#your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen

[teyvathandymenclub]

Genshin Men on the Dancefloor

Story: You have been begging him to go clubbing with you for ages. Even though it was not the usual way for you to spend your free time, it was an exciting idea to change scenery and see him dancing. Hopefully.

Characters: Wriothesley, Childe/Tartaglia

TW: When I am in a good mood I write stuff like this. Sorry in advance. Just fun.

Wriothesley

"I am going to stay here and watch you." Wriothesley resisted your tug towards the dancefloor while pointing at the bar.

"No, you promised. And promises are meant to be what?"

"Fine." He rolled his eyes while smiling. "Can I have at least one drink?"

"Sure!" You grinned knowing deep down that he would enjoy it.

After a short while of chatting at the bar with your drinks, it was finally time.

"Let´s go!" You jumped down from your high seat when you swallowed the last drops of your beverage.

"Why are you so eager?" He laughed as you made your way through the crowd.

"I have never seen you dancing!" You shouted in the loud space. 

The music was perfect so you started dancing the moment you hit the dance floor.

Wriothesley's moves were careful, shy. His tempo was out of beat as he was stuck to your body using you almost like a shield. But after a few songs, his confidence rose and suddenly the dancefloor was all his. Everyone was eyeing this big guy throwing hands, shaking his hips like it was his last night on Earth.

“Can we go back?” Wriothesley asked you the moment you left the building.

“Now? No!” You squealed. “Next week? Please? I do not feel my feet anymore.”

“Ok, no problem. But I feel like staying there until morning.” He smiled, wrapping you into his jacket.

“I know.” You frowned. “What have I done…”

Childe

He was the one that invited you to go out dancing. There is nothing that you would not experience with him, but dancing? No matter how hard you thought about it, you could not recall seeing him dance. 

Childe always knew how to party. The whole night was filled with laughter. All that running around the city made you feel like a teenager again, leaving all your problems behind. After settling at your final destination, you have something to drink and cuddle in the dark corner of the bar. Until…

“That is my favorite song!” Childe jumped up. “Come on!”

He dragged you onto the dancefloor and immediately got into the groove of the late-night dancing. You could not believe your eyes. The man you have known for years, who shared every dark secret with you was hiding dance moves like these?

“Who are you?!” You laughed.

“The best you have ever had!” He shouted back and kissed you while moving like a dancing queen.

After a few songs, he suddenly bumped into you.

“Ouch! Keep that pointy elbow away from me.” You frowned as the light pain went through your body.

“Sorry girlie, I will take care of you after I deal with this…”

But before he could finish the sentence he got punched right in the face.

“Hey!” You shouted at a stranger who hit your boyfriend.

“That is ok, leave him for me.” Childe smiled with a swollen half of his face.

You were almost used to these kinds of situations so you left the dancefloor and sat by the bar. Everyone was gathered around the dancefloor as you had your drink patiently waiting for your man to finish his games.

After a moment someone placed a hand on your lower back.

“All done.” Childe smiled at you.

When you found yourself on the empty street, you finally asked him.

“What has he done?”

“He bumped into me. Ruined my whole choreography.” He shook his head. “Idiot.”

“Oh. What a horrible human being.” You frowned.

“Him? Yes. Or me???!!”

“Let's just go home.” You rolled your eyes.

“You are so done with me.” He laughed. “But you love me. Right?”

You chuckled as you handed him a tissue for his bleeding eyebrow.

[roxy206]

This Drag Race episode is a love letter to Sasha Colby & what better way to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility 🏳️‍⚧️

[blushing-badger]

I just think Shang Tsung would be so happy on RuPaul's...

[greetingsfromuranus]

See aged up ed edd n eddy fanart is the best, because it has so many possibilities compared to other shows, like you can really just make them whatever genre of adult human you're most familiar with and it always works! You can basically do whatever the hell you want with them it's kinda incredible

[asmoteeth]

Got back on watching Rescue Bots and felt the urge to draw human Blades

Can't exactly say I fell in love with any humanization of him so far so I wanted to make my own: he has his air rescuer uniform on, he has eyebags from watching so much TV and white hairs from chronic anxiety along the common stress from his job. He's a silly man <3

[godofsmallthings]

i would truly like to thank my brain for latching onto miss katya because it has inspired so many more familial convos and interest than taylor ever has. and i think that's beautiful (not to pit two successful women against each other but)

[notadamnmermaid]

Not me watching Dungeons and Drag Queens: Coming soon, RuPaul’s Dungeon Crawl, where sixteen fierce and fabulous adventurers compete to see who will become the realm’s best hero! Who will absolutely slay whatever challenges they face? And who will be left gagging in the darkness?

[noyoucannotpushthevoid]

What DnD Class would the Members of the Scooby Gang fall Into

A follow up to my last post This ended up being so much longer than I initially anticipated lol

Fred Jones: Artificer An extremely underrated class in my opinion. Also, not the one that I think most people think of for a leader. But also, all of his traps. All of his ingenuity working with only the things he has around him to catch the bad guy. I don't really know anything about any of the artificer subclasses besides Battle Smith, which looking at a brief overview of the other options is probably the one I'd give him. He's always more likely to build a trap then just confront and fight the bad guy. Leading into how though Battle Smith is good in a fight, it also can be played as a heavily defensive character. Armorer is just a tad too defensive for Fred as far as I'm concerned. He needs to also have that little confrontational, not totally support edge. Being able to play into both defense and offense is also great for a leader. Plus, he fucking loves his car, like one might love their steel defender that can look like anything the artificer chooses (to be blunt, the mystery machine is a built-in steel defender, right there)

Daphne Blake: Multiclass in Monk and Rogue* For monk, it's canon that Daphne knows martial arts and is decent in a physical confrontation. Not to mention I swear she's used an improvised weapon before, which just screams monk. If my memory serves, she's level-headed and always prepared (even if that preparedness fails a lot of the time. That being said, being prepared and actually on top of using those things are very different. Take it from someone who learned that the moderately hard way (no one died, only one person got kidnapped, everything could've gone a lot worse. So, I count the years of learning as a net positive :))). I will die on the hill that she somehow stole Mary Poppins' bag, a Bag of Holding no doubt. Speaking of stealing, she evidentially multiclassed as a rogue. Again, just her general preparedness. In addition to her being well connected. She sure as shit has the noble background. And what are rich nobles? Corrupt as fuck! It might all just be white collar crimes that they can bribe their way out of, but it's still crime <3**. What else is crime? Anything a rogue is involved in. She's not the most conventional rogue, but she is charming and can be quite good at a makeover or a little deceit***. She could be a bard in this sense, but she lacks the camp to truly fit, in my opinion. She's just not hamming it up enough. Also, not the most musical. I'm sure she's been shown to play, but she gives me 'only learned an instrument because her parents/school told her to'. Therefore, rogue. Apparently, I have a lot more thoughts about Daphne than Fred lol. Funny when you consider the types of characters I like to/end up playing...i.e. himbos. Or himbo adjacent. Regardless, this isn't about that, this is about what subclasses Daphne would take. For Monk, Way of the Open Hand. It's classic and simple, but it feels fitting as the others seem too flashy or too secretive. Daphne, for a rogue multiclass, feels very straightforward. She's not going to dance around you and use a lot of deception in a fight. If you go head on with her it'll be face to face. On the rogue side, the assassin subclass. Again, it's not so flashy like the swashbuckler or so secretive like the phantom, it's a very straightforward and no-nonsense subclass. It gets the job done. And Daphne doesn't really fuck around if I remember right. Her head may be a bit in the clouds, but once she puts so focus in... (I'm second guessing all of this. But that might just be the caffeine)

Velma Dinkley: Wizard If you thought I was going to say anything else, no. I love her, don't get me wrong. But she's a squishy little nerd, better suited for the research and behind the scenes kind of stuff. This feels just so self-explanatory that I don't know what else to say. As for her subclass, the School of Divination seems to fit perfectly with how she sums up each episode and each mystery with a play-by-play of everything. Her reasoning is always spot on. Again, it's very simple, but the role seems to have been made perfectly for her.

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers****: Barbarian Hear me out, he's mostly a coward who runs away. But he has his moments of bravery that remind me of the temporary rages that barbarians can go into. He's an odd barbarian, sure, but think of Gorgug from Dimension 20. He too was a very non-barbarian character playing a barbarian. Shaggy could never maintain his bravery and confidence, but he doesn't need to. As long as he becomes that way when it's needed most, he's golden. Whether a bribe was involved or not. Subclass-wise, one might think Path of the Beast or Path of the Totem Warrior because of Scooby, But no. We'll get to Scooby later. Shaggy, to go with his unpredictability when he actually illustrates some presence of a spine, he gives me Path of Wild Magic vibes. One truly doesn't know what will happen or when his courage will fail him.

Scoobert Doobert: Druid It's just there, in front of our faces, a druid who's always in beast form. As well as he has a protective streak. I don't think that's specific to druids, but it doesn't contribute to him playing a class that, at least the way I've played it***** and seen it played, leans away from fighting and towards support. Am I just stereotyping him cause he's a literal talking dog? Yes. His subclass is Circle of the Shepard. It's also a subclass that leans heavily into being support, but not a healer. Scooby has also been seen in some episodes calling upon new friends and allies to fuck up the bad guy. Not to mention but he can rely on fucking Scrappy Doo if he needs to (that little punk is just a straight Fighter and I don't take constructive criticism). His relationship with Scrappy Doo also leans into his protective streak, where while he can rely on Scrappy, he won't out of the urge to protect his nephew. Like a herd dog. This is such loose reasoning, regardless it is what it is.

*I'm up in the air about which one she started as, though honestly leaning towards rogue **This whole tangent makes me feel the same way I did when I read a review of 'Before the Devil Breaks You' by Libba Bray and the reviewer wrote something to the tune of: I didn't expect the series to get so political. The author didn't need to shoehorn in her beliefs. As if it's not a well-researched historical fiction book that dealt with eugenics and abuse and anarchy from the first book...but I also probably shouldn't judge as this reviewer and I were evidentially reading the series with two different perspectives and focuses. Politics doesn't need to be in everything, but it certainly is in, what I'd argue as, the majority of things whether we like it or not ***Honestly, all the girly girl stereotypes in media definitely give at least rogue multiclass. I only partially can decern why ****My beloved *****Please understand I've only ever played it once...in a pathfinder campaign...two sessions of a pathfinder campaign...I am about as far as an expert on the class as one can be while still having played it. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt. Pathfinder druids have a lot of healing and support abilities, that's what I know Oh, and the main villain of a campaign I dm'd was a knock off Circle of Spores Druid (I didn't have access to that content on dndbeyond and was in a time rush or something because I didn't just make him like I do every other character i.e. not on dndbeyond. I just use the site as reference)

[pythonscrypt]

is jordan captainsparklez the sasha colby of minecraft youtubers. or is that ethoslab

[rindecisions]

Stranger Tales: Part 6 A poll based Stranger Things fanfiction

Read all of it on AO3

Don't forget to follow for updates! 🤍And reblog for more votes pls 🤍

Eddie groaned and downed the last of his Coke. Gareth knew Eddie well enough to see that he was actually considering it. “Eddie, don’t tell me yo-” He paused when Eddie held up a hand.

“Fine, but on three conditions.” Eddie rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Name ‘em,” Velvet said eagerly.

“One,” Eddie held up his index finger. “I get to choose my own routine. My own song, my own moves.”

“Easy, saves us the trouble.”

“Two,” he added his middle finger. “We get a weekend slot sometime this summer.”

Velvet thought for a minute. “I think I can fit you in next month.”

The other band members quietly cheered.

“Three,” he added his ring finger. “And this one is the deal breaker. I get to drink actual alcohol that night because lord knows I’ll need it.”

Velvet winced. “Eddie, honey, you know I can’t.”

“No booze, no babe.”

She groaned and clenched her face. “Fine. But no one can know, and you drink them in the back.”

Eddie beamed and held out his hand. “Then we have a deal.”

Velvet smiled and sighed, shaking his hand. “You better light up that fucking stage if I’m risking this bar’s license on you.”

“I won’t disappoint.”

She laughed and patted him on the back. “I know you won’t. Come by on Friday and we’ll figure out your look and make sure your routine is appropriate.”

“I’ll be there.”

She nodded and walked off to introduce the next performer.

“You can’t be serious, Eddie,” Gareth said in shock.

“Got us a weekend slot, didn’t I?”

Gareth groaned. “Yeah, you did.”

“Plus, no one will recognize me. It’s not like I’ll be messing with the band’s image or anything.”

“Let’s hope no one recognizes you,” Jeff complained.

“What’s the worst that could happen? There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

The others groaned in uncertainty.

“Now just to figure out a stage name and what song to use. I have some ideas, but I need to go through my music, and I may need to borrow your guitar, Jeff.”

“Why would you need mine?” Jeff defended.

“Mine’s too recognizable. If not, I guess it wouldn’t be a problem. It’d look a hell of a lot better, but it would obviously be me.”

“I’ll have to think about it, man.”

Bonus: What would Eddie's stage name be? (Tag it)

[petrovna-zamo]

Ngl I’m genuinely worried about this

[roxy206]

RuPaul’s Drag Race video

Sasha: And all these protests about protesting the drag story time

Mistress: Yeah

Sasha: Cuz at Mary’s what it’s like all ages, kids come & everything?

Mistress: Yeah. I have like at my home bar we have it all the time. It is family friendly & of course we have restrictions in place where like they can’t come to the Saturday night shows where it gets a little rowdier. I think they just have crazy like thoughts on what drag is. I don’t know. It — it’s very scary at times

Sasha: The state of the world that we live in, it’s so wild that now they want to outlaw drag & they now feel entitled to hurt you. It’s such a hard place to be, because you really want to be yourself & you really wanna celebrate who you are, but sometimes you have to be forced to be like quiet for pure safety

Loosey: I’ve done a couple & I will say the thing that you have to deal with is that there’s always a lot of community backlash. The whole thing is, “We don’t want our kids exposed to this because drag queens are gonna be like a bad influence on them.” But then you have people protesting at drag queen story hours & being extremely violent, but someone dressed as a princess telling a story about a mermaid is offensive to them

People in the LGBT+ community are constantly being targeted with hate to divert from bigger issues. What they want everyone to focus on is, “There’s drag queens reading to our kids.”

Anetra: It kind of feels like we’re getting somewhere, but at the same time it’s like, we still shouldn’t be having like problems about drag queens reading a story to kids

Luxx: Exactorini

I think that queer people just going out into the world and showing resilience and just saying, “We can’t be fucked with the way y’all think we can,” it’s like that’s going to be the driving force for change. Not me in my politician era

Sasha: The conservatives always think that we’re trying to push our agenda on them when they’re the ones pushing their agendas on us

Anetra: Definitely

Sasha: They’re like, “Oh you’re grooming our children to be gay” when that’s your technique!

Loosey: Like it’s so, so hypocritical. How many times have you seen someone ask a toddler, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Mistress: Okay

Luxx: Or it’s like they’ll have their kids wearing “Ladies’ Man” tshirts

Salina: I remember my mom gave me a wallet when I was like twelve and in it had pictures of Hillary Duff & she was like, “Isn’t she so pretty? That’s your girlfriend, right?” And I’m like, right. Girl, no. Where’s Zac Efron, okay? Boots

Anetra: People don’t realize what they’re doing to their own children by doing that. They’re like putting them in a box already

[golden-heart-beats]

Best part of discovering new headmates is dragging them to front so they can watch rupaul

[shotmrmiller]

i need to get it out before i combust because i can't stop thinking about pornstar!ghost having a casual convo with one of his old co-stars from back in his prime.

like one he made plenty of videos with, and she's just-

a ten outta ten.

or that's how you see her, anyway. There's no competition between you two.

Ghost is king, she is queen and you're a chamber maid at best.

and in the company, you're not called by your stage name. No, you're 'Ghost's girl.'

'The one that got fucked by Ghost.'

Nameless, even with the porn video that's sat in the most viewed for months.

Watching them interact, the chemistry is there. It's so natural, effortless.

She's his equal.

Then you're pulled out of your self deprecating thoughts by Johnny, your favorite scot co-star, who picks you up from behind and gives you a spin.

"There's my bonnie! I've missed ye."

He doesn't put you down either, just walks away with you in his arms, rambling about his day and asking you how yours has been.

You miss the way Ghost had turned his head and watched you get dragged away.

You miss the way his brow sets, the corners of his mouth pull down, the way his stare turns icy, thinly veiled envy swirling in their depths.

[rindecision]

11 Hours left!

[kiss-inthekitchen]

no vacancy | spencer reid

pairing: spencer reid x reader

set sometime in early s2; you get stuck sharing a room with your favorite boy genius who absolutely cannot know that you have feelings for him. and also, there’s only one bed. fluff, f!reader (i think there's only two usages of gender markers)

word count: 4.7k

notes: this is a rework of a very old fic i used to have up on ao3. i'm thinking i'll do more of these, i've got a few spencer fics in the vault and it was fun to rework this and see how my style has changed :)

You shivered against the cold desert air. Twirling a keyring around your finger, you headed for the door marked 3. You were exhausted from the day and so, so ready to collapse into bed as soon as you got inside your room. 

You turned the key in the lock while Spencer waited behind you. It was late, and you and the team had pulled into a motel for the night, having been dragged out to a tiny rural town by the unsub after days of tracking him through surrounding areas. He’d been apprehended, finally, and handed over to local police around midnight. You all had decided it best to spend the night before driving back into town in the morning for take off. 

So here you were, at one of those single story motels that still used actual keys instead of key cards. Given the time of night, you knew vacancies would be scarce, so you’d already expected to have to double up on rooms. Gideon had stayed behind at Quantico, leaving Hotch and Morgan in one room and JJ and Prentiss in another, with you and Spencer sharing the last room. You’d hung back while JJ got everything figured out with the concierge (who was just a bored looking kid posted at the desk), and then she’d passed you your key with its little keyring attachment listing the room number and you all bade each other goodnight.

You’d been on the team nearly a year already, but you were still the rookie compared to everyone else. Even Spence had two years on you. But seeing as you two were the youngest, and the least inclined toward the more physical parts of your job– the chasing, tackling, firing your weapon parts– you were paired off with him more often than not. 

You weren’t complaining. You’d come to know Spencer pretty well, and you didn’t feel much apprehension at the thought of sharing a room with him for one night. 

That is, until you opened the door. 

“Oh,” you said involuntarily.  

"There's only one bed,” Spencer said. 

“Sure looks that way.” 

"At least it's a queen?" 

There was a brief pause before you both started speaking at the same time. 

"Maybe we can go back to the concierge–" Spencer began. 

"I mean, I guess I don't really–" 

"–although, JJ did say we got the last–" 

"–mind as long as you–" 

You cut yourself off this time. It’s not like there was another good option, unless one of you wanted to sleep in the car. "This is fine?" it came out as a question rather than a statement. 

"I think so? I wouldn't want to– to make you uncomfortable or anything."

"This is fine," you repeated, more sure of yourself this time. “And you don’t make me uncomfortable.”  

It was only kind of a lie. You trusted Spencer with your life, of course. But he also made you nervous. He was sweet, kind, always seeming genuinely interested in anything you had to say. And of course, anyone could see that he was attractive. You were developing feelings for him, and in a job where your coworkers and your crush himself were all adept at reading people, it really wasn’t a good position for you to be in. You just hoped Spencer was as oblivious with women as Derek made him out to be. 

"We should get out of the doorway," Spencer suggested, and you realized you'd been standing in the threshold this whole time.

"Right."

The two of you walked in, Spencer closing and locking the door behind you. It was a modest room in a tiny town; your standard ugly-patterned, faded bedspread draped over the queen bed in the center, a window looking out into the parking lot, and a dresser that didn’t even have a TV on top of it. You headed straight for the bed, sitting on the edge and removing your shoes while Spencer stood by with his hands in his pockets.

"You know, if it's a problem I can sleep on the cou– uh, the chair," Spencer offered, looking back mid-sentence and realizing that the only additional furniture this motel offered was one rigid looking armchair by the window. 

"No, you're not doing that."

"What?" he asked, taken aback by the quickness of your response.

"You're not sleeping in that chair. It looks horribly uncomfortable and I’m sure it’s never been cleaned, and I know how you’d feel about that.” 

Spencer grimaced, not having thought about that particular detail. “Yeah, but, I mean… I’d do it for you.” 

God, why did he have to say stuff like that? Like you were something special. And why now, when you were stuck in the same room with him until morning? It probably didn’t even mean the same thing to him as it meant to you. He was one of the most caring people you’d ever met. He’d probably say that to any one of you on the team. 

Or maybe sleeping in a chair meant nothing to him at all. Maybe he actually didn’t want to share the bed with you and that’s why he was trying so hard to avoid it. 

Ugh. You just wanted this day to be over. It was late, the case had been a week long, and now you were probably in for a fun night of overthinking and second guessing when you’d been expecting silence and easy, dreamless sleep. 

Okay, maybe that last part was never really an option, but still. 

“Look,” you sighed, “I know this isn't an ideal situation but there's a perfectly good bed here, so let’s just share it. If you’re okay with that. It's just one night and tomorrow we'll be back home and nobody has to know about it."

You had to fight from squeezing your eyes shut in regret. You wished that had come out differently. You chanced a look at Spencer, realizing that you’d been staring down at the faded carpet pattern while you spoke. 

The look on his face was one you hadn’t seen before, and you almost couldn't place it. He seemed sort of disappointed. Disappointed that he had to share a bed with you? Or that you'd made it sound like you didn't want to share a bed with him? Nope, you could not go down that road tonight. You shook your head once as if it would clear the thoughts from your tired mind. 

“I’m okay with that," he said, casually enough that you could almost convince yourself that you’d just imagined the look on his face before. "So, do you want the shower first, or...?" Spencer asked.

"No, I can wait, you go ahead," you said. You desperately needed the moment to yourself anyway.  

You started rifling through your bag for pajamas, toiletries, and your charger as an excuse to look busy while Spencer made his way into the bathroom with his things. As soon as the door closed behind him, you flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as if it might hold all the answers. 

Spencer couldn't know about your feelings. For one thing, you were pretty sure there was a rule against dating your colleagues in the BAU. If not, there probably should be. You were such a close knit team, and if anything went wrong… you couldn’t imagine how difficult that would be. But then, the evil and uncooperative part of you also couldn’t help but think that things might go right. 

From the beginning of your time at the BAU, you’d been drawn to Spencer. It just kind of made sense. You’d gotten through school at an accelerated pace– though not as quickly as him, the man was on another fucking level when it came to academics– and you were one of the only people who found his fact dropping actually interesting, often asking him follow up questions. He’d looked adorably shocked the first few times you’d done that. 

He listened intently to your passionate rants about your favorite films and tv shows, even though he hadn’t seen any of them. When the two of you had discovered a shared interest in mythology and folklore, Hotch nearly had to separate you so you would actually get some work done. It was like you were a kid in school again, and you might’ve been embarrassed if you didn’t find it so funny, if you weren’t so giddy at the idea of a friendship that could make you feel like a kid again. 

Spencer understood you in a way that other people didn’t, laughing at your jokes even when they didn’t land for anybody else. When people interrupted or spoke over you, he always paid attention, and in situations where you were trying to add details to the profile he’d bring the conversation back around to you. 

Throughout your life you’d learned– through painstaking trial and error– to fit in pretty well in most any group you found yourself in, but you’d always considered yourself to be a little weird. A little too different. But when you were with Spencer, you felt like you didn’t have to try so hard. You could both be a little different, together. 

Spencer opened the bathroom door then, startling you. You’d been so lost in thought you hadn’t even noticed the water turn off. You looked over to see him wearing a loose white t-shirt and pajama pants, his hair still damp. And now you knew what Spencer looked like fresh out of a shower. And of course it was endearing as hell. 

“If that’s how you’re planning to sleep,” Spencer began, referencing how you were laid out in the dead center of the bed, your arms fully outstretched and hands hanging off the mattress, “then I think we might have a slight problem after all.”  

You walked out of the bathroom a short while later, dressed in your usual sleepwear of shorts and an oversized shirt. You’d put your hair up in a bun to protect it while you showered, and now it hung loose around your shoulders. You simultaneously wished your outfit was cuter and uglier; knowing your giant t-shirt wasn’t flattering your figure while also feeling like you had too much skin exposed. Not that it mattered. You were just going to get some sleep and then wake up in the morning and head home. Everything would be back to normal. 

Spencer’s in bed already. He’d turned off the big light while you were showering, the lamps on either side of the bed casting him in a softer, warmer glow. He looked up from his book to find you standing there, and the soft, familiar look in his big brown eyes had you rooted to the spot. 

“Hey,” he said softly, patting the space next to him in invitation. 

You conceded, finding your legs again and sliding into bed beside him. “Hey.” 

He fidgeted with the pages of his book, ultimately shutting it closed on his index finger to mark the page. “So, uh, are we okay?” 

“Yeah, of course,” you answered genuinely, feeling bad that your internal struggle had manifested in a way that worried him. 

“Okay, cool,” he said. He paused long enough to let you explain if you wanted to, another invitation. You knew he wouldn’t push it if you didn’t offer something up. You wanted to give him an explanation, but you couldn’t bring yourself to. 

“Sorry,” you managed. 

“For what?” 

“I don’t know… acting weird, I guess. It’s just been a long day.” 

“Oh, well, you don’t need to be sorry about that. You’re always weird.” 

Your mouth dropped open as you looked at him. “Look who’s fucking talking,” you scoffed. Some of the tension dropped from your shoulders, glad he hadn’t questioned you further. 

“Language, please,” he held up a hand to stop you. “I’m delicate.” 

“Wha–?” you let out a surprised little laugh. “You’re an idiot!” 

“Yeah okay, tell that to my I–.” 

“Oh, my IQ of 187,” you finished for him, rolling your eyes. Even that was full of endearment. “God, you are so annoying.” 

“Hm. Y’know, this might be a long night for you. I’d hate to keep you up with my annoyingness.” 

“I feel like you could’ve come up with a better word than annoyingness, Mr. 187,” you tilted your head where it rested against the headboard, looking up at him. 

“Oh, she’s being a smartass now!” he split into a surprised grin, and you could swear your heart skipped a beat. 

“You just said ass.” 

“Wow. How quickly you’ve corrupted me.” 

“Right, of course. It’s my fault.” 

“I knew you’d agree.” 

“Shut the fuck up,” you laughed. 

Things felt a little bit more normal after that, joking around with Spencer like you normally did made the rest of the night feel less daunting. 

Shortly after that, the two of you agreed that you should get some sleep, each reaching over to turn out the light on your respective sides of the bed. 

You let yourself sink into your pillow, the exhaustion you had been feeling giving way to a hyper awareness of Reid’s body next to you. You were kept awake, completely overcome by the foot of space between you and Spencer; the consequences of crossing that space, the way it might feel, the curiosity over whether he was laying awake too, thinking the same thoughts as you. Even with that foot of space separating you, you could feel his body heat. You longed to move closer to him, to touch him, to let his warmth seep into you and lull you to sleep. 

But you didn’t, and you wouldn’t, because this was just an unfortunate booking mishap. It didn’t mean anything. Tomorrow it would be over, and you could more easily go back to hiding your feelings from everyone else and yourself. 

Eventually, exhaustion won out. 

You woke what could’ve been a few minutes or a few hours later, the sky still dark. You couldn’t tell what exactly had woken you up, only the sense that you’d moved, almost like you’d fallen. But fallen from what? 

You blinked in the dark, the street lamps in the parking lot providing enough residual light to keep the room from being pitch black. 

Reid was sitting up. He must’ve bolted upright, you thought. Had that been what moved you? Were you lying on him?! 

“Hey, you okay?” 

“Sorry. Just a nightmare,” he said as if it was nothing. “Sorry to wake you.” 

“What was it about?” you ignored his apologies, sitting up as well. 

“I don't really even remember,” he breathed, almost like it was funny. “Just having a physiological reaction to whatever it was, I guess.” 

You had nightmares too, of course. You all did. You hated remembering them, but you also hated the times when you woke up in the dark, dazed and inexplicably scared. Without thinking, you reached for his hand. 

He turned to look at you then. “I really didn't mean to wake you,” he reiterated. 

“I figured,” you smiled slightly. You noticed his breathing was just a bit too fast. You rubbed your thumb over the back of his hand, leaning over to rest your weight against his side, your head on his shoulder. His nervous system would regulate itself quicker this way. 

“You were on my pillow, by the way.” 

“What?” you ask, your head jerking back from him. 

“I totally called it. You rolled right into the center of the bed in your sleep. Total bed hog.” 

“Hey!” you protested, pulling your hand back from his in embarrassment. So you had been lying on top of him. Or at least really close to him. His hand chased after yours, finding you again. 

“That wasn’t me complaining about it.” 

“Oh,” was all you could think to say back. 

It was quiet for a minute. You let your head fall back onto Spencer’s shoulder, but your heart raced in your chest. 

“Can I ask you something?” he questioned, his tone becoming more serious. 

“Oh– of course,” you answered, your brow creasing. 

“What did you mean when you said ‘it’s not ideal’ and ‘nobody has to know about it’?” 

“Wh– I– Spencer, come on.” 

He didn’t give you an out this time. Just waited for an answer. 

“I don’t even really know,” you sighed.  

“I believe you’re being partially truthful about that.” 

“Don’t profile me.” 

“I’m not. I just know you.” 

You sighed. “You know, sometimes I hate that stupid memory of yours.” 

“I don’t need an eidetic memory to remember that. It was a weird thing to say, and it happened like four hours ago.” 

“You’re guesstimating. And it wasn’t that weird.” 

“Maybe not, but the way you said it was. And you’re avoiding my question.” 

You continued to avoid it, biting down on your bottom lip. 

“And you stuttered when I brought it up.” 

“I told you to stop profiling me.” 

This time, he just hummed in response. 

“And so what if I stuttered?” 

“Stuttering is usually more my thing. A nervousness thing.” 

Maybe this was actually your nightmare. Maybe you’d wake up soon and none of this would’ve been real, and you wouldn’t have had to explain to Spencer that the reason you’d had an attitude was because the situation tonight had made it harder to hide your feelings for him. Big feelings that became a lot harder to ignore when he was this close to you, still holding your hand, the mix of scents from his detergent and deodorant clouding your judgment. Of all the embarrassing scenarios that you could’ve imagined playing out tonight, this was very high up on the list. 

“I said ‘it’s not ideal’ because it’s not, just by definition. We were supposed to get a double room and we didn’t. Not ideal. And I said no one has to find out because I can already see Morgan having a field day with it and I know the exact expression that’ll be on his face–” 

“The eyebrows,” he nodded, lips pursed. 

“And then everyone else will get in on it and I just figured…” you sighed. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to deal with that.” 

“That all makes total sense.” 

“Good,” you breathed. Too relieved. 

“Now tell me the rest of it.” 

“God, Spencer–” you huffed out, frustrated. He knew you too well. 

You wanted to run. Maybe you could go sleep in the car after all. And then ignore Spencer for the rest of the day, and then the year, and your life, and– 

“Don’t make me say it,” you breathed. This had to be a dream. 

“But there is something to be said?” he questioned, his tone hushed, almost reverent. 

It was just vague enough. You could pretend it was nothing. 

“Yes.” 

You felt like you’d just blown your life up with one word. 

Spencer took a deep breath, your body cresting and falling with the movement of it. 

“You make me feel better about being myself,” he confessed.  

You shut your eyes. You had a constricting feeling in your throat suddenly, and the awful realization that you might cry. 

He spoke again, because you couldn’t. “I haven’t always felt good about it, you know? And then you joined the team, and, well– you changed a lot of things for me. And you’re beautiful, obviously, and I was scared to mess up what we have, because it’s special, I think–” 

“It is.” 

“–and then you started freaking out when you saw the bed,” he was smiling now, you could hear it, “and I thought, maybe it wouldn’t be so crazy… maybe I could make you feel that way too.” 

“You do. Of course you do. I feel like I can be my full self with you. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt like that before.” 

Spencer laughed, a little delirious giggle, and squeezed your hand in his. You’d managed to avoid crying, thankfully, and you grinned along with him, looking down at your joined hands as you squeezed him back. 

Things seemed to still for a beat, the two of you sitting with this moment and letting it stretch out. You still couldn’t really believe this was happening. You might have to tell Spencer to pinch you. 

“So what does that mean for us now?” you asked. 

“Well, for right now at least, I think it just means that we can go back to sleep without overthinking things into oblivion.” 

“I was not–”

“Okay, this time I am profiling you, and you’re lying,” he cut you off, his smile still evident.  

“Oh, this was such a mistake.”

He continued like you hadn’t spoken, laughing a little as he went. “I could practically hear it. It’s like, you know when a computer is trying to use too much processing power and the fan starts whirring really loud? Like that but just like right next to me, like tangible—“  

“Okay! Thank you so much, I actually totally got it, you can stop now.” 

He laughed, and your cheeks warmed. 

“For the record, I meant we could both stop overthinking.” Then he shifted a little, facing you a bit more. With the hand that wasn’t holding yours, he brushed a strand of hair from your face, a fake pout on his lips. “Sorry I make you nervous.” 

You cackled at that, if it was possible to cackle in hushed tones. “Oh, I bet you are. Besides, I know you like me now, so you’ve lost that card.” 

“Are you certain of that?” 

“Certain that you like me or certain that you can’t make me nervous?” 

“The latter. I do like you, if that was unclear.” 

Your heart sped up, contradicting you as you answered, “Then I’m certain you can’t make me nervous.” 

He titled your face up to his then, using his index finger underneath your chin to make you look at him. “You’re an awful liar.” 

You just shrugged, watching triumphantly as Spencer’s gaze fell to your lips.“It’s been working out pretty well for me so far.” 

“I guess it has,” he murmured, closing the distance between you and finally kissing you. 

After so many months of imagining (and berating yourself for imagining) what Spencer’s lips might feel like on yours, you weren’t disappointed. 

For once you didn’t have to think at all, the chemistry between you and him drowning out everything else. His hand fell to your waist, and yours moved to the curve of his jaw, pulling him closer as his mouth moved against yours. Your teeth grazed his bottom lip and he gasped, and your skin felt like it was lit up from the inside. 

You pulled away to breathe, and to process, and to try and stop your head from swimming. You were rewarded with the awestruck look in Spencer’s eyes as he opened them again. 

“Okay, was it just me, or–” 

“That was crazy,” you breathed.

“Crazy,” he agreed. 

“Spence?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I don’t think we’re getting back to sleep tonight.” Your eyes widened at the implication of saying those words at that time. “Not, like, in the sex way, though,” you hurried to correct yourself. “I need like, 4-5 business days to process things first, and I– well, I just meant, like– you know?” 

Spencer was nodding at you even as his eyebrows pulled together in a frown. “Can I still kiss you during those 4-5 business days?” 

“Oh, yeah,” you said, sounding breathless. 

“Cool,” he agreed. “You seem really nervous, by the way.” 

“Well, you kissed me.” 

“I did.”  

“How were you not nervous?” you breathed. 

“Oh, I was. Your reaction is making me feel a whole lot better about it though.” 

You scoffed half-heartedly. “I do so much for you.” 

“You do,” he replied earnestly, letting go of your hand to wrap his arm around your shoulders as he pressed a kiss to your forehead. “We could lie back down, if you want. Like we were before I so rudely woke you up.” 

“Yeah, I’m super mad about that,” you joked. “Anyway, I was asleep for that, so you’ll have to show me what I was doing.” 

He seemed all too pleased to do so. “Okay, so you were basically like,” he leaned back against the pillows, pulling you down with him, moving his hand to the side of your head to guide you to the place where his shoulder met his chest, “Like that, and then your arm was over here,” he picked up your arm and guided it around his waist. 

“Oh god, that’s so embarrassing,” you said, realizing that he must’ve been awake when you’d done it. 

“Yeah, I know. Really terrible time for me.” 

“I can imagine. I can scoot back over to my side of the bed, just say the word.” 

“Don’t you dare,” he said, squeezing you closer. 

You trailed your fingers up and down his waist, feeling more content than you had in ages. 

“I can’t believe you’d suggest that I would have sex with you right after confessing my feelings. Like, take me to dinner first at least.” 

“Oh my god,” you half-exclaimed, half-laughed. You felt your cheeks heat up again, grateful it was still too dark in the room to be noticeable. “You’re right, I’m so sorry. How’s next Friday?” 

“Hmm, I don’t know. My work schedule is kind of unpredictable. I’ll have to get back to you.” 

“You’re such an ass.” 

A few short hours later, you were back on the jet with the rest of the team. You were lying on the couch while Spencer sat in a seat one row up and across from you, both to avoid suspicion and so you could try to catch up on sleep. He sat facing away from you, but with the angle you were at you could still see one side of his face if you tilted your head up. 

You were just beginning to fade when your phone buzzed next to you. 

Spencer: I have to tell you something, coworker to coworker. 

You looked up to see him blank faced, looking down at the book in his right hand, holding his phone in the left. 

You text back: okay? 

Spencer: My crush asked me out last night. 

You’re exceptionally glad no one was sitting close enough to see you. Spencer had caught you off guard, and you felt an infatuated grin spreading across your face. 

You: what did u say? 

Spencer: Wanted to get your opinion first. 

You: i think u should say yes, obviously. 

Spencer: Idk, I’m kinda nervous. I think she’s trying to jump me on the first date.

You just barely managed to refrain from laughing out loud. You looked up at Spencer again, and he’s looking at his phone as if it contained nothing more than a weather report. You’re astounded. 

You: one could argue that technically you’ve already slept together, so there’s less to be nervous abt

You saw his eyebrows raise just slightly. Success. 

Spencer: You’re trouble, you know that? See you Friday night

You: i promise i won’t try to jump you 

Spencer: Oh

Spencer: I fear I may have shot myself in the foot here

You: i wouldn’t worry about it too much

Spencer: That’s rich coming from you 

You rolled your eyes even though he couldn't see you. 

You: whatever. wear something sexy ;) 

You heard him blow air out of his nose, an almost laugh. 

“Something funny?” you heard Derek ask. 

Shit. 

“This book contains a historical inaccuracy that was proven incorrect eight years before its publishing date,” Spencer replied without missing a beat. 

Unbelievable.

You: you’re unhinged :*

Spencer: Go to sleep already, would you? 

You: coworker to coworker? my crush keeps interrupting my beauty sleep 

Spencer: He’s probably worried about the worldwide implications of you becoming any more beautiful 

You: i guess that’s why the universe gave you insomnia :( too pretty 

Spencer: Stop flirting with me

You: bc you’re too delicate?? 

Spencer: Yes 

You snapped your phone shut, feeling dazed. You watched the clouds go by in the window across from you, and you couldn’t help letting your gaze slide over to Spencer. He’d put his phone down as well, concentrating on his book. Or pretending to concentrate. He was turning the pages much too slowly for his actual pace. 

You: you have got to do a better job of fake reading than that

You heard a page turn. 

You looked up again to see the ghost of a smile threatening the corner of his mouth. 

This was going to be fun. And also, you were so screwed.