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justagalwhowrites · 4 months

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Wonderland

You and Joel get away for your first wedding anniversary.

A canon Lavender No Outbreak AU one shot inspired by a request for a fic based on the song "Your Body is a Wonderland." Can be read as a stand alone fic with the understanding that Joel and Reader have been together for years and are married with a daughter. You can find the original Lavender here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader from the Lavender No Outbreak AU (AKA Joel and Doc)

Length: 6.9k

Warnings: Smut :D! Oral sex; unprotected P in V sex; reader is described as being post-pregnancy and having a different body as a result but no broader description of her body beyond the fact that she has hair; age gap (reader is late 20s, Joel is late 30s.) No use of Y/N. Minors DNI, 18+ only.

January 2005

“Baby.”

Joel’s hand found the small of your back but you didn’t look back at him. You stayed focused on the child in your arms, on her brown eyes and dark curls and skin so soft all you wanted to do was nuzzle into her and breathe in her sweet, baby scent.

“It’s gonna be fine,” your husband pressed a kiss - gentle and slow - to your temple. “We’re only gonna be a few hours away…”

“I know,” you said softly. Evie made a breathy little baby sound and you smiled. Couldn’t help it.

“Tommy’s watched a baby before,” Joel continued as you swayed with your daughter. His hand shifted so it was below your shirt and on the bare skin of your lower back. “And Sarah will be here, too. And it’s just for two nights.”

“But she’s never been apart from me,” you said softly, tears pinching at the back of your throat as you brushed her hair away from her little forehead. “What if she’s afraid? She’s going to look for me, she always looks for me right when she wakes up and I won’t be here and what if she can’t calm down and she doesn’t keep food down when she isn’t calm and…”

“Hey,” he said, taking your chin delicately in his fingers and turned your head to face him. He smiled gently, his brown eyes soft and crinkling at the edges. “I promise, it’s gonna be OK. We can be back here real quick if something goes wrong and she’s with family. It’s OK.”

You looked back at your baby girl. She wasn’t even a year old yet, it seemed too soon to be going away for a weekend, no matter how much you really wanted to.

One of the downsides to getting married just a few months before having a baby was that you didn’t get much time to enjoy married life before it became all about the new life you’d brought into the world.

Of course, Sarah had always been top priority for both you and Joel but, since she was a teenager, you could rely on her to look out for herself some so the two of you could get quality time. Before Evie was born, you and Joel regularly went out just the two of you. You could leave Sarah at home with cash for a pizza or she’d go to sleep over at her friend Lizzie’s place and you and your husband could go and make out at the back of a movie theater like teenagers.

A baby was a whole other story.

You’d always loved children, loved spending time with them and seeing how they experienced everything, all of it brand new in their eyes. It was a joy to watch them discover themselves and the world and you adored hearing their thoughts as they puzzled through everything from basic societal rules to trying to figure out if there was a meaning to life. But you hadn’t been prepared for just how attached you’d be to your own child, who was both so much larger than she’d been when you’d given birth to her but still so impossibly small and fragile that even having her in another room made you anxious. It took months longer than it really should have for her to consistently sleep through the night because you kept checking on her, ensuring that she was still breathing and lying in the position that was supposed to be safest and that she didn’t seem bothered by dreams or colic.

Being a few hours away was terrifying.

But it was your first wedding anniversary with Joel and you really wanted it to be special. Wanted time just the two of you that you hadn’t had in the months since your daughter had been born. You missed being able to spend hours and hours with nothing in the world besides you and your husband.

You just needed space from the baby to get that.

So Joel had booked the hotel you went to for your wedding night the weekend of your anniversary and gotten Tommy to agree to stay at the house with Evie and Sarah for the two nights you’d be gone. You’d overheard him talking with his brother about it a month earlier, when Tommy was over for dinner and you’d gotten up to change Evie.

“I’ll leave good instructions but you can’t be callin’ all the time,” Joel was saying as you made it to the living room, Evie squirming in your arms. “She’s gonna be a nervous wreck, rather just stay here if…”

“Joel,” Tommy said, voice soothing. “I got your girls, it’s alright. Handled Sarah when she was that age, right?”

“You’re why I can’t do exponents,” Sarah said dryly. “Dropped me on my head a few too many times…”

“Someone needed to reel you in,” Tommy replied and you could hear the teasing wink in his voice. “Can’t have you being too smart now.”

“Mean it,” Joel said, tone serious. “Need you to actually do this…”

“Joel,” he replied. “I got her. It’s alright.”

It wasn’t that you didn’t trust Tommy. You did. You just didn’t know how to be this far away from your daughter, knowing how vulnerable she was and how much she needed you for everything.

But you needed time for you and your husband, too. You were so dangerously close to getting lost in your identity as a mother, already struggling to remember just what you were before Evie existed. You needed a weekend away. Some distance would be good, for the both of you.

“Come on, Mama,” Tommy smiled, holding his arms out. “Gimme that one and you two love birds get on the road. I promise if something goes wrong, I’ll call.”

“But you won’t need to,” Joel said, raising his eyebrows at his brother. “Right?”

“Course not,” Tommy waved him off. “We’re gonna have the best time, Uncle Tommy is going to be her favorite person, just you wait.”

You sighed and nodded, pressing your lips to Evie’s soft little forehead and breathing in her sweet baby smell before passing her off to Tommy’s waiting arms. He pulled her into his chest and smiled, wide and open mouthed, making a happy coo. She cooed back, reaching her tiny hands up toward his face.

“I know,” he said, voice high and childish. “I’m so much better lookin’ than your daddy! Yes I am! And so are you!”

“Be a good girl,” you said as Evie totally ignored you in favor of her uncle. “Love you so much, big sister will be home soon and…”

“Kid,” Tommy looked up from your daughter in his arms to meet your eyes. “I’ve got this. Go have fun.”

“Thanks again, Tommy,” Joel said.

“But…” you began but Joel just shook his head and looped an arm around your waist, tugging you to his side and guiding you to his waiting truck.

“You grabbed the bags?” You looked up at Joel and he smiled a little.

“Sure did.”

“And Tommy has the number for the hotel in case we don’t have signal?”

“The hotel and the restaurant we have reservations at tomorrow and even the diner next door with the good waffles since I figure we’ll end up there at least once.”

“And…”

“Baby,” he cut you off, opening the passenger door of the truck for you. “It’s going to be fine. There’s a stash of your favorite snacks in the truck and if you just get in the truck, we can go.”

You looked back at the house, biting your lower lip and twisting your fingers around on themselves.

“OK,” you said, climbing in the front seat. Joel smiled, leaning in to kiss you before jogging around to the driver’s side door.

The drive felt longer than it was, you seemingly hyper aware of every mile you were further away from your baby. But there was something invigorating about it, too. You had your husband all to yourself for the first time in almost a year. You’d had a few date nights, of course, and the two of you made a conscious effort to spend quality time together, even if it was just watching late night TV in Joel’s arms while Evie slept in her bassinet a few feet away.

But this? Two nights with no obligation to anyone but each other? It seemed like the purest form of indulgence.

“How we doin’ over there?” Joel asked about halfway into the drive.

“Good,” you smiled. “The snacks have helped.”

“I know my wife,” he smiled back. “Lookin’ forward to getting to know her a bit better the next few days…”

Your cheeks got hot as Joel’s hand found your knee, gently trailing his fingers over your inner thigh.

“Is there anything you want to do when we’re in Galveston?” You asked, suddenly feeling oddly self conscious. It had been so long since you’d last had this much time just you and Joel, what if things were different now?

“Mostly?” He asked, brow cockily raised. “Spend time with you where no one else can get to ya. If there’s something you want to do we can but if it’s up to me, we’re stayin’ in that room.”

“Joel!” You gaped at him, trying not to laugh.

“What?” He glanced over at you, smiling a little. “I’m selfish. Don’t wanna share the best thing that’s ever happened to me with anyone else on our anniversary.”

Joel pulled up to the hotel and parked under the overhang by the door, squeezing your knee as he turned off the truck.

“You stay put just a second.”

“OK,” you laughed, watching as he got out of the truck and jogged around the front of it to open the door for you, offering you his hand to help you down. You laughed again. “My my, so attentive.”

“Least I can do,” he winked, giving your fingers a squeeze as you got out of the truck.

He wouldn’t let you carry any bags besides your purse, either. When you tried to go with him to the front desk, he put a hand on your lower back and nodded to the lounge across the lobby.

“Why don’t you go there,” he said. “Get yourself one of those flowery cocktails you like so much.”

He steered you in that direction before you really had a chance to argue, so you went and took a seat at the bar and ordered a drink you’d never heard of but there was honey and lavender syrup in it so you figured it’d be good. You sat there sipping your cocktail, listening to the pianist in the corner and watching your husband in line at the check in counter, just admiring the shape of him. He was so tall and broad, his shoulders pulling a bit at his flannel shirt, and he was probably three weeks past when he usually liked having his hair trimmed but you’d been so busy with Evie’s first Christmas and everything that came after you hadn’t had a chance to cut it.

But you liked him a little on the shaggy side. You smiled a little at the thought of running your fingers through his curls while kissing him and feeling him deep inside of you.

The pianist changed to a new song and you fished your phone out of your bag, flipping it open and texting Sarah.

Made it! How’s it going?

Mercifully, Sarah responded quickly.

Good! Tommy hasn’t dropped her yet.

You laughed a little.

I’ll take it. She eating? How was school today?

Yup! Some baby food chicken and peaches. Tummy time now. And school was fine. All is OK Mom.

“In town for business or pleasure?”

You looked up from your phone and flipped it shut to find a man in khakis and a button down leaning against the bar next to you.

“Oh,” you almost jumped at his proximity as he looked you up and down. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he smiled. His hair was blond and his eyes were blue and he looked a little bit like a Ken doll. Definitely not your type. “Can’t remember the last time I saw someone as pretty as you drinking alone at a hotel bar.”

“Oh,” you said again. “Um…”

“So I think you must be in town on business,” the man continued as though you hadn’t said anything. You tried to peer around him to see where Joel was in line but he followed you, cutting off your view. “No way you’d be here by yourself otherwise.”

“Well, I’m here on vacation,” you said, fidgeting in your plush high top chair. “And my…”

“Must be here with friends then,” he smiled. “Girls’ weekend?”

“Well, no,” you laughed a little. “Actually…”

“I know you can’t be here with a boyfriend,” he said. “If you were my girl, I’d never let you out of my sight…”

“She’s here with her husband, actually,” Joel said from behind the man, who stood up straighter and turned, slowly, to find your husband at his back. Joel smiled. “Hi. Appreciate you keepin’ my wife company while I got us all checked in but, if you’ll excuse me, you’re in my way.”

“Sorry, man,” he shoved himself up off the bar. “Didn’t know she was spoken for.”

He trudged off to the other side of the lounge and you watched him go, making sure you didn’t audibly laugh until he was out of ear shot.

“Oh my God,” you half laughed, half whispered to Joel.

“I know,” he kissed your temple and laughed into your hair. “Leave you unattended for half a minute and got guys tryin’ to steal you out from under me.”

“No accounting for taste in hotel bars, apparently,” you teased, going to polish off your cocktail but Joel put one of his large hands on your arm.

“Take your time,” he said, taking the seat next to you. “Wouldn’t mind a beer after that drive. They’re gonna put the bags in the room, anyhow.”

“Oh,” you gasped in faux shock. “So fancy!”

“Only the fanciest for Mrs. Miller,” he kissed your cheek as you giggled.

The two of you had some drinks and you were pleasantly tipsy for the first time in almost two years, only a glass of wine here and there since Evie was born and you were nursing. She’d only weaned about a month ago but you’d been too busy to indulge. Joel put an arm around your waist and guided you to the elevator and you draped yourself over him, giddily kissing him as you held yourself against him.

“So,” he said between kisses. “Been thinkin’.”

“Have you now?” You smiled against his lips.

“There is something we could do to keep random men from tryin’ to pick you up the second you’re out of my sight,” he smiled back as the elevator dinged.

“Really?”

He turned you around and pointed you at the doors and kissed the side of your head before nudging you forward.

“Room 1023,” he said. “And yeah, think there’s somethin’ that’s pretty easy to arrange.”

“And what’s that?” You asked as he steered you down the hall toward the end of the building that faced the gulf. He pulled a room key card out of his pocket and swiped it at the door, opening it for you.

“Well,” he said, nudging you into the room. “Bet they’d leave you alone If you had ring.”

“I have my wedding band,” you frowned down at your hand and the simple white gold ring that matched Joel’s. “I like my wedding band.”

“I know,” he said, closing the door behind him. “But thought you could use something with a little shine.”

You made it all the way into the room and gasped, a bottle of champagne on ice, chocolate covered strawberries and a bouquet of roses waiting for you near the door leading to the balcony.

“Joel!” You gasped, your hands flying to cover your mouth. “What….”

You looked back over your shoulder to see him down on one knee, a little box open in his hand.

“Joel!” You yelped it this time.

“Never did ask you properly,” he smiled a little. “Figured I was overdue. Especially since you’ve given me the entire world, only fair that I get on my knees to ask you to do me the honor of continuing to be my wife for as long as we both shall live.”

“Of course I will!” You dropped to your knees next to him and kissed him, pressing yourself against him.

He more beamed than smiled against your lips and pulled the ring - a diamond-encrusted band with no center stone, the gems making an almost floral pattern all around your finger as he slid it into place.

“If you don’t like it, we can pick somethin’ else,” he said as you gaped at the ring. “Thought this was more your style and would be out of the way with the girls and then medical school…”

“It’s perfect,” you whispered, the stones reminding you of the flowering vines you painted on picture frames and table legs. You sat down fully in the floor and tore your eyes away from the ring to look at Joel. “But… I mean, can we afford this? I love it, I really really do, but…”

“I had some money set aside for it,” he sat down next to you. “Wasn’t joking when I said I should’ve asked you years ago. I’d been saving up for a ring for a bit but then…”

You looked back at your hand and just nodded, not wanting to think about the few weeks the two of you had broken up because Joel thought he was holding you back.

Then your eyes went wide, looking back at Joel.

“But I didn’t get you anything! We said the trip was our gift to ourselves and…”

He laughed.

“Didn’t want you stressin’ about it, Baby,” he said. “Now, why don’t we go get some dinner without worrying about the kids waiting for us at home?”

You got changed into a dress that had been a little big before Evie and now was a little snug and hoped that it didn’t look too noticeable once you put a cardigan over it. But Joel didn’t seem to mind, looking at you with warm, soft eyes as he sat across from you at the restaurant. He put his hand on the table, fingers reaching for you, and you put yours in his. He smiled bigger when you did and gave your hand a squeeze.

By the time you headed back to the room, you were having a hard time not ripping his clothes off in the elevator, his arms around you, holding you tight against his front as you kissed him deeply, his cock hardening against your stomach.

When you got to the room, you dropped your purse on the dresser and tugged off the cardigan before going to turn out the lights but Joel caught your wrist, running his thumb over your pulse point. You frowned.

“Joel…”

“Was thinkin’,” he said, tugging you close to him. “If you wanted to give me something…”

“I do,” you said, a little breathless as he trailed kisses over your forehead.

“You don’t have to,” he said, his lips still against your skin. “I don’t want to make you feel obligated or uncomfortable but…”

He trailed off, working his way down your jaw to your throat, your shoulder, until he lifted your wrist to his lips and kissed you there, too.

“I’d like it if we left the lights on.”

You frowned a little, looking up at him.

“Really?” You asked. “That… I don’t know…”

“Miss seeing you,” he said quietly, kissing your wrist again.

“It’s different now,” you said, chewing on your lower lip. “I don’t look how I used to look…”

Before becoming a mom, you’d never really been shy about your body with Joel. He made it very clear that he thought you were the most beautiful, most sexy woman on the planet. You might have questioned his judgement but you never doubted that he felt that way. But things were different after having a baby. There was just more of you now. You were hyper-aware of it, the fact that - even almost a year after giving birth - you weren’t anywhere near wearing your pre-pregnancy jeans and that, the more of you there was wasn’t exactly sculpted and smooth. You weren’t stupid, you saw the kind of woman who was on magazine covers and in movies, the kind of woman men liked. You’d never been further from that kind of woman than you had been in the last year.

The last time you remembered being naked in front of Joel where he could actually see you was just after Evie was born, when he helped you in the shower while you recovered. It wasn’t like you’d been trying to turn him on then and that had felt strange enough, your husband’s hands on a body you didn’t fully recognize as your own.

Ever since, you always put on a robe as soon as you were out of the shower. You’d stopped styling your hair and doing your makeup naked, even at the height of summer. And, while you and Joel had found a good groove with your sex life even with a baby at home, you always turned off the lights before you started undressing.

“I know,” he shrugged. “I don’t, either. Didn’t have quite this much of a belly when I first conned you into bed with me…”

You scoffed but smiled a little.

“I like your belly.”

“And I like your whole body,” he said, his hand going from your wrist to trace over your arm to the curve of your breast, down to your waist. “Love it, actually. Every damn inch of it.”

You crinkled your nose at that.

“But I have stretch marks,” you said. “And…”

“Baby,” he smiled gently. “You’re my wife. Most beautiful damn woman on Earth. I love lookin’ at you. Loved it when we first got together, love it now. Hell, if I had my way, all I’d do would be look at you and our girls.”

“Really?” You asked, brows raised. “Even right now?”

“Especially right now,” he nuzzled against you before kissing you gently. “I know you don’t look like you did when you were 21 but I fuckin’ love that. Your body got you through college and helped raise Sarah and grew our baby girl. I want nothing more than to be able to really look at you, especially while I’m inside you.”

“And that’s what you want for our anniversary?” You asked. “Just… me with the lights on?”

“More than anything.”

You took a deep, shaky breath.

“Well, let’s pop that champagne because I think I need some liquid courage,” you said. “But OK.”

Joel kissed you, gentle and deep, before opening the wine and pouring you each a glass.

“To the most amazing wife anyone could ask for,” he said, tipping his flute to you. You touched the edge of yours to his with a quiet clink.

“And to the most perfect husband.”

You drank two glasses of champagne and ate a strawberry before you put your glass down on the table and took a deep breath, standing in front of your husband and feeling almost like you did the first time you got undressed in front of him.

“Promise if I’m not what you want, it’s lights out?” You asked, stomach tight and heart pounding.

“Oh, Baby,” he gently brushed your hair back before cupping your cheek in his large hand. “There’s no world where you’re not what I want. You’re exactly what I want. Promise.”

You swallowed hard and nodded, holding his gaze as you reached for the zipper at the side of your dress, tugging it down slowly.

Joel’s hand traced down your throat to the strap of your dress, slipping it down your arm until it hung near your elbow. He did the same with the other side before delicately tilting your chin to kiss you. His lips were soft and gentle, not desperate for you so much as savoring you. You moaned into his mouth and his lips grew firmer against you as he nudged you back toward the bed. You shrugged out of the straps entirely, your dress only held up by the fact that you were pressed tightly against Joel. He pulled his lips from yours just enough that you could look in his eyes.

“I’ve got you, Baby,” he said softly. “Promise.”

***

Where the hell you’d gotten it in your head that he wouldn’t want to see you, Joel had no idea.

He couldn’t imagine something more ludicrous. All he wanted to do was look at you. If he could buy a ticket to sit and just look at you all day, he would.

But you hadn’t let him in months and fuck, he missed seeing your body.

It took Joel weeks to even figure out what was happening. Immediately after Evie was born, everything was exhausting and hectic. You needed rest, Evie needed constant care, Sarah needed to keep on top of her school work and extra curriculars, Joel could only take so much time off work. Sex hadn’t been on his mind at all, he only wanted to take care of his daughters and the woman who has given him everything he could ever need. He didn’t notice the small changes that happened alongside the huge ones.

But as the two of you started to come back into yourselves as individuals and a couple - instead of just Mom and Dad - Joel started to notice a difference.

You never got changed in the bedroom anymore. At least, not when Joel was there. You always went into the closet or the bathroom. The closest you’d come was tugging on your pants under your robe and putting on your shirt with your back to him. You always put at least one of his shirts on after sex, never sleeping naked in his arms anymore.

And then he started noticing that you always turned out the lights before sex.

You did such a good job of making it seem romantic or flirty, he was worried, for a moment, that it was because of him. If you weren’t really attracted to him anymore. But he caught you watching him with a hungry look in your eyes as he looked for a clean pair of boxers when he got out of the shower one day after work. Evie had been napping and Sarah was out with a friend and Joel practically pounced you.

“You just got all cleaned up!” You laughed as he kissed along your throat. “You’ll get all sweaty…”

“Sounds great to me,” he growled before nipping at your neck.

“Here,” you pulled back from him. “Got a better idea.”

You nudged him down onto his back and you took him into your mouth, licking and sucking him until he came down your throat with a desperate groan.

“See?” You panted, wiping your chin clean. “Better.”

While it certainly wasn’t bad, it definitely wasn’t better. Joel didn’t want to just get off. He wanted you. He wanted the rest of the world to fall away, to feel you everywhere, to watch you come apart while he was deep inside of you. You sucking him off was fun but it wasn’t what he craved, what he really needed.

Once he pieced it together, he wasn’t even sure how to bring it up. What was he supposed to do, look at you and go “Hey, Baby, I’ve noticed you haven’t let me gawk at you like some stupid fucking teenager lately. Think we can make that happen?”

He hadn’t even intended to bring it up this weekend. He’d kind of hoped that if he could make you feel special, that if he could give you some evidence of how much he adored you, you’d just… forget to turn off the lights one night.

But then he was a few beers deep and looking at you from across the table, your dress tight across your breasts and eyes all but glowing in the candlelight and he couldn’t help himself. He needed you. He needed you to overwhelm all his senses, he needed to be able to worship at the altar of your sex. He needed to see you.

But you looked so nervous - as though there was a snowball’s chance in hell that he’d look at you and not want you - it made his heart ache.

“I’ve got you, Baby. Promise.”

You just nodded and Joel took the sides of your dress and pulled back enough from you that it fell away from your breasts, the soft flesh pressed high in your strapless bra. He tugged the dress over your stomach and hips until it fluttered to the floor around your feet and you looked at him through your eyelashes, your breaths coming quick and shallow.

You were so much more beautiful than he remembered.

The swell of your breasts, the soft curve of your stomach, the plushness of your thighs. He wanted to touch and taste and sink into all of you, every inch.

“Oh, Baby,” he breathed, not able to take his eyes off you. “You are fucking gorgeous.”

“Really?” Your voice was quiet, doubtful. He managed to pull his gaze from your body to look in your eyes.

“Really,” he said. “Most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”

You still looked uncertain.

“Here,” he said, nudging you down onto the bed. “Let me show you.”

He unhooked your bra and delicately removed it before pressing gently on your shoulders so you were lying back. He unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt before he pulled it over his head and cast it aside. He desperately wanted to feel your skin, fabric was just going to be in the way. You watched as he crawled up the bed beside you, his hand skimming over the softness of your stomach to your chest. He cupped your breast, cradling the warm, plush weight in his large palm before he thumbed gently at your nipple, the flesh peaking and pebbling under his touch. You groaned and squirmed a little, your thighs pressing tight together as your eyes closed, face sharply focused and he smiled a little. Fuck, he’d missed this.

“Love how full you are here after nursing our baby,” he said, taking that firm little nipple in his mouth and sucking you gently as he held your breast, making your back arch. “So damn sexy, knowing I can make you feel good like this…”

He moved to the other side, giving you the same treatment there, too, looking up at your face as you whimpered and moaned beneath him.

After a while, he reluctantly moved down your body, trailing his lips over your breastbone to your stomach, his hands at your waist.

“Love how soft you are here,” he said. “Love that you’ve grown and changed with me and our family.”

He kissed slowly down your stomach, pausing at the top of your panties to tug them down, you lifting your hips from the bed to help. He dropped them to the floor and traced a finger over your glistening slit, making you gasp.

“Love how warm and wet you are for me,” he said, thumb circling your clit. “That it seems like you want me almost as much as I want you…”

“I do,” you were panting below him. “I want you, I want you so bad…”

“Good,” he said, leaning down and giving your slit a gentle, almost teasing lick. “Because I’m gonna make you come for me. Gonna make you feel so good, Baby. Gonna make you see just how much I want you.”

He sucked your clit into his mouth and you gasped, your back arching and your fingers knotting in the bedspread and he couldn’t help but smile against you as he looked over your body to how your head was pressing back into the mattress.

Joel released you and ran is nose over your slit, pressing between your lower lips to nestle against your clit as his tongue dipped ever so slightly into your dripping core.

“Joel,” you whimpered, trembling, body tense. “Fuck, Joel, I…”

He slipped his tongue into your tight, wet heat and you gasped, back arching as you ground your hips down against his face. He couldn’t take his eyes off you as he ate at your sweet, tight little pussy. One hand stretched up to your stomach, spreading wide over your impossibly soft skin, the other sinking into the flesh of your thigh to pull the supple warmth of you against his cheek.

Joel could feel you starting to tighten and tense around his tongue, your wetness dripping down his chin, and he was so fucking hard in his pants that he was rutting down against the bed. The taste of you, the heat, the musky sweet smell, the sight of you as you arched into him. He released your leg and thrust a finger into you alongside his tongue, pressing into the tender, deep parts of you he knew so well and you came with a choking little sob, your channel fluttering over him. He worked you through it, his touch easing as your orgasm did, until he slid himself from you as you lay, limp and gasping below him. He quickly removed his pants and underwear before kissing up your body, leaving a trail of your slick on your skin. When he reached your lips, he kissed you there, too, desperate and deep and you moaned into his mouth as his tongue slipped into yours.

“See?” He said softly as he gently traced your hairline at your forehead, your eyes wide and pupils blown. “You even taste fuckin’ amazing, Baby. Not a damn thing about you I’d change. Except maybe that you could see yourself how I see you.”

“Joel,” you whispered in that way you did when you were blissed out and couldn’t remember much outside of his name. He smiled a little and gently kissed your lips.

“It OK if I keep makin’ you feel good, Baby?” He asked, pressing slow, deep kisses to your cheeks and jaw between the words. “You have no idea how bad I need to be inside you.”

“Please,” you breathed. “I need you, I need you so bad…”

He slowly reached between your bodies and traced your sex, making you gasp, and dipped two fingers just inside your entrance, gathering your slick and bringing it to his cock. He spread his precome and your wetness over himself, moaning a little at the feel of both of you together on his skin.

“Here,” he said, pushing back from you so there was enough space between your bodies that you could look down and see where he was working his length. “Look, Baby.” You lifted your head just enough to obey and he looked down your body, too, as he brushed his thick head against your clit before he started to sink into you. “Look how good you take me with this gorgeous fucking body of yours. It’s like you were made for me, just to drive me wild…”

“I was,” you whimpered, still looking down where he was entering you. “I was made for you, nothing feels as good as you, nothing…”

“Love seeing how you take me,” he said as he stopped half inside you, thrusting shallowly in and out of you, the ridges inside your tight channel catching on his head. “Love seeing you like this, all bare and hot and wet for me.”

He sank all the way into you then and you moaned at the feeling of him stretching you, your pussy holding him so close and tight.

As he looked down at you, he couldn’t understand how anyone - even yourself - could look at you and see anything but perfection. Your body was paradise, wonderland, heaven incarnate. He longed to hold and kiss and memorize every inch, wanted to spend the rest of his life doing nothing but worship you and everything you’d given him.

Joel thrust slow and deep and hard a few times that way, where he could see him disappearing into you, your fingers digging into his biceps as you moaned and panted below him. But he wanted to see your face and feel your skin even more than he wanted to drink in your body. He pressed himself deep and lowered himself onto you so he could feel your skin everywhere on his. Your eyes latched onto his, your gaze looking almost as desperate as he felt and he worked his cock impossibly deeper into you, making your back arch up into him. You rocked your hips against him as you pulled him closer, your pussy already getting tight over him. You were so beautiful like this, all needy and so full of pleasure it looked like you might burst with it.

“Fuck, Baby, think you can give me another one?” He asked, breathless, as he set an aching rhythm inside of you. “Want to feel you come while I’m inside you, want to make you come.”

You just nodded, a little frantic, your hips working back against his, your channel getting even tighter around him, making him moan.

“Fuck, don’t think I’m gonna last,” he dropped his lips to your throat, kissing and sucking the soft skin there. “You feel too good, Baby, not gonna make it inside you…”

“Joel,” you whimpered. “Please…”

“Together,” he said, lacing his fingers with yours and pinning your hand to the mattress over your head. “Want to come together, Baby, love you so much, want to come with you. You just tell me when you’re gonna come and then let go for me, just let go for me.”

He adjusted his angle ever so slightly, his cock harder than he could remember it being anytime in the recent past, and he ground himself down inside of you, his hips pressed against your clit as he worked you from the inside. His head barely left the place deep within you that made your toes curl and your back arch, just giving enough room when he pulled back for each stroke to feel more intense than the last. Just when he felt like your channel couldn’t get any tighter, your fingers gripped his skin so hard he knew it would leave marks but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“I’m gonna come, Joel,” you sounded so desperate. “I’m gonna come, I’m gonna…”

Your orgasm took hold and your pussy throbbed and pulled around him, pulling his own release from him in hard, thick ropes as he emptied himself into your dripping heat.

“Fuck, Baby,” he pressed his mouth into your shoulder to muffle his moans as he held his cock so deep inside you it almost hurt with the intensity of it. “Fuck, you’re doing so good, Baby. Let it all go for me, just keep… keep milking my cock, just like that, doing so fucking good…”

You moaned, clinging to him as you came undone, this orgasm stronger than Joel remembered feeling from you in months. Eventually, you went limp below him and he collapsed, half on top of you, half beside you. You trailed your fingers through his hair and down his back and he could feel the thick, heavy thrum of your pulse from inside of you.

He wasn’t sure quite how long the two of you lay like that before he adjusted, bringing you with him so his softening cock was still held within you, making it so you were facing each other on your sides.

“Missed seeing you like this so much,” he said softly, brushing your hair back from your face.

“I missed it, too,” you whispered back, biting your lip for a moment. He frowned.

“You OK Baby?”

“Oh I’m great,” you smiled gently. “I guess I just… I feel a little silly for worrying about that now.”

He tugged you closer to kiss your forehead, breathing in the lavender scent of you as he did.

“We’re going to be together forever,” he said. “Forever’s a long time. There’s gonna be a lot that we see change but you better believe that I will always be crazy about you and this beautiful body of yours. Hell, every time you look at me I feel like the luckiest man alive because you’ll even breathe in my direction, never mind be with me. I’m always gonna want you, Baby. Can’t be helped.”

You smiled a little.

“Don’t think it’s silly for us to come all this way just to never leave the hotel room, do you?” You asked. “Because I’m not sure I want to go anywhere tomorrow.”

He smiled back.

“Sounds like the perfect day to me, Baby. Any day is a perfect day if I get to spend it with you.”

A/N: Thank you for reading and for still being here for Joel and Doc months after their main story wrapped.

Love you!

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #lavender #smut fic #joel miller x oc

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omgthatdress · 1 year

Photo

I read several articles about the history of Black dolls when I was preparing my AG spam, and one of the consistent things that kept coming up was what a game-changer Addy was. There were only a few Black Barbies at Toys-R-Us, and Black baby dolls were pretty rare. Addy was finally a popular, easily-available, and high-quality doll that Black girls could have who looked like them.

And White girls bought her, too! I had an Addy! I a lot of ways, Addy was my first real intro to Black history.

Addy has earned a lot of flak for being “the slave doll,” but honestly, anyone who reads her books knows that she is so much more than that. She starts her story enslaved and makes a harrowing journey to freedom, and then learns how to live free. She goes to school, learns to read, and then teaches her mother how to read. She celebrates the end of the war and is able to reunite her family. She offers a counter-narrative to the 12 Years a Slave-style hopeless trauma porn that often comes with slavery stories, how brave Black people brought themselves to freedom and built a community for themselves. Addy helped this little White girl learn that Black lives matter and that Black history is important.

Living in Florida and seeing Ron DeSantis do everything he fucking can to censor Black history (if you don’t know about it, please take this moment to learn about the Rosewood Massacre), I’m really, really, really glad I had Addy and her books to be my entry way to Black history. It may have started with slavery, but it sure as hell didn’t end with slavery.

ANYWAY. Here’s a pretty great article about how Addy came about.

As far as her fashion goes, it’s all pretty accurate! I love that finally an American Girl has her hair up!

In the book, Addy receives her dress from a woman running a safe house during her escape from slavery. Even thought it’s relatively plain, it’s much, much, much nicer than anything Addy has worn before, and it really hits home how much better her life is going to be now that she’s free.

(ebay)

Fun lil fact: in the 90s the gourd was made from an actual gourd (I had the actual gourd!), which had a little cork stopper in it, but a crop failure (and Canadian import laws) changed it to plastic.

#1860s #American Girl #Addy

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cyberghu0l · 5 months

Text

Just Relax

Pairings: Jordan Li × fem!reader

Synopsis: Afer hearing about your lack of sleep and energy, Jordan brings over some stuff to help. It turns into a long night.

f!Jordan Li × f!black reader

Everyone knows you to be the one always on edge. Brink always said it was one of your best qualities; it kept you alert. Your friends could disagree, though. Your conversations or encounters almost always consisted of you falling asleep or zoning out. It wasn't the most flattering thing, considering you loved them all dearly, but you couldn't help it.

You had met up with Marie on the way back to your dorm and decided to talk for a bit at the benches.

"Y/N? Earth to Y/N." Marie waved her hand in your face as you stared off into the distance.

"Yeah? What's up?" You blinked, looking at her fully alert now.

"What's up? What's up is your 4 hours of sleep is finally kicking in. Do you wanna grab some food? Coffee?" She suggested with a concerned look plastered across her face.

"Thanks, but I already had 2 cups for the day and I do not need to be shooting fire everywhere because I can't sit still." You chuckled.

"You seriously need to give yourself a break, Y/N." She touched your shoulder. You looked at her with a small smile. Just then, Jordan appeared next to her. You never even saw them walking over here.

"Moreau, Y/L/N." They sat down, their light curls falling on their forehead as they bent over. Marie retracted her arm and smiled over to them. You continued writing notes for your classes.

"You know we don't have finals are anything, right?" Jordan spoke with a hint of confusion in their voice.

"Y/N here just loves being prepared, even if it means losing sleep." Marie spoke, sounding annoyed. Jordan's brows furrowed.

"Props to you, but like why? You could be doing so much other- are you shaking?" They sounded concerned as well. You put your hand under the table.

"No, it's probably just the wind or something. Can we not talk about me for a second, please?" You looked at them. They stared back with petty. Jordan's brows furrowed trying to understand why you were acting lik that. "I'm going to my room." You closed your books and walked back to the dorms.

Jordan was never one to pry or even care for that matter, but they've taken a liking for you as of recently. Of course, they couldn't explain it because they've never thought about it long enough. They wanted to make sure you were okay. Even if it meant prying.

Later that night, you heard a knock just as you finished changing from taking a shower. You walked to the door and pushed it open. Jordan stood in the doorway, their short bob tied into a ponytail with pieces falling onto her nervous face. In their hand, a bag full of stuff.

"Jordan? What are you doing here?" You put your long curly hair into a ponytail and moved out the doorway, letting them in. They stepped in and closed the door behind them.

"Just wanted to bring you some stuff. Marie told me about how you stay up often and don't get a lot of sleep, so there's a couple of protein bars, energy drinks, and asprin in here." They looked at you with a slight smile.

"That's sweet J, thank you. But I promise Marie makes it seem like I'm not functioning." You chuckled, sitting on your bed.

"Debatable, I've seen you spacing out lately. And the circles under your eyes." They tucked their hands in the pockets of their grey sweatpants. Their midriff on display slightly, showing the band of their boxers.

"You have?" You questioned.

"Yeah." They answered. "Maybe I can help you, just relax a bit." They spoke softly.

Your stomach took a turn. You didn't know why, but your mind wandered to the worst places after what they said. Imagining any and everything. You two have had smoke sessions, which led to some playful banter and touchy nights. But it sounded like something completely different just then.

They walked closer to you, making your head tilt up to look at them better.

"Only if you want to, though." They’re voice low. The look in their eyes spoke for themselves. In that moment, you couldn't describe it, but something clicked.

You wanted them.

"Jordan..." You whispered out. Their hand held your chin up as they bent down. Their lips joined yours. It was slow and passionate, but filled with lust. They pulled back. Their eyes searched yours. You could tell they were scared. Scared of what you thought of them like this, scared of what was about to come, scared of what just happened.

"Y/N?" They finally spoke.

You pulled them back into the kiss. Your hands wrapped around their neck, bringing them onto the bed. You were quick to straddle their hips, deepening the kiss. Their hands held your waist on their lap. They broke the kiss again and left a trail of kisses down your jaw and neck. They took your shirt off in a sudden move. You couldn't even process it. It made you giggle a little.

"Lay down." They spoke softly. You obeyed and laid on the soft blankets of your bed. They brought you to the edge by your legs. You sat up on your elbows, observing their moves. They came back to your lips, leaving a sweet kiss. While their tongue did the talking, their hands found their way to your shorts and panties. Which now found refuge on the floor. The cold hitting your wet core cause you to let out a little gasp in between the kiss.

They pulled back. "Just relax, okay?" They held the side of your face. Their expression looked genuine. It wasn't a request. It was a plead.

You only nodded.

They kneeled down to your opening, putting one of your legs over their shoulder. Their soft but cold hands ran along your thigh, soothing you. They planted soft pecks along the inside of your legs, leading to your opening. Their tongue flattened, running up and down your clit. Your breathing hitched with the sudden pressure. Their lips wrapped around the bundle of nerves, sucking it.

"Shit, Jordan." You breathed out.

They looked up at you, with their doe brown eyes. You couldn't help but stare back. That was until they added two fingers into you, pumping in and out your core. Your breathing fastened. Your moans became louder.

"Oh my fucking god, Jordan!" You fell back on the bed, grabbing the pillows around you. You felt their lips curl into a smile around you.

"Don't fucking- shit!" You covered your mouth because you were pretty sure Shetty could hear you across the campus. "Don't laugh!" You managed to get out.

They came up, chuckling. Their fingers remained. "Why? You look so beautiful. How does it feel, huh?" They used their free hand to play with your clit again. The pad of their thumb rubbed you softly.

The pleasure built up.

"S-So good- oh my god!" You blurted out.

"Fuck, I'm gonna-" Your own breaths got in the way of your speech. Your stomach tied into a knot.

"Let it out, pretty girl." They spoke softly. Their pace quickened, and your legs shook. The knot came undone, and your mind was fuzzy. You released the pillow and let out a heavy breath. Jordan watched you come down from your high with a smirk. You looked up at them.

"What are you smiling about?" You questioned while propping yourself on your elbows. They smiled and bent down and placed a sweet kiss on your lips. It was slow and rewarding.

"You're just so beautiful." They spoke.

They pulled back and got a towel. They cleaned your bed and between your legs from your sweet liquids. You only watched.

"You need to give yourself more credit and take it easy." They said. You threw on a shirt and sat up.

"I know." You responded.

"And get some sleep." They tucked a strand of hair behind their ear. "Do you...want me to stay...with you?" They looked down at the floor and back up at you, waiting for an answer.

"I would love that." You responded.

Their smile was your response as you invited them under the covers with you.

#black reader #lgbtq #black y/n #jordan li smut #jordan li fluff #jordan li imagine #jordan li x reader #jordan li #jordan li gen v #gen v jordan #gen v spoilers #the boys #the boys gen v #gen v imagine #gen v prime #gen v #london thor #wlw #wlw smut

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cha0ticatfy · 2 years

Text

✦ 𝑾𝑬𝑺𝑻 𝑪𝑶𝑨𝑺𝑻 ✦

(Ari Levinson x Naive Reader!) One shot

⠈⠂⠄ ☆⠄⠂⠁ ☆⠁⠂⠄ ☆⠄⠂⠁ ☆⠁⠂⠄ ☆⠄⠂⠁ ☆⠄⠂⠁

· Plot: When you travel to the coast for undefined time, didn´t thought in meeting a man with whom you would end up falling in love.

· ¡Warnings! SMUT, +18 ONLY. Naive reader, innocence kink! Age gap (Reader is in a legal age) Explicit language, size kink! Horny thots, Size kink! Pet names (Doll, Princess) p in v Fluff,!! explicit language, mentions of reader losing her virginity, talking about marriage, mention of using condom! if I missed someone please let me know! Not following the RSDR plot

· IF YOU DON´T LIKE ANYTHING ABOUT THAT PLEASE KEEP SCROLLING, MINORS WILL BE BLOCKED.

· Autor’s note: Heyyy I really hope that you like this One Shot, this is inspired in the song “West Coast” By Lana Del Rey, everything written here was thought and written by me, you do not have permission to adapt it for any platform,

English is not my native language, I apologize for writing errors, I will try to improve as long as I keep practicing

· Reblogs, notes and likes are appreciated! Feel free to make requests <3

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University was out, summer vacation never sounded so exciting before, previous years your vacations consisted of going camping with your parents and their friends, listening to boring business talk, and eating so many roasted marshmallows until the sugar completely invaded your system.

But this year is different, coming of age had privileges and disadvantages, but at least you can choose where to spend the rest of your vacation before worrying about finding a job because the university was over.

Going to the coast didn't sound so bad, as a child you went to visit your grandmother a lot and spent most of the time together, until family problems drove you further and further away, fortunately this was the opportunity to recover quality time with your grandmother, or..not? whatever the stay would be nice.

The first days were pleasant, you talked until dawn with your grandmother about stories that both had lived, cooking together, and learning to sew dresses with the old fabrics that she kept in the shed, but without a doubt your favorite activity is the handmade pearl necklaces, in a small wooden box there were different miniatures to make jewelry, and absolutely that was one of your favorite hobbies.

One afternoon you decided to leave your room and enjoy the sunset at sea, only wearing a purple nightgown of soft fabric, admiring the pink and orange colors that were reflected in the water of the vast sea, you slowly entered to swim on the sea, seeing the sea shells and feeling how the small waves rock your body, there is nothing more beautiful than summer on the west coast, or so you thought until when you came to the surface and you saw him.

A 6'8 tall, bearded man with long hair, shirtless, only wearing shorts, he was smoking a cigarette while watching the pink sunset too, he seemed interesting, handsome, and attractive in a way that only he could be.

"hello" an innocent look and nervous smile made him smile a little, his presence was evident, and he could intimidate anyone

"hey" he said as he finished blowing out the cigarette smoke

"Haven't I seen you around here before, tourist?"

"Oh no, I'm here indefinitely, I'm staying with my grandmother for the summer"

"nice" he said as he continued to watch the sunset

"And…. you? Do you live here?

you came out of the sea, the difference in height was noticeable, and in age too, after all he is a grown man

"I work in the mechanical workshop of the city, that's why I obviously live here"

With the cold air and drops of water dripping from your nightgown, your hard nipples were noticeable on the soft fabric of the nightgown.

"You should go in and put on a sweater, you're going to catch a cold in the evening air"

Confused you turned to see the sky just to check the weather, slowly the air changing to a fresh summer breeze

Turning back, you saw him walking to the right, casually leaving.

"hey, wait! what's your name?” you said raising your voice, he turned his head over his shoulder

"Ari" he said as he raised his hand to say goodbye and turned around.

You saw him go away while the fresh wind blew stronger and stronger, you ran through the sand towards your grandma house, you went up to the bathroom and you could see your appearance in the mirror, unruly hair and after all this time, a transparent nightgown that clearly shows your body, you sighed in shame and took a cold shower.

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It had been one week since you saw Ari Near the coast, you simply found him attractive, whatever it was that one day when you were going out to watch the sunset became a routine, going every day without fail to sit in front of the sea and create pearl necklaces and collecting shells by the sand.

You caught Ari's attention, since the first time he saw you that afternoon swimming in the sea, it wasn't very common for his life to have new experiences, business, money, money and business that was his life, he almost never took the time to appreciate cute things like you and to be honest, Ari is an observant man, he paid attention from his balcony while he smoked, he watched how you stayed up late in front of the sea, dancing and laughing alone over little occurrences that only made sense in your head, if only he knew that part of your occurrences had to do with him, and maybe not yet in a lustful way.

He could tell how naive you are by the way you get excited when you see the sea as if it were the first time.

And the next day he was coming back from work, seeing from afar the little lady keeping seashells in her hair.

"Ari…hi!" you said smiling when you saw him, he really didn't seem like a bad guy, and he isn't but a part of him really wanted to push your limits.

“Hello doll how was your day ?” you smiled slightly “Fun, I stayed here, and I stopped by the supermarket to buy some things” you said while watched the man place his backpack on the sand and sit next to you,

He lit a cigarette to take a drag

"Can...Can I try?" You said while pointing your index finger at the cigarette.

"Oh doll, sweet girls like you shouldn't try this, I don't even know if you're of legal age" Ari knew, he knew that you're of legal age, otherwise he would have deprived himself of paying attention to you, anyway he wanted to know how far you would go.

“Well I´m 19, I’m a grown woman and I can try a cigarette if I want” You said as you raised your head to try to reach his height, even though you were sitting there were still noticeable centimeters of difference between you,

"Tell me your name and maybe I'll let you try a little doll"

"y/n" you said while looking into his eyes trying to scan his reaction, you wanted to try new things this summer, smoking is bad you've heard it hundreds of times, but Ari aroused in you the desire to learn new things.

He smirked and passed you the cigarette,

"You have to take a deep breath and release after a while"

you did it, and you thought you did it right, but a cloud of hot smoke passing through your throat, burning you and making you cough said the opposite,

"you see, this is not for girls as pretty as you" he said while patting your back.

"Then why do you like it so much?"you said. "hard to explain doll"

After a while in silence enjoying each other's company, you talked "do you have family here? I always see you alone"

"Well yes I have my family, my brother is in the city and my parents too"

"Oh” after a long pause you talked again “... are you married?" God knows that question came naturally, Ari would think it was an insinuation, of course if the question came from another girl, he laughed but just because your innocent look he noticed that you really wanted to know.

"No, that's not for me" simple answer, you were about to ask him something else, ask him why he believed that marriage was not for him, but he interrupted you by returning the question

"Do you have a boyfriend doll?"

you moved your head to the sides saying no, Ari was internally glad of the answer, he didn't think any boy deserved to be with someone like you, he didn't even think that he was worthy to talk to you, such an innocent girl quickly trusting a stranger who had just know Which would be dangerous if he wasn't as respectful as he's been.

"I liked a boy from the university, but he has a girlfriend" you said wanting to open more to the conversation.

“Well sometimes boys are trash, they miss it”

you laughed loudly, "what?" he said while laughing a little too.

"You sounded like my best friend, she would say things like that"

"How long will you stay here?" he said, his question wiped the smile off your face as you remembered that you had to go home, "I don't know, I'll just go back to look for a job, I'd like to become independent" he noticed how your moods changed "hey don't get discouraged, the world is wide and there are beautiful things in every corner of it, you are proof of it"

"you think I'm pretty" you smiled proud, self-centered, happy that the handsome man said you're pretty

"How old are you Ari?"

"Ouch, do you want to make me feel old? I'm 40 doll"

"oh you're already an old man" fantasizing and thinking about it made you feel butterflies in your stomach, without even knowing why, but risky sounded attractive.

"You really think I'm an old man? An old man couldn't do this" he said and then got up and took you by the waist and carried you. Strong laughter came out of your mouth while Ari carried your body with ease.

"Ari stop! I can't anymore" you said while you ran out of air from laughing so much at the game of chase and catch that Ari was doing

he was getting hard just hearing you say that he likes the sound of your laugh and what you say while you laugh out loud, but he would like to hear it in another context, an adult context.

it was getting dark, the moon reflected in the sea and Ari was hungry "Come with me I know a nice place we could go"

you turned to see your grandmother's house, staying inside, and missing out on the fun was not one of the plans so you decided to accompany him.

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A small restaurant set in the sea, surfboards as decoration and marine animals, phosphorescent lamps and Hawaiian tables, they entered the restaurant, you took two Hawaiian necklaces, you wanted to put one on Ari but he is simply taller, with tenderness he bent down so that you will place it.

The people who worked in the restaurant knew him and looked at you amazed, a 6´8 bearded man, owner of important mechanics from the west coast, together with an adorable and innocent girl with unruly hair and a pale blue beach dress.

He pulled your chair over for you to sit down while you took the menu, "It's really nice here" you said as he ordered the waiter two drinks "do you drink alcohol doll?"

"I've never tried it, but I could try" for Ari that was a resounding no, he didn't want you to end up with a hangover and bad experiences, "I'll order a lemonade with tequila and for her an orange juice"

"and my drink?" a noticeable pout was seen on your face

"You'll try mine; I don't think you'll end up liking it"

You got up from the table when a catchy song began to play on the small restaurant floor, dancing enjoying the moment, you approached Ari to the dance floor, you both danced together and he carefully put his hands on your back without warning you took his hands and you went to your waist, with confidence you saw him smiling and they continued dancing

And that Ari liked that you were sure of yourself,

The night passed normally, enjoying the stories that each one had to tell, Ari drinking his tequila with lemonade, sure that the alcohol had no effect on his system.

He checked his watch to realize that it was already midnight

"Doll we should go back" "but Ariiii I'm having a lot of fun with you" you said with a pout on your face, and Ari was clearly proud of it, "I know doll but we should go back, then I'll take you to more nice places near here but it's time to go" "mmkay" you said as you placed your empty glass on the table,

He paid and you both walk with entwined hands, going back the on way he had traveled since he arrived at the coast years ago, the same path you memorized after spending a few weeks in that beautiful place, swinging their hands as they walked, you both walked in front of the sea, you stopped walking

"Is everything okay doll?" he said trying to analyze if something was wrong, you compared his big and warm hand next to yours, your small and soft hand decorated with pastel pink nail polish, you saw it for a few seconds and you got up to kiss him which took Ari by surprise, he took you by the waist to give you stability while he reacted by taking control of the kiss, it was obvious that it was your first kiss since the lack of experience of your lips showed it to him, he began to get hard, you gave up trying to take control of the kiss, leting yourself be guided by him, the taste of alcohol and cigarettes in his mouth began to please you, a feeling that only happened when you watched romantic movies on television started to be created between your legs.

You both separated due to lack of air before that dominant kiss, he could observe you, illuminated by the light of the moon with puffy lips and tired eyes your where really tired, his erection was noticeable on his canvas pants, you smiled innocently and with lust, to then run quickly to your grandmother's house, you carried your shoes in your hands, your hair free by the wind and traces of your bare feet in the sand leaving a small path on the sand.

"Fuck doll, you will end up being my perdition” he said as he watched your little silhouette disappear as you ran

you arrived home, agitated, happy and with adrenaline that made your heart beat fast, you went up to your room and in your bed looking at the ceiling while you remembered everything that happened in a moment, small tickles in your intimate zone made you tremble, you have never felt something so strong for someone, and it feels so forbidden because you feel it for a man who is years older than you, now you were happy, hot and tired

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the next day you went out again in front of the sea, remembering what happened the night before, excited for the rest of the time here and wishing it would not end, but surprisingly Ari did not arrive at the time he used to do it, it was getting late and you decided enter your house again, your grandmother was not at home, on Saturdays she goes out with her friends and usually she came back the next day so you have one day alone per week, it was around 11 at night, you were in your pants pink plaid and a little tank top with a strawberry embroidered on the front, waiting for the microwave to finish making the popcorn before watching a movie

The doorbell rang which was strange to you because your grandmother hardly ever receives people on her house,

It was Ari, a black leather jacket and a gray shirt, boots, and blue canvas pants, more attractive than you remembered him

"Hello Ari, I didn't know you would come, which is also funny because I never told you where I live" you said joking, you invited him to come forward, "I've come here a couple of times to repair some things, and how careless I would be if I didn't know where my girl lives" he said

his girl you liked how it sounded and it seemed like a nice way he perceived you,

the microwave sounded breaking the silence, the popcorn was ready, you went to the kitchen for a bowl "why did you run doll?" you turned to see him, you felt small for a moment "did you think he was going to come after you and catch you?" you swallowed hard, that wasn't really what you wanted, it was just a bit of fun

"well no, princess I don't run after what I want, I go patiently for it" he went to the kitchen, "well here you are now" you said while he placed behind your ear a lock of your hair "is this a game for you princess?" you moved your head to the sides, it wasn't, but you're such a tease "N..no Ari" he took your chin with his hands so you could see "I like you princess, you're pretty and I promise to be there for you and take care of you, and spoil you, only if you let me"

"Yes," never you a word come out of your mouth so quickly, he kissed you a dominant kiss, claiming what is his "you left me hard the other day" "I guess you finished horny too right princess" how could he know?

"When you kissed me.. I felt ticklish" Ari smirked, "I know doll, where did you feel it?" you gave him an innocent look you both knew where

While he was playing with your lips with his thumb, you opened your mouth to sigh and he took the opportunity to put his thumb in your mouth, instinctively you made way for him sucking his thumb, but he wanted you to use your words, "down there..." you said softly,

"does your pussy tingle when I kiss you like this?" He took your chin again to kiss you, separating the kiss and feeling how the smell of his man's perfume was impregnated on your neck as he passed his lips over your neck "ah...ah...Ari it tingles"

the scratchy effect that his beard produced on the skin of your neck it started to make you feel wet, "so sweet, you smell so good princess, I wonder if you taste as good as you smell"

"Why don't you come check it out yourself?" you said laughing, "oh doll I'm sure you fantasize about me taking you, taking your small and fragile body in my hands and kissing you in such pure places that you have"

"A..Ari..please"

"please what doll?” “what do you want my little girl huh?"

"ah.mm..Ari" meaningless words and monosyllables came out of your mouth while he play with one of your nipples on the fabric of your shirt, "the first time I saw you come out of the sea, you were so pretty, it seemed that the beers that I had taken they were making me see the sirens of the sea, but it was you"

"Ari whait.." he stopped "I really want to do it with you, but I've never had something like that with any man before, please be gentle” he saw you with love and lust, but the lust doesn´t mean to be a dick with you "doll of course I will be, just trust me" He took you by the hand and went out the door, you both walked to his house, you entered and saw the furniture and the comfortable esthetics for such a beautiful house, you both went up the stairs and reached his room, the main room with a large balcony and a bed with black sheets and big white pillows the only thing that illuminated the place was the light of the full moon, slowly he took your shirt and searched your eyes to ask for approval, you nodded and he removed it above your head, your small breasts being attacked by the raspy kisses that Ari gave them "Ah...Ah....Ari I like...I like it"

so sensitive, your first time doing something so impure with someone and even better, someone who really knew what they're doing "those college kids will never know how to do it like me," said while he was lying you on the bed, you watched Ari get rid of her jacket leather and his T-shirt, his muscular body and his hair that went down to his intimate zone made you bite your lip, they were so different, your pale skin prickled when he slowly lowered your pink pajama pants, leaving you exposed to him only wearing little purple panties that matched your skin tone,

"it's not fair I'm almost naked and you're not" you said laughing Ari smiled and started tracing small circles on your clit on top of your panties "Ah.ahg..Ari" meaningless moans and heavy breaths flooded the room, desperate you lowered your panties to give him more access, a wet circle was on your panties,

"So desperate for my doll? "Look how wet you are, all this for me?"

"y..yes..ah. Only for you" he carefully slid his middle finger through your folds making you shake in pleasure, he slowly inserted a finger and you let out a screech of pain , you had never entered that such an intimate place, a little discomfort made you close your legs, he opened them again and with a slow rhythm he place a rhythm

"My perfect and pretty doll, you are so beautiful when you are so clouded with pleasure" after a minute of playing with your clit you started to feel the orgasm "Ari I feel ... Strange...Ari...ah" it was your first orgasm approaching, "let it go for me princess"

"ah..Ari..Ahh" your walls giving you intense pleasure as they squeezed Ari's fingers, "so fucking tight doll" he said, you smiled happily after that feeling of pleasure that made you feel like the air you breathe is purer, you sat slowly on the bed, watching Ari, and of course he couldn't be happier to see you pleased, admiring how your hair, which was always messy, fell slightly down your cheeks,

He unbuttoned his pants remaining in boxers, you approached the edge of the bed and curiously touched his already hard member "fuck, doll"

"you're very hard," you said while you looked at him astonished, he lowered his boxers to reveal his erect member, you opened your eyes in surprise, you've never seen “that” before in real life, "Ari... you're so big, that's not going to fit" you said amazed and worried while you touched him with your hand, cleaning a drop of pre cum from his member

"doll, I'll be gentle " He took a condom out of his wallet, put it on,and you watched intently the process expectantly as to what he would do next. a little convinced you agreed "we won't do anything you don't want to do", "I want to try new things Ari, and I want to do it with you" you told him while he smiled, his erection brushing your stomach, you slowly settled back on the bed, and he guided his member to your entrance

allowing the head of his cock to enter slightly, a groan of pain remind him that he should be careful with you, he began to slowly introduce himself on top of you feeling how tight you are, "so tight, taking me so well, you are perfect princess"

"Ah Ari... It hurts so bad...Ari please" you said as large tears ran down your cheeks, he took your legs and placed them on his waist, you are lying down and he with his feet still on the floor, he leaned down to kiss your cheeks and say nice things to you. distract you from the pain, after a few seconds he began to give some soft but firm thrusts making you release some "huh" of pleasure, while he strongly took your hips and moaned how much he liked being inside you, your breathing became more agitated, you began to squeak his name louder, you were reaching the climax and so was he, while he saw how your small breasts bounced while he rammed you, he could feel

how your walls squeezed him letting him know you were reaching orgasm, "Ari I'm ah..." a loud moan sounded throughout the room when you still felt waves of pleasure run through your body, Ari increased her speed and came inside the condom staying a little longer inside you, while he felt how his breathing leveled off, he took his member out of your pussy and gave a few small blows with it on your clit, making you tremble with pleasure as it intensified your sensitivity

you turned around and smiled broadly as you felt the fresh air that came through the window, sensitivity in your intimate area and a lot of adrenaline,

Ari got rid of the condom and lay with you on your bed, recovering her normal breathing, "Ari i Loved it" you said as you hid your head on his chest, he caressed your back and played with your hair, "You're perfect doll" he kissed you on the forehead, he put it on you his shirt, you smell of him and that makes you feel so good, so desired and loved by the man who since he saw you felt that you were a mirage because of how beautiful you are in his eyes,

You both get dressed after a cold shower you used Ari's bath products, you ended up smelling like him and you honestly liked it, “Ari I feel a little bit sore" you said while you showed him one of the bruises that his strong grip on your hips had left

"I know princess, let's rest, so tomorrow I can take you to see more new places near here" you nodded happily and hugged him, you both went to his bed and he slept hugging you, feeling your essence of red fruits on his sheets, you don't complete each other, you COMPLEMENT each other, and that's all Ari is looking for and all you didn't know you needed.

After all, you don't think you'll need to go back, with Ari you have everything you need, and for work... well eventually some small businesses in the mall ended up making you the secretary of the auto shop on the coast, and Ari can even rethink If marriage is for him.

2K notes · View notes

darkomoth · 10 months

Text

Insomniacs

Chapter 2: Birthday Dinner

Aaron Hotchner x reader

Summary: Pending a full evaluation, you're stuck at home while you heal from your injuries. Hotch is worried and Reid's birthday is around the corner.

Notes: This is sort of a slow burn I guess. Slightly shorter chapter, hope you enjoy! :)

Also uploaded on Ao3 under the same title

Word count: 6.7K

Ch. 1 Ch.3

You were cleared to fly back home but had to spend a little over a week in the hospital while you recovered. They told you that you had a mild concussion, three bruised ribs, and a broken nose. So, ultimately, not as bad as it could have been.

Still, it didn’t feel awesome. Of course, the doctor recommended that you stay in the hospital for observation for at least 3 weeks, but the sheer thought of being bed-ridden for that long made you pick at your nails. The monotonous hum of the machines and the low volume of the tv combined with the chilly hospital air put you severely on edge. Honestly, they were lucky you made it as long as you did.

Everyone came to visit you at one point or another, which made you very happy. Penelope had gathered a basket-full of goodies for you which consisted of a teddy bear, many chocolates/candies, a coloring book that was obviously made for children, and three balloons which said, “It’s a Girl!” in pretty pink cursive.

“They didn’t have any “I’m sorry you were kidnapped and tortured” balloons at CVS...” Garcia had said with a pout. They were appreciated, you assured her.

Spencer had reserved time to read to you, stating that he always felt better when his mom did the same for him as a kid. You’d drift off to the sound of the young doctor's voice who recited line after line from “The Wizard of Oz,” which he knew you loved.

Derek came by a couple times to drop off food and watch a few episodes of whatever shitty soap opera happened to be on at the time. Somehow, they seemed better quality when he was there. His easy conversation made you relax in the stiff hospital bed and often you found yourself laughing a little too hard, straining your sides and reminding yourself of why you were here to begin with.

JJ and Emily often visited together, since they were carpooling. They brought personal hygiene items from your apartment and flowers, talked about work and how the team was. “Oh, we’re falling apart without you, for sure.” JJ stated once. It made you smile, though you knew everyone was getting on just fine.

Rossi wasn’t super talkative, but you were used to that. His company was welcome in the late hours when the ticking clock made you want to rip your hair out. He cooked some really good pasta, but you suspected it may have been take-out. Rossi denied it completely.

Hotch was there more than anyone else, however. You could hear him pacing outside your door some nights, like he was debating on whether to come in. He always did after knocking gently on your door, which you eagerly answered.

He’d sit by your side and ask how you were feeling, and you would answer the same way every time with a smile, “Like a million bucks.” It made him scoff and shake his head a little, though you knew he found it a little funny. After several minutes of small talk, his hand would search for yours and you would accept it with a small smile. Hotch wasn’t accustomed to doing nothing either, so he’d fidget. He’d check on your vitals, request an extra blanket, crack open the window for fresh air, or pace whenever you did succumb to sleep.

Your request to go home was granted, but not to return to work. That would take at least another two weeks. Hotch thought even that was pushing it, though.

“I’m seriously fine, Hotch. See, look,” You said, crumbling some trash into a ball so that you could toss it into a nearby trash can. You got it in one shot. “Look at that coordination,” You laughed, nudging his side softly.

Hotch only stared at you, seemingly unamused. “That is not a good measurement of capability.”

The two of you were walking out of the hospital, and you felt a heaviness lift off your shoulders as you passed though the automatic sliding doors. Finally, you were back to the real world. JJ and Emily brought you your own clothes which made you feel like yourself again and not some lab rat. The sun was warm on your skin, and you took a deep breath the moment you were outside. It made you forget about how you must’ve looked still, with a black eye and purple bruises littered across your cheek and neck.

The team had another case already, but Hotch stated he would be catching up with everyone as soon as he made sure that you got home safe. That set off a feeling of butterflies in your stomach which you tried to push away. That was genuinely the last thing you should be thinking about right now.

“Well, what is a good measurement?” You ask, turning towards him and looking up into his eyes. They were already trained on you, stoic and resolute as always.

“Your evaluation is scheduled in 12 days from now.” He says, impassively.

You don’t try to stop the groan that escapes you, “That’s so long.” The two of you make it to Hotch’s car, he opens the passenger side door for you and holds onto your upper arm to help you inside, it sends a pleasant chill up your arm. You wince in pain as you change from an upright position to sitting, and Hotch notices.

“Are you alright?” He hovers next to you as you reach for the seatbelt. Your ribs were actually on fire, but you nodded in response, not trusting your voice at the moment. Hotch looks at you skeptically for a second, hands twitching at his sides, before closing the door and making his way to the driver's seat.

He looked good, you thought. Hotch was in his usual suit, but no jacket or tie, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and you tried not to let your eyes linger for too long. Halfway through the drive, he speaks again. “You should’ve stayed at the hospital.”

You look over at him again, his eyes are fixed on the road and his face neutral, but his hand grips the steering wheel tightly. “I couldn’t take another minute of that place.” You say, a little bitterly.

Hotch glances at you but turns his attention back to driving. “I know... still.” He sighs like he’s resigned to the fact that you’re very stubborn and almost always get your way in the end. “How’s the pain?”

Over the past week, Hotch has checked in on your pain level. He’d ask where you were from 1-10; 1 meant almost no pain, 10 meant it was unbearable. Typically, you’d say 3/4, maybe 5 on a bad day, but if you were being honest, 4 meant 6 and 5 meant 9. If Hotch noticed that you were lying, he didn’t say anything.

“Mm, 5.” You mumbled in response.

He only nodded, making sure to keep his eyes forward. A few seconds pass, as if he’s debating if he should speak again. Eventually he does. “Are you sure?” His voice is tentative and soft now, “You’ve been controlling your breathing and clutching your side.”

You release your side in response and take a deep breath as if to prove a point, “I’m sure.”

Hotch doesn’t say anything for the rest of the drive. When he pulls into the parking lot of your apartment complex, he prevents you from opening your door. “Stop, I’ll get it.”

“Hotch, you really don’t need to-“ You were cut off by the sound of the driver side door shutting closed. When he makes his way around to the passenger side, you were looking at him disapprovingly. “I can open a door.” You mutter as he opens it and offers a hand.

“I’m certain you can.” Is all he says in response, not budging from his spot. With a small sigh and a suppressed smile, you take his hand and hop out of your seat.

You notice how close Hotch is to you, the way he’s put himself between you and the rest of the lot. It’s intimate in a strange way, his hand is still in yours even though you were fully stable now. Your heartbeat quickens in the way that it does when he’s near and you fidget.

Hotch probably noticed your behavior because he lets you go immediately, turning towards the trunk of the car that has your go-bag. He grabs it and starts walking with you to your door. You want to protest again, tell him that you were okay and capable of doing normal, everyday things like carrying your bag, but you decide against it. You know that nothing you say is going to change Hotch’s mind so you allow yourself the moment to enjoy his company.

“I can handle it from here.” You say once you open your door and step inside. The apartment was fairly empty, save for the sparse furniture and fake plants that sat on your windowsills. As you move to grab your bag from Hotch, a sharp sting shoots up your right side and makes you still. “Ahhh,” You hiss in pain.

“Y/N?” Hotch asks worriedly, holding his hands out for you to grab onto if you needed. “Are you alright?”

With your hands clutching onto him, you take a second to regain stability and test your breathing, “Mhm… sorry.” You let him go and decide to lean against the island counter in your kitchen instead, but he continues to hover. “It comes and goes.”

“Where’s the painkillers the hospital provided?” Hotch asks, setting down your bag on the counter next to you and rummaging through the side zippers. You don’t have a chance to respond before he finds them. “Here,” He says, as he drops two pills into his hand, “hold onto these, I’ll get some water.”

He hands them to you, and the warmth of his hand is comforting. You hold them and watch as he moves freely around your kitchen, searching for your glassware. It was strange, but not unpleasant, to see your boss inside your home moving around like he’s been here a hundred times. Almost domestic. You shook the thought from your head and took a seat in one of the barstools. Shortly after, Hotch slides over a glass of water across from you.

“Thanks.” You say and down the pills with a gulp of water.

Hotch is looking at you with an unreadable expression, it makes you shift in your seat and take a few more sips of water to distract yourself.

“You need rest and plenty of water…” Hotch trails off, like he wants to say more but doesn’t. Then, like he can’t take it anymore, he moves around the counter to be next to you. “I’m sorry.”

He’s so close again, even taller than usual since you’re sitting. You have to crane your neck to look up at him, his expression has softened from earlier. Confused by what he said you replied, “What are you sorry for?”

Hotch sighs a little, his jaw is tense. “I shouldn’t have sent you away.”

You didn’t know what to say at first, struck by the way he was acting. It was very unlike himself to display any sort of unprofessional behavior, and this was definitely not professional. You furrow your brows and hesitantly reach out to place your hand on his.

“You were doing your job. I shouldn’t have gone to the park, I knew the risks and did it anyway.” You say, trying your best to keep your beating heart under control at Hotch’s proximity.

He looked just past you, not meeting your eyes and shook his head, “I was worried I may never see you again.” Hotch seemed genuinely distraught at his own words, it made your gut twist in an unpleasant way.

“Hotch… Aaron.” The sound of his first name finally made him meet your eyes. You smiled up at him, “You’re not gonna get rid of me that easily.”

It felt tense in the room now, you were used to the team being all together, interrupting moments like these and pulling you back down to reality. But now it was just you and Hotch, and he wasn’t pulling away.

“I-“ Hotch starts, but a loud ringing cuts him off. He closes his eyes for a moment, obviously upset at the interruption, but he answers anyway. “Hotchner.” He pulls back and paces a few feet away from you.

You know that whatever was being said, it wasn’t good and by the look on Hotch’s face and the furrow of his brows, it was probably minutes before he’d be out the door. When he hung up, he looked over at you sympathetically.

“Go on, boss. I’m good.” You say, trying to ease the stress that was evident in his frown.

Hotch’s hands twitch at his sides again and you make a mental note of it. He tends to do that when he’s considering his next move. Ultimately, he nods and strides to your front door, pausing when his hand lands on the doorknob.

“We’ll be in Pennsylvania. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call.” Hotch says, regretfully.

“Can I call even if I don’t need anything?” You ask, trying to lighten the mood.

He gives you one of his rare smiles, “Yes, Agent.”

Hotch left Y/N’s apartment with a mix of emotions. He wasn’t sure if she was truly alright. Mentally, maybe, the events with Mazdin didn’t seem to wreck her emotional state, she still joked and smiled at him which was a good sign. Physically, though, was another story.

One of her tells that Hotch caught early on when she were hired was deflection. He’d ask if she was okay, she'd ask if he was. If she answered, it was quick, as if she were afraid to elaborate too much and make herself seem suspicious. He knew that she was in pain and afraid to show it in case it affected her return to the BAU.

Y/N’s fear was unwarranted, though. Hotch was counting down the days of her return despite knowing she needed time to heal. It was difficult to leave after having spent the last week checking in on her, keeping her company.

One day when he paced outside her hospital door, unable to stay still, Y/N called out his name. “Hotch, just come in, you’re stressing me out. And I need help changing the channel.” Her voice was still strained but he could tell she was smiling. It calmed his worries about intruding on her, and from that point on he didn’t linger outside as much.

It was still difficult to see her covered in bruises and looking at him like he was the only person she wanted to see. Her black eye was getting better, the swelling had gone down considerably, but she had a dark ring underneath that was an ever-present reminder of what happened. The lines on her neck were barely starting to fade, still an angry-red color, and the bandages surrounding her torso hid the damage beneath, but Hotch knew that bruised ribs were serious injuries. Any time he thought about it, he felt a little sick.

After everything that he’s seen in the BAU, nothing compares to having a teammate go through something that traumatic. Regardless, Hotch knew that she was recovering. Even if it wasn’t at the hospital with trained professionals, he thought bitterly.

His phone rang again as he was driving towards the office, “Hotchner.”

“I had a thought.” Y/N’s voice rang out from his speaker and his frown softened a little.

“Yes?”

“I may not be able to be in the field, but if you send me the case files I can work on it from here.”

Hotch should’ve expected that one. With a shake of his head he responds, “You need to focus on getting better, not causing yourself stress.”

“No, you don’t get it. If I’m left alone with literally nothing to do for longer than 30 minutes, I’ll lose it.” Her voice was coming out rushed, he could tell she was either pacing or tapping her fingers nervously. The image made the corners of his mouth turn up a little.

A few seconds passed with silence, Hotch debating what the best thing to do was in this situation. “If you promise to take care of yourself… I’ll have Garcia send over the paperwork within the hour.”

“Thank you thank you thank you!” Y/N said excitedly. “Oh- also, I wanted to remind you of Reid’s birthday, it’s Friday.”

Hotch laughs at that, “Yes, I did actually remember.”

“Okay great, because I was thinking the team could get together that day and celebrate. Either at the bar or maybe Rossi’s since it’s bigger…” Y/N says, sounding like she’s just thinking out loud.

“I’ll discuss it with everyone, though you really shouldn’t be leaving your home-“

“Yeah, yeah I know but you only turn 29 once and I want to see Reid’s face when I give him his “Happy 30th Birthday” card.” She replies.

Hotch tries his best not to laugh and give her the satisfaction. “Well, in that case. I’ll get back to you about it.”

“Thanks Hotch.”

The week actually flies by, to your pleasant surprise. You were often sat on your couch, eating some type of take-out and going over victimology of the team’s case in Lancaster, PA. The unsub was a family annihilator, targeting middle-class families and spending extra time torturing the fathers.

Without being there, you were limited to your access of information, but frequent calls to and from Garcia kept you in the loop. Ultimately, you suggested to the team that the unsub was a father himself and most likely had his children taken away from him at some point.

Of course, you were trying to keep your promise to Hotch and taking care of yourself. That mostly meant drinking at least two cups of water a day and trying your best to fall asleep once the clock read 12:00 am. That second one didn’t work out as well.

Hotch knew that you weren’t sleeping again, given the times you had called him. Since there was no time change between Virginia and Pennsylvania, it was obvious that your insomnia had crept back.

A particular call one night left a bad feeling in your stomach. It was past 1:00 am already, but you knew Hotch would still be up, working. You were proven correct when he answered on the second ring, “Hotchner.”

“I was looking over the night that the Clarkson family was murdered and I noticed something off with the children’s position in the house-“

Hotch cut you off before you could finish, “Agent L/N, you need to go to sleep. Now.” His voice was curt and a little angry, you thought.

“Hotch, I will, but listen to me-“

“No. I’ve allowed you to work remotely under the assumption that you would be prioritizing your health. Now that I know that is not your intention, I’m relieving you of this case.”

For a moment, you were speechless. You winced from the pain in your ribs as you shifted your position at the dining table. “Hotch, I am prioritizing and I have been sleeping, it’s just later in the night.”

“I will not allow you to continuously jeopardize yourself, if need be I can and will suspend you.” His voice was monotone as always, but you sensed irritation in it.

“Fine.” Was all you said in response, quickly ending the call and slamming your phone down onto the table in front of you. You can’t remember the last time you were this angry at Hotch. Even though it came from a place of concern, he had no idea how much worse it was for you when you had nothing to preoccupy yourself with.

The nightmares returned very soon after the Mazdin incident. In fact, they were even worse. Before, the dreams would consist of you and the team on a typical case, trying to find an unsub before the clock runs out. You would see image after image of decapitated bodies, mutilated corpses, the faces of missing children. Every time it shook you so badly, you’d wake up in a cold sweat, involuntary tears in your eyes.

After your own kidnapping, you’d dream of that basement. How this must’ve been how all those other girls had felt, terrified that they would never see sunlight again, never hug those closest to them, never have the luxury of another boring day. You’d experience the pain of that night over and over and over again. The feel of the strangers fist connecting to your stomach, face, and ribs was so real, you could practically smell the musty air and taste the blood in your mouth.

When you were in the hospital, hopped up on painkillers and connected to an IV, you had dreamless sleeps. They felt like temporary comas and you were aching to feel that again. You could feel Hotch next to you, holding your hand and talking but you never made out what was actually being said. It was perfect.

Now, back inside your own apartment alone yet again, not even a case to distract you, the thought of sleep petrified you. You made yourself coffee, did laundry, washed dishes, even cleaned out your closet at one point. Nothing could stop the inevitability of you closing your eyes and being transported back to that night.

You were told by Garcia that the team had caught the unsub just before he was able to take out the Williams family and they were flying back Thursday night. You were glad that everyone was safe and on their way home, but it hurt that you didn’t feel like you could even talk with Hotch now.

You wanted to call and check in on him since you knew how hard he took family annihilator cases. Still, you didn’t reach for your phone. You would be seeing them all tomorrow, anyways. It was decided by Reid that Rossi’s place would be better than any public outing, so the team had made a plan to meet there at 6:00 pm Friday night.

Throughout the year, you tended to buy things for the team. Small gifts, anything that stuck out to you that someone may like, and you kept them for birthdays and holidays. So when you came across a dusty antique bookstore during one of your cases in New York several months ago, you knew you had to look around. You found the most incredibly bound and gorgeous hardback copy of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde and just knew it’d make a great gift for boy-genius.

You also happened upon an old collection of classic vinyl records, with dozens of artists varying from Frank Sinatra to Harry Belafonte and you had to get it. Not for you, but you knew one very serious Unit Chief that loved oldies.

By the time that Friday morning rolled around, Hotch hadn’t spoken to Y/N in over 48 hours. It put him a little on edge, he was too used to seeing her every day, hearing her voice asking how he was. He knew it was his fault for snapping at her the way he did, but he couldn’t take another night of worrying about her. He had enough to deal with already.

She had called him at least twice a day every day that they were in Pennsylvania, offering some of her insight. It was welcome most of the time, especially after they’d hit a wall in their investigation. Y/N not being on the scene allowed for a unique outside perspective. But Hotch wasn’t going to allow her to compromise her health for the job.

He debated calling her several times and it just never happened. Either he would get busy or he’d rationalize that she didn’t want to hear from him, but they were all excuses. So he decided to bite the bullet and dial her number when he finally settled into his office that morning.

“L/N.” Was all she said when she finally picked up. Usually, when she noticed it was Hotch calling, she would answer the phone with a “Hey Boss” or some variation of it. The change made him look down at his desk with a frown.

“Hey…” Hotch said, completely forgetting the reason he had come up with for calling so early. “I wanted to check in with you, see how you were… will you be coming to Rossi’s tonight?” He scolds himself internally for sounding so unsure of himself.

“Well, yeah, I wouldn’t miss it.” She said as if it were obvious. He supposed it was, seeing as the get-together was her suggestion. “Was there anything else?” She asked after a minute.

Hotch wanted to ask what her pain level was, if she had actually slept since the last time they spoke, and quite a few other things, but instead he shook his head a little, “No. We’ll see you there.” He hung up quickly after that, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Several hours of paperwork later and Hotch was finally leaving for the day. He arrived at Rossi’s mansion at 5:50 pm, noticing that he was not the first. Morgan and Prentiss’ cars were both there, and he was relieved that Y/N hadn’t shown up just yet. He was still trying to figure out what he was going to say to her.

As he rung the doorbell, he could hear talking and laughing inside. “Answer that, would you?” Rossi’s voice could be heard echoing from the kitchen. A couple seconds later he heard footsteps and then Y/N was there, holding the door open.

She was stunning. Her usual work clothes were nice and complemented her, but Hotch had never seen her like this. She wore a mid-length, off the shoulder gown with long sleeves, it was black with a lace trim. Her makeup was done but it wasn’t a lot, he suspected it was to cover up the remaining discoloration from that night. Her hair was done in a different way that he’d never seen before, and she was so gorgeous.

It took a moment before Hotch could speak, “I brought wine.” He holds the bottle out to her and she takes it with a small smile and nod. As she walks away with it towards the kitchen and he follows, he thinks about what the hell was wrong with him.

“Ahh, Aaron, this is perfect.” Rossi says as Y/N hands him the bottle of red. “Why don’t you all take a seat, the rest of the team is on their way and the food will be ready shortly.”

Morgan and Prentiss were hovering around the island counter, also dressed up in less than casual outfits.

“What’s up man?” Morgan asks as he makes his way over to Hotch, “Didn’t you bring a gift for wonder boy?”

“Spencer’s gift is all of the paperwork he does not have to do for the next three days.” He responds, shrugging off his blazer.

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Prentiss says, “does that extend to the rest of the team?”

“What you guys get is his workload.” Hotch says with a growing smile.

A collective groan is heard as everyone takes their seats. Y/N is still in the kitchen, helping Rossi with kneading some type of dough. He tries not to glance over too often, but it’s hard not to. She’s laughing at something Rossi’s said and the smile on her face is infectious.

Hotch notices how she’s still favoring her right side, moving only when she has to. Her breathing is controlled and her posture is purposefully casual. She’s certainly gotten better since the last time he’s seen her, but she’s not fully healed and he resists the urge to go speak to her about it.

“So, what’s for dinner?” Emily asks.

Y/N responds before Rossi can, “Burrata Caprese Gnocchi with balsamic bruschetta and garlic bread.” She shares a look with Rossi who smiles at her.

“Sounds amazing.” Emily says just as the doorbell rings.

JJ, Penelope, and Reid were all at the door, which Hotch answered this time, beating Y/N to it.

“There’s the birthday boy!” Derek said, getting up to give Spencer a hug.

“I really don’t think the word ‘boy’ accurately describes my age anymore.” He replies, returning the hug a little hesitantly.

“Ah, come on Spence, you’re still the second youngest agent in the team.” JJ says, pointedly looking at Y/N from where she still stood in the kitchen.

“Hey, I am not much younger than him.” She says defensively. Hotch smiles at the interaction.

“Well, regardless,” Penelope cuts in, taking Reid’s arm in hers, “you are still the residing genius of the BAU, myself excluded.”

“Well, thank you very much.” Hotch hears Spencer mutter as he’s dragged along to the dining room with everyone else.

Rossi commanded that everyone help set the table as the last bit of dinner was being prepared. Y/N was moving around seemingly effortlessly, stirring something in a pot and then pulling bread out of the oven. Hotch thought she looked very graceful, until she must’ve turned the wrong way and she stilled completely.

Y/N clutched the edge of the counter like she had back at her apartment last week and Hotch stopped passing plates around. He watched as she excused herself to the restroom and after a second of deliberating, he followed.

The light underneath the bathroom door was on and Hotch knocked on it lightly, “Y/N?” There was no response for a minute. “Hey, are you okay? Please open the door.”

Another few seconds went by with no sound and he was thinking maybe he should just go back to the dining room when the door unlocked and swung open a fraction. Hotch took that as an invitation to open it fully and walk in.

Y/N was leaning against the bathroom sink, hand on her side and eyes closed. “What do you need?” He asks, hands clenching at his sides, not sure if he should reach out and touch her.

“Um…” Her breath shakes slightly, “If you could, my bag has my medication, I left it out there.”

“Of course. I’ll be right back.” It took Hotch less than a minute to go out into the living area, find her bag with the painkillers and bring them back to the bathroom. He knocks twice before entering, “Here.”

“Thank you.” Y/N says, taking them with a mouthful of tap water.

“How’s the pain?” It’s a long shot that she’ll even continue speaking to him, but Hotch doesn’t feel like leaving her alone like this.

“Uh, a 6.” She looks at him finally, and his frown deepens. She’s never actually gone past 5, and he knew 5 was bad. “It’s okay, really, I think I just strained my side while cooking.”

Hotch nods, but he doesn’t feel reassured. “Well, I’ll help you to the table, and please don’t move again unless you have to.” He thinks that she wants to argue but that would take energy she doesn’t have, so she allows him to wrap an arm around her waist. She leans against him and he inhales her scent, it’s warm and sweet, like cinnamon he thinks.

If anyone noticed the way the two of them walked out together, no one said anything. The team wasn’t oblivious, they knew Y/N was in pain as well, and that she wouldn’t want to speak about it. Especially tonight when it was about celebrating a fellow teammate.

Hotch set her down in a seat directly next to him, his hand lingering where it had been a moment before. Rossi was passing around the main course and the conversation had been redirected to Spencer’s weekend plans.

“I’ll be in Vegas for the next couple days. I’ve been meaning to visit my mom but haven’t really had the time.” He says as he grabs two pieces of garlic bread.

“That’s nice.” Emily says, taking a sip of her wine. “I would rather be working than visit my mother on my birthday.”

“Cheers to that,” Rossi says, also taking a sip.

Everyone raises their glasses, Y/N included. Her face gives no indication that the movement bothers her at all. She takes a sip and rests the glass back down where she starts tapping nervously on it and Hotch knows the meds haven’t kicked in just yet.

“Time for gifts!” Penelope yells excitedly and claps her hands, getting up from her spot after everyone had finished with their meals.

Y/N makes a move to stand up, but Hotch catches her wrist before she can. He shakes his head and says, low enough so that no one else can hear, “Don’t even think about it.”

She gives him a look but doesn’t try to shift out of her seat again. His hand stays on her for a moment longer under the table and she doesn’t try to pull away.

“Well then, would you mind grabbing the gift I brought over on the counter?” Y/N practically whispers.

Hotch has to clear his throat before responding, “Of course.” He’s up in a second, already missing the warm contact. He locates the present with white wrapping paper that was covered in gold stars, attached to it was a card that said “You’re 30!” on the cover with a picture of an cartoon senior citizen underneath the text. The sight made him laugh under his breath.

“Open mine first, please.” JJ says, handing over a rather large bag to Reid.

As he grabs it, Hotch takes his spot back next to Y/N. Spencer is ripping out the tissue paper until he reaches the gift. He pulls it out with a gasp, “Ohhh no way.”

In his hands is a model replica of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek, and by the way he was holding it, it seemed fairly heavy. Hotch smiled at the Doctor’s reaction and noticed that Y/N did too. The corners of her eyes crinkled with her grin and he wanted to lean down, just a few inches so that he could come face-to-face with her. He thought about brushing her hair out of her face, behind her ear. He would tilt her head back until she couldn’t go any further, then lean down closer, closer…

Hotch was snapped out of his thoughts by Y/N’s voice. “That one’s from me and Aaron.”

He looked at Spencer, who had the gift in his hands. “I am not thirty years old.” He tossed the offending card down onto the table and the sound of laughter filled the room from everyone.

“Is there something wrong with being thirty?” Derek asks, feigning offense.

“No, I’m just stating the fact that I am not actually thirty years old, I have another 364 days before I reach that milestone, in fact-“

“Just open the present!” Emily says, laughing.

“Okay.” Reid does as he’s told and unfolds the wrapping paper carefully. When he’s done, a hardcover book lays in his hands, but Hotch can’t make out the title. It seemed to make Spencer very happy though, if his widening smile was any indication. “Where did you find this!”

“New York, that case where we were snowed into our hotel and couldn’t leave for an extra week. Gave us time to look around.” Y/N said, making brief eye contact with Hotch. She was keeping up the ruse that he had helped in picking out Reid’s gift.

“You know, out of all of Oscar Wilde’s books, I’ve read this one the most,” Finally Hotch could make out the title ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ “it’s actually very short but it’s masterfully done, almost no other author compares from this century.”

“You’ve mentioned it a few times.” Y/N says.

“Thank you both, very much. This is great.” Spencer replies.

Hotch tries not to look at her again, he’s not sure what he’ll do if he does. His professional nature was slipping with each sip of wine.

Another few minutes of Reid opening gifts goes by and they were all very thoughtful. Rossi gave him a new suit jacket, Italian made of course. From Garcia, he received several doctor who related items including the full series on blue-ray. Emily got him an iPod, mostly so that he would stop playing his music out loud on long car rides, she explained. Lastly, Derek stated that his friendship was gift enough. Though, later Hotch discovered Morgan had already given Reid a certificate for an all-expenses paid stay at a resort in the Bahamas which was run by a good friend of his.

The night ended on a good note, everyone was buzzed and in deep conversation. Hotch never left Y/N’s side. She seemed to be doing significantly better than earlier, no longer wincing at every move and engaging with the teams banter.

As everyone started to trickle out, Hotch turned towards her. “Do you need a ride?” He hadn’t noticed her car when he got here and it was unlikely that she could drive home in her state anyway.

“Oh, Emily drove me-“ Y/N said, looking around for their friend, who was nowhere to be found.

“I don’t mind, your apartment’s on the way.” Hotch replied, hoping she would say yes. He needed just a few more minutes with her. She looked up at him like she was debating it, eventually pursing her lips and nodding.

“Okay, thank you.”

The two of them said their goodbyes to those remaining, Y/N gave Spencer a hug and wished him Happy Birthday once more before they made their way outside towards Hotch’s car.

Hotch made sure to keep an eye on the way she moved, ready to support her if she needed, but it was unnecessary, she seemed to be fine. He made his way over to the passenger side door and opened it swiftly.

Y/N laughs a little, “Such a gentleman.”

Hotch smiles back and closes the door after she’s settled. Once they’re on the road, he remembers everything that he’s been meaning to say.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know?” He says lightheartedly.

“Do what?” She asks with that little crease between her brows. His hand tightened around the steering wheel just slightly.

“The gift for Spencer. I had no idea about it.”

“Oh, right… Well the no paperwork thing was nice. I know he appreciates it.” She says with a smile. This is torture, Hotch thinks. She’s so close to him, literally less than a foot but he can’t do anything.

“About the phone call-“

“Hotch, don’t, I already know.” Y/N says, as if she was expecting this conversation all night. “I know I still have five days until my evaluation and if tonight was any indication, I’m still not really to be in the field yet.”

He was glad that she knew that, at least. But his intention wasn’t to scold her all the way back to her home, “Y/N, please let me… I didn’t mean to insinuate that your help wasn’t appreciated on this last case, it was.” She doesn’t say anything in response, just looks over at him with questioning eyes. “I need you to know that everything I do, everything, is for the well-being of this team.”

“I know that, Hotch-“

“Then you know that I would do anything for you.” He cuts her off, but doesn’t take take his eyes off the road, even for a second.

The tension in the car feels high, but Hotch can’t tell if only he can feel it. The seconds that go by without Y/N’s response is agonizing.

“I do know that.” Her voice is softer, almost far away. “And I would do anything for you.”

The words make his shoulder’s slump in relief, he dares to glance her way. She’s looking at him in a way he’s never seen before, a little sad maybe, but smiling. He’s tempted to pull the car over to the side of the road for a few minutes.

“You just passed my place.” Y/N says then.

“I know.”

#criminal minds #hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner #reader insert #hotch fic #angst #hurt comfort #mutual pining #insomnia #protective hotch #concerned hotch

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yunarim · 1 year

Text

we make eye contact, having the same feeling is enough

❤︎ summary : due to the nrc panks' prank, you can say nothing but harsh & toxic words to your adored ones ❤︎ tags : female reader ('her' is mentioned in riddle's part, in other parts can be read as a gn reader), unwilling toxicity from reader, sfw, slight mentions of blood in azul's part, reader is referred to as 'prefect'. ❤︎ chatacters : riddle, kalim, ruggie, azul ❤︎ author's note : see the end of the post!

You thought that nothing would get worse. After all, it's not every day that you, an absolutely ordinary magicless person, get isekaied to a world that you used to read about only in children's fairy tales or colorful comics, where bursts of magic were indicated by all sorts of funny signatures in the form of “boom!”, “bang!” sounds when a fancy potion was bubbling in the cauldron.

Maybe me being here is also a kind of bizarre joke, you thought, surrounded by students in branded uniforms. No matter how you look at it, they are still students just like you, and even teachers aren’t devoid of their typical quirks and oddities, their sometimes demanding behavior isn't out of ordinary. It's all the same, with the only difference that in front of you is a questionable quality boiling consistency of eye-popping color with alternately bursting large bubbles.

Well, it's actually creepy.

“Prefect, be a good pup, help your classmates!” teacher Crewel commanded delicately, using the pointer to indicate to a group of students in lab coats, their actions are far from safe to say at least. Although what exactly is security in the context of this world?

Without further immersion in your philosophical reflections, you approached the other first-years.

“Hello… Do you need any help?”

What a pity that Ace and Deuce were recruited to another team today. Sly smiles on unfamiliar faces didn’t inspire confidence at all.

“Yes, please give me the Mirabilis Jalapa root," said one of the students, vaguely pointing with a wave of his hand somewhere in the direction of the shelves.

Turning around, you pulled up a bottle with a sticker with the correct name and handed it to the group. The rest of the class was held in a calm way, and you even cheered up, since the preparation of potions did not necessarily involve magic, and teacher Crewel even dwelled on reorganizing the curriculum for you, thanks to which you took an active part in the process. In fact, you even fell in love with potionology.

What you didn't expect from the end of this lesson was a test of knowledge in practice. The end of the semester was approaching, just right when you managed to forget that in addition to the test papers there are also several practical ones which you are able to pass without magic. And potionology fell under that category.

“Our group is going to present...” You hurriedly leaned into your classmate's ear, asking what you were doing just now. “A potion that recolors hair. In modern reality, it’s unprofitable to spend a lot of time in hairdressers, so we would like to save time, and it's especially useful for magicless people. I will demonstrate the effect of the potion on myself.”

Doubtfully twisting the bottle in your hands, you took a deep breath and swallowed. Purple dye was used for the potion, and your hair has acquired a similar shade. Having received the approval of the teacher, you exhaled with calmness - you didn't have to worry about the final grade now!

“Thanks for the help, Prefect. Here's a potion that will restore your hair color.” One of the participants in this whole venture gave you a bottle with a liquid indistinguishable from your own hair color, and you thanked him, smiling quite happily and not even noticing a suspicious glint in his eyes at all.

Everything was fine until you bumped into him.

You ran into Riddle on your way to the library, where you intended to catch your breath after class and prepare for the next one. Thinking about how nice it was that there were no side effects after using the potion, you stopped abruptly against your will, not noticing the flashes of something red in front of your eyes.

“Oh, Prefect,” you instantly recognized Riddle's voice. His sweet voice were echoing in your head every so often you visited his dorm and attended unbirthday parties. The corners of your lips instantly lifted up. “Be careful, according to the rules you need to look where you are going.”

Riddle still had his hands on your shoulders, which were placed there in an attempt to prevent a collision of the foreheads. You raised your head and nodded, thinking whether you should thank him, but suddenly your lips twitched ambiguously.

“Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?!”

Riddle's eye twitched nervously, while you blinked vaguely, realizing that maybe you misheard yourself somehow.

“Huh?! What makes you think you have the right to raise your voice at me?!” scarlet hue appeared on his face. Your rude tone struck a chord with him in the first place. It's been a long time since he went overblotted, and he tried very hard to restrain his malicious impulses. But your unflattering comment was completely out of line.

“No, really, who the hell do you think you are? The Ruler of this college? Ha! Do you really think you're so smart that you can throw your poor rules right and left?” Your heart was pounding wildly under your ribs, and the expression on your face couldn’t be compared with what you were shouting at all. Could it be that this is a side effect of the potion?.. In this case, it’s necessary to try to warn Riddle before anything happens that could lead to an out-of-control situation.

“In the name of Great Sevens!! Trying so hard so it's just off with your head?! Wonderful, I'm in the right mood for this!” Riddle's anger grew more and more, and out of fright you waved your hands, showing that he needs to stop. You didn’t actually know whether he should stop himself or you, though.

“Riddle, I!..” you blurted out this phrase on emotion, still not understanding what needs to be done to make the effect of the potion to dispel. You looked straight into Riddle's steely eyes, where small vessels burst with rage. “You're just ridiculous! Don’t you have enough brains at all to deal with me in a different way? Worthless!”

The conflict of emotions and the divergence of actions with your real feelings brought you to the point that you impulsively pressed your mouth with your palms in order not to say anything at all. Tears rolled down your cheeks briefly decreasing Riddle's vigilance to some extent. His blood was boiling in his veins, and he was ready for any measures, but your reaction seemed to sober him up. And the students who had gathered in the corridor didn’t facilitate him at all.

“... Hey, Prefect.” Riddle approached you with a gloomy expression on his face, and you took a step back accordingly, aggressively waving your hands to push him away from you. “Hmm... try texting me something with your phone.”

Frantically fishing the phone out of your pocket and barely hitting the buttons with a terribly trembling fingers you managed to explain the situation. As he read, Riddle began to blush more and more again. Pulling you into his arms, he turned to the crowd in the hallway.

“It’s off with your heads right now if you don't tell me where the students who were in the group with Prefect at potionology today are!!” The crowd scattered in search, and Riddle sighed heavily.

“I'm sorry I cursed at you, I didn't know… So the potion works in such a way that you just start being rude when you open your mouth?” Riddle made a guess, but you can’t help but shrug your shoulders.

When Riddle found the students who did this to you, he thoroughly interrogated them, not forgetting to drive in a bit of common sense and promising that the next step after his unique spell will be expulsion, he returned to you with a bunch of thoughts in his head.

“The potion makes her say the opposite of what she feels.” The students explained it to him, and Riddle had no choice but to think about what you do feel in the first place.

"Just try to get one damn millimeter closer to her next time, and it’s off with your heads forever." Riddle warned your classmates silently, not making any fuss, and then quickly returned to the position where you were staying for quite a while.

“Prefect, I'm back. Well, will you try to talk?”

“MY GOD, I'm sorry for what happened a couple of hours ago, I sincerely apologize, I didn't mean any of what happened, and!..” Riddle chuckled without malice, stopping you with a gesture.

“It's okay, it wasn't your fault.”

Mumbling thanks, you smiled, and a thin layer of blush covered your cheeks. Riddle wondered what you actually feel towards him, but he would prefer to find out later, without the effects of any muddy potions.

You went outside to get some fresh air. The smell of potions got into your nose and seemed to haunt you for some time, making you sniff and wince.

While sitting down near the fountain, you threw your head back and sighed. There was still enough time before the next class, so you were relaxing under the sun when suddenly a familiar voice reached you from the other side of the yard.

“Prefect!!!” You lazily opened your eyes, recognizing Kalim by his voice, and waved him in a friendly way.

Kalim approached and out of habit you spread your arms, welcoming Scarabia dorm leader in an embrace. Kalim explained it as a “welcoming gesture in his native country” and before everything he himself was an extremely extroverted and very friendly person, so hugging was considered as a normal procedure between you two. For you these hugs were a daily dose of serotonin and also perhaps something more, but you quickly brushed off those thoughts and welcomed your not-so-platonic friend with a warm smile.

“Prefect, good morning!! Was it potionology class just now? How did everything go? I'm sure you did a great job! Even if you don't, it’s okay!” You laughed sweetly at him praising you for your very existing, amazed at the radiance of your friend. “Well, tell me, how are you?”

“God, will you shut up already? You talk so much, it's annoying.”

Kalim blinked a couple of times, his mouth open in perplexity. You didn't even realize what you said right away, because Kalim was a person who smiles even when it's incredibly hard, and even now his reaction was not disapproving you. Rather, he was puzzled and you involuntarily pressed your fingers to your lips, as if it could help you figure out what just happened.

Kalim, after taking some time to reflect, returned the smile to his face and gave you a little nod, urging you to continue. Frowning, you opened your mouth to proceed talking.

“Finally learned to keep quiet when asked? What an obedient boy you are, I'm amazed. Maybe you'll stop smiling too, since you're so helpless?”

Kalim's amber eyes flashed with suspicion. Okay, it no longer looked like just an awkward burts of emotions or some kind of ridiculous coincidence with anything. Both you and Kalim abruptly stopped talking, but you frowned heavily until he continued to speak.

“Prefect, listen. If that's what's been getting you all this time, then you could have told me earlier. We are friends, I think we need to tackle issues the instant they arise, aren't we?.. You sound like you've been accumulating it for a very long time...”

You wanted to scream and howl in helplessness but quickly realized that it was probably the potion that your classmates gave you. Turning your head negatively from side to side, you shyly lowered your gaze and fell completely silent.

“Prefect… I don't quite understand why you told me all this if you don't want to discuss it in detail now?..” Kalim seemed to be asking himself more than you, trying to figure out what had happened. “Tell me, are you okay? You don't look well.”

“Oh, believe me, I look just fine, hell to your worries. And am I being interrogated now?!”

You were shaking. There was no trace of the ever-splashing happiness in Kalim's eyes. His gaze became firm, focused and attentive but in rather concerned way. It was impossible to pretend that he was full of worry and discouraged, because you could get even more scared. What could he do for you now? Should he call Jamil? No, he's taking an elective classes at the moment… Run to the nearest classroom and call for the teacher? But leaving you alone with these depressing thoughts is a much worse idea. In fact, his own feelings were driving him into a dead end, anxiety permeated his entire body. Kalim rubbed his temples with his fingers.

“Well... let's try this. I know it's not in your nature to say that! Don't worry, Prefect, I'll figure out what to do!”

You smiled, which went against your words literally half a minute ago, and Kalim only confirmed his guesses.

“Listen, I have an idea, let's try checking it out…” Kalim stretched out his open hand to you, and you blinked with an incomprehension in response to this gesture. “Try to write with your finger what happened with you on my hand! Hehe, it might work, right?”

Chuckling softly, you put his hand on your lap and ran your finger over the soft skin, seeming a little embarrassed by your own actions. Kalim giggled sweetly at the ticklish feeling of your fingers pressing on his skin. You poked him lightly on the shoulder, as if completing the story, and he nodded eagerly.

“So that's what happened! Oh, Prefect, to be honest, I was terrified at first! But it's good that the effect only applies to your speech. I wonder how long it takes to subside… Let's find your classmates and find out everything from them.”

After your classmates explained the situation to Kalim, he still warned them with a smile that they would definitely take responsibility for what they did. Although this suspicious smile was obviously different from the one he gave you every day.

“Don't worry! You'll be back to normal in a couple of hours. Although I'm happy to know that your rude words are the opposite of what you really think. That makes us amazing friends, doesn't it?” Kalim put his arm around your shoulder as you both walked back to the courtyard.

You've wondered what the real nature of your warm feelings was...

You decided to go to the botanical garden to clear your mind. A gentle calming atmosphere was something you really needed at the moment. A great option to take a break after the test.

“Leona-san, good morning! Oh would ya be so kind and honor the audience with your all-mighty presence? My plans didn't really include part-time working as your secretary.”

You heard Ruggie’s speech, who obviously tried again to put a little responsibility and a sense of time into the dorm leader, but all in vain as usual. You saw Leona scowl at Ruggie when you came inside.

“Spare me your sentimental speeches, Ruggie." Leona retorted. "Now that the herbivore is here, you're forcing me to get out. I can't even sleep peacefully anymore.”

Leona, nodding to you in greeting, walked lazily out of the garden. Ruggie turned around, waving his hand, and waited for you to come closer. Making yourself sit down on the bench where Leona usually sleeps, you smiled back.

“Have the first-years already finished their classes? Unless you're skipping, shyehehe,” Ruggie didn't bother to sit down next to you. He throwed his hands behind his head in a signature gesture of his and laughed. You rolled your eyes without any malice in them.

“None of your business. Besides, I'm not such a stupid idiot, unlike you.”

Frowning, you didn't realize what just happened. Ruggie, despite your rudeness, didn’t even raise an eyebrow and continued the conversation.

“I'll look at you when your the second year! You have no idea how meticulous Trein can be, such a pain in the ass.”

“Sure, sure, make excuses, you stupid thing. It's better to admit right away that you are an empty-headed fool without any traces of gray matter in your brain. Why don't you just make Trein fall down the stairs, Mr.-I-have-the-coolest-unique-magic?”

This time Ruggie lowered his arms and leaned right over you, resting his hand on the back of the bench. If you were joking, then the joke was absolutely not funny, even for a sarcastic one. Lowering his eyebrows to the bridge of his nose, he silently studied your terrified look. Maybe Leona-san is right when he calls you a herbivore? Maybe all you can do is just make sharp lunges and then run away with a tail between your legs?

To be honest, Ruggie didn't want such thoughts running through his head. But if what you said to him just now was your sincere feelings, then his reaction was absolutely justified.

“Ya know, it's not like I asked you for taking this on a personal level,” Ruggie pressed his palm harder into the bench, which made you shrink even more from fear. You were sure that Ruggie wouldn't do anything to you. You were scared of your own actions.

“Really? So, the fact that you mock me for not having magic is normal, but when I tell you the truth, you can't accept it anymore? Ha, this is just ridiculous!” Ruggie’s stern expression wavered for a second. You spoke such cruel words with an extremely frightened face and with trembling pupils in your huge eyes.

No matter how you look at it, the situation was absolutely strange. How foreign for you was to say such things to him when you clearly didn't want to feel him undeserving or something.

“Hey, Prefect. Even if I annoy you so much, try to shut your mouth for a second. I hope your not going to knock my teeth out.” Ruggie grinned with an inexplicable heaviness on his heart and pulled out a magic pen.

Nodding obediently, you fell silent. Ruggie moved closer to your face, causing the blood to rush to your cheeks. You looked away in embarrassment, pursing your lips. You wanted to say that he was very close, to play along with his jokes, but at that second everything went wrong so much that a strength left you.

Ruggie wasn't stupid. Free-thinking, carefree at times - yes, and this personality helped him overcome life difficulties with an enviable success. This situation was no exception. Would you, who constantly took care of him and sometimes brought food you did yourself, now scold him so cruelly?

“Listen, I’m sorry, but I need to check something. Come on, get up.” Obeying, you stood up.

“Hmm... can you come to the flower bed?” Not quite understanding what he wanted, you nodded weakly and complied with the request. “Okay, so you're not acting against your will. Can you type what happened?” You shook your head. You left your phone in the dorm at a very bad time. However, you came up with another way out.

Making yourself near the flower bed, you took a dry branch and began scratching out letters on the slightly moist after watering flowers soil. Ruggie peered at the resulting text and gasped.

“Well, what a terrible handwriting you have.” You pretended to sulk, sticking a branch into the ground.

“Okay, okay. The potion, huh… Don't worry, I'll figure it out. Even though I should attend a lesson now, leaving you in this state could be considered as a danger to society, shyehehe.”

Hastily finding your classmates and finding out what was the matter, Ruggie shushed at them and returned with you to the botanical garden. He had already made a mental reminder that after class several first-years would magically find their jackets in the mud… But you don't have to know about that.

“Actually now I think that nothing would have happened if you had gone to attend class. If the potion only works with those who are close to you, then I’m the only one to be afraid in this entire college, shyehehe!”

You jolted at the surprise of his words. He had no idea how right he was.

The lessons were over for today, and you decided to celebrate getting an excellent mark in the Mostro Lounge. It was nice to realize you had brought enough accumulated money to allow yourself to try a new drink on the menu. Why else would Jade boast off his new ingredientscombination he happened to found deep in the mountains, right?

Once there, you sat down at an empty table for two. There were surprisingly many people today, including your classmates. It seems that many people have the same idea as you. Jade and Floyd maneuvered between tables with several trays on their hands, barely keeping up with deliver orders. Azul will be very happy with the income received by the end of the day, that is for sure. Smiling at your thoughts, you didn't notice how Azul appeared in front of you with a menu in his hand.

“Prefect,” Azul smiled charmingly out of his entrepreneurial habit. “Have you decided to honor Mostro Lounge with your presence and increase our profit three times? Considering your popularity and the fact that today you shine especially bright on the pedestal of the most outstanding personalities of our college. Floyd has already told me about your progress in the potionology class. I heartily congratulate you! Well, getting to the point. What would you like to taste, dear visitor?”

You smiled radiantly. Of course, his inner entrepreneur spoke in him, but you still preferred to think that you were at least a little more special to him. Come to think of it, such a long dialogue with such a huge number of visitors probably hinted to you that Azul mixed professional ethics with personal feelings for you.

“Yeah, sure thing. Unlike a useless loser like you, I can make money with my presence alone. Are you envious? And don't even think about deluding yourself. To consume your mediocre garbage from the menu… Who do you take me for?”

Azul thought for a split second that maybe his hearing had let him down. No, mermen had much more acute hearing than humans… So the probability of him making a mistake was minimized. Maybe it was some kind of strange human way of making a profitable marketing move?

While Azul was thinking hard about what you just said, you were seized with horror. Out of all the tender and affectionate words that were in your head, did you actually choose THOSE? It can't be, even in the most disturbing nightmare, you wouldn't dare to insult Azul like that…

“Ha, just look at your face. How pathetic you are, it's getting unbearable to witness.”

Azul could have sworn that something agonizingly stirred in his chest at the moment. A feeling of resentment, almost the same as when he went overblotted, gripped his heart. Now your words no longer seemed like a strange joke or a misunderstanding. You hit those points that you knew were extremely painful for Azul.

Throwing the menu on the table, Azul wanted to order you to get out of here. Turning around, he himself intended to go to the staff room, but you grabbed his arm. The genuine fright on your face made him flinch for a second, but your sarcastic voice echoed in his ears. If he hadn't been overwhelmed by bitterness, he would have heard caustic chuckles at the next table.

“I...” You tried to squeeze something out of yourself, but the tongue moved as if by itself, so you bit it hard. A bitter metallic taste spread in your mouth, and a thin scarlet trickle seeped out, trickling down your lip. Azul tensed, pushing all his thoughts aside for a split second. Something strange was happening to you.

“What is it?” Anxiety took over him as he relaxed his arm in your grip.

You shook your head, refusing to speak. Fortunately for you, Azul wasn’t a fool and was able to put together a logical chain in his head.

“I don't like your trembling and that scared look, Prefect. Let's take you to the infirmary.”

You shook your head again. Physically wise, you were absolutely healthy, even though pretty much panicked. Something told you that a doctor wouldn't help here. After all, anything could happen to a magicless person.

“Okay, then… Can you write?” Azul pulled out a pen from his breast pocket on his uniform and a small piece of paper for notes.

Having tried to write something on a piece of paper denoting your true thoughts, you breathed a sigh of relief when no causticness was found in the words. After explaining everything in detail and apologizing at the end, you raised an awkward look at Azul. Adjusting his glasses, he nodded and pulled on his gloves.

“Thank you for your detailed feedback, dear customer. Your wish is my command,” Azul smiled slyly, finally shifting his gaze to the next table, where your potion-making partners were no longer laughing as eagerly as a few minutes ago.

When Azul held out the familiar gilded sheet, you realized that something obviously unprofitable was waiting for your classmates, and you laughed at the thought. After everything was settled, Azul came back to you.

“As expected, there is no need to worry, although frankly speaking, I was stung by your words. However, it was interesting to find out that all the rudeness you said is a converted version of warm feelings towards me. Well, should we sign a contract so that I can personally serve you in the Mostro Lounge? I am generous enough to accept such a favor in return for your feelings.” A sly smile shone on his face.

You looked away in embarrassment, not sure how much truth there was in Azul's words. However, you also left your true feelings behind a mysterious veil.

❤︎ notes : i'm not really satisfied with this one, but in any case... it was a request from an anon on my previous acc (ayavielle) which got shadowbanned and i wasn't in the mood for restoring it so i'm just posting this again lol i like ruggie and azul parts but as for riddle and kalim ones... idk maybe i'll rewrite this work but we'll see since i'm occupied with a lot of uni tasks but anyway i hope you enjoyed!

#twst #riddle x reader #kalim x reader #ruggie x reader #azul x reader #twisted wonderland

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vampzxi · 1 year

Text

𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭!𝘳𝘪𝘳𝘪 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘴

hi guys i finally finished the riri hcs...dont jump me idk why they took so long. if you have any other hcs PLEASE tell me i literally love riri so much it's probably unhealthy at this point. check out my highschool!shuri headcanons here! :)

taglist!: @vixentheplanet @abenomeiiii @inmyheadimobsessed @zayswriting @pinkwright @ccharrrr @letitias-fav @shuriszn @generallysapphic @iotusroses @marsolgy @ihearttish (ask to be added or fill out this form. i'm so forgetful i'm sorry!)

academic

・❥・top of her class, dur 🤦🏽 (her and shuri are a year apart, riri being a junior)

・❥・homework side hustle (she’s a very expensive woman)

・❥・prefers math over any other subject, cannot stand english

・❥・despite not liking english, she has a very creative mind and all her english teachers love her

・❥・very quiet in class, minds her business for the most part

・❥・frequently spends all-nighters on her homework simply because she got too distracted (chronic procrastinator)

・❥・undiagnosed adhd

・❥・fidgeter. will bounce her leg, tap her nails on the desk, mess with her jewelry, cannot stay still in her seat

・❥・neat handwriting because her mom and step-dad taught her how to write nicely from a young age

・❥・terrible test anxiety

・❥・slick mouth often gets her into a lot of arguments with teachers.. (she made a teacher retire early once)

・❥・spends most of her time in her welding/metallurgy class, before and after school. if she's not there then she's at the garage

・❥・was forced into the debate club because her teacher told her to "channel her argumentative energy elsewhere" but she ended up loving it and wins most of her meets

social

・❥・despite keeping to herself, virtually everyone is cool with her

・❥・skips class with shuri sometimes

・❥・naturally flirty personality

・❥・gets dragged to parties by shuri but ends up having more fun than she does

・❥・picky eater

・❥・dancer. you cannot pull her off the dance floor

・❥・cannot speak xhosa to save her life...shuri makes fun of her a lot

・❥・gets angry easily, so she's been in her fair share of fights. she has yet to lose one

・❥・basketball player, her step dad taught her how to hoop

・❥・smokes 🍃 occasionally

・❥・favorite anime is soul eater

・❥・guilty pleasure: musicals. and shuri is the only one who knows this because she walked in on her singing "In The Heights". (she made shuri swear to secrecy)

・❥・loves skating

・❥・she switches up her style often, most times you'll just see her in a shirt and sweats. but she doesn't mind putting on a cute skirt or dress every now and then

romantic

・❥・if you like her, good luck. there's a line a mile long.

・❥・very cocky, she knows shes the shit.

・❥・drooler and snorer.

・❥・her love languages are words of affirmation and quality time, so she always has to let you know how good you look, or how smart you are, or how much she enjoys being around you. your date nights mostly consist of cuddling under each other and watching movies

・❥・drags you to the skating rink at least once a week

・❥・posts you all over her social medias. like constantly. when you ask her why she usually responds with something along the lines of, "i just want the world to see how fine you are."

・❥・wild sleeper, she usually ends up kicking you off the bed

・❥・she plays with your hair a lot

・❥・loves lego sets and puzzles and begs you to do them with her and shuri (you always say yes)

・❥・loves PDA, will literally kiss you anywhere, any time

・❥・rambles about you to shuri constantly

・❥・always bringing you something she made for you in her metallurgy class. you appreciate them but you're running out of room because of the amount she gives you

・❥・since she's in the garage most of the time, you end up having to drag her out

・❥・very oblivious with signals, if you try to drop hints she will not pick them up

・❥・scratcher.

・❥・debates everything, resulting in a few arguments. but she always ends up apologizing in the end. in certain ways 🤭

・❥・very possessive. she intentionally leaves hickeys on you. you don't mind though

thanks again for reading! yes i wrote this because im procrastinating on the shuri fic...mind your business. leave your headcanons guys :3

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kidfoundonstreets · 1 month

Note

LOVEBRUSH CHRONICLE. YOU LIKE?

ill try to keep it brief 1/20397

lovebrush chronciles is an otome game deisgbed by team/company I AM ACTUALLY NOT SURE DESPITE YOU SEEING IT EVRRYTIME YOU ENTER THE GAME HOLD ON neteaze games (passion of gamers) and it is about altnerate universes, time fuckery, and school life.

the game begins introducing itself as a regular otome school life sim (my condolences to the fans who fell for william first sight only to find out hes not an actual love interest trust me i see u i feel u) but then WHAM BAM!! just when u thougut ur girl best friend was lookin kinda cute she gets X_x in this summon circle and you jump in to save her only to find out youre now in a royal cage surrounded by people that needa sacrifice you to save themselves from their own doom. oh and youre not in your own world anumore good luck have fun

so now here goes the different plots and paths with the love interests. the way i playrd it was as they introduced it, which was ayn aklaid lars claerence. no cael route yet which rips me apart every night. the love interests seem to have consistent values throughout most universes despite all of their diferet upbringings which i find pretty cool considering schoollife and royaltylife are two completely drastic diferent things, and also i nejoy how mc is written with more character and an amazing design to match the rest of the beautifully drawn cast

on that topic the art is GORGEOUS. i have never seen such beautiful detailed art in a game before and i assure you it will not disappoijnt. the graphics and smoothness of the game are especially a great touch. THERES A MINI STORY FOR EACH CARD BTW SR AND UP ITS SO GOOD becasenit feels as if the creatoes actually put care and give a shit into whar theyre writing and drawing and even in little events the absolute quality and depth of the cast shines theough its just i cannot express how much you need to play tjis game if you like dating sims ITS FREE TOO??,×*#&@ IMSO SAD WHY ID OBEYEME GETTING SM ATTENTION WHEN THIS IS SITTJNGHERE HUH dont get me wrong i too was in that hole but trust me brother there is only one man worth it there and obeyeme sure as hell isnt gonna do it justice with its 200+ chapter peobably plotline

anywya its 11 pm and ibhave no idea how to organize this post so ill just go through the cast

he is my plaything

ANYWAY ayn is so maahh hes the stupid cat that sleeps on me at night HE USED YO BE MY FAV AND WAS EXACTLY MY TYPE OFF THE BAT ITS SO IRONIC HES MY LEASY LIKED NOW but hes still very good and god you need to see this

^^ bisexual dilemma

^^ HIS EMO PHASE

i like him as a side piece, he has a nice personality but it doesnt stick out to me as much as the rest but i heavily respect the enjoyers of him

Aigh now

HHHRHRGGGHWH HHRGGBW WHWHWBW W SLSOPE9282B3BDND BSHSJW W GHENRBR .R FJJGGW HJ W..B GHN.F. H . THROWSUP aklaid my dear my darling ! i lvouou my little STARBOY my favorite my self sacrificing devoted prince who acts soo nice but is the cause of his own decay. smooochh I ADORE HIM dude one time he almost dies and mc is like "i am so sorry" and hes smiling qhile saying "nono! this is the happiest ivebeen" GET THERAPY

lars is my favorite lesbian

im onsessed w him hes always fun no matter where he is and yet they still dont dumb him down the moments where hes serious only add to his character his charm is unexplainable his rizz unatainable you could never

my TRUE favorite lesbian

MY FABORITE MY FABORITE KY DAVROITE I WAS SO WORRIED HOW I WOULD ENKOY HIM BECAUSE SO KUCH WAS UNKNOWN BUT AHGGWDHHSHW HIS ROUTE HIS DEPTH EVERYTHING IT MAKES ME SO SADITS HWARTBREAKING DUDE "HAIR HOLDS MEMORIES" IM GONNA SOB INTO MY HANDS I CANT BELIEVE I LOVE A MAN NAMED CLARENARENCNEUXIHQBQ SHUTOROSHUSITP oh and he really likes cats :D

i have run out of images but cael caught my eye since the beginning and i dont know whats wrong with him is he my parental figure my wife my side piece my worst enemy my hater my lover my killer my doomer my caretaker my one-time-leave-you-for-nine-months

i genuinely cannot stand him hes the one who i always run to and check on firstin efents and stories not claerence not lars not alkaid but fucking CAEL.

i cant help it maybe in the end my heart really belongs to him because im still waiting for his route and for him to show moreemotion and maybe break down or slowly go through the agony of learning to accept love despite everything despite you

this is the only part i feel a little uneased about in the writers hands.. they are very capable hands.. but will they do him right.. hes so stupidly simple but not it makes me grit my teeth and die

◇°♡○♤○£▪︎¥°₩`£•♡○◇○♡♤◇•◇•♡☆

THANK YOU EVERYPONY FOR REASING IF YOU DID PLEASE SMASH THAT OIKE AND SUBACRIBE BUTTON FOR MORE UNHINGED RANTS IM SORRY FOR BEING AUSTISTIC AND MAY DO IT AGAIN ♡♡ GOD BLESS

#hi roi #it just hit me i didnt elaborate on the time fuckery and uh well

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fairygeek777 · 7 months

Text

In my personal and 100% valid opinion

Aside from actual motion of the characters, the og Crystal artsyle was beautiful and very closely resembled Naoko Takeuchi's artstyle.

The problem was the lack of consistency. The artsyle in seasons 1 and 2 is highly detailed as is Takeuchi's artsyle. But this isn't very ideal with animation. However, I think if handled *better* it could've been an absolutely beautiful anime.

I know that I talk about how season 3 vastly improved the anime, and it did. But it also made it feel less familiar. The style and movement feels less like Sailor Moon. I've never watched the Precure series but the artstyle is like crazy similar to that anime. It's cute but I don't know if it works too well.

That includes the transformation animations. There is some nice work with glitter and spotlights, shininess and whatnot. Nothing to say about the inner and outer senshi sequences since they're remakes of the classic ones. But in Sailor Moon's case, she has a unique one each time. (At least up to episode 32-ish) and how to put this... Usagi's s3 transformation sequence animation is *jarring* there's like- too much exaggeration. And tbh I don't like it at all.

So going back to season 1, the CG that I've talked about before? Yea its jarring too if you're not expecting it. However its also really beautiful. Specifically Usagi's sequence!

Look. At. The. Camera. Angles!!! Like the focus on her hands (which is a consistency in this anime) and the use of panning! Especially in the Tiara shot how it revolves around her as the beams light up from her forehead. It's just so pretty!

And the other recurring clips are really nice too!

Look at the arch that Usagi's arm makes as she performs her signature intro! I love looking at this scene everytime for that part! And the timing with raising her arms before quickly bringing them down as she says "Oshiokyo!" (or "I'll punish you" in dub) Those are things that this clip do better than every other version of this iconic gesture.

And then here, the camera angles again are on point. And the forshortening on her hand is just *chef's kiss*

And something I just wanted to mention, Makoto looks gorgeous in some of these shots from s1 and s2. The artstyle is like perfect for her.

Moving on now, I wanna touch on Eternal. In terms of quality, Eternal is easily my favorite. The character pallets are accurate, and the character animation is excellent.

However. In terms of matching Naoko's artstyle, well it doesn't. Its an homage to the 90s anime. They even recreate the transformation sequence animations for Usagi. Things like the character's hair having less strands and detail. Actually there's less detail in general. But the eye highlights match the manga pretty well. I mean it all works. I could endlessly rant about all I love from Eternal because literally the only issues I've found are with the pacing of the whole thing. I've seen people say that the characters are still really expressionless. I personally don't see that? But like its a valid opinion when comparing it to the 90s anime they were clearly honoring.

I would have loved to see the outer Senshi in the s1 artsyle. Specifically Michiru. One of the things I love about the way Naoko draws her is her flowing gorgeous wavy hair. And she draws it fairly long. Past her shoulders and sometimes longer.

Crystal s3 her debut season, usually drew her hair as long as it should be. And she looked as gorgeous as her manga counterpart. But then Eternal came, and Michiru's character design more resembled the 90s anime. And no offense, but I hate her 90s anime hair. She always looks like someone awkwardly chopped her hair right at her shoulders. Its just not nearly as pretty as she should be designed. Eternal did a mix of the two. Its still pretty but also inconsistent. Because in some scenes it has the choppy look. So yea I'd love to see Michiru and all the other characters in the s1 artsyle. I know it will never happen but still wanna see it.

This is my long winded way of saying I am in the minority and love Crystal seasons 1 and 2 for all its faults and successes. It really had amazing potential to be absolutely beautiful and a big win for shojo anime. If only the time and care was put into the show as a whole and not only certain individual frames or clips.

Because there's some really fricken great sh*t if you look long enough!!

#sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #sailor moon crystal appreciation #manga #anime #sailor moon eternal

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interroblog · 1 month

Text

(a colored sketch of four characters. from left to right there’s Gene who has dyed green hair and an orange jacket, Casper who has long flowing hair and pale skin, Saint who wears round sunglasses and a simple T shirt, and Tab who has curly orange hair and snakebite piercings.)

(tumblr compressed the hell out of this, click for higher quality)

It’s far past time to introduce the main characters for the moon book (intro) so I can finally talk about them! I’ll be sharing plenty more about them as I develop the story now, but here’s some basics for now.

Saint 🌙 19, he/him, 4w5, ENFP, the protagonist!

Saint has a rich creativity and passion for storytelling. He loves to play piano and sing, the latter of which he’s supernaturally good at. He’s not very talkative and doesn’t share his stories often, but whenever he does there’s a gravity to his voice that pulls listeners in.

Saint’s best and only friends are Tab and Gene, but sometimes he feels like they’re just humoring him. He feels like an outsider around anyone except himself.

Because of a medical condition, Saint has periods where his senses are dulled to the point where he can’t perceive the outside world. So he turns inward. That’s what caused him to have such a weak sense of belonging, as well as surround himself with stories.

Tab 🪐 19, they/them, 3w2, ESTJ 🏳️‍⚧️

Tab loves academia and used to excel in every class- until their senior year. They’ve got a great memory and will happily learn and repeat back information all day, but the second the advanced classes they took got into more abstract ideas, they started failing. They can be inflexible, stubborn, and a bit blunt, but damn if they don’t get things done.

Now they’re retaking their senior year, which has ruined their hopes of getting into a good college. That was, until they met Casper who got them into the supernatural and ghosthunting… if they can find concrete proof of the things that exist beyond earth, they’d be able to get into whatever college they want.

Tab has a lot of friends that come and go, but the closest to their heart are Saint and Gene. They also have a rotating cast of passions, but their most consistent are history and guitar- which they learned to spend more time with their friends by starting a band.

Gene 💫 17, he/him, 9w8, INFP 🏳️‍⚧️

For most of his life, Gene has neatly fit into the persona of a quiet nerdy academic that the world projected onto him. But as he’s growing up, he’s starting to realize it doesn’t fit as well anymore. He’s an idealist with strong values, and a deep optimism + compassion. He’s young, he’s still growing into himself! He wants to change the world!

Now he’s just been accepted into a fancy college that’s sure to lead to a promising tech career. The only problem is, it’s across the country and he’s starting to feel a growing unease about leaving his friends behind to sit behind a desk taking orders from a boss for the rest of his life.

Gene adores his brother, Saint, and he’s been friends with Tab since they were kids. He plays the drums in their band and follows Tab around on all their adventures.

Casper ⚡️ 22, he/her, 7w6, ???? 🏳️‍⚧️

Casper is a high energy person who loves to experience new things, meet new people, do everything she can regardless of how good of an idea it may be. He’s always doing something with his hands; that means fiddling around with technology and more recently, crocheting.

After getting to a bad accident, Casper’s soul left her body. But before her body died, it replaced that soul with a rogue bit of cosmic dust that was similar enough to work as a replacement. He’s doing his best to recover as fast as possible so he can go back to his normal life, but it’s becoming harder and harder to pretend that’s an option. Casper isn’t able to do many of the things she used to, she doesn’t even feel like the same person anymore…

Meanwhile, the person that became her new soul isn’t pleased about this situation, either. Being stuck in a body is horribly limiting, their similar feelings of frustration bleed together and make the separation of the two even harder to maintain. But that’ll all be fine if they just ignore it :’)

Powehi 🌟???, it, 7w6

Powehi is an alien, the intangible manifested consciousness of humanity’s collective voice. It dives from body to body, seeing the world through earthling eyes until it stayed too long in Casper’s dying body and was trapped. It thinks very highly of itself and the things it can do, so to be condensed down to such a limiting form is… difficult. It’s mostly been sulking and ignoring everything.

Saint is its favorite earthling, so it blessed him with a piece of its power and visits him in his dreams. It hasn’t been able to do that recently, and even though Saint doesn’t realize Powehi is more than a figment of his imagination, he cares for it and is starting to get worried.

Powehi never had a name before meeting Saint, it’s usually just called the Voice.

#wip: moon #writing #character intro #oc intro #writeblr #excited!! I like these guys #I’ll do the minor characters soon but there aren’t really that many #oc: saint #oc: tab #oc: gene #oc: casper #oc: powehi #Spotify

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sapphickorro · 1 year

Note

hi!!! i liked your writing and i was wondering if you could write a Carol x reader where carol is late for a christmas party and tries to make it up to reader? fluff and maybe smut pls! ty!

Pairing(s) - Carol Danvers x Reader

summary: Carol comes home for a Christmas Eve party a little too late.

warnings: angst with comfort :) , use of petname “princess”

word count: 947

A/N: I was gonna write a smut butttt…..I think you guys should get a smut from me on Christmas as a gift <3. dont mind the shitty quality pics!!

ao3 - masterlist

The party nears an end as Nick, Monica, and the two Maria’s sit on the floor by the fireplace playing Uno. You’re in the kitchen away from the commotion, watching out the window lost in your thoughts.

You feel a tug on the sleeve of your oversized sweater, you look down and see Monica looking up at you. “Are you waiting for Auntie Carol?” She softly asks.

“Yeah, kiddo.” You lightly smile down at her. You place your mug down onto the island and pick her up in your arms. She giggles holding onto you tightly. “Let’s get you back in the game.”

The two of you sit back on the carpet floor, watching the heated game between the adults go on. Enjoying each other’s company.

“She might not come home tonight.” Nick states blatantly as he drops a reverse card causing one of the Maria’s to groan.

“Yeah, I know.” You solemnly respond. “I just thought she would’ve cleared some time in her schedule to visit us again.”

“Don’t be sad Y/N/N.” The kid cuddled in your arms says to you.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be alright. I just need some time outside.” You drop Monica down onto the floor as you stand up stepping out onto the front porch. You take a seat on one of the steps, pulling your sleeves over your fingers. The cool late night air washes over your face causing you to huddle into yourself.

You wonder if Carol’s on one of the stars that litter the sky during this time of night. Imaging that she probably just got lost on one of the planets instead of forgetting her promise that she’d be back for Christmas. Tears build up in your eyes, you knew what getting into a long distance relationship would cost. You willingly put your heart out for a person that you’d only see once in a while, your love for her tearing down any regrets of getting together.

Yet, why did it hurt so much every time you woke up on your bed alone again. Gripping onto her pillow imaging it was her instead of the white cloth that smelled of her shampoo.

You get placed out of your trance as you see a star flying down towards you. Your star. Your star that consisted of blonde hair and red and blue attire. It was Carol.

You stand up on the ledge of the steps watching her land softly down onto the ground. She slowly walks towards you, a box of chocolates in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in her other.

“Hey princess, sorry to keep you waiting.” She looks into your eyes, guilt written all over them knowing that she had missed another important event to you.

“Carol, do you know what time it is?” You look away from her. She slowly sets down the flowers and chocolates by the fence railing as she holds your hands, instantly warming them up. “I know love, I know. I said I’d be here and I’m here now.” She speaks softly to you, not wanting to anger you more.

“Yeah, at least you decided to show up this time. Carol, I let you miss Thanksgiving but I seriously thought that I’d have to wake up on Christmas morning alone.” You pull your hands away from hers.

“In my defense. I was about to leave the planet I was on, EARLY. I had finished hours ago until the queen of the planet decided to keep me as a personal guard and I told them how I have to make it back onto Earth to go to this really lovely party and see the love of my life again and then chaos ensued and I had to fight them all off. And then, there was this whole political warfare thing-” She catches herself rambling and sighs.

“Look, I’m really sorry. I promised you I’d be here and I couldn’t even get here on time. I really tried and I know you’re upset and disappointed at me. But, can we just enjoy tonight? Christmas is in less than 12 hours and I’d love to do nothing but snuggle in bed with you as we get our matching pjs on while watching those cheesy christmas movies you always watch.” She places a hand on your cheek turning you to look at her and you give in. You could never say no to Carol no matter how upset you were at her.

For the first time since she landed, you noticed her dirtied suit and bloodied face. Her hair’s a mess and you can’t help but smile at how although she just got out of a big fight she still came with flowers and chocolates, just for you.

You pull her in for a kiss. “Fine, but you might be sleeping on the couch for a while till you learn your lesson.”

“Aw man, perhaps I could pay you back in another way?” She says grinning, leaning in to kiss you again.

“Auntie Carol!!!” The two of you break away as Monica runs out with her arms open.

“Monica!” Carol kneels down to embrace Monica’s hug. Picking her up and swinging her around. The three of you giggle as a shadow fills behind you. The other adults stand by the doorway smiling.

“Good to see you made the party.” Rambeau says. “Nick, Rambeau, Hill. Glad to see you guys.” Carol says walking towards them, Monica still in her arms. You pick up the chocolates and flowers, walking back into the house with a smile on your face.

Perhaps tonight wasn’t so bad. The only thing you could’ve wished for came to you.

#﹔﹒ korro writes﹒ ෆ #carol danvers x reader drabble #korro writes 🎞

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realcatalina · 14 days

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This is an imagen of María of Aragón, Queen of Portugal, from the Tríptico de Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia, Jan Provost, c. 1515.

I presume you wish to hear my thoughts about this painting, since no question was written.

Despite Jan Provoost never provenly leaving Low Countries, surprisingly not so small amount of his art are on Iberian peninsula.

Some of them provenly there since not long after their making, presumably comissioned directly. Not really sure how that comission process exactly worked.

Probably the best quality photos I could find of it are from this webpage.

Which also sheds bit of light about its history.

This painting is believed to be comissioned by Nuno Fernandes Cardoso and his wife Leonor Dias in 1511 when they had ordered construction of Chapel called la Capilla de San Juan de Letrán including the triptych for its altar. Thus it is presumed the painting was comissioned between years 1512-1515, not long after.

I have some issues regarding the royals within.

Number 1 all photos ignore the fifth presumed member of royal family-The girl in red dress on right.

(and fact two more figures are partially hiden behind the altar.)

It is believed by some that from left to right these are Manuel I, Maria of Aragon-his wife, Isabella of Portugal-his eldest daughter, Eleanor of Viseu(Dowager Queen of Portugal-wife of his predecessor) and Beatrice of Portugal-his younger daughter.

Not sure about costumes of everybody, but presumed daughters are dressed in Netherlandish outfits.

While i cannot rule out he was sent some sketches, the faces of these women are consistent with generic figures from other paintings by same artist. With designs which he was reusing.

Thus even if identification as royals is correct, it is not likely for it to be true likeness. (However in some cases, the artists were chosen because their already existing work reminded people of their loved ones. )

But the question on my mind seeing this triptych is-Where the heck are his sons? The painting is believed to be made in betwen 1512-1515.

By this point Manuel and Maria had 3 daughters and 5 boys. People were sexist back then, so idea King Manuel got depicted with wifey and daughters only is cute...but unrealistic.

While we have 7 male figures on left, one is pope(on right), one is old man, then there is monk(infante Henry was cardinal), and 4 more figures, not all of them even showing full face. They are not at front, but at back. Like is it symbolical...or were those boys not important?

Secondly, why would every royal except Manuel be depicted in clothes better fitted for somebody of lesser status?

Another depiction of the same royal family by Netherlandish artist Colijn de Coter is called Fons Vitae, and there despite outfits being netherlandish at least they were what we would expect from depiction of royalty.

Ermine, cloth of gold, crimson also popular with plenty of royals. But here only Manuel wears such suptuous robes.

(the other male with fur-that is not ermine, they specifically sewn those so that the tails appeared regularly.)

Thus i fear, it might be the case that Manuel is the sole royal depicted.

And that we have pope and king in central positions beneath Virgin Mary and people on sides will be the patrons and the family.

Possibly people who had the painting comissioned. Which would mean the grey-haired man in red and black is ment to represent Nuno Fernandes Cardoso(with his male relatives behind him).

And his wife Leonor Dias, is represented by either the woman in green or the woman in black with white headwear-which is also positioned probably the most at front(with the female relatives behind her.)

Thus in my opinion it could be the case of wrong identification, based upon proximity to the figure of the king and the fact the woman has golden hair (or at least i think she might have) and ribbon on upper part of forehead is bit similiar to how cofia the tranzado was worn with ribbon across forehead.

But even if i was wrong about this female not being ment to represent Maria, the face matches rest of generic saints by this artist. (for example the one on left)

Sorry. This is pretty face, but likely not Maria's.

#maria of aragon #historical portraits

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maybecrot · 5 months

Text

Since the Hellsing fandom is more active on here, and I love to see other people's OCs.. (all of you are creative with your OCs, which is *chef's kiss*)

I'd love to introduce my own OC!

︶꒦︶꒷︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶꒷꒦‧ ₊˚・

Basic info:

Her name is Carmen Marquez. She was born on August 5th in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her name is Herbew and Latin origin, and it means "song, truthful, and poetry." As for her surname, it means "son of Marcos or Marcus."

She is 23 years old. Carmen is the oldest out of her family. (May or may not have the burden of being the "perfect golden child")

She works for Iscariot, and her main (and only) friends are Heinkel and Yumiko.

Carmen has no opinion on Enrico. She doesn't necessarily like him but doesn't hate him, either.

As for her opinion on Anderson, she views him as a second father figure in her life.

She is 5'6", thus making her a centimeter taller than some people. For some reason, she gets a bit insecure of her height sometimes. Carmen either feels she's too tall or too short to others.

She speaks Spanish and English fluently.

Her zodiac sign is Leo. (It's not really important, but I decided to add this in there if anyone's curious)

Carmen is pansexual. She doesn't care what anyone looks. If they're hot, then she finds that person hot. Expect, she won't ever admit that.

Weapons & Powers:

She has two main weapons. One is a rapier and a silver ring with an aquamarine crystal that can turn into a whip.

When her ring turns into its whip form, light blue colored lighting emits from it.

She wears her ring on her right index finger.

Ángel's Suerte (rapier) was given to her by the Iscariots, and Heavenly Twist (ring/whip) is her family's heirloom that is passed down from generation to generation; Carmen was gifted this ring by her father.

Both weapons are required for Carmen to tap into her spiritual prowess. She can create magical glyphs for Ángel's Suerte. As for Heavenly Twist, she will use it if under grim circumstances or if there are few enemies in her path.

Heavenly Twist is used to strike enemies with powerful lashes, depending on how poweful Carmen wants these attacks to be. The enemies are rendered immobile as the electricity will spread out throughout said enemies.

Appearance:

Carmen has long, wavy dark brown hair, which she keeps it in a braid.

Her eye color is amethyst (or purple, whichever term you prefer to use!)

She has small yet noticeable freckles everywhere on her body. They're more on her face, collarbone, and shoulders.

Carmen does wear the standard Catholic nun uniform like Yumiko. Only if she's sent to missions. Otherwise, she prefers to be in her regular attire. This consists of anything beige (her favorite color), usually dresses, skirts, and tops. Her clothing is inspired by her culture in a more modern style.

She likes to wear earrings. Especially her golden cross earrings! Anything with crosses or pearls will catch her attention.

Personality:

Carmen is a considerate and generous woman. She cares about the people around her, being rather sympathetic. Whenever she had free time, she would play with the children at the orphanage or write and send letters to her family. Though, she does have her flaws. If someone confronts her about something, Carmen is harsh, a *bit* short-tempered, and passive-aggressive. She's fiercely protective when it comes to her family or anyone with whom she has a close bond. Upon meeting strangers, she tends to be polite and quiet. She will only speak when she's spoken to.

︶꒦︶꒷︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶꒷꒦‧ ₊˚・

I would add her backstory here, but I'm holding that back unless anyone asks. Then I'll make a separate post about it!

Feel free to ask questions about her! I love to take every opportunity to gush about Carmen because I only gush about her to one of my friends ahsh

Here's a drawing of Carmen I did two days ago!

(The quality looks terrible, in my opinion, but let's overlook that. When it comes to designing my OCs, I tend to play around with Picrew and try out different makers to see which one would fit my OCs the best.)

That's what I did with Carmen! I thought this picrew maker worked perfectly with her.

The Picrew I used is called The Lady Of Hera by K_pupu!

In conclusion, feel free to ask questions about her! Also, I welcome art of her 🫶🏽

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sisaloofafump · 5 months

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That's super cool you're reading through through the 1986 Wonder Woman run, I really enjoyed it. Is it your first time going through ? c:

Yeah!! I'm really enjoying it and was surprised by how complex and well written it is. Wonder Woman is the only DC property I engaged with as a kid through various comics and animated films. Despite that, I know comparatively little about her—I was always more on the X-Men & Ultimate Spider-Man side and never crossed to DC until recently. Over the past year of reading DC (I started in Feb), I've been mostly reading Superman and Batman—a lot of modern Batman, a lot of golden/silver Superman. So the 1986 Wonder Woman run is also new to me in terms of era. (I have attempted to read the immediate post-crisis runs of S and B but I didn't enjoy them, which added to my surprise on WW's quality).

I have read some of Diana's current runs, and of course seen her in crossovers and team ups, but it is weird to me how little I know her in comparison to Superman and Batman. I've never been the biggest fan of her base design and like seeing and experimenting with different alternatives. When I was reading through the silver age Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (which I loved), one of my favourite aspects was the different outfits that Kurt Schaffenberger gave her every issue, so I drew them. They were just little thumbnail sketches that I don't think I ever shared here, but that was the precursor to Daily Diana. I wanted to reintroduce myself to Diana, and use it as a method to draw regularly, learn anatomy, and learn how to draw clothing. I also just love her outfits.

Additional photos below:

In order:

The thumbnail sketches of outfits in the Lois Lane series. I also posted a handful of her other looks here

The base Diana design I had made and been doodling for a while. I really like the idea of her chest plate seeming like greek pottery. A later piece started the inclusion of clay-like marks on her skin, which is the main hold over into Daily Diana. You can also see that it is a different style here than DD. Honestly, I don't have a particularly consistent way of drawing, but with DD I specifically wanted to imitate and learn from the og's inking

Alternate of base design with short hair and glowing marks

Thumbnail of base design and a non-combat alt

This was the panel that I saw in a DC guide book and went "oh my god I need to source and draw that". The ensuing search led me through so much of her early post-crisis run and noticing all the cool outfits. It was essentially the inciting incident of Daily Diana, which i started the next day.

#yup yup #that was way too long of thoughts for the question but #dc comics #my art #lois lane #daily diana #ask #wonder woman

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angelofrainfrogs · 1 month

Text

Going Back: Ch. 19

~Coauthored by @zeitghest~

Fandom(s): Five Nights At Freddy’s: Security Breach

Description: Things are looking up for Gregory. After putting the soul of a formerly-immortal killer to rest, he and his new family can finally begin their lives anew. Sure, Gregory might have been cursed with mysterious Remnant in exchange for being involved in this mess—not to mention his caretakers consist of sentient robots and ghosts… But there’s no doubt that the bond they share is unbreakable. They love him, and he in turn.

All in all, life is finally starting to go right for once.

…Unfortunately, true peace is a hard-won battle. There are other things to contend with besides William’s decrepit soul, and Gregory will learn that his role in the lives of the Aftons and Emilys is far greater than anyone could’ve imagined.

Rating: T

Read on Ao3

It's funny how people worked when they were afraid. Terry had been scared for the past forty-five minutes and did nothing but act irrationally. He and Rita’s shared lack of thought in this plan was painfully obvious now. They were taken and kept against their will to find Gregory alone in a dimly lit basement, now with the added guilt of it all.

How could they let him come to a place like this? If Gregory was really down here, then Terry thought whatever came from this misadventure, he and Rita could very well deserve it.

It was too late for hindsight as the couple marched forward past the heavy door, entering what looked like an old maintenance room lit sparingly with bulbs along the edges. The only distinct shape either could officially make out was a girl, a lone spotlight in the middle of the ceiling shining down upon her.

She was sobbing on her ground nursing a wound on her leg, desperately trying to keep pressure on her ankle and moving strawberry blonde hair from her face as her body shook with cries. When the door moved, she was quickly pulled from her lament and reached her hand out.

“Don't—Don't let the door shut!” the unfortunate girl warned in a posh English accent, right before the large security door was latched from the outside.

“Holy shit...,” Rita breathed, her hold on Terry's hand turning into a death grip.

What the hell were they doing in this place?!

Terry and Rita had seen their fair share of ailing kids—though of course neither would own up to the fact that they were the cause of most of these issues—but they'd never think to kidnap a child and torture them... They got their fosters the legal way, and only when they were officially dubbed a “Smith” could the neglect begin.

“Uh... h-hi, honey,” Rita said, though her tone had lost most of the sweet edge she'd used on Mari in the Daycare. A person with normal maternal instincts would immediately try to help the sobbing girl—check her out and see what was wrong, patch up the wound, offer a soothing shoulder to cry on and words of comfort... If Rita had ever possessed these qualities, they'd shriveled up in her black heart long ago. She and Terry were in way too deep, and all they wanted to do was get out.

“Don't worry, we're going to help you,” Rita said, urging Terry to skirt around the edge of the room and give the child a wide berth. “We... we just need to find a way out, and we'll be back with police and your mom and dad to come pick you up...”

Please just let us pass, Rita thought. If that girl tried to crawl after them, she was getting punted across the room with no hesitation.

Terry was petrified. At first, he couldn't even tell that Rita was trying to move him. His grip held her hand near flush to the side of his body, but eventually he found that Rita was attempting to figure out the way to leave. If this girl knew how, wouldn't she have gone already?

When the young stranger removed her hand from her leg, it was clear she couldn't do such a thing on her own.

“I know the way out...,” Liz sniffled pitifully, snot convincingly running down her nose as she showed them her snapped ankle. It was disgusting, blood-coated in filth from the workshop floor and a sharp looking “bone” just barely breaching the skin. So horrific was the injury, the bone appeared almost grey in the harsh light. “I-I can't move, though! P-Please, I don't want to die here...."

“Sweetie—” Terry attempted to bargain, trying to fake an optimistic approach. His only instinct now was to keep his wife close as they tried to case the room for an exit. “—we can get you help. Just show us the way out.”

“She won't let us go! N-Not until—” Liz paused, breath hitching dramatically as she seemed too frightened to speak, eyes going wide with horror. “Did you hear that...?”

A moment passed, and Terry couldn't say he heard anything. And then, suddenly, an ear-piercing screech followed the poor child's query. From out of the shadows several tiny hands grasped onto her, nails digging hard into her flesh as she fought to free herself. Incoherent and flailing with wild abandon, the girl was pulled into the darkness, a messy spray of blood left on the floor where she was dragged away.

“FUCK THIS!” was the only thing Terry could wheeze out, conserving the rest of his breathing for what might be a very long run ahead. He didn't hesitate, pulling his wife along to stumble into a full sprint towards a back door they were too terrified to notice had mysteriously opened of its own accord.

Next was Hannah's turn. Waiting in the rubble-coated hallway that connected the workshop to the diner, she stood in near-complete shadow, stock-still and staring at the approaching adults. Her outline looked fairly normal—except for the intense crick in her neck that no person would be able to survive.

Rita and Terry nearly tripped head over heel in their haste to avoid colliding into her. To their credit all they suffered was some gnarly scrapes to their hands and knees, their grip on each other faltering for only a second before they frantically latched on again. As they scrambled to their feet Hannah let out a gurgling moan, her throat and lungs full of blood.

“H-Help... me...” she called, reaching a hand out like Lizzie as she staggered closer under a hanging light. Rita and Terry finally got the full picture of her injuries, all bloody-faced and broken-necked, bruises on her throat and oily fluid staining her hair and skin beyond repair. “Please... i-it hurts... my throat hurts...”

Rita couldn't even speak anymore. There was no room to run around this girl without getting uncomfortably close, but it seemed to be their only option. That is, until Hannah's breath suddenly picked up, her lifeless eyes flicking quickly to the left where the shadows were the darkest.

“No, NO!” she screamed as the little hands grasped her by the ankles, roughly jerking her onto her stomach and pulling her into the blackness. Her nails left deep indents in the dirt, but soon she too was gone. After only a moment's hesitation, Rita tentatively started forward again.

“Holy shit we're going to die—” Terry breathed out, too full of adrenaline to really take in the weight of his words. Fight or flight was kicking their asses, and before them laid a gauntlet of horrors to test their mettle.

While Terry contemplated trying to figure out where they were, his hand was abruptly jerked out of Rita’s once more as his foot snagged on something. He hit the ground hard, face crashing into the dirt as he attempted to kick off whatever was holding his legs. To his absolute shock, it was none other than the boys from down the street...

Only the one was nearly unrecognizable, face half-peeled and full of decay. The other—the names escaped Terry—screamed as he crawled towards the Smiths alongside his brother. “Stop running! They're gonna get us!”

Beyond all shadow of a doubt, Terry believed these children had already been got. No one looked like this and lived—certainly not scrawny kids like them.

The faceless one gurgled, spitting blood up onto Terry’s pants before he was able to violently kick the boys away.

“Son of a bitch—let go!” Terry shrieked, pleading more than commanding them. He had no power, no control over anything happening. Whatever was in this place was going to get him and Rita too if they didn't hurry the hell up!

Rita just managed to avoid getting caught by the second twin, her sense of self-preservation completely taking over as she stomped down on the grabbing hand as hard as possible.

“Little SHITS!” she screeched as the kid narrowly avoided her foot in favor of crawling after Terry. When Terry managed to kick the faceless one off Rita grasped his arm and tugged, sending them stumbling together for a few feet before they were able to right themselves.

“Christ, how big is this fucking place?!” Rita exclaimed breathlessly as she and Terry now ran full-pelt towards what looked like... a building? “W-what...?”

There was a pizzeria under the Pizzaplex. Decaying and burned, the façade loomed dark and ominous. Rita did not want to go in there—but then again, it was a restaurant, right? Surely it had emergency exits, or a fire escape or something.

With a faint glimmer of hope, Rita picked up her pace—

—only to be stopped by yet another small figure. A fifth child standing in the dim light just outside the doors, probably a girl as evidenced by her little pigtails.

Though did it really matter when they were all horrible monsters?

“Oh god, not another one...,” Rita choked out, grinding to a halt. A quick glance behind showed that at least those horrible twins had stopped following—for now.

Cassidy looked normal for a split-second, even jumping slightly at the sight of them like they’d scared her. Terry held Rita back by the shoulders, too paranoid of the kids to let his wife near them, even if this one seemed okay at first glance.

“This is all your fault, you know,” Cassidy whispered faintly, standing there frozen in fear. And then, she reached up to her face.

Grabbing herself firmly under her chin and the back of her head, she yanked her jaw to the side. The sickening crack was enough to make Terry woozy, feeling hot in the face as he watched the little girl snap her own neck cleanly and efficiently. Her open eyes looked up to them as her head fell forward into a heap on the ground.

That was when Terry began to pound on the diner, not seeing any other option for escape. The burst of adrenaline didn’t last long, strength waning quickly after seeing such horrors as he promptly spit up nervous bile and stomach acid onto the closed doors of the old forgotten building.

Terry's exhumation of his dinner caused Rita to immediately do the same, heaving up the contents of her stomach in a corner. She wiped her mouth with a shaky hand, catching a glimpse of the head—

—holy shit it was still staring at them how was it still staring—

—which prompted her to let out a faint scream, voice box already worn out. She joined Terry's redoubled efforts to bust through the doors, the pair gaining another burst of raw energy in a last-ditch attempt to make it out of this forsaken place.

All of a sudden, there was a faint click and the doors swung inwards. The fact that they'd opened of their own volition did not ease the Smiths' nerves in the slightest. However, there truly was no other way unless they wanted to face the previous decaying children. With a wide-eyed glance at each other, they hooked their arms at the elbows and scrunched in as close as possible, walking into the building together.

The main party room of the diner was unnervingly empty. The deep void of silence seemed to stretch on forever while Rita took stock of the area, noting the employee only rooms, private party areas, and a disturbing lack of fire exits. In fact, this whole place looked like it'd been through the wringer of flames a thousand times over, tiled floor and cheaply painted walls scorched black. At least the place was empty though—

“Hi.” The tiny voice made the Smiths whip around instantly. Standing in the middle of the room was another child, looking as normal as one could get save for the disturbingly blank expression on his face—a face that was all too familiar.

“H-Holy shit...,” Rita whispered, her gaze locked onto the boy she’d recognize anywhere. “Gregory...?”

This was it—maybe god would be kind to them. He'd let them leave this forsaken children's cemetery with their foster son and they could forget the trauma endured here. Terry wiped his mouth off on his shirt and fell to his knees, raking Gregory over with his hazy vision for any sense of humanity. When Terry found nothing, he tried desperately to ignore all the voices in his head telling him to run.

“Gregory—” He nearly sobbed out, shoulders shaking. “—we're getting the hell out of here. C-Come on, little guy...”

He tried to wave his son over, holding his arms open. It would be easier to run if Gregory wasn't holding them behind, just another twisted obstacle like the rest of the damned. As soon as they were out of here, Terry would drop the little shit and never look back. He didn't know if he could look at another child without seeing gore for a long while.

When Gregory didn't move, a woman—another familiar presence, older than the others—put her hands softly on the boy’s shoulders.

Wasn't that one of the girls that worked here? Terry could hardly remember. Her sudden appearance behind Gregory only served to freak him out and make him scramble back to his feet. She whispered something in Gregory's ear before looking back to them.

“Sorry... He belongs here now, with the others,” she murmured, her identity only clear to Terry now that he heard her speak: none other than the daughter of the CEO herself. One of the masterminds behind this whole sordid experiment. With a cruel grin, she told the two: “He's ours now.”

From behind Gregory's small frame she pulled a long confectioner’s knife, sharpened to a high gleaming point as it was pressed to his neck.

Rita would like to claim she felt a tug at her heartstrings when she saw the knife aimed at her son's throat. She'd like to claim she was sorry for all she'd done, for the terrible ways she and Terry had punished Gregory for the smallest infractions until he was an angry shell of the confident boy he could've been. She like to claim that she cared... but the only feeling that flooded through her mind was an odd sense of ice-cold relief.

He's not our problem anymore. None of this is our problem. We can get out; leave this all behind and—

“This is your fault,” Gregory said, voice soft and melancholic. He seemed resigned to his fate, big brown eyes now full of tears that streamed freely down his cheeks. The knife hadn't moved, yet a small trickle of blood started to dribble from his hairline.

“Shut up...,” Rita hissed through clenched teeth, her frightened gaze tracking the red trail. If it wasn't from the sharp blade, what was causing it?

Slow and steady, another drip seeped down next to the first one as the boy continued in that tiny voice. “How could you? How could you do those things to me...?”

Terry knew it didn't need to be said, but Gregory was on the verge of another infamous outburst even as he was resigned to his dying fate. He grasped hold of Rita once more, ready to book it from the sight of their son’s impending murder.

“Sh... Shut the hell up, boy...,” Terry attempted to menace, though something in Gregory's eye told him that he wasn't about to listen to them anymore.

There was no more fear to control the boy. The wound on Gregory’s head came into focus, though there was no way Terry and Rita could’ve accidentally missed it. Terry clammed up, watching the line bleed steadily in a jagged oval around the boy’s matted hair.

The taller girl began to laugh quietly, watching them with unblinking eyes that snapped to their every movement. They weren’t even eyes anymore, really—just pinpricks of light in the black voids of her sockets. Her hand slowly lowered to open Gregory's palm, gifting him the knife she pulled on him just moments before.

“Make them hurt, Gregory,” she said, calmly moving his grimy hair away from his face in a startlingly affectionate gesture. “It's what they deserve.”

This is where she would expect them to run, if they still had the will to live after seeing every gross and traumatic thing the kids had in their arsenal. Vaguely, Charlie wished they’d given their murderer the same treatment—but the louder part of her psyche was just glad they’d gotten rid of him quickly. He’d been a blight on their lives long enough, and now it was time to pass along the torch of who got to be subjected to the ire of vengeful ghosts.

“Mm-hmm,” Gregory responded in a dreamlike manner, slowly transferring the knife from one hand to the other. “First though, I think they need to see what they've done...”

“Stop!” Rita yelled, already backing Terry towards the door. “Just STOP, you little shit! W-We'll go a-and forget all about t-this, just—”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Suddenly, the boy's eyes hardened into pinpricks of darkness. In no more than a blink, the steadily growing gash in his head opened, revealing it to be much more than a simple slice. Whatever caused this had demolished the boy's skull, taking a chunk out of it that left his face a mangled, bloody mess. Rita dry-heaved as she saw bone and brain fragments smattering his clothes, yet despite this the child still managed to talk.

“If you ever mention what happened here, my friends and I will hunt you down and kill you,” he said in a tone that left no room for argument. The knife blade glinted in the dull light as he held it high over his head, now advancing towards the pair at a steady pace. “Forget the Pizzaplex, forget the kids, and forget me. Call off the search, and tell anyone you’ve roped into it to do the same. Do you understand?”

Rita managed the barest of nods, feeling like she might pass out due to how fast she was hyperventilating. Despite her former son coming closer and closer, she couldn't seem to move.

“T-Terry...,” she choked out, holding onto him like a lifeline. “Terry, g-go... we've... we've g-gotta go...”

Terry was haunted by the glimmer of the blade and the terrible lifelessness of his son's glare. No one else could save them as more shadows seemed to close in and darkness enveloped them. There was no escape...

Then, Terry saw it buzz to life: the flicker of a busted old fire exit sign by an employee's only door. With one last burst of energy to save their skins, Terry took it and hoped that it really led outside. Anyway to leave this place and forget everything that happened here for good. Though he knew deep down they’d never wipe this from their minds; they’d simply never speak of it again until it ate away enough to ruin them forever.

With lungs burning from the chase and fear, Terry barely managed to get him and his wife through the door. The long dirt tunnel sloped up, leading to a concrete hall that opened to a loading bay. In the far corner, a single door was outlined with the golden glow of soft morning sunlight.

They made it—but only by the grace of the dead.

***

Slowly, Cassidy got up from her position on the floor, her head moving back to place with a slow and grotesque crunching sound as it righted itself.

“So why couldn't we just stab those guys again? I'm not complaining! Just sayin'...,” she asked when the coast seemed clear enough. Gregory laughed at all of them, running from a side room to pull Cassidy into a crushing hug.

“OH MY GOD! That was amazing, guys! Holy shit—I'm sorry for cursing but HOLY SHIT! I almost burst out laughing when you told Terry to 'shut the fuck up,' Evan!” Gregory raved, reaching over to lasso an arm around his doppelgänger’s shoulders and squeeze him into the group.

“It was super satisfying, I've gotta say...,” Evan admitted, quickly blinking back to the picturesque form of a gore-free little boy. And not a moment too soon—here came Michael bounding through the doors, having trailed behind watching the action from afar.

“You. Guys. Were. AMAZING!” he cheered, circling his arms around them and managing to lift them off the ground despite Cassidy's protestations.

“Yes, well done, kids!” Henry remarked, tugging Freddy out of the back room. He'd smartly hidden Evan's injury from the former bear's sightline, knowing he'd probably short-circuit at seeing his son's lookalike so mangled—especially knowing that it'd been his previous model that caused it. Thus, Freddy was wearing a bright grin as he rushed over to join the excitable fray with the others, none the wiser of Evan's less than perfect image.

“I do not think those horrendous people will think of sticking their noses around here ever again,” Freddy said, grabbing the closest pair to hug first, which happened to be Gregory and Evan. “Wonderful job, Evan! You sounded so convincing!” His gaze traveled around the room, looking to the doors as the other ghosts made their way inside. “You all did!”

The twins came barreling in, Quinn with Liz on his arm as he helped her walk with her more realistically busted ankle. Due to her robot body, she'd asked the boys to snap it. Though judging by the rate it was fixing itself, without help it would probably heal over the next day. Still, the boys felt somewhat responsible and decided they’d help Liz get around. After all, they got to play the best prank ever!

“You totally got kicked in the face,” Cain said to Quinn, who lingered in the doorway to hold it open for Hannah. Quinn’s response was a roll of his eyes, more focused on making sure Liz didn’t damage her leg further. Gregory shook Evan, though noticed that Charlie was being distant as the group celebrated.

“Charlie? You okay—?” he wondered, as she’d been watching the door for some time now.

“Just… making sure they’re gone.” Charlie didn’t know what she'd do if they’d lingered, though she couldn’t deny how cathartic the whole situation had been.

“You did wonderfully, sweetheart,” Henry said, slipping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a side hug. He knew it must've been torture seeing those kids looking like that again after Charlie worked so hard to save them. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, murmuring into her hair: “Like Freddy said, I doubt they'll be bothering anyone around here again.”

“Okay... that was kinda fun,” Hannah relented when she reached Cassidy's side, elbowing the girl in the side. Hannah certainly hadn't developed a mean streak, but it felt so satisfying to take out some pent-up anger over Gregory's mistreatment—and her own death—on such despicable people.

“Yikes, Liz—you sure you're okay?” Mike asked when he caught sight of his sister stumbling into the room. Henry's androids were miracles, sure, but that was a pretty nasty injury all things considered...

Moving to her side, Henry inspected the wound with an appraising hum. The special synthetic skin was healing up at an even better rate than he expected, so with a nod of approval he informed the group: “I think she'll be just fine by tomorrow night—though I'd suggest taking it easy until then, just in case. No roughhousing, missy—got it?” Though his tone was a bit stern, Henry's wink detracted from any real notion of a parental lecture.

Liz gasped at the suggestion, gripping onto Quinn’s shirt to keep herself from toppling over.

“Uncle Henry! Me? A roughhouser? Never,” she fibbed, knowing he saw right through her. “But yes—I’ll be okay. It doesn’t really hurt; there’s just an annoying pop up reminding me my leg’s broken.”

All of them deserved a god damn Oscar for their performance in the workshop. Even after Freddy let go of Gregory, the boy didn’t seem to want to release either Evan or his dad yet. He was just so relieved and thankful he was free of the Smiths’ clutches, there was nothing else that could make this week better.

Freddy certainly wasn’t going to complain about affection from his son. In one smooth movement he lifted both Gregory and Evan up, holding one in each arm so he could hug them both equally.

Lacing his fingers through Gregory’s around Freddy’s shoulders, Evan felt the sudden urge to cry again. He was very confused, as he wasn’t sad at all—in fact, he hadn’t felt this happy since the night that’s gotten rid of his dad.

...His dad.

Ah. That explained it.

Looking up at Freddy’s serene face, Evan realized that he was overwhelmed with the sheer paternal affection radiating from the android. Henry was wonderful in his own way of course, but it wasn’t quite the same. Tonight’s events and emotions had been a lot for everyone to deal with, so Evan didn’t feel too bad about letting a few more tears escape as he snuggled comfortably into the crook of Freddy’s neck.

The Smith’s presence lifted from this place like the black clouds after a rainstorm, and Charlie felt a true sense of relief akin to Gregory. Pulled from her solemn thoughts, Charlie found herself smiling once more as Mike bumped her with his hip in congratulation for a job well done. Knocking back lightly into her friend, her arm mimicked his as she rose her hand to meet Michael’s.

“Would you believe the first draft of the plan was just me stabbing everyone?” she asked with an impish quality to her voice. Soon, she rested the side of her head on Mike’s shoulder. “You really showed them too, mean old security guard.”

She laughed, feeling oddly at peace, a serenity falling over her soul at this warm scene before them. Though the thoughts of Mike’s current job did bring her back to reality for a moment.

“Maybe we should wipe the last few hours from the security tapes? You know, in case someone wonders where those people that got dragged to the basement went,” she mentioned to the gang.

“Ooh—good call,” Mike agreed with a nod, brow furrowing as he thought about all his tasks for the night. Tapping his fingers on his walkie, he thought aloud: “I’ve got to take the Glamrocks off high-alert now that the threat is passed. I should also fill Sammy in on what went down so he doesn’t wear a hole through the floor pacing… Oh, and give Mari the all-clear, too. Speaking of—”

Michael turned to Freddy and his brothers, seeing them laughing at some joke one of them made. Walking over, he leaned his chin on Gregory’s shoulder. “Not to break up the party, but I’ve got to do a few things up top to cover this mess. Gregory, you and Freddy mind swinging by the Daycare? Mari’s probably freaking out since you’re not in her sights…”

“I’m guessing we need to stay down here, Mikey?” Evan asked, and Michael ruffled his hair with a nod.

“‘Fraid so, kid,” the guard replied. “I have to clear a lot of camera footage and want to make sure I scrub all traces of anything funky—including random kids here after hours. But tomorrow at midnight, the Pizzaplex is all yours!”

Gregory reached around, turning in Freddy’s grip to roughly hug Michael around the shoulders.

“Sure, Mike,” he said, giving him a smile that finally reached his cold, glowing eyes. “Mari and Moon are probably so lost.”

He wondered if either of them were really aware of what’d been going on for the last hour. Gregory remained wholly unaware of the planning that the Glamrocks were staging just beyond the door. His birthday was so close, and with only a few days to prepare the event would surely sneak up on him soon…

The twins came over to Michael, tugging at his uniform to gain his attention.

“If there’s cameras down here,” Quinn begun to point out, pointing then to Cassidy. “Keep the part in where Cassidy snapped her own neck! That was metal as hell!”

“So metal,” Cain agreed, seeing how Cassidy took the compliment with her usual lack of humility.

“You mean this?!” she called before making her head fly 360 degrees around her neck, skin folded and wrinkled at the unnatural bend. It made Gregory bust into a laughing fit.

“Gross! HAHA—” he shrieked, watching as Cassidy lit up due to the recognition she was getting. It wasn’t easy scaring folks, but she was doing that before she was even dead; now she just had an extra set of skills to do so.

“Ugh…,” Michael groaned in an opposite reaction, looking very much like he wanted to vomit. Turning away, he could see Freddy wearing a similar expression and was quick to press a firm hand on his back.

“Okay, that’s our cue,” he announced, gently urging Freddy and Gregory forward. As he passed Cain and Quinn he let them know: “Thankfully there aren’t cameras down here, but clearly Cas is willing to show off her skills anytime…”

“I’ll clean up down here,” Henry said as his nephew passed by, making sure to flash Gregory a calm smile. The terror of the night was over, and hopefully all Gregory would have to worry about from now on besides his potential Remnant powers was simply growing up.

“Thanks.” Mike flashed the room a grin. “Thanks, everyone. Charlie? You coming with?”

Charlie seemed lost in thought, but was quickly pulled to reality by her friend's voice. “Huh? Oh yeah! I should go check up on my 'little sister.’”

Charlie could never forget about her dear Puppet. Without the combined efforts of the Pizzaplex, they wouldn’t have gotten rid of the Smiths for good. After offering her hugs goodbye for the day—and making sure to impart an extra tight squeeze to her old friends and father—she caught up to the family in no time.

With his hand laced inside Freddy’s, Gregory waved with the other. “I'll see you guys tomorrow!”

He was a little sad to see them go after such a perfect victory. Still, Gregory was beat. Even just watching his friends contort their forms into horrific visions made him sleepy; he couldn't imagine how they felt actually doing it. Then again, ghosts probably didn't get tired like people did. Hence the 'restless spirit' phrase...

Climbing back to the surface and towards the Daycare, they set their course. Up on the ground floor, right by Rockstar Row, all the Glamrocks were crouched around a sheet of paper. Markers and pens, sticky notes, and glitter glue surrounded them as they spoke in hushed tones. This was probably why the Glamrocks needed a guard at night, as the mess they made in the hallway was the exact sort of thing Sam wanted to avoid.

“So it's settled. Monty's preparing party games. Chica, you're getting food and drinks. Roxy you're going to help DJ with the music and I'm in charge of presents,” Bonnie whispered, capping up his marker as they finished a shared list of things they'd all need for Gregory's party. “Foxy? You'll be the one to distract Gregory while we set up.”

“I'll, like, totally put in a special order for his birthday cake too—he loves blue icing, from what I hear!” Chica said excitably, but covered her mouth when Roxy gently elbowed her, silently telling them that the birthday boy was just around the corner.

“Heeeey, little guy!” Monty greeted as the family rounded the corner, giving his bandmates a few extra seconds to scramble the surprise out of sight. Hands on his hips, Monty grinned as his gaze roamed over the group. “I’m guessin’ everythin’ went well?”

“Better than expected,” Michael replied, reaching up to give the gator a fist-bump. He peered around him with a raised eyebrow, but chose not to ask what they were up to. As long as he didn’t have to clean up their mess, they could plot all they wanted.

“We are making our rounds before heading out for the day,” Freddy said, smiling at his friends. “Thank you for all of your help tonight.”

“Aww, it’s nothin’, Fredbear—you know we’d do anythin’ for you and the little squirt.” Monty reached forward to gently pat the top of Gregory’s head, chuckling at his sleepy expression. “‘Night, Gregory!” He paused, tilting his head. “Or… is it good mornin’?”

Gregory gave Monty a tired smile, shrugging.

“Dude, I have no clue anymore,” he answered honestly. Like a tired bird that someone forgot to put a blanket over its cage, he trudged along with his family as the others waved goodbye. With Bonnie holding all the plans and lists behind his back, he wiggled his free paw.

“Y'all come back soon!” he shouted as they all made their way for the Daycare. He was silently relieved as they left; Bonnie would be awfully upset should this not go according to the plan. Freddy's kid deserved to have a nice day all dedicated to him after the things he went through.

Inside the Daycare, Mari paced nervously. She could feel Gregory was getting closer with his bracelet GPS. Her, the Daycare attendant, and Ennard were anxious to know the outcome of this strange security breach...

“Ehehe, I see them!” Moon announced from his perch atop the jungle gym, pointing to the entrance as the family unit made their way through. He jumped down just as Mike manually flipped the power switch, plunging the room into light once more. Within seconds Sun sprung to his feet, waving them over. If the night guard let the lights on, that must mean the security threat was past!

“Here, superstar—why don’t you go see your friends?” Freddy suggested, placing Gregory in the lip of the slide and giving him a gentle push down. He could tell the boy was exhausted, but this was the second to last stop before they were home free—the last one being a visit to the CEO, of course.

“You guys can relax,” Michael called to the robots as he made his way to the wooden doors. “The threat is gone for good, thanks to your help—I don’t know what you did, but Rita was terrified!”

Gregory went limp, mostly to be dramatic as his dad gently started his flight down the slide. With a halfhearted, “Wheee,” Gregory descended, splashing limply inside the pit in a way that made Mari burst out in a fit of laughter. Poor Gregory looked beat to bust, but managed to get a hold of his narcoleptic tendencies better than before.

“I think I scared her too badly. She was about to throw me like a ragdoll if Moon didn't do anything!” Mari said with wide eyes, as if she still couldn't believe the whole situation took place. “Thank the stars it's over... And how are you feeling, Gregory?”

“Peachy—pretty peachy.” Gregory threw up a thumb of approval from where he laid half-submerged in the rainbow river. He couldn't complain, a content smile on his face. For the first time in a few days, the anxiety of being him wasn't as strong. He was dead to the world now, and one would ever be after him again.

Well, except maybe his own family—the one he chose.

Gregory sat up with a laugh, recounting the events to Sun and Mari. “I wish you guys could’ve seen it! They were all like, 'Nooo, please don't kill us!' and all my friends were like 'Haha—no, die.' They left anyway, but they totally thought they were dead for a few minutes.”

“Sounds like quite an adventure!” Sun remarked with a laugh, unclear on the details but not entirely sure he really wanted to know them. His long arms reached into the ball pit without hesitation to lift Gregory up and hold him close against his chest. “We’re just so glad you’re safe, sunshine.”

“As are we,” Freddy remarked as he strode into the play area, though of course the thought went without saying. Michael and Charlie were right at his heels, the guard looking around with appraising eyes for anyone else who might be lurking around. Ennard hadn’t been in the basement, so besides following Michael this was the next likely place they’d be…

“You are a wonderful security bot, Mari,” Freddy praised with an eye-crinkling smile, pulling the girl into a little side hug when he reached her. “Certainly an invaluable addition to the Pizzaplex!”

“Geez, Freddy, no need to lay it on so thick—she’s already staying,” Michael remarked, though his chuckle showed it was all in jest. He could tell by the sparkle in her eyes that Mari absolutely basked in the praise. She certainly deserved it all, after everything she’d done—and not just for Gregory.

Mari's hands touched the sides of her face, as if unable to handle all the attention she was receiving. With a bright smile on her face, she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Just doing my job!” she laughed out, surprised as Charlie bent down and tossed the girl on top of her shoulders to sit victoriously.

“Don't be so modest, Mari!” Charlie said. Watching the pair interact, it was almost disconcerting how they mirrored each other perfectly sometimes. One could really forget that they weren't really blood related.

Gregory felt a rumbling beside him in the pool before cold metal tendrils subsequently wrapped around his body. Easily, he was lifted and raised high. It was a little far off the ground for Gregory to feel completely safe as he heard a grating voice in his ear. “GREGORY... YOU ALL DID IT... WE SAW YOU SCARE THEM OFF.”

To Ennard, it seemed like a waste of time. Just killing them might’ve saved Michael and the others from that headache—though the nuance of things had never been their strong suit.

“Hey, hey!” Michael yelled, pointing to Gregory and then the floor. “Put him down.”

“I will take him!” Freddy offered, holding up his arms for his son.

“Aww, Ennard’s just excited,” Sun remarked in a gentle tone, not entirely privy to the dark thoughts that lurked underneath the surface of his new friend’s mind. Still, the attendant could see the distress Ennard’s actions were causing the others and hoped they’d listen to Michael as they usually did.

“O...KAY,” Ennard said, feeling Gregory's hands brace over the prehensile metal tubes they wrapped the kid in.

Slowly, with slight reluctance, Ennard brought Gregory closer to the earth to place him into the waiting arms of his father. Though Gregory wanted to roll his eyes at Mike, he knew whenever Ennard showed up his brother tended to get a bit grumpy.

“I'm all good,” Gregory remarked. Ennard's head tilted to the side in a slight jerking motion, their old parts becoming more and more rusted with age. They’d be glad to get rid of this body soon. Its mode was outdated, its parts nearly scrap...

“YOU WILL BE BACK TO—MO—MO—RROW... YES…?” Ennard would ask the group, the question making Mari and Charlie both raise their eyebrows at the amalgamate.

“And every day thereafter—we work here now, remember?” Mike replied with a suspicious quirk of his brow. “Why?”

“Because we barely got a chance to play tonight!” Sun chimed in, attempting to deflect Michael’s attention. The Daycare attendant had a good feeling he knew what Ennard’s pointed question was about, but the amalgamation had asked to keep it a secret. With a spring in his step, Sun jumped from foot to foot and clasped his hands together. “You all have to come by for a game tomorrow! I know you work, Mike, but you should join too if you can!”

“I mean, I have to do rounds at some point so I’ll be by to check in,” the guard reassured with a slight frown. He got the weird sensation that he was missing something—like everyone was in on a joke that he was completely unaware of. “…Anyway, we should get going—I’ve got some stuff to do before I clock out, and we need to visit Sam."

Jumping down from Charlie's arm's, Mari hugged Michael's leg in a tight squeeze, naturally wanting to help his mood before they all left.

“We'll see you around, guys!” she promised, moving onto Freddy and waving goodbye to the tired Gregory.

Ennard figured tomorrow they’d find Gregory ask for his help. Besides from Henry, he was the only person they trusted to download their AI into a new model. They’d need his assistance if they were ever going to be taken seriously by Michael and the outside world.

“B-BYE. GET H-HOME SAFE...” They departed, sinking below the surface of the pit to once again hide in its depths.

Mari's affection worked like charm, giving Michael a little energy boost as they exited the Daycare. One short walk to Sam's office later and the night guard was knocking on the door. He felt like this was becoming a nightly habit, though he'd never pass up the chance to see his old friend.

“Hey, Sam?” Michael called through the door. “Just fyi, I'm removing the lockdown protocols—the security threat's gone. We wanted to stop by before I head back to the office and fill you in.” A slight pause, and Michael pressed an ear to the door. “...You there?”

Sam had fallen asleep, head in his hand as he reviewed the week's schedule. Snapping back to reality at the knock, Sam immediately sobered up and beckoned his family in.

“Wait—there was a lockdown?” he asked, making sure to wipe the drool from his jaw and the corner of his mouth. Apparently Sam had been out of the loop for the last two hours.

“Uh... yeah,” Michael laughed, though there was a hint of concern in his tone. This guy could sleep through anything. “Chica activated a high security alert and the entire place shut down. Not to worry though—like I said, we got it all sorted.”

“The Smiths broke in again,” Freddy explained, feeling like Sam would appreciate some more context. He was still holding Gregory, whose energy from the earlier adrenaline rush was nearly depleted, his form limp in his father's safe grasp. There was a hard, weirdly satisfied light in Freddy's eyes as he continued the explanation. “Everyone played a part in making sure they never set foot in this place again, nor search for Gregory.”

“Yup—and I'm about to go scrub the past few hours of security footage,” Michael added. He gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry about your malicious compliance, boss—but just think about it this way: whatever happened, Gregory's safe and sound. Plus, you don't have to worry about the Smiths sticking their dirty noses around here again.”

While this was news to Sam, he didn't seemed entirely phased. In fact, as he looked over the invoices and bills piled neatly in a stack to his left, he knew that these guys were only helping cover his own ass in the end.

“Actually—the less people around here asking questions, the better. It’d be unfortunate if we were placed under investigation right as we reopened...,” he explained bluntly. When his eyes scanned over and saw Gregory fast asleep in Freddy's arms, he managed a smile. “At least he's okay. Finish whatever you guys have to do, and I'll see you all later.”

So close to the reopening. Everything had to go smoothly for the sake of the Pizzaplex...

It took less than thirty minutes for Michael to scrub the tapes. With Charlie and Freddy’s watchful eyes over his shoulder to assure he didn’t miss anything, they got the job done and soon headed back to the hotel. They’d all had a stressful night, so after taking just a moment to decompress with some quiet conversation in the living room, the trio passed out in their beds right alongside Gregory.

***

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