#still so mad about no donut for the FINAL SEASON

[skwistokwarrior]

don't hit me up unless you look like this

[neoyi]

Okay, cool. I can finally talk about the absolute catharsis I felt after fifteen years hoping - dreaming - of this moment because holy SHIT, they did it. They goddamn DID IT.

VLAD GOT HIS REDEMPTION ARC.

Let's talk about it...

By the end of the third season, Vlad Masters had ostracized the entire planet by exposing his true self (why), demanding money and total command of Earth, and completely wailing on Jack Fenton, driving away the only member of that family who unequivocally adored the man where every other Fenton knew him for who he truly was: utterly despicable and incapable of seeing the bigger picture.

Because, after all, he is a villain and that's just what villains do. Villains want power. Villains want to rule the world. There need not be more than that, and in another show, there wouldn't have to be. As far as Hartman was concerned, there is only a binary Good vs. Evil.

You would be hard-pressed to view the Vlad in "Phantom Planet" as the same man who anguished in desperate madness when his perfect clone son died in his arms. That was a Vlad who, by that point, had taken his biggest gamble and lost. I guess one could see his reasoning in season three as a "fuck it all, what even is the point" mode. But while "Eye For an Eye" (tellingly, the last major script helm by former main story writer Steve Marmel... just saying) promised a personal conflict, by the end of the show, he's made it much more external, far greater than what he and Danny's interwoven plot originally started off as.

Vlad is pathetic. Vlad is narcissistic. He is egotistical, entitled; a bitter, arrogant man who lives in his dream castle with all the money and privilege in the world that would leave him content a hundred times over, and it's still not enough.

Money is not Maddie Fenton, the woman he loves. Money is not Jazz, a child that should have been his. Money is not Jack's friendship whom he denies severely, the only part of his life who willingly embraces him. And money is not Danny, who is a half-ghost like him, and by all rights, should have been his son.

No one else could ever understand to the fullest extent of their uniqueness than Vlad and Danny would to each other, and the latter, for the longest time, hated that. Hated the way Vlad talked down to him and manipulated him, hated the whispers into his ears with promises of grand power if he just joined the billionaire's side and become his ward, hated when he caved in just once in front of Vlad's eyes who responded with a smug "See, I know you" reaction. Danny was fortunate to have good moral compasses from his family and friends, but the thing is, though, it's not about the healthy support structure he had, because Vlad had the chance to get some, too. Jack and Maddie loved Danny no matter what he was, and dollars to donuts, they would have for Vlad if the latter had approached them with his problems.

But he chose instead to be bitter and miserable, taking it out on everyone and expecting them to fall into his train of thought. The show knew what he did was wrong, but until season three, never stopped repeating his truest desire: to find love and squash his crushing loneliness.

Hartman couldn't provide a damn on what exactly was Vlad's "destiny" in "Infinite Realm"; it was vague gesturing to excuse his villainy. He was more than happy to abandon the life he's made for himself and the woman he loved in spite of two decades of planning, all on a whim for whatever time period the Infi-map was willing to take him, hoping maybe this one will give him the unconditional worship that he thinks he's deserved (by force, of course.)

Because he's the villain.

And for the longest time, the show ended with the idea that Vlad deserved to be stranded, away from people, because he simply could not help himself. To be fair, there is a lesson in that - some people genuinely DO go so far that there really is nothing more we can do other than stop the problem before they cause any further harm. I'm not denouncing that.

What I AM denouncing is the the narrative plant that's dug its way into the greater plot where an older Vlad in "The Ultimate Enemy", realized what a fool he had been. What he wouldn't give to start all over and be a better person. You don't just give someone a sympathetic goal like "looking for love", constantly provide the necessary stepping stones, and not have it set up for something far more substantial than what we got.

And even then, even if it still ended with Vlad being too far gone, I wonder, should the supposedly original plot arc for season three had been made, would Vlad's fate there been far more appropriate than whatever cartoonish supervillainy he ended up as by the time "Phantom Planet" ended?

I cannot speak for Gabriela Epstein. I cannot say how much Nickelodeon allowed her to tinker with the DP world. All of this is presumptuous speculation on my part, but this entire comic feels like they looked at season three, particularly "Phantom Planet", realized what a travesty that was, had their work cut out for it, and went about to make a post-series finale story that still paid tribute to its ending while wiping it off the map.

Vlad's redemption is the crux.

Within just a few panels, Gabriela Epstein provided an explanation on the why of Vlad's actions circa-season three. The Infi-Map was aimless because Vlad's purpose was aimless. And Vlad's purpose was aimless because his need to be in control was a manifestation of his greatest fear: being alone.

"A Glitch in Time" recontexualizes why Vlad traveled across time in "Infinite Realm." It wasn't a generic bad-guy-wants-to-rule-the-world-through-latest-plot-claptrap, but an act of utter desperation from a man who had since lost the biggest connection to his very being: Danny.

It started with Maddie (someone whom Vlad only interacts once in the comic, but is an acknowledgement of his villainous origin, nonetheless), and it may still end with Danny.

Never, in a million, billion years, have I even thought about another redemption arc... for Dark Danny.

And I am kicking myself for not even considering such an option. I had pegged him so far gone, so far past the breaking point to think otherwise. Dark Danny was suppose to be the outcome of a Danny at his literal worst: a too-late, too-little scenario. Back then, it was a symbol of Danny's rejection of what Vlad expected and desired of him.

But the comic made me sit down and think about the implication of Dark Danny's very existence, that of a man who lost his family and friends ten years ago as a child. Like Vlad, he, too was alone, and had carried a tremendous amount of pain and anguish that his human half just could not bear.

Yeah, they died because of a time loop HE created, but that doesn't erase that he was born from a horrible trauma that he could not properly cope with. And Vlad, try as he might, did not fix it. All he ended up doing was separate a ghost - infamous for their obsessions, and now, as the comic established, a carrier of human emotions - to exist. And Dark Danny carried so much raw emotion that he retaliated very, very violently.

Everyone's respond at that time was to fight him and stuff him in a Fenton Thermos for eternity. I am not saying Danny wasn't justified in fighting his darker self because the dude legitimately caused massive damage and likely murdered a hell of a lot of people, I am just saying Dark Danny is the byproduct of a scared, lonely, traumatized child.

And what does he do? He tries to take what he thinks is his by any means necessary. Vlad got his wish, he got the son he wanted.

And he's facing him now.

And he gets it.

He finally fucking GETS IT.

Which shouldn't have been a surprise because his "The Ultimate Enemy" counterpart got it. He looked at the devil that he created and lingered as a hermit in regret. And now Vlad - Vlad Prime - reacted the same.

Only this time, he can fix it.

I did not anticipate that Vlad's redemption would happen at the same time as Dark Danny's. I didn't expect the two of them to link other than the latter being another number in Vlad's bullshit entitlement count.

I love that it isn't Danny who heals him, but Vlad. It had to be Vlad. In order to own up to his actions, Vlad had to look at the eyes of the boy he was entrusted and corrupted beforehand and apologize for what he put him through. And I don't mean just "The Ultimate Enemy", Vlad is apologizing for everything he's done up to this point.

He (temporarily) sacrifices his body to stabilize Dark Danny who has fucked up the time stream so much that he wouldn't be able to exist otherwise. And only then do the two of them get what they've longed for.

Vlad gets a son.

Dark Danny gets a family.

Holy forking shirt balls.

I have a lot of problems with alternate counterparts sticking around longer than they should in the "main" setting of a show. Usually I'm fine when it's an alternate counterpart demonstrated as someone the hero is trying so hard not to be, because it's compelling to see what could have been under different circumstances. It's another thing when you have another version of the main character running around doing their own thing. Multiverse characters are inherently messy just by existing, but it gets worse when they take away from the uniqueness of the central protagonist.

There's something awkward about two Danny Phantoms living in the same world, and in any other scenario, I would have hated it. But Dark Danny is of a vastly different background brought forth from a long, nuanced, engaging history between him and Vlad.

Danny's central journey - the cusp of the show - has always been the Spider-Man mantra, "great powers = great responsibilities." You are in charge of how you carry the burden of your powers. Vlad has been the one constant always challenging and belittling his selflessness. "A Glitch in Time" had Danny asking himself, what is his purpose? Who is he now that everything has been neatly wrapped up?

Writing anything about who Danny is means Vlad is presented in some way, shape, or form. They are so thoroughly linked to each other, and it's that link that simultaneously serve to push their own individual character arc, and their relationship with each other.

So, Vlad gets a son. Dark Danny gets a family. They get a second chance, and it is up to them to work it out. I have no idea if Vlad got his wealth back. Everything is restored as is, except Danny's secret identity is secured again (which I am 100% fine with except for one notable exception, but that's another topic for another day) and implication that Vlad was just a crummy mayor with no indication the greater public is also aware of his Plasimus mode (which I am also fine with.)

There's a part of me who thinks he should have lost the money and power he's accumulated because he gained them through his vice, but if he's back in his Wisconsin cheese castle, then he can damn well use the money he has to not only benefit the world (charities, improving human lives, funding Fenton Works ;D...), but to raise his son.

Dark Danny is going to have to adjust to the idea that his father is Vlad, something he was already expected to do so when he orphaned himself and moved in with him. But it's Vlad who has to work the most out of the two: as a parental figure - as an adult - he's always had a power over Danny regardless of what timeline they're in. Most of the time, he's abused it heavily.

The second chance Vlad has been given here means he has the ability to provide a safe, healthy environment. It's more than he deserves. He failed with Danny and he absolutely failed with Dani (another can of worms in itself; she's not mentioned in the comic, and I imagine it's because her story would need a comic of her own), he cannot fail with this Danny.

Vlad shouldn't have been given a child at all until there was a guarantee that he could work through his bullshit, but Dark Danny is a special case. He is a kid who needs a home and someone to love him unconditionally, and Vlad needs to learn boundaries while giving selfless love in order to be loved himself.

Clockwork gave Vlad a test, so get studying, dude.

This does not erase how Danny Prime feels about him. He may never want to forgive Vlad, and that's his right. He can acknowledge however, that, in order to help those in need of healing, a door can be opened, even if slightly ajar.

For Vlad, that may just take a bit longer and that's completely understandable.

Vlad can't have the kind of relationship he wants with this Danny, but maybe one day, they can be equals - friends.

Like christ, I think this is the first time Vlad has actually, genuinely asked if Danny was alright.

The comic was already good prior to this, but just knowing - understanding that Vlad was more than "a villain" - meant after fifteen looooong years, we finally see the promises of a brighter future for a man with shitty priorities, but a sympathetic goal.

"It's over, isn't it? It's over, isn't it? It's over, isn't it..."

[spiked-mall-goth]

oh my godddd i forgot to give you all the stupid silly life updates after i came backkkkk ugh okay long post now.

these are out of order and i do not care.

went to my favorite used bookstore and came out with some really fun stuff! the lady at the counter is kinda new there and she is just so sweet i love her.

same day i went to half price books and got the first season of the muppet show on dvd!!! i was so excited abt that. i took it up to the counter and the guy working there was like 'shucks, i knew i should have bought it earlier lol. i want to get the whole show on dvd' and i may or may not have autism blasted this poor man with my extensive knowledge of the muppet show dvd releases. he was certainly not expecting me to go on for like two full minutes but he was nice about it :3 (i was killing myself forever for like two days bc whhyyyyyy cant i just be normal to people)

flea market!

very nice lady invited us out to her storage shed bc she recognized me and my brother, and asked if we wanted to go look at her old electronics before she put them out in the front of the store. guess what? i finally got a new vcr dvd combo playyerrrrrr!!!!!!!!! FUCKING YAY. the one in my room has been down since last JULY. so i am no longer menace in the living room!! it was for sure a gamble bc she said she had no idea if it worked or not, but thankfully it did and i got it for ten bucks!

was at my usual dvd store and got a good handful of movies! he recently started selling other things too, like old collectables and shit, so he has a nice glass counter set up. so i go up to the counter to pay and i look down to see an elvira midnight madness giant gila monter tape. so i was like uhhhhhmmm.. how much is she.? and he was like four dollars you interested? and i was like um yea yes please. problem is i always pay in quarters and i need to get some bills out of my wallet. so i just kinda plop my handful of quarters (like five dollars worth) on the counter like sorry about the quarters... and as i was pulling out my wallet he goes 'oh no i dont mind. they all spend. besides i put all of ur quarters in a jar back here' AND THEN PULLED OUT ONE OF THOSE BIG ASS MASON JARSSSSSS. OH MY GOD. anyways... he also started telling me about the two SEPARATE times hes met cassendra peterson.

also i got a coca cola drinking glass. this is not really exciting but it is to me so im mentioning it.

i went to go see the new ghostbusters in theaters! it sucked really badly! also i forgot that ghostbusters is just always lying dormant in my autism brain. please help i am drowning in ghostbusters rn

I GOT A VERY FUN BOOK IN THE MAIL!!!!!!!! ITS A BEHIND THE SCENES MAKING OF BOOK ON HELLRAISER III HELL ON EARTH!!!! I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO EXPLODE ITS SO MUCH FUN TO READ OH MY GOD!!! PLUS IT CAME WITH A HELLRAISER BOOKMARK WITH A FILM STILL IN IT!!!! SO COOL EXPLODING FOREVER

speaking of hellraiser iii, my older brother is going to help me digitize my vhs tape so i can then burn it on a cd so i can watch it forever!! i cannot handle the concept of my tape wearing down and losing my special version forever. so i would like to have him preserved b4 it gets to that point.

had birthday dinner last night lol. (my birthday was in january). but it was good!! i went to this little china cafe i grew up eating at, and then we went to the most specialist grocery store!! yayyyyy!!! i got a donut that im eating tonight and a cherry coke and it was so much fun <3 <3. i came home and finished btvs s5 while eating my left over cream cheese rangoons. it was such a good night <3 <3

while i was out last night we went to the dollar store (to purchase said cherry coke) and there were these two sisters in line with their mom, doing sisterly things making fun of each other yada yada. i really wasnt paying attention i was waiting for my younger brother to meet me upfront so i could pay. and then i hear 'noooo!! its not emo!! shes a goth!!' and the older sister is like 'its all the same!' and then younger one was like 'NO ITS NOT!!! i know shes a goth i know it!!!!'. it was so funny i started like laughing in the store, they were like 10-14 and possibly making fun of me but idc. made my day

at one of my favorite thriftstores, they have a new employee. the first time i met her i wasnt quite ready for her to just walk up to me and be like. 'your cool i can tell, i saw a pair of shoes earlier i think you might like' and then walked me over to show me these like fucking gorgeous black studded boots and i was like mouth agap like nooooooooo i wear a size TWELVE in womens shoes :(( and she was like ugh me toooooo i woudlve bought them myself but i wouldve had to remove a few toes lol. and then just walked off ?? i am getting better about talking to strangers in public, but i am still never like ready for it. so anyways, i come back a few weeks later and she sees me and is like HEY! and came over and started chit chatting with me, sh ewas telling me how she used to dress like me in the 80s and how much fun she had and stuff. and im just sitting there looking at this like 50yo christian woman like 'hwuh' bc i cannot stress to you enough that this woman talks faster than light and is so full of energy. and she was telling me about all of her old favorite clothes diys because 'you look like you make your own clothes' and all this stuff. and then she walked off and a few minutes later she came back with her phone and showed me a picture of her in like a full steampunk get up???? like corset and goggles and hat and very large hair and makeup and was like 'yeah this is what i dress like in my spare time, cant commit to full time dress anymore'. idk i just want to all to know that i love this woman so much shes the best.

far less fun my depression nest is back :(( i wanna clean it out but OUCH my legs have been hurting for like eveeerrrr

house sat :Db !! was locked up in a house by myself with a bottle of wine, half a bottle of tequila, a flask of whiskey, a vibrator, and tubi.com . i had a very good time! (also i got paid $130 and food for my four day total stay)

uuhhmmm trying to think if anything else fun happened while i was gone...

i had tacos for dinner! mmm yum!!

OH YEAH I HATE LIVING IN THE SOUTH WHAT THE FUCK. our sink water has smelled and tasted like wet dog for almost a month now. we have a water filter that at least makes the water not smell or taste but there is no WAY that is safe to drink. we had to buy on of those big ass water jugs to wash our dishes with. showers have to be kept to a minimum and we've been relying on hand sanitizer to keep our hand as clean as possible. yes we have called the water company MULTIPLE times. they insist our water is fine <3

i finally got new glasses!!!! i can see now! my prescription doubled in my right eye only! my left literally went up just enough to need a new lens.

okay i think thats long enough lol. love yooouuu mwah mwah mwah

[snakeman333222]

Scream in love island

Haha love island home to beautiful water and beaches are contest are the ventures of previous season of love island and here are the newest contestants meet teagin

The host: welcome to love island teagin so what got you into this show

Teagin: I am her for love and to get my mind off my uncle.

Leafster (host) thought: that murder?!!!

Hours later

Teagun: Hi iam teagin so what is your name?

Chuck: My name is Chuck.

Grangester: I am Grangester and I like the stab franchise.

My name is sans I have harem and kids and I know what you did to jarry was it

Teagin: no?

Later that night

Ring!! ring!! ring!!

Applefina: well nice to meet you rubin

Rubin: Where's both my grupe and yours??? And your phone is ringing.

Rubin left

Applefina: hello?

Ghostface#1: What is your favorite scary movie?

Applefina: I don't have a favorite

Ghostface#1: so you like teagin?

Applefina: yes but as a friend

Ghostface#2 a friend of teagin is a enemy to ares

Ghostface 2-39: die!!!!

Apple fina: aaaaaaaa!!!

Apple fina got killed by 38 Ghostfaces

Cornfina is panicking about how killed her best friend

Menny moment later in the final act.

Teagin what do you say about making your own stab movie?

Applester: we all go a little mad sometimes.

Timmy: ho shoot!!!

Rubin: ho no!!!

Applester shot rubin in the chest and Timmy in the head with a sniper rifle

Applester: Anthony parkers psycho.

Teagin: host help me?!!!

Leafster: surprise teagin.

Cornfina: I hate you literally jr I am not a killer!!!

Sharky: we know.

Shot cornfina in the head

Sharky, little kelly, little donny 1, little donny 2, robin, sunny kyla, Kyl, little repro donut, baby max and little leha: welcome to act 3.

Aphmau and her friends and family: welcome to the final act

Layer jr: run!!!

meanwhile teagin is in shack and horred

Teagin: classic sans please help me?!!

Cory with his voice changer: surprise teagin

Classic sans his heart and his family pulls out the vice changer and turns it on

Classic sans, papyrus, Medditon, classic sans kids and classic sans harem:surprise teagin.

Teagin run to the recreation of stw marker house

Applester: it doesn't matter who you guys scream for me and the other Ghostfaces still cut you guys like fishes!!!

Teagin stab leafster and applester with knife 50 times each and killed classic sans, papyrus,

Mettaton and gaster with a head shot.

Meanwhile layer jr finish off all girl Ghostfaces by throwing live tvs on thir heads (suposbly)

The end

Notes: layer jr is a girl and 1 of 2 protagonist also have a high school/university crush on teagin

Teagin is stu marker nephew.

[vanessakimballs]

season 10 ruined the red team family dynamic and joe is scrambling to fix it send post

[radiant-reid]

Ooh where do you think each season Spencer would take you on valentines or how would he celebrate valentines with you? If you don’t mind doing, of course heh

love this concept and I'm super happy about how it came out, i hope you all enjoy it 🤍

CW: mention of prison and tobias hankel

season 1

obviously, the cutest little baby who's so shy about asking you out

and then even more nervous about whether you'll like what he planned

so, under Morgan's guidance, he goes with the safe option, taking you out to dinner

although it's the safe option, it's anything but boring

he goes for the whole nine yards, showing up with flowers in a suit

totally stammers out how pretty you look

super awkward until you remind him that it's just you and you already get along well

and he's just the sweetest the whole time

season 2

post revelations (a week after, according to the release date)

So he's in an incredibly bad place

and he tells you that he doesn't want to date because he can't do that to you

before his kidnapping, he had been secretly trying to plan a really fun date which you knew from the gossip from Penelope who got it from Morgan

despite what he explicitly tells you, you go to his place and bring food, not willing to let him push you away

and you sit with him that night, talking about the future to give him some home

it doesn't make it better overnight, but you make sure he knows you'll always be there

then the next day you bring him gladiolus flowers which represent hope and strength

season 3

has been thinking about it since the year prior trying to think of the right place to take you

even if you assure him you don't need any big gesture

he takes you to a space observatory/planetarium with a big telescope

he brings flowers, of course, snacks, blankets

it's super fun because there's no one else there but the two of you

you get to listen to him ramble about the stars until the sun comes up, literally

and then you sit there talking about the future

season 4

somehow you're able to convince him to go mini-golfing

actually, it's because he brags about how easy it is to hit a golf ball

it's just math, I've got a degree in math so i'm going to be good at this Y/n

and, comically, he's really not good at it

which he blames on the clubs and the fact he doesn't know the weight of them to be able to do appropriate physics equations

however, the other half of the date you go go-carting

and he wins, by a lot

which is so shocking because he doesn't drive

and you were so sure you were going to win that you jokingly bet you'd get him whatever he wanted for dinner

so you end up at the new donut shop in town

and he beams the whole time with his little gold trophy next to him

season 5

finally this year he's willing to do something low-key because he's still struggling with his knee injury and neither of you wants to push anything too hard

and you've been wanting to do something casual for a while

so you cook for him

his favorite dish with dessert, of course

and you sit on the couch all evening watching romcoms

and he lets insists on you braiding his hair

but he still gets you flowers

season 6

this one's fun because there's a new place by your apartment that is an escape room

and what could be funnier than trying to get a profiler to solve a fictional murder ?

nothing

he solves all the clues super quickly but insists the son killed the dad and not the daughter

because he profiles as a classic narcissistic sociopath ! how could it be anyone else ?

and then he insists on taking you out to dinner where he gives you gifts

season 7

Rage room lmao

kind of out-of-character but it happens just after (not really but let me have this please) Emily comes back and he's mad and hurt

so you go smash some stuff and throw some axes

it's actually really fun and it cheers him up lots

then you convince him to get some greasy fast food and finally he gets a good night of sleep

season 8

it starts out as a joking idea with Morgan but it ends up being what you plan

going to a baseball game !!

because of his winning home run a few months prior which you still tease him about

and you buy matching caps

as your gift to spencer, you give him a baseball mitt which he finds amusing because he got you the same thing

then Morgan makes you both train with him to be on the FBI team for the next year

season 9

the whole team just wrapped a case when the police detective in charge reminds you it's valentines day when you all completely forgot

but you're in dc anyway so the whole team goes out to a murder mystery things for dinner where each member of the team gets a character to play

which Penelope is magically able to get you into

again, like doing an escape room with Spencer, a murder mystery with the team is difficult

everyone is profiling each other to find out who murdered the fictional victim

someone makes the mistake of putting Spencer and Alex on the same team and they linguistically analyze every clue for anything that could give them a subconscious hint about who the murderer is

as stoic as ever, Hotch wins and Beth assures everyone that she would have accused him if she knew

then you and spencer go to get ice cream to finish the night

season 10

you love to get him involved in things out of his comfort zone activities

so you decide a hot air balloon right is the way to go

that's how you discover Spencer Reid is afraid of heights

if we fall from here, we'd reach terminal velocity before we hit the ground and don't laugh, humans are born with two fears and one of them is falling

to make it up to him you take him out to breakfast when he stops shaking

but he eventually agrees that it was kind of fun to see the city, even if 1.1 people die in hot air balloon accidents a year

season 11

the original plan was to go on a dinner date, but after Cat, it seemed uncomfortable

luckily there's a fair in town

so you go on the Ferris wheel and get the history run down from Spencer

then you get all the typical fair food, corn dogs, cotton candy, funnel cake, candy apples

Spencer's convinced he's going to be able to win all the fair games

unlike mini-golfing, he does the physics

and boom !

you get a massive elephant toy

similar to all the teenage girls with their high school jock boyfriends

season 12

pre-prison

it's your first time babysitting Hank

Derek and savannah really need a night off from being parents or a night to make another baby without interruption

spencer is so excited to get to babysit his godson with you

during the day, you go to the zoo

then you have some perfectly cooked chicken nuggets for dinner

and all stay up late watching cars 2, (just because that's my favorite)

even though it's not super romantic, seeing Spencer with Hank is always the sweetest

and it ends doing some adult activities that Morgan would approve of, but not be thrilled about on his couch

season 13

post-prison

dinner date like the first time

even though you live together, he shows up with flowers like he's trying to get you to fall in love with him all over again

which really isn't necessary because you're already so deeply in love with him that nothing could change that

but it's so sweet

he plays the whole part of a traditional first date without the nerves

wooing you with his jokes, and showering you in compliments a little more than usual

and he buys you a very expensive necklace to apologize for the stress of the last year

season 14

finally, since he's got mandated time off, you're able to convince him to go away

after yearsssss

and it's Paris

a weekend trip that turns into two weeks while you travel to the south of France and then into Spain with your Spanish-speaking boyfriend

it's days of hanging out, late dinners, sight-seeing, museums, reading

and you have never seen him so relaxed

while you're on the trip, you plan you're next one because it's so enjoyable

season 15

it's a tough year for your relationship with JJ's confession messing with your brain and there's not been a plan for weeks

but Spencer asks you out like actually asks you to come on a date with him

of course, you agree, ready to let things get back on track finally

he packs an entire picnic and you go to the park you had your first kiss

it's a huge declaration of his love and commitment, a promise that he still cares so much

but you didn't need words because you've always been so in love with him and you always will be

then it starts to rain because hello, spring and you know he's still really in love with you because he doesn't hesitate to give you his suit jacket so you're at least a little bit drier while you run to the car

but you're already both pretty much drenched so you have a sickeningly sweet, cliche kiss in the pouring rain

and spent the rest of the night on the floor by the fire

[specialofficerlemons]

Not entirely sure what to call this. This was just some thought goo I had to get out of my head. I started writing it before the Chorus trilogy had finished, possibly between seasons 12 and 13? I don’t remember. I was exploring a lot of themes of Wash having been a long time trauma survivor and Tucker having more recent trauma and them having to navigate their relationship together and survive. This is assuming a present Tuckington situation and a past Norkington situation.

It’s not a fleshed out fic, just a lot of ideas? An outline I guess? Idk. Let me know if you enjoyed it or what you think. I know Chorus trilogy is like old news :P

-

Things were finally looking up for the gang when they were on their ship back to blood gulch. Wash thinks he might be able to live a relatively normal life, or at least more fun being with his goofy idiots, and he's happy being with Tucker, the happiest he's been with anyone since North and York died. Then, when the ship crashes on Chorus he goes into a downward PTSD spiral. Things are uncertain, they're trapped in the canyon, they're running out of supplies, Carolina and Church are gone, and no one else seems to be worried. He becomes frustrated with his friends and his lover for how lightly they're taking their situation when Wash knows that this could be the end and he just can't shake the feeling that he's being watched. He has nightmares. He gets up in the middle of the night to patrol the perimeter. He spends all his energy trying to get the comm tower online. He hopes that Tucker would understand their situation or at the very least care enough about him to take it seriously. When he doesn't react well, Wash gets mad. He makes the blue team run more drills, trying to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation, but it just makes it worse. He alienates them. He fights with Tucker. They don't sleep in the same room anymore. Tucker opts to sleep in Caboose's room. He feels abandoned, by his friends, by his lover, by Carolina and Church who disappeared without any warning. Every day he is reminded how he's driving everyone away. He tries to create order, but only creates chaos. He gets the feeling that if something terrible does happen (a feeling he can't shake) that everyone will be hurt because of him. He's lost too many people and doesn't know how to handle it. His demotion is almost a fatal blow. He loses all semblance of control and can't even pretend anymore.

He almost welcomes Locus's assault on them. He finally has a chance to show everyone how strong he is, how he can lead them, protect them. He's relieved to have Felix around. Even though he himself has left his killing-people-for-money days behind, he can relate to him, can talk to him. He gives him anything he asks for without hesitation. Things feel less hopeless.

Then, Locus attacks again. They are outnumbered, outgunned, and not even close to battle ready. The last thing he sees and hears before he blacks out is Tucker calling for him. When he wakes up with the Feds he can't make heads or tails about the war. His logical brain tells him that there's rarely ever a good guy and a bad guy in any conflict, but more than that he doesn't care. He needs to get back to his team, needs to be with them. He's so lost without them. It helps having Sarge, Donut, and Lopez around, but he was never as close to red team. If anything, their familiarity with each other makes his loneliness sting even more.

When they are reunited, he is over joyed, but there is not time to celebrate. Felix's betrayal stings more than anything. He wants him dead. Something he hasn't felt in a long time. Having Church and Carolina back is a great relief, but he's still burning the candle at both ends, running out of energy. He and Tucker don't talk about their fights, don't talk about anything. They just hold each other (occasionally interrupted by Caboose who thinks they're having a cuddle pile. Even that is forgivable. He's just glad to have them both back).

He's never felt more proud of Tucker than when he orchestrated the plan to set up Felix and keep the two armies from killing each other. They celebrate when they return to the capital, making love for the first time in what feels like forever. Afterwards, Tucker says something that sounds uncannily like something York and North would say to him and it throws him into an intense flash back. When he comes to, he's curled up in a corner, crying and shaking, calling out for his two dead lovers. Tucker is there, worried, confused, afraid. Tucker asks if he wants to talk about it. He tries to pass it off as nothing. Tucker calls bullshit, but doesn't press the issue. He tells him that when he's ready, he will listen.

Wash is able to keep himself occupied with training the young lieutenants. The routine helps. He's even able to handle Grif's laziness and general uncooperativeness. He can feel the tension between the two previously opposing factions. There is a storm brewing and it's going to break soon.

It's only after discovering that Tucker has been having nightmares about the two men that were killed (Cunningham and Rogers) that he tells him about North and York. As much as he was distancing himself from any kind of feelings at the time, he acknowledges the role that it plays in when he killed South. It was true that she couldn't be trusted not to kill him when it suited her, but he was less upset about her shooting him in the back and more enraged by her murdering North. Tucker asks the occasional question, sometimes serious, sometimes joking (asking if they needed to add another person to their relationship and Wash assuring him that he was enough, that he practically counted as two men). Tucker talks about the men he lost on the raid of the fed's base, how they weren't just faceless enemy soldiers. He knew their names, he knew how scared they were, and it was his fault that they died. Wash wants to tell him that their sacrifice saved a greater number of people, but he knows it wouldn't help. The worst part, Tucker tells him, is how Felix reacted. Sure, it was callous, he knew that at the time, but he assumed that was just how he was. But now knowing that he was being played? That Felix laughed at the lives lost just ate away at him. It helps dissipate some of the tension, but it doesn't help the ever growing fear of what to come.

Felix's words stick in his mind. "This is a war. Not everyone comes back." He's lost too many people, killed too many people. He was betrayed by those he trusted most. The reds and blues don't see the threat. It's understandable, considering how well they've evaded death, what with how many times they'd been shot, Simmons being a cyborg, Grif having bits of Simmons, the whole business with Church and Tex. So far, everyone had survived against all odds. They haven't lost anyone like Wash has.

He spends a lot of time with Epsilon. They share memories about their time with project freelancer. Epsilon shows him how he can play old journal entries and obliges playing York's and North's over and over again while he sobs into his hands. It’s not as easy talking to Carolina, even though they lost the same people. Carolina was able to let go of everything but Tex and the Director, who consumed all of her energy for so long. He gets to talk to memories of Delta and Theta. Theta cries with him and even Delta expresses a logical amount of grief.

[prurientpuddlejumper]

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Jackson Neill x Reader

For @storiesofsvu​’s Fall Bingo! Requested by @itsjustmyfantasyroom​

Warnings: Student-professor relationship (adult grad student/not your professor), atheism, assholes in love, pumpkin spice bashing, pumpkin spice appreciation, first kiss, fluff.

1,223 words

Some relationships are founded upon a mutual love of something, and that positive foundation is built upon by kind words, compassion, and consideration. In other words, people like each other because they’re nice.

Your friendship with Professor Jackson Neill, however, was built on something even better: mutual bitchiness.

A friend in his religious studies class introduced you. “Oh god,�� you thought as she invited him to sit with you in the dining hall, fully prepared to roll your eyes at his pious spiritual bullshit. One angry atheist rant later, you realized he was not that kind of religion professor. Jackson devoted his life to exposing “new American religions,” that is, cults, and was a jaded ex-Catholic antitheist.

You were all too eager to listen, and he was thrilled as you took off on your own rant about faith always conveniently justifying whatever beliefs a person wants to believe. “More often, it’s weaponized by an institution to exert control and maintain power,” Jackson cut in, and you were off on a heated debate about individual faith vs. organized religion. Your friend sighed and ate her greasy cafeteria pizza.

He was gorgeous and actually thoughtful on top of the cynicism, but you were afraid to ask him on a date. You were a Ph.D. student. Granted, he wasn’t your professor or even in your department, but it was unprofessional. Besides, he was recently divorced. When you first met, he was still married (if separated), and you weren’t sure he was ready to start dating again. So you kept your crush to yourself.

Jackson became the friend you could always turn to when you needed to snark and didn’t want your other friends to think you were an asshole. You bonded over people who posted too many baby pictures on Facebook, pseudo-science, homeopathy, emails full of bad grammar, Republican senators restricting birth control—there was nothing you couldn’t complain about to each other. It was liberating being with another cynic—not having to filter yourself.

But there was one thing—one entire season, actually—where he betrayed you.

It was the first day of September, and as if the weather were aware of the calendar date, it was sunny and crisp. Leaves, not yet changing color, rattled in the wind from their branches outside the library window. Your phone sat screen-up on the table in front of you in a paranoid bid to see any notifications the moment they came in, but the device remained dark.

Earlier that day, you texted Jackson about how much you hated pumpkin spice—pumpkin spice donuts, pumpkin spice coffee, pumpkin spice beer, pumpkin spice breakfast cereal. He called you a bad feminist.

“You only hate it because it’s something women stereotypically enjoy.”

“No, I hate it because it’s disgusting, and the flavor is so artificial it’s like eating a scented candle!”

“Have you ever tried the pumpkin spice latte at Earle’s?”

“I don’t need to. The entire concept is gross and NOT because I hate women.”

“Grouch. Enjoy the season.”

“Never. Take your pumpkin-spice Kool-Aid and get out.”

And then he didn’t reply. No witty retort, no cute appeal to your empathetic side. The message was read, but no response.

You debated messaging, “Just kidding,” but that would sound desperate. Like you cared if he was pissed off about stupid pumpkin garbage. Like the thought of him being mad at you was devastating.

Fuck.

It was only a matter of time before you clashed with people—you were too stubborn, rubbed everyone the wrong way. Why couldn’t you learn to keep your opinions to yourself? He finally realized you’re an even bigger jerk than him. Great. Not only would you never have his heart, now you’d lost his friendship, too.

Tears were pricking the back of your eyelids when a voice rang out behind you:

“THE SPICE MUST FLOW!”

Jackson grinned as he swept a cardboard coffee tray onto the desk in front of you. The design on the cups surrounding an Earle’s logo was ominously orange.

“Oh my god, you didn’t. Nerd.”

“Just try it, trust me.”

“Fine,” you relented. It made your heart ache that you’d almost been fighting. “Then you won’t be mad?”

“Mad?” His charming voice was marked by confusion. He was approachable in person, with his friendly smile and hints of grey softening his dark hair. No matter how fiercely you debated, he never got offended. You would have realized that if you were looking at him instead of texting.

Your face flamed at the slip of vulnerability.

“Did you think I was angry? Because you’re a bad feminist who unfairly hates delicious seasonal spices?” he smirked. “I could never be mad at you.”

You hoped someone would pull the fire alarm, or you’d wake up before he saw your sulky, pathetic, heartsick expression.

“Look at me.” His voice was suddenly low and firm, filled with concern. He tilted your chin toward him and his reassuring, lopsided smile. “Hey, you put up with me all the time.”

“You don’t think I’m too grumpy?”

“I think you’re perfect.”

Your cheeks were on fire. The way he looked at you from under drooping, half-closed eyelids, leaning over you in your chair, his face close to yours, gave the unmistakable impression of desire. Or were you just imagining what you wanted to see? His lips looked so soft…

You rocked forward an inch, and his lips were as yielding as you imagined, if not as smooth. They were slightly chapped—he never did take enough care of himself—and the stubble around them was scratchy. But oh, he was so warm.

He broke the kiss briefly to search your face. “Was that OK?”

“Yeah,” you breathed, and his lips were on yours again, hungrier this time. His tongue boldly swept out to test the seam of your lips, and you parted them willingly. Your tongue licked forward to meet his, and you tasted the creamy cinnamon and clove of the latte he’d been sipping. “Mmm,” you sighed at the sweetness of his kiss as his hand cradled the back of your head and your arms wrapped around his broad chest, deepening the connection.

When you finally broke apart, your heart was fluttering wildly, and you were surrounded by him—his unique scent, like musty books and clean cologne, his heat… and the goddamned taste of pumpkin spice latte.

His brows tilted, and the corner of his lips charmingly quivered at the precipice of a smile, as if he wasn’t quite sure what you were going to say, but that your next words would reshape his life for better or worse. This wasn’t a sudden impulsive kiss, you realized.

“Jackson…” you sighed, cupping his jaw. Your thumb brushed over his scruffy cheek. “I guess pumpkin spice lattes aren’t that bad.”

A grin stretched beneath your thumb. “Told you!”

You glanced around the library. You’d chosen a quiet corner, and there weren’t many people around, but you supposed Jackson was beyond caring about the professional optics if you were caught. This was something you had both wanted for a long time, deep under your hardened exteriors.

“Can I taste some more?”

• ● • ━━━━━─ ••●•• ─━━━━━ • ● •

Tags:

@beccabarba / @itsjustmyfantasyroom / @thatesqcrush / @dianilaws / @permanentlydizzy / @mrsrafaelbarba / @madamsnape921 / @astrangegirlsmind / @neely1177 / @onerestein / @dreamlover31 / @isvvc-pvscvl  / @shroomiehomie / @storiesofsvu / @welcometothemxdhouse / @feedthemadness-sweetie / @law-nerd105 / @amelia-song-pond / @michael-rooker / @xecq / @madpanda75 / @alwaysachorusgirl / @bananas-pajamas / @leanor-min / @mad-girl-without-a-box / @katierpblogg / @worldofvixen / @sassyada / @detectivebarba 

[kpopfanfictrash]

s is for sexy

Author: kpopfanfictrash

Pairing: Jungkook

Word Count: 1,532

Rating: PG-13

Summary: An accompanying drabble to The Art of War More. This drabble takes place after the events of both TAOM and L is for Lunacy. Jungkook is included in People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive issue, but you can’t find a copy anywhere.

[ PART OF MY JUNGKOOK BIRTHDAY DRABBLE GAME ]

“We’ve made a terrible mistake,” you complained, sinking down on a park bench to rest your chin in one hand.

Coming to a stop, Gina craned her neck to peer over her shoulder. “I agree,” she said. “We should’ve stopped and gotten donuts at that shop I pointed out.”

“Gina.” You looked up. “Read the room, alright?”

“Right, sorry.”

She grinned, plopping down on the park bench beside you. Adjusting her green and white striped shorts, Gina lifted a hand to scan the horizon. A few children played on the slide at the playground, their innocent cackles drifting over the hedges.

Utterly exhausted, you sighed. “We should give up.”

“No!” Gina turned to face you, appalled. “We’re not stopping until we’ve combed every newsstand in the city. Until we’ve harassed every bodega owner! Until our names are plastered under persona non grata in every library!”

Normally, Gina’s speeches were enough for you to crack a smile, but not today. Today was the day Jungkook’s big magazine article was released and you had woefully dropped the ball. To be fair, Seokjin had suggested you order the volume ahead of time, since the People’s Sexiest Men issue tended to sell out, but you completely forgot.

Jungkook had stayed on campus through Senior year, but then had immediately entered the NHL. This was his second full season with the team and already, he was garnering national attention. Much of this was due to a viral clip of your boyfriend removing his jersey at the end of game five of the western conference finals, but said clip wouldn’t have gone viral if Jungkook had been on the bench.

The fact that he got playing time in his first season was remarkable – let alone that he was playing in the semis and was now considered the league’s It boy. Already there were rumors of him being nominated for end of year awards. Jungkook was excited about those, of course, but you and your friends were more excited for this. People’s Sexiest Men Alive.

He wasn’t the cover, of course – that was reserved for A list celebrities – but it seemed Jungkook’s abs had been enough to land him a mention. You’d planned on wallpapering the apartment door with the photo before he got home tomorrow, but that wouldn’t happen if you couldn’t get your hands on a copy.

Unfortunately for you, the issue seemed to be sold out.

Sighing again, you folded your arms over your chest. “Has Seokjin said anything to you?” you asked Gina. “Was he able to find one?”

“How should I know?” she said, somewhat defensive. “It’s not like I know everything Seokjin does or says.”

You stared at her for a moment, unsure how to respond. “Uh – I know?”

“Right.” Gina swallowed, somewhat mollified. “Why don’t we call him?”

Shaking your head at her weirdness, you pulled your phone from your pocket. Honestly, Gina and Seokjin had been acting mad weird lately. They acted all cagey and awkward whenever you asked one about the other. If you didn’t know better, you’d almost think they were fighting.

Dialing Seokjin’s number, you leaned back on the bench and listened to his ringback tone. Kim Seokjin was one of the only people you knew – well, him and your aunt – who still had that feature, and Seokjin hadn’t bothered to update his since 2011. It was still Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.

HEY, I JUST MET YOU! AND THIS IS CRAZ –

“Hello?”

“Seokjin,” you groaned. “When are you going to change that dumb ringback tone?”

“Whenever Carly Rae goes out of style, so never.”

Gina, having overheard, cracked up beside you.

“Anyways,” you said, switching to your other ear. “Any luck on the search?”

“Sorry, but nope. Seems your boyfriend is more in demand than that one donut shop Gina always wants to go to.”

“That, or it’s the fact that Michael B. Jordan’s on the cover.”

“Yeah, probably that.”

“Alright,” you sighed, picking a thread on your jeans. “Thanks for trying, Seokjin.”

“Anytime,” he said and hung up.

As you shoved your phone in your purse, Gina looked at you warily. “No luck?”

“Nope.”

“Hm.” Gina leaned back on the bench. “Maybe we should switch gears here, get creative. We could cut out semi-nude photos of Jungkook and stick them to the pages of last year’s edition!”

“Where would I get last year’s issue, though?”

“Good point.” Gina thought. “You could just stick semi-nude photos of Jungkook to your front door?”

“Gina,” you laughed, shoving her shoulder. “Stop stripping my boyfriend!”

“There it is!” Gina beamed. “I knew I could get you to laugh.”

Shaking your head, your smile faded a little. Gina was right though, this was silly. It would’ve been fun for Jungkook to come home from his away game to this, but it was hardly the end of the world. You would just order a copy online and wait.

Heaving a great sigh, you stood from the bench. “Okay,” you said, turning to Gina. “Let’s head out.”

Gina convinced you to go to the donut shop at least, so you didn’t arrive home empty-handed. That was the reason she gave you at least, although you knew it had more to do with her recently launched donut Instagram.

The box was precariously perched on your hip as you shoved open the door, placing the keys on the hook to kick the door shut. As you turned to walk inside, you started – nearly dropping the entire box of donuts on the floor.

“Jungkook?” you gasped.

Chucking the box on the counter, you dashed across the room.

Jungkook laughed when you reached him, immediately jumping to wrap your legs around his waist. He caught you easily, warm hands on your waist as you buried your face in his chest. Somewhat awkwardly, he walked you towards the kitchen.

“You’re back!” you blurted, pulling back to see him.

Jungkook grinned, rosy-cheeked from your touch. “I’m back,” he agreed, depositing you on the kitchen counter. “Miss me?”

“How?” you demanded, poking his chest. “How’d you get home so fast?”

“I feel so welcome,” Jungkook teased. At the look on your face, he grinned. “Coach cancelled tomorrow’s practice, so I caught a flight back today.”

“Yay,” you said happily, leaning to rest your head on his chest.

The steady thrum of his heartbeat reassured you and for a moment, you allowed yourself to enjoy this. Jungkook smelled as he always did, like light floral and cotton, and the weight of his hands on your thighs made your heart calm.

His thumbs played with the thread on your jeans, which sent your mind to other places – places involving your bed, his ass and zero clothes – but for now, you were content with this.

“What’s in the box?” he murmured into your hair.

“Oh, right,” you said and pulled back. Twisting around, you dragged the donut box towards you and popped the top. “Some might be a bit squished since I threw them. Gina and I went to the new donut place on Lakeview.”

Jungkook’s eyes went super-wide. He immediately bent to grab the closest donut, powdered sugar getting everywhere when he bit into the side.

“Yum.” Jungkook’s eyes rolled exaggeratedly back in his head. “Wow, this is the best welcome home I’ve ever gotten. There’s you, of course, but also – donuts.”

“Obviously,” you said. “There was actually supposed to be another surprise, but I kind of messed it up.”

Jungkook licked powdered sugar off his wrist. “Messed something up? You? Don’t buy it.”

“Suck up,” you teased. “But no, really. I wanted to get your People’s Sexiest Men edition! I was going to plaster it across the front door and embarrass you.”

Jungkook grimaced. “As fun as that sounds, the donuts are better.”

“What? You aren’t proud of how sexy you are?”

“I don’t care about that.” Jungkook swallowed the last of the donut. “As long as you find me sexy.”

Tipping your head back, you groaned. “Okay, now you’re seriously sucking up.”

“Mm.” Placing his hands on either side of your thighs, Jungkook’s nose grazed your jawline. “Anything else you want me to suck?”

“Jungkook!”

Drawing back, his gaze glinted darkly. “Besides, why do you need that photo of me with my shirt off?”

You frowned, perturbed and he reached one hand overhead. Still looking at you, Jungkook did that stupid-hot thing guys do where they remove their shirt with one hand. When his six pack abs were revealed, they left you a bit speechless.

Flexing a little, Jungkook grinned. “You have the real thing.”

“Shut up,” you groaned, shoving his pec. Oh – hard. Sliding down from the counter, you began walking towards the bedroom. “But since you offered…”

Jungkook waggled his brows. “I did.”

“Get in there, sexiest man alive,” you laughed. “Show me what you got.”

“Alright.” Jungkook caught himself on the doorframe with both hands. “But before we go any further, I feel compelled to clarify I’m not People’s sexiest man, just one of them. Michael B. Jordan is the sexiest man alive.”

“Jungkook!” You pointed through the door. “Bed!”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a salute.

You stared after him, grinning stupidly before following.

 kpopfanfictrash, 2020. Do not copy or repost without permission.

[clocks-are-round]

Since that amv I made, been thinking about Doc and O’Malley in season 16 a lot. Some canonical, some speculation.

He felt really bad about siding with the Blues and Reds

He still wanted to be part of the reds and blues. He tried to fit in with the group by joining in on the teasing but Grif shut him down immediately

He pushed Grif out of the way to save him

He tolerated Grif’s ridiculous pizza mission to try to make up for the betrayal despite every ounce of his being screaming he could be making the universe a better place with the time gun

According to Huggins, O’Malley only came out when Grif was asleep. This was likely to try to keep things on as good of terms as possible (O’Malley is self-proclaimed “evil”, which does not exactly inspire trust. He likely intentionally stayed in because Doc wanted so badly to patch things up his way)

Doc didn’t even get mad at Grif— nor did O’Malley front— when Grif started shooting at him because of the vegan pizza. They were trying SO HARD to keep things civil. Keep in mind they’ve also had a rocky relationship with Grif since Blood Gulch.

The one-sided attempt at a heart-to-heart. That story about Deke and why he became a medic hits so hard! I’m so glad they fleshed out his character even that little bit

They finally couldn’t do it anymore. Grif fell asleep when they were trying to share a heartfelt moment. That was the final straw. They’d made up their mind. O’Malley’s turn to do things his way. Grif offered an olive branch the next morning but it was too little too late. While Doc appreciated the sentiment, he and O’Malley already had settled on a different plan.

They took the time gun: either Doc took it and then shifted to O’Malley, it had been O’Malley pretending to be Doc since the beginning of the scene, or they both took it (some kind of co-fronting situation) and then O’Malley took the reins. Personally I headcanon the last one.

O’Malley left Grif in the 6th century. When I first watched the season I thought it was horrible, why would he do that? Grif has no known way back in that moment, no way to call for help. But now I can see it from O’Malley’s perspective. Doc was abandoned, left behind, a dozen times by Grif and the others. How does it feel to be on the other end of that? It wasn’t cruelty for the sake of evil or cruelty. It was have-a-taste-of-your-own-medicine revenge.

O’Malley joined Chrovos. We’re not shown why exactly, but Donut says, “What are you doing here?” and O’Malley responds, “Same thing as you, my brother. Now you’d better not keep Him waiting.” Two things from this. 1) “same thing as you”, Chrovos promised Donut that if he helped him (I always viewed Chrovos as genderfluid. Correct me if they’re actually a transwoman, not trying to misgender here) then his friends would be nice to him. So it could be that Chrovos promised the same thing to Doc. But there’s something Doc may care about a bit more. Someone. Deke. I imagine once he got the time gun, he went to try to save Deke. But like Sarge, he just couldn’t change things. But “God” called out to him and told him he could make it happen. But first, O’Malley needed to help him. He likely did the same emotional manipulation bullshit as he did with Donut. Probably didn’t need to do as much, O’Malley was already feeling pretty negative about the reds and blues. 2) Again he said “Him” with emphasis, like, capital H emphasis. O’Malley doesn’t know this is Chrovos with their own agenda. To him, this is “God”, the epitome of goodness in so many religions. He’s not intentionally on the side of “evil”. Maybe he doesn’t really believe that and is just pretending to because of Donut, but regardless he knows this is a powerful entity. I believe he had some skepticism, but thought it might really be “God”. And that “might” was enough to put his faith in him. For Deke. For himself. To do something and make a big difference for once. This time he wasn’t a pawn, an extra, he was a hero! (oops sike)

O’Malley saw Donut about to destroy the one who promised to save Deke. He couldn’t allow that.

“I don’t want to hurt you!” Donut said. O’Malley laughed at this. Everyone hurts him, what a blatant lie! Sure, Doc and Donut lived together for a while, but do you really think that was at the front of his mind? Even if he did remember, supposed betrayals hurt so much more from the people you’re close to. Donut hadn’t noticed Doc went missing on Chorus and even said as much to his face. Even if he wasn’t intentionally mean he was just like all the others. And now he was trying to take something so important away from him? Hell no, sir. O’Malley was going to stand up for what he believed to be the right course of action.

Yes, O’Malley tricked Donut, claiming to be Doc, but honestly it didn’t feel like a dirty move, just clever.

In the end, O’Malley said, “well played.” Not “curse you” or a swear, just a nod of respect for Donut. He didn’t hate Donut. He had just been standing in his way.

Also next season Doc says their fight was a lot of fun, further solidifying my idea that O’Malley and Doc were both on board with the plan and O’Malley wasn’t acting “against” Doc.

This is a Doc / O’Malley sympathization zone. Not sure how many of my bullet points were intended by the writer, but this is the view I tried to portray in the amv. (link below if you haven’t watched it yet— the beginning is a bit slow but I think it still works pretty well. The fighting in the second half combined with the beat and lyrics? So satisfying)

[miamarie1960]

Heres the text:

The final whistle of each of the Orlando Pride’s three consecutive wins this past week signaled something just short of an explosion from players on the bench and on the pitch.

Defenders Ali Riley and Courtney Petersen launched themselves into the arms of captain Ashlyn Harris. After the team’s midweek win against Portland, defender Toni Pressley hurtled off the bench before the referee even signaled the game’s end.

After one team huddle, midfielder Gunny Jónsdóttir and keeper Erin McLeod lifted a drum out of the supporters section, leading a final chant as they stayed on the field to soak in the victory.

In the span of two weeks, the unbeaten Orlando Pride have begun to relearn how to celebrate.

It’s early in the season. The players know that. But for a team that hasn’t felt much joy for the past two years, these wins sink deeper — and the celebrations that follow are bound to be bigger.

“When we work so hard during games and it pays off — it’s just this relief, this passion, this joy,” Riley said.

After three straight losing seasons, the team picked up three wins in the past nine days to vault to the top of the NWSL standings.

As the Pride look ahead to the next five months of the NWSL season, the team feels bolstered by a sense of chemistry and connection that its captains say is unmatched by any prior Orlando team.

“We’re building an incredible culture here that people should want to be a part of,” Harris said. “That’s always been what we’ve wanted here. We’re so set up, we have everything possible we could need. The training facilities, the stadium, the support staff — the organization is incredible. And finally it was time to just put results up.”

Building a culture was a purposeful focus for the Pride as they entered this season. In the preseason, coach Marc Skinner tasked his team with assembling a leadership committee to begin cementing a formalized identity for the group.

“We’ve never had a culture here,” Skinner said. “We’ve had great people, great players, but we’ve never really had a culture within our team. We didn’t have the amount of leaders that we do — that can be the voice for each other, that can support each other.”

Along with Harris and co-captain Ali Krieger, Pride players selected McLeod, Riley and midfielder Marisa Viggiano.

Amid a group of veterans who have been professionals for over a decade, Viggiano’s presence in the leadership committee represents an important piece of the team’s goals to build for the future.

Since Skinner joined the Pride, the club has invested more heavily in young players than in years past. Draftees such as Viggiano, Taylor Kornieck and Phoebe McClernon quickly became staples of the starting lineup.

As these young players also find their voices, Viggiano is able to lead rookies to become leaders in their own right.

“She’s the bridge to connect the rookies and the older girls,” Kornieck said. “It’s really, really helpful to have that person to just connect us both. She’s been amazing to me in particular. ... She comes in and brings up everybody’s energy.”

On the Friday between the team’s matches against Portland and Kansas City, the Pride started a day of training with a team-building activity, dividing up in small groups led by members of the leadership committee to talk about the team dynamic.

Skinner wants the team to regularly make time for these types of activities even in the middle of congested weeks. After spending most of 2020 forcibly separated by the pandemic, Riley said the group has been eager to build on their bonds with one another.

“We were waiting to finally be able to become a team,” Riley said. “We have women on this team who are really prepared to put ourselves out there and try to make a difference. I think that was the goal from Day 1 this season.”

This attention to detail carries over into how the team celebrates. The first training session after a Pride win is always highlighted by a table laden with boxes of donuts and a bulletin board coated in clippings of positive messages from fans on Twitter.

From memes to a request for a Petersen fan club, the staff selects tweets that highlight the growing excitement surrounding the club.

“It’s been a long time since this team was given any positive reinforcement,” Skinner said.

In his first two years as a coach, Skinner felt the opposite effects of online fandom. The coach left social media midway through 2019, which allowed him to mostly block out online criticism.

Although Skinner still avoids Twitter — besides the few times when, to his chagrin, his dad brought up internet detractors — the coach says the positive of the past weeks has given a visible lift to his team.

“I think you can use it as your fuel,” Skinner said. “Some players need it; some people don’t. But they all deserve the accolades and the support they’ve been seeing.”

Other forms of team unity come from more unexpected sources. The night before the Pride’s match against Portland on Wednesday, players across the roster were focused on a different type of game-day preparation — charging their crystals.

Crystals have become a constant for the Pride — draped on chains around players’ necks, filling lockers for good luck.

Pressley gradually distributed them to her teammates throughout the last year, hoping their purported healing properties could help to elevate the team’s energy. Before the moon entered its full phase around 7 a.m. prior to the Portland match, Pressley sent a reminder to set out the crystals to “charge.”

Some teammates buy into these alternative practices more than others, but Pride players agree they have translated into a shared language throughout the team.

“I think [Pressley] has a method to the madness,” Riley said with a laugh. “We’re here for it. Whatever works, we’re going to do it.”

Pressley’s crystals might have cleansed the locker-room energy, but the Pride want to prove their early success isn’t about luck.

This summer will provide the greatest test as stars such as Alex Morgan and Marta are called away for the Olympics. But only two weeks into the regular season, the Pride already are aiming for postseason milestones.

“We haven’t won anything yet,” Harris said. “Winning three games, that doesn’t mean anything. We want to win a championship.”

Thank you!

[silvercrystalwhump]

The Town's Matron

TW: starvation, hunger, parental abuse, bbu warning

Flynn watches Kai out of the corner of his eye. Using one of Flynn’s mechanical pencils, Kai draws on the back of an old receipt. Eyes fully entranced on the pencil lines. Flynn pushes the shopping cart forward gently, so as to not disturb Kai who is sitting inside. A yawn leaves Flynn’s mouth as he looks across the shelves. The shopping list, if one could even call it that, sits clapped to the baby holder on the cart.

Holding up one of the sturdy backpacks, Flynn asks Kai, “Do you like this one?”

Kai eyes it for a second and hesitates before snapping to the chipper attitude he usually has and nods. Flynn blinks and looks back at the shelf, trying to follow where Kai flicked his eyes.

One thing he learned about box boys was that they never said no. That fact alone made Flynn worried for him.

What do they do to you to make you so compliant?

“Is there another one you like more?”

Kai pauses his drawing and slowly looks up at a green one. He points the pencil at it for a moment before going back to doodling. Flynn pulls the bag free from the shelf and holds it out. Kai beams and nods back at him, scrunching his nose like he usually does when he’s actually happy.

So, it’s safe to say that Kai really likes green.

Flynn looks over the price and the pockets of the bag. It’s made of decently sturdy material and is big enough to hold things other than one notebook. He slides it beside Kai in the cart and grabs the largest one he can see to go with it. These bags will need to hold a lot of things for a while.

Flynn tries to rub away the tiredness that eats at his vision. He had been driving for two hours before arriving at the nearest city to buy this stuff. He couldn’t do this in town. Everyone there knew him and someone would tell his father and he knew he would taste another piece of hell.

All of this needs to be yours and no one can know.

Kai sits in the cart surrounded by clothes for multiple seasons, bottles of soap, boxes of nonperishables, and a dozen donuts to use as a bribe for when Flynn returns to his Father’s house. One more month. That thought alone keeps Flynn going, keeping his eyes up. One more month until I take Kai and drive out west, leaving this hell behind.

Kai looks up and points behind him. Flynn looks over his shoulder and feels his stomach sink.

“Flynn!” an elderly woman, whom he knew well, cheers from across the aisle, “How are you?”

Pulling on his calm, practiced happy face, “I’m doing well Mrs. Dane, how are you and the family.”

“Oh excellent,” Mrs. Dane chirps, “The grandbabies are just so sweet and God has been good, what’s a young man like you doing this far out of town?”

“I could ask you the same,” Flynn smiles as he turns to the elderly woman. Mrs. Eliza Danes, the oldest woman in his small town and a woman who was respected. She is the kind of elderly woman with the tenderest heart but, at the flick of her eyes, could instill the fear of God into the devil himself.

“One of my kids lives out here sweetpea. Visiting the grandbabies, six, four, and three they are. All sweeter than honey! But you didn’t answer my question young man,” she beams as she looks past him into his cart, “And who’s he?”

“Oh, that’s Kai, he doesn’t do much speaking and well, something you just gotta come to the city for.”

Mrs. Dane raises a withered eyebrow, “Flynn, sweetie, you look like you haven’t seen a good warm meal in days. Whatcha doing with yourself?”

“Don’t worry, I’m walking on my own two feet.”

She smiles at him and says, “I don’t doubt it for a second honey. How ‘bout you come help little ol’ me finish shopping and come back with me to get you nice and fed.”

Flynn gives her a nervous smile, “I shouldn’t, my old man would wring my neck.”

And hurt Kai if he’s really mad.

Mrs. Dane drops her gaze and gives Flynn a knowing look before perking up again, “What did you eat last?”

A piece of toast yesterday morning.

“A sandwich for lunch, I’ll eat supper when I get home.”

Mrs. Dane shakes her head, “Lying does not please the Lord young man, and I know your father well enough to know exactly why you’re dodging this.”

“Mrs. Dane please-”

“Do not interrupt me young man, you and Kai are coming over to my house tonight and I’ma feed both of y’all, you hear? I do not care what your Father says I will personally escort to the Lord if he tries anyhing stupid.”

“Yes ma’am,” Flynn says, eyes on the floor and now very aware of the emptiness in his stomach.

Mrs. Dane looks up, “Now. Look at me.”

Flynn raises his eyes and meets Mrs. Dane’s. Fear eats at the lining of his stomach along with hunger. He feels his hands begin to shake against the cart handle.

“I remember when I was your age,” Mrs. Dane begins with a much softer voice, “There were alot more men like your Father raisin’ youngin’s and I know what that cart is for and you will be finishing the story after you're fed, is that correct?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Flynn turns around and locks eyes with Kai. Kai curled himself under Flynn’s hoodie and was watching the entire conversation. Unease reflects off the mirrors of his eyes. Flynn tries to give Kai a comforting smile but Kai sees through the facade like looking from a window.

Mrs. Dane talks about everyday things as they finish their shopping. The air presses into Flynn’s skin as he pays for what will be his salvation.

If Mrs. Dane doesn’t stop it before it even happens.

Kai helps Flynn stuff the bags into the area behind their seats. Flynn slides into the driver’s seat and Kai grabs his hand and gives him a sort of tender, questioning look. His slender fingers press into the hardened skin of his hand and send shivers up Flynn’s spine.

“It’s okay,” Flynn says, trying to reassure himself more than Kai, “Everything’s gonna be alright.”

Kai nods and lets go of Flynn’s hand. Kai returns to a still sitting position that he is sure is one of the numbered positions but he just doesn’t remember which one. Flynn lets a panic attack stew under the surface of his skin. The air in his lungs doesn’t taste right and it’s never enough. His vision is only clear on the road, his periphery blurred beyond usability.

Somehow, he makes it to the small log cabin next to the church.

Mrs. Dane lived alone, her husband passed a decade prior. Flynn, despite only being eight at the time, still remembers the suit his mother wrestled him into for the trip to the church. Mr. Dane was buried in the church cemetery.

Flynn steps out of his car and lets the crisp air of Fall snap him awake. Kai zips to his side, clinging to his arm. Kai’s fingers squeeze around Flynn’s arm and Kai nuzzles his nose into his shoulder. Flynn nods to himself and walks up towards the house, Kai on his heels.

He opens the door to let Kai and Mrs. Dane through before carrying all of her groceries into her home. All while, Flynn fights through the pain of hunger and fear. The ache of his stomach drags at his eyes. The emptiness in his gut almost feels too full and Flynn chokes back the urge to vomit up air.

Flynn can’t deny, the idea of any food in his stomach, no matter how revolting, was tempting.

Mrs. Dane gives him a warm smile, “Thank you, now about supper, I have a pork roast in the crockpot and I’m gonna bake up some potatoes for you and your little buddy. Now you two wash up and sit down.”

Flynn’s stomach growls and it takes every ounce of willpower he can muster to keep from curling in on himself. The cramps get worse by the second and they keep growing in area and intensity. Kai, after washing his hands, wraps Flynn in a hug. His eyes silently apologize.

Since Flynn has been giving Kai his food for the past couple of days.

Mrs. Dane finally calls them to the table. The food looks like gold and diamonds to Flynn. The pork is falling apart on itself and he can smell the spices and marinade from across the table. His mouth waters as he pushes Mrs. Dane into her chair.

Kai sits anticipatedly at the table, bouncing in his chair.

Flynn wraps an arm around his stomach as he sits. Mrs. Dane bows her head and says, “Let’s say grace.”

Flynn doesn’t hear what Mrs. Dane says as a prayer of thanks leaves her lips. The warm smell of food encapsulates his senses.

“Amen, Let’s eat.”

That’s all he had to hear.

If it weren’t for the years of table manners drilled into his skull, he might have ripped the pork out with his bare hands. He lets Mrs. Dane fills her plate first and then he fille Kai’s, out of both respect and to excuse the fact he wanted to eat everything on the table.

After the couple seconds that felt like years, he finally sunk his teeth into actual food.

His body just takes over after that and eats.

“Hasn’t eaten today hasn’t he?” Mrs. Dane says after a minute of Flynn snarfing down his food.

Kai, barely through a baked potato, shakes his head no.

Kai! Why do you betray me like this?!

“I knew it,” Mrs. Dane huffs, “I’ma kill that man, starving his son because of what, a lack of care!”

Flynn looks up and pauses eating, “I- It’s not- Um-”

Mrs. Dane shakes his head, “Let me tell you a story. When I was a young woman I had a sister, Anabel Peterson, she was a lot like you.”

Flynn shifts uncomfortably in his seat. He glances over and sees Kai leaning in, listening attentively.

“How so?” Flynn asks as he continues to stuff his face, slower now.

Mrs. Dane sighs, “Your Father likes to talk and most of the town knows that you… as we would call it back in my day, fruity.

That I’m gay. Yeah, he yelled it out in church last weekend.

“So was my sister, and she had… relations with a woman who was of a darker shade than we are. My Father found out one day and began to treat her very poorly and one morning I saw her grab similar things to what you have in your car and left. I have not seen her since.”

Flynn looks up from his plate and sees remorse and regret across the elderly woman’s face, “That must have been hard.”

“Yes,” she replies with a sigh, “I deeply regret not going after her, to take back many of the hurtful things I said.”

Kai looks back at Flynn and blinks. His eyes have a flavor of understanding that looked unfamiliar even to Kai. It is strange to behold. Flynn looks back at Mrs. Dane, “What are you getting at?”

“I know you plan to leave and never return, it is obvious and I do not blame you for the sentiment. I want to help you,” she says as she finishes her plate, “I know we will more than likely not see you again but I wish to at least make your last memories of here have some dignity.”

Flynn sighs, tons of worry and fear falling away like petals in a torrent. His head falls into his hands and has to hold back the reins of his tears to keep himself from crying in relief. “Thank you.”

“Pack your things here and let me know if you need anything, when you decide to leave come here and pick them up.”

The world both spins and tears for Flynn at once, some pieces of this plan come together and he finds himself smiling, “I- Thank you.”

Mrs. Dane smiles, “You’re welcome sweetheart, I hope God leads you to a better place than this one.”

Flynn and Kai look at each other and Kai beams a thousand stars worth of joy in Flynn’s direction. Flynn can’t help but absorb some of that happiness and smile at himself. The air seems lighter around him and for the first time in weeks he feels like he can breathe.

“Do either of you two want ice cream?”

Kai instantly perks up at the idea of anything sweet and nods frantically. The redhead practically vibrates in the chair.

Flynn nods, “Yes please.” Letting himself feel calm for a moment, he takes what he’s offered and eats.

Then his phone rings.

[imagineaworlds]

I Love You (Part Forty-Seven) -- Aaron Hotchner

Written By: @desperately-bisexual

Request: None.

Warnings: Cursing. Mentions of PTSD, Dom/sub relationship, death, etc-- everything Criminal Minds.. I think that’s it???

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Greenaway!Reader

Word Count: 12575

Timeline: Season 7 Episode 01. Three months after part forty-six.

For the past three months, the team had worked dozens of different cases across the country, but none of them mattered except for the one that Morgan, Garcia, and I had been working on privately. Since I came back to work and was deemed the temporary unit chief, I decided to reopen the Ian Doyle case. At first, it was just me. When I wasn’t at work, I was at home, hiding in the upstairs office, working on trying to piece all of the evidence together to figure out where the hell Doyle could have possibly gone. But then it was just too hard to keep doing it on my own, and all of my resources were wasted. There was only one person who had access to more information than I did. Garcia. So, I asked if she would be willing to help me, but it was impossible for her to keep a secret, so we invited Morgan to help us. From there, we managed to find Declan, but we didn’t tell anyone about it outside of our small group of three.

Finding Declan was an interesting process. I had hit a wall with it, hence why I acquired Garcia’s help, but she managed to find him almost immediately after she told Derek what was going on and he helped profile Emily in order to profile Declan. He figured that she had been the one to move him considering how she died protecting his identity and location. Before joining the team, apparently she lived in Reston, Virginia, something I didn’t know about her, but he managed to know. From there, we decided that it was probably to be close to Declan. So, we started narrowing it down. We knew that she liked cul-de-sacs, so as Garcia was going through the school system to find kids that looked like Declan, she compared if their guardian looked like Louise, his nanny, and if they lived in a cul-de-sac. Then, bam. We found them.

Morgan had been the one to offer up the idea of looking for Declan before Ian because if we found Declan, then so would his father eventually, which made our job easier. After that, it was just a waiting game. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could do beyond searching all of the footage to see if Ian ever showed up, which he never did. When Morgan and I were away on cases, Penelope kept an eye on him; and when we were in town but not working on anything, Morgan was driving baby Emily out there and taking her on walks around Declan’s neighborhood to scout the place. I think it was also just an excuse for him to have Emily more.

On our way to work one morning, Morgan and I stopped to get sandwiches for lunch, as well as some donuts from Leonard’s for the office since we were feeling generous, I suppose. At work, we split off so that he could sit in the bullpen while I dragged my feet up to my office. I didn’t understand how Hotch did it. Being away from the team all day, every day was so… isolating and exhausting. There was no joking with Morgan, teasing Reid, or… well, when Emily was around, there was no more chatting with her and gossiping about Hotch. I missed the way she used to slide in veiled threats into the conversation about how she would hurt him if he ever hurt me. So, then again, maybe it was a good thing that I wasn’t down in the bullpen anymore. Sitting at my old desk would have just given me a reason to sit there and stare at her desk all day, reflecting on what it was like to have her around, wishing that I could bring her back.

By lunch time, Morgan rescued our sandwiches from the fridge and brought them up to my office. He closed the door behind him and sat down across from me. I caught my sandwich as he threw it at me, then tossed him a water bottle from Hotch’s secret stash in his bookshelf behind the desk. I hadn’t really changed anything. For the most part, the office was still exactly how he left it. From the artwork to the family photos, to the stacks of case files that he practically left for me on his desk to work through, to his computer wallpaper of us, it was all still Hotch. The only difference was that I was finding all of his secrets now, like the water bottles, and totally taking advantage of them.

Morgan kicked his feet up on the desk, something Hotch would’ve never let him do in a thousand years, and dug into his lunch. I picked at mine for a moment while thinking. I was doing too much of that nowadays. Without my “other half” (or some cliché shit like that) around, I didn’t really know who to talk to 24/7 about what I was thinking and feeling. Sure, I could’ve talked to Morgan, but it was different. When I talked to Morgan, it was like we were brainstorming for a solution; but with Hotch, it was just like he was there to listen, and I could go on and on for hours, and he would hear me out, and he would only offer up a solution if he felt it were necessary. Sometimes I just liked ranting my thoughts to him. I liked watching how he would slowly get lost in the details of my face as I would be talking, and how he it looked like he was falling in love with me over and over again with every minute that passed. Skype and calling on the phone every day didn’t do that look justice anymore.

“Oh, my god—Oh, my god—Oh, my god!” Garcia came running into the office with a laptop balancing on one of her arms. Morgan and I turned to face her. “It’s him! It’s him!” She quickly set her laptop down on my desk and pressed play on a video. Morgan and I both leaned forward in our seats to watch the security footage from Declan’s house. “It’s Doyle—” She paused and pointed to a driver in a car passing by. It was kind of hard to see, but when she zoomed the image in and enhanced it, it was undeniably Ian Doyle.

“When was this?” I asked, jumping into action by standing from my seat and started collecting everything we had on this case thus far.

“Two hours ago.”

“He could have Declan by now. Fuck.” I looked at the two of them to say, “Okay, I think it’s time. I’m going to call Hotch to let him know, meanwhile, I need you guys to get the team together and start explaining everything. I want Reid and Rossi to go retrieve Declan and Louise after they’re briefed.” I grabbed my phone from my desk. “Go.” Just as they were leaving, I dialed Hotch’s satellite phone out in the Middle East.

Hotch and I had still been calling each other every day and Skyping as often as we could. The longer he was there, however, the busier he and I got with our two different jobs, which made it increasingly complicated to keep up with each other. But we made the effort. We knew that if at least one day passed where we wouldn’t talk, one day would inevitably turn into two, then three, and so on. I didn’t want to stop talking to him. As boring as the conversations could get at times, at least I got to see him. He was growing out a beard that I happened to love, but Jack hated. He claimed that it made his dad look old. When we could talk in private a little bit later, I told Hotch that I thought it was hot, and that I couldn’t wait to pull at it while he towered over me. He disliked when I teased him like that, though.

When I called, he picked up almost immediately.

“You’re calling awfully early,” Hotch said over the phone, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Do you have a minute?”

“For you? I have all the time in the world.”

I blushed to myself and looked down to watch the toes of my shoe dig into the ground over and over again. “There’s something you need to know, baby, and you have to promise to not get mad.” He didn’t say anything. “Morgan, Garcia, and I have been looking for Doyle while you’ve been gone.” Still, nothing. “We found Declan.”

“What?!”

“Hotch—”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this, Y/N? Do you know how stupid that was? Your whole career could—”

“I don’t care about that, Hotch. I really don’t. I knew that finding Declan was the best way of finding Ian, so I asked Garcia to help; and you know her, she couldn’t keep it to herself, so she told Morgan, and he insisted that he help us. He’s basically the one who found Declan. Without the two of them, I wouldn’t have any leads.”

Hotch sighed quietly. “Is Declan safe?”

“Yes.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Morgan’s still surveilling him—But, Hotch, listen, we were right. By watching Declan all this time, we got eyes on Ian.”

He hesitated for a moment. “You’re sure?” He sounded more scared than angry now. I hummed a “yes” in response. “Baby, listen to me right now.”

I bit my lip. “I’m listening, Sir.”

He chuckled slightly. “If you get eyes on Doyle, you need to take the shot. Got it? Don’t let him get away again.” He sounded out of breath now like he was running around. “I’m coming back to help.”

I felt my heart skip a beat and the air leave my lungs with one shocked gasp. He was coming back. After three months, I was finally going to get to hold him in my arms again, and I was going to get to kiss his lips again. Holy shit. He was coming home. My husband was coming back to me. I almost wanted to dance and cheer, scream from the top of my lungs how happy I was and that I couldn’t wait to see him; but I had to show a modicum of respect still, so I buried that feeling until I would get to see him again.

“You can do that?” I questioned cautiously. As happy as I was, could he really just abandon his post to come back like that? It sounded almost too good to be true.

“I put in the request to transfer back to Quantico about two weeks ago.” And he didn’t tell me? “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to get your hopes up on anything; but they don’t need me here anymore, so it’s not a big deal if they find a replacement.” I hopped slightly with joy and giggled. Hotch chuckled at me. “I can’t wait to see you, baby.”

Even considering the circumstances, I couldn’t wait to see him either. “Call me when you’re landing.”

“I will. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

----

By the time Garcia followed traffic camera footage across the state just to see where Doyle was hiding out, we had a SWAT team with snipers on call, and the team was ready to head out there. Just as I had ordered, Rossi and Reid headed to get Declan, but the drive was pretty far, so I didn’t expect to hear from them for a while, especially while we were in the early stages of staking out Doyle’s place. Morgan, JJ, and I were trapped in a van across the street from his apartment while SWAT was just down the road, and they had two snipers up on separate roofs. All of it was my call, though. The second we had reasonable cause to believe that it was actually Ian Doyle up there, I would be the one to dictate if the snipers or Morgan would be taking the shot, like Hotch said.

“That’s all Hotch said? ‘Take the shot’?” JJ questioned warily. I nodded and shrugged. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. Why?”

She shook her head. “Nothing…”

I eyed her suspiciously for a moment, taking into account how her gaze wasn’t resting on one thing, but instead a thousand different things, like she was too anxious to focus. It was odd, but I shrugged it off with the excuse that finding Doyle was a big deal. Since he killed Prentiss, we had all been itching to find him and avenge her. Out of everyone, I knew that JJ would want to know that Doyle was dead because of us. She wanted that justice. I couldn’t exactly tell why, but she had always been like that, especially since getting promoted to being a profiler.

And then my phone started ringing with a call from Spencer who had just arrived at Declan’s house. I figured it was just an update. I mean, him and Rossi were there to simply pick up Declan and Louise, that was it. But then something worrying happened when I picked up the call: Reid sounded concerned.

“Reid?”

“Declan’s missing,” he answered quickly.

“What?”

“We just searched the house, and he’s gone, so we called the school to see if he even made it home, and they told us that his mom picked him up early.”

“Louise?” I speculated.

“I doubt it.” He sounded annoyed now. “She’s dead.”

“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, then looked up at Morgan and JJ to tell them what was going on. They also cursed, and he hit the side of the car. “Okay. Reid, you and Rossi should meet us here in case we end up seeing—” The sound of a police car’s siren flew past our van, catching our attention. It was just a squad car. No, no, no, no. Fuck. That was going to scare Doyle off. Fuck.

“He’s inside!” Morgan exclaimed. We all turned to face the window to see the drape in Doyle’s apartment window shaking like it had just been disturbed. “I saw him!” Morgan was already fiddling with the door handle and pushing his way out of the car.

“Shit…” This wasn’t at all how I imagined this going down. We were supposed to just monitor the situation, get legitimate confirmation that Doyle was in there, not just Morgan claiming he saw him— But what choice did we have now? “Go, go, go,” I made the call, following Morgan out of the van and hanging up the call with Reid.

JJ, Morgan, and I raced inside first, the SWAT van pulling up behind us and the team moving in, too. When we reached the apartment number, JJ and I stood our ground in the hallway with our weapons raised, and I gave Morgan the signal to kick the door down, which he did without hesitating, and then he dashed inside. The three of us took turned towards different sides of the apartment in order to clear it. Morgan went straight into the living room/bedroom, JJ went into the bathroom on the left, and I stepped into the tiny kitchen on the right. He wasn’t there. Neither was Declan. Reid said that they couldn’t find Declan, so I only assumed that Doyle got to him first. Fuck! How the fuck did he—

“I’ve got something!” Morgan called out. I hurried into the living room/bedroom to see him peeking up at the ceiling inside of the closet. I cocked a brow and carefully approached. “He’s climbing to the roof.” There was a hole in the ceiling for some kind of secret tunnel that led upwards.

“Follow him,” I ordered. “I’ll take the steps. JJ, watch the door downstairs to make sure he doesn’t get out, and coordinate with SWAT to make sure that the block is locked down just in case. Get a crime scene team here to see if Declan was ever here.”

Morgan holstered his weapon then quickly pulled himself up into the tunnel to follow Doyle, meanwhile I hurried out into the hallway to start sprinting up the rest of the stairs, and JJ ran down them. How the fuck did this happen? How did we lose Declan like this, and how was Doyle actually planning on getting out of this?

And then I burst out onto the roof to see Morgan chasing after Doyle who was running for the fire escape on the side of the building. Morgan aimed his weapon, but didn’t shoot. Instead, he tried commanding Doyle to stop. Like that would help.

“I’ve got the shot,” one of the snipers said over the comms.

“Don’t shoot!” I exclaimed. “Don’t!” I knew what Hotch said about taking the shot if given the chance, but things were different now that we couldn’t find Declan in the apartment. Our only way of getting him back now was by keeping his father alive. Asshole. “Hold your fire!” When nothing came, Morgan tackled Doyle and spun him onto his stomach so that he could be handcuffed. ��You got it?” I asked him. He nodded while slapping the cuffs on Doyle. “I’ll have JJ take him back to the office while we start going through everything downstairs.”

Morgan groaned as he yanked Doyle up onto his feet. “You’re not gonna let me take a crack at him?”

“Not yet.”

Doyle chuckled. I squinted at him while searching his eyes for a reason that he could have possibly found this funny. He noticed my curiosity. “Lauren was right about you.”

Morgan tugged on Doyle’s restraints to make them hurt. “Shut up.”

Doyle kept laughing as Morgan pushed him towards the stairwell so that JJ could take him to the office like I had ordered. My only question, however, was, what the hell did he mean by that? Lauren was right about me? Right about what? The question lingered in my head as I sighed and moved to walk downstairs, too.

Afterwards, hours passed while we were combing through Doyle’s apartment, trying to find clues about where he must have taken Declan, as well as compiling evidence connecting him to Valhalla and Prentiss’s death. For someone in hiding, there was a lot he had with him. Usually, people in his situation would stay minimalist and wouldn’t have all of their condemning evidence in one spot, but Doyle was so cocky that he wouldn’t get caught that he didn’t bother to keep any of his current business elsewhere. There were so many guns in that one apartment that we could have started another small army. I couldn’t understand how on Earth someone would need all of that. Then again, Doyle already had a small army, and the reason they needed to smuggle all of those weapons out of the state was so that he could maintain power in Europe while he was underground. Well, looked like all of that was worthless now.

I sighed as I stepped outside of that tiny, dirty, smelly, cramped apartment for the first time in over ten hours. It really took that long. Doyle had been sitting at the office the entire time, brewing in his own thoughts, which was our strategy to break him. If he was left in darkness and silence long enough, he would open up. Hopefully. At least, Morgan and I would give it a shot when we would head back to the office. For now, we were down tearing the entire apartment to shreds. The bastard even had papers hiding behind the wallpaper.

When my phone started buzzing in my pocket, I sighed again and dug it out. “Hotchner,” I answered.

“Mmm… I could get used to that,” Hotch’s voice echoed over the phone, making me melt.

I perked up within an instant while looking down at my watch, spotting the time and how long it had been since he last called me, and how he promised he would call when he was close to landing in Virginia. Finally, I thought. “How close are you?”

“Ten, fifteen minutes.”

It was almost morning already. He was probably going to be landing just as the sun would start to peek over the tall buildings of Quantico. “I’m coming to pick you up.”

“Y/N, you should stay—”

“Nope,” I interrupted adamantly.

Hotch chuckled. “You’re really going to be a brat about this right now?”

“Mhm. You can scold me for it when you see me.”

“God, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Hey, sunshine,” Morgan said, sneaking up behind me, “you ready to go?”

“I’ll see you in a few minutes, baby,” I told Hotch. Before he could say anything in return, though, I hung up on him. I hid my grin as I buried my phone in my back pocket, then turned to face Morgan. “Can you handle the interrogation for a bit while I head to the airport?”

“He’s back already?”

“Yeah.”

Morgan nodded. “Go get him.” We smiled at each other. “No detours, though, sunshine. There and back.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I responded half-heartedly while already walking away from him. “Just remember, when this is over with, you and Clooney are going home!”

----

To say I was nervous would have been a drastic understatement. I had gone four months without seeing him. Four months without his touch, his kiss, his hold, his love. A lot could change in four months. People could grow apart in four months. I was absolutely terrified that even though we called each other every day, we might not have been the same Hotchners who said goodbye to each other at the airport a few months ago. I knew that I still loved him endlessly— maybe even more now that I had been starved of him for so long. But I didn’t know what happened to him out there. I didn’t know what new experiences he had that could have possibly changed him. For all I knew, he could walk off that plane in a few minutes and walk right past me without a care. I just prayed that he was still Aaron. That the man I fell in love with would walk off that plane and know exactly how to hold me again. It was like I could already feel his touch, even though the plane’s engines hadn’t died out yet. He was so far, but he was so damn close. This was the closest we had been in four fucking months, and I was just so ready to see him already.

The plane came to a slow and steady stop on the runway. With every second that passed, I felt a growing need to throw up everywhere. He was probably sitting in there, watching me through the window, grinning ear to ear because I looked so nervous and sick. He could likely see me, yet I couldn’t see anything but the sun in my eyes. He was always an asshole, but he even had to beat me to the first look. Asshole x2.

The door of the jet popped open, and it started slowly falling down towards the concrete, the stairs on the inside making a slow appearance. I thought about what was going to happen. How was I going to react? How was he going to react? Was it better to stay where I was or was it better to meet him at the bottom of the steps? I felt like even if I wanted to move towards the plane, I wouldn’t have been able to. I was frozen in place as my mind raced with questions and endless possibilities. But there was one thing that was consistent: I was going to hold my husband in my arms, and I was going to tell him that I loved him over and over again until I passed out.

The second I saw a foot step out of the jet, I started sprinting as fast as I could without stopping to think. The rest of him emerged, and Hotch looked around for me. After spotting me from the top of the stairs, Hotch jumped down the steps, dropped his bag on the runway, and started running towards me, too. He held his arms out, an invitation for me to jump and hold him tight, so that was exactly what I did. Our bodies clashed, but he still managed to catch me, even though the force sent him stumbling back a few unwanted steps. My arms flew around his shoulders, my legs wrapped around his hips, my face buried in the crook of his neck. It didn’t matter that he smelled like sweat, sand, and cheap deodorant, because he was finally home with me and that was all that mattered. Hell, I even enjoyed the smell since it just meant that I had him in my arms again.

I squeezed him tight with my arms and legs after he nuzzled his face— beard, sunglasses, and all— into the crook of my neck. The aching in my chest, my broken heart that had been falling apart during every second that he was away from me, slowly started to mend with every breath we took together. I couldn’t tell if I wanted to cry, scream, cheer, laugh, or all of the above. Every single emotion imaginable was flooding my body and the only way I could cope with it was by nearly squeezing the life out of him while repeating: “I love you, I love you, I love you” over and over in his ear. I never wanted to stop saying it. I prayed that he would never let me go again and that we could say those three words until there was no more breath in our lungs.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” we kept whispering like we were records stuck on repeat. Fuck, I missed the way he said it to me. I missed the way he said my name and the way he called me “baby”. Nothing felt more right than how he spoke to me and how he kissed my neck in between words.

When his beard started tickling my neck, I finally paused to let out a giggle. I leaned back, his arms still around my torso to hold me for support, and I got a good look at him for the first time in months. There was no screen between us, no shitty computer cameras, no god awful Skype buffer, no speakers that cut out every other word. He looked so different than how I remembered him. His face was slimmed behind the scratchy beard he had grown, and his eyes were more sunken with exhaustion— if that were even possible. Aaron Hotchner always had dark circles under his eyes, that was no secret. Between work, the kids, and wrangling me, Hotch never had time to sleep; but Pakistan kicked his ass, and I could see it in every little detail about him.

He watched me with the brightest smile I had ever seen on his face as I brought my left hand up to his face and scratched my nails gently down his beard. “This is even hotter in person,” I smirked.

“It has to go the second I get an electric shaver,” he laughed.

My smirk fell and I pouted, “Are you sure?” He nodded. “But I have literally never wanted to fuck you harder in my entire life.”

He paused and gulped. “Okay, so maybe it can stay for a few days.”

I perked up again at my little victory and scratched it again. “Please don’t ever leave me again. Please.”

“I’d rather die than go away again.”

“Don’t be hyperbolic, Agent Hotchner.” I hit his shoulder playfully. He grinned before tightening his arms around me again to make me lean in for a kiss. I grabbed his face, the hairs on his cheeks tickling my palms as I did so, and I moaned into his mouth. “I love you so much.”

His eyes screwed shut as he slid his tongue into the kiss and claimed dominance. I missed that feeling so much. I missed how he tasted, how he smelled, how he felt, how he had to dominate me every second of every day. I missed getting lost in his eyes and staring at his lips all day until I could finally kiss them until our lips were chapped. If there weren’t a million and one things going on outside of that airport, I would have begged him to take me inside and fuck me in the bathroom. It should have been impossible to need him that much considering everything that was going on with Ian Doyle, yet there I was, only thinking about showing Aaron Hotchner how much I loved him.

Hotch pulled away from my lips, but he kept his nose pressed to mine. “Emily?”

“At home with Jessica.”

“Jack?”

“At school.”

“You?”

“The most relieved I have ever been in my life.” I leaned in and kissed him again. I thought to myself: “Please, never let this end. Let us stay trapped in each other’s arms forever. Never let us get tired of kissing each other, of holding each other, of saying ‘I love you’. Never let the desperation for passion die. Never let me miss him ever again. Keep him by my side until we die of old age. Please.”

And just like he could read my mind, Hotch loosened his hold on me ever so slightly, making me drop down to my feet, and he said, “We should get back to the office.”

I shook my head. “Just… One more minute… Please.”

“One more minute will turn into an hour at least, you know that.”

“Is that so bad?”

“No, it isn’t.” Hotch cupped my cheeks and kissed me as hard as he could. After a short minute of him kissing me like he had been starved of it for years, Hotch pushed me away. Our hands fell to our sides and I bit my lip while I tried to focus on not jumping on him again. “We have to go.”

I tried to catch my breath, my chest rising and falling at a dramatic pace. It took every ounce of strength and self-restraint I had stored away to not jump back on him and kiss him again. I felt like I was going to cry because he wasn’t in my arms again. I felt like screaming and kicking— throwing a tantrum like Jack would. I felt like at any moment, the two of us would break, and I would tackle him to the ground before showering him in kisses and pinning him down so that he couldn’t leave me again.

Hotch stumbled away from me to grab his go-bag from where he dropped it because he had the same look I had, and I knew that he was sharing the same thoughts. When he came back, he took my hand, and we walked towards the car. I started catching him up on everything we knew about the case thus far. Ian and Declan, all of Ian’s business papers that he had in his apartment. I realized then just how little we actually knew. Hopefully by the time we got back to the office, Morgan would have something out of Doyle that would help.

I drove the whole way to Quantico because he was too tired from the flight and the time zones. He had one of my hands trapped in his instead of on the steering wheel, and he kept kissing my knuckles again and again. He wasn’t listening to me. Not that I blamed him. If he wanted to just talk shop and I was sitting there, not distracted by driving, I would’ve been antsy to shower him in love, too. But Morgan said no detours. As much as it pained me, he was right that there really wasn’t any time to drive home, or even pull to the side of the road to fuck Hotch. I really, really wanted to, though; so, I figured the longer I distracted myself with work, the better off we would be. After this, though… Once this was all resolved… I wasn’t letting him go.

At the office, Hotch and I headed up to the sixth floor, somehow managing to go that entire time without touching each other. I wanted to kiss him again. I wanted to hold him again. While we were standing in the elevator, I stared at him and thought about pushing him against the wall, but it wasn’t worth it right now. I hated this inner battle I was having to fight between wanting him all to myself in that very moment and just focusing wholeheartedly on the case. The worst thought hit me suddenly… Maybe it would have been better if he didn’t come back so soon… I mean, he was just so distracting, I felt like I couldn’t celebrate this win as much as I should’ve been.

And then we stepped onto the floor.

“Hey.” Hotch grabbed my hand, tugging me back a few steps towards him. “You trust me, right?”

I furrowed my brows as I turned to face him. Of course I trusted him. Why wouldn’t I? He was my husband, and we made a promise to each other a long time ago to not keep any secrets from one another. I had no reason to doubt him. I wouldn’t have met him at the airport like that if I didn’t trust and love him wholeheartedly.

“You know that I do everything for a reason?”

What was he on about? Was there something I missed between meeting him at the airport and walking into the building with him? Why was he suddenly acting so weird?

I put my hands on his biceps. “Listen. I know that you told me you were in an all guys unit. If there’s something you want to say about it, I’m all ears. And I’m going to support you no matter what.” I bit back a smile.

Hotch cracked a smile. “No,” he shook his head, “that’s not what I mean.”

“Phew.” I rolled my eyes playfully. “I thought I was going to have to give you the birds and the bees talk, and how love is love—”

“Shut up.” He laughed before kissing me.

I pushed him back gently. “I’m just saying, if you’re going to cheat on me, it should at least be with a guy so that you get to experiment a bit.” I patted his chest.

He was still laughing quietly. “What am I going to do with you, Agent Hotchner?”

“I don’t know, Agent Hotchner,” I responded as I let him pull me back in for another kiss. “I’m sure you’ll think of something before we get home after this case, though.” I pecked his lips again, then escaped into the board room.

Everyone was standing behind the round table, huddled together as they discussed something about the case. It seemed as though Morgan had just finished his first attempt at getting information out of Doyle, to no avail. They were discussing how he was going to approach the second try, but no one’s ideas seemed to stick since Morgan had an excuse for why none of it would work. It was like we had hit a dead end, even though Doyle was the end, technically. He was the one who took Declan, and he was the one who took our sister from us. Prentiss was dead because of him, and we weren’t going to let him get away this time.

When Hotch walked into the room, everyone fell silent and turned to get a look at him. Hotch really didn’t seem to care about our no PDA at work rule now, because as everyone’s eyes lingered on him and his beard, Hotch came over to me, took my hand in his, and kissed my cheek. A lot changed for him in the Middle East, I guess. He missed me and he didn’t care what rules we had. He wanted to just have me around all the time, and I couldn’t blame him. But, technically, I was still the unit chief until Hotch could officially come back, and I couldn’t let us break the rules. Now I understood why Hotch was always so adamant about me behaving while at work. It was excruciatingly painful to not touch and kiss him just because I was the boss and had to set an example.

I moved away from Hotch, taking my seat at the round table. Everyone followed my lead warily, their eyes still trained on Hotch. Him and JJ didn’t sit, though. They were the only ones who stayed on their feet at the front of the room. Hotch had his arms crossed, a frown hiding under his facial hair, his eyes wandering around the room as he thought nervously about something. This had to do with him asking about my trust, but I didn’t understand how. Him worrying about something and not telling me almost immediately was only making me worry, too. He needed to spit it out fast or I would go insane.

“Everything alright, Hotch?” Morgan asked, also taking notice of Hotch’s clear unease.

Hotch didn’t nod or give any kind of reassurance that everything was alright. Instead, he shifted his weight on the balls of his feet— a silent tell that something was definitely wrong. He kept his head down now, only glancing up through his lashes occasionally to look at me. A thought struck me that maybe my joke wasn’t really a joke in the hallway. Four months was a long time to go without me, and it probably didn’t help that all he got was shitty phone sex. Maybe he really did change out there in the desert. Maybe he was showering me in love because he was going to drop a huge ass bomb that said: “I’m leaving you” or “I’m quitting the BAU and running away forever” or “I’m taking the kids and you’ll never see them again.” Every shit scenario possible was racing through my head. Like I said, if he wasn’t going to spit it out soon, I was going to start screaming for answers.

“Nine months ago,” Hotch began, “I made a decision that affected this team. As you all know, Prentiss lost a lot of blood after her fight with Doyle. We told you that she succumbed to her wounds…” He hesitated a beat. “That’s not really the case.”

Shock filled the room as it dawned on each of us what Hotch was really saying. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions because I really, really didn’t want to get my hopes up… but it sounded like he was telling us that Prentiss was alive. That over the past seven months, we have been led to believe that she died in that hospital.

“The truth is, the doctors were able to stabilize her, and she was airlifted to Bethesda under a covert exfiltration.”

My shoulders fell. So, it was true. Emily Prentiss was alive. The woman we mourned the loss of for seven months was… still around all along? That was why Hotch asked if I trusted him. That was why he was being so handsy. He knew that I hated it when he kept things from me. He knew that I hated it when he would betray my trust like this. I yelled at him for weeks the last time he did it— which was our suspension over two years ago. He was asking about trust and touching me as often as he could because he didn’t know if this admission of the truth was going to break us apart. This wasn’t like him lying and going to ask for a transfer out of the BAU. This wasn’t like him lying to me about his health. This was Emily Prentiss. This was our sister we lost in the field. We buried her. Why did Hotch… What… I— My thoughts were too scrambled to form another cohesive thought other than: “How could he do this to us?”

“After she got better, she was reassigned to Paris, where she was given multiple fake identities so that she could be safe,” Hotch continued.

“She’s alive?” Spencer finally asked the clarifying question we were all dying to know the answer to.

Hotch nodded shortly, keeping his eyes lowered. He wasn’t even looking at me now because of the shame and guilt he likely felt.

“But we buried her,” Spencer croaked.

Hotch nodded again. “If anyone has any issues with the executive decision that I made, then they can take it up with me.”

“Issues?” Morgan asked angrily. “Issues, Hotch? Yeah, I’ve got a few issues, but why don’t you start with the fact that you let your own wife believe that Emily was dead and let them name your daughter after her because of it, hmm? Don’t you think that you owe Y/N an explanation?”

“Morgan,” I hissed quietly. It was neither the time nor the place to discuss my daughter. I had a few choice words for Hotch running through my head, but I fully intended on keeping them to myself until Hotch and I could speak privately.

“Emily’s alive, Y/N. How are you going to explain that to your daughter as she grows up?”

“Stop it,” I demanded more harshly.

There wasn’t anything Morgan could say to me that I didn’t already know. Hotch had betrayed everything we believed in and promised each other. He had told me countless times since meeting me that he would never lie to me, and every time he ended up breaking that promise, he would tell me that it wouldn’t happen again. But there we were. Another promise broken. Even worse, though, was the fact that he made a vow to me on our wedding day that he would always be honest with me. Always. And yet he kept this a secret from me. Did he not trust that I could have kept it a secret? Morgan was right, I was owed an explanation. Hotch kept this from me, his wife for nine months. What else was he hiding? How was I ever supposed to trust him again?

I stood from my seat and turned for the door. No one said anything as I took a step but came to a sudden halt when I discovered that my path was blocked by someone in my way. I felt like I was going to pass out. There was she was: Emily Prentiss… standing right in front of me. Back from the dead.

She let out a sigh of regret, but also relief, when our eyes met. She looked sorry about how all of this happened. And she should have been. Morgan sat on our couch for months, crying because he missed her so much. I named my daughter after her because I missed her so much and I wanted her memory to be remembered. What was it all for, though, now that was standing there? What was the point now? Morgan was right to be vocally angry because he knew that I couldn’t. But as mad as I was at Hotch, I felt an overwhelming need to hug her. I crashed into her. I didn’t hesitate. Nine months without her. Nine fucking months.

Emily caught me as I embraced her as tightly as I could. She rubbed small circles on my back as she held me close. “I am so sorry, Y/N.”

I sniffled into her shoulder while I hugged her tighter. She was there. Like, really there. I wasn’t dreaming or hoping anymore. It was her. Our family was back. And I was just so relieved. I couldn’t even be mad at her. But I could tell as I pulled away from Emily and turned to look at the room with her that Morgan was pissed beyond compare. Everyone was crying because they were so grateful for the fact that she was still alive. However, Morgan wasn’t. He was standing there, pouting with disbelief, his hands curled into shaky fists that were holding in all of his anger.

She carefully let go of me and approached Morgan. “Derek, you have to believe me when I tell you that not a day went by where I didn’t think about you guys and how sorry I am that things turned out this way. You didn’t deserve that.”

“I didn’t deserve to know that you were alive?” he questioned through gritted teeth.

“You didn’t deserve to hold a dying friend in your arms.” Prentiss extended her arms for another hug, a silent offer for him, which he took slowly, as if he were afraid that he would fall right through her like she was some kind of ghost. When they embraced, however, I saw Morgan’s anger wash away. Now, he was just broken. “I’m so sorry.” He squeezed her waist as tight as he could for as long as he could before she tapped out and parted from him. She turned to face me again. “I want to meet baby Emily, if you’ll let me, once this is all over.”

I nodded, still too hesitant to say anything.

She smiled. “Okay… For now, I just want to focus on finding Declan and bringing him home safe. What do you guys know so far?”

Reid immediately jumped to his feet like this was his moment to shine, and he started asking her questions about Declan, Ian, and Louise, but I couldn’t hear anything. Everything seemed so washed out and distant. The only thing that was clear to me was the shame on my husband’s face as I stood there, staring at him, silently letting him know just how badly he had fucked up this time around. He could hardly look me in the eyes.

“Can I see you in my office?” he asked.

Everyone watched us silently, wondering if I would correct him on the fact that it was my office now. Or maybe they were waiting with anticipation to see if I was going to blow him off considering I had been glaring at him the entire time since I found out that Prentiss was alive this whole time—and he knew! But that was exactly why I indulged him. I didn’t correct him, I didn’t argue with him, I didn’t embarrass him. I simply followed him to his office.

I sat in my chair at my desk, which all used to be his before he left. He sat down across from me in one of the seats I would sit in whenever I was called to meet with him in his office. He seemed so out of his element in that chair, and, honestly, I was glad. I wanted him to be uncomfortable. I wanted him to be physically and emotionally uneasy because that was how I felt every day while he was away, and that was how I felt since finding out that our daughter’s namesake was actually alive and well.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” I inquired, reclining back. He shook his head. “You were going to just let me think that she was dead in order to, what, make me feel better about naming our daughter after her? Why didn’t you try to stop me—”

“I did try. I asked you if there were really no other names you could think of, but you were so adamant about it and I couldn’t tell you the truth; so, I just had to let it happen.”

“Is that why you left?”

Hotch froze for a moment while searching my eyes, and before he even began nodding, I knew the answer. He sighed. “It was hard to keep lying to everyone, but it felt impossible to keep lying to you specifically, especially since you took Emily’s death so hard… So, I just… I ran.”

“So, you would have stayed if I knew the truth?”

“Yes.”

I scoffed and let out an exasperated chuckle.

“Baby, I am so sorry, you have to believe me. I wish things hadn’t happened the way they did.”

“Yeah, well, you had a choice in that, didn’t you?”

“Y/N, that’s not fair. I was just trying to protect her—"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, proceeded by Garcia cautiously stepping into the office. “Sorry, ma’am, but I found something.”

I nodded her over, holding my hand out for the file of information she put together. Hotch eyed me. Usually, it was him sitting in my current seat, ignoring me in his seat as he accepted another file from Garcia who had addressed him in the first place. Everything felt so backwards. But, then again, maybe that was what he deserved now that I knew that he had been lying to me this entire time.

“I was narrowing down a list of Doyle’s top ten enemies from what we know and what Morgan’s getting out of him. The only one who’s been in the states recently is Mr. Richard Gerace. He’s been here for the past two weeks with a work visa.”

“Is there any way to connect him to this?” I asked while flipping through the file.

“The guy who cut off the camera feed at Declan’s house had a scar on his neck...” She turned the next page for me and pointed to a mugshot of Gerace. He had the same exact scar on his neck, meaning it was definitely him who took Declan.

“Get me everything you can on him, please, Penelope,” I said while closing the file and setting it down on my desk. She hesitated. “What is it?”

“That’s everything I have.”

I sighed. “Can you call Prentiss in, please?”

“Sure…”

“Thank you.”

When she left, I sighed and looked at Hotch again. Neither of us said anything as we stared at each other uncomfortably, a barrier of trust broken between us now. I didn’t like it when he lied to me. Every time I told him not to lie to me, he promised he wouldn’t, and then he would, and I would be mad for a few days before forgiving him and moving on. How much longer was I supposed to put up with it? I couldn’t even count how many times he lied to me on my fingers anymore. Meanwhile, I could count the number of times I lied to him on one hand. At some point, enough was going to be enough, and if he wasn’t careful, it was going to be soon. As much as I loved him, I couldn’t keep living with the lies. What was more important to him? Me or protecting his secrets? If the answer wasn’t immediately me, then there was an entirely different conversation we needed to have at some point that included what our future was going to look like.

“We’re going to talk later,” I finally told him.

As we were coming back to the office together, Hotch stopped to ask if I trusted him, and at the time, of course I did… But now? I wasn’t so sure. Then again, I’d said that a dozen times before when he pulled this shit. The worst part was, that I knew that I was going to end up crawling back to him, and it was going to be an excuse for him to lie to me all over again.

Hotch nodded. “Yeah…”

There was another knock at the door, this time from Prentiss, who seemed too shy to invite herself in, even though I had requested her presence. I waved her in.

“Gerace,” I said, holding the file out for her. She slowly walked over and accepted it. “Garcia thinks that he’s the one who took Declan.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she insisted before even looking at the file. I waited for her to explain why she thought that. “Gerace gave up on Doyle a long time ago, and he’s too much of a coward to pull something like this off. Not to mention how meticulous the abduction was. Gerace doesn’t have that level of patience and organization.”

I scoffed and wiped my palms over my face. “He was our only suspect and lead.”

“I mean…” She flipped through the file. “That’s definitely Gerace’s scar… So, I suppose he had something to do with it, but I wouldn’t say he’s solely responsible. If he’s working with a partner, he’s definitely the submissive.” She flipped another page. “Hold on—” I looked up at her. “Look at this.” She turned the file to show me one of the shots from the security footage of Gerace turning the cameras off. “Look in the background.” There was a woman standing there, watching Gerace while cocking a gun at her side. Prentiss’s jaw dropped as a realization dawned on her. “This might have something to do with Declan’s birth mother, considering the overkill towards Louise, who was Declan’s mother figure throughout his entire life.”

“Do you know who she is?”

She shook her head. “No. Doyle never told me.”

“Would you be willing to go in and get the information out of him now?”

She looked between me and Hotch, almost as if she were waiting for permission from him, but then she recalled that I was calling the shots right now until Hotch could be reinstated into the unit by Strauss and Cody. She finally gave in. “I don’t mind giving it a shot.”

Since Prentiss was still just a visitor, she couldn’t technically be allowed to wander the floor on her own. Even though she knew exactly where the interrogation room was and how to get there the fastest, I still had to usher her there. So, without saying anything to Hotch, I started walking out. Prentiss watched him silently for a moment before deciding to follow me.

“You know,” she said while catching up to me on the ramp outside of my office, “unit chief suits you.”

“It won’t last long. It’s just until Hotch can come back.”

We continued on towards the interrogation room in silence. When we stepped into the mirror room, I saw that Morgan and JJ were there, watching Doyle who was sitting on his own, staring at the wall while he silently thought and worried about his missing son. With others around to “officially” watch Prentiss, I took my leave almost immediately, heading back to my office so that I could sit down, catch my breath, and have a moment to think.

When I got there, Hotch was already gone. I glanced across the bullpen to see that he was in the boardroom with Rossi, Reid, and Garcia, all of them working on finding who Declan’s mother was in case that was the next fresh lead we would get from Doyle. They were fine on their own. For just a few minutes, I could disappear, and no one would notice. So, I closed the door, spun the dial of the blinds until they were shut tight, and I immediately broke down. I didn’t even make it to my chair or the couch. I just fell right then and there.

I started crying with my face hiding in my hands. Getting Hotch back should have been the best thing in the world, and yet it felt so shitty. I hated that he lied to me again. I hated that things went down like that. I hated that our daughter was mixed up in the drama of it all now just because of her name. I hated that I was mad at the love of my life after just getting him back, because instead of wanting to hold him close until our last breath, I wanted to kick his ankles until my anger was gone—If my anger would ever go away.

And then there was a knock at the door.

I tried catching my breath and calming down enough to wipe my tears away, but the door opened before I could collect myself entirely. I hid my face in the shadows. It didn’t matter who it was because I was just hoping that they would leave me alone now that they saw me collapsed on the floor and hiding my face while sniffling.

“Sunshine?”

I let out a choked sob when I realized that it was Morgan who had followed me from the mirror room to my office. “What?”

He knelt beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Come here…” He turned me slightly until I was facing him, and we immediately pulled each other in for a tight hug. I hid my face in his shirt, letting my tears soak the fabric without care. “It’s okay. I promise. Just breathe.” He rubbed circles on my back to help me calm down slowly.

I started to catch my breath by sucking in deep breaths and letting out short ones. “You shouldn’t have brought up Emily earlier,” I whispered.

He had been completely out of line when he brought up my daughter in the context of Prentiss still being alive. That was a conversation for me and my husband to have at a later time when we could talk privately. It didn’t give him permission to put our predicament on blast. I was sure that everyone had been thinking it, too. I mean, they were all probably wondering the same thing I was, which was what the hell were Hotch and I going to do now that Prentiss, our daughter’s namesake was back? But, honestly, it was none of their business. Yes, Morgan was her godfather, but he wasn’t her father, therefore, he had no say. He would be the first to know when a decision would be made, of course, but not before then.

I slid out of his arms and fell back against the wall carefully to just sit there and stare into the darkness. “It wasn’t fair,” I continued.

“I’m sorry, cupcake…” He slid down the wall to sit beside me, then took one of my cold hands in his. “My emotions have just been all over the place, and I snapped when I didn’t mean to. I know that’s not an excuse, but…” He sighed.

“I get it.” I rested my head on his shoulder. Of all people, I understood the most how Morgan felt.

“Did you talk to him?”

“Kind of…”

“Are you going to forgive him?”

“Unfortunately.”

Morgan swung his arm around me so that he could hug me close to his side. “Do you ever just miss the old days when things were so simple? Gideon and Elle were still on the team. Pretty boy was still dorky and quiet all the time. Hotch actually talked to us and trusted us.”

“You mean talked to you and trusted you.” I chuckled. “He didn’t talk to me when I first joined the team.”

“Yeah, because he had a schoolgirl crush on you. That doesn’t mean he didn’t trust you. But wasn’t it so much easier back then when you two weren’t together, and everything was just about putting the back guys away, and nothing was ever personal…” He sighed. “I think we just haven’t been the same ever since the Fisher King.”

He was right. That was the first case where we were all effected personally, and an Unsub got under our skin, and tore our family apart. I mean, I assumed that it was because of Randall Garner that my sister left the BAU. If we had never gotten mixed up in that case, maybe she and Gideon would still be around. But then again, if that were the case, then we wouldn’t’ve had Rossi or Emily on the team, and I was genuinely happy that I knew them and that they were apart of our family now. Rossi was Hotch’s best friend who liked to help me pick on him from time to time. Emily was one of my closest friends… At least before she left. I didn’t know where we stood now. That was what Morgan meant by things being easier back in the day, though, I supposed. Things weren’t so messy.

“I think you’re right,” I agreed quietly.

----

Not even an hour later, Prentiss had already convinced Doyle to tell us who the mother of his child was and how to find her. With Garcia’s help, we managed to track her down. Her name was Chloe Donaghy, and she was a notorious crime lord who ran a human trafficking and prostitution ring. She and Ian had met about eight years before Prentiss met him. When she found out that she was pregnant with Declan, she tried to kill herself to make sure that his son would never be born, but Doyle stopped her before she could even swallow a single pill, and from that point on during the pregnancy, she was his prisoner. He kept her locked away. She was chained to a bed in a locked room in his heavily guarded home for seven months straight. She was given a healthy diet for herself and the baby, and Doyle had a doctor go to check on her every other week or so to make sure that they were still okay. Once she had the baby, however, she left. She wanted nothing to do with Declan, and everyone knew it, so Doyle practically paid her to stay away and to never tell a soul about their son.

However, once she found out that Ian was a wanted man and was in hiding, she decided that she wanted a piece of him in the name of revenge. So, she got the same idea as us. Knowing that Ian would try to find Declan, she waited until someone found him first—which happened to be us—and once she knew where her son was, she jumped at the opportunity to take him when everyone was too distracted to notice. We managed to track her down to Baltimore. It looked like she and Gerace took Declan down there, and they were planning on selling him to another one of Doyle’s enemies, a man by the name of Lachlan. That wasn’t good. If Declan left U.S. soil, there was nothing we could do. It would be left up to the CIA or another agency similar to them, but they wouldn’t care. So, I made a call.

I decided that the best way to ensure that little boy would never die at the hands of a revenge driven monster like Lachlan was to have our team pursue this. I knew the risks involved with the choice. I knew that my career was on the line, and that I would inevitably be demoted as unit chief—if I were lucky. Worst case scenario, actually, was that I would be fired. But I didn’t care in the moment, because all I could think about was the fact that there was a little boy out there, wondering why his own mother was doing this, and why he was facing danger again. And then I thought about Jack. Declan was around Jack’s age. I couldn’t bear to think that it could have been Jack in Declan’s shoes, and that if that were the case, I would want someone to fight for him until he was safe at home.

So, I made the call to use Doyle as a pawn in our game. We loaded Doyle into an SUV with myself, Hotch, and Morgan, and we drove down to the airstrip where Garcia found out that Chloe and Lachlan were catching a flight at together. Emily was against the idea. She was concerned that Doyle was going to get away, or that Chloe was going to get Declan and Ian, and all of this was for nothing. I wasn’t going to let that happen. We were going to get Declan back, and we weren’t going to let Doyle get away. After everything that happened over the past few months, I was going to die before fucking this up.

“You wanna do it, or should I?” Hotch asked as we pulled up to the jet on the runway. I gestured that he could go for it, but I didn’t look at him or say anything in response. I still wasn’t ready to do that much. “Okay.” Morgan handed him the megaphone, and Hotch stepped out of the car to announce, “Lachlan McDermott and Cloe Donaghy, this is the FBI. We know that you have Declan Doyle. To ensure his safety, we would like to make a trade. Declan for Ian Doyle.”

That was our cue to show off Doyle to the world, so Morgan and I pulled him out of the car, making sure that our grip on him was strong enough that he couldn’t wiggle out. And then we heard a gunshot, and I saw a muzzle flash from within the jet. No. No, no, no. There was no way they just killed Declan. I refused to believe it, but just in case it was true, we kept Doyle close to the car so that we could stuff him back in and drive off if we had to.

Suddenly, the door of the jet started falling open, revealing the steps that Lachlan started storming down with Declan in front of him. I let out a quiet sigh of relief at the same time as Ian. It didn’t last long, however, since Lachlan immediately put a gun to Declan’s head.

“Bring him here!” Lachlan demanded, referencing Doyle.

Hotch looked over at me. “You’re still the unit chief. It’s your call.”

I sighed quietly while trying to quickly weigh the pros and cons. It certainly wasn’t ideal to put Doyle in Lachlan’s line of fire, but if it was the only way to get Declan…

“Now!” Lachlan yelled.

Within an instant, I was pushing forward, Morgan following lead by helping me move Doyle towards Lachlan. When we were close enough, we pushed him onto his knees and waited for something to happen. Lachlan smiled wickedly. He said something to Doyle, but I wasn’t listening while my attention was trained on Declan and trying to figure out how I was going to grab him on time while Morgan made sure he still had a grip on Doyle. I just had to trust the process, I supposed.

When I heard movement from the jet again, I looked up to see Chloe limping out, holding her stomach from the shot she took from Lachlan. They must have argued about taking our deal. Before I could tell her to stay back, though, I saw how she was raising her arm and aiming at me, Ian, and Morgan.

“Gun!” Morgan shouted, tackling me out of the way just as the sound of a gunshot rang through the air. I groaned as the wind was knocked out of me. Morgan rolled off me to check to see if I was okay. “Are you hit?” I shook my head. “Doyle—” He spun around on his knees to see Ian falling to the ground while holding his bleeding neck. “Shit.”

Another gunshot fired, this time from Chloe aiming directly at Lachlan, instantly killing him. In retaliation, Hotch, Reid, Prentiss, and JJ all shot down Chloe as fast as they could. Hotch ran over to me, putting his hands on my cheeks while scanning my body with my eyes to make sure that I was alright, the same way Morgan had. I inhaled sharply as I caught my breath. I got that Morgan was just trying to protect me, but did he have to go all high school footballer on me? Fucking hell. We were on concrete. The tackle was worse than getting shot, in my opinion.

“Next time, I make the call. And it won’t be this one,” Hotch whispered to me, brushing my hair out of my face.

“Ha. Ha,” I responded sarcastically. “Help me up.” We clasped our hands together, and he pulled me to my feet, letting me stumble into his chest somewhat before I caught my balance. “Thanks.” I patted his chest. “This is why you’re the unit chief.”

He kissed my forehead. “You thought you were doing the right thing, and that’s all we can ever do.”

I glanced over to Doyle who was reaching out for his son, knowing that it would be the last time. A part of me broke somewhat. As much as I despised Doyle, I had nothing against his son, and seeing a bond between a father and his son, even though they hardly knew each other at all, made me think about Hotch and Jack. It could have been Hotch instead of Haley who died in our house two years ago. We were beyond lucky that he was still with us. That I had a husband who loved me, that our daughter had a father who wanted nothing more than to raise her away from all of this chaos, that our son still had a father who would protect him no matter the cost. We were, by some definition, “lucky” that it wasn’t Hotch and Jack there instead of Ian and Declan.

----

By the time we cleaned up the mess at the airstrip, I had called Jessica and asked if she could bring Emily to the office to surprise Hotch, but also because Prentiss asked if she could meet her, and I felt like after the long day we had, we all deserved that. I mean, she was our little sunshine. If anyone could change the mood entirely, it was her.

So, when we all returned to Quantico, I told security to keep an out for Jessica and the baby—to which they all cheered about how excited they were to see her. The team went up to the boardroom to start tearing down all of the photos and evidence on the walls. Another chapter of our lives closed. Over months, we had been working on a case where we only had a fraction of the pieces. The only person who knew every part of it and could end this once and for all had left, but when she came back, it ended, and now we could just breathe again. We had our family back. That had to count for something.

When I saw Jessica arrive in the elevator, I met her there so that I could still surprise Hotch and Prentiss. “Thank you for bringing her,” I said while crouching down in front of the stroller to see my lil’ bug. She was half awake, but just lucid enough to play with my finger as I wiggled it in her face. “I owe you.”

“It’s no big deal, I swear. I was on my way to pick up Jack from a playdate, and this was on the way, anyhow.”

I glanced up at Jessica. “We can pick him up later. You don’t have to race around for us like this.”

Jessica smiled lightly. “What else am I going to do?”

I stopped to think about that for a moment, considering how we were her only family around now that Haley was gone, and Roy was… Well, Roy didn’t like having Jessica around because she was a very hands-on and task-oriented person when it came to family, and he didn’t like how overbearing and protective she was of him. So, we were the only ones that were around and in need of help. I just felt bad sometimes because it felt like she was our nanny or something. Then again, every time this conversation came up where I would tell her that all of this was unnecessary and that I felt bad, she would always argue that she loved doing it and that it was no big deal. If it really were a problem, she would have ditched us months ago.

“Okay,” I gave in. “We’ll see you at home, then.” I stood to hug her.

“See you at home.”

When we parted, she leaned over to say goodbye to baby Emily quickly, then waved to me as she walked towards the elevator. I waved back shortly before pushing the stroller up the ramp towards the boardroom. Inside, I could see and hear everyone chatting and catching up with one another. Rossi was hogging Aaron. He was so happy to have his buddy back after all this time, but he was still trying to convince him to shave the beard. Over my dead body. I loved that beard, and after everything that man put me through today, I was going to get the chance to scratch my fingers through it as he fucked me. Come hell or high water, I was going to make that happen.

I pushed the stroller into the room, and everyone fell silent. This was the first time Hotch had seen her in… months, and this was the first time Prentiss was going to meet her. Everyone wanted to be witness to it, and no one wanted to disrupt the moment. So, when I spun the stroller around, everyone held their breaths. I tried to ignore them as I pulled the top of stroller back to reveal Emily.

“May I hold her?” Prentiss asked, looking up at me with the brightest smile I had ever seen from her before. I nodded. Prentiss reached into the stroller, buried her hands under Emily, and lifted her up. “Hi, there, baby girl…” Prentiss cooed. Emily kicked and fussed in Prentiss’s arms.

As I watched Prentiss rock Emily side to side in her arms, I felt someone’s arms snake around my waist and pull me backwards into a hug. I smiled and rested my head on Hotch’s shoulder. His beard scratched my cheek slightly as he pressed a gentle kiss against it. I giggled and nuzzled into his touch as much as I could while thinking about how I missed this feeling so bad every single second he was away from me. All those rules we had for so long before he left didn't matter anymore. Not when he had been away and all we wanted was to hold each other and love each other.

“She has your eyes, Hotch,” Prentiss said while Emily giggled. “Yes, you do,” Prentiss teased with the same kind of baby-talk voice everyone used around kids. “You are just too darn cute.”

“I missed you so much,” he whispered in my ear before kissing me.

“I’m still mad at you, Aaron,” I whispered only for him to hear. He loosened his grip on me somewhat. “And I don’t know when I’ll stop being mad.” He hid his face in the crook of my neck to hide his disappointment from everyone else. “But I know that I love you, and that, with time, I’ll learn to forgive and forget about this. Until then, I just need you to bear with me while I navigate rebuilding what trust I had given you, and asking you to give me answers, or asking that you give me some space—whatever it is, I just need you to understand. Can you do that?”

He nodded against me.

“We’re going to be okay,” I sighed, almost like I was trying to convince myself, too. “We’re going to be okay…”

-----

criminal minds family: @peggy1999 @gorgeousdarkangel @alex--awesome--22 @oceaneblu @brithedemonspawn @absolutemarveltrash @bshelley322 @rousethemouse @sunshinepower17 @weexinling @pettttyyyc​ @Braty-angel

[silverkoushi]

haikyuu!! headcanons

⇢ scenario: how you’d spend the holidays with them!! | read pt.2 here! ⇢ feat. : suga, hinata, & kageyama (karasuno) x gn!reader ⇢  wc & warnings: 1.7k, none ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ this is me trying to psych myself up for the holidays aha... thinkin of doing more if i get the inspo and make it in time ><

sugawara koushi ୨୧ ˻˳˯ₑ*॰¨̮ the holiday spirit with him is unsurprisingly soft and domestic!! he’s the kind of guy that loves to uphold traditional celebrations like the holidays, your birthdays, new years— things like that because it’s important for him to create memories that you can look back on many years later. you bet the holiday decorations will be up mid-november, so once you see him struggling to hang multi-colored lights along the exterior of your house, you have no choice but to laugh at him at first but eventually help him out!! his cheerfulness and child-like excitement nearing the holidays becomes contagious so the two of you start matching everything: penguin sweaters, (ugly but comfortable) red/green pajamas, mugs that have those cringey couple labels on them— basically, you name it, you and suga have two versions of it to wear/use!! suga would be in an extra-baking mood, too!!

if there’s a holiday party (probably at the school he’s teaching at) that you would be attending with him, suga will volunteer to be in charge of baked goodies! sugar cookies, brownies, donuts with cinnamon sugar, maybe even a raspberry choco cake roll?? the possibilities are endless with your pastry chef of a man, and ofc you make it your duty to help him out in the kitchen!! baking til 2 or 3am, sometimes just goofing off with the flour, cookie dough on the tips of your noses, and suga stealing a kiss (or a lick) here and there. all the while your favorite holiday playlist hums in the background of your colorfully lit home, pictures of the two of you hanging around a tree, santa hats bouncing up and down atop your heads the way you dance everywhere, his arms snug around your waist. while you wait for the last batch of cookies in the oven, suga has already prepared his original hot cocoa for the two of you, making sure he adds extra mini marshmallows in your elf mug tonight— you sit by the couch overlooking the decorated frenzy of your surroundings. and you know you made the right choice spending it with him. :) when the actual party happens, o god the kids love you!! calls you his partner for lifey!! sth cute like that and u don’t know if suga taught them that or they just made it up lol either way, you’re so very excited to see how the love of ur life interacts with his students as, you guessed it, he’s so so good with them!! they run up to him, bouncing up and down just to get a bite of his baked goodies and while he’s handing them out, he also gives them a handwritten card. for each n every one of them!! when did he do that?? you question to yourself, but when he seesn you giving him an incredulous look, he just sheepishly smiles and says, “when you fell asleep on the couch last night, i wrote them last minute.” o,, that’s why when you woke up, u don’t even remember lying down in the bed but you surmise suga had carried you all the way there too :’) 

they sing a lot of holiday songs, play those party games like trip to jerusalem or once the music stops, you have to stop dancing or you’re out type of game and just overall lots of fun filled moments and you feel thankful for witnessing such a pure, innocent sight right around the holidays!! ofc once it’s all done and he bids them goodbye with a hug, a hi five or a pat on the head, suga doesn’t forget about you and puts up a mini mistletoe by the door when everyone had left. he has that teasing smirk on his face and you’d do more than just kiss him bec of it but uh, you’re still in the classroom so you give in with a chaste yet sweet kiss on his lips. he returns it a little deeper, but you push his chest off playfully, and boop! him on the nose. “later, sir,” you reprimand lightly, yet cheeks blushing at your interaction with him in his workplace. he shows that toothy grin, and intertwines ur fingers together as u walk to your car and finally spend more time together again <333 his most favorite part of this season!!

hinata shouyo ୨୧ ˻˳˯ₑ*॰¨̮ be prepared for a very hyper and energetic holiday week with this guy!! imagine you two are still in college, he has a break from playing professional volleyball to spend these times with his family. and he chooses to spend most of those days with you!! he is actually very excited to bring you home to meet his mom and (not-so) little sister, and it’s very nerve-wracking knowing that it’s an important holiday for them to be together as a family— and then you’re just gonna crash it like that??? BUT sho doesn’t see it that way! he already sees you as a person he’ll definitely experience even more holidays the next year, and the one after that, but in order to ease up the anxiety that has been building up in your system, he tells you of his extravagant plans for the two of you before going back to his parents’ house!! think amusement parks in the winter, ice skating in frozen lakes, walking on boardwalks with two styrofoam cups of hot choco for him, and a peppermint mocha for you!!

o, and if there’s some downtime with your adventure, he’ll drag you outside where the snow is ankle deep, tells you to take a picture of him in the cold, earmuffs hugging the sides of his temple so warmly that you find so adorable. you’re about to pull your phone out until you feel cold, wet, melting ice smacked onto your cheek!! “SHO, WHAT THE HECK—” you don’t even have time to protest because WHACK, one more snowball, but he missed and it got to your jacket this time. luckily, your phone was still okay but your boyfriend definitely won’t be once you find him as he had started running, your voice calling out to his name in the breezy wind. so that whole afternoon, you were seen having a ridiculous snowball fight around campus (you guys stayed in the dorms until you were ready to leave), laughing when you threw one directly at his open, cackling mouth. shouyo started choking on the snowball, but you were still wiping tears from your eyes at the hilarity of the situation. “STOTPF IM LITERALYLYL DYUINGGG” “don’t be ridiculous” “JDFSKFDJH” and that’s when you actually run towards him, patting his back rather forcefully because oh god what if you did make him choke and his family won’t have a son coming home this time around?!

while you worry in your head, shouyo had already tackled you to the ground, snow engulfing your bodies together. “let’s take a picture here, this is the perfect spot!” he’d chuckle, peppering you with winter kisses, sending shivers down your arms not just because they were cold but also wow, you’re so lucky to be with a guy like him during this season. suddenly, you anticipate meeting his family :)

kageyama tobio

୨୧ ˻˳˯ₑ*॰¨̮ you know what you’re very excited for that kags isn’t? his birthday falls on the week of christmas, and any other normal person would just think, “ah, i can just combine his gifts into one!” but for you that’s a big no-no. and kageyama knows it, and he’s flustered and shy because everyone in his life up until the point he’s met you had always just given him a 1 for 2 type of gift. not that he minded, that’s all he’s ever known in his life so when you promised him a big birthday bash and a special holiday gift, he’s scared for what’s to come,,, although, you know he’s not big on surprises or bigger gatherings, but you wanted to see his reaction as to how you planned it all out! in reality, you just wanted to spend precious time with your bf on his bday and an early christmas before he leaves to go visit his family :(

after tiring hours of vball practice and finals (he’s gotten better at studying, don’t underestimate this guy!) he sleeps in on the day of his birthday, not even realizing the night prior he’s turning a year older that day!! you creep up to his dorm with the spare key he has given you, place the milk and berries cake you ordered yesterday on his desk, and surreptitiously clasp the paper birthday hat on his sleeping head. the guy doesn’t even stir!! stifling your laughter, you pull out your phone and snap a picture of him and you together, your lips puckering to kiss his cheek and— you forgot to turn your phone into silent mode! apparently the click was loud enough for his eyes to flutter open, and when he realizes you’re next to him he feels a sense of relief, but at the same time the rubber around his face became bothersome… only when you start singing happy birthday did it dawn on him… and he can’t get mad, it’s you, how can he??

you eat a piece of the milk n berries creme cake on his bed, talking about the day you’re gonna spend with him.. and you ask what he wants to do bec it’s his special day!! this gets him blushing since he thought you had this elaborate party with lots of people come, and now he feels guilty and grateful as to how thoughtful you’re being for him… he asks if he can sneak in a practice session for vball for at least an hour and you agree, guessing that would’ve come up sooner or later. anyway, aside from that his birthday was spent strolling around the town center near campus, snow underneath your boots and snowflakes showering your hair,,, he places his beanie on yours so it doesn’t get messed up and you thank him with a nose kiss… rudolph, is that you??

you take him to shops so you can buy matching sweaters <3 and he OBLIGES, seeing the gleeful expression in your eyes and smile, how can he resist the beauty radiating off you today? this is the best birthday gift he can ask for. you end the day by grabbing some milk tea, spending the rest of the night getting cozy under blankets, and watching cheesy romcoms to which kags just shields his eyes away… the embarrassment!! >< you end up sleeping in his arms, the ending credits with christmas music playing in the background. the next day, you both wear your holiday outfits (he has polar bear and yours is a panda!!) and take lots of pictures bec you know you’ll miss him when he goes back home :(( he immediately makes one of the selfies u took as his lockscreen: the two of you squish yourselves in between the snowman you both created. your face is lit up with utmost happiness, and kags is just looking at you with a loving grin to his smile as well. :)

[silverarmedassassin]

...and everything nice

bucky x reader | word count: 1296 | warnings: fluff, fluff, and more fluff

a/n: so, this was not my intended halloween fic, but i had this idea late last night and just ran with it. I'm currently sick with a killer sinus infection and discovered the beauty of pumpkin spice lattes yesterday, so this kind of just happened. it’s not the best thing i’ve ever written, but here it is! this is going to act as my submission for @wonderlandmind4​‘s fall/winter challenge! my prompt will be bolded. enjoy! :)

divider by the lovely @firefly-graphics​

What a time to get sick.

You haven't had the slightest hint of a cough at all year, not so much as a sniffly nose. Then boom, the day of Halloween comes around, and you’re confined to the bed or the couch. Body aches, runny nose, obnoxious cough, and all. And you are mad.

You’d scored an invitation to Tony Stark’s ridiculously over-the-top Halloween party this year, and you have to miss it. Not only did you have the best costume picked out for the evening, but you were finally going to get to experience a Stark party. But mostly, you were bummed about not being able to spend the evening with Bucky.

You'd met Bucky, like any true whirlwind, not quite friends-with-benefits but less than "official" romance starts, by accident. A chance encounter in Central Park had led to an afternoon of coffee and conversation. You swore that on that mild spring Saturday afternoon inside a lowkey diner away from prying eyes, you felt your entire world shift.

Despite the complicated nature of your non-relationship, Bucky always managed to sneak away from official earth-saving business to spend some time with you. He often spent his evenings off of training recruits with you in the city and long weekends snuggled up on your couch, a slew of movies both past and present flashing across the TV.

"I don't even have the good candy," you moan as you toss a package of Skittles into the now half-empty candy dish on your coffee table. All you want is a king-sized Snickers and a pumpkin spice martini.

The thought of pumpkin spice anything makes you groan, realizing that, despite being so late into the season, you've yet to have anything in the signature seasonal flavor. You'd sworn to Bucky that you would take him to get a pumpkin spice latte with some pumpkin spice Oreos and end the day with a pumpkin spice kiss or two, but that plan never had the chance to play out. If it wasn't HYDRA cronies attempting to revive the long-defunct terrorist organization, it was a new alien race that used the knowledge that, at one time, the Avengers had been defeated to attempt a planetary takeover. All month it was like you were living in a horror movie. So much so that you'd yet to even watch one.

You burrow down into the blanket nest you've established for yourself and flip through the channels in hopes that something will catch your eye. As you settle on some ghost hunting show you have zero interest in staying awake to watch, a soft knock on your door echoes through your dark, quiet apartment. You blissfully ignore it, having not bought candy for trick-or-treaters this year and frankly not being in the mood to entertain children.

A beat passes and, when you think whoever is at your door has given up and moved on, the knock comes again, this time a little more forcefully.

"Are you kidding me?" you grumble and wrap the thick quilt a little tighter around your shoulders as you stand. You shuffle your way slowly over to the door, fully prepared to rip whatever parent or teenager on the other side a new ass because no answer means no candy, ugh. But the sight that meets you on the other side makes you take a startled step backward.

There on your doorstep, in all his tall, dark, and handsome glory, is Bucky. "Hey," he says, his trademark smile resting gently across his lips.

"Shouldn't you-Why are you-" As you try to stumble through a competent sentence, a coughing fit cuts you off.

“Hey, hey, come on now,” Bucky says as he wraps you up under his flesh arm and guides you back into your apartment. “I made my appearance and had Steve cover for me for the rest of the night. No one’s gonna miss me.”

As he settles you back onto the couch, you notice the large grocery bag he’s carrying with him. “Did you bring chocolate?” you ask between sniffles and reach for the bag. Bucky only laughs and pulls the bag away from your grasp.

“Something better. Have you taken any medicine lately?”

You shake your head and frown. “The stuff I have is disgusting.”

With a chuckle, Bucky takes the bag with him to your kitchen and starts to rummage around. “Where is it? You’ll only get your surprise if you tell me.”

You mutter that the cough syrup is in the bathroom. He makes quick work of retrieving it, measuring the green liquid out, and handing the measuring cup over. You stifle a gag before downing the cup, slamming it on the coffee table like a shot glass. “Look, I took it. Now, what did you bring me?”

“So pushy,” Bucky mocks as he sits down beside you. You’ve never been so grateful for an immune system as enhanced as his. You scoot over a little, just enough that your thigh is resting just slightly against his, and bask in the warmth that radiates from him. As he begins to grab item after item out of the bag, your foggy brain begins to register the theme.

“Where did you get all of this?” you laugh as you grab for the pumpkin spice Oreos you’d just been thinking about not ten minutes prior.

“I know how excited you were to get me to try all these things, but I’ve been gone all month,” Bucky says as he places the last bits from the bag. “And, since you’re not feeling well, I thought I’d bring the fun to you.”

You watch Bucky rip open a bag of mini pumpkin spice donuts and pop one in his mouth, excited to see his reaction. He had been skeptical of the pumpkin spice craze. He wasn’t a big fan of pumpkin, to begin with, and yet here he was, popping two more donuts in his mouth and reaching for the Twinkies.

“This is like heaven in my mouth,” he says around the spongy dough, stopping mid-bite when he looks over at you. “What?”

You can feel your gaze soften as you look into his pale blue eyes. What started as a miserable, lonely night, curled up on the couch feeling sorry for yourself, has turned into one of the best Halloween nights you’ve had in a long time.

“Thank you, Bucky. You really didn’t have to do this.”

He shrugs and bumps his shoulder against yours. “Hey, I am the pumpkin king, baby! Anything to see my girl smile.”

Your smile, the one Bucky is most definitely responsible for, falters a little when he says that. My girl?

“I uh, I mean…” Bucky must register what he said because he starts to backtrack. “It’s just that...I mean...I…”

You let your gaze travel down to his lips and back up, and can see the large gulp Bucky takes as he watches your eyes. Before you can register exactly what is happening, he’s leaning in for a sweet-laced kiss, innocent at first and then he deepens it. Pumpkin spice is still heavy on his tongue as it slips past your lips, mixing with a taste unique to Bucky to create an intoxicating sweetness you never want to lose. You do, however, when Bucky pulls away just far enough to rest his forehead against yours.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a really long time,” he says before he pecks your nose.

“What took you so long?” you laugh as you lace his metal fingers with your flesh ones. “Because it’s kind of all I wanted to do since I’ve met you.”

Bucky lets out a playful growl before coming for another kiss. The pumpkin spice goodies and terrible show are long forgotten.

[leggomylino]

Braked, Trifled | Han Jisung

Genre: slice of life, college au

Pairing: Han Jisung x fem!reader

Word count: ~1.5k

A/n: Masterlist in bio~ | Based on true events ♫

- ♫ - ♫ - ♫ -

[12:11 오전]

The inertia that pushes your car forward makes your head spin. Like being on a roller coaster that stops all too quickly. 

“What was that?” Your friend asks, turning around. “Did you just hit the brakes hard?”

Your eyes travel up to peer through the rear view mirror. “No…” you speculate, watching as the shadow of a tall, 20-something year old boy steps out onto the curbside. Your vision narrows. “Some punk just hit me.”

It was just after midnight. Your friend Daewon’s birthday was today, and to surprise him you and your other friend Junyong made plans the previous afternoon to throw him an all-day surprise party, along with the rest of their rookie college music group, Noir. Your town’s local Dunkin’ Donuts was just a hop, skip, and a jump down the road from campus, and being a Tuesday night with a new semester just around the corner, you weren’t expecting anyone to be out, especially at this hour. Even so, there were plenty of better places to go for partying than...a local 24/7 donut shop.

Which is why you were baffled to find the rival enemy, Han Jisung of the infamous 3Racha and Co., quarreling before your newly-imprinted bumper.

"Han I told you for the last time that's the accelerator! Dang it, I should have listened to Chan and not let you drive—“

"How are we gonna tell this to Minho…it's his car..."

Han waves his hands peacefully before the crowd. “Okay, okay,” he states, looking back at the imprinted [car model]. “Everything’s fine, it was just accident so— sh*T WAIT I USED CHAN’S LICENSE!” He suddenly huffs, making an elaborate 180 in behavior to stamp his foot like an immature child. “You're the one that wanted donuts at 12 am!!!” He accuses, pointing to an orangish-blonde boy. Definitely a part of the squad, but not one of the 3Racha fiends. 

Freckles huffs back. “Well EXCUSE ME FOR WANTING TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!!”

"THAT'S NOT EVEN A REAL THING!” The one from the passenger’s side erupts; another groupie. “BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!!!"

“Aaaah,” Han groans, palm on his forehead. “Okay, Seungmin’s right, we need to calm down. Like I said, everything is fi—“

“It’s not fine,” you cut in, glaring. Han jumps, seeing as you appeared to be a ghost behind the glow of taillights. “I’m pulling up over there.”

You point a couple parking spaces to the left of the drive-thru, and he nods, swallowing. A nervous glint about him. Ignoring your late-night drinks and dozen Boston Cremes, you pull up to the designated area, sighing as your head hits the steering wheel. Junyong pats your shoulder solemnly. “It’s okay. We’ll get through this. It’s just a fender-bender, so you don’t have to tell the insurance company— I’m sure he’ll agree,” he added, nodding behind him. He turned his head to glare out the back window. “...But seriously, who hits a car in a drive-thru? You’re supposed to inch forward, not ZOOM like Speedy Gonzales...”

Wasn’t that the truth... Shrugging, you open the door, preparing to rendezvous with the enemy. In all truth, in all honesty, you were annoyed at the notion; but the fact that it was Han Jisung, well, that made you livid. 

He was, after all, the boy that had instigated war between the two groups; by stealing Seunghoon’s file, and writing his group’s name on it as the demo for their music final. He stole Noir’s song, and made it their own. And nobody stopped him.

“I’m so, so sorry…” he starts, walking up with your order. “Here’s your stuff…”

You take it from him stiffly, passing it to Junyong, who came running up beside you. Sensing the awkward tension, he dips back to the safety of the dented vehicle without a word, gulping his Matcha Latte down.

“Gimme your info,” you demand, wanting to keep this short. Han begins to sweat.

“Uuuh…” he nods, slowly, and juts a thumb over his right shoulder. “R-Right, lemme just—“

“Here,” one of his friend’s says, extending a piece of paper. He has brown hair and matching eyes, paired with a calm, logical aura. You’re pretty sure you heard Han call him Seungmin. “I wrote it all down for you. If it’s alright with you, we’d like to keep the insurance companies out of this situation, so...we’d be happy to pay for the damages out of pocket. We’re very sorry.”

“Hmph,” You scoff, snatching the paper. As genuine as he may seem, it’s probably a fake number, with a false address and a made-up company name. Some forged on-the-spot license numbers. You glout over the paper and nice handwriting.

“Something wrong? Did I forget anything?”

“Show me your license.”

Han flinches, Seungmin remaining very still. Their faces both harden into something frantic. “...Well...” Seungmin begins, “...about that…”

“You don’t have your license?” You frown. “You could be arrested for this, you know.”

Han chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his neck. “Ha-ha, yeah, I-I know—“

“Then why were you driving without it?” Your arms cross. “You should always have it on you, always. It’s careless to leave it at home, or in another car, or somewhere else...what are you laughing about?!” You holler, whipping over your shoulder. 

Junyong covers his mouth, bowing his head so only his eyes peer over the hood. He takes an exaggeratedly loud sip of his Matcha Latte. “Nothing!” he shouts, “It’s just...” ...Sip. “...you kinda sound like his girlfriend or something, scolding him like that.”

“Huh?!”

“Oop!” He quickly ducks back into safety. You sigh, overly annoyed and done with it all.

...Zen, Y/n. Totally zen.

“...I’m...sorry,” you manage, biting the side of your tongue. Apologizing to the enemy should be treason! “This is just such a pain. But I understand it was an accident.” You look each of them in the eye. “Are you okay? No one was hurt, were they?”

Han opens his mouth to speak, but his buddy stops him, covering it in an odd fashion. “We’re fine,” he insists, smiling. “And, again, we’re so sorry about this.”

“...Right…” You rummage through the bag around your bodice, flipping out your mini planner and tearing off a page. “Here’s my information. You can call or text me about the damages tomorrow, er…” You smile, just a little. “Later this afternoon.”

“Yes!” Seungmin states, taking the paper and passing it to Han Jisung, Enemy No. 1. “We’ll definitely do that!”

You press your smile further, forcibly, politely. “Grea—”

Flash!

“OW!” 

From Han’s...if you’re recalling correctly, “Minho’s” car...you see Freckles squint, hands raised to block the flash bombs going off behind you like the paparazzi just showed. 

“WHO LEAVES THE FLASH ON?!?!” he cries, swatting at...the air. You spin around to scowl. 

“Junyong! What are you doing?!”

“Don’t worry, Y/n!” Junyong howls. “I got pics of everyone involved, and both license plates! They can’t run now!!!”

“......” Well, the Matcha Latte was certainly kicking in. You would have thrown a donut, had one been available to you. 

While being ushered off, Han continues to stare at the paper curiously. Then, as if struck by a realization of some sort, he looks up at you over his friend’s shoulder, smiling.

“I thought I recognized you! Y/n L/n, right?”

You blink, unenthused. “That’s what it says on the paper.”

Han just continues smiling. There’s some sort of sparkle in his eye that’s visible even in the blotched moonlight of storm season. It sends a shiver down your spine, even after you’ve closed and locked the car doors. “I’ll definitely call you!” He yells, waving. Like a couple of old friends reconnecting, excited to catch up over donuts and coffee.

But he was the enemy. Han Jisung had done something wrong, something cruel, something that had yet to be concluded that you weren’t sure you could ever forgive...so, then...

You start the car with a gentle whir of the engine, setting the gears into reverse. Hesitantly, you glance into the rearview mirror once more, watching him engage in harsh whispers and subtle push-and-shoves before getting in.

His face. His charisma. His profile...two months ago you’d sworn he was the enemy, yet...

...Why was it that you were just as excited?

- ♫ - ♫ - ♫ -

“Wasn’t that the girl that accused us of copyrighting her friend’s track? That was her, wasn’t it?” Felix asks. “...I hope she knows that was all just a misunderstanding…”

Climbing back into Minho’s stolen convertible, because Felix just had to have donuts for National Donut Day at 12 am, Seungmin heaves a sigh, running a sweating hand through his exhaust-riddled hair. Too close, honestly. The infamous Y/n, known for being the Campus Blizzard, could have had them fined, reported on campus, and Han behind bars. ...Yet for some reason, she didn’t.

...Must be in a good mood or something. A saving grace, if he did say so himself. “...Please tell me this was really an accident. You didn’t do this on purpose...right?”

The boy in the driver’s seat smiles...sheepishly. Pulling back up to the window to claim his goods, he places the tips of his ringed fingers together. Takes a breath.

“...If I say half yes and half no, will you be mad?”