“Griffin fisted her hands in the sheets to hold herself out of the memories and the startling coldness between her fingers caught her mind in the present. It made sense. She didn’t want it to make sense when all she wanted was him.” I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I like the opening nonetheless.

“her thoughts spinning in a circle so vicious it mauled any sleep before it could reach the short distance from her brain to her eyelids” How cool! xd

“she was seeing nightmares on the darkness of her ceiling” I’m breaking up a sentence, but I’m crazy about this part!

“grabbed the phone to shine a light on the shadows she could chase away when not all of them were coming from inside her” Neat description, but what I like in particular is how normal this is for once (thanks to the AU setting) XD Or like, even if cell phones are a thing in-universe as well, mentions to our everyday life never fail to thrill me when it comes to these characters - if that makes sense.

“which had made her throat tighten around the lump of past she couldn’t swallow” Nice wording again!

“She backed away from his number but the thought of leaving the phone down on her nightstand had her clutching at it harder instead. It was too much like leaving her own heart out of her chest when it’d fallen through the hole her memories were carving in her ribcage with a vengeance after she’d just been pushing her breasts in his touch a few hours ago. It sent a chill trailing ice down her spine and she was freezing again.” All of this. I’m quoting entire paragraphs, but *gestures vaguely* I’m helpless. All of these.

“the sentence she typed up was surprisingly clear of mistakes considering it was one itself” Omg, I love this phrasing so much!

“You’re so distant sometimes I feel like you’re content being admired like a star and don’t want any human coming out there to you in space.” Yikes. Damn.

“How had she given an order she herself wouldn’t have followed?” Oh. OOF. Delicious! (‘Delicious’ she says, and then makes a shocked Pikachu face when Griffin’s thoughts are painful.)

“Her name stared at her from the screen along with the minutes she’d taken to respond and what those had done to him.” Another neat sentence!

“she’d fallen into a completely different specter of emotion as she’d drifted away from him on the ice block her past had strapped her to for her to freeze to death” What even is this metaphor?! (I’m probably using literature terms wrong but I hope you get my meaning, lol.)

“It was her place to take care of him–now more officially than ever before” I found this cute, actually. Not sure if that was the point but xd

“And they didn’t waste words when there were so many things they couldn’t put into them.” One more cool sentence to wrap this up with!

This was really lovely! Griffin’s thoughts on their newly stumbled upon arrangement / her fulfilled fantasy were interesting (despite the ouch), and the idea of them texting in the wee hours of the night is adorable, imo, for some reason. So many heart emojis, this was a perfect bonus scene!

Okay, before I even get to the actual story, I gotta say I love the title (and the thought put into behind it, thanks for explaining it)! As well as the idea behind it, companion fics/missing scene collections are always so cool!

Also, I’m really excited about this scene! (This is me pausing after reading the first five words because I’m still processing stuff outside the actual story. Sorry?) I love that we’re getting Griffin’s POV, and I like morning-after -scenes in general. Especially since their whole romance in this verse is so cute! So this has to be good!

”Griffin had to blink away the confusion of waking up so behind on the sunrise when she was usually one to beat it. Especially in winter when the days were shorter and the darkness of the night refused to release the sky for a few extra hours that were normally more than enough for her to be up and running by the time the sun showed up. She couldn’t even remember when was the last time she’d overslept.” This is probably old news by now, but I so support Griffin being an early bird. (Even when the mere mention of dark, wintry mornings makes me depressed and worry that this summer is running out. (Okay, existential crisis to the side, that’s 100% beside the point.))

”That was no surprise, however, considering the warmth at her side was already feeling far more familiar than she’d expect it to after so many mornings in the cold of her loneliness. She hadn’t woken up to another person’s presence in about three years, eight months and fourteen days.” Just so I wouldn’t forget we’re not here for a good (or at least, neutral when it comes to feels) time, you drop this. (Aww at the first sentence, though.) And then you follow up with ”about [the exact number of seconds]” so that I remember I have to be on my toes through the entirety of this fic to counteract those whiplashes even a little. Why you gotta make me chuckle when I’m busy trying to decide whether I need to start ’awwing’ or sobbing?

”She hadn’t found anyone to warm up her heart as well as her bed and had only settled for a few one-night stands here and there–all of them with women since she couldn’t handle another rejection from a man even though they stung all the same as she was good for no one–when she’d needed to feel on her skin touch that hadn’t been her own.” Three things: 1. I’m emo. 2. We’ve talked about (I’ve read and you’ve written - heck, I’ve written!) Griffin being with women, too, but I was shooketh anyway. It’s the opposite of a bad thing, though. 3. I really like the wording on the last phrase.
Oh yes, and a bonus 4th: WHO hurt her? *brandishes a baseball bat*

”She’d stopped hoping and tried appreciating what she had. And currently, that was a beautiful man lying next to her.” I’m going to completely ignore the rest of this paragraph and only focus on this because it’s better for my heart that way. (And I’m def getting some feels from Valtor being described as beautiful. Not that she’s wrong.)

”His arm wasn’t around her middle anymore like it’d been before they’d drifted off but there was no doubt in her mind whether he wanted her right where she was.” I’m crying, this is so soft! Especially since coupled with the earlier paragraph, it feels a little like Griffin feels out of place in general (?), so for Valtor (who she only recently met, mind you!) to want her in such an intimate place as his bed is just… I’m getting feels.

”She trusted him to want her there just as much as he trusted her to let her near.” Yepp, pretty much.

”He’d held her face in his hands as if it fit in them like they’d been meant for each other and his lips had moved against hers in a way that had been passionate yet still involved as every second of their kisses she’d believed he’d been so wrapped up in her being and not in the heat of a body pressed against his. He’d touched eagerly but slowly enough for his fingers to explore her responsiveness and for her senses to tell him how to fill them with himself. He’d made her shake. He’d made her scream his name. And he’d made her unable to even when she’d wanted, her panting nowhere near soft when she’d trusted her need to breathe him in wouldn’t push him away.” (I’m quoting a lot again.) At first I thought I liked this because it shows how much of a romantic Griffin is. But the further I read, the more other cool (read: feels-inducing and cleverly worded) things I noticed. Plus, the shaking and screaming his name (not only bc they were shorter sentences) after the softer parts were lowkey shocking and made this whole paragraph feel… sensual, I guess. Idk, but I liked it.

Another sleeping hc I see. Once again, accepted and agreed.

”She’d already woken him up a couple of times on the weekends when she’d found out half past nine, half past ten and even eleven o’clock were all earlier than he got up” This is just plain funny. And domestic. And very clever. (Also - hold on I need to check this - yep. I’m probably channeling the ”I’ve connected the two dots - you didn’t connect shit” meme, but I just drew parallels to their first meeting and how Valtor called Marion for help early in the morning. And I’m not making any sense, but the fact that he was _still up_ when he normally wouldn’t have been _even awake yet_, because of Griffin (a stranger) is… something.)

”It was his fingerprints she was afraid of scrubbing off her skin when they would never leave her memory.” This is just ! a very neat sentence

”She could take Valtor’s shirt for the time being–or just stay naked for that matter–but she didn’t want to risk claiming something he wouldn’t give her or wasn’t ready to–and she was sure someone would have the perfect view from the windows–especially when she was already on her way to intrude in his kitchen.” I’m not sure whether Griffin is being too considerate or overthinking things. (Can you be both?)

Yay for the random mention of Zarathustra! And even as not really a coffee drinker myself, I feel like I need to defend Valtor, coffee is a totally acceptable drink at any time of the day XD

”It was special at least to her when the chasm laying beyond the edge of her memory had swallowed the last time she’d slept out of her bed and into the arms of another. And not just the arms either as his eyes had shined like stars with reverence and his mouth had held her name like it’d been sacred knowledge. Or it’d just been so long since she’d last received affection that she’d forgotten how to guard her mind from the delusions that tended to attack it at moments of vulnerability when her walls were down to let some potential happiness in.” :(((

”nearly startling a squeak out of her that she quickly forced to morph into a gasp” I just liked this wording

”Even when her shoulder started tingling from the awkward angle under which she was pressing it into the bed.” This was just shocking in its normality. Props to you, though!

”he turned his frustrations with life into strength” This is cool and makes me think that maybe I should try going to the gym with this approach the next time, see if it would help XD

”“There’s breakfast somewhere between semi-warm and cold on the table,” she managed to get out–purr, it was more of a purr, really, when his fingers felt even more magical in her hair than they’d felt inside her and her mind was spiraling down to the morning erection he probably had” Stop it! This sentence made me do a 180 again and again - I don’t know which way I came in, let alone where I was going.

”his hand cupping her cheek now and even though his thumb stroking over it was distracting too, the words finally registered in her mind once his fingers weren’t in her hair.” I am once again quoting everything, apparently.

”Griffin chuckled at his antics and it wasn’t even despite herself like it had been with some of her–other?–boyfriends, especially in high school.” Well, this is just… jesus christ, this is a whole can of worms in such a tiny sentence. I’m loving it!

”She’d always considered her humor a bit more refined even if it was on the more biting side–and there she was, taking after his tendency for puns–but a clichéd joke could still get her if it had sincere yet aware delivery.” I relate so much, haha!

”The shift in his breathing had been a dead giveaway when she’d familiarized herself with his breathing patterns, with the frantic and disorderly ones when their chests had been pushed together on their way to the edge of pleasure and with the calm and peaceful ones when he’d been pressed into her back and cuddling her.” I’m not even sure what to say to this anymore. Except that you’re a genius and Griffin, c’mon.

”the kiss she pressed to his cheek seemed to do the trick when he met it with pure awe” Aww!

”she was a first of his in a way and got to claim that look in his eyes as her own” Aww pt. 2!

”And that was a mistake of the universe that needed to be fixed in hers.” Wow! That’s all!

Yeah, the last comment sums up my feelings about this pretty well, I think xd I loved how cute and domestic this was, and how light - yes, that’s definitely the word I’m looking for - this was even though there were some angstier parts. So yeah, this was on par with the previous parts in this verse, and I’m excited to read more (on either fic ;))