#so now i focus on making cardigans or vests

[slytherinsomniari]

Of Parchment and Desires| Aesop Sharp x F! Reader

Pairing: Aesop Sharp x F! Reader

Summary: You return to Hogwarts 4.5 years after graduation in the pursuit of completing your dissertation. A chance encounter with your former Potions Professor leads to him staying at your cottage while you work. A slight struggle with desire ensues before the two of you are brought together through the paper you have been working on.

Word Count: 3850

Themes: Masturbation, Smut, Teasing, Mutual Pining

A/N: The beginning was a bit hard to do since I had the nighttime stuff written out so I am sorry if it is poorly written compared to the rest of the story. Sorry, I had to insert “Pride and Prejudice” somewhere lol

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Why your professor had decided to help you with your dissertation you did not know. Yet there he was in your room, quietly working while you tried to finish and edit your dissertation on the difference of the effects of potions and charms and the advantages and disadvantages to each in combat and other such situations. Him being in your room was even more strange and you couldn’t quite put together how or why he decided to do so. You had graduated from Hogwarts about 4.5 years ago and had continued your education afterwards, with it culminating in a dissertation like they did in the muggle world. You didn’t expect to get any reward or recognition from it, but you had wanted to make sure you were properly educated before you sent yourself off in the world outside of school.

You had chosen Hogwarts to complete your paper because of the vast knowledge its library had. That and you couldn’t help but want to take another peek at the potions professor after the few years you have been gone. You encountered him after leaving the library with books meant to help with your paper and he had stopped you for a conversation. It appeared he was interested in your paper and one thing led to another and there he was in your room in the cottage you were renting near Hogsmeade. 

Snapping yourself back to reality, you turn your focus back to writing the paper at your desk. Professor Sharp sat at the table in the middle of the room grading exam papers and essays, occasionally asking you about your dissertation and the state of its completion. He had stripped most of his clothing on the upper half, leaving him in just a button up, vest, and tie. This sight nearly drove you mad. It was your first time ever seeing him this relaxed and it did wonders to you. He practically matched you in casual wear, with you wearing a button up, cardigan and a skirt. Seeing him like that felt like he was teasing you, but you knew he was only getting more comfortable. Despite this, you couldn’t help but occasionally take peeks at his fine form while completing your work. 

Time passed and the endless day turned to night. You assumed he would have left by now but low and behold he was still there, not making the slightest hint of wanting to leave. You had told him he could go to the Three Broomsticks for dinner if he didn’t want anything you made as you were having a simple sandwich, but he surprisingly stayed. You had made the sandwiches and ate yours while you continued to work on the thesis. Once you finished it, you sighed and clutched your head. 

Hearing you sigh, he gets up and walks over to you, standing right behind you as he asks, “Is something the matter?”

You quell the shock inside you and replace it with a dejected sigh and a frown on your face. “I’m not sure if I’m explaining this properly. The Invigoration Draught is dangerous to use in combat alongside Felix Felicis as it could severely affect your body once the effects stop working. It could lead to you being easily overtaken in battle and being unable to fight due to the strain but I don’t know how else to connect it.”

He leans down to look at your paper, face mere inches from yours, “Yes, you are quite right. If I may, I’d suggest you expand upon those effects and connect them with your discussion on the effects of the Cruciatus Curse and the extent of bodily and mental harm that can occur.”

Smiling, you thank him and once you realize how close he was, you flush and turn your head. You hope he didn’t notice how your breath caught or how you flushed when he placed his hand on your back as he leaned down. Unbeknownst to you, he did happen to notice, but he convinced himself it wasn’t what he was thinking. There was no way you could love him–a miserly old man with a bad leg. You deserve someone better. Regardless, he had let his hand linger on your back for too long, letting his fingers press into the fabric of your cardigan as he itched to move them, to massage your back and move lower and underneath your shirt. He shook his head and returned to the table, finishing up the papers for the night before he went to bed. 

Later that night, you were practically passing out in your chair but despite this you kept on writing. Your dear professor, however, thought that enough was enough. He had seen many students struggle with writing papers until dawn but he did not want you to neglect your health. Besides, you had plenty of time to finish it. He gets up and walks over to you, placing his hands on your arms.

“It’s time for you to rest. Your paper can wait another day without you killing yourself over it.” Pulling you from your chair, he drags you to your bed and puts you on it, placing the covers over you. Despite your protests, your body immediately starts sinking into the bed. You lose consciousness, last feeling your former professor’s hand brushing the hair out of your face and stroking your cheek before he lets go. 

Sharp gets into the bed, slipping in quietly next to you. Exhausted, you do not stir from the dip in the bed and continue to rest. He gets ready to attempt to sleep next to you, forcing down the urges that are bubbling up inside him, but tenses when you switch sides, letting your body face him. His body relaxes once he realizes you are not awake and gets comfortable, wrapping his arms around you and bringing you to his chest. Eyes lingering on your lips, he brings his lips down to yours and pauses, trembling from his restraint. His lips ghost yours, just barely touching and it sends electric sparks through him. He wanted you so bad, you were destroying him. The room is eerily silent and the tension is palpable, causing him to nearly give in and claim your angelic lips with his own. However, he knew that if he went through with the kiss he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from carrying on with what happened afterwards. Not wanting to force himself onto you, he makes up his mind.

Painfully, he removes his lips from yours and breathes heavily. He feels an ache in his lower area and grits his teeth. It wasn’t something he would have chosen to do with you there, but he had to get rid of the urge somehow. He places a tender kiss on your head, muttering the words “I’m so sorry” before sitting up and unbuttoning his pants, taking his member out. He strokes it back and forth repeatedly, thinking of you–of what it would be like if you were doing it for him. Or even better, if you had allowed him inside you so he could feel you and hear you moan as he thrusted into you and relieved his stress. He picks up the pace and feels himself tighten up at the thought of your face scrunched up in ecstasy and releases into his hand. Relieved of his ache but not of his desire, he cleans himself up and gets back into bed, wrapping his arms around you as he falls asleep. 

You wake up to the sun shining through the window and a fragrant aroma permeating the room. As your eyes adjust, you find a teacup on your bedside table with a steaming cup of Earl Grey tea inside it. Looking to find its maker, you spy none other than your professor sitting at your table drinking a cup and conducting business, reading countless papers and most definitely grading his students’ final exams. He appeared to be at ease in your room, as if he had always belonged there. You bolt up, stuttering, “P-professor? What time is it?”

“Ah, I see you’re up. It is 11 o’clock in the morning. A bit late for you I suppose, but you had worked yourself to a near comatose state. Naturally, I let you sleep in. I hope you don’t mind me staying over, it took quite a while to remove you from your paper.”

“Blimey, that's late! Oh, not at all sir! I am so sorry for inconveniencing you, especially at a time like this. With your students’ exams to grade and all, I would have expected you to leave, so thank you for taking care of me.”

“It was more convenient to stay here and grade them. Otherwise, I would run the risk of one of the students trying to convince me why they deserve a grade higher than Acceptable. An aunt however many times removed dying is no excuse as to why one would score poorly on an exam.” He rolls his eyes. 

You snicker, feeling a little bad for his students but at the same time delighting in their misery. The real world was more cruel than that, and if you couldn’t manage to get a good grade on an exam, it would be very hard to get better work outside of school. Speaking of grades, you had a thesis to finish editing. Inwardly groaning, you sit up and sip the tea. It was the best cup of Earl Grey you had ever had. Later you would have to ask him which brand he got and if he had put any milk in it.

Noticing your change of mood, Sharp comments, “It was far easier to grade the exams here than it would have been in my office. I am nearly done and had enough time to write up a few comments on your dissertation. It is awaiting you on your desk for your perusal.”

You get off the bed and take your cup with you to your desk and set it down. Taking a seat, you take a look at the paper and quietly gasp. At your desk was your thesis paper and on it in beautiful handwriting was your professor’s critiques. It was more than just a few comments–he wrote many things from words of encouragement to genuine critiques that would help you improve the paper itself. It must have taken a lot of time and concentration to be able to write this much on your paper. You were touched. It was the first time someone had ever done something this kind for you and you didn’t know how to react. Judging from his comment, however, it appeared he didn’t want to draw too much attention to it so, following suit, you smiled and took out a new set of parchment and started writing the finalized thesis.

Time passes while you write, with you constantly drinking more tea that he has graciously prepared for the two of you. A while later, you hold your breath and read over your dissertation one more time before you turn it in. This would be the only time you would do it, so you had to make sure you got it right. You get to the last sentence and once you finish, you let out a sigh of relief as you have now finished it. Smiling with tears in your eyes, you get up and run over to Sharp and hug him, giggling and telling him you were done. He gets up from his seat and hugs you properly, congratulating you sincerely. You bury yourself in his chest and inhale his scent, soothing yourself with the smell of his cologne. Looking up, you stare into his eyes and realize what you are doing. It must have been such an embarrassment seeing his former student carry on like this but despite wanting to crawl into a corner and become one with the nonexistent mold, you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. 

Sharp stiffens as he comes to the same conclusion as you. He didn’t think it was possible for you to like him that way but based on your reaction, you at least favored him and certainly didn’t mind kissing him. With your lips parted and your face tilting upwards, he tentatively presses his lips to yours, testing your boundaries. You give into the kiss, pressing into him and letting him know that you wanted this. Once he feels your lips permit the kiss, he deepens it in a passionate fury. His grip on you tightens as his need for you explodes. This is what he wanted from the previous night–you in his arms kissing him and heading towards the moment he’s been waiting for for so long. His change of speed takes you by surprise, forcing you to stand on your toes and lean into him to keep yourself steady. 

At the same time, you had also wanted this for a while. When you were at Hogwarts, you had harbored a crush on your potions professor but like other girls, you didn’t expect it to go anywhere and graduated without anything happening. You couldn’t believe that you were kissing your former professor and the fact that you were thrilled you. You whimper into the kiss, legs shaking as you can’t hold out any longer. His hands travel across your body, pulling your shirt out and going underneath your top, reaching for your cleavage. You hadn’t worn a corset, instead opting for stays, but this prevented him from fully touching you and made him grunt in disapproval. He removes his lips from yours and makes fast work of the laces and loosens it, taking your cardigan off and unbuttoning your shirt. He slides it off and helps you out of your stays and chemise top before he reclaims your lips once more, finally pawing at your breasts. He works them as he dominates you again, rubbing your nipples and kneading your breasts. Moaning at his touch, you open your lidded eyes enough to look towards the bed. 

His eyes are drawn to where you are looking, seeing the bed the two of you desired. Heat filled both of your bodies as you gave into temptation and lust. Directing your two bodies, he brings you to the bed and onto it. Not wanting him to take charge just yet, you decide to tease him a little by pushing him to the headboard of the bed and getting on top of him. His groan upon impact grows once he understands what is happening. Nipping at his lips playfully, you leave quick and lengthy kisses while you remove his vest. Taking it off, you get rid of his tie and unbutton his shirt, taking the time to rub your hands on his chest and appreciate his fine physique. You let the shirt slide off of him and he wraps his arms around you, desperately in need of you. 

However, you weren’t done just yet. You nuzzle into his neck as you roll your hips into his, drawing out his response. His hips buck into yours and you moan, his neck muffling the sound. Agony is all Sharp could feel at the fact that he is not properly inside you. Your hips sensually rock back and forth, enticing him with your slow pace. Attempting to regain control from you, he drags you onto the right spot, placing you directly on his penis and ensuring you would feel the hard bulge with every movement. It pressed upon your entrance deeply, forcing you to reconsider your actions as you let out a simpering moan. You could feel a wetness begin to form and knew you were ready. Lifting yourself up, you begin to get off of him when his grip on your waist tightens. 

“Sir…”

“Aesop. And we’re not done yet.”

He forces you back onto him as he grinds into you, rubbing into your aching pussy. Just as you teased him, he’s doing the same to you. This time, however, he will make sure you finish the job. Your body grinds with him and you embrace him, moaning every time he touches you. He picks up the tempo, pulling you with him as he grinds into you. Feeling it build up, you lean back and let out a loud moan, cumming all over yourself. Some of your fluid spills out onto your legs and glistens in the light of the day. The mere sight of this entices Sharp to spill his own seed into you, and that he will make sure to do.

With your face flushed, you murmur in a sultry tone, “I don’t think we’ll be needing these anymore.” Unbuckling his belt, you pull his trousers down and off him, placing them on the floor and drinking in the sight of his enormous length. He is huge, so huge that it makes you shiver with excitement. Pulling you close to him he says, “The same goes for you, dear Y/N.” With that, he grabs your skirt and unbuttons it, sliding it off your body alongside your soiled drawers. The clothes land in a heap on the floor as he tosses them aside, eying your body. 

Hands grab your waist, flipping you onto your back as Sharp takes his place on top of you. Already getting started, you feel him ready himself as he pushes your legs far apart and places himself at your entrance. The feeling you get as he pushes himself into you is pure ecstasy  and causes you to moan in surprised delight. The sheer size of him stretches you out but at the same time feels like the perfect length inside you. 

“Oh god, Aesop” You whimper, “You’re so big.”

His arousal peaks at an all new high at your comment, pressing into you even more and sending a blissful sensation through your body. A calloused hand cups your face as his lips gently press against yours, landing a soft yet dominant kiss on you. “You feel just right around me Y/N. You’re doing so well.” That was the calm before the storm. As soon as you are ready he begins his attack.

He starts going at a breakneck pace as punishment for your teasing of him and you love every moment of it. You wrap your arms around his torso, digging your nails into his muscled back as your legs cling to him. His grunts mix with your moans, creating a harmony of pleasure.

“Aesop” You mewl as he thrusts into you particularly hard. Eyes scrunched, pleasure jolts through you as you let yourself feel his desperation as he moves inside you. 

“Louder” He growls, lunging into you with the same harshness. His need fills you with unending desire and you do your best to please him.

“Aesop!!!”

The sound of his body hitting into yours increases at hearing you call his name. His name soon leaves your lips and is replaced with heavy cries as you lose all thought. Nothing could be heard in that room for a while except the sound of two bodies coming together with power pairing with the exquisite sounds coming from both of your mouths. Your pussy grows incredibly wet and sensitive, tingling at the sensation of Sharp grabbing one breast and fondling it. He rolls it around in his hand before placing his mouth on it and biting down. A whimper escapes you at the feeling of his mouth sucking on you and his rough tongue licking at your nipple. His tongue toys with it, knowing the right moves to make you buck into him to chase the high he was giving you. His lips leave your breast, leaving a trickle of saliva as he turns towards you. Looking you in the eye, he sees the ecstasy written on your face and adores you for it. He loves you and the fact that he was having you at that moment, like he had always dreamed of, even when you were his student. In the sea of love, the two of you clashed bodies, each thinking of the love you had for the other.

Your lips meet his in a fevered kiss before you feel a familiar tightness in your body. His body tightens as he too reaches his limit. The two of you pick up the pace as you both chase the remaining high left before your coinciding climaxes. You groan into the kiss and break apart, throwing your head back and arching your body. Hitting your peak, you orgasm with a final moan and let your fluids run down you. Sharp cums right after you, unloading himself into your satisfied cunt. You hum in contentment as the warm feeling fills you up, making you feel complete. Getting up, he plants a loving kiss on your lips and lays down, pulling you to him. 

“I suppose this isn’t the worst congratulatory gift you have received so far.”

Turning towards him, you trace a finger on his chest and reply, “I’d say it is by far the best gift I have ever received, and that’s saying something. I place you first, right above my special edition of Pride and Prejudice I received for keeping up my grades when I was a student at Hogwarts.”

Rolling his eyes, Sharp retorts, “I’m happy to find that I rank higher than a book. Didn’t realize my competition would be so…difficult. I shall have to make you even happier if I am to compare to such an honorable opponent.”

“Hmm, I don’t think it will be that easy for you. You have to defeat Mr. Darcy after all and he’s a charmer, albeit a bit grumpy at first–not unlike a certain someone I know.“ you hummed in thought, cheekily smiling at the last bit.

“I wonder how ever I shall endeavor to defeat such a man who struggles against his better judgment to confess to the one whom he loves. I suppose it may be simply solved by saying this plainly: I love you, Y/N. I would love to court you, to marry you, to live with you for the rest of my life and tie you down to a miserable lonely man such as myself.”

Tearing up a little, you respond, “To that I say, yes, a thousand times yes. I would love to be with you and live with you–to deal with your sour attitude and whatever odd habits you may have.”

Chuckling, he looks at you in adoration, “Well then, that was easy. I wonder why it took your precious Mr. Darcy so long to court Elizabeth. Perhaps it takes a better man to see the beauty in front of him and accept it, rather than scowling about and using his despicable nature to wreak havoc on the lives of others.”

Your snort turns into laughter and you bring yourself to him, wrapping your arms around him and resting your head on his chest as the two of you fall asleep in each other’s arms.

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy fanfic #hogwarts legacy x reader #aesop sharp #aesop sharp fanfic #aesop sharp x reader #professor sharp x reader #professor sharp

[ddaz3d-and-cc0nfused]

Me again ☺️

Literally so excited !!! - could I please request:

Spencer Reid x Wife! Reader?

Spencer and Reader work at the same college as professors and Reid is running on like 10 cups of coffee and no sleep and as he enters the teachers lounge he smacks right into reader? Kinda like a meet-cute?

Thank you!!! You got me obsessed with Spencer?!!

༉‧₊˚. 𝐦𝐞 & 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 || 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐝

― pairing: spencer reid x plus size wife!reader

― summary: ever since you'd met spencer all those years ago hyped up on caffeine, you've made sure to keep an eye on his sugar consumption.

― warnings: nothing! just some sweet old domestic spencer.

― wc: 988

⋆ a/n: i'm not sorry for making you obsessed with him! i hope i interpreted your request correctly, if not i apologize! there's still wife!reader ofc!! i made her style like penelope's because i figured it'd also be another sweet little addition :] thank you so much for your request and i would definitely like to see what you come up with next!

masterlist | AO3

Sometimes you couldn't help but think that if you and Spencer hadn't worked together, he would implode on himself. It was so easy for his mind to run faster than what his body could handle, and he cared so deeply for his students, so most of the time he would forget to take care of himself.

You remember the day that you had met him, fresh meat as you nervously hung out in the teachers lounge feeling very out of place. Everyone looked so knowledgeable and experienced with their vests and prestigious cardigans, and maybe this was what you should have expected when you had gotten a job at a very luxurious school that only the smartest and brightest could get into. You felt a bit underdressed with your frilly and colorful dress, your hair littered with little hair clips to fit your outgoing personality.

Your classroom looked the same with multiple posters, tinsels, and just wall decor in general. You hoped that it would create a less tense atmosphere for the newcomers, seeing as though you opted to teach a college freshman class. Maybe you had hoped that all of you being in the same boat would make it easier, for you or for them? You didn't know.

As you looked down at the cat watch that sat upon your wrist, your eyes widened. Many of your students would be back from their lunch break. As you internally praised yourself for bringing your own coffee mug, you rushed to leave, but not without bumping into someone first. You could feel your cup get lighter as the luke warm contents inside of it spilled all over the front of the poor man in front of you.

“Oh my god, oh my god!” You panicked, your eyes frantically searched the longue for something to wipe the man down with, your gaze landing on some of the napkins sat upon the side of the sink. You rushed to grab them, apologies already spilling out of your mouth as you pathetically dapped at the man's clothing.

“I am so sorry, I really wasn't watching where I was going, oh God.” You watch the creme colored liquid bleeding onto the napkin. “Just great, exactly what I needed on my first day. How could I already get fired, I haven't even been a teacher for a day! Oh gosh, it took me so long to decorate my classroom.” Your brain was going a mile a minute as you muttered quiet degrading words to yourself.

“Fired?” You heard the man chuckle. You stopped your dabbing to look at him, and you mean really, look at him. He was handsome no doubt, but the bags under his eyes spoke volumes as well as his untamed curly hair added emphasis. The pupils of his eyes were slightly dilated, which was obviously due to the caffeine.

“I just—” You faced palmed in embarrassment, a shy smile on your face as you realized you were now the man's main focus. “Can I get you another cup of coffee?” You asked sheepishly. He deeply chuckled, “I think I'd really like that.”

You didn't know that would have been his tenth cup of the day, but he couldn't say no to you, no matter how much sugar that he had ended up consuming, or the fact that he ended up laying over the toilet as he vomited, but he couldn't stop thinking about the pretty professor in the bright dresses.

Five years later and you're still wearing those type of clothes, only this time a pretty diamond ring had made itself an addition to your outfits. You were currently on your way to his classroom, his students often overjoyed at seeing their favorite history professor. Even though you weren't fond of the criminology class, sometimes even walking in as a dead body was shown, you were fond of Spencer, and that's all that mattered.

It was strange, feeling like you were outside looking into your life through a different point of view as you peered at the man from the same spot you had found yourself after the day you had met him, watching him teach as if he hadn't slept in two days.

As you knocked gently to alert your husband of your presence, many of his students broke out in enthusiastic greetings.

“Hi, Mrs. Reid!” Or “You look pretty today, Mrs. Reid!” As well as your favorite, “Where did you get your shoes from?” You would never not jump at the chance to share your favorite boutique that made the funky, but signature looking shoes.

“Hello, everyone!” You greeted with a smile. “Alright you guys, take these next few minutes to discuss the case.” He turned to you with a large smile, grabbing your hand and pulling you out into the hallway as you wrapped your chunky arms around his neck, watching him closely as you searched for those same dilated eyes.

“What did I tell you about disrupting my class?” He asked teasingly, leaning down to press a quick kiss to your lips. “I know, I know, but I missed you. And I also wanted to make sure that you weren't all sugared out.” He laughed, his lips pulling into that geeky smile of his that you loved so much. His body had definitely softened over the years, but that just meant that there was more of him for you to love. “Trust me, I've only had two today. Ever since you told my kids to keep an eye on me, they've been on my ass about it.”

You raised an eyebrow, a shit-eating grin taking it's place on your face as you twirled a piece of hair around your finger.

“Good, I don't need you vomiting like last time.” He just shrugged, “But I got to talk to you, so it was worth it.” You snorted, pulling him down for a sweet kiss. “Oh, shut up.”

ೃ⁀➷ my lovely taglist!: @alina02

#✰ ― meau's inbox ! #spencer x reader #spencer reid x reader #spencer fanfiction #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x plus size reader #plus size reader #plus size!reader #x plus size reader #chubby reader #x chubby reader #fluff #wife!reader #fanfiction #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid oneshot #spencer reid drabble #spencer criminal minds #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction

[cherrycherryking]

Hi! I love your stuff with Wally!! I was wondering if you could do Wally (Or Eddie if you write for him) with a reader who likes to write and make up fun stories to share with friends? (You don’t have to but I think it’d be cute) Oki have a nice daaaay :))

sooo idk if you just wanted this to be just and x reader or a character ideas, so, i did both!! hope you like it <3

(+some drawings!)

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Wally Darling x Gen!Reader (platonic or romantic) Eddie Dearest x Gen!Reader (platonic or romantic)

Writer Character

✧We got ourselves a little writer!

✧Or maybe an author, or a librarian, or a poet- point is! You love to write and create this silly funny stories for all of your friends to see.

✧Some fun concepts for a character like this could be a bee cause spelling bee! Or a mouse because library mouse (or just whatever you like)

✧We know in the show there was storybook sections. I think a lot of these would be narrated and a lot of times even created by you!

✧I can picture your segment starting with the camera focusing on you reading or writing, then inviting the viewer to follow the story along. As you may imagine for a kids show they all had a neat message at the end.

✧Oh, and another resident smarty pants! I can think of some chapters or scenes where you teach spelling and grammar. "No, is not t-h-e-y-r-e, they're birthday, but t-h-e-i-r, their birthday!" (or maybe like me you suck at spelling, so ignore this lol)

✧For outfits i can suggest plaid pattern, glasses, a vest or maybe a cardigan! You can either go for a well put together smart little guy or a mess of a bookworm (that's like a scale on my head.)

✧Sally and you could be good friends now that i think about it! She loooves to make her friends perform her plays and you're just the perfect helper for that.

(if you use this as a base credit me and tag me so i can see!!)

✧Maybe appear with Frank as well, I think he could borrow books if you have a library or even have a little book club with other neighbors :]

───────────.★..─╮ Eddie x Reader ─..★.───────────╯

✧Oh you appear to help when he's teaching arts and crafts!

✧If you're big into reading, or trying to publish a book or any other sort of thing then you would see Eddie pretty often because he would always have a package or letter for you.

✧He's a bit of a forgetful klutz so you always make sure to help him a little by organizing a calendar for him! Writing down stuff you know for sure he'll forget.

✧Yes it makes him a little bit embarrassed to say the least but he's infinitely grateful of your help.

✧Every single morning in his usual route if he has the time, he always goes past your house to say hello and catch up on what you have been writing! Eddie is interested in the story you have and always listens to it with so much focus, almost as if you were telling him the hottest latest gossip of them all.

(help my poor soul im getting into an art block. eddie someday i will make you justice i promise.)

✧Or maybe you walk with him a little to accompany him. Just a heads up! Be ready to catch him when he inevitably falls because of some marbles julie forgot to pick up, a plastic duck (Barnaby- pick up your trash!) or just because!!

✧But is all worth it at the end of the day. Eddie always has time for you and your rambles. Only problem is he likes everything you write so he's not the best person if you're searching for criticism!

───────────.★..─╮ Wally x Reader ─..★.───────────╯

✧As the most prominent character of the series the plot follows Wally, and that's a way you two end up talking so much for a starters.

✧Any time Wally is staring at his canvas with no idea of what to draw he thinks "Well, they surely will have an idea" and go search for you (that is if you're not already there).

✧Thinking about how many chapters could follow the formula of you and Wally brainstorming ideas for a story, with him drawing what you narrate (and we come back to the storybook sections of the show!)

✧He would ask you "what are you doing today, neighbor?" to which you respond that you are writing about something! He asks what, you respond, he asks for more context of your story and- well now you're infodumping to him telling him all about what you have so far.

✧Oh but he would definitely be the type to draw your characters because "they are a lot of fun".

✧Picturing calm afternoons consisting of the two of you doing parallel play and every so often showing the other your progress <3

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by the end i kinda got into an artblock 😭😭 og plan was to make two rendered drawings, one for wally other for eddit yet it appears i flew too close to the sun. my god.

also this is my first time writing eddie so i'm not sure if i captured him correctly! in any case thank you so much for reading.

#i forgot a chunk of sallys hair AGAIN #also i was going to draw yn correctly #but i just. couldnt??? #so i doom all of you to look like a muppet. apologies #request #welcome home #welcome home arg #welcome home sally #welcome home eddie #welcome home wally #sally starlet #eddie dear #wally darling

[jomiddlemarch]

Alina and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 

Alina was fairly certain that kindergarten pickup was actually a level of Hell. One of the deeper ones, though she had to admit that waiting for the divorce to be finalized and the week in February that Mal had been away at a conference in Hawaii when Eli got the stomach bug and she’d run out of orange Pedialyte, Clorox, and episodes of Elmo’s World just as she’d succumbed were both worse. She’d gotten a tee-shirt out of the conference and not herpes, so it was slightly ahead, which was the kind of thing she’d say that would make Gen tell her she really had to stay in the here and now and focus on herself and Eli; the fact that focusing in herself to Gen always meant some form of hot/stone/the feminine Divine yoga plus or minus a green smoothie was something Alina figured she just had to suck up as part of the best friend code. Especially if she wanted (needed) Gen to remain on Eli’s emergency contact list and deal with kindergarten pickup if Alina had a deadline or her car decided to call her bluff on her perpetually overdue oil changes.

She’d actually finished the article on affordable housing while sitting at the oil change place, wondering from time to time how oil change places still existed and why they still had a TV mounted on the wall when everyone was on their phone, earbuds in, podcasts and memes washing over them as digital sedatives. When she’d said anything like that at home, Mal would accuse her of being a Luddite, while continuing to shoot some monster on his gaming PC, and she’d launch into an explanation of why the Luddites got a bad rap and remembering it, she once again rejoiced in the finalization of the divorce, despite everything else it had cost her, starting with her rosy ideals about happily-ever-afters. In the timeless, nameless oil change place, happily-ever-after seemed like something that wouldn’t even appear on the TV as an infomercial. On the flip side, she wasn’t worried her car would die in kindergarten pickup.

Instead, she wished for death. Or something that would free her from her misery, besides the over-priced pistachio latte that she promptly spilled as soon as she got out of her car, half of it landing on her already dingy sneakers. She was surrounded by totally put-together, mani-pedi-ed moms in Lululemon or power suits or hand-knit sweaters and $300 jeans, with younger siblings in the latest paisley slings, Labradoodles with monogrammed collars off-leash and milling about, the same women who’d post their freshly washed and fashionably dressed kid holding a “First Day of X Grade” chalked on adorable chalkboard pics on social media. She’d waffled for a good ten minutes over the latte, since it really wasn’t in her budget and almost certainly was contributing to climate change and her chances of developing Type II diabetes, and all for what? Turning her greyish sneakers a bilious shade she associated with Dickensian misers with gout and getting her hands sticky.

“One of those days,” she heard, a man’s voice drifting down from behind her left shoulder. Before Alina could twist around or even cant her neck upward to see who was talking to her, he’d offered her an unopened pack of travel wet-wipes.

“Uh, thanks,” she said, peeling back the sticker closing the wipes and dabbing at her cuff of her cardigan. 

“Sorry about your coffee,” the man said. He’d moved into view, tall and dark-haired with a neatly trimmed beard, a sporty fleece vest layered over what he had to have worn to work, suit pants and a dress shirt still wrinkle-free. “I could easily spare a juice-box—apple-carrot ended up being a bust.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Alina remarked. “Plus, juice isn’t supposed to be good for kids.”

“No?”

Alina shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like you’re giving them absinthe. Or liquid plutonium. But yeah, whole fruit is better. And they can just drink water.”

“You’re the first mom to talk to me at pickup,” he said. “I’m Alex, by the way. Cosima’s dad.”

“Probably because you’re like the only dad to show up,” Alina replied. She didn’t say “and you look like you’re on the cover of Vogue except for the navy fleece” but she thought it. Loudly.

“Their loss. Cosima always has so much to say as soon as she leaves the building, I get a play-by-play,” he said. “I’m out of town enough I don’t like to ask her nanny to get her if I can do it.”

Alina knew she should not say it. It was clear as day, as a bell, as crystal. Hell, she only had to make a leading remark and he’d probably volunteer the info, if his unprompted remarks about being Cosima’s dad and having a nanny were anything to go by. She had, however, been known to make bad decisions. See: Mal, though Eli was the most silvery of silver linings.

“Her mom can’t pick her up?”

Alex, who had every right to freeze up or withdraw or otherwise let her know she had far overstepped in her latte-stained sneakers, shrugged.

“She left me to go find herself. That doesn’t make her terribly available for kindergarten pickup. Or bath-time, beginning ballet, or urgent care visits for ear infections,” he said, not as bitterly as he could have but not as Zen as he’d likely intended. There was a look in his eyes that only another divorced, custodial parent could recognize, a pain made of equal parts anger and humiliation, the need to conceal it from the child who shouldn’t see their other parent as a villain. The fatigue from being the one who was there, who couldn’t think about a weekend away or a night out without worrying about whether there’d be a call from the sitter, a fever, a crying jag over the fear of abandonment and the finite quantity of chicken nuggets allotted to a meal.

“I really thought you were going to end on bake sales,” Alina said. 

“I always get a pass from the class moms on those,” Alex said. “They don’t expect a dad to bake, so if I do, I’m basically a superhero and if I can’t manage to send in homemade banana chocolate chip muffins and send her in with a box of cupcakes from Kaminsky’s, I’m still in their good graces. It’s completely unfair.”

“It is,” Alina said. She couldn’t be that annoyed because he knew it. “I wish I could get away with banana bread muffins. I sent Eli with red velvet cupcakes once and I didn’t use organic red food coloring or organic, locally sourced cream cheese for the frosting and I got the smoky cat-wing stink-eye for the next month. I should have risen above it, but honestly, it sucked.”

Alex laughed. He had a nice laugh, a nice voice, and seemed like a nice man who was a good dad. With her luck, that meant that he was either secretly an immensely powerful, evil mastermind intent on world domination or that she’d never see him again.

“You’re Eli’s mom? Cosima says he’s very smart and good at sharing and he makes the best dinosaur sounds. Somewhere between a growl and a yodel, I gathered after she gave up trying to describe it and demonstrated her impression,” Alex said. “I hope this isn’t too presumptuous, but would you consider a playdate for them? It’s been rough, these past few months, and I’m trying to make sure she still has a normal childhood, whatever that means these days. My mother thinks I spoil her, but she’s very old-fashioned. My mother, not Cosima.”

“My schedule is a little tricky,” Alina said carefully. She would have been more wary if it had been one of the exquisitely put-together mothers asking, more relaxed if one of the nannies had made the proposal. She wasn’t sure what to make of Alex’s offer, except that she’d wanted to say yes right away and that meant she needed to watch herself. The opportunity to even subtly trash-talk her ex was irresistible, however. “Eli’s father is around, but never when I need to organize anything.” 

“We could meet at the park. I can bring enough snacks to last the afternoon, you could come when you’re free,” Alex suggested. He said when and not if, enough hope in his voice and those dark eyes that it sounded like an appeal and not an attempt to control her.

“I wouldn’t want you to go to too much trouble,” she said. She had thought arranging playdates would be easier than actual adult dating, but thus far, she’d been wrong.

“Oh, I won’t. I’ll go to Kaminsky’s and stock up. I’m friends with the owners,” he said. “I should say, I’m friends with Theo and Ivan doesn’t outright loathe me and allows me to eat his pastry. If you are not Theo, that is about as close to friends as you can get with him.”

“Sounds like my friend Gen’s boyfriend David, except substitute updating all my devices so I don’t get hacked or locked out of my bank account for petit fours and apple turnovers,” Alina said.

“That’s what you’d like, apple turnovers?” Alex asked, looking at her with a degree of focus that started out as unnerving and then suddenly felt warmer than appraisal, too thoughtful to be mere flirtation.

“You don’t have to—” Alina began, cut off when the kids were released, much like a swarm of infuriated bees or the Charge of the Light Brigade, Eli running a credible Olympic qualifying sprint with her latte-splattered knees as the finish line, a dark-haired little girl with neatly braided hair arriving slightly more decorously in Alex’s embrace; he’d instantly dropped into an unfairly elegant crouch to receive his daughter, while Alina planted her feet to take on the onslaught of Hurricane Eli. 

“Papa, you have to tell Baba not to eat snails anymore because Ms. Costas got one and it’s got a name and snails are people too,” Cosima announced, small hands planted on her father’s shoulders.

“Its name is Greg,” Eli said, as if the four of them were having a conversation, which Alina now supposed was the actual truth. 

“So, a boy snail,” Alex said.

“No,” Cosima said. “Just Greg.”

“Can we go to the park, Mommy? You said we could. Can we bring meatballs?” Eli asked.

“Not today, buddy,” Alina said, bracing herself for a tantrum or a closing argument worthy of Clarence Darrow or Judge Judy. 

“You said—”

“Your mom said we could have a playdate on Saturday and that is in two days,” Alex interjected. “Cosima and I are going to bring a blanket and some treats. We could include meatballs too.”

“Don’t,” Alina said. Alex’s expression went blank but Cosima and Eli’s both looked mutinous and on the verge of tears. It was amazing Ms. Costas could stand firm regarding quiet time in the face of such unified disapproval. “I just meant, don’t worry about meatballs. Meatballs is Mr. Lanstov’s cat. He’s our neighbor, we help out a little—”

“Yeah, because Mr. Lantsov is a million years old,” Eli said. “He said to call him Niko, but Mommy says that’s not polite because he’s so old.”

“We could bring apple turnovers then,” Alex said. “And maybe some catnip for Meatballs. It would be nice to make everyone happy.”

For @vesperass-anuna and @aloveforjaneausten who were wanting a modern AU for Darklina where our two unhappy characters meet at school picking up their kiddos.

#darklina #modern au #alina x aleksander #dilf!aleksander #fluff #humor #kidfic #mal bashing #prompt fill #fivan #ivan x fedyor

[enfys-squees]

How the fuck do I dress “nonbinary,” anyway?

I've been really struggling with figuring out my gender expression and clothing choices. I am much heavier than I've ever been thanks to antidepressants, perimenopause, losing access to my gym due to the pandemic, and of course pandemic stress, and most things I wear are comfortable but not nice enough to wear outside the house. In particular, I don't know how to dress up in a way that feels gender-affirming. I don't experience my gender as a midpoint between masculine or feminine, but on another axis entirely, so I have no idea what to wear that feels authentic. Our society genders all clothing by default, and it feels like I have to choose between objectively masculine or feminine clothing when neither feels right.

But I talked to someone this weekend who used to run a plus-size clothing label that had a lot of nonbinary customers, and she gave me the best piece of advice I’ve heard for this problem: Figure out your archetype or archetypes, and find clothes/looks that work for that. For example, her parter has a pirate archetype, and builds outfits that evoke that - flowy shirts, tight pants, boots, etc.

To me, this is a fantastic way to take gender out of the equation and focus on what kind of vibes I want to project, and makes shopping a bit simpler because I know some of the types of things to look for. I figured out some of my archetypes, some of which I already have stuff for, and others of which are aspirational:

• Soft 80s punk (Floofy hair, bold colors mixed with a more goth/DIY aesthetic)

• Gonzo from the Muppet Show (bright colors and clashing patterns, yes!)

• Classy and dapper with a twist (vests and ties plus high femme makeup)

• Sloth femme (basically my entire wardrobe right now...yoga pants and cardigans)

Bonus pic from an event this weekend where I did kind of 80s hair & femme makeup + a dapper herringbone vest with a push-up/binder-style red bra under it. It felt good. (And I got to wear the trans witch pendant @tamsinsayshi made for me a couple years ago.)

#nonbinary #lgbt #lgbtq

[besser589]

How to match long sleeve knit sweater?

Are you worried about not knowing what to wear? Because this season, the weather is really confusing. What should I wear? Short sleeves are too cold, sweaters and coats are too hot, and it's not suitable to wear anything. At this time, you should have a sweater in your wardrobe.

Autumn knitwear is woven with needle technology. It has soft texture, good air permeability and wrinkle resistance, good elasticity and ductility, and is very comfortable to wear. It is different from sweater in workmanship, raw materials and category. Autumn and winter are very suitable for wearing knitted clothes, because they are not as thick and light as sweaters, and a wide variety of clothes such as wool knitted cardigans and Pullover sweaters are easy to match. There can be no suits or coats in your wardrobe on Winter Festival, but knitwear must be necessary. Long sleeved knitwear should be common in the market. There are great differences in its workmanship and pattern materials. Long sleeved sweaters made of different materials have different advantages. For example, the sweater made of wool is lighter and softer. It fits the skin better when worn on the body, and it won't hurt people too much. Suitable for small partners who are afraid of the cold.

The knitwear made of ordinary materials is more stylish, and it will be more rigid in the version. It is very fashionable to match a shirt or a coat outside. Rib round neck sweater with a gray casual pants and a pair of thick soled shoes are a fashionable retro style. In the warm sunshine, this collocation is more warm and pleasant. This long sleeved sweater is also suitable for jeans. The sweater made of sky blue yarn has a feeling of blue sky, dotted with some small cherries or forest white clouds, which makes people feel very fresh and lovely. You are definitely the focus of the crowd when you go out in this sweater. In addition to matching trousers, this long sleeved sweater also matches the skirt. This pleated skirt is perfect for a sweater. Gray long sleeved sweater with a darker pleated skirt, in this winter, you are the warmest and most pleasant existence. First, since I mentioned the long sleeved knitwear, the knitted cardigan must not be missed! It is as versatile and fashionable as a long sleeved sweater. You can easily go out with any one. Although it doesn't have the aura of a suit and leather coat, it can wear a gentle and superior feeling of a neighbor. If wearing white tee now makes you feel a little cold, you might as well put on a wide knitted cardigan outside! With a pair of super shorts below, it can also create the feeling of missing clothes. It not only shows big and long legs, but also keeps warm and not bloated. It can be said that it is very good at wearing.

Knitted waistcoats are also very popular this year. In the past, you can always see teachers wearing Plaid knitted waistcoats and a pair of jeans in school, which makes them look particularly temperament and elite. Now knitted waistcoats have more different collocations and appear more diverse. Purple knitted vest with short sleeved T-shirt looks romantic and casual. It's a very academic collocation, which looks like the little sister next door. It is especially suitable for places that are not completely cold. Dark gray knitted vest with a white shirt and jeans is casual and lazy. The color of the clothes is consistent with the background color of the post injury photos, which is very natural, harmonious and beautiful. Autumn days often have a trace of coolness, especially in the morning and evening, so a comfortable sweater must be able to resist these slight coolness. Knitwear is a very gentle piece. It looks very feminine. It has always been one of the pieces loved by many girls. In different scenes, you can easily wear your upper body and wear your own unique style, which makes you look charming everywhere.

Besser Is a Company Specializing In The Production Of Knitted Clothing. The Company Is a Manufacturer, Supplier And Seller Of Long Sleeve Knit Sweater..The knitwear feels comfortable and delicate, and the skin is very sexy. It is very comfortable to wear, and the upper body is neither tight nor tight. It is a fashion item loved by girls, especially in autumn. It looks very elegant and feminine in both work and leisure. Knitwear can be worn alone or as an inner and outer upper body. The fashion feeling of different wearing ways is also a little different. If the lower body is matched with leisure pants, it looks simple and intellectual. If you change into an elegant skirt, it will be full of strong lady style. Different styles can be freely switched to create you with changeable shapes.

[writer-in-theory]

If you’re still taking blurb requests:

👄 sharing their first kiss | 📆 office romance | ⚠️ a love triangle with a character making their final choice

a love triangle for the ages (spencer reid x reader)

summary: after working with spencer for years, reader has finally worked up the courage to admit their feelings for him. someone else beats them to it, leaving spencer with a choice.

category: a bit of angst, a bit of fluff

pairing: spencer reid x gn!reader

content warnings: mild language, mentions of jeid (it’s not endgame), brief food talk, a sentence of negative self-talk

word count: 2k

a/n: SURPRISE. i'm feeling a little unhinged today so have this. aka, i have a couple huge exams monday/tuesday so i'll be less active this weekend

grecy, you spoil me. this was such a fun prompt. I’ve never actually written a love triangle before so i hope it ends up okay. the alternative title for this is, what if jj confesses her love way earlier in the show and also what if spencer had a relationship that wasn’t doomed to fail from the start.

masterlist

send me a blurb prompt!

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

The moment you walked into the office and heard the words “physics magic”, you knew you’d fall for whoever had spoken them. Your point was only further proven upon seeing the sweater vest-laden man cheering behind his desk after launching a makeshift rocket across the room.

From the first moment you saw him, you knew Spencer Reid would be the one.

What started as a cute office crush quickly spiraled into one of the best friendships you’d ever had. The two of you went together like peanut butter and jelly, and where one went the other was never too far behind. It only made the team stronger, too, the pair of you able to finish each other’s thoughts and theories better than you ever thought possible.

It was easy with Spencer, and that was the most terrifying part. Terrifying, because even now as you sat working at your desk, you were aware of the man occupying the one beside you. You forced yourself not to focus on the one little curl that had fallen into his face, his hair a little more unruly now that he’d elected to stop slicking it back. You fought not to think about his hands and the way they might feel against you, or the way he looked so effortlessly gorgeous in that red cardigan.

You couldn’t think about it, because over the past couple of years you’d become one of his closest friends. It felt wrong to picture him in that way when he had no clue you ever wanted to. It was even worse now that you knew the whole rest of the team had figured it out too, the only one left out of the loop being the only one who should know.

So maybe that was why, on a random Tuesday in the office, you decided it was time to come clean. For better or for worse, by the end of the day, Spencer would know everything.

“Hey, Spence, wanna take lunch early today?” you asked as you approached his desk, gently tapping his upper arm to get his attention. Sometimes the man could get so deep into his work that it took a physical touch to break the focus.

“Hm?” Spencer hummed, turning his head to look at you and positively beaming. “That sounds great, I have something to tell you.”

“Funny enough, so do I,” you told him, the two of you making your way to the little table in the breakroom.

Spencer pulled out his own carefully packaged lunch, a perfect combination of each food group. You pulled out your own, a few hasty items shoved into a paper bag leftover from your last grocery trip. It was easy to remember when you pestered Spencer into eating healthy lunches after he admitted he often forgot it entirely, but sometimes it was tough to remember to make that choice for yourself.

Spencer eyed your bag, clearly trying not to pass judgment but a bit of a sassy eyebrow twitch coming through anyway. “What’s for lunch today?”

“Doritos and an Uncrustable PB&J,” you answered, happily munching on the first chip.

“I thought we agreed we were both doing better,” Spencer pointed out, gesturing to his little Tupperware container of fruit. “Fruit is considerably less exciting than Doritos.”

“How about I pay a Dorito tax and we’ll call it even?” you suggested, dumping a handful of chips onto a napkin and sliding it over to him.

“I accept these terms, but tomorrow you’re packing a vegetable.”

“I can do that.”

“A green one,” he added, a knowing smirk on his face as he tried to claim victory.

“Well now you’re just being cruel,” you teased.

“So what did you have to tell me?” Spencer asked, causing your heart to race all over again. One moment you were playfully bantering with one of the most important people in your life, and now you were risking all of it on one confession. Could you really do it? What if he didn’t feel the same way?

“You go first,” you deflected instead, figuring you could use the time to re-work up the courage.

“Well,” Spencer began, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck and suddenly looking far too nervous for your liking. His eyes looked around the room, landing on just about everything but you, and his cheeks even turned a brilliant shade of pink. “JJ told me she liked me yesterday.”

“Well, I’d hope she does. She’s like one of your best friends,” you pointed out, hoping that was all this was.

“No, I mean, she likes me,” Spencer clarified, practically digging a knife deep into the center of your chest. “Isn’t that great?”

No, it wasn’t great. It wasn’t great at all because JJ was absolutely perfect. She was stunning, and kind, and wanted children right away like you knew Spencer sometimes thought about. She was everything that would make a perfect partner for Spencer, and how could you possibly compete with that?

“Yeah, that’s so great, Spence. I’m happy for you,” you tried, voice rising a little higher in pitch to convey the happiness you certainly weren’t feeling.

“I never thought someone like her could think of me that way,” Spencer admitted, only breaking your heart more that he truly thought that about himself.

“Oh c’mon, you’re a total catch,” you laughed, suddenly feeling less hungry and more sick to your stomach. “And you know what? As my congratulations present to you, please take the rest of these Doritos,” you told him, sliding over the rest of your lunch, “I’m so behind on reports, I need to take a quick lunch today.”

“Wait, what about what you were going to tell me?” Spencer asked, eyebrows tilted in concern as you stood from the table.

“It’s really not that important. I already forgot what it was anyway,” you lied, practically running out of the breakroom and leaving any chance you had with Spencer behind.

It was nearly impossible to focus for the rest of the day. There he was, sitting at the desk beside yours like always, but now you couldn’t even focus on his hair or the way his nose scrunched up when he thought really intensely about something. All you could think about was how much Spencer deserved JJ, how she would make him so happy and for that reason alone you couldn’t even be upset about this.

So at the end of the day when the team decided to go out for drinks, you made up an excuse and rushed out of the office, not wanting to see the happy couple when you knew you’d missed your chance by mere minutes.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

The second you were home, the work clothes came off and the comfy clothes came on. It would be a self-care not for the ages, the hours passed by with movies, and ice cream, and anything else you needed. Because after tonight, you wouldn’t hold onto whatever you felt for Spencer. It wouldn’t be healthy for either of you, not if you wanted to continue the beautiful friendship the two of you had built over the years. You’d have to get used to seeing Spencer and JJ together, and for that reason alone you had to spend tonight saying goodbye to whatever hopeful feelings you once held.

It lasted until midnight. Just as you were starting up another silly rom-com, a knock sounded at your door. Like second nature, your hands were grabbing for your gun and your eyes were scanning the room, trying to search for quick escapes. There was no reason for anyone to be at the house this late, leaving you to only picture the kinds of people you dedicated your life to catching.

Never once did you ever expect to see the man of the hour standing at your door, looking breathless as if he’d run all the way here. Spencer’s hair was a mess, tousled from the wind, and his shirt was rumpled as if he’d been adjusting the collar of it all night. His hands clung to the strap of his messenger bag tightly, knuckles white with the effort.

Most of all, his amber eyes were staring at you as though he saw you in a different light.

“I thought the team was going out for drinks?” you asked, nervousness building up in your body. What was he doing here so late? Was everything okay? Were you called in for a case and missed the bat signal from Hotch?

“We did,” Spencer spoke hurriedly, “and I was trying to figure out what I did to upset you. I didn’t...”

“Spence, it’s okay, you didn’t do an-”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Spencer blurted out, stopping you immediately in your tracks. Oh G-d, he knew. Spencer knew, and he was with JJ, and here was the moment where it all came crashing down.

“I wanted to, but it doesn’t matter now,” you told him gently, “I’ll get over it, it’s okay.”

“It’s not okay,” Spencer told you, pulling a wince from you just as quickly. “It’s not okay, because I don’t want you to get over it.”

And, did you hear that right? You searched his expression for any sign of a joke but instead, all you saw was insistent care, a desperation to prove what he was saying was real. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying it was always you, Y/N.” The words stole your breath, plucking it right from your chest and leaving you standing, lips parted and aching for something, anything. “I thought I liked JJ, but I just kept thinking about you. I thought you only saw me as a friend.”

“I thought the same,” you admitted, feeling relieved tears beginning to build in your eyes and hearing them begin to wobble your voice. “I never thought someone like you could think of me in that way,” you echoed his words from earlier.

“Please, from the moment I heard you tell me how to make the physics magic trick fly further, I knew you were special,” Spencer admitted, stepping closer to you until he was close enough to take your hands.

“Did you know it’s safer to kiss than hold hands?” you dared softly, a smile forming on Spencer’s lips at the reference to his own words.

“I did know that,” Spencer answered in the same soft voice, keeping a hold on your hands but leaning to capture your lips in a kiss.

It was everything you ever hoped it would be, and more. People always say that sparks fly when it’s the one, but you never quite believed them until this moment. Spencer was kissing you, was telling you that the feelings you’d been so ashamed of for years had been reciprocated the entire time.

Spencer was choosing you, and what else was there to say?

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

General Taglist:

@samuel-de-champagne-problems @just-arandomwriter @matthewgraygublerlover @silverhetdanes @ssawonderland @safespacespence @shemarmooresfedora @reidsbookclub @alexontheinternet @fightingdragonswithreid

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid self insert #criminal minds #spencer reid fic #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds fanfic #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid blurb #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #my fics #blurbs

[pansyfemme]

 Hi <3 My name’s Jude (He/him) I’m 17, and I’m a baby decora boy! (I’ve only been doing it for like 8 months now but have been wanting to since I was ten!) And I was thinking if its ok with u guys, I'm gonna make a list of some decora shops and if you’re also a decora kid (or interested in decora) can you please add on?? Please also use this to platform yourself if you are a small business! I want to have a master post available and also (Hopefully) make some more decora friends since I'm still new at this! I’ll mark the ones I’ve bought from with a star!

- In Control ✰ (multiple different styles. most are made to order so takes abt a month to ship!)

- Candy Trap ✰ (Made by decora kids For decora kids!)

- Good Fortune ✰ (Most stuff is made to order/preorder!)

- CircusTeeth ✰ (clowncore focused, but most can be used for general decora. rlly cute small shop, mine even came with a handwritten note!)

- Hard Decora (one of the more well known shops, black owned, with some products supporting social justice charities as well as original art!)

- Fairy Space (space themes and lots of neons!)

 - Oceaninspace (technically an artist shop but has SOO many statement tees and pieces that would be perfect for Decora kei!)

- Kei Collective ✰ (a good hub for small artists, I often buy from here since they often have products in stock that are usually made to order! also has an in person shop in Arizona, but I’m sadly on the other side of the country!)

- missalphabet (handmade dresses! They use a lot of vintage prints and bright colors, so some of their pieces would mesh really well with Decora kei!)

-knottedneon (hand crocheted sweater vests, cardigans, and other beautiful pieces! not specifically decora, but some designs would be perfect for it!)

-GIMMEfashion (another mostly made to order shop, has a great amount of textured prints that I love)

-candelicous shop  (only a few actual clothing pieces, but plenty of cute masks!)

- missoctopie   (mostly made to order, seems to have a focus on pastel goth and creepy-cute but has some decora pieces!)

and some accessories based shops!

-spacepinatashop (jewelry plus some homemade collars!)

-96rainbows (kandi!)

-rainbowfriend (cute rainbow themed resin jewlery)

-sweetiebunbuns ✰ (hand sewn berets!)

- sugarpoppartyshop (handmade Kandi and other jewelry)

-moodkandi (kandi, notable for wide selection of ball pit chains )

-clowntears (handmade jewelry)

-interrobangbang (handmade collars, many different themes from horror to cutesy rainbows and angels and political themes like communism)

- chothough (handmade chokers/wearable art pieces with many different themes, I believe the creator also does customs)

- prettykittyclothes (soft spike chokers and ball pit chains for decoras with sensory or safety issues)

Ok! that’s what I have on top of my head PLEASE add on or dm me if ur a Decora kid I want more jfashion friends <3

#decora kei #decora #decora girl #decora boy #decora kid #kidcore #rainbowcore #jfashion #if anyones interested im also very open to talking abt how to make accessories or get them for cheap! #as well as if anyones curious abt my collection- i have abt maybe 6 peices rn? and looking to get more #so id be willing to share my peices if anyone wants!

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝚈𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎! 𝙰𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚣 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜: 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒

Disclaimer: In no way am I condoning, justifying, encouraging nor trying to romanticize yandere behavior. This is all a work of fiction and not meant to represent real life scenarios.

Warnings: Mentions of bullying, toxic relationship, violent behavior, murder, sexual scenes, paranoia leading to mental blackouts, miscarriage, suicide attempt, mental disorders and death are contained within this post. Read at your own discretion.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

𝙽𝚊𝚖𝚎: 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚒

𝙳.𝙾.𝙱: 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟿𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿

𝙷𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝: 𝟷𝟾𝟻 𝙲𝙼/ 𝟼'𝟶 𝙵𝚃.

𝙰𝚐𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙻𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕: ■■■■□90%

𝙾𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙻𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕: ■■■■■100%

𝙼𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢: ■■■■□90%

𝙾𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝙻𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕: 𝙷𝚒𝚐𝚑

𝚈𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: 𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎

𝙱𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙰𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚜:

•𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚏𝚒𝚡𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚋𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝

•𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚋𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝

•𝚃𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚑𝚞𝚝𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗

•𝙸𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛

•𝙴𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Mingi was someone who always kept to himself, never wanting to draw any kind of attention.

Unfortunately for him, he got a lot of attention while he was studying in university, and not the good kind.

He accidentally bumped into one of the jocks at school, and from that moment on, his life was hell.

He was constantly belittled, shoved to the floor, his locker filled with vicious and cruel messages ranging from "freak" to "kill yourself."

Mingi often just sighed and continued his day, as if this was totally normal.

It's not that he didn't understand what was going on or didn't care.

He was just too awkward and scared to stand up to himself.

So he often just came home, feeling hopeless and in despair.

Many times he hardly ate and would end up crawling inside his blankets and cry himself to sleep.

Even the few people he talked to stopped associating themselves with him out of fear of becoming the bullies' next target.

So Mingi resigned himself to being alone and to think no one would ever care about him....

Until you came along.

You had recently transferred to his school and one of the first things you saw was the poor sandy hair colored giant get punched in the stomach by his locker.

You were so disgusted and sickened by their behavior that you did not hesitate to go over and make sure he was all right.

"Hey, do you need help?" You asked as you helped him get up.

"I I'm fine...t-thanks.." Without another word, he left you standing there, running off to his next class.

He thought that'd be the last time he saw you but during lunch break, you made it a point to look for him and talk to him.

"Are you feeling better?"

Mingi looked up at you with wide eyes, wondering if it really was him you were talking to.

"Y-yeah...I'm fine. T-thanks"

Smiling at him, you sat next to him, taking out your lunch while trying to make conversation with him.

All throughout it, Mingi seemed agitated, scared almost.

You felt really bad and asked him if something was bothering him.

Sighing he told you:

"Look, I appreciate your concern, but I think it's best if you stay away from me.... I don't want them to hurt you because of me..."

You saw the sadness in his eyes, the loneliness behind them and that made you want to stay with him even more.

"What's your name?" You asked what you had really wanted to know since the beginning.

"Song Mingi." He answered you.

Grinning at him, you held out your hand.

"Well Song Mingi, I'm L/N Y/N. Your soon to be new best friend."

Mingi's mouth dropped at your words, he couldn't possibly believe you were serious.

But you were and not only did you become his closest friend, you also became his protector.

Unlike him, you were fearless, vivacious, outgoing and spontaneous.

And Mingi began to admire you a lot for it....

More than admired, he began to worship you, falling deeply in love with you.

For once in his life, he was happy, truly happy and filled with joy.

Instead of crying himself to sleep, he went to bed all excited to spend the next day with you.

And of course you two spent a lot of time together, since he became your math tutor cause you were the absolute worst with numbers.

You were thankful that Mingi was so patient and caring towards you.

He never showed any signs of frustration or annoyance even after explaining the equation to you about 20 times.

"Y/N. Pay attention or you won't ace the test." He often told you, adding a little pinch to your nose or cheek to get you to focus.

He also loved just talking to you during these sessions.

Obviously being your best friend, he also ended up picking up on what sort of things you liked in a guy.

He would often observe you at school or while you two were out.

One time he even read through a few of your messages with one of your other friends from your old school.

It was exactly what Mingi needed to know, he now had a glimpse of the type of boyfriend you wanted.

And for you.....he'd end up becoming that boyfriend.

So while you were in spring break, he prepared everything.

He got rid of his cardigans and vests, trading them for leather and jean jackets.

He ended up cutting his hair differently and started wearing tighter fitting pants that accentuated his thick thighs.

So when you saw him again, it was a complete 180° from the shy, nerdy boy you knew.

"Whoah! Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?"

You weren't going to lie, Mingi did look very attractive.

You were glad though that he was still the cute, adorable and somewhat clumsy boy he was when you first met him.

Because that's the Mingi you knew and loved.

And you wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.

It was after finals that Mingi decided to ask you out.

You were both out celebrating the fact you both passed when he popped the question:

"Y/N will you go out with me?" He suddenly blurted out.

You were taken aback, but said yes nonetheless.

Mingi was so happy.

He was extremely devoted to you as a boyfriend, always saying yes to you and going along with whatever it was you wanted.

Anything you said, he would do it.

"Anywhere you want to go is fine with me."

"Anything you want is fine with me."

You thought it was really sweet at first, he really wanted to make you happy.

But after almost a year of dating, it kinda started to get annoying.

It bothered you that he never seemed to have an opinion of his own.

You actually snapped at him one day while planning a date out.

"Can't you freaking decide for yourself once?"

Mingi just whipped his head at you, unable to comprehend why you were yelling at him.

"Do you not even care about me or this relationship? Cause honestly it seems like you're not actually putting effort into it and if it's like that, why am I even wasting my time on you?"

Mingi got really scared when you began walking out the door, he pleaded with you to stay, to talk through it.

"I'll do anything! Y/N please just don't leave me! What do you want me to do?!" He begged as he got on his knees.

"I want you to leave me alone!"

Alone......that word struck a chord in Mingi's head.....alone.

No....he couldn't go back to being alone...go back to the cold world that he was used to.

He began hyperventilating, his head was spinning and it was pounding like there was no tomorrow.

He doesn't remember much after that. All he remembers was the annoying knocking at the door.

He remembers opening it and seeing a random salesperson there....

But after that, it's all a big black faze, and when he finally came to his senses....

He was covered in blood, and a bludgeoned corpse was sprawled across the kitchen floor.

Although he was panicking, Mingi knew that you could not find out about this.

So he quickly got to work and cleaned up all traces of blood and managed to get rid of the body with no one seeing him.

He was so confused about what happened and panicking about if you found out, that he didn't hear you come in the house until you literally stood in front of him.

He instantly got on his knees and hugged your waist.

"Baby I was so scared that you left me forever! Please I'm sorry I made you feel like I don't care about you, I do! I fucking love you so much, and I promise I'll try harder....

Just for you..."

You felt so bad seeing him, and truly you loved him and felt like it was a petty thing to get mad about.

You pulled him up and reassured him that you weren't mad anymore and that you were too much in love with him to leave.

Mingi felt so relieved. He couldn't even begin to fathom what would happen if he did lose you.

He'd probably go insane.

True to his word, Mingi did try harder to get rid of that habit of just following what you said like a little puppy, and would now start expressing himself more.

Now the problem was he went the complete opposite direction: now he seemed to question your every decision and it would lead to small tiny banters between you two.

One time you got tired of him making a fuss over the fact you were spending so much time with a classmate that it turned really ugly.

"We're working on a project Mingi! Nothing else!" You shouted at him.

"What do you need to be going to his house though and staying til late hours of the night? Why can't you two do it here?!"

"Because you end up distracting us both and throwing passive aggressive words to him." You were exhausted from all the screaming by now you were losing your patience.

"Are you sure it's not because you're just whoring yourself out with them?" He didn't mean for those words to come out...but they did.

And you didn't mean to get so angry to the point of slapping him, but you did and that's when it hit you that you went too far.

You both stood there stunned at what happened, Mingi more hurt than anything by your actions, while you felt ashamed of yourself.

You lifted your hand against the very person you were protecting at first.....and now you hated yourself for hurting him like his past bullies.

Ashamed and full of guilt, you turned away and began walking out.

"Wait no! Y/N please! It's ok! It was my fault! I shouldn't have said that! Please let's just work it out!"

"No Mingi! I can't! I..... I need a break."

Mingi's world came crumbling down when you said that. He went into a slight catatonic state as he watched you walk away.

Once he regained his senses, he ran after you, desperate to bring you back, running around aimlessly through the dark streets and alleys, calling out for you but you were nowhere to be seen.

"Get lost you dirty bastard." A passerby rudely shoved him out of the way.

In a matter of seconds, Mingi's eyes darkened, his fist clenched at his side as rage now coursed through his body.

He turned his head to look back at the stranger who was now walking away.

Smirking, Mingi pulled out the switchblade he was carrying in his pocket before creeping quietly to the man.

Someone had to pay the price and feel the wrath and despair he felt at losing his goddess......and he found them.

It had been roughly a month since you last saw Mingi and although you hated to admit it, you missed him. But you knew you had to stay away for his sake.

But things don't go as planned and you soon found out you were going to have to see him sooner than you thought...

Because you were now pregnant with his child and you had to let him know.

You were so nervous about telling him, your hand trembled as you opened the door to the apartment you used to share with Mingi.

You quietly stepped inside, too afraid to call out for him just yet.

But then you heard some weird noises coming from the bedroom, your heart somewhat dropping when you distinguished what sounded like moans and panting.

You could also make out Mingi's deep voice calling out your name.

Opening the door open, your hand flew to your mouth, semi-muffling your sharp gasp as you took in the scene of Mingi fucking some random girl with her face covered on the bed you two shared not too long ago.

"What the fuck Mingi?!" You exclaimed in utter disgust and betrayal.

"Y/N! I can explain!" All color drained from Mingi's face as he pulled himself out of the girl and quickly dressed himself.

You couldn't bear to stay there another moment, you just ran out of there once again.

But you didn't get far because Mingi swiftly caught up to you and enraptured you in his arms.

"Don't touch me! You're disgusting! You liar! You cheater!" You tossed and writhed around as you tried to escape his grasp, while Mingi tried to hold you still and trying to talk to you.

You felt an immense pain run through your stomach at that moment, your body becoming paralyzed as some weird and excruciating torment bursted in you.

Mingi noticed as well how you clutched your stomach and had difficulty breathing so he wasted no time in taking you to the hospital.

You woke up hours later, late at night, a nurse by your side and Mingi on the other, his hand holding onto yours as tears poured from his eyes.

"What happened?" You immediately asked, your hand instinctively going to your belly.

The nurse explained with sorrow how you had lost the baby, apologizing profusely to you, knowing you were probably in pain.

You went berserk when she told you that, first you denied it, then you began screaming while trying to pull off the IVs attached to you.

Mingi tried to calm you down, but instead he made things worse with his presence.

"This is all your fault! If it wasn't because of you, my baby would be alive!"

Those words cut Mingi deep inside, you killed him immediately with them.

Other nurses rushed in to calm you down as one of them pulled Mingi away for his protection and for yours.

You were numb for the next few days, refusing to see anyone and especially not Mingi, you gave strict orders not to let him in.

You were planning on never seeing him again.

The very day you were released from the hospital though, he was the first person you encountered while you were on your way home.

"Y/N?" He asked, startling you when he came out from the corner.

Your feet shifted slowly, almost losing balance on the small step on your front door.

"What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear I never wanted to see you." Not wanting to waste another minute, you quickly punched in your passcode.

"Y/N baby you don't mean that! I love you! And you love me!"

You let out a dry and haughty laugh at that.

"You? Love me? Is that why you were fucking some whore behind my back?"

"I swear she didn't mean anything! And I made her cover her face because I was thinking of you the entire time..."

You rolled your eyes at that, feeling absolutely disgusted.

"But then I realized she was to blame for everything and so I got rid of her so I can make you happy, forgive me and we could start again."

You halted your actions when he said that.

"Mingi...what do you mean you got rid of her?"

If his last words disturbed you, now you were absolutely horrified as he calmly told you how he mutilated her body and discarded her remains in a lake outside of the city.

You actually felt sick and nearly threw up right then and there.

"Mingi.....what..... you're insane! How could you-?"

Mingi couldn't understand why you were upset.

"Don't you see? I did it for you Y/N. Everything I've ever done is for you."

Now it dawned on you, the person you've ever loved was sick, extremely sick and needed help.

"Mingi.....don't come near me again....stay away....seriously..."

And once again another struggle between you two ensued, you wanting to run away while he held onto you for dear life.

"Stop Mingi! Let me go! I don't love you anymore!"

The spinning in his head started once again, his vision becoming hazy, he could hear his own heartbeat resonating in his ears, his hand shook violently as it reached for an all too familiar object he kept hidden in his pocket....

Everything turned dark and blinding....

But when he came back, there he was, staring in shock at your lifeless body, a fresh, clean cut running all across your neck, blood still spurting out and staining his hands.

"Oh my God! What have I done?!" Mingi cried out, wailing and screaming erratically at the thought that he had just murdered his soulmate with his own hands.

He couldn't bear the thought of living without you, he just couldn't....

And so he picked up the very tool he used to kill you and held up to his own neck....

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#ateez #ateez mingi #ateez headcanons #ateez imagines #ateez reactions #ateez scenarios #song mingi #ateez yandere au #ateez yandere #yandere!au #yandere!ateez #yandere!mingi #ateez angst #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #ateez smut #ateez fluff #ateez mingi headcanons #ateez mingi scenarios #ateez mingi fanfiction #ateez mingi smut #ateez mingi fluff #ateez mingi angst #ateez mingi imagines #song mingi scenarios #song mingi smut #song mingi fluff #song mingi angst #song mingi fanfic #song mingi headcanons

[radiosandrecordings]

Okay getting DEEP into the Jon Design Timeline with @mcwebby and I have a theory/meta that sounds kind of outlandish but stay with me. And it’s about why people transferred from drawing Jon with jumpers/sweater-vests to cardigans. It’s about the emotional vulnerability, which turned into androgyny, and also the visual appeal of a well composed Jarchivist. No really, stay with me here. 

So it all really ties back to the hair as far as I can see, and how the hair is... tied.. back... Hah. When he’s given long hair, the styling of it depends on the artist, but commonly it will be tied back in some fashion, often with a centre parting. And this just generally looks nice with a cardigan, because it sets up the centre as the focus point for his design. There’s just a line going down the front the whole way and it’s all very Graphic Design is my Passion. 

Now for the meta stuff. So I genuinely think you can tie something to the fact that people seemed to switch over to cardigans during S4, when so far his designs had primarily stuck to jumpers or sweater vests, much more generic or sometimes Cecil-esque. S4 is when Jon goes through a lot of his more emotional moments. I still hold up S3 as it’s key moment of his humanising when compared to S2 and especially S1, but S4 (especially as it’s when many people joined) was when we saw Jon at his emotional lowest. In season three he at least has a goal, travelling about and trying to stop the ritual. In a lot of S4 he’s kind of... Listless, depressed, plot still progresses but he’s sad and we really get a sense for the more soft, emotional Jon, the one who contemplates his own humanity and pines after Martin. So am I claiming that “He is more open emotionally, and thus, he is now wearing open knitwear as opposed to the single-piece closed jumper or sweater vest”... Yes that is exactly what I’m claiming actually. There is a certain degree of vulnerability to it I think! It’s also still recognisable as somewhat formal, but not really the office attire of S1. It’s a little bit more relaxed, often it’ll be slightly oversized to emphasise how he’s kind of small and gangly and not at all physically intimidating. Even artists who draw him with cardigans the majority of the time often give their S1-2 iteration a jumper because, I think, of that sub conscious association? 

S4 is also when a lot of GNC/Non-binary Jon was popularised (It was around a little bit before, but it mostly came from when Entombed came out and the summary referred to Jon as ‘they’ and it spiralled a bit, as far as I remember). And as stupid and cisnormative as it is, I do think there’s something to the fact that traditionally cardigans are more feminine and jumpers more masculine, and how people started playing with Jon and gender, especially again influenced by the long hair. People doubled down on the grandma look for a bit, either that or just going full Hot Jon. So maybe it wasn’t intentionally that deep and I’m projecting all of this in retrospect, but I think there is definitely something to say about the designs for him and how I would be analysing them from a film or theatre perspective if one were to be taken and used as an official visual for him. Kind of makes me want to write something in the style of an essay for my theatre or film class about how I would dress him as a character from a director’s POV in something. Make it symbolic instead of... reading 600 words into Nothing about a cardigan 

#My Post #The Magnus Archives #Jonathan Sims

[cl-01-kestis]

Visions of the Past

Dismay - Grand Admiral Thrawn x Rebel!Reader | Part 3

Summary: As you spend your time hiding on Yavin, Thrawn is getting more and more anxious about finding you and delves deep into his past.

Warnings: slight tension, loads of angst

Throughout the past few days back on Yavin, you’ve spent them teaching Omani about your past and all about her father. She’s grown accustomed surprisingly fast to the fact that one of the main Imperial leaders is her father, in all honesty she’s more glad she finally knows who he is instead of waiting in the dark like she had for the past 14 years.

You showed her pictures, videos, voice recordings, and even let her in on some of your old diary entries. The two of you would gossip in big amounts about different people you used to despise at the Empire, you also filled her in about Kallus and the friendship you had with him before you escaped. She was intrigued about him and sometimes went to him to speak about your past as an Imperial, and sometimes even her father, considering Kallus instantly knew just by looking at her. He wasn’t scared to talk to her, Thrawn didn’t even know she existed, but she reminded him awfully of Thrawn.

But recently, things were strange. With your wanted poster all over the holo net, you were stuck on Yavin 4 and had no where to go considering practically everyone besides the rebels wanted you. You had a 50,000 credit score on your head, so you couldn’t risk even so much as stepping foot outside of the rebel base. These were the times when you wished Ahsoka were here, she would be able to guide and protect you.

“What’s on the agenda today?” You asked, a cup of Caf in your hand as you approached the large holo table which Kallus was standing at. It was 4 in the morning, everyone was asleep apart from you, Kallus and a few navigation operators. Kallus was out of his old Imperial uniform, replaced with a light brown T-shirt and a Khaki jacket. His hair was free from the usual gel he always used back at the academy and it was now hanging naturally. He looked awfully handsome, you hated admitting it.

“Some rebel fleets arriving today... more patients for the medic ward... and that’s it I think” Kallus read from his data pad, his voice strangely positive as he yawned softly and looked at you from across the table. He smiled kindly, tilting his head to the side as you closed your eyes and swayed around in your spot, completely exhausted.

“Bad sleep?” Kallus teased, causing you to open your eyes with a jolt and purse your lips.

“You could say that. I swear, sometimes I feel like I’m still raising a 3 year old” You pinched the bridge of your nose and chuckled before knocking back another sip of the warm Caf in your cardboard cup. Kallus chuffed at your remark, crossing his arms and yawning once again before rolling his shoulders and looking at the holo images on the table.

“So... she is definitely Thrawn’s” Kallus didn’t know whether that was a question or statement, but either way you nodded and suddenly the sleep and exhaustion was stripped from you.

“Definitely his, he’s the only guy I’ve ever... you know” You tried not to make things awkward, but it was already looking that way as you rubbed the back of your neck and avoided eye contact with Kallus. The ex Imperial stayed silent for a moment, face flushing at your words but he cleared his throat abruptly and blinked a few times.

“Fair point,” Kallus tapped a few buttons on the holo table panel and brought up an image of an Imperial base somewhere, studying it intensely whereas you still sipped at your hot Caf.

“What have you been up to all these years?” Kallus continued, looking up from the image and smiling slightly when you paused sipping on your Caf and wiped the corner of your lip when a drip trickled down.

“Honestly, just taking care of Omani most of the time. Sometimes I’m allowed to go on a mission here and there but the rebels think my duty in the rebellion is to be a mother” You sigh, swishing the Caf around in the cup and staring blankly at it, the green hue of the navigation maps reflecting on the surface of the dark brown liquid.

“Better than the Empire though?” Kallus asked with a smile. You couldn’t help but smile.

“Better in every way,” You and Kallus looked at one another for a brief moment with happy smiles. You felt your chest fuzz at his smile and you blinked a few times to make sure you didn’t lose focus.

“Looking back now, the Empire made me miserable, I was just getting my feelings hurt by Thrawn, over and over again...” You drifted off and suddenly the smile was long gone from your face. You were reduced to staring back at your cup but Kallus frowned when he saw how much of an influence Thrawn still had on you.

“Did he hurt you intentionally?” He asked through gritted teeth, arms folded and a glare on his eyes, but it wasn’t directed to you.

“No, not intentional. I was just always getting ahead of myself, my feelings got the better of me and I really thought he saw me as something more,” You felt your stomach flutter with the bad kind of butterflies, eyes stinging momentarily but you refused to cry. It was too early in the morning.

“I don’t want to go on about this” You sighed, rubbing your eyes with your index finger and thumb as you gripped the cardboard cup a bit tighter.

“No, please, say what you’re thinking” Kallus insisted, listening in intensely as you removed your hand and cleared your throat to stuff down the lump building up in your throat.

“Omani asked me a few days ago if he loved me or not... I didn’t exactly give her an answer” You pursed your lips out of guilt, your chest moving up and down at a fairly quick pace, Kallus took notice to it and also your tense posture. This was really bothering you.

“He’s got such an impact on you... I hate seeing you like this because you really don’t deserve this. Thrawn is a narcissistic sadist, he probably doesn’t even know Omani exists but he doesn’t let the past haunt him like it does to you... have you ever tried fighting it? Your feelings for him?” Kallus asked calmly, his voice low so no one else working could hear him. You ducked your head at his question and finally a tear left your eye. You looked up and didn’t bother wiping your eye, instead you kept your emotions bottled up inside and sniffed back more tears.

“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve tried forgetting about him” Your voice was barely below a broken murmur, your breath catching in your throat a couple of times whilst bearing the pain of the fire in your chest.

“You ever tried speaking to anyone about it?” Kallus took off his jacket and wrapped it around his waist due to the humidity inside the navigation room. You admit, it was warm even at 4 in the morning and you decided to take off your cardigan for the time being, your bare arms revealed as the white vest clung to your torso.

“Not really, i opened up to Omani about it barely a few days ago, but I’m not ready to share anything else with her just yet, nevermind anyone else” You wiped away the remaining tears in your eyes before finishing off your Caf and setting the cup down on the holo table.

“Don’t you think that might be part of the issue?” Kallus raised a brow.

“You ask too many questions” You chuckled, voice still hoarse but more clear than before.

Kallus simply smiled and shook his head dismissively at your comment before tapping a few other buttons on the panel before your wanted warrant appeared on the holo table. You folded your arms and looked up at all the information the Empire had revealed about you. You needed to see what they had said about you for your own sake, you wanted to know if they really knew you or worse, if they put Thrawn in charge for the briefing.

“You’re wanted in all of the 1.5 million planets the Empire controls, not only that but they’ve raised your price,” Kallus opened up your full document and you winced at the amount of words on the panel.

“80,000 credits... in all my years working for the Empire, this is one of the highest warrants I’ve seen” Kallus looked at you with a worried face.

“At least i’m worth something” You murmured sarcastically, rolling your eyes before shuffling closer to the table to read the information about you.

‘A-CLASS COMMANDER: TK-1355’

‘Serving the Empire for 3 years, 1355 was a top ranking commander with her own squadron until she left and became part of the Rebellion. She is of great importance to the Empire, and has last been spotted on the planet Atollon by Grand Admiral Thrawn himself’

You glared at the screen, looking away from it with a frown and walked around the table and over to Kallus who tilted his head your way.

Without a word, you walked behind him and hugged his waist, chin resting on his shoulder and eyes closing over due to the stress and how tired you were. Kallus didn’t tense or push you away, he only bit back a smile and let you hold him until you felt better. Kallus was taller than you, so you had to stand on your toes in order to rest on his broad shoulder.

“You should go back to bed if you’re this tired” Kallus chuckled, cranking his head around to peek at you with his dark brown eyes, one of them was surrounded by a purple bruise. You pulled away from his shoulder with reluctance and eventually unravelled your arms from his torso, stretching them up in the air and yawning before shaking your head.

“I’m too awake now, plus Omani’s fast asleep and I don’t want to wake her up” You rubbed your eyes and blinked them a few times to adjust your sight, looking up at Kallus who had turned around without you realising.

“Go to my chambers if you’re worried about waking her?” Kallus pleaded softly with puppy eyes, his knuckles brushing against your chin to tilt your head up and look at him. Your cheeks heated up at his actions but you nodded your head, tongue numbing up at the sudden contact of his fingers against your skin.

“Fine” You muttered before giving Kallus a hug, shying away as he smirked and turned his attention back to the holo table. Yawning once again, you decided it would be best to get a long and enjoyable nap.

-

Thrawn sat quietly in his office, elbows resting on the large desk in front of him as he pursed his lips and stared at the holo photos and videos sprawled out in front of him horizontally. His red eyes were set ablaze with frustration, studying each of the photos and videos with extreme precision before sighing to himself and pinching the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes momentarily.

It had been a week since he saw you on Atollon. A week since he made the controversial decision of not killing you on the spot, and instead let you go. He was kicking himself for the whole week, the only thing he could think of was you. All the memories he had crammed away in the back of his mind had resurfaced and already proved to be distracting him from his job as Grand Admiral.

For all these years, he genuinely thought you were dead. It was rumoured for the first few weeks of your absence that you had been kidnapped, but security footage confirmed you escaped in a flurry of panic. The Empire didn’t assume you were a rebel what so ever, if anything they wanted you back. Thrawn sent out multiple search parties around the galaxy to search for you but he gave up after 5 years. He held on for 5 years for something, anything that could hint that you were alive. But nothing was found. Not even a strand of your hair.

Thrawn was haunted by your disappearance for years; and only recently - about 3 years ago - did he finally forget about it. He prioritised his job as Grand Admiral so much, he ended up letting go of the hope you were still alive and let go of you all together. He had some of your belongings from when you used to visit his chambers late at night, things that ranged from clothes, to hairbrushes, even photos of your parents. Thrawn kept them in a special place in his office on a shelf on the wall beside his desk. All of your things were kept in an average looking bag, just so no one suspected anything and would get nosy.

One thing in particular that Thrawn kept closest to him was your old Imperial Commander badge. It had your TK number, serial number, and full name on it, and Thrawn kept it in the drawer underneath his desk and only took it out when he was stressed. He used to hold it and inspect it until he felt better, that would be the only way he could calm himself down.

Thrawn looked down at the badge in front of him with a terrifying scowl, hands balled into fists but he kept his composure and inhaled deeply through his nose. He couldn’t get angry about this, he had to keep things strictly professional. But his own personal feelings and emotions were driving him to a direction he didn’t want to go in, and this was the result.

Opening his eyes, he exhaled calmly and looked back up at the holo photos displayed in front of him with a blue hue around them and slight static inconveniences that irked him slightly. The photos were from his own personal data pad, one that the both of you shared long ago and, much like your own, had many photos stored onto it.

All of the photos and videos were of you. From a strangers perspective, he looked psychotic and obsessive, but he didn’t care. You were alive. And to make things worse, you were a rebel as well.

The Chiss clicked his tongue and scratched his neck before raising his hand and signalling a specific photo to zoom forward. He leaned forward in his seat and squinted his eyes slightly as a photo of you and himself came into full view. Thrawn felt the memories flashing through his mind and his whole memory bank had a refresher without his permission, he felt uncomfortable but he wasn’t able to stop it.

He remembered the day the photo was taken. He remembers the words exchanged from the conversation the both of you had before the photo was taken. He even knew how you smelled that day, as strange as that was. Being a Chiss made Thrawn remember every single detail about anything, he remembers everything about you and now he considers it as a poisonous curse.

The photo was your first day together at the Royal Imperial Academy, it was a group photo and Eli was somewhere else in there but the photo was cropped so it was only you and Thrawn. You were standing beside each other, your head level with his shoulder and a big bright smile on your face whereas he was staring at the camera with an awkward curve of his lip. The two of you were dressed in the same black uniform and your appearances were immaculate. Thrawn’s long hair was cut off a few days prior to the photo so his hair was slicked back, like it was now.

Pushing away the photo, he picked out another one that peeked his interest and it happened to be a photo of the two of you back on Csilla long before your days at the Empire. You were a fair amount of years younger than Thrawn, about around 5. It was a photo of him, aged 13, holding your hand and walking you supportively to your school on Csilla. It was your first day which is probably why the photo was taken, his mother and Thrass were with you both that day to give extra support since you were the first human child to be allowed into a Chiss school.

Swiping to another photo, he was surprised to see an informal photo which was taken a week before graduation. Thrawn recognised it to be Eli’s skillfully photography and felt his heart ache for the first time since he last saw you. His hands shook slightly as he inspected the photo with glassy eyes.

It was taken at around lunch time and Thrawn was with you in the mess hall at the Academy. The two of you were alone at a table and the two of you were leaning forward to Eskimo kiss - a gesture which you done a fair amount whilst you were still in the Empire.

Thrawn slowly stood up from his seat, leaning forward over the desk and raising his hand unconsciously. His fingers slipped through the holo photo as he skimmed the outline of your face and he was left disappointed, clenching his jaw and blinking back tears before throwing himself back into his seat.

A knock at his door caused him to turn off his data pad which made all of the holo photos go away in a flash, shouting for whoever it was to come in and say whatever they needed to say. An average looking Imperial officer came in with his hands clasped behind his back. He looked neither nervous or shaky, instead he walked up to Thrawn’s desk and cleared his throat before pulling out a small data pad.

“I’ve discovered new information about the ex-Imperial, Admiral” The officer said with a stern tone, offering the pad to Thrawn who looked at it for a few cautious seconds before grabbing the other side of it and looking at whatever was on the screen.

“One of our probe droids which was on Atollon discovered something - she was screaming out someone’s name,” The video played from afar and Thrawn could see you crying and screaming in pain, collapsing into the arms of the Lasat who he knew to be Garazeb. You were crying so much it made Thrawn hurt, but he looked back up to the officer to signal him to continue.

“The name she was saying was Omani, which is a Chiss name. Now, here’s my investigation,” The officer gestured to his pad which Thrawn was holding and the Chiss gave it back to him without a word. After a few seconds of tapping, the officer returned the pad.

“We found reports on a young rebel who identifies as a Chiss female, she has terrorised the Empire many times and has a criminal record full of treason, violence and robbery” Thrawn looked at the profile displayed in front of him and read the information, his curiosity slowly growing the more information he gathered about whoever this woman was.

“This is Omani, but I cannot say what it is short for. I’ve gathered information about her age, date of birth and... relations” The officer’s voice went quiet at the end and it caused Thrawn to raise a brow.

“Go on...” He pried, resting his chin on his knuckles as he scrolled down Omani’s profile.

“She was born months after the ex-Imperials escape, ontop of that, there’s no father figure” The officer fidgeted with his hands behind his back as Thrawn scrolled back to the top to look at Omani a little more closely, he studied her expression and the curves of her face.

“She’s young, what about the mother?” Thrawn asked with a frown.

“Isn’t it obvious sir?” The officer raised a brow but immediately shut up and apologised when Thrawn sent him a sharp, poisonous glare.

“I believe that her mother is the ex-Imperial” He answered.

Thrawn fell silent. His gaze drifted completely off focus and his heart skipped a beat when he put the pieces of the puzzle together. This was a situation he never thought he would find himself in, but the more he realised it was true, the more he panicked and worried about what this information could do to his reputation.

“Get me more information on this... Omani if you can, and contact the information office and get them to find the contact number of the ex-imperial as soon as possible, that is all” Thrawn gave the data pad back to the officer and he gave the Chiss a curt nod before turning on his heel and walking out of his office at a rapid pace.

Thrawn placed his head in his hands once he was completely alone again, he squeezed his eyes shut and ran his fingers through his hair, ruining the neatly gelled strands which turned into an untidy mess. Standing up from his chair, Thrawn locked his chambers and declared himself unavailable, walking back to his bedroom and taking off his white admiral uniform top since he was burning up a storm.

He stood at his window and stared out to the view of the Lothal Imperial Factory, doing his best to keep his emotions inside as his chest heaved up and down due to his heavy, rugged breathing. Hanging his head, he closed his eyes and dug his nails into the window ledge when a single tear left his eye and landed on the carpet.

You were hiding secrets, so many of them. Secrets that could have been easily resolved back when you were still working for the Empire. But now, Thrawn knew now there was so much more to the story than he first assumed. But he was involved in ways he never thought he would be.

It was unfair.

#star wars #x reader #grand admiral thrawn #thrawn #thrawn x reader #star wars rebels

[yourfavoriteagent]

Teacher Crush pt 1

A short part one this this story! Sorry I'm really tired lol

Spencer Reid x Reader

Summery: You got the internship of your dreams with the dreamiest professor. You won't let your teacher crush get in the way of this opportunity.

CW: NONE

It just so happened that you were the luckiest girl in the world. You had opened your email with the acceptance into Dr. Spencer Reid’s internship program. You were one of three interns but you had gotten the role you’d wanted, Class Aide. You didn’t know who had gotten the research and writing positions but you didn’t care. You would get to sit in on every class and assist Dr. Reid first hand for the entire semester! You ran out of your room into the kitchen to make yourself a celebratory cup of coffee and began to work on your letter of gratitude to Dr. Reid. You would start tomorrow morning, the first class of the semester was at nine am and you wouldn’t miss it for the world. It was a behavioral science class with a focus on criminal behavior. Now, you were an English major, with a heavy interest in true crime. That’s why you had chosen this internship to apply for, you wanted to get up close and personal with someone who had faced down some of the toughest killers in the world and lived to tell the tale. Maybe you would even ask him to allow you to write up one of his stories for a class! Your head filled with these thoughts as you finished your letter and emailed it to your new professor.

Your alarm goes off at exactly 7:30 am. You had set your clothes out the night before like a child excited for a school trip, but first, you hopped in the shower to rinse off and wash your hair. Your phone was blasting music from the counter when a text message popped up on your screen.

Dr. Reid: Hello, y/n. I need you to come into class early if at all possible, at 8am if you can, sorry for the short notice. Your heart dropped, wait you were so prepared for today and now it was all out the window. You looked at the clock and saw the time, 7:38. After texting him a reassuring message back you dried off as fast as you could and threw on the black long-sleeved dress, tights, and dark green cardigan you planned out. You grabbed your makeup bag and ran a comb through your hair with just enough time to look at the clock, 7:50. You might be a little late but you grab your purse and start running.

7:58, you reach the front of the lecture offices. Jesus, you ran faster than you thought. Looking in your phone camera you flatten the frizz in your hair and push the large doors open. You were greeted with a hall of offices each one bearing a nameplate with the respective professor. Most of the lights were off, but one stuck out a bit down the hall. The light was shining through the open door and there was music playing, you recognized it faintly, was it Clair De Lune? You weren’t one hundred percent sure but you walked down the hall to that door and peeked inside. There, sitting at his large oak desk was Dr. Spencer Reid, at this point you had only seen him on book covers or newspaper articles, he was taller in real life, his hair was fluffier than you had expected, and you noticed he was wearing a dark green sweater vest under his coat, just like your cardigan. “Knock knock,” you say and gently rap on the door. He looks up from his papers and smiles. “You must be y/n! It’s so nice to finally meet you, although I feel like I already know you from the essay you sent in.” He chuckled and stood up out of his chair to reach for your hand. You took it and shook it firmly. You had to make a good impression today, you really wanted him to hire you again next semester. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” You say, he grins back at you, you hadn’t noticed how handsome he was until now, and when you say handsome, you mean it. His soft brown eyes meeting yours made you feel like you’d explode. But, you had to focus, “So, it looks like we’re matching today.” You laughed. He looked down at his sweater and back at yours. “I guess so!” He smiled again, it was contagious. He then explained a few of your duties as a teacher’s aide, but you already knew because of how diligently you had read the email you received. You took letter notes, compiled research, and graded assignments and essays. He would be doing all of this as well, you’d be doing it together. The thought of doing anything with Dr. Reid made your heart skip a beat. By 9:15 he had given you all the materials you’d need for the class and cleared off space on his desk for you to sit. “No need for them to bring a whole new desk in here, I don’t mind sharing.” He smirked and set the collection books he was holding onto the filing cabinet next to him. This man was trying to kill you you had decided, your heart was skipping so many beats it may have stopped beating altogether. Your et your bag down on the floor and plopped yourself into the chair he pulled up for you. You were sitting right across from him as he went back to work reading some textbook. You couldn’t see which one but you could see the pages flying. He was turning a page at least every 10 seconds. You must’ve been staring because he said, “I read fast,” and let out a little laugh. You laughed with him and kept your eyes on your keyboard for the next half hour, you couldn’t let this little teacher crush get in the way of this internship.

#spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #fic

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch55: The Fallen Warrior

Intro: The Avengers mourn the loss of one of their own.

Warnings: “Language!” Smut (NSFW, 18+)  Character death, angst.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 56

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Katie felt numb. Wordlessly, Steve guided her back to their quarters where she trudged through the living room and into the bedroom, every so often raising her hand to wipe away her tears. She sat on the edge of the bed, kicking off the court shoes she had stolen from the base before her hands flattened against the mattress as her head dropped slightly, and she began to cry.

Steve sat next to her and she turned into him, pressing her face into his chest. His arms encircled her, as he lay his cheek against the top of her head, gently rubbing her back.

“She’s gone.” Katie whispered softly “I…I can’t…” “I know.” Steve replied gently, sniffing as his own tears fell.

“How are we gonna tell the kids?” 

“Together. We’ll figure it out.” “Like we always do huh?” Katie muttered as she pulled away from him, a hint of what sounded like sarcasm in her voice. Steve frowned.

“Honey?”

“I need a shower.” Her tone was monotonous as she stood up and made her wait into the en-suite.

Steve sighed and ran his hand over his face before he untied the combat boots he’d ‘borrowed’ and shucked them off. They had all the stones, they should be elated. Instead they were grieving, subdued, because Natasha hadn’t made it home and it cut Steve, like a knife in the gut. Other than Katie, she’d been the one person at SHIELD who had been ever present in his life post coming out of the ice. His partner in STRIKE, one of his best friends, a member of his fucking family.

And now she was gone.

He was trying to stay strong, trying to be the leader the group needed, but he was fucking upset and tired. His body ached all over from his tangle with his 2012 self, and if he was honest all he wanted to do was sleep for a week. 

His sharp ears picked up Katie’s quiet sobs in the bathroom. Just like that day when they came back from Wakanda over five years ago, he peeled off his outer clothing and gently pushed the door to the bathroom open and what he saw broke his heart. Katie was sat in the shower cubicle, hugging her knees as the water cascaded down on her. Without a word he opened the glass door, still in his boxers and with a silent groan he sat next to her, and wrapped his arm round her, his large hand on the side of her head as she turned into the contact and lay her cheek against his shoulder. 

As with all missions, there was a routine that followed and this one was no exception. If anything, the routine made Katie feel better, gave her something to focus on rather than the mission itself. Her head was still reeling from watching Steve’s reaction to Peggy, seeing her dad again after almost thirty-two years and the fact that Nat wasn’t coming home.  Steve managed to coax her to her feet, leaving her to shower, but she didn’t really speak as she dressed, instead retreating to dig out the arnica gel as Steve’s torso and back really had taken a beating. She could tell he was in quite a bit of discomfort, and she didn’t like seeing that regardless of how angry she was feeling towards him. 

An anger she knew deep down was completely irrational, but she couldn’t help feeling it nonetheless. 

“Thanks.” Steve smiled softly as her gentle fingers finished their dance across his shoulders. He rolled his head back, expecting her to be there but she’d already moved to wash her hands. He sighed and then stood up from the bed, grabbing a top out of the case they still hadn’t unpacked. He pulled it on with a grimace and then there was a knock at the main door before they heard Tony’s voice as he walked into their apartment.

“You guys decent?”

“Yeah.” Katie called back, shrugging on a purple vest top, before grabbing a white hooded cardigan. 

Tony gently popped his head round the door to their bedroom, his eyes red from his own tears. He took one look at his sister before he sighed and strode towards her, Steve watching as Katie melted into her brother’s arms. 

“I thought that all of us, well the original Avengers that is could meet down by the river on the jetty.” Tony cleared his throat, looking at Steve over Katie’s shoulder. “Maybe talk about what happened.” “She died.” Katie pulled away. “That’s what happened.” “Kiddo,” Tony began and Steve simply looked at him and shook his head slightly from side to side. Tony took a deep breath and watched as Katie walked over to the windows and looked out.

“Going over what happened won’t bring her back.” She shook her head.

“No but it might help.” Steve said.

“Help how?” She turned to face him, her eyes blazing “When has going over what’s already happened, what’s in the past, ever helped?”

Okay, so Steve knew that little dig wasn’t merely about Natasha. He took a deep breath, rationalising in his brain that she was merely angry and taking it out on him. And Steve understood he had to be the metaphorical punch bag. 

“Clint.” Tony spoke quickly, sensing something wasn’t quite right between the two of them. He knew the look on his sister’s face well enough to know she was going to blow if he didn’t diffuse the situation, and right now Steve looked broken. This was the last thing the group needed. “It might help Clint to tell someone what happened.”

Katie cocked her head to one side as she looked at Tony before she shrugged and walked passed the two men to grab a hair tie from the dresser. Quickly pulling her damp hair into a braid she looked over her shoulder at the pair of them and nodded. “See you out there.” “What’s going on?” Tony asked as soon as she was out of ear shot.

“To be honest Tony, I’m not one hundred percent sure.” Steve sighed, heading out towards the living area, Tony following. “We saw Peggy at the base, then your dad. I think it was a little overwhelming maybe and now Nat.”

“You saw Peggy?” Tony frowned 

“Yeah we had to duck into her office after that woman from the elevator was looking for us with security.” 

“So you hid in her office?” Tony arched an eyebrow.

“I know what you’re thinking but I didn’t do it on purpose.” Steve shook his head as he sat on the sofa, reaching for his leather boots which he had kicked off the day before. “It was just the closest room and…”

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world.” Tony looked at Steve as he tied the laces of his right shoe.

“Did you seriously just quote ‘Casablanca’ at me?” Steve paused and looked up at his brother in law who shrugged. Steve shook his head, a small chuckle escaping his chest as he resumed the task of tying his laces. He exhaled loudly again and rest his hands on his knees. “I wish I understood what she was pissed at…I mean, yeah we saw Peggy but we didn’t speak to her.” “Did you do anything, or say anything?” Tony asked.

“Nothing, only that she looked good, you know, that it was nice to see her not ill.” Steve pondered “The stupid thing is Tony, there was nothing there when I looked at Peggy, nothing at all other than this overwhelming sense of serenity that she looked so, well, normal and how I remembered her, not some frail old lady in a bed.”

Tony looked at Steve for a moment before he shrugged. “Katie’s grieving, we all are. She’ll come round. Just don’t take anything she says to heart.”

“Easier said than done.” Steve mumbled as he stood up. With a deep breath he grabbed his jacket and made for the door, Tony clapping him between the shoulder blades as they walked.

******

“Then I guess we both know who it’s gotta be.” Clint swallowed, taking a deep breath. He was ready to do this, ready to sacrifice his life for the stone in line with what the keeper had said, a way to make up for what he had done over the past five years.

“I guess we do.” Natasha looked at him, smiling and Clint took a deep breath as he reached out to take her hand.

“I’m starting to think– we mean different people here, Natasha” 

“For the last five years I’ve been trying to do one thing: Get to right here.” her voice dropped slightly as the tears shone in her eyes “That’s all it’s been about. Bringing everybody back” 

“Oh, don’t you get all decent on me now.” He said, his own tears springing forth. 

“What, you think I wanna do it?” She looked at him, “I’m trying to save your life, you idiot.” 

“Yeah, well, I don’t want you to, because I– Natasha, you know what I’ve done.” he pleaded with her, how could he look his wife and kids in the face after the atrocities he had committed? “You know what I’ve become” 

“I don’t judge people on their worst mistakes.”

“Maybe you should.” 

“You didn’t.” 

Clint let out a smile, his tears now falling softly “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?”

He leant down slightly, pressing his forehead against hers and he took a deep breath.

“Okay. You win” he gave a sad smile, stepping back. And when he knew she’d taken her eye off the ball, truly believing he was letting her do this, with a quick swipe of the legs he knocked her over.

“Tell my family I love them.” He turned to go but she grabbed his arm, tackling him to the ground.

“You tell them yourself.” She smirked, shooting one of her stingers at him, leaving him writhing on the floor. He managed to shrug it off and grabbed his bow and arrow, shooting an explosive dart at her which knocked her to the side. He began to sprint, casting her a look and a smile as he jumped…

He was falling, and he closed his eyes. This was it. 

Except it wasn’t. A pair of arms hooked round his waist and then his fall was stopped as Natasha’s line attached to him with a grappling hook, leaving him clutching her arm.

“Damn you!” Frustration laced Clint’s tone. He tried to reach Nat with his other hand, but the line started to give. And if both of them fell, then neither took the stone home.

“Let me go.” Natasha pleaded with him, her eyes soft. “It’s okay.” She assured him with a smile as be began to protest. There wasn’t an inch of fear on her face. In fact, quite the opposite, it was like she was wanting to do this.

“Please– no!” Clint tried again, but as he spoke Natasha kicked the wall and wrenched her arm out of his grip. Clint screamed after her, turning his head away unable to watch as she fell to her death. When he eventually did look back he saw her sprawled at the bottom, legs and arms bent in an unnatural way, crimson blood framing her head like a macabre halo…

Clint trailed off recalling what had happened as his voice cracked and he looked out over the river, falling silent, arms crossed. Katie sniffed from where she was sat beside Steve on one of the benches, his hand gently resting on her knee.

“Do we know if she had family?” Tony asked, looking around. 

“Yeah.” Steve said fiercely as he looked up through his tears. “Us.” 

“What?” Thor demanded, walking over to Tony. 

“I just asked him a question–“ “Yeah, you’re acting like she’s dead.” Thor snapped “Why are we acting like she’s dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn’t that right?” Steve looked down at his feet and Thor growled slightly. “So stop this shit. We’re the Avengers, get it together.”

“We can’t get her back.” Clint shook his head, his voice quiet as Thor looked at him. “It can’t be undone. It can’t.” 

Thor gave a dry laugh causing Katie to look up for the first time since she had sat down 

“I’m sorry. No offense, but you’re a very earthly being, Okay?” Thor looked at Clint “We’re talking about space magic. And “can’t” seems very definitive don’t you think?”

“Yeah, look, I know that I’m way outside my paygrade here. But she still isn’t here, is she?”

“No, that’s my point-“ “It can't be undone. Or that’s at least what the red floating guy had to say.” Clint’s voice gathered pace and volume until he was shouting. “Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and you talk to him!”

At that point Katie stood up and made her way to the archer as his head bowed in grief. She gently rubbed his arm as he turned to face her, tears trickling down his face. 

“It was supposed to be me!” He looked at Katie, then to Steve and Tony. “She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it.” At that point, in a burst of anger, Bruce ripped a bench from the edge of the jetty and hurled it straight across the water before he turned back to the group, his anger spent and a resigned look on his face.

“She’s not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to.”

Steve stood up, Bruce was right. They had to make her sacrifice count. “We will.” 

Bruce sniffed and then looked at Tony. “I’m gonna go back to the lab, take another look at the gauntlet.” “I’ll come with you.” Thor nodded and the two men wandered off up the walkway. Katie watched them for a moment before she turned back to look at Clint.

“I think I’ll stay here for a bit.” He sniffed. She nodded and gave his shoulder a squeeze as Tony and Steve both walked towards him. 

“You gonna be okay?” Steve asked, and he nodded.

“I just wanna be on my own for a bit, Cap.”

He patted the man on the back before the three of them headed up the walkway to the lawn area at the back of the building. Katie stopped and looked at Steve.

“I’m wanna take a drive up to the house, see the kids.”

“Yeah, me too.” He gave her a small smile as Tony looked at them both, nodding.

“We’ll all go.”   ***** They told Emmy and Pepper first, hidden on the porch outside, away from the younger kids. Pepper had instantly welled up, gently wiping away her tears whereas Emmy’s face had crumpled and she’d turned to her father, as she sat on the seat next to him, pressing her face into his top as she sobbed. Steve felt utterly helpless, unable to do anything but comfort her. Eventually, she pulled away and accepted the tissue Tony offered her.

“It was her choice Emmy.” Katie’s voice was broken. “I know that doesn’t make it any easier to take or understand, Sweetheart.” “She,” Emmy took a deep breath, “she was a hero until the end, huh?” “She was.” Steve agreed, smoothing back her hair.

“I err,” Emmy stood up. “I think I’ll take Lucky for a walk round the lake.” “Good Idea.” Tony agreed “How about me, you, Pep and Morgan head down to feed Gerald. Leave your mom and Sad to speak to Jamie.” Emmy nodded. Tony walked round the little porch and opened the door, calling the younger kids out to them. Jamie frowned when he realised he wasn’t going on the walk, and positively scowled when his parents told him it was because they needed to speak to him.

“But I don’t wanna.” He protested as they took him back inside.

“Please, sweetie, it’s important.” Katie sighed. He looked at her with piercing blue eyes so like his fathers and gave a huff, sitting down beside her, folding his arms.

“Am I in trouble?” He asked, looking up. “I didn’t do it.”

“No, pal, you’re not in trouble.” Steve assured him, sitting at the other side of him. “We just have some news to tell you.” He glanced at Katie and she gave him a helpless look. How do you make a three year old understand this? Understand any of it? Jamie sat patiently waiting whilst Steve took a breath and turned to face his son in his seat, his knee pulling up onto the cushion slightly as he did so.

“You know how me and your mom have been working on a big job with your Uncle Nee and Auntie Nat-Nat?”

Jamie nodded.

“Well, there was an accident.” Steve paused, trying to compose himself as best he could. “And Auntie Nat-Nat…well she, she’s gone to heaven buddy.” “Heaven?” Jamie frowned “Like, in the sky? With the angels? And my nannies and grandpas?” Katie nodded. “Yeah, baby.” “So I can’t see her again?” His little voice was quiet as his face fell, and Katie felt a lump in her throat as she struggled to speak.

“I’m sorry, buddy.” Steve gently, reached out to stroke his son’s face. “I know you can’t see her but you’ll always have her in your memories when you think about all the fun things you did.” Jamie nodded. And looked around. “Okay.” He whispered as he took the information in. Steve and Katie looked at one another, they’d tried to be honest, explain as best they could with the simple facts but in a way he would understand the harsh reality that his Auntie was gone, and not coming back.

“You alright?” Steve asked as the boy stood up.

“I’m sad that I won’t see her again.” Jamie shrugged, looking down before he stood up and looked his father straight in the eyes “But Emmy says her first mommy and daddy are both in heaven and the sun shines there so Auntie Nat-Nat will be okay. And I will see her when I go.” He nodded firmly. “But that won’t be for a very long time.” “No.” Steve reached out to pull his son into a hug. “No, it won’t.” Jamie wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck as he gave him a hug back, before he turned to his mom and did the same. Katie pulled him close to her, dropping a kiss to his head as her tears once more began to fall. 

And they were falling again when they headed back to the compound later that afternoon. Katie didn’t want to leave the kids behind, but there was work to do, and she knew they couldn’t be there when the stones were. It wasn’t safe. She remained silent for the drive home, both Tony and Steve glancing back at her on occasion, the men sharing significant looks as Steve drove the car back to the compound. He hadn’t even pulled to a stop when she was climbing out and striding towards the doors.

“Good luck.” Tony nodded towards her retreating back.

“Thanks.” Steve mumbled. He paused for a second, taking a deep breath of air before he headed after her. She wasn’t in their quarters, so a quick question to FRIDAY later he headed to the communal lounge, where she was stood behind the wet bar, pouring herself a large vodka.

“Want one?” She asked and he shook his head. “No? There’s some of that Asgardian shit here somewhere.” “Katie, I don’t want a drink. “Well I do so,” she knocked the vodka back and hissed slightly, “shit she’s right, that stuff is like paint stripper.”

She poured another one and Steve watched her knock it back before he walked round the back of the bar and gently took the bottle from her.

“Sweetheart, this isn’t going to help.” “Why are you getting off on telling me what to do all of a sudden?” she looked at him,  snatching the bottle back. “You did it before at the base too!” “That’s not what I was doing.” Steve calmly shook his head. “I was trying to stop you being seen.” “Didn’t care about that when you dragged us into Peggy’s office.” Steve took a deep breath, sensing the impending argument, desperately seeking for the words to cut it off before it could start. “I dragged us in there to stop security finding us. And I didn’t know it was her office until you did.” “Course you didn’t.” 

“I didn’t.” He sighed, his tone flat. He was completely and utterly worn out. And he didn’t have the energy to argue. He was done. So, instead, he turned to leave. 

“Sure you were horrified when you got to see her.” Katie shot at his back and Steve took a deep breath.

He knew she was poking for an argument now and he wasn’t going to give her one. He turned to face her, shaking his head and shrugging a little. “I was glad when I saw her. Glad I got to see her looking so healthy instead of some frail old woman dying in a bed. And I make no apologies for being happy about that fact.”

Katie snorted and poured another drink into her glass.

“But if you’re asking me if I suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to run to her and declare my undying love then the answer is no.” Steve held her gaze. “I love you.”

Katie rolled her eyes as she shot her third vodka straight down, grimacing again as it burnt its way down her throat. It wasn’t having any effect on her yet, but she still had a dangerous desire to jab at her husband’s wound again. For no reason other than she was angry.

Angry at everything and everyone… 

But Steve wasn’t rising to the bait. He was angry too, angry at her for behaving the way she was, angry that Natasha was gone, angry at this whole fucking situation, but he wasn’t giving her what she wanted. Not this time. He would deal with his anger alone later, in the way he always did

“We have kids, a home, we’ve built a whole goddamned life together over the past ten years, and I don’t want or need anything or anyone else, no matter what you choose to believe.” “Well if you change your mind, I snagged some extra particles from Pym. You could always go back, check out what you missed.” She shrugged, her eyes flashing as she watched his reaction. Steve grit his teeth together, the nerve in his jaw twitching but still when he spoke, his voice was level.

“I know you’re upset. You’re grieving. We all are.” Steve threw his arms out to his sides. “And if you wanna take it out on me then fine, but I’m not gonna stand here and start screaming and shouting at you.” His hands dropped back to his sides, slapping against his denim clad thighs. “I don’t have the energy. I’m hurting too. So is Clint, Bruce, Tony, Thor, you’re not the only one who loved Nat.”

Katie looked down at the empty glass, before she turned for the bottle of vodka and refilled it.

“I love you, I love our life, I love our kids.” Steve continued, his eyes locking onto hers when she finally looked back at him. “I don’t know what else I can do or say to prove that to you.” He took a deep breath. “If you still don’t believe me after I’ve spent ten years telling you that there’s never been anyone I’ve loved as much in my life, that you don’t trust me enough to believe me when I say that Peggy doesn’t even come close to you, what hope do we have?”

His last sentence hit her like a tonne of bricks and she swallowed as she looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears. 

“Tell FRIDAY when you need me to carry you back to the apartment.” He nodded to the bottle in her hand, and with that he turned and left the room. Katie stood still, her tears began to fall and with an almighty scream she launched the glass she had been holding against the wall before she turned and left the room.

She walked for what felt like hours. Through the woods, down by the river, and eventually came to the little clearing, the place that her and Natasha had often come to hide from everyone when they wanted a break to either sit in the sun or just chill after a particularly hard mission. She was surprised to find Clint already there, leaning against a tree trunk.

“Didn’t know you knew about this place?” Katie looked at him.

“Nat brought me out here the other day.” 

“Figures” Katie dropped down beside him. “She brought me here too, quite a bit actually.”

“Where’s Cap?” Clint asked. Katie shrugged, tugging at the grass on the floor, before throwing the strands she pulled from the ground into the air in front of her. “You two had a fight?” 

“Kinda.” she sighed. “I said some pretty shitty things.” “Sure it’ll work out.” Clint said. 

“Maybe.”

Clint turned to her “It can’t have been that bad, surely?” And then before she knew it, she’d told him everything. About the mission, about Peggy, about being angry for no real reason other than she felt a pang of jealousy over him smiling when he saw another woman back in the seventies, a woman who he had last seen frail and ill in a hospital bed. And then she was angry, angry at everything, at why Natasha had taken those fucking words, Steve’s words, ‘whatever it takes’ literally, and had given her life to bring people back.

“We don’t’ trade lives.” she sniffed, finishing rather pathetically as she wiped her eyes.

Clint sat in silence, sliding an arm round her shoulders. “She chose to do it Nova. I tried to stop her but…” “Her choosing doesn’t make it easier, Clint.” “Not for those of us left behind, no.” He agreed. “But she was at peace with her decision. And this isn’t Steve’s fault no matter what you think.” “I don’t think that.” Katie sighed “Not really.” “Good because that is almost as stupid as the other shit you’re thinking.” Clint looked at her “Steve loves you.”

“I know he does.” “Just listen to me.” the Archer looked at her sternly. “It’s always been obvious how much he loves you, and over the past few months I’ve also seen how much he loves your kids.”

Katie looked down at her hands as Clint continued.

“But the thing is, you love your kids because you have no choice. And by that I mean you just can’t help it. They’re part of you, but each other, well you choose that.” He paused as she looked up at him, his eyes flashed with a mix of upset and slight anger. “You need to get your head out your ass, Nova, and look around you. I lost my family five years ago. You gained yours, and you’re trying to do what exactly? Goad Steve into an argument about an ex-girlfriend or whatever from almost eighty years ago?” Clint shook his head “Stop being a dick.”

Katie knew he was right. She was being ridiculous, she’d known that the minute Steve had left her in the common room. She took a shaky breath, the tears pouring down her cheeks and the arm round her shoulders gave her a squeeze

“Nat would be so pissed at me right now.”

“Yep.” Clint breathed out, and Katie gave a soft watery laugh, as she lay her head on her friend’s shoulder, the two of them sitting in silence. *****

When neither Steve nor his Sister answered FRIDAY’s calls, Tony figured that something had happened so he’d gone in search of Steve first, knowing he’d be the most rational out of the two. FRIDAY told him he was down in the gym, and as he rounded the corner towards the training room, he could hear the sound of fists pummelling the punching bags. The door swung open and sure enough, the soldier was there, his arms moving at an astonishing rate, grey t-shirt stuck to his back with sweat as he hit the sand bag again and again and again.

“Cap?” He spoke a little tentatively, and Steve landed one final punch before he grimaced slightly, turning round, shaking out his hand. “Take it it didn’t go well then.” “You could say that.” Steve sighed, breathing heavily. “I left her in the common room with a bottle of vodka.” Tony frowned “Was that wise?” “Probably not.” Steve shrugged, feeling a pang of guilt before he took a deep breath, blooded hands falling to his hips. “But I don’t know what else to do Tony. She was just trying to goad me into an argument and, well, frankly, I couldn’t be bothered.” He slumped down onto one of the benches, running his hands through his sweaty hair.

“They say there are five stages to grief.” Tony mused, sitting down next to him. “Denial, anger, bargaining…” “…depression and acceptance, yeah.” Steve nodded.

“Well, you apparently go through them in order.” Tony looked at him. “But from personal experience, that’s a load of shit. When mom and dad died I just went off the rails. Oh, I accepted they were gone but, well the anger and depression continued for a very long time.”

Steve took a deep breath and looked at him.

“And I reckon it would have continued even longer had it not been for the fact that it became a very real threat that Kiddo would have been taken off me.” “I know she’s grieving, Tony, I really do but this whole thing about Peggy is ridiculous. You know what she said? That she’d stolen extra Pym particles and told me I could go back, see what I missed.” Steve snorted, shaking his head. “I mean does she actually seriously think that I’d even consider that?” “No.” Tony cut him off. “She doesn’t, not really. Look, today has been a head fuck for us all. She’s lashing out and wants a reaction. You’ve done the best thing by not giving her one and instead you’ve taken it out on a non-sentient item…” He nodded to the punching bag which was dripping sand to the floor.

Steve sighed and looked down at his split knuckles, flexing his fingers and wincing slightly.  “Suppose I best go see if she’s drunk herself into oblivion yet.” He stood up “FRIDAY, where’s Katie?” “Mrs Rogers is back in the Living Quarters, Captain. Would you like me to call her?” “No, it’s okay, thanks.” He sniffed as Tony stood up. Steve gave him a gentle nod, before he left the training room, without another word.

Tony watched him go before he looked around at the three destroyed bags, sand scattered all over the floor, spotted with a few droplets of Steve’s blood from his knuckles. He sighed, his head hanging heavily for a moment before ran his hands over his heard.

“FRIDAY, get someone to clean this up.”

**** When Steve walked back in the apartment Katie stood up off the sofa and looked at him for a moment, an awkward silence hanging between them. 

“Where’ve you been?” He asked, his voice even and soft.

“With Clint. Talking about stuff.”

Steve fully understood that ‘stuff’ would most likely have included as well as Natasha. He took a deep breath and gave her a curt nod. “I’m going for a shower.” “Okay.” She replied gently, almost nervously even. Steve gave her another passive look before he headed into the en-suite, turning the water on as hot as he could stand. He ached even more now than he had before, and he was beyond tired. He didn’t want to fight, not anymore. On the plus side, Katie wasn’t drunk, so that was something. He just hoped that whatever Clint had said to her had helped. He cleaned himself quickly before shutting off the water, drying himself down and emerging a few minutes later, dressed in a clean pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He found Katie in the kitchen, pulling a dish out of the oven.

“I assumed you’d want food. I made mac and cheese. Call it a peace offering?” She looked at him, her eyes watering a little.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.” She sniffed, and Steve saw her bottom lip beginning to quiver again. “Stevie, I’m so sorry, I…” With a sigh he reached out to her and pulled her to him and she went willingly, melting into his arms.  “I love you, and I shouldn’t have taken stuff out on you, I’m sorry, I really am…” she rambled into his chest as he held her close.

“I know.” He pressed a kiss to her head. “But, honey, I’m tired of trying to make you understand. I love you. I don’t want or need anyone else.” “I know, I was just, well, I just saw that photo on her desk and…”

“It was just a photo.” “Yeah but that’s it, it’s not just a photo.” She protested between her sobs. “I have that exact photo in my office too, because it’s you and,” she took a deep breath, “I never knew you before the serum but I wish I did because it’s who you are. Not Captain America but Steve Rogers. My Steve.”

“Oh, baby.” Steve pulled away and took her face in his hands. “I’ll always be yours.”

She gave a watery smile and slid her hands over his as his thumbs gently wiped away her tears, and then she frowned as she felt his knuckles. She gently pulled his hands down to look at them before she glanced up at him, fresh tears in his eyes as the memory of the last time he’d beaten his hands to a pulp on the punch-bag flashed across her mind, the time he’d been grieving for their lost friends and their baby.

“You haven’t done this since…” “I know.” “Stevie.” Her face crumpled again at the thought of what she had pushed him to and he shook his head, his hands falling to her hips.

“Look at me.” He instructed, and she raised her gaze to his. “I heal fast, you know this.” She spluttered a laugh and he smiled. “But I really am fucking hungry, so how about we eat and then curl up in bed and tomorrow we face head on together?”

She nodded. He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and she turned away to dish up their food. 

They ate in silence, but it was comfortable and when they’d finished they both cleared away the dishes before heading into the bedroom. Katie retreated somewhere for a moment, coming back with the first aid kit which she used to gently clean his split knuckles. There was no need, they weren’t as bad as they could be, but she wanted to care for him, and Steve wasn’t about to deny her the opportunity. Then came the arnica, which he really did want as his upper body was absolutely wrecked. 

She gently grasped at the bottom of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head before he shifted so he was lead on his front, with a groan befitting of all his hundred and five years. Katie moved so that she was straddling him from behind, her soft hands gently rubbing over his broad back.

“I would offer you a massage. But I think it would hurt.” “Yeah it would so thanks but no thanks” Steve mumbled into his pillow and she gave a soft laugh

“Maybe tomorrow?”

He nodded as her hands slid up to his shoulder, gently working there before she patted him softly on the ass.

“Turn over.” With a heave he did as he was told, eyes closed as she gently swept over his bruises to his ribs and torso, before her thumb skated over the one on his left cheek. Her thumb was replaced by her lips, which flickered down his jaw, his neck, over his Adam’s apple and back up to his mouth. With a soft sigh he accepted her kiss which was soft and she pulled back, nibbling on his bottom lip before she pressed her forehead to his.

“I love you.” She whispered softly, and he opened his eyes and nudged her nose gently with his. “I’m sorry.”

“I know, and I love you too.” His eyes locked onto hers. “So goddamned much it hurts at times.” “Just at times?” She teased and he rolled his eyes, causing her to giggle a little. He reached up and brushed her hair behind her ears. 

“Until the end of the line.”

She looked at him, her eyes full of warmth before she leaned down and kissed him again, this time with urgency. He hungrily kissed her back, his hand in her hair as he pulled her to him, before he rolled them over, ignoring the aches to his body. Nudging her head back with his nose on her jaw he gently kissed up her neck, nipping at the spot underneath her ear, listening to the soft sigh she made before she moved and pulled his mouth back to hers, her hand tangling in the hair at the back of his head. He grasped her T-shirt and broke the kiss to pull it over her head before their lips locked again, his hands gently squeezing her hips as she shimmied under him with a soft whimper. A few deftly undone buttons later and the pair of them were naked, soft kisses and teasing touches being shared, but no words. 

They didn’t need any.

Steve laced his fingers into hers, gently holding her hands above her head as he slid home, causing her to gasp and drop her head back. His movements were slow, deliberate, his hips hardly moving as he rocked into her, stroking her spot again and again. She arched her back, her head dropping further onto the pillow, and his lips kissed every inch of her neck he could find before he sucked and nipped his way across her collarbone whilst she keened underneath him, hiking her legs around his waist, locking her ankles behind him to keep him close to her. His movements grew deeper, but never faster, there was no urgency to any of this. It was love, it was about being close, the connection, making one another forget the shitty events of the day. Steve wanted his wife to understand what he felt and in turn she wanted him to realise she knew. She knew he loved her, and she loved him. 

She came with a soft cry of his name, her orgasm creeping up on her. It wasn’t a sudden explosion, more a long drawn out burn but no less intense. Her back arched and she pulsed around him, drawing a deep rumble from Steve’s throat as she did, and his lips caught hers with slightly more urgency as his hips picked up their pace, thrusting deeply whilst she clamped around him, hot and tight. It wasn’t long before he found his own release and with a low keen of her name his rhythm stuttered, eventually slowing to a stop and he let go of her hands, breathing heavily, as he gently cupped her face and kissed her deeply.

Still without a word, her hands tangled in his hair, nails scratching his scalp and he gave a soft sigh, closing his eyes as he relished her touch. Sliding his nose up against hers he gave her a gentle smile before he rolled over, pulling her with him. Her head found its favourite spot on his chest, and her hand gently tangled in the dark hair besides her cheek.

“I’m gonna miss her.” She whispered a moment or so later. “So much.”

“I know, Doll.” he sighed, pulling her closer, pressing a kiss to her head. “We all are.” Katie didn’t speak again. It wasn’t long before her breathing grew even and Steve knew she was asleep.  He could feel himself slipping under, and right before he lost consciousness, for some reason Katie’s voice came back to him, her angry jibe filling his head.

“You can always go back, check out what you missed.”

Steve realised there was a slight irony to her words, as roughly eleven years ago he would have jumped at the chance. But not now. 

Not now…

Chapter 56

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #mcu #mcu fanfic #mcu fanfiction #chris evans #chris evans characters

[lizardkingeliot]

So, do those of you currently reading time cast a spell on you (but you won’t forget me) remember that scene in chapter 4 where Quentin shows up for his tutoring session and Eliot says he wants to go to the edge of the campus and manipulate the magic of the wards so they can fly? You know... this one:

Only they never end up making it there because they start bickering the second they leave the library? Well, in the rough draft of this chapter I initially had this scene... ending very differently. And they also weren’t going to fly, they were going to... well. I think I’ll just let y’all read it for yourselves lmao. I think I talked about this a bit on twitter when I was working on the chapter so if it sounds familiar that’s probably why. ANYWAY. I have a ton of deleted scenes from this fic, most of which will never see the light of day, but I woke up this morning with the urge to share at least part of this one so... I guess that’s what I’m going to do.

This is super rough and unedited and honestly not up to my usual standards, but... you know. Rough drafts tend to be that way. It’s also all over the place in terms of tone and where they were at this point in the fic lmao. This might be bordering on crack honestly. Which is why I just scrapped the whole thing and went a different route in the final draft. Anyway. Shutting up now. This is about 2k words so I’m putting most of it under a cut...

—

Trudging across campus two paces behind Eliot, Quentin was stricken by the overwhelming feeling that he was trapped inside a dream. The eerie, quiet campus, lit only by the waning moon and a few dots of light spilling from the various student houses. He looked back over his shoulder, spotting the Cottage in the distance, the dim orange glow of the front bay window swimming in his vision like a boat lost at sea. 

As they approached the outer edge of the grounds, Quentin could feel the magic of the wards, buzzing on the air like insects. Bone-deep reverberations, strains of music swelling from within. He’d never been out this far before. The line where Brakebills ended and the real world began. Where there was nothing but the boat house and the wind. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He breathed in deep, the scent of the Hudson rushing nearby filling his senses as Eliot came to a sudden halt in the dark.

“Here,” Eliot said. Quentin could only just barely make out the shape of his elegant fingers pointing just ahead. “Can you feel the energy? I guess the Naturalists come out here sometimes and use it to light their bongs.” He laughed, a sound that warmed Quentin underneath his jacket at once. “And occasionally singe their own eyebrows off in the process.”

Quentin looked back. They’d come out to a place that the light from the Cottage couldn’t reach. Eliot formed an orb between his hands and pinned it overhead, a grapefruit sized pendant of magic swaying gently in the breeze. He stepped into Quentin’s personal space, giving him the once over. Head-to-toe and back again, settling at last on Quentin’s eyes.

“So,” he said with a smirk. “Cavaleri Animation. My memory of the First Year curriculum is a little hazy, but they’ve dazzled you all with that one already, yes? Turning your marbles into little glass animals, you know the one.”

Quentin nodded. “Yeah, um… but Alice was the only one who could actually get hers to work.”

Swift and warm as a pulse, Eliot’s hand curled around the nape of Quentin’s neck. Heat spreading down the column of his spine like a flame catching a wick. Thumb teasing over burning flesh. Eliot’s lips ghosted over his ear, not quite touching. Still, Quentin swore he could feel his smile. “Well,” he said, soft and dark, “I’m here now. And you’re going to do it. And it’s going to work.”

Quentin’s hand was bunching up the back of Eliot’s cardigan. He didn’t know when that had happened. The hum of the magic was making him dizzy. For a moment, it was impossible to breathe. His body a tight line of tension and desire. Eliot pulled away and Quentin released his hold, staggering a little as he tried to regain some semblance of control.

“Um, okay…” Quentin ran a hand through his hair in a half-hearted attempt at centering himself. “Why, uh—why do we have to do that here? We could have just done that spell in the library.”

“Because,” Eliot said with a tip of his head, “I have a theory.”

“A theory?” Quentin frowned. “You brought me out here for a theory?”

“More of a hypothesis really,” Eliot said with a wave of his hand. “But I think it’s going to work.”

“Great,” Quentin said with an exasperated sigh. “Dicking around with unstable magic in the middle of the night. What could possibly go wrong.”

“Look, it’s going to be fun,” Eliot said with that casual little air of his. “And we probably won’t explode even if I’m wrong. So we really don’t have very much to lose.”

“Okay, I’m—” Quentin threw his hands up. “For fuck’s sake, El, can you just tell me what we’re actually doing out here?”

“We,” Eliot said very slowly, reaching inside his cardigan, pulling a sliver of magenta colored glass out of the pocket of his vest, and looking through it, “are going to tap into all that crazy energy and make your little glass marble friend into a very big animal friend and take it for a spin.” He passed the sliver of glass over to Quentin. “Take a look.”

Quentin stared at Eliot for a very long time before relenting. “You’re actually a crazy person, you know that?”

“I think you mean certified sorcerer genius, but I’ll take it.” He gestured with a nod of his head. “Go on. It’s balls to the wall out here. So much energy we could power a fucking nuclear reactor and I doubt Henry would notice.”

Quentin looked through the glass, moving it from one eye over to the other. At first, it was impossible to make sense of what he was actually seeing. A latticework of stars. Billions of them it seemed, all bumping up against one another in a wild, cosmic dance. A galaxy of intersecting lines and patchwork patterns shimmering like the wings of a dragonfly. And every now and then, a spark. Popping off into the dark like fingers desperate for the night. Quentin handed the glass back to Eliot with a shake of his head.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Don’t be boring, Quentin,” Eliot said. It made Quentin’s chest ache with its normalcy. Like their past couldn’t touch them out here. Like out here with their bad ideas and their wild magic, maybe they could have some hope to start again. “But maybe… maybe don’t make anything that wants to bite our heads off.”

“Okay, so…” Quentin sighed with his whole chest. “To recap: you want to steal unstable magic from the wards of the school where we’re both currently students to make a giant glass animal that hopefully doesn’t swallow us whole so we can… take it for a ride?”

“Yes,” Eliot said, like it was the most obviously brilliant thing in the world. “Don’t make that face with your face. Tell me you’ve never wanted to ride a rhinoceros.”

“We are not riding a rhinoceros, Eliot. Absolutely not.” 

“Well, okay…” Eliot’s hand on his nape again. Heat, fire, a five alarm blaze encircling his neck like a collar. “If you could ride on any animal, real or imaginary—”

“The Cozy Horse,” Quentin said without thinking, heart pounding like hoofbeats trapped inside his chest. “Um… it’s from the Fillory books, uh…”

Eliot laughed softly. “Okay.” His hand slid down to Quentin’s shoulder, gripping it possessively. “Tell me about... the Cozy Horse.”

“Um…” Quentin squeezed his eyes shut, took a breath, shook his head. Eliot’s hand was stroking up and down the expanse of his upper arm and shoulder, making everything go all fuzzy in his brain. “It’s just, uh… it’s this horse that Jane rode on. It’s, uh… really tall. Like a hundred feet. Like a clydesdale on steroids.”

“You won’t ride a rhinoceros but you’re perfectly fine with a horse that’s a hundred feet tall?”

Quentin turned his face upward, trapping himself in Eliot’s gaze. Sinking, flying, falling. Close enough to kiss if he only went up on his toes a little. Tucked inside the safety of his warmth. Quentin wanted to burn, to melt into a puddle at Eliot’s feet and slosh around like muck. “I…” Quentin swallowed. “I don’t think the Cozy Horse would hurt us. It’s basically a giant stuffed animal.”

Eliot grinned, gazing down at Quentin for a long beat before pulling away. “Okay then,” he said, taking a few steps down the path under their feet. “Show me Cozy Horse.”

Quentin reached into his pocket, knelt down, set the marble on the path. “I don’t understand how I’m supposed to… harness the magic of the wards.”

Eliot made a circle with his thumb and forefinger, peering through it with one eye. “Just leave that part to me,” he said absently. “Go on. Make your horse. And don’t say you can’t do it. We both know that you can.”

Quentin gazed up the long line of Eliot’s body. Eliot was fully focused on the wards. The sound of night, the crackle of magic. Quentin shivered under his jacket. His hands hovered over the marble, focusing his energy on prepping the glass for transformation with Dempsey's Silent Thermogenesis. Once molten, the marble could be manipulated into almost any shape he could imagine. For the Cozy Horse, Quentin didn’t have much to go on but the memory of a single illustration, and a few lines from The Wandering Dune, but he figured it would probably be simple enough. How hard could it be to imagine a draft horse the size of something straight out of the Cretaceous period?

Quentin twisted the glass under his fingers, so fully focused on his task he almost didn’t notice when Eliot began to move. When, suddenly, through the loop of Eliot’s fingers, a beam of sharp, frenzied magic began to focus on the animal he had half-formed with laser precision.

“You might wanna hurry,” Eliot said. “I don’t know how long I can hold this here.”

Quentin scowled in his direction, looping a bit of the molten glass into the shape of a tail. “You’re shit at communicating, you know that,” he spit, letting the gentle rage rising in his belly fuel his magic. “I thought cooperative magic was supposed to be, I don’t know… cooperative?”

Legs, hooves, the gentle slope of a hulking animal’s back. The wispy tendrils of a mane. Eliot was saying something that might have been a warning. Quentin was too focused on his creation to parse a single one of his words. The magic of the wards cracked like lightning. He could feel it in his hands. Quickly, almost as an afterthought, Quentin gave the beast that had come to life beneath his fingers a shimmering loop around the back of the neck that might have passed for reins if he squinted.

A single hoofbeat on the soft ground. The beam of magic stuttering through Eliot’s fingers died away, and he let out a tremendous sigh.

“Okay so... “ Quentin frowned, eyes flitting from the tiny glass horse up to Eliot’s face. “I don’t think this is going to—”

A flash, a pop, a tremendous wave of heat knocking the air from his lungs. Quentin shoved his body backward off the path and into the grass just as Eliot was running over. Kneeling down, using himself as a makeshift shield as he pushed Quentin further back away from the molten monstrosity shifting and morphing and doubling, tripling, quadrupling in size. A deep rumble, the tinkling of glass. Quentin peered over Eliot’s shoulder, his eyes moving up, up, up, trying to take in what it was he was actually seeing.

The glass horse shook out its mane, rearing up on its hind legs and down again with an earth-trembling thud. The distance from the ground to its shoulder must have been twenty feet. It had no eyes and no mouth, but Quentin swore he could feel its glassy stare boring into him. The light of the orb dangling overhead passed right through the center of its body. For a long moment, everything went perfectly still.

And then Eliot started to laugh. “Holy shit,” he said, his eyes wide as dinner plates when he turned his face to Quentin. “That is a big fucking horse.”

A laugh sputtered out from between Quentin’s lips. “Yeah, um… yeah. Fuck. It really is.”

Eliot’s body pressed right up against Quentin’s body when he turned, and leaned in, so close they were almost kissing. A pulse of heat passed between them. Quentin felt it in his chest like a second heart. “So,” Eliot said, a hand curling around Quentin’s cheek for a fleeting moment before pulling away. “You wanna take her for a spin?”

Quentin felt absolutely out of his mind. Hazy, his body a liminal space. “Yeah,” he said with a short, stuttering burst of laughter. “Yeah, why the fuck not.”

Unreality set in hard as they stood and cautiously approached. Up close, they might as well have been gazing upward at the hulking glass back of a dinosaur. The haphazard reins Quentin had created looped around the beast’s neck like a string of fairy lights. 

“Um…” Quentin laughed, tucking a tuft of hair behind his ear. “How the fuck are we even going to get on this thing?”

Eliot took his hand suddenly, threading their blood-warm fingers together. “Oh, Q,” he said with a full-faced grin, “we’re gonna fucking fly.”

#the magicians #queliot #otp: proof of concept #myfic #*margo hanson voice* that's not tonally consistent with the fic

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Brother Dearest Pt 77

A morning of scheduling in a stop at Freckled Moose Publishing Company had them grinning widely as you mapped out dates for the planned four stops for signings when the book would be ready to be released in August. Sealing for them the firm back half of the two year contract they had once lucked out on that brought them more clients in their affiliation with you. Curiously at the end of the meeting you asked, “Just curious, if I ever wanted to put out a sort of History book could I call you, would that be possible for the company to publish?”

Excitedly the Editor asked, “You’re writing a History book?”

And the other asked, “History on what?”

“Well, I sort of have a notorious ancestor that I’ve been digging into. Found letters from Kings and even a few Popes who tried to sentence them to death,” widening their curious grins. “Granted it’s probably years away from being done.”

The head guy stated, “We would be beyond interested and honored to publish your book whenever it is ready. How’d you find out about your ancestor?”

“I got a letter from the King of Spain who had been researching them out of fun growing up and he saw a portrait in what he’d found and then saw pictures of me and King George and he had to write to me about it and I’ve been a bit hooked digging myself. They’re sort of turned into this legendary person who’s been all over the world through history, which is sort of odd and people may just shout that it’s got to be made up, but there’s official documents for it all.”

“Well we’ve certainly been lacking in our non fiction section of authors so whenever you are ready please do send us a draft or some hint of this intriguing thing.”

“We will,” you said and they showed you down so you could stop at the comic book studio next to hand over the next chunk of storylines that had the guys beaming at the direction you were leading the story from its latest cliff hanger.

“I think it was nice throwing them that bone,” Victor said that had James agree. “You can tell they were bound to try and offer another deal for something when this book was through.”

“At least I know now, they might be inclined to humor a History book from me which borders on a creature like Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster.”

“You are neither of those,” James said.

“I’m not tall enough, I know.” You said making the brothers chuckle and shake their heads.

“Well let’s feed your tiny mythical self, Darling.” James said helping you back into the car for the drive home again.

.

Mr Yarbrough’s stop in on Monday did little to calm your nerves at being expected at a new campus the following morning. Sleep somehow attained didn’t feel like it had lasted the full night and more like a sort of jump in time, while not tired all the same it was an odd feeling to have to get up again. Comfortably in a skirt and blouse with cardigan in hand from the house once you were fed and had nursed again snuggly into the car you sat chatting anxiously with James and Victor around you on their joint task to see you off to school pre stop into the comic studio again.

The excitement was palpable from the moment you exited the car with bag in hand to join the hundreds of students who had arrived on this first day of the summer classes that each one you got close to greeted you fondly. Aids in the halls helped to guide the way to where those who hadn’t taken tours were headed. One of whom excitedly guided you to the Art Wing where you found the first of your classes. One on the styles of art mediums and the deeper meanings and symbolism to each of them to further deepen not just your knowledge of pieces of art like the class you had taken but the reasoning behind them and how to recognize various styles. This class usually was paired with another, your next one where it would be continued lessons on the styles and according to the course description would be more of an advanced art class.

The first Professor however froze when he saw you and promptly nodded his head when he noticed you were looking his way as you entered and crossed the room to get to the stadium of seats. “Baroness Howlett, good morning.” His fingers fidgeting around the button on his vest atop his neatly pressed shirt on the man who reminded you a bit of a bird by the slant of his cheeks and chin to match his slim forehead.

“Good morning. Just Howlett is fine. No need to complicate things for another student to teach.”

“I can imagine you will never be just another student,” he said and then added, “As you wish. Mrs Howlett it is.”

“You won’t regret it,” you said and made your way to the second row of seating along the wall to keep out of the way from the other students who filed in, each stuck between their confusion on if they should choose a seat nearby the famous face amongst them or to keep their distance. All the same a cheery group of young ladies chose to settle a few seats away from you in your row who only lured more students to fill the rows in front and behind your chosen seat. Mainly slides and ample discussion upon each piece to get right into the kick of the lessons inside the notebook you had for the class ample notes were taken and eventually you were off to the next class.

A robed woman on the raised platform inside what seemed to be more of an art studio lit both by a wall with windows across the top third and the dangling light fixtures. All to make it the perfect setting for the 30 easels that a man you would take as one who prized himself on his artistic prowess huffed through hanging more large sketch pads on each easel. It wasn’t until the third one he hung up that you took notice of the names scrawled across the backs to name where you stood. And of course you as the shortest of the students who had entered and would enter in the very back you were settled in a stunning move for everyone but the smug Professor who at the snap of his fingers had the woman drop her robe.

“Pick a style of art and interpret what you see. You have an hour, impress me.” From the bar of the easel you lifted the box of Mongol brand colored pencils also with your name on a strip of tape to mark it as yours and opened the case to pull out a grey one.

Basic outlines in dots for the shape of the odd crab like couch that the model was draped across. A yellow set of dots lined the body’s end points before a light green was used to work on a few things behind the couch. For some reason you heard hour and wanted to have the hardest challenge possible so you aimed for pointillism. Not just for difficulty but also an excuse to not be too terribly detailed without aiming for something abstract like Picasso could have dreamed up.

Obviously not much was expected and when the professor who hadn’t so much as said hello just about fell down as you completed a series of smaller dots between larger dots to complete another chunk of the blurry yet clearer scene. It seemed he had already in his made up decision to be distant to each of his students to glance down his nose at their work so far continued on to the next easel in his lap through the room. This was his chosen method and this was just how it was going to go and when the class was through your piece and another had his focus linger as he switched the sketch pads for the next class wondering how the next time he saw you all would fare.

Anatomy and Physiology came next and another look of shock bled into an impressed question from this former Doctor of a Professor who heard you had repaired an artery with just a heated pin that had him agree to speak further on possible difficult cases you had faced in the war that cost him his left foot. While more technical and loaded with all male students to surround your seat up front at his suggestion for a clear line of sight at least he seemed pleased to have a fellow Army Medic to help boost up the usual lower end of his summer grading curve.

Communication came next and seemed a rather simple statistic laced course that was followed by another male centered course of Engineering. And while you were in a skirt the basic schematic sheets offered for you all as tests of intuition on what you could do in a long string of what could come for the rest of the few months you would be studying here with mention of actually constructing something for your exams.

From your last class you couldn’t help but grin at the thought of being able to return home again to your girls. So much so that when you saw James’ back you hastened a few steps to take hold of his suspender strap luring a smirk across his lips in a prompt turn to lower and kiss his bubbly wife no matter how many people could see the display of affection. “I take it you had a good morning?” Victor crooned in the midst of the lip lock and smiled at you when you broke apart to cuddle into James’ chest around your bag and notebooks.

“I did, be glad to get home though.” You said making them smile and guide you into the middle of the front bench seat to make the drive home when you shared your day and heard about the latest on their morning in the comic studio.

.

Wednesday tutoring was followed by on campus classes the following day to finish off the stretch of schooling for the week. All in all not a bad load to bear and one that could easily be laid onto a schedule to manage with ease. Your final hours leading into Friday however had Norma back at home and excited to take you on a family trip for the day to LA.

‘Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!’ words that were etched across the covers of magazines and newspapers alike with ample radio mentions. Amongst the hype of the latest Stark film in the works with one of the minor characters in this film word of your touching down with Norma had a sea of cameras there for an explosive amount of press for the film. Right away Norma’s smile was locked in place and she answered questions as best she could on the way to the waiting car and of those already camped outside the home rented for all of you on the beach.

Nice and quiet the moonlit beach had you on the back porch listening to the waves lap once the children had been put down to sleep. Random strolling couples and a few lone teens with telescopes were in your view stealing watch alone together under the rarely seen stars deeper in the cities. “Almost makes you wonder,” Eddie said joining you on the porch as Dawn and Norma started on the nightly facial routine you said you’d join in a moment a few minutes prior. “Just how much we’re missing out on down here with the tiny telescopes we have.”

“I think I’d settle on knowing what heartbeat I’m hearing out in the ocean.”

Eddie chuckled saying, “Probably a shark or a really old turtle.” He nodded his head to lure you inside saying, “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up for a short nap then we have to get you ready for the premier and we can all head to the beach after.” Under his arm you were led back inside to wash your face and have Norma’s smile spread at the calming act for her to play specialist to your beauty regimen. Nerves however would have to be set aside as you all laid down with your adoring husbands for the nap to bring you closer to the premier.

Only you and Norma had seats so special care from the others came in help to get the pair of you ready to ease into the car that came to carry you there and back again for the premier. Dolled up to the nines in a wave of flashes you exited the car and stepped aside with hands smoothed down over the skirt of your dress for Norma’s exit after. Down along the carpet you strolled at her side ignoring the waft of your loose curls pulled back on one side the breeze kept blowing about your face and chest no matter how many times you brushed them back. A plot to keep you set apart even more from Norma on her big day who had her every curl secured in place in an elegant bun and while she did her bits of press you stood aside and happily mingled with the other members of the cast who had finished their turns.

Nerves however did not wane and with hold of her hand Norma’s confidence was bolstered enough to settle into your chosen seats for the opening speech from the Producer and Director that was followed by the start of the film. All through up to the minor line that she gave that had her grip tighten on your arm and remain so until the credits rolled and in the rise of the lights a brief after luncheon was called for. Compliments and talks from the heads of 20th Century about her next picture they had lined up for her to audition for once this assumed once off film Stark had wrangled them into allowing her to play a large part of had her a bit deflated when she returned to your side even against the peaceful grin on her face.

“You want me to punch them?” You asked making her giggle and loop her arms around yours again.

“They have another walk on bit for me in a musical comedy with the Marx Brothers they want me to audition for after we get back to New York.”

You nodded and said, “Well I’ll just have to keep writing stories for Stark so he can keep giving you things to sink your teeth into won’t I?” You teased widening her smile. And sweetly you patted your free hand on her arm, “They’ll learn Jeanie, nowhere near just another bombshell blonde they can bop around in the background. Audiences will be gnawing at the bone to get a better look at you. Just the beginning.”

“You are an amazing writer, truly, you should keep it up.”

“I just might, Howard’s last call just about had him asking for one, I can feel it. And with my wild dreams no telling what my head can come up with. Just as long as I don’t have to sing or play in the next one,” you said making her giggle again.

“You singing made that scene. You will see when it comes out.”

“As long as it helps with the press to get more in those seats to see my treasured younger sister,” you said making her giggle with you, “Then I will take a stroll across a scene in whatever film I can to help.”

Playfully her mood shifted and remained upbeat until back at the beach house the pair of you washed your faces and changed into two piece swim suits matching Dawn’s in complimenting bright colors to help carry the babies out to go and play. Across the sand towels were laid inside of a fitted sheet held out by your shoes with a large umbrella set up for the babies to be in the shade with the brothers. Just beside the towels Teddy giggled as you helped him build a sand kingdom with a moat of water Eddie brought from the ocean in a bucket to Norma and Dawn’s gleeful trip into the water.

A curious sound turned your head to the beach making you ask, “What is that?” James’ head turned as you asked, “Do you guys hear that?” And over the wind, the waves, distant chatter of photographers creeping in for pictures and giggles from your sisters in helping their daughters to their first steps into the ocean they too heard the odd sound of shifting sand.

Victor said, “Sounds like a cracking and scraping.”

“There are heart beats,” you said and shifted closer to the source of the sound with Eddie behind you.

“Couldn’t be sea turtles this time of day, could it?” Victor asked James who shrugged.

“It’s cool enough, almost sunset here in an hour.” He replied.

Teddy between you and his dad’s arms poked his head and gasped at the sudden sink of a small circle of sand. Gradual progress was made as you accepted hold of your camera from Victor who had been snapping pictures of the four at the water now on their way back when he called for them. Gasps sounded at the first head and in a gradual flurry of heads and front flipper arms that came into view the first of near to a hundred hatchlings filled the circle of sand around their entrance to this world. “Ooh, got you little guy,” James said in a reach down to bring out the one still in the hole who had gotten stuck on his back to join his siblings all focused on discovering their bearings. “There you go,” he said with a smile lowering it down after you snapped a picture of the duo.

A few random gulls were easily swayed by the bits of your picnic left over thrown a good distance and arms used to shoo them away from the tiny parade to the ocean ending in bittersweet cuddles at the somehow profound loss of these tiny newfound friends now out in the wide unexplainable ocean. Teddy broke the silence asking, “Where’s their Mommy and Daddy?”

Eddie said as he lifted his son in his arms, “They’re out there, Teddy Bear. Don’t you worry, they know where their babies are, bound to have tons of food to make up for the long crawl back to them.”

Victor said, “They lay the eggs on the beach so they’ll be nice and safe until time for them to hatch. Most of the time it happens at night, when it’s nice and cool and most of the birds are away at their nests.”

Eddie said, “Let’s finish up this city of yours, Teddy Bear.” Turning back while you stayed with Norma and Dawn and their girls at the water a few moments to James and Victor’s slip back to the shade across the towels.

James hummed sweetly, “Let’s get you girls back in the shade.” Not much longer you lounged with your head on James’ lap to play with your girls and under a spare towel leaned against his chest feed the three as Victor claimed his proud task of capturing more candid moments of his family then claimed a turn with his Petal in the water as Norma came to lay out beside you. Sure to rival the images that would be splashed over the pages of newspapers and magazines for weeks to come dissecting every moment of this trip and more especially for the newspapers that you couldn’t have possibly been pregnant with three children so recently without having had some sort of surgical procedure to get your figure back.

.

The remainder of your weekend allowed you to steal some time with Victor and his dark room and a private dinner alone with James as a sort of date night on your own after crowded and cramped traveling. Time together was one of his main concerns after having gotten you on your feet and the girls onto a schedule so that in the long run as they grew older and things grew more complicated when the trio were fully mobile and had the chance to let their free will grow. A day both aspired for and anxiety inducing for when they could drive you both apart to keep them contained and only let you find each other at the end of the day to collapse in a joint heap of exhaustion to recharge for the following day.

He had to make certain he wouldn’t let his love for the children you would gift him cloud his daily need to remind you just how deeply he loved and cherished you. He had faced those rough patches with his first wife and hoped to avoid that, knowing how it hurt his son and himself, that was unacceptable to allow to happen again. Not with you. Victor had made it clear there was no chance of this marriage breaking apart, he’d sooner face death than to repeat his former mistakes and hurt his family as he had in the past. And while a dinner alone on a blanket under the stars didn’t seem like much every shift closer to him and grip of his shirt and ample stolen kisses let him know it was amply desired from you as well.

.

Tests with Mr Yarbrough came again on Monday for History, Geography and Religion, which again you aced and after he was amused to hear from Teddy the swarm of turtle hatchlings you backed up with pictures to prove the encounter. Tuesday on campus again came with repeats of the news of turtles that a few relatives from America had mailed pictures of the hatch related part of your beach trip that had your family played as true nature lovers. Excitement had burst with news of the premier and each chance capable questions were asked about the cast members and famous people you had mingled with while there. And Wednesday brought the end of June with more tests at home from your tutor Mr Fenske for Economics, Government, Political Science, and Anthropology, all your major serious subjects with thicker exam packets that the results for the final two would have to be named for you at the following week’s tutoring session.

Thursday came with the final stop on campus that came with buzz from not just fellow students but your family as Sunday was your birthday. A day that began with a family birthday breakfast followed by a party with the whole town that showed up to your home proud to spend the after noon with their dear friends and admire the new girls added to your family. Girls who amongst the toddlers in your family and those of families in town were glad to have the change to increase of children to play with.

Sharp cries however cut short the tries to get an early night’s sleep and with Herc you tried to calm the elder three toddlers who squirmed and writhed in pain against your efforts while James and Victor were sent into a near tailspin of panic and needed to take a long walk outside.

“It’s chicken pox,” you echoed in their minds calming the duo enough to come back inside to find the trio slightly more relaxed after being given some medicine for their fevers and to help them sleep.

And when they entered Victor came over to take hold of his precious Petal from your hold as you answered another call from some of the parents in town to warn of their children who had caught the unfortunate bug. “Come here precious.” He said nestling her slumbering body into his chest to pepper the top of her head with kisses between muttered comments to her every irritated slumbering grumble.

Dawn in her path from the kitchen had a familiar set of pocket journals in hand, “I’ve added chicken pox to the bug books. The triplets are still symptom free?” She asked eyeing Elliot, Sarah and Erich feeding them with the bottles you had pumped in the cooling baths you had made for the sick three.

Erich answered, “No symptoms, sleeping soundly. Jaqi didn’t catch her pox until she was over a year.”

Sarah answered, “It’s from the milk, babies are safe if their mother’s have the antibodies already until they pass their first year.” A fact that calmed James and had him move in to kiss their heads and circle back to comfort Victor as Eddie swayed on his own feet keeping hold of Teddy as he nodded off to his own dose of medicine. Herc after another check of Marigold’s temperature from her armpit had him contently handing her over to Dawn again and accepting the books reading the marked down cases of colic or diarrhea up to the few shots available for infants and even Teddy’s teeth coming in to not miss a single illness of any severity.

“Unfortunately like the common cold our medicines don’t do much to dent this illness. However Erich was able to aid us with how Jaqi reacted to the illness so we have a good idea on how this could unfold. Compared to how mortals experience it fairly easily. There is a ten day window of no to few symptoms then the bumps arrive that baths and ointment can mend.”

Victor said, “I’m not sleeping for two weeks then.”

And you crossed the room to stroke his back, “We’re all here to watch the babies Kitty.”

Victor said, “You need to get some sleep. You calmed my Petal down, thank you.”

“It’s an unsettling wait, but it’s fairly easy to get over, we’ve got plenty of oats and baking soda for the baths and we can make fruit popsicles if they get some in their mouths like Gina’s boys did.”

He simply cuddled more around her and nodded his head to the side urging you to bed, a gesture you sighed and turned to reluctantly head to bed as your girls were being carried back to the nursery to get some sleep.

.

“Here you are my dear,” Edie said pouring your tea in the morning an hour after breakfast that had almost lulled you back to sleep in wait for your tutor. With a smile she watched you unfold from your uncomfortable ball in the armchair of your choice lined up perfectly in a stream of sunlight stating, “Rather a rough night. I shall aid in the baths when the bumps arrive, I apologize for missing the fevers, the most frightful part.”

You shook your head, “Around the Brocks I have seen more pox than I could have dreamed possible. If I couldn’t tell them apart I’d say one of them had caught it twice.” You said making her chuckle in your sip on the tea to help perk you up.

“At least you have tons of practice. In my own youth I was surrounded by ample children myself. Some mothers can be rather frightened with their first child, I was rather at home with Erik’s colic to his worst fits or growth.”

“James handled it rather well compared to what I assumed for the first big illness.”

“Your parents agree, the brothers did bear through the pain rather well. Victor did sleep, more proof there. A few more fevers and I do believe he will calm from his panics.”

After another sip you replied in a soft sigh, “I wish I could do more.”

“You are,” she answered luring your eyes to her. “You aid in mothering his daughter while her mother is away. He is not alone in fatherhood. That is a great comfort more than you realize I would wager.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to come with us?” You said widening her smile.

“My son is strong and shall be safe under your watch. No mother wishes to release their child upon adulthood, and I could wonder how difficult it should be when to release your trio.”

“It’s eighteen years away, I would say, though shockingly my husband has been in my life for six years already. Numbers cannot be a comfort there. Have to let go before I know it. I should probably try to not think about that too often. Might start to make me sad for no reason when I’m back in school and they keep growing while I’m away.”

“They are always growing, away or in front of your eyes. We shall bear it together. You guard my boy and I shall help to guard yours in the summers and winter breaks. My work keeps me rather busy while we are apart.”

Tutoring came rather easily and somehow free of yawns thanks to the tea and a few stolen snacks and let loose a bit of work time that in the library was free of visitors Erik jumped at the chance to claim the seat across from you. Back into his own borrowed textbooks from your courses he wished to sign up for this year he delved with a few questions asked and answered for him until the eventual dip of your head that had him chuckle and scoop you up to carry you to your room for a much needed nap until supper. Another feeding however woke you as your parents settled around you to hold the girls until the trio were nursed by you fully, both who smiled at each drowsy droop of your eyes in slow waking still from the nap then helped to get you up to take a few laps inside your wing to stir your body and mind.

The nap however did fuel a change between you and James, him who required an early trip to bed for his exhausted self that allowed you and Victor, with hold of his daughter still, to get the surprise cake for James ready. Still he refused to leave her to sleep alone and only let her go to steal brief naps in hold of Herc or one of your parents if James was not himself awake. “I am doing better,” Victor said turning your head as you mixed the cake batter to pour into the readied pan for it. “I am, thank you. Nora called earlier about in tears she’s missing it. Comforting her, calming her pain helped to show how much better it feels knowing you’re here for support. I didn’t take to the fever as terribly as I thought I would. Had a hunch I might need to break something, but Herc says Petal’s strong.”

“Just doesn’t seem fair at times,” you said parting his lips as you sniffled and poured the mix into the pan to keep distracted from crying, “Just because I’m here now, why she’s safe and why they weren’t. Why you had to lose two of your babies, why I could heal Teddy but I couldn’t help Ambrose when she lost one of her babies.”

That had him draw you into his chest and kiss your forehead closing his eyes to the tear he felt soak through his shirt when you hugged him as firmly as you could around his hold of his slumbering daughter. “None of that is on you. Herc says my babies are ready to come back to me,” your head tilted back to peer up at him and he nodded, “So if we do have another baby, they would be able to come back, in safer times. So don’t you cry over our past sufferings. Look forward with us. We have days of suffering through oatmeal baths to come yet.” He said making you shake your head and inch back to finish pouring the mixture into the pan you then added to the warmed up oven to bake.

“Funny, very funny. It’s like a lit fuse, now I’ll have to wait a year or more for our girls to catch it as well, no telling how many more babies Dawn would have had by then,” you said making him chuckle. “I would say Jeanie,”

“She has work, we are pacing ourselves on babies. Her figure is important to the company and she hoped to at least have Petal talking full sentences before we tried again without sleeves.”

“At least you have a plan,” you said moving to mix up the icing next. “I was on the pill and we used sleeves, still, triplets. And people say God has no sense of humor.” Making him chuckle. “Hopefully we can wait a few years at least, have me into my graduate courses a good way. Maybe just one that time, or twins if I’m destined to only have multiples, maybe this time I can work in a few pushes in labor.”

“There was nothing wrong about your labor. Two day standoff is nothing to shake a stick at and you know it. Most women would have begged to be knocked out or to be sliced open by the first dawn.”

“I know. I suppose, going against the grain is going to be painful. Missed moments, while I study or, write or, take pictures and work on our comics.”

“It takes a village. We will make time, the girls won’t be left wanting by you or anyone else. Promise,” he said and you nodded again, “You chase those dream degrees of yours and you could do anything, on any schedule. Could even work from home if you got the right deal going. Jimmy and me know, we missed time working on our degrees and licenses, and we got paid more for it and our babies were better taken care of while we had them. You have to lay down the foundation first, can’t just drop a bridge in the middle of the ocean, they don’t float very well.”

“I think I found the next quote for another throw pillow for your parlor,” you said making him smirk your way.

“Looking forward to it.” Cake with breakfast was a welcome surprise and sampled to be saved partly for lunch with you when you had returned home to spend the rest of his birthday exactly how he wished it with the women of his life. That company alone was the greatest gift he could have ever received and ever would.

Pt 78

All –

@sherala007​, @mariannetora​​, @jesgisborne​, @knitastically​, @catthefearless​​, @theincaprincess, ggbbhehe4455, @lilith15000​​, @alishlieb​​,

Not nsfw(smut) - @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore​

X Marvel-Cast - @himoverflowers​, @theincaprincess​​

Brother Dearest - @thorinanddwalinsdwarrowdam​​, @swoopswishsward

#James Howlett x oc #Victor Creed x Norma Jeane #Eddie Brock x OC #Venom #Edie and Erik Lehnsherr #Chicken Pox #Old Memories #Marvel #Surprise Birthday Cake

[obsidiancreates]

Freezer Duty (Part Two)

"Okay, okay!" Cheyenne shouts. Everyone is gathered in the warehouse, shouting and holding money. "Guys, settle down! This is simple, okay? If you think Jonah is a vampire put your money in this stupid fedora-"

She holds up said Fedora, a hat that Jonah has tried many times to wear and has been relentlessly mocked for each and every time.

"-and if you think he isn't a vampire, put your money in this crazy big mug!" She holds up a novelty mug that says 'My hair is as slick as my moves'.

Bets are placed, and the games truly begin.

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Jonah looks at the customer and nods as they drone on about... something. He's trying very hard to focus on what, but it's just impossible. His lunch was completely unsatisfying, and he's still tired as hell.

"-so then the bagel caught fire-"

He just feels groggy and sick. And he's freezing! He even put his jacket on under his vest, and he's still cold! If only he had one of those cardigans from college with him...

"-and anyway, I just hope this won't turn out the same way."

Jonah nods along for a minute more before registering that the "conversation" is finally over. "Okay, well, good luck with that, ma'am," he says with a tired smile.

"Thank you, um... Joe-neh.”

“It-it’s Jonah, actually- and she walked away. Okay.” Jonah sighs and yawns, stretching his arms. He accidentally swings then out too wide, and knocks something over right onto the ground.

He jumps at the sheer volume of the impact! “WHAT IN THE-”

A barbell in a box smashes against the ground, denting the floor.

“How did- who- where-” Jonah looks around, trying to spot someone who would misplace a barbell into grocery!

He kneels down to take a look. It’s cracked the floor significantly.

He looks at his hand. It’s not even red where he accidentally punched the absurdly heavy weight. He struggles with grocery bags more often than not, and yet this- whatever this even is- happened?!

“Gotta be at an angle,” he mutters to himself. He puts his hands on the shelf, rubbing it, crouching down and examining it closely. “Just slid off at the lightest touch, clearly.”

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“Wow.” Mateo looks at Brett. “How did you even get that over there? It must weigh like, a million pounds.”

Brett gives no reply. Nor any indication that he heard Mateo at all. 

“Fine then,” Mateo says, offended. “Well, that’s a point for the ‘vampire’ better for sure.”

“Totally.” Cheyenne is already marking it down in her notebook.

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Dina watches Jonah on the security cams. “Let’s see how you like this one.” She pulls out her walkie-talkie. “Do it now, Garrett.”

“This is crazy. You know that, right?”

“Just do it!”

At the customer service desk, Garrett sighs and pulls out his phone. He taps an audio file, and holds it up to his mic.

Dina watches Jonah like a hawk.

First his head lifts up, clearly confused, and then after a moment he claps his hands over his ears. Over the camera she hears him shout, “What the hell is that?!”

Customer turn and looks at him with bewilderment, and looks around. 

Jonah looks around too, somewhat distressed.

“Ha!” Dina stands up a little and points at her monitor. “Superhuman hearing!”

“Hey, Dina?” Garrett says over the walkie. “What is this supposed to be doing, exactly?”

“That’s a frequency human ears can’t hear, but Jonah just did,” she says happily.

“Are you serious?”

“Always. He’s freaking out in the middle of grocery,” she says with a laugh.

“Okay, turning this off now.”

“No! I want to see how long he can handle it first, for future reference.”

“Yeah, well, I bet against him being a vampire so this doesn’t benefit me at all.”

Garrett lowers the phone and turns it off. Dina watches Jonah drops his hands from his ears with a small gasp of relief. She plops back into her chair with a disgruntled sigh.

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“Hey, Sandra? Um, so, we got a complaint,” Glenn says, trying to get Sandra’s attention, “Someone said that a bunch of bats flew out of the hole in the ceiling and started trying to rip their hair out? Anyway, uh, we can’t call animal control without corporate approval, so I need someone to handle that...”

Glenn waits for a moment, and then clears his throat. Sandra is still focused on something else. He clears it again, more insistently. Still nothing.

“SANDRA!”

The shrill shout make Sandra jump. Glenn smiles pleasantly when she turns around. “I need your help with something- ... wait a minute...”

Sandra is holding a spray bottle, garlic powder, and real garlic. “Um, I’m... restocking,” she clearly fibs. Glenn raises an eyebrow.

Sandra deflates. “We’re playing a game,” she admits. “To see if Jonah’s a vampire or not. Since garlic might kill him Dina and Marcus are making me wear garlic perfume, which is just garlic in water, to see if it makes his nose bleed or anything.”

“What?”

“I know we shouldn’t be playing a game at work-”

“Who cares?! Jonah might be a vampire?”

“Um... yes?”

Glenn shouts fearfully. “But-but vampires are damned! Jonah’s soul might be damned?!”

“... Yes?”

Glenn quickly runs away. Sandra waits, shrugs, and goes back to spraying garlic-y water on her neck.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Jerusha? We’re gonna start up a new savings account! ... Well, Jonah might be a vampire, so I think we’ll need to pay a heavy fee to get him into Heaven! ... Of course we have to do it! He probably can’t even think of Heaven now! OH! I prayed for him this morning, what if that hurt him?! Oh, god... I need to call Pastor Craig about this! Oh- hmm? Oh, yeah, I can bring home Italian, what do you want?”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonah leans away from Sandra. “Yeah, uh, it’s-it’s certainly... pungent.”

“A good signature scent?” Sandra asks meekly.

“It... leaves a strong impression,” Jonah assures. And a strong headache...

“You don’t think it’s too strong?”

“Well, um... now you mention it, it... might, be a little... much. Uh... garlic-ish. Kind of.”

“Oh. Do you not like garlic?”

“I love it! I love garlic, just... not as a perfume.”

“You’re not allergic?”

“I just said I love it, so... no.”

“Okay. Um, thanks.”

Sandra walks away, leaving Jonah thoroughly confused.

“What was that about?” Amy asks, walking up.

“I think Sandra got garlic on herself and is trying to convince everyone it was on purpose,” Jonah says, slightly distracted sounding. He looks at Amy. “That or she genuinely wants to smell like garlic all the time.”

“Huh. ... I bet it was Carol.”

“Oh, that’s a good guess!” Jonah exclaims with a smile. “Why didn’t I think of that one?”

“Mmm, you’re off your game today. Anyway, I asked Glenn and we think insurance will cover a basic checkup if you think you need one.”

"Good, good, because I had another thing happen.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I started hearing this like um, this-this ringing sound, kind of? But I don’t think anyone else heard it. ... Everyone sort of looked at me like I was that guy from last Halloween...”

“Oh, yikes.”

“... Anyway, I’ll call at the end of the day.”

“You’re sure you don’t need to go home?”

“Well I’d like to but our insurance is so bad our boss thought I might die, so.”

“Right.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright, Garrett-”

“Whoa, where the hell did you come from?!”

“The cafe. Here.” Dina tosses a pack of toothpicks to Garrett. “Hold one of these up around Jonah’s heart and see if he panics.”

Garrett looks at her skeptically.

“It’s the closest thing we have to a wooden stake! I mean, I could carve one, but we’d lose a chair or two.”

“Yeah, Dina,” Garrett pushes the toothpicks back over to her. “I’m not doing that.”

“Why? Scared you’ll kill him by accident? You can’t trip, it’ll be fine.”

“No, because this is stupid. And because if he is a vampire, I don’t want him to think I tried to murder him!”

Dina considers this. “... Alright, fair game. I’ll find someone else to do this.”

“Wait, really? Just like that?”

“Yeah. Any idiot could hold a toothpick to someone else’s heart.”

Dina walks away, huffing, as Garrett is left with an odd feeling of dejection.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonah pauses as he walks past patio. He doubles back, and spots Marcus using one of the grills.

Marcus looks up and grins. “Hey! Feeling peckish?”

“Um, are you allowed to be- isn’t that kind of dangerous, actually?”

“No, no, it’s fine. I uh, get special treatment after cutting off my thumb,” Marcus brags.

“Oh... kay. Um...” Jonah looks at the steaks, mouth watering. “I guess... I could use a snack.”

“Great! How rare do you want it?”

“... Do you mean how well-done? Just- usually people don’t start with the assumption of rare...”

“Well, a lot of my friends like their steaks bloody.” Marcus laughs, and then looks at Jonah very seriously.

“Oh, um, that-that’s... cool.” Jonah looks at the steaks sitting on the plate, in a pool of red, metallic-smelling, warmed blood...

He wipes his mouth. “Um, medium rare,” he says quickly. “And I’m just- I’m going to head over to the um, I think I saw a spill! In isle, uh... yeah.”

Jonah quickly walks away, and Marcus pulls out his phone to text Cheyenne. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Glenn, I was thinking and I think we should send Jonah to- whoa.” Amy stops in her tracks, standing in Glenn’s doorway completely still as her boss tries to quickly hide the fact that he’d been crying.

“Um, go on, Amy.”

“Glenn, are you okay?” Amy closes the door and sits down.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” Glenn waves off. “Just worried about Jonah, you know?”

Amy sighs. “Yeah, I am too. He said he heard a ringing in his ears, so I think maybe we should send him to the doctor and just use the jar method-”

“NO!”

Amy startles at Glenn’s shout. “Why?”

“Because he’s a vampire now, and-and who knows what the scientists will do to him!”

Amy closes her eyes and shakes her head, trying to process that. “I’m sorry, he- what? Why do you think that?”

“Everyone does!” Glenn swings his arm out for emphasis. 

“... So... there’s no evidence, just people spreading rumors?”

“He had the two holes in his neck!”

“Okay, but, vampires aren’t real. You know that, right?”

Glenn shakes his head. “The Devil can do terrible things to good people! And-and one of those things, is turning best friends into vampires!”

Brushing past the fact that Glenn believes Jonah to be one of his best friends, Amy stands up. “Okay, Glenn, how about we go out there and look at Jonah.”

“... I’m scared to.”

“Just come on.”

Amy drags Glenn out of the office and runs into Justine. “Hey, Justine, where’s Jonah?”

“Oh, I think he’s at the grills-”

“Kay, thanks!”

She takes Glenn to Jonah despite Glenn’s protests. “See? Jonah is perfectly norm-”

She stops, and Glenn shrieks.

“Not what it looks like!” Marcus assures, fumbling with a napkin to wipe the blood off of Jonah’s chin.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*minutes earlier*

“Why do I need to be blindfolded for this?” Jonah asks nervously, fidgeting with his hands in his lap as Marcus covers his eyes.

“I want you to guess which one is cooked right without seeing it.”

“Wh-why, though?”

“Because... it’s a game!”

It’s to see how sensitive Jonah is to blood.

Marcus cuts a slice of steak, and holds it up. Jonah hesitantly opens his mouth, and Marcus shoves the steak piece in. Jonah coughs. “Very aggressive.”

Marcus shrugs, and waits.

“... Medium well?”

“Yes! Noice! My friend knows his steaks. Okay, here’s another one.”

Jonah chokes a little. “You really don’t have to shove it, in, um, you almost stabbed me.”

“Just tell me the steak...”

Jonah chews. “... Medium rare?”

“You are on fire! Okay, one more.”

Marcus shoves the fork into Jonah’s mouth. Jonah hisses in pain, biting down on the very rare piece of steak. Blood dribbles down his chin, both from the meat and his own mouth.

“Oh, shit, I am so sorry! Let me help, um-” Marcus grabs a napkin, and starts trying to unfold it.

Amy and Glenn round the corner at that exact moment. Marcus looks at them with slight fear. “Not what it looks like!”

Jonah coughs, spitting out the steak onto his lap. “This game went horribly wrong!” He takes off the blindfold and grabs a napkin himself, pressing it to the roof of his mouth.

Glenn looks like he’s about to faint. Amy holds her hands up. “What the hell happened?!”

“I was seeing if Jonah could tell different steaks apart and I kind of, uh, stabbed his mouth.”

Jonah looks at Marcus with an incredulous glare (that almost seems to have concern mixed in, but all of Jonah’s expressions look like that).

“Okay, Marcus, go back to the warehouse! Jonah, let me see- dammit, okay, lets go find some kind of antibiotic mouth spray or something-” 

She leads Jonah away as Glenn and Marcus are left behind.

Glenn looks around for a moment, swinging his arms. “So, um... how did he do?”

Marcus smiles. “Awesome,” he chuckles. “That guy is totally a vampire, I’d bet my windshield.”

“Oh.” Glenn’s voice is weak. “I-I think I need to sit down.”

Marcus holds up a plate. “Want a steak?”

“... Sure.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amy takes the plastic off the spray and holds it up. “Okay, take away the napkin.”

Jonah takes it out of his mouth, and Amy shines a light in so she can aim the spray. “Where did he get you? I can’t see any holes.”

Jonah points. Amy squints. “No, there’s nothing. Not even any bleeding.”

They both look at the very bloody napkin.

Amy’s brows furrow. “... Sure healed fast.”

“I-I guess it felt worse than it was.” Jonah runs his tongue over the roof of his mouth. “You’re sure there’s nothing?”

She checks again, and her eyes drift to his teeth. ... Are those two actually sharper, or is she just imagining it?

“... Yeah. Nothing.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonah heads back out onto the floor, stomach rumbling. He got two bites of steak, which just made him more hungry really.

He passes by the grills. Glenn and Marcus are gone, but a steak remains. The rare one.

He stares at it for a moment, and then gives in. He walks over, picks up the plate-

And the next thing he knows he’s holding the steak in his hands, and it’s bone-dry. He blinks, and looks up and around as though he thinks someone else could have come in and dried out the steak.

He has a metallic taste in his mouth, and he does feel marginally less hungry. Still at a stomach-growling level, but it had been starting to hurt.

He looks down at the now inedible steak. He sets it back down and walks away, trying to figure out what the hell happened and why he had blacked out again.

He passes by Sandra, who’s texting something to someone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Another point to Vampire.” Cheyenne smugly marks it down. “Told you.”

“Alright, alright, I shouldn’t have doubted you,” Mateo admits. “So what do we do? I mean, we can’t keep working with him now, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if he tries to bite us?”

“Ooooh. ... I guess I hadn’t thought of that. ... He’s probably going to be a nice vampire, though.”

“Sure, for now. But what if someone like, eats his lunch?”

“Wouldn’t his lunch be people now?”

“Okay, so then, what if someone becomes his lunch? ... Should we carry garlic on us?”

“Ew.”

“Super ew, but I think I’d rather stink than be dead. Which is saying a lot, when I run out of cologne I use Febreeze.”

“Which kind?”

“The sea breeze one.”

Cheyenne nods approvingly. “Well, maybe we can get some holy water? I bet Glenn could get us some.”

“Oh, I think there’s some at my house, actually. Tita uses it when we get ant infestations.”

They both smile at their foolproof plan, and keep working.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amy watches Jonah from a distance.

He can’t be. It’s just not possible. Vampires aren’t real, they’re just in books she swipes from Emma (and reads herself) sometimes. And besides, Jonah doesn’t look like one!

Well, he kind of does, but he looked like that before this morning. Although he does look a little paler than usual...

No, no, it’s winter, of course he looks paler than usual, everyone looks paler than usual because there’s no sun.

... It was weird how his mouth was completely fine... and he has been acting weird today...

...

She plasters on a smile and walks over. “Hey, Jonah.” She wraps him up in a big hug.

“Oh! Um, hi, Amy.” He hugs back, and Amy shivers a little.

He is freezing.

She pulls away. “Just restocking the freezer?”

“Uh, no, why?”

“Oh. You just, feel really cold.”

“Yeah, I’ve had a chill all day.” He rubs his arms. “Not even coffee helped. But I don’t think I have hypothermia, so I’m not sure what’s going on...”

Now Amy feels a chill. “Well, um, how about we go sit by that heater display, then?”

“Yes, thank you, I need that.” 

As they walk, Amy tries to get a good look at his teeth. He rambles on the whole way over, but she can’t get a good, clear view. 

They sit down, and Jonah sighs. “Oh, that’s so much better. Feel less like a walking corpse now.” He laughs at himself.

Amy laughs too, forcing it out as she eyes his smile.

Those two teeth are definitely longer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun sets over the Cloud 9, and Jonah sighs in relief. Finally, almost time to go home. He’s going to sleep right awa-

He pauses his mopping (someone chugged three giant sodas and did not have the stomach for it). 

Where did that sudden burst of energy come from? 

“Must be the relief,” he mutters. He finishes mopping up, and is immediately approached by a customer.

“Excuse me, but there’s a section back there with broken lights. Can you help me find my way around?”

Jonah sighs, hands on his hips, but nods. “Sure! Sure, no problem.” 

He hadn’t even noticed the broken lights earlier, he could have sworn he could see perfectly. He follows the customer over to the dim, isolated area.

And blacks out.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Cheyenne?” Amy walks up to the cosmetics booth. “I heard you guys did a betting pool about Jonah?”

“Oh, yeah,” Cheyenne chuckles. “It was super fun, everyone was sending me stuff all day and some of the tests were super silly-”

“How about we shut it down?”

“... But, it’s almost the end of the day...”

“Yeah, I know, I know, just, it seems in poor taste.”

“How?”

“Kind of feels like it’s making light of what happened to Jonah, right? And I mean, I don’t know how I feel about gambling about someone who has a gambling problem, you know?”

Cheyenne considers, and nods. “Well, we won’t keep it up, it was just for today. We all know the answer anyway, he’s totally a vampire.”

“No! No, uh, he isn’t, because vampires don’t exist. So he can’t be.”

“Um, he totally is.”

“But he is not, because that’s fantasy.”

“No, really! Look at all this evidence everyone sent me.” Cheyenne pulls out her phone and shows the group chat to Amy. “We would have counted you in but... well, this.” She gestures to Amy, and the current conversation as a whole.

A crowd has begun to gather. Amy turns and looks at everyone. “Okay, guys, it was a fun day but this, vampire betting pool thing is over!”

There’s disgruntled chattering. “So there’s no payout?” someone shouts.

“Nope, everyone should take their own money back and let’s leave this to rest!”

“Like Jonah?” someone else jokes. The group chuckles.

“Not like Jonah, because Jonah is alive and well!”

“Well, vampires aren’t technically alive-”

“Sandra!” Amy snaps. “He is not a vampire!”

Dina scoffs. “Come on, even I think it’s obvious, and I’m not prone to thinking stuff like that. Unlike Glenn.”

“Where is Glenn, actually, he should be putting a stop to this-”

“He went home early. Something about needing to start a fundraiser to buy Jonah a new soul. His pastor is a con artist, but I respect his convincing marketing.”

“... Okay, then, Dina you put a stop to this.”

“Why?”

“Because Jonah! Is not! A vampire! There are no such things, and-and he just can’t be one, okay? Because he is a-a nervous, stuttery, sweet little man and it’s just not possible!”

Sandra glances over into the isles, and stiffens. “Uh, guys?”

“It could all be a ruse,” Dina says with a shrug. “He’s a creature of the night now. Can’t trust him anymore.”

“No, he is not!”

“Why are you so insistent about this?” Mateo asks. 

“Why are you wearing a cross choker like you’re a teen going through a phase?” Amy fires back.

“This is to protect my bodily fluids from your ‘sweet little man’.” Mateo makes a sassy face at her.

“Guys,” Sandra says again, a little louder.

“He’s not my sweet little, I just meant he is in general a good guy!”

Garrett, highly amused, joins in the teasing. “Good looking?” 

“No! I mean, yes, kind of, he’s not bad I-I guess- how did this turn into a thing about me? Stop saying Jonah is a vampire when he is not!”

“Guys!” Sandra’s shout finally draws everyone’s attention. “Look.”

A blank-eyed customer shuffles out of the isles, a worried Jonah following. “Ma’am, please, are you okay? Do you need me to walk you to your car? What happened?”

She doesn’t reply, which seems to make Jonah more frantic. As she walks past, everyone gets a clear view of her neck. 

Two little holes, slightly bleeding.

And Jonah seems to have more color in his face.

“Ma’am, please, what happened in the isle? Did you trip? Did I trip and fall into you? Whatever happened I am very sorry-”

They both disappear out the doors. Cheyenne lowers her phone. “I’m texting that to Glenn.”

Everyone is quiet for a moment, the only sounds those of Cheyenne typing on her phone.

Finally, Dina pipes up. “I think Amy lost the pool.”

#Superstore #superstore nbc #superstore tv #superstore jonah #superstore amy #Amy Sosa #jonah simms #Vampire!Jonah AU #garrett mcneil #glenn sturgis #sandra kaluiokalani #amy dubanowski #Dina Fox #mateo liwanag #Cheyenne lee #blood tw #stabbing tw #fanfic #my attempts at fanfic