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youremyheaven · 1 month

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Moon Dominance & Manipulation pt 2

TW: murder, rape, genocide, violence, assault, death etc etc

Here's part 1

In part 1, I spoke about the manipulative nature of Moon dominant people, in this post I will be exploring it further and providing more examples.

I think its interesting that the Moon dominant nakshatras, namely, Rohini, Hasta & Shravana are Manushya gana (Rohini) and Deva gana (Hasta & Shravana). It is very telling because even though these natives say and do terrible things, they enjoy squeaky-clean reputations and people usually perceive them as angels. If they were Rakshasa gana people would see through their bs more quickly.

Ariana Grande- Hasta Moon conjunct Jupiter

Ariana has said and done numerous problematic things over the years, from cheating scandals, blackfishing, donutgate, being extremely rude and arrogant, changing races every few years, to cringe ass over-sexualised lyrics, to being a homewrecker, Ariana is super duper messy YET she enjoys public and media support and is seen as America's sweetheart. Other people have lost their careers for less but Ari gets away with absolutely everything. She publicly admitted that Pete was her rebound guy (she was engaged to him) which is such a shitty thing to do to someone?? Like imagine if the genders were reversed lol

Ariana is a solid example of always seeming like the innocent person even though she's the messy one. Even with her latest album, its pretty obvious who cheated on who but she's been subtle enough with her music to make it seem like her ex cheated on her (she made him sign an NDA upon divorce which in itself is SOOO sketchy like what is she afraid of him revealing????) to imply things like that when you've put the other person in a position where they literally cannot speak for themselves is peak Moon dominant manipulation. She then posted a half assed story on IG asking fans to stop attacking "people in her life",,, its so apparent that she incited the whole thing in a super calculated manner and once she got what she wanted, she tries to pretend to be the good guy whose fans did all the terrible stuff🙄

Selena Gomez, Pushya Stellium, Mercury in Ashlesha atmakaraka (they both lie in Cancer which is Moon ruled)

I wouldn't have included rashi rulership but Selena is an exception. She's the queen of playing the victim and is second only to Meghan Markle. Selena sets her fans on different hate trains every other week. She's very wary of showing support to social causes. She worked with Woody Allen. She treated her best friend & kidney donor like shit, was a terrible gf to Justin Bieber, treated Demi like shit during a really tough period of Demi's life, can't sing at all yet, produced a whole TV show (13RW) that is extremely triggering for people with mental health issues and was advised by MANY to change things but she just didn't??? honestly, if you watch her documentary you can see how she's the most self-absorbed narcissistic person, every single thing has to be about her all the time.

Despite all this, Selena is almost universally loved.

Amy Dunne from Gone Girl is THE best example of a Moon-dominant person and the extent to which they'll go to ruin your life. Amy Dunne was played by Rosamund Pike who has Shravana Sun conjunct Mars

Amy had such a squeaky clean image that it was impossible to convince anybody that she was the sociopath who tried to fake her own death.

Leonardo DiCaprio- Hasta Moon

Leo is a creepy middle aged man who only dates women under 25, lives for the yacht life and spends his free time partying and doing drugs, all of which is fine but these are things that other Hollywood men come under fire for ALL the time, yet Leo is pretty much everyone's favourite, he's the environmentalist humanitarian even tho he's private jetting to his private island to party with models, even tho he's received flak in the last couple of years for dating women much younger than him, its still more of a running gag than anything serious. He hasn't suffered because of it in any way. His reputation is still intact.

John Lennon- Hasta Sun, Shravana Moon

John was a wife beating, child beating, abusive to multiple women, made fun of people with disabilities, pretended to be an anti establishment hippie even though he accepted an MBE from the Queen of England (he returned it years later in protest) and yet he is remembered as a counterculture icon and one of the most talented musicians ever. He was a violent abusive man who preached peace. Although he was a philanderer himself, he was obsessively jealous and possessive towards the women he became involved with. Lennon was an extremely wealthy man who lived a rich lifestyle, but he said that we should "imagine" a world with no possessions or greed. In short, he was a hypocrite. Yet he is still remembered fondly unlike sooo many other figures in history.

Amal Clooney, Shravana Sun conjunct Venus

speaking of hypocrisy, here's Mrs Clooney, the human rights lawyer who wears $34,000 worth of clothes while championing the poor. She attends gala and balls wearing clothes worth thousands of dollars to "raise money for charity" whilst being married to a man who has a net worth of $500 million. Like I'm sure he could just write a cheque?? The Clooneys throw a lot of charity balls/dinners/parties etc as well and its so funny to me because its obvious they're doing it to keep a certain image before the media, whilst also getting all glammed up and having fun, without doing anything tangible to actually help anybody. imagine your job is to represent refugees, unfairly imprisoned heads of state and advise the UN and you also split time between 5 different mansions all over USA and Europe in private jets lol yet Amal enjoys a good reputation for being a girlboss

Gwyneth Paltrow- Rohini Moon

Lady Goop is a nepo baby and has a net worth of $200 million yet she feels the need to make money off of people by selling bullshit wellness products like $55 sex oils, $400 meditation mats, mouth tape, vibrators, theraguns, vitamins, health supplements and god knows what else?? She's one of the many westerners who sell commercial spiritual nonsense to the masses but coming from someone as rich as she is?? like maa'm?? she promotes so much alternate medicine bullshit on her podcast as well, there is obviously real actually helpful alternate herbal treatments/medicine etc etc BUT that's not her focus she talks about getting rectal ozone therapy (not kidding) and shoving garlic in her ears to clear her chakras and spreads misinformation. there are plenty of people in america who can't access health care, imagine how you're endangering them by suggesting that rose quartz and mouth tapes and candles will cure you. She promotes a eating disordered diet as a "healthy one". all in all, she's sketchy but people just make fun of her and don't see her as someone manipulating innocent people into buying super expensive "alternate medicine" from Goop.

Helena Blavatsky- Hasta Moon & Venus

Helena is the co-founder of the Theosophical Society and was an international leader figure in the Theosophical community. She basically helped promote eastern spirituality and philosophy in the West except that she's lied about pretty much her whole life, so its hard to confirm literally anything about her. She died in 1891 so at the time when she was alive there was no way for others to prove whether or not she was lying, they just had to take her word for it. She lied about training with sages in Tibet and lied about her mystical experiences, plagiarised ancient eastern texts to write about her "spiritual discoveries" etc There's plenty of proof that she was nothing but a charlatan yet I find it interesting how she still has a devoted following and even in her lifetime enjoyed a good reputation as a mystic medium lmao

Ranbir Kapoor, Hasta Sun & Mercury, Shravana Moon & Rohini Rising

Ranbir gets a lot of hate as of late but for the most part he has enjoyed a really good reputation despite being a shitty person.

Jeane Dixon- Rohini rising

She was a psychic and astrologer who predicted the JFK assassination.

John Allen Paulos, a mathematician at Temple University, explored the tendency of Dixon and her fans to promote her few correct predictions while ignoring the larger number of incorrect predictions, naming this habit "the Jeane Dixon effect."

Many of Dixon's predictions proved erroneous, such as her claims that a dispute over the islands of Quemoy and Matsu would trigger the start of World War III in 1958, that American labor leader Walter Reuther would run for president of the United States in the 1964 presidential election, that the second child of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his young wife Margaret would be a girl (it was a boy), and that the Soviets would be the first to put men on the Moon. (excerpt from her wiki)

basically she had no real powers but managed to convince others she did, her clients included Ronald and Nancy Reagan lol

Jordan Peterson, Hasta Moon , Rohini Mercury & Shravana Ketu

He is a good example of the worst type of Moon dominant man. He has said among other things:

That class conflict is a natural and eternal struggle for existence that no political or economic revolution could ameliorate. The individual must develop an aggressive, alpha-male attitude in order to climb the social ladder. Peterson is kind of obsessed with power (all Moon dominants are lol) acc to him only a strong will, exercising itself against a contingent and meaningless world — and against the weak — can one ever hope to flourish.

Jordan Peterson endorses the idea that some men are purposely denied sex by women and that conventionally attractive men are 'taking all the sex' from other 'deserving' men. As a result, he suggests that by assigning women to men and pressuring them to 'settle' and have sex with isolated men, they wouldn't be so "angry at God" and commit acts of mass violence and murder. This, as well as criticizing birth control and saying that women would be happier if they just "allow themselves to be transformed by nature into mothers," is dangerous rhetoric that reinforces patriarchal violence against women.

He's a manipulative asshole who propagates his sexist harmful chauvinistic views as pseudoscience or psychology ew

Freud- Rohini Moon, Hasta Mars

i couldn't make a post about Moon dominance and manipulation without mentioning the godfather of promoting his fucked up worldviews as science, Mr Sigmund Freud aka the most successful Moon manipulator who has caused permanent lasting damage to society

Sigmund believed that homosexuality in men is neurotic but not particularly problematic. Lesbianism, however, he considered a gateway to mental illness.

This (according to Sigmund) is because only men have moral sense. We all evolve from apes, so no human is born with it. But boys acquire morality through the castration complex—the fear that their fathers will emasculate them for their misbehavior.

Having nothing obvious to neuter, girls and women are essentially amoral, lying and conniving to get what they want. Girls must be guided through civilized life by a father, and a woman by a husband. And because they choose not to marry, lesbians remain loose cannons, fundamentally untrustworthy and unstable.

His daughter Anna was his closest intellectual and emotional companion. Yet she was a lesbian.

Freud taught that lesbianism is always the fault of the father and is curable by psychoanalysis.

Freud cautioned followers that analysis is an erotic relationship. Analyst and patient together must scrutinize the amorous feelings that flow between them. This being the case, by rules he asked his followers to honor, Freud could not attempt to cure his own daughter’s lesbianism.

he also overgeneralized a lot of his “findings” such as the oedipus complex to apply to all people, which was harmful in the early stages of the formation of psychology. today most of his theories are disproven and widely considered problematic. Freud was obsessed with sex and made everything about sex (Moon men are sex addicts and every Moon man I've mentioned so far has a weird relationship with women)

he is credited with being the first psychologist to actually listen to women's problems but when he did listen to them, and many of them told them of their SA experiences, he changed the narrative to "women want to screw their daddies so they have these dreams/fantasies of sexual encounters in childhood" (the Electra/Oedipus Complex) to sell his books. He LIED basically, he manipulated the truth into something disgusting.

Freud is credited with making psychology a legitimate field and for it gaining attention worldwide but he literally manipulated, lie, overgeneralised and in general spewed a lot of toxic nonsense in order to get attention, like Gwyneth with Goop or Helena with Theosophy.

Sobhita Dhulipala- Rohini stellium

Sobhita like most others bought a brand new face for herself yet masquerades under the "im not like other girls, i read" nonsense, she talks about acting, art and self love like she's some committed thespian when girlie cannot act to save her life. she says she does not work out just cleans her house and does chores to stay fit :) bc she's not like other shallow actresses, she does her own chores :) compared to most other people on this list she's harmless but I find her super pick me and pretentious

Moon dominant people are very good at picking up on lies, and understanding human behaviour because they're liars themselves lol, it takes one to know one.

Azealia Banks- Rohini Sun

she's truly unhinged af and a very vile person but some of the people she's called out are also terrible people and tbh her insults are so poetic lmfao

dont get me wrong i think she's a terrible person but there is some truth to some of the things she says which is what i meant by how Moon dominant people understand human behaviour. also Moon dominant people are HATERS dont expect them to say anything nice about anyone lol

I had a friend who would deliberately compliment every other girl we were friends with (Rita is sooo pretty, Lily is so stunning etc etc) but would never say ANYTHING nice about me EVER and when others complimented me she'd act like she didn't hear it or something lmao (it was wild) and one day I straight up asked how come you never say anything nice to me and she said "oh I didn't know you needed compliments from me, I thought you got enough validation from others, I didn't know you were desperate for more" 😭😭😭😭LIKE GIRL WHATTT, honestly making these posts and exposing the dark nasty side of Moon dominant people is helping me heal from all the toxic abuse I endured at the hands of this shitty girl and some others ughhhh that's the reason why these posts have more personal anecdotes than any other post i've made lol

Oprah Winfrey, Shravana Sun & Venus

Her show was pure exploitation of peoples problems and also gave a platform to the equally exploitative Dr. Oz, the king of fake science, and Dr, Phil, the king of fake psychology.

It's a well known fact that she's friends with Harvey Weinstein & Jeffery Epstein despite being a "supporter" of the Me Too movement. Not to mention, she gave a platform to the phony Michael Jackson accusers from Leaving Neverland (do the research, they're liars) while turning a blind eye to the actual sexual predators of Hollywood, like Weinstein.

Her style of journalism seems to favour the shock value of a breaking news scandal rather than actually seeking the truth.

Several celebrities have come forward to talk about how poorly they were treated on the show. Oprah loves to relish in the misery of other ppl and ALWAYS makes others deeply uncomfortable with the straightup rude and hurtful questions she asks them.

Ellen DeGeneres, Shravana Sun & Venus

the fact that two of the most sociopathic TV hosts to ever grace television has identical placements is so telling. Ellen has been exposed in the last couple of years for being a terrible person to work with and treating her guests like shit. What I find even more interesting is the fact that the person who sort of initially exposed Ellen for being a manipulative liar is Dakota Johnson who has Hasta Sun & Mars, when I tell you that Moon dominant people deeply understand human behaviour and the psychology behind people acting the way they do, this is what I mean, it takes a Moon dominant to understand the manipulation of another one.

Kristen Bell, Hasta Moon

she probably has one of the most toxic marriages ever and yet speaks of it so glowingly and always talks about "how much work" it is to stay married like girl💀💀maybe exit the marriage then?? she has such a sweetheart image but she has admitted that she gives her children non-alcoholic beer, locks them in their room at night, makes them shower with her to "save water", talks to them about their father's addiction and their sex life??

"We make funny videos but we also go to couple's therapy because we disagree on 99.9 percent of issues," she said at the time. "There are days when I'm completely sick of him, and there are days when he is completely sick of me. But we've chosen to love one another and to be a team. We've learned how to communicate and argue in a really healthy, respectful way."- Kristen said this about her marriage like girlie nothing about it sounds healthy, if its this much work then it probably isn't love lol

Kate Winslet, Hasta Sun, Moon & Rising

Winslet has worked with predators like Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein & Roman Polanski and after Me Too, she shifted her narrative as public opinion regarding these men, whose crimes and accusations have been well documented for decades, has thoroughly shifted to the point where associating with them is no longer good for her and would like to join the right side of history. She & Leo have partied on Jeffrey Epstein's private island as well and she's one the many signatories who signed a petition to free Roman Polanski ewww

This is one example of how image conscious Moon dominant people are, she has no moral compass and had no issue working with all these predators for decades but once it became apparent that she wouldn't benefit from associating with them anymore she's suddenly all "omg terrible men i wish id known better" lol what a liar

She also played a sociopathic Nazi in the movie The Reader

Josephine Baker, Rohini Sun

Josephine Baker was a dancer known for her banana skirt dancing. Later in life, she adopted 12 children from different ethnicities and spent the rest of her life raising them. She is remembered as an icon and for her activism but her children have come out to describe how abusive she was to them.

During her participation in the civil rights movement, Baker began to adopt children, forming a family which she often referred to as "The Rainbow Tribe". Baker wanted to prove that "children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers." She often took the children with her cross-country, and when they were at Château des Milandes, she arranged tours so visitors could walk the grounds and see how natural and happy the children were in "The Rainbow Tribe". Her estate featured hotels, a farm, rides, and the children singing and dancing for the audience. She charged an admission fee to visitors who entered and partook in the activities, which included watching the children play.

She created dramatic backstories for them, picking them with clear intent in mind: at one point, she wanted and planned to adopt a Jewish baby, but she settled for a French one. She also raised them in different religions in order to further her model for the world, taking two children from Algeria and raising one child as a Muslim and raising the other child as a Catholic. One member of the Tribe, Jean-Claude Baker, said: "She wanted a doll".

Baker forced Jarry to leave the château and live with his adoptive father, Jo Bouillon, in Argentina, at the age of 15, after discovering that he was gay. Moïse died of cancer in 1999, and Noël was diagnosed with schizophrenia and is in a psychiatric hospital as of 2009. Jean-Claude Baker, the unofficial addition to the Rainbow Tribe, committed suicide in 2015, aged 71.

Angelina Jolie, Rohini Sun

Jolie was clearly inspired by Josephine Baker. she adopted children from different ethnicities and even bought a Chateau in France to raise them in (just like Baker did). For many years Jolie received a lot of flak for her unconventional parenting, like frequently travelling, homeschooling all her kids and not giving them a bedtime or any kind of stable daily routine. I can't comment on it too much because there's not that much about their personal life on the internet but what I do find very interesting is how Jolie has always used the paparazzi to push a certain image and stay relevant. We know that paps only come when you call them, even Beyonce never gets papped, so its very much possible to live a lowkey life. Angelina gets papped absolutely all the time for the last 20yrs, it was especially bizarre because it was obvious that she was trying to shed the "homewrecker image" by always being photographed with her kids doing mom things and its a bit problematic to think that she's using her children as pap fodder to push an agenda. Again, I think Brad is an abusive person but he often spoke back in the day about his desire to keep the children out of the public eye but Angie had to shed her weird punk goth who kissed her brother and was addicted to bad men and drugs image so she tried to present herself as the kind humanitarian and loving mother, I'm not saying that she isn't those things, except that girlie will make sure the paps are around to photograph her doing these things like she called the paps to her daughter's first day of college bro likeeee

Here's a very old article about how smart she is at crafting her image. Again this is not in and of itself a bad thing but it's kind of bizarre to realise how image conscious people can be and how something that seems so "real" and "natural" is actually a well calculated move on their part.

Angelina also played the sociopath Lisa Rowe in the movie Girl, Interrupted. people often associate this character with her Revati Moon but i assure you this is all on her Rohini Sun

Russell Peters - Hasta Sun

Russell is really good at studying people, accents, mannerisms etc which is what makes him a really good comedian but he's also fckn rude and disgusting from time to time.

Honestly Moon dominant men always spew the most vile shit, they talk about people especially women in THE most disgusting way. actual psychopaths ew especially the cocky self assured way in which they say all this bullshit???

Errol Morris- Shravana Sun

he is a documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on the epistemology of the subject, he's obsessed with human nature and trying to understand why people do what they do, all of his docus focus on vvv unusual people, death row prisoners, defence secretary instrumental in the vietnam war, insurance frauds, a man who designs death machines, pet cemeteries etc Morris focuses on people who are questionable to say the least, he tries to humanize people perceived as evil or bad (Moon dominant af lol bc who else would be interested in the motives of bad ppl??)

This preoccupation with human nature is deeply tied to the nature of Lunar people. They have a need to understand "motivations" and what drives people to do what they do. There is an innate tendency to pathologize or pick apart behaviour. This isn't inherently a bad thing but it is something I have noticed among Lunar people.

James Randi- Rohini rising

He was a magician and skeptic who spent his life exposing other people and their paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.

Moon dominant people are skeptical of everything and the least likely to believe in anything, they're always looking for the truth because they deeply understand human ugliness and believe everybody else is like that (they see themselves reflected in others, which is to say that if they're capable of it, then so must others).

Roman Polanski- Hasta Rising

pedophile and child rapist Polanski has directed movies like Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Palace, The Pianist etc,, all of his movies have heavy elements of deceit, lies, manipulation etc all of his characters are looking for the truth.

Claire had mentioned in her video about wealth as to how Rohini (Venus is domiciled in Taurus) (Moon exalts in Rohini) creates contentment and this leads to stagnation because dissatisfaction is what creates growth. If someone is content where they are they decay. I think this can be broadly applied to all 3 Moon naks because they have no other motives, nothing to dry them so they start rotting on the inside and doing terrible, horrible, evil things. Venus and Moon embodies the ugliness of humanity.

Josef Mengele- Hasta Moon

He was a Nazi doctor who conducted abhorrent and deadly medical experiments on the prisoners at Auschwitz and administered the gas to gas chambers. He was nicknamed "Angel of Death"

Lenin- Shravana Moon

if you're familiar with the history of the soviet union you will know that Lenin wasnt exactly a sweetheart

Heinrich Himmler-Hasta Sun, Shravana Rising and Ketu in Rohini

he was a prominent Nazi leader who is "credited" with "designing the Holocaust"

Edward Teller- Rohini Moon

This is the guy who betrayed Oppenheimer and is called "the father of the hydrogen bomb". he later expressed guilt over his involvement in the dropping of atom bombs over hiroshima and nagasaki

Henry Kissinger - Rohini Sun & mercury

he was a warmongering asshole who i hope is rotting in hell. he's one of the worst human beings to have ever existed due to the sheer scale and capacity of crimes he enabled and the millions of people who died as a result. i have extensively talked about how Moon dominant people lack empathy, they literally do not care about others, they are selfish to the point where its actually disgusting and pathetic and this guy is one of the worst examples

During the 1968 presidential election he was in the Johnson administration but wanted to get in good with Nixon. So he leaked information about peace talks with North Vietnam to Nixon. They then went on to use this information to sabotage the peace talks and in turn the election.

He committed treason to extend the Vietnam War, ultimately by seven years. That alone makes him a rare breed of terrible. But it’s also damning because it shows how he ultimately believe in anything other than that he deserves to be close to power. He was willing to play games with millions of human lives over a job. And he would have been in the Humphrey administration if Nixon lost, so it was just a job he wanted more. He didn’t care about fighting communism, the rule of law, patriotism, anything. His death toll alone puts him on a short list of the worst people to ever live, but most of the people on there did what they did for an ideology.

He’s also been described as “the Forrest Gump of war crimes.” He just shows up for no good reason in the history of so many atrocities. Often he ordered them, but he also installed dictators who would carry out genocides. There’s worse people in history, but none who have been involved in so many separate crimes.

just read anything about this vile shitty man and you will understand the kind of cruelty and apathy Moon dominant people are capable of.

moon dominant people are "good" with political & military strategy because they dont care about anybody's well being except their own lol

one time i spoke to a Moon dominant guy and he said that there's no such thing as altruism or selflessness and that everybody behaves in their self interest, i found that very cynical and disturbing and he said even people who do charity or appear to be kind are only doing it because they want others to see them that way and that really says more about the nature of Moon dominant people than anything else. he also said he loved attention of any kind and would do anything to trigger people just so they'd react and give him attention lol basically he admitted to having sociopathic tendencies. He was Rohini Moon. imagine being so morally bankrupt and soulless that you cant believe there's goodness in this world or that people are good with no agenda lol I feel bad for people who have to live life being that bitter, imagine rotting on the inside like that

Herman Kahn- Hasta Moon

He was a military strategist and developed the nuclear strategy of USA during the cold war. which is to say his entire job revolved around manipulation. He is quoted as saying:

"At the minimum, an adequate deterrent for the United States must provide an objective basis for a Soviet calculation that would persuade them that, no matter how skillful or ingenious they were, an attack on the United States would lead to a very high risk if not certainty of large-scale destruction to Soviet civil society and military forces." 💀💀💀(avg moon dominant man be like)

In Kahn’s book, the Doomsday Machine is an example of the sort of deterrent that appeals to the military mind but that is dangerously destabilizing. Since nations are not suicidal, its only use is to threaten.

ok thats it for now besties whewww

i am not claiming that all moon dominant people are terrible people so if you have these placements dont take it to heart. i do however think that the dark side of the moon dominant native is truly terrifying. all i wanted to do was shed light on that.

#astrology notes #astrology observations #sidereal astrology #nakshatras #astrology #vedic astro notes #astro notes #astro observations #vedic astrology #astroblr #jyotish #rohini #hasta #shravana #moon

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imagine-knowing-a-name · 3 months

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In the Background - Chapter 4

Summary: You’ve been dating Natasha in secret since her early days in SHIELD, and you’ve been in the background of all her missions since.

Word Count: 5155

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Warnings: canon violence

A/N: uhhh, hey everyone! 10 months since the last update, here's the start of the Age of Ultron section! Thanks again to @emril-osvigne for getting me back into this :) Hopefully the next part should be out soonish but until then, reblogs and comments are very much appreciated!

Series Masterlist

Previous Part

—:::——::-————>◇<—————::——:::—

“Don't you guys ever sleep? I want to sleep.”

“It's 10 am; sun's up. We can't be wasting time.”

“Yeah, 10 am is all well and good…but it's 4am here. Do you not get jet lag? And don't tell me you slept on the plane; I know you didn't sleep on the plane.”

Natasha's laugh came through the comms and almost made it worth it. You were still annoyed and sleep deprived, but almost worth it.

“If you get us through, then we can all go to bed faster.” Natasha really did know the way to your heart.

“In that case, Romanoff, take a left. You're going the wrong way.”

“You only just now tell me?”

“You only just turned!”

Just then, an alert began to ring, ‘we are under attack’ echoing through the halls of the HYDRA facility, and picked up by the access Maria had found. At the same time, the camera feeds in front of you filled with smoke, soldiers, and streaks of ammunition.

Maria turned to you. “You know, I think they've been spotted.”

“You don't say!” came Tony's strained reply.

All you could do was watch as the Avengers stormed forwards; J.A.R.V.I.S. took care of everything on the field, so you let your attention drift towards Natasha’s suit camera footage. For the most part, all that you could see were spinning trees and approaching enemies, but every so often, glimpses of Natasha’s arm or leg would appear on screen, or she’d appear in Clint’s footage, and that was enough to have you daydreaming of all the moves that you knew she was pulling out. You almost felt sorry for the soldiers, having been on the receiving end of the Black Widow’s blows yourself, you knew they were a force to be reckoned with.

Clint’s camera flipped rapidly in the corner of your eye, pulling your attention away. Maria saw it too, and the both of you exchanged worried looks over the fact that Clint had been knocked by an unseen opponent; even as he lay on the ground, his enemy was outside the field of view.

“Barton, are you okay?” Maria asked, but only got groans in response.

You kept a closer eye as he pushed himself up, so you saw when a blond haired man walked across his screen, looking down at him with an expression that could almost be described as amusement. “You didn’t see that coming?” he said, but didn’t attack; he just continued to walk before disappearing into a blur of blue.

“What just happened?” you asked. You might have written it off as a sleep-deprived hallucination, had Maria not been staring at the screen too, similarly slack-jawed. Along with Clint, both of you at HQ watched intently down the archer’s line of sight, following the aim of his arrow – it’s what made it all the more startling when his screen tipped again, this time accompanied by a yelp.

“The blur again?” Maria stressed, but you shook your head, pointing to Natasha’s screen. Positioned alongside her closest friend, she was the first to notice his fall, and turned from her own approach to run towards him, giving you a clear view of his injured side. Almost synchronously, Steve’s camera flipped in a full 360 before he looked around, but again, no enemy in sight.

“We have an enhanced in the field,” he announced. The speedster.

At the same time, Natasha confirmed her visual for both HQ and the team on the field: “Clint’s hit!” She rushed to his side, allowing you a close-up visual of the burn – although it had only grazed his side, with the damage it caused you knew he’d been lucky that it wasn’t a direct shot.

“I’ll get Helen,” Maria mumbled, pushing her chair away from the desk and rushing out of the office, phone in hand to call the Avengers’ resident doctor – aside from Dr Banner, of course, but he was otherwise preoccupied.

Speaking of, Hulk charged through Natasha’s footage, roaring as he leapt and destroyed the bunker which had injured Clint and continued to endanger Natasha. She thanked him. You turned your attention to the other Avengers momentarily, still fighting their way into the building, but your attention always returned to Natasha as she tried to heal Clint on the field. Tony destroyed the defences, Steve and Thor found each other to discuss plans, but Natasha remained kneeling by Clint, who by this point had given up on his struggle to stand.

“Clint’s hit pretty bad guys; we’re gonna need evac.”

“I can get Barton to the jet,” Thor promised, “the sooner we’re gone, the better.”

Natasha stayed with Clint until Thor arrived then, once the god took her friend to safety, she moved on to your least favourite part of all Avengers missions – calming the Hulk. Although you knew why she was the person best suited for the job – a calming presence on the team and her quick thinking solutions if things went wrong – seeing an uncontrolled being roar in the face of your girlfriend tended to get your heart pounding. Still, as she held her hand out and stared him down, the Hulk began to respond; his grunts softened, his steps shrunk, and he eventually held his own hand out, dwarfing Natasha’s when he went to touch it. You watched Natasha trace her fingers over the forearm of the Hulk and felt phantom sensations mimic the move on your own arm, as your mind filled with memories of nights in your room with Natasha, where you laid with your sleeve rolled up to let her practise her gentle touch.

Soon enough, Bruce came stumbling back, faster than ever before. Natasha led him slowly back to the quinjet before he went to calm himself and she went to check on Clint. Tony and Steve returned soon after, sceptre in hand but expressions sombre – you don’t know what had happened to Tony, but he had stumbled around the room for a few moments before he grabbed the sceptre, and spoke little after that point. You saw him smile at the others through their cameras but afterwards he went straight to the pilot’s seat, while Natasha sat as co-pilot.

“We’re on our way back,” Natasha stated, and from your charts you could see the jet ascend out of the Sokovian woodlands.

“Hill’s got Cho on her way for when you get here. Otherwise I’ll trust you don’t need my assistance for the way back.”

“We’ll be good, Y/L/N.”

“Okay,” you hummed, checking no other Avengers lurked on the channel, and that Maria was still out of the room, “I’ll see you soon, baby, get home safe.”

“I’ll try my best, Agent,” was all Natasha said. All she could say. But you heard the meaning behind her words. You smiled, and then you hung up; you would see them all soon.

—:::——::-————>◇<—————::——:::—

Maria met them at the hangar, pulling double duty of escorting Helen Cho to Clint so she could transport him safely, and finding Steve to pass on the information you and she gathered on the ‘enhanced individuals’ the Avengers had encountered on their mission. Facial recognition on Clint and Steve’s body cam footage had identified them as Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, then Maria had searched for references to them in the information Stark sent through, finding a list of powers they’d gained under HYDRA.

You hung back. Being off-duty for the Avengers’ long flight home had allowed you to get the sleep that Natasha had promised earlier. You knew Natasha would be with Clint, both keeping him company and keeping tabs on his well-being until he had fully recovered – a process that would be very quick if your conversation with Helen was to be believed – but once he was up, your girlfriend would finally be ready to sleep and return to you.

For the sake of appearances, you didn’t officially share a room at the Tower: Natasha had a whole floor of her own, while you shared yours with the other ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. recruits. Whenever it was possible, Natasha and you didn’t stay at the Tower at all, preferring the privacy of the DC apartment the two of you had shared throughout your time at S.H.I.E.L.D., but it was no longer within an easy distance of work and, more often than not, the both of you ended up staying at the Tower. It took caution, and a lot of planning, to ensure you still spent nights with your partner – leaving for ‘home’ on different days to avoid suspicion, sleeping in your own room every now and then even on the nights where Natasha was in the Tower, and, in your case only, riding the elevator all the way up to your office at midnight if someone else steps into the capsule with you, hiding your true destination of the Black Widow’s bedroom. Avengers employees were terrible gossips.

But on that day, you were alone: the regular 9-5 employees were going about their jobs, the ‘on call’ employees had gone off to sleep, and the Avengers were too preoccupied with their post-mission routines to pay anyone else much attention. The Tower was as quiet as it ever could be, so you rode up to Natasha’s suite and sat on her couch with a tablet in hand and information at the ready – as an excuse in case anyone but her entered the room next.

Luckily for you, this was a day where everything went to plan: 40 minutes after the quinjet touched down, Clint was healed and as good as new. 45 minutes after the quinjet touched down, Natasha stepped out of the elevator, smiled at the sight of you, and walked into your open arms.

“Hi baby,”

“Hi,”

“How’s Clint?”

“Back to his usual self,”

“How awful,”

“I know. At least Laura will be glad.”

“We can’t lose him before baby Natasha comes into the world.”

“I was thinking I might visit them with Clint now that there’s no sceptre to worry about. Would you like to come? Check on my future protege with me?”

“Of course I would,” you promised, leaning in just close enough for your lips to touch, “anywhere to be with you.”

Natasha took your hint without delay, shuffling closer in your arms to close the distance between you, laying gentle kisses to your lips before pulling back to speak again. “We’re heading off Sunday, after the party, taking a bus part of the way and his car, so we can all go together without suspicion.”

“There’s a party?”

“Saturday night, Tony just decided on it.”

“Of course he did.”

Both yours and Natasha’s phones chimed, and you reached into your back pocket to check it – a difficult task considering you were sat with Natasha straddling your lap, but you managed. Natasha checked hers too, confirming that you had both received the same message: an invite to the ‘sceptre retrieval party’ on the Saturday. Formal attire. Veterans in attendance for Steve to ‘bond with people his own age’. Steve would probably thumbs down that addition… if he knew how to react to messages at all.

Natasha hadn’t looked up, but she knew an unimpressed expression would greet her. “You’ll get to watch me get ready,” she offered.

“The only highlight.”

“Aw, am I really that bad of a conversationalist?” Natasha smirked.

“The worst,” came your reply, but with a smile before she could offer to spend the party talking to someone else.

“Luckily for you, sweetheart, we have three whole days uninterrupted before then, maybe we can work on my conversation skills.”

“I think we can make that work,” you said, smiling into the next kiss. You let her relax on your lap before quickly changing the pace; you pushed her back, strong enough to move her yet light enough to catch her before she fell fully.

“Hey!”

“Go take a shower first, you reek of gunpowder.”

She rolled her eyes, pouted at you, and shook her head, yet she still conceded. “Whatever you say, baby.”

You didn’t have to ask this time. She definitely meant that ‘baby’ as an insult.

—:::——::-————>◇<—————::——:::—

Days without missions were rare as Avengers, but they had been even rarer as SHIELD agents, so you and Natasha had learned how to make the most of them. From coffee dates in disguise, to reading books while sprawled across your living room, and even to skydiving (once. You vowed never again, but Natasha had seemed a little too comfortable with it), it was safe to say that you’d covered a wide range of activities, and the three days you had with her now were no different.

But all good things must come to an end, and three days later the two of you were back on her floor of the Tower, getting each other ready for the party. She opted for a classically stylish look: black and white dress, curled hair, red lips – she looked beautiful, and you made sure she knew it. In addition to that, the monochrome look served a secondary purpose, allowing the two of you to dress in complementary couple’s outfits, without actually drawing attention to the fact that you were a couple. If the two of you entered the room together, then maybe the others would notice that your white suit and black shirt perfectly matched Natasha’s dress, but you knew better than to do that.

Natasha entered first, alongside the other five Avengers, to begin the meet and greet that always started these parties. You followed an hour later and found the party in full swing: Colonel Rhodes entertained guests with stories of his heroics, Steve and Thor led a veteran out to the chauffeur, and Tony showed off his gadgets to some of the senior officers in attendance. But, of course, your gaze sought Natasha immediately, and it found her behind the bar, pouring herself a drink while Bruce stumbled through a flirting routine. As much as you wished to, it would be too telling for you to beeline towards her and interrupt Bruce’s attempt at a date, so you contented yourself to sit on the couch with Clint and only occasionally sneak glances at the redhead.

The archer caught on immediately, and laughed as soon as he followed your line of sight. “You worried about the competition?”

You glanced around, checking once again for eavesdroppers in the conversation before you answered with a shake of your head. “Not with Nat, no, she’s earned my trust completely…”

“But?”

“But Bruce doesn’t know it and,” you tilted your head to the side, nodding in the direction of another spectator, “clearly Steve doesn’t know it either.”

Just then, as your attention fell back on Natasha, her eyes found you over Bruce’s shoulder and lit up at the sight; she hardly hid her smile as she made her exit, leaving the scientist staring at the spot she’d vacated in order to make her way over to you, settling beside you on the couch. “What are you two gossiping about, hm?”

“Oh, you know, just… relationships… and secrets”

“Not that I would know anything about that,” Clint added with his hands held up.

“Of course not, of course not. Not a thing for us three esteemed members of society to be dealing in,” you joked.

“Never,” Natasha finished with a laugh. Then movement from the bar drew your attention back to the scene at hand, all three of you instinctively going quiet in an attempt to listen in, only occasionally diverting your focus or sipping drinks to hide your actions.

“Ooohoohoo,” Clint laughed, “I think good ol’ Cap just told Banner to ask you out.” You’d come to the same conclusion, so nodded and laughed alongside the archer at Natasha’s long sigh.

“Here’s hoping that doesn’t make things awkward.” Natasha’s response was quick, as Steve made his way to sit with the three of you, followed by Tony soon after.

“Y/L/N! You made it!” the billionaire cheered, patting you forcefully on the shoulder, “here I was thinking you were going to blow us all off.”

“It was a consideration,” you shrugged, though of course you would never miss an opportunity to see Natasha dressed in her best.

“I’m hurt, truly,” was all he said before wandering off again, seemingly looking for more people to impress.

“And then there were four,” Clint commented, “where’s Maria? It’s like an old SHIELD reunion.”

“I hope without the HYDRA this time.”

Hours later, Maria had come to join you, along with Helen Cho and the remaining Avengers, to crash on the couches and eat the takeout Clint had ordered. The night was at its end, so energetic conversations shifted into private murmurs – you were pretty sure Helen had fallen asleep – until Clint’s mockery of Mjolnir drew everyone’s attention back, waiting to see how the god reacted.

To your surprise, Thor only laughed, then held out his arm, “please, be my guest.”

“Really?” Clint hopped up with an eagerness he hadn’t shown since his wedding day. Despite the jokes made at his expense, he grabbed the grip, pulled, and…nothing happened. Thor reiterated the worthiness requirement but that only inspired the others to give it a go: one by one (or 2 at once in Tony and Rhodey’s case) the Avengers lined up to test their strength, each one failing.

“Widow?” Bruce offered, after an almost embarrassing attempt at it himself, but she declined, leaning towards you instead.

“Oh no, that’s not a question I need answered.”

Soon, all conversations derailed into theories and defences, jokes and accusations, until a high pitched whir interrupted all of that. There was no time to fix the issue before it stopped, giving way to rhythmic clunking approaching from behind.

“Worthy?” came an ominous voice. You turned to see a dilapidated Iron Legionnaire, limping towards the group. “No. How could you be worthy?” You were on your feet by then, exchanging brief glances with the others before you turned back to the robot. “You’re all killers.”

Steve stepped forward. Tony called for JARVIS. Nobody took their eye off of the mechanical puppet. Natasha hovered her arm behind her in search of you.

“I’m sorry, I was asleep. Or, I was a-dream.” The legionnaire continued, a full soliloquy that the team only rarely dared interrupt.

“Who sent you?” Thor challenged, and the machine answered back – with a recording of Tony’s voice.

“Ultron,” came Bruce’s realisation. Both you and Natasha turned to him, curious about a name you didn’t know; particularly when the mechanism – ‘Ultron’ – confirmed it. A glance around the room confirmed something for you too: the whole atmosphere had changed, and everyone felt it; Thor tightened his hold on his hammer, Maria readied her gun, and Steve searched for his shield.

“I’m ready, I’m on a mission.”

“What mission?”

“Peace in our time.”

The wall erupted into shrapnel as the Iron Legion took Ultron’s cue to attack; you caught only microseconds of the action before Natasha tackled you to the ground and out of the robots’ path. Your girlfriend pressed on top of you did little to help your cognition, and a flying table and Steve made it hard to keep pace, but you counted at least 3 robots in the air.

Few people had thought to bring weapons to a party in their home, leading to a struggle of hand to hand combat between man and machine, all just a delay before Thor could get a hit. When he destroyed the final Ultron – the main Ultron – you nearly collapsed from the exhaustion of it all; it had been some time since your last field mission.

“The sceptre is gone.”

“One of the legionnaires; it flew out just before the fight ended.”

Thor growled and flew out of the shattered window. Meanwhile, Tony and Bruce muttered between themselves, then made for the lab without another word.

“Hold on-” Steve commanded. You met Maria’s eye, anticipating another argument.

“No, I’m not gonna hold on,” Tony snapped, “I have work to do, but you could be a dear and bring that suit with us if you’re going to help.”

Steve followed his pointed finger, then wordlessly picked up the destroyed husk of Ultron and followed Bruce and Tony to the lab. With a shrug and exchanged glances, you and the others followed along too. Clint dropped to the back; walking alongside you and Natasha, he kept his voice low, “I guess we’re staying here for the next few days then.”

“No rest for the wicked,” came Natasha’s reply.

“Should’ve gone home when I had the chance.”

Natasha shivered by your side, the lab was colder than the party had been, but the whole building had cooled significantly thanks to the giant holes in the wall. You offered her your blazer but the spy waved you off and pulled one of her own jackets out from under a desk; you tilted your head to pose the silent question.

“All our work is gone,” Banner announced before you got a reply. You looked up to see him at his computer, searching through whatever he could find. “Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch.”

Next thing you knew, Natasha was also gone, searching through files of her own. You tilted your head at her again. “He’s been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we knew about each other.” You didn’t miss how her eyes fixed on you, or how Clint’s hand fell on his phone: you all had secrets you didn’t want exposed.

“He’s in your files, he’s in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?”

“Nuclear codes.”

“Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls.”

After an attack on the Avengers' home – the first in 3 years – the mood was understandably sour, but it only got more sombre as the team discussed the semantics of Ultron’s plan for ‘extinction’, all building up to JARVIS’s destruction. Things had never felt so hopeless. Nor did you realise until now how much you'd considered the sentient AI a friend; the devoted keeper of your and Natasha's secret.

From then on, for the rest of the evening, the events of the night all seemed to happen around you. The fights and plans and arguments; you knew you'd agreed to certain things, but nothing truly felt clear until Natasha put her hand on the small of your back. Your head snapped up and you met her concerned eyes. “I'm okay,” you reassured, before she could even ask.

Her gaze continued to survey every detail of your face, and you knew from her pursed lips that you had failed to convince her. “Let's go to my room,” she announced, and only then did you realise that she'd already led you out into the corridor to be alone.

You nodded, and she led you down, never faltering in her hold of you until you passed the threshold of her room.

“Bigger night than you expected, huh?” Natasha said with a forced laugh.

“Yeah.” You were in Natasha's closet now, looking through all the clothes you had left there. “You're not sleeping tonight, are you?”

The redhead sighed, as if she thought she'd gotten away with it, before she murmured a ‘no’. A pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a hoodie landed on her bed, and you saw her look of confusion before you went back in to look for a set of your own.

“If you're going to stay up, you might as well change into something more comfortable. And if you're going to stay up, I'm staying up with you.”

“You don't have to-”

“The quicker this is sorted, the quicker we can rest easy, right?”

She nodded.

“So let's get started.”

—:::——::-————>◇<—————::——:::—

All through the night and well into morning, the two of you sat in bed piecing together any clues. Ultron had the wealth of the internet at his disposal in seconds, while you were left to a slow trawl through anything deemed relevant.

Bit by bit, you pieced together a plan, but it was only after joining the other Avengers to talk through findings in the morning that any progress was made. All from Ultron's unintentional clue.

“Where is this guy now?”

“Johannesburg, last I heard.”

“Let's go ask some questions.”

With the edge of your foot, you lightly nudged Natasha, you sign asking her to stay back even as the other Avengers filtered out of the room.

“Get some sleep, alright? I know you've dealt with worse, but it would make me feel better to know you'd had some rest – especially if you run into the Maximoffs; Maria told me what they’re capable of.”

“I will,” Natasha smiled. She surveyed the room and, seeing nobody else around, planted a light kiss to your lips. “Take care of yourself too; I'll be back before you know it!”

And with that, she hurried the others to grab her mission uniform and filter onto the quinjet. You, meanwhile, followed Maria to the mission HQ and called in to the Avengers’ jet. The mission plan for this one was brief: you found Klaue’s exact location and sent it to Tony, they would question his access to vibranium, and be prepared to fight in case Ultron or the Maximoffs decided to enquire about the same thing at the same time.

From then on, it was just a matter of waiting and resting until the quinjet touched down in South America, where you were next needed to ensure the mission ran smoothly.

One by one, the Avengers' suit cameras flickered onto the screens before you, giving you and Maria an insight into the scene before them.

“I think we're in for a fight,” Natasha muttered, referring to the streams of workers escaping the boat which you knew to be Klaue's.

“Stay on the plane, Bruce; code green will be a last case measure in an enclosed space like that.”

The scientist nodded, then the rest of the team filtered in. Steve took command on the scene, bringing Tony and Thor with him to confront the robot, and left Natasha and Clint to the stealth, hiding in the shadows to provide back up if everything went south.

Nerves ran through you as you watched their confrontation with the machine. It was also your first proper look at the Maximoffs – neither seemed particularly intimidated while staring down the Avengers, but you saw the anger in their eyes.

Then, within a second, the sides clashed: Tony was thrown against the wall, more robots came in to fight Steve and Thor one on one, and the Maximoffs used their powers to interrupt.

“The twins keep stepping back,” you noticed, calling it in through the comms.

“They're new to this, probably don't know where to get involved.”

“I'm not sure.” You kept your mind at work, but unless you worked out their thought processes, there was nothing for you to do or say.

Natasha and Clint were brought into the fight in the meantime, attacking the enemies who came their way in order to keep the fight contained to the ship. A full firefight ensued between Klaue’s men, the Ultron bodies, and the Avengers; nothing much changed on your screens until Thor paused, still in between fights, and turned to his right where the girl – Wanda – stood.

“Thor?” Maria checked in. He didn’t put up a fight against her and only watched as she walked away. “What’s happened?”

She got no reply.

“Thor. Status report.” Steve tried. Communications had been patchy; you struggled to get through to Bruce, so it wasn’t out of the question that Thor would have the same issues.

“The girl tried to warp my mind,” he finally replied, “take special care; I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty.” He trailed off; his teammates might have assumed he had finished and returned to the fight, but you saw instead that his steps had slowed, and he looked around for sights that weren’t there. Tony had done similar back in Sokovia, while Maria’s files of the Maximoffs’ targets described the same sight: even the mighty can fall to the Sokovian’s powers.

“Thor is out of action,” you spoke into the comms; you received no protests from the god himself, so you could only assume he was beyond reaching too. “Watch out for Wanda Maximoff.”

Despite your warning, you were forced to watch as more Avengers fell victim to the Maximoff’s ploy: Steve was knocked into Wanda’s path, Natasha was caught unaware coming down a stairwell, and Clint – well, Clint avoided the mind control, only to be knocked through glass by the other twin.

“Whoever's standing, we gotta move! Guys?”

“Tony’s got Ultron; the others are down,” you told him, “get Natasha, she’s down the corridor from you. Just get everyone out.”

“Good plan,” Maria confirmed, thankfully not noticing how you only sent Clint to check up on Natasha, “Ultron just mentioned Banner so get ready for a quick evac.”

“Natasha, I could really use a lullaby,” Tony said. You checked his camera; the Hulk was on the loose, and angrier than you’d ever seen.

“Well, that's not gonna happen. Not for a while.” Natasha’s head lulled against his hand, totally unresponsive to the world around her. Even with the hostiles gone, you were thankful she had Clint by her side; she wouldn’t want anyone else to see her that way.

Your head snapped up when Maria next spoke, “we need to get everyone to safety.” You nodded wordlessly and got to work setting up evacuation orders, sending in paramedics, and arranging the legal documents as you watched the chaos unfold; all the while, you kept an eye on Natasha, heart tugging at the fear in her eyes, even as she slowly came to her senses.

By the fight’s end, your work had tripled and you knew you’d be running damage control well into the morning, while the Avengers had gained a hostile press, so they wouldn’t be coming home – Natasha wouldn’t be coming home – until they fixed this.

“Y/N?” Clint called you privately, after Maria had briefed them all of the consequences.

“Yeah?”

“Tracking is off, right? Cameras too?”

“Both off. You’re untraceable; even to us.”

“Good. I’m taking them to the farm, so I just- after SHIELD, you know-”

“I get it, you can’t be too careful with these things. Say hi to everyone for me, yeah? And look after Nat while I can’t.”

“Will do. I’ll see you later, Y/N.”

Clint hung up, leaving you in the silence of the empty room. Maria had gone out to take private calls of her own, and the other residents were now forbidden from returning. You returned to your work with a sigh – so much for the time off.

Next Part

—:::——::-————>◇<—————::——:::—

Series Taglist: @fairychev @catswag22 @sapphosclosefriend @romanoffsgal @taliiiaasteria @saraaahsstuff @blacklightsposts @automaticdinosaurtaco @dyslexic-dreamer

General Taglist: @canvascoloredin @fxckmiup @wizardofstories

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x y/n #natasha romanoff x you #ikan in the background #natasha romanoff fluff #marvel #mcu #ikan writes

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rapz-rites · 9 months

Text

Hearts

Damian Wayne x Reader

You and your soulmate can feel each other's heartbeat

A/N: for @thesuperiorrobin btw I started writing this super late at night so it might not be the best but I hope you all like this

Word Count: 1.1k+

Warning(s): Barely proofread, loophole cursewords

You jolted up from your sleep. 4 times a week, 3 if you’re lucky. Like clockwork. Your soulmate's heart beats so fast, so hard, it wakes you up. You would think he was having a heart attack.

You don’t know what your soulmate does that gets his heart beating so fast in the middle of the night. You found this whole heartbeat soulmate thing so stupid. Of all the things you and your soulmate had to share, a heartbeat, seriously?

On everyone’s 10th birthday, they start “sharing” their soulmate's heartbeat. It's not really sharing though, so you didn't understand why they explained it that way. Probably to romanticize it.

You couldn’t go back to sleep until about 4am. But that didn’t matter because your alarm went off 2 hours later. You hated your life. Not only did you get no sleep because of your stupid soulmate but you had to get ready for school, a school filled with pompous a-holes. Luckily it was your last year and you only had a few more months left until you graduated.

You walk into class late, everyone looking up at you. Luckily for you, your teacher is nice enough to let it slide.

“Hey” you said to the boy you usually sat by. His name was Damian, Damian Wayne. Yup. As in Billionaire “playboy” Bruce Wayne.

“What now L/N?” He asked. He looked up at you with an annoyed expression. Damn. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

“Do you think you could help me with number 5?” You looked at him with pleading eyes. “Pretty please.”

“Sure.” And he did. You didn’t really need help, you just wanted to bother and talk to Damian.

The two of you were close acquaintances but not friends. He was you favorite pompous rich a-hole and you were one the most tolerable people at GA to Damian

After this class you were done. You were transferring books to and from your backpack when your best friend, Lienne, pulled up next to you.

“What are you doing after school? Do you want to have a sleep-” If you didn’t stop her now it would turn into an investigation.

“I’m working at the clinic after school, but I can come over after and we can have a sleepover all you want,” you smiled at her.

“Ok. See you after work. Oh, and bring those chips I like please,” she says walking away. You chuckled at her.

You worked at a pet shop clinic. You loved it. You weren’t a people person, you were a pet person. I loved cats, dogs, and hamsters. Any domestic house pet you could get your hands on, you loved it. They were so much easier to deal with than people.

You were peacefully playing with a hamster while it was quiet in the store. Suddenly 2 men rush in. You put the hamster back in its cage and turned to the 2 men. They both looked like they were freaking out.

“We need your help! Like it's an emergency,” the tall one said. He had jet black hair and a white streak at the front. Then the second one spoke up.

“It’s our brother's cat,” the other one said. He was shorter, maybe 5’10/11. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He handed you an adorable little tuxedo cat. You couldn’t help but awe at it.

“Sure, what happened? Our vet is currently busy, but I can check him out and get him to see him as soon as possible.” you walked them into an exam room in the clinic. As you were assessing the cat, your boss walked in.

“What's going on here?” He asked. You explained what happened and gave your assessment of the cat to your boss. He complimented you on your good work and took over. You were happy until you felt a strain on your heart. Something was wrong with your soulmate. It felt like he was having a panic attack or something. You went to the front of the store to sit down. You were trying to steady your heartbeat to cancel his out. But of course as you sat down, someone walked in. It was none other than Damian Wayne.

“Where’s Alfred? Where’s my cat?” he asked. You walked up to him to get his attention. You were holding onto his arm while he was looking around frantically.

“Your cat? Is he a tuxedo cat?” He immediately looked down at you. “You’ve seen Alfred? Where is he?”

“Your brothers brought him in,” you explained to him calmly. You were already trying to calm your soulmate’s heartbeat and now you have to calm a frantic billionaire son. He was spouting nonsense you didnt want to listen to while you ushered him to a chair.

“Listen Wayne,” you said, shutting him up. “Your brothers brought him in. I assessed him and the vet is now with him. He's going to be fine”

You could tell your words helped, but he was still anxious. It was kinda cute that he cared this much for a cat. One time you saw him roll his eyes at a school assembly about suicide. But he was still breathing heavily. At this point your heartbeat was calm but you could still feel your soulmate’s fast heart.

You took Damian’s hand and put it over your heart, and you did the same to him. That's when you felt it. People who already met their soulmates said once you know it's this indescribable, thrilling feeling. They were right. It was like time stopped and nothing else mattered. Your hearts synced and that's all you both felt. You both stared into each other’s eyes. You opened your mouth to speak but was interrupted.

“Are we interrupting something?” The tall brother asked. You quickly moved back from Damian, putting your hands at your side.

“Yes”

“No”

You both spoke in unison. You looked at him, but he was glaring at his brothers.

“So what did Dr. Goldwin say?” you asked, smiling before it got awkward.

“OMG OMG OMG!” Lienne squealed, jumping around her room. “YOUR SOULMATE IS DAMIAN WAYNE.”

You weren’t surprised at her reaction when you told her. She always had a knack for the dramatics. As she was jumping around, spouting how beautiful your wedding was going to be, you got a text from your “future husband”.

Damian ☹️: Hello Y/N

Let’s go out on a date Saturday

Send me your address and I'll pick you up at 2pm

Y/N : I’d love to go out with you 😉

You’ll tell Lienne once she calms down. She's going to freak.

So… what do you think???

I’m working on request so plz don’t think I forgot abt those.

#damian wayne x reader #damian wayne #damian al ghul #damian al ghul x reader #damian wayne x female reader #damian wayne x y/n #damian wayne x you #batfam #batfam x reader #dcau #dc universe #dc comics #jason todd #tim drake #damian al ghul wayne #damian al ghul x female reader

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whatsmymeme · 10 months

Text

Why Do You Care?

Pairing: Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

Request: Can I request an imagine with Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw? I have always loved those rebellious type of people in stories. Can you write an imagine where you're assigned to work together with Bradley, but you two are always at each others throats. The time comes and you take a missile for him. You eject in time and as you're packing up your parachute, Bradley comes up to you and absolutely freaks out. Of course, it's because he cares and loves you ;) Thanks!

Warning(s): Language

Authors Note: I love it! I hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 1.3K

"There is no way in hell that I'm working with this asshole!" You shouted, denying it loudly. "He's going to kill me before the enemy even attacks!"

"Gladly," Bradley responded snottily. "You don't know even know how to fly worth a shit."

"How old are you both?" Pete asked sternly. You both fell quiet but continued to glare daggers at each other. "Exactly. Shut up. Put aside your differences and work together. This mission requires the skills you both obtain."

"That's funny that you think that [Y/N] has skills-"

"Rooster!" Pete interrupted impatiently. Bradley immediately shut his mouth. You smirked at him, teasing him for being called out by Pete. "Now, gear up and get in your jets!"

You both nodded and rolled your eyes at each other before departing to go get geared up. As you were gearing up, Natasha sparked a conversation with you. You two had a good discussion, but at the end of it, she mentioned the name of the man you despised.

"So is there a reason you and Rooster are constantly bickering like a married couple?" Natasha asked curiously. You fake gagged. Natasha chuckled. "You know, I think that Maverick put you two together because-"

"Say so more Phoenix," You interrupted, putting your hand up. "I don't need to be throwin' up before this mission."

"Oh come on," Natasha sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's obvious that Rooster has the hots for you."

"He had the hots for my sister growing up," You revealed, feeling disgusting inside. "But it's quite obvious that all he cares about is himself. I've hated him ever since he broke her heart."

"Well, that explains your side, but why does Rooster have it out for you too?"

"When I get revenge, I get revenge." You clearly stated, making Natasha smile. "Anyways, let's get situated. We have people to save. Well, unless it's Bradley."

Natasha smirked. "Sure [Y/N]. You keep tellin' yourself that."

»»-----　♡　-----««

"[Y/N]." You heard Bradley call out as you approached your jet, passing Bradley. You clearly heard him, but you ignored him and continued walking. Bradly huffed in annoyance. "[Y/N]!" Bradley shouted louder. You continued to ignore him. Bradley clenched his jaw in irritation. "[Y/N]! I'M TALKING TO YOU DAMN IT!!!"

His voice was so boisterous, it caught the attention of everyone who was there. You came to a halt and inhaled deeply before turning around to face him. Bradley approached you and told you specific instructions as he reached you. You just kept looking everywhere except him, showing him how much you 'cared'

"You know, it's really rude to not look at the person who is talking to you," Bradley angrily confronted. You dramatically looked back into his eyes and fluttered your eyes multiple times. He wasn't very amused by your sarcastic gesture. "I just want you safe [Y/N]. Don't do anything stupid out there."

Your eyebrows furrowed as he said those words to you. It was as if...He cared. Bradley stormed off before you could point out his out-of-the-blue kindness toward you. You shook those thoughts out of your head and re-focused your attention back on the mission. You had a mission to complete and you had a partner to complete it with.

»»-----　♡　-----««

The tensions were high. You and Bradley only had one more pilot jet to take care of. You were out of ammo but had one more shot for flares. You and Bradley were yelling at each other as you kept each other safe. You watched as Bradley successfully hit the pilot, but before you celebrated, you noticed that the pilot had launched a missile before going down.

The missile was going straight toward Bradley. You yelled at Bradley that he had a missile coming toward him.

"Shit! I don't have anymore flares!" Bradley shouted in panic. "Maybe I can-"

"I can't believe I'm doing this," You muttered to yourself, preparing yourself to take the missile for him. You pressed the buttons and started flying toward him. You put your thumb on the button, but unexpectedly, the missile hit you before you pressed the button. "Shit!"

Your head was spinning as your jet was going downward. It was already a bad situation, but having Bradley screaming in your headset was making it even worse. You needed to focus to get your jet back, but it wasn't long until you figured out that you couldn't. You cursed before you pulled the eject button.

»»-----　♡　-----««

Thankfully, you landed smoothly. Technically, the mission was a success. All the enemy pilots were gone and you survived as well as Bradley. As you were getting out of your parachute, you started getting it back into the bag. You perked up as you heard footsteps rapidly approaching you. You dropped what you were doing and turned around.

It was Bradley! He was running up to you...and he wasn't stopping. You were struck with confusion as he got closer. He was fuming.

"Roos-"

Before you could finish your words Bradley shoved you straight to the ground, the impact of his motion caused you to slide a little bit. You were grateful the suit kept you from getting the wind knocked out of you. You were sure it would've been if you weren't wearing all the gear that you were. As you were looking at the sky, it was immediately replaced with the face of an unhappy Bradley.

He towered over you and pointed down at you. "YOU ASSHOLE!!!"

"What?!" You shouted, climbing back up to your feet. You pointed your finger at Bradley. "I saved your LIFE dickhead!"

"YOU ALMOST DIED!"

"WHY DO YOU CARE?!" You screamed back, instantly realizing you really did bicker with Bradley like he was your husband. Bradley paused and seemed to have the look like he had been caught about something. "You may not care about my family, but I care about yours. I don't want your family to know that their son won't return home."

"Of course, I care about your damn family! That's why I left your sister!" Bradley shouted. You lifted an eyebrow in confusion. Bradley groaned in aggravation, running his hands through his hair in distress. "[Y/N] I LOVE YOU!!!"

As those four words echoed clearly through the blue sky, you couldn't remove your gaze from his. You've always wondered what it would be like if someone admitted they loved you, but you never pictured it to be in the middle of the woods and him screaming it at you angrily. You put your finger up to him, indicating that you had to process what he had just said.

Bradley didn't want to wait for another second and continued. "[Y/N]. The moment I met your sister, I fell in love. But the moment I met you, I truly fell in love. You were different. You made me feel things that I've never felt with any other woman in my life."

"Rooster, I don't-"

"I broke up with your sister because she knew that I had feelings for you," Bradley interrupted, throwing you into an even deeper pit of confusion. "I'm an honest man. I didn't want to hurt your sister and I knew keeping secrets from her was going to do that."

"What are you even talking about? You still hurt her! Her heart was broken!"

"Well of course it's going to be broken! Breaking up isn't easy [Y/N]! Mine was broken for months too," Bradley claimed. "But we're both on good terms now. She is still a great woman and she will find that man who will treat her better than I did."

You crossed your arms and removed your gaze from him. You didn't even know what to think about this situation, but you didn't feel against it. Bradley sighed and copied your position.

"This is not how I imagined confessing my love for you."

You raised your eyes back up at Bradley who was staring at the ground. "You really love me?"

Bradley slowly raised his eyes up to meet with you. He gave you a small smile. "Yes. I do. I love you [Y/N]."

"Damn it. Natasha was right," You muttered. "I owe her twenty dollars now."

»»-----　♡　-----««

Thanks for reading!

I do not own this GIF. Credit goes to the owner!

My Wattpad

#imagine #top gun #top gun maverick #top gun fanfiction #top gun imagine #fanfiction #top gun fandom #pete mitchell #tom cruise #natasha trace #phoneix #monica barbaro #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x reader #miles teller

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awaywith-thefaeries · 1 year

Text

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER | j.seresin

pairing: jake “hangman” seresin x wife!reader

summary: the dagger squad gets deployed on another mission and Jake is assigned as the mission leader. When he and Rooster’s planes go down in enemy territory, Jake’s only thought is getting back to his wife and daughters.

warnings: angst (with a happy ending), doubt, incorrect navy facts (I’m not that knowledgeable about the workings of the navy). Written mostly on my phone in the queues at Disney, so sorry if there are any spelling or punctuation errors.

a/n: based on this request. @cat998877 I hope you like it!

word count: 1.65k

main masterlist | series masterlist

The first thing on Jake's mind is his family.

The faces of his Y/n, Olive, and Charlotte. His girls. As everything appears to go to shit, as trees rustle and move around him, and Rooster shouts and curses to his left, Jake's resolve hardens even more than ever.

The mission had been going so well. The dagger squad had successfully taken out the target they had been deployed to remove, and the flyback had just about started. The removal of the target had alerted the enemy (as they had expected) but none of the officers who had prepared the pilots for this mission could have foreseen just how quickly the enemy pilots would retaliate. They had calculated the times down to the second needed for the flyback to the ship, but the second the enemy pilots had engaged Hangman and Rooster's planes in a dogfight, the timing had gone out the window.

"Get back to the ship Daggers 3 and 4!" Jake yells to his team as he hears Phoenix and Payback talking over the radio about coming in as backup, "Dagger 2 and I will take out these guys and get back right behind you!"

"Hangman..." Phoenix sounds unsure, as she watches Payback and Fanboy obey their friend's (and leader's) orders and begin the route back to the ship.

"NOW, Dagger 3! Go, go go!" Jake yells as he and Rooster fly as if they are one mind, evading and attacking simultaneously to get the three enemy jets off their backs.

Phoenix has a bad feeling as she obeys, knowing she can't ignore a direct order from her mission leader. Images of Hangman's family plague her mind as she leaves her friends to fend for themselves. She thinks of you, and how wrecked you'll be if Jake doesn't come back.

"Dagger 1, watch your right side!" Rooster yells, spotting the third enemy plane trying to get into position to shoot Hangman down.

"I see him! I see him!" Jake’s voice is strained as he maneuvers his plane out of harm's way.

"One down, two to go," Rooster yells as he pulls up so that his plane inverts completely, letting the enemy pilot’s plane fly directly underneath his fast enough to drop behind it and shoot.

"One left!" Jake yells as the second plane goes up in an explosion. He's still cautious, but he's starting to believe that this setback will be just that, a setback.

That's when everything goes to shit.

"Dagger 1, watch your back!" Rooster yells, the panic evident in his voice, as he sees the final enemy pilot's plane release a missile that was headed straight for Hangman's wing.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Jake yells as the missile makes contact with the left wing of his jet.

Rooster can do nothing but watch as his friends plane goes down, shock coursing through him, causing him to miss that the final pilot had released another missile. He hears it coming towards him a second too late, and there’s nothing he can do but brace as it makes contact with his wing.

Jake manages to right his plane just enough to where ejection is a safe option and he pulls his lever, shooting out of his plane as he hears another explosion go off behind him.

"Fuck!" Rooster’s voice comes crackling through Jake’s helmet as he ejects too, the two pilots keeping each other’s gaze as they float to the ground.

As soon as Jake’s feet touch the ground, he’s off running, releasing his parachute and leaving it there in the grass.

Swinging his head from left to right, he searches through the tree coverage for any sign of life, trying to find his wingman so that they can find a way out of here together. They have to find a way back.

Just as he’s starting to wonder if Rooster’s plane going down was some sick hallucination, Jake feels a hand on his shoulder. He whirls around, already on high alert, but calms slightly when he spots that it’s just Rooster, panting slightly.

"You ok, man?" Jake pants out, breathing heavily.

"Yeah, yeah I’m fine. You?" Rooster looks almost pitying, knowing just what Jake stands to lose if they don’t make it out of this.

"Yeah," Jake says, but Rooster can see it in his friends eyes, he’s on the verge of panic.

"Hey, man, we’re gonna get you back to them."

Jake smiles briefly, nodding his thanks to Bradley as he pulls in a few ragged breaths.

"Ok," the two men straighten together and look around them, taking in their surroundings, "what’s our game plan?"

✯✯✯✯

"Mama! Mama!" You breath deeply and paste a smile on your face, as you hear your daughter’s little voice yell from across the playground.

"Yes, Sugar?" You ask Olive as she skids to a stop next to the bench you’re sitting on.

"Are Dada and his team almost done with their mission yet?"

Your heart drops slightly at the reminder that your husband and his squad (who have quickly become your friends) are putting themselves in danger for their mission, but you don’t let it show on your face.

"I don’t know Liv, but you remember what Daddy told you and your sister right before he left, right?"

Your Olive nods eagerly, grinning up at you as she answers.

"Yeah, Daddy said that no matter what, he loves us and he will always come back to us. He said if anything goes wrong he will get home, come hell or high water! He promised."

She looks so proud of herself for remembering everything Jake told her a week ago, when he had bid them goodbye at the docks, you reach down and scoop her into your lap, careful not to jostle Charlotte, who is sleeping on the other side of the bench, head resting on the bag you had brought to the park with you.

"That’s right, Sugar," you coo, as your daughter tucks her head under your chin, curling into your lap.

"He promised, right Mama?"

Olive’s voice sounds so small, and your heart breaks a little at how unsure she sounds.

"Yeah, Liv, he did and you know that Daddy never breaks his promises, right?"

You feel Olive’s hair brush across your neck as she nods, and one of her hands comes up to play with the little heart shaped locket Jake had gotten you as a present, right before the twins had been born. Cuddling your little girl closer, you think back to the morning when he had given it too you, and the promise your husband had made.

You had been lying in bed, beyond tired because the twins kicking had kept you up all night, when Jake had come into the room after showering off his morning run.

"Hey darlin," he had whispered, slipping into the bed behind you, coming up to your back and reaching a hand around to rest on your baby bump, "how are my girls doing this morning?"

You had sighed, as your husband pressed soft kisses to the sensitive skin at the base of your neck.

When you hadn’t responded, Jake had gently turned your face to his, his green eyes lighting with worry as he took in your tear stained face.

"Oh baby…" he had cooed, brushing away your tears with the pad of his thumb, "what’s the matter?"

"I just…." You had taken a deep, shaky breath as Jake pressed gentle kisses to your cheeks, where the tears had been moments before, "I’m terrified that….that something will happen to…" you hadn’t been able to even voice the possibility of losing Jake. But, he had known, like he always did.

"Listen to me, darlin," he had said, leaning down to brush what was possibly the sweetest kiss of your life on your lips, "I know that my job is not the safest one there is and I can’t promise you that nothing will ever happen, because it’s out of my control."

Your eyes had refilled with tears, and Jake had leaned down, kissing you again while he wrapped his arm protectively and lovingly over your bump.

"But I can promise you that no matter what, wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, I will always fight to get back to you and our babies."

Jake had then let go of you for a moment, which caused you to whine slightly and Jake to smile as he had turned to pull a small box from his nightstands top drawer. He had turned back to you and held the small maroon box in between you.

"I wanted to give this to you when the girls were born, but I think now is better."

You had taken the box in your hands before glancing up at him, laughter in your eyes for the first time since the thoughts had started to plague your mind.

"Uh, Jakey, I don’t know if you remember, but you already did this part," you had teased, flashing your left ring finger at your husband, who had let out one of the laughs you loved so dearly, and pressed a kiss to the pair of rings sitting there.

"Darlin I’m not proposing again, this is something else. It’s just as important though…" he had trailed off and lifted his hand to the box easing the top up.

You had gasped at the beauty of the little heart shaped gold locket that lay nestled in the box. It was engraved with tiny little lilies, the first flowers Jake had ever gotten you when you started dating.

"Jakey…"

"Turn it over, baby," he had cut you off, and you did, seeing the small phrase on the back.

‘Come hell or high water’ was engraved within a ring of lilies, right in the center of the back side of the locket.

"It’s a promise," Jake had whispered, brushing a piece of hair back from your face to press a kiss to your temple. "No matter what, I will fight to get home to you, come hell or high water."

"Mama?"

Charlotte’s sleepy voice breaks you out of the memory as she stirs on the bench next to you.

"Yeah, baby?" You say, bringing a hand up to stroke through Olive’s hair as she keeps her hand on the locket, cheek to your throat.

"Can we go home now?"

"Of course baby." You start to gather your things, gently easing Olive off of your lap, your heart warming as the twins grabbed each other’s hands.

The three of you make your way home, the girls holding onto each other the whole way there.

"Why don’t you guys go play for a little bit," you say as you unlock the door to your little house that you and Jake have slowly been making into a home, “I’ll bring you two some apple slices.”

"Ok, mama!" The two little girls say, before taking off down the hall to their bedroom, as you made your way into the kitchen.

Before grabbing the apples, you lean against the kitchen island and look down at your locket, opening the clasp and taking in the two pictures on the sides.

The first picture was one of you and Jake on your wedding day. It had been taken by the photographer right towards the end of the night. You were being dipped by Jake, who was smiling down at you with his heart in his eyes. Your head had been tipped back, mouth open mid-laugh. It was quite possibly your favorite picture from the day.

The second picture was a shot of Jake on the day your daughters had been born. Their birth had been relatively easy (considering that you had carried the twins to full term) and the picture in the locket captured the moment when Jake had first held Charlotte and Olive in his arms.

You sigh, stroking your hand over the pictures, not needing to remove them to see the 'Seresin Family' engraving in the windows. You raise the locket to your lips and brush a light kiss over the pictures, before closing the clasp and turning to grab a couple apples and a knife to make your daughters a snack.

Just as you're placing the apple slices into a bowl, your phone starts ringing from where you had left it in the bag by the door. Wiping your hands, you grab your phone and answer the call.

"Hello?"

There's silence for a moment and then a shuddering breath comes over the line.

"Hi, Darlin," Jake's voice sounds shaky, which immediately gets your heart going fast, fear creeping into your bones.

"Jake," you say, as he lets out another shaking breath. is he crying?

"Baby, what's wrong? what's happened?"

"I...." Jake has to stop for a minute, and you stay quiet, letting him have a moment. "The mission is complete, we're returning to base right now."

Your heart soars and you can't keep the smile off of your face, and out of your voice.

"That's great, Jakey!"

There is silence again, and your smile drops a little.

"Jake, what happened?"

"I don't....I don't think I can talk about it all yet, but mine and Bradley's planes went down in enemy territory. We....it took us two days to find a way back into communication range with the ship."

"Oh, Jake...." You whisper, hand over your mouth, "I'm so sorry baby. What can I do to help you?"

"Just be waiting when I get home."

✯✯✯✯

The next morning, you wake up at 5:30 am. After flipping over a few times, you give in to the fact that you aren’t going to be able to sleep. You sit up, swinging your feet over the edge of the bed, hand coming up to scrub over your eyes.

Getting out of bed, you walk into your closet and find a pastel green sweat suit to wear to protect against the slight chill in the air. You pull your hair up into a claw clip and head out into the kitchen and living room area. You tidy up a bit, and pour some cereal into a bowl for yourself as you sit at the island, scrolling through your phone idly.

By the time it’s a reasonable hour to wake the girls up, you’ve cleaned nearly the entire house and made a list of things you need to restock in the kitchen.

“Good Morning,” you sing softly, flipping on the fairy lights above your daughters beds as you go over to their closet to pull matching sweat suits to yours out, laying a pink one on the end of Charlotte’s bed and a purple one on Olive’s.

Olive is the first one to wake up, turning over under her mountain of blankets to blink blearily up at you.

“Good morning, Mama,” she says, a little smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

You smile at her and ask her to please get dressed before making your way over to Charlotte’s bed, nestled in the corner of the room. The top of her dark blonde head is the only part of her visible under her soft white duvet with little pink flowers on it. You sit down, putting your hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her awake. She doesn’t say anything as her head turns over her shoulder, eyes blinking open slowly.

“Hey, baby,” you say, “it’s time to wake up!”

“Otay,” she says, her voice still scratchy from sleep and she allows you to pull the covers back far enough for her to scoot out of them.

As soon as her feet touch the ground, Olive is right there, fully dressed in the sweatpants and little matching hoodie. She holds out her arms for a hug and Charlotte steps straight into them, curling her own arms around her sisters waist.

“Good morning, Lottie.”

“Morning, Liv.”

You smile as you head to the door, calling over your shoulder.

“Your breakfast is on the table, girls, so please come out when Charlotte is dressed.”

“Otay!” You hear Olive shout back, making you smile.

A little while later, after the girls have finished their breakfast and the three of you had flopped onto the couch for some snuggles (a daily occurrence for you whenever Jake was deployed), Olive looks like she’s just about to nod off and Charlotte doesn’t look much more awake. Your daughters heads both snap up, however, as the doorbell ringing sounds through the house.

“Mama, is that…?” Olive is already up and bouncing on her toes as she looks at you expectantly. You smile, watching your daughter’s faces light up, as you nod.

“Let’s go welcome Daddy home, yeah?” You ask, already up and moving to the door, the twins hot on your heels.

Your heart is pounding as your hand comes up to the lock, turning it and pulling the door open. And just like that, your weeks of worry and stress melt off of you in an instant. Because he’s here, your Jake is right in front of you, looking tired, but whole. Looking alive.

“Hey, Darlin.” His tired smile seeps into your soul and you take a step forward, and then another and before you can even blink, Jake has dropped his duffle onto the front stoop and has you wrapped in a tight embrace. His face goes immediately to the crook of your neck, pressing into the sensitive skin there as he pulls you as close to his body as possible. You reciprocate the hug, and smile as you see and feel your girls attach themselves to a leg each.

“Hi Jakey,” you whisper, running your fingers through his hair, trailing your hands up and down his back.

You stand there for a long moment, before Jake finally manages to detach himself from you to bend and scoop his daughters into his arms. Olive and Charlotte both immediately curl their arms around his neck and start sprinkling kisses on his cheeks.

Later, when your little family has fallen asleep snuggled close together on the couch, the tv still playing a movie quietly, you look over at your husband, where he’s lying with Charlotte curled up on his chest and Olive plastered to his side. You softly stroke over the worry lines on his forehead. You know that he won’t be ready to open up for a while about what happened to him and Rooster, but you silently vow to just be there for him, for whatever he needs, in the next couple weeks.

Come hell or high water.

a/n: thank you so much for reading! If you have any requests for this family or any other story ideas you’d like to see, I’m always open to them (just send them to my asks).

#hangman x reader #dad!jake seresin #hangman x wife!reader #hangman x you #jake seresin x reader #jake seresin x you #top gun fanfiction #awaywith thefaeries #hangmansawhatnow #the seresintwins #theseresinfamily #Jake Hangman Seresin angst #hangman x reader angst #angst with a happy ending

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mayajadewrites · 2 months

Text

For Me (Levi Ackerman x Reader)

summary: Levi Ackerman has a staring problem. Specifically staring at a woman that he has been admiring at his local coffee shop for months. She doesn't usually notice, however, one day she did. She would flip his world upside down, but would she let him in her world?

pairing: levi ackerman x reader

modern attack on titan au (no titans)

CHAPTER ONE: EARL GREY

ao3

"One Earl Grey tea." The barista at your favorite locally owned coffee shop sings. She's always in the best mood, even on days where the sky looks like it's about to break out into tears. "If it isn't my favorite regular!" She smiles and slides the tea towards me. "Writing anything good today?"

"One can only hope." You smile, grabbing the cup of tea. The steam is almost dancing off of the hot liquid, the warmth gracing your skin. "I'm working on my latest fiction novel. Romance is not the easiest to write for, contrary to popular belief." You offer her a warm smile. "I'll see you soon."

"Good luck!" She waved as you walked to your usual table. The coffee shop is based off earthy tones, plants hanging in the corner along with welcoming decor. As you sink into your seat, you feel a pair of eyes on you. You think about looking up into the eyes that could burn a hole in your skin, but you don't. You have work to do.

Your tote bag sits on the seat next to you, almost bursting with anything one would need for a day out. You pick your headphones out of the bottomless pit and pick out your 'writing playlist'. Next, your laptop. As you open it, you stare at your reflection across the black screen. A sigh leaves your lips as you type in your password and begin brainstorming for your next novel.

Your books have become more popular as more people are reading now-a-days. Thanks to social media, a few of your books have gone semi-viral. Typically you write fiction, specifically romance. Your fans are usually on the younger side, falling in love with your characters and wishing for more books featuring them.

You bite your lower lip as you begin typing, only to press down on the backspace key a few seconds later. Since when is coming up with ideas so hard for you?

You feel goosebumps populate your skin as you sense the same pair of eyes looking at you again. This time, you indulge. Your eyes meet his steel grey ones and it feels like time has stopped. The world now only contains you and him. You expect him to look away, but he keeps staring.

Raising an eyebrow, you continue to hold his gaze. Without looking down, he takes a sip of his tea from the ceramic white mug that comes with every drink.

His jet black hair mostly stays on one side, covering one of his eyebrows. You notice his undercut, which looks like he just recently got it buzzed. You study his skin, clear of any imperfections. His mouth is almost in a straight line, but his lips are pouting ever so slightly. He is dressed like he's going to work as a CEO - suit, tie, all that.

You break the staring contest you were participating in when you hear someone next to you trying to get your attention.

"Hey, sorry to bother you." A man with light brown hair smiled, watching you take your headphones off.

"Okay..." You look at the man, waiting for him to speak. "Did you need something?"

"I-I just wanted to tell you that you're beautiful." His cheeks began to turn a shade of red. "And I would like your number." His eyes darted to the floor. You raise an eyebrow, analyzing his face. He looks young, can't be older than 23. You notice a group snickering as the man seemingly embarrasses himself in front of you by the color of red that is burning his cheeks.

"Do you have a name?" You ask, taping your almond shaped fingernails on your laptop. You look down at your hands and admire your perfect manicure with your favorite nude shade of nail polish.

"Jean. I'm sorry, I should have started with that."

"Yeah, maybe." You glance at the group again. "Are those your friends?"

"Yes. They didn't think I was man enough to come up to you and ask for your number, which is why they're rudely staring right now."

"I appreciate your bravery, Jean." You smile at him, holding your palm out. "Hand me your phone."

Without hesitation Jean slips his phone into your hand. You open up the contacts app and add your name and number. You tell Jean your name as you give his phone back to him.

"Thank you. I'll... text you later?" Jean ended the sentence as a question.

"What else would you do with my number?" You let out a soft laugh. "Yes, we'll talk soon."

Jean walks back to his group of friends, putting his hands up to show victory. He's with 3 women, and 3 men. The men pat Jean on the shoulder while the women shake their hands, continuing whatever conversation they had going on before Jean came up to you.

When you turn to focus on your laptop once again, you feel eyes on you again.

This man will not stop staring, and he's almost shameless about it.

__________________________________________________________

Back at your apartment, you begin your 'Sunday reset' of your apartment. It's a weekly tradition for you - your sheets get washed, the floors get mopped, and you get your house ready for the week to come. Since you spend most of your time there, you try to make it as clean as you can while still feeling like a lived in home. Your phone buzzes in your pocket as you strip your bed of your sheets.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Hey! It's Jean.

YOU: Hey there.

JEAN: Thank you again for giving me your number, I can't believe a woman as beautiful as you would even give me the time of day.

YOU: I admire your bravery and think it's cute that you got all red trying to talk to me. And thank you, you're very kind.

JEAN: Can I take you out for dinner this week? Wednesday?

YOU: Sounds like a plan. Text me where and what time and I'll meet you there.

JEAN: Will do! :)

You smile to yourself as you put your phone on your side table next to your couch. Your mind wanders as you clean, leading back to the man that has a staring problem. Why was he staring? How long had he been staring for?

#levi ackerman #levi ackerman x reader #levi x reader #levi ackerman smut #levi ackerman fanfiction #levi ackerman fanfic #attack on titan #aot

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im-being-so-normal-about-this · 9 months

Text

Awkward Situations

Summary: When you and the coworker you’ve had a crush on for quite some time get put in the same hotel room on a case, it becomes hard to deny the attraction between you.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x BAU! Reader

Wordcount: 5.6 k

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: typical criminal minds content, rape (mentioned), murder, panic attacks, nightmares, grief

Note: Thank you for reading! This is also available here on my ao3. Have a nice day!

“Alright everyone, we’re headed to Utah,” J.J. said as she walked in, holding an armful of files. She started tossing them down in front of each of you, stopping when she had made it around the table. She picked up the remote lying on one of the side tables and turned on the screen. You were greeted by the sight of three dead bodies, each beaten and seemingly strangled, if the ligature marks on their necks were any indication.

“Maryville, Utah, population 2,135. Three dead bodies in three weeks, all beaten and strangled with some type of rope. Each of them were abducted from different locations and kept for a week before they were killed. There was evidence of torture and rape and, as you can see,-” J.J. explained, clicking a button, “-this Unsub has a type.” The women’s I.D. photos came up on the screen, and it was immediately apparent the similarities.

“Their physical resemblance is strikingly obvious. Their hair color, eye color, age, and skin tone are all identical. Even the victims’ face shapes and bone structures are similar,” Reid cut in. Ever since you had joined the BAU, there had been an attraction between you and the genius, although both of you tried to ignore it. Still, you had had a hard time pushing down your feelings, leading to a slightly awkward relationship between the two of you.

“Could these be some sort of revenge killings? Maybe the Unsub was rejected by a woman who looked similar to these victims. He could be trying to get back at her by killing them,” Prentiss said, gesturing to the pictures on the screen.

“That would make sense. His rage at this woman probably built up over time and he finally decided to try and make her feel some of the pain that he did by killing her over and over again,” Rossi added, nodding at Emily.

“We can talk about this more on the jet. If the Unsub sticks to his pattern, we’ve only got three days to catch him, so wheels up in thirty, everyone,” Hotch interjected. You all nodded, standing up to grab your go bags. Your eyes lingered on the photos of the women for a moment before you left. You had a feeling that this case might bring up some memories of the past that you would rather not remember.

%%%

As soon as the jet landed, you and the team were off to the Sheriff’s office. A woman who looked to be in about her mid-forties walked out of the station door and walked up to Hotch.

“You the team from the FBI?” She asked, sounding tired.

“Yes, we’re with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. Are you Sheriff Daniels?” Hotch replied.

“That’s me. Thanks for coming out, we’re really in desperate need of some help.” Sheriff Daniels answered, a hint of relief creeping into her tone. She seemed quite frazzled, and you wondered when she had last slept. It must have been stressful to have to deal with the first ever Maryville serial killer with a police force of about 9 people.

“Well, you’re in luck, because that’s what we’re here to do,” Rossi told her, obviously coming to the same conclusion as you.

Sheriff Daniels nodded, then turned back towards the doors. “I cleared out a corner of the building for you. I know it’s probably not what you’re used to, but it’s the best we’ve got here in Maryville.”

“All we need is a whiteboard and your files,” Morgan said, reassuring her, “then we can move forward from there.” You and the team followed her in, making a beeline for the only empty corner in the small building.

“Alright, is there anything else you need?” She asked

“No, that’s okay. I think we’re good for now. Thank you,” J.J. answered, smiling comfortingly.

“Actually, do you guys have a coffee machine?” Reid asked sheepishly.

“Yep, right over there,” she replied, nodding in the direction of the counter the machine was sitting on.

“Thanks,” he said, pursing his lips into a flat line.

“Alright, well, let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, okay?” Sheriff Daniels requested. You all nodded and she walked away, each footfall seemingly taking every ounce of her energy.

“Okay, Reid, you stay here and work on the geographical profile. Morgan and Prentiss, you two go to the dump sites and see if you can find anything. Dave and I will go to the M.E. and examine the bodies. Y/L/N, you and J.J. go interview the families. See if the girls reported anyone following them or anything else suspicious,” Hotch said. You all gave some form of confirmation as your assignments were handed out, then split up.

%%%

You glanced over at J.J., looking for her approval before knocking on the door. She tilted her head slightly, and you took that as your cue to gently rap your knuckles on the door of the third victim’s family. As soon as you knocked, there was a loud clattering sound inside the house. You and J.J. exchanged a look, but before you could do anything else, the door opened.

It revealed an older woman, in perhaps her late-forties to early-fifties. She had short bron hair with small streaks of gray, and her eyes were puffy and red. You assumed she was the mother of the victim.

“Hello, we’re Agents Jareau and Y/L/N from the FBI. We’re here to investigate the murder of Lauren Thompson. Are you her mother?” You said, holding up your credentials for the woman to see.

“FBI?” She asked, confused. The longer you looked at her, the more apparent it was that she was devastated about Lauren’s death. Her hair was greasy, and her cheeks looked almost as if they had been rubbed raw. Her eyes were red and puffy, and it was obvious she had been doing little else but crying over the past few days.

“Yes ma’am, we’re here to find Lauren’s killer. Did you know her?” J.J. asked, noticing the woman’s appearance too.

“Yes, I’m-” she stopped for a moment, and her face crumpled. “I was Lauren’s mother.”

“Is it okay if we ask you a few questions about her? We know that losing someone is hard, and you may not want to talk about her, but it could really help us find her killer,” You said, trying to comfort her and accomplish your goals at the same time.

“It’ll help find the man who did this to her?” Mrs. Thompson asked. You and J.J. nodded, both of your faces showing that you were sincere. “Then of course I’ll help you.”

%%%

“So, to start, was there anything outwardly exceptional about Lauren? Anything that would have made her stand out from the crowd?” You asked, trying to ease Mrs. Thompson into the interview.

She had let you and J.J. in and shown you to the living room. After a few minutes of her insisting on bringing you water and setting out a plate of slightly stale muffins, she had finally sat down. Her nerves were apparent in the way that she hadn’t sat still the entire time you had been in her house, but you figured that it was understandable. She had just been through an unimaginable tragedy, and now she was being questioned by two people she had never met before.

“No, no, Lauren was completely normal. At least, from the outside. I mean, she was beautiful, but nothing that made people really notice her.” At this, Mrs. Thompson paused. “Her real extraordinary trait was her personality. She was the sweetest girl you ever met. Always had a kind word or a smile for anyone who needed it. I like to think that she’s doing the same in Heaven now, helping the angels comfort the people who need it.” Her eyes started tearing up, and she looked off into the distance.

“She sounds wonderful,” J.J. said, reaching a hand across the coffee table and laying it on Mrs. Thompson’s.

“She really was.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us about her? Did she have a routine, or events that she regularly attended?” You asked, trying to be as gentle as possible.

“Nothing other than her classes. She loved school, never missed a class. Did you know she was studying to be a teacher? She wanted to teach second grade.” Mrs. Thompson answered. She had a small, mournful smile on her face.

“What college did she go to?” You asked, an idea brewing.

“Maryville Community College. It’s where most of the kids here end up going. She could have gone to a better schools if she wanted to, but she wanted to stay local. Said that she loved it here too much to leave.” You and J.J. looked at each other as she came to the same conclusion you had.

“Thank you, that’s really helpful. Now, we’ve only got one question left, you’re doing a great job. Do you need to take a break?” J.J. said, smiling softly at her.

“No, I can do it,” Mrs. Thompson said firmly.

“Okay. In the weeks leading up to her abduction, did Lauren mention anything new or weird? Maybe feeling like she was being followed, or a new man coming into her life? IT doesn’t even have to be anything overly suspicious, maybe just a new activity she had started.” You asked, trying to put it delicately.

“Maybe? She mentioned something about a new class, but that’s the only thing I can think of that was new in her life. Does that help at all?”

“Yes, that’s very helpful. Thank you,” J.J. answered.

“We’re going to go talk with our team, we’ll let you know as soon as anything changes, okay?” You said, looking at Mrs. Thompson

“Thank you,” she replied, misty-eyed. You and J.J. walked out, and you pulled your phone out.

“I’ll call Hotch and let him know,” You said to J.J., already dialing the number. She nodded, and the phone began to ring.

“Hotch? I think we’ve got a connection between the victims.”

%%%

Back at the Sheriff’s department, you and the rest of the team reconvened next to the whiteboard.

“So, what’s everyone found?” Rossi asked, addressing the group.

“None of the dump sites were secluded. He wanted them to be seen,” Morgan said.

“That fits with the posing of the bodies. He wanted them humiliated, even after they were dead,” Hotch continued.

“This Unsub has to be local. According to the geographical profile, he only hunts within the town limits, and his knowledge of the area suggests that he’s lived here for quite a while,” Reid said, pointing to the maps he had spread out across the table.

“He also has the ability to blend into the community. None of the victim’s families mentioned the girls meeting anyone suspicious before their deaths,” J.J. added.

“I think he has some sort of connection to the Maryville Community College. All of the victims attended classes there, and Garcia’s looking into whether they shared any classes,” You stated.

“You think he may be a student?” Hotch asked.

“Maybe. But it could also be that he was a student at the time of the rejection, and now is an employee. I’m not sure what his exact role could be on campus, but that could be how he met all the victims,” You replied.

“Okay, I think that’s good for today. We’ll let Garcia work and come back fresh tomorrow,” Hotch said. The rest of the team nodded and started following him out the door.

%%%

“Alright, so, we’ve got four open rooms,” The receptionist at the Maryville Inn said.

“Four?” Emily asked, sounding surprised.

“We’re not a very big town. We’ve only got five rooms in total, and one is already occupied. It’s the best I can do,” She answered, picking at her nails.

“Okay, thank you for your help,” Hotch answered, handing over his card and gesturing for the rest of you to go into the lobby. A few moments later, after the rooms were paid for, Hotch rejoined you.

“So, who’s sleeping in which room?” Emily asked the group.

“I am not sleeping with Reid,” Morgan stated quickly.

“What?! What’s so bad about sleeping with me?” Reid said, shocked.

“You go on your rants about how many germs are in the average hotel room and it grosses me out, man!” Morgan replied, wiggling his fingers as if to illustrate his disgust.

“Well I call not sleeping with Morgan,” You interjected. Morgan’s jaw dropped in mock-shock.

“Sorry, but you snore,” You continued, causing him to tilt his head even more dramatically.

“Well, if that’s how you really feel,” he said, feigning offense. It was silent for a moment, then you both chuckled.

“Alright, so, Emily and J.J. in one room, me and Dave in another, Morgan by himself, and Reid and Y/L/N in the last. Does that sound good to everyone?” Hotch asked, looking around the group. Everyone nodded, but when you realized that you would be sleeping in the same room as Reid, you felt the butterflies start up in your stomach. He looked at you and your eyes met. He quickly looked away, but that single connection had sent up a flurry of nerves.

“Okay, get some sleep everyone. We’ll meet back at the station at eight o’clock.” Hotch said, standing up. Everyone else stood and started walking towards their assigned rooms.

%%%

Oh no.

“I thought there were supposed to be two beds,” Reid said, confused.

“I can take the couch if you want,” You said, trying not to think about sleeping in the same bed as him.

“No, no, that’s okay. I’ll take the couch, you can have the bed,” he said hurriedly, trying to be polite.

“No, I insist, it’s fine. I’ll take the couch.”

“No, I insist. You take the bed.” Why is he so polite? You thought exasperatedly before giving up.

“Why don’t we both just take the bed? It’s big enough, and I don’t think either one of us is going to win this argument,” You suggested without thinking. His ears turned red, but you could see him considering it.

“Only if you’re okay with that,” He finally said, looking at you for confirmation.

“Yeah, I’m good with it.” You replied. He smiled at you with closed lips, then picked up his bag.

“I’m going to unpack,” He said simply, walking over to the chest of drawers in the far corner.

“I’ll take a shower,” You said, wanting to avoid the awkward situation. You quickly walked into the bathroom, closing and locking the door. Once you were sure you were alone, you let out a breath. You can do this. It’s just for a night or two. It’ll be fine. You thought, before taking off your clothes and getting into the shower. You showered quickly, scrubbing the sweat and stress of the day away. By the time you had finished your hair you felt much better. You got out and toweled off, relishing the feeling of being clean.

Reality came crashing back down when you realised that you had forgotten to bring clothes into the bathroom with you. Which meant that you would have to go back out into the hotel room. The hotel room that Spencer was also in. In nothing but a towel. After a few moments of quiet panic, you decided to just take the plunge.

“Hey, uh, Spencer? I’m coming out.” You said hesitantly. After a few moments, you opened the door, hoping you could just get in and out quickly. Unfortunately, it seemed the universe wanted to embarrass you. As soon as you opened the door, Spencer turned around and looked at you. His cheeks and ears went red almost immediately, and you felt your own face start to heat up.

“I forgot to bring any clothes in with me, I’ve just gotta grab my pajamas,” You said, quickly walking over to your bag of clothes. He nodded, not taking his eyes off of you. While you dug through the pile of clothes, your face burned. You couldn’t tell if he was still looking at you, and you felt like you just wanted to disappear.

You soon found your pajamas, grabbing them quickly and disappearing into the bathroom again. As you shut the door, you caught a glimpse of Spencer. He was facing away from you, but you could still tell that his face was red.

“Whyyyyyyyy?” You groaned quietly to yourself, pulling on your clothes. You didn’t want to leave the bathroom, but you decided that giving a quick apology and then pretending it never happened was the better option. So, you steeled your nerves and opened the door again.

“Hey, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” You said to him, embarrassed.

“It’s fine,” He replied, his voice a notch higher than usual. He turned to face you, and you could see that he was still blushing slightly.

“Okay, well…” You trailed off awkwardly, unsure what to say.

“Yeah,” He answered, and you both went back to what you were doing. You walked into the bathroom to brush your teeth before bed while he finished up putting away his clothes. Once you came out, he grabbed his pajamas and went into the bathroom. A moment later, the shower started and you relaxed. You decided that, rather than face him again, you would just go to sleep.

You turned off the lights and got into the bed, feeling the exhaustion of the day crash down onto you. You let out a contented sigh, relaxing into the sheets and closing your eyes. You dimly heard the shower turn off and the bathroom door open, and you just barely felt Spencer lay down next to you before you fell fast asleep.

%%%

When you woke up, your head was tucked into Spencer’s chest, and his arms were around you. You blinked drowsily, trying to comprehend what the warm pressure on your face was, before you realised what had happened. You must have moved closer together in your sleep, and somehow, you had ended up in each other’s arms. Just as you came to this conclusion, you saw his eyes open, and for a moment, he seemed relaxed, happy almost. Then, he too realized the full extent of the situation.

You both backed away from each other at the same time, faces starting to burn. It seemed as if you couldn’t be near each other without someone blushing anymore.

“I-I’m so sorry-”

“I didn’t mean-”

You both stopped, looking at each other.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I-” Spencer started.

“You didn’t. It’s okay,” You cut him off. He froze for a moment, and he got an imperceptible look in his eye.

“O-okay then,” he finally said, after a moment of silence. You both looked at each other for a moment, before you noticed the time.

“Shit!” You exclaimed, climbing out of the bed as fast as you could.

“What? What’s wrong?” Spencer asked, extremely concerned.

“It’s 7:45,” You said, frantically digging through your go bag and choosing your clothes for the day. He didn’t even take the time to respond, just jumped up and raced over to the dresser, pulling out his own clothes.

You both rushed around, getting dressed and ready for the day. Once you were ready, you hurried out of the room, grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl in the lobby, and got in a car.

%%%

“You just made it,” J.J. said, after you had asked if you were late.

“Great, I accidentally overslept this morning,” You replied, quite relieved. You both walked over to your designated corner of the room, joining the rest of the group.

Before any discussion of the case could start, Morgan’s phone began ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the caller I.D., then mouthed ‘Garcia’ and picked up.

“Hey, so, all the girls went to Maryville Community, right?” She asked, before anyone could say anything to her.

“Yeah, that’s right,” You answered.

“Well, they were all taking different classes, but it seemed they all had an interest in english-based careers. It’s the one subject they all shared. They didn’t have any classes together, but in a college as small as this, many of the professors teach multiple different subjects, and a lot of the students overlap with each other. There are about twenty men who fit the profile that overlap with all the victims.” Garcia explained.

“Good work, Garcia. Send over the list and we’ll start narrowing it down,” Hotch said.

“They’re coming to you now, friends,” Garcia replied, before hanging up the phone. After a few minutes, J.J. came in with a stack of files, each containing information on a different suspect.

“Morgan, you can go interview the professors who aren’t on this list. They might be able to point us in the right direction. Reid, you and Y/L/N go interview some of the students, see if they’ve heard anyone talking about getting revenge or paying someone back for rejecting him. The rest of us will stay here and go over the list,” Hotch said, picking up one of the files.

You and Reid looked at each other, silently agreeing to just ignore the events of the previous night and that morning. You both nodded at Hotch, then walked out to the front of the building. The drive to the college passed in silence, neither of you knowing how to start a conversation. By the time you got there, the air inside the car was so tense you felt like you were having a hard time breathing.

Eventually, you reached your destination, quickly walking over toward your first stop on the campus. You had decided to talk to as many of the male students as possible, because they would probably be the ones who heard the brunt of the Unsub’s complaining. You walked up to the first group of guys, Reid trailing close behind you, and opened your mouth to speak.

%%%

“Hotch, we got nothing,” You said, talking into your phone. The interview had taken up the majority of the day, and there had still been nothing useful. Every student that you had talked to had said the same exact thing. Apparently, there were a lot of disgruntled and rejected twenty-something men on Maryville’s campus.

“Alright, well, if you don’t think there’s anything worthwhile there, come back to the station and you can help us with Garcia’s list.” Hotch replied, sounding tired. You could just imagine him rubbing his temples as he said it.

“Okay, we’re on our way,” You said, hanging up the phone. You and Reid got back into the car and went back to the station, still silent, but more relaxed than before. You had got into a rhythm together while questioning the students, and it was much easier to be relaxed around each other when you had work to focus on.

By the time you got back to the station, there were two piles on the table. One was only a few files tall, while the other had almost all of the files you had seen that morning.

“These are the suspects we’ve eliminated,” Emily said, pointing to the small stack.

“How are there 15 versions of the same person at this school? It seems like it should be impossible,” J.J. said to herself, exasperated.

“We’ve only got three left to go through. Why don’t you two see what you can find.” Rossi handed you each a file, and Spencer opened his immediately. He started reading, flipping through pages quickly and efficiently. You sat down, opening the file and beginning to read.

%%%

“Alright everyone, I think that’s enough for tonight. We’re not getting anywhere with this, and we can try a different approach in the morning. Go get some sleep,” Hotch said, putting down his file. It was about midnight, you had just yawned for the fifth time in as many minutes, and the rest of the team wasn’t much better. Reid could barely keep his eyes open, despite the copious amounts of coffee he had consumed, and Emily had actually fallen asleep for a moment. Even Hotch had yawned once or twice.

You stood up, the rest of the team doing the same. Everyone slowly made their way to two of the cars with Hotch and Rossi, who were the least tired, driving. The drive was short, and passed in silence, with most everyone too worn out to talk.

By the time you and Spencer made it to your room, you were both too tired to do much else than brush your teeth and go straight to bed. You both laid down in the bed, exchanging a polite “Goodnight”, and falling asleep.

%%%

Dark. Pain. Trapped.

“Please,” you hear yourself say, begging into the darkness, “Don’t”. The darkness cannot hear you. It does not listen. You see a silhouette emerge, and know that you have lost.

You shot up in the bed, soaked with sweat. You felt your chest tighten, and it felt like you couldn’t breathe. You looked around wildly, trying to place your surroundings. You didn’t recognize where you were, which only made breathing harder.

“Y/N?” Spencer said drowsily, sounding confused. You didn’t, or couldn’t, respond, and his eyes opened. He saw you, your wide eyes and tense shoulders, and knew that something had gone wrong.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, worried.

“C-can’t,” You started, clutching at your chest.

“Okay, that’s okay. I think you’re having a panic attack,” Spencer said, frantically trying to think of how to help.

“Do you think you can talk?” He asked, a plan forming.

“Y- yes,” You gasped out.

“Okay, good, you’re doing great. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Light. Please.”

“Yeah, yeah I can do that.” He reached over and turned on the lamp, illuminating the previously pitch-black room. “Is that better?”

“Yes,” You answered, feeling better now that you could see your surroundings.

“Okay, good. What I need you to do right now is breathe, okay? Just try and slow down your breathing.”

“I can’t.” You said, gasping.

“Yes, you can. I know you can,” He said, gently placing his hand on your back. You slowly tried to take a deep breath, feeling his hand start moving in calming circles across your back. After a few minutes, you were able to take a normal breath without feeling like your lungs were collapsing onto themselves.

“Good job, you’re doing great Y/N,” He said, and you realized that he had been talking to you softly for a while. You sat there for a moment, breathing and listening, slowly relaxing with each passing second. Eventually, you felt good enough to speak.

“Thank you,” You said simply, turning to look at Spencer.

“Oh, uh, of course. Is there anything else I can do?” He asked, still seeming concerned.

“Don’t let go of me,” You said, needing the grounding feeling of his hands on you.

“Okay,” He replied, taking one of your hands in his own. You sat together like that for a while, the last vestiges of panic slowly leaving your body. Eventually, you felt your eyes begin to droop, and Spencer noticed.

“Are you ready to go to sleep?” He asked gently.

“I think so,” You replied. He nodded, and you both laid back down. You weren’t willing to give up the physical contact yet, s you laid your head on Spencer’s chest and closed your eyes. You hadn’t realised how tired you had become, but as you sunk into the mattress, your body suddenly felt ten times heavier. With Spencer’s arms around you, you felt completely safe, and you soon fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

%%%

This time, when you woke up, you felt completely content. Despite the rude awakening last night, Spencer’s words and actions had comforted you, lulling you into a calm sense of security. You scooted closer to him, relishing the warmth and contact. You heard him laugh quietly, and your eyes flew open. He was watching you affectionately, smiling softly.

“How long have you been awake?” You asked, not moving away.

“Only a few minutes. I didn’t want to disturb you,” He replied.

“You didn’t have to do that,” You said, a warm feeling growing in your chest.

“I know. But I wanted to,” He answered. There was a moment of silence, both of you just watching the other. Slowly, your gaze slid down toward his lips. You noticed his do the same. You stayed there for a moment, frozen, not wanting to ruin the moment. He slowly leaned forward, bringing his face closer to yours.

“May I?” He asked, his eyes meeting yours.

“Yes,” You whispered, and closed your eyes. A moment later you felt his lips on yours, testing. The kiss was short and light, but better than you had ever imagined. He pulled away, and you both looked at each other, wanting more. You moved up, pressing your lips onto his. This kiss was longer, slower, deeper. You felt his tongue slip into your mouth, and you gasped lightly. You both laid back onto the pillows, not breaking your connection.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. You both jumped, and your lips broke apart.

“We’ve got him! Come on!” Emily yelled through the door, trying to rouse you.

“Hold on! We’re coming!” You yelled back, getting out of the bed. Again, you were rushing to get ready. There was no time for you and Spencer to talk about what had just happened between you, and soon, you were driving to the Unsub’s house.

You quickly reached it, seeing one of your team’s cars already there. You jumped out of the car, drawing your gun.

“You ready?” You asked Spencer. He nodded, and you both started walking forward.

%%%

Later, you and the rest of the team were packing up at the station.

“Hey, I just wanted to thank you guys. You’ve helped a lot of people,” Sheriff Daniels said. She seemed very relieved that the killer had been caught, and you could tell she was looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep again.

“Of course. It’s what we do,” J.J. said, nodding at the Sheriff. She smiled, then walked away, leaving you to pack up.

%%%

“Hi, Mrs. Thompson? This is Y/N Y/L/N. I’m one of the Agents that came to talk to you about your daughter. I just wanted to let you know that we caught the man who killed your daughter,” You said into your phone. You heard a gasp on the other line, and the faint sound of silverware clattering onto tile.

“Mrs. Thompson? Are you okay?” You asked, suddenly concerned.

“Thank you,” She breathed, voice choked with emotion, “Thank you.” You breathed a sigh of relief before continuing.

“Of course, Mrs. Thompson. If you need anything, you can call me at this number, okay?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Okay. Goodbye, Mrs. Thompson.” You went to hang up the phone, but she suddenly started talking again.

“Wait, Wait! Agent Y/L/N? What’s going to happen to this man?” She asked, very concerned.

“He’s going to jail for a very long time, Mrs. Thompson,” You replied, trying to assuage her fears.

“Good,” She paused, then continued, “Thank you so much, for everything.”

“Of course, Mrs. Thompson.” You hung up this time, feeling good about being able to give the families some closure. Even though she would never get her daughter back, at least she knew that her daughter’s killer would never hurt anyone else.

“Y/N! You coming?” Morgan shouted, sticking his head out of the door of the jet.

“Yep!” You shouted back, putting your phone into your bag. You moved over to the stairs, walking up and into the jet.

%%%

Just as you had been the last to board the plane, you were also the last to leave. You walked quickly down the stairs, eager to go back to your own home and process the events of the day. As you reached the bottom, you noticed that, unlike the rest of the team, Spencer was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He looked nervous, wringing his hands and lightly rocking from side to side.

“What’s up?” You asked him, noting his restlessness.

“Can we, uh, talk?” He asked, avoiding eye contact.

“Yeah, sure,” You said, uncertainly. What if he regretted the kiss? You both walked away form the jet and the rest of the team, over to a slightly more secluded area of the airstrip.

“What did you want to talk about?” You asked, your anxiety growing by the second.

“I wanted to ask if you’d like to go out sometime?” Spencer asked, fidgeting with his hands. You breathed a sigh of relief, glad he wasn’t upset at you. Then, the reality of what he had just asked sank in. Your face broke into a smile, and you laughed softly.

“Yes, I would like to go out with you sometime,” You replied. His face broke into a smile and all of his nervous energy seemed to dissipate at once.

“Does dinner the day after tomorrow sound good?” You asked, already making a mental plan of where you would eat and what you would wear.

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. Uhm, goodnight then,” He said, turning to walk away.

“Wait!” You exclaimed quietly, quickly checking to make sure no one could see you. Once you were sure that none of your team members would see, you gently put your hands around his neck and pulled him down, bringing his lips to yours.

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #fluff #there was only one bed

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whump-town · 2 months

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Scared pt.1

Trust that if I can write nothing... I can always write more about what comes post-foyet's attack. Is this very in character? no. but if you wanted that you'd go elsewhere. Instead, I offer:

Hotch doesn't just go down and when he does... it's terrifying for all involved, and the terror isn't through yet.

here's about 4k of 11k words I have (P.S. the other part has a bit of Reid and JJ but if you want Garcia you're going to have to beg and plead bc I can't write Garcia)

it's also on Ao3!

Hotch is sleeping that deep, medicated sleep when Emily sees him and it unnerves her. A full twenty-four hours has not passed since the time she saw him last and he looks damn near like a stranger. John Doe, she vouches, is Aaron Hotchner but as she looks at their John Doe and thinks abouts the Hotch she’d seen just a little while ago on the jet… it feels impossible. He sleeps so utterly still, like a corpse surrounded by medical equipment. Pale and still in a completely unnerving way.

Claiming to know the weak, incapacitated man means immediate paperwork. Suddenly, there’s a doctor standing in between Emily and her view of Hotch. It’s quite scary now to not have him in her sights, as if he will disappear again. The doctor is talking about the first surgery — there’s a tube and drains — the strain it placed on Hotch’s heart. Emily looks straight at Hotch, hearing but unwilling to feel anything as the doctor tells her that Hotch’s heart is weak. Weak? Emily shakes her head and the doctor keeps talking. They are watching him closely, the next twenty-four hours are critical. Emily’s still caught up on Hotch’s weak heart.

Maybe this man isn’t Hotch at all.

Emily never considered anything about Hotch weak. His problem is that he is too strong. He can physically endure the storm, the only living, standing thing for miles and so that makes him think that he has to. Because he can do it by himself, he must. It makes him selfish, guarded, and lonely. It does not make him unfeeling. He’s always there with his hands balled into fists, his eyes wet with tears he won’t let fall. His voice betrays him, breathy from strain. He feels, there’s no denying it, but Hotch will try. His body will fail him long before his heart.

Some of the doctor’s previous words come back to Emily as she approaches Hotch’s room. From here she can see the tubes running underneath the thin blanket across his chest. Iodine stains his skin in swipes, thick gauze visible beneath his gown. His face is utterly expressionless and Emily’s throat feels tight, her eyes darting to the floor.

Weak, huh... Emily pulls a chair up beside him. She glances again at his face which is so pale, her eyes dart to his hand, he probably feels as cold as he looks stiff.

Emily pulls in a slow breath, forcing herself to shake off this unsteady feeling. It’s more than fair; it’s definitely someone else’s turn to be strong for a while. He’s done a good job and held the burden long enough. Restlessly, Emily picks at her fingers. Her hand comes to her teeth, peeling away stubborn bits of her skin until her middle finger is bleeding and her pointer finger stings. On the bed, Hotch's finger twitches. Everytime Emily looks up at it and then at his face, waiting for an expression to cross his blank features, and everytime nothing.

A nurse steps in preparing his next round of medications and Emily stands silently and leaves the room.

To her annoyance, it is the moment she is not there to see his finger twitch that Hotch’s eyes manage to crack open. There’s an intense pressure over the right half of his chest and some machine in the distance sputters out a shrill alarm that irritates the tinnitus in his bad ear. He tries to turn his head, get away from the noise, but the canal under his nose is pinched to his cheek and the plastic hurts. The sound is making his ear hurt and finding his arms immobile, Hotch lets out a panicked grunt. He moves his head uselessly on the bed, a deranged, raw panic overtaking him.

“Hotch.”

Emily Prentiss. His eyes lock onto her, a single raft in the middle of the ocean. A familiar face. He flinches from the doctor, pulling in another ragged, scared breath from his straw-like throat, but Prentiss is standing right by the bed. She is comforting enough for that part in the back of his brain alight with terror, seeking to flee, to ease. She is easy to focus on hovering so close, he feels safer with her here. Scary and strong, she’ll protect him. He’s distracted enough that the doctor is able to slip her cold stethoscope under his gown. She instructs him to breathe, deep breath, but Hotch’s eyes are on Prentiss. It feels like days since he’s seen someone familiar, though he hasn’t a clue how long has passed since right now and… whatever came before.

The doctor speaks to Prentiss and she stands there at the end of the bed, eyes locked with Hotch, while the doctor’s words go in one ear and out the other. One of the machines begins to make a new sound, liquid being moved and another dose of medications snaking through the tubes into the I.V. taped to the back of Hotch’s hand. His head tilts on the pillow, eyes struggling to stay open. She watches his fingers twitch and he moves his head uselessly fighting sleep.

The doctor leaves and Emily hesitantly, watching Hotch watch her, takes her seat back at his side. “You need to rest,” she repeats the doctor’s sentiments.

Hotch has no verbal response, just a terribly slow blink.

Not bold enough to take his hand, Emily places her hand at the end of his, their fingers grazing. “The other’s will be here soon, rest.”

His finger twitches against hers and he exhales slowly, lips hardly moving and distorting the words he mumbles incoherently. He’s asleep in an instant, pulled back under. For a moment, the creases of pain remain claw-footed in the corners of his eyes, down the sharp lines between his eyebrows. All that time before spent wishing for something from him is all gone, Emily can’t tear her eyes away from the lines.

He pulls in a deep breath and they ease away.

The sounds of the room are never ending. Lights blink back feedback that Emily can’t understand, things hiss and churn and move. Emily has nothing to do but think. Should she be grateful it’s not worse? But how much worse can it really get? Hotch isn’t dead… yet. That’s worse but that might just be next. Doesn't make much sense to be grateful for what hasn’t happened when it might merely be hours away. She can be angry but she can’t do anything. She can cry but she doesn’t even feel like doing that. So she sits. Thinks.

Emily flinches when her phone vibrates in her pocket and she rises quickly as her adrenaline does, moving from the room to the hall in anxious anticipation for the team to arrive. Still, Hotch remains in her sight. Happy to let someone else take charge, Emily stands on the edge of the group as the other’s step into Hotch’s room. They haven’t had the opportunity to see him yet but Hotch’s eyes open to slivers and Emily can feel their hazy focus gather on her. She’s quick to move, eager to make use of the words like whispers leaving his dry lips. Until she’s holding his bloody clothing, clothes she’d just seen him in, dried stiff.

The other’s leave to get Haley and Emily watches them from the end of Hotch’s bed.

“Prentiss.”

“Hmm?” Emily turns slowly back to face Hotch, not sure she can manage to keep her own expression level. Not when looking at him like this makes her stomach hurt.

“You were at my apartment? Could you tell how he got in?”

Emily slowly shakes her head, “I couldn’t.”

Hotch nods solemnly, as he stares up at the ceiling.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

He clears his throat, eyes lowering to find her, “I don’t know. After he stabbed me the first time it all goes blank.”

Liar. She’s not certain what he does remember but he’s lying about it. He remembers something well enough to wake him in a panic, instantly obtaining attention from a nurse or doctor. She hasn’t seen it but she’s not stupid, Emily’s aware of what’s happening. And he’s looking at her now, fully expecting her to let it go, knowing she won’t call his bluff.

“If you do,” Emily offers, with a shrug.

Hotch cracks the driest, faintest smile. Graciously, he’s been given a momentary pass and it makes Emily smile too. If there’s anyone anymore who might poke and prod the information from him it is probably her. And it scares him at the same time it relieves him. Because Emily isn’t just saying it, this won’t leave her mind until it leaves his. She’s judgemental as hell but she understands, maybe more than he wants her to.

The energy is off but Emily tries to find comfort in silence. It’s usually easier, anyone who spends time with Hotch has to be used to a little silence. He’s not much of a talker himself, unless inhibited by alcohol or anytime he hasn’t got to be in slacks. Or… a hospital gown. Hotch has got to be comfortable and he’s clearly not. It’s easy to be comfortable in silence because when Hotch is comfortable it just feels comfortable. Safe. Easy. Hotch feels like none of those things right now and Emily can’t either.

He’s stripped down to his raw skin, no armor in sight, just a weak man, tired and confused by the countless medications fighting his body to live and manage his pain.

It feels wrong to even look at him like this. Emily’s seen him in jeans, Aaron with hair astray from the toddler sitting on his shoulders gripping it for dear life. She’s seen him drink himself a little silly, criss-crossing his long legs while he walks like a crane in deep water without any of the grace. But that was a choice. He’d cried, smiled, and been exhausted before but everytime that was a choice. Even knowing him without the armor, it feels wrong to see him without when she knows he wants it.

If there weren’t medications muddling his blood and keeping his heart calm, it would certainly ache more than it does now. Without full access to feeling, Hotch can’t even find it within himself to be embarrassed. Later, it will come later.

She watches him try and turn his head, uncomfortable in a way neither of them can identify. “Do you–” Emily moves anxiously, “do you want to sit up?”

“Please,” he whispers, turning his head back to her.

When the bed moves he flinches and the combined motions make him stiffen and suck in a breath that he holds. Emily stops the bed but he shakes his head and silently he’s thankful she understands and the bed keeps rising until he’s sitting up.

Boredom was better than what comes next. Emily looks everywhere but at Haley as she comes down the hall, Derek directing her into the room. Jack goes to Dave who distracts him quickly and effortlessly. Emily looks at the floor, counting linoleum tile to keep her distracted. Otherwise, all she’s got to think about is her possibly dying friend and the ex-wife and child he’s sending to witness protection.

Haley leaves with Jack on her hip and Emily stands, hands anxiously twisting together. She feels panic for Hotch, watching them leave. Her heart pounds in her chest, fear makes her hands shake at her sides, as she watches them leave wondering if they will ever come back.

Valiantly, uselessly, Hotch tries to fight off his fear. He jerks himself awake every few hours, sucking in tight breathes and eyes darting around. Foyet’s name isn’t far from his lips and Hotch sits vigilantly unconvinced that Foyet isn’t the door’s shadow across the wall or the stuffed bear in the windowsill. Nothing can be done to soothe his irrational fear. Dave tells him that he’s safe, and holds his hand. Derek sits by the door, facing whatever comes in. Emily is hiding in a shadow, the only comfort he can truly find. This feels safe, having her hiding in the same domain as Foyet. Let the man show his face, he’ll find someone much scarier waiting for him.

Hotch is in no position to make decisions for himself. However tired but lucid he was worsens as Haley and Jack leave. Fat tears roll down the sides of his face, his words are breathy, weak. He’s scared and lonely, a little clingy.

“Em’ly?”

She sees the pulse ox out of the corner of her eye, doesn’t hear him call her, and she moves to his side close to the hand he’s moving around vaguely. “We’re just going down the hall,” she tells him because she’s already explained twice that he’s going to surgery. His surgical team has already been down, they’ve told him this. But he’s confused and agitated and terrified, so Emily is given permission to come as far as she can. That means sitting in the hall, waiting to move Hotch once he’s asleep, less likely to be alarmed by the changes in his environment. “Rest,” she says, placing her hand over his.

He’s asleep by the time they are ready and his eyelashes bat as he’s put under. Emily grabs his hand when he moans, turning his head fitfully, and with an exhale he relaxes again.

His sleep is black, soundless, and then he is in that car, the smell of cheap cologne burning his nose. Foyet’s singing along to the radio, drumming his hands on the wheel and singing off-key to Guns N’ Roses. Bloody, wet hands come from the darkness, blurry eyes peer over surgical masks saying words to him in morphed muttered languages. Fingers take hold of him, arms lift his limp body and his eyes are rolling back into his head. He’s conscious and not, he feels dead. Floating. A thumb presses on his jaw and a feral part of his brain clamps his teeth together. His mouth is pried open and his breath restored, cold solid oxygen sitting in his balloon lungs. He’s limp, his oxygen deprived body greedily taking what it’s given. Hotch is taken right back to the car, ends up swarmed and overtaken by the hands. The dream is fitful and never ending.

Dave goes with the doctor, the first to take in the news. Hotch’s heart stopped again and he’s still intubated to try and alleviate the strain on his heart. Watching Hotch’s chest move with breaths a machine takes brings tears to Dave’s eyes. It’s hard to not believe something right in front of you but Dave does it. Hotch had never been that youthful, bright-eyed rookie. He’d come hardened and strong, too strong for his own good. Dave had thought it would get him killed but it seemed that never knowing when to back out of a fight has been the only thing keeping Hotch alive. That’s all Dave has now, hope in the man who has never figured out how to back down. The ICU has different rules and no sooner than Dave’s ten minutes is up, before he can even get off the floor, his phone is ringing. There’s a case in Oregon.

Hotch is by himself when he wakes twenty-five hours later. Medicated cocktail weighing him down, he was only vaguely present through the veil. He can’t be certain he’s actually awake, that he’s not just swept up in another dream. He gags weakly around the tube in his throat. Tears roll down the corners of his eyes and he fights perilously against the doctors. He shifts in and out of consciousness, medicated calm keeping him from fighting the machines helping him, and his drug-addled brain conjures visitors from the shadows of the room.

Dave is there six hours later when the doctor removes the tube, in the corner of the room while Hotch coughs, gagging and stiffening in pain. He cries for Haley with a voice and throat too raw to make more than rasps. But fat tears leave his eyes, his lips form her name soundlessly, persistently until his eyes are rolling back into his head before his eyes have fully closed.

In his sleep, Hotch cries. He makes small, hurt sounds and whimpers, recoils from fears only he can see.

“What’s wrong man?”

Hotch’s blurry vision slowly settles on Morgan, “mm?”

“Something bothering you?” Morgan frowns when Hotch moves his head again. Hotch’s clarity is sharpest in the hour before his next dose of pain medication, when the pain is the clearest. It’s been only twenty minutes since the most recent dose, Morgan had watched Hotch go from restlessly sedated in his slumber to limp, melted into cot below him. Steadily for the last five minutes Hotch has been making little agitated noises in sleep, now his eyes are open and he’s moving uncomfortably.

Morgan is ready to give up when Hotch turns to him, and he steps closer, ready to be beckoned any which way at just a rasp from Hotch.

“Hurts…” he mouths.

“Do you want to sit up?” Morgan asks. He hates not being able to help. He hates sitting here not able to do a damn thing. “I can sit the bed up.”

Hotch nods. He turns his head away, pulling harsh breathes audibly, lips twitching with pain he’s barely hiding. “Wanna go home,” he grunts, panting. “Please,” he whines, turning and hitting Morgan with the full force of gut-wrenchingly teary, pathetic eyes.

Morgan’s done this job before, sitting by Hotch’s beside, but typically Haley is near. He just covers for a short while, waiting for her to come back and soothe Hotch back to himself. Morgan had tried but he had learned long ago he needed to stick keeping Hotch occupied with games or being the muscle needed to assist. “I can’t,” Morgan strains out. “I would,” he lies, because right now he just might, but as quickly as he’d do anything to make the tears stop, the idea of Hotch being home scares him far more right now.

Hotch sucks in a sob, turning his head in shame to hide, even if Morgan can see his lips pulled up and more tears squeezing out of his shut eyes.

“We can go outside,” Morgan offers, though he’s not certain. But the idea gets Hotch’s attention and Morgan will bat his eyelashes and flirt with however many nurses or doctors, man or woman, it takes to make it possible. “I’ll be right back,” he whispers, squeezing Hotch’s arm.

It takes minimal eyelash batting to get a wheelchair. The nurse out in the hall is happy to see that Hotch’s visitors have returned and she’s willing to see a whim out. He does better with visitors. She had attributed most of his restlessness and somberness to being more alert, perhaps just more himself. But she can see a difference. Hotch watches her with sad but hopeful eyes as she moves medical equipment out of their way, she can tell that he is more himself with his friends nearby.

It is not that the roles usually go Morgan in the wheelchair and Hotch pushing but it does feel like roles have been swapped. It makes more sense for Hotch to be the assistance not the assisted, it’s difficult for Morgan to make peace with. But this is what it is.

“The grass.”

Morgan obeys, turning the wheelchair off the path and into the grass. He stops it just a few feet from a bench, pushing the brakes down. “You up for a walk?” he asks, stepping around the side and watching Hotch gingerly lift and lay his feet in the grass. “Where are your socks?” He doesn’t know how he didn’t notice it earlier but now fire burns in chest at the sight, heating up his face. All Hotch does is shiver, every moment of all day. He comes in and out of pain but constantly he’s cold.

Hotch ignores him, moving his hands to prepare to stand like he’s capable of summoning enough stubbornness to get himself out.

Morgan offers support silently. Again, he’s familiar with this. He knows good and well the only way Hotch will take his shoulder to lean on is if they are silent. Morgan has had to catch Hotch from falling, he knows that if he says anything Hotch will simply push him away and choose to fall.

Bare feet on the cold ground eases something in Hotch more nagging and persistent than the pain. He’d grown up running around without shoes, tracking his muddy footprints on his mother’s scrubbed hardwood. As painful as it is to stand, Hotch bares through it because it feels amazing. He’s not ready to give it up.

“I forget you’re a good ol’ boy,” Morgan chuckles and immediately his eyes dart to Hotch, not certain his comment won’t end in Hotch laying in the grass. He receives a warning, narrowed eyes. But in all fairness, Morgan grew up in the city. He wasn’t walking anywhere barefoot, he still wouldn’t. “You can’t go anywhere without shoes in Chicago,” he says and Hotch allows the slight distraction as he drags himself through walking. “Nails and needles and–” the list goes on and Morgan shakes his head thinking about it. “I don’t understand the appeal. Sticks, bugs, and what’re those plants called with the needles? I’ve seen ‘em in the grass, man, why would you chance stepping on one of those?”

Hotch’s response is a puff, he clearly has an opinion but he can only focus on one thing at a time.

They say nothing on the bench. Morgan watches the breeze move the tree leaves, pleasantly warmed by Hotch proximity.

Leaning into Morgan, too weak to even hold himself upright, Hotch finds himself unable to escape his curiosity. “Why are you here?” The breeze nearly sweeps up his question and for a moment he thinks Morgan hasn’t heard him. Morgan moves his arm around Hotch’s shoulder, carefully pulling his blanket tighter and only then does Hotch realize he’s shivering.

“You hate hospitals,” Morgan says, like it’s the simplest thing in the world. It is the truth so maybe it is. “You’ve never left me alone in a hospital,” he says to the foliage and then he turns, looking at Hotch. “You’ve never left any of us.” Maybe he hasn’t personally been there but everytime Hotch has been in the field, doing the hard work, so that they can have visitors when they’re hurt or sick. Everytime, always. And when the job is done, when things are truly safe again, Hotch will show up. It’s never been more apparent than now.

“It’s late,” Hotch says stupidly and Morgan laughs and looks at him with this sad look that even mind-boggled Hotch knows means Morgan is keeping silent for his sake. That he could say something that would be emotional and very telling about Hotch in a way that he most definitely doesn’t want to hear. Certainly not right now.

The truth is easy, Hotch asked. Not recently but years ago now, when the only people who showed up at the hospital were Morgan and Haley. His ghosts were different then but Morgan didn’t need to know their names, he just wanted to help. The request had come from Haley and Morgan has been with Hotch every night he’s spent in the hospital that Morgan has known of. He’d sit in the doorway of every hospital room until one or both of them dies, everytime. Nothing would change that.

“Thank you,” Hotch says, loudly, clear.

Morgan scoffs. It’s the first he’s heard Hotch sound like himself, voice and all. He reaches for Hotch’s cold hand, hospital bracelets scratching his skin, “always, man.”

When they return to the room, Hotch sleeps for the first time unbothered. Morgan sits by the door anyway.

#aaron hotchner #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #derek morgan #haley hotchner #george foyet #emily prentiss #david rossi

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hisnie · 4 days

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I hate the way people treat Katara in The Southern Raiders.

The way that people put Aang on a pedestal of someone who can do no wrong makes me hate discussing the show with ATLA fans. I like Aang, but he isn’t the morally good character that he says he is and the fans only prove this.

In TSR, Katara is given the opportunity by Zuko to get revenge against the man who killed her mother.

First I want to start off with Katara’s exchange with Sokka.

Katara asks Aang for Appa to go on the journey with Zuko, he tries to persuade her otherwise and then Sokka tells Katara, “Katara, she was my mother too but I think Aang is right”.

And so Katara says the infamous line, “Well you didn’t love her the way I did.”

This is when people go insane but what Katara’s says is somewhat reasonable. Katara and Sokka have different versions of love for their mother, you can be siblings but still love your parents differently from your sibling. People also never put in perspective that Katara has the view of a child with survivors guilt while Sokka is able to move on from his mother’s death because he is a kid who understands war. From a young child, even in TSR episode, it shows him wanting to fight back against the Fire Nation and him wanting to be involved in the war between his people and the Fire Nation. I also believe that Sokka does feel sorrow for Yue’s death, but isn’t hung up on it like Katara is with their mothers death because he understands that at the end of the day, Yue’s sacrifice was her duty and a product of war. Their mother’s death was an outcome of war.

I love Sokka, but when he says this line:

He’s dismissing her feelings. It’s like he’s saying, “We both lost our mother, but because I don’t want revenge, you shouldn’t either” which isn’t fair to Katara at all. Ofc I don’t believe Sokka meant for it to come out like that but that’s what it sounded like.

But you can also use the fact that Sokka grew up in a sort of toxic masculinity mentality. You can also use the fact that Sokka held his emotions in too about their mother’s death and that was also damaging to him. Which is true, I could support that too.

And my response to that is that you shouldn’t force others to grieve how you grieve.

Katara can’t just forgive Yon Rha like Aang can when it comes to the genocide of his people because they are fundamentally different people with different backgrounds and settings.

Obviously they don’t force Katara to stay on the island and not go on the quest, but they do admonish her and compare her to Jet (which is a lil finicky because Jet did do bad things but also changed towards the end of his life to do good and also help the gang) which is demeaning to who she is. She even defends herself by saying she isn’t like Jet, she isn’t attacking an innocent person, she’s attacking the man who led the raids against her people and killed her mother.

This brings me to my gripe with Aang in this episode and previous episodes. I can’t recall a single episode where Aang acknowledges what happens to her and comforts her. It’s always Katara comforting Aang when he is emotionally distressed. When he learned about the death of his people, when Appa was taken, and when he was questioning his honor of being the Avatar. It’s always Katara comforting him but it’s never really reciprocated back to her.

In this scene, Aang tells Katara that she should forgive Yon Rha and she says, “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”

Because Aang never tries to. It’s either his way or no way. Aang is a pacifist and I respect that, Aang wants to preserve the culture of his people and I also respect that. However, Katara doesn’t have the same views as him. Katara never stated to be a pacifist, Katara never stated to believe in the views of the Air Nomads, so obviously there would be a disconnect between the two of them because they grew up with a different culture and different world views. They also grew up in the different times, Aang grew up in peace while Katara was born during a war.

It’s honestly disingenuous to ask Katara to forgive the man who killed her mother, just because Aang can forgive the fire nation for their atrocities to his people, doesn’t mean she can too. People grieve differently. Katara outburst was bound to happen because no one in the group ever acknowledges her pain. Only person who does is Zuko and although people like to call him a manipulator, he isn’t. He realized that Katara’s hatred for Yon Rha was being directed at him because he is a personification of the Fire Nation in her image. So he stops, learns about what happened, and tries to understand her pain.

It’s also extremely hypocritical for people to get mad at Katara for her outburst against Sokka when Aang yelled at Toph when she chose to save them over saving Appa from the Sandbenders.

People even defend it by saying

Can’t that be the same thing said for Katara?

Also, Aang never apologizes to Toph about his outburst btw. He even yells at the rest of the gang later on during the desert and also yells at Katara, “claiming that she isn’t helping” when she is the only one keeping the group together.

What also gets me is how no one realized that Katara wasn’t going to kill Yon Rha. After rewatching the series a bit, Katara was never going to kill that man. It’s not in her character to and this episode tests her character and makes her better for it.

And the lessons of the episode isn’t “revenge isn’t the way” or smth similar to that, if anything, it’s the fact that you don’t have to forgive your abusers. It’s shown through Zuko, Aang, and Katara. Zuko doesn’t enact revenge against Ozai but he also doesn’t forgive him. Aang has the right to kill Ozai for the death of his people and for the war, but doesn’t. Aang never forgave him though. And most importantly is Katara, she can’t bring herself to kill Yon Rha but at the end of the episode she tells Aang that she can’t forgive him. Aang was wrong, forgiveness can be impossible.

#atla #katara #aang #sokka #toph beifong #the southern raiders #avatar the last airbender

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erisenyo · 7 months

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idk if you’ve done this already bc it fits so well but if you haven’t: “you were dead, i saw you die” for jetko?

For this prompt game! (And also this one!)

The attack when it comes descends on Zuko’s carriage from both sides with near-perfect coordination. And from above, judging by the weight landing on the carriage roof, a distinct thump amid the sudden clamor of shouting and weaponry as Zuko whips his dao from beneath the carriage seat, silently cursing the current fashion for floating, flowing layers as he gets his swords into his hands, the familiar hilts welcome and nearly foreign in his grip after so long wielding inkbrush and paper instead and Agni’s tits, has it really been that long since his last real vacation?

Zuko strains his ears, tracking the rapid sounds of the fight, his instinct to hurl himself into battle biting up against Captain Rin Mai’s constant admonishment for Zuko to please stay in one place, Your Majesty, so we can protect you.

Though judging by noise suddenly replacing the woodland quiet of the North Omashu-Chu road—

“Great hit!”

“Get ‘em, Hands!”

—it’s not Zuko who might need protecting today.

Zuko breathes up his inner flame, letting it shiver in his veins and pool in his hands as he hears Private Wang let out a low grunt and drop to the ground. He eyes the carriage door and its flimsy lock, mind flicking between a fire blast or just launching himself bodily through it and holding his fire in reserve, estimating just how much force he could barrel out with if he—

“Aw, fuck,” a clear, high voice suddenly says, “Look at ‘em, these aren’t the right guys!”

“Shit, what?”

“No!”

“The uniforms are all wrong,” the voice grumbles, disgusted. “We’re gonna have to cut them loose and hope they don’t cockroach rat.”

“Are you sure?” someone else asks, doubtful. “It could be a ruse.”

“We can't be positive without an interro—”

“We are not,” a new voice cuts in, low and exasperated like he says it often and tickling the back of Zuko's brain, “Going to interrogate—”

“Because this,” the woman snaps over top as she rips open the carriage door, skipping back when Zuko whips his dao into a ready position and keeping a wary eye on him as she shouts to her companions and Agni's balls this is a girl, Zuko reazlies, looking beneath the dirt and bright streaks of paint, “Is definitely the wrong target.”

“Oh yeah?” that new voice drawls, even more familiar now in a way that has Zuko's adrenaline wanting to spike against well-worn thoughts like ‘betrayal ’ and ‘assassination' even though the context— “What makes you so sure, Greenie. I believe you, but lay it out for the rest of us.”

“Well,” the girl—Greenie?—says, sarcastic, “He is Fire, for start.”

“Oh, well then,” Jet says, stepping around the open carriage door, “You know what we do with Fire around these parts,” he continues, eyes landing on Zuko and flaring wide a bare second before his expression closes into something aloof and watchful and deceptively amused.

Zuko can only gape back, stunned, barely keeping the tips of his dao from sagging and aware his usual court-trained neutrality is nowhere to be found as Jet slowly drags his eyes over Zuko from head to toe. Maybe, Zuko thinks wildly as he takes in the slashing eyebrows and shaggy hair and age-sharpened face, the attack was actually successful and this is all some kind of dream, his mind struggling its way back to consciousness. Or maybe Zuko actually did get assassinated this time, which is going to make things unfortunately difficult for a number of people, but Zuko doesn’t know how to explain the fact that he's seeing a ghost.

“You’re not going to ask?” Jet finally prods, tone low, dangerous, hook swords dangerously easy in his hands, "What we do?"

And Zuko doesn't know that he does want to ask, that he wants to know, but even if he did he doesn't have the words, couldn't speak if he did with how dry his mouth is as his eyes bounce across the familiar breadth of filled-out-now shoulders and the hodge-podge of armor that actually fits and that knowing, would-know-it-anywhere smirk that tils Jet's lips at the silence.

“Tell ‘im, Greenie,” Jet orders, soft, eyes half-lidded and intent and so familiar, too, never wavering from Zuko’s face in a way that makes Zuko's heart trip in his throat and that’s familiar, too, and—

“We tell ‘em,” Greenie says, drawing herself up and clearly imitating Jet’s drawl and slouching ease and somehow managing the bravado to pull it off in her small frame, “That we’ll get a Fire Nation audit set on their ass unless they clear out.”

Zuko jolts, blinking over at her in surprise, knocked out of his stupor with pure shock and gaping for an entirely different reason now as he stares at the girl, then finally back at Jet.

“We hear around here," Jet says like he was waiting for Zuko's attention, "That the Fire Lord is very strict when it comes to audits and impropriety among his ‘citizens living under Earth Kingdom jurisdiction’ these days." Jet's tone is sarcastic and mocking and laughing, his eyes sharp as they slide pointedly to Zuko’s headpiece.

“You were dead,” Zuko finally manages, shock sending the words tripping out of him, the only ones that currently matter. “I saw you die, you were dead.”

“What?” Jet frowns, taken aback enough to actually show it before he pulls his smirk back into place. “When, you weren’t there,” he says, nearly accusing.

“It was in a play,” Zuko says, numb, struggling with the wherewithal to explain right now that he was there, kind of, just early, or maybe late, depending on how you’re measuring it, “You—you got brainwashed and crushed and—” Zuko cuts off hard, gulping back the rest of the words at the way Jet’s hands tighten around his swords, corded muscle shifting along his forearms, Zuko's eyes flicking down and then catching at the faint patchwork of lines against tan skin, an array that could just be dust and dirt and the scars of living or could be—

“So the Fire Lord is getting his information from musical theater, in the new administration?” Jet finally asks, mockery back in his tone like Zuko can’t see the guarded wariness in his eyes, the ready anger, Jet’s gaze still staying fixed on Zuko even as Greenie jolts, her eyes flying wide, mouth forming a nearly comical oh of realization. "Is that an official policy? Part of the 'new era of peace and cooperation?'"

“It wasn’t—” Zuko snaps, hot and feeling himself flushing as he immediately cuts off, because…there might have been a song or two, actually. And Zuko wouldn’t say that puts the entire work into the musical theater category, but he knows that Earth Kingdom plays are generally so low on lyrical music that Jet might consider—

Jet raises his eyebrows, amused, and Zuko corrals his wayward thoughts as Jet crosses his arms, swords loose again in his hands. “Was I at least hot in it?”

“…Uh,” Zuko says, no part of him prepared to articulate ‘yes but not as hot as the actual you.’

But apparently he doesn’t have to articulate it with the way Jet’s smirk curls wide again, with the way Jet gives Zuko a smoldering, lazy once over that’s exactly the same as nine years ago on that boat in Serpent’s Pass, and Zuko swallows hard as his stomach swoops and flutters in answer like he’s sixteen again with that, too.

“We’re heading to rob a corrupt tax official, you know,” Jet suddenly says, tilting his head toward the line of curious eyes peeking around the carriage door, his eyes laughing when Zuko startles like he knows Zuko is only just noticing them. “Not Fire,” Jet smirks, amused and completely insincere as he adds with a casual wave toward Zuko’s unconscious guards, “Sorry.”

“Oh,” Zuko says, blank, rote. “Okay.” If the official isn’t Fire then Zuko can just…not care about it, for now. It’s Bumi’s problem, or—no, this far north it’s probably Lady Tang’s problem, actually, which under the treaty agreements eventually would make it Zuko's but either way, it’s not Zuko’s right now, and that’s what matters. His mind is currently otherwise occupied.

Mostly with the way Jet is watching him, eyes laughing and familiar and here.

“I hear,” Jet says, tucking a stalk of wheatgrass into his mouth and Agni, the way Zuko's stomach swoops seeing it, like in the nine years since he hasn't— “That the guy’s eating like a king, while the rest of his province has to feed off his scraps.”

Zuko stills. His breath catches, inner flame flaring into the gap in anticipation and then in answer as Jet smirks like he knows it, both of them locking eyes and ignoring the whispering behind the carriage door of, "Wait, I thought it was a lady, not—" "Shut up, idiot, do you want them to—"

“That doesn’t seem fair, does it?” Jet drawls, gazee half-lidded and intent, and Zuko licks his lips, hesitating, because the next line isn’t his. Except Jet seems to know it, too, and also the girls, because Jet nudges her without looking and she obediently, immediately pipes up, “What sort of king is sh—he eating like?”

“The fat, happy kind,” Jet purrs, like an invitation, like a seduction, like a challenge, and Zuko is suddenly too impatient to wait for the question, exhilaration and a fuck-the-consequences kind of thrill he hasn’t been able to indulge in years flaring in his chest as he grabs the headpiece out of his hair, tucking it into his belt as he shrugs off his impractical outer robes to reveal the black, utilitarian, close-fitting garments underneath.

“I’m in,” Zuko rasps, familiar words and familiar excitement in his chest, and the feral smile on his lips familiar, too, and just like the one curling Jet’s lips in answer.

(If you'd like to imagine a grown-up Jet, my I direct you to this marvel)

#asks and answers #ask game #fic writing #my writing #This was a fun one I do love some Jetko egging each other on into idiocy #And also some Jet who cannot stop himself from adopting strays #Zuko #Jet #Jetko

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thecasualauthor · 29 days

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@jilymicrofics March Prompts 29 Disgrace

Enjoy! Read under the cut

----

“You’re a disgrace,” Bellatrix whispers as she presses the knife to Lily’s neck. “A blight. A mistake.”

Lily can’t see Bellatrix’s face, but she can imagine the look of fury that so often graces her features, and she tenses when Bellatrix’s next words echo throughout their surroundings “I don’t even think you’re worth me killing you with magic,” she purrs, and Lily feels the knife dig deeper into her skin. She resists the urge to cry out and inhales sharply, steadying herself.

Stall. She needs to stall long enough for James to get here. Long enough for him to get what they need and get out.

“Well, isn’t that a relief?” Lily grits out. “I’m glad if nothing else I’m good for sparing you the effort.”

Bellatrix actually hisses, and makes a deeper cut into Lily’s skin, enough that Lily can’t help but let out a cry of pain. It echoes in the dimly lit alleyway, and adrenaline courses through her veins. She grits her teeth, and trying to feign indifference, opens her mouth. “Oh, come now, Bella,” she says mockingly. "You're usually so fond of a bit of wand-waving theatrics. What's changed?” Lily hears a low laugh from the Death Eater’s lips, and it chills her to the bone.

“I already told you you weren’t worth it,” Bellatrix says in a terrifyingly soothing voice. "besides," she trails the knife across Lily's neck, leaving a trail of pain and blood behind. “There’s something satisfying about seeing the life drain out of you up close. It’s more personal, don’t you think?”

"Ah, yes, much," Lily retorts, her voice dripping with sarcasm despite the fear coursing through her veins. "It seems like an awful lot of work for you, though. Don’t you have better things to do?” She glances around the alleyway, willing James to appear.

Where was he?

She feels Bellatrix shrug. “Nothing I can’t reschedule. I think this is more productive.”

The knife moves deeper.

Lily is running out of time.

“Productive?” Lily chokes. “You consider running me through with a knife as productive?” She can see Bellatrix’s smile in her mind’s eye.

"Oh, absolutely,” Bellatrix snarls, her voice dripping with malice. "Every moment spent watching the light fade from your eyes is a victory for me, Mudblood. I’ll enjoy killing you.”

“Or you could not do that.”

James Potter’s words are accompanied by a jet of orange light that collides with Bellatrix, who screeches in pain and loosens her grip around Lily just a little. Lily doesn’t hesitate to react. She whirls, stamping as hard as she can on her attacker’s foot, and dives for her wand, lying just a few feet away, ignoring the searing pain in her neck.

A stunning spell flies from her wand, but Bellatrix deflects it easily and sends a barrage of curses at both her and James. The two of them are holding up, but only barely, and Lily and James exchange the briefest look before Lily lunges for him, and the two of them disapparate.

The first place Lily thinks of is Potter Manor, and they arrive in the garden, both breathing heavily. Once they’ve steadied each other, James’ hands move to her neck, examining the deep, jagged cut made by Bellatrix’s knife.

“Merlin, Lily,” he says. “I’m so sorry. I–”

“It isn’t your fault,” Lily says firmly. “I needed to distract her.”

“So you let yourself get a knife run through you?” James sounds frantic, and he reaches into his pocket, pulling out his wand and pointing it at her wounds.

“I didn’t mean for her to disarm and capture me,” Lily rolls her eyes. “It was an accident.”

“An accident that nearly got you killed.”

Lily winces as James’s wand hovers over her neck, a warm glow emanating from the tip of it. It’s a mild stinging sensation, but it’s healing the gash, and that’s what she cares about.

“Better?” James asks, and Lily just throws her arms around him.

“Thank you,” she mumbles into his chest. They stay there for a while, and Lily pulls back to look at him. “Did you get it?” James reaches into his pocket, and pulls out the small, ornate box.

“Yeah,” he says. “We got it.”

Lily’s heart swells with pride. “We make a pretty good team,” she takes his hand, squeezing it lightly. James grins.

“Yeah, we do.”

#jily #james potter #lily evans potter #emma floods the jily tag with jily #and angst #look i know the jily is more towards the end #but i wanted to show Lily's sarcasm and bravery

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teshamerkel · 10 months

Text

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 51]

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AO3 Link

Tobias and Nia lead the crew of the Aqua Jet through the dungeon, fighting their way back home.

With the group's formation for the dungeon officially decided, they quickly fall into a rhythm.

Each time they reach a patch of land the riders separate from the swimmers and line up as instructed. When they reach the next patch of water, they regroup. Tobias keeps a sharp eye out for ferals and directs them the best he can, and Nia follows suit from the back of the party, making sure they don’t get attacked from behind again. Tobias trusts Beck, Nori, and Cordelia to keep an eye out underwater for anything that might be lurking there.

Tobias is just glad that he knows dragon rage, because he’s certainly getting a lot of use out of it. The move wears him out quicker than everything else in his arsenal, but it’s powerful and—most importantly—effective against the many water types they come across.

Considering how quickly everything could’ve gone sideways from the start, Tobias thinks it’s actually going pretty smoothly.

It would be going a lot smoother if Cordelia didn’t insist on attacking every feral they see and dragging the entire group into a fight. Tobias glares at the croconaw the first time she does it. The second time, he hisses for her to leave the ferals alone. After the third fight Cordelia starts for no reason, Tobias shoves past half their group to poke a finger into the croconaw’s chest.

“Would you stop attacking?!”

Cordelia crosses her arms. “This is dangerous territory—you said yourself that we need to keep moving to avoid getting ambushed. We should try to get the jump on them when we can.”

“They don’t need jumped! We need to avoid fights when we can!”

Cordelia doesn’t respond, but the set of her thick jaw and her narrowed eyes speak to how stupid she finds his argument.

Tobias throws up his arms. “Look—with a group this big, and an unknown dungeon? It’s idiotic to attack every ‘mon we see. We need to conserve energy.”

Cordelia growls. “If we don’t attack then they will. I could see that quagsire scheming!“

“He was asleep.”

“That’s what he wanted you to think!”

“Okay, okay, break it up,” Beck cuts in, physically stepping between them. He manages to look calm despite the tension in the air. “Delia? One stubborn ‘mon to another—listen to Tobias. He’s more experienced with navigating mystery dungeons. There’s no reason to go rarin’ for a fight if we don’t need to.”

Tobias shoots Cordelia a smug look under Beck’s arm. She wrinkles her snout.

“Y’know,” Nia cuts in. “I’m sure it’s not helping that we haven’t eaten. Why don’t we make a stop by the next set of stairs for a break?”

“All our food’s on the ship,” Ignatius grumbles.

“We have a few apples packed in our bag,” Tobias sighs. “We’ll have to make do with those.”

When they finally reach the next set of stairs, they make sure the room is clear of ferals before settling down by the exit for a quick getaway to the next floor.

They only have three apples packed to split between the eight of them, but Cordelia slices them into halves with her claws. Tobias gives her a look.

“I don’t need one, and the sableye doesn’t eat fruit. Right?”

The sableye jumps as everyone looks to him, then nods. “I-I’m not hungry anyways.”

Nia gives Cordelia a worried frown. “But won’t you get hungry? You need to keep your strength up.”

“She’s right, y’know,” Ignatius huffs, a cloud of smoke following the breath. “Stubborn girl.”

Cordelia pointedly ignores the torkoal and gets up with a grunt to patrol the hallways leading out of the room. Tobias is about to follow her and stuff his apple half down the stupid captain’s throat when Beck yanks him back down.

“What—“

“Save your breath. Not the first time Delia’s decided to be a martyr for the crew. If we haven’t been able to change her mind, you definitely won’t.”

Tobias wants to argue, but he glances at Cas and Nori, and even they have bitten into their apples with resigned expressions.

“That’s stupid,” Tobias growls, sitting down. He scorches his apple slice with a quick burst of fire before biting into the warmed fruit.

Beck shrugs. “Maybe. But she’s our captain for a reason. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

The apple makes the fatigue lapping at Tobias’ heels a bit less noticeable. They wrap up the snack quickly and move on to the next floor as soon as everyone is finished.

The next three floors are uneventful. Their formation works well for defending the group, and Tobias is grateful that only about half the ferals they run into are water types. His dragon rage is getting a lot more use and he feels himself draining quicker than usual, but he tries to keep moving forward at a steady pace.

They’re crossing another patch of grassy land when Tobias suddenly feels the ground underfoot shift with a distinct click. He looks down, panicked, at the faint square outline of a trap hidden beneath the grass.

Then the world spins and Tobias stumbles as he finds himself at the edge of a waterway notably different from his previous location. Beck, Ignatius, and little Cas stagger into being around him.

The back half of their group is nowhere to be seen.

“Great,” Tobias hisses.

“D-Delia?” Cas squeaks, looking around. He trips closer to Beck, looking up at the floatzel with wide eyes. “Where’d everyone else go?”

Beck looks to Tobias, brow furrowed.

Tobias sighs. “Probably a warp panel. There must be a psychic type on this floor who set it as a trap.”

“So the others..?”

“Should still be on this floor. We’ll just have to find them before moving on.”

Ignatius grumbles about his aching feet. Beck wordlessly scoops the torkoal up to carry him. Cas glues himself to the floatzel’s side.

Tobias nods, then turns to head down the grassy corridor, glad at least that they weren’t dropped into water this time. This is an annoying setback, but as long as they can reunite and keep moving, it’s nothing more.

Beck does a decent job warding off any ferals that approach from behind in Nia's absence, holding his own until Tobias can rush back to fling an ember or slash and take them out.

When they reach the next stretch of water, Beck ferries all three of them across with only a little strain. As soon as they touch shore Tobias hears something familiar.

Voices. The rustle of footsteps through grass, quiet but not as silent as most ferals tend to tread.

Tobias runs, following the noise down the hall, turning a corner and—

“Tobias!” Nia yelps, barely sidestepping him before they collide.

“Nia!” Tobias breathes, eyes flicking over her form before moving over her shoulder. He’s relieved to see her unhurt, but... “What happened to Cordelia and the sableye?”

Only Nori stands behind Nia, the golduck giving him a silent nod. Cas makes an excited chirp and runs to hug her leg.

“Cordelia ran off as soon as she noticed Cas warped somewhere else,” Nia says, giving Beck and Ignatius a strained smile over Tobias’ shoulder. “Carnelian panicked when we got attacked and bolted.”

Tobias curses under his breath. “This is why we don’t take escort missions.”

“Noted,” Nia says, voice edged with nervous laughter.

Another sound in the distance catches everyone’s attention. It sounds like…the rush of a water type move. Battle. It can’t be far.

Tobias and Nia exchange glances before heading for it. When they track down the room it’s coming from, they see Cordelia slamming into a bibarel with a powerful waterfall that knocks him hard into the wall of the dungeon. The bibarel slumps, unconscious.

Cordelia is breathing hard but turns with her formidable teeth bared when she hears footsteps. Then she falters, eyes skimming over the group before locking onto Cas. All at once, the tension outlining her body slackens.

“Oh, thank Kyogre.”

“Delia!” Cas sprints to her as fast as his little legs can carry him. Cordelia scoops him up and tucks him against her neck.

She looks back to the group, gaze skimming once more over each of them. “Just missing the sableye, then.”

Nia nods. “He got spooked. He can’t have gotten too far on his own, though.”

“Let’s hope not,” Cordelia mutters.

“Could just leave him,” Ignatius says, surprisingly casual.

Tobias and Nia both recoil from the suggestion. But where Nia looks horrified, Tobias’ face creases with anger.

“We aren’t leaving anyone!”

“We aren’t leaving the sableye,” Cordelia agrees, voice firm. She gives the torkoal a hard look. Ignatius shrugs, seemingly unbothered.

“Nori and I found the stairs back that way earlier,” Nia says, glancing over her shoulder. “So if we can find Carnelian quickly, we at least know where to go next.”

Tobias follows her gaze, trying to catalogue the general direction for later.

“I made a loop around that way,” Cordelia adds, pointing off in the opposite direction. “Didn’t see the little guy there.”

“He could be on the move,” Tobias mutters. But that still leaves a fourth hallway that no one seems to have traveled down yet. Might as well start there.

“This way. Back into formation,” Tobias says.

The group, clearly more tired than they were just a few floors ago, trudges back into order. Tobias takes a breath, then moves to lead them.

They run into two more ferals in the next few rooms—a parasect and a stunky that, luckily, don’t land any of their poison moves.

Then they hear a shrill, terrified shriek, just down the hall.

Tobias’ head snaps up. He bolts, hearing the rest of the group follow, moving loudly through the brush and puddles.

Tobias rounds the corner into a new room, and quickly takes in the picture in front of him.

They’ve found Carnelian. Unfortunately, the sableye has also found a massive crawdaunt. The large red water type is scarred, clearly an experienced fighter. It has the sableye pinned to the ground with one claw dwarfing his entire body. The other pincer is raised high, ready to finish him.

Type advantage or not, a blow like that could easily kill the frail ghost type. And they aren’t close enough to stop it.

If Nia weren’t at the back of the group, maybe she could use quick attack—

Or if Beck hadn’t frozen behind him with a choked breath—

Or if Tobias could—

If Tobias could—

Tobias wills the tired fire in his belly to burn hotter, desperation stoking it with a single quick breath. He braces himself. Molds his mouth into a whistle rather than the usual open mouthed breath of his ember.

Then he shoots a ball of flames lightning-quick across the room. It hits the crawdaunt in the back of the head and makes it flinch.

Tobias stares, panting, as the crawdaunt whips around with an angry chitter.

Did…did he just learn flame burst?

The crawdaunt abandons the cowering sableye and charges across the room. Tobias runs to meet it, opening up the entrance to the hall so Nia can step in to help.

The crawdaunt lunges, and Tobias rolls out of the way of its pincer. The crater it leaves in the dirt makes his heart skip a beat. They can't let themselves get hit by that.

Tobias darts in to try slashing at the feral. His claws barely scratch the crawdaunt’s tough carapace, almost bouncing off of it.

Tobias curses and steps back. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Beck hurrying over to scoop up Carnelian and carry the sableye out of harm’s way. Good.

The crawdaunt takes a breath and shoots out a jet of scalding water. It clips Tobias on the arm, and he hisses as he darts forward to roll under the crawdaunt’s tan underbelly and out the other side.

He has to use his dragon rage—it’s the only move in his arsenal that will even hurt this thing. But he can feel his dragon type energy running dangerously low, and knows he only has a few shots left. He was hoping to conserve them.

Guess he doesn’t have much of a choice.

Tobias inhales deep and releases a plume of purple flames that—finally—make the crawdaunt falter.

Right after, a blur of blue and black slams into the crawdaunt, right near the golden star topping its head. The force of the quick attack nearly manages to topple the water type, Nia rolling past it and clumsily back to her paws.

“About time,” he huffs.

“Sorry,” she pants. “Was dealing with something else.”

Tobias nods, eyeing the crawdaunt as it steadies itself. The quick attack seemed to do as little as his slash. Its hide must be tough—probably a higher defense than special defense.

“Water type?” Nia calls, dodging a heavy claw.

“Something else, too. Fighting, maybe? Or dark. Can’t remember.”

The crawdaunt is taking turns lunging at one of them and then the other. Tobias dodges and lashes out with a lick of purple flames that makes it stumble.

“It might be weaker to special attacks,” Tobias calls, cashing in on his guess.

Nia grunts as she deflects a claw with her aura staff. “Got it!”

Tobias knocks one of the crawdaunt’s legs out from under it with a swing of his tail, then skips back as it shoots another jet of water his way.

While it’s distracted, Nia forms a ball of aura in her paws and flings it into the crawdaunt’s side. It garbles something angrily and takes another swing at Nia that she barely dodges.

“Tough,” Nia huffs.

“No kidding.”

The two of them dart in and out to fight the water type. Tobias hears battling behind him too, where the rest of the group is, and hopes that Beck, Nori, and Cordelia can handle whatever attacked them. He and Nia have their hands full as is.

Nia finally gets knocked aside by one of the pincers. She wasn’t hit head-on, thankfully, but still hard enough to send her rolling across the grass.

“You all right?” Tobias shouts. He shoots another dragon rage at the crawdaunt, but his flames sputter. He’s almost out. Exhaustion drags heavy at his limbs.

Nia shakes her head, but it’s more of a grounding gesture than a no. She stumbles back to her paws, then braces herself. Tobias can see a glint of something in her eyes, and that makes him nervous.

Before he can worry about it too much, Nia darts forward with another quick attack, slamming hard into the crawdaunt. This time, the crawdaunt is sent skidding back. It’s a notable difference from the first time she hit it.

Tobias pauses, panting, and looks at Nia. The riolu is grinning with a victorious expression. Looks like she figured something out.

When the crawdaunt lumbers back to its feet, it’s visibly unsteady. Finally slowing down.

Nia and Tobias move forward to attack again. They both focus on quick, weaker moves to chip away at it while staying out of range.

Nia is the one to finish it, forming a much larger than usual sphere of bright blue aura in her paws. She shoots it at the crawdaunt, and it explodes against the water type with a flash of light.

The crawdaunt goes down, landing with a heavy rustle in the lush grass.

Tobias takes a moment to be sure it’s knocked out. Then, he slumps to the ground to catch his breath. Nia stumbles over and flops down beside him.

“What,” he gasps. “Was that about?”

Nia laughs. “I figured out work up!”

Tobias blinks. “Really? From Cas?”

Nia nods, grinning.

Tobias snorts. “Cool. I think I learned flame burst.”

“New move buddies!” Nia cheers, falling over completely, clearly exhausted and half-loopy with adrenaline.

Tobias barks a laugh, weakly raising a fist. “New move buddies. Sure.”

Tobias finally remembers that they aren’t alone, and looks over to find the rest of their group. Luckily, they all seem to be in one piece, even if Cordelia is limping a bit and Beck is scuffed and muddy.

“Everyone all right?” Tobias asks.

“This one would be better if she would’ve eaten something,” Beck snorts, giving Cordelia an unimpressed look.

The croconaw curls her lip and gives him a glare in return.

“Carnelian?” Nia asks.

Tobias finally notices the sableye huddled up against the floatzel’s belly and shivering with fear. The ghost type jumps at the question, visibly shaking, but nods.

Cordelia whistles. She’s looking past them, at the crawdaunt they’d downed. “Nice work.”

“Thanks,” Nia huffs, struggling to her feet. She holds out a paw to help Tobias up after her.

He feels exhausted. Utterly drained. What he wouldn’t give to make a nest in the corner of the room and go to sleep right now.

“We’d better keep moving,” he says instead.

Everyone nods, clearly equally fatigued. They get back into order, and Tobias turns their group around to head back the way they came, to where Nia and Nori said they’d seen the stairs.

Tobias tries to avoid battles entirely on the following floors. They’re all tired and they can’t afford any real injuries. All conversation has petered out by this point, everyone just trying to conserve their breath.

They’re on the 19th floor—or maybe the 20th—when Tobias hears a barely-there rustle ahead, and freezes. The line stops behind him.

A little Pokemon stumbles out of the grass, squeaking a hiss when it notices their group. It’s a blue nidoran. A tiny one, no more than a baby. Its eyes are white and mindless, tiny barbs raised with poison.

Tobias can’t look away from the scratch across its side, bleeding sluggishly against pale blue skin. He doesn’t know if it was attacked or just injured by the environment. It wouldn’t take much to hurt something so fragile.

Tobias swallows against a lump in his throat. He has a soft spot for kids, so of course his first instinct is to help. But he can guess how it’ll react in its feral state. How it’ll spit and bite and poison anyone that comes near until it can wriggle free and flee in blind fear.

Could they take the nidoran kit along? Everything in him recoils at the thought of having to knock out a child, and he doesn’t even know when they’ll be able to get to the guild. What if he just makes it worse trying to relocate her?

A louder rustle of brush and a single heavy stomp is their only warning before a much larger, darker blue Pokemon emerges from the brush, towering over even Beck and Nori.

A nidoqueen.

Tobias tenses up now for an entirely different reason. He throws out an arm, hearing everyone behind him hold their breath. The silence is heavy.

The nidoqueen rumbles a low growl that Tobias can feel in his chest. She steps forward to plant herself between them and her child.

They’re at a standstill. Tobias is torn between anxiety that she’ll attack their already weakened group, and relief that the nidoran has anyone to defend her at all. Even relatively mindless, at least feral Pokemon seem to protect their young.

Slowly, the nidoqueen lowers her body. For a heart-stopping moment, Tobias thinks she’s preparing to charge. But then he hears the scratch of tiny claws on hard armor and sees the nidoran climb atop the nidoqueen’s back to settle between her plates. Now that she’s hunched over, Tobias spots a second purple lump already clinging to her: another nidoran.

Tobias wonders if any other kids got lost in this chaos. His chest squeezes.

The nidoqueen rises and turns as if to leave. Tobias steps forward, panicked.

That scratch on the nidoran, it…it’s nothing that would kill the kit on its own, but it’s only been an hour or two since the dungeon started. It could be weeks until their minds clear. What if it gets infected? What if she gets hurt more?

The nidoqueen’s head snaps back to him, thick teeth bared and accompanied by a warning growl.

“Tobias!” He hears Nia whisper-yell.

Tobias lowers his eyes and reaches slowly into their satchel. He feels around until he finds what he’s looking for. Then he crouches, slow. Slow. And gently rolls the oran berry forward so it stops just in front of the nidoqueen.

The nidoqueen hisses, hunching lower and flexing her claws. But then she pauses, sniffing the air. Her blank white gaze flicks down to the blue fruit and back up.

Tobias doesn’t dare move.

The nidoqueen reaches out to snatch the oran berry. She gives it one more sniff before gently biting into it to hold it in her mouth.

She glances at Tobias one more time. Her eyes are still blank, and there isn’t a shred of anything like gratitude or confusion present. Just primal wariness.

But she has the oran berry. Even at a baser level, she probably knows to feed it to her injured kit. It’s the best they can do.

The nidoqueen huffs and continues on through the grass. Her heavy steps quickly fade, and Tobias can feel the tension of the group follow.

Nia, who had apparently snuck closer to stand as Tobias’ backup, sighs. “I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to fight them.”

Tobias nods, trying to put the nidoran kit out of mind. “…Let’s keep moving.”

Nia must be able to tell where his mind is, because she reaches out to squeeze his hand before moving back to the tail of the group.

Tobias is just grateful his partner is enough of a bleeding heart to not get upset about his poor decision to waste their second-last oran berry. She probably would’ve done the same.

Or maybe she’s thinking about the same thing Tobias is. Thinking about how all of these Pokemon are only endangered because of the weakening dimensional border. How it’s only going to get worse from here. If that nidoran survives her time in the dungeon, she’ll die all the same if the border breaks entirely.

Tobias blows out a breath. Then, he forces his feet forward. He doesn’t have time to think about this right now.

Tobias enters an exhausted haze after that encounter. He still tries to pay attention as he leads the group through the dungeon, but he knows he isn’t as alert as usual, and they’re only 20 or so floors in. He tries not to think about what they’ll do if this dungeon is a freak incident and is a hundred floors deep. How they’ll survive. He tries not to think much at all, to conserve mental energy.

Once or twice, Beck and Nori step in when they run into another feral. Tobias knows he must look dead on his feet for them to do so, but he can’t find it in himself to be upset about the help. He’s stubborn, but not a total idiot.

He is enough of an idiot to not even realize they’re out of the dungeon at first.

He just starts walking after they warp, picking a direction. It takes a solid ten steps before he realizes he isn’t in a room, or a corridor. Half-convinced he’s hallucinating, Tobias blinks and looks behind him.

Everyone else seems similarly baffled, looking around with wide eyes. But no, the forest around them is open and unstructured. Natural. Tobias can hear the dull roar of the river nearby.

“Are…are we out?” Cas asks.

There’s a heavy silence before Nori nods.

Nearly all of them slump to the leaf-littered ground, a collective breath of tension leaving them. Tobias tilts his head back against the closest tree and just. Takes a moment.

They made it. He and Nia got the group through the dungeon safely. He didn’t realize how much pressure he’d felt to do so until it was lifted.

After what seems like barely a minute but is likely longer, Cordelia suggests they head back to the river.

“It’ll be the best way to navigate our way north,” she adds once she sees Tobias’ doubtful look. “We follow the river upstream, and we find civilization.”

Tobias, unfortunately, can’t argue with that. With a groan, he drags himself to his feet and trudges through the greenery of the forest beside Nia. Cordelia, even hungry and sporting a limp, can take charge out here. He’s too tired to fight her for the leadership position.

When they get to the river itself, all of the water types relax at the sight of the familiar waterway. As they take another moment to recharge, Cordelia crosses her arms with a thoughtful sound.

“What?” Nia asks.

“Just thinking.” The croconaw turns her head to scan Nori and Beck. “How’re you two feeling?”

Beck straightens. “All right. Little tired.”

Nori just gives her a nod.

Cordelia looks back out over the water. “The river is still high here, but it’s a bit calmer. How do we feel about swimming it?”

Tobias feels his face pale. “Swimming it?”

Cordelia snorts. “Not you, of course. We’d carry you, like we did in the dungeon.”

Tobias doesn’t feel very comfortable with the idea. Or comfortable at all. Whereas the water in the dungeon was relatively calm, this river is still surging quick and frothy and strong. He falls into that and he’s almost definitely dead unless one of the water types rescue him.

“We trusted you to cover us in the dungeon,” Cordelia says, voice confident but not antagonistic for once. “Trust us to get you back north.”

Tobias swallows. “Why can’t we just walk?”

“We could,” Cordelia snorts. “But we’d be moving twice as slow. And using more energy to boot, walking up and down the slopes and around brambles.”

“What about the boat?” Cas asks, voice small.

Cordelia sighs, ruffling the quaxly’s blue head feathers. “We’ll have to wait for the dungeon to pass and hope it makes it out in one piece. Nothing we can do about it as is.”

“Delia has a point,” Beck cuts in. “Water travel would be easier and quicker.”

“Really?” Nia asks. “Even if you have to swim with us on your back?”

“Yup,” Beck says with a wink. “We’re made for the water. We’ll just have to take breaks every few hours.”

“Nori?” Cordelia checks.

“I’m fine with that,” Nori says, quiet as usual.

Nia glances at Tobias, as if to question if he’s all right with this plan. He isn’t, and he knows that if he insisted on walking Nia would stick with him. The whole crew probably would, honestly, but it’s objectively the worse decision.

“Fine,” he mutters. “You’d better not drop me, though.”

“Or me,” Ignatius huffs.

Oh, right. Tobias is perversely glad that there’s at least one other fire type dealing with this less-than-ideal situation.

They move back into a similar formation as the one they used in the dungeon. Cas, of course, hops on Cordelia’s shoulder. Nia, Tobias, and Carnelian go with Beck. Ignatius, heavier than the three of them combined, crawls onto Nori’s back.

Then, with one last look around and an instruction to call for a break as soon as needed, they’re ready to go.

Cordelia leads the way, slipping silently into the dull roar of the river. Nori follows, Ignatius crouched low against her blue feathers.

Beck slinks into the water after them, cutting easily through the current. His tails spin and his body weaves gently side-to-side, and if Tobias didn’t feel so on-edge he’d admire how smoothly Beck is navigating such rough waters.

As is, Tobias scoots closer to the middle of Beck’s back, tail curled tightly around his middle. The water is so close, barely below the level he’s sitting on. Every few seconds, the river sprays high enough to mist painfully against Tobias’ skin.

“Here,” Nia says, offering Tobias his poncho from their satchel. He didn’t even hear her rustling through it.

“Thanks,” Tobias murmurs, pulling the leafy green garment over his head. While his heart slams against his chest still at the closeness of the water, he’s relieved to have the burning cool spray of the river gone.

Nia settles in, pressed against his side. Carnelian sits closer to Beck’s tails, curled around his backpack and dead silent.

“All right?” Nia whispers.

Tobias jerks a nod. He’s as all right as he’s going to get. At least it’s getting close to evening, so they probably won’t be able to travel too long before stopping for the night.

Nia reluctantly leaves Tobias alone to check on Carnelian. The sableye jumps when Nia addresses him, but nods as she asks if he’s all right.

“You didn’t get hurt earlier?”

Carnelian hesitates.

Nia frowns. “What hurts?”

Carnelian shakes his head. “I-I’m okay, I just—just a bit bruised. When I breathe.”

Nia glances at Tobias, concern clear on her face.

Tobias sighs but reaches into their satchel and pulls out the last oran berry to hand over.

“Will this help?” Nia asks, voice soft. “Or can you not eat it?”

Carnelian is surprised enough to actually meet Nia’s eyes with his own creepy gemstone ones. “I-I can eat it, but…I couldn’t take your berry—“

“We want you to have it,” Nia presses. “If it hurts to breathe, that means something’s wrong. Please?”

Carnelian crumbles under the riolu’s sad expression. Not that Tobias can blame him.

The sableye reaches out to take the oran berry with shaky claws, glancing at Nia and then Tobias once more before eating it in two large bites. Immediately after, Tobias can see a bit of the wire-sharp tension loosen from the ghost type’s posture.

“Thank you,” Carnelian says.

“No problem,” Nia returns, smiling warmly. “So it did help, right?”

“Y-Yes. Berries don’t have all the daily nutrients sableye need, since minerals are the main part of our diet. But the healing properties still work.”

“Cool!” Nia says, smiling earnestly. Tobias could guess that she has a hundred follow-up questions that she’s only holding back for the sake of Carnelian’s nervous nature.

The sableye gives her a shaky smile in return before looking away.

Tobias snorts and looks back out over the river. If he wasn’t so terrified of falling into the swift current, he could see how traveling upstream like this could actually be…relaxing. In the late afternoon sun, between the white currents, the river shimmers with reflected bits of light. The trees on either side of the river cast long shadows, a warped mirror of the forest landscape. The dull roar of the water is constant enough to fade to something almost soothing.

Tobias can’t fully relax, but his tense muscles do loosen to something less stiff. As he starts to check back into the Pokemon around him, he notices Nia casting Beck hesitant looks. Every minute or so, her gaze moves back to his head, where his snout is half-submerged in the water. Her mouth opens then closes, as if to say something.

Finally, she speaks aloud. “Hey, Beck?”

The floatzel lifts his head to look back at them over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Don’t see why not! We certainly have the time.”

Nia smiles at the comment, but she’s clearly distracted. She takes a few moments to gather her thoughts, dipping her paw into the water. “Earlier, when you got hit in the dungeon, you called me Hazel.”

Beck looks surprised at that, his smooth swimming stalling before picking up again. “Oh. Well, apologies for that! Hazel’s my mate, y’see. And you…remind me of her quite a bit.”

“I’m not upset or anything,” Nia says, waving her paws in front of her. “If anything I’m flattered. But I just…” Nia trails off, frowning. She’s clearly weighing a question in her mind.

“You said you live up north, closer to the guild,” Nia finally blurts. “Would you happen to live in Afon’s Cap?”

For the second time, Beck’s swimming falters as he blinks back at Nia, clearly surprised. “…That I do.”

That seems to be all the confirmation Nia needs. She beams, leaning forward into Beck’s space. “Then that means—are you Hazel’s husband? The raichu? Your daughter’s a pikachu named Margot, right? A-And your grandkids are Tommy and Theo?”

Beck grins back, equally delighted. “You know my family? How wonderful! How did you meet them?!”

Tobias would like to know, too, giving Nia a perplexed look. She said Afon’s Cap, right? When they went there, it was before they really restarted their team, when he was still being a major jerk.

Funny, how that feels like so long ago now.

Nia wanted to go there so bad to look for someone, a former human, and—

Hazel. Her name was Hazel. The psychic type raichu that Nia mailed a letter to asking for a human bed! Of course!

“Yeah! I went looking for her because—“

Tobias elbows Nia, and gives a pointed nod behind them at Carnelian’s quiet presence.

Nia falters, but then says, “W-Well, I wanted to ask her some questions. Advice, really. I’m from the same place she is!”

Beck’s eyes widen as he catches her meaning. “I had a feeling that was the case after you shook my paw so quickly! Picked up that fun little habit from Hazel.”

Nia giggles. Tobias vaguely recalls staring stupidly at Beck’s outstretched paw when they first met.

“She mentioned meeting a—“ Beck glances past them, at Carnelian. “A sweet young Pokemon looking for advice, but I never thought it would be you. What a coincidence! I can’t wait to tell her—she’ll be thrilled to know you’re out saving wayward crews like ours.”

“Tell her I said hi! Oh, and that Tobias and I worked out our issues!”

Tobias flushes at that comment, especially when Beck raises a wry brow in his direction.

“Ah, the troublemaking partner. You put Hazel in quite the mood for days, according to Mar.”

“Sorry,” Tobias huffs, sounding more petulant than repentant. He looks away, embarrassed.

Thankfully, Beck just chuckles and looks back to Nia. “You all come down and visit when you find the time, all right? The girls and my grandkids could always use more friends from outside the Cap.”

Nia, of course, seems thrilled at the thought, already chattering away about it. Tobias doesn’t say anything, instead turning his head to watch the river and the forested shoreline drift by in the approaching dusk.

It’s getting too dark for the water Pokemon to see properly in the water when they decide to pull off to shore. Beck drags himself onto the sandy riverside and collapses there.

Nia scrambles off his back to crouch by his head. “Are you okay?”

“Just tired,” he soothes, yawning.

Nia sits back, relieved, and watches Cordelia and Nori pull themselves onto land with equally fatigued movements.

“We’ll go look for food and wood to start a fire while you three catch your breath,” Tobias says.

Beck raises a paw to give her a thumbs-up. Nia laughs at the gesture and moves towards the treeline, beckoning Tobias after her.

“Can I come too?“ Cas asks, fluttering on their heels.

“Sure!”

“Well I’m stayin’ here,” Ignatius says, settling into the sand.

Tobias rolls his eyes, but grabs their satchel from where it had slipped off his shoulder. A few of their items spill out, and Tobias groans, probably more dramatically than he needs to.

Nia snickers. “Calm down. I’ve got it.”

She crouches to scoop up their wayward items, but pauses once she grabs one of their badges.

“What?” Tobias asks.

Nia doesn’t answer, but she does click their badge on. Tobias bends to see what’s caught her attention.

Oh. They’re in range of the guild now.

“Does that mean..?” Nia starts.

Tobias grins, feeling a relieved sort of exhaustion fall over him. He snatches the badge to look closer. Just to make sure.

They must��ve traveled farther north through that dungeon than they’d thought. They’re finally close enough to the guild for the psychics’ range to reach them.

“Hey!” Tobias calls, looking over at Cordelia’s crew.

The croconaw lifts her head, annoyed. “I thought you were going to find food.”

Tobias wiggles the badge in his hand. “We’ll do you one better. Anyone want a lift to the guild?”

That catches everyone’s attention.

“We’re close enough?” Nori asks.

Nia nods.

“Then what are you waiting for?!” Cordelia says. “Get over here!”

Even Tobias can’t find it in himself to get irritated with the croconaw. Not after the day they’ve had. Everyone gathers close together on the beach as Tobias and Nia prepare their badges to send out a pick-up request.

“All right. Ready?” Tobias asks.

"Make sure you’re touching one of us,” Nia adds. “Or each other. As long as there’s some connection, you should be fine.”

Tobias feels Nori’s cool, webbed hand land on his shoulder and Cas’ feathers against his leg. On three, Tobias and Nia send out their pickup request. The badge in Tobias’ hand glows, and he tightens his grip.

Then, in a flash of golden light, Tobias feels the familiar vertigo of psychic warping.

In an instant they’re back in a familiar room lit by the blue crystals from below the guild. The uneven wooden flooring underfoot is familiar, and the treelike architecture around them even more so.

A pair of abra look surprised to see them, staring at the extra six Pokemon they’ve brought along.

The left abra slumps, voice dry. “That explains the extra weight.”

The right one sighs. “Next time, please alert us if you’re bringing tagalongs.”

“Sorry,” Nia says, sheepish. “Actually, can you, um…show me how to do that?”

While the right abra does so, pointing at Nia’s badge with a claw, Tobias scans their party to make sure everyone made the journey. They did, and the other abra is already going through the usual guest spiel of marking down everyone’s names and species for the records, as well as telling Cordelia where to find the cafeteria and guest quarters.

For the first time since this morning, Tobias feels himself truly relax. Almost immediately, a wave of exhaustion follows. He cannot wait to go to sleep. And in their own soft nest! They haven’t been home in over a week, and there’s nothing like sleeping in your own nest.

When their group finally departs from the psychics’ quarters, they’re in high spirits. Cordelia is running her maw about food and Beck is laughing in response. Cas is looking around with wide eyes, and even Nori and Ignatius, the quietest of the crew, seem at ease.

“So,” Cordelia says, hands on her hips. “Riolu. Charmander. We don’t exactly have much to give you in thanks, considering the Aqua Jet is stranded at the moment. What say we waive your travel fee and let your guildmaster know you two deserve a heap of Seeker points or whatever your reward system is?”

Tobias snorts. Not a great deal, but better than nothing, he supposes. “Fine.”

“Are you heading out right away?” Nia asks, ears lowering.

Beck smiles and reaches out to put a paw on her head. “We’ll stay the night, but then we’ll probably head south. If we’ve gotta stick around somewhere for a few weeks to wait for the dungeon to pass, I want to see my family.”

“And we can at least take odd jobs around Afon’s Cap to earn some cash,” Cordelia adds.

“You’re welcome to join us if you’d like,” Beck offers.

Tobias can see that Nia wants to accept, but she shakes her head. “I…we have somewhere we need to be, unfortunately. Say hi to Hazel and everyone for me?”

Beck’s smile droops, but he doesn’t argue. “Will do. Just make sure you come visit in the future, all right? Hazel would love to talk to you again.”

Nia nods, brightening. “Of course! As soon as we can.”

“Good kid,” Beck says, pulling Nia into a hug. She goes willingly, burying her face in the floatzel’s fluffy chest.

When they part, Nia wipes at her eyes. “Are you sure you’ll be able to make it to Afon’s Cap all right on your own?”

Cordelia snorts. “We ain’t helpless, believe it or not. We’ll get directions and be just fine. It’s not far from here.”

“Thank you again,” Nori says, quiet voice commanding everyone’s attention. She offers them the barest hint of a smile. “For guiding us through the dungeon, and for the company.”

Cas gives them each a hug as well before the crew of the Aqua Jet heads off down the hall, waving their goodbyes and thanks.

“Come find us if you’re ever dying to get back on the water, Charmander!” Cordelia shouts.

Tobias rolls his eyes and turns back to Nia—

Only to realize that there’s still someone here, waiting for them to notice him.

“Oh!” Nia sniffs, wiping the last of tears out of her eyes. “Hey, Carnelian. Do you need something?”

Carnelian shuffles his feet and tugs at his backpack straps. Finally, he says, “Th-Thank you. For protecting me back in the dungeon.”

Nia exchanges a surprised look with Tobias. “Of course! It was no problem.”

“All part of the job,” Tobias adds.

Tobias is surprised when Carnelian shakes his head, voice adamant enough to lose its constant tremor. “No. To many, it’s not. Not for a ghost. I didn’t even hire you.”

Oh. Tobias gets what he means now, and suddenly he feels a hot bloom of shame in his chest for how suspicious and annoyed he’d felt about sableye for the first half of their trip. Ignatius’ lackadaisical suggestion to ditch the sableye in the dungeon comes back to him.

Nia’s ears pin, her eyes wide. “…I’m sorry. That you’ve, um…dealt with that before.”

Carnelian shakes his head, but his voice is back to its usual shaky warble. “I-I just wanted to thank you. And say that I don’t have much to offer, b-but if you ever need anything you think I can assist with, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Nia smiles. “Well, thank you. We appreciate it. Beck mentioned you’re working up north?”

Carnelian nods, something almost like excitement lifting his head. “Yes! I-I’m something of a researcher of rocks and minerals. I was called in to analyze unusual crystal formations found under the Silenfroar Mountains. I should be there for at least a few months.”

“If we ever need to, uh…learn about rocks? Then we’ll keep you in mind,” Tobias says.

Nia elbows him for his awkward statement, and he gives her a pointed shrug. He wasn’t even trying to be snarky!

Nia gives Carnelian a smile. “We appreciate it, really. Safe travels north!”

Carnelian nods, a weak smile flickering across his face. Then he scurries off towards the guest quarters after the crew.

“He’s sweet,” Nia coos.

Tobias rolls his eyes. “He’s fine. A little nerdy.”

“I’m a little nerdy,” Nia counters, giving him a playful glare.

“Yeah, you are. Now. What first? Food? Sleep?”

Nia looks thoughtful. “…Maggie?”

Tobias stops. Thinks of his adoptive mother’s warm smile and relaxing scent. “Maggie. Definitely Maggie.”

The two of them move to take the stairs up to the medicinal floor, slowly for the sake of their exhausted bodies.

“You think she’d let us crash in her room tonight? Oh, but I guess Sage has our alcove now…”

Tobias scoffs. “Forget the alcove. Maggie would be thrilled if we camped out right next to her.”

Nia beams, picking up her pace for the next few steps and bouncing ahead. “Sleepover!”

“Only if she has food. No way am I going all the way down to the cafeteria and back up again.”

“When doesn’t Maggie have food?”

Tobias’ mouth twitches with a smile. “Fair point.”

#pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon #floatzel #riolu #pmd seekers of soul #tesha writes #tesha draws

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oldworldwidgets · 3 months

Text

DELILAH TIME DELILAH TIME

here she is. officially. my beloved fallout 4 oc delilah !!!! first piece done by @zetobii and the second by @leavingautumn13

i dont draw so all art of delilah comes from my dear friends who draw her for me/with their ocs and tell me i can post it OR from commissions. what i can do, however, is write <3 and make playlists and pinterest boards for visuals <3 so prepare urself <3

speaking of which, you can find her playlist here and her pinterest board here!! theyre chronological, so listening/scrolling in order should more or less tell her story too

ok so: her appearance, personality, stats, story, and some fun facts are here under the cut (its a lot fyi ok i just love her so much) pls enjoy

delilah lore (delilore?) be upon ye:

appearance:

24 years old, 5’10”

very fair skinned with bright green eyes and jet black hair

her hair is wavy and flows down to the middle of her back. she has one small braid behind her right ear

covered in freckles, from her nose to her knees. she has a tiny scar above her mouth from a past split lip and a slit in her opposite eyebrow from a past black eye

midriff is heavily discolored from past bruises - the pigmentation never fully went away - and marred with keloid scars from deep cuts from things she refuses to talk about. if her dress has a high enough slit, bruises can peek out near the very tops of her legs

large black kingsnake tattoo wrapping up a her left arm with its head near her shoulder and its tail near/on her hand

she can almost always be found in her wine-colored silk dress that reaches only about mid-thigh, nails manicured and lips painted to match. it has spaghetti straps and is loosely bodycon.

she wears stacks of gold rings (as many as possible, really) and dangly gold snake earrings

the only things she keeps on her person are the dagger and the gun strapped to her thighs under her dress. her gun was a gift from KL-E-0. it is a custom gold-plated, silenced 10mm. lilah named it "Mine"

stats:

if fo4 had a karma slider, lilah would land pretty firmly on evil. on a dnd alignment chart, think chaotic neutral or neutral evil

SPECIAL: 2, 8, 2, 10, 7, 4, 3

she's not strong nor has much endurance, but when you're as smart, perceptive, and charismatic as she is, you can charm people into carrying your stuff for you anyway.

her perks are party girl (alcohol/chem resistance), black widow (damage/persuasion against men), night person (higher int at night), and intimidation (pacify, instruct, and force opponents to attack). and deacon's cloak and dagger, of course.

personality:

cold, calculated, distant

cares about very, very few people (and even fewer things) but is fiercely loyal to those people. she's a railroad agent, but only because deacon cares about the cause and she begrudgingly cares about deacon

she and deacon clash. he refused to even vouch for her admission to the railroad. she gets along much better with glory, but she still gets assigned to run jobs with deacon because they keep each other in check and are deadly efficient as a pair (theyre also in love but they keep it a secret from everyone including each other)

she cares about very very few people but it fiercely loyal to those people. she is a railroad agent, but only because deacon cares about the cause and she "begrudgingly" cares about deacon (she cares literally so much do not let her fool u)

her moral compass is not magnetic. right and wrong is whatever she wants it to be. she takes no issue killing people if they wrong her. sexual harassment or subterfuge/targeted deception send marks to the top of her hit list.

her story:

her birth name is allie eden

she is not a sole survivor; she was born into the capital wasteland chapter of the brotherhood of steel. despite sentinel lyons' best efforts, delilah responded far better to scribe training than to combat training

she and arthur maxson were the only two kids in the citadel, and they became fast friends, even after the lyons pride crumbled and maxson was appointed elder.

he appointed her his sentinel, second in command, which she embraced until she saw how terribly the wasteland was faring under his leadership.

she promptly absconded and, because she had been so sheltered until that day, quickly lost herself to chems and alcohol.

months passed in, thanks to all the blackouts, what felt like hours. one night, allie woke up in a warm bed that she did not fall asleep in. a man named dante deangelo had pulled her body from a D.C. gutter and made sure she was safe.

in no time, they fell in love and decided to escape to the commonwealth. they found a small, basement apartment in goodneighbor and allie began tending bar at the third rail.

dante, slowly but surely, became more abusive. he left bruises and deep cuts on her body anywhere her third rail uniform would cover. she stayed, though, because she'd been raised by the brotherhood to believe that love was harsh and painful. to obey without question. to submit to authority.

eventually, she tired of that life and snapped, killing dante before he could leave any more marks on her. something... shifted. maybe it was allie eden who entered their apartment that morning, but it was delilah who left it that night.

KL-E-0, who was quite fond of allie and is far fonder of delilah, fitted her with pistol, Mine.

instead of hiding behind the bar like she had when she was with dante, she began to use it to her advantage. every dusty drifter with full pockets full of caps left her bar empty handed. but it wasnt enough.

she began targeting triggermen, who she knew were peddling chems for... someone in goodneighbor. the moment a man started flirting with her (which she hated), it was like a red dot sight appeared on their foreheads. she'd seduce them, take them back to her apartment, get her caps and chems and information, and the men would never be seen again.

morowski, goodneighbor kingpin, eventually approached her at work about his shrinking pool of chem peddlers. they struck a deal: he would slip her into his operation as his newest arm candy, and she would peddle his chems at her bar.

it worked flawlessly until morowski actually fell in love with her. go figure. unless, of course, that was lilah's plan all along...

while she's still participating in this farce with morowski, she meets drummer boy, who she ends up truly enjoying the company of even despite her general distaste for men. eventually, he convinces her to join the railroad with him

because morowski is in love with delilah, she has no issue squeezing information out of him when deacon asks her to: morowski is an institute informant. lilah quickly, uh, deals with that problem, and the next days, morowski is found dead in his office at the rexford. cause of death: self inflicted gunshot wound. what a tragedy.

because delilah was his "other half," his unofficial widow, she inherited morowski's whole chem operation

now, she happily spends her days directing the triggermen and tending her bar - for fun and for information, at this point, because she certainly doesnt need the caps. when she needs to run for the railroad or her beloved friends need her professional black widow skills, whitechapel charlie is "happy" to cover for her. as happy as he can manage, anyway.

fun facts:

she is terrified of storms, heights, and violent outbursts from people she trusts

her name comes from the bible story of sampson and delilah, where delilah is paid by the government to seduce sampson (a man of god) and tempt him to sin by telling her what gives him his inhuman strength. after three attempts, she is successful. sampson tells her that god gives him his strength through his hair. she then cuts his hair, which ultimately leads to his death. i mean what a bad bitch

she is still deeply unhappy even after she wraps goodneighbor around her finger because she still doesnt know who she is

she's skeptical of maxson's move to the commonwealth. she is very much on the run from him (and the bortherhood as a whole), and ham happily vets drifters for her to ensure theyre not undercover brotherhood before letting them into the bar.

she and maccready arent exactly "friends" but they harbor mutual respect for each other since they spend so much time together. mac had to call her off like a guard dog when winlock and barnes paid him a visit, so shes confident he would do the same if the brotherhood ever came knocking.

#WHEW LORE DUMP #mutuals and followers u r gonna MEET DELILAH and u r gonna LIKE IT ‼️‼️#shes not very nice but she would LOVE to be friends or frenemies or rivals with ur ocs!!!!!#she wont bite i prommy!!!!! (voice of a guy who is lying)#its taken so long for me to dump about any of my ocs bc being a writer on The Art Website is not ideal #nevertheless i persist #and my ask box/comments are SO open for questions or ask game suggestions or marriage proposals idk whatever :P #anyway bring on the tags #oc: delilah #oldworld.ocs #fallout 4 #fallout 4 oc #fo4 oc #fallout oc #fo4

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rewrittenreality · 1 year

Text

Midnight Memories

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Word Count: 800

Warnings: Mention of panic attack, lots of fluff, little bit of spice at the end.

Summary: Based on S4 E2…Staying behind with Hotch turns into panic filled "I love you's."

A/n: Hello! It's been awhile! I promised a fic on V-day for my return from being gone, so here it is! Thank you for all the support on recent works of mine! I appreciate your patience!

The case was over, you had finally caught the unsub. She was leaving off where her lover had started. It was a brutal case, but it was finally over. The rest of the team had already departed on the jet back to Quantico. You, however, stayed behind to be with Aaron so he wasn’t alone on the drive home.

It was midnight and you were reading over case files at the desk in your hotel room. Hotch and yourself decided to stay one more night to get a break. If reading case files counts as a break that is. A knock at the door pulled you out of your reading. You got up and opened the door to find Aaron standing outside your room. His stern look immediately turned into a soft smile at the sight of you.

The two of you had been in a relationship secretly for a while now. No one on the team had even suspected it. Which, to you, was funny considering all of you are profilers. As far as they were concerned, you just stayed behind to help Hotch because of his ears.

“What can I help you with, Boss?” You joked, stepping aside to let him in.

“Very funny.” Aaron rolled his eyes, chuckling as he walked into the room.

As you closed the door, you felt Aaron’s strong arms wrap around you. You looked up at him with a smile, leaning back against his chest. You hadn’t had alone time with him in over a week, it felt nice to be in his arms. You giggled when he placed a kiss on your forehead.

“Missed you.” Aaron mumbled into your hair, running his hands down your sides.

“Missed you too, Handsome.” You smiled, turning around in his arms to face him.

You reached up, grasping the back of Aaron’s neck to pull his head down. He smiled as you pulled his head down, lips connecting with yours in a gentle kiss. Aaron’s hands found their place on your hips, pulling you impossibly closer to him.

As the two of you pulled apart, you stayed in Aaron’s arms. He rested his head on top of yours, slowly swaying from side to side. You could hear his heartbeat, the calming rhythm melting your tension away. Everything in your brain was suddenly put aside. The warmth of Aaron’s embrace washing away your worries. You always felt safest in his arms.

Aaron bent down slightly and swept your legs out from under you. He laughed at your sound of surprise, now holding you bridal style. He brought you over to the bed, laying down and placing you on top of him. Cuddles were Aaron’s guilty pleasure, something you learned very early on in your relationship. He would never turn down cuddles with his girl.

You laid there in comfortable silence, tracing shapes on Aaron’s chest while he rubbed your back. The sound of his heartbeat like a calming melody in your ear. As you laid there with Aaron, only one thought was going through your head. The thought of your love for Aaron. Those words had never been said between the two of you, both of you only ever thinking it.

“Hey, Aaron?” You said, your finger now tracing a heart on his chest.

“Yes, Honey?” Aaron questioned, running his fingers through your hair.

“I love you.” You almost whispered, slightly scared of how he would react.

“I love you too, Y/n.” He responded. Moments later you feel him tense below you.

“Aaron?” You sat up, looking at him with worry.

“What did you say?” He asked.

“What? I said I love you. And you said “I love you too.” Do you not love me? You said it back, do you not mean it?” You started to panic, your breathing beginning to speed up.

“No, Baby, no. I do mean it. I promise I do. I just didn’t realize how second nature it sounded coming out of my mouth.” Aaron was also now panicking, his panic brought on by yours.

You sighed in relief, now becoming aware that you were shaking a little. Aaron reached for you so he could pull you back to him. He held your face in his hands, his hold instantly calming you down. He leaned forward and kissed you, silently letting you know that it was okay.

“I love you so much, Sweetheart.” He smiled, kissing your nose gently.

“Are you sure?” You joked, making sure he knew it was a joke.

Aaron raised his eyebrow at you with a smirk. You knew the look on his face, it was his playful look. You squealed as he flipped you over, now hovering above you. You struggled to control your giggles.

“I’m More than sure.” Aaron smirked again, kissing you passionately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

#aaron hotchner #hotch x reader #fluff #criminal minds #ssa aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader

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gilbirda · 2 years

Text

Third Law of Motion

Established everlasting trio.

@batpham-discord-highlights

Danny and whoever he wishes to bring are invited to a week at the beach with the Waynes. Tim says he wants to talk, but does he know he is already dating his best friends?

[Read on AO3]

Befriending the Justice League at first had been kind of a rocky situation. There was a lot of misunderstandings, a lot of mistrust, and for some reason Superman hated his guts with passion.

But after some years Danny had settled as one of the fixed members, and one of the most powerful ones, if he can say so himself.

Batman took a while to warm up to him, and maybe helping him create a weapon that could take down the Ghost King helped a lot, but in the end the man revealed himself as the billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne.

It was… an experience, not gonna lie.

Danny’s track record with rich men were Vlad, which despite having mellowed with time AND with losing his right to the throne on the grounds of being a loser, was still a bit of a creep; and Lex Luthor when the man tried to summon him to ask for a wish or something, or maybe try to enslave him to his will? It wasn’t really clear what he wanted, Baldie talked and talked and talked and Danny just got bored and set everything on fire.

Anyway, Bruce Wayne turned out to be kind of a nice guy? The real one, since the public persona was kind of an idiot. The Bruce Wayne he met when he came over to visit for dinner one time, Bruce’s butler-slash-father insisted, was a tired man trying to keep up in a world where gods walked among humans.

Danny respected that.

Also, the man had a huge family. It was stupid. He had an adoption problem, definitely; but also he had such a big heart to accept so many people as his own - not only the officially adopted, but the friends of the family that were considered family too.

Danny left the mansion feeling warm and yearning for a family like that - noisy, rowdy, not afraid to throw down on the living room and wrestle for the remote. He wanted that so much that he couldn’t stop the mini-heart attack when he was invited to come over again, and then again for Thanksgiving and when he realized he had the contact information of everybody saved in his phone.

The Waynes were not afraid to touch his cold skin and call him out on his bullshit, to make jokes about being dead (well, that was more Jason, the dude he found out had some ectoplasm in his veins), to ask about his Kingdom without apprehension in their voices.

They were weird, but amazing.

Also, the Waynes invited him and whoever he wanted to bring to a one week beach vacation. They would take care of everything - transportation, food and where to stay. He and his people would only need to bring their own luggage to the airport, where they would meet.

Turns out, they flew in a private jet to a private island. “This way you can be yourself without thinking of being seen.” Bruce had said when he saw Danny’s shocked face.

“Isn’t it neat having rich friends?” Tucker adjusted his glasses as he sat down on Danny’s bed, watching him look for his bag of toiletries in his suitcase and put it in the ensuite gigantic bathroom.

Because the summer mansion was big enough so everyone had their own room, of course.

“Don’t let Sam hear you, she was pissed off enough about the environmental impact of using a private jet.”

“I think Damian’s rant about Wayne Enterprises’ eco projects and plans for the next five years will shut her up for the rest of the week.”

“I love that kid. I have decided he is my favorite only because of Sam's sour face as he talked.”

Danny chuckled. It had been a success to bring his best friends and partners to this trip. He knew they would get along with the Waynes, but after the flight it became clear that Sam and Damian would get like a house on fire and that Tucker had found his techno geek equal in Tim.

There was a knock on his door.

“Danny? Are you decent?”

“Morally? No, but I have clothes on, if that’s what you are asking.”

From the other side of the door, Jazz’s long suffering sigh was heard perfectly. “That joke got old after the first three times.”

“It’s funnier the more you hate it,” he said as she opened the door and walked in, already wearing her bathing suit and beach dress. “Excited much?”

She blushed a little. “It’s been a while since I went on vacation.”

“That’s what you get when you are such a workaholic.”

She blushed harder. “Shut up, as if you were better,” Jazz smiled as she crossed her arms over her chest. “When was the last time you slept more than three hours at night?”

“I plead the fifth.”

Her face when he said this could rival some of Alfred’s worse ‘im not mad, just disappointed in you’ moments. But she didn’t make a comment on it. Good, as if she held the higher ground morally speaking - she got worse when she was invested in a new project.

“I came to tell you that everyone is going down to the beach, and that refreshments will be served soon. If you want food then don’t take too long.”

With that, she turned and left the room, her steps quiet as always.

“Sometimes I forget how hot your sister is.”

“Tucker!” He hit his friend on the shoulder, growling. “What the heck?”

“What? We are all adults!” The young man rubbed his shoulder. “And it isn’t like I’m interested or anything - hell, she’s like my own sister at this point. I’m just appreciating how good the years have been with her.” His friend looked at him with a pensive gesture. “And you as well, my friend. Blessed is the day you agreed to go out with me.”

Danny rolled his eyes, going back to his suitcase to get his swimming trunks and change in the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror once he had changed. It wasn’t like he thought he wasn’t pretty, he knew attracted attention; it was just he didn’t care that much about it, you know?

Not that he was actually looking for someone else - he had two amazing best friends that were too good for him and actually beat into his head that they really liked him and wanted to try a relationship. They made him feel special already and he had lucked out on the partner department. Why care about more?

***

No kidding, the food was half devoured by the time he and Tucker made an appearance at the beach. The Waynes had set up a dining table and chairs in a wooden platform close to the beachline, since the whole place was for them.

Jazz had saved him some, but both knew it wasn’t enough to feed his ghostly metabolism, so Danny proceeded to grab a plate and stuff there anything that looked half decent.

Who was he kidding - rich people's food was amazing and it wasn’t either his parents’ ecto contaminated food or Jazz’s bland cooking.

With a full belly and after being bullied by his sister and partners to get suncream on, despite insisting that he was already dead and wouldn’t be affected by human ailments; Tim had convinced him to try out a monster of an inflatable floaty that was shaped like a giant avocado.

“Alright now what?” He watched as the young man pushed him and his inflatable platform further from shore. Sam and Tucker said they would follow once their floaties were ready.

“Now we wait.”

“For what.” Danny carefully moved a little so Tim could sit beside him on the inflatable avocado.

“For a big wave and then we ride it.”

“Like surfing?” the halfa frowned a little. The sea was calm for once. “And when will a wave come?”

“Anytime now.”

There was a bit of silence, but Danny didn’t mind. Between the sounds of the sea and the quiet companionship, he realized it has been a solid minute since he just… stopped and lived in the moment.

Tim was a cool guy, a bit weird, but the kind of weird that he was used to. He could talk for hours about something and didn't realize he had been rambling about a million things at the same time - Sam said they were very much alike in that sense, usually with a small knowing smile.

Okay he was cute. Danny wasn’t afraid to think it (now, to say it out loud…)

“Okay, I wanted to, uh, talk.”

“Alright?” Talk? About what?

When he turned to look at the other, he had his face hidden under his hair. Danny’s eyes went for their feet kicking the water, trying to decipher what the other would want to say.

“Tim?”

“Um.”

“You wanted to talk?”

“Talk? Who, me?” He laughed, sunking his head further. Danny saw the other’s ears when he moved, and they were red. He was blushing?

“What do you want to talk about?” And why did he need Danny alone? “Do you need help with something?”

Tim, instead of answering, took a deep breath and turned to look at him with a smile. There was no trace of a blush anywhere.

“You know what? It can wait.”

The halfa narrowed his eyes, detecting his own bullshit deflecting techniques - it could wait, but that didn’t mean Tim was gonna actually talk to him later in the trip, or maybe ever.

“Tell me. Is something bothering you?”

Maybe something he was too embarrassed to say? Or something he didn’t want his brothers to know and that’s why he was coming to him for help. Danny would help him hide a body if that’s what he wanted-

Woah, okay. Where did that come from?

It’s true that they were friends, but…

Tim shook his head. “Nah, everything is fine. So, about those waves.”

Danny narrowed his eyes but let it go. “No waves are coming. But, we can do something funnier.”

“Oh?” The other seemed interested. “Please enlighten me.”

Without further words, Danny transformed, ignoring the way his friend shivered when the rings phased through him at being this close. Sam and Tucker always said it was like a cold breeze.

“Now look who is overdressed.”

“Har har. Check this out.”

Using a bit of flight, Danny stood on the inflatable avocado and extended a hand. He focused, his green eyes turning a shade of blue that wasn’t quite human, and a freeze ray emerged from his fingers. The water on the side of the avocado was now slippery ice.

“I don’t understand where this is going, but that was kind of useless. You can’t freeze the sea.”

“I’m not planning on freezing the sea,” was Danny’s only warning before he shot a normal green beam from his other hand.

For those with basic physics knowledge, you’d know that Newton’s third law of motion says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In this case it meant that the poor floaty and its passengers were propelled forwards and placed on the patch of ice.

“You okay there?” Danny looked at his legs, where the poor human had latched on to not fall into the water.

“Yeah. And I see where this is going.” Quickly and carefully, showing off his nigh perfect balance control, the vigilante stood as well on the avocado. Tim fretted a little about where to place his hands, but decided to simply grab Danny’s shoulders. “Hit it.”

Not needing to be told more, Danny launched them both in a stupid yet incredible show of power - with one hand he froze the water in front of them and with the other he propelled the floaty like it was some kind of raft turned into a speedboat.

Both were laughing as they zipped from one end of the beach to the other, doing loops and stunts that nearly had them fall and eat ice and maybe break some bones.

Danny was having the time of his life, until his friend gasped.

“What’s the matter?” He asked, but his eyes were fixed on their paths and his concentration on using the freeze beam and the ecto beam at the same time.

“I think your sister is flirting with my brother.”

“WHAT.”

It took one moment, one second he looked towards the group of people gathered under beach umbrellas, to break his focus. It didn’t matter that his eyes confirmed it - Jazz was talking to Tim’s older brother, Jason, with a big smile on her face -, because when he stopped looking at where they were going his freeze ray stopped and physics did the rest.

Halfa, human and floaty were launched into the air and back into the water at a speed that would make the crash really hurt. In the last moment, Danny grabbed Tim and made them both intangible so the force of hitting the water at that speed didn’t break any of his bones.

They swam back to the surface, Danny now in human form, completely drenched and breathless from the scary fall.

“You guys okay?” They heard Dick call from the shore.

Danny did a thumbs up, but couldn’t really see with his black mop of hair in front of his eyes. He combed it back with his other hand, finding Tim really close.

“Hello there.”

The other’s cheeks flushed. “Well, that was fun.”

They looked at each other, the sound of the waves crashing in the sand filling in for conversation. Danny felt his cheeks burn a little, his eyes roaming toward the other’s lips when he licked the salt water from them. He had a healing cut in his lower lip, probably from crime fighting.

He wanted to kiss it.

Wait.

“I-I wanted to talk, yes.” Tim looked away for a moment, before frowning and turning back to him.

Danny heard Tim’s heart start beating faster and connected the dots. “I think I know where this is going.”

“You do?” There was a spark of fear in the blue. “Then what’s your answer?”

“I’ll have to talk with my partners but-”

“Partners?”

Danny blinked. Tim blinked.

“Dude,” he deadpanned, “I’m in a polycule with Tucker and Sam. You… you didn’t know?”

By the panicked face and the looks he gave the the group on the shore, and specifically, Danny’s best friends still getting ready to get into the water (the fuckers probably knew this was going to happen and set them up, Danny had to have a talk with them); Danny understood that Tim had no idea he was taken before trying to confess.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I will shut up now. This didn’t happen. Forget I said anything.” He covered his eyes with his hands.

“How didn’t you know? I never hid it.”

“I just thought you guys were very good friends!”

Danny threw his head back and laughed.

#dp x dc #dc x dp #danny phantom #batman #tim drake #danny fenton #brain dead ship #tim/danny #well not exactly but soon #established everlasting trio #BatPhamSummerSendOff2022 #BatPhamBeach2022 #dpxdc

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