#and last boss because he's good at being in the background

[anadiasmount]

we’re pretending? - jude bellingham x reader.

quick sum: no date to an upcoming wedding, you use your best friend as last resort. what happens when your best friend isn’t playing pretend anymore and you’re left conflicted with these unusual feelings…

wc: 4.6 k | masterlist | jude’s masterlist

psa 🗣️: i used my og ‘glory box’ fic to get some inspo while writing this fic ngl!! 😣 this was so fun to write not only by the trope but the DRAMAAAA!! like always, hope you enjoy! 🤍

“yes mom, i know. i picked my dress up yesterday, and my flight is booked as well,” you sighed and rolled your eyes knowing she wouldn’t be able to see you through the phone. she knew how important this wedding was but she kept putting the pressure on you. it was the last thing you needed especially after you told her you’d bring someone along.

that someone was now you’re ex-boyfriend. you had less than 48 hours to come up with an excuse or show up alone.

"are you still bringing your plus one?" she asked, the line going silent for a few seconds before she spoke up again. "y/n? are you there?" you should've just lied or said the truth, all you could think of was how happy and super excited she was when you told her you'd met someone and began dating.

"yes mom... we both will be there," you closed your eyes, disappointment in yourself filling the void in your head. you could hear her squeal in the background, telling a voice there with her about the good news. you chewed on your lip anxiously, wanting to cut the call or else you'd break down.

"listen mom, i have t-to go okay? ill call you tomorrow. try not to stress so much," you smiled weakly hearing an "i love you", ending the call after gifting your goodbye. there was no avoiding the mistake you had committed. you wanted to slap some common sense into yourself, because where the hell were you about to find someone?

you clearly remembered the day telling your mom you'd met someone at uni. she was over the moon and wanted to tell everyone but you dismissed the idea, not wanting to rush since you had recently met. you would call her and tell her about him, and she listened so attentively, just like in the movies.

you couldn't bring yourself to tell her when you and max had broken up. your whole life has always been surrounded by being told you needed to be more like your older sister, the pressure of being a golden child laid on you. for once you had something, but that had to get ruined as well.

the scolding, the perfect grades, friends, hell even family. you had to be so careful and live up to their expectations. you loved them, you did, but at times you just felt like moving away was the best idea. and you did just that, the first to move out to a new country, breaking records at uni, and even finding a suitable job.

your boss loved you, and coworkers admired you for the passion and dedication you carried. so why did it have to go all wrong with max? you had an image of him in your head that he was madly in love with you, though you'd later be proven wrong when you found out he was sleeping with his boss. finding them in the act on your 6th month anniversary.

you still can recall the feeling of being unable to breathe, their screams and his pleading going quiet as you could just stare into the room, not once being able to see his eyes. disgust, and rage, but mostly sadness, a heavy heart, and the lump in your throat. he hurt you terribly and you would forever resent that.

after the call, you sat quietly on the couch, hands in your hair as you thought about everything. looking around seeing your bags packed, the blue dress hanging by your room, pictures everywhere. you hated to admit but you were living in a hell, life messy and a disaster. your buzz ringed, seeing through the tiny camera your best friend jude in the frame.

you allowed him in, walking over to the large mirror and wiping away the dry tears, making yourself look more presentable. you looked worn out, eyes droopy and low, lips slightly chapped, and to make matters worse a zit on your chin. you exhaled a breath, keys jiggling as jude came in.

he set his training bag down, took his shoes off, and walked to you, giving you a small hug. "you look terrible," you gave him a warning look, "but lucky you, i brought us food," he spoke cheerfully, the mood inside you going from gloomy to content. "it's raining like crazy, i almost fell coming up. also i brought some packages and your mail," jude continued.

"thank you, i haven't had the time to go down and pick them up! i've been so busy packing and planning last-minute stuff," you groaned, going to the kitchen and washing your hands. "watch, in the next few minutes i'm going to get a call," you theorized. jude pulled out the food and served it into your plates as you grabbed a water for him and a soda for yourself.

"how was training?"

jude shrugged unimpressed, "same old. didn't really have to go in, but they needed me for a small campaign shoot, so i had no choice. also cama and tchou send their hello's."

you and jude spoke amongst yourself. just about each other's days and catching up from the last time you guys were together. you teased him about losing a bet with his little brother, jude whining about how he cheated. new music that came out, and a pop up store that opened lower in downtown.

"so what's got your head in a twist?" jude sipped on his last few ounces of water, leaning his head on his propped-up arm and hand. you awkwardly scratch the back of your neck, pick up the dirty dishes, and walk to the sink. "okay don't make fun of me-"

"you're basically asking me too... also no promises since you just made fun of me for losing against jobe," jude chuckled.

"jude."

"oh it's serious then... what did you do?" he saw the serious look on your face, a small worry constructing in his chest because he rarely saw you like this. you close your eyes, feeling the anxiety build in you once again, "i told my mom i was still bringing max..."

jude scoffed in denial, or trying to cope with the confusion, "y/n, you what?"

"i know! i know! i should've just confessed and coughed up the truth but i- i couldn't! she was so excited jude! i feel terrible for lying believe me i do, but after telling her about him and filling her with hope to break her heart, i just c-c-couldn't," you ramble, dishes clattering as you freaked out.

in your head it didn't seem as bad, but fully saying it out loud to jude, seemed even worse. jude grimaced, knowing you had messed up bad especially since the wedding was right around the corner. "i'm just embarrassed... i know they will start something and just talk down on me if i showed up alone."

jude knew how heavy-handed your family could be, often wanting to resent them because he cared for you so much. he saw how physically and mentally they could rain you even with the smallest sentence. they seemed so worried with their lives instead of the ones they should most value and care for.

jude gave you a concerned face, "what?" chuckling nervously when you gasped out, almost being able to see the lit-up light bulb on top of your head. "jude, I'm a genius!"

"well i beg to differ-"

"shut up," you pat your finger against your chin, a mischievous smile on your lip taunting jude's concern even more. "i don't know why i didn't think of this sooner! why don't you pretend to be my boyfriend? just for the wedding that's it!"

jude shook his head, hands coming up to back out of the idea. it was one thing you lying, but now asking you to play pretend was something totally different. "that's not a good idea y/n..." jude clenched his teeth forcing a smile. "oh cmon why not?"

"well, first of all, that's an even bigger lie to your mom. second, pretending would seem impossible. third, i don't want the first time meeting your parents to be a lie because of what happened," jude defended and stated his case.

"it's a huge favor but you'd save my life jude! one weekend and that's it! you have plenty of suits, you're also off this weekend, and they would never suspect a thing! please jude! i wouldn't be asking if i wasn't so desperate," you begged, seeing the hesitation in his eyes.

"it seems like a bad idea... you don't know what you're asking for y/n... were pretending to be a couple when were not! we have to make it believable even under the pressure of the wedding. a theatrical play, a stunt!" jude exclaimed standing up from his chair.

"jude please, please, please! it might feel weird but it's for the night only! after that, we go back to the good old y/n and jude," you followed him as he paced in your living room thinking of his answer. would it be back to normal even if he continued to feel the same for you? the unknown loving feeling he had for you?

the pretending would be hard when all he could hardly think of was you. how he felt recently and how nervous he got around you. he would do anything for you in a heartbeat, but this would break jude further than now. he couldn't fake pretend holding your hand, or kissing your cheek when he meant and wanted to do that with you currently.

as bad as the idea was, here he was hugging you as you cheerfully yelped when he agreed. time moved slowly for him, the sensation of regret and curiosity as what was yet to come from both of you. all he cared for was to make sure you were happy, and if faking being your boyfriend would help you, he was willing to do it, no matter the consequences.

as jude was fixing his hair, you finished setting your makeup with some powder and setting spray. nerves bubbling in you after the first test you encountered last night after your arrival. you let out a laugh at the tiny bed you had to share with jude. seeing his uneasy face even after he offered to sleep on the couch.

"we're running on schedule," you spoke, finishing clasping your jewelry around your hands and rings. jude came behind you, his shirt unbuttoned and abs in full view, as he finished zipping his pants. best friend or not, there was no denying how incredibly sexy jude was. the name should speak for itself, but with the looks and personality he had, it was too good to be true.

"need some help?" he asked seeing you nod slowly and looking down at your feet. he took the necklace, your skin on fire as his fingertips grazed your skin accidentally, almost jumping on the spot, goosebumps grazing your body. he clasped the necklace, grabbing the pendent and fixing it so it laid in the middle. "perfect," he cockliy smirked.

"thank you."

"are you almost ready?" he looked at you as he buttoned up his shirt, you almost stuttered but regained consciousness, "yes, just need to put my dress and shoes on," you turned back quickly furrowing your brows, wanting to slap yourself for allowing yourself to get carried away, or maybe at the uneasy desire in you when seeing jude.

you went to the bathroom, grabbing the lacy undergarments and the blue dress. the color was to die for, the perfect length even with your heels on, the opened back with the front just showing the perfect amount of cleavage, and the whole dress just accentuating your body even more.

you felt the need to throw some water in your face though you couldn't or else it would ruin your makeup. you settled with fanning yourself with your hand, the tense in your chest getting to you as it was becoming real now. you were just pretending with jude. nothing more right?

you looked in the huge light-up mirror, and suddenly the confidence you had dripped away as you thought of jude in the next room over. why did all of a sudden everything feel like it wasn't before? as in, things changed drastically since the night at your apartment? you've never felt this clumsy or as edgy around him.

when you woke up this morning, with jude on top of you laying peacefully, you couldn't help but feel overjoyed, as if it was a natural state and you've done it before. in your own world where the only thing that mattered was him and you. since then you were slightly freaked out, butterflies in your chest when he left or walk into the room.

jude double taked a look as you walked into the room again. the tiny room that felt like a joke to him after walking in hand to hand last night. his eyes roamed you, lips slightly separated as he admired your beauty, heart hammering in his chest. he watched as you grabbed your cheeks, immediately offering to help.

he leaned down, gently grabbing your foot and placing the white jeweled heel on you. your hands were clamped around the small bench cushions, jude looking up then and there to make sure they felt comfortable. once again, his touch felt like fire, playing with your head even more.

when he finished clasping the heel, he extended his hand helping you up. "you look absolutely gorgeous y/n... this dress was made for you," jude croaked, hearing you laugh shakily. "thank you jude. likewise," jude smiled at your reaction, "i mean as in you look super handsome with the suit, not a dress!" you explained.

"i think i got what you meant..." he joked, his eyes roaming uo and down again at you. "good. good. shall we head out?" you swallowed heavily, grabbing your purse, phone, and other stuff you needed for the night. you were in a rush, wanting to get some fresh air or you would explode in the room with jude inside. "lead the way y/n."

jude helped you in an out of the cab, his hand on your bare back as he guided you to the double doors leading into the reception. "how are you feeling? any nerves?" you spoke quietly to him, looking around as people were taking their seats or had their own conversations.

"some but not too many. like you said, it's just for today," he whispered along your ear, gently giving your shoulder a kiss as his hands went to your hips and walked you forward. your mom and aunt gasped, grabbing their dresses and walking towards you, almost sprinting. "here goes nothing," you say.

"oh my god! so you are real!" your mom yelped, making you give her a glare and eyes pleading not to make a scene. "i was starting to think my sweet y/n was lying to me about this boyfriend she had," you almost choked on your saliva, clearing your throat at her words. "i am y/n's mom, what is your name?"

"i'm jude. it's a pleasure to finally meet you ma'am," jude shook her hand and leaned down to kiss her cheeks in a greeting manner, the same with your aunt. jude's hand interlocked with yours, the happiness in your mother's eyes never leaving, almost tearing up at the sight of you with your "boyfriend."

"i can't believe it! it's a miracle, my daughter finally has her first boyfriend," she clapped her hands making you wretched at her choice of wording. you did everything to have her at least praise you once in life, and all it took was to have a boyfriend? you brushed away the glum feeling, jude kissing your hand, distracting you from the small burn in your eyes.

"oh my! look at them! they make such a beautiful pair," your aunt gleamed. "we do, don't we?" jude teased them, "took her a while to say yes to me, but i'm very fortunate to be here," jude resumed. "we're very pleased to have you here, anything you need don't hesitate to ask."

after saying hello to other family friends and cousins, you sat for the ceremony. jude wiped a small tear away after your old school friend finished her vows, slapping his shoulder when he made a small joke about your mascara running. "its not funny! the vows were so beautiful," you said.

"it's like we are watching me before you again," he said making you gasp. "jude what are talking about? you literally cried with me?" you recalled laughing, jude looking around scared if someone was hearing you. "please don't remind me... in my defense, i didn't see that ending at all."

after the ceremony, you and jude greeted other families, and most importantly congratulated the bride and groom. their faces ushered with happiness, overall content with how their day was turning out. you had to excuse yourself from jude at one point, your mom dragging you away for your help. jude was left behind with your dad.

"since she was little, she always hated getting thrown or dragged around," your father spoke, taking a sip of his whiskey. "seems like nothing had changed?" jude asked carefully with a playful smile. "oh not even close! it's my wife doing," he winked.

"jude right?"

"yes sir," jude nodded, presenting the dad talk coming up. "I'm gonna save the unnecessary talk and get straight to the point. it's so weird to see my baby girl all grown up, with the lusting and loving eyes she gives you. you love her very much and i can see that which is why i'm not worried about you hurting or losing her trust."

hell if jude didn't feel guilty before, he did now. he gripped the glass harder, nodding to your dad who looked upset. "she may have told you some stuff about us, but at the end of the day, she's my daughter and i love her the way she is... please just take good care of her for me... she been through enough as it is..."

"i only have good intentions and i promise you i won't ever break her heart," jude promised to your dad, but also himself. he would never be able to forgive himself if he ever did break your heart or make you lose the trust you had. max did it once and jude would never do it. even if it meant keeping away these long feelings for you.

when you returned you saw them laughing and chatting away, your heart full of emotions at them getting along. jude was so mature for his age, and it didn't come to a surprise when he got along with your dad so fast. his hand would naturally lay on your back or on your hip.

the next few hours were filled with more people dancing or chatting away. jude insisting you sat on his lap for a picture when the photographer passed, smiling wide, looking like a happy couple. it seemed so natural to you, being this close and intimate you were getting scared at how fast everything was being thrown at you.

"i had to see it for myself! y/n bagging a footballer? never saw that coming," your cousin approached you giving you a high as he dabbed up jude. "jude meet my cousin adrian, he's a huge fan of you, and just successfully signed with a small club," you introduced them to each other, with a huge grin on your face.

jude’s hand snuck around your waist, his thumb drawing shapes as his full attention was with your cousin who spoke about sports. you listened then and there, but your feet began to ache, switching your weight back and forth uncomfortably.

jude was quick to notice, leaving down to your level and asking if you were okay. “i’m fine i promise, these shoes are killing me that’s all,” you reassured with a smile, jude nodding before cutting the conversation after a few minutes. “i’m going to get her a chair and drinks for us,” you froze when he kissed your temple, “i’ll see you around later,” jude said his goodbyes dragging you along slowly.

like before, your chest beat faster, if he stared, smiled, even touched or got near you, you’d get nervous immediately. the familiar string of falling for someone filling the empty space left behind inside you. he was super good at pretending and it didn’t feel like that anymore.

it felt real. was he just pretending? or was he actually taking this fake relationship seriously and real?

all you could do was stare at his face, mostly his gorgeous brown eyes as he helped you get seated and served you some water, making sure you were fully okay. he sat next to you, his hand interlocking with his, and placing it on his lap as he paid attention to his surroundings. you become quiet, so into your head and questioning his every move now.

“jude?” you spoke softly, a confused smile on your face as he immediately turned to you with a soften gaze. you inhaled a breath, unable to look away from him, his ínstese state causing you to feel intimidated. “is everything okay?” he asked, leaning slightly over to you, pushing a small string of hair back. “is it supposed to feel like this?”

“what is?” jude shook his head not understanding.

“us? why am i getting the idea we’re no longer pretending…”

jude tore his gaze from yours, the panic growing more intense when he wouldn't reply back. "jude please... don't push me away. are we just pretending or has something changed?" you persisted, your hand gliding against his back to get his attention. jude debated, afraid of losing you right here and now, or having the possibility to maybe hear you feel the same way.

"come with me," jude demanded, helping your and dragging you to the dance floor where no one could really see you besides the other happy couples. his hands circled your waist, as yours went to his shoulders, unable to look away from him. "tell me i'm not the only one who feels it..."

"tell me what you feel y/n... what your head is begging to scream out..."

"i can't, i don't know jude. i'm afraid yet so confused? since we got here yesterday things feel different between us. it happened again when we had breakfast, when you put my necklace on, my heels! all of this is giving me mixed signals jude... i haven't felt this in so long.." you confess, a shaky breath escaping your lips when he pulls you closer and kisses your head.

"like now. i can't if you just did that out of pretending or because it came naturally to you. i've never had to worry about what you think till recently... it feels strange... yet ican't help but get hope that it means real," you rest your forehead on his shoulder blinking away the tears that slowly begin to let out.

jude could see how this was affecting you, holding your lower body with one hand and the other smoothing down your spine, feeling how you immediately let loose and relaxed by his praise and touch. jude could also feel the heavy weight beginning to feel heavier if he kept his true hidden feelings away. it was a sign, and there was no going back.

jude's hand cradled your chin, forcing you to look up at his, his brown eyes gazing over your teary face. he was truly amazed and so in love with you it made his head feel cloudy, almost dizzy, at how perfect and pure you were. his tummy fluttering at his gorgeous girl who was confused at how she felt... but in this moment jude knew you were in deep as well.

"tell me something, when you see me, does it make your heart race, like i'm the only person standing there?" you nod, "does your head tell you one thing but your gut tells you another when you see me?" you nod again, this time blowing the air out of jude's lungs. "my head tells me i shouldn't, but my gut tells me i waited so long that maybe it's now to late for us..."

"why would it be too late y/n...?" you shrug your shoulders. "because i don't you feel the same way i'm feeling." jude smiled weakly, his thumb brushing along your jaw, hearing your hum in delight, "how can you know when you haven't asked me?"

your eyes search his for any sign but you don't find any, "what are you feel in this moment jude?"

"that i'm the luckiest man to be here with you tonight," he says proudly, "that i don't think we've wasted any time, rather i feel we're barely getting started on this new branch of our lives... i can't pretend when i'm with you... because pretending to hide how i feel has been so hard, when all i want is you. all of you y/n..."

"i had to see you go through that idiot max, how he hurt you? when you were hurt i was even more devastated because i couldn't protect you. i'd do anything to make you happy or laugh because it's what i want to do. i want to be the only one who gets to do that. i promised your dad but myself also, ask me what the promise is..." jude insisted.

"what's your promise jude?"

"that i'd never break your heart or give you a reason to doubt me. that from this day forward, i completely will give you my all to care and relish our love once and for all. i'm tired of waiting and holding back of what should've existed and started when i first met you."

"jude-"

"i want to give you my all, to be devoted and in love with you forever. you have no idea what you make me feel, think! i wake up longing for you, at work, at my own home. you're the only girl i want and need in my life y/n," jude confessed, the weight finally lifted of his shoulders, now being able to feel like a free man.

you closed your eyes, breathing out a happy chuckle in relief. you sniffled, "you've ruined me jude, completely ruined me with your words, your confession! look at me, i'm worse than when we finished watching the vow!" you joked, hand nestling on the nape of his next, stroking his soft skin.

"you love me jude?"

"more than what you think."

"i need you to know i'm giving you my all as well. I've always sensed how different what we had was, and come to find out, i was just scared and felt the need to push away because you didn't feel the same way. what i feel for you never happened with who shall not be named..." jude chuckles, closing his eyes and swallowing a heavy gulp like you.

"i'm so hopelessly in love with you jude bellingham... so in love, i want to grow old with you, make every promise we said out loud come true. i knew i loved you as soon as we laid eyes, and you stumbled over your words," jude squinted his eyes, shaking his head embarrassed. "kiss me jude."

jude kissed you exactly how he dreamed. your lips soft and sweet as he imagined, even better. cradling your chin to tilt and pulling the kiss deeper. it felt so right, so amazing, so passionate. he was lost, his tongue entering your parted lips when you let out a small gasp and whimper. there was no more pretending, this was more real than ever.

"could get lost in how you taste. how you feel. i love you so much angel."

#jude bellingham #judey thoughts 5️⃣ #jude bellingham x reader #jude bellingham blurb #jude bellingham imagine #jude bellingham one shot #jude bellingham fanfic #jude bellingham fic #football fanfic #footballer #football x reader #football imagine #football one shot

[thatanimeramenchick]

Yandere Vox x Secretary Reader Part One

No one asked for this, but whatever. Bite me. I’ll get to the asks, I swear

3,516 words

Part Two - Part Three

–-

The last thing you wanted was to draw attention to yourself. In a place like hell, where the worst of society sunk together and only somehow seemed to get worse, it was a good idea to not catch other people’s eyes. If their eyes were on you, it was almost never for a good reason.

So when you decided to start working, it made sense you would do something quiet and in the background like data filing for a large media company. While there were many more unsavory jobs that paid more, you wanted to avoid the obvious and dangerous crime life of hell as much as possible in your daily life. You had had enough of being unwillingly tied up in that kind of stuff when you were alive. You might as well spend your eternity in some type of peace, or at least as much as someone in hell can get.

So, you made sure you were presentable as you walked into Voxtekk on your first day to work, dressed simple business attire and keeping a quiet demeanor.

“There you are!” said who you presumed was your new boss, a short man with glasses and a blue hair dye, “Was wondering if you were going to show up!”

“Sorry,” you said, “The traffic was bad.”

“Well, you better get used to leaving early,” he said, “Traffic is always a bitch in this part of Pentagram City.”

He continued to speak as he led you to the elevator.

“So, I’ve been told you have a lot of experience with this sort of thing on earth,” he said.

“Yes, I did library work while I was alive,” you said.

And some smuggling. Especially with weapons.

You didn’t think it would be necessary to tell him that though. The job had come in handy though by giving you a knack for remembering where things were.

“Good, good,” he said, “I expect you’ll be able to figure out how to do this on your own then.”

He led you to a room that was filled with file drawers as well as a large computer off to the side.

“There’s thousands, if not millions, of files in here, both physically and digitally. It’ll be your responsibility to make sure that everything new brought in gets put in its proper place, as well as that anything that is requested can be easily found,” he said, “As the biggest media company in hell, it’s important that we know at all times where every piece of information or media can be located.”

It was overwhelming, like the world’s largest and most complicated library. It made your head spin a little looking at it all, but you always liked a challenge.

“You think you can handle it?” he asked.

You nod with some confidence, though you don’t quite feel it. This was going to take some getting used to.

“I hope for both our sakes you’re right,” he said, “Last filer I hired couldn’t tell left from right and Vox fried me to a crisp. Took me a good week before I was able to regenerate properly.”

Crap, that sounded bad. Note to self, don’t let that happen to you.

“I think I’ll be all right,” you said.

---

It was a bit overwhelming the first few weeks. You were competent enough to keep things in order though. Your experience was paying off, and you weren’t hearing any complaints or news about any assistants getting fried, so you supposed you were doing your job well enough.

Within two months of starting your job, you finally met the rumored big man himself. He had come in one day, visibly in a bad mood as he walked over to your desk, a man trailing behind him.

“I don’t know why I even pay you morons,” he said, “I have to hear important information secondhand from fucking Valentino because you can’t be bothered to keep up with what’s happening in hell.”

“Look, sir, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to not tell you,” he said, “I just didn’t think you’d care.”

Vox had stormed over to your desk.

“So you KNEW and thought it would be a good idea to just not tell me at all?” he said.

“T-that’s not it! I just-”

Vox held up a hand to interrupt him before turning to you.

“I want the file we have in here on Alastor,” he said, a static buzz of irritation on the last word, “Now.”

“Of course, sir,” you said.

You hurried over to the file cabinet and quickly located it.

“See, not everyone around here is as useless as you are,” Vox said to his other employee.

You saw the hapless employee mutter something under his breath out of the corner of your eye, and before you knew it a chain had appeared and Vox yanked him closer.

“What was that?” he said

“N-nothing, sir!” said the now visibly sweating employee.

A shock went through the poor guy before Vox released him.

“Useless,” he said, “You know what? I think you need some time learning exactly who is in charge around here.”

Vox pointed a clawed finger at you.

“You,” he said, “It’s your lucky day, kid. You wanna promotion?”

“Um… yes?” you said.

“Great. Samuel, have fun in janitorial work for the next decade,” he said, “You’re being replaced. What’s your name?”

“F/N,” you said.

“Hope you have customer service experience as well as filing,” he said, “You’re moving up to my office. Need someone with a functioning brain to run the front desk. Pack up!”

You hesitated for a minute before grabbing the stuff under your desk. You figured the last thing you wanted to do was piss this guy off more than he already looked.

---

Despite him being in such a bad mood that first day, you soon found that most of the time Vox was relatively calm, at least compared to what you heard about the other employers in this building. While he at times could get pretty irritated with things, especially if a certain never-to-be-named demon was brought up by an idiot intern, he rarely took it out on you. He usually took the daily bothers of running the company in stride.

Besides that, running a front desk of an office wasn’t too different than running the front desk at the library. You didn’t have to do near as much organizing in terms of files, but you still did spend a lot of time making sure that everything in Vox’s life was organized from his meetings to when he had lunch.

He didn’t talk much with you outside of work related stuff, which is why you were so surprised when you found out what he was doing one day.

It was a nice enough morning, at least as much as a nice morning can be in hell. You took a sip of your coffee briefly as you stretched and looked out your office window. While you missed the blue sky of earth, the red sky of hell had its own sort of charm you supposed. You glanced down, looking at the people walking back and forth, small as ants. Running around willy nilly. Someone was moving into the building that afternoon, a common occurrence here, as you had heard talk that Valentino liked to keep his employees in close quarters. Seems like they had a similar taste in furniture to your own. Almost frighteningly so.

Except… wait. Was that your sofa? And your dresser? Your bookshelves? You lowered your coffee to the windowsill as you squinted down at your entire catalog of furniture being moved into the building. Something wasn’t right.

You knocked on your boss’s door and entered in a bit of a rush as you heard him say to come in.

“Vox, what on earth is going on?” you asked, trying not to sound panicked.

“F/N, that could be ten different things. I need you to be more specific,” he asked, his tone nonchalant as he didn’t even look up from his phone.

“I just saw what I’m pretty sure was all my belongings being moved into the building,” you said.

“Oh yes, that. Well, I had wanted to surprise you, but I guess it’s too late for that,” he said, somewhat absently, “I hate that you have to take such a long commute to the other side of town. And I know all the apartments there are so run down, I figured I’d just move you into the studio like a lot of our other valued staff.”

What? While it was true your apartment was kind of rinky dinky, it was yours. And you liked the privacy and soft solitude it offered after work. Besides, you didn’t like the idea of your boss just moving you willy nilly without your permission. Still, you didn’t want to show him you were upset.

“Vox, you don’t have to do this,” you said, “I’m ok with where I’m at. I don’t want to trouble you.”

“It’s no trouble at all. Think of it as a courtesy as my secretary,” he said.

You could feel your entire face tighten as you got more frustrated. Some of it was probably starting to show, despite your best efforts.

“I never asked for this though,” you said, trying to tread carefully, “and I like my old apartment. I… I don’t really want this...”

“But you do want this,” he said, finally looking up at you, “You want to be in a nicer apartment, closer to work, safer, don’t you? You always want to be here.”

That… You supposed that was true. Something about his tone soothed you, sent a pleasant lull through your skull and made your body relax as he looked in your eyes. Your protests now seemed a bit foolish and childish. In all honesty, you supposed it just made sense that you move in to the studio. Everything you needed was here, truly, why would you want to live away from here? You did want a nicer apartment without the stressful commute.

“O-ok,” you said, a small uncomfortable feeling of doubt still in your stomach, “Yeah. That’s true. I do want to be here more… closer to the office...”

He smiled at that and walked over to you. He placed an arm around you, guiding you back to your own office.

“Of course you do! And besides I already had them move everything here, so why don’t you just go back to work, and they’ll have finished moving everything in by the time your shift is done,” Vox said, “I guarantee once you’ve had time to think it through you’ll be glad we did it.”

“If you say so,” you said.

As he walked you back to your desk, he continued his calming chatter.

“That’s a good girl. You and I both have a lot of work today, anyway, so I think we can agree that you should just focus on that for now,” he said as he nudged over to your desk.

You sat down and turned to the planner on your desk as you heard your boss walk into his personal office and closed the door. You just stare blankly for a good minute, feeling a little light, like you were on Zoloft before shaking your head back and forth. Might as well just go back to work. You could think more about this later.

---

It had been happening so slowly. One day, week, month at a time, Vox was implementing himself into your life inch by inch, despite the fact that the two of you weren’t bound on paper. He had moved you into the building, where you knew that you were almost constantly on camera. He kept you so loaded down with work you barely had a social life anymore, with no time to hang out with friends or date. The pay was ok, you supposed, but it felt minuscule compared to the amount of work he was expecting you to do on a daily basis.

And then there was the… weirder things that had been happening. Whenever you tried to talk to him, he had a way of getting you to forget about whatever it was you were upset about, at least for a little while. But it would always come back eventually, and as you thought about it more, it irritating you that he was dismissing your concerns.

You hadn’t really noticed it until he had gone on vacation for a week with the other Vees. You had been quite busy with work, but without him there to calm you down whenever your “concerns” came up, you realized that maybe you had let your priorities get a little askew. You needed a career change.

So, perhaps against your better judgment, a few days after he had returned, you had left a two weeks notice on his desk before he came in. It only took about fifteen minutes after he came in for him to summon you to his office.

“F/N? What is this?” he asked, holding out the letter.

“It’s my resignation,” you said, trying to sound steady and confident.

“I’m sorry… your what?” he said

“I-I regret to inform you that I will be moving out and relocating to the Doomsday Sector in two weeks,” you said, “I appreciate all that you’ve done here for me as I worked here, but I am making a career change.”

He looked baffled for a second, like he couldn’t believe what you were saying before chuckling a little.

“No, you’re not,” he said, “You don’t want to leave he-”

“Stop!” you yelled out with more force than you intended.

As soon as he had started speaking that familiar fuzzy feeling had entered your mind, and you had closed your eyes, shaking your head. You didn’t want him talking you out of this.

“I-I’m sorry,” you said, as you reopened your eyes, but didn’t really look at him, “But I don’t want to talk about this.”

It was awkwardly silent for a minute.

“Is it a pay thing?” he finally asked, “Because that can be adjusted. You do good work. I certainly wouldn’t mind paying you more.”

“It’s not a pay thing,” you said, “It’s not anything. I-I don’t want to talk about this, so I’m going to go-”

“You’re not leaving!” he said, slamming his fist on his desk.

You jumped, a little surprised at his reaction. While you knew he wouldn’t be thrilled, you hadn’t expected him to be so volatile. He was always so calm and collected that this kind of reaction to something so minuscule confused you.

“Vox, I know you like my work, but I think you’re overreacting a little bit,” you said.

“Overreacting?” he said, looking pissed, ��Overreacting?!”

He grasped at the air, a look of surprise entering his face when no chain appeared. You look at him bewildered. Had he really just tried to…?

“Vox, we don’t have a contract?” you said, “Did you forget that?”

Had he really gotten so comfy with you that he thought that you were another one of his little pets? To hell with the two week notice, you were going today.

“I think I should go back to work,” you said.

He didn’t say anything as you went back to your desk. You finished filing information extra fast that day, doing a bit of a sloppy job. As soon as it was noon, you left for what appeared to be a lunch break, but you had decided was actually going to be your escape.

This situation was getting uncomfortable. You hurried to your room and haphazardly threw clothes and necessities into your suitcase. Anything you left behind on accident you would just have to replace. On a final note, you shoved your wallet into your back pocket and walked over to the door.

Except it didn’t open. The nob didn’t even turn when you yanked on it. You tried it a few times, to no avail.

“Dammit,” you murmured under your breath, and you pounded your fist on the door.

You were about ready to start kicking it when you heard a burst of static behind you. You turned to see your boss coming in through the camera system. While it had always been an eerie feature to your arrangements, it was a million more times so to see Vox using it to his full advantage.

“What the hell is going on?” you asked.

“I should be the one asking that,” he said, “Just where do you think you’re going?”

“None of your damn business!” you said, “I don’t know what security you have on this door, but you better take it off now or-”

“Or?” he asked.

Now it was your turn to look tense as he gave you a self-satisfied smirk. You could feel your face flushing in a quiet rage as he spoke. Though you were hiding them behind your back, you could feel your fists clenching, as well as the shape of you mouth hardening.

“Vox, you are being ridiculous! We don’t even have a contract! I’m not bound to you, so you can’t keep me here,” you said.

He cocked his head at you, raising an eyebrow, “Oh really now?”

Something about the nonchalance in his tone only pissed you off more.

“Yes, really!” you yelled, “I’m not staying here. I’m leaving whether you want me to or not.”

“And just how do you expect to do that?” asked Vox, “Jump out the window? I mean you could splatter yourself on the ground, but it’d be a bit rude considering I’ll have to send some unlucky interns to scrape you off the pavement and put you back in your room until you regenerate.”

You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath in and clenching and unclenching your hands with an unnecessary amount of force. You tried to calm your voice down.

“Vox, I understand that you like the work I do for you, but you’re being ridiculous,” you said.

“You think this about work?” he said, “F/N, don’t act stupid. I can get a new secretary anytime I want, ten secretaries. You and I both know that’s not what this is about.”

You looked at him confused. It wasn’t?

“For someone who is so smart with data, you are being so unbelievably slow right now.”

He advanced on you, causing you to shrink against the frame of the door as he leaned over you. He pushed you against the wall and gripped your chin in his hand, forcing you to look him in the eye. It all happened in a flash, too fast to register, and before you could realize it, he was pulling you into a rough kiss.

It wasn’t what you had expected, though it wasn’t as if you had thought a lot about what kissing your boss would feel like. On the rare occasions when you had wondered about it, you had assumed kissing Vox would be like kissing the screen of a laptop. Apparently though, he had a literal working mouth as you could clearly tell from the sensation of his tongue and even teeth connecting with your own. Your chin ached in his firm grip, which could have been more tender if it didn’t feel like he was keeping you from turning your face away. You tried to do so, but he didn’t even seem to notice it, he was so preoccupied.

He held you like this for a good two or three minutes, his saliva coating your mouth. Though it was barely there, you could feel a slight buzz to it, as if some of his electricity was in his fluids. He finally released you though, some of his spit getting on your lips as he removed himself. A sigh filled the air as your lips parted.

“Even better than I thought it would be,” he murmured

He shifted a bit and was leaning in for another kiss when you kicked him in the shins.

“Ow!” he said, releasing you and giving you time to dart away.

You had moved in a burst to the other side of the room, glaring at him with what you hoped was resentment. There was also something else though. A feeling of deep rooted anxiety and fear was stirring in full force, despite the fact that over the past few months you had been pushing it down as much as possible. You hoped he couldn’t see the weakness in you.

Whether he did or not though, you could tell he was visibly pissed for a minute. He finally got his features under control, but as he spoke his tone held all of the avarice that had left his face.

“Whatever,” he said, “Contract or not, you’re still mine, and you’re not going anywhere until you accept that. Throw a tantrum if you want to, but you’re stuck here.”

You watched as he went back into the camera system as easily as he had come. You curled up on the floor, burying your face in your arms.

#yandere x reader #hazbin hotel #vox #yandere vox #vox x reader

[desperatemeasures-if]

✶ DEMO (TBA) ✶

It's always the picture-perfect days that end the shittiest...

You had finally been having a good day after a horrible week-- nice weather, good company, and you got your manager off your ass-- but you should have known that was only the calm before the storm. A storm that completely rips apart not only your life but that of your family-- not the ones related by blood, you had given up on them long ago, but the people that had taken you in and given you a home. The Vipers, the most reputable gang in the Northside of Riverwood, and the only family you had left.

The boss is dead... We have no leads.

A single message had completely turned your life on its head. The man that had singlehandedly saved you from yourself, from ending up face down in a gutter, was dead. You don't hesitate in volunteering to help hunt down his killer-- not if it meant protecting your family and avenging his death. Even if it means calling on your biggest rivals for help or getting assisted by an over-eager detective.

Desperate times called for desperate measures...

Desperate Measures is rated 18+ for explicit language, sexual themes, drug and alcohol use, violence, intense interrogations, blood, questionable behavior, and more.

✶ Features ✶ Character Intros (WIP) ✶

Customize your MC: appearance, parts of your personality, segments of your background, hobbies, vices, and more! Do you have what it takes to avenge the death of your mentor? Do you have a nickname that's specific to the Vipers?

While you're investigating make sure you maintain contact with your gang, and don't forget that you have a job. Even if it is just at a shitty cafe.

Romance is definitely something that is offered and will bring insightful moments to characters that may otherwise remain an enigma to you. Or, of course, you can strike up a friendship with them!

Find a killer and either take justice into your own hands, allow someone else to do it, or follow the law!

✶ The ROs ✶

Heather Grant ✶ She/Her ✶ 29 ✶

The Heiress of Riverwood Royalty, the Grant Family, and one of the only people that could offer assistance with the investigation-- with her limitless amount of resources and the fact that the Grant Family seemed to own all of Riverwood. The only problem? She absolutely hates the Vipers. Will you be able to come to some sort of middle ground?

Special Aspects: Enemies-to-Lovers, but will you be able even to blame her for her hatred in the end?

Damien Frost ✶ He/Him ✶ 29 ✶

A recently promoted detective within the RPD. A man that's been assigned the case, either out of pity or malevolence, you aren't quite sure, but Detective Frost isn't one to give up, even when all the odds seem to be stacked against him. In fact, he seems to have a penchant to appear wherever you are, and he doesn't seem to mind at all that he's working alongside criminals. He simply wants to get the crime solved. Is it only because he wishes to prove himself? Or is it something more?

Special Aspects: Law Enforcement Officer with a Gangster... Need I say more?

Stephen/Stephanie Matthews ✶ He/Him or She/Her ✶ 27 ✶

Stephen/Stephanie, or simply Stevie, is someone you know you can count on no matter what. They'd as easily offer you their last beer as they would knife someone in the gut to protect you. Your best friend since you joined the Vipers, being the one that had trained you after your initiation, it's no surprise that they join you on the hunt for the killer.

Special Aspects: Best Friends to Lovers

Gabriel/Gabriella DeLuca ✶ He/Him or She/Her ✶ 28 ✶

The other half of your motley crew within the Vipers. Gabby is known for a multitude of things within the Northside, being a jack of all trades when it comes to their skills, but their true trademark is the sea of broken hearts they've left in their wake. With a disarming smile and devil-may-care attitude, it isn't hard to understand how someone could be pulled into their axis. It's just escaping it unscathed that's the challenge.

Special Aspects: Have the option to be friends with benefits, or simply friends, and see how that could influence the possible romance to come.

Leon/Lena Prince ✶ He/Him or She/Her ✶ 28 ✶

The one person you wouldn't wish to run into within Riverwood-- having completely destroyed your relationship with them; possibly breaking their heart in the process. You haven't heard much about them since you left the Southside, but learning about them taking over the rival gang of the Vipers? Your week just couldn't get any better, could it?

Special Aspects: Exes-to-Rivals-to-Friends-to-Lovers (once more). Will you be able to build back the trust you lost?

#desperate measures #interactive fiction #interactive game #choice script #cog game #hosted game #dashingdon #if wip #no demo

[fiery-emblems]

So, Soren is a character who's all full of "what if?" scenarios, which i'm pretty sure is one of the reasons we all like him so much. And of course the biggest "what if?" is "what is Soren had been raised by his father as the Daein prince??"

I've observed that the most popular take on this is poor abused baby prince just waiting for his knight in shining armor Ike to rescue him.💖💖💖

(That's some good stuff right there)

If I'm being honest though I'm 100% sure that if Ashnard had kept his kid around Soren would have grown up to be EVIL. That's not because I think Soren is evil by nature or evil without Ike or anything, but Ashnard's entire purpose behind marrying a dragon was to try and create a monster so a prince of Daein Soren would likely be....a monster.

So! Design under the cut!

My thinking is, Ashnard's kid would be growing up in an environment of "might is right, the weak are meat" but Soren is not very strong so he likely would have been forced to assert his dominance through cunning and daily acts of cruelty towards other people. Imagine a Black Butler type evil mastermind young master...yikes!

This is a face that says "You peons are beneath me and I better prove it or my father is going to beat me to death". Also he has a knife because Soren deserves to have a knife in every universe.

"But OP!" You're saying "doesn't he look a little too....boyish?" Yes, you're right. Imagine though, that if the little prince is being raised by Ashnard, he's also being raised by Almedha. From her perspective as a dragon it must look as though her little baby is aging rapidly. Much more rapidly than is natural to her. So I figure she would end up coddling him to an extreme degree and trying to keep him as baby for as long as possible. Normal Soren makes an effort to appear older than he is, in this scenario it would be the opposite.

Last note on hairstyle: I feel like the long hair is tied to his background as a mage, and I don't remember there being many Daein men with long hair (That seems more like a Laguz thing ironically) so I decided to do the short hair.

TLDR: If Soren had been raised by his parents you would probably end up with a bratty, cruel, genius brained, knife wielding maniac. I picture him being that boss you have to fight like 4 times and you hate him because his maps all have extremely difficult gimmicks.

#fire emblem #soren #tellius #fe 9 #design #au #tellius au #prince of daein soren #just a fun little idea #or a terrible idea lmao #one of many different ways this could have played out

[phantomrose96]

Oh okay so I have a Pikmin theory.

So for starters: Pikmin 1->2->3 are chronological. Pikmin 4 is a sort of AU of Pikmin 1, precedented on Olimar not making it off PNF-404 alive (sort of a bad-end of Pikmin 1, but also with various other AU differences).

This leads me to wonder... is Pikmin 4->2->3 arguably a canon sequence of events? Cuz either the differences between 1 and 4 have knocked canon off course, and as such 4 will never lead to 2 and 3. Or you can string them together in a way that makes 4->2->3 a plausible canonical chain.

The biggest thing that stands out to me is Louie. In 1->2->3, no one was ever sent to rescue Olimar in 1, and the second he arrives home in 2 his boss informs him that Louie was attacked ("attacked") by a space rabbit that ate the precious cargo of golden pikpik carrots, launching the company into massive debt (and he forces Olimar back to PNF-404 to treasure hunt to pay off the debt.) It's later revealed Louie was never attacked, and he ate the cargo himself.

In 4, LOUIE is sent to rescue Olimar. (He never does. He completely gives up because he forgot what Olimar looks like, and then becomes the biggest pain in your ass after YOU rescue Olimar, because Louie starts taking hostages and running from you insisting he never wants to leave PNF-404 for... some unclear reason?)

This feels like it could break 4->2->3 as a plausible canon, considering Louie is not home on Hocotate to eat his whole cargo (fucker). But I realized something.

Pikmin 4 starts more or less around when Olimar's life support runs out and he dies. You get his SOS signal not long at all before this happens. And TBH, it's probably a good additional in-game month in 4 before you actually rescue Olimar and encounter Louie. In a good-end run of Pikmin 1, Olimar needs to repair his ship and escape PNF-404 before his life support runs out. So in short: Louie fucks up the cargo sometime prior to Olimar's life support running out, and Pikmin 4 is set after his life support runs out. (Technically, they changed the amount of time his life support lasts between 1 and 4, but I figure that was to trim down Olimar's Tale in 4 and not actually for a canon reason).

My point being, Pikmin 4 being largely set after Olimar's life support runs out means Louie had plenty of time to fuck up the pikpik carrot cargo.

Then there's the fact that in Pikmin 4, Louie is desperate to STAY on PNF-404 for reasons he refuses to ever explain. Maybe, because, ya know, he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. He knows he's responsible for plunging Hocotate Freight into what was essentially $10 million of debt. Louie doesn't want to be charged with $10 million worth of theft. And without Olimar bringing home the bottle cap, there's no plan for repaying that debt.

Louie maybe wants to stay on PNF-404 because he's not going the fuck to jail.

All this to say: I think 4->2->3 is actually a completely reasonable canon sequence, if you figure the "Louie lost (ate) the $10 million of golden pikpik carrots" happens in the background, right at the start of Pikmin 4 before Olimar's life support has run out. Olimar's SOS comes through, and President, desperate for his only competent employee back to help fix this, sends Louie to PNF-404 on a rescue mission. On PNF-404, Louie figures himself a fugitive who'd rather spend his days cooking bulborbs than ever return home to Hocotate to potentially face the music of his "this was definitely a felony" crime, and so he kicks and screams and fights to stay on PNF-404...

...And you drag him home anyway, along with poor rescued Olimar who's died and come back to life... just in time for their boss to be like "YOU idiots, go get me out of debt! Go back to PNF-404"

#chrissy talks pikmin #pikmin #pikmin 4 #pikmin 1 #pikmin 2

[fxckingghxst]

Simon “Ghost” Riley x GN!Reader

CW: a little bit of angst in beginning, mentions of Simon’s past (nothing descriptive), fluff, no pronouns mention for reader, establish relationship, not proofread.

Simon doesn’t remember what a good night's sleep is. Sometimes it feels like he hasn’t slept in years. Nights are spent staring up at the ceiling of wherever he's been told to lay his head. The quiet is what kills him- would rather prefer the sounds of bullets whipping past him than the stillness of a room at night.

The quiet allows him to be alone with his thoughts. Thoughts about his past. His mom. Brother. Nephew. Sister-in-law. His dad. They pop into his mind daily, but he’s usually able to distract himself with his work. Now- when he has nothing to keep his mind busy- does he think about them and all the what-ifs. 

Usually, his nights are spent at his desk, going over mission information and combining through the details once, twice, three times if needed. He’ll stay into the bitter hours of the morning, grabbing another cup of tea and then starting his day early. 

It wasn’t until he met you did everything change for him. 

He no longer hated the end of the day. He actually looks forward to it. Because he knows when he gets back to his room, you’d be there. Telling him what a long day you’ve had- how this one rookie keeps getting on your last nerve with his smart mouth. He’d laugh- telling you to instill some fear in these newbies and show them who’s boss. You’d laugh, sarcastically, and tell him that you’ve been doing that for the last week. 

Sometimes you’d already be in his bed when he comes in, sleeping soundly. He’d be extra quiet when winding himself down, but most of the time you wake up when he comes to lie down. He’d apologize for waking you and tell you to go back to sleep. 

“I will, but I need to tell you about…” And you’d talk. Filling his mind with rambles of your day- important or not- as you throw an arm around him and lay your head on his chest. He laughs at how much stuff you remember. At how you have to tell him everything. But, you just shush him and tell him to go to sleep now- that you’re exhausted. 

For being known as one of the best, Ghost was a bit slow. It took him a long time before he even realized you were flirting with him- that you even liked him. And then even longer for his feelings to be realized and reciprocated. So, of course, he’d be a little slow to catch on to what you’ve been doing. Talking to him before he goes to bed. Getting his mind off of whatever he might be thinking of and filling it with gossip that you’ve overheard or whatever had ticked you off that day. 

He had given you very little background about his life, but with the pieces he’s given you, you could connect the dots here and there. He’s told you about his resentment for sleeping. Seen him working late into the night and early into the morning on multiple occasions. You could understand how much a past could haunt someone. 

He would tell you about his day, too. About the dumb shit Soap had done. About the piles of paperwork he insists on looking through (but then complains about later). About the disgusting lunch that was served in the cafeteria- he was never a fan of meatloaf and now he’s not sure he’ll ever eat it again. And you’d laugh; agree with him on the disgusting block of meat that was served today. 

You’d try to look into his eyes, to see if they’re starting to droop before officially trying to go to sleep yourself. He’d always kiss you when your eyes would meet, gently and full of love. Love. Something he was sure he’d never feel again. And he’d see it in your eyes when you’d tell him to sleep tight. You cared for him- you really did. He doesn’t know why, but he’s not about to ask questions he’s not sure he wants the answers to. 

masterlist

#simon ghost riley #Simon Riley #simon riley x reader #Simon Riley angst #Simon Riley fluff #cod #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare ii #call of duty modern warfare 2 #cod 2022 #cod x reader #cod fluff #cod angst #cod simon ghost riley #cod simon riley #cod mwii #cod mw2 #kay:writes

[brostateexam]

Have not been saying much for a while because everything is hard.

I. My BiL has had c diff three times now and after the third time the oncologist decided to take a damn the torpedoes approach because they were wasting weeks that should have been devoted to chemo because he was too sick and too weak to withstand outpatient treatment. I haven't seen him irl since December but my mom says he looks rough and if his immune system is so messed up that he keeps getting c diff idk that I really want to visit him. What if I get him sick?

All of this is background to me, though, because mostly I'm invested in my sister. She wants to divorce him. He needs to be better enough that she won't face ostracization for doing so. I am invested in him getting better enough for that to proceed for her sake.

II. Something about my relationship with my mom has been bothering me and I finally figured out what it is: everything is equally important to her. She doesn't prioritize anything. If I am having a tough time and ask for help she'll say "well I'm busy every day this week but I can come over next week in Thursday for ninety minutes" and then when she comes over I ask her what she was up to, both to make conversation and because I'm nosy, and it's like... she volunteered for a clothing drive at the synagogue. She went grocery shopping. She went to a farmer's market. Thanks for fitting me into your schedule, I guess! Glad to know I am on the same level as farm fresh tomatoes.

III. I have been having a really tough time of it for the last few months. The vacation in Mexico was... Not restful. Shane had a seizure on the plane and I spent the first two days managing logistics related to that (and navigating the extra ~$2k I spent covering his medical costs while on the trip). His back is still fucked up almost two months later and so I get to do extra housework and chores because he can't lift or bend without being in pain.

IV. Resultant to III, I had a really awful period of about a month with an online friend who started being super short and terse with me because I've been around online less. It was really clear he felt like I was ditching him to go hang out with my cool friends or something, instead of the reality of the situation: I'm cleaning litter boxes and doing yard work and changing the sheets on the bed aka #livingthedream. I told him about all the stuff that was going on but it was clear he didn't believe me or resented my absence nevertheless. This came to a head with me basically texting him an essay about why he was being a bad friend. In a turn of good news, he listened, and apologized, and we mended fences. That was nice because I just don't know how much more bad news I can take right now.

V. I've been struggling with work but really it's just. My boss. My coworkers like me. My project sponsors like me. My skip level likes me. My exec likes me. It's just him. We don't have a good relationship and I don't know how to fix it. I don't know that it is fixable. This is a problem because this is the guy I need in my corner to advance my career and I don't know that he'll do that for me. The alternative is leaving my company, which sounds attractive on paper but in practice the job market is so so bad and it's just so discouraging. The idea of a new job sounds incredible. I wish I could do that. Maybe even a career change.

VI. Unfortunately, that's not gonna happen because of financial pressures. NGL, as much as I like my house (and I do -- I love its little windows, I love my pink dining nook and green bedroom, I love the mature fruit trees and pretty backyard full of wildflowers), I wish i had the cash in hand, instead. I feel trapped here, and like I'm making the most of it. That's a shit feeling to have.

VII. I've started regaining weight. Not a lot. Fifteen pounds since October. But it's scaring me. It's making me wonder if this whole surgery thing was pointless because I can't seem to stop myself from wanting to eat myself to death. So I'm trying to beat it back without resorting to "diet culture behaviors" (read: disordered eating) and that's tough.

There could be a separate post for things that are going well perhaps, but this is what's going not so well and it feels like a lot. Sometimes it feels like too much.

#*eating disorder #*cancer #*money

[liliansun]

I got you and you got me - L. Donhyuck

synopsis: forgetting the paperwork you needed for the meeting, your current boss has some new information to share with you and seeing how you were already late, today couldn’t get much worse, could it?

pairing: ceo!haechan + secretary!fem reader ft. dreamies, johnny (127) and my best friend 🫶

warnings: 18+ minors dni. smut, angst, swearing, slight fluff?, oral (fem receiving), fingering (fem receiving), creaming (use protection kids!), pet names (baby is used), hyuck is kinda a douche at some point, hyuck is cocky in the beginning

wc: 13k

a/n: this is like the second time I’ve ever written smut so please 🤡 do not come for me I tried my best also shout out to ash for the line she suggested <3

“Did you hear about the new ceo transfer?” A thump echoes throughout your apartment as a result of you falling over on your bedroom floor while trying to zip up your pants and put on your left heel. “Ouch—how could I not? It’s all anyone has been talking about.” With a huff, you push yourself off the floor just enough to get on your hands and crawl around searching for the shoe you’re missing. “I heard he’s cute, like really cute.” Rolling your eyes, you decide to ignore the giddy tone in her voice.

Your best friend was one of observation, she always was the first to find out who was doing who and what was going on around her—especially in the office. “As cute as that new intern you’ve been eyeing?” You can hear the slight disrespect in her scoff as she pushes herself back from her desk. “Actually no, no one can be as cute as Jaemin from the seventh floor, but if you’re asking me, his little friend Mark is equally as cute as Jaemin.” 

“I thought we were talking—ouch—about the ceo?” You were trying to reach underneath your bed, the space between the floor and the railing wasn’t big enough for your head to fit which ended in your cheek and temple being pressed against the cold metal; still wasn’t a very comfortable position to be in. “Oh yeah, Haechan, he’s quite a card. So far all the girls on the floor are gushing about how badly they want him in bed.” Finally reaching the heel you’ve been clawing at for what felt like hours, you pull it from underneath the bed and lean back on your knees with a victorious smile. “Yes, finally!” She giggles, typing away on her keyboard vigorously as she assumes you got whatever you were so desperately looking for. “I hate to interrupt this moment of triumph, but aren’t you late?” 

“Oh shit, fuck—save me a coffee!” Scurrying off the floor in an attempt to get the necessities to leave as soon as possible, you fail to realize the manila envelope laying dormant on your desk by the window. Joy, the best friend who was just keeping you company as you fail to get yourself together, per usual, hangs up the line knowing that you’d probably forget she was still there while you run around your apartment. Today didn’t seem like it was going to be a good one. 

For starters, you woke up late and nearly broke a bone or two trying to get ready when Joy called you making sure you were still alive. Then, you forgot the most important piece of your day carelessly back at your apartment which, unbeknownst to you at this moment, is going to bite you in the ass. All the taxi’s in your area seem to think you’re invisible for some reason because despite how hard you’re flagging them down, they drive past you like the dreams you once had. 

Deciding to take the train before you’re ultimately fired, you nearly miss the last one for the hour going in the direction you need and when you do finally get on, you’re squished between a big guy who looks like he eats people your size and a literal child who doesn’t look too pleased to be next to you. Thankfully the commute to work isn’t long and you’re off the bus and running through the subway to try and have enough time to salvage your job. Where you grew up and ultimately the background you came from was always strict on being punctual. You were hardly ever late and that was something you took pride in. You always tried to have enough time to make sure you were somewhat decent looking, had everything you needed and even if you weren’t mentally prepared, at least you looked like you were and that was good enough for you. 

So when you’re rushing into the multi-story building that holds about as many employees as you get on your paycheck, you’re definitely getting some looks of concern while you’re running and almost tripping towards the elevator. Impatiently tapping your foot on the floor while waiting for the elevator, you feel a presence coming you way and you’re just hoping it’s no one you know that’ll try and start a conversation with you. “Got somewhere to be?” The voice beside you wasn’t one you were familiar with, his soft yet deep tone was one you were sure you’d remember if you heard it before. “Uh, yeah, I’m kinda a little late.” Flicking your wrist, your watch falls forward, revealing the time and how you’re more than just a little late.

“Rough morning?” Turning your head back to him, you meekly nod before avoiding awkward eye contact. “Yeah, I didn’t sleep well I guess, but the CEO can be a dick so I’m in a rush.” As the elevator dings, people come stepping out as you try and maneuver yourself into the elevator. The guy who was trying to keep up small talk snickers to himself as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “Are you getting in or what?” Somewhat composing himself, he straightens his back and tugs down on the edge of his blazer. “Top floor, please.” As he steps in, you click on his floor as requested and the floor you work on. “So tell me, what about the CEO makes him such a dick?” 

Closing your eyes to take in a deep breath, you weren’t feeling the best to keep feeding into his questions. “Look, I don’t wanna sound rude or anything, but I don’t know you and seeing how I’m already late, can you please just stop talking?” The look on his face isn’t one you can read easily and that somewhat makes you nervous. He almost looks displeased with your reaction, yet amused by how you shut down the conversation. The way he pushes his tongue into his cheek has you trying harder to pick apart what’s going on in his head. The ding of the elevator pulls you from your thoughts and you pull your eyes from his unreadable expression and forward as you’re back to rushing away through the office floor. 

Your first stop is to Joy’s office, double checking with her to see if the CEO started his meeting yet or if you still had time to breathe before being ridiculed for everything you did. Joy was one of the top people who ran the social media aspect for the company. Between her and a couple of other people, they all made sure to handle the media that’s put out about the company, the social media accounts looked good and stayed coherent and most importantly, ran the website. Of course they had employees underneath them that helped them do their job best, but the new intern is surely giving her a run for her money. 

A soft few knocks were delivered on her door before you peaked your head in to look around and make sure everyone had their clothes on still. She’s sitting at her desk, brows furrowed as she’s focused in on whatever she’s doing and the bun in her hair resting high despite a few strands that have fallen down onto her face. When you fully step in is when she looks up from the screen and an instant smile is spread across her face. “Look who decided to show up for work.” Rolling your eyes with a mirroring smile, you close the door behind you and walk around to one of the seats she has set up for when she needs leisure time over business. “Oh shut up, I damn near died coming into this building today and I don’t think I get paid enough to cover the funeral expenses.” 

Pushing her chair back, she walks around from behind her and joins you in the chairs adjacent from where she was just sitting. “I’d cover the rest, of course, unless I’m too busy planning my wedding with Jaemin.” Snickering, you lean forward to slap her on the knee. “You’ve had him here for what, two weeks at best, and you’re already planning a wedding?” Laughing equally, if not harder than you, she leans back in the chair and merely shrugs with crossed arms. “Who knows, he visits me often and I can’t tell if he’s trying to suck up to me or if he’s really just that desperate for this job.” Tapping your chin, you look off at the wall where pictures of you two and a few other friends decorate her office. “Hmm, maybe both.” Gasping, she grabs a pillow from the seat beside her and flings it across to hit you on the chest. 

“I can’t believe you said that, for that I hope the new CEO eats your ass alive.” Oh yeah, you forgot that’s why you came to her office in the beginning. “Speaking of new CEO, is the meeting starting yet or do I still have time to live?” As if the realization of the envelope left in your apartment was a wall made out of bricks, you’d be ultimately crushed and probably left with no chance of survival once it hit you that you left it behind. “Oh my gosh, I completely forgot the papers for today’s meeting.” Covering your face, you groan as loudly as the position you were in allowed. “I can’t save you on this one, that’s department crossing and I don’t feel like losing my job today.” With an apologetic smile, she reaches over and rubs your arm as you mentally prepare yourself for being chewed out later on. 

A couple knocks on her door pulls you both from your shared moment over your downward spiral. “Miss Joy, Miss y/n, I was told to come let Miss y/n know that the meeting is to start soon and she’s needed.” Both you and Joy look over to the boy who merely peaked his head through the crack of the door. “Thank you Jaemin.” Her tone was overly sweet as she locks gazes with him before he leaves her sight. “Duty calls, I guess.” Groaning as you push yourself up and out of the chair, she does the same and waits for you to pass her before following behind you. “Good luck out there soldier, you’re gonna need it.” With a heavy sigh, you nod and open your arms to take her in for a hug. She steps in, pulling you against her to engulf you in her embrace. The soft hint of vanilla and cinnamon fill you nostrils as you rest your chin atop of her shoulder. “You’re going to do great.” She mumbles against your hair while rubbing you back with encouragement. Pulling back from the hug, both of your arms slide down one anothers till you’re holding each others hands.

Giving them a gentle squeeze, she gives you one final reassuring smile before you slip through the entrance of her door and make your way back to the elevators. “Miss Joy wanted me to give you this Miss y/n.” Jaemin, the intern your beloved friend has been eyeing since the moment he first stepped into this building for his interview, met you at the door with a cup in his hand that had your signature drink printed on the order sticker. “Thank you, Jaemin.” Smiling knowingly at him, you take the cup from his hand and enter the elevator with the worry that your fatal mistake from this morning will cost you your job. Now you might be wondering, what even is your job? Unlike Joy who has her own office and obviously gets paid more than you, you work for the CEO directly. In layman's terms, you’re his secretary. Everything he emails you, you do the dirty work of digging into and finding out everything and anything there is to know about it. Upcoming rivalry company? He’ll send you the name of their CEO and that alone is enough for you to dig into them and tell him if they are a threat or not along with other useful information he might need to know.

Usually, he’ll tell you if he wants something printed off or not and you’ll grab it and bring it into his office, seeing how your desk is right in front of it. It’s easy for some to confuse you with his assistant, that poor girl has it harder than you, and you’re almost glad that you aren’t in the position she’s in. That’s why you’re scared shitless due to the important paperwork you left behind at home, and I know what you’re thinking, why can’t you just print off the papers once you get to your desk? Well, your CEO thought it would be a good idea to send to your personal email instead of the work email you use on this computer in case of any suspicious activity that might’ve tried to arise while you weren’t here.

As you’re getting off the elevator, completely forgetting about the drink in your hand, you take rushed steps toward the door that lead to the room where almost every meeting is held. When pushing the door open, you do your best to stay as quiet as possible so that you can make you way to the back where the assistant usually stands. “Come on in, Miss y/n.” Scrunching your face up, you halt in your steps when CEO Suh recognizes your presence. “I’m so glad to have you join us.” Your heart is beating out of your chest, eyes scanning some of the familiar and non familiar faces in the seats at the table. When you recognize the guy from the elevator, you lock eyes with him and he can tell by the look on your face that he was the last person you expected to see here. “Forget something, Miss y/n?” Johnny’s voice snaps you out of the million questions you were asking yourself. “Uhm, yes, I’m sorry Mr. Suh, it seems that I forgot the papers you requested for today’s meeting.” Leaning against the table with his elbows propped up, Johnny is searching your face from across the room and its taking everything in you to not crumble to the ground. 

“Good thing we still have the powerpoint slide.” He laughs as he leans back in the chair and turns toward the screen behind him as the other men around him join in on the laughter. The meeting starts and not shortly after, Johnny wraps it up with closing statements and a thick layer of his charm on a finishing note. “Thank you all for coming, please feel free to email me for any questions you may have.” Both you and the assistant stay put while Johnny shakes the hands of every man in the room on their way out. You didn't fail to notice the guy from the elevator watching your every move throughout the meeting and he didn’t seem to be shameful about it either. “Someone found their dinner I see.” The assistant snickered as she whispered it into you ear, making the heat of your body turn your cheeks into a light shade of pink as you roll your eyes and sip on your neglected drink in you hand. By the time everyone had cleared the room, both you and the assistant started to clean off the table and readjust the chair in preparation for the next meeting. 

“Girls, walk with me please.” Johnny was usually playful when he wasn’t talking business, so for both of you to feel the firmness in his tone made you nervous. After making sure everything was back where it was supposed to be, the three of you exited the room and slowly made a round of the floor. “You know I love you both right?” With agreeing hums from the both of you, you started to get an uncomfortable feeling of where this conversation was headed. “Without the two of you, this company wouldn’t be where it is today. Not saying that the other department head’s don’t do a good job, because they do.” 

“So what exactly are you saying, Mr. Suh?” You’re more relieved that his assistant had the guts to say it before you did, but also scared of the answer. “Seeing how the whole building has been buzzing about the news of the new CEO, I’m surprised you didn’t catch on yet.” Johnny led the two of you around the floor you worked on briefly before redirecting towards his office. “You’re seriously not leaving, are you?” The sigh that escaped his lips confirmed you worst thoughts. “Johnny, tell me this is a joke and you’re only doing this to get back at me for kinda calling you a dick this morning.” 

“You called me a dick? When?”

“Not important right now, what’s important is if you’re leaving then why would you leave us with someone named Haechan?” Just as you and the assistant were about to protest and beg Johnny to reconsider leaving, Johnny pushes his office door open and to much surprise, the guy from earlier is sitting in his chair at the desk. “Ouch, that one is gonna leave a wound.” With his hand over his chest, he pats the spot over his heart when your eyes lock with his. “Speak of the devil—girls, meet your new boss Lee Haechan.” 

You know that moment in cartoons where the characters have overly exaggerated eyes that look like they’re popping out of their heads and their mouths hang down to the floor to show overly shocked they are by the news and/or scene in front of you? That was exactly how both you and the assistant looked, except you eyes and mouths can’t exaggerate like that and the sheer embarrassment floods your cheeks to the point they are a crimson red. “Yeah, that wasn’t your finest moment, y/n.” Immediately covering your mouth to let out the gasp that threatened to escape, you take a moment to let everything settle before composing yourself in hopes to be salvaged for the events from this morning and just now. “She’s got a mouth on her, Johnny, she’s the one I told you about from the elevator ride.” Judging by the smile on Johnny’s face, you can tell he isn't too surprised by whatever events your new boss, Haechan, told him. 

“Yeah, you get used to it pretty quickly, she’s one of the best in this entire company.” Silently, Haechan rakes his eyes up and down your body and if you were anyone else, that alone would’ve had you eating out the palm of his hand. “Are we just going to ignore the reason why you’re leaving us?” The assistant piped up, directing the attention off of you to which you were thankful for. “I’m getting old, I’m starting to want to settle down and maybe even vacation a little to enjoy my youthfulness before I turn into my father and I figured a young and talented guy like Haechan would fit perfectly.” Haechan got up from the desk, moving from behind and opted to stand next to Johnny who was leaning against the front of his desk.

Now that you’ve gotten a better look, more up close, you see why Joy said he was cute. He had a sun-kissed dew to his tan skin and the sharp features that adorn his jaw were one of the many eye catching things about him. Despite him being shorter than Johnny, he was still very tall in the way he carried himself and that helped him stand out in a room full of people. He also had a way of moving and controlling the environment of the room, his voice was too smooth for his own good and his gaze was intimidating, but his presence was relaxing. “I’m guessing you’re his assistant and the one who isn’t shy to holding back is his secretary?” Unsure as to where this could be leading, the both of you silently nod while he moves in closer. Have you ever thought about switching their positions?” Neither of you were sure who he was directing his question, opting to staying quiet while he circles the two of you. “In the beginning, y/n was my assistant, but when we got new hires, she asked to be put on as my secretary and it’s been that way since.”

Haechan was humming, tapping his lips as he walked around the two of you. It felt primal, almost as if he was looking for weak points within you both and choosing what he liked and what he wanted to pick apart. “Come first thing tomorrow morning, switch positions until avised otherwise.” Both you and the assistant gave each other a questioning look, similar to the look Johnny was giving Haechan, but no one rebutted and you both lowered your heads as you turned on your heels and made way for the exit. The rest of the day consisted of you sitting at your desk, doing you job for what felt like the last time till you took you lunch break. Sending off a text to Johnny that you were taking your hour for lunch, he rescinded back with a thumbs up and thanked you for the notice in advance. Usually, you would’ve gone in and told him face to face, but since Haechan was in there with him and he was trying to show him all that was left ot learn, not many people have been back and forth in the office today. 

You opt on going down to the cafe located a few floors down to grab a premade lunch and head back up to Joy’s office to fill her in on the shitshow your life has been. As usual, you give her door a couple light knocks before peaking in, except this time she actually had company inside with her. The image of her body being pressed against Jaemin’s will forever be burned in you mind as you immediately shut the door. The sound alone caught both of their attentions and the two separated instantly. After a couple of minute pass, Jaemin comes out of her office with his shirt now buttoned up and the lipstick your beloved best friend is wearing stained his lips. To much surprise, he didn’t try too hard at removing it as he gave you an apologetic smile before disappearing around a corner. Turning to reattempt to enter the office, you find Joy leaning against the front of her desk with her hand over her mouth as you guess she tries to shake off the embarrassment. “Having fun or should I come back another time and let you continue?” 

She immediately throws up the middle finger as you enter the office laughing, shutting the door behind you and going back over to the seat you occupied earlier. “Anything you’d like to share with the class?” Attempting to fix the hair that you can only assume Jaemin ruined, the blush on her face crept up from her neck. “He was just helping me with some files that needed to be rearranged.” Opening up the lunch you got from the cafe, your eyes flicker up to her as she wipes the smeared lipstick off her face before reapplying. “Seems to me he was trying to rearrange something else.” She laughs, leaning forward to pick off the bits of your lunch you put in the lid for her. “Enough about whether he was going to be doing some rearranging, tell me about the mysterious hot new CEO everyone is dropping their panties for.”

Taking a big bite in, you think of how you yourself would describe him without sounding like every other girl in the building. “Well, to start off he seems really arrogant, not that attractive if you ask me, but he has a sweet smile.” Silent, she simply smiles and waits for you to continue. “He also kind at looked me and Johnny’s assistant like we were steak on a plate and if you ask me, that would’ve been hot if he didn’t do it in such an animalistic way. Oh and the fact that he told us that we’re changing positions starting tomorrow was kinda douchey if you ask me. You let out a huff, shaking your head while recalling the morning’s events. “Sounds to me that you think hes hot.” As you’re finishing up on your lunch and are about near the end of your break, you get up to toss away the container. “That isn’t what I said, all I said was–”

“Yeah yeah, I heard what you said, but I don’t think you heard the way you put it.” Rolling your eyes for what felt like the millionth time, you gave her a quick side hug before making your way towards the door. “Whatever you say, I gotta go back though so I’ll call you tonight if you’re not too busy smooching faces with Jaemin.” Puckering up your lips and making kissing noises at her as she scrunches up her nose at you. “Make fun all you want, at least I’m getting some!” Throwing up a finger at her, she laughs as you slip out of her office unaware of your surroundings. Just as you’re turning around to walk forward, your body collides into something—rather someone—and you go stumbling back a little. As you’re bracing yourself to hit the ground, a pair of hands find their way to your waist and keep you from ultimately becoming friends with the floor. 

With eyes screwed shut, you’re catching the breath that nearly escaped you and soothing your racing heart. As your eyes peek open, you’re way too embarrassed to see none other than Haechan standing in front of you. Well, he was actually holding you, but you’re trying not to focus on the placement of his hands. “In a rush again?” Fighting the urge to not look down at his lips, you’re convinced he can read minds when he darts his tongue out to wet them slowly. Clearing your throat, you immediately readjust yourself once you find the strength to stand on  your own two feet. “I, uh, I’m just gonna go back to my desk.” Coming out in a rush, you practically mumble the words as you brush shoulders with Haechan on your way back. The rest of the day seemed to go fairly smooth and you didn’t see much of your new CEO on your way out.

Walking in the doors felt weird knowing nothing was going to be as it was, the way you were used to. You spent some time last night looking Haechan up and observing and taking notes about him to sort of prepare yourself for the day. You did some digging on his social media accounts, thanks to the help of Joy of course, and found his go to coffee order. You also found some of his favorite snacks and a couple drinks he had up on his instagram. Planning to have all of this on his desk by the time he came in, you were sure to make somewhat of a better impression on him than you did the day before. This early in the morning, the office is usually pretty empty–so empty that not even Joy would be caught in her office until about another hour or so. As you’re passing by your now old desk, you can’t help but to frown at the lack of life that is on it. You took the picture you had of Johnny, Joy and yourself from a christmas party a couple years back and put in your room instead to give it the same joy that you had looking at it while you work. Knowing that Johnny’s old assistant will now fill it with whatever her heart desires gives you some form of serotonin. 

Pushing the doors open to the office, you’re more than surprised to see Haechan sitting in the chair with his hands glued to his keyboard. “Good morning Mr. Lee.” Your unexpected presence catches Haechan off guard, making him jump a little in his seat when he turns his head toward your direction. “Oh shit–jesus christ y/n.” Seeing him caught off guard brings a little smile to your lips as you lower your head a little to show you’re sorry. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, I just brought you some stuff.” His attention lingers a little too long on your choice of outfit for the day and judging by the way he’s eyeing you, you start to think there’s something lingering behind his gaze. Moving his attention to the bag in your hand as you approach him, a smile begins to form along his lips.

“Here is a coffee, some snacks I picked up on the way in and a few extra drinks for in case you get thirsty and might be craving one of these.” When you place the bag down on the desk, along with the cup, you take a couple steps back and silently await for what he wants you to do next. Haechan opens the bag, looking inside as the smile on his lips edges further and further towards a grin. “Let me ask you this, Miss y/n, why did you do all of this?” The question caught you off guard, blinking a bit while trying to determine the tone of his voice when he asked. With elbows propped up on the desk, he looks at you expectantly while you internally short circuit. “I’m sorry?”

“Did you take time out of your morning just to go out and get me things I like because you found it within you to be this nice or did you have other intentions with your gifts.” The chair is pushed back when he stands up from behind the desk, walking around to make his way toward you. “I, uh, just wanted to make a good impression on you.” The sentence almost died in you throat when Haechan got close enough to hear you elevated breathing. “So if that was because you simply wanted to make a good impression, what’s this all about, hm?” Motioning his finger to the somewhat sheer shirt you chose to wear, your face immediately burns with embarrassment while you avoid meeting his gaze. “Seems to me that you’re making more of a good impression on me, Miss y/n, some might even say you’re leaving an imprint on me.” Circling around you, Haechan stops once he was standing behind you. “Do you always come off this strong to you assistants or am I special like the other girls, Mr. Lee?” You can’t see the smirk on his face, but you can almost feel it when his hands find their way onto your hips. “Dunno, never had the chance to have such a beautiful assistant like you before.” Scoffing, you turn around to face him and one thing you didn’t fail to miss was the way the dent in the front of his slacks brushed against you. “And give me one reason why I can’t walk out of this room right now and report you to corporate.” There was almost a sickening smile on his face that made your stomach do cartwheels. “Do it baby, the door is right there if you want to leave so bad.” You were now silent, contemplating on if you leave and try to pretend that none of this happened or if you’re really going to give into your human nature and take this relationship with your newly announced CEO on your first day being his assistant. 

Just as you’re about to lean in and capture his lips with your own, a knock at the takes you both away from your thoughts. Haechan let out a heavy sigh as he turned around, holding his hands near his bulge in order to draw attention away from it if needed. You step around him, going to answer the office door. One of the team directors from a couple floors down is standing on the other side, a stack of papers in his hand as he greets you. “Good morning Miss y/n.” Nodding, you step aside and let him in. “Good morning, Mr. Lee if you need me, please let me know.” Simply nodding, you turn to walk away and you’re sure the flushed cheeks that adorn your face right now are a dead give away to what was about to ensue behind those closed doors.

During the rest of the day, you expect a little of what you got this morning and to much surprise, you got the opposite. Well, not quite opposite, but Haechan didn’t come off as direct as he did hours before. Instead, he would send you looks from across the room and if you’re honest, each look he gave you shot straight down to your core. You’re not sure why you got so hot and bothered so quickly over him, but even the slightest touch would send chills down you body. Joy told you that you’re so reactive because you hadn’t gotten laid in a while and while she isn’t wrong, you find it hard to believe that a little lack of sex in your life has you melting in the hands of a man you hardly know. 

It all sounds about right, right? Wrong, oh boy you were so wrong about being sure that you were more than just attracted to him and that was why you were damn near seconds away from dropping your panties for him each time he purposely pushed up against your ass. You had hoped that maybe with time things would get easier, that maybe with the help from the toys you have back at your apartment that the tension would simmer some between the two of you, but as the weeks went on, it only seemed to get worse. There would be lingering touches between the two of you when only you were in his office, you’d catch him staring at your lips more often than not and sometimes you’d even amplify the things between you by purposely wearing something you thought he’d like in hopes to get a reaction out of him. You’re starting to think it’s worked. 

Now, there isn’t anything written down saying that an assistant’s job is only defined within the hours of work because technically, the company runs all day throughout the week. So no, there isn’t anywhere in any book that says that your boss, the one who’s been trying so hard to get in your pants, shouldn’t be messaging you on your off day asking for you to bring him his lunch. In his defense, he says he’s stuck in a virtual meeting and forgot to get something made before it started. Joy finds it to be full of bullshit and advises you to wear your finest set of lingerie, but you assure her nothing is going to happen and the little packages she shoved in your purse was unnecessary. 

When you left the shop he so desperately wanted this specific sandwich from, you’d be lying if you said the butterflies weren’t bounding around in your stomach bad up into your ribs. The closer the GPS said that you were to his house, the worse they got and you were starting to feel a little nauseous. When you pull into his driveway, you’re mostly shocked to see that his house wasn’t at all what you expected it to be. Seeing how he’s already a CEO of a pretty popular company before the age of thirty, you expected a more lavish lifestyle, but it’s almost refreshing seeing his house as if it was one next door to your own childhood home. Pulling in behind, what you can only assume is his vehicle, you put the car in park and grab the bag and head up towards his front door. 

Before knocking on the door, you repeatedly remind yourself that you’re only here to give him his lunch and nothing more. The last thing you need to do is fall into his smooth talking trap and end up coming in and not leaving when you’re supposed to or at least that’s what you’re telling yourself. Deciding on what’s worse in your head as far as the possible sequence of events, you push everything in your mind aside and knock on his door a couple times. You’re waiting for what seems like forever for him to answer, fiddling with the bag in your hand when he opens the door with a somewhat surprised look on his face. “Hey.” He breathes out his greeting as he steps aside and you take a quick step in. “Sorry for the mess, I’ve been arguing with the same people for the last couple of hours and I almost forgot you were coming over.” 

Taking in the interior of his house, a smile falls upon your lips. It’s a very welcoming and calm atmosphere, small pictures of him and who you’re assuming his friends hanging up on the walls. The more you look, the more you find a piece of him in each decoration that hung like trophies on the wall. As you started to walk around, the sound of Haechan walking away caught your attention as his silhouette disappeared down the hallway. Cautiously, you follow behind him as he goes into what you assumed was his home office. Turning the corner, Haechan pulls out the chair and plops back into it before scooting back up to the desk and starts to type away on his keyboard. The room was quite empty compared to the living room. There wasn’t anything hanging up on the walls and you kind of expected more furniture for seating, but there was just a desk and a chair and a mini fridge sitting beside the desk. Maybe the mini trash can if you’re counting it, really. 

“Are you just gonna stand there or can I have my sandwich now?” You must’ve been lost in your own thoughts and the moment it takes for his words to register in your head shows it. “Oh, uh, yeah.” Mumbling, you walk over to his desk and place the bag down beside him. You’re partly curious as to what he’s working on, but trying to not be nosy was a push and pull battle in your mind. “Is that the spreadsheet for our new upcoming project?” When Haechan turns his head toward you, there’s an unexpected smile on his lips that you quite can’t get enough of if we’re being honest. “I see someone’s been paying attention to the meetings.” Rolling your eyes in response, you lean down a little to get a better view. “Are you really expecting that much of a sales increase when it launches?” The question was more of a good thing than bad, but it seems the entire question went over his head as he zones in on your closeness. “You smell really good.” 

You’re trying not to focus on the fact that his face is inches from yours or the fact that he’s leaning in and practically sniffing your exposed skin. Maybe let’s not focus on the fact that the proximity of his lips from yours is flooding your mind with thoughts that have your heart racing. “That’s not the answer to my question, hyuck.” The nickname slipped out from your lips too quickly for you to catch and you’re almost embarrassed how closely you pay attention to him. For Haechan, he can practically hear his heart beating in his chest from the slip up that you didn’t intend to happen and it adds the cherry on top of his pride in knowing that you paid as much attention as he did to you. “I’ve got a better question.” When his fingers brush against your cheek, you can feel the heat radiating from your face as contrast to his cold fingers. “How bad do you want to kiss me right now, because I already know my answer and I just need the green to make both our dreams come true right now.” 

With parted lips, you take in a deep breath of air to prepare you for what’s next to come. His eyes that were usually a beautiful amber color seemed to have darkened with a lustful glaze to them and the look he’s giving you right now alone is enough to cause the fabric of your panties to start feeling slick. “Never met a man who said he’d make my dreams come true in such a short time.” Reaching out, his hands find their way onto your hips and his fingers immediately start to dip into your skin while he pulls you onto his lap. There’s a deep chuckle that emits from his chest, the sound sends a shiver down your spine. “Baby, give me the chance and I’ll have you seeing the stars in some of your best dreams.” The chair isn’t the most spacious and Haechan seems to notice as you struggle to make yourself comfortable on his lap. Moving his hands further down your hips and down the curve of your backside, he settles them underneath your thighs and gives them a firm squeeze before hoisting you up with a yelp earned from you.

“Only some?” The playfulness in your tone was enough for him to know that you were good to go, but he wasn’t going to let you have what you wanted so easily. With your arms wrapped around his neck, your fingers toying with the bottom strands of his hair. He was quick to bring you to his room, setting you down on the edge of his bed for you to unwrap your limbs from around him. His hands migrated from the slightly exposed skin on your hips to your chin, pulling you in for the kiss you both had been waiting for. Just as you’re expecting to be met with his lips, you’re left wondering why nothing has happened and when you open his eyes, the shit eating grin on his face almost makes you wanna wipe it off. “Are you gonna kiss me or am I going to have to kiss myself?” 

“Depends on how badly you want to be kissed.” Barely an inch away, he was so close that his breath was fanning into your lashes. “You suck, I hope you know that.” Somehow his lips curl even further and you were feeling tempted to salvage your dignity before he prolonged it any longer. “I bet you’d look pretty sucking on something else.” Reaching up to grab the collar of his shirt, you pull him in and your lips crash against one another. Haechan doesn’t fight it, instead he gives into it and leans forward with one hand moving to curve of your back. His lips are just as soft as you expected and the honey flavored chapstick he keeps on his desk is peaking through as he pushes his tongue in for permission to explore your mouth. Without much thought, your lips spread to welcome the sudden movement and the warmth it sends down your body has your brain becoming mush. 

He doesn’t fight for much control of the kiss, instead he uses his time to slowly undress you in between the kisses that started out soft and slowly started to get rougher. Once he got you stripped down to just your bra and panties, he broke the kiss to lean back and admire you. To him, you were the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen and the sheer thought of getting so close to making you his was not only affecting his lower and neglected region, but a part of his heart that he found only beats for you. Under his lustful gaze, you were starting to feel shy and pull at the blanket in hopes to cover up. Haechan almost immediately pushes your hand away, a soft look on his face. “Don’t hide from me baby, I wanna see all of you.” Kneeling down, Haechan’s hands slide underneath your thighs and wrap around to grab onto your hips. He pulls you down to the edge of the bed, eyeing the darkened spot that you seemed too shy about. 

“Are you sure you want this?” Nodding, you do your what to avoid looking down at him. His head was inching up between your thighs, leaving opened kisses on your skin. “Words baby, I want to hear you.” Taking in a breath of air, you make the fatal mistake of looking down while his fingers hook underneath the band of your underwear. Slowly pulling them down, you lift your hips up with a little wiggle to help him move them down your leg till they hit the floor with a soft thud. “I want this, hyuck.” You’re expecting him to make you beg for it, something about him feels like he’s the type to tease you and you know for a fact that he’s contemplating it. With a sly grin on his lips, he yanks your hips closer to him, spreading your legs apart to get the best view of the wetness slicking down your hole. 

“Be glad I’m impatient tonight.” Before you get the chance to respond, the feeling of his tongue took all the breath left you had in your lungs. Moving the muscle in a slow and patterned motion, he focuses on the spot he knows that’ll get you to where he wants you and moves one of his hands to your entrance. His view of you had him bucking his hips against the edge of the bed, the taste alone was starting to become an addiction for him and he couldn’t get enough. “You taste so fucking good.” He mumbles against your clit, slipping a finger into which earned a satisfied moan from your end. You’re sprawled out on the bed, gripping the blanket beneath you for some leverage to remind you you’re still on earth. With his tongue dipping down to lap at your flowing juices, the moans of his name roll off your tongue. “F-fuck hyuck, I’m c-close.” You’re almost ashamed at how quickly he’s gotten you to coming, but he doesn’t let up any. Instead, he replaces his finger with his tongue and presses two digits against your almost sensitive clit. 

“H-hyuck s-stop, I-I’m gonna cum.” Haechan doesn’t respond, instead he dips his tongue into your clenching hole while his fingers work circles onto your clit. Your moans are starting to get higher in pitch and Haechan can tell by the way you’re tightening around his tongue that your orgasm wasn’t far behind. He’s groaning into your pussy, using his hand on your hip to pull you even further against his mouth. You’re starting to feel like you’re going to explode, the tightening feeling in your stomach getting stronger each time he flicks his fingers on your clit. With a high pitched moan, you finally release against his tongue and Haechan is drinking it up. “H-hyuck, sensitive.” He likes the way you whine his name, it sounds so pretty coming from you, especially when he has you coming the way he did. He decided to be generous and slow his movements on your clit till eventually his hand stopped, despite your protest and pushing of his hand. 

When he comes up from between your legs, the glistening on his chin and mouth has you clenching around nothing. “Do you want to stop?” Despite the fact that he just ate you out like he was a starved man and you were his only source of food and water, the softened look on his face has not only your stomach, but your heart doing flips. “No, I want you, I want you hyuck.” He smiles, pulling his shirt up and tossing it aside to deal with later. He then starts to discard his pants, watching as you eye the bulge in briefs. “Like what you see?” You’re tempted to throw up a finger and tell him to fuck off, but the sight of him pulling his throbbing member out for release has your mouth watering. Not once in your life would you ever think you’d be salivating over a dick, but his was just too perfect not to admire. His length wasn’t too long to where you’d have to be hospitalized, but just long enough to make you feel like you’ll see the galaxy. His girth, let’s not even talk about how thick he is.

“Eyes up here, baby.” His voice snaps you out of your thoughts, looking up to meet his eyes. He starts to crawl onto the bed and over you, moving his hand between your legs and cupping your pussy to gather some of the wetness to spread along his tip. “Tell me if I need to stop.” Nodding, you’re too focused on him aligning himself up with your entrance. Haechan cupped your chin, moving your head up to meet his eyes. “I mean it y/n, tell me if I need to stop.” A soft smile spreads across your lips as you wrap your arms around his neck and pull him down into a kiss. You’re expecting it to be rough and sloppy, somewhat similar to the kiss you shared in the room over, but instead it was gentle and full of emotions the two of you didn’t know you were starting to harbor. Haechan’s hips slowly lowered, moving his hand away from his member to allow himself to slip into your warmth. You’re moaning into the kiss as he fills you up, inch by inch creating a beautiful stretch and the pain started to mix with the pleasure and you were in heaven. 

Pulling back from the kiss, he nuzzles his head into your shoulder as he pulls back before thrusting forward. “Fuck, you’re so fucking tight.” He starts to thrust in you in a rhythm, making your body bounce up when his hips snap against yours. “H-hyuck.” Haechan feels too close to finishing and slows down his pace while one hand hooks underneath your leg and holds it against his shoulder and chest to get a better angle. The new position has him hitting you in all the right spots when his hips snap forward and his name is rolling off your tongue incoherently as you feel your thoughts slipping further and further away. “Look at you, so fuck—fucking tight, you’re squeezing my cock so hard you just want me to cum.” The lewd words coming from him without shame made your walls clench around him even harder, too lost in the feeling of him filling you up to respond. 

The sight in front of him was one he wanted to see all the time, your breasts bouncing each time he slammed his hips into yours and the look on your face was just too perfect for him to never see again. The free hand he had found it’s way onto your clit, tracing circles with his fingers as his pace started to quicken. You could tell he was close and the wave of your second orgasm was coming in quicker than you were expecting. “Come with me baby, I wanna fuck you full of of our cum.” Haechan could’ve swore you were the love of his life when you gripped his arms and pulled him down into another kiss. Your lips melted against his while you mumble against them that you were close and before you could tell him clearly, you released all over his member. The fluttering of your walls was sending Haechan into a frenzy when his hips started to move sloppily before stilling them while he pumped his load into you. Softly whimpering, you continue the kiss and much to your surprise, Haechan doesn’t pull away. 

You wrap your arms around his neck, rubbing the upper half of his back as the two of you kiss until you’re about to run out of breath. He’s the first to pull back, much to his own internal protest, and when he opens his eyes, he’s smiling from ear to ear at the fucked out look you were sporting beneath him. Although you weren’t wreaking any makeup, the sweat glistening on your skin made you shine with the sunset coming through the blinds. “You okay?” A soft nod soothes all his worries of potential hurting or even scaring you away. Leaving a soft kiss onto your hairline, he slowly pulls his hips from yours and his softening member slips from within you leaving you feeling empty. He leans back on his knees, watching the mix of his and yours cum leaking out between your legs. “Stop staring, it’s making me feel weird.” A little laugh escapes his lips while you attempt to cover your face from embarrassment. 

He’s tempted, boy is he tempted, to lean down and lick your hole clean till every bit of cum is gone and you’re left squirming and crying on his tongue all over again—but he’s not going to overstimulate you, just yet, and gets off the bed instead. You watch him get up and make his way into the bathroom, sitting up on your elbows as you watch him start the shower. Silently, Haechan comes back into the room and walks over to the bed on the side to which you’re more accessible. Hooking his arms underneath you, he pulls you close to his chest and carries you into the bathroom where you two take a well needed and very hot shower. You don’t say much to each other, taking the shirt he offered you from his closet and staying in his arms when he asked you to join him on the couch to watch movies. 

When you left the next morning, you didn’t expect this to become any sort of routine. You went to work the following Monday and went about your business as usual. Of course you had to fill Joy in and she wasn’t all too surprised, but she understood why you ditched her that Saturday night and didn’t answer your phone till the following afternoon. Nothing was supposed to change between you, you were supposed to stay professional and be his assistant and respect the boundaries that shouldn’t have been crossed once before—but you don’t exactly remember when it all started to fall apart either. 

One day, you’re bringing him his paperwork he asked for and the lunch he wanted and the next, you’re sucking his dick under his desk while he takes calls from over seas. That’s not even the worst part of it all, between being bent over his desk in the middle of the busiest part of the day, you found yourself in his bed—not only on weekends, but weekdays too. That in itself was a problem and you didn’t want to address it, but when you found yourself sleeping over so much that you didn’t have to worry about clothes for work the next morning because he already had clothes you left before hanging in his closet—yeah you really needed to pull yourself together. 

Joy started to notice your change in behavior, the way you were more smiley and always busy with either doing things for Haechan or being the thing he’s doing at the moment. She made a couple comments here and there, telling you you’re biting off more than you can chew and you brush her off because there was no way that you were getting ahead of yourself, but everyone around you who looked a little longer at the way you two interact, they’d see there was more going on between the both of you. 

Things in the office have been pretty tame recently, no one is doing anything alarming and everything seems to be running smoothly, just like the hand going down Haechan’s arm from the substitute secretary—a little too smooth. The girl you switched jobs with is off on her honeymoon for a week and since her job is important, Haechan brought in one of the more experienced interns a couple floors down. You offered to take over the position, but he argued that he needs you by him at all times and you think that was only for him to get his dick wet whenever he had you alone. Lately, you two haven’t been on top of one another as you’re used to and you have her to blame. 

“Sounds like you’re jealous.” With one brow raised, Joy is leaning against her desk with her arms folded across her chest. Jaemin is sitting at one of the chairs you used to occupy when you had more free time to barge into her office. “She’s got a point.” Shooting him a look, he instantly raises his hands up and silently admits defeat and decides to stay quiet. “I’m not jealous, it’s just—it’s just so aggravating because I can’t do my job if she’s always barging in and asking the same damn questions, only worded differently.” She snickers, pinching the bridge of her nose while you huff. “What’s so funny? I don’t remember this being a joke.” 

“Just say you’re jealous baby, if you come to terms that you may actually have feelings—“

“Uh uh, nope, not going down this road again, I don’t have feelings for him.” She didn’t seem like she was buying your argument and you didn’t feel like having to come to terms that maybe you actually did and the little bit of jealousy that sank into the bottom of your stomach when they got too close was due to your neglected emotions for him. “I’m just saying, if you weren’t so crazy for his dick then maybe you’d see that you really like him.” Letting out a loud groan, you push yourself up from the chair you were sitting in and headed towards her door. “I gotta get back before he starts ringing me up to find me.” She nods, blowing you a kiss to which you pretend to grab. “Be safe out there, soldier.” You salute her while turning the knob and opening the door. Stepping out of her office and letting the door shut on its own behind you, you make your way through her floor and back up to Haechan’s office. 

The door was cracked, so you could see figures moving around inside, but when you actually stepped inside, the sight before you made you feel nauseous. Haechan was sitting in the chair he usually sat in in front of his computer, but his lap was being occupied by the fucking secretary. Her hands were everywhere and anywhere on his upper body and his hands just so happened to be conveniently placed just above the curve of her ass. Of course when the door opened, the commotion caught their attention and the two started to separate. Haechan was expecting Johnny to come in, seeing how he said he was gonna pay a visit today, but when he saw you standing in the doorway with wide eyes and a sadden expression, he couldn’t stop the guilt from washing over him. 

“Sorry, I’ll come back later.” Practically mumbling the words, you pull the door shut behind you and move as fast as you can to the nearest elevator to escape having to face him right now. You’re hurt, rightfully so seeing how you’ve only been sleeping with him and thought he was doing the same, but the more you start to replay the imagine in your head, the more you realize how dumb you look. Unbeknownst to you, Haechan was trying to find you without making it known to the girl that was just grinding away on his lap that he was sleeping with you. By the time that he got her off his lap and made up some half assed excuse as to why he needed to get out the office, you were nowhere to be seen. He did what he thought would work and that was by going down to Joy’s office to find you. 

Knowing that he’d probably stop there first, you skip going to her and instead hit the cafe down in the back of the building. You’re trying to hide out, in case he comes down, but when you spot Johnny making conversation with one of his favorite baristas, you immediately make way for him. “What are you doing here, stranger?” Hearing your voice, Johnny instantly turns his head towards you with a smile on his face. “My favorite secretary turned assistant.” The two of you get a coffee and you get lunch before moving to a table of your choosing and sitting down to catch up. You explain to him why you chose the least obvious table in the area and when you fill him in on your special activities with Haechan, he doesn’t seem surprised. “I’m honestly glad it’s happening, I was rooting for you two since y’all made that weird tension eye contact.” 

“Yeah, well there’s nothing to root for since I just caught him feeling up on his secretary.” With a pout, you fiddle with the rest of the food in front of you and Johnny gets a sense of the reason why you’re so affected. “Hey, at least you know now instead of later, saves you the trouble, right?” Looking up to meet his eyes, you nod. He wasn’t wrong, at least now you know that he might be or could have already had a thing going on between the two of them—but it doesn’t save you from the pain you feel in your chest that drops down to your stomach when you think about it. “Hey, I know this is kinda late, but he’s coming in hot from three o’clock.” Without a second to brace yourself or even try to find a way out of the situation you’re about to be in, Haechan comes running up to the table and he’s clearly out of breath. 

There’s a slight dew on his face and the hair fallen over his forehead is partly stuck. “I’ve been looking for you.” You’re surprised he got the sentence out while he tries to catch his breath. “Uh, here I am.” Johnny can see the tension between the two of you and you’re ever so thankful he decides to step in. “Not you, y/n, he obviously meant me because he knew I was coming today and you’re on your lunch break.” Johnny gives you a look with his eyes and you nod slightly while trying to get up from your seat. “Wait, no, but yes, I was looking for you too, but y/n, can you come with me for a moment?” 

“Uh, sure, but can we make it quick so I can finish my break?” He doesn’t respond nor does he acknowledge Johnny again before grabbing onto your wrist and guiding you to the bathroom area of the cafe. Once you got close, Haechan pulled you off to a corner and moved you to where your back was almost against the wall. “Where did you, wait let me rephrase that, why did you run off earlier?” You’re confused, why did it matter to him that you ran off and more importantly, why did he try so hard to find you just to ask you that. “I saw you were busy, so I left and took my break while I was at it.” He doesn’t buy it, you can tell by the expression on his face that he didn’t buy any of what you were saying. “That’s bullshit y/n, you know that I know that so just be honest with me.” 

You didn’t like the position you were in, your back was quite literally against the wall and your heart was on your sleeve, but you covered it to keep it safe. “I don’t see why this is a big deal so if you’re done interrogating me, you have a meeting in an hour and I can’t get it set up until I finish my lunch.” You can see the frustration on his face, his brows furrowed as he looked down into your unbothered gaze. With a shaking of his head, he backed away from you and made his way back through the cafe to grab Johnny. Staying in the corner, you took a moment to yourself to collect your thoughts till you peaked around to make sure they were both gone. When the coast was clear, you immediately made your way back up to Joy’s office and she seemed to be ready for you when you walked. 

The rest of the week went on and much didn’t change, you were giving Haechan the cold shoulder and he didn’t seem to want to push you to stay around him any longer than you wanted. The substitute secretary seemed to be spending more time in his office than you were and you didn’t dare to go in while the two of them were alone inside. Instead, you would move down a couple floors and spend your lunch hiding away in Joy’s floor talking amongst the media workers in hopes that they would take your mind off of Haechan. For the most part, they provided a good distraction and even Mark helped you by letting you talk out how you feel and giving you a perspective from a guy. Much to your surprise actually, you and Mark got somewhat close and when Joy was being whisked away by Jaemin, you sat around Mark’s desk area for you both to keep each other company. 

After the week was finished and the following came through, you expected some things to go back to normal now that the regular secretary was back, but much to your disappointment, the girl from floors down kept coming up for some dumb reason to get her hands around Haechan and the fact that he seemed to be enjoying it made you feel sick. You were doing your best ignoring the two of them and just keeping your nose in your own business when you had to be around him when she was there, but you couldn’t stop the longing feeling from telling you that it should be you he has his hands wrapped around and it should be you that he makes stupid jokes to when he finds he needs a distraction. This continues for the rest of the week and you still haven’t had much of a conversation with Haechan until the weekend comes and you’re sitting in your car with Mark after you two just left lunch.

“I can’t believe you’ve never had food like that before.” Mark wasn’t the best cook, to which you found out by him nearby burning down your kitchen, so when you suggested getting brunch instead the two of you immediately got on the road. “Listen, I’m a breakfast guy, but I’m not like a midday breakfast guy, you know?” Mark takes the aux, putting on a song you weren’t entirely familiar with. “What is this, is this why you still don’t get bitches?” Laughing, he’s almost more shocked that you don’t know the song playing over the fact that you basically said he has no game. “You’re telling me that you’ve never heard this song before?” Shrugging, you start the car and check your mirrors before pulling out the parked space. “Our music taste is clearly different.” 

“I guess you got a point, oh hey, you got a text.” Picking up your phone, he brings it close to you for you to unlock it and see if it was actually important or not. “It’s Haechan, he wants me to come by to get some papers before Monday.” You can tell Mark is confused as to why you’re needed over the weekend, but he also knows that maybe this would be the chance of you two finally talking this out and everything going back to a somewhat normal. Seeing how you were on the way to your house, you had to reroute and Mark was fine with tagging along for the drive. He secretly just wanted to see what kind of place Haechan lived in and you don’t blame him because you too were curious when you first went to his house. It didn’t take you long to get there, pulling in and putting the car in park before unbuckling your seatbelt. “I won’t be long, I promise.” 

Nodding, he throws up two thumbs and wordlessly wishes you good luck, to which you’re thankful for. You make your way up to his front door, knocking a couple times and wait only to end up with no answer. Just as you’re about to walk back to your car, the door swings open and Haechan is standing there while trying to catch his breath. You immediately see his shirt has been stretched out, almost as if it’s been pulled on and his shorts are loosely hugging his waist. “Y/n, I didn’t—I didn’t know you’d be here this quick.” You’re speechless, not knowing what to say or what to even think about until you see someone scrambling around in the back and low and behold, the same girl from the office comes rushing out. She doesn’t say much, only mumbling a sorry as she pushes past both you and Haechan to make her way down to the car she parked a bit further down. 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to cut your company time short.” You’re about to pivot around and go back to your car to let out a well needed cry, but Haechan has had enough and he grabs your wrist to keep you from running off. “Hold the fuck on, what is that supposed to mean?” You scoff, hating how oblivious he is to what has been running through your mind. You hate how oblivious he has been to how you’ve been acting and why you’re acting this way. You hate how badly it hurts to see him with her, with anyone else that isn’t you and you hate yourself for thinking of what could’ve been going on between them. “Just give me the damn papers and let me go on my way, I hate people waiting for me.” 

“Oh you mean that guy in your car? Guess you wasted no time hopping from me to him.” Walking off after letting go of his hold on your wrist, he stomps off towards his back office and you follow behind. “Are you fucking kidding me right now, I’m the one hopping around when you’ve been fucking some girl who worked with you for what, a week?” Haechan snatched up papers off his desk, walking out the room with frustration in his eyes. “Why does it even matter who I’m with or not, you’re not my girlfriend and we aren’t a thing.” Each word felt like a punch in the gut, the painful realization that all the little touches and each time he offered you to wear his shirt was because he was being nice, not because he had underlying feelings the same way you did. “I wasn’t even fucking her, she was trying to fuck me and I was trying to be respectful and keep her off my fucking lap, but you wouldn’t know that because you weren’t even around half the time.” 

“You’re right, I wasn’t around because seeing her hands on you and knowing that no matter how I felt about it would’ve changed anything.” Everything in his mind started to click and by watching the way you were shutting him out right in front of him was enough for him to realize you wanted more than what you two had going on. “Y/n, can we just—“

“Just give me the papers so I can take Mark home, the guy I’m not fucking by the way.” He was hesitant, holding out his hand for you to take them in hopes that you’d change your mind and stay. There was so much that wasn’t talked about and so much that needed to be said and the last thing he wanted was for you to walk away. Instead, you grabbed the papers from his hand and walked out of the house without another word coming from you. Mark could tell you were upset and judging by the way you were fighting back your tears, he didn’t say anything and for the rest of the car ride, it was silent. 

Since you last saw Haechan at his house, over a month had passed and so much changed from that day forward. The following week, you got an email saying that you’d be returning back to your original position and part of you hated yourself for letting all of this happen the way it did. Many nights Joy spent time in your apartment with you, holding you on the couch while you cried yourself to sleep night after night. When she wasn’t able to comfort you, she either sent Jaemin and his friend Jeno to keep you company or she asked Mark to sit with you till she had the time to come back over. She even went as far as asking your neighbor Renjun to check on you periodically and he wasn’t opposed to the request, just a little bit concerned. That same first week you went back to being the secretary, Haechan sent you an email at the end of the week stating he’d be going out of town. You were sad over the thought of him not being here, even if he only passed by you a couple times a day unless you went in to give him paperwork. 

Johnny came in to sit in for Haechan when meetings were happening, not budging when you asked him where he might be. He always said something along the lines of, “I don’t know what he’s doing, but where he’s at is where he needs to be.” That went on for weeks on end and the love you had for your job slowly started to fade. After another half month had passed, you started to feel like coming into work was more of a chore and less of a joy and that was when you decided to put your final notice in. Johnny didn’t want to accept it when you presented it to him, but he knew that after the shit storm you had been through, maybe this would be best for you. The few floors you had worked on before threw you a party the week before your last considering as you didn’t plan on coming that last week and everyone gave you the best farewell hug as the party started to die down. You’re going to be sad, deeply sad to leave the job you worked so hard for to get where you were, but you were just hoping that it would be the right decision. 

That’s what keeps you up at night, the thoughts of this either going south and you feeling even more lost and out of place or if this will be the beginning of a new chapter of your life and maybe you’ll finally find peace. The sound of rain crashing down against your windows was in a way washing away your thoughts for you to revisit in the morning and you’re just about to doze off until you hear a banging on your door. At first, you think it’s the thunder outside and choose to close your eyes and try to go to sleep. You hear another banging and by now you’re convinced it’s urgent. Getting up from your bed, you walk through your apartment and out to your door. 

When you get closer to the door, you see Renjun’s jacket laying across the arm or your couch and figure it’s him at the door waiting for his return. Twisting the knob, you pull the door open and you’re almost shocked—actually no, you are definitely shocked to see Haechan standing in front of you. Soaked from head to toe, the jacket he is wearing did him no justice to protect him from the cold weather that is still coming down hard just a couple feet away. “Hyuck, what are you—weren’t you just, actually what the hell is wrong with you?” Shivering, he goes to speak, but the lightning striking in the background is too loud for him to get decent words out. You reach out, pulling him into your apartment and shut the door behind him. 

You rush down to get towels for him to dry off and it doesn’t do much work for either of you, so you opt for him to take a shower and pull out some of the clothes you had from his house for him to wear. While he was still showering, you made a hot cup of tea and set it on the coffee table for him when he got out. With a towel draping over his head, he comes out and immediately heads to the living room where he saw you pass. You’re sitting on the couch, fiddling with the remote to put something on for background noise when he plops down beside you and reaches out for the cup. Much to his delight, you made it just the way he likes and he silently thanks you for that. Once you find something decent to put on, you set the remote down and let him settle a little while sipping on his cup. 

“Hyuck, what are you doing here and why were you soaking wet?” Haechan is thankful you’re the first one to break the ice, sitting up to set his cup down before leaning back into the couch and turning to face you. “I got back into town and Johnny told me you were leaving, I know it’s late and I didn’t know what to do to stop you or even where to find you, so I looked up your employee file and immediately made my way to you.” You stay silent, knowing there is more he wants to get out, but just has to find the right way to say it. “I didn’t mean to leave after we last talked, I didn’t want to leave things like that, but my mom needed me and I immediately went home to help and I was gone and I didn’t have time to focus on anything, but please believe me when I say all I could think about was you.” It shouldn’t have made you feel all warm inside, but it did. Knowing that he was gone and how badly you needed him here and him needing you there made all the butterflies in your stomach start to flutter. “Please, say something.” 

“I really like you, regardless of how bad I wanted to hate you for being the biggest dick ever, I just couldn’t get over you and when you were gone, I really didn’t know what to do anymore.” Haechan was smiling from ear to ear, trying to hide the redness of his cheeks as you heard you clearly confess your feelings for him. “How about I make you a proposition?” Honestly, you’re a little intrigued when he reaches out and grabs your hands. Pulling you towards him, you have no choice but to move with him and climb into his lap. “How about you be my girlfriend and don’t quit.” Interlocking your hands with his, he rubs his thumb over yours and it brings the biggest smile to your lips. “And what’s in it for me?” Humming, he takes the moment to think about what he already knows he is going to offer. His lips form a pout and you swear in that moment he never looked more kissable than now. “How about, I got you and you got me.” Leaning in, you press your lips against his in a soft peck. “Deal.”

©︎𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐔𝐍., 2023

#nct dream smut #nct 127 smut #nct haechan smut #lee haechan smut #lee donghyuck smut #nct dream au #nct 127 au #nct hard hours #haechan au #lee hyunsung #lee donghyuck au #nct dream oneshots #nct dream fluff #nct dream donghyuck #nct dream haechan #nct dream fanfic #nct 127 fluff #nct 127 fanfic #nct 127 angst #nct dream angst #nct 127 hard hours #lee haechan au #haechan fanfic #haechan smut #nct haechan #donghyuck au #donghyuck fanfic #donghyuck fluff #donghyuck fic #hyuckbrainrot 🧟‍♀️🧠

[lvlymicha]

☀︎︎You're mine, sunshine☽

(a/n) sooooo, first fanfic here!!, please tell me if there's orthography errors or smth, idk if this fic is going to be a one shot or not (probably not but depends), yeah that's it, be polite and don't forget to smile!

Warnings: none

tags: grumpy x sunshine, boss!WiliamAfton/Steve Raglan, employee!reader, William Afton/Steve Raglan x reader, reader is in her 20s, William/Steve is in his early 50s (more tags will be added eventually.)

Part Two | Part Three

William sighed as the 6th interviewed left his office, it was frustrating, no one seemed good enough to be his assistant, things were getting hard for him as a career counselor to deal alone, and (as much he didn't liked to say it out loud) he needed someone to help him.

William looked at the door impatiently waiting for the next person.

"Why they're taking so long?" As he says that he hears a soft knock and the door opens revealing a small girl, she seems to be at least 20 years old, she looks nervous. William glares at her. "Well, are you going to sit or not?" He says motioning to the chair in front of his desk, the girl closes the door and sits in the chair while handing her curriculum to him.

"So, Miss (Y/L/N)?" He says while reading her curriculum "You don't seem to have much experience, no...actually, you don't have any experience at all, although your educational background is really...interesting" William looks at the girl's curriculum attentively, her skills and hobbies were pretty good and she knew a few languages, but still, she apparently never worked before.

"Tell me Miss (Y/L/N)" William puts the curriculum down and looks at the girl with a blank stare while putting his hand under his chin. "Have you ever worked before?" The girl shakes her head "Be honest with me, Why should I hire you? The woman before you had a lot of work experience and good educational background too. Why should I hire you and not her?" He says, patiently waiting for a answer.

"Um... well, As this is my first job it would give me experience for future jobs and... expand my curriculum...? But, I wouldn't mind if you hired the other lady though, she seemed quite nice, and her dress was so pretty!" The small girl says staring dreamily at the door.

William frowns and looks at the door confused, then he looks back at the girl "Umm, Quite... stranger answer, so, you wouldn't mind me hiring the previous woman because she seems nice and has a pretty dress, I'm sorry Miss (Y/L/N), but it sounds kinda" Stupid, ridiculous, weird, pathetic " peculiar..." He says with a smug grin, he leans on the table, now being almost face to face with the girl.

"Don't you have another answer for me? Better be wise, it's your last chance" He says coldly.

"Well, I like helping people, and if I get this job I'll get to help other people to find jobs and eventually be happy, I know it can maybe sound a bit childish" It does. "But this is truly what I think, and I'll do my best as your assistant Mr. Raglan!" The girl says calmly and at the same time with a enthusiastic aura.

William sighs looking down at his table What have I done to deserve this? He was to tired for more interviews, and besides, the girl in front of him didn't seemed a bad choice.

He looks up at the girl and stands up from his chair "Congratulations, You're hired, better not disappoint me Miss (Y/L/N)." He says looking down at the girl and offering his hand for her to shake, she quickly stands up from the chair and grasps his hands happily, she has a big smile on her face.

"Thank you so much Mr. Raglan, I won't disappoint you, I promise!" Oh god, I think I just sold my soul to the devil.

#william afton x reader #steve raglan x reader #william afton x you #william afton #steve raglan #grumpy x sunshine #female reader

[gentlemean]

Since I'm getting back into composing, I wanted to set myself some challenges. I'd say my orchestral music is pretty good, but I haven't really tried to write anything beyond the realm of classical symphonies lately.

So: I set out to write a little theme for @meat-planet, which is the silly little webcomic of @cottoncandylesbo and their streaming gang (whose streams I've been enjoying greatly over the last few months!!).

Creative thoughts under the cut!

Picture this: you're sitting in a cheap diner, and while you're trying to enjoy the deepfried food of your choice, those whimsical idiots who are running the place keep getting into trouble.

In the background, we've got some typical lo-fi stuff. An electric guitar playing gentle chords, an electric bass, some drums, all run through that nice filter that makes everything soft.

Then, the individual characters get their chances to shine:

First off, there's @jame7t. They're clumsy, they're funny, they get into trouble. Their voice is played by a guitar with a wah-filter, because a weh-filter hasn't been invented yet.

Following them, there's @kelleycubes, being played by the slimiest sythesizer I could fit into this song. She's more elegant, more refined, more slimy.

Next is @sanitymakesposts, with the acoustic guitar. He's gentle, he's taking the time to stike whole chords instead of just pressing forward with his melody.

Then it's time for the big boss herself, @cottoncandylesbo. They've got that crunchy distortion, his electric guitar is the only thing in this song that's kinda grinding against the soft lo-fi filter.

Second to last, we've got @christianstepmoms. Siel is grumpy but straightforward, and his part is the only one that doesn't start with a pick-up beat.

Last but not least, we've got @cryptotheism's Mattie. Mattie's voice is played by a clarinet, goofing around in the background. It's more lively than the others, with multiple groups of eight notes instead of calmer, distinct melodies.

#mine

[nereisi]

You want a non-cliché male (shounen) protagonist? I got it!

Something that I literally can’t get out of my head recently is how I constantly see discourse about the staleness of male MCs - especially shounen manga protagonists - always so ready and accepting of being the Chosen One. Always so ready to discard their “mundane” life and embark on some dangerous mission. Outspoken, fiery and with unbeatable charisma.

And while we are beginning to see (minimal) change with recent books/manga, do you know who was literally the antithesis of this a lot of years ago?

Tsuna.

Tsuna who was literally the last choice for everything, whose nickname was Loser-Tsuna, constantly bullied and harassed and whom nobody thought he would ever amount to anything. 0 friends, 0 abilities, 0 accomplishments. 

And when some guy to tell him “You can become the head of a mafia family. You’re gonna be respected, sought after.”, when Reborn serves him POWER on a silver platter... Tsuna says “oh hell no, fOck all that”, turns tail and RUNS. 

He won’t manage to escape forever, but that’s beside the point. Tsuna is a coward, a plain nobody, so boringly normal that in any other anime he would be for sure one of the background filler characters. He isn’t cut to be a protagonist. He’s wimpy, weak and whiny, sometimes to the point of being annoying ever for me - and I love KHR.

But what fascinates me is this. A character so weak and bullied, usually would be elated to have that much power offered to him. I knew that he was the protagonist, so the first time I watched the series I was expecting him to accept the power and better himself, become a different person, a hero. (Or, if he was in another manga, a villain.) 

Instead, not only Tsuna refuses - again and again, until the very end - to become who he was destined to be, who everyone around him wants him to be; but the only time he uses the power he was gifted with is strictly to protect himself, his friends and family. And then he quickly steps away immediately after, like when you move a scalding pot without mittens. 

His guardians have become... his guardians, in order, because: 1) he saved his life, so he thinks he’s cool 2) mostly head empty, only vibes (also he saved his life) 3) a literal child bribed with candy 4) somebody else asked him and he just went with the flow 5) one crumb of kindness got them hooked (actually 2 psycopaths in one body and it’s not a metaphor) 6) doesn’t give a shit as long as you give him a good fight. 

Sure, at some point they all recognize his strenght, but apart from Gokudera’s blind idolization, for everybody Tsuna is just A Guy. He might be their “boss”, and they might come to respect him, but he gets treated nothing like a cliché male MC. 

It’s really a shame that Katekyo Hitman Reborn, as a series, was managed badly as it did. Even though it’s one of my favorite shows, it’s weakened by a lot of factors... but an uninteresting MC? It ain’t one!

I smell a reboot in the air. I really hope they will to the series justice.

#khr #katekyo hitman reborn #tsuna #sawada tsunayoshi #vongola tenth generation #mafia #book #literature #manga #shounen #protagonist #male mc #anime #hayato gokudera #yamamoto takeshi #lambo #sasagawa ryohei #hibari kyoya #mukuro rokudo #chrome dokuro

[boldlyvoid]

I Know Places: Mayhem

18+ Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader | Masterlist | AO3 link

Summary: After Aaron is hurt during a terrorism case in New York City, reader is faced with the undeniable truth that she is falling in love with her boss. While ensuring that he doesn't lose his hearing, she nurses him back to health despite her coworkers' knowing looks and comments. Navigating through her crush, knowing he's still in love with his ex-wife is going to be rough.

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence (mentions of rape and murder), hurt/comfort, Drug use tw as well as drug addiction mentions, unrequited love (so she thinks), There's only one bed

Word count: 15,088

From the moment Aaron was served divorce papers in the office, something about him changed. He was angry, which was to be expected. He was unpredictable as if he was ever predictable before… He was hot-headed, willing to jump down someone's throat at the drop of a hat, but he was also quiet. Withdrawn. He looked lonely. 

She watched on from the sidelines, she brought him coffee on days where it seemed worse and sometimes even a baked good just to get him to smile. She offered to partner with him at the precincts, share hotel rooms, and drive with him just for the chance to get him to talk. 

Keeping it inside wasn’t helping. 

And at first, he didn’t say anything. Little by little, as he realized she wasn’t going to share his feelings with everyone on the team, he began to tell her things. 

She stayed back to help him with paperwork, he picked her up in the mornings so they could get coffee and treats together, and he even called her on days off just because he wanted to. They’d stay up for hours, in their own beds, sharing little stories about growing up and failed relationships and sometimes they would say absolutely nothing… it was nice just to know the other was there. Her favourite moments, however, were when he’d put on the same show she had on in the background just so they could talk about it. 

She went from wishing he had someone to talk to, to being his friend and keeping all his secrets. It was nice… 

And then they went to New York. 

Kate Joyner, the lead agent on this case, was a spitting image of his ex-wife, Haley. It was almost scary how much they looked alike, and of course, Aaron has known her for years. He met her at Scotland Yard and they “Liaised” whatever the fuck that meant. Everyone was skeptical of her at first, even the beat cops on the task force… for them, it was the way she acted more important than she was, her posh accent and the overall misogyny of hating successful women. 

For Y/N, it was the way Aaron looked at her. The way he doted on her and agreed with her every move. The way he’s sticking to her side like a lost puppy and how he doesn’t see anything wrong with his new behaviour. 

It was at this moment that she realized her boss wasn’t just her friend. Not even her best friend. She had a crush on him and the mere idea of him liking someone else was sending her into a tizzy. 

She found herself agreeing with Derek Morgan more than ever before on this case, not because she knew he was right (he was) but because it meant she could go against Agent Joyner. She was argumentative for a very petty reason, but at the end of the day, Derek was right. Kate was on her high horse, she wanted to stay in the good graces of the FBI and keep her job. And that cost her another life. 

This case is unlike anything she’s seen yet. Unlike the others, she hasn’t been on the team long enough to have seen one of everything. Morgan, however, has been. From being a Chicago cop, on the bomb squad and 3rd in command at the BAU, he’s seen almost everything. 

When they touched down in NYC, there had been 5 victims already, the local FBI was on the scene as it was protocol, but the BAU was a last-ditch effort to crack this case. Each victim had been shot, point blank in the head and the unsub was able to flee each time without being seen. Those who did get a glimpse only saw a black hoodie. Nothing more. There was nothing to tie the victims together, each killed in a different neighbourhood, no common victimology, no sexual component, no robbery and no geographical connection. It was as if they were random. Like the unsub didn’t care who he killed, he just wanted the thrill of killing. 

He’s killing roughly every two days which doesn’t give the investigation team much time to come up with theories or ways to catch him in the act, between kills. The press is having a field day, the civilians of New York are terrified and the police are stumped. It hasn’t been this bad since the Son of Sam in ’76.

When they arrived, Agent Reid was quick to get a geographical profile up and running to asses the unsub's comfort zone. Hells Kitchen, Murray Hill, Lower East Side, Chinatown and East Harlem were all marked on the board. Using anti-geographical profiling, they note that the unsub is organized, he strikes at the same time of day he knows where the cameras are placed and that all means he’s doing his own surveillance. These spots aren’t random. They mean something to him.  And because of how calculated he is, they know he’s a need-based killer. He’s killing outside of his comfort zone… meaning every other neighbourhood in the city has a reason to be terrified. 

The 6th victim is killed while holding a pretzel, hailing a cab. By the time the public registers that there has been a gunshot and taken cover for themselves, the unsub has faded into the crowd once again. Not before leaving a tarot card, this time. 

Death. 

It’s the same card the D.C sniper left at the scene of one of his scenes. Either this unsub has no idea its spiritual meaning of rebirth and transformation… or he has a deep understanding of Behavioural Profiling and he’s toying with them. They’re going with the latter theory. 

They also brought along their technical analyst this time. Penelope Garcia. She’s been looking over all of the surveillance footage from each crime scene, including the most recent. With her physically there with them, she’s able to run her own software and programming through the old-ass NYPD tech and she’s figured out something huge. There isn’t just 1 unsub. There are two. 

They’re not killing together, which is weird. From previous killing teams, they know it’s highly unusual for them to do things apart from one another, which leads them to suspect they might be dealing with a gang. There could be more than 2 unsubs and until they know more, Derek wants them out on the streets so they can be even more hyper-vigilant. 

Kate, however, didn’t like that suggestion. 

“These guys hit at midday,” he reminded her and ranted until Hotch cut him off. “We could target ingress and egress to particular neighbourhoods, position us near express stops. 14th, 42nd, 59th—

“Morgan, Morgan stop. It’s not your call.” 

Instead of taking Morgan's great advice. They went back to their hotels for the night. 

Aaron had noticed that Y/N was being strange. He could sense her distaste for Kate and thus, he distanced himself from her for the case. He had his own hotel room, so did their other leader, David Rossi, and almost everyone else shared. Reid went with Morgan and she was supposed to room with JJ, only JJ’s boyfriend showed up… she’s pregnant and he couldn’t stand the thought of not being with her during a case like this. 

It just drove home to her even more just how alone she was. 

In the morning, Aaron stayed with Kate at the precinct and Y/N huffed about it. Instead, she stuck herself to Spencer’s side as they gave their profile that morning, to the news, the police and the rest of the FBI agents at 26 Federal Plaza. 

Just as they finish their talks, the unsub hits their 7th target. At 59th and Lex. Right where Morgan predicted they’d hit next. Thus causing the two men to shout at each other in front of everyone in the building. 

“I said to put us at express stops, 14th, 42nd, 59th,” his voice gets louder with each number. “And that’s exactly where they hit!” 

“It’s not your place to have this discussion!” Hotch shouts back. 

“My place?” 

“You need to back off,” Hotch warns. 

“We’ve got seven bodies, man!” 

“Which is exactly why we need to stay focused.” 

“Focused?” Derek all but laughs in his face. He drops his voice, steps in closer to Aaron and looks past him to Kate before continuing. “‘Cause from where I’m standing, all you seem to be focused on is her.” 

“Take a walk. Now,” Aaron matches his tone and then turns away from him. 

The whole office is quiet. Not a single sound is heard. It was true. Aaron’s been uncharacteristically following this woman’s lead since the moment they got there… even before when he talked her up on the jet over. 

Y/N catches his eye, silently relaying that she agrees with Derek… he’s not wrong. Even Hotch knows it. 

This 7th kill brings forth the knowledge that there is a 3rd shooter. You see, one of the programs Penelope has takes the height of the unsubs on the camera, across the 7 videos there are 3 different heights. They’re definitely working with a team but not a gang. They haven’t reached out to the police, the media or given any clue as to what their mission is yet, either. 

—

The next morning, Y/N is sent out onto the streets, partnered up with one of NYPD’s finest. Detective Cooper. He’s respectful, loyal and kind. They get along like a house on fire. He’s one hell of a flirt, but he doesn’t mean anything he says because he’s happily married. He’s funny, too, making her laugh as they walk through the streets, patrolling 14th Street, downtown and Brooklyn, baby. 

There’s a gunshot which makes their heads turn in the direction from which they heard it. It takes seconds for them to start moving towards it, and even quicker for Y/N to press the button inside her jacket sleeve to talk with Penelope in the surveillance booth. “Garcia?” 

“I’m on it, I’m on it,” she rushes through the speaker in Y/N’s ear. Searching hundreds of cameras for the unsub. “16th and Broadway! He’s running east on 16th!” 

“He’s headed our way,” she says, tapping Cooper's arm and taking off with him down the block. 

The unsub sees them and starts running the other way, they both draw their weapons and sprint even faster after him. Cooper is quick on his feet, he must’ve been a runner in his high school days as he’s leaps and bounds in front of her. 

The unsub darts down an ally, runs halfway and waits for Cooper to turn the corner and bang. He shoots Cooper in the chest. Having seen it happen, Y/N rounds the corner with her finger on the trigger and pulls it, twice, as soon as her sights are on the unsub. He goes down before he can even get a second shot out. 

She takes his weapon from him, makes sure he’s going to stay down and rushes back to Cooper. “Cooper!! Garcia, we’ve got an officer down on 16th west of union square!” She shouts into her mic. 

“let me see,” she instructs Cooper to lay back and let her look at the wound. It’s on his left shoulder, bleeding like a son of a bitch. “Okay. You’re okay it’s going to be okay.” 

“Garcia, can you see us?” She shouts into the mic again. “We have an officer down!” 

She presses down on his wound, “Cooper stays with me, It’s going to be okay.” She assures him. Keeping her eyes on his until they hear sirens approaching. “See, it’s all good, you’re going to be fine.” 

The ambulance arrives first, one paramedic attends Cooper, and the other attends the unsub. Not long after, Morgan, Rossi, Reid and JJ are arriving on the scene together. Cooper lost a lot of blood but they think he’ll make it. He’s loaded up and taken to the hospital as a second ambulance arrives purely for the unsub. He’s not going to make it. All the answers to the questions they had, died with him. 

“I should’ve had to shoot him,” she says to herself mostly. Trying to rationalize what just happened. 

“he shot a cop, Y/N you did what you had to do,” Derek reminds her. 

“I know… I just mean, he was ahead of us. He could’ve gotten away but he stopped. He waited for Cooper to round that corner. He shot him on purpose.” 

“Tell me about his behaviour, was he panicked? Was he winded?” 

“His hands were steady,” she recounts. “His eyes were dead calm. I mean, these guys have been hyper-vigilant. Organized! They do pre-surveillance. I mean, what are the odds they would shoot someone only two blocks from where me and Cooper are standing?” 

“You mean he deliberately caught someone where he could be caught?” JJ asks. 

“What if he did? What if he chose this spot because we were here?” 

“What are you thinking?” Derek asks, wanting to know where she could possibly take this. 

“He had no ID on him. He waited until we caught up to him, he was strangely calm, I-I-I, it, it was like suicide by cop!” She sums it all up with a stutter. 

“Why? Why would he do that?” Derek asks. 

“I don’t know? Maybe to make us think everything was finished?” She hypothesizes. “What if they don’t know we know there are 3 of them and this was their way of getting us to think we did it. We got the bad guy. We can go home now. What if they want us to back down so they can do something worse?” 

“We need to go back through the profile and figure out what we missed,” Derek announces, agreeing with her that something is off. 

Hotch and Kate show up mere seconds later, dipping under the crime scene tape and rushing over to their little group. Rossi and Reid, who were standing over the body of the unsub, make their way over too. It's a team huddle. 

“We think we might have a serious problem,” Rossi announces. 

“What is it?” Hotch asks. 

“We have multiple unsubs, they’re disciplined, they’re using counter-surveillance. They know the FBI movements, there’s a hierarchy. What does that usually equal?” He poses it back to Hotch. 

“Terrorism,” he answers.

They get off the streets then, regrouping back at Federal Plaza to go over the newest findings and re-profile the unsubs. Reid explains that these murders simulate a bombing. They station someone to watch the scene and gauge police response time, at which point they know when to bring in a second bomb. Their ideal situation is to take out a first round of civilians and a second round of first responders. they’ve seen this before, just never like this. 

Something bigger is coming. How soon? They don’t know. 

“I think they’re targeting points of entry,” reid points out, referring to his map. “Each murder has taken place at a bridge or tunnel.” 

Y/N steps up closer to the board. “Holland tunnel, midtown tunnel, Manhattan bridge.” 

“If a bomb went off, the emergency response would shut down any ability in or out of the city,” JJ reminds them. “It’s like people would be trapped on the island.” 

“Keep in mind it’s still a theory, like any profile,” Aaron says, calming their nerves before they all panic. 

Just then, Garcia calls Morgan's phone. “We’ve got a problem. I went ahead and checked all 4,468 cameras and they’ve hacked into the surveillance system. They’ve got footage of every crime scene. They’ve been watching since the beginning.” 

“How could we not have caught this?” Hotch asks. 

“They were smart. They hacked in one camera at a time, it wasn’t system-wide, I had to check each camera one at a time.” 

“And this is from every crime scene?” Y/N asks, making sure she has it right in her mind. 

“I’m afraid so… they hacked into 1 camera at every scene. The one with the best angle, we only caught it because Lisa here, my number 2, was checking the days after each murder and noticed the shots were different. The angles changed so minutely that you wouldn’t notice a difference unless you were zoned in on that camera 24/7.” 

“Thanks, Garcia,” Derek says. “Call us if you find anything else.” 

“So much for theory,” Dave retorts. 

“We need to hit the ground running,” Kate stands, visibly anxious about what this means to her job. 

She’s so close to being fired and replaced, she’s been warned they want to replace her with Derek Morgan. It’s why the two of them have been butting heads. She wants to get ahead of his before all of New York City is up in flames and her head is on the chopping block. 

“Reid,” Hotch calls his attention as they enter the room. “Take Y/N go brief Port Authority police.” 

“Yes sir,” they both agree at the same time. 

“JJ I want you on the phone running point with the Governor, Dave will you go talk to the commissioner? And Morgan, I want you to brief Homeland Security. Kate and I will meet with the Mayor.” 

Everyone starts to get up and get going, “We’ll meet back here as soon as possible. Stay alert, stay vigilant. With them knowing were here, we could become a target.” 

She lets Reid drive, throwing him the keys as they walk to the elevators. They’re the first to leave. They make it 6 blocks from the plaza when they hear the news over the radio. 10-80. That’s cop talk for an explosion. They slow down, reid pulls them to the side of the road and they listen closely. “Please note that 10-80 was a car bomb.” 

Reid flips on the sirens, all the traffic on the road comes to a halt and he u-turns out of there faster than she’s ever seen him move a vehicle. With their lights and sirens going, they run every red light, they make it back to Federal Plaza and rush up to see the rest of the team. The whole time, she’s on the phone, trying to get at least 1 member of the team but there’s no service. “New York of all places should have service!” She shouts, slamming her flip phone shut again. 

“we’re here,” Reid announces, throwing the car in park. 

They rush back upstairs, it’s just Rossi that’s left in the building. “A car bomb?” Y/N says as she makes it to Rossi’s side. “Did they say where?” 

He shakes his head. “No, and the cell towers are down. This is what we’ve been waiting for. We’re looking at 8 suicide bombers that are about to hit each and every location of the murders. Reid, I need you to make a list and get it to homeland security and quick. Tell them to pour troops into all those sites. This isn’t a false alarm. This is terrorism.” 

“Actually, if we’re correct, it’ll be 16 suicide bombers,” he reminds Rossi. “One for the civilians. One for the first responders.” 

“Fuck,” Rossi mumbles under his breath. Referring to the TV for a moment as the first news reporters have arrived on the scene. 

The woman on screen holds her hand to her ear, listening to what information she has. “I’m hearing that the explosion was a car bomb. The car in question was a black SUV just outside 26 Federal Plaza.” 

They all know what that means. Hotch was right. 

Rossi presses the quick dial button for the CCTV command post, getting in touch with Penelope as she returns to the computers. “Can you see anything?” 

“I literally just sat down sir, give me one moment,” she says as they hear furious typing. “Where am I looking?” 

“they said the explosion was a Black SUV just outside Federal Plaza—

“Oh no, you don’t think—

“I need you to look, Penelope,” he pushes her back to the main focus. “Can you see anything yet?” 

“Hold on I have 300 camera angles and— have you heard from anyone?” 

“I’m here with Reid and Y/L/N, but we haven’t heard from anyone else.” 

“Oh no, oh no no no,” she chants to herself as she keeps looking. “Sir, I’ll call you when I know more I cannot multi task like this.” 

“Thank you, Garcia.” 

Until then they just have to sit and wait… just not in this building. 

A Critical incident command centre is set up at 700 Hudson, they’re rushed out of 26 fed, down the back stairwell and out the door. A shuttle bus comes to pick them all up in waves, and a bomb sniffer dog is there too, checking the shuttle busses before they leave, they even check Reid and Y/N’s SUV before they head out themselves. They stare out the windows, trying to get any look they can at the scene but they don’t pass it. They’re completely in the dark as to what is going on. 

When they make it to the command centre, JJ is pulling up right behind them. 

“oh my god, JJ,” Y/N wraps her up in a hug. “Have you heard from the others?” 

“My phone isn’t working,” she complains. “Come on, let's head inside. I’m sure there’s a news helicopter out by now and live footage from the scene.” 

Upstairs, the phone is ringing like crazy, Dave rushes to it and hits the speaker. “Hello?” 

“Rossi, open the computer I have live footage from the blast!” 

At the same moment, Y/N turns on the TV then to see helicopter live footage of the scene. It shows Aaron and Kates SUV in flames, Kate on the ground and Aaron covered in blood hovering over him. 

She almost loses her mind thinking he’s hurt. She starts to leave, grabbing her things and searching for the keys in Reid's bag but it’s not there. “What are you doing?” He stops her. 

“Aar—Hotch, he—he needs us? Shouldn’t we go to him?” 

“We profiled that the first attack was to garner a response from the police, if the police and ambulance show up there will be a second bomb taking out all the first responders, we can’t go,” he reminds her. 

“But he’s hurt and bleeding? Shouldn’t someone go to him? Let me go to him!” 

“Y/N… we can’t,” Spencer looks her dead in the eyes, all the compassion in his soul seeping out through his own, he knows why she wants to run to him. But he can’t let her. 

“Hey, hey look,” JJ calls their attention back to the TV to show Derek running up to him. “Look, Dereks there, he’s going to help him until we know it’s safe to bring in the emergency services.” 

She quickly makes her way back to the TV, watching with a hand over her mouth, she’s beyond worried. Anxious doesn’t even begin to cover the sinking feeling in her chest. Kate’s dying. He has to watch a second woman who looks like his wife leave him in just a few short months. This is going to kill him if another bomb doesn’t. 

Penelope has eyes on the crime scene, she calls both JJ and Derek, allowing the team to have some form of communication altogether. She goes back on the security footage, and she notices the bomber place the bomb and sit around and watch it go off… and then he returns to the scene. 

He was the same kid currently “helping” Hotch. 

He even called 911 for him… the next thing they see on the TV is Derek take off after the unsub and a single ambulance pulls onto the scene. 

“Can I go now?” Y/N asks the rest of them. 

“Yeah, you can” Rossi agrees. “Penelope you find out what hospital they’re going to through the dispatch system and Y/L/N’ll meet them there.” 

“Got it, sir… but I’m not seeing anyone dispatched to Hotch’s location?” She explains. “There’s a strict order not to go… they must’ve gone of their own volition.” 

“Okay… can you follow the ambulance on the cameras?” JJ suggests, “Find out what way they’re going and cross that with the nearest hospital.” 

“I can do that,” she says, furiously typing away. “Yeah, I can do that…. Okay, they’re headed uptown…” 

She wants to run. She feels like she could chase down the ambulance and meet Aaron there in a matter of seconds, that’s how much adrenaline is rushing through her veins. 

“Saint Barclays!” Penelope shouts once she has it. “Go, go now!” 

“Spence, keys!” Y/N shouts to him and he throws the keys her way. She catches them and then she’s off. She doesn’t even take the elevator, she runs down 6 flights of stairs, pushes open the fire exit doors and books it for their SUV. 

Once inside she has the car on, her seatbelt fastened and her lights and sirens on. She speeds down the street, whipping the SUV around corners, she haphazardly comes to a halt in the emergency parking lot and throws the car in park. She leaves her door open and runs inside the emergency room. 

She stops the first nurse she sees, “Hi, hi, I’m looking for agent Hotchner? He just came in he— oh my god,” she notices him. “Is he okay?” 

“So far we’ve diagnosed him with acute acoustic trauma in his right ear and the doctor is working on pulling shrapnel from his left leg. But he’s going to be okay. He passed out shortly after arriving, my guess is that the adrenaline didn’t allow him to realize how hurt he was and so the blood loss and the equilibrium challenges from his ear injury all caught up to him all at once.” 

“Okay,” she calms down a bit. “And the agent he brought in?” 

“She’s in surgery,” the nurse explains. A solum look on her face. This won’t end well. 

“Can I sit in there with him?” She asks, pointing to Aaron’s little corner of the ER. 

She shakes her head, “Not until the doctor is done. When he wakes up he might be a little scared and confused, I wouldn’t want you getting hurt as well.” 

“Okay…” she understands, so she waits there, resting against the nurses station and watching over him from afar. 

Morgan comes rushing in not long after. She’s too busy listening to him talk to the nurses to notice that Aaron is up, he’s confused and yelling from his ear injury. He rips off his vital cords, and there’s an elongated beep ringing through the ER as the nurses try to get him to sit down. 

“Agent Hotchner—

“Aaron,” she cuts the doctor off and rushes in front of him. Places her hands on his chest and looks up into his eyes, “Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay. Calm down… you’re at the hospital. Kate is in surgery, Derek is here too.” 

“I need my clothes,” he says in a softer tone. “Where are my clothes?” 

“We’ll get you your go bag, just calm down a second,” she ushers him back to his bed and makes him sit down. 

“Has anything happened since the bomb went off?” He asks, looking past her to Derek. 

He shakes his head. “No.” 

“And Sam?” He asks. 

“He’s dead.” 

That must be the kid who detonated the bomb and stayed back to pretend to help… he just wanted to see the results of his destruction. 

“The team needs to be here, we need to discuss this together… I don’t understand why they’d just set off one bomb and in a place none of the other attacks happened?” He says, trying his best to rationalize it but he can’t figure it out. 

“I’ll call the others… Y/N?” 

“I’ve got him,” she smiles over to Derek. “Go.” 

She turns back to Aaron with a small smile, she looks to his ear which is packed with cotton and the dried blood that dripped down his neck. “Excuse me?” She grabs the attention of one of the nurses. “Can I have some antibacterial wipes, I just want to clean the blood off him?” 

“Sure,” the nurse says before disappearing for a moment. “Here,” she hands her a few things to get him all cleaned up. 

“Thank you,” she smiles. 

“Thanks,” Aaron adds. Feeling sorry for reacting the way he did moments ago. “You don’t have—

“Well, I’m going to,” she cuts him off. She peels open one of the little packets and unfolds the wet wipe inside of it. “I’m sorry if this stings at all.” 

She wipes the blood off his ear and neck, she tilts his head back a bit and she starts on the marks on his forehead and cheeks, her heart aches for him. He reaches out and holds her around her hips, letting his shoulders drop as he relaxes a bit… and then he rests his head against her chest and hugs her. 

She rubs his back, “You’re okay…” She rests her cheek on the top of his head for a moment. Resisting the urge to kiss his head, instead, she waits for him to pull back and then she smiles at him. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I don’t know who I’d talk to anymore if I lose you.” 

“You’d need something a lot stronger than a bomb to get rid of me,” he teases, finding his humour again. 

She manages to laugh. “Okay, big guy, I’m glad to see your humour is still intact… how’s your leg?” 

He looks down at it, his hospital gown rests at his thigh, and he can see the bandages on his calf. “Okay, I didn’t realize I hurt it?” 

“Shrapnel,” she explains. “They got it all.”

“That’s good.” 

Derek comes back around the corner then. “The teams on the… way? You two wanna tell me something?” He teases. 

“Oh hush,” Y/N waves him off. “I’d worry if it was you or Reid or JJ too.” 

“Not Rossi?”

“He barely ever steps into the way of danger,” she reminds them. “He’s too old for this shit.” 

She takes a step back from Aaron, his hands fall back to rest on his own legs, and he sighs. “Any news?” 

Derek shakes his head. “None. Homeland security is about to call everyone off, they think this was all a false alarm.” 

“They’d be stupid to do that,” Aaron remarks. 

“I know… it doesn’t make any sense?” 

“Who did that Sam kid keep calling? Garcia said that there weren’t any ambulances dispatched to his area, how’d they know to get there?” Y/N asks. 

“I don’t know… let me call Garcia,” Derek suggested, stepping out of the room again. 

“The hospital's on a bypass,” Aaron looks up at her with horrified eyes. “The secret service is here, they didn’t want to let us in but… oh, god, I drove the bomb right in here.” 

“We don’t know that,” she tries to push his worries away. 

“We do. We do know that. They knew we’d catch on to them, they knew we’d stop all first responders from actually responding or run the risk of having the first wave taken out as well. This was their way to get to a presidential target.” 

The team comes rushing in then, JJ has his go bag in her hands, “are you okay?” 

“I’m fine, I’ll change, Y/N tell them what I told you,” he orders, ushering her out of the room and closing the curtain on himself so he can change. 

She repeats Aaron's thoughts, and Derek supports his theory by explaining that Sam never called 911. He called the same number 9 times, a disposable phone, that was destroyed around the same time Sam died. They planned this. This is their end game. They had to get moving. 

Derek, JJ and Rossi head down to the garage while Y/N Hotch and Reid head up to the operating floor to warn the secret service. The hospital begins evacuations, Derek finds a bomb in the ambulance and Penelope puts a jammer on the cell phone signal so it can’t go off while they think of the next steps… then Derek gets the brave idea to drive the ambulance out of there, towards a clearing, all by himself. 

It’s stupid, it’s reckless… but it works. 

They find the unsub, the paramedic that Hotch drove in with, sitting down in the ambulance bay, knife to his throat and phone detonator in his hand. He’s waiting for a reconnection. One that will come in 10 seconds. But they’re already onto him… he has no choice but to end his life or go to prison. So he picks up a blade and slits his own throat. 

The case ends with 8 dead civilians, an injured cop, 3 dead suspects and the death of Kate Joyner. 

Aaron leaves with a broken heart and ringing in his ear that doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. 

The majority of the team heads home. JJ leaves as soon as she can, newly pregnant and with the love of her life. Derek, Reid and Rossi all head back in the bureaus jet… Y/N offers to drive Aaron home. The pressure in the air would hurt him in her flight and taking the train home alone would be sad, so she drives him. 

They drive in silence most of the way. He has a few naps, waking up only to drink some water and take more medicine. She expected to be bored, but keeping him safe, making sure he gets home okay, that’s more than worth it. 

—

Back at Quantico, Aaron’s placed on a medical leave of absence while he recovers from his ear injury. He’s not happy about it. Not at all. He isn’t allowed to join them on cases, and he’s not even supposed to come into the office until he has a doctor sign off that he’s good to go back into the field… but that doesn’t stop him. 

He needs something to do. He’s so bored in his bland little apartment that he comes into the office just to hang out with Anderson and help with paperwork. 

He has a couple MRI’s lined up in a week to check the damage to his ear, it still hasn’t stopped ringing which he doesn’t quite mind… it’s the pain that bothers him. He’s been given a prescription for T3s, which worry Y/N just a little. They worry Reid a lot. 

Everyone in the office stays up to date with Hotch’s condition, they all talk about it like he’s their father in a nursing home, prescribed something new. It’s sweet how much they care, but Aaron hates being doted on. He hates that people see him as weak even if it’s just for a little while. It sucks not being the leader they’ve come to know and love. But the thing about love is that it doesn’t stop once you get hurt, it just gets bigger. 

They’re talking on the phone again too, he holds the receiver to his good ear and he turns on subtitles for their shows so he can still follow along. Every now and then he has her repeat something, and he scolds himself, saying he feels like he’s 85 and senile but she loves it. 

“Hey, it just means you actually care about what I have to say.” 

“I do care,” he reminds her. “And I appreciate how much you care about me too… I almost forgot what it’s like to have someone care about me so much.” 

“Has she reached out at all since the accident?” She pries. 

“She brought Jack over the other day for a few hours, he just wanted to cuddle and show me his toys which was nice… Haley sat in the corner and read a magazine the whole time. She didn’t even ask about it.” 

“I’m sorry, Aaron,” her heart breaks for him. She knew that the divorce wasn’t his idea, not even the slightest… he still loved her. He probably always would. 

He brushes it off, asking her about their latest case instead. She told him everything, from the time they gathered in the briefing room until the flight back home, she recounted it all. He just hummed along, letting her know he was following, he didn’t ask many questions, seemingly because he knew if he just listened longer they’d be answered. 

It becomes a habit after that. He calls at the end of a case just to ask her how it went. He knew he could read about it in the paperwork later, but it was more rewarding this way. 

He has 1 week left until his ear is healed completely, he’s convinced the doctor to let him go back to work if he takes it easy, which means once they get back from their current case, he’ll be back out there. 

He calls her at 11pm Virginia time, knowing she’s just an hour behind him in Illinois. They’re done with the case but staying 1 more night just to sleep it off. He expects her to be in her own hotel room, away from the others, able to take his call… she isn’t. She’s sharing with JJ. 

She sees his name on her caller ID and takes her phone with her to the door, “I’m just going to take this I’ll be right back,” she assures JJ. 

“Do you have your room key cause I don’t want to get up and let you back in, I’m exhausted,” JJ asks. 

“Yeah, yeah I do,” she rushes out as she leaves the room. “Hello?” 

“Hey, sorry were you asleep?” 

“No, I’m sharing with JJ tonight, we were talking,” she shares. 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, how are you? How’s the ear?” 

“Good… I can go back to work tomorrow.” 

“Tomorrow?” She repeats, concerned as all hell. “Aaron, you still have a tear in your ear, if you’re not careful you’ll lose hearing forever. It’s not a joke. Don’t you want to be able to hear? We can catch a few more bad guys without you. It’s okay?” 

“I need to come back to work before I lose my mind,” he responds with a bit of an attitude. “If I have to sit in my tiny ass apartment and stare at these white walls any longer, I will go crazy.” 

“I rather you mad than deaf,” she explains, trying to keep herself together. “If you come back to work you’re taking it easy. I’m going to stick to your side like glue, you hear me? I’m not letting this get worse.” 

“Fine, mom,” he teases her. “Whatever you wish.” 

“I thought you liked that I cared?” She teases back. “You’re my best friend, who else am I going to talk to if you can’t hear me?” 

“You can’t get rid of me that easy,” he assures her. “It’ll be fine.”

—

The Angel Maker case is one she studied at the academy. Victims were beaten with the assailants' bare hands until they were dead. Post-mortem stab wounds were found in each victim's torso, made by a screwdriver, each victim's wounds in a different pattern. Some with more holes than the others, as if he was experiencing different amounts of rage with each woman. There were also signs of sexual assault. He completely abused these poor women after death. It was a good thing they caught him. 

He died a year ago yesterday, by lethal injection at the prison in Lower Cannon, Ohio. They thought they were done with him as soon as he was lowered into the ground…

Their newest victim, Delilah Grennan, was bludgeoned to death with what is assumed to be a hammer. She too, was stabbed in the chest with a screwdriver. She was also raped. Only the weird part was the semen left at the crime belonged to Cortland Bryce Ryan. The Angel Maker himself.

“So this unsub is a weaker guy?” Derek proposes. “Or at least someone who perceives themself as weak?” 

“He brought along the hammer to make sure the job was done,” Y/N adds, staring across the table at Aaron, watching him blink slowly. He’s in pain as if someone smacked him upside the head with a hammer and he’s keeping it to himself. 

She almost misses Rossi’s hilarious joke about the elephant in the room… the dead man's seamen at the crime scene, that elephant, all because she’s staring at Hotch. “It’s obvious someone planted the DNA at the scene,” Aaron adds, his voice small yet powerful at the same time. 

“In the victim…” Derek reminds him. 

“That’s one theory,” Spencer mumbles. 

“There's another theory?” JJ asks, leaning over the back of his seat, wondering what’s going on inside that genius head of his. 

“Think about who shares the exact DNA profile as another person,” he hypothesizes. 

“Reid, you’re not seriously floating around the idea of an evil twin?” Morgan groans, knowing Reid all too well. 

“No, I’m not. I’m floating around the idea of an Eviler Twin,” he raises his brows, proud of himself for that one. No one else finds it funny. “Traditionally the concept is a good twin and an evil twin. But in this case, it’s evil twin, Eviler twin.” He says it with more suspense this time. 

No one says anything. Y/N just shakes her head, trying not to smile cause it was funny… and then Aaron grips his forehead and hunches forward, something is making his head hurt. 

“JJ get him some water,” Y/N suggests right away, keeping her voice down. “Hey, where are your pills?” 

He points to his bag over on the other side of the aisle and she’s quick to pull his bag over and start looking for them. She takes two from the little orange medication bottle and slides them across the table just as JJ brings him a glass of water. 

“Were you actually cleared to fly?” Morgan asks in a similarly low tone. 

Aaron swallows down his medicine and nods, he doesn’t say anything, he just rests his head back against the headrest and keeps his eyes closed. Everyone turns to Y/N instead, asking questions with their eyes. She shrugs, she doesn’t know what to say. Other than she knew this would happen. 

—

It happens again when they’re digging up the original unsubs grave. The sound of the metal grinding as the front-end loader hauls the coffin out of the dirt, it’s way too loud for Aaron. He covers both of his ears and starts walking away, cowering from it all. She pats Reid's shoulder so he stays there and watches everything go down with the Sheriff and then she follows Hotch through the cemetery towards a tree that he’s leaned himself against. 

She carefully runs her hand over his side, inside his suit jacket, “hey,” she whispers, getting him to look at her. He’s almost crying with how bad it hurts. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” he whispers back. 

“How am I supposed to look at you?” She argues, raising her voice a little. “You said you were cleared for duty. This isn’t what being cleared looks like. You’re going to go deaf if you don’t take it easy.” 

“I’m going to go deaf if you keep yelling at me like I’m 4,” he spits back. Reaching into his pocket for more pills, she takes the bottle from him. 

“Uh-uh, no. You had two 3 hours ago. It’s not time for more. Stop putting yourself in harm's way and relying on these,” she scolds him. She steps in even closer to him so it’s just them to hear. “I care about you. I’m not letting you ruin your life because you can’t find the patience to actually heal properly.” 

She has her finger pressed into his chest as she stares him down, asserting her own dominance over him. “I’ll be administering these to you from here on out, got it?” 

He nods. “Yes ma’am.” 

“Good, now the noise has stopped over there, go look in the casket and then I’m driving us back to the precinct,” she says as she steps away from him and marches away. 

Reid and the sheriff were the first to see that the casket was empty. Someone stole his body and god knows how long ago. Aaron takes once glance at the empty box and heads back towards the SUV, getting in the passenger side with a huff. 

“What’s going on with him?” 

“He’s not better. He wasn’t cleared because he’s healed. He was cleared because he’s a sweet talker and the doctor believed his bullshit,” she rants. “He’s taking his meds like candy, he’s not taking care of himself… so I let him have it. I’m going to drive us back, I’m administering his meds from now on. He’s going to actually heal whether he likes it or not.” 

Reid follows her to the car, and as soon as they’re out of earshot of the local cops, he asks it. The question she’s been dreading hearing. 

“You love him, don’t you?” 

“What?” She turns to him with a faux look of confusion. “I mean, yeah? We all do. He’s our boss?” 

“No. If this was just you protecting a co-worker, you would’ve done the same thing for me after Tobias Hankel…” 

“Spencer,” her heart breaks for him. “I wanted to help you, we all did, but we didn’t know how.” 

“You just did to him what you should’ve done for me,” he almost cries. “You should’ve reached into my bag and taken the drugs away from me… but you didn’t. Because I’m just a co-worker to you. Admit it. You love him.” 

“I can’t,” she gives in. “He still loves Haley. I’ll never be her.” 

“No, you can’t… but maybe he doesn’t want you to be,” Reid simplifies it. “maybe he needs you to be everything she wasn’t.” 

“I don’t know,” she sighs, “but we’ve gotta go… I’m sorry, by the way.” 

“It’s okay,” he places his hand on her arm and they keep walking. “I’m not jealous or anything, I just sometimes get mad that it happened to me at all.” 

“You can talk to me about it whenever,” she makes sure he knows that. “I’m always here for you.” 

“Thanks,” he smiles at her, knowing she means it. 

—

Turns out, they had difficulties putting Ryan to death. The whole town had a conspiracy that he never actually died… so finding his empty casket rocked the whole police station. Even in his last words, he said he’d come back to life to finish what he started. Putting the town at ease was their number one priority, aside from catching the new killer. Because a town in panic causes more crime, and more death than a single killer could even imagine. 

Hotch proposes that the person who took Ryan's body is the same person doing these copycat killings. They had to’ve had help from inside the prison… probably the same person who was getting all his memorabilia and… fluids, out of the prison. 

Yesterday, before they found the empty grave, Derek interviewed a guard at the prison, Guard Rutledge. Weird guy. Sketchy, Derek called him. 

So, what are the odds that when Garcia— the ever-incredible computer genius who leaves no stone unturned— searches the web for Angel Maker memorabilia, the most common seller is a man by the name of Sid Rutledge? Slim pickings, but of course, our girl Garcia figured him out. 

Morgan is tasked with repaying Rutledge another visit, this time, at his house. He takes Y/N along with him for backup and the two of them make it to his house just after nightfall. 

They knock on his door, making their presence known, “Sid!! FBI Open up… come on, man, I just want to talk.” 

She peers through his windows, there’s no movement in the main room and all his lights are still on. “I’m not seeing anything?” 

Derek twists the doorknob, testing if he can get in before he breaks a door down (he’s good at that) and the door pushes wide open. 

“That’s weird,” Y/N remarks. “Guys got two deadbolts and doesn’t bother to lock either?” 

“Sid?” Derek calls out once more, unholstering his weapon and raising it. “Sid, we’re coming in.” 

Y/N follows his lead, holding her weapon, her finger on the safety, she doubts she’ll have to use it but just in case… they search around his main living room, clear the kitchen and then head off towards the bedroom, down the hall. From the doorway Derek can see the man’s feet, he’s laying in bed. 

“Wakey-wakey, my man,” he shouts as he pops into the room and finds something they didn’t expect. 

Rutledge, laying in his bed with his pants off, in just his shirt and boxers, dead. Shot in the head and in the groin. 

“That’s personal,” Derek says under his breath. 

They put their guns away, Y/N pulls rubber gloves out of her back pocket and starts to put them on. In her other back pocket, a wad of evidence bags. 

“Well yeah, he was selling the unsub memorabilia… Rutledge knew his face.” 

“Now the unsub’s covering his tracks,” Derek says with a sigh. Putting his own gloves on before taking out his cell phone. “Hey, Hotch… we’re gonna need crime scene and the coroner at Rutledge's place… yeah. Shot twice, I’d say he’s been dead for at least an hour, maybe two. Yeah. See you back at the precinct soon. Bye.” 

“You think he contacted the unsub after you visited him at the prison? Maybe he wanted them to get their stories straight?” 

“That or he threatened him… he might’ve wanted the glory of catching a killer?” Derek proposes.

She looks around his room for a moment, nothing sticks out, so she heads to the bathroom. “God, it stinks in here… muggy and thick, too much old spice.” 

“Really? He strikes me as an aqua velva kinda guy,” Derek teases. 

In the bathroom, what does she find on the first shelf? That exact cologne. “you're good!” 

“I’ve been at this longer than you, kid,” he teases. “Anything good in there?” 

On the counter, there’s a bottle of pills. She suspects antidepressants or even allergy meds, nope. She reads the bottle and laughs, “No shit… Viagra.” 

She makes her way back out into the room and holds the bottle up, “I think we’ve got this unsub all wrong.” 

“Why?” 

“He was taking Viagra. You only leave the door open and take this when you’re expecting someone. There doesn’t look to be a struggle in here either, his pants came off willingly… either Sid’s gay or our unsub is a woman.” 

They bring their findings back to the police station, most of the crew has gone home for the night and the minimal, small-town, night shift has clocked on. Y/N and Derek walk in on JJ and Reid sitting together at the table, Hotch pouring himself more coffee and Dave on the phone in the back room. 

“we’ve got news,” Derek announces. 

“He was taking Viagra,” Y/N places the evidence bag on the table. “I sent the crime scene photos we took to the computer, you’ll see on there that there wasn’t a struggle. He was shot in the head and in the junk… he was expecting the unsub for sex.” 

“I knew it!” Reid lets out a cheer, almost too loud for their little bubble. “When you were gone I was suggesting that. There’s an abnormally high amount of female fans of serial killers, the way they love these killers is fascinating, there are endless lengths that these women will go to, to feel closer to the killers. Buying his sperm, continuing his killings… to a psychopath, in her mind, doing those things would bring her closer to him. A woman in love, no matter how her brain works, would do anything for the man she loves.”

Y/N just looks at reid with wide eyes, feeling called out in a sense. Of course, he’d come to that conclusion after their talk and what he’s seen. She just hopes Aaron doesn’t realize it too. She’s not ready to lose a friend because of her stupid crush on him. 

—

On their 3rd day in Ohio, they finally give the profile. They fill the cops in on their theory and in doing so, they calm the nerves of the town thinking a ghost is on the loose, killing these women. It takes up an hour of their morning, they answer every question available and then start narrowing down suspects. 

JJ gets a list of women who visited Ryan in prison before he was put to death and Reid goes back through his fan mail to ascertain a pattern that would lead them to the unsub. Alongside that list of women who visited Ryan, they also found out that Sid Rutledge worked at a woman’s prison. He had a history of smuggling things in and out for sexual favours. Ie. they found the reason why he was shot in the dick. 

They have two main suspect pools, insane fans and wronged women. Finding the cross over… that would be where the unsub is. 

Y/N and Rossi are sent out on the road, their job is to interview the woman who visited Rutledge and wrote him. Most of them were crazy, basically harmless and not worth the time. Their last interview of the day, however, she— she was different. 

Shara Carlino, she visited the angel maker 70 times and even bought herself a home overlooking the prison. She’s quite beautiful, you’d never know she’s fucked in the head… within those 70 visits, she was subject to their rigorous strip searches and 3-hour wait times just to see him for 10 minutes. 

“That’s Two hundred and 10 hours of waiting and just 11 hours of face-to-face time with the love of her life?” Y/N does the quick math in her head and then shakes it. 

“Would you endure that for a man?” Rossi teases. 

“No… I’m more into catching the killers than fucking them.” 

“Amen, sister,” Rossi jokes, knocking on Shara’s door. 

“Hello?” She answers, just as pretty as her photo. Red hair, pleasant smile. She’s dressed up like she’s ready to go out… “can I help you?” 

They hold their badges up, “Hi, yes, we’re with the FBI we’re looking into the recent copycat murders and we’d like to speak to you about Cortland Ryan.” 

She invites them in, and offers them tea or coffee but neither of them takes a cup. They sit down at her kitchen table and Y/N opens a file. “According to the logs, you were the angel maker's number one fan?” 

“His name was Cortland and I wasn’t a fan,” she spits back. Sensitive as ever. 

“How would you categorize your relationship?” Y/N asks. 

“We were lovers.” 

“Last time I checked, they didn’t allow conjugal visits on death row?” Rossi makes a joke out of her comment. 

“It wasn’t about physical interaction. When you take away the flesh, all that’s left is the soul,” she says with a mystical expression. Truly believing the words that leave her mouth. “Everything was understood between us. We had no secrets. Cortland made me feel alive in a way no free man ever could.” 

Gross, she thinks… but pushes it away to ask her most pressing question: “Where were you on the 16th of this month?” 

“Why?” 

“We have reason to believe that this copycat killing was done by one of his female fans,” Rossi explains. “Someone who knew Cortland very well.” 

“I was out of town with the company I work for, ask anyone there,” she states her alibi and stands by it, visibly hurt by the fact anyone else could be close to Ryan. 

“Do you know another woman—

“there were no others,” she cuts Rossi off. Sure of herself. 

“I can show you logs and fan mail,” Y/N starts sifting through her evidence folder. “I have photocopies of the letters, women who sent Cortland their photos and even their panties…” 

“They didn’t mean anything to him.” 

“But… whatever connection you had with Cortland died with him,” Y/N looks at her through her lashes, faking sympathy and driving the wedge in deeper. “Not the copycats. She believes that every time she kills for him, every time she repeats his ritual, their connection gets stronger and will keep getting stronger until she completes his mission.” 

“That is of course, unless you help us stop her,” Rossi adds. 

That breaks her. she’s visibly distraught by the thought that someone is closer to him than she was. They see it in her eyes that the psychopathic logic makes sense to her… “there was something… he sent me a letter a few months before his— his passing. I knew it wasn’t meant for me. It was addressed to “my dove.” He never called me that.” 

“Do you have the letter?” Y/N asks, so close to the finish line she could taste it. 

“No. I burned it.”

“Did the text reveal anything about the woman?” Rossi asks. 

“The text was a joke,” she spits back. “Usually his prose was beautiful, seamless.. as if he didn’t even have to try. But this— this letter was pedestrian. Crude.” 

“You never asked him who this Dove was?” Y/N pries further. 

She shakes her head, staying quiet in her hurt. 

“I thought there were no secrets between you?” 

She laughs, looking Y/N up and down, “You’ve never been in love, have you.” 

Y/N smirks, wanting to laugh at the assumption because oh, if she only knew… 

Back in the car, she scribbles down some thoughts as Rossi drives. It’s quiet, the radio is on volume 4 and they barely hear it over the sound of their tires bumping down the old, crumbling paved road of this small town. She shakes her head, thinking to herself, how was it that Reid, someone who’s never had a deeply romantic love in his life could guess her feelings so fast and this woman, this deeply troubled yet deeply in love woman couldn’t see it. 

She would go to the ends of the earth for Aaron. She’d kill for him if she had to. She wanted to cradle his head and kiss his hair, she wanted to make him lunches for work and dinner when they got home. She would have his babies for crying out—

“oh my god,” she speaks into the silence of their car. “Why else would she buy the sperm if not to just plant it at the scenes?” 

“Cause she’s insane?” Rossi laughs. 

“She wants his babies!” She makes herself more clear. “She wanted to make a mini Cortland… holy shit.” 

She picks up her phone and calls Garcia, “Hey, weird question but are you able to access all obstetrics and gynecology records in this country, by any chance?”

“I can, why?” She asks. 

“I think the unsub might’ve tried to get pregnant with the unsubs sperm… she might’ve had checkups, gone to the hospital because of a loss or even had the baby and it died, can you run all the records and cross it with women who visited Cortland and or went to the prison that Rutledge worked at?” 

“I sure can try,” Penelope assures. “I’ll call you when I know more.” 

—

On the morning of their 4th day, they have another victim. Same bludgeoned skull, same rape, same torso wounds. The house is just like the others too. No sign of forced entry and every single window in the joint was opened too. 

Y/N, Hotch and Derek head to the crime scene, Reid, Rossi and JJ stay behind to look through the fan mail a 3rd time with their eyes open for “dove.” 

Once the coroner is done with the body, they head back to see her for themselves. With her gloves on, Y/N moves the woman's shirt up to see her torso marks. She was the only one to see the first victim when they arrived, she knew of the findings and how there was paper in the wounds… she takes out her notepad and starts to draw out the marks, ripping off the page to then hold it over her. 

“Aaron,” she calls him back over. “Look, Ryan knew what he was doing, he had it all memorized when he made his marks, this unsub needs a stencil, that’s why they found paper in the wounds of the first vic… and I think I know what they’re trying to make out.” 

She takes out her phone again, calls Reid and puts him on speaker, “hey, whatcha got?” He answers. 

“I think the unsubs were marking out constellations on the victim's stomach… but I don’t think it’s the zodiac?” 

“I just found a secret code inside all the letters to Dove that I’m trying to crack… you know, there is a dove constellation, it’s part of the heavenly waters?”

“Reid,” Hotch makes his presence known. “Can you have JJ pull the images of every single victim, this case and the original, and match them to the constellations in that family?” 

“I sure can… you know, it also makes sense why all the windows are open at the crime scenes now, he wanted their souls to escape back to heaven, he was quite literally making angels,” Reid explains. 

“Sick… well, we’ll be back at the precinct in 30, nice work,” Y/N smiles as she hangs up. 

—

When they arrive, JJ has all the torso pictures on the board with printed-off photos of the constellations. “There are 9 main constellations,” she explains once they’re close enough. “Ryan did 6 and our unsub has done two more, the only one she hasn’t done is the dove… either we’ll have a new body tonight or she’s going to do it to herself.” 

“So she knew about the real meaning of the stomach marks but we didn’t?” Derek can’t believe it. 

“They were a lot closer than we realized,” Rossi adds. 

“More than that,” Reid pipes up, scribbling on his own whiteboard. “They were in love.” 

“You cracked it already?” Y/N can’t believe it. It’s been not even an hour since their phone call. 

He nods, “I profiled the author, Cortland Ryan. He was on death row with several high-ranking members of the Aryan brotherhood… either they taught it to him or he read a lot of 16th-century literature. The Aryans like to use a cypher based on a 400-year-old code written by Sir Francis Bacon…” 

“So it’s a binary code,” Derek says with a sigh, always amazed at how Spencer’s mind works. 

“Bacon used a 21-letter alphabet, this one is 24. Each letter is assigned a string of 5 binary digits. This combination yields 32 possible encodings. Normally, you’d use a computer to run all these combinations but it was quicker just to do it long-hand until I found the right one.” 

Y/N wraps her arms around him and holds him close, “Oh, I love your brain, you beautiful genius, you!”

He blushes, and wiggles out of her grip, making his way to the table with all the letters. “Thanks… now, we don’t have a complete record of their correspondence, but I was able to make a chronology. The woman he calls “Dove” established contact right after the trial. 

They all read through the letters, disgusted by what these two people called love. “Ew, okay here she said ‘Take heart, my love. I will bring a part of you back into this world… you will watch over us from the stars.’ Us. she was definitely pregnant when she wrote that.” 

“Agent Hotchner!” The sheriff comes running to the room. “We just got reports of a woman attacked in her home by a female assailant.” 

“Y/N, we’ll head to the scene, you 4, call Penelope, and tell her to make it her priority to cross-reference birth records with the women on our lists!” He calls as they all head towards the door. “I don’t care if you have to physically head to the local hospital and read through records and interview staff, I want a name!”

She follows Aaron out of the station and he searches his pockets for his keys, “you can drive, right?” She asks. 

He nods, “I haven’t had any medicine at all today. I’m feeling better…” 

“Okay, good,” she gets into the passenger seat beside him. 

They buckle up their seatbelts and Aaron places his hand on her headrest, looking behind them, “Hold on.” He backs up and spins the SUV around, following the sheriff to the scene in his police cruiser. 

Reckless driving shouldn’t be so hot… but she swoons anyway. 

When they get to the scene of the crime, it’s so totally different from what they’ve seen 2 times before. The assailant pretended to break down and walked up to the victim in her driveway, asked to call a towing service and they tried to attack the victim. She screamed for help so loud the rest of the neighbourhood heard it, left their homes and beat the assailant into submission, subduing her until police could come make an arrest. 

“Are you kidding me?” Y/N can’t believe who she sees in the back seat of the police cruiser… “That’s Shara. Shara Carlino. Rossi and I interviewed her the other day. Her alibi is solid.” She walks over to the cruiser and opens the door, Hotch in tow behind her. “What the hell, Shara?” 

“It worked for her, why couldn’t it work for me!” She cries, bloody and bruised. 

Y/N just shakes her head, “Because he’s dead. He’s a psychopath who never fucking loved you, he never could. You ruined your life for him, and for what? You don’t even look that good in orange.” She slams the door closed and scoffs. “And she accused me of never having been in love before.” 

“Have you?” Aaron asks. 

She wasn’t expecting that, she stands a little taller and shrugs, “I mean… yeah? Once or twice.” 

“Third times the charm,” he teases, patting her shoulder and then walking back towards the SUV. They weren’t needed here. 

—

They’re all sitting at the table when Penelope calls again. 

“So there were 463 children born in Lower Cannon between 2006 and 2008,” Garcia recounts over the phone. “If you want me to find baby angel maker, I’m gonna have to narrow this down.” 

“I have a letter here, there’s a quote from Cortland that says, ‘I knew even before you told me that the future had taken root,’” Y/N reads. “That must mean she did get pregnant… that letter was written January 7th, 2007.” 

“Cool so fast forward 9 months—

“Ten, actually,” JJ corrects her. “There are 40 weeks of pregnancy, so it’s actually closer to 10 months.” 

“Seriously?” Penelope had no idea. 

“it was news to me too,” JJ rolls her eyes. “I’m going to be pregnant almost all year.” 

“Damn, well, with that new math… I’m looking at August to September 2007… single mothers only, cause you know, you don’t want to brag— oh your baby daddies a 3rd-grade teacher? Mine likes to poke people in the tummy with tools… I have 9 names.” 

They all laugh at Penelope's strange sense of humour. “Cross-reference them with women from the female Prison Rutledge was at,” Derek suggests. 

“Chloe Kelcher,” Penelope announces. 

“Wait,” Reid stands up and starts looking through his papers. He pulls a file from a box and places a piece of paper on the table. “She was on the jury…” 

“She was exposed to the case evidence,” Derek adds. “That’s how she knew about the stomach wounds.” 

“She fell in love with him sitting across from him in the courtroom,” Hotch says with a shake of his head. “She heard everything, she saw what he was capable of, and she wanted him anyway.” 

“What happened to the baby, Garcia?” Y/N asks. 

“He died at the hospital—

“Microvesicular Steatosis,” Reid finishes. “Microvesicular steatosis is characterized by small intracytoplasmic fat vacuoles— liposomes— which accumulate within hepatocytes. Most common causes are tetracyclines- or acute fatty liver of pregnancy, Reye's syndrome, and hepatitis C.”

“Okay… so the only way to stay close to him after the death of both him and her baby, was to keep killing. Two questions, how did she pick her victims and how do we figure out the last one before it’s too late?” Hotch asks. 

“Look at the type of women she was killing, as opposed to Ryan going after women who sexually excited him, she needed a way to get close to them. Delilah made jewelry and sold it from her home, Maxine ran a daycare out of her house. This would give Chloe an opportunity to make an appointment with them and gain access to their homes… and then she could go to the bathroom, crack a window and hope it was still open when she returned in the middle of the night,” Y/N proposes. 

“Okay, let’s get suited up, Garcia, send us her address and search her internet history, see if she’s booked a time to meet with anyone today,” Hotch orders and then hangs up the phone. 

At her house, she’s nowhere to be found. What they do find, however, is a kid's bedroom covered in glow-in-the-dark stars and the decomposing body of Cortland Ryan in a treasure box near what would’ve been her baby crib. It’s disgusting… they call the coroner to pick him up and keep searching the house.  

The Sheriff finds her Filofax filled with dates off appointments and people she knows… she had visits with both Delilah and Maxine the day before their murders, but no tools. No Rape kit, either. 

“She had an appointment this morning,” Dave announces, reading the book back. “Faye Landreaux, 126 North Red—

“Red River Drive,” The Sheriff finishes the address off. “She’s a CPA, she does my taxes.” 

“Does she work out of her house?” Aaron asks. 

“Yep.” 

“Let’s go.” 

—

At the scene, they find Chloe’s car parked on the road. The windows are closed, that’s a good sign that nothing has happened yet… but they need a plan. They need a way to make sure this ends without another death. 

It was Y/N’s job to draw the suspect's attention away from her next victim, speaking to her through a bullhorn while Derek snuck into the house and got the victim to safety. She makes Aaron stand away from the bullhorn, his good ear closest to her so that she doesn’t ruin his hearing further as she talks the suspect away from the bedroom. 

She taunts her, reading letters Cortland wrote to other women, making her question the love they had for one another. “He wasn’t capable of loving you. He was a narcissist, Chloe. He was lying to you. He wrote countless women the same words.” 

Reid quickly recalls the letters from memory, rushing the words down on paper and holding them up to her. 

“Possessions matter not to a condemned man but I cannot leave this world without seeing your face one last time,” Y/N reads over the bullhorn. “It isn’t your fault that he made you feel these things, trust me. It isn’t your fault your baby died. 

Just then, Derek returns with the victim. While what Y/N was saying made her upset, losing a victim just made her furious. 

It was her last chance to complete the love of her life mission and be joined together forever in the afterlife… another crazy conclusion made in the mind of a psychopath. 

“It’s over Chloe, we have Faye,” she says through the bullhorn. They hear her destroying things inside, so she adds. “You have nowhere to go.” 

“I think we have some teargas ready to go,” the sheriff adds. 

“We’re not going to need it, she doesn’t have any place to go,” Aaron assures him. 

“Maybe she’ll do us all a favour and put herself down?” He suggests. 

“No, she won’t do that either. She’s not done,” Aaron knows her too well. 

After a few moments of silence, Chloe starts to come out of the house. Everyone draws their weapons and points them at her as she wields a small revolver. Rossi asks her to put it down but she doesn’t back away. 

“Go stand back there,” Y/N suggests to Aaron, motioning behind the car with her head while she keeps her gun locked on Chloe. “If we shoot you’re going to be in pain again, go. Now, Aaron.” 

Surprisingly, he listens. He makes his way away from them just in time for Chloe to raise her weapon and the sheriff pulls the trigger, knocking her to the ground. He and Y/N rush to Chloe, taking her weapon from her before they check on her… she’s gone. This is what she wanted. It’s then that Y/N notices what she’s done. Made herself the last victim, completing what the angel maker set out to do a decade ago. 

She really was his dove. 

When she looks back, Aaron is holding his head and leaning forward, even at a distance it still made his ear ring. She walks over to him and holsters her gun, “you okay?” 

“I’m good, I’m good�� thank you for making me move,” he says in a hushed tone. 

“You’re welcome,” she says but she doesn’t feel good about it. He’s still hurting. He was going to keep hurting until he was fully healed. 

—

They spend the night in a hotel, partnered off to save money when they know the price of keeping the jet in a hangar for another night is already ridiculous. 

Rossi pays for his own room on nights like this, leaving 1 person lucky enough to also have their own room… so they give it to JJ. Now that she’s pregnant she deserves something nice. 

Derek is with Reid, leaving Y/N with Hotch. The way she wanted it. 

They change separately in the bathroom, he goes first and then they switch. By the time she’s done and coming back out, Aaron is sitting in his bed, reading through a case file. 

She puts her bag down by her bed and takes a chance. She sits on the edge of Aaron's bed and he looks at her softly, smiles even, “Thank you for being hard on me this week.” 

“I was just about to apologize,” she admits. “I don’t like raising my voice at you, but someone has to take care of you.” 

“You were right, though… I wasn’t fully cleared, I lied and said I’d stick to light duty but I threw myself into this case thinking it would be fine.” 

“I know,” she sympathizes with him. “You’re going through a lot. Your job is really all you have left and when you can’t go to work, what else are you going to do?” 

“Go crazy,” he laughs. “I’m not going to fly home tomorrow. I’m going to drive back.” 

“That’s a long drive, like 7 hours back to Quantico?” She worries. “Do you want me to come with you?” 

“No, no… not unless you want to?” He looks at her with puppy dog eyes. He’d never ask, but he’d let her if it was her idea. 

“We can make it a whole thing, I mean tomorrow is Friday, we have the weekend off, we don’t need to be back in Virginia till Monday,” she suggests. “We could have some fun?” 

“That sounds nice,” he agrees. “Would it… would it be weird to hug you?” 

“Not at all,” she doesn’t mind in the slightest, she simply moves in closer and opens her arms. 

She holds him there, resting her chin on his shoulder, she closes her eyes and makes it last. He’s so warm, his strong arms feel so comforting and he smells good, too. It’s perfect. She didn’t realize how badly she craved his touch until he was pulling away and it felt like it was over too soon. 

“Any time you need a hug, let me know,” she offers. Leaving it at that. 

—

They take the long way home. 

It only takes an hour for them to get out of Ohio, they make it to West Virginia around lunchtime and pick a random small town to go get some food. The diner they pick is so cute, old-time-y and pink, the waitresses are on rollerblades, it feels like they’ve been sent back in time. 

They go further back in time, however, when they decide to stop at the little antique shop just down the road. 

Most of the stuff is junk… that’s to be expected. But there’s a box near the counter, “photos ¢25 each” and they’re almost all in black and white, some sepia and faded, but all old. That’s for sure. 

She digs through the pile while Aaron looks around at a few things and she finds a few that just break her heart. A 30’s bride, smiling wide with the biggest bouquet of flowers she’s ever seen, just excited to marry the love of her life… and a couple sitting on the porch of their first house, he has his arm around her and she’s got her hands on her pregnant belly. they’re starting a life together. There are school photos and family pictures, all worn with time and left to collect dust in someone else’s shop. 

The saying is “A picture is worth a thousand words” but each photo here is worth a thousand years. Most of the people in these photos are dead now, their love only exists here, in this shop, in her hands. These people who fell in love and lived to the best of their abilities and died surrounded by family, they had no idea where these photos would end up… so she buys a bunch of them, to keep their memories alive longer. 

One of them she buys not just for that reason… but because the couple in the photo looks a little bit like her and Aaron. Part of her thinks that she was always meant to find these, Aaron was meant to get hurt, they were meant to go on this drive and her photos were supposed to come back to her. Her whole heart is so sure that she’s loved Aaron before, that she’ll love him again too, she’ll love him in every lifetime until the world dies too. 

She keeps the photos that she wants to buy in her hands as she makes her way around the store. Aaron’s in the back, looking through stacks of old newspapers and letters. He looks up at her and smiles, “look at this,” he hands her a handful of letters. “These are from 1944, a couple sent them back and forth to each other during the war… look how in love they were.” 

She reads through the letter with tears in her eyes. Stories of this couple's missed anniversary, their oldest child was starting to learn how to play baseball, their youngest had just started to walk… she ends every letter the same. “I pray to god every night you make it home to me, I know he’s working on it for us.” 

She holds her hand over her heart and tries so hard not to let out the sob, “Oh my god?” 

“I know,” he smiles, glossy-eyed and blushing. “What did you find?” 

“Photos,” she hands them to him. “Doesn’t this guy look like you?” 

“Oh, wow…” he honestly can’t believe it. He runs his pointer finger over the woman who looks like her and his shoulders drop. “I guess we’ve been here before.”

“I think we have,” she agrees. “How weird is it that out of all the places we could’ve gone, out of everything that could’ve ever happened, you got hurt just in time for us to have to drive through West Virginia?” 

He shrugs, “I don’t know… you know my mother's family used to live here in 1745, they were coal miners.”

“So you might actually be related to this guy?” She holds the picture up again. 

He nods, “that or I’m a vampire,” he jokes. “I’ve been living here for hundreds of years.” 

She shoves him, “You’re so funny.” 

They wander around some more, Aaron finds a painting he likes and she picks up a cute set of dishware and when they go up to pay, the owner smiles at them. “Together or separate?” 

“Together,” Aaron answers over Y/N saying “separate.” 

“You don’t have to,” she worries but he takes the plates and her photos from her hands and puts them on the counter. 

“I want to,” he assures her with a smug smile. 

“First date?” The lady asks, so sure she’s got it right. 

They shake their heads, “Co-workers, we had some business to attend in Ohio and thought we’d take the long way home…” 

“Oh,” she smiles to herself, knowing there’s something else there… she can feel it. “Well, I’m glad you stopped here, these things were in need of a nice home to go back to.” 

“Aaron here has a new apartment that is very boring,” Y/N teases. “This painting will be perfect for the wall in his kitchen.” 

“That’s what I was thinking,” Aaron muses. 

She gives them a total, Aaron pays in cash and she wishes them well on their journey home. “I hope to see you back here one day.” 

“Us too,” Y/N answers, giving her a smile and a wave.

—

They keep driving east, thinking they could probably make it back to D.C. around 3 in the morning if they didn’t stop. Instead, they pick out a cute little bed & breakfast with the hopes of staying there for the night. 

The little bell on the door rings as Aaron holds it open for her, there’s a little old lady sitting behind the counter crocheting,  she looks up when she hears the noise. “Oh, hold on, my daughter just ran to the back to get more receipt paper, she’ll check you in in a moment.” She has a posh English accent and a sweet smile. 

“Thank you,” Aaron gives her a smile back. 

They don’t have to wait long, a middle-aged woman comes out from the back room and stops dead in her tracks when she sees there are people. “Oh, I’m sorry to keep you waiting, did you have a reservation?” 

“No, we’re just driving though and wondered if you have a couple rooms we could book?” Aaron asks.

She clicks her tongue off the roof of her mouth, “Uh… oh, no, we only have 1 room left—

“Does it happen to have two beds?” Y/N cuts her off, scared to have to share.

“No, I’m sorry, we have just the one queen left,” she explains. “I can call the inn 30 miles down the way and see if they have two rooms left?” 

“No, no it’s okay,” Y/N brushes it off, “I don’t mind sharing…” 

“As long as you’re okay with it,” Aaron agrees. 

“We’ll take it,” Y/N decides, giving the lady a soft smile. 

As the woman starts to write up their receipt and mark her books that the room is taken, Y/N asks about breakfast. “What time is breakfast tomorrow?” 

“We can bring it to your room between 7 and 11,” the elderly lady explains, going into detail about the meal options they have. 

“You’re in room 6,” she explains, “it’s going to be $173 for the one night and the breakfast in the morning…” 

Y/N beats him to the punch this time, taking her credit card out and setting it on the table, “you bought everything earlier, it’s my turn.” 

“Fine,” Aaron lets her do it. “But I’m getting lunch or dinner tomorrow.” 

“You can try,” she teases, punching in her information and running her card through the machine. 

“And I just need you to both sign the guest book,” the keeper explains, pushing the book toward them. “You know, in case you go missing and the police need to recount your steps,” she says with a laugh. Thinking it could never happen. 

“We are the police,” Y/N teases. 

“FBI actually,” Aaron adds. “It’s a good thing you keep these, I can’t tell you how many times we’ve reached a dead end because people don’t update their books.” 

“Oh, well, thank you,” the woman stands a bit taller, feeling proud of her little business. 

They get their key after that, they head back to the car to get their bags and head to their room… they’re quiet at first. She heads into the bathroom to change and hype herself up for what’s about to happen. She has to share a bed with the love of her life knowing he doesn’t feel the same about her. She doesn’t know if he’s going to make a pillow wall between them or sleep with his own blanket so they don’t have to touch. She’s so nervous she doesn’t know what to do. 

She slips into her work pyjamas, just a simple pair of shorts and an old college t-shirt, she brushes her teeth and adds a bit more deodorant because the last thing she wants is for him to not like her AND think she smells. 

She’s honestly just a ball of anxiety. 

When she comes out, he’s already changed. In his boxers and a white shirt, sitting on top of the covers with his phone pressed to his good ear. It’s barely 8pm, she can tell by the smile on his face that he called Jack. 

“I love you too, buddy, have a good sleep,” he says with a whispered tone. “Bye.” 

She puts her bag down by the night table on what will be her side of the bed tonight. “How is he?” 

“He’s good… He’s starting school next week. I can’t believe how big he’s getting,” he explains, shaking his head. He hates that he’s missing it too. 

She takes a seat on the bed, facing him, her one leg curled under the other, “are you going to drop him off?” 

He nods, “I’m going to try my best to be there that first morning, I want to get some pictures of him walking in and wearing his big backpack.” 

“That’s going to be so cute,” she swoons. “Oh, I wish I could see it.” 

“Come with me?” He asks, “I can pick you up on the way to work, you’re close to his new school anyway.” 

“That wouldn’t be weird?” 

He shakes his head, “No… I mean, Haley might even have her new boyfriend there.” 

“You’re kidding?” 

He shrugs, “At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised.” 

Her heart breaks for him. “I’m sorry…” 

“Don’t be, I mean, it happens. Not many kids who meet in high school stay married for life,” he rationalizes it. “And the ones who do aren’t happy about it.” 

“Still, I hate knowing she hurt you,” Y/N sympathizes. “You’re a good man. You shouldn’t have to choose between your job and your family. She knew this was your job when she got pregnant. I don’t know what she was expecting.” 

“Me either,” he sighs, he puts his phone on the night table and leans back against the pillows. “Can I have some more medicine now?” 

She laughs, he sounds like a kid when he asks. “Yeah, let me get it.” 

She grabs a complimentary bottle of water off the dresser and gets his pills from her purse, she hands him two and watches him take them. “You know why I stepped in, right?” 

He nods, taking both his pills before he speaks again. “I appreciate it, too. I wasn’t using them as instructed, it could’ve gotten bad.” 

“We almost lost Spencer and no one stepped in,” she whispers, ashamed that they all knew and did nothing. “I couldn’t let that happen to you.” 

He puts the bottle of water back down on his night table he takes her hand and pulls her closer and wraps her up in a hug, resting his chin on her shoulder. “I appreciate you more than you know.” 

She hugs him back, her second hug in 2 days. She closes her eyes and bathes in his strength, “you’re my best friend.” 

“You’re mine,” he assures her. “Come get in bed?” He asks as she pulls back. 

“Okay,” she nods, walking around to her side, he scoots under the covers and she pulls the covers down to get in herself. The lights are still on, but they lay on their sides and face each other, “this isn’t weird?” 

He shakes his head, “I don’t think so… do you?” 

“If I cuddle you in the middle of the night I’m sorry,” she says, feeling a bashful wave fills her cheeks with heat. 

“It’s been a while since I’ve had someone to cuddle into… If anything, I just do it due to muscle memory,” he admits. “I’ll move away if—

“No, no you don’t have to,” she cuts him off. “Honestly, I might be nice?” 

“Yeah,” he agrees, smiling softly. 

He’s smiled so much today that it makes her heart so happy. 

She nervously moves in closer to him, he lays back against the pillow and she cuddles into his side. He rests his arm on her back, she keeps her hand on his stomach and he holds it with his free hand. “I’ve had a lot of fun today.” 

“Me too,” she swoons. She settles against him, she expected him to be hard… he looks so big and strong she didn’t expect him to be so soft and cuddly. 

She could get used to this. However, this is not her life. Playing pretend is fun for a while but sooner or later she’s going to have to wake up and face the consequences. He doesn’t love her back, he simply misses having a wife. 

She can play that role. She’s just not ready for the director to yell cut. 

General Taglist 

@ncsls0515 @stevesmunsons @reidsbookclub @sweetyyhippyy @manuosorioh @mrs-dr-reid @k-k0129 @squishyturtle @katsukis1wife @babybisexual @marsmunson86 @buckleyhans 

IKP taglist

@southernraven @alluringshawn @lambsheepsheeping @lmg-stilinski24 @louderfortheback @deludedfruitcake 

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotch hotchner #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotch x you #hotch smut #hotch x reader #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine

[akisunlovesnalu]

Every Witch Way

A fic that I wrote inspired by this photo. Originally I wanted it to become a detective fic but my brain spiraled and I ended up with this. It became an adventure mystery story and of course, the government hates them :) I liked the idea of them traveling through the desert and I'm not too sure where the guild fit in this but just know that all Magicians (Witches) are in hiding because society believes they are evil. Most normal people do not have magic so someone spread a theory that the only reason witches have magic is because of human sacrifices etc. It's important to note that witches want to keep their powers under wraps or else they will get reported to the authorities and sent to the hier-ups in the capital. Nobody knows what happens to the witches who are caught but they don't want to find out.

That might be some unnecessary background information so skip over that if you wish and enjoy!

When Lucy finds herself kidnapped by a ruthless group of bandits, the last thing she expects is to be saved by a witch with Pink hair and his talking blue cat. And she most certainly didn't expect to become their good friend and travel companion. Who knew evil sorcerers and government conspiracies can lead to unexpected friendships.

As the blond girl dragged herself, hands tied together in front of her, and sand covered bare feet weakly trailing after her, she realized how fast camels might actually be. You see, in all of the stories she had read so far, none of them did the four legged beast's speed any justice. They never quite described how hard it was to keep up with them. It was always “The creature was big” or “The creature was furry” but never “When kidnapped by a group of bandits, tied to and forced to stumble behind a literal camel, it may be hard to keep up.”

See if any of the books had written that in, maybe Lucy Hearfillia might be faring better in her situation. But alas, she was not.

“Stop lagging behind, blondie!” One of the men snarled, pulling on the rope to further demonstrate his annoyance. Lucy stumbled forward, struggling to stay upright. She hung her head low, very aware of the menacingly bright sun and quietly sighed.

Oh what she would do to somehow get out of this unfortunate turn of events.

She has probably been traveling together with these no good thieves for about 3 hours. After being abducted from the only good town in this godforsaken desert, the men forced her to follow them, ignoring her cries of where she was and demands to let her go. She gave up eventually of course. Not even her vocal cords could handle the immense heat that came with the dry deserted area.

“Hey boss.” The big one said, glancing over at her with furrowed brows. He had been the one to capture her in the first place. Of course Lucy could have easily taken him on but… a moment's hesitation was all they needed to successfully tie her up and steal her ring of keys. Aquarius was going to kill her!

 “Not that I really want to, but... Should we give the chick some water?” 

The man in front of the big one grunted, his blueish hair blowing with the small breeze and clearly showing off his strange X-like tattoo. Lucy watched on with little interest as a bead of sweat traveled down his forehead.

“I wouldn’t bother.” He scoffed. “Every time we’ve tried, she just spits it back up. Plus, earlier she tried to bite off Javier’s finger, do you really want to risk it?” He raised an eyebrow.

The man in question made a whining noise, clutching his injured hand to his chest and glaring at their prisoner with watery eyes. He mockingly raised the water bottle to his mouth, chugging it in an attempt to get a rise out of her. Lucy rolled her eyes, instead looking back down at the smooth sand beneath her feet.

The big one made a noise of understanding. “Even after we lied about it not being drugged too-”

Javier spit up the water that he was previously chugging, shakily putting the top back on and storing it back inside of the camel's holding bag.

“You idiot!” ‘Boss’ hissed, turning a piercing glare unto the man beside him. “She still didn’t know-” He paused, glancing over at their very interested prisoner and forced himself to  take a deep breath. “You know what, it doesn't matter, she'll be fine.”

“But, Bora-”

“She’ll be fine!” The man who Lucy now knew as Bora raised a fist threateningly. He smirked in sick pleasure as his henchmen coward away. Before she even had time to pull a face of disgust, he turned to Lucy, eyeing her hungrily. “Now, let's get a move on. The employer is expecting us by sundown and I'd rather not have the sun beating down on me any longer than necessary.”

The rest of his men tiredly murmured in agreement, picking up the pace and forcing the blond girl to — once again —trudge through the slippery sand. She hissed as her feet pricked on some sort of stick-like plant. Oh Mavis if she could just reach into the pouch hanging off of Bora’s belt-

“I don’t see the issue, it’s not even that hot.” A new voice said, startling the crew of 14 bandits plus Lucy herself. Her head snapped up for the first time in a while. Ignoring the ache in her neck, the girl rapidly searched the area until settling upon a man with… pink hair. 

He didn’t look too shocked to see a kidnapped girl tied to a Camel. Nor did he bat an eye at the blue cat that sat on his head, lazily playing with the goggles that held his hair out of his face (Did she mention that it was pink!?). And his attire looked so incredibly… bold that Lucy was sure she would faint. Seriously, who was stupid enough to travel through the desert in a black long sleeve shirt, a tan vest and a literal scarf. It was like the guy was begging to get a heat stroke.

She had immediately decided that whoever this man was, he was insane.

“Now.” He grinned, getting into a fighting stance. “What was it you said about an employer?”

Oh look now he wanted to fight off an entire group of bandits. Lucy scoffed. Definitely insane.

Where did he even come from?

Bora snarled, holding up a hand and signaling his guys to pounce on the man wearing freaking cargo pants. Once again, the pink haired freak didn’t even flinch. He stayed rooted to his spot, grinning a wide smile and daring one of them to come at him.

They did, of course, and to Lucy’s surprise were blasted back by a large ring of— 

“Fire!”

Well that certainly explains a lot.

Even after that big scare, the men were back on “Mr. cargo pants” as soon as Bora sent each and every one of them a snarl. The blond snorted as soon enough, all 14 men were on the floor, some of them even halfway in the sand and halfway not.

Bora’s horrified face soon turned back into a scowl as he fully processed Lucy’s teasing. He jumped off of the Camel, ignoring a curious looking “Mr. cargo pants” and stomping over to her. 

“Something Funny?” He said.

“Yeah, actually.” She chuckled some more, tugging on the rope in silent frustration. “Looks like you're about to get your ass handed to you.”

Bora growled, raising his hand in an attempt to threaten her. Lucy eye’d it wearily, but made no attempt to move out of its path. To her pleasure that seemed to aggravate the man even more.

“I’ll show you!” He cried and Lucy's breath hitched as he brought his hand down to strike her across the face… 

The sound of skin hitting skin somehow echoed throughout the desert and Lucy was sure her face was stinging a bright red…

Except it wasn’t… to be honest she felt no pain. Almost as if she hadn’t been hit at all… Cracking her eyes open she realized that a figure stood in front of her, effectively blocking both the sun and her view of Bora. At this, the girl was finally able to piece together what happened.

Bora had aimed for her face, only for his wrist to be caught by “Mr. cargo pants” himself. 

What an interesting turn of events indeed. 

Lucy was quite surprised by how calm she was in this type of situation. No other girl would be able to keep a straight face as they were surrounded in an alleyway, tied up, and forced onto a camel, only to be saved by a strange man (who was definitely insane) that kicked ass and breathed fire. Though if anything she’d have to blame it on experience.

The silence was interrupted by a snarl, one almost inhuman. Bora shrieked, snatching his hand away and forcibly putting a distance between him and this insane man.

“H-how dare you!” Bora shrieked, reaching into his belt and pulling out a knife. Lucy’s eyes flashed onto the leather pouch before giving the man a hard glare.

“You’re one of those demons aren't you!” His voice shook but was filled with so much venom. “The horrible bastards that turn to rituals and blood sacrifices in favor of magical powers!?”

Mr. Cargo pants made no attempt to move, only stared Bora straight in the eyes with an unreadable expression. 

“So what if I am?” He answered.

Lucy felt her lips turn into a frown.

“Then you’re worse than me!” The man laughed maniacally, waving his knife around as he spoke. “Why bother saving this chick with magic earned by bloodlust? Wait…” He gasped dramatically looking at Lucy and then back at Mr. Cargo pants. 

“Oh…” he cackled this time, using a shaky hand to clutch his side. “You probably need her right? For another sacrifice?”

As he continued with his dumb speach Lucy felt her patience slipping. She bit her lip, tugging on the rope once again with no success. She growled, now desperate enough to be pulling against the weight of a freaking Camel.

“Let’s make a deal, hm?” Bora held the knife to his mouth in thought. “I’ll let you take her for just a bit of cash. I’m sure you and your demon friends would love such delicate, pure hearted prey right? Blah Blah Blah Blah-”

Lucy tuned him out and her pink-haired savior still made no move to attack, only balling his fists and taking deep breaths. She understood… the need to prove him wrong… to just shut him up! Which was what she was planning on doing! As soon as she got rid of this stupid rope-

Her savior lunged, slapping the knife out of the bandit's hand and catching him by the neck so quickly that Lucy had to blink, just to make sure she had actually witnessed that.

Bora struggled against his grip, clawing at his arm as he gasped for breath. “Y-you…” He coughed. “You monster!”

The pink haired boy dropped him, cracking his knuckles as Bora attempted to crawl away.

“Hit me with your best shot!” He screeched. “Monster!” 

And that’s when Lucy’s attention was directed towards a flying blue blob. It took her a minute to realize that the blue blob was the cat previously perched atop her savior's head. She couldn’t help the small shriek that erupted from her throat as the cat landed directly in front of her, a look of pride overtaking its face.

“Hold on!” It cried, using its claws to slowly cut away at the thick rope. Lucy stood stock still, mouth wide as she watched a cat! a talking cat, free her from her ‘Camel Prison’... 

This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. 

She felt the rope loosen up and took that moment to slip her hands free.

She rubbed her wrists, absentmindedly thanking the (blue, flying, taking-) cat and zoning back in on the fight. Well… what she thought would be a fight. Instead, Lucy saw Mr. Cargo Pants kneeling by a tied up and unconscious Bora, checking his pulse with a bored look in his eyes.

The girl wanted to laugh at how quickly that ‘battle’ had ended. In fact, she did laugh! How could she not? Here was Bora, big bandit leader with unquestionable power over his 14 lakey’s, beaten black and blue after a fight that had barely even lasted a minute.

Pathetic.

Lucy was almost ashamed to have put her morals over her own safety. Taking on this guy would have been a sinch, the rest would have probably run away with their tails between their legs. 

The girl released a breath, finally finished with her laughing fit. She wiped a tear from beneath her eye, grinning wide at her two saviors.

“You’ve got guts!” The cat… the blue, flying, talking cat.. Spoke. It spoke… Lucy felt her face twist in confusion.

“Thank you…?”

Mr. Cargo pants finished tying up the rest of the men and strode over to them, his arms crossed over his chest as he gave her a somewhat proud look. “Happy’s right y’know. I’ve never seen another girl in your situation stand up to their captor…” He paused before quietly adding. “Well maybe Erza but I doubt she’d get captured in the first place…”

“Happy’s?” Lucy questioned, raising her brow. “What do you mean?”

“That’s Happy.” He stated matter factly, pointing over to the flying cat- Holy Mavis, this would take some getting used to. It waved. Lucy numbly waved back.

Mr. Cargo Pants held out his hand in greeting. “And I’m Natsu!” Oh well that’s good, he’s got a name. Mr. Cargo Pants was starting to seem a bit bland based on his earlier performance. Maybe she’d just call him Fire Freak, pyromaniac for short?

“Hey Natsu.” The girl smiled kindly, getting over her initial shock and shaking his hand. He held onto her hand for longer than necessary, his grip strong. The pink-haired traveler held her gaze, dark onyx eyes practically burning into her soul. His calloused hand gave her own one last squeeze before he let go, looking around as if nothing just happened.

“What're you doing this far out in the desert anyways?”

Lucy blinked, her brain taking a minute to compute after his strange display of… comradery? “I was… Traveling.” She admitted.

“With them?” Natsu and Happy blinked, looking back at the pile of motionless body’s. Finally the boy turned back to her, shaking his head and clicking his teeth. “Man, you need to get yourself some better travel companions.”

“N-no!” She barked. “I was kidnapped while traveling! Are you an idiot!”

“Well why didn’t you just say so?”

Lucy ground her teeth in frustration. One more word out of this man’s mouth and she’d be wanted for murder. She rolled her eyes. What a scatter brain.

“Well, thank you for saving me.” She settled with, surveying the litter of body’s decorating the wide desert floor. “Can I ask you to direct me towards the closest town?”

Natsu nodded his head, pointing in a direction. “We’re actually headed to one right now. Care to join?”

“... Sure!” Lucy agreed after a bit of hesitation. She turned around and untied her very important pouch from her precious Camel Captor. 

“Thanks for keeping these safe, I guess.” She said to it. The camel snorted out a noise of disinterest as Lucy stroked it’s neck. 

Natsu let out a snort, turning away and whistling casually as Lucy sent him a hard glare. She may have been forcefully tied to and painfully dragged across the desert by this Camel, but still, she felt a sense of comradery between them. She was going to miss him…

As Lucy turned to leave, the camel let out a large glob of spit, barely missing her head. The girl shrieked and ran to catch up to a curious Natsu.

She takes it back. That damn animal won't be missed. Not one bit.

#fairytail natsu #fairy tail #lucy fairy tail #fairy tail happy #nalu #nalufanfic #fairy tail official art #fairy tail fanfiction #lucy heartifilla #natsu dragneel #natsu x lucy #fairy tail au

[heyhihellosworld]

𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀

Trent Alexander-Arnold x reader

Word count: 1.7k

Summary: Trent isn't very good at keeping your relationship a secret, especially not around his noisy teammates.

Warnings: Just fluff and a small hint of angst but not really

Notes: Trent is literally my favorite person to write for x

The training was finally done and all Trent wanted to do now was go home and snuggle up to you. He was tired and wet, the cloudy day not lifting his mood in any way.

He threw his phone down on the bench not caring that it went past his bag before going to the showers.

He was the quickest getting ready, throwing his clothes down and drying off his hair before lacing his shoes, ready to go when Henderson stopped him.

"Hey, don't forget your ph-" he cut himself off as the screen lit up "Hey who is this?" he questioned, turning the phone up to study it for real. Andy who was next to Henderson leaned over to look for himself while Trent stood frozen.

"Hey let me see" Virgil cut in, and soon everybody was passing the phone around, everyone staring at Trent who looked around the room, his tongue poking out from the side.

"Wait, is that-is that y/n?!" Virgil exclaimed as he got the phone again, studying it really close causing Henderson and Ox to throw themselves over the phone again to study the picture closer "It is! Trent you have some explaining to do!" Henderson called.

"Okay, fuck just give me my phone back you idiots" Trent groaned, snatching it back and turning it off. Closing the picture he had as a background. He had just switched it yesterday, the picture taken of the two of you at Trent's parents house last weekend, you were sitting on the couch together, smiling at each other as he is kissing your temple. He loved that photo and thought it was a cute background but now he remembered why he had a simple background before, you kept your relationship low-key.

Trent threw the phone down in the bag, wanting to leave but there was no reason to even try with the way everyone looked at him.

Everybody knew who you were as you were friends with many of the team, you knew Klopp and was therefore often watching training and matches. Sometimes assisting the trainers out and just being around.

That was how you'd met Trent. After a late training he had stayed a bit longer on the pitch where you had been, the two of you had begun talking and then he'd driven you home with the promise of meeting you again. He had kept his promise and after that you'd met up frequently, slowly fallen in love with the right-back defender.

After you became official you decided to keep it on the low, both for media and for everyone in the team, just wanting to be you for a little while.

"Explain!" Virgil demanded, sitting relaxed on the bench, legs wide spread and a small smirk on his face.

"Well.. we're dating okay!" Trent explained, groaning at the collective gasps from his teammates "Since when! And why haven't you told us?!"

"Since two months back and because we decided not to, at least not yet"

"You've hid your relationship for two months, what!" Ox close to gasped which made Trent groan out a chuckle "Come on guys, it's no big deal, we wanted to keep it easy and not pressure it before we knew anything for real"

"Man, you've gotta take her to guys night soon" Ox grinned, cutting the tension slightly "Yeah yeah, maybe, anyway can I go now?" he asked sarcastically making the guys boo at him "Sure" Robby grinned, Trent rolled his eyes annoyed by them and their stupid grins.

"Have you fucked her yet?" "Are you married?" "Do you have secret kids?"

"Shut up and don't talk about her like that" Trent grunted before exiting the changing room feeling even more bitter than before.

You were laying on the couch when Trent entered the apartment. You had been working from home, sorting all types of documents and numbers for your boss and now you were just finishing up in front of the tv.

"Hey love" you grinned as you saw his face in the door opening. "Hey" he muttered back, making you frown as he flopped down on the couch, face in your lap

"Hey, what's wrong" you asked softly, scratching his neck gently. "The boys found out about the two of us" he muttered after a second, not wanting to meet your eyes "What" you huffed, making him look up at you with a worried look.

"They saw my phone-background and put one and one together, everybody knows" You sat quite for a little while, processing the news but you didn't notice it made Trent anxious as he waited for you to say something, anything.

"Are you mad?" he said lowly meeting your eyes carefully "What, no no no, I were just-...thinking about what we will do, who we will be open to and if we should become official" you hummed, slowly threading your fingers through his hair to reassure him it was fine.

You were not mad, not at all. You both knew you wouldn't be able to keep it hidden forever and it was never really about hiding it either but more about being just you, getting to know each other and your relationship. But now multiple months had passed and you knew him and your relationship well by now and it felt like your relationship could survive the publicity.

Plus it was only his teammates, the guys you knew well and were sure they wouldn't tell it to the media. It was actually pretty nice that they knew so you would no longer have to hide and sneak around them with your relationship.

"Do you want to become official?" Trent asked, his eyes holding a little shocked glance. "I don't know" you hummed sweetly, kissing his forehead. "I think it would be possible to go official" you thought out loud "What do you mean?" "Like, the reason why we kept it to us where because we wanted to be sure and do it in our time but now I guess or relationship is strong enough to hold that kinda thing and we've already figured us out and I don't think it would destroy us as it could've before." Trent hummed, nodding a little "that's true but do you want that? Do you want to deal with all the media?" his voice was cold and almost dismissive, like what you said was stupid.

You frowned slightly, retreating your hands from his head which made him react, looking at you with an equal frown.

"Do you not want to be official with me?" you asked, slightly offended and hurt.

When he didn't answer you scoffed, pushing his head from you and standing up, ignoring his call of your name as you walked to the kitchen, roughly taking out a coffee mug from the cupboard.

"Babe" Trent sighed, wrapping his arms around your waist but you shrugged him off, really annoyed. "Babe I didn't mean it like that don't be sour" he pleaded but you already where. Pouring up the coffee you'd made earlier and slamming it into the microwave.

"I just.. I've just been thinking" he said carefully, not wanting to upset you anymore. "What" you barked "what the fuck have you been thinking off"

"I just.. can we please just sit down and talk about this" he sighed

"Sure" you huffed, taking out your cup and walking back into the living room, sitting down in the love-seat this time.

Trent sighed, knowing he had talked to fast.

He squatted down in front of you, not liking the annoyed look you had. "I didn't mean it like that"

"I-I guess- I'm just scared to be official" he finally spit. "I really love what we have and I don't want that to be messed up. I think you're right that we could survive it but I can't even think about it not working out. What if all the publicity makes you want to back out or if it causes trouble for us. I couldn't stand it" he sighed out, making your tense body soften and relax.

"It's not that I don't want to be official with you it's just that I don't want to loose you, I don't wanna loose what we have. I feel fine with the boys and all but I'm scared of social media"

He sighed out the words like it had been a hard burden for a long time making you feel slightly bad. Your hand made it's way to his face again, stroking his chin before you lean down to kiss him, sweetly and lovingly.

"I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions and I get what you mean" you said softly, loving the small sweet smile that tilted the corner of his mouth upwards.

"I'm sorry too, I didn't word it correctly and it came out wrong"

You nodded smiling at him before beginning your pondering again.

"I get what you mean, I do but we really only have one choice now and that's either we go out with our relationship publicly by ourself or we wait until we are exposed"

You said the words easily, simply just stating facts and Trent knew that you would never pressure him, it was the reality of things right now.

"You're right" he sighed, resting his forehead against your thigh. "What do you think?"

You bent down and dragged him up from the floor, settling in the couch instead so you could both sit.

"I don't know" you hummed

"Me neither" Trent sighed, drawing you into his side.

"What if we just let it be for a second, process it and keep it on the low, adjust to be us in front of the boys and then we will talk about it in a couple of weeks?"

Trent didn't answer, he just took a hold of your chin and kissed you needily. "I love that idea and I love you"

You giggled against his lips before letting them melt together again. "Then that's what we do"

#trent alexander arnold #football imagine #trent alexander arnold imagine #trent alexander arnold fanfic #trent alexander arnold fanfiction #trent x reader #trent alexander arnold x reader #trent #footballer imagine #footballer fanfiction #liverpool #trent alexander arnold fluff #trent alexander arnold angst

[bit-dodgy-innit]

First

Summary: You fell in love first with Marc. It didn’t mean you loved him more than his other alters, but when you notice he’s hesitant to front after your daughter is born, you gently confront about it and assuage him. 

Another fic set in THE SHAPE OF YOU verse 

Pairing: Marc x afab!reader, background Steven x afab!reader and Jake x afab!reader

Word Count: 4.3k 

Rating: M

CW/TW: Mentions of abuse, divorce and pregnancy, domesticity, sexual themes and content, angst, feels, fluff.  

A/N: Sometimes you need to write the entire history of a relationship before you actually write the scene between two characters you’ve been thinking of! Tre fun! 

I need everyone to know that I adore Layla and May Calamawy sooo much so that every OC I write must be intimidated and jealous of her because she is truly a goddess among us. That being said, I hardcore ship Layla and the Moon Boys in canon, wanted to make sure NO ONE thinks I’m a hater!

You met Marc first, through work of all places. Your company was doing a defense deal, and your superiors thought it prudent to hire a consultant to ensure no party was getting screwed over money or terms-wise. And it would have been, it would have been a perfectly prudent, responsible choice if your first thought upon meeting Marc Spector hadn’t been oh my God, why does the military consultant have such soulful eyes?

The attraction to him was instant. Suddenly you were berating yourself for not doing more with your hair that day, and of course you’d wore your least flattering skirt. The good news was that you were running point on this deal and would have more opportunities to dazzle the American in the coming months with your business acumen and your beauty.

Initially, you two were nothing but friendly professionals. You got along easily, which was imperative since you were liaising with the slow and infuriating bureaucracy of the Ministry of Defense. Marc made the painstaking work and negotiations your company had dispensed you two with tolerable, even enjoyable. 

You did start making more of an effort in the office though. It was subtle, you didn’t want Marc to know you were trying, let alone trying for him, but your heart would sink a little every time he politely declined your team’s invite for a post-work pint when you’d gotten up extra early that morning to blow out your hair. 

That all changed at a client dinner. Your bosses were attending as well as members of the Ministry of Defense, so Marc had to be there. The chance to interact with the elusive American outside of work was stupidly exciting to you. Even better, you were seated across from him at the table. You were damn good at your job, which meant you could multitask: you charmed the clients, laughing in all the right places during their boring and problematic anecdotes, and got as drunk off the sight of Marc in a suit and tie as you were on the expensive wine your boss ordered. 

Up until that night, you had assumed that your interest in Marc was one-sided. Hell, you’d believed it all throughout dinner too. It wasn’t until after the meal, when everyone headed home for the evening, that Marc insisted you split a cab and the irrevocable shift took place.

“You really didn’t have to do this,” you insisted as the taxi Marc hailed pulled over, “I’ve lived in London my entire adult life, I know how to get home in one piece.”

It was true, but the real reason you were protesting had more to do with the wine you’d consumed and the ensuing proximity to Marc than your personal safety. You couldn’t trust yourself not to do something horny and stupid. 

“C’mon, it’s no trouble, besides we’re not far from each other. What kind of gentlemen would I be if I let you leave unaccompanied with all the crazy shit out there nowadays?” Marc opened the car door for you. 

Your heart soared and your panties flooded. Trying to play it cool, you threw out one last protest as you got into the cab, “That’s not your job Marc, that’s why we have Thor and that white knight guy.”

Marc got in behind you and muttered, “You shouldn’t trust him.”

You weren't sure if he meant the god of thunder or the other vigilante, but frankly, you didn’t care because you were in the backseat with Marc. You couldn’t remember anything else you said after that, you knew that you apparently carried on a whole conversation while the cab ferried you across the Thames, but Marc’s lips so close, the scent of his aftershave, his hand resting on the seat millimeters from yours were the only things you could focus on.

The driver pulled to a stop and recited your address, shattering the warm, heady haze of desire you’d sunken into over the course of the ride. 

“That’s me!” you called over the divider.  

Marc told the driver to wait, that he’d walk you to your building’s door. Your throat was as dry as sandpaper but somehow you found the saliva to say “Thanks again.”

“No problem.”

You opened your purse. “How much do I–”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Okay well, make sure you expense this then.”

“I’m really not worried about it.”

“Right. Good night, Marc.”

You’d said the words to him, but didn’t move. Those dark, expressive eyes had you pinned in place. After a beat, you decided you’d been imagining ‘a moment’ and began to retreat. That was when Marc, rather Marc’s body almost independent of him, lurched toward you, crashing your lips together. 

Needless to say, it was a good kiss. The kind of kiss that makes your toes curl, that feels like you’re getting lost and coming home at the same time. 

When you breathlessly broke apart, Marc had sucked any sense out of your brain, leaving nothing to stop the words from tumbling out of your mouth “That was unprofessional.”

It wasn’t a judgment. Nor a condemnation. Just an observation. A statement of fact.  

“Yeah,” he agreed. 

“But I think how much I enjoyed it is even more unprofessional.”

“Fuck,” Marc swore lowly before kissing you again. It was just as good as the first. No flukes here. The next time you both gasped for air, he reeled. “We can’t do this.”

“I know,” you conceded. 

“Not while I’m working with you.” 

“Okay.” It was all you could manage while your head swam. Then it occurred to you to follow up with, “After?”

“Yeah. After.” Marc nodded. You opened your building door, he jogged back to the taxi, and that was it. 

The next morning at the office, you’d concluded that “After” from Marc meant he was letting you down easy. While you felt like you’d arrived at the office altered on a cellular level after acting on your feelings for him, Marc was reserved and distant in your meetings. 

You cried on the Tube on the way home and ultimately absolved him. The two of you had been drinking last night, and Marc was a hot American guy in London. He was probably drowning in pussy, why would he wait for a woman who was off-limits for another six weeks? It was your fault for nursing a schoolgirl crush on him as a grown-ass woman. 

His refusal to join the crew for drinks after the deal closed felt like the nail in the coffin. Marc didn’t want to pick things up despite his contract with your company being completed. You got absolutely shitfaced that night, so much so that it wasn’t until the next morning that you saw that he’d texted you. 

From Marc Spector: now where were we?

You thrashed in your bed in delight, giggled, and then promptly shuffled to the bathroom to vomit. 

***

You got dinner, just the two of you this time. Marc revealed that the reason he’d been so evasive had stemmed from the fact he was attracted to you too, but Marc was building his reputation as a consultant and wanted to maintain professionalism. He didn't want to compromise you and your job integrity either. All was forgiven over dinner while you got to know each other better. 

You’d never tell Nyla this, but you jumped into bed with Marc sooner than you would with anyone else. It was not a feminist, nor a particularly romantic thing to say, but you considered your fate to be sealed after the first time you and Marc slept together. The way he bounced you on his cock, then maneuvered you onto all fours and pounded you from behind while growling “Yeah baby, work that ass back on this dick” swiftly and effectively ruined you for other men. 

You found that dating Mark was like an archaeological dig. The closer you got, the deeper you dug, you unearthed a new revelation about the beautiful, but complex, man who would become your husband and the father of your child. 

Revelation One: Marc had been married before. That one wasn’t much of a surprise, given his age and experience in the sack. With a face that handsome, a cock that fat, and ass and thighs that thick, it only made sense that someone would’ve tried to lock Marc down. He didn’t tell you many details about his ex-wife, only that they were married for a few years and that she lived abroad. You were privately pleased that she wasn’t in the British Isles, a childish possessiveness fueling a small pit of jealousy within you. 

Revelation Two: Marc had been a mercenary. This didn’t really come as a shock either, you’d witnessed first-hand Marc’s extensive knowledge of the military and the black market, both of which were indispensable as you’d hammered out the deal at work. Perhaps it didn’t bother you as much to know that your boyfriend used to kill for a living when you could see how the vocation still haunted his features when he spoke about it, how earnestly he wanted to repent for his actions. It also helped that it was a nebulous concept to you, you’d never seen him act as the cold-blooded killer he professed he’d been, so it wasn’t quite “real” to you. 

Revelation Three: Marc had suffered trauma and abuse. It helped explain Marc’s path to his former dark line of work, not to mention it broke your heart to learn that his own mother had beaten him, a horrendous misdirection of her grief over the death of his younger brother. She had died recently too, which triggered a whole mix of emotions that Marc was working through. 

Revelation Four: Marc had Dissociative Identity Disorder as a result of the trauma and abuse. This one took some backup to wrap your mind around, yet it did explain why Marc never went out for drinks after work – Steven, one of his alters, had been TA’ing a class at University College London that met in the evenings as part of his Ph.D during Marc’s contract. It also provided the reason for why Marc had sort of lurched into the first kiss you shared. His second alter Jake had taken control and given Marc the push he felt the other needed. 

You did your best to school your features to impassivity when he told you. Marc thought you’d break up with him then and there. You didn’t, but you told him you needed a minute to make sure you could process everything properly. So you reached out to a therapist you’d seen a few years ago after a bout of depression. It took a few sessions and research on your part, yet it wasn’t long until you felt comfortable enough to meet Steven and Jake.

It was weird, meeting Marc’s alters felt like a mix of going on a blind date and meeting your significant other’s family. The apprehension you initially harbored dissipated in the first five minutes you met Steven, however. You fell for his accent, his dorkiness, and the way he looked at you like you were a treasure from one of ancient civilizations he was an expert on. It also didn’t hurt that he would eat your pussy for hours and was obsessed with your tits. 

You and Steven went on a few more dates just the two of you, then took a month for you to adjust to being present when he and Marc would switch and be co-conscious before meeting Jake. Your first date with him was at a salsa club, so wildly unlike Marc or Steven, and you had to pick your jaw up from the floor when your boyfriend greeted you with a Spanish term of endearment in a flat cap and leather gloves. Jake was less inhibited than Marc, a double edged sword in that he was quicker to anger and violence, but less guarded about his emotions and affection toward you. Plus, Jake gave you a reason to dust off your high-school Spanish. 

It took a few months, but eventually you four settled into a routine and ease with each other. Your relationship was unconventional for sure, but it was also the happiest you’d ever been. You’d believed that you’d gotten through the most stunning revelations from Marc, that you’d hit his metaphorical core, and everything from here on out would be relatively smoothly sailing. You were so confident that you started dropping hints to each of the boys about engagement rings. 

Turned out you still had more to learn. 

Revelation Five: Marc and both his alters had a stint serving Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon. Superheroes and gods and aliens were a part of your life, part of everyone’s after The Snap, but you never thought that the man you slept next to would’ve been so directly involved in it. 

“You were white knight guy!?!” you gaped when Marc told you.

“Yeah, Khonshu’s Moon Knight,” he clarified. 

As bonkers as this information was, it was similar to when Marc had told you he was divorced or that he’d been a mercenary. While of course you believed him, you had never actually seen Marc’s mysterious ex-wife or watched Marc take down a target, the information had never been made tangible. 

It was easy to accept when you learned that your boyfriend was Khonshu’s avatar, because you would never see him in the suit. Apparently, the Egyptian god was kind of an asshole, and the men had renounced their ties to him just before you and Marc began dating. It was why Marc had been so adamantly against an office romance, he was desperate to build a life without violence, outside of Khonshu after years of service to the deity.

Marc had tried to push you away, even revealing some of these facets of himself in an attempt to get you to leave him, but you stayed the course. You patiently held your ground and told Marc, each and every time, that he wasn’t getting rid of you that easily. You received every revelation with a measured countenance, well, until you discovered that Marc’s ex-wife was The Scarlet Scarab. That launched you two into a row for the ages. 

“How do I compete with that?!’ you shrieked at him, “I can’t compete with that.”  

“I don’t want you to! I want you because you’re you, you’re not like her, you’re—”

“Boring?” you supplied. 

Marc’s frown deepened. “No, stop. You’re putting words in my mouth.” 

“So what am I to you? Your breather before you go back to her for superhero sex?”

“Ok, first of all I wasn’t a superhero–” 

“Marc, you had a special suit, enhanced abilities and fought criminals. That’s a superhero.” 

“You’re missing the point,” he argued. “Layla and I are through. She wanted to be a superhero and I’d had enough of Khonshu’s bullshit. I couldn’t do it anymore. She wanted the adventure and I wanted this, what we have. We made a good team when it was stealing artifacts and chasing madmen across the globe but we were shit at all the real stuff - well not that it wasn’t real - the relationship stuff.”  

You studied Marc for a long moment. You wanted to keep your jealousy at bay, you really did. So you tried to play it off, scoffing “Ugh, you’re lucky you’re an animal in bed and that Steven’s the only one who will go to that impressionist exhibit with me later this month.” 

“You’re being glib, which means you’re not mad?”

“No, I’m sad,” your face crumpled and a sob escaped your throat. You thought you and Marc had made it through the worst of it, the deepest, darkest parts of yourselves, but here you were, fighting over something that Marc had kept from you because you were envious. A nexus of both of your vices. “What are we doing here?”

Marc watched you cry, cold fear sluicing through his veins. He looked to his reflection in hopes that Steven or Jake would tap in, they were better at this stuff, but Steven denied him with a curt shake of his head. 

Not a good idea, Steven relayed through the reflection of the microwave in the kitchen, You were married to Layla and well, she fell in love with you first. Don’t abandon her. 

“Maybe I should,” Marc muttered.

You looked up from your hands that had been catching your tears, “What?”

“I should leave, I’m not the kind of guy who can do long-term–”

“STOP!” you wailed at him. “No! You don’t get to run away Marc, this is what a relationship is, it’s leaning into the hard times no matter how much they hurt and fucking working through it. I will not let you throw away the last two years of my life and my love for you, and Steven and Jake because of this. I’m angry about Layla so just comfort me God dammit! Or at the very least, call me out for being a jealous bitch.”

Your challenge sent a flare of anger through Marc, “Okay! You are being a jealous bitch! I’ve told you everything, everything about me and this is what you choose to get mad about?! It’s stupid, you should have run for the hills when I told you about the mercenary work, or the DID or fucking Khonshu, but you stayed.” 

“Yeah so now give me a reason to,” you fired back. “Why should I believe you won’t go back to your hot, super-powered ex-wife?”

“BECAUSE I DON’T LOVE HER ANYMORE!” He roared. “I love YOU! I have been leaning into the hard shit. I've told you about my mom and my brother, I let you meet Jake and Steven because I want to be with you for the rest of my life! You were the reason I finally renounced Khonshu!!”

Marc collapsed onto one of the breakfast bar stools. You went to him, afraid he’d switch unintentionally or worse, hurt himself. To your surprise, he let you collect him in your arms. 

When Marc spoke again, it was much softer, “What you call boring or ‘normal’ is what I’ve wanted ever since Randall died, but didn’t think I deserved it. I didn’t want to be an avatar or a superhero or whatever, I wanted a steady job and a family, but the dishonorable discharge, the D.I.D, the fucking birdgod prevented me from having that, made me believe I couldn’t.’ 

“I’m sorry,” you whispered into his hair. “I don’t want to lose you Marc, I love you so much. I guess…I got scared that I couldn’t measure up. I’m so afraid that you feel like you’re settling for me.”

“Baby, no,” Marc brought his face to yours. “I’m the one with D.I.D. and a fucked up past, you’re settling for me.”

You shook your head, dismissing the notion. “You really want to spend the rest of your life with me?”

“Yeah, if you’ll have me.”   

Tears fell from your face again, but this time they were from happiness. 

***

The engagement and wedding followed. It was a small ceremony, exactly what you two wanted, that observed the Jewish traditions important to Marc. The honeymoon passed by in a haze of sex and sweat in Greece. With three husbands eager to consummate their marriage, you joked to Steven that you could barely walk after the week you spent in Mykonos. To your horror, he took it literally and you were greeted at the airport in Athens by an attendant with a wheelchair. It was a sweet, albeit a little embarrassing, gesture. 

Back home, you worked on getting your parents as comfortable with Marc, Steven, and Jake as you were. Jake started his own business since Steven’s schedule had stabilized now that he was teaching, and Marc had entered a phase of his career where he could pick and choose clients. You all had talked about kids but the concept was firmly filed into the ‘later on’ column of your marital priorities. 

Nyla had other plans. Honestly, you shouldn’t have been surprised that you’d conceived on your honeymoon, there were few surfaces on the Greek island you hadn’t fucked on. But even after the missed period and morning sickness, the positive pregnancy test shocked you. You and your husband were as elated as you were terrified. 

***

You all still felt as if you were white-knuckling as parents, but Nyla embracing her sleep schedule and improving on latching allowed you and your husband to exhale some. 

Your daughter had woken you up extra early this morning. The weather was nice, you were graced by a rare sunny morning in London, so you and Marc decided to take Nyla on a stroll in the park. Leaving the flat with a newborn was a tall order, one that demanded all the strategy and concentration of a military operation, Marc found. You both packed up all the necessities to fit in a single diaper bag while also keeping your daughter entertained. 

Your little family made it out of the house in record time. It only took 34 minutes to pack everything to go down the street for a walk in the park. 

You pushed Nyla’s stroller while Marc carried the bag. The movement had lulled Nyla back to sleep. You extended the stroller’s visor to shade her, but Marc insisted on having your baby wear the sun hat you’d packed for another layer of protection from the rays bathing Dulwich park in an early summer warmth. 

You figured now was the best chance you’d ever have at talking to Marc about his reticence to front around Nyla. The subject had to be broached delicately, sneakily, or else you may not get another opportunity. 

His insistence on getting Nyla’s hat gave you the perfect in. “You’re great with her.”

Marc shrugged off the praise as he dug for her hat. So you persisted, “And she loves you so much.” 

“Yeah, because I look like Steven,” he groused.

“Hey, that’s not true,” you stopped his search with a hand on his arm. “You have these cute conversations with her, when you lay her back on the top of your thighs. She gets so enthralled when you two ‘talk’. You’re the only one who does that with her.”

Marc poured the ensuing emotion into his search for her hat. “She’s so tiny. Why didn’t the books say anything about how goddamn little she’d be?”

“Well, she was a few weeks early,” you reminded him. “I wanted her to get over 3 and a half kilos, but Nyla didn’t want to wait any longer.” 

“Just like her mom,” Marc teased.

“And also much like her mom, she doesn’t want you to avoid her, since you make her feel so loved.”

It wasn’t that falling for Marc first meant you loved him more than his alters, but it did make you slightly more attuned to him. Your life had been made so much richer when Marc allowed Steven and Jake’s presences in your life, and you knew your daughter would only benefit from Marc fully allowing his presence in hers. 

Besides you’d heard about the last time Marc had tried to leave things in solely Steven and Jake’s hands, and that had resulted in Steven getting sacked for destroying a bathroom at the British Museum, the two of them getting shot and taking a round trip to the Egyptian underworld, and an evil crocodile lady trying to take over the planet. 

Your husband tensed, the tendon in his jaw working before he answered, “I don’t want to hurt her.”

“You won’t,” you assured him, stopping the stroller for a moment. “Honey, I wouldn't have married you, let alone had a baby with you, if I thought any of you were capable of hurting me or our child. Believe me.”

“But what’s the point, Steven is such a natural–”

“Yeah, and he’s wonderful. But tell me if I'm wrong, he doesn't hold the memories of your childhood the same way you do. He may have seen them, but he didn't experience first-hand, right?” 

Marc stayed silent, but didn’t correct you.

“He doesn’t carry the baggage quite like you do...which is nothing against either of you! And I know me and him have discovered, um…this new kink that we share, but that doesn’t mean I don't want you around. It doesn't mean you’re any less capable as a father than Steven or Jake. She needs all of her dads, Marc.”

Marc’s eyes drifted from yours to the sleeping infant in front of you.

“You each have your special little things you share with Nyla and it’s so beautiful to watch, babe,” Your eyes welled up with tears. Damn hormones, could you get through anything without crying? “I can't tell you how happy it makes me.”

“Baby,” he murmured. 

You composed yourself, “All I’m saying is that you can trust yourself with her. And if you ever have a moment when you don’t trust yourself, know that I trust you with Nyla, and I'm her mother. What I say goes.” 

“You’re the best mom, you know that right?” Marc questioned. It was your turn to downplay his compliment. “You take such good care of her. I know Nyla will never go through what I did because of you.”

“It’s easy,” you stopped yourself, “Well, it’s not easy, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but loving you and this little girl we made makes me happy to do it. So don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“Deal,” Marc agreed. 

“Good, because when my dad gets in tomorrow, he’s going to want someone to talk about sports with, and you know the other boys are shit at it,” you quipped. 

Marc chuckled as he bent over the front of the stroller to put Nyla’s hat on her little head and tie the strings around her chin while she slept. He couldn’t hide the proud grin that brightened his face when he managed to secure it without waking Nyla. 

“See what I mean?” you used his success to drive home his fatherly ability. 

Marc returned to your side, draped an arm around you, and pressed a kiss just under your ear. “Thank you, honey.” 

“I love you,” you whispered, resuming your walk. 

Nyla was the combination of you and your husband, which meant she wasn’t going to let either of you get too cocky. The stroller had only made it another thousand meters before she began fussing, though this time, more hormonally-fueled tears threatened to pour from your eyes when Marc didn’t hesitate to tend to his daughter. 

Read the next fic in the series: THE MAGIC TOUCH

A/N: Y’all I thought of this idea and then the dialogue confronting Marc when reader discivers his ex is ~Layla El-Faouly~ started writing itself and then four thousand more words poured out of me. Ooops. 

I know I say this every time, but it’s true that everyone’s support and responses get me fired up and inspired to write!!! 

Taglist: @twwcs @starfirette @toracainz 

#moon knight #moon knight smut #moon knight fanfic #moon knight fanfiction #marc spector #marc spector x reader #marc spector x female reader #marc spector x you #steven grant #steven grant x reader #steven grant x female reader #jake lockley #jake lockley x female!reader #jake lockely x female reader #steven grant x you #jake lockley x you #moon knight x reader #moon knight x you #oscar isaac fanfiction #oscar isaac #oscar isaac x reader #oscar isaac x you #marc spector fanfiction #jake lockley fanfiction #steven grant fanfiction

[flappingdragon]

What Type of Anime Would The Brothers Watch?

A/N: Been a while, hasn’t it? Sorry, I just got caught up in life and work. There was a personal matter that I had to attend to so it took longer than usual. I know this isn’t the promised “next HC’s”, but trust me. They aren’t a myth. Yet…

Characters: Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belphegor, Diavolo, Barbatos, and Solomon

Tags: SFW, anime, suggestive content, short HC’s

Lucifer

Definitely Slice of Life

He likes watching other people enjoy normal lives

He’s also quite sad that he doesn’t get to experience such things because of his certainly unique and odd family and boss

Secretly wishes he could be normal and live a normal life like the characters in the anime

Mammon

It’s hard to choose but he’d totally be into the action/fantasy category

Especially ones that deal with gambling or money

Actually learned a thing or two about gambling from an anime

Brought Lucifer a couple headaches and resulting in a few chandelier replacements, but hey

He’s living his best life

Leviathan

Alright. It’s pretty much canon at this point

Isekai

He loves how random some Isekai’s can get

I mean, how could you NOT watch someone being reincarnated into a fridge? That’s peek action right there!

But no seriously

He also loves how chaotic the titles can be

And how freakishly long they get the more he watches

As long as it’s Isekai, he doesn’t care what genre it is

Satan

Thrillers, true crime, or drama

Knowledge addict

He only picks the ones that are labeled as “based on a true story”

Gets super hyped when a new episode of one of his favorites comes out

Will genuinely keep him from destroying the place

Even if someone were to accidentally bump him

He’ll just brush it off and continue watching

Honestly is so cute when his eyes light up

Also fewer headaches in Lucifer’s department so it’s not all that bad

Asmodeus

Anything with fan service

Or comedy

He likes a good laugh every now and then

Or anything to do with fashion

Any three of those and he’s hooked

Doesn’t matter the genre, just set it in front of him and he’ll be entertained for hours

He doesn’t watch shows with fan service too often, but he usually does find the situations quite funny

I mean, someone’s cloths being shred to bits in the silliest way possible? Count him in! That shit is funny to him!

He also loves an anime that knows how to dress their characters right

Doesn’t matter what type of anime it is, as long as it keeps his eyes on the outfits, then he’s sold

But he’s usually caught watching comedy more so than hentai

He prefers to be horny with actual people, not fictional characters

Beelzebub

Dear lord, anything to do with food please keep it away from him

We don’t need a repeat of last time

He doesn’t watch anime too often, but when he does it’s usually rpg style shows

He likes how excitable they can be

He likes seeing the main character thrive and achieve what they wanted

Hates anime’s that have a good start but bad ending

I mean, come on

Who wants to be sad and depressed after watching a good show?

Certainly not Beelzebub

It makes him lose his appetite

Belphegor

Like Beelzebub, he doesn’t watch too much anime

He likes more relaxing and chill-going animes

So maybe slice of life with a bit of comedy and adventure

Nothing too extreme, just something to have in the background as he falls asleep

Sometimes, when he falls asleep with the TV on, he’ll dream of the anime and accidentally wake up late for R.A.D

He hates getting scolded by Lucifer so he makes sure to wake up before then

No one knows how he does it, but he manages

Diavolo

He watches whatever is recommended to him

Mainly Isekai because Levi can’t stop recommending everything to Diavolo (mainly bc the prince is the only one who will listen to him with interest)

He also likes to peek in on what Lucifer is watching, too

Because how could he not?

He’d love to understand more about his friend in any way possible and totally not because he wants to invite him out for drinks later and totally not because I’m a DiaLuci shipper

But he kind of just watches whatever whenever

Nothing really sticks to him

It’s either everything at once or nothing at all

He likes it chaotic

Barbatos

Doesn’t watch anime

Watches whatever is on the TV that the young master chooses

He’s more of a live cooking show type of demon

He prefers to learn something rather than entertain himself for the mere sake of it

He enjoys learning new things so he tends to stray away from the things that are fictional

But if there was one anime he’d watch, he’d watch Black Butler

Because how could he not?

He too, is One Hell of a Bulter

Solomon

Slice of Life or cooking

Mainly Slice of Life

He’s sort of been banned from watching anything related or suggested to cooking

Mainly out of fear from others

If he were to watch cooking anime shows, it’d be in private and when no one is watching

He likes how funny and chill some Slice of Life shows can get

It’s a break from his very disastrous life

Probably one of the few times a month he really gets to relax

After all, he still has to get that pact agreement from Lucifer

And he’s not going to stop any time soon

A/N: Totally did not make this to procrastinate— (whistles and slowly walks away…)

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