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#it's a double standard but like not in a negative way. it's in a way that makes me want to shake them like a snowglobe

strqyr · 1 day

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I just wanted to reach out and say, i really appreciate the Taiyang Positivity you post :3

He’s one of my favourite characters and i find that people have a lot of negative things to say about a depressed man grieving his **second** lost love, so i really like seeing you say just how much he loves and cares for his daughters despite his flaws

Thank you so much for spreading some much needed Good Tai Thoughts :D

skgjhgds thanks, my strq brainrot will continue to provide this in the future as well, no doubt about that 🫡

and honestly, it's the lack of sympathy / empathy that really gets me. ghira and kali don't get half the shit tai does for not being there for their daughter for five years, even when the show makes it abundantly clear that they missed blake growing up and she's now a different person that they knew her as, and like. they just watched her go join a violent organization, i guess? willow doesn't get half the shit tai does when she wasn't there for her kids for nine years (whitley was 5-6 years old), leaving them to deal with their abusive and controlling dad on their own while she was drinking and dealing with her own issues. summer doesn't get half the shit tai gets when it was her choice to leave, which led to her family having to deal with the aftermath while grieving.

none of them are getting called horrible parents at the rate tai does; it's flat out just double standards, and at this point i'm just like. there's no way i can even take it seriously anymore it's just so blatant lmao

#rwby #taiyang xiao long #ethans-express #ask.strqyr

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soulfireblue · 5 months

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The most recent session of Secret Life is so fascinating to me, because there's so much emphasis on this idea of heroes and villains in a series that's so full of murder. Like, everyone's doing it! What makes one person a villain for doing it and another a hero? Is it the cycle of violence, that the person in the wrong is whoever committed the crime first? Is murder excused when it's done for the sake of a task? Or for the sake of an ally rather than for yourself?

Scar: "So I'm just the villain of the red lives, the people who can kill me, the people who I was trying to kiss up to with the creeper farm. This is... secret keepers, why do you have it out for me?"

Gem: "All right, wow! I thought I'd have a lot more enemies, but actually I seem to be a bit of a hero on the server! Everyone likes me! Everyone has good things to say!"

Bdubs: "Want me to kill Scar? Okay, great, wonderful, that's going to be my mission for today! I'm going to be the hero of the server today!"

Gem and Scar both had tasks that involved hurting others on the server. So what's the difference? Everyone excuses Gem because it was just her task, but Scar's villainy was a task too. Do the others know that? Do they care? If Bdubs killed Scar, the narrative goes that he would be the hero of the server defeating the great evil villain. Task successful, I suppose.

#secret life spoilers #secret life #secret life smp #goodtimeswithscar #geminitay #bdubs #bdoubleo100 #there was more i could have included from bdubs' conversation that was said about scar's villainy by etho and cleo as well #but i wanted to focus on the ways that people identified themselves within the narrative based on the ways that everyone else perceived the #it's just so interesting to me #it's a double standard but like not in a negative way. it's in a way that makes me want to shake them like a snowglobe #i love scar's life series characters so much #fun fact: one of my dnd characters was inspired by his last life character #and then i proceeded to be like “D:” when i had the same exact situation of people in the party not wanting to be friends with him jhjjgjhj #he's a tabaxi wizard and he does at least have a couple people on his side and i love them <3 #but anyway that's beside the point

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greensaplinggrace · 2 months

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it is just calling out misogyny. calling baghra abusive and not darkling because you want to fuck him.

i imagine this is about this post, in which case i want to be very clear here about a great many things. first of all, you are factually incorrect, and misconstruing the situation. it is not just calling out misogyny, because there would have to be misogyny occurring in the first place. which there was not.

second of all, i want to go over what exactly you did that fundamentally undermined your argument. what you were doing in that post is called a red herring. it is the act - in a debate or intellectual discussion - of diverting focus away from the original topic with an irrelevant one. what you are bringing to the table is a bias; it is the misconception that one must always be discussing what you believe is the more serious topic when addressing other issues - and it is the equivalent of, say, bringing up men's rights on posts about feminism.

to argue that there is a double standard occurring, one would have to have sufficient evidence that the template used to judge one side is being completely discarded or changed when judging the other. in that case, the biggest argument to be made in this fandom about double standards is the double standard of watering down the female loyalists while holding the male revolutionary accountable to an entirely radical degree.

but that's beside the point. because the post referenced didn't come close to showing any type of double standard in any direction.

now, i want to be very clear here: a woman being brought up or critiqued in any space does not equate an automatic attempt at misogyny. that one cannot discuss a woman's complete actions without also - by social consensus - bringing up a man to divert attention away from her, is more damaging in that regard than the initial discussion about the woman to begin with.

as such, what you are also bringing to the table is another bias - an assumption. that anyone critiquing a woman when there is a man right beside her is automatically ignoring his crimes. and not only that, but they are ignoring his crimes due to sexual intent.

this assumption often arises if one believes their own worldview is superior to anyone else's. and if one ignores how the delineation of focus and critique in fandom spaces operates. furthermore, this is rooted in the belief that moral pandering must be done at all times to remain acceptable in social (fandom, in this case) spaces. which i have already mentioned before as being incredibly harmful and engaging in a black and white worldview that simply does not comport with reality. people do not operate in boxes, and they do not need to give all of their focus all of the time to the things you have issues with. if they are so pressing to you, you should discuss them yourself.

in fact, this brings me to a recent post i made about cross-tagging, which seems strangely relevant to the way you and many others operate within fandom - and believe others should operate as well. and that is this: there is an obscene amount of inflammatory hate posts cross-tagged with irrelevant topics. they're always tagged with the groups or fandom spaces assumed to be similarly minded just because the media or character they engage with are more acceptable and "pure".

i've seen anti darkling posts tagged with genyalina. completely unrelated in any capacity to the subject of the main post. i've seen even more hate posts tagged with six of crows, when their only subject matter was shadow and bone. do you know why this is? it's because these people (when they are not simply trying to attract attention) believe wholeheartedly that their views on morality are homogenous with the whole, and that if one hates this amoral character in the ways they do, they must also like the morally acceptable things as well, and condemn others similarly. it is an automatic slide into 'us vs them' based on a shared impression of ethical ideology.

this is how people with little real capacity to decipher nuance end up getting their wires crossed about the complexity of literary discussion and personal interest in fandom. and how this somehow correlates to one's inherent goodness.

which is the long way of saying that a person does not have to raise every other issue when discussing one subject. they do not have to always mention the darkling when they talk about baghra - and they do not have to (as i am well acquainted with this fandom's obsession with female purity and gender essentialism) automatically support every female character spat out of those books just to make the people incapable of media comprehension and basic critical analysis feel better. they are not beholden to you, or your egocentric worldview of a homogenous social sphere. you are not the authority on operating in fandom spaces, and you are not - believe it or not - the authority on acceptable behavior in fandom spaces.

#sorry but there's more of a double standard in people praising baghra for the things the darkling does #than the other way around #sorry :/#grishaverse #shadow and bone #fandomcourse #negative #baghra morozova #the darkling #aleksander morozova #asks and answers #anon #weird fucking people lmfao #like maybe go read a book or something idk #abuse mention tw #sab discourse #darkling slander sunday

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nell-pointer · 2 years

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guys im gonna be a hater for a second pls ignore if you dont want to see some negativity

it is just so hilarious to me that all the tommy and wilbur stans have been going around saying that wilbur is the best writer of all time and hes the only one that should ever do or write lore and everything that isnt written by him or tommy is horrible awful trash, then...... you actually watch one of wilburs lore streams and its just 💀💀💀

like i dont care that much about lore making sense or being narratively satisficing, i thought it was a fun stream, it just really tickles to me that it was the wilbur stans that tore the saving michael stream to shreds and then wilbur and does this LMAO

tho im sure yall are just gonna blame this on niki like you blamed the other one on eret

#dsmp #dream smp #wilbur soot critical #like i said i dont care if lore is good or not ill have fun either way i just think the double standards are funny #discourse #dsmp fandom critical #negativity #okay im done being a hater now #it was just a moment of weakness

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greatergothampolycule · 2 years

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sorry to bring it up again and for this being so long but seeing your villain enjoyer post I had to wonder why it is that so many people have let's say 'weird' opinions on villains and I think it's because all three types - the ones thinking enjoying a villain makes you an evil person, the woobifiers that want to erase all the hard edges and the edgelords that want them to be soulless monsters - don't seem to really understand what villains are which is characters that serve a certain purpose in a story. this purpose can of course vary but by nature of being villains and thus usually antagonists their purpose for the most part is presenting an obstacle for the hero and - in a good story - that way driving the hero's character, story or relationship developments forward. and since Batman is a superhero story this usually means that the villains will have to pose some sort of threat big enough for Bruce himself to deal with it as well as pose as a 'dark mirror' reflecting whatever (negative) characteristics of Bruce currently need developing. This then means that the villains have to be bad people and have to be violent, mean or otherwise dangerous enough to validate their place as the story's antagonist. of course you could also have a villain that isn't a bad person and acts out of desperation, but not all villains can be like that or else the story would grow stale and you'd miss out on other angles of the hero's character that could be developed through facing a more evil foe. And similarly on the other side having all villains be one note evil horrors all the time deprives the story of complexity just as much and especially in a story like Batman can be very very counterproductive since that's exactly why you get fandom discourse like "Batman should just kill his rogues" - because if the rogues have a daily kill count in the dozens it is really hard to justify Batman's no kill rule. if the rogues don't have any humanizing moments or character traits it'll make it hard for the readers to believe why Batman would see the possibility for reform in them, why he gives them so many second chances instead of just ending them for the sake of public safety. Yes you can argue that Batman doesn't kill and believes in reform 'on principle' but unless you show the audience exactly why he doesn't kill - not just through words but through personality and actions - unless you make the audience see and feel for themselves why even after all this time Bruce still believes that his rogues have it in them to change and become better people? Then the audience is going to see the no kill rule as a standardized rule of the story that they have to begrudgingly accept despite it being irrational in the face of villains that kill a hundred babies just for the sake of a joke - and not as something born from Bruce's personality and compassion and a maybe fruitless but in the end reasonable hope for betterment. Like ffs idk why it's so hard for a lot of fans - and writers unfortunately - to realize that these are characters serving a purpose and that they have to be both dangerous foes and not-good people with unsavory traits and hard edges but also fleshed out characters with enough humanity and potential for reform - even if it's just tiny rare sparks of it - in them that Batman giving them second chances seems like an understandable decision and not just a plot limitation from the readers' pov...(this is ofc not to say that Batman can't have 100% evil villains, just those shouldn't be the ones he's trying to reform but rather villains like Falcone or Strange that represent societal evils. Or alternatively have it be one (not all. never all) of the villains he's trying to reform but have that be for the sake of Bruce's character development or so that the story can examine why he believes in reform the way he does, and not just because "oh look evil clown man eats children's faces! Look how edgy and dark and mature and cool this is!")

same anon so I hope this isn't too much but I felt the need to explain that with my ask I didn't mean to say that there should never be versions of these characters that go to more extreme lengths of villainy or alternatively versions that are decidedly less 'evil' or violent than their usual counterparts. those versions should exist - since they can be very interesting - as long as they serve a purpose in their story and aren't just there for the sake of edginess or woobification. I'd say a good example for this are the two newest non-comics versions of the Riddler from The Batman (2022) and Batman: Unburied respectively. The movie version is very much a villain that the audience is simply meant to hate, his hyper-violence - especially the part where he instructs his followers to 'mow [innocents] down like sheep' - as well as the way Bruce reacts to him make that very clear, but as a character he's still not just violent for edginess' sake but serves the movie's message both as a stand in for a real type of people that the movie wants to criticize as well as by being a horror image held up like a mirror in front of Bruce to push him out of his own hyper violent mindset. The podcast's version on the other hand is the opposite: a character meant to be likable - which is made obvious both by his position as a co-protagonist and by Bruce and Barbara's reactions to him- and - while still a criminal that's a far way from being a good person - a villain that's seemingly not particularly violent (at least in comparison to some other versions of the same character), but he still doesn't come across as 'too soft' or woobified because his characterization serves to illustrate the podcast's points about police brutality and corruption as well as its point about the treatment of convicts and rehabilitation and also serves to further Barbara's character development as well as the audience's entertainment, being a fun entertaining character and all. So yes villains don't all have to be in some sort of middle ground limbo of moral complexity they can be very evil or very likable even -this isn't to say that either of the two iterations i just referenced aren't complex characters of course - but like I mentioned in the main ask? It's all about their role in the story

thank you for the great asks anon! no need to apologize, i enjoyed reading your thoughts. very good points - the root of the problem wrt the weird ways people treat villains is that they forget that villains are characters in a story, meant to serve a purpose. they aren’t autonomous agents making their own decisions, they are written to be a certain way. it’s silly to want to reduce them to pure evil (or get angry at fans for daring to like them) or go the other way of basically removing their evil. and like you say, there can be villains that have little/no redeeming qualities or complexity, and villains that are highly sympathetic or likable, but it can’t work if they’re all like that. as a superhero, batman needs serious threats to ‘justify’ his existence - his villains need to to do nasty things in order to explain why he’d go after them in the first place. but, as you do such a great job of explaining:

“Like ffs idk why it's so hard for a lot of fans - and writers unfortunately - to realize that these are characters serving a purpose and that they have to be both dangerous foes and not-good people with unsavory traits and hard edges but also fleshed out characters with enough humanity and potential for reform - even if it's just tiny rare sparks of it - in them that Batman giving them second chances seems like an understandable decision and not just a plot limitation from the readers' pov”

you can’t let them be just cartoonishly evil either because then it calls into question batman’s ‘no kill’ policy - why should we, as an audience, buy that batman truly holds this ideal and that it isn’t simply there as a lame excuse to not kill off villains (even if that might be the ‘true’ reason for it)? there needs to be something there that can give batman hope, however small, that his rogues can change. his policy should feel like a deeply held belief and code, not an editorial mandate.

and using those two recent non-comic riddlers as is a great way to show the dichotomy. reeves-verse eddie is an entertaining villain (with some sympathetic qualities) while still being one of the most evil/destructive interpretations of the riddler. he is a dark mirror to batman, like batman villains generally are. battinson wants to do good for gotham and its people. he thinks he is. the realization that he inspired riddler, inspired the man who almost killed alfred and flooded the city, shakes him to his core. battinson gets so angry at him partially because he’s horrified by the thought that he caused him. his epiphany about gotham needing more than fear, about becoming hope for gotham is because he emphatically does not want to be like riddler.

on the other side there’s unburied riddler, i haven’t listened to it yet but from what you say and the posts i’ve seen he seems like a great depiction of a more sympathetic, understandable riddler. and then you have most other riddlers which sit between these two examples, in that middle ground of moral complexity. all can be good and interesting interpretations, so long as they are well written and serve their purpose in the story well - not just edgy for edgy’s sake or defanged and boring.

#thanks for the asks! always appreciate getting them #and unfortuntely fans treating characters like theyre real people doesnt just apply to villains #like ive seen people get angry at heroes for like. displaying negative traits? having flaws?#where the 'criticism' amounts to 'this character was MEAN' or 'this character did something that doesnt make sense (to me)'#its one thing to get annoyed at double standards because sometimes writers will show favoritism towards certain characters #and yea that can be annoying #and lord knows inconsistent writing is a problem esp in comics #but sometimes its really just fans getting annoyed that a hero is complicated and not perfectly nice all the time #and ofc real life biases can come into play here bc fans tend to be way harder on female characters and characters of color #woops im going on a bit of a tangent #just fandom things!!

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cupidlovesastro · 6 months

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𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑦𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢

this post is ideas of things that can annoy your mars sign. some of them might relate, and some may not so take it with a grain of salt !

aries mars- laziness, people who procrastinate a lot, people who have no drive or passion in anything , little small things like chewing too loud, or with their mouth open, people who are airheads or don’t pick up things as fast as you, saying something repeatedly, wasting your time, no common sense

taurus mars- passive aggressiveness, people who complain a lot and don’t enjoy small simple things, rushing you, bad manners, disloyalty, sneakiness, people who brag, liars, people who tell them what to do

gemini mars- not speaking your mind, ignoring, no communication, superficials, people who don’t take your advice or value what your saying, having to repeat your words, people who belittle your intelligence, not keeping your word, being all talk, people who want you to read their mind

cancer mars- people who are harsh, not thinking before you speak, being rude to children, not appreciating people you love, sounding/ being ungrateful, inconsiderate people, people with no depth, people who aren’t emotionally mature or intelligent, disrespectfulness, confrontation

leo mars- people who are cocky, arrogant, act like their better than you, judgmental people, attention seekers, being a bully, being negative, people who don’t stand up for bad things, unrealistic expectations or standards, being taken advantage of, being belittled

virgo mars- being overly critical, rudeness, harshness, nitpicking, complaining, when people are blatantly wrong, ignorance, argumentative people, not appreciating efforts, people who don’t try, judgement, bad hygiene

libra mars- people who lack depth, people who are too flirty (while in a relationship), unfairness, people who are super aggressive, people who are hard to get along with, pessimism, stubbornness, people who can never let go of things, lacking understanding for social cues, injustice

scorpio mars- sneakiness, when they know people are lying, arrogance, people who won’t take no as an answer, people constantly making advances at you, cat calling, liars, people trying to control you, being sexualized

sagittarius mars- complaining, taking no action, not solving problems, pessimism, people contradicting themselves, double standards, liars, stubbornness, people who don’t want to have fun, people who judge their personality

capricorn mars- people with no goals, people who don’t fix their problems, laziness, no drive, getting the easy way out, airheads, people who don’t pick things up easily, being interrupted, wasting money, wasting time, things not going as they planned, people who are too serious or too unserious

aquarius mars- people who don’t put effort into things, inconsiderate people, inconsistency, people who don’t value their opportunities, people, humanity, incompetence, bullies, condescending people, selfishness, not helping when you can

pisces mars- people who lack empathy, people who try to act non chalant, rudeness, judgement, disrespect, making fun of them, calling them crazy or delusional when they’re not, hurting people for no reason, calling them dramatic

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reidmotif · 9 months

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Double-Booked for the Night

Summary: Reader and Spencer have been double-booked by JJ for a night of babysitting. What happens when the situation brings out some buried feelings from both parties?

Prompt: JJ accidentally double booked a babysitter for Henry. You both end up staying, and after watching the kids all night, he can't help but want you.

Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!Reader

Category: Smut/Fluff

Content Warning: Spencer POV, coworkers to lovers, oral sex (f receiving), dirty talk, he picks her up, heavy making-out, unprotected sex, shades of breeding

Word Count: 7.7k

In my time at the BAU, I had grown accustomed to the many changes it had brought to my life. I’d been made part of a world where long hours, serial killers, and few hours of sleep were the standard, and despite what anyone had to say about it, I had yet to truly hate my job. There were times where I couldn’t fathom that this was my life, that I was being made to peer into the minds of prolific serial killers at any given day, and expected to come out fine after, but for every negative this job brought, there was always one overwhelming positive.

My team.

If you got me tipsy enough, though, I’d probably end up babbling about the girl I’d come to know in the years I’d been here. (Y/N).

If you got me a little drunker, I’d probably end up whining about how in the aforementioned years I’d been here, we’d never made a move on each other, despite the obvious chemistry. Part of me just wanted to mitigate the tension that had been building for ages, pull her into some darkened hallway and kiss her senseless. Unfortunately, I was aware of the consequences that would come from acting so rashly, and so for both our sakes, I held back.

Thankfully, there were a thousand things to distract me from my crush on the agent, and one of those things was JJ’s adorable son. Apart from being his godfather, my known lack of a relationship among the team caused me to become the resident babysitter for the Jareau-LaMontagne household.

It was always wonderful to lend a helping hand to one of my closest friends at the BAU, and let her and her husband get out of the house once in a while, but it was even more of an added bonus that Henry was absolutely adorable, and had honestly stolen my heart. I’d make my way to JJ and Will’s house, opening the door to be greeted by the blonde boy, who was always equally as excited to see me. I’d grown fond of him, and genuinely looked forward to whatever time we’d end up spending together.

Which is why, when I’d come around to JJ’s house on a Friday night at her request, it was a little staggering to not see a head of blonde hair running to cling to my legs, but rather the coworker that had been plaguing my thoughts everyday for nearly three years at that point. It took me a second to focus on the actual situation at hand, as I was momentarily stunned into silence over how she appeared before me. She looked so casual, her hair loosely strung about, with a big hoodie and yoga pants enveloping her figure. She looked cozy, and warm- a noticeable change from the professional work attire I’d become accustomed to seeing her in. It was nice. And it briefly stopped my brain for a second. It took me about five seconds before I remembered where I was, meeting her confused expression with mine.

“(Y/N)?” I started. “What are you doing here?” I watched her keep the door open, whilst I raised my own eyebrow.

“Babysitting for Henry, what are you..?” She replied, knitting her brows a bit.

“Babysitting for Henry.” I responded, a little incredulously.

“But JJ asked me..?” She started, when I interrupted her.

“Will asked me.” I said, and she nodded knowingly, realizing what had happened.

“They double booked us.” She said, with a chuckle.

God, she was so beautiful when she laughed like that.

“Yeah, they did, didn’t they?” I say, rubbing the back of my neck, a little self consciously with a stupid smile plastered on my face.

I couldn’t help but watch the little crinkle that formed at the sides of her eyes as she smiled affectionately at my remark. She had this way of making my insides turn to goo with a simple look, and at this moment, that was exactly how I was feeling. The way my body reacted to her came about naturally, and it was almost impossible to keep under wraps, even in moments like this. She gave me an adorable grin, laughing with me about the absurdity of the situation.

“I guess I’ll.. go then.” I say with a chuckle, looking down at her. “JJ and Will only need one babysitter, and you’re already here..” I reason, gesturing to her standing at the door.

“Yeah, I.. suppose you’re right.” She says, giving me another one of her small smiles.

“I’ll see you at work then?” I say, a little awkwardly. Her hands twitched as they approached the doorknob, and I could feel it again. The absolute strain that seemed to reside between us. The manner in which her gaze connected with mine. The way she seemed to linger a little too close to me instead of the handle of the door. It was so obvious we were denying what we wanted from each other, and it felt so ridiculous. I could feel myself letting out a breath, stepping away before I did anything stupid, until I heard a barreling of little steps hurtling towards me.

“Uncle Spencer!” Henry cried, pushing past (Y/N), who nearly toppled over as the boy sprang at my legs. I steadied myself by grabbing onto the frame on the door, my smile returning as I reached down to hug him.

“Hey! Henry.” I say, ruffling the boy’s hair affectionately and bending down to meet his eye-level. “How are you doing?”

“Auntie (Y/N) was about to put on a movie for us.” Henry says, smiling brightly and already attempting to tug me into the house. “Come watch!”

“Aww, Henry.” I say, giving him a little frown. “I can’t, I’m sorry though.” I say, gently. “You should watch with Auntie (Y/N) though!” I say, smiling and looking up at her from my place on the floor. My gaze softened a bit as I noticed the unmistakable trace of blush on her cheeks, but my attention was quickly turned back to Henry, feeling another tug from him.

“You don’t wanna watch with us?” He says, with the biggest puppy-dog eyes I’d ever seen.

“Henry..” I start with an apologetic tone, about to explain that I really couldn’t impose, even if deep down, I secretly wanted to, if not to spend time with him, but her.

“You can stay, you know?” She interjects from above us, and I look up at her, displaying my confused smile.

“Really?” I say, raising my eyebrows at her, as I stood back up to face her. “You’d be okay with that?” I say, still keeping my eyes locked on hers.

“I mean, I don’t think I’d not take up the offer of more help with him.” She says, chuckling a bit as she crossed her arms and leaned up against the door frame.

I looked at Henry once more, grinning. I asked him, “Would you be okay with that, buddy?”

Henry nodded excitedly, already pulling me into the house with his little hands. “Auntie (Y/N) put on a movie for me.” He continued adorably, a bounce in his step as he guided me to the couch.

I smiled at Henry as he led me to the living room, some children’s movie I didn’t recognize playing on the screen. I could hear (Y/N) following us after closing the front door and as I sat down, she smiled at me again.

“It’s actually kind of a miracle you showed up when you did.” She says to me, a light giggle escaping from her lips. “I had no idea how I was going to get dinner out and watch him at the same time.” She explained, as Henry made his way next to me, getting comfortable.

“Ah, you know.” I say, shrugging and laughing nonchalantly, opening my arms to allow Henry to lean against me. “Always happy to help. Especially if it involves this little guy.” I ruffled his hair and heard a little chuckle against me from the boy, as I kept my eyes on her, flashing her a soft smile.

Henry grinned at that, as he excitedly started talking about the movie that was playing, wildly gesticulating as he attempted to explain what I’d missed since I’d entered the room. I nodded, but out of the corner of my eye I saw (Y/N) enter the kitchen, presumably to prepare Henry’s dinner. I heard and saw her rustling about the kitchen in small flashes, and a small smile graced my face at the sight of her. It was silly, but I rarely got to see this side of her. She looked so calm and laid-back, and it was a welcomed change, one that brought a certain warmth to my chest just from the look of it.

I watched her for a few more moments, before turning my full attention back to Henry. I listened to him, nodding like I totally understood everything he was saying, even if he was talking fifty words a minute and stumbling over his speech every step of the way. Regardless, I loved him. Loved spending time with him, and that was only made better when I saw (Y/N) approach us in the living room, plopping down next to Henry with a plate of lasagna.

“Okay, I know Mommy doesn’t usually let you eat in front of the TV.. so this’ll be our secret, okay?” She said, a playful glint in her eye as she carefully handed the plate to Henry. “But you gotta promise me one thing.”

Henry nodded excitedly. She spoke with mock seriousness to him, pursing her lips and nodding. “You gotta promise me you’re gonna finish everything off your plate, alright?” It wasn’t even a question, as Henry nodded, happily agreeing with her, and digging into the food she’d brought. She sat back, looking satisfied with herself. I couldn’t help but smile to myself at the sight. She was always kind at work, and it wasn’t surprising that she was good with kids, but I never expected her to be this good. She fit into the role naturally, and it sent a feeling of endearment through me as I watched her speak to Henry.

Henry ate quietly between the two of us as I watched the TV, but in actuality my mind was completely focused on her. The softness in her actions towards Henry, the tenderness in her eyes as she dealt with him. It was truly having an effect on me, and in a moment of weakness I allowed myself to get wrapped up in a fantasy involving her, me and a child of our own. It was insane! I’d never even kissed the girl before, but watching her like this made me desperately long for a situation in which we had a family together, a concept I had been yearning for privately, only exacerbated by the wonderful woman in front of me.

It seemed I’d gotten a little too lost in my thoughts, because I felt Henry tugging at my shoulder, and I blinked, realizing he’d been trying to get my attention for a few seconds now. “Uncle Spencer!” He whined, and I looked at him with a stir.

“Ah, sorry Henry! Got really into the movie.” I say, feeling my cheeks heat up a bit as I ran my hands through my hair. “What’s up?”

“Can you help me wash my hands?” He asked, in his little voice, and I laughed a little, nodding.

(Y/N) took his plate from him, smiling at me and mouthing a ‘thanks’, which I returned with a smile of my own and thumbs-up, as I took Henry to the bathroom. I led him there, opening the door and watching from the door frame as he stood on the kiddie-stool, washing his hands for the full, recommended twenty seconds. I’d taught him well. When he finished, he wiped his hands on the hand towel and leapt off the stool, running past me. I rolled my eyes fondly, because as usual, Henry had left the bathroom light and door open. I closed both for him, walking to catch up with him, and before I’d even entered the living room, Henry was sitting on the couch, already back to watching the movie that played in front of him.

I came near him, ruffling his hair. “You all good there, bud?” I asked, and Henry nodded absentmindedly, clearly focused on the TV instead of my words, and I chuckled affectionately at his total and complete disinterest in me, now that he could watch TV uninterrupted.

“You okay if I go help out Auntie (Y/N) in the kitchen real quick? I’ll be right here.” I said, reassuringly, but Henry wasn’t even paying attention, so I smiled and walked towards the kitchen, beckoned by the sight of (Y/N) washing Henry’s dinner dish, her sleeves rolled up and her previously open hair now pinned back.

I approached her and leaned against the counter, smiling a little dumbly as I watched her, until she looked up at me, sending me a confused grin. “What are you smiling about, Reid?” She asked, a playful lilt in her voice as she continued scrubbing away at the dishes.

“Ah, nothing.” I responded, but she looked up, rolling her eyes with amusement.

“You know we’re both profilers, right?” She shot back, raising an eyebrow and smirking at me. “I can tell when you’re not exactly being truthful.” She paused, before taking a second to properly look at me. “Come on, spit it out.”

I took a breath, shrugging and turning my body to face her as she kept her gaze trained on me. “It’s really nothing, I just.. I guess I’m surprised by how good you are with kids.” I say, not trying to let on how much tonight had actually affected me in regards to my feelings about her.

She raised her eyebrows, letting a giggle fall from her lips. “What, you think I’d suck with them or something?” She said, biting her lip a bit and I felt my heart turn a bit at that. Even though I was aware she was joking, I felt the overwhelming need to comfort her, to make my intentions more than clear.

“No, no, (Y/N).” I say, shaking my head and chuckling. “I just meant- you’re so thoughtful at work, of course you’d be good with kids. It’s a no-brainer. But I don’t know, seeing it in front of me was just..” I took a breath, smiling. “This may be totally weird to say, but you’d make a great mom.”

I watched her reaction, fearing I’d maybe crossed a line by saying so, but she smiled shyly, purposely keeping her eyes off me as she asked, “Yeah? You think so?”

I kept my eyes on her, adoringly observing her as I nodded. “Yeah, no. I know so.”

I watched her bite her lip as she kept her view away from mine, and even in the dim lighting of the kitchen, I saw a light blush fill her cheeks. She looked up at me, an innocently amused look on her face.

“Thank you, Spencer. That means a lot.” She responds, starting to dry her hands with a dish towel off the side of the sink. As she reached forward, she shifted herself a bit closer to me and I watched as she rubbed off the water droplets on her skin with the fabric. I could physically hear her swallowing as our proximity to each other was brought closer, and I couldn’t help but watch her lips, slightly red and swollen from biting on them all night. It was a habit of hers I’d noticed since we began working, and tonight, it was driving me fucking crazy. I wondered what it’d feel like to have her lips against mine, to run my tongue over the plumpness of them. I imagined pinning her against the counter right here, kissing her until we both forgot our names and lost our breath in each other. I shakily exhaled at the thought, and at that moment, she looked up at me, and seemingly caught me in the act of staring, except she didn’t move away. We exchanged glances for a beat, and I was beginning to contemplate leaning in, repercussions be damned, but in a twisted turn of fate, we heard a little voice calling out to us in the other room.

“Auntie (Y/N)! Uncle Spencer! The movie’s over!” He called out, starting to run into the kitchen with the remote. (Y/N) laughed nervously, moving away from me to pick up Henry in her arms. I stepped away just as fast, going back to leaning on the counter as I watched her cradle the boy in her arms, and I could physically recognize the feeling of affection filling my body as my eyes were fixed on her. If she noticed, she pretended not to, turning her entire focus on the boy.

“You know what that means, right, Henry?” (Y/N) asked, cooing a bit at the boy. “It’s time for bed, alright? Let’s get you upstairs.”

“Can Uncle Spencer come too?” Henry asked, looking at me. The boy was clearly a little more tired now that it was later in the night, but he was quite clear in his demands. Henry then looked at (Y/N), his eyes big and wide. “Did you know Uncle Spencer can read me a whole story without the book?”

(Y/N) only laughed at that, looking between me and the boy. “Can he now? I guess he’s just going to have to join us for bedtime, right?” She looks at me, raising an eyebrow and I nod, beaming a little coyly.

“Eidetic memory, remember?” I say, smirking at her.

She makes an amused sound at that, nodding knowingly. “How could I forget?”

She sighs softly, still supporting Henry in her arms. “Okay, let’s get you to sleep, bud.” She says, kissing the top of his head,, beginning to walk towards the stairs, looking back at me and motioning for me to follow.

I smiled at the gesture, and again, I could sense my heart yearning for a future in which this was our life. It was ridiculous, and yet as the night progressed, my imagination only continued to go wild with the possibilities of a reality where we were each other’s. I continued to walk with her, until we reached Henry’s room, which she slowly turned the knob to. She walked in, keeping the door open for me as I trailed behind her, closing the door. She laid Henry down in the bed, looking at me.

She ran her hands down her thighs, beaming gently at me through the low light of Henry’s bedroom. “I’ll.. um. I’ll leave you here with him?” She asked, keeping her voice low. I felt a moment of disappointment flash through me, secretly wishing she’d stay, for us to spend more time in this bubble we’d created for ourselves tonight. I know I wasn’t crazy, I know that she had to feel it too. But, at the risk of seeming clingy, I nodded, permitting her to leave the room. But a little voice protested, sitting straight up in his bed and tugging at her hand back to him.

“No, no!” Henry whined. “I want Auntie (Y/N) and Uncle Spencer here.”

I could hear her pause, before looking at me with a subtle, surrendering expression in her eyes. “Okay, okay, Henry.” She says, sitting down in his bed next to him.

She smoothed over his hair, and Henry looked at me expectantly. I exchanged a quick, covert look with her, implicitly making sure she was okay with all this, and she nodded, even repositioning herself to allow me more space on the other side of Henry. I slid in, moving around until I found a more comfortable position. The three of us attempting to squish into the same, child-sized bed resulted in a slightly tight fit, but it was cozy, nonetheless. (Y/N) had adjusted to be slightly leaned on her side, her hands now lazily playing with Henry’s hair, brushing the hair away from his face. I observed her affectionately, sensing a familiar warmth suffuse me yet again, as I beheld the domesticity in front of me. She made eye contact with me, still keeping her fingers running through the strands of the boy’s hair, smirking softly at me.

“You know.. I think someone promised us a bedtime story.” She murmured quietly, a touch of whimsy in her voice.

I chuckled softly at that, breathing out a little harder out of my nose. “Okay, yeah. Right.” I took a breath, and tried to recall something to recite off the top of my head. I decided on a classic, Alice in Wonderland as I felt its longevity would allow Henry ample time to fall asleep. She seemed pleased with this too, relaxing into her position on her other side of Henry, watching me as I began. I started to speak, my tone low and soothing, and in about twenty or so minutes, I could hear the soft breathing of the boy slow down and I gazed upon him, but quickly realized that (Y/N)’s fingers had stilled in his hair too, and in a moment of realization, I became aware that not only was Henry asleep, but so was she. I allowed myself to stare at her sleeping figure, marveling at the way strands of her soft hair gently placed themselves around her face in a way that framed her delicate features perfectly. I swallowed, wishing more than anything that I could lean over, brush over the wisps and kiss her forehead, but I held back, opting to gently push her awake.

“(Y/N).. hey.” I breathed out softly, keeping my voice to a low whisper so as to not wake Henry. “Come on, you don’t wanna fall asleep here.” I brought my hand to her shoulder, rubbing it softly to stir her awake and she did, blinking herself awake. She realized where she was and yawned, and let a soft giggle escape her lips.

“Ah, I totally fell asleep, didn’t I?” She mused, keeping a hushed voice.

“Yeah, you did.” I replied, watching as she woke up slowly, waiting for her to get up.

“You’re good at that. Getting him to sleep, I mean.” She said in return, keeping her attention on me, never once diverting her eyes from mine. She paused, seeming to consider her next words carefully, before following with a gentle addition, “You’d make a great dad.”

I tensed at the words, feeling my cheeks heat up from embarrassment and the sheer need to reach over and grab her by the shoulders, as if to alert her that, ‘Yes! I would! And I want that with you!’

Instead, I softly chuckled at her words, swallowing down my affection and nodding. “Yeah, I guess.”

She released a quiet breath, starting to move off the bed as slowly as she could. “We should get out of here. JJ and Will will be home soon, and we can go home.” She replied, in a faint voice.

I nodded, already beginning to shuffle off the bed and joining her at the door. I watched her give Henry one last look, before opening the door. She held it ajar for me and I walked past her quietly, and as I did, she followed, closing the door with a gentle click, and releasing another exhale.

“Thank god.” She said, smiling a little brighter now. We walked down the stairs, and she allowed her voice to raise as we got further and further away from Henry’s room. “It takes me forever to get him down. You’re like.. actual magic.” She continues, nudging my shoulder.

I fidget with my fingers, feeling a little bashful. We approached the living room again, standing in the middle of the room as we continued talking. “Yeah, no. JJ and Will have been asking me to babysit since Henry was three. You learn a lot.”

She gleamed at that, nodding. “Regardless of how you figured out how to do it, you were still a huge lifesaver tonight.” She remarked, adding to her statement in a soft voice. “Thanks.”

Her eyes met with mine. I gave her a smile, making eye contact with her again. I’d always loved her eyes, they were always so big and expressive. They just contained so much emotion, and I’d grown to love watching her when she was happy, or excited, because those emotions were so clearly reflected on every part of her face. But right now, as I looked into her eyes, they expressed an emotion I’d become very accustomed to seeing tonight, and found myself precariously losing my will to deny.

Desire.

And there it was again, that tenderness, that affection, and just the absolute craving to be with her, in every sense of the word. She bit her lip, and in an instant it was made clear to me that perhaps my sentiment to overlook the possible aftermath of giving into the desire that plagued us was shared, because she moved a little closer to me, her eyes moving from my eyes to my lips. I swallowed.

“Tonight was.. fun.” I murmur, eyeing her lips in a similar manner as she had.

She nodded, silent, before releasing a shaky exhale. “It was .. fun. Yeah.” She responds, her voice barely above a whisper.

We were barely speaking, and yet in that moment I felt entirely breathless in her presence. I wanted to say something, anything, but any thought of mine completely died, because as soon as I even attempted to open my mouth, she surged forward, planting her lips on mine. I was momentarily stunned. She kissed me once, then twice and then slowly pulled away. I instantly missed the feeling and warmth of her mouth against mine, wanting nothing more than to pull her against me again. She, on the other hand, looked mortified, her lips parted and her complexion flushed.

“Oh god, Spencer.” She started, a little frantic. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me, and we can forget-”

I finally gave into what I’d been yearning for the whole night, not even bothering to respond to her apologies as I pulled her back against me, bringing her face closer to mine in a heated, passionate kiss. I could feel her happily sigh into my mouth, and I took the opportunity to slip my tongue into her mouth, and she only responded more enthusiastically to that, her arms wrapping themselves around my neck. I took the opportunity to lean down, placing my hands on the back of her thighs, never once letting my lips leave hers. I heard her moan slightly into my mouth at that, and I couldn’t help the smirk that formed on my face. I’d wanted this for so long, and with the way she was reacting, I could tell the lust I felt was mirrored in her as well.

I laid her on the couch, finally letting my lips leave hers to take a breath as I positioned myself above her and grinning wildly, She looked equally as excited, already trying to pull me back against her.

“You have.. no idea.. how bad I’ve wanted this.” She murmured, in between breaths, attempting to kiss me yet again.

Before I kissed her, I leaned down, letting my lips brush over the shell of her ear, lowly whispering, “I think I have a clue.”

I heard another soft moan coming from her at my words, and I felt a wave of pride knowing I’d done that to her. She was the one under me, moaning for me like that, and it only spurred me on further. I promptly moved myself closer to kiss her again, letting both of my hands rest on either side of my face as I hovered above her, fully losing myself in the action. We continued at this, feeling our hunger for more grow. I began to let my hand trail down to her hips, slowly bringing my hand under her hoodie, feeling a shudder as my hand met her warm skin. It took nearly everything to not rip it off her, but in an unanticipated shift in circumstances, we heard the telltale noise of the front door knob moving from its locked position, signifying that JJ and Will had gotten home.

I lept off her, her body imitating my movements, instantly moving away from mine and I almost immediately yearned for her touch again, but I understood the dire situation we’d found ourselves in. She brushed over her hair, attempting to make herself look as normal as she possibly could. I took in her state, hair in disarray, her skin reddened and her lips swollen. I had a sneaking feeling that I most likely mirrored her disheveledness, and took a breath, silently begging that JJ and Will wouldn’t notice, and even if they did, they didn’t comment on it. We heard the footsteps of them approaching the living room, and (Y/N) stood up to greet them.

“JJ, Will.” She said, smiling. “Henry’s all asleep and put down.”

JJ smiled at her, hugging her gently. “Oh, thank you so much. Was he good?” She asked, laughing a bit.

“An angel.” (Y/N) responded, smiling.

As JJ’s eyes met mine, she raised an eyebrow. “Spencer, what are you doing here?” She asked, with a confused look, before Will spoke up behind us.

“I thought (Y/N) couldn’t babysit.. I called Spencer.” Will said, a little sheepishly.

JJ looked at him, her jaw dropping a bit. “No, remember? I told you, (Y/N) wasn’t but then she could.”

The two of them laughed a little apologetically as they realized their miscommunication, turning to face me and (Y/N).

“We’re so sorry guys. We didn’t even realize..” JJ started, but (Y/N) interrupted her.

“No, no. It’s okay! Spencer was a huge help.” She says, smiling at me.

“Yeah.” I responded, nodding and affirming her statement in an attempt to alleviate any guilt JJ or Will might’ve felt about the situation (not trying to reveal how secretly pleased I was with it). “(Y/N) made the time go by faster than usual. Don’t even worry about it.”

JJ sighed, smiling and nodding. “Thank you. It was nice to get out of the house tonight.”

“It was no problem.” (Y/N) responds. I can tell she’s trying to play it cool, to end off the interaction before JJ looked at the two of us for a little too long and realized what had conspired in her and Will’s absence. “So.. uh. It’s late.” (Y/N) breathes out. “And I love your kid, JJ, but I’m ready for some well deserved sleep.” She said, with a little smile.

JJ nodded, knowing the feeling all too well. “Yeah, get out of here.” She said, playfully waving a hand at (Y/N), then me. “You too, Spencer. I’m sure you’re tired too, even if you’re too polite to say so.”

I rubbed my neck with my hand, chuckling softly. “Yeah, yeah.” I replied, trying to fake tiredness to match JJ’s expectations of what I’d be like after a night of watching her kid. However, I was probably the furthest thing from tired. My mind was racing with the possibilities of what had just occurred with (Y/N) just now, and how badly I wanted to do more. The sheer desperation I felt for her was absolutely ruining me, and honestly, I had very little willpower stopping me from just taking her hand and dragging her out of the house, and kissing her right outside on the porch. Thankfully, before that could happen, (Y/N) started walking towards the door and I followed behind her, attempting to look as normal as I could.

“Goodnight!” She called out, opening the door.

“Get home safe!” JJ responded, watching as we both left and closing the door behind us. I took a breath, turning towards her and exhaling. The night air was a lot colder than the warmth of the house, but even then I could feel how hot my body was becoming, absolutely begging for her once again.

“So..” I started.

“So..” She responded, and then suddenly spoke up. “Do you need a ride home?”

I blinked in response, understanding the implicit request in her words and biting my lip at it. “Yeah, I do.” I responded.

“Great.” She responds with purpose, grabbing my hand with a need I’d never seen from her before. It thrilled the hell out of me to know she was just as eager as me, and longed for me with the same fervor. Her gaze was intense as she led me to her car, and in a split second, I decided I couldn’t wait an entire car ride to taste her again. I quickly pinned her against the war, and I could feel her let out a noise of surprise before I dove in for another kiss, taking delight in the way she pressed against me instantly, giving into the kiss. She demonstrated her enthusiasm, nearly moaning into my mouth and I laughed, shushing her in between kisses.

“(Y/N)!” I said, whisper-yelling. “We’re right outside JJ and Will’s house. Someone’s gonna hear us.”

She pulled back, breathing heavily and looking at me with a glint in her eye. “Well, will you hurry up then and just take me back to your place?” She retorted, playfully, diving in for one last kiss.

I nodded. “Gladly.” I took the car keys from her, grinning wildly.

“Hey! It’s my car!” She said, trying to grab the keys back, a hint of amusement in her tone.

“I know a faster way back to my place. Wouldn’t you rather get there, than argue over who drives?” I say, feeling a surge of confidence as I cockily raised an eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes, but I could sense the fondness in the expression as she basically ran to the passenger side, opening the door. “Drive fast. Please.” The desperation in her tone heightened my arousal and I wondered if it’d be possible to just give up and have sex in the backseat of her car, but I quickly let go of the thought. I’d wanted this for so long, and when I fucked her tonight, I was going to take my time. I was going to savor her, worship her for everything she was.

It took ten, painstakingly long minutes for us to reach my apartment, and less than three to stumble to my apartment, all over each other like a pair of horny teenagers. It was like we were magnets, unable to get away from each other for even a second without thinking we couldn’t live without the other. I responded passionately to each and every one of her advances against me, kissing her fervently against the wall, up the stairs, before finally leading her to my bedroom. We fell into my bed in a tangle of limbs, and I breathed heavily over her. Ultimately, we found ourselves once again in the same position we’d been in on JJ and Will’s couch, with me on top of her. I looked down at her, finally taking a break from kissing her to cradle her face with my palm, still holding myself above her body.

“Did you mean it?” She asked, softly, biting her lip.

“What do you mean?” I respond, starting to move my lips gently down her neck, testing out different points of sensitivity. I wanted to kiss every inch of her bare skin, to feel her in every way. I could feel her body squirm and tense as I let my lips linger on a particular spot between her ear and neck, beginning to lightly suck there until I heard a quiet moan coming out from the girl in front of me.

“The thing about me being a good mom.” She spoke, in between moans and happy sighs. “Or was that like, flirting? For sex?”

I suddenly retracted my position from her neck, making her whine a bit but I quickly placed a hand under her chin, forcing her to look at me.

“(Y/N), I cannot express how devastatingly real my feelings are for you. You’re- you’re perfect. And I wish I’d said it a long time before tonight, if I knew we could’ve done this much earlier.” I looked deep into her eyes, hoping my words and the intensity of my gaze could properly convey just how sincere I was about this, about her.

Her lips parted, and she let out a soft exhale, and then allowed the corners of her mouth to turn upwards in a smile. I smiled down at her, once again recapturing her lips in a kiss, almost as if to seal the deal between us. She reciprocated, before pulling back. “I meant it.” She admitted softly. “I’ve always thought you’d be a good dad.”

I could feel myself blushing at that, moving in for another kiss. I was enthralled by her, addicted to her taste and the way her lips moved over mine. I felt like I could do forever, but a slight mewl alerted me that she wanted a bit more than that.

“Spence, kissing is really, really nice. But if you don’t fuck-”

I quickly understood, beginning to kiss the expanse down her neck, already moving my hands under her hoodie and grabbing at her breast, squeezing the soft and supple skin through her bra, eliciting the sweetest sounds from her that only served to embolden me. I slowly moved to remove the pieces of fabric between us, and as soon as she registered the shuffling of her hoodie, she eagerly reached out to begin undoing the buttons of my own shirt. She paused, letting me pull off the hoodie and I leaned back, admiring her, all laid out like this for me. I ran a finger against her jawline, and watched her shudder at the intimacy of the action.

“You’re so beautiful.” I whisper, physically unable to take my eyes off her. I could tell it was affecting her, as she looked shy under my gaze, a light tinge of pink now dusting her cheeks as I spoke the words.

“Thank you.” She says, in a similar tone to mine. She leans up to kiss me again, and her fingers are working my buttons. I let her, shrugging the shirt off and pressing my bare chest against her. She was just so soft, and warm, and I truly couldn’t get enough of her. I moved down, kissing the swell of her breasts and moving my fingers back to unclasp her bra, slipping it off her and immediately attaching my mouth to her nipples, moving my hand to rub at the other one. I watched her mouth drop open, her face contorting with pleasure, moaning out my name. I continued my ministrations for a moment, before beginning to kiss down her stomach. I could feel the tensing of the muscles, her happy sighs and light moans indicating to me I was doing a good job at pleasing her, and at that moment, it’s all I wanted.

I began to slip down her sweatpants, reveling in the way she lifted up her hips, kicking off the clothing. I kissed near the hem of her underwear, teasing her by lightly tracing my finger near where a wet patch had formed against them.

“You were so good today, you know that?” I murmur, letting my breath hit her clothed core. I pressed a chaste kiss against it. “So fucking good.”

I hear a desperate moan from her, her hips jolting against my face, begging me for more. I nod, using my fingers to slide down the fabric, watching in fascination as her glistening folds were revealed to me, and in an almost primal way, I let my tongue dart out, licking a fat stripe against her. She immediately shuddered, nearly closing her thighs around me from the intense euphoria she was experiencing. I hooked my hands underneath them, holding her open and tasting the hot flesh against my tongue, enjoying the way she tasted against me. I had never felt such a burning need for anyone in my entire life, and I’m sure she could tell by the way, given the way I was absolutely devouring into her, my tongue continuing to move against her like a man starved, lapping up whatever I could. I wanted it all. I began to feel her thighs shake uncontrollably against me, and her moans reverberating around the room as her volume got louder.

“Please-please! Spencer. Holy fuck. Please don’t stop, please don’t-”

I let my tongue dart harshly against her clit, and her begging fell into a string of incoherent whimpers and praises for my mouth, making me chuckle slightly. It seemed to do her in, the vibration of my mouth causing her moans reaching a peak they hadn’t this entire night, and a tension leaving her body as she looked down at me with glazed eyes, breathing heavily. I drank her arousal, feeling the entirety of her arousal coating my lower chin. She moaned at the overstimulation, but I could only focus on how fucking good she tasted.

I moved up against her, giving her another kiss, before I felt her moving, tugging me off her.

“Something wrong?” I asked, knitting my brows and biting my lip.

“I need you inside me. Now. Please.” She said, the intensity of her desperation going straight to my cock as I nodded quickly.

“Okay, yeah.” I replied, quickly beginning to undo my own pants and pulling my cock out of the confines of my briefs. I gave it a few strong tugs, before moving above her again, rubbing the head of my arousal against her folds. She moaned at the feeling, before it died out into a silent scream as I moved inside of her with no warning. She screwed her eyes shut, before moaning out, “Fuck. You feel so good.”

That was all the incentive I needed, beginning to buck wildly against her watching as we both lost ourselves in the pleasure we were giving to the other. As she whimpered, I moaned out at the feeling of how well she was taking me. I leaned down, whispering into her ear. “You’re so good.” I moaned, feeling a particularly strong clench against my cock. “I want you so badly. I wanna make you mine.” I groaned, barely getting the words out as she tensed against me, clearly nearing her second release of the night.

I could feel the twitch of my member inside of her, feeling the arousal fill up in the pit of my belly, my breathing getting heavier and faster as we both reached our peaks.

“Take me.” She moaned, desperate and needy. “I’m yours. Make me yours.” She said, nearly screaming out the words.

My hips snapped harder against her, a primal growl coming out of me as I heard the words. “Is that right? You wanna be filled? You want my cum inside you, then?”

“Yes, yes! Spencer, please- please! I need it!” At her last beg, I groaned, feeling myself expel inside of her, feeling myself come inside of her. A few moments later, her walls spasmed against me, soft whimpers and moans leaving her lips as she convulsed against my cock. I thrust lazily, working both of us through our orgasms, before gently rolling off her, and kissing her forehead, then her cheek.

“You’re so amazing.” I whisper to her, as she gives me a dazed smile, clearly fucked out but elated. A thin sheen of sweat covered her, and it only served to make her look even more radiant in the light of my bedroom.

“You too, doc.” She said, a teasing quality in her voice, as she shifted herself closer to me. I opened my arms up to her, letting her lay her head on my chest, and I could feel her breathing relax and slow down as she settled against me, closing her eyes.

“Goodnight.” I murmur, kissing the top of her head one final time. I began to close my eyes, ready to fall asleep like this, before I heard her voice again, soft and light.

“Spence?” She mumbled, half-asleep as her lips brushed the bare skin of my chest.

“Mm?”

“I really like you.”

I laughed at that, feeling a bloom of absolute adoration fill my chest. “I really like you too.” I sighed, closing my eyes once more. “Sleep.”

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing, groaning as I realized it was JJ. (Y/N) was still asleep in my arms, and I shifted our positions slightly, careful not to wake her. I answered the phone in a low tone. “JJ? What’s up?”

JJ’s voice came frantic from the other line. “Spencer?! Spencer. Oh my god. Did (Y/N) get home last night? I’m here at her apartment, and I don’t see her car in the parking space and-”

I internally groaned, realizing I was going to need to explain her whereabouts without revealing what we had done. “Erm. JJ. Don’t worry.” I responded, trying to seem nonchalant, keeping my voice down. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Don’t worry?! Spencer, where the fuck is she?! Did you see her go home or-”

I interrupted her, sighing discerning that JJ wasn't going to take a vague answer right now. “She’s with me, okay! It’s okay. She’s with me.”

There was a beat, and then I heard the smile in her voice. “She’s with you?”

I rubbed my forehead, letting out a low groan. “She is.”

JJ’s voice, now growing excited erupted in a fit of giggles and laughs. “Oh god, I owe Will twenty bucks now. I knew it would happen eventually, but I never assumed all it would take would be one night spent together!”

It was my turn to be confused, knitting my brows. “Sorry, what?”

JJ responded simply, her coyness over the phone giving away everything. “Let’s just say we knew we were double-booking last night.”

hello again! thank you so much for reading. as usual, likes, reblogs, feedback are all appreciated. i cannot say thank you enough. <3 p.s . thanks for everyone's help on the poll!! i hope this satisfied everyone's want for a long smut fic, haha:3

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid smut #spencer reid imagine #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds #criminal minds self insert #spencer reid self insert #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #smut #writing prompt #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction

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destructive-path · 5 months

Text

Time to pretend - E.W.

summary- You and Ellie pretend to be someone your not for each others sake.

a/n: This isn’t my best work but I was so stuck on the concept I had to see it through. I hope you enjoy nonetheless. This isn’t proofread pls dont come for me im lazy.

tags -NSFW. 18+ ONLY MDNI. vers!ellie , sub!reader, smoking marijuana , drinking, talks of sex, SMUT , fingering , humping , college!ellie , college!reader, somewhat shy!reader and a deliciously cocky!ellie…acquaintances to lovers type beat. Ellie needs it BAD omg.

“How many days has it been now?”

Your auburn haired acquaintance stumbles in to the chair next to you. The harsh dropping of her backpack on the classroom floor makes you flinch, you can feel the negative aura oozing off her. She looks exhausted, mind body and soul. Her hair is half way tied back in a low effort bun and strands of hair frame her face messily. A soft huff of air leaves her lips in a upwards gust due to the protruding of her jaw, the strands of hair slightly part in a way that makes her face more visible. She shakes the remainder of the loose hair out of her face to where you can see her face more prominently.

A soft purple hue decorates the underside of her eyes, giving away the lack of sleep she must have received last night. While you feel bad for her current state, you cant help but notice how it almost suits her. How someone could make looking like you just had the life sucked out of you so appealing, was beyond you. You cursed whatever god that didn’t bless you with the ‘effortlessly attractive in any scenario’ gene. She brings the heels of her hands to her eyes and rubs the heaviness of her lids away to the best of her ability, then turns towards your direction and watches as you calculate the answer to her question in your head.

“Twelve.”

You sigh after a moment. Bracing yourself for her reaction, knowing your answer would only further the helplessness you sensed from the woman.

“Shit.”

Twelve days.

Twelve miserable days since you and Ellie (the woman to your left) had been dumped by your partners.

You two should’ve seen it coming.

You and Ellies significant others were best friends. Thats how you and Ellie met for the first time. You remember the way your ex went on and on about how amazing their best friend was. How close they had been since a young age, and how she had been there for them through thick and thin. It was hard for you to not feel some sort of jealousy, how could you live up to that standard when the position seemed to be filled already? You shook it off and put your faith in your partner, surely nothing would happen between the duo if it hasn’t already, right?

Wrong.

On the night you had planned to meet your Exs ‘bestie’ they had warned you it was going to be a double date. However, 10 minutes after your arrival, you realized your companion for the evening would not be your own. The two were, to say the least, close. Very close. You werent sure how you had gone this long without meeting her in the first place. Of course you had heard lots about your exs friend, but the honey moon phase had consumed you two, prolonging you meeting the person they held in such high regard. Coincidentally, it wasnt a problem between the friends. Just as you and your Ex became close so did Ellie and the infamous “bestie”. Leaving the four of you to become wrapped up in your relationships until that day.

During that first double date you got to know a little bit about Ellie because your partners had completely ditched the both of you to catch up. They were so wrapped up in one another they had forgotten to introduce you and Ellie. Luckily they didn’t need to, you recognized her from your art history course.

You had seen some of Ellies art here and there, particularly taking a liking to her sculptures. She was infamous for being good with her hands…in more ways than one.

Throughout the night you and Ellie would get to know each other due to the nature of your significant other’s conversation. Their banter was filed with long stories about things the other missed during the last few months. You will never forget what Ellie whispered in your ear that night. You two had become so consumed in watching them interact a little too intimately that Ellie leaned into you and whispered a soft

“I think we are in trouble”

nodding towards the increasingly affectionate “platonic” duo, sealing your fate.

Fast forward to twelve days ago. The day on which you and Ellie had found out your partners were leaving you, for each other.

It was hard to ignore. The constant hangouts with the four of you had become default. You never saw your partner without the other two accompanying you. Awkward moments you and Ellie would share became so regular that you began to hang out on your own every once and awhile. It was always something small like studying at a local coffee shop, or walking to your art history class together. One day when Ellie didn’t meet up with you at your usual spot before class and when you went to give her a call, you were met with a text on your screen that read;

911. ditch class. come to mine. ASAP.

Upon your arrival to Ellies you were winded from running/jogging/speed walking across campus. After a sturdy knock on Ellies door you were met with a disheveled looking Ellie and two guilty looking faces sitting on the couch that belonged to your partners. Ellie grabs your wrist and pulls you to them.

“Tell them.”

Shes shooting an icy stare at the pair that deepens their look of guilt. After a few moments of silence they muster enough courage to tell you they had fallen in love and wanted to give things a “shot”. Amongst other excuses that made your skin crawl. Things like “We owe it to ourselves to be happy” and “We don’t know what happened” and “Its nothing you did.” Ellie didn’t let the act go on for too long before kicking the pair out after hearing enough.

Leaving you two to where you were now. Single and miserable in art history class.

“Yeah. Its crazy you think I would feel a little better by now, but something about someone you thought you were in love with leaving you for her their best friend really makes this whole healing process much worse.”

“Well at least you don’t have to feel that pain by yourself right? I mean you could always be suffering alone, but at least we both feel like death.”

“So true, thanks for having a shitty ex so I don’t have to be miserable and lonely alone, Ellie.”

“Anytime”

Theres a new lightness to you both. The self deprecating humor paints a little color back into Ellies dreary demeanor. Truth is, you were grateful to have each other, but you both would be lying if you said you didn’t miss your ex’s. There was too many good times, intimate moments shared that you both couldn’t shake from your heads. You both wish things would go back to the way things were, but that would never happen. So instead you coped together.

___________________

As class came to an end, you and Ellie had gathered all your things and walked towards the door. With each step out the classroom, you began to dread the oncoming depressive episode due to the loneliness that is going home to an empty apartment. These last few days the pit in your stomach had grown so large anytime you were alone you were afraid the hole would consume you.

“Hey, Can I maybe come over to yours for a bit? I really don’t feel like being alone.”

You ask Ellie in a pitiful tone. Your pleading eyes meet her tired ones as you wait for a reply. She smiles at you, Ellie enjoys that she can be your saving grace in these trying times.

“Of course. Plus I may have already gotten us a frozen pizza…Wanna get high and watch a movie while shoving our faces with unhealthy food?”

You smile softly and follow Ellie out the building. Ellie was always thoughtful like this. You had never met someone so caring, so willing to be of service whenever you needed.

“Sounds perfect, Ill bring the ice cream, and the tequila. Can I crash on your couch? I plan on getting more crossed than Jesus.”

She laughs at this and pats the side of your arm in a teasing nature. You twist dramatically as if the pat affected you more than it actually did, it’s playful.

“Yeah no problem, See you in a few?”

You agree with a nod, then turn on your heels to go to your place to grab a overnight bag.

———-

You arrive at Ellies place bags in hand. After shuffling your belongings to free your hand, you give the door a rhythmic knock and wait for her to open it.

You had spent the night here only once before on accident. The day you were dumped. That night you and Ellie had shared so much rage it had made you both fall asleep on her couch after countless hours of talking major shit about your exs. You would come over from time to time since then but not too frequently because you and Ellie still weren’t extremely close. The whole situation added a layer of awkward between you two. However, it also a layer of understanding. It was nice for the both of you to have someone who knew exactly what you were going through.

“Hey you. Come inside.”

Ellie gestures for you to enter her apartment. As you walk in, the smell of weed and meat lovers pizza fills your nostrils.

“God please tell me you already rolled.”

You glance at Ellie and watch as she reaches behind her ear to grab a neatly rolled joint that was carefully tucked there. She places it between her lips and raises her eyebrows up and down while giving you a goofy sort of smile, the joint bouncing at the thinning of her mouth. Her slender, long hands slither into the pocket of her jeans and pulls out a silver zippo lighter. She opens the lid with a snap of her arm and brings the flame up to the joint. Ellie inhales deeply and lights the tip carefully, cupping the flame to insure the wind from the ceiling fan doesn’t complicate this process. Finally, the joint emits an orange hue, she takes one more hit before blowing a cloud of smoke upward. There it is again. Effortless attractiveness.

Ellie hands the joint to you, bowing slightly.

“M’lady”

You pluck the joint from her fingertips and laugh at her mannerisms.

“Why thank you ser.”

You retort. As you bring the joint up to your lips you make way to the couch in the middle of Ellie’s apartment. You plop down on the sofa and inhale deeply letting the smoke fill your lungs. Once you had taken in as much as you can muster you hold the smoke in for a moment and let your head fall backwards onto the back of the couch. Then you exhale.

“Pizza should be ready in five. You know what movie you want to watch?”

You take one more hit and think about Ellies question. The spinning of the ceiling fan occupies your cloudy thoughts for a little then you exhale once your mind settles on your answer.

“Alien.”

Ellie quickly turns her head towards you.

“God I love Sigourney Weaver.”

She shakes her head in awe and makes her way to grab the joint from you. You watch as she hits it twice, ghosting the second time (quite well).

“Me too. She was my second gay awakening.”

Ellie raises her eyebrows at your statement and passes you the joint.

“Second?”

You take it and hit it before answering.

“Yes I had my first gay awakening, then I watched alien and became like way more gay after that.”

You pass it back.

“Who was your first?”

You start to giggle as you feel the weed infiltrating your system and try to think back to when you were younger.

“Her name was Sarah Miller and it was in the 6th grade. She had just moved to my school a week before the winter formal. I realized I had never seen anyone so beautiful after she showed up to the dance in this purple dress.”

You laugh harder and reminisce for a moment.

“I remember I was so obsessed with her after that, it had gotten so bad to the point where she switched out of our math class because of me. Then she packed up and moved back to Austin at the beginning of 7th grade.”

Ellie hands the joint back to you.

“Damn. Thats kinda sad.”

You take two quick puffs before offering it back to her, she declines and you put it out to be finished later.

“Eh it was a quick crush, plus I had Sigourney to get me through.”

Ellie stands up and goes to the kitchen to find two shot glasses in her cabinet. She returns with two full shots of tequila and places one in front of you and holds her glass up.

“To Sigourney.”

You follow her actions.

“May she cure our little gay hearts once more.”

You clink the glasses together delicately to insure nothing is spilt and then slam the shot back as quick as possible.

“Bleh.”

You shake your head and wipe your mouth with the back of your hand. As you place the glass on the table in front of you, your mind becomes fuzzy. The warm light emitting from the string lights draped around the living room blur in and out of focus. You can already feel the effects of the substances in your system, which is what you wanted. You just didn’t expect it to happen so fast. Ellie had created an extremely cozy, welcoming atmosphere in her home that was just perfect for you to relax in. You felt comfortable here, safe. You sink a little further into the couch with a satisfied hum.

“Ill grab the pizza, can you put on the movie?”

You nod and grab the remote off the table to turn on your favorite sci fi film.

After a moment Ellie returns with pizza in hand. She places it on the table and hands you a plate. Then, she grabs the blanket draped behind your head and spreads it over the two of you. As the two of you get more comfortable you can feel your muscles relax, the feeling of company easing your tense body by the second.

You take one last quick glance at Ellie, her side profile is barely illuminated by the dark nature of the movies scenery. The feeling of gratitude over comes you for a fleeting second at the tiniest look at her freckled cheeks, then the movie grabs your attention and distracts you from the butterflies forming in your stomach. Ellie can feel you staring, but decides to ignore it and prays it’s dark enough in the room that you don’t see her blush.

————

“I know it was probably some man that put her in that tank top and underwear, but my god she looks so good in the white on white, like that outfit was made for her.”

Ellie stands up as the credits roll and goes to grab the dirty dishes and brings them to the kitchen.

You grab the remote and turn the TV off. The living room has a much more mutually comfortable vibe to it. Throughout the movie more tequila shots and joints were consumed leaving you both in a cross faded state. You could feel the awkwardness dissipate around 10 minutes into the movie.

“I am no better than a man.”

Ellie chuckles and returns to the couch next to you. Due to the alcohol running through her veins she sort of stumbles onto the couch falling close to you. You both laugh at her slightly tipsy mannerisms as she repositions so that her arm is draped behind your head and her body rotates towards you.

The smell of Ellie is impossible to ignore, her breath is tequila and her body is musk. All too intoxicating. She is a little too close for your composure to be kept completely under wraps. You wont protest the closeness of course, not entirely mad at the situation. She bends the arm behind your head at the elbow and you watch as she rests her head on her fist, then lets out a deep sigh.

“You know what the worst part of being newly single is?”

“The horniness.”

Your composure had left the building. You had the tequila to thank for that. Why did you have to say the first thing that came to mind?

“Yes! Whats up with that? I feel like a animal in heat or something.”

You scoff at her words. Of course her mind was where yours was.

“Oh my god Ellie.”

“No but seriously! Before I was able to get by fine, but now its like nothing subsides the constant need for sex.”

“Honestly I think its just the fact that we dont have anyone to fuck whenever we want. Something about losing an outlet for that sexual release makes it worse in my opinion. It as in the horniness…”

Ellie takes what you say in for a moment, taking note of the blossoming heat radiating off your cheeks. She is shocked by your slightly vulgar and honest response. But you’re not wrong, it had been excruciatingly hard for Ellie to not have someone to fuck or to fuck her.

Then you can see a wave of sadness overcoming her as she reaches for her rolling tray. You don’t have to ask what is going on in her head right now because the same thing is going on in yours. You miss your Ex. You miss fucking and being fucked. You miss being held and kissed and loved. You miss it all and you feel shitty that you do because you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t miss someone who hurt you in that way. You shouldn’t want to be back with them but truthfully, you would’ve done anything to get them back.

“Sometimes I just miss being held, you know that safe feeling? Like god I miss spooning and cuddling.”

You watch as Ellie nods in agreement as she licks the seal of the joint she just rolled. Maybe it’s the mixture of substances running through your system but you catch yourself staring at her tongue for a little too long. It pulsates slightly as it travels across the top of the frail paper. When she secures the joint with the roll of her fingers and begins to twist it shut her words snap you out of your trance.

“I miss sex so much.”

“Okay Ellie we get it your horny.”

“Sorry! Just, fuck, I don’t know it’s starting to make me angry. Im so pent up I literally want to punch people sometimes.”

You wince at that. Luckily you had overcome that angry sort of phase fairly quickly at the beginning of your breakup. Now you were just left with the feeling of need. The need to have someone hold you and make you feel consumed in their warmth.

“Well don’t punch me.”

“Ha! No promises, unless…you let me fuck you.”

“So my options are get fucked by you or get punched by you? This doesn’t feel like much of a deal that benefits me.”

Ellie laughs and lights the 3rd? Joint of the night. You don’t know how many it’s been at this point. As you watch her inhale you can see an idea flip a switch in her brain. She hands the joint over to you.

“I could…hold you.”

She shyly proposes and doesn’t look you in the eye.

“Oh?”

You take the joint from her and bring it up to your lips.

“I mean. We both need things right? Im extremely horny and you want affection. What if we…”

“Ellie are you proposing we use each other for our bodies?”

Ellie looks up at you finally. Your mouth has a slight grin/smirk to it, obviously amused by her proposal. Which gives her some relief because she was afraid she had overstepped, and you would look at her with disgust. She scoffs and continues.

“I mean look you’re hot, i’m hot, and we both clearly really miss our ex’s even though we probably shouldn’t.”

Ellie thinks you’re hot. Hot. hot hot hot.

“Hear me out. You let me fuck you and we can both think about our Ex’s. Afterwards I will spoon you so hard youre gonna beg me to stop.”

Your mouth has fallen slightly open due to the boldness of Ellies request. There was no way anyone could be this confident. Her proposal plays on a loop in your brain. It’s not a terrible idea. A toxic one no doubt, but if you were being completely honest with yourself you did get fairly horny from time to time. You were only human after all.

The thought of having someone fuck you sparked something that made you nervous inside. Your heart beat with anticipation and curiosity. A feeling you missed for sure. Ellie silently watches you take a moment to gather your thoughts.

You think about it for a little longer. Your brain wanted to deny Ellie, in fear you would lose your new friend. However, everything else in you was sure that you wanted to let Ellie do whatever she wanted to you. You wanted to lose yourself in the memory of when your Ex had made you feel loved, safe. Anything close to the way you felt with them would be enough. After a few more seconds of contemplation you looked at Ellie.

“O-Okay.”

“Yeah?”

“We can think about them?”

“Yes. I-If thats okay. We will take it slow and if you want me to stop just say so.”

“Alright then. Lets do it.”

Ellies is ecstatic. She feigns confidence but you can tell she needs this. The thought of Ellie being so pent up and ready to pour it all over you whilst playing into your fantasies had you nearly shaking.

You both take one final hit of the joint, hoping it would calm both of your nerves, then Ellie puts it out and looks at you. Your breathing had picked up significantly. She rolls up her sleeves and begins to inch closer to you.

“Okay.”

Ellie looks right into your eyes as she advances towards you. But the closer she gets, the more you can no longer make direct eye contact. The increasing darkness in her eyes feels so foreign it scares you a little. You drop your gaze when shes mere centimeters away from you to where you can feel her breath on your lips. Her tongue swipes slowly across her lower lip as you begin to feel her hand slide against the exposed skin on your waist.

“Close your eyes.”

She pulls your hips forward and guides you to a more horizontal position. When she’s hovering over you slightly, closing the gap between your bodies inch by inch, your eyes flutter shut and you let yourself go.

As the black engulfs your sight and Ellie seals your lips together in a experimental first kiss.

You refuse to move at first. This kiss is slow. Too slow. Neither of you let yourself get too excited in fear that you would remember whose lips were actually on yours and not the ones both of you were picturing.

After a moment the kiss finally deepens, causing the both of your breathing to become harsh. Images of your previous significant other begin to fill your mind making you weak. It doesn’t feel the same as before, obviously, but it gets the job done. You begin to feel your emotional barricade crumbling with each kiss Ellie places on your lips.

You think about the way your Ex would kiss you, hold you, and you begin to sink deeper into the fantasy Ellie has created. Everything tingles with a feeling of such passion that even you cant explain where it’s coming from. Your newfound desperation brings your hands up to snake around Ellies head and tug at the hair on the back of her neck, eliciting a hum to leave her lips that vibrates on yours. You cant help but moan at the feeling, making Ellie kiss you with more fervor than before.

Ellie brings the lower half of her body down to meet your center, causing you to spread yourself open for her. Restless legs run up and down on either side of her body due to your constant search for touch. Ellie relishes in the feeling of you all over her. Your clothed bodies began to seek friction as the kiss became messier. You try to think about your Ex in this moment, but with each kiss and soft whine that leaves Ellies mouth, you begin to realize that they had never kissed you with this much passion. This much need. Sure you and Ellie were extremely needy, but the longer this charade went on the more you were focused on the actual person making you so spent.

“Shit.”

Ellie retracts for a moment to catch her breath. Her lips glossy and swollen, perfect.

“Dont stop please.”

You were a moth and Ellie was the flame.

“I wont just, fuck you’re so-”

“Ellie~”

You whine. It’s pathetic, desperate. It drives Ellie mad hearing you say her name like that

“God damn.”

Shes kissing you again and touching you everywhere. Ellie grips and caresses your soft skin like shes burning the shape of your body into her brain. She grips your thighs, waist, stomach, ribs, and chest, before she is wrapping her hands around your neck with a slight squeeze. Its gentle, only enough for you to feel a slight strain. This simple but desperate coded action coaxes a moan from you thats so sweet, Ellie decides she will do whatever she can to make sure you don’t stop rewarding her with the pretty sounds of your voice.

She releases her grip on your neck and moves down to kiss you there. Each of Ellies movements is soaked in need. Shes drowning you in adoration and close attention to your desires. Your hands push back her soft auburn hair that tickles your face.

With every kiss that Ellie places on your neck you start to forget about your ex little by little. The heat you feel from her mouth on your pulse makes your head spin. As your nostrils fill with the scent of her pine scented shampoo, you try your best to remember why you were in this position in the first place. Not because Ellie wanted you, because she needed you to be someone else. But the longer she toys with your body, the more your brain fills up with Ellie, and the less you can pretend to be someone you’re not.

“Need you.”

You say as she moves to kiss lower and lower down your body. The lower she moves the higher her hands push your shirt upwards and off your body completely. This leaves you in your cotton bra and sweatpants. Ellie sits up to observe you for a moment.

“Sigourney got nothing on you baby.”

You laugh and punch her arm, slightly embarrassed at your exposed state.

“Oh shut up Williams.”

She makes a shocked open mouth expression and rubs the tender flesh.

“Owww, Is that anyway to treat someone who’s about to fuck you?”

“Are you going to fuck me? Or are you going to keep talking?”

“You’re an impatient little thing aren’t you?”

“I can be patient, sweet even, but right now i’m leaking through my panties and my patience is wearing thin.”

“Fuuck me.”

“I thought that was your job?”

You taunt underneath her. You’re done with the playful banter. You need Ellie to fuck you and you need it now. You shoot her sultry puppy eyes as you shimmy your breasts upwards slowly as an attempt to lure her in. It works. Now Ellie is pulling you to sit up and tearing your bra upwards and off your head. Once your chest was freed for Ellie to admire she couldn’t keep away for long.

“Pretty fucking tits.”

Ellie is practically drooling as she latches on to your left boob with her mouth, whilst toying with the right one in her hands. Her actions send you flying back to a lying down position once more.

“Oh my god Ellie.”

You cant fight it anymore. Any thoughts of your ex had been long gone. Now all you could feel, smell, think, was Ellie. She had sucked any memory of your old partner’s betrayal right out of your system. It’s a dirty scene. Ellie doesn’t let up, too wrapped up in the taste of you.

As she made you a babbling fool at the sinful sucking of your tits, you tried your best to remove her button up. You needed to see her, feel her.

Once Ellie felt the tug on her shirt she unlatched from your nipple, followed by a final lick on your sensitive buds that sent shivers down your spine. She sat up straight and the both of you fiddled with her buttons as fast as possible. Once you had undone the shirt completely she let you tear it down her shoulders. The woman basks in the feeling of your increasingly hungry eyes. The way you bit your lip and blushed even harder once Ellie had revealed her bare chest to you, skyrocketed her confidence.

Ellie missed the feeling of someone gawking over her. Something about you gawking over her when she knew you wanted to think of someone else, unlocked a feral side in her.

“You gonna keep staring or are you going to touch me?”

Your a heaving blushing mess at the sight of Ellie above you. She looks at you with such anticipation and want, you wouldn’t dare deny her any longer. You prop your self on your elbow and move your hand to touch the small of Ellie’s back, taking her in for a moment as your hand travels across her skin. The feeling of your hand on her body sends Ellie reeling, the tiniest touch making her boxers become damp. When your hand lands on her waist you tug her down to you meet your lips. She pushes her messy hair backwards and leans into the kiss. Its different now. Now you’re both relishing in the feeling of each other, the thought of your respective ex’s out the window.

Your body feels hot. The feeling of Ellies bare skin on you sends you into a frenzy. Its nothing like your Ex. Its new and intoxicating to your senses. Maybe the substances are clouding your judgment slightly, but theres one thing for sure, you have never felt so good.

The longer the kiss goes on the needier you two became. Your clawing at each other now, squeezing your bodies together as close as possible. You cant take it anymore, you needed to have a release. You sought out more friction. Frustrated with the lack of relief you felt due to the obstruction of your pants, you push Ellie off you and go to stand. She is curious of your actions but as soon as you begin to slide your sweatpants and underwear down your thighs, she stands to match you and begins to unbutton her jeans. Once you are both stripped down you both pause. Your breathing syncs with Ellies as you take in her naked state.

Shes statuesque. Molded to perfection. Okay the tequila was definitely getting to you. You have never needed your hands on something so badly. You slowly step towards her and Ellie mirrors you. Your arms dangle at your side fighting the urge to cover yourself. Ellie takes one more step to you then places her hands on your fully exposed waist and turns you to face her with the couch at her back. She sits back slowly and maneuvers you to sit on her lap.

Ellies eyes rake over you as she bites on her lip so hard you’re sure she will draw blood. She looks up at you with an almost painful look in her eyes. The way you had settled on her lap caused your knees to reside on either side of Ellie, thighs wide open. In this position you’re spread out for her, everything on display. Ellies eyes can’t help but travel to your pussy, your folds glisten under the light due to how wet she had made you.

“Your dripping baby.”

She hisses and runs her thumb over your weeping cunt, applying slight pressure. The feeling of her digit on your sensitivity has you falling backwards. Ellie has barley touched you there and you are already dizzy. She swiftly catches you before you can fall.

“Easy, easyyy. Stay with me okay?”

Carefully she pushes you forward and places your head on her shoulder. Ellie massages your thighs and whispers praises in your ear that have you sinking further into her body.

“Such an easily manipulatable thing you are, what happened to that impatient brat from earlier? Hmm? I make you all dumb when I touched your pussy?”

Her words make you shudder. She has made you so shy. You sink deeper into the side of her neck out of embarrassment.

“Ellie please.”

You can barely get the words out at this point. You are too lost in the feeling of Ellies hands on you, hips stuttering with every grip she places on your thighs.

“Awe you poor thing. You need to be fucked huh?”

You nod in her neck.

“Yeah?”

She grips the top of your thigh dangerously close to your sensitive area, not touching there again just yet.

“Yes!”

You shout due to the sensitivity.

“Please fuck me.”

Your begging. Ellie is running her hands all over you. You are such a mess under her touch you begin to suck on her neck from pure desperation. You kiss, suck , and lick that area mixing in whines and pleads for Ellie to touch you where you needed her most.

“Shit, okay. Fuck youre being so good for me baby. What did I do to deserve this huh?”

Her neck tilts to give you better access to continue your advances there. Finally she brings her fingers back to your heat. You bite her neck even harder when you feel the pads of her fingers on your cunt. You are sure to leave a mark, but Ellie doesn’t care. She is fueled by your need for her, she wants to reward you.

Ellie presses her fingers against your pussy harder and her movements there begin to speed up. She massages big and small circles on your sensitive clit faster and faster. Those sweet noises start to leave you tenfold. The closeness of your sounds in her ear only makes her work harder to make you feel good. One of your hands wraps around Ellies neck as an attempt to bring her closer and for you to keep upright. Ellie hums at this, she loves the feeling of having you close.

“You hear that? You hear how wet you are sweet thing?”

Ellie has set a painfully fast pace on you now. The sound of your wet pussy fills the space, furthering the lust you feel in this moment. You subconsciously grind down on her hand because somehow its still not enough. You needed more.

“More.”

You finally leave the safe space in Ellies neck to meet her eyes. She looks at you with dark eyes but they are laced adoration. You look so beautiful like this. Spread open and desperate for her, begging to be fucked.

“You want my fingers inside?”

She prods her middle finger at your entrance and watches as your face twists in pleasure. You bite your lip at the feeling of her slightly inside on you. You cant believe it. Ellie williams is making you dumb before even fully entering you. Your walls clench around next to nothing.

“Answer me sweet thing.”

You look down at where she refuses to connect you two. Ellies middle finger tickles your leaking hole and gathers your slick to fuck it back into you again. The sight makes your hips move down her finger involuntarily. You whimper a drawn out “Please.” As you both move together to bury her middle finger in your soaking pussy.

“Oh shit baby.”

You look back up at her with furrowed brows and a ‘O’ forming at your mouth. Ellie moves to kiss your top lip, then your bottom one as she begins thrusting her finger into you.

“So-mmwarm and-mmwet for me.”

The feeling of Ellie pumping in and out of you at this slow pace makes your whole body radiate pure heat. Sweat begins to form on you and Ellies skin. The temperature rise from both of your bodies makes the room grow hotter causing things to become slippery. Your wetness drips to the underside of your thighs, making your ass glide over Ellies thighs with such ease that it makes your oncoming release build twice as fast. Its filthy.

Ellies digit curls as her pace picks up slightly. She prods at your g spot tactically, every time she graces you with her touch there your hips grind down seeking out any extra pleasure. It still isn’t enough.

“M-More.”

“You want another?”

“Please.”

“Up.”

She guides your hips upwards with her free hand to add another finger in your entrance and bring you back down again. The extra intrusion in your pussy fills you up. Ellie can feel the way you squeeze around her fingers and she feels like she could pass out.

Now its almost too much. Your wrapped up entirely in the feeling of Ellie, and she can feel it now. She can feel you kiss her, not the image of your ex. Ellie could cum untouched just from how desperate you were being.

“Your fingers feel amazing Ellie.”

The girl below you is no longer a cocky one. Shes in awe of you and growing wet with every thrust of her fingers that gets lost in your gummy walls.

“Yeah?”

She cant believe how beautiful you look. Ellie watches you like if she misses a moment of your pretty body bouncing on her, she will die. It’s driving you insane. Shes getting off just on the way you look riding her fingers.

“Wanna touch you…”

Before Ellie knows what’s going on, distracted by your, well everything, you move a hand down to Ellie’s neglected pussy and begin toying with her pulsing clit.

“Oh fuck.”

Ellie wraps her arm around your waist and pulls you closer, she rests her head on your shoulder as you both get each other off. You rub quick circles on her folds, hoping to catch her up to your fast approaching feeling of release.

“Keep going baby, just like that okay? Oh god.”

Ellies panting now. Her forehead rests on your shoulder as she watches you toy with her, the sight bringing a wave of pleasure to come at any moment. Your bodies swell back and forth into each other at a rhythmic pace. You’re both humping into each other’s advances and losing strength by the second.

“Ellie im-”

“Me too, shit. With me okay?”

You nod. Ellie moves to look at you. She doesn’t want to miss the way you look when you orgasm because of her. Ellie begins to pump into you so fast you start to see black. You carefully but quickly enter two fingers into Ellie’s heat and pump her at the same pace.

Your lips crash into one another from the feeling. The way you both fuck each other with your fingers sends a shock of electricity throughout your connected bodies. Both of you are a moaning mess, your muffled voices increase in pitch until you can no longer kiss and are practically screaming each other’s names. Your hips grind into Ellies and hers into your hand chasing the oncoming orgasm you are both feeling, and finally, release.

Your lips detach as you fall forward, unable to support your weight anymore. Ellie slows the pumping of her hands in your weeping core. As do you, the both of you slowly ride out your highs until you’re over stimulated. Shaking hands retract from each other’s walls and you adjust to hold on to one another. Your bodies spasm from the newly empty feeling.

The grinding of your hips has yet to stop. Ellie runs her hands all over you again, the sensitivity making you shiver. As she smooths her hands over your ass and back, clawing softly at your skin, you can feel a twitch in your pussy. You whine at the feeling and wrap your arms around Ellies shoulders tighter.

“You sensitive?”

She doesn’t stop. You moan in response, answering her question.

“Mmm”

She hums and then kisses your shoulder sweetly. The intimacy of the action retracts you from your grasp to observe her for a moment. Ellies eyes are half lidded and shes got a dumb grin plastered on her lips. Her hair is wet and sticking to her temples and forehead, slightly obstructing her face.

You swipe your finger across her forehead, delicately moving the hair out of her face. Once you can see her fully, you blush. Once again dumbfounded by Ellies effortless ability to look so, good. She is still caressing you, holding you tight like you would float away if she didn’t. You grab her cheeks and place a kiss on her lips. Ellies hand moves to hold your jaw and deepens the kiss slightly.

Once you pull back you simultaneously slide off her thighs feeling the soreness due to your spread out position on her lap. You begin to rub the crease on the top of your thighs but Ellie stops you.

“Here, let me.”

You lay down on the couch as Ellie grabs your underwear and slides it back up your legs. Then she dresses you both halfway and moves to sit in between your legs once more so that she has better access to massage you.

You cant help but close your eyes and hum as Ellie uses her magical hands to rub away any soreness you had felt from earlier. She smirks at this, Ellie cant get enough of your sounds. For a moment its silent with the exception of your small sighs of pleasure.

“Can I confess something?”

Your eyes open slowly and you nod.

“I wasnt really, thinking about my ex just then.”

You blush hard. You should’ve known by the way she stared at you, fucked you, moaned your name as she creamed white on your fingers…But it felt good to hear your suspicions confirmed.

“Oh well, me neither.”

She has that ecstatic look on her face again. It’s adorable and makes you giggle slightly.

“Really?”

“Mhhmm.”

You smile shyly. She smiles wide like she just won an award and bends down to kiss your thigh.

“Well, good. Fuck em anyway.”

“Yeah” You thought. “Fuck em.”

“Now move over, I gotta fulfill my end of the deal. Im gonna big spoon you to death.”

You shift down to make room for Ellie to climb behind you on the couch. Once she is settled, her whole body wraps around you. Any other time you would’ve declined because you were still leaking and sweaty. Right now though, you wouldn’t dream of moving. Ellies hold on you had brought you back to the safe space you missed so dearly. The feeling of being absolutely ruined then handled as delicately as a flower had your mind going haywire.

With every second that went by in her arms a calmness began to set in, and you could finally let your mind settle. This was the most relaxed you had felt in weeks and you had Ellie to thank for it.

#ellie the last of us #ellie tlou #ellie williams #ellie x fem reader #ellie x reader #ellie x y/n #ellie x you #tlou #tlou2 #the last of us #ellie williams smut

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dragonlands · 6 months

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There's so much negativity around Izzy's death so I wanted to address some of the points I keep seeing thrown around.

"Izzy's death was pointless"

No, he just had his big speech about how basically they can kill him but they cannot kill the movement. That is a clear paraller to a lot of real life protestors of unjustice. He died protecting the community, he died so the community could go on.

"Izzy's death made his healing pointless"

No it didn't. Healing is always good, feeling happiness and belonging are ALWAYS worth it. We never know how long we've got, doesn't mean we gotta stop trying to be better or happier. His healing was still real. It still mattered.

"Izzy's character arc was left unfinished, it's bad writing"

Oh my god. If you open any writing guide about how to write impactful deaths, and the first thing that comes up is to leave some part of their arc unfinished. And his arc did go through quite a beautiful line, sure there could've been more but his story didn't end like, mid arc. As a writer, of course you want to make the audience sad when a character dies. It's good storytelling. Good stories are supposed to make us feel.

"Izzy died on the arms of his abuser"

Where the hell did this idea come from? Ed and Izzy have been in a toxic codependent relationship way before this show started. You could argue that Izzy was Ed's abuser, but that is not the argument I want to make here. Yes, we saw Ed driven to madness shoot Izzy on screen, but we know Izzy's the one that forced him to be Blackbeart when he didn't want it anymore. There's turmoil all around them. But the final moment is them finally meeting as people, not as components of Blackbeard.

"Izzy's death was unnecessarily awful"

His death was sad, yes, but it was quite beautiful as far as deaths go. He was surrounded by family who cared for him. He was loved, and accepted as he is. He knew his legacy will be carried on.

"They killed off the only character that showed us healing is never too late"

Did we watch the same show? That begins with then unhappy 40+ year old Stede deciding it's finally time to reach for his dreams? Where we see Blackbeard slowly gaining back his humanity? Where Black Pete starts off as toxically masculine dude but ends up in a soft gay marriage? Where most of the crew wanted to mutiny but then they realized being soft is good, actually. Jim's whole purpose in life being revenge but them learning to let that go and instead concentrate on love and fun and family. And so on. Izzy's arc is beautiful, but he's not the only person healing who thought it was too late already.

"Izzy's death was bury your gays trope"

No, what, no. In a pirate show where everyobody is queer some queer people will die. Bury your gays is about only having one or few queer characters and killing them off while the straights get their happily ever afters. This is so far from that.

Also, I want people to be aware of the phenomenon, where creators of diverse shows are subjected to more critism than those of non diverse shows. If this intrests you, Sarah Z on Youtube made a great video on it called Double standards and diverse media. Our flag means death has given us so much, queer love story with a happily ever after, finding community, nonbinary character. And the creators have always been so kind to fans, so let's show them tht kindness back. Because critizicing this one aspect can easily turn to seeming like the whole story is just unwanted. That stories like Ed and Stede's aren't worth telling. And I'm so aftraid that will happen, when just now for the first time in years we are finally getting queer stories.

Also, I understand people are sad. I am sad too - Izzy was an amazing character and his death was sad but that's just. Good writing. You can grieve, but trying to turn it into a moral or dramaturgy issue is just not a good look. And attacking the creators of this wonderful show is just horrible.

Remember - this fandom is a safe space ship 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈

#ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd #ofmd spoilers #izzy hands #our flag means death #ofmd meta #ofmd izzy #blackbonnet #gentlebeard

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youledmehere · 17 days

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THE ONES WHO LIVE EPISODE FOUR: WHAT WE

[WRITTEN BY DANAI GURIRA]

-> Vulture: After some tedious lies and deceptions, in Michonne’s words, they needed a time-out. That’s exactly what they get in one of the best stand-alone episodes in all of The Walking Dead. (…) It’s like watching a two-person play, which makes sense, as the episode’s writer, Danai Gurira (Michonne herself), is an acclaimed and Tony-nominated playwright (…..) “What We” is not a bottle episode. Multiple sets in a single location, two characters with an internal conflict, and the special-effects budget make it a “Suitcase” episode. Editors Rating: 5 stars

Bloody-Disgusting: Andrew Lincoln once again showcases a masterclass of acting as Grimes cycles through his damaged psyche, desperately trying to figure out how to connect with Michonne. Gurira matches Lincoln’s emotional performance, evoking Michonne’s desperation and anger with authenticity. Letting Gurira take over writing duties for this specific episode proved extremely beneficial given the emotional legwork the character trudges through in this particular installment. If there’s anyone who can understand Michonne the best, it’s Danai Gurira.

The Hollywood Reporter: As the writer of the episode, Gurira felt she clearly understood Michonne’s arc, but she wanted to make sure her co-star and fellow executive producer Lincoln had enough meat to sink his teeth into, as well. “You want to give an actor like him everything you can,” she says. “Andy’s such a fantastic actor who throws everything into it. I was keen to give him that workout.” Lincoln added to THR, “It was thrilling to do all of this with friends, but Danai had one heck of a role as well as showrunning the fourth episode as an added responsibility. I thought the work she did on that was an astonishing testament to her skills, especially because apparently she only needs two hours a day to sleep.”

Den of Geek: To call it a bottle episode is dismissive. Certainly, there’s one major setting, and most of the episode contains little in the way of special effects (by the standards of the average Walking Dead Televisual Universe show). However, most bottle episodes aren’t this interesting, or this gripping. “What We” feels like The Walking Dead taking a stab at doing a spinoff of the Richard Linklater Before trilogy, not wallowing in the usual zombie action or soap opera frippery. It’s almost certainly going to be polarizing, but it’s one of the most captivating, emotionally-deep episodes of television from this universe, and it’s all down to the powerhouse that is Danai Gurira.

SpoilerTV: “What We” is a captivating exploration of love’s transformative force. Rick and Michonne shed their pretenses, abandoning deceit to forge a profound reconnection. Andrew Lincoln’s performance brilliantly resurrects Rick from the abyss of a living man who is dead inside, courtesy of Danai’s masterful writing.

Bleeding Cool: But it’s Gurira pulling double duty that deserves all of the attention and tons of praise. Proving that she knows this couple and their dynamic better than anyone, Gurira presented us with what felt like a real couple going through the problems with real reactions- even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. I know that reviews can sometimes go to the extremes-positive or negative- but in the case of “What We”, we have an easy contender for one of the best single episodes of the franchises run.

#acting was amazing. writing was amazing. 10/10 #richonne #the ones who live #rick grimes #michonne #andrew lincoln #danai gurira #*

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max1461 · 3 months

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Weird gender discourse thing that I'm sure people have commented on before is that in vaguely-progressive-but-not-explicitly-sex-positive spaces (and probably in some of the explicitly sex positive spaces too), masturbation is viewed as something empowering for women but sad and kinda gross for men.

Actually, this extends outside of just progressive spaces. A lot of misogynistic incel-adjacent guys seem obsessed with how much they jerk off and how pathetic this is of them, while basically not seeming to talk or think about female masturbation at all. Obviously it's not exactly the same thing, but it still points to a weird double standard.

I think the reason for this is probably the confluence of a few dumb ideas about gender, and about men specifically. The first is that men are universally obsessed with sex, to the exclusion of all or most everything else. The second is that a man's worth is dependent on his ability to seduce women. The upshot being that if a guy jerks off a lot, this is both a vindication of the presumption that he is sex-obsessed and an indictment of his ability to actually acquire sex from real life women. The general negativity towards male masturbation follows from this.

My impression is that regressive ideas about female masturbation mostly exist in the form of an absence: women are presumed to lack sexual agency and so in many cases it is not even presented to them as an option that they can masturbate. Anatomically speaking it also seems like it's more difficult for the average cis woman to reach orgasm than the average cis man, so the lack of explicit information on how masturbation works if you have a vagina is perhaps extra detrimental. On the other hand men are assumed to be highly sexual from a young age (this is its own issue—if you start paying attention to the way young boys are sexualized, it marks itself out as a pretty unsettling aspect of the culture), so it's assumed that masturbation is something they will figure out themselves and do in excess unless they are actively dissuaded from it.

Anyway it's fine though. There's nothing wrong with jerking off. It's literally no big deal.

#society

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tieriastar · 3 months

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It's actually good to see these two disagree

I think it's interesting when it comes to Chris and his negative behavior in RE6 people are more understanding towards him. Especially about the trauma and difficult situations he has gone through, even referring to it as "character growth", which I agree with wholeheartedly. However, when it comes to Jill people expect her to not develop. Some say she should be pleasant and nice in reference to what they think the "old Jill" was despite the trauma she faced for three years of her body and mind being used and abused under Wesker's control in RE5. There were people actually expecting her to be the same person she was before in the Death Island movie. I don't understand that at all. She literally had to be in rehab and under observation for 6 YEARS because of what she went through in Africa, meaning that she really needed a lot of treatment, both physical and mental, after all of that. But I guess people expected her to be completely fine after that? Not sure why there's a double standard between Chris' character development and Jill's. Maybe it's because with Chris you see his problems unravel in the games while we don't clearly see Jill's true reaction to her trauma after she returns from Africa. We also don't get to see what she even went through when her body was used to make antibodies for the Uroboros project to the process of being mind-controlled. We only know the details of what she went through in notes and special files from RE5 and only a few details from her observation/rehab period from an email she wrote to Barry that can be found in Revelations 2. But I doubt that many people took the time to read these things while playing these games. I'm also willing to believe that rather than thinking Jill's personality changed, she is just showing a new determined side of her that stems from her deep regret about everything that happened to her.

People said that she was rude to Chris in the Death Island movie but to me, it just looked like two people who have known each other for so long, who deeply care for one another and have gone through their own troubles just having a disagreement. This shouldn't be a shock seeing that close friends, lovers, partners, etc do have arguments. It's actually a good thing to have arguments once in a while because it shows that the two people in that relationship are very close. Also, wouldn't you be pissed if you came back to work after being gone for 6 years and being told you need to sit this one out and think about things? Jill has been sitting around for 6 years "thinking about things" in rehab so why do you want her to wait around again? Don't get me wrong, Chris' concern for Jill was very valid but the way he went about it caused some misunderstanding between the two. But it's okay because even people who are very close to each other disagree sometimes.

#jill valentine #chris redfield #valenfield #jill x chris #resident evil death island #chris x jill

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lostyesterday · 5 months

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There’s an ethical question in Star Trek I’ve seen several people here talk about that I’ve thought about a lot. Basically, what are the ethics of having a romantic or sexual relationship with a non-sentient holographic version of a real person? This issue is brought up several times in canon, but never dealt with well, in my opinion. The main canon discussions of this topic that I remember (and it’s possible I forgot something) are in Booby Trap (TNG) where Geordi has a very brief romantic relationship with a holographic version of a real woman he’s never met, in Hollow Pursuits (TNG) where Barclay presumably has romantic/sexual relationships with extremely out of character holographic versions of Deanna and Beverly, in Meridian (DS9) where a guy wants Quark to sell him a holographic version of Kira to have sex with, and in Human Error (VOY) where Seven has a semi-long-term romantic and sexual relationship with a holographic version of Chakotay.

So, first of all, I don’t think that any of those instances mentioned are morally okay. Booby Trap is the most complicated case morally speaking since, to my memory, Geordi didn’t intentionally initiate anything romantic, though he didn’t stop it once it started either. I don’t want to imply that what Geordi did is morally as bad as the other examples I’m discussing, especially since Geordi is the only character of color being discussed here and his actions are not really equivalent in intention or impact to the other characters’. As an episode, Booby Trap doesn’t seem to have a clear idea of whether or not what Geordi is doing is unethical. In fact, it felt to me as if that question wasn’t something that occurred to the writers at all (until Galaxy’s Child, but that’s a whole other thing and the hologram portion of it is arguably the least messed up thing there, so I’m ignoring it in relation to this topic). Hollow Pursuits does portray what Barclay does negatively, but I feel like the episode is much more concerned with the negative emotional effects this has for Barclay rather than for Deanna and Beverly. Meridian, from what I remember, is the only episode to portray this situation as definitively bad, and Kira is portrayed as justified in being angry. However, the episode is a mess in other ways and does not explore the topic with nuance, making light of it with humor when I think it needed to be taken more seriously. Human Error is in some ways the most baffling case here because what Seven does is portrayed almost positively, as something that is a potentially good step in Seven’s “social development”. Apparently, there is no thought given to what Chakotay would think of the situation. I’ve seen people suggest that the narrative and fandom treatment of Seven versus the other characters is a gendered double standard, which I do think makes sense.

But the problem here isn’t having a sexual/romantic relationship with a hologram, the problem is that the person didn’t consent to having their holographic image used this way. There’s obviously nothing wrong with having sex or a relationship with a hologram not based on anyone’s image, or based on the image of someone who gave clear consent to have their image used in that way. But using someone’s image this way without their consent is pretty obviously analogous to making nonconsensual porn of someone. Do the ethics of this situation change if the hologram is of a historical figure? What about a famous person who is still alive? I don’t necessarily have answers here, but I do think the situation can become more complicated.

And then there’s another factor to consider – is the sexual/romantic relationship the biggest issue here? In the cases of Hollow Pursuits and Human Error, Barclay and Seven’s simulations of the crew are much more extensive than just the romantic/sexual portions. Would it have been all right for Barclay to create potentially offensive and demeaning holographic versions of his crewmates if there was no romantic/sexual component? Would it be okay for Seven to recreate a version of every Voyager crew member and live out an intricate alternate life with them without any of their consent if she never had romantic/sexual relationships with any of them? Is it any less a violation of someone’s rights to use their image without consent for, say, a propaganda campaign for an issue they disagree with, or a story that portrays their holographic version as a horrible person? That second scenario is the plot of the Voyager episode Author Author. This episode seems to take the moral stance that it’s bad for the Doctor to use the images of his fellow Voyager crew members to portray horrible characters, but there are other questions it doesn’t raise. Would it have been okay for the Doctor to use their images without consent if he had portrayed their holographic versions positively? What is the line between an acceptable and unacceptable usage of another person’s image without their consent? Is it ever okay to use a person’s holographic image without their consent? Is such consent implied when a person agrees to holographic scans of their body? What exactly is one consenting to when they consent to have a holographic version of themself created? I don’t necessarily have answers to these questions, I just wish any of these episodes had explored these issues with more nuance. And I do think that it’s important to consider extending the question of consent here beyond sex and romance.

#star trek tng #star trek ds9 #star trek voy #i do not mean any of this to be an attack on geordi seven barclay or the doctor as characters #i think all of this is more reflective of biases on the part of the writers than anything else #and it’s hard to place complete blame on particular characters when the moral stances of the episodes are so murky #lane posts

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haphazardlyannotated · 9 months

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So I was thinking about how Steven, Connie and Stevonnie all have a duet with one of the main Crystal Gems and I realised how masterfully these songs are deployed to tell us things about them.

First of all, On The Run for Steven and Amethyst.

Amethyst is the Crystal Gem who relates the most to Steven's experiences and vice versa. They're both the 'juniors' in their household, they've both been struggling with being respected by the older Crystal Gems for a while now, and though Amethyst is very much Steven's guardian when it comes down to it, she's also Steven's peer in a way that Garnet and Pearl just aren't even when they try to include Steven.

And now this song sets them up as parallels in other contexts, too. They're both from earth! They both don't wholly belong in one category (Steven as a half gem, half human, Amethyst as a Crystal Gem who never fought in the rebellion and whose existence runs against the Crystal Gems' original wishes for Earth), and as we are about to learn, they both came into existence at the cost of other life and might harbour guilt about it, even though they had literally no say in this.

And then later on they continue to be parallels, especially in season 3 (though they share the child of divorce energy during the Sardonyx Arc). They both compare themselves to impossible standards of what they 'should' be (Steven to the idea of Rose, Amethyst to Jasper) and it is their recognition of their own struggles in each other that allows them to at least partially overcome them. No wonder Smoky Quartz is Steven's first fusion with another gem!

Next up: Do It For Her, sung by Pearl and Connie.

Speaking of parallels! It's pretty obvious watching the episode that Pearl is spending some time in projection city regarding absolute devotion to a beloved, if not revered partner, but she might actually be closer to the truth in some respects than she realises.

Remember Lion 2: The Movie? When Connie said that she didn't understand why Steven would hang out with someone as normal as her? Doesn't this remind us of someone else who feels like she's objectively inferior to a special (in several ways) someone? Someone who stepped out of the predetermined role she was supposed to fill to join her loved one on their dangerous path? Who lived a double life to avoid retribution from controlling authority figures? Couldn't say.

Also, they're both the knowledgable planner to their all loving goofball partner.

With all of this, I think Do It For Her both draws parallels between Pearl and Connie as well as Pearlrose and Connverse, and shows us how the example of Pearl and Rose's unresolved dysfunction could stop Steven and Connie from falling into the same trap before it was too late. I think seeing Pearl demonstrate the end of the road they were beginning to walk was what enabled Steven to step in before they got to Pearlrose's point, where Pearl was to deep in her self sacrificing mindset for Rose to reach her.

And finally, Here Comes A Thought for Garnet and Stevonnie.

First of all, obviously, Garnet and Stevonnie as an embodiment of the love and harmony between Ruby and Sapphire and Steven and Connie respectively.

It also draws parallels between Ruby and Connie and Steven and Sapphire though. (I saw a great meta about that in my lurking days, which I will link here if someone could kindly direct me to it). Sapphire and Steven as people who would rather bury negative feelings, like Sapphire tries to in Keystone Motel and Steven in... the entirety of suf to name just the most prominent one. Which of course only leads to more problems in the long run, because they haven't processed the feelings at all.

On the other hand, the comparison with Ruby draws attention to a trait of Connie's we maybe wouldn't have noticed otherwise: She is, for the lack of a better term, much more confrontational about things that make her unhappy. Just look at The New Crystal Gems.

Also, letting Ruby and Sapphire demonstrate their conflict resolution for Steven and Connie gives us an insight into what goes into keeping Garnet together through everything. Love takes work indeed. It's also worth pointing out that Connverse have been paralleled with both Pearlrose, Rupphire and (a little bit in We Need To Talk) Gregrose this way.

This show has so many layers, I swear, I'll be on my deathbed and I'll still find new nuances to write an essay about. Well done, Crewniverse.

#su #steven universe #crystal gems #su garnet #su amethyst #su pearl #su steven #connie maheswaran #stevonnie #su ruby #su sapphire #pearlrose #connverse #rupphire #meta #there's probably more but i'm tired and my brain is turning into cream cheese despite my vegan diet #so you get this #cheers!

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