."

Markus' head tilted slightly and his eyes darkened with concern. "I want us to work together with humans - I want them to see that it's possible - that there can be peace."

You smiled at Markus; but, the first android that came to mind was Connor. You felt your cheeks warm at the thought of what you had almost said to him earlier.

"You recognize me, don't you?" Markus asked suddenly, catching you off guard.

"I do, Markus," you replied carefully.

"-you still offered to help?" Simon uttered. Your eyes shifted to him for a moment. He seemed uneasy, likely expecting more hostility towards the leader of the deviants, regardless of your profession.

"I don't-" you began, breaking off when you realized you didn't know where you were going with that thought.

"I've seen androids torn to pieces," you started, looking back to Markus. "I've had them delivered to me crying that they don't want to die... I came back here because of this - because of the revolution. I wanted to do something I could be proud of for a change..."

It felt strange-

-admitting this to Markus.

He had a way with people, making them want to open up to him.

"I understand the risk you're taking," Markus stated. "I won't ask you to come if I don't feel it's safe... I hope I'll see you again."

You nodded and watched the boys leave, hoping that Markus would return.

...

...

...

When you finally staggered into Connor's apartment that night, the android was seated at the island, folders, papers, photographs and documents, scattered along the surface in front of him.

He turned his head a little to acknowledge you when you walked in before immediately craning his neck back down, eyes falling back to the document in front of him.

"Hey," you hummed, walking over to him. You leaned over his shoulder and pressed a kiss against his LED.

"Hey," he replied back, leaning into the kiss. You couldn't help but laugh at how silly the word sounded coming out of his mouth. It didn't quite the suit the prim and proper detective.

"Thank you for agreeing to stay here," Connor said, sincere.

"Why would I say no to an opportunity to spend more time with you?" you huffed. "Besides, your place is nicer than mine and closer to work."

"I'm glad to know you're benefiting."

You hummed, a little irritated by his response. "You think I'm inconvenienced?"

"In a way, yes," he replied, in a tone that seemed distant.

"I'm not inconvenienced - geez, what's gotten into you?" you snapped a little.

Connor looked up at you, discomfort dashing behind his eyes. "I-..." he trailed off, looking back down at his papers.  He dragged a hand through his hair. His fingers lingered briefly at the back of his neck before lowering back down to the counter.

"I'm sorry. I'm not handling this as well as I thought."

"The protests?" you offered softly.

The android didn't nod, nor answer. His eyes shifted away uneasily for a moment before moving back to you. It wasn't exactly a yes, but that seemed to be part of his trouble, at least.

"They're challenging your livelihood," you proclaimed. "You have every right to be upset."

"I made a choice against my creators; but..." Connor trailed off, his confidence waning for a moment. "This time, I have to be on both sides."

Connor felt as torn as he did back then. He wanted freedom for himself, for his people. He was fortunate to have a place to call his home, a job where he could find purpose. He wanted his people to have those things, too.

But, he feared the consequences of an uprising, of the human lives that would be lost. He still cared about humans. Maybe that was because of Hank - because of you. Maybe some part of his programming never quite left him.

You didn't know what to do - what to say. You wanted to embrace him and pull him away from that mess, just for a little bit; however, Connor turned away from you and buried his nose back into the pile of paperwork.

He wanted to confide in you; but, at the same time, he didn't. You had your own challenges, your own problems. He didn't want to add to that list. He didn't want to be one of the things that brought stress into your life.

"I'll-... be back in a second," you quietly, feeling small as you stepped away.

Connor's bedroom was as welcoming as you remembered and impeccably clean. You set your bags against the wall next to the archway that led into his bathroom. You brushed your teeth and changed into some comfy clothes, brushed your hair back, washed your face.

You returned to the kitchen and approached Connor. He looked up at you, hearing the quiet tapping of your bare feet on the floor. When his eyes lands landed on you, he looked conflicted.

"You know I believe in you... right?" you whispered, leaning against the counter nearest him.

He rotated around so that his lap was no longer tucked beneath the island's overlap. You decided to take that as an invitation and approached, standing a little closer, right in front of his knees.

"I like to imagine that. But, it feels better hearing you say it," he said quietly, like he was confessing to something outlandish.

"We'll get through this," you added on.

He looked away suddenly, lips tightening. You reached for him and cupped his cheek, pinkie and ring finger over the edge of his sharp jawline. Connor's eyes, warm, brown, shining in the bright kitchen lights, flickered back up to your face.

"I want to do this with you, Connor," you proclaimed proudly. "They're wrong about androids. Their views may never change, but that doesn't mean we can't strive for the future."

"This... isn't your fight," he said quietly, doubt flickering in his gaze. His brow lowered slightly. Your hand slid off his cheek and you frowned.

"It's my fight if I want it to be... and I do," you replied firmly, voice rising slightly.

"I don't want-" Connor stammered, frustration mingled with fear in his eyes.

"It's not just about you," you interrupted him sharply. "I care about androids - I did before I met you. I want to help. I-..." You trailed off, realizing you were mad at him for being worried about your safety. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, but-"

"No, you're right," he said hoarsely. "I shouldn't try to control you."

"That's not what this is!" you almost shouted, arms trembling at your sides. "I worry about you, too... -about what could happen. You're on the frontlines for fucks sake. But, you're a fighter and I don't want to change that. I love that about you..."

Connor was afraid that if his hands touched you, he wouldn't be able to let go. So, he kept them to himself, and soaked in your expression. He knew you cared about androids. He had witnessed it on more than one occasion. He didn't want to make light of your sacrifice.

But, still...

He felt so-

-selfish.

"You... amazed me, when I saw you risk your safety for androids - for people you didn't know, people who aren't... human," he confessed quietly. "You put yourself in danger," he said lowly, breaking off to roughly drag a hand across his face, pulling at his skin gently in frustration.

"-drives me crazy..."

He said it low, quiet, as if he wasn't sure he wanted you to hear it. He sounded both enamored and annoyed at the same time.

"You drive me crazy," you retorted softly with a smile.

You wanted him to reach out to you, to give you a kiss goodnight, or at least take your hand for a second. But, Connor didn't look like he wanted to be touched.

"I'm... gonna let you get back to work... Goodnight, Connor."

Connor nodded, uttering, "goodnight," and watched you leave. He returned to his case files and tried really hard to focus on the task at hand. His hand fumbled on the surface of the counter, fingers flexing, tightening, flexing again. He chewed his bottom lip for a second. Maybe asking you to stay here was a bad idea, if it meant he couldn't think straight.

He looked through the photos of suspects believed to be involved in the protest this morning, the one that resulted in some assaults on androids. He wanted to analyze their faces so he could remember them when searching security footage.

It wasn't easy for an android to forget a face.

It shouldn't have been easy for an android to get distracted; however, he was really struggling in that moment.

"...damn it," he growled at himself, tearing away from the counter and rising to his feet. He walked into the bedroom, trying to make careful footsteps while simultaneously not giving a fuck. He walked over to the side of the bed that you had taken a liking to.

He knew you weren't asleep. Your breathing pattern was too rough. But, he didn't care. Connor leaned over and pressed a kiss against your forehead and pretended he didn't notice the way your lips twitched against the pillow.

Just like that, he felt better, and returned to his mountain of paperwork with ease.

[snowdice]

Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 10)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Deceit, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned, explosions (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 My Master Post

Janus could feel his heartbeat speed up at he looked at his phone, but he didn’t dare let that show on his face even though she couldn’t see him. He calmly clicked the talk button on his phone. “Hello, mother. How can I help you?” he asked.

“I’d like an update on the situation with the Gates boy,” she said.

“I’m currently on his trail,” Janus informed her. “He had an unfortunate head start because of Kinsley, but I have managed to figure out he went to the nearby grocery store and saw him on security footage. I should be making more progress soon.”

“I see,” she replied. “The boy used his phone.”

Janus took a half second to pause at that. “Well, that’s good for our aims,” Janus replied levelly. “I assume you were able to track the call.”

“Yes,” she said. “He was attempting to call his uncle. He has managed to get impressively far. I will send you the details of his location.” She paused. “Wait, it seems he’s currently attempting another call to an unknown number. Strange, there doesn’t seem to be a record of it in any database. You wouldn’t possibly know the number 499-555-0721.” Fuck. That was his other phone number… the phone number of the phone he broke earlier.

“No, I don’t,” Janus lied. God dammit. Why did he break that phone?

She hummed, seeming to accept that. “I see you are still at the grocery store. I’m sending people to meet up with you at that location.”

Oh fuck.

“Is that really necessary?” Janus asked, sounding bored. “Surely I can handle it myself.”

“It will be more efficient to have multiple people working together especially with a drive that far,” she said. He could tell by her tone that there was no room for argument.

“Of course,” Janus replied.

“Good. I have already sent them your location.” She hung up without another word.

Janus looked down at his phone. “Well,” he said. “I’m dead.”

“That bad, huh?” Remus asked.

“She’s sending people to ‘help’ me.”

“Shit.”

“You said the security cameras upload straight to the cloud, right?” Janus asked.

“Yep,” Remus confirmed.

“Well. No way out of it then.” His phone beeped with details about Virgil’s location. Calmly, Janus walked around the car and opened the door to get the atlas Remy had gotten him when he’d turned 16. He’d scoffed at it because of GPS, but he’d kept it even when he’d gotten rid of the car mother had given him for the same occasion. He opened the map of the state and circled the location Virgil was at on the map.

Just as he finished that, he was also forwarded the names and locations of the two goons coming for him. “Convenient,” he said glancing at their current positions. “Remus, remember all the times you’ve talked about wanting to blow this car to hell?”

“Yes!!” he said excitedly. “To be fair it’s any car, but yes!!!”

“Wait!” Roman said. “Why are we blowing up the car?”

“Distraction,” Janus replied. “The path they’re on should take them over Washington Bridge, so if we blow it up on that, it should delay them by quite a bit. Plus, mom can track the car and they’ll probably loop back trying to find me.”

“Isn’t there, like, a better idea, maybe?” Roman asked.

Remus reached over and put his hand over Roman’s mouth. “Shh, Roman, let me have this.” Roman shoved him away.

“We’ll go get one of your cars, drive mine to the bridge, and Remus can do his,” he waved his hand at him, “thing.”

“…I still don’t think.”

“Trust us, Ro-Ro.” Remus threw an arm around his shoulder.

“See, that makes me think this is even worse of an idea.”

“Look,” Janus bit out. “I know my mother and as soon as she figures out I’m fucking her over, they’ll be literally gunning for us. Blowing up the car will delay them as well as destroy the tracker and any information they can get from the car.

“Okay,” Roman agreed, though he still didn’t seem comfortable with it. Apparently, he’d gotten all of the responsibility in the womb.

Speaking of… Remus had already taken the laptop and packed it back up before throwing it none to gently into the trunk. Roman winced, but Janus shrugged. It was going to get destroyed anyway. In fact, Janus tossed his phone into the trunk with it.

Janus couldn’t resist smiling at the excitement in Remus’s eyes as he slammed the trunk closed and made his way to the passenger seat.

“We’re taking my car though,” Roman insisted. “I’m not getting in his death trap.”

Having seen the car for himself, Janus nodded. “Agreed.”

 They drove back to get Roman’s car and then Remus requested grabbing something from his own car.

“Why do you even have that in your car?!” Roman shouted from his car’s window as Remus unpacked explosives from his trunk.

“In case of emergencies!”

“What type of emergen-”

“This type!”

Janus just shook his head, and Remus packed the explosives into the trunk of Janus’s car and then himself into the passenger seat. Then they drove off towards the bridge only about 10 minutes away. Remus wiggled in excitement in his seat.

“Calm down,” Janus attempted to snap, but it just came out fond. Disgusting.

Remus just gave him a dopey smile.

Janus turned back to the road. “I hope you know this means your cover is blown as well.”

“Yeah, ah well, it was only a matter of time anyway,” he said, shrugging. “I will have to move though. That’s going to suck.”

Janus hummed noncommittally.

“Ooo, we should go in on an apartment together!”

Janus glanced over at him in surprise. “What?”

“And we can get a cat!” Remus said instead of answering him. “I love cats, but my current apartment won’t let me have one. That’ll be on the list of things to look for: an apartment that allows pets.”

“Why would we be moving in with each other?” Janus asked.

“Well, you’re not going to be living with mommy dearest after today and we’re best friends.”

“We’re partners,” Janus replied blankly.

“And best friends!”

“I… you… we’ll discuss this later. I have too much to think about right now.”

Remus shrugged and startled rambling about how ‘big the bomb is going to be.’ Meanwhile, Janus did his best to firmly shoved the words “best friends” as far down into his subconscious as possible.

They arrived at the bridge quickly and Janus parked his car in the middle of it; Roman parked at the other end of the bridge.

 “Well, don’t leave anything in the car,” Janus said. Remus nodded, back to bouncing up and down in his seat at the prospect of the imminent explosion.

Janus trusted Remus to know what he was doing with the explosives and simply walked away from his car towards Roman’s. There was a loud explosion when they were about 200 feet away from the car. Janus suppressed a flinch.

“You could have waited until we were completely off the bridge,” Janus commented mildly.

“But we look cooler like this,” Remus argued with a manic grin. “Plus, I saw a car coming towards the bridge on the other side and didn’t want them to get on the bridge before the explosion.”

Roman had his window rolled down when they approached. “Remus is in back.”

Remus put a hand over his heart like he’d been wounded. “I’m your brother. I should get shot-gun.”

“I am not allowing you access to the radio. I’ve been on too many road trips with you.”

“Dad’s the one who insists on playing a mix of geek rock and explicit rap music which he completely doesn’t understanding the lyrics of,” Remus pointed out with a pout.

“And I should have disowned the both of you years ago. Get in the back seat.”

“But…”

Janus ended the sibling dispute by getting in the passenger seat himself.

Remus grumbled as he got in the back seat. Janus opened the atlas and found their current location on the map. “Get on the interstate heading East,” he instructed Roman.

The question of how on Earth they were going to find Virgil when he was moving rather quickly crossed Janus’s mind, but he smothered it. They’d stop and do some investigation once they were closer to his current location. It would be fine.

Roman glanced over at him as he started to drive and sighed. “You may have control of the radio as passenger,” he offered. “Just, please do not betray me.”

Janus sent him a wry smile and let himself get distracted messing with the radio. He flipped through a few stations before landing on one that seemed to be devoted mostly to Latin pop.

“Yes,” Roman said. “A great decision.”

“No,” Remus whined when he stopped on that station and leaned back. “You’re supposed to find the one that annoys Roman the most. It’s in the spirit of the road trip.”

“That seems ridiculous,” Janus commented.

“It is,” Roman agreed.

“Noooo. Embrace the spirit of the road trip.”

“Well finding a station that Roman likes seems to annoy you the most. So, I guess I am ‘embracing the spirit of the road trip.’”

Remus made a mournful sound and Roman chortled. “You’re my new favorite person,” Roman said.

Janus found himself smiling despite himself.

“Just for that, I get naming rights for our cat,” Remus informed him seriously.

“What cat?” Roman asked.

“Janus and I are going to get an apartment together since his mom’s going to try to murder us both, and we’re going to get a cat.”

“Ah,” Roman said as though that made total sense to him. Janus guessed growing up with Remus made it easy to accept such statements. “Don’t let him name it. He’ll name it something stupid.”

“I will not!”

“You tried to name our hamster Sexy Dorito!” Roman exclaimed and then looked at Janus. “Who names a hamster… who names anything Sexy Dorito??” he asked.

“The same person who accidently died his hair neon pink on a covert mission,” Janus answered.

“Hey!” Remus said, leaning forward to insert his face between the driver and passenger seats. “No!”

“Put your seatbelt on, Remus,” Janus ordered.

“Oh, you’ve got to tell me about that one,” Roman said.

“No! Don’t betray me, Janus!”

Janus did, in fact, betray him.

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 11

[debbiechanclub]

Best Two Out of Three, Part 9

Okay. So, listen. I’m obsessed with the Hangman/FTR dynamic going on right now. And I told this to @what-does-mine-say and I previously talked myself out of adding said dynamic to this fic. But, listen. I can’t talk myself out of it anymore. And that’s all I’m gonna say.

But I think you’ll like it? *runs away*

Best Two Out of Three

Part: 9/26

Pairing: Kenny Omega x OFC x Cash Wheeler and Adam Page x OFC

Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 3.4k

Catch up on previous parts here.

Alex went down early to her usual ringside spot for the AEW Dark taping the next day. She wanted to be alone and, at the moment, that was about the only place she could go to get some peace and quiet.

Kenny had known she was upset from the moment she’d walked back through the door last night. He’d tried his best to get her to talk about it, but she hadn’t wanted to. What could she have possibly said? “Your tag team partner doesn’t approve of us because he assumes you’re just going to hurt me again”? That would have gone over like a lead balloon. So instead, she’d let Kenny take her mind off of it. It had worked—until it was time to go to sleep. Worry and anxiety had haunted her brain all night, keeping her from rest. By her best guess, she’d gotten five hours, tops.

Chief amongst those worries and anxieties was Adam. Alex didn’t understand why he seemed to be so against her and Kenny. She understood that he’d experienced her unhappiness from a front row seat the last time around; she appreciated that he didn’t want her to go through that again. But Kenny was his friend, too. Didn’t he want to at least give him a second chance to prove himself? She did. Why wasn’t that good enough for Adam?

But her confusion over Adam’s attitude was far from the only thing that had kept her awake; Chuck and his alleged feelings were a close second. Like she’d told Kenny when she’d broken down to him after the match yesterday, Alex had never taken Chuck’s drunken profession of love too seriously. She just didn’t think of him in that way. He was Chuck. He was literally her best friend in the entire world; him and the other two morons. But, admittedly, the moron who’d yelled at her in the locker room yesterday had hit the nail on the head. She had flirted with Chuck because she’d known he’d give her the attention Kenny wouldn’t—and she hadn’t stopped to consider how that might have made Chuck feel. And that made Alex feel like the shittiest person on planet Earth.

She heard the shuffle of feet on the entrance ramp and looked up. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat when she saw who it was. Trent.

He came to a stop a few feet away. “Hey. I hope you don’t mind; Kris said I could find you here.”

She looked up at him, a curious expression on her face. His hands were behind his back; it was obvious he was holding something. “What do you have?” she cautiously asked.

“A peace offering,” he said, and he pulled his hands from behind his back to reveal a bag of candy. The biggest bag of Sour Patch Kids that Alex had ever seen, to be specific. “I figured it’s like the commercial,” he explained. “I was sour yesterday, and now I’m sweet. Plus I know they’re your favorite, so…”

He awkwardly trailed off. Alex had to actively bite back a grin. “Well, jury’s still out on you being sweet, but thank you. Really.” She accepted the candy as he sat down next to her. “This is the second peace offering I’ve gotten in less than twenty-four hours,” she mused.

He sent her a curious look. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Adam bought me a drink last night. He apologized about the match. Said he let his emotions get the best of him.”

Trent pursed his lips. But if he had something smart to say about Adam, he kept it to himself. Instead, he looked sheepishly down at the floor. “I’m sorry about what I said yesterday. I was upset and trying to stick up for Chuck… but I crossed a line.”

Alex frowned. She didn’t want to drag this out any longer than it needed to be. “I know,” she said. “You did cross a line… but I forgive you. I know it was said in the heat of the moment. Besides… you weren’t exactly wrong about me flirting with Chuck.”

Trent’s expression mirrored hers. “You should talk to him,” he said. “I don’t think he slept last night.”

She ran a tired hand through her hair. “I didn’t, either. God, this whole thing is such a mess. I was already under enough stress with Adam and Callie without throwing my personal life into the mix too.”

“Not to mention we’re fighting Adam and Kenny for the tag titles,” Trent added. She sent him a look.

“Trust me, I haven’t forgotten.”

He gave a wry laugh, but it faded fast as his expression grew somber again. “Can I say something without you getting upset?”

Alex blinked. “If you need to preface it like that, it means it’s probably gonna upset me, Trent.”

“I know, but just hear me out, alright?”

Something about the earnest look on his face gave her pause. “Okay,” she agreed.

Trent nodded. He looked out at the empty ring as he spoke. “I’ve known Kenny a long time. Longer than you or Adam have. And I can say without a shadow of a doubt that he’s a commitment-phobe. And it’s not that he’s a player or anything like that… he’s just married to his work. Wrestling has always been and probably always will be his number one priority, and so even when he actually tries to have a relationship, it inevitably falls apart because he always ends up neglecting it in favor of work. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong… but isn’t that why you two didn’t work out last time?”

Alex frowned again. No, he wasn’t wrong; that was exactly why she and Kenny hadn’t worked out last time. He’d made work the priority and, as a result, she’d constantly felt like an afterthought. But she’d chalked it up to the fact that he was an EVP and AEW had only just gotten off the ground at the time; they hadn’t even started the TV show yet. But if Trent was telling her that Kenny had always been that way… it would be a lie to say it didn’t worry her.

“I’m not trying to convince you that Kenny’s a bad guy. He’s not,” Trent added, as if he was worried that was what she thought he was trying to do. “I just think you deserve better than what he can probably give you.”

Trent looked back down at the floor, his piece said, and Alex did the same. But then she put the bag of candy down and pulled him into a tight hug. “It means a lot that you think that,” she said. “But you know only I can decide what’s best for me, Trent.”

“I know,” he said as he squeezed her back. “But I want the best for you, too.”

They hugged a few seconds longer before Alex pulled back. “Truce?” she asked.

He smirked. “Truce. I really don’t like fighting with you. You’re vicious.”

Her mouth dropped in mock-offense. “What?”

“Come on,” he flatly returned. “You didn’t need to throw out that comment about me trying it with you.”

“Well, you did,” she returned. “At New Year’s. Remember?”

“Yeah, I know what you were referring to,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “You looked hot that night, sue me.”

She smirked. “Aw, thanks, Trenty.”

“Shut up,” he muttered; but he was smirking, too. “Now are you gonna share those, or what?” He nodded at the Sour Patch Kids. “It’s a two-pound bag.”

Alex genially rolled her eyes as she picked up the bag and ripped it open. “You’re lucky I’m feeling generous,” she said as she offered it to him, happy to have resolved at least one of her anxieties.

* * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile in catering, Callie sat at a table with Britt and Allie; and, unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for conversation to turn to Alex.

“You should ask for a rematch ASAP,” Britt said. “Ask Cody—he’ll be impartial.”

“Ban everyone from ringside, too,” Allie added. “Even Adam, if I were you.”

“Trust me, I want everyone banned,” Callie assured. “I want no DQ, too.”

Britt rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you got disqualified like that. Terrible refereeing. And then the way Kenny took Alex’s side over yours?” She scoffed. “Rude.”

Callie glanced between them. She’d been sitting on a juicy piece of gossip all day, and now seemed like the perfect time to unleash it. “You know she slept in his room last night?”

“What?” Britt let out a scandalized gasp. “No. Really?”

Callie nodded. “Adam met Alex at the hotel bar last night because he wanted to make amends,” she explained with a roll of her eyes. “When he came back up to our room, he told me she’d said she was staying with Kenny.”

Allie arched a conspiratorial brow. “That’s interesting. Because I just saw Alex looking pretty cozy with Trent down at ringside.”

If possible, Britt’s eyes went even bigger. “And she was all over Cash at my party last week?” She shook her head. “I mean, good for her, I guess. I hope she’s using protection.”

Callie rolled her eyes. Adam had also told her that Alex was only staying in Kenny’s room because she’d gotten in a huge fight with Trent after their match. Knowing that, maybe Allie hadn’t seen what she’d thought she had. But Callie kept that information to herself. She’d let Allie and Britt believe whatever they wanted to about Alex.

“Hey, baby.” Adam suddenly joined them at the table. “Can I talk you?” He glanced at Britt and Allie. “Alone?”

Britt pursed her lips. “Fine.”

Callie smirked at the dramatic expression on Britt’s face as she and Allie got up to leave. Once they were gone, she turned and smiled at Adam. “What’s up? Where’ve you been?” she asked as she placed a hand on his thigh. “I looked for you in the dressing room before I came here, but you weren’t there.”

“Yeah, I was talking to FTR,” he explained. “And while we were talking I got an idea, and I wanted to run it by you.”

She arched a curious brow. “Okay…” she started; but Adam went on before she could even ask.

“So you know I’ve known them for a while, right? Well, we started talking about how we need to get together and catch up now that they’re in AEW. And I thought, fuck it, it’s been a while since we threw a party, and they said they’d be willing to come up. So, long story short, we’re having a cookout on Saturday and Cash and Dax are coming.”

He finally stopped to take a breath. Callie couldn’t help the grin that broke out over her face. He was obviously very excited about this cookout. “Okay. I think that sounds fun; it’ll be good for you all to catch up.”

“Yeah, and I want to invite Alex, too.”

Callie’s face fell. “What?”

“Just hear me out,” he asked. When she didn’t protest, he went on. “I know you haven’t had much reason to like her. But Alex’s friendship is important to me, Cal. Not as important as us, obviously; but important, nonetheless. And I would really, really appreciate it if you two could at least try to get along.”

He stared at her with those blue puppy dog eyes of his, and Callie worried at her lip. Did she like the idea of Alex getting drunk at their house this weekend? No; absolutely not. But there was no possible way she could deny Adam when he looked at her like that. “Fine,” she relented. “I’ll try. But it’s a two-way street, Adam.”

He held up his hands. “I know, I know. I’ll say the same to her,” he said. But then Callie had a thought.

“What about Kenny? Are you inviting him too since he and Alex are… whatever they are?”

Adam hesitated. And then he said, “I don’t think Kenny can this weekend. He’s filming a commercial, or something.”

Callie nodded, quietly relieved to hear it. She didn’t think she could handle Alex and Kenny both being at their house. “Okay. Well, I hope you know I’m only going along with this because I love you.”

He grinned at her. “I know. I love you too,” he said, and he pulled her into a kiss. When they broke apart, he jumped up from the table. “Alright, I’m gonna go find Alex.”

Callie rolled her eyes as he hurried out of catering. She really hoped she wouldn’t regret agreeing to this.

* * * * * * * * * *

“What?”

Alex gaped up at Adam, the two-pound bag of Sour Patch Kids cradled in her arm. He’d intercepted her on the way to back to the locker room after she’d finished talking with Trent—and he’d asked her something ridiculous.

“That’s the exact same reaction Callie had,” Adam said. “See, you two already have more in common than you think.”

She pursed her lips at his smirk. It wasn’t funny. “So, just to reiterate,” she started. “You want me to come to a cookout at your house where Callie also lives, and where FTR will also be?”

He nodded. “That’s what I said, yeah.”

She gave him a blank look. “Adam, I love you. You’re one of my dearest friends. But on the scale of terrible ideas, that ranks somewhere between recipe for disaster and dumpster fire.”

“What?” He looked to the ceiling in frustration. “Alex, come on. You just said last night that you missed the way things used to be between us. Well, this is me trying to fix that.”

Alex fidgeted anxiously under his gaze and looked off into the distance. Truth be told, she appreciated what he was trying to do. But the prospect of hanging out with Callie wasn’t the only reason she was hesitant to accept the invitation. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to hang out with Cash like that.”

Adam gave her a look like she’d grown a second head. “What? Why?”

“Because,” she breathed. “I was all over him at the party last week, and now that Kenny and I are together it just doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

His brow furrowed with confusion when she said that. “Wait. You’re together-together? Last night you said you were taking things slow, whatever the hell that means.”              

She rolled her eyes. “We are taking things slow,” she insisted. “And I didn’t mean together-together I just meant… you know what I meant.”

“Actually, no. I don’t,” he returned. “And besides, if Kenny has an issue with you hanging out with a guy you drunkenly flirted with once before you’ve even figured out what you two are… then you probably shouldn’t be with him, anyway.”

Alex glared up at him. If that was the argument he was going to make, she didn’t want to hear it. “Well, speaking of your tag team partner, I was on my way to find him before you stopped me.”

She pushed past him. He called after her as she walked away. “Would you at least think about it?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine!” she said just to get him to shut up, and she marched down the hall without a second glance. She wanted to drop the candy off with her things and then go talk to Kenny. She hadn’t seen him since they’d gotten to the arena… and after what Trent had said, she could use some reassurance. But as she rounded the corner to the area where the locker rooms were located, she slowed to a stop. Kenny was standing in the hallway talking to Hikaru Shida in Japanese. Hikaru let out a cutesy laugh and touched his arm. Alex froze—but before she could think too much of it, Hikaru spotted her and gave an excited wave.

“Oh—hi, Alex!”

She gave her a genuine smile as Kenny turned to look at her. Their eyes met, but only briefly. “Hi, Hikaru,” she greeted.

“I like your outfit!” she complimented. “It’s very… stylish!” She smiled again, proud of herself for thinking of the right word. That time, Alex couldn’t help but return her grin.

“Oh, thanks,” she said as she looked down at her oversized crop tee and cutoff shorts. “It’s pretty comfy, too.” She paused and looked between them. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”  

“Oh, no,” Kenny shook his head. “We were just talking about some things coming down the pipe, but I think we’re good, right?”

He looked back at Hikaru. She nodded. “Oh, yeah! Do you need to talk?”

Alex’s brow furrowed. “If you don’t mind.”

She shook her head. “No problem!” She looked back at Kenny and said something else in Japanese, and then she waved goodbye and walked off down the hall.

“Her English has gotten a lot better,” Alex commented.

“Yeah, she’s been working really hard at it,” Kenny said as he looked after her. Alex felt an unexpected twinge of jealousy in her gut—but then he turned to face her. “What’s up?” He smiled quizzically at the bag of Sour Patch Kids. “Where’d you get that?”

“Trent,” she answered. “It was a peace offering.”

His eyebrows arched in surprise. “So you talked him?”

She nodded. “He came to talk to me, actually. He apologized for what he said.” She looked down at her Chucks. “I guess you didn’t talk to him?”

Kenny’s face fell. “No. I’m sorry, baby. I’ve been nonstop busy since we got here.” He reached out and gently gripped her arm. She looked back up. “But it looks like I don’t need to. I’m glad you two worked it out.”

She nodded again and flashed a stiff smile. “Yeah. I guess Chuck is next.”

“I’m sure that conversation won’t be as difficult as you think,” Kenny encouraged. “He’s your best friend. He’ll understand.”

Alex frowned. She hoped he was right. But just as she was about to say so, Kenny checked his watch. “I hate to cut this short, but I have a meeting with Cody in ten minutes.”

She blinked. “Oh. Okay.”

“I know, I’m sorry. Today’s just been insane.” He took her by the arms and looked her in the eyes. “I’ll make it up to you tonight, alright?”

Her brow furrowed. “Aren’t you filming stuff for BTE tonight?”

“Yeah, but that shouldn’t take that long.” He kissed her on the forehead; Alex couldn’t help but feel like he’d done it just to keep her from arguing. “Go talk to Chuck; you’ll feel better afterward, I’m sure,” he said, and with a with a final apologetic look he turned and walked off down the hall, leaving Alex standing there with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that night, Alex packed up her things alongside Trent, Chuck, and James in the Best Friends locker room. Despite Kenny’s suggestion, she still hadn’t talked to Chuck—after their interaction, she just hadn’t been up for having that conversation. But bless his little heart, Chuck had acted like there wasn’t anything wrong at all throughout the entire Dark taping. It had cheered Alex up. Watching wrestling with him and Trent at ringside like they did every week had been just what she’d needed.

“Are you guys ready?” Trent asked as he zipped up his bag.

“Yeah,” Chuck said as James nodded. But Alex suddenly realized she was missing something.

“What’re you looking for?” Chuck asked as she rifled through her things.

“My phone,” she returned—but then she stopped in realization. “I think I left it under the seat at ringside.” She stood and moved toward the door. “I’ll meet you guys at the car,” she said, and she pushed her way out of the locker room without waiting for a response.

She hurried back through the halls, hoping she was right about where she’d left her phone—and that no one had picked it up. She was in such a rush that she cut around a corner hard and suddenly and unexpectedly collided with someone.

“Whoa!” The other person grabbed her by the arms to steady her. It was Cash, she realized. “You alright?” he asked.

Alex’s face flushed. She hadn’t seen Cash since the party last week… the party where she’d spent the entire night suggestively flirting with and practically flashing him. Needless to say, it was a bit embarrassing to literally run into him now, stone-cold sober. “Yeah,” she nodded. “Sorry… I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“No worries,” he assured. “I’m glad I ran into you, actually.”

She smirked. “Literally?”

He grinned and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. So did Adam mention this weekend to you?”

Alex blinked. She hadn’t been expecting that. “About the cookout? Yeah. It’ll be nice for you guys to catch up.”

“Yeah...” he trailed off as he gave her a curious look. And then he asked, “He invited you too, didn’t he?”

She awkwardly bit her lip. “Yeah, he did. But um… I don’t know if I’m gonna go.”

“Oh,” he said. Alex froze. Was that… disappointment on his face? But if it was, it was gone as soon as it appeared. “Sure, I get it. You and Callie aren’t exactly friends.”

Her eyebrows arched. “No,” she smirked. “We’re not.”

He gave a short laugh. “Well, I’m not gonna try to convince you to go because that’s not my place. But, for what it’s worth… I hope you’ll be there.”

He gave her a crooked grin. Alex felt her stomach do a pleasant flip. It caught her completely off-guard. “Well, I’ll think about,” she suddenly found herself saying. “Adam only lives two hours from me so… it’s not a big deal.”

Cash nodded. “Cool. Well, hopefully I’ll see you Saturday, then.” And with that he backpedaled away from her, not breaking eye contact until he turned to round the corner. And after he’d gone, Alex remained standing there in the hall, flustered and confused by the butterflies in her stomach.

[ravenbrenna09]

Jij Verliest - Chapter One: Clip #1

master list teaser

...

Zaterdag 9:31

Lying awake in his bed, Robbe could hear the gentle shuffling of the flatshare in the morning.

Across the hall, the adjacent bedroom door opened and closed quietly. The floorboards creaked as someone made their way towards the kitchen (likely Zoë, his tired mind realized). Sunlight spilled in from the bay window in Robbe’s room. Due to the position of his bed against the opposite wall, he was free from the sun’s rays for a little while longer, but he was still wide awake. But the sun shined on everything else in his room; his untouched surfboard tucked behind his dresser, the skateboard against the windowsill. It even managed to touch his desk, positioned in the corner, with his two monitors and game systems, which still looked the same as Robbe left it last night, a little messy and disorganized from his late-night Friday stream.

Laying on his bed while his music lightly played a song that he mostly tuned out, Robbe could still hear the chatter of the growing crowd beneath his window, increasing in volume as time drew on and more and more people left the safety of their apartments to bask in the sunshine. Somewhere near the kitchen, he could hear the distant chatter of Milan and Zoë in the kitchen and the static of the television as someone flipped it on. All around him, the world signaled that it was time for Robbe to drag himself out of bed, to make sure that everything was going as it was meant to, and to get some food before he prepared for his afternoon stream or did some homework for the upcoming week.

But Robbe stayed planted in his bed, his gray sheets twisted around his waist, and twirling his phone in his head, unable to will himself to roll out of the comfort it provided. His alarm clock on the nightside next to his bed flashed bright red numbers—9:31—at him and the chatter in the kitchen had gotten louder. The smell of Milan’s favorite coffee filled the air, wafting into his bedroom, along with the sound of sizzling food as all three of his roommates chattered in the kitchen.  

But Robbe just felt empty. 

In the past three months, the world had carried on in a way that Robbe expected it to, just moving along on the continuous cycle that life crafted for them. But, somehow, he felt stuck—his feet cemented into the floor as the rest of the world spun around him like a tornado. The reality of the situation is that Robbe was stuck because the world had moved on. His friends had moved on, and they tried to bring him along with them, but Robbe always found himself doubling back, circling back around to the constant in his life that he felt was missing from his new present. 

Thomas.

Thomas Martens was Robbe’s boyfriend of a year and six months. While not the first man that Robbe had ever been with, Thomas had been, fundamentally, Robbe’s first serious relationship. All of his other boyfriends (and, in parts of high school, girlfriends) had only lasted a couple of months or less. It was nothing serious, just a few dates here and there, texts, maybe some risky ones, and then they would just split apart. Sometimes, it was mutual. Sometimes, it was circumstantial. Sometimes, it was Robbe’s brain exploding inside his skull. But they’d separate and move past the fork in the road that was the end of the relationship. 

With Thomas, it had been his first real relationship. Thomas had met his mother and they had gotten along swimmingly. Robbe had met his family and Thomas’s little sister half-demanded that Robbe would help her with her science homework every time he would come over. All of their friends got along well (with the exception of Jens who, in private, admitted that Robbe could do better). Their relationship was peaceful—some arguments, no fights that shook the walls, and they had even considered possibly moving in together after they reached the two-year mark. Their relationship was almost perfect. 

Almost.

Somewhere, the foundation of their relationship had cracked. Robbe could feel Thomas starting to pull away and his job was forcing him to stay at work later and later. It had frightened Robbe, because he had witnessed his father slowly pulling away until he walked out the door and his mother hit the hardest rock-bottom that she ever would. Without really meaning to, Robbe clung a little tighter to Thomas and their relationship. He subconsciously tried to be everything that Thomas needed, but he couldn’t—they weren’t working the same anymore, and so about three months ago, they had broken it off. 

While Robbe was still deeply rooted in the epicenter of the twisting tornado of change, Thomas had glided across the gales with an elegant ease that Robbe was jealous of. His ex-boyfriend had moved on, deleting his pictures with Robbe across all social media platforms, and going out with his friends more and more (or, even if he was trying his best to ignore it, at least that’s what his Instagram led him to believe). The only thing that remained of their relationship was the box of Thomas’s things in the corner of his bedroom, spilling with clothes that he had left at Robbe’s, which he still hadn’t come to collect. 

The thought of Thomas caused Robbe’s heart to give a frightening squeeze. He closed his eyes, trying to will away the thoughts of their relationship, the moments that Robbe still clung to, the ones that were still at the forefront of Robbe’s mind. But the harder he tried to push them away, the more intense they came back into focus, swirling around in his mind’s eye as if they were happening right now. Thomas coming over after work on Friday to be with him, his gentle kisses when Robbe was stressed about school work, his warm embrace that wrapped around Robbe like a blanket, his-

Knock, knock. 

The gentle knock pulled Robbe from his thoughts, bringing him hurtling back into his bedroom, no Thomas in sight, on a quiet Saturday morning. Beneath the crack of the door, he could see someone was standing outside of it. For a moment, he thought about acting like he was asleep, like he hadn’t woken up quite yet so he could lay in bed for another hour, but Zoë spoke up, “Robbe? We made breakfast if you wanted to come to join us.”

“Okay,” Robbe said, hearing the sadness in his voice. He tried to swallow down the bubble in his throat and ignore that it had ever existed. When he spoke again, his voice was clearer than it had been the first time. “I’ll be out in a second.”

“Alright,” Zoë said. He could hear Zoë shift away from the door, the floorboards creaking beneath her weight as she moved away, before she added, “I’ll try to make sure that the boys don’t eat all of the pancakes before you have a chance to get some.” 

“Thanks, Zoë,” Robbe said. A smile made its way across his face as he pushed himself off the bed. 

Pulling a pair of sweats from his dresser, he quickly slipped them over his boxers. Then, he grabbed his green hoodie from the back of his desk chair and pulled it over his head. Once he felt appropriately dressed—not like it mattered all that much with his roommates who were practically family—he stepped out of his bedroom and softly closed the door behind him. He shuffled to the kitchen, where he found all three of his roommates sitting at the table, talking as they passed food around. 

Robbe watched as Zoë rolled her eyes while Milan recounted a story of something or another. Milan spotted Robbe, grinning from ear-to-ear as he greeted, “Robbe!” He jumped to his feet and moved to pull Robbe into a tight hug. It was something that Milan always did; a constant stream of tactile affection without a thought. But today, it felt different. Robbe briefly sunk into Milan’s warm hug, wrapping his arms tight around him. Soon, the older man pulled back, grabbing him squarely by the shoulders and steering him to the table. Milan practically forced Robbe into the only unclaimed chair as he said, “Come join us!”

Zoë was sitting beside his newfound seat, wrapped up in a large grey hoodie with her platinum-blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. After placing two or three pancakes onto a plate, she handed it over to Robbe with a small smile on her face. 

“I’d hurry up if I were you. Lucas has his eye on the rest of them and he might just leap across the table and fight you for them.”

The final member of their small little family, and Milan’s cousin, Lucas van Der Heijden, looked absolutely appalled that she would say such a thing. Of the four, he was the one who looked like he had just rolled out of bed with his light brown curls messed up and pointing in all directions. He was wearing a large oversized red sweater that Robbe would bet was his boyfriend’s. Jens was Robbe’s best friend. He would know. 

“Hey,” he spoke, pointing his fork at Zoë dramatically. “I am not that bad… and it’s not my fault that your pancakes are to kill for.”

Milan laughed, shaking his head.

Zoë chuckled. Despite his earlier thoughts of Thomas, Robbe could feel a smile form on his lips as he placed the top two pancakes on his own plate. Once he was finished, Lucas made a child-like grabbing gesture with his hands and Robbe reached across the table to place the plate of remaining pancakes in his hands. Lucas grinned brightly at him and began cutting into his food. 

“Did you sleep well?” Zoë asked, raising an eyebrow at Robbe. “You were up pretty late last night.”

Robbe shrugged. “Yeah, I got about as much sleep as I could’ve gotten with a late-night stream that ran a little late because I wasn’t looking at the time,” Robbe admitted, taking a bit of his pancake. He turned towards Zoë, who was nodding her head. “Did I wake you up?”

Zoë shook her head adamantly. “No, you did really well sound-proofing your room. I just happened to wake up to go to the restroom and saw that your light was still on.” Robbe nodded, taking another bite of his food. “And I know that you’ve been streaming a lot lately.”

“Don’t worry, Zoë,” Lucas spoke up. “Robbe’s always one to know where his limits lie. In the time that I’ve known him anyway.” Robbe sent Lucas a thankful grin and the blond nodded his head in his direction. Between them, Milan sent them a knowing smile. “But do you feel like skating this afternoon? I don’t know if you’ve been listening to Aaron’s ramblings at lunch but he is absolutely convinced that he’s mastered a new move and he wants to show everyone.” 

“Really?” Robbe asked. 

“Yeah,” Lucas said, shrugging nonchalantly. “We’ll see if he ends up landing flat on his face or not. Wanna come?”

Glancing down at his food and shoving another bite into his mouth, Robbe thought about his unused skateboard, which had been sitting there since he last went skating by himself a few weeks ago.

Since he started doing late-night streams on Friday nights—one of his many (failed) attempts to push the absence of Thomas from his mind, from his life—he hadn’t been able to attend the Broerrrs Saturday morning skating competitions because he had stayed up too late and needed more sleep. He tried to make up for it by hanging out with them throughout the week, but his new schedule had reduced their time together significantly. That had been on purpose, to have as little free time as possible, so he wouldn’t have to think about Thomas, but it had the unintended consequence of limiting the time he spent with his friends. 

“Yeah, I’d love to come,” he said. Robbe could feel the lingering exhaustion that was present in every bone and molecule in his body, screaming at him for more sleep. But missing his friends outweighed his exhaustion. The four of them (five, counting Lucas) had lunch together on campus regularly. But hanging out for the 30-minute lunch before classes started was different than going to the skatepark on Saturday mornings to laugh and have fun. 

“Really?” Lucas said with a grin as his bright blue eyes lit up. 

“Yeah,” Robbe replied, grinning as well. Lucas’s smile had always been quite infectious. “I’m a little tired and a bit out of it, but I miss going skating with you guys. What time did they want to meet up?”

clip 2 (zaterdag 12:41)

[crackedoutgiraffe]

To the Moon and Back

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

A/N: Part 5

“Hey, hey calm down,” Spencer cooed.

“How am I supposed to calm down, Reid,” you snapped. You saw Hotch walking over to the two of you.

“Y/N, what happened?” Hotch asked with the same stoic face he always had.

“When we were at the principal's house he called her a-,” Reid looked around and lowered his voice so no one around could hear, “a fucking slut.”

“And now he slapped my ass,” you added. Hotch looked at Reid as if to tell him to scram, but Reid just looked at him pleading to let him stay.  

“Reid,” Hotch firmly said. Reid nodded and left to go examine the crime scene with JJ and Prentiss.

“Hotch, I feel so belittled,” you admitted, nothing like that has ever happened to you before. You had been catcalled, but never groped.

“I’m going to go and talk to him and his supervisor,” He replied, hoping to make things better. “Do you want anyone to come and sit with you?”

“Can I just go back to the hotel?”

“Sure, I'll see you tomorrow morning,” He said remorsefully. You turned to walk away and head back the way you came, “And Y/N, you’re doing just fine here, there is no need to worry.” you flashed him a smile and continued on your way.

It felt nice to have received that praise, especially from your supervisor. As you exited the school, you felt the cool summer breeze flow through you. It ran through your hair and your clothes, it ran along your skin and made you shiver. It was nights like these that made you wish you were in high school again. Not having a single care in the world, driving through the night with your best friends, and blasting Stacy’s Mom through the speakers of your 2001 Toyota corolla. 

The sky was clear and you could see all the stars. It reminded you of when you and your dad would sit on the bed of his truck and watch the stars. He always told you that if you were ever lost or confused, you could look up at the stars and they would tell you exactly where you were meant to be. The stars were the only thing keeping you connected to your father while you were traveling since you couldn’t visit his grave. His spirit was always in the stars though. The drive back to the hotel was boring, but you had connected your phone to the Bluetooth so you played Stacy’s Mom and opened the window. You got to your hotel room, took off your clothes and took a second shower making sure to scrub really well to get the filth of that detective out of your head. You got out of the shower and got dressed into your pajamas, turned the light off, and turned the TV on. It was so late you could watch the George Lopez show on Nickelodeon. You were half asleep when you heard a knock on your door. You dragged yourself out of bed and looked through the peephole, to see Dr. Spencer Reid standing at your door. You groaned at the thought of having anyone see you in this state, let alone Spencer. 

You opened the door and headed back to your bed, “Come on in, Dr. Reid.”

“Sorry di- did I wake you up?” He asked, partly trembling.

“No, I’ve been up for a while,” you yawned while muting the TV.

“Oh, I just wanted to come and check in on you.”

“I’m fine, Reid, really.” 

He just stood there looking at you like you were some helpless victim, “Can you not look at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m some sort of victim,” you sighed.

“I’m sorry, I’ll stop,” he looked at the ground with remorse.

“Thank you,” you cuddled into your pillow and started to drift off to sleep. You didn’t want to fall asleep but you couldn’t help it.

Spencer’s POV

“Thank you,” she yawned. She cuddled into her pillow and it seemed like she was starting to fall asleep, I went to go sit in the chair in the corner. There was a blanket on the back of the chair, I grabbed it and put it on her sleeping body. There was no way I could leave her like that. I had no way to lock her door from the outside, and god knows what that detective will do if he gets in trouble with his supervisor. I accidentally fell asleep in the chair I was sitting in. A few hours later, someone was talking. 

“Spencer, be careful,” The voice cried. I knew that voice. I opened my eyes to see Y/N squirming in her sleep. She looked helpless and scared.

“It’s ok, Y/N,” I calmly said, “I’m ok.” She seemed to stop squirming and settle down.

I tried to go back to sleep but thoughts of her swirled in my mind. She was dreaming about me. She cared about me, enough to yell for me and tell me to be careful. Reid, you’re crazy. You’re not a psychoanalyst. You don’t believe in dream theory. But this you couldn’t deny. She was calling for you. Finally, sleep caught up with me. My dreams were filled with thoughts of her.

Your POV

Your alarm woke you up with its heinous voice. You snuggled into the blanket that you’d never seen before. You looked around the room for any explanation for the new blanket on you. In the corner, you saw Spencer sleeping on the chair.

“Oh my god,” you whispered. You silently got out of bed, grabbed your blue pants, white shirt, and pink blazer, headed for the bathroom to change. You put your hair into a high ponytail and pulled out a few pieces of hair to frame your face. Your makeup was basic, nude sparkly eyeshadow, mascara, blush, and nude lipstick. When you exited the bathroom Reid was still asleep in the chair.

“Reid, it’s 6:30,” you whispered softly, while gently shaking him awake, “we have to meet Hotch at 7.” He started to open his eyes, he looked so sweet. His hair was a mess, and he was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, “Did you sleep well, pretty boy?”

“I did actually,” he said sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “You talk in your sleep, you know that?”

“I hope I didn’t say anything too embarrassing,” you chuckled. “You didn’t have to sleep in the chair, you could have slept in the bed.”

“I was quite comfortable actually.”

“That’s a lie, I’m going down to get breakfast. Go get changed.”

“Alright, enjoy your breakfast.” You grabbed your wallet, phone, badge, and gun and left.

Spencer’s POV

She walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving me with my thoughts. I had a job to do though and that started with getting ready and getting to the station on time. I left her room to see Morgan walking from his room to the elevator.

“Pretty boy,” he said, noticing the room you were walking out of, “busy night last night?”

“I don’t want to hear it, Morgan,” I sighed.

“I’m just saying,” he smirked, “she seems to like you.” He held his coffee cup as if to say cheers and walked away.

I turned away from the elevator and headed back to my room. I got changed, freshened up, and messed up my hair. Staring at myself in the mirror for a second I heard my phone ringing, I went to find it laying on the bed. I checked to see who was calling and it was another number I didn't recognize. “Hello?”

“Hello, I'm Vanessa Scartop with KCCI 8 news, I’m looking for a Dr. Spencer Reid,” charmed the voice on the other line.

“This is he,” I replied

“Good morning Dr. Reid, I was told I could direct any questions about the recent bombing to you.”

“No, ma’am, I think you're mistaken, have a good day,” I hung up the phone, why would she call me? I checked the time to see that it was 6:50, we had to meet Hotch at the station at 7. I ran out of the room grabbing my bag and coat on the way out. I ran to the elevator and rapidly hit the button for the first floor. I ran out of the hotel to see Y/N leaning on the hood of an SUV.

She looked up at me and smiled, “Jeez, what took you so long?”

“You could say I was a little distracted,” I struggled to say, I don’t run very often.\

“Hop in, we have to be at the station in… 9 minutes,” she walked over to the driver’s side door.

“Are we gonna make it on time?”

“Of course we are, buckle up.” She was so pretty with her sunglasses on, they framed her face perfectly. 

My phone rang again snapping me out of my trance, “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Dr. Spencer Reid?” another woman spoke on the line.

“This is he,” I sighed, not again.

“Good Morning Dr. Reid, this is Amanda Gino with Channel 13 news, Would you mind if I could ask you a couple questions about the recent bombing at the house of Principal Givens?” “I actually would mind very much, thank you for calling,” I hung up and sighed.

“What was that?” Y/N asked.

“I don't know, actually,” I replied. “I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls from news stations recently.”

“Weird,” she smiled. “We’re here by the way,” she said while we were pulling into the parking lot. 

“6:58, that was supposed to be a ten-minute drive,” I chuckled.

“We’re going to be late Dr.” she smiled jumping out of the car and started to walk toward the door so I followed her lead.

We got to the conference room at exactly 7:01, Hotch didn’t say anything and Morgan just chuckled. There was a coffee station set up at the back of the room for us, I grabbed my first cup for the day and my phone rang again, I hung up immediately this time and went back to the table. Hotch got up and started talking about the case and what we had so far. He sent JJ and Prentiss to look through some yearbooks. “Reid, yesterday you mentioned something about the unsub couldn’t feel pain,”

I got up and started doing what I do best, talking, “There is a medical condition called pain asymbolia, where patients register harmful stimuli without being bothered by it. They have been documented holding their hand over an open flame because their brain doesn’t send pain signals to the central nervous system.” 

“Sounds pretty rare,” Rossi chimed in. “Are you sure the unsub has it?”

“The crimes prove it, this unsub displayed an unusual level of savagery toward his victims. And consider this, he smashed through a glass display case but there were no cuts on Jerry. That means he most likely punched through it, probably as a show of force. The only way the human body can withstand that level of pain is if he couldn’t feel it at all,” I continued.

“That must really stunt someone’s emotional development,” Rossi said. My phone started ringing again and I hung up.

“A big contributor to our sense of empathy is the way we process physical pain,” Morgan continued. My phone rang again.

“And the unsub didn’t develop his sense of empathy because it was cut off,” Hotch added, my phone ringing again. “Does every person with asymbolia experience this?” 

“Actually most people experience empathy just fine, which makes me think the rest of our profile is accurate. Loner, invisible,” my phone rang again, “outcast, son of a bitch!” I answered the call, just to make it stop, “Hi, this is Dr. Reid. I actually can come to the phone right now with a very important message that your mother is a d-

“Reid!” Hotch said sternly

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” I looked over as Y/N was trying to hold back laughter.

“I’m going to have Garcia look over medical records,” Hotch continued, I tried to stay focused on him. “What causes asymbolia?” 

I looked over to see Morgan snickering, “Severe trauma produces lesions in the insular cortex, usually after a stroke, but this unsub is so young it was mostly caused by an external factor.” Morgan, what did you do? 

“Like a bomb going off next to him?” Rossi asked.

“Like a bomb going off next to him,” I repeated looking at Morgan, who was still snickering.

Hotch left the table so we started to clean up some of the papers, “I will crush you,” I whispered to Morgan.

“What?” Morgan replied.

“What?” I said, playing dumb. I looked over to see Y/N, she was laughing to herself. She had the prettiest smile.

She was a ray of sunshine. She smelled like roses, her voice flows through your ears like syrup. Her hair falls perfectly off her shoulders, but today, her ponytail swayed perfectly with every step she took. Focus Reid. 

Your POV

After the meeting, you were still laughing at the thought of Spencer swearing. You may have only known him for two days but he had seemed so innocent when you first met. By now he and Rossi had left, leaving you and Morgan.

Morgan started to walk over to you and you sat up straight, “What do you think of the team so far?”

“You all seem really nice,” you said with a smile.

“How do you feel about Dr.Reid?”

“I mean, I’ve only known him for two days but he seems really sweet,”

“Ok,” he said. “Just sweet?” “Derek Morgan if you are asking if I have a crush on Dr. Spencer Reid,” you quipped, “then I’m sorry to say but that information is classified.”

“I thought you’d say that,” he sighed, standing up and heading for the door, “I’ll see you later.”

“See ya,” you waved him goodbye.

For the rest of the morning, you sat and looked at the files again, trying to stay focused on the and not the only thought running through your mind, that you did indeed have a crush on Dr. Spencer Reid, but he didn’t need to know that. 

[licenselesswriter]

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44. And if I could send more, I would.

Inspiration and Reading Asks:

1. How long ago did you start reading fanfiction? Writing fanfiction? Started reading when I was 12, started writing it, when I was 14, so reading, 19 years ago, and writing 17 years ago.

2. How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both? I’m a 33.3% reader, 33.3% WIP machine, a 33.4% writer, and 100% mess, I usually spend my time doing an absurd amount of WIP that comes out of thin air, like, I can be eating an apple, boom, Bori WIP, a cup of coffee? Boom, Roro WIP, breathing? Boom, Lucaya WIP (that last one happens the most)

3. Are there any fics that inspired you to write what you do? It’s called Unfaithful (EN), it’s on fanfiction.net, and honestly, it’s so well written, that I had nausea 3 times while reading it, the pain was so palpable that I felt ill from it.

4. Link your three favorite fics right now. Right now, and in order 1 - Unfaithful (EN)  2 - Twenty Nights  3 - Perfect 

6. How do you find a new fic to read? Where do you primarily read fanfiction? Fanfiction or AO3, and have an excel doc with my favorite ships, then I go to the random number generator, putting 1 as the minimum and maximum the number of the last ship I added to the list, then hit random, and read about that ship, keep things fresh.

7. Do you prefer to read short fics or long fics? Both.

8. How often do you reblog/comment on fics that you like? When they are on Tumblr, a few times.

9. Tag 3 fic writers you think are underrated/unknown in the fandom/fanfiction community. I’m sorry, but I don’t know if they have Tumblr, so, amirmitchell, snowdrifts, and Onde Tu Esteves

10. What’s your favorite fandom, pairing, or character to read fic for? Fandom: Game of Thrones, love all those modern universe AU I have to say. Pairing: Lucaya (Not a surprise) Character: Lucas Friar, Portgas D. Ace, Roronoa Zoro, or Prince Zuko.

Fanfiction Writing Asks:

11. How do you come up with your fic titles? Coffee, food, and usually, Spotify, all that, sometimes, make my brain work into having titles about the things I want to write.

13. Do you outline your fics? How much of a headache would someone get if they just looked at an outline of yours without reading the fic? I do outlines, in 5 stages, so a pretty big one. 1 - I write in my notebook, what I want to write, like a general idea. 2 - Post it on my walls and door, to give the story some structure. 3 - Notebook outline the arch of the story. 4 - Outline every chapter on word. 5 - Reduce that chapter into mini arches to write faster.

14. Do you have a personal word minimum that you hold yourself too? Why or why not? I do (now), I usually don’t post anything that is less than 2900 words, Why? because we must not forget that writers not only write for people in the fandom, they mainly write for themselves, and I love to read something among that word count because that’s long enough to keep me on the hook.

16. Do you research for your fics? If so, how deep of a rabbit hole have you gone down by accident when researching? I do research for my fics, how deep? I can give indications for divorce paperwork in the state of New York, even if you want or not to go scorch the earth with the “fault” rule, I can give an appropriate value to an apartment or a house in New York, Texas, Nashville, and San Francisco, and I can do taxes on those states too, and I know more about how high school classes work in the US than in my country, even when I went to those classes, and I’m from Santiago, Chile, you know, in South America, like, the last country of South America

17. How obsessively do you sit and stare at your fic after you’ve just posted and wait for feedback? I don’t, once I finish writing something, I run away, and watch anime for a few hours, or work (Yeah, sometimes I write on my lunch hour)

18. Do you have a WIP that you keep telling yourself you’ll eventually get back to, but deep down you know that’s probably a lie? I do apologize to “The Games we Play” I have no idea how I outlined your 26 chapters, but I’m still on chapter 2, and I’m sorry.

19. Do you edit your fics after you write them, or do you prefer to just hit post and run (because it’s someone else’s problem now)? Sometimes I do because sometimes, I write things wrong.

20. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process? That happiness I get when I’m in the Zone, and I write something that makes me say “Fuck, that was good”

21. What’s your least favorite part about the fanfiction writing process? I call it “The Deep White”, also known as writer’s block.

23. What’s your absolute favorite trope to write? I don’t write it anymore, because I was banned from a forum for writing it, but I love to write a bad ending, like “Killing the main character that I make you love for 30 chapters in the end” ending. I’m evil, I know, sue me.

24. What’s a trope that you’d like to never hear about as long as you live, let alone write? The “Good girl trying to change the bad boy,” I hate, apologies, I DESPISE that trope, it’s not cool, first, to be with someone abusive, and second, to try to change someone because you think you’re so almighty that you will change him (or her)  because of love, bs, I SAID BS.

25. Do you listen to music as you write? If possible, link your writing playlist. I do, and of course, it’s named “Writing Shiet” because my brain can only process decent titles for fics (Says the guy who once named a fic “No Title”) Here’s the link 

26. What’s your biggest distraction when writing? Anime and Manga.

27. Do you like to give your readers some warning of what might be coming or just slap them in the face with content at random? I don’t usually do it, but when I do it, I do it cryptic, like “You might be surprised, but this, I called in the beginning.”

28. How do you deal with writing pressure (ie: pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc)? I ignore it, If I can ignore good advice, ignore something that gives me more stress it’s an easy cake.

29. Have you ever written for an exchange or event of some kind? Which one(s)? Did you enjoy it? I did but didn’t submit, I wrote for 2019 fictoberfest on Tumblr, but never send a shit, I did enjoy it tho

30. Post a snippet from your current WIP without context - no more than 300 words. "Well, we're still not in Texas," he says, implying something not PG-13 at all. "My God, in what did I turn you?" Maya teases him before getting up and grab his hand, pulling him up. Lucas grins at her, "On," he replies, making Maya flirty hit his chest

31. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones? I love writing Lucas and Maya, and honestly don’t know if it helps me or not LOL.

32. Copy and paste your top three favorite lines/jokes/sentences you’ve ever written. What fics do they come from? 1 - From November to June CH3 A few hours later, Maya heard a knock on her door. She takes a peek through the magic eye on her door and saw Lucas. She grabs her phone and fastly texts him. She was able to hear the 'ding' of his phone, and spying through the magic eye she saw his reaction. "Ok, first of all, I'm not that, second, my mother is not that, and third, I'm not gonna put that there, that's fucking gross, and probably deadly if you consider the size of my hands." he defends himself. 2 - Ten Duel Commandments CH2 Maya smiles at him, "Since you're all Texan cowboy goody-good boy, I imagine you would relate more with the honorable Lord Stark," she teases him. "Says the woman who read three books in a row and texts me at four in the morning," he replies before pulling out his phone, "R+L=J," he teases her, reading her text. "That's private, asshole," Maya recriminates him. 3 - The One Who Stayed CH18 "Then, I have less... GET OFF ME FUCKER!" Maya screamed, punching the person who grabbed her arm, "Holy shit, Lucas." she says, looking at the person she just hit. "Noted, never approach to you by surprise." Lucas says on the floor, "Well, this makes me feel more confident about you being here alone." he says before start laughing.

33. What do you like writing better: one-shots or multi-chapter stuff? Multi-chapter, unless, it’s wedding fics because I love weddings.

34. How much of yourself and your life experiences do you put into your writing? What do you think your readers’ image of you is? None.

35. How much has writing fic changed your life? Not much, but has made me happier.

36. Are there any fics or fandoms you’re embarrassed to have written or been part of? The Glee Project Fandom.

37. Give an update on your current WIP - if you don’t have one, give a sneak peek to a title or idea that you have and would like to write. "Shawn called him, and he assures him that if you try something inappropriate, he has a shotgun," she adds, making Lucas's face go pale. "Well, guess like father, like son," he comments, making Maya show unexpected interest in his words.

38. What does your writing process look like? How chaotic is it on a scale of 1 (very tame) to 10 (you can’t handle this kind of chaos)? As I explained in the outline question, pretty tame if we count that I have my outline process numbered LOL.

39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on? That I try to make it real, I try to make people feel something when they read.

41. What’s your most popular fic (with the most notes on Tumblr, most hits/kudos on ao3)? Tumblr? The One Who Stayed Fanfiction.net? Ten Duel Commandments

44. Rant about something writing-related. Please, let’s stop glorifying the “Bad Boy” character, he’s an asshole, allow me to explain, Bakugo, fucking asshole, he’s just a bully with an oversized ego, no, he’s not a tsundere, no, it’s not cute, that shit is abusive, and it really makes me want to punch people in their nose when the romanticize that bullshit.

Done

(Told ya I was bored)

[ellaenchanting]

Hypnovember 2019 Master List

Jesus. Jesus Christ, that’s a lot of writing. I don’t really consider myself a writer generally and this is definitely the first time I’ve written this much this quickly. I’m going to look at my word count soon, but- I think I may have written a novel’s length of words? Wow.Thanks to everyone who encouraged me during this or provided support/ideas: thinking of @daja-the-hypnokitten , @liminal-wanderings , @mr-ackerman , @spiralturquoise , @wellgnawed , @sex-obsessed-lesbian , and @hypno-sandwich especially here but there were lots of y’all who reblogged or made kind comments. I appreciate every one of them. :)

Here’s a catch up of everything I’ve written so far this month. In honor of @jukeboxemcsa, I’ve also included a HypnoBS rating where 1 is absolute bullshit and 5 is normal Tuesday night.

Icons- 📰- story. 🔊- audio 💻- technology 😍- romantic 🌈- queer 😴- regular ole’ hypnosis 🛀- brainwashing and/or hypnotist in a tub 👻- spooky 🐈- at least one happy pussy ❓- bad or reeeally questionable consent ✝️- author's weird religious feels that somehow kept coming up

Day 1: Base Character-F/f 📰😍🌈🛀🐈 

Choice quote: ”Or maybe it was the ship of Theseus- Janine seeing how many little pieces of her she could replace until she fundamentally just wasn’t the same person anymore.”

HypnoBS- I haven’t done this kind of play and have no first hand experience. Let’s say 3.

Newly added 11/18: @undersleeper requested some extra information on how the brainwashing was actually done in this story so I added this non-canon sequel. (I think the sequel boosts the BS score to a 4.)

Day 2: Colors- F/nb 📰😴 🌈

Choice quote: “Bri used to consider themselves a bad hypnotic subject.”

HypnoBS- 4. I haven’t done this induction specifically but love doing these kinds of overloads

Day 3: Dizzy- no gender specified🔊😴

Choice quote: “When you take deep breaths, you feel like you’re getting more oxygen, but actually the opposite is true.”

HypnoBS-5. Should get you in trance, we’re not ranking the accuracy of all the science herein.

Day 4: Sing- m/f kinda I guess? 📰👻❓

Choice quote:  “Tonight wasn’t the night to give in, he told himself. Not yet.”

HypnoBS- 1. Thank God.

Day 5: Poison- M/f 📰😍🛀🐈

Choice quote: “Lila could admit it. She was kind of a brat.But Sean? He was worse. He was a fucking troll.“

HypnoBS- 4? Haven’t done it, could probably make something in this realm work with the right person.

Day 6: Summon- F/f 📰😍😴🌈🐈

Choice quote: “Number one, there is no butch street cred. And number two- if there was such a thing, you and I both know that being seduced by a beautiful woman would only increase it.”

HypnoBS- 3 or 4. It’s quick and there would need to be a lot more talking generally. But sure.

Day 7: Underwear- F/f 📰😴🌈

Choice quote: “Under….where”, Destiny tested the word out loud. It sounded like a portmanteau of some sort. She understood the word “under” and the word “where” (or “wear”? “where are” maybe? maybe it was German?) but those two words together didn’t form much of a picture.”

HypnoBS- 5. Although have only done this as a hypnotist so I can’t speak to subject POV. This kind of thing is adorable to watch, though.

Day 8: Neighbor- F/f📰😍🌈 ❓

Choice quote: “When Jiyeon tapped her pencil, Alyssa tapped her pencil lightly to match.”

HypnoBS- 1. Maybe 1.5 since there are no monsters or demons.

Day 9: Idiotic- no gender specified📰😴

Choice quote: “Because Id-iotic. It’s literally what you want deep down”

HypnoBS-4. Not my thing but with the right people- sure.

Day 10: Smell- F/m 📰😴😍🛀🐈

Choice quote: “Belinda had also woken up from sexy dreams at night to the feeling of Ray’s head buried in her cunt.”

HypnoBS- 3 on the details. Some parts are more plausible than others. We’re outside my realm of experience here so others could probably rank more accurately.

Day 11: Broadcast- Hypnovirus/f 📰💻🛀✝️

Choice quote: “It felt important to present herself to the screen in a way that demonstrated her vulnerability and openness to instruction.”

HypnoBS- 4. Probably not likely, but I could see this kind of symbolic bleed with the right person pretty easily.

Day 12: Stage- M/m 📰😍🌈😴

Choice quote: “Brandon had not mentioned the hypnosis thing to Scott- it felt weird and personal and he had already half-convinced himself that he was being creepy in response to Scott’s platonic friendliness. He didn’t want to scare him off. He had never expected to see him here.”

HypnoBS- 5. At least as far as the hypnosis goes

Day 13: Bath- no gender specified 🔊🛀😴

Choice quote: *insert rambling about Pat Collins here*

HypnoBS- 5. But also a high general BS score. I was tired and needed to finish a thing. I am surprised but grateful people liked this one. :P

Day 14: Machine- M/f 📰😴💻😍✝️

Choice quote: “For as long as she could remember, Deidre had longed for self-annhilation.”

HypnoBS- 1. That’s not how brains work.

Day 15: Ooze- there’s a m and a f 📰😴🛀❓

Choice quote: “For example, your badge- did you know that putting all the stickers on the top of your badge like that usually means that you’re a hypnotist?”

Amy’s eyes widened a bit. “It does?”

HypnoBS- 2. Sadly.

Day 16: Wedding- something/f 📰👻❓

Choice quote: “She knew then that she was alone. No one could help her. No one could even see her.”

HypnoBS- 1.

Day 17: Gentle- a different something/f  📰 kinda 🐈❓✝️

Choice quote: “As long as she didn’t focus on it, it would write the story for her.”

HypnoBS- 1. I think. :P

Day 18: Infection- not stated/m 📰 🛀❓

Choice quote: “If he could just get the song out of his head, maybe he’d have a chance.”

HypnoBS- 2. 

Day 19: Hideout- F/f 📰  🐈 😍😴🛀🌈

Choice quote: “’Come to me, pet. Come to me.’ 

Mesmera.

 She could always sense when Galaxy Girl was weak. She consistently picked the perfect time to strike.

And now, she had found her apartment.”

HypnoBS-4.5

Day 20: Watch- no gender specified 🔊 😴

Choice quote: “Feel your thoughts just tick tick tick tick ticking gone”

HypnoBS-5

Day 21: Fighting- F/m 📰 😴

Choice quote: “His mistress loved resistance play. She delighted in watching him struggle and strain against an irresistible impulse.”

HypnoBS-5 Mmmm :)

Day 22: Mistaken- F/an entire hypnocon  📰  😴

Choice quote: “Ginger- submissive, wide-eyed, bottomy Ginger- was holding a crowd of 8 people in her hypnotic thrall. Some had their eyes closed already, while others were staring at her with the rapt look of early trance.“

HypnoBS- 4. But only because I haven't seen it yet. :P

Day 23: Heist- F/m  📰  🛀❓(😍 but it’s pretty messed up)

Choice quote: “The inside of the vault had gotten somewhat sparse-looking- David had been cleaning out the bank out at a much quicker pace recently- but there were still plenty of treasures here to bring to his mistress.”

HypnoBS- 3, maybe 2

Day 24: Business F/f 📰 😴😍🌈

Choice quote: “Summer was a well-mannered southern girl at heart. She knew that if something was none of her business, it was impolite and rude to know it. Best not to think about it too much. She didn’t want to be nosey.”

HypnoBS- 4

Day 25: Babble F/m📰 😴 🛀 (💻 kinda)

Choice quote: “You can feel your access to language lessening….and lessening. Feeling those parts of your brain losing blood, quieting, going to sleep. Imagine what that might look like on the fMRI- the color draining, darkening, going black. Your ability to use language can be almost completely gone.”

HypnoBS- 5 (Neuroscience BS- closer to 3)

Day 26: Enemy M/f 📰 😴😍🐈 

Choice quote: “When she was denied for long periods of time, everything became sexual.”

HypnoBS- 5. Unf.

Day 27: Confidence F/m 📰 😴❓

Choice quote: “Dr Eleanor had been recommended to Richard by his friend Jon who had seen her previously. “She won’t bullshit you,” he had said, “she just gets right to the roots of your issues and helps you solve them.” He must have known what he was talking about- a year after visiting Dr Eleanor, Jon had recently married a wonderful woman. He was also running marathons and succeeding professionally. There were worse people to listen to, Richard thought.”

HypnoBS- 3 (although this kind of gaslighting is real and can be effective)

Day 28: Abduction F/f M/f background m/m 📰 😴😍🌈

Choice quote: “’And so she….’ Lilliana stopped. She stared for a moment in surprise at the space between Cirie’s fingers. Cirie looked like she was holding a small, invisible ball. Liliana tried to recall her train of thought (something about work?) but found herself strangely blank.

She looked at Cirie in astonishment. 

‘You took it!’ she accused.”

HypnoBS- 5

Day 29: Doctor Doctor/Master (from Dr Who) 📰 😴🌈💻

Choice quote: “The doors in the Master’s mind all appeared to be open. The Doctor quickly scanned for malicious intent but-

Oh.

Oh my.

So that’s why.”

HypnoBS- I...uh...1?

Day 30: Kink The author/her self-indulgent whims 📰 🌈

Choice quote: “Ultimately, she really just  liked her friends- and she especially loved hearing all of their stories.”

HypnoBS- Cake. Imma eat a cake.

Thank you all for reading these! I know this is a long post, but I’d really appreciate reblogs of it. If you’ve liked my stories, please consider leaving me a tip on Ko-fi! Also I’d be happy to give extra information on any of the characters or a bit of what happens next if you want to send me an ask about any of these stories. I’m finding myself with a strange craving to write. Funny how that works. :P

[wlw-in-space]

Little! Luthor Reader

L!L is acting moody around the holidays and Lena has no idea why. Christmas Eve, Maggie catches her underage drinking in public with a couple of friends and tells Lena who’s angry about it when she picks her up at the station. In LL’s drunken stupor, she asks Lena if she is going to hit her like Lillian used to. When she’s sober, Lena tries to talk about it with her, but L!L refuses and storms out of the apartment upset. Lena, worried, calls Maggie who tracks her down and gets L!L to open up about how Lillian was horrible, especially around the holidays when neither Lex nor Lena visited and took her anger out on L!L. Maggie tells Lena, who feels incredibly guilty, but L!L explains it’s not her fault. They spend the night watching movies with lots of cuddles, during which Lena convinces L!L to maybe see a therapist, cause drinking away her issues is a bad idea, and plots on adding another life sentence to Lillian’s jail time as a personal Christmas gift to herself

@qualitytrashtho

word count: approx. 2,000

“Aren’t you excited for the holidays, Y/n/n?” Kara chirped, as she carried boxes filled with Christmas decorations through the door of the penthouse you shared with Lena.

“They’re nice, I guess I like them,” You shrugged, not looking up from the homework you were doing while sitting on one of the barstools.

Kara grunted as she put the boxes down gently, “Huh, Lena told me you used to love Christmas as a kid.”

“Mhm,” You agreed, making it clear you didn’t feel like talking about it but trying not to hurt Kara’s feelings.

“When you’re done with that do you wanna help us decorate?” Lena asked you when she came out of the bathroom.

You sighed softly, beginning to get annoyed, “Sure,” You mumbled, still typing away on your computer.

Lena and Kara shared a look, but knew better than to pry, so they let it go and didn’t say anything when you went straight to your room when you were finished with your homework.

The only thing you were looking forward to about the holiday season was that you and your friends would be going out on Christmas Eve.

You told Lena about it in advance, saying that it was just a party, reassuring her that you would be fine and your friends would be there.

One of your friends came to pick you up at 9, and you said bye to Lena and Kara (they were both there) before leaving to the bar your friends frequented.

It hadn’t been long since you’d started drinking. You didn’t really enjoy it very much, either, but a lot of your friends did it, and you gave in when they begged you to down a few shots at the last few parties you guys were at.

Unfortunately, you’d ended up getting very drunk last time, so you texted Lena to let her know that you were exhausted and would be staying at one of your friends’ house for the night.

The last thing you wanted was for Lena to find out you were drinking. You knew that she obviously wouldn’t approve and she’d make a huge deal out of it, besides, she didn’t need anything else to worry about, especially not her little sister.

Only half an hour after you’d gotten drunk, Maggie walked in the bar.

You recognized her immediately and smile, yelling loudly over the music playing in the bar, “Mags! Get over ‘ereee”

Maggie’s expression morphed into one of confusion immediately as she walked over to you, “Y/n, are you drunk?”

“Psh, nooooo,” You smack Maggie’s shoulder lightly, but the face she gives you makes you cower.

“Alright, let’s go, and you guys,” Maggie pointed to your friends, “You guys are out of here too. I’ll wait for a cab to pick you guys up and I want you going straight home.”

You groaned and let Maggie pull you outside, stumbling as you tried to follow her.

Your friends left within the next five minutes, Maggie talking to the driver and explaining that she was a cop and she wanted your friends home safely, paying him cash before watching him drive off.

Maggie sighed when they were gone, “C’mon, let’s go. I’m taking you to the station so Lena can pick you up.”

“What? Maggie, nooo she’ll kill me,” You groaned, but got in her car anyways, hoping you’d be able to convince her to take you somewhere else.

“You know better than this, Y/n,” Maggie shook her head. “I can’t do anything to get you out of your mess this time.”

You groaned and looked out the window as Maggie dialed Lena’s phone number when she got to a red light.

Their conversation was brief, but you knew you were in trouble.

When you arrived at the police station with Maggie, she pulled up a chair next to her desk and let you sit while she did paperwork from a case she was working on, “I was planning on going out tonight, but while I’m here, I might as well get some work done.”

It didn’t take long for Lena to get to the station, and as soon as she did you knew it was her because of the rapid clicking of her heels.

By this point you were exhausted and you didn’t want to deal with anything, walking was a struggle because you couldn’t keep your balance and your brain was feeling fuzzy.

Lena stopped walking and you looked up from your feet.

Without either of you having to say anything, you brought yourself to your feet and waved goodbye at Maggie, following a foot or two behind Lena as she walked out of the station.

You stopped outside the door, your head feeling a bit oozy and the temperature outside was much colder than you thought it was, “I don’ wanna go home,” You groaned, mainly because you knew you were in deep shit trouble.

“Let’s go, Y/n,” She said, coldly as she waited outside the car. It wasn’t a tone of voice she used with you, you never did anything bad or got her upset, so there wasn’t a reason to.

You cowered at her voice and tears started to well in your eyes, “Are you gonna hit me like Lillian?”

Lena’s eyebrows creased and she walked over, but you stepped back, so she gave you the space you needed, “Baby, I would never hurt you.”

You nodded a bit as tears began running down your face and walked over to Lena, letting her wrap her arms protectively around you.

She kissed the top of your head with care and rubbed your back, “It’s freezing out here and you don’t have a coat, Y/n/n, let’s get in the car, okay?”

“‘kay,” You mumbled after nodding and stepping away, holding onto Lena’s arm to keep yourself from tripping.

Lena helped you inside, and by the time you guys had arrived at the penthouse, you were already asleep, so she called Kara, who was upstairs, and had stayed while Lena went to get you, to carry you upstairs so you could continue sleeping.

Kara was down within the minute and soon the three of you were upstairs.

Kara laid you down on your bed and went to get a glass of water and Advil while Lena worked on carefully tugging a random hoodie over your head.

—

You woke up in the morning with a pounding headache in your own bed with one of Lena’s old college hoodies on, over the dress you’d gone out in.

“Shit,” You mumbled, turning over and taking the Advil and water off the nightstand to drink it.

After a while, you were feeling better, not by much though.

You soon heard a knock on your door before Lena opened it slowly and came inside, offering you a tiny smile.

“Hi, Merry Christmas,” You gave a small wave and waited for her to sit at the end of your bed, like you knew she would.

Lena cleared her throat a bit before she started talking, “Merry Christmas, honey, but, can we talk about last night, maybe?”

“I know already, no more drinking, and I’m grounded for even trying it,” You shrugged, knowing that you deserved it anyways.

“No, actually, none of that, I just wanted to talk about what you said,” Lena paused, trying to give you time to remember what she was talking about but you didn’t understand so you just shrugged. “What you said about Lillian hitting you?”

You sat up quickly and shook your head, “No, I shouldn’t have opened my dumbass mouth.”

“I’m glad you said something about it though, I couldn’t have known otherwise since -“

“No, no - I shouldn’t have, uh - I’m gonna go, I’ll be back,” You got up and slipped on a pair of sneakers before grabbing your coat and leaving the penthouse.

You knew what you were doing was mean, and you felt bad, but you couldn’t talk to Lena about this when you knew it would only make her feel awful.

The only place you could think of going was to Alex’s apartment, but she couldn’t lie to Lena and tell her that you weren’t there, same with Kara’s apartment, so you settled on going to the park and sitting on a bench for a while.

After a few minutes, when you hadn’t returned, Lena called Maggie, afraid something had happened.

Maggie promised Lena that she would find you, and it took her a short five minutes to find your location, ten to get there. She shot Lena a short text, letting her know that you were safe before walking up to the bench where you were sitting.

“Did Lena send you?” You asked, chewing the inside of your lip.

Maggie nodded, “She did. Do you wanna tell me what’s going on with you?”

You sighed and nodded a bit before scooting over on the bench so Maggie could have space to sit, “Lillian made the holidays miserable for me. She was always awful to me, but during the holidays everything got worse. Neither Lena or Lex ever visited her, or me, so since that made her really upset, and since she already hated me, she took it out on me in a more physical way-“ You cleared your throat before continuing. “And she blamed them not visiting on me, which, might’ve been Lex’s reason, but I know it wasn’t Lena’s.”

“Wow, that’s a lot,” Maggie nodded. “And you’ve never told Lena any of this?”

You shook your head and looked down at your fingernails, “No, I didn’t want her to know.”

“You know that now we’re going to have to tell her, right?” Maggie put an arm around your shoulder and let you lean into her.

“Yeah, I know,” When you looked down at your hands again, you realized that your anxiousness had caused your hands to start shaking, which Maggie took note of.

“If it makes it any easier for you, I can tell her,” She said, rubbing your arm gently.

“Can you?”

“Of course, I’m here to help,” Maggie reassured you. “We should get going back to Lena though, I told her I’d bring you back as soon as I could.”

—

When you both arrived back at the penthouse, Lena stood up from the seat she’d taken in the kitchen and you went over to hug her.

Once you were sitting, Maggie started explaining what you’d told her to Lena, and when she was done speaking, Lena had tears in her eyes and you could tell that she felt guilty.

“Y/n/n, I am so sorry -“

“Lena, don’t even bother. It isn’t your fault,” You shook your head, taking Lena’s hand and squeezing it gently.

“But if I would’ve been there this wouldn’t have happened to you,” Lena pulled you in for a hug, holding you tightly.

“This isn’t your fault, it’s Lillian’s,” You reassured her, not wanting her to feel badly for something that wasn’t her fault at all.

“I think I’m going to head out, I’ll see you guys soon,” Maggie offered a small smile and waved goodbye a bit, closing the door behind her.

—

An hour later, you were showered and changed into pajamas, cuddled into Lena’s side while the two of you watched Christmas movies and ate cookies.

“Maybe I can take you to a shrink,” Lena suggested. “You don’t have to stick with it, but if they can help you that would be great.”

You nodded, thinking to yourself, “Yeah, I’ll give it a shot. Now shush, we’re getting to the good part.” You giggled, leaning further into your big sister’s protective arms.

[thelaurenshippen]

oh hey, here’s a playlist from 2017 that I realized wasn’t on my website with the rest of them and that I totally wasn’t thinking about because there’s actually a part two that has never seen the light of day that may or may not be incoming

notes on my website and also under the cut

As I write, I like to build playlists for all my characters and, occasionally, will make playlists as a character as well. These playlists are part of my writing process and I take them far more seriously than anyone should. Sometimes the playlists come together instantly and effortlessly and sometimes I play around with them for months. As such, there are a fair number of cast-offs that never make it onto the final, official playlist. That's what this playlist is.

So here we are: all the songs that nearly made it on to the character playlists but got cut for various reasons. Those reasons tend to fall into one of a few categories:

There wasn’t space / another song was serving a similar purpose

The song was right for the character but not right for the character at the beginning of their story (which is what most of the playlists are)

The mood/genre/tempo of the song was out of place in the playlist

I discovered the song after the playlists had been put together.

All my playlists are very specifically ordered, so adding or removing songs after their publication is more or less impossible. Instead, I would throw songs into this B-Side playlist as they appeared, meaning that, unlike most of my playlists, the order here is random (aka this playlist has NO flow). Here is a list of where they would have gone had they made the final cut. The characters are listed above the tracks, with a link to the playlist in question.

A/N, 2020: These are the B-Sides specifically from pre-Season 4. Back in August of 2017, I  did a sticker giveaway to see what folks would guess about which songs were for which characters - these annotations were published after that giveaway and thus, there's some reference to how people guessed!

WADSWORTH 

1. “Heavy Metal Lover” - Lady Gaga

This is a Wadsworth song through and through in terms of style and swagger. There just wasn’t space for it.

But would you love me if I ruled the world

DAMIEN 

2. “Reaper Man” - Mother Mother

This is a song that was recommended to me as a Damien song by tumblr user kalgalen and I am actively mad that I didn’t know this song before making Damien’s playlist. The style, the lyrics - everything about this song is Damien. And it actually fits perfectly after the opening track but by the time I was made aware of it, it was too late.

Oh yeah, I’m an ugly mess/not in the face, but in the head - regardless of how attractive Damien is, this is something he thinks. God, what an edgelord line this is.

Oh yeah, I got no choice/got no choice/but to love myself - I mean, it’s just all there.

A/N, 2020: this song eventually made its way onto a playlist -  my playlist for A Neon Darkness, Damien's book.

CHLOE 

3. “Her Morning Elegance” - Oren Lavie

I love that this song really conjures a visceral image to your brain - it paints such a vivid picture. It’s delicate, but determined. I think Chloe sometimes moves through her world separate and observing and that’s what this song is.

There’s also an amazing music video that I think Chloe would watch over and over again.

I got a lot of submissions guessing that this was a song for Sam and I really see that too. It fits well with the aesthetic of her playlist and the theme of fighting for your life everyday definitely resonates with Sam, as does the “Nobody knows” lyric. But the lyrics are also about being out in the world, which is something Sam doesn’t do but Chloe wants to continue to do desperately, despite her ability making it difficult.  

CALEB/ADAM 

4. “Blue and Yellow” - The Used

This was a song suggested by my sister for Caleb and Adam because of the colors involved and also because The Used was a band we both listened to a lot when we were emo teenagers like Adam. Ultimately, this song feels very dated as early emo and didn’t quite fit musically on any of their mixes, either in-universe or not.

And it’s all in how you mix the two/and it starts just where the light exists/it’s a feeling that you cannot miss/and it burns a hole/through everyone that feels it

5. “Stupid for You” - Waterparks

This is another song that was recommended to me, this time by a tumblr user and it is absolutely perfect. I didn’t even realize that there was pop punk being made like this anymore, so I was delighted.

You’re yellow, I’m natural blue/let’s get together and be green like my insides - I mean??? Couldn’t have said it better myself

Also, the refrain of “stupid for you” fits perfectly with the “I’m the guy who’s been so stupid about you that it broke my fucking super power!” I mean, I clearly ghostwrote this song.

ISO: the tumblr user who suggested this song. I have scoured both of my blogs to find the ask to no avail so if it was you, please raise your hand.

Both of these songs would go on a Caleb/Adam ship mix if such a thing existed. But in fact, both their mixes are in-universe and, while one of them might put this on a mix now, it would have been way too vulnerable of a thing to put on one of those earlier playlists. I've linked to their second in-universe mix - the quite lovey one that Adam makes for Caleb.

MARK 

6. “Time Machine" - Robyn

This definitely felt a little too on the nose for Mark, so I went with “Hang With Me” instead. But Mark loves Robyn and would love the DeLorean reference in this so it was very tempting. It’s also a song all about making impulsive decisions, which Mark definitely does a lot, but in classic Robyn style, it’s such a bop despite the serious lyrics. That balance fits Mark perfectly.

7. “F U” - Miley Cyrus

I know this song is about someone cheating, but it is such a good angry-fuck-you song that I can’t help but think of it in the context of Mark’s feelings towards Wadsworth. Having missed the heyday of pop borrowing from dubstep and the increasing use of internet slang, I think Mark would have gotten out of The AM and fallen hard for this song. I imagine many an afternoon before Joan gets home from work just angry dancing around the living room singing along to this.

SAM/MARK 

8. “Someone to Fall Back On” - Jason Robert Brown

This is 100% Sam singing to Mark about being his knight in shining armor. Sam is hard on herself - doesn’t realize her own strength - so the self-deprecating lyrics really work for her. It didn’t make it on the playlist because it felt like it was a little further down the line in their relationship - somewhere around Episode 40.

I’ll take your side/if I’m the only one/I’m used to that/I’ve been alone/I’d rather be/the half of us/the least of you/the best of me

I got a lot of guesses for Frank on this one, which completely fits. He’s quite a bit more confident in his abilities than Sam - if he thinks he can be your knight, he’ll say so right from the get-go.

9. “Can’t Get Started With You” - Ella Fitzgerald

This is pretty self-explanatory. It didn’t fit with the very particular structure that I created for the Sam/Mark playlist and it also felt like a later stage of their relationship. That playlist was them falling in love and wanting to be in the same time; this song is getting close to that but then getting pulled apart again, first by Damien and then by the difficult realties of actually trying to have a relationship. If the previous track is end of Season 3 for them, this is a Season 4 song.

A/N, 2020: it certainly is a Season 4 song, because it actually ended up going on their Season 4 playlist.

DAMIEN/MARK 

10. “Elvis Ain’t Dead” - Scouting for Girls

So…this is a reject from an as of yet published playlist. I know - not fair. Think of this as the free square on a bingo sheet. In the course of writing Season 3, I was motivated to make a playlist for a relationship that was becoming increasingly interesting to write. While this playlist could certainly be seen as a ship playlist, I have no intentions to ever put these characters together in a real way, but their dynamic was so compelling that I wanted to explore it. I will eventually release the playlist because it’s one of the best I’ve made, but I didn’t want it influencing anyone’s reaction to the end of Season 3. Loose lips sink ships.

I wish it was me you chose/Elvis ain’t dead/and you’re coming back

Okay, okay, I won’t leave you hanging because a few people actually guessed this one right - it’s from a Damien/Mark playlist. This is actually one of three unpublished Damien mixes - for whatever reason, music is the fastest and easiest way for me to connect to him. He really brings out the playlist-making skills in me.

A lot of people guessed that this was Agent Green which I absolutely love. Poor Owen.

A/N, 2020: I didn't link to the playlist originally, but it exists now! To this day, I think it's some of my best work.

ROSE 

11. “Carolina” - Harry Styles

This was mostly rejected because I felt stupid having two songs called “Carolina” on one mix and Sara Bareilles trumps Harry Styles (as much as I love him). But in style and content, this really feels like a Rose song.

[youremeimyou]

The Bet(pt.1)

Part 1 - Part 2

pairing: Kim Taehyung x Reader genre: Some fluff, little bit of angst word count: 5k warnings: alcohol consumption

Description: Taehyung and Y/N have managed to form a strong bond over their years of college. According to their friends, the chemistry between the two is undeniable. But the duo would rather not risk the close friendship. The very friendship that’ll be put to test by the boldest of bets, it seems.

A/N: Okay guys I’m new to this publishing my fics thing and this is the first one I wrote with the intention of posting here. I hope you bare with me and I hope you like the story. Enjoy!

The night started out pretty normal. Except for the fact that it was extra chilly for a night in summer. But Y/N didn’t mind the cold. She preferred it to a sweltry weather.  She pulled down her face mask a little and breathed in deeply, enjoying the warm summer breeze. Right after putting it back on she pulled out her cellphone and decided to check her texts to see if she read the arranged time correctly. This would be the third time since leaving the house.  

Y/N: I can make my own way there.

Tae: You don’t even now where we’re going lol.

Y/N: If you tell me I’ll know and then I can make my own way there.

Tae: I can see your know it all smile while typing that text.

Y/N: I can see you rolling your eyes over it haha.

Tae: Whatev. Even I don’t know where we’re going yet so just be ready at 9:15 tonight?

Y/N: Fine, got it. Don’t you be late.

Tae: Never am.

Y/N: Lying’s a sin you know.

Tae: Too busy, can’t talk, bye now.

Y/N: Tch…

The first two times she checked the texts were to make sure she herself saw it right. This was something she always did when meeting up with people. The reason was still unknown to her. But this time she did it because the clock on the billboard across the road already stroke 9.30 and she was still waiting for a jerk who promised to pick her up fifteeen minutes ago. Pissed, she decided to call this jerk and went into contacts. Just as she was about to hit ‘call’ a car going at full speed made a rough stop in front of her. The door opened from the inside revealing a pretty puppy with the cutest eyes. Or rather, a jerk perfectly pulling puppy eyes knowing he’s guilty.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry?” he said while she got in the car. She snorted out and asked “Why?” not looking at him. But before letting him continue she added,

“I mean it’s really my fault for coming here at the right time even though I knew you’d be late”

Taehyung smirked, “Well that’s kinda true.” Saying that earned him a smack on the arm. They were both laughing but his expression turned to worry when he realized Y/N was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Reaching for something in the back he asked,

“Seriously though, were you cold? Don’t you have a coat? It’s kinda chilly tonight.”

“It’s summer and I’m not lame, so no. But I guess you are lame Tae.” She spat back taking the coat he was offering her and throwing it back to the back seat. “Right then, don’t wanna be late for the party!” Taehyung started speeding up, knowing Y/N had no problem going fast and the roads were pretty empty.

“So you do know where we’re going.” 

“I didn’t know the exact location when we texted. They sent me the info just a few hours ago.” He looked at her somewhat blank face and said

“Hey be more excited, we’re going to a secret party!”

“Are you taking me to a rave? ‘Cause the last time was a mess."

“Well this time -because it’s a secret party- a limited number of people will be there. Plus, they’re mostly foreingers so they won’t know us and it’s fine even if we do mess up big time.”

Y/N could hear the excitement in his voice. She could tell he made an effort planning this out. And the fact that they could have fun without worrying about being watched got her excited also. Even though they were really close friends and frequently saw each other in classes, in the library, at pubs and such since freshman year, the amount of time they could spend just the two of them were limited due to common friends they had that just loved the idea of them ‘being together’ and ‘dating’. 

Neither of them were comfortable with that because neither have ever dared to think of such a situation, afraid that it might harm the friendship. So when an opportunity to meet up like this appeared they usually did laid back stuff in order to prevent their friends from going crazy over them doing something ‘alone’. 

But this time Y/N was glad they didn’t have to worry about that. She kinda needed partying hard after studying for unreasonable amounts of time for the finals. Fuck my brain that took an IQ test at a child age and made my parents think I was cut out to be something she thought at times like this. It was hard being expected to do well all the time and Taehyung could always tell when she needed some time off to get away from all the pressure. That’s why he went through all that trouble of arranging their crazy hangouts.

Taehyung pulled the car in front of a very nice looking building. This definitely didn’t look like a place where raves were held. And it was quite too.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place Tae?” Taehyung took her by the arm and led her to the back door.

“I told you it was a secret party. And your IQ is supposed to be really high or something.” he joked. 

“I don’t give a shit about my IQ and you know it” she said through gritted teeth. 

They stopped in front of the plain looking door and Taehyung pulled out two pieces of paper which Y/N guessed to be tickets and slided them under the door. A few seconds later it opened and a huge man welcomed them, he was probably a security guard. Perks of being a campus fuckboy, popular amongst the rich girls Y/N thought, kinda proud of him in a weird way. They passed a small corridor and went through another door. That’s when they started hearing the music. Okay so this place is soundproof, WOW. 

Once they were inside, Taehyung turned to Y/N and asked “What do you think?”

“I think you should buy the first drinks.” 

“My pleasure princess.” He took another smack to the arm due to Y/N ‘s annoyance of the nickname. They made their way to the bar and Taehyung ordered. 

“I gotta admit Tae, that entrance... It looked like a scene form a movie just then.” Taehyung had leaned onto her a little to hear what she was saying and that made him realise she smelled really nice. Discarding her last comment, he leaned in even more to speak in her ear.

“So, we’re making a bet or what?” This made her giggle.

“What’s the point when you always lose?

“I never lose!”

“Oh please, look at you, a sour loser even before making the bet!” she said taunting him.

Y/N really liked this comfortable bickering. Her sarcastic personality was usually misunderstood by people. Taehyung having no problem playing along was one of the reasons they were close. And this went both ways actually. A good example would be Taehyung’s next words. Which were,

“The bet is for you to not fall for me tonight. And I’m betting against it.”

Y/N  would admit to being taken aback just a little. But Taehyung being playful and teasing was nothing new. So she decided to follow along. And maybe to turn the tables even. Since she’s been wanting to get her hands on one of his belongings recently.                 

“So you really wanna lose that motorcycle of yours, huh?”                 

Hearing this left Taehyung in a bit of a shock because of how unfazed she was by the cocky bet he blurted out. Shock was soon replaced by two kinds of emotions he felt deeply. He felt his heart flatter at how close they must be for her to be completely unbothered. But at the same time there was a slight strain on his chest. Some type of dissapointment flowed through his body. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it afterwards. Instead he shook his head and let out a “hmph” while smiling. At that moment the bartender cut in, delivering their orders.                 

Taehyung turned to him and said a quick thanks. Then immediately went for a sip of his drink, hoping it would take that strain on his chest away. Little did he know Y/N  wasn’t completely unbothered. 

The little sip he intented turned into him gulping down the whole thing so he waved the bartender for another one. Meanwhile Y/N was also enjoying the bourbon. Internally thanking Taehyung for knowing her taste in drinks. After a few moments of silence, she tilted her head and asked “So, does it have a name or should I start thinking of one?” A mischevous smile was appearent on her face as she did. Knowing she was talking about his motorcycle Taehyung replied,

“You know you’re not getting my bike right?”

“And why’s that?”                                   

“It’s dangerous dummy.” His voice wasn’t snarky or condecending. It was just.. caring.

“Then why do you own it?” She pulled a know it all smile. And despite not facing her, Taehyung could just tell that she did.           

“I never really ride it.” he said as he shruged.

“That’s right you never really do. And that’s so unfair to such a beautiful vehicle.”         

“I’m starting to think you’ve got the hots for my motorbike.”                                   

“Well, let’s just say I’ve had my eyes on it for a while.”                                           

“Fine!” he suddenly said and turned to face her. “It doesn’t matter since there’s no way you’ll win.”

He didn’t know if the sudden boost of confidence came from the alcohol but he appreciated it nonetheless. Even though he knew how competitive she was and the odds of him winning weren’t looking so good to him, he still went ahead and winked. 

“Wanna know what I want as my prize?” All she did was raise her eyebrows in anticipation. He turned away from her, facing the bar once again. 

“Not much really. Just bragging rights for the whole of eternity.”             

“That’s it? Tch.. I’m not even the least bit worried.” she said, immediately regretting speaking at all. Because she sounded like quite the opposite. She thought she turned the tables around bringing up his motorcycle but damn.. Looking at his smirk right now, was she feeling.. nervous?                   

Taehyung chuckled and it eased the tention they were both feeling a bit. At least for the time being. He asked,

“Now that that’s settled, how ‘bout we go nuts on the dancefloor?”       

“Bottoms up first!”

They gulped down the rest of their drinks. Taehyung bent down just a little in front of her. And she hopped on his back without question. Laughing their asses off, they made their way to the dancefloor. And Y/N knew that’s where the magic happens. The magic of Taehyung that is. 

Kim Taehyung was good at a lot of things. He had his grades up, he was an excellent shooting guard, he was a social butterfly that attracted all girls and boys, he was mature yet funny and always knew what to say. And his personality was always shinning through so Y/N learned about most of these quailities at an early stage of the friendship. But there was one thing she never thought he'd be this good at. That thing was dancing. 

She learned how good he was the hard way. In times of freshman year, when they would go to a club with a group of friends and everyone got tipsy, they would find themselves at the center of the dancefloor thinking that they were dancing. Y/N was especially not very good. She would flop around, jump up and down and it was mostly a mess. Their other friends weren't that different either so needless to say it didn't usually look pretty. But it was fun all the same so Taehyung thought he would go with the flow and embarress himself along his friends so he pretended to have two left feet.

Until one day, while getting another round of drinks Y/N caught him dancing masterfully. Well, more importantly he was dancing masterfully next to a beautiful girl. So it takes a hottie to get the beast out of him. She saw him through the crowd gathered around to watch them. The girl barely did anything other than swaying a bit but Taehyung was enough to get the attention of the whole room.

After that night Y/N witnessed him get girls to go home with him through that trick many times. And right now they were about to go center stage so she braced for the worst. Which for her would be their night coming to an early end because of the same trick. Something about tonight made Y/N more sore than normal about what could be coming. So she turned to Taehyung, got very close to him and spoke with a low voice just in his ear.

"Teach me."

Taehyung chuckled.

"I'm serious. I don't want to see you play your tricks on the pretty girls here while I embarress myself tonight." Even though she did sound a little like she was actually bothered, Taehyung didn't think much of it. He knew they were both comfortable with 'embarressing' themselves in front of others.

"You're right. I shouldn't make this about me, tonight's our fun night out. Let's just throw each other around and annoy people, that's more fun." He said while smiling sincerely.

“No. Tonight you lead and I'll follow". She sounded dead serious. Tonight I wanna feel like those pretty girls. She couldn't believe what she was thinking but there it was, she was thinking it.

Taehyung didn't know what to do and couldn't utter a word for a few seconds. When she put her arms around his shoulders and started moving though, he snapped out of it. A hiphop song with a low, groovy kind of beat was playing. Taehyung followed orders. He put his hands on her sides and started to lead her with basic moves. But soon he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Y/N moving like never before. Was the volume being turned down or what? Also where were all the other people 'cause goddamn he could swear it was just the two of them at that moment.

"And you gave me shit for pretending to be a bad dancer for days. Look who's lying and decieving now?" Taehyung faked a hurt sigh. Y/N's lips curved up a little at that. "I never pretended. I just never had anyone to show me how to do this."

"Better me than some other guy." Taehyung mentally slapped himself for actually saying that out loud. Y/N just looked at him with a questioning smirk. "Well, uhh... It's 'cause I'm very good, you know. We wouldn't want you to learn it the wrong way." Another mental slap for not sounding remotely as convincing as he would've liked.

If only Y/N could focus on something other than her racing heart, she could see the slight pink of Taehyung's cheeks. It was silent on the outside between them, they didn't speak. On the inside though, it was like beating of drums. Both prayed the other wouldn't  realise. Music changed, neither noticed. But it wasn't like those blissfull moments of silence in the movies. It was like when they looked in each other's eyes, everything they've surpassed surfaced. There was tension and suspence. Chemistry..check, attraction..check, even butterflies were there.

It was starting to become unbearable for Y/N. Jumpiness got the best of her and she suddenly made an awkward turning move that almost landed her butt on the ground. Quick reflexes allowed Taehyung to catch her just before that. Thanks to her little stunt, the heavy atmosphere dissolved into both of them giggling and relaxing. They took a step back to gain some distance in between. 

Taehyung was glad he could feel his senses again which by the way made him realize that he made a lot of effort for the last couple of minutes. He found it to be weird. 'Cause he'd admit, he wasn't all muscles but he was in shape enough to dance around. In fact he did dance around with other girls all the time. He tried not to think about what made it different this time.

"Thanks to you, now I'm all thirsty."

Awkward silence.

Only for a brief moment, though. Soon, it was replaced by their hysteric laughter. So Taehyung continued speaking. "Not thirsty like thirsty but like actually, uhh you know, thirsty. You get it.. right?"

Another round of laughing uncontrollably.

"So.. naturally, I'm just gonna go buy a drink."

"Naturally!" Y/N quickly spat, all the while giggling. Taehyung let out a defeated sigh, sensing that she wouldn't let this be forgotten anytime soon. "Do you also want one?" Y/N on the other hand started to love the feeling of actually being able to dance. "You go ahead. I'm just gonna enjoy this before whatever spell you casted for me to not make a fool of myself fades away." Taehyung replied with a boxy grin and went straight to the bar.

Y/N was feeling herself now. The music currently playing was more of an upbeat one. But it wasn't so fast that she couldn't keep up. So she let down her hair and started to shake her head around slowly. She thought it was ridiculous but she felt like she was.. 'hot' at that moment. A smile spread across her face. It seemed like she wasn't the only one thinking that because a blondie with a snapback hat was approching her. He danced his way to her side. When she didn't notice him he made his presence known by slowly tapping on her shoulder. She was surprised when their gazes met.

"Jackson! What are you doing here?" She gave him a quick side hug. Y/N had a lot of common classes with Jackson since college started. They were lab partners and project buddies most of the time. All and all good friends.

"You know I wouldn't miss a fancy party at a fancy secret location."

She laughed. "Yeah.. This 'hunt for a mating' party is so you."

"Ouch.. Well you're the one to talk, also being here and all."

"Hey, I was dragged here."

"You don't exactly look like you're bored, dancing crazy at center stage. I thought you always said you weren't able to. But now you have most guys here staring you down."

"Yeah right."

"It's true! I came to defend you from possible unwanted interactions."

His little squaring up act made her laugh out loud. "I'm not alone no worries. Taehyung's here. He just went over to the bar."

"Ha. So he's the one teaching you moves. Well let's see what've you got 'till he gets back."

Meanwhile Taehyung was done with his drink and ready to get back out there. He was going up to the dancefloor when his eyes caught the sight of Y/N and Jackson dancing. He stopped dead in his tracks. Jackson was another dancing machine and Taehyung knew. He was aslo the captain of the lacross team. And the most wanted guy on campus. 

Taehyung saw him easily lead Y/N. Moving around with smiles on their faces. He wondered if Y/N ever felt what he was feeling at the moment when she saw him doing the same with different girls. He went to them and purposefully interrupted. "You're here too huh?" he said to Jackson. "I'm guessing you've got the tickets from Jessie?"

"From Cho. She's rich at a filthier level than even Jessie, man."

Taehyung turned to Y/N, not acknowledging his words. "How are you not tired? Take it easy, I don't want you to say you're sleepy so early in the night."

"Fine, it's my turn to go for a drink anyways. How about you Jackson?"

"I think Jackson has a line of people waiting for some of his attention." Taehyung said, pointing to the said line with his head.

"Yeap, time is of essence while I pick the best of them, you know." Jackson said with a smirk.

Y/N put on a fake face of disgust. "You're a pig."

"But a likeable pig, right?"

"Go before I punch your face."

"Okay okay I'm going. I need my beautiful face." He joked while walking away.

Taehyung followed Y/N to the bar. Then, he followed her to the sitting area at the corner. They plumped down on the white futon and Y/N took a sip of her drink and started watching the people on the dancefloor. Taehyung was watching the floor itself instead. They got their heads closer when Y/N started to speak. "I thought you said everybody here would be foreigners. Thought you said they wouldn't know us." She joked around.

"I didn't know Cho knew about the party and even had tickets. I also have no idea how Jackson got her to give 'em to him."

"Really? 'Cause I can think of a couple of things he could've done." Y/N implied with a smirk. Taehyung could too. But it annoyed him to be talking about it.

"Yeah? Do you think about it often, then?"

Y/N burrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"You guys get along well enough. Do you like him?"

Y/N was really confused because Taehyung looked very serious. It didn't feel like joking around. "He's a good friend and a classmate so.. yeah?"

"Would you date him is what I'm asking Y/N." Taehyung said when he finally removed his eyes from the floor and faced her.

"What are you- why?"

"He's a fuckboy."

"And you're not?" Y/N was quick to reply. She didn't understand what he was trying to do. Jackson wasn't only her friend but he was Taehyung's too. So it didn't make sense why he would discredit him like that. Yes, Jackson in fact was a fuckboy but he wasn't a bad guy. On the contrary he was a good friend to both of them. And Taehyung had his share of girls he fooled around with too.

"I'm just saying. I may be the same when it comes to sleeping around. But I at least try not to frequently break hearts."

"That sounds so wrong Taehyung."

"No it's not like- look, I know that sounded shitty but what I mean is I don't mess around with my friends." He gained another eyeing from her before he could continue. "I'm trying to say that I'm careful and respectful with people I call friends. If I felt attracted to them or even had feelings for them, I wouldn't want to harm something important so I'd be different." He paused for a second and faced the floor again. "I like the guy but I couldn't say the same thing about him, sorry."

This was true. Jackson sometimes couldn't balance his relationships. Y/N knew him to have broken some of her friends' hearts like that. Even if it was unintentionally. But she's never witnessed Taehyung 'sleeping around' with people he considered friends. Taehyung alwalys made his intentions clear when it came to it. Y/N liked Jackson a lot too. Even admired him. But she knew she wasn't planning on dating him anytime soon.

"Okay I get you. And no Tae. I said he's my friend and that's that." The tenseness faded away after she said that. "What's gotten your panties up in a bunch anyway?" she gave a slight push on his arm with her shoulder. "Nothing~" his eyes were still fixed down. She kept nagging him until he gave in.

"What? I said nothing! I care about you, sue me."

Y/N couldn't help but smile softly. He was too cute to handle sometimes. Well, mostly.

After some time passed and Y/N finished her drink, a song they both loved started playing. They immediately looked at each other with smiles.

"Alright, that's our queue! Let's dance a bit more and then move on to our next location?"

"Only if the next stop is somewhere we can stuff our faces with food."

"Oh, you're gonna love what I've got in mind. I found a diner that serves breakfast at night."

"What?! Can't we just go right now?"

"But Y/N~ the song.." Taehyung wined. Y/N giggled to the sight of him pulling puppy eyes.

"Okay fine, move your ass."

Once again they were going off on the dancefloor and it was electric. Putting aside everything else and having geniune fun was a rare feeling. School, part-time jobs, relationship problems, family issues didn't matter for that moment. They were glad they had each other. Both of them knew, what they had was so unique and geniune, a bond that's somehow irreplaceable.

The song that got them there ended. And a slow tune began to play. Just in time too because both were worn out by this point.

"Phew.. That was super fun, wow. Now let's get outta here."

"Wait! This song's also great. Let's stay a bit more." Taehyung was somewhere on the thin line between tipsy and wholeass drunk. He wanted this slow song to be a chance to slow dance.

"But we said breakfast at night~"

"After this one. C'mon~" He held the sides of Y/N's arm, not letting her escape.

"Fine.. It'll be a breather anyway." With that Y/N wrapped her arms around Taehyung's neck. She also had enough alcohol in her system to not care or overthink things.

They were barely moving. Swinging just a bit from one side to the other. The space between nearly non-existant. And it was hot. Y/N couldn't tell if it was because of the movement they were doing minutes ago. Taehyung knew it wasn't. He could feel her breath on his neck. That was his reason to be blushing in secret. Another reason was one of her hands was slightly pulling the tips of his hair on the back of his head. He couldn't see her face but her eyes were closed. Then the song changed. Y/N pulled away just a bit to face Taehyung.

"Ready to go now?"

"What about the bet?"

Y/N blinked nervously. And faked a little laugh.

"Tae, you can keep the bike-"

"What would happen if I kissed you right now?"

Silence. Gulping. And silence again. Until Y/N broke it.

"Umm.. I think.. well, it would be kinda understandable."

Pause. Because yeah, the atmosphere could totally lead there.

"And it would probably feel... good. Maybe very good?"

"Probably very good." Taehyung said as he started closing the distance between their faces. Until Y/N started talking again.

"But-"

Another pause.

"It would never be the same again."

None of them talked or even moved for a good 30 seconds.

"You're right." Taehyung let out a long held breath and started backing up.

"Tae-"

"Aren't we starving? We're starving. Let's go."

"Okay." Y/N sighed in defeat. "I'll just make a quick trip to the bathroom. Meet you outside?"

"Yeah.." He whispered and watched her walk away.

As Taehyung was waiting in front of the door at the back for Y/N, a lot of other people were gathered there. Some were also getting ready to leave, some were having a smoke and so on. Taehyung was standing close to the door with his back leaned against the wall. It was a lot more chilly then when they arrived so he had his hands in the pockets of his blue jacket. Then he remembered Y/N didn't have any jacket with her and she was wearing sleeveless. He made a mental note to pass the jacket to her when she came back from the toilet.

He didn't even notice the girl with purple highlights and very expensive high-heels coming his way.

"I knew you wouldn't leave this place with the same girl you came with tonight. So.. is it one of the Japanese girls or the Ukrainian that everybody was after."

"I came with Y/N. And I'm leaving with Y/N. I did conclude from that sentence that you paid a lot of attention to girls tonight though, Jessica?"

First she was taken aback. Then she replied with a carefree attitude.

"I gotta know the competition don't I?"

"Speaking of which, I think I spotted Cho, too. Guess she has wide network. Maybe your throne's shaking?"

Taehyung wouldn't usually be this annoying to Jessie. But he couldn't just be a ray of sunshine right now.

"Just be grateful you know me and enjoy this favour. Don't worry about who runs our school, babe."

"I wasn't. Cuz we're not in highschool. And I'm not your babe."

Okay, that was more than a little harsh. Jessie glared at him, not understanding why he was being an asshole. Soon after that she walked away. Taehyung felt a little bad but he really wasn't feeling like conversing right now. He just felt, so... rejected. Even though he knew Y/N was right to be hesitant. He decided to blame it on the alcohol.

A few minutes later, Y/N came out the door. Trying to avoid the crowd right up ahead, she made a quick turn to the left, immediately bumping into Taehyung's chest.

"Sorry, I-" she was holding her head in her hands.

"You okay? Are you dizzy? I can drop you home if-"

"No way! We're going to that diner. I'm starved."

Taehyung took out his jacket and handed it to her as he questioned one more time.

"Are you sure? Cuz we had lots to drink and-"

"You know I don't get drunk. I just bumped my head and stumbled a little. If anything, it's your fault for having a hardrock chest."

Taehyung let out a giggle. His mood slowly turning back to normal then total grimace.

Y/N's arms were completely lost in the long sleeves of his jacket. She loved the warmness of it, though. And the sweet scent of its owner permeated on it.

"You know, boys buy black leather jackets to impress girls. This one's not gonna get you far." she teased him. Taehyung just looked at her as she got in the car. What if the one girl I'm trying to impress happens to love blue?

The trip to the diner was quick but silent. When they got inside Taehyung went to choose a table. Y/N immediately went to order. It took quite some time as she named and named and named all the things she wanted to have. Then, she took the librety of ordering for Taehyung as well. Meanwhile Taehyung had settled on a cozy booth. Y/N made her way to him with coffee on both hands and offered him a smile as she handed him his cup.

There was another round of silence. Thank god the food came quickly. They both dug in. It was like they weren't even breathing for the first fifteen minutes. After that the atmosphere became lighter.

"Tae, I feel like I should say something. Because I really didn-"

"You don't have to say anything, Y/N."

"But- I think I-"

"It was just impulses I guess. Oh and the bet thing. You know I'm a sore loser so I guess I let it get into my head."

Taehyung wasn't even letting Y/N speak. He was just condemning this whole thing on himself and trying to put it behind in a rush. Even though Y/N didn't know exactly what to say, she wanted to say something. Because it wasn't just him, no. She was to blame to. But he said it. It was the bet, just impulses.. And she sure didn't hope for anything else, right?

"I really did enjoy tonight. And this diner.. safe to say we'll be re-visiting soon. Thanks for bringing me." Her voice was sincere. She didn't want to be awkward with him. She couldn't handle that.

"I'm glad you came." He couldn’t handle that either.

Author's note: I know that was long, sorry:)) If you bared with it and made it through, thank you so so soo much for reading. There will be a part 2 to this one coming soon. I just wanted to say thanks and sorry if there were any mistakes(I'm not a native speaker). I hope you have a wonderfull day~