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lahooozaherr · 9 months

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I Will Always Find You

Chapter 5

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: Angssssssst, conflicted feelings, grief, yearning, kidnapping mention, Protective!Din, a sad but tender goodbye

MY WORKS ARE 18+ AND NOT FOR MINORS. AGELESS/BLANK ACCOUNTS WILL BE BLOCKED.

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Chapter Summary: The last day of the event is here, both you and Din have dreaded this. It’s hard to ignore your hearts. But ultimately, the time to say goodbye comes. But soon after arriving back to Nevarro, Greef Karga is met with a frantic message.

A/N: tbh I don’t know how I got this finished up, I’ve been Going Through It ™ recently. I feel like I really put some more than usual heart and soul into this one. I’ve been wanting to finish this so I can move on to the meaty parts we’re all waiting for. It’s not a large chapter but I promise things are starting to get on the ball here. The comments and reblogs have been so encouraging and I really appreciate it. 💗 My mind is half in/half out so please let me know if there’s a warning I’ve missed. Also, I’m having to fix the timeline I set in the first chapter to make this work so please ignore that, you didn’t see that 🫶🏻

Song Inspo: Run Boy Run by Woodkid

Inspo Playlist

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

Read it on AO3

The inevitable day you had been dreading was here, much to your dismay. Just when things had started to go somewhere with Mando. Everything just felt so much more complicated now. A numbness threatens to overshadow your emotions.

It’s a morning like any other from this past week. The door slides away from your suite and you see him in his usual waiting spot, you feel your stomach somersault. How badly you will miss these kinds of moments, as small as it may seem.

He turns to you as soon as he notices you approaching him. You peer back into his visor, looking for eyes you’ve never seen and never will.

“Why the frown?” He asks. You were so in your head you didn’t even notice the deep set grimace you’d displayed. You feel caught in the act and shake your head, mustering a smile. “Nothing. My head is just elsewhere.”

A long pause looms between the two of you. You notice his shoulders tighten. He offers up his elbow, you reflexively place your hand hind in the space. You feel his bicep give an intentional squeeze, of what feels like an attempt to comfort you. A warm, soft feeling washes over you, feeling grounded by his reassuring gesture.

The Mandalorian is actually very expressive, just in more subtle ways most people probably wouldn’t notice. But you’ve paid much attention to him, because the more time you spend with him, the better you can read him. But he’s also exhibited a certain level of trust, that of which is hard to think about for too long. You might not know the meaning of each small expression but you can tell he’s hesitant. For what? You’re not entirely sure.

You feel like it’s too self indulgent to think that maybe he’ll say something. Tell you his feelings, ask for yours, something. But he doesn’t. You silently agree that it might be for the best.

He places his other broad hand on top of yours, securing it. It’s not much. But for today, and probably the rest of your life, it’ll have to be enough.

The two of you make your way to the atrium in silence.

—————————————————————————

Din is tired, from a night of constant tossing and turning. He went farther than he meant to last night and played the memories on repeat.

His heart tightens in his chest when he thinks of how beautiful you are to him, how you looked at him last night. Lips parted, reflections of the fireworks danced in your eyes. He had thought to himself, you look like starlight.

He relished the feeling of your face against his bare palm. That was a huge step he never thought he’d see himself take, especially with someone he’d just recently met. But this week has proven that the amount of time you’ve known each other hasn’t mattered to either of you.

He feels as if he’s always known you, or meant to find you. He wasn’t sure if he believed in things like that, but he admittedly has witnessed stranger things during his time with Grogu, looking for the Jedi. The allies he’s made along the way, their stories and how they’ve imprinted on his life. The friend’s he’s made, the friend’s he’s lost. Loss after loss.

He’s become soft, over time. It started with Grogu, and it’s different now, in many regards. Maybe more so since you came into his life. But that softness gave you just enough room to nest into his chest, right next to his heart. Genuinely connecting with him and making him feel understood. He has never felt such a way for someone or understood this feeling up until now.

The universe, the galaxies, Maker, whatever-be damned. Why are they so cruel to put you in his life at such a vulnerable time and then rip you away all the same.

He feels guilty for it but he’s wondered what you would say or do if he told you his feelings. What then? What if he said “leave with me”? Would you run away with him? Do you feel the same?

There has to be some kind of affection there that you feel for him. He felt it (and heard it) in your heartbeat. The look in your eyes or the lilt in your voice when you speak to him, reserved for only him.

But is he really willing to put you in such a difficult position? To give you such a decision?

He resolved that he’ll follow your lead. And whatever happens, he will respect it. He will still love you, even if from afar.

Right person, wrong time.

—————————————————————————

“Thank you to everyone who participated this week. We hope you’ve gained much wisdom. We’re honored you trusted us with your future leaders' education. We aspire to make you feel equipped to serve your worlds!” A man announces from the stage of the atrium, concluding the event.

Everyone in the audience applauds him, including you. You clap slowly though, donning an indifferent expression. You feel a hand gently grip your shoulder, it’s your father. He smiles and you do your best to mirror the expression back at him. You turn to your other side to see the Mandalorian, leaning against his usual spot on the wall at the back of the atrium.

You can’t help the gloom that spreads across your features when you see him. Your time is almost over, the week is coming to an end. After today, you will no longer see him.

He stands tall and gleaming in the sun that sneaks through the windows of the building, remaining as still as ever. Seemingly focused on you. You’re sure, you’ve BEEN sure, that you can feel his eyes. You’re going to miss that familiar gaze, a secret language the two of you now share.

You had debated asking your father to hire him for longer. Maybe he could escort you back to your planet, stay for a while, something. But you know that’s just your inability to let him go and that’s not fitting of a future senator. You need to be able to move on.

You accompany the other attendees filing out of the room, rejoining him. You take his elbow and feel him squeeze your hand within the crook of his elbow. You look up at him with a questioning look, and see his visor trained not on you, but beyond you.

“What is it?” You ask, turning your head to try and see what he’s looking at. When you do, in the distance, you see Jak staring back at you through the crowd, sneering. But almost as soon as he notices you, he abruptly looks away. Pathetic.

Rolling your eyes and making a tch sound with your tongue, “don’t pay him any mind, Mando.”

You can tell he listens by the way he loosens the flex on his arm and releases a low growl. Wait a second, did he really just growl? Not only that, but why did it make you dizzy?

You wrap your hand around his forearm and softly tap his pauldron with the side of your head, chucking softly, “down, boy.” You try to laugh it off, he responds with an amused huff.

Your heart thumps in your chest, he’s still so protective, even till now. Tears threaten to start pricking at the edges of your vision and you rub the back of your hand across them before he or anyone near can notice.

—————————————————————————

“My dear friend, I’m so happy to have spent this week alongside you. I look forward to seeing what you do with Nevarro,” your father gushes to Greef Karga, holding and shaking both of his hands. Both men beam at each other, smiling.

“I’ve learned a lot here because of you,” Karga responds with a hearty chuckle. “I’m honored and privileged.”

“And if you need ANYTHING, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.”

“Likewise, my friend.”

Both of them embrace, patting each other on the back before they separate.

Mando and you arrive just as they’re finishing their goodbyes in the courtyard. Your father approaches Mando as you slip your hand away to give your own goodbye to Greef.

“I’m forever grateful for you and your service this week. Thank you for helping ease this father’s mind,” your father takes one of Mando’s hands into both of his own and he allows him out of respect. “Especially after the event with Brenna. Rest assured, his father got an earful from me.”

“You’re welcome, sir. That’s good to know,” Mando replies.

Off to the side, Karga hugs you tightly, letting go and holding either side of your arms.

“I hope the Mandalorian was good to you this week. He can be rough around the edges but he’s a good man,” he almost whispers, which doesn’t do much when Mando’s helmet can pick up on low sounds anyways.

“He was more than good, I promise,” you disclose. Of course, conveniently leaving out your budding infatuation with each other.

“I’m glad to hear,” you can almost swear he gives you a knowing look, but it’s hard to say. He pats the sides of your arms with his hands before stepping back to bow, “till we meet again, princess.”

You return the gesture with a bow and smile. Karga grins and walks away, patting Mando’s pauldron on the way out saying, “I’ll get the ship ready, meet me whenever you’re ready. No rush.”

Your father finishes his goodbye with Mando. He makes his way back inside the suite, reaching out to stroke your cheek on the way in, “whenever you’re ready, my dear.”

Now it’s just you and the Mandalorian, the time is here. Both of you shift to face each other. It’s taking everything in you to not let any tears escape, at least not in front of him. You open your mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. You really don’t know what to say. You dreaded the moment so much you realize you didn’t put much thought into what you’d do.

The silence is almost palpable, tense and interrupted when you finally conjure the words to say, “thank you, for everything.”

He’s quiet, but nods. Maybe he’s struggling on what to say as well. You know each other enough to grant grace for this.

“I have something for you,” you offer. Like a curious Loth cat, he tilts his helm to the side. He watches you reach into your pocket, retrieving a small square of red cloth.

“I made this handkerchief ages ago. It’s not much, I just picked my favorite flowers from my planet and embroidered them onto it,” you begin to ramble, downplaying the sentimentality while you stretch the fabric across your hand to show him. “I just….wanted to give you something to remember me by. It’s not much, it’s silly, I kno-“

“It’s not at all,” he quickly interjects.

He begins to raise his hands, and then pauses, “are….are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t be offering in the first place if I wasn’t, Mando,” you assert, cheeks heated. He accepts this, taking the handkerchief into both of his gloved hands. He turns it upwards to seemingly admire the embroidery.

He starts to speak again, but you think you hear his breath hitch through the voice modulator of his helmet. He then carefully folds and inserts the cloth into a pocket on his side.

You didn’t expect much of a reaction, it was really already enough. But then he surprises you, reaching for your hands and holding them in his, between the two of you. You gasp softly in response, your eyes raise to meet with his visor.

“I have ... .something for you too, sort of,” he says in that low, husky voice that you swear you’d never tire of hearing. It sends goose bumps all over your body as your mind already races through possibilities of what he’s going to say. You wonder what he means by “sort of”.

“I want to give you my name,” his thumbs brush over your knuckles, it feels affectionate. As affectionate as the armor (and situation) allows. It’s not what you’d thought, but not disappointing at all. You feel as if your heart will burst out of your chest.

You immediately recognize how important, how special this really is. He’s going to trust you with his name, something that is almost unbelievably sensitive information. At least, to a Mandalorian.

“Please,” your eyes start to well up and it becomes harder and harder to tamp it back down. “I would be honored, please tell me.”

His grip tightens on your hands and he breathes, “it’s Din. Djarin.”

“Din….” You echo back to him, testing the name out loud. What a beautiful name. So simple, but so meaningful. It’s so him.

You smile as graciously as you can while fighting the few tears that have already escaped, “thank you so much, Din. I will hold your name close to my heart.”

He gestures with a quick nod, “This is the way.”

You give his hands a light squeeze in response before releasing them and stepping back. It’s already too much, you need to get out of here before the sadness itself chokes you, causes you to do something irrational.

You painstakingly compose yourself, resorting to holding your own hands crossed in front of you to tether yourself to reality. His eyes are on you, always on you.

“Goodbye, Din Djarin.”

A short pause as Din straightens his back, arms at his sides until he raises one to place a closed fist over where his heart would be on his chest. He bows his head.

“Goodbye, Princess.”

After that is pretty much a blur, as you spin around to seek the temporary refuge of your suite.

As soon as the door seals shut, you collapse, sliding down the door as a sob escapes your throat. You bury your head into your folded knees, muffling the sounds of your cries.

It’s done. It’s how it should be.

—————————————————————————

Din lightly rests the forehead of his helmet against the sealed door. The same one he’s watched you disappear into every day, and then today for the last time.

His own forehead touches the inside of his helmet and he feels wet on his cheeks. He doesn’t remember the tears starting. But he doesn’t have to worry about anyone seeing that, obviously.

It’s easy to express his facial expressions in his mask. Without it, he feels naked. Vulnerable. Because truly, he’s expressive. He remembers looking into his reflection in the mirror, seeing his tears after violating his own creed.

He felt confused. Lost. He almost felt guilty that he didn’t regret it. Not really.

His chest feels tight, his heart in an unending cycle of grief. He wonders if he should have said more, or done more. But what could he have done? Wouldn’t it have made it harder on both of you?

For a split second, he raises his fist to knock against the door, but decides against it. Instead, quietly resting it against the door. His fist grips tighter, trying to contain his emotions.

He turns on his heel and stalks back to Karga’s ship.

—————————————————————————

Din enters the cockpit and sits in his seat near Karga, silent and fluid like the killer he is. Karga jumps when he finally notices him in his seat, “oh! There you are.”

Din doesn’t respond, just proceeds to finish departing protocols into the dash of the ship. He grips the steering handles so tight that Karga can hear the leather of his gloves creak.

Karga looks around, then back to Din, sensing the change in the energy of the air but confused.

“Everything alright, Mando?”

“Yes.”

Karga notes the curt tone, still curious but rightfully decides to back off. Whatever happened was apparently not his business or need-to-know. He knows better than to pry with Mando. Sometimes.

Din steers the ship out of Naboo’s atmosphere, getting far enough to enter light speed and activate autopilot. As soon as he sets the switch, he leaves his seat and storms out of the cockpit.

Karga watches him leave. He seems concerned, but feels powerless to say or do anything.

—————————————————————————

A Few Days Later

Karga’s ship makes a landing on Nevarro a few days after departing Naboo. If it were up to Din, he would go straight to the Razorcrest and leave right away. However, not possible yet, as Karga pressures him to return to his office with him, promising him his earned credits. He will also pick a bounty puck. Probably several. He needs to distract himself.

No matter, just go in and out. Leave as soon as possible.

For the last few days on Karga’s ship, he secluded himself to the bunk he occupied. Karga was visibly concerned and could sense the tension, but Din was in no mood to share the way his heart hurts. The insurmountable grief that has taken over him.

“Magistrate Karga!! MAGISTRATE!!”

Upon landing, a frantic protocol droid clamors towards Karga as soon as the ramp settles. Karga holds his hands out in an “easy, easy” gesture, “Sloooow down, slow down. Also, that’s High Magistrate Greef Karga.”

“My apologies sir but there’s an urgent matter!”

Karga and Din look at each other then back at the trembling droid, “what is it then? Spit it out!”

“During your departure from Naboo, we received a holo message for you and the Mandalorian. Please follow me!”

—————————————————————————

“My friend, I hope this doesn’t reach you too late. I’m so sorry for the way I’ve had to do this, I’m under great stress. But I need your help, I need the Mandalorian’s help. It’s my daughter.”

Din, Karga and the droid surround a table, watching the hologram of your father projected in the middle. He looks as distraught as he sounds.

“W-We were making a fuel and supply stop on the way home. She’s been taken, Karga, TAKEN. I am such a FOOL.”

Din suddenly stands to attention, ready to jump into action, but stilling to listen to the entire message.

“I’ve been advised by my council to go into hiding at this time. I tried fighting them on it, that I need to find her, but they’re right. We need the Mandalorian-SHE needs the Mandalorian.”

Karga’s eyes drift to Din, whose shoulders visibly shake.

The message continues, “She asked to go into town for some errands. The planet has always seemed a safe enough place and I allowed it, as long as I went with her. But we were separated and I couldn’t find her! I think our enemy has finally made it to her by somehow finding out where our planned route home was. It’s the only reason I can imagine.

I don’t know where she is. We tried while we were on the planet, but time was becoming scarce. We are certainly being hunted now.”

You damned fool, Din mentally says to himself. Whether it is towards your father or himself, he’s not sure.

“Please, Mandalorian, PLEASE! Find my daughter! I will pay, I will do anything. And when you find her, please take her to the coordinates I’m providing. They’re family friends of ours, they will be a safe space for the two of you.”

The hologram ends and the picture cuts out. A moment of eerie silence looms. Save for the sound of creaking leather from Din’s gloves. But the aura coming off of him can be sensed by Karga. The feelings of anger emanating off of him in waves.

Before Din can agree, Karga turns to his droid, “make sure the Mandalorian’s ship is fueled, supplied and ready to go, NOW!”

—————————————————————————

Karga speed walks after Din, who is easily faster than him. They arrive at the Razorcrest, worker droids bumble around the shop hurriedly finishing up their service. Din already has the ramp lowered.

“Mando, wait, hold on!”

Din raises his shoulders, obviously upset and tense, he stops in his tracks, turns to Karga, “there is no time, what!?”

“I’m just trying to tell you that the coordinates of where they were and where to take her are already uploaded for you.”

Din’s shoulders slowly lower, “thank you.”

“Please. Be safe. Call on me if you need anything. ANYTHING.”

Din quickly nods and turns, disappearing into the Razorcrest as the ramp shuts.

—————————————————————————

It takes no time for Din to lift and steer the Razorcrest on course, hitting light speed as soon as possible.

His mind races. It hasn’t been too long though, he still has your heat signature. They are very likely keeping you alive, for a reason. He needs to start where you were taken. He realizes it’s already been several days since then, he needs to hurry.

As soon as he switches to autopilot, he slumps in the pilot seat. He knows he needs to regain his composure, he can’t make mistakes. He can’t let his emotions get the best of him. He needs to rest while he can, because the minute he steps off of this ship, it’s straight into trained hunter mode.

I’M the fool. I should have never left her.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small bundle. The handkerchief you gifted him. He’s kept it close to him this whole time. He unfolds it, revealing the silver ball. One of his ship’s lever knobs, the one that Grogu loved.

Art from second circle in header is by Eli Draws on Pinterest

Dividers by @/saradika

@dindjarinsmut @impala1967666 @kittenlittle24 @angel-with-a-heart @leithatnight @i-usually-main-bards-tho @dins-riduur-anthe @lalalalemonade11 @n7cje @fatima-marisa

P.S. will y’all let me know if your tag’s not working, if I don’t get to you first? Sorry idk why Tumblr is the way it is :’)

#din djarin x reader #mandalorian x reader #din djarin x female reader #mandalorian x female reader #din djarin x you #bodyguard!din x princess!reader #din djarin x fem!reader #mandalorian x fem!reader

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streets-in-paradise · 8 months

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Waiting - Andy Barclay x Reader

Requested by Anon

" hey can you make a story about Andy Barclay getting jealous at someone because they’re flirting there S/O. Btw it can be fluff or whatever I am having you have that choice thank I love your content ❤️❤️❤️❤️"

Sure, anon! And thank you for your kindness <3

Warnings: No proofreading, Insecure Andy being reassured by his s/o in fluffy and flirty ways.

Summary: A hopeless time of watching him unsuccessfully date other persons in front of you preceded the beggining of your relationship with Andy and now you can't believe he is the one feeling jealous.

Tags: @losersclubisms

Too long you had watched in the shadow of his failures, waiting untill he would stop ignoring the fullness of the woods for a single tree. As a server in the restaurant were most of his disastrous dates took place you had a privileged spot to observe the regular downfalls, convinced that you have never meet anyone with such terrible luck for romance. What started as an empathy driven approach just trying to help him out quickly turned into something else and you found yourself trully Interested on him.

Andy was a sweet guy who just have been lonely for too long. Everytime one of his dates would leave him heartbroken you were there to pick up the pieces hoping he would catch your signs. Getting to a point where you could start dating required a lot of patience from you, virtue that you lost after the redhead fiasco leading to directly asking him out by yourself.

It took him a while to understand you actually wanted to be with him, since at first he was convinced you did it out of pity. His way of loving made you feel as if your relationship was the best thing happening in his life and he was constantly afraid of loosing you.

He was not the kind of man who would start a fight over jealousy, but you could tell whenever he would be swallowing those feelings pretending to be just fine.

The first time it happened you realized he was so not ready to deal with other people flirting with you. A silly confussion with a stranger at a bar ruined the whole moment for him. The actual episode wasn't even a big deal, since you politely declined and sneaked your hands on top of the back pocket of the pants of your silently angry boyfriend to send a passive agressive message making the stranger dissapear.

Andy felt your hands softly squeezing his butt and that at least managed to distract him a bit.

" Did you notice how shocked he was? That dude couldn't believe i'm with you. " He openly commented. " … Sometimes even I can't believe i'm with you. "

" After all I have been waiting for you? " You sweetly complained. " How many cute people did i see you with before you stopped drowning in self pity and noticed I wanted your attention all along? "

He didn't consider that before, probably because those dates had such terrible outcomes he couldn't imagine you caring for that.

" Did I make you jealous?" He asked while a soft shade of blush in his face made him look down for a brief instant. " Me?? How?"

" I saw you put your heart and soul into each one of those, trying so hard for things to work because you liked those persons. That amount of dedication had completely won me over even before we started dating. " You frankly admitted. " They may have been desperate to run away, but I was there watching and wanting so badly to be them. You didn't have an easy life, i could tell that, but you are a wonderfull man so sweet, thoughtfull and handsome. A bit weird, maybe, but still adorable. You wanted love and I was desperate for a shot to love you, but there was always someone else rejecting you that you cared more about. "

" I was a fool, i know. " He apologized, still in disbelief. " Let's say I was misguided by the advice of an old friend. "

" You were driving me insane and I was so jealous of your dates. I began to ask myself what else could I do to make you notice me. I almost changed my hair colour but a friend told me that going redhead would have been too much. "

The confession made him chuckle.

" I love you exactly as you are … and I'm feeling quite jealous."

Verbally expressing his feelings was hard for him, but he did it in the spirit of his surprise.

" You have no damn reason for it, because i'm going nowhere. " You reassured him, pulling him closer. " I'm here with you and there is no other one I could want to be with ríght now. "

He was a happy, awkward mess evidently affected by your words in all kinds of ways.

For so, you decided to carry on taking things a bit further.

" Once we get back to my place you are all mine." You whispered close to his ear. " I'm going to show you exactly how much I love you and how wild you drive me. "

The insidious thoughts temporally faded under such delightfull promise.

#chucky 2021 #cult of chucky #andy barclay #andy barclay x reader #alex vincent #alex vincent x reader

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chenfleur · 1 year

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ΒLUΣ MΩΩΠ ☾

4.4 ☾ — you remind me of him

volleyball player!haechan x dancer!oc

summary. - in honour of the blue moon this year, the student parliament decided to hold a blue moon gala for the school. along with that, they created an activity. you pay $1.50 for either a lock or key. each lock and key have a pair with the opposite pendant (you would know if they were your partner if the key can unlock the lock). the person you pair with is your partner for the gala. mina thinks it’s fucking stupid. donghyuck, well—he’s always looking for some excitement in his life—but deep down he just wants someone who doesn’t like him for just his reputation.

taglist. - @oc-helps @philanarose @softrenjunnie @ourbeautifulaffair @luvdroids @lokideadontheinside @nycol-ie @02jwi @tyongf-sunflower99 @resceluwu @haknyeonsju @haechansgfreal @grassbutneo @prdshobi @sunflower-ness @see3milyblog @daegalfangirl @xtra-cheese @r3niun @yuthereal-mp4 @scoups-of-sugar @y3jiishot @beomslonghair @constantinopleo @shwizhies @miercerise @youngestdelacour @dandelionxgal @thesunsfullmoon @tw-hyuck @cupid-yuno @your-local-emo-boy @jkjkseo @lovecherrytion @hibernatinghamster @riceballsandanime @tamakofever @juune04 @sol123recs @faefullsun @shineoko @tojisgrossworm @vapingcandy @sehunniepot @jisnoir @polarisjisung @shxnz // send an ask if you’d like to be tagged/removed from taglist!

𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔. | 𝒏𝑒𝒙𝒕.

𝑏𝒍𝒖𝑒 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒎.𝒍𝑖𝒔𝒕

The girl’s eyes widened, her lips parting slightly, raw shock overtaking her features. Though, this time it was accompanied by a good amount of pure surprise.

It took Mina’s friends nearly three weeks to catch onto the secrets she was hiding and emotions she was penting up. Nearly three weeks for them to really notice, sit her down, and talk to her—and that was when she was at her lowest.

How this seemingly egotistical, pretentious ringleader of the school had caught on in a matter of minutes was beyond her—and frankly, scared her.

A blanket of heavy, dense silence fell over them, Donghyuck no longer facing the girl next to him. Instead, he faced forward, arms resting on his knees, gaze downcasted onto the ground. Mina bit at the inside of her cheek, feeling exhausted.

Moments pass before the boy spoke in a tense voice. “So, are we going to sit here until morning or are you going to tell me what happened?”

Mina gently rocked back and forth, hugging her knees. She felt like she looked so small and weak and vulnerable; she didn’t feel like she was in the right state of mind—but she knew one thing for sure: she was not about to reveal her life story to someone whose image she hated so much.

“I’d rather freeze my ass off.” she muttered coldly.

Immediately, a deep, frustrated sigh ripped from Donghyuck’s throat.

Mina watched him with shocked eyes, his reaction completely unexpected.

“For fuck’s sake—do you really hate me that much?”

It sounded like something that should’ve been yelled, screamed at the top of someone’s lungs—but it left his lips in a meek tone. Mina stopped shivering, growing numb as his words sunk in.

“Can you give me one reason why?” he continued, voice growing fainter.

Mina blinked slowly. “I- I just…” she took a deep breath. “I’ve just heard things about you,” she replied flatly.

Donghyuck scoffed. “Oh, so you just believe everything you hear,” he mocked. “What, you hear things so fucking awful that you’re accusing me of being too nice to you?”

“Listen, what I said before… I don’t really know where it all came from. Just ignore it.” she said, sighing.

“No, I won’t ignore it- because 99% of the time, I don’t fucking care what people have to say about me. But you- you basically just said that I was being ‘too nice to you’ because I want something from you. God, do you really not want to be my friend that badly?” he laughed bitterly, the swirls of light in his eyes beginning to flicker out.

Mina’s eyebrows narrowed, unable to figure out what the boy was trying to get at. “Here then- why do you want to be my friend so badly?” she dared to ask.

Donghyuck seemed get caught off guard at her sudden question, brain stuttering. Why did he want to be her friend?

The fact you’re friends with Renjun. The fact you come to each one of our games. The way you helped me get Soomin off my back. The way you treat me like a normal person. The way you dance. The way you believe anyone can dance. The fact our necklaces are literally a match. The way your eyes light up and crinkle when you laug-

“I… I guess I just find you interesting.”

Mina thought his answer was repulsive.

“What, never met a girl who didn’t want to suck your face off?” the girl sneered. She knew it, she knew he wanted something—he just wanted a challenge, some fun—

“No. I see you come to each of our games, to support Renjun. I think that’s nice of you.”

The girl stilled.

“You also… helped get Soomin to stop bothering me that one time-” Donghyuck pauses, debating on whether he should continue going. “-and… I guess you treat me like a normal person. Though, I didn’t think… me being ‘too nice’ would ever be taken badly,” he said, turning to look the girl in the eye. “But I still think you’re cool.”

Every little bit of strength Mina had gathered in her small, brief moment of confidence—to continue hating, villainizing Lee Donghyuck, had been flushed down the drain. She was sick of the way every single time she opened her mouth to speak, words would fail her.

She still, still, didn’t trust him. She hated his image so much—

—but the way he was sat there, looking at her with the rawest expression she’d ever seen, was leaving her so fucking conflicted.

“You… you don’t want anything.”

“I literally don’t know why you would think otherwise. I don’t bite, Mina.”

The girl had a sharp intake of breath, feeling the icy winter air fill her lungs, as the cogs in her brain started to turn faster and faster and faster.

“You just… you remind me of him.”

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hercleverboy · 3 years

Text

the comfort of rain

spencer reid x reader

summary ↠ spencer reid is her soulmate, isn’t he?

category ↠ angst

warnings/includes ↠ heartbreak, unrequited love

word count ↠ 1.6k

“Do not bother holding on to that thing that does not want you. You cannot make it stay.” — Rupi Kaur

Spencer Reid was her soulmate.

She was sure of it. The pair had been inseparable since she’d started working with the BAU four years prior, practically joined at the hip, never one without the other.

He’d never fail to bring her breakfast on days filled with paperwork, when he knew she’d barely slept and craved nothing more than a banana muffin from the bakery down the road. He simply placed it on her desk with a warm smile, receiving a thankful one from her in return.

Such a small gesture, but it meant the world to her.

He would press little kisses to the crown of her head after they arrested an unsub, a small act of thankfulness that she was ultimately unharmed. An appreciation that she was okay, safe.

For all intents and purposes, they were only best friends. Though she’d been helplessly in love with him for years, and she had an inkling he felt the same. She didn’t want to make assumptions, but then again she was the only person he ever really got up close and personal with. Sure, he’d hug the other team members too occasionally, but she didn’t see him holding Emily or JJ’s hands on the jet home after a case that ended badly. He didn’t give them countless book recommendations, or spend his evenings watching TV shows that she was in love with just so they’d have something else to talk about.

He always offered her his coat when it was cold, or when the rain began to fall heavily and she was only in her shirt and jeans (despite how he’d commented, as he looked up at the sky, that it was likely going to rain based on the colour of the clouds. She never listened to him.)

One of his most treasured memories is the time they were hanging out at his place on a rare Saturday that they didn’t have to go into work for a case. They were watching some eight-part crime series on Netflix that she’d finally convinced him to watch with her, after her complaining about needing someone to talk about it with. The loud clap of thunder cracked through the sky, making her jump up from his couch in excitement, looking out the window as rain began to fall heavily from the grey clouds above. She looked out silently as the rain pattered, watching how people on the street below rushed to find shelter from the unexpected downpour.

Spencer frowned, coming to stand behind her.

“I love the rain.” She commented, noting his presence behind her.

His frown deepened. “Why? It’s cold and wet and- gross.”

She chuckled quietly at his comment. “You’re not wrong there, but I meant more that I love watching the rain. I like the way it sounds. The way it smells. It reminds me that I’m alive. It’s comforting.”

It was quiet for a little, the sound of the rain pinging harshly against the window.

“Pluviophile.”

She turned back to him, speaking softly. “What?”

“Pluviophile. It refers to a person who loves the sound of the rain. They often find a sense of joy or peace of mind during rainy days.”

She bit her lip to stifle her smile and turned back to the window, giving him a simple nod in return. She was always somehow surprised by his never-ending plethora of knowledge.

They stood and watched the downpour together in a comfortable silence.

Spencer supposed the rain wasn’t so bad, after that.

In the recent weeks, she found herself wanting so badly to confess her feelings, but as every friends to lovers story goes- she feared rejection. She feared him leaving. And she’d certainly rather love him from afar than confess her feelings and risk losing him.

He’d managed to embed himself so deeply in her heart that she was sure there could never be anyone else for her.

She was mesmerised by him. Compelled by every word that left his mouth, enthralled by all his random knowledge and infinite number of stories he’d committed to his memory. When they sat on his couch watching Doctor Who, she’d gladly listen to any time travel related ranting he wanted to get off of his chest, without any interruptions or eye rolls. (She could listen to him talk forever.)

She’d often fall asleep on his shoulder, and he’d smile down gently at his best friend, a woman he cared so deeply for.

She stuck by him throughout everything, and she never sugar-coated things. If she thought he was being petty or overreacting slightly in a situation she was the first to bring it up, to call him out. And he’d listen, too, because he trusted her more than anyone and it’s likely she was right about it. She took care of him, in a way that no one ever had before. It was unspoken between them that they’d essentially die for one another, two souls destined to be one another’s everything.

When he confided in her one night that he was afraid that he should’ve amounted to more, she was quick to soothe his worries. She held him as he sniffled into her shoulder, with hushed reassurances that he was already doing incredible things, and that his work was making the world a safer place, one case at a time.

She was particularly close to JJ, the woman who had become like a sister to her. She told JJ of her feelings for Spencer, and the blonde had just smiled at her in response, as if it had been obvious.

“You should go for it.”

“Really? You think so?”

“Think so? I know so. We’ve all seen the way he looks at you. You mean everything to him.”

That conversation was the final push she needed to decide that it was time to come clean about her feelings.

With the nervous pit in her stomach being overwhelmed by the excitement she felt, she tried to clear her thoughts. She could only hope this went well. She was meant to meet Spencer at his place for the evening, and so knocked gently on the door when she arrived, taking deep breaths to prepare herself.

The door swung open, Spencer flashing her a smile when he saw her. “Hey! I’m glad you’re here, I have something to tell you.”

She grinned, making her way past him into the apartment. “Oh god, what did you do this time? Did you misplace your phone again?” She joked, sliding off her jacket.

Spencer shook his head, biting his lip to supress his smile.

“Okay. Then what is it?”

He smiled then, and it was a smile she’d hadn’t seen him wear before. One that was so much bigger than the rest, one that reached his eyes and made them glimmer with hope and glee.

“I- um. I met someone.”

and just like that, her face dropped.

“Her name is Maeve, she’s a Geneticist. We’ve been talking over the phone for about a month now. I know what you’re going to say, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I just wanted to see if it was going to go anywhere-“

Her ears stopped tuning in to what he was saying. She could only hear the pounding of her heart filling her ears, tears burning her eyes as she tried her best to keep them at bay. That’s the smile he’d had, the one she couldn’t quite place at first. She recognised it now. The realisation hit her like a train.

Lovesick.

Spencer had stopped talking, looking at her with concern. “Are you okay?”

She snapped her head up to meet his eyes.

No, I’m not okay. I’m in love with you.

Is what she wanted to say.

Instead-

“Sorry, Spencer. I think I’m gonna have to take a rain check tonight. I’m feeling a little sick, so I think I’m just going to head home.”

“Oh, are you sure? You can always stick around here for a bit, I could take care of you. You know, technically I am a doctor.” He grinned, attempting a joke.

She didn’t laugh, but gave him her best fake smile, one she could only hope he didn’t read too much into. She hoped he couldn’t see the tell-tale profiler signs of devastation on her features that she was so desperately trying to hide.

If he did notice, he said nothing about it.

She shook her head. It was taking everything in her to hold herself together, but she’d be damned if she ruined his happiness because of her own pitiful feelings.

She remembered the smile, his beautiful, lovesick smile. It was for Maeve, not her. It made her heart ache in a way that felt like it was trying to claw its way out of her chest.

“It’s okay. I’ll uh- I’ll text you later.” She mumbled, grabbing her coat before leaving the apartment, leaving a confused Spencer behind.

However, all was forgotten when his phone started buzzing, Maeve’s name flashing across the screen. He smiled.

Outside in the car park, she sat in her car as the thunder cracked above her, the treacherous rain coming down in harsh hits against her windshield.

She found herself grateful for the rain in that moment, as the dam holding her emotions back broke, tears flooding down her cold, pink-tinted cheeks.

She placed her head in her hands and began to sob, her uneven breaths and heartbroken cries being slightly muffled by the patters of the rain hitting the gravel outside.

She felt comforted by the sound.

It was as though the sky was crying with her.

Yes, Spencer Reid was her soulmate.

But she just wasn’t his.

Tag list - @beyonces-breastmilk @pinkdiamond1016 @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto @thelovelyrose @averyhotchner @cynbx

#idk what this is #plot who?#i don’t know her #spencer reid #spencer reid one shot #spencer reid x reader #matthew gray gubler x reader #matthew gray gubler #mgg x reader #mgg #criminal minds #spencer reid angst

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wenellyb · 3 years

Text

My journey in the MCU fandom on Tumblr: Sharing my thoughts on the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, racism in the MCU fandom and the best and the worse of the fandom

I wasn’t going to write this much but here I am… I don’t even know where I’m going with this but since The Falcon and the Winter Soldier just recently came out, I wanted to share some thoughts.

I joined Tumble because of a show I loved but most of you don’t know it “ Hit the Floor”

I stayed on Tumblr for two reasons only, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan.

Before the Captain America:Civil War premiere, a friend sent me the link to the Sebastian and Anthony ET interview, and I was hooked. In just one interview. I discovered Anthony Mackie. The guy was hilarious!!! I just couldn’t get enough and I knew I had to know more about him. How could he improvise so many funny lines on the spot? He was just amazing.

I had pretty much watched all the avengers movie but that was it. I was not involved in the fandom. So I knew Sam Wilson’s face, but I couldn’t even remember his name if my life depended on it. That’s how much the MCU treated him as a side character.

I was like how the f*ck don’t I know this guy?

His talent reminded me of Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey or Robin Williams, like yes they can make some emotional or serious movies, but when they want to make you laugh, you will laugh. Whether you want it or not. I kept wondering how this guy wasn’t more famous.

And the banter with Sebastian Stan? Wow, you could tell their friendship was strong, the way Sebastian lighted up when Anthony was talking, and keep bouncing off his jokes. It was art. the way Sebastian said “ I love you” at the end of the interview. Pure gold.

I then started to watch some of the interviews and boy was that a mistake!!! I literally couldn’t get enough. So I watched all and I say all their interviews, it was the best. We got some gems:

“Why aren’t you looking at me as much”

“Which way is the beach Seabass”

*Them saying nonsense in Spanish and then Sebastian Saying Papi Chulo*

¨And so many more, ....

I watched other solo Anthony interviews and he was still HILARIOUS, but you could also tell he felt a little bit more at ease with Sebastian around. I won’t pretend I know him or his personality, but Sebastian seems like a little bit more of an introvert and looks like he doesn’t enjoy the interview experience unless Anthony id around him. Just my thoughts

I watched the interviews before I went to see the movie, I even cosplayed as the Winter Soldier to the movie premiere and I was IN!!! When I saw Captain America Civil War, I became a SamBucky shipper, these two were hilarious and I really so the potential for a great realtionship I love enemy to lovers stories.

I also shipped Stucky because, to me, the trope of the movie was Superhero gives up everything to protect his long term friend” Hollywood movies have some codes and if Bucky were a female character, there is no doubt in my mind that the movie would have been marketed as romance.

Stucky really was an easy ship! But then the MCU fandom of Tumblr fandom messed up everything for me. You see I really liked the CACW and I I liked Stucky, I liked Sambucky, and I loved the introduction of t’Challa’s character, but one of things that affected me the most in the movie was that it was the first blockbuster I watched with 3 black main characters, Rhodey, Sam and T’Challa. That, and the fact that they were planning to realease a Black Panther movie in two years, I was super excited, and that’s the main reason I got involved in the MCU fandom so much, when before, I was just a casual watcher.

If this seem weird to you, then you have no idea how we were only getting crumbs before. For me it was soo huge, I even told all my friends, and they were laughing at me. But usually blockbusters, especially superhero movies get one black character and that’s it, usually the best friend or something and never the leads. So, for me it really was a big deal. How sad is that by the way…

I became more involved in the fandom and, at first, I wasn’t focusing on anything special, Sambucky, Stucky, Stackie, the Black Panther, and even Zemo, whose character I really liked.

But soon I noticed that the CACW tags were always flooded, and I mean flooded with the same two white characters: Steve and Bucky. I told myself, ok that’s fine Steve is the lead after all, but it would be good to see the other characters too.

And then I noticed another interesting trend: Evanstan…. Wait what?

Chris Evans, and Sebastian Stan… did I miss something? Listen, obviously I’m sure they must be friends or something, but you’re going to tell me you watch all MCU the actors and you’re going to focus on Steve and Sebastian? I’m sorry what?

Sebastian and Anthony are right there… Or Chris and Anthony, they even have a secret handshake, only the 2 of them do… what more do you want?

Tell me one iconic Evanstan moment… go ahead tell me… See??? There isn’t.

Because of this and because of how badly some Stuckies were treating Sam and Anthony. I became less and less of a stucky shipper . I mainly focused on SamBucky, Stackie and the Black Panther,

And then the Sebastian Stan stans saw how popular Stackie, Sambucky, were becoming and I started to see some problematic stuff in our fandom too.

I don’t want to generalize, but when you go into the Stackie tag, and you see cropped pictures of Sebastian without Anthony, it’s easy to assume that a Sebastian fan did that. And we know damn well you cropped out Anthony because we watched all Stackie interviews and know exactly which interview your picture was taken from. We know that Anthony was sitting right next to Seb.

You post a picture of Sebastian laughing but you crop out the person who was making him laugh??

“but it has nothing to do with race” How do you know that?

“Sebastian had more screen time” More screen time than Anthony in CATWS or CACW? I don’t think so.

“I have been a fan of Sebastian for longer”, that’s fine but don’t go out cropping Anthony, just post gifs of Seb in his usual, sad, and Anthony-less interviews, not the ones where he’s smiling because his best friend is next to him.

Some of you really are the worst. And just so you know, your fave Sebastian is Anthony’s biggest fan, if he saw pictures where you cropped out Anthony, he would block you on the spot.

When I realized that Anthony Mackie would be the next Captain America I was screaming, no actually, I was crying, Sam Wilson will be Captain America, and Anthony would finally get the recognition he deserves.

You would think that the MCU fandom would focus on Captain America or at least one the two leads, instead of just Sebastian? Right? Right? WRONG.

Anthony is handsome, he’s funny, he’s a great actor, he went to freaking Julliard, he’s at the top, I don’t see what else the man can do??? He should already be a superstar, but no, you will side-line him even to he is the lead of the show.

Even when they are the actual leads, you guys would do anything to bring up the White characters even if it means ignoring the Black characters.

I remember I was having a conversation about Black Panther with my friends and I asked one of my white friends who was his favorite character in BP was and he told me Martin Freeman (don’t even remember his name in the movie) Martin Freaking Freeman, there are half a dozen of great characters and your fave is the only white man??? Ok, ok, that’s great.

Don’t give out automatic reply like “It has nothing to do with race, if you haven’t thought about it first”, because there’s a high probability that it is indeed about race. Stop saying it isn’t, sit down and ask yourself, “Am I biased?” “Why am I reblogging only stuff related to the white characters”.

One of these days you guys are going to make me hate Sebastian with the sh*t you are pulling.

I looove the Stackie friendship and the Sambucky dynamic but after seeing the way some of you treat Anthony and Sam’s character, it make me want to focus on Sam’s character and forget about the rest.

I remember they were some posts about how Anthony was problematic, and I just lost it. Apparently, there was an old article that resurfaced were Anthony was making a joke about women making sandwiches or something.

If you were offended by the sandwich joke, that is totally ok, and I can understand that.

But if you were offended by the sandwich joke, and saying Anthony is problematic BUT you still stan Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, ScarJo or even Sebastian Stan, just know that there is a high probability you’re racist.

They have all said or done problematic stuff, and people only seem to remember stuff related to Anthony, which was probably just a joke by the way.

Chris Evans and Jeremy called Black widow a wh*re, ScarJo took roles that she maybe shouldn’t have and I didn’t forget Sebastian shady Instagram post, when Kaepernick was kneeling. There are so many more things to be said about Jeremy Renner but google is your friend.

Anthony also got hate for hating on Tom Holland? Like what? Do you guys even hear yourselves? Don’t you have any friends you like to tease? If you hate someone, do you go around talking about him every chance you get? It was obviously friendly banter but some people wanted to turn it into something it was not. Sigh.

I really cannot with this fandom

The stackie fandom was small at the beginning and the Sambucky fandom even smaller, but we were there and it was amazing. Sebastian and Anthony received the same amount of love from the fandom and I wish we could go back to those days.

Stop pretending the fandom isn’t racist. Stop saying “it isn’t about race” when you haven’t even thought about.

Saying “it has nothing to do with race” only shows that you haven’t thought about anything but don’t want to be called a racist.

There is racism in this fandom and it will always be there, but if you guys want to do anything about it, you have to acknowledge it first.

You can’t be pulling off stuff like “I don’t see colors”, “ it has nothing to do with race”. Stop, sit down, think about it and then we can have a conversation.

If you’ve made it till the end, I apologize for the typos and grammar mistakes, I wasn’t planning on writing this much.

#tfatws #anthony mackie #Sebastian Stan #stackie #sambucky #Chris Evans #captain america #CACW #fandom racism #I didn't mean to write this much #my posts

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seungkwan-s · 3 years

Text

second chances | thirteen

previous | next

pairing; lee heeseung x female reader, ft second lead jay park x female reader

warnings; one mention of blood from a papercut

genre; a little angst, some comedy and fluff

word count; 1.5k

taglist; @staysstrays @iminchaosnow @preciousdeerchild @fylithia @wooyoung-a @katyasrussianaccent @geminirules @lix-freckle3 @bluejayjay @blossomnct @shrutiajit @itsyaapollochild @witheeseung @seungstarss @meiinumaki @dreamyeyes26 @punneysushi01 @gtfovi @hrrhmay @soobnny @zhaixiaowen @leagreenly @grassbutneo @aurumness @minkyunheewon @milkycloudtyg @youreverydayzebra @liliansun @itsamemarioo (can’t tag)

a/n: yo this is the moment everyone has been waiting for. this was way longer than i intended it to be. i'll have the texts and stuff back in the next chapters ♡

as you step back into the cafe, the warm air and the smell of a freshly made cup of coffee hits you. you sigh, catching the attention of ryujin who's leaning against the coffee machine picking at her fingernails.

"y/n, are you okay. what happened?" you put your face into your hands, taking a deep breath and before you can say anything, the door opens and in walks heeseung, jake and sunghoon—the three boys soaked from the rain.

"do none of you own an umbrella?" sunoo blurts out, "i literally have two with me, do you want one?"

you see jake shaking his head, and mouthing a "no, thank you" to sunoo.

your mind is clouded with thoughts of the conversation you shared with jay earlier, was this related to that day when he asked you how you'd feel if you two were soulmates? or are you already overthinking this?

ryujin can sense something isn't right with you, she's noticed immediately that you're not your usual happy self; all smiles and laughter and you haven't greeted the boys as you normally do, in fact, you haven't even looked their way since they came in.

how are you supposed to start things over with heeseung? do you hold off for now until jay gets over you or do you just focus on working things out with heeseung and leave jay to sort things out himself? no matter what option you go for, you're going to hurt someone...

"y/n, what's going on?" ryujin puts her arms around you and leans her head on your shoulder, "i don't like seeing you sad, who am i kicking for hurting my favourite person?"

you shake your head, looking around the café before turning to her, "jay told me he's in love with me, and he reacted quite badly when i told him i didn't feel the same. and it's now put me in a position where if i start a friendship again with heeseung, it's gonna hurt jay. but if i hold off on things for now, i'm gonna hurt heeseung and i don't want to hurt anyone, and i feel like whatever option i choose, i'm gonna be made out to be the bad guy,"

"i'm sorry, y/n but you can't help how you feel. if you don't feel anything for jay, you can't force yourself to feel feelings plus the fact—and i really hate to say it, but non-soulmate relationships aren't destined to work out. they always fail, you read so much about them on the news, on social media. if you want my honest opinion, i think you should do what makes you happy. and i know there is absolutely nothing wrong with you working things out with heeseung. he is your soulmate after all. just give jay some space, he'll be okay,"

you let out a sigh of relief, you know she's right. you're only rebuilding the friendship you once had with heeseung, you're not just going to jump into a relationship, these things take time, and with time, hopefully you and jay can be friends again. you just hope he's okay...

a yelp from the back end of the cafe pulls you from your thoughts, "oh heeseung, you idiot, a papercut, really?"

"oh calm down, jake, it's just a bit of blood,"

"dude, you need a band aid, hold on—y/n! we need you," ryujin passes you the first aid box before whispering a "good luck" as you take it out of her hands. you're kinda wishing you didn't know first aid because not only do you now have to talk to heeseung, you have to touch him as well. baby steps first, you thought but no, destiny wants to throw you in the deep end.

you slide into the seat next to heeseung and place the first aid box on the table in front of you, "who's injured themselves now, hm?"

"your soulmate is an idiot, y/n, who cuts themselves on paper?"

"you'd be surprised at how many papercuts i've had to tend to in here, jake, especially with how thick people's books are and the amount of studying that goes on in here. they're the smallest of cuts and can hurt a lot but it's nothing serious," you pull out one of the alcohol wipe packets including the small box of band aids.

heeseung puts his hand out willingly and you're thankful you didn't need to ask, as the nerves are already creeping up on you. the last time you were this close to him was when you two were kids and it pains you a little. you really missed him...

"how did you learn first aid?" ah. you chuckle, thank god he initiated the conversation because you didn't know how the hell to.

"i took a course online, riki's always injuring himself, he's clumsy and because our mom and dad are always away working, i thought i might as well take up a skill that's going to be useful—that and cooking,"

he winces a little at the contact of the alcohol wipe and the cut on his finger, "don't be a wuss, hee," ...and there it is, the nickname you gave him when you two were kids. heeseung ignores that tiny little feeling in his stomach, he doesn't know whether it's guilt because he stopped talking to you or if he really missed the nickname you gave him. either way, he feels awful about how he's let this go on for so long.

"y/n, i'm sorry," you pause, you look down at his hand as it's now holding onto yours. the contact making you feel warm.

"it's okay, heeseung, we were kids—kids fall out over silly things, we can start over, it's fine," now you're rambling and trying to not look at him, fear you won't be able to look away.

"y/n, please, look at me," you can hear the sadness in his voice, you know he means his apology but you're not angry at him at all. if you did something to hurt him when you were kids, you owe him an apology. you raise your head and look at him, and it's a weird feeling you feel. maybe it's because the last time you looked into his eyes like this was that day you fell off your first bike and he tried to put a band aid on your knee and you were so thankful that he was there to help you.

"i'm so sorry, for ignoring you for basically most of our lives, it was over something so silly and i hate that i let this go on for so long, and i hope you can give me another chance to make things right between us. as each year passed, i just felt awful but i didn't know how to talk to you anymore, i thought you hated me. to be honest, it made it easier for me if i just pretended i didn't like you," his voice lowers to a whisper as you now hold his hand ever so gently.

"hee, i don't hate you, i never hated you, i just wondered what i did wrong. i wondered what i did that was so bad that you just pretended like i never existed. i won't lie, it hurt a lot but i- i missed you and i want us to be friends again but i need to know what i did so i can apologise,"

he lets out a sigh and runs his fingers through his hair, he's looking everywhere just not at you, "it's so stupid but do you remember when we were painting together? we were out in your garden and you were painting the sunset and i was doing a rainbow. i had it finished and you knocked over your jar of blue paint and it spilled all over my paper. i got so mad at you that i thought you did it on purpose because i told you it was a present for someone but instead of telling you the rainbow was for you, i just left you there alone, went home and that's why i stopped talking to you,"

"that's why you stopped talking to her, heeseung, oh my god, YOU GUYS WERE FIVE YEARS OLD!!??" jake snapped, slamming his hand on the table. heeseung turned to glare at him but the feeling of your fingers caressing his hand brought his attention back to you and his face softened.

"that was an accident, hee, i would never have intentionally ruined something of yours. i'm sorry i ruined your painting, and i'm sorry i made you think it was out of jealousy," you look up at him and he gives you a smile, "it's fine, i'll just paint you another one,"

"you don't need to paint me another one, hee,"

"i don't need to but i'm gonna do it anyway," he sends you a wink and you just about crumble to the floor.

as the clock hits 10pm and the lights go out in the cafe, you stand outside in the cold air waiting for the uber to come and pick the three of you up to take you home.

"so, y/n, how did it go with heeseung?" sunoo asks you, his arm linked with yours.

"it went really good, actually. better than i thought but i'm still nervous,"

"nerves are normal, my love, the two of you are going to be fine, just invite me to your wedding, okay?" you playfully slap ryujin, "shut up,"

#kpopscape #prism.nw #multifandomnet #kwritersworldnet #enhypen sm au #enhypen social media au #enhypen fic #enhypen fanfiction #enhypen fanfic #enhypen fake texts #enhypen fluff #enhypen angst #lee heeseung x female reader #jay park x female reader

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starglow-xx · 3 years

Text

owning a bakery and being discovered by the ada & port mafia (part 1)

platonic! edogawa ranpo x f! reader

type of writing: head canons !!

this is part of my head canon series, flour & fluff !!

tag list is open !! go to this google form and fill it out to sign up!

series synopsis: owning a bakery at 20 is tough; even more so when you have to handle members of two opposing organizations! this is your journey to meeting these fools and creating an unlikely bond with each of them! but only at the cost of your peace and sanity.

fandom: bungou stray dogs

content: fluff & platonic stuff

author’s notes: this will be a multiple part series of head canons and this is only part one! this series will include both the agency and port mafia members, and then something special for the end. maybe i’ll even write a real one shot/scenario for it. if there’s enough interest, i might open up a tag list for this! i hope you all enjoy!! <33

also, ranpo is 25 in this part; kenji, atushi, kyouka, and the tanizaki siblings aren’t part of the agency yet, only yosano, kunikida, and dazai are, but in the next couple parts, it will be established that the tanizakis are

and (n/n) means nickname :)

meeting the greatest detective

your bakery, Sakura’s, which you named after your late grandmother (who was also your guardian), went into business when you were 18 right after graduating high school

who needed a culinary course when you were trained by dear ol grandma?

your grandmother died when you were 16, just as you started your second year of high school

you were devastated of course, but you knew she wouldn’t want you to wallow over it too long

so in those last two hard years of high school, you took part time jobs at other bakeries and saved lots and lots of money

by graduation, using your life savings, the money your grandmother had left for you, and all the money you earned working, you were able to buy the small building—with a reasonable amount of money left over to survive— you and your grandmother had been eyeing back in her hometown, yokohama, to start your bakery

the building was a bit run down, but you were planning to give it a makeover anyways

it was a bit smaller compared to other buildings around, only having two stories, but on the plus side, the second floor had taller ceilings and was an apartment

is that realistic? probably not but bare with me here

aNYWHO

you finished putting your bakery up in about 4 months, then finished up your apartment 2 more after

you opened Sakura’s at 7 in the morning then closed at 8 in the evening

when you first started, you did quite well!!

especially with those who went to work on early mornings and families

the time when you first opened was the most peaceful, but you admitted that it was a bit boring, and you wished for a bit more excitement

and boy, the day edogawa ranpo stepped into your bakery was the catalyst for the chaos and excitement that was soon to come

not that you knew that

if you did you would’ve never let him in

maybe

you were 19 when ranpo discovered Sakura’s, and it was completely accidental

he finished solving a case and was on the way back to the agency, and he—not surprisingly—got lost and then it started to rain really hard

it was pouring; there was even the cliche thunder strike and everything

you saw the brown clad man across the street and you ran out with two umbrellas (almost getting hit by a car mind you) handed one to him and practically dragged him inside

with the heavy rain on the forecast, Sakura’s was empty, so you gently pushed him down on a chair and you rushed away to find towels

even though the two of you had umbrellas, the two of you were still soaked

finding said towels, you quickly dried yourself the best you could then you draped your towel over your back and rushed over to give him his as well as a warm pastry and your special hot honey lemon tea

ranpo laughed as you placed down the refreshment and snack, thinking that you knew who he was and was giving him special treatment

poor bby blinked and went :0 when you said you didn’t

“you don’t know who i am?”

“no. am i supposed to?”

“...”

the 25 year old blanked and you worried that you broke him and started to apologize profusely

he cut you off claiming that he got over it he didnt but seeing as the bakery was empty and it was pouring pretty badly, he demanded you give him all your attention sit with him so he could tell you all about himself and what he’s done

the two of you got along quite well

you were amazed with all the stories he’s told you

you honestly acted like a cute little kid listening to fairytales

he told you that and in response you threw a napkin at him

“wow ranpo-san! that’s amazing!!”

“you look like a little kid”

cue the napkin

he was happy with all the attention, praise, and sweets you gave him

the agency gave him praise sure, and made sure he had a lot of snacks but it was refreshing to have someone give him this much and your treats were the best he’s ever had

after he told you all his most interesting cases, the two of you just rambled about the most randomest things; going from the best desserts and snacks to the stupidest things his coworkers have done

you guys were on that last topic for a while

you two talked and rambled for hours, and when it hit hour two and the rain was still pouring, you just went ahead and slipped the “we’re open” sign to “closed” even though it was only 2 o’clock

you thought that this was probably the loving goofy older brother relationship that you missed out on

“ranpo-san, you’re kind of like the brother i’ve never had”

“and you’re still like that little kid”

cue another napkin to the face

don’t worry, he already adores you <3

he just likes to make fun of you </3

*cuts you off as you’re talking to squish your cheeks* “(y/n) you still have a lot of baby fat and you’re pretty short...are you sure you’re still not in high school or smth??”

*incoherent talking due to pressure on cheeks* “ranpo-san you have 3 seconds before i kick you out”

at around 6, the rain came to a stop and by then, the both of you were all dried up

before he left, you gave him a map so that he hopefully wouldn’t get lost again and gave him a couple boxes of treats for him to have and to share with his coworkers

you closed early so you had to give away at least some of the remaining treats somehow

he wanted you to go to agency with him so he didn’t have to carry everything but you declined saying that you didn’t want to bc you wanted to rest

and for payback for calling you a little kid

you were 19 goddamnit

you already placed everything neatly into two bags so it was easy to carry but this bitch still had the audacity to pout and whine at you

and he calls you the little kid, jeez

you never told him but, you almost gave in

you never told him. but he probably already knows

ranpo san knows all after all; even you knew that by now

the two of you had also exchanged phone numbers and when the two of you showed each other what you each put for a contact name along with the note below, the two of you broke out into grins

you named him “the greatest detective <33″ & put the note “new nii-san <33 & bully </3″ and he named you “cute bakery girl” with the note “best follower, sweets supply & annoying little kid”

when he left, you properly closed the bakery and taped a sign to the door saying that you closed early for personal reasons

when everything was cleaned up, you marched up into your bedroom, plopped on your bed, and took a nap

you deserved it

at the agency not too long after that, ranpo had arrived and when he opened the door, everyone rushed towards him in concern asking if he was okay

he waved them off and walked towards his desk and plopped down in his seat

he placed the two bags in front of him and took out a box of cream puffs and started to snack on them

his coworkers watched him blankly as his scarfed down one after another

after finishing that box, he rummaged through the bags to look through the different kinds of pastries you’ve given him

noticing that there were people still staring at him he paused before sighing in exasperation

he began to whine at his coworkers saying that no one told him it was gonna rain and that they were lucky that he happened to be in front of Sakura’s

“why did no one tell me?! it was pouring and i was soaked! you guys are lucky that (n/n)-chan’s bakery was right there! you would’ve probably lost me! how would the agency even function without me here?!”

no one wanted to be the one to tell him that they had no idea who he was talking about and that they did in fact tell him that it was gonna pour

they can save that, and their questions for another time

next >>

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bewitchedbodyandsol · 3 years

Text

If I Were Not Myself

Description: Reader is a mandalorian from Din’s covert who was manipulated into taking off her helmet. HEAVILY based on Pierre and Natasha from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. Takes place before the child (bc age reasons and character development has not happened). Trying to stay as close to the approximate ages in Great Comet/War and Peace, putting Din at 27 while reader is 19.

Notes: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 makes me absolutely mad. The only spoken lines in the musical and it makes my heart shatter. Okay, I don’t think Din would be as courteous towards a dar’manda as I write him but also like, this is a Din/Pierre hybrid, so. And yes I know that based on these ages Toro Calican would have barely been born, but um, yeah <3. IT’S MY FIC AND I CAN DO WHAT I WANT. Also, this is my first time writing and posting fan fiction so um, yeah <3

Word Count: 2.9K

Rating: G

Tags/warnings: Thoughts of death (in an almost philosophical way). fem!reader Dar’manda!reader, war and peace au? No use of y/n, slightest hint of Toro Callican x reader and Paz x Reader (like they’re mentioned), age gap

If I were not myself,

But the brightest,

Handsomest,

Best man on earth,

And if I were free,

I would get down on my knees,

This minute,

And ask you for your hand.

And for your love.

The mandalorians-the mandalorian and the dar’manda, stood in front of each other. The air still. When he had initially seen her he ran towards her, he stopped less than a foot away and reached a hand out to her, but instead of taking his outstretched hand like he had expected, she slowly moved past him. She put an awkward amount of distance between the two. The gap between them too large for how friendly they normally were, while anything closer seemed too overwhelming. Din knew he had to stay far enough away to keep himself from completely engulfing the girl in an embrace, fists curling at his sides to stop himself from reaching out to her again.

----

Din had known the young woman her entire life, for she was born shortly after he had been taken in as a foundling. While all families in the covert were friendly with one another, theirs had been especially close. And they had been especially fond of each other. The age difference caused them to participate in different activities and talk with different social groups but did not stop them from interacting completely. In fact, the two mandalorians had grown to be close friends. The young girl confided in Din about her newest crush on the covert while he doted on her for it and she would laugh at the gruff noises he made while being teased by peers, watching him try to act tough while knowing he would huff and puff to her about it later.

He had watched her grow, from a nervous young girl who stood in the middle of a room filled with people simply to make them listen to her sing, to a young woman who knew how to carry herself and gain the attention of her peers from sheer presence. At the same time, the girl watched Din grow from a flustered teenage boy to a closed off young man who became more and more stoic with each passing visit.

As the years went on the two became distant, caught up in the paths life had put them on. Din started running with Ran’s crew, his visits to the covert became few and far between, while she had stayed and chose to act as a nurse for the foundlings. Their friendship seemingly evaporated, dissolved to nothing but pleasantries. The young woman noticed the growing weight on her dear friend’s shoulders, but was unknowing of the whirlwind he found himself caught in. His growing reputation, worrisome discoveries he made about himself, and the insatiable twi’lek girl he had gotten tangled with.

During his last visit home, Din had introduced the young woman to his friend Paz Vizsla. The two had known of each other for quite some time but had never formally been introduced, and quickly after he acquainted them Din felt a shift in the air, as if he was intruding on something he was not meant to see. He had not expected the pair to become so infatuated with one another. Aware of Paz’s past, the hardships he faced, losing not only a wife but a child at a young age, and the battles he fought; and the young woman’s naivete, having rarely left the covert herself and her general lack of life experience. So when he heard that they planned to wed, he had been surprised to say the least.

That had only been one year ago. A year, and yet so much had changed. Din truly had not planned on a return home for quite some time. While he had been on the planet for a while, as the crew had a job that stationed them there, he had not planned on visiting the covert. As he had no obligations to do so, prior to the holo he had received from the girl's aunt in which she explained the situation to him and pleaded for him to return. She explained how the girl had broken off her engagement to Paz and made plans to run away with Toro Calican, whom she had only known for a few days, instead. Din had heard of Calican before and had even had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting him once, he found the suave young man obnoxious and to be nothing but trouble. Oh but what angered him the most about the young man, was seeing his own worst qualities reflected right back at him. His fears and flaws were flaunted by the young mercenary. When Din heard it was Calican the girl had become involved with, he didn’t even have time to think before it had slipped past his lips that the young man himself was married, and unlike Paz his wife was still alive. The girl’s aunt had begged him to return to scare Calican off the planet and to attempt to speak some sense into the girl. But when Din had returned it had been too late, she had revealed her face to an already married man, and unknowingly to her, his friends as well. Leaving her dar’manda.

---

It felt almost inappropriate to stand in front of her in this state. With her lack of armor and helmet, she might as well have been naked from a cultural standpoint. She stood in the middle of the room in her thermals. Her beskar had been stripped from her, no doubt to be given to someone more deserving, a foundling most likely. Her back towards him, Din noticed her arms hung still next to her, obviously too exhausted to even subconsciously twiddle the edges of her shirt like she used to do when she was a younger, more nervous girl. When she turned around and looked at him, it felt like she could see into his soul. The helmet prevented her from looking him in the eyes, but having worn a helmet herself and interacting with so many others who did the same, she easily knew where his were hidden behind the mask. And when he looked into her eyes, Din could see the weight of the galaxy crashing down on her.

“Din Djarin.” She tested out his name. And something in him shattered. No one had referred to him by name in so long, simply referring to him as ‘mando’, but Din Djarin was not the name she had used the last time he saw her. No, she had simply called him Din. The sudden change in formality made tense, as he took a second to respond. “Din” He took a breath and corrected her. It wasn’t until the girl’s face shot down did he realize he had started leaning forward, his weight shifted to the balls of his feet, left hand flexing at his side.

He hadn’t seen her face in six years. No one had. Like most in the covert the young girl had sworn the creed promptly at the age of 13. After swearing the creed she had grown into herself, the young nervous girl Din had become friends with was replaced by a confident young woman. A skilled fighter and diplomat, yet as charming and giddy as ever. He could only imagine how she had grown ever more captivating as time went on. Din had never thought it to be a shame if a beautiful face was hidden behind a wall of beskar, his religion more important than simple vanity, and yet. As he saw her face on full display, he understood. Understood how someone who had become so enamored by the girl could do such a selfish thing, ask her to take off her helmet.

“Vizsla was, Vizsla is your friend.” She corrected herself. Her ex-fiancé had fought in a far off battle for so long she had developed the bad habit of assuming him dead. Once again, the girl’s sudden formality was not lost on Din, referring to her ex fiancé as Vizsla rather than her usual endearing Paz. “He once told me that I should turn to you.”

He had always reproached dar’mandas, finding them to be less than. Thought they had already shown themselves to be unworthy of the mandalorian title and armor if they could so easily take it off. That it took a truly weak man to break from The Way, from a people that loved fiercely and unconditionally. He wanted so badly to despise her. To give her the same scowl and acid laced words he might anyone else. But there was something about the way the young woman held her head. As if, even though she no longer had her helmet, she still did not want her face to be shown, and at that any chance of reproach towards her had died. Instead it was replaced by a feeling of pity. He had wanted to believe he felt nothing but pity for her, but he knew that wasn’t right. There was something else, something he was unable to place.

“He’s returned. When you see him… Can you please tell him to, please tell him to forgive me.” She moved as if she meant to wring her hands, but when her fingertips found skin instead of leather gloves, they quickly shot back down to her sides.

“Yeah, I’ll-I’ll tell him.” Din’s throat tightens as he recalls his conversation with Paz. How his friend returned from battle only to hear of his fiancé having an affair, removing her helmet in front of people who were not her riduur or ade. Recalling Paz’s posture, his voice almost malicious yet so pained when he said he could not forgive the girl of her actions. How the image of Paz, a man Din looked up to, had been shattered with a few simple words. “But-”

“I know everything’s over, that chance of anything is gone.” Her head shot up, as if she had read his mind, anticipated his words. “But still, I’m haunted by what I’ve done, what I’ve done to him. Tell him please, to forgive me. For everything.”

“I’ll tell him to forgive you. I’ll tell him everything.” Din nodded, as he thought of his next words carefully. “I want to know one thing. Did you really love him? Did you love that bad man” His voice sounded hoarser than usual.

“Don’t call him bad.” She spat out. “But I, I don’t know. I really don’t.” Though the speed of her response told Din her real answer. That in some said way, yes, she really had loved Toro Calican. The man who had pushed her farther than anyone else had, pushed the boundary most important to anyone who shared their creed. Pushed her to do something she had never previously thought about. So uncaring of consequences. And if she had not loved him, she at least still held strong feelings for him. For the man who had manipulated her.

The young woman turned away from Din and began to cry. And he could hear the dam of emotions she held back break in the sob she let out. He could do nothing but watch as she began to crumple in on herself. The same feeling of pity from earlier returned, but it was now accompanied by a tenderness he had become unfamiliar with and that same something he was still unable to place. Din felt the tears pool at his jaw before he was even able to comprehend that he had started to cry. Thankful for his helmet as it prevented anyone from seeing the tears that rolled down his cheek.

“Hey, we don’t. We don’t have to talk about it anymore, ner vod.” The familiarity slipped out of his mouth, meant to comfort them both. He slowly made his way towards her, reached his hand out the same as he had done earlier. “But. I’m still, your friend. And if you ever need someone to talk to, or someone to open your heart to. Not now, but, when your mind is clear. Think of me.”

Din grew confused.

He had no idea where any of this was coming from. Especially after her had become so closed off over the past few years. He had felt more in the past few minutes here with her, warm and tender feelings that he had not realized he so dearly missed, than he possibly had in years. And there it was, that feeling he had been unable to place, unable to give a name, coming to the surface. Love. He had always carried affection towards her, in one way or another, but this was different. Love, something he had started to wonder if he was incapable of.

“Don’t talk to me like that.” She snapped. “I don’t, I don’t deserve it.” Came out softer, sadder, and she practically scurried away from the man. Like she truly believed it.

“Stop! Stop. You have the rest of your life-” The first stop a command, the second a plea. The girl stopped, her back still faced him.

“The rest of my life? My life is over.” The girl reached the doorway she had entered through earlier, a tight grip on the wall.

“Over.” He repeated. Looking at the girl, he saw a reflection of himself. His fears and flaws hung heavy around the girl. The same horrible thoughts that had plagued his mind not so long ago.

The knowledge that one was capable of hurting people doing bad things, the thought that death might be more accepting and caring fate. The fear that life had ended before it even began. But unlike when he had seen those same traits in Toro Calican, who wore them with pride, he saw the same level of fear in the young woman that he had felt.

And suddenly, everything stopped.

“If I were not myself.”

The young woman froze at his words. Din had not even registered that he was speaking until he had finished.

“But the brightest, handsomest

Best man in the galaxy”

Din had done bad things. Din had done bad things and enjoyed doing them. He had dangerous thoughts, dangerous intentions, and a dangerous way of life. He knew he was still not the man he needed to be. So much to improve upon before even thinking of settling down with someone, let alone the young woman in front of him. Though she was not perfect either, not the woman he knew she was capable of becoming, but he still thought she was deserving of perfection.

“And If I were free-” His throat threatened to close.

The Xi’an of it all was, Din was not in the position to be offering his love to someone else. And while they were not the ideal couple, he was still tied to her. He had his suspicions that the twi’lek girl might have been seeing other men along with him, but it did not stop him from remaining faithful to the girl. Along with the weight of his relationship on his heart, was the beskar lock he kept tight on it. His creed, the most important thing in his life. What he held himself to above all else. She was dar’manda, while he was not. A fact he could not simply ignore. Any hopes of a relationship between the two had been destroyed when she revealed herself. But he could not stop himself from loving her, from wishing he could do this one thing for her.

“I would get down on my knees this minute

And ask you for your hand” His voice strained. It could truly be that simple, they could be married in the matter of seconds. Vows exchanged, tied to each other for the rest of their lives. It was something he had never dreamed of, but as he stood in front of the young woman now. There was nothing he wanted more.

“And for your love”

The young woman turned around.

And reality comes crashing down.

She makes her way over to him faster than Din thought safe for someone in her state. Her breaths jagged as she tries to control her tears. Tenderness replacing the earlier weight in her eyes.

His breath hitches when her hand touches the cheek of his helmet. But he lets her, trusting her single hand to not make any bold moves, knowing the girl would not dare to lift the helmet off his head, to damn him to the same fate she had damned herself. Din’s breath catches in his throat, his eyes closing behind his helmet as he leans into her hand. A tear rolls down his cheek. The young woman simply looks at the man in front of her. And she gives him the softest smile he has ever seen.

“Oh Din,” she whispers. ‘Thank you��, she means to continue, but the words are caught in her throat, leaving her to simply mouth them instead. She lets her hand fall from his face and leaves the room, smiling.

Din stands and watches her leave, trying to hold back any oncoming tears, and lets out a shaky breath. Realizing his job here is done, he turns around to leave. Bumping into the doorway on his way out, he takes a deep steady breath, and makes his way to the Razor Crest.

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spencers-renaissance · 3 years

Text

dry me off and hold me close

Summary:��Derek has finally relented and is bringing his boyfriend Spencer to meet the rest of the team. That means, though, he has to finally tell them about his boyfriend's disability. Terrified that they'll react badly, he puts it off until he can't anymore. Turns out he was worried for nothing.

Tags: so much fluff, protective derek, disabled spencer, caretaker derek, au: spencer is not in the bau, team as family, hurt/comfort, light angst, est. rel, day to day disabled life, physical disability/chronic illness

Pairing: Derek Morgan x Spencer Reid

Word Count: 5.7k

Masterlist // Read on AO3

Hello! I am nervous to share this one, I won't lie. It's incredibly personal. It was a pain in the arse to write but I love how it turned out and I hope you do, too. Just a note: this may be triggering for some people - there is description of nausea and severe chronic pain, as well as frequent references to ableism towards wheelchair users.

As soon as Rossi brings up the prospect of a fully-catered family dinner at his ‘mansion’ this weekend, Derek’s heart sinks. They’re on their way home from a pretty gruelling case and it’s well-deserved of course, but he knows what comes next, knows what question will be asked of him, and he’s dreading it. There’s only so long he can go on avoiding answering.

“Please tell me you’ll finally let us meet Spencer, Derek,” JJ asks, levelling him with a look to rival one of Penelope’s. “At this point I’m starting to think you’ve made him up.”

Spencer is very real. He’s a very real, very sexy, very intelligent man who Derek has no doubt would get on brilliantly with the team. But Spencer also happens to be disabled. And while his boyfriend has had decades to get to terms with broaching such a sensitive, taboo topic, Derek has not. He’s far from ashamed of Spencer — that’s not it at all — he’s just so protective of him, and the idea of others being touchy or patronising or outright rude around him is an idea he’s never been able to get used to, no matter how many times he’s witnessed it.

Derek’s laugh is strained as he rubs his face awkwardly, trying to find the words to politely decline, but the others are pouncing on him before he can speak.

“You’ve put it off enough times now, Morgan,” Emily says, siding with JJ. “If he’s even half of what you say he is then we’ll love him. Just bring him along. Rossi doesn’t mind.”

“Oh no, I’m dying to meet the man who could finally tie Derek Morgan, ladies man extraordinaire, down,” Rossi chimes in.

“He definitely sounds like my kind of guy,” Alex agrees. “I’m impressed you managed to land such an educated man, Derek.”

He looks sort of desperately towards Hotch who raises his hands guiltily. “I would actually like to meet him, too, Morgan,” he says reluctantly, a rare smile playing across his face.

Derek groans and throws his head back against his plane seat. He can only be glad Penelope isn’t on the flight because she’d be absolutely relentless in such a conversation.

As hesitant as he is to let his team in, maybe it is time to finally get over himself and bring Spencer to meet them. After all, none of them have ever given him actual cause to be so nervous, and he knows they’d all inevitably fall in love with him almost as quickly as Derek did, so really it’s his own fears and fierce protective instincts keeping Spencer away from his second family.

“Fine,” he relents, anxious butterflies not easing. “He’s home this weekend, and apart from planning lectures I think he’s free, so I’ll ask him. But I can only promise to ask, I won’t promise he’ll agree.” It’s a pointless caveat; Spencer’s been bugging him to meet the team almost as long as they’ve been bugging him to meet Spencer, he’ll jump at the chance to go to dinner with them.

“Finally,” JJ groans, pretending to collapse against Emily in relief, who giggles fondly at her antics.

“I’m sure we’ll love him, Derek,” Rossi says reassuringly, a proud fatherly look on his face that has his chest clenching painfully.

As everyone settles down, his stomach churns anxiously as he stares back out of the jet window. He knows everyone will love Spencer; he just doesn’t know how to tell them what to expect. What if Spencer has a fainting episode or gets nauseous at dinner time? What if he can’t keep his energy up or is too photosensitive to have the lights on? What if meeting that many people at once overwhelms him? Spencer always tells him he worries too much, but he can’t help it — not when the love of his life is involved.

He’s brought out of his nervous stewing by Hotch. “You know, Morgan, if you really don’t want to bring Spencer, you don’t have to,” he says softly, making him look up to see everyone staring at him guiltily.

“We didn’t mean to pressure you,” JJ says hesitantly, and the others agree, all clearly having noticed his pensive expression.

He forces himself to take a calming breath and bite the damn bullet already. Spencer would be rolling his eyes at him. “Okay. There’s something I haven’t told you,” he starts carefully. He hasn’t had to introduce the concept of Spencer’s disability to anybody since he told his family. “Spencer is disabled. He has a chronic condition that impairs his mobility along with bringing a whole host of other symptoms, and while he’s had it for most of his adult life, I’m still not used to broaching the topic and I didn’t know how you would react. He already experienced enough difficulties in life, he doesn’t need my co-workers, hypothetically, being patronising or weird about it. So, I put it off.”

It feels like a weight off his chest once it’s out in the air, but the surprised looks on his team’s face make him briefly wonder whether telling them was a mistake after all. “Spencer will really look forward to coming though,” he rushes to continue. “He’s on his own a lot of the time and struggles to make it out of the house except for work if I’m not there, so he can feel quite isolated. It will be nice for him to spend time with other people, and finally meet you guys.”

By the time he’s finished speaking, everyone seems to have mostly recovered from their immediate shock, and look relaxed and intrigued again — far more appreciated expressions on Derek’s end.

“Well,” Rossi starts, and he feels like holding his breath in anticipation, “will he need any accommodations?” Relief spreads warm and thick across Derek’s chest as he feels himself physically relax. Of course immediate support would be the response from his team; he was stupid to think otherwise.

“His mobility fluctuates daily. Sometimes he can walk small distances okay, other times — and more frequently — he needs aids like forearm crutches or his wheelchair. Can I text you on the day and let you know?”

“Of course,” Rossi promises, a warm smile on his face, “whatever you and Spencer need.”

“There is one more thing, if Spencer’s coming it will need to be earlier in the evening… think more six rather than eight. He’ll be too exhausted later in the evening and he needs to be home early to get the amount of sleep he needs.”

“That’s fine,” Rossi agrees immediately, “six it is.”

“Sorry for pressuring you, Derek,” JJ says, tilting her head as she looks across the table at him. “But we’ll love Spencer, this won’t change anything.”

“Yeah, fuck you for thinking we’d be assholes about it,” Emily chuckles, punching him softly in the arm.

Derek grins at her before shaking his head. “I’m just too protective of him,” he explains a little guiltily. “He thinks it’s ridiculous but I can’t help it. We’ve been together nearly five years now and I’ve seen the things he has to go through, professionally and in his day to day life. I just saw an area for potential harm, no matter how slim the chances, and immediately bricked it up in my mind. It’s hard to tear walls down like that.”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” Alex says in her signature gentle tone, smiling at him.

“I can’t wait to meet him,” Hotch agrees and Derek gives them all another quick smile before they settle in for the rest of the flight.

It’s late by the time Derek unlocks the door to his and Spencer’s home and he knows his boyfriend will already be in bed. It had been a weird adjustment when they’d first started dating, Spencer having to be home by 10pm so Spencer could get at least nine hours of sleep, topped up by regular naps during the day. Now though, he’s completely used to operating around Spencer’s sleep schedule; it’s just routine.

He makes his way through the house quietly, toeing his shoes off and shedding his coat before dumping his bag in the living room and padding up the stairs. The house is dark but their room is dimly lit by Spencer’s night lamps, there to ease him off to sleep and keep him company when bouts of painful insomnia torment him. There was a time Derek used to mind, but those days seem so long ago now. He climbs carefully onto the mattress, taking off his trousers and socks but not bothering to change into anything new.

As gentle as he is with his movement, Spencer still stirs beside him. “Derek?” He blinks sleepily over at him in the soft light of the bedroom and Derek immediately scoots over and wraps him in a hug. It might be gone midnight but he misses Spencer like crazy when he’s away and physical contact is very much essential business right now.

“Yeah, baby,” he whispers as he relishes the feeling of Spencer’s small frame against his own. “Sorry I woke you.”

“It’s okay. Just glad you’re home. Missed you.”

“I promise I missed you more,” Derek murmurs as the warmth of the room and comforting presence of his boyfriend wrapped around him finally break down the walls he’s been holding back the sleepiness working a 5 day case inevitably brings.

“Make me pancakes in the morning?”

Spencer doesn’t need to ask, it’s a tradition for Derek to make pancakes for breakfast the day he gets back from the case, but it makes him smile anyway. “Anything for you, baby boy,” he yawns. “Go back to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

⭐️

Derek waits until dinner the next evening to bring up the subject of the dinner party. It’s just a simple takeaway on the sofa of the house Derek had renovated for them, but even five years into their relationship, every moment shared with Spencer feels like a date.

“How would you feel about going to a dinner party with the team?” Derek asks when there’s a lull in their conversation. Spencer’s just finished explaining a complicated debate he’s having with one of his colleagues about kinetic particle theory and Derek has no idea how to respond. Moments like these used to make him feel stupid and inadequete when they first got together, but now he just stares fondly at his genius boyfriend and wonders how on earth he got so lucky.

Spencer lowers his fork. They’re eating chinese but he still hasn’t mastered chopsticks, and it never fails to make Derek smile. “Are you serious?” he says, an excited grin spreading across his face.

“I am.” He quirks an amused eyebrow as he takes in Spencer’s eager expression. God, he’s so fucking in love.

“Well obviously I want to go,” he giggles, “you know that. When is it?”

“Saturday.”

Spencer just launches himself into Derek’s lap in lieu of response, not that he has far to move on their cosy sofa, slotting himself against his body as they melt into one another. “Thank you for finally getting over yourself,” he says with his face buried in Derek’s neck.

Derek’s responding laugh jostles both of them as he wraps his arms around Spencer’s small frame, loving the way he fits in the palms of his hands. “I’m sorry it took me so long, baby,” he says, tone transitioning into sincerity. “But they can’t wait to meet you, and you’re going to love them.”

“I know,” Spencer says drily, pulling back to look him in his eyes. “Why do you think I’ve been pushing to meet them for the last five years?”

Derek answers with a squeeze to Spencer’s waist and a kiss to his shoulder. “Go on,” he says, lifting him off his lap to sit on the sofa next to him. “Finish your dinner.”

“Mm, I think I’ve had enough,” Spencer hums nonchalantly, busying himself with putting the carton on the coffee table as if Derek doesn’t know him like the back of his hands.

“This is your favourite dish from your favourite Chinese and you’re expecting me to believe you’ve just had enough,” he says, raising an eyebrow. “What’s wrong, pretty boy?”

“Nothing,” Spencer says, but he sounds winded and Derek isn’t stupid. He levels him with a look. “Okay… I just feel a bit sick is all.”

“Floor, sofa, or bed?” He’s aware of the nausea protocol, and he moves his own dinner aside as he springs into action.

“Floor.” He’d been surprised the first time his boyfriend had crawled onto the floor and lay curled up until the nausea passed, but it was second-nature now. Apparently, the flat, firm surface was the most comfortable when such intense sickness consumed him.

“Okay, baby, let’s go.” He gently lifts Spencer off the sofa and down onto the floor, taking care not to jostle him too much. His eyes stay closed, face screwed up as he tries to weather the waves of nausea crashing over him. It never fails to make Derek’s heart twist in pain. “Are you actually going to be sick?” The majority of nausea spells usually pass on their own with no vomit to speak of, and Spencer’s usually very good at telling which kind it is.

“No,” he whispers, reaching his hand slowly towards Derek’s and gripping it tightly. He gets the message and lays down next to him, stroking his hair softly as they wait in silence for Spencer’s body to right itself. It only takes about twenty minutes to pass, and when it does, Derek carries him to bed, bringing him his toothbrush and a flannel as they follow another of their set routines that have been established over so many years of being together.

“I love you so much, Spencer Reid,” Derek murmurs as they lay in bed together that night, the soft light of their bedroom catching on Spencer’s cheekbones.

“I love you more, Derek Morgan,” Spencer whispers back, voice slurred as he cuddles further into the arms of his boyfriend.

“Not possible,” Derek insists, but Spencer’s already dropping off to sleep.

⭐️

Spencer wakes up on the day of the dinner party in what Derek can clearly see is nothing short of agony. He doesn’t try to hide it, they’re mostly past that now — although he still sometimes convinces himself he can handle smaller symptoms by himself, no matter how many times Derek insists they’re a team — but he doesn’t say much either. The morning is spent on the sofa, using numerous heated blankets and painkiller combinations until he can at least think straight.

“How do you feel about this evening?” Derek asks as lunchtime approaches, rubbing Spencer’s good arm gently as he leans against him, legs outstretched on the chaise.

Spencer hums. “I’m gonna take a nap after lunch,” he decides after a moment of deliberation, “and then decide. I think with meds and the wheelchair, I’ll be okay.” He pauses for a moment as he nibbles nervously on his bottom lip. “Do you think they’ll be weird about the chair?”

“No, baby,” Derek says decisively. Really, he can’t believe he ever thought anything different, but he was scared and fear easily spirals into irrationality. “They won’t even blink. Especially since I warned them about the mobility aids. I think they’d be more surprised if you walked into the Rossi mansion.”

“You sure?”

It hurts Derek’s heart to hear him so anxious and uncertain, and it’s only more painful because he knows it's rooted in experience. He’s had to fight for most of his life to be seen as a competent adult, equal to his peers despite his disability, and people can be cruel. “I’m sure. And even if for some reason they were dicks about it, I’m there, okay? Nobody’s gonna get away with being anything other than an angel towards you when I’m around.”

Spencer giggles at that, turning his head into Derek’s chest. “You turn into the hulk when you’re protecting me.”

“I do,” he agrees, chuckling at the sound of Spencer’s adorable laugh, “and for good reason. No-one hurts my baby. You know that, and everyone else knows it, too. We’re gonna be just fine, pretty boy.”

Spencer sighs, reassured by Derek’s words. “Love you,” he whispers, twisting a bit to press a kiss to the side of Derek’s neck.

“I love you more,” Derek promises, lifting a hand to rest on Spencer’s cheek.

“Not possible.”

The rest of the day passes slowly as Spencer takes it easy, deciding that he’s definitely up to it after a decent nap curled up against a reading Derek. They get ready together, Derek helping him shower when his arms hurt too much to wash his hair and getting him dressed in his favourite outfit before dressing himself.

By the time six thirty rolls around, Spencer’s feeling a little bit better, his meds are hitting the spot and they’ve mastered all the wheelchair adaptations to make his life as easy as possible over the years. His cushions and heated seats connected to the wheelchair’s motor, which he uses to help self-propell at work, ease the pain as much as they can and the built in phone charger always makes him popular whenever they go out with friends. Plus, his cane and crutches connect neatly to the back of the chair, giving him more options, which is especially helpful on nights like this.

“Comfy?” Derek asks as he pushes him out of the apartment and into the hallway, locking the door behind them.

Spencer hums in affirmation, wiggling a little as he settles into the warm support of the chair. They have a ground floor apartment for safety reasons: Spencer needs to be able to exit the building if the lifts stop working, but it’s also convenient. They get down to the garage quickly and Derek helps him into the passenger seat before packing the wheelchair in the boot.

He spends the journey in contemplative silence and Derek can’t keep himself from shooting worried looks his way. His hand makes its way onto Spencer’s knee and he rubs his thumb gently against the skin, before stilling the digit, all too conscious of how painful repetitive stimulus can be, especially on days like these.

“Stop worrying, baby,” he says, ten minutes into the drive when Spencer still hasn’t said a word. His bottom lip is chapped from the worried chewing it has endured for most of the day. “They’re going to love you, I promise.”

“You really think so?”

Derek’s about to answer quickly but he looks over and sees how absolutely dead serious Spencer is. He sighs. “Let me tell you exactly why. Alex is a fellow academic with the softest streak of anyone in the BAU field team. Emily and JJ have the ability to befriend literally anyone, and Penelope already is in love with you, just from what I’ve said about you. She’s told me so multiple times. Rossi immediately accommodated you and wasn’t at all fazed when I mentioned your disability. Hotch is a gentle fatherly type when he’s talking to good people and the rest of the team, so he’ll just be interested in you as a person. There’s no-one I’m worried about, okay?”

“Okay,” Spencer whispers eventually, finally sounding like he actually believes him.

“Besides, you’ve already got one member of this team whipped,” Derek smirks, glancing over at him again.

He considers it a win when Spencer rolls his eyes, and his grin couldn’t be wider when he hears him mumble, “arrogant asshole” under his breath.

Derek’s grateful Rossi doesn’t have a gravel driveway as he gets Spencer out of the car and into his wheelchair, before pushing him the short way to the front door. They’d battled some tough terrain over the years, and gravel was absolutely his least favourite. As they approach the house, though, he notices that Spencer’s grip on his armrest is tight enough that his knuckles are white, and it hurts Derek’s heart that he’s only this nervous because real people and real experiences have given him genuine reason to be.

Before he gets to knock, though, the door is thrown open by an uncontainably excited Penelope. “You’re here!” she shouts, and completely bypasses Derek to shake Spencer’s hand. He’s glad she doesn’t crouch, just leans down a little so he doesn't have to reach up so far. “You must be Spencer. I’m Penelope. It is a crime that Derek has kept us apart for so long, but none of that matters now. Would you like me to push you in through to meet the others?”

“Um, it’s nice to finally meet you, Penelope,” he says, smiling at her genuinely. “Would you mind if Derek keeps pushing me, though?”

“Oh, no, that’s fine!” Her smile doesn’t drop a bit. “Come through, everyone’s already in the living room. Oh, and hi Chocolate Thunder.” She sends him a quick wink.

“Hi, Mama,” he says, rolling his eyes. He’s grinning, though. So far, so good.

They follow Penelope further into the house after Derek closes the door behind them, and the girls get up first. “Spencer, oh it’s so good to meet you,” Emily says, coming up and shaking his hand. “I’m Emily, this is JJ.”

“Hi,” JJ says, shaking his hand too, giving him a conspiratorial look. “I’m glad we finally bullied Derek into bringing his oh-so-secret beau to meet us.”

Derek just grins. “What can I say? I’m protective of my baby.” He reaches down and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“Ignore this caveman,” Spencer laughs, and Derek is sure he rolls his eyes again. “I’ve been dying to meet you all, too.”

“Well, it’s our pleasure,” Alex says, coming up for her turn. “I’m Alex. Your paper ‘How Thinking Makes Us Write’ you published a couple of years ago is incredible; I used it in my Psychology of Writing class last year and only just realised it was written by Derek’s top-secret boyfriend! I’d love to talk to you more about that later.”

“That’s so cool, wow, yeah I’d love that.” He smiles at her, clearly feeling a little flattered by the immediate praise of his work. Derek thinks it’s the least he deserves.

“I’m Aaron, but everyone calls me Hotch,” Hotch says as he and Rossi step forward, a warm smile on his face. “Sorry to overwhelm you with all these introductions, but it’s lovely to meet you. It really is a shame Derek’s been so secretive.”

Spencer smiles up at him. “Are we all going to dunk on Derek all night? Because if that’s the case, I’m glad I came,” he laughs, twisting around slightly to look at Derek.

“Yeah, yeah, keep talking, pretty boy,” he says, raising a brow. “Two can play at that game.”

“You’re too whipped, I’m not worried,” Spencer dismisses him, before touching his hand lovingly, letting him know that he’s only teasing.

“I don’t doubt it,” Rossi says. “I’m Dave, or Rossi, whichever you prefer. I actually own this house, despite being the last in line for a formal introduction. I’m sorry I didn’t greet you at the door, Penelope had been waiting on the stairs for half an hour so she could be the first to greet you.”

“That true, baby girl?” Derek chuckles, looking over at her.

She doesn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed, but then Derek doesn’t know what else he expected. “This is on you,” she defends herself, “if you hadn’t waited so long to introduce me to baby genius here, I wouldn’t have been so desperate to meet him.”

Spencer laughs at their interaction, turning his attention back to Rossi. “It’s nice to meet you,” he says. “Derek told me you were really accommodating, so thank you for that.”

He waves the thanks aside with a dismissive hand. “It’s nothing. Speaking of which, though, would you rather eat in your wheelchair or transfer to one of the dining chairs.”

Derek knows what’s about to happen even before he sees Spencer tense up. “Give us one second,” he says, wheeling him out into the hallway. Decisions are really hard for Spencer to make on bad days, especially those that pertain to his health or needs, and being under the eyes of so many people was not about to make that an easy interaction.

“Derek…” Spencer says anxiously, looking at him for help as he feels his mind spiral into fogginess at the question.

“Okay, it’s okay, baby,” he says soothingly, crouching down in front of him to be at eye level. He takes his hand and kisses it gently. “Do your hips need a break from the chair or would it be more painful to transfer?”

Phrasing questions like Rossi’s as directly applicable choices is always more digestible for Spencer and he sees him visibly relax at his words. “Hips need a break.”

“Great,” Derek says. “Do you want to go back in or do you need a minute to yourself?”

“No, I’m fine,” Spencer says, and he believes him. He instantly relaxed at having made a decision. “Let’s go back in.”

“As you wish, sweetheart.”

They walk back into a room full of vibrant conversation and laughter. “Oh, Spencer, Spencer,” Emily says, immediately roping him back into the conversation without making a big deal of him having to leave the room, “we’re debating whether Derek’s really the slob Alex insists he is. You need to help us settle it.”

“I shared a room with him once, okay,” she says, “it was a state!”

“I don’t doubt it,” Spencer agrees. “At home, he’s so anal about ‘everything in it’s place’ and won’t even let a mug sit on the counter without being washed up. But whenever we go away, he can’t keep the place clean, it’s the weirdest thing. It’s like his suitcase vomits its contents all over the room.”

“Hey, I didn’t know this dinner was gonna be all about airing my dirty laundry,” Derek laughs.

“Literally,” JJ points out.

“Right,” Rossi says, interrupting the laughter filling the room. “Dinner is ready, so we should eat. Did you come to a decision about seating, Spencer?” Derek’s impressed at how much he knows about accommodating disabilities. He probably has someone close to him who’s been through something similar to Spencer.

“I’ll transfer,” he confirms.

“Great, we can just move your wheelchair to the hall once you’re settled so it’s not in the way, if that’s okay?”

At Spencer’s nod, they all file into the kitchen/dining area and choose their places. Penelope bags the seat to Spencer’s left, Derek sitting to his right, as the other girls sit opposite them. Hotch and Rossi sit at Derek's end of the table. He holds hands with Spencer under the table all through the delicious pasta primavera, helping to ground him, reminding him he’s right there.

Conversation and laughter flows with the wine Rossi serves, and Derek doesn’t even mind his embarrassing stories being shared with the team, because it’s Spencer, and he’s so far gone for this man that he could slice him open and with his dying breath, Derek would thank him.

“I love you, really,” Spencer grins up at him, after he’s just revealed his Nina Simone shower concerts to everyone sitting around the table, everyone cracking up as the tough exterior Derek’s built up at work over the years slowly disintegrates, his own boyfriend fuelling the fire.

“And I love you, baby,” he says, leaning over to kiss him briefly, before pulling back. “Even when you spill my deepest darkest secrets.”

“Well, aren’t you two just the cutest,” Alex says fondly. “You’re a lucky man, Derek.”

“No, I’m the lucky one,” Spencer insists. “Do you know what he said when we first met? We were at the supermarket, and I was reaching for some baby carrots. He said ‘whoa, pretty boy, don’t get those ones. They go off far too quickly. Someone as beautiful as you deserves better than that’. No mention of the wheelchair or bags under my eyes. He didn’t see Disabled Spencer, he just saw Spencer. Asked for my number then and there.”

“You were irresistible,” Derek says fondly, brushing a thumb against his cheek. “I knew right at that moment I would spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Stop,” Penelope begs, “my heart is literally a puddle on the floor. This world needs more Derek Morgans.”

“I’ll toast to that,” JJ says, her face just as soft as Penelope’s.

“A real toast,” Hotch says, raising his glass with a happy smile on his face. Derek very rarely sees such a relaxed expression on his face, and as much as they have their disagreements, it’s a nice thing to see. “A toast to Derek and Spencer. May your happiness live long and be as contagious as it is tonight.”

Everyone toasts to his words, and Spencer buries his face in Derek’s shoulder, a little embarrassed at the attention. They sit around the table a little longer, but Spencer slowly sags against his body, finding it painful to keep himself upright.

Noticing this, Penelope claps her hands. “Shall we move back to the living room? I bought chocolate and Rossi has wine.”

“This is true,” Rossi says as they all get up. He grabs Spencer’s wheelchair from the hall and Derek helps him back into it as they head back to the sofas.

“It’s weird using my chair inside,” Spencer laughs as Derek pulls him into his chest so he doesn’t have to keep himself steady upright, everyone else settling themselves around the room.

“Do you not need it often?” Hotch asks.

“No, I need it quite a lot. I just don’t usually have to. Derek’s usually fairly insistent on carrying me around our apartment.”

“We’ll never live in a big house,” Derek says, chuckling along with anyone else. “I couldn’t haul this big lug around a Rossi mansion, now could I?”

“Hey!” Spencer smacks his side lightly.

“You’re 6 foot tall, baby,” Derek defends himself. “You might be tiny but there’s still a lot of you.”

“Fair enough,” Spencer acquiesces, laying his head just under Derek’s chin.

“Right,” Rossi says, coming back into the room, “I have more of your non-alcoholic wine, Spencer, and more of the real stuff for everyone else. Hand out the chocolates, Penelope, and we’ll have ourselves some satisfied guests.”

“I don’t live here, old man,” Penelope says, raising an eyebrow but getting up from her seat cuddled against Emily and JJ anyway.

“Hey, you answered the door to pretty much everyone today; you’re co-hosting.”

“Can’t argue with that, Penelope,” Emily says drily, looking on amusedly as she huffs but hands out the chocolates anyway.

Derek discreetly pops two painkillers out in his pocket and hands it to Spencer, who swallows them down with a sip of his non-alcoholic wine, relaxing as they start to take effect. They all chat leisurely for a while, enjoying each other’s company in a non-pressured environment where they’re not surrounded by high profile cases and serial killers.

Eventually, though, Spencer starts to fall asleep on his chest, clearly feeling relaxed enough in the warm room, pressed up against his boyfriend and surrounded by the reassuring conversation of people he trusts. As soon as Derek notices, though, he knows it’s time to get him home and into bed before any true crisis of pain or fatigue takes place.

“I think we’ll need to get going, guys,” he says quietly, drawing everyone’s attention to Spencer’s dozing form. He watches as their faces soften and conversation quietens, everyone clearly enamoured with his boyfriend. It occurs to him that he feels no jealousy, only pride that he gets to call this wonderful man his, that he’ll be going home with him tonight, tucking him into bed and cuddling him until he falls asleep.

He shakes Spencer gently, and the others start to get up, tidying or just moving through to the kitchen so as not to embarrass him when he opens his eyes. “Sorry,” he murmurs sleepily, as he looks up at Derek. “I’m tired.”

“I know, baby,” he says softly, feeling so fond his heart could burst. “Let’s get you home, yeah?”

Everyone’s sad to see him go, gathering at the front door to say their goodbyes.

“You are invited to every BAU event from hereon in,” Penelope asserts confidently as she leans down for a gentle hug. She whispers, “you’re better company than Derek, anyway.”

“I heard that, Mama,” he says, poking her in the side.

“You were meant to,” she says, sending him a pointed look, before dropping the act and wrapping him in a hug as the others say goodbye to Spencer.

“It was so nice to finally meet you, Spencer,” Hotch says warmly. “Derek had better not keep us from seeing anymore of you.”

“I’m not sure I could possibly get away with that anymore,” he sighs. “Guess I’ll have to share my baby with you assholes.”

Spencer rolls his eyes at that, stifling a yawn. “Come on, caveman,” he says, rolling his eyes again. “I need to get home.”

“Anything for you, my highness,” he chuckles, before lifting his chin with his knuckle and bending down to kiss him briefly.

“Bye, lovebirds,” Emily calls as they make their way to their car.

“Drive safely,” JJ shouts, which makes Derek laugh fondly. He does love his team.

“See you on Monday,” he calls back as he helps Spencer into the passenger seat. They drive home in the comforting darkness of night, illuminated by the car and street lights of the city, and satisfaction pools in his stomach as he reflects on such a perfect evening as Spencer falls asleep against the passenger window. It really couldn’t have gone any better, and the relief he feels is staggering: the two most important facets of his life finally integrated after far too long.

While his whole life feels like it’s finally falling into place, all that really matters is that the man who is his entire world is happy, a small smile on his sleeping face as the shadows of the city brush their way over his cheekbones. He has to force his eyes back to the road, but he can’t resist the hand he slips into Spencer’s, or the smile that lights up his face as even in his sleep, Spencer’s fingers curl themselves around his.

Spencer's symptoms in this fic could fit any number of neurological conditions, but his unnamed condition was modelled on my own experience with fibromyalgia. I have a rather severe case, as would Spencer if he was diagnosed with this illness. The symptoms could also fit these conditions in one way or another: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis or Axial Spondyloarthritis, as well as others I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Everything about Spencer’s disability is true to the chronically ill/disabled experience as I know it, and to learn more please visit the end notes on AO3 where I explain in a little more detail some of the features of Spencer’s symptoms and condition.

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taglist: @criminalmindsvibez @hotchgans @suburban--gothic @strippersenseii @takeyourleap-of-faith

#my writing #criminal minds #criminal minds fic #criminal minds writing #moreid #derek morgan/spencer reid #derek morgan x spencer reid #moreid fic #moreid fluff #moreid au #criminal minds au #disabled spencer reid

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wakaoujisenhime · 3 years

Note

Hello there! I love your writing so much! ❤️ And I have a request! Scenario with Kirishima on a mission with his fem s/o, whose quirk is solar energy, she can absorb the suns energy, store it within her body for use when it’s needed, and use it to attack either with bright light to temporarily blind an enemy or condense the energy tightly together to create burning physical attacks. She saves a citizen but gets badly hurt for it. It almost kills her but in the end she survives and fully recovers

A/N: Thank you for your sweet words! This is a really cute scenario you came up with and I hope that you like what I made of it! Please enjoy! (*⁰▿⁰*)/

Tags: Kirishima x reader ✅ SFW ✅ fluff ✅ angst ✅

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

My light - Kirishima x reader

Big hands wrapped around your body as they adjusted the creme-yellow belt of your hero costume. With an amused gaze you watched as your red-haired lover struggled to perfectly align every single detail of your clothing with his big hands until you couldn’t help yourself anymore and began to giggle.

“Don’t laugh (Y/N), you know that I’m not good with this!”

“And yet you still insist on helping me with it,” you answer with a smile on your lips as you softly remove the man’s hands from you an squeeze them. As if to return your gentle touch he brought your hands to his lips and made sure to kiss every single knuckle, making you blush in embarrassment in the process.

“Are you ready?”

His sudden question took you by surprise, but after a couple of seconds you nodded confidently.

——

Both, Kirishima and you stood next to each other slightly nervous about what your superior had called you in his office for. The blond man in front of you looked over some documents before finally lifting his gaze, a grin immediately spreading along his mouth.

“Well hi there you two, there’s no need to be that nervous, you know? C’mon, loosen up a little!”

The two of you did as told and relaxed your tensed up muscles, after which you spoke up, asking the pro hero in front of you why he had wished for a meeting in his office.

Usually, Fat Gum wasn’t one that sticked to formalities, such as calling his workers - or in your case, heroes - to his office for a talk. He preferred to casually bring it up whenever he met with the person(s) in question, and that’s why Kirishima and you were so surprised when Tamaki had asked you to go to the main office for a talk with the boss.

Luckily, he was quick to realize that you both were pretty nervous so he immediately began explaining. It was truly a relief to hear that all he wanted to share with you were the details for a joint mission the two of you would be taking care of the following day. He gave you all relevant details and as always asked you to be careful and try to not get yourselves injured. With a promise to watch out for each other and be as careful as always Kirishima and you left your superior’s office and began reviewing all the relevant papers he’d given you. You were motivated and happy to finally have a mission with your beloved, since not only were you a great team but just being by his side during dangerous missions made you feel safe and somewhat relieved. While you looked at the red-haired man’s profile as he scanned over the paper in his hands, you promised yourself to make this mission a success.

——

Ah! It’s Red Riot and Sunshine!

E-Excuse me Red Riot sir, can I have your autograph?

Thank you two for always watching out for us!

Miss Sunshine, can I have a selfie with you?

After answering all questions and attending to everyone’s requests the two of you resumed your walk. Being stopped by people who treat you like some famous actors was nothing new to the two of you since this wasn’t the first joint mission you took on and yet you were always overwhelmed by the amount of love and support everyone showed you. But what made you even happier was seeing how Kirishima reacted to it all.

The way his cheeks became redder, his slightly stuttering but nonetheless loud voice, how big his eyes got whenever a fan of his showed him the merch they’d bought, and many other small and adorable things you noticed were simply heartwarming. As his lover you knew more than anyone how much effort he puts into his hero career and just how ambitious he follows through with the goal to step into Crimson Riot’s footsteps, so seeing his hard work being rewarded made you extremely happy.

A couple of minutes passed and you slowly had to resume your patrol, so you unobtrusively signaled your red-haired companion to wrap his talk up. The disappointment of his fans didn’t last as long as you’d presumed it would, but who could blame them when Kirishima flashed that sharp but angelic smile instead of bidding them a proper farewell.

“My bad (Y/N), I got quite caught up talking with them about their t-shirts!”

You giggled and pat his shoulder a few times before answering: “There’s nothing for you to apologize about, in fact I can’t really blame you since…the new collection of yours looks pretty cool”

Even though you had whispered the last part of your sentence, the man next to you heard it nonetheless and couldn’t help but smile broader than he already was. The moment he parted his mouth to give you an answer, a sudden explosion some meters away from you interrupted the wholesome moment you were having. You two immediately ceased your idle chatter and switched over to your hero personalities. While you began to evacuate the nearby pedestrians, your boyfriend rushed to the explosion site and helped the injured people out. Your eyes followed the backs of the innocent citizens as they ran away from the smokescreen that was enveloping the massive frame of Kirishima, who was holding onto staggering and hurt pedestrians as he brought them to safety.

Before you could go and help him out a figure caught your eye and just as you were about to call out to them, they turned the corner and ran into an alleyway. “Hey! Hold it!“ you shouted and almost immediately took chase, ignoring the young man’s worried screams behind you, pleading for you to at least wait for him and not do anything too rash. You heard him and nodded to yourself, repeating his warning inside of your head as you continued your chase.

Surprisingly enough, the person before you wasn’t as quick as you had expected so it wasn’t that hard to keep up with him and just as you were about to take a hold of their arm they cut the corner yet again. You spit out a curse before following the new route of the suspicious individual and that’s when the worst case scenario happened.

Just a few steps in front of you was a young school girl who was talking to someone over her mobile phone and because of that she failed to notice the two of you approaching. You shouted out a warning but her reactions were unfortunately too slow and allowed the suspect to grab her and hold a knife to her throat.

“D-Don’t come any closer or else this girl’s death will be your fault!”

Without much hesitation you obeyed and stopped, using the moment of silence to asses the situation as well as take a proper look at the person you had just chased. It appeared to be a middle aged man and judging by his wide eyes and slightly trembling hand you deduced that he wasn’t used to threatening people like that.

Perfect, I just need to calm him down and hope that words will be enough…I’d really like to avoid using my powers

As you thought that you glanced up at the sky where the sun was shining brighter than you’d ever seen it in the past few days and if you were being honest, it worried you a little. Your quirk was the accumulative type and allowed your body to store solar energy, allowing you to use it at your discretion, but it came at a cost. To put it simply, the brighter and stronger the sun shone, the more dangerous and taxing your power was on your body. You took a deep breath to calm yourself and began reasoning with the man who faced you.

“Sir there is no need for you to get other people involved, we can clear this misunderstanding between us, ok?”

You spoke slow but with a firm voice so that neither the man got more agitated than he already was nor scare the innocent girl any further. And indeed the man relaxed his grip ever so slightly but the moment you wanted to continue with your plan of calming him down the young girl screamed out for help and began struggling desperately.

“No…! Don’t-”

But before you could warn her to not make anything rash it was too late. The girl’s thrashing about ended up hitting the man behind her a few times, which resulted in him finally losing his patience and the moment you saw him raise his hand, in which he held the knife, you immediately activated your quirk and shouted: “Close your eyes!”

Fortunately for you, your message reached the recipient it was meant for and when you confirmed that the female student had obeyed your order, you released a portion of the energy you had collected from today’s sunshine and blinded the man. While he was stumbling back screaming, you used the short timeframe to grab the girl’s hand and start running.

“Ok I need you to listen and obey everything I’m about to tell you, got it?” you asked and waited for her affirmation first before you continued, “Run as fast as you can back to the main street and there you’ll meet the sturdy hero Red Riot, a muscular, tall, and red-haired young man, who’ll keep you safe while I take care of that man, ok? Now run!”

You normally would’ve gone with her, but your previous move took more out of you than expected, so you chose to leave her safety to your trusted lover while you won them some time.

The man’s quick and heavy steps were closing in on you, so you prepared yourself to attack once again if necessary. With the plans to either stun him a second time so that he can’t see where he runs or inflict a burn on one of his kneecaps to slow him down, you turned to face him.

“O-Oh my god…why didn’t you….? T-This can’t be happening! I-I….I have to g-get away from here!”

“Not s-so fast…” you utter as you hold onto his hand and your body temperature begins to rise. In a swift and quick motion you kick his shin, causing his knee to buckle and used that small timeframe to bring this man down, ultimately pinning him to the ground with your leg on top of his chest, and your hands tightly gripping his wrists. In order to make him surrender completely you released your powers and that energy caused slight burns on each body part you had come in contact with. You had to use and control your power which was pretty taxing to your body. Your vision slowly grew blurry and that’s when you remembered the small “promise” your loved one had made to you as you ran off.

Aah…Eijiro, please hurry up..

“(Y/N)!”

Hearing the familiar voice echo behind you just mere moments after you had thought of him made you smile in relief. You took one last glance at the knife which was deeply buried inside of your lower stomach before closing your eyes and embracing the darkness that had tried to claim you this entire time…

——

P-Please, you need to save her! I-I’ll do anything, so please-!

Sir I need you to calm yourself down, you’re bothering the other patients.

We first need to perform a checkup on her, s-

I don’t care what you have to do, j-just please!

That’s enough out of you shitty hair, let the doctors handle it and meanwhile we’ll wait outside!

While your consciousness drifted back and forth you could make out a couple of voices near you and one of them belonged to none other than Kirishima.

“E-Eijiro…”

You felt a big hand tightly wrap around your own and squeeze it slightly, but before you could do or even say anything else, your vision once again blackened.

——

Calloused fingers caress the back of your hand as the tall man kisses your bandaged knuckles. His empty stare fixated on your sleeping form and the peaceful way you just lied there managed to put him at ease for at least a couple seconds before once again realizing the harsh truth of how grave you had been injured by that man and your own quirk.

“You idiot…I told you to be careful and not overdo it, didn’t I?” he silently whispered in front of himself as he used his free hand to stroke your cheek ever so gently. Since your hospitalization he remained practically glued to your side, refusing to miss even a single update on your condition, if it weren’t for his friends to literally drag him out of your room so that he gets something to eat or simply see the summer sun he would be in an even worse condition than right now. He was aware that he was a burden to others and that he behaved immaturely, but every time he tried to cheer up for their sake or simply try to worry less, he’d remember that day of the incident.

The scene of your back facing him while you were apprehending the man who had ran off seemed normal at first, but as soon as he was merely a couple of steps away from you, you had fallen forward right on top of the other man’s chest. He began panicking and apologizing frantically, saying stuff like I didn’t mean to do it or why didn’t she dodge, and that’s when he noticed the abnormal amount of blood that had stained the other man’s shirt…

While your lover recalled the unpleasant and rather traumatizing event, he failed to notice the way your facial features tensed up and your eyes slowly fluttering open. At first you couldn’t really feel your body, so all you did was glance around and quickly came to the conclusion that you were in a hospital room. All you could hear except the silence that surrounded you were the steady breaths of someone who most likely stood pretty close to you. Just as you were about to try and move your body a sudden voice stopped you in your tracks.

“I’m sorry (Y/N) for being late…I-I should’ve hurried up and come to y-your aid quicker, t-then you wouldn’t have had to use your ability to that extend and e-even wouldn’t have gotten stabb– god, forgive me…”

His shaky voice was full of sorrow and guilt and as if that wasn’t painful enough for you to hear, Kirishima even squeezed your hands tighter than before and put them up to his forehead. The man continued muttering apology after apology and with each one he got sadder, so you finally decided to speak up.

“If you continue squeezing my hand like that it’ll never recover, you know?” you joked with the most cheerful voice you could muster and even though it ended up sounding more raspy, it achieved the surprise effect you were going for. Wide red eyes, filled with nothing but relief stared at your smiling face.

The man next to your bed got up so quickly that his chair fell over, he was so overwhelmed with the fact that you were awake that he didn’t know what to do first. Call the doctor and the nurses over? Ask you about your condition? Embrace you? Lecture you? Cry?

In order to take most of his nervousness away, you gently tugged on his hand and smiled up at him with glassy eyes.

“Ei, I missed you.”

One single tear rolled down his cheek and as realization slowly downed on him the stream of tears didn’t stop flowing down his face. He bend down to you and as gently as he could wrapped his arms around you, hiding himself in the crook of your neck.

A couple of minutes had to pass by until he was capable of properly talking to you and knowing just how worried he had been you figured that he’d most likely start lecturing you, but as you saw him push the button next to your bed that was supposed to notify the hospital staff in case of an emergency, you gave him a confused glance.

“(Y/N), I’m pretty sure that you know what I want to tell you and I hope that you’re aware of just how mad I am, but,” he paused and looked directly at your face, but to you it seemed like he glanced at something beyond you. After what felt like an eternity of torturing silence he finally resumed his initial thought with a somewhat sad smile: “…the only thing I’m most thankful for is the fact that you’re alive and well.”

A gentle knock on your door and the entry of the nurse interrupted your discussion. After she checked in with Kirishima you watched as he slowly left your room…

——

“Ok, then Miss Sunshine one last sign and you’re free to leave.”

You sign the last document she’d given you and smile, thanking her for everything they’d done for you. She simply smiled and humbly shook her head. “Miss I’m simply doing my job…just like you. Thanks to every hero’s efforts I can feel safe…and if by treating your injuries I can contribute to your well-being and performance then I’d gladly do so.”

With flushed cheeks, you chuckle at her words, and just as you were about to leave she stopped you.

“But if I may give you an advice for the future…please refrain from such reckless actions again. This wasn’t the first time you came here because of your quirk’s effects on your body…but this time was the worst. I don’t know what lead you to drive yourself beyond your body’s limits, but you standing right here in front of me in such good condition is nothing short of a miracle.”

Silence.

“She knows that.”

The two of you turned to the person who’d just butted into your conversation and as expected it was none other than your boyfriend, who was standing behind you. He carefully wrapped one arm around your waist and held out a beautifully arranged bouquet to you with his other one. You took the flowers and blushed as you whispered a short thank you to him. With his usual broad grin, he kissed your cheek and took the bag you were carrying, slumping it over his own broad shoulder.

The two of you bid the nurse and her colleagues farewell as you slowly headed for the exit. She watched your backs as you walked past the entryway and focused on the man’s smile which seemed to never falter, as she recalled his words the day you had been rushed to the hospital right before his blind friend had brought him away…

I know that it’s not my place to say this, but please save her…

I’m begging you…

Please save my light…

#bnha scenarios #mha scenarios #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha fluff #mha fluff #bnha angst #mha angst #kirishima x reader #kirishima eijiro x reader #━𝙱𝙽𝙷𝙰 #━𝙼𝙷𝙰 #━𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽'𝚂 𝙴𝙲𝙷𝙾

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kanerallels · 3 years

Note

happy one-eleven!! four words: kanera, lost a bet.

Oh, heck yes!! Here it is, I hope you like it!!!

Pairing: Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla

Word Count: 3,269

Tags/Warning: rated G (for a grotesque amount of Kanera jk there's no such thing)

This was why Hera didn’t typically get involved in bets. They rarely ended well, and she’d seen some bets her friends made go in some very crazy directions.

But this one had seemed relatively safe-- her friend, Ahsoka, had been racing against her brother Anakin to see who could drink the most shots of chocolate milk in sixty seconds. Hera had bet on Ahsoka, because she usually won this kind of thing.

However, halfway through, Anakin had started stealing the shot glasses Ahsoka had been about to drink out of, which resulted in Ahsoka throwing other shot glasses at Anakin, which resulted in him drenched in chocolate milk but victorious all the same.

And now Hera owed Omega, her best friend and roommate, a dare of some kind, and she was getting an increasingly bad feeling about what it would be.

“So what does this have to do with our bet?” she asked as Omega led her towards a nearby building. Even from a distance, Hera could tell it was some kind of bar. That, combined with the fact that Omega had convinced her to get dressed up in a dark blue dress (which she almost never wore). She had refused to wear high heels, however, or let down her hair, which she almost always wore woven into two braids. That was a bridge too far for her.

“You’ll see,” Omega said, her voice way too innocent for comfort. Hera flashed an inquisitive look at their other three companions, Ahsoka, and Merrin. Ahsoka gave a shrug.

“Search me. I’m just here to see the fruits of my loss.”

Hera let out a sigh as she followed Omega and the others into the bar. This is definitely not going to end well.

The bar was dimly lit, but fairly generic-looking, with tables scattered across the room and the bar to Hera’s right. The room was about half full, and there were four people working the bar.

One was an older man who was almost bald, with a neatly trimmed white beard, who was taking a customer’s order. A young woman a little older than Hera, with short dark hair, heavy eyeliner, and tan skin was wiping down the bar, ignoring the two men bickering at the end of the bar.

Hera’s gaze paused on the two men for a moment. One had short dark hair, combed neatly, and a seriously annoyed expression. The other man, on the other hand, had longer brown hair, his skin a light brown, and wore an easy smirk.

His eyes flicked up from his work and locked on her, and Hera realized she’d been staring, Feeling a flush working it’s way across her cheeks, she looked away as the older man finished with his order and caught sight of them. “Ah, Omega!” he said, his smile kind. “A pleasure to see you as always. How are your brothers?”

“Still unaware of the fact I came here on a date, thanks to you,” Omega said, giving him a grin. “By the way, these are my friends-- Ahsoka and Hera.”

“Lovely to meet you, madams,” Okadiah said, giving them a bow. “We’ll have someone to serve you in a moment-- is there anything any of us can get you for the time being?”

“I think we’ll be fine,” Hera said.

Okadiah nodded just as there was a crash on the far end of the bar, where the two men had been. Hera looked to see the short haired man doubled over with laughter as the one she’d caught herself staring at got to his feet, rubbing his head and directing a glare at his friend.

“You alright, Kanan?” Okadiah asked, a look of mild interest on his face.

Waving a hand, the man said, “Fine-- it’s not that funny, Dark!”

Dark didn’t seem to agree, judging by how hard he was laughing, but Omega was already looping her arm around Hera’s and leading her and the others over to a table before Hera could see what happened next.

They settled at a table, and the female bartender, who turned out to be named Trilla, came over and took their orders. No sooner had she returned to the bar than Omega turned to Hera.

“Good news-- I know what I’m daring you to do.”

“Reassuring,” Hera said, letting out a sigh. “Okay, let’s get it over with. What do you want me to do?”

“You know that bartender you were staring at? The one with the ponytail?”

“Wha-- I wasn’t staring at anyone.”

Merrin shook her head. “No, Omega’s right. You were staring.”

“Unhelpful,” Hera muttered, her face heating up again.

“Regardless,” Omega said, waving a hand airily. “I’m daring you to get his number.”

Hera’s jaw dropped. “WHAT?”

Ahsoka’s eyes widened. “Oh, this is SO worth losing to Skyguy for. You want Hera to ask out the bartender she thinks is hot?”

“I don’t!”

“You do,” Omega said.

Merrin let out a thoughtful noise. “He’s okay. I like Cal better.”

“Cal is literally your boyfriend, it would be weird if you didn’t,” Ahsoka pointed out. “Hera, you absolutely HAVE to do this. I’ve literally never seen you show interest in a guy before, and I’ve known you for three years now.”

“I agree,” Merrin said, nodding.

Hera let out a groan. “I-- you’re not letting me get out of this, are you?”

“Sorry,” Omega said, patting her on the arm. “But you owe me. These are just the cards you’ve been dealt.”

Sighing, Hera muttered, “You sound like one of your brothers.”

“Not a bad thing.”

“That’s a matter of opinion.”

Clearing her throat, Ahsoka said, “Not to be the Skyguy, but stop stalling and get moving.”

“Fine.” Reluctantly, Hera got to her feet and headed over to the bar, determinedly trying not to think about the three other women watching her, or what she was about to do.

When she arrived at the bar, she realized that the other bartenders were gone, leaving only the guy with the ponytail-- Kanan?-- there. I’m not sure if this is better or worse. “Hi,” she said.

His gaze flicked to her, and his eyes widened a little at the sight of her. For a moment, he looked incapable of speech, and Hera frowned. “You okay?”

A very slight smile tugged at the corner of the man’s mouth. “Words fail me.”

This was… definitely not what Hera had been expecting. Before she could respond, the man said, “I’m Kanan.”

“I heard. Hera.” Hera offered her hand, and Kanan clasped it. His grip was firm, and something about the feeling of his skin against hers… Hera tried very hard not to turn red again.

“Nice to meet you, Hera,” he said with a smile. Releasing her hand, he leaned against the bar, propping his elbows on the surface as he faced her. “So. Be honest-- your friends dared you to come over here, did they?”

“What-- how--?” Hera stared at him, stunned.

Kanan shrugged lightly. “I have mad skills. Plus, I spotted Omega pointing over at us, and there were a lot of covert looks in our direction. Also, I recall her saying last time she was here that she had a friend she wanted to, uh, introduce me to.”

“You’re kidding,” Hera said, and Kanan shook his head. “Ugh, that is so typical-- how long has she been planning this?”

“Aren’t all of her brothers either currently or previously military?” Kanan pointed out. “Cause that’s definitely a yes.”

Letting out a long sigh, Hera muttered, “I can’t believe this.” Glancing at Kanan, she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to involve you in all this.”

“I’ve been involved in way worse,” Kanan said breezily. “Give me the details. I’m invested at this point.”

Grimacing, Hera said, “Long story short, I lost a bet with Omega, and she gets to dare me to do whatever she wants. And in this case, that’s… getting your number.”

“High stakes,” Kanan said with a totally straight face, and Hera rolled her eyes at him.

“Don’t mock me, alright? I don’t usually do this kind of thing.”

“It makes sense,” Kanan said, holding up his hands. “I mean, I doubt you usually need to, all things considered.”

Hera’s eyebrows shot up. “What exactly does that mean?”

She saw Kanan pause and look briefly embarrassed. “Oh. Well, I mean, you’re pretty… wow. I assume you have to fight off guys with a stick.”

A wave of heat swept over Hera, and she glanced down, feeling an absurd smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Pretty wow, huh?”

“Now who’s mocking?” Kanan grumbled, a grin crossing his face nonetheless. “I’m usually a lot smoother than this, you know.”

Rolling her eyes, Hera said, “Oh, I’m sure. But-- no, actually. I don’t date a lot. From what I’ve heard, my strong personality and ability to actually do things for myself tends to scare some men off.”

“Only idiots,” Kanan said, shooting her a grin that shouldn’t have made Hera’s heart skip a beat. But here they were, and she couldn’t help but notice how little space was between them. He was close enough that she could clearly see the bright teal of his eyes as they caught hers for a long moment.

“I’ve got an idea,” he told her, and moved back and away from her. Hera felt a moment of unreasonable disappointment, and hastily brushed it away. Don’t be stupid, Hera. Turning her attention back to Kanan, she saw him grab a pen and a paper coaster and scribble something on the back of it. “Here’s my number-- but I propose a bet.”

“I’ve already been tricked into one bet,” Hera pointed out, folding her arms. “Why on earth would I agree to this one?”

“Because I’ll give you my number either way,” Kanan said, sliding her the coaster. “Rules are simple. We stay here and talk for as long as possible. Whoever’s friends get curious and come to nose into our business first, wins. If you win, you obviously get my number, and I’ll pay for your whole group’s drinks and meals.”

“And if you win?” Hera asked, intrigued despite herself.

“I get to take you out to dinner,” Kanan said, a satisfied grin stretching across his face. “Somewhere a lot nicer than here, I promise you. Deal?”

Hera hesitated. Last time she'd gotten involved in a bet, it had gone badly. Getting involved in another one seemed really stupid.

But as her father liked to say, no risk, no reward. Besides, the worst that could happen would be her ending up on a date with Kanan. And would that be the worst thing in the world?

Brushing off the thought, Hera gave Kanan a nod. “Deal.”

“Excellent,” Kanan said. “Okay, in order to do this-- you might have to tell me about yourself.”

“Very funny,” Hera said, lifting an eyebrow at her. “But you've got a point. Where do you want to start?”

Kanan frowned, knitting his eyebrows thoughtfully. “Let's see. Favorite color?”

“I like blue,,” Hera said.

Nodding, Kanan said, “I can see why. It’s a good color for you.”

“Are you going to spend this whole time flirting?” Hera asked, narrowing her arms at him.

“Maybe,” Kanan said, a grin pulling at the corner of his lips-- and why was Hera looking at his lips?

Hastily redirecting her attention, she said, “How about you?”

“Green. Which reminds me, I like your hair.” He gestured to her braids, his fingers brushing one of them. “What made you decide to dye them?”

Flicking one of her deep green braids over her shoulder, Hera said, “It’s… for my mom. I lost her when I was thirteen, and she actually did something very similar with her hair. After a while, it just kind of stuck. My brother did the same thing-- it’s kind of our thing at this point.”

“I’m sorry about your mom.” Kanan’s deep voice was unusually serious, and Hera glanced up to meet his eyes again. They held a sort of raw conviction, a sadness that almost made Hera think he knew what she was feeling. He gently touched her hand, but pulled back again a few seconds later, giving her space.

“Thanks,” she said, her voice irritatingly shaky. Clearing her throat, she said, “Um, let’s see. What else?”

“I’ve got a good one-- what’s your dream job?” Kanan asked.

“Well, I’m going to school to be a mechanic,” Hera replied. “But ever since I was a little girl, I’ve liked the idea of being a pilot.”

“Like for a commercial airline or something?”

Shaking her head adamantely, Hera said, “Definitely not. No, just… being able to fly. It appeals to me, the idea of being up there. Anyway, I’m working on getting my pilot’s license. If I’ll be able to do anything with it is another story entirely.”

“I get the feeling you’ll figure something out,” Kanan said with stunning certainty. “You’ve got this general air of confidence, like you can handle anything. I admire it.”

“Hmm. I appreciate the support. Well, how about you? Dream job?”

“I’ve never really had one,” Kanan said, grimacing. “Let’s just say that my future hasn’t ever been something that’s been set in stone. I don’t really have your confidence, shall we say.”

“I haven’t always been confident,” Hera said, making a face. “I guess you’ve just got to find what you’re passionate about and figure out how to make a living off of it.”

“I don’t know how well that’ll go in my case,” Kanan said wryly. “But it’s not a bad idea. Next question?”

Accepting the change in subject, Hera said, “Well, I don’t even know your last name. Shall we start there?”

“Easily fixed-- Jarrus,” Kanan said, his smile returning. “You?”

“Syndulla.”

Hera regretted answering the minute Kanan’s eyebrows shot up. “Syndulla? As in the prosecutor?”

Letting out a sigh, Hera said, “Yep. Consider that another nail in my social life coffin.”

“Well, you do have a couple friends over there,” Kanan pointed out.

“Yeah, well, most people I meet are pretty convinced that I’m as rich and stuck up as they’re convinced my dad is. Omega and I grew up together, and she’d introduced me to Merrin. Ahsoka is… technically in the police academy, so she wasn’t very intimidated by my dad.” Hera rubbed a hand over her forehead. “And my dating life is… frustrating. I’m a little particular as it is, though--” she stopped abruptly, grimacing. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to dump all of this on you at all, it’s just--”

“It sounds to me like you need to talk about it,” Kanan said, his voice matter of fact. “And I’m happy to listen. I’ve been the object of many a drunken ramble-- and trust me, I’d rather listen to you.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Hera’s mouth. “Thanks. I think.”

“No problem. And for the record, the right people will stay friends with you regardless of who your family is,” Kanan told her. “I’ve been in a pretty similar situation, so I know what I’m talking about.”

Frowning, Hera said, “How so?”

Kanan hesitated, his expression clearly torn. “Uh. Do you know Mace Windu?”

“The deputy commissioner of the police department?” Hera said incredulously. “Yeah, my father has dinner with him and his daughter sometimes-- wait.” She stopped and squinted at Kanan. “Are you--?”

“His grandson,” Kanan said, offering what could be either a smile or a grimace. “Surprise. I don’t really talk about it a lot, but--” he shrugged. “We’ve all got family that’s not super easy to deal with.”

“Hmm.” Hera nodded thoughtfully. “Who would have thought our families would actually be so… entwined, I guess?”

A real smile started on Kanan’s face. “One could even call it fate.”

“Very smooth,” Hera said, and he laughed.

“Oh, just let me have this one.”

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Hera told him.

Leaning forward, Kanan locked eyes with her, their faces inches apart. Hera felt her breath catch as he said quietly, “Challenge accepted.”

Before Hera could respond, she heard a voice from behind them. “Hey, Hera?”

Kanan pulled back smoothly as Hera turned to see Ahsoka, whose expression was calm and blank, with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “Are you busy? I can come back later--”

“You’re fine,” Kanan cut in lightly. “Although, Miss Syndulla, I believe this belongs to you.”

Hera glanced back at him to see him holding out the coaster with his number scribbled on it-- and she remembered the bet. Right. And I won. So why didn’t she feel excited?

“I’ll see you back at the table, Hera,” Ahsoka said quietly, turning and heading back to where their friends were waiting.

Taking the coaster from Kanan, Hera said, “Thank you. For-- all of this, really.”

“Not a problem,” Kanan said, but Hera could read the slight disappointment in his eyes. And she was startled to realize she felt the same way. It wasn’t every day she met a guy she might be interested in, let alone one who wasn’t intimidated by her and her father. “Consider your tab covered.”

“Actually,” Hera said as he started to move away, “I’ve changed my mind.”

Surprise flashed across Kanan’s face. “Uh, what?”

“For my end of the bet. I’m changing the deal.”

“Okay,” Kanan said, folding his arms as a slow smile started to grow across his face. “What exactly did you have in mind? Obviously I won’t accept just anything, since you’re changing the deal after the bet is over.”

“Coffee,” Hera said calmly. “Tomorrow morning, you and me. I’m buying. There’s a place two blocks south of here that sells the best bear claws. It’s called, unfortunately, Bake It Til You Make It.”

“That’s… kind of the best name I’ve ever heard,” Kanan said.

“The guy who owns it thinks he’s hilarious. But he’s a good baker.” Holding Kanan’s gaze, Hera lifted an eyebrow. “What do you say?”

“Yes,” Kanan said, giving her a crooked grin. “I’d love to.”

“Good.” Hera sent him a smile that she knew was different from her usual one. But there was something about this guy that was different. Maybe it was his easy humor or the seriousness and respect that was just underneath, or maybe even the fact that he was seriously good looking.

It could also be the way he was looking at her right now-- soft and kind, with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. It took Hera a moment to regain her ability to speak. “What?”

“Why’d you change your mind about the bet?”

Hera pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I guess I don’t want to miss out on what could turn out to be something… good. If you know what I mean.”

“I definitely do,” Kanan said, his deep voice holding something that sent a shiver up Hera’s spine. “See you at eight-thirty, in that case?”

“I’ll meet you there,” Hera said. Shooting him a grin, she added, “And don’t be late.”

“Well, you have my number if I am.”

“Very true,” Hera agreed. She held his gaze for another second, feeling her heart speed up as he looked back. Then she got to her feet and headed over to the table where her friends were waiting, grinning like a pack of hyenas.

But. She had a really good feeling about tomorrow all of a sudden. And a fluttery feeling in her stomach that hadn’t been there in a long time. Maybe it was a good thing I lost that bet after all, Hera mused.

#hera syndulla #kanan jarrus #omega star wars #ahsoka tano #tbb #swr #tcw #anakin skywalker #dark o'reilly #(and yes i did cameo @accidental-spice's oc i do what i want)#trilla suduri #nightsister merrin #kanera #kanera is love kanera is life #star wars rebels #111 followers celebration #it was dope. the end

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anasticep · 3 years

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Why Julie and the Phantoms is a masterpiece of a show. Part 2. Heroes and Villains or Let that foil shine

NOTE: Thanks again for your kind response to Part 1. I never expected that. It being my first tumblr post and a first meta in quite a long time I was blown away. I read all the tags, some were really hilarious. About having more than one brain cell xDDD I laughed so hard. It means a lot.

NOTE2: Please remember that the gifs are made by me, so don't crop, edit or give as yours.

Part 1.

Before diving into meta, I have to mention that the Villain of the story is actually one of the best in the decade. He’s cool, evil from the start, we understand his motives and we certainly are not supposed to love and make excuses for him. The writers made sure of that. So back to the main topic.

A foil is a character who contrasts with another character; typically, a character who contrasts with the protagonist, in order to better highlight or differentiate certain qualities of the protagonist

Foils in literature are not necessarily antagonists. A friend can be a foil or sometimes even a thing, a song. Whatever can make a good and real contrast to the protagonist. But it’s not very simple to use this author’s device and not fall down a deep hole. Because you have to make sure you did just the right amount of work to make it understandable for a reader, the things you want to contrast are definitely there and still you don't waste a character. On TV it can be even harder given limited air time. And, well, I don’t come across this device being used in full very often nowadays. It’s usually good and evil fighting for the plot. That’s why I personally appreciate JaTP so much.

Caleb is clearly a foil to Luke. As much as I’d love to say that Julie also has one, that’s not entirely true, at least not this season. Carrie is not her foil though it may seem so, and I really think that’s cool as Julie’s journey is being presented through her own demons and I'm going to cover that next. That being said, of course Caleb doubles as an antagonist plotwise, but I personally consider him being written more as a contract to Luke so we could see and appreciate his character and journey better.

1. Origins

Caleb and Luke have extremely similar backgrounds. They are both natural performers. They know how to deliver, because c’mon, “Now or Never” is something and so is “The other side of Hollywood”. Stage is their natural habitat, their element, power. Although they channel this power from completely different places.

Let’s start with our little ball of energy. It’s emphasized TWICE that he doesn’t care about the money aka the physical side of art.

All Luke wants is to make music. Connect with people. He is so happy just to be heard despite him loving to perform. Making music is what makes him feel alive and basically that’s enough. I think if there was no “hologram” magic at all, Luke would have still been extremely happy to make music with and for Julie. Because that’s the way he is.

But Caleb doesn’t know that. He knows, and I’m standing by that, right away that Luke is the one to aim at. Because we always feel the similarity in people. If Luke said yes, Reggie and Alex would have followed. So Caleb recognizes the passion and shoots at them what he thinks is appealing. And, oh boy, he delivers.

“The Other Side of Hollywood” is a perfect song to emphasize Luke and Caleb being foils for each other. Follow me here:

But these lines come from very different places. For Caleb the only thing that matters is himself. He owns the show, he IS the show. It’s about being famous, drowning in applause, admiration. Look at how he performs. Confident, yes, but still very much in control. He must keep his perfect face. No flaws, no real emotions, no real connection (Did you miss ME? I did too // This band is back). Whereas Luke is simply living the best time of his life each time he performs. Is it just jamming? Bring it on. Doing fun riffs? He’s all for it. He doesn’t care how he looks (though who could deny gorgeous sweaty Luke), he owns the show just because he is a natural.

So back to the business. Caleb immediately puts the boys in his own shoes:

On the other side we live like kings // Your soulprint on the walk of fame on the boulevard of your wildest dreams // I got your glamour, got your gold, got all you’ll ever need

And, I mean, he is not that wrong. You can see the appeal on the boys’ faces. They are young, passionate, handsome, talented musicians. Of course they wouldn’t deny fame. Of course they would want all that to some extent. And Caleb is very sure he pulled the right strings.

Watch me make a move, I’m your number one choice

Also I have to mention, as we are talking about TOSOH (IKEA name again) and it being a foil for Luke, thy lyrics still don’t forget about what is important for Reggie and Alex (we’ll talk about that just a bit later):

Welcome to the brotherhood -> Reggie

Where you won’t be misunderstood -> Alex

Then again, lots of foreshadowing in the song, if you listen carefully the lyrics are stressing the true colors of the offer:

A tomb with a view

Man, what a metaphor. I would have run out of there the minute I heard this line. But our boys share one brain cell (I can’t get over how funny this is) and it’s currently taken by Julie, so I don’t blame them.

Disappointment is huge. Caleb read it all wrong. So we are moving to the next point in our Heroes and Villains essay.

2. Recruitment

It’s very cool that Caleb offers the boys to join his band right after Luke offers Julie to join Sunset Curve. They both are going out of their ways to get that (although have different budgets apparently. But look, they live in a garage). Luke made a hit with a bunch of Julie’s not very well structured lines (I love Flying Solo with all my heart as a song, but as a poem it just looks weird to me) to impress her, and we all saw the show Caleb had thrown to impress the boys. Plus food. And fancy dancing. But here is where contrast comes again.

Caleb offers to join the band, yes, but only as backup singers. It’s his show, remember? It’s only about him. He doesn’t care if they are even good. He wants their magic under control.

Share the spotlight with ME / How do you like MY new band?!

Luke offering Julie a spot in the band is a completely different story. He saw what she is capable of. He instantly knows she must be the key to a new sound, a new level. And he, a natural performer, frontman, lead guitarist, steps back and gives the spotlight to Julie. To think about it, he could have just got her magic under control by giving her simple lines, incorporating piano in the songs and that’s all. They would be visible, he would still be a center of attention, and Julie herself wouldn't mind that much. But that’s not who Luke is. Yes, there is a funny scene of “Hey, I’m your lead singer” and “you don’t have to be mean”, but it’s just messing around. Because right after that he finishes Flying Solo, writes several other songs with Julie, seeks her approval of Sunset Curve songs and basically follows her around like an adorable excited puppy.

Moving on and back to the rejection. Again the writers are mirroring them. Julie quits the band & the boys decline the offer. What does Luke do? Well, he tries the way he knows: books a gig, makes Reggie and Alex sing in perfect harmonies and does his puppy eyes thing. And it doesn’t work. And Luke goes to reflect and then probably try to come up with a plan. But something tells me he would not have haunted Julie until she joined them.

What does Caleb do after the initial rejection? Puts a cursed stamp that leaves them no choice but to join HGC. You don’t need to say more.

But in fact the more I think about it, the more I suspect Caleb also not possessing enough mental capacity for a human being. Like, if it wasn’t for Willie, how would they even know? Has Caleb planned to simply show up one day and casually explain? Look, foils in everything.

“You’re in a tough spot… So, you wanna join the band?” | “Looked like it hurt… you know where to find me”

But we sidestepped a bit.

3. Pulling the strings

After the song Caleb comes out to consolidate his success. What he does is clever and, btw, that’s the only time he becomes Julie’s foil. They are stating basically the same thing.

Again, Julie is concerned about the band and the boys, while Caleb is only concerned about having them under control. But they both are pulling basically the right strings.

What is interesting, Caleb actually impressed the wrong person (and that person is our sweet Reggie). Luke follows the string Julie pulled. Although the offer is tempting, he insists twice that they are in a band already directly to Caleb and then in Eats&Beats he says "It's like Julie said, we have a new band, a new sound». No matter what Caleb promised, Luke is not affected at all although Caleb’s offer is a very-very safe choice.

Speaking about using friends as foils, Alex and Reggie also serve as contrast characters for Luke at some points. Luke’s indifference to money is first stressed through Alex who is clearly the chief accountant for the band. His lines about not getting tips, living in a garage and «it’s a little bit about the money» are waved aside by Luke. Reggie is clearly the most affected by the whole Bobbie thing. His lines «I don’t care what Julie said, I’m glad we scared Bobbie», «So we’re gonna forget about getting back at Trevor?» are getting a clear contrast by Luke’s «It’s what Julie said, we have a new band, a new sound» and «He has to live with that guilt».

While editing the article I realised a very cool thing I haven't noticed before. How badly Luke wants to go on tour. And again that's another thing Caleb offers as if reading his mind. That's actually brilliant, to think about it.

Caleb is a VERY good reader. He tests the waters with a speech about disappearing from stage and going around the world and all dreams coming true. Still he doesn’t know the boys and especially Luke, so his phrase “no real connection” doesn’t register that much.

But he learns. Remember the lines I’ve marked before?

Reggie is afraid they will not be together after they cross over. He is in desperate need of a family. So wouldn’t it be nice to spend the rest of your afterlife with your brothers? (Reggie's main insecurity is loneliness, feel of a broken family. That's why he is the most concerned about crossing over. Will his family stay intact?)

Alex is insecure, and not being understood by the people closest to him will always hit hard. So welcome to a place where you won’t be misunderstood. And actually we know there is a guy you like and find comfort in. (Alex's insecurity is growing up in times when he could not truly be himself even with his family and for sure not believing he would ever be able to find someone meant just for him)

That mirrors the whole Luke’s beach speech perfectly. Only comparing them we can truly appreciate why Luke is the leader. He shuts down his own demons to make Alex and Reggie remember that they are not alone (“and I believe in you”. sorry. Olicity fan).

Caleb makes them suffer to get what he wants. But this time he is careful with the words aimed at Luke. Yes, he repeats his words about vanishing and applauses BUT he makes sure that his words about CONNECTION are the key words for Luke. Intense look, calming voice, touching - these are all elements of hypnosis. And Luke is in a daze. (Continuing the parents' thing, for Luke the main insecurity is not managing to connect with his mom. Maybe that's such a big thing for him: through all these people he wanted to find that connection with her)

4. The Hero’s journey

That’s the best part actually but I won’t be saying anything new or that you don’t know. Luke is made of lyrics and music. That’s his soul, heart, that’s the feeling running through his veins. He doesn’t need anything other than that in his life. Playing for eternity is “a gift no musician would ever turn down”. But he actually does turn it down. As well as his dream to go see the world with his band (is there covid in jatp universe?). He is the one who resists the hardest to the pull. Luke, who always has a guitar in his hands, doesn't want to play. Because it’s not only about the music now. He has this amazing girl in his afterlife who was willing to accept them for who they were, helped Luke battle his own demons, eased his pain and made him open up. And it doesn’t make sense any longer without her anymore. “And you’re a part of me now till eternity”.

Caleb, being Luke’s foil, completely misses the whole point of connection. It’s not in his nature. His house band are just recruits (Just so happens you’re in luck we’ve got a vacancy). For Luke his band is his family (We are the only family we ever gonna need). The Connection theme is one of the main in the show. And it’s so cool to show it focused through Luke whose best way of interaction is a touch. But not being able to touch Julie Luke has to find other ways, although it’s not that simple for him. And Julie backs that up: We connect in so many other ways. They literally touched each other's souls. Without knowing she put a stamp of her own on Luke, Alex and Reggie. They’ve never felt loved enough, appreciated enough, supported enough. They’ve only had each other. And Julie’s stamp is love. And for Luke (as well as Reggie and Alex) from now on this girl is worth dying for all over again.

_______

So yeah. I hope you enjoyed it, as I for sure enjoyed writing. There is gonna be a part 3 about Julie and a few honorable mentions of parallels of the Pilot and the Finale (I hope at least to do all that). I’ve also figured very very cool connections in the songs and I can’t wait to share.

Also as I was heavily speaking about The Other side of Hollywood, @catty-words has a wonderful meta on rain metaphors here (sorry for tagging, if you don't want to be tagged), check it out if you somehow missed it. It's super clever.

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #julie molina #luke patterson #reggie peters #alex mercer #jatp meta #jatp analysis #my gifs #my edits #don't crop #please be nice #caleb covington #ana's meta #am i smart? i am #having more brain cells then sunset curve

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mizelophsun11 · 3 years

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Mizeloph's Tale Chapter 5

Pairing - Right now it is still General Kirigan x OC Sun Summoner, when it switches to Kaz Brekker x OC Sun Summoner I mention it in the pairing

Summary - Everything is changing with rapid pace and it is up to Anna to keep up with everything that is happening. While she might be struggling at times, she is also to seep up a good front and make a friend along the way.

Word Count - 1800

Anna was taken to her new room by the Oprichniki of the Little Palace, once she was shoved inside the doors were closed behind her. The sun had already begun to set so she knew that there wouldn’t be a lot of time to explore. Deep down, Anna knew that she should be upset right now, her entire life was thrown out of control. However, she felt like there were no tears for her to shed, her time with General Kirigan had watered down her sadness. Anna walked around the room, she found an attached room with a bathtub, it was all very elaborate. She walked back into the main room seeing a desk, noticing that there was paper and a pen on the desk. Anna thought of writing letters to her friends so that they could continue to stay in touch, she hoped that maybe she would be able to get them to the Little Palace. Anna walked over to the desk and began to write a letter she would send to Mal and Alina.

Dear Mal and Alina,

If you are getting this then you know I have arrived at the Little Palace, everything is so fancy here, I even have a bathtub. I almost don’t know where to start, everything has happened in such a short amount of time it’s all too much. I want you two to be here so badly, everything just feels overwhelming and maybe if you were both by my side I wouldn’t feel like this. Hopefully I can get you two to the Little Palace at some point, maybe I could show you both around. Please, I need to hear from you two to know that you are both alright, I will try to make sure you are both able to get here to the Little Palace soon.

Sincerely,

Anna Mizeloph

After finishing her letter Anna decided that it would be a good idea to get some sleep, she had no idea what would be going on tomorrow. Before she got into bed Anna went through every compartment in her room and eventually found a knife. She pulled her hair out of the ponytail and took some of her clothes off so she would be more comfortable when she slept. Anna pulled the comforter back and got into the bed, once she got under her comforter and closed her eyes she began to dream. Snow, Anna had remembered how this dream went, she turned around and saw the magnificent stag. She had only dreamt of the stag when she felt lost. As Anna stepped closer to the stag she felt like everything was at peace and there was nothing to worry about. However, as soon as her dream had begun, Anna was awoken by a knock at the door. She quickly sat up and set her hand near the pillow with the knife under it, but as maids walked in she sighed and swung her legs over to the side of the bed.

Genya walked up to her and looked over her once “Saints, have you ever bathed?” she brought her hand up to Anna's face looking at a few scars “and what happened to your face? This is going to be a bit more of a challenge than I previously thought” she sighed and snapped her fingers to get the maids attention “fetch my kit” the maids in the room scrambled around and a few of them brought Anna over to the tub in the attached room

They began to undress her and Anna almost wanted to fight them but she knew that they were only doing their job. Still, she had never had this much attention so of course she was going to be feeling self conscious. Once she was out of her clothes she stepped into the tub that now had warm water in it. Anna had never had such a nice wash before, the water had always been cold, for the first time being clean was comfortable.

However, the maids were not being too kind in scrubbing her arms “hey! You don’t have to be that harsh, you’ll rub my skin off if you keep doing that” Anna said pulling her arm away from the maids “plus I can wash myself thank you very much” she took the spunge and began to wash herself glaring at the maids

Genya smiled a little, she hated having the maids around so it was nice to know Anna did not like them like she did “In an hour, you will be presented to King Pyotr and General Kirigan has asked that I make you look presentable”

“Wait, what did you just say? I am to meet the king? Oh my..” Anna could not believe that she would be meeting with one of the most influential men in Ravka

“Yes, in an hour” Genya said trying to stress that preparations needed to be done quickly

“Oh..” Anna realized that all of this talking was wasting time

“Yes ‘Oh’ so lets get on with it” she motioned for the maids to get her out of the tub and give her a robe

“Oh my, what is this material?” she had never worn something so comfortable underneath her fingers then put it on

Genya looked at Anna rubbing the robe “it’s Velvet”

Anna smiled holding the robe close to her body “this feels absolutely wonderful” she had never worn something that felt so nice

Genya could tell that the robe meant a lot to Anna, it crossed her mind, wondering what other luxuries had Anna been denied “alright.. Now where to start with you”

“I would start with her hair color, make her look less like she just got her head shoved in snow” some of the other maids giggled at the comment

Genya glared at the maid and clapped her hands “everyone out, Now!” the maids stopped giggling and quickly rushed out of the room

Anna watched them leave then grasped onto a piece of her hair, twirling it between her fingers, feeling self conscious about it again. She had hoped that maybe once she was in the Little Palace her white hair wouldn’t be something that people pointed at. Genya looked at Anna and noticed that she was touching her hair and sighed.

“Your hair is beautiful” Genya smiled a little approaching Anna

Anna looked at Genya “really? Thank you..” there was one boy who had once called her hair beautiful in Ketterdam, it had been so long ago. Alina and Mal always said that they liked her hair and that it was cool looking, but they hadn’t used beautiful before

“I am glad you hate those miserable maids as much as I do, I don’t pick my staff the Queen assigns them to me, I wish she wouldn’t, but there isn’t much that I can do about it” Genya started to get her things in order to help Anna look good

“Yeah they definitely seem like a rude bunch who don’t know how to keep their mouths shut” Anna said making Genya laugh a little, Anna laughed a little too “um.. Could you please not change my hair? It’s strange, but for once in my life I don’t want it to be changed”

“Well I am glad you don’t want it to be changed because I didn’t want to change it to begin with” Genya started to work on Annas face tailoring the scars she had “I want to make sure that you don’t look terrible, some of this is on the surface, but there are other pieces that run deeper”

“You are a Healer? I thought they normally stayed on the front lines with the Second Army” Anna asked as she was handed a mirror and saw that the scars she once had on her face where gone

“I’m a Tailor, I can fix and modify, the Second Army wouldn’t have much use for me on the front lines” Genya said as she continued working and went to Anna's hair making it look soft and well kept

“I’ve never met a Tailor before.. Why is that?” she asked, liking that she was learning more about Grisha

“I’m almost as rare as you, though I’d hardly say saving the Queen from sagging tits makes me as important as you” Anna laughed a little, Genya smiled and continued “This only last for a few days, but it be enough for now to meet the king, after we can work on that hair of yours to always keep it soft”

As Genya started working on the final touches to make sure that Anna was presentable for the king. There was more Anna wanted to find out about the Tailor who was working on her appearance. One of those questions was when she had been tested, for Anna she did not know much about being tested to be Grisha as a child. After all she had been thrown to the side when testing came and went, she never understood why and sometimes wished she had asked.

“So.. um how old were you when you were tested? You don’t have to answer, but I was just curious” Anna asked kindly not sure if it was a sore subject or not

Genya smiled at Anna’s kindness “I don't mind talking about it.. The testers found me when I was 11. That is when General Kirigan gifted me to the Queen, but I have been working on myself since I was 3”

Anna was blown away “3? Since you were 3? That is amazing” but then suddenly it dawned on her “wait.. Wait! I cannot go in front of the king!” she started to panic, Genya noticed and through of what she could do to help her calm down so she gently began to brushed her fingers through Anna's hair

“You can and you will, there is nothing to worry about” Genya’s fingers lingered through Anna’s hair

“I have done no formal training, I need to have more time to prepare, I haven’t even known I was Grisha for two days!” Anna in the moment felt Genyas fingers run through her hair and started to calm down

“Maybe you’ve only been aware for two days” Genya said, Anna looked up at her and took a deep breath feeling Genyas hands running through her hair. Anna smiled a little remembering when Kaz would run his fingers through her hair when she was scared. Anna was quickly brought back to the present “but you have been a Grisha your whole life” she continued to run her fingers through Anna’s hair making a mental note that this was the best way to calm her down when it is just them “and now you are here to tear down the Fold”

Author Note - Thank you so much for all of the support! I am extremely thankful to the ones who have been reblogging my chapter. I also love seeing the comments everyone is leaving so if you would like to write one I look forward to reading it! I also am thrilled about my growing tag list! If you would like to be added just let me know and I will try my best to add you! I just had someone added and their name is not popping up, but if this happens to you I will personally messages you when a chapter is added!

Tag List - @rika90 @itsemy01 @hotleaf-juice @teatimeforusreaders @benbarnes-supremacy @graciefullygracie @aleksanderwh0r3 @klaudosh

#shadow and bone #sun summoner #shadow and bone fanfiction #the grisha series #grisha fic #grishaverse #ben barnes #freddy carter #general kirigan #kaz brekker #general kirigan x reader #kaz brekker x reader

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adiabolikpastel · 3 years

Text

Title: Lunar Eclipse Masquerade

Kanato pt. 2

Rating: NSFW | PG-17 (language & sexual content)

Word Count: 2,370

Pairing: Kanato x Yuuki (m/f)

ღ Yuuki marvels at the beauty of Eden Castle and it's guest, however, Kanato's agitation threatens to ruin things. Perhaps some alone time would do them both some good. ღ

Mun Yu: We made it to the second wave of LEM. I hope you all enjoyed the set up, and are ready for the main event. Our Lunar Eclipse is in full swing as the masquerade beings. These chapters will be longer.

Additionally: I would love to thank @dialovers-translations for translating the Kanato and Subaru versus CD which show cased them during the Lunar Eclipse. It helped me greatly to write his personality.

☆+ ﾟ .+ .ﾟ.ﾟ｡ﾟ｡. +ﾟ｡ﾟ.ﾟ｡☆*｡｡ . ｡ o .｡ﾟ｡.o｡* ｡ .｡

Despite what most people think, demonic beings are very social creatures. The elites hold countless balls and parties, celebrating their immortality together, and entertaining one another with stories. Typically, they are done in celebration for something – though this is not always the case. All types of beings from across the Demon Realm will come if the host is of high enough prestige.

There would be no such host if it was not for Karlheinz. Seated as the head of the Bat Clan (vampires), Karl’s reach spans far. Being the widow for the former Demon King’s daughter, and having children of the first blood, an invitation from the Vampire King is not one to refuse. Though why would you? In his immaculate castle within the Demon Realm, Eden Castle, it is always quite the spectacle. While the celebrations held in his Human World mansion are nice, nothing compares to a true night of pleasure within the true home of the King.

On this night, there was to be a Masquerade in honor of the first Lunar Eclipsed Moon in over two years. While this night may serve each species differently, the idea to celebrate its return was simply too tempting. For this reason, Karlheinz took it upon himself – or rather – his house, to host the event. This extended to his offspring as well, regardless of their personal agenda. Members of every social elite race accepted the offer, and gathered for a truly unforgettable evening.

Yuuki marveled at the magnitude of Karlheinz’s castle. Kanato had told her it was called the Eden Castle, and that his father was always cooked up in it. It was the first actual castle Yuuki had ever seen in person. Kanato was less excited. He kept going on about how he was annoyed to be back in this house, and that he’d wished Teddy were with him.

Yuuki knew how much it meant to Kanato having to leave Teddy behind. So she offered him her hand as a stand in. At first the small vampire looked angry. She would even suggest such a thing, but once Yuuki’s hand was laced with his, he didn’t seem to mind. Yuuki declared that she wouldn’t let go all night, if it meant he would feel better.

The guests of the masquerade were all wearing such beautiful gowns and masks, Yuuki couldn’t help but notice. She asked Kanato if it was really all right for her to be here. He had only laughed and commented on how the demons may try to eat her if she wanders off. Yuuki couldn’t tell if it was a joke or he was just trying to make sure she didn’t leave him.

There were beautiful decorations, and the castle seemed to brighten even more as the music began to fill the halls. Everyone was welcome to explore, though most chose to stay in the ballroom. Kanato had wanted to spend time getting food, so that was where Yuuki and he went first. It was an eye opening experience to see the high society of the Makai interacting with one another.

While Yuuki had no actual concept of what everyone was, she could tell that there were no humans apart from herself and Yuko – who had tagged along with Ayato. That idea was rather frightening. Did other races not date humans? Surely there were other vampires at the party. What made the Sakamaki family so different? Perhaps one day Yuuki might learn the answer, but for tonight she was simply happy to be present with Kanato.

For the bulk of the evening, Kanto had the two of them sitting at a table. He had gotten a large amount of sweet treats, and was content simply staying away from the crowded areas. Yuuki however, was itching to go dance. “Your face is so honest.” Kanato finally spoke to her with a glare. “If you want to go that badly, simply leave me here.”

Yuuki pouts slightly at his words, “If I were going to dance, I’d only want to do it with you Kanato-san.” She assures him. “Are we going to? We came all the way here, and got all dressed up. You have all these foods at home, surely we could-"

“Please stop talking.” Kanato said softly, yet his voice was firm. Yuuki was about to protest when she saw that he was looking past her. Curious, she turned to find what on earth he could be looking at.

Not too far away from them, but far enough that it was a challenge for Yuuki to be sure, was a man dressed also in white. His hair was long, matching the color of his clothes, tied with a crimson ribbon, and draped over his shoulder. His mask simply covered his eyes and was a goldish color with what looked to be pearls. This man seemed to stand out, even in the crowd. As if the entire room was aware of his presence, and made it a point to keep a distance.

Next to him stood a gorgeous woman. Yuuki actually felt herself blush a little. She was also without an equal. Dressed in a single strapped long dress that started in black, then faded into a deep crimson. Her hair is decorated with matching colored flowers. Her mask matched the dress, being mostly black in color with some red jewels to decorate the center.

The two stood next to another man who held a similar aura to the first. Though without as much, overwhelming presence. By comparison, he seemed to be the opposite of the man in white. Dressed in darker clothing, and hair also dark, though long and tied in a ribbon as well. The three of them really stood out, though Yuuki couldn’t honestly say why.

“Wow… she’s beautiful.” Yuuki comments, thinking that Kanato was admiring the guest as well.

“Beautiful!?” Kanato’s voice was full of rage as his shout caught the attention of those around them. “Ha! That thing he has draped on his arm?! What a joke! Truly there is no lower standard that man will not fall to!” Kanato rants, and grabs a hold of the table.

Yuuki looks around nervously as the surrounding guests start to whisper. “Ua… K-Kanato-san why don’t we-" Before she could finish, the purple monster of a vampire flips the entire table over. All of the cakes, pastries, candies and ice cream spill onto the floor. Yuuki shot up out of her seat, ensuring no food could get on her dress. “Kanato-san!”

Kanato’s eyes were still locked onto the man at a distance. His rage bubbling inside. Yuuki moves around the mess to walk over to him, taking his arm. “Kanato-san, come with me, let’s go get you cleaned, okay?” The vampire did not fight her, but his eyes also never left their locked on location. Yuuki looked over her shoulder as she managed to get Kanato out of the ballroom. That man didn’t seem to notice their presence at all.

Yuuki held onto Kanato as she searched for a bathroom – though this castle was much larger than the mansion. In fact the more they walked, the more intense it seemed. The halls seemed to grow darker, and it felt like every turn only led to a dead end. However, Yuuki wasn’t going to give up. Kanato needed her to be strong in this moment, no matter how scary the castle seemed.

After walking for what felt like forever, Kanato finally stopped dead in the hallway. Yuuki also almost fell backwards at his abruptness, but she steadied herself. “Kanato-san? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” She asks, looking him over.

Kanato stood with his head downward, “That man- … how dare he show off that-… when that person always…” He mumbled to himself, as the frustration from before finally began to manifest itself into tears. “All my sweets are ruined as well…” He began to openly sob, wiping his eyes with his free hand.

Yuuki couldn’t bear seeing Kanato like this- she never could. It never mattered how selfish, or fake the tears were – Kanato crying always reduced her to a puddle. “Kanato-san…” Yuuki didn’t know how to help. This time it really seemed like he was frustrated and upset. Feeling at a loss herself, Yuuki looked down to their joined hands. Kanato had not let go, in fact, he was holding on so tightly. Just like with Teddy.

Without warning, Yuuki moved in front of Kanato and pushed her head onto his. The Vampire was surprised and looked into Yuuki’s eyes as she looked into his. “Kanato-san… I’m here… you don’t have to cry all by yourself. You know that, don’t you…?” She says softly, bringing her other hand up for him to lace with his.

Kanato was taken back for a moment, but slowly took her other hand in his. “You can be frustrated all you want with me, I don’t mind.” Yuuki smiles, squeezing his hands. “I want to help you… that’s why I’m here.”

Kanato sniffles a little before meekly asking, “You want to help me…?” Yuuki nods in response, and he begins to drag her down the hall. With no instruction Yuuki is simply left wondering where her keeper was taking her. She had been wandering the halls with no way of navigating them, yet Kanato seemed to know exactly where to go.

It does not take long for him to locate a room, and in a hurry he pulls Yuuki into it. A rather small bathroom, but this had been where Yuuki was trying to go. Kanato moved to lock the door as Yuuki wandered over to find a towel. “Here let me clean you up Kanato-sa-" Yuuki begins to offer, but Kanato embraces her from behind. “Ah! Kanato-san our clothes they’ll- … Ah~!” Yuuki began to protest, but was cut off as Kanato licked the side of her neck.

Kanato ran his tongue along her veins softly, “Fufu… you told me you wished to help… I have no concerns about these clothes.” He states firmly. “You too… instead of worrying about them… console me more.” Kanato murmurs against her skin as his fangs begin to descend.

Yuuki blushed at Kanato’s demands, and was about to speak when she noticed there was a mirror in the restroom. It captured their likeness perfectly. The embarrassment leaped from inside her, and she rushed to cover her face, “K-Kanato-san not here that’s too…” She groans a bit.

Kanato looks up, noticing the mirror himself. With a sigh he moves so that Yuuki would be pinned against the mirror. “You say that you will help me, but refuse when I ask!” He yells, his saddened cries echoing in the small room. “Why do you always toy with me like this!?”

Yuuki tries to push herself off of the glass, but the combined friction causes it to break. The shattering glass cuts into her hands and wrist, as they fall into the sink and onto the floor. She winces in pain, “Ah! Kanato-san wait… the glass…”

“You think that will stop me? I get to decide when your blood is taken!” Kanato says moving to a crouching position and lifting her dress, folding it up onto her hips. “We still have an appearance to make… So I’ll have to punish you down here. All though I wouldn’t mind marking you up for all to see~ Fufu.” Kanato speaks as he caresses Yuuki’s thighs.

Yuuki knew when things got to this level, it was because Kanato was feeling insecure. He needed some affirmation of her loyalty and affections, no matter how embarrassing it was. “I’m sorry Kanato-san… I was embarrassed before…” She says softly, looking over her shoulder to see him.

Kanato pouts a little and squeezes her thigh. “There is no taking it back now… I’ll spoil you a little I suppose. My fangs will feel good for you after all.” With that he bites into the fat of her thighs. Yuuki let out a small gasp, though it wasn’t so much in pain. “Haa… it’s flowing out… and mixing inside me…” Kanato’s voice was muffled as he drank deeply. “I was so frustrated before… mmmh but now…”

Yuuki’s face was beet red as Kanato drank from her. This situation was embarrassing enough, what if someone came by this room!? However, those thoughts alone were not enough to make her protest. In fact, she felt the moment a bit more. “Ahh… Kanato-san….!” Her voice echoed slightly as she tried to keep quiet.

“Nn… No good… let your voice out more…” Kanato whined as he moved over to her other thigh. “Haah… the sweetest melody you ever make...Fufu… Is when you moan from my fangs!”

Yuuki could feel Kanato bite deeper into her, causing a rather loud moan to escape her. As he drank, she couldn’t hold back. The echoing sounds filling the small space. “Ahha! Kanato-san…!” At this point in their relationship, Yuuki couldn’t help but feel… aroused whenever Kanato drank from her. It used to be embarrassing, but now… she just couldn’t help it.

Kanato pulls away with a loud sigh, licking the blood that dripped down Yuuki’s leg. “Haha… what will people think if this blood of yours stains the floor? Fufu...” He stands up, and looks at Yuuki through the mirror. “Aah~ Look at your face now! Your expression… it always excites me.”

Yuuki looks up into the mirror as well. Her expression was one of pure ecstasy. Cheeks flushed. Short of breath. Outfit a mess. “Fufu… you are beautiful, My Doll.” Kanato says, pulling Yuuki up from her bent position. He wraps one arm around her waist, the other up to the top of her dress. “Hey… comfort me more… you’ll do it properly right?” Kanato asks, tugging at her dress.

Yuuki smiles, leaning her head back against Kanato’s shoulder. “Of course…” She says catching her breath. Yuuki could never say ‘no’ to him. Not even as he holds her very life in his hands. There had been countless nights where his squeezed at her throat or drank from her until she passed out. Still, she would always consent to his torture.

Kanato sunk his fangs deep into Yuuki’s shoulder, while his hand grab onto her chest. She let out a gasp, moving her hips back against him. “Kanato-san…” His name floated in the air, filling the small space. Again and again. It was all she could manage to say when things got like this.

“Fufu… such a naughty doll you are… Hmm” Kanato moved his other hand up the bottom of her dress. “You are trembling, Fufu~ Say my name more… so that everyone knows who you belong to.”

After those words, any restraint left the both of them. The desire to feel one another. To be lost in their own world. “Haah… Kanato-san… I love you…” Yuuki voice was soft, despite how rough things had gotten. No longer in front of the mirror, the two had moved to sitting on the toilet. Yuuki on top of Kanato, her dress pulled down, his face buried into her chest.

The vampire had his fangs buried into her plump flesh when she spoke. He released her with a small pop, blood falling down over her skin. With a pure smile, he looked up at her, resting his face still on her accented breast. “Me too… fufu~” He moves to capture her lips.

It’s a sweet, yet tender kiss. Assuring her of his affection. When he pulls away, Kanato moves his head to rest once more on her breast. “My perfect Doll…” he mumbles diving his fangs into her as he thrust into her once more.

☆+ ﾟ .+ .ﾟ.ﾟ｡ﾟ｡. +ﾟ｡ﾟ.ﾟ｡ TO BE CONTINUED ☆*｡｡ . ｡ o .｡ﾟ｡.o｡* ｡ .｡

#writing #Lunar Eclipse Masquerade #LEM

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skinsharpenedteeth · 3 years

Text

Coming Up Easy - First Sightings

I am *SO* sorry this is so hella late this week. It's been... a fucking week. CW: One mention of a homophobic slur.

You can also read this on AO3!

CUE - First Sightings

Unpacking boxes was not one of Alex’s favorite activities. He hadn’t had many when he’d moved because he hadn’t wanted to rent a truck or deal with shipping things, so the twelve boxes he’d been able to load into the late nineties Ford Explorer encompassed all his worldly possessions. He’d finally gotten a chance to start unpacking the miscellaneous boxes after a trip to Ikea for bookshelves, a bed, and a couch. Furthermore, he’d promised himself he’d explore his new city more and find second-hand shops for other household furniture and accessories, but the bookshelves would be enough to finally clear away the last of his unpacked boxes.

Alex opened the last box and looked inside. His heart softened a little as he saw the small shoebox of photographs he kept. Promising himself he’d look through it later, he unpacked the few other knick-knacks out of the box and took them to the bookshelves to start placing them. The box didn’t reenter his mind until after dinner when he found himself lounging across his new sofa with a cold beer in his hand. The box stared at him from the floor where he’d left it. Setting down his beer on the floor, he quickly got up and grabbed the box, and brought it back over to the couch. He flipped open the top and gingerly picked up the pile closest to him.

Michael and him in the desert with guitars. Liz, Max, Michael, and him at a church car wash. Michael, Kyle, and him all leaning against a bathroom wall in various stages of being phenomenally sick from drinking too much. Him and Michael hanging out at the UFO Emporium. Him and Michael eating pizza and playing video games at Max and Isobel’s. Him and Michael in college at a frat party. Him and Michael. Him and Michael. Him and Michael…

It hit Alex quite suddenly that basically since he and Michael had become friends they’d been fairly inseparable. They’d dated other people and had friends that the other didn’t like, but as a rule, it was always the two of them against the world and it had been since they were fifteen. He picked up his phone and snapped a photo of the photograph he held in his hand where they were sixteen, pimply, awkward, and bent over laughing outside the high school band room.

Me 8:46 p.m.>> Who the fuck are these dorks? <<Picture sent at 8:46 p.m.>> <<Michael 8:50 p.m.>> Holy shit, look at those nerds!! <<Michael 8:51 p.m.>> Though I gotta say, the emo one is pretty hot. If I were sixteen, I’d definitely have a crush on him. Me 8:52 p.m.>> You did not have a crush on me at 16! I was so tragic! <<Michael 8:53 p.m.>> You were not. You were fucking feral. You took exactly zero percent shit from anyone. It was hot as fuck. Me 8:55 p.m.>> You are definitely misremembering the amount of bullshit I put up with. <<Michael 9:00 p.m.>> Do you know what you were doing the first time I saw you?

Alex cast back in his memory. He remembered the first time he was aware of Michael, but not necessarily the first time Michael was aware of him. He always assumed it was at the same time.

Me 9:02 p.m.>> Uh? Scribbling emo song lyrics on my bio lab notebook? <<Michael 9:03 p.m.>> Nope. <<Michael 9:03 p.m.>> You were having a fight with Kyle during gym because he tagged your gym shirt with the word “faggot” in pink sharpie.

“Mr. Manes, you cannot wear shirts with inappropriate text on them. This is the gym. White shirts only,” Coach Heim called at Alex as soon as he walked out of the locker room and started towards where the rest of the class was lounging in the middle of the basketball court. Alex could see Kyle elbowing his football buddies and smirking, barely containing their laughter. Alex felt his face grow hot with embarrassment and fury. He kept walking towards the group.

“MR. MANES! GO CHANGE YOUR SHIRT!” the coach yelled, putting more authority into his deep baritone. He was a fit, balding adult who generally was an alright guy, but Alex was swelling with indignation. He stopped a few feet away from the group so he didn’t have to yell to be heard.

“I don’t have another shirt, sir. This is my gym shirt,” Alex explained through clenched teeth. As the rest of the class got a good look at the words emblazoned across his chest and stomach, he heard them begin to snicker and giggle quietly.

“Well, you can’t wear that one. You’re smarter than this, Alex, why would you wear this out of the locker room?” the coach asked, not sounding unkind. He shot the gathered students a dirty look and they quieted their laughter.

“Because it’s all I had to wear and it’s not my fault it was defaced. Some pink-fingered fucking COWARD of a football player must’ve thought it’d be REAL FUNNY to break into my locker and--” Alex started, voice growing louder as he let the heat behind his cheeks infuse his voice.

“I did no such thing!” Kyle yelled, cutting in on Alex. Coach Heim looked over at him, eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth to say something, maybe to tell Kyle to sit down, but as soon as Kyle stepped forward away from his buddies, Alex pounced. He landed the first hit on Kyle’s cheek, the meaty smack of their skin satisfying to him. Kyle shook it off and came at him. Before he knew it, they were rolling on the ground hitting each other as hard as they could in anyplace visible. The pain was nothing new for Alex and he kept his head clear as he tried to aim for spots that would hurt long after he was pulled off.

Too soon, arms were wrapped around his chest and a much bigger body than his was pulling him back and off of where he’d pinned Valenti to the ground. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, his ears still ringing with rage, but he could see the thin trickle of blood from Kyle’s split lip and he felt himself smile at the shock on everyone else’s face as they watched him get dragged back. He would not take Kyle’s shit this year. He would not take anyone’s shit.

Alex rubbed his fingers across his eyebrows and sighed deeply. He had been so ready to cause someone else pain by then. His dad had only gotten worse towards him when Kyle started to pull away because it meant that his “unnaturalness” was evident to everyone. His fight then and the fights in the following year always had more to do with his dad than with him being ashamed of being gay. He put the photos down in the box and went to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. His phone chimed as he unscrewed the top and after a deep drink, he checked the message.

<<Michael 9:13 p.m.>> Uh oh, you’ve left me on read. You okay? Me 9:14 p.m.>> I’m fine. Sorry. Just got wrapped up in my head for a minute. Me 9:15 p.m.>> How did you see that? You weren’t in my gym class? <<Michael 9:16 p.m.>> I was hiding under the bleachers skipping english. Me 9:17 p.m.>> THAT WAS THE FIRST DAY! <<Michael 9:17 p.m.>> Right? Nothing to do anyway. It was fine. It’s in the past. I graduated high school, didn’t I? No harm, no foul.

Alex laughed quietly to himself, staring at the message screen. He went back to the couch and flopped back down across the cushions with a sigh.

Me 9:20 p.m.>> You did. Even graduated college. I guess you’re right. <<Michael 9:21 p.m.>> When do you remember seeing me for the first time? Me 9: 23 p.m.>> I feel like it was biology when we were lab partners. I was supposed to be with Max, remember? <<Michael 9:24 p.m.>> Yeah, I was with Liz. Max had no chill back then. How the fuck did it take Liz until senior year to notice that he liked her? Me 9:35 p.m.>> Had no chill? *Has* no chill.

“Michael! MI-CHAEL!” Max hissed loudly from his seat next to Alex two rows behind where Liz was sitting. The class period was just getting started and everyone was still milling around trying to find their assigned seats. Michael looked over his shoulder at Max who was looking desperately at him. Michael mouthed ‘what?!’ and gave Max an irritated glare.

“Switch with me!” Max whisper screamed. Alex was smirking into his notebook as he watched the exchange through the side of his eye. He hadn’t really noticed the curly-haired boy before, but the eye roll he gave Max was epic. He started to turn back to the front when Max whispered again. “I’ll pay you!”

Michael turned back around abruptly and narrowed his eyes.

“How much?” Michael asked, not whispering but keeping his voice low enough not to carry to the teacher who was about to start taking roll. Max looked desperately towards the front of the class at Liz’s back where she was ignoring what was happening beside her in favor of actually paying attention. She was about the only one.

“Fifty,” Max called out.

“Seventy-five and you buy my lunch for a week,” Michael countered. Alex was highly amused. Max darted his eyes over to Liz’s back again and nodded. Michael grabbed his stuff and moved quickly towards the back of the classroom while Max grabbed his stuff to go forward.

“Sorry!” Max called out to Alex softly before he left. Alex watched him slide into the seat next to Liz smoothly and take out his notebook. She looked over and smiled at him in confusion, turning to look back at where Michael was now taking his seat next to Alex. Alex looked over at him and was struck full in the face with his mischievous grin.

“That sucker, I would’ve done it for twenty-five,” Michael shared with Alex conspiratorially, leaning closer to him while he spoke so his voice wouldn’t reach Max’s ears. Alex felt himself blushing a little at the somewhat flirtatious smirk Michael was giving him. He’d been aware of Michael, but hadn’t really ever paid him any mind. Now he was near him, he could see the interesting light brown of his eyes somewhere between gold and green. He also smelled a little like lake water and the woodsy, spicy deodorant Alex had smelled on Mr. Valenti. It was weirdly comforting.

“So he has a thing for Liz or is he that afraid of failing bio that badly? I’m not stupid,” Alex asked, clearing his throat and trying not to seem offended by Max’s desperation to switch partners.

“Oh, he has a major thing for Liz. It’s gross. Like, she’s pretty, don’t get me wrong. But he’s been writing Mr. and Mrs. Ortecho-Evans in his notebook since third grade or some shit like that,” Michael revealed, taking out his own bio notebook from his bag and setting in on the lab table in front of him. Alex took in what he was saying and nodded.

“So it’s not cause everyone says I’m gay?” Alex asked, voice low and a little nervous to see Michael’s reaction. Michael looked over at him, eyebrows drawn together and something like sympathy passing over his expression before he responded.

“No, man. Max doesn’t give a shit about that and neither do I. You weren’t planning on trying to date him, were you?” Michael asked, shooting him a grin. Alex grinned back, relieved to hear that someone in the school who was so upstanding and obviously straight like Max wasn’t a complete jerk. Michael didn’t seem too bad either.

“Nah. He’s not my type. I like musicians,” Alex joked, shooting Michael a side-grin.

“You don’t say? Do you play?” Michael asked, eyes forward now in a semblance of paying attention to the teacher. Alex glanced up towards the board, but continued slouching over his lyrics notebook.

“Guitar,” he replied shortly as the teacher started explaining their first lab assignment.

“Cool. Me too,” Michael said. Alex could see him studying him out of the corner of his eye. “We should jam sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

And they did jam together eventually. A week later they’d gotten together and Alex had learned that Michael did not know one end of a guitar from the other. He’d let Michael borrow his brother Greg’s guitar and then taught him everything he knew over the course of the next three months.

Me 9:40 p.m.>> Man. Who knew we’d still be friends this long after. <<Michael 9:45 p.m.>> I did. Once you taught me to play guitar, you were stuck with me for life. There’s an unbreakable bond built when one dude teaches another dude how to finger... Me 9:46 p.m.>> Jesus Christ. That was terrible. <<Michael 9:47 p.m.>> Bet you’re laughing though. Me 9:48 p.m.>> I plead the fifth. Also, I gotta get to bed. Early day tomorrow. <<Michael 9:50 p.m.>> That’s some responsible adult behavior right there. Gross. Me 9:51 p.m.>> You’re gross. <<Michael 9:52 p.m.>> I am gross. I’m going to take a shower and change that, however. When will you be young and fun again? Me 9:53 p.m. >> Shut up. Go take your shower. <<Michael 9:53 p.m.>> Fine. Go to bed. Think about me in bed. Me 9:54 p.m.>> *You* think about me in bed. <<Michael 9:55 p.m.>> Always do. Night Me 9:56 p.m.>> Night.

Alex heaved himself off the couch and went to his room. The apartment always seemed so dark and lonely when he finished talking with Michael. He needed to work on making friends. That would help him not miss him so much.

#coming up easy #malex wip #malex #coming up easy update #michael guerin #alex manes #fwb malex

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