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#I’ve gotten a few asks like this already and mostly I’ve just deleted them
luna-rigain · 9 months
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Hiya !! I must apologize for being this direct! I know times are tough and I might sound desperate but I’m hoping that you would be so kind to please boost/share the post I pinned for my cat who’s kidneys aren’t functioning properly and needs urgent help care as we are trying to raise some funds for his needs. if you have some time to spare, pls check it out as it would be so meaningful to me as I’m praying it would reach more people! Thank you and have good day! <3🥹
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artificialqueens · 1 year
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🏳️‍🌈 F*ck You 2020 (Biadore) - Angle
Short Biadore fic based on this exchange:
https://twitter.com/AdoreDelano/status/1288167210548998145?s=20
@Adoredelano: I’m BACK on social media because the world is over. Fuck insecurities, fuck depression, fuck beauty standards, fuck eating disorders. FUCK YOU 2020   @TheBianceDelRio: OK 
A/N: I submitted a prompt a few months ago for a fic based on this tweet exchange and I was thinking about it again recently. I’ve never written a RPDR fic myself, but I figured I may as well give it a try. It’s mostly introspection because I like writing it and I’m a bit self-conscious about it, but hopefully you enjoy! :)
***********
Adore slammed the top of her laptop down the second she submitted her tweet.
@Adoredelano: I’m BACK on social media because the world is over. Fuck insecurities, fuck depression, fuck beauty standards, fuck eating disorders. FUCK YOU 2020
Her palms were sweating a bit as she debated back and forth between rushing to delete the tweet or to let it be, but she knew it would have already been screenshotted and nothing draws more attention than a deleted tweet.
The past few months had been horrible, to say the least. She got herself up and out of bed about 98% of those days, but on many days that was all she had done. Adore had battled with her mental health on and off throughout her life, but it had never been quite this bad.
And then there was the eating. After seeing herself at a weight she had never seen or expected on her, and the internet repeatedly pointing it out, Adore realized she needed to make a change. At first, she bought herself an exercise bike and found herself on it for hours at a time. As the weight started to drop, she became addicted to it. And with the isolation of COVID, long runs became the escape.
The biggest mistake she probably made was buying a scale. Seeing the numbers go down was exhilarating and she wanted to see it go faster. So she did.
Surprisingly, it was the friend as far from her as possible who first called her out. Adore and Courtney used to facetime regularly, but somehow they had fallen out of that. Courtney was never one to shy away from the truth, and when they facetimed two months ago, Courtney immediately called it out.
“Adorm!” Courtney exclaimed as soon as Adore accepted the call. 
“Ms. Courtney Act,” Adore responded in her best Australian accent, a smile immediately found its way to her face hearing her friend’s voice. “How the hell are you?”
Adore immediately felt uncomfortable as Courtney eyed her suspiciously.
“Well I’m fine, but how are you doing?” She asked knowingly.
“Yeah I’m good. Just trying to write some music and stuff,” Adore responded, trying to sound as genuine as possible.
“You’ve lost a lot of weight, Adore,” Courtney said bluntly, never one to beat around the bush.
“Yeah, maybe,” Adore offered lamely. 
“Not maybe,” Courtney challenged. “You’ve lost a lot since we last talked.”
“Just trying to be healthier,” Adore countered unconvincingly. 
“Tell me the truth or I’ll stick Bianca on you,” Courtney threatened, using the ultimate trump card. “I’ll send her to your apartment and you know how annoying she’ll be.”
And then the tears came and it all came tumbling out.
She still struggled, more days than not. But Courtney was right, and Adore was absolutely exhausted. It didn’t feel like much of a blessing when it was so hard, but she could acknowledge that she owed a lot to Courtney for intervening before she had completely lost control.
Adore sighed as she eyed her computer, debating whether she wanted to see the aftermath of an incredibly vulnerable tweet. This year had been horrible for everyone, and she knew people were struggling. Adore also knew how many young fans looked up to her, and she felt like she had gotten to a place where she could be that role model for them again.
Curiosity won over as she opened her laptop and returned to twitter. Her mentions were absolutely flooded, the tweet apparently taking off faster than she thought. She scrolled through the replies and of course one stood out:
@TheBianceDelRio: OK
Adore laughed harder than she had ever laughed at a tweet as she picked up her phone and pulled up the only number she called as much as her mom.
“Pussyface,” Bianca said deadpan as she picked up the phone.
“Okay?” Adore exclaimed without any other greeting.
“I’m proud of you, but don’t tell anyone,” Bianca responded teasingly.
Adore smiled hugely and laughed, not so secretly loving any affection she got from the older queen.
“Bitch I would never,” Adore responded. “But thanks.”
Pride Challenge Points: 1487
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hypnotixstorm · 1 year
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It’s been awhile...
This will be quite the read, so I’ll keep it all under the cut, with a slight trigger warning. I am talking about my personal life and what I’ve been dealing with. Thank you for being understanding and taking the time to read this post. I love you all. ♡
✧・゚: *✧・゚:*  *・゚✧*:・゚✧ 
I know none of you were probably expecting this. I mean, to be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting this either. However, after still getting many messages in my inbox and love on the content I’ve posted, even though I haven’t been around in... roughly two plus years, I wanted to make a post/announcement for everyone. This is to kind of explain what’s been going on in my life and what my plans are for this blog. Thank you all so much for the continued love and support during my absence. 
So, to start off. Why have I been gone so long? Well, that’s a very, very long story that involves a lot of trauma and my personal life, so I’ll keep it as brief as possible. I dealt with a string of abusive relationships, many different jobs, moving several times (and by “several times”, I mean that I moved about 7 or 8 times within a year, including between different states), losing friends, trying to better my health, re-discover who I am, and so much more...
I’m not going to get into the details of my relationships or anything like that, but I would like to briefly talk about my health. I’ve finally gotten the chance to see doctors to get confirmed diagnoses, rather than simply wonder if I have something or not. As of right now, besides the mental illnesses I was already well aware of, I had a diagnosis that confirmed I have rheumatoid arthritis, or RA for short. For those of you that don’t know, it’s an autoimmune disease. I’ll post a link that will give you guys basic info about it so I don’t make this post even longer than it needs to be. To put it into simple terms, however, it’s a chronic autoimmune disease that mostly affects joints. RA occurs when the immune system, which normally helps protect the body from infection and disease, attacks its own tissues. The disease causes pain, swelling, stiffness, and loss of function in joints. Having a diagnosis is relieving but it’s also added a lot of stress to my life. I also have had 2 cancer scares now. The first scare (my lungs), which I got testing for, was clear. But now, on my second one (my thyroid), not so much. I have to wait a year to get retested to make sure nothing has gotten worse. It’s a lot, I know, but something I wanted to open up to you guys about.
Link: https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/rheumatoid-arthritis#:~:text=Rheumatoid%20arthritis%20(RA)%20is%20a,loss%20of%20function%20in%20joints.
I also wanted to take the chance to reintroduce myself. I was still me before, but a lot of things about me were the choices of controlling ex’s, and not my own. So, hey there. My name is Stormi. I’m a 24 year old who is non-binary, born female, with no preference to pronouns. You can refer to me however you’d like, and I’ll be happy regardless. I enjoy listening to music, drawing, reading, writing, making crafts, playing video games, watching videos on YouTube, playing Dungeons & Dragons and so much more. It’s hard to encapsulate the person that I truly am over a post, but I still want to give you guys a little bit of an insight into who I truly am. 
As for my plans on this blog... I’m not quite sure. I want to start writing and posting again, I do. But my health complicates that a bit. I think I will, but I won’t take it quite as seriously. What I mean by that is not that I won’t care, but I won’t be stressing myself out with it as much as I used to. I think I’m going to delete every single ask that I have in my inbox, re-work my character masterlist and a few other things and let you guys know when requests are open. When that happens, please feel free to request! Just be patient and give me some time to get to them. Also, in regards to NSFW content, I think the only thing I’m going to be accepting is probably headcanons. Don’t get me wrong, I like my smut just as much as the next person, but it’s really difficult for me to write it at times. I also worry that everything will end up being too similar.
Anyways, if you made it through this entire post, then thank you so much. It really means a lot to me. You all have been wonderful to me over the years, and I hope you all are excited about my gentle return to the world of tumblr. Even if you guys don’t have any requests, feel free to get into my inbox just to talk. As I’ve said before, my blog is a safe space for everyone. Thank you, I love you all :)  ♡
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azuremist · 2 years
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Okay, so here’s what happened earlier today for the sake of transparency:
Earlier, I made a post about one of the trans victims from the recent shooting and included the phrase ‘rest in power’. I’d heard that it originated from black people, so I had asked my black friend, and they said that it was for anyone who died from systematic injustice, so I posted it.
A few days pass and I get an ask from N (calling this person N for simplicity and anonymity) saying “hey this term is for black people.” I noted that N said in their bio that they were mixed race (both of which were not black), so I replied basically saying, “My black friend said that it’s for anyone who died from systematic injustice, I think I should listen to an actual black person on this.” My thought was that, if I got any asks from a black person with this concern, I would change it immediately.
N posted this answer to the ask without censoring my name (and even tagged me) and was like, “I disagree with this. Black people what do you think?”
So I was like “oh FUHUUUUCK NO” because I’m sure y’all know I have an extensive history with harassment online. So I changed my post and was like “uhh hey I changed my post so can you delete this? I feel like you made this mostly to put me on blast and I don’t feel like being harassed today honestly”.
N said that they weren’t harassing me (which I didn’t mean to claim, my fault for not being clear enough), and they removed all mentions of me from the post, which would have been a perfect compromise if there wasn’t someone in the notes of the post already @-ing me.
Also, N claimed that the post wasn’t rebloggable, so I made a sideblog to reblog it to prove that it was. Which this person took as me “being so mad” at them that I made a sideblog. (Also, someone in the notes of the original post (the one who was @-ing me) was like, “You making a sideblog to reblog one (1) post is HARASSING this person!” which…. Harassment happens over a period of time, it’s not one reblogged post to prove that a post can be reblogged, I didn’t rlly understand that)
So at this point, I DMed N to be like, “Hey, I changed the post like you wanted, and I’m really scared and have a history of harassment, could you pretty-please delete it? I know it seems stupid but I’m scared” (I chose not to mention that I have paranoid delusions bc that would seem manipulative I think?) and the person was like, “I don’t care about your feelings, you were aggressive towards me and you’re white” (idrk what the “you’re white” point is about, because this whole thing is about if a phrase is exclusive black people, and they’re not black either, although they’re also not solely white so I guess I sorta get it?).
And then they blocked me. (And according to my friend they posted about me crying “crocodile tears”? I’m sorry that I experience persecutory delusions and I get scared when experiencing them, it’s not my fault, enter that one meme)
And now I’ve gotten people purposefully sending me my triggers so I’m being targeted just like I feared I would. Lovely!
So, yeah, that’s what happened, again, for the sake of transparency. I changed the post a while ago, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’ve also since been informed by black folks that the person in question was correct! I’m gonna be donating a few bucks to some black folks in the mutual aid tags as reparations.
Also I learned this AFTER all this went down but apparently this person is fucking 30? And I’m a teenager so. Obviously, I did some things wrong (duh), but they were really out here beefing with someone two-thirds their age. My brain isn’t fully developed yet, what’s your excuse? (This is a joke.)
(Now I’m gonna do what this person didn’t do and put a ‘do not harass this person’ disclaimer: If you try to figure out who the person in this post is or seek them out, your mom’s a bitch. That helps nobody and it makes you look stupid.)
Edit: Added some things that I didn’t know about the situation. Also, update, I’ve been told by the same friend that they’re now screenshotting my posts behind a block… No comment.
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i hope ur doing ok
Written for @solangeloweek ​ Day 3: WIP dump
this is a deleted scene from my christmas fic! this is only a short scene i wrote before i had to scrap the little plotline due to lack of space. I regret not developing Nico’s and (especially) Will’s relationships with their families more, and barely mentioning will’s life at all lmao. this is mostly unedited and not super developed so enjoy this little wip :) I won’t be continuing or adding onto this obv bc it's a deleted scene.
read on ao3
context and the actual fic are under the cut:
title from a text my friend sent me while i was having a breakdown everyone say thank u lori’s friend
supposed to take place end of chapter 6/start of chapter 7
CONTEXT: Kayla, Austin, Solía (my OC haha), and Gracie are his half-siblings by Apollo. Michael and Lee were Will’s older brothers that were killed in an accident (I never figured out how, just some sort of violent incident). in the fic Will was super run down and exhausted and he and Nico were gonna go on a whole shopping trip for his siblings’ christmas presents. at the end he collapses and breaks down and he and nico connect about their dead siblings. anyway it never got included but it was a cool plotline that i kinda wish i'd kept. but writing is an eternal process and i am constantly improving so! things to think about for my next multichap :))
The day was mostly warm so far. Nico liked it; sure, he tended to dress in tight, black clothes all the time, but a little bit of sun could do him some good. Sometimes winter just got too cold for him, so Nico relished the moments of warmth when he could.
Someone knocked on the door. By the specific force, speed, and rhythm of the knocking, Nico could figure out who it was and that he should be quick. He scurried to the door and unlocked it, finding Will hovering on the doorstep panicking.
“Nico!” Will cried, hands shaking just slightly. “Are you free right now?”
“For the next few hours, yeah,” Nico replied, frowning. “Is everything…?”
“Are you good at buying Christmas gifts for people?”
“Am I what?” Nico was thrown for a loop. He hadn’t expected Will to ask this.
“Christmas is in, like, a week, and I haven’t gotten anything for my siblings, and I need to ship the gifts because they live elsewhere, and I’m panicking, so… what do I do?” Will looked to be in despair. “Please, you’re my last hope.”
“I… okay,” Nico said, already pulling Will inside. “First, a plan.”
Nico made Will sit down at his kitchen table and write a list of his siblings’ interests, possible gifts for them, and where they could go together to buy something. By the time Nico was ready to leave, Will had completed a list.
Nico ran his finger down the page, counting the number of people. “Kayla… Austin… Gracie… Solía… Lee and Michael?” Nico stopped, coming to a couple of names that haven’t come up in conversation between him and Will before. There was only one bullet point under each of their names; Michael’s said a replacement figurine and Lee’s said leather bracelet.
“Oh,” Will stopped. “I… I didn’t- I didn’t need to put them on there, I’ve already got their gifts.”
Nico tilted his head at Will, who still wouldn’t quite meet his eyes. “…Okay. Well, we can focus on the other four. It looks like we could get this all at the local shopping center, so should we head there?”
“That sounds good.” Will swallowed, looking like he was biting his tongue. He released some tension, and his posture melted back into something more relaxed. “Yeah. I, um, just realized I have something else I need to do today. Can we go tomorrow?”
Will looked uncertain of himself, which… it wasn’t unusual for when Nico had first met him, but Will’s confidence had seemed to be growing. Nico just hoped he was okay. “Yeah, that’s totally fine. Are you sure everything’s okay?”
Will smiled brightly, running a hand through his hair. “Totally. Just tired. I should go take care of the something else, so, uh… I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Nico responded automatically, still puzzled by Will’s slightly volatile behaviour. He didn’t know what Will was upset by, but he knew Will would come to him when (if) he was ready.
Will got up, almost tripping over his own feet. Nico left the house keys and wallet he’d collected in preparation for their outing on the table, letting Will out the door.
Before he left, Nico caught Will’s hand and pulled him into a quick hug. “I don’t know what’s bothering you, but I hope you’re okay. Or that you’re going to be.” Nico released Will with one final squeeze.
Somehow, Will looked more shaken than before. “Uh. Thanks. Th-thank you.”
Nico watched with a crease in his forehead as Will stumbled back to his own house. Something was obviously troubling Will, but he didn’t know what, and it worried him.
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rocorambles · 3 years
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Surprise Interview
Pairing: Kenma x Reader
Genre/Warnings: NSFW, Yandere, Pseudo-Cest, Dub-Con/Non-Con, Verbal Humiliation, Manipulation
Summary: Kenma sees if you have what it takes to be Bouncing Ball’s newest employee.
A/N: This is for @sugawara-sweetheart ‘s Decadence Collab. So excited to be a part of this collab and to be able to indulge in such a delicious prompt and theme. Be sure to check out everyone else’s works! As always, thanks for beta-ing @sawamooora ~
There’s a familiar peace and a new nervousness about coming back home for the holidays. Mostly because home isn’t quite the same home it used to be. You can feel warmth blooming in your chest at the thought of seeing your mom, telling her about everything and everyone (as if your daily phone calls aren’t enough), and just lounging around while she fills you up with her cooking. But you can also feel a certain shyness as you approach the house, a building that still feels brand new and strange to you.
Your mother had gotten remarried during your earlier college years after your father’s passing and you were elated for her. If anyone deserves all the happiness in the world, it’s her. You had met Mr. Kozume quite a few times and you have no qualms with the man. He treats your mother like a queen and even though you playfully gag as they sweet talk and kiss in front of you, you wholeheartedly approve of their relationship.
However, what you aren’t quite as prepared for is having a new step-sibling.
You don’t know much about Kenma Kozume. Well, not much more than the rest of the world does.
Professional gamer. Successful stock trader. Popular YouTuber. Founder of his own corporation.
You know exactly who your new brother is, but other than seeing him a few times in person at family gatherings and exchanging polite greetings, there’s no real connection. Which is why your heart races as you nervously ring his doorbell, anxiety already making your leg twitch as you wait for the door to open.
Your mother and step-father are on a couple’s vacation and won’t be returning for a few days.
(“We just want some romantic time together before we have a full house again for the holidays. Plus this is a great chance to get to know your older brother better!” You hadn’t even been able to get a word of protest in before she had laughed and hung up on you, leaving you speechless and on your own as you hesitantly texted Kenma, letting him know what day to expect you.)
Kenma is quiet as ever as he nods in greeting, silently leading you to your guest room before quietly telling you to make yourself at home and leaving to do his own thing. You let out a huge sigh of relief as the door closes behind him.
There’s nothing wrong with Kenma. He’s smart and successful. Maybe a bit on the quiet side, but that only adds to his down to earth charm. You know your mother and step-father adore him and you can’t blame them. Yet, you can’t help but feel scrutinized, seen so clearly in a way that terrifies you when his feline eyes gaze at you. It takes everything in you not to immediately scurry away whenever you’re in viewing distance of him, desperate to hide all the flaws you imagine he’s noticing and calculating. Your step-father had mentioned how Kenma used to be the strategist of his high school volleyball team, and has always been able to evaluate and accurately break down situations and people. And you believe it.
You’re just grateful the house is large enough to avoid each other and that Kenma tends to reside mostly in his home office and bedroom.
But even the founder of a company needs a break from time to time. Kenma shuffles towards the gaming room, only to blink in surprise when he sees you already inside of it, happily smiling as Animal Crossing visuals and sounds fill the space.
He had known you owned a Nintendo Switch, a piece of information your mom had shared to break the ice a bit. And it’s really no surprise that this is your go-to game. But knowing and seeing are two different things and he can’t help but let his own lips twitch upwards at how calm and relaxed you are tending to your garden, decorating your home, choosing your outfit.
Kenma’s never been good with people, has never been the one to initiate a friendship. He knows he should have made more of an effort to be friendly and welcoming to you as your new older brother. There’s a slight pang of regret in his chest when he sees how at ease you are while you’re unaware of his presence. His eyes are as sharp as ever and he locks in on the way your body slightly stiffens, fingers nervously fidgeting when you finally notice his figure in the doorway, words already stuttering an apology for using his game room without explicitly asking.
You look like a scared mouse about to flee from the claws of a cat. And it pisses him off.
He hasn’t made the best efforts to bridge the gap between you, but for you to fear him? That seems a tad unnecessary, and more than a tad insulting. It’s more than enough to make the sadistic streak in him want to give you something to be scared about.
But he’s never been impulsive and he just quietly sits beside you on the floor, reassuring you it’s fine to play, smirking when you sneak little side glances his way as you continue collecting fruits.
“Kozume, do you want to play-”
“Just call me Kenma.”
Entranced eyes watch as you grow flustered at his words, mouth silently testing the weight of his given name in your mouth. For once, Kenma could care less about playing video games when a shaky timid “Kenma” slips past your soft lips.
“Kenma, do you want to play something together?”
You have no idea how badly he really does want to play together, but it’s a game you’re not ready for. So he calls upon any restraint he has to pluck your device from your hands and change the game to Mario Kart.
It’s amusing how easily you soften besides him, brow furrowing in concentration, eyes intently and eagerly following the screen, any anxiousness quickly forgotten as you get into the game. He greedily watches as you pout when you make a mistake, as your eyes light up every time you pass someone.
If he had known how easy it would be to make you warm up to him, he’d have done this sooner and he genuinely laughs when you whine and fake glare at him as he wins yet another round.
He asks about school. You ask about work. He tells you about his childhood. You share your own stories.
It’s a comfortable rhythmic back and forth and he’s afraid of ruining it, but a certain question nags at his mind, a question he knows may ruin the entire flow of the conversation.
“You’ll be graduating soon. Have you decided what you want to do after college?”
“Kenma not you too!!!”
His shoulders relax at how well you react to the question, smiling at the way you flop onto your back and groan about how mom and dad are already on your case about future plans.
“I’ve been applying to places, but who knows. Maybe I’ll just work for you at Bouncing Ball.”
There’s a playful lilt in your voice when you say it, a giggle and teasing smile accompanying the words. But there’s nothing funny about it to Kenma and your smile falters a bit when you see how tightly Kenma’s gripping his controller, the way his eyes pin you down.
“Kenma? It’s just a joke. I would never take advantage of-”
You try to get up from your reclined position, only to whimper in confusion when Kenma’s hand on your shoulder forces you back down. And suddenly you’re pinned down by more than just his stare as he moves to straddle you, knees on either side of your body, hands next to your head, his whole body caging yours.
It’s a lighthearted joke in the family that if all else fails, you could always work at Bouncing Ball. A joke your step-father and mother always dish out when the arguments get too tense as the three of you talk about your future. But it’s become less in jest for Kenma, especially after Kuroo sent him a scandalous picture of his newest secretary kneeling between his long legs, lips wrapped around his cock.
It wasn’t the first picture, nor was it the last incriminating photo the older businessman had sent him. Kenma merely rolled his eyes before deleting the image from his phone, wondering when Kuroo would grow bored and find a new toy to play with. But he freezes when he sees the following text message from his long-time friend.
“You’re the CEO of a company, Kenma. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone convenient around? A pretty warm body? I bet that cute new step sister of yours would look really good under your desk. Doesn’t she graduate from college soon? If you don’t make a move, maybe I’ll snatch her up right from under your nose. I’m due for a change of secretary soon.”
There’s absolutely no reason for the hot anger that lances through him at Kuroo’s taunting words and he grimaces at playing right into his ex-captain’s hands, already hearing Kuroo’s braying laughter in his head if the older man saw just how much his words affected him.
But initial irritation aside, he lets himself really think, really imagine what a life with you at his beck and call would be like. And he likes what he sees. He doesn’t delete Kuroo’s photos as quickly as he used to, replacing the female faces with yours in his imagination as his hands slip under the hem of his boxers.
He knows it’s a longshot, knows there’s a high chance you’ll continue your lives as is, never destined to exchange more than a few polite greetings at family outings. But now...now hearing you voice the idea out loud yourself, hearing the way his first name sounds from your lips…
Maybe it’s not the silly pipe dream he had believed it to be.
“I’m in need of an assistant if you really do want to work at Bouncing Ball, but you’d need to prove why it would be worth hiring you.”
He almost laughs at how you perk up despite the precarious position you’re in, almost ready to launch into an elevator pitch of your qualifications flat on your back underneath him. You’re quite the multitasker already and he groans at the thought of having you cockwarm him while he tests out a new video game, making you answer all his calls stuffed full of him and desperately trying to hide the lustful tremble in your voice.
But he’s not here to listen to your carefully crafted speech. (Guess you really were practicing for job interviews like you said you were. What a good girl.) And he firmly presses his lips against yours to silence you, taking his time to immerse himself in the way your mouths mold against each other.
Your taste, your smell, your warmth. It’s all intoxicating and he slips his tongue inside your parted lips, subtly rutting his groin against your body. He can feel your body jostle as you lift your arms and he waits for the weight of your arms to lovingly wrap around his neck, only to be shocked when you weakly press against his shoulders until he finally relents and pulls back just enough to look down at you in irritated confusion.
“We- we shouldn’t be doing this.”
It’s not the words that have him clenching his fists, not even the way your palms still timidly press against him in a laughably weak show of defense.
It’s the fear in your eyes, the way you look at him like he’s some monster. It's the way he can almost palpably feel and hear your desire to be anywhere other than here, with anyone other than him, wishing to put as much space between the two of you as possible.
It’s your rejection.
It hurts to know that he isn’t enough just as he is, that he needs to resort to less...savory and straightforward ways to entrap you. But he’s not Hinata or Kuroo. He doesn’t have an electrifying personality or roguishly handsome features and charm to woo you. He only has his cunning and sharp tongue.
And he fully intends on maximizing his gifts.
“Of course, you don’t have to. You can just keep on applying and getting rejected by every company you speak to, if they even bother meeting with you after seeing your pathetic resume. Average college. Average grades. Average major. Tell me, how many interviews have you actually been reached out to for?”
He’s going out on a bit of a limb, but his suspicions are right and he cruelly smirks at the way tears bubble in your eyes at his words, no comeback or denial rolling off the tip of your tongue. He had a feeling you were struggling from the bits and pieces he’s picked up as your parents quietly talk and fret over you actually being able to find a job after graduation.
“Our parents are too nice to say anything about it, but you know they’re disappointed in you, right? Have you noticed how they always avoid talking about how school is going or asking you about how job hunting is going? How they only ask me how work is going? It’s because they know you’re just a loser whose life is going to amount to nothing.”
“That’s not true! They love me-”
“I’m not saying they don’t love you, but doesn’t that make it even worse? Making your loving and caring parents worry and stress over you when they should be preparing for retirement, an easy life? Instead of letting them finally enjoy a carefree life, you’ll be their freeloader daughter who uses up all their remaining funds. Is that what you want?”
You really are too easy and his lips curl in satisfaction at the way you frantically shake your head side to side, fat wet drops streaming down your face, adorable sniffles filling the air.
“If you become my assistant, I’ll compensate you well. You can live here with me, have your own room, a roof over your head, all the food and clothing you need and want. Think about how relieved and happy our parents will be seeing you provided for, seeing us getting along. Isn’t that what you want? For them to be happy?”
He knows how close you are to your mom, how important this idea of a perfect family is to you. He knows how insecurity and doubt about your own capabilities torment you. And he knows you’re hooked on his claws when your hands that are still pressed against his shoulders drop limply besides you, not even a hint of resistance left in you when he leans down once more to rest his forehead on yours, one hand cupping the side of your face.
“This is all you’re good for anyway. Working underneath me.”
If you notice his pun, you don’t acknowledge it, too busy wincing and squirming as he harshly nips and bites a trail from your lips to your neck as he pushes up the hem of your shirt until your chest is on full display for him. There’s something experimental, cold, meticulous about the way he gropes and fondles your breasts.Your face heats in humiliation at how he treats you like one of the many game consoles he’s reviewed for his audience.
But you don’t do anything about it, telling yourself that this is just his version of an interview as he pinches and prods at you, meanly twisting your nipples and chuckling at your yelp of pain. You obediently let him spread your legs apart, only letting out an agonized cry as he tests your flexibility, staring at him with a trembling lower lip as he sharply tells you to shut up while scrutinizing your panty-covered sex.
“You really are made for this, aren’t you?”
You whimper as he nudges the small wet spot on the thin fabric, clenching your eyes shut in denial at how hot and wound up your body feels from his touch, unable to hide your gasp as he pulls the layer aside and rubs your aroused clit.
There’s something so different about the way his fingers slowly sink into your wet pussy, almost lazily curling against your soft walls, his thumb never stopping its careful massage on the bundle of nerves at the apex of your thighs. So different from your own fingers desperately thrusting in and out of you. So different from the drunk partners you’ve hooked up with at college and their sloppy, rapid, frantic movements.
You can feel something large, something intimidating slowly rising from deep inside of you, a volcano about to erupt compared to the bright and fast to fade shooting stars you’re used to. You’re scared. Scared of the intoxicating feeling, of how easy it is to grow accustomed to Kenma’s presence, of how his cat-like eyes are all you can see and think of.
How can something feel so wrong and so right at the same time?
That’s the last coherent thought you have before your world goes blank, pleasure rocking through you as you soak the carpet and your step-brother’s hand with your juices. You’re moaning as Kenma continues to rock his fingers in and out of you, fingertips insistently massaging your clit and g-spot as you ride out your orgasm, body trembling and convulsing.
But even when the tremors slow, when pleasure becomes something sharper, more overwhelming, he doesn’t stop. You wail, begging him to stop, to let you rest, slumping in relief when he finally drags his hands away from you, carelessly wiping the mess you’ve made of his hand on your skin, covering you in your own essence.
Your heavy eyelids threaten to flutter shut as you let exhaustion wash over you, already dreading having to get up and wash yourself. But you’re shocked back to reality as something hard begins to nudge at your still fluttering entrance.
“Kenma! No! Too much-”
You break off into a sob as surprisingly strong hands dig into your hips, holding you still as he pushes and pushes until he’s fully settled inside of you, balls resting against your ass.
You’re still so tight, your quivering walls clamping around the intrusion, and he groans at the thought of being able to sink into this hole every day, multiple times, whenever he wants. His cock is already aching from holding off for so long, from watching your body and face contorted in pleasure. Kenma can feel his end quickly approaching as you scream and wail underneath him, eyes rolling back in your head, drool trickling from the corner of your mouth. You look absolutely obscene and he doesn’t think he’ll ever get enough of this side of you.
But despite the way his balls are tightening, despite the stutter in his hips, he’s determined to watch you fall apart once more, to see you shatter to pieces yet again. He grits his teeth, fingers reaching down to furiously rub at your already oversensitized clit, reveling in how your back arches, thighs shaking in overstimulation, and then you snap.
He wonders what his parents would think of their dear dumb daughter now, looking nothing like their silly angel, looking like a wanton used whore, incoherent garbled noises slipping past your lips as you twitch uncontrollably, your pussy milking him dry as he cums inside of you.
There’s only silence mixed with your pitiful whimpers as he slides out of you, grimacing at the sticky mess you’ve made of yourself and him. But that’s what your other hole is for and he orders you to suck him clean, admiring what a quick learner you are, eager to please as you noisily slurp and lick him clean, moaning at the taste of your combined fluids...
Maybe too eager and he shoves you off of him when you become too enthusiastic, his cock beginning to twitch in interest once more.
You look so lost, still sprawled out on the ground, staring up at him with wide imploring eyes as he pulls up his pants. So vulnerable and in need of guidance.
Good thing you have such a great boss to manage you.
“Not bad. Consider these next few days your internship and if all goes well, I’ll be more than happy to hire you as Bouncing Ball’s newest employee this summer. Now clean up this room and show me that my future assistant can do more than just be a slut.”
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sunmoonandeddie · 3 years
Text
feelings are fatal (19/24)
pairing: bucky barnes x reader, past steve rogers x reader
word count: 3,667
summary: After the events of Endgame, you struggle to come to terms with what you’ve lost, though you’re learning that you still have something to gain.
chapter warnings: swearing, violence, slight smut maybe??, soldat makes an appearance
masterlist
a/n: This is part THREE of my blog birthday surprise!
It had been two weeks.
Two of the hardest weeks that Bucky had ever experienced in his entire life.
Two weeks without hearing your voice.
Two weeks without seeing you smile.
Two weeks without feeling the way your hand would slip into his when no one else was looking—and even when they were sometimes—and give a gentle squeeze, reassuring him that you were there.
And you weren’t going anywhere.
But he hadn’t had it for two weeks and he felt like he was going to fall apart at the seams. It had been a lot of fits of rage that turned into all-encompassing breakdowns that would leave him dehydrated and exhausted.
His nightmares were worse than they had ever been before.
He hadn’t slept since you’d been gone.
Fuck, the first thing he was gonna do once he had you back was curl up in bed with you and sleep for a year.
Bucky sighed as he sat outside the conference room where all of the planning had been taking place, letting his head fall into his hands. He wasn’t allowed inside. Too emotionally unstable to have a level head, which is what was needed most right now.
But everyone knew there was no way in Hell he wasn’t gonna be part of the team that went to save you. He’d kill every mother fucker that got in his way, that had helped take you in the first place.
Pulling out his phone, his heart constricted as he saw your sleepy face on his lockscreen. You’d been curled up on the couch, wearing one of his hoodies and a pair of pink fuzzy socks with little red hearts. Your little snores had been absolutely adorable, your knees pulled up to your chest.
When he’d woken you up, shaking you carefully with whispers of a milkshake he’d gotten for you, you’d blinked up at him, almost like you weren’t sure who he was.
And then that beautiful smile had spread over your face.
God, anytime he thought about your little, “For me?” his heart was ready to burst.
He’d snapped a photo, which had immediately resulted in you launching yourself at him with squeals for him to delete it.
Which, of course, he didn’t.
He’d give anything to go back to that day and insist that you guys didn’t go on the field trip.
Well, if Hydra had done anything, they’d successfully ruined one of his favorite places in the entire world.
“Hey,” Sam said as he came out of the conference room. “We think we’ve got a hit.”
Bucky leapt to his feet and rushed into the room after him. “Where is she?! What did you find?!”
“There’s a base in Canada that we thought was abandoned,” he explained as he showed him the map of the general area. “It’s small, but heavily armed.”
Everyone around them was already making plans, making a strategy of how they were going to get you out of there and bring you home.
But Bucky knew there was only one way to guarantee you came back.
“Sam, I have a favor to ask of you.” He was sure his heart was going to break his ribs from how hard it was beating as he led the man out of the room, away from listening ears. “I… When I went to Wakanda and I got the words taken out of my head… I asked Shuri to put in a different set.”
The way Sam’s heart dropped was… extremely visible. He could see it in his deep brown eyes. “What the hell do you mean, man? You… I thought the Winter Soldier was out of your head and all that.”
“He is. Mostly,” Bucky explained. Running his fingers through his hair—fuck, he needed a haircut—he took in a deep breath. “I got words put back in with the intention of only giving them to her… In case she needed the Soldat’s protection. We both know that while I’m tough, the Soldat is a machine. And he’d do anything to protect her.”
His best friend stared at him long and hard, his eyes narrowed. “You want me to unleash the Soldat in order to save her. Do you really think that’s the best way?”
“I do,” he said quietly. “Especially because the loyalty to Hydra is not longer in my brain. All that’s there is loyalty to my friends, my family. I won’t hurt any of you.”
Sam swallowed around the lump in his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “And you really think this is the right way?” He asked quietly.
Bucky’s throat was dry as the Sahara as he nodded, both hands trembling. “I’ll give you the words. I don’t want to use them until we’re almost to the base, okay? I don’t want the Soldat to be around Morgan again, even if he wouldn’t hurt her.”
Sam grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. “Hey. I’ve got your back. And if you believe that this is the best way to save her, then I trust you. I’ll always trust you.”
The Soldat sighed, exhaustion weighing down his bones as he walked down the halls of the Red Room. The mission he’d been on had been quick, but he hadn’t been able to sleep in two days because of it.
All he wanted was his bed.
But no, he had to head to the Red Room to train the little brat.
The little brat being you.
If he was being honest with himself, you weren’t a brat, not really. He was just tired and ready to collapse at any moment, but it wasn’t your fault. You were just a kid.
Well, fifteen. But that was still a kid.
His brows furrowed when he stepped into the training room that he always met you in and found you lying on your back on the mat, staring straight up at the ceiling. What was going on?
You shifted a little, your knee bending so your bare foot was flat on the floor.
He couldn’t help the wince when he saw how banged up your feet were.
The life of a ballerina.
To be fair, he’d seen a lot of fucked up feet since he had started to train girls in the Red Room, but he’d never get used to it. The blood and the half-ripped off toenails and just… Ugh.
Anytime he thought about it, it sent a shudder down his spine. He hated it. He hated feet.
Who would’ve thought that the fearsome Soldat would get freaked out by feet?
You didn’t acknowledge his presence as he got closer, even as his heavy boots sunk into the soft, squishy mat beside your head. But your eyes flickered open as he peered down at you and said your name. “Yes?”
“What are you doing?”
“Laying down.”
“I can see that.”
“Then why did you ask what I’m doing?”
The Soldat rolled his eyes at the impish grin that was spreading over your face. How had it come to be that you could give him shit when no one else could? If anyone else gave him the sass and attitude that you gave him, they’d be six feet under.
But not you.
What made you so special?
“Come on,” you said as you leaned up to tug on his metal hand. “Lay down. It’s nice.”
“But…” He glanced towards the open doors that led into the training room, before being brought back by the tug of your hand again. What could he do except give in when you were giving him those puppy eyes? “Okay,” he said as he slowly sunk to his knees before moving to lie down beside you, leaving ample space. The hunk of a man stared up at the ceiling for what felt like forever, before asking, “So what is this supposed to accomplish?”
“A moment of rest.”
Oh. Huh. He hadn’t… had one of those. In a long time. Anytime he was done with a mission and he wasn’t training, it was back into cryo.
“Okay.”
Your head turned to look at him, a gentle smile gracing your lips. “It’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he said, smiling for the first time in what felt like a century. “It is.”
Bucky took a breath as he looked out the front windows of the quinjet. They were coming up on the base pretty soon, and he knew what that meant.
It was time.
Everyone had been briefed on what was about to go down, and even if they weren’t sure about it being the best course of action, they weren’t going to stop him. Not when it came to you.
“Sam?” He said softly, looking back at the man who was already waiting for him towards the back of the aircraft.
“I’m here,” he said reassuringly, holding the scrap of paper that Bucky had written them down on for him. “Are you ready?” He asked once he’d joined him.
“As I’ll ever be.”
There was a heavy pause between them, before Sam looked down at the paper and began to read. “Fifteen.”
It felt like the weight of the world was on Bucky’s shoulders.
“Sleeping Beauty.”
He couldn’t fuck this up. He had to get you back.
“Midnight.”
Oh, god, he could feel it coming.
“Sweetness.”
His brain was beginning to shift, beginning to take another form.
“Five.”
The Soldat was beginning to awaken inside of him.
“Warmth.”
This was the best way to save you, to ensure that they didn’t leave the base without you.
“Moonlight.”
He could feel the Soldat’s feelings mixing with his own, the rage and the worry, specifically for you.
“City.”
At the forefront was the demand to know where you were, to have you safe in his arms.
“Sundress.”
Bucky could feel himself falling asleep as the Soldat was taking over, like he was just about to take a nap.
“Plush.”
The Soldat scowled as he looked around. “Where is my malen’kaya?” He asked sharply, somehow knowing that English was the proper language to use at the moment.
“We’re going to get her. And we need your help,” Sam said, catching his attention. “Hydra took her. So we have to save her.”
Everything else in the world lost all meaning as soon as the Soldat heard him. “Where is Natalia? She was meant to protect her! That’s why I got her to get her out!”
Wanda swallowed thickly as she stepped forward. “Natasha died. A few months ago.” Her fingers were fiddling with nervous energy, red swirling around the tips. “She died protecting her.”
It was close enough to the truth.
His spine straightened, his jaw clenching. “Then I will be the one to protect her again.” The Asset looked around, looking each of them in the eyes. “Stay out of my way.”
None of them planned to get in the way in the first place, but they knew he wouldn’t have known that.
As soon as the quinjet landed and the ramp was down, he was off, storming into the base. He left a trail of bodies in his wake as he searched for the one person that had meant anything to him.
And that was when he saw her.
Madame B.
And oh, did he have a score to settle with her.
“Soldat! How kind of you to finally join us,” she said with a cold smile, and he tensed up as you were suddenly dragged out of a cell to his left and shoved to your knees. “We’ve been waiting for you. Though… We did think it would take a little less time for you to find us.”
You looked up at him with those beautiful eyes he loved so much, and he was hit with how much older you were from the last time he’d really gotten to see you.
You were so gorgeous. It was like you got better looking everyday.
“Malen’kaya,” he breathed out, blue eyes wide as his heart pounded inside his chest.
“Soldat! Soldat, get out of here!” You cried out, tears rolling down your soft cheeks. “She’s going to kill you! RUN!”
But he stood his ground, pushing his shoulders back and holding his head high. He didn’t know what had happened to him, but he couldn’t feel that unwavering loyalty to his former captors anymore, and that was just fine with him. “No. No more running,” he said sternly, keeping his eyes on Madame B. “No more being afraid.”
It hurt him to see the tears that were streaming down your face, to see the panic that his words sent you into.
But he couldn’t keep running away. If he did, then you would just be hurt again later on. They’d keep coming after the two of you, and he was done. He was done with the hiding and the running and the being afraid. He wanted to spend his life with you.
He wanted to be able to hold your hand out in public and know that you were safe. That no one was going to snatch you away from him until he’d completed yet another mission.
“Soldat… Soldat, no!” You begged, your body shaking as you stayed on your knees. A pitiful whimper escaped your lips as the Madame cocked a gun and held it to your temple, the metal cold against your skin. “Please… Please, run. D-Don’t watch this.” You couldn’t stand the thought of the Soldat—and by extension, Bucky—watching you die.
And that was certainly Madame B’s plan. Now that she’d drawn him in by holding you hostage, she’d kill you, and Hydra would have their greatest weapon back.
Their Asset.
“Wait!” The Soldat called out, causing the older woman to freeze in her tracks. “Take me instead.”
“What?! NO!” You screeched, thrashing against her hold. “SOLDAT! JAMES! NO!” You were beginning to panic, your breathing coming heavier and heavier.
Fuck, you looked so much smaller than when he’d last seen you, even if you did look older. They'd been keeping food from you.
“I will go with you willingly if you let her live,” he said calmly, keeping his eyes locked on hers.
“Oh, really?” She drawled, glaring at him coldly. “You give me your word?”
“I give you my word.”
He just needed to get you away from her for just a split second. He needed to get that gun to be… not pointed at your head.
He could work with that.
It happened in a split second. Madame B’s hand holding the gun shifted, the gun now pointed towards your legs.
The Soldat had been holding a knife just out of her view and threw it, letting out a sigh of relief as it met its intended mark.
Deep in Madame B’s throat.
Blood had splattered all over the back of your head as the older woman sunk to her knees, the light leaving her eyes.
The look of shock that was plastered across his face worried him. You looked frozen, paralyzed out of fear.
“Malen’kaya?” He whispered, moving to kneel in front of you.
You took in a shuddering breath, your eyes refocusing. “S-Soldat? You’re here?” You asked, fingers shaking as you reached up to touch his cheek. “I… How?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured quietly, cupping your face in both of his hands, both flesh and vibranium. “I don’t know, but I’m here. And I’m not leaving until you’re home safe.”
You didn’t want him to leave, but you wanted Bucky, too.
You were just so confused. The words had been taken out of his head, the programming.
The super soldier didn’t hesitate to scoop you up, cradling you close to his chest as he carried you out of the base.
He hadn’t left a single Hydra agent alive, and that’s how he liked it.
The only good Hydra agent was a dead Hydra agent.
Your eyes were locked on his face as he carried you to the quinjet, where most of your little found family was waiting.
They all rushed to you, finally letting the tears out as they welcomed you back into their arms. At least, until the Soldat growled out a warning and they gave you some space.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” you breathed out as he set you on his lap with a bottle of water, taking small sips. His strong arms had locked around you almost immediately, ensuring that you were stable in his lap.
And that no one could take you from him again.
“It’s okay,” Soldat said as his vibranium hand rubbed up and down your arm, soothing you. “Rest… You need to rest and eat and drink. Questions later. Hard stuff… later.”
The Soldat knew he wasn’t staying. He couldn’t.
He’d been brought out for this specific mission, to rescue the person he cared about more than anything, and he’d succeeded.
It had been an honor, knowing that these people trusted him to bring you home.
Maybe he wasn’t as bad as he’d been led to believe.
Or maybe… Maybe you made him good, somewhere along the line.
And maybe that was the best he could’ve ever hoped for.
When they made it back to the Compound, some part of him knew the way to the medbay, and he took you straight there.
“How did this happen?” You asked, your eyes sliding up to where Sam was lingering in the doorway.
“Bucky… made a plan,” he said as he took a few steps closer, though he kept a wide berth.
Even the doctor that was looking you over kept casting wary glances to the hulking man sitting next to the hospital bed, holding your hand.
“A plan? What kind of plan?”
Bucky had done something to make sure the Winter Soldier was able to come back? But that sounded like his worst nightmare…
Sam glanced at the Soldat, before moving to the end of your bed and holding onto the plastic footboard. “He had them take out the old trigger… activation words or whatever, and had them put in new ones that only he knew,” he said. “On the off chance that you would need the Soldat.”
“He… He did that for me?” You looked up at your Soldat, the man who had protected you, who had cared for you and ensured your survival. His existence hurt Bucky. He was a part of him that he had been desperate to get rid of.
And he’d left a part of him inside, and provided a way to bring him back just in case you needed him.
The Soldat gave you a weak smile as he caressed your cheek.
It was so strange. Even though he had Bucky’s looks, his new haircut and the stubble, the lack of blood or dirt or something covering his face, it was very clearly the Soldat.
“I cannot stay,” he said quietly, bringing your hand to his lips and kissing each of your knuckles. “I wish I could, malen’kaya… But we both know that our time has passed. If I have to come back, you and… Bucky know how to bring me out.”
“But… But…”
He shook his head, taking in a deep breath. “Everything is alright. You are safe. Hydra will never come after you again, especially if they know what’s good for them.” The hand holding yours was trembling, but he kept his eyes on your face. “And I… I am safe. They can’t hurt me anymore, thanks to you and this… Bucky.”
Your eyes burned as you pushed yourself into a sitting position, being careful with the IV that had been inserted into your arm. “I love you,” you said, pressing your forehead to his. “I love you so much.”
“And I love you,” he said breathlessly. “But… Malen’kaya, don’t let the past hold you back from the future. I… Those that hurt you in the past don’t matter anymore. You are stronger than what happened to you.” He held your hand a little tighter. “Do you understand me, malen’kaya? You are stronger than what has happened to you.”
“I understand.”
“Good,” he said, his lips pressing to your forehead. “You will live a long life. A long, long happy life. You have suffered for so long, but that’s over. The time of suffering has passed, and you get to be happy.”
Panic was overwhelming you. “But what about you? Don’t you get to be happy?”
“Yes, I do,” he said, a smile spreading over his lips. “Malen’kaya… I never knew peace until you. I found little moments of happiness when I was with you, in that training room…” The man’s forehead rested against yours, your noses nudging. “You gave me peace. And feelings. They couldn’t wipe you from my brain completely, no matter how hard they tried.” He let out a slow breath, his fingers massaging your scalp. “You rescued me. You are my savior. And now…” He was so warm, like a furnace, and you just wanted to curl up against him forever. “Now I can rest.” The Soldat tenderly pressed his lips to yours.
Possibly the first and only kiss you’d ever share with him.
It was… It was sweet and gentle and loving. Years of unspoken feelings, of the longing stares and lingering touches while in that horrible room, of the wild look in his eyes anytime someone dared to hurt you.
It was overwhelming and beautiful and fuck, you wanted more.
But he was right. The time you two had together was over. The Soldat’s time was over.
He could rest, and that’s all you had ever wanted for him.
As he broke the kiss, he slowly laid you back against the pillows of your hotel bed. “Sleep. I’ll be gone when you wake, but… Bucky will be here.”
Bucky.
Jamie.
Those that hurt you in the past don’t matter anymore.
And your Jamie… Your Jamie had never hurt you.
Maybe you could rest, too. You could have a life.
One with him in it.
373 notes · View notes
holidaywishes · 3 years
Text
a bit of stress relief
Tumblr media
  Requested: 👍
  Summary/Request: Can you PLEASE write about Freddie coming to your work and having a quickie in your office
  Warning: smut, fluff, whiny Freddie
  Author’s Note: REQUESTS ARE CLOSED for a bit. I do have one more in my inbox right now so I’ll add it to my drafts but after I write that I won’t be taking requests for... a while. Maybe a month? I have a few series I want to finish up before I start having requests piling up. I always love seeing my inbox full of requests for different types of fics, so this isn’t forever, just until I’m able to finish my Gally series for sure and possibly my 9-1-1 series. This request was fun and I just couldn’t say no lol. Thanks in advance for your understanding and I hope I’ll be able to get back to requests sooner than later but I’ll keep y’all updated! Stay Golden, loves! <3 
  masterlist
  the other masterlist
xx
  Your boss asked you to go into the office on a Saturday to finish an assignment that she had forgotten to mention earlier in the week. You would’ve argued that you had plans but your boss said it was for a presentation the next morning that they needed the information for
  “I’m sorry, Freddie,” you whined to your boyfriend as he tried to convince you to stay at his apartment, “believe me, I’d much rather be here but I’m not about to get fired...”
  “It’s not your assignment, it’s hers,” he argued, “she made the mistake. Why do you have to do it for her?”
  “It’s my job” you admitted
  “Except when it’s not...” he groaned
  “Freddie,” you sighed, “I won’t be long I promise. I just need to go in and print up some stuff and make a couple calls. Nothing major...”
  “So why can’t your boss do it?” he challenged, “it’s her mistake, so.. she should be responsible for fixing it”
  “I know,” you repeated, wrapping your arms around his neck before kissing his cheek, “but I can’t lose this job. I have loans to pay off”
  “You know I can help with that”
  “No,” you scoffed, “no you absolutely cannot. I don’t want to feel like I owe you anything. That’s not the relationship we have... I’m not your sugar baby”
  “But you could be”
  “But I don’t wanna be”
  “Alright...” he laughed, kissing your nose playfully
  “I’ll call you when I’m finished okay. I give it one, two hours tops”
  “If you’re not finished in two hours, I’m coming down there and taking you home” he teased
  “Okay,” you scoffed, “I’ll see you later.” You got to the office and rushed into your boss’s office to find the information you needed to work on. The office was empty, as it should’ve been, but when you heard the door open and close, you popped your out of the door to see who was there, “Hello?” you called
  “(Y/N)?” your co-worker asked
  “Mason? What are you doing here?” you returned, noticing now that a bunch of your co-workers were walking in
  “We could ask you the same thing” he chuckled
  “Laura forgot to do stuff for the presentation tomorrow, so she asked me to come in and do it”
  “For the conference?”
  “Yup”
  “Yeah,” he replied, “our team is having the same issue. Except they’re saying they ‘lost it’ or that it ‘must have gotten deleted somehow’ so now we have to be here all day trying to fix this”
  “Why are any of this people in charge again?” you asked
  “Maybe they slept their way to the top” he joked before waving you goodbye and heading to his station. You started at this company as an intern, mostly handing out mail and grabbing coffee for everyone, but they kept you around because you had a good eye for graphic design which was important in a marketing firm. However, your boss, Laura, had replaced Debra, the former Head of Marketing, a month before you were hired to be her assistant and she really wasn’t all that fond of you. She claimed that your degree should be in Business or Marketing not Graphic Design and that you’d only ever be an assistant in this industry so ‘don’t hope for more than that.’ You didn’t think too much of her comments though, at the end of the day, you had a job to you and you were going to do it well; even if it meant coming in on the weekend to do her forgotten assignments. When you finally found Laura’s papers, you groaned audibly, realizing this wasn’t going to be quick work
  “Hey!” Freddie greeted you from the other end of the line when you called him to let him know what was happening
  “Hey...” you sighed
  “What?” he groaned, “what’s going on?”
  “It looks like I’m gonna be here for a while. Laura underplayed how much work there was for me to do...”
  “You can’t really be doing this?” he whined
  “Babe, I have to. I told you, it’s my job. But,” you added, hoping it would make him feel better, “it’s not just me! Apparently, all the senior staff forgot to do these super important assignments for the conference. So, a bunch of us are here working until we finish them”
  “You need to quit this job,” he grumbled, “clearly no one is good at what they were hired to do”
  “I can’t quit unless I have something lined up,” you argued, “babe, I’m sorry. I know I promised that we’d lay in bed all weekend because this was the first time that you had free time but I have to do this. I promise, I’ll work as fast as I can but the longer I’m on the phone, the longer I’m at the office. So, I gotta go. I love you and I’ll see you as soon as I’m done okay?”
  “Call me and I’ll pick you up,” he replied, “you shouldn’t have to take an Uber back here...”
  “Okay,” you smiled, “that would be nice. Talk soon. Love you”
  “Love you, too” he said before you ended the call. You took a deep breath and started getting to work. Organizing timelines and trying to understand doctors-note-handwriting from past meetings
  “How can she possibly expect me to be able to understand this?” you thought to yourself. You signed onto her computer and were immediately left in shock at the jumbled mess of her desktop, “holy fuck!” you exclaimed silently, it’s no wonder she gets nothing done, “she’s the most unorganized person I’ve ever seen!” You spent the next 20 minutes opening files to find what you were looking for, closing what was not it immediately so you could legally say you didn’t see anything, and then you had to spend the next half an hour printing documents and running back and forth between Laura’s office and the copy room
  “How’s it goin’?” Rob, one of the other team members who was forced to come in and work on a Saturday, asked when he noticed you rushing throughout the room
  “Oh, you know, I’m sure I’ll have a panic attack in the next, oh, twenty or so minutes” you replied, sighing as you walked back to the printer one last time. You had managed to get most of the paper work done but you still had to make a few phone calls to get estimates on some of the ad spaces needed and whether or not there could be a discount involved for the company
  “Hey!” Freddie said gleefully, walking into your boss’ office like he owned the place
  “Freddie,” you gasped, a slight sneer on your tone, “what are you doing here?”
  “I came to see you...” he replied, furrowing his brow at your response, “when you said you were gonna be longer than you thought, I thought I’d come down and surprise you. Maybe take the stress off a little?”
  “That’s sweet, babe,” you smiled, noticing the look in his eyes and realizing what he was really there for, “but I have to make some calls so I can’t... do that”
  “We can make it work” he teased, biting his bottom lip quickly before pulling you close to him
  “Fred...” you whined, kissing him once before pushing him away from you and walking back to Laura’s desk, “I really do have to work. You can sit if you want but that’s it...” he slumped onto the plush couch against the window and frowned before scrolling through his phone as you started to call the businesses on your list. After about 10 minutes, you noticed Freddie peering up from his phone to look over at you, as if he was trying to get you to hang up the phone just from a look, choosing to walk over to you when you didn’t. “Yes, that’s right. I know you’ve been with us for quite some time and our relationship has helped both our businesses grow,” you spoke as Freddie swiveled you and your chair out from the desk, “we want that relationship to keep growing” you continued before noticing the smirk on Freddie’s face as he hovered over you, kissing your neck as you tried to pay attention to the call. “Mhmm,” you said to the person on the other end of the phone, distracted by Freddie’s lips pressing against the sensitive skin on your neck, his hot breath cascading down your neck, “mhm, sure. I understand” you said again, trying not to let on what was happening. “Laura is so sorry she couldn’t make this call to you herself,” you lied, Freddie kissing his way down to your core, pulling off your leggings quickly and kissing your inner thighs as you spoke, “however, she is excited to showcase your work to those at our conference tomorrow. We all just wanted to make sure the numbers were 100% accurate...” you had to bite your lip and move the receiver end of the phone from your mouth in case any sound escaped when you felt Freddie’s tongue finally press against your clit. “Oh that’s great!” you exclaimed when the partner on the phone added a discount to the quote you’d already been given, claiming that, had he known other businesses would be hearing of his services earlier, he would’ve offered it sooner. “Thank you so much,” you smiled, Freddie’s hands pulling your body closer to his him as his mouth brought you closer and closer to your orgasm, “I or Laura will let you know how everything goes. Thank you again” you said quickly before hanging up the phone. “Fuck,” you cursed breathlessly, “oh my god, Freddie!” your back was forced to arch, as you were pretty much falling out of your seat as Freddie continued to stimulate your clit, only now moving his finger to caress your folds before slowly inserted it inside of you and pumping until you whimpered, tugging at his hair. “Freddie,” you squeaked, trying not to be heard from outside the office, “fuck” you repeated quietly, your grip loosening from his hair as his ministrations slowed and your breathing steadied.
  “How’s your stress now?” he smirked, wiping his mouth casually before standing up in front of you once more
  “You can’t do that” you said, small pants escaping your lips, making Freddie believe you less than you intended
  “I think I can” he teased
  “I was on a business call, Fred!” you exclaimed, pulling your leggings back up, “what if they heard something?”
  “They would only hear something if you let them” he countered and, ultimately, you knew he was right but you still shook your head
  “You can’t do that” you repeated and he scoffed, hovering over you once more to taunt you with a kiss but stopped right in front of your lips
  “We’ll see about that...” he smirked, taking his hands away from the chair and walking back to sit on the couch
  “What’s goin’ on with you?” you asked
  “I just want to be with you,” he whined, giving you puppy dog eyes and earning a scoff from you, “that’s what we were supposed to be doing anyway...”
  “I told you we would when I got home...” you said
  “Come here,” he said, patting his thigh, “come sit on my lap” you chuckled but obliged. You wrapped your arms around his neck after sitting on his thigh, playing with his hair and kissing his nose before he spoke again, “see, isn’t this better than making a few phone calls?” he asked, his hand beginning to rub your back lightly
  “You know I would rather be doing this, or more than this, with you,” you admitted, leaning in and kissing him softly, letting your lips linger a moment before you pulled back, “but I have to do this stuff...”
  “Just a quickie...” he whispered, “and then I’ll go. Then we can pick up at home”
  “This is my boss’s office” you whined
  “All the more reason to do it. We’re in a private spot, secluded from everyone else, it’s perfect” he replied, kissing your jaw before moving down to your neck and you let your head fall back to give him more room
  “Mmmm,” you hummed, melting into his kiss, “I can’t”
  “(Y/N)...“ he groaned
  “Just a few more calls,” you argued, “I don’t have a lot left. Just like, five, maybe six”
  “That’s a lot. How long are each of those calls? 10 minutes? 20?” he asked, “we could do a lot with that time...”
  “Stop,” you smiled, standing up from his lap and walking back to the desk chair, “just a few more calls...” you repeated. He slunk into the couch and angrily unlocked his phone while you picked up Laura’s phone and began dialing. You were able to make three calls before Freddie began sighing loudly across the room and you had to glare at him, which is when the texts started
  “I want you” he sent as you spoke to another advertising partner on the phone
  “Like now” another came through
  “I’m gonna come over there”
  “And make you cum again” you glared up at him and he smiled
  “And again” you shook your head, turning off your sound so the partner didn’t hear the constant dinging
  “And again”
  “And again”
  “Until you can’t cum anymore” you noticed him smile as he thought up more responses and you threw a pencil at him, still paying attention to the conversation on the phone before mouthing ‘stop’ to Freddie but he just shook his head with a teasing smile
  “You won’t be able to walk”
  “Your legs will be numb”
  “Your chest will be heaving because you can’t catch your breath”
  “You’re gonna crave my dick”
  “Every time you move”
  “You’ll have to physically stop yourself from jumping me in public”
  “Because you’re still feeling me inside you” your eyes went wide as you read his messages, heat flooding your face as you ended the call, forcing yourself to dial another number before Freddie could get the upper hand. He slowly made his way to the desk once more and you gulped as you swallowed the saliva that had filled your mouth, Freddie hung up the phone before it ever even really began to ring
  “Seriously, don’t...” you whispered, knowing that you were about to break from whatever move he made next
  “But I want to” he growled, grazing your nose with his and you started to give in when he walked toward the door, “crap” you thought to yourself when you thought he was about to leave but he was only locking the door
  “What the fuck?!” you exclaimed, “that was unlocked this whole time?!”
  “Yeah?” he chuckled
  “Freddie! What would have happened if someone walked in earlier?”
  “They would’ve gotten a great show” he replied, walking over to you, leaning over you but not doing anything. You took a deep breath before running your hands up his arms, tangling your fingers in his hair before bringing him down to kiss you
  “We have to be quick...” you whispered, earning a grin from Freddie before he pulled your leggings off and directed your thighs around his waist so he could pick you up to carry you to the couch. You laughed when he sat down and you fell into him clumsily, “quiet” you shushed him before kissing him slowly and trailing your hands down to his waistband, pushing his pants down just enough to free his erection while his hands lifted your shirt up, stopping to massage your breasts. You heard a laugh outside of the office and stopped what you were doing, “wait,” you whispered, “I think someone’s there” he didn’t listen, kissing your neck and lining himself up with your entrance before bucking his hips to yours; your nails digging into his shoulders to stop yourself from making any sound. His hands gripped your hips as he thrust into you, bringing your attention back to him while your lips found each other in a clumsy rush to muffle the sounds of each other’s moans
  “Fuck,” Freddie moaned first, “fuck” you were about to reciprocate his sentiment when the phone rang and your head jerked back in panic
  “Shit” you sighed, worry mixing with pleasure as Freddie continued to grip your hips tightly
  “Ignore it” he said, kissing your peaked nipple over your shirt before moving a hand to your core, but your head still stayed looking at the ringing phone
  “What if it’s her?” you whined, referring to your boss
  “Ignore it” he repeated
  “What if it’s one of the partners or the vendors? What if it’s one of the really important clients?” you asked, knowing he wouldn’t give any helpful advice other than
  “Ignore it” he said once more, pulling your face back to his before kissing you harshly. The phone stopped ringing and you felt a faint sense of peace course through you as you softened the kiss that Freddie had started, your tongue begging for his lips to part, a muffled moan intertwining with his warm breath as it brushed over your exposed neck. Your tongue danced with his for a while as his fingers circled your clit, pressing down on the sensitive flesh every so often
  “Fuck” you breathed finally, now beginning to ride him faster, feeling his thighs flex underneath you as he welcomed the sensation of you crashing onto him. “Fuck,” you repeated, “shit, oh my god. Fuck Freddie” you felt your climax build as his lips met your neck, his finger still working on your clit while you rode him harder; the loud ringing of the phone the only thing that brought you back to where you were. “Ugh” you groaned
  “Leave it” he groaned back
  “Fuck” you sighed, reluctantly ignoring the phone to continue fucking your incredibly broad shoulder boyfriend
  “That’s my girl” he smirked, watching you bounce up and down his length
  “Fuck, Freddie, I’m gonna cum” you panted, your hands clutching his shirt as your hips began to shake. “Sh-i-it, god fuck! Freddie” you moaned, still trying to be as quiet as possible but knowing that everyone in the office was probably putting on noise cancelling headphones just to try to escape the sounds they were undoubtedly hearing.
  “Almost there, baby” Freddie breathed, clutching onto your waist to assist your movements. Fuck, his hands fit so perfectly on your body, you really hated that this had to end so quickly, but that’s what he came here for. “Fuck, I’m gonna cum in you”
  “Fuck” you breathed, dropping your head onto his shoulder, your body taking over until you and Freddie met your release. Like clockwork, the annoying ringing of the phone appeared and you had to scoff at Freddie while you quickly got dressed
  “That was fun,” he smiled, “you sure you don’t wanna go round two?”
  “Hello” you greeted, picking up the phone to continue the work you had come to do, “I am so sorry about that. I’m not sure what was happening with the line…”
  “So we’ll continue this at my place then?” Freddie teased before and you nodded with wink before shooing him away but not before he kissed you goodbye. You were dreading the walk out of the office if Mason and his team hadn’t left yet but you knew it had to happen sooner or later
  “So, should we hire a clean up crew before your boss gets back?” one of the guys teased
  “Shut up” you said, hoping your embarrassment didn’t show too clearly
  “You do know we put on our headphones as soon as we saw him,” Mason admitted, “we knew there’s no way that he was gonna just show up to say hi”
  “He could’ve,” you tried, exhaling when you realized you were never going to fool any of them, “fine. Just, please, don’t rat me out. I just pulled together a miracle in that office and I don’t need Laura finding out about my office sex-capades — I don’t want that to be the reason she fires me. I’m not that girl…”
  “We know” another co-worker smirked
  “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us,” Mason assured, “it’s a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy as far as we’re concerned” you gave him an appreciative smile before heading out to meet Freddie in the parking garage
  “Hey” he smiled as you sat in the front seat
  “Hi” you replied, leaning over to peck his lips
  “Did you get your work done?” he teased
  “Yeah,” you chuckled, “it was a miracle but I got it done” he took your hand and brought it to his lips to press a kiss to it
  “No more quickies,” he whined, holding your hand for the remainder of the ride, until he needed it for one reason or another, “I need more than that”
  “I agree,” you smirked, “now, let’s go home so you can fuck me until I can’t walk
  “Yes ma’am.”
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retrievablememories · 3 years
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matched | ten (m)
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title: matched pairing: alien!ten x black!reader genre: sci-fi, angst, fluff, romance, smut summary: the quest for love leads you to a new dating app with a slight twist—and straight into the inbox of someone who’s light-years out of your usual dating pool. word count: 9.7k warnings: familial conflict, strained parental relationship, mentions of cheating, prejudice/discrimination based on species, body modifications/alien biology, unprotected sex, oral (female receiving), dom!ten, photography during sex, cumshot, squirting, some spanking a/n: as always, i lose all impulse control whenever i get a ten request so i have finished this sooner than i expected
i decided to lean more into the romance plotline than stress too much over the realism of the science-fiction elements with this fic, so there are some inaccuracies/impossibilities...but that’s fiction for you 🙃
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AM 2074 (After Migration)
You are lonely.
Your last breakup did not end well, to say the least, and you haven’t dated for a while since then. It seemed like a smart move—a safe one—to shun all romantic relationships until you felt ready again. At the beginning, you were glad to be alone for a while, to regroup and rediscover yourself worrying about another person’s opinions on everything you did. To not have to deal with someone else’s drama.
The toll of not having companionship is gradually getting to you, though. Even if your last relationship was a mess more often than it wasn’t, you still long for those good moments, like going on night dates on the weekends and sharing pillowtalk into long hours of the early morning. You hadn’t realized how much you’d missed those things until all the emotions of it crashed down on you at once.
Your friend Malika claims to have a solution for your loneliness. Now, sitting at this outdoor cafe, you’re simultaneously eager and hesitant to hear what she has to propose, knowing her track record for silly plots.
With twinkling eyes, she looks at you and says, “You should try a dating app.” She clasps her hands together and puts them on the table like she’s made a grand announcement. You absorb her words for a few moments, looking out at the street across from you and watching cars—some hovering above the asphalt, some driven autonomously, and many still with human drivers—pass by.
You eventually sigh, your shoulders slumping. “That’s the big solution you called me out here for? People have been using dating apps for decades, that’s nothing new.”
“Exactly! The fact that they’re still popular even in 2074 is proof that they work, Y/N. You can put yourself out there and talk to dozens of guys without even meeting them in person. If one connection doesn’t work out, you don’t have anything to lose, and you don’t have to see the guy ever again.”
“Maybe I’ll lose my sweet time and patience during the process, though.”
Malika shakes her head and types something into her hologram pad, then holds it up for you to see. The hologram displays a dating app called matched—it reminds you of what Tinder was supposedly like before it became eclipsed by more advanced platforms, though that happened years before you were even born. “This one is kinda new, but it’s gotten popular fast and has good success rates. I’ve tried it before and met some nice guys. Give it at least one chance before you hate on it.”
“Ugh, I don’t know...there are always so many weirdos hanging out on those apps. What if I meet someone who keeps a collection of severed alien tentacles in an icebox in their house? Like that one guy who showed up on the news?”
“...Really?” Malika rolls her eyes. “You’re so dramatic. Stop getting in your own way and just take a risk for once.”
You shake your head at her optimism. “I’ll do it because I know you won’t leave me alone about it, but don’t expect me to find some great love story on this app.”
--
Once you download the app and start making an account, it becomes pretty obvious that this isn’t just a regular dating platform.
Choosing your gender and age preferences is normal enough, and you pass through those screens quickly until you get to one that gives you two new options.
➤ Species Preference ❐ Human ❐ Extraterrestrial
Whoa. Aliens? An alien-friendly dating app?
You weren’t overly familiar with the mechanics of dating apps, and you certainly didn’t consider that ones allowing aliens might’ve existed until now. It had been 15 years since the first contact with aliens was established, and a little less than a decade had passed since aliens began migrating to Earth and taking up permanent residence—and vice versa.
Humans had little problem with accepting aliens’ technological adaptations and claiming them as their own, though they were far less welcoming of the aliens themselves. That resulted in strained interactions between the two species, with aliens trying their best to assimilate and humans questioning their every motive. As far as personal relationships went, interspecies mingling between humans and extraterrestrials was still fairly uncommon—something that only people who were considered to be on the fringes of society participated in. There were “normal citizens of society” who built relationships with aliens, but many of them also kept it solely as a kink or fetish to be done only in the dark.
You decide to check both options. It feels a little scary, like diving headfirst into the unknown, but you are open to it either way. You’ve interacted with aliens before, both as kind acquaintances and near strangers, and they’ve always been relatively normal in the grand scheme of things—beings trying to survive and make a life for themselves like anyone else. Certainly not plotting how to take over Earth as many people have speculated. If they really wanted to, they possess the technology to have done that ten times over already.
You take a while trying to come up with a clever bio and spend an even longer time mulling over which pictures of yourself to choose, but you eventually complete your profile.
The first few matches you make are not very successful.
Whether it’s human guys feeding you terrible pickup lines or alien guys who can’t make it past the language barrier—or who ask you to move back with them to their home planet after two days of talking—you don’t see any potential love interests during your first two weeks of using the app. 
You’re not sure what kind of skills Malika used to make multiple good matches, but maybe you need to interrogate her so you can sharpen your own. So you decide to do exactly that.
“Don’t give up on it just yet. Just be yourself—which also means not being afraid to cuss someone out if they come at you crazy. Some of these dudes lowkey like the mean girl shit, though, which is kinda weird.” Malika speaks from the shimmering translucent mirage of your hologram pad as you walk through the park one afternoon. She couldn’t make it out to meet you today, but you managed to snatch a moment to talk to her even if it couldn’t be face-to-face. “You probably shouldn’t expect to find a boyfriend in the first few days—”
“Girl, I don't think anyone was expecting that. Duh.”
“I’m saying, just give it time!”
“Okay, but listen. You didn’t tell me it’s also for aliens. Have you dated one before? You never told me!” You lower your voice then, not wanting anyone nearby to eavesdrop on your conversation and hear that part. You feel kinda bad for even thinking that way, but it’s hard to shake the stigma associated with interacting with aliens.
“Yes, and it was the best sex I ever had, but maybe I’ll tell you about that later.”
“Sis. Don’t withhold tea from me!”
“Someday when you’re not literally standing in the middle of the park, okay?” Malika shakes her head, smiling.
“Don’t forget about it, either.”
“I won’t. And you know what to do if you find a guy. I want to be the first to know!”
“Sure, sure. I wouldn’t hold my breath on it, though.”
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You decide to spend some more time on the app after that conversation instead of just deleting it like you’d planned to initially. And one day, you get another new match that catches your eye out of the many others.
“Ten? Like the number…?” Besides the interesting name, you immediately see that he’s an extraterrestrial. From the Sommu race, as it says in his bio.
You click on his profile.
You’re a little surprised by how pretty he is, which isn’t to say the other aliens you matched with were all hideous. But he doesn’t have tentacles coming out of his face or two sets of eyes, either. The most noticeable thing about his alienness is his blue skin.
“Likes...dancing, art, music, okay so we have an artist type here...dislikes...fruit. Huh. That’s...interesting.”
The pictures of him on his profile are all deliberately artistic, as in they aren’t just some half-baked selfies he took with a hologram pad. You grow increasingly curious. It’s safe to say he’s either super into himself or just appreciates the art of good photography, and you figure there’s only one way to find out. You decide to take the first step and message him.
➤ Nice pictures :) 
You don’t know when or if you’ll get a message back, since he’s not online when you send it, so you try not to get your hopes up too much. Maybe you should’ve tried to come up with something more cool and funny—nice pictures?—but you try to remember Malika’s advice and roll your eyes to yourself. There’s no point in getting stressed over a dude you don’t even know yet.
You eventually get a reply back from Ten.
➤ thank you 🙏 are you into photography too? you have talent for taking beautiful photos 
You giggle quietly to yourself; another line, but it’s definitely one of the tamer ones you’ve received. Why not see where this one goes?
The first conversation you have consists mostly of the regular getting-to-know-you talk, such as your personal interests and favorite things. You get him to talk more about his photography hobby, which he’s eager to tell you all about—as well as his penchant for art.
To your optimism, you and Ten quickly get comfortable with each other. You soon forget about all the other potential matches you have, but those don't matter much to you anymore. So far, you’ve connected the most successfully with Ten, which means you’re more than glad to stop spending your time reading boring messages from guys who’ve only pretended to have things in common with you.
Things go so well, in fact, that he asks you to meet in person not long after you begin talking to each other.
For your first meetup, you decide to meet at a park nearby—the same one you’d been walking through the day you were talking to Malika about that very dating app. You and Ten have talked through the hologram pad on multiple occasions, so you’re more reassured that you’re not starting from scratch with some faceless being. Still, the thrill of seeing each other in person for the first time is undeniable.
“Y/N?” You turn your head at the sound of your name, and you see Ten walking towards you.
“Ten!” You give him a smile, waving at him. You feel a little more nervous than you usually would on a date, though you can’t tell if it’s the good kind of nervousness. You mostly chalk it up to not having been out with anyone in a while.
Ten’s just as pretty up close as he was in the photos and on camera, if not even more attractive; he’s breathtaking in the light of the sun. His hair is styled nicely, meticulously-place strands curling over his forehead, and his clothes perfectly outline his slim body. He looks pleased to see you, his lips curving into a coy smile.
“You could’ve given me a warning,” he says as he outstretches his arms to you. You hug him, but not without a questioning glance on your face. He is warm and smells good, like juniper, which almost makes you forget about your question.
“Warned you about what?”
“How you’re even more beautiful in person.” He says this at your ear before pulling away, and it makes the back of your neck bloom with heat.
“Oh, you’re laying it on thick.” You giggle nervously, shifting on your feet.
“Are you ready to go?” he asks.
“Yes, let’s go!”
You leave the park to go to an aquarium nearby, which is the biggest one in the city. You find out quickly that Ten is easily fascinated by the wide range of creatures there. Despite living on Earth for a few years now, he hasn’t seen a lot of them until now.
You walk through the blue-lit hallways together, surrounded by water everywhere you turn. You observe the different animals up close and from far away, reading information about them from the signs beside their tanks.
“What the hell is that?” Ten says through laughter, looking at the squished-up mouth of a stingray as it floats in front of the glass, baring its pale underside to you both.
“It’s a stingray!”
He scrunches his nose up. “It’s ugly. But kinda cute, too…”
You both end up staying at the aquarium longer than you expected, with Ten wanting to see practically every animal they had on display; plus, you got to see some you weren’t familiar with before either.
After visiting the aquarium, you go downtown—which is otherwise known as food truck central, where you can get pretty much anything you’re craving. This area is always quite busy this time of evening, especially on the weekends. Food in hand, you and Ten end up walking through a few of the quieter back streets where there’s not as many people—streets where the closely-packed buildings give way to the grassy yards and paved roads of nearby neighborhoods.
“Should we talk about our families now, or is it too soon?” you say jokingly. “You know, that seems to be the only thing we haven’t mentioned after talking about everything else under the sun.” You’re not entirely sure why you bring this up while knowing your own relationship with your parents isn’t great, but you are curious to hear about Ten’s family.
“I don’t really know mine,” he replies.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” You feel a little bad about it, thinking there was definitely a reason why he never mentioned the topic.
Ten looks confused for a moment before shaking his head. “No, it’s not like that. Sommu never form close bonds with their parents or siblings.”
You give him a curious look. “Why not?”
“Well, we aren’t born or raised the human way,” he explains. “Our parents have a bunch of us at once, raise us for the first couple of years, and then go off to reproduce again and continue the population.”
You’re startled at that. “Just for a few years? How do you survive?”
“We age faster...both physically and mentally. We become independent around 4 or 5 years old, and we can live without our parents.”
“That’s...definitely very different.” You try to wrap your mind around that information, though it’s difficult. Even with your not-so-healthy relationship with your parents, you couldn’t imagine having no family whatsoever at such a young age. You also can’t even begin to comprehend what it’d look like to be taking care of yourself at only 5 years old, fast aging or not. “But, you said a bunch at once...how is that possible?”
“We are formed inside things like eggs. It’s not like your form of childbirth. See?” And you become flustered when he lifts his shirt up to show his lack of a belly button, right there in the middle of the street.
“Uh, wow.”
“The human concepts of ‘family’ and ‘relationships’ are...very new to me.” He seems a little embarrassed to admit this. “That’s why I, um, joined a dating app, for more experience...I was told I need to learn to be more…” He searches for the word. “Im...pertinent?”
“...Empathetic?”
“Yeah, that.”
“So, did that come from a previous partner, or…?”
“Yeah, I’ve had two relationships since I’ve been here.” He seems wistful now, maybe a little sad. “They didn’t work out well. Maybe we were too different.” Before the mood can shift too far into negativity, Ten turns to you with a soft smile. “But maybe that’s not the kind of thing you want to hear while we’re on a date.”
You shake your head and smile. “I don’t mind, it’s interesting to know about.” More than interesting. You want to ask him a hundred more things about what his life was like when he first got to Earth. “Anyway, you can never have too many new starts in life. Let’s enjoy this one.”
--
At the end of your date, Ten walks with you back to your place. It’s almost midnight at this point, with you both walking all the way back from downtown. You’d drawn more than a few skeptical stares over the course of the day, but you both did your best to ignore those and just focus on each other.
“I’m really glad we got to go out today, it was fun,” you say, hugging your arms to yourself to shield against the cool spring breeze.
“I think I haven’t had that much fun in a while,” he agrees. Ten smiles wide then, the tip of his tongue sticking out from between his teeth, and you have to do a double take. 
“What—”
“Oh, that. Sometimes I forget everyone doesn’t have this...” And when he sticks his tongue out, you see clearly now that it’s split halfway down the middle. Sort of like how a snake’s would be. “D’you like it?” His expression is wicked when he asks this, and a strange heat sweeps through your body.
“Wow.” You cringe at your lackluster answer, but that’s the only thing you can muster up at the moment, too busy internally questioning yourself. You’ve seen body modders with split tongues in documentaries and on the internet, but it’s never appealed to you like this before, and you don’t know what to do with that new realization.
“It’s okay, it takes some getting used to.” He gives you a smile that might be called innocent by anyone else, but to your eyes it’s quite obvious he’s proud about making you flustered.
“Getting used to...yeah, I’m sure.” There are about 15 different questions you want to ask him about that, too, but you aren’t going there on the first date.
“So...can I expect to see you again?”
“Of course.” You smile again at the hopeful note in his tone. “Just let me know whenever you want to go out again.”
Before Ten leaves, he places a hand on your shoulder and kisses you on the cheek. It’s a simple and short kiss, but it still makes you blush beneath your brown skin.
You wave goodbye to him from your doorstep as he goes, feeling like you’ve finally done something right for the first time in a long time.
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You’d taken a chance with dating an extraterrestrial, someone so different from yourself and your species, and you figured it would be a new experience. Obviously. What you did not bet on, however, was the idea that you’d fall for Ten so fast.
After three months of dating exclusively, you feel like you could say you love him, which is frighteningly quick for you; though you don’t tell him this yet.
You’ve decided to bring him to meet your family. The idea frightens you, because your parents have never been very receptive to the aliens’ migration. But you are still holding out some hope that maybe they’ll realize all their assumptions were wrong, and that you’ve found a nice man who you love and who you’re sure loves you just as much. Whether he’s human or not shouldn’t matter.
You manage to set a date when all your schedules match up so you can bring Ten over to your parent’s house. Ten is nervous—more nervous than he was when you went on your first date—which you find a little surprising. You’ve gotten used to him being the one who you can lean on, who always seems to know the right answer.
“Do you think it will go well?” he asks, his tone implying he’s not confident of the answer.
“I hope so.” You give him a smile that you hope is reassuring and squeeze his hand.
When your parents open the door, there’s visible surprise on their faces. You’d already told them your boyfriend was not human, which drew doubtful responses when you first said it, but they’re acting as if they never knew that information—as if this is the first time they’re seeing an alien, period.
“Um…hi, mom, dad.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Ten says, though his own tone is overly formal, like he doesn’t know how he should speak. “I’m Ten.”
Your parents pause for a few moments longer. Finally, the awkward quiet is broken. “We thought you were just messing,” your dad says, though he steps out of the way to let you both come in, if a bit reluctantly.
“I—no.” You’re uncertain how to respond to that, though you don’t feel optimistic about what it entails. Your mother doesn’t say anything at all, just stares at you and Ten like you’re both strangers who’ve just waltzed in uninvited. She goes back in the kitchen to finish dinner once the door is closed, not saying anything to either one of you, and you already feel a cold pit settling in the bottom of your stomach.
Your dad sits in the living room with you and Ten, and another awkward silence ensues as your dad gives a stiff smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. He clasps his fingers together and pulls them apart repeatedly, like they’ll give him the answers for what’s going on.
“This is just a fling, right? Of course you won’t be staying with this ma—” Your dad almost says man but then stutters, thinking maybe the term isn’t appropriate since Ten isn’t human. He makes a vague gesture to fill in the space of the missing word.
“It’s not a fling,” you say, feeling like you’ve had cold water poured down your back. You’re sitting straight and still on the couch, and it’s not comfortable, but you’re too tense to move. Ten is almost equally stiff beside you.
“Y/N, we just want you to make good decisions for yourself.” That’s what your dad says out loud, though the look in his eyes finishes the rest of that sentence: And I don’t think this is a good decision.
“I am,” you insist. “I don’t need to be told that over and over again.”
“Me and Y/N are happy together,” Ten explains, and your dad seems a little shocked that he’s decided to speak.
“Do you truly think you’re what she needs?” your dad asks. You’re not sure what makes you more angry; the question itself, or the fact that he keeps his tone non-accusatory and light, as if he’s only asking something like where do you work? Like the answer doesn’t matter because he’s already made up his mind.
“As long as Y/N wants to keep seeing me, there’s no reason to stop our relationship.”
A sound of displeasure comes from your mother in the kitchen, and your skin prickles. Your dad nods to Ten’s answer, but he does so in a way that conveys he just wants this conversation to be over rather than consider anything that was said.
You deeply regret not leaving straight after that failed discussion, but you soon find out just how bad it can get once you all make it to the dinner table. Your mother is chillingly silent for the first half of the dinner, acting like neither you nor Ten exist, while your dad attempts to make awkward small talk about how things are going.
There comes a point where you can no longer handle the cold sweat and the nerves, and you put your utensils down. Not that you had much of an appetite anyway.
“Why won’t you even talk to me?”
Your mother glares. “You can’t guess? What kind of question is that to ask?”
You falter. You don’t know why she always does this to you. Ask ridiculous rhetorical questions that you both already know the answer to. Now you must sit here and explain why you asked like it isn’t already obvious.
“I’m visiting after I haven’t been here in a while. With my boyfriend. I thought...I don’t know. The least you could do—” Your mother shakes her head at the word “boyfriend,” and you already know everything else you said went in one ear and out the other.
“I still don’t know why you didn’t just stay with Christian?” she interrupts. “He had a decent job, came to see us often, and was NOT an alien.”
“But he cheated on me,” you say, a sickness rising in you.
“That’s what men do sometimes, Y/N. You deal with it and move on. You’re supposed to be strong—fix whatever is making him do it.”
You and Ten exchange a tense look, and there is clear confusion whirling in his eyes, but you don’t say anything to each other. “That relationship is over. I’m trying to do something for myself for once, not whatever you think I should do.” Even saying those words makes you internally recoil, unsure of what the reaction will be, but you don’t take them back.
“You may be an adult but we’re still your parents. Frankly, you need to be with a man of your own race and species—not this blue Martian here. How would you even have kids?”
Ten gives a humorless laugh, like he wants to respond but doesn’t want to make the situation worse or offend you. “You know what, I should just leave,” he says abruptly, rising from his seat.
You get up quickly after he does, but your mom slams her hand on the table. “Y/N, you better not walk out of here.”
You feel defeated and exhausted, like you always do when dealing with your parents and their objections to every single thing you do, but you decide not to give in this time. “Stop treating me like I’m still a child, ma.”
“What does being an adult matter when you still act childish? Don’t come back here crying when this doesn’t work out. I’ve already warned you more than enough.”
“That isn’t going to happen.” 
“So now you think you know better than me, when you couldn’t even keep a man the first time around.”
“This is hopeless,” you sigh, feeling wounded and angry at all these cheap shots.
“Y/N, please just listen to your mother for once…” your dad interjects, but you try your best to ignore their protests as you grab your things and follow Ten to the door. You can still hear your mother’s angry complaints as you close the front door behind you, though you’re surprised—but grateful—that neither of them attempt to follow you outside.
The ride back home is uncomfortable and mostly quiet.
“I’m sorry, Ten,” you say, feeling like you’ve been frozen from the inside out despite it being nearly summer. You’re near tears when you speak. Ten shakes his head, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.
“It’s not your fault…” he replies weakly, though his words aren’t very persuasive to either of you.
He still walks you up to your door when you arrive back at your place, trailing slightly behind you. The night air is distractingly humid, wrapping around the both of you like a physical thing. Neither of you know what to say to each other.
When you get to your front door, you turn to look at him. “I shouldn’t have made you come. I should’ve known...” 
“I wanted to come,” he points out. “You didn’t make me do anything.” Ten’s tone isn’t outright harsh, but the words are noticeably sharp. Maybe he realizes it, because his face softens as if he’s said something wrong.
You nod. It’s as if there’s a mountainous gap between you two that you just can’t cross right now. “I get it.” You say this almost mindlessly, because you’re not sure what you’re getting, exactly. Your hand rests on the doorknob. You don’t want to end the night on this awkward and painful note, but neither of you are making any progress with this lack of a real conversation. Maybe now isn’t the right time to try to talk about it.
“I think...I’ll just go home tonight.” You expected he’d say that, but the words still make your heart hurt, even if you don’t want them to. He looks like he might say something else, but he just gives you a small nod before starting off.
“Ten…” You don’t know what you want to ask of him or tell him, if anything, but his name slips from your lips like it’s something you can’t keep inside.
Ten stops for a moment and turns back to you. He steps closer again, leaning forward to give you a soft kiss on the lips. When he pulls back, his eyes hold you in place.
He mumbles, “I’m not mad at you,” before leaving.
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More than anything, you want to know how Ten is doing, but you’re too ashamed to contact him for the first couple days after that mess of a night. Maybe he thinks you’re just like your parents and doesn’t want anything to do with you anymore. His reassurance at the door wasn’t enough to soothe your worries, and you end up tearing yourself up internally over it—repeatedly recalling the warmth of his lips and wondering if that’s maybe the last time you’ll ever feel it.
Similarly, nothing but radio silence comes from his end. He doesn’t respond even after you finally muster up the nerve to send him a text—a short text, but still a message all the same—and you fear he must really be done with you.
On Ten’s part, he does have one justification for it; he’s preoccupied with dealing with the avalanche of unpleasant memories and emotions that incident resurfaced. Everything about what your parents said and how they looked at him reminds him of his past and ongoing struggles with trying to assimilate on Earth.
Even though he’s often very sure of himself and what he wants, he begins wondering if he’s “enough” for you. Maybe you’ve just been humoring him this whole time, or you’ve decided your parents are right and you’d be better off with another human. 
Those thoughts keep him up into the early morning hours, and he soon realizes he doesn’t want to let you go. In fact, he’s not sure what he’d do with himself if you decided to walk out of his life right now, and the idea of it makes him ill. Which makes him feel even more foolish for tuning you out.
Ten’s anxiety over losing you culminates in him standing on your doorstep again after almost a week of emptiness and not knowing how you were thinking or feeling—which has been killing him in its own way.
You’re not quite sure how to feel when you open the door and see him on the other side, but relief shoulders its way to the forefront.
“Y/N, I’m sorry—”
“Can you please—”
You both speak at the same time, your words breaking afterwards. 
“You can talk first,” Ten says.
“Come in.” You let him in the door, and the words start spilling before you know how to stop them. “Ten, I-I’m...really sorry. I should’ve known better than to put you in that situation, but I thought…” Your words trail off. You don’t want to let him know just how desperate you still are for your parents’ approval sometimes. Even though it’s a fruitless case. “I just wanted it to go well. I want things to work now, for us. I really, really want things to work for us.”
Ten surprises himself with how quickly he moves to take you in his arms before the last words have even finished settling in his mind. He hugs you tightly. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t want me anymore,” he whispers, like he’s telling you something forbidden.
“That couldn’t happen.” You’re saddened he’d come to that conclusion. “But...it’s not fair for you to leave me in the dark, either. I want to help you...so would you please let me?”
Ten squeezes you a bit tighter, as if you might disappear from his arms. “I’m sorry I ghosted you...it brought back bad memories of how things were when I first got here. When people were more open about treating me like some kind of enemy. I didn’t know how to deal with it.” You tuck your chin into his shoulder and listen to his breathing, his heartbeat, the sound of his words. “Y/N, I’m not sure if I’m very good at love, or if I even know enough about it. Maybe the others were right and I’m kidding myself with something I’ll never properly learn. But, I…” His voice cracks. “I-I think I love you. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Entirely overwhelmed, you answer his admission with a long kiss, cupping his face in your hands. His response to your kiss is automatic, the knots of tension unraveling in your embrace.
“I love you, Ten,” you whisper against his lips after you separate. Here and now, it doesn’t feel too soon at all; there couldn’t be a better time to say it. His expression is a lot of things at once. Relief, happiness, contentment...he’s blushing, but it shows up as a darker blue on his already blue skin. When he smiles, it turns his whole face into a picture of joy.
--
“I want to go away.” Quietly, you tell him this as you rest your head in his lap.
You’re both lying on your couch, the room dim and the sound of rain occupying the silence. A downpour started coming down soon after Ten got to your place. You’ve sat there just like that and listened to the rain on the windows for the past couple hours, not wanting to do anything else or separate from each other. You knew he wouldn’t want to go home, and you didn’t even have to ask him to stay.
Ten’s been petting your hair the whole time. The motion of his fingers in your kinky strands makes you sleepy, but now the movements pause at your words.
“Go where?” he asks.
“Away from all this. My parents hate me, and they won’t let me have any peace as long as I’m with you. I just want to go away for a while.” Despite you overflowing with love after finally getting your feelings out in the open, the thought of your parents’ disapproval has lingered steadily in the recesses of your mind. You close your eyes against the tears that begin to well up. Ten’s quiet for a few more moments, and then begins stroking your head again.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
A few tears fall despite you trying to keep them in, and your eyelids flutter when you feel Ten’s fingers on your face, wiping them away. “Then we’ll go away.”
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Ten’s homeland is a planet where the sun—or rather, a star called Proxima Centauri that’s much like the sun—is always out, no matter what time of day it is. There are days where it rains or gets cloudy, but night never falls and the star never dips any lower in the sky, always staying pinned in that same spot like a tack on a corkboard. That everlasting light throws your body clock off, and combined with this weird new form of jet lag associated with space travel, you are a mess for the first week or so after your arrival.
Ten makes a few jokes about fragile human bodies, but for the most part he tends to you as best as he knows how and tells you stories about how he grew up to get your mind off the discomfort. He feeds you these neon green drinks that don’t look like anything on Earth you’ve had before, and although they do make you feel better, you begin to think maybe you should’ve had a wellness plan before running off-planet.
You aren’t the only human who’s ever visited or even lived there, though, which gives you reassurance about adjusting to everything. By now, there’s a small population of human beings living here due to the interplanetary exchange initiated by Earth.
Before you left, Ten told you he had a small home in his homeland. You didn’t quite expect to hear this, since he’d been on Earth for a while now and had no family to return to. Though he’d migrated, he still expected to come back to his planet every so often, if only to visit. Now was as good a time as any.
Although many differences exist, the scenery is much like Earth’s; there are ecosystems with plants and animals and other living beings—like the Sommu themselves. Ten’s homeland is not filled with wall-to-wall technology like you’d expect an alien city to be, based on the small examples you’ve seen on Earth. You might compare it to the tropics back on Earth, with the Sommu yielding to nature’s rightful place in their ecosystem instead of clearing out whole forests or continually mining for resources. Ten is amused by your struggle to comprehend the newness and unfamiliarity of it all.
When you feel good enough to explore, he starts taking you to the beach often. It looks mostly like any other beach, but there are large coral forms that grow out of the ocean, reaching up towards the impossibly blue and constantly illuminated sky. Because there is no moon to guide the tides, the water is eerily still, the surface mirror-like—like a huge lake or pond that extends in almost every direction for miles. You’d almost believe it was a mirror if you hadn’t seen a bird-like creature skimming across the surface as it flew by, creating fleeting ripples.
You swim around a little in the still waters after Ten convinces you that you aren’t going to turn into a fish or something equally scary. He has to hold both your hands the entire time to get you to step in, and he doesn’t let go until you’re confident enough to explore the water on your own.
“Just focus on me, okay?” His smile is bright and shining against his blue skin, and he looks you directly in the eyes as he backs into the water, breaking the surreal stillness of it with his movements. “It’s just like the water on Earth.”
“Okay, okay,” you say uncertainly, gripping his hands and stepping in tentatively. The water does feel like any other water you’ve touched throughout your life, which helps you calm down slightly. His hands stay tight around yours as you get waist-deep into the water.
When you’re finally able to let go of him, he claps his hands more enthusiastically than the situation probably calls for. “Yay, you’re a big girl now!”
You roll your eyes at him. “You’re not funny, Ten.”
--
On a bright afternoon, Ten lets you into a room of his house you haven’t entered before. You’ve passed by this shining white door several times, but it’s always remained firmly shut until now.
“What’s in here?” you ask as you hold his hand.
“That’s what I’m going to show you.” He laughs and pushes the door open.
You think it’s a darkroom at first, seeing nothing but dim light and the shiny surfaces of what looks like photographs as your eyes adjust. But when he touches his hand to a panel on the wall and the lights come on, you realize it’s not a darkroom. More like a small gallery for all his pictures.
The “pictures” are physical, but they aren’t like the old Polaroids or film photos that have begun fading out of existence on Earth. They’re small crystalline squares that play eternally-moving videos on their glossy surfaces—a bit different from the translucent holograms Earth adopted. You step further into the room to look at them. It’d probably take days to explore them all, there are so many. Different scenes play out as soundless movies, and when you look for long enough, you realize they’re split into different categories. Numerous events within a life.
Many are of the beach, other scenic places around his homeland, oddly-shaped buildings, and plants in colors that there are no names on Earth for. You step closer to one of the walls to look at the collection of images more closely. You actually do “recognize” a select few, linking them together with old memories Ten had shared with you only weeks ago. There’s so much happening in these small snippets of time, so many stories you haven’t yet heard, that you feel like you could look at them forever and not get enough.
“This is...something else.” Your words seem inadequate, but you don’t quite know how to express your sheer wonder.
“I could take some of you,” Ten suggests, from somewhere behind you. “I want to.”
You glance back at him. “Hm, yeah.”
“I’m serious.” Ten comes up behind you to clasp his arms around your waist. He tucks his chin into your shoulder. His lips are close at your neck, and you let them linger there. One of your hands goes to his own hand that’s over your waist, and you run your fingertips over his knuckles as you gaze at the photo wall before you. “I think you’d be the perfect muse.”
“You could do that.” You’re still entranced with it all, and you already know you’ve made up your mind to let him take as many photos of you as he wants.
--
The next time you go to the beach, Ten takes some photos of you standing near the huge coral forms—or at least as close as you are willing to get—and he laughs at your lingering hesitation.
Still, the crystalline photos he takes of you are the embodiment of perfection. When you look over them later, watching yourself twirl around and strike silly poses in the water, you can almost hear the sound of your laughter twining together and feel the warmth of a star that’s not the sun on your skin.
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“What if we stayed here?”
You ask Ten this while you’re lying in his bed, watching a kaleidoscope of shapes on the ceiling. The bedroom window is open to allow the breeze to come in. The ceiling of the bedroom—and every other room in the house—is more like an ever-changing reflection of shapes and colors than an actual ceiling. You might compare it to a mirror, like the surface of the ocean, but you think it’s much more complex than that. Sometimes you can see the distorted outline of yourself in it, like a funhouse mirror. Other times, you see the sky above.
Ten lies beside you with one hand behind his head and the other resting on his stomach, and he turns his head to look at you.
“Stayed?”
“If we just decided not to...go back to Earth.”
He pauses for a few moments. “Is that a good idea? You have a whole life there...and your friends…” Ten doesn’t mention your family, which you are grateful for.
You sigh. Nothing like a quick injection of reality after letting your imagination get ahead of you. “We’d have to go back. I’d have to tell them goodbye. And sort some other things out. Maybe it wouldn’t happen right now. But, after I do everything I need to do on Earth...maybe I could migrate here.”
“That’s a big decision to make...and it should be yours to decide.” Ten pauses again, like he’s weighing his words. “You know I don’t have many connections on Earth…” In other words, leaving Earth and returning home for good might not be as big of a deal for him as it would be for you.
You sit up and look out the window, seeing how the warm wind stirs the trees outside. “I want to.” You say it almost inaudibly, your words nearly carried off by the breeze. You turn back to him only to find him already there, sitting across from you and looking at you closely. Your faces are only inches from each other’s as he searches your eyes. “What do you want to do?”
“I’ll do anything you want to.” Ten’s voice is earnest, like he’d follow you to Hell and back if you asked, and you believe him.
Resting your hand on his cheek, you kiss him.
This kiss is a little different from the ones you’ve shared before—more yearning. More desperate. You kiss like there won’t be enough time to do all the things you want to do with each other—to each other. His split tongue bumps against yours, caresses it, and it causes a shiver to go down your spine, like it always does.
You end up lying back on the bed again with Ten’s body crowding yours in, legs tangling together and hips pressing against one another’s. Neither of you have made a move to take the other’s clothes off yet, but then he separates from your lips for a long moment and studies your features, from your eyebrows down to your mouth.
“Touch yourself for me.”
Your mouth drops open slightly.
“I want to see it.” He takes one of your hands and guides it up under your skirt and between your legs, pressing your fingers against your sex through your underwear, and you look at him with wide eyes, taking a deep breath. He lets go of your hand, and you keep yours right where it is. You’re slightly nervous about his black gaze trained on you, unrelenting and prying, but you begin to move your hand anyway. 
Over your underwear, you press your finger between your lower lips, sliding between them and over your clit, and a little tremor goes through your body. You find yourself getting wet more quickly than you normally would with Ten watching you as you tease your entrance. You breathe a little heavier but make no sound yet. One of Ten’s hands reaches out for your ankle, though he doesn’t do anything other than keep his fingers there, a light touch that keeps passing back and forth over your ankle bone.
You circle your fingers across your clit more insistently, your legs tensing as the pleasure mounts higher. Ten’s lips part as he watches you, a heavy breath escaping from his chest. The hand on your ankle slides higher up your leg, just below your thigh, like he wants to slide his fingers into the mix and take over, but he doesn’t make a move to do so just yet.
Finally, Ten reaches under your skirt to pull your sticky panties off, sliding them slowly down your legs and leaving them somewhere on the floor. You want him to touch you again, the brush of his hands against your hips not enough, but he doesn’t grant your desire. “Keep going,” he says, leaning back on his hands, and you can see he’s growing hard.
You bring your hand back to its original place between your thighs, sliding through the wetness more easily and shuddering when your fingertips graze over your clit. You slide a finger into yourself then. A small moan slips out, and you close your eyes, but Ten’s fingers pinch your chin—not enough to hurt, but the sudden touch makes you look at him. “Keep your eyes open.” His thumb presses into your lower lip, and he stares at your mouth for a moment like he’s imagining sliding something hard and hot between your lips.
Ten kisses you on the lips again, and this time he trails the kisses down your body until he’s gripping your thighs on either side of his face. You pause in your movements when he reaches the junction of your thighs, and you watch as he grabs your hand and slips your finger out of yourself. He sucks the slick digit into his mouth, and you cannot tear your eyes away from him.
He lets your hand go and pulls you a few inches closer to his face, dragging you across the bed, and you can barely get your bearings back to sit up again when he slips his tongue through your lower lips. You moan, and he responds to that by repeating it again, catching your clit between the split in his tongue, and wiggling both sides.
“Oh Jesus...oh fuck.” Your hands go to Ten’s hair, pulling on it as you push your hips closer to his mouth, your back curving up. He is alluring tucked between your thighs like this, teasing and sucking your clit with his split tongue and prodding his fingers at your hole until he chooses to slide two of them inside.
His free hand keeps you close against his face as he eats you out, that wondrous tongue sliding against the most sensitive part of your body and making you gasp with boundless pleasure. Little droplets of moisture bead at the corners of your eyes from how good it feels, your stomach tensing and releasing as you try your best to keep still.
He has to keep his grip on your body tight when you come, as you try to squirm away from his tongue because of how stimulated you are. He only lets you go after he’s satisfied himself with licking up all the wet that’s spilled from you.
Then he strips your skirt off for you, because he knows you’re not quite in a state to do it for yourself right now. He peels the rest of your clothes off similarly, which doesn’t take much time or effort to do; you’ve dressed lightly for the weather.
Ten looks at you lying beneath him on the bed, his gaze stuck somewhere between awe and lust. 
He slips out of his own clothes with a certain practiced ease. Yes, he’s really blue everywhere. He looks mostly human-like everywhere, too, except for the lack of a belly button. 
Ten kisses you deeply as he slips into you, and you clutch at his sides. He tries to keep his pace slow at first, maybe for your sake or to just savor how it feels, but he gives into the feeling of you squeezing around him and starts thrusting into you faster. There is already sweat sliding down to his jaw, though you think it might be because of the heat, too.
“Fuck, you feel so good,” comes out of you in a voice you hardly recognize as your own.
His pelvis sliding against your clit from the proximity of your bodies makes you curl your fingers into the strands of his hair, wanting to touch every part of him you can. His lips go to the sweat-slicked skin of your shoulder, leaving little wet kisses behind as he wraps an arm around your waist and simply fucks into you, his shaft dragging against your walls.
He eventually separates himself from your neck, though it comes with some effort, to gaze at your face again. However, he finds that your eyes have drifted shut.
“Do you wanna come?” Ten asks, softly, gently, like you might break apart if he speaks too loud.
You’re a little winded from how he’s thrusting into you and can’t yet see the motive behind this question—because of course you do—but you answer with a shaky “I-I want to.”
“Then don’t look away from me.” His voice becomes harsher on these words.
“I…” Your lips move without any real words behind them as he thrusts into you harder, sinking all the way into you before pulling out to the tip. You want do what he’s just told you, but you find it difficult with the way he’s intent on burying himself into you, his eyes piercing into your own. “Mmm, I-I…”
You don’t know if you can, but the way he’s kindling your rising heat with each thrust makes you want to try very, very hard. Ten keep his hands on the sides of your face so you cannot look anywhere but at him.
The pleasure bears down on you more with each second, and you try to keep your breathing steady as another climax approaches.
“You’re almost there, come on baby,” he coaxes you, sloppily kissing the corner of your mouth before slipping his tongue in again. The way you gasp against his lips and tighten around him signals him to your orgasm, and he sits back to watch it play across your face, smirking at how you moan his name desperately.
Ten’s continued thrusts make you shiver from the flood of sensations overcoming your body, and you whimper at his movements until he pulls out and comes on your abdomen.
Ten gives you time to recover after you come down from your second orgasm, though he makes sure to lay a few more enamored kisses on your weakened body. He gets off the bed and exits the room after that. You don’t bother to ask where he’s going, because you know he’ll be back anyway.
When Ten comes back, he has his camera with him. The teasing tilt of his lips never leaves his face as he points it towards you. He takes a photo of you lying on his bed nude, with the breeze coming in and rustling the tree leaves and your hair, your skin shining bronze under the light of the eternal star. Then he comes closer, making the bed sink under his weight, and nudges your legs apart. He takes more photos of your lower stomach glistening with sweat and his cum—and photos of him sliding his slender fingers between your thighs and bringing you careening into another bout of euphoria.
The camera is soon forgotten after you come again. Ten climbs fully back onto the bed now and pulls you into his lap. His dick is hard again, and the length of it nudges against your lower lips, making you whimper from how sensitive you still are. He shushes you with a kiss and lifts your hips so he can slide into you, his shaft nudging that soft spot inside you and making you grip onto his arms.
You’re too mushy and dazed to do anything but let him push his hips up into you while you cling to him, your head lolling back. Ten’s mouth goes to the open expanse of your neck, and he wets your skin with his tongue.
The kaleidoscope of shapes above you on the ceiling morphs into one glistening reflection, throwing the blurred shapes of your bodies back to you. It’s like looking through a dense fog. You’re a little caught off guard by it, and you stare up at your nude forms. Ten looks up as well to see the cloudy figure of you cradled in his lap, and he only grins and thrusts up into you harder and smacks your ass in reply.
He grinds into you while he has you sitting full on his dick, and you think he must have set off your internal “reset” button somewhere between landing slaps on your ass and repeatedly hitting your g-spot. Your mind is blissfully, amazingly blank. The only clear thing you can distinguish is how he feels in and around you.
When you come this time, it comes with a gush of wetness that makes Ten whisper several smug praises into your ear for being such a good girl and making a mess on him.
As you quickly find out, Ten’s refractory period seems to be nonexistent, while his stamina is overflowing.
Ten knows how to mix the pain with pleasure in a way that enhances both feelings, and you don’t know if you’ve ever experienced anything more perfect. One moment, he’ll say something romantic and fairytale-like to you before shoving your head into the pillow and taking you from behind in the next moment, pulling one of your arms behind you for leverage as he thrusts into you hard. You want him to do whatever he desires to you, and so you let him hammer into you until you think your hips and ass will be bruised by the next morning.
You’ve never knew that sex could be so carnal and so loving at the same time, but this is all of those things, and it makes you feel so full that you could split at the seams. You scream, cry, and moan more times than you can count, so enveloped by pleasure that it seems like the atoms of your body will simply dissolve from the intensity.
When you both finally become too exhausted to continue, it’s still daytime. Of course. But Ten draws the blackout shade forward and seals all the light out, and so you know it must be time to sleep. Time blends together here. Even if it’s not yet the midnight hour, it will be as long as you deem it so.
“Come here,” he says, and rolls you over on the bed so you don’t have to sleep in the wet spot. You grin in sleepy amusement against his neck as he hugs you to his body. “Let’s stay right here.”
You know he’s talking about sleeping for the next few hours, but you can also imagine he’s referring to your new life—one you’ll create together.
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lqtraintracks · 3 years
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how do you deal with hate comments? I got my first a while ago, and since then have gotten several more. Generally, I just laugh them off, but the stings there and my mental health isn’t the best, and I was wondering how others cope?
Feel free to ignore this if the question makes you uncomfortable or anything like that.
Goodnight! (at least, for me. It’s quite late)
I’m very sorry to hear this, ginnyxdarling. No one deserves that, but so many of us have experienced it, so I think the first thing I want to say is, you’re not alone. I’m also not an expert on this topic or how to answer it definitively, but in rereading your Ask, I see that that’s not what you asked for; you asked me how I deal with it, so I’ll tell you about that. Back when I first got into a fandom--not HP, but way before that, we’re talking early early 2000s--I didn’t handle it well. I was confrontational. I let myself get very, very angry, but then I took that anger and I lashed out, which felt good for about ninety seconds. And then it felt like utter shit, mostly because then I knew they’d reply back and it would be ugly. I had a ton of anxiety over whatever their response was going to be and what mine would then be back. It never occurred to me to not engage.  Over the years, I started learning that it’s okay to ignore those people. It’s not only okay, it’s good. Of course, there are times when that feels impossible. Someone here on Tumblr once told me to choke because of a pairing I’d written. I didn’t ignore them. I was shaking as I replied. At the time it felt justified and like I had to, you know? I had not yet started practicing something that I’ve gotten into since, which is how to press pause and then live in that pause, not letting urgency and anxiety drive me to frenzied action. I do wonder if it would have been better for me if I’d just deleted their Ask, complained about it privately to a friend maybe, just to vent my feelings, and then gone on about my life. Answering them gave them something they wanted: They then knew without a doubt that they’d gotten to me. You know? In that sense, they won. I’m a big proponent of ignoring hate when you can and being kind to yourself when instead you answer in a storm of anger and then regret it. We’re human. It happens. And maybe you wouldn’t regret it! I don’t know that it’s inherently better to not engage. I just find it’s better for my mental health and has the added bonus of letting this hateful person linger unanswered for all time. They get to be unimportant. And that’s very, very nice. To get to the nitty gritty of things, if it’s an Ask, you can delete it. If it’s a comment on a fic, you can delete or freeze it. You can set your AO3 to only let comments through from registered users if you’d like, making it harder for anon trolls. There are solid steps you can take to handle it. If you’re being targeted, you can write to AO3 and tell them about the harassment. And hey, look, you’ve already done something; you’ve asked for help with figuring out how to handle it. That’s good. You shouldn’t have to feel alone in it. It does seem like there’s been an uptick in hateful comments recently, and I think these things may go in waves, so I’m hoping the hate will die down for everyone getting hit with it more right now. I hate to say hang in there. But please... hang in there. We need good, supportive people in fandom. We need to drown out the hate with more love and more support. We need people like you. That said, it’s also okay to take a break, even a long one, or to step away altogether. You have to do what’s right for you. But I don’t like the idea that a few hateful jerks can drive good people away from what they love. Lastly, know this: NONE of what they might be screaming at you is about you. Like, at all. It has absolutely nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with them, with this horrible feeling and these terrible thoughts that they apparently live with and feel like they have to project onto others. I’ll say it again, because it’s important. Their hate has nothing whatsoever to do with you. So please, don’t own it. Let them have it. Let them stew in it. Delete it. Vent about it to someone you love and trust in order to get it out of your system and to be reminded that you have that, you have support and love in this. And then move on. Do what you love. Share what you love with those of us who love it, and love you, too. Always turn your attention back to what is good, what feeds you, what brings you joy. Take the attention off of the hate as soon as you’re able. It doesn’t deserve to get that from you. You deserve your energy to be focused elsewhere, where it feeds your soul and where it does good. I hope this helps. Take it all with a grain of salt. Use what you want, ignore the rest. And again, you’re not alone. Thank you for reaching out. Much love. <3
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americxn · 3 years
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How the Evans would react to you posting a funny picture of them on social media
@cleanup-aisle5, thank you for the idea girl <3 word count - 2200 
TATE LANGDON
“The fuck is this?” You jumped with a yelp at your boyfriends sudden appearance at your shoulder. Turning to give him a light shove, you blinked at the phone he thrusted in your face. “Oh,” you laughed innocently, shrugging as you replied simply. “It’s you.” “Yes I know it’s me. Delete it now!” Tate demanded scrolling through the comments on the picture you had posted an hour earlier with a scowl. “But it’s a cute picture.” You insisted, the words carried by a giggle, your hands raising to his chest as you took a step closer to him.  “What? Am I not allowed to show off my boy?” You pouted mockingly, an evil smile stretching on your lips at his irritated expression. “You’ll delete it.” He huffed, but still reached around you to wrap his arms around your waist.  “Or what?”  Tate leaned down so that his lips were at your ear, his fluffy curls brushing against your cheek. “You don’t want to find out.” Your toes curled at the way his tone dropped, his rough voice rumbling through you. Forcing yourself to push away from him, you shrugged, humming in mock contemplation. “Maybe later.” You turned away. He was on you in a second but you had anticipated it, managing to dart forwards before his hands could close around you and ran out of the kitchen and down the hall. Tate yelled after you as you ran, his fingers almost catching ahold of your wrist as you pushed open the front door and hurried down the front steps, only stopping once you had crossed the boundary between the front garden of the house and the pavement.  You turned slowly, a triumphant grin on your face as you met Tate’s face mere inches from yours. You took a casual step back as he hands tried to reach for.  And maybe it was cruel but you turned away with a little wave, the concrete of the pavement warm against the soles of your bare feet. “I’m going to go see if the neighbours need any help with anything.” Tate gaped after you as you turned and skipped across the road to the house opposite yours. “It can be my good deed of the day, y’know?” You threw over your shoulder as Tate flashed his middle finger at you playfully and turned to go back inside the house. You looked after Tate as he went back in the house, only lasting about thirty seconds before bounding after him and through the front door that he had left open in anticipation, knowing that you would follow him. KIT WALKER
“Baby?” You turned with a hum away from the dishes you were cleaning in the sink to address your boyfriend as he walked slowly across the living room, frowning down at his phone. “When did you take this?” He stopped, pausing, before his mouth fell open. “And why did you post it?”  You chortled, turning back to your dishes. “You looked so cute, I couldn’t help it.” “No, I look awful! Y/n, all of your friends are liking it!” He squealed, running over to you and thrusting his phone in your face.  You pushed his phone down with a giggle. You had posted the picture earlier that morning, of Kit asleep on the couch, his face smooshed against the cushions with his mouth parted slightly, a little puddle of drool darkening the fabric beneath him.  “No, I like it.” You went back to your dishes. Kit frowned at your refusal, before a devilish smile graced his lips and he backed away slowly. You glanced over a shoulder, confidence faltering. “Wait- Kit what are you doing?” The plate you were in the process of scrubbing clean was abandoned in the soapy water, splashing you with water as you dropped it before chasing after him. He giggled as he saw you coming for him and broke out into a run, evading your reaching hands and bolting out of the living room, down the short hall to your shared bedroom. The door slammed shut on your face just as you reached the threshold and you scowled at your boyfriend through the closed door. “Kit!” You complained, the door holding fast as you tried to shove it open.  “Don’t give what you can’t take, sweetheart.” His voice was muffled through the wood of the door and you frowned, confused, before your own phone buzzed in your back pocket.  Fishing out your phone you swiped on the notification you had just gotten, your mouth falling open as you saw what Kit had just posted. You slammed your palm against the door angrily as a picture of you from a few months ago came up on your feed, of you laying on the floor, an empty bottle of wine grasped loosely in your fingers, your eyes only half open against the flare of Kit’s camera. And certainly not in a cute way. More in a, ‘I’ve vomited four times already, where the fuck am I’ type of way. “When even was that?” You demanded, watching in horror as Kit’s friends started to like the post. “It’s from when you blacked out a few months ago.” He snickered through the door.  “Kittttt.” You whined, trying the door again and growling in frustration when it still didn’t open. “I’m going to kill you.”  “Delete the one you posted of me and I’ll delete this one.” “No!” Your acute stubbornness would allow no such thing. “Then it stays up.” You fell silent for a second, trying to think of anything you could use as leverage against Kit to make him delete the picture but you came up short. “Fine.”  “Fine.”  You hit the door with a fist as you turned away, Kit’s incessant giggling echoing from behind you.  You knew that it was only a matter of time before one of you gave in, but like hell would you be the one to delete your post first.  KYLE SPENCER 
Kyle turned to you from the desk he was sat at, you tucked against the headboard of his bed, watching him study. “You know I saw what you posted of me.” You looked up, smirking. “What did you think?”  He turned around fully in his seat, running his fingers through his hair and tucking an imaginary strand behind his ear in mock vanity. “I looked hot.” He said in an overly exaggerated chad voice, turning to get back to his work. You laughed. “So you don’t want me to delete it?”  His persona dropped and he spoke with his back still turned to you, his head dipping to focus on whatever he was working on. “If you want it up, keep it up,” he shrugged, “whatever makes you happy.” You smiled at his words, your heart warming.  JIMMY DARLING  Jimmy did have a phone, one you had bought for him for his birthday last year, but he wasn’t really on social media, and what he was signed up to, he only used to promote upcoming shows. He used his phone mainly to stay in contact with you and the others at the camp and often got frustrated at how difficult typing was made for him due to his hands. You posted pictures of you and Jimmy frequently, so much so that your all your socials had practically turned into a fan page for the boy. Jimmy didn’t mind this at all, thinking it cute when you giggled at a funny picture you had just taken of him, or when he caught you scrolling through your camera roll which mostly just consisted of pictures of Jimmy or the both of you together.  He considered your frequent posting of pictures of him as your love language and so when you would post a particularly unflattering picture of your boy, you would show it to him and he would just laugh, not caring who saw it or what they thought of it, only caring that you loved him enough to bother sharing pictures of him with the rest of the world. JAMES MARCH
“Darling?” James called as he entered your shared room, a little frown creasing his glorious face. “Yeh?” You looked up, laughter dancing in your eyes. Sally chortled away from where she sat beside you on your and James’ bed.  He paused. “What’s so amusing?” “Nothing.” You insisted, trying to compose yourself, locking your phone and chucking it on the bed as you stood and met him halfway across the room, gathering him into a hug. “How have you been?” You asked him quietly, Sally giggling away behind you. “I have been well, dearest,” he replied, his gaze softening before they snapped to Sally, confused and slightly irritated. “What?” He bristled, pulling away to survey you and your poorly concealed smile. “Y/n,” he demanded and you tried to reassure him that it was nothing before Sally waved her phone in the air, stating, “it’s nothing for you to worry about, James.” She stood and tried to walk past the two of you stood in the centre of the room, James’ irritation mounting. Sally was taunting him purposely and it was having the desired effect. As Sally made to walk past you, his hand darted out, snatching up her phone.  “Hey!” She shouted, reaching to snatch it back but James had already strode off, trying to figure out how to “turn this retched device on.”  “No!” You blurted, chasing after him. He turned, regarding you with surprise and then suspicion, his eyes narrowing to slits. “Turn it on.” He insisted, thrusting the phone at you. Sighing, you did as he asked, unlocking the phone and raising your eyebrows at him when the password screen came up.  “I can’t even get in, see? It’s not my phone.” You held the phone up so James could see. “Relax, we were laughing at some weird guy Sally was messaging on Tinder.” You turned from James, handing the phone back to Sally with a wink, who tried in earnest to hold in her laughter as she took her leave. “What’s Tinder?” James grumbled, placing his cane on the bed and shrugging off his jacket. You took it from him and went to hang it in the wardrobe, chuckling at his question.  Of course it was a lie. Only a few minutes early, you had posted a beautiful collection of unflattering pictures that you had taken of James in the past week and Sally had appeared in your bedroom moments later in hysterics, demanding that you show her all the pictures you had of your unphotogenic boyfriend.  And as guilty as you felt about not telling him, which to be honest wasn’t very, he would never know. And Sally would kill you if you took the post down. You smiled to yourself as James walked away to pour himself a drink, returning a moment later and presenting you with a large glass of wine, a charming grin gracing his face, his irritation already forgotten.
RORY MONAHAN 
Rory’s favourite pastime was going onto your phone, getting into your social media and posting pictures of himself on your profiles. At first you didn’t mind, keeping the posts up and watching as all his fans would flock to like and comment on the pictures but as soon as he started to post gross pictures of you on your own socials, you changed all of your passwords and made sure to never leave your phone unattended. It didn’t take Rory long to guess what you had changed your passwords to, however, and he logged onto your socials on his own phone and continued to post, thankfully returning to just posting pictures of him, and you eventually stopped caring. As long as it kept him entertained, you were happy to let him carry on doing it.
KAI ANDERSON
“Delete it. Now.” You turned to your boyfriend’s voice from where you stood in your shared kitchen.  You groaned at him. “Oh, come on.” You drew out the final word. “It’s funny, Kai.” “People won’t take me seriously as a leader.” You scoffed at his response, leaning against the marble countertop of your kitchen and beckoning him over. He complied, coming to stand before you and bracing his arms either side of you on the surface behind you. Pressing a kiss to his head, you wrapped your arms around him, sighing contentedly.  “You’ve been gone all day, I’ve been lonely.” He leaned into your touch, resting his chin on the top of your head.  “I had a lot to sort out, but it’s finished with now.”  You pulled back, puckering up your lips in invitation for Kai to lean down and kiss you. But he didn’t, instead raising his hand and placing a finger on your lower lip, pulling it down gently with a thumb to reveal your bottom teeth.  He leaned down, grazing a ghost of a kiss to your mouth before clamping his teeth down on your lower lip and pulling back slowly, only releasing your lip when you shuddered, suppressing a groan.  A sweet, fluttery sensation filled your stomach as you met Kai’s intense gaze, anticipating his next move.  But he only smirked, pushing away from your body and sauntering over to the fridge, whistling merrily whilst rooting through the fridge, looking for something to eat.  You frowned in irritation, knowing full well that he was aware of the effect that lip biting had on you.  “Asshole.” You mumbled. He looked over a shoulder. “What was that?” “Nothing.” You chirped innocently. The fridge door shut and he walked back over to you slowly, tension, thick and hot, filling the room.  Kai resumed his position before you, your back pressed to the counter as he pushed his body even closer to yours, taking your chin in his hand so that you had no other choice but to look directly at him.  “Delete the picture, and I’ll give you what you want.” He murmured, eyes dipping to your lips, before meeting your gaze again. And with that, he was gone, the air suddenly too cold as his body was removed from yours, his footsteps getting quieter as he left the kitchen, seemingly unbothered. Flustered, you straightened, looking after him, longing burning from deep within you. Needless to say, the picture was deleted mere minutes later.
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Stars on your Sleeve (Part 2) [A Jay Halstead Imagine]
A/N: The name of the girl is Y/N (I mostly write my imagines in second person POV...except for the one you guys might see in a few weeks) and cariña is just a nickname/term of endearment in Spanish that means sweetheart. Sorry if anyone got confused about that in part one!
"Dad," you started as you walked into Jay's office after school that day.
It was a Thursday and you had taken the bus from school to the district. It wasn't often that you did this, but you had gotten texts from both your mom and dad telling you that the current case was going to drag on and on tonight, so they wanted you at the district so that you wouldn't be home alone until two or three o'clock in the morning.
"Hi, cariña. How was your day? Learn anything interesting in school?"
"Dad," you groaned. "It's high school, half the stuff they teach me I won't ever use again."
"Well, excuse me for wanting to know about my daughter's day."
"Just can't wait for this week to be over to sleep in."
"You and me both, kid."
"Half the time you work weekends though, Dad," you pointed out.
"Comes with the sergeant title."
"And your sleeping in is like 7:00."
"Point taken. Now, did Mom pack you a few extra snacks or do you need some money for the vending machines?"
"She didn't--"
"Don't even finish that sentence, young lady," Hailey said as she burst into Jay's office. "I packed you a few extra things and you know it. You just want--"
"--Oreos," Jay and Hailey said at the same time.
"Hey, don't blame me! They taste good," you protested. "Anyway, Dad, can I use your laptop to do my homework?"
"Don't you have that school-issued one?"
"That one blocks Netflix."
Jay crossed his arms across his chest. "Homework, huh?"
"I'm just writing a paper. It's not like I'm doing math or reading something."
"What type of paper?" Hailey asked. "Because, I'm pretty sure that if it's a research paper, you need to focus."
"It's a narrative, so I don't need to be constantly focused, Mom."
"Makayla does the same thing," Adam said as he entered the office as well. "Let the kid have the laptop, Jay."
"Thanks, Adam."
"Uh," Jay groaned, "I guess."
"We also have a lead, so you wanna roll out after I give you the info?" Adam asked.
"Yeah. Sorry, Y/N, you need to go into the breakroom now."
"But why can't I stay in here?" you whined. "I want your spinny chair."
"Y/N, this is a case," your mom told you. "You know the rules: no being around the case talk. It's for your own good, we don't want to scar or scare you."
Mom, you know what I've seen, you wanted to tell her, but you knew it would be no use as your parents would never budge on this rule.
"I know, Mom."
Jay pulled his laptop from his desk along with the charger. "Rules?" he probed, holding onto the laptop and charger.
"Dad, I know the rules. Mom, c'mon, tell him."
"It's your dad's laptop, Y/N. I'm not arguing with you or him on this one."
Jay cocked his head to the side. "I'll give you the laptop after you tell me the rules...even though I know you know them."
You sighed. You went through this every time you used his laptop when he was going to be gone. "Only use my account, don't try to login to your account, and do not delete my search history."
"Here you go." He handed you his laptop and charger. "Good luck on your paper. Don't work too hard."
You went into the breakroom and opened the laptop. First, you pulled up Netflix, and then you pulled up your paper. It was your paper for your senior portfolio, which most people were putting off, seeing as you were only a freshman, you didn't need to work on it yet. But, you knew it had to be long, so starting it now would probably be helpful.
The paper was basically a narrative telling a story about each year of school. The stories had to be from two to five pages long, which meant that the paper in its entirety would be between 26 and 65 pages long. But, you didn't mind. It's not like you had to write a boring research paper. You also had to write about your career goals and one wish for your future as well, which would make the paper even longer still.
Seeing as your schooling didn't exactly match up with the American school system until you were around nine and in third grade, you had gotten permission from your teacher to just write about the sections of kindergarten, first, and second grade, as just memories from when you were six, seven, and eight years old.
You'd save the memories of six and seven for later, since you'd have to dig into the part of your brain where you were in the orphanage with your older sister, Illiana.
For now, you just scribbled down a few lines for ideas of when you were eight years old...which was pretty simple since a lot happened in your life that year.
***
"Y/N, we brought you some food if you--"
"Shut up!" Mouse hissed as the rest of the unit clambered up the stairs and into the bullpen. "She's sleeping."
Yes, when Mouse came home he returned to his job as the tech analyst of the Intelligence Unit. And, when Jay became sergeant, he pulled a few strings and got him a huge salary increase.
"I'll pull the car around front," Hailey offered.
"No," Jay whined. "That means I gotta be the bad guy and wake her up."
"Sorry, babe. I call dibs."
"Ew, guys, please keep the lovey-dovey nicknames to home. I don't need to see that," Adam joked.
"Shut up, Ruz."
Hailey swiped the keys from Jay's office and Jay went to wake you up. But, before he did, he saw the laptop, still open to both Netflix and your paper.
There wasn't much in the paper yet, as Jay had expected, only a few bullet points. His name caught his eye below the age 8 section...whatever that meant. He didn't mean to pry (well, really he did), but he closed the laptop without logging you out so that he and Hailey could take a look at it later.
"Y/N, Y/N, wake up."
You were woken up by someone gently shaking your shoulder.
"Quiero dormir, vaya," you whined. That was one thing you always did: reverted back to Spanish when you were tired. At least both Jay and Hailey understood it now because they had learned Spanish...which helped them with parenting because when they were mad at you, they'd talk in Spanish and that's how you know you were in deep shit.
"I know you want to sleep, and I'm not leaving," Jay answered. "But, we're going home so you can sleep in your bed instead of here."
"Mmmm, okay," you mumbled. You rubbed your eyes, but then decided it was too much work to get up, so you just sat up and closed your eyes once again.
"C'mon, cariña. Mom's got the car out front and then all you gotta do is stay awake until we get home, okay?"
"Mmmm," you mumbled and then stood up. He already had your backpack slung over his shoulder and was holding his laptop in the other hand. "Can I skip school tomorrow? I'm tired."
"Not a chance," Jay chuckled. "But, I can drive you to school and we can get you a frappucino on the way there."
"Mom won't be mad?"
"We don't have to tell Mom everything now do we?"
"No, we don't."
***
"What are you doing?" Hailey asked Jay as she slid into bed next to him that night. "Are you seriously checking our daughter's search history this late at night? C'mon Jay, she's a good kid. You won't find anything."
"That's not what I'm looking at. But, now that you mention it, I should probably check that, too."
"Then, what are you reading? Because I know for a fact that your case notes are definitely not as organized as that."
"Wow, Hails, you're so sweet," Jay said sarcastically. "It's Y/N's paper. The rubric was pasted at the top and it looks like she has to write about a memory from each year of her life and her career goals and a wish for the future."
"And you were snooping because...?"
"Because I saw my name. I wanna see what she says about us, Hailey."
"Jay, she loves us, baby. We're her parents. We both know that. You don't need to read her schoolwork to know that."
"Either way, I'm still reading it. Join me if you want, or go to sleep."
"Uh, fine. But if she asks, this was your idea and I will not hesitate to throw you under the bus."
Age 8, they both read to themselves, leaving/running away from orphanage
"God, no matter how many years it's been since she told us what happened, it never fails to break my heart," Hailey said.
Jay wrapped one arm around his wife. "I know, babe. I feel the exact same way."
"Hey, Y/N," the therapist started and you looked up at her. "Do you want to in that room over there and watch some tv while I talk to jay and Hailey? I can even turn on the Spanish movies for you."
"Okay!"
After getting you all set up, she left you in the room with a Spanish children's movie playing while she went to get Jay and Hailey.
"Jay and Hailey?" she asked as she entered the waiting room.
"Dr. Smith," Jay greeted.
"I have something to tell both of you, and Y/N told me it was okay that I tell you. When I asked if she wanted to be the one to tell you this, she said no because she didn't want to make you sad."
They entered the room where you had previously been and Dr. Smith sat in a chair and Jay and Hailey sat on the couch.
"What's this about?" Hailey asked.
"Well, she told me why she ran away from the orphanage."
Jay and Hailey were shocked. You'd been with them for three months and hadn't once mentioned why you ran away and what happened before Jay found you. It wasn't for lack of trying on Hailey and Jay's part, though. They tried. After all, they knew how to talk to child victims. But, they didn't want to push you too hard, and eventually, they just dropped the topic all together because they knew you'd talk about it when you were ready. Apparently, today was the day that you were ready to tell that story.
"And?" Jay pushed. "Why'd she run away?"
"She said that they came for her, the people who you were fighting," Dr. Smith said.
"Los Rebeldes," Jay said, more to Hailey than to anyone else.
"They came for her specifically?" Hailey asked.
"No, they just came to the orphanage. She said that she heard voices--male voices--telling them to get down on the ground and then some shots rang out. Her sister, Illiana, told her to hide and slipped the necklace around her neck. So, she did. She said she closed her eyes really tight and she just laid there, hiding and barely breathing. She said she heard a gunshot and then she heard Illiana scream and she heard squishing noises."
"Oh my God," Hailey gasped.
"You're saying they shot and killed her?" Jay asked, his voice cracking.
"That's what it sounded like, yes."
"How did she get out?"
"She said that she snuck out through a small door in the back of the room. She said it wasn't a real door, but it was a small door that led to the outside, by her description, it sounded about three feet tall and two feet wide."
"The waste doors," Jay muttered.
"The what?" Hailey asked.
"The waste doors...well, that's what we called them on Base anyway. They were these little doors where you could place stuff outside. Sometimes we'd put the packaging of our MRE's there or other crap we didn't need anymore. Not good for the planet, but yeah, that's what we did."
"So, Jay, you're telling me that Y/N essentially snuck out of the orphanage through a trash chute?"
"Well, we used them for waste, which is why we called them waste doors. But, I heard rumors of them being used at orphanages for parents to put their baby in a crib. They'd just open the door and place the baby in the little crib on the other side of the door."
"She moved the crib and snuck out through there?"
"If there was a crib, then she moved it and got out. If not, she just crawled out through there."
"Did she tell you anything about when she left?" Hailey asked Dr. Smith.
"She said that she didn't have much with her, just her teddy bear and that locket. But, she said that she walked for the rest of the day. And, according to her timeline, the soldiers came right after breakfast. She said she was really scared that they were going to find her and so she just kept walking. But then, she found a bit of a forest it sounded like and since it was starting to get dark and cold, she laid down."
"I found her in the middle of the night and she must've been there since sunset. No wonder she was hypothermic."
"We got her her first banana split after that therapy session," Hailey said. "I honestly don't know whether the food was to get her to try something new or to comfort us."
"Yeah, that was a rough night. I didn't even want her to leave my arms," Jay said. "Jay found me and I went home to Chicago," he read aloud. "Man, that night was rough, too. Probably worse than the night where we found out why she left."
"Now, it's crowded here, cariña so stay cerca to us or go mano a mano with me or Hailey, okay?" Jay asked you as the three of you found a parking spot at Navy Pier.
Adam, Kim, Kevin, and Will were all there as well. They had planned to go out and party and go to a bar when Jay returned home, but that changed now that he and Hailey had a kid to take care of, so they had decided to take a trip to Navy Pier.
In the airport, Jay had gotten a huge coffee from Starbucks, seeing as he had barely slept on the way home. Before coming to Navy Pier, you had gone to a place called iHOP where you had gotten some really yummy pancakes, and Adam, Kevin, and Will had made you laugh a lot and Kim spoke Spanish with you.
"What does that word mean?" you asked.
"What word?" Jay asked, looking down at you as he took your hand.
"Cr-crowded," you sounded out slowly.
"Uh, it means there's lots and lots of people."
"Oh, okay. I stay by you."
"So Y/N, what do you like to do?" Will asked you.
"I like reading and play fútbol," you told him.
"Really? Jay loves playing soccer!"
"We played back at the big house in España," you told Will excitedly. "We won and I got lots and lots of goals."
"Looks like you have a pro soccer player on your hands, little brother," Will said to Jay.
"Don't I know it."
"We go on the big thingy you showed me in the little book in the plane?" you asked Jay.
"The Ferris wheel?" You nodded excitedly. "We can do that, but let's walk around first. We might be able to play some games and win you a friend for Osito."
"Really? Osito have a friend?"
"Really," Jay promised.
As you walked down Navy Pier, you were excitedly pointing out every little thing you saw from the ducks and the seagulls to the big yachts floating down the Chicago River.
"Let's go into Garrett's, babe," Hailey suggested when they were inside the big atrium. "Give her a taste of Chicago's world-famous popcorn."
"I think that's a great idea," Jay agreed. "What do you think, cariña? Want to try some popcorn and then we'll get your favorite?"
You tilted your head to the side. "Popcorn? What is that?"
"Palomitas," Kim clarified for you in Spanish. "Hay muchos tipos diferentes de palomitas allí para probar y comprar."
"Oh, okay. Yes, please."
"What did you say to her?" Hailey whispered to Kim.
"Just gave her the Spanish translation of popcorn and then told her that there's a bunch of different types of popcorn that she can try and buy in there. But, you and Jay most definitely have your work cut out for you when it comes to learning Spanish. You're lucky that she's pretty good with English already and that I'm here to help you learn Spanish."
***
"Sleepy, cariña?" Jay asked as he heard you yawn from the backseat.
Hailey was driving and he was holding a big bag of caramel and cheddar popcorn...which Hailey was telling him not to eat all of it because she knew he would. You were in the backseat with your big stuffed bear, whom you had named Osita since she was a girl bear because she had really soft white fur and a pink ribbon tied around her. Jay had won that for you when he played a shooting game. You also had a stuffed duck that Will had won for you when he played a guess the weight game. You named him Pato...which meant duck in Spanish. You had gone on the Ferris wheel and had pointed out all the pretty things in the sky when you were up there. Hailey had never seen Jay so happy as when he was smiling wide at every little thing you pointed out and he tried to explain to you what they were.
"No," you answered as you laid your head against Osita. It was currently 3 pm Chicago time, which made it about 9 pm Spain time.
"Tell you what," Hailey started, "When we get home, we can show you your room, and then we can watch a movie and eat this popcorn. Because, if we don't start eating it soon, Jay will eat it all."
"Jay eat it all if we no eat it too?"
"Jay eats a lot," Hailey joked.
You reached your hand in front of you and towards Jay. "Palomitas please." Jay chuckled and Hailey smiled as he put some popcorn into your little outstretched hand. "Gracias."
"De nada," Jay told you.
"When we watch movie, how I get it?" you asked.
"We get it on the tv," Jay told you.
"No, how I know what they saying?"
Hailey hadn't thought that far ahead when she had suggested watching a movie. "Um," Hailey faltered. "We can make it so it's in Spanish."
"But then you no know what they say," you pointed out.
"We can put words on the bottom of the screen in English for us," Jay suggested. "Then all three of us will know what they're saying. Is that okay?"
"Okay!"
"Hailey," Jay whispered. "What are we gonna watch?"
"She's too old for princesses probably and way too young for action movies...how about Disney Channel movies? We could try High School Musical? That one's pretty good."
"You're kidding Hails. You watched that? Didn't it come out when we were like 20 or 25?"
Hailey held back a laugh. "Yes, it did. But, I babysat a lot of kids in my neighborhood who were around Y/N's age, and we'd always end up watching those Disney Channel originals."
"Okay, whatever you say, babe."
***
"I think I'm gonna bring her to bed," Jay said.
You had fallen asleep halfway through the movie. Before starting it, you had seen your room. It was purple! And, in black letters behind your bed, it said Salon de Y/N, which meant Y/N's room. Jay assumed that Kim had helped Hailey with the spelling and the boys had helped move the furniture into your room. There was also a little basket with a few things they thought you would like, such as a few different colored soccer balls and a bookshelf.
On the bookshelf, Hailey had picked out some books in Spanish that she had found at Barnes and Noble and some short chapter books in English that she used to read as a kid, such as the Nancy Drew series and Little House on the Prairie. She knew that you might need help reading them and might not be able to completely understand them all by yourself yet, but she knew that she and Jay would be there to help you.
"It's 6:00," Hailey protested. "Shouldn't we wake her up and have her stay awake for a few more hours so that her body can adjust?"
"If you're asking an adult like me that, yes, I'd stay awake. But, she's a kid. She needs her sleep. And, I'll probably be up before you anyway, so I can deal with her if she wakes us up at five in the morning."
"Okay super dad," Hailey joked. "Bring her to bed. I'll make us a quick dinner and cover this popcorn so it doesn't get stale. Can't wait for us to go to bed tonight." She winked.
"Hails, as much as I would love to take you up on that, I don't think it's a good idea when it's Y/N's first night. But, I will give you all the cuddles in the world tonight, don't you worry about that."
"As long as you didn't pick up the habit of snoring overseas then I'm all for that, babe."
***
Jay woke up to the sound of soft whimpering. It sounded like it was coming from the hallway but he couldn't be sure. He reached over Hailey and was about to grab her gun from her drawer where he knew that she kept it, but stopped when he remembered that it was probably just you. It wasn't just Jay and Hailey in the house anymore; you were there as well and that's probably where the noise was coming from. And, he didn't want to scare you by holding a gun.
He glanced over at the clock. 3 am. Yeah, sounds about right that you'd be waking up right about now since you'd slept for about nine hours and it was 9 am in Spain right now.
Jay slowly tiptoed out into the hallway, cursing himself that he hadn't left a light on or kept his and Hailey's bedroom door open so you could find them easily.
Jay reached out for the hall light switch and flicked on the lights, causing you to jump. "Hey, hey, it's just me. It's just Jay," he said calmly once he laid eyes on you. You were holding Osito and there were fresh tears running down your cheeks.
Jay never knew the force of an eight-year-old running into him could be so strong as to almost knock him over. You dropped Osito and wrapped your arms around him as if your life depended on it.
"It's okay, it's okay," Jay soothed. "What's wrong, cariña? Can you tell me what's wrong?"
"I-I no know where I was," you mumbled into his shirt. "Was dark. Think you and Hailey left, so I came to find you."
"Oh, sweetie," Jay started. "I'm sorry. I forgot to turn the light on for you in your room so that you'd know where you are. And, me and Hailey would never leave you."
"You promise?"
"I promise." Your stomach grumbled. "Hungry?" you nodded. "Alright, let's get you a sandwich and then get you back to bed."
"You eat too?" you asked.
"You know, I could go for a sandwich."
***
The next morning, Hailey rolled over to see that Jay wasn't in bed next to her and his side of the bed was cold. Then, she remembered you and walked over to your room and slowly opened the door. You looked up from the Spanish book you were reading and put a finger to your lips.
"Jay sleeping," you told Hailey.
Jay was sitting upright in your bed against the headboard, his thumb holding a place in what looked to be a Nancy Drew book.
"Did Jay read to you last night, huh?" Hailey asked as she walked closer to you and Jay.
"Yeah, he told me that Nancy does what you and Jay do with policia. Then, I sleep again and then I wake up and he sleep again, so I started reading in Spanish."
"I think we should let him sleep a little more while we go finish High School Musical and eat palomitas before Jay eats it all. Does that sound good?"
You nodded eagerly and closed your book. Then, you got out of bed and followed Hailey out of your room. And, after hearing that Jay had read to you and seeing him sleeping upright in your bed so that you'd be able to sleep, she had one more reason why she was truly head over heels for the man she married and got to call her husband.
"Look, Jay. She wrote her birthday in here for age 9," Hailey said as she pointed to the laptop screen.
"God, I don't think I'll forget that day for the rest of my life. It was such a good day."
"You are such a sap when it comes to Y/N."
"Hey! let me be sappy about our daughter, Hailey Anne. She's in high school now, high school. That means she'll be going off to college soon."
"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, sergeant," she joked. "Just keep reading this. It was your idea to snoop through her stuff after all."
"Jay, you got the stuff?" Hailey asked as she was sitting cross-legged on their bedroom floor with wrapping paper, tape, and scissors in front of her.
"Jesus, Hails," Jay laughed, "You make it sound like we're doing a drug deal."
"Well sorry if I want her birthday to go really well. Now, did you get them or not?"
"They're in here." He set a plastic bag down on the bed. He took out three framed pictures and laid them out on the bed. Of course, he made sure that the frames were different shades of purple. "Good?"
Hailey stood up and looked at the pictures. "I never know the CPD's sketch software could work miracles like this, so yeah, I'd say we did good."
Over the past month, everyone in Intelligence had told you that they were testing out a new sketch software to use to try to track down criminals. They let you play with it because they said they wanted to see what it would do...even though they knew what it did, how good it was, and it wasn't new. It was just a ploy to make sure they got your birthday gift right. They had told you to try and input someone's face from memory, someone like your older sister, Illiana.
So, when you had to go to the district for the day with Jay and Hailey, you'd ask to play with that software to work on your sketch. Little did you know, they were printing it out on fancy photo paper and putting it in a frame for your birthday. Jay had also swiped your necklace one day when you had taken it off to go swimming and had taken pictures of what your mom and dad looked like. Then, he and Hailey each took one parent and worked on making their faces through the CPD's sketch software.
"Now what the hell is this?" Jay asked as he held up a big board that Hailey had laying out in front of her as well.
"That, Jay, is so we can stick the back of the frames to it so that we don't have to give the three of them to her separately. Then, she can just take them off from it and place them wherever she wants in her room."
"You're smart. Maybe you should've gone to law school."
"Haha, very funny, Halstead. But then I wouldn't have met you."
"Eh, I beg to differ. You'd probably end up being some prosecution or defense attorney and then I'd have to testify, and after getting yelled at by you on the stand, I'd end up making an ass of myself and ask you out for a drink."
"Is that so?"
"That is very much so."
He walked up to her and grabbed her by the waist and she gave him a peck on the lips. "Hails," Jay whined. "Why'd you phone it in?"
"Because we have presents to wrap. Now, sit your ass down on the carpet and help me."
"Yes ma'am. But, damn, you're really going to be the death of me."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
***
"Before we do cake everyone, me and Hailey have one more gift for Y/N," Jay announced by tapping a fork gently against his champagne glass. Yes, the adults were drinking champagne because they were celebrating your first birthday with them as their kid. No, they wouldn't even give you one sip...but you didn't care and you didn't ask.
You had gotten spoiled all day. Will had taken you out for breakfast where you had gotten chocolate chip pancakes with all the toppings. Then, he took you to the sporting goods store where you bought an FC Madrid jersey and to Barnes Noble where you bought a few new books.
Then, when you got home, you were surprised to find everyone from Intelligence there along with some people from Med, and firehouse 51. Emilia, Mouse, and Makayla were there, and your friend, Rosa, whom Emilia had introduced you to earlier in the year at her welcome home party since Rosa was one of Emilia's little cousins.
You had gone outside and played a huge soccer game. And, when you got sick of playing soccer, Emilia busted out a makeup kit she had bought for you. And you, Makayla, Emilia, and Rosa did each other's makeup. While the four of you were doing makeup, a soccer tournament had broken out where Intelligence played Med, and then the winner of that game played Firehouse 51. Intelligence won against Med...mostly due to Jay. But, then they played 51 and they got creamed.
"Here you go, nena," Hailey said as she passed you the gift. Hailey had started calling you nena since Jay had a nickname for you, cariña, which you learned now meant sweetheart in English. So, she decided to call you nena, which meant honey. And, you and Hailey had thought it only fair if you came up with a nickname for Jay. So, the one you decided on was quite fitting in your mind: pecas...which translated to freckles. And, Will, well Will calls you Osa because your favorite animal is a bear. It's probably one of only three words he knows in Spanish next to hola and adios.
The gift was long and hard...like a piece of wood. You slowly opened the gift, wondering what else you could have possibly gotten.
You bit your lip as you finished tearing the paper off and flipped it over. "Mamí, Papí, Illiana," you whispered as you held back tears. "¿Cómo lo hicisteis?" you asked. Seeing as Jay and Hailey had been working very hard on their Spanish for the past nine months, they could understand you and could sometimes explain an English word to you in Spanish if needed.
"We didn't really need to test out the drawing thing," Jay answered. "We just needed a picture of Illiana. And, I got the pictures of your parents from the locket."
At this, you started to cry harder, remembering that day when Jay had to cut your necklace off of you in the back of the Med truck in Spain.
You stood up and hugged both Jay and Hailey at the same time. Now, you had both of your families watching over you: your biological family from in heaven and your parents in the here and now. And, your biological family now had no doubt in their mind up there that you would never, ever forget them.
"You remember what she called us that night?" Hailey asked.
"How could I forget? It was the first night she called us mom and dad. I still remember her exact words when I told her we weren't trying to replace her biological family: Son mi familia en el cielo y en mi corazon, pero vosotros sois mi familia aquí."
"They're my family in heaven and in my heart, but you are my family here."
"Exactly."
"Oh my God!" Hailey laughed. "She wrote sixth-grade: I cheated on a literature test and Mom had to come to pick me up and I got in trouble. And then, Dad went full-on dad-mode."
"No fucking way," Jay laughed as he brought the laptop closer to him and looked for the sixth-grade section. "I can't believe this is what she's going to write about!"
"Well, in her defense, it was the first time we had to ground her and the first time you went full-on, overprotective, my daughter can do no wrong dad-mode."
"Pretty sure the next time I'll do that is when she gets asked to the homecoming dance later this year."
"Jay! You will not! You will not scare the boys away from our daughter!"
"Well, they should be scared!" Jay argued. "We're both cops, babe. We can make their death look like an accident."
"Jay, what you're talking about is murder and I shouldn't have to remind you that that is illegal. If so, I am going to the Ivory Tower tomorrow to get you stripped of your sergeant title."
"Fine, fine. The next time I'll do that is when she gets her driver's license."
"Hey, on the bright side, we wouldn't have to pick her up from the principal's office then," Hailey pointed out. "She could just drive herself home."
"We wouldn't have to figure out which of us should go pick her up like last time?"
"Exactly. And I'm pretty sure she was thankful that it was you and not me who picked her up in sixth grade."
"Miss Halstead," your literature teacher said as she stalked over to you from the other side of the classroom. "Care to tell me what you have under your sleeve?"
"My arm?"
"I don't like being disrespected in my classroom. We both know you have your phone in there. And, lying to me will just make this worse."
"I-I needed it," you stammered, not wanting to have the whole class hear how stupid you were.
"For a test? You know the rules: no cheating. Principal's office, now. Grab your stuff. And, I'll be calling your parents as you walk down there."
You grabbed your backpack and started your walk to the principal's office. It's not like you had a choice...well, you did have a choice. You could've just not used your phone on the test. But, after that last grade you got on that essay and how weirdly worded the questions were, you basically had no choice but to use your phone. It's not like you were using it to look up the answers per se, but you were using it to try and understand the questions because there was no way you were going to ask that teacher.
"Mrs. Halstead, right this way," you heard the office secretary say as they led Hailey to the principal's office. Your phone was sitting on the principal's desk, the tab you had been using to cheat open and you were fiddling with the strings of your hoodie. You had thought about deleting your search history, but knew it wouldn't be of any use because Jay and Hailey would just be able to look it up with whatever police software crap that Intelligence had access to. You knew you'd be in more trouble if you deleted it and they found out that you were lying, so you decided you wouldn't delete it...even though you were regretting that decision as your phone screen stared back at you.
"May I ask why my daughter is in the principal's office when I thought she should be taking a test?" Jay and Hailey knew all about your literature test that day as you had read the book twice to be ready for it.
"That's exactly why she's in here, Mrs. Halstead," the principal told Hailey. "She was trying to cheat on her literature test."
"She wouldn't do that!" Hailey defended you. "She studied so hard!" She looked between both you and the principal, but your gaze stayed trained on the floor.
"Just take a look."
He passed Hailey your phone and she looked at the search history and the timestamps of said history. "Y/N, is this true?"
You nodded. Hailey sighed. "I'm assuming she's suspended?"
"Since this is her first academic infraction, I'm not going to suspend her. She does need to go home for the rest of the school day, though."
"Thank you. C'mon Y/N, let's go."
You hung your head as you left the middle school, Hailey holding your phone and still trying to figure out why you did this. But she knew that one thing was for sure: the minute Jay got home, he would not be happy.
***
"You're kidding me, right?" you heard Jay ask Hailey in the kitchen.
You were currently in your room, but the kitchen was right down the hall, so if you were quiet and focused enough, you could hear their conversation.
"I wish I was, Jay," Hailey said. "Just...here, take a look."
You assumed that Hailey was handing Jay the phone and he was looking at your search history.
Jay took a deep breath and restrained himself from shoving the chair into the kitchen table.
You heard his heavy footsteps coming down the hall and quickly locked your door and then sat back down on your bed.
You heard the doorknob jiggle as Jay tried to open your door.
"Y/N! ¡Abras la puerta inmediatamente!" (Open the door immediately!)
You were in deep shit if he was yelling at you in Spanish.
You didn't move from your bed.
"¡Ábrelo ahora!" (Open it now!)
"¡Estoy viniendo! ¡Calmáse!" (I'm coming! Calm yourself!) You got up from the bed and opened the door.
"Do not ever, ever tell me to calm down ever again! Do you understand me?" Jay asked angrily as he flung open your door after he had unlocked it. You nodded. "Now, I understand that you were caught cheating on a test. Care to explain that to me?"
"Not really," you sighed as you sat on your bed.
"I'm giving you one more chance to explain to me why you chose to cheat. And I suggest you tell me the truth, kid."
You looked up to be met with Hailey standing in the doorway. She nodded to you as if to say you better listen to your dad.
"Well?" he asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"I needed to cheat!"
"Nobody needs to cheat!"
"Well, I did!" You dug through your backpack and found the paper you had to write for the class that your teacher failed you on. "Because of this!" You threw the paper on your bed. "And because my teacher is a puta!"
"You do not call your teacher a bitch, young lady!" Jay yelled.
"Jay!" Hailey yelled. "Take the paper, go to our room and read it and calm down!"
"So Mom can tell you to calm down but I can't?"
Jay turned back to you, but Hailey grabbed his arm. "Bedroom Jay. Now." He left the room and Hailey turned to you. "As for you. You're grounded from your phone for the foreseeable future. Sorry, nena. Now, we'll be back to talk to you after we've read whatever it is you threw on your bed."
***
"We read the paper," Jay said as he and Hailey entered your room again fifteen minutes later. "And, I'm sorry for yelling. I know me and your mom are both detectives, but it'd look better if you told us why you cheated instead of leaving us to put the pieces together."
"I'm sorry, I really am. It's just, I failed that paper. And, I worked really hard on it. And, she said it wasn't a real tradition."
The paper topic was to write about a family tradition and you wrote about the Spanish tradition of eating grapes on New Year's Eve. With twelve seconds left of the year, you'd put a grape in your mouth for every second that passed. You'd try to get all twelve grapes in your mouth, but that was really hard. You wrote about the last time you did it with your family and your papí almost got all of them in your mouth while you only got three in your mouth since you were only three years old at the time.
One of the grading criteria for the paper was that it had to be a real tradition.
"She said that it wasn't a real tradition, Dad. She said that because she had never heard of it and that it sounded weird to her, that it wasn't real. So, she failed me. I also put some Spanish words in there, but I put the translations next to it. I thought it would make it more...what's the word? It's kind of like real? Like it'd make it more real to read? You know that word for it?"
"Authentic?" Hailey asked.
"Yeah, that. I thought it'd make it more authentic to read. And, I knew the material of the book. But, the questions were so confusing and I didn't want to ask her to clarify because she's mean."
"So you googled the questions to try to figure out what they were asking?" Hailey asked.
"Yes. I'm sorry. I really am. I just didn't want you to be disappointed in me and think that I've been here for four years and not know English."
"Oh, cariña." Jay crouched in front of you. "We'd never think that. I promise. And I know Mom would never think that either, right?"
"That's right," Hailey agreed.
"Now, I have to go make a phone call."
"You went off on that teacher, Jay! I don't think I've ever heard you that angry when you weren't in interrogation!" Hailey laughed.
"Well yeah! That teacher's logic and grading criteria were seriously flawed. And, you read that paper. It was really good. As Y/N put it that day, she really was a puta."
Hailey rolled her eyes.
"Wish for the future," Jay read aloud. "I wish that I could figure out why Los Rebeldes came to the orphanage and killed Illiana."
"I think that's enough snooping through her stuff for the day, babe," Hailey said, beginning to feel uncomfortable reading this. "Let's just go to bed."
"Yeah, I'm just gonna take a quick shower and I'll be back, okay? I love you." He gave Hailey a quick peck on the lips and made his way to the bathroom to take a shower.
"I love you, too."
But, Jay barely heard her. He was so lost in thought about how to get answers for you, for his daughter. Hell, he wanted those answers just as bad as you. What kind of sick bastard would come into an orphanage heavily armed and just kill innocent civilians and innocent children?
***
"Mouse," Jay said as he entered the bullpen the next morning, "I need your help with something."
"Jeez, Jay, you're late," Ruzek commented. "Where's Hailey?"
"It's her RDO. And, I promised Y/N a frappuccino because she had to wake up early for school and had to go to bed late last night because we were working a case."
"Does Hailey--"
"No, Adam. Hailey does not know that I gave our fourteen-year-old daughter sugar-laced coffee this morning. And, if you so much as say the words frappuccino, Jay, and Y/N in the same sentence, I will bump you back down to patrol so fast you won't know what hit you."
Jay started to walk towards the tech area where he assumed Mouse would be. His voice carried, so he hoped he'd heard him when he'd said he needed his help.
"Whose idea was it to give Jay all this power?" Adam asked rhetorically. "I think it's going to his head."
"I heard that Ruz!"
"You needed something, Jay?" Mouse asked as he turned around from his laptop and took a sip of his coffee.
"Yeah, can you do something off the books for me?"
"You don't even have to ask anymore, man."
"Just need to make sure you don't assign a case number to it."
"I can do that. Now, what do you need?"
Jay pulled out his phone and pulled up a Spanish newspaper article from two weeks ago. He laid the phone in front of Mouse. "This. This is why I need you."
Mouse looked at the phone and back up at Jay with raised eyebrows. "I'm gonna need you to translate that. I don't speak Spanish."
"Says that the guy who killed everyone in the orphanage that Y/N was in is meeting with his lawyer about an appeal. That son of a bitch. And, it's happening on Monday."
"He's meeting with his lawyer on Monday or you'll know if he won the appeal or not on Monday?" Mouse asked.
"He's meeting with his lawyer on Monday."
"And you need me because...?"
"Think you can hack into Spain's maximum-security federal prison system?"
"You cannot be serious."
"I am dead serious, Mouse."
"Why don't you just wait to hear the news?"
Jay sighed and took a seat next to Mouse. "Y/N has to write a paper and was using my laptop. It was this narrative thing for her senior project, so it's due in a few years. But, I'll spare you the details. Y/N had to write what one of her wishes for the future was and she wrote that she wants to know why the guy killed everyone in the orphanage. Not who, because we already know that it was Raúl Rodríguez. She wants to know why."
"That guy's the one who told them to attack the orphanage? The one that killed her sister, right?"
"That's the prick."
"Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'd know that if it was my sister or my kid that I'd want to know."
"Thanks, man."
"Video and audio?"
"Yeah. I'm probably gonna get Emilia in on this too to translate."
"Why? Don't you and Hailey speak Spanish?"
"We do, but they're gonna talk really fast and I probably don't know law lingo except for the word lawyer."
"Fair enough. I'll get to work."
***
"Hails, Hails," Jay shook Hailey awake.
"Jay? Why are you home so late?" she asked as she rolled over and opened her eyes. It was almost 11:30 and she had gone to bed half an hour ago...she thought Jay would've been home by 11:00.
"Paperwork," Jay answered honestly. He instantly regretted his decision of waking Hailey up knowing her history of insomnia. "But, I shouldn't have woke you up. I'm sorry, babe."
"No, I'm awake now. What's up?" She sat up in bed and turned on the lamp to see Jay changing out of his clothes and into his pajama pants and an old t-shirt. "You don't have to sleep with a shirt on you know."
Jay smirked. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? But, don't want our daughter to walk in on me shirtless."
"She's spending the night at Rosa's," Hailey informed him.
"In that case..." Jay trailed off and took off his t-shirt along with his pajama pants so that he was just in his boxers. "Better?"
"Much better."
Jay pulled back the covers on his side of the bed and slid in next to his wife. She cuddled into his side and he wrapped an arm around her.
"What'd you want to tell me?" she asked.
"How do you know I wanted to tell you something?"
"You had that look in your eye, Jay Halstead. Now, tell me."
"So persuasive." He rolled his eyes playfully.
"Shut up."
"You love it, though." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "You know how Y/N's biggest wish was to know why Raúl Rodríguez attacked the orphanage?"
"Mhmm," she mumbled.
"Well, I'm gonna find out why."
She pulled away from him. "What? How? You're going to Spain? To interrogate him? You know the CPD doesn't have jurisdiction there even though you were a ranger there, right?"
"Hails, I'm not going overseas to find him. I promise you that."
"Okay." She settled back into his embrace. "Then what are you doing?"
"Having Mouse see if he can hack into the prison system so that I can watch the lawyer talk to him."
"And you're going to be able to understand everything they're saying?"
"No, but Emilia will."
"You called her and told her your plan before you told me?"
"No! The only person who knows is Mouse. I figured I'd call Emilia tomorrow. Like I said, I was just at the district late doing paperwork."
"Okay, I believe you. And, we're not going to have her in the room with us, Y/N that is? We're going to tell her why he did this so she doesn't have to hear it from him?"
"Precisely. Now, am I right in assuming that since Y/N's gone for the night that we can be as loud as we want?"
"You are very much correct in that." Then, he gave her a kiss...and this time, he didn't phone it in at a peck.
***
You were sitting in the breakroom Monday afternoon trying to do some American history homework. There was so much reading involved, but it was okay because you liked history. And, there were pictures in the textbook...it wasn't like you were reading Romeo and Juliet like you had to do in English class.
You knew Emilia was here because she had brought you some fries, much to your mom and dad's dismay since your mom had packed you a few extra snacks. But, Emilia said she had to hold up her reputation as your cool aunt...even if she wasn't related to you whatsoever. And so far, she was holding it up.
You didn't know why she was here, but you assumed it was because Kim was in the field and they needed someone to translate audio. Sometimes Jay would call in Emilia if he knew that she wasn't working to do some translating so he didn't have to deal with calling up a patrolman. You also knew from hearing some of his conversations with Will that Will wanted to ask her out.
And, you hoped she say yes. You wanted Emilia to be your actual aunt. Apparently, she had a thing for doctors according to Jay's side of the phone conversations you'd heard, so you hoped it'd work out if your uncle Will ever got the balls to ask her out.
All of a sudden, Emilia came into Jay's office and he took off running. Hailey saw this and she started following them.
"What?" you asked yourself.
They always would tell you if they had to leave and they'd always be sure to tell you they loved you before they left.
You quietly walked out of the breakroom and towards where you had seen them running to. You assumed they were in the tech area because of the direction they ran in and the fact that whenever Emilia was here, she was most likely in the tech room.
As you got closer, you started hearing Spanish.
Someone talking about an attack...an attack on an orphanage.
A man said it was in the Tabernas Desert.
You peeked your head around the corner to see that on the screen there was a man in a nice suit and someone sitting at a table with handcuffs on.
"Anything we don't already know?" Hailey asked.
"Not that it sounds like right now," Emilia answered. "They're just talking about the orphanage Y/N and Illiana were in and where it was."
So this is the guy who did it. This was the guy--no, the monster--who led the attack that killed your sister.
"The lawyer just asked Rodríguez why he did it," Emilia said.
"And?" Jay asked
"Jay, I need to be able to hear them talk, so shut up."
Jay held his hands up in a sign of surrender.
"The lawyer just asked if it was something personal, something like Rodríguez being an orphan and he didn't have a good experience there so he attacked it, something that would tug at the board of appeals heartstrings essentially." There was a pause as Emilia continued listening. "He said no." She paused again. "Oh my God."
"What?" Jay asked frantically. "Why did that prick kill innocent children?"
"He said he ordered the attack because the orphanage was receiving aid from the US, for things such as food, clothing, and basic necessities."
"Un-fucking-believable." Jay wanted to punch something, but he restrained himself. "So, because our country was helping those who couldn't help themselves, this prick went after them?"
"That's what it sounds like. I'm sorry, Jay."
"Hails, how are we going to tell Y/N?"
"You guys don't have to tell me," you said as you made your presence known. "I heard the whole thing."
Jay sighed. "I'm sorry cariña, really I am. I'm sorry that this happened to you. That you had to find out this way. That this was the reason for what that monster did. I'm sorry."
"Dad read my outline?" you asked, turning to Hailey.
"Yeah, nena, he did. It was just open and you know him, he couldn't stop himself."
"Because he's a detective before he's a sergeant, just like Nancy Drew," you said, bringing it back to the books you'd used to read with your dad every night when you had just come over to the states from Spain and were working on your English.
"This should never have happened," Jay said softly as he walked over to you and brought you into a tight hug. "People that do these kinds of horrific acts shouldn't have the right to be born, much less to live."
"But if that wouldn't have happened you wouldn't have found me. And I wouldn't have found my forever Mom and Dad."
A/N: I wrote over 6.5k words to get this posted today! That's a new personal record for me! Also, my neuroscience class is kicking my butt right now, so if I don't update as frequently, that's why. Hopefully, I'll get one out every week or every two weeks at the latest. Please like/reblog and comment because I love getting feedback and it keeps me motivated to write. If you want to be added to the taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you! 
taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl @dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e 
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thekisforkeats · 3 years
Text
The Way You Say My Name
Info: The Magnus Archives, JonMartin, rated T for swears. Canon-Compliant. Set immediately post-MAG 22. Martin is trans and Jon is amab non-binary.
CWs: Guilt, self-recrimination, worms (mentioned), arguments, shouting, crying, lying (Martin lying about his CV still), transphobia (mentioned), misgendering (mentioned), child abuse (mention of Martin Blackwood's mother) 
Summary: Just after MAG 22, Jon apologizes for his treatment of Martin over the past few months. Or tries to, anyway. It's hard to apologize to someone when you don't understand exactly what it is you've done to upset them.
(Of course, once Jon's apologized and Martin's relaxing, well... that's when Jon will finally notice he actually likes Martin, isn't it? Not that he's going to admit to that, even to himself.)
Shoutout to the Martin Blackwood Lovers Discord Server, without whom I would not have written this up and posted it. ;) Jon’s dialogue was (mostly) written by @marianfuckinghawke.
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“Recording ends.”
Jon reached out and pressed the stop button on the tape recorder. He sighed and looked at his phone. The message from Jane Prentiss was still glowing on the screen. He ran a hand through his short hair, aware he was mussing the grey-streaked black and deciding he didn’t care.
He had listened to Martin’s account of the encounter with Jane Prentiss with trepidation and worry. Now he could feel his face settling into something more drawn with concern. First, concern for his two assistants who were out of the Archive at the moment. Second, concern for Martin. The man had gotten himself into this mess because of Jon’s words. Due diligence. Was he really such a hardass that he had put one of his subordinates in harm’s way? How had he not realized that it might come to this?
Martin sat fidgeting, shifting in his seat, and Jon could feel the other man’s soft brown eyes on him. He had the look of a frightened, cornered animal and it cut Jon to the quick. He had done this. Jon was responsible for the man’s state, and he had to figure out how to make it better.
There was silence for a solid three minutes. Then Martin opened his mouth to say, “So if I’m going to be--”
Jon started speaking at exactly the same time. “So obviously you’re--” He blinked and said, “I’m sorry--”
“No, no, you go,” Martin said, raising his hands and waving them rapidly.
“No. It’s alright… go ahead,” Jon replied at the exact same time, then frowned.
Martin cleared his throat, then seemed to gather his courage. “Well. I was going to say. If I’m going to be staying here, I’ll need… things. Like, uhh, there’s a cot, but I’ll need, like… a toothbrush? I mean, you don’t have a stash of those sitting around, do you?” He chuckled in a self-deprecating manner.
“No, I do not,” Jon replied. “Nor do you have a proper change of clothing… you can hardly wear the same outfit for however long this will take, and you won’t want to sleep in what you’re wearing.” He had a sudden mental image of Martin sleeping naked, and cleared his throat while he shoved it away. Hardly an appropriate thought about a co-worker, even if it wasn’t remotely sexual. “We will have to go out and get such things for you… perhaps after I brief Tim and Sasha on the situation.”
Martin nodded. “There’s a room that might be, umm… did you know one of the rooms that’s filled with boxes is supposed to be the break room?” He gave that self-deprecating laugh again. “‘Course you know that, stupid, what am I saying…” He glanced aside, cheeks flushing. “Umm. Anyway. Umm. It’s bigger than the room you’ve got the cot in? If… if… I’m going to be staying here… I could clean it out… make it livable, maybe, umm, get some snacks and tea and things in, and there’d be more room for extra cots… in case you need somewhere to stay late or… something…” A pause. “Or not! Or just. You know. I’ll just. Have lots of time, so. I can. Clean. The break room.”
Jon did not, in fact, know that they’d had a break room at all. It had been frustrating to have everyone going up to the Admin break room on the ground floor, and he’d said so more than once. No, wait… had someone told him, and had he just told them off about clearing the room out?
He was suddenly horribly aware of how many times he’d griped at Martin for going up there to make tea that he had then gone ahead and drunk. How had he been such a prick to this man?
When Jon had started as Head Archivist, he’d had all sorts of plans for team morale, bonding exercises, and the like. He’d always hated them personally but they were the sort of thing bosses were supposed to do. The trouble was that all of his “how best to run the Archives as a team” ideas had flown right out of his head once he’d gotten down there and found himself at a desk where a woman had maybe died, struggling to record statements, dealing with doggy messes, and that damned persistent feeling of being watched.
Well, now was as good a time as any to start acting the way he should have all along.
“Martin… we will clean the break room. Together. As a group.” He ran his hand through his hair again. He really was going to look a mess. “It is a communal space, it will be a communal job.” He added quickly, “Yes, I know you’ll be here more than the rest of us, but I want us all involved. We need…” He sighed. Time to apologize. “I have been… less supportive of you than I should. And…” He swallowed, aware of the flush rising on his cheeks. “I feel I must apologize. So… I am sorry. But we should do more together, especially given that circumstances have escalated.”
Martin blinked at him for a moment. “You’re… sorry. For… being less… supportive than you should have been.” There was a hard-to-read undercurrent in his tone.
“For being… rude to you… and for punishing you…” Jon replied. “Unjustly.” He gestured to the recorder. “All of this… happened because of your adherence to my instructions…” He frowned. “So. I’m sorry.”
“Well,” Martin snapped, “at least you’re finally realizing that it was… unjust.” He glared at Jon, who suddenly felt pinned to the spot by eyes that were no longer soft but had gone hard as agates.
Jon blinked at Martin. “Are… are you alright?” He was apologizing! He couldn’t be messing that up this badly, could he?
Martin drew a long breath in through his nose. “Yeah,” he said, in a high-pitched, clipped tone. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He went to stand abruptly, pushing away from the desk, and in that same tone, “Well, you’d better get to… briefing people, then. I’ll just… go see how far my paycheck can stretch in Chelsea.” His tone was dripping with bitterness by the end.
Jon stood up. “Martin!” He was vaguely aware of saying it in the same irritated tone he always used for the man’s name, aware that Martin visibly flinched at the word, and tried to moderate his tone. “What is going on? I am apologizing! Is… am I missing something?” He moved around the desk to try to be sure Martin didn’t just leave without finishing the conversation.
“No,” Martin said, stopping while facing the door, tone still a good two octaves above normal. “No, it’s fine. You’re apologizing, and that’s good.” His whole frame was stiff, though, and his tone practically screamed “lying.”
Jon couldn’t read people all that well, but even he could read the signs Martin was giving off. “While your words are clear, your body language says quite otherwise.” He tried to moderate his tone again, but he couldn’t help sounding mildly irritated. He didn’t like being lied to, especially concerning his own actions, and he wasn’t sure what he had done incorrectly in this situation. “Now will you stop and talk to me?”
Martin turned away from the door, faced Jon, jaw set firmly. “What do you want me to say, Jon? Do you want me to… to forgive you? To say ‘oh, sure, you’re sorry, so that makes up for the last six months where you’ve made me want to quit my job every day?’ Am I supposed to… to… just… oh, well, there’s danger, so now you’ve realized I’m an actual person, now you’re going to stop kicking me around, now you’re going to pitch in to help around here as I’m not already the one spending all his time trying to clean up the mess while Tim and Sasha run out to research things so you don’t have to send anyone to double-check my work? Never mind that I’ve been trapped for two weeks, I could’ve been dead and none of you bothered to check on me!”
Martin was all but shouting by the end of the diatribe, every line of him stiff and furious, and Jon was suddenly very aware of the fact that Martin was taller and bigger than he was. He cringed away from Martin, took a step back. “I… I…” He turned away to his desk, grabbed his phone. “Here…” he said, handing it to Martin. “Look!” The phone would solve the problem, if Martin could just see… “There… I… just… please…”
The moment Jon had cringed away Martin had hunched his shoulders, deliberately making himself smaller. Now he was taking long, deep breaths, his expression ashamed. He reached out to take the phone from Jon.
The display was still on the screen of Jon’s message history with Martin. Before the last message from Jane Prentiss was a long list of messages from Jon--numerous messages inquiring about Martin’s health, worried and concerned. He had linked articles about foods to eat when feeling ill, then when he’d realized some of those might be hard for Martin to make alone, found new links that had easier recipes.
There were also, Jon knew, greyed-out deleted messages.
Martin, know that your presence is missed here at the Archives. I am wishing you a quick recovery.
I know it’s sudden, but I find myself missing you. Just thought you should know.
And others, so many others, as Jon had tried to figure out how to pierce the wall built by the texts he’d been getting back from what he now knew was Jane Prentiss, asking to be left alone.
As Jon watched Martin reading the messages he nervously bounced in place, one arm folded over his chest to hold the other. He could feel his skin glowing from embarrassment and he wasn’t even sure why. The blush faded, however, as he watched Martin. Watched the anger fade, and realized what lay underneath. The pain that had been underlying that anger, the way it lifted as Martin read through the message history--it was like a revelation. Martin must have walked in here convinced nobody at his place of employment really cared about him, and Jon realized that that was, indeed, what he must usually think, if something as simple as text messages was making something like hope bloom on his face.
It occurred to Jon, suddenly, that nobody had checked on Martin. For two weeks. No friends, no family. Nobody had even noticed the man was gone.
Jon had to fix this. Somehow. And not by wrapping Martin up in a fierce hug like he very much wanted to; that would not be appreciated from the man’s asshole boss. Even if Martin looked like he really, really needed a hug.
By the time Martin handed the phone back to Jon, his breathing was shaky and unsteady. He dropped back into the chair, like his legs suddenly weren’t working. “S-sorry,” he managed in the barest of whispers. “Sorry.”
“That’s… my line,” Jon said. “I am sorry. I should have said more to make it clear… you are a valued member of this team.” He shook his head, wincing at how… canned that line sounded, but pushed on. “I should have said it at least once. And… I never did. I held you at arm’s length and ostracized you. And… I understand how you felt all that time now…” He sighed. “And… yes, it may have taken this incident to make me realize how terrible a person I’ve been to you since… since you started working here.”
Martin stared down at his hands; Jon could see he was crying, but silently, without sniffling or sobbing. “Why?” he finally managed. He looked up at Jon. “Why? What did I… do? I mean… there was the whole ‘dog’ business at the beginning… what, do you hate dogs that much?” There was a kind of desperation in his tone.”
“No… I mean, sure I’m more of a cat person, but… no… I don’t hate dogs.” Jon frowned. “I… I’ve given that a lot of thought these past two weeks and I think I figured it out.” He sighed. “It wasn’t you I was angry with.” He took a breath. “I was angry at Elias. I like to have a sense of who I work with, to get to know them before I get into anything serious.” Oh, no, wait, that sounded… he hadn’t meant it like… work. He’d meant work! No, he was overthinking that; Martin knew he meant work. He stammered for a moment, though. “It’s… part of who I am… as a person.
Jon took a breath, to steady himself. Focus on the apology. “When Elias… placed you here without telling or consulting me about the selection process, it… felt like a betrayal. I felt that agency over my department had been taken out of my hands. And yes… I know he runs the Institute, but he should have at least consulted me about who is in my department.”
He dropped his head and reached to take a box of tissues from the side of the desk, to slide them towards Martin. An olive branch. “I took out that anger and frustration on you. And that was wrong, I know that now.”
“Not like I wanted to be here either,” Martin mumbled, reaching out for a tissue and wiping at his eyes. It didn’t do much to stop the tears. “I mean, I didn’t even want the damn library job, I j-just…” He stumbled, stammering, “It’s… it’s harder to get a position with a degree in parapsychology than you might think.” He sniffled. “B-but… even on top of that… you and Tim and Sasha, you’re all friends already, you requested them. Even if Tim and Sasha and I get along they don’t really know me, and you… well…” He sighed. “When Elias said I was going to work for Jonathan Sims I just about freaked out. You’ve got a… reputation, you know? I just… I knew it’d be… lonely down here, and it really has been.” There was a furrow between his brows now as he looked at Jon.
Jon frowned. He’d known he had a reputation around the Institute, but he hadn’t thought it was that bad. He took a deep breath; this wasn’t about him right now. “Then let us work on fixing that. Starting now. Like I said, we need to be working together more, improve the… office atmosphere. I… have come to admire your dedication to your work. ‘Due diligence,’ as you put it.”
Martin regarded him quietly for a moment. Then he said, “The thing that really bothers me… I don’t… I don’t think you’d understand.”
Jon frowned. Then, finally, softly, “Try me. You might be surprised.”
Martin swallowed. “I… I’m trans,” he blurted. “Like, I was… I had a girl’s name, when I was younger. Figured out I was a guy when I was a teenager, started hormones, and… well…” He took a deep breath. “My mum’s never approved, you know? She’s always been… difficult, she’s… sometimes she’ll… well, I mean, you know how parents will… say your name, right? Like, when you’ve… disappointed them.”
Jon’s frown deepened. He did not, in fact, know how parents said one’s name, but he could remember his grandmother saying Jonathan in tones of deepest disapproval when he’d come back from wandering off. So he nodded; he understood the feeling, at least.
Martin wiped at his eyes again. “The way she said my name… it made me hate my name. My deadname, I mean. But it… helped me realize I was trans, because when I thought about something else I’d want to be called, I came up with ‘Martin.’ And… and I’m kind of glad sometimes, that she… misgenders me, and refuses to call me Martin, because it means she’ll never, ever say it in that… disappointed tone. I have never regretted that choice, not once, until…”
Martin took in a long, shuddering breath, then straightened himself, looking Jon right in the eye. Like he knew what he was going to say wouldn’t go over well, but he had to say it. “The way you say my name, when you snap at me? It’s exactly like my mother says my deadname. And nobody has ever made me regret that choice. Not… ever.” He swallowed. “Until I met you.”
Jon stared at Martin for a long moment, horrified. He was non-binary himself, and yet he’d never changed his name, never even asked people to call him by different pronouns although he might have preferred it; he’d never had the courage to do so. He’d always been terrified of what people might think of him. Yet here was Martin, strong enough to change himself outwardly despite his mother’s disapproval, strong enough to keep coming in every day to deal with a boss who made him regret the name he’d chosen for himself.
In that moment, Jon felt very much like he did not deserve Martin Blackwood. That the Institute did not deserve Martin Blackwood. They would have to do better, somehow.
Finally he managed, “I’m… I didn’t know. I--” He curled his mouth in disgust. How did one respond to that? Do better? That was only a marginally acceptable platitude. “I will endeavor to change my tone.” He didn’t like that any better, but it was the best he could do.
Jon really, really wanted to offer Martin a hug. The man looked like he needed one. Tim would have offered a hug, workplace hugs could be acceptable… but, no, Jon was Martin’s boss, and Martin had just said how much he hated Jon--because if Jon reminded Martin of the mother who deliberately misgendered him, then he had to hate Jon--and who would want a hug from someone they hated?
There was something he could do to help, though. To pay Martin back, as it were. So he, too, straightened, and said, “Well. You were talking about how far your paycheck will stretch in Chelsea, but I think that will be quite unnecessary. Given that you encountered Jane Prentiss while in the line of duty, as it were, I think we can expense your essentials to the Institute without too much trouble.”
Martin’s eyes widened. “W-wait… won’t that… I mean… won’t Mr. Bouchard be… upset about that?”
Jon actually smirked. “Don’t you worry about Elias; I fully intend to take out my irritation about his habits as a supervisor on him instead of you from here on out.” Not directly, of course, but Elias would be irritated by the entire setup, and some petty part of Jon enjoyed that thought.
Martin was staring at Jon now. “I… I wouldn’t want you to… get in trouble…”
Jon waved a hand. “It’s the least I can do.” He stood. “Let’s get to the shops for toiletries before they close and then we can see about getting some clothing delivered. And, ahh, do you have any… prescriptions you’ll need…?” He was thinking about hormones. “I suppose I could send Tim ‘round to your flat, but I wouldn’t want to put him in danger either…”
Martin stood, hesitating. “I’ll… figure all that out. It’s alright. Really.”
Jon came around the desk to grasp Martin by the arms and look up at him, intently. It was the closest thing to a hug he’d let himself get to. “Martin,” he said, as gently as he could manage, with as much respect as he could manage, “you put yourself in danger because of the way your superiors at this Institute have treated you. Let me at least begin to partly repay that debt. Please.”
Martin was blinking down at him. “Uh… umm… aren’t we having… Mr. Bouchard repay the debt…?”
Jon smiled up at Martin as he dropped his arms. "Ahh, but we’re not going to ask Elias to come help clear out the breakroom. Can you imagine him moving boxes?” He could feel the smile edging into a grin. “His arms would break just from trying to pick one up.”
Martin had started to smile, hesitantly. That was what Jon had been going for; he hadn’t realized how much he actually liked Martin’s smile until he hadn’t been around for two weeks. “I-I mean… you’re not the biggest guy yourself… you might have the same problem.”
“Mmm, fair,” Jon replied, “but I am willing to scrub a floor if I must.”
Martin’s smile widened. “Y-yeah, I can’t imagine… Elias… scrubbing a floor.” He giggled, suddenly. “He probably pays people to do that stuff. He… he’d probably have been hopeless stuck in his flat for two weeks.”
Jon laughed at the mental image of Elias Bouchard stuck in a flat, living off canned meals, a laugh so full he actually threw his head back a bit. “Good lord, Elias, having to live off tinned peaches? Can... you... imagine?”
“H-he’d… probably… start shouting for Rosie.” Martin was giggling so hard he could barely get the words out. He put on a bad posh accent and said, “‘Rosie, why do we have all these tinned peaches? I did not approve this budget!’”
They both dissolved into helpless laughter, both reaching out to the other to hold themselves up. There was a moment, as the laughter waned, that their eyes met, and Jon felt something swoop and flutter in his gut. Martin had such a nice smile, and such a pleasant laugh, and it would be wonderful to have both around more often, and it was making him a little dizzy if he was being honest. When was the last time he’d felt that swoop and flutter? Georgie? Briefly, with Tim?
No, no, that was the laughter and the proximity. That was all. They were bonding over dislike of Elias. That was all.
At least he’d managed to clear the air.
Jon straightened, and kept smiling as he turned toward the door. “Come along, then, Martin,” he said, and again deliberately infused the word with as much respect as he could muster. “Let’s get to the shops.”
Martin nodded. “Thanks for this, Jon,” he said, and oh dear there was another swoop at the way Martin said his name. Had he always said it like that? Had Jon just not noticed? “Really. Thank you.”
Jon turned away to school his expression. This would not do. He was not going to let himself feel any more… swoops for a subordinate. It just wouldn’t do. No matter how nice of a smile he had. He did not have a crush on Martin, because he could not have a crush on Martin, and that was that.
Feeling a little better--it was always a relief, sorting out his emotions--Jon headed out to help Martin get settled into the Archives.
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wonderlandhatter · 3 years
Text
Will you read to me?
Pairing: Spencer x femReader
Summary: You're feeling unsettled after a case, so Spencer helps you get some sleep and get a smile back on your face.
Word count: 1863
Warnings: fluff (is that a warning idk), mentions of an unsub, feeling overwhelmed after an unsub touches you (just your hand and waist nothing in detail). Tiny bit of angst I think mostly fluff though
A/N: Ok so this is my first attempt at writing a fic, it ended up being longer than I thought it would be, anyways if you would like to give me some feedback that would be greatly appreciated, hope someone out there enjoys this, I really liked writing it.  Ooh also if I missed any warnings pls tell me. 
A/N2: Hey so my old account got deleted so I'm reposting my fics if you have a sec I would appreciate it if you could boost it so i can try and get to where i was, thank you.
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It had been a tough case, especially for you, the victimology fit you in every way and so you had been used to draw the unsub out, nothing had gone wrong but you could still feel his hand where he had touched yours, his alluring presence was lingering around you , all you wanted to do was go home and shower this feeling off but first you had to get there.
Unfortunately, there was still 2 hours left in the flight. So, until you did get home you would settle for sleep hoping time would pass faster, though you just couldn’t stop your mind from thinking, well overthinking. Spencer noticed this and it hurt him to see you like this he himself knew nothing had happened but he didn’t like the thought that you had even gone near that creep, to think about what he would have done to you, if the circumstances were different.
He couldn’t imagine what he would do if something had happened, you and him were close, very close, you had first bonded when he noticed your Dr who coin purse on your first day at the BAU, he hadn’t gotten a chance to say anything because at that moment Garcia bubbled into the bullpen announcing that they have a case. but when he saw it again on the jet, he couldn’t resist but to ask if you like the show, you love the show and your face visibly lit up at the mention of it as did his, you both exchanged a few words before Derek piped in to ask if that was the show with the flying phone booth but before Spencer had the chance to correct him, you did. ‘well firstly it’s a Tardis which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, secondly it isn’t a phone booth it’s a police box.’ Once you finish you simply smiled at him but before he could answer you piped up again early. ‘ ooh ooh and do you want to know why it’s a police box’, Derek honestly couldn’t care less but he couldn’t bare to take away the joy in your face that was brought by this nerdy little show you clearly loved, Spencer might also have been giving him a look that said ‘don’t you dare say no’, so he decided to indulge you, ‘sure kid tell me why it’s a police box’. Spencer saw your face light up even more if it was even possible, and so you began’ So the Tardis is supposed to change in appearance depending on where it  is because of a component that is called ‘the chameleon circuit’ but something happened to it so it no longer works and is stuck as a police box, its explained in the first Dr who series in an episode called An Unearthly child. Oh and…..’ by this time Derek has lost interest and was only half listening but Spencer’s full attention was on you as you talked about something that clearly brought you joy, at this point he decided  to chime in and so you two spent the rest of the jet ride to wherever it was you were going discussing your favourite episodes, plots and Drs. And so, a beautiful friendship began to bloom.
As spencer’s memory of that day came to an end he couldn’t help but be visibly sad at how much of a contrast your feeling were to that day, there was no smile so big you had dimples no hands moving around animatically  as you talked and no interrupting your own sentences as you thought of something else you thought needed to be said. And certainly, no you trying to convince him that David tenant was the best Dr. now there was only an uneasiness about you, you looked sad and in slight distress.
Spencer couldn’t keep sitting there doing nothing, he wanted to take those feelings away no, he needed to take them away, he wanted to go over to you and hold you, place you on his lap and let you bury your face into his cardigan like you had done so many times before on your movie nights, but that wouldn’t be appropriate while the entire team was around, and he didn’t want to make you feel worse by being so forward so instead he stood up from his seat opposite Derek and J.J and made his way to you on  the sofa holding his book, you were sat  in the corner looking so small, holding a now cold cup of tea.
Your mind was anywhere but there so it took Spencer calling your name quietly before you realised anyone was sitting there, and as you saw him all those bad feelings were drowned out by those of joy and love, they weren’t gone but their overwhelming words were dulled, Spencer just had that effect on you, you weren’t completely sure when your feeling changed from hey that’s my friend, to hey that’s my friend who I would like to kiss, marry, and have babies with. Maybe it was the day he showed you how to do physics magic, or the day he brought you coffee every morning for 2 weeks because he spilled one the previous day on your white shirt, or maybe the first time he hugged you, you knew he wasn’t big on hugs but after a tough case for everyone he could see you needed it and honestly once he was there holding you he never wanted to stop, after that he wouldn’t hesitate to hug you, you both waved it off as friendly but you both just wanted to be as close as possible, maybe when you came to terms with the fact you would both try your best to have physical contact with each other, be it holding hands or falling asleep on each other’s shoulder is when you knew you wanted a lot more.
You were brought back by Spencer’s voice, ‘are you ok’,’  ‘oh,  ah yeah sorry , my minds just wandering I guess’ you said looking down at your hands feeling bad for lying, he clearly knew you weren’t he was a profiler after all, and as you stared at your hand you   once again remembered his lingering touch on your left hand, before your mind could wander further Spencer held your hand ,he spoke up  ‘ don’t think about him, I know that’s what your doing , but he’s gone now were he cant hurt anyone else, were he can’t hurt you’. You looked away from him feeling silly ‘I know that, I don’t even know why I’m acting like this it’s ridiculous honestly he didn’t do anything he just touched my hand and waist but the thought of his hands on me just makes me feel sick, it’s like I can still feel him and I just want to wash it off and that’s all I can think about every time I try to sleep, I just want to sleep and forget about it spence’ as you said this you subconsciously scratched the back of  your hand where his had been, spencer took both your hands once again before you could hurt yourself,  ‘hey y/n, it isn’t silly, after seeing the crime scenes and knowing what he did to those women it is perfectly reasonable to be feeling like this’ you nod at his words and lean your head on his shoulder as you take in his familiar comforting smell, ‘thanks Spence’ you hear him hum in response as his head leans on top of yours.
You sit in comfortable silence just being with each other not even realising he hadn’t let go of your hand, it isn’t like you had made a move to either, and neither of you were planning on it. The jet was silent as everyone was either asleep, or going through some files, it was peaceful, it was wonderful.
You were the first to break the silence ‘what are you reading’ , ‘Alice’s adventures in wonderland’, you looked up at him from your place on his shoulder with a soft smile and simply stated ‘that’s my favourite book, I have a copy in my desk right now’ , ‘I know, that’s why I’m reading it, ‘ his reason made your heart swell as he continued, ‘even though it Is considered a classic I’ve never actually read it, I must say I am enjoying it’, ‘how far along are you’, ‘about half way’. Truthfully Spencer could have been done with the book already even though he had started it at the beginning of the flight, however this book was different, this was your favourite, this one meant so much to you and so he wanted to take it all in, he wanted that feeling you get when you first read a line that impacts you, a feeling you only get once with that line, a feeling he was getting often in this book because he knew you loved it and so he loved it.
The silence was disrupted by a very large yawn coming from you, he must admit you looked very cute when you were tired (he may also love the fact you were wearing one of his cardigans that you had claimed as your, and you also had very cute sweater paws). ‘Here lie down’ Spencer said, you knew you wouldn’t be able to fall asleep so you asked, ‘will you read to me’ there was barely a beat before you felt the need to justify your request, even though you didn’t need to he would do anything you asked. ‘it’s just I don’t think ill be able to sleep, and your voice is very calming’, the last part you said quietly and felt a light blush on your cheeks, spencer simply smiled and simply answered ‘of course ill read to you’, and so you laid you head down on his lap and he began reading once you were fully comfortable, ‘would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’’ ‘’that depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’’ said the cat………’’ and so Spencer kept reading to you, an you kept listening, his hand made its way to your hair and began to play with it while your hand drew lazy  nonsensical things  on his leg , and as you heard the words you had read a million times before, and as the man you held so much love for played with your hair all your worries and thoughts melted away and you slowly let sleep take over , you felt conflicted as you didn’t want to miss this, miss Spencer’s voice recite something that meant so much to you, it was like hearing a completely new story, but at some point you let it take over and so you were finally able to sleep, Spencer never stopped reading to you or playing with your hair in fear of disturbing your peace, he was so happy there was a smile back on your face, he would read to you every hour of every day if it meant seeing you smile.
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kbsd · 3 years
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not sure if you’ve answered this before, but what’s your process look like when you make an amv? i’m just curious and in constant awe of ppl who can make videos like you do :)
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hello all!!! i have answered this before and i have a vid help tag with other asks i’ve gotten about stuff like this! but i’ve gotten several more messages along these lines so i’m just going to answer a bunch of them together (under a cut since i love to ramble about editing lol). i do just wanna say i’m definitely not the authority on video editing and obv everyone has their own techniques!
edit: i just finished typing all this up and it’s SO long so sorry in advance LMAO god bless anyone who reads this entire thing
so i work in news tv and we have a very specific workflow for writing scripts, sourcing video, producing, and editing. i’ve just applied that to making amvs! for every video i make, i copy the song lyrics into a google doc and adjust them to match the song i’ve cut (i often will trim songs for time and/or content purposes). then i start planning! i’ll mark down what clip i want to use for each lyric next to that line, and any sound bites i want to use (with episode numbers!). i’ll color code between video and sound bites and lyrics, so my scripts end up looking something like this (for my honeybee amv):
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doing the planning ahead of time makes everything much easier when it’s a video that spans the whole show or involves a lot of sourcing, like honeybee or sports analogies. that way when i get to the actual editing process, i already know what i’m going to do and have a game plan. for videos like happy ending or believe it or not, where i’m mainly just pulling from a few episodes, i can just plan it in my head as opposed to writing it all down, and produce as i edit. obviously i do make in-the-moment decisions while editing—sometimes a shot doesn’t work the way i thought it would, or i go where the video takes me—but planning ahead definitely helps. i know some people use spreadsheets as well, with columns for lyrics, video clips, and sound bites if applicable. once you find a system that works, it actually goes pretty quickly.
as for sourcing clips themselves/finding clips within episodes, i talked about that here and kind of here. the short version is that transcripts are a must, and the supernatural wiki is hugely helpful by cataloguing all the hugs, prayers, phone calls, etc. in the show. gifmakers that tag episode numbers on their posts are your friends. it gets easier the more video you make—that’s another huge reason i make the google docs for each video (even the ones i plan in my head, i end up going back and making a loose script with episode notes just for reference). if i can’t remember where something is but i know i used it in another video, i can easily reference past scripts!
i also cut all my videos in the same project in premiere pro, so i can flip between them easily. instead of checking a past script, i can just go to the video sequence itself and copy the clip i’m looking for! this was especially helpful when i match cut together the 5x18 and 4x22 wall slam shots for my bestie video, and then stole it from myself for honeybee hahaha. at any given time i have at least 8 sequences open:
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because of the sheer volume of videos i make, it’s worth it for me to download the entire show—i have all 327 episodes in HD, plus deleted scenes. if you think you’re only going to make a few videos, i’d start with scene packs. you can usually just google “destiel [or whatever ship/character you’re looking for] scene packs” and there will be any number of ones you can download. if you need other specific scenes, you can always download/torrent individual episodes or screen record netflix (that’s what i did before i got HD download links). i’m happy to share my links if you DM, but be warned it’s a lot of disk space (about 500GB on my hard drive). someone also compiled every destiel scene, downloadable here.
having every episode already loaded in premiere for all my projects also makes it a lot easier to source clips. once i use a clip in a video, i’ll put a marker on the episode file, so that after a while i have most of the important scenes/lines marked to easily find them. to give you an idea, this is my episode file in premiere for 12x10 lily sunder has some regrets (markers at destiel scenes, the car fight, hot girl cas, etc.). markers are the green tabs along the bottom:
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premiere also lets you color code and name markers, so ONE DAY i will go back and color code them all. the ones above are all the same color, but in a perfect world, i’d have a myraid—for destiel shots like hugs, touches, looks; for important pieces of dialogue; for action shots; etc. but for now this works ok for me, so that’s a project for another time!
between detailed scripts, one giant premiere project, markers, the wiki, and my own memory, i have so many points of reference that i can usually find any clip i need in about 2 minutes max. sound bites are often harder to start out, or tiny specific shots i haven’t used before, and that’s when i turn to tumblr gifsets or beloved mutuals to crowdsource. but if you’re as obsessive about marking/keeping neat scripts as i am, it gets easier and easier with every video you make. that’s part of why i’m able to cut videos together so quickly. (also i want to stress i do this for a living and have to produce/edit a new piece for my show every day so i’m used to it. and compared to constantly updating content/sources and news that changes every day, 327 highly documented episodes that never change are much easier to handle hahaha)
this is all great for me since i make so many videos and plan to continue doing so, but if you’re only making a few, this level of work isn’t worth it imo. really it’s all about developing a system that works for you. whatever you do with episodes/sourcing, though, i cannot recommend planning things out in a script ahead of time enough. 
everything i just mentioned is producing, though. for the editing process, i usually do it in this order:
music first. any parts i want to cut, i make sure it all sounds smooth
then soundbites. i usually try to weave them into the lyrics—i have characters talk in breaks between lines or instrumental sections as much as possible. i’ll sometimes go so far as looped/extending an intsrumental part to make room for the soundbite i want there lol. if i do have dialogue over a line, i do the sound mixing/levels at this point as well to make sure everything is audible/one doesn’t overpower the other. (also i always include the video that goes with these bites when i drop them in, and decide later if i want to show the character speaking or have other clips cover the dialogue)
once i have all the audio locked in, then i bring in all my other video clips. sometimes i edit completely chronologically, sometimes jumping from section to section—it depends on the song or how i’m feeling
double check sound mixing. i usually listen to my videos through a few times, with headphones and without to make sure it’ll sound good no matter how people watch it
once i have picture and audio lock, i go through and color correct my clips. i’m basic and just use lumetri color in premiere, and usually just play with brightness, saturation, temperature, and tint until i like it
render and export! :)
i always have several audio tracks, but i try to keep my video tracks condensed. i’ll drop clips on a V2 level, and edit a section there, and drop the whole chunk down to V1 so i know it’s finished. that way when i leave and come back i can know where i left off/what’s done/etc. to give you an idea, this is the timeline for my what the hell video:
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i always render as H.264 with high bitrate, and make sure to check “render at maximum depth” and “use maximum render quality” for the best quality. i’m sorry, but i don’t know what the equivalent options are in final cut, imovie, kdenlive, etc. i post on youtube mostly so i don’t have to sacrifice quality, but usually just using a lower bitrate will get you under the tumblr file size limit and it’ll still look good.
as for the anon who asked about “polishing”: first of all, thank you!! second of all, it’s in the details. all of this is a matter of taste and my own insanity, but here are some little things i always try to do:
after i color correct, i blur out any credits from the starts of episodes. i use gaussian blur for this, but really any blur tool works
as much as possible, i avoid clips where we see a character’s mouth move but don’t hear the words. in tv/film we call it “lip flap” and i just think it looks messy. also i’m trained to avoid it at all costs at work hahaha. it’s more for serious videos that this matters a lot to me (e.g. i think i did a really good job eliminating lip flap in my happy ending amv)—for comedy videos i don’t sweat it as much
i put audio fades on the start and end of every single audio clip i use, even if i don’t think i need it, to make sure everything sounds smooth
i use markers for timing, especially in action-y videos like what the hell. i’ll put a marker on the clip i’m using at the exact moment a punch lands, and in the song on the beat. if i have the magnet/snap in timeline tool on i can just easily snap them together instead of having to spend time finagling it
this is such a small thing but i dip/cut to black for a tiny bit at the start and end of every video. this way if i post with tumblr video player, there’s black between the loops, and it gives you a beat before the video restarts. i do this even on videos i post on youtube, just because i think it looks nicer/more professional
this is 1,500 words so i’m going to stop myself before i pull something. if you have follow-up questions feel free to ask and i’ll continue to add them to the vid help tag, but any more questions about sourcing clips or my process in general i’ll just link this post going forward. anyone who made it this far, i am sending to a telepathic kiss. thank you for reading and happy editing!
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pynkhues · 3 years
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Hey! Someone made a post just before rewatch today, and while they’ve deleted it now (although I was sent a screenshot of it, so I suspect others might have been too), I know most people who do rewatch have probably seen it and I would like to talk about the context of it.
Feel free to ignore this post, because it’s definitely personal fandom drama, and something I wish could’ve stayed private, but it’s also something that’s weighed heavily on me the last six months and I feel the need to talk about it now because quite frankly I’m being lied about. Those lies are something that has substantially contributed to me pulling away from the fandom over the last six months, posting less fics and answering less asks. Hell, it’s even made me contemplate deleting my blog and fic and leaving the fandom a few times now, and I just really need to get it off my chest so that I can hopefully put it behind me.
There’s a person in this fandom who’s been more or less relentlessly lying about me for the last six months. It’s somebody who has subtagged, gaslit, boycotted, and spread lies in DMs, public posts and tags, and while I won’t name them, I don’t think it’ll be particularly difficult for anyone to work out who this is.
She’s accused me often and tirelessly of calling her a bitch, which never happened and I have the screenshots of our chats to prove it, calling me (as a person) and my opinions shit publicly on her blog (again, I have screenshots of this), accused me of harassing her (after our friendship deteriorated, we had two dm conversations before I blocked her because of her aforementioned lying), telling everyone she blocked me when it’s the other way around (and I’m shocked she doesn’t remember relentlessly tagging about that after it happened too), and accusing me of policing fandom opinion. Her friends have called me in private DMs a ‘master manipulator’ and ‘disturbing’ and ‘exclusionary’ and accused me of playing the victim when all I’ve done is tried to keep my mouth shut or reach out to smooth things over (although again, I’ll admit when all this started back in August, I struggled with the former, but I haven’t subtagged in months, a courtesy that has not been extended back to me).
I originally fell out with this person because I told her I was struggling in the midst of Melbourne’s 111 day lockdown – one of the harshest in the world – and needed a break from the negative tone of her posts and tags (something I told her after she slid into my DMs to ask why I unfollowed her, not a conversation I ‘harassed’ her with, again, I have screenshots, so I’m not sure why she’s lying about this). I told her this wasn’t necessarily an unfollow forever, just for right now, and she told me she still considered us friends. Within hours, I was rewarded with my effort to protect my increasingly-fragile mental state with a relentless effort on her part to vilify me and victimize herself which after a few weeks led to me blocking her.
Every olive branch I’ve extended by including her in fic recs and even today’s thank you for the rewatch banner has been snarled at and twisted (the irony too of knowing that if I left her off that banner, it would be seen as an erasure and an attack). She’s painted me as a performative, two-faced bitch while having the audacity of accusing me of calling her the same, which I have never done. The most I have ever accused her of is behaving badly, which quite frankly, I stand by.
I am exhausted.
And for the record, I don’t know this because I stalk her blog. I see her posts still in reblogs (blocking only removes from your feed - if you check people’s blogs, you can see the reblogs of people you blocked), and numerous people send me screenshots of the things that she says that are clearly about me.
I’m not talking about this now for any sort of witch hunt or pity, I just want her to stop, for all of our sakes. It might be beating a deadhorse at this point for me to repeat this, but it has been six months now, and the thing that was supposed to preserve my mental health has instead set off this chain of nightmare events. All I wanted was space and for her to have an ounce of accountability for her negativity, and what I’ve gotten is relentless lies spread about me and harassment (which is fucking ironic given she’s just accused me of the same when literally the only way I’ve even acknowledged her in the last few months was in a fic rec and today’s banner).
I just needed to get this off my chest, because existing in this fandom and trying to hold my tongue while she’s made post after post and sent message after message in an effort to shape a narrative around me simply because I unfollowed her and then blocked her, has been really fucking hard for me. I’ve tried to keep this private, because I didn’t – and still don’t – believe it should concern anyone else in this fandom, but again, this is not a courtesy that’s been extended back to me, and the thought that she will just keep doing this (which she has proven - again - six months, and that’s not including the times I tried to talk to her about it before I unfollowed her) is just really, really exhausting. 
I guess the point of saying all of this is that I’m tired of letting her spread lies about me in thinly veiled posts, I’m tired of her saying that nobody includes her and then posting nasty shit about me when I try to simply acknowledge her as a contributor to this fandom, I’m tired of her twisting things that are supposed to be fun and good into another way that I’m a performative, two-faced bitch, and she’s trying to like - - escape my clutches? I don’t know. The mythology of her lies has evolved a lot over time. 
Mostly though I’m tired of letting her have power over me, because I’ve let her spread lies and ignored it in the hopes of making the space better for everyone else, but honestly? It’s making it worse for me.
So there, I’ve said my piece. I know she’s already been successful in changing some people’s opinions of me, and who knows, maybe they’ll see this and question some of what she’s told them, maybe they’ll just see this as me playing the victim again, I don’t know, the latter is certainly not my intent. 
I just wanted to defend myself, because I think I deserve that. 
Here’s the screenshot of her post today if you want it: 
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And oh, here’s just one of the posts she made after I blocked her in August. There were and are a lot more, but I don’t feel any desire to share those. I’m just using this of evidence of just one of her lies and some of the shit she’s said about me.
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I’m over it.
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