#this guy had the whole city hostage and yet he was completely stopped by a 6 year old

[the-firebird69]

It's all Trump do it and almost succeeded and they want a chance at it and they have one with social security and these guys are doing what they're doing and it's wrong and they should try and stop it and hopefully they'll see why we might mention it it's it's by association and it looks like you guys are doing it and we know that not too many are goth is doing it and a few others but really it's not that systemic but that's why they put Garth there and sees two idiot trumpsters and the third one and fourth and they're going to die people going after them now what they have is a poor person's plan after owning the whole planet and giving it up just to sit here and be huge idiots they try to pay people and people are not accepting the money and their money disappears? So they stop doing that a lot and the money is still disappearing pretty soon they won't have any and they're going to die poor little bums just like they made my son into we hate them for it you're going to destroy them.

-plenty of deaths today of warlock and plenty of deaths overseas of morlock and they're going after many locations of these were permitting and they are being destroyed it's true ultimately goes to Tommy f who wants to hold our son hostage to open up the AI or the Sephora or anyone else one of these idiots and that's a problem that means all the idiots are doing it

-San Diego so mad at Dan and his stupid comments they said you f***** up so many times you're almost not even there and he says blithering and she said I'm going to have to kill you and he says will you stop saying that and she said no and shot him right in the head thank God thank God. That was about 5:00 p.m. today

-lot of people can't stand how they're talking now they can't stand what they're doing at all they're so rancid and so dumb and people going after him to shut them down and his routines are such an asinine things that people have to shut them up and shut them down I'll tell you what I've never seen anyone act that way in my life he's so stupid so many people get ripped apart by corky because they do that s*** one day they said you should rip them apart just like what is Jackie karate was ripped apart they seem to understand that one so we're moving on but tons of them died today there's huge armies going towards a bunch of countries in the foreign Eastern continent and that's where all the pyramids are they were here there's some minor fighting and now they're over there these idiots want to use ultimate extortion which is nothing that sit there feeding him and talking bad to him is the same s*** they're doing and but if they capture him they said they'd increase the torture right now there's 65 households the 10 households went out there and it's meaningless they have no skill and got killed quickly it's true too 400,000 dead in about 2 minutes. The most ineffective fighters on the planet and we mean it there's also a few more things happening

-we are taking over the households we're up to $235 no it is 2:20 though and we're catching up to them leaving it's a fast process

-the sheriff dropped 35 trumpsters and they went from 150 to 1:15 and everybody's happy about it and soon the s*** heads will be out and everybody's happy about that and boy what bums

-we have about 600 million people asking about Sephora every few minutes all over the world are asking their bosses and it's moving because they said Tommy F had a problem and it's saying they're the ones with the laser eyes and it's going on and on with Tommy f is lying and lying and they said you're just liar and said what would you do instead of course he can't tell you and eventually does the song and they start falling apart at the seams they are completely a waste of time it's getting cold it's in New York City this is tonight and I know he's not shot yet and it's chilling behind the movie a little it's an illusion and they are also in trouble but everybody is taking a beating. Pretty soon those two are going to get into a fight and Dan loses as usual and it's going to be the end of the line then they'll kill each other again and again and again and it won't stop

-the huge it is their lines are crass and their faces are asinine nobody wants to see their stupid f****** s*** in front of them can't stand any of them dumb assholes but these two of the worst it's him and his Tommy f yes and Tommy f is going to hit him we're not as sick of him but holy s*** he's too they're above everybody they say and they found out and shot in the head all the time it makes them winners they should get a lot of free stuff for doing that

-there's a bunch of things happening we're going to get past these morons but the morons insist on being right there and everybody's face getting rid of themselves and the Mac appeared that they bothered and harassed and kidnapped and his people are everywhere and they're getting rid of the trumpsters in New York City tons of them and they have the money and Dan is saying please don't say it if all sorts of money about 95% of the companies on Earth that were available it's really 70% of the companies wealth including land and stuff no that's what they're buying. So the max have to have the land and they have to go after them and other people know about it

-so the f***** is sitting there talking doesn't get what's happening doesn't get the bigger is bad for them because they're small and it's a loser and it's going to die like the clans and it's revenge for a son and daughter who watch these assholes do stuff to them and keep on saying something because of it now they're all going to go

-tonight this huge battles the molec are still going after the empire basis there are about 20 bases they're attacking in the eastern hemisphere then a very large and they haven't really done much to them there are 30 medium large bases and they attacked all of them today and they stressed too with a couple hits about 10 by 10 hits and they're excited so tons of them are out attacking mediums and the max are sending troops out to pull them in huge numbers of them are dead all over that area and other areas where the medium bases are and they're fuming because it's happening.

-they are attacking Stan trying to get ships to try and infiltrate and they say that's how it worked and it wasn't and they're losers because they're lying to each other and they're losing people very fast and they're not going to have enough people to do anything shortly but it's really not fast enough for us so they are attacking these medium-sized bases getting attacked back huge squads giant armies of them are forming up we're going to areas and pull them out and they're known as their areas and they're going in they're going to raid the place and bomb into Oblivion and then the video will happen out here we think it's tomorrow night is it making bombs right here and using the threats on her son to do it and they're doing a lot of stuff like that including keeping the basis protected and you can see it because these leaders our Cal towing and things like that and say they have this asinine extortion plan made sense to people so they're cutting off their leaders they're going to die all the time now it's going to be gross

-along with the medium bases Stan is being attacked meaning that his medium base is being attacked and he has probably 30 medium bases and the medium large and about 20 of them are mostly defunct you can get in and drive around but there's nothing down below and the buildings are empty and gutted and half of it's on fire. The remaining 10% and yeah I guess he got fired the remaining 10% is about 20% operational is only some stuff down below most of it is under siege and will be out within the hour and he lost another 5 million ships and it's down to 30 million ships. Along with that the more locker attacking them in their areas you guys have ships below there and they were building them and they found that out today. So they're attacking their areas there's something strange happened with Stan he said this boy is underdressed by these assholes who are attacking us like they're attacking him and he said I finally figured out something he's got to defend himself all day and nobody like is doing anything and it's a pain and it's really too much pressure on him you find out they have an asinine plan and he looked into it and said it sounds real and started to kill them off here and a lot of people saw him and started to help no he got inundated immediately and he called back and said he has this asinine plan and so I'm trying to go after him and I got in today but I'm getting rid of him anyways so max sending people and start hitting these idiots and we had to there are a ton of them by the way and now there's not and their whole act is ruined and their plan is ruined because these poor people here in the apartment.

-so Stan's areas are falling believe it or not overseas he has 30 large areas they're very large much bigger than bases in the bases are attached and they have to hit the bases to get to the areas underneath each large area I'll probably about 5 to 10 million ships that are about a mile each so that would be surround 150 million ships it's a it's a real fleet and he has 20 medium large and those areas will be inundated tonight too and we'll probably fall and there's about 300 million ships total and their ships dotted all over the place the total flea to be about 550 million and the morlock is going to take it all and will think they are the balls and if they do they will have a fleet that's probably 1/3 the power of the foreigners sleep and 1/8 the power of the empire but they'll probably fight everybody and lose it cuz he always do now they want to use this fleet on our son because her assholes and idiots so he's given the order to infiltrate and use the ships as false flag if Stan loses them and he kind of agrees and we're going to go ahead and do that those are useless and almost anyone else's hands and foreign minority monologue are not going to and foreigners are not going to for the most part we heard them say it but it might look like they're going to.

-there's a very large number of people on the line asking what they can do to make it better here because it's a nightmare they don't want to lose everything cuz these two are assholes and I think the answer is so clear that they should shut up and just get the two out or three or one of them really I mean why is it so complicated and nobody's distracted by you asking it pisses everybody off you going to let four morons ruin everything for you that's fine that's what they're doing piece of s***

-we're also enacting more protocol here and all over we don't need these ubankies having any ships and they don't really need to take them it needs to look like it a little so I can be captain and few positions and be possessed it's a good idea

-this whole thing with a pyramidian is going to lead to Star wars and huge movies Greyhound and Angels and demons and edge of Tomorrow gigantic films that that are just humongous with everybody even Forrest Gump is huge is it what it's talking about you just running around Haggard assholes bothering people being celebrities about stupid s*** and loving it protesting things that you're doing. And going shrimping all day and night. Now we can't stand some people and they're saying things to us and we're going to take action and they're going to regret it and so will you idiots

-there's a few more things we don't appreciate you smelling up the place with your dumb talk we don't appreciate the fact that you stink and you demand stupid things go around harassing people they don't do enough to even have us do it so doing things to you now and you don't care so it's great and you're going to try and extort our son like you're saying in a lot of people getting it and getting mad we're going to do it to you now and see how you like it you're not paying your rent you're going to get your income cut off this is going to help you but we're going to rip you out as it is there are 10 more households that want to head to the interior of the interior ring at around Charlotte county and they're going to form up and they're going to try and do it again there's a big outside force too they lose it's 55 households as it is the others are fighting over it and they say 10 more might get up then maybe 45 at that number it would be almost 40 bja and kids and five trumpster houses including here which counts for about three in the street. And I still say they're going to do their asinine plan so we're going to start getting rid of that b**** and she's a f****** complete gimp these other idiots.

-and the other two are going to die in Egypt along with the whole huge pile of them that are from here tons of them get killed it is something to go after and it's smart to know you should but you should not cross us ever and we want to do dead back there and you're going to die back there you're going to be flat as a pancake Little Miss Penelope.

More shortly

Thor Freya

Hera

Zues

Olympus

[goldenlevi]

No problem. There is no non con hehe. Tbh, it's kinda angst with fluffy if you don't mind. This is the request: Bruce, despite his love for you, breaks up with you because he feels like he has a mission and a relationship would destroy it. But on one of the many dangerous nights in Gotham, Batman sees that you are one of the victims of the bad guys and gets extremely mad. After saving you he realizes he needs you beside him.

Hiii lovely! Thank you again for requesting! :)

I'm sorry if I took awhile to complete the request. I've been sick but I hope you still like it! I wasn't sure if the reader knew he was batman or not, so I kind of went with the safe choice here hehe I apologise if there's any mistakes!

A/N: The villain is an actual villain in the comics and since this is Battinson its one of the earliest ones!

❁ no warnings ❁ battinson x reader ❁ usage of prompt (other ways of saying I love you, thank you!!) from @prompty-ping

The red glowing eyes and skull-faced mask made you shiver. The reaper, Gotham's newest villain, went on a rampage and just for fun, he decided to hold hostage a train. The same train you were on. The plan, just like all others, was to put Gotham on notice, to prove himself, and that he was worthy of the Batman's attention.

Among dozens and dozens of hostages, you sat straight against the train's bench, in the middle of a middle-aged woman and a teenager. You tried not to appear scared, for the sake of the younger, who looked like they were about to run for the hills. All you wanted was to go home, forget about the day, and try not to think of Bruce. You guys had broken up three weeks earlier, and the scene was still fresh in your mind.

The thing is you didn't have closure. Bruce decided that you didn't deserve one. Maybe that was harsh, and if you weren't so hurt you would try to contradict that feeling; however, that's how it felt. You didn't deserve a full explanation.

And now, you might die without one. The reaper kept talking, and you wondered how long his monologue was going to be before the police intervened. Batman was out amid the night's chaos, where he thrived. He had stopped a couple of robberies, helped two kids from getting hit in the street, and it was only 11pm. But that’s what he had signed up for. Y/N had said that tunnel vision would be his demise, yet he couldn’t help but continue his ways.

He loved you, he never doubted that. He’d liked to think that, in a way, he was doing this for you too. You’d lived in Gotham your whole life; any person knew the city was corrupted but didn’t possess the power to fight against it. He wanted to clean it and so, he needed to carry on. For him, that was the most important thing.

❁

As you were trying to count the minutes in your head, the lights suddenly began to flicker until they eventually went out. Everyone whispered in fear of another villain joining The Reaper and causing more havoc. Part of you was relieved when you noticed his sudden movements, The Reaper looked back alarmed as a blast went off behind him sending him straight down. His body hit the ground with a strong thud.

A large figure towered over him, speaking in an intimidating way. From where you were standing, you couldn't hear the exact words since your ears still rang from the blast, and most people were now using their phone's flashlights to try and see what exactly was happening.

Batman used his hands and weapons to fight him off when he recovered from the ground. People began running when the large men fought as if they weren't human. Startled and frightened, your legs seemed to be stuck and you couldn't run like the others. You noticed you were only one of the few people who now wasn't on the next railroad car. Maybe if your body hadn't frozen you would have realized the police had finally been calling for the hostages to move, and lights were now back on.

Batman fought The Reaper with his tailored weapons with the intent to cage him until he could be arrested. But then, he heard a young voice shouting and two hands pulling at someone's clothes. The pleading in their voice made him look up. He did so just for a split second, and he swore his heart sunk. His fist paused mid-air, as it was about to connect with his opponent’s body. No. What were you doing here?

As soon as he hesitated, the villain took advantage to shrug him off, punching and sending him back against the other side of the wall. Getting the wind got knocked out of him, he shook his head trying to compose himself. You were there, just a few meters from him...as he fought for his life.

The Reaper stared at him, undoubtedly smirking underneath the mask, knowing for a few minutes he got the best out of Gotham's vigilante. On the other side, behind the Batman persona, Bruce was losing it, he tried to control it but the more he thought about your frozen body, just sitting there helplessly, the more his blood boiled. He charged towards the man, spearing him directly to the wall. With a batarang in his right hand, he punched him straight through his mask as blood began to paint his gloves.

Gordon as soon as he reached the spot, he called for him to stop, with as much authority as he could muster. He assured him everyone was safe and the right people would deal with The Reaper. Batman's eyes scanned the car once again, feeling like air got to his lung for the first time in the last hour when he spot you with a blanket around your shoulder speaking to some officers and a paramedic.

Bruce thought his love for you would blind him. That’s why he decided to end the relationship. If you guys had stayed together, he would have been too focused on you. Making it work would be his priority and not the city. He needed to get the Wayne name back where it once was.

But he was wrong, and now he understood it. Bruce had gotten too angry; hell, he almost crossed the line. The thought of losing you entered his brain and he saw red. Losing you, especially on a scenario like this, was out of the question. You made his life a little bit brighter; you helped so many people in ways he could only dream of. But, most importantly, you didn’t deserve to die like that. Scared and surrounded by strangers. You deserved better. And if he was on your side, he could make sure that happened.

He rang your doorbell with a frantic heart.

You weren't entirely surprised when you saw him. You supposed Bruce would sooner or later find out what had happened. You were, however, stunned that he decided to show up with your favorite flowers in hand. You took a step back with a quiet come in, allowing him to enter your home.

"What's the occasion?" You asked. Your hands began to sweat inside the pockets of your hoodie. Bruce cleared his throat, he had practiced what he wanted to say, how to exactly apologise and express just how happy he was that you were safe. It was just hard for him, he found himself sighing and gripping the bucket harder than he should.

"I want to apologise" He blurts out. "I'm sorry for leaving you without an explanation" His eyes begged you to just listen without interruption and you waited, knowing words didn't come easy to him. "I want you to know that when I realised that you were on that train-" he stopped himself. Bruce exhaled, taking a step towards you. "I don't know how to make it up to you, but I will try. If you let me"

Your eyes began to tear up, and you hated how sincere he could be when he wanted. You signaled with your hands for him to give you the flowers, smiling when he eagerly handed them to you. Your eyes closed as you leaned in to smell them. "Okay. I'll give you one a chance. You have to be honest with me though, Bruce" He nodded as if he had been granted a wish. His now empty hands hugged you close, crushing the flowers between your bodies. You felt his lips moving against your forehead as he whispered.

"When I look at you, my heart swells in my chest. That's never happened to me before."

#ask #request #battinson #my writing #battinson x oc #battinson x y/n #battinson x reader #battinson x you #the batman x y/n #the batman x reader #the batman x oc #robert pattinson x y/n #robert pattinson x reader #bruce wayne x you #dc comics imagine #mine #fic #battinson angst #battinson fanfiction #battinson fluff #battinson imagine

[mediocre-writerr]

history has it eyes on you [jennifer jareau]

jennifer jareau x fem reader

requested by anon: Love your JJ fics ❤️❤️ I was hoping could you do another one where the reader is somewhat new to the BAU and is either dating or has a thing with JJ. But the reader is known for doing these heroic and kinda reckless acts that ends up saving the victims. And while everyone in the bureau thinks that she's an absolute badass and incredible at her job JJ can't help but love and hate it. She loves it as she's amazing at her job and always ends up saving them but she hates how she always seems to be in the line of fire and in danger. After one too many close calls JJ kinda loses it on the reader.

*not my gif*

You were nineteen when you joined the academy. However, once you got the job you were longing for you were still a bright young prospect at twenty two. The youngest on the team, even younger than boy genius. 

You always had dreams of dying like a martyr. The bravest thing you thought that anyone could do was sacrifice themself for the ones they love the most. Sure, that’s not the healthiest thing in the entire world, but it was everything to you. 

“Have you guys heard that we’re getting a new member?” Garcia asked as her, Prentiss, and JJ walked into the bureau with their coffees in hand.

Prentiss nodded, “Heard they were a part of the Navy Seals for awhile. They were known as the youngest on that squad and they’re even younger than Reid,” 

“Really?” JJ asked, slightly shocked that someone is younger than Reid. 

Hotch walked out of his office as the rest of the team gathered by their desks, you walked right behind him, his taller figuring covering you from the view of the rest of the team.

Hotch cleared his throat before looking at all of them, “I’d like to formally introduce you guys to the newest member of the team, Agent Y/N Y/L/N,” 

You emerged from behind Hotch and you gave all of them an awkward wave. Until your eyes fell onto a pair of familiar blue ones. Her face was calm and collected, but you could tell by her eyes that she was internally freaking out.

You tried to fight off a smile that was forming on your face at the sight of your old flame back in the days of Afghanistan. But by the look on her face, you knew no one else really knew of her Afghanistan days.

Afghanistan wasn’t all bad. Sure you were put there to try and take down Bin Laden, but the city that was surrounded by war was absolutely beautiful. All of the architecture and the culture, even the people. 

This was one of the days where you completely forgot that you were in the middle of a war. JJ was standing on the balcony in the city of Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan. The sun was setting behind her as you handed her a glass of wine.

It’s illegal to drink there, but as long as no one saw you called it a win. You stood behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. You hooked your chin onto her shoulder as you kissed her rosy cheeks. 

“This is nice,” she mumbled and you hummed in response.

“I agree. You make this whole mission so much more bearable,” you whispered.

Penelope ran over to you and gave you a big hug, “Hi! I’m Penelope Garcia, the best tech out there!” 

You laughed softly, hugging her back, “Hi!” 

Once you pulled away, you were introduced one by one to each of the team members. Until you eventually were stopped at the beautiful blonde you’ve known worlds ago. 

You extended your hand out to her, meeting her bright blue eyes. You raised your eyebrows up at her, “Y/N Y/L/N,” you formally introduced.

She hesitated before grabbing your hand, the familiar spark electrocuting your body and you could tell that she felt it too, “Jennifer Jareau,”

“I like your eyes, they’re very blue, did you know that?” you told her, recalling your first ever conversation.

JJ just gave a tight lipped smile before nodding, “Yeah, well, I kind of had them my whole life so I think I know that they’re blue,” 

“Right,” 

You were suited up in your gear as your commander walked you over to the representative from the state department. You climbed high in the rankings with all of your hard work and selflessness, you became a lieutenant commander. 

“Lieutenant commander Y/L/N, this is our state department liaison Jennifer Jareau. She will be helping assist us in communication with some of the hostages,” your commander introduced the two of you and you nodded.

You stuck out your hand and smiled at her softly, “Y/N Y/L/N,” 

She grabbed your hand, smiling back, “Jennifer Jareau, but you can call me JJ for short,” 

“Well JJ, I like your eyes. They’re very blue, did you know that?” you asked, awkwardly. You mentally face palmed yourself, realizing that you were getting nervous around the beautiful blonde.

JJ laughed at your awkwardness before nodding, “Yeah, well, I kind of had them my whole life so I think I know that they’re blue,” 

“Right,” you drew out, mentally face palming yourself harder than before. 

You let out a soft chuckle before finally dropping her hand. You knew in a room full of profilers that they would notice if a friendly handshake lasted too long, no matter how hard you didn’t want to lose her touch. 

That was the only interaction the two of you had the entire case. Most of the time you were partnered up with Prentiss. She had more experience than JJ as a profiler since JJ was a liaison first. 

For your first case, you impressed them all with how selfless you were. You would push yourself in front of the rest of the team when confronting an unsub. You would always be the one talking them down as their gun was pointed right at you. 

“Jimmy Barnes, put the gun down,” you ordered, as he held the girl by gun point, “I said, put it down!” 

He shook his head, “No! She needs to die! I need to finish what I started!” he yelled.

Jimmy Barnes, your first ever unsub was ironically going after girls who matched your description. He became so obsessed with a video game that he altered it with reality. The villain in the game looking surprisingly like you.

“Then kill me instead, you’ll win the game if you let her go and kill me,” you offered.

You could feel JJ’s eyes on you and the rest of the team gave you a quick glance before going to look back at Jimmy. For a split second you weren’t sure, what he was gonna do until he eventually threw the hostage towards Rossi, before grabbing you in the process.

He thought he had a good grip on you, but you were a Navy Seal, you know how to get out of a hold or two. Before he could pull the trigger, you elbowed his groin and threw him onto the floor. 

Jimmy landed on his stomach with a hard thump, you straddled his back before  putting him in handcuffs, “Jimmy Barnes, you are under arrest for the murders of Nicole Watkins, Macy Martin, and Leah Butler,” you told him, listing all of his rights. 

Once you got back on the jet, your eyes drifted over to JJ who was staring out of the window. You just kept staring, trying to profile her from afar. You noticed that there was no ring on her finger yet, so that was a plus. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t dating anyone.

Morgan snapped you out of your trance, “That was a brave thing you did out there. He could’ve easily just shot you dead before you could even make a move,” 

“Yeah, but it saved the girl didn’t it?” you fired back and from the corner of your eye you could see JJ let out a sigh, shaking her head. 

“It did, you’re gonna be a great part of this team!” Morgan patted your shoulder before taking a seat next to Reid. 

You took this as an opportunity to get some shut eye on the flight back to Quantico. And your slumber seemed to drift back to you and JJ. 

The two of you were tangled in the sheets of the hard mattress. The hot air of Afghanistan causing your already sweating bodies to become more sticky. JJ was playing with your hair as her head rested on your chest. 

“This is very unprofessional,” she whispered.

You chuckled softly before nodding, “Well no one has to know what we do,” you whispered back, “But if anyone were to walk into my tent they’d see your clothes all over the floor,” 

She lifted her head slightly before seeing your clothes scattered all over it. She let out a content sight before putting her head back down.

“If I'm being honest, I don’t think I’d care,” she said, kissing your jawline. 

You exaggerated a gasp, “Did the Jennifer Jareau just say she wouldn’t care if someone caught us breaking the rules?!” 

“I wouldn’t care because I’m in love with you,” 

Your ears perked up at those five words, “I’m in love with you too,” you whispered, leaning down to attach your lips together.

The more you went on cases with the team, the more reckless (well you’d like to call it heroic) you’ve become. You would run into a hostage situation with an aggressive unsub without a bulletproof vest or weapon. 

You thought that you would get a talking to from Hotch about being so reckless, but he never did. The others rarely thought anything of it and just thought you were an absolute badass. Well, everyone but JJ, you could tell your need to constantly be the hero was getting under her skin a little. 

You just didn’t think she’d care anymore. She barely interacted with you and when you did they were short professional conversations. Even when you went out with the team, she wouldn’t interact with you.

“So, what’s going on with JJ?” Morgan asked you as you and the team were flying out to Tacoma, Washington. 

You furrowed your eyebrows, “Nothing,” 

He hummed, “Well you’re staring at JJ like you’re in a romcom and just lost the love of your life. So what’s going on? You know you can talk to me,” 

Morgan had become like an older brother figure to you. He was the closest person to you on the team and you knew he could trust him with anything.

“Well, JJ and I knew each other awhile ago. We had a thing and it was really good, but you know, nothing lasts forever,” you confined in him and he nodded.

“That’s why she’s avoiding you like the plague?” he asked.

You shrugged, “I don’t know. It was a long time ago and she broke things off with me. So, I don’t understand why she’s avoiding me. If anything it should be the other way around,” 

“I would just try to talk to her. Obviously, something’s still bugging her if she’s avoiding you this much. Just talk to her,” he suggested and you nodded. 

You wanted to talk to JJ the entire case, but the unsub shortened his kill time and struck back to back. So, you were working twice as hard and twice as fast to stop them. 

And when you did find them let’s just say, you had to act quick. The unsub set his own house on fire with him and the hostage family inside of it. Hotch had called the fire department, but they wouldn’t get there for another ten minutes.

There was no way that the family would survive that. The smoke inhalation. The fire spreading quickly. Before any of the team could even react, you were off and running in to a burning building. 

“Y/N!” you heard JJ shout, but it was too late you were already in the building. 

The unsub was standing there with a sinister smirk on your face and just as he was about to attack you, you sent a bullet through his shoulder. He fell onto the floor in pain. 

The family of three were coughing up a storm. You could feel the smoke already start to fill your lungs. You gestured for the family to start running out of the house. 

“My daughter is stuck under there! You need to get her out of here!” the father yelled and you nodded.

“I’ll save her, you guys need to leave now!” you screamed. 

“I’m not leaving-” the mom begins to protest, but you cut her off.

“I promise I’ll get her out of here, but if you don’t leave she’s not going to have anyone there to take care of her!” you exclaimed. Without another word they run out of the building. You looked at the little girl who was stuck behind a piece of broken ceiling. 

You smiled at the girl who just seemed numb and you grabbed her arm, “Hi kiddo,” you finally got out between coughs, “My name’s Y/N and I’m here to save you okay? You’re safe now. No one can hurt you. Do you mind if I touch you and help you out?” 

She nodded without another word. You started coughing uncontrollably before you finally held her in your arms. 

JJ was pacing back and forth from outside. Her thoughts spinning as she just watched you run into a burning building. Two figures started rushing out of the building. JJ and Morgan ran towards the couple, leading them towards the ambulance.

“Where’s the agent who went in to help you?” JJ asked, frantically. 

“She’s still in there. She’s helping our daughter, she was stuck. She promised that she’d save her,” the mother told JJ.

Right as she finished her sentence, there was huge crash. Everyone’s head turned back to the house to see the roof caved in and the building was falling apart. 

“Y/N,” JJ whispered before raising her voice, screaming out your name uncontrollably, “Y/N!”

Her mind flashed back to Afghanistan, when the good thing the two of you had going turned sour. 

It was dark out and you, JJ, and some of trying to search an abandoned compound that you assumed the Talibans were using to help create bombs. You sensed a slight tension against your shin. 

It felt like what would happen if you rubbed your shin against a bush. But there was no shrubbery around the group, only grass and dirt. At the same time there was a pinning noise and that was the only thing you could hear. 

You had walked into a tripwire, looking down you saw the primed grenade, “Grenade! Take cover!” you yelled to the rest of your team.

You don’t know why you did what you did. Maybe it was because you felt responsible for what was about to happen. You pushed JJ towards the rest of the group as one of your fellow soldiers pulled her behind the concrete building.

You threw off your backpack and jammed it into the grenade, before lying next to it in fetal position to block the explosion from expanding towards them. You were just counting down, waiting for the consequences. 

5, 4, 3, 2,1, you counted and your whole body relaxed as the thought that maybe the bomb was a dud crossed your mind. But just as you relaxed it blew up in front of you. 

“Y/N!” JJ screamed. 

The orange sparks and the smoke cleared, but you knew you were still alive. You were so disoriented, so disoriented to the point where you didn’t even notice that you were blasted so much further away from where you originally laid. 

JJ and the patrol medic ran over to you. She put her hands on my face and noticed how disoriented you were. JJ noticed the blood pouring down your nose and ears. 

“Y/N, I need you to stay with me,” JJ told you, drawing figures on your bloody cheeks, “The doctor’s checking you out, I need you to stay awake, okay? Please, for me,” her voice cracked. 

No matter how hard you tried, your eyes just seemed to shut and you couldn’t open them again.

“No!” JJ screamed as she continued to watch the house burn down in flames. 

Tears were flowing down her cheeks. The trauma of Afghanistan and the thought of losing you flooded her mind. She always wondered why her relationships with people after you never worked. 

She made excuses for herself. The idea that her job as a profiler took up too much of her time. Or the guys or girls she dated were just bad seeds. But that wasn’t the idea. It was the idea that she was still so in love with you, maybe even waiting for the day she’ll get you back. 

JJ looked around the rest of your team. Reid was trying his best to fight off tears, but you could hear him sniffling. He always thought of you as one of his best friends. You related to him more than anyone because of how young you were. 

Morgan and Prentiss stood up tall and were staying strong. But JJ could tell from a mile away that it was getting harder every second that was going by. Prentiss thought of you as a little prodigy, you reminded her of a young Prentiss, and all she wanted to do was protect you even though she knew you didn’t need it. 

Then there was Hotch who stood there emotionless, but he was just trying to actually stay strong for the team. Hotch knew that you were the reckless type, it didn’t take a profiler to notice that. 

The last thing he said to you before he introduced you to the team was, “I see that you want to fight, you’ve got this hunger. I was just like you when I was younger, head full of fantasies of dying like a martyr. Just remember, dying is easy, living is harder.” 

But then they saw a figure emerge from the smoke. The little girl you were carrying was unconscious in your arms. You were coughing up a storm as you crashed onto the lawn. 

The team and paramedics ran towards you. JJ cupped your cheeks as your eyes fluttered open and closed. The smoke that was filling your lungs, making it hard to breathe. The paramedics through an oxygen mask on your face as they tried to help you breathe.

You pulled it off really quick, “Y/N! Put the oxygen mask back on!” JJ scolded you.

You were coughing up a storm as you finally got out what you said between your coughs, “I’m still in love with you,” you told her.

She was about to respond when you started seizing on the ground. Hotch pushed the team out of the way so the paramedics could do their job.

JJ’s mine still drifted back to Afghanistan as she watched them drag you to the hospital. It reminded her of when they brought you back to the med camp after the explosion. The fear settling into her bones that she might not ever see you again.

When you were finally more stable to understand what was going on around you, you were in the med tent of the camp. JJ was sitting next to you with her hands intertwined with yours.

You moved slightly and her head shot up to look at you, “How bad is it?” 

“Your eardrums are perforated, but there’s suspected to be no lasting damage.Your backpack and body armor absorbed most of the damage. You know the doctors say you’re lucky, but I just say you’re stupid,” she told you and you looked at her with furrow brows. 

“That was a little harsh,” you muttered.

She rolled her eyes, “What you did was stupid! It was stupid and reckless! I almost lost you today because of how stupid you were being!” 

“It was heroic!” you screamed. It didn't matter to you that your head was still pounding and your ears were ringing from the explosion, but you were being attacked after you just woke up.

“You don’t see the point! I almost lost you! There are people who care about you! I care about you and if I lost you today I don’t know what I would’ve done!” she screamed, “So I need you to promise me that this isn’t going to happen again. That you’ll start being more careful and thinking more without doing,” 

You sat there in silence unsure of what to say, “I can’t promise that,” you whispered after so many minutes. 

She bit her lip, removing her hand from yours. JJ stood up and started packing up the things that she had in the tent, “Then I can’t do this. If you’re not going to even respect a simple decision as to being less reckless for your own safety, then I can’t do this. I don’t think that what I’m asking is too hard, but I guess it is,” 

“JJ,” you whispered, but it was too late she was already gone.

She didn't come to visit you after that. As you sat there in your own silence, you realized that you made a mistake. You wanted to talk to her, but every time you asked someone to grab her she would always be busy or she’d just never come. 

Once you were finally well enough to be discharged from med tent and back to your own, it was too late. There was a little note left on the hard mattress the two of you once shared.

“Y/N, I’ve decided to leave. Another state department liaison is coming to replace me. I just can’t stay and watch you throw your life on the line anymore. Maybe in another world, but just not this one- JJ,” the note read and you let out a groan of frustration before falling onto the mattress.

You woke up from your seizure to see JJ sitting the corner of the room. She was curled up in the faux leather seat as she was sleeping peacefully. Your mouth felt dry as you reached over to grab the water that sat on the bedside table. 

All your stirring around caused JJ to wake up, her head shooting over to you to make sure you were okay. You looked at her softly and smiled, “How’s the little girl?”

“Safe and recovering,” she answered shortly.

“Where’s everyone else?” you asked.

“They’re in the waiting room. I tried to get them to go home, but they insisted on staying,” she mentioned and you smiled softly.

You could tell she was holding back from what she was going to say, so you let out a sigh, “Whatever you’re holding back, just get it out,” 

“That was stupid of you,” she said sternly, reminding you of your very last conversation before you met her again, “You almost died again! And I had to be there to witness it again!”

“I saved a family’s life today,” you told her, your voice dry, but just as stern. 

“But at what cost? Risking your own?!” she exclaimed and you pinched the bridge of your nose, putting your head down, “It was stupid!”

“Can you stop saying that?! It was brave and heroic! Why can’t you just be accepting about it like everyone else?!” you yelled back.

“There it is again! With your heroic bullshit!” she threw her hands up in frustration, walking closer to your bed, “What’s the big deal about it?” 

“I need to be remembered! I need to have my name in books and you know sacrificing yourself and saving as many people as possible gets you there! My family’s legacy is shot, I need to make a legacy of mine and if this is the way to do it then so be it! I need to be a hero, so I can be loved since my parents never did!” you finally exploded, telling her all the reasons why you are the way you are.

“You don’t need to sacrifice yourself to be loved!” she argued.

You scoffed, “Well, apparently I do since the only time you’ve seemed to want to talk to me since I’ve joined the team is when I’m recovering from almost dying. I don’t understand why you’re so angry at me right now, you broke up with me. You left me to recover from the bomb on my own! So tell me, why do you even care?!” 

“Because I’m still in love with you!” she finally screamed and your eyes softened.

“You don’t need to sacrifice yourself to be a hero or loved because in my eyes you’re already a hero. I care because the thought of living the rest of my life without you kills me. Living my life without you the last few years was the time I felt numb. Then you came back and I wanted to give us a shot again, but I was scared,” she whispered.

“Scared about what?” you asked.

“You were still as reckless as ever. You are still so obsessed with getting your name in the history books that you don’t care who you hurt in the process. I was scared that if I got too attached that one day you’d just die,” she told you, “At least with breaking up with you, I knew you were still alive and I didn’t lose you forever,”

There was a moment of silence before she spoke up again, “You don’t understand that you risking your life out like that hurts the people who love and care about. You don’t need to have millions of people know your name, all you need are the ones who matter most to you and you don’t understand that. I love how protective and heroic you are, but I hate it more. The hate overcomes the love,” 

You reached your hand out for her to come closer. You intertwined your fingers together before placing a kiss to the top of her hand. She had tears threatening to pour down her face.

You brushed a strand of her blonde hair from behind her ear before you cupped her cheeks softly, “I’m sorry,” you whispered, “I didn’t know how badly my acts affected you. I wish that we talked about this when I was still stationed, maybe I could’ve knocked some sense into myself and we’d still be together,”

“But I’d really like a second chance JJ,” you whispered shyly, the fear of rejection overtaking your promise, “I’ll make that promise I should’ve made ages ago. Be less reckless, be a hero in smaller less dramatic ways. But I also understand if you don’t, I know I’m fucked in the head,” 

JJ leaned her forehead on top of yours before kissing you softly, “One more chance,” she whispered, “No more bombs, or gunmen, or fires,”

You kissed her once more, “I just hope I can be the hero that you deserve, the right kind of hero,” 

“There’s no doubt in my mind that you won’t be,” 

#jennifer jareau imagines #jennifer jareau x reader #jj criminal minds #jj x reader #criminal minds

[soulmate-game]

Harley’s Plea for Help: Chapter 2

Chapter 1

“How long do you think it’s gonna take before she decides to sneak out?” Nightwing asked over his comms, lazily leaning against the balcony railing in front of him with his head resting on one hand.

“Dude, I started sneaking out almost twenty minutes ago,” a girl’s voice made Nightwing squeak and turn around, to reveal a teenage girl leaning against the door that led to the balcony he was on. “I didn’t want to draw attention to myself by doing unnecessarily showy gymnastics down from my hotel room’s balcony, no matter how much fun that would be, so I just snuck out one of the hotel’s back exits. Then I looked up to admire the moon and saw you here, staking out what is clearly my suite, and decided to come pay you a visit.”

“How long have you been there? And how did you even get behind me? I hope you didn’t break and enter, that’s an actual lived-in apartment behind us right now,” Nightwing asked, turning around to analyze the daughter of Harley Quinn for the first time in person.

She looked just like in her pictures, of course. Jet black hair like her father’s, except it seemed to have a bluish shine in the light. And her eyes were definitely Harley’s— thank goodness for that —vibrant blue and clearly analyzing him with the same amount of intensity as his did her. He had to bite back a chuckle. In a turn of complete irony, she really did look like a Wayne kid. Fit all of Bruce’s usual criteria to be adopted. But she was tiny, even smaller than Harley’s lithe form. He, Bruce, and Tim were of the hypothesis that the exposure both her parents had to Ace Chemical’s vats of acid likely had an effect on her DNA that stunted her growth. Perhaps there were other effects that they wouldn’t be able to figure out until they got to know her better, too, though it was clear that her skin was a likely one. It wasn’t unnaturally pale like her parent’s after their acid dips but it was paler than normal for sure, just a shade or two shy of being paper white.

And he could see, now, what Harley meant when she referred to Marinette as a powerhouse. It wasn’t very noticeable in pictures, but up close Dick could see the carefully honed muscle of an acrobat curling over her otherwise slim build. Combined with the knowledge that Marinette had been taught at least some serious self defense from a young age, he could see how such a tiny package could be a remarkable threat when necessary.

Marinette grimaced as the other Batfam, who were all nearby staking out her room from different angles, dropped onto the large balcony with them.

“Uh, well. I didn’t break and enter, I rather not get off to a criminal-ly start on my first night in Gotham, you know? But I realized that even though I was able to figure out the exact room you were staking me out from, I realized as soon as I got into the first floor of the building that I had no idea how to actually get to you. So I just climbed the stairs all the way to the roof and scaled my way down to this balcony, and pretended I’ve been here for a while when really I was barely able to hear you ask when I was gonna sneak out. I’m still out of breath, actually,” she put a hand on her chest and sure enough her breathing was still slightly fast. But not enough to be worrying or even all that noticeable. Yet another piece of evidence to show that she was a very active individual and had resistance built up to physical activity.

“Yup,” Robin groused grumpily, crossing his arms. “With all that rambling, you couldn’t be anyone else’s child but Quinzel’s.”

Marinette’s face immediately flushed pink all the way to her ears. “I’m sorry! I’ve been trying so hard to quit that habit, too!” She grumbled a bit to herself, putting her face in her hands. They all chuckled at the display. Red Hood ambled over, draping his arm over her shoulders (he nearly had to bend in half to do it, the height difference was that bad).

“As adorable as your freak out is, why’d you even come up here anyway? There’s no way you’d scale down a ten-story building just to say hello.”

She let out a heavy sigh at that, slowly peeling her face out of her hands. “Yeah, I recognized you guys right away. And honestly, as much as Momma Harley would be super proud of me for managing to give an entire group of vigilantes the slip, she’d also ground me for life if she found out that I saw you guys and still snuck away even though she probably swallowed her pride and asked you guys to babysit me, right? Self preservation. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have some.”

“Wait,” Red Robin held up a hand, brows clearly furrowed under his cowl. “You expected her to ask for our help?”

“Well,” she made a so-so motion with her hand. “I didn’t think of it beforehand, but it all clicked once I saw Nightwing. I know how much my mom is worried about me, especially since you-know-who broke out a few days ago. She is more than worried enough to ask you guys for help. Even if she does complain about you guys, a lot actually, she also has made it clear that she trusts you guys with the stuff that actually matters.

“‘You know who’?” Batman repeated, arms crossed. If Marinette squinted, she thought there might have been a grin on his lips. “Is that how you always refer to him?”

“What else am I gonna call him?” she asked, face going deadpan. “Sperm donor? Source of a large amount of my self doubt and depreciation? The prime reason I haven’t been able to see my mom in person more often over the years? Oh, I know! How about I just always refer to him as ‘that bastard I wanna punch,’? That sounds good!” she rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Only one person in this world has the right to be considered my father in any capacity, and it sure as hell isn’t him. Genetics notwithstanding.”

Red Hood straight up guffawed at that, landing several rough pats on her back that made the girl stumble a bit. “Yep, I like this one! But as fun as it would be to see you give that jackass a mean left hook, it’s better if he never finds out who you are or knows that you’re here,” the vigilante’s voice got dark and serious very quickly. “He doesn’t forget people he finds interesting easily, and if he ever finds out about the connection you have to him, he’ll be a constant threat in your life.”

“I know,” Marinette agreed with a nod. “And if this conversation was happening two years ago, I’d say that my mom’s concerns aren’t unfounded. That I am too easily emotionally compromised and despite my deep seated issues and hatred for that man, I couldn’t guarantee he would be unable to get to me.”

Batman straightened up, as did all of his sons around him. None of them had missed the ‘if’ there. Batman’s voice went from charmingly deep to it’s usual gruff grumble. “What changed in two years?”

They all watched as Marinette gulped, taking a deep breath as she stalled for time, looking out at the view on the balcony before seeming to steel herself and return her gaze to Batman’s. When she did, it was suddenly full of iron will.

“I didn’t lie when I told Mom that I came to visit her— but that isn’t the whole truth, either. If I just wanted to visit her in Gotham, I would have waited until I was eighteen like we agreed. But I can’t wait, Paris can’t keep going on like this. I entered that contest because it was the fastest way to see you. I didn’t know if I would win, but… I had to take the chance. There was no way I’d be able to get to Gotham behind my mom’s back otherwise.”

“What are you talking about?” Robin hissed, stepping up to his father’s side. “Paris has been silent. If anything were happening, we would have heard about it by now.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Marinette corrected, never losing that ironclad look in her eyes. “Because a combination of magic and politics is keeping it quiet. No news about Paris’ situation is able to leave the city limits. Magic makes any non-native who leaves Paris think that everything they experienced was just a crazy dream. Natives won’t forget, but politics has all of us under very strict NDAs if we leave city boundaries, and all of our local news and social media is blocked from being accessed by anyone outside the city. But, I figured a little breaking of the rules wouldn’t exactly put a stain on my family’s reputation or anything, so,” she dug in her pocket and pulled out a thumb drive, holding it up for all of them to see. She swallowed again, but never stopped her eye contact with Batman. She held out the thumb drive.

“I came to Gotham to ask for your help. This sped things up, I didn’t expect to see you on my first night here, but two years in Hawkmoth’s Paris has really taught me how to roll with the punches. This,” she shook the thumb drive. “Holds videos of every fight since HawkMoth first showed up. It has all the information I’ve gathered over two years, tracks his movements and lists all his targets and— everything. But I’m not a detective, I’m a designer. I make clothes, I spar on the weekends, I am not good at getting evidence to prove that someone is a magic-abusing villain holding an entire city hostage.”

“We’re gonna need some details, Little Q,” Red Hood finally removes his arm from around her shoulders, instead crossing his arms and looking down at her sternly. “If your city has a villain holding it hostage, is anyone fighting him? And if you do have someone fighting him, why don’t you need our help, or why didn’t they call the Justice League? The JLE should be in Paris, right?”

Marinette snorted, face scrunching up in obvious distaste. “I’ll have to answer those a little out of order. First; the JLE was kicked out of Paris. They moved their headquarters to Italy about five years ago, I’m just surprised they apparently kept that secret from you,” she gestured to all of them, who indeed seemed very caught off guard by that tidbit. But Marinette just sighed and continued. “Though that’s a good thing, actually. We do have heroes, it started out as just a pair but it’s grown into a small team out of necessity. They didn’t call the Justice League because the last thing we need is any powered heroes coming in and making it worse— your league doesn’t have the best reputation for letting newer heroes take the lead even on their home turf, you know,” she pointed out, which made Batman shift a bit guiltily. He knew the JL was often a bit… heavy handed in their methods.

“What makes the situation so bad that you don’t want to bring experienced heroes into it?” Red Robin cut in, sounding as if the whole situation was a puzzle he was determined to sort out. Which, really, was exactly what Marinette had been counting on. She shot him a finger gun, grinning.

“That’s exactly the point! Hawkmoth uses a magical artifact, like I said— but this artifact can brainwash anybody who experiences even the slightest negative emotion. Sadness, anger, fear— anything negative. And it gives them powers, but puts them largely under his influence,” her expression twisted again, this time into a wry little grimace. “I guess you can say that my momma’s psychiatry background has secretly come in handy a lot over these past two years. And Hawkmoth is exactly why I try to tell Momma Harley to stop visiting me— I have worked my butt off to keep her from finding out about his attacks or getting Akumatized. Every time she shows up it gives me a heart attack!”

“Akumatized?”

Marinette waved a hand dismissively. “It’s the term used for when someone is turned into a super powered villain because of HawkMoth. The brainwashing— really it’s more similar to a straight up corruption. The person usually lacks their usual moral compass, and just seeks to soothe whatever set off their negative emotion in the first place. Usually, that means they seek a bloody revenge. And if someone who already has extensive training or extremely strong powers gets Akumatized, guess what?” She made jazz hands even though her face was deadpan. “Extra powers, or amplified ones, for the metas or superheroes who are Akumatized. And imagine what someone with, say, Batman’s level of experience could do if he had powers and no moral compass,” the silence that followed her words was deafening. She just nodded, knowing she had gotten her point across. “I’ve been working my butt off to stay positive, because if I’m Akumatized…” her shoulders fell, and she had to swallow a lump in her throat. “... I have no idea what I’d turn into, but if you take into consideration both my training and my family history… it’s really best if we never find out what kind of magic-powered supervillain I’d make.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Nightwing said after another long moment of silence for that to all sink in. He gestured at her with an open palm. “You’ve been dealing with a terrorist for two years who targets emotional vulnerability, you apparently have never been corrupted by this magic at least to present day, but your mother still worries about you being very emotionally fragile. And your heroes are not detectives, which is clearly what you need or you wouldn’t have asked us for our help.”

Marinette nodded. “I used to be very impressionable. At the start of all this, I was a huge people-pleaser. I got attached to new people in a matter of minutes. My mom always said I reminded her too much of herself— but two years of fighting off a guy trying to get into my head—“

“Wait,” Batman nearly barked, taking a step forward. “He’s been targeting you? You specifically?”

Marinette nodded grimly, mouth a straight line. “Not from the beginning, but this past year it’s been painfully obvious. He might be able to sense the strength of people’s emotions, and unfortunately I don’t exactly experience my emotions very… gently. All of my emotions tend to the much more intense side of the spectrum. If that’s true, then he might know that any negative emotion I feel will make an extremely strong Akuma. Either that, or he’s going by process of elimination. All of my friends, except for one, have been Akumatized already. So has my Papan and my grandmother. But it’s obvious when he’s targeting someone, I’ve felt him try to override my will on several occasions. But I can’t just repress all of my negative emotions forever, so consider us working against the clock right now. That thumb drive has all the details you need about our heroes, how exactly Hawkmoth’s powers work, and so on.”

“Do your heroes know you’re asking for our help?” Red Robin asked, gaze burning a figurative hole through Marinette’s face. “Better yet, if this drive has as much information as you say it does, how did you get it?”

Marinette handed the drive over to Batman, who finally took it and tucked it in his belt as she answered.

“Momma Harley might have a lot to say about your detective skills, but you are all still strangers to me. So consider this a test of your abilities— I expect that you will all go to extreme lengths to verify all of the information I gave you anyway. After all, I’m still the daughter of your most hated enemy. Right?” She met each of their gazes, one by one, with a challenging one of her own. “You’ll just have to figure out my connection to the heroes on your own. And how I got the information, too. It shouldn’t be too hard for the so-called world’s greatest detectives. And maybe this can double as a trust exercise. I fully expect you guys to scour through every inch of my past, and dig up everything you can on me. I encourage you to try to find everything you can, so that hopefully you can decide to trust me on your own once you have all the details laid out in front of you. By the way, for your own sanity? I’d start with reading about all of our heroes’ powers and abilities before you watch any footage of past attacks.”

Red hood rocked back on his heels, trading glances with the other vigilantes before they all shared a nod. Apparently having decided their course of action, Red Hood leaned down and hoisted Marinette up into a princess carry. All traces of her previous iron will melted away in favor of the high pitched squeal of surprise she gave, and once more she became an overly flustered teenager.

“Alright, little cutie. Let’s get you to your mom’s place before she and her crazy plant lady fiancé come hunting us down.”

“I can walk! I can freerun on my own! Mon dieu please let me down! Eeeeek!” She squealed again as Robin slapped a domino mask over her eyes and Red Hood wasted no time jumping over the balcony railing with her still in his arms. The fact that they were lowered down by a wire wrapped around Hood’s waist didn’t seem to take away any of the fright that came with a sudden drop over an eighth-story balcony.

Part 1

@emotionalsupportginger @alysrose-starchild @emistar0 @kibastray @justanotherfanficlovinbitch @alyssadeliv @blackroserelina @blackstarlight-co @readingalldaysleepingallnight @maanae @aespades @jaybird-and-co @fleursroses @probably-a-hologram @misterpianoman (didn’t work sorry)

#dc x mlb #dc x miraculous #maribat #bio!dad au #Bio!mom Harley Quinn #Bio!Dad joker #mlb x dc #ml x dc #Harley’s Plea for Help #platonic brucinette #platonic jasonette #platonic Harley Quinn x Marinette

[i-cant-sing]

I know requests are closed so this isn’t a request I just had an idea based off an ask you got about hawks and the Todoroki clan. What if the reader escaped from yandere Todoroki clan (Dabi scared the reader/took it too far with the threats, or because endeavor and the brothers had a fight and the reader got scared)and they ran into hawks, crying and panicked thinking that he would help. But hawks recognizes them from the pictures in endeavors desk and offers them a lift to somewhere safe. Only for hawks to fly the reader back to the Todoroki estate where the whole family is waiting for them.

The reader feels hurt and betrayed and everyone is angry, but hawks being hawks tries to diffuse the situation by saying,”stop scaring the poor kid. They came to me scared out of their mind, but being the outstanding godfather that I am, I made sure to bring them back safely.” (Or something like that)

And endeavor just accepts that hawks claimed himself as the readers godfather, and tells the reader to get inside and to clean up.

So now hawks takes it upon himself to hang around the estate more to fulfill his “godfather” duties, spoiling the reader as much as he can.

Yandere Godfather Hawks x Todoroki clan reader

I was going to write boyfriend Hawks, instead of Godfather Hawks but this was just too good. I kinda thought that the age gap between Hawks and reader would be too much so maybe Godfather would be a better role for him, but the chaos that would follow if they find him dating reader would be just *chef's kiss*. I think I just might write bf Hawks too. Let me know what you guys think.

Anyways, enjoy!

Check out my MASTERLIST here!

Yandere Hawks:

You didn't know how long you had been running for. You didn't know how far you had gotten away from their house. You didn't even know where you were going, to be honest. But you did know that you had to get away from there as far as you could.

Sure, you only had a few hours headstart. But for them, the most powerful family in Japan, this wasn’t enough time for you. 

You had planned your escape with their schedule in mind.

Enji would come home from his office at 9pm; he used to return at 11, but ever since you were kidnapped adopted by them, he tries to come home early.

Natsuo had already visited you during the day. He habitually comes after his shift at the hospital. Once he would check you over for any injuries and be satisfied with your overall health, he would join you, Rei and Fuyumi for a quick lunch before leaving.

Usually, you would spend the day with Rei, Fuyumi and Shotou, then Enji would come by the time dinner was served. And once everyone went to sleep, Dabi would come to visit you around 2 am. He would tap on your window and disturb you from your sleep, but its not like you have any engagements in the morning anyways. Once you would let him in, he would talk to you and maybe watch a movie too. If he's pissed, he might "accidentally" leave a burn mark on your arm (and you've tried asking your family for help, but they wouldn't do anything. Natsuo would just bandage you up, while Shotou would comfort you. Besides, you've learned not to snitch on Dabi because he would even get angrier than before.)

That was your routine ever since they had took you, almost 7 months ago. Well, they had actually adopted you an year ago, and everything was going well. But then you started noticing their odd behaviour. You thought they were just being protective of you at first, but as time went on, their obsessive tendencies and no regard for your personal boundaries started weirding you out.

Then one day, they just stopped letting you out of the house. No matter how much you cried, begged or fought, they just wouldn't let you go outside, telling that you its for your own good.

At first, they would use cuffs to keep you bound since you fought so much. But then you started behaving, and they slowly started trusting you more and stopped putting on the restraints.

What they didn't know was that you were just biding your time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to escape. Like today.

Shotou had to go to his friend's house to work on a school project, so he wasn't able to join you at lunch today and would be coming home late.

After lunch, once Natsuo had left, you asked Fuyumi if she could go to the mall and buy you some books. You had been complaining to her about your boredom for quite sometime now, so she agreed and left to go shop for you.

So that only left you with Rei in the house. And while she had a weaker quirk than the rest of the family, your quirkless self was no match for her either.

But she was easier to fool. You told Rei that you were going to take a nap in your room and to call you when dinner was ready. Rei nodded before going to the kitchen to start preparing for dinner.

You went to your room and opened the window to get out. It used to be bolted shut but after months of working on it slowly but stealthily, you had managed to pop it open. It was 6, and you were sure Fuyumi and Shotou would be coming home by 7, so without having anytime to pack, you ran.

It was stupid. You should've at least gotten your coat and shoes on, but there was no guarantee a chance like this would appear again, so you left without them.

You kind of regret it now, as you winced in pain at all the rocks and twigs pressing into your bare feet. You shivered in the cold, which didn't bother you at first because of the adrenaline pumping through your veins, but now as you slid against a dumpster in an alley to give a break to your legs, you wished Rei could've given you some proper clothes, instead of the light, pastel pink dress. In her defence, the house was centrally heated during winters so you didn't really need warm clothes inside the house. But now, looking at the dark clouds forming in the sky, you wished she could've at least given you a sweater.

It had soon started raining, and the wind had picked up as well. Shivering, you decided to stay put by the dumpster and wait until it stopped. It would be easier for them to find you if you ran now because the streets will be empty because of the rain. And its not like you could go to a police station either. How will you explain to them that the no.1 hero had kidnapped you?

Sighing, you closed your eyes. You just have to vanish from their eyes until they give up on you, or at least find someone else to replace you.

Hawks was flying home when it had begun raining. Tutting, he flew back to the ground to walk his way home. It was dangerous to fly during the rain; his feathers would get heavy and weigh him down.

As he was walking, whistling to himself, he heard someone whimper in the alley to his left. He walked in the dark alley, bracing himself for any sudden movements. The little whimpers came from near the dumpster. The alley had no light, so he couldn't see much. He walked closer to the source of whimpers and he could make out a silhouette of a shivering girl, who was completely drenched. Her eyes were closed so she hadn't noticed Hawks yet.

He took a step closer. "Hey. You okay?" As soon Hawks voice reached her ears, she snapped her eyes open and backed away from him. Hawks backed up a bit, raising his hands in surrender. "Its okay. I'm a hero." He said, calmly.

Once she seemed recognise him, or at least realise he wasn't dangerous, she relaxed a bit. "What are you doing in the rain?"he asked. She paused for a bit, before replying in a tiny voice,"none of your business." Hawks smiled. "It kinda is. Now you can either tell me, or I can take you to the cops and you can tell them. What's it gonna be?"

Your breath hitched at his question. If he takes you to the cops, Enji will surely find you, and the punishment that will be waiting for you...you didn't even want to think about it. "I'm just...running." you mumbled, hoping he would leave you alone. "From who?" When you didn't reply, he sighed. "Okay. Can you tell me why you're running?"

You thought for a bit. Would he believe if you told him the truth? You knew he was close friends with Enji and you heard from Enji that he was very loyal to him, so you doubted that he would believe you if you told him the no. 1 hero had been holding you hostage for 7 months. But maybe he could help you. If you just tell him that someone's after you, then maybe he could drop you off somewhere safe?

Gulping, you answered. "I- I was kidnapped. And they've probably noticed that I'm missing now and- and I need to hide before they can find me. I can't, I can't go back there-" your voice broke down as you slowly started crying.

Hawks's eyes widened as he heard you confess. He hugged you, rubbing your back soothingly. "Shh, its okay. I'm here now. Tell me who it is." You shook your head no. "Don’t be afraid. I'll keep you safe. Just tell me who-" "No!"you cut him off, realising that you would be putting his life in danger if you told him the truth. The Todorokis have done it before, with your old family and friends; you have no doubt that they will do it again.

Hawks was taken aback by your outburst. Who were you so afraid of? Was it a crazy ex? Or a family member? Maybe you had gotten in trouble with the wrong crowd? Whoever it was, fear was evident in your voice. He had to help you.

"Okay. I'm sorry. How about we get out of the rain? Maybe to a cafe, where we can get a coffee to warm ourselves up?" He asked you again, trying to look at your face in the dark. You shook your head again, before speaking. "Could you- could you just get me out of this city? Or at least as far away from here as possible?"

Who were you so scared of that you wanted to leave the city? He could investigate that later, but first he needed to get you out of the rain. 

He nodded. "Alright. It should stop raining anytime now, so I can't fly you out right now. How about we walk to my apartment and warm ourselves and then, I could take you anywhere you want?"

This was the best you were going to get. You know you need to leave the city right now, but he was your only chance of leaving. So you agreed. Hawks smiled at that. "Can you walk?"he asked you. You nodded, but as soon as you took a step, you yelped in pain, almost falling down. Thankfully, Hakws was near to catch you. He laughed. Noticing your chattering teeth, he gave you his jacket. "You're going to catch a cold." Once you had worn his big, warm jacket, he lifted you up into his arms and started walking out of the alley and towards his home.

As he got out of the alley, the street lights finally illuminated your face.

You looked familiar, like he'd seen you before, but he can't seem to remember where he saw you. His eyes scanned your face. Your brows were furrowed in worry, and you kept looking over his shoulder. You looked scared, almost like a child. Looking down, he noticed your pink dress was completely ruined. He moved his gaze to your feet. They were bleeding, due to the stones, twigs and broken glass that had pierced them. Your legs had tiny burns, some had faded, others looked still fresh.

Were you being abused? Is that why you're running? He wanted to ask you these questions but he knew he had to wait for you to open up.

"Thank you."your tiny voice brought him back to reality. Hawks gave his famous heroic smile. "No problem." You gave a tiny smile of your own. It was kind. "Why do you keep looking back?"he asked you. Your eyes widened slightly, looking like a kid who got caught stealing cookies. "Are you worried about them taking you away again?"he asked, not really sure who he was referring to. You started tearing up again. Your lips wobbled as you slowly nodded your head. He stopped walking, causing you to look up to him. "Its okay. I promise I'll never let anyone hurt you again. I promise." His voice held such sincerity, you started crying into his chest as you kept on thanking him.

Hawks meant every word. He's going to make sure nobody ever lays a finger on you. How could anyone harm such a sweet thing like you?

He rubbed your shoulder with one hand to calm you down. Once you had stopped crying, he spoke again. "Hey, look. It stopped raining." You looked up and he was right; the sky had cleared up. "Well, are you ready to fly?" You smiled slightly before nodding. He told you to hold on to him tightly, and you buried your face into his chest before he took off.

Once you guys were in the air, Hawks told you to open your eyes. You did and the view was breathtaking. Tall buildings and sky scrapers were all over the city, and tiny lights from cars and street lamps looked like stars. It looked like a scene from an anime. Really pretty.

"Wow."you finally said. Hawks chuckled at that. Your looked like you just saw Santa. So adorable.

"I'm glad you like it."he said, as he started flying towards his home. You smiled. "Hey! You never told me your name."he said, mocking fake surprise.

You giggled at that. "I'm Y/n."

And just like that, Hawks finally remembered where he had seen you.

A year ago Endeavour had asked him to find everything he can on this one particular girl. Hawks thought that maybe you were linked to some case, but your records were clean, so he thought that maybe Enji was just looking for someone for Shotou. Hawks thought it was weird when you suddenly disappeared from the public eye a month later. He tried to ask Enji about you but he would just brush him off, telling him he had mistook you for someone else. It was odd, but Hawks eventually let go of it.

Wait. Does that mean Enji had been hurting you? No, that can't be it. Enji had been working with him on a lot of missions abroad, and the burn marks on your legs were rather fresh. 

"Whats wrong?"your soft voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Hmm? Oh nothing. Why do you ask?"Hawks faked a smile. You stared at him. Something was off. "Nothing. Its just you were lost in your thoughts, I guess."

Hawks laughed at that. "You’re really observant, aren't you?" Deciding to test out his theory, he continued. "Well, you're right. I was thinking about a work colleague. You might've heard of him. Endeavour, hm?"

At the sound of his name, you stiffened, confirming his suspicion. You were connected to him somehow. Hawks didn't know how, but he was going to figure it out. "Um, y-yeah. He's the no.1 h- hero, right?"the fear in your voice had returned, although you were trying hard to hide it.

Hawks nodded. "Yeah!" He had to find out how you were linked to Enji. Suddenly, he turned around and started flying back where you guys had started.

"W-what are you doing? Why are we going back?"you asked him. He looked down at you and replied, "we need to get bandages for your wounds. Otherwise your feet will get infected." You nodded. "Oh. Okay." With that you closed your eyes to prevent them from drying against the wind.

After maybe half an hour or so, you opened your eyes to look where you guys were flying to. You looked down and to your horror, saw a familiar house coming up. You looked at Hawks and he seemed to know what you were thinking. "We're going down there."he nodded his head towards the Todoroki estate. Your eyes grew wide, and your body started trembling. "No! No! We- we can't! We can't go there!" You started shaking your head. "And why not?"Hawks stopped flying towards the estate, simply flapping his wings to remain in the air. You just shook your head. "We can't. I can't. Just drop me off somewhere else. I'll be fine on my own." Hawks wanted to know the real reason. He frowned. "Tell me the truth right now or I'll take you down there this instant."

You gulped, his eyes were showing that he wasn't bluffing. Your eyes started to glisten with unshed tears as you finally told him the truth. You told him everything; about how Enji had kidnapped you, how he got rid of your real family, how he and Rei had tried to keep you a secret from everyone, how their kids found out about you but instead of helping you out, became attached to you just like their parents, about how the famous villian Dabi was Enji's son and how he would sometimes burn you. By the time you were done, tears were flowing down your cheeks as Hawks tried to process what you had just confessed to him.

"Do you trust me?"he suddenly asked you. You looked at him confused. "What?" He repeated again. "Do you trust me?" Did you? Honestly, not that much, but he was the only one who was going to help you so you slowly nodded. "Yes?" Not really sure of it yourself but Hawks accepted the answer anyways. "Good." As soon as he said that, he started flying again, towards the house. You started thrashing in his arms again. "No! You said you wouldn't take me back here! You said you wouldn't!"you were full on sobbing against him, trying to wring yourself free from his vice grip, but Hawks was neither listening nor relenting his tight hold on you.

You looked down and that's when you saw them. Enji, Rei, all of them, were standing in the garden looking at you and Hawks. Even Dabi was there. Rei must've panicked and called everyone. And from the look on his- everyone's face, you could tell you were in deep trouble.

You thrashed in Hawks arms, begging him to fly away, but he didn't listen to you at all.

Once you reached the ground, you didn't pull your head out of Hawk's chest. You don't want to see their rage or the punishments they have planned for you.

"Hey, Endeavour!" Hawks broke the silence first. "Mrs Todoroki. Kids." He nodded towards them. "Hawks. Who do you have there?"Enji asked, pretending as if he doesn't know you. Hawks laughed. "You don't have to pretend! I know everything." At this, Dabi activated his quirk, ready to cremate him but was stopped by Shotou.

Thinking that this was some sort of blackmail, Enji asked, "What do you want? Money?"

Hawks smirked. "Nope! Look, I know you kidnapped her and all but you are providing her a good life, right?" He paused to look at them. Everyone nodded. He continued. "And you're just keeping her home to protect her from harm?" Again, everyone nodded. "But she still managed to escape you all even though she's quirkless and you all are not."

"Get to the fucking point."Dabi said impatiently.

Hawks sighed. "Clearly, you need all the help you can get. You need me. I can help you help her keep safe and healthy!" He paused, before his eyes lit up. "I can't have my goddaughter getting hurt again." Everyone looked at him weirdly. Goddaughter?

"How about you hand her over and you'll still be able to fly." Dabi threatened, blue flames engulfing his hands. Hawks laughed again. He was right. It wasn't Enji who giving you those nasty burns, it was Dabi. "If something happens to me, I have enough evidence gathered against you" he pointed to Dabi, "and then cops will get involved and maybe take away Y/n away."

The threat of someone taking you away from them, made their heart drop. Rei, who had been previously sobbing, put a hand on Dabi's shoulder, telling him to calm down.

Hawks grinned at Enji, raising his eyebrows. "So what will it be, Endeavour?"

Enji understood the ultimatum Hawks was giving him. Either let him in the family or risk losing you to the authorities. And he knew Hawks wasn't one to make empty threats.

Enji's eyes snapped to you. You were trying to bury yourself into Hawks chest, trying to hide from them. He wasn't that mad at you for running, more worried if anything. Had his family really spooked you that much? He'll have to worry about that later. First he needs to get you back into his and Rei's arms.

Enji sighed, before nodding. "Fine. We'll do it your way."

Hawks beamed at that. "Great!" He was glad that Enji had accepted. "Now, you need to take Y/n in before she catches a cold; although I'm certain she already has. Oh and tend to her bloody feet too! Poor thing was just running around barefoot." He chuckled. Shotou moved forward to take you from Hawks but you clung tightly to Hawks shoulders.

"Please. Please. Just take me out of here. Please." You whispered to him, fresh tears pricking your eyes now.

You looked so scared. Your eyes were saucer wide, nose red from cold and cheeks flush. Fear. That was were you emitting. But the longer he looked at your face, he found something else too. Hope. Innocence. Naivety. And while fear was the predominant emotion, the latter were the ones that he wanted to protect. "Hawks." Enji's voice broke him out from his trance. Hawks smiled. Addressing you, he started rubbing soothing circles to your back. "Hey. Hey. Its okay, princess." You kept on crying, your eyes begging him to whisk you away anywhere but here. You looked so much like him when he was little. So afraid. "Listen, do you remember what I promised you?" You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. You're so endearing. "I promised you that I'll never let anyone hurt you again, didn't I?" You nodded slowly. "I intent on keep that promise, dove. Infact I'll talk to your dad tonight! But you need to go in and take warm bath. I don't want you getting sick, okay?"

You had seemed to calm down as you slowly nodded and let him hand you over to Shotou, who quickly ushered you in, with Natsuo, Rei and Fuyumi quickly following behind, leaving Hawks with Dabi and Enji.

"Lets go to your office, Endeavour! I have to go over some details as Y/n's new godfather." Enji nodded and went inside to go to his home office. Hawks was about to follow but was stopped by Dabi. "What game are you playing, you freak?" 

Hawks chuckled, before swiftly pulling out a very sharp feather and pressing it against Dabi's jugular. "I'm just here to make sure that no one hurts Y/n again. And if I see another scorch mark on her, I'll find you and carve your skin into ribbons."

I will be accepting requests and asks for godfather hawks and Todoroki clan!

Oh and don't worry, I'm working on part 2 of rei hurting the reader. It'll be done soon! :)

#yandere hawks #yandere hawks x reader #yandere keigo takami #yandere godfather hawks #yandere endeavor #yandere dabi #yandere enji todoroki #yandere dabi x reader #touya todoroki #bnha imagines #yandere mha #endeavour x reader #yandere shoto todoroki #yandere rei todoroki #yandere natsuo todoroki #yandere fuyumi todoroki #yandere bnha #bnha headcanons #yandere todoroki family #yandere todoroki clan

[peppersonironi]

DUKE THOMAS ISN’T THE SANE ONE! A guide by Pepper

So, I have seen so many people writing Duke incorrectly, and I wanted to do something about it. In fanon, he is described as the sane bat, who would rather stay home and safe, and absolutely never join in shenanigans. Now, I know there are a lot of things wrong with canon, but Duke is one of the better parts! He is an interesting character who is actually just as chaotic as the rest of the gotham vigilantes. And so it it is quite unfair to his character to say he is the 'Arnold from the Magic Schoolbus' of the group. He's really not.

So I decided to make a list of ten instances in the comics where he disobeys Bruce, acts reckless, or is just a bat! (also for a Batfam Group Chat I’m a part of, someone asked for these) I hope this helps people understand his character better, and maybe even inspire them to write more about him? Seriously, Tag me if you do. I'm starved for good Duke content!

Feel free to add more in the comments, these are just what I could think of off the top of my head! (Hence the kinda weird order, sry)

1. He's a vigilante

Okay, so this is a bit obvious, but I still think it needs saying. You think that a guy who dresses in bright yellow and patrols the most crime-ridden city in the world during the day is 100% sane?

2. We Are Robin

Also obvious, but still. This guy joins a group of untrained teenage robins who just want to make a difference. And they do! It's still pretty reckless, though. 

3. He tried to take on the Riddler

In case you didn't know, in the beginning of New 52 (Zero year, specifically) the Riddler essentially held Gotham Hostage. He had some spiel about someone giving him a riddle he couldn't solve, and letting the city go. You know who decided he would be that person? Duke Thomas! He trained in brain-teasers, and puzzles, tirelessly worked. He became quite the adept riddler (not the villain). The kick? He was a child! (Look at the above panels, isn't he cute?) Duke was young, yet determined. And if that's not a bat quality, I don't know what is.

4. He escaped the cops by jumping off a bridge.

Oh no! Duke is in a police car! Oh no! He's on a bridge! What's he going to do?! Why, jump out and off the bridge while proclaiming "I am Robin" of course! Seriously, look at that panel and try to argue that he is the responsible goody-two-shoes of the family.

5. He talked down an enraged Damian

Basically, Damian was manipulated into joining the court of owls. Duke, who refused to believe that Robin genuinely joined them, fought him and talked him down. Now, this is Damian we're talking about. Sure, the kid is absolutely adorable and can be incredibly caring (Fight me on this, I dare you. Also, frick you DC), but when he's on a rampage, there is little that can stop him. So of course Duke decides to take care of it!

6. He actively tries to have a relationship with Damian.

Okay, so this one is a little weak, but I wanted an excuse to share those panels. Aren't those two great?! But seriously, Duke ignores that this tiny child could kill him in more ways than he could count, and even invites him to a movie! He also isn't afraid to tease the kid, unlike other members of the family. Knowing Damian can honestly be hard sometimes.

7. Comes back to the city when Bruce told him to get out.

During the I Am Bane arc of Tom King's Batman (I'm shuddering. So sorry for invoking his name!) Bruce tells the batboys to get out of Gotham and STAY out. the others are like 'we're not gonna listen, right?' and Duke is all 'you can't ignore BATMAN!' and walks off saying he's gonna listen to Bruce. This seems like pretty damning evidence, right? He's actually sane? The others got attacked by Bane and hung, but Duke didn't. Well, then you look at the next panel! (it takes place later in the volume) There he is, disobeying Bruce, and hanging out in Gotham. Not just that, he's out in costume! No, Duke couldn't just hunker down in an apartment, he had to go out and take down crooks, and warn Jim Gordon. I think that's pretty self-explanatory

8. Goes out while Injured

Those two panels are back-to-back in The Cursed Wheel (originally printed in All-Star Batman, later put into Batman and the Signal). As you can see, Bruce tells Duke to get rest. Duke was just attacked by Zsasz, and suffered multiple injuries. He wakes up, and the thing that would make the most sense would be for him to go to sleep, right? Well, he instead gets suited up and goes out to work on a case. Pretty much every bat has done this at some point. Not quite the smartest move, right? A touch reckless, wouldn’t you say?

9. That whole thing with Green Lantern

(sry for the weird sizing, I don’t have the comic to take screenshots) 

So there are two parts to this. First of, you have Green Lantern flying into the batcave, looking around, and there’s no Batman present. So what does Duke Do? Well, he certainly doesn’t stay back and contact Bruce! Nope, instead he attacks a member of the Justice League, a member of the Green Lantern Corp. Later on, you know what he says? He thought he would be fine because his suit is bright yellow. That’s it. A bit crazy, right?

Secondly, he gets roped into exploring the cave with Hal (I thinks it’s Hal, been a bit since I read this though). The Lantern has some thing going on about stuff in the cave, but that’s not important. What’s important is that Duke went along with it. He was curious enough to ignore what Bruce would say (Call him, yet anything remotely green out of the cave), and joins in! He does’t say “this is a bad idea” or “we shouldn’t be doing this” nope!

9. When he ran off with Cass to test his powers

Oh no, Duke got shadow powers! What’s he gonna go? Why, go off and have fun experiment of course! Duke and Cass head out to test and work on Duke’s newly presented abilities, and specifically don’t tell Bruce! This is information he would like to know, of course. It’s important to know if your newest protege gets more powers. But no, they go out of their way to sneakily test the extent of his powers. They get caught, of course, and then get chewed out (They get caught in costume, but the next panel they’re in civvies. I find that outrageously funny!). And here’s the kicker: they don’t really apologize! Sure, Duke gives a half-heart apology, but he doesn’t really mean it. Not even under the full extent of the Batglare™.

10. Rescuing Bruce with practically no training

I’ll skip all the plotty stuff, so just know that Bruce was out alone and in some deep doo-doo. Duke was back at the cave, working stuff out with Alfred. He realizes that what Bruce is doing is a trap. Now, just so you know, this is back when Duke was JUST taken in by Bruce. He doesn’t even have a codename yet! Barely any training. So you know what he does? He heads out anyway, and rescues Bruce. Now, check out that music he’s playing. Later on, it’s revealed to be Duke’s fave band. You know the name of that band? “Batman’s @^$&@” I’m not even joking. (I’m not sure what bleeped out, though later on it’s referred to as “Batman’s #$%” So I assume it’s ass?). So on top of being reckless, he plays a heavy metal band with a name that’s … special to say the least. He has guts, you gotta admit (Oh, and he seemed so gleeful when he told Bruce the name of the band!).

And there you have it! This list is far from complete, but I think it’s a good start. Feel free to reblog with your own, or any questions/comments! I absolutely love to talk about Duke, so don’’t be afraid to message me! Also, correct me if I wrote anything incorrect here. It’s been a while since I’ve read some of these, so I may have gotten some stuff wrong.

#duke thomas #the signal #duke is the signal #batfam #batfamily #dc comics #batman comics #batman and the signal #cassandra cain #damian wayne #batman #Bruce wayne #we are robin #robin war #batman zero year #dc #characterization #duke deserves better #long post

[onebatch2batch]

Heyo, dialogue prompts: 14 or 30? 😊

HI THIS WAS FROM FOREVER AGO BUUUUUT that's my m.o. so here we are. Hope you like it!!

And no, I'm never going to stop writing different versions of Frank and Karen getting together, you can't make me :)

--

14. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

Frank can practically hear David scheming, and he’s proven right when an anthropomorphic mop of hair bends into his line of sight and he says, “Hey, remember in the bunker, when we were still on the run?”

They’re both standing in David’s front yard. Frank’s van is in need of an oil change and a replacement filter and since he’s not keen on anyone else working on his getaway vehicle, he called up David to request use of his paved, suburban driveway. It’s been a few weeks since he’s managed to get over here, and David had instantly agreed on the condition that Frank stay for dinner. It’s a beautiful summer day, even if it’s a little hot, and he’s feeling a little off-kilter from the sounds of children playing all around. It’s so painfully normal that for a moment he’d regretted asking, and then David had offered him a drink. The taller computer genius doesn’t know shit about cars, so he’s alternating between fetching more beers and talking Frank’s ear off. It’s been about an hour now, and Frank has slowly relaxed into the background noise.

“Yeah,” Frank responds dryly around the flashlight between his teeth. He’s elbow deep in grease and not really interested in where this line of questioning is going to go, but David has other ideas.

“Uh huh. You know, when you got yourself on the news after that kid held Karen hostage?”

If Frank is affected by the name, all David notices is a sharp glance. “Yeah.”

“And how you freaked out and begged for my help and said she was family?”

Frank straightens and sets the flashlight down on the bumper of the car. “You got a point, Lieberman? I’m busy.”

“Yeah, I have a point. Was that all just bullshit, or what?”

They stare at each other. Frank’s jaw ticks.

“...what.”

“Thought so.”

“No, what?”

“Well you made this huge declaration and then almost got yourself killed trying to rescue her so--”

“God damn it, Lieberman, you’re never going to let that go, are you--”

David shakes his head, exasperated. “I mean, we haven’t even gotten to meet her yet and it’s been six months since Madini used her government wiles to give you a new identity--”

Frank scowls. “It’s none of your--”

The other man cuts him off quickly, hands up. To Frank’s immense displeasure, the other man looks less cowed and more placating. “I’m just saying, invite her to dinner next week. What harm is there? Maybe something good might happen to you for once, god forbid.” His friend stares him down, using every couple of inches of height to try and look intimidating. Of course it doesn’t work, but Frank is too busy thinking about having a family dinner with Karen, with his friends, like a normal person. Like a couple. He realizes too slow that David is leering at him, pleased.

“David, shut the hell up.”

“You’re blushing. Is that a yes? I’ll tell Sarah.”

--

Karen doesn’t question it when Frank calls her up after half a year of radio silence. She asks if it's a casual dress dinner and what kind of wine to bring, and then announces she’s got to go and she’ll see him Friday at six sharp.

He doesn’t know if that’s better or worse than her just telling him to shove it.

--

Friday creeps up on him, and by the time he parks outside of her apartment it hasn’t really sunk in that he’s about to take Karen Page to a domestic dinner in the suburbs. Because it’s definitely not a date, even though it kind of is. It’s the stuff he used to do with Maria and the kids all the time when he was on leave; double dates and cook outs and all that crap. He’s rusty as hell and usually shit company, but they keep asking him back. And now, he’s throwing Karen into the mix.

It’s a feeling similar to being shot in the head and waking up in a hospital room. Disorienting and uncomfortable as hell.

He picks her up in the van, leaning against the side of it as he waits. The Lieberman’s neighborhood is outside the city, about a twenty minute drive. It’s going to give them plenty of time to talk, and he’d barely restrained himself from looking up conversation starters online before leaving his place. He doubts there’s any suggestions for a vigilante-cum-construction worker who’s picking up a date he’s spoken a handful of words to for the first time in six months. He’s just considering cancelling the whole thing when the door to her building opens and she steps out.

He’s seen Karen a lot of ways. He’s seen her in pencil skirts and heels and blouses, in tshirt and jeans, bruised and bloody. He’s never seen her in a sundress with her pinked shoulders bare to the world and strappy sandals on her feet. Her hair is in a long braid over her shoulder. She looks fucking resplendant. Absolutely divine. Fucking poetry in motion.

He’s fucked.

“Hi,” she greets, coming to a stop in front of him. She’s got a bottle of wine in her hands. Her eyes punch little, individual question marks into his skin when she searches his face.

“Hey.” He inhales, bracing for her reaction. His throat closes up when he gets a whiff of her perfume. So familiar from the handful of times he’s been close enough to smell it--something soft and floral, something that makes his head swim. He thinks back to that moment so many months ago, swaying together in the elevator, her skin against his, her perfume subtle under the metallic tang of blood.

Karen doesn’t immediately go for interrogating him. She only lifts the bottle in her hand. “I brought a white, is that okay?”

Wary relief loosens the knot at the top of his spine. He nods, pushing off the car to open her door. “Sure.”

When Karen climbs in, carefully arranging her skirt around her, the dark interior contrasting with the soft yellow of her dress, Frank thinks about a conversation with Curtis all those months ago. Wonders when the kick is coming.

They spend the first ten minutes looking out separate windows and listening to the radio. After that, Karen starts talking like she’s made her mind up about the evening is going to go. She asks him how he’s been, if he’s gotten a job, how Dinah is, what the Liebermans are like. Nothing is accusatory. They could be old friends passing one another on the street, the way she’s talking. Almost like she’s talking to a scared dog. Coaxing it out of a corner.

Guess he deserves that.

By the time he pulls onto the appropriate street, it almost feels normal. They’ve fallen into a familiar back and forth that’s easy to keep up with, and when he opens her door she gives him a small grateful smile, accepting his hand on the way down.

He’s not disappointed when she lets go to straighten the fabric of her dress. He’s not.

--

As always, the Lieberman household is an explosion of domesticity. There’s shoes on the stairs, a sweet smelling candle burning on the coffee table, toys and books strewn over the floor. Pictures line the walls. When Frank knocks on the door, Zach opens it like he’s been waiting for them.

“ Hi, Pete!” he greets excitedly, and then his eyes land on Karen. “Who’s that?”

“Hello, I’m Karen Page.” She crouches down to look him in the eye and smiles. “You must be Zach, right?”

He flushes, twisting his fingers nervously. “Yeah. Are you Pete’s girlfriend?”

They’re saved from answering by a sudden, high pitched shriek. “Frank!!”

Karen manages to stand out of the way just in time for Leo to come barrelling down the stairs directly into Frank, hugging him tightly around the middle.

“Frank, Dad says you were here Saturday but you were gone before I left Ann’s house!!” she pulls away and waves a book at him. “I’m reading the book you told me about!”

He grins down at her. “I waited around for ya, but your mom said you wouldn’t be home until later. How’s the book, huh?”

She scrunches her nose. “I don’t know yet. I’ll let you know. Are you Karen?”

Karen laughs. “I sure am. Leo, right?”

“That’s me. Come on, my mom is in the kitchen.” She nudges Zach and then four of them head into the other room. Sarah Lieberman is standing behind the kitchen counter, chopping up a head of lettuce. When they walk in, she beams at them.

“Hey guys, welcome! Hang on, let me finish this. Pete, David’s out in the garage trying to fix the sprinklers. Can you--?”

Frank rolls his eyes. “Say no more.”

He lifts his brows at Karen, but she gives him a jerk of her head. Frank huffs and stalks off after kissing Sarah on the cheek, Leo trailing after him talking about sprinkler systems and tools. Zach joins his mother behind the counter and peers at Karen curiously. She sets the bottle of wine down.

“So Karen!” Sarah exclaims, dumping the lettuce into a bowl. “Let’s get you a glass of wine and chat. How’s that sound?”

--

They end up on the patio furniture. After completing the salad and sides, Sarah turns on the grill and then ushers them to the corner of the patio, refilling their glasses.

“So,” she starts, and peers at Karen over the rim of her glass. “I’m going to be forward, but I get the feeling you’ll appreciate that. What’s the deal with you and Pete? Sorry--habit. Frank.”

Karen could have guessed this was coming, even if she expected a little more subtlety. And Sarah’s right, she appreciates the bluntness. It gives her a chance to answer in kind.

“I don’t know.” She runs a finger over the rim of her glass, frowning. “I haven’t--we haven’t spoken in...a while. Six months, actually. And the last time I saw him..well, it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. I thought I scared him off, actually.”

“How so?”

And the story falls out of her mouth, in pieces. She hasn’t spoken to anyone about Frank, about her feelings for him--the good or bad--or about that afternoon in the hospital. “--and I thought...I thought maybe he would finally kiss me.” She runs a hand through her hair, frustrated. “And then he pulled that I’m not a hero bullshit and that’s the last I saw of him. Until he called this week.”

Sarah rolls her eyes. “That sounds like him. Honey, did you know when we first met he was gathering information on David?”

“Ah, yes. I was the one who found David for him.” She grimaces. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be! We’re lucky he came looking. Without him…” she shrugs. “I would still be a widow. And my kids still wouldn’t have their father. I’m just trying to say he may do things backwards, but he ends up doing things for the right reasons. Even if it takes him time to figure that out.”

--

Dinner goes well. Dinner goes really, really well. Not that Frank was worried--there isn’t a person alive who can sit down with Karen Page and at the very least admire her. The Liebermans fall in love with her immediately. The kids demand that she stay for a board game after dinner. Leo brags about her science project. Zach shyly asks if Karen likes football. Sarah drills her with questions about her job. David keeps her laughing while stupid jokes and send Frank knowing glances throughout dinner that makes Frank want to throw peas at him.

Karen is charming, sweet, and great with the kids. She gets along with David and Sarah, and sends him warm, unsure smiles until dessert.

They play Apples to Apples, and the kids decimate. Karen is a close third. Frank loses terribly, but he’s still busy ruminating over the warm feeling in his chest at the cacophony of noise that surrounds him as everyone submits to another peal of laughter to notice.

“Frank,” Leo says innocently once they’ve put the board game away and Sarah has told the kids it’s time for bed. She stands in the doorway to the kitchen and looks at him sternly, hands on her hips. “Please bring Karen around more. It’s not fair that you get to hog her and we’ve just met.”

“Leo, that’s Miss Page to you.” Sarah tries for sharpness but ends up laughing. “Off to bed. Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

“Bye Miss Page!” the kids chorus, and then it’s just the adults.

“Great kids,” Karen laughs. “Smart, too. You’re in trouble.”

Sarah sighs and pats her husband’s cheek fondly. “Yeah, we know. Somehow both of them got his brain.”

David chuckles, turns quickly to press a kiss to his wife’s palm. “At least they didn’t get my hair,” he jokes.

Karen sneaks a glance at Frank, then quickly looks away. He catches it, just briefly, as does David.

“Sarah, we should probably make sure the kids are actually brushing their teeth. I’ll tackle Leo if you tackle Zach, tag team it? We’ll be right back, guys.”

It’s quiet in the kitchen after that. Karen takes a sip of her wine and taps her fingers. There’s something on her mind, he can tell. When she doesn’t say anything he leans forward to capture her gaze. “What is it?”

“Why now, Frank?” Karen asks.

The conversation he’s been dreading. A feeling of shame bubbles up so suddenly it nearly knocks him off his chair. He scratches his neck for no reason other than to expel the nervous energy building in him.

“I didn’t want to…” There’s no use pretending like they’re talking about something else, not when she’s staring at him like that. Like she's been waiting all night for this conversation while he’s been tricking himself into thinking it may not happen. His finger dances restlessly on the table top. “I didn’t want to get you sucked back in.”

“Into what?” She arches a brow. “You?”

“Me. My life. My goddamn baggage. I know you deserve better than me.” He clears his throat. “So I wanted you to have a chance to live your life without my ghosts hanging around.”

“Frank Castle,” Karen sighs, exasperated, “please don’t tell me you’re making decisions for me. And that still doesn’t answer my question--why now?”

His expression tightens. “C’mon Karen. I’m just tryin’ to keep you safe--”

“How many times do I have to tell you--”

“As many as it ta--”

“Frank--” David steps into the kitchen, Sarah in tow. They pause, looking between the two people seated at the table awkwardly. “Oh, are we interrupting something?”

“No, David. Thank you both for tonight. I think I should be going.” Karen stands and looks at Frank. “I have loved you for two years, Frank. No amount of avoiding me or trying to protect me is going to change that. Excuse me.”

And then she walks away.

--

He catches up to her just down the street. As soon as he sees that familiar head of blond hair he pulls the van over and hops out, jogging to catch up. Karen glances at him and then pauses, as if waiting for something.

“Let me drive you home,” he asks. “Please.”

He doesn’t take her home straight away; she doesn’t ask. Frank drives until he finds a spot overlooking the water. The heat has finally broken and a cool breeze comes in through the open window, stirring Karen’s hair. He shuts off the engine. They sit in silence while he tries to decide what to say.

“I guess I should start by apologizing,” he says finally, tapping the steering wheel. He’s past nervous, he just wants to fix his own screw up. “I’m sorry, Karen. I don’t want to make any decisions for you. I should have--I should have talked to you about it. I should have started this conversation a long time ago.”

“So, start it.” She’s watching him, waiting. There’s a tense expression on her face--like she’s either trying not to cry, or trying not to smile. Or tell him off. He’s not sure which, yet.

Frank clears his throat. “Okay. Uh. I’m not gonna make excuses, I’m just gonna tell you what I know. I know that I have done some shit, and I’m going to continue doing that shit. I’m not ever gonna be normal. I know that you’re smart as hell, and you check me, and you’re a fucking force of nature. I know that I have been telling myself that you deserve more than some--fuckin’ vigilante who wakes up to nightmares more than he doesn’t. I know you deserve to be safe and happy. You deserve more than I can give you. But uh,” he takes her hand cautiously, waits for her to pull away, relaxes when she doesn’t, “...I wanna try.”

“You gotta mean it, Frank,” she says, voice watery. “You better fucking mean it.”

“I mean it. I swear to Christ, I mean it.”

She pulls her hand away and for a millisecond, he thinks he’s said something wrong. Then she’s unbuckling her seat belt and clamoring over the armrest into his lap. It’s not the most majestic first kiss he’s ever had (of which there are few) but her breath is hot on his lips and her fingernails scrape gently over his scalp as if entreating him closer. Frank makes a low groan that he hasn’t heard from himself in a long time--too long--and then Karen shifts and his breath catches in his throat. The heat of her, all wrapped up in his arms, her hair falling over one shoulder as she peppers his mouth, his cheeks, his jaw with the tiniest of kisses.

He could have ruined this without even knowing. He almost ruined it before it even happened.

“I do want you, you know,” Karen murmurs against the skin of his jaw, fingers grasping his shirt. “All of you.”

“I know.”

“Does that scare you?”

He pushes gently until he can look her in the eyes. “A little,” he admits. “I don’t wanna fuck this up.”

“You’re doing okay so far,” she says, smiling. “Now that you’ve pulled your self-deprecating head out of your ass.”

“Took me long enough.” He cradles the back of her head in one hand, drawing her closer until their lips meet again. They’re both uncomfortable at the weird angle but it’s not until the horn beeps once, gaining the attention of a woman walking her dog, that Karen reluctantly returns to her seat.

They work to catch their breaths, watching the water.

“The Liebermans aren’t upset I left so--...abruptly, right?”

“Nah,” Frank chuckles, grasping her hand. He finds an indescribable amount of comfort in brushing his thumb over the ridges over her knuckles. “Actually, I think they like you better for it. Sarah almost chased me out of the house with a goddamn spatula.”

“I knew I liked her. Take me home? I’ll make coffee.”

“It’s a date.”

--

Frank’s phone lights up that night. If he were to reach an arm over and hold it up to see, David’s text would read, WELL?? Did you get the girl, Lloyd Dobler?

But he doesn’t. He tugs Karen closer and goes back to sleep.

#kastle #kastle ff #kastle fanfic #my writing #answered #cant-think-of-anything-creative

[xoxo-teddybear]

Oh, The Lies You Tell - Bakugou Katsuki - pt.5

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: angst, trauma, abuse, betrayal, fluff, slice of life, smut, cursing, manipulation, possible spoilers, physical harm, 18+

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

Ep. Warnings: cursing, blood, DADZAWA, tiniest bit of angst, Kinda Short Again : P

Summary: Bakugou and Y/N have made up and have gotten much closer. Y/N still isn’t completely sure what they are yet, but that thought will have to be put on the back burner since Shigaraki has a job for her. But what happens on that job is what makes this part interesting. 

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9

All day, you and Bakugou were together. Talking, laughing, just doing whatever. Almost like a couple. Quick kisses here and there and long hugs quite often. It even got to the point where they were constantly cuddling. Mind you, this all happened in just a day. Speaking of which, at the end of it, Bakugou went back to Y/N’s room and they fell asleep together.

*Beep* *beep* *beep* *click!*

You woke up to the glorious sun, shining it’s golden rays through your dorm window. It’s 6:00. Time to get ready for school. As you looked around in a strangely peaceful atmosphere, you found the reason why. Right next to you, layed a sleeping Katsuki.

You smiled at his peaceful state and took a moment to admire all of him. Bakugou chose to not sleep with a shirt due to his quirk, which gave you the benefit of laying eyes on someone who was truly built by the gods. His chiseled chest glowed under the solar rays and his abs were covered in scars from his past adventures as a UA student. Your eyes traveled to his face, where porcelain skin lay. His ruby eyes shut, as his long lashes curtain them. Your hands automatically went to his head, running your fingers through his surprisingly soft spiky hair. You giggled as you noticed it refused to lay calm, much like Bakugou himself. To your surprise, his deep morning voice spoke up.

“Can we just stay like this forever?” He smiled in his drowsy state. You jumped at his voice as he chuckled at your jittery behavior. Your hand had left his hair, much to Bakugou’s dismay, and so he brought it back to where it previously was. “I never said stop, princess.” He said as he attempted to drift off back to sleep.

“Heh, well I didn’t ask if you did. You gonna keep sleeping or you gonna get up and get ready for school?” You teasingly asked.

“You gonna keep petting my head?” Bakugou asked with his eyes still closed and a slight smile.

“No.”

“Then no,” he said as he woke up with a scowl and grumpy eyes. He sat up from his previous position and stretched his arms as he watched you get up and walk to your dresser. You grabbed your rebellious uniform before walking back to Katsuki.

“See you soon, okay?” You said and pecked his pouted lips. He replied with closed eyes, a smile, and a simple “mhm” as he got up and left to his dorm.

As Bakugou walked to his dorm, he tried to savor the feeling of your plush lips on his. He smiled at the recent memory. He walked back into his dorm and got ready, excited because he knew once he was done, he would get to see you again. As Bakugou finished and left, he walked to your dorm and found you and Rumor shutting the door, ready to go. He walked to your side and held onto your waist.

“Ready to go?”

“Mhm!”

You both walked and talked until you reached class, as you opened the door and walked in, everyone saw you and cooed.

“Ouuu~ whats this Bakugou?” Sero asked in a playful manner. Bakugou just rolled his eyes but continued to hold onto you.

“Is she your girllllfriendddd?” Kaminari teased. The whole class giggled at the cute little POSSIBLE couple. It was adorable. Who would’ve guessed the ruthless and “dedicated to being number 1 only” Bakugou would have fallen for someone. They continued to laugh until Bakugou spoke.

“Maybe she is, morons. Is there a problem if she is?” He asked with piercing eyes, causing the group to shut up. “Good.” He said as he sat down in his seat and placing you in his lap. You guys had a couple minutes before class started so it would work out just fine.

As the group continued to talk, a deep voice was heard throughout the room.

“Are you going to continue holding my daughter hostage in your lap, Bakugou? Or are you gonna let her take her seat?” The group looked towards the door and saw their teacher, Mr. Aizawa, standing in the doorway. Everyone, besides Bakugou, Y/N, Kaminari, and Kirishima, gasped at the revelation of Y/N being Aizawa’s daughter.

Bakugou sighed as he let you go to his seat, which was right next to him, and looked towards his teacher. “Happy?”

“Very.” Aizawa replied.

“You know, for the record, you aren’t my real dad.” Y/N clarified.

“Correct, but I adopted you. Which legally makes you my daughter. So listen to your dad and hush!” He said with glowing red eyes which made you quiet down with a huff. You placed your head in your hand as you blew a strand of hair out of your face.

‘He’s probably gonna mention the competition tomorrow,” you thought to yourself.

“Alright class, to begin let me tell you about a battle competition we’ll be having next week.” He said.

‘Next week?’ You were confused. What happened to tomorrow? This would throw off the league’s plans, which surprisingly, you were kind of okay with.

“It was supposed to be tomorrow, but we caught word of a few villains figuring out about the event so the school rescheduled it to a different time at a different location,” Mr. Aizawa began, “the competition will be a battle of schools. Class 1-A and B will be attending. Each class will be its own team. You guys will do something similar to a race but depending on the routes and turns you take, you will end up facing a challenge or fighting an opponent aka a different school’s class. The race is over when a class gets to the finish line and rings a bell. Winners get a week off from all work.” He explained.

The class cheered in excitement at the event coming up and spoke amongst themselves about how they would prepare. You, however, were in minor distraught.

‘Villains? The only villains that could’ve know were the league. Did one of them slip up?’ You thought.

Mr. Aizawa refocused the class and began the lesson. Blah, blah, blah, quirks, blah, blah, blah, law, blah, blah, blah, heroes. The usual. Except this time, you payed a little attention. Hero work did interest you but there was no way it was possible for you. You were already in too deep with villainy, so you just sat in self pity as you listened to the lecture.

At the end of the class, Aizawa pulled you aside to talk. He said he had a few things he wanted to ask you.

“Y/N..” he said.

“Eraser-Head..” you replied. He rolled his eyes at the name.

“It’s Mr. Aizawa, or Aizawa sensei, or even dad!” He complained but this time you rolled your eyes.

“Alright then, DAD, what do you want?” You asked.

“I just want to know what’s going on with you and Bakugou. You’ve gotten awfully close. Kissing in the kitchen, sitting on his lap. Are you dating that boy or what?” He questioned you, and to be honest, you couldn’t really answer. What exactly was your relationship with Bakugou? You weren’t dating, that wasn’t established, but you guys weren’t just friends. This was all so confusing. Still, you couldn’t give the man a straightforward answer.

“Even if I was, it’s none of your concern.” You said with a puffed chest and total confidence.

“It is my concern as your now father.” He said. “I just want to know. I’ve seen some improvements since you came here.....I’m proud of you.”

This shocked you. It threw you off and your body basically deflated from its once confident state. He was proud of you. Words you’ve longed to hear from somebody..anybody, and you finally got to hear it. It almost made you tear up but you had to stay composed.

“Proud of me? For what?” You asked with a little sass and attitude. Gotta keep up your bad girl rep, you know?

“Proud of you for choosing to come here in general. You made a good choice. You’ve benefitted yourself in all the right ways. You’re going down a path of greatness, I can see it. I’m also proud of the friends you’ve made and how open and social you’ve become. It makes me glad knowing that you’re coming out of that dark spot you were stuck in for so long. And it seems that having Bakugou around really helps.” He explained.

The whole thing almost brought you to tears. A father figure was proud of you. He knows your past and who you are and he was proud of you. It’s like a dream come true. You were so stunned, you could barely speak.

“Yeah...Umm..thanks.” You began. “Well! If that’s all..I have to get to lunch. I’ll see you around,” you said as you blinked away the tears gathering in your eyes and began to walk to the door.

“Y/N...if you’re ever struggling, you can come talk to me about anything. I’m your teacher and dad now, so I’m always here to help.” He offered. You looked back at him with a kind face before speaking.

“Thank you..”

‘...Dad,’ you thought to yourself as you let out a small smile and walked to the cafeteria.

——————————————————————————

The day went on as usual and when school and training was finally over, you and Bakugou got to spend more time together! You don’t know what it was but being around each other just made each other feel more..complete.

After school, you guys took a fly around the city on Rumor, stopped for some ice cream, and went to play with puppies at the local shelter. By the time you guys got back, dinner was being prepped in the kitchen, so you guys had some time to kill. You both decided it was cool to just hang out in your room.

“Hey, I’m gonna change real quick and I’ll meet you there, okay?” Bakugou said, pointing to the area of his dorm.

“No problem!” You said as Bakugou leaned down and pecked your lips before leaving. You smiled as he walked away and looked towards Rumor who had to be giving you some type of smirk. “Shut up,”

When you both walked in to the room, you changed out of your school uniform and opted for something more comfy. Before you sat down in bed, your earring went off. The league was calling.

“Y/N!...Can you hear me?!” Shigaraki said through the communication device. You ran to it in fear of displeasing your superior if you took too long.

“Right here. What happened?! What villain got caught speaking about the competition???” You asked in shock.

“It was Twice. Idiot can’t keep his mouth shut.” Shigaraki said as you heard Twice’s voice in the background saying it was an accident.

“Look, it doesn’t matter, because the events been cancel due to concern.” You explained.

“ARGHH, figures!” Shigaraki screamed, “look, I’m just here because I have a quick job for you. The others are out setting up our next attack so you’re the only one available.” He said.

“But- but I have something to do right now,” you said, hoping you wouldn’t have to go.

“Well drop it. You’re not getting out of this one. Besides, it’s simple. Get in and get out.” He said.

“..alright,” you didn’t know why. It wasn’t like this was your first job, but it made you want to cry.

“Good. All you have to do is get into heartfilia manner. Boss man, Jude Heartfilia, hired the league for a job offering big banks. He never payed up. All we want is revenge and you’re our best stealth fighter. So get in, kill the man, and get out. Oh! And grab his checkbook too, it’s signed off with his name already. Sounds like easy money. Okay?” He explained.

Kill. Kill. It wouldn’t be your first time. Heck, it wouldn’t even be your 100th time, but the thought of doing it again made you nauseous. However, denying a request from Shigaraki made you even more nauseous. You feared him. You didn’t know just how powerful you were so in your mind, you were the weakest link in the league. So with that in your head, you answered. “Okay.”

You looked towards Rumor in sadness. He seemed to have known what was about to transpire.

“Go get ready, Rumor. We have a job to do.” You said as you walked towards your closet to pull out your villain costume tucked in the back. What stopped you was your...whatever he was to you, walking in.

“Hey princess, I’m back! Miss me?” He said with open arms, closed eyes, and a cocky face, expecting you to leap into his arms. But nothing came. He opened his eyes and saw you near your wardrobe.

“K-Katsuki! Hey! Umm, I’m sorry, but something came up so I can’t really hang right now.” You explained while closing your dresser and walking towards him.

“Oh? What happened? Do you need some help?” He offered. Ugh, why did he have to care about you so much. It’s making things so much harder.

“Um, no. I’ll be good. I just remembered...Korra wants to speak to me. So..I’ll be heading out to talk to her for whatever she needs.” You lied. You felt so guilty lying right to his face but it had to be done.

“Mind if I joined you?” He asked.

“Um, yeah actually, I kinda do. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that these meetings between mentor and pupil are kinda..private. You know?” You asked. You could feel in your soul how furious Korra was that you were using her name to lie your way out.

“Okay, no problem. I’ll see you later?” He said hopeful. You couldn’t deny him that.

“Of course,” you said while giving him a tight hug and a peck on his cheek. Satisfied, he walked out of the room and off to wherever. You let out a sigh as you shut the door and locked it. “Okay Rumor, let’s go.”

——————————————————————————

Rumor was in giant hawk form as you sat on his back and you both were flying over the estate. You looked down and saw the place covered with security, however, there was a landing on the rooftop with a doorway inside. You had Rumor glide down there in silence and quickly tranformed back into Wolf-dog form mid air as you landed on your feet. You both quickly ran inside but not before knocking out the single guard standing inside.

Inside, you both were very cautious. The halls were surprisingly emptied. Nothing but a guard or maid here and there. When you finally found the master bedroom, you busted in and saw he wasn’t there. You scoped around, checked his private bathroom, and still got nothing.

“Rumor. Go into the closet and find some dirty laundry or something. Track his scent and then come find me.” You ordered and Rumor nodded in confirmation. You went back out into the halls and found his study. You walked in prepared to kill and get you still saw no one.

‘Where the hell is everyone?’ You thought to yourself.

You saw scattered papers laying on his desk as you approached the laying furniture. He must’ve been in a hurry if he left the place so disorganized. That or he’s always been a slob. You scurried through his desk and drawers and found his checkbook.

“Bingo. At least we found one thing.” You placed the check board into your pocket as you continued your search. You read through the papers on his desk and saw he had frantically signed a signature to book a place at the Inko Hotel right in Musutafu. Then your eyes went wide.

“.......He knew!” You said in shock. He knew the league would send an assassin. Right when you said that, Rumor came in and barked. He had his scent. You ran towards Rumor as he transformed into giant wolf form and hopped on him. He began to run not caring about the people he bumped in to. Security obviously noticed you all and began shooting at you. You turned around on Rumor’s back and used your metal bending to stop the bullets and send them back, killing others in the process. You cringed behind your mask at the sight but kept a strong facade as Rumor finally made it out. You jumped into the air giving him enough time to turn in a giant hawk again and fly off, picking you up mid-air along the way. You both flew off as fast as you could to the hotel where Rumor’s nose was taking you.

Once you arrived you entered the hotel through a back way entrance. You realized you would have to fit in so off came your black cloak and mask. You walked around in your villain costume that thankfully no one was suspicious of and followed Rumor’s nose. He sniffed the floor and followed Jude’s scent until he reached door 402. You noticed a guard standing by and so you used your charm to seduce the man. While he was distracted by the flirt, you surprisingly used your dim mak and paralyzed him from the neck down. You knocked him out and dragged him to a storage closet and returned to the room. You busted open the door and saw Jude laying there in his sleep. You shut the door and locked it. In case he woke up, you put your cloak and mask back on as you approached his unknowing body.

‘He looks so.....peaceful.’ You thought while watching him. ‘But I have to do my job...no matter how cruel,’ you reminded yourself. You reluctantly and shakenly used your air bending to create a sphere of wind around the man’s head. While maneuvering your hands you took his breath away, depriving him of oxygen and killing him in the process. You just killed a peaceful man in his sleep. As you came to that realization, you released a breathy sigh as you put your hands together to pray for him and allow his spirit to leave the world in respect.

Once you opened your eyes again, you noticed tears pricking at the ends. You hated this part of the job. Stealing and grifting was easy. But murder? That was a whole ‘nother level that made you want to scream. As you walked off with your head handing low, you left the building in a sadly successful job. On the journey back to UA, you called Shigaraki through the earring and told him of your mission results. He congratulated you on a job well done and asked for you to return the checkbook when they would later attack UA. Your face grew sour at the reminder that you’re all here just to create misery. What a pity.

You had noticed Rumor had gotten generously tired and so you opted to just walk instead of fly home. It wasn’t that bad and you needed to clear your head anyway. After walking for some time, you were close to the dorms but as you took a turn, you of course ran into....... Bakugou?!

Due to a quick reaction, Rumor had shrunk to a mouse and you were so thankful you wore your cloak and mask....YOU WORE YOUR CLOAK AND MASK!

“Woah! Hey! Watch we’re you’re-“ he cut himself off as he noticed your attire. He recognized you instantly. “You’re...Titania!”

Thankfully he wasn’t aware of who was under the mask. You picked up Rumor dashed off before anything else happened. But Bakugou being the hero he is, he chased after you.

“Hey! Get back here!” He said using his explosions to blast himself further and give him some speed. However, you had a few tricks yourself. You used your air bending and applied it to help with your running and give you a boost.

As the chase went on, you zig-zagged through alleyways and over city obstacles like trash cans and such. Bakugou was right on your tail...or so you thought. As you turned back to see if he was still behind, you saw nobody, and in the heat of the moment, you let your guard down. You allowed yourself to stop and just breath as you layed against a brick wall in the shadows but to your surprise Bakugou had tackled you to the ground from the side. Now he had you pinned down as he huffed closed to your face.

“You damn villain scum“ those words made you cringe behind your mask. He was right. Villain scum is what you are, but those words coming from Bakugou just made your heart hurt. “What the hell are you doing out here?!”

When he asked that questioned, you remained silent. He grunted as his eyes squinted in frustration. “Tell me!” He demanded.

As your head got back in the game, you kicked his groin and used some wind to push him back. Throwing him behind a pile of trash cans, you quickly used your fire bending to blast you into the air as Bakugou’s sight was blocked. You threw Rumor’s mouse form into the air as he transformed into a giant hawk and you both escaped before Bakugou looked back up to look for you. You successfully got away.

—

When you returned, you had Rumor go back to his mouse form to sneak into the dorms. You waited by the side as Rumor went to retrieve some clothes for you to change into on the side of the building. When he returned, you changed under your cloak and then hid it as you walked in with Rumor. You passed a few students but none seem to be suspicious of anything. You made it to your room and sighed in relief as you layed down but then, Bakugou of course barged in.

“You’re never gonna guess what the fuck just happened, Princess.” Bakugou said as he threw off his jacket and flopped on top of you. You let out a ‘Oof,’ and giggle as you began to pet his head. Yes, you felt guilty for what you did and were about to do but you had to. Right?

“What happened, Suki?” You confidently said. Bakugou slightly flinched as he looked up to you with a slight blush.

“Suki?” He questioned.

“Mhm! My new name for you. Cute right?” You happily said.

“M-mhm,” he said as he tucked his head away in your chest and blushed even more.

“So tell me what happened.” You said. He sighed before speaking almost as if he was frustrated.

“I was out walking after stopping by my parent’s place to drop something off and I ran into..Titania.” He explained.

“Titania?” You played dumb, “that top ranking villain?”

“Not just any top ranking villain. She’s the top and most wanted female villain out there. She’s bad news and I chased her down. Of course she got away though, can’t believe I thought I could take her down. Her skill level is insane. She’s had to have been fighting since she was probably our age or even younger.” He went on.

“You know her age?” You said with a slight panic. You didn’t want Titania’s anything to be revealed.

“With her skills, I’d bet she’s at least in her late 20s.” You were slightly flattered by the fact that Bakugou thinks you’re that powerful, but of course he didn’t know it was you. That was kind of disappointing though, he didn’t know who you truly were. Then you thought back to what he said. Villain Scum. If that’s what he thought Titania was, then when he found out who she really was, he would definitely have a thing or two to say about you. You saddened at that thought but wanted to change the topic after becoming slightly uncomfortable with the “news.”

“Don’t let it get to you. We are still hero trainees after all. We can only do so much. C’mon, let’s watch a movie and cuddle instead.” You offered to which he happily agreed. And so you both sat and just enjoyed each other’s presence and the movie. You were seated in Bakugou’s lap as you both sat on your bed just living in the moment. Bakugou would pepper you in kisses every now and then to which you laughed and happily accepted.

You loved the time you got to spend with Bakugou. It felt right whenever he was around. Your life was a hot mess but then he came and became your little getaway. He was a breath of fresh air to you and everything about him just made you smile. His presence made you happy, his smile made you swoon, his touch had you melting and his kisses were just...amazing. You guys weren’t an official couple, but you were something. And although it was confusing, that something was enough to fill your heart with all the warmth and love that you’ve been missing for the past 16 years of your life. The only question was...how long was it going to last before it all came crushing down?

*sorry for any spelling mistakes, this was quick and delayed*

#bakugo x reader #bakugou fanfiction #bakugou fluff #bakugou imagine #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou x y/n #bakugou x you #bnha bakugo katsuki #bnha #bakugou angst #bakugo angst #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou x reader #katsuki x reader #katsuki bakugou #mha bakugo katsuki #mha bakugo x reader #mha bakugou #mha #my hero academia bakugou #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha bakugo x reader #bnha bakugou #bakugo katsuki #katsuki bakugo imagine

[zuffer-weird-girl]

How diid they gst into this mess?

A fight lead by some conflits on opposite yakusas from the past week has lead on the kidnapping of Overhaul's most precious treasure on this earth.

You.

The event has somehow ended up being on the top of some still on construction building, one of the future largest buildings in that entire city for that manner.

He just wasn't having a good evening.

"Ah." The main leader spoke, back towards him and the three man he trusted to hekp him get you back "I see you came then Overhaul. Such an honour." He looked over his shoulder with a smug look. His own subbordinates snickering from where they were.

"Save your fucking words, it means nothing to me. I hope you had a good life befofe regretting to even mess with the Hassaikai." He growled between tedth as he prepared to slip his glove off before the man turned his front to him, shaking his index finger.

"Ah, ah, ah! No need to use that power of yours or any of tge rest of your gang, well... unless of course-!" He smirked at one bald wearing sunglasses guy who had a grin that came from one ear to another...

His arm, that was a freaking tentacle lifted up a bit, showed you, hanging by the ankle of your left leg as you squirmed in fear of falling from that place.

"(Y/n)!" He shouted, extending one hand of his before retreating when your captor treatened to drop you, make you scream at the action... Chrono and Mimic had to hold back Chisaki if they didn't want a pancake of you or Overhaul losing his shit.

"So is true?!" The leader laughed before looking between you and Kai "Overhaul has someone?! Oh what a glorious day! Wr should celebrate even, am I right boys?!" The whole group laughed as Kai gritted his teeth under his plague mask, some hives threatening to show up due to how angry and nervous he was.

"The hell you want pUNK?!" Mimic yelled as the man chucklex darkly and paced around for a bit at the top of the building they were currently at.

"Well, I do know of this new "product" of yours. Is a very well selled bullet on the underground, and I think I might even take some advanteges of it." He stopped, crossing his arms behind his back with another laugh of his, extending one of his hands, shooking one finger at Kai "You're pretty good at what you do my pal!"

"Spill it out." Overhaul growled as hos rival smirked, giving a sigmal to your captor to hold you up even higher as he made gis point very clear.

"Give me the antiquirk bullets formula and Shie Hassaikai's leadership unless you want to see your little angel crash into a pile of concrete on the floor." He widened his eyes as Mimic shriked, pointing at finger at him.

"ThE fuCK YA ThiNk yoU Are BasTARD?!"

"Overhaul, we can't." Chrono murmured as he fell his body start to tremble.

"You have thirty seconds mister boss." The man snapped hsi fingers, and the guy with a tentacle holding you hostage was starting to loose his grip on your ankle.

His eyes widened in horror as he slowly lifted his hands up enough to shown his rival he wasn't planning to use his quirk neither attack.

"Have anything. Just don't hurt my partner." He spoke through teeth with furrowed eyebrows as Chrono and mimic widened their eyes at their boss.

"No! Kai!" You shouted as the main leader laughed, as if you had spoken a hilarious joke...

He frowned at yojr words before widening even more hsi arms when you showed a hidden knife on your hip that miraculously didn't fell.

"Kai? Is that his name?! Oh so romantic. But enough with that!" He shouted witha sick look at Chisaki, who gave a silently signal for Chrono, Mimic, Rappa and Tengai to get ready to fight "With the power of the bullets and the status of the Hassaikai I can take over the whole Japan in less than two months! Ohoho! Is not even close to dinner time yet, it is indeed a beautiful day." He smirked at his companions as you gave Kai a worried yet determined look.

You snatched the knife from your hip and stabbed your captor, making him let go of you as well curse out loud in pain as you luckily held on to one of the ropes of a crane that was in front of the building.

"ATTACK!" Kai shouted as he finally used his quirk and his subbordinates did as they told.

In the middle of the fighting, the leader scoffed before smilling maniacly as he saw you getting your balance back, using his quirk of metal manipulation he was ready to make that crane kill you.

That was his intention if it wasn't for Kai coming with a heavy punch on his jaw.

"(Y/N)!" He shouted as you screamed, holding for your life at the metal bar wuth your legs swing on the air "Hold still!" He shouted before he cursed when something sharp enough cut what was holding his mask on his face and cheek, he looked up in guard to see his rival yelling and knocking him on the ground.

"You think you're powerfull HUH?! Just so FUCKING full of yourself!" He smiled sadically as he pressed further more the bar of metal on Chisaki's throat. For some odd reason he wasn't able to use to his quirk on that damn bar neither reach for the fucker. "is no use kai! WITH ME USING MY QUIRK, YOUR CONTROL OVER THIS BAR IS EQUAL TO NOTHING!" he laughed as he narrowed his eyes before managing to overpower his strenght to snatch the bar of metal put of their grasp as he choked with one hand his enemy.

"Gove me one fucking reason to let you live now your damn pest." He hissed as the guy laughed brethless, slowly lifting one of his finger up towards you

"Because I am the only one that is controlling your little plaything's life!" He said in a breathy and pysochotic tone before snapping his fingers, he widened his eyes at that and immediately looked at your direction. The crame suddenly started to move and you weren't able to hold much longer.

You looked at Chizaki with teary and desperate eyes before shouting his names as your safe bar contorned, makung you fall.

"NO!" He shouted, all of the enemies down as the time seemes to go slower. His subbordinates tried to stop them... but his body seemed to move on his own as he jumped from the building.

Extending his arms and shouting your name, he saw the look you gave him. frightened by her life and his, which in less than seconds could end in a terrible death in this fall, making a little more effort, except for one arm he managed to take her hand and pull it to his chest.

"KAI WHAT DID YOU DO ?!" you cried, gripping on his clothing while he and you were getting closer to the floor. By the speed, his mask completely loosened and leaved his face, showing you that he was also seeing death coming closer and closed by any minute or second.

Seing him moving his eyes as if he was calculating someyhing he craddled you to his chest.

"Trust me." He said suddenly.

"WE ARE CLOSE TO DYING WHY ON HELL DID YOU JUMPED ALONG?!" Your tears flew from your face as you looked at him. His golden eyes that were once wide turned back as he frowned.

"If you're going to die by me, then the least i could do is be with you my dear." You sobbed as he screatched his arm next to the parts of the building that were already done with the concrete and glasses for the windows.

Accspting your fate you just burried your face in Kai's neck as you heard him counting numbers.

One finger, he just need one damn fi ger to touch that place on less than 40 seconds-!

"39, 38, 37-!" He tried many times but he was mere inches away from touching that damn construction!

"27, 26, 25, 24, 23-!" He heard your sobbing how much you loved him, wetning all of his shirt aa he cursed between couting, franquily trying to brush one of gis fingers on the building.

"13 fUCK-!" He finally managed to brush his middle finger on the concrete, shouting a "YES!" in glory as he embraced you closer, creating some type of slide to prevent you guys from falling.

Your screams didn't vanished as he used gis quirk, he only tightened gsi grip to manage to put you two safe on the ground... and he was relieved after who knows how long finally.

You peeked and gasped at seing you were still alive and still on your boyfriend's arms as you and him tried to catch your breaths.

He cupped your cheek, making you look up at him and it shockedd you enough to see that he also had one or two tears on his terrified golden eyes.

He breathed out your name before you succumbed to relieved crying as he crushed you in a tight embrace that you most gladly retribuited becofe he pushed your face away amd kissed you.

His lips crashed on yours as it grew wet by yours or his tears. Every time you paused a bit to breath, it didn't even lasted one second before yoh two were at each other again. Chisaki claimed your mouth and needed to feel everything about you.

A shout from beneath you two made you guys finally stop and look upward to see the mans looking down worried at you both.

"ARE YOU TWO OKAY?!" Chrono shouted at the top of his lungs as you simply gave him a thumbs up, not mindfull that the man couldn't see it or not as Kai chuckled at your reaction before peppering your face and lips with mofe kisses than you ever could hope for.

"I thought I lost you dammit.." he breathed out befofe letting a soft chuckle escape his lips as he craddled you in his arms and lifted you both up, not willing to let go of you anytime soon.

"Me too." You nuzzled onto him, not willing to let go of the safety feeling only Chisaki could provide "I was so scared." You whimpered as tears threatenes to spill befofe Kai wiped them away, touching forehead with you.

"... me as well." He breathed out befofe his look turned dark. You went to question it befofe he looked up and made you crouch down on the ground as well with him "Hold onto me."

One simpel command and you took it without questions, Wrapping your arms around his neck as he slammed his palm on the ground, creating a huge plataform to make you two get up on that building.

Right on top, you let go of his neck and somehow manage to fall on his arms in bridal style as he jumped from the made up plataform to tge building.

"You fuckers still fucking alive???!!" Rappa shouted as the guys surrounded both of you as Kai slowly and gently put yoh to the ground, holding onto you in your waist still as you hugged him.

"Thank godness..." Tengai sighed in relief before all of them grabbed their guns, excluding you and Kai and Rappa, because he fight with his fists duh, as the main leader got shkly up before being beated not only by Chisaki but by the others as well.

Immediately darknening his amber eyes, he went for him before your gentle hand on his chest made him stop before yourself got to him and kicked him... on his lowest areas.

All the man hissed in pain, yes, even Kai, as the guy fell on the ground hissing on pain before Chisaki put a hand on your shoulder and looking down at the leader.

"What now...? Going to kill me?" Even beaten up, the guy still had that cocky attitude.

"No. Much worse." Chisaki growled before tje poor soul's vision saw the last Overhaul's hand blocking their view before everything turned dark.

.

.

.

You sipped on your cocoa as Kai sitted besides you with a sigh.

"Long day?"

"Experiments and all that shit." He allowed himself to curse one time, hearing you giggle besides him and letting your drink down on the coffee table to snuggle up to him.

Lifting his arm awkwardly on the air he arched one eyebrow at you as you almost purred in delight.

"Do I make a good pillow now?" He asked sarcastically before slowly lowering his arm to bring you closer despite his harsh and cold tone of voice.

"The best..." you murmured, sleep taling over you as he pondered over his plan again, seing you were distracted "Kai?"

"What?"

"Why were you willing to kill yourself along with me that day? Crazy man." You giggled as he furrowed his eyebrow, rememberihg the events as he craddled you on his arms, resting his cjin on the top of your head with a sigh.

"Because... I-" He arched one eyebrow at hearing your snore, getting a glimpse of your face befofe chuckling aoftly, brushing one strand of your hair out of your face before lowering his black casual mask to peck your lips.

"Soon, we will be on a safer and cleaner world angel... I promise you. And I will never let go of you, my dear. Ever."

#bnha villains #bnha #bnha characters #bnha x reader #bnha imagine #chisaki kai #chisaki kai x reader #overhaul x reader #fanfic overhaul #overhaul #my writing #zuffer writings

[imagineaworlds]

I Love You (Part Forty-Two) -- Aaron Hotchner

Written By: @desperately-bisexual

Request: None.

Warnings: Cursing. Mentions of kidnapping. Mentions of death, torture, sexual assault, panic attack, PTSD-- everything Criminal Minds. Talk of sex, BDSM, Dom/sub relationship, etc.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Greenaway!Reader

Word Count: 12469

Timeline: Season 6 Episode 09. A month after part forty-one.

A/N: Hi, my loves. I might be taking a very short break. School is..... it's a lot right now. I think that between school and the way my friends have been getting into my head about Criminal Minsd/Hotch/Thomas, I've just kind of fallen out of love temporarily. I'm finishing up Sense8 rn, and then I'm going to start watching Tales of the City to help revamp my love for Thomas, and in turn Hotch and Criminal Minds. Chapter 43 is going to be a long one, so I just need ya'll to bear with me for a bit as I get to writing it. I love you guys! <3

A week stuck in the house after getting back from Hawai’i was a week too long. All I wanted to do was get back to work and act like nothing happened, because, really, nothing did happen. Yeah, something happened, but it could have been way worse. I handled the situation before it could get bad, and the team found me. As for the only surviving Unsub who took me, Morgan and Emily went to question him after he got out of surgery. They asked him about this website that Foyet had supposedly set up for his fans, but by the time they got the name of it, it was gone, and Garcia couldn’t find anything about it. She searched far and wide, even trying to recover the site itself, but whoever really set it up was good, and they knew how to cover their tracks.

All we knew was how the site operated. According to the Unsub, there were levels of the “membership”. Those who wanted to join Foyet’s little minion club, or whatever the fuck it was, had to start at level one with a misdemeanor. The higher up they wanted to move through the levels, the more intense the crimes got. The third to last level, the one the Unsub and his friends were on, was killing me. Throughout the whole ordeal— from the moment they bid on the task in the level, up until I managed to shoot two of them, they were in contact with the person in charge. He told them where to find me, when to take me, how to do it, where to take me, what to do about the call, but they came to a screeching halt when they were told that they needed to send a piece of me, one at a time, to Hotch and Jack. For a group of criminals who worked through the levels of robbery, rape, child abductions, and animal murder, it was surprising to me that they wouldn’t even try to follow their orders. I mean, they could have at least— Maybe that wasn’t anything to ponder on.

When asked what the last two levels were, however, the Unsub told us that he didn’t know because the bids were hidden from anyone on the lower levels. They had been the first group to make it to the “my” level, no one knew what the last two were. If I had to guess, though, based on what I knew about Foyet and his mission to ruin Hotch’s life, I was going to take a wild guess that the second one was likely hurting Jack— which was already unthinkable— and the first… the first was Hotch.

Foyet liked torturing Hotch. From the stabbings to killing Haley, Foyet enjoyed making Hotch’s life a living hell. Even from the grave, Foyet was doing his best to break down Hotch. He wanted Hotch’s life to fall apart around him, to have him lose everything before he would finally be targeted, too. From what we knew, the only task the Unsubs had with me was sending me off in pieces. That was it. The consideration to do more, the conversations I had overheard, was of their own volition; but it also happened to be their downfall. With Hotch, the task was probably to make it as painful as possible. Honestly, I didn’t want to consider the options after knowing what Foyet had already done.

After the Unsub was out of the hospital, our questioning completed, he was processed, and it was finally out of our hands. When we got home, I practically collapsed in the doorway, catching Jack in my arms as he ran to me for a Superman hug. I had never been more relieved to see him in my life since Foyet took him. I held him in my arms for as long as I could, even when he tried to protest that I was hugging him too tight. I never wanted to let him go. Even when he started asking questions about what happened on our vacation, because something was clearly wrong, I just stayed as still and quiet as possible because I just wanted to hold my son in my arms.

Hotch made me stay home for the week following that while he practically catered to my ever want and need. In a way, I suppose, I was under house arrest. All I was missing was the ankle monitor; and, honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised me if I would have woken up with one on. Hotch was being a little too protective since it happened. While I tried to not blame him because he was obviously still trying to get over the fact that he could have lost me, I just wanted to get back out there and live my life. I wanted to get back into the field; I wanted to see our friends; I wanted to mess around with Morgan and Emily all the time. I didn’t want to feel like a wounded, little lamb.

What happened to me wasn’t even that bad, as I said. All I had were a few cuts and bruises, yet Hotch was acting like my entire body was broken and he needed to do everything for me. He didn’t go to work, he hardly even let me out of my sight. It was like the days following Haley’s death where I watched Hotch and Jack like a hawk because I was afraid that if I let them out of my sight for even a moment, I would never see them again. Hotch probably felt the same way about me this time around… But I really just needed him to take a step back and let me breathe.

When I did get back to work about a month after Hawai’i, it wasn’t an easy transition. All the way to the office, Hotch tried to convince me into reconsidering going back. If it were up to him, I would have been at home for the next nine months or so. But I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to be locked up for months on end, sitting around, worrying about Hotch and the rest of the team as they went out to work on hundreds of cases without me. That wasn’t going to happen. I had a life to get back to. I could deal with my trauma outside of work— just like Hotch, who was still going to therapy because of what happened with Foyet while still going to work, too. And if he was just worried about me being pregnant, which I was sure was a factor, then he had to understand that it wasn’t a big deal yet. It was a miracle, of course, but it wasn’t impeding my ability to work just yet.

I just had to keep reminding Hotch that I had been to hell and back a thousand times, and this was just one more thing to add to the shit list. If I could get through all of that, I could get through this. But if Hotch started blowing this all out of proportion and made a big deal out of it, we were going to have problems. I compared it to when he found out the truth about those photos the Fisher King had taken out of my jewelry box, and he promised that he wouldn’t treat me any differently knowing what he knew now. I needed that understanding back. He always told me that he trusted my judgement—if he didn’t, he would have never let me go near that train Elle was being held hostage on in Texas a few years back—so I just needed him to trust me now. I was going to be fine. I was fine.

On Tuesday, after driving into work and getting some reports done, the team gathered in the roundtable room to discuss potential cases. Only, JJ already had a case in mind. Daniel Lanham, a ten year old boy, was reported missing on a camping trip by his father last November… Over a year ago… He was never found. In fact, the case had run so cold, that the police were initially grasping at straws by trying to pin the whole disappearance on the father. However, with no forensic evidence tying him to a crime, they couldn’t arrest him; but now that Daniel’s body had just appeared on the Appalachian Trail, questions were starting to stir and fingers were being pointed again.

I stared at the photo of that boy’s decayed body. He was only ten. How could someone do this to a child—How could someone do this to their own child, if that were really the case. I mean, there were signs of care and remorse with the body that indicated personal attachment that a father could potentially have. Daniel’s body had been wrapped in a plastic bag that was buried underground and covered by elements, all in the name of preserving and protecting the body from weather, animals, natural accelerated decay, etc. But this was an opportunistic crime. Our Unsub, if he was hunting for a victim on the Appalachian Trail, had to sit and wait for the perfect boy to come along. Or if Daniel’s father was responsible, he had to wait until his son was alone with him. Either way, it was an opportunity that arose, not a sophisticated, targeted attack. That was… unless…

“JJ, are there any more missing persons or mysterious deaths on the trail that could be connected to this?” I asked.

“The Rangers contacted me with this case, and they claimed that they’ve never seen anything like it. So, I’m going to assume not. But I’ll check with them when we get on the jet, just in case.”

“It says here that Daniel’s father went back to the trail every month in search for his son?” Hotch questioned, looking through the file. “And then he stopped in March.” He stopped in his tracks as a realization hit him. “Which is about the same time the M.E. estimates Daniel was killed.” He closed his case file. “Y/N, we’ll talk to Mr. Lanham when we arrive at the Park Ranger’s office. JJ, can you have them organize that while we’re on the jet and you’re contacting them about similar cases?”

“Sure,” she answered.

“Prentiss and Morgan, when we get to the trail, you guys should head out to where Daniel Lanham’s body was found in order to get an understanding of this Unsub’s level of mental stability.”

By that, he was alluding to the fact that we weren’t sure if our Unsub was Mr. Lanham or not. If this presented as organized or disorganized, it would help us conclude on way or another, and if there was anything else important out there that they Rangers missed, it might help us build our profile. So, it truly made sense that we would send someone out there. But I wished that it were me. Hotch usually teamed me up with Morgan—or, at times, Morgan and Emily. I wanted to go on the trail with them so bad. But Hotch wanted me to stay back in the Ranger’s office with him in order to question Mr. Lanham, even though that was a small enough task for one of us to do alone.

----

The Park Ranger’s office was more like a large cabin. Actually, that was exactly what it was—and it was similar to Gideon’s cabin, but perhaps twice that size. There was one main office where all of the Rangers had been waiting for our arrival, then there was the lead Ranger’s office to the left, and, lastly, set ahead was a boardroom where we could meet privately if need be. As we walked in, we were immediately told that Mr. Lanham was waiting for us in said boardroom.

While Emily and Morgan turned on their heels to head straight out to the trail as Hotch ordered, Rossi, Reid, and JJ moved to the table in the middle of the room that had a large map taped down to it for us to get our bearings. Reid immediately started building the geographical profile. So, while he was busy with that, and JJ and Rossi were getting caught up with the Ranger’s investigation, Hotch and I headed into the boardroom.

Hotch held the door open for me. I silently thanked him as I headed inside to see Mr. Lanham sitting at a desk, never looking up to acknowledge us. We carefully approached.

“Mr. Lanham, I’m Agent Hotchner, this is Agent Greenaway, and we’re with the Behavior Analysis Unit at the FBI. We’ve been called in to investigate your son’s death.” Hotch pulled a chair out for me. “We need to ask you some questions.” After I sat down, Hotch moved to take a seat in the chair next to me.

Mr. Lanham shrugged, keeping his eyes lowered, his hands in his lap, his leg shaking nervously under the table. All signs that he had issues with authority. Some of them were signs of guilt, but they could also be attributed to his frustration with the FBI questioning him when he thought that everyone had forgotten him as a suspect. I understood why he felt that way. However, it was necessary to ask him these questions in order to confirm or deny if he had any involvement in his son’s death. So far, it was inconclusive.

“You went almost twice a month out to the site where your son disappeared from November to March. And then you stopped going.”

He nodded. “That’s correct.”

“Why? Why stop at the same time he died? Because that looks awfully suspicious to us, Mr. Lanham.”

“I don’t know. Alright? I just—” He let out a heavy sigh as his body slumped in his seat. A sign of defeat rather than guilt. “I had this… feeling that he was gone. And it was taking too much out of me to keep searching. You probably don’t know what that feels like.”

I glanced over at Hotch. When Foyet took Haley and Jack, I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something terrible was going to happen, and no one was going to be able to stop it. And then Haley died. My suspicions had been confirmed, my heart shattered in my chest, and yet… the anxiety dialed back. I could remember still being hysterical and worried out of my mind because I wasn’t sure if Hotch and Jack were dead; but… Now that we were sitting there and Mr. Lanham had brought up this “feeling” he had, I realized that some part of me that day knew that they were still alive. I still had a sliver of hope that Jack was just hiding, safe and sound in his secret spot, and I had a feeling that Hotch was alright. And I was correct. Hotch was beaten and broken, of course, but he was alive. And my little man was alive. So, I understood that “feeling” Mr. Lanham had referred to.

Hotch moved on. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you used to take Daniel camping every weekend.”

“Yes. His mother had full custody, but she allowed me to see him on the weekends.”

Hotch and I knew that feeling all too well. Haley practically had full custody, but she allowed us to see Jack whenever we were in town; but it was still hard. Co-parenting was hard. I couldn’t imagine how Hotch did it alone all those years.

“So, the night he disappeared, what happened?” I asked. Mr. Lanham didn’t respond because he seemed at a loss for words. Even though he had recited his story a thousand times for local police, state police, Park Rangers, and so on, he couldn’t find the right words anymore. I really couldn’t blame him.

“You set up camp…” Hotch began egging him on once he noticed Mr. Lanham’s hesitancy. “You fell asleep… And then… A man came into your tent?”

“No. No one came into the tent. Daniel got up because he had to use the bathroom. He didn’t wake me up because he was in that phase where he was convinced that he didn’t need his dad protecting him all the time…” He sniffled. “So, I rolled over and I went back to sleep. I should’ve—” His voice cracked behind a sob. “I should’ve gone after him. But I didn’t.”

“Mr—” I began, but he interrupted me.

“I was his hero, and I failed,” Mr. Lanham cried before hiding his face in his hands out of shame.

I recognized the look on his face as he had said it, though. It was the same look Hotch wore for months after Haley died. He was ashamed that he couldn’t have done more to save her, and he failed at being Jack’s superhero when he needed it most.

“I don’t care that you all think I’m guilty. Because I am! I am guilty! I didn’t protect my son when he needed me most.” He looked up at us. “If I could go to prison for that, I would.”

Without a doubt, I knew that there was no way Mr. Lanham hurt his son. That kind of thinking—that sort of regret couldn’t be replicated by any kind of sociopath. No. Only a true grieving father who had been through hell could possibly feel that way. And since I had seen Hotch go through the exact same motions after Haley’s death, I knew that Mr. Lanham was innocent, and that he wasn’t putting any kind of show on for us. He genuinely regretted that night.

But I just couldn’t sit there and keep listening to his distraught cries. The way he was sobbing while blaming himself for something he had no control over only took me back to over a year ago where Hotch practically collapsed in my arms after Haley’s wake, and he pleaded with me about moving houses because he couldn’t stand being in that house anymore. The cries were eerily similar. And the worst part was, that parental regret that Mr. Lanham was starting to rub off on me when it came to Jack, and now the regret was turning into panic with our baby. Fuck.

I stood and saw myself out of the boardroom. Hotch was hot on my heels, likely because he didn’t want to listen to it any longer, either. The superhero thing hit too hard. We were Jack’s superheroes—we always had been—and the day that Foyet killed Haley, we failed him. We couldn’t protect him and his mom practically the one time it mattered most. Before, I used to regret that deeply, of course, but now that there were… other factors involved… I felt all of that ten times harder now, and it made me reflect on what the hell Hotch and I were actually going to do to prevent something like that from happening ever again. I didn’t want it to be Jack or our baby that we would lose next time—No. There would be no next time… This was exactly why I had to get away from Mr. Lanham while he was like that.

Apparently, Emily and Morgan had gotten back from the trail while we were talking to Daniel’s dad. They were standing around the map table in the middle of the office, a marker in Emily’s hand as they told Rossi and Reid everything they found out there. More bodies. And by more, I mean a lot more. Where they went to find Daniel’s burial ground, they ended up finding at least a dozen other bodies that Rangers were working to dig up currently so that they could be identified. So, this just turned serial.

“His name is Tyler Dale. He was the same age as Daniel when he went missing, and he was on a family trip when it happened,” Morgan explained, catching me and Hotch up to date with what everyone else knew.

Reid immediately scurried off with this new information to work on something that was churning in his mind, something that he couldn’t explain to us quite yet or it would ruin his thought process. We all turned to watch him silently work. We knew that whatever it was, it was likely important, and likely to help us. Honestly, if I were to guess, now that I was watching him scan through both Daniel and Tyler’s files a mile a minute, he was probably working on victimology. If he wasn’t, I was going to start. He was the fast reader, but I was the quick spotter. I almost wanted to challenge him one day into seeing who could solve a cold or closed case first—like the Foothpath Killer. Considering I solved that one the fastest, and Gideon was incredibly impressed, I was sure I could win against Spencer Reid.

And then he jumped to his feet with a thought. Okay… So, maybe he would put up a good fight. But I liked a challenge. I kept considering it as Reid set the files out on the map table and started dialing Garcia’s number on the conference phone. I cocked a brow at him. What was it that he found? Or, actually, what was it that he thought he had found?

“Garcia—” Reid began.

“Oh, it’s the boy wonder!” she cheered. “You never call me. It’s so isolating…”

Reid smiled lightly in response. “Sorry. We’ve been a bit busy.”

“I forgive you. I guess.”

Those of us who were standing around chuckled somewhat. Reid immediately turned back to his work when he shook it off, though, so that he could get back to what it was he called her for. “Can you look up the missing persons reports on the trail, specifically young boys between the ages of nine to thirteen.”

“I’m gonna need more than that.”

“The Unsub’s probably in his late thirties to forties, so disregard any cases older than twenty years.”

“What are you doing?” Rossi asked, utterly confused.

Reid hardly acknowledged Rossi when he answered with, “Speeding up the process of identifying those kids.” He grabbed a pen. “Garcia, narrow it down to boys with dark hair only. How many do we have now?”

“Twelve.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “They’ve only found ten bodies so far.”

Reid stood tall. “Yeah, but they’re still looking. It’s entirely possible those other two boys are out there. Garcia, which of those is the oldest case?”

“Um… Victor Dane disappeared when he was ten… and that was…” Garcia paused and gulped. “Oh. Fifteen years ago. They never found out what happened to him, but Rangers at the time suspected that he just happened to get lost.” That was usually their excuse when people went missing out there.

“What time of year was that?”

“October 20th.”

Reid was scribbling notes down on a piece of paper in one of the kids’ files. “What about the other boys? Did they all disappear around that time?”

“Yeah… How did you…”

“Thanks, Garcia.” Reid hung up on her without any consideration, and he stood to face all of us.

As we all huddled around, Reid began explaining how the cogs turning in his head had just come up with a dozen different answers to the problems we were facing. For our profile of the Unsub, we were missing any kind of link between how, when, and why the victims were taken. But Reid figured it out. Now that we had the identity of another kid, he was able to connect some of the dots, but what Garcia told him explained it all clearly to him. Our Unsub was crossing stateliness, which was why no one connected the dots—and he was spending months doing so. To hike the entire trail would take about six months. He was taking his victims in the fall, and we knew from Tyler and Daniel, he was killing the boys in the winter…

He was torturing them for months on end… He got away with it because no one knew that he existed.

I cringed and took a step back and away from the group. I felt Hotch’s eyes following me, so I didn’t let any emotion show that would give away the panic building in my chest. What if Hotch had thought that I just wandered off in Hawai’i? What if he had really been convinced that I left to go back to the Mainland—that I had left him… No one knew that those men who took me existed. No one knew that there were people out there who were so loyal to The Reaper. No one knew that I was a target. I could have died if Hotch didn’t know me so well. I could have died if the team didn’t have enough trust in him and I to know that something was wrong. I could have ended up like those boys that were being dug up in the forest.

I swallowed all of my pain.

----

That night, Hotch forced me to go back to the hotel with him while the team stayed at the Ranger’s office to have a long night of working. I think this move of his had more to do with Hawai’i than anything else. He was worried that I wasn’t better. He thought that I was suppressing any memories or PTSD in order to trick him into thinking that I was alright. And maybe I was. Maybe I wasn’t at all okay because every time I closed my eyes, I was terrified that someone else who had seen “Foyet’s website” would come to kill me, Jack, or Hotch. I was dreading a call from home while we were gone on this case that would tell us that someone took our little man from us. Foyet was always cruel. There was no doubt about it. But I never thought that it would get this far after death, after Hotch had bashed his face in to the point he was unrecognizable.

I needed rest desperately. For once, I wasn’t going to argue with Hotch about something related to dictating my life. Because I clearly needed to sleep, but Hotch didn’t, he decided to set up shop at the desk while I rolled into bed, which meant that I could afford to at least close my eyes because someone was keeping watch. Usually, Hotch fell asleep without struggle. If I were wrapped in his arms, it would take only a few minutes before he would completely crash and start snoring in my ear—but I could never fell asleep. If I did, there was a chance someone could take him from me. Something like Hawai’i could happen to him if I weren’t careful. So, I stayed up nearly every night just to ensure no one would come in and take him—or even to make sure that no one was lurking in the house to hurt Jack. But Hotch was staying up now. He was sitting at the desk, looking over the case, facing the door and the window, which was a reassurance to me that meant that no one could sneak up on him now.

So, I relaxed.

After a few minutes, I heard Hotch get up to grab his pajamas and toiletries from his go-bag and head into the bathroom. My eyes followed him until he closed the door.

I curled up on the bed, bringing my knees up ever so slightly towards my chest, and I laid my hands over my stomach. It was so odd… Everything felt normal, but it clearly wasn’t. Between the fact that Hotch was being overprotective and that I was subconsciously protecting my stomach more, it was obvious that I was pregnant; but I wasn’t showing yet, and I technically couldn’t even feel anything yet. It was just knowledge and an unconscious drive to protect something we couldn’t even see or feel. But the strangest part of it all was that I couldn’t wait to have more than that. I couldn’t wait to hold our baby, to see if they got mine or Hotch’s eyes, or what color hair they would end up with. Every second that we wasted just knowing and not seeing was torture. I was just excited to skip the next few months and finally have them in my arms.

Hotch came out of the bathroom, his face washed, teeth brushed, hair combed out of his face, and his suit switched out for his pajamas. When he saw my curled on the bed, he smiled. I smiled back at him. Despite how tense I had been about his protective behavior, I could find myself relaxing and falling in love with him over and over again every time he looked at me like that. It was this sparkle in his eyes that spoke volumes about how much he eternally loved me. And that smile… It was this slight curl at the corner of his lips that ever so slowly turned into a wide, toothy grin the longer he stared at me. It was pure joy. And it was absolutely contagious. I found that every time I spotted that smile growing on his face, I’d start smiling ear to ear, laughing at how cute and silly he was.

Aaron Hotchner… Cute and silly… It was strange to think about that sometimes—how I knew him in that capacity when no one else even got a hint of that side of him. In fact, most people didn’t know that he was capable of smiling. But he was. He was capable of so much, and he was deserving of every happiness in the world. After everything he had been through, I could confidently say he earned eternal bliss.

“You okay?” he asked quietly. He always whispered when he was afraid of disturbing me because he was taken by the way I was just… existing. I wasn’t doing anything special, yet he didn’t want me to move. I could tell that he wanted to remember me like that for a little longer.

I nodded. “Yeah. Just thinking.”

“About?” He moved to sit down at the end of the bed, bringing my feet onto his lap so that he could massage them lightly. I relaxed immediately. When he started rubbing his thumb into the arch of my foot, I rotated somewhat so that I was laying on my back and looking at him.

“What Mr. Lanham said about his son,” I answered. “I’m terrified that something is going to happen to our kid, Aaron. Terrified. We know what’s out there—We know who’s out there. How can we possibly protect them from all the evils out there?”

“We just try our best.”

“Mr. Lanham tried his best. You tried your best. What if I can’t try my best?”

Hotch moved his thumbs to the pads of my feet. “It’s hard, Y/N. I’m not going to lie. All that pain and panic you feel on behalf of Jack is going to be ten times worse now with your own flesh and blood. That doesn’t mean that you love Jack any less—please don’t take it that way. But it is different when they’re your own. So, this anxiety you’re feeling now is entirely valid. Trust me. But it’s a day by day thing. You do your best one day, and then you try even harder the next. That’s all you can do. There’s no point in dwelling on what you could have done better or what horribly thing can potentially happen.”

“And if we fail?”

“We won’t.”

“How do—”

“We won’t,” he said more sternly.

I reached out to squeeze his bicep, since that was all I could reach and reaffirm. Maybe I did understand why he wanted to protect me. Maybe he was just doing his best with me, and he felt that his day to day best wasn’t enough. But it was. Actually, it was more than enough.

“I love you.”

He kissed his way up from my ankle to my hip, slowly moving around until he was hovering over me and I was giggling at the way his kisses tickled to me. I punched at his pecks lightly in a playful attempt to make him stop. But he didn’t. He only smirked and moved to kiss my stomach. I ran my fingers through his hair, encouraging him to stay there because I loved how it felt. I loved thinking to myself that we knew something was there, though we couldn’t see it, yet he had an instinct to still show me every bit of love. Especially there.

“I love you,” he whispered against my stomach.

----

In the morning. Hotch and I woke to a call from the Park Rangers that two kids had just been reported missing on the trail. A boy and a girl. Robert and Ana Copeland. That didn’t match our Unsub’s M.O. at all, but we simply couldn’t take the chance. Knowing that the body count out in the forest was only increasing with every knew hole Rangers were digging out there, it was entirely possible that the Unsub was spiraling. It wasn’t worth ignoring. If it meant potentially saving those kids, we were going to at least look into it. If it turned out that it had nothing to do with our case, it would be passed on to the Rangers and local PD, who could hopefully help the parents seek closure.

Until then, we had to try our best. So, we hurried out of bed and raced to the Ranger’s office. When we got there, JJ was already setting up a search party with the Rangers and local volunteers who found out that the kids went missing and wanted to help. Hotch pulled me to the side before we stepped in.

“You should stay here with Reid, give us some outside geographical help,” he offered.

I cocked a brow at him, scoffed, then walked away. There was no fucking way I was doing that. Fucking ridiculous. “JJ,” I said, tapping her shoulder. She turned to face me. “I’ll take the far East quadrant.” I pointed to her map, signaling to the area of the forest that I was referring to. It happened to be the smallest with the least amount of volunteers to oversee, so I figured that Hotch would at least compromise on that. “And I’ll check out the—"

Hotch suddenly grabbed my bicep a little harder than expected and started pulling me to the board room to talk to me privately. He let go of my arm as I stumbled inside, catching my balance quickly before turning to face him. He was frowning like he was angry with me. My eyes followed him as he locked the door then proceeded to turn all of the blinds up so that they were closed, making it so that no one could see into the room.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked me, crossing his arms over his chest once the room was made private and dark.

I shrugged. “I’m going to go help those kids.”

He shook his head. “I’m benching you.”

“Hotch—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

He was oddly calm. Usually, if I gave him push back like this, he’d try to be a little more demanding— whether it be with his boss or Sir tone. Either would have worked on me, but he was still holding back. Asshole. Just fucking crack. Please. Give me something in response to my pushback. Recognize that I’m fucking with you because I want you back, and just do something! Please!

“You can’t bench me—”

Hotch’s eyes narrowed. “I’m pulling you from the field. You shouldn’t have come back this early. And I don’t want you to get hurt, especially since there are new factors involved.”

I chuckled. So that was what this was about. I wasn’t even showing, and he was already losing his shit. This was exactly why I was scared to tell him I was pregnant in the first place. I knew that this would fucking happen. “That’s bullshit,” I snapped. I just wanted him to fight with me. Was that too much to ask? “You didn’t pull JJ out of the field until she was too pregnant to even walk.”

“That was different.”

“It really fucking isn’t, Aaron! I’m going to go out there and I’m going to help find those kids and our Unsub, and there’s really nothing you can do to stop me right now. If you want to pull me out of the field, then you’re going to have to wait until we get back to the office and tell Strauss exactly why.” I started making my way towards the door. “Until then, I’m going—"

Hotch stepped in my way, making me crash into him slightly, but he didn’t waver. “Sit down and shut up,” Hotch demanded gruffly.

I gulped and instinctively took an obedient seat on the couch. There was the Hotch I knew. I found him in there somehow, which meant that I was right about him holding back on my behalf. He still wanted to be rough with me, I could see it in his eyes; but he was doing everything in his power to not do it because he thought I was fragile. I wasn’t fragile. He knew better than anyone that I wasn’t fragile. Hopefully, all it would take was this one snap and we’d be back in business.

Hotch paced the room for a moment before stopping just in front of me. He roughly pinched my face with one hand to make me look up at him. “You want things to be normal? Fine. Stop being a brat and listen to my orders. You’re staying here with Reid, and that’s the end of it.” He let go of my face.

“Yes, Sir.” I nodded.

His chest fell as he let out a relieved sigh, “Good girl.” He ran his fingers through his hair as he caught his breath, trying to come to terms with what he had just done, and how he thought it was entirely out of line. “Sorry,” he whispered under his breath, ashamed.

I shook my head while standing. “I love you.” I took his face in my hands and kissed him gingerly. “I’m sorry for pushing your buttons.”

He kissed me back. “It’s okay.” He let go of me, and I let go of him, then, within an instant, Hotch was storming off towards the door. “Call me if you and Reid find anything.”

I hesitantly agreed, watching him leave the board room and head out with the team, the Rangers, and all of the volunteers. It was just me and Reid in the Park Ranger’s office now. He glanced over at me, confusion written all over his face, but I just shrugged it off. I didn’t need him asking questions when I was still coming to terms with it myself.

I shook my head, unfolded my arms, and headed to the map table to search it with my eyes and fingers to find anywhere that stood out to me as a good place to hide out for the winter and to keep hostages. Reid was hovering over it with a pen in hand in order to help him pinpoint certain areas. When he saw something, he circled it. The only time I spotted something, I asked him to circle it, too.

Yet, all I could think about was Hotch while I should have been thinking about those kids that were out there, scared out of their wits as a monster did who knew what with them. I should have been focused. We weren’t supposed to let our emotions get in the way, which was a main concern Hotch and I had when we initially started dating. We couldn’t forget our work. We couldn’t let our relationship get in the way of saving lives. And I was trying to remind myself of that while staring at that map, attempting to force my eyes to focus in on something, but I just couldn’t. My mind was elsewhere.

“He’s probably hiding them in a cave,” he continued. I hummed a thoughtless agreement. “Somewhere near water so that he can live off the land.” I agreed again. “And then aliens came down and took them.” I hummed again. “What’s wrong with you?” Reid asked, circling a waterfall on the map. I cocked a brow, knowing that he could sense my confusion without having to look up. “I mean… I don’t want to pry, but something’s off.”

“It’s nothing,” I insisted. I knew that he was referring to how Hotch and I were practically dancing around each other, which wasn’t like us at all— especially since we just went through something which should have only brought us closer.

Reid looked up at me through his eyelashes for a brief moment to get a profile on me. He looked back down. “It makes sense, you know,” he commented while still scribbling on the map. I raised a brow, and he sensed my confusion again, so he continued, “Hotch has lost a lot. More than anyone should have to lose. It’s no surprise that he’s being more careful with you than he ever was with anyone else. He’s had to learn and evolve based on his experiences, and that evolution has brought him to being— for a lack of a better term— a helicopter parent. I don't think he’s necessarily trying to suffocate you, like you think he is. In his mind, he’s reminding himself of everything he could have done differently with Haley that could have saved their relationship and her life, and he’s testing out these new behaviors with you.

They say that a mother’s bond with her child is the strongest connection any two humans can have; but we’re still primal creatures, and the fathers have a tendency to become overbearingly protective once they are aware that their mates are carrying their child. Think of it like a wolf marking its territory. The wolf becomes hostile towards anything or anyone that tries to come near its territory because it’s their safe space and they have an instinct to protect it with their life. Fathers of most species are the same way with the mothers of their children, and humans happen to be the worst about it because we’re more advanced creatures—”

“Reid,” I spoke up, catching his attention, “you’re rambling.”

He chuckled self-consciously. “Sorry… I’m just trying to say that… things aren’t going to go back to normal— for a while, at least. He’s trying to make up for his past mistakes. And after what happened in Hawai’i, you can understand why he’s a little uneasy and a little more protective than you’d like. It might help if both of you, I don’t know… set some rules and boundaries.”

I smirked. “Is that the doctor’s advice?”

He shook his head and looked back down at the map. “It’s your friend’s advice.”

“Thank you, Spencer.” I put a hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, the walkie talkie on the table started buzzing with static. Mine and Reid’s attention to turn to it just before we heard Morgan’s voice echo through the room with an update from the trail, a really good update, actually. They found the daughter. She was safe with him and Emily, and they were sending her back to the office with a Ranger so that I could question her because they couldn’t find her brother anywhere yet. I picked up the walkie to acknowledge his report.

We waited about thirty minutes after the call from Morgan to see the Copelands come in with JJ from the trail while looking around for their daughter who hadn’t arrived yet. JJ showed them to the boardroom so that they could wait there. When they were sitting down and holding each other anxiously, JJ came over to me and Reid and asked if we would be fine with waiting with the Copelands while she headed back out to the trail to work with the other volunteers who had a million questions for her. I shrugged and insisted that she go. I could handle this while Reid kept looking at the map.

On her way out, JJ ran into Ana and the Ranger that had brought her back. Ana was covered in dirt, her jacket torn up, her hair knotted, her eyes sunken out of exhaustion. I didn’t see any bruises on her, though. In fact, from where I was standing, I didn’t see any sign of any kind of abuse—sexual or otherwise. It made sense. Unfortunately, our Unsub’s type was kids, but he preferred boys. Whatever happened out there in the woods, there was probably a reason that Ana was with us and not Robert. Hopefully, she could give us some answers.

After sitting around for a few minutes, watching as the Copelands held their daughter close and let her cry against them, I decided to go in. Sitting there and watching them was just breaking my heart. All it did was remind me of all the times after Haley’s death when Jack would cling to me for dear life, crying into my shoulder until my shirt was soaked and I needed to change. I had never heard anyone sob in pain like that until that dreadful day when Hotch broke down, and then Jack started having nightmares. The two of them were in pain… They just couldn’t stop sobbing and whimpering. Ana was the same way.

I couldn’t cry like that when they found me in Hawai’i. Part of me knew that if I broke down and sobbed like that, then Hotch would have been in even worse shape than he already was. Besides, I had happy news that offset how I was really feeling. We had this little miracle in our lives now, and all of my focus was being drilled into that instead of remembering the panic I felt when I saw Gene standing just behind Hotch on the beach. I had to remember that in just a few months, there would be another little Hotchner running around—just as we had always joked about—and it distracted me from waking up with nightmares of sitting in that cabin, anticipating the moment they would finally decide to get rid of me.

I couldn’t keep thinking about it. I was sick of sitting around and waiting for something to happen. So, I carefully pushed into the room that the Copelands were sitting in, and I entered with a welcoming, kind smile that would help the scared little girl warm up to me. A thought occurred to me. I was never going to let my children be that terrified. Ever. I dreaded being an overbearing parent, but I knew what was out there, and I knew what I needed to do in order to protect my family. I was going to do whatever it would take. Neither of my kids would ever have to be in Ana or Robert’s shoes. No matter what.

“Hi, Ana.” I held my hand out for her to shake, just a simple way of me building rapport with her while also making her feel more adult and brave than she really was. “My name’s Y/N Greenaway, and I’m with the FBI. I’ve been looking for you and your brother, Robert.” She shook my hand warily. As she let go, I sat down in the seat across from her and crossed my ankles over each other. “Are you up for a few questions?”

Ana nodded shyly, tucking under her mother’s arm as much as possible.

“Cool.” I smiled at her. “What do you remember?”

“I shouldn’t’ve left Robert, but he told me to run. He made me promise to go when he distracted the man.”

“You did the right thing, Ana,” I reassured her, playing along with the dodge of my original question.

“But he still has my brother.”

“You being here because you listened to your brother is going to help us, though. I promise. I need you to tell me about the man who took you if we’re going to find Robert. Can you do that?”

She nodded. “We were in a cave…” she began slowly, pondering her words carefully as she tried to push through the nightmares running through her. I knew what that felt like. “He kept us in a cage with toys. Lots and lots of toys. There were no lights, and he stole Robert’s flashlight to make sure we couldn’t see anything.”

“What about the man, Ana?”

It was great that she was already being so open and talkative, but we knew all of this because Morgan and Emily were already searching for a cave, and the Unsub was probably long gone by now if he knew that Ana had escaped. We needed to know about him specifically in order to build the profile and find him.

“He was dirty,” she answered, “and scary. He was tall and fat. He walked funny and didn’t like to talk—”

“What do you mean by ‘he walked funny’?”

“Like, with a limp…”

“So, he was hurt?”

“I think so. That was why he couldn’t catch me, but he could catch Robert. He always took Robert. Never me. He took Robert at one point, and when he came back, he was crying and shaking, and that was when he told me that I needed to run the next time the man came for him. So, Robert pretended like he had to use the bathroom, and the man left the cage unlocked… Robert pushed him over long enough for me to run.” She started to sob. “I shouldn’t have left him!” She hid her face against her mother’s chest. “I shouldn’t’ve left him!”

I rubbed my hand over her back soothingly. “You did really good, Ana. Thank you.”

There was a knock at the door from Reid, a signal that he needed to talk to me privately. I nodded to him. I had gotten everything I could get out of Ana—at least for right now—and it was probably best just to let her relax and be with her family. I knew that after Hawai’i, all I wanted was to be with our family. I wanted Hotch, Jack, Morgan, Emily, Rossi, Reid, and JJ. I needed their support. I needed to know that they were okay, because if they were, then it gave me every reason—or excuse, depending on how you looked at it—to be okay, too. Ana probably needed that right now, too.

So, I silently stepped out of the room, letting the door fall shut quietly. I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked at Reid. He lifted his phone and turned the screen to face me, at which point I saw an image of a flower I was not at all familiar with, and I really had zero clue as to why he was showing it to me. I shrugged.

Reid looked at the photo again. “Emily and Morgan found his cave.”

“Robert?”

“They’re both gone. But Emily sent me this picture.”

“What is it?”

“It’s called Devil’s Claw.”

“Which is…”

“It helps heal swollen joints. Without it, our Unsub will be in a lot of pain.”

I glanced over my shoulder back into the room where Ana was hugging her parents as tight as she could—the same way Jack would always hug me and Hotch whenever he was upset. A superman hug. I looked back at Reid. “She told me that our Unsub walks with a limp. It’s probably connected.”

“If it’s really that bad that he still walks with a limp while taking this, it means he’s going to need more of it. And fast.”

“Where can you get it?”

“I mean, the flower version, like this, is all over the forest out there. But you can get it in pill or powder form on the black market, if you know where to look.”

“He’s going to head into town with Robert,” I realized. “And if he’s spending all of his time out on the trail, not working… That means he doesn’t have any money.”

“He’s going to sell Robert for drugs.”

I hesitated. “He wouldn’t give Robert away entirely. It goes against his M.O. You’re right, he’s going to sell Robert; but not the way you would think.” I hurried over to the walkie talkie sitting on the table and lifted it towards my mouth, pressing the TALK button as fast as I could. “Hotch.” I let go of the button and waited.

“I’m here,” he answered momentarily.

“Everyone needs to come back. Our Unsub isn’t out there anymore. He’s heading into town.”

And they did come back. It took a bit, but the entire team raced to get back to the Ranger’s office, at which point, we started discussing where the Unsub could have possibly gone, using our extremely loose profile we had. It really wasn’t enough to present to the Rangers or PD, but it was barely enough for us to use to our advantage. Knowing that he would have to get his medicine as fast as possible, we knew that he was going to turn to the black market—but in order to know who was possibly selling anything similar to Devil’s Claw, he had to already have connections in that world. Since we had previously deduced that he had been operating on the trail for at least fifteen years, that meant that he probably hadn’t met many criminals since then, so it had to be beforehand. But how did this pattern not appear sooner? Why hadn’t he started kidnapping children or abusing them sooner?

The simple answer was prison. It would explain why he was stagnant for a while, and why he was so fond of hiding in isolation. Not to mention, he probably met other pedophiles in there. And drug dealers. If he was desperate, he was going to meet with someone he knew and could trust to understand his medical condition, and also someone who would be willing to take time with a child as payment.

So, we called Garcia. We asked her to look for a man with a sexual assault history who was released from prison about sixteen years ago, then missed parole meetings fifteen years ago by going entirely off the grid. One would be shocked by how many men matched that description. So, we asked her to look for someone who had originally been housed near other registered sex offenders before going missing. That did the trick.

His name was Shane Wyland, and he had a long medical history when he was in prison. I mean, sex offenders were top targets inside, but he went to the infirmary more than the average pedophile. When I asked if it had to do with swollen joints, she agreed. She told us that Shane had a condition that made it increasingly difficult to keep moving around, even with the medication he was getting. But, in prison, they didn’t have what he needed. So, he had to get it from his bunk mate, another pedophile who was released around the same time as Shane.

“We need an address for his bunk mate,” Hotch insisted.

“That’s the thing,” Garcia began while still typing in order to get the address to us ASAP, “there are a handful of registered sex offenders who all share the same address.”

“What?” I questioned.

“It’s a cluster,” Emily said. When we all cocked a brow at her, she continued, “Since sex offenders can’t be near parks or school zones, their housing options are limited. Usually, they’ll reach out to their buddies from prison and ask if they know anywhere that will house them. That’s how they all end up with each other.”

Hotch shook his head. He hissed, “Garcia, the address, please.”

“Right. Sorry, sir.” She pressed the ENTER key of her computer as hard as she could, and we all felt our phones buzz.

As they all looked at their phones to take note of the building number and street name, I watched Hotch to see if there was any way he would let me go. They had a whole building to clear. I could be an asset. My time was better spent clearing the building with them than sitting around in the Park Ranger’s office, counting the minutes until the team would return. I really fucking hated feeling useless.

The team started collecting their gear, throwing on vests as fast as they could and putting comms in their ears. I waited for Hotch to tell me one way or the other. But, when I didn’t do anything, he didn’t seem to argue. I figured that if I were to move towards them and start gearing up, too, that was when things would have spiraled. All I could do was shake my head in disappointment and move to take a seat at the table with Reid. He was staying behind in case that lead didn’t pan out, which wasn’t very likely, but it was still a good idea to have back up. But he didn’t need me there. That was a one person job, and we all fucking knew it.

“Hey—” JJ called out, hurrying over to me. She slowed as I turned to face her. “Are you and Hotch alright?”

I peered over her shoulder to see Hotch talking to Morgan about how they were going to narrow down where the Unsub was and how we were going to get to him without letting the kid get hurt or die. I looked back at her. “Hotch is trying to pull me out of the field after this case, and we had a fight about it.”

“Oh…” She looked at her feet, almost like she regretted asking in the first place.

Ever since the bombing case in New York, I stopped opening up to JJ about my relationship with Hotch. She had insisted that she thought that Hotch and I were taking things to fast, and she almost seemed to doubt us. It really wasn’t until our wedding that I saw that she had changed her mind. But that was a little too late. By that point, I didn’t necessarily care about any opinion she had on my relationship. I valued her as a friend and a team member, of course; but… this… I just…

“Well,” she began hesitantly, “I know that you’ll figure it out. The two of you always get through it. I hardly hear about you guys fighting, so I wouldn’t stress over it too much.”

I nodded and shrugged. I mean, she was right, actually—kind of throwing what I just thought back in my face. But still. Hotch and I had always been honest and open with each other, which was why we were so successful. If I just listened to Spence, used my words and tried to level with Hotch, then we could sort all of this out and come to a better conclusion than pulling me out of the field entirely.

When they left without a word to me or Reid, I sat down across from Reid. We sat in silence for nearly thirty minutes as we waited around uselessly. The team let us know when they arrived in the city; and they let us know how they were splitting up. Rossi and Hotch were going to stay outside while Emily and Morgan were going to head inside, and JJ was going to coordinate with the local PD that had just appeared on site. A few minutes later, the comms started buzzing with back-and-forths.

“Hey, Hotch,” Emily said into the comms. “It looks like Robert was in the apartment, and there was a struggle. There’s a chance he could have escaped, which means that Shane and his bunk mate are probably chasing him around right now.”

Hotch responded, “Alright. You and Morgan continue to search the building, I’ll start a perimeter set up out here.”

“Got it.”

The comms went quiet again. I pouted and slumped forward, resting my elbows on my knees. Reid watched me through his lashes like he was trying not to stare at me. I glanced back at him. When our eyes met, he cleared his throat and shuffled around in his seat to make it look like he was keeping busy with the files in front of him. I rolled my eyes.

“You remember when you were shot in the leg and Hotch made you stay at the office during cases?” I asked quietly, moving to pick at the wood table in an attempt to cure my boredom. Reid hummed an agreement. “How did you not go crazy?”

Perhaps that wasn’t the right wording I should have used around him… He was always nervous about his dilaudid problem and the fear that his mother’s schizophrenia could be passed onto him. “Crazy” wasn’t exactly the right term for Spencer Reid. He was our resident genius, and that put a lot of pressure on him, and I wished that he knew that he wasn’t crazy, but I could tell that he thought he was. So, I almost felt bad for the slip up. But Reid genuinely didn’t seem to notice, which was a relief.

Reid crossed his legs, getting himself comfortable, and he looked back up at me with a little more confidence this time around. “I’m not gonna lie, Y/N, it wasn’t fun. None of us are used to sitting at Quantico all day like Garcia is. When Hotch officially benched me after Hankle and getting shot, there were times when I thought I was going crazy. I was extremely anxious while just sitting around all day. And I was killing myself with worry that one of you—or maybe all of you—wouldn’t come home one day… But I had to suck it up and just go with it until I got better because I knew that, ultimately, Hotch was just trying to protect me. Now, he’s just trying to protect you, too. He’d do it for any one of us for any number of reasons. My advice is the same as before. Talk to him, Y/N. And, if that doesn’t work, then just… suck it up and get through the next few months, because no matter how often you argue with him, you’re not going to win. Trust me. I tried.”

“I hate arguing with him, Spencer…”

He nodded. “I know. That’s why it might just be best to let him win this one.”

I lowered my head and leaned back again to focus on kicking the carpet. “Yeah.” Maybe he was right. I mean, maybe I shouldn’t have been taking advice from Spencer Reid, the guy who never had a girlfriend in his life… but his advice was surprisingly nice and welcoming.

“Hotch, we’ve got Robert, but Shane’s gone. We think he might be in the immediate vicinity,” Emily said over the comm again.

I smiled. They got him. They found Ana, and now they had found Robert. Knowing how many cops were crawling around that neighborhood now that Hotch had created that a perimeter, Shane Wyland was probably long gone. There was no way in hell he stuck around long enough to see if he could get Robert back. He likely knew as well as I did that if he managed to escape, he could keep taking other boys like Robert, and he could keep getting away with it. Even now that we knew who we were looking for, the trail was too long for us to track him. He was a ghost in the wind. But none of that necessarily mattered right now. This was technically a win for us. We saved two kids from a monster, and we discovered who that monster was. At least we could keep an eye out for Wyland in the future.

I stood and walked to the boardroom to tell the Courtlands the news. When I told them that their son was alive and well, they jumped to their feet while letting out breaths of relieve, and demanded to see him immediately. I told them that a Ranger would be driving them to the hospital in the city. Within an instant, they were pushing past me, racing to go seek out a Ranger that could take them as soon as possible. I didn’t take offense to that, though. I knew that they were overwhelmed by their joy of knowing that their son was alive, and all they wanted now was to hold him in their arms. It reminded me of Hotch when he found me in Hawai’i.

Hotch…

I sat down on the couch in silence and reflected on what just happened, and what I was inevitably going to say to him. I loved him. I would protect him to every end. In fact, we said as much to each other in our wedding vows a month ago. Maybe Reid was right about not trying to fight all of this, and instead just let Hotch win this time around because it was easier than making a big deal out of it. Inevitably, I was going to get back to work. Probably in about a year or so. And as shitty as that seemed, at least it meant I got to go back. Hotch could have totally insisted that I quit the FBI—though I knew he would never ask me to do that; so, at least he was giving me the chance to still work out of the field. I could live with that for the time being. However, what I needed to discuss with Hotch more than anything was his behavior and how he was going about protecting me, because I really didn’t need him to stifle me through all of this. After being trapped in that cabin in Hawai’i, I never wanted to be trapped anywhere ever again.

When I saw him turn the corner into the office a few hours later after they gave up on looking for Shane Wyland, I nodded sideways towards the doorway I was standing in, letting him know that I needed him to join me. He silently noticed. As the team patted each other on the back and celebrated getting the kid back safe and sound, Hotch quietly and politely excused himself from everyone. They didn’t seem to stop him. Reid saw what was going on, though, and he sent me a supportive smile that let me know I was doing the right thing.

Hotch walked past me into the room, and I closed the door behind him. “Aaron, we need to talk.” I sat down on the couch, but he leaned back against the table with his arms crossed over his chest. He was listening. “I understand that you’re just trying to do what you think is best for me. I know that you think that keeping me locked up in the tower will keep me safe. And I appreciate all of that. I really do. In fact, I love that you want to protect me and take care of me, but you need to realize that at some point, you need to take a step back. That I can’t be babied, Aaron. It’s not in my nature, and we both know that. I can’t have you hovering over my shoulder every second of every day while telling me that I can and can’t do my job. I can do this. It wasn’t unreasonable for me to go out and look for those kids, but it was unreasonable for me to ask to go looking for the Unsub in the city—I know that. I know myself and I know my limits. I’m not going to suddenly break just because I’m pregnant. I’m okay right now.

“When I need to take a step back from the field, I will do so without hesitation or argument; but until then, you need to keep letting me do my job the way I’m supposed to. I just need you to believe in me—"

“If I didn’t believe in you, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

“If you believe in me, then just… act like it! Why is it that I always have to go above and beyond to support you and your dreams, but I’m stifled because you’re scared? You believe in me, but you don’t—”

“You have always been able to do what you wanted, Y/N! I have done everything I can to restrain myself from being controlling in every aspect of our lives, despite the fact that it’s all I know. I grew up in a household where my father was controlling, manipulative, and abusive. That was how I learned to become a man, and I always thought that would work because I was young and naïve; but Haley left, and you came along— and you…” He took in a deep breath. “You have always been this wild and free spirit that I knew I couldn’t control, so I wanted to step back and let you thrive because I know you’re capable of so much, Y/N. Do you remember that I wouldn’t even fucking look at you when you joined the team because I was so fucking in love with you that I didn’t know how to stop myself from letting my feelings trump your dreams? But you came waltzing into my office, demanding answers, and the next thing I knew, you were meeting Jack and telling me that you love me. I have had to fight an inner battle every single day since meeting you between screaming from the top of my lungs how much I love you and want to hide you away from the cruelness of this world, and letting you spread your wings and flourish as an agent. You deserve every bit of happiness, and I know that a lot of that comes from your work, so I never want to step on your toes. But you’re my wife, Y/N. I made a vow to you that I would protect you, no matter what. And, you’re right… maybe I’m being more protective with you than I have with anyone in the past, but can you blame me? Dammit, with everything I’ve been through, can you blame me for not wanting to lose you, too?”

His eyes wandered to my stomach as he sat back down. “We’re having a baby, Y/N. I’m not just protecting you anymore, and you’re not just taking care of yourself anymore. What happens if you get shot, hmm? What happens if you get stabbed like Foyet did to me? What happens if you get taken again like in Hawai’i? What happens if I lose you like I lost Kate and Haley? Am I just supposed to pretend like I wouldn’t die without you here? Am I supposed to forget about you and the best few years of my life? Why do I have to pretend like I don’t care just to make you feel better about yourself? Since meeting you, I could never bear the thought of losing you, but now I can’t bear the thought of losing either of you,” he pressed a palm to my stomach. “Aren’t my feelings valid, too? Don’t I get a say in the safety of our child?” He cupped my face with his other hand. “Please don’t make me lose you, too. I won’t live if I lose you.” He sniffled as a tear slid down his cheek. I reached up and carefully wiped it away with my thumb. “I believe in you, Y/N, more than I even believe in myself…” He screwed his eyes shut as the tears started to fall faster. “But I don’t want to lose you because you’re too damn stubborn to just sit out of the field for a few months.” He sniffled again. “Why is it so hard for you to just understand that I love you so much that it hurts to even think about being away from you? Can’t you just accept that I want what’s best for you— I always have— and right now that means keeping you safe from any harm.”

I rested my forehead against his. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Y/N. I just need you to understand that I love you. More than anything.”

I kissed away a tear running down his cheek. “I know, baby.”

“If I didn’t believe in you… I couldn’t have stood before all of our friends and family a month ago, and said, ‘This is the person I can’t bear to lose. This is the one thing in my life I can’t lose.’ That’s what I thought we agreed on…”

He reached out and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in for a hug so that he could hide his face in the crook of my neck. I tangled my fingers in his hair. I hadn’t meant to upset him, but I just needed him to know how I was feeling—but I had never stopped to ask myself how he was feeling, which was incredibly selfish of me.

“How about this,” I began offering carefully, waiting to see if he would stop me, but he didn’t, “when I start to show, I’ll stay back at the office with Garcia.” It wasn’t what I wanted, but if it made him feel better, I was willing to make that compromise.

He sniffled and sat up. We held each other’s faces, searching each other’s eyes, trying to find a reason that we shouldn’t agree to that. But there was no reason not to. If it were up to him, I would be sitting at home for the next few months, but that wasn’t reasonable for me; and if it were up to me, I would be in the field up until the day I was giving birth, but Hotch would never let that happen in a million years. At least, being at Quantico meant that I could still help with the cases and the profiles.

“The office or the house at any given moment,” he negotiated.

I shrugged and nodded.

“Okay.” He leaned in to kiss me before hugging me again, our chins tucked over each other’s shoulders. “I love you.”

I grabbed onto the fabric of his shirt on his back, feeling the way his broad shoulders tensed, and his breathing had slowed. I smiled lightly against him. We were going to be okay. “I love you, too.”

---------

criminal minds family: @peggy1999 @gorgeousdarkangel @alex--awesome--22 @oceaneblu @desperately-bisexual @brithedemonspawn @absolutemarveltrash @bshelley322 @rousethemouse @sunshinepower17 @weexinling @pettttyyyc​ @Braty-angel

#Criminal Minds #criminal minds fanfic #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #criminal minds smut #criminal minds imagine #aaron hotchner #Aaron Hotch Hotchner #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner x reader

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More Than Meets the Eye #21- Situations in Which it is Appropriate to Stab Your Roommate

You know what’s generally considered bad for your health?

Getting fingers stuck into your brain meat.

Tailgate reveals himself to be immune to Tyrest’s “fall down on the floor” signal, because his hearing’s gone to complete shit due to Cybercrosis. Tailgate then turns off the “fall down on the floor” signal, allowing everyone back up. Tyrest dislikes this turn of events every much- so much so, in fact, he’s turned into a Nazgûl out of sheer rage.

Rodimus, feeling a bit bolstered by the fact that he’s gotten his hands on one of the massive guns the Legislators dropped, tries to talk a big game at Tyrest, before being reminded that a lot of their party is still at risk of dying, by way of their souls cheese-wizzing out of their heads.

Tyrest, now using Tailgate as a hostage, tells everyone to back off so he can go hang out with the Guiding Hand, otherwise he’s gonna poke holes in Cyclonus’ morality pet. Tailgate screams for Rodimus to fire, finally revealing that he’s been dying this whole time. Rodimus has a weird moment where the plot overrides his knowledge of his situation as a character, as he claims shooting them both is unnecessary, as it looks like someone’s already working on it.

Not sure how he saw the gun and not the man it was being held by. And Minimus has some fucking explaining to do.

Outside, Star Saber is yelling about everyone being unworthy of God’s grace, save for himself, because Real Bastard Hours are 24-fucking-7 with him around. Cyclonus decides that he’s going to deal with the stress of not being able to find his dying roommate through violence, and agrees to a religiously-inclined sword fight.

Star Saber has a good start, sucker-punching Cyclonus in the chin, holier-than-thou as he goes. Cyclonus turns the tables however, when he uses his remaining helmet horn to gouge one of Star Saber’s eyes out, revealing his fashion statement to be a deadly weapon in its own right.

Then we get a taste of Cyclonus’ personal brand of faith.

That’s a mighty high opinion of Tailgate you got there, pal. Quite the jump from “I think you’re pathetic.”

Unfortunately, having this little character moment gives Star Saber enough time to warp the hell away from Cyclonus’ Nazgûlian wrath.

Back with Zombie Bullshit Part 3, we get some friggin’ answers.

Minimus looks super tiny here, but remember that he’s still at least ten feet tall. This is not a man you can invite inside your house for a tea party.

After Minimus’ head got crushed, he had to Alien chest-burst his tiniest self out, which allowed him to grab that gun that’s as big as he is and shoot Tyrest in half. Rodimus has to be reminded again that people are still dying, including Brainstorm, which is weird, because he made it seem like he was forged a few issues back. Perceptor runs off to try and parse the Killswitch, and Pharma offers to help, striking a weirdly sultry pose as he does. Everyone ignores him, because that’s just what happens when you become evil and cut your old coworker in half hotdog-style- you get ignored.

Off in the corner, Swerve is talking to Tailgate about the fact that he didn’t tell anyone he was dying, then makes a joke about his impending demise, because Swerve has a lot of trouble handling serious situations. No one has helped him pop his nose back into place, either. This entire team is just falling apart.

Skids stares blankly at Ratchet and First Aid as they check to make sure all the cold-constructed ‘bots are still dying- they are- then remembers that he’s supposed to be watching Pharma.

Prowl only hires the best, clearly.

Skids runs for the portal, with First Aid right on his tail because there’s a gotdang score to settle, and also Rung for some reason. They find Pharma chilling in the tunnel, completely unable to get through to the other side, not because he’s guilty, but because there’s a forcefield in place.

Of course, because Tyrest was an engineer, and you can always find a running theme with everyone’s work, Rung theorizes that the forcefield is working with Aequitas rules, and actually can sense guilt- not of the legal sense, but of the personal variety.

Which sort of implies some unfortunate things about the Aequitas trials as a whole.

Skids starts sinking through, whereas Rung is hitting a wall. Rung, the hell you got to feel guilty about? What sort of horrors have you inflicted upon the world, you skinny creamsicle of a man?

Skids, people are dying. Can your personal nirvana not wait until after this galactic-scale crisis is resolved?

While Skids fucks off into the portal, First Aid’s taking care of Pharma, as Rung watches and has a Nam flashback to issue #6 in the distance.

Sometimes I wonder if First Aid is somehow aware of how Eugenesis went for him, and that’s why he’s so aggressive all the time in MTMTE.

With his revenge exacted, First Aid finally has that breakdown that’s been a long time coming.

You know what we haven’t had in a while? Gratuitous religious imagery.

“They call it the Eugenesis Code. Has something to do with intellectual property, I dunno.”

So this move they’re about to pull might kill Rodimus, and is for-sure going to annihilate the half of the Matrix they have. Bummer. Perceptor goes to finish setting up, leaving Rodimus and Minimus alone to discuss that thing Getaway brought up about Ultra Magnus luring the Lost Light to Luna 1.

Over on the floor, Tyrest isn’t dead, because of course he isn’t, and enacts the homophone game with Swerve and Tailgate as he relays an order to the Legislators.

Outside, all the Legislators stop whaling on Whirl with their swords and start parroting prime numbers at the sky.

Back with Rodimus and Minimus, it’s revealed that Magnus/Minimus/Miniminimus DID lure the Lost Light to the moon, but it was to have Tyrest yell at Rodimus for being a crappy captain. He didn’t know that Tyrest had gone completely bonkers.

The worst part is that Minimus doesn’t know the half of all the bullshit Rodimus has pulled since the end of the war.

No wonder Rodimus was so upset before the funeral- Overlord was partially his fault.

Prowl, prior to the Lost Light’s launch, had wormed his way into Rodimus’ brain, convincing him that an Autobot Phase Sixer was absolutely necessary for the safety of everyone. He, along with Drift, Brainstorm, the Duobots, and eventually Chromedome, assisted in what culminated in one hell of a bad day.

Rodimus would really prefer if this whole space-crucifixion didn’t kill him, because he’s feeling like he’s got a lot to make up for. Which, yeah. I’m guessing all of Tripodeca’s friends are going to be mighty sore about this whole thing once it comes to light.

And that’s a series wrap on Rodimus!

We get a brief intermission, as we find out where exactly Skids got to. It’s… somewhere. Not even he’s sure. He tries to ask for directions, but it would seem there’s a language barrier.

It really speaks volumes to Skids’ sense of self-confidence, that he’d see a giant ball of technicolor light and decide he’s gonna go try to talk to it.

Back at the current crisis at hand, Rodimus screams some more, the Matrix shatters alongside any hopes of finding the Knights of Cybertron, and Ratchet has himself a little smile, because that did the trick.

The reason we aren’t seeing Crankcase in this set of panels is because his head wound was also spewing oil, and he looks super nasty right now. Well, nastier than any of the Scavengers usually are on a day to day basis. They regularly drink corpse juice, they can’t NOT be nasty.

Unfortunately, we aren’t out of the woods yet, as that whole Legislator thing still needs to be taken care of. They pour into the room, throwing Swerve along with the steel door, as he shrieks in terror.

Back outside, Cyclonus and Whirl are having a little breather up on the edge of the smelting pool, since all the Legislators they were fighting went inside. Whirl, who is looking just awful, brings up that little deal he cooked up in issue #19, where Cyclonus would stop trying to murder him if they got through this fight. It’s important to remember that verbal contracts aren’t binding, and that Cyclonus didn’t agree to anything.

And that’s a series wrap on Whirl!

Actually, no, Cyclonus was just daydreaming. He agrees to put the past behind them, then shoots off to go find Tailgate.

Back in Legislator City, things are getting dicey, as Rung screams for Skids to come back, because if nothing else, he knows he can depend on Skids when the chips are down.

Skids, playing to Rung’s expectations, vaults over Pharma’s headless body out of the portal, and starts kicking ass. In the background, some creepy tentacle nonsense pulls Pharma through the portal. This, surely, will never come up again, nor will it be a major plot point down the road.

Because Tyrest decided he was going to play fast and loose with the law, Minimus has no idea what “one one” is meant to refer to. Tailgate decides that cram school did serve a purpose after all, and books it towards that massive computer off in the corner. After a bit of combing through the index, he finds what he’s looking for and makes a few choice edits to the Autobot Code. The Legislators freeze in place, and Tailgate reveals that he’s just completely voided a section of the law.

Just off panel, Minimus barely contains the urge to pop Tailgate’s cubic little head off of his neck. Not that he’d have much time to do it anyway.

Smash cut to the next day, where Tailgate’s laid out in a dark room, Cyclonus sitting by his side. Chromedome is also there for some reason. Rung is nowhere to be seen, despite him likely being a better fit for this situation than the guy whose husband died less than a week ago. Chromedome leaves, because this is a very intimate moment between these two guys who are roommates.

Tailgate, who has developed an honest-to-god “guy-who-is-going-to-die-by-the-end-of-the-movie” cough, tells Cyclonus that he made him something, and it’s waiting in their room for him. I’m going to guess it’s a macaroni art picture of the two of them fighting a dragon.

Tailgate has literal minutes to live, and Cyclonus just sits there, Nazgûling with grief, until Tailgate decides that NOW is the time to reveal his hand.

…Well, there’s the answer to the Babygate question.

Tailgate’s come to the conclusion that all his wanting to be important and a hero was a bit misguided, because as it turns out, it kind of sucks when it’s your final act in the world of the living. He really would have preferred to do just about anything else with his last days, even if it had been just chilling in his room with Cyclonus.

Tailgate asked Cyclonus off-panel to do him a solid and kill him before the Cybercrosis did, a plea which Cyclonus couldn’t agree to. Then he gets a call, and the tension of the scene is somewhat ruined by some goofy-ass cinematic parallels.

Where the hell is Tailgate, that Cyclonus has to book it down the hall to make it to the medibay? That isn’t clear, but what is is that Tailgate has the rottenest luck in the world; they figured out a cure for Cybercrosis, but his case is too advanced for treatment to be effective.

Cyclonus thinks that this is a major bummer, but thanks Ratchet for trying anyway. Whirl tries to talk to him, and he better watch out, before that little deal he made gets thrown out the friggin’ window.

Tailgate hits the final two minutes, as Cyclonus returns, sword in hand.

And that’s a series wrap on Tailgate!

…That was almost a sincere one, you know. Tailgate was supposed to die here, in an earlier draft of the story. He didn’t, because Roberts realized it would completely nerf Cyclonus’ character development. I can’t even begin to imagine who Cyclonus would have been if both the Rewind/Chromedome thing hadn’t gone over well, AND Tailgate got offed.

Later on, Ultra Magnus is back in action, Minimus Ambus having redonned the armor to reassume his position as S.I.C. of the Lost Light. He discusses the changes that have come about as a result of their time on Luna 1 with Rodimus, who’s pretty bummed about the whole situation. A quick rundown of all the nonsense that happened:

The mystical portal to the Guiding Hand no longer works

Hot Spot faded out and won’t come back on

Ambulon is dead

First Aid is very sad about Ambulon being dead

The ship is falling apart

The only person who seems to have had any sort of a positive experience is Brainstorm.

…James, did you put that baby inside that robot?

Anyway, so yeah. Luna 1 sucks butt. One star, would rate zero if I could, I don’t care if it has sweet rocket thrusters strapped to the back of it and is super mysterious, and might potentially be an idea pulled from the delightfully earnest Children of a Lesser Matrix.

Later on, Magnus makes his rounds, stopping by Cyclonus and Tailgate’s room to check the vibe. Turns out that stabbing sick people is considered medicine on Cybertron, at least when you’re using a Great Sword to do it.

Whirl had the awesome idea to slap Cyclonus’ weird spark energy into Tailgate’s frail body, so it could kickstart his heart and give him enough time to actually get treated for Cybercrosis.

Ultra Magnus is impressed, and perhaps a bit concerned with how easily Cyclonus was willing to risk dying so that Tailgate could potentially live. So much so, in fact, that Cyclonus gets an achivement- he’s finally collected enough good karma to be allowed to have friends!

Looking mighty fresh-faced there, Cyclonus. And is that a new horn? Someone’s got a plastic surgeon on speed-dial.

No, this is actually the gift that Tailgate made him, the one he was working on in Hoist’s workshop back in issue #15, just before the Overlord attack. The one we never got to actually see, probably because it would be very easy to tell what it was and who it was for if we had. The set up for our slowburn romance has to be just so, no shortcuts allowed.

#transformers #jro #jro punches me in the face #mtmte #remain in light #issue 21 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #comic script writing

[iimaginebts]

The Milkmaid // pt. 9

+ Paring/ Wolf! Jungkook x reader ( milkmaid )

+ Genre/  Fluff , romance, eventual smut :)

+ Summary/ Having milk in your breast ever since you were born got you outcast from the human world but accepted in another. When you met Jungkook, your life was completely flipped over, would you choose to stay with Jungkook or part ways with him…..?

Tonight is the night. Where either Jungkook’s plan will succeed or fail and make everything worst. You made sure to pray to your mother last night to ask for blessings. Yesterday, Seokjin had saved you from Taehyung, and for that, you were thankful for him. Seokjin is a nice guy, he is the one who cooked all your three meals and deliver them to you, helped you when were being harassed by Taehyung and comforted you when you had nightmares last night. He didn’t leave your side until you woke up this morning and told him to get some rest. 

You wondered if you should let Seokjin know about Jungkook’s plan. He had helped you so much after all right? But you couldn’t risk the possibility of him telling the King or Taehyung, so you decided to keep quiet. You got up to the bathroom and changed into some clean clothes; an oversize cream-colored dress and loose shorts, that Seokjin brought and left on the dresser last night. 

Right after you changed into the clean clothes, Seokjin walked through the door with a black tray in his hands. He set it down on the bed before looking at you with tired eyes. “ Make sure to finish everything. I’ll come back to collect the tray after I’m done showering and eating too. “ 

“ You should get some rest too. You didn’t sleep the whole night because of me, if you get too tired, whose gonna cook delicious lunch and dinner for me? “ you joked. Seokjin turned back to you with a small smile and nods, “ okay then, as you wish “ he said before turning and leaving the room, leaving you alone again with a tray of warm food. 

Lately, silence seem to be your best friend and it also strangely comforting. It reminded you of the time before Jungkook came into your life, after your mother left you. You’re almost felt familiar to this lonely comfort except the fact that you can’t step out of this room. Shaking yourself out of your thoughts, you started on the breakfast. The rice warm and comforting in your stomach, following by the soup which quenched your thirst and soothing your throat. 

After you were done with the food, you set it aside for Seokjin to come pick it up later. You glance around the room, thinking of something to distract your mind from worrying about the plan. You walked towards the window, looking at the view below you.

Suddenly, a loud sound of the horn echoed throughout the whole kingdom surprising you. You covered your ears and watch as all the maidens and guards stop whatever they are doing and kneeled down, as if bowing to someone as some of them appear to be crying. You were so confused with the situation until the door to your room burst open. Turning around, you came face to face with Jimin. 

“ Jimin? What’s going on? “ you asked, walking over to him, confused written all over your face. 

“ Y/n, you have to leave now. It’s a chaos outside, if you leave now, no one will notice. I’ll take you to the carriage hurry! “ Jimin hushed. 

“ But... what about Jungkook ? “ you asked, eyes not leaving the view beyond the window, how everyone is rushing around. 

“ Jungkook will join you after he finishes the battle. Now hurry. “ 

“ What?! What battle? Jimin you have to tell me. “ now you are panicking, you rush to Jimin’s side to shake his arm, looking at him with your best pleading eyes. 

Jimin sighed before he pulled you by your arm, dragging you out of the room while he explained “ The King has fallen, he was poisoned and now its time for a new King to rule. There’s only Prince Taehyung and Jungkook. Since the King has not prepared who to hand the crown to, they have to fight to see who has the bigger power to rule. “ 

“ Fight?! But Jungkook... “ you trailed off, you wanted to say that Jungkook is obviously on the weaker side but you didn’t want to make it sound like Jungkook is weak or anything. “ Jimin... do you think you can help Jungkook? Taehyung clearly has the upper hand, I’m worried- “ 

“ Don’t worry Y/n , we already planned all these before hand to tackle these problems, Prince Jungkook will win for sure. “ Jimin replied confidently as both of you reached the end of the stairs. “ You just have to trust Jungkook and leave fro now, he will come to find you by today okay? “ 

You look at Jimin uncertainly, hesitating whether you should leave or wait for Jungkook. Looking at Jimin’s urgent and pleading eyes, your heart softened and got up the carriage. “ Please stay by Jungkook’s side and ensure his safety okay?” 

“ I promise I will never leave his side. “ Jimin saluted as he closes the carriage door. 

You watch as the Kingdom became smaller and smaller, you watch the city and people past by before the carriage came to a sudden halt. You stretched your head out to see whats going on. Your eyes widened as you see a familiar face riding a white horse, together with other guards, blocking the way. 

Oh no, you whispered under your breath as your voice turn shaky. You heard the commotion outside as the guards started to hold the coachman in hostage and the guards took over the carriage. The door to your carriage open, revealing a Seokjin with blank face. 

“ Please Seokjin “ you whispered as he entered the carriage and ordered the guard to turn around and head back to the castle. The whole ride was uncomfortable and tense, Seokjin was on alert the whole time as if you will jump out of the carriage and run away at any moment. 

“ Why did you do this? Did Taehyung send you after me? Please you can’t do this to me Seokjin... “ you blurted out

“ I think you got something wrong Y/n, I serve the King and the Kingdom. You are needed for the Kingdom’s babies to survive. I will not allow you to leave like this. Not before the new King isn’t decided yet. “ Seokjin said in a monotonous tone. 

Your feelings were hurt honestly. You’ve thought of Seokjin like an older brother, how he took care of you and treated you nicely. But turns out it’s just because the Kingdom needed you. You turn and face the window as the Kingdom came to view again. You wanted to run out of the carriage so badly but you have no idea where you should run to. You closed your eyes and prayed that Jimin or Jungkook will be able to save you before Seokjin locks you up in another room. 

Once you arrived at the castle, Seokjin held you captive by your arm as both of you walked up the stairs. The castle is way more empty than the first time you see it. You wonder if everyone is mourning over the King’s death or watching the fight between two brothers that is about to happen. 

Seokjin nodded off to the guards and brought you up to a far away room. Suddenly, a guard appeared and stood in your way. He had his spear pointed at Seokjin as he said “ Let go of her “ 

Seokjin looked at him before sighing “ You too, Namjoon ? You know I don’t mean any harm, this Kingdom needs her “ 

The guard, Namjoon apparently replied “ I follow orders, the instruction was to stop you from taking her. Let her go hyung, I really don’t want to fight with you.” 

===========================================================

Hope you guys enjoyed! Feel free to comment or dm me if you think I can improve in any areas! Love you guys <3

Part. 10 ( final ) 

#bts #bts smut #bts fanfic #bts ff #bts fantasy au #bts imagines #bts imagination #smut #kpop smut #bts yandere #hybrid bts #bts hybrid smut #hybrid #bts hybrid fic #bts hybrid series #bts hybrid fanfic #bts hybrid #yandere #kpop yandere #kpop #kpop ff #kpop series #kpop story #jungkook #jeon jungkook #jjk #jjkxreader #jk x reader #seokjin x reader #jimin

[leejihoonownsmyheart]

The Last of the Real Ones

Part of the Road Trip Shuffle

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Summary:

When a new super hero called Scoups starts appearing around the city, you aren’t really interested. Until you realize just how bad he is at keeping a secret identity (despite him thinking he was pretty sly).

-

“I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you But not as much as I do”

You realized that Choi Seungcheol was the superhero Scoups, when you first saw the guy in action. When Scoups first started to pop up in the news you didn’t really pay much attention to it. A masked vigilante stopping bank robberies and petty thievery just didn’t really pique your interest.

You were too busy after all, with pretty much everything else going on in your life to ponder the identity of a man that was probably just some self-centered idiot who wanted to play hero for a few days. You were sure that in no time the news of him would fade away and things would return to normal.

At least... That is what you thought until you were at a coffee shop on your way to work and you got grabbed and held at gun point.

There wasn’t really much going through your mind at that point, to your surprise.

You had always imagined that you would have a strew of thoughts going through your mind, that pure adrenaline would take over, and in an attempt to try and better the situation you would end up with a bullet in your head.

Instead, you felt your heart rate steady to something a bit more lax then it had actually been not long before. You thought of a few small things you regretted. Coworkers you wished that you had been brave enough to talk to more. People you had wished you had called before this had happened. Your crush, who you suddenly really wanted to be able to confess to despite all of your anxieties towards it before.

And lastly, how to get out of this situation without anyone getting hurt.

Your eyes had scanned the restaurant calmly- everyone was on the floor, and you could tell that none of them were going to be helping you. No, they were all too scared, some of them even trying to sneak their phones out- not to call 911 but to resume the phone calls they had been having before this whole inconvenient robbery.

You looked over at the cashier, a scared, shaken 16-year-old, who clearly hadn’t even played a violent video game a day in their life, much less been held at gun point. You felt bad for them. They were just trying to make minimum wage after all at a busy coffee shop with rude customers. The last thing that they needed in their lives was for someone to rob them.

You sighed, and cleared your throat, gaining the robbers attention. He tightened his grip on you, the cold metal of his gun digging into your temple.

“Is there something you would like to say princess?”

You rolled your eyes at the clear scare tactic. You presumed that normally such a thing would work on you. This man was huge. Easily twice your size. He could probably break you in half, with his pinky finger, and was surely leaving bruises from where he was holding you on your shoulders. And yet, even so you weren’t really frightened.

If you were going to die, you supposed that was okay- in that moment at least- because it just meant that everyone else here might live. And you desperately needed that to happen.

“Yeah, you’re not going to get anything out of the kid,” you stated, your voice sounding just as steady as you felt. You felt the robber shift his weight, turning his attention to the glass windows. You could hear sirens in the distance, and you wondered if that was what had suddenly gotten his attention.

The police would surely be here soon.

“What?” He mumbled.

“The kid is shaking, probably doesn’t even know the security code to the safe where they keep the money on a good day, much less when he is scared out of his mind,” you clarified. “Who you need, is the manager. Or someone who used to work here.”

The robber didn’t seem to understand what you were getting at, so you let out a loud sound of impatience.

“I used to work here,” you explained to him. “If you let me, I’ll open the safe for you.”

It honestly wasn’t a good move for you to make.

Lying to someone with a gun was never a good idea. Especially not when you weren’t sure if the gun was loaded or not. You made a mental note to yourself not to do something stupid like this again even as you were on your knees in front of the small metal safe that held the money.

All you had to do was come up with a four-digit number.

A four-digit number that you did not know but a four-digit number none the less and everything could go smoothly.

Luckily for you, before you found out what would happen if you didn’t figure out the four digit number, there was a loud shout, a mad scrambling of people across the coffee shop floor and a crash as someone fell through the large glass windows of the store.

You heard the robber shout a string of curses, but you didn’t even mind the way that the man pulled you closer as a blur of red and white tumbled over the broken glass, to a fetal position on the ground.

Your eyebrows strewn together tightly in confusion when the person let out a pained groan and then jumped to their feet, placing their hands on their hips as if they hadn’t been clearly hurt just a moment before.

“Scoups is here to save the day!” He announced loudly. His eyes scanned the building, and he pointed at the person who was holding you hostage in a way that you honestly didn’t see to be very threatening. “And if you don’t let go of-”

His eyes drifted over to you and he choked.

Yes he physically choked on air, completely lost his composure, cleared his throat and then spoke again, this time his voice notably an octave deeper: “This completely random lady who I do not know in the slightest. Then I will have to come over there and hurt you.”

You weren’t sure if it was the way he changed his voice, the fact that he clearly hadn’t quite mastered his costume- or really anything about his super hero persona yet, or if maybe it was the more then obvious indication that the guy knew you. No matter- in the end, the minute that you saw the man you knew that it was Seungcheol.

There was no way it wasn’t Seungcheol. You knew red and white were his favorite colors, and that he always had the best intentions but didn’t always think things through all the way. You knew what he looked like- flimsy cotton mask over his eyes be damned, and to top it off, he was the dumb guy in your office that you had a crush on.

If you hadn’t recognized Seungcheol standing ten feet away from you in a costume it would have been more surprising, than for you to not have recognized him.

But the thing was how did you even say something like that to someone?

Despite the rocky start to the whole rescue mission, Seungcheol managed to grab the criminal, and get the gun away from him with no trouble at all.

As it turned out, Seungcheol had superpowers. You weren’t sure what all of his superpowers were but it seemed to you that he had more than one, because the super speed that he displayed while saving your life surely wasn’t enough to have also wrenched the gun out of the man’s hands and get you away from him without getting shot.

“Wait.”

Seungcheol had been quick to tie up the man who not even a second before had you in his arms, honestly believing your life was moments away, and was about to- you thought maybe quite literally take off- when someone had called after the man.

It was a younger girl, staring up at Seungcheol in a way that you knew no one had looked at him before. To these people he really was a hero- which you supposed was fair. He had just saved all of your lives.

“Scoups, how can we ever thank you enough?”

The man let out a hearty laugh and reached forward, placing a hand on the girls' head. Her face turned the color of his cape at that, an action you wanted to make fun of but you had had similar reactions to him for less, so you supposed you would let it slide this time.

“You already did.”

And just like that Seungcheol was gone.

That day at the office, he didn’t seem any different than he had always been.

You tried to figure out if Seungcheol had been acting strangely recently but you couldn’t really place any certain day when the switch had happened, but your suspicions that he was in fact the masked man who had saved you that day were only confirmed by your work day at the office.

Not only could he not stop looking at you, a clear look of concern in his eyes, but he had spent the whole morning trying to get someone anyone to turn on the news (likely so that he could pretend to hear about the robbery and provoke you into saying something about it), and when he couldn’t get you to talk about it outright he had pretended to notice a bruise on your neck that you knew he couldn’t have possibly seen unless he was looking for it.

“Hey... Is that a bruise? Are you okay? Did something happen to you today? Because if something did you should tell everyone you know not keep it to yourself.”

You tried not to laugh at his obvious attempts, and instead shyly admitted that yes actually, something had happened to you. You told him about the man that had grabbed you, and that you had been scared.

“But then this masked man fell through the window and ended up saving the day.”

“Oh? Who? He sounds heroic!”

“Uh, I wouldn’t call him heroic necessarily, he seemed a bit unprepared and his name was a little weird... Scoups or something?”

“Oh! Scoups! That really strikes fear into my heart!”

“Ah, I don’t really think so, but agree to disagree right?”

You hadn’t really meant to start teasing him you meant to let it go on for a week maybe and then tell him that you knew his secret. After all, it was a big burden for Seungcheol to carry on his own. You knew that from every single comic book you read and superhero movie you had ever watched. But it was just so easy to tease him. Not to mention that your power of suggestion meant a lot changing in Scoups secret identity.

When you mentioned that you thought Scoups should focus less on catch phrases and more on saving people then his phrases became a lot more more natural and like himself. You also noticed that when you suggested that the hero focus more on strategy to minimize the harm that came to the people he was saving, he started being able to save a lot more people.

And besides, knowing Seungcheol’s secret made you a lot less nervous around him in the office. You weren’t freaked out when he walked past your cubicle and you didn’t shake if he tried to strike up a conversation with you during your breaks.

And during lunch periods he actually sought you ought to eat with you. Sure it was just so that he could talk to you about the most recent Scoups news, but it was attention none the less and you really enjoyed talking to him.

Not only that, but in no time Seungcheol started to approach you even when he was masked as the Scoups himself. Sure, it probably didn’t help that you ended up being in a numerous amount of locations tied to people he was fighting.

Over the next few months, you found yourself in so many robberies, and hostage situations that you were honestly starting to feel like the target. In each one, you found yourself doing the stupid sort of heroic thing you were chastising Scoups for, only without the superpowers on your end, to the point that Scoups approached you himself.

One night after work, you suddenly realized that you weren’t alone. You turned around, fingers clutching your phone hidden deep in your jacket pocket- only for you to relax when you saw who it was.

“Scoups,” you breathed, the name leaving your mouth along with a sigh of relief. “To what do I owe the honor?”

He had given you a completely unamused look back and pointed at your hand in your pocket.

“What were you going to do? Attack me?” He asked. You rolled your eyes and raised your phone out of your pocket.

“Us normal people tend to just call the police,” you replied pointedly. He made a face at that, for what reason you weren’t sure of at first.

“You should really be more careful. The amount at which I end up saving you- out of everybody else in this city-” He interrupted himself to click his tongue and shake his head. “And you’re always being held at gun point. What is that?”

You scoffed and put a hand on your hips.

“Are you blaming me, for always being used as a captive?” You asked him bluntly. He raised his eyes back to you and put his hands up in the air towards you.

“No, no, I’m just... I’m worried about you,” he mumbled. He was starting to grow closer to you. You weren’t opposed to the action. In fact, the closer he was to you the safer you truly felt. It was nice to have him there beside you.

“Just like you are worried about the whole city huh?” You questioned him softly. He stopped, his body mere centimeters from yours. He rose his hand up, clearly wanting to touch your cheek, but hesitated just before his fingers brushed your skin. You rolled your eyes at the tepidness and took his hand in yours, placing it against you before he could say anything in protest.

The action made him smile and sent a jolt down your spine.

You hadn’t realized how long it had been since anyone had touched you so intimately until he was touching you right there and then.

“I would let this whole city burn just to save your life,” Seungcheol whispered back.

When you had read the comic books, and stupid Mary Jane had kissed Spiderman, but also sort of liked Peter Parker and never made the connection between the two, you had always thought it was odd. Not odd in Mary Jane’s corner (although you thought she was a little dimwitted to not make the connection sooner. But odd in Peter Parker’s sense.

After all, what could possibly be going through his mind when he kissed Mary Jane with his mask on, thinking that she was the most important person in his life, but still knowing that she didn’t know the most important detail about him.

You of course, were no Mary Jane. You knew Seungcheol was Scoups. Hadn’t truly been fooled by his mask for a second (even though his costume had gotten immensely better). You had never thought that Seungcheol would kiss you. Not when he was in a mask, and not when he was just a coworker at your office.

So, when Seungcheol closed the space between the two of you, and his lips pressed against yours- you were so surprised you couldn’t protest against it. You couldn’t stop him and tell him that you knew, in fact you couldn’t even think.

All you could do was wrap your arms around his body, trying to feel his warmth spread throughout your whole body, and pressed yourself tighter against him. After all, you were in love with him. You had been for some time.

A kiss from him truly was a dream come true, and no sensical bone in your body could convince you that what you were doing needed to be stopped just so that you could rationalize that he had no reason to feel insecure about his secret identity or all the lies he thought he was so cleverly telling.

No instead you melted against him, just desperate to have him close to your body and to never let this moment slip away from you.

And yet, just like most things, the clock’s hand never stopped cruelly ticking away, and after what could only be described as too short of a time, you felt Seungcheol slipping away from you.

“You have no clue how long I have wanted to do that,” he whispered. “But I have to leave you now.”

You were dazed. Honestly feeling like you couldn’t really keep your bearings if you wanted to. You blindly reached towards Seungcheol as he pulled away.

“Wait, I-”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”

And before you could tell Seungcheol that you knew who he was, Seungcheol disappeared into the night, and you were left alone.

After that moment, it was sort of hard to bring the topic up. Every time that Seungcheol was close to you, you couldn’t manage to tell him in words what you wanted to say. Whenever you could get it into a conversation someone always showed up to ruin your plans.

And whenever it was just you and Scoups... It was like he was the part of him that he was afraid to be at work. He was confident and concerned for you and would stand so close that you couldn’t think straight no matter how badly you wanted to.

One thing you never accounted for however was your growing close relationship with Scoups getting you into any danger. Sure, letting yourself get seen talking to Scoups one on one at multiple scenes of crime and even being caught in videos making quips with the hero like old friends should have made you a bit more careful but it just wasn’t something you had anticipated.

You had never imagined that you would end up kidnapped.

Sure, after all of the superhero storylines that you had read; you would think that you would have seen it coming. Whenever someone got close to the superhero of the story- whether they knew the superhero’s identity or not- they always ended up kidnapped.

It was a classic plot line, the one that always made the hero return to action even if they had been reluctant to do so before. You had never been the biggest fan of the plot line honestly. You found it to be a tad bit bland and drawn out- even when it was self-aware. But you supposed that you couldn’t really control being caught in such a plot line anyways.

You remembered a painful sting to the back of your head, darkness overcoming your vision and then waking up in a dark room.

You honestly hadn’t even realized that Scoups had a nemesis or even someone out to get him, but you really should have anticipated it coming. It was like Seungcheol kissing you had made you forget everything about any superhero tale that you had ever known.

Whenever a superhero showed up, a supervillain always followed. There were no exceptions to such a rule.

Your eyes narrowed at the man before you as you pulled at your wrists lightly. The ropes he had used to tie you were tight against you. You wouldn’t be able to ease yourself out of it easily, no matter how badly you wanted to.

So instead, you kept your attention on this supervillain, raising an eyebrow at him as he paced the abandoned room that you two were in.

“So...” You trailed off, and the man turned to you. He had dark eyes, and a particular way of looking at you that you just knew you had seen many times before. “Aren’t you going to tell me your backstory or whatever?”

The man looked at you, his glare only intensifying at your words.

“You think I would waste my backstory on you?” He asked you pointedly. Honestly the comment stung, but once again his words kept pulling at that little part in your brain that said that you knew him outside of this. You thought maybe if you kept him talking you would be able to pinpoint exactly where from.

“I mean who else are you going to tell?” You asked. You used your head to gesture to the empty room around you. The man rolled his eyes.

“Scoups will come,” he murmured back. “I’ll tell him when he arrives.”

You scoffed.

“Why would Scoups come? This is so obviously a trap- and would you even really kill me?”

“He’ll come, and if you keep talking then yes,” he snapped back roughly. “You’re the most precious person on the planet to Scoups, I know he will come.”

You thought that was a tiny bit of an exaggeration, but luckily his cocky attitude, finally slide something into place in your mind, and you realized with a start exactly where you knew he from.

“Oh my god, Juyan? From accounting?” You blurted out. Juyan, turned to you, his eyes growing wide in surprise.

“What- How did you-?”

“It is you!” You exclaimed. “What the hell Juyan, I thought you died in some freak accident?”

“I’m wearing a full-face mask!” Juyan protested instead of answering your question. You figured that was fair. After all it was no secret to anyone that Juyan had been missing for months. He had been chosen with a select few- Seungcheol actually. To participate in an experiment in a lab. The experiment had been pretty top secret, and something had gone wrong....

You wanted to hit yourself, realizing suddenly that you were the biggest idiot on the planet.

“Of course, the accident.”

Suddenly everything was clicking in your mind. The mod podge of every superhero story you had ever read all molding into one story that would make sense for your situation.

Juyan- after overcoming his initial shock only confirmed it a moment later.

When Juyan and Seugncheol were selected to do the experiment and the experiment went wrong they were both exposed to deadly radiations that should have killed them. It killed the others in the project, and also released a sudden mass of energy in the center of the room that started to suck up the people in the experiment. Juyan and Seungcheol agreed to work together to try to save the scientists and close the hole, being told that if they got a certain device into the mass, they would be able to prevent the end of the world.

A slip was all it took for Juyan to fall into the mass, leaving everyone to believe him dead.

“But I am alive,” Juyan snapped. “And the first thing I see upon returning is that Seungcheol is masquerading around like some sort of hero. After letting me die.”

He let out a laugh, that was a little psychotic- honestly not anything you wouldn’t expect from Juyan. He had always been one step away from the looney bin- but was still a little disturbing to hear even so.

Contrastingly, it was a little amusing the way that Juyan waited for Scoups to show. His growing impatience only building on the anger issues that he had been sent to Human Resources for many times before for.

You honestly hadn’t expected Scoups to come for quite some time but after only a few hours (your ropes still tight but getting much looser), suddenly the door came bursting in, and Seungcheol’s wide frantic eyes fell on you. He called out your name.

“Don’t worry! I’m here to save you.”

You practically yawned as he began towards you. It was like none of them had ever seen a superhero movie before in their lives.

“Don’t do it,” you murmured, your tone of voice flat. “It’s a trap.”

Just as you spoke, Juyan reappeared and a net dropped down from the ceiling over Seungcheol. He hissed as the net touched him, dropping to the ground in more pain then you had ever seen him in before.

“What-”

“That net is made out of Titanium Alloy,” Juyan said sinisterly. You could practically hear the smile on his lips. “Your one weakness Scoups.”

His voice echoed throughout the room, and it seemed to genuinely impress Seungcheol as he flipped over in the net to peer up at Juyan.

“Pledis,” he mumbled. “Where did you come from? What do you want to achieve?”

And luckily this was where you could help speed up things. Honestly when it got to this part of the plot, you tended to easily get bored while reading your graphic novels. While in some stories the realization of who the villain was had been crafted in detail and been a genuine surprise to you, like in Marvel’s Runaways- other stories just felt repetitive and obvious. You skimmed through those most of the time. And you were a bit glad you could press fast forward on this one, because this room was a bit cold and you didn’t have a jacket.

“It’s Juyan- from accounting.”

Juyan let out a frustrated groan at your comment, just as Seungcheol let out a dramatic gasp.

“Juyan.”

“It’s Pledis,” he snapped back. “Come on, I call you Scoups, so call me Pledis.”

“Juyan...” Seungcheol murmured, completely ignoring what Juyan had said just a moment ago “I... I thought you were dead.”

It was odd, to see Seungcheol growing so clearly haunted. When you had imagined what he had to hide you had thought it was simply a fear of people finding out who he was. You had been naïve to think that he was holding onto an even larger burden that you couldn’t even begin to fathom.

You could hardly even pay attention as Juyan and Seungcheol continued their discussion, going through the usual wave of conversation before it finally devolving into the fight that all three of you had known it would come down to.

You knew that Seungcheol didn’t want to hurt Juyan. And you knew that Juyan’s period of isolation was a large part of the reason he was currently being so resentful. But you also knew that even with a trained therapist in the room there would be no preventing this battle. And when Juyan went flying out the window, plummeting to what you could only imagine would be his death, you couldn’t say you were really surprised.

Just glad that you had managed to get yourself free of those ropes, and desperate to get to Seungcheol’s side.

“Are you okay?” You exclaimed climbing over the metal rail as you rushed over to Seungcheol. He froze at the statement, his whole body becoming tense at that. At first you were confused as to why, and then you realized that it was because he still didn’t realize that you knew his secret identity. You rolled your eyes.

“Seungcheol, I know it’s you.”

“Se-Seungcheol?” Seungcheol asked, his eyebrows raising. “Who is that?”

You sighed and wandered over to Seungcheol, lightly placing your hand on his shoulder. You peeked around his body and try to catch his gaze, but he just turned his head even further from you. You sighed.

“Come on, what are you doing? Don’t you know what part of the story we are at?” You asked him. That seemed to peek his attention a bit. He glanced at you, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly so that you could finally see his face.

He had bruises scattered across it, and a number of cuts on his cheeks that made your brows furrow in concern. You raised your hand gently to his cheek and he looked down so that he couldn’t see your expression as you did so.

“Part of the story...?” He questioned softly. You nodded and smiled.

“Well, it’s the part where the person who has been in love with the hero for so long finally gets to see his face. She’s of course worried. She knows that he is in pain but won’t say anything, but she doesn’t mind as long as she gets to see him.”

You sighed and lowered your hand back down to his shoulder, ducking your head so that you could catch his gaze. You gave him an easy smile.

“Then she tells the hero that she’s known all along who he was,” you continued. The statement made Seungcheol sigh softly, a pout crossing his lips.

“How long have you known?” He asked you his voice softer than you were used to it being when he was dressed like this.

“Since the coffee shop robbery,” you replied. Seungcheol’s mouth dropped open.

“How?” He blurted. You laughed.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out Cheol. We’ve worked together for over a year now, and you weren’t very secretive about the fact that you knew me that day.”

Seungcheol’s face turned a little disgruntled at that. That just made you laugh, your hand raising up to his cheek again.

“Don’t give me that look,” you mumbled affectionately. “If I hadn’t known I would sort of be a terrible friend.”

Seungcheol laughed, at that, but he still looked a little bothered. He cleared his throat and placed his hand on your wrist. He pulled your hand from his face and intertwined his fingers with yours.

“Just friends huh?” He mumbled. You rolled your eyes at his sudden shy attitude and looked at your interlocked hands.

“Well, I guess it didn’t just have to do with us being friends,” you murmured back. “I wanted to tell you that I know sooner, but it was a little hard after you kissed me that first time. Sort of... Clouded my senses.”

Seungcheol chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

“It was kind of dumb of me to do that if I wanted to keep you safe... Wasn’t it?”

You rolled your eyes and leaned forward so that your nose was brushing against Seungcheol’s in what resembled a butterfly kiss. He didn’t seem to think that was enough however, as he leaned even closer and pressed his lips briefly to yours.

“You couldn’t keep me away if you tried,” you whispered back softly.

“There's been a million before me That ultra-kind of love You never walk away from You're just the last of the real ones”

Next Song: Red Like Roses Part I+II by Jeff Williams

#I have lost my agenda #I have no clue what my writing schedule is #I AM LOST WITHOUT IT #so just know that while I am writing #I am an unorganized mess #Seungcheol #Scoups #Super Hero AU #Seventeen AU #Seventeen #Kpop AU #Seventeen Fanfiction #Seventeen Fanfic #Kpop Fanfiction #Kpop Fanfic #Scoups Fanfic #Scoups Fanfictions #Scoups AU #Seungcheol Fanfiction

[touchmycoat]

OP!Anon for Leverage!HX/LQG: *SCREAM* oh I adore how you wrote this - HX is so good at reading everyone and understanding how to motivate/manipulate them, except for lqg. I love how angry he got at the idea of lqg seeing him in the same light as swd, and also how lqg's just like, yep, swd's gotta die when he heard the full story. I love the idea of HC coming in like the king he is and laying down the law about XL. ahhhhhhh!!!! just imagining hx and lqg getting close after lots of shenanigans!

teamwork baby

"Xue Yang must die" is literally one of my favorite WWX quotes of all time LMFAO time to pay homage

so you know how in book 3, during the Black Water arc, HX is there trying to push his whole scheme forward? It's well-timed, well-thought-out, but the only fucking spanner that keeps jumping back into his work is XL-and-therefore-HC? Yeah I imagine working with grifter!HC is pretty much like that. He's always late or never shows up at all to briefings, or he shows up to the very end to hear the conclusion and goes "Nope, that's fucking stupid, change it." SQQ's like "Why??" and HC's like "oh, lil boy can't figure it out?"

and whenever they have an actual plan going, HC sometimes just shows up and starts doing his own thing in the middle and forces HX to keep up. This is often motivated by one of XL's jobs, and XL would ask if HC knows a little piece of intel, and HC would be like "oh you know what, I actually have a hostage right here to ask about that, one moment please :)" and utterly prioritize XL's thing. HX has to change the job on the fly so many times, and it's so fucking annoying, but it's not like HC leaves him at a dead end, so he always does find a way out.

(this got fucking long, but HX/LQG under the cut)

Bingliushen are also annoyed as fuck, but while they're godtier at their own things, none of them are mastermind-level (yet—Binghe's gonna get there, isn't he), so they just have to put their faith in HX and keep chugging forward. This is how the foundation builds, y'know? HX insists to both others and himself that he's being honest and faithful to his team because that's just the best way to handle them, not 'cause he's actually a team player and not 'cause he cares for anybody at all. And LQG's a simple guy—you save my life, I'll save yours. You act in good faith, I'll be loyal in turn.

It starts with something small. HX's suffered tremendous loss, and has been on his own for a very, very long time. He's used to taking care of himself, but we all know LQG's love language is "here, you dropped this. I've been quietly paying attention to everything you like and do, no big deal." So maybe it happens on a mission. HC has three marks to dupe in succession, and they're playing a nasty Big Pharma group, so it's hitting close to home for HX. At the last minute though, HC says over the comm, "the CEO & CFO made me. Must've recognized me from speaking to the secretary earlier. He Xuan."

"Can you still do the COO?"

"I'm not about to waste this outfit, am I."

and HX has to hop in and do 2/3rds of the grifting himself, which is fine, he's completely capable of this, he's a goddamn prodigy at hiding his murderous tendencies. but out of nowhere LQG is on the line, "Shen Qingqiu, you said you can hack the finances, right?"

"Yes, but nothing else."

"Then He Xuan doesn't have to talk to the CFO. Give me 2 minutes, I'll knock him out."

and HX doesn't stop him because sure, why not? It was more efficient for HC to do three of them at once, but now that it was HX doing it (and HX still has his own part to play), it would save them more effort if LQG goes for the blunt force solution. But it rubs HX the wrong way—what the fuck? Yeah, HX may not like grifting as much as HC, the stupid drama queen, but hasn't he proven himself every bit as capable of it? Why did LQG think it necessary to, what, bail him out?

So that night, after debrief, HX pulls LQG aside to give him a piece of his mind. "Don't ever try to override my judgment again." "What are you talking about?" "I made a call, I did not need your 'help' on the grift." "That wasn't help." "Then what was it." "You hate talking to guys like that!" "???" "You didn't need to talk to him, and I was right there. It was the obvious thing to do."

and HX still doesn't get it, not until the next day, when SQQ and HX are quietly setting up for the morning, and SQQ says out of the blue, "that's just how he cares. Liu Qingge, I mean. It's never an ego thing once he's your friend."

"I don't need friends," is HX's automatic response.

"No," SQQ snorts in agreement. "You need revenge. That's fine. Then I'm sure he'll get over it."

Which—okay—no? Bastard. That's just a passive aggressive attempt at a guilt trip, and it's not going to work. HX has already made it abundantly clear from the get-go that this was simply a job, he was the pointman, once they were done everybody will go on their way. It's not his fault SQQ dragged in a hitman with the loyalty instincts of a german shepherd, and it's certainly none of his business whether LQG treats him as friend or a colleague.

LQG will just have to be disappointed.

BUT OF COURSE WHAT GOES ON TO HAPPEN IS THAT HX sees more and more of the things LQG does, the ways LQG manages to be thoughtful. The way LQG handles visitors during HX’s mealtimes despite how much LQG hates talking to randos, bc HX has bad food days and can’t really stand eating with others. The time they had some time to kill undercover in a consultant’s office, and HX passed the time by pointing out all the things wrong with the office’s mini-aquarium set-up, so when SQQ brought up something inane about decorating their headquarters, LQG made HX draw up specs for a saltwater tank of their own. HX and everybody else kept insisting it was a waste of time, but LQG still went ahead and got it made anyways, and now it’s HX’s favorite thing in the entire HQ.

But HX wasn’t about to owe anybody anything. If LQG insists on this game, then fine, HX was going to play to win. He requisitions new toys (read: weapons) for LQG, he builds heists around the sole purpose of giving LQG a room of satisfying bad guys to beat up, he goes to the gym and spars with LQG, he even tries to give LQG’s weirdly famous younger sister’s novel a read—which was a lot. Ahem. But LQG loves his younger sister, so surely this would be the ultimate “hah! I’ve given you more than you’ve given me! I win! move.

...turns out LQG’s never read the damn thing, and just takes everything HX gives him in total stride. “We still on for tomorrow?” “...Yes.” “Cool. See you.” And HX’s over here totally overthinking EVERYTHING while LQG’s just chilling, super matter-of-fact.

Fuck, were they friends???

HX rage-panics, because he does. not. need. friends. And it has nothing to do with how everyone he’s ever loved dies, it has nothing to do with the careful balance of vengeful fury and self-hatred inside him that’s about to tip over any day now, once they take down SWD. It has nothing to do with HX being too traumatized and grief-stricken to imagine moving on from revenge, to ever imagine being simply content again.

His eating habits get worse. One day he snaps at LQG for pining so much after SQQ. “You already know he’s never going to return your feelings. It’s embarrassing to watch you insist on giving so much when he’s not going to give anything back.”

“Shut up,” LQG snaps, “it’s not about getting anything back.”

But that makes it worse. Of course HX wasn’t actually talking about SQQ, though sure, that’s annoying too. LBh obviously knows, so why can’t they take their infernal flirting somewhere private, instead of flaunting it in front of LQG all the time?? But the fault’s with LQG too, what with all the giving. He should find someone more worthy of his affections and stop wasting his time here.

HX cuts everything he and LQG has built up in one fell swoop—completely gives him the cold shoulder. Only ever talks about work, no more dry quips, no more infodumps on niche hobbies. HX wishes he could destroy the tank at HQ, but that would be way too confrontational at this stage.

Until one mission, when LQG knows HX is not in a good place, and keeps trying to argue HX out of doing something excessively risky. HX rounds on him and says, “you’re just a hired gun, so shut up and shoot where I'm pointing, or you can pack your things and get out.”

LQG goes red, then white, and storms away.

“Nice sucker punch,” HC comments idly where he’s lounging on the side. Who knows when the fuck he showed up. “Right where it hurts.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know. His five-year stint with the Sha City Demons?”

Of course HX knows about that. He’s looked thoroughly into everybody’s backgrounds. But what does that have to do with this?

“Gege is the best at this, after all. See you and I, we stopped asking questions once we knew the name, because we don’t think people are ever as pure and good as they pretend to be. But you know what Dianxia said, after I mentioned Liu Qingge’s old gig to him? ‘Five years, hm? I wonder what they had on him. In my experience, men like Liu Qingge don’t work for crews like the Sha Demons. And in order to sink their claws deeper into men like him, the Demons always make them do the worst jobs.’ Just a hired gun indeed.”

That’s right. LQG gets a Moreau backstory of his own. HX feels his heart sink to the pit of his stomach.

“Fuck.”

“I don’t know why you’re so stressed out about it. He is just a hired gun—”

“You know why. Fuck.”

“So get out of my face and do something about it already. You know where he’s gone, I know you’ve put trackers on your entire team.”

“...”

“You didn’t? No, you didn’t put one on him? My god, you do care.”

While HC’s busy sounding disgusted, HX is reeling. He just sent the best hitman in the field packing, and was an absolute dick about it. He was not a kind man, but he also wasn’t a cruel one. He believes in fairness, and everything he said simply had not been fair. It had all been his own guilt and issues talking; if he really didn’t give a damn, then he wouldn’t have...done all this.

“How much are you willing to pay?” HC says, swiping at his phone.

“What?”

“Because I don’t trust any of you, and did put a tracking device on Liu Qingge.” He sure has—HC is waving the loading tracking app in HX’s face. “So I’m asking, how much are you willing to pay?”

...And that’s the reason why HX owes HC so much damn money.

#leverage AU #he xuan #lqg #anon this is so much fun TTTTTT #i'm about to rewatch leverage 'cause of you

[need-a-new-hobby]

The Eyes Have It

note: this fic took like 3 days to write. hope yall like it. did it for the derek but there’s a little spencer x piper as always

Piper walked into the bullpen later than usual, two cups of coffee held in her hand. Her eyes took notice of three things. The first was Anderson trying to balance a mug on his forehead which she couldn’t judge. His job was mostly paperwork, no doubt he got bored. The second was Derek chatting with Erin Strauss. As in the superintendent Erin Strauss. Their boss’s boss. Grandboss, if you will. The third was most of the team gathered around Emily’s desk staring at Derek and Strauss. She walked over to the other end of the bullpen, dumping her bag near her desk before rolling her chair over to the girls and Spencer. “What’s happening?”

“Some moron posted a blog called ‘What Would Carl Sagan Do?’.” Spencer snickered.

“Spence, I love you but uh… I was talking about Morgan and Strauss,” she said, passing him his coffee.

“Wait. You haven’t heard?” Garcia raised her eyebrows and Piper narrowed her eyes, tilting her head at her.

“Are you gonna tell me or not?”

“Hotch is stepping down as Unit Chief. He’s been getting heat from Strauss.”

“Stress from Strauss?” Piper tried to stop herself snickering and Emily whacked her arm. “Sorry, not the time, I know. But why?”

“The bureau thinks that his ability to lead the team has been compromised ever since Foyet,” Spencer explained from behind her and she nodded.

“That makes sense.”

“It does?” Garcia scoffed.

“Well, yeah.” Piper shrugged. “Last week, he practically launched himself unarmed and unprotected into a hostage negotiation. Our last case, he walked away from a suicide by cop incident. Strauss’s doubt makes sense. I’m not saying Hotch shouldn’t be Unit Chief but…”

“No, I get it,” Emily sighed as she wrung her hands. “Foyet’s distracting him.”

“So, why’s Morgan with Strauss? Oh nooo….” Realisation dawned on Piper as she groaned, leaning on her elbows. “He’s acting Unit Chief, isn’t he?” Spencer rubbed her shoulder. “He’s never gonna let this go.”

“Also, rumour has it, he went to see Tamara Barnes again this morning. For coffee,” Garcia whispered.

“Penelope’s over-exaggerating,” JJ laughed. “She asked him to go to the preliminary hearing with her, that’s all.”

Emily just sighed. “So, we're just supposed to move forward without any discussion?”

“After Foyet, I think we have to be ready for anything,” Spencer remarked, looking up at Hotch’s cabin.

“I just hope he doesn’t make me call him ‘sir’,” Piper sighed, putting her face in her hands. “He’s gonna be insufferable after this.” Her head bobbed up as Morgan yelled for them to get Rossi.

“This is Megan Chertow and her friend Beena Sukarto, both 17, found 2 nights ago in a parking garage, carotids severed. This is John O'Heron, 61,” JJ briefed. “He was found dead in a wooded area 4 days ago, blunt force trauma to the head.”

“Different MO and completely different victimology,” Rossi remarked. “How are the cases linked?”

“Their eyes have been removed,” JJ tried to say casually, her mouth drawing into a line as she took her seat.

“Oh, he's an enucleator,” Spencer beamed.

“You are way too excited about this,” Piper murmured to her boyfriend.

“Wait, there’s a term for this?” JJ asked, clearly disgusted now.

“It's a rare subset of criminal behaviour, but there have been case studies of assaultive enucleators,” Hotch explained.

“The overwhelming majority of them suffer from diagnosed mental disorders,” Emily elaborated.

“And they're usually males, lack social skills, their kills are disorganized and sloppy,” Spencer added. “The typical enucleator gouges the eyes out, but he doesn't normally take them with him.”

“We need to figure out why,” Derek said, looking to Piper. “You got anything on eyes?”

“Well, typically eyes have been seen as the windows to the soul,” Piper recalled, gesturing with her pen. “In TS Eliot’s The Hollow Men, he says they have no eyes, but he really means the soul. The earliest reference to enucleation would probably be Oedipus who gouges out his own eyes because um… he sleeps with his mother and it’s a whole thing. I think in Dante’s Inferno he talks about judgement using ocular imagery as well.”

“The point?”

“Well, three points, really. One is soul, the other is guilt and the last is judgement.” Piper nodded emphatically.

“You think this guy feels guilty?”

“I’d say in this case it’s more that he feels judged. These enucleators are generally paranoid and that could have been the trigger.”

“There are noticeable shifts from the first to second murder,” Rossi pointed out. “He goes from killing in seclusion to a public place.”

“And he escalated from one victim to two,” Emily added.

“What concerns me most is there's less than 48 hours between the murders,” Derek explained. “That's why I chose this case.”

“And from what we know about enucleators,” Hotch added. “They're almost always multiple repeat offenders.”

“Exactly. Which means he's going to need to kill again soon. All right. Let's meet on the plane in 30.” Piper watched the others leave before making sure Spencer got up okay.

“Is it always gonna be this awkward?”

“God, I hope not. Derek hasn’t bullied me once all day. I never thought I would miss it.” Piper pouted as she helped Spencer down the stairs. “Are you sure you wanna come along?”

“Yeah, I’m not staying cooped up with Garcia all day.”

“Hey, I didn’t want you there either,” Penelope retorted from Emily’s desk. “Also, cookies,” she thrust out a box for Spencer. “I felt bad for not giving you any the other day. But do not expect more.” Piper laughed as she grabbed her and Spencer’s go-bags.

“You know, the last thing we need is Morgan turning into Hotch,” Emily grinned. “Another grim-faced robot. I don’t think I could handle it.” Piper laughed and the three agents got into the elevator.

On the jet, Spencer spread his leg out carefully along the width of the plane while Piper perched on the table next to him. “The colours of all the victims' eyes are different,” Emily pointed out. “So, that probably doesn't factor into victimology.”

“It's more likely what he sees in the eyes,” Spencer explained. “Case studies show that most enucleators suffer from delusions. They hear voices and see things in people's eyes.”

“Usually something evil. They're driven to enucleate to destroy the devil. It points to someone who may have been institutionalized and recently released. I can help Garcia start looking,” Piper offered.

“All right, so talk to me,” Derek directed. “What makes these attacks so different?”

“With victim one, there were multiple blunt force strikes to the head— A more personal kill,” Rossi answered.

“And he disposed of the body, maybe as a forensic countermeasure,” Hotch added.

“The next murders seemed less personal, more opportunistic,” Emily finished.

“I think we need to look at why the first victim was bludgeoned and dumped.” Derek sighed deeply.

“Perhaps the unsub knew him,” Spencer theorised. “It’s possible he said or did something.”

“Prentiss, I want you to go to the disposal site, see if you can figure out why he was dumped there. Rossi, you and I are gonna go to last night's crime scene—”

“Actually, uh, the girls' families asked to speak to our team leader,” JJ interrupted.

“All right. um... Okay, in that case, Rossi, you can handle the crime scene solo. JJ, you're with me, and, Hotch, Reid, I want you to get into John O'Heron's life, See if anything at all points to a personal motive. Piper, help Garcia narrow down mental institution records.” They nodded and Spencer moved over to the couch to spread his leg out and Piper went to make a cup of coffee. “Hey, Bishop.” She looked over at him, a little tense.

“Coffee?”

“No, I’m good. Um… listen, about you and Reid.” Piper looked up. “I know Hotch may not have had a problem with it, but uhh…” Derek was unsure about how to phrase his next directives. The last thing he wanted to do was break them up, but he couldn’t risk the team dynamic becoming tattered.

“Derek, what are you saying?” Piper swirled a spoon of sugar into her cup.

“I’m just worried that if the two of you have a… an issue within your personal relationships…”

“Der, you’re like a brother to me, you know that. If we have an issue, we’ll sort it out.” Derek nodded, breathing in deeply. “Is everything okay?” Piper placed a hand on his shoulder gently, but he pushed her away. She sighed as he moved to resume his seat and she followed, worried about Derek’s new responsibilities.

^-^

Spencer, Piper and Hotch filed into the precinct and Hotch shook hands with Detective Bartley. Piper smiled and took a seat opposite Spencer before she turned her laptop on to find Garcia. “So, I started to look up recently released mental health patients who have a history of eye gouging, eye assault, and other gross things you can do to eyes and sockets. And there's no bingo for Okie City residents.” Garcia tapped her pen against her forehead.

“Well, I suppose that’s sort of a good thing. I can’t believe he started out with eyes though. Try a history of animal cruelty.”

“Gold star to you doctor. I’ve got 7.”

“Narrow them down to eyes.”

“Oh. They’re all gone, sweet-cheeks. Sorry,” Penelope pouted.

“That’s okay,” Piper said, rubbing her hands. “We’ll get back to you soon.”

“10-4 breaker! breaker!” Piper narrowed her eyebrows as Garcia blipped away, looking up at Spencer as she mouthed Garcia’s last words.

“What’d you get?”

“Nothing yet. What about you guys?”

“Both murders were 22 miles apart which is unusual since serial killers usually have a smaller kill zone,” Spencer replied.

“What I don’t get is what he’s doing with them. What do you do with eyes?”

“May be keeping them as trophies,” Hotch suggested from his position near the murder board.

“They wouldn't keep long as trophies,” Spencer gestured with his hands. “Eyes are 80% vitreous humor, which is essentially water. After a few hours, they begin to get cloudy and wilt.”

“Any other theories?”

“There have been cases where after enucleation, mental patients have consumed the eyeballs.” Piper almost retched. “Sorry.” She waved him off.

“Nope, it’s fine. I just really hope he isn’t; you know. But if these eyeballs don’t last long, won’t he try and replace them?”

“He will. Unless he knows how to preserve them,” Spencer said. Piper frowned as Spencer gazed mournfully at the victims. Hotch tossed Piper a marker and she got up, the notion of eye consumption far from her mind.

“So, O'Heron's friends say he has a history of drunken behaviour,” Hotch surmised from his file. “But they don't know anybody with a grudge against him.”

“He was last seen leaving a bar,” Spencer read out. “Bartender on duty said he left without incident.”

“We should get Garcia to look at his financial records,” she suggested. “It’s possible he did something earlier in the day where he met our unsub.” She looked over as Emily and Rossi entered the room. Emily told them about the remote farm road where O'Heron was dumped, telling them that the unsub didn't just stumble on it, he knew the area well. Hotch told her to make a list of people who live or work near the area before turning to Rossi. Piper and Spencer listened to the senior agent’s theory of their unsub’s patience and organisation. What worried them most of all was his lack of cooling-off period between kills. Meanwhile, Derek and JJ entered looking troubled before directing Spencer and Piper to see the medical examiner. Piper nodded, sighing at having to drive an SUV as she caught the keys Emily threw her.

“Hey, does this mean I can borr—”

“Absolutely not.”

Spencer sat perched on a medical table adjacent to the victim as Piper stood in front of O’Heron. The M.E. pointed out the way the eyes had been ripped out with the optic nerves protruding, but Spencer knotted his eyebrows at the precise cuts made with the other two female victims. They returned to the SUV, Piper watching carefully as Spencer got in. They talked about the case for a while and eventually fell into a comfortable silence at the traffic lights. They’d been dating for a few weeks, but she still couldn’t believe it, especially when he started rubbing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. She smiled and the light turned green and the moment was over. Piper started chewing on her lip as she started driving again. She was lucky to have him.

Spencer knew how nervous Piper got around cars. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t a great driver, but she was a free, interminable spirit, unrestrained by anything but her own will. So, cars weren’t a good fit. A few weeks ago, he’d have been afraid to ask her to go out for coffee, but now, he could ask her to do anything. She was happy to do anything, as long as it involved him. But with his leg in his current state, they were having trouble finding dates. She never minded though, always up for anything. They’d watched her entire French film collection, gone on midnight strolls, even just gone on bookstore dates. They’d compete to find the worst scenes in the romance novels. Each time they make the other laugh, they get a point, the loser having to buy dinner. She’d ended up buying dinner after the carousel scene in The Notebook. He was lucky to have her.

Slowly, Piper pulled up to the precinct, sighing in relief as she parked, and her body leant against the still car before pulling out the keys and clambering out. While Spencer tried getting out slowly, Piper rushed over with his crutches. They made their way inside, updating the team on their findings. “He managed to avoid cutting the sockets or the eyelids. This was precise work. The kind of work only a doctor could do,” Spencer summed up.

“He was crude with the first victim, surgical with the others. The amount of effort he's going through to remove the eyes now, he wouldn't destroy them. He's keeping them,” Piper nodded. “But there’s one good news in all of this, if you can call it that,” Piper scoffed.

“What’s that?” Hotch looked up from his file at Emily’s question.

“At least he isn’t eating them.” Emily snorted quietly and Derek told them all to get some sleep.

Spencer was still looking over the file in Piper’s room as she took off her jacket. “You know, Derek told us to get some sleep,” she said, sliding into bed with her copy of Wuthering Heights.

“I don’t mind getting a dog,” he murmured, “but who’d look after it?” Piper knotted her eyebrows as he compared the two pictures of bodies.

“What kind of dog?”

“I guess so,” Spencer muttered as she rummaged through papers. “But I prefer Richard the Third’s monologue. More…sinister.” Piper sighed, putting the book away. She got up, moving over to him seated at the table. Piper slid her arms around his neck, nuzzling his ear. She huffed at his complete ignorance of her. She brushed her lips against his ear, trailing kisses along his jawline. “Pipes…”

“Bed,” she whispered between kisses. He turned his head up to her, meeting her lips fully. His hand travelled to cup her face as his lips moved against her. Strands of hair tangled between his knuckles as she leaned in deeper. They broke away for air and Piper grinned. “You gonna stop working now?”

“Well, I’m not sure I can focus on missing eyes after that.” Piper beamed before announcing she was going to take a shower so he could change, emphasising the need to sleep. He sighed as he watched her disappear inside the bathroom, trudging over to the bed. A gentle smile played on Piper’s lips as she came back out of the bathroom at the sight of Spencer softly snoring in bed. Piper flicked the lights off as she climbed into bed next to him.

He woke to sunlight streaming from the window, noticing a small weight on his torso. He glanced to the angel snoring softly beside him, an arm gently lain on his chest. Spencer kissed her cheek softly before getting up to pull on his brace. Piper got up slowly a few minutes after, rubbing her eyes at the blinds Spencer pulled apart. Blinking blearily, she trudged over to the bathroom, brushing her teeth while changing at the same time. She left the door open while she walked out, beaming as Spencer managed to limp over without his crutches. “You’re getting better.”

“Yeah, my PT’s gonna love me after this case.”

“How could he not?” Piper kissed him on the cheek, then moved over to pack the files into a box while Spencer went to get ready when Emily burst into her room.

“There’s another murder.”

^-^

The team gathered around the precinct, discussing the latest murder. Tracy Copper died the furthest away from the other crime scenes. She was 32 and an avid jogger, according to her husband. The woman had died from a single knife wound to the neck; a cold and efficient kill. She watched Derek, Emily and Hotch leave for the crime scene and JJ pulled up Garcia on the monitor. “So, Garcia, we have the list of local doctors, but we need to narrow it down.”

“Where shall I splice, my pretties?”

“Give me a list of all doctors who've had infractions like malpractice suits,” Spencer asked from his seat next to Piper.

“Got it. Bouncing your way.”

“Narrow it down to eye specialists,” Piper called out.

“Whoo, that's still a lot of names.”

“We'll chip away when we know more,” he explained.

“Hey, wait. Before you hang up, how's my Morgan doing?”

“Fine,” he shrugged.

“I know the man is fine. How's he holding up as head honcho?”

“Well, he's stressed, but he's on top of it,” JJ answered. “Speaking of which, there is something you could do for him.” Piper grinned ear to ear as JJ detailed her plan for Derek when they got back, but her cell buzzed and she sliced her hand along her throat, showing her Derek’s caller ID.

“Hey Der. What you got?”

“He laid a trap for her. All this, plus the way he bleeds her at the neck. It's the behaviour of a game hunter.”

“Jesus,” Piper sighed, rubbing a hand along her face while Spencer squeezed her shoulder.

“Hunting's a big part of this city's culture,” JJ pointed out.

“Yeah, hunting animals is,” Piper breathed. “What triggered him to start hunting humans?”

“This guy is taking people's eyes, so, he's definitely disturbed. What bugs me is that people like this usually unravel, get sloppy. And this guy's only getting better.”

“Okay. Let us know if there’s anything else.”

“Wait, Morgan!” JJ called out before Piper could end the call. “I'm fielding calls left and right here.”

“What's happening?”

“The case made national news. They're starting to call him the Eye Snatcher.”

“All right, um, you're gonna hold a small, controlled press conference. Answer their questions but try to squash that name. I want the people to be aware, but I do not want to make a bogeyman out of this guy. Anything else?”

“You're not answering Strauss' calls.”

“She's just trying to keep tabs. She can wait.” JJ’s face seemed crushed when Piper hung up the call.

Back in the woods, Aaron watched Derek hang up and return to the crime scene, ready to get back. “Maybe you should take the time to field the call,” Hotch advised softly. Strauss wasn’t an enemy any first-time unit chief should have. Erin had her own battles and tended to take it out on the unit chiefs below her. Yes, Derek was performing admirably, but even the slightest mistake leads to mountains of inspection from the higher-ups. Morgan didn’t know how to deal with that yet. That being said, Derek’s answer was every bit as expected, polished and professional.

“Hotch, we have to set up a tip line. We have to go over JJ’s talking points. We haven't gotten the profile out yet. All of that takes priority over dealing with Strauss.”

“I understand all that.” Hotch kept his voice smooth and placating as they walked through the greenery. “Let us help you set up strategy while you talk to her. We'll regroup with you before we proceed. We have enough battles. Believe me, you don't want to fight her, too.”

“Let me get this profile out, and then I'll go talk to Strauss.” Aaron almost scoffed as Morgan walked off. Bargaining. Derek reminded him of himself when he’d started out with this unit. He couldn’t have asked for a better team with Morgan and Reid. But the team had gotten bigger now. They had Rossi, an expert negotiator, Prentiss, a master in linguistics and terrorism, Jareau, an icon with the media and a sweetheart with the families and Bishop, specialised in trauma and children and Garcia, resident hacker. With that came a responsibility. Their little family of 8 were specialists, easily relocated if the Director wished. He’d carried that responsibility of putting them to good use and he wondered whether he regretted giving it to Morgan. We’ll see, Hotch decided before following.

^-^

Piper was sat cross-legged on a desk while Derek stood where Hotch usually did, delivering the profile, having the others step in when it came down to it. “We’re looking for a white male, 27 to 35. He is driving a van or a pickup truck with a removable cab. Something utilitarian that can get bloody and wash out easily. We believe that our unsub may have known his first victim,” Derek nodded to Piper. “Yet the rest were random.”

“Most enucleators have a mental disorder and are frenzied and sloppy when they attack,” Piper explained. “This one has more control since he lays in wait to kill his victims, he knows how to cut them so that they bleed out. This indicates he might have a hunting background.”

“That makes us believe he may also have applied for hunting licenses,” Hotch continued. “He has some sort of medical or surgical training but fell short of making a career out of it.”

“He is killing in different areas of the city in public places,” Spencer continued, limping over to the large map. “His large kill zone could be related to some type of travel pattern in his life, which indicates a comfort with these neighbourhoods.”

“The escalation might be caused by a self-imposed timeline,” Rossi added. “He has to murder so many people, take these many eyes, to accomplish a task. He's acting on a delusion that's fuelling this murder spree.”

“A man named Herbert Mullin had a fear of a catastrophic earthquake hitting California,” Emily recounted. “Now, he believed that by killing people and offering their blood as a sacrifice to the earth, he could prevent an earthquake. He was a paranoid schizophrenic, and his delusion led him to kill 13 people.”

“He may have been in a halfway house or have been granted leave from a treatment facility,” Piper continued. “Maybe his family moved him away and now he's back.”

“Our unsub kills at night, employs hunting tactics, and is patient,” Derek concluded. “He will wait until he can be alone with his victims.” While the detective dismissed the officers on duty to their roles, Derek moved to his office to answer Strauss’s call.

Piper waited in the cold night air for JJ to finish up her conference when she saw Spencer slowly walk over to her. “Emily’s grabbing her stuff, told me to wait outside.” Piper narrowed her eyes at the multitude of officers flooding out of the precinct.

“That’s probably why.” Piper chuckled. Spencer noticed the cheerful glint in her eyes. “How’s your leg?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore. I just want to walk properly again.” Piper smiled sadly at him.

“I’m sorry.” Piper leaned carefully on her bike, looking mournfully at his crutches.

“For what?” He looked at her weary eyes.

“For not figuring it out sooner,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair. “You know, I keep reliving it and uh… I keep kicking myself for being that dumb.” Her voice was soft, out of earshot from anyone except Spencer.

“Pipes, you have nothing to be sorry about. I’m gonna be back to normal in no time, you’ll see.”  Piper managed a small smile, breathing in deeply as JJ approached.

“Hey, you ready to go?” Piper nodded, hooking her leg around her bike before strapping on her helmet. JJ jumped on, giving Spencer a small wave before they speeded off.

The next morning, Piper yawned as she accepted the coffee Emily held out. “‘Nother victim?” Piper blinked sleepily.

“What time did you wake up?”

“Like 20 minutes ago.” Piper yawned again before sipping her brown brain juice. “So, he killed two this time?”

“Yeah, Morgan and I are gonna go check it out.”

“We're looking for a doctor who is also a hunter and a former mental patient who happens to be cutting people's eyes out. How the hell are we gonna find him?” Piper voiced irritably as Rossi strolled up next to her.

“Trust the profile. It’ll make sense.” Piper nodded, then moved over to a seat to peruse the files. By the time the others had come back, Derek had made a major break with the case. Wes's left eye was damaged during a struggle, so it was left behind while both of Sandy's eyes were taken, prompting Derek to suggest they weren’t dealing with a doctor at all; it was a taxidermist. Spencer nodded thoughtfully, explaining that a taxidermist has all the skills and supplies needed to preserve eyes and other body parts. That was when JJ marched in and placed her phone on the middle of the desk, putting Garcia on speaker. She explained that O’Heron had written a $250 check to Lloyd’s Wild Game Shop, the establishment whose owner had died of emphysema 4 weeks ago, leaving behind a 28-year-old son, Earl Bulford, with a petty crime record and 3 counts of animal cruelty. There wasn’t any record of mental illness, she emphasised, but his mom suffered from retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease which eventually leads to blindness and died in a car crash when Bulford was 8.

Derek directed the team to move into position, with Piper and Emily taking the bike, Hotch and Rossi in one SUV and Derek and the detective in another. The three pairs converged on the same path and Piper took the front entrance with Derek and Emily. She winced from second-hand pain as Emily shoved an elbow in after Derek noticed a small pool of blood through the main window. Hotch and Rossi moved in from the back and slowly both units merged into the middle of the shop, clearing the establishment. Hotch found Bulford’s customer accounts and the detective pointed out how each customer lived in the same area as each victim they found. They divided again based on the last two victims, with Derek, Piper and Emily taking one address near Bleaker St while Hotch, Rossi and the detective took the other.  

Emily just gave Piper a disappointed look as she stepped down from the porch. Meanwhile, Hotch had found success, sort of, as the woman confusedly assented to having seen the unsub, but she wasn’t to know that. They split, calling all units to their area. The detective confirmed soon enough that they found the vehicle but not him. Hotch and Rossi decided to take the block by foot while the detective circled around in in his car. While Rossi took the east side of the block, Hotch took the west and heard screams. He yelled for Rossi, but his colleague was too far away to hear. Cursing himself, he sprinted towards the scream, shooting at the sight of Bulford leaning over the girl, a metal contraption pulling her eyelids apart. Spooked, the man sprinted down the alley and Hotch leaped over the young woman to run after Earl, pulling him down from where he was about to climb up the wall. Hotch swiftly pinned the murderer to the floor before handcuffing him. Secured, Hotch moved over to Jaime, slowly and carefully pulling out the metal contraption safely. Relieved significantly, Hotch walked out of the alley to see a beaming Piper on her bike, helmet in hand. “I see you got him.” Aaron smiled back despite himself. “I don’t remember the last time you cuffed a guy.” Her smile dropped as Derek and Emily approached.

“Detective said you ran after him solo,” Derek said, no visible trace of pride, humour or joy on his face. Not even a smirk. Emily shrugged imperceptibly to Piper.

“He wasn't far behind me,” Hotch justified.

“You know you should have waited for backup.”

“Would you have?” Aaron maintained eye contact until Derek walked away and the ladies smirked. “What?” Hotch looked between them.

“Nothing,” they cried in unison at their former boss, laughing once he was out of earshot at the irony of it all. Piper motioned for Emily to sit on the bike behind her before speeding down the sparse road to the precinct. They peeled out of their vests and headed back to the hotel to pack their things before Derek appeared, holding Bulford in tow. He dumped him next to an officer and moved over to JJ, asking if they could leave in about an hour.

Back at Quantico, the rest of the team hadn’t bothered going back into the building, opting to go straight home, except for Derek and Aaron. As Morgan finished the last of his paperwork before his second case tomorrow, Penelope strolled over to him. “You are here late,” she announced, a question embedded in the prompt.

“Reports. Hotch always stayed later than the rest of us, and now I understand why.” He glanced at the senior agent still in his cabin, working on who knows what.

“He doesn't have to write them anymore. Why is he still here?”

“I don't know. But I do know I need to get some rest. I got another case starting tomorrow.” Derek stood from his desk, packing his reports away into his briefcase.

“Um, I--before you go, can you help me get something out of storage?”

“Yes, baby girl.” His voice was sweet and smooth like caramel. “Anything for you.”

“Thank you.” Penelope beamed before taking him down the railed hallway past Rossi and Hotch’s cabins. She opened the door, letting him in before switching the lights on. “Voila!” Derek looked around at the vacated office.

“What are we doing in Hall’s office?”

“Um, it's kind of not Hall's office anymore,” Penelope grinned. “It's your office.”

“What?” Derek looked at his best friend incredulously, a smile playing on his lips.

“JJ made some calls. Agent Hall's retiring in a month, but he's finishing his caseload at home. So, while you all were away, Mama set to work clearing out the rest of his boxes and setting up an uber office fit for our acting unit chief.” She swayed slightly on the spot, waiting for his reaction. His grin mirrored her own.

“Garcia, this is for real?”

“It's kind of blah for my taste, but I figured you needed to keep up with agency standards. But…” She trailed off, moving over to the desk to open a secret drawer at the bottom. “I did make you your very own secret fun zone.” She playfully placed a light up robot-dog on the desk, beaming giddily at Derek before passing him a framed photograph of the entire team for him. He remembered the moment captured on film. It was his 30th birthday from a few months ago. He smiled as he gazed at his little family, Garcia planting a kiss on his cheek while he cut the cake while Spencer cheered. He rubbed his shoulder, remembering the dull pain of 25 punches and Piper’s sour expression when she was too tired to do the last 5. He smiled, remembering how Rossi had treated them all to drinks afterwards and how JJ kept pulling out Cheetos from absolutely nowhere. He pulled Garcia close, kissing the top of her head.

“Woman, you have lost your mind. But you are the best.”

“I completely agree. I will leave you alone to mark your territory.”

“Hey.” He stopped her before she walked out. “Thank you.” As she left, Derek sunk into his plush chair, relaxing and he gazed at his desk before pulling out his cell. He dialled a familiar number. “Listen, uh... Does that offer for a drink still stand?”

#criminal minds #criminal minds x oc #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds angst #agent derek morgan #agent prentiss #agent jareau #agent hotchner #agent morgan #agent garcia #agent rossi #dr reid #dr spencer reid #dr piper bishop #dr bishop #bau #bau x oc #baby girl #aaron hotch hotchner #aaron hotchner #derek morgan #derek morgan fluff #derek morgan angst #morgan #emily prentiss #emily #prentiss #jennifer jareau #fluff #spencer reid fluff

[xxwritemeastoryxx]

Death Wish Part 4

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Klaus Mikaelson x Reader

Word Count: 2K

Warnings: canon typical stuff. 

Author’s Note: So this part completely went a different direction than I had planned. I went with it and I’m glad I did. It actually sets things up perfectly for the ending of this particular series. So it wasn’t a bad thing to go in this direction. I do hope that you guys enjoy it though. 

Feedback gives me life and motivation for future things. ♥

There was a time where Y/N had believed that death was the end of things. That once she died, darkness would welcome her without the fear of what possibility came after. She could only hope for peace. That there would no longer be pain. No more suffering to endure at the hands of those that sought out to harm her. Yet it was with death that she had inherited all that she believed would end.

Her body laid motionless on the floor of what looked like the basement of the house she was being held in. She had been passed out when she was brought down there. And from what she could tell, it had been several hours since she had been thrown in there. Several hours since she had been drained of a majority of her blood. What little remained felt like sandpaper with each beat of her heart. Desiccation now evident with every passing second. It was in that moment that Y/N believed death would feel a whole lot better than this.

The werewolf side of her longed to heal without the need of blood to survive. It longed to have every broken bone and open wound healed without so much as a scar to remind her of it. With as weak as she felt in that moment, her body could easily pick up on the influence of the full moon. For this one night, she would take the pain of forcefully breaking her bones to run under the moon light than what she felt at that moment.

The vampire side of her could only think of the need to feed. That the feeling of being dried out wasn't acceptable and survival was what mattered more. While normally her mouth would have watered at the thought of drinking blood, there was nothing but dryness. Nothing that could even come close to quenching the thirst she felt in that moment. She couldn't even imagine that others had done this for centuries.

Whatever game Christine was playing, Y/N no longer cared about it. No longer cared that she was just a pawn in something that started centuries before she was even born. All she wanted in that moment was to give in to every internal instinct that wanted to rip through the surface. That would willingly accept the first jugular that came within arms reach. And by the sound of the pacing heart above her on the main floor, Y/N knew it wouldn't be long. _____

"If the spell has a radius, shouldn't we be looking towards the center?" Melissa asked as she paced.

The pending rise of the full moon already had her on edge. The fact that her sister was still missing was adding to that. It was making her want to snap on anyone close by, but she knew better. These people were trying to help. Her feeling the influence of the moon wasn't going to help any.

It was well into the next day and Melisa hated that her sister was still missing. A majority of the vampires and wolves were out looking for her. But as the hours went on, and the closer to the full moon it got, a lot of people that were helping were on edge.

"I've got my guys at the center." Marcel said trying to calm Melissa down, even in the slightest. "They'll be searching far and wide for her. We'll get to her."

"She's not going to break her promise to you." Rebekah promised as she looked at Melissa hopeful. There had to be something. Anything that would help get them to where they needed to be in order to find Y/N.

"Can't we try that spell again?" Melissa asked as she looked towards Freya.

Freya shook her head slightly. "We've tried a few times already, Mel."

They had tried several times since they had made contact with Y/N last night. But there had been nothing from her end. No matter what Freya added to the spell or even any other spells, there was no contact. It was as if Y/N had been blocked from all contact, or, and they all hated to think it, Y/N was no longer with them.

"There has to be something!" Her clenched fists hit the table they had set up in the woods.

Almost everyone there had taken a step back from Melissa. It wasn't that they were afraid of the anger that coursed through her, it was that she needed to let it out as best as she could without hurting the others.

"We'll get her." Rebekah said with a nod. "Even if I have to go to Christine myself, we'll get her back."

While they had been stationed just outside the radius, Klaus had been out all night looking for Y/N before making his way back to the compound. He was avoiding every talk that had to do with Christine. He wasn't ready for that conversation nor did he want to tell his siblings what she really wanted in trade for Y/N. 

He was ready to tear down every house in the city to find her. But he knew that the only way to find Y/N would be to play by the very rules he had created all those centuries ago. He just hoped that when it came down to it all, that his siblings would understand the things that he had to do. When the time came, they'd face them together. 

Deep within the compound, a place that Klaus himself had created when the building had first been made, was a secret compartment. Within that compartment, Klaus kept several things hidden there before they left New Orleans the first time. Even when they returned, Klaus still used that spot to store a few more items here and there. 

One of the things that had been stored in the compartment was the very thing that Christine had asked for. Why Klaus had ever kept the damn thing, he'd never know. Sitting in the compartment, covered in dust, was a dark object. The very one that Christine's father had created himself. 

The object had been created to stop the Mikaelsons. While the object looked like nothing special, it still held dark magic. Enough of it to put Klaus on edge to kill her family as he had. Christine's father had almost succeeded in using it on Elijah all those years ago. Christine intended on finishing what he started. 

While under any other circumstances, he never would hand over such an object, even if there was someone being held hostage. But this time it was different. This time it was his wife that was being held hostage. There was no way he was going to leave Y/N's life in Christine's hands. 

For the first time in quite a long time, his hands shook as he picked up the object in his hands. Surely if this had been anyone else, they'd do the same thing he'd be doing. Or at least something similar. Placing it into his jacket pocket, he made sure that it wouldn't be long until he had Y/N free. 

_____

A small smirk pulled at Y/N's lips as she heard the heavy door to the basement open up. While the action itself had felt hard to do, it didn't stop her from doing so. She knew that it was only a matter of time until this very moment. Stupid human. She thought to herself as she picked up on the hesitant steps that made their way towards her. 

"You shouldn't be here." Y/N's words were rough. Her throat scratched with every word that it tried to form. 

"Neither should you." The woman said as she took in Y/N's form. 

A very weak chuckle passed Y/N's lips as she slowly turned her head towards the woman. Her neck had felt stiff in the movement. It hurt to accomplish the simple task. "When did you figure that out?"

"Before he brought you down here. I would have stopped it, but I'm only a human. I wouldn't stand a chance against him." She noted as she took a few more steps towards Y/N.

Do it. The internal voice had told Y/N. But even as it did, she tried fighting it off for a little longer. 

"Where is he?" Y/N asked as she took in how close the woman was. She just needed a few more steps. 

"Gone. Something about meeting her down in the Quarter." The woman said as she crouched down.

"Help me o-"It was definitely becoming more of a struggle to speak. "out." She said a moment later.

"And do what?" The woman asked. "You won't make it very far."

"Trust me." Y/N said. "I have a plan."

The woman nodded and moved to help Y/N. As she did, Y/N could only hear the beating of her heart and instinct took over. The woman hardly knew what happened. One moment she was reaching to help Y/N up and the next she had a vampire biting into her neck. 

Y/N didn't stop until there was nothing left to offer. While any other time she would have hated what she had done, it was in that moment that she no longer cared. 

Her body happily accepted the blood she drank. It allowed her body to heal in the way it needed to. Every broken bone had been healed in place. Every part of her that had been cut open closed quickly as if nothing had ever happened. 

She dropped the body as she stood up from her spot. "I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not." She said as said to the dead body with a shrug. Without looking back, she made her way out of the basement.

_____

The door quickly opened as Klaus stepped into the building. Unlike he had done yesterday, he hadn't knocked down the door. Even though he wanted to, he wasn't going to risk pissing off Christine more. Not when it came to Y/N.

"Ah, that was fast." Christine said as she turned to look at Klaus. "I'm assuming you have it?"

"I need to know that Y/N is still alive before I even think about handing it over." Klaus said as he came to a stop a few feet away from her. 

Christine rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine." She said before pulling her phone out and dialing a number. Klaus could hear as the phone ring from where he was. After it rang a few more times, someone had answered. "Its about time. Where is the girl?"

"You mean the human?" Y/N's voice came over the phone. That had caused both Christine's and Klaus's eyes to widen. "She's currently laying down on the job in the basement. Would you like for me to take a message?"

"Where are you?" Christine asked. Klaus took a step closer to her, wanting to know the information as well.

"Just broke my way out of the house barrier you had put up. Word of advice, if you plan on keeping someone locked away with a magic barrier, don't leave the person with the blood you used in the house." Without another word, Y/N hung up the phone. 

For a moment after the call ended that Klaus had been proud of his wife for getting herself out of the situation. It meant that things were in the clear and he wouldn't have to betray his siblings. He would be taking pleasure in ripping out Christine's heart with in the next few seconds. At least that was until Christine started laughing. 

"Well we know she is alive for now." She said keeping her attention on Klaus. "But it would be a shame for her to walk past the back up barrier spell I put into place." Christine shrugged her shoulders.

"What did you do?" Klaus asked. The anger that had been subsided knowing that Y/N was okay was now back. 

"Did you really think it would be that easy to get her out?" Christine asked as she crossed her arms. "Please, I know how easy it is for a human to want to play hero. Or the fact that you have half of New Orleans looking for her. I knew Y/N was going to get out. But that barrier spell," The corner of her lips pulled into a smirk. "that's my insurance policy to make sure you hand over what is mine."

Death Wish Tags: @esclisa @thoughtsofthestars @astudyoftimeywimeystuff @andrea25434 @intoomuchfandoms @curlyhairedblueeyedangel @vampiregirl1797 @xlosttdreamss @fandom-imaginestar @alina-barnes @killerheelsanddullkinives @une-lueur-dans-la-nuit @lovelyy24 @believeinyourdreamsxo @coldbookworm @kidcouve 

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Hybrid Tag: @xxsoveriegnsarayaxx

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#The Originals #The Vampire Diaries #Death Wish #Series #klaus mikaelson x reader #Klaus Mikaelson #Rebekah Mikaelson #Marcel Gerard #Original characters #OCs #fanfiction #reader inserts