#<-and it just became part of their weekly routine

[ratwiththetats]

James getting little star nail stickers so he can be close to Regulus at all times.

[wileys-russo]

maternal instinct (2) II a.russo

part one maternal instinct (2) II a.russo

it had been a few days now and alessia hadn't heard much from you since the kiss, her confession and your reality check.

realistically she had known the moment it clicked for her that she had unresolved poorly harbored more than friendly feelings for you that it was complicated.

you had a child, a living, breathing, growing human being who depended on you for everything and anything. in turn of course you would be protective of that, of her, and of change.

alessia couldn't even begin to imagine what motherhood was like. the closest she'd come was her relationship with her own mother and even then in that scenario she was the daughter, the protected and ingthe cared for, not the parent taking the bullets as they came and shielding her from the wreckage.

so the striker had tried to her best to swallow her feelings, reminding herself that it wasn't fair on you to push them forward when you already had a very clearly well established routine and lifestyle.

but when those little dinners became weekly, the two of you spent more and more time together and in turn alessia earned bellas trust and started to get to know your daughter for the wonderfully bright charismatic and charming thing she was, there was suddenly two holes forming in the blondes heart.

then the thoughts started to creep in that just maybe this could work, maybe you might feel the same. alessia didn't yet have a maternal bone in her body but she wasn't opposed to learning, and she found herself daydreaming of how she might slot herself into your routine.

picking bella up from school when you had to work late, making lunches of a morning so you could have a few extra minutes to sleep in, the two of you in the stands in arsenal jerseys cheering for her.

but then alessia was fast to check herself, to remember that just because she could see herself slotting in that was far from the reality of what it meant to even date someone with a child let alone to be a step parent.

but all of that noise was pushed into a cupboard and the door firmly locked the moment your lips touched and alessia's heart swelled in size, hell she'd even give the grinch a run for his money that day.

though it didn't end how she'd hoped alessia meant what she said that night, she meant that she was okay to take things slow, she meant that she was more than happy to let you set the course and the pace and not overstep in any of that process.

alessia would be lying if she said she wasn't a little disappointed as the days passed and you didn't reach out, and that her finger didn't often hover over your contact with the temptation to send a follow up message to her last one.

she'd heard both you and bella coming and going from your apartment, often hovering by her door in wait for your voices to either disappear inside or into the elevator before she'd exit her own apartment, wanting to respect the fact you were taking the space that alessia did tell you to take if needed.

eventually thursday rolled around and the blonde found herself in two minds.

over the time she'd been living in her new place and then become friends with you, the routine had suddenly become that each thursday one of you would go to the others for dinner.

those dinners alessia hadn't realised how much she'd treasured until she found herself looking at the prospect of a thursday passing without one and her stomach lurched uncomfortably.

but as the hours ticked by and considering that it was your turn to host and alessia was yet to hear from you, she found herself with no choice but to assume it wasn't happening, ignoring the small voice in the back of her head telling her to check with you.

training was a brief distraction, her full focus and attention thrown into football to take her mind off of you for a few hours, which was a bandaid solution but worked.

but then as soon as she was cooling down and getting ready to head home, you were right back in the forefront of her thoughts.

her teammates and friends knew very little of you, alessia selfishly keeping you all to herself and not sharing much more with her friends than that her neighbors were all nice and welcoming, especially those on her floor.

which wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the entire truth and that was a matter alessia was content to keep to herself if not mainly for your privacy.

needless to say though since the kiss itself the last few days had been a roller coaster of emotions for the striker.

regret that she kissed you. fear you may not want anything to do with her anymore. anxiety that she'd squandered a chance of even a continuing healthy friendship. hope that you might just maybe feel the same way she did with some time to think it over properly.

returning from her shower post training and drying her hair with a towel, tapping her phone to check the time alessia finally had some sort of a step toward an answer, a missed call and a message from you sending her heart into her throat.

she could hear emily talking to her, having been engaged in the conversation prior to now but after finally seeing your contact name on her notifications again she'd tuned her friend right out.

relief flooded her body seeing you were indeed checking if she still wanted to come over for dinner and apologising for the lack of contact this week, and alessia completely missed emily giving up on gaining her attention after snapping her fingers routinely at the blonde who didn't respond.

sending a quick message back confirming she'd love to come to dinner alessia was rudely slammed back into reality as her phone was yanked from her hand and she looked up to meet a cheeky grin.

"kyra! give it back." the striker groaned holding her hand out for the phone as the australian shook her head. "who are you smiling so happily at lessi?" the younger girl teased with a toothy smirk as alessia rolled her eyes.

"no one! not that its any of your business anyway." she snatched her phone back and tucked it away safely in her pocket as kyra merely smirked wider. "suure russo sure." the brunette teased again as alessia ignored her and packed away her belongings into her gym bag.

"anyway, your secret love life aside. are you coming for dinner? i think we're getting sushi but vic can't decide and we all know what she's like when its her turn to pick a place." kyra rolled her eyes as alessia stood with a slight chuckle at the truth behind her words of their dutch teammate, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"i can't tonight, sorry." the blonde apologized with a smile, trying to leave but sighing as kyra darted to quickly block her way. "i see...out for a date with your secret lover?" the younger girl made kissy faces obnoxiously.

"grow up kyra!" alessia chuckled shoving her away by the forehead as the shorter girl stumbled backwards and fell causing a few of the girls to laugh at her expense as alessia said her own goodbyes and headed for the door as kyra yelled out after her.

"hey that wasn't a no!"

~

alessia was expecting to see you today after your message and the missed call.

though it wasn't sat against your door with a miserable scowl on your face and your knees tucked to your chest. "good afternoon?" the striker greeted with a slightly nervous smile as you looked up and sighed.

"are you alright?" concern seeped into her tone now as she gripped the strap of her gym bag and anxiously rubbed her fingers against the course material to try and ground herself.

"i locked myself out." you admitted quietly with a huff, head thumping back against the door as your cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and alessia bit down on her bottom lip to stop a smile forming.

"its not funny! my phones in there too so i can't even call someone." you whined with a groan. "your daughter isn't by chance locked in there too is she?" alessia teased lightly as you shook your head.

"no she's staying over at her dads tonight, she has a family tree project for school so he's helping her do his side." you sighed as alessia just smiled down at you.

"i see. so how did you manage this then? coming from an expert at locking herself out of course." the blonde tried to lighten the mood which you appreciated as she took a seat next to you but still giving you a respectable amount of space, gym bag sat in her lap.

"don't laugh." you warned as alessia feigned a cross over her heart and you exhaled heavily. "well the other day i ordered a new library card and-" you paused, head whipping sideways as you heard a snicker.

"alessia!" you huffed pushing her shoulder as she bit down on her bottom lip. "i haven't even started yet and you're already laughing." you complained with a frown as she waved it off with the excuse she needed to cough and encouraged you to continue.

"so i ordered a new library card and a huge haul of new stationary for the school. but of course it all got delivered to the wrong address so i complained and the post office picked it up and organised a re-delivery." you continued as alessia hummed, eyes fixed on you listening intently.

"well it finally arrived today and in my eagerness to grab the package from the lobby i sort of ran out without my keys, without my phone and apparently without a brain." you huffed picking at a loose thread of the hem of your shirt.

when there was no word from the blonde beside you, you glanced over to see her biting down on her bottom lip clearly trying very hard not to laugh as you sighed deeply.

"go on then." you waved her off with a roll of your eyes, unable to stop your lips tugging into a small smile at the melodic sound of her laughter. "you're the worst!" you huffed still smiling, pushing her again.

"is that really the way to talk to your only source of shelter, communication with the outside world and entertainment?" alessia teased, nerves having melted away now things seemed to be all normal between the two of you as she climbed up to her feet.

"come on. you can use my phone to call the building manager!" alessia held out her hands to help you up, bag balanced on her shoulder as you grabbed her hands, noting they were significantly larger than your own and immediately banishing that thought with a slight warmth in your cheeks.

"i'll even make you dinner if you ask nicely!" alessia grinned, pulling you to your feet and dropping your hands to open the door to her own apartment, a smile softening your features as you noticed the bracelet bella gave her was indeed attached to her house keys.

"oh my god and i'd already started to make dinner too!" you groaned in realisation, cringing at the thought of the mince meat sat in a bowl on your counter top where you'd intended to make meatballs.

"i've actually not gone grocery shopping thats a tomorrow errand. maybe we order in?" alessia realised as she let the pair of you in, cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment as you nodded happily.

"i'll never say no to a takeaway." you assured as she kicked off her slides and ducked off to her room to dump her bag.

you'd been in alessia's apartment enough times now not to feel like a stranger, but it still didn't stop you smiling as you stood looking at the various framed photos which littered the walls of her entryway of friends and family.

"less you were so cute!" you squealed spotting a new addition, a small photo of a no more than four or five year old alessia in a dirty football kit grinning and holding up a medal and trophy in her hands.

"god you sound like my mum. every time she comes over she has a fit over the childhood photos as if she wasn't the one who took them and she doesn't have album on album of them neatly organised in year order." alessia groaned, bumping her shoulder into yours as she passed and headed for the kitchen.

"i think i need to meet your mum and see these albums." you teased as the blonde gave you a horrified look before offering you a drink which you politely declined.

"what is that?" you asked with a scrunch of your face as she pulled out a thick looking drink in a protein shaker which was a colour you don't think you'd be able to find on any colour wheel.

"recovery shake." alessia explained after she'd downed a mouthful of it without flinching, offering it to you as you shook your head. "whats in it? thats a less than desirable colour." you chuckled taking a seat at the bench.

"umm protein powder, milk, yoghurt, honey, two raw eggs, kale, electrolytes, avocado, pineapple-" the more ingredients she listed the more your look of disgust grew before the blonde caught it and laughed.

"it sounds and looks worse than it actually tastes. go on!" she encouraged again, rounding the corner and holding it out to you as you firmly shook your head. "one tiny sip, come onn." the footballer shook it in your face with a grin as you pulled your head back.

"it doesn't even smell bad. i eat with my nose so thats why i add the fruit in, disguises all the vegetables. promise!" alessia swore as you gave her a strange look.

“you eat with your nose? what are you a hoover?" you quipped with a smile as she flicked your ear with a roll of her eyes, her legs just grazing yours as she took a step forward slightly towering over where you sat.

"no like if i don't like the smell of something i won't eat it." alessia admitted bashfully, speaking again before you could quip back with a teasing remark.

"come on, one small mouthful. aren't mothers supposed to be responsible and demonstrate trying new things?" alessia mocked with a grin still holding out the shaker as you begrudgingly took it from her hand.

"do you see my daughter anywhere near this atrocity?" you scoffed but took a cautious sniff, unable to disagree that really all you could smell was honey and pineapple.

with a defeated sigh you took the tiniest of sips, recoiling and shoving it back into her hand, alessias head thrown back with laughter at your reaction as you coughed into the crook of your arm.

"thats foul!" you spluttered out as alessia grinned ear to ear and nodded. "yeah they taste horrid but its part of my training program that i have to drink them after every session, you get used to them after awhile." alessia shrugged and took another large mouthful.

"you knew it tasted horrible and still egged me on to try it?" you scoffed in disbelief as alessia nodded, downing it again as you pushed at her but she hardly moved an inch, grinning in amusement at your attempts.

"sharing is caring. now you got a taste of what its like to be an elite athlete!" alessia smiled, sculling the last couple of mouthfuls and bonking you lightly on the head with the empty shaker as you kicked at her and she side stepped, making her way to the sink to rinse it out.

"right i was going to buy dinner but after that little stunt its on you russo."

~

"alessia!" you gasped in shock as the striker nearly fell over herself in her haste to hurry into the living room. "what? what’s happened? are you alright?" she asked worriedly at your tone, having been changing into something a bit more comfortable.

"im fine. do you not know how to get dressed?" you laughed at her disheveled state as she huffed and wriggled around to twist her hoodie on properly, pushing her head through and smoothing it out.

"i do! why did you gasp like that?" alessia huffed moving to take a seat on the lounge beside you. "because you watched ahead, again!" you smacked her shoulder nodding to the screen, alessia having nearly finished the show you’d both been watching together.

"i didn't know when we were going to hang out and i wanted to know who the killer was!" the blonde defended herself, swatting away your hands which tried to smack her again. "so did i but i waited!" you groaned, head thumping against the back of the lounge.

"well it was-" alessia started as you dropped the remote and hurried to cover her mouth. "don't you dare spoil it for me." you warned as she rolled her eyes but nodded as you removed your hand and she wiped her mouth with the corner of her sleeve.

"well i'd normally watch the premier league, but why don't you choose a movie." alessia chuckled tucking her legs beneath her as you shook your head and dropped the remote into her lap.

"i've already caused havoc on your plans for tonight. watch your game less, please!" you assured, pushing the remote away where she tried to hand it back to you.

"i didn't have many plans for tonight. some cute girl was supposed to cook me dinner but she stupidly locked herself out for a library card." alessia teased softly as you blushed and knocked your knee into hers.

"sounds like a dork." you joked as alessia laughed. "oh the biggest. but she's also like really smart so i guess all those library books paid off!" alessia gasped sarcastically, leaning her head against the back of the lounge staring at you as you did the same.

"what a loser." you tutted as alessia grinned, bright blue eyes boring into yours. "nah she's alright." alessia smiled softly poking your shoulder and pausing for a moment, cogs ticking over for a second before she swallowed all the doubts swirling round her head.

"i quite like her actually, but i don't know if she likes me in the same way." alessia's gaze dropped, fingers tracing patterns absentmindedly into the soft fabric of her lounge as her heart beat thumped in her ears.

when a few moments of silence passed alessia felt her neck grow hot with humilation and prepared herself both for rejection and to deliver a sincere apology if she made you uncomfortable, beating herself up for even saying anything in the first place.

but then you spoke. "i think she likes you in the same way, she's just a bit scared about what that might mean." you admitted quietly, glancing at her to see her head snap up before in turn your gaze dropped downward unable to meet her eyes.

"i wouldn't ever push her to do anything thats not at her pace. because i know she has another little factor to think of, who i also like quite a bit." alessia moved her hand slightly, fingers bumping against yours as neither of you made eye contact.

"that little factor also likes her quite a bit, which is adding to the fear." you admitted, bella quite smitten with her new big blonde playmate who taught her how to make pasta and had feet the size of a small dog in your daughters overactive imagination.

a few more beats of silence passed as both alessia and yourself were caught up in your own heads, fingers grazing one another with a feather light touch.

"you know a very wise five year old told me once that her mum said that sometimes all you need is thirty seconds of confidence to do something scary." alessia started, glancing upward as you did the same, both of you locking eyes and blushing further.

"we don't have to do anything that isn't at your pace. i can stop coming over and being around bella as much if she's getting attached, and if all of this is a bit too much then please you can say no and i won't be upset." alessia promised, your breath catching as slowly her pointer finger bumped yours before gently interlocking with it.

"can i take you on a date? please." alessia finished softly, the question hanging in the air as you now felt your heart beat in your ears and alessia was shocked you couldn't hear her own thumping in her chest.

"yeah, i'd like that less."

~

it was safe to say you did in fact like it, so much so that one date turned to more and a few weeks later you found yourself even more smitten with your now not so new neighbour.

true to her word alessia hadn't put a single ounce of pressure on you to do anything you weren't ready for or comfortable with and that only had you swooning even more at how understanding she was being.

you'd both had the conversation after the first two dates about alessia's ongoing interactions with bella, you making the decision that you'd like her to keep hanging around your daughter for the weekly dinners but not so much to the point bella suspected the pair of you were anything more than friends.

for a five year old your daughter was incredibly perceptive, and having grown up in a semi split family had made her more mature than your average five year old and especially in tune with her emotions.

she knew that you and her dad were friends, and that at one point you'd been a bit more and thats how she came to be.

but the both of you made it your mission to never let her think she wasn't wanted or loved by both of you, and thats why the healthy communication and routine with swapping bella between you was so crucial.

which is why you held alessia at arms length away from bella, your daughter being so in touch with her emotions though mature could sometimes let them get the best of her as five year olds do.

so not wanting to dangle the prospect of a shiny new friend and yanking her away should anything happen with you and alessia meant you took their interactions in your stride, and alessia had been nothing but respectful of that.

which is why it took you by surprise one evening when you were caught in a somewhat compromising position.

with your parents going away for a couple of weeks on a cruise you'd been pestering them to take for years now they were retired, bella was spending the weekend with them before they left mid next week.

the rare night off with both you and alessia having no plans meant you'd gone out for a nice meal together and intended to see a film afterwards, though the london weather had other ideas and with the rain bucketing down you'd ditched the film and grabbed a cab home.

spurred on by a few glasses of wine and some much needed liquid courage you'd all but dragged a soaking wet alessia into your apartment after racing from the cab to your building in the rain.

promising she could use your shower and with the blonde having spent the last month learning her way around your body a few well placed kisses had her now dragging you into the shower with her.

still taking things at your pace nothing happened bar a rather steamy makeout session which turned into you dying of laughter at alessia somehow swallowing a mouthful of water and nearly choking herself to death, which had killed the building mood anyway.

the taller girl stealing a hoodie and finding a pair of her own joggers in your closet the two of you now dried and dressed had curled up together to watch a movie, which ended up in alessia watching you.

"the movies over there russo!" you teased, a slight blush on your cheeks as you caught her staring again and tapped her forehead playfully. "i prefer this film anyway." alessia shrugged with a grin as you rolled your eyes but swooned internally at what you knew she meant.

"you should come to the game sunday, my brothers away travelling so i've got a spare ticket." alessia started softy a few minutes later, her hand warm and comforting as it rested on your knee, her taller body leaned into your side as her legs sprawled off the armrest of the sofa.

"mmm wear an arsenal jersey? i'm just such a die hard liverpool fan-" you started, squealing in surprise as her slender fingers jabbed into your side with a frown of disapproval making you smile and unfurrow her eyebrows with your thumbs.

"will your family be there though?" you asked, the twitch of your hand all alessia needed to sense the apprehension behind the question as she sat up properly and swung her body to face you.

"they would. but you don't need to meet them or anything, or my teammates and friends, i know its a bit soon." alessia assured, grabbing your hands in hers and you softened as she lifted them to her lips and placed gentle kisses against your palm.

neither of you had really started the discussion on what exactly you were.

you were more than neighbors, more than friends, going out on dates but not exactly dating, alessia had wanted to clarify but staying true to her word of not rushing you and just cherishing what time she did have with you meant she hadn't prompted the conversation yet.

"lessi i'm sorry everything has to be so slow and-" you started with a sigh, alessia shaking her head and squeezing your hands in hers to stop you before you'd finished your sentence.

"don't, please. i told you it would all be at your pace and i meant it, so long as i still get to spend time with you thats all that i care about." the striker promised sincerely as you nodded, leaning over to peck her lips a couple of times in a silent thank you.

"such a charmer." you teased softly poking her cheek as she grinned. already missing the feeling of your lips on hers you leaned in again to connect them, catching the taller girl off guard a little as the tone of the kiss shifted.

within a few seconds you found yourself moving to sit on top of her, your knees digging into the sofa either side of her thighs as her hands splayed against your hips and she sighed happily into your mouth with was still pressed against hers.

"what happened to the films over there?" alessia mumbled teasingly against your lips, pulling away to send you a dazzling grin as you shook your head and moved a hand to the back of your neck and drew her in again.

"would you like me to stop and we can finish it then?" you whispered with a smile, laughing as alessia hastily shook her head and tugged on your top connecting your lips again.

"so needy." you mumbled into the kiss, squirming as she pinched you for the comment, using the slight hitch in your breath to slip her tongue into your mouth.

now had you not been so caught up in the all consuming feelings that came with kissing alessia, and had your head not spun when those kisses moved from your lips down to your neck, her face tucking into your collarbone, you might have heard it.

the few rapid knocks which were drowned out by the movie in the background and ignored by both you and alessia who were too busy with one another, too busy to then hear the key turn in the lock and the handle rattle as it opened.

but what you didn't miss was the cry out for mummy and footsteps sprinting toward the sound of the movie in the living room, tumbling backwards off alessia's lap as the blonde clutched for you but it was too late as you landed on your back on the floor with a wheeze.

"mummy!" you grunted as a body joined you, bella hauling herself down on top of you with a grin. "bell. you're back!" you forced out in shock, still trying to catch your breath as your daughter nodded and scrambled off of you.

"big feet!" alessia was next to be jumped on, hugging your daughter with a smile as you sat up and rubbed your back which was throbbing from the fall.

"sorry darling. we did knock!" your head whipped upwards with wide eyes which locked with your own mothers, who judging by the amused smile on her face had assumed something was interrupted.

"i thought she was staying with you until sunday night mum?" you hurried to your feet with a slight wince, bella detaching herself from alessia and sprinting away toward her room.

"she is. but she forgot harvey so of course we had to come back for him, i did also try to call but it would seem you're a bit busy." she smiled and locked eyes now with alessia who blushed.

"mum, alessia. alessia, this is my mum amelia." you introduced them quickly intending to usher the older woman away from the poor bright red striker on your lounge but of course she had other plans.

"alessia. thats a lovely name! i work with an alessia and i hadn't met one before her and now i've met two!" your mother smiled warmly. "its italian, dads side. its lovely to meet you, i live next door we were just..." alessia trailed off, slight panic in her eyes as they met yours.

"hanging out. nice to watch a movie that isn't frozen with someone my own age!" you forced a smile, pushing at your mums shoulders who caught the hint and allowed herself to be lovingly shoved toward the kitchen.

you heard bella return and start yapping away at alessia who nodded along, grinning at the story of how harvey (your daughters best friend and most prized posession) came to be in her care, and you softened with a glance over your shoulder seeing the blonde keenly hanging off her every word completely invested.

"she's quite attractive." you were snapped back to the woman in front of you as your eyes widened and you groaned. "mum!" you hissed as she held up her hands. "just an observation! its nice to see you put yourself out there darling your father and i were-" the woman continued making you sigh.

"-worried i won't be married off before i fall pregnant? so sorry to have done it out of order!" you cut her off with a roll of your eyes. "less and i are just friends. i am allowed adult friendships who you don't know the entire family tree and childhood upbringing of amelia!" you huffed as the woman smiled.

"fair enough. we'll get out of your hair then darling, isabella!" she called out as footsteps thumped away and a body hugged your leg. "got him! now we can all go get ice cream with pop. you and big feet will come right?" her chin rested against your knee as she looked up hopefully and you smiled brushing a few loose strands of hair out of her face.

"not tonight bell. this weekends for you to spend some special time with nan and pop before they go on holidays, because they'll miss you lots and lots but i get to see you every single day. okay?" you explained softly as your daughter frowned a little but nodded and you dropped down to give her a proper hug.

"bye big feet! harvey says bye too." you stood and bella yelled out bye to alessia poking her head through the gap between your legs making the blonde laugh.

"bye bella, bye harvey. lovely to meet you!" alessia waved and you couldn't help but grin as bella made the teddy wave back. "nice to meet you alessia." your mum smiled before you ushered them out the door.

"bell don't run please!" you sighed as the five year old raced off to the elevator.

"you know darling back when i was your age my friends didn't give me little love bites, but i guess thats just a generational change then. have a nice weekend!" your jaw dropped and your hand clapped against your neck but it was too late as the older woman took off, taking your daughters hand and leading her into the elevator as you spun around and headed back inside.

"alessia!"

~

"is everything alright baby? you just don't seem yourself is all." alessia questioned for the second time as you sat on her lounge eating pasta she'd just cooked for the pair of you, bella at her dads for the evening.

your stomach leapt into your throat at the term of endearment and the way it melted so effortlessly off her tongue, the little nicknames weren't anything new only now they came a lot more naturally to the pair of you.

"i'm fine i promise. one of my friends from school is getting married this weekend and i can't go, they're all sending loads of videos and photos and i am happy for them i really am, but i wish i was there." you admitted with a sigh, alessia settling her bowl down on the coffee table and turning to give you her full attention.

"why can't you go?" she questioned carefully with a small frown, one hand holding her head up as it rested against the back of the lounge and the other tracing circles on your knee.

"well its an adults only wedding which makes complete sense, and i planned to go originally just for the ceremony and have bella sat for the weekend. but my parents are still away, bens going away on a work trip this weekend and i can't ask him to not go, his parents are sick, his brothers out of town and all of my friends are headed off to the wedding if they're not already down there for the week." you explained with a small smile, picking at your pasta as your eyes were trained down to the bowl.

alessia didn't think before she spoke, but before she could pause to take a minute the words were already spilling out of her mouth.

"i could watch bella for the weekend?"

your eyes snapped upward at that, halting the pushing around of the bowl of pasta in your lap. "less i can't ask you to do that." you shook your head declining right away.

"you're not asking, i'm offering. you deserve a nice weekend away with your friends and weddings don't happen every day! i can tell you were looking forward to it." alessia assured as you sighed, moving your bowl onto the coffee table beside hers.

"less, baby really this is such a sweet offer but its not like dog sitting, having a five year old for a few hours is a huge challenge let alone a few days." you tried to put it as gently as you could but it didn't seem to deter the blonde in the slightest.

"i've babysat before and i've got little cousins. i know thats not the same but i pay attention, ask me anything about bella and i bet i could tell you!" the striker challenged, hand removed from your leg as she waved for you to start.

"alessia-" "go on babe, anything!"

knowing how stubborn the tall blonde could be you decided to placate her wishes with a sigh and a shake of your head as she crossed her arms against her chest and raised an eyebrow in waiting.

"bed time?" "eight on weekdays, eight thirty on weekends or if she's been at her dads or your parents because she needs time to settle down before she can sleep but never later than nine especially on a school night."

"night routine?" "it tires her out to help with making dinner or keeping herself occupied with something that isn't just tv before she eats. but dinner first and at the table, one episode of something, bath, her cup of tea which is really just warm milk with a spoon of honey in it, book, bed."

"favourite foods?" "anything with carbs, nothing thats orange, no soda's from a can but its fine from the soda stream. she'll eat broccoli if the stalks trimmed but not if it isn't, she will only eat peas if they're seperate from everything else on her plate. she smothers everything in tomato sauce so you have to pour it for her or else she drowns the meal, she claims not to like cheese but if you hide it in something she doesn't notice."

alessia grinned happily at the look of shock and surprise which you made no move to hide at her answers, nailing every single one as she waved for you to continue and your eyes narrowed slightly.

"allergies?" "latex and peanuts, there’s an epipen in bella’s backpack and in your cupboard under the sink and in the bathroom vanity just in case. she doesn't have asthma but you carry a puffer around because when the seasons change and the airs a bit full of dust or pollen she can get random coughing fits."

your eyebrows shot up again as alessia's grin softened into a smile, reaching out for your hands in her own.

"i also know first aid, cpr, all the emergency numbers, you keep your parents numbers and bens parents numbers on a little card on the fridge. i know that the easiest way to calm her down if she's having big feelings is to rationalize them but not patronize her because she likes to feel cared for but she's quite independent. the easiest way to get her to eat if she claims she isn't hungry is to feed the monster in her tummy who she's called frankie, she cannot go anywhere without harvey and she always sleeps in one of your shirts even though she has pyjamas of her own." alessia rattled off flawlessly without missing a beat as you sat shell shocked into silence.

"how did you-" "i told you, i pay attention." alessia promised with a soft smile, squeezing your hands as her rings felt cold against your warm skin. "i know this is a lot but your friends babysit her too right? we're...friends. it wouldn't need to be anything more than that to her." alessia spoke a little more unsure now as you nodded to reassure her she was right.

"well you're very impressive superstar, just…give me a day to think it all over."

[sourholland]

timeless; thomas shelby

This idea has been plaguing my mind for days, I cannot get it out of my head. I’m not sure if I will make any more parts of this, it all depends on how I feel about it and if it is well received. The timeline of this is skewed on purpose, it’s also heavily based on Tommy’s time fighting during the war. Timeless by Taylor Swift was a huge inspiration.

Both you and Tommy became unlikely friends during childhood, only for you to realize you had always loved him. Tommy finds himself seeing you in a different light, only war being able to separate the two of you. (3.5k)

Thomas Shelby was the first and only boy you had ever loved.

It was 1902, Tommy was twelve years old. He played with your older brother, they went out into the street with the Shelby brothers and few other boys from the neighborhood and kicked a ball around. You were eight, trailing your brother Joseph at every chance you had.

When you met Tommy, it was because you had chased after your brother one August afternoon with the intention to join their game of kickball. The moment you approached the large group of prepubescent boys, Joseph looked absolutely mortified. Even though he was older than some of the boys, at fourteen, he still followed all of Tommy’s orders. This, you didn’t understand.

“Go home,” he leaned down to your level in gritted teeth.

“I just want to play, just one game,” you pleaded with him. “Please, Joey.”

“No,” he barked. “Y/N, you gotta get out of here.”

Feeling your face heat up, you were near tears and embarrassed in front of all of the older boys. Joseph would not let up, angry at you for trying to play with him and his friends.

“What the fuck d’she want?” Arthur bellowed towards your brother.

Peering over at him, you could tell that he was not very patient and was even older than Joseph. After Arthur had yelled, you turned back to go home. Hot tears spilled down your cheeks as you shuffled back to where you lived and went inside to play alone.

“Fuckin’ asshole is what you are,” Tommy shook his head a bit. “Game’s not fuckin’ hard or anythin’, Joe. She could have played.”

That was all they ever said again on the matter, your brother never brought it up to you that night and you never spoke of it to him. It wasn’t until later on that month that anyone had approached you about what happened that day in Small Heath.

You were sent out to pick up your mother’s cigarettes, dragging your feet along the dirt path with the coin in your hand. Every Wednesday, you made the same trek. Tommy Shelby came up on your right side as you walked one day, you saw a screwdriver sticking out of his pocket and nearly shuttered. The kids around the neighborhood spoke of him in hushed whispers, calling him a gypsy and saying he and his brothers carried razor blades around with them.

“You’re Joe’s sister, aren’t you?” He asked, peering over at you. “Tried to join in on a game a while back?”

“Yes,” you nodded. “I’m Y/N.”

He hummed in response, kicking dirt with his shoe as you both walked. He was much taller than you, though he was still quite narrow and scrawny. Truthfully, there was no denying that you had a little bit of a schoolgirl crush on him.

“Where’re you headed?” He finally spoke up.

“Grabbing my mum’s cigarettes,” you told him with a sigh. “She sends me out every week to pick some up.”

At the time, you had no clue why Tommy had followed you all the way to the shop and then walked you home. He never gave you any inclination either. Then, he did the same the next week. He came outside when you passed his house and you walked together. This occurred every week after the first.

Of course, you assumed this meant he liked you and this caused you to revel in the attention just a little. Tommy would talk to you about school and horses mostly, he was kind to you.

About six months after you and Tommy had developed this weekly routine, you mentioned something to your brother about it and he teased you about having a crush on Tommy. Making the mistake of saying he must’ve liked you back if he continued to walk along with you, Joseph was quite cruel in return.

“He doesn’t do it because he likes to,” Joseph laughed. “Father started pestering me to walk with you when he found out you were being picked on in school, bothered and such by the boys around. I started to give Tommy a bit of my allowance to walk with you so dad would finally get off my fucking back.”

You no longer walked to the shops on Wednesdays.

Tommy waited for you the next week, but you never left out front and began past his house. The week after, he did the same and you still did not come.

“Y/N!” Your mother’s voice came up the staircase on Thursday morning. “Come to the door.”

Tommy stood there in the walkway to your home, talking with your mother about something as you came down the steps. She left you to walk outside together and down the stairs into the street.

“You’re not getting your mum’s cigarettes anymore?” He asked you suddenly.

“No, I am,” you told him. “Just don’t want to walk with you anymore.”

He seemed taken aback by this, not used to the idea of you sticking your nose up at him and looking the other way when he tried to talk to you. Tommy knew you were smitten with him, he didn’t mind it. He thought you were nice enough, he liked to walk with you every week. He just didn’t see you the same way that you saw him, you were too young and too curious about certain things.

“Why’s that?” He shot back a little annoyed.

“Joey told me that he’s been paying you to do it, to make sure nobody messes with me.”

“And?” Tommy asked. “Doesn’t really fuckin’ matter if you ask me, whether he’s payin’ me or not.”

This made you roll your eyes, shaking your head at him and leaning against the brick of one of the alleyways you walked down. Tommy was confused as to why this bothered you so much, truthfully it didn’t really matter about the money to him. It helped him to buy cigarettes, that was all. He didn’t mind walking along with you, though. He would’ve done it without the payout.

“It matters to me,” you told him. “I don’t need looking after or anything like that.”

Turning on your heel, you thought that you’d been able to get the last word. Little did you know, nobody but Tommy got the last word. He only realized you had decided to go out on Saturdays, rather than Wednesdays. He told Joseph that he wouldn’t be requiring payment anymore and you walked in silence for over a month before you spoke to him on your walks again.

His stubbornness irked you, leaving you infuriatingly mad at his inability to leave you alone. Your cheeks went hot when he came around, stomach in knots whenever he would say your name.

Over the years, you had tried to shake your feelings for Tommy. This was mostly due to the fact that you had grown attached in a way that allowed you to call him a friend. By the time you were eleven, Tommy had taught you how to ride his horse. He spent an entire summer working with you. He was fifteen and definitely had plenty of better things to do, but he spent hours upon hours in the grueling sun with you.

“Tommy,” you said, laying sprawled out on a patch of grass one afternoon when you were thirteen and he was seventeen. “D’you want to come ‘round to mine for supper tonight? Mum asked me to invite you over.”

The last bit was a lie, you truly just wanted Tommy to join you. He inhaled shortly before propping himself up on his hand and looking over at you.

“Can’t tonight, m’sorry,” he apologized to you.

“Why not?” You asked curiously, assuming he’d saying something about having to be with his brothers or Polly.

“I’ve actually asked a girl out,” he confessed to you. “I’m planning to take her out tonight.”

This was one of the few times Tommy discussed his love life with you. Your friendship mostly consisted of doing other things, less intrusive things. He still really saw you as a younger sister type of figure in a way. He thoroughly enjoyed your company, but there was no denying his attraction to the girls he saw in school.

Once, Tommy told you about Arthur bringing home a prostitute. He didn’t tell you why he did it, or what they did. Only laughed it off, unbeknownst to him that you really didn’t know what a prostitute was. Joseph had called them whores, but you lived a rather sheltered lifestyle and none of the older people around you ever spoke about such things in front of you.

Tommy took girls out, he’d had several girlfriends as you approached your later teenage years. Your friendship, however, never faltered. When you were seventeen years old, you remember going out riding with him and telling him how you wanted to make something of yourself beyond what Small Heath had to offer. Planning to become a schoolteacher, Tommy had always admired this about you.

“Don’t you want to be something other than all this?” You asked him, alluding to the fact that he was growing more and more responsible for the Peaky Blinders. “I mean, I just wondered if you ever had other dreams.”

“I’d like to work with horses,” he told you quietly, running his hands over the mare’s mane.

“Why don’t you?” You questioned him. “I know you feel some sense of responsibility over your family, I think it’s one of your best traits. Don’t you ever want to just—I don’t know, live a less tormenting life?”

Tommy played with the reins, looking at you and shrugging. This was all he’d ever known, and all he would ever know. There was no Birmingham without Tommy Shelby, you knew it as well as anyone. It still hurt, though. Knowing he was playing with fire every day, testing God, as your mother had called it.

Once Tommy had grown more involved in the gang, your parents no longer allowed him to come over to the house. They detested you seeing him at all, your brother most of all. He settled quickly, marrying a woman and starting a family.

Tommy realized he loved you when he was twenty two years old. He’d known you for ten years, having called you his best friend for a decade. You were eighteen years old and had just begun training to become a teacher, you were commuting frequently and saw Tommy less and less.

It was that Christmas when you’d introduced him to the man you had been courting, his name was Michael. When he shook the man’s hand, Tommy felt something inside of him shift. Suddenly, you were no longer that little girl with scuffed shoes and long pigtails. He saw a young woman with ambition and heart, but you were no longer holding out for Tommy like you had for nearly ten years.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Arthur came up and clapped Tommy on the back of the shoulder. “S’fucking Christmas and you’re really bringing my spirits down.”

Tommy said nothing, downing more whiskey as he watched Michael spin you around in a dance. You were in a fit of laughter, smiling at him adoringly.

“Be serious, brother,” Arthur sighed, drunk and wondering how Tommy could truly be as he was. “You can’t tell me that you’re sitting over here in the corner drinking away your sorrows because she’s brought along some bloke.”

“Fuck off, won’t you?” Tommy shot him a look.

“Unbelievable,” Arthur walked away laughing.

It was completely and utterly unbelievable, not only to Arthur, but to Tommy as well. He’d spent years with you, practically praying that you would find someone, anyone to avert your feelings too. As you grew older, you also were able to hide your feelings and emotions better in Tommy’s case.

He watched you the entire night, nodding a farewell when he noticed you trying to approach him. He had no intention of speaking to Michael again, for fear that he may be physically ill.

His hope that it was a passing courtship died with what looked to be your close friendship. The two of you hardly saw each other anymore, animosity forming between you after the night of the Christmas party.

Months later, Tommy found himself at your apartment door when Ada had told him that you mentioned thinking Michael was planning to propose. He left to see you after midnight, walking the entire distance to where you lived and putting himself at your front door well past one in the morning.

“Y/N,” he called out as he knocked. “It’s Tommy.”

Opening the door, you were only left in your nightdress. Your hair was down completely, something Tommy had not seen since you were some years younger. He could not help but to notice the sheer material of the fabric, the buds of your nipples showing through.

“Tommy?” You yawned. “What’re you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you,” he told you.

“Now? It’s the middle of the night.”

Ushering him in, you let him shut the door behind him and tried to rub the sleep out of your eyes. Tommy felt himself growing hard, looking at you in such a state.

“Y/N, don’t marry him,” Tommy blurted out in almost a whisper.

“What?” You looked at him, shocked. “What did you say?”

“Don’t marry him, don’t marry Michael.”

There was a stillness to the room, a silence that made you almost sick. His face was somehow stoic, but pleading at the same time. His eyes bored into your own, as if they were making it impossible to get a word out.

“He is a good man, Tommy,” you said. “He wants to take care of me, to make me happy.”

“With plenty of money and security, with a practical occupation and a good legacy to leave your children?” Tommy asked, sarcasm incredibly evident.

“Yes, Tommy. Fuck, I mean is that what you want me to say? That he can give me a good life? Why should it matter if he’s got money?”

“It shouldn’t, not if you love him,” Tommy told you. “Do you?”

It felt as if you were eight years old again, confronting Tommy about why he was walking with you in the first place. He looked at you with such yearning, such longing. It was as if he was begging you not to say yes, pleading with you not to have already devoted your heart to this man.

There was only one truth of the matter. Thomas Shelby was the only man that you had ever loved.

“Tommy, I have only ever loved you since I was eight years old,” you whispered.

As if unable to hold back any longer, Tommy embraced you fully and brought you into his arms. He kissed you furiously, without any doubt or question that you were meant for him. He let his hands run up and down your back and pulled you into his body.

Before you gave into your urge to let him rip your sheer nightdress off of you, you pulled away with swollen lips and eyes full of desire. This was not right, not until you spoke to Michael. Regardless of how you felt for Tommy, you could not do this to Michael.

“Not yet,” you whispered. “I gave a man my word, I need to speak to him before I can go any further here.”

Tommy respected your choice, he knew you wouldn’t want disloyalty on your conscience. He just nodded his head and placed a hand on your cheek gently, it was in these moments that he forgot about everything else.

Michael didn’t take the news very well at all, his ego was bruised and he pleaded for you to reconsider. He told you how deeply he loved you and how you had led him on, making him believe that you two would have a life together. He was right, you had encouraged him in all of his dreams of your future and you had done it without ever considering how it may end. It was selfish.

It took you weeks before you agreed to see Tommy again after Michael had left you feeling so guilty. Nights of tireless sleep, you would look up at the sky and pray to god that you were making the right decisions.

Over a year into your training, you would soon be able to do what you’d always dreamt of. Dark times approached, though. There were ghosts of whispers at every street corner, they spoke of war so feverishly. It was as if death was due to knock at the doors of families, stripping women of their husbands and children of their fathers.

The thought of this had left Tommy quite stoic most of the time, he held a monotonous view on the entire matter. Every time you had brought it up to him, he told you how he would be expected to fight on behalf of his country if it came down to it.

And so he did, when it came down to it and Britain had joined the War—The Shelby brothers and hundreds of other men in Small Heath joined as well.

“Tommy,” I sniffled as I watched him from across his bedroom pack a small bag of things. “I need you to promise me that you’ll come home, that you won’t die out there. They’re saying things about trench warfare, it’s all really terrifying—”

Tommy crossed the room and took your face in his hands, kissing you hard on the lips, as if it was the last time he would ever do so. A piece of you wondered if he believed that he would die out there.

“Please come home,” you breathed.

“I will come home,” he kissed you again. “I promise you.”

You planned to hold him to this promise. Having waited ten years for Tommy Shelby, you would wait however long more so long as he would come home to you.

It took two months before his first letter would come after you watched him depart on that large ship. Long months of kneeling at the foot of your bed, begging god not to take Tommy. Everything that was being said about the war was absolutely tragic, soldiers being blown to pieces or rotting below the earth in the trenches.

My Dearest Y/N,

I wish I was able to write to you sooner, I cannot say where I am for the risk of interception. Just know that I have never been in such conditions in my life, I spend my days underground. I have taken the role of a tunneler. Trench warfare has not been good to any of us, I find myself fantasizing of the end of this long hell.

I stare at your picture every night before I shut my eyes, dreaming of what it would be like beside you. There is no greater sorrow to me than your absence from my life at this point in time. I can only hope that it will not be for long.

Not long ago, myself and a group of men were gassed. I watched a fellow soldier go blind for nearly three days before he finally came out of it, only with some permanent damage. There are times when I have thought to myself, ‘Perhaps if I was hit, it would not be so bad. Perhaps even death is better than fighting in this war’.

Then I think of you. I think of the promises I made to you before I left to fight in this god awful war. I cannot understand how men are expected to live like this, nor how we will continue on. I was up to my knees in water last week, the trenches dark and desolate as we waited for the storm to pass. There is so much waiting these days.

I look forward to your letter.

With all of my love,

Tommy Shelby

[volklana]

My Woman. My Woman. My Wife.

Title comes from this song:

Request: All the sihtric fics😭 just fluff…mingled with angst. I just know he’s the most attentive lover ever. Always bringing flowers, making you laugh(bc his one liners are hilarious), sharing his furs with you… but I know he must have a temper. And he’s always gone away for so long. Poor rat boy probably thinks he’d be a terrible husband because of how often he’s gone for long periods of time. But he’s not😭 he��s the best husband ever. Anyway I got carried away, just all the sihtric things

@canyonmoon-2 I really hope I did your idea justice xx

Warnings: Details the loss of a baby and the grief in the aftermath of that loss. If that isn't for you, or it's too traumatic please don't read, protect your peace and you can catch me next time xx

Not proof read but mistakes will be corrected in time.

Requests are open:

The ride back to Winchester seemed to be taking longer the closer he actually got to the city.

He was beginning to feel lightheaded with dizziness at the thought of seeing you again.

Sihtric was besotted with you, had been from the moment he laid eyes on you, catching your eye across the square, hauling your cart of produce to sell at the market.

At first he was too shy to even look you in your eye as he paid for apples he didn’t even need, but as soon as your fingers accidentally brushed, he couldn’t help but delight in the shy smile that you shot his way, as you wished him to have a good day. 

He couldn’t help but offer to escort you to your homestead that night, he had claimed it was to keep you safe but instead it was to steal a few more moments with you, you had walked in easy silence until you suddenly stopped and turned to face him.

“You haven’t told me your name.” you giggled and Sihtric’s face lit up “You’re walking me all this way and I don’t even know your name.”

“You would let a man you don’t know walk you home and you never even thought to ask his name. A pagan man at that. What would your nailed god say?”

“I know you are one of Uhtred’s men,” you considered.

“And that is the only reason you would allow me to accompany you?” Sihtric teased.

“That is the main reason, but I do have others,” you teased back.

“And what would those other reasons be lady?” he quirked his head to examine your face and you smiled, that gorgeous smile his way again.

“Perhaps we should start with your name first,” you giggled and goddamn it Sihtric wanted to get down on his knee right then and there for you, “I am Sihtric, lady,” he smiled, suddenly shy and you considered him for a moment, “I am y/n.” 

And so that became your weekly routine, Sihtric would walk you home from the market and you would chat easily. He would linger awkwardly outside your home, neither one of you wanting to say goodbye until the day when he got a sudden surge of confidence, Thor knows from where and sprung forward to press his lips against yours. You absolutely melted into his touch and giggled when he pulled away, his whole face lighting up with a smile, “I have been waiting weeks for you to do that Sihtric,” you giggled and for good measure he kissed you again.

“Sihtric, you barely know her,” Uhtred warned.

“I know enough lord,” he uttered shyly and Gisela considered him gently.

“You love her,” she eased after a while and Sihtric’s face broke out in a smile again.

“And she loves me. She tells me all the time,” he rushed before his cheeks lit up crimson with embarrassment, and Gisela couldn’t help her amused smile. 

She reached a hand to Uhtred who frowned her way at first, a silent conversation happening between their eyes.

“Very well Sihtric, you may marry your lady,” he sighed but Sihtric had already taken to running.

“Thank you. Thank you lord,” he shouted over his shoulder and he was away to find you scooping you into his arms, peppering kisses to any part of your skin he could reach.

Sihtric was the most attentive man you had ever known. He loved you in ways you hadn’t even known possible. There was not a single moment you were together that his hands were not on yours. You joked that he should climb inside you and live in your skeleton more than once, but you had a feeling that he would’ve if he could. Opting instead to be inside you in the only way he could, as many times a day as you would allow, and you would never refuse him.

Nobody had ever loved Sihtric, no one had ever been tender with him. No one had ever shown him that he was worthy of beautiful things and you vowed to spend every day of your life proving to him that he did. 

Gentle hands traced scars and kissed the parts of his skin that had been broken by his father’s cruelty and sometimes the feeling was so intense for Sihtric he could barely bring himself to look you in the eye.

“What is it love?” you murmured pressing kisses to his his worried brow.

“I have to go away with Uhtred again.” 

“To battle?” you asked gently, caressing his face.

“To battle,” he confirmed.

“Sihtric, you love being a warrior. What is this about?” 

“I don’t want to be without you. To go back to how it felt before I knew you. The darkness…”

“I will be here waiting for you. Right here,” you took his hand and placed it over your chest, “Feel my heart, know it is real and it belongs to you. I will be here, loving you.” 

Sihtric surged forward and pressed his lips to your needily, feeling reassured that his woman would be waiting for him.

You had built a wonderful life together with Sihtric, and you were happier than you had been in your life, but Sihtric struggled with leaving you every time.

He was weary from the ride but the thought of you pressed him forward. 

As soon as he and Finan dismounted, Finan urged him to come for a drink in the alehouse but Sihtric was furiously shaking his head and excitedly told him he was away to find his wife. 

He burst through the door of your home, flowers in hand, calling your name but the smile slipped from his face when instead of being greeted by the sight of his wife, he was instead greeted by Hild.

“Where is she Hild?” he almost shrieked, panic coursing through him, making it hard to breathe.

Hild squeezed his arm gently and as reassuringly as she could, but her face was grave, and she led him through to the bedroom, where Sihtric collapsed down to his knees by your side, the sight of your deathly pale skin and gaunt face, enough to send him into a spiral.

“What is it? My love? My Life?” he was begging, stroking your hair, he wanted to pull away from the coldness of your skin. You were always warm, his warmth his sunshine. 

“It was a little boy,” you whispered weakly “We had a baby boy, Sihtric.” 

His head was reeling, he hadn’t even known you were pregnant before he left, nor had you.

“I couldn’t keep him,” you suddenly cried, giant sobs wracking your weak body, “I lost him. I lost him.” you were hysterical and all Sihtric could do was crush him to you and wrap you up in his arms.  

Sihtric held you, letting you cry on him until you had no tears left, repeating that he was sorry, he was so sorry, and none of this was your fault, and when your eyes finally slipped closed he allowed his own tears to fall. 

Hild took him into her embrace when he finally re emerged from the bedroom, and they made their way outside, where under the shade of a leafy oak, he found the small arrangement of burial stones, that he threw himself upon and wept.

“She insisted we honour your traditions,” Hild finally broke the silence. “I had Gisela’s help, but she arranged the stones herself, nearly killed herself in the process.”

“Will she live?” he finally mustered the strength to beg.

“She is very weak, and if god..if the gods are good, she will live,” Hild reassured 

“She has to,” Sihtric whispered “Or you may as well place me here with my boy.” 

You regained your strength over the next few weeks, slowly and with the help of Hild and Sihtric. Sihtric never left your side, fetching you food, bringing you extra furs to keep you warm and at night, he pulled you as physically close as possible, lamenting the loss of your warmth, for now you always felt cold to him.

But soon you were back on your feet again, well enough to walk, well enough to have Gisela and Uhtred over for dinner and well enough to make love to Sihtric for the first time in weeks since he had got home. 

Sihtric was wound tighter than a leash the past few days, his face constantly pulled into a frown lately, and no matter how much you tried you could not seem to pull him from the depths.

“What have I told you?” he snapped suddenly, and you lowered your gaze to the floor, “You are my woman, there is no need for you to do these jobs anymore. I will do it!” he snapped.

You had been attempting to help him ready his horse, as you had done a million times, lifting his heavy saddle bag up to attach to his saddle.

You watched him silently as he roughly threw his things together. You were rarely on the receiving end of Sihtric’s temper but lately you seemed to be finding yourself under it more and more. 

He made to mount his horse and you couldn’t help the phrase that fell from your lips.

“You blame me for his loss?” you stated but it was more like a question.

Sihtric stilled all action, but he did not turn to face you.

“That is why you cannot speak to me with tenderness these days. Is it not?” your voice was small and you fiddled with a thread on your sleeve.

“If you cannot love me anymore. If I cannot make you happy, then I set you free. I told you the night we first made love that you deserved to be happy, and If I cannot do that for you, I set you free. I set you free because I love you more than anything on this earth and I cannot bear you to be this unhappy” 

“How can you still love me?” he snarled, turning to face you, wild eyed.

“I was not here. I left you alone. I left you to endure his loss alone,” he was clawing at the skin on his left forearm, leaving fresh nail marks, an old habit from when Kjartan would lock him in the cellar, knowing a beating or some other form of humiliation was coming his way. If he hurt himself first, the next hurt would never be as bad. 

“Set me free because you would be better off without my weight around your neck. Set me free so you may find a man who can love you the way you deserve. A man who will never leave you alone another second of his life. But do not dare set me free because you love me. I do not deserve your love, not now and I certainly never did.” 

You reached for him, but he pulled his arm from your grasp, your head reeling from his lack of tenderness.

“If you leave me now Sihtric, in this moment here, that will be the only time you will have abandoned me. The only time you will have left me when I really needed you.” 

Sihtric looked at you conflicted, two mismatched eyes trying to frantically find the right thing to say.

“I can’t forgive myself,” he finally mumbled “And to think you could ever believe that I blame you for his loss. There is only one person at fault here and that is me. Because I cannot promise that I will never leave you alone again.”

“I knew who you were when I agreed to marry you. I knew you then, as I know you now and I know for every time you leave me you will always return.” He finally allowed himself to be pulled into your arms, and you tutted at the unmistakable scratches on his arm, he had been hurting himself for a while. 

“Oh my love,” you cried “All this time I have thought you were blaming me, but you have been burdening yourself with the blame of this loss.”

Sihtric nodded in your arms and you traced your thumb across the scar on his face, before placing a gentle kiss to his lips. 

“Neither of us are to blame my love, the gods were cruel.” he nodded in your hands finally allowing his eyes to soften, boring into yours and when he looked at you this way, you could always see the small, skinny boy who only ever knew hurt, fear and humiliation but never love. 

“Talk never of setting me free again my love,” he begged, closing the distance to lean his forehead against yours “My place, my only place is here by your side. My woman. My woman. My wife.”

Tagging: @canyonmoon-2 @sihtricfedaraaahvicius @whitedarkmoonflower @shamrockqueen thenameswinter99 foxyanon

[solecize]

  ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ  𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 | 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: every summer on your grandpa's farm was real-life magic to your younger self, who left a piece of her heart in amber valley when the years went on and the town became nothing but a faint childhood memory. soon enough, you become rocked by his death and realize the dead end in your bustling city world. this leads to you making an abrupt decision.

despite knowing nothing but designer purses and the corporate ladder, you uproot your entire life to take over your grandfather's old farm in the town you were desperately trying to remember - alongside a familiar face from your youth that permanently finds his way into your heart.

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: jungkook/reader 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒. inspired heavily by stardew valley, friends to lovers, childhood friends, cowboy jungkook, small town alternate universe, slice of life, grief, growing up, mutual pining 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓. 4.6k 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒. writing fluff has drained me prepare to only feel pain from this point on

part four: the routine, the posters and the dancefloor  ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ   ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ   ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ previous. next. masterlist

 ix. the routine

  like many residents in the town, the saloon eventually became apart of your regular weekly routine. you found yourself in a booth every weekend, not necessarily to wind down with a drink on each visit, but to enjoy the company of those around you. after hitting the commencement of your mid-twenties, you lacked a ‘third place’ and a community you could lean on.

  “can you guys pay attention? this is the call to adventure in the hero’s journey,” yoongi snapped, interrupting a poorly hidden conversation between jungkook and namjoon. the two ceased talking in a way a child caught by their mother would. 

  similarly, the saloon served its purpose as a third place to your newfound friends. you learned about a book club hosted bimonthly by yoongi, which you were encouraged to observe, in hopes that they would gain a new member. there was a regular karaoke night, which jimin was apparently the reigning champion of, with the highest score seen amongst patrons. then, there were people like taehyung and seokjin, who came regularly to just participate and engage in whatever was going on that night.

  hoseok, as the manager of the pub, made every other friday fun with themed nights. tonight was salsa night and apparently, he did not warn yoongi of this, who also did not inform hoseok that book club night was moved.

  “i can barely hear you!” jungkook defended himself, hands in the air. 

  you’d been smiling and nodding the entire time in oblivion yourself, as the rapid dance steps and salsa music drowned out most of your surroundings. at least someone spoke up, you just wanted to be polite in consideration of yoongi’s invite to the club. 

  to your left, seokjin was dancing with mrs. oh, who was the middle-aged lady that owned the general store where jungkook worked. he originally arrived as a member of the book club, but was swept away by the addicting beat of salsa. he’d spent the last 10 minutes trying to convince the group to join in.

  “are you guys done now?” seokjin called out, having watched yoongi shut his book in frustration.

  namjoon nudged yoongi. “let’s postpone today’s meeting!”

  you laughed as yoongi made a dismissive gesture, which was cue for everyone to disperse from the corner that the club occupied. the others stood up, presumably to either grab a drink or join in on the festivities. meanwhile, namjoon tapped your arm when you rose, indicating for you to wait.

  “just wanted to check in to see how the farm’s going,” he began. “you know, our families have been close for years, so you’re basically family, too - even if i wasn’t around much during your time here before.”

  you got a sense that namjoon had his head on straight and while grounded, seemed so much bigger than the town. those around you seemed to respect him a lot. his kind attitude showed you why.

  “it’s a work in progress,” were the only words you could use. “i’m very lucky that my mom was looking over the property after my grandpa passed and even more lucky that jungkook was also looking after it.”

  namjoon’s raised eyebrows as if this was the first time he was hearing about this. “oh, he was? dang.”

  it was kind of sweet to think about - jungkook sneaking around to take care of the place out of the goodness of his heart. amidst that, though, it seemed like there was a lot on his plate, so you brought it up to namjoon.

  “yeah, he has jiwon and jiwon’s a good kid, but she’s still a kid to look after. of course, no one wanted to see her split up from jungkook and she would have likely been sent out of town to be matched with a foster family,” he sighed. 

  a few weeks prior, when jungkook first showed up to your front door to fulfill his promise of helping you fix your windows, is when you first began wondering about jungkook’s home life and where jiwon was. you also learned that day about how selfless he really was.

  summer vacation was in full swing by that june morning, with the sun beating you to a pulp and the only thing on your mind being corn season. that, and the anticipation of a handsome man expected on your doorstep at any given moment.

  your day begun at five a.m, but you made your best efforts to not let that show by ensuring your appearance was kempt prior to your visitor’s arrival. after tending to your morning tasks, you soon received the text that jungkook was at the front, as you were elsewhere on the property. specifically, you were fighting for your life attempting to close the garage shut. yet another repair needed to be addressed.

  hey, i’m out back. give me a few.

  it took twenty minutes out of your morning to shower and change into clothes that didn’t smell like cow shit because you didn’t want to look like a mess in front of jungkook. all for it to get ruined getting sweaty from putting all of your bodily strength into a broken garage door. there was no way you were going to admit you did all of that - though, you did mentally prepare yourself when you sent your reply to his text.

  a few minutes passed and you could make out jungkook approaching you from a distance. you waved, even though you wanted him to stay put and not walk all the way around. the sight of him briefly reminded you of when the two of you used your grandpa’s farmland to play hide and seek, running across the same fields you stood on. 

  “oh, i should’ve warned you about that,” jungkook started, putting a slight jog into his step as he came closer. “that garage door broke just before your grandpa passed.”

  you made an exaggerated, wide-eyed expression. “broken? oh, i was just fighting the door for fun, what do you mean?” you made sure your glare intensfied when he laughed at you. “would have been great to mention before i lost years of my life trying to close this thing.”

  “sorry, bunny,” jungkook replied, as he stepped past you carefully and put a hand on your arm as he did so. 

  he looked up at the door from the inside and smiled thinly. you mimicked his moves, trying to make out at what exactly he was inspecting. you knew farm and you knew finance, but you certainly did not know anything about repairing things. 

  “how did my grandpa get the tractor out if this door has been broken?”

  “crop production lowered in recent years because his body couldn’t handle as much. it was a low priority repair because we used the smaller one parked out by the front shed,” jungkook explained. “honestly, it’s quick fix, just looks like the cable and rollers need to be replaced.”

  you shrugged it off and checked the time. “well, this is a problem for another day.”

  as you began walking off, jungkook followed you with the same pace. you genuinely did not want to have another to-do item in your sight before you were finished with the rest of the day ahead of you. a list dedicated to repairs was an idea that you’d been toying around with, but you were afraid of how overwhelming it was going to be.

  “not to rain on your parade, buuut on my way, i noticed that your coop’s fencing might need to be replaced.”

  it was as if he read your mind. you would’ve been frustrated, but the irony was too funny to ignore. you did notice the fencing and it was definitely already on your hypothetical repair list. as a response, you only grunted and moved along.

  as you led him back into the house, the two of you made small talk. it was still odd to you, picking up a friendship where you left it off from thirteen years ago. the dynamic seemed to ease up, the more time you spent together, but you had to remind yourself that it was indeed thirteen years since you last saw jungkook and that meant thirteen years of catching up.

  “so, are you off work today?” you asked, as jungkook brought in a toolbox from the porch. 

  jungkook set his tools down by the front shoe rack, rolling up his sleeves slightly. “kinda. i don’t really have a set work schedule, i’ve just been helping out mrs. oh whenever she needs me. i did tell her i would be busy this morning, though.”

  you met remembered the oh family from when you were younger and they always gave you and jungkook free ice cream and twenty bucks each when you cleaned their store’s front windows. mr. oh was a high-ranking military general and mrs. oh owned the town general store since taking it over from her mother. their youngest son was born the last year you had visited amber valley as a child. 

  “their kid is old enough to man the front counter, huh?” you joked.

  he chuckled. “yeah. he’s in that weird pre-teen phase, though, acting like he’s cooler than everyone and anything. he used to hang out with jiwon all the time and now his new best friend is his ps5.”

  “aw, poor girl.”

  “right? too bad, hope he grows out of it. you know,” jungkook paused, glancing at the picture on the wall, “they reminded me of me and you.”

  the picture was of you, no older than eight, in faded overalls and the toothiest grin. it was untouched when you moved in and must have been framed sometime after you stopped visiting the town, having not recognized it when you came in. you didn’t have the heart to move it, knowing your grandpa put it up while you were gone. 

you weren’t sure what to say. “i hope she’s a better behaved kid than you were,” you remarked teasingly.

  “i was an angel compared to you,” jungkook shot back, rolling his eyes. “but, yeah, she’s a great kid. hardly gives me trouble. besides, anything i’ve ever needed help with? my friends, the oh family, mayor kim - i got the best support in the world.”

  pride and gratitute were intertwined in jungkook’s voice, as if he watched back the last six years before his very eyes. you couldn’t even imagine what that could have looked like. he was so young, just two months younger than you, and the idea of having the responsibility over a child at your age, much less younger, was unfathomable. 

  you didn’t want to push the subject of jiwon too much, knowing the circumstances, but you were appreciative of how jungkook allowed himself to open up to you. you leaned on the wall, listening to him talk about his little sister and it was clear he loved her very much.

  “you’re lucky to have that kind of community around you,” you said.

  “it’s your community, too, now.”

  you didn’t realize it, but you soon had spent a good chunk of time talking to jungkook, as he began the process of replacing your windows. there were other things you had to tend to outside, but the conversation flowed so naturally. at some point, you brewed a fresh pot of coffee and handed a mug to jungkook, interrupting his installation of what he explained was exterior stop moulding. 

  you were nodding your head, listening to him explain his employment situation with the oh family. “that’s real nice of you.” although jungkook had a very flexible schedule, he essentially helped with the operational portion of the store that mr. oh used to cover before he was first deployed overseas.

  “thank you for the coffee - anyway, they did so much for me when i first started taking care of jiwon, of course i would lend a hand.” he took the hot cup gratefully, cautiously taking a sip. “mr. oh hasn’t always been overseas, but even when he comes back, it’s just my full-time job at this point. they pay well and mrs. oh watches jiwon when i need it.”

  you replied, “if you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing before you worked at the store?”

when you were little, jungkook had always been academically gifted. he loved books and always used to brag about how he got better grades than you did. you always thought he was the type to leave amber valley and find success elsewhere.

  “honestly, there wasn’t really a ‘before,’ bunny. it kinda just went from me being in high school to me having to look after my sister. i worked part-time with jimin’s family when i was a teenager, sorting fish bait, if that’s what you mean,” jungkook was trying to be light-hearted, but you felt bad. 

  he noted your silence and said, “remember when we were kids and we promised to go to the same university when we grew up? and you’d show me the city instead of me showing you the valley?”

  “that was the plan,” you sighed. you nearly forgot about that and you could vaguely recall a pinky-swear being attached to that promise. “maybe there’s a universe where that happened.”

  in a phone call sometime earlier with your mom, she casually joked that she always thought that you and jungkook were going to get married. she and his mom made that bet when you were kids, mirroring the competitive spirit passed down to the two of you. you tried imagining falling in love with jungkook on campus - study dates in the library and sneaking into each other’s dorm rooms, all while being academic rivals in the lecture hall. 

  the man in front of you was neither the jungkook in your youthful fantasies or the little boy that collected seashells with you. nostalgia and daydreaming were dangerous things that couldn’t be trusted. just like you, he grew up. 

  eventually, you declared yourself a distraction and excused yourself from the living room to take care of the rest of your chores. catching up was nice, but you thought it would be better to take it slow. checking in on jungkook every half hour, it was early in the afternoon when he was finished replacing both sets of windows. 

  the sun was still unforgiving and the humidity was no different. the air conditioning system in your house was mediocre at best and there was a stand fan right where jungkook was working, along with two in the living room. you came in to offer jungkook another water bottle when he excitedly showed you his finished product.

  “not bad, huh?” he folded his arms across his chest.

  you observed his work and shook your head, impressed. “more than ‘not bad,’ jungkook. the new panels look amazing - thank you so much. i really, really appreciate it.” 

  it was hard to believe that he installed brand-new windows in such a short time span and the contrast was especially stark, given how old the broken set was. you’d been prepared to pay him for his work, but he warned you earlier that he would “beat you up” if you did so. something about revenge for spending years throwing rocks at him. 

  he grinned, as he began gathering his tools. you were a bit sad, which confused you until you realized why. however, you decided that this unresolved attraction would best be dealt with on a day where you didn't waste almost two hours talking to the man in question. you still ended up deciding this while staring at the way his tattoos looked against his flexed muscles. 

  “so, i’ll come by again for the fence?”

  “wait, what?” this question snapped you back into reality. the fence? you remembered what jungkook pointed out upon his arrival.

  he looked at you, seemingly feigning confusion. “yeah, you said you’d let me fix the fence.”

  “no, i didn’t. are you messing with me?” you narrowed your eyes at the way he slowly blinked at you. 

  “yeah, you said i can come by sometime in the middle of the week.”

  there was no way you promised such a thing. “you brat, when did i say that?”

  the conversation diverted your attention away from the way jungkook quickly bounced up and was opening the front of your door. he waved you goodbye and that he would text you before you could even process it. you made a beeline from the door, but that man was a damn fast walker.

  “have a nice day, y/n!” he yelled from afar and you could hear the laughter jump out in his tone. he knew what he was doing. 

  from that day on, you continued finding yourself in the whirlwind that was jeon jungkook. it’d been a few weeks and about two days in each week where jungkook has paid you a visit with a different excuse of a repair to “help” you out with. though you knew it was bullshit, the crinkle at the corner of his eyes everytime he greeted you at your front door showed that he knew the same.

  there was a silent agreement between the two of you that no one paid attention to when it was just the two of you in the farmhouse. even though you would have refused back and forth had jungkook actually asked if you wanted help, you took anywhere from one hour to a couple just talking to him. one of the times, he insisted he check the condition of your chimney for you. this occasion was more than obvious for the both of you, as you sat on your grandpa’s stiff, old porch bench the entire time and didn’t seem to mind.

  the routine of jungkook helping you out on the farm was getting dangerous. when you packed up all of your worldly possessions and abandoned your old life, you promised yourself that this was a new chapter for yourself. there was never a man in the picture or the end goal and the last person you thought it would be was the little boy that you once called your best friend.

  on the third day of jungkook’s mission to use your grandpa’s property as a level of house-flipper, you made lunch for the both of you. 

  “it’s really not a big deal, i ate before i came here.”

  jungkook was busy smashing a rail into place with a mallet when you approached. you clutched your cardigans a little closer to yourself, as the wind outside took aback. you looked up and silver clouds muddled in the sky. it was hard to tell because of the lack of sun, but it was nearing two p.m. 

  “you came here in the morning!” you huffed, tapping your feet. 

  it was a great deal of confidence in your chest for you to think that no one was more stubborn than you were. as much as you deflected help from jungkook, you were certainly beating his level of persistence. at this point, you would just have to shove food into jungkook’s mouth for you to take it over the top.

  he made an exasperated sigh. “bro, i forgot how annoying you can get.” even though jungkook stood firm with “helping” you with repairs, he was no match for your insistence.

  “let’s go - chop, chop.” your voice was dry, as you took the hammer from his hand yourself. 

  you turned to place the hammer back into jungkook’s tool box when you felt the first kiss of a storm on your bare legs. the sky never lied. you tilted your head up to meet the clouds again, but this time, the rain was sharp and doubled, then tripled. you heard jungkook call out your name from behind you.

  “this doesn’t look good, let’s go,” he said, taking the denim jacket tied around his waist. the cold sensation lightened on your back and you realized it was because he was holding the jacket between the two of you, with his right arm pulling you to his side and his left arm enveloping your body. 

  a clap of thunder interrupted your daze. you wondered if amber valley always stormed like this in your childhood or if you only embraced the happy, sunny parts. the town lived in your memories surrounded by dazzling waters and a rainbow, just like everything else did when you were nine. 

  you tried keeping up with jungkook’s pace, but your legs were failing. “can you slow down?” you panted. 

  jungkook couldn’t help but snort aloud. “if this was a zombie apocalypse, you’d be dead right now.” when you stomped on his foot with intention, he finally relented and slowed down for you, laughing when he did so. 

  the chicken coop was on the other end of the property from the farmhouse, so you were struggling for several minutes trying to make it back. the whole time, you and jungkook continued laughing at one another and cracking jokes. it made you momentarily forget your surroundings of a growing storm.

  the two of you stumbled onto the back porch, up the steps and nearly fell on top of each other. jungkook tightened his arms around you when he saw that you were about to miss a step and you let out a breathy “thank you” through your giggling. he shook his head and dropped his grip when the two of you made it under the gable roof. you shivered when he did so.

  “you didn’t check the weather forecast?” you wheezed, checking to see if your phone was in your pocket. 

  jungkook defended, “neither did you, genius.” 

  you two paused for a moment, before bursting out into laughter again and you looked out to see the unrelenting rain. when you looked back, you wondered if jungkook was standing this close to you the entire time. you also wondered if he could tell that you were trying not to look at the way his wet t-shirt clung to his body. daring to meet his eyes, you nearly choked on your own breath when you saw that he was looking at you, too. 

  his gaze lowered and then he cleared his throat. “well, that’s too bad. i was making good progress,” jungkook also turned to stare at the grey skies and flashes of lightning.

  “i guess you can just come tomorrow.”

  the statement surprised even yourself when it left your lips. jungkook raised an eyebrow at you, before nodding slowly and the corners of his lips quirked to form that charming, gentleman smile. you couldn’t help but turn around to hide your own smile, instead telling jungkook to stop standing outside like an idiot. the agreement was no longer silent.

  x. the posters

  around your newfound friends, the dynamic between you and jungkook never changed. it did leave less room for tension, though, and you saw more of the upbeat, heart-of-gold jungkook that he displayed for the rest of the world. despite that, some caught on faster than the others.

  “if i knew you guys were going to bicker the entire time, i would’ve just asked someone else. seokjin literally offered. or, actually, i’m pretty sure that even jiwon would have been better than the two of you. doesn’t matter if she can’t reach up that high.”

  the day prior, namjoon asked you if you and jungkook wanted to help him put up posters around town for the midsummer fair. it didn’t occur to you to question why he asked you for jungkook’s presence, but you ended up roping him into it anyway. unfortunately for namjoon, the two of you ended up arguing the entire time.

  “but, i’m right. aren’t i, namjoon?” you prodded. “jungkook’s idea is horrible!”

  jungkook shrugged. “why? it’s eye-catching.”

  “there is no way anyone will agree to dressing up as a clown to hand out fliers. we’re going to scare the kids away.”

  “tell her otherwise, future mayor kim,” jungkook said to namjoon, who groaned. 

  the reason why namjoon was tasked with the promotion of the midsummer fair was simply because his father told him to. it was a town event and he was always expected to lend a hand to whatever his dad needed him for. it seemed like every time he had to do something, it was all performed with reluctance.

  “oh, god. don’t start, you have no idea what speech my dad gave to me earlier today about ‘being a leader,’” namjoon shook his head. 

  you furrowed your brows. “oh, are you planning to run for mayor soon?”

  “definitely not,” namjoon instantly responded, not an ounce of hesitation in sight. “i have a master’s degree in fine arts, the last thing i want to do is be a politician.” the laugh namjoon gave was hollow. 

  “what we would all do to not be trapped here,” murmured jungkook and you almost missed it. 

  your gaze met his and quiet smiles were exchanged. there was an air of comfort grounding the two of you, now that you knew the weight behind those words and jungkook’s sacrifices. you did, however, miss the way namjoon caught this shared smile and turned around, keeping it to himself and letting the moment remain between you two only. 

  xi. the dancefloor

  during salsa night at the saloon, jungkook seemed to be in every corner of the room except yours. it had been a few days since you last saw him, with his latest excuse for the farmhouse being chalking on your silo’s roof. you didn’t even know what that meant, but you stopped arguing the same way he stopped insisting that you didn’t have to make him food. instead, you began texting him about what time he was coming, while he began taking leftovers home, since you always “accidentally” made too much food. 

  you and namjoon continued to chat when jimin breezed by, plopping down beside you. he was sitting off to the side of the dancefloor the entire time, lazily sipping a beer and talking to hoseok.

  “because i would embarrass everyone with my moves,” was jimin’s answer when you asked him why he wasn’t participating.

  namjoon chuckled. “he sounds like he’s joking, but he’s an insane dancer.”

  “it sounds like you’re good at everything, park jimin,” you teased.

  “you know who’s not good at anything?” it seemed like this wasn’t his first beer of the night. “jungkook. he’s horrible at pretending to not look at you. you should go up to him, i think he wants something.”

  there was a sense of confusion, but even with jimin under the influence, you also saw the way namjoon leaned back in his seat. it was as if he was relieved that someone other than himself spoke up about it. turning your head, you immediately caught jungkook’s stare, which he retracted like touching fire. 

  you widened your eyes. “is there something on my face?” 

  “no, you’re just a woman that he likes that’s wearing a nice dress,” jimin deadpanned. 

  “you’re a funny drunk, jimin,” you shook your head, chuckling. what he said didn’t even register in your brain. 

  to your side, namjoon only sighed. he stood up all of a sudden, tugging jimin in the opposite direction. you were confused even more. in a second, jungkook appeared in front of you and your words immediately left your body. 

  “book club over?” he asked, scanning the room to where the others dispersed off to. 

  bewildered at the dissolution of the club meeting, you could only shrug. you weren’t sure what even happened. then, you looked up at him and smiled. 

  you said, “jeon jungkook, you’re not going to embarrass me by asking me to dance, are you?”

  “i would never embarrass you. i’m definitely a much better dancer than you, anyway.” jungkook winked and extended his hand, gesturing for you to join him. 

  without missing a beat, you grabbed his hand and got up from your seat. thankfully, the senior community of the town was loving salsa night and made up most of the crowd. you and jungkook were able to hide your horrible dancing in between the retirees going wild.

𝐓𝐀𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓. @sstrongstyletyle @wobblewobble822@taiwan0618 @seokout @firelcrds @xwniazx

[d1xonss]

About Masterlist:

~ Currently I am only writing for the character Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead. But I’m likely to write for others later on down the road.

~ Genres very from fluff to angst

~ My main focus right now is the story I’m writing called Desert Rose which, as of now, is still incomplete.

~ New updates will (hopefully) be weekly.

~ I never have any good ideas for oneshots so I’ll be taking any requests people send me!

~ Most oneshots will be mainly female readers unless requested otherwise.

Fluff ~ 🧸

Angst ~ 🖤

Suggestive ~ 👀

Smut ~ 💋

Series!!<3

~ Desert Rose (ongoing) 🧸💋🖤👀

Series Masterlist Seasons 1-5

Series Masterlist Seasons 6-11 (coming soon)

Oneshots (coming soon…maybe??)

Oneshots!!<3

~ Enchanting 🧸

Summary : After Daryl meets you at a dreaded get together in Alexandria, his mind is constantly flooded with the thoughts of you. When months go by and he still hasn’t made a move, someone gives him just the nudge he needs.

~ Potions 🧸

Summary : One night when you’re in the middle of your skincare routine, your boyfriend Daryl suddenly becomes intrigued.

~ Chicken Soup for the Soul 🧸

Summary : When Daryl returns home from a longer run, you notice quickly he had come down with something. It takes a little convincing, but eventually, he allows you to take care of him.

~ Don’t Go 🖤

Summary : After returning from a run, Daryl quickly finds out that you had been severely injured while he was gone. The sight of you was heartbreaking, but the thought of losing you forever was even more painful.

~ Older 👀

Summary : When confessing your feelings for Daryl after keeping them bottled up inside for so long, he ultimately rejects you. But you somehow find a way to make him regret it.

~ Older | Part 2 💋

Summary : Things only grow more tense between you and Daryl as you meet for dinner to “discuss” what’s been happening between the two of you.

~ Sunshine 🧸

Summary : Daryl has always been somewhat of a serious man, taking everything going wrong around him to heart as he stewed over them constantly. But lucky for him, you’re always around to cheer him up.

~ A Friend 🧸

Summary : Working and dealing with the walkers outside the fences one day had grown to be too much as you desperately needed to get away from the noise. When you found something else to occupy your time, you slowly realize how boring it became. But luckily, Daryl’s able to keep you company.

~ Bedtime Stories 🧸

Summary : You and Daryl stumble into a library after being chased by a herd of walkers, forcing the two of you to stay hidden in the building for a long while. Though amongst the chaos, a sweet moment seems to unfold between the two of you.

~ Pretty When I Cry 🖤🧸

Summary : From the very start you had been struggling to have a decent relationship with the Dixon brothers. Trying your best to show your kindness since they arrived. But one day Daryl seems to snap after an incident, sending you spiraling in a flurry of emotions. However, he manages to venture back and pick up the pieces he’s broken.

~ Forever 🖤🧸

Summary : For months now, Daryl has found himself going down a deep rabbit hole of the thoughts in which he cannot escape. His insecurities about his age and your relationship is all he’s able to ponder over. But in the end, you make a promise to stick around forever.

~ Sticks and Stones 🧸

Summary : After arriving in the brand new community, you quickly find it’s not exactly what it chalked up to be. An incident occurs, causing you to snap. But Daryl just so happens to be at the right place at the right time.

~ Cigarettes After Sex 🖤💋

Summary : Knowing Daryl for so many years, it was still unclear what was going on between the two of you. Having to get past the fear in order to finally see what you had been missing out on all along.

~ Soap and Bubbles 🧸

Summary : When first arriving to Alexandria, you noticed that Daryl is having trouble adjusting. So, you find a way to help him relax.

~ Fuck it, I love you 🖤💋

Summary : You and Daryl had always been close since the start. But when things grow a little complicated after the Commonwealth, a wedge is created between the two of you. Though when two of your people suddenly go missing, it brings the two of you together once more after being apart for so long. But the question remains; is it enough to save your relationship?

[weaveandwood]

Midwinter in Waterdeep: Part Two

Gale/Tav | Angst & Pining | Read on AO3 | Read Part One | Read Part Three

Summary:

After the defeat of the Netherbrain, Gale Dekarios was a wizard of intentionally lesser renown, a respected professor at Blackstaff Academy, and engaged to the love of his life. His life was enchanted until he came home to an empty tower, and he has been seeing ghosts ever since.

He saw her ghost everywhere.  She haunted him the first day when he got home from teaching. The house was too quiet, and as he set his bag down in the entryway, he saw the ring. He saw the note. I’m sorry. I can’t do this. 

AN: There will be a Part 3 to conclude this and it will be out later this weekend. Thank you all so much for your support on what was supposed to be a one-shot that has taken over my brain completely.

He saw her ghost everywhere. 

She haunted him the first day when he got home from teaching. The house was too quiet, and as he set his bag down in the entryway, he saw the ring. He saw the note. I’m sorry. I can’t do this. He knew her leaving was inevitable the more their conversations became stilted, the more they floated in each other's orbits, the more foreign her touch became. But the tower still smelled like her, still felt like her presence was just around the corner. Still felt like they could have had a chance to fix things. He heard her in his head all night long as he wept in his study. 

It’s not real. She’s not here.  

She haunted him on his walk back from visiting his mother two weeks later, the first time he left his house. He had tried to lay low after she left him, but her name followed him like a poltergeist from the mouths of those he passed on the street, whispering to their friends about who he was, who she was. Wondering how it ended.

It's not real. She’s not here. 

She haunted him when he was in the market four months after she left. He didn’t want to be there. Everything reminded him of her - the cart they would visit once a tenday to buy her favorite sweet rolls, the jewelry store he visited in secret to get her silver ring that was still on the entry table gathering dust. He saw a flash of her hair color and froze. When time regained its ability to move forward he strained his neck, pushing through the crowd searching for her, unable to breathe. Could it be her? Where had she been all these weeks? Was she okay? Had she moved on with someone else who was less tied down by routine? Was she even still alive? 

It wasn’t her, of course. He didn’t go to the market again after that. He still hasn’t.

It’s not real. She’s not here. 

Seasons passed. Festivals, new apprentices, weekly dinners with colleagues - life fell into a rhythm that helped him move forward. He saw her ghost less and less. It had been almost 6 months since the last haunting. He had finally tucked the silver ring into a drawer two tendays ago, an attempt to bury the what ifs and if onlys and begin to exorcize her from his memory at last. Midwinter in Waterdeep was upon him, and he was eager to engage in festivities that evening with colleagues, now friends. A few cups of wine and he felt like the old Gale, showing off a little by using his well-honed magic to create fireworks to fill the room with light and color.

As the illusion sparked and fizzled out to the delight and applause of the other partygoers, a familiar wisp settled itself in the peripheries of his mind. She always loved his illusions, from their first night together with the aurora and the sparkling stars to the smaller ones he created for her everyday in the beginning. If he had kept trying to make her happy, would she have left? If he had noticed her pulling away as he settled into the routine of his life, could he have brought her closer instead of making her feel like her only option was to run?

He set his cup down, the wine steering him toward paths his brain wasn’t ready to go back down yet, preferring to stay focused on the revelry at hand. The snow flurries caught his eye through the large picture window in the front room. He had always loved the snow and moved to the window to watch it in contemplative silence.

He froze, his eyes widened, breath caught in his throat.

Her ghost. Haunting him even here, even now, after all this time. Her hair, her eyes, everything just as he remembered from the morning she left him, standing across the street looking into the window he was currently occupying. Looking at him. He saw the ghost’s eyes widen, saw her quickly turn to walk away, to escape discovery. He wanted to hesitate. He wanted to accept it was just another vision brought on by too many cups of wine, another falsehood of his imagination...but one tiny spark of hope pulled at his mind. 

The ghost had never reacted to him like that before. 

He didn’t remember moving. He didn’t remember running out of the door, the rest of the partygoers gasping as the usually reserved Gale Dekarios knocked over a chair and pushed people out of his way. He didn’t remember the bite of the cold air. He didn’t remember yelling “Stop!” as the ghost moved quickly away, trying to toy with him, as always. He didn’t remember running down the street to catch up to the ghost, preparing himself for it to disappear as usual. He didn’t remember the desperation on his face or in his voice as he reached for her.

He remembered grabbing on to the ghost’s hand, feeling it solid in his. His heart pounded.

“Wait. Please,” he said, panting. The ghost turned around, but it wasn’t a ghost at all. 

She was real.  She was here.  

“Gale,” she whispered, tears in her eyes.

“You’re real. You’re here,” he whispered back, wrapping her in his arms, committing to memory how she felt as he held her tightly for the first time in over a year. It was only then he realized that her absence had permeated every facet of his being and he felt like he could finally breathe again. His lips crashed against hers, time standing still for the two of them as he tangled his fingers in her hair.

She took a step back, breaking their contact, looking down at the ground.

He knew. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

“Tomorrow,” she nodded, a tear falling down her cheek. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

He placed his hands on both sides of her face, brushing away her sadness before kissing her deeply one more time.

Real. Here. 

“Then let me have tonight.”

[luvhughes43]

blakes relationship dynamics with her brothers:

quinn: blake tells quinn absolutely everything. when she was younger, the two of them hung out by blake "forcing" him to watch all of her tv shows with her (gossip girl, pretty little liars, etc.) and so they just fell into this routine of watching tv and gossiping with each other. as they've aged tho and quinn went to school they couldn't watch tv as much, but they would text each other weekly updates and just gossip. like quinn was the first person to know about blake and nico because she was texting and calling him just explaining every minor detail of hers and nicos interactions.

anyway, when quinn went off to umich he kind of stopped talking to blake for a little while? not intentionally but he was busy with school and hockey, and blake was really upset. she was going through a lot (abuse, an ed, and competitions) and she just really needed her older brother around. they figured it out of course, when quinn finally got his shit together but blake was really sad for awhile. and of course a phone works both ways but quinn just got so bad at answering her texts that she just stopped altogether.

jack: we're literally inseperable as kids. but as they got older jack just got louder, and blake kept to herself plus they were both so focused on their respective sports that they drifted a part. jack knew a lot about how blakes coaches were treating her + her skating through injuries and so he felt really guilty which led him to distancing himself from her during figure skating seasons.

when blakes retired from skating, jack goes to some of her therapy sessions with her and they work through all the guilt / tension. thats when shes living in nj too so they just become so close after that. jacks over at her apartment at least once a week for dinners and they hang out all the time.

luke: lukes like blakes son. she babies him beyond belief and she's always been the one to teach him things (like riding a bike, etc.). they both understood each other in a way the other siblings couldn't (the pressure to be gifted), and so they always just got along really well. blake also sort of projected herself onto luke, and wanted to protect him from injuries the best she could since her coach was always so hard on her. like she'd always tell luke to rest and not overexert himself which is why when she was injured and the family found out she'd been practicing through injuries luke got super upset with her. after that happened he didnt talk to her for weeks and she was so beyond upset. theyre of course all good now, but those weeks were awful for the both of them.

trevor (honorary brother): when blake met trevor she didnt have a lot of friends. she was homeschooled and then she was always training, so she didnt get the opportunity to meet a lot of people. but when trevor started staying with the hughes, they became really close. when her brothers/parents where busy they'd always hang out and whenever things would get really busy for blake and she would be secluding herself from everybody, trevor would write down music recommendations on a sheet of paper and slip it underneath her door (all rock music from the 80s which she kind of hated, but she listened to anyway).

trevor nicknames her "goldie" after she wins gold at the olympics and the two of them just become a pair of second siblings.

[pit-and-the-pen]

Can you write a fic for Regulus Black where the reader and him go to a planetarium?

So this is a bit old. I'm so sorry. Hopefully, it's fluffy enough to make up for it!

I've also never written for Regulus but I'm going with the very few character details we get from Deathly Hallows.

Look at the Stars, Look How They Shine For You.

Regulus x G/N Reader- Established Relationship

Warnings: The tiniest glimpse of negative self talk

Word count:

Tuesday nights became something you always looked forward to lately. It had nothing to do with classes and everything to do with the boy you sneaked up to the astronomy tower to meet with.

You can't place a finger on exactly when playful jabs and jokes start to bleed into something more. It felt natural, some pull to the youngest Black boy. Something that he felt in return, pointed out by your loving but annoyed friends who were tired of seeing you two pine over each other.

It quickly became a part of your weekly routine to meet at the astronomy tower after you started taking classes and would rattle on for hours about the different stars and constellations. Regulus just sitting there smiling at the excitement in your voice.

When you got to the top of the stairs, you saw the moon reflecting on him, making the outline of him visible. You walked over and plopped down next to him, placing your hand on top of his.

“Regulus. The brightest star in its constellation.” You point out to the twinkling star, almost right above you two. “Some people call it the lion's heart because it’s in Leo.” You can feel his eyes on the side of your head but continue anyway. “But I see it a bit differently. I mean, look at how it’s surrounded by darkness, all the black void of space, and it can still shine that bright.” 

Your cheeks heat up at the line. It sounded way less cheesy when you practiced all of this earlier. 

“Do you really believe that?” He asks in a small voice you would have never thought he was capable of having. 

You turn to face him for the first time since laying down. “With my whole heart.” 

For a second, the words hang heavy in the air. He slowly reaches up and puts his hand on the side of your face. His hands are soft and gentle on your face. He starts to lean in and your heart seems to get stuck in your throat. Even after all this time, your heart still sped up at his touch, cheeks would still heat at this attention.

He freezes slightly and starts to pull away.

He’s silent for a moment as he searches for the words. A small sigh leaves your lips without you thinking. When he goes to pull away even more you lightly put a hand to his cheek, copying his earlier movements. 

“What's wrong?”  You ask in a gentle voice.

“I don’t know. Just the way you look at me. I’m scared I’m not going to live up to it.” He admits. He can’t meet your eyes, clearly embarrassed. 

“You’re here. With me. That’s all I could ask for.” You pause as he looks at you again. “We’ll worry about the rest later, okay?” 

“Okay” Is the only response you get. 

You pull his lips to yours. The kiss is soft and sweet as you try to pour all the unsaid words into it . After a few moments, you can feel him relax and his hand rests on top of yours, still on his face. When you two pull away, he’s smiling widely, his eyes crinkling at the sides. 

“Can you show me more?” He says, breaking the silence that hung in the air. 

“Honestly, that was all I had come up with but I think I can make it up as I go.” You respond and click the remote to change the view. He puts an arm over your shoulder as you lean back into him.

He listens to you point out all the stars you could name. Laughing as he chimes in a few times with outlandish stories of how the stars got their names. The two of you stay up there for hours until the night grows too cold for both of you. He rubs his hands up and down your arms trying to generate some warmth refusing to end this moment in your own little bubble. But inevitably, a yawn makes its way out and you're reminded of how late it is on a day when you have classes in the morning.

He turns to look at you, your eyes heavy with sleeplessness, and gives you a smile that shakes off the chill for a moment. You return it before you lean back into him, a sleepy kiss placed on his lips before you start to stand. Extending a hand to him, you help him to his feet and the two of you walk down the stairs in comfortable silence.

Without a doubt, Tuesday nights were your favorite part of the week.

Um hi. So I literally had this sitting finished in my drafts but I just never posted it. I'm about to make a longest post explaining where I've been but I wanted to get this out first.

I hope it's even a sliver worth the wait and that whoever requested it is still on the app.

[keirawantstocry]

Hi im Back, 💋anon ,once again to inhabit your inbox Forever. I would like to say Yes Thank You Your So so so so good at writing. AHHHHH. I fully believe tubbo needs to be covered in blood on at least a bi-weekly basis. Once again, All The Kisses, we can also throw in a lil stabbin as a treat since you seemed to enjoy the killing (im tired tho so not Too Much)

Soooooooo, as the prompt, tubbo just sleeps, Everywhere, since dying. Hes just tired All The Time. the choco/horse pit, the wither skelly farm, spawn, On Top of Fit (and or others) but just like, On His Shoulders. Fit is Unbothered and keeps going like nothings changed.

Hope you have a good day! (glad you enjoyed the "kill me" part :> , and also that you Do Not Care how long these get, thats gen comfortin, I have Issues <3)

Hehehe kisses and stabbing? You spoil me hehe. and thank you so much <3 (i get it darling dw i dont mind how long or short these are <3)

They weren’t quite sure what to expect at first after Tubbo’s revival. Fit wasn't surprised about the aggression. Not in the slightest. After his very first experience with the respawning mechanics he woke up quite angry as well. But after the anger came… exhaustion. 

Fit found him multiple times at spawn, at farms, dead asleep. He shook him awake every time. 

“You can't be here. Just dangerous for you to be sleeping everywhere.” 

Tubbo squinted at him, eyes half opened. “I'm tireddd,” he whined, slumping back over. 

Fit sighed, before wrapping his arms around the boy's body and lifting him up. Tubbo dropped his head against Fit's chest and relaxed into him. “Mmm,” he hummed. “This feels better than the floor.” 

“No shit,” Fit snorted. “Sleep okay?” Without another word, Tubbo's eyes slipped shut. Within a few minutes, even with the shuffling of Fit's movements, Tubbo was snoring softly. 

It became routine to see them together. Fit working away at whatever he had to do, while Tubbo lay slumped over on his shoulder sleeping peacefully. Pac loved it. He would smile so gently at the both of them while prattling on about ideas he had for the house. 

“Fitch, it's smart! We can build him a room with us, yeah? That would solve the problem of him just sleeping wherever he pleases. You can still carry him around but if you're ever tired then you can just sleep in the bed with him.” 

Fit paused. “That is pretty smart.” 

Pac grinned. “I know, I know.” He sprung up. “Let's build it now! A surprise for him when he wakes up.” 

They finished it long before he worked up. Man, could that dude sleep. 

When he finally awoke it was tight arms in a bed he didn't recognize. Blinking a few times he looked around the room. There above the bed was Pac, who smiled at him. “Hey sleepy head.” 

“Hey,” Tubbo said softly, voice hoarse. He shifted his head to look at who was holding him and wasn't surprised to see Fit, dead asleep. “Where am I?” 

“Our house,” Pac explained, sitting down on the bed next to him. “We build you a room that we can take you to when you're close to falling asleep places.” 

Tubbo blinked slowly at him as his exhaustion began to creep into his mind once again. “Okay,” he muttered before holding out his arms. “C'mere. Cold.” 

Pac laughed before obliging and curling up next to him, letting Tubbo wrap around him like a monkey. Pac fell asleep soon after joining Fit in slumber while Tubbo just relaxed in between them. For once he felt safe and warm. Warm in a way that transcended the cloudy warmth of dreams. He didn't sleep but by the time they did he felt truly rested for the first time since his revival.

[meyousing]

𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨, 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐨𝐮 [𝟏]

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭: chrollo + prompt 27 “you know that I’ll find you. I always find you.” + reincarnation(& or soulmate) au

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: you meet and fall head over heels for chrollo after his act of kindness in what would have otherwise been an embarrassing moment for you. after a comfortable amount of time in a relationship together, chrollo decides that you are ready for the next step…whatever that may be.

𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: this is PART 1 of a soulmate au where mates have a nen tattoo of the other's portrait on their hand. sfw, drugging + kidnapping, manipulation, gaslighting if you squint???

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐 is here!

Hesitance was so obvious across your face as you stared into your lap; your hand rested atop it as your eyes bore into the slip of paper floating in your palm. The name and phone number written on it stared right back at you, almost mockingly. You hadn’t noticed your knee bouncing, your other hand rushing to pin it down and make it stop. There really wasn’t anything to be nervous about. He gave me his phone number for a reason you told yourself, trying to let that fact ward off your growing insecurity. 

It was a Monday morning and you had finished a night shift at the café you worked for, the night having been average overall. Despite that, you were more than looking forward to getting home in the early morning and unwinding before taking a nice, long sleep, and letting your woes of the day melt away.

“You lucky biatch” a coworker grumbled from behind your back, making you turn your head as you finished signing out for the day. You let out a laugh, feeling guilty when you caught sight of the bags under her eyes and the half-empty iced coffee in her hand. 

“Good sleep?” you mused, knowing all too well how this coworker in particular always liked to spend her Sunday nights out late, partying. It became a weekly occurrence to have these interactions, you had started growing fond of them. You clock out, your coworker whines, then you remind her that she said she would rather “eat a peanut and throw her epipen on the freeway” than ever work a night shift. As you brought this up to her once again this time, she let her head droop and released a long, dramatic groan.

“Feels like I already did” she grumbled, trudging past you in defeat to sign in for the day. You patted her back sympathetically before wishing her well and heading off. Usually, you would just go straight home and start your wellness routine, though for some reason, you wanted to bring a beverage home with you. Any time you craved a tea or simple coffee you would just make one at home to save an extra few bucks. Today though, you wanted to treat yourself. 

You ignored the skeptical glimpses of the morning workers as you slid back to the counter and quickly made some tea in a to-go cup, slipping back out silently and making your way to the doors.

Sweet freedom was only a few steps away, your other hand reached for the knob of the door when– suddenly it was hot. Not the door handle or your hand, but your torso. You cast your eyes down as the feeling set in, barely registering that your once hot cup of tea was now splattered all over your uniform, seeping through it and soaking into your skin. You heard a distant voice that sounded like it was apologizing, though your mind only screamed panic as the sensation hit you fully. 

Then it was over in an instant; the door opened and the cool winter air blew in, chilling your shirt–the sopping material now weighing you down. As the culprit stood at your side, frantically shoving napkins in your hands and still profusely saying I’m so sorry! your attention had been caught by someone else. 

A man who could only be described as beautiful stood in front of you, his expression passive aside from his dusky eyes that started to widen upon seeing the display in front of him. You were captivated and a bit flustered, he certainly differed from the usual townsfolk who stopped by the café. He was a lot younger–likely the same age as you–and his style was polished, even with the peculiar cloth wrapped around his forehead. Yet somehow it complemented his look as a whole, you found yourself staring. It took you a while to realize this, maybe due to so much happening in such a short amount of time. It wasn’t until he began to remove his jacket and step towards you that you came to. 

You recalled then that your uniform shirt was white, and given the fact that it was now completely soaked through–you had a feeling that you were a bit more exposed than you would have liked. Your cheeks flushed hotter than the tea had been, a lump forming in your throat as the aforementioned beautiful man stood at your side and placed his jacket on your shoulders, helping your arms through the sleeves. You let him pull and place your limbs, too embarrassed to move them yourself and instead took these few seconds to breathe and ground yourself again. 

He swiveled to stand in front of you, pulling the collar forward so he could seal the four buttons and cover you up. He met your eyes and smiled, the expression so soft and genuine that it made your heart skip a beat. Neither of you had spoken yet, instead just basking in each other for a moment. Something about this sudden meeting felt odd, different from any other. Was this what happened when people described…love at first sight? As you felt yourself gaining the confidence to speak up, to stop the damn staring and say something… he turned around and walked away. You blinked, frozen on the spot for a moment. 

“Wait!” you yelled, ignoring the bothered eyes of other patrons from your outburst. The man stopped in his place and looked at you, his face curious. Curious, as if he didn’t know that what he had just done was one of the kindest gestures anyone could do in this instance, and was now leaving you…with his coat…his coat that felt expensive, you noted, now that it caressed your skin. You were reluctant as he watched you though, nerves present from his intense gaze.

“What about your coat?” you queried in a small voice, unsure of what else to say. Maybe you should have introduced yourself instead…or asked for his name. 

He paused, expression unchanging before it morphed into something more amused.

“I’m sure you’ll find me again soon enough. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

If you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought that he left his number in the pocket of his coat for you on purpose, fatefully. Like he knew that he would find you today, and would have to leave but wanted to maintain contact, thus leaving the paper for you to find. But that only ever happened that way in movies, this was just a strange but wonderful coincidence. Perhaps he had made this to act as a makeshift business card for whatever well-paying business he must have run–something that could support so easily giving up a pricey coat such as his.

You inhaled sharply before finally acting, taking your phone and opening the keypad to type in his number. You were on autopilot as you hit the dial, listening to the first ring tensely. As it continued ringing you started to zone out, caught in your own head, anxious thoughts plaguing you as you wondered if this was a good idea after all, but you couldn’t just keep his coat! It wasn’t until you heard a distant “Hello?” that you noticed the phone was still in your lap, and not on speaker phone. You rushed to raise it to your ear. 

“Hello! Um…this is Y/N from the café, earlier today…is this Chrollo?” you recalled the name written on the paper, hoping that you had pronounced it correctly. 

A beat of silence…then an airy chuckle. 

“Yes, it is. I’m happy we could reconnect so soon” he replied. You were sure you could hear the smile in his voice. The thought made your heart skip a beat.

From that point forward, you would call Chrollo every day. Sometimes he would call you. You’d spend your days talking, getting to know each other as best as you could through a phone. He learned your job schedule, knowing to call you in the early morning so you two could talk for as long as you pleased without work being in your way. 

Sometimes if you had a particularly exhausting shift and he could hear the yawns that you tried to stifle, he would offer to stay on the line and read for you until you fell asleep. These days were your favourite; it felt like he really was there at your side, his soft voice being your own personal lullaby. You wished this could be your reality, to come home to Chrollo making you breakfast or resting in your bed with a book in one hand, a mug in the other, with yours at the bedside table that he kept warm with a sleeve. 

The times where you’d elude to these wishes, and ask him about his work, he would explain that right now he was travelling a lot, and that it would be quite a while before you and him could have another in-person encounter. This disappointed you, but you were willing to wait for him. Aside from your job, you didn’t have much else to do outside of work…you could wait a bit longer if it meant having a companion.

But then it happened. A day came that initially felt like any other. You pulled your keys from your coat (Chrollo’s coat. It was a bit too big for you, but you liked wearing it, it was the closest you could get to actually being with him) to unlock the door to your apartment. Though when you grabbed onto the handle, it cracked the door open. Your feet felt heavy, you couldn’t move yet. Surely you locked the door before you left for work last night…

Before you could start a torturous mental cycle of didn't I lock the door? Was anything stolen? Is there an intruder in there right now? The door was opened from the inside, making your palms clam up, fingers starting to tremble.

There stood Chrollo, smiling sweetly at you. 

“You shouldn’t keep your door unlocked” was all he said, but his chastising words went in one of your ears and out the other while you simply stared, your jaw dropping. Chrollo was really here?! 

Your body acted before your mind could, arms flying out to wrap around his shoulders and throw yourself against him in what was a bodycheck of a hug. You’d have been embarrassed at the desperation this displayed, had you not been so happy to see him. Feeling him now, how his arms returned the embrace by wrapping around your waist, letting you know he was really here. That made any suspicions you had about your apartment dissipate, all you cared about now was how, what you expected to be a long wait of seeing the man you started to fall for, was no longer a wait at all. You felt tears of joy form in your eyes as his gentle laugh vibrated against you.

“I’m happy to see you too. Come inside, I made us some tea.” 

That was one of the most memorable days of your life. You shared a morning tea, then he held you in his arms as you two slept for the day. When you woke up in the evening, he had prepared a candle-lit dinner and informed you that there was a rose-petaled bubble bath waiting for you when you were done with dessert. You had not expected him to join you in that bath, but what followed left you feeling soft and satisfied for the rest of the weekend, so you were more than happy with it.

He must have planned his arrival after you told him that you had the upcoming weekend off, the sly guy that he was. You were elated, he had been spending every day with you since and told you that you’d no longer have to worry about bills or rent as long as you had him with you. The generosity he continued to show you was unreal, hard to accept as reality–what kind of average person just comes into your life one day and suddenly becomes your provider, and enjoys doing it? You’d grown to accept this as a dog-eat-dog world, but Chrollo changed that for you. 

After one particular night where your shift at the cafe was shorter, but more tiring, you arrived home to Chrollo rearranging the contents of the bookshelf that he bought for you. You smiled and returned his greeting before dropping your work purse beside your shoes, promptly flopping down onto the couch in exhaustion. You enjoyed the quiet, the only sound in the room being your soft breathing and the shuffling of Chrollo. The peace was disrupted for a moment, Chrollo unceremoniously shoved a book into the case a bit too harshly, making a loud thud that had you jolting in your spot, your weary eyes peering open. You thought nothing of it, though you figured he must have wanted your attention when he turned to look at you and began walking in your direction. You watched as he sat down next to you, gesturing to the tea tray on the coffee table that you hadn’t noticed when you walked in. 

You thanked him with a smile, taking one of the mugs and leaning back as you took a slow sip. His eyes seemed to be lingering today, observing how you swallowed the first sip and took another, for what felt like longer than usual. He was back to normal in mere milliseconds, blinking once and sighing quietly. He didn’t have his usual soft grin of a resting face, which seemed off, so you let him prompt the conversation that was bound to come. Have you done something wrong?

“Y/N, can you see this?” he asked, raising his left hand with his knuckles facing you. You glanced at it, confusion starting to show itself on your face, your brows began knitting and lifting the longer you wondered what he meant by that. 

“Your hand?” you questioned, head tilting slightly. Chrollo’s face fell for just a moment, making you swallow your next sip of tea a bit harshly. 

“I had a feeling you couldn’t. Fate works in mysterious ways…” he mused on as he glanced away, leaving you unsure of what exactly he was talking about. He turned back to you, and you noticed that his face was a bit blurrier now. No, not just his face…everything. Your vision was grainy, your ears started to ring. Your hands trembled as you tried placing down your teacup while these feelings intensified, but you ended up dropping it on the floor in exchange for stability as you roughly gripped the arm of the couch. You tried to look at Chrollo for refuge, unsure of what exactly was going on. Though blurry, his face looked pleased, not even acknowledging the spilled beverage on the floor, in contrast to how it concerned you. He didn’t move to help you, or ask what was wrong. He looked too pleased, like he knew this would happen…

Did he… drug you?

Your vision began fading to black, the ringing in your ears so loud it nearly deafened you. You could make out one last string of words that came from Chrollo before fainting fully:

“You can always learn. We have all the time in the world.”

It felt like you’d been hit with a hammer. Your head was throbbing something fierce, and you were dizzy even when your eyes stayed shut. You forced yourself to open them, unsure of what happened last as you tried to remember. You were seated upright, head feeling extremely heavy as you lifted it. Your eyes squinted as if to remedy the pain, and you could tell that you were currently in an airship. You were aware of how pricey these rides could be, you had only ever been in one a single time before for a holiday party with your coworkers a few years back. What are you doing here now?

It wasn’t until you heard footsteps and saw Chrollo entering your section from behind a door that every memory of what happened prior rushed back to you, a stabbing sensation overwhelming your temples. You grimaced, and Chrollo was at your side in an instant, his soothing hand beginning to caress your hair, his other handing you a cup of water that began to condensate. You took it from him silently, ready to sip it, when the droplets wetting your hands kept you aware, grounded. You remembered what got you to this point: a beverage made by him. 

Chrollo noticed your hesitation and chuckled, his fingers weaving into your roots to press against your scalp comfortingly. 

“It’s just water this time, dear” he pacified, daringly resting his chin on top of your head as the motion pulled you closer into him. You were too fatigued to argue, your hand felt weak as you lifted the full glass to your lips, letting the water cool your insides as you took half of the entire quantity in a few sips. As he continued rubbing your head, you struggled to find any words that could express your anger at what he had done to you. Why had he done this?!

“Why?” you asked with as much firmness as you could muster. Given the state you were in, it came out quiet, making your shoulders tense in embarrassment. You didn’t need to elaborate further though, Chrollo hugged you closer as he answered.

“I could tell you, but you won’t be able to understand the full extent of it until I find the right time to actually show you.” 

“Show me what?” you questioned desperately, finishing off your water and dropping the cup on the table before placing your wet hand on your cheek, trying to cool it off as your growing temper from the vagueness of his words made your body feel worse. His hands continued to lull you, upsetting you even further since you were much too weak to put up a fight. He sighed inaudibly, you felt it instead–what with being smothered by him right now and all. He finally let go of you in favour of seating himself beside you. You couldn’t fully get away from him, of course.

“You’ve never heard of nen, have you?”

You were familiar with it. A few of your coworkers had mentioned stories of their prodigy siblings or grandparents who were hunters, using this power called nen in their adventures.

“Yes I have” you murmured. You kept your eyes down, refusing to meet his out of spite. You could see in your periphery that he lit up very slightly, his lips upturning in what was surely the most charming of smiles as he grabbed your left hand with his own. He hooked his ring finger around yours, effectively grabbing your attention. You learned that Chrollo was a very poetic man, so a movement like that surely had a deeper meaning with him. 

“You do not wield it, I know that now. And I don’t want to force you to learn it, either. Do you want to learn?” 

“No.” you replied immediately. There was a reason that you were working at a cafe, and the overnight shifts, no less. You were very comfortable with your life right now; a stable job, a decent one-person apartment, and what you thought was a solid relationship. 

“That’s fine, then” he replied just as quickly. “It just means that what I’m about to say will sound mad.” 

You lifted a curious brow.

“You’re my soulmate, as I am yours.”

Yeah, he’s not all there. You scoffed, irritated at such a ridiculous claim. You did believe in soulmates before this in a different way. You thought that a soulmate was just the person you clicked with. That thought process always had you theorizing that Chrollo was yours, but what he just pulled had thrown all of that out of the window. 

“A soulmate wouldn’t force a meeting through drugging and kidnapping. Where are we going, anyways?!” you were becoming more and more lucid as this conversation went on, perhaps due to how incredulous Chrollo’s words continued to be. You looked around more, noticing a window a bit further in front of you. All you could see was the sky, though you could definitely look down to the ground and get a decent idea of where you were now, if you scooted a bit closer–

“I told you that would make me sound mad. But I assure you, I’m sharing nothing but the truth.” He grabbed your hand as you started scooching away, keeping you in your place. You looked back at him in irritation, scowling as you tried pulling away once more, but his grip was unrelenting. You huffed in defeat and sat back once more, crossing your legs away from him as if to subconsciously distance yourself as much as possible. He used his right hand to hold yours and lifted his left again, reminding you of how he did the same thing…hours ago? Days ago? How long ago had he drugged you, exactly?

“You can’t see it, since you can’t use nen, but your face is on my hand here. Soulmates have nen tattoos of their partner’s portrait, you have one of me on your hand too.”

You instantly looked down at your appendage, obviously not seeing anything there, yet your mind was screaming get it off, get it off!!!

“The expression on the face is the one we are supposed to see the first time we meet. There isn’t any spilled tea in my portrait of you, but otherwise, mine was correct.” He laughed airily, as if he was sooo clever for saying that. Surely, if he had explained this to you normally in the comfort of your living room, and didn't kidnap you for absolutely no reason, you would have thought it was funny too. You probably would have laughed and even snorted, something only he could ever make you do. 

You remained silent for a moment, still trying to figure out why exactly everything happened the way that it did. You thought about your next words carefully, not wanting to have an outburst since Chrollo could be very civil with you in the past, and you wanted to respect that now. After all, this situation only showed you what he was really capable of. Who knew what could happen if you had an outburst after he had shown you some of his worst?

“Why did you go to all of this trouble just to tell me that?”

Chrollo looked to the side for a moment, it was his turn to be silent. Had you stumped him? Did he actually realize that this was completely unnecessary? Surely that was it, now he would tell the pilot to turn around and take you home, right?

“Now that I’ve found you, I don’t plan on losing you any time soon. My work for the troupe is much more important than serving patrons at an overstaffed cafe. This was the only realistic solution.”

Realistic?!

“I understand if it will take you some time to come to terms with that, but I digress. We’re currently heading to Meteor City, there’s some work I must take care of there for a few weeks. I would like my soulmate to accompany me, now that we’re finally together. You’ll have to get used to this new lifestyle, anyways. Now is a good time to start.”

Before you could respond to any of his daft statements, or ask him what troupe job he was talking about, a ding followed by a calm voice overhead informed you (and the other passengers? Your section was completely private, isolated. How were you supposed to know?) that you had met your destination, making Chrollo perk up. You were still trying to process what he had just said to you, so when he squeezed your hand–your left hand, the one apparently adorning his face–you were flooded with anxiety at the thought of being rushed up and exiting an airship to somewhere you have never been, a place with a reputation, alongside someone who had gained and crushed your trust in such a short amount of time, pretending that the trust was still there and that you were excited to be going with him. Maybe if there were enough people around…

“Y/N” Chrollo called, holding his hand out for you as he stood by the door. His voice tore you out of the overbearing thoughts that were creating a racket in your head, which you were relieved to be done with, though the expectant look on his face diminished that relief in an instant.

You stood on shaky legs, forcing yourself to move towards him, a bit scared of what would happen if you didn’t; what else he would do. You tried to walk out simply at his side, ignoring his outstretched hand, as you were becoming very sick of the constant physical contact. No matter, Chrollo just linked his arm with yours and led you out. Surely your blood had to have been boiling by now.   

As you exited your section, your blood went cold instead, as your entire body flushed with adrenaline, witnessing what had to have been hundreds of other passengers exiting the airship. You stopped in shock for a second, halting Chrollo as well. He turned to look at you, and you chose to ignore him and continue walking, hopefully playing your surprise off. You really hoped that hadn’t piqued his suspicions at all, but he said nothing, and allowed you to take a bit of a lead for the time being. Maybe you had convinced him that you were excited! Yes, you could work with that.

“I didn’t know so many people came here” you smiled, laying the sweetness on nice and thick with a sugary tone. You played off the scrunch of your nose with ease, pretending that it was from anticipation instead of the horrible stench in the air. “You should have said something sooner, is Meteor City more of a tourist spot than I thought?” Chrollo looked at you fondly.

“I wouldn’t say that, but it certainly has become more populated in recent years.” 

Your grin went impossibly wide then, you were just so happy that he was playing right into your façade. You didn’t want it to be too obvious though, so you looked away from him. The high spirit you presented made it seem like you were eagerly looking around at the absolute wasteland in amazement, when you were actually trying to see what the easiest path to run through the crowd would be. 

Unfortunately, your landing point had a lot of open space. The longer you waited, the quicker the crowd would dissipate into their own destinations; either leaving you and Chrollo alone with nowhere to hide, or indirectly allowing him to drag you away for good alongside the rest of them. 

Your window of opportunity was dwindling quickly, if you went now you could–

“Hey boss, you’re back!” you whipped your head, seeing a crowd of people staring at Chrollo. The source of the call was a blond man of average height, standing in the middle of the crowd and waving his arm in the air to grab your attention. To say that the people surrounding him were intimidating, was an extreme understatement. A few of them were unrealistically tall, displaying freshly toned muscles. Some just had a flare of intelligence, like they could read your mind right now and knew exactly what you were planning. 

You gulped audibly as all of them shifted their gaze to you at once, you having been so engrossed in analyzing each of their terrifying auras that the sudden attention made you jump. Was this that troupe he mentioned?

“That’s your soulmate, isn’t it?” a woman wearing large glasses inquired, her black bob bouncing as she angled her head at you. You looked up at Chrollo in horror, suddenly feeling very scared of this entourage that he was bringing you to, that seemed to already know who you are. If you melded into the group of them–if you allowed Chrollo to bring you the few steps that would essentially turn you over to them, you knew for certain that you would have no chance of escape.

You had to go, now. 

Sure, you were curious to hear how Chrollo planned to introduce you; wondering if they were as crazy as he was, to see their reactions when he retold the story of how he brought you here, but you knew those few seconds would be desperate time wasted. You also knew that Chrollo was strong enough to hold you down if he felt you preparing to move; you would need to catch him off guard.

So you bolted. And it worked. It was as if time had stopped just for you, freezing everything else in the world for a split second so you could lunge away from him and sprint as far as your body would take you. You hadn’t a clue where you were running, but you would rather find that out for yourself than have Chrollo be the one to dictate it for you. 

“There she goes,” Uvogin grumbled, crossing his arms, an inconvenienced expression stressing his face as everyone else turned their heads to watch you go. 

“Should I go after her?” Nobunaga craned his neck lazily back to Chrollo, his tone bored as he waited for the command of his boss before taking any action. 

“No, let her run.” Chrollo’s eyes remained on your ever-shrinking figure, allowing you to fade into the distance. “She knows how this will end. Best to let her get it out of her system before we get to that point.” 

© meyousing 2023. do not share/export my work on to any other platforms. do not translate my work. 

[mariaofdoranelle]

Look at Us Now - ch. 20

Fic masterlist

I think this is my time to shine with an unhinged A/N! I went to Rio to see Taylor Swift, she postponed my show when I was already inside the stadium enduring so much heat several people were passing out or got 2nd degree burns just to touch metal. Then I had to run from not one, but TWO mass muggings (if there’s even a translation for ‘arrastão’ in english). But now I’m home, on a very long break!! And with every intention to bring back LAUN Thursdays.

I’m also using two prompts! This anon one and this from @autumnbabylon

Warnings: language, light NSFW, a small home explosion

Words: 3,8k

If watching Maisie leave because of their custody arrangement was a painful part of Rowan’s weekly routine, he wasn’t ready for the ache he felt in his chest today, when he watched Aelin go with their little girl as well, after everything that happened in the past hours.

Turns out she was meeting Dorian today to discuss a patient she was seeing tomorrow morning. Even if they worked at different places, they often sought each other out when dealing with a difficult or uncommon case.

It was a bittersweet feeling, being alone after one of the best moments of his life. It all came back in flashes while he tried to clean Maisie’s room and the mess of toys she leaves scattered after her stay. He could barely remember where each toy went because his mind only had space for Aelin’s kisses and hips and soft sighs and the lavender smell that still lingered on his arms.

Rowan felt this joyful heat inside him, as golden as Aelin’s hair, making his hands tingle and giving him a sense of weightlessness he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Aelin barged into his house and demanded things he was preparing himself to beg her. Aelin pressed on his bed, squirming under his touch. Aelin having a lazy Sunday morning while he cooked his girls breakfast. Aelin. Aelin. Aelin.

His mind sounded like a terribly cliché broken record today.

A few knocks on his front door snapped him out of his thoughts. Did Aelin forget something?

A resigned sigh left Rowan’s lips when he realized it was not the blonde he was hoping for.

“Rowie Bowie.” Fenrys’ smirk was too big for his face. “I know something you don’t know I know.”

Before he could forget, Rowan picked the speeding ticket that was sent to his place and handed it to his friend. “You should really update your home address.” A pause. “And drive carefully.”

Fenrys moved out before Maisie could even speak. His bedroom even became a guest room, but the man has yet to change his address in any official records. Rowan didn’t mind as much as he protested, though; at least his friend’s Amazon packages were going to the right place.

“I should’ve gone to Aelin’s with Dor.” Fenrys folded his ticket and shoved it down his pocket as if it were an old napkin, then threw himself on the couch. “I swear to God, Rowan, you tell me every gossip in that base at lightning speed, but when you and Aelin finally—“

“You know I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Well, Aelin is telling right now. Over Adarlanian candy.”

Rowan chuckled and grabbed two beers in his fridge, then tossed one to Fenrys. ‘Kiss and tell’ sounded like such a diminishing way to put what happened last night, but the message was still the same. He didn’t mind how Aelin processed what happened and if she talked about him to her friends, it just wasn’t his style.

“Dorian was in Rifthold this week?” Rowan changed the subject, finally catching on the ‘Adarlanian candy’ comment.

Being a self-employed doctor gave the man a flexible work schedule, something that Fenrys could only dream of, working in the military. Dorian always waited for Fen’s breaks to go on trips, but Rowan saw how his friend looked like a lost puppy whenever his boyfriend left for medical conferences or to visit his family in Rifthold without taking him.

“Yeah. When he came back, he suggested we take the next step in our relationship.” Fenrys had a silly smile on his face, eyes trained on the beer bottle he clutched. “I’m very excited about it.”

Rowan sat back, surprised. “You’re getting married?”

“Not yet. We’re not ready,” said the man who’s been living with his boyfriend for about five years. Rowan wouldn’t mention it, though.

“You’re becoming exclusive?”

“Nope. Would you let me finish?”

Rowan raised his brows, a silent request to proceed, and watched his friend’s expression slowly melt.

Fen continued, “We’re adopting.”

Wow. Rowan’s mouth fell open, and he couldn’t quite find the words. Fatherhood is no joke, so this was the last thing he expected to hear from his most unserious friend, but he was so incredibly thrilled for Fenrys. He would absolutely nail it, just like he did everything he set his mind to.

“That’s amazing, Fen.” Rowan sipped his beer. “So Maisie gets a playmate, huh?”

“You bet she does,” he chirped, beaming. “We don’t have a lot figured out yet, and Dor’s still picking the breed, but I’m so excited.”

“The… breed?” Rowan trailed.

“Dor’s really into this dog breed stuff, so I’m letting him call the shots. I don’t care about that, I’m just happy to have a puppy.”

Oh. They’re adopting a dog, not a human. Now that Rowan thought about it, it made more sense.

They chatted a little more in his living room, and it was in the middle of a heated discussion about a colonel’s love life—more specifically, his excess of mistresses inside base—that Rowan’s phone chimed.

It was Aelin, and he was confused to hear Maisie’s screeching while her mother tried to talk to him. “What happened?”

“She wants to—“

“WANNA SEE THE PUPPIES,” Maisie interrupted.

Aelin sighed. “She just learned what an adoption fair is, and—“

It was hard to hear her over their daughter’s screams, especially because Aelin liked to look collected when Maisie threw a tantrum, which meant no shouting over her. However, Rowan understood her saying something along the lines of “It’s on your weekend with her.”

So that was the issue. Rowan was still a little confused, but it sounded like Aelin couldn’t give Maisie permission to go right away because it would be during his parenting time, and the little girl lost it.

“Hey, um—“ he cleared his throat. “Can you hand the phone to Maisie? I’ll put it on FaceTime.”

In the meantime, he cast a glance at Fenrys, grimacing. “I think Maisie wants to go to the adoption fair with you.”

His friend didn’t look up from his phone, smiling. There was a chance Dorian was texting him that right now. “Good. I bet she’s better at finding cute dogs than Dor.”

Over the phone, after hearing the story again from his daughter’s lips, Rowan looked deep into Maisie’s puffy eyes, using his serious dad voice to ask, “Did Uncle Dorian invite you to see the puppies, or you invited yourself?”

The last thing he wanted was to intrude in the couple’s plans, and he knew Maisie wasn’t beyond that to see puppies.

Yet, she shook her head. “He asked me. I promise.”

“Okay, then.” Rowan’s warning stare didn’t relieve Maisie yet. “But…”

His last word hung in the air, filling his daughter’s hopeful, wide eyes. Everyone joked about how every Whitethorn had the exact same set of pine-green eyes, yet Maisie’s were his favorite. He would do anything to never see them tainted with red, absolutely hated when his little girl cried, but he still needed to set boundaries.

“We’re not adopting any dog, okay? You can play with them, you can help your uncles pick theirs, but we’re not bringing a puppy home.”

Maisie agreed to his terms without protest, though he didn’t know for how long. Rowan sloped back on his couch when the phone call ended, waiting for Fenrys to finish raiding his fridge.

“Dor got you real good, man,” he said on his way back, holding two beers and a plate of Aelin’s chocolate cake. “Munchkin will call herself Ryder and make your life hell until you adopt an entire Paw Patrol for her.”

Rowan snorted, knowing his friend was absolutely right. But that’s okay, he also had faith in his own parenting skills. Being a five-year-old’s dad meant he had some pretty good bribes up his sleeve.

˜˜

Rowan should’ve known he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands away from Aelin for long.

His restlessness restarted after Dorian picked Fenrys up in his house to leave, and it was almost embarrassing how little he contained himself before speed walking the way that led to Aelin’s house.

Now she sat on her office’s desk, legs wrapped around him, right beside the medical books and magazines she should be reading now.

“We’ll have more time later if I just—oh, fuck.”

Rowan swallowed her whimper with a kiss, both hands on her ribcage while his thumbs teased her nipples under her shirt, through her lacy bra. Aelin pressed herself against him as if they could get any closer, and the weight of his length on her made her chase more friction in that area, biting his lip as she did.

“Did you lock the door?”

“Yes.” Rowan kissed the spot between her neck and her shoulder, careful not to leave a mark. It meant more trouble than it’s worth in their line of work. “But you still need to keep quiet.”

She chuckled, her breath fanned against his neck and made him want to do unspeakable—

“Don’t you think she’s too quiet?”

Her sentence sliced through his lustful haze. This was a dangerous sign, some of his most traumatizing moments as a parent started when Maisie was quiet for too long. He did some parent math in his head. Aelin’s clothes were still on, so they weren't gone too long. But he had a feeling it was longer than he should leave his kid unattended.

Rowan took a step back. “I should go check on her.”

Her bittersweet smile said she agreed, but Aelin was quick to tug him closer again, though it lacked the heat from when she did it minutes ago. “But it’s really rude to leave me hot and bothered like this.”

His reply was a noncommittal huh, too distracted by the smirk on her lips to think of a smart retort.

“Uh-huh. And I’ll only forgive you if you stay the night.”

Rowan smirked. “I guess I have no choice. I can’t leave unforgiven after such a great offense.”

She gave him one last kiss, though it was a bit hard amongst all the grinning, and sat back on the chair behind her books. He took the room in while giving himself time to cool down after their make-out session. Their houses had the exact same layout, but she used as an office the room Rowan used as a guest room, formerly Fenrys’ old room. The thought made him snort, calling her attention. He could trust Aelin to turn one of the biggest rooms in the house into a library.

She squinted her eyes at him. “What’re you laughing at?”

“Did you know that Maisie’s been telling her friends that her mother’s office doesn’t have walls, just books?”

“Yeah, I got that email too.” Aelin’s voice was amused.

Rowan stepped around the room, reading the books’ spines. Her office was nothing more than four walls of shelves, a couch by the window and a big desk with her computer in the middle. And a smell that kept Aedion and his allergies away from here.

The most frequent genre was medical books, but they weren’t even a third of them all. She just had everything there. Modern and classics. Fantasy and non-fiction. Horror and romance. At the latter section, Rowan’s eyes went up, away from what Maisie’s prying eyes could reach, and finally found what he was looking for.

“What’re you looking for?” Aelin asked, her voice as grave as a crime scene tape. Do not cross.

But it was too late for her, because he already found what he wanted. The Wrong Mr. Right. The Darkest Temptation. Doctor Daddy. Forbidden Single Dad. He tugged at a random one, wondering if he’d find a shirtless man in the cover.

“Put it back!”

The smirk Rowan concealed with a mocking pout was near transparent. “But I want to see if the pages are sticky.”

“Rowan Whitethorn.” Aelin got up from her chair. “You. Are. Ridiculous.” She pointed at the locked door. “Now go! You have a daughter to feed.”

In the living room, he found Maisie lying on her stomach on her play mat. Rowan’s chest warmed at the sight of his little angel. He kept his steps light, ready to sneak up on her. She was just playing on his phone, and to think he thought she’d—

What he saw on the screen was enough to sour his mood.

“Maisie.” Rowan used his stern dad voice, making the little girl stiffen. “What did we talk about games with guns?”

“Daddy.” Maisie’s voice was just as serious, maybe too stern for her height. “You’re a good man, but I can’t accept that.”

He didn’t argue, just outstretched his hand, waiting for her to give the phone back.

She complied with a frown. “Uncle Fen says you work with guns.”

Phones and Fenrys. Two of the long list of things he couldn’t leave Maisie with unsupervised. It wasn’t his favorite class to teach, but Rowan occasionally taught Gun Safety, mostly when there was a shortage of instructors or when Lorcan got mad at Fenrys for letting the new recruits cosplay James Bond with the guns. Not the kind of knowledge he wanted his five-year-old to have, though.

“Sometimes, I teach young people how to be responsible when they’re carrying a gun. It’s very different from those games you want to play.”

“Sounds boring.”

“Very. Now let’s make your mom some tea.”

Rowan set Maisie with a coloring book in the dining table while he looked for a snack to give Aelin while she studied in the office. When he found the tea bags and cookies, Rowan struggled to start the stove. In fact, after further inspection, half the knobs weren’t working.

“Mais, did your mom tell you anything about the stove?”

“She says we need a new one,” his daughter said without taking her eyes off her art piece.

Sounds like Aelin. Of course she’d try to buy a new one without even trying to fix this one. Stoves weren’t his area of expertise, but anyone could fix anything in the Youtube Era.

Which led him back to an issue he was currently dealing with, Rowan mused as he searched for Aelin’s limited toolbox. He failed Aelin when she needed him the most. She pushed him away and hid major stuff of her life from him because she found him unreliable and untrustworthy. Yes, they were together now, but Rowan knew damn well that having sex wouldn’t rebuild her trust in him.

Aelin told him she loved him, and he believed her. But lack of love wasn’t the reason his family broke apart years ago. Now she was giving him one more chance, and Rowan would be damned if he wasted it.

To his luck, Maisie was being a good sport while he tried to fix the stove. Apart from taking a look at the insides of it when he took off the knobs and the cover of the control panel, she kept to her coloring book. Not having to wrangle her gave him space to think.

His session with Yrene was nice, but it wouldn’t happen again. At the end, she recommended other therapists for Rowan and suggested they stay just with family therapy. He had a suspicion it was because he—very subtly—kept trying to pry out of Yrene Aelin’s opinions on everything he talked about.

But it was better than he anticipated. She helped him organize his thoughts and come up with own advice to himself. She’s great, or at least better at this than Fenrys. Rowan even scheduled another appointment with one of her recommendations, mostly because he still had some things to consider regarding Aelin.

Spiraling in his own self-loathing wouldn’t fix anything, but that didn’t mean his feelings had changed. Rowan was just moving forward and trying to fix things at the same time he dealt with his fucked-up conscience.

He had no idea how to gain Aelin’s trust again. But, today, he’d fix her stove. Rowan inspected the knobs for dirt. Cleaned the contacts. Checked for loose wires. Managed to keep the kid alive while she read medical journals. When Aelin left her office today, would she see herself relying on him like this in the long term, and not just this Sunday?

“I think we’re done here, Mais,” he said after reassembling everything.

“Finally!” His daughter jumped off the chair. “Daddy, this was sooo…” Maisie dragged the adverb for as long as her breath allowed. “boring.”

He lightly tugged on one of her pigtails. “But if I got it right, I’ll be able to cook whatever you want. How about that?”

The girl’s eyes lit up at that, and there was nothing else for Rowan to do than test. He had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach as he turned the stove on.

Every single knob was working on full power.

Rowan let out a borderline arrogant laugh, his chest radiating with warmth as he picked Maisie up. “Are you seeing that?”

She threw both arms up. “We did it!”

He smacked a kiss at her cheek. He was smug, yes, but not enough to tell Maisie she didn’t do anything. His daughter could take all the credit she wanted.

After putting her back on the floor, he picked his phone to record this, since he didn’t want to interrupt Aelin’s study session.

“Hey, Aelin,” he said with the camera pointed at the working stove. “I cleaned it on the inside and fixed some loose wires. All six knobs are working now, as you can see. Now I’m gonna close one by one…”

As soon as the fire dimmed in the first knob he closed, it resurged a lot higher with a loud bang. Maisie’s loud scream was what unfroze him, making him disconnect the power source while loud footsteps came from the hallway.

“What was that?” Aelin asked, eyes wide from the kitchen door.

“Um—“

“DADDY KILLED THE STOVE.”

The little traitor. Hadn’t they fixed it together?

He made sure Maisie was alright, then explained everything to Aelin, even showed her the video. While he did it, Rowan expected everything. Anger, annoyance, frustration.

He just didn’t expect Aelin to throw her head back and cackle.

“You silly Buzzard.” She caressed his cheek with her thumb. “You didn’t have to do all this. I already bought a cooktop way cooler than this old thing.”

His face fell. “You did what?”

She wiggled her eyebrows at Maisie. “Now that there’s no stove, I guess we’ll have to eat pizza for dinner.”

The little girl cheered, bringing a smile to his face. He squeezed Aelin’s hand. “I’ll order one when you’re finished.”

It’s the least he could do, after completely butchering her half-working stove.

“Nah.” Aelin sneaked a peck when Maisie had her back to them. “Enough studying for today.”

˜˜

After putting Maisie to sleep, Aelin was telling him about the little parts of her day that he didn’t experience firsthand.

“Are you sure you don’t want one?” She offered the candy Dorian brought from Adarlan. Apparently, it was one of his most important obligations as her best friend whenever he visited his family. She had her favorites, but he often added some new ones for her to try.

“I’ll pass, but thanks.”

At first, it was really hard to understand the nature of Aelin’s relationship with Dorian. The fact that they’re thick as thieves despite being exes, were together and with other people at the same time with no jealousy… it’s a lot to grasp. Rowan didn’t think he ever would, but he did understand that whatever she had with Dorian didn’t impact her romantic feelings towards him, and that’s all he needed to know.

Besides, it was transparent how in love he was with Fenrys, in their own modern, slutty way. Rowan only had to thank the man for taking care of two of his favorite people.

“There’s this other thing…” Aelin trailed, biting her lip. The change in her expression was enough to pique his interest, especially when he saw the bag she retrieved from under her bed.

“Jizz and Bone?” He read out loud the name on the bag with a questioning tone, eyes widening at the suggestive logo.

“Yes.” Aelin’s face wasn’t half as serious as she was trying to make it look. “This is from Fen’s and Dorian’s favorite gay sex shop, but it’s just chocolate—“

“Are you telling me he bought you gay chocolate? Is that a thing?”

“Yes.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him. “And it’s not even the gayest thing I’m putting in my mouth tonight.”

Rowan pinched her side, making the little smart-ass squeal. He could always count on Aelin to keep the most embarrassing moments of his life alive. “You’re gonna explain the chocolate or not?”

“Yes!” She gave herself a moment to die down from laughing. “He bought it for himself, but gave me a bar when I told him we got together. It’s aphrodisiac chocolate.”

“Lovely.” Rowan made a show of pretending to look at it before giving it back to her. “But I don’t like chocolate.”

“But you love steamy sex.”

Rowan sighed. That he did. “Aelin…” he flipped her so he could cage her in the bed, hovering over her. He nipped her pulse point before whispering in her ear, “Take a quick look in the mirror, and you’ll see why I don’t need chocolate to turn me on.”

She shivered, but still grabbed his hair and made their eyes meet to say, “I want to try it. If you’re not a willing participant, I can try alone tomorrow with my vibra—“

Rowan groaned in protest, but rolled off of her to put the recommended dose of aphrodisiac chocolate in his mouth. He winced at the sweet taste, mixed with velvety flavors and exotic spices, but at least it was better than he expected. Aelin did the same, though she looked a lot more pleased with the taste.

They set a timer for thirty minutes as they were oriented to in the box, since Aelin wanted to do a precise evaluation, in her own words, and she continued to talk about her day. As much as she tried to make it sound simple, it took only a few minutes for Rowan to accept that he’d never understand her doctor talk, so he just nodded along and reacted according to her facial expressions. She could be talking absolute nonsense with an angry face just to get an equally angry reaction from him, he’d never know.

Aelin frowned when the timer went off. “I don’t feel anything. Did the chocolate work with you?”

“I never hoped it would.”

“Shame.” Aelin sighed. “Wanna fuck anyway?”

It was record-breaking, the speed in which Rowan pulled her to his lap.

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[blue-jisungs]

AHHHH I just read your soft moments with Niki story. I’m literally crying, screaming, and sliding down the wall right now. It was so good! Oml when they’re hiding in the closet. So cute! Could you do for Taehyun from TXT?

soft moments with taehyun

a/n. i’m glad you liked it :D thank you for requesting as well!! i love tyun so much, i just had to write it <3

[ SAY YOU LOVE ME ] "i am enraged" taehyun said in the calmest way possible while entering the room. you just pulled the covers over your nose, peeking from behind it.

"i didn’t want you to get sick. you’d miss all of the variety shows and stuff!" you mumbled, your groggy voice, stuffed nose and covers over your mouth making it hard to understand. but your boyfriend certainly did.

"so what? you’re burning up here. i’d miss the mama just to make sure you’re alright. it would be a shame but then again, mama is scuffed– did you take any meds?" he stopped himself from rambling and send you a serious gaze.

"yeah, those ones that you texted me to take and then proceeded to threaten me that you won’t give me any kisses for the next week if i don’t? i did take them" you murmured and taehyun looked at you lovingly. he pulled down the covers to see your face and he smiled softly.

"do you feel better?" he asked, pressing a hand to your warm forehead.

"i guess" you rolled your eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling it to your cheek. taehyun cupped your face and pressed a tender peck onto your burning forehead.

[ TILL THE END OF THE WORLD ] taking night walks became a part of your weekly routine with taehyun. the slight breeze would make you shiver but thanks to your smart and caring boyfriend, you put on your hoodie.

"oh look! a kitten! awwwh–" you whispered when you noticed a small kitty hiding next to a bush.

"you shouldn’t pet it, you might get rabies" he said but you let go of his warm hand and kneeled in front of the cat.

"but it’s adorable– oh my god" you froze when the kitten approached you, sniffing your hand. then it put his head onto your hand, begging to be petted. you did so and looked up at tae with sparking eyes. he couldn’t help but grin. "i love it"

tae squatted next to you and gave in, petting the kitten as well. although his eyes were locked on you and the happiness radiating from your face.

[ ALL OR NOTHING, I WANT ALL OF YOU ] it was normal to you. and the boys didn’t seem to mind, especially kai with whom you were playing mario kart with.

you lazily opened your mouth and kept on pushing onto kai’s character.

"stop it!" he giggled when you almost made him fall off the road. taehyun put a piece of food in your mouth and you started chewing.

you frowned, noticing that kai picked up a some kind of bonus and he’s aiming at you right now.

"open up" tae’s soft voice made you look up at him and smile lovingly before you opened your mouth. then you focused back on mario kart as your boyfriend fed you. with one hand underneath the chopsticks, so if something falls it doesn’t stain your clothes.

"it’s unfair. you never share your food with us" yeonjun blurted out suddenly, causing taehyun to chuckle quietly.

"he doesn’t feed you either" you smirked and outraced kai, winning this round.

[ I KNOW I LOVE YOU ] taehyun entered the room, tired smile painted on his lips. you looked up, hearing the footsteps and sent him a grin.

"hi baby" as you smiled he made his way towards you, plopping down on the couch next to you "how was practice?"

"as usual. i have approximately two hours and then we have some recording to do" your boyfriend sighed, resting his head on your shoulder.

"is it the new song…?" you hummed, grabbing his hand.

"i’m not telling you anything" tae chuckled, shaking his head. his hair tickled the skin of your neck, causing you to squirm a bit. he smiled and closed his eyes, feeling so comfortable around you; on your shoulder.

"you should take a nap" you mumbled, caressing your fingers through his large hand. but you were met with silence and just a sound of his constant breaths.

[ masterlist <3 ]

taglist: @geniejunn ,, @luvhyun3 ,, @starlostseungmin ,, @elviransworld ,, @jnks6r ,, @sieunsgf ,, @lhsng ,, @ethereallino ,, @laylasbunbunny ,, @duolingofanaccount

[the-joy-of-knowledge]

How to Stop Worrying and Start Winning.

How to Stop Worrying and Start Winning is a book by Dale Carnegie that gives us insight into how to deal with worry, stories of people who quit worrying for good, and techniques to win in life in the most difficult times. This book literally changed my life because I was able to address my worries head-on and do something about them. Exams are in two weeks…okay, do I get all panicky, or do I pick up my books to study and revise? I am worried about my weight, do I say self-loathing things to myself, or do I go to the gym?

On matters of the future…

I focus on the fact that I have 1,440 minutes in a day to live an amazing life. What a gift it is! I wake up determined to seize the day.

I don’t worry about the next day because as long as I achieve my daily goals, the future will sort itself. The future will morphe into my heart’s desires. In fact, the future turns out better than I expect because of serendipity.

I have two-year and five-year goals. I break them down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals. I try to include them in my routine.

On matters of fear…

So there is a part of me that is afraid of making mistakes and this stops me from trying anything new. Meaning I did not learn nor grow and I will never be good at it. So I would ask myself, what is the worst thing that can happen? prepare to accept the worst while improving on the current circumstance.

I also get the facts of my worry. I determine what kind of worry it is. Is it an action-type worry or an acceptance-type worry? If it is an action-type, I just take action instead of worrying. If you need to accept the truth of the story, then accept it and move on. Do not wait on your worries, it has consequences on your health.

Write down your worries, and make your subconscious aware of them. Decide on what you can do and start acting on them.

On matters of Insecurities…

I have insecurities, I am not flawless but why worry about the fact that I am flat-chested with broad shoulders when I know well that I cannot change it. The best thing I did was learn about clothes and figure out what is best for me to wear. I had “role models for looks” women whose bodies were just as similar to mine and this gave me the confidence to change my wardrobe and invest in my beauty.

I used to have stage fright and I would always avoid situations that required me to speak but in the back of my mind, I always envisioned myself as a public speaker. I was insecure around my peers who were magnificent at speaking. So I joined a club in my school and took up a leadership position and It was hard. I would shake and fidget but as time went on I became confident to stand and give presentations, talks, and speeches. Always using one leap to motivate me to the next one.

To be continued…

Black Pearl

[seth-shitposts]

Fulcrum Trio HC

Besties who help each other work through their trauma, and their trauma has overlapping areas in some parts.

They share a ship, it's the first home they've had in awhile.

It's not uncommon for them to go on missions together. But when they go on missions and things start getting chaotic, only one of them manages to hold onto a brain cell while the other two become more feral. The one who holds the brain cell changes each time.

Cassian is treated as the baby brother and he says he hates it. He'll never admit how much he actually likes it. It took the longest time for him to admit it to himself.

This one was spoken about in comvo with some friends (hi you're probably reading it rn 💙) [ They have platonic cuddle sessions. They're all very touch starved and it starts out as an accident.

Kallus is an octopus cuddler when he manages to drink too much. At first, Kanan had been the one to get trapped, but he managed to slip away. Unfortunately, that means the nearest person would get trapped. Which was Cassian. He just accepted it. There was no way he was going to be able to wrestle out of this two meter man's arms and he wasn't upset about it. In fact, he was very smug about the fact that he cuddled Kallus before Ahsoka did.

Cassian got his payback on Kallus. Cassian cannot hold his liquor nearly as well as Kal and fell asleep laying across his lap. Kallus was not even tipsy, he refused to move. "No. It's illegal." Cassian rarely gets asleep as it is. He was NOT about to wake him. Ahsoka decided that she had enough and sat herself right next to Kallus, laying her head on his shoulder as she gently brushed through Cassa's hair.

After that, the three of them decided to just incorporate it into their routine. It wasn't uncommon for their friends or partners to find the three of them in a puddle of blankets and pillows together.

(Also, any of their partners just as to accept the fact that they're sharing their partner with the other fulcrum counter parts.)

The three of them are usually the reason why there's a weekly supply run made just for Caf.

They have crafts each of them learned when they were younger and they teach them to each other.

On coruscant, since the stars were never visible, especially so far down in the lower levels, stars were a treasured cultural thing. Star-themed nicknames were some of the highest praise or used to emphasize how cherished one was to another. Star maps and holo projectors were an expensive luxury item. Something that was always passed around the youth were paper stars. Kallus was taught how to make them before he even learned how to read or write. The children of the lower levels often sold or traded them for food or other supplies. Pennies for each one. Kallus had made hundreds of thousands of them. When he began to interact with Ahsoka and Cassian more, he picked it back up and would leave them in random nooks and cranies.

On Kenari, Cassian had learned how to braid threads into accessory pieces. Attachments to clothing for special events, bracelets, necklaces, headbands, sashes, even bags. It's something he does occasionally to keep his hands busy. Eventually, he had completed projects but didn't have anything he could do with them. So he gave them away. Commonly, he made braided bands for K2, Bee, and any droid that took a liking to Kallus. (Which kept him busy because "why are there so many droids that decide 'yes. You.' Do you just pick up every droid you see?"

Ahsoka was very young when she came to Coruscant. Master Plo Koon taught her not just about the Jedi Order and training, but little things too. Something that the two of them often did together started out as a way of training but became a shared hobby for them to do as they talked things over or meditated. Master Plo Koon had taught Ahsoka how to embroid and cross stitch with her mind. It was to have a master over precision and patience. It's a practice that Ahsoka never truly dropped. She greatly struggled with it as a youngling and a padawan, but as she got older, she got better at it.

When Ahsoka started teaching Cassian and Alexsandr, she struggled slightly because it was the first time she was doing it by hand rather than through the force, but she enjoyed learning a new way of the craft.

They'll spend hours debriefing over missions, making strategies, or just talking things out as they teach each other their crafts.

That's all i got atm. Will probably add more later.

[muertawrites]

False Pretenses (Eddie Munson x Reader)

Summary: eddie accidentally finds out a secret you've been keeping about your friendship. cuteness ensues.

Read Time: 5 mins

Warnings: the devil's lettuce, idiots to lovers, robin having better game than the guys

Author's Note: everyone is aged up by a few years. this came to me out of nowhere and i thought it was too cute not to write

"What do you mean you don't smoke weed?"

The entire house seems to go still, Robin and Steve staring at you with wide eyes. Eddie stands at the foot of the stairs, holding the case of liquor he went to retrieve from his van, parked in the driveway of Steve's parents' house.

"Hanging out in the basement, just like old times"! Except you forgot about the tiny little secret you've had for years - the entire reason you're in this basement in the first place.

Eddie crosses the room and flops down on the couch in front of you, tossing the hefty box of booze he's holding into Steve's lap (which he receives with a pained "oof"). He crosses his arms, leaning his elbows on his knees, eyeing you like one of the many Hawkins police officers who busted him for possession in his youth.

"You bought from me for five years," he states. "That's how we met."

It is how you met. Your senior year of high school (his second time around), you made your way to the picnic table in the woods just beyond the campus grounds and asked the eccentric metalhead you'd stared at every day for the past three years for a gram of his cheapest weed. He taught you how to grind the buds, to roll a joint, to hide the smell so you didn't get caught; he then took ten dollars of your babysitting money (seeing as it was your first time) and every week for the next year, you met him in that same spot and bought the same strain at the same amount.

When you graduated and went to college a few hours away, it became once a month. When a portal to hell opened up and killed one of his customers, and you were the one aggressive enough to get Hawkins PD to investigate further and stop suspecting him of murder, he started giving you anything you wanted for free.

And even though you never smoked it, just gave it away to friends or crushed it up in the garbage disposal, you still took it because it meant you got to see him. To hang out with him. To laugh with him and listen to his demo tapes and talk about anything at all that came to mind. Of course, your friendship got to the point where you didn't have to conduct business to be able to see him, but the routine was nice. It was only when you both moved to the city and he got a better paying job that you stopped buying from him, because he was no longer selling.

The weekly hangouts still continue, though. They've become too much a part of your lives to stop, especially when you still live so close to one another.

You give him a bashful smile, unable to hide the mortification blazing across your cheeks.

"Well... I sort of had a crush on you in high school," you admit. "And I wanted a reason to introduce myself and get to know you. So... I bought weed from you. Even though I don't like to smoke it."

Eddie stares at you for a long moment, his eyes flicking over your features as if he's trying to figure you out for the first time all over again. Then he huffs an exasperated sigh, standing so he can pull his wallet out of his back pocket and rifle through the bills inside. He holds a stack of twenties out to you.

"I'll give you the rest later," he mutters.

You don't take the cash. Instead you look up at him with a furrowed brow.

"Eddie, no, you don't owe me," you tell him.

"Yes I do," he quips. "You spent hundreds of bucks on drugs you didn't use just so we could hang out? Of fucking course I owe you! How the fuck else am I supposed to pay you back?"

"You could take her on a date," Robin suggests.

Your heads snap towards her, shocked. She rolls her eyes.

"Oh come on," she groans. "You're the only two idiots in the world who can't see you've got it bad for each other. Eddie, that groupie at your show last week was practically in your pants by the end of the night, but you didn't take her home because she wasn't the girl you wanted. I was the one who ended up taking her home."

Steve leans over and gives her a little fist bump. You turn back to Eddie.

"... Is that true?" you wonder. "I'm the reason you don't hook up? Don't date?"

Eddie shrugs, his turn to be embarrassed.

"I mean... yeah," he confesses. "I don't really wanna fuck anyone but you."

His eyes bulge, realizing the implications of his words.

"But I also don't wanna date anyone but you!" he quickly clarifies, words spilling out in a rush so that they're crammed together. "You're so pretty and funny and tough and I just... I dunno. You're my best friend. Nobody really compares to you."

If three sets of eyes weren't watching you so intently, you might have let yourself cry. You take a deep breath, reaching up for Eddie's hand; he takes it, lowering himself onto the floor in front of you. His fingers are shaking.

"... Will you be my person?" you ask.

His features break into a smile, that same gorgeous grin you fell so hard for as a freshman in high school. Nobody compares to him, either.

"Sure," he agrees. "... Even though you lured me in under false pretenses."

You smack at his arm and he laughs, reaching out to wrap you in a tight, loving hug. You melt into his touch, burying your face in his shoulder and savoring the feel of his body against yours. Just as it should be.

"Eddie confessed first," Robin says to Steve. "You owe me twenty bucks."

"Nuh-uh, no way," Steve argues. "She told him she had a crush on him in high school and you manipulated him into talking. You owe me twenty bucks."

"Hold on, wait," Eddie interjects, breaking your hug to look at them. "You took a bet on our relationship?"

"We've been doing it since the spring before you graduated," Steve tells him. "We thought for sure you'd finally get laid after you almost died."

Eddie snatches an empty beer can off the nearby coffee table and lobs it at Steve's head, which starts a wrestling match that ends with Eddie straddling him, holding him in a headlock and demanding Steve concede and admit he gets more opportunities for action, despite turning them down.

Yep. Just like old times.