#nefariousinkblot

for @nefariousinkblot​ 764 words Rated T Uma Thurman - Fall Out Boy

~~~~~~~~~~

“Mmm,” she said, looking him up and down. “The nineteen-forties is sure a good vintage, ain’t it?”

Darcy arched her eyebrow and puckered her ruby red lips in a way that stopped Bucky’s correction in his chest where it started. That technically he was born in 1917, not in the forties. But it didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter because she caught it about two seconds later, ducking back into the room she’d just sauntered out of. “I realize you weren’t born in the forties, so your vintage is some other date... like... the nineteen twenties? Or something? I’m bad at math, don’t tell Janey. God, I keep making myself look dumber and umber, don’t I?”

And right then would have been a good time to tell her that he hadn’t even noticed her flub so it was fine, but Bucky didn’t say that.

Nope.

He said quote, “Naw, we’re good.”

Which wasn’t even a valid thing to say when someone self-corrected, but that’s what he said.

Darcy gave him a funny look, but then a thumbs up. “Cool. We’re good.” She winked and left again, and Bucky wanted to crawl under the dining room table in the commons area.

Or into one of the cabinets. The water heater closet.

Somewhere he could hide until he could stop feeling like an idiot for what he said.

My Nana taught me how to cross stitch on those pattern things when I was a kid and I used to be super into it!! But I’ve completely forgotten the muscle memory now 😞

I’m having a hard time lmao- I kinda just did a throwaway design to practice doing the satin stitch on and it’s taking YEARS TO FINISH. I am getting a little bit better at making everything look neat and even though!

Nooooo always use Mary check!

YOU’RE TOO LATE!! IA LREADY SUBMITTED IT!!

for @nefariousinkblot​ 460 words Rated T Rue - An (almost) missed connection

a/n: Yes I made a fake tweet for this ficlet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Darcy had tweeted in the hopes that he’d see it and message her.

And he had.

Victor, his name was. Victor Creed.

And he hated coffee, but he’d enjoyed talking to her so much that he was going to meet her at Common Ground. That wasn’t a turn of phrase, it was the name of the coffee place she’d chosen for their meet-up. She was fairly certain he wasn’t going to show up. Because in no real word was Darcy Lewis’s life reminiscent of a romance novel.

She’d told him that she’d be the hottie in a black skirt and a purple face mask. He’d told her he remembered. And he’d be wearing a black face mask and a gray t-shirt.

And she’d hella remembered what he was wearing.

So now she was nearing the end of her pumpkin spice iced coffee and he was nowhere to be found.

It figured, but at least she’d just consumed like seven hundred calories of pure caffeine and sugar and would now be jumping off the walls instead of moping. Thor only knew where she’d be if she hadn’t done that.

“Darcy?” a voice sounded from behind her.

She stood and turned at the same time, making some weird reverse corkscrew move, and came face to face with that same man-candy that had been sitting beside her on the metro. Well, as close as social distancing dictated anyway.

“Victor,” she said, grinning and realizing that he couldn’t see that behind her mask. “So glad you made it.”

“Sorry I’m late, I...” he trailed off. “Had myself convinced you wouldn’t come but then I thought what if you did and I wasn’t here... and so now I am and...” He trailed off again.

“You wanna sit down?” she asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Great. I’m gonna go... but you have fun, kay?” She winked and he laughed.

“Wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“Nah. I wouldn’t. Not after all the typing I did to compose that masterpiece of a tweet,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Wouldn’t be able to tell that I do that for a living.”

“You tweet for a living?” he asked.

“Yup, but before I get into it... are you going to get a cup of coffee to stare at or did you just want to stare at the bare table?”

His eyes looked brighter and she figured he might be smiling. “I’ll go do that. You’re gonna be here when I get back?”

“Not going anywhere,” she replied.

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Darcy watched him go stand in line and took a deep breath to calm down. He was here. This was happening.

She’d gone out on a limb and it had worked.

for @nefariousinkblot​ 462 words Rated T Columbine - Distract me while I’m nervous

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Distract me while I’m nervous,” Darcy said, clasping her hands together and wringing them. “I’m going to jitter out of my seat before they come back... “You’re certain he’s okay?”

“He is,” Spencer replied, his eyes cutting down to her hands and back up to her face again. “They found him alive and unhurt. What can I do to distract you?”

Penelope coughed loudly from across the room, and Spencer looked up at her, eyes burrowing into hers and mentally begging her to stop being so obvious.

“I don’t know. You read, right? What did you read last?” Darcy asked, wrapping both arms across her waist and leaning back on the sofa to stare at the ceiling.

“Actually, I read the unsub’s journals... it’s how we found---“ He stopped short when Penelope nearly dropped her coffee mug, changing tactics immediately. “But bookwise, I read a collection of short stories my mother sent me.”

Darcy nodded absently. “Your mom sent them to you?” she smiled. “Sounds like something my mom would have done. She was an English professor, though.”

“Really?” Spencer asked. “Mine too. Fifteenth Century Literature.”

“Eighteenth Century Brit Lit,” Darcy replied. “As if my name didn’t give that away.”

Spencer smiled. “Jane Austen fan?”

“Try Jane Austen scholar,” she said with a laugh, rolling her eyes. “Mom literally wrote a book on Austen. It’s used in higher level college courses. She was straight up obsessed. My brother’s full name’s Bennet.” She let her arms relax. “You’re sure he’s okay?” she asked again.

“He’s fine. I can call Hotch if you want, let you talk to him?”

She inhaled sharply and nodded. “Could you?”

“Of course.”

He pulled out his phone and dialed Hotch, handing the phone over to Darcy when it was appropriate.

The relief in her eyes made his chest relax a little.

And when he glanced over at Penelope, it seized back up again. She raised her eyebrows, looking over at Darcy and back at him again.

He abruptly turned around to look out the window behind the sofa, out into the bustling precinct.  But he let his gaze wander back to Darcy.

Her smile lit up the entire room.

And that scared him just a little.

“Reid,” Garcia hissed, beckoning him over. He walked over and took a seat beside her, looking at her blank computer screen.

“What?” he asked.

“Are you gonna?” she asked.

“She lives in New York.”

“So? Are you gonna?”

“Long-distance relationships are awful.”

“They are. But are you gonna?” she asked, grinning widely.

He sighed and looked over at Darcy, a pang in his chest deepening when she looked over and locked eyes with him, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yes,” he replied.

for @nefariousinkblot​ 477 words Rated T Shake it Out - Florence and the Machine

~~~~~~~~~~

Spencer supposed he’d always known that he’d end up back here. Every step he’d taken since they’d ended things was leading him right back to her.

It didn’t stop him from being nervous when he rang her doorbell, though.

Darcy opened the door, her hair curly and her face fresh and scrubbed clean. Not that he generally cared either way, but it spoke to the time of night that he’d chosen to visit. It was late. After ten. She was already dressed for bed.

“Spencer... hey...” She leaned against the door, dragging the toe of her left foot behind her.

“Darcy...” he said softly, his eyes staying locked on hers. “I... I don’t know what I’m here for.”

“You don’t?”

“No, I just sort of ended up here.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You might wanna get that looked at, then...” she laughed. “Sounds like faulty wiring. Maybe you need a software update? Are you running on last year’s OS, Spence?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, I never um... I never stopped... I never... Darcy, I love you.”

She bit her bottom lip to stave off whatever reaction had been bubbling to the surface. Whatever words she’d wanted to say were swallowed back down and Spencer wished he could grab them and hear them. He never had wanted anything more.

“I love you too,” she finally said, and his heart nearly stuttered in his chest. “Do you want to come in?”

“Please,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

She stepped in and he went inside. She closed the door and he stood in her entryway waiting. Waiting for her to make the next move.

And then she did and he was pretty sure his brain short-circuited.

She practically leaped into his arms, wrapping hers around his shoulders and bringing one leg up onto his hip. He automatically slipped one arm underneath her leg and held her weight while she practically climbed him like a tree, seeking out his lips at once. He backed into the wall behind her front door and she gasped into his mouth. “Bedroom.”

“Bedroom,” he echoed.

Somehow, they got there, even if a few of her paintings didn’t survive their trip.

He knew at least three were now on the floor from one or both of them bumping them on their way back.

“You don’t want to talk first?” he asked. “I realize I’m running the risk of stopping what’s happening here, but I don’t want you to regret---“

“Spencer, the only thing I regret is not seizing the moment with you before. All we ever did was talk it to death and it never did any good. I want this. I want you, now. So let’s do this first. Let’s do things out of order because I...”

“I love you,” he murmured.

for @nefariousinkblot​ 454 words Rated T Anemone - Getting stood up for a date and then meeting someone better

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m going to call it,” Ben said, glancing down at his phone. “It’s been an hour and no sign of her.”

Rey slid a beer in front of him. “There ya go. On the house since you got stood up.”

“Not so loud,” he said, shooting her a wry smile. “Wouldn’t want to cause a stampede once all the women in here find out I’m still single.”

She laughed and Ben couldn’t take his eyes off her. She picked up a rag and started wiping down the bar. “I’ll be more careful next time, Ben. I promise.”

“There’s going to be a next time? Thanks for the vote of confidence.” He took a sip of his pity-beer.

“Look, I’m a nice person, but I’m only playing the odds. I’ve known you one day. And on one hundred percent of the days I’ve known you, you got stood up.”

“That’s fair. You have to play the odds.”

A man approached at the end of the bar then. “Rey. You’re done. Close out your tabs and you can head out.”

“Thanks, Poe,” she said, smiling at the man and turning towards Ben and batting her eyelashes. “Any way I could get you to close out your tab?”

He reached for his wallet. “Anything to get you outta here.” He paused, realizing how that sounded. “That came out wrong. I’m not in a hurry to get you out of here, but I figured you probably want to go home and---“

“You’re fine, Ben. I promise.” She took his card and paid his bill, returning it and the receipt to him to sign. Once he had, she finished closing out her register and left, leaving him behind to sip on his beer and get to know the new bartender. Poe, his name was.

He wasn’t under any delusions thinking Rey owed him any more than she’d given him. She talked while she was on the clock because it was what bartenders did. He could small talk with Poe until he’d finished his beer and then leave.

Ben was about halfway finished with it when someone slid into the stool beside him.

“Hey... I was worried you would have already left.” Ben turned, surprised to see Rey sitting there. “Can I get a beer, Poe?” she asked before turning back to Ben. “Look, we have to continue our discussion on how sad your love life is. I’m invested now. I know you thought you were rid of me, but I think you’ll find I’m difficult to shake.”

“I was starting to realize that, yeah.”

“So anyway, having known you for all of three hours, I have some thoughts.”

for @nefariousinkblot​ 588 words Rated T Say So - Doja Cat

Leo is an OC, btw. 

~~~~~~~~~~

The roses arrived at her work, plunked down on her desk by a very jealous receptionist. “Who you makin’ so happy that you get roses every week?” Leo asked, reaching over to pluck the tiny envelope and toss it at her. “Read that before my head explodes.”

Karen smiled when she took the card. She knew what it’d say inside. Nothing but a heart.

Of course, this time, he would have to prove her wrong and leave an ‘x’ inside.

“Who’s it from, Kay? Cough up the gossip, I’m fucking dying up there. No one does anything interesting. Aren’t all of you constantly under attack or something? Why are you all so boring? Who would ever want to attack you, for fuck’s sake?”

Karen smiled and held the card out, stuck between two fingers. Leo snatched it and read it, looking up at her like she’d disappointed him greatly. “Are you kidding me right now?”

She shrugged and took the card back from him. “What can I say?”

“His name,” Leo replied, chewing his gum loudly.