#I think I just need to find a way to say a proper goodbye and then maybe finally I can get some fucking closure

[life-of-a-nervous-wreck]

I think I'm finally letting myself move on, and I hope I'll eventually be happy.

#It's taken so many tears #But the person has come back into my life and I'm realising I don't need them any more #I'll always love them because they were the most important person in my life for such a long time #But I can't keep this up anymore #I think I just need to find a way to say a proper goodbye and then maybe finally I can get some fucking closure #10/07/2023

[a-hazbin-reader]

I know Alastor craves Wifey’s attention, but does Wifey crave his attention in the same way?

🥴

Alastor X Reader Headcanons

✅️Romantic

❌️Platonic

TW: None?? I think???

Description: ☝️⬆️

Alastor loves having your attention but he loves it even more when you seek him out, he loves being needed by you

He tries to hide his giddiness though, he can't be caught grinning like a fool because his wife wants a hug from him

He has a reputation to uphold

He's in his radio tower and you suddenly sit yourself in his lap mid broadcast? He's wrapping an arm around you and kissing your head while you bury your face in his neck

He cuts out the broadcast for a moment to give you the proper attention, tilting your chin up so that you look at him

"Just a moment, folks! Hello darling, stressful day?"

His claws are scratching along the back of your neck, sending a pleasant tingle down your spine as you lean against him

"Mmn... just wanna be with you..."

Suddenly you're being squeezed tight, your face smashed into his neck so you don't see the heat rising to his face over how cute you are

Anyone who might've been listening would find the screams of the broadcast suddenly interrupted by sharp crackling radio static

He's trying to get out of bed and you whine that you want him to stay?? He's going to try his hardest and resist the urge to jump back in

That is until you wrap your arms around him and press your chest to his back, rubbing your cheek on his shoulder

"Just stay in bed...we could have a lazy day..."

Alastor has to rub a hand over his face to hide his blush, his smile tight from trying not to coo over you, giving you a small kiss

"You have to get up too, my dear~ Come on, I'll make breakfast."

He stands up only to feel you hanging off of him, legs wrapping around him with determination

"No. I stay with you."

"Fine then, I'm going to get started on our day."

"I'll be right here~"

A small bleat escapes him, actual steam coming out of his ears as he helps support your legs

"Darling please! What will everyone say?"

You just close your eyes and hum, resting your head against his back as he laughs at the absurdity of the situation

"Don't care. Going back to sleep..."

Nobody dares look at you two as Alastor walks about the hotel with you strapped to his back, they all do their best to pretend like it's not happening

Except Angel who laughs as soon as Alastor walks into the lobby with a mug of coffee in hand, ears down low as he tries to hide his embarrassment

"Ha! Whipped!"

There's been plenty of times where you've just come to him wanting his affection for a moment before scampering off

You've even interrupted overlord meetings because he left without giving you a goodbye kiss, you always found an excuse to get in

One time, you even showed up with trays of food, trailing behind Rosie and Zestial, who both helped you crash the meeting and carry food

Carmilla was visibly surprised at the sight of you, doing a double take and cautiously sniffing the air

"Y/N..? What is all this..?"

You don't miss the way your husband's cheeks light up as he tries to look as innocent as possible, realizing his mistake

"Alastor forgot his lunch and I just couldn't let all of you go hungry..! I hope you don't mind~"

You brought out the big guns with the food, and none of the overlords even make a fuss about you being there

You come around to your husband's chair, hearing him audibly gulp as you lean down to kiss his temple

"Hello again, my dear-"

"You forgot to kiss me goodbye, darling~ What's a girl supposed to think when her husband won't kiss her?"

You sound so pitiful and cute, he can't help but stand up to squeeze you into a proper hug before walking you out to try and preserve some of his image

"They're just so cute, aren't they? Young love and all that~"

"...they are."

"Aren't they both like-fucking old?"

"Eat your food."

It's already gone, Alastor

"Forgive me, my dear... I was in a hurry and didn't realize-"

He feels even worse when you wrap your arms around his neck and give him a sad face, resting against him

"You owe me...at least 12 kisses and not little ones!"

He's fumbling to find the words to say, using one hand to push away your kissy lips while he looks away from you

He knows he looks so whipped right now-he needs a moment to compose himself

Once he's able to look at you again, he knows it's all over, a soft blush on his face as you kiss his palm and stare at him

"Darling..."

"I just want some attention from my husband, is that so bad?"

He can't deny you anything, leaning in to give you a soft kiss and rubbing your cheek, you nearly kill him when he pulls away and sees your lovesick expression

"I'll be home soon, I promise. You'll get all of my time and attention after that, deal?"

You close your eyes and nuzzle against his hand, practically hugging his arm to keep him there

"Mm...making deals with a man like you is dangerous, what do you want in return?"

Alastor can't help but grin, pulling you in closer for another kiss and stopping just before your lips touch

"I've already got an adorable wife~ Buuuut~ If you're offering something then maybe we go out dancing later?"

He kisses you before you can answer, pressing his forehead to yours as he smiles at you

"It's a deal then~"

Reluctantly, he lets you walk away after giving you a few more kisses only to realize later that you got exactly what you wanted

When he walks back into the meeting, everyone's eyes are on him before they suddenly look down at their meals

"What?"

Carmilla coughs awkwardly and Rosie pushes a mirror towards Alastor, who discovers his face is covered in lipstick marks

He can't even bring himself to be mad, sighing fondly as he takes a napkin from Carmilla and wipes his face off

What is he going to do with you...

I hope you like this one!!

#hazbin hotel x reader #alastor hazbin hotel x reader #alastor hazbin x reader #alastor x reader #hazbin x reader

[dcxdpdabbles]

Phantom's Number 1 Fan Part 3

John Constantine calls a joint Justice League and Justice League Dark meeting.

It's not something he wants to do. He barely works with the LJD, but at least that lot understands his work and knows what to do and where to go.

The JL members always ask questions and forget proper manners when working with the paranormal- John isn't the most well-mannered bloke around, but even he knows to permanently say goodbye to ghosts so that they don't follow him home- and it's like trying to teach an intern while dodging bullets.

He prefers to avoid the whole origination, especially since Bruce's death; everyone has been walking on eggshells, and there is a sense of disorganization drenched in grief that John breaks into hives just thinking about, but this is big.

Bigger than he can handle it on his own or with just the JLD. Even if the whole group gives the bats not-so-stable glances as they filter in.

John notices that one of Batman's brats is missing- the smart one- but he has heard that the kid suffered some kind of psychotic break from his father's death. It's sad, really, mainly because John used to believe that the third Robin was the one with the good head on his shoulders.

What's worse is that the Third Robin up and ran off, having gone off the grid when he refused to accept Batman's death. The boy hadn't said anything besides, "The portraits told me!" after having a miniature breakdown in his home.

It didn't help that around this time, the boy teammates had all dropped like flies except for one. So yes, John knows it wasn't a big surprise that he lost it, but it was still sad to see. Kid is only seventeen.

He hopes they find him soon to give him the help he needs. John would offer a spell to try and find him, but he needs to learn about the kid better, which means his spell can only point in a general direction.

Nightwing looked downright ragged, but losing a father on the battlefield and a younger brother to his grief did a number on anyone.

John hates himself just a little for dragging the grieving family here. He does, but again, this is bigger than all of them. This is a matter of life and death- literally.

"Listen up. We have a bloody level ten on its way to Earth if it's not already here." His words cut through the muttering crowd, shutting everyone up. A level ten makes even the big, lousy Superman sweat. He snaps his fingers, allowing his magic to shift into the image of a King Phantom sitting on his throne- painted in the early 1200s and the picture that can be used to identify him.

The art style would have been almost modern if it wasn't for the unease that the painting could cause due to the glowing green from his majesty's portrait. They say the green was ectoplasm from the king himself- and that alone should warn others to not mess with him.

Everyone Justice League Dark member hissed through their teeth, sitting up straighter and a few even pale. John is once again grateful that they understand just how deep in shit they genuinely are.

"This is the Ghost King. He is not to be confused with a god or king of gods. He's something else entirely because he makes gods nervous. He is on his way here to kill whoever is dumb enough to threaten his pregnant fiancee, and I fear the rest of Earth will be collateral if we don't prepare-"

"That's Danny Phantom," A young voice cuts John off. He is surprised someone would talk over him in a level ten briefing. All eyes turn to Robin- er, the new Robin.

The kid is frowning at the image, his signature scowl already deeper than usual. He's also heard the new Robin was a spoiled boy who was not a team player.

"You know King Phantom?" John asks.

Robin nods. "Placeholder is obsessed with him. Half his room is covered with King Phantom's heroics."

"Do not call him that.," Nightwing hisses a second later. He frowned when Robin ignored him but returned to the room without further comment on the boy's cheek. "Danny Phantom is a low-level search and rescue hero. He pops up around the world but only sometimes interacts with people. Robin- Young Justice Robin- was obsessed with him."

The room gains an awkward weight as no one is willing to bring up the mentally unsound MIA teenager.

It's too bad for them. John has never cared about making anyone comfortable. "You said his room is covered in images of King Phantom?"

From the corner of his eyes, John catches sight of Zatanna's face. She's pale white, with a horrified expression as if though she was standing before the grim itself. Every other member of the Justice League Dark is in a similar state.

"Yes, he has a whole wall of posters and stuff." Nightwing conforms, and shit John knows who Phantom's after now.

The thing is, one just doesn't have pictures of King Phantom. No one knows why, but the Ghost King can not be documented. Not without having some kind of connection to the King.

Throughout history, the only ones who have ever had even one solid picture of the king- John's magic doesn't count cause he can't well hold the thing up forever- usually meant that the King would appear before them at one point.

There is also a myth if one could beat a member of the royal ghost family, then one wish is granted to them. If one can kill a royal ghost member, death can be overturned.

It's not true, obviously, for death is not easily beaten like that, but John knows that as an expert, would a mentally unwell teenager know the same?

It was also known that if the King appeared before you, something terrible would happen. The sighting of King Phantom often came as an omen and usually right before a terrible disaster.

In the last disaster, they lost Batman, and if King Phantom had shown up, where the Third Robin have spotted him? Where the Third Robin have thought the King could return the dead?

Not to mention the rumors!

King Phantom was hunting down a group of humans known as "The Bats." John hadn't put that much stock in that rumor simply because it could have been anyone- hell, when he looked up the bats seven different groups appeared, varying from boy bands to zoologists.

But if he placed the name "The Bats" next to the Third Robin's psychotic break, his obsession with King Phantom, and his intertwined fates...well, shit.

There is a slight chance that the Third Robin's fate could be intertwined with the Ghost King in a positive light, but John has learned to not be optimistic in his line of work.

"I think the Third Robin is gunning after the Ghost King's fiancee and unborn child in a misguided attempt to bring Batman back to life. He may have kicked started a war that humanity can not win," He announces. He hates to say. hates to even suggest it, but the needs of the many outweigh those of the few. "We have to find the Third Robin and attempt to stop him. If we can't reason with him, we must put him down."

Wonder Girl gasps a sob, pressing her hand against her mouth.

John hates himself a little more as she sobs; a few rushes to confront her, but no one is unaffected by the news.

"I'm ordering a hunt for the Third Robin," Wonderwoman speaks up to her steady leadership, returning everyone from their despair. "Every available hero will help. Do not use lethal force unless there is no other choice. We may be able to find him before King Phantom's armies arrive."

John just hopes they are not too late.

Meanwhile, across the plane of existence, unaware of the manhunt for his head, Tim Drake is trying to stare down a Yeti, attempting to put him in silk clothes that are just fabrics held together by strings.

"No."

"But-But- but you have such a flattering figure! You must flaunt it! The Great One will barely be able to contain himself if he sees you in this!"

"No. It looks like something you wear on a honeymoon to seduce your spouse. I'm not walking around in that."

"Well, you don't need to bewitch his majesty. You already have a child on the way." The Yeit mutters, considering the fabric in his claws with a frown. He is Frostbite's royal tailor and has been attempting to dress Tim for over an hour. Everything he's suggested so far looks like it came from those romantic fantasy games.

It's like they want to make him a sexy consort or something.

Tim's teeth grind against each other. He hates how often his role is reminded, how casually the yetis mention that Ra's expects a child from Tim.

He doesn't even know how that child will come to be, and it makes him sick. He's been bidding his time, waiting for his wounds to heal and to find a weakness in the frozen fortress, but so far, he is unsure how he will escape.

And Bruce is still out there, waiting for Tim to get him. He can't waste any more time here.

"How about this cloak?" The Yeti offers, holding up a dark metallic fabric that reminds TIm of his Robin cape. "If we are going for a more conservative look, something that screams power is just the way to make the masses wild!"

Ugh, he really needs to think of a plan soon.

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #Phantom's number 1 fan #Part 3 #The Justice League made the wrong conclusion #Or John made the wrong conculsion #Tim is still being pampered but now they want to show him off like a trophy husband they think he is #Danny is vibing while new Ghost King Lore is dropping

[forever-rogue]

hi my lover,

i have a joel request🤭

something angsty and evil. like joel says the most awful thing to reader about her being delusional that he could ever love her or something. (cause they haven’t defined their relationship) and then reader writes a note and leaves in the middle of the night and ellie finds it and yells at joel. with a fluffy ending cause i like to cry then happy cry.

ok bye ily😏

AN | It hurts a little but there’s a fluffy ending! 🥰 

Pairing | Joel Miller x Fem!Reader

Warnings | Language

Word Count | 3.4k

Masterlist | Joel, Main

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Are you serious?” The expression on his face was enough to send chills down your spine. But these were all the wrong sorts of chills, “you’re not that dumb, are you?”

“I…” you’d never heard him speak like that before, especially not to you. Your lip trembled with effort as you tried not to cry, tears threatening to well up and roll down your cheeks, “I don’t….”

“What?” he mocked, arms crossing over his chest and a hard expression on his face, “can’t even put a sentence together?” 

You kept your sniffles down, but that didn’t keep from your voice trembling and sounding so small, “J-Joel, why are you doing this?”

“Let me make this clear,” he leaned in and gestured between the two of you, “we - you and I - are nothing. I don’t care about you, okay? I’m definitely not in love with you, little girl. So get that straight. You are nothing to me.”

You weren’t able to hold back your tears anymore, and felt them dip down your cheeks, warm and salty. You recoiled from him, almost as though he’d hit you. He might as well have. It would have hurt less than this. Brushing away your tears, starting to back away; this wasn’t your Joel, you didn’t know this Joel at all.

“I’m sorry,” you managed to squeak out before just turning on your heel and running away. You didn’t even know where you were heading to, you just knew that you had to get away from him. You couldn’t bear to look at him for a moment longer. 

Whatever had happened to Joel Miller was nothing you wanted a part of.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You spent the latter part of the day locked in your room and pacing around, nervous and worried that he might come back and find you for some reason. You know, kick while you’re already down. There had been so much malice in his words that they kept ringing in your head all day. You had no clue what had suddenly come over him to cause him to act this way. 

But perhaps, this had always been him and he was just now showing you his true colors. And yet…no. You knew deep down that this wasn’t him. But it still felt heartbreaking. You had no idea how you were supposed to face him again. You weren’t sure if you wanted to face him. 

Eventually, after a lot of contemplation and mulling over your options, you decided you knew what you were going to do. 

You hadn’t come to Jackson with much, and packing up your singular bag hadn’t taken a long time. It felt weird to see your entire life, what everything had amounted to, shoved into one bag. 

Despite your desire to just leave, you knew that you couldn’t entirely leave without saying anything. You scribbled down a quick note and left it on the kitchen table deciding that it would suffice. 

It was late, and Joel and Ellie were sleeping. At least they appeared to be; the house was dead silent and the lights in their bedrooms appeared to be off. You hesitated in front of Ellie’s door, thinking about seeing if she was up so you could give her a proper goodbye, but you couldn’t bring yourself to knock. The girl needed rest and you didn’t want to bother her with something that felt so trivial.

Instead you put your hand on her door before leaving in silence. You hoped that one day you would be able to see her again. 

After ensuring you had everything, you walked to the front door and stepped out into the quiet, still evening. On to the next, you figured, on to something that you knew would never match what you had with Joel and Ellie.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Joel could sense that something was off as soon as he woke up the next morning. Things felt different…heavy. He knew that he did not like it. 

When he walked into the kitchen, he found Ellie sitting at the table, the expression on her face a mixture of shock, sadness, and anger. Once she heard him, she looked up and glared daggers at him.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she stood up from the table, the legs of the chair scraping loudly against the wooden floor. Joel’s eyebrows raised as he shrugged at her. He had no clue what was going on - okay…maybe had some clue. But still, he wasn’t expecting her to come up to him and slam a note against his chest, “how can you be so stupid! You ruined everything!”

“What are you talking about?” He looked at her with surprised eyes and shook his head. He took the note and unfolded it gingerly.

“Read the note,” she shoved him lightly, “and figure it out. Idiot.”

She pushed past him and ran up the stairs, slamming her shut so harshly that some of the frames on the wall rattled. He flinched at the sound but finished unfolding the note and quickly reading it. 

By the time he reached the end, he wasn't sure if was mad at you or angry with himself. The latter more than anything else. He knew what he did, what he had said wasn't right, but he - in his own weird, flawed way - thought that pushing you away was the best thing to do. He just never thought it would affect you this much. 

He accepted that you were going to be mad at him, he deserved it at the very least, but to have you this heartbroken was devastating. You really did love him. You'd told him as much but he'd never allowed him to believe it.

And now you were gone. Gone like a thief in the night. 

"Fuck," he held the note to his chest before sighing shakily, trying to control the trembling in his body, "fuck."

But he already knew what he had to do. 

He ran up the stairs and threw open Ellie's door without even bothering to knock. She looked at him in confusion but only raised her eyes. 

"I'm going," he was breathless and mentally mapping out everything he needed to pack before he left. Things be damned, he figured, as long as he had some sort of weapon it would be okay. He could handle hunger or cold, pretty much anything, except the idea of you being gone.

"What?" But she was already jumping off the bed and looking for her backpack.

"For her," he answered despite not having too, "you're not coming, Ellie. I don't need you to get hurt too. I can handle it. But I fucked up."

"Joel," he wouldn't have minded her going, but he also wanted to keep her safe. But she was like him, stubborn and iron willed.

"Ten minutes," he answered in reply, "don't want to lose more time."

You'd left in the night while he had been sleeping. And it was only about nine in the morning now, piecing it together Joel realized you couldn't have had more than about an eight hour head start. They could cover ground easily and catch up. Especially if you hadn't taken a horse which, if you were trying to be discreet you wouldn't have. 

"Let's go," Ellie swung her backpack over her shoulder and opened the door, "no time to waste."

He grabbed his own backpack and nodded gruffly. He might have royally fucked up, but he was going to do everything in his power to fix it. 

Even if you hated him forever, he wanted to make sure you were safe. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You should have thought this through a little more. But in the middle of the night and with a broken heart, people didn't generally make smart decisions. It was you, you were people.

And you were currently freezing and trying to stop yourself from shivering. You'd only grabbed your light winter jacket and it had started snowing. Of course it did.

You also hadn't bothered to take a horse, or food, or anything really. All you'd taken with you were a few weapons, a few snack bars and the clothes on your back. Yeah. You hadn't really thought any of this out. Smart was not something you'd use to describe yourself at that moment.

And you were growing tired. You'd been walking for hours and your feet were sore and you really just wanted a rest. You were fairly sure that nothing would happen to you on the path you were taking, but the risk wasn't worth it. You just had to push through and go a few more hours before you'd be near civilization - or rather civilization adjacent - again. Then you could rest.

But your body had other ideas, and after another hour or so, you couldn’t handle it anymore. You were getting a stitch in your side, and your legs felt like jelly; you had to rest for a little while if you were going to keep going. 

Luckily, there was a thicket of trees along your path that you could use for cover. You threw your bag down and flopped down with a heavy sigh. The ground was cold; it made you shiver. Your jeans weren’t enough to fight off the chill and you were shaking as you leaned against the tree to try and get some rest. Just an hour or two was all you would need before you could keep going. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

An hour turned out to be…longer. You weren’t even necessarily sure how long it was, because when you woke up, it was with a start and a scream. You felt a hand on your shoulder, shaking you gently. Your natural instinct was to fight off whoever it was and to defend yourself; Joel had taught you that much. 

“Stop,” you were blindly flailing around and trying to get yourself free but the voice sounded familiar, “stop. It’s me - it’s me!”

You stopped suddenly and looked up to see who was there; when you realized it was him, you panicked all over again. Shaking your head, you tried crawling away, wanting to get as much distance between yourselves as possible. You can’t believe that he had found you, but then again, you really shouldn’t have been surprised. You were just more surprised that he bothered to come and find you. Part of you had never expected to see him again. 

“No,” you looked at him with wide eyes and he hated the thought that he had done this to you. He was the reason that you had done this to yourself, “please, just leave me alone.”

“Baby-”

“Don’t you dare call me that,” alright, you’d quickly gone from worried and upset to mad. He really had the audacity to call you that? The man had some nerve, “just leave me alone.” 

“Listen,” he crouched down so he was eye level with you, “you shouldn’t be out here. You’re going to freeze.”

“I’m fine,” you lied, trying to hold back your shivers. You knew he was right, “just leave me alone.”

“Please, just-”

“No,” you hissed, “why are you even here? I thought you never wanted to see me again. You made that very clear.”

“Listen, I know I fucked up,” he pinched his brow and sighed heavily; he was only mad at himself, “but can you please just come with me right now? You need to get somewhere warm.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” almost as if your body wanted to betray you, a shiver ran down your spine and you trembled, “just go.”

“I’m not leaving without you,” he insisted, “you want to stay here? I’ll stay here too. But at least take my jacket-"

"Why are you here, Joel?" your eyes narrowed as you refused to take the jacket he was holding out to you, "why?"

"Can we do this later? Once we're back home," he really wasn't getting this. He was so smart most of the time but right now he was just…not quite comprehending.

"You don't get it," you shook your head incredulously, "there is no home. I'm not going back."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving," you clambered back to your feet, shaky and painfully, "I'm not going back with you. Why would I? There's no place for me there."

"Oh?" He learned your stubbornness and tenacity but right now he wished you'd just listen to him. Not that he deserved that much, but fuck. He just wanted you home, "and just where are you gonna go, huh?"

"Riviera," you waved him off as you started back towards the street, "and if that doesn't work out then I'll figure it out."

"That's another six hours away on horse," he sighed as he followed after you, "you'll never make it on foot."

"Why do you suddenly care?" you threw out your arms. You could see the horses and Ellie a short distance back. Your heart ached when you realized how much you'd miss her. And him, "I am nothing to you. You made that abundantly clear."

"I wasn't…fuck, I lied," he finally admitted it, his eyes finding yours, "I didn't mean it any of it."

"Then you shouldn't have said it," you threw back at him, "why did you say it?"

When he didn't say anything in response, you rolled your eyes and turned around, keeping your gaze on the horizon. He was wrong; you'd make it just to prove him wrong.

"Come back for Ellie," oh. He knew how to get to you, "please. She needs you. If nothing else, do it for her."

You stiffened, sore and tired and hungry and already missing her. Maybe you could go back just for a little while just for her…

"Fine," your voice was small as you turned around and pushed past him, "for her."

He closed his eyes and let out a long, relieved sigh. As long as he knew you were safe, that was all that mattered.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It had been a few weeks since you'd come back. For Ellie. And nothing more. You hadn't said more than a few words to Joel, despite living in the same house. And despite his best efforts. He kept trying to talk to you but you weren't having it. You weren't ready yet, and to be honest, you weren't quite sure if you would ever be.

But there came a time when Joel couldn't take it anymore. If you were going to be mad and angry he wanted you to get it all out and be mad. He just couldn't handle the silence; it was brutal.

He caught you when you were in the kitchen and stood in the doorway, blocking your way out. You hadn't heard him at first but you could sense his presence, "hey."

You remained silent and kept drying the dishes. He came closer and his heart broke at how you recoiled from him, "don't." 

"Can you just - we need to talk," he sighed gruffly, leaning against the counter. You tossed the towel down and shrugged your shoulders, "five minutes. Please." 

"Why?" You asked, but when you didn't immediately run away he relaxed slightly, "I don't see what there could possibly be to talk about."

 "Don't do that," he insisted softly, "you know there is plenty to talk about."

"I don't have anything to say to you," you moved to the opposite counter and mirrored his position, "I didn't think you'd have anything to say either. You made that very clear."

"I'm sorry," despite wanting to look away, you caught his eye. You almost wanted to see the lie written all over his face; but you couldn't find it, "I…I fucked up."

“Yeah,” you nodded in agreement, sighing softly, “you did. You really hurt me, Joel. It didn’t have to go that far, you didn’t have to be so…cruel. I just don’t get how you didn’t know how much I cared for you. You had to know, right? If you didn’t want me or didn’t want things to get as far as they did, you should have said so.”

“I knew,” he agreed, “I always knew.”

“Then why didn’t you stop it?” you already felt tears welling up in your eyes. You looked away and blinked rapidly to try and prevent them from spilling over, “why didn’t you just say something?”

“I didn’t want to-”

“Why not?!” you groaned, “it could have been so much easier. We wouldn’t be here right now!”

“I didn’t say anything because I felt the same!” as soon as the words fell out of his mouth, it became dead silent in the house. You could have a pin drop. “I felt the same way.”

“Felt?’ you asked quietly, “or feel?”

He paused for a moment and you could see the little bit of pink rising up in his cheeks, “feel.” 

“Okay,” you nodded softly, staring at your feet, “so you felt and feel the same as I did. And then you told me you didn’t love me, that I was anything to you…we were nothing. That’s a pretty big disconnect.”

“I know this is going to sound stupid and maybe you won’t believe it, but it’s the truth,” you motioned for him to continue on, “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“By pushing me away?”

“By pushing you away,” he agreed, “I thought by doing that, I was doing you a favor. That way you wouldn’t feel stuck - with me. That way you had the chance to do what you wanted.”

“Stuck with you?” you echoed, your heart deflating slightly. You definitely would not have had this on your bingo card, “you think I felt like I was stuck with you?”

“Didn’t you?” He seemed more like a shy boy than a grown man at that moment. 

“No,” you shook your head fervently, “of course not. I never once had that thought even cross my mind. I didn’t feel stuck - I wanted to be with you, Joel.”

“Oh,” he opened and closed his mouth a few times, “oh?”

“Oh,” you snorted lightly in amusement, “I’m in love with you, in case that wasn’t clear. I never felt stuck or that I had to be with you. I wanted to be here.”

“I thought giving you a way out was the best thing,” he sighed softly, “I thought it would be easier if you hated me. That way you wouldn’t waste your time on me.”

“I never once wanted an out,” you promised, “I never wanted someone else. Never. It was always you, Joel.”

“And I fucked it up,” he concluded. You swallowed thickly; part of you wished you could be mad at him forever, the other part of you knew that was never possible. He pushed off the counter and nodded to himself, “well, that’s my five minutes. Thank you for um…for listening to me. Letting me explain.”

You watched him turn around - but you didn’t let him walk away. 

You reached for his, fingers wrapping around his wrist as you stopped him, “wait.”

He had a shocked expression on his face as he turned to look at you. Part of him was sure that he’d imagined the moment, “what’s wrong?”

“Do you love me?” your voice cracked as you tried not to cry already.

This time he didn’t hesitate for a moment, “yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay,” you agreed again, “do you….you want me to leave?”

“No,” he promised, “I don’t.”

“Good because I don’t want to leave,” you couldn’t help the nervous laugh that bubbled up, “so I guess I’ll stay. Even though I’m still kind of mad at you.”

“I deserve that much,” he exhaled shakily, “that’s fair.”

“But I also love you so I want to stay.”

His face lit up and you remembered all the reasons you’d fallen in love with him in the first place, “I love you.”

“Promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Next time,” you whispered, “just talk to me, okay? We’ll figure things out, but we gotta do them together.”

“I promise,” and you knew he meant it, “I promise.”

“I promise too, Joel,” you squeezed his hand, “always.”

“Always.”

#joel miller #joel miller x you #joel miller x reader #joel miller x fem!reader #joel miller imagine #joel miller one shot #pedro pascal #tlou #tlou hbo

[sorcerous-caress]

So fun fact about me irl I work with children but often my teacher language slips out like telling my friends to say “bye bye bus”, telling another person in my lecture writing to “be nice to the pencil, it’s your friend.” And greeting a roomful of grown as adults with good morning boys and girls. It’s mortifying but How do you think the companions would react to having a teacher!tav slip up like that.

Dealing with a Teacher Tav

[Bg3, fluff, platonic kinda, nb!reader]

[Gale, Shadowheart, Laezel, Wyll, Karlach, Astarion, Halsin, Minthara, Jaheira, Minsc]

Gale

He delightfully plays along whenever you tell him to thank a stranger or say goodbye to an inanimate object. He thinks it's very silly and joyous.

Teachers have always been a big part of his life, it doesn't phase him in the slightest when you unawarly awake the deep memories of being in wizards pre-school for him.

Says good morning to you back, adding a teacher honorific at the end for the sake of being playful while asking if you've finally graded the homework he handed in.

He gives you an apple occasionally. He thinks he is very hilarious.

Shadowheart

She freezes in awkwardness whenever it happens, not sure if you’re being serious or just playing around. Sometimes, you don't even register slipping up as go on with your day, leaving her wondering if she's imagining things.

She has zero experience with the school system, completely confused by the need to say thank you for carriage after it arrived. It's just a carriage, why should she?

One time while her and Laezel were arguing, you used the same call you'd use in the classroom to get the kids to quiet down and it completely caught them both off guard. They just stood there baffled, forgetting their original argument.

Laezel

Why, yes, she is very familiar with teachers. In fact, she was the best out of her class, ask any githyanki teacher, and they'd tell you endless praise about her throat cutting techniques and sword welding stances.

You, whoever, use very unusual teaching techniques. How would learning a song about washing your hand and brushing your teeth help her in slaying her enemies?

Intriguing, so you take advantage of the brain's tendency to latch on to phrases that rhyme, which makes them easier to remember? And you encode your melodies with instructions to embed them into the impressionable youth?

Huh. She actually is impressed. She made her decision, you will lend your teaching skills to help her embed the most effect way of fracturing someone's spine into a melody to spread to the githyanki children.

Wyll

As someone who has been an unofficial teacher for so many kids throughout his years, he can relate to your struggle a lot. He slips up more than he cares to admit.

The both of you meeting early in the morning while still groggy and tired, your brains working on automatic mods as you greet each other with the same high pitched enthusiastic voice you use to greet a toddler.

Then just stare at each other, complete understanding between the two of you. Like two people accidentally using their customer service voice in front of the other.

You struggle to tie your boots once, and he unconsciously bends down to tie them for you while using the rabbit loop euphemism, only to stop in his tracks as he realises what he's doing.

He uses a curse word once, and you immediately use your teachers voice and say, "we don't speak like that here, that's wasn't very nice."

You're both tired, you both need a nap and neither of you brings it up when the other slips.

Karlach

Much like Gale, she finds it extremely amusing. Top tier comedy to her. Unlike Gale, she hasn't been to any proper schooling system, so she doesn't exactly know what most of these phrases mean or imply.

In a way, it lets her pretend she was a part of something like a school in her youth, like she could've had a normal childhood like everyone else.

She'd indulge you, saying goodbye and thank you to the pigeon that delivered her a letter, or overhearing Wyll's rabbit loop ryhme and whispering it under her breath as she ties her own boots. Who knew this could've been so easy?

Astarion

You remind him of how Leon was with his daughter back in Cazador's manor. Astarion never was close with any of them, but still, he sometimes overheard him attempting to give his daughter a semblance of a normal childhood and growth.

It's endearing when you accidentally use your teaching ways while dealing with the owlbear cub, but he'll never admit it.

Doesn't indulge you with it, he has appearance to keep. Well, unless he has a chance to twist your innocent meaning words into a sex or gorey joke like the 12y old humour that he has.

Ah, the scrowl on your face is the exact same one Leon had around him, such fond memories.

Halsin

Ah, you bring him back to his old days of having to deal with the children at the grove. Although his methods focused more on showing them that nature is a friend rather than inanimate objects.

But who is he to judge your ways? If anything he could learn a thing or two from you to add to his skillset.

Tells you about the fables that were passed down from elf to elf throughout the generations, animal stories have always done a great part in teaching him morality.

Do you happen to have any? Maybe you could tell it to the children of the grove, they are good kids.

Minthara

As a noble, she was only given the best and most prestigious of teachers while growing up. Even the ones that weren't a drow would still be considered the best of the best, crème de la crème.

Yet not a single one of them applied such...childish methods. etiquette and discipline were taught by the lash and threat of punishment, not lullabies and gentle guidance.

....it's not as bad as she imagined.

She doesn't get why some of your companions find it amusing. She doesn't bother indulging either.

But sometimes, sometimes, when it's just the two of you, and she is sure not a single soul is around, she will reply with a pun with the most deadpan face expression you've seen.

Jaheira

Despite what most would think, she actually integrated the same methods into her teachings back when her kids were little, it just happened to be weaved with her more dangerous lifestyle ascept.

Here comes the plane, with the airplane usual holding a good dosage amount of poison to build resistance.

A short rhyme about what to check before leaving the house, except the list has a suspicious amount of daggers and trap disarm kits in it.

If it works, it works, so what if she had to alter a kid's book about a honey loving yellow bear into one with decipherable texts to teach them Harpers' secret communication language.

Minsc

Ah! Boo does use the same method on him sometimes, the two of you have a lot in common. Although Boo's methods do involve a bit of biting every now and then.

Say, how about he teaches you some fables from Rashemen, a lot of them are about a rabbit who got lost after not listening to his witch frog companion.

You could use it in your teachings later! Show the youth the importance of good teamwork. Yes, he is aware of the fact he didn't listen to Jaheira and got captured by the cult. No, he doesn't see why this is relevant? Why is Boo suddenly agreeing with you? He is supposed to be on his side.

#♡Gale #♡Shart #♡Astarion #♡Laezel #♡Wyll #♡Minthara #♡Halsin #♡Jaheira #♡Minsc #♡Karlach #♡fluff #♡several characters #gale x reader #shadowheart x reader #astarion x reader #karlach x reader #wyll x reader #minthara x reader #halsin x reader #jaheira x reader #Minsc x reader #bg3 x reader #bg3 fluff #baldur's gate 3 x reader #laezel x reader

[strawberrysturniolo]

never grow up part four

summary: after not speaking for a week, chris finds himself trying to confess his feelings to sunny, while she’s trying to move on from him

part three

part five

It’s been a week since I last talked to Chris. Since he walked out on me. 

It’s safe to say I was a complete wreck that night. I bawled my eyes out. I couldn’t imagine being in that state of stress and frustration with the only person who seems to understand me above others. It’s like that connection between us has been broken with such ease, not a care in the world from his end. He’s made that quite obvious.

I’ve been so embarrassed for wanting to push for something between us, until I remember how he made me think he wanted that too. It’s not embarrassing for me to be convinced of something else by someone I trusted, but I guess I learned my lesson for the future. 

It was one thing for him to not say goodbye when he left my apartment, rather than him just getting up and leaving angrily. But what makes it worse is he went back to LA without a word, without a real goodbye. 

It’s for that reason that I don’t bother telling him I miss him. He clearly didn’t care enough to say goodbye before he flew back to the other side of the country.

What makes it all worse is that I didn’t even find out from him or someone in his family.

I found out from a fucking Instagram story that Nick posted with Chris and Matt at an event. So who the fuck even knows when they actually got back there. They seem to be settled in again pretty fucking nicely. 

I’ve tried to occupy myself with work and school to keep my mind off how I’m feeling. Somehow along the way, I managed to agree to go on a date. 

I usually don’t care to randomly date people. Maybe that’s why I felt so safe and confident in Chris. I’ve known him forever, and I trusted that he would take care of me and we would work. 

We didn’t even get the chance to try before he turned into a stranger again. 

There’s nothing wrong with the guy in front of me. I just don’t think this is the right kind of guy for me. He’s very proper, clearly coming from a rich family that taught him about fine dining and expensive jewelry since he was born. He bought me a fancy glass of wine though, so I can’t complain too much. At least I can get a little tipsy tonight. I know better than to drink too much on a first date in case this guy turns out to be a creep and I’m too drunk to notice. 

“So,” he starts to say, then he takes a sip of his wine, raising a hand to the waiter and silently requesting another. That pisses me off. “Who’s your best friend?”

Not the 20 questions type ass question. 

Well, fuck. That one hurt. 

“Um– He– They don’t live here anymore,” I finally say. “I met them when I was a toddler. I don’t even remember it, I just know from family stories. I think they were the first friend I ever made. I don’t remember ever not having them in my life. They were always there.”

I continue to refer to Chris as they rather than he. I don’t know this guy well enough yet, and something tells me if I say my best friend was a boy, he’d start asking more questions about him that I don’t want to answer. 

“They were always there,” I continue. “By biggest supporter, best friend, number one defender. We started to share families. I was always welcome unannounced– actually, they liked it when I came over without mentioning it first. It made them feel even more loved, is what they said.” 

I need more wine.

I was 16 when I went on my very first date. Chris was with a girl that night. She came over to their house, and had a double date sort of thing with Matt and his girlfriend. While I was at the movie theater on my date, he started to get weird. He was suddenly touching my legs, and trying to kiss me. I ran to the bathroom and called Chris, and even though I knew he couldn’t drive, I knew he would try to rescue me.

“Hey–”

“Chris. I’m at the movies with Ryan.”

My words came out in a rush, desperation clear in my tone.

I could hear him leave the room, practically running to where he could be alone and hear me clearly. “I know. What’s wrong?”

I took a deep breath. “He’s being weird.”

There’s a pause.

“How weird?”

“I’m in the bathroom to get away from him. That kind of weird,” I clarified. “I’m sorry. I know you’re with people, but can you please–”

“We’ll be there soon. I’ll text you when I’m outside,” he agreed without a second thought.

Once him and Matt arrived, Matt dropped us off at a McDonald’s near their house before going back to his own girlfriend. I never really asked what happened with the girl Chris was with. I guess I assumed they took her home while they were on their way to get me. 

To cheer me up, Chris treated our shitty McDonald’s dinner as a friendly date. He made me laugh, made me feel safe again, and then we went home and watched a movie in his bed.

He was always ready to rescue me, no matter what he was doing. 

Suddenly, my phone rings on the table, violently vibrating and disrupting our conversation. 

I apologize as I pick up my phone, trying to mute it, until I see the caller ID. 

Without hesitating, I get up from the table. “I have to take this.”

I practically run outside so I’m alone when I take the call, trying to get there before he hangs up. I press the phone to my ear, and my heart sinks when I finally hear his voice again.

“Hey,” he says.

My voice is delicate when I respond. “Hi.”

“I just wanted to–” he starts to say, getting right to the point. A car horn blares as someone in front of me swerves near another car. He stops his original point and asks, “Where are you right now?”

“Outside of a restaurant. I got up when you called.”

“Oh. Who are you with?”

“Just– Um– I’m not–” I stutter. “It’s just someone I know.”

He must have been laying on his bed, because I hear him shift. There’s a slight rumble like he was moving around, the sound of his bed sheets against his body as he sits up. “Is it a guy?”

I don’t know what to say. I could lie and say that I’m with family, or that it’s a networking dinner, but my silence doesn’t help my case. Not to mention that I panicked and settled on ‘someone I know.’

“You’re on a fucking date?!” he shouts.

“Why are you yelling at me!”

“I’m calling to tell you that I want to be with you and you’re on a fucking date?!”

He wants to be with me.

I don’t even get to be happy about that before I’m trying to defend myself. He’s so fast to get angry with me, not giving me a chance to think about anything other than the fact that he’s being incredibly unfair. 

“How was I supposed to know that’s why you were calling?” I ask. I start pacing in front of the restaurant, weaving through people walking around me. “We haven’t spoken in a week!”

“Yeah,” he says, responding in a tone that is so dry, it makes me worried for what’s to come next. “A week ago you were all over me saying that you love me and you want a relationship and you’re already on a date with someone else?”

My voice goes soft. “What were you trying to achieve? Do you want a relationship with me?”

“Well, no but–”

“Oh!” I jump in. “So you want me, but not enough to be in a relationship with me, but enough to where if I go out with someone else who wants to be with me, I’m the bad person because then you’d get to call that cheating even though you and I don’t want the same thing. You just want me to be available if and when you decide you want the same thing as me.”

He doesn’t want me. He just wants me to be there in case that changes. With how indecisive and low commitment Chris is, I don’t want to wait around for someone that isn’t sure of me. Especially me, when we’ve had so much love for each other for our whole lives. 

“You’re so fucking dramatic,” he scoffs. “I hope your date can handle it.”

“So fucking what if I’m on a date!” I fight back. “It shouldn’t mean anything to you!”

“You’re right, it doesn’t matter. So I’ll do you one better.” I take a breath, holding it. I’m terrified for what he’ll say next. “I fucked someone last night.”

I feel my heart stop beating. Then it drops into my stomach.

My chest feels empty. It’s like I’m just a shell of a human being, but nothing inside it functions anymore. That about killed me. 

Tears well in my eyes, and I know if he saw me right now, he would hate that he made me cry. He was always the person to wipe my tears, and now he’s the cause of it. 

I want to scream. I want to hate him. But I never could. No matter how much I try.

“So you decided to fuck someone else. Then you called me to confess the love you think I want from you, then you get mad that I don’t want to wait around for someone who isn’t sure about me and I went on a date, all of which you were going to pursue without telling me that you fucked someone last night!” I don’t bother concealing my volume or my vocabulary even though I’m standing around plenty of people. They can all hear me fighting with Chris. “And you’re going to get mad over a date, when you fucked someone?!”

He doesn’t say anything for a minute. I have to actually check that the call is still ongoing and I didn’t lose him somehow, or that he didn’t hang up on me after calling him out.

“You know what?” he snaps. “You’re right. This was a waste of time. Enjoy your date,” he forces himself to say. I know he wants nothing more than for my date to go badly. I don’t tell him that it already was before he called. 

“Yeah, I will. And guess what Chris?”

“What?”

“You can go fuck yourself, but knowing you, you’ll probably get someone else to handle that for you.”

The line goes dead when he hangs up on me.

I’m left standing outside in shock.

I don’t know how long I’ve been standing in one place, burning tears dripping slowly down my cheeks. I finally snap out of it when I feel raindrops on my skin. Seconds later, the rain starts coming down harder.

Pretty ironic that he called me Sunshine because when he was down it always got sunnier, and now I’m standing in a downpour. 

tag list: @secret-sturniolo @chrisloyalgf @strnilolo @qwertytit @55sturn @sleepysturnss @creamoncreamoncream2 @sturnvvz @swaggygirlboss123 @angelworldspost @patscorner @ducksturniolo @mattitties @luv4kozume @mbbsgf @freshloveforthefit @ripmattitude @gamermattsgf @strniololoverr @urmom2bitch @sturnitup @luvmila444 @st7rnioioss @sturniolosreads @pepsiskiess @alorsxsturn @sturniolopepsi @sturnsgasoline @sturns-posts @sstvrnioloo @strawberrymilk4k @nickmillersn1gf @milesfordays11 @l9vesick @mattsturnzzz09 @mattnchrisworld @sturniolovoid @aerunn @sturniolosmind @oliviasturniolo21 @carolsturns1 @scarssturniolo @stuniolobbg @sturniolowhore @christurniolomyman

#Spotify #strawberrysturniolo #chris sturniolo smut #chris sturniolo x you #chris sturniolo x reader #chris sturniolo #sturniolo #sturniolo triplets

[cillianhead]

Hey hey, I just found your blog and I really like your writing - especially Sitting Pretty since I'm a sucker for those Crane fics. :3

Would you maybe be up for some kind of comfort/fluff fic with Crane?

I am always up for some comfort/fluff when it comes to Dr Jonathan Crane. He's so babygirl <3

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.... thank you so much for your request!

Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby || Jonathan Crane x Reader

warnings: none really, some brief mentions of violence, crying, angsty but also fluffy and comforting at the end, not really anything that bad to be honest, sort of non-canonical to anything that actually happened in the films.

It had been around a week since you had seen your boyfriend of three years. This was the longest you had gone without seeing Jonathan, without even hearing a peep from him. You even went to his work, he hadn't been there either. You knew what sort of dangerous work he did outside of Arkham and also within it, you knew the dangers and the risks he faced every time he left your apartment. You were still hopelessly devoted to him, despite the bad things that he has done and continues to do. You knew he would never hurt you. Him being gone felt like someone had ripped your heart out... like your soul was slowly being eaten away. Where was he? Was he even still alive? No. You mustn't think like that.

It was only a week, maybe he just needed some time away. Though he would've at least taken time off work, surely? His work told you he hadn't called in sick but he was supposed to be there. But he wasn't.

You hadn't cried. You found yourself growing more and more numb to the absence of Jonathan. It was like your body trying to reject a foreign object, trying to spit him out of your heart. It was painful and agonizingly slow, you knew you could never get over him, especially if you never got to say goodbye. His things lying around your apartment were a painful reminder of the fact he was gone. And he probably was never coming back.

You hadn't slept, at least not very well, in four days. You'd barely been eating either, maybe a stale cracker or two every now and then but you couldn't bring yourself to eat any proper meals. The best you could do was stare at the tiled wall as you stood in the scalding hot shower, trying to burn away the grief.

With the growing hunger and the fact you barely slept, paranoia was also sprouting within you, like some sort of sickly weed. You were worried that if Jonathan had been captured, whatever got him, was coming for you next. Every tiny little noise, every rumble, or car horn outside sent you running to the comfort of your shared bed. The one that smelt like him. You really couldn't sleep. Every shadow looked like some sort of evil horned figure ready to devour you whole, your eyes wide and frozen, helplessly full of fear. You thought about how Jonathan would assess this situation, how nerdy he got when you were afraid, in its own way you found it comforting the way he explained the body's reaction to fear and the way he explained the mind's power over the body.

The sleep you did get would be full of nightmares or vividly heartbreaking dreams. There was one you couldn't get over, a dream so sweet, more like a memory than anything else. Jonathan coming home from work, taking off his clothes and crawling into bed with you. His hands caressed your back softly, arms cradling you like you could shatter at any moment if he held you too tight. It felt so painfully real, that even when you began to wake up you could still feel him there. Still feeling his arms around you.

"Jonathan..." You whispered a sigh of relief, his arms pulled away from you as your heart raced with joy. Sitting up and looking around to find yourself just as alone as you had been for the past week. That's when you began to cry. "Jonathan..." You sobbed into your hands, you couldn't fall asleep after that. It was four in the morning, and the room was pretty much pitch black as you cried to yourself like a baby needing its mother.

Even more time passed. You were hysterical, you didn't pick up your phone when your friends called, you didn't leave the house, you didn't eat, and you most definitely didn't sleep. You were in bad shape, to say the least. It was that time of the year when the rain began to pour, your glass walls showed the bruised sky and the lightning it unleashed upon Gotham. You didn't work, Jonathan insisted on you staying at home, for him to provide for you. You were pretty happy staying at home and doing as you pleased. But now... it felt so different, there was no one to come home to you. You were pretty certain that the love of your life had died and you were going to spend the rest of your time alone. You knew you could never love again.

As if the sky knew how you felt, it only rained harder, it rained for days and it never stopped. You sat on the couch with a blanket draped over you as you lifelessly stared out at the dark sky. It was the middle of the night, and you thought about sweet nothings you and Jonathan shared. You thought about how lucky you were to see that side of him, so lucky you weren't on the other end, seeing the scarecrow, full of fear toxin. You thought about Jonathan humming while he made you pancakes, thought about the way he wrote you love letters almost every morning before he left for work, thought about the way you both were ready to get married soon. You remembered him holding your stomach while you brushed your teeth before bed and saying in that beautiful voice of his; "One day, you and I, are gonna have a bunch of beautiful babies and we'll live far far away from here. Everything will be perfect."

You sobbed and nothing brought you out of it. The pain in your chest was unbearable, no stupid fucking sad song or badly written poem could ever express it. There was no comprehensible word in any language that could truly explain away the agony you were in. You were no longer paranoid that something was going to come and hurt you, in fact, if there was someone or something out there coming to get you, you'd happily let it come in and put you out of your goddamn misery.

It was two soft raps on your bedroom window from the fire escape that caught your attention. You froze and stopped your crying, listening for it again, wondering if maybe you were just hearing things.

It's when you hear them again that you manage to stand up on shaky legs and wander into your bedroom that you see a shadow, leaning its weight against the window tiredly. It was him. With all the energy you could muster up, you ran to the window and slid it open before grabbing ahold of him and pulling him into your bedroom. You felt like you were going to have a heart attack.

"Y/N," Jonathan whispered. You didn't say a word, just turned on the lamp to light up the room. If this was a dream, you were going to try and enjoy every second of it. If this was the only way you could see your Jonny then you would take in every moment. "I... I missed you." And when you turned around, ready to scold him, ready to scream your lungs out at him for being gone, your heart broke all over again. His clothes were torn and covered in dried-up blood. Jonathan's neck was covered in bruises in the shape of handprints and his eyes were tired and void of any life. "Jonathan..." You whimpered, approaching him, he winced a bit as you placed your hands softly on his face. "Where have you been? What happened to you?" You were going to be angry at him before but now you understood... it wasn't his fault. He was soaking wet and you could see he had been crying too.

"I... I can't... really remember... I was drugged..." He mumbled, Jonathan's fingers curled around your waist and pulled you into a bone-crunching hug. He breathed you in, embracing you again was the only medicine he needed. Holding you was the only thing that could tell him was truly okay. "The Batman got me... I don't know how I managed to escape... just ended up here... I've been walking for days."

"Jonny..." You were crying as you sat him gently down on the bed. "I thought you..." You whispered. The strength was not in you to say it. "I thought you were..."

"Dead?" Jonathan croaked out, his voice was hoarse in a way that told you he had spent days on end screaming, from the torture he had been put through. "Yeah, me too." He said dryly.

You helped him undress. The clothes were pretty much useless so you tossed them on the floor in a pile to throw away later. "Let me clean you up..."

"No." He said. "Not right now..." Jonathan shook his head as he grabbed you and pulled you into his chest as you laid down in the bed with him again. "I just need to feel you..." His voice broke and in the process, your heart broke too. You could hear how defeated he was. "Need to feel you there." You understood, not saying another word as you clung to him. You listened to the sound of his heart, ear pressed right against his bare and bruised chest. You heard him sniffle, immediately causing you to pull away. "Oh, baby..." You cooed sadly, brushing a tear off his wounded cheek. The dam gates were open now as he began to cry, wincing at the salty tears mixing in with his busted face. "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry that happened to you... I was so worried... you're here now... you're here with me... my baby."

"I thought about you every second," He sobbed. Jonathan looked like a helpless little child at that moment, his blue eyes were pitiful. "I thought I was going to die... thought I was never gonna get the chance to say goodbye to you..."

Together you sat crying, both with relief and sorrow as the rain poured outside, the heaven's crying with you. Everything felt okay again, for the both of you, now that you were with one another. "It's okay, Jonny." You tried to console him. Things had happened to him before, he'd been beaten up or caught in dangerous situations but he usually came home shrugging it off, this time you could tell he was severely traumatized, you could tell this was going to take a while for him to get over. Jonathan had that thousand-yard stare, that mischievous fire that usually lit up his eyes had been extinguished and now reflected the dreary weather outside. "I love you, baby, it's okay... nothing's ever going to hurt you again." You whispered, he leaned in, pressing a kiss to your lips. You kissed him as gently as you could, knowing his lip was swollen and split open, you could taste the metallic blood from his mouth and the saltiness of his tears.

"Y/N..." Jonathan wept, his face now buried in between your neck and your jaw. "It hurts." The tone of his voice was the most heart-shattering thing you'd ever heard.

"I know, my baby," You hushed as you laid back down again, caressing his hair that was still wet from the rain. "Nothing will ever hurt you again." You reassured once again. "Nothing's going to take you from my side."

You cried your own tears of sadness, relieved he was back in your arms, relieved that you were there to take care of him and nurse him back to health. The morning sun had begun to rise by the time you two had properly nestled into your bed, skin pressed together, legs intertwined. Jonathan slept in your arms, you held him like a baby, you couldn't sleep, too happy to have him in your arms again.

"As long as you're with me, you'll be just fine..." You whispered softly into his hair.

-

#cillian murphy #cillian murphy smut #cillian murphy x reader #cillian x reader #cillian x fem!reader #Jonathan Crane #jonathan crane x reader #jonathan crane smut #scarecrow x reader #batman #batman begins #batman dark knight #batman the dark knight #the dark knight rises #the dark knight trilogy #christopher nolan #christian bale

[randomfandomworks]

Veneer Relationship HCs

Veneer x GN!Reader Synopsis: Random headcanons about how Veneer would be in a relationship Word Count: 925 Warnings: Potential OOC Pronouns Used: (You / Your) A/N: This man and his sister have officially invaded my brain. Hope you enjoy these headcanons Velvet's are also posted.

✭ I would say Veneers love languages are gifts and physical touch

✭ He also probably enjoys some quality time together

✭ He finds it easier to open up to people, compared to Velvet. You specifically being someone he holds very close. 

✭ As I’ve said he expresses love through gifts

✭ He just has money to spend, and who better to spend it on than you?

✭ Sometimes it isn’t even something he bought it’s just a new piece of merchandise him and Velvet we’re thinking about producing

✭ He’ll just randomly lay himself in your lap

✭ As in you’ll just be sitting there and suddenly, without any reason he has his head on your shoulder and his legs swung over the arm of the chair demanding your attention without asking for it

✭ Being around you is one of his favorite places to be

✭ He skips random events he and Velvet were invited to because he would rather spend time with you

✭ Or he drags you along with them

✭ He likes giving and receiving kisses on the cheek

✭ For example before shows you’ll stay in his dressing room with him as he finishes getting ready 

✭ And when he’s called for top of show he’ll say goodbye with a quick kiss on your cheek 

✭ Leaving a small green lipstick smear

✭ He likes to think of it as a good luck charm

✭ Then when the show ends he takes the time to give you a proper kiss

✭ Also loves to give the occasional forehead kiss

✭ He definitely paints your nails to match his

✭ He loves to do this especially if he decided to paint his nails a bright color

✭ Because if it’s bright or unusual it’s easier to tell that you two are matching

✭ As said before I think one of his love languages is physical touch

✭ He’s always leaning on you, holding you, or being held whenever you two are together

✭ I think he specifically likes to hold your waist and hands

✭ Particularly when trying to get through paparazzi

✭ He always tries to keep you close

✭ He never announced his relationship to the public but he isn’t exactly hiding it either

✭ He brings you to events and doesn’t bother hiding when your in public

✭ He will of course make your relationship more private if his fans and the news get to be to much for you

✭ You are his top priority

✭ Which also means he's willing to stand up for you, even to Velvet if need be

✭ He can sometimes struggle with communication

✭ He loves you and trusts you enough to speak his mind 

✭ But he's always been shut down by Velvet so it's harder for him to communicate clearly with you

✭ He likes to lay on top of you

✭ Like full weight on your chest

✭ Sometimes (usually when he’s tired) he’ll lean up and plant kisses on your neck and collarbone as he lays on top of you

✭ He’s just never had anyone love him the way you do

✭ Velvet and his parents aren’t very affectionate people

✭ So when you were openly affectionate with him he was hooked

✭ He had a hard time recognizing what he was feeling when he first started falling for you

✭ I think he actually turned to Floyd when he needed to talk to someone about it

“Your band wrote love songs, right?”

“I guess you could call them that.”

“How did you know what that felt like?”

✭ He will always take your side no matter what happened or who is against you

✭ If it’s a fan he makes sure security takes care of them

✭ Trusts you more than literally anyone else he knows

✭ He likes falling asleep in your arms or next to you

✭ And if you ever can’t lay down with him he’ll just lean against you and watch what your doing until you finish

✭ Or he’ll lay his head in your lap

✭ He likes to do this when you have to focus on something

✭ Because then he gets to see you try and stay focused on your work rather than him

✭ Which you usually fail at

✭ You will have tickets to each show he and Velvet performs

✭ Whether you want to be backstage, in the front row, or even in a private booth is completely up to you

✭ Just tell him and he’ll make it happen

✭ Because of course he will

✭ He’d do anything for you

✭ After shows however he’ll always find his way back to your side

✭ Resting against you as you convince him to take of his makeup before he falls asleep 

✭ This man would also live for praise from you (Especially after shows)

✭ He’s an average amount of protective

✭ At least for someone in his situation

✭ He always has you escorted to his shows and such by at least one security guard

✭ You just never know what could happen with the fans

✭ He won’t always have someone with you though

✭ He values your privacy and the private parts of your relationship

✭ Just because he’s a star doesn’t mean he needs to share everything with the public

✭ Not that he doesn’t enjoy showing you off when he can

✭ He tries to cook for you

✭ The only issue with that is he never really learned how to cook

✭ Loves to try either way

✭ Also loves when you get him little gifts or if you make him something

✭ Even if it’s something simple

✭ It all goes in a specific area in his room or dressing room

✭ Overall he just loves everything about you

✭ Genuinely feels like you complete him like no one else could

#trolls veneer #no use of y/n #randomfandomworks #veneer x reader #trolls #trolls 3 #head canon #dreamworks trolls #trolls band together #veneer trolls #veneer x you

[wildflowerluver]

when we are together

aaron hotchner x fem!reader

5 times jack pushes you and aaron together and the one time it works

cw: reader gets injured, mutual pinning, jack also gets hurt (very minor), bau reader, she/her pronouns 

wc: 4.9k

༺♡༻

1. carpool

you had first overheard hotch complaining about his car troubles to rossi.

everyone drove the same bureau issued suv. it was odd for one to have an issue and not the others. emily laughed and joked to the group about it being ‘old man troubles’ to which he rolled his eyes. 

“it’s going into the shop after work. standard maintenance.”

you finally butted in when hotch debated what rental car to get. 

“i can just pick you up tomorrow if you’d like. i drive in your direction anyway,” you offered. “save you the trouble.”

hotch raised an eyebrow. “are you sure? i have to get jack to school too.”

you waved your hand. “i’ll pick you both up at eight.”

true to your word, you pulled up to hotch’s apartment complex a few minutes early and shot him a quick text to let him know you were outside.

jack came barreling out first, hotch not far behind. his  backpack bounced as he ran and lunchbox hit against his leg. 

“hi y/n!” jack exclaimed as he climbed into the car. hotch greeted you with a quieter hello as he buckled jack’s seatbelt and circled the car to get in the passenger's seat.

you stayed quiet while driving, focusing instead on navigating. hotch had asked jack about his day ahead in an effort to make small talk. the young boy perked up and began rambling off about everything he would be doing at school. you were impressed with how much he seemed to enjoy learning.

it was only a few minutes before you were pulling up to jack’s school as per aaron’s directions. you quickly parked while aaron got out of his seat to help jack out of the car and get his backpack on.

before he exited though, you twisted around to say goodbye to jack and wish him a good day at school. 

he waved up at you with a toothy smile. 

“maybe you and dad could drive me to school together more often.”

you and aaron met each others eyes in a mutual agreement.

“i think that can definitely be arranged.”

2. work

it was rare that jessica couldn’t watch jack. her job and schedule allowed her to care for the young boy after school and when aaron was away on cases. 

today, however, she got swamped with a last minute series of meetings and was out of town for the day. she let aaron know as soon as possible but not quick enough for him to find another sitter.

that meant one thing, jack would have to spend the day at the bau.

aaron coached his son the entire drive over on the proper behavior. it was a paperwork day, thankfully, and he made sure jack knew that everyone on the team had a lot of work to get done. that meant no bothering them.

despite the warning, jack was practically bouncing the entire way up, more than excited he would get to spend an entire day with some of his favorite people on the planet.

members of the team greeted jack as he made his way around the bullpen. morgan even slipped him a lollipop he stole from garcia for the occasion. when hotch had begun to guide his son up towards the office, you offered to let jack sit with you.

hotch tilted his head. “are you sure?”

“i don’t have a ton of files to get done. he won’t be a bother.”

hotch brought a spare chair over to your desk. he thanked you again and disappeared into his office. you knew the young boy would need entertainment of some kind while he waited.

you took a spare piece of paper from your desk and a few pens. jack took them eagerly with a thank you and got to coloring right away.

it was far from a distraction. his scratching on paper served as white noise more than anything.

he seemed to finish after a few minutes, sliding it over to you for approval. you beamed when you saw the drawing. it was you, him, and hotch at what looked like the park. some of the scribbles were a little tough to decipher but you got the gist.

“wow jack!” you exclaimed. “i think we might have found your hidden talent!”

jack giggled, taking the picture back.

“wanna go show your dad?”

the boy was sliding off the chair and running up the steps towards his dad's office before you could stop him. while the offer was made, you were unsure if hotch was in a meeting. the door was already open, though, and jack headed in with ease.

“dad! dad! look what i made!” jack quickly exclaimed. hotch looked up from his file, expression softening as his son handed the picture.

you entered the office next, apologizing for jack’s sudden rogue behavior. hotch held his hand up, lips upturned in a small smile. 

he kept the photo framed on his wall.

3. career day

there were plenty of events at jack’s elementary school that were spread throughout the year.

he had an art show, a holiday concert, and even a mini science fair. aaron had done his best to make it to the ones he could, but there were times when work conflicted and he felt awful.

jack had another event, career day, in just a few days and the team had yet to be called in for a case.

this was a big deal for him. once aaron had told him he would be in attendance, jack seemed to work extra hard and checked every single morning to make sure his dad would still be there. typically, jessica would also attend with or without aaron but she was away on a work trip.

as happy as jack was that aaron would be there, all of the other kids in his class were bragging about both of their parents taking the day off.

haley wasn’t around anymore and his aunt was busy. 

jack asked his dad before he got out of the car for school. one of the aids had handed aaron a flier with a reminder for the event. in the back, jack piped up.

“can y/n come too?”

aaron glanced at his son through the mirror. he knew how important this event was for jack.

“sure, buddy. i can ask her today.”

jack’s career fair was that friday during your lunch break. the students would be dressing up as their future careers and even prepared a presentation for the parents who had come to see them. 

despite not being able to make it, jack had enlisted jessica’s help to make his outfit a total surprise. 

aaron and you had left a few minutes before your scheduled break to ensure enough time to make it to the school. you had to admit, hearing that jack wanted you at such a big event for him and being invited made you tear up. 

you quickly found seats in the auditorium. jack’s teacher had given a brief speech before releasing everyone to walk around the room.

jack was in the back corner. you and aaron both beamed when you say his career choice.

he was dressed in a suit, one of aaron’s ties around his neck though it was much too long for his body. he had a little bag beside him and an id clipped to his collar. he looked like aaron.

jack immediately ran into his dads legs, squeezing him tightly. you were next.

“hey buddy,” you greeted. “what did you dress up as?”

“i’m an fbi agent!” he exclaimed proudly. “i wanted to be like you and dad.”

you glanced at aaron who pressed his lips together. “you wanted to be like us?”

“yeah! i couldn’t be a superhero so i chose the real thing.”

both you and aaron collected jack in your arms at his words.

aaron stayed close to you and jack went through his entire presentation: what an fbi agent was, why he picked it, and how he can practice in his everyday life. it was adorable.

it was finally time for the career fair to end and jack had hugged you both again before running off with his class. you and aaron needed to get back to work too. aaron drove you two back to the bureau, leaving the radio on at a comfortable volume.

“thank you for coming with me. i know it meant a lot to jack.”

aaron was truly grateful. jack adored you and deep down, aaron always worried that his son would struggle with emotions and opening up after losing haley. but with you, he was the opposite.

you leaned over the center console to squeeze his hand. a small intimate gesture.

“of course. anything for either of you.”

4. emergency room

you loved watching over jack whenever you could. 

all of the team, minus you and morgan, had a conference out in wisconsin over the weekend. it wasn’t odd for certain members to not go, the bureau chose who they thought would discuss the content the best.

you volunteered to watch jack in aaron’s absence. 

you headed over to the hotchner residence immediately after work on friday. the rest of the team would be heading out that night for the conference on saturday and sunday.

jack was ecstatic that you were watching him. he even made a list of movies he wanted to watch and games he wanted to play.

of course you had been in aaron’s apartment before, but he still showed you around and pointed out where specific things for jack were. he stopped by his bedroom, motioning you to drop your bags. 

“you can sleep in here. i changed the sheets and all before you came but there’s also fresh linens in the hall closet.”

he had said it so casually you couldn’t help the blush that formed. you really hoped he didn’t notice.

you had to practically shove aaron out the door after the makeshift tour. he was running late for the airport but you could sense his nervousness about leaving jack. he finally kissed his son on the forehead and squeezed your shoulder. 

“good luck at your conference.” you giggled when he rolled his eyes, clearly not excited for it. “try and have some fun.”

“i doubt it.”

the weekend with jack went by smoothly. you did everything on his agenda and spent some time in the city too. it was honestly relaxing to be with the boy.

aaron had texted you before he had left wisconsin, sending the flight information and arrival time. you had responded with a simple ‘safe flight!’ and ventured into the kitchen to make jack dinner.

jack was bouncing around as you cooked. he missed his dad and was excited for him to get home. you warned him gently to be careful and he simply giggled before taking off around the apartment.

you thought all was good until you heard a loud crash and an instant cry.

after shutting the burner of the stove off, you wasted no time in running to find jack.

he was sitting on the floor on the hallway, the table knocked over and a picture frame scattered on the floor. your heart plummeted when you saw the blood on his forehead and hands.

you’ve had training for this. you’ve literally saved people's lives but seeing jack injured seemed to make you falter. 

you quickly took him in his arms and brought him into the kitchen, grabbing a towel to his cut. you needed to slow the bleeding before anything. you used your spare hand to wipe away jack’s tears.

“it’s gonna be okay, jackers. i promise.”

his verbal crying had subsided but the tears still flowed. your heart ached.

after a few moments, you removed the cloth and winced. he would definitely need stitches. “i’m gonna take you to get cleaned up, okay?” jack nodded.

you scooped him into your arms, quickly grabbing your phone and keys.

the drive to urgent care went by thankfully quickly. jack kept the cloth pressed to the cut and was taking it like a champ. you knew he would be okay but anxiety still nipped at your head.

doctors took jack back right away. you relayed what happened and that you were his babysitter. thankfully with aaron’s status at the bau, not much information was needed for you to write down.

when you went to follow them back to jack’s room, you were stopped. it was standard protocol for them to not let friends or family back while they operated. as much as you wanted to go and be with him, it simply wasn’t allowed.

you squeezed jack’s hand quickly, reassuring him that he would be okay. your eyes stayed on him until he was led out of sight.

you needed to call aaron.

the team was mingling about on the jet, all immersed in a game of poker while rossi slept somewhere else on the jet. hotch’s phone rang and he placed his cards down to pick it up.

hotch barely had time to answer with a hello before you were apologizing. 

“aaron i’m so so sorry,” you cried. 

“y/n what happened? where are you?”

“i’m at urgent care,” aaron’s heart fell at your words. “jack fell and cut his head. aaron i’m so sorry.”

you were crying again when you finished talking. he could tell you were trying to muffle your sobs with your hand.

“y/n,” aaron needed to calm you down before anything. “is jack okay?”

“yeah yeah. they took him back to get stitches but they said he was going to be okay. i’m sorry i was supposed to be taking care of him.”

“it’s okay. as long as jack is being taken care of, that's all that matters. i’m sure it was an accident.”

you’re already protesting his words. “but i-”

“y/n,” aaron’s voice is stern. “it’s okay. i’ll meet you at urgent care when we land. shouldn’t be more than thirty minutes.”

he was going easy on you and you knew it. 

the thirty minute wait seemed to go by agonizingly slow. a doctor had come into the waiting room and let you know that they were beginning the stitching. the cleaning had taken longer than intended.

you shut your eyes when someone sat down next to you. you knew it was him. you knew you should turn and talk to aaron but the guilt was all consuming.

he finally took the first words. “how’s jack?”

“he’s good. getting his stitches now. aaron i’m-”

“y/n, it’s okay, really. please don’t apologize again. accidents happen,” his words were gentle. you stayed quiet, knowing you would apologize again if you opened your mouth.

aaron’s hand moved to your knee, effectively stopping the anxious bouncing and squeezing to reassure you of his words. 

he kept his hand there until a doctor came out to which he stood up, professionalism seeping into his expression.

“you can go first,” you offered once the doctor had informed you that jack was ready to be seen. it felt dumb to have to vocally tell him to go.

aaron was having none of that. he reached down to take your hand in yours and hoist you to your feet, pulling you after him to jack’s room. aaron entered first, hugging his son tightly.

“hi jackers,” you greeted quietly after stepping into the room.

the young boy bit his lip as tears welled in his eyes. “i’m so sorry.”

aaron looked at his son. “what for buddy?”

“i was running when i wasn’t supposed to and i got hurt.”

you took a seat on the bed beside him, carefully wrapping an arm around his shoulder. he leaned into you as aaron occupied the other space beside him.

“it’s alright. i’m just glad you’re okay.”

5. hurts

there was always a risk when a friend, a lover, anyone close to you was in a potentially dangerous line of work.

you and aaron had gone through it a few times with him and foyet and various members of the team. you, however, hadn’t ever been directly put in danger.

that was until this case.

the unsub was profiled as a misogynistic, psychopathic serial killer whose signature involved overkill of women. every female in the immediate area was absolutely terrified. 

you didn’t think much of it at first, especially not when you, spencer, and emily had been sent to a suspect's house. the fear only set in when all traits of the suspect had pointed to him being the unsub and you were the one who got attacked first.

hotch nearly lost it when he found you unconscious and bloody. your face had been beaten, nose swollen and lip split. he dropped down beside you, taking your head in his hands and yelling your name in pure fear of losing you until j.j. had gotten the emt’s.

you thankfully didn’t stay in the hospital very long, just overnight. all of your wounds had gotten cleaned and stitched up but the doctor had diagnosed you with a pretty nasty concussion. you were just glad it was a local case so you didn’t have to wait to fly home.

hotch had insisted that he watched over you for at least the first night. there had been other volunteers but no one was going to argue with their boss. 

you had strict concussion protocol for the first night. you would need to stay up as late as you possibly could and once you fell asleep, someone would need to wake you up every few hours. it sounded exhausting.

if hotch had any issues with it, he didn’t voice them.

you were still pretty out of it on the drive home. aaron had loaded your bags in his car and kept a secure arm around your waist to help you in the passenger's seat. he even made sure to take the least bumpy route to his apartment.

you stayed leaning against the wall of his apartment hallway as aaron knocked before unlocking the door. jessica was greeting him right away, echoing that jack was in the kitchen eating dinner. the rest of their conversation was fuzzy. your head was pounding and it felt like too much to try and tune in and listen.

“y/n?” aaron’s voice was suddenly close.

you hum as you opened your eyes slowly. 

“let’s head in,” his hand fell to your shoulder as he led you inside. jessica must have left because you could only hear jack in the kitchen.

you collapsed on the couch. aaron went into the kitchen to greet his son and get you some medicine.

despite doctor’s orders, sleep was beginning to feel like a good idea. but as your eyes started to slip shut, you heard a patter against the floorboards.

“y/n?” jack’s voice was small. you knew he had never seen you like this. “are you okay?”

you sat up, patting the spot next to you for jack to climb up. “i’m alright, jackers. just got a little hurt.”

an idea seemed to pass over jack’s face and he lit up. “oh! i know how to help!”

you tilted your head to the side. sure jack was smart for his age but you didn’t know how he could help your injuries. 

“how?”

jack smiled. “kisses! dad and aunt jess always say that kissing my hurts will make them feel better.”

you bit your lip. the young boy's heart made you tear up. “well i certainly want to feel better.”

jack clambered forward, placing a soft kiss to the cut on your forehead, the bruise on your cheek, and the brace on your wrist.

aaron opened his mouth, a warning for his son to be careful on the tip of his tongue. but when he saw you smile, he stopped.

“dad!” jack twisted around to face his father. “your turn!”

aaron shook his head. “sorry buddy, i think you got them all.”

jack shook his head, pointing towards your very split lip. “nuh uh. i made sure to leave one for you.”

oh. 

aaron ruffled his son's hair. he wanted to defuse the brewing situation. as willing as he would be to kiss your injury, it was wrong, unprofessional. “her lip needs to heal. i can’t kiss it.”

“but y/n won’t feel better!” jack sounded clearly in distress. “please?”

both you and aaron knew jack’s stubbornness, something he got from his father.

“alright,” aaron’s voice was softer now.

he circled the couch to stand in front of you. jack babbled on about how he also had special spiderman bandaids in his room and he would even let you have one. aaron’s eyes met yours. it was a silent agreement between the two of you.

aaron ducked down to kiss the corner of your mouth, lips ghosting over the stitches. 

it was a surge of emotion but one that you knew he was only doing for jack. his lips left yours much faster than you would’ve liked.

“do you feel better?”

jack’s question broke you out of the trance you were in.

aaron had kissed you. indirectly, yes, but it was still a kiss.

“without a doubt.”

+1 movie night

you and aaron hadn’t discussed the night after the case. though in all honesty, you hadn’t stopped thinking about it. 

once you were cleared again for the field, cases seemed to pick up which left less than sufficient personal time for you and aaron. you missed him. 

you were the first one in the office friday morning. you had gotten there early to get a headstart on your paperwork in hopes that it meant not having to stay late.

aaron was in next. he usually gave you, or whoever else was in the bullpen, a nod and a quiet ‘good morning.’ today, he changed his route and circled around to your desk.

“are you busy tonight?”

you nearly sputtered out the coffee you were drinking out of pure unawareness of where this question was going to lead.

you shook your head. “assuming we don’t have a case, i’m not.”

“good,” aaron started. “jack wanted to have a movie night and he’s been dying to see you and i wanted to see if you wanted to come over?”

his voice seemed to go up an octave towards the end, as if to cushion the non-existent blow of the question. 

you beam. “i would love to.”

aaron’s eyes lift. it’s not a smile, those are rare even for you, but it’s close to it.

“perfect. does seven work?”

you nod.

“great, we’ll see you then.”

you hide your smile in the file you’re working on.

right as aaron had instructed, you showed up at aaron’s apartment right around seven. you knocked twice, stepping back to wait for the door to open. when it did, you weren’t met with your tall solemn boss, but the smaller hotchner.

“y/n!” jack exclaimed, surging forward to hug your waist. 

you giggled, hugging him back. “hi jack.”

aaron appeared behind his son, lips upturned at the sight of you two. “hi,” you greeted him. 

“come on in, it’s all set up.”

you let aaron take your bag. usually on nights like these, you and aaron stayed up much later than you expected and you crashed at his place instead of going home.

you took a seat at the edge of the couch, letting aaron decide the distance between you two. when he returned, he sat a few feet away. it wasn’t enough to be inferred as him clearly trying to make distance but it wasn’t close enough either.

jack had clambered into his dad’s lap, curling into his chest with just enough vision to still see the movie.

once he had settled, however, his head turned to where you still sat. he extended one of his hands, opening and closing his fists in a grabbing motion. he wanted you closer.

“i wanna lay with you too.”

“of course jackers.”

you smiled and scooted a little closer to aaron. you looked up at him cautiously. being close to jack meant being close to him too. aaron didn’t respond verbally. he lifted his arm from where it sat at his side to rest along the back of the couch. open invitation. 

you curled into aaron’s side, legs pressing against his. jack wasted no time in readjusting himself to be strung across the both of you. you could feel aaron’s eyes peer down on you but you didn’t meet his gaze. instead, you settled further into the couch and watched the screen.

as the final few scenes of the movie played, jack began yawning and rubbing his eyes. you knew it was his bedtime but would fight until the movie was over. you brought your hand to his back, running your fingers up and down to help soothe his tired state. 

when the end credit popped up, aaron leaned to shut off the tv. “alright buddy, let’s get you to bed. can you say goodnight to y/n?”

jack slid fully into your lap, arms interlocking around your neck to hug you.

“goodnight y/n. thank you for coming over.”

“goodnight jack,” you spoke, squeezing him a little tighter.

when you let go, the boy wasted no time in all but sprinting down the hall to pick out the bedtime story aaron would read.

“i’m going to get him ready for bed,” aaron started. “i shouldn’t be too long.”

you smiled up at him. “take your time.”

aaron too disappeared down the hall and you were left to your own devices. 

you knew he wanted you to wait in the living room but your overnight bag was discarded in his room and you really wanted to wash your face and get in more comfy clothing. 

you tried to be as quiet as possible as you walked down the hallway, fully intent on going into aaron’s room just to grab your bag. that was until you heard the conversation between aaron and jack. you stayed pressed against the wall next to the door.

guilt climbed in your chest at what you were doing but what the hotchner boys didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

“-don’t get it.” that was jack.

you could almost see aaron’s eyebrow quirk. “what don’t you get, buddy?”

“why aren’t you and y/n dating yet?”

you suck in a breath, cheeks turning rosy at the question. you absolutely knew you weren’t meant to hear it. the thought of turning away and completing your original task passes over but you want, need, to hear aaron’s response.

“i don’t think she likes me like that, bud.” 

“she does,” jack nearly giggles. “she talks about you a lot.”

you just got betrayed by a seven year old. 

aaron seems to change the conversation after that and that’s when you tune out, replaying aaron’s words over and over. i don’t think she likes me like that. does that mean he liked you too?

you’re so caught up in your thoughts that you don’t notice jack’s door open and aaron step out.

he sighed, not surprised in the slightest at seeing you waiting. “i know you heard all that.”

busted. 

you stammer, trying poorly to come up with an excuse.

“come on,” aaron’s hand is strong as he guides you to his room. “he just got to bed, don’t want him waking up while we talk.” 

fear courses through you. you could lose your job over all this. dramatic reaction but still a possibility. above all, however, you could lose aaron personally. it was already a barrier you felt like you were pushing

“jack sometimes doesn’t think before he asks a question,” aaron starts. oh. “i’m sorry you had to hear that.

he was sorry?

“why are you sorry?” you’re trying to save yourself the potential heartbreak.  

aaron sighs.

“i’m your boss. it’s unprofessional to have feelings for my subordinate. you watch my son too, i don’t want you feeling like i’ve been taking advantage of you.”

you wanted to laugh. aaron was always overly professional with his words.

“i really like you aaron.”

he didn’t respond at first and for a moment you think your confession was a little too strong. but then his eyes meet yours and he smiles.

“can i kiss you? properly this time.”

you hummed. “please.”

aaron’s lips met yours tentatively. his hands cupped your cheeks effectively holding you to him. it was new, though not unwelcome.

you leaned up to loop your arms around his neck to pull him closer. 

aaron pulled away first and you whined, clearly upset at the sudden lack of contact. you had waited ages to kiss aaron and in no way did you expect for it to end so soon.

“relax baby,” aaron chuckled. your heart leaped at the pet name. “need to adjust.”

he sat down on the bed. arms snaked around your waist to pull you close to him.

“so you like me too?” the question slips out before you can think about it. 

aaron leans up to kiss the corner of your mouth, the same spot where your cut had turned into a scar. 

“i do.”

#criminal minds #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds x y/n #aaron hotchner #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotch fic #aaron hotchner x y/n #aaron hotch fluff #aaron hotch x you #aaron hotchner x female reader

[writer-in-theory]

you're gonna go far, love — spencer reid.

“I’ve been ready for you to come home for so long that I didn’t think to ask you where you’d gone.” —Noah Kahan (Orange Juice)

Summary: After Spencer relapses, he takes the first flight out of Virginia with no plan other than to get a fresh start. Or, my take on where he was for Evolution. Pairing: Spencer Reid x Gn!Reader (not the focus, but it's there) Category: Hurt/Comfort WC: 2k Content Warnings: Discussions of relapse, Mentions of alcohol, Slight spoiler for the ending of Evolution S1 (despite the fact I still haven't finished it myself) Notes: This is for the New Beginnings challenge hosted by @imagining-in-the-margins and based on a prompt from @foxy-eva , so thank you so much to you lovely people. This fic comes 2 years after my last CM fic, and a few months since I've written anything at all, so thank you for the inspiration 💜

Spencer booked the first flight out of Virginia five days after it happened. 

The person at the counter may have said the destination, but it floated straight past his ears and was carried far away. Within hours, everything he’d spent the past two decades building was left thirty thousand feet below him. 

Emily would be hurt. Everyone would be, as each of them heard the news as they one-by-one came into the office tomorrow. But it would be Emily, who was the first to notice the cracks in his once carefully crafted facade all those years ago, who would feel the most betrayed by his sudden escape. 

You should’ve at least said goodbye.

It was what Spencer had been most upset by when Emily had faked her death. After everything they’d been through together, after all of the joy they brought into each others’ incredibly stressful lives, all Spencer had needed was the chance to say goodbye and know that she was out there, somewhere, happy. 

Hopefully, she’d understand why he had to leave now, though. 

Everyone in the BAU had figured out by now that the Spencer Reid who walked out of prison was not the same as the one who’d first stepped into it. Some piece of him—and even now, he wasn’t sure how large that piece was—had been laid bare and morphed beyond even his own recognition. The loss of that part of him ached in the way that losing a loved one did, that sharp stabbing sort of ache that would appear so suddenly that he didn’t know how to handle it. 

There was no way to explain it to the rest of the team, though, no matter how supportive they tried to be. The fact was that none of them had ever nor would ever go through what he exactly had, and for not the first time in his life, Spencer began to feel like a rip current was sweeping him away from the steadiness of shore. 

It wasn’t until he was far enough away from shore that he couldn’t see the relief of the sands that his mind recalled that he’d been prescribed painkillers several months prior. 

It wasn’t the same as what Tobias Hankel had given him so many years ago, nor was it the alternatives he’d managed to find in the months after, but it was devastatingly similar enough that he’d tried to convince the emergency room doctor not to order it in the first place. ‘Pick it up anyway, just in case. No one can recover from a gunshot wound without pain relief.’ 

He’d almost flushed the amber bottle’s contents the day he’d gotten them, but the bone-deep feeling that had eased with time but never truly gone away kept him from fully eliminating that option from his life. Why should one thing that had happened to him years ago deny him proper pain relief now, should he need it? So they’d sat untouched, locked away in his gun safe for months. 

Until five days ago.

After well over a decade in recovery, Spencer knew this was always a possibility. He’d seen friends go through the same thing and had been there to support them in whatever ways he could because no matter how many times it happened the initial feelings of shock, shame, and overbearing grief could be just as overwhelming as the first. 

A day after, when he’d woken up and realized just what had occurred, Spencer had walked himself to the nearest NA meeting. Like he was on auto-pilot, he moved through every piece of advice he had gathered through the years—the stories of success and the stories of forced learning serving as guides to him. It wasn’t the first time Spencer had relapsed (a word that still struck fear in him to even think about), nor would it likely be the last time he was forced to confront this part of his past. 

Still, this was the first time Spencer walked out of the building, packed a bag, and made a silent escape from the city he called home. There was something different about this time, though he had no idea where to even begin considering the specifics of why.

He ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In all the years he’d been with the BAU, they’d never once been called there. It was like every other city Spencer had been in in many ways—the buildings towering above him as he walked, the river that bordered the city mirroring the home he’d just left, even down to the FBI headquarters that was quiet now in the middle of the night. Still, he couldn’t help but feel as though it were completely separate from everything he’d known before, because the melancholy Spencer had been sitting in for the last five days had suddenly turned comforting amongst the atmosphere of the city.

He ended up in a bar, of all places. It was the kind that only served nonalcoholic drinks, the kind of place where people like him could sit without feeling outside of the norm. Music was playing softly in the background, and though it was busy there was only a gentle rumble of conversation in the room.

“You’re staring at that glass like it’ll kill you. It’s safe, Scout’s honor.” The teasing voice surprised Spencer out of the careful contemplation he’d fallen into. It came from the bartender, who was busying themselves with wiping down a few glasses, stood just on the other side of the bar in front of him.

“You know, that only works if you were actually a scout,” Spencer returned, though raised the glass to his lips after. It was sweet—a little too sweet by his standards, though it was a comfort now after the week he’d had.

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” the bartender said back. They looked comfortable here, like this sober bar were an extension of their own home. At one time, the BAU office had been the same for him. “You look like you could use a friendly face, and that just happens to be my favorite part of the job.”

“Part of the job…?”

“Oh you know, bartenders are the therapists for the lonely, or something like that.” They were comfortable, and more open to an effective stranger than Spencer ever thought possible. It was refreshing in a way, to be able to talk with them without having to worry about what case information he could get out of them. It wasn’t often, anymore, that he could relax and talk to someone just to talk to them. “What brings you to the Queen City?”

“I moved here,” Spencer answered automatically, looking down sheepishly at his glass before adding, “today, actually.”

“Oh, congrats then. New job?”

“More like a new start.”

It was quiet for only a moment before the bartender asked in a softer voice, “How long had it been?”

Spencer almost asked them what they meant, until he met their gaze. They had their full attention on him now, glasses left abandoned on the inner part of the bar. They’d been kind from the start, but the look they gave him now was the sort of pure understanding that made Spencer realize all at once what they were referring to.

“How did you know?”

The bartender sighed, though there was no sadness to it at all. They pulled something from their pocket, sliding it gently across the bar so Spencer could see. A metallic chip was place between them, silver on the outside and filled in with a green-blue color and a “V” engraved in the middle of it. It was different from the ones he’d used, but he recognized the meaning of it all the same. 

“I opened this place because the day I relapsed, five years ago now, I’d had nowhere to go after. There wasn’t anywhere people like us could go and relax without having to answer the tough questions, like why I drank orange juice instead of ‘what all the other adults were drinking’. It seemed silly at the time, but I think I was just looking for somewhere I could feel normal.”

“My family were the ones who helped me get sober, and sometimes they still forget and will ask me why I’m not drinking.” Spencer returned the sentiment with a light laugh. He loved everyone in the BAU, and even though it had only been a few days he already missed them terribly, but it was nice to have someone there who understood what he was feeling, what he was going through now.

“Exactly!” The bartender said, following Spencer’s lead and letting out a laugh of their own. “Though I can’t say I ever moved to a new city because of it.”

“It was the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done,” Spencer admitted. “I…really needed a fresh start. I needed somewhere noone knew who I was, somewhere I could get a completely different job and…I don’t know, figure out who I am.”

The bartender nodded. “Sounds about right. This family you left behind, are you gonna go back to them?”

“Eventually. We’ve worked together for so many years. I spent more time with them than I’ve actually ever spent alone, and I think I just need…”

“Something new,” the bartender finished, “I’m starting to catch on. What d’you think you’ll do?”

“I’ve always loved teaching. Maybe that?”

“You know, I have some friends who work at UC. Depending on what you wanted to teach, I could see if they could get you an interview.”

“Just like that?” Spencer asked, wondering only briefly if there was going to be a catch somewhere down the line.

The bartender shrugged. “Why not? I never up and moved cities, but I’m no stranger to new beginnings.”

“I wouldn’t recommend moving cities without thinking it through,” Spencer laughed then. “I have no plan for what comes next.”

“Do you have somewhere to stay, at least?”

Spencer only winced, which he was sure was answer enough for them. He was expecting some kind of sympathetic response, but he never expected the bartender to shrug again and say, “Well, how about I be a little impulsive too. I’ve been looking for a new roommate, why don’t you stay tonight and see how it goes?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, sure. You seem decent enough not to be some secret axe-murderer or something.”

Oh, the irony. 

Spencer didn’t really know this person except for the limited conversation they’d had so far. It would’ve been safer, and probably smarter, for him to just find a hotel room for the night and come up with a plan later. But something was telling him that he should agree, that there was something more to this person that he wanted to get to know. 

So not for the first time that day, Spencer trusted his gut and nodded. “Okay, let’s try it.”

It wasn’t a fix for everything. The changes would come slowly, so slowly that sometimes Spencer himself wouldn’t even notice them happening. It would take time to get to a place where Spencer felt okay again, and a large help in that ended up being his new roommate who seemed to just get him in more ways than one. As time went by, Cincinnati truly began to feel like home. 

And two years after he’d left, when Spencer turned on the news and saw the BAU standing before a large crowd as they announced they’d finally caught the serial killer behind the shipping container murders, he finally felt the string tugging him back in the direction of Quantico.

His home was there in Cincinnati, with the person who’d become a friend and even more in the last two years and the professor job that he came to love, but Spencer knew—beyond a shadow of a doubt—that it was time to see his family again, too. 

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #criminal minds fandom #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x y/n #spencer x reader #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfic #hurt/comfort #angst

[aveline-amelia]

You know what I love about BBC Sherlock?

You only catch some things on your 2nd, or 5th or 10th rewatch.

Like with Mycroft and Sherlock.

You watch Mycroft be annoyed at Sherlock calling at Christmas, so you think he would rather be left alone and doesn't want to deal with anyone, including Sherlock.

But his initial expression is one of surprise. He doesn't want to believe that Sherlock could be calling for sentimental reasons because he cannot bear to be wrong.

He wants Sherlock to show him he cares, like he did back when they were children.

And notice his wording there. "Did they pass a new law?" Sherlock is not the one who cares about upholding the law, Mycroft is. He is setting the stage for Sherlock to banter, but Sherlock just tells him Irene Adler is dead and hangs up.

When Sherlock calls Mycroft (despite the fact he prefers to text) in TSO3 many speculate the reason he wants him at the wedding is to have someone for support.

Mycroft says they will spend more time together now that John is married. Just like old times. He knows Sherlock would hate that, yet Sherlock doesn't deny it. He could say he can spend extra time with Mrs Hudson, or Lestrade or Molly or Wiggins.

He could say he doesn't need him at all. But we know that's not quite true.

If Sherlock was being sincere here and said he needs someone on his side, by his side, someone to be there for him, so he feels less alone... Mycroft would most likely think he was being mocked. He wouldn't believe him. Why should he?

When Mycroft tells Sherlock his loss would break his heart, he isn't doing it because of the drugs.

The drugs are just an excuse to hide behind. A smokescreen. He can't even look at Sherlock while is he saying it because he knows what's coming. Mockery.

"What the hell am I supposed to say to that?"

Mycroft broke script. He said the quiet part, the subtextual part out loud. I do care about you and it would break my heart if you died.

Sherlock doesn't know what to say. You can even read his bewildered statement as a genuine question. Mycroft does, in a way. So he answers.

"Merry Christmas?"

"You hate Christmas."

"Perhaps there was something in the punch."

I know you are up to something.

On the tarmac, Sherlock didn't even want to say goodbye to his brother. But when Mycroft calls him in 4 minutes, Sherlock has no idea Moriarty might be back. He just thinks Mycroft couldn't go even five minutes without speaking to him again and checking up on him.

Sherlock didn't say goodbye to Mycroft because he knew that wouldn't be the last time he'd hear from him.

"I will always be there for you."

"Shouldn't you be out there getting me a pardon, like a proper big brother?"

"He was a rubbish big brother." Was, not is.

"You were great."

He didn't find Lady Bracknell convincing. He isn't talking about that.

"Dr Watson? Look after him, would you?"

"Mycroft. Make sure he's looked after. He's not as strong as he thinks he is."

Neither of them are.

#the holmes brothers #mycroft holmes #sherlock holmes #sherlock bbc #bbc sherlock #adding some tags #sherlock meta #the holmes brothers meta #holmes brothers meta #idk if this counts as meta

[nataliescatorccio]

since the trailer for teen wolf: the movie just dropped, i feel like now is an excellent time to inform/remind everyone of the treatment of arden cho.

arden, who played the show’s only lead woc, was written off the show with zero warning - the excuse being that there wasn’t enough room for her storyline. in fact, she had been doing press saying she was excited to see what the next season would bring. she also had to announce this herself via her youtube and her character, who had been the main character’s love interest, didn’t even get a proper goodbye.

then, the teen wolf movie came around. you would think this would be an opportunity for kira to be treated better and finally get her ending, but no: arden cho was offered less than half the salary of her female counterparts to return.

so what did teen wolf do about this? they decided to replace her with another actress who would only be offered basic pay.

after the release of the trailer today, it’s become increasingly obvious that arden’s character kira was a crucial part of this movie. the movie brings back several ‘big bads’ that were introduced because of kira, the nogitsune and the oni. so why wasn’t arden offered equal pay? why make the mythology that was centered around your lead woc as the plotline for this film, but not treat her equally?

i’m begging everyone to not financially support this movie. if you're that desperate to watch it there are ways to do so without paying (i’ll even help you find a link if you need it!). but please, don’t sweep this under the rug. let this movie flop.

#arden cho #arden cho deserves better #teen wolf #tw racism #i should sleep but i'm sat here getting angry about this AGAIN #i feel like everyone's just shut up about this and i'm still sat here FUMING #seriously idc if you want to watch it to laugh at it or to chase the nostalgia #just PLEASE don't pay for it

[soobnny]

after hours — athlete!nishimura riki. strangers to lovers. university au. fluff.

synopsis. when practice gets overwhelmingly exhausting, nishimura riki finds that staying at the field after hours can be such a calming past-time. apparently, you go there when you need to think too. an awkward friendship ensues. (7.5k words)

note. i’ve missed writing long fics in general so i hope this satisfied!

Over the years, Nishimura Riki has come to learn that there was something serene about a football field without any players practicing, playing – without an ear-piercing audience, without the pressure of winning. 

Everything is instantly calmer, grass bathed in the moon’s glow, the air peaceful. At this time, the sun would’ve just been traitorously chased away by the moon, taking over the skies, and stirring crickets awake.

Back in high school, Riki would never admit the thrill he got from football, choosing to hide behind straight faces and unfazed facades, but now he’s given himself a break.

He finally allows himself to recognize that the field is filled with potential from promising players who poured their heart out into the sport. What he convinced himself as merely a club back in high school has become a huge part of his life (though he isn’t sure he’s ready to fully admit that yet).

So naturally, staying late for practice wasn’t anything new for the boy. It’s how he came to find out about the serenity of the field. And what stemmed from late practices became a routine for Nishimura Riki. It’s one of the few appeals to signing up for added hours after university.

Playing football was a commitment, but he’s grown to actually enjoy it - as long as he gets to witness the calm after the storm, the same serenity that explains why he’s currently standing in the middle of the field, eyes scanning the empty seats and trying to be engulfed by the solace that surrounded the empty space. 

He liked how it felt, as if the entire world had stopped spinning for a moment and time wasn’t chasing after him, even though he’s pretty sure he isn’t supposed to be in the university field this late at night with the amount of homework he has to do the next day. 

And on most days, he’d feel embarrassed to be caught in the field in the middle of the night (he was too prideful to admit he has passion for something for the fear of failure and disappointment). He supposes it’s alright though, as long as he comes prepared as to not be caught by—

“Hello?”

His head whips at the sound of another person at the field. 

It’s on rare occasions that you find Nishimura Riki startled, but he gives himself a pass. He’s allowed to be startled (and a bit panicked) if it meant he’d been caught and the quiet of the after hours would abruptly be taken away from him, without being able to say a proper goodbye. 

He’d only ever come to meet it for a few days, and he doesn’t find it fair that one of the few things he’s allowed himself to treasure can be easily ripped away. 

It’s generally against the rules of the campus to be out so late in the night at the field without the permission of the coach or the assigned personnel of the Sports and Athletes Unit.

Riki supposes he could try to make a run for it, but that would mean he’d have to run past you and risk being caught in a way more embarrassing way (which would ultimately violate his pride). 

If he played his cards right, he could try his hand at words. He’d been told many times he’s quite the silvertongue, but could he really risk accidentally insulting you and earning a few disciplinary points? He doesn’t wanna have to be pulled away from playing in the next season. The school always takes the athlete’s behavioral cases very seriously. 

Though, just as easy as panic seemed to settle, relief arrived when he noticed you were in a similar state of horror as he was.

“Who are you?” His tone intimidated you right away, his voice was careful and oddly calculating. Though it was dark, you could still tell his gaze was sharp, and just as intimidating as he sounded. You could barely make out the rest of his features from where he stood due to the lack of lights and the moon’s poor luminance. 

You don’t think you’ve seen him before, but you’re sure it wouldn’t be very difficult to recognize him in daylight. Not a lot of students are blessed with an overtowering height like the boy standing meters in front of you.

Deciding it’s alright to talk back when you’re at least 80% sure it’s not one of the people who could get you in trouble, you try to counter back at the boy.

“I don’t know, you tell me who you are.” You crossed your arms as if you were also allowed to be in that space right now, as if you also hadn’t trespassed to spend a few minutes of calm in the field. It was always easier here after hours of exhausting lectures and homework. The field reminds you back to the time from when you were a kid and carelessly running around, not having a single clue on the future. 

And it’s almost comical the sight of two university students who can barely hear each other, trying to communicate. 

“I asked first.” He jested, taking a few steps forward. Only then are you able to make out his features, and fuck. Heaven couldn’t compare if it tried to.

His black hair swept a little past his eyes, just a little messy to give him the I’m-attractive-but-I-pretend-I’m-not-aware appeal. The hoodie he’s wearing compliments his frame so perfectly, and you’re left to think if someone can even be this proportionate. There’s a slight pink hue on his nose from the cold and he looked so pretty with his glasses.

For a moment you’re convinced you’d wronged God for stepping into the same air as the boy. 

However, you try not to back down from the conversation just yet (even though the tall boy with his hands in his pockets looked terrifyingly intimidating and so painfully attractive). It was obvious he was trying to push your buttons with the smirk that was gracing his face, and the way he looked down on you as if he was always in the right. 

If there was one thing Riki was good at, it was turning a situation around to benefit him. You didn’t know that yet.

“Doesn’t mean anything if you asked first or not.” You meet his eyes, breath getting caught in your throat as you gauge the levels of his attractiveness for the second time.

It’s only when you catch sight of him furrowing his eyebrows that you realize you’d mumbled out your words like an upset child, and he probably didn’t understand a single thing you had said.  

You scrunch your face in embarrassment. 

This definitely isn’t one of your proudest moments, and you’re only glad Karina isn’t around to smack you in the back of your head for sounding so stupid around someone who God clearly took time making.

You crumble in defeat just as easily as you thought you could one-up the boy in front of you. You don’t think you can handle talking to him much further, and you supposed you could just come back at another time. Besides, the pair of you had equal share of the trouble for visiting the field without permission, so he couldn’t report you for being there (just like you couldn’t with him). 

“Sorry. You just sort of freaked me out, nobody’s usually here when I come.”

He’s silent for a moment, lungs filling up with the cold evening breeze. He’s apathetic at how you squeak out your words, it might be because the look of resignation dawning on you is too wholesome. 

“Riki.”

He doesn’t know why he introduces himself, maybe it’s because he knows you’ll never see each other again. 

You will, but he doesn’t know that yet either.

“Riki?” Your voice is soft, riddled with confusion. What is the connotation of throwing a random name in the middle of a conversation? 

It takes you a while to realize that he had just introduced himself.

“Oh… oh! That’s clearly your name, sorry.” He nods his head, stepping a little closer to where you’re standing. 

You think it’s unfair that he looks even better up close - and you’re suddenly embarrassed by your appearance, especially with how good he looks, even in just jeans and a hoodie, as if he was always meant to be kissed by the ethereal blue of the moon.

“Why are you so nervous around me?” He quips, raising an eyebrow down at you and your face quickly heats up. You pray to Whomever is Above that the moon is just dimly lit enough that he doesn’t have to see you with blown-up cheeks.

“I don’t know. You intimidate me.” You retreat, looking down at the grass. It’s damp, must be due to the slight drizzle of rain a few hours ago. 

You can hear a quiet chuckle leave his lips as he follows where you’re looking, taking a few steps so he can stand beside you instead of in front of you. “You never told me your name.” 

“________.” You risk a glance back at him to give him a small smile, but when he stares at you with a blank face, you dart your gaze back at the ground. 

Jesus, why does the hoodie he’s wearing give him the perfect shoulder-to-waist ratio. You think it must be God’s turn to apologize for casting him here with you right now, out of all the places he could’ve been in, or people he could’ve been with.

“Well, I should probably get going.” You nervously play with your hands behind your back, looking up at him but not quite looking, gaze fixated at the space just beside his face. The air feels way too suffocating for you to continue to stay here. 

“So soon? Didn’t you just arrive?” He asks, taking his hands out of his pockets in favor of crossing them over his chest instead.

“Uh, yeah. I just don’t want to bother you, and I… have homework?” You don’t mean for your words to come out as a mumble, but it’s enough for him to hear you anyway.

“I don’t mind. Besides, the field is a little further from the dorms so you probably took some time out of your night just to come here. Don’t let me ruin that for you.”

Your face is contorted in admiration (though if someone else were to comment on the look you were giving him, they would’ve mistaken it for confusion) whilst you move your gaze back to stare at him. This elicits a cold laughter from him. 

“What? Why are you so surprised?” He prods, raising an eyebrow at you.

“I guess I just expected you to be a little meaner. I’m sorry for judging you by appearances, I swear I don’t usually do this. You just… yeah… you just look kind of mean.” 

“Do you want me to be?” 

“No.” You’re quick to answer, shaking your head as you rock yourself back and forth, staring at anything but his eyes. There’s a moment of silence after that, and it’s just the two of you standing beside each other in a huge field in the middle of the night. 

That was your first encounter with Nishimura Riki. It was odd, the way he seemed amused with everything you did or the way you couldn’t even look him in the eyes. It wasn’t excessive, or grand. It was simple - just two people experiencing the quiet of the field together.

+

You almost forget about Nishimura Riki a few days later as you rush towards the Publishing Team and Journalism room, scrambling to make it in time for your weekly meetings. You hadn’t seen him around campus, and you found it useless dwelling on the attractive boy you had met nights prior. You’re not even sure if he existed, could it be that you had just dreamt him up? 

“_______, you’re late.” 

Fuck.

You grin sheepishly at your organization president, bowing slightly and muttering a quick apology. “I’m sorry, my professor kept me late after classes had ended.” 

Karina looks at you like she’s about to laugh, with her cheeks puffed and a hand over her mouth – a poor attempt at concealing her giggles. You don’t look back at her. You might be a little airheaded sometimes, but you were rational enough to know this was definitely not the time to burst out in laughter at the face of your best friend. 

“It’s alright.” 

You sigh in relief at her response, smiling shyly at your president before rushing towards the seat next to Karina, not-so-subtly shoving her in the process. 

The meeting goes on rather smoothly as you discuss the soon production of your school paper for the current academic year. That is until someone notices the absence of Jang Wonyoung. 

And you think you’re safe from running late, you really think so, until Yujin decides to speak up.

When no one volunteers to find Wonyoung, you think they’ll leave it at that. However, Yujin has other plans when she volunteers you to look for Wonyoung – as a consequence for being late. You normally wouldn’t have a problem with doing tasks for the team, plus, you had been late on your own accord. But you hear your heartbeat quicken in pace at the mention that Wonyoung was probably at the football field finishing her sports feature article.

You think the world is onto you, and have somehow found out that you sneak into the field sometimes at night. You know, however, that this is just another case of your overthinking and fear of receiving disciplinary points. 

When the attention of the whole organization is put onto you, you’re quick to stand and oblige with the task given to you. Your ears don’t fall deaf to Karina’s teasing laughter as she urges you to be quick so she doesn’t have to suffer through the meeting alone. 

As soon as you walk out of the building, the scorching heat of the sun hits you. The university is filled with people going about their days, stopping by the coffee shop at the corner to do some studying, cramming their lessons as they rush to their next class, some chattering with their friends as they head back to the dorms. 

Shoving your hands in the pockets of your hoodie, you quickly make your way towards the football field where you hope to find Wonyoung. You find yourself arriving earlier than you had expected, but you reason it’s due to the routine of habit. You had gone down this path multiple times to the point that you were convinced you could get there with your eyes closed. 

Wonyoung isn’t hard to spot, not with her towering height, standing by the benches of the field as she writes rather intensely in the notebook she’s holding. You sigh out in relief, absentmindedly making your way towards the girl.

You really should’ve paid more attention to where you were heading. 

“Look out!”

Your head snaps towards the sound of the sudden shriek, only to catch sight of a football hurling towards your general direction. You’re utterly convinced someone is actively praying for your downfall. In a very poor attempt to shield yourself from the ball (as you figured it was far too late to move), you shut your eyes and bring your arms up to cover your face.

And then there’s nothing.

You open your eyes slowly at the lack of impact, and you’re surprised to be greeted by the sight of broad shoulders and a toned back. You think he must’ve caught the ball, or it must’ve harshly collided with his chest. You hope it wasn’t the latter. Either way, you feel embarrassed for causing a ruckus. 

With your ears still ringing and pulse hammering from the sudden sitch, you lower your head to thank the boy who had saved you a trip to the nurse’s office. After getting over the initial embarrassment and wanting to get away as soon as possible, you bring your head up to thank him one last time. 

The sight of the boy leaves your feet planted to the ground.

Black messy hair swept to the side from the sweat of playing, straight lips and piercing eyes. You’re hidden in the shadow of his towering figure. 

Riki from the football field a few nights ago! 

You feel dizzy at the familiarity, and mostly because you were so convinced you had dreamt him up that the reminder that he was real felt so… unreal. 

He throws the ball back at his teammate with ease. Slowly, he turns his attention to you, skimming over your frame to check if you’re okay. His eyes widen slightly when he recognizes who you are. 

“_________?” You laugh rather sheepishly as you scratch the back of your neck. “Riki!” 

“What are you doing here?” His hand lands on the small of your back as he moves you towards the direction of the bleachers, away from imminent danger similar to that of a few minutes ago. 

You tell him that you were tasked to look for a member of your club who was apparently here. 

Riki sighs, running a hand through his hair as he sits you down. “Be careful next time.” You gulp at the stern tone of his voice, nodding your head as your cheeks flush crimson. His pointed look softens a bit as he hands you the water bottle he had just bought for himself. 

“That’ll help you calm down.” He blinks at you one last time, staring a heartbeat longer than what was necessary. You feel heat creep up your neck and your stomach twist at his gaze. And then, he’s gone to go back to his team.

You’re left seated at the bench, desperately clutching onto the water bottle he had given you. You’re only snapped out of your daze when a concerned Wonyoung jogs towards your spot with so much urgency. 

“Oh my god, _______, are you okay? That was a close one!” She has both hands on your cheeks, moving them from side to side to check for any possible injuries. You laugh at this, taking her hands and peeling them away from your face. “I’m alright!”  

Wonyoung asks why you were there in the first place, and you tell her that you were tasked to summon her towards the meeting. Her cheeks flush in embarrassment at forgetting about the weekly meeting, and the pair of you walk back towards the building

Your mind is stuck replaying Riki’s broad shoulders and pointed look on the way back.

+

You see Riki again a week after your second encounter. 

“Hello?” You say, quietly, walking towards the tall frame sitting in the middle of the field. 

When you had seen he was there before you, you were tempted to haul yourself out of there and call it a day. However, you’re reminded that he had quite literally saved you from a bruised face and a bloody nose the last time you met.

While embarrassed, you think you owe it to thank him again. So, you muster up the courage to walk up to the boy — even when all he does to acknowledge you is look in your general direction before facing away again.

You hesitate if you should sit next to him, but when you start crouching down and he doesn’t seem to reject your presence, you allow yourself to fully sit next to him. 

He’s staring at the field, eyes narrowed in concentration. You want to ask him what he’s staring at, but you don’t wanna disturb him any more than you already have. Although, that was easier said than done when the awkward silence was slowly engulfing your entire being. So, you muster up the courage to slightly nudge his arm. 

He turns to look at you.

“Thanks again, by the way. For, you know.” You gesture the ball hitting your face, and pretend that you’re blocking it. You don’t really realize how stupid you look until a smirk forms on Riki’s face. 

“It’s whatever.” 

You nod your head with a shy smile, resting your chin on your knees. You don’t understand how you ended up in this situation in the first place, in the middle of the field with the tall boy for the second time.

It’s just that, making friends was never something that came easy to you (if you could even consider Riki as a friend, hell, you don’t even know his last name). It wasn’t so smooth sailing with your natural awkwardness around new people, but the boy seated next to you didn’t seem to mind. 

“Did you end up finding your friend?” Your head quips at Riki, surprised he chose to continue the conversation. You hum in response. 

“Yup! She wasn’t really all that hard to find, she’s really tall. Just like you. Like a titan.”

“Like a titan, as in Attack of Titans?” 

“Pretty much.” 

“I should’ve let that ball hit your face.”

You let out an exaggerated gasp. Since when was he capable of joking? Or… did he really mean that? “Didn’t your mom teach you to be nice to strangers.”

“Quite the opposite actually. She told me not to talk to any.” 

“Oh.” You’re not so sure if he was joking or not anymore, not when he still kept a straight face. Was this his subtle way of saying he didn’t wanna talk to you? 

As if he could read your mind, he continues. “You’re not really a stranger though. I know your name, and you know mine, so we’re technically past that stage.”

You smile at this, risking a glance at the boy, and when he gives you a questioning side glance, you dart your gaze back on the ground. 

“Friends then.” You mutter almost to yourself, but he hears you anyway.

His face contorts to a barely recognizable expression. His lips are twitching and you’re not quite sure you can decipher what he’s feeling or thinking at the moment, but he nods. His face doesn’t show one of grimace (unlike the expression you were met with earlier in the evening), so you assume that whatever he was trying to do with his face, it was a good thing - genuine. 

“Since we’re friends now, you don’t mind talking to me, right?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Riki!”

“I was kidding.” 

“You really need to work on your tone more.”

+

The fourth time around, the awkward air shifts to something more comfortable. 

That night, the two of you walked around the empty seats, telling stories about his best and worst football games. You admit to him in guilt that you aren’t much of a football fan and had never really seen any of your university’s team play. 

He asks you what led you to the empty field after hours, and you tell him you just so happen to stumble upon it when going home late once after a night class. It was one of the many stressful nights in college, and you found that you liked the quiet in the field. 

“What about you? What got you into it?” You interrogate, standing on a seat to make you taller than him, mumbling a quiet ‘this must be how it feels’. Riki hears you very clearly and chuckles more to himself. 

“Being here at night or football in general?”

“Oh, just football in general.” 

He hums, placing his hands behind his back as he thinks carefully for his answer. “A match I had back in high school. Nothing has come close to beating the number one ace of the prefecture. And I guess that did the trick because… well, I’m still playing now.” 

You smile at this, jumping down from the seat to stand in front of him. You miss the way his hands instantly hold out for you in case you fall. “I bet you were a tough player. Probably still are!”

“I’m hardly any of that.”

“You’re just being humble, if we played against each other, I’d probably say those exact same words.” You say proudly, smiling up at the boy before continuing to move forward against the empty bleachers. Riki follows quietly behind you. 

“That’s because you don’t know how to play.” 

“Uncalled for.” 

Riki smiles when he knows you can’t see.

“Do you have to be attractive to play football? I mean, all the girls probably swoon for you… all of you. All of you. They swoon for all the football playing boys who are all very attractive.” You’re quick to correct yourself, spinning on your heel to look at Riki again. He coughs out loud at this, using the back of his hand to try and cover the unexpecting blush that’s creeping onto his cheeks. 

Only now does he realize you’re standing too close for comfort. You had unexpectedly stopped as he was moving to continue to follow you, and the proximity doesn’t go unnoticed. He feels close enough to trace every feature of your face, close enough to tuck away the loose strand of hair that’s covering half of your face. 

He doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean the thought doesn’t stick the rest of the night.

After what seems like hours talking and roaming around the football field, Riki proposes that the pair of you call it a night. You nod your head, but not before joking that he probably didn’t want you around anymore. Riki doesn’t say he noticed your sleepy eyes and yawns every couple minutes. 

“I didn’t even know it was close to midnight already.” The two of you exit the doors carefully, looking around to see if there was anyone around. When no one comes in sight, you’re quick to run out to the sidewalk and pretend you were never even there in the first place. 

“Well, I’ll see you… when I see you.” You wave at the boy with a smile. 

“I’m walking you back to the dorms.” 

You feel the tip of your ears turn pink. “Oh, it’s really fine. It’s late, and you probably need to head back too.”

“Exactly. It’s late. I’m not letting you walk alone.” He persists, walking by your side. 

“Okay. Uh, thank you.” You reply as smoothly as you can, because as much as you hate to admit it, the small basic act of human decency has you blushing and smiling to yourself. Especially when you know Riki isn’t the type to spend an extended period of time with someone. 

Since your second encounter when he had saved you from taking a ball to your face, you had managed to be more observant towards him on campus in general. And in the little time of your personal investigation towards the boy you’re spending a lot of your nights with, you find out that he’s known for just being around his close circle of friends. 

While he’s capable of joking around in class, he only looks like he’s genuinely enjoying himself when he’s around his little group of seven. And maybe that’s why it strikes you as odd that he chooses to spend time with you, that he doesn’t just walk out immediately the moment he sees you walk into the field. Notorious for not being so friendly, you wonder why he engages in conversation with you from time to time.

You think he might just be trying to be polite now that he has to share his space with someone else, but does being polite come with shy smiles and eye contact that lasts a little longer than it should?

“Penny for your thoughts?” 

You blink. “Huh?” 

“You look like you’re in deep thought.” He shrugs, looking down at you to wait for your answer.

“Oh. It’s nothing important, really.”

His nosy quip at your thoughts starts another round of conversation on your way back to the dorms. This time though, the little monster called curiosity doesn’t leave you alone. It stays in the back of your head, asking you why conversation comes so easily with him now. It asks you if you’ve noticed Riki’s sincere and shy smiles directed at you. It asks you if he’s ever willingly joked around like this with anyone else aside from his friends.

On the walk back home is when you see Riki genuinely laugh with his heart for the first time since you met. When you mentioned your building was just around the corner, he stupidly suggested racing towards there and running immediately without a countdown. He thinks the look of betrayal partnered with your pretty face is funny.

So, he laughs.

And you would go through a hundred more biased races to see him laugh more.

He apologizes for cheating you in the race with a promise of ice cream the next time he walks you home after hours. The next time. You don’t catch the latter part of his sentence when you’re grinning widely at the mention of ice cream.

Your smile makes him beam with pride. 

“This is me. Thanks for walking me back, Riki.”

He nods his head and smiles back at you, much to his disappointment. In all honesty, he didn’t want the night to end. He was having fun as you chatted your lungs out about the time you had given yourself a horrendous haircut at the age nine or the time you had cried because you didn’t want to go home from the pet shop.

As he listens to you, it’s easy to forget about the exhaustion of the afternoon’s practice.

Riki waits for you to walk in the building before sending a final wave in your direction. When he’s sure you’re safely inside, he turns on his heels to start his own walk back home. 

And the whole way back, he genuinely smiles to himself. It’s something that doesn’t need to be taught, he has smiled multiple times before – but it does need to be relearned. Riki doesn’t remember the last time he’s felt this way before.

+

Riki’s friends were starting to get a little suspicious as to why he’s been sneaking off after football practice. Every once in a while, he would turn them down on their invitation to buy something at the convenience store. They don’t really think it’s anything. Jake would reason that he probably had homework, Jay would say he was probably tired.

Jungwon, however, is suspicious – but it’s not like he meant to accidentally catch the two of you several nights ago when he had returned to see if he had left his earphones on the benches of the field. 

You must be the reason for Riki’s sudden attitude change. While subtle, Jungwon prides himself in knowing his best friends really well, and he knows this must be why Riki’s been acting a little soft in general. 

Soft. Riki would laugh in his face if he ever said that out loud. Soft wasn’t exactly the type of word that came to mind when thinking about Nishimura Riki. Sure, he was relaxed and cool, but never soft. 

The side of Riki he saw, smiling and laughing at the empty bleachers and looking at you was so foreign to Jungwon. No matter how many admirers came Riki’s way, he was always just unfazed. The unrecognizable smile of adoration in his face was what made everything click for Jungwon.

The reason Riki always seemed to be looking for someone in crowded rooms. The reason he would walk a little slower when going past the school paper club room. The reason he would politely decline on invitations to stay a little longer in the field. The reason for his sudden smiles and overall livelier mood during practice.

It all stemmed back to you. 

When Jungwon tests his hypothesis and asks about you to Riki one late afternoon, he wasn’t really expecting a clear response other than a raised eyebrow or a change in topic. He definitely did not expect the shy smile and the shifting eyes from the tall boy as he mumbled under his breath.

“She's… someone I feel most human with.” The volume of his voice drops when talking about you, and the pink on the tip of his ears doesn’t go unnoticed by Jungwon. Jungwon feels his heart about to burst when Riki doesn’t even avoid the topic of you – doesn’t ask why Jungwon knew about you. He simply answers.

This was a breakthrough in Jungwon’s hypothesis. The connotations of you and the relationship you had with Riki (whatever it was), Jungwon knew it was good. You made Nishimura Riki, his best friend, feel most human. 

And on top of all that, you made him want to do better in games. You made him want to attend practice without a looming feeling of negativity and exhaustion. You made him want to get ice cream? (Riki always refuses to go out for ice cream, so Jungwon wonders why he stops by the nearest ice cream parlor to buy two cones of ice cream). You made him feel warm.

With you came new possibilities for Riki.

Jungwon is continuously proven in his hypothesis when he notices Riki talk more during practices. And it wasn’t like Riki didn’t talk at all. He was just someone who valued his silence. And Jungwon continues to be right with the subtle and meaningful ways in which Riki changes in the following months.

+

Two months after always meeting each other in secret, you’ve grown more comfortable acknowledging each other outside the late hours of the field. 

You send a small wave Riki’s way as you walk towards an empty seat beside Karina at the field. She had wanted to watch their practice in support of the guy she was seeing and asked you to tag along. Even from a distance, you could tell Riki was biting back a grain as he waves back at you. 

Karina looks at you accusingly. 

“Excuse me, since when were you and Nishimura Riki friends?” 

You feel blood rushing to your cheeks at Karina’s sudden interrogation. 

“Since a few months ago.” Karina swears she’d never seen your features this red before and she gasps at the realization. “Is he your boyfriend?” She basically screams in your ear as she continuously rocks you back and forth.

You’re quick to shoot her down, shaking your head and telling her to lower her voice. “No, no. We’re just friends.”

“Just friends, my ass. How come you never told me about him?” There’s a look of betrayal in her eyes as she crosses her arms. “It never came up?” At your response, Karina rolls her eyes. 

“You like him, don’t you?” There’s a teasing hint in her tone, but you know she was genuinely curious. Your lack of response, the blush on your cheeks, and the way you look at Riki are enough to give her an answer. “This is perfect, then. I wouldn’t have to suffer watching a game alone when you’re with someone on the team too!” 

After their practice and what seemed like hours of gossip with Karina, she excuses herself to go to her soon-to-be-boyfriend and you spend the time observing the field. It felt so different to the field you knew at late hours. And it was almost funny that the space where Riki’s practicing with a straight face is the same space where he’s joking around and laughing with you at night.

Deep in your thought, there isn’t much time to process that Riki is standing in front of you, pointing at you with an accusing finger. “What are you doing here? Come to get smacked in the face again?”

“I did not get smacked in the face last time!”

“Thanks to me, you’re welcome by the way.”

“I have thanked you a million times for that already.” 

He laughs as he sits beside you, and Riki’s friends stare in shock at the scene unfolding in front of them. By their reaction, you don’t think Riki has mentioned much about you to his friends either. 

The conversation with Karina earlier feels like an itch you can’t scratch. You’ve always known you enjoyed Riki’s presence, but you haven’t gone out of the way to confirm that you had feelings for him (not that it needed much confirmation). You knew the way you felt, but you were afraid that if you acknowledged it, your feelings would only grow stronger.

You start to wonder if maybe he liked you too. 

“Oy, Riki.” Heeseung calls onto the young boy, beckoning him to come over. Riki excuses himself from his conversation with you, muttering a brief ‘see you later’ paired with a boyish grin. With an arm draped around his shoulder, Heeseung starts his sentence carefully. “You and ______.” 

Riki hums in acknowledgement. 

“Are you two like… a thing? Like dating?” 

Jungwon watches Riki freeze at the sudden and rather straightforward question, and he stays frozen for a while as he tries to arrange his train of thought. Jungwon doesn’t say anything.

“No.” His response is short and blunt, almost bitter even. There was something in the way Riki’s eyes changed at the realization of his own answer that confirmed his friend’s lingering suspicion (they had finally caught onto it).

Sunghoon laughs teasingly, pushing the young boy around. “You don’t have to sound so miserable.” 

“Yeah, just ask her out. It’s not that complicated.” Jake says as if stating the obvious. “Hey, give him time.” Sunoo and Jay are quick to jump on Riki’s defense as they relentlessly tease the boy. 

Jungwon doesn’t say anything. He understands in the way Riki falls into a daze that he was just gathering up enough courage to actually tell you how he feels. 

That night, as he was waiting for you to come back to the field, he ponders on the previous conversation he had with his friends. 

Riki liked the way he was with you. Jungwon once told him that strangers had an easier time interacting with him now that Riki had known you, and it bewildered him how something as simple as a small wave and a smile from you has his blood rushing to his cheeks. 

He always knew he liked you. 

Ever since he had walked you home from the first time, he couldn’t stop thinking about you. He doesn’t really have to say anything when he’s with you – somehow, you already know. He likes it. He likes things with you. 

He likes it best how he’s able to make a home out of memories with you. How nothing has to be too grand and extravagant. Just simple and easy. 

The thought used to make him want to puke, the realization of how whipped he actually was, but still found himself staying late in the field, waiting to see if you’d be there that day.

The thud of the ball is loud as it drops to the field. Tonight, the two of you decided to play a little football. Riki didn’t mind. Besides, he found it cute how you didn’t seem to know what you were doing yet you were still willing to play anyway. He’d play goalie, and he’d intentionally let the ball go in to see you jump up and cheer for yourself. 

When he throws the ball back to you, he doesn’t realize the strength he put into it, not until you’re on the floor clutching the ball in your hands. He’s about to apologize when you start howling in laughter. You’re clutching your stomach and tears are forming in your eyes, and Riki has the compelling desire to do whatever it takes to make you laugh like that again.

He helps you up, still apologizing, as he asks if you’re okay. “You know what, maybe this is our full circle moment where I actually get hit by the ball instead of you catching it.” Riki laughs, and he doesn’t notice how he still hasn’t let go of your hand until your cologne fills up his nose, and he steps back upon the proximity. 

Riki coughs. “At least I didn’t aim for your face.”

“You would never.”

His eyes shift towards your lips for a split second, he’s thinking that it probably wouldn’t take much to just move an inch and kiss you right there, in a way that he’s wanted to for a while, but he chooses not to for now. So he lets his eyes, glinting with the light of the moon, trail over something else while you dust off the dirt on your clothes from falling down. 

+

Ever since that night, Nishimura Riki has made it a point to run into you on the campus. Now, apart from after hours on the football field, you had small meet-ups on campus too. 

He’d greet you “good morning” if you happened to pass by each other in the halls, he’d sometimes invite you to eat lunch with his friends which you always declined because you couldn’t betray Karina like that, and his friends were a little intimidating (you tell him, maybe next time). He’d tell you ‘hi’ or give an encouraging ‘fighting!’ while you worked on an article for the school paper. And then, after class, you’d find yourselves hanging out if he didn’t have practice. 

While he was someone that rarely smiled despite having the prettiest grin, he isn’t uncomfortable showing you his perfect set of teeth. 

You didn’t really know what to expect from the boy. You definitely didn’t expect what came next.

Around another two weeks of time spent with Riki, he approaches you with a newfound hesitation. 

With the field bathed in a kind of silver glow, he composes himself under a full moon. “I have a game in a week.”

He doesn’t say anything after and you nod your head at this, pausing as you try to think of what to say.

“Good luck!” 

“I want you to go.” 

“Oh.”

Riki has always stressed how he didn’t really invite anyone to his games, not his family, not his friends outside of the football team. So, his sudden invitation surprises you and you have no clue on how to respond. Your lips parted, staring at the boy.

“Sure. I’d love to.”

“And I want you to watch the game after that too. And the next. And then maybe a date after I win too.” While he says it with so much ease, you can see the panic in his eyes at the straightforwardness of his invitation. 

“Did you… a date?” You ask him again, unsure if he heard you right. 

“I like you.”

At his sudden confession, you feel a laugh bubbling in your throat and you sigh out in relief. “Oh my god, I thought I would have to suffer through an unrequited crush.” He visibly calms down at your response, until realization hits.

“Wait, so does that mean…?” 

“I like you too.” As cocky as he was when you first met, you’re continuously amazed at the new sides you see of Nishimura Riki, with his cheeks flushed a bright red and a girlish giggle escaping his lips. A warm grin breaks over his face and he uses his palm to cup your cheeks. 

“Since you like me, and I like you. Does that also mean I can kiss you?” You smile at his uncharacteristic shyness, eyes squinted as his face breaks out into the biggest smile you’ve ever seen.

“Does it?” You tease playfully, leaning in a little at his touch.

His nose brushes against yours, and his lips hover just right above yours, as though he’s waiting for your permission. “Okay, maybe you can.” At that, he moves slowly and inches forward to steal your lips in kiss, the way he’s been wanting to for the past months. The kiss felt bashful, reserved, with his lips moving gently against yours.

Riki couldn’t have possibly imagined it’d be possible to kiss you, to the point that the kiss felt like an out of body experience. He was there, he felt himself kiss you, but it felt like he wasn't. He was up in the clouds, too far lost in the way it felt to have you in his arms.

When you pull back after a reasonable amount of time, he presses his forehead against yours, and you’re too shy to maintain eye contact that your head drops to his shoulder, and he hugs you with no hesitation. 

“I could do that again and again.” Riki mumbles to himself and you nudge him as if to tell him to stop because you’re blushing too much and you can’t believe that this is actually happening, that it’s real that Nishimura Riki likes you back. 

Riki’s eyes glint with happiness for the rest of the night, even when he walks you home. How can you easily bring the solace he seeked for in the field with just your presence?

“Goodnight!” He doesn’t let you go without pulling you in for another hug, chin resting atop of your head as he quietly whines. 

“What if I don’t wanna let you go yet?”

“We’ll see each other tomorrow.” You untangle yourself from him, afraid you wouldn’t be able to let go if it went on much longer. With a fond smile, you look up at him to send him one final wave. It doesn’t take much observation to spot the same admiration in his eyes. 

“Alright. Goodnight.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Wait!”

“What?”

“One more kiss?”

“Goodnight, Riki.” 

“Sooo… it’s a no for one more kiss?” 

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[inoreuct]

During a supply run with Zoro, a well-meaning lady tells Sanji he's pretty. Not handsome, no--PRETTY. "Your swordsman over there is handsome," she says, pointing at Zoro, who's examining liquor bottles over at another stall. "YOU are pretty." How does he react, & what happens next? 👀 (1/2)

he just laughs at first, if only to cover up how that one word from a stranger has hit him like a punch to the gut.

he looks like a man, and people don't call men pretty. rogueish, certainly. even charming; he's gotten that before at least, but pretty? he laughs some more, gives her a smile and a few words that he doesn't even register, and the merchant lady tilts her head. "you don't get that often, do you?"

"never gotten it at all, actually," he answers, bravado draining away to leave a mumble that he isn't even sure she can hear.

but she must have, because she slides his purchases to him and hums, "well, you're very beautiful. anyone'd have to be blind not to see it."

"maybe," he allows hesitantly, taking the bag with a nod of goodbye. he cannot help but feel as though he's realised something that he won't be able to ignore.

and sure enough, back on the ship, the words swim in his mind. they pop up in blinding white font against the dark of his eyelids as he tries and fails to get to sleep. you're very beautiful.

do i want to be beautiful? he asks himself, and halfway through he already knows, he knows the answer. feels it like an ache in his bones.

sanji's never let himself think about it, but once he starts he can't stop. he imagines himself in makeup, pots and pencils and brushes in front of a mirror, his hair fluffed to perfection, lips red as the dawn and a beauty mark beneath his eye. he thinks about what it would feel like to put on a dress, a proper one; cotton and linen traded for silk, starched dress shirts abandoned in favour of satin blouses and full skirts that nip in with ribbon at the waist. he thinks of the wicker wedge sandals that nami sometimes wears. he thinks about being a man, with a little something more.

he flips over and shoves his face into his pillow. he needs to stop thinking about things that he wants but can never have.

*

sanji's usually better at keeping his secrets, but eventually he slips. he should have known it was only a matter of time before the magnitude of it all became too much to bear and spilled out across the floor.

fortunately, his crew is there to catch him.

they take all of it in stride, even though sanji himself doesn't even know what all of it is yet; he figures things out as they go along. he finds clothes that aren't his in his closet, accessories appearing on his dresser. zoro keeps buying him silk blouses and it makes him want to laugh and cry in equal amounts. nami sees her chance to snag a makeup practice dummy and grabs it, which results in many a night in the girls' quarters, fooling around with makeup until they're either too tired or too giddy with laughter. the rest of the crew show their support in smaller ways, though no less significant—

and now, a year later and leaning against the bar counter of a vaguely familiar town, sanji suspects that he's somehow found himself. it hits him with all the grandeur of someone realising oh, it's stopped raining, or oh, tomorrow's tuesday— sinks into him honey-slow like the burn of the whiskey he sips, warm and comfortable, like a coat he hadn't realised he'd been wearing this whole time and had become his favourite without him even knowing. put like that, it sounds incredibly silly; sanji chuckles as he takes another drink, and a hand settles low on his back where the blue velvet of his dress dips down.

"hey, beautiful," zoro whispers by his ear, pressing a kiss to his cheekbone before leaning over his shoulder to order, and sanji smiles as he swirls his glass with a slow twirl of his wrist.

maybe he'll go look for that merchant lady again. he's fairly sure he owes her a thank you.

#sanji gender fuckery #zosan #ino's ask box #sanji getting called pretty Once: GENDER CRISIS ACTIVATED #“i look like a guy” babygirl you already knew what you were inside #short and sweet and hopefully satisfactory #everybody say thank you merchant lady #black leg sanji #zoro x sanji #one piece sanji #one piece #ino writes

[bambisnc]

deja vu (anemoia remix!)

pairing : choi soobin x reader! genre : fluff n crack cw/tw : use of caps + uneditted wc : i'll update later im too tired to rn !!

a quiet, peaceful walk was all that you had wanted.

on having recently discovered what you could only describe as the most gorgeous garden you'd seen in your life; it was obvious you would choose its fairytale like setting as the location.

what you had not expected at all though, was to find yourself entangled with a certain someone, who coincidentally, would be a perfect fit for the mystical events which would soon ensue in your so-far rather ordinary life.

you had been busy reading a notice which announced that the anemone flower display would be closed permanently until further information was given; when a shrill voice called out, "soobin?! he was right here- WHERE'D HE GO??"

that's a pretty name, you off-handedly thought to yourself. maybe someone lost a friend, a sibling.

"hey," a voice said suddenly, "you wouldn't have happened to see a rabbit - no i mean, a bunny - around would you?"

obviously, you hadn't. which is what you informed the person who had approached you, as well.

but barely had you politely waved him goodbye did you see a fluffy, white rabbit bound towards you and with a flash of light turn into a boy right in front of your eyes?!

a really, really tall boy, that is.

the innocent disappointment of the expression adorning his adorable features makes your heart physically feel like shattering.

"oh no. oh no oh no oh no-," the boy is looking at his hands, as if he's shocked he even has hands.

right that makes sense; "soobin...? weren't you a rabbit just a second ago-?"

he doesn't question how you know his name.

"i need you to help me hide. the 'timer' won't allow me to turn back to my animal form for some time." he runs his tongue over his lips, probably only a nervous habit, but you can't help licking your own when you notice the boy do so, "please."

you really don't have the heart to say no. but still, you attempt to break it to him, "i'm sure you have your reasons but.. i do not think that would be possible at all."

"what if uh- i tried hiding in plain sight?? i.. i could pretend i'm here with you?? that would throw beomgyu off my trail for some time at least, don't you think??"

"SOOBIN WHERE THE HELL DID YOU RUN OFF TO?!?" beomgyu's near. and soobin for whatever reason refuses to get caught but can also not turn back into a rabbit.

you always knew you were a sucker for pretty boys, but you didn't know to what extent you'd go for one.

well now you do!

it's as if some innate instinct takes over. you place both your hands on soobin's face doing your best to shield it from view, and place a little kiss on his forehead.

and your timing couldn't have been more perfect! you wait, with hushed breaths, only to hear beomgyu walk past the two of you without a single suspicious glance thrown your way!

when you finally move to meet soobin's eyes and apologize for the hasty decision (but it did work!!) you're left shocked. his extremely flustered face completely avoids your gaze as his pretty lips open and shut as if he's trying to say something but the words just aren't coming out.

"i'm so sorry about that it was all i could think of at the mmph-" a hand on your waist pulls you ever so slightly closer and he kisses you.

it's soft, fleeting. barely a featherlight touch of his lips against yours. but it leaves you reeling.

soobin pulls away almost as quickly as he initiated the kiss, eyes wide as saucers. before he can even begin to think of a proper sentence...

...a flash of light. that darned flash of light.

he's a bunny rabbit again.

obviously he's gone immediately. you wouldn't even have had a chance to catch him if you tried.

and as you walk back home that day, the only thought in your mind is him. and, did a were-rabbit (???) really kiss you on the lips?!

-

also, why is there a dried anemone flower in your pocket..? hadn't the exhibit for those been closed?

notes : oh man oh god help me i think i started another series. thats what the 4th one so far? #lovethis + lowkey might leave this here tho and focus on roommate!sc plus the otome au + [m.list] song rec : im predicting that it'll be deja vu the anemoia remix and my god will i be sad if the vibes of this dont match the vibes of the song :/

#order's up~! 📋⋆𐙚 #ice creams.♡︎🍧 #div : plutism + pics : njclouds #txt x reader #soobin x reader #soobin #choi soobin #soobin x y/n #txt soobin #choi soobin x reader #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop #tomorrow x together #tomorrow x together imagines #kpop x reader #txt #txt imagines #txt scenarios #txt angst #txt fluff #soobin angst #soobin fluff #soobin oneshot #soobin drabble #soobin imagines #soobin scenarios #soobin fanfic #txt fanfic

[onyichii]

The only time I didn't like Yugo 👇

I REALLY wanted them to have a talk about this in season 4. I guess Ankama couldn't fit it in or didn't think it was important.

This occurs after he kisses her and calls it a mistake which hurts her feelings. As she is upset, Yugo tries to talk about it but she gives him a hard time (she does act like a butt). They don’t talk about it but instead sit together in silence. After a while, they kind of have a nonverbal “we’re good” moment.

How do we know this? We see that she is playful with him and still values what he thinks in this moment.

[Click this link to watch the clip]- I can't add more than 1 video per post. So here are screenshots from the “we’re good” scene.]

You're not playful with someone you're mad at. I think she thought about it and understood his dilemma and set it aside for the time being. She loves him and she can’t stay mad at him not now at least. After this playful interaction—HE STILL SAID THAT to Ruel-sipho)!! It’s fair that he’s still a little mad but damn.

Many audiences agreed with Yugo that Amalia was being obnoxious but to me that little playful scene defused their little quarrel. They were good at least from her perspective. From his reaction to her little playfulness it seemed like he agreed…but I guess not.

For the audience agreeing with Yugo…I blame misogyny tbh. It’s easy to hate female characters for the tiniest things. We see it time and time again.

I too agree that she was being bratty when he wanted to talk about it. But…i think she needed a little more time to collect herself. When they got that time to just sit in it we get that playful interaction.

Amalia literally left the side of her sick dying father to help him. He didn’t see her pain?

Then when she comes back (in s4) her father is dead. Missing her opportunity to say goodbye. At least they showed he felt guilty about that.

So then after all of this, when did he realize it was “romantic love.” Or did he always know but try to lie to himself to not give himself hope? I need answers because what they gave is not enough.

But yeah, that was the only time I didn’t like Yugo.

If Wakfu had the proper funding, I wonder if they would have spent a little more time on the interpersonal dynamics. We see time and time that they have a good nonverbal communication dynamic.

This is my interpretation. My perspective of that situation. If your interpretation is different that’s fine. I would love to ask one of the writers about this. Imma try to find one.

I keep comparing it to shows like Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, Avatar, and The Owl House who make time to show their characters have these tough talks. But those shows had the funding to do it. Wakfu did not. They had to use what they had to focus on the most important plot points and sum up the others.

Either way, the animated series is over. And they're married now…so that’s a win. I still wish we got more tough-talk scenes though. (But it's an action show with a male target audience so of course)

(I figured out how to screen record! 😆)

#wakfu #wakfu season 3 #yumalia #yugo the eliatrope #wakfu yugo #wakfu amalia #amalia sheran sharm #wakfu elely #wakfu spoilers #onyichii rants