#yes I’m up doing pre-course assignments when I should be asleep

[hellothere-generalangsty]

Crosshair - Night Terror

Summary: Erys, a medic assigned to the Bad Batch, had to deal with a sleep deprived Batcher. (Happens Pre Order 66, so no Omega here, and no Echo either yet)

Pairing: None (none…yet)

Reader description: Human medic, f!reader [she/her], no real physical description

Word Count: 2724 words

CW/ TW: Angst; Nightmares/ night terror, sort of injury, pain; Fluff too because I’m a softie tonight

Tags: @allamarisss @loth-wolffe @tacticalsparkles @imalovernotahater @ladykatakuri (I don't know why it won't tag you correctly so sorry about that ;; )

@m-o-o-n-s-g-o-o-n-s this one I dedicate to you my soft Moony 🌙

As usual, if you want to get tagged/removed, tell me so!

Notes: I’m sorry Crosshair, I know I make you suffer (a bit) but it’s for the p e o p l e

Also due to personal reasons (aka, I need it to be this way), the Marauder has a closed room with bunk beds (4) in it

Lately the nights were short and agitated for the Batchers, and even after all this time in the company of clones, Erys couldn’t get used to it. Their last mission had been quite difficult for them; Tech had been injured and they almost lost the information they were supposed to get.

They couldn’t get back to Kamino yet; they had to safely transport the information to the Senate. Usually she would have been in the cockpit, observing the blue and white strings of hyperspace wrapping the ship, but Hunter and Wrecker had fallen asleep in their seats and she didn’t wanted the door to wake them up. So she stayed in the room, peacefully reading a book on her datapad. Tech had left some time ago and didn’t came back yet, but she didn’t worry much about it. He was trying remain active as a way to distract himself from the pain. His arm had been shot, and he needed a full recovery on Kamino; but for now he had to do with bacta patches only.

As for Crosshair…well, he was one of the reason she remained in the room. She noticed how much he struggled to sleep lately; being a light sleeper didn’t help his situation, and he would spent most of the time simply laying on his bed and staring at the wall or the roof, chewing toothpick after toothpick. Erys couldn’t do much about that, but she didn’t wanted him to feel lonely during these moments.

He wasn’t much of a talker, so she never forced the conversation with him. She would just tell him “I’m here” before settling on a bed, and would find a way to get occupied. Sometimes he would come down to sit next to her and watch her write a report, or fill a medical file about one of them.

Today was one of those days. She was working on Tech’s file, describing his wound shot, the number of bacta patches he had since he got injured, the evolution of the burn and the healing of the tissues.

She felt a small bump on her shoulder. She used the reflection on her datapad to confirm her intuition, careful about her movements. Crosshair had fallen asleep.

Finally, she thought to herself. He deserved some rest. She knew how Tech getting injured was eating him alive; he couldn’t prevent it yet convinced himself it was his fault.

“Crosshair, you couldn’t tell there was another sniper. It happens, that’s part of going on a mission, and that’s why I’m here.”

“I should have guessed; but you can’t understand, you’re just a medic.”

She knew he didn’t mean to hurt, and she wasn’t mad at him. She’d rather have him talking mean to her than bottling everything up. Later, he had asked her if Tech needed to change his bacta patch.

“Yes he can change it now.”

“Where is it?”

She had pointed to her bag, telling him to take the white-wrapped one. He nodded, his voice a bit softer than usual when he thanked her before leaving the room. He wasn’t much of a talker, but he was a man of action, both on and off the battlefield. If anyone wanted to know how Crosshair felt, they would have to look at his behaviour more than listen to his words.

She still couldn’t believe how quickly he fell asleep; against her shoulder on top of that.

He is sleep deprived, of course he was quick to fall asleep. But he should lay down, he’s going to get cramps if he doesn’t lay down.

She thought about it for a moment. Eventually, her arm would feel numb and she would have to move too; but was it worth taking the risk of waking him up? She decided it was better for her to wait. He had to get some rest. She carefully took his toothpick out of his mouth so he wouldn’t hurt himself with it, and focused back on her datapad and the notes she had taken.

.

“Crosshair, sniper!”

He laid flatter on his stomach, eye aligned with the scope of his rifle, scanning the houses a few clicks away, until he spotted it.

“Got you.”

He shot straight, watching as the body jolted under the impact, falling to his side.

“Tech’s down, we need to get out of here!”

He pretended he couldn’t hear the worry in Hunter’s voice, he tried to push away the idea of his brother being hurt, because they had a job to do, and the sooner it would be done, the sooner they could get away from here.

“Bring them out for me.” He told them, eagerly waiting on the bodies to move in his field of vision. He counted in his head to keep his breath regular; now was not the time to get distracted, or nervous.

One, two, three; aim and shoot. Four, five…Wait. Wait…Shoot.

One by one, the bodies were dropping on the ground, and none of them could tell what hit them. When he saw Wrecker coming out of the base, a thumb in the air, he slightly turned his rifle to see were was Tech. Hunter was blocking his vision, but he could still guess the shape of his brother, and the blown out part of his armour. Wrecker joined them and helped Tech get on his feet to get away from there.

“Crosshair, let’s go!”

He jumped on his feet. But something didn’t add up.

“Are you sure they’re all down?”

“Doesn’t matter, Wrecker’s gonna blow it up. We’ll come and get you, so be ready!”

He could see their small silhouettes running toward the Marauder. They barely had time to get in before the base exploded. The wave got to him and pushed him back, making him trip and fall. It took him a second to register the pain, another to roll to his side and try to grab his rifle. A third one to realise there was no rifle anymore.

“Looking for that?”

“Give it back.” He pushed on his hands and knees to get up, staring at the helmeted person standing there, his rifle loosely held in one hand.

“I don’t want it,” they threw it away, “I’m here for you.”

“Go away.”

He kept staring at them, trying to guess their next move, counting the time he had left before the Marauder would come to get him. He had to get his rifle back.

“That’s not a good idea,” they simply said.

But he couldn’t care less about what they thought was a good idea or not. He reached for his blaster, aiming straight between their helmet and the upper part of their chest armour.

“Get back to sleep.”

He tried to shoot, but nothing came out of the blaster.

“Why is it not…”he threw it on the ground, heart clenching in his chest. He felt his hands shaking, and caught himself thinking about being unable to use his guns, standing all alone on a cliff with a masked stranger, waiting on back-up that was still not here; and Tech being inured because he didn’t see that kriffing sniper ambushed right in front of his own hiding spot, and the noise that explosion made, and why didn’t they came for him yet?!

“Crosshair-”

“Shut up!” he snapped, getting dangerously closer to the stranger. His face was covered by his helmet, but the rage, the fear, the guilt; all of it was still clearly discernable in his voice. He grabbed the hand that was coming toward him, bluntly twisting it, forcing whoever it was down on their knees, begging.

“Crosshair, let go now!”

“I told you to go away,” he tightened his grip on their arm, “so why are you still here, why?!”

He could hear the muffled whine coming from under the helmet, and held still even if they were trying to break free. He pushed further on their arm, forcing it open.

“You’re…you’re gonna break it Crosshair…Let go, please…”

.

It felt too brutal. Waking up above her, her arm twisted under his fingers, her skin marked by his too tight grip. He didn’t know how, but he made sure she couldn’t get away. She was trying so hard not to be afraid; he could tell, but he was still scaring her.

He was still hurting someone.

“I- I’m…,” he let go of her, as he realised what just happened. His hands were still shaking, and his breath was way shorter and faster than usual. He straightened on the mattress, backing up as much as he could, until he could feel the cold metallic all against his back. She barely rubbed her arm before turning around, trying to comfort him.

“It’s okay, it happens. I’m fine, Crosshair, I promise you I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry, I- what was that…“ he stuttered, hands close to his chest.

“You had a night terror, it happens, okay?”

She didn’t try to reach him, not physically. She knew it would only make things worse.

“Look, I’ll go get you something to drink and eat, and you can stay there until I come back. Or go to the refresher if you need to,” she gently told him, calmly getting up of the bed. “I’ll be right back.”

She turned around one last time before getting out of the room, but he couldn’t even look at her in the eyes.

First Tech, now her.

She went to the food supplies, grabbed a few bars for Crosshair, as well as a small bottle of blue milk. She almost congratulated herself for not making any noise, but quickly lost that enthusiasm when she crossed path with a still half-asleep Hunter.

“Hey there,” she smiled, holding the supplies close to her arm to hide the bruises.

“What’ you doing with that?” he muttered, lazily stretching his hands.

“I’ve been working on files for hours and forgot to eat, so I’m catching up.”

“Right.”

He looked down at the supplies in her arm for a moment, met her eyes again, silently asking a question she would never answer to.

“Well, I gotta go, lot of work waiting for me.” She said, already heading back to the room.

“Yeah, I guess you do.”

She lost her confident mask the second the door closed behind her. She didn’t wanted Hunter to get involved, Crosshair was already feeling bad enough. Speaking of which…

“Crosshair? I brought you some food.”

She guessed he was in the refresher, because she couldn’t find him in his bed. She sat down, spreading the supplies on the mattress, then taking a closer look to her bruises. Sure, it hurt, but it could have been way worse. She knew clones were more prone to have night terrors; it wasn’t the first time she witnessed one. The incoherent babbling, the fear, the aggressive tone and actions, the blank stares; she recognised it straight away. It didn’t help that he was sleeping against her; it would have been easier to turn off the light and try to create a calmer atmosphere for him if he had been lying on the bed.

She let herself fall back against the mattress, focusing on the pulses running through her arm. A door slid, and she thought it would be Hunter checking on her, but instead it was Crosshair who came to sit next to her, a wet towel and bacta patches in hand.

She softly sighed, straightening once again to lean against the wall.

“Do you remember anything?”

He shook his head from left to right. All he could possibly remember was that overwhelming fear, and the pressure on her wrist.

“Look, I’m not mad, and I know you didn’t do it on purpose. You’ve had a lot of trouble sleeping lately, and the pressure you put on yourself didn’t help. Those things happen, that’s why I’m here.”

He didn’t say anything, but looked down at the blue marks he left on her skin.

“You’re not the only one who get battle scars, sometimes.” She tried to joke, a light smile on her face.

He turned more to face her, bending one of his leg and wedging it under his knee. He then gently seized her hand, bringing it closer to him, softly pressing the wet towel against her wrist. She shivered to the cold contact, but didn’t back off. He proceeded to gently wipe her arm, careful in each movement as to not hurt her.

He spent a few minutes on it, barely pressing against her skin, trying to mostly cool the bruises down a bit before he could get to the next part. When he estimated it was enough, he put the towel away and grabbed a white packet. His hands were not as steady as usual, and he struggled when trying to open it.

“I can help-“

“It fine,” he stopped her, then whispered in a softer tone, “I can do it.”

She didn’t try to interfere anymore, but instead watched him get irritated with the package, taking it to his teeth to rip the corner off. He then peeled the bacta patch off, holding it with the tip of his fingers above her arm.

“Could you…,” she tensed her muscles a bit and got closer, “yes.”

He quickly estimated where he should put the patch, slightly sticking out his tongue as he applied it on the bruises. He gently massaged it to make sure it was sticking correctly, and also out of guilt for being the cause of this injury.

“I should have guessed there was another sniper. It’s my job, and I failed. And Tech got hurt.”

His voice was but barely a murmur, filled with shame and regret. He couldn’t lift his eyes off of the bacta patch, afraid of what he may see in hers if he did.

“How long until he fully recovers?” he then asked her.

“Probably two weeks, maybe less if he gets his treatment on Kamino and if he keeps moving around the way he does. And we both know he will.”

“Yeah,” she managed to rip a subtle smile from him, “he will.”

“You know, you could be a medic too. You got the skills and the soft touch.”

She looked at his hand still on the dressing, quite satisfied with his work. He shook his head to brush that comment off, but deep down it soothed him a bit. He turned around to grab the blue milk and throw the bars between them.

“Well, if I was a medic I’d tell you to eat. So…eat.”

She held a chuckle back, a silly grin on her face, and picked one of the bar from the pile of supplies, unwrapping it before taking a bite.

“Mmh, if you need help to open that…”she pointed at the bottle of blue milk, trying so hard not to laugh. He rolled his eyes at her, but when he tried to open it and it didn’t work, she lost it, bursting into laughter. He couldn’t hold a grin back when he handed it to her.

“Don’t mock- you know what? You earned that right for tonight. Thank you,” he said as she gave it back to him, uncapped.

“You must admit, that was funny!”

“Anything is funny with you, you’re a good audience.”

“That’s true. But it was still very funny.”

He looked at her, a soft smile on his face, and for a short instant, forgot about the façade, and the pain; nothing mattered but the way she was laughing because of him, and the way she was staring into his eyes and-

“Sorry.”

He broke the eye contact, leaning against the wall and trying to look relaxed. He couldn’t tell, but she felt like, overall, this personal time between them was a win. Both on a professional, and a personal scale.

He drank a long sip from the bottle, offered it to her out of courtesy. For the first time in a few days, he felt tired. Enough to get a good night of sleep, at least. So he let himself fall backward, head hitting straight into the soft pillow as he closed his eyes.

“Sleep well.” she whispered to him.

And even though he didn’t answer, did not worded it, he still found a way to let her know, through a heartfelt smile.

I will now.

[tundrainafrica]

Title: Lovebug (6/10)

Summary:  

“It might be a bug.”

“A bug?”

“Sometimes the developers of this application make mistakes. This is our first time meeting I’m sure so…Isn’t it a bit weird that we just met for the first time and it rings like this? And for two strangers to coincidentally ring each other’s alarms?“

Levi is the developer of the Love Alarm App and Hange is married to Zeke.

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Other Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5

Notes: Feedback is very much appreciated :D

“As an employee you’re entitled to sick leaves.”

Entitled. It didn’t necessarily mean he needed it. Levi allowed himself a sequence of motions, some reassurance that his body was still functioning as expected

He raised his shoulders up then rolled it back, stretching his neck, bending it to one side then the other. It did wonders to help send a rush of energy through his still exhausted body. It  served as a reminder, he was strong, he was functional. “I don’t need a day off. I’m fine, ” Levi said. 

Erwin raised one eyebrow, giving him a once over. If he had narrowed his eyes anymore or wrinkled his nose, Levi could have given in. Other parts of his body were still reeling from the ordeal from the beach and he was sure he could fall asleep if someone just laid him out on a sofa.

Erwin though was a man of the office, a staunch professional. When it came to work and productivity, he leaned on the side of ‘being productive.’ He took Levi’s word for it.  “If you are feeling anything, just anything out of the ordinary, take the day off. Feel free to just leave me a note, and I can have Petra or Eld handle the rest of the testing.” 

The word ‘testing’ didn’t do much to convince Levi to rest though and maybe Erwin knew that. Levi slammed the door behind him hard enough to have him preparing for a lecture from Erwin about door slamming manners.

He waited in front of the door, gripping the doorknob from behind him for a good few more seconds. 

“We could start working next week?” Hange appeared right next to him. More specifically, she had accompanied him to Erwin’s office that morning, settling for just loitering outside the door, providing a perfectly valid reason for the internal question ‘ did she hear his conversation with Erwin?’

“It’s a Tuesday and it’s not a holiday,” Levi answered matter-of-factly. 

“Well, don’t companies have sick leaves?” 

“They do.” 

“And you were in the hospital just yesterday.” 

“I was in the hospital under observation,” Levi clarified. 

“After almost drowning,” Hange added.

“Just because the doctor prescribes a few more days of bed rest, doesn’t make it an almighty rule.” It was evidence that maybe a day off or two would have definitely made the difference. That slightly caustic exchange had Levi’s head spinning. He found himself having to squint just to even feign eye contact. “Besides, why are you here anyway?” 

“To work on the love alarm. Don’t you think it’s better if we work closely with each other?” 

“Not this early into the whole process. We could have talked through email.” Levi attempted to walk ahead. His office wasn’t too far from Erwin’s  a good few flights of stairs below. With his head slightly spinning and his legs feeling like jelly, Levi went for the elevators.

It was as if Hange was on a mission to flaunt her ability to speed up her pace. She walked next to him then a few feet ahead, turning back at him. And she had been that way since that morning. 

Levi gave in. “Okay, so what parts of the planning process merit a meeting today?” 

“Well, I’m worried for one.” 

“There are many meetings that could have been an email and I think you lecturing me about not taking a sick leave is one of them.” 

“Yeah, and there’s more...” Hange trailed off, giving him a good look from head to toe. Levi liked to believe she just couldn’t find the right answer to whatever implicit question he introduced at that moment. “I’m sorry about yesterday, and the day before.” 

“That could have been an email.” 

“I know Zeke gave you shit about being carried by me and having to be saved by me...” 

Levi stifled a cringe. A bridal carry to be specific. “That could have also been an email.” 

Hange huffed. “Fine. I get if you want to be so pissy about this but let me be selfish. I didn’t join Zeke on his business trip and it’s because I felt guilty. About you almost drowning, about you being forced to play golf and almost losing all your money over a few games. It was shitty okay. And for my own peace of mind, please let me join you at work, and maybe just help you make some progress with the alarm, even just a bit?” 

There was nothing much else his muddled brain could come up with in that moment of silence. “Okay,” Levi said, with a tone that could have easily been seen through. It was in fact, not okay. 

“Why? Is there anything else you’re busy with?” 

Levi sighed. “Making sure that damn love alarm gets tested for the next release.”

***

Anticipation had the tendency of piling stress much higher than the stress was actually worth. For many people, they only realize how much of a simple task something can be when they’re actually doing it. 

When work would pile up, stress would pile up. When Levi’s brain was working at half capacity, while trying to balance responsibilities and a guilty Hange in tow, he was barely thinking about work yet still attempting to the best of his meagre abilities.  

When the work was finally in front of him, the workflow tracker out, the whole ordeal of anticipating a workload had turned out to be anticlimactic. Maybe he had just gotten used to days leading up to releases being particularly stressful. After all, it usually involved early morning sanity checks, junk food and a stressed out team. 

Usually. They had some good releases and the one that day seemed like a good release. Of course it would be a less stressful release. It was under testing for months and it had been pushed back a week already. The QA work was almost over. To be just a little more certain, Levi filtered his workflow tracker to staged tickets and to tickets tagged ‘ready for release.’ 

“So, how does this pre-release testing work?” Hange asked, leaning forward. She had taken the liberty to pull one of the chairs to the corner towards and sat beside him. 

“I’m working,” Levi said coldly.

“Oh, but you said you needed to test the love alarm.” 

“Yes, the team is testing it. I’m making sure everything gets tested.” 

“So how do you make sure everything gets tested?” 

“Well… There’s this tracker here, I assign tickets for testing and when people say it’s tested they click QA passed and I see it here. Then if anything urgent needs testing or anything doesn’t seem to work, I help out and try to fix it,” Levi said, he opened his drawer dropping one of his test devices on the table. 

“So you could have gotten a day off,” Hange asked, seemingly knowingly. 

Levi glanced at the dashboard to seeall tickets were tagged as ‘Ready to Release.’  the others having been done a week back. He was too lazy to check the event history and there was no need to. The necessary work had been finished. 

Maybe he could have taken the day off. He wasn’t admitting that though. “So tell me, what are your plans? We’re getting the money soon according to Erwin but you’re the mastermind behind this.” Levi swiveled his chair behind him, grabbed his whiteboard eraser and cleaned out some of the useless notes from the next release. 

Half way through cleaning it up though, he stopped. There might be something you’ll need there. He cursed himself for even erasing some of it to the point of incomprehensible. 

“You wanna just use the workflow tracker? Like the one on your computer?” Hange suggested. 

“No, this is fine…” Levi racked his brain for those numbers and he settled for just writing the notes just much smaller below the release notes to the side with the larger font. 

It looked messy. It looked ugly. And his dominant meticulous side would not stand for it. In one swift motion borne out of frustration, Levi swiped his white board eraser over the whiteboard five times, more than enough to wipe it clean. 

“Was there anything important there?” Hange asked.

“Just a cleaner version of what we have in the tracker,” Levi said with a slight huff. He would rather Hange wasn’t reminded of whatever could have been there.

“Well, you wanna brainstorm on the whiteboard?” 

“It’s blank now.” Levi gestured for Hange to go ahead. 

“There’s actually not much to brainstorm on my end,” Hange said. Still, she walked a little nearer, grabbing the marker from Levi. She drew a heart. “You used biological markers to determine love right? That’s how you made the application. If you could assume love based on biological markers… maybe you can break it down and do it similarly for feelings right? I work with psychotherapy and I thought your application might have the potential to be tweaked in the context of assessing emotion Just to give therapists an idea of how their patients feel….” Hange trailed off. She drew a small diagram under the heart, a sad face, a happy face then a blank face. “I mean we have the technology for it already right? Most phones now are capable of more complex biometrics, that’s what the love alarm is taking advantage of.” 

Levi hummed. The diagram made it look just a little too easy. “And how do you think we can break down the application?” He knew the answer. Testing Hange though had been a tempting option.

Hange looked back at him, a confident grin on her face.“Yeah, you have the data already? And you created models or algorithms. Maybe you can extract part of those data sets and we can cut it down… to ‘happy,’ to ‘sad’ etcetera. And you can use what you have to make other types of alarms, like a happy alarm, a sad alarm. Right?

“We have the technology and the hardware to pull that off I guess. It’ll just be a matter of making a model, logging data, and coding. Doable with the right resources.” 

“But it should be easier since you already have some of the work done with the love alarm.” 

“But it won’t be as accurate at first. It took us five years to get the love alarm to this level of accuracy. I can’t even guarantee it’s completely accurate,” Levi said. 

“What about it takes time?” 

“We use an AI algorithm.”

“Artificial Intelligence,” Hange said. 

Levi nodded. “It’s a machine learning model. We give the model data as an input and data as an output and the more data you put into it, the more experience the machine has and the better the machine gets at figuring out what the correct answer is . We give it the biological data, the input and we give it the output, the anonymous test results and some formulas, and overtime, the machine starts to figure out for itself what love is.” 

“So you can’t actually break down the application to do it for you?” 

“We can but it will be a pain. Might as well just create a new model.” 

“Will it take as long as the love alarm?

Levi shook his head. “We have the necessary APIs, the hardware. We can buy more server space but we will have to create a new model.” 

Hange raised one eyebrow. “Okay, that’s a good start.” 

“I’ll just have to make a plan, see how much more resources we need and send them off to Erwin.” Levi opened an a blank document and pushed Hange’s seat closer to his. . 

“Wait, I’m curious though…” Hange started. She tapped one finger on her chin. “How does data processing work?”

***

Levi never considered the server room to be anything interesting. It was after all just a conglomeration of headless computers, wires and lights. 

A very important conglomeration. After all, a fire or a faulty pipe would be enough to destroy millions of dollars worth of data. 

He only allowed her one peek, just opening the door wide enough for one eye to see through for just a few seconds long enough for Hange to let out a hushed breath. “Our company handles a lot of applications and some of the servers supporting these applications are housed here,” he explained. 

“And the data?” 

“They’re housed here. Sometimes we use cloud servers too. Sometimes caching servers and everything is processed here then sent to the application." Levi kept his words simple. 

"Billions of points worth of data…" Hange's voice deadened to a whisper.

"It takes time for the data to come, the machines to learn. We started off with manual loading the data, then testing. It took a lot of work to get this much data, enough for the application to work as expected."

"And you continue to get the data I'm guessing."

Levi shrugged. "During quality testing, during actual app usage. As long as someone is using the application and complying to their biometrics being gathered by the application, we get data. That's how all applications work."

Hange hummed. Her mouth curled up into a smile. "So let's say… when I turn on the application, you can collect my data right?"

"The servers are always on, they're always collecting data. It needs the data after all to ring the alarm right?"

"Then how do we check the data?" Hange asked. 

Levi leaned on the door, shutting it with a click. "When we need it, I'll extract your data on my end, then maybe I'll extract mine. To be honest, I don't think they'd give many answers though."

"Serotonin, Oxytocin, Dopamine, Body heat. There's a lot to see from those numbers.” Hange pointed a thumb to her chest. “This is my specialty.” 

"Then I guess we're going to have to make sense of it together."

Hange nodded. "So what are we waiting for? Let’s work on it over lunch.."

"Don't get too hasty. We're gonna have to make a research plan."

***

Hange already had a research plan on hand and she had been working on it for a while. A twenty page document with just a section filled with bullet points and comments. 

There were points Levi had to fill out himself. Still, it wasn't too much work. "You came prepared," he said. 

"What can I say, it's my pet project," Hange scrolled down towards the end of the word document.

"Zeke seemed excited about it, I thought it would have been his at first."

"If this works out, his hospitals will be the first ones in the country or even the world with this type of technology. If it's sure money, it'll be easy to convince him. Besides, I have my ways." Hange gave Levi a sly smile, soon concealed by the cup between her lips. 

She was in a better mood. They were out for lunch in a more seemingly relaxed position and Levi saw opportunity. 

It's better now than never. "How does he feel… about the developer of the application spending a little too much time with you?"

"It's part of the research process and I need to talk to a developer, not an investor.  Besides, he has other investments," Hange said nonchalantly, too nonchalantly that it was almost unsettling.

"With what happened at the beach." Just the quick recall was enough to send blood rushing to his face. He wondered if outwardly he did look a little red. He bit his lip and looked away. From his peripherals, he could see Hange though was just a little too focused on his laptop screen. 

Hange could have spit out her tea. "Are you still thinking about the bridal carry? I didn’t think it was too big of a deal. I could have sworn you were unconscious." 

At first, Levi could have sworn he was unconscious too. Zeke had mentioned it just a little too many times though that Levi was starting to generate his own phantom memories of the incident. 

"Sorry about the CPR though. I probably bruised a few ribs.”

He remembered the CPR just a little too quickly. Or maybe it had been the bruises reminding him. Levi ran his hands over his chest, feeling a slight twinge of pain in response. "Hey, you did it to save my life."

Hange shook her head. "Or maybe I was panicking. It didn’t look like you were breathing but everything was moving too fast and---” She was digressing. 

“What does Zeke think about it?” Levi pressed. 

“Why do you care so much about what Zeke thinks about it?” Hange asked. She had raised her tone, maybe only slightly. It was firm, almost abrasive that Levi regretted it. 

“Zeke is an investor, one of the richest men in the world. I’m spending too much time with his partner. Then back in the beach---”

“Zeke is always busy and honestly, I’m grateful for any other relationships I can make outside this,” Hange argued. “You know, life, building relationships, these things don’t end after marriage. Sure, Zeke and I committed to a relationship but I think I should still be able to find joy in connecting with other people. Marriage isn’t supposed to tie anyone down, stop them from experiencing life. People in relationships are supposed to grow freely together.” 

Maybe Levi had been thinking too hard about it. Or maybe Hange was just a little too laid back. “What do you think about the love alarm ringing?” 

“It happens. Besides, I’m not too worried. Love is a choice,” Hange said. “Commitment is a choice. I think I remember sending you a book about that.”

“So you don’t believe in our product,” Levi challenged. 

“I never said that.” Hange started to stir at her cup, just a little faster. “You can choose to love someone, to commit to them, to be patient with them and to ride out every single problem with them but there is the feeling aspect right? That’s what the love alarm measures, or that’s what I’m suspecting.” 

Levi nodded. 

“So the fact that it rings with strangers or just randomly, shows that it measures attraction right?” 

“Hormones, movements, pace…” Levi listed them out as just another appendix in their dialogue. 

“I wanna understand… where do feelings fit in all this.” Hange put her hands up in defense.. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Zeke, I married him. He’s a good man. And I wanna make whatever it is between us work for a good long time but as someone who works with human psychology, emotions, as someone who’s seen relationships succeed, relationships fail and some that are just so-so. I wanna know, how much of it is emotions, how much of it is volitional commitment. And this type of research, with the love alarm… I think it can teach us things. Emotions are fleeting but there are emotions that stay for a long time and maybe they make being loving and being patient easier---” She slammed her hands back on the table. “Am I making sense here?” 

Levi only realized then he had been biting his straw and had barely gotten anything out. “I’m trying to understand and I think I’m kinda succeeding? GIve me a few more seconds.” He looked away, silently grateful for the good view of the shopping streets from the second floor of the cafe. The cafe was a good balance of loud and soft, filled with whispers and conversations yet still calming and relaxing if he focused on that part in particular. 

“Have you really, never been in a relationship?” Hange asked, seconds or even minutes later. 

“No.” 

“And you told me, you’ve never made the alarm ring for anyone.” 

“In my five years of testing, no,” Levi said. 

“What made it ring with me?” Hange asked. “ Have you ever theorized that?” 

“It could be a bu---” 

“Let’s assume the application is working properly.” Hange pressed. “Do you feel anything different? When you’re with me?” 

Maybe he did. Levi was tempted to look back the moment Hange had ended that question with her tone of voice higher than a second ago. Her eyebrows furrowed, her gaze fixed on his. Levi had to admit, he didn’t want to look away again. 

So he looked away. “I should be asking you that question. Your alarm rang too. Do you feel anything with me that you don’t feel with him?” 

***

They carried the conversation elsewhere, somewhere where the walls didn’t echo, somewhere where there wasn’t anyone within a good ten meters away. Somewhere they could have sworn nobody would be listening. 

It was a silent agreement, consisting of nodding and pulling of hands and it ended with them in the park, a little past noon on a Tuesday. 

“Do you feel any different when you’re with me?” The question was exchanged once again, in a park bench towards the center, after seconds of checking surroundings. It came in variations of it, in stutters, between clearing throats. 

When it came to recovering eloquence, Hange won without a fight. “If I tell you, will you promise to at least try to tell me?”

“Try.” Levi was economical with his words. He made certain though to consolidate all the discomforts of such a pressing topic to that one word. 

Hange took a deep breath. “It’s funny because we just met right? But sometimes, I randomly think of you. When I come home to find the cleaner cleaning out the room, I think ‘Levi would probably like a clean room.’ When I was drinking coffee this morning, I thought of how you didn’t get your tea time and today, I was excited to see you. But I’m excited to see Zeke too… So maybe I’m just lonely because he left so suddenly for a business trip. Were you excited to see me?” 

“Not this morning,” Levi said. That had been easy enough to let slip out. It wasn’t a lie after all. 

“Oh. Then maybe my theory is wrong.” Hange said it  too quickly, her voice much softer. 

That had Levi feeling a tad guilty, at the same time more motivated to find some way to cheer her up. “But I was excited to go to the country club with you and when I saw you with Zeke by the pool, I felt weird.” 

“Weird?” 

“I kept looking, but I wanted to look away…” 

Then there was silence. He was watching Hange and she wasn’t opening her mouth to speak. In the silence, he found reason for a segue. It could have been too sudden or it could have been a natural progression. Levi was easily imagining the scene by the pool as he stared at the empty streets, he thought it natural, and at least appropriate. “You and Zeke really get along huh?”

“Now yes.” 

One syllable, one slip of the tongue had Levi alert.“Now?” 

Hange shook her head. “Now. As in, we get along but at first, we didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “ Zeke and I have known each other since college and he confessed to me in our senior year before graduation. We dated for a few years after that.”

“You chose to date him, even when you didn’t like him.” 

“Sure he doesn’t give the best first impression, he’s a little extra, if you know what I mean, his head gets a little too big sometimes. My parents and friends said it would be a good idea to just try it out. He was the heir to one of the biggest companies in the country and he isn’t a bad person per se so I opted to try it out and over time, I got to know him, we got closer and he proposed to me a few years ago, I said yes… and here I am, married.”

“Married.” Levi looked pointedly at her. Hange had leaned back and hung her head back, staring at the sky above.  She had said that last part with a little too much breath, and too little voice. 

Hange gave him a wry smile. “Well, I honestly thought it was too early to settle down. I would have wanted to finish my PhD first, maybe travel a little more, meet more people before we get married but we’ve been dating for years, Zeke was insistent and....It seemed like a good choice. What was there to lose? He’s a good man. We were familiar with each other and besides, just because we’re married, doesn’t mean life stops right?” 

“You tell me. I’ve never been married. Some people are asking me when I plan on settling down.” 

“I guess we’re on two ends of the spectrum. You might end up marrying late. I married too early.”

“Do you think this has anything to do with why the love alarm didn’t ring?” 

Hange shrugged. “Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. The thing is, I don’t want love to be a feeling because just bending over backward to however I’m feeling means that I’m not really free right? I want love to be a choice. I chose to marry Zeke, I chose to commit to him and regardless of what a computer says about love, I wanna be able to decide for myself how I feel, who I love and how I love.” 

***

A few clacks of the keyboard. The click of the mouse. Then the computer whirred to life again, a few swishes among them. 

“So, all I have to do is type out a query here on the server management studio and I’ll be able to extract whatever data we need,” Levi said. “So what email do you use for your love alarm?” 

“Wings of freedom…” Hange didn’t finish. Instead she slipped her phone next to Levi, the screen open to the settings page.  

wingsoffreedom95@jmail.com

Levi stifled a smile. “Don’t you have a more professional sounding email?” 

“I like using pseudo emails for making accounts for weird things.” 

“Nice to know our product counts as a weird account to you,” Levi said.  

“Well, I was testing the product out before I even pitched it to Zeke. I wouldn’t want anyone to have gotten information on me.” 

“Then I guess, that was a good choice.” Levi slammed the enter button and the screen froze for a second before the export box appeared. 

“Yeah, I’d expect a company like yours will collect data.” 

“I’m sure we have a tiny box saying ‘you comply to having your data gathered when you use the product.’”

“You did,” Hange admitted. 

“Then you can’t complain about me having access to the location, the hormone levels, the heart rate and all other pertinent information of wingsoffreedom95@jmail.com.” 

“What email do you use?” 

“I extracted that too,” Levi said. He opened his own application and slipped his phone to Hange. 

“So you are using a pseudonym too.” 

“Of course. I test the product. I need multiple emails,” Levi said. 

“Sure, humanitysstronges1225@jmail.com. You really had to go for something tacky like that?” 

“Well, no one got the username yet,” Levi said. He was quick to digress. “I extracted our biodata from the day we met and when we tested the application. It’s gonna be exported as a data file and just open it using excel or something and do what you need to do.”

“You’re a gem, Levi,” Hange said.  

“Just don’t touch anything else. I’m gonna take a break first,” Levi leaned further back on his chair, grateful for Erwin’s suggestion that he got a reclining chair then. “Maybe I should have gotten a day off. Eld told me, support is quiet today and the release has been ready for a while. Nothing much else to do.” He went for his ebook reader next to his desk and held it above him. 

It flashed open to the latest page. 

The room was silent save for the clack of the keyboard and the whirring of the monitor. It was an odd position to be in but Levi found it was much easier to focus on words when all he had behind the reader was the white ceiling. If he tried a little harder, he could also pretend the clacking of the keyboard wasn’t at all, Hange. 

He was tired. He was exhausted and the ordeal from a few days ago still bubbled at the back of his mouth. Surprisingly, the words had shifted so easily into sceneries, emotions, investment and Levi was thinking too hard about one Mr. Collins and his engagement to the protagonist. 

“Levi!” 

Levi was pulled out of that very comfortable stupor by one rash voice and as he looked up to see Hange smiling, he realized, maybe it had been his own emotional investment at that damn book that got him a little cranky at the wake up call. “What? How long was I reading?” 

“Fifteen minutes at least,” Hange said. “I found something interesting with the data. Did you know, that when the love alarm rang, our hormones were low, our body heat was low, our heart rate wasn’t high. Would you know why it still rang?” 

“I told you, after a certain point we don’t know. It becomes an algorithm. The computer figures it out for itself.” 

“But we’re going to need that data when working with other emotions right?” Hange pressed. “I’m gonna take note of this.” 

“Do you think the love alarm still works as expected?” 

“It could. You told me yourself, billions worth of data points. How could they be wrong right? But this is nice to know, you know. Just looking at the data here, is somehow reassuring.” 

“Reassuring how?” 

Hange shrugged. “Well I’ll do a little of my own testing and will contact you when I come up with anything.” She looked at the clock on her phone. “Then we could schedule a visit to one of Zeke’s hospitals and have a talk with the staff, maybe they could give some feedback on the working plan.” 

“You’re gonna leave?” Levi sat up, putting his ebook reader down on the desk next to him. Hange had started to rifle through her bag and that got him alert.

“Why? You want me to stay a little longer?” 

“I never said that.” 

“You said you were busy with work this morning and now you want me to stay?” Hange challenged. 

“Well it turned out there isn’t much work to do anyway. We get the changes live by the end of this week and we work towards the next release.” Now that Levi did think about it, the job was pretty repetitive and Hange’s pet project had somehow added color to the whole experience. “But you can leave if you want to,” Levi added a second later. Just in case, she did get some sort of hint that he wanted her to stay.

That last sentence did the exact opposite. Exactly how? Levi didn’t have much time to ponder it. By the time, he had even attempted to read through the protagonist’s response to her suitor, Hange had already pulled her chair right next to his, close enough for him to be feeling slightly warmer. Then, warm enough for him to pull away. “What the hell?” 

“I was just wondering what you were reading.” 

“You could have asked. Were you looking?” 

“No.I wasn’t raised to look over people’s shoulders when they read.” Hange said matter-of-factly. “Actually, I was about to ask what you were reading when you pulled away so fast.” 

Levi sighed. “It’s one of the books you sent over in that drive folder.” 

“Ooh, which one? Scott Peck?” 

“I read though that already until I realized the author cheated on his wife.” 

“That doesn’t make his words any more invalid. Love is a choice,” she sang. The amount of times he had heard that since he even read the book maybe even the most melodious tone grating. “So what book is it?”

“The novel, Pride and Prejudice.” 

“Oooh, which part are you in?” 

Maybe Levi had let his guard down just a little. He probably tilted his reader a little bit towards her. Those minute details might have been enough though to have Hange pulling closer towards him, looking over at whatever he had been reading. 

“I’m a slow reader,” Levi explained. 

“Well, it’s a classic. Hange said. This time she was looking at him again. “I swear, I think it shaped my own idea of love. think there’s a lot to learn about love and marriage the way that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy fall in love---” 

“Wait. Stop.” Emotional investment in the book had Levi vulnerable. He only realized it then when he felt his mouth twitch, his eyebrows raise just a little higher. He found himself dropping the reader on the desk in front of him again, a retaliation at that ringing in his ears and the uncomfortable drop of his stomach. Spoilers were surprisingly painful things. “Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth… They end up together?” He managed to let out. 

Hange nodded hesitantly. “Yes, it’s in the title. Mr. Darcy is pride and Elizabeth is prejudice.” 

“You’re talking about the asshole Darcy right? Ten thousand pounds a year asshole Darcy?” 

***

To hell if Hange looked just a little uncomfortable. Maybe more than a little. “I swear I thought everyone knew. Pride and Prejudice is a classic and it’s so talked about that---” 

“I thought she was gonna end up with Mr. Wickham,” Levi admitted. It was difficult to wipe that grimace off his face, to the point that he had worn it almost as a medal while escorting Hange down to the lobby.   

“Hey, I’m sorry…” Hange said. Her attempt to make amends though was grating. 

Levi sighed. “It’s fine. This is a sign anyway, I need to do something more productive with my last few hours of work. I have a few more hours in the office, I’ll probably check on the team first. Is someone picking you up?” 

“I messaged already,” Hange said glumly. “You know, I thought we could hang out a bit first.” 

“Just focus first on getting an appointment with the hospital. To be honest, I really think I do have some work to check on.” 

“Hey, I’ll make up to spoiling you okay?” Hange said. She had tried to curl her lips up to a smile, to widen the grin on her face. It had come out as something wry. 

He found some solace at least in realizing he wasn’t the only one a little too bothered by those spoilers. He could have sworn it had never affected him that way before. But it’s just spoilers. He reminded himself. “I’ll get over it. Just focus on your work.” Still, it was difficult to enunciate words, it was difficult to even look at her. “Who’s picking you up?” 

“Probably a chauffeur,” Hange said. She opened her phone again. The white glare of the screen reflected on Hange’s eyes and Levi was seeing stars in them again. Stars that somehow breathed life into her dead half smile of a while ago. “I can go from here.”

“Wait what?” 

“Zeke’s picking me up at the gate. He said he wanted to try one of the restaurants at the nearby shopping street,” Hange explained.

Levi’s mind was an aggregate of unintelligible emotions. Do you want me to escort you out? Of course you don’t, I practically kicked you out. When there were things he couldn’t understand, maybe the right thing to do was be professional about it. “I’ll wait for your reply on the hospital visit. I’ll do what I can with the working plan and hopefully we could come up with something by Friday.” 

“That would be cool. I’ll make sure to message you.” Hange wasn’t looking at him anymore and Levi had been perceptive enough to notice that her voice slowed just a little, the volume much softer than a second ago. Her mind was elsewhere. 

Then suddenly, she was talking again, her voice a stark contrast from a second ago. “Zeke! I’m so glad to hear from you. Levi and I were just working on the application just now… And we have some great ideas…” 

He never heard what Hange said after that. If he closed his eyes, and focused just a bit, maybe he could have but the ache in his chest was overpowering and he found it most convenient to blame the spoilers at first. 

Hange walking away. Hange mentioning Zeke. Those were moments of clarity. 

Darcy had reminded him a little too much of Zeke. Elizabeth, a little too much of Hange. When he walked back up to the room, back scrolled back to the scene at the ball, the scene with Mr. Wickham, he let out a laugh. 

Fiction was supposed to be comforting and somehow with his own emotional investment in the story, he had hoped for an ending where money didn’t win. And he was scrambling for it long after Hange turned the corner way past the entrance. 

Back in the office, alone with the reader on hand, he thought about it a little more. 

I swear, I think it shaped my own idea of love. think there’s a lot to learn about love and marriage…

“A lot to learn huh?” Love and marriage which ended with a rich abrasive asshole? 

There was definitely a lot to learn. Marriage could be for money. Love could be learned. 

To commit, to love was a choice. 

And Levi didn't need to read the whole book to be reminded of what he had already figured out. 

Levi checked the table of contents, then the tracker at the bottom, he was barely thirty percent into the book, a very long book. Or maybe he was just a slow reader

After a few more minutes of staring, he managed to stumble upon the stone cold conclusion that it was a waste of time. 

He quickly deleted the book, muttering to himself for a second longer that it was a good decision. Then he walked to his team's office, laptop tightly on hand. When he was looking left and right, when he was looking through his workflow tracker again on his phone, he found an out. 

After all, he shouldn't have the time to ponder Hange's own ideas of love when he had an application to maintain and investors to please. 

***

Levi ended up leaving work earlier than expected. It was a total lie to think there was any work needed to be done. Exhaustion clambered up quickly, a special kind of exhaustion at slogging through a day of work less than forty eight hours after being discharged from the hospital. An exhaustion that came with having spent a good hour lying to himself and to his subordinates that they had anything else to do before the release. 

"Any support queries?" Levi asked. It felt more like a formality. 

His subordinates had already started to pack their bags for the day. 

"Nothing too urgent," Petra answered. “Nothing that can be finished in ten minutes either..” 

“Leave it for tomorrow,” Levi said. As much as possible, he preferred to be the only one having to do over time. 

“Sir, do you have any idea when we would start working on that new request by Mr. Jaeger?”

Levi’s answer was calm and straightforward. “We’re currently working on a plan, me and Hange and as soon as we get it approved, we can have a meeting about it.” And exhaustion made acceptance all the more natural. “You’ve all been working hard the past weeks leading up to the release. Stay low or take leaves if you need to, I’ll handle making sure everything goes live on time.” 

Greetings were exchanged after that. Thank yous, sighs of relief and Levi wondered how hard the past few weeks have been, only for the release to have been delayed over Zeke’s request. Somehow, Levi felt some responsibility and guilt over such a ‘bug.’ Whether it was actually a bug or it was his own shortcomings as a human which caused the test to end that way,  whatever musins he had about them, did nothing to placate the guilt as he watched their relieved faces, their much calmer faces.

The next day he woke up to emails, requests for leaves that week which he immediately approved. One week of calm, one week long enough to have it go live that weekend. Then Monday would be the post release sanity check. 

He’d use the week to plan, to coordinate a little more with Hange. He opened his phone to see her number just on top, just like it had usually been recently. He had decided not to open her message until he got to the office. 

Business is business. He thought to himself. The banner had given hints to the message but there weren't many hints to the context of a date time. 

5/15 3:23AM. Check my body heat, serotonin levels, dopamine levels….

Less than a minute later, Levi was on the phone rattling numbers. 

“So they’re high,” Hange said. “High numbers are a sign of love.” 

Levi could have sworn he had heard the smile in her voice. “Why? Did something happen last night?”  

“Zeke and I had a late night. It was the most fun we had in a while.” 

Before Levi even noticed it himself, his mind was racing, asking questions. If Zeke had the love alarm on, would it have rang? And soon, it was clamoring for answers he knew he could never give.

Zeke’s own love alarm wouldn’t be on and even if it wasn’t on, it didn’t send data the same way Hange’s did. All he could do then was settle for speculation. “Maybe there is a bug then Hange. Or maybe there’s something wrong with the data. We’ll turn on your love alarm again when we visit, let’s try it again.” 

The call ended amiably and Levi was a little more sluggish soon after. He lay his phone back on his desk and turned on the love alarm. 

As expected, no hearts appeared. One hand on the keyboard next to him, he typed out a query and pulled his own data. His own hormone levels were much lower than 3am Hange’s. He opened the data Hange had analyzed just yesterday. The hormone levels were still low. 

He clicked on the settings on his application, back at the dashboard then pressed the home button and sighed. “Some developer I am, can’t even figure out how my app works anymore.”

Then he thought something he hadn’t thought in a while. Maybe going for something as complex as love from the start wasn’t such a good idea. 

[cloudyskywars]

‘Let us have the luxury of silence!’ for the Austen/bronte prompts! 🙂

Sorry it took so long! Thank you for the ask @giggles-and-freckles ! I did my best to write a story with some good ole lineage fluff, hope you enjoy! (It also got way longer than I intended, sorry about that.)

*******************************************************************************************

“Obi-Wan!” Quinlan’s voice boomed through the quiet halls of the Temple. Letting out a sigh, Obi-Wan turned to greet his friend.

“Hello, Quinlan. It’s good to see you.” Quinlan immediately scooped Obi-Wan up in a bear hug, lifting him so that his feet left the ground. Obi-Wan grunted, and Quinlan set him down roughly.

“How’ve you been Obi? Keeping busy with the war?” Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

“Yes, I’ve been keeping plenty busy. No rest for the wicked, so they say.” Quinlan chuckled.

“Obi-Wan, you are further from being wicked than anyone else.” He slapped Obi-Wan on the back. “Let me take you to Dex’s; like the good old days. It’ll give you a chance to unwind.” And oh how Obi-Wan wanted to take Quinlan up on that offer. It had been ages since he had eaten at Dex’s, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had had something other than ration bars.

“Well, Quinlan, as much as I would like to go with you, I’ve already promised Anakin and Ahsoka that I’d spend the rest of the day with them. It’s not often we’re all at the Temple at the same time.” 

Quinlan lit up. “Well, then, we’ll just have them come with us! I haven’t gotten a chance to meet your Grand-Padawan yet, old man.” Obi-Wan opened his mouth to protest, but found he couldn’t come up with a reason to deny Quinlan’s request. He huffed. 

“Oh, alright. I’ll comm them.” Quinlan grinned.

Obi-Wan pulled out his comm and dialed Anakin’s frequency. It rang, and rang, but Anakin didn’t pick up. When his voice finally came through it was his pre-recorded message. “Uh, hi! You just tried to call me, and I didn’t answer. Don’t take it personally, I probably just lost my comm and couldn’t find it again. Obi-Wan, if you’re calling to tell me I’m late; I already know, and I’m on my way. Skywalker out.” Obi-Wan rolled his eyes yet again. He then dialed Ahsoka’s frequency. Honestly, he probably should’ve called her in the first place. Anakin never answers comm calls.

After just two rings, Ahsoka picked up. “Hello?”

“Hello there, Ahsoka.”

“Master Obi-Wan! Are you on your way to the salles? Anakin and I were sparring, getting warmed up.” A soft smile appeared on Obi-Wan’s face. Hearing Ahsoka’s voice brought him joy. Her assignment to Anakin was a surprise, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Actually Ahsoka, I ran into my old friend, Master Vos. He’d like to meet you and have dinner at Dex’s. Would that be alright with you?” He heard shuffling in the background, and then Anakin’s voice came through the comm.

“Food at Dex’s, of course we’re down for that! C’mon Snips, let’s go!” The comm went silent as Anakin prematurely hung up. Obi-Wan waited a few seconds, then his comm beeped at him. “Uh, Master, where are you exactly?”

“In the hallway near the refectory. Master Vos and I will meet you at the Temple hangar.”

“Thanks, Obi-Wan!” and Anakin hung up again. Obi-Wan shook his head. Anakin had so much energy, it was ridiculous. Obi-Wan had hoped that he would mellow with age, but that hope was apparently in vain. Quinlan slung his arm around Obi-Wan’s shoulders. 

“Well, let’s not keep them waiting, Obi-Wan!” The two began walking to the hangar. “What did Anakin call Ahsoka, again?” Obi-Wan grinned.

“He calls her ‘Snips.’” At Quinlan’s raised eyebrow, he elaborated. “It’s a long story, but the short version is that when they first met, she had a bit of an attitude. I’m honestly quite proud of her verbal quips.” 

“Well now I’m even more excited to meet her.”

They arrived in the hangar and saw both Anakin and Ahsoka standing by a speeder, panting slightly for breath.

“Hello Master Obi-Wan!” Ahsoka greeted. Then she faced Quinlan and gave a proper Padawan bow. “It is an honor to meet you, Master Vos.” 

“No need for the formalities, Padawan. The honor is all mine.” He extended his hand, and she grasped it and shook it firmly. 

“It’s good to see you again, Master Vos. It’s been too long,” Anakin said, inclining his head.

“That it has, Skywalker, that it has.” He gestured to the speeder. “Shall we?” Anakin grinned.

“Only if I drive,” Anakin said, already jumping into the driver’s seat. 

Obi-Wan sighed. “Oh, alright, Anakin. Just please try to obey traffic laws this time?” Anakin just laughed.

*******************************************************************************************

After a terrifying speeder ride to Dex’s, a very loud but joyful dinner with his lineage (plus Quinlan), and an equally terrifying ride back to the Temple, Obi-Wan finally retreated back to his quarters with Anakin and Ahsoka. The two chattered the whole way, and Obi-Wan was dreaming about finally getting some rest. 

The door swished open, and the three entered. Anakin immediately claimed a chair in the living area, plopping down with a huff. Obi-Wan went to the kitchen to make himself some tea.

“Ahsoka, would you like some tea? Or would you prefer caff?” 

“Some tea would be great, thanks, Master!” Obi-Wan smiled. He didn’t have to ask Anakin what he preferred, he knew that Anakin wanted caff, with three sugars. 

He entered the living area, and saw that Anakin was attempting to find a holo-film. “Oh! I’ve been wanting to watch this one for a while. It’s about a retired bounty hunter having to take down a bunch of pirates to rescue his family. Do you want to watch it?” Obi-Wan handed Ahsoka her cup of tea, which she took with a nod of thanks. Obi-Wan settled on the couch next to Ahsoka, his tea warming his hands pleasantly.

“I’m not averse to watching a film, but could we perhaps watch one that’s a bit,” he paused, trying to think of the right word. “Quieter?”

“Come on Master, you never watch action films with me and Ahsoka!” Anakin put on his best pouting face, that worked very well when he was an adorable nine-year-old, but not so much when he was a grown man. But Obi-Wan could tell how excited he was, and so he conceded.

“Oh, alright.” Anakin and Ahsoka cheered, and Anakin pressed play.

It was a loud movie, but it wasn’t half as bad as Obi-Wan had expected it to be. When it was finally over, Obi-Wan was very ready for some much needed sleep, but Anakin was still wide awake. Perhaps that cup of caff hadn’t been the best idea.  

“It looks like there’s a sequel, and it’s not too late yet. Should we watch it?” Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan shook his head. “Anakin, please just let us have the luxury of silence.” Anakin threw his hands up in defeat.

“Alright, alright, I was just asking.” He glanced over to Ahsoka, who had fallen asleep with her feet resting on Obi-Wan’s lap. “Well, I was going to take her back to our quarters, but she looks pretty comfortable there.”

Obi-Wan chuckled softly. “That she does. You are more than welcome to spend the night here.” Anakin settled deeper into his chair.

“Thanks, Obi-Wan.” He closed his eyes, and after a few minutes of shifting, the sound of soft snoring filled the room.

Obi-Wan took in the scene; Anakin lounging in the chair, his head tilted back in a position that Obi-Wan knew would leave a crick in his neck the next day. Ahsoka lay on the couch, stretching across the entire surface, with her feet snuggled neatly in Obi-Wan’s lap. He reached out with the force, grabbing a blanket and gently laying it across Ahsoka and himself, then doing the same for Anakin. 

Obi-Wan fell asleep surrounded by his family, a smile on his face.

*******************************************************************************************

From these Austen/Bronte asks!

[anxiouspotatorants]

HOLD UP!!! You immediately had me at the "Twilight AU but Rory is the vampire" here 👀👀👀👀. Color me intrigued AND inspired.

Ok so first off, the 'reveal' conversation. The COMEDY potential!! Just Jess being overall nervous but also pretty curious to know about what Rory as a vampire is like, whereas Rory is trying pretty hard to make him be more afraid and to hopefully get him to run away screaming so she can have some reason to tackle him, but this guy just isn't budging!

The shiny skin reveal! Like first off, THIS CAN'T BE THE SAME WITH EDWARD BECAUSE RORY'S NOT PLANNING ON STRIPPING IN FRONT OF JESS HERE (no matter how much she might like him despite her better judgement). Imagine the complete lack of suspense when she just uncovers her arm and shows Jess how it sparkles into the sunlight.

Rory: This is the skin of a killer, Jess!!

Jess: Wow, didn't know murderers had a continuous discount at Claire's for silvery glitter.

Rory: 😒

JESS WITH THE ICONIC GOOGLE SEARCH. THE DREAMS ABOUT RORY COMING IN WITH THE FULL DRACULA GETUP, MENACINGLY LEANING IN TO BITE HIM AS HE TAKES HIS "Paint me like one of your french girls" pose. Jess waking up from it not knowing whether he's scared or has just figured out a new kink for himself.

Jess dodging all of Rory's attempts to get him to stop wanting to see her by just coming in and asking her all of these questions while they're in the middle of the recess crowd in school. Rory giving up after the fourth attempt and answering all of his questions in a hushed tone.

Jess: So you can read people's minds?

Rory: Yes, except for yours. I still haven't figured out why though.

Jess: Huh, maybe Liz's all-round smoking diet during her pregnancy had its benefits after all.

Rory: Jess!!

I'm not sure whether I'd want Rory to be an older vampire like Edward or a more newly-made one, and in this case Lorelai is potentially still human but knows about Rory's condition despite Rory trying to keep her in the dark about it when she first turned. They still haven't found a way to break it to Richard and Emily though, despite their various brainstorming sessions over it.

Lorelai: We could get them drunk and just announce it to them!

Rory: Wonderful, and they'll accept their formerly estranged granddaughter as an undead creature.

Lorelai: Hey, you only asked how we should tell them, you never asked about how they'd handle it.

Jess just straight-up asking if she would eat the bullies in the high-school. Rory vehemently replying that no, she doesn't eat people, she just drinks the blood, but if he must know,......yes she drank from Chuck Presby once because she was angry and hungry and his blood almost tasted like Gatorade, so she's refrained from trying out the other bullies' blood. No, Chuck doesn't know what happened, he just thinks some girl went a bit too far with her hickey.

Jess and Rory talking to each other late at night and organizing a "studying" session where they just end up watching various B-movies, and sometimes Jess ends up falling asleep on the other side of the couch while Rory looks on at him and look, she's not being creepy here, she's just sitting on her side admiring this insane boy who still hasn't woken up one morning and decided that being friends with a vampire girl isn't in fact one of the smartest choices he could make in his life, and she can't help but like him because of that, ok? Also she really needs to hear more of his thoughts on some of the other American classics, it's imperative.

Rory ending up protecting Jess from an ongoing car that almost hits him instead of the whole "other vampire craves his blood" storyline but Jess ends up spraining his arm when he fell to the ground and Rory just feels guilty that she couldn't have saved him in a better way and tries to avoid him after that. Unfortunately she can't because this dumbass is walking along her trail in the nearby woods with his arm in a sling and goddamn it Jess, you're scaring away the deer!!

Yes. A thousand times yes. To all of this. The comedy. The pining. The Google search idea and elder Gilmore announcement. Yes to it all. But may I raise you some alternatives/more ideas:

In the books the sparkling looks more like the vampires are on fire. So when Rory reveals some skin in the sunlight, Jess is like «Shit, stop doing that do you have a death wish?!» and Rory just gives him a shit eating grin and waves her arm in and out of the sunlight. Also what if she doesn’t strip but takes of her sweater to reveal a t-shirt and Jess has a momentary heart attack thinking a vampire was about to flash him? All this being said the Claire’s silvery glitter scene is too good to replace ;-;

There just has to be a point while they’re close friends that Rory tries to impress/scare Jess by pulling him over her shoulders and carrying him while she speed runs. But when she tries to say something badass or seductive she has a brain fart and the only thing that comes out is: «Hold on tight... spidermonkey.» Jess doesn’t get to react before she runs, and when she’s finished the first thing he does is puke (apparently it’s hard to get used to that running according to SMeyer). Rory: «Oh no I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have done it, it was stupid and now you’re hurt and-»

Jess: «Spidermonkey???»

Rory: «oh, you’re fine.»

Jess: «SPIDERMONKEY????»

Rory: «I’ll just leave you here for the bears,» and walks away.

I’m not sure what her vampire origin story should be. It could be all the Gilmores are vampires and they bite each other at a certain age after procreating (and the eldest Lorelai decided to be an asshole and bite Rory early) or it could just be Rory like you said. In that case maybe Christopher became one and bit Rory because he wants her and Lorelai and him to be one big happy family of the night? But Lorelai refused and Rory protected her? Or maybe it was a stranger who passed by Stars Hollow?

Jess questions Rory’s humanity not after being saved by a car crash (pre friendship that is, I still think your idea should come in afterwards) but because he consistently skips school and on a sunny day («How can I lock myself in a stuffy dusty dark room on a day like this, uncle Luke?») he comes upon Rory hunting and eating a dear. That and/or she saves him from the swan. And because it’s Rory and she’s a clumsy new-born she saves him by speeding over and suckerpunching the swan so hard it does an action movie sweep miles into the forest.

Rory’s cover for sunny days in Stars Hollow is that she’s staying at Chilton longer for an assignment, or in the case of her still going to ST High it’s visiting their library for resources. Because she hates missing school, that cover is usually true, and she just refuses to go into any spot with sunlight:

Rory: «I have this skin condition, I have sun allergy»

Madeleine or Louise: «That’s not a thing is it»

Paris: «It is [starts infodumping]»

She usually locks herself in the darkest corner of the library and speeding away in a flash at closing time before anyone can spot her.

Rory has lost count of the amount of times Jess has dared her to drink from him. She refuses because she’s scared if hurting a friend:«What if I taste your blood and it’s so good I can’t stop? Like it tastes like heroin or ecstasy or coffee?» Jess usually counters with either «If you could resist Chuck Presby you can resist me» or «What makes you think I’d taste so good, huh?» Rory always ends up thinking she would have a blush right now if she was still human.

Jess wants to be a vampire too because hey what else does he have a chance at doing in life? But Rory refuses because she sees the potential in him and what he can be, and doesn’t want to take his chance at a good and normal life away from him. But at some point they get into a dangerous situation where Jess’ only options are death or vampyrism and Rory finally gives in. Also this is our AU and we get to decide which Twilight vampire-rules apply and in this AU vampires age mentally (it’s a bullshit excuse SMeyer and you know it).

This one depends on the origin but hey it’s an idea: While Rory was still a new new-born, her and Lorelai locked themselves up in the crap shack for a full week watching all the vampire movies they could in search of information that could help them. Rory decided to do empirical experiments too, and had garlic food, got a cross close to her, wore silver and stabbed her arm a wooden stake. The garlic food (like all food now sadly) tasted crap but didn’t kill her, nor did any of the rest. The wooden stake hurt but it healed fast.

Rory gets both Lorelai and Jess to order insane amounts of food just to watch them eat it because she misses the taste and needs to live vicariously through their tastebuds. In the AU where both Gilmore girls are vampires, they order so much food because they have no idea what the normal amount is (chaotic vampire Gilmores for the win).

Also I did not realize how well Bella and Edward’s powers fit Rory and Jess? Like of course Rory would be a mind reader and of course Jess’ thing would be an all-encompassing shield. Sometime when he’s still human and «bugging» Rory she poses the theory that maybe his head is just empty and doesn’t have any interesting ideas. Jess pretends to be hurt (okay he’s a little hurt but he’d never tell her that) and Rory immediately falls into apologetic mode.

Rory wants to go to prom because it’s a human teenage activity she refuses to miss before starts figuring out what to make out of her vampire life. Jess isn’t hyped for it but promises to get tickets. They end up both going as vampires because that altercation happens a week or so before. Jess struggles with not eating everyone in sight but he sticks close to Rory and they leave without a single drop of blood on their hands.

Also Luke as Charlie! Paying attention to the beat attacks and being the only one who noticed that Rory doesn’t actually eat the food on her plate anymore (her mom eats her own plate then switches it with Rory’s) and when Rory and Jess reveal the secret he momentarily closes down and has to take a fishing trip to process everything. But he comes back a ride or die wanting to protect the poor kids.

I also feel like there should be multiple moments where one is insanely attracted to the other and questions this attraction strongly. Like Rory crushing on Jess and wondering if it’s bloodthirst or just the last remains of her human teenage hormones. And Jess being full on into Rory while still acknowledging the fact that it could be some vampire seduction powers, but what the hell does he care? There’s a cute undead bookworm right there and if he has to go he doesn’t mind dying to be a pretty girl’s lunch meal.

[tropical-gothic]

To the world

Angel/Demon AU headcanons for Yasha and Sasori

@multisasori Well, it’s technically a Good Omens AU. Take a guess on who’s the demon (who is just a little bit of a good person), and who’s the angel (who is just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing).

Special thanks to @thatshipcat for fueling these headcanons and for sharing quite a few that I’ve incorporated here.

1. Angel and Angel turned Demon

Sasori started out, like all demons, as an angel. That was, until he made one fateful trip down to earth to Babylon.

“I’ve received a notice about a tower outside building regulations—-“

Said tower may or may not have been the base of a handful of demons. The angel who came to inspect may or may not have liked the aesthetic—- Sasori thinks he would look more beautiful in black, even if his beauty was already beyond mortal comprehension.

“Where is Sasori?” Yasha had long since finished his own job, and ended up stumbling on a bunch of confused people who couldn’t seem to understand each other. “He’s never been late.”

“Yasha,” rang a voice in his head, with some static— likely calling from an underground source. “Can’t make it back today. I’m being indoctrinated into demon hood. I’m going to have such awesome black wings.”

“Cool, cool, cool,” Yasha said, brushing his own white wings. They looked awesome enough to him. “Okay, you stay safe.” The static stopped and Sasori’s voice disappeared. Yashamaru sighed. “Michael’s going to be pissed.”

2. The Aesthetic

So, there are good and bad things that come with the whole demon aesthetic, Sasori realized.

Yes, black looked absolutely wonderful in him. He was drop dead gorgeous and people have even more languages now to tell him how beautiful he was. Except that he wasn’t a fan of the whole… snake skin issue. That was Orochimaru’s thing and somehow that becomes everyone’s thing as well (at least in “Akatsuki”— which Sasori also found a cool name for demons).

But it definitely wasn’t Sasori’s thing. He complained to Yasha about it often enough— even carved himself his own set of wooden clogs. Better the clogs than snake skin— /oh, okay, all shoes become snake skin when I wear it. Perfect./

Another thing Sasori liked about being a demon was the black wings that came with the indoctrination. It was his color, after all, and it made him feel larger than life— even if the wing size didn’t actually change.

Except that demons didn’t quite groom their wings the way angels did and Sasori did not take to change very well. So he still kicks down the door of whatever mortal space Yasha is occupying on earth and insist that he help Sasori comb the spots he can’t reach.

Which Yasha does, with a certain gentleness that Sasori will never admit to liking.

3. The Black Plague and the Renaissance

Somewhere during the Middle Ages, Sasori was convinced that Yashamaru was an angel of death (the last heavenly meeting he was in, they were discussing this— though no one was assigned the part… as far as Sasori could recall). Either that or he was just a strangely morbid angel.

See, the guy always hovered very close to death. Be it a war or this century’s plague that’s ravaging Europe. Not that Yasha would admit to it—- he insisted that it was because this was where people needed the “comfort of God’s love” the most. (That may be why Sasori has worked a few miracles here and there too— keep them alive long enough for them to become selfish bastards again.)

“You need to get out more,” Sasori said, poking at the bird beak of the angel’s protective suit. “Air this out so you don’t smell like death. We won’t be able to have dinner if you smell like that.” Yasha would pout— but he would miracle out of the fashion disaster and into better clothes.

Yashamaru, on the other hand, was convinced that Sasori has made it a project to influence every art movement on earth. He’s always there when the big ones happen— so Yasha knows that something will happen after the plague (that would be called the Renaissance, later on).

“Back when these black wings were still new, I used to create my own gods— and have humans create them as well. Give their offerings of gold and blood to these beautifully carved idols.”

Yasha doesn’t believe him, of course. Sasori likes to create things and finds things beautiful— in and of themselves, without the work of temptation weaved into them. Sasori wouldn’t listen, of course, so Yasha just gives a few words of encouragement every so often.

4. The Antichrist

Sasori’s biggest assignment to date was a delivery. A package of sorts, straight from hell. He was to deliver the Antichrist— the Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan and Lord of Darkness.

Straight forward job— get the parcel, dive around town in his new car (which matches his aesthetic and even has a name), switch it with someAn other pre-selected baby, perhaps get a tip for the fast delivery service. Well, it should have been a straightforward job. Except that Sasori took a peek a the baby.

And was, perhaps, a bit more taken by the tuft of red hair, the large green eyes, and the little arms that reached out to him, than he would like to admit.

In another part of the city, Yashamaru was predictably hovering near death once more. This time, it was the death of a mother— still young, with blonde hair, and two children waiting for her at home. There should have been a third child, but the baby has already been wheeled into the ICU, and then wheeled out looking even smaller and a lot more limp. The little one had been born too early.

Yashamaru hovered near death, and stood beside her husband— a tall and stern man who bore the heavy weight of grief. It was too early to think about the future--- if he thinks of a life without his wife, it might come true. They were both leaning against the wall by the glass window, waiting for the hemorrhaging to stop— for better or for worse, when—

“So, Yashamaru,” Sasori suddenly appeared, sticking his head through the window. “What sort of diapers do you think the Lord of Darkness would prefer?”

“I— what? Wait— Sasori, now is not the time. I’m in the middle of—— /oh, he’s so cute./“

“Right!”

For a moment, Sasori told Yashamaru about Hell’s plans to bring the Antichrist over and then eventually the end of the world. With some added gloating as Sasori was won’t to do. For a moment, Yashamaru considered what to do with the child— now that the babe was in front of him. Ethically speaking? Morally speaking? As an angel? He should have the answer to this, innately, but he doesn’t. If the Antichrist were to kill everyone—-

“Excuse me?”

For a moment, Yashamaru and Sasori forgot that there was another person standing close by.

“You’re not humans?” the human asked.

“Oh no! We’re absolutely—“

“Of course, we’re not,” Sasori shrugged. “He’s an angel, I’m a demon, and this is the antichrist.”

“Right…” Yashamaru refused to let go of his smile. Positive thoughts.

“You can do miracles,” Rasa said, pointing to labor and delivery room. “My wife. She needs to live. We’ve already lost the baby.”

Sasori leaned close to Yasha— “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I’m thinking that we’re imposing on a family undergoing the worst tragedy of their lives.”

“Worst tragedy so far—- but that’s a stupid thought. What I’m thinking is that— I take the dude’s soul back to home with me and the world gets to keep the lady.”

“Sasori! That’s deplorable!”

“He’s handsome!”

Yashamaru smacked Sasori on the side. “Focus! I don’t even know what we’re thinking about— I understand this is a great deal for this family. But the greater deal is the future of the whole world. And that’s dependent on him—“ he pointed at the little red haired baby, who was making little spit bubbles while they deliberated his fate.

“You’re right,” Sasori nodded his head. “We should adopt him.”

“What! No— “ Yasha said, more than a little taken aback. “I don’t think we’re ready for this responsibility. The finances alone— did we ever settle that diaper question? Wait! No, we can’t— we’re not allowed to intervene in human lives. Raising someone would count.”

Sasori paused. “How about indirectly?”

They both turned to the human who looked too confused to follow the conversation.

“What’s your name?” Sasori asked.

“Rasa.”

“Okay, Rasa. He can get your lady love back from the clutches of death—“

“Sasori—“

“Make it happen, Yasha. But in return, you have to take this little one.”

Rasa looked at the child. “The Antichrist?”

“Yep. And he also comes with two godfathers. If we are to prevent him from realizing his full powers which could annihilate all of us and cause the end times, then we need to be present in his life as well.”

“That’s a lot to take in,” Rasa said. Nevertheless, he took the child and cradled him. Rasa told himself that this was the child they had been waiting for— even if the circumstances weren’t as expected.

“So—“ Yasha turned to Sasori, “we’d be like godfathers, then!”

“Yasha, go save the girl.”

“Right!”

Bonus:

“You’re telling me,” Sasori said, rocking the antichrist to sleep (for his parents who were fast asleep and too tired to tend to the child). “That she thinks you’re her brother? I thought she was an only child.”

“I panicked!” Yasha said, placing the milk into a tiny cup. “She asked who I was and I couldn’t say I’m an angel… I gave her good childhood memories if that’s any consolation.”

Sasori sighed.

[cutiepisenpai]

Dear Stranger Series Ch. 7: Scavenger Hunt(Spencer Reid x Female OC)

Chapter 1 

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Warnings: Depictions of violence by unsub, sexually suggestive behavior, fluff

 A/N: This was my favorite chapter to write because this is where this story originally started for me and I hope you all enjoy it. 

Spencer had been having trouble sleeping the past few days. He had big plans to make but wasn’t sure where to start. So here he was at three am trying to make coffee quietly, not waking Melinda. A ring is the first place he should start because he hasn’t even been to a store to start looking at rings. For that he’ll need to wait for a day off that will hopefully not be interrupted by a case. And even with a day off he needs to find a way to get out of the house without having Melinda question it. Maybe he could have Emily, JJ, or Penelope help him. No, that would never work, none of them can keep a secret. He’ll just have to figure it out himself. He spends the early hours of the morning pondering what to do next. Not noticing the time he has spent formulating his plan until Melinda walks into the kitchen. “How long have you been up?” She asks groggily. “Uh.. just a few hours couldn’t sleep.” He says as he wraps her in a hug. “You know you could wake me up. I'm great late night company and you might have a better chance at going back to sleep.” She responds nuzzling into his chest. “It’s alright if I wake you up then we would both be exhausted at work.” They begin going about their usual morning routine making more coffee and a light breakfast before showering, getting dressed and heading out. 

Arriving at the office they don’t have much down time before they are whisked away on a case. Not even having gone into the briefing, they would be briefed on the plane. There had been multiple male bodies found in some remote woods in Washington. During the discussion on the plane Spencer’s mind drifts off back to the plan he is currently putting together maybe if they can get through the case quickly he would have time when they got back. Or if there is any free time he can try going to a jewelry store in Washington but then someone on the team could notice and … "Reid?...Reid?!" Hotch is calling out to him. "Yea sorry about that." "Is everything alright?" Hotch asks, seeming concerned. "Yeah did you know getting lost in thought or "zoning out" is actually quite common. The regions of the brain that become active during mind wandering belong to two important networks…. Researchers say a wandering mind may be important to setting goals, making discoveries and living a balanced life..." Spencer is rambling on. "Ok Reid, I just wanted to make sure everything was ok." Hotch says. Everyone is given their buddy assignments for when they land. Hotch, JJ, and Melinda are going to the police station, Rossi and Emily to the disposal site, and Reid and Morgan to the morgue. "So what was that all about earlier?" Morgan asks on the drive to the morgue. "What do you mean?" "I mean you totally just checked out on the plane. Are you sure everything is fine?" "I really wish people would stop asking that. I said I was fine." Spencer says in a huff. Morgan figures it's best to just leave him alone for now. When they get to the morgue the five victims that have been found so far all show the same pattern multiple stab wounds pre and post mortem but the cause of death for all was cyanide poisoning.

 The team determined that this unsub was a "black widow" killer that had been killing one victim a year over the course of at least ten years based on the other bodies that were found.They were now trying to find a connection between the victims to find the unsub.  

Four days later they had finally caught the unsub. She was a thrill seeking psychopath luring men in with her looks and then trapping and torturing them for a year before repeating the process. The team was happy to be done, the case dragging on and taking its toll on them all. On the flight home almost everyone is asleep except Spencer. In the minuscule amount of spare time they had with this case he finalized his plans and would set everything up as soon as they arrived home. Finally arriving back at the apartment everyone agreeing the paperwork could wait, Spencer waited for Melinda to fall asleep before getting up and getting everything ready. 

The next morning when Melinda wakes up Spencer isn't in the bed again. She really needs to get him to talk to her about what's bothering him so he can get some rest. She gets up and heads to the kitchen where she had been finding him every morning. But this morning he isn't there. She can smell the coffee which means he was here, on the counter is her favorite mug with a sticky note attached. "Running errands will be back later. I think we should have a date night." - S. He is rather strange at times but it's just added to the list of the reasons she loves him. She pours herself a cup of coffee. Since she has her own errands that need to be done she might as well get it out of the way while Spencer's gone. She needs to pick up last week's dry cleaning, drop off this week's dry cleaning, stop by the pharmacy and go grocery shopping. After showering and gathering up everything she will need she is out the apartment door locked behind her. 

Spencer was thankful to know his girlfriend so well that he could figure out her course of action if he was gone. Once she leaves the apartment he goes back in to set up his surprise.

Arriving back at the apartment in the late afternoon Melinda is surprised Spencer isn't back yet. There is another post-it on the door "You must go on adventures to find out where you truly belong." - Sue Fitzmaurice She had no idea what he was up to but it seemed like it would be fun. Under that post it lay another "Some take me in the morning, others in the evening, but one thing you should know, that when I'm "taken" I don't go anywhere." And now there are riddles, she likes riddles and he knows that, even if this one is simple she'll play along. After putting the groceries away, she goes to the shower since that is where the next clue will be. On the bathroom mirror sits another note "When I put on my clothes it takes off its clothes. What is it?" She laughs walking into the closet, a hanger, but what exactly is she looking for? Behind the closet door that leads to the bedroom is a garment bag hanging. Now that wasn't there earlier and on the floor lies a shoe box. She unzips the bag to reveal a beautiful dress, one she hadn't seen before and she assumes the shoes in the box are a match. This game he has set up is becoming more fun by the minute. She takes a shower, puts up her hair, and applies light makeup before slipping into the dress and sliding the shoes on. At the bottom of the shoe box is the next clue "Some visitors pause here and strangers announce their reason. Things that decorate me can indicate a season."  Heading to the front door thinking he had to at the door. But she is wrong, he isn't there but had to have been recently, sitting at the foot of the door is a vase of sunflowers that were not there when she arrived home. "A necessity to some, a treasure to many, I'm best enjoyed among pleasant company, some like me cold, some prefer mild, some like me bold."  Melinda heads into the kitchen checking around the coffee pot but there are no other notes, maybe a mug she thinks going through the cabinet. Okay so it's not in the house she grabs her purse heading to the coffee shop they frequent down the street. She isn't really sure what she should be looking for and they are never here this time of day so she doesn't recognize any of the workers. Maybe if she orders something they will give her the next clue. "Melinda!" She hears someone shout "Small coffee for Melinda!" She hesitates for a moment before walking over. "Um I'm Melinda but I didn't order this." "Oh I know some really handsome fella came in and paid for it." She says handing the coffee over to her. At this point she is appreciative of the coffee, this was quite some adventure he had her on. The note affixed to the top of the coffee reads, "A pile of words, jackets of hordes, take a quick look in a place of books." That one was by far the most obvious clue. She exits heading to the library. As she walks drinking her coffee she thinks of all the times Spencer and her had taken this walk on a morning off, she enjoyed anytime they had together. Arriving at the library she tosses her empty cup before walking in. Once inside she isn't sure where she should be going. Nothing draws her attention, no one is looking around expectedly so she just begins to walk around following the same route her and Spencer always take. She rounds the corner and that's when she sees it, another note. Maybe she should change her routine and not be so predictable. "A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others. - L Frank Baum (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) she knew exactly where this was leading her. Heading towards the section and finding the only copy of the book she pulls it off the shelf. "If an adventure is what you want, take a look, open a book" inside the book awaits the final note simply reading "turn around". When she turns around, down on one knee ring in hand is Spencer. "Melinda, I love you more than I thought possible, would you join me on the greatest adventure and marry me?" Failing to hold back tears, in barely a whisper "Yes". 

The next morning waking up for the first time in two weeks with Spencer by her side. She smiles leaning over to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. Her movement makes him stir slightly as he moves closer to cuddle. His face in the crook of her neck he returns the kiss, "Shouldn't you be sleeping." He says in his scratchy morning voice. "You can't really expect me to sleep. I'm so excited I don't know how to contain it." She giggles out. She had been playing with the ring since he placed it on her finger, it felt so surreal. "Well if you're not going to sleep there is something else we could be doing." He says placing more kisses on her neck, moving down to her breast. But just as quick as their activities had begun they halted because the phone was ringing off course. Garcia called them in for a new case. Both groan in frustration sharing a few more kisses before separating to get ready and go into work. Arriving at the office everyone has the same look on their face, the why can't we just have two consecutive days off for once look. Spencer and Melinda were so caught up in the mornings frustrations they forgot about their recent engagement until Rossi came up to congratulate them. "Congratulations on what exactly?" They both ask. Rossi's comment had alerted the team to them immediately. He gestures to the ring on her finger. "Oh yea, thanks." Melinda beams out joy flowing through her. "Almost forgot about that after that phone call this morning." They are met with a sea of congrats. Emily and Penelope are already arguing over who gets to be maid of honor and asking if they already had a date in mind. The BAU family was hectic but it was home and they were excited to see what new adventures await for them

[blankdblank]

Brother Dearest Pt 21

Bags settled back into his usual bedroom Erik was off to go fishing with James and Victor while you changed listening to Eddie about his first day. “I didn’t realize just how much I missed school. It is nothing really like high school, it’s all on you. You decide to go to class, take notes and do the assignments and you get the results for how hard you push at it. All with people from everywhere.” His eyes locked on yours when you came back buttoning your trousers over your comfy t shirt you had tucked in, “I missed you though, and Teddy terribly. I can’t wait for you to get to Barnard and see what you can do there. I know you’ll be incredible.”

“So will you, future reporter,” making him smile at you in return.

“How was today?”

“Good, bit slow, town seems to like Erik, looks like he can earn a bit for savings through his stay.”

“That’s good, I’m glad he’s getting along so well out here. I think he could be incredible too, seems to have your mind. Could be a great team if he picks the same path.”

“Yes, then he can lay the ground work and I can squeak in behind him.”

“There will be no squeaking for you. I know you, and you leapt through a tank. I will never forget that, charged right at it, tore a hole in it and slammed it shut behind you, you do not squeak in behind anyone. They will move or be torn apart.”

“You really think anyone will listen to me or take me seriously when my greatest achievement over the being the only woman to win the Medal of Honor is to walk down the aisle?”

“It is never who’s gonna let you, but who is gonna stop you?”

Again you were grinning and laid down beside Teddy who was napping you inched closer to and kissed his cheek, “One thing’s for sure, he’s never gonna be like them.”

Eddie shook his head, “Not a tick. Not a moment, everything is going to change and he’s going to be a part of it. All our munchkins are.”

.

“I think orange sherbet,” Looking over the pictures of rooms with test patches of paint for each the brothers and Erik gave agreeing nods to while Eddie seemed a bit distracted. “Then maybe the periwinkle for here?”

Eddie sighed out, “Dawn likes periwinkle.”

Victor smirked, “Whatcha got there, Eddie?” Looking at the hand wrapped around something that Eddie was clearly mulling over.

Eddie looked up and said, “Well, Dawn and I have been doing well with our date nights, and, my cousin came up, brought this.” You all looked at the rectangular emerald wrapped in diamonds with a matching two criss crossing wedding bands coated in diamonds as well. “Caught her looking at something similar back when Bunny had those Bridal magazines at the diner. Made sure to leave them out by me on lunch with Dot sighing out how Daisy likes emeralds over rubies. Tapped into funds from the comics and savings from working through the rebuild. It’s fast-,”

Victor chuckled and James said, “It’s almost June, we’ll be in Alberta for the D-Day reunion and Mid July we will be back in Brooklyn. I am surprised she hasn’t drug you to the courthouse by your hair yet.”

Victor, “She loves Teddy, the puppies are almost here, and you have to get some input for furniture as well since she is moving with us, even David and their father has expected her to.”

James, “You have asked for her father’s permission?”

Eddie nodded, “Of course. Well, I stammered something of the sort, but he did give me credit on writing out a five page speech he read then agreed to my asking. Only, well, I think Dawn knows.”

You giggled, “Of course she knows.”

Eddie, “I want it to be special, like yours, but not like yours to make her feel like I’m unimaginative.”

James smirked saying, “You could try a scavenger hunt.” That had Eddie’s brow inching up.

Victor, “When she was little couldn’t get enough of them. I’m sure we could help to keep her distracted, you plan a trip to the gazebo where her grandfather proposed after building it.”

Eddie nodded, “She mentioned that,”

James and Victor replied, “Just mentioned?”

You giggled and Erik said, “Even I have been told the tale five times since arriving.”

.

The plan had been formed and an obscure list of tasks were subtly scattered around town. A request to borrow this, someone to trade for that. A helping hand to move something and with a message left for another person sure to spread around a distracting tidbit keeping Dawn off guard. Mention Eddie was helping with a fence would put her off guard having assumed all that was planned was a dinner the night before his graduation ceremony she had picked a nice dress pattern for something new to wear for it. Halfway through her shift though an entering gossiper would share the story. Leading her over to another’s house, planting her right in the path to help another neighbor with a pre set errand.

While you, James, Victor and Erik worked on recovering your mother’s old chair that had taken a week to mend back to new plushy status perfect for reading in by replacing nearly all of the worn out wood and padding, Eddie went to fetch Dawn who blushed furiously noticing finally how late she imagined she was for their dinner plans. Mention of a request her mother had made to drop by to check something for her however had her delivered unknowingly to the right place and time. Guiding her back to the lit up gazebo that just about had her in tears keeping his stammering question distracted from enough to have her crash into his chest knocking him on his back an answer of a kiss. David and Daisy elatedly snapped pictures and kept watch of Teddy as Eddie took Dawn off to dinner in town to show off her ring.

Walking on air he returned home and you readied the plans to have another body for the drive to Alberta in the morning. Where your big day was set for nearly a year out, they had hoped for something much sooner. Already she had stayed over twice after having fallen asleep helping to sit up with Teddy in his first rounds with teething and had been offered a room of her own to keep with their choice to wait to even cuddle in bed till after the wedding. For Dawn simple was always what she wanted, and the week after next the date had been set. Everything was mainly potluck, and she already had her dress, though to wait out a storm for the reception in the barn, where the Judge from the courthouse had agreed to move his service to officiate as he normally did in the lack of a Priest for the church, two weeks was agreed.

Already a father and well into an internship with a stack of articles he was given to research and turn in Eddie was ready to get married. Head over heels in love with Dawn since he first met her and ready for their future together, one she wildly had agreed to venture outside of their safe bubble to brave the wild New York to be with him as he and the others supported you. It seemed even Erik had planned to one day join you there and educate himself further, part of the plus for earning these funds to save up for it.

.

“The glue should be dry.” James stood after checking his watch breaking your cuddling position in the grass under the sun. For hours you had been working with Erik on both practicing your powers. Tossing metal chunks back and forth you warped into various shapes between bouts of levitating yourselves up into trees or over fallen logs in a sort of obstacle course in the woods the brothers laughed calling out more of the course to spread the game even more as they scampered up behind you both.

Victor reached out helping Erik up while James helped you to your feet, the former saying, “Let’s go finish our tables and that should be it on furniture.”

Erik said with a smile, “I think I am starting to like building.”

Victor chuckled patting him on the back, “Always good to have a hands on hobby.”

Erik looked up at him, “You aren’t going to say I should be a builder?”

Victor, “Do you want to be a builder?”

Erik shook his head, “Mother says there is always work for builders.”

James, “Not always, but most of the year if you know where to look yes. You could try architecture, something to work that mind of yours if you want to go the building route.”

Erik, “Should I not choose an easier job in demand for funds?”

The brothers chuckled and Victor said, “One thing you have to know kid, there will always be work depending on what you are willing to put up with for funds. We’ve worked in everything from mills, digging ditches up to building sky scrapers, even owned a sock shop once. Choose what you have passion for. What challenges that mind of yours, menial jobs will only lead you to bouts of frustration for how simple it is. If it means taking the harder path then do it. It will never not be worth it to try for what you are passionate about.”

James nodded, “Don’t worry about funds. You have us, no matter where you go we’ll make sure you’re set up safe with a roof and square meals a day. You’re family. Edie bless her heart is just worried about you, as mothers do for their babies. She’ll be proud of you when you reach that dream of yours.”

“Sock shop?” You asked making the brothers smirk and delve into the story on how they stole a suit shop and couldn’t keep it afloat with suits so limited it to socks until the owners came back from a long trip away back when they were teens.

.

For the past two days since the graduation followed by a celebratory dinner back in town with everyone for his achievement and the engagement to announce the big day for those who didn’t already know the lovebirds were inside working up their apartment in their minds. Dawn took care to inspect each picture and using the diagrams Victor and James made her had gotten to decorating. Lists of furniture were made along with the new scheme of Teddy’s room. In the soon to be orange and grey room borderless silhouettes of tigers and colorfully plumed tropical birds opposite orange bordered ducks, owls, rhinos and elephants would be added herself for her own adored taste for her future son’s room.

They required some space as taking sides was what aiding on decisions seemed to be in their finding balance for the new space as a couple. Dawn already expected to have family over often, his family at least, and was pleased to hear her taste would blend well with that of the Brock’s. Nerves were high as she’d be facing their inquiries to see just how she would fit into the family, calming only as you said they would love her for just loving Eddie and managing to land the heart of the formerly hopeful bachelor.

Sunset was what you had hoped for, Dawn would be home again and while the others slept you could be alone with James again. Stunning was the least you could say about your first time with James. A wish to try something farther ended rather abruptly after a marathon of aims to see who could last out the longest. There was a sting but right away it just felt right, as if your bodies had already done this before.

Everything seemed so much deeper these days while you had the oddest of dreams together in some golden grand palace on an incredible island with purple waters separating your lands from those wrapped by waters of blue. You had to be losing your mind, yet Venom’s words echoed in your mind that you were older than this planet’s sun. Quite calmly James and Victor had taken to your dreams confirming they had similar dreams in the past when they were younger leading to old sketches and paintings being brought out of storage including one of you and James stunning him as to how he hadn’t thought to look for this earlier.

Simply you found a rhythm and just eager your bodies were in finding home that you finished together, then promptly blacked out. Jarred from the effect of it all was nothing to what came next. Straight up in bed you shot once a dream of you being delivered dream James’ helmet along with Victor’s and told that they were dead leaving you and Dream Eddie who was being covered as Venom crept out in the approach of a dark haired woman in the shadow of a darker male force coming to wage war on you. Devastation was left. And tear inducing, your father was there clearly taking your soul he hid and off he fled on what looked to be a meteor shaped ship that Venom was clinging to as the woman lay dead in the crater you left behind. With thousands of soldiers now fully metal came to view in the settling waves of dust.

You weren’t scared of James, and the dream once shared with Venom was confirmed to be your last day as Mother. You just felt pain, uncertainty once again on if you would lose all you had gained and now finding your courage again around his shoulders you hugged him on your toes pressing a kiss to the back of his shoulder initiating his turn to hold you and claim a kiss of his own. Humming against his lips you asked, “Try again?”

“You sure?” He asked smoothing his hands down your back and you nodded signaling his lifting you with legs wrapped around his middle on the wall to bed, “Nice and slow then, no marathon.” Kissing you again to start a passionate more tender try at this again in hopes you wouldn’t trigger another painful memory this time.

.

Tangled again in his arms contently he peppered lingering kisses down your forehead and cheeks tracing his fingers across your back. Pausing only a moment as you asked, “Does it really change anything?”

Grinning at you he shook his head, “No, still helplessly in love with you.”

“Damn,” you teased and giggled through his retaliatory kiss and cuddles bringing you closer to his chest. Nuzzling his nose with yours his eyes closed in this moment of peace and out of nowhere an old unasked question popped out of you, “I didn’t make a very convincing soldier did I?”

With eyes open and on yours he replied inching his head back curious why you were asking. “Well you lacked in a few training aspects, the lingo mainly but you picked it up. You made a convincing kid who snuck in lying about their age.”

“But it was obvious I was a dame in a stolen uniform?”

Trailing a chuckle he replied, “Not at all. In fact if I hadn’t noticed your cycle and hadn’t known you and those purple eyes before there’s no telling how long you could have fooled us. I do have to ask, how’d you keep those a secret so long? We would have noticed your bandage supply going dry had you used those.”

“Well, I can make, I can cap it, to stop it from coming out.”

“Like a cork?” You nodded and he asked rather concerned, “Does that hurt? It sounds like it would hurt.”

“It does, really bad. But it was all I could do to not wear it. No time for stops and when I stopped to pee you just let it go. Cramping stops eventually near the end of the week. Bloating is a nightmare.”

“I’m so sorry we couldn’t help with that.”

You shook your head, “You kept me distracted. That helped.”

“So why the questions on being a soldier? You aren’t planning on running off to battle again are you?” He teased.

You giggled shaking your head, “No, just haven’t asked you yet. No more wars for me.”

“Good, us neither. We are too old now anyways, technically. Never leaving you again for that foolishness.” Again he kissed your forehead, “Get some sleep now, off to buy some china in the morning.” Inching the covers higher over you both cuddling closer and shutting his eyes to go to sleep excited to see just which set you would settle on.

.

Post breakfast grouping you were off to Alberta catching whispers of the festivities for the celebration of the anniversary of D-Day for the soldiers and their families on your way to the china shop as Eddie and Victor went to pick out some things for the wedding last minute.

Right through the doors of the upscale shop you walked feeling James’ hand shifting the cardigan on your back over your nice navy polka dotted dress. Back again in a fine vest and trousers to look the part with you to build your confidence you belonged there he kept you close ensuring he wouldn’t let go until you felt a tiny bit at home with the task. Glancing around at the displays close to you the approach of a sales aid went unnoticed until their cologne wafted your way. A smile settled across the man’s face as he realized just who was in his family’s shop. “Miss Pear, Mr Howlett, welcome to our humble shop, how might we assist you today?”

James’ finger pressed a tad into your back signaling for you to speak and you said through a simple smile, “Well I am attending Barnard University in the fall and we’ve renovated my old place there. Including adding a tea room, which we will be requiring a fitting tea set for any club gatherings or visits from other students or Professors.”

His grin widened as James added, “Plus some good dinner sets as well in case of special dinners. Entertaining and such.”

“Of course, of course, allow me to offer you some of our impressive collections.” For nearly an hour you chose from the vast collections, one crème and platinum rimmed set and a second arguably stunning white, mint and silver banded set with raised decorations from a scantily sold collection near to be taken back by the designer to accept its least popular design yet.

For the tea you paused on another of their least popular styles, lifting one of the cups inspecting the thick black bands with silver floral designs above simple white bare bases standing with a thin silver band lining it. Inside the cup leaves reached for the top with a magnolia bloom in the bottom. The round saucer was a simple painted magnolia on a leafy stem with center above a second more squared with wavy ends, fully black floral designed plate. Crème pot and sugar bowl were solid black as well etched florally in silver. While the teapot half white similar to the saucers stood atop a larger round saucer above a second all white squared wavy ended one with raised silver accents in each corner branching out to connect around the edges.

Tilting it to James you asked, “Too much?”

“I like it, my Gran had a set like that.” James replied and promptly added, “Will fit the cabinet nicely with the design on the bands for the sections between the glass panels.”

Catching the aid’s eye again you asked, “What do you think? It wouldn’t be an odd choice for company?”

“That set is very lovely, and certainly would be unlike any most couples choose. Pink and white is the most common, blue and white is a close second. The design has an elegant touch to it,” lifting the tea pot he said, “Not just anyone would choose this set, few would be so bold to, and the mere shape of the tea pot itself would add to your brew with its clearly superior shape.” More he delved into the crafting of each piece and demonstrated how the shape of the base of a cup rested in the saucer easing sliding by resting a set on his palm he eased around in front of him, even in a few slight angles.

James smirked catching a hint of eagerness to sell this set far from necessary as you had been the one to pick it out, even the mint he caught the stunned expressions on others faces noticing what you had chosen far from matching to the prices of which other sets blew out of the water. You had mentioned not wanting to seem odd the days prior asking to tour Dot and a few other’s own tea sets seeing for yourself how popular the simple floral designs were. Only you had resigned with a sigh that you were odd and choosing more of the same wasn’t what you wanted.

Though your most adorable question came as the salesman paused in wait for a tray of spoons to go with your set. “What about the little scoopers? I can’t think of their proper name. Do you sell those?” His lips parted in slight confusion and you clarified, “When we had dinner at Buckingham Palace they had little claw things, for sugar cubes.”

“Ah, yes, of course, the sugar tongs, they will be among the designs, we have a pair with leaf shaped ends instead of spoons or the antique styled prongs. Myself I prefer the simpler designs for my own set at home while mother swears by her prong ended set.” His grin eased out again while you listened diligently to each trait and seemed out of most who came here to actually know the most useful and suitable to what you had chosen to complete the set. By the time wine and liquor glasses were chosen it became less about the curiosity to see which least popular choices you had been inclined to and more to see how it all blended in splendidly with your style and personality the staff could tell in your time together. Wonder for how your home would appear in full, all silently hoping along with hundreds of others to have some magazine get an exclusive tour of that tea room one day so they might get a glimpse.

In all a hefty sum was spent but James could only be proud knowing that you had chosen nearly all of it, conceding to his own similar taste to suit your style for his and Victor’s liquor set. His addition being a few pop up breakfast trays he snuck in while you were distracted. Already he could see you planning your first dinner together, mainly you hosting as he and Victor cooked up a storm to aid in your good impression with the impeccable sets you had chosen coating the dining and tearoom tables. The images distracting him on the wait for the others who were still deciding for the final choices as you both strolled through the same shop with your mind reeling as to just what Dawn might have chosen for her own set knowing Eddie had mentioned she had been looking at catalogues herself knowing he would one day propose.

“Do you know where to buy sugar cubes?”

Eddie looked from the selection to your distracted question, “Can’t say I do.”

“We are getting sugar tongs, so we need sugar cubes. Might have to go uptown for it.”

Eddie, “Well, soon as you need it we’ll make sure we track it down.”

Victor smirked inching closer to James asking about your choices while Eddie asked your opinion on the final choices that were soon rung up and loaded into the truck for the drive back. Final touches were to be made and as you were expecting to be wearing your skirted uniform you were stunned to be nearly pulled out of the truck to be wiggled into the dress that they had made for you. Daisy and David would be in the Bridal party while you and Erik were part of Eddie’s Groomsmen. A laced up crème dress topped with an off the shoulder long sleeved shrug top accented with embroidered panels and designs down the sleeves matched Daisy’s while Erik was fixed into a tux to match David’s while Eddie donned his dress uniform along with James and Victor.

..

Middle of the night eyes split open to the sound of a pained whimper. Sitting up in bed you tried to place the sound as James rolled onto his back and shot up himself to reach for his pants, “Pepper.”

At that you hurried across the bed feeling your nightgown shift around your thighs in joining him through the room out to the stairs spotting Eddie, Victor and Erik already were up and off to check on Pepper finding her in the living room near the fire still at its embers. All around her you gathered the usual called for water and towels with fire fed her labor was eased with your help to bring her four little puppies into the world. Napping once the four were washed off and cuddled close to her back in her warm bed with ample blankets Pepper slept and you all were off to get the final slivers of sleep available to you.

Soon enough however the house was woken again to sounding alarms and up you got to scramble to get a breakfast together. Halfway conscious food was eaten and dishes cleared up after with you still chewing your last bit of toast on your trot upstairs again. Pepper had her food brought to her with fresh water as Whiskers promised to keep watch of her and her puppies while you were gone.

Deeply exhaling you held your hair over your shoulder while James finished lacing up your dress for you. Smirking at your nerves he said, “Just think of this as a warm up for our day.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be in uniform too? Isn’t there a rule on that?”

“Normally yes, however, you are allowed a reprieve.” Leaning in over your shoulder he planted a kiss on your cheek hugging you around your middle, “Besides, the Bride insists as Groomsman you should be dressed to the nines. In a special gown all your own corresponding to Daisy’s dress. Even Teddy has a special suit.”

“Who’s holding Teddy again?”

“Vic.” He chuckled out grinning at your slightly sleepy glance at yourself in the mirror still waking to what day it was after the early wake up last night.

From the cars to the church you all filled the lots and made your way inside to the respective private rooms. Halfway to Venom tearing out already Eddie paced to keep calm only to halt at your hands cupping his face making him smirk. “Eddie, breathe, you don’t need to know the words you just have to repeat them.”

“Mamma’s gonna be mad.”

“Doubt it.”

“She said she wouldn’t, but I’m the youngest boy to get hitched-,”

“And we are filming and taking impossible amounts of pictures. To show off to the lot of them. Vows, kiss, then food and dancing and more kisses and then you head off to your mini honeymoon in the cabin up by that yellow lake the guys set up.” Smoothing your hands down his arms, “You know we’ve lived here for nearly a year now and I didn’t have a clue there was another cabin on their lands, but there is.”

He smirked saying, “You can say yours, already is without the papers. We have a home. All of us, together.”

“I know.” You sighed out then said when Erik came out of the bath after having failed to fix his tie making you smirk and wave him over stirring out his grin to watch you hovering behind him to show him in the mirror how to do it. “Eddie showed me when we got to London how to do this.” Glancing over his shoulder while Eddie focused on helping to fix his cufflinks he was still holding. “You should in the papers too.”

Eddie scoffed, “Dawn would kill me if I drug her through that on her big day.” Your brow inched up and he chuckled, “Bunny, we love you and we will bar the doors for yours if you like-,”

“I know what you mean. She didn’t ask for it.”

Eddie, “Nor did you, but we are used to being jeered at and heckled from back home, she’s already marrying me, deserves a break.”

“I believe the honeymoon is meant to be the break.” You teased and lowered to the ground again behind Erik who turned with you at the knock on the door making Eddie tense up again. “Breathe Eddie, and remember,”

“Just repeat,” he murmured making you giggle.

On your toes you kissed his cheek turning his head, “She picked you, and loves you.” Venom poked his head out of Eddie’s neck, “Both of you, not to mention Teddy, can’t compete with him.”

Eddie chuckled out, “No one could.” Following your nudge to the door and out to the waiting audience including your troops of soldiers all in uniform joining the other scattered soldiers from town doing the same for this special marriage to two of their own.

Exhaling slowly he stood beside the Judge who patted him on the back keeping him calm after his quick flinch to the sound of the door opening. Dawn had asked for no music at her own nerves and fumbled her hand into Eddie’s in her turn to the Judge to keep her blush between the three of them at the crowd familiar and unfamiliar faces along. Word for word the jittery pair recited and you giggled to yourself internally keeping the pair from dropping their rings while reigning in your own smirk behind your curled fingers in a faked brush of a hair out of your face stealing a glimpse at James who couldn’t keep his eyes off you from the front row.

One kiss led to cheers and even Dawn laughed at Venom popping out to lift her in his arms carrying her to the barn when Eddie’s legs almost buckled in their being announced. Around the pathway to the barn the soldiers raised their ceremonial swords for an archway with Eddie back out again kissing Dawn’s cheek calmed from his nerves and dipping into the sheer bliss of this all. To her seat he carried her and from there the fun crept out adding ease to all of this. Dancing in the sea of people the newlyweds cuddled and about halfway through your useless screwdrivers the bartender kept sending your way the big sendoff was to be given with the speeches to leave the blushing to a minimum now that the couple had been married for a few hours at least and relaxed to the company.

Her father spoke along with David and exhaling slowly you took your time to say something up at the mic hoping you wouldn’t start to cry.

“Now, I’m not too certain what to say. I have a stack of tattered drafts back at the house from my tries to come up with the best thing to say. After I lost my Dad, I remember being halfway invisible to the world, but Eddie saw me. And from finding out one day I was able to hurl spoons across the room he never flinched, or was scared, no matter what Steve said..” your voice broke a moment and you wet your lower lip tucking it in your mouth a moment and continued, “Eddie has never stopped protecting me, making sure I was safe no matter what. Always making sure I was in his sights or in reach. All through ending up in the war and stumbling our way through London and back to here, because family means something much stronger than blood could ever match. And moving here, Dawn, you and your family have been so amazing to us, along with everyone else. But I knew since the moment Eddie met you that you were going to be in our little patchwork family. And even though the Brocks couldn’t make it, trust me we wouldn’t be able to fit them in here with all of you,” stirring a few chuckles from the crowd and Eddie hugging Dawn from behind trying not to tear up himself. “I can tell they will love you just as much as we have and we will do our best to not let them drive you up the wall and look after you while you adjust to Brooklyn just as amazingly as your family have ensured we adjusted here. Now I believe this is by far the longest speech I have ever given and now I will leave it on a more ominous hinted note, enjoy your time in the woods while we run off with your child.”

Chuckles filled the place and out again the troops went to line the way in the sea of guests holding bags of confetti while you hugged Eddie saying, “Don’t you worry about Teddy. Have fun cuddling.”

Eddie chuckled and kissed Teddy’s head while he slept in Victor’s arms giving his carrier a nod and turned to watch Dawn turn from her family to join him to the waiting car that would take them to their honeymoon. Everyone else cleared up a majority of their mess gathering it up to be taken the following day by the chosen cleaners and you made your ways home.

Looping your arm under Victor’s on the ride home you turned his head at your cheek resting on his shoulder and you asked, “This what you felt like you guys got married?”

The question had James glancing at you when Victor leaned in to hug you, rumbling back, “Eddie loves you.” His gaze shifted back to Erik chuckling in his game of bouncing himself around the bed of the truck without touching the sides. “Nothing changes that. No one changes that. Even if in your head you are imagining some burning building situation he checks for Teddy first because he can’t walk, he calls for Dawn and aims her to safety with Teddy and looks for you. No doubt already finding you putting the fire out. Sounds like you are third but it is all one motion, all of you. Plus, he knows we would be there to look out for you too.”

James, “If we weren’t here no doubt things would be different. He would ensure you were safe, possibly even do what we have, get a separate floor for you to live with them.”

“I know. Just odd. Everyone else I’ve called family from back then, when they left they went under a tombstone. Hard to know he’s moving on without leaving forever.”

James, “You are taking it considerably better than Vic did when I married.”

Victor chuckled, “I took it very well considering you both moved to a different county.”

James retorted, “He moved into our attic.”

“You just left your family?”

Victor grinned at you, “That’s how I met them. When he tried to throw me out a window I fell into her open carriage when she came to visit the newlyweds.”

James rolled his eyes, “Yes, then he moved with her into our home, really helped with my in laws. Only moved there to please them so they would grant consent.”

Victor leaned in to kiss your forehead, “Family is only growing, just a floor down from us.” You looked up at him and he smirked, “And no, I am not left out. Pepper, the puppy and Whiskers can come stay in my floor. I love you guys, and I am so happy for what’s coming. No doubt soon enough Teddy will have siblings and need the extra hands to help out.” He murmured then leaned in to kiss Teddy’s fist in his slumbering stretch that had bumped his chin. “Look at you, already throwing punches in your sleep like your auntie Bunny.” That had you giggling and rolling your eyes. “Help you build up a nice right hook when you’re older.”

“I don’t think I’ve thanked you guys enough for giving us a home.”

James smiled patting his hand on your lap, “You helped us find home in that war. We had our house, but you brought us home.”

Victor, “You needed some peace, you, Eddie and Squishy. You needed more than just the Brocks to care for you.”

Up to the house you drove and once parked all climbed out ready for bed. Warmly you all greeted the still close eyed puppies in their last feeding of the day, cuddling and petting Whiskers as well thanking him for keeping watch, and fed the fire for Pepper on your way up wishing her a good night’s rest sharing that David would be by in the morning. Behind you James stood after removing his jacket and vest he tossed onto the foot of the bed once the fire was lit. Each lacing carefully loosened to help you wiggle out of the dress after removing the shrug, both of which were added to the pile of clothes along with the corset he helped you undo next. Turned around you barely had to look up and he’d stepped closer draping his arms around you, “I love you.”

“Was my speech ok?”

“It was perfect, nice joke at the end too. Public welcome to the family, explaining why the Brocks weren’t here, everyone knows they had three babies in the past month alone. Hard to travel with so many, even if we paid the tickets. Just lovely, please don’t worry.”

You nodded, “Just didn’t want to sink the mood.”

Again he kissed you and hummed, “No sinking here. We’re supposed to get a bit misty in speeches from relatives. Least you didn’t make Dawn cry like her father did.” Again he kissed your nose and hummed, “Let’s get you in bed, Darling.” Guiding you to bed, where after he’d stripped he curled around you knowing fully that you could have been taking this a lot worse than you had. Knowing fully the fear of abandonment you all seemed to share and were fighting together.

Pt 22

@changelingkhat, @alishlieb​ , @bun-bun-the-rabbit​

[frogocado]

A Golden Labyrinth of Noise Part I (Damien Haas au)

Hello my friends. Here we are with the first official chapter of my newest story, A Golden Labyrinth of Noise, aka the prince!damien au. The word count is around 2.2k. I’d love to know your feedback!

1. Escape

Damien paced his chambers, counting the hours until nightfall. He couldn’t take it anymore. Tonight was the night he was going to finally get out into the city. He had been concocting a foolproof plan for nearly a week, finding time in between council meetings with his father to scribble notes before catching up again. His parents had been insisting that his escalation in clumsiness was simply pre-court jitters—tripping over discarded cups in the kitchen and getting bruises that smelled suspiciously of blackberries, falling asleep during lessons, getting lost in the garden. The more doubt the prince could stir, the more likely his parents were to leave him alone on bedrest. He had even figured out a way to ditch the new boy the guard had given the royal family.

Hearing his father’s wooden heel approaching across the marble floors, Damien sprang into action. There wasn’t a moment to waste, especially as he heard the flittering footsteps of someone else following behind his father’s pace. Two voices, one unfamiliar. Perfect. As he tracked both pairs of steps, he approached to the door, leaning his ear against the keyhole. He shimmied the door handle so it was partially opened and waited, going over his list in his head. The rope of sheets pushed to the foot of the bed, his overcoat covering his bag cast on the chair.

Then Damien flicked his wrist just perfectly as he leaned his shoulder against the oak door. “Oh!” He gasped maybe a bit too dramatically as he tumbled through the opening and into the foyer. Having practiced his summersaults all summer since his last escape attempt, the prince sees the waist crown molding along the walls and knows when to dip his head. Whiplash safely avoided, he then feigns unconsciousness, a forearm draped elegantly across his forehead.

“Ah, your first task,” the king said. “Bring my clumsy son to bed and fetch him something for his eventual bruising. I shall check to see how you are getting on in about an hour.”

“Y-yes, Sire,” the second voice answered as Damien listened as his father’s footsteps proceeded down the hallway. Damien desperately wanted to open his eyes to see this fool officer debate how to best bring the prince to bed. He wondered if he would be dragged by his ankles like in the stories his nurse used to tell him about capturers.

After a few minutes of hearing the poor sod shift back and forth on his feet, Damien sat up. He was growing impatient—he had a schedule to keep, after all. The officer gasped so loudly his chain jacket rattled. “M-my Lord, you are well!”

Damien waved a hand to dismiss the man’s panic. “Keep your voice down, please…?” He glanced at the officer, who was now taking a knee with his eyes cast to the floor. Damien rolled his eyes and tapped the man’s shoulder, causing a second jolt. “Come now, that’s enough of that. How were you going to bring me to my chambers if you cannot even look me in the eyes? Some knight you are.” He scoffed as he dusted off his tunic, heading back into his chambers. He kept the door open, hoping the officer’s pride would convince him to ditch regulations and follow the bait.

It took the officer a bit longer than Damien had expected and he was about to move on to pillow fluffing when he heard the clamoring of chainmail. Peeking out of the curtain from his bed chamber, Damien was surprised that the officer had taken off his helmet, holding it beneath his arm. He was still standing as straight as his father’s tightest arrow, but it was a start. Damien hummed with curiosity at the display and approached him, leaning against the archway before the stairs. “Sir Knight?”

“Your Highness—“ the officer started.

Damien made a noise of disapproval and the man instantly stopped, blue eyes finally turning to land on the prince. “That’s my father. Try again, please.” Damien turned away, stuffing his pillows under the sheets. He dug underneath the heap, pulling out the rope he had fashioned earlier.

After a deep breath, there was a second attempt. “M-my Lord?”

Damien’s nose crinkled and he scoffed, turning around with the bundle in his arms. “Do you have anything better?”

Blonde hair fell into the officer’s eyes and Damien realized as he watched the man think that he wasn’t a man at all. Behind a helmet, all of the guard looked the same to the prince, but this one couldn’t have been much older than he was. When he shook his head, Damien sighed, dropping the rope close to the window. “Just call me Prince Damien or something, please? I hate all this politicking garbage.”

“I… shall try, prince Damien.”

“And your name, then, sir—“

The officer stood a bit taller, his chin pointed forward. Damien arched an eyebrow at the show. “I am Knight Topp, second commanding officer for the Haas Royal Guard. I am the second son in my family and the first to be an officer.”

Damien pulled his overcoat off of his chair, adjusting the collar. “Grand, grand. Listen, forget what my father said. Your task from the guard is to watch me and keep me safe, yeah?” He looked up at Knight Topp, who nodded dully as his eyebrows knit together in thought. Damien stepped in front of his mirror to observe himself. He had gotten away with skipping the barber that day with a bruised lip that mysteriously went away when he licked his lips. He took in his jacket, dark blue velvet lined with intricate silver stitching. He turned the collar up and moved to examine his profile, smiling at the reflection in the mirror. “So you’re going to help me escape the castle tonight, Sir Knight.” He stepped closer before clapping both hands onto Knight Topp’s chainmail. “Your family will be so proud of the officer you’ve become.”

Knight Topp stood still as Damien slid his pack onto his shoulder. “Y-you can’t be serious, your Highness,” he whispered.

“Unfortunately for you, I must insist that I am gravely serious about my escape.” He flashed his most princely grin, moving to unlatch the window. Knight Topp was there almost instantly, blocking his way. He hadn’t anticipated that. He certainly was less official than the other guards who were assigned to Damien when he was young. He wasn’t expecting resistance. “Please don’t make this more difficult than it has to be, Sir Knight. And stop calling me that. Both of those were orders, by the way.”

“I cannot let you leave, my prince.” Damien attempted to slip around him, but Knight Topp stood tall, his chin pointing back out again. “I have been assigned to keep you safe and I have strict orders from the King.”

Damien was pushing the Knight’s shoulders now. He was so sure it was going to go off without a hitch and this stammering muscle monkey was going to keep him from his own city. “I order you to move!”

Knight Topp, obviously torn, closed his eyes tightly. “If you leave the palace looking like that, you’re sure to be found out instantly!”

This gave the prince immediate pause. He hadn’t even thought about what people outside in the city would wear. “Is this too formal, you think?” He stepped back in front of the mirror again. He glanced at the paling knight in the reflection. “Theoretically, of course.”

The knight gave a heavy exhale. “Theoretically, if I were a civilian and saw the royal colors, I would pay quite a bit more attention.”

Damien glanced at himself again. He looked awesome, but certainly too… royal. He could see Knight Topp’s point. He pulled the coat back off in one fluid motion, ducked under his bag, and saw his opportunity to approach the window. “Thanks for the information. You’re not so bad, Sir Knight. I’ll give my father a good recommendation.” Not wanting to miss his moment, Damien ducked under the Knight’s arm and flicked the window open, pushing himself through and onto the roof.

He could hear Knight Topp murmuring to himself as he shimmied his way to the edge of the roof. Right as he was about to toss the rope, Knight Topp’s blonde mop of hair appeared. “My prince, if I may present a counter offer to throwing yourself off the roof?” Damien turned back towards him and waited. “Might I suggest we exit through the wine cellar under the kitchen?”

Damien rolled his eyes. “If there was a secret way out of the castle, I insist that I would know about—“ And then, in a flash of a memory, he remembered the door that was always blocked off behind casks of wine. He had always figured it was a storage cellar. Shimmying his shoulders so he was standing just a bit taller, Damien bowed his head. “Thank you for the suggestion, Sir Knight.”

He managed to land on his feet as he retreated back into his chambers. Happy to drop the heavy rope of sheets and blankets, the prince sighed with relief. When he turned to leave, he noticed Knight Topp slipping a rolled piece of parchment under the comforter of his trap. “What are you doing?” He asked.

Knight Topp faced the prince, his cheeks a soft pink and his eyes wide. “Well, I’m sure I… won’t be a commanding officer for much longer after tonight.” He glanced away. “You should leave before the King returns, my prince.”

Damien smiled for half a second before darting for the door.  He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about an alternative way out of the castle. He closed the door to his chambers behind him as he entered the hallway, listening hard for any approaching footsteps. Hearing a clatter behind his own door, he took off down the first set of stairs before Knight Topp could catch up.

Damien only passed a few attendants on his way to the kitchen, all of whom dipped their heads and cast their eyes to the floor. Damien wondered if they would notice if he changed his hair color or if they’d notice if he was bloody and bruised. He wasn’t quite sure.

He slipped into the kitchen and closed the heavy door behind him. He could hear clinking footsteps from in the hallway so he hurriedly moved the barrels away from a smaller door. All of the barrels were empty, he realized as they all toppled together in the corner. Damien made a small disapproving noise, remembering the way the cooking staff would always tell him to be careful when he was a child. “If those casks fall on you, Your Highness, you’ll be grape jam,” he could still hear one of the cooks telling him.

Right as Damien was retching the door of the crawlspace open, the door of the kitchen flew open, banging into the bench nestled behind it. “Your Highness,” Knight Topp gasped. “I thought this was all theoretical.”

“All theories require experimentation. Have you not ever met an alchemist?” Damien rolled his eyes as he dipped into the small area, feet crushing dirt as he turned to the young man. “Didn’t I give you a strict order, Sir Knight, not to call me by my father’s title?”

Knight Topp stood up straight, his chin pointing forward and his blue eyes bore into Damien’s own. He couldn’t remember the last time someone outside of the family had looked him in the eyes. “It is my duty, my prince, to keep you protected and safe. Your father told me to bring you to your chambers and—“

“And you can do that once my adventure is done.” Damien waved a dismissive hand in the knight’s direction before turning away again. “I admire your promise of duty, even if it is misplaced.”

Before the prince could close the door behind him, a gloved hand stopped it. Knight Topp, not fully looking in the prince’s direction, was handing him a dirty, brown, torn piece of canvas. “For your disguise, Sire,” the guard said in a defeated voice.

Damien held it up, his face crinkled in confusion. “A potato sack?”

Knight Topp gave him a look as if he were unimpressed, one of his eyebrows raising. “You expect to sneak into the city without a disguise?”

“Ah, I see.” Damien awkwardly placed the sack over his head, holding up his arms like he suddenly had no idea how his body could function while wearing something that wasn’t etched from silk or velvet. When the guard gave him an approving nod, Damien nearly smiled. “You aren’t going to try to stop me?” He asked.

“Have you already forgotten? I already tried. “

Under the hood of the sack, Damien’s eyebrows were pressed into the crease of his forehead, rising so high they threatened to leap from his head. “So you’ve given up, then?”

Knight Topp clacked his boots together before saluting the prince. “I will not try to stop you, my prince.”

With this approval, Damien broke into a wide, wolf like grin before he pulled the crawl space door closed and darted down the muddy tunnel.

[scenes-in-between]

Daemonicus

(pre-episode)

In the week after the explosion on the ship, Scully barely sleeps. When her fears about William aren’t keeping her awake, she is bolting upright at every little sound coming from the hallway outside her apartment. When she does sleep, her dreams are a parade of one calamity after another befalling Mulder, out there on his own.

Oddly, she takes some comfort in the fact that these dreams are always different; she still can’t explain the dreams she had when he was missing before, the ones Mulder quietly confirmed were somehow representative of what he had endured, but they were always the same. This time around, it is possible to convince herself that these are normal nightmares, mere products of stress and worry, nothing more.

She forces herself to leave the apartment, once a day, to check her anonymous email account from an internet cafe in Georgetown. Her stomach knots tighter and tighter each time she accesses an inbox that is as empty as it was the day before. Sometimes, if William is asleep in the stroller, she finds herself ducking into the church on the way home, praying that tomorrow will be the day she finally hears from him.

It takes two and a half weeks for those prayers to be answered.

Her heart leaps to her throat at the sight of the bolded You have 1 new message notification. Tears of relief and longing spring to her eyes as she reads the single line of text within.

“Safe for now, though I can confirm the threat was genuine. Are you safe?”

She doesn’t know how to answer that. Between the incident with the mobile, what she found (and didn’t find) on the Navy ship, and everything that Shannon McMahon claimed, two weeks ago she had serious doubts about whether she and William were safe. However, looking over her shoulder constantly since then has revealed no indication of an imminent threat. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one, but if she shares her worries with him, he might try to return prematurely, and it is clear from his message that that would be a dangerous mistake.

Her fingers tremble as she taps out a reply.

“I cannot tell you what a relief it is to read your words. Not hearing from you for so long, I feared the worst. Please keep yourself safe, and do not worry about us. I miss you very much, but I am thankful beyond measure that you are alive.

Yours, D”

That night, for the first time since he left, her sleep is deep and dreamless.

***

Two months pass.

They manage to establish a delicate correspondence; there is no pattern or regularity to it, and each time she hears from him is a gift she does not take for granted. The ability to maintain this link with him, however tenuous, affords her a measure of strength through their separation that she might not otherwise have had. Life moves on in a way that could almost pass for normal. 

As her maternity leave nears its end, she finds herself feeling conflicted about returning to work. She misses it, without question, but she also knows too well the dangers that exist out in the field, and the thought of one day not making it home to William is utterly terrifying. (Never mind that the X-Files unit really only requires two agents, and she has no wish to displace Monica, who seems to be thriving in the assignment.) It comes as an unexpected relief, then, when AD Skinner hesitantly suggests, as though he’s afraid of offending her, that she might consider taking a position at Quantico.

***

“Where are you going, Monica?” “This man Kobold can help us, John. I’m going to prove it to you.”

Monica stalks out of the autopsy bay, and after a pause, John heaves a frustrated sigh and starts to follow.

“Agent Doggett?” comes a quiet voice from behind him when his hand is on the door.

He looks back over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

Agent Scully’s tongue touches the corner of her mouth, an obvious tell that she’s nervous about saying whatever she’s about to say. “I know you’re frustrated. That you feel like… like the answer here is obvious, only no one can seem to see it but you.”

“Gee, can’t imagine why I’d feel like that.” He releases the door, turning fully and crossing his arms over his chest. “Look, if you’re gonna try and tell me that I should ignore evidence, ignore what my gut is saying on this guy Kobold--”

“I’m not. I’m not suggesting that at all.”

“Well what, then?”

He can see her choosing her words carefully, and it irks him. He doesn’t need to be patronized, least of all by her. Once upon a time, they were comfortable enough with each other to forego all this dancing around and careful tending of egos.

“The cases in the X-Files… you know as well as I do that they often require… a different approach than a standard investigation.”

“The hell they do. I’ve been at this for almost a year and a half, and not once has a case required me to believe in voodoo, or demonic curses, or aliens in order to solve it.”

“That’s not what I mean, exactly.”

Well now he’s confused. “Okay. Well, what do you mean?”

“When I worked with-- When you and I worked together, we didn’t always share the same theories about whatever we were trying to solve.”

It’s not lost on him that she was about to start with a Mulder story and then course-corrected. 

“Right…” he says, not entirely sure where she’s going with this.

“And very often, those differing theories and perspectives were what kept the investigation moving forward, when it otherwise might have stalled out. In fact, that’s exactly why many of the cases became X-Files in the first place. The standard approach wasn’t enough to solve them.”

“Come on, I don’t buy that. Just because local LEOs, or even some other agent in the Bureau, couldn’t get the job done, doesn’t mean the approach is wrong.”

“Doesn’t it, though?” She’s giving him the full, earnest, Dana Scully Serious Face and goddamnit if his heart doesn’t skip a beat. “How many times did we get a break in a case just because one of us was looking in a direction the other one didn’t think of? Even if the final result was something completely ordinary.”

She’s not wrong. But…

“Yeah, and how many times did we waste days or even weeks barking up the wrong tree?”

“I guess my point, Agent Doggett, is that you get better results when you…  bark up as many different trees as possible.”

“Even when I’m damned sure my tree is the right one?”

“Yes. Even then.”

He sighs. “You can’t ask me to ignore the fact that Monica is being led around by her nose on this case. Being manipulated by someone who is definitely out of his mind and very possibly also a murderer.”

“Don’t ignore it, no. And keep watching her back. But don’t stop her from pursuing her own line of inquiry, either, even if whatever she’s pursuing doesn’t make sense to you right now.”

“I don’t like it,” he says with a scowl, shaking his head. “But all right. I’ll try to give her some room to do her thing. But if I think she’s putting us in danger listening to this guy, I’m pulling the plug.”

[lingthusiasm]

Transcript Episode 34: Emoji are Gesture Because Internet

This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm Episode 34: Emoji are Gesture Because Internet. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the Episode 34 show notes page.

[Music]

Lauren: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics. I’m Lauren Gawne.

Gretchen: And I’m Gretchen McCulloch. Today, we’re getting enthusiastic about emoji and gesture. But first, my book about internet linguistics is coming out in less than a week from when this episode goes up.

Lauren: Yay! It will be out July the 23rd, 2019. It’s called Because Internet and it’s available in all major booksellers – including an audiobook which you read yourself, Gretchen.

Gretchen: Yes, I did. So, if you like hearing me talk here, you can now listen to me read the book. Or you can read the book in the conventional way with the words in front of your eyes – is also a thing you can do. I’m really excited to get to share this book with you – to finally get to hear what people think about it. It is a really good thing to get it when it first comes out, because if it has any likelihood of hitting any sort of bestseller list, pre-orders and sales in the first week are what’s gonna make that happen. If you can help us make more people pay attention to the book by getting it on any sort of lists, that would be super cool.

Lauren: This episode is a bit of a taster for the chapter on emoji that’s in the book.

Gretchen: Which you were kinda involved with, Lauren.

Lauren: Which is why we’ve chosen this chapter. But there are lots of other topics covered in the book. I’ve been lucky enough to read – you’ll hear how that went in the episode – I’ve read this book. I’m very excited for it. Other topics include things like how we use punctuation to signal tone of voice, the language of memes, and how the first social network you joined influences your internet life. That chapter I felt very seen.

Gretchen: I’ve had a lot of people contact me about that chapter. Because Internet – there are links in the description. There are links on lingthusiasm.com. You can get it. You should get it. I’m really excited to get to talk about it more with people once they get to read it.

Lauren: In other exciting Lingthusiasm news, we’ve added a new tier to our Patreon.

Gretchen: Several people have asked us, very nicely of you, "Is there a way we can support the podcast even more than the $5.00 a month for the bonus episodes?" Now, there is. If you sign up for the Ling-phabet tier – fancifully named ling portmanteau names – for $15.00 a month, we will assign you your very own symbol of the International Phonetic Alphabet based on our super scientific personality quiz. We had a lot of fun coming up with this quiz. Then we will add your name or name of choice and symbol to our Lingthusiasm Supporter Wall of Fame on the website where it will live as long as you wanna stay at that tier.

Lauren: We are also happy for you to nominate your favourite character of the IPA. We’re happy to put any name within reason. This also makes a great gift for the lingthusiast in your life.

Gretchen: Yes! We’re really excited to provide a way for people who have a bit more money at their disposal to help support the rest of the episodes that remain free for anybody to access. So, think of this as a way of becoming a generous person to support the free episodes which remain free. We really wanna keep them accessible to everybody. Plus, in celebration of both the new tier and the new book, anybody who joins this new tier by August 15th, 2019, will get a book plate – which is a little sticker that you can put in the front of your book for Because Internet – which is signed by me with your name customised on it. We’ll have a form you can fill out. You will get a sticker in the mail that you can put on your copy of Because Internet. The two things go together. Or I guess you could put it on your laptop or something if you wanted to.

Lauren: You could just put it in another book and be like, “Gretchen has signed this book for me.” Stickers are a very flexible thing. Having access to our bonus episodes means that you will be able to access our latest one, which is all about words that only your family use.

Gretchen: We had a lot of fun talking about familects and hearing about all of your familects in the familect bonus episode. So, it’s a lot of a fun. And, of course, if you join at the higher tier, you still get access to the bonus episodes. You don’t lose your access to anything. It’s just an extra thing that you can do if you wanna be super supportive.

Lauren: We’ll also be recording an upcoming Patreon bonus episode that takes you behind the scenes on Because Internet.

Gretchen: You can read the book when it comes out and then ask us your questions about internet linguistics or what it’s like to write a book. Tweet them to us @Lingthusiasm or email us at contact@lingthusiasm.com. Both of those are also on the website if you don’t have a pen on you right now – also by August 15th. Same deadline for both. We will answer them in an upcoming bonus episode. You get to hear all about what it was like to write a book about the fast-moving pace of the internet.

Lauren: So much book excitement. So much Patreon excitement. It’s all happening. I’m so excited.

Gretchen: Everything is coming up internet.

[Music]

Gretchen: The reason we wanted to do a very special Lingthusiasm gesture-slash-Because Internet emoji episode is because this is the part in Because Internet where Lauren actually makes a cameo.

Lauren: Yay!

Gretchen: The story goes I was working on the emoji chapter, and I was kind of stuck, and I was complaining about this to Lauren, and Lauren very kindly said, “Well, why don’t you send it to me, and I’ll read and see if I have any comments?”

Lauren: I was really just wanting to read it because I was just really excited to see how the book’s shaping up. It was entirely selfish.

Gretchen: Well, it seemed very altruistic of you. I remember I had this list of gestures and emoji. I had like “thumbs up” and “nodding” and “winking” and “rolling eyes” and “playing a tiny violin in false sympathy” and “high five” and “giving the middle finger” and “shrugging” and all of these things.

Lauren: I highlight this list and I’m like, “These are all very nice examples, Gretchen, but we have a name for these in the gesture literature. We refer to these as 'emblematic gestures.' We can talk about what they are." But I kinda just made this passing comment and sent it back to you.

Gretchen: You sent a bunch of other comments, and they were nice, but this was the one that really stuck with me because you were something like, “You know we have a name for this in the gesture literature, right?” And I was like, “I didn’t know there was a name for these.” I was just making a list of gestures that came to mind because when I was talking about emoji, I like gesture as an analogy to what emoji are doing because gestures and words work in concert with each other. You don’t generally just do one or the other. You often do both. I thought this made a lot of sense in terms of how people integrate emoji with the words that they’re typing. But I was just making a list of gestures that occurred to me. It turns out that what I was also doing without realising it was making a list of gestures that had common names in English because that’s the kind of gesture that’s easy to write down in words.

Lauren: There’s good reason that you did that, because these types of gestures tend to be useable with speech, but they can have a meaning on their own. They’re very culturally specific. For example, not everyone uses the “thumbs up” to mean “good.”

Gretchen: Right. Because in some cultures it means “Sit on this.” It’s like the middle finger. It’s a sexual kind of insult.

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: Yeah. My list didn’t include stuff like the gesture that you make if you’re trying to give someone directions or if you’re trying to say, “Here’s how I got from my home to this café. I went down this street, and then I went up that street, and then I went over here.” Those kinds of gestures that don’t have conventional names are harder to describe on the page – harder to describe in an audio podcast – but those are another kind of gesture that I wasn’t really thinking about at all.

Lauren: We talk about those gestures that kind of illustrate the speech that we make in our gesture episode. That’s why we did the gesture episode as a video.

Gretchen: Yeah. We did the gesture episode entirely because you were like, “Oh, well, there’s a name for this.” And I was like, “Yeah. Oh, wait. Okay.” So, I’m sitting there, kind of googling/Wikipedia-ing like, “What is this?” I think you were asleep in Melbourne at this point. I’m like, “Lauren, send me all the things. I wanna know more about gesture!”

Lauren: If there’s one thing I like more than talking to you about linguistics it’s the chance to get to talk about gesture, which is one of my all-time favourite subjects. I think I sent you basically my entire undergrad language and gesture course reading materials.

Gretchen: I definitely recall a syllabus – yeah. You’ve taught courses about gesture, and I was like, “Oh, my god. Send me all the things!” So, you sent me – you know.

Lauren: I sent you all the things. So much enthusiasm.

Gretchen: All the things. I started falling down this gesture rabbit hole, which was really cool to me because as a linguist I’m used to being able to have a conversation with someone and just kind of be sitting there being like, “Yeah, well, what you’re saying is fairly interesting, but what I’m actually doing right now is analysing your vowels,” which is a thing that we’ve all had happen to us, have we not? But also, in this case, I could be like, “Oh, well, I’m analysing your vowels and I’m also analysing your gesture.” I’m at a café trying to keep working on the book, and I’m just looking around at everybody and analysing all of their gestures.

Lauren: I always love this point when people start studying gesture, and they’re like, “I just can’t stop paying attention to how people gesture.” And I’m like, “Yeah. It’s pretty great.”

Gretchen: Study linguistics – we’ll render you completely incapable of an ordinary conversation! But, yeah, it was really exciting. That was what kind of gave me – like, “Oh! We should actually do a gesture episode.” And then, Lauren, you were like, “But we have a podcast. This is why I have not suggested that we do a gesture episode.” So, we ended up doing the video gesture episode because I got so into gesture, and it was like, “We’re gonna need to figure out how to do a video.” The thing that made me really excited about learning about gesture was that it actually explains a lot about how we use emoji because there’s a distinction in the gesture between gestures that have conventional names and gestures that don’t. We can see this kind of pop up in emoji as well.

Lauren: I think this is because emoji are really – humans want to gesture. I mean, we all gesture. People who have been blind since birth will gesture even though they’ve never seen other people do it. It’s a really strong compulsion in human communication. I think emoji are allowing us to kind of return having a body to online communication. We always think of typing in chat as really disembodied. But having options like emoji allows us to start expressing those things that we want to express in conversation again.

Gretchen: A lot of times, when we think about having a body online, we think about kind of a video game character-picker body, where you get the hair colour, and you get the clothes, and you have the haircut, and the eye colour, and these kinds of things, and what the figure looks like. But in actual fact, what people are doing with emoji is a lot more about what you’re doing with your body rather than necessarily having a character picker, like an avatar, that kind of follows you around and does all the stuff. You do that in video games, but it’s less common for conversations. So, it was that interesting, like, “What role do gestures actually have in conversation?”

Lauren: We have a few decades' worth of literature of people trying to unpack this and come up with descriptions of the different functions that gesture have. We’ve returned to the existing literature in this area that’s been researching this problem for years and looking at emoji in the context of that.

Gretchen: Yeah. It was really exciting to be like, “Actually, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.” There’s this distinction that seems to work pretty well that people may have been subconsciously porting into emoji. The thing that made me really excited about – so the gestures that have names are called “emblem gestures.” Emblem gestures are things like “thumbs up,” “middle finger,” “peace sign,” and things like that. Emblem gestures have these really narrow constraints for how you have to produce them in order for it to be the right thing. My favourite Canadian-Australian cross-cultural example of this is like when I make the peace sign, I can make the peace sign with my palm facing out away from me or I can make it with the palm facing towards me, and it’s the same peace sign. It’s fine.

Lauren: No, don’t do that! Don’t come to Australia or New Zealand or the UK and do that.

Gretchen: Why not, Lauren?

Lauren: Because that meaning is basically the same for us as the middle finger is. It’s an offensive gesture.

Gretchen: That’s like “up yours,” right?

Lauren: Yeah.

Gretchen: One of my favourite stories about this is apparently Winston Churchill, during WWII – so during WWII, they had this “V for victory” gesture, which basically looked like the peace sign. But Winston Churchill would often do it backwards. And there’s historic records of people telling him, “Winston, man, come on. You gotta stop flipping off the Nazis.” And he’s like “No, no, no. I’m gonna keep doing this.”

Lauren: Well, no. Winston said, “Oh! Oh, golly. Goodness me. I am a posh man. I didn’t know that it had that meaning –"

Gretchen: And then he kept doing it though!

Lauren: In public. Then, in private, he was like, “Yeah, I totally knew it.”

Gretchen: So, gestures have really narrow standards of form. You have to produce a peace sign in the exact right way, or it might mean "eff off". But these ones that have names and standards of form, they also add an extra layer of meaning to what you’re saying. If you say something like “Good job!” with a thumbs up versus “Good job!” with the middle finger or “Good job!” with rolling eyes or a winking or something like this, those all have –

Lauren: They all mean very different things.

Gretchen: Some of those are sarcastic. Some of those are an innuendo.

Lauren: As you noticed in that list, there’s a lot of – because emblematic gestures are so good at conveying a lot of meaning in a single visual form, a lot of them have been made into emoji. But there are other emoji that also have a similar property that aren’t gestures physically.

Gretchen: Yeah. Exactly. Some of the emoji that became popular in the early stages of emoji – things like the eggplant and the peach and the smiling pile of poo – also seem to act in a sort of emblem sort of way. If you say, “Good job!” and then the eggplant emoji or like, “Good job!” and then the smiling pile of poo...

Lauren: Or "Good job!" and the flame – just to give a nice positive spin.

Gretchen: Yeah. Or the flame to make it positive – that adds this extra layer of meaning to “Good job!” in the same way that adding a thumbs up emoji or a middle finger emoji adds this extra layer of meaning.

Lauren: But I think, importantly, just in the same way that gestures have clear cultural differences between different languages or different communities, those emblem uses of emoji also have really specific communities of use.

Gretchen: Yeah. Exactly. Not everyone knows that people use the eggplant as an innuendo. If you don’t know that, then you might use it in its literal sense and be like, “Oh, I’m making eggplant parmesan. Here’s an eggplant.”

Lauren: No, Dad, don’t!

Gretchen: If you search for, I think it’s “eggplant parmesan”/“eggplant emoji” on Twitter, you see a lot of younger people complaining about their parents.

Lauren: But also you can’t use a corn or a cucumber to have the same phallic meaning.

Gretchen: Yeah. Even though the shape is pretty much the same. But they’re not substitutable in the same sort of way, just like you can’t do – the “peace sign” backwards and the “peace sign” forwards are not the same thing.

Lauren: These emblematic ones – basically, because you can name them, they’re easier to spot. But there are other uses of emoji.

Gretchen: Yeah. One of the things that I liked about this is that some of the emblems like the dancing lady in the red dress, which is just – officially, it’s just a dancer. For a while, a bunch of the different platforms had it encoded as different types of dancers. Google had this yellow blob with a rose in its mouth, and I think Microsoft had this disco guy, and Apple had this lady in a red dress. People got really confused when they thought they were sending a lady in the red dress and then their friend got the blob or the disco guy because they had these narrow ranges of meaning. Yet, yeah, these non-emblem-like gestures – they have a lot more room for variation, right?

Lauren: Yep. For example, if I’m wishing you “happy birthday” in a text message, I might send a few emoji to illustrate that. I might send a balloon and a birthday cake and the little party popper, because it’s very celebratory. But I could just as easily send celebratory popper, birthday cake, champagne bottle – because why not?

Gretchen: Or the wrapped gift or some of these other ones. The birthday cakes, for example, they’re also really different across different platforms. They have different numbers of candles. Some of them are chocolate. Some of them are vanilla. Some of them are strawberry. They’re quite different across different   platforms. But this doesn’t seem to bother people in the same sort of way. Sending someone a birthday cake emoji doesn’t really have any additional meaning beyond just “This is a birthday cake.” If you know what a birthday cake is, you can interpret a birthday cake emoji. It doesn’t have the additional meaning the way the eggplant or the fire or the dancing girl in the red dress has.

Lauren: And you don’t have to send them in any particular order. You don’t even have to include those emoji. You could just send “Happy Birthday!” like a boring monster.

Gretchen: I really over analyse my birthday messages now because we’ve been doing so much analysis of what people use for birthday emoji. But, yeah, you can send a whole bunch of different things and they’re all equally birthday-like, which is not true of words. If I say “merry birthday,” I am clearly making a joke.

Lauren: Hmm. That is not the standard greeting.

Gretchen: Or if I say, “Birthday happy,” you’re like, “Excuse me, what? Sorry?”

Lauren: You’re not speaking English as she is known.

Gretchen: Exactly. What I liked about this is that these unnamed gestures – so the gestures you use to be like, “Okay, here’s the path that I took to get here,” or, “Here’s the motion that it takes to catch a frisbee or to throw a ball of this particular size and weight” and something like this – those gestures also have a large degree of latitude for variation.

Lauren: Yeah. We see a lot of variation in how people use gestures. Whether it is present or not is not necessarily – it’s not obligatory in the same way that syntax is, for example.

Gretchen: Yeah. There’s all this variation, and you don’t have as many of the communication errors and problems when you’re doing these kinds of gestures that just illustrate what’s actually going on. If I send you “happy birthday” and I put a birthday cake or I put the gift or I put a balloon, that doesn’t change the meaning the way sending you “happy birthday” with thumbs up versus “happy birthday [middle finger]" ... that really changes the meaning there.

Lauren: Thanks. Great.

Gretchen: “Happy birthday – you annoying person.” “Happy birthday – I hate you.” Or like “Happy birthday [rolled eyes]”? Like “Whoa! Excuse me?” “Happy freaking birthday, all right?” So, yeah, it was really exciting to get to kind of realise that this distinction between, okay, there are some emoji that seem to cast a different light on the meanings of the words that they’re associated with. And there’s also some gestures that cast a different light on the meanings of the words they’re associated with. And there are some emoji that don’t seem to change the meaning of the words involved and also gestures that don’t seem to change the meaning of the words involved. They’re just kind of the supplementary illustration. The fact that these distinctions seem to exist for both types was really fascinating to me. Then, I had to be like, “Lauren, can I write you into my book because I figured this out thanks to you. I can’t take credit for inventing this. Is it weird if I make you a character in my book?”

Lauren: I mean, it’s kind of delightful. It’s kind of an interesting extension of our podcast life. But the more I thought about this in relation to the data that you already had in the chapter, the more I was like, “Actually, I think we need to do a really systematic analysis of the parallels between gesture and speech, and emoji and written language.” I was like, “Well, how about we actually write an academic paper together that really drills down into the literature on gesture to see just how far we can take this?”

Gretchen: This actually solved a problem for me too because, I mean, I love a good taxonomy.

Lauren: Who doesn’t?

Gretchen: Who doesn’t love a good taxonomy? Here’s a way of carving up the world into different pieces that illuminate some of the differences between different situations. It’s fascinating. But the other thing about a taxonomy is that it does give names to a whole bunch of different areas. This book is a pop linguistics book. It is a fun book. Like, fun is in the definition. It needs to be fun to read. The problem with saying, “Okay, here’s this academic taxonomy where we have six different names for different categories of gestures” – I was restricting myself deliberately to one or two new words per chapter because that’s about as much as a person can handle.

Lauren: And I was like, “No, all the terminology.”

Gretchen: “We need all the terminology!” And I was like, “Well, this is great. I agree with this terminology. But I just can’t use it all in a book that’s aimed at the general public because most people do not have your decade-plus of experience in gesture studies, Lauren. I really hate to break it to you.”

Lauren: One day.

Gretchen: Writing an academic article meant that I could say, “Okay, here’s the kind of basic distinction, and if you wanna see more with all the terminology in place, go check out this academic article that we wrote together.”

Lauren: One thing I really like about the article is it allowed us to revisit some data that you already had and come up with an analysis of how that fits into this emoji-as-gesture paradigm.

Gretchen: It let me solve some of the questions and things that I had been wondering about from this earlier data. One of the things that was really interesting that came up – so I did a study with a smartphone keyboard app looking at millions of anonymised examples of how real people use emoji in aggregate. One of the things that we came across really early on in this data – so I got them to extract examples of the most common sequences of two, three, and four emoji, because this is a common thing that people do for a large data set of words is they’ll say one of the most common sequences of two, three, and four words. So, let’s try to do the same thing with emoji and see what happens because, obviously, we couldn’t read individual people’s messages. This is a way of kind of extracting from that and figuring out what the common sequences are. The most common sequence of emoji overall is [tears of joy] [tears of joy].

Lauren: Right. Okay.

Gretchen: The second most common sequence is [tears of joy] [tears of joy] [tears of joy].

Lauren: Okay. Hmm...

Gretchen: Do you wanna guess what the third most common sequence is?

Lauren: I’m going for, hmm, [tears of joy] [tears of joy] [tears of joy] [tears of joy]?

Gretchen: Yeah. Four of them.

Lauren: Amazing.

Gretchen: Once you get to number four, I think it was two kiss faces. So, it did change eventually. We did eventually run out of [tears of joy].

Lauren: Just moved on to more repeating sequences.

Gretchen: Turned out, we looked at the Top 200 sequences of two, and then Top 200 of three, and Top 200 of four, and about half of all of these lists was just straight up repetition of the exact same emoji. This was really interesting to us because a lot of the emoji narratives and media at that point were really excited about the idea of telling stories with emoji of like, “Okay, if you have a [person] and then a [tongue sticking out] and then a [hamburger], maybe that means a person is eating a hamburger,” or something like that. But that’s not what people were doing. People were doing the exact same emoji a whole bunch of times in a row.

Lauren: I remember when you did that paper because I was like, “Huh. That’s some really nifty data.” When it came to thinking about this in relation to gesture, there’s nothing that really fits that with words. If you look at the top combinations of words, it’s like “and the,” “I am” – there’s no repetition. You might occasionally get a “very very,” especially in formal conversation. But that’s definitely further down than [tears of joy] [tears of joy]. If you look at gesture, you often get these repeating movements in gesture, often like an up/down – if you ever watch the news without the sound on, you’ll just see politicians doing these up and down repeating gestures.

Gretchen: These very, like, podium gestures.

Lauren: They’re known in the gesture literature as “beat gestures” because that movement is so rhythmic and observable.

Gretchen: Yeah. When I found out about beat gestures, I was like, “Wait. Okay.” First of all, it’s one of the most common gesture styles. You can observe anybody doing this. When I was in a café trying to write the book, I’d look over and be like, “Oh, that person’s doing beat gestures.” You don’t often see people doing emblems in the wild. For all they’re very exciting, they’re fairly rare. Occasionally, someone will flip someone off or “thumbs up” or something like that, but it’s fairly rare. Whereas, you look over to any conversation, you’re gonna see beats. I was like, “Wait a second. Maybe people are writing [tears of joy] [tears of joy] [tears of joy] because that’s what they would do in gesture.”

Lauren: It makes sense in terms of the function because a beat gesture is often analysed as being used to emphasise the particular words that they occur   with. The more [tears of joy] I send you, the funnier I find something. Or the more heart eyes emojis I send you, the more I completely love something.

Gretchen: Or the more plain heart emoji – even though that’s not a face – the more you love and support something or you wanna indicate your enjoyment of something. All this repetition, even when they aren’t specifically hands or faces – even though they often are hands or faces – seems to be serving a similar kind of emphatic function as the fact that we repeat our gestures so much. It was really exciting to be able to drill down into all of these different things that gesture can do and be like “Oh, wait, yeah, emoji can do that too.” Even though the stories that I had been like, “Oh, well, that’s not real emoji use because that’s just this stunt thing that people do,” it was like “Wait a second. But people do that with gestures too.” People play games like charades where they act stuff out in gestures. It’s just that it’s not your typical type of gesture. But it’s definitely one sub-type of gesture.

Lauren: It’s definitely in a playful context.

Gretchen: Yeah. It’s a similar sort of playful context that people try to retell “Les Misérables” or something in emoji. It’s the same thing as trying to get people to guess, “Oh, this is Les Mis” in gesture as well. It’s often treated as a sort of guessing game where the fun thing is can you guess what the other person is trying to depict here. Yeah. So, I wrote you into this book. We started working on this academic article. By the magic of how publishing works, the academic article and the book are coming out pretty much the same time.

Lauren: I’m very excited for both.

Gretchen: You’re also writing up a piece in The Conversation, which is kind of a more accessible summary of the academic articles. There are lots of different ways to engage with this if this is something that you wanna dive into more.

Lauren: I’m really excited that it’s our first full, academic publication together.

Gretchen: Me too! Because we’ve been collaborating on this podcast for so long and yet there’s an academic collaboration too, which makes us just collaborators on more levels.

Lauren: This is further knitting into my day job.

Gretchen: I think the most awkward part about this though was, when I wrote you into the book – and I had your permission to do that – and I was writing this all along and then I was like, “Wait a second. I’m gonna have to refer to Lauren by her last name because that’s how I refer to everybody else in the book.” I’ll say their full name the first time, and then in subsequent references I just say their last name. I can’t be like, “Oh, well, this person, just because we’re friends, I’m gonna call her by her first name. That’s gonna be weird.” But it’s also like I don’t call you, “Gawne.”

Lauren: Oh, my gosh. It’s gonna be so weird reading that.

Gretchen: Yeah. You’re in the index.

Lauren: Oh, I’m super excited about being in the index.

Gretchen: I’m really excited about everything in that index. There’s two different kinds of sparkle punctuation in the index. Oh, my god. The index makes me wanna read this book, even though I wrote the book myself.

Lauren: Of course, we’ve been talking a lot about emoji but even though obviously I think it’s the most exciting and important chapter in the whole book for selfish reasons...

Gretchen: You’re a little bit biased here.

Lauren: I’m a little bit biased and I don’t want people to think that the whole book is just about emoji because there’s obviously a myriad of other great language-y things that exist on the internet. This has really just been a taster of Chapter 5 of the book, which is the emoji chapter.

Gretchen: Chapter 5. I have had people say, “Gretchen, is your book gonna tell me what this particular emoji means?” It is not an emoji dictionary of “Here are all the emoji and their cultural connotations,” because that’s still something that’s changing. That’s still something that’s in flux. Your best bet is still to go somewhere like Emojipedia or dictionary.com, which is providing specific definitions and cultural notes about particular emoji. If you want kind of a bigger story that’s less like “Here’s a list” and more like “Here’s a bigger-picture view at how emoji actually fit into conversation, and why we’re using them, and why they caught on so quickly, and are they still gonna be around in 50 years or 100 years,” that’s what’s in the book – plus all this other stuff about internet linguistics like punctuation and memes.

Lauren: The book is out 23rd of July 2019. For many of you listening to this now, it is out in the wild. You can read. I am excited for you to have this in your future.

[Music]

Gretchen: For more Lingthusiasm and links to all the things mentioned in this episode, go to lingthusiasm.com. You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can follow @Lingthusiasm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. You can get IPA scarves, IPA ties, and other Lingthusiasm merch at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I can be found as @GretchenAMcC on Twitter, my blog is AllThingsLinguistic.com. My book about internet language is called Because Internet and is available at all good booksellers.

Lauren: I tweet and blog as Superlinguo. And I’m in Because Internet as “Gawne,” apparently. To listen to bonus episodes and help keep the show ad-free, go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm or follow the links from our website. Recent bonus topics include animals, a very cool linguistics job about figuring out how to pronounce all the names on the radio, and direction words like “right” “left” “north” “south” in different languages. If you support us at our new $15 Ling-phabet tier, we will assign you your very own symbol of the International Phonetic Alphabet and we will recognise your support on our website. Plus, anyone who joins this tier by August 15 will get a very special signed book plate from Gretchen to add to your copy of Because Internet.

Gretchen: Can’t afford to pledge? That’s okay too. We also really appreciate it if you can recommend Lingthusiasm or Because Internet to anyone who needs a little more linguistics in their life. Lingthusiasm is created and produced by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our audio producer is Claire Gawne, our editorial producer is Sarah Dopierala, our editorial manager is Emily Gref, and our music is “Ancient Cities” by The Triangles.

Lauren: Stay lingthusiastic!

[Music]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

[thorne93]

Stan Lee University (Part 13)

Prompt: What would the Avengers be like in college, more importantly, what would they be like if Y/N existed around them?

Word Count: 2248

Warnings: drama, language,

Notes: This is based on a HC from @carryonmyswansong. They helped brainstorm and write part of this series. In this AU, no one will have powers, everyone is a normal human. Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong​

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

In the following months, all through midterms, you two became closer than you would’ve imagined. You spent nearly every weekend at his house, often times just staying up late and talking. Eventually, you’d fall asleep in his arms, and he’d cuddle you all night.

You told him about your family, about your holidays growing up, your grades, your time in grade school. You told him about Bucky, how you met, how you fell for him, when you started to fall out of love for him. You told him about your first years of college.

He told you about his family and his time through school. How he wasn’t close to his parents much since his sister’s death. He had a brother, but he was already moved away and somewhat estranged from the family.

Twice, you went to the arcade, declaring whoever won the most arcade games won a free dinner from the other one. You won one night, and he won the other. He teased you relentlessly when you lost, but he wrapped you around the waist and kissed your hair, stating he’d still buy you dinner. You opposed though, stating a bet's a bet.

Around campus, you hadn’t even bothered with the drama. Wanda and Pietro still ignored you. Bucky hadn’t talked much to you since the day you confronted Loki. You and Loki didn’t interact. He gave you a dirty look after Stephen punched him, but other than that, you kept your distance.

Besides that, all was well. You didn’t announce that you and Stephen were dating, because it was nobody's goddamn business. You were sure people knew though, between the way you two laughed during lab, the way he touched your hand, the way you walked hand in hand to lunch, the way you left with him on Friday after your last class. It was obvious, but you weren’t going to let everyone in on your relationship. You didn’t owe it to them.

You went bowling once, and actually won, by some miracle. You gave Stephen a hard time, telling him, “You’ll never be a surgeon with such shaky hands. No way you can do surgery if you can’t even get a strike.” He took it in stride though, and made sure to make you pay when he took you ice skating at an indoor rink. You could barely keep up while he skated circles around you.

“What's the matter, can’t keep up? Oh that’s right, you’re so much more superior. I’ll just be racing around, you know, using my shaky legs.” He raced by you and winked while you barely inched forward, terrified of falling on the ice. After he proved his point, he actually came over and taught you how to skate properly and by the end of the day, you felt more confident on the skates.

It was becoming quick knowledge for you two that apparently you could both cook and bake up a storm. Every weekend you two stocked up on some meals, made them together, and then you baked Stephen some sort of obscure dessert you found on Pinterest -- with no complaints from him.

The Pre-med club had a fundraising event that you oversaw and Stephen helped. He didn’t have to, at all, it was just for officers of the club, but he said he’d rather spend time with you, helping you for a good cause than alone.

He assisted in setting up a whole amazing fair, complete with booths, games, and food. Tickets were for a local children’s hospital and all proceeds went to them. He even got his parents to donate a hefty amount anonymously in the club’s name. You were very appreciative of that gesture.

For the first time in a while, you were purely and genuinely happy. School was still going great, as both you and Stephen were devout to getting assignments and studying done before goofing off. Both of your grades were actually better now with a study partner, one that really understood the material and appreciated the time that needed to be spent on it. All of your friends and you met up still, Stephen joining you for quite a few coffee meets. He and Clint seemed to hit it off, which thrilled you.

The four of you had gone on two double dates, once to a restaurant, and once to a movie. In fact, by the second double date, when Clint couldn’t quite hear because the ads playing before the movie were too loud, Stephen signed what he was saying to him. Your heart swelled at the sight.

“When did you learn to sign?” you wondered, impressed, quietly when they were done conversing.

“A week ago. I know you told me he prefers to do that when it’s hard for him to read lips. I figured we’d be in a few of those situations.” He shrugged and you couldn’t help but smile like a huge idiot.

Tony had hosted three more parties, that you went to together and Loki did not show up to.

Things couldn’t get much better for you. It seemed like everything was finally in a good place.

In two weeks, you’d be home for winter break. You two hadn’t discussed what you’d do with the time off, if you’d hang out more, spend quality time with your families or how it would work. You thought you should probably discuss it soon though.

Saturday night, you were in your PJs in Stephen’s room, sitting at his desk. He was on his bed.

“Okay, did you calculate mu yet for problem fifteen?” you asked, looking down.

“No, give me a second,” he said, his brows furrowed.

“I’ve already got it. I thought I’d let you look at it.”

He lifted his head, a playful glare on his face. “For once, will you let me finish first?”

“I’ll never let you finish first,” you teased before sticking your tongue out. “Maybe when you stop with that bullshit science.” You winked as he stared at you. “What?” you asked, his gaze peculiar.

He bit his lip. “You wanna know why I didn’t go to that party with you?”

You eyed him up and down for a second before nodding.

“Because I wanted to.”

You immediately frowned, not understanding, at all.

“I don’t usually like people. I mean, friends are alright, sure, yeah, but as far as dating… It seemed like a waste of my time. I always thought I’d worry about it when I got to med school or residency. But undergrad, that’s the time to really kick ass, get the good grades in, hit the books. I just thought you would be too much of a distraction. And I was right. From the moment I met you, I knew you’d be the one thing that would threaten everything I’d worked for. But then, when you proved to be something that wouldn’t threaten it, you’d actually help it… I wanted you. I just. I was so worried I’d get wrapped up in you, in us, that my schooling would suffer. Then I hoped you would show up alone, so I could maybe make a move, but you showed up with Loki. Then, when you weren’t sitting in the spin the bottle circle, I was happy to see I had another chance. I didn’t want to date you, because you impressed me so much. I thought, ‘There’s a girl who could actually give me a run for my money’ and I don’t come across that very often.”

“So you blew me off because you were worried I’d make you fall in love with me… Sounds logical.”

He stared at you, serious. “It’s the most logical thing I’ve ever experienced because it’s true. I fell for you.”

You stopped breathing, looking at him. Your heart was hammering so hard and fast in your chest you thought you’d pass out.

“You… fell for me?” you asked in a whisper.

“Despite my better judgement. Yes.” He gave you that award-winning side smile. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I miss you all the goddamn time. I worry about you. And for the life of me, I can’t help but imagine being with you.”

You were silent, having no clue what to say at first.

He got up from the bed before kneeling in front of you, resting his hands on your knees. “Please, say something. Tell me to fuck off. Tell me that I’m an idiot. Tell me you don’t feel the same. But please, don’t… I can’t stand the silence.”

For just another second more, you were quiet, you couldn't help it.

“I know it’s fast. I know you’ve been hurt. I know between Bucky and Loki this probably seems like it’s moving way too fast for you but you’ve got to know that I love you.”

Finally, you found your voice. “I love you too,” you finally admitted in a whisper.

The biggest smile you’d ever seen from him grew on his face. “Really?”

You nodded with fervor and a giant grin. “Of course I do. You’re… you’re everything I’ve ever wanted and more. I wanted to tell you I loved you sooner, but I was worried you’d freak and… I don’t know, run?”

He looked at you, bemused. “I’d never run from you, okay?” He reached up and put your hair behind your ear before leaning up to kiss you softly. “I love you far too much to do that.”

He leaned back and you stared down at him with stars in your eyes, a warmth spreading over your body from head to toe.

“Okay,” you said happily.

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

A week had gone by since Stephen’s confession, but unfortunately, you two hadn’t had much time to focus on each other. He had to pack his dorm, and you yours, plus you had finals to study for.

Everything was packed now and you just needed to talk to Stephen about the holiday break arrangement. That shouldn’t be too hard. It was Sunday and you two agreed to spend time at his house, spending the night there.

“So, I was wondering,” you started, a little nervous to breach this subject. Admitting you loved each other was one thing, talking about holiday arrangements was a huge step.

“Aren’t you always?”

You ignored him except for smiling with an eyeroll. “About the winter break--”

Suddenly, his phone was vibrating on the counter in the kitchen. “Hold that thought,” he instructed as he answered the call and stepped a few feet away. “Yes, this is him.... Oh… Okay… When?... Alright. Yes. No, that’s fine. Thank you so much.”

After five minutes, he hung up and walked over to you, his face a mask of disbelief.

“Stephen?” you addressed, getting up and rounding the island, rubbing his back. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, no everything is great.”

“Who was that?” you wondered.

“That was the study abroad offices. They said I got the spot,” he informed, still clearly reeling.

You frowned, wondering what he was talking about. “Spot?”

Finally, his attention settled on you as he told you. “I… I was put on a waitlist for studying abroad in London. I applied as soon as I transferred here.” He looked at you with apology and slight horror in his eyes.

“Oh, and so you got a spot on their trip?” you realized.

“Yeah,” he breathed, nodding.

You beamed, throwing your arms around him in a hug.  “Great! That’s great!”

He slightly pushed you away and put his hands on your shoulders. “No, the plane leaves right after finals.”

That’s why he was upset. A pit grew in your stomach.

“Oh…”

“Yeah, it’s for over the Christmas break. I… I didn’t think I’d get it. I almost forgot about it. It’s a great opportunity for people wanting to be doctors. You go around and shadow a different kind of doctor every day,” he explained, hoping you would understand.

You nodded, a faint smile on your lips. “That sounds fantastic, Stephen. I’m so happy for you.”

His eyes shot back to your face. He looked at you, worry etched in his features. “I won’t go if you don’t want me to though. I mean, with everything just kind of… starting between us.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, putting your hands on your hips. “Stephen Strange, you listen to me, if this is going to help you make a better life for yourself, then you get on that plane. If we can’t withstand a few weeks apart, then clearly we don’t have a good foundation.”

“Yeah, but…” he started, clearly torn about this.

“No buts. I mean it. I’m happy for you, and I support this,” you insisted.

He put his hands on your hips and pulled you close. “I know. I know you are, but I’ll be away from you for five weeks. What about us? We love each other but this is just getting started and I don’t want to fuck that up.”

“I’ll still be here when you get back. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m going to miss you though.”

“We can always video chat,” you assured. You reached up and put your hands on either side of his face. “This is a fantastic opportunity and I would resent myself if I kept you from it. You need to do this and I’m happy to support that.”

“You’re an amazing person, and I’m so glad I found you.”

“Back at you, Strange,” you teased before planting a quick kiss to his lips.

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

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[mirkwoodshewolf]

True dedication; John Deacon x reader

Hello all! Well I guess I can officially say that this is the last PRE-Set it all Free story that I’ve had in mind. Every part for this series will be post Set it all free. I’ve got tons of upcoming drama and feels and angst coming up and I can’t wait to see what you all think. I just want to say for my last update “Protective Taylor” I was just amazed of how many people were commenting, liking and reblogging that particular oneshot that it made me cry. So from me to all of you, thank you sooo much for giving this series a chance and making it the best thing I could ever write.

Taglist *open*:

@onebigfangirlworld

@phantom-fangirl-stuff

@mr-badguymercury

@labessieisallama

@starswin

@naturalswifty89

@isabella-bby

___________________________________________________

*September 30th, 1980*

For my second semester at University, classes were definitely piling up on assignments, plus the work of the internship, sometimes I’m barely able to function without coffee now.  Some nights I’m staying in the studio doing the mixing and checking the sound levels up until 11pm when the buses normally stop running.

On a couple of occasions I’d have to phone up Adam to come pick me up and of course the first time that happened, the boys actually stayed late and when I told them that Adam was coming to pick me up, they immediately wanted to meet him.  

Of course Adam’s laid back attitude and pushy need to hurry back to bed made him come off as a wanker to the boys and they did not like him one bit.  But I told them that he was just tired and that he had a long day of band rehearsal before an upcoming gig he had at the Student center at the University.

And of course there’s this guy Paul Prenter who would claim he had work from Jim that needed to be done like ironing Freddie’s costumes, organizing files in alphabetical order but then he’d come by and change his mind and tell them they needed to be organized chronologically, and I’d have to start all over again.

With all this work, I swear I was about to just collapse to the ground and die in a rut.

Like now, it was 11:45pm and I was supposed to go home four hours ago since that’s when I was scheduled to leave today but Paul stopped me from leaving telling me that there were some left over files that needed to be organized by tomorrow.  I tried to tell him off but he had told me that it was direct orders from Jim himself and if I didn’t have them organized then my internship would be terminated.

I didn’t want to believe Paul at first but I couldn’t risk my internship being terminated.  So here I am in the studio, papers scattered everywhere as my exhausted brain tried to make sense of what exactly I was trying to organize.

“Tax records for ‘A day at the races’ go with….A night in the opera and *yawns* December 1979…..” My eyes soon shut and I thought to myself, maybe a little break wouldn’t hurt at all.  I lay my head down on top of my arms as I breathed out tiredly and decided to take a little nap.

“(Y/n)….(y/n), wake up.”

“Bohemian Rhapsody was number 1 on the charts in 1977-79!” I shot up suddenly alert when I turned to see John standing beside me. “Oh sorry John.”

“It’s alright, but what are you still doing here? I thought you took off hours ago?”

“I was. But then last minute paper filing came in and I….” I let out a loud yawn and stretched myself out.

“Love you should really get home, it’s almost 1am.”

“What?!” I suddenly was falling backwards as the chair was falling with me thanks to my scrambling.  John took hold of me but I managed to take him down with me and we both landed on the ground. “Oh god I am so sorry John! Are you hurt?”

“No, no I’m good love, are you hurt?” he asked me.

“Just my ego but other than that I’m good.” John smiled and chuckled as he said.

“Your humor also seems to still be intact.” We sat up and I took notice of the clock and sure enough it was 12:45am.

“Oh god. Adam’s probably dead asleep by now. There’s no way he’s gonna come pick me up, and all the buses shut down hours ago and I sure as hell am not walking back home—”

“(Y/n). You’re rambling poppet, take a deep breath.” I inhaled then exhaled softly as he continued, “I can drop you off at your flat.”

“No, no John I can’t ask that of you. You’ve been here all day and probably exhausted especially after the huge argument that happened today between Roger and Freddie. I….I can’t ask you to do that.”

“It’s no trouble at all, and it’s like you said the buses are closed for the night, your boyfriend’s dead asleep. Although if it were me I’d be staying up if it were my girlfriend up this late the git.” He mostly muttered the last statement to himself before continuing, “And the London streets can get really dangerous at this time, what else have you got to lose? I’m your only hope.” I looked up at him and I said.

“Did you just quote Star Wars?”

“Yes I did.” I smiled up at him and took his outstretched hand and he took me out of the studio and into his car.  He put me in the front passenger side while he got into the driver seat and he turned his car on and we drove out of the studio.

I told him where my address was and what roads to take in order to get me home again.  It was then I began to suddenly realize that the files were still scattered all over the studio.

“Oh fuck!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“The files all over the studio! If Jim sees the studio like that I’m so beyond fired.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it love.”

“John you don’t understand I fell asleep organizing those files for Jim. If they aren’t the way he wants them by tomorrow I could lose this internship for good.” I began to panic and of course hallucinations and scenarios were playing frantically in my head of me losing this job.

John then pulled the car over and he said as he took my face in his hands.

“(Y/n), look at me. Look at nothing but me darling okay?” I looked into his hazel eyes and he said to me, “Everything will be okay, I’ll talk to Miami about it in the morning. But you need to take care of yourself first and foremost. The past couple of weeks since you started working for us, you’ve been running yourself ragged darling. You need to slow down and take the time to get the proper amount of sleep, and that you’re eating properly.”

“But—”

“Snack bars and crisps don’t count as a proper meal, you’re lucky Roger keeps an eye on you for that. (Y/n) please know that you are a strong, dedicated worker. But if you keep going the way you are, especially after today you’ll wind up getting sick. And the boys and I can’t allow that to happen, we just can’t.” I looked up at John and I said.

“You guys really care about me that much?”

“Of course we do, you’ve somehow managed to wriggle your way into all of our hearts. Something that no one else has really done among our team and crew.” I smiled softly and he smiled back before leaning forward and kissed my forehead. “Now let’s get you home and into bed because you look exhausted.” I nodded and let out another yawn and soon John turned the car back on and continued driving.

As we continued to drive, I guess my exhaustion finally got the better of me because the next thing I knew, I was leaning up against the car window and my eyes shut.

*John’s POV*

After about 10 minutes, we finally arrived at (y/n)’s address.  I turned around to get her attention when I saw that she had actually fallen asleep in my car. I smiled softly and turned the car off and parked it.  I hated to wake her but I didn’t have a key to her flat and I needed to get her inside.

“(Y/n), wake up love, we’re here.” She moaned tiredly and rubbed her eyes but I told her, “You don’t have to fully get up, but can you at least tell me where I can find a key to your door?” She then tiredly pulled out a chain from underneath her shirt and that’s when around her neck there was a key.

“I keep a spare key around my neck because I was always forgetting my other ones when I first moved in.” She tiredly removed the necklace from her neck and held it out for me to take.  I took it then I opened my door first before going around and opened up (y/n)’s door.

“Alright, come on love, let’s get you inside and into bed.” I unbuckled her and I helped her out of the car.  I had her leaned up against me because the poor dear she was so tired, she look lime she could just collapse right there on the road.  I guided her up the steps to her flat until we finally reached the front door.

Using her key, I unlocked her flat and we entered inside.  I then gently picked her up in my arms and seeing her like this made me think of all the nights I would carry up my two boys after a long day’s play whenever I managed to get some free time from the band and touring. I smiled as I felt her arms wrap around my neck and I quietly took her up the stairs.

“Which bedroom is yours love?”

“2nd to the left.” She muttered.  Once we reached the top of the stairs I turned down the hall and stopped at the second room on the left.  I soon entered her room and I carried her over to her bed.

I set her down on her bed and took off her shoes before covering her up with her blanket.  I set her necklace that held her spare key right by her dresser and I sat beside her as I brushed some of her hair away from her face.

“Thank you John,” she muttered tiredly. I continued to stroke her hair and I said.

“Deacy. You can call me Deacy love.”

“M’kay” she muttered tiredly.  I smiled down at her and I leaned downward and kissed her cheek and whispered to her.

“Goodnight (y/n), sleep well.” At that moment the only thing I heard from her was her soft breathing.  I got up from her bed and quietly left her flat and headed back to my car to head home and get some sleep myself.

*My POV*

I let out a yawn and stretched out my arms over my head to see the sun beaming in through my curtains.  It was then I found myself in my room but I don’t remember how I got up here in the first place.  It was then I noticed my spare key on the dresser along with a handwritten note.  I put the necklace back on around my neck and picked up the note and it read;

(Y/n),

By the time you read this it should be morning. I drove you home after finding you asleep in the studio and after much persuasion you allowed me to drive you home. I also carried you into your room and tucked you in, don’t worry I didn’t snoop through your stuff not like what Roger would’ve done.

When you wake up, please give me a call and tell me what you are planning on having for breakfast, just so I know that you’re taking care of yourself.  Remember you’re a brilliant and dedicated young woman, but you must still remember to take care of yourself.  Take care and I’ll see you next week.

~ Love Deacy.

***-***-****

I smiled softly and held the note close to my heart as happy tears filled my eyes.

I walked downstairs and headed to the kitchen to see Adam eating his breakfast and he said.

“So what time did you end up getting home last night?”

“Oh it was—pretty late.”

“As usual. You’re always working late, well meeting the guys for another rehearsal, see yah.” I merely waved bye to him cause I was too busy at the phone.  I held it up to my ear and it rang three times before I said.

“Hello Deacy.” I said with a soft smile.

[winter-rose-of-ninjago]

Winter Rose (chap 2)

When an Elemental Master dies without leaving an heir, the powers will transfer to the next available candidate. Rose was a normal young woman until the Master of Ice gave his life to save Ninjago from a great evil.

Rose woke up on a train.

At first, she didn't remember why she was there, or even when she got on. But as she sat upright and stretched after a night spent curled in her seat, the memory of last night came rushing back.

The station was robbed. Or at least, there was an attempt, one that she had stopped entirely by accident, too. By freezing one of them! And afterwards, she just left work and got on a train headed straight for New Ninjago City.

She didn't even go home and change first. She just left as soon as her manager and the police had given the O.K.!

'Mom is going to be so peeved when she finds out.' Rose thought, stared out the window as the darkened scenery rushing by. 'Hopefully she'll let me explain before she starts assigning chores.'

She passed the time by continuously frosting the window with her hands. It was weird, especially since it melted quickly in the pre-Summer heat whenever she took her hand away. And, of course, it was cold. But, she noticed, whenever she used the ice, she felt less cold herself.

When the train pulled up to the station some hours later, the sun was close to rising. Rose disembarked and pulled her hood up, heading for the vending machines and buying two candy bars and an energy drink. She then took a map as she left the station, opening it up as she chewed on her candy. She looked it over, then turned down street and started walking.

She could only hope that Hailey wouldn't mind being woken up so early in the morning.

Hailey was NOT a light sleeper, not by any stretch of the word. Many a time had she fallen asleep at a friend's house or in public, only to be abandoned where she lay when no on could wake her. But when a loud, frantic knocking dragged her out of peaceful sleep, she rushed to the door in a half-asleep haze, thinking she'd slept through the fire alarm again.

However when she yanked the door open to run, heedless of the fact she wasn't wearing pants, she found herself crushed beneath a short, heavy, and familiar weight. With a grunt Hailey pushed the intruder off, and kicked the door closed, not getting up off the floor.

After a brief pause, Hailey spoke up. "So," she started, "why are you in my dorm room at..." She sat up and turned to look at her alarm clock. "5:13 in the morning?"

"Funny story, that." Rose said, also sitting up from where she'd bee shoved. " I think we may have a problem. "

"What do mean, 'we'?" Hailey asked, taking the desk chair. "Did you finally kill Jak? Because if so, I am NOT helping you hide the body." Hailey pushed herself off the floor and went to grab a glass of water. "I broke up with the guy who could do that before I moved here."

"What? No, I didn't kill Jak! Not yet, anyways." Rose muttered the last bit, then took a deep breath. She paused, and let it out in a long sigh. "This, is gonna be hard to explain. Let me have your water for a second."

Hailey handed over her water without the usual fight, if only because she wanted to see what Rose would do. 'Although if this ends with a mess,' she promised herself, 'I'm going to kick her out.'

Rose held the water with both hands, took a deep breath, and then froze it, glass and all. When she finished she looked up to find Hailey staring down at her with wide eyes.

"Well," she said, sitting down at her desk, "that's new. Do you know why  you can do that now?

Rose shook her head and put the chunk of ice on the floor. "No. It just started, tonight- uh, last night. I thought maybe you could help, so I came here." She leaned back on her hands, staring up at her friend.

"Wait, you started freezing things, so you came all the way out here, at ass o' clock in the morning, just to wake me up so I could help you?" Hailey picks up Rose's mess and sets it in the sink. "Gods, it's like those middle school book reports all over again."

"No! I started freezing people, and then came out here to wake you up." Rose said with a huff. "And besides, I really did need help with those reports. Writing is hard."

"Hold on, back up." Hailey turned around with and fixed Rose with a Look. "What do you mean by 'freezing people'?"

And so Rose tells Hailey everything that happened last night. From the attempted robbery, to Crazy Greg, to the ice she froze him to the floor with. She then moves on to how she immediately went to the train station after being dismissed by the police. By the time she's done, the sun has fully risen, and it's time for Hailey to start getting ready for class.

"Listen, I've got to get to class." Hailey told her, as she collected fresh clothing for the day. "Why don't you take a nap or something while I'm gone? We'll work this out when I get back."

Rose's only response is to flop on the bed and wave.

"The shower is down the hall on the left, and there should be something that'll fit you in the dresser." Hailey waited for a response, which was just a grunt and thumbs-up, before turning to leave. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Rose grunted again, and Hailey left the room, making sure to lock the door behind her. No need to have someone finding her before she can explain, after all.

By the time Hailey came back from class, Rose had showered and gotten dressed, although she didn't look any less tired than earlier. Hailey luckily didn't have any afternoon classes, not that she'd be able to focus much anyways.

So she grabbed Rose and dragged her out of the room to a cafe close to the college, deciding that they should have lunch before trying to test Rose's powers. After all, you can't do anything on an empty stomach.

Lloyd normally wasn't the one who answered the phone. Usually, it was his mother who did that, in between her studies. However as he raised it to his ear and gave the greeting he had the feeling things were about to change.

"Hello, Garmadon and Borg Training and Research Facility. How may I help you?" He rattled off, hopeful that they weren't looking for him. It was why he'd left out the part that mentioned he lived there.

"Hello, I'm looking for Lloyd Garmadon, the Green Ninja. Is he available?" The woman on the other end asked. Lloyd silently cursed, but answered anyways.

"Uh, yeah, you're talking to him. What do ya need?" 'Please just say "talk to my kid and tell him to do his homework".' Lloyd prayed futilely.

"I'm officer Briggs of the Jamanakai Police. We need you to come down to the station as soon as you can." Briggs cleared her throat. "There was a robbery yesterday that involved some... unusual circumstances. We need to talk to you right away."

Robbery? Unusual circumstances? 'Oh great, it's another Ancient Evil, isn't it? ' The teen thought to himself. 'The Overlord is back to steal everyone's cookies, or something.'

"Unusual how?" Lloyd asks, shaking himself out of his thoughts. This was no time for jokes.

"Well, one of the robbers was frozen to the floor." Briggs seems a bit incredulous as she says that, as though she doesn't quite believe it herself. Lloyd however feels his heart stop.

"Frozen?" He asks, voice barely above a whisper. He almost drops the phone, but forces himself to hang on. Zane is dead, and it could just be someone invented a freeze-ray or something. It's not Zane it's not Zane it's not-

"Yes. Listen, when you get here, you can review the tapes, alright?" Lloyd can hear papers shuffling on the other end. "I think you'll find them... interesting."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah. I'll be there in two hours." Lloyd doesn't wait for an answer before hanging up the phone. The second it's in it's cradle he leans against the wall, feeling almost like he just ran a marathon. He stayed like that for a minute, then took a deep breath and stood up, heading for the door. He had some tapes to review.

Lloyd actually makes it to the station in one hour and thirty minutes. He's greeted by Officer Briggs, an older woman with her hair tied back in a bun. She escorts him into a room where he watches the tapes in shock.

He was right about one thing. It's not Zane.

Instead, paused on the screen with her arm outstretched and shooting ice from her hand, is a young woman. She's short, but well built, with pale blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Who is she?" He asks, after staring at her for a while. She looks a little familiar, but the video is too blurry to really tell.

"Rosemary Julien. And, we don't know where she is right now. Someone said they saw her get on a train, but nobody has any idea where she went." Another officer, younger than Briggs, explained. He adjusted his glasses before continuing. "She does have family in town, though. They're already here and are being questioned. With any luck, they're have some idea about where she went."

Lloyd nodded, although he wasn't sure how much that could help. "Do you mind if I take a copy of the tape back to the Facility? My parents and uncle might know who she is."

"Of course Green Ninja." Lloyd sighed, though the officer either didn't notice or didn't care as he made a copy. He handed it off to Lloyd, who thanked him and left quickly.

Maybe his father would be able to shed some light on this.

Rose and Hailey find themselves watching T.V. in the student rec. room after a long afternoon of practice. Rose wasn't necessarily better with her powers, but she had managed to learn how NOT to freeze things. Thus she was able to eat her food without turning it into ramen -flavored ice-cream.

While they were watching their show, a cartoon Hailey liked about twins and a magic journal, it cut off right in the middle. While Hailey and a few other students gave cries of outrage and disappointment, as it switched to the news, although they quieted down when they saw a picture of Rose on the screen.

"Attention citizens of New Ninjago City, this is an announcement made at the request of the Green Ninja, Lloyd Garmadon." The voice sounded male. "He is requesting any information possible on the location of Rosemary Julien, age 19." Here a picture of Rose came on screen, stating her name and age underneath it, along with a phone number. Rose herself pulled her hood up and sank into the couch cushions. "If you have any information on her whereabouts, please call the number on the screen. This announcement will play once every hour until Miss Julien has been found. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled program."

The T.V. switched back to the cartoon as Rose leapt from her seat and took off running down the hall. Hailey followed her, though she made sure to grab their food before she left.

They made it to Hailey's room and lock the door behind them. "This is bad, this is really bad Hailey!" Rose said as she paced around the room. Hailey just sat on her bed and continued to eat. "Why are you so calm about this?!"

"Because," she answered between bites of ramen, "you're going to call that number."

"What? No I'm not! They're gonna arrest me or something!" Rose was full on panicking now. "Maybe if I leave now, I can go somewhere else. Like Ignacia, or Stixx. Those places don't have a lot of people, right?" She grabbed at her hair. "Oh man, mom's so gonna kill me..."

"Rosie, you're not gonna get arrested. The Ninja don't have that authority. The police do, though. Which is why you've gotta call them." Hailey pointed her fork at her friend. "Or, I can call them. Whichever way works for you."

"You wouldn't dare!" Rose glares, but Hailey glares back.

"Bet me I won't. You think this bad for you? Imagine if they found out about me." Hailey sighed. "No, it's better to get this taken care of as soon as possible. It's less trouble that way."

"Can't I just go hide with your ex?" Rose asked as a last resort.

Hailey fixed her with a Look. "No." She tossed her her cellphone. "Now call the Ninja. I'll be right outside so you can have some privacy. I need to return these bowls, anyways."

Hailey got up and left the room, closing the door behind her. Rose stared after her, then turned towards the window. After making sure she wouldn't survive the jump, she sat on the bed and stared at the phone. This was quite possibly the hardest call she would ever make since she asked Hank out in middle school.

[hannah-khoury-deserves-better]

Take Me Home Chapter One

Summary: Hannah gets some unexpected news and she and Tammy have to figure out their new reality.

Words: 2387

Warnings: none

Pairings: Hannah Khoury/Tammy Gregorio, Tammy Gregorio/Sebastian Lund (Friendship) others to be added.

                                               A Wind of Change

Sitting at the table in the breakfast nook at Sebastian and Tammy's house. Hannah let a soft smile come across her lips as she looked over at Tammy. With Tammy Gregorio it was easy, easy to love her, far easier than it had been with Ryan Porter.

Tammy then spoke “Hey did you hear my question?”

“Huh? Sorry lost in thought.”

“I asked what you wanted for breakfast.”

“I want waffles,” Sebastian called out while he walked into the kitchen. He let out a small gasp once he recognized Tammy's house guest. ”Wait. Hannah? Why are you here? Do we have a case?”

Hannah let out a small groan, “You said he was getting back this afternoon, I knew we should have gone to my place. I'm going to go get dressed.” Standing up in the FBI tee she had stolen from Tammy’s dresser that morning and walking past Sebastian even though she was sure that Sebastian had seen the heart print briefs she had on as well.

---

“Easy baby, I'll handle it.” Tammy said as she shoved Sebastian back towards the living room.

“What the hell aren't you supposed to be at some nerd thing?”

“Comic-Con is not for nerds it's for enthusiasts. And I got in last night, I see you didn't wait up for me. Wait, that was your shirt she had on. Why is Hannah here?”

They stood quietly. Tammy raised one eyebrow at him.

“Oh my god your seeing Hannah. Wait how long has this been going on?”

“Look, me and Hannah have a little thing going on, and it's been six weeks. Let me go try and calm Hannah down before she decides to kill you, you know she could do it and get away with it. Do not mention this to anyone or I'll hurt you got it.”

“Yeah no I understand.” Sebastian nodded nervously.

“Wait. Six weeks, you've been dating for six weeks?” He watched as Tammy slide into her room and hearing her greet Hannah softly and sweetly before her door closed in front of him. He shook his head and headed to make coffee for three.

---

“I'm sorry baby, apparently he meant last night not tonight.” Tammy said as she closed the door.

Hannah paused in buttoning her red shirt and looked at her, “It’s fine other than the fact that I'm not supposed to see my subordinate, oh and no one other than you even knows I like girls! But it's fine, I'm just going to get fired or transferred to Siberia, it fine, you know except I hate the cold, my daughter is here, your here, and I'm exhausted all the time now.”

“Wow I think that's the most words I've ever heard you say at once,” Tammy said as she slid closer to Hannah “now should I kiss you to make up for all this, see if I can get you out of your jeans.” And pulled Hannah against her both arms looping around Hannah's waist.

Hannah laughed, “Sure, let’s see what you can do,” one hand coming up to rest on Tammy’s face the other sliding around Tammy's back then Hannah's phone began blaring and she groaned in response.

She turned to look for it. Finding it under her shirt from the day before she scooped it up.

“Hey Lasalle, what do we got?” She chirped and heard the Alabama accent chatter, nodding.

“All right call Loretta have her meet us there, no I'm near their house I'll stop and pick them up. Ok see you there.” Hanging up the phone.

She turned to Tammy “So let's put these plans on hold, double murder of two sailors.” She said as she gave Tammy one last kiss. Then moving to finish getting ready “Tell Sebastian please.”

---

“Right what do we have Loretta?” Tammy asked.

“We have petty officer third class Regan Clark and petty officer first class Damon Sims both served on the Chinook, both were found this morning, Regan was stabbed in the neck, but Damon well.. Christopher will you help me?” Loretta asked, pointing at the corpse.

“Oh course Ms. Loretta” as they turned the body over on the ground.

Tammy noticed Hannah's face turn almost as she clamped one hand over her mouth the other over her stomach. A wave of shock rushed through Tammy as she watched Hannah's reaction. Hannah hadn't been bothered a bit by the shrimp boat case, where the body had been bloated by the ocean, but this one while bad wasn't nearly on the same level of smell.

“He has been sliced into to spell out, from six to one the spell is spun, no time to run, the curse begun and some kind of symbol I’ll know more once I get them back to autopsy.” Loretta commented, scribbling on her notepad.

“Okay what curse?” Tammy asked looking down at the body.

“This is New Orleans, this city was built on curses” Hannah said, having managed to swallow her nausea.

“Yeah there a ton of them, wait how do you know that you've only been here about five months.” Chris said as he looked up from photographing the body.

“I've got a degree in history, I like it so when I moved here I studied up on it, but my master’s thesis was on New Orleans history.” Hannah replied.

“Okay Tammy, Chris deep dive the victims, I’ll call their COs see if they were working on anything worth killing over, Sebastian.” Hannah said, giving the orders.

“Heading to the lab.” Sebastian replied.

“Great. Anything you get us can help us get this guy really look into that symbol as well I think I recognize it and if I'm right, I have a sinking suspicion that he's not done yet.”

Upon arriving at headquarters, Hannah went straight to the bathroom, having had to try very hard not to throw up while in the car with Tammy, she expelled what she was fairly certain was the contents of her entire stomach, noting that she seemed slightly bloated. But she stood slowly and washed her mouth out, heading back in to the bullpen, ignoring the fact that both Tammy and Chris were giving her concerned looks, pulling up the Chinook’s list.

She discovered they worked under Senior Chief Petty Officer James Shal, calling his number she discovered that the officers had been on shore leave and were rumored to be dating, but that Clark had a ex that she had been trying to seek a restraining order against, but neither had any type of security clearance, Clark was a culinary specialist, and Sims worked radio.

Chris glanced over at Tammy and she nodded, she was ready to present, but when he looked over at Hannah he thought she looked like she was asleep so he walked over towards her desk.

“Boss, you ready for us to present? Hannah?” He tapped on her desk and she jerked, waking up from where her head had been resting in her hand.

“Yeah, go for it.” She said as she blinked several times to wake herself up.

Chris lifted the remote “Petty officer first class Damon Sims age 30, no money troubles, not much a personal life, joined the navy when he was 18. He is interested in treasure in particular anything to do with the so called, ‘Crystal Cove.’”

Tammy grabbed the remote from him, “Petty officer third class Regan Clark, age 25, up until recently was in fairly deep debt but made several big payoffs, has an ex that lives in the city. Joined the navy only 2 years ago, seems to have no hobbies, nothing at all even connecting her to Sims.”

“Well that is not quite true,” Hannah said as she leaned over her desk, one hand dropping over her abdomen and running lightly over it, “According to their CO, neither were on any kind of classified assignment, Clark worked as a culinary specialist and Sims worked radio. They were on shore leave together and were rumored to be seeing each other. As for Clark’s ex, she tried and failed to get a restraining order against him. Gregorio look into why.”

“Chris, I want you to go to the morgue and check in with Sebastian, help him with the symbol, concentrate on pirates that may have connections to the Crystal Cove. I'll look into the legend here. I’ll be back in a minute.” Hannah said as she rushed towards the bathroom.

Tammy looked over at Chris, “She seem okay to you?”

“Not one bit, keep an eye on her Gregorio.” Chris replied as he grabbed his keys before going to the SUV for a visit to the JPSO for results.

“Always, you know that.” Tammy said as she turned to look towards where Hannah had disappeared.

----

Chris walked down the hall and turned into the morgue, “Alright Ms. Loretta, tell me what do we got here.”

“Well like I said at the crime scene, Ms. Clark’s, cause of death was a stab wound on the throat. The killer severed both of her carotid arteries, she would have died nearly instantaneously.” Wade explained, circling around the table where the corpse laid on.

“While Mr. Sims, well he died very slowly, the wounds on his back where likely caused by a very sharp straight blade, and he was tortured before his death, he was punched repeatedly in the abdomen, there was blood in his stomach.” Wade said gesturing towards the next table, “He has three broken ribs, and seven of his fingernails were ripped out very close to the time of death, the final cause of death was exsanguination, the symbol and words on his back were done pre mortem.”  

“This killer wanted to cause pain to this young man.” Wade sighed, putting a hand on her hip.

“Alright thank you. Do ya know if Sebastian is done?”

“Yes and I found something very interesting” Sebastian said as he burst into the morgue.

“Alright, what is it?”

“Quartz dust. But not from any known mines in this area, this is different. It’s also been worked.”

“Well how can you know that?” Chris asked with a quirked brow at him.

“Trace minerals but old ones, lead and sulfur.”

“Meaning” Chris pulled out the word, lowering his head.

“This is old quartz, like Spanish conquistadors. Old.”

---

Chris and Sebastian walked in “We've got a problem. The quartz dust is old, really old.” Sebastian announced.

“That makes sense,” Hannah said as she looked up “everything I can find on this Crystal Cove, says it was created by Spanish conquistadors to protect what they thought was the fountain of youth. They landed here to collect supplies and then were planning on sailing back to Spain, but then a hurricane came and hit so they built the cave to protect their loot, a crystal fountain and other crystal pieces they collected.”

“That’s-that’s accurate.” Sebastian’s jaw dropped with astonishment, nodding slowly.  

“It's rumored to be worth over 10 million dollars.” Hannah continued as she blinked out of a dizzy spell.

Sebastian noticed that she was still shaking, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I'm fine just stood up too fast.” Hannah replied, before turning to Tammy.

“Gregorio you got anything on this ex of Clark’s?

“No nothing, I've got what might be a first name Adam, but I can't find anything else, Patton’s running one of his searches and is diving into her records. But I did find this, she's been making a lot of calls to various unknown numbers, Patton is looking at them but my guess is burners. She's also been making payments to some company called Fire Dive, and Wreckage, can't find anything on them, but look who owns it, David Finch.” Gregorio said.

“Okay maybe it's because I'm still new to New Orleans but who's David Finch?” Hannah asked.

Chris grabbed the remote and clicked it over “Only one of the biggest mob boss in the city, he has a finger in every pie, and nothing ever links back to him.”

“Alright, let’s deep dive the company and the employees, if we can. Sebastian I want you to try and narrow down the dust as much as you can, anything that will tells us where it might be from. Lasalle look into why Sims was wanting to find the crystal. Gregorio have you found anything on who Clark was in debt to?”

Tammy shook her head.

“You said that she had recently done several payments that didn't back up to her salary right? Let's look at why.” Hannah said as she leaned back in her chair.

As they hit yet another wall, Hannah still fighting to keep her eyes open, looked at her watch “Okay, I don't think we're going to get any further information tonight, let's all go home, and reconvene in the morning, hopefully Patton’s dives into the company and some of the phone scans will be done.” As she pushed up from her desk she felt the world spin and only her tight grip on the desk kept her from falling.

Seeing Tammy glance towards her she shook her head, she needed to be alone tonight. As she made it into her car, and pulled her phone to check to see if Naomi had texted her about her dance program she saw the date and the blood drained from her face.

Her symptoms, the nausea, the exhaustion, even the random bouts of hunger and the dizzy spells, and now the fact that she was late for the second time.

She carefully drove towards her apartment stopping only at the CVS down the street walking in and not looking at anyone she went to an aisle and picked up a single box, one she hadn't bought in almost 5 years checking out she paid in cash not wanting a record of this, finally arriving back in her apartment.

She dropped her bag and jacket over the table, clutching the box though the bag, heading towards to the bathroom. With a shaking hand she slid a single package out and took it.

Five minutes later, she flipped it over, not sure what she wanted the test to say.

But her heart sank just a little when she saw the screen. A pair of blue lines in it, confirming her suspicions that she was pregnant.  

[cass-chan12]

Felony of the Heart (Ch 2)

Fandom: Fairy Tail Genre: Romance and Friendship Pairing: Main- NaLu. Sides- Gajevy, Gruvia and Jerza

Summary: What would you do if you were forced into a school that deals with Delinquents and young adults that have committed felonies? Lucy Heartfilia would rather chance it than going back home to being married off. What lies ahead for the blonde is unknown but she's convinced she can make it through with him by her side

Chapter one

CHAPTER TWO

"How we need another soul to cling to"- Sylvia Plath

Lying in the darkness was scarier than I imagined.

Sleep would never claim me that first night, from the tiniest of sounds my eyes would snap open and stare at the ceiling for ages. No thought would come to mind, no tear would form in my eyes now would words come to my mouth. All I could focus on was the occasional buzzing of a mosquito or one of the other girl's soft snores. I continued to listen and I would pick up on new sounds such as the strong wind outside creating a gentle howl, or a creaking sound of wood outside the room, which proved we were literally watched over 24/7.

It must be past midnight and the lids of my eyes didn't falter and my twists and turns in my bed from the restlessness made too much commotion, so I decided to stay on the side facing my neighbour's bed. It was the small bluenette I sat next to in Confessional's. She was fast asleep with tear stains on her face; I had heard her cry tonight but chose to ignore it. We all did in this dorm; there were a lot of young girls in here- which led me to ask why they would do such heinous things to get in here. But I can't judge, I don't know them or what they've done. I'm wary of making friends here but the loneliness makes my heart ache. Back at the house this feeling came many times, but I had friends there to stop the aching. I was alone now and I don't know how long it will last.

I did manage to sleep, maybe a few hours. The morning siren went off and boomed across the campus; waking all of us up. Moans and grumbles creaked in the room similar to the movement of zombies, all the girls, including myself, got ready for our first day of learning and disciplining- as the Principal explained to us yesterday.

There were a lot of rules and regulations set, it seemed like they must have copied a prison handbook.

1) All electrical devices are prohibited

2) The main house, Gardens, sports grounds (Aka the boot camp course) are prohibited to enter unless accompanied by a supervisor or teacher.

3) The front and back gate, the fence and the opposite sex's dormitory are prohibited with or without supervisor or teacher. If you are caught in any of these areas, you will be punished with a week's worth of community service.

4) Flashy and bright clothing will be taken from personal items.

5) Personal items must be kept in the provided foot locker under each student's bed.

6) Wake up calls; Monday-Friday 5:30am, Saturday and Sunday 6:00am. Breakfast will be served at 7:00am on all days

7) Before leaving to Breakfast, dormitories must be cleaned to House guardian's approval and students must be dressed accordingly.

8) Classes for students start at 8:00am- 16:00pm. Dinner is at 18:00pm. Lights out at 21:00pm

9) Mondays gather for assembly. Confessional groups are on Sunday at 10:00am.

10) Any attempt of escape will result in a transfer to a state prison.

But the way I understood it, this place was a state prison. This was barely a school besides the actual classes, not to mention we get cleaning assignments every day. It will be tough for me since I didn't have to do that back home, but between cleaning a toilet and going home… I'd clean every single one here instead of going back.

As I put on my clothes I looked to the outside window, some students where already going to the cafeteria in which my stomach growled for attention. I finished putting the ugly grey uniform on and tied my hair loosely with a hair tie that was in my foot locker under my bed. When I got the okay to leave after I cleaned my section I walked down the stairs and peeked into the dormitory rooms I passed and the aura was plain miserable. My generation really loves their sleep…

I reached the outside of the Dorm house and through the trees I noticed the sky was clouding up, slowly becoming overcast. The mood is as depressing as it can get, but now I don't know whether I can last till Lunch. My shoes clacked against the cobblestone pavement and the many shushed tones of voices swept passed me, either it was gossiping or the fear of speaking too loud in the hell hole. I ignored the comments that were loud enough to hear, but one word kept coming up.

Alone

Yes I am alone but so was everyone else. It occurred to me how true that statement was when I collected my breakfast and sat one of the large tables. Everyone spoke to each other but their eyes and expressions showed those of an outsider. I saw a few of the people that where in my Confessional session, I noticed especially the small blue haired girl; whose bed is next to mine in the dorm. She looked lost and depressed, searching for a seat.

I slowly lifted my arm and waved to her, she blinked and shuffled her feet shyly towards me. She placed her tray across from mine and sat down keeping her face downwards hiding her expression. I coughed trying to catch her attention and get some eye contact which seemed like the only attention I could get here.

"I'm Lucy. But you probably know that" I joked dryly.

She looked up like a helpless animal and smiled slightly. "I'm Levy. Likewise" she countered.

I smiled at her and turned my attention back at my food, which looked more inedible than when I picked it up in the first place.

"This food looks foul." I said dropping my spoon back in my bowl.

"Back at my old school, it wasn't any different." Levy said taking a bite from her oatmeal.

I frowned at the plate losing my appetite quick. Until I felt someone else sit at the table.

"Here; try putting this in. It'll make it taste better." A female voice said

I peered up and saw red; a beautiful scarlet red. It was the girl from my Confessional group, and even though her hair was neatly tied up it was still striking as ever. She handed me some Honey in a small container which clearly wasn't given out in the school. I took it stealthily without anyone else seeing and quickly added it to my porridge. I took a bite and moaned in delight, the taste of something so simply sweet was delectable.

"That's so much better, thanks." I said.

She smiled and lifted her tray to walk away. But I coughed to stop her "You want to sit with us?" I asked shyly.

She smiled again with a little red hue sprinkled on her cheeks, giving away the suspicion she wanted to sit there in the first place. She put her tray next to mine and sat down tucking a stray piece of her pretty hair behind her ear. She cautiously brought more honey out of her pocket and added it to her porridge.

"May I ask where you get this?" Levy asked.

Erza 'hmmed' while eating her breakfast. She swallowed and then smiled "Before they took my personal stuff I snatched my recipe for strawberry shortcake and exchanged it for anything I want out the kitchen."

Levy and I were shocked, just how good was this recipe if it gave her fulltime access to the kitchen?

"Wouldn't you get in trouble if one of the dictators found out?" I asked

She smiled again which was comforting since this place really didn't showcase anything to smile about. Erza's features were calm too, it was strangely soothing. I thought about it, her and I were in the same boat. In confessionals Zancrow mentioned she pleaded guilty with the case she was charged with, and not to mention that blue haired kid admitted she was dragged into his situation.

She didn't belong here either.

"Well I had a friend in here before I arrived and he gave me some tips of the school. He also told me that the cafeteria is the safest place to breathe in here." she explained

I looked around the area and it did seem happier than everywhere else. The chattering was louder and sounded like a normal high school; which kind of made me anxious.

"Why is that?" Levy asked.

Erza pushed her tray away from her and rubbed her belly in satisfaction. "Ahhh… I think it has to do with the cafeteria supervisor. Rumour is that he blows his duty to tend to his prized doll collection."

I wasn't sure I heard properly but Levy was laughing which made me giggle a bit too. Sounds like a freaky dude if that were true, but regardless the room seemed less depressing and did lift my mood. It was strange how I made two friends in here, although both really didn't look like they belonged here in the first place.

I couldn't for a fact, believe the small bluenette in front of me, was in here. She was the size of a small child and was in her bed crying her eyes out only a few hours ago. It didn't fit either way you looked at it, but my thoughts went back to what she said in the confessional room, she said she only did what she did to get enough money and run away from home. I can relate, so who am I to judge her. And of course; Erza being dragged into something by that blue-haired guy, from her personality she seemed very girly but at the same time she had an aura of respect around her: Something you wouldn't find in a real Delinquent. I should stop pretences and judging, I will be around these people for who knows how long and I might learn a thing or two like I had meeting Levy and Erza.

It was almost time to go to class so I waved goodbye to Levy and Erza and went back to my dorm to get my books that were pre-ordered by the school. I grabbed the books and stuffed them in a backpack that was in my footlocker. A small slip of paper fell out of one of the books which looked like my schedule. I cringed a bit at my classes; every lesson was just about two hours, I had Math then Languages, after was History then finally Sciences. We had one lunch break for 45 minutes.

I'm going to die today.

I sighed heavily and walked to the school building slowly with the weight of the bag on my back and the wind sweeping past my face. I missed the sun; the trees in this place created an impregnable shield for sunlight to come in. The clouds would sometimes break away for some sunlight, but the only opening there to let sunlight come through was beyond the front gate. My gaze at beyond the gate looked suspicious to the guards patrolling the yards; I shifted my gaze at the school building and avoided eye contact.

Entering the school, there were more guards posted by the door checking our bags and pockets. This made me extremely uncomfortable; the woman guard scratched through my bag and checked my pockets (with no regard to the manner she was doing it.)

The school looked the same with every door I passed or every corner I turned; which would make it very easy to be late to class with everything looking the same. Students were trying to find their homerooms, many of which bumped into me and roughly I might add. Some of the students that did looked incredibly scary, and I was scared that if I had complained I might be flattened.

As I kept walking I recognised the guy with piercings on his face from my Confessional session, Gajeel, I think his name was, except he had them taken out and his long black hair had been chopped off. Normal didn't suit him. He noticed I was staring, his response made me quake in fear.

"What are you staring at you Bitch!" he yelled.

Startling the other students I kept my head down and quickly apologised. I sprinted off down the hall to avoid any further confrontation but stopped as I heard another voice.

"Calm down you shithead!"

My body swung around as I heard the familiar voice. The blur of pink filled my sight and gnarling teeth become the second thing I saw.

"You wanna start with me you pyromaniac?!" Gajeel yelled.

"You started this fight when you yelled at her!"

The boys were centimetres away from starting a fist fight. I quickly dashed to the pink haired pyro and grazed my fingers on his shoulder "Natsu" I mumbled.

He didn't listen and kept staring at Gajeel, growling like a beast. I put my hand on his shoulder this time. "Natsu stop." I said with my voice trembling.

He looked over his shoulder and caught sight of my face. His onyx eyes that displayed anger and ferocity had simmered down and dulled. He was about to say something until I felt a hand grabbing my arm.

I was shoved back by one of the men that had escorted me yesterday. Two more of his co-workers roughly pushed themselves though the crowd that had gathered when the commotion had started. The large men both pushed Natsu and Gajeel against the floor with their arms twisted to their backs. Yelps and hisses emitted from the boys and my own pain of the man's grip was ignored from what my eyes were witnessing.

"I understand your love for violence, but obviously your peanut sized brains don't understand where you currently are" appeared another voice.

My fear escalated. This man was beyond intimidating, he was fairly normal looking but his stature was big and his eyes were cold and vicious. His voice was deep and sent shivers down my spine.

"Greetings Mr Dragneel, Mr Redfox, I am Azuma-sensei; Head of Discipline. You boys are my first cases of the school year, well done." He said formerly with much indifference.

He turned to me and my face felt cold, I could feel myself paling in front of him "Careful miss Heartfilia, getting involved in trivial things like this might just get you into deeper trouble."

He snapped his fingers and the hand that was holding tightly on my arm was let go and left me almost falling to the floor, I stumbled but managed to stay on my feet. I rubbed my arm soothingly and remembered that my arm was still bruised from yesterday's handlings. My eyes lifted up from my arm to see the two boys being taken away outside the school building. I clicked my tongue in distaste, going to such extremities over a fight that didn't even happen. I was close to stopping it anyway.

Remembering the softening of Natsu's eyes reassured me he was going to back down. Natsu… Why did he do that in the first place? Was he itching for a fight or something? Why did he…

"Don't give up. We're in this together."

"We're in this together." I mumbled.

I didn't know what he meant at first but it's all clear now. These people who were called our teachers and our disciplinarians and even our own principal, they are here to do what they are paid to do. That's to torture us. And they ENJOY it. So if they are not looking out for us, then it's up to us to look out for another.

Class seemed like an eternity, it was so close to lunch I could almost hear my stomach yell across the room. 'Just one more period' I told myself.

As I sat at my desk my eyes immediately looked outside the window, fortunately enough my desk was right next to it. High on the second floor I could peer beyond the fences into the lush forest. Although something else caught my eye, I saw two figures and I squinted to concentrate. I rubbed my eye at the realisation of who the figures were.

In the midst of a hot summer's day, Natsu and Gajeel were being severely punished physically. Battered and bruised the boys were digging up trenches and filling them up again. The hard ground made every movement harder than the next and by the looks of it the boys have been working ever since Azuma-sensei took them in this morning.

I lost my appetite. How could I think of food when Natsu was out there suffering because he was looking out for me? I looked over to the two and they were heading towards the boys dorm, what a relief.

"Miss Heartfilia, unless you'd like to join the labour outside, I suggest you pay attention." The teacher, I think his name was Rustyrose-sensei.

My head snapped to the direction to the board with no hesitation and Rustyrose continued on with his class.

My mind didn't concentrate though. It just did a direct U-turn back to Natsu. I felt my cheeks warming up at the thought of him. The boy could really have bad issues with his pyromania, yet why does that make me more curious about him?

Trying to look like I was concentrating, the bell rang signalling lunch time. I almost sprinted to the cafeteria. All thoughts were diminished as my stomach overpowered my brain. Although my Stomach never had a nose and the smell of lunch was less than pleasing. I think it was meatloaf… I think. Sat at an empty table hoping I get Levy or Erza to sit by me… Or even Natsu.

I shook my head furiously. I huffed and shoved a piece of whatever in my mouth, I had confirmed it wasn't meatloaf.

"Gross, what is that?"

My body stiffened at the familiar voice. My head looked up to the pink haired boy that had been plaguing my mind since this morning. He was in a new clean uniform and probably had to shower after the manual work he did. My eyes darted to the scratches and bruises along his arms. I felt terrible.

"I'm so sorry Natsu." I said softly.

His happy smile, which seemed to be the first I've seen of his since I've met him, disappeared. I couldn't look him in the eyes, I would cry if I did. I felt the bench move and looked up to his face which was level to mine.

"Don't be. I honestly don't care what they do to me in here." He said.

He smiled again, I liked it. It was warm, joyful and natural. Like everything he had experienced this morning was nothing.

"If the best they can do is make me work then fine, I don't mind. Because in the end I protected my friend and that's all that matters."

"You hardly know me though. How am I your friend?"

I admit that sounded harsh, it wasn't my intention to make it sound like that. He kept smiling though; I couldn't bring myself to be mean to him with that goofy smile on his face.

"We both have something in common. We both deserve a better life."

The words never hit harder, I wanted to cry at that simple truth. I did deserve one. I craved for it.

"There are some other kids in here that deserve better lives too. I think we should befriend them and start a group." he suggested and interrupted my thoughts.

That wasn't a bad idea. The thought of having more people having your back would help. Although in a school like this you have to be wary.

Then it hit me "I know two people to start with." I said smiling at him.

"Yosh! We're in this together" he said cheerfully, almost making that line of his a motto.

I recited.

"We're in this together"

[gutterdreams]

Blindside PT 1 [R.M.]

An anon requested the prompt ‘you’re always late’ and @stylesdempsey put in their own Reggie request, so this is a combo of the two. Title from the song Drive by Oh Wonder.

Sometimes Reggie could be an absolute child. For a seventeen year old boy, he could throw a tantrum that would rival any toddler in any drugstore across the country. Sighing as you laid down, you let Reggie release his frustration through the phone that you were lazily holding to your ear. For him to stop texting you and actually call meant that he was past annoyed and well into unpleased.

“You're always late.” He groaned through the phone. It had been cute, at first, when you two started dating and you would fly into class at the same time as the second bell, or you would make it to his house a few minutes after you said you would show up. However, it didn't leave Reggie amused any more. It had turned into a habit that irritated him. “What is so hard about being on time?” Reggie was flawed, but was punctual.

“I will be there as soon as I can be there. The quicker we end this phone call, the quicker I can head back to Riverdale.” It wasn't as if you were on the other side of the state, you were just visiting your grandparents in Greendale. Of course, you had told Reggie that you would be back by five o'clock on Sunday and it was already ten to seven and you were still in the spare bedroom of your grandparents petite bungalow that they had lived in for the last decade. “I will make it up to you.”

“Don't bother.” Reggie scoffed. You could hear the sound of something being kicked through the phone, his feet hastily shoving at the gravel under his feet in the parking lot of Pop's where you had said you would meet up for dinner after spending the entire weekend apart. His response wasn't at all what you expected. Stunned, you stayed silent. “I'm going home.” He was embarrassed after waiting around the diner for over an hour, looking like a loner – one of Reggie's bigger fears. “Do you know how lucky you are to be with me? You don't act like it, [Y/N].”

Eyebrows raised, you shot up at the waist on the neatly made bed and shook your head. The arguments always went one of two ways with Reggie. He either began to tease you lightly, insinuating sexual innuendos in a cheeky manner, or he grew mean. Clearly, he was taking the latter route this time. It wasn't common that he chose that when it came to you. He usually reserved his cruel and unkind route for the likes of Betty Cooper or Jughead Jones,  but today was your unlucky day. You assumed there was a deeper issue going on, but since he was already worked up, you weren't interested in asking why he was making mountains out of molehills.

“If you're asking if I am glad we are together, the answer is 'yes'...” Cautiously, you chose your words. “If you're insinuating that doing me a favor by being with me then I'm sorry I don't understand...”

“Maybe, I am!” He wasn't thinking. Reggie was letting his anger take over his mouth. “You're not Josie or Cheryl, you know? What's so special about you outside of being my girlfriend, huh?” Reggie knew where to hurl his insults. Everyone had a weakness. When you two first started spending time together, you were outside of his circle. You weren't a cheerleader or a fancy family friend with endless money. If you hadn't been paired up for a history assignment, you weren't sure you two would have ever exchanged numbers or spent any time together.

“I don't know, Reggie!” It was your turn to snap at him and let your words snarl in an unflattering manner. He felt so free to be so vicious that you decided to not hold back either. “I will spend the whole drive back to Riverdale trying to come up with reasons I am good enough to be with motherfucking starboy Reginald Mantle,” He tried to interrupt you, a verbal eye roll ready in his throat, but you didn't let him get another word in. “but if I can come up with one reason to stay your girlfriend after this conversation, that will be a miracle.”

“Josie's been texting me all day. I can move on in a second.” It was a lie even if he felt he meant it in the moment. Truthfully, he just wanted you to sting like he had hunched over a booth at Pop's alone, checking his phone to see another excuse as to why you hadn't left yet, being nervous that it was too dark out to drive a route you didn't confidentially know.

“That's not nice, Reg.” Sighing, you felt the burn he cast over you. Your body deflated as you closed your eyes and imagined his hands all over the Pussycat. Everyone knew he found her attractive, but you always told yourself that they were just friends and he was human. You found other people good looking, too. “I am going to leave now. I'll make it up to you.”

“Whatever. I don't care.” Before you could say 'goodbye' or apologize again, he had hung up, leaving you to run your fingers down your hair from the front and search your grandparents place for the keys to your car.

* * * * * * * *

Reggie wasn't exactly surprised to fall asleep without a text from you saying that you were home. He couldn't even say that he was that bothered when he didn't wake up to any message from you at all, though he had privately hoped for a sexy photo of you tucked into your double bed as some kind of attempt at an apology for not showing up for your Sunday date. It occurred to him since he had calmed down after a late night work out that he probably owed you an apology as well. He had said things that were uncalled for, being mean for the sake of being mean. Archie Andrews was right, even if he would  never admit it, Reggie was a hothead and it was probably his worst trait. He typed out the five letter word only to delete it quickly. For the way he spoke to you and the way he taunted to cheat with Josie, Reggie knew you deserved a face to face apology, a grander gesture than an easy text that he didn't even have to leave his comfortable bed to send. He let Vader lick his face over and over before throwing off the covers and heading to his kitchen breakfast, trying to come up with a way to apologize to you before first period.

On the way to school, he made a stop at the bakery and grabbed a vanilla cupcake with strawberry icing. As much as he planned to steal a fingertip of the sugary topping for himself, he figured that an apology partnered with a sweet treat would increase his chances at forgiveness. Reggie slid the small brown box onto the top shelf of his locker and looked to his left to see if you were coming down the hallway. Even if you were still livid with him, you would have to pass by him in order to get to your own locker and that gave him ample opportunity to pull you in and woo you with his smoulder and pout combination.

Instead of being greeted by your glossed lips and sleepy eyes, Reggie's view was blocked by his best friend's chest. Moose had turned the corner sharply and leaned into the locker beside Reggie's, Midge sliding between them while playing with the ends of her short hair.

“Hey, I can't talk. I got to see [Y/N] before class.” Reggie grumbled. He was annoyed at himself more than anything. He was the one who created the mess he was currently in.

“You think you'll make it there and back in seven minutes?” Midge asked after checking her phone that she had tucked into the pocket of her tight leather jacket.

Reggie only tightened his brows over his eyes, unsure of what Moose's girlfriend meant. Your locker was only a grand total of sixteen steps away from his. It was just the other end of the hallway. He was a star football player. He could run yards in seconds.

“I thought you'd skip this morning. Is [Y/N] fine?” Moose continued, earning his own perplexed stare from Reggie. While Reggie had a habit of running his mouth when he was fired up, he had no recollection of mentioning his fight with you to Moose. He hadn't texted anyone after the argument. He just worked out until sweat was pouring from his chiseled chin and then watched TV in bed with his dog until he fell asleep.

“Probably. She never stays mad at me.” Reggie shrugged and reached up onto the top shelf again, taking the cupcake box out with one hand. He made sure not to accidentally crush it with his grip.

“Did Ethel not tell you?” Midge had heard the news from Veronica who had only heard from Ethel because she was standing behind Betty when she was being told. Ethel Muggs had been your neighbor since pre-school which made you close friends by proxy.

“Tell me what? [Y/N] wants to break up? I was a dick last night, I'm going to apologize - “

“No.” Midge cut him off, eyes wide while Moose rubbed his head behind her. They both knew to brace themselves for Hurricane Reginald. “She got into an accident in Greendale last night.”

His face was pale. A shade of white that Midge had only seen in feathers from the fancy pillows in hotel rooms. Reggie always had a healthy glow from working out, expensive moisturizer, or his greedy glass of orange juice every morning. His eyes widened on Moose's chest and the cupcake box fell between his Nike shoes.

“We just...thought...you knew....” Not sure what else to say, Moose murmured to fill the stiff silence that was holding Reggie still.

The bell rang signalling that class was to begin in minutes, that everyone should start heading to their respective seats, but like a gun shot warned a wild animal to run, Reg slammed his locker and raced down the hallway, past your locker, jumping over the small staircase, and flying out the door. It wasn't until he was fumbling with his keys in his shaking hands that he realized he didn't know where he was going. He had to run back inside and figure out what class Ethel was in first so he could ask her where to go to find you. Were you at the hospital in Riverdale? Were you at home resting? Were you dead on the road in Greendale? Reggie was spinning and he concentrated on looking in every door window on the first floor of the high school for Ethel in order to not throw up his nerves all over his black sweatshirt and new jeans. This was his fault. He knew he shouldn't have pressured you to come home when he knew you were scared to drive on the highway at night. He kept hearing his own voice, mocking him, reminding him how the last thing he said was that he didn't care. Now he knew for certain what everyone else figured to be true, he did care. He cared so much.