#Aed if you see this. Winks at you

[hajihiko]

Just you and me and me and you just us and our mutual very close friend Steve

[leiawritesstories]

PART THREE: MARCH (PART I)

Word count: 3.9k

Warnings: swearing, friendly teasing, science mumbo jumbo, mentions of police, mentions of illegal activities, mentions of Cairn, Rowaelin being very attracted to each other, so much scheming

Enjoy!

A/N: Part 2 will be posted for Rowaelin Month day 16 ;)

Masterlist

Read on AO3

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

Aelin had been sitting in her car waiting for twenty-three minutes and eighteen seconds. 

Granted, she had a book to keep her company, and she knew her darling cousin was not renowned for his punctuality, but over twenty minutes? That was long enough to ditch a first date. But they were family, and she hardly ever got to see him outside of their monthly lunches, so she turned another page in her novel and allowed the delay. 

Ten seconds later, her phone vibrated. 

>>I’m here. Bet you’ve already finished your food, sorry. The text was punctuated with a grimacing emoji. 

<<Still outside, thought I’d be the bigger person and wait for you to dig yourself out of your mad scientist cave

A middle finger emoji was the response. 

Smirking, Aelin got out of her car, locked it behind her, and strolled up to the tall blonde guy waiting in front of the restaurant, linking her arm through his. “There’s no need to be vulgar, Aedy.” 

Aedion Ashryver snorted and pulled his cousin into a hug. “Hello must not be part of your vocabulary anymore, Miss CEO.” 

“Nope!” Aelin winked. “Business empires aren’t built on platitudes.” 

“You’re as impossible as ever.” He held the door open for her. 

“I’m hungry, too.” She patted his arm in thanks. “And you are late.” She smiled at the hostess. “Hi, party of two for Ashryver?” 

As they followed the hostess to a booth, Aedion poked Aelin in the side. “I really am sorry, work just…it got away from me. I didn’t realize the time until it was already ten after.” 

She slid into her side of the booth and chuckled. “You’re such a mad scientist, Aedy.” 

“Stop calling me that,” he grumbled. 

“Never.” She flashed him an angelically innocent smile. 

Their server returned a few minutes later to take their orders, and because it was later in the afternoon, the food was served quickly. Aelin sighed almost indecently as she bit into her sandwich, causing Aedion to roll his eyes. 

“Really, Ae? Right in front of my fish tacos?” 

“You made me wait almost twenty-five minutes, and I barely had breakfast,” she returned. Elegantly, she wiped her mouth and took a bite of the side salad. 

Aedion raised his blonde brows in dramatic shock. “Am I tripping, or did my darling cousin voluntarily order something green and leafy?” 

“Shut up,” Aelin shot back, gesturing at him with her fork. “I like salad.” 

“Mhmm, you keep telling yourself that,” he drawled, not convinced in the slightest. “And pigs can fly.” 

“If you put them on an airplane, they can.” 

He sputtered a laugh. “Gods, I’ve missed you.” 

Her mirthful grin softened into a genuine smile. “I’ve missed you too, Aed. You spend way too much time locked up in that lab of yours.” She wiggled her brows suggestively. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were doing something rather unsanitary.” 

“You’re the worst,” he grumbled, a faint trace of pink staining his cheeks. 

Aelin nearly dropped her fork. “Aedion Ashryver!” she whisper-shouted. “Are you getting railed in your lab?!” 

“No!” he hissed. “What the hell?” 

“It was a fair question, Mr. I’m-Definitely-Not-Blushing.” 

“I keep forgetting that you’re so observant,” he mumbled. “No, Aelin, I’m not getting anything at my lab, except annoyed.” 

“Hey, I’m a scientist too,” she teased. “And that’s too bad. Where’s your naughty reward for all your hours of hard work?” 

“My reward is my fat paycheck,” he smirked. 

She snorted. “Yeah, I bet working with Orynth PD does pay pretty nicely.” 

His expression sombered. “Speaking of Orynth PD…” 

“Do you have an update for me?” She sipped her water, mentally preparing herself for potential bad news. 

“Yeah.” Aedion dragged his hand through his messy half-bun, tugging the hair tie free and idly weaving it around his fingers. “You remember when I told you PD had brought me a piece of evidence they’d found at the explosion site?” Aelin nodded. “Well, I’ve run every fucking test I can think of on it, and I’m still nowhere. Even particle analysis came up inconclusive. It’s…fuck, I’m about ready to chart it as ‘alien substance’ and tell PD it’s fuckin’ useless as evidence because there is no existing material even remotely close to it.” He huffed, exasperated but at the same time drawn to a problem he hadn’t yet solved. 

“How long have you been running tests?” 

“Since the end of January.” He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “It’s March 9th, and gods, I haven’t got anything.” 

Aelin pushed the last few leaves of her salad around on the plate, suddenly not hungry despite having half a sandwich left. “Um…” 

He snapped his eyes to hers, the concentrated steel of his stare eerily similar to Gavriel’s commander face. “Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, what do you know about this fabric?” He pulled a small plastic bag from his sleeve. Inside the bag was a tiny scrap of black, tightly woven material that resembled layers and layers of fine, interlocking mesh, so closely stacked that they appeared almost seamless. 

She inhaled, held the breath for exactly six seconds, exhaled, and met her cousin’s gaze head-on. “It’s mine.” 

He swore under his breath. “What is it?” 

“I…I can’t tell you that,” she whispered. Before he could demand why, she held up her hands in defense. “Because it’s in development, Aedion. There’s a very small quantity in existence, and only I have full access to it. This right here–” she indicated the scrap–“must have already been weakened, because all previous tests have pointed at the material being incredibly difficult to damage.” 

“So…only you know what the material is?” 

“Yes.” 

“And you know that it’s currently in PD hands? That I’ll be arrested if it ‘goes missing?’” 

“Yes.” She twisted the slender silver ring around her right middle finger, a visible sign of her nervousness. “I’m not asking you to return it.” 

“Then what are you asking?” 

Aelin pressed her lips into a thin, worried line. “I would ask you to give it back to me, but I won’t go that far.” 

“So…” 

“So…you can give it back to PD. Don’t explain it, though; just tell them whatever science-speak you nerds use to say ‘it’s too convoluted to figure out.’”  

“Says the woman with a PhD in chemical engineering.” 

 “At least I can have normal conversations.” 

“That’s what you think, young one.” He reached across the table and squeezed her hand, reassuring her. “I’ll tell PD  that the stuff is made of a wildly tangled structure that might take years to unravel, and I know they don’t have that kind of time frame. I’ll tell them it’s an entirely foreign substance.” He flashed her a private little grin. “We’ll see how many knots that ties them into, yeah?” 

“Yeah.” Her lips quirked up. “I really don’t deserve you, Aed.” 

“Bullshit.” He nudged her plate back towards her. “Who else would buy you chocolate hazelnut cake as an apology for being twenty-five minutes late to lunch?” 

“My favorite!” she exclaimed. “Does that mean we’re going to the bakery?” 

“Of course it does.” He waved the server over, paid the check, and even carried Aelin’s box of leftovers for her as they left the restaurant. They walked about a block down the street to the charmingly rustic building that housed Aelin’s favorite bakery, where Aedion bought a massive slice of chocolate hazelnut cake, as promised. 

She sighed happily as she tasted the decadent dessert. “This is incredible. Bury me with a box of chocolate hazelnut cake, okay?” 

“Cake won’t make it to the afterlife,” Aedion deadpanned. 

She smacked his arm. “We’ll see who’s laughing in the afterlife when I pull my whole box of cake out of the hellfire.” 

“Hellfire,” he murmured, blowing out a long sigh. “If only that shit didn’t exist.” 

She put away her cake, tucked both the bakery box and her restaurant box into the bakery bag, and linked her arm through his, leading them down to walk along the riverside path. “It’s one dangerous fucking explosive, for sure.” 

“I’m pretty damn certain that’s what was used in the Wilkins lot explosion,” he admitted. “Hellfire. I’d know its chemical scent anywhere.” 

“Yeah, it’s a unique one.” She shrugged. “What? I keep up with the research.” 

“Naturally.” He chewed on his lower lip, working through what he wanted to tell her. “Something about it feels…wrong, though, and I don’t know how to describe it. I know it’s hellfire because the scent matches, but what the site looks like…” He trailed off. 

“Is it different?” she inquired. “Less damaged? More damaged? Is there…” A tight, controlled breath. “Something worse about it?” 

“Something worse.” Emotion–fear–flashed through his eyes. “Aelin, I’m about to tell you classified information. Promise me you’ll keep it to yourself.” 

She pressed her palm to his. “I swear it.” 

He braced himself, as if the information could collapse him. “The scorch marks left at the scene indicate both the burn pattern and rapidity, as you probably know.” She nodded. “Well, the marks at the Wilkins lot indicate a pace nearly twice as rapid as hellfire is known to have.” 

Aelin gasped. “That’s…fuck.” 

Aedion jerked his head in a tight nod. “Yeah.” 

Nearly twice as rapid. Her mind reeled with recognition. The hellfire used to blow up the Wilkins lot back in January–the hellfire that her team had developed, that she had planted and detonated–burned nearly twice as fast as known hellfire did. 

She’d accidentally created a compound that could incinerate a solid steel building in a matter of seconds. 

“Hey.” Aedion’s voice yanked her out of her whirling thoughts. “It’s possible there was another substance involved, something that caused a freak reaction. With the damage done, though, it may not be possible to detect the presence of any other substances.” He fiddled with the strap of his watch. “Hellfire just…it shouldn’t react this way, and I don’t know what the hell to make of it.” 

“Or what the hell you’re going to tell PD about it,” she added. 

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I can’t put them off forever, Ae.”

“Give them as much truth as you can, Aed.” Though quiet, her voice didn’t waver. 

They’d nearly reached the lot where their cars were parked, and Aedion accompanied Aelin to her car, his protective tendencies in full force as always. “Are you certain?” 

“Yes.” She squeezed his hands. “Don’t…don’t incriminate yourself, of course, and that might mean not mentioning me or my involvement. But be honest, as much as possible. Tell PD what you know about the fabric. Tell them your theory about the hellfire.” 

He pulled her into a crushing hug. “Thank you,” he whispered, the words stealing whatever was left of her breath after his embrace stole the rest. 

“Thank you,” she whispered back, “for not losing your shit at me.” 

He chuckled softly. “I’d rather not risk the wrath of Orynth’s most ruthless CEO.” 

She flashed him a half-grin as she climbed into her car. “Bye, Aeds. See you next month?” 

“See you next month.” 

She waved at him in the rearview mirror as she drove off. 

~

“Good morning, Ms. Galathynius.” Ansel fell into step next to Aelin as she crossed the lobby. Judging from her formal address, she was in full lawyer mode. “Are you ready?” 

“Always.” Aelin adjusted her loose hold on her work tote. “Tell me one time where I’ve gone into an important meeting completely unprepared; I’ll bet you can’t.” 

The attorney scoffed. “Last Tuesday, the day after you took a half day off to make your cousin buy you cake, you walked into a negotiation with the Cortlands without having done a speck of research.” 

“And I secured precisely the terms I needed to secure,” Aelin smirked. “That cake was my preemptive reward.”

“Mhmm, bet that’s what you tell yourself at night when you’re awake worrying over the possibility of one misspelled word in that contract.” 

“Has anyone ever told you that you remember too much?” 

“Do you think I listen to that crap?” Ansel’s grin was as wicked as her boss’s. 

Aelin laughed. “This is why you’re my lawyer, Briarcliff.” She parted ways with her attorney as Ansel entered her own office. “I’ll call you if needed.” 

“You better.” The redhead nudged her in the side. “Now go get your big bad CEO office all ready for the investigator.” 

Aelin snickered and headed up to her office, where she moved her disorganized stacks of paperwork and notes to an empty drawer in her file cabinet and tidied up her desktop. She had a certain green-eyed special forces lieutenant to impress, after all. Best not to show a man who’d grown up in the military the chaos that her office typically was–it would probably give him heart failure. She pointed a small remote control at the walls of windows, raising all the blinds to let in the early-spring sunlight. 

At precisely eleven-fourteen, her desk phone rang. 

“Lieutenant Whitethorn is here, ma’am.” Her assistant’s voice was perfectly calm, as if she was announcing any other ordinary visitor. 

“Send him in.” 

The mahogany door swung smoothly opening, allowing Lieutenant Rowan Whitethorn to stroll into her office, casual confidence rolling off his six-foot-three frame. 

“Lieutenant,” Aelin greeted him, rising from her desk to meet him halfway across the expansive space. “So good to see you again. You look much more comfortable in your everyday clothes.” That was the mildest possible version of the truth. His collared black shirt with the sleeves rolled halfway up and expertly fitted black slacks–just formal enough for a meeting, just casual enough for comfort–paired with the badge affixed to his sleeve and the faint outline of a bulletproof vest beneath his shirt made Aelin want to forget about the meeting and climb that man like a tree. 

He cracked a hint of a grin. “Tuxedos aren’t exactly my favorite attire, for sure.” His warm hand closed around hers, his handshake firm and confident. “Thank you for scheduling this meeting with so little notice.” 

She dipped her head. “It’s the least I can do, Rowan. I know how important this…issue is.” Rather than lead him towards her desk, she moved back towards the door. “Shall we chat somewhere less imposing? I’d like to think that we’re past all the unnecessary formality.” Since we kissed and everything. 

“I’d like that.” His presence was a solid, steady warmth behind her as he followed her to a small conference room just down the hall. 

“This is probably my favorite meeting room,” she admitted as she held open the door for him. “It’s essentially the office library, but almost nobody ever uses it.” 

He swept a thorough gaze over the dark oak bookshelves lining the walls, the soft yellow lighting in place of the standard office brightness, the plush maroon velvet chairs, and the single table off to the left, and cracked a full smile. “This is lovely.” 

“I used to study here when I had to come to the office after school,” she said, taking a seat in one of the armchairs and motioning for him to do the same. “My parents worked unpredictable hours, and I couldn’t take myself home until I had a car.” 

“Did you go to school close to here?” Rowan inquired, not missing the chance to slip into investigator mode. 

“Yes, I went to Orynth Prep with the rest of the rich kids. It’s about a seven-minute walk away.” 

His lips twitched. “A prep school minutes away from the downtown business sector. How clever of them to be so close to the money.” 

She muffled a snort. “Well, the lovely students needed the right volunteer hours on their transcripts, after all.” 

“Wonder if that’s helped them once they graduate from Harvard Business School,” he murmured, half to himself. “I don’t mean to shift directions so quickly, Aelin, but I am here on official business.” He cleared his throat. “Are you aware that there have been fourteen rather brutal homicides committed over the past seven months here in Orynth?” 

“I am aware. The news has been…eager to remind us.” She grimaced slightly. “I’ll never understand the journalistic fascination with gruesome crimes.” 

He nodded. “Are you also aware that the most recent victim was discovered at a warehouse that your company owns?” 

Aelin pressed her fingertips to her mouth, her eyes widening in shock. “Wh-which one?” 

“This property.” He passed her a photograph of the warehouse where Cairn’s body had been dumped. The shot was taken after PD had cleaned up the scene. 

She examined the photo, nibbling at her lower lip. “I see.” 

“You sound unsurprised.” Damn, the man was perceptive.

Aelin chose her next words very, very carefully. “I’m aware that some of my properties, particularly the ones in the shipping district, are rather sketchy, so I’m not completely blown off my feet to learn that this warehouse is now officially a crime scene.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Please know that you have my full cooperation with your investigative efforts on my property.” 

“Thank you.” Unexpectedly, Rowan reached out and laid his free hand over hers. “I’ll do everything I can to make our stay on your property short.” He offered her a crooked smile and glanced back down at his notepad. “You have an advanced degree in chemistry, correct? It’s public information, I promise I didn’t use my police access to sneak into any info.” 

“I do.” She folded her hands in her lap. “I have my PhD in chemical engineering. Still enjoy running an experiment at the Gal Inc labs every once in a while.” She chuckled. “My chief engineer is kind enough to let me make my messes.” 

He wrote something down in his notes. “What can you tell me about the compound known as hellfire?” 

She whistled softly. “If you’ll forgive my language, it’s one hell of an explosive.” That said, she shifted to her scientist voice. “Hellfire is highly volatile and extremely sensitive, not to mention astronomically expensive to produce. Its key components are stable nitroglycerin and PETN; it also contains smaller quantities of some very rare, very finicky liquid chemicals. From what I know, it is most commonly detonated using highly concentrated acid to trigger the explosion, and the heat produced during the explosion ensures that none of the compound is left inactive.” She shuddered. “It’s frightening, even to us scientists.” 

“It certainly is.” He propped his chin on one fist. “You know about the catastrophic explosion of this past January, yes?” 

“Yes.” Twist the rings, Galathynius. She fiddled with one of her rings. 

“We have reason to believe that hellfire was the substance detonated during that event.” 

“Gods,” she breathed, horror coating her faint voice. “That…oh gods.” 

“Hey.” He broke free of his impersonal investigator persona for a moment and placed one hand on her shoulder, lifting her fallen chin with the other. “The good news is that no people were present. The lot was completely destroyed, but there is nothing to suggest any lives lost.” His thumb rubbed her shoulder, comforting. “Somehow, the catastrophe was contained to that single lot, structures only.” 

“It’s still horrifying,” she murmured. “Rowan, hellfire is so volatile, and it burns until it’s run out of fuel or until a sufficiently powerful extinguisher has been applied.” Her breath hitched. “The thought of…of someone dying…I’d be a terrible excuse for a human being if I said that didn’t break my heart.” 

“I know.” He clasped her hands, lending her his solid strength. “The things I’ve seen in my career…I know.” 

She breathed deeply and steeled her spine, putting her CEO face back on. “Ask me more questions–anything to keep me from spiraling.” 

He nodded, understanding what she meant. “Do you know of Cairn Wilkins?” 

Ire flashed across her elegant features. “I’m acquainted with that particular scumbag, yes.” 

“Scumbag?” His brows rose in curiosity; clearly, he hadn’t been expecting her vitriol. 

Tone it the fuck down, Galathynius! “Cairn Wilkins is a drug dealer, smuggler, and pathetic excuse for a man.” 

“Was.” 

“Was?” 

“He, ah…he’s dead.” 

“I’d have thought the media would have jumped on that story,” Aelin mused. “Hmm. Well, then, Wilkins was a pathetic excuse for a human being.” She blew out a controlled exhale. “I don’t say this lightly, Rowan. I was acquainted with Cairn, and he gave me every flavor of bad impression each time we crossed paths.” 

“How so?” Rowan’s pen tapped against his notepad. 

“He had a tendency to pop up in dark corners, stand too close, leer, and make other unacceptable gestures and behaviors while in public. As a businessman, he frequently made evening deliveries himself, which is unusual behavior for the owner of a company that purportedly delivers only to hospitals and pharmacies. Also, he was mysteriously absent from his office two days a week, every week, and his staff would only say that he was ‘away.’ The average CEO does not have recurrent absences, and if they are absent, their staff has more complete information on where they are.” She took a calming breath. “I am not the only businessperson who suspected Cairn of having, um, illicit connections. But…” She stopped. 

“But what, Aelin?” Rowan prompted. Intrigue was written all over his face–he was completely invested in the information she was sharing. Most of it was true. 

“But…he mentioned a partnership or two that I didn’t recognize, so I asked a colleague of mine to do some research. A quick internet search revealed that the companies Cairn had mentioned did not exist, and my colleague’s research indicated that those ‘companies’ were, in fact, drug fronts.” Eyes trained on Rowan’s deeply concentrating face, she named the false companies. 

He froze mid-writing, his chiseled jaw falling ajar in utter disbelief. “What?” 

“That information convinced me that Cairn had ties to the drug trade,” she continued, as if she were discussing an ordinary business transaction. “Perhaps my initial summary of him as a drug dealer and smuggler was too harsh, but my assessment of him as a paltry excuse for a man was not.” 

“Indeed.” Rowan finally stopped writing, lifted his head, and met her gaze. “So you were not friendly with Wilkins?” 

“I was not,” Aelin confirmed. 

He nodded and closed his notepad. “That’s all of my questions, then. Thank you for your time and your willingness to work with us, Aelin.” 

“It’s the least I can do.” Rising, she shook his hand, their joined hands lingering for longer than strictly necessary. “Please call me or my office if you need anything else.” 

“I will.” 

After escorting Rowan back to the elevator, Aelin returned to her office, sat down heavily in her chair, and dropped her face into her hands with a heaving sigh. Gods. That had been more of an ordeal than she’d anticipated. The fact that it was Rowan Whitethorn alone with her was enough to kick her pulse up a few notches, and the details she’d learned from him–and he from her–had her mind spinning with the possibilities. 

She’d seen the look on his face when she’d talked about Cairn, though. The intrigue that ran deeper than pure investigative speculation. It was precisely why she’d readily offered what she knew about that disgusting spawn of hell. 

Perhaps that was the nudge he needed to do some…deeper digging. The kind that involved breaking into a building late at night to snoop through computers, business records, and paperwork.

Aelin picked up her desk phone and punched Elide’s call button. “Ells?” 

Her second-in-command answered almost instantly. “What do you need, Ae?” 

“Disarm the external security protocols for the next few days. I’ve got a feeling we’re about to have a midnight visitor.”

~~~

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[tangocardiaca]

Featuring Yukari Takeba and Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 3. Both characters in this fanfic are 18+ PS: I love this cheerleader outfit    PART 1          Yukari came back home from shooting new episodes of Phoenix Ranger Feathermen R. She was quite exhausted, because last episodes she worked on required many stunt work. But she was glad and happy, that she managed to do it. Doing stunts herself was quite fun for her. After all Pink Argus was her role, so she had to do stunts. After Yukari entered house she switched on the lights and went to kitchen. She grabbed her salad from fridge and started eating. Healthy diet and regular physical activity gave her incredible fitness. After the meal she went to bathroom in order to take a shower. Warm water coming from the shower was truly refreshing and relaxing. She felt like she was massaged and it was very comfortable. After the shower and brushing teeth with brand new Tartarus toothpaste, she dressed up and went to bed so she could go to sleep. In her bed she thought about all that happened today and she thought – “I wonder what Mitsuru is doing right now. She’ll be so hyped for new episodes of Feathermen R”. With that thought she fell asleep.

            It was already noon and Yukari was standing in her room. She looked around and said to herself – “I know I was kinda busy lately, but I’ve gotta do my laundry. No more slacking off” – And she started gathering clothes to clothes bowl, but suddenly, she noticed something. She saw the old cheerleader outfit from Gekkoukan High. It was two piece outfit consisting of blue crop top and skirt. Both with yellow elements on them. – “I wonder if it still fits me” – Yukari decided to try it on. She went to bathroom to get changed and walked to the mirror. – “Who would have thought, that this still looks great on me. You look sexy, my friend.” – she said to herself and made a seducing pose. Suddenly, she had an idea. – “I’ll ask Mitsuru if she can come to me.” – so she grabbed her phone, chose Mitsuru’s number and waited. – “Mitsuru? … Hi, it’s Yukari here. I’d like to ask if you have some free time this afternoon. … Really? Then I’m inviting you to my place. Come to me at 5 PM, I have a special surprise. You won’t regret it. … Okay, see you at 5, ciao!” – She ended the call and thought. – “I’ll have to call Fuuka yet. I’m sure she’ll help me with this one.”

            At 5 PM Mitsuru was at Yukari’s place. She rang the bell but after that she noticed a card slipping through the door. Mitsuru picked up the card and read – “Wait 10 seconds and then enter. Yukari wink wink “ – That was quite strange, but Mitsuru decided to wait 10 seconds and opened the door. – “Hello Yukari, thank you for the invita-… wow! You look… Now I know why you told me to wait 10 seconds.” – Mitsuru said with smile on her face. Yukari was sitting on window sill, striking a glamorous pose, as if she was a model. Of course she was wearing that cheerleader outfit she found, which made her look charming. – “Yes? How do I look?” – Yukari got up from sill and approached Mitsuru with flirting expression. And she didn’t even have to wait for an answer. – “I am kinda speechless at this moment, but… Yukari, you look perfect.” – They both sat on Yukari’s bed and started giggling. Suddenly Mitsuru noticed a box laying on a bed and asked. – “What is in this box?” – Yukari then laid on her bed and told Mitsuru to open the box. The content of box really confused Mitsuru. There was a stethoscope, a mini version of EKG monitor along with wires and leads and an AED. – “I thought that it would be perfect for us to play doctor a little. Do you know what heart it?”

            Mitsuru was confused and she didn’t know what to say. So Yukari continued – “Heart is not only for pumping blood. Heart is a place of love, heart IS love. And that love belong to you today. How about we act like you’re a doctor and you have to save me? Don’t worry, I’ll tell you what to do.” – And she placed her hand on Mitsuru’s hand and smiled. That made Mitsuru relax as she said with a smile – “Very well then. I’ll be your doctor today” – She put stethoscope on her ears a placed a chest piece of stethoscope on Yukari’s chest. Her ears suddenly filled with regular beating sound. It was nice sound to Mitsuru. –“Her heart beats so nicely.”- She thought. –“ But maybe I should do some more analysis.” – She picked an EKG monitor and asked – “Can you tell me how to put it on your chest? I think I’ll need a further check up.” – With Yukari’s help Mitsuru managed to put EKG electrodes on Yukari’s chest under the crop top and she turned the machine on. Suddenly green EKG waves appeared on the monitor. – “Beautiful, isn’t it? That’s my heart.” – said Yukari as she was smiling. Mitsuru read the BPM on the monitor. 100. – “You must be very excited. Your heart rate is 100.” But Yukari planned to have more fun with Mitsuru. to be continued...

[faithfulwarrior-og]

Raya being a flirtatious little shit at Officer Namaari, Pt. 2! (Here’s Pt. 1)

As requested originally by @isitbussinjanelle

Requests to continue by @taro-egg, @tigerlillyruiz, @chaiteahd, and @indianaclems

~

Sisu walks up to Raya getting her things together. “Wanna tell me why ‘excuses to be at a police station’ is on our PC search history?”

Raya freezes. “Uhhh I mean I think the answer is obvious…?”

Sisu face palms. “Raya, you cannot be serious.”

Raya turns to her. “Sisu, this is the woman of my dreams—”

“You spoke to her for maybe five minutes!”

“That’s long enough. I just want to try to actually ask her out okay? Is that so wrong?”

“No but it’s a little stalker-ish.”

Raya glares at her. “She’s a police officer. Police officers work at the police station. That is just common information—”

Sisu sighs. “Okay fine, well, if you’re going I wanna go too.” 

Raya pumps her fist. “Sweet. I needed a get-away driver anyway.”

Sisu “UM—”

~

Sisu lets her head fall onto the steering wheel. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

Raya pops a mint into her mouth. “No ditching me now!”

“Would you stop with the mints! You’re not gonna try to kiss her, are you??”

Raya shoots her a look. “Of course not! Unless…”

“Raya!”

“I’m kidding!! But I’ll hopefully be speaking to her and I don’t want bad breath.”

“That’s fair I guess. What’s your plan?

Raya rubs her hands together. “Okay. I have no clue when she works or if she’s even here right now, however, I need to draft a note that I can leave for her just in case.”

Sisu sighs. “Okay, well, do you have the note?”

“No not yet.”

“Raya, we’re in the parking lot of the police station!”

“I know, I know! I’ll write it quick but you gotta help me!”

“Fine, what do you have so far?

Raya starts writing. “‘Hey.. sexy…’”

“No.”

Raya looks at her. “What?? Why not??”

“Raya. You’re coming off as hella creepy.”

“Ok ok fine.” She pinches her lips together for a moment to think. “‘Hello.. beautiful..’”

“No.”

“Sisu!”

“Just give me that.” She snatches the pen and paper.

Raya huffs and slumps back into her chair.

“‘Dear Officer N’.. what did she say her name was again?”

“Namaari.”

“How do you spell it?”

“Uhhh I don’t know??”

“Ok I’m going with N-a-m-a-a-r-i.”

“Two a’s—?”

“Yes, shut up. Okay: ‘Dear Officer Namaari, I realize that I was rather forward to you the other day when you pulled me over…’”

“Hey!”

Sisu glares at her. “Are you gonna tell me I’m wrong…?”

Raya slumps again. “No.”

“Anyway, ‘I just wanted to thank you for not giving me a ticket, and I know this is a long shot but I am actually a decent human being, and I was wondering if you’d like to go out to eat sometime? If so, here’s my number: (XXX) XXX-XXXX. Sincerely, Raya Hart.’”

Raya huffs. “That was so formal I almost fell asleep.”

“Raya, you have to seem sincere if you want any chance of going out with her!”

“Yeah, yeah… I guess you’re right. Okay, let’s go in.”

“Girl, I am not going in, you’re going in.”

“Oh wow just leave me??”

“First off, you said I was the get-away driver, second, she’s your girlfriend!”

“Ok ok fine I’m going!”

“Good luck!

~

Raya takes a deep breath before walking confidently into the police station.

“Hello, how can I help you?” The man at the front desk offers.

“Hi! Actually, I was wondering if Officer Namaari is here today?”

The man’s eyebrows bob just slightly. “She is working today, but I believe she’s out on patrol.”

Raya rests her elbows on the counter. “Oh, okay. Do you think you could give this to her?” She holds out the note.

He takes it. “Of course! I’ll see that she gets it.”

She winks. “Thanks.”

“Hey Dennis, would you mind tak—”

Raya looks up at the officer striding into the room and freezes. The two look at each other for a moment, then Raya waves a little awkwardly at the women she had been hoping to see.

Namaari’s jaw tenses. “What are you doing here?” She turns to the man at the desk. “What is she doing here?”

“Um, I don’t…” Dennis begins.

Raya decides to help him out, her eyes never leaving Namaari. “I actually came to see you.”

Namaari sighs. “Ms. Hart—”

Raya lights up. “You remembered!”

Namaari looks at the ceiling. “How could I forget…”

“That’s sweet,” Raya says teasingly.

Dennis pushes his chair back. “Wait, is this that girl you were talking about, Fang?”

Namaari shoots him a death-glare.

Raya gives her a shit-eating grin. “Oh you were talking about me, were you…?”

Namaari walks up to the front desk. “Yes, Hart. You’re a rather unusual character to pull over.”

Raya switches to just leaning against one elbow. “I’ll take that as a compliment, dep la.”

Raya registers a snicker from Dennis, and barely contains her happiness at the flush she notices forming at the tips of Officer Namaari’s ears and neck.

“That means beautiful,” Dennis whispers at Namaari.

“I know what it means, Dennis.”

Raya picks up the note and steps into Namaari’s personal space. She watches the officer stiffen and scowl at her, but she does’t back down.

Raya knows she needs to say something before Namaari inevitably objects, “Actually, I just wanted to give you this.”

Raya reaches up and lifts the flap on Namaari’s breast pocket, which she noticed earlier was conveniently unbuttoned, and slips the note into it, careful not to touch her. She can’t help but smirk at Namaari who had clearly stopped breathing a while ago, and the way her jaw went slack at how brazen Raya is behaving.

“I hope to see you soon, Namaari,” Raya practically purrs after allowing her eyes to briefly wander over her features. Then she winks at her, and walks out without a backward glance.

~

“Do I need to go get you an AED, Chief?”

Namaari blinks and then frowns at Dennis.

He chuckles. “Well, what’s it say?”

Namaari pulls out the note and scans the contents with a quirking brow and amused huff. “She wants to go out to dinner.”

“I think she wants to eat a lot more than just dinner, personally—”

“Dennis, shut up!” Namaari quickly replaces the paper and walks out of the room.

“Namaari, you’ve gotta do it!” Dennis is following her.

“I don’t have to do anything.”

“Come on! You can’t turn that down! what’s the worst that could happen? She makes you blush again? Hahahah that was hilarious—”

Namaari stops and turns. Dennis almost runs into her. 

She goes to speak but he shrugs. “Look, just saying. Might be fun.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

Namaari shakes her head at Dennis’s laughter behind her as she walks away. “I knew you’d loosen up one of these days!”

[a-small-batch-of-dragons]

You Don’t Need To Be Cured

Prompt: Logan trying to cure either his epilepsy or chronic pain becsuse he thinks the other sides pity him for it. It backfires, making his condition worse.

Thanks for the prompt, babe!

Read on Ao3

Warnings: descriptions on epilepsy and seizures

Pairings: LAMP, DLAMP, DLAMPR, can be platonic or romantic you decide

Word Count: 2965

 Logan takes a deep breath and looks at the table once more. The solution looks so innocuous, barely darker than the water he has next to it. The flask is cool to the touch in his hand.

He’s not been blind. He knows how the others look at him behind his back. He can hear the mutterings of conversations that cease the moment he walks through the door. They pity him.

 They pity the way he asks to have a moment to note down the time and type in his seizure journal. They pity the way he has to leave during certain movie nights when the light sequences get too rough. They pity the way he can’t remember things that happen during his seizures.

 They pity him. That’s too close to being a joke for his comfort.

 They don’t take him seriously, he realized one night when they wouldn’t let him even try to watch Venom with them. They don’t trust him to know his own limits, to make his own choices, or to speak up when he’s being adversely affected.

 He overheard Virgil saying they should just wrap him in bubble wrap and leave him be once. It didn’t help that he had a seizure barely an hour later.

 Logan looks back at the whiteboard. His thoughts are scribbled neatly in rows, drawn next to the equations and names for the varied AEDs he’s researched. Those work for humans, however, not Sides. He takes another deep breath, slow and controlled. Then he reaches for the recorder on the desk and hits the button.

 “Epileptic seizures,” he begins, doing his best to keep his voice even, “are caused by abnormal electrical impulses that act on other neurons, glands, and muscles to produce thoughts, emotions, and actions.”

 He rolls his shoulders back to ensure he still has some degree of motility.

 “The abnormalities can cause muscle spasms, an inability to tell what is happening around you, and occasionally, a loss of consciousness.”

 As he speaks, the residual nerves from finishing his project slowly begin to diminish. His hands don’t shake as he holds the flask up to the light. The solution inside refracts it across his glasses.

 “During a seizure, neurons may fire up to 500 times a second, a 625% increase from the normal 80 times a second.”

 His arm trembles slightly from the exertion of holding it still. He takes another breath and lowers the flask.

 “One of the most studied neurotransmitters involved in epileptic seizures is gamma-aminobutyric acid.” Logan glances over to his notes. “Otherwise known as GABA. It is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that counteracts the effects of other neurotransmitters that cause excitation, or overstimulation.”

 No one else listens to him when he’s like this, he realizes suddenly as he starts to explain the side effects of low GABA, they don’t care. They never ask what they can do to help him with his epilepsy, only that they performed some cursory Google search and decided they knew best.

 They didn’t want to know about him, they had just decided to pity him.

 Well. Lucky for them, Logan knows how to fix it.

 “Considering the complicated nature of human brain chemistry,” he says, finalizing the preparations, “it follows that any solution and/or treatment for epilepsy would be similarly complicated. However, as I am a Side, and am susceptible to Thomas’s perception of me, my treatment may be simpler.”

 Research into the balance of GABA in stereotypical treatments, regulatory patterns to establish a proper treatment method, far too many late nights performing differential diagnostic testing on himself, on different case studies. Haphazardly assembling tables upon tables of results for comparison. A few too many favors asked Remus to hide the failed solutions.

 “And here we are,” he murmurs, more to himself than to the recording, “this should be it.”

 He can’t help the slight smile that comes to his face as he raises the flask in a mock toast.

 “To my health.”

 The solution isn’t quite bitter, not really, but that’s the closest word he can derive for it. He sets the flask aside, now empty, and reaches for the glass of water. The smile doesn’t leave his face.

 He did it. He did it. It…it worked.

 The experiment worked.

 He looks down at his hands, opening and closing them a few times. He turns them over. He can feel them. There are none of the residual tinglings that normally accompanies his movements. No stiffness.

 With a rising feeling in his stomach—a good one, not the warning one—Logan moves to the window to look outside. The sun sets over the garden that Roman created in the Imagination for him, the golden light catching and winking off of the damp leaves. It looks beautiful.

 He should go for a walk, he realizes excitedly, he should go ask Roman to come on a walk with him. He starts for his door only to pause.

 Will they be happy? That Logan’s figured out a way to fix himself?

 They’ll be happy, certainly, that they won’t have to pay as much attention to him anymore.

 They’ll be happy they don’t have to worry about his needs when they pick what to watch.

 They’ll…they’ll probably be happy they don’t have to listen to him out of some obligation anymore.

 Logan reaches for the doorknob only to freeze.

 Will they…will they listen to him at all now?

 The others, despite their flaws, are caring people. Leaving someone in distress is not in their nature, any of them. And they have made it no secret that they…they would rather not have to worry about him.

 But if they don’t have to worry about him, they don’t need to pay attention to him. Which means they may not listen to him at all.

 Without pity, he may…he may just become the joke.

 He blinks.

 “—gan! Logan!”

 “Oh my goodness, Logan, can you hear us?”

 “Back off guys, don’t crowd him.”

 “Logan? Sweetie, can you hear me?”

 His head feels so heavy. It throbs. What happened? He tries to lift it, even just to turn and see what’s happening, only for it to explode.

 Figuratively, but it takes a moment to confirm that.

 “Shh, shh,” Janus murmurs as he lets out a pained groan, “don’t move too much, sweetie, take it easy.”

 “What—“ why is his throat so dry?— “why are you here?”

 Janus’s face twists. “What do you remember, sweetie?”

 “I...” He swallows and peers up at Janus. Why is he so blurry?

 “Here,” comes Patton’s voice, before his glasses are fixed by two careful hands, “there.”

 “I don’t remember when you came in,” he says after a moment, “in fact, I was just going to come and find you.”

 “Well, we’re here now, L,” comes Virgil’s voice—where is he?— “and you’ve got some explaining to do.”

 “Oh, way to go, Peter Deadpan, that’s a great way to reassure him.”

 “Kiddos,” Patton says sternly, before leaning into Logan’s line of sight, “Logan? Do you remember anything else?”

 “No, why—why am I on the floor? Why does my head hurt?”

 “What time did you try and come get us?”

 “A few minutes ago.”

 “What time, L?”

 Logan frowns, blinking long and slow. “Around 2:30. Why are you asking me this?”

 “Because it’s almost three, Logan,” comes Roman’s soft voice from behind him, “and we got here at 2:45.”

 Oh.

 Oh.

 Oh, no.

 “Shh, shh, easy, sweetie,” Janus soothes immediately, reaching out to move a book out of the way so Logan doesn’t hit his head, “just look at me, okay?”

 “It worked, I thought it worked—“

 “You gotta calm down, L,” Virgil says evenly, “come on. You know we’re here to help, it’s gonna be okay.”

 He lets Virgil walk him through his grounding techniques but it hurts. This was supposed to work. They weren’t supposed to pity him anymore.

 “Oh, Specs,” Roman murmurs, passing Patton a tissue box when Logan sniffles.

 Moving is agony, he realizes as soon as he reaches for a tissue. Everything tingles, everything hurts it’s awful, he wants it to stop, it was supposed to stop—

 “There…” Patton finishes cleaning his face off and cups his face to fix the ends of his glasses. “What do you need?”

 Logan blinks. “What?”

 “What do you need,” he repeats, “what can we do? What would you like us to do?”

 “D-do?”

 “We want to help,” Roman fills in, still a little out of sight, “if…if you’ll let us.”

 Pity.

 Anger flares up and he pulls away. “Nothing. You can go.”

 Janus raises an eyebrow and hisses lightly.

 “We don’t mind, kiddo, we can—“

 “I said,” Logan mumbles, as dignified as he can, “you can go.”

 “But—“

 “Pat,” Roman says softly, “if he wants us to go, we should go.”

 Patton looks back down at him. Logan refuses to meet his gaze. He doesn’t want their pity. He doesn’t need their charity. He can figure this out by himself.

 “L? Do you really want us to go?”

 He swallows the lump in his throat. “Leave.”

 He ignores Patton’s noise of disappointment and does his best to bury his face into the carpet. He hears the soft swish of a Side sinking out. As soon as it fades, his chest shudders with a shaking sob, his glasses fogging up and pressing uncomfortably into his cheek.

 He’s ruined everything.

 Not only was his experiment an utter failure, but he also seems to have made things worse. His seizures are more uncontrollable, he’s suffering more drastic memory losses, and now…now the others definitely pity him. Perhaps more than they ever did.

 He sniffles.

 “…Logan?”

 Logan freezes.

 “I thought I told you,” he chokes out furiously, “to leave.”

 “You did,” comes Roman’s soft voice, “but…well, I’ve never exactly been good at listening to you, have I?”

 Logan’s fist clenches against his—he’s in the recovery position, they put him in the recovery position— “get. Out.”

 “I can’t do that, Logan.”

 “Why not?”

 “Because you just had a seizure that lasted almost half an hour, and we can’t exactly take you to the hospital.”

 Roman’s words twist deep into his chest and hurt. He’s right. Leaving him entirely alone would be irresponsible, not to mention dangerous. But his anger won’t let him admit that out loud, so instead, he bares his teeth in a snarl that Roman can’t see.

 “Why,” he spits, “did it have to be you?”

 That’s not fair, some part of him whispers.

 “Because you’re angry,” Roman replies easily, “and I’m the only one who’s used to that.”

 He’s right.

 “Then you’d think you’d know better,” Logan says even as he desperately wants to stop talking, “then to do something I don’t tell you to.”

 “You can be mad at me, Logan, I don’t care. I’m not leaving.”

 “I could just make you leave.”

 “You still can’t move,” Roman points out gently, “and I wouldn’t recommend it.”

 “I wouldn’t need to.”

 “Oh, I know you could,” comes the sigh from over his shoulder, “you’ve got more insults and jabs prepared for me than I could anticipate. You could tear me down with barely any effort. Make me argue with you, cry, scream, storm off in a huff, all of it.”

 There’s a pause, then a soft rustle of fabric.

 “But you won’t.”

 “And how can you be so sure?”

 “Because you’re you, Logan,” Roman says, “and you won’t.”

 Logan’s face twitches up into a grimace as more tears leak out of his eyes. “You’re not allowed to be right this much,” he tries as a last resort.

 “I’m not allowed to do a lot of things, Logan.” He hears Roman lean against the wall. “That includes leaving you.”

 The anger in his chest melts into just plain hurt, leaving him sprawling awkwardly out of the recovery position. Distantly, he hears Roman get up and come around to kneel in front of him.

 “‘M fine,” he manages, “I can breathe and everything.”

 “I’m just making sure.” A hand hovers near him. “And to make sure you don’t accidentally roll onto your tie.”

 “My tie?”

 “Virgil undid it when you were still having the seizure. We had to make sure you could still breathe.”

 Oh.

 “May I?” Logan lifts his arm enough to let Roman reach in and carefully pull his tie free. The slight susurrus makes his head tingle.

 “Bad.”

 Roman pauses. “Bad?”

 “Bad noise.”

 Roman nods. “Thank you for telling me. I’m just going to set this on your desk, alright?”

 Logan moves his head enough to watch Roman lean up and set the tie up there. From the angle, he can just see the very rim of the flask.

 “Hey, hey,” Roman calls when Logan lets out a whine, “what’s wrong?”

 “It was supposed to work,” he manages, “it was supposed to fix this, or at least make it b-better. Not worse.”

 “What was supposed to work?”

 “My experiment. I—I tried to balance out my GABA levels, stabilize the inhibition of the excitatory neurotransmitters, so this would stop, but it just made it worse.”

 “I’m sorry.”

 Logan sniffles. “It wasn’t your fault.”

 “No, but that doesn’t mean I’m not sorry that it didn’t work.” Roman’s hand hovers in front of his face again. “That can’t be comfortable, Specs, lying on your—well, specs like that.”

 “It’s fine.”

 “Okay.” Roman retracts his hand and sits back. “What’s GABA?”

 “What?”

 “Your experiment, you said you were trying to balance out your GABA levels, what’s GABA?”

 “It’s short for gamma-aminobutyric acid. It’s the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter.”

 “And its levels affect epilepsy?”

 “Lack of it is one of the main studied causes of epilepsy.”

 “So treatments revolving around increasing levels of GABA are effective?”

 Logan squints up at him. “What are you doing? Why are you asking me these questions, why do you care?”

 Roman meets his gaze easily, stretching out to sit in front of him. “You like talking about your experiments, Logan. You enjoy teaching us things. I enjoy being taught by you.”

 Roman what?

 “And I’m supposed to be helping you calm down,” he continues, lightly knocking Logan’s outstretched hand with his foot. “Talking about your work often calms you down.”

 He smiles and tilts his head.

 “And I really hope you don’t need an answer as to why I care.”

 Logan freezes.

 “W-what?”

 Roman’s smile fades as he looks at Logan’s disbelief. Concern writes itself plainly across his features and he reaches out.

 “Sorry—“ he catches himself— “can I—may I touch you?”

 Bemused, Logan nods, only to close his eyes as the tenderness with which Roman takes his head in his hands. His breath leaves him in a rush and he sags into the grip.

 “Stay with me,” comes Roman’s faint reminder. He opens his eyes to look up at him, only to see his face break out into a smile. “Hey, Specs, keep those pretty eyes open for me?”

 “You—you think my eyes are pretty?”

 “Yeah, I do.” He quirks an eyebrow. “But don’t distract me. Do you—why did you look so shocked when I said I cared?”

 “Because you pity me,” Logan argues, “that’s not the same thing.”

 Roman’s face truly falls. “No, no, Specs, I don’t pity you. I’m sorry if it ever came off that way. None of us pity you, none of us.”

 “B-but you—you won’t let me make my own choices,” he stammers, “you end conversations when I walk in the room, you—you look at me like I’m something you—you—“

 “We what, Logan?”

 “Like you have to care about me,” he whispers.

 “Oh, Logan,” Roman whispers, “no, no, we’ve done this so wrong.”

 He comes closer, lying down with his hand still resting on Logan’s shoulder.

 “We don’t pity you, Logan. And we certainly aren’t being forced into caring about you. We’ve messed this up good and proper, but I swear to you we don’t pity you.”

 Logan’s brain stutters to a glorious pause.

 “You…you don’t pity me?”

 “No, Logan, I could never pity you.” The corner of his mouth tugs up. “Sometimes I think you’re the strongest out of all of us.”

 “…only sometimes?”

 “Well, sometimes Virgil decides he’s going to throw Remus over his shoulder like he’s a ping-pong ball.”

 Logan snorts at the image. Roman’s smile grows as he watches, rubbing Logan’s shoulder fondly.

 “We’ll be better about this,” he promises on a more serious note, “but…please, I know I don’t have a right to ask anything from you, but we’ve never pitied you, Specs.”

 “…yeah?”

 “Yeah.” Roman gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You’re our Logan. We could never.”

 “Y-your Logan?”

 “Yeah, Specs, you’re not going anywhere. No one else gets to have you. We called dibs.”

 “…I do not believe it is possible to call ‘dibs’ on a person.”

 “Doesn’t change the fact that we did.”

 “I’ve never heard you call dibs on me.”

 “Well, we did. And I’ll do it again right now.” Roman raises his voice a little, looking around as if at an imaginary audience. “Dibs! Our Logan! Keep your greedy little paws off him.”

 “Roman!”

 Roman chuckles. “You’re not getting away from us, Specs. You’re stuck with us.”

 “Hmm. I can see how this might be considered a tragedy.”

 “Truly,” Roman sighs dramatically, “stuck with a family who loves and cares for you, how will you ever survive?”

 Logan’s quiet for a moment, before he nervously lifts his hand to lay it over Roman’s. At Roman’s encouraging nod, he squeezes gently.

 “…with their help, hopefully?”

 “Always.”

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[thepaperpanda]

DEATH STRANDING CHRISTMAS

Summary: It's Christmas time and love is in the air. What will happen when everyone will be reunited that day?

Warnings: None

Words: 6637

Authors: Cass & Rouge

A/N: Merry Christmas! Wishing you all the happiness your holiday can hold!

Allured by the peace and quietness and the scent of freshly baked Christmas cake coming from a canteen, you took your lingering gaze off of the enormous Christmas tree adorned with glistening ornaments and glowing fairy lights draped around it that stood in the middle of the huge chamber that was usually serving as a dayroom.  

As the evening sky faded away, the pink and orange hues were replaced with dark shades of blue.

The festively designed decorations, illuminated with blinking Christmas lights, vibrant ornaments and brightly colored signs, were lined up along either side of the corridor.

As you entered the canteen, the loud, spirited laughter of people could be heard over the continuous chatter surrounding the vivacious atmosphere; it brought a wide smile to your lips.

It's been a great time without Christmas, and you truly couldn't understand how it was possible that no one has ever tried to bring the magnificent spirit of Christmas back.

This year it'll be different, you told yourself half a month prior when you visited Die-Hardman with a plan for Christmas arrangements.

In the canteen you made sure that everything was going well.

There it was, as clear as the sky on a scorching summer day, that particular aroma, that perfect blend of spicy and sweet - gingerbreads were baked.

Die-Hardman stepped into the canteen as well, he wore his best suit and tie; he looked as festive as if this were a normal family reunion. "Y/N," he nodded at you a little. "As I can see, everything's in place, my sincere congratulations, the truth is I didn't think you'll be able to set all this."

With a grin playing in the corners of your lips you gave the bid back. "Yes, sir, apparently I made everything, with the little help of Sam who, just between us, wasn't a fan of the idea though."

"Little help? I had to bring the whole tree in, you think it was easy?," Sam walked in looking up at the Christmas tree, while holding his BB pod. "Not to mention I had to run to get all of the trinkets you placed on that poor tree. What is it for anyway?"

"Y/N found old records about Christmas. She decided to organize some on her own, for us all," Dead man explained. "I think she did it nicely. Like in some old photos."

"Yeah, sure." Sam muttered. "At least it looks like Lou likes it."

"Of course I did nicely! I did my best!," You claimed happily and Die-Hardman chuckled deeply.

"So... You did all of that for five of us? Kinda excessive if you ask me," Sam said and walked closer to the tree to show colorful light to Lou.

"Not only for five, there will be more. That's what Y/N promised, isn't it Y/N?," Deadman said looking at you.

You nodded and walked to him. He wore a sweatshirt with reindeer dressed in a Christmas hat. "Correct. Also let me tell ya that I love your sweatshirt!"

Die-Hardman led everyone closer to the Christmas tree. "Okay, I hope that rest will join us…” His sentence was cut off by Cliff who appeared out of nowhere.

He was having a red hat with pompom and was dressed like Santa Claus. "Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas everyone! Hope I didn't get late! My men, it took them too much time to get dressed properly!," He chuckled and few of his comrades appeared right behind him. This time they weren't having rifles with them but a lot of bags with presents wrapped in colorful paper.

Sam blinked a few times, he turned to you. "How... How did you do that?," He asked quietly.

"We are here finally!," Mama said happily as she and Lockne joined the party. Both sisters dressed in colors perfect for christmas. "Mama couldn't find her glasses," Lockne added.

You hugged them both. "It's so good to see you again!," You claimed and clapped your hands.

Soon, there was a cracking sound and Amelie joined you. As always she wore a red, fitted dress and she was holding a few packages in her hands. She put them under the Christmas tree and gave a smile to Sam. "Merry Christmas, Sam. Merry Christmas to everyone!"

Sam gave a flat smile and nodded. "Merry Christmas, Amelie," he said, turning Lou to all the guests. "Look how many people are here." 

Another cracking sound filled the room and Fragile showed up. "Merry Christmas to everyone?"

"It looks like your plan worked out perfectly, Y/N. How did you do that?," Deadman asked. "It's a lot of people in one place." 

"I messaged everyone, and if it comes to Amelie, let's just skip this though," you chuckled. "I asked them to come, and I told them that we can't simply give upon our traditions just because Death Stranding is on. They agreed," you replied.

After a few minutes the door to the dayroom slid open and Heartman entered with dancing moves. "Hey, guys! Oh, Mama! Good to see you! Magnificent! Wow! You also have a Christmas tree! And decorations! Hmm, am I correct?! Is this true?! Do I sense gingerbreads?!," He almost sang.

"Someone had too much Christmas, maybe it wasn't a good idea to pull him out of the lab... His heart... Ya know the deal, right?," Sam asked you quietly with a frown.

"Sam grumpy as ever," Fragile said, walking up to the two of you. "This was an amazing idea Y/N. Oh! Sam I have gift for little one."

Sam raised his eyebrow and handed the pod to Fragile. "Hi there, Lou. Merry Christmas," she said before pulling out a little sweater and putting it around the pod. "Oh! Look at this!"

"Lou looks like a little candy! How cute is that!," You clapped hands and walked to Heartman to place a brief kiss to his cheek as a greeting. "Hey there handsome, I'm so glad you've accepted my invitation."

"How could I not?," he chuckled. "For this special occasion I turned the AED off."

"Let's just hope he won't suddenly drop dead during the supper... Or whatever Y/N prepared," Sam said and looked at the pod in Fragile hands.

She only giggled and raised the pod. "Cliff! What do you think? It's cute, right?"

Both Mama and Lockne let out a loud aww sound at the sight of BB wearing the sweater.

"So Y/N. You are the head of this whole thing. What should we do now, the truth is not everyone knows what to do during Christmas," Deadman said, looking around.

Cliff approached Fragile who held Lou and tapped the glass with his finger. "Hey, BB, you're the cutest BB of all time!"

"Okay, guys!," You whistled loudly to get their attention. "First, I want to say something," you announced happily. "I'm so glad to see you all here, in this place. It has a very symbolic meaning to me, we're one, just like our beautiful country will be when Sam will finish connecting all cities to the chiral network," you smiled at them, tugging on the dress you wore. "It means a lot as we all are one. We are one in our mutual experiences, in our closeness and understanding..."

You slipped your glance along everyone in the room. "Merry Christmas! You can have a snack, they're on the table," you nodded in the direction of the table where a lot of dishes were awaiting to be consumed, including huge roasted turkey. "Later, after dinner, we will have a very important encounter with Santa Claus!," You winked at Cliff who nodded slightly.

A loud cracking sound filled the room. "HELLO THERE BRIDGES! Merry fucking Christmas, guys!," Higgs yelled loudly, not bothered by all the looks he got. "Why do you look at me like that? Oh yes, yes, I know. I should bring a gift but I didn't have enough parts to build another nuke," he rolled his eyes, waving his hand around.

You shook your head as Heartman instinctively shielded you with his body. "Who is he?," You asked with curiosity in your tone.

"That's Higgs. The man who blew a few cities out of America's map," Heartman informed you quietly.

Amelie put hands to her hips. "I wasn't aware you're going to be here as well, Higgs," she almost snorted.

Die-Hardman gave the newcomer a mean glance. "Seriously? Even on such a day you need to destroy everything?"

Meantime, your glance was still on the man in the hood.

"Wooooooow, I feel so welcomed here," Higgs said, removing his hood off his head. "I destroy stuff, it's just my thing but I see something else I can destroy."

Higgs suddenly vanished and then appeared right behind you.

"Well, well, well! What do we have here? Thanks, heartboy," he said picking you up to take a look at you. "Ain't ya a beauty that is worth to be taken under the mistletoe?"

Sam facepalmed. "There is no day with break."

You blinked but being taken completely aback by stranger's action, you had to wrap arms around his neck to support yourself. "Uhm, hi there, sir. Can you consider putting me down though? I feel pretty intimidated," you whispered, your eyes fixed on his, and dear Beach, his eyes were so magnetising!

Amelie sighed. "It's Christmas after all, guys. I think we should let him stay. In such a time no one should be alone."

Die-Hardman agreed with the lady in red. "Amelie's right."

Sam blinked. "Seriously? He nuked two cities and planned to nuke the third one. “You can't be serious!"

Higgs giggled, patting your hips. "Being intimidating is my second name, sugar," he pretended to think about your request. "Well I don't know. I love little sweet girls like you, maybe I will take you as my gift."

"To be fair, director, Higgs is a highly dangerous man. He proved this many times," Deadman added.

"I like this guy. He makes me blush," Higgs said and then looked at you. "I think I may have a gift for you, sugar,” he added before giving you a golden mask.

You took it in hand and fitted it to your face. "Gangsta!," You chuckled and ran to the nearest mirror to have a look. "Ha! This is so cool!"

You waited for him to approach you. "My name's Y/N. And you're Higgs, that's what Heartman told me."

Heartman looked after you and blinked. "She's impossible. Jumping like a puppy but this is what happens when a young girl is alone for too long, am I right, Mama?"

Amelie walked to Deadman and put hand on his shoulder. "Trust me. I know what he did but maybe by showing him kindness we'll get more than by following his game."

Die-Hardman cleared his throat. "Okay. Let's take the seats and have a meal. This is a special day, everyone deserves kindness, just like Amelie said."

Cliff took BB from Sam and set it on the chair right next to him. "Can someone pass me the knife? I forgot my army knife and someone has to cut the turkey!"

BB rolled in the pod and giggled waving at Sam.

Mama and her sister frowned looking at Heartman.

"What was that supposed to mean?," Mama asked, offended.

"Yes, what was that supposed to mean?," Lockne repeated after her sister.

Deadman nodded at Amelie's comment. "Maybe you are right."

"Oh! I have a knife, army-man!," Higgs said loudly, presenting his own knife. "I never leave it. Maybe you should learn this too," he chuckled before being pulled away by Fragile.

"You better behave if you want to stay here. Be normal for one single day," she growled and Higgs nodded. "Okay! Okay! Noted! I wouldn't dear to fuck up Y/N's day. I bet she worked her ass off for all of this." 

You took your seat at the table, right between Sam and Fragile.

Cliff took the golden knife from Higgs' hands, offering the tall man a suspicious glance. "I hope you're not the guy who's bothering my son and Lou. Otherwise, I'd have to kill you," he informed with a cold grimace in his face which quickly vanished and was replaced by a grin. "Okay! Who wants the chicken?! Hey!," He got up and glanced at his comrades who were trying to sneak to the tree and gifts located under. "Behave! Get back to the table! No turkey, no presents! For fuck's sake, I asked you all to behave! How many times did we train the entire thing?!" 

One of the army men quickly got back to the table. "Uhm, few," he admitted and took the helmet off, placing it on the polished floor.

"And what did I say?," Cliff asked while cutting the turkey.

"We get in, we greet living beings, we have a meal, we behave, we get presents and we have a party."

Heartman laughed loudly. "Cliff, I have to say you're having a huge authority among them. What a situation!"

Amelie offered everyone a grin. "Does anyone want some potatoes?"

Higgs sat right next to Sam and gave Cliff an innocent smile.

"Oh no, Mr Sam's dad. I am a good boy, my twin brother bothers Sam. Besides, Sam bothers me too! He keeps destroying my plans! And BTs!," He whimpered dramatically.

Sam only rolled his eyes and moved a little closer to you to get away from the terrorist.

"I’ve seen them before yet they still freak the fuck out of me," he whispered to you, looking at the soldiers.

"I can say the same…," Fragile said quietly

"I am so surprised they are so…," Mama said, thinking about the right word.

"Obedient," Lockne added quickly. “We expected them to be... How to name it?"

"Creatures of chaos," Mama finished.

You smiled at Sam and quickly turned head to face Lockne and Mama. "It's called discipline, right, Mr Unger?"

Cliff offered you a bright grin. "The girl's smart. I like her. If my son wouldn't have this phobia of his, I bet he would take a chance on you."

BB rolled in the pod.

Amelie chuckled and covered her lips with a curled hand. "Actually, Cliff, Sam would be her father if he made an effort..."

Heartman laughed loudly before he stopped his outburst, he also raised his thumb up. "And 20 likes go to Lady Strand! What a beautiful, honest summary!"

Higgs laughed and patted Sam's back. "Well! Ya know guys, some men like younger girls. Honestly I would love to get Y/N in my hands. To pin her down and just…,"  Higgs didn't finish his sentence because he got smacked on the back of the head by Fragile.

"Behave," she growled after getting back in her seat.

"To be fair, since we got on that topic. I don't think the age difference should be a taboo any longer," Deadman said before digging into his meal. "World is shattered, we should do what we can to make sure humanity doesn't die. Of course while keeping some moral boundaries."

"Do we really have to talk about such stuff now?," Sam groaned, rolling his eyes. "I don't like this topic."

"Oh, why? Because you can't get laid, Sammy boy?," Higgs almost sang, teasing Sam.

Cliff rose from his seat and threw a glance to Higgs who quickly shut his mouth. "That's way better," Cliff said and pretended that he rose only to get the corn salad.

Die-Hardman took his mask off and started eating the turkey that Cliff handled to him. "I need to agree with Deadman. Humanity is on the edge of destruction and extinction..."

"... Thanks to terrorists like Higgs," Heartman added, his eyes fixed on the uninvited guest.

"That's not what I meant... However you're not wrong on this," Die-Hardman agreed. "What I meant is that we should take care of reproduction, to make sure that the human race will survive and will be able to rebuild our world. To make it great again."

You blushed hearing Higgs' words about him liking younger girls, so to hide it you grabbed the glass and drank the wine that was poured by Mama.

Amelie nodded as she was cutting her piece of turkey into little slices. "We all are sober yet the topics are getting interesting already. I'm curious what will be next."

BB swam a little and moved closer to Sam.

"Oh, BB, granddaddy is here too, look, look," Clifford waved hand to get Lou's attention and then he put the Santa Claus hat on, playing with the pompon. "Look, little one! Granddad is Santa Claus!"

"To be fair, Y/N and Sam would look cute together. Imagine the cute kids they would have!" Mama said excited and Lockne nodded eagerly. "I want to be an aunt!"

Fragile noticed your red face and smiled gently rubbing your shoulder. "It's okay Y/N. Family is like this. They will talk and then they will stop."

Higgs frowned looking at Heartman. "Hey! Heart boy! I don't see the world getting better thanks to science boys like you," he growled resting his elbow on Sam's shoulder.

Sam quickly pushed it off his shoulder with an annoyed sound.

Higgs rolled his eyes before digging into his food. "Oh, fucking shit! This shit is good! Fucking better than a pizza! Oh! By the way, Sam! Lately you started to bring it cold. I don't like it."

Sam let out a loud sigh. "Then start to move your ass. You can jump and grab it yourself."

"Naaah! Making you visit me is more fun!," Higgs giggled.

You were covered in a blush after Mama and Lockne's words. You tugged on Sam's sleeve. "I swear, this is my first and last Christmas Eve ever."

You also giggled hearing complaints made by Higgs.

Heartman got up to get another piece of mashed potatoes. "To your information, Higgs, we build, not destroy, and that's the difference you'll never understand, you little devil's spawn."

Clifford clapped his hands. "Come on, guys, eat, eat or we won't get to presents this year!"

Die-Hardman smiled at his friend. "It's good to see you among us, Clifford."

Unger grinned and turned head to you. "Hey, Y/N, what drinks do we have except wine? I don't say it's bad but as for a real man, like me or my son, we could have something stronger. Cognac or whiskey."

Heartman chuckled. "You can always get Monster with vodka. Pretty dangerous mix but tasty. Tried a few times."

Sam chuckled at your comment. "At least next year I will have less work to do," he joked.

"Now I know why your heart is so fucked up. Since you drink such a mixes," Higgs commented before licking his plate completely clean. "I ask for more!"

Lockne, Mama and Fragile followed Cliff's order and started to eat as well.

"Well... For me some beer is enough," Sam said checking on Lou.

"I'll go get the drinks," you offered and politely excused yourself before getting off the table.

Heartman quickly got up too. "I'll help Y/N."

Amelie offered mashed potatoes to Higgs. "You're pretty hungry, aren't you?"

"Hell fucking yeah I am! Sitting in the bunker or camp and eating cold pizza ain't easy, sweetheart," Highs nodded and started to eat as soon as he got more food on his plate.

"Such a diet isn't good. You should eat more healthy stuff," Deadman said.

Higgs only shrugged, being too busy with his food.

Fragile sighed and shook her head. "No manners. You should spend some time with Clif to learn something, Higgs."

"Oh, I'd gladly train you, young man," Clifford said. "With me above you, you'd be running smoothly."

"I'm sorry, I know that thing I'll say is totally wrong but I imagined some other things, Clifford. With Monaghan beneath... Oh, dear God, forgive me for I have sinned," Heartman added before he left the room with you.

Die-Hardman spat himself with the wine he was drinking.

BB started chuckling.

Amelie blinked and facepalmed. "Maybe extinction is not a bad idea?"

Meantime, you and Heartman were in the pantry, collecting bottles of alcohol and cans of Monster and beer.

"I think that this little party is great, Y/N," Heartman stated. "Thank you for this opportunity of having some substitute for normal life, it's been a while since I felt truly happy," his voice broke a little, so you put the bottle of Jack Daniels and simply gave him a bear hug.

Sam choked on his food.

Mama and Lockne laughed loudly. "Not to offend anyone, that would be something nice to watch," Lockne said with a giggle.

Higgs hummed. "Sorry, ladies! I am more of a top but if any of you are interested, I am single as a pringle and ready to mingle. Just I am not into man, sorry, Mr Sam's papa."

Sam blinked, taking in what just happened and after a moment he groaned. It was a bit too much for him.

Soon, you and Heartman returned. You walked to Cliff and handed him a bottle of whiskey.

Heartman poured some vodka to everyone who wanted and handled Sam a can of beer.

"So, Y/N, are you enjoying the fest you threw?," Amelie asked with her soft glance on you.

"Yes, I do, even if I cringe from time to time, I think it's cute to have you all in one place."

You then turned to Fragile. "Hey, do you know something more about that Higgs guy who got here on blackballed? I need to think about something for him. I prepared gifts for everyone but him. I didn't expect anyone else to join," you whispered leaning to the woman.

Die-Hardman looked at Mama. "How is your research? Did you fix Sam's qupid?"

Mama nodded. "We did actually. Everything should be more than good once he is out again."

"It wasn't a hard fix. Just a few updates and it's working perfectly again," Lockne said before taking a sip of her wine.

"Uuuu! Smart ladies! I like it!," Higgs nudged Sam with elbow. "I need to get to know them. Twins are like two in one deal!"

"I am not doing that," Sam muttered with a frown.

Fragile looked at you. "Oh trust me, I know him a bit too much. He shouldn't get a gift for being a bad person," Fragile stated quietly.

"Yeah, I understand, but it will be in a bad tone to not gift one person... Ok, I'll think of something."

An hour passed on many talks, the atmosphere was filled with laughter.

"Dears, did anyone see Cliff?," Die-Hardman asked as he spotted his friend was missing.

You also vanished from the room.

BB was already sleeping and Amelie was sitting with Heartman, chatting like there was no tomorrow.

"I think Y/N took him to the other room," Sam said, looking at sleeping Lou.

"Maybe she decided to extend the human kind with him!," Higgs said quickly. "Since his son didn't want her, daddy decided to try it. I can't blame her," he shrugged.

"Just shut your mouth, Higgs," Sam growled.

Higgs giggled and continued to drink his beer.

"Hey, wait a minute, Lockne and Mama are gone, too," Heartman said as he was pulled from deep conversation with Amelie.

"Foursome?," Higgs purred while Sam facepalmed together with Fragile.

"Y/N probably planned something special. She prepared Christmas in smaller details," Deadman nodded his head a little. "The food was great."

"That's true!," Sam added.

Suddenly, the music came out of speakers.

Last Christmas I gave you my heart

But the very next day you gave it away

This year, to save me from tears

I'll give it to someone special

 "HO-HO-HO!," The main door slid open and Clifford dressed as Santa Claus entered the room. He was having a huge bag thrown over his shoulder, his hat with pompom was tilted slightly.

His four comrades were having reindeer hats on.

You, Lockne and Mama entered the room right behind him, all three of you dressed in white, short dresses with wings made of silky material and snowflake patterns on your dresses, rocking to the music.

"Come here, children! I hope you all were good for the last year, ho-ho-ho!," Clifford took a seat in a huge armchair you borrowed from Die-Hardman. "It's time for presents!"

"So maybe Lou first, he is the youngest one, huh? What do you say?," Sam said softly, tapping on the glass gently to wake up the BB.

"I can go a second round! I am the most important bad guy here," Higgs said full of pride.

"Today my little, beautiful helpers will set the order, ho-ho-ho!," Clifford laughed deeply.

In the tact of music, Mama danced toward Sam and picked the pod with Lou from him.

"So, young gentleman, I know you've been a good, little bean, so I need to get inside my bag of presents to get yours! Aha! I have it!," Clifford pulled a new pod out, with the ribbon wrapped around it. "More space for dance, huh?"

Meantime, the song ended and the next one was on.

 I sing this song

To pass the time away

Driving in my car

Driving home for Christmas

 "Deadman for sure will move you into it as soon as possible. You should like it," Mama said with a smile.

"And Now back to papa," Lockne took BB and his gift to bring them back to Sam.

"Me now!," Higgs got up from his place and sat on Cliff's laps.

"So! Mr Santa-Sam's dad, what do you have for me, huh?," He smiled. "I was the best fucking boy the whole year!"

Cliff gently nudged Higgs' side to make him get off his lap. Clifford rubbed his long, white, fake beard. "We all know you've been the baddest but thankfully the beautiful lady over there," he pointed at you, "decided that you also deserved the gift. Let me find it in my bag of miracles."

Clifford reached into his bag and pulled the nicely wrapped box, he handled it to Monaghan. "Merry fucking Christmas, asshole."

It was nothing but a book about Egyptian mythology and a handmade cloak that was originally meant to be for Heartman.

"Thank you fucking much!," Higgs said excited and quickly returned to his seat to look at the stuff he got. He already loved them.

"So? Who's next... Maybe our Director." Mama said and walked to Die-hardman. "C'mon. Everyone gets something today."

Die-Hardman chuckled but let the lady scientist lead him to Clifford.

"And you!," Fake Santa Claus said, "You've been good, too. Here's your gift, merry Christmas!"

Die-Hardman was gifted with the themed tie with reindeers and with a polishing paste.

"It's for your mask, so it will always look classy," you smiled at him and as he returned to his seat, you walked to Heartman and grabbed him by palm.

"Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas, Heartman!," Clifford grinned widely and gave the man a heart-shaped box, in which Heartman found a pair of gloves with heart motiv on each and a CD with classical music.

"Thank you, Y/N," he smiled brightly at you and kissed your cheek. "It's the best gift."

Sam looked at Fragile. "Go on. I am sure Santa also got something for you."

Woman nodded and got up from her seat to walk closer to Santa. "Well, I was a good girl. I think at least. I tried," Fragile said slowly.

"Dear Fragile, and your gift is in my bag, that's for sure! Just be patient as the old man will find it!," Clifford chuckled and soon gifted the woman with a new umbrella with Fragile logo.

Then it was time for Deadman who got new glasses.

Amelie was gifted with a golden necklace that fit her dress perfectly.

Lockne and Mama also got the present, it was a little blanket with an admixture of chiral matter. "This will help your sweet daughter to sleep in a cradle, she won't be drifting up under the ceiling," you smiled at them. "It was my project with Heartman's execution," you explained.

Clifford got new night-vision goggles.

In the end, Sam was gifted with a new suit.

Everyone was enjoying their gifts, talking about them and enjoying whatever time left.

"Y/N?," Sam looked at you. "What with your gift? Everyone got something and you?," He frowned.

"Yeah! Exactly! Where is the gift for our beautiful host?," Higgs looked at you over Sam's shoulder, he was already wearing the new cape.

"My gift is everywhere. It's the atmosphere you all created and this is more than I could dream about. My heart's beating faster when I see you enjoy the meals, the gifts," you smiled at Sam and Higgs.

Higgs sighed placing his chin on Sam's shoulder. "Isn't she adorable! But it's not fair. You did so much."

"I hate to say that but Higgs is right," Sam sighed.

"I need to agree with both of them. You did so much, in such a short time. You gathered all of us here," Deadman added. "Who else agree?"

All you could do was to smile at everyone. "I mean it, guys. I don't need gifts. You all are the greatest gift to me."

Heartman walked to you from behind. "We kinda predicted you will think of everyone but yourself. So here's the gift from us," he handed you a box.

Unwrapping it with shaking hands, you felt the heart racing in your chest. In the box you found a notebook in a leather cover and a few pencils.

"We've heard you like to draw," Die-Hardman smiled.

"Guys... Thank you! So much!!," You cried quietly while hugging the gift to your chest.

"We are in this together, Y/N. If everyone gets a gift it means you get one too," Sam shrugged Higgs off earning a groan from Monaghan.

 Party continued.

People talked and laughed, simply enjoyed the company, while finishing whatever food left.

Die-Hardman was having so much fun that now he was dancing with Lockne to one of the christmas songs.

Higgs was sitting in his seat looking through the book you gave him. It's not like he had people to interact with here.

You definitely had too many drinks. After almost half an hour of dancing with Heartman, you had to rest at the table. You flopped on the first free seat which was the place next to America's most wanted terrorist. You clicked your high heels off and groaned. "How much I hate these shoes!," You muttered while stretching like a cat.

"Why did you put them on? If they are uncomfortable just never wear them again," Higgs shrugged. "End of the problem."

You blinked at the comment and chuckled. "Fair point though. You'll never understand this though as you're the man and I'm the woman. Our brains are different," you hiccuped.

"I know when to stop drinking. You'll never understand this though as you're the woman and I am the man. Our brains are different," He giggled, teasing you.

You laughed at his comment; this man was about to be a death of yours.

You got up from your chair and reached out to him. "Hey, vamos a bailar!," You asked him with a little smile dancing in the corners of your mouth. "Pretty please?"

"No idea what you’ve just said but yea, sure, I agree on anything, sugar," Higgs said, returning a smile. "Lead the way."

You grabbed his palm firmly, without hesitation, and led him right into the dancefloor which was just the free space on the floor, next to the Christmas tree.

Heartman followed you with a frown. "I don't like it," he whispered to Fragile.

You climbed on your tiptoes to wrap your arms around a man's neck, both to get a bit intimidated and to support yourself from falling.

Fragile looked at you and Higgs, she shrugged.

"Since we have Death Stranding free day, let them enjoy it. After it's over, they will be mortal enemies again," she said and smiled. "Why? Are you jealous?"

Higgs chuckled. "Holy me, you are so small when I keep you close! I fucking love it."

Heartman blushed a little, rolled his eyes and lowered his thumb, taking 5 likes from Fragile before he moved aways with dancing moves, to join Mama.

You chuckled nervously at Higgs comment. "Thanks, I take it as a compliment," you simply rested your forehead against his chest.

She only laughed and nodded. "Thank you for confirming this, Heartman!," Fragile said a bit louder.

Higgs wrapped arms around your waist and nodded. "Oh yes, you indeed should take it as a compliment. Maybe I really should kidnap you as my christmas gift."

You giggled at his words while rocking into the rhythm of the music with him. "Maybe," you teased. "But I think that Sam and his dad would twist your neck after."

You suddenly raised a head to look at him, and you noticed a mistletoe above his head.

Higgs thought, looking at both men before his gaze returned to you. "Hmm... I honestly think it would be worth it," he noticed that you looked up and followed you. "Oh, fucking finally!,” Higgs said excited and pressed his lips against yours in a messy kiss.

You blinked when his lips crushed on yours but soon closed your eyes and enjoyed the kiss. You take the attempt to dominate him in the kiss but you fail so finally you give up your tries and simply wrap your arms around his neck.

Higgs pulled way after a moment and winked at you.

He reached up to take a small part of the mistletoe and then sneaked to Sam.

"Oh! Sammy boy!," Higgs sang.

Sam sighed deeply and turned to look at him. "What?," He frowned, seeing the mistletoe. "You kidding?"

Higgs gave him a wide smile and suddenly licked Sam's nose, making the other man froze.

Like nothing ever happened Higgs returned to you.

You started laughing hysterically which resulted in you losing the balance and almost falling on the floor, thankfully Higgs was faster and caught you in his arms.

Clifford spat all the whiskey he was about to swallow on Die-Hardman's shirt.

Heartman turned head around to see what happened but he lost his balance and fell on Lockne who spilled her wine right onto the electronic device on his chest.

Heartman's AED turned on and kicked him with an electric glitch, causing him to die on the spot.

"Higgs, you killed Heartman!," Amelie screamed.

"Nooot first and not the last death!" Higgs said with a shrug before kissing your lips quickly. "It's getting late and I have nukes to build! See you maybe next year!" He winked at you before vanishing.

As you lost Higgs as your frame, you fell right onto the floor and rolled on your back, still laughing.

"Or maybe not! It can wait!," Higgs said after returning. "Besides I didn't take my gifts."

"You really need to turn everything upside down?," Sam sighed, shaking his head.

"That's my job!," Higgs shrugged. "Who wants a drink?!"

You raised your hand up, still laying on the floor. You discovered it was a pretty comfortable place to rest. Or maybe you were just too drunk?

After 3 minutes another electric shock made Heartman's heart work properly again, and the man woke up, sitting on the floor. "What the fuck!"

Clifford was helping Die-Hardman to clean his shirt. "Monaghan! Stop being a douche-bag to everyone! If you won't listen, I'll have to shoot you," he warned, almost growling.

Amelie helped Heartman back on his feet. "You okay?"

"Yes, it's fine."

BB started crying.

Higgs quickly helped you up and smiled. "Oh, c'mon, Clifford! Everyone is well and alive. Even the heart boi. Practically, I did nothing wrong," he shrugged.

Sam let out a deep sigh.  "It's Higgs after all. What else we can expect."

Higgs agreed with Sam, hugging you tightly.

You felt squeezed by his arms. "Can't... Breathe...," you whispered quietly hoping for him to lose his grasp.

Heartman smoothened his suit. "I almost forgot! I borrowed a camera from my friend's geologist. I want to take a picture of our pack, except you," he pointed his index finger at Higgs.

"Heartman, let him. He spent the entire evening with us, one photo won't affect anyone," Amelie nudged the man's chest.

"I fucking love photos!," Higgs jumped happily. "The host should have the honor of setting us for a photo!," He said excitedly.

You smiled at Higgs and squeezed his palm that you were still holding. "Okay, fellas. Clifford and Mama, you two go on left. Yes, just like that. Amelie, you with Fragile and Sam can take a seat on the couch."

"Sam, maybe you can be in the middle?," Amelie smiled at her stepbrother.

You pecked your lips as you were thinking. "Okay, Die-Hardman, would you be so kind to take a seat here, on the pouffe? Yes, just like that, thank you. Deadman, you can take our lovely Lou and stand next to the pouffe a little. Hmmm, and Heartman, my lovely friend, you can stand behind Die-Hardman. That's it! Perfect! Lockne, can you stand right next to your sister?"

Sam wasn't too happy he wasn't holding Lou but nodding he followed your little orders.

Mama and Lockne stood exactly where you wanted them, just like a Deadman.

"I see a perfect place for myself!," Higgs claimed excitedly and lied down on the floor. He turned on his side and propped up his head on a hand. "Perfect!"

You facepalmed a little but chuckled at the villain's idea. "Actually, you fit there perfectly, Higgs!"

You quickly set the camera on the shelf and made sure to turn the timer on, then you quickly ran to take a seat next to the Die-Hardman.

The flash lit the room and the picture was taken.

"Cool! Can I get one? I will have a nice souvenir from that nice day," Higgs asked from the floor. "I had so much fun!"

"Yes, of course you can!," You smiled at him and ran to the camera to set it again to take a second pic.

When the dawn was about to knock at the door, and when almost everyone was sleeping in weird positions where they could, you led Higgs to the exit. "I never thought I'd have so much fun with them all. And, though I didn't expect you, I'm grateful you came," you smiled at him and handled him his gifts to make sure he won't forget to take them along. "I put the picture into the book."

Higgs nodded, taking the book.

"Yeah, It was fucking fun. I enjoyed it," He sighed, looking at the gift from you. "Too bad that as soon as I leave we'll become a mortal enemies again,"

"Maybe you'll but not to me," assuring him, you grabbed his palm and squeezed it lightly. "No matter what you'd do, you gained a friend," you smiled.

Higgs took your palm and kissed the top of it. "Thank you, sugar. I will remember that."

"Take care of yourself as we need to meet next year for another Christmas party," you chuckled softly and blushed a bit at his sudden gesture.

Then, like he was one of the good guys, you wrapped your arms around his waist and hugged him. "Please, stay safe and see you in a year. Remember, you have to pop up! No excuse as it won't feel like Christmas without you."

Higgs hugged you, being totally confused but he nodded with a soft chuckle.

"Okay, I will try my best. See you in a year," He slowly pulled away and winked at you before vanishing.

You smiled to yourself while observing the flipped rainbow on the sky and hearing the thunder.

Despite your efforts, the Death Stranding still was on.

[louiseleblancdiggory]

hey, once in twitter we talk about how much we love Castle, so i was thinking if you could write a rowaelin scene based on caskett ♥️

OI GIO!!!!!! Ok so I had so much fun writing this. I decided to start from the very beginning so everyone (even those who didn’t watch it) know what’s going on. If you never watched Castle, you MUST!!! Also, fyi, the warnings are NOT about Ro or Aelin, they are absolutely fine in here. No sad shit, I promise

Warnings: mentions of graphic death

Gone death

--

Aelin winked at the red headed man in front of her, a grin plastered on her lips.

She handed him back the book, waving off his thank you as he scrunched away to enjoy the rest of the party. She looked around, half paying attention to the hundreds of people who had come to the release of her latest book.

Since Aelin was a seven, she had had a deep fascination with mystery and horror. Thankfully, she was also a fucking amazing writer, which allowed her to transform that fascination into her job. Now, twenty six years later, Aelin was the bestseller author of several stand alone as well as a series of eight books, all of them following the same two main characters while they investigated a series of gruesome murders. She had loved the series, had started writing them at fifteen and published the first one at twenty five. She thought she could write about Sam and Lyria forever.

Until she realized she couldn’t.

Aelin felt a hand gripping her elbow, and had to hold in her sigh as she turned around to stare at her ex husband.

One of Aelin’s biggest regrets in life was marrying so early. Chaol had been her college boyfriend, and they got married few months after they started dating. Looking back now, Aelin could see how stupid she had been, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time. They got a divorce less than a year later, and Aelin would have been happy in never looking at him again. Unfortunately, he worked with her publishing team, and if she added that to their past together, she could almost understand why Chaol always felt so entitled to know and control everything in her life.

It was fucking distressing and annoying.

“If it’s not my money sucking ex husband. What did I do this time?”

He had a fake smile on his lips, looking at her as if he didn’t dislike her. “You killed your golden goose, Galathynius. You fucking killed your main characters.”

Aelin shrugged, taking a sip of her white wine. “It was time.” She started walking away, and had to hide her scowl when she realized Chaol was following her.

Some people couldn’t get the fucking hint, could they?

“Why would you do that? Sam and Lyria were making you filthy rich, and everyone loved them.”

“They got boring, that’s why.” Aelin stopped in her tracks, turning back to Chaol. She crossed her arms, raising her chin. “Writing The Guild used to be fun, used to be exciting. Writing Sam used to be interesting, but since the seventh book it has just been work. I don’t write for money, Chaol. I write because I love it. When I stopped loving it, I decided it was time to move on from them.”

“Wow, and God forbid you ever have to actually work like an adult, right?”

“It. Was. Time. Besides, Sam and Lyria are not the golden goose, I am.”

She said the words loud and clear, ignoring the frown on his face. Aelin always knew that Chaol saw her writing more as a job than as a passion, and it pissed her off endlessly. She turned around again, walking to the bar where her cousin and son were sitting. Her heels clinked against the marble floor, and the sound was almost loud enough to hide the fact that Chaol was following her. Again.

She sighed loudly as he began speaking. “You could have made them retire, could have made them get married and leave the force. Hell, you could have made them join the goddamn circus. But no, Aelin Galathynius must be dramatic and put two bullets on her main characters’ heads.” When she ignored him, he just kept talking. “What the hell are you going to do now, Aelin? You permanently ended The Guild with your stupidity, and we both know you don’t have any other ideas.”

At that, Aelin spun on her heels, clenching her fists to stop herself from physically attacking Chaol. The photographers would love seeing her getting into a brawl, and most of the rest of the party would probably find it immensely entertaining. Lysandra, however, wouldn’t find it so amusing. Her PR and best friend loved some mischief, but she also worked hard enough to make sure Aelin’s public image was a good one, so Aelin wouldn’t mess that up by fighting her ex.

“Who says that?”

Chaol snorted. “The nine week delay to publish the eighth book should be indication enough.”

“Can’t rush talent.” Aelin said, a nasty smile on her lips.

“I won’t say you’re not talented, Aelin, but you are out of ideas. You weren’t bored, you had a writer’s block and freaked out.” Chaol said, oblivious to Aelin’s rising temper. He looked at her, giving an infuriating shrug. “You have a month to hand me the new idea. A full and useable idea. The first manuscript, preferably. You’re famous, write any shit and people will eat it up.”

“Fuck off.” Aelin said through clenched teeth.

Chaol merely smiled as he walked away. “A month, Aelin.”

Aelin wanted to go after him and smack his face against one of the piles of books in the room. Fortunately for him, Aelin was stopped by several people who wanted her autograph in the newest and last book of The Guild. It probably took her an hour to get through everyone— talking and giving every single person her full attention— until she finally managed to make her way to the bar.

She spotted Aedion’s head first, his broad figure standing up against the bar and talking to a pitch-black haired boy, Nino, sitting down near him.

“Who does homework at a party?” She heard Aedion asking.

“I have a test next week.”

“So do I. It’s called dealing with your mom while she contemplates hitting her head against a wall to force an idea to come out.”

Nino laughed, looking at his uncle. “She’ll come up with something, she always does.”

Aelin smiled at her son, his words warming her. She had had Nino extremely young— had only been seventeen at the time— and he became her friend along with being her son. She approached her cousin from behind, listening to him ask for a glass of champagne.

“Make that two, please.” Aelin said and Aedion’s eyes immediately snapped to her as she approached the boy sitting down and passed an arm through his shoulders. She kissed him on the cheek. “Hey, sweetheart.”

“Hey, mom.”

Aedion grinned, raising his glass and gesturing around. “Built yourself an empire, Aeae.”

Aelin smiled in return, winking at her cousin. “Always said I would. But tell me, Aedion…”

“Uh-oh.” The boy Aelin was half hugging said, a humorous smirk on his face. “Someone’s in trouble.”

“Cut it, genius.” Aedion snapped, narrowing his eyes at the boy. “What’s up, Ae?”

“Did you tell Chaol I was having trouble writing?” Aelin smiled sweetly, even though she wanted to strangle her cousin right now. The look on his face was enough to give her the answer.

“I told him nothing of the sort.” Aedion replied quickly, defending himself. Aelin only raised an eyebrow at him. “Ok, I— I might have let slip that for the past nine weeks you have been walking around the apartment with either a cup of coffee or a bottle of wine while you curse the Gods for lack of creativity.”

“I am going to kill you.” Aelin said, a smile still plastered on her face as she noticed some cameras pointed at her. It was always like this whenever she went out with Nino.

“Ae, that’s ok. You’re an artist, that sort of thing is expected.”

“I can’t believe it, Aedion! The deal for you to live with us was plain and simple.”

“No meddling on her work.” Nino reminded Aedion, the boy looking immensely pleased at his uncle’s doom. “And no Chaol.”

“You know how things are with Chaol. No. Talking. About. My. Work.“ Aelin said, temper rising once more.

“What is there to talk about anyways?”

“Uncle!” Nino said exasperatedly.

“Whatever there is or isn’t to talk about,” Aelin was saying, jaw clenched. “I would appreciate if you didn’t share it with my ex husband.”

“Oh, I think I hear Lysandra calling me.” Aedion interrupted, absolutely ignoring Aelin. She narrowed her eyes, knowing damn well that Lysandra would never be calling Aedion judging by the brunette’s deep dislike of her best friend’s cousin. Aelin tried to stop him, but he just started walking away faster, shouting that they could talk at home.

It was just a fancy way of saying they wouldn’t discuss at all.

She turned around, looking at Nino. He had a smirk on his face as he looked down his physics book, a pen on his left hand.

“You should have stopped me.” Aelin grumbled.

“Letting uncle Aed move in?” Nino asked, looking up at his mom. “Nah, I think it’s sweet. Besides, I like him.”

Aelin only grumbled more, taking the two glasses the barista had put in front of her. She smiled in thanks, holding one of the glasses and placing the other in front of Nino. He smiled humorously, raising an eyebrow. “You know I’m only sixteen, right?”

“You’re an old soul.”

“Well me and my old soul can wait until I’m twenty-one.”

Aelin smiled at her son, all anger and tightness leaving her body. Nino had always been her steadying rock, since he was a baby his presence had always been enough to calm her down. Differently from her, however, Nino was extremely serious and responsible, always following the rules, studying and making sure everything was right.

Most times Aelin found it immensely funny to see how different from her he had turned out.

“When I was your age—“ She was saying, a grin on her face. She immediately stopped, frowning. “Can’t tell you that story. Too inappropriate for your innocent ears.”

Nino snickered, pushing the champagne glass away.

“Don’t laugh, boy, this is exactly my point. Don’t you want to have wild, law-breaking, inappropriate stories that you can’t tell your kids one day?” She rested her elbows at the counter, a smile on her lips.

“You’ve lived enough of those for both of us now, mom.”

Aelin snorted, taking a sip of her champagne. “You’re studying physics at a party. At your age I would have been drinking.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You were pregnant.” Nino said slowly, a winning smirk at his face.

“Damn it.” Aelin muttered, earning a laugh from Nino. Despite her crazy stories, Nino knew very well how responsible she had been during her pregnancy with him. Nino, since before birth, had been the one thing capable of making her act like a serious adult. “You want to know why I killed Sam and Lyria?”

Nino raised his brows at the change in the topic, but nodded just the same.

“Because life should be an adventure, sweetheart. It should be full of unexpected turns and plot twists. It should be full of funny stories, embarrassing stories, inappropriate stories.” Her smile became soft, and she grabbed one of his hands. “I had to kill them because it wasn’t an adventure anymore, it wasn’t surprising. I knew exactly where they would always go, what they would always do. If my own characters weren’t surprising me, how could I hope they would surprise anyone else?”

“Mom…”

“I’m not telling you to be like I was when I was younger, it’s definitely not your type. I just want to make sure that you know you can make mistakes every now and then. That I don’t expect you to be like me, but I also don’t expect you to be perfect.”

He matched her soft smile, squeezing her hand slightly. “I know, mom.”

“Good.” She straightened, taking her champagne glass and looking around. “You know what else is boring? These parties. After having sixteen of these, the seventeenth seems rather dull.”

Nino rolled his eyes. “Yeah, people praising you seems awfully boring, mom.”

Aelin grinned, resting her hips against the counter as she turned fully to him. “It’s always the same thing. ‘Oh my god, I’m such a big fan’, or maybe the ‘Where’d you get your ideas?’.

“Let’s not forget the fully adult men asking you to sign their chest.” Nino’s face crumbled in disgust.

Aelin laughed out loud, drinking from her glass. “I don’t mind that one very much.”

“Well, I do, if you’re interested in knowing.”

She snorted, putting the now empty glass down. “I don’t know, Nino. I just wanted for someone to surprise me once. I want something new to give me inspiration, to be my new muse. For the past eight years I have been hearing the same thing over and over again. I just want someone to catch me by surprise, to say something so shocking I won’t have a reaction, so surprising that I will—“

“Ms. Galathynius.” She was interrupted by a brisk tap on her shoulder. Nino raised his eyebrows at the person standing behind her, trying to get her attention in such impolite manner.

She forced a polite smile on her face, taking a pen from her bra. She turned around, raising the pen. “Where do I sign?”

A broad shouldered man was now standing in front of her, and even in heels Aelin had to tip her head back to stare at him. His arms her hanging by his side, his clothes extremely casual for him to be part of the party. His white button down and leather jacket hugged his arms and torso, and if his face wasn’t so enthralling, Aelin would probably have had a hard time not staring at the rest of him.

His features looked somewhat tense. His hair— probably blond, but looked so light that it could only be described as silver— a mess, almost as if he had ran his hands too many times through it. There was a crease between his eyebrows, and his pine green eyes were stuck on her face with such intensity that Aelin felt her face heating.

“Detective Whitethorn, OPD.” He said, voice grave and words rolling out of his tongue with a lovely Scottish accent. “I’m here to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight.”

Aelin registered his words, but didn’t have any reaction. She just stared at the man, her eyes looking quickly at the Orynth Police Department badge he was holding.

Nino laughed quietly, reaching over his mom to take the pen out of her hand. “Well, this is new.”

Only then she turned slightly to her son, a scowl at her face. “No shit, Sherlock.”

—----- 

Aelin had always written about this, but she never thought that she would herself be like one of the characters from her story.

Honestly, she wasn’t nervous at all, just curious.

Hundreds of people had seen her all afternoon and night at the party, and she knew that she hadn’t killed anybody, so fear was off the table. Now, why the police thought she had any knowledge about the crime at all was what made her so damn curious.

Upon arriving at the precinct, detective Whitethorn had left her at the care of two identical men. Both had the exact same face, but where one seemed to radiate light, the other one seemed to suck it. As they took her to wait in the interrogation room, she thought that they would make great main characters.

“Whitethorn will be back shortly, ma’am.” The serious twin said, walking out of the room as she sat down. The other twin, however, lingered.

He was staring at her, his head cocked to the side just like a wolf seizing his prey. Aelin stared right back, raising one eyebrow at him. Despite knowing she hadn’t killed anybody, something inside of her was tensing at his staring. Did they think that her involvement with the murder was more serious than she had initially thought?

“You killed your main characters.” He said, and the air rushed out of Aelin’s lungs. She scowled, suddenly pissed that he had made her so tense and it was actually just about a goddamn book.

“Yep. Bullet right through the head.” She made a finger gun and put it against her forehead. “Disappointed?”

He shrugged, resting against the threshold. “It was brilliant, but I adored Sam and Lyria. After eight years following the series, seeing your favorite characters being killed makes you want to kill the author.”

Aelin smiled when he winked at her. “Pardon. If it makes you feel better, I have already been scolded by my ex husband. Said it would have been better if I had just made Sam and Lyria join the circus.”

“Sam would have been a shit clown.”

Aelin nodded. “You’re right. Should have told that to my ex.”

The detective laughed, but was immediately interrupted when Whitethorn’s voice sounded from behind him. “Fenrys.”

“Sorry, Rowan.” Fenrys grimaced exaggeratedly, and Aelin grinned. “See you later, blondie.”

Aelin just nodded, her eyes immediately on Whitethorn when his figure approached the door.

“Ms. Galathynius.”

“Detective Whitethorn.” She eyed the manila folders he was holding. Some papers and photos were sticking out, but Aelin couldn’t really tell what they were.

He sat in front of her after closing the door, opening one of the folders. His eyebrows rose as he read, and he eyed Aelin quickly before sighing and putting the open folder at the table. “You have quite the history with the law for a best selling author, Ms. Galathynius. Public disturbance, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest…”

Aelin shrugged, a small smile on her lips. “Living all your adventures through paper seem a little too nerdish for me.”

Detective Whitethorn rested his forearms on the table, inclining himself forward. Aelin did the same, and his eyes narrowed at her.

“You stole a police horse once.”

“Borrowed.” Her smile widened. Detective Whitethorn, on the other hand, didn’t seem to find it funny in the slightest.

“And you were,” he looked down at the folder before looking at her again. “Nude.”

Aelin shrugged once more. “It was springtime.”

“And every time the charges were dropped.” He drew back, resting against his chair. “Care to explain?”

“The mayor enjoys reading The Guild.” Aelin sighed dramatically, propping on her elbows and resting her face against her hand. “You know how people love to bond over mutual interests. And he loves my son, there’s that too. But that’s besides the point.”

“Oh, is it?” For the first time, the detective seemed entertained.

“Yes. I don’t think you’re here to talk about my college prank of a decade ago, detective.” She half smiled. “So why don’t you make your murder questions so I can go home and convince my son to stop studying so his eyes won’t fall out?”

“Ms. Galathynius.” He said, smirking at her. Aelin didn’t think it was a good smirk, though. “I fully believe that the cocky, irreverent, hot girl slash genius act makes people eat out of the palm of your hand in your glamorous world, but I work for a living, so why don’t you cut the bullshit because in my world, you can be only two things.”

“You think I’m hot, detective?”

Whitethorn’s smirk didn’t waver. “You can be the person who makes my life easier and goes home quickly, or the person who makes my life harder and stays handcuffed here until you decide to be the first option.”

“I could make so many inappropriate jokes right now, you have no idea.” Aelin said, and she could swear his smirk turned more playful. She smirked back, crossing her arms. “I supposed I shouldn’t want to be the one making your life harder.”

He didn’t answer, just let go of the manila folder containing her information and opened the other one. He took out the picture of a brunette woman. Dark hair, brown skin and big black eyes, the girl couldn’t be older than twenty five.

Aelin grabbed the picture, analyzing it. “Hum, pretty.”

“And dead.”

“Gods, you don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

He didn’t reply, just took another picture out. This time it was a man, probably at the same age, but instead of bright and soft features the girl possessed, his skin was pale and blue eyes glassy.

“Recognize them?”

Aelin shook her head. “No. Maybe. I don’t know.” She sighed, letting go of the pictures. “I’ve been to dozens of signings, events and parties, detective Whitethorn. I can’t possibly recall every face.”

“Not what I meant. Do you recognize their features?” He asked, tapping the pictures.

Aelin looked back down once more, looking at those faces until something hit her fully. “Sam and Lyria. They look like my characters Sam and Lyria.”

Detective Whitethorn seemed satisfied with her answer, because he took other two pictures and placed in front of her. One of them showed the girl, her body dressed in a series of white cloths, wild flowers surrounding her whole body. Where her eyes should be, two big daisies laid, and looking more carefully, Aelin could also see daisies stuffed in her mouth and nostrils.

The other picture showed the boy, his body laying inside a casket, instead of white cloths hugging his body, his were blood red. The floor around the casket showed a series of markings drawn in white chalk.

“Holy fuck.” She breathed.

Detective Whitethorn was eyeing her carefully. “Her name was Mandy, his was Felix. He was found dead two weeks ago, but we only made the connection after we found her today. The deaths look exactly like the ones described in chapter six and twenty two of your book Gone Death.”

“A fan?” Aelin asked, a humorous smile on her lips.

“Yes, a really deranged fan.”

“Oh, you don’t seem deranged.”

He looked up from the pictures, frowning. “I’m sorry?”

“Detective Whitethorn, I am a best selling author and yet I can count on my fingers the amount of people who even know that Gone Death exists.” She smiled when he rolled his eyes. “It’s ok, I always thought it was a terribly underrated book. Only hardcore groupies ever read that one, though.”

He cleared his throat. “Do you enjoy constantly praising yourself, ma’am?”

“Oh, you have no idea, sir.”

He snorted, crossing his arms. “Does any of these groupies ever write you fan mail?” She just stared at him blankly. “Disturbing ones.”

Aelin shuddered, and this time it wasn’t for show. “Oh, try being a murder mystery writer. Every fan mail I receive is disturbing. It’s an occupational hazard.”

“It’s because sometimes, in cases like this, we find that—“

“The killer attempts to contact the image of his obsession, yes.” Aelin completed his sentence, earning a questioning look back.

She looked back at him, and curiosity beyond this case sparkled inside of her. She could feel an idea brewing, and the more he talked, the more interesting he got.

“I write murders for a living. I’m well versed in psychopathic methodologies and the process of murder. Another occupational hazard, I guess.” She inclined herself forward. “And has anyone ever said you have pretty eyes?”

He stared at her, mouth open as if he wanted to say something but didn’t know what. He finally rolled his eyes, pulling the pictures back to him. “And so I assume you won’t have any problems with us going over you mail, Ms. Galathynius.”

“Be my guest. I have thrown some out, however.” When he looked at her, she just shrugged. “My son lives in that house, detective. And as much as I’m not a strict mom in the slightest, there are things I will not allow my son to be near. Middle aged man sending naked pictures and blood vials is one example.”

He nodded, getting up. Aelin looked up at him, jerking her chin in the direction of the manila folders.

“Can I get a copy of that?”

“A copy?” He asked dumbfounded.

“Yeah. I have poker night with other best selling authors and you have no idea how jealous this would make them.”

He hesitated for a moment before slowly asking. “Jealous?”

“In my world, detective, having a copycat is like wining the fucking Nobel.” She said, half surprised at the complete incredulity on his face. “So?”

He threw the folders at the table, placing his hands down and bringing his face inches away from hers. “People are dying, Ms. Galathynius.”

“I’m not asking for the bodies.”

He rolled his eyes, drawing back. He took the folders from the table, walking to the door. “I think we’re done here.”

Aelin stared at his back, seeing him leave the room. Once he was out of sight, she took her phone out, looking through her contacts until she found the one.

“Good night, Rolfe.” She greeted the current mayor of Orynth. “You have a direct say in the OPD business, don’t you? Because as you know, The Guild just ended but…”

Aelin looked at the door once more, and even though he wasn’t there, she smiled.

“…but I think I just found my new inspiration for a new series.”

Tags:

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[thequeendesi]

Bathroom

Title: Offical

Alt Title: Bathroom

Warnings: Swearing, Mentions towards abuse, Mention of S.A in a/n. Reader's a smart ass.

Pairings: Harry Hook x Reader

AU: N/A

Disclaimer: i dont own you or the Descendants franchise, i do own the writing.

Rating: 16+

Request: I have a request for Harry Hook! The reader lives on the Isle and Harry is secretly crushing on her. He doesn’t know how to act on his feelings so he makes her believe that he hates her by picking on her every chance he got. That all changes one night when she randomly runs into him and Uma out of breath. She says, “Can I hide in your bathroom? Don’t tell him where I’m at.” After she disappears, her dad walks in, asking them if they’ve seen her. They both keep her cover because they didn’t like how mean and scary he looked. When he left, the reader tells them about her dad being abusive towards her and than Harry confesses. They begin dating and he’s ridiculously overprotective of her.

A/N: Hi! Thank you for requesting this! I love how you knew what you wanted and was very well put in stating it! I chose William Clayton, the dude from Tarzan as good ol' daddy, ykno, since nobody really stays dead with disney. And Willy boi is a piece of shit lmaooo. And our loving adoring mother is Madame Medusa! Hope you enjoy! I did change a few things. Like, i.e, when i tell people my ex used to manipulate, control and s-aed me, i wouldn't want the first thing out of their mouth being "i wouldn't do that to u, i love u." B/c it's inappropriate and not the time and or place for that. So, he waits a year or so to finally say smth, bc escaping abuse takes a long time to get over and it's a lot of healing and being in a relationship immediately afterwards isn't the best thing on what should happen.

…

(Y/n) sighed, her back pressed against the wall as she picked at the scabs on her knee. "Anyone ever tell you green on you looks atrocious?" Harry asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I've heard, thanks Hook." (Y/N) rolled your eyes.

"(Y/N)! Don't listen to Harry. Your make up looks just fine." Gil tried to make the girl feel better, to no avail.

Looking over at Gil, (Y/N) attempted at a fake smile. "Thanks Gil." She sighed, walking into Ursula's restaurant.

"You know she thinks you hate her?" Gil asked, eating a fry, that he doesn't even know where he got it from.

"That's the point. Keep love at a healthy distance Gilly. 70 feet away."

"That's not healthy."

"Let's not talk about what's healthy and what isn't." Harry quickly fired back, making eye contact with Gil.

…

Weeks passed and (Y/N) hadn't shown up at work, evidently getting fired, but no word even from that.

"Hey! Has anyone fuckin' seen that shit head who works here?" Harry asked, stabbing the hook into the table. "Business is slow and it's not makin' Harry happy."

"Talking in third person, this can't be good." Gil said, looking over at Uma. "He's just mad he has no one to pick fun at and make miserable." Uma said, taking the hook out of the table. "Get your feet off my table. Were you raised in a damn barn?" Uma chided the angry brunette.

"You know damn well I was."

The doors to the restaurant slammed open as a very disheveled and dirty (Y/N) ran into Uma, near about knocking her over.

"Oh, now you can show up to work?" Uma snapped, but stepped back when she noticed some bruises.

“Can I hide in your bathroom? Don’t tell him where I’m at.”

"Uh, yea sure." Uma pointed her thumb over her shoulder as (Y/N) jolted into the bathroom.

Harry rose an eyebrow as he watched the door slam open again. "Have you seen where she went?" His gruff voice boomed throughout the restaurant.

"Down the alleyway, think she's running the bridge to Auradon." Uma answered before anyone else could.

William Clayton's eyes darted around. "If you see her, tell her she needs to get home." He pushed the doors back open, running to where the bridge is.

"Do we check n-"

"Give it a fucking minute." She waited as the man stormed back in. "I know you're fucking with me, because I know damn well, (Y/N) can't run that far without me catching up."

"Well why ask me if you're so damn sure where she's at?" Uma shot back.

"Listen, Will, we haven't seen the peppy fuck." Harry barked. "Now get on with your night, will ya?"

The overgrown babboon stormed back out.

...

"You can come out now." Uma said outside the bathroom door.

Sighing, (Y/N) walked out. "What kinda shit are you wearing?"

"Fucking clothes Harry, listen I'm not in the mood for your shit tonight. So, if you could and just lighten up on me for 30 goddamn minutes, that would be perfect." (Y/N) huffed.

"Harry, back up." Uma put her arm up, stopping him from taking movements towards her.

"What's been going on?" Gil asked, walking over.

"Listen, shit's hard at home, okay?" (Y/N) spilled. "If William's drunk, it's not good. Alright? He gets violent and think's he's back with the fuckin' gorillas or some shit or calls me it and tries to act like I am. I'm skippin town and going to Auradon." You pointed your finger at the 3 in front of you. "And if any of you say jackshit about anything about it or tell fuck face what I choose to do, I'm coming back and fucking all three of you up." She seethed and ran out of the restaurant.

"Holy shit." Harry mumbled.

"Maybe you should learn to apologize for adding onto her shit." Uma rose an eyebrow towards him, walking off.

...

A year and some months passed after (Y/N) moved to Auradon.

Every child from the isle came over, and boy did she ever-so enjoy the company. Making matters, so much greater, she had Uma for a roomie.

"Do you think Harry's cute?" Uma asked, filing her nails.

"No."

"Seriously?" Uma rose an eyebrow. "He sure does."

"Ha. Sure."

"He does, dude."

"I'm goin' for a walk." (Y/N) put her hair in a ponytail.

...

(Y/N) smiled contently as she walked down the park's pathway, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming and the grass sure was green.

"(Y/N)! Hi!" Harry ran up to the female as she slowed down, slightly annoyed at the pirate. "You look nice. Did you do something different with your hair?"

"I brushed it." You deadpanned, your pace picking up. "Wait, I… actually want to talk to you." He sighed. "Is it about how for the last six months you've threatened every boy in the vicinity to not date me because they dont 'deserve' me?" You turned around, your arms crossing over your chest.

"Yea.. about that, I.."

"You like me." You finished the sentence for him. "I'm flattered really, never expected you to like me." You chuckled a little, truth be told, you do like him, you're just a stubborn asshole who won't let your guard down.

"What gave it away?" He chuckled nervously. "Everything."

"Well… Do you like me back?" He asked, half expecting you to say no. How could you've liked him? Like you, he was a stubborn dick.

"I enjoy your presence." You winked at him, he returned you with a smile. "So how does being my boyfriend sound? Cute dates and all that cheesy shit?" You rose an eyebrow as you moved your hands to your hips.

"It- really? I mean, yea. That sounds great."

"So… it's official?" Gil asked, poking his head into the conversation.

"Yea," you nodded. "It is."

"And to think, the bathroom made a snowball effect." Gil joked.

[leiawritesstories]

Prompt!

Aelin's horrible at cooking so when Aedion makes a bet that she can't learn how to cook in a month. So she starts going to cooking classes and the chef is Rowan

let me tell you, Rowan with a chef's knife took my mind in a whole new direction *facepalm* why am I like this?? thank you for the prompt!!! <3   

word count: 1,738

warnings: language, suggestive content

enjoy 😏😏

Chaos In The Kitchen

“Fucking hell, Ae!” Aedion cried, waving his hands in front of his face in a futile effort to dissipate the cloud of smoke filling the kitchen. “Are you trying to burn down the fucking house?” 

“No!” Aelin shrieked, stabbing at the smoke detector until it stopped beeping and running to open the kitchen window. “I’m trying to make fucking breakfast!” 

Aedion raised one blonde brow at the blackened remains of bacon in the frying pan atop the stove. “You forget about the bacon or something?” 

“Shut the fuck up,” she groaned, swatting him with a dish towel. “I did not forget, I was watching it closely while I mixed up the pancake batter.” 

“And you turned away for one second and the bacon was smoking?” 

“Asshole,” she grumbled. “No. I watched it, and then the piece of shit started sending up smoke.” 

Her cousin doubled over, wheezing with laughter. “Only you, Ae,” he managed to gasp between guffaws. “Only you.” 

“Asshole,” she repeated, laughing a little, wryly, herself. “I’m trying my best, Aeds. It doesn’t look like it, but I am.” 

“You’re chaos in the kitchen, Ae,” Aedion grinned, slinging his arm around her shoulders. “I would pay to see the day where you manage to cook something without setting off the smoke detector.” 

“Would you?” Sly challenge sparked in her eyes. 

“Oh, for damn sure.” Aedion met her challenging gaze, wicked glee in his eyes. “In fact, let’s make a bet on it.” 

Internally, Aelin groaned. The last bet she’d taken with her cousin had ended in her hair being dyed bright green for a month, and she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to accept another of his lopsided wagers. “And just what kind of sure-win bullshit are you thinking of, Aeds?” 

“I bet that you could take cooking classes for a month and still not know how to cook,” he smirked. “You win, I’ll pay for the lessons and shut up about you in the kitchen. I win, you have to go out with my friend.” His smirk grew. “So, do we have a bet?” 

She raised her brows. “Define ‘knowing how to cook,’ oh wiseass cousin of mine.” 

“You don’t set off the smoke detector and the food is edible.” 

“And the friend?” 

He clicked his tongue. “Mmm-mmm, Ae. Blind date.” 

Aelin tilted her head, considering. Aedion paying for her to take cooking lessons...and shutting the hell up about her ineptitude in the kitchen...or a blind date with a friend of his? How could she possibly lose? “Fine. We have a bet.” She clasped his hand and shook, sealing it. “Same rules as always, Aeds?” 

“Yep.” He winked. “No sabotage and no finding out about the other person’s consequences.” 

“Right.” Aelin smirked at her smug cousin. “It’s a bet.” 

~

Three hundred fucking dollars, Aelin grumbled to herself as she locked up her car and headed across the parking lot, and they couldn’t be bothered to give us basic cooking stuff? She checked her bag once more to make doubly sure she had all the things they’d told her to bring when she registered for these classes. A couple of wooden spoons, a whisk, a couple of spatulas, a set of measuring cups, and her own apron. Bloody cheap, it was. At least she was hopeful that she’s get her money’s worth, because she’d spent a ridiculously long time looking up all the available cooking classes in Orynth and reading the reviews to be sure she’d actually learn something. 

No way in hell was Aedion winning this damn bet. 

Everything she’d been able to find on this “Everyday Cooking” class had been incredibly positive, people who’d taken it saying how “simple and concise” the instructions were and how “they’d never thought they’d be able to cook, but here they were!” She’d taken heart at those comments, deciding that if she was going to spend three hundred dollars on these classes, she’d better spend it on classes that seemed effective. So, she’d registered for the upcoming sessions, thanking all things holy that this class was for adults, eliminating the possibility of her being embarrassed by some random kid who was a hundred times better at cooking that she was, and now she was at the door of the building, a clean brownstone restaurant in western Orynth, schooling her slightly apprehensive face into neutrality before pushing open the door. 

“Good morning!” a middle-aged lady sitting at the hostess stand, just inside the door, greeted her. “Are you here for the class?” 

“I am,” Aelin replied, smiling politely at the woman. 

“Wonderful!” The woman handed her a clipboard. “Please just check off your name here, and the class is in the kitchen. Go straight to the back of this section, then turn left and you’ll find the main kitchen doors. There’s also a couple of signs up.” She smiled brightly. “And enjoy!” 

“Thank you,” Aelin smiled, checking off Aelin Galathynius on the clipboard. She found the kitchen easily, her few summers working in restaurants coming in handy as she navigated through the space, noting how pleasant the place looked with its neutral-toned walls, the soft lights over the tables, the elegant but not ornate wood-and-glass décor, the tasteful paintings scattered around the main dining space. Here we go, Galathynius, she cheered herself as she pushed open the kitchen doors, stepping into the large, tidy, brightly lit space. 

About twenty stations had been set up at stainless-steel tables, a laminated name card taped to each station. She found her station with ease, setting her utensils in a neat row on the stainless-steel surface and stashing her bag under the table, finding a convenient hook next to the shelves stocked with sparkling clean bowls, pots, pans, a stand mixer, and some other equipment. Then she folded her hands, looking a little anxiously around her as others entered the room and found their places, all of them taking the same kind of utensils from pockets and purses and shoulder bags just like she’d done. Right as the clock hit ten, the door on the other side of the kitchen swung open.

In strode possibly the hottest man Aelin had ever seen. 

She swallowed, forcing her mouth not to go so dry as she shamelessly checked out the chef, his white jacket probably more fitted than was standard, simple black embroidery reading Rowan Whitethorn on the upper left part of his chest, the flicks of an intricate tattoo spiraling up his neck and just edging onto his chiseled cheekbones, only accenting the bright pine hue of his eyes. Fuck, he was gorgeous.

“Good morning,” Chef Whitethorn began, his deep voice carrying through the kitchen as he took his place at the wooden counter facing the students. “My name is Rowan, feel free to call me Chef, as that’s the name I’ll probably respond to most quickly, and I’ll be teaching you some basic culinary skills.” 

Oh, she wouldn’t mind this man teaching her a few of any kind of skills, no she would not. 

Mentally, Aelin slapped herself. Focus, dammit! She returned her focus to the instructor as he gave a short lecture on kitchen cleanliness and then asked them all to turn on the single electric burner at one side of their stations. Simple enough. Turning the stove on was one of the few things Aelin could successfully do in her kitchen. 

Chef Rowan made his way around the kitchen, checking to make sure each of the people there had actually turned on their burners, nodding as he walked along the rows. Aelin couldn’t resist flicking her gaze covertly up and down his figure as he paced the row in front of hers. Just as she’d hoped and suspected, his physique could only be described as toned. 

Fuck. She really needed to stop staring. She forced herself to breathe normally, shoving her rather naughty thoughts away as Rowan started down towards her station. He walked down her row, nodding and murmuring affirmations, only sparing her the same glance as he spared everyone else. 

Then he looked at her again, a tiny, suppressed flicker of interest in that bold gaze of his. She couldn’t keep herself from drawing a bit of her bottom lip between her teeth and lowering her lashes, quickly slipping her face back into neutrality, smothering the blush that threatened to arise. Get your shit together, Galathynius! You’re here for cooking class! 

He swallowed harshly, the bob of his Adam’s apple pulsing against the strong column of his throat. Then he moved on, the whole interaction happening within seconds, only seconds, setting invisible sparks crackling in the air. 

Finished with his inspection, Rowan had the class fill their pots halfway with water and place it on the heat. Boiling water, another thing Aelin could do without setting her kitchen ablaze. Again, Rowan checked the students, and again, his eyes lingered on her just one beat longer, just one more breath of that tense, sizzling...whatever the hell it was that had flared to life between them. 

The cooking class mostly managed to boil noodles during that first day, only a few of them somehow ending up with clumps of half-boiled pasta in their pots. Aelin, of course, was one of those few, but she reminded herself that there was only one clump, that most of her noodles had boiled nicely, one more thing she could now do without setting off the smoke detector. As she packed her things away into her bag, she could feel the chef’s eyes lingering on her, the force of his green gaze visceral, almost like a caress. 

She thanked him politely as she headed out the kitchen doors with the rest of the class, sparing him only the tiniest of flirty winks as she strolled out. Her heart was pounding as she headed for the restaurant entrance, slipping aside towards the bathrooms as if to freshen up before going home. 

She’d barely made it through the bathroom door before a broad hand wrapped around her waist, an arm corded with muscle looping around her, pulling her into the bathroom and shoving the door closed behind her, whirling her about so she was pressed against the door, staring into the blazing, hungry gaze of Chef Rowan Whitethorn. 

Who kissed her like a fiend, the press of his lips and the stroke of his tongue electrifying. 

Now this was the kind of cookery she’d signed up for.

~~~

to be continued...

[get-the-paddles81]

In The Lake

It didn’t matter why we’d fought. Not anymore. Sure, we’d screamed and yelled at each other fifteen minutes ago, and said things we didn’t mean. That we didn’t love each other. That we never wanted to see one another again. That we were through. It didn’t matter anymore. Fifteen minutes went by, and I wondered why Eve hadn’t come back to our rented cabin for the requisite “I’m sorry” and “I love you” and the inevitable passion.

I went out the same door she’d slammed shut, and thought of the way she’d wink at me when she left for the day. How her eyes would twinkle. How her smile would warm my heart on the darkest day. I walked up the same short stone path that I’d carried her up minutes before to the dirt road and followed the curve of the shoreline. Where there had been a solid wood jetty, there was now only debris.

Debris, and Eve floating face down in the lake. The words I screamed didn’t matter. I dove into the frigid blue water, shivering, fumbling for her body. She was heavy - the kind of heavy where there’s no life in one’s limbs.

I dragged her to the shore and rolled her onto her back. Her raven hair was matted to her face, and her warm chestnut eyes stared at the sky. Her soft lips had turned a terrifying shade of blue. My hands went to her long, inviting neck and felt for a pulse. Nothing. My brain struggled to remember CPR class in high school, the prompts from the CPR dummy in the “B” terminal at the airport, even a scene from a movie that would guide me in what to do. I tilted her head to her left and let water dribble out of her frigid lips. I pressed hard on her belly, and more water came tumbling out.

A distant voice from that high school CPR class reminded me to tilt Eve’s head back. To lower her jaw, to seal my lips over hers. To blow. Hard. Her lips were shockingly cold - cold even to me, as my drenched clothes clung to my body. But her chest rose with my exhale, and slowly deflated. I blew again. Chest rise, chest fall. Good air. I traced her still rib cage through her black tank top and found the spot at the bottom of her rib cage. One hand on top of the other, the heel of my hand down. The compressions came naturally to me. I assaulted Eve’s chest with all my strength, as if her life depended on it. 1...2...3... Her perfect breasts jiggled beneath the tank. 45...46...47... Eve’s head lolled from side to side. I focus on her eyes. 98...99...100..

They don’t wink. They don’t dart. They don’t twinkle. I remember a red case near the door of the cabin. An AED. I’ve never been an athlete, but I could always sprint. And the thought of seeing Eve’s smile again lets me sprint at Olympic speed to the red case. I smash it open, and grab the tiny portable unit.

My hidden inner Olympian sprints back through to door, to Eve’s prone form. It felt like I was only gone for seconds, but now she looks even paler than when I pulled her out of the water. I uncoil the sternal pad, peel of the backing, and look at the diagram - I need to get Eve’s tank off. I tear furiously at the soaked fabric. It’s not as easy at it looks on the screen. Her breasts tumble out, and as with her lips, her nipples are an unsettling shade of blue. I use my own soaking wet sleeve to try to dry off her chest, and stick the sternal pad just over her left nipple. I peel the apex pad, and adhere it on the right side of her rib cage. The tiny device whirs to life. “Shock advised. Everyone stand clear of the patient,” the machine warns. “Please come back,” I plead. “Press the shock butto...” I don’t let the prompt finish. I shock my love.

Eve’s lifeless body does a little shimmy. It’s not as dramatic as I expected.

Her body becomes still. “Resume CPR.” I follow the machine’s instructions and deliver two more rescue breaths to Eve’s icy lips. I stiffen up, re-interlock my fingers, and deliver 100 more compressions. Her breasts bounce, her stomach distends, her feet jiggle. 97...98...99...100. Eve’s glassy eyes accuse me. I can hear her voice in my head.

“This is your fault,” she screams in my head.

I press the analyze rhythm button on the AED. “No shock advised. Resume CPR.” Two more rescue breaths. Her chest rises and falls.

“You should never have let me leave,” she accuses in my mind.

100 more compressions.

“Why didn’t you chase after me?” her voice whispers

Another stroke of the analyze rhythm button. “No shock advised. Resume CPR.” My anger with my own foolishness spills out in my chest compressions. I hear Eve’s ribs pop, and I wonder if I’ve broken them. “You let me die,” I hear her say in a tone that breaks my heart

98...99...100.

I’ve never seen lips so blue in my life. My hand shakes - it could be my pending mental breakdown, or the hypothermia that I may be suffering from after diving into the chilly lake - as I fumble for the analyze rhythm button. “Shock advised. Everyone stand clear of the patient.”

I steady myself.

“Press the...”

My finger jumps even faster this time, and so does Eve’s body.

This shock is stronger. Her back arches, her breasts heave. Her fingers curl and her feet sway. Her body relaxes.

And then Eve coughs.

My eyes widen. She coughs again. My inner Olympian makes another dead sprint - this time to procure blankets. I am back in what can only be seconds. “Wha... what happened?” she wheezes.

I peel the pads off her chest, and envelop her wet body in a cocoon of blankets. I hoist her off the ground and leave the AED on the ground. “You had an accident. Take deep breaths,” I whisper. I carry her slowly back up the path to the cabin. The Olympic sprinter is retired for the day.

Her eyes dart around. She’s still trying to make sense of what happened. I lay her on a plush sofa in the middle of the room. “You went into the water. I pulled you out,” my voice still a mixture of relief and exhaustion. The images come back to her. The lake. The broken jetty. The fight. “Why was I mad at you?” she asks.

I kiss her forehead. “It doesn’t matter.”

[mattygraygubler]

our campus: chapter 1 (tom holland imagine)

summary: tom and reader go to the same college and y/n is tasked with being his tutor, they don’t really get along at first (because i love reader and tom hating each other trope)

warnings: drinking, mentions of being roofied

word count: 1.3k, nice and short to start off

a/n: bold is emails, the school is small liberal arts, i called it AU at one point but that’s simply bc a is the first letter of the alphabet

for a list of characters click here

to be added to the tag list send me an ask !

masterlist

✰✰✰✰✰

“Y/N can you stay after class today?” Your professor asks as you walk into class. You nod, anxiety already filling your stomach. What could she possibly want to talk to you about?

Today’s discussion in political conflict was a continuation of your unit about revolution, today you were discussing the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro. 

You still managed to participate in the discussion a bit, you loved Professor G and her class was one of your favorites. 

“Alright that’s all for today, let’s wrap up a bit early.” G says. 

“Wanna grab some food?” Emily asks you. 

“G wants to talk to me, but I’ll see you at mine later? I got a delta chi invite so we’ll see what everyone else heard about and then we’ll see.” 

“Ok!” Emily said. The rest of the class emptied out as you approached your professor. 

“Y/N,” She said. “I have a proposition for you.” “What’s up?” You asked. Normally you wouldn’t refer to a professor so casually, but G was different. She’d been your advisor since freshman year, and had helped you through some really difficult times. 

“So I have a student, his name is Thomas, and he’s struggling a little bit. He’s a theater major but is taking some of his big requirements this semester.” “Like what?” “Statistics, writing, astronomy, and comparative politics.” “Oh. He really went for it.” You said. Writing and stats were required, as was a science course and some type of history. All four of those classes you had taken, and excelled in. 

G laughed, “He really did. I was wondering if you would be interested in tutoring him. I know you couldn’t fit T/Aing into your schedule, but I’d be able to give you some credit depending on how often you meet.” 

“How often would we meet?” 

“Twice a week, maybe, for about an hour?” You sighed. You didn’t necessarily need the credit, but there was a chance you could graduate early, so you agreed. 

“Fantastic! Here’s his email,” she said, scribbling it down on a piece of paper. 

“I trust you, but I don’t necessarily trust Thomas, so if you could let me know when and where you meet, that would be great.” You nodded and told her to have a nice weekend, drafting an email on your way home. 

TO: tholland@school.edu

FROM: y/email@school.edu

SUBJECT: Tutoring (from Professor Gonsky)

Hey,

My name’s Y/N, Professor G reached out asking if I could tutor you. I don’t have a ton of room on my schedule, but I could meet for our first session Sunday at the library from 4-5.

If you could meet me in the AU honors study room that’d be great. 

Y/N

By the time you got to your room, you had an email. 

TO: y/email@school.edu

FROM: tholland@school.edu

SUBJECT: Re: Tutoring (from Professor Gonsky)

Bet. Aren’t only honors college students allowed in there? 

Sent from my pants

You sighed. Of course G would ask you to tutor this kid, she knew you wouldn’t say no. He was probably some dumb frat boy on the verge of expulsion. 

But he was a theater major… Maybe he was actually a nerd that was stupid. It was possible. 

TO: tholland@school.edu

FROM: y/email@school.edu

SUBJECT: Re: Re: Tutoring (from Professor Gonsky)

I am an honors college student. I’m allowed to bring guests. 

4pm Sunday. Don’t be late. 

Y/N

You heard some knocks at your door and went to open it. As the only one with a single, your room was always used as the movie night room, the crying about a boy room, and most importantly, the pregame room. 

You opened the door to your three best friends, all carrying large bags of stuff. 

“What’s up guys,” you said. Emily pulled a handle of svedka blue raspberry vodka out of her bag and winked at you. 

“Let’s get fucked.” She simply responded. You laughed and let your friends inside. 

There was some mild chatter as you all got ready in your not-very-large room, with Ally making fun of Emily for “forgetting” to bring underwear. 

“Wait, Y/N, what did G want to talk to you about?” Emily asked. “Ugh, she wants me to tutor some stupid kid.” “Is he a freshman?” Emily followed up. “No, he’s a junior, he’s one of her advisees, so he’s gotta be a junior.” 

“So she’s making you tutor him?” Isabelle said. 

“She’s not really making me. I’m getting a credit for it.” Your friends groaned. 

“Y/N you could’ve graduated after freshman year, give it up, you don’t need any more credits.” Ally said. 

“Hey!” You retorted, throwing a pillow at her. “I’m double majoring!” “And minoring, who does that?” Isabelle said. You rolled your eyes. 

“Leave me alone, it’s only like two hours a week.” 

“PLUS!” Emily shouted, starting to bounce on the balls of her feet like she always did when she was excited. “What if he’s cute!! OH OH OH! What if he’s hot for teacher.” She said and shimmied her shoulders. 

“You’re ridiculous.” You replied. “Plus he’s a theater major, which means-”

“He’s either gay or not cute.” Ally finished. She was the only theater major in your group. “What did you say his name was? I probably know him, it’s not a huge department.” “Thomas.” You replied. Ally scrunched her eyebrows as she applied her lipstick. 

“Thomas… Nope, no Thomas. There’s two Toms, or maybe he goes by his middle name?” 

“Maybe.” You replied, then asked quickly where Emily got her top, trying to change the subject. It was just tutoring, and your friends were wayyyy too boy crazy. Except for Ally, who decided her college lesbian phase was not a phase. 

Pretty soon you were all checking snapchat and instagram dms, trying to figure out which party to go to tonight. 

“I got sig ep and delta chi, like always,” You said. 

“I got sig ep too. And PSK.” Ally said. 

“Sig chi and Zete. But please, please, can we not go to zete? I think Garrett is rushing.” Isabelle said. Garrett and Isabelle had an on-again off-again thing last year, his freshman year and your sophomore year. 

“I got…” Emily said scrolling. 

Emily was every frat boy’s dream, petite and blonde, great smile, and the most bubbly person you know. All of your friends were gorgeous in their own ways, but Emily, with her massive flirty personality, could always be depended on to have a fuck ton of invitations to frat parties. “Sig chi, sig ep, beta, aepi…. Ooooo I forgot to tell you guys! I met this boy today, his name is Harrison, and he gave me info for the delt party!” 

“No.” Isabelle and Ally said immediately. 

“Why not?” Emily pouted. 

“Emily, how can you remember every person you’ve ever met’s name and yet you can’t remember the name of the only frat that roofied one of us?” Ally asked. Emily’s jaw dropped. 

“Y/N, I am so sorry, I totally forgot.” “Hey it’s ok! It was two years ago, the guy was a senior, and they were kicked off for a semester. I haven’t heard anything bad about them since being reinstated, maybe the guys in it now are different.” 

“Emily, you see Harrison again and actually find out if he’s a nice guy, and if he is, we’ll go to delt next weekend.” Ally said. 

“Alright so delta chi?” You asked. 

“We always go to dchi. I heard sig ep has an ice luge…” Isabelle said raising her eyebrows. 

“Bet.” You said and got up, grabbing your keys and phone, sticking your pepper spray in your bra, just in case. Your mom got you and your friends all bedazzled pepper sprays following the roofying incident freshman year. 

You all took one last shot and headed out for the night. 

[linkedsoul]

Hi! Ik I might be a bit late to the party, but if you were still interested in the fictional kiss prompts, is #11 okay for Lasair and Àed? I ship them so hard

Fictional Kiss Prompts

11. when one stops the kiss to whisper “I’m sorry, are you sure you-” and they answer by kissing them more

-

The truth is, Lasair’s never kissed anyone. Not even light pecks as a kid with childish loves, not even with friends for laughter, not even Kevan - no one, ever. Sure, she knows about kisses. She’s read about them in storybooks, heard about them whispered by the teens in her class, has seen them here and there in the streets of her village. But it’s always seemed to her to be a complicated process, that involves finding the right timing and the right angle and being good at it - not something for the messy, clumsy, inexperienced girl she is. It doesn’t matter that Sellin and Anemar have told her none of that was important. She’s never kissed anyone in her twenty years of life. It terrifies her to try and fail.

Áed doesn’t care about that. Sure enough, he’s had millenaries to learn how to kiss people and more, and he’s full of a confidence she doesn’t have, but he doesn’t care that she’s his polar opposite on that point.

“I don’t know how to kiss,” she says.

“You’ll learn,” he replies. “Unless you don’t want to.”

But she wants to, she really does. It’s always seemed to her to be a faraway thing, something that happens to others, or only in books; but around Aed, she feels like a moth drawn to a flame. She’s at ease, around him. Comfortable. She wants to hold his hand and lace their fingers together and watch him laugh all day. She wants to pull him by his collar and press her mouth against his and feel his fingers tracing the outline of her ribs underneath her shirt. It sounds terrifying. It sounds thrilling. A good kind of terror, maybe. She is a very stupid moth drawn to a very attractive flame.

“C’mon, Las’,” Áed taunts her. She’s sitting on his lap, straddling his hips. His hands ghost over her thighs. “Show me how bad you are.”

“Not bad,” she nuances. “Terrible.”

“Prove it, coward.”

She sticks her tongue out to him, and he grins, his freckles a bright constellation on the mahogany sky of his skin. One day, she claimed she’d map them all, and Áed winked at her saying it was a bold way to get him undressed. She blushed. He laughed. Despite the embarrassment, it felt good being reminded he minds neither her awkwardness nor her lack of thinking before she speaks.

“You’re going to be disappointed,” she warns. Her stomach has turned into jelly, something mushy and twisted by anticipation and nervosity. Áed’s hands have made home in the small of her back.

“Try me,” he says, simply. Then, seeing her hesitation, he quirks a brow. “Unless you’re too scared?”

Infuriatingly, this gets her. “No,” she says, stubborn, and she kisses him.

She’s nowhere near as assured as she’d like to be, but she tries. She presses her lips against his, softly, tries not to panic, not to think about it too much. It’s just a kiss, she tells herself. No reason to have her heart hammering in her chest and her fingers desperately digging into his shoulders. Yet, after a few seconds, she ends up pulling away, cheeks red. She’s awful at this. This was a terrible idea.

“I’m sorry,” she breathes, “are you sure you--”

She never finishes her sentence. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to say. Áed’s hand slides at the back of her nape and he pulls her right back in, grinning into it. They kiss, soft and gentle at first, Áed’s thumb brushing over the side of her neck; then it turns hungry and needy, Áed nipping at her lower lip with sharp teeth and gliding his tongue against hers. He presses her closer. She forgets how to think.

When they break apart, she gives him a sheepish smile. “So, how bad was it?”

Áed throws his head back to laugh. “Terrible,” he says, then winks. “Do it again.”

[yeah-another-aesthetic-blog]

Goodbye to the Decade: Aesthetic Series

3) Songs

After the series and the books, in this week here are 9 fragments of songs that I liked this decade, since I know that there aren’t so many spanish speakers between you, here is a translation of what the central song says “If there is nothing left to talk about, if there is nothing left to shut up, how can it hurt so much?” is Diciembre by La Oreja De Van Gogh

Like the previous posts in the series a keep reading it’s here, because warning here is the full list of all the songs that I have from this decade, and when I say all of them I mean all of them.No Particular order in them. Congratulations if you make till the end, if not, well I can’t blame you xD

Mirrors by Justin Timberlake 2013

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons 2012

Demons by Imagine Dragons 2012

Counting Stars by OneRepublic 2013

Really Really by Winner 2017

Russian Roulette by Red Velvet 2016

Troublemaker by Troublemaker 2011

Mean by Taylor Swift 2010

Better Than Revenge by Taylor Swift 2010

We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift 2012

I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift 2012

All Too Well by Taylor Swift 2012

Shake It Off by Taylor Swift 2014

Blank Space by Taylor Swift 2014

Bad Blood by Taylor Swift 2014

Look What You Make Me Do by Taylor Swift 2017

You Need To Calm Down by Taylor Swift 2019

Paper Rings by Taylor Swift 2019

The Man by Taylor Swift 2019

Closer by The Chainsmokers & Halsey 2016

Sad Girls by Melo Moreno 2018

Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish 2016

Bellyache by Billie Eilish 2017

Hostage by Billie Eilish 2017

My Boy by Billie Eilish 2017

Bad Guy by Billie Eilish 2019

You Should See Me In A Crown by Billie Eilish 2019

My Strange Addiction by Billie Eilish 2019

Ilomilo by Billie Eilish 2019

Pump Up Kicks by Foster The People 2010

Burn by Ellie Goulding 2013

Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars 2010

Talking To The Moon by Bruno Mars 2010

The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars 2010

Grenade by Bruno Mars 2011

Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars 2012

When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars 2012

Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson 2011

Stitches by Shawn Mendes 215

Treat You Better by Shawn Mendes 2016

Señorita by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello 2019

Born This Way by Lady Gaga 2011

Blow Me (One Last Kiss) by P!nk 2012

Elastic Heart by Sia 2013

Cheap Thrills by Sia & Sean Paul 2016

Up In The Air by 30 Seconds To Mars 2013

Gangnam Style by PSY 2012

Daddy by PSY 2015

Voodoo Doll by VIXX 2013

When Can I See You Again by Owl City 2012

Uza by AKB48 2012

Love Me Harder by Ariana Grande 2014

Into You by Ariana Grande 2015

Side To Side by Ariana Grande 2016

Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande 2018

Love The Way You Lie by Eminem & Rihanna 2010

The Monster by Eminem & Rihanna 2013

Hotter Than Hell by Dua Lipa 2016

Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna 2010

Rude Boy by Rihanna 2010

All Of Me by John Legend 2013

No Need To Talk by C-Luv 2014

Papercut by Zedd & Troye Sivan 2015

Misery by Maroon 5 2010

Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera 2011

Payphone by Maroon 5 2012

One More Night by Maroon 5 2012

Lucky Strike by Maroon 5 2012

The Man Who Never Lied by Maroon 5 2012

Animals by Maroon 5 2014

Maps by Maroon 5 2014

Sugar by Maroon 5 2015

Lips On You by Maroon 5 2017

Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots 2015

Ride by Twenty One Pilots 2015

Heathens by Twenty One Pilots 2016

Chlorine by Twenty One Pilots 2018

Teenage Dream by Katy Perry 2010

Firework by Katy Perry 2010

Corazón En La Maleta by Luis Fonsi 2014

Lego House by Ed Sheeran 2011

Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran 2014

Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran 2017

I Want You To Know by Zedd & Selena Gomez 2015

Burning In The Skies by Linkin Park 2010

Waiting For The End by Linkin Park 2010

Iridescent by Linkin Park 2010

The Catalyst by Linkin Park 2010

Lost In The Echo by Linkin Park 2012

In My Remains by Linkin Park 2012

Burn It Down by Linkin Park 2012

Lies Greed Misery by Linkin Park 2012

I’ll Be Gone by Linkin Park 2012

Castle Of Glass by Linkin Park 2012

Victimized by Linkin Park 2012

Skin To Bone by Linkin Park 2012

Powerless by Linkin Park 2012

A Light That Never Comes by Steve Aoki & Linkin Park 2013

Guilty All The Same by Linkin Park 2014

War by Linkin Park 2014

Wastelands by by Linkin Park 2014

Until It’s Gone by Linkin Park 2014

Rebellion by Linkin Park 2014

Final Masquerade by Linkin Park 2014

Darker Than Blood by Steve Aoki & Linkin Park 2015

Nobody Can Save Me by Linkin Park 2017

Good Goodbye by Linkin Park & Pusha T & Stormzy 2017

Talking To Myself by Linkin Park 2017

Battle Symphony by Linkin Park 2017

Invisible by Linkin Park 2017

Heavy by Linkin Park & Kiiara 2017

Sorry For Now by Linkin Park 2017

Halfway Right by Linkin Park 2017

One More Light by Linkin Park 2017

Sharp Edges by Linkin Park 2017

50 Ways To Say Goodbye by Train 2012

60’s Cardin by Glen Check 2011

Paint It Gold by Glen Check 2013

I’ve Got This Feeling by Glen Check 2013

Ain’t My Fault by Zara Larsson 2016

Oh Nana by K.A.R.D 2016

Solo by Jay Park 2015

Mommae by Jay Park & Ugly Duck 2015

Me Like Yuh by Jay Park & Hoody 2016

All I Wanna Do by Jay Park & Hoody & Loco 2016

Teardrops by Emmelie De Forest 2013

Calm After The Storm by The Common Linnets 2014

Tonight Again by Guy Sebastian 2014

Golden Boy by Nadav Guedj 2015

Goodbye To Yesterday by Elina Born & Stig Rästa 2015

Heroes by Måns Zelmerlöw 2015

Alter Ego by Minus One 2016

Occidentalis Karma by Francesco Gabbani 2017

Fuego by Eleni Foureira 2018

Bboom Bboom by Momoland 2018

Cool For The Summer by Demi Lovato 2015

Solo by Clean Bandit &  Demi Lovato 2018

Busted by Electroboyz & C-Luv 2013

MaBoy 3 by Electroboyz & Nana 2013

Lo Malo by Aitana & Ana Guerra 2018

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up) by Fall Out Boy 2013)

Centuries by Fall Out Boy 2014

Immortals by Fall Out Boy 2014

Closer by Oh My Girl 2015

Control by Halsey 2015

Graveyard by Halsey 2016

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart by Backstreet Boys 2018

Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man 2017

Venus by Hello Venus 2012

Do You Want Some Tea by Hello Venus 2013

I’m Ill by Hello Venus 2015

Wiggle Wiggle by Hello Venus 2015

La La La by Naughty Boy & Sam Smith 2013

Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay & Beyonce 2015

Love Myself by Hailee Steinfeld 2015

Female Robbery by The Neighbourhood 2012

Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood 2013

Cry Baby by The Neighbourhood 2015

Daddy Issues by The Neighbourhood 2015

Go Crazy! by 2PM 2014

Playboy by EXO 2015

Monster by EXO 2016 

One Woman Army by Porcelain Black 2014

Need You Now by Lady Antebellum 2010

Just A Kiss Goodnight by Lady Antebellum 2011 

Little Apple by Chopstick Brothers 2014

Handclap by Fitz And The Tantrums 2016

Hann by (G)I-DLE 2018 

Youngblood by 5 Seconds Of Summer 2018

Easier by 5 Seconds Of Summer 2019

Teeth by 5 Seconds Of Summer 2019

Pretty Woman by Hebe Tien 2015

Fiction by Highlight 2011

Good Luck by Highlight 2014

Impermeable by Ha*Ash 2011

Lo Aprendí De Ti by Ha*Ash 2014

Peligro by Reik 2011

Que Ganó Olvidándote by Reik 2016

Spanglish by Reik 2016

Ya Me Enteré by Reik 2016

Barbie De Extrarradio by Melendi 2010

Canción De Amor Caducada by Melendi 2010

Lágrimas Desordenadas by Melendi 2012

Cheque Al Portamor by Melendi 2012

Tocado y Hundido by Melendi 2014

Otro Lío De Melendi by Melendi 2014

La Casa No Es Igual by Melendi 2016

Sor María by Maná 2011

Mayday by Oran-G 2011

Mi Novia Se Me Está Poniendo Vieja by Ricardo Arjona 2011

Lo Poco Que Tengo by Ricardo Arjona 2014

La Niña Que Llora En Tus Fiestas by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2011

Cometas Por El Cielo by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2011

El Primer Día Del Resto De Mi Vida by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2013

Estoy Contigo by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Diciembre by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Verano by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Camino De Tú Corazón by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Intocables by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

No Vales Más Que Yo by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Cuando Menos Lo Merezca by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Mi Pequeño Gran Valiente by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Siempre by La Oreja de Van Gogh 2016

Bang! by After School 2010

Love Love Love by After School 2010

Someone Is You by After School 2010

Let’s Step Up by After School 2011

Shampoo by After School 2011

Virgin by After School 2011

Play Ur Love by After School 2011

Dream by After School 2011

Are You Doing Ok? by After School 2011

Funky Man by After School 2011

Into The Night Sky by After School 2011

Hollywood by After School 2011

Wonderboy by After School 2011

Lady by After School 2011

Ready To Love by After School 2011

Love Letter by After School & Son Dambi & Minhyun & Baekho & Xiyeon 2011

Rambling Girls by After School 2012

Broken Heart by After School 2012

Just In Time by After School 2012

Gimme Love by After School 2012

Miss Futuristic by After School 2012

Tell Me by After School 2012

Rip Off by After School 2012

Flashback by After School 2012

Eyeline by After School 2012

Wristwatch by After School 2012

8 Hot Girl by After School 2013

First Love by After School 2013

Dressing Room by After School 2013

Time’s Up by After School 2013

Love Beat by After School 2013

Heaven by After School 2013

Crazy Driver by After School 2013

Shh by After School 2014

Rock It! by After School 2014

Week by After School 2014

Dress To Kill by After School 2014

Ms. Independent by After School 2014

Triangle by After School 2014

Yes No Yes by After School 2014

In The Moonlight by After School 2014

Spotlight by After School 2014

Lucky Girl by After School 2014

Shine by After School 2015

Magic Girl by Orange Caramel 2010

Aing~♥ by Orange Caramel 2010

One Love by Orange Caramel 2010

Bangkok City by Orange Caramel 2011

Shanghai Romance by Orange Caramel 2011

Close Your Eyes by Orange Caramel 2011

Funny Hunny by Orange Caramel 2011

Yashashii Akuma by Orange Caramel 2012

Bubble Bath by Orange Caramel 2012

Milkshake by Orange Caramel 2012

Lipstick by Orange Caramel 2012

Lamu No Love Song by Orange Caramel 2012

Dashing Through The Snow In High Heels by Orange Caramel & NU’EST 2012

Cookie, Cream & Mint by by Orange Caramel 2013

Tenshi No Wink by Orange Caramel 2013

Red Shoes by Orange Caramel 2013

Catallena by Orange Caramel 2014

So Sorry by Orange Caramel 2014

Cried Uncontrollably by Orange Caramel 2014

Abing Abing by Orange Caramel 2014

My Copycat by Orange Caramel 2014

The Gangnam Avenue by Orange Caramel 2014

Tonight by Orange Caramel 2014

Reminding Me by Shawn Hook & Vanessa Hudgens 2017

Lay With Me by The Phantoms & Vanessa Hudgens 2018

Y by MBLAQ 2010

One Better Day by MBLAQ 2010

Running & Running by MBLAQ 2010

Sad Memories by MBLAQ 2011

Stay by MBLAQ 2011

Cry by MBLAQ 2011

Wish You Hadn’t by MBLAQ 2011

Mona Lisa by MBLAQ 2011

I Don’t Know by MBLAQ 2011

Baby U! by MBLAQ 2011

Again by MBLAQ 2011

It’s War by MBLAQ 2012

Hello My Ex by MBLAQ 2012

Run by MBLAQ 2012

100% by MBLAQ 2012

Sexy Beat by MBLAQ 2013

Smoky Girl by MBLAQ 2013

R U OK? by MBLAQ 2013

Celebrate by MBLAQ 2013

Pretty Girl by MBLAQ 2013

Dress Up by MBLAQ 2013

No Love by MBLAQ 2013

Broken by MBLAQ 2014

Be A Man by MBLAQ 2014

Key by MBLAQ 2014

Because There Are Two by MBLAQ 2014

Mirror by MBLAQ 2015

Hey U by MBLAQ 2015

I Know U Want Me by MBLAQ 2015

Tea Party by Kerli 2010

Army Of Love by Kerli 2011

Zero Gravity by Kerli 2012

The Lucky Ones by Kerli 2012

Last Breath by Kerli 2012

Sugar by Kerli 2013

Savages by Kerli 2018

Legends by Kerli 2019

Oh! by Girl’s Generation 2010

Run Devil Run by Girl’s Generation 2010

Hoot by Girl’s Generation 2010

Mr. Taxi by Girl’s Generation 2011

Trick by Girl’s Generation 2011

Paparazzi by Girl’s Generation 2012

Flower Power by Girl’s Generation 2012

Animal by Girl’s Generation 2012

Mr. Mr. by Girl’s Generation 2014

Lucifer by SHINee 2010

Sherlock by SHINee 2011

Dazzling Girl by SHINee 2012

Dream Girl by SHINee 2013

View by SHINee 2015

Dark Star by Jaymes Young 2013

Two More Minutes by Jaymes Young 2013

Moondust by Jaymes Young 2013

Running On Fumes by Jaymes Young 2013

As Long As You Love Me by Jaymes Young 2013

Habits Of My Heart by Jaymes Young 2014

I’ll Be Good by Jaymes Young 2014

What Should I Do by Jaymes Young 2014

Sugar Burn by Jaymes Young 2017

Black Magic by Jaymes Young 2017

Infinity by Jaymes Young 2017

Paradox by Jaymes Young 2019

Bonamana by Super Junior 2010

Boom Boom by Super Junior 2010

My Only Girl by Super Junior 2010

Shake It Up! by Super Junior 2010

My All Is In You by Super Junior 2010

Good Person by Super Junior 2010

No Other by Super Junior 2010

Perfection by Super Junior M 2011

Off My Mind by Super Junior M 2011

Mr. Simple by Super Junior 2011

Opera by Super Junior 2011

Feels Good by Super Junior 2011

A-CHA by Super Junior 2011

Sexy, Free & Single by Super Junior 2012

From U by Super Junior 2012

Butterfly by Super Junior 2012

Break Down by Super Junior  M 2013

I Wanna Dance by Super Junior D&E 2013

Mamacita by Super Junior 2014

Evanesce by Super Junior 2014

Shirt by Super Junior 2014

This Is Love by Super Junior 2014

Can You Feel It? by Super Junior D&E 2015

Devil by Super Junior 2015

Magic by Super Junior 2015

Black Suit by Super Junior 2017

Love Song by Rain 2010

Hip Song by Rain 2010

Same by Rain & C-Luv 2010

Busan Girl by Rain 2011

30 Sexy by Rain 2013

La Song by Rain 2013 

Marilyn Monroe by Rain 2013

Baby by Rain 2013

Superman by Rain 2013

Face by NU’EST 2012

Action by NU’EST 2012

Not Over You by NU’EST 2012

Hello by NU’EST 2013

Beautiful Solo by NU’EST 2013

Sleep Talking by NU’EST 2013

Good Bye Bye by NU’EST 2014

I’m Bad by NU’EST 2015

Overcome by NU’EST 2016

My Heaven by NU’EST 2016

In Fact by NU’EST 2016

R.L.T.L (Real Love True Love) by NU’EST 2016

Love Paint by NU’EST 2016

Look (A Starlight Night) by NU’EST 2016

Just One Day by NU’EST W 2017

Where You At by NU’EST W 2017

Paradise by NU’EST W 2017

Good Love by NU’EST W 2017

With by NU’EST W 2017

I’ve Been Happy Till Now by NU’EST W 2017

Dejavu by NU’EST W 2018

Signal by NU’EST W 2018

Polaris by NU’EST W 2018

YlenoL by NU’EST W 2018

Gravity&Moon by NU’EST W 2018

Shadow by NU’EST W 2018

Bet Bet by NU’EST 2019

Bass by NU’EST 2019

Different by NU’EST 2019

Universe by NU’EST 2019

Shining Diamond by Seventeen 2015

Adore U by Seventeen 2015

Jam Jam by Seventeen 2015

20 by Seventeen 2015

Fronting by Seventeen 2015

Mansae by Seventeen 2015

OMG by Seventeen 2015

Rock by Seventeen 2015

Pretty U by Seventeen 2016

Nice by Seventeen 2016

Healing by Seventeen 2016

Simple by Seventeen 2016

Boom Boom by Seventeen 2016

Highlight by Seventeen 2016

My I by Seventeen 2017

Clap by Seventeen 2017

Sweet Dream by MFBTY 2013

The Cure by MFBTY 2013

Angel by MFBTY 2014

Buckubucku by MFBTY & EE & Dino-J & RM 2015

Bang Diggy Bang Bang by MFBTY 2015

Fly Like An Eagle by MFBTY 2015

Forever Love by Min Kyung Hoon 2019

My Everything by Han Seung Hee 2019

Take Out My Heart by Jung Dong Ha 2019

Empty by JYJ 2010

Be My Girl by JYJ 2010

Get Out by JYJ 2011

Mission by JYJ 2011

Only One by JYJ 2013

Back Seat by JYJ 2014

Letting Go by JYJ 2014

Baboboy by JYJ 2014

Valentine by JYJ 2014

One Kiss by Jaejoong 2013

Mine by Jaejoong 2013

Kiss B by Jaejoong 2013

Just Another Girl by Jaejoong 2013

Good Morning Night by Jaejoong 2016

Drawer by Jaejoong 2016

Love You More by Jaejoong 2016

Love You To Death by Jaejoong 2016

Welcome To My Wild World by Jaejoong 2016

All That Glitters by Jaejoong 2016

Tarantallegra by Xiah & Flowsik 2012

Incredible by Xiah & Quincy 2013

OeO by Xiah 2015

Stylo by Gorillaz & Mos Def & Bobby Womack 2010

On Melancholy by Hill Gorillaz 2010

To Binge by Gorillaz & Yukimi Nagano 2010

Detroit by Gorillaz 2010

Doncamatic by Gorillaz & Daley 2010

DoYaThing by Gorillaz & Andre 3000 & James Murphy2012

Ascension by Gorillaz & Vince Staples 2017

Strobelite by Gorillaz & Peven Everett 2017

Staturnz Barz by Gorillaz & Popcaan 2017

Moments by Gorillaz & De La Soul 2017

Submission by Gorillaz & Danny Brown & Kelela 2017

Charger by Gorillaz & Grace Jones 2017

Andromeda by Gorillaz & D.R.A.M 2017

Busted And Blue by Gorillaz 2017

Let Me Out by Gorillaz & Mavis Staples & Pusha T 2017

She’s My Collar by Gorillaz & Kali Uchis 2017

We Got The Power by Gorillaz & Jehnny Beth & Noel Gallagher 2017

The Apprentice by Gorillaz & Rag’n’Bone Man & Zebra Katz & Ray BLK 2017

Out Of Body by Gorillaz & Kilo Kish & Zebra Katz & Imani Vonshà 2017

Ticker Tape by Gorillaz & Carly Simon & Kali Uchis 2017

Time In A Tree by Raleigh Ritchie 2018

Inevitable by Dulce Maria 2010

Luna by Dulce Maria 2010

Dicen by Dulce Maria 2011

Antes Que Ver El Sol by Dulce Maria 2014

Te Quedarás by Dulce Maria & Frankie J 2014

Cementerio De Los Corazones Rotos by Dulce Maria 2014

O Lo Haces Tú O Lo Hago Yo by Dulce Maria 2014

Un Minuto Sin Dolor by Dulce Maria 2017

Rompecorazones by Dulce Maria 2017

No Sé Llorar by Dulce Maria 2017

Catch Me by TVXQ 2012

Humanoids by TVXQ 2012

Something by TVXQ 2014

The Chance Of Love by TVXQ 2018

Something by Girl’s Day 2014

Bubble Pop by Hyuna 2011

Make It Happen by Namie Amuro & After School 2011

Hands On Me by Namie Amuro 2013

Neonlight Lipstick by Namie Amuro 2013

We Don’t Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth & Selena Gomez 2016

Attention by Charlie Puth 2017

How Long by Charlie Puth 2017

Done For Me by Charlie Puth & Kehlani 2018

The Way I Am by Charlie Puth 2018

LA Girls by Charlie Puth 2018

Slow It Down by Charlie Puth 2018

Empty Cups by Charlie Puth 2018

I Warned Myself by Charlie Puth 2019

Mother by Charlie Puth 2019

Cheating On You by Charlie Puth 2019

Candy by Robbie Williams 2012

We Are Bulletproof Pt.2 by BTS 2013

No More Dream by BTS 2013

N.O by BTS 2013

If I Ruled The World by BTS 2013

Coffee by BTS 2013

Attack On Bangtan by BTS 2013

Boy In Luv by BTS 2014

Just One Day by BTS 2014

Tomorrow by BTS 2014

Spine Breaker by BTS 2014

Jump by BTS 2014

Miss Right by BTS 2014

Danger by BTS 2014

War Of Hormone by BTS 2014

Let Me Know by BTS 2014

Cypher Pt. 3: Killer by BTS 2014

Blanket Kick by BTS 2014

2nd Grade by BTS 2014

Look Here by BTS 2014

I Need U by BTS 2015

Dope by BTS 2015

Boyz With Fun by BTS 2015

Converse High by BTS 2015

Run by BTS 2015

Butterfly by BTS 2015

Whalien 52 by BTS 2015

Ma City by BTS 2015

Baepsae by BTS 2015

House Of Cards by BTS 2015

Fire by BTS 2016

Save Me by BTS 2016

Young Forever by BTS 2016

Boy Meets Evil by BTS 2016

Blood, Sweat & Tears by BTS 2016

Begin by BTS 2016

Reflection by BTS 2016

MAMA by BTS 2016

Lost by BTS 2016

Cypher 4 by BTS 2016

Am I Wrong by BTS 2016

21st Century Girl by BTS 2016

Wings by BTS 2016

Spring Day by BTS 2017

Not Today by BTS 2017

You Never Walk Alone by BTS 2017

Serendipity by BTS 2017

DNA by BTS 2017

Best Of Me by BTS & The Chainsmokers 2017

Dimples by BTS 2017

Pied Piper by BTS 2017

MIC Drop by BTS 2017

Go Go by BTS 2017

Fake Love by BTS 2018

134340 by BTS 2018

Paradise by BTS 2018

Love Maze by BTS 2018

Airplane Pt.2 by BTS 2018

Anpanman by BTS 2018

So What by BTS 2018

Idol by BTS 2018

Persona by BTS 2019

Boy With Luv by BTS & Halsey 2019

Mikrokosmos by BTS 2019

Make It Right by BTS 2019

Home by BTS 2019

Dionysus by BTS 2019

Do You by RM 2015

So Far Away by Suga & Suran 2016

Daydream by J-Hope 2018

Comeback Again by Infinite 2010

Waste It On Me by Steve Aoki & BTS 2018

Be Mine by Infinite 2011

Paradise by Infinite 2011

The Chaser by Infinite 2012

Safe And Sound by Capital Cities 2013

Wake Me Up by Avicii 2013

Sparks by Hilary Duff 2015

Aquí Voy by Jesse & Joy 2011

¿Con Quién Se Queda El Perro? by Jesse & Joy 2012

Decidiste Dejarme by Camila 2014

Saturno by Pablo Alboran 2017

Jenny Of Oldstones by Florence + The Machine 2019

¿No Podíamos Ser Agua? by Maldita Nerea 2011

En El Mundo Genial De Las Cosas Que Dices by Maldita Nerea 2011

Dear Future Husband by Meghan Trainor 2014

NO by Meghan Trainor 2016

[stunningvacationtips]

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Al Murooj Rotana - Dubai

Five-star Al Murooj Rotana lies throughout from Dubai Mall as well as the renowned Burj Khalifa Tower. It offers 5 restaurants in addition to an outdoor pool. A few of its glamorous areas as well as suites include verandas, plus some neglect Dubai's skyline. Guests may likewise enjoy satellite TELEVISION and free day-to-day newspaper. Twenty-four hr in-room dining services are easily accessible to Al Murooj's visitors. The resort's dining alternatives are the Lebanese Mawal Dining establishment, the award-winning Double Decker Pub along with the Zaika Dining establishment and also Pergolas.Guests could operate in the health and fitness centre, play tennis or relax within the jacuzzi as well as sauna. The facility likewise advantages of an on-site hairdresser as well as babysitting services.Al Murooj Rotana is 3 minutes' drive from your Convention Centre as well as 10 mins's drive from Dubai Airport terminal Terminal.

Armani Hotel Dubai Rs27,608 Avg.

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The H Hotel Dubai - SPACES FROM 650.00 AED

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Sofitel DUbai Downtown

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The Address Dubai Shopping center - Rs17,450 Avg

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Towers Rotana - Dubai

Conveniently situated in the Financial Centre City Terminal, twenty minutes from Dubai Airport as well as a few minutes from your golden sands from the Jumeirah Beachfront.

[allthelittlethingsihavetosa-blog]

#TheFavor Aedan and Sawyer {@ASmallTownDoc @JustOneMoreTmrw}

::After my talk with #Abigale at the print shop I felt so much better, she told me who to talk to and I could even begin to tell you how relieved I was. Of course once I got in the car I googled the infamous Doctor Aedan McLoughlin, reading what I could about him. I stuck to the papers here in town and his qualifications the remainder about his life growing up seem like I was invading his life or getting ready to run some article. I wasn't. I just needed the basics for an intro that was all. Once I had all I needed I grinned softly, turned the car over and headed towards his office hoping he could help me. Even just a little with my show. At this point if he didn't I would be running around like a chicken with my head cut off wildly handing out invites, maybe quite possibly clucking while I did so. I chuckled quietly to myself while I parked across the street from his clinic and let myself out of the vehicle to grab a few  invites before making my way across the street. I hummed quietly to myself before I pulled open the door and was greeted by the friendliest receptionist I have ever met.:: "Have a seat, Miss. Edwards and I'll let Dr. McLoughlin know he has a visitor." ::She even winked as I took a seat, I couldn't help but blush. There was something about her that made you feel completely at ease and I think that was one of the reasons he must have hired her. I pulled out my planner to take a few more notes while I waited, then pulled out my phone and added the millions of new requests from the copious amounts of emails #Diedre had sent to "check in"::

Aed: 

||It was a typical day for me, meaning nothing more remarkable than diagnosing and treating a poison ivy rash to explaining for the hundredth time to Old Man Iler that bacon if eaten in moderation is okay.

“You young whipper snappers change that every other month. It’s good. It’s bad. I’m 97 years old, if I keel over at the kitchen table then the good Lord saw fit to call me home.”

It was a losing battle that kept his daughter up to her eyes in worry and since she insisted that he not be placed in a nursing home it wouldn’t resolve itself until he passed. I was pulled from my thoughts when Mrs. Willmont poked her head into my office. “Aedan, your next appointment is here. General checkup to establish as a patient.”|| Thanks, Mrs. Willmont. Is she done the initial paperwork? ||Until that exact moment I’d never truly believed you could hear someone roll their eyes. I was wrong and my office manager/receptionist/godsend made a tsk noise.|| Sorry, ma’am. ||Her good natured laughter followed her out to the main area where I heard her direct someone named Sawyer to follow her to room 2.||

Sawyer:

::I was lost in emails, grumbling under my breath in reply to the nasty few Id gotten in haste of my lack of rushing to #Deidre's immediate attention. Did she really think I sat around all day and awaited her messages? My head lifted with a slight grin as I shook my head, I already knew the answer to that question. Of course she did.::

“Sawyer? Follow me please, Room 2 is ready for you.”

Thank you ::I flashed a smile the receptionists way before I felt her gently press her hand against my back, nudging me to get my full attention. I wasn't so much started as surprised.:: “Whoever that is on the phone that's got you so riled up, I wouldn't give them another thought. Erase and move on. You're far too beautiful to frown my dear.” ::I barely manage to open my mouth before she closed the door with a wink and vanished from view, if only the world was filled with more women like her. Not only would it be a better place but it would probably have a lot less anger in it.

My bag came to rest on the table I was probably meant to sit on while I took a quick look around, the office was simple which I enjoyed. Me being me, I couldn't help taking a look in a few of the drawers while I waited. I'm sure the doc would be a little while longer::

Aed: “All set, my dear.”

||The salacious wink that Mrs. Willmont gave me had me blushing. How a woman half my size and close to my mother’s age made me either feel like a teen boy caught looking at his crush or a recalcitrant toddler if I was cross with anyone, it was up for debate but it happened more than I cared to admit. Her husband said she was feisty and I wholeheartedly agreed, it only endeared her more in my eyes. Standing, I cleared my throat and went to the proper door, knocking softly. I’d been here nearly two years but I still had nerves when meeting a new patient. Old Doc. Moore didn’t just sell me his practice but his idea of small town medicine and why it was an art that shouldn’t die, I agreed. House calls had fallen out of fashion decades ago, not here and while people were refused at other offices for no insurance I was more than happy to take payments or car repairs, lawn mowing and so on. Being a doctor wasn’t about the prestige or lucrative salary for me it was caring about and taking care of people; it was a simple concept.||

Sawyer:

::I pushed aside a few of the samples that were in my way hoping to find some sort of picture of the doc I was about to meet, maybe an old newspaper clipping or business card. But I found bubbkiss. Absolutely nothing. I had no idea who was going to walk through that door, shit. My eyes widened instantly when I realized what was happening:: Oh crap. No. ::I meant to shut the drawer quietly and dash over to the bed, take a seat like I'd been there waiting casually all along. That wasn't how it went at all. I heard the knock, panicked then slammed the drawer proceeded to trip over my own heels and nearly knock myself out on the small stool that would have assisted me onto the bed where I would have sat. I groaned loudly and just sat there for a second fully aware by the pair of shoes now joining me in the room the doc had arrived. I laughed cause honestly it was all I could do before I found my feet then straightened myself out. It wasn't until my eyes lifted that my jaw nearly hit the floor, I was gonna need a moment.::

Aed: 

||Normal protocol was to wait for my knock to be acknowledged but from the sounds coming from behind the door I rushed in and nearly let my laugh slip at what I saw. On the foot stool sat a stunning blonde who apparently was a bit of a snoop and mildly klutzy. Just as I was about to offer my hand, she popped up from her seat and blushed from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.|| Ms. Sawyer, did you find the swabs to be in order? ||This time I did chuckle and heard a feminine snicker from down the hall, apparently Mrs. Willmont found it funny too.||

Sawyer:

::Two things popped into mind; First was, was I wearing skirt because at this point it may have been hiked all too high for the first meeting with the doc and second I was already thinking of a second meeting. Both hands drop to smooth out the fabric only to let out a small sigh of relief when I realized nothing was riding to far above the knee, still flushed I chuckled tucking a few strands of hair behind my ears focusing my attention on the good doc:: Swabs are in immaculate condition, I must say. Do you often keep them in size order? ::Dear lord I was flirting already, Sawyer stop. Work. Focus woman. Christ. I shook my head desperately trying to reign myself in all while trying to look professional. But then again I'm sure that look got tossed out when I kissed the stool moments ago::

Aed: 

||Professionalism is a concept that I pride myself on but with this woman it was a task.|| Of course, Ms. Sawyer. Chaos would ensue if the swabs were so much as a millimeter out of place. ||Humor danced in my eyes.|| How can I help you today? The stool will be punished for its transgressions, attacking patients is unacceptable after all. ||Closing the door on the sound of Mrs. Willmont’s laughter, I leaned my hip against the cabinet.||

Sawyer:

::Yup, this was a losing battle and he was on the conquering side. My eyes once again betrayed me as they looked him over before I bit down hard enough again into my lip to shake myself out of my reverie:: I was actually here to ask for your help, Dr. McLoughlin, I’m throwing a small party more like a gallery showing of some of my photographs. Since I’ve only been here barely over three weeks and know absolutely no one except for the fantastic woman at the printing shop and your receptionist, who by the way I swear thinks we are doing more than just meeting right now ::I chuckled softly, shaking my head while I shifted just enough to dig out my portfolio and an invite:: Basically you’d be helping me hand these out, I figure if you came along with me people would be more likely to show up and if you wanted to take a look to see what you’d be selling... ::I blushed instantly hating how I was making this sound, it wasn’t what I wanted to say at all:: This isn’t how I wanted to say it all. Just take a look my photos, and let me know what you think, then we can move on to the other stuff. ::And just like that my nerves hit me like a sack of bricks::

Aed: 

||I was instantly enchanted not just by the jumbled word vomit but by the blush that stained your cheeks. My fingers loosened their grip on the counter as you continued.|| I’d love to take a look and please call me Aedan. Doctor McLoughlin makes me look for my father and or my mother. ||Waving a dismissive hand at myself. I opened the portfolio on the examination table and flipped through a number of pages before closing it.|| You’re very talented, Ms. Sawyer. It takes someone special to evoke a response from a viewer when the image is of the mundane. I’d be more than happy to pass out fliers or invites to those that come in the office, is there more that I can do? ||A ruckus sounds from the reception area; the Peterson twins and their helicopter mother. That woman has been a thorn in my side since I started here. She sees a bank statement every time she looks at me, the epitome of a social climber and I would prefer to keep her claws and everything else far away from me in a social sense.|| Ignore that please.  

Sawyer:

Thank you, Aedan, I’ve spend majority of my life taking picture ::I chuckled softly tucking some hair behind my ears that stubborn blush seemed to be staying as I watched you flip each page:: I think it was something I was simply born to do, it comes naturally. If you could hand out invites and spread the word so the event is a success I would grateful. This was all just kind of dropped in my lap and if it..::I heard the ruckus and instantly started to move towards you, brushing against you while reaching for my things before pausing:: Are you sure you don’t want to at least go and see what the ruckus is? ::I lifted my gaze to yours, once I was sure I carried on with a smile:: This whole thing is all on me, if it isn’t a success then I fail and I don’t know what happens then. ::Actually I did know, what happens was I got stuck with the entire bill of the entire event, plus #Deidre's bill and all her commission.:: Anything you could do would be gratefully appreciated.

Aed: 

No, the noise is a set of rowdy 6 year old terrors that belong to a mother that….let’s just say the interest is more in me than anything else. Show your portfolio to Mrs. Willmont on your way out, I’m quite sure the word will be out quickly. ||Rolling my eyes as I hear Mrs. Peterson use a snippy tone with the boys.|| I know it’s not professional but would you like to have dinner with me? We could discuss more about the showing and about the prints I’d like to buy. ||Lifting a brow as my question hangs in the air.||

Sawyer: 

She sounds like a pure delight, I’m sorry you have to deal with women like that. I’ve had a few men who have more interest in what I can do for them then anything else.  ::There was that damn grin, the one that normally showed only when someone truly shocked me and Aedan just had. He wanted to buy my work already? I swore he like the color of my blush cause he seemed pretty damned determined to show keep it on my cheeks for the entirety of this meeting. I let my fingers brush his as I finally scooped up my things:: Dinner sounds amazing, Aedan, just name the time and place.

Aed: 

||Trailing the tips of my fingers along the back of your hand for a brief second made me smile.|| Tomorrow night, say 7:30 at the Station? They have the world’s best greens and mac-n-cheese. ||There is a crashing sound rapidly followed by crying.|| Get my number from Mrs. Willmont and I’m sorry to rush you out. It’s nice to meet you Sawyer and welcome to town. ||Opening the door, I stepping to the hallway to usher the hellions and their mother aka Satan’s mistress into an empty exam room.||

Sawyer: 

::It was the little touches that I longed for more of but they would have to wait till dinner tomorrow night and that had me a little more excited than I was willing to admit. I chuckled to myself while squeezing past Mrs.Peterson who seemed all too displeased to see me, so I tossed in a little grin as I turned:: It was 7:30 for dinner tomorrow right? And you wanted me to wear something tight and blue, was it? ::I spun on my heels after flashing a quick wink, the look on her face was priceless. I also caught the look of on Mrs. Willmont’s face and nearly blushed a neon pink, she was all smiles holding the good doctors number in her hand right along with his address. Just in case she said::

#TBC #TheFavor

[leiawritesstories]

Something About Winter Nights

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ABBY @elentiyawhitethorn!!!!! i'm your yulemas swap gifter :D

because of finals and going home today, the full fic isn't finished :/ but i DO have a little snippet/sneak peek for you and i really really hope you enjoy!!!

~~~~~~~~

“LYSANDRA!” Aelin yelped, wishing she could reach through the phone and smack her friend. “What the hell?!” 

“I’m sorry,” Lys giggled, not sounding very apologetic. “Rowan’s still in town, though, yeah?” 

“Yeah,” Aelin sighed, “but I don’t want to do that to him, I already told him you were taking me.” 

“Something tells me the group hero won’t mind a last-minute carpool,” Lys snickered. “Bye, Ae!” And she hung up before Aelin could protest any further. 

Gods dammit all to hell. 

Grumbling to herself, Aelin reluctantly swung out of bed and texted Rowan. 

<hey, sorry to bother you, but lys and aeds already left >:(

His reply pinged through just as she came out of her bathroom, patting her face dry. 

>shit, that sucks! do you need a ride?

<yeah. 

>i’ll be over in about an hour if that’s ok?

<don’t rush yourself!

<and you don’t need to, i can always either drive myself or try and get another mode of transport

>bullshit. what are friends for?

<you’re too nice to me, buzzard

>love ya too, ace

Her heart did a funny flip at those words, even though she knew full well they were completely platonic. And always had been. And always would be. Get your shit together, Galathynius! Mentally smacking herself, she made her bed, changed into comfy leggings, a t-shirt, and a flannel, and finished packing up her things. 

By the time Rowan knocked on her apartment door, she was completely ready to go. 

“Hey,” he greeted her, strolling into her apartment. “Ready?” 

“For once, yes.” 

“It’s a miracle!” he exclaimed, grinning. 

She swatted the back of his head. “Shut up, Mr. I’m Ready Three Days In Advance.” 

“Never hurts to be prepared.”

“Indeed not.” She winked broadly at him, giving the comment a whole new tone. 

“Ace!” he spluttered, red spots appearing on his cheeks. 

“Hey, we’re both adults,” she laughed. “C’mon, let’s not keep your infernal punctuality waiting, Ro.” 

“Someone’s learned,” he snickered, grabbing her suitcase. “Uh-uh, Ace, let me be a gentleman.” 

“You can do that?” 

“Shut it,” he pouted playfully. 

She giggled, ruffling his pale blonde, near-silver hair. “Very well, Mr. Gentleman Whitethorn. Thank you.” She locked her door behind her and off they went, out to Rowan’s car. 

“Passenger gets to pick the music!” she declared once they were both settled, plugging her phone into the aux cord. 

“Gods,” Rowan groaned. “Remind me why I let you do this, Ae?” 

“Love ya too, grouchy,” she snickered. “Cheer up, it’s five hours to the lodge and I’m sure there’ll be at least one song in those five hours that you’ll enjoy.” 

“We’ll see about that,” he fake-grouched, smirking at her. 

~

“You suck!” Aelin declared, laughing as she hugged Lysandra and Elide. 

Her closest friends smirked at her. “Cheer up, babes,” Elide snickered, “at least you got to spend five hours in the car with the hottest guy in the group.” 

“Fucking gods,” Aelin groaned, her head tilting back. “How many times do I have to repeat, we’re just friends?” 

“You keep telling yourself that, hun,” Lys smirked, patting her shoulder. 

Aelin grumbled something about meddling in my love life and grabbed her suitcase, heading off towards her room. She took the elevator up to the second floor and went down the cozy, wood-paneled hall until she reached Room 224, where she swiped her keycard through the lock and walked in. 

And almost had a heart attack. “What the fuck?!” 

“Fuck!” Rowan yelped, hastily pulling his pants back on. “Has anyone ever told you about this thing called knocking?” 

“This is my room!” she protested, showing him her confirmation email. 

Rowan blinked, momentarily speechless. 

Then his eyes narrowed, and he sighed, flopping backwards onto the bed. “God, Aedion told me we were getting a double room, I’m sorry.” 

“Aedion...” Aelin grumbled something extremely foul. “I should have known he’d do something like this, I’m 99% sure those idiots have a bet on us.” 

“Huh?” 

“Oh, buzzard, you’re so clueless sometimes.” She winked. “I’m pretty damn certain all out friends have a bet on us getting together and Aeds is trying to sabotage it by ‘accidentally’ putting us together in this room.”

“Jackass,” Rowan grunted. He flashed her a smirk. “So which one of us is sleeping in the bathtub?” 

~~~

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