#Rowan is a snack and we all know it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gxdsfavgal · 2 years

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I don’t really like you

Pairing: Xavier Thorpe x Fem!Agro!reader

Warning: angst, mentions of death, arguments, teasing, making out, early start of smut, almost getting caught, there will be a part 2 (smut), very scrambled writing, not edited

A/N: reader has agrokinesis which is the power to control/manipulate plants/earth stuff lol… also pls comment if you want to be tagged in part 2

Update: part 2 here!

Wednesday is finally enrolled at Nevermore after years of trying to convince her. I’ve known her since we were little, we had our own little trio whenever our parents would have dinners. It was always Wednesday, Xavier, and I, and occasionally Pugsley.

Our parents all met at Nevermore, all of them part of the Nightshades. Of course, we had to follow in their footsteps.

The news spread fast around campus, talking about what she did at her other schools. I saw her with Enid while having a tour of the school.

“Wednesday!” I hollered from the door I was leaning against.

She quickly turned around and with a confused and pale face, her eyes widened.

I walked up to her with open arms, I knew she wouldn’t give into the hug but it was worth a try.

“Y/n.” she sent a quickly smirk as we nodded to each other.

“You two know each other?” Enid cocked her head.

“Since diapers.” Wednesday spoke with her monotone voice as the three of us walked around the courtyard.

“Yeah Wednesday, Xavier, and I.” I muttered out.

“Wait. You mean to tell me that you and Xavier used to be friends?” Enid threw her hands in the air as she spoke loud.

“Enid, shut up.” I was quick to cover her mouth with my hand. I looked around the courtyard to see if anyone heard, and of course Xavier was looking right as us.

“You aren’t friends with Xavier anymore?” Wednesday asked.

“They’re always argu-”3

“Enid. I don't want to talk about it. It was nice seeing you Wednesday.” I sent her and Enid a small smile before walking away.

It’s been a few days since Wednesday arrived, she’s always getting in trouble. Though, last night she decided to do her own little tour of the school.

“What did you tell Wednesday?” Xavier stopped me while I was on my way to my dorm.

“That she can sneak into the kitchen pantry and steal snacks?” I questioned, trying to swerve away from him to get to my room.

He followed behind me heading up to the girls corridors.

“What? No. You told her about what happened that night.” his big eyes showed that he wasn’t messing around.

“I literally didn’t tell her anything, I erased that night from my mind.” I pointed to my temple. “Probably should’ve asked one of the sirens to make me forget.”

I shoved past him and continued walking down the long hallway to my room, his heavy steps close behind mine.

Once I opened my door, I tried to close it as fast as possible but he slid through.

“God can you leave me alone?” I groaned loudly, throwing my book bag onto my bed.

“How does she know about the Nightshade library and what happened that night?” he asked towering over me.

“Xavier, I don’t fucking know how she knows!” I threw my hands in the air in annoyance. “Why do you care about her knowing?”

“Fuck. I don’t care about her knowing, it’s about the elder Nightshades knowing! About our families knowing!” he was close to be now, his neck turning red from his anger.

“You did this to yourself. I told all of you he didn’t seem like himself, you knew since you were his roommate. I told you guys not to kick him out, plus you let them embarrass me. I haven’t even told my family that i’m not a Nightshade anymore.”

“You got yourself kicked out, you thought you could help Rowan with your plants. He almost killed that kid.” he waved his hand around signaling all my plants.

“I saved that normie with my plants, don’t forget that. If it wasn’t for me, we’d all be wanted by the normies. You’re part of the reason he’s dead. And don’t even deny it, you know that wasn’t him after the fair.” that shut him up quick, he knows i’m right.

He shook his head and made his way to my door. “Wednesday declined the offer.”

“Good. We don’t need anymore egotistic skinny dippers here.”

Then he was gone. My heart was racing. I haven’t talked to Xavier in a few months, and I definitely didn’t expect the first time to be an argument.

I heard a knock at my window, it possibly could just be the old welding creaking. It’s midnight, who would be outside my window at midnight?

knock knock.

I quickly and quietly wrapped myself in my blanket and nervously walked towards the window. I opened it and looked around to see who was there, nobody.

I was about to close my window until I saw a blur in my peripheral vision. It was Thing, giving some sassy attitude because I couldn't see him.

“What?” I whispered to him, rubbing my tired eyes.

He started signing to me, telling me things with his fingers.

“Slow down. Wednesday? What? She needs me to- stop.” I quietly barked at him.

“Why does she need me to go into the Nightshade library if she has total access?”

He began to sign again, having a slight attitude with the way he moved.

“Fine. But make sure to tell her to stay out of trouble if she’s one strike away from getting expelled, and that she owes me.”

He understood and nodded then made his way out of the window.

I quickly put on my hoodie and grabbed my phone before sneaking out of my dorm. The corridors were dim and quiet as I crept down to the Poe statue.

I stood in front of the old statue and held my hand up. "snap twice." I breathed out.

My thumb and middle finger rubbed against each other quickly, letting out those two snaps. The statue grinding against the concrete floor, opening and revealing the stairs to the secret library.

I walked down the cobwebbed filled stairs, shivering from the cold of the lower level.

I reached the library, walking over to see the picture of my parents hanging up on the wall. The Addams and Thorpe family next to my parents frame.

“What are you doing here?”

My hand shot up and clenched into a fist to conjure a strong vine to grab the owner of the voice. I tightened my fist to make sure the vines were tight and strong.

I turned around and saw my vines holding down the hands of Xavier. I loudly sighed and rolled my eyes knowing that he’s in my way again.

“Let me go.” he struggled against the vines. His white shirt loose on him as his sweatpants were tied.

“Why would you creep up on me?” I jerked my head forward, my hand unclenching to release him.

“Why are you here?” he rubbed at his wrists.

I ignored him and moved towards the large shelf of books. My fingers dragged along the dusty spines of the book, trying to find the book.

“You shouldn’t be here.” he followed behind me with every step I took, so close that I can feel his breath on my hair.

“I can be here if I want to.” I turned to face him but he bumped into my chest from the quick halt. “But don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair soon.”

I have a sarcastic smile and turned back to looking for the book that Wednesday needed.

“But to answer your question, I’m here for Wednesday.” I crouched down to the books on the lower shelf.

“Why couldn’t she come here herself?” he asked, leaning against the bookshelf as he looked down at me.

“Why are you here?” I looked up at him. Looking up at him from this angle brought thoughts in my mind that I didn’t need.

“Im actually a Nightshade, you on the other hand aren’t.” his arms crossed over his chest.

I quickly stood up to face him, he towered over me. I looked up at him, his nose flaring a tad as we had a stare off while we were merely an inch apart from each other.

He was the first one to look away, rolling his eyes and turning his head. I turned around and started looking for the book again.

“Are you going to help me look or just keep breathing down my back?” I asked him with a playful tone.

He put his arms up in surrender, walking away to the desk where his things were set up. He sat on the chair and continued his sketch.

“Fucking finally!” I sighed out as I grabbed the needed book from the shelf and held it against my chest.

I walked over to Xavier, standing behind him as I watched his fingers smudge the led of the pencil. I couldn’t really tell what he was drawing, it was unfinished and his hand was covering most of it.

“Are you going to leave or just keep breathing down my back?” he continued drawing, not even turning to look at me.

“Hmm I don't know. Maybe I like breathing down your neck, it seems like it gets you annoyed.” I had a small grin on my face. We used to have this type of playful banter before that traumatic night, I sort of miss it.

He scoffed and I just knew he rolled his eyes because he was annoyed of me.

I took another look at his drawing, this time I’m able to see the almost finished product. It looked so familiar, he added so much detail that I felt like I knew what it was.

“What is it?” I pointed to his paper.

He closed his sketchbook harshly and dropping his pencil onto the table. He leaned on his elbows on the table, just sitting there in silence probably thinking of ways to kill me because I was annoying him.

I began to turn on my heel and silently walk towards the stairs that I came down from earlier.

“Why do you think that wasn’t Rowan?” he blurted out. His body in the chair is turned to me as I turned back on my heel to face him.

“Why don’t you believe Wednesday?” I questioned against him.

“I asked a question first.” he tilted his head, motioning for my to tell him my thoughts.

I walked closer to him, setting down the book onto the table as I leaned my hip on the edge. I made sure to keep a distance from him.

“I stopped him on his way to the car and I gave him a bundle of lavender. He said that I always knew it was his favorite. Everyone knows he’s deathly allergic to lavender.” I crossed my arms over my chest with a huff. “Now, why don’t you believe Wednesday?”

Xavier rubbed a hand over his face. “Isn’t it weird that on her first couple of days she was almost killed by Rowan, then witnessed Rowans ‘murder’ and was supposedly saved by the monster?”

I shrugged my shoulders, basically telling him in makes sense.

“It doesn't line up.”

I rolled my eyes at him which I received a scrunched up face from him. “I think you’re in denial of his death. You’re making up excuses. Just admit that I’m right.”

He scoffed louder this time, his fingers combing back his hair. The veins in his arm were prominent and his hands were always so nice and pampered.

He went to stand up and slowly reached to grab his sketch book, but I was quick enough to get ahold of it before him.

“Give it.” his voice had a hint of playfulness behind it, but his face didn't show any sign of a smile or smirk.

“C’mon, just admit it.. and apologize to me.” I conjured a vine to hold his book against the wall with thick trailings of the plant tight around it.

“Are you serious? It’s late” he rubbed at his eyes as he held out his hand waiting for me to give him his book back.

“You just have to do two things, it’s not hard.” I had a small cocky smile on my face.

“Fine.” he rolled his eyes.

I was nice enough to loosen my vines from his book that was up against the wall. My vines bringing his book to my hands.

I cocked my eyebrow telling him to carry on and say what is needed to be said.

“Rowan is dead, and that wasn’t the real Rowan.” one of his hands stayed in a fist at his side, while the other still was holding out waiting for his book to be laid flat on his palm.

I hummed as I began to flip through his sketches.

“Dude!” he jumped out to me but I was quick to pull back, still looking through the hundreds of sketches.

“Wow, you’re really into this whole monster thing huh?” I had a sarcastic shocked face.

I moved my body over to the desk where he sat earlier, leaning my thighs against it. My eyes scanned through the pages, looking at how intricate the detailing was.

“Stop.” I jumped at me again, my body leaning back onto the table as his chest was close to mine. I clicked my tongue at his failed attempt. “Just give it.” he breathed out as he was still an inch away.

My eyes drifted to his eyes. Fuck. Those green eyes tortured me, and those lips. I really shouldn’t be feeling this type of way.

“I’ll give it if you answer a question.” I sent him a smirk.

One side of his lips tilted up, but he tried to hide it by dragging hand down his face.

“Fine.” he huffed out.

“Have you ever drawn me?” I tilted my head to the side as I watched him think through his answer.

I can tell by the way his mouth opens and closes that he doesn't know if he should say. I already know the answer.

“Tick tock.” I bopped my head side to side.

“Yes.” he muttered out.

A smile formed on my face as his cheeks began to blush.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you. Can you say that again?”

“Yes! Fuck, I’ve drawn you.” his hands frustratingly combed his hair back.

I flipped through his sketch book to find the page of a drawing of me. My eyes were drawn to be seductive, dark, and my lips more plump. On the other page is a drawing of me laying in bed but a chain dangling over my face.

I looked up from the page to see the same dangling chain. I look further up and see Xaviers face red from embarrassment.

“Look, you weren’t-” I nodded and closed the book, pushing it against his stomach telling him to grab it.

His hand grabbed it the book but I didn't let go of the book, I pulled on the book and brought him close to me again. My brought my lips to his, dropping the book onto the table.

He pulled back from the kiss. “I thought you were weirded out.” He looked at me with wide confused eyes.

I dragged my hands up to the nape of his neck, my fingers lightly scratching his scalp.

“I like weird things.” I shrugged my shoulders and pulled him back down into a kiss.

His hands moved to my hips, pulling him into me and his fingers squeezing tightly. My hands gripping his hair as we breathed heavy and our tongues clashing.

Both of us moaning into each others mouth as he pulled himself between my legs, the many layers of clothing between us.

We suddenly heard the heavy scratch of the statue moving and footsteps tapping against the stone. Xavier and I quickly separated from each other and stood apart as we waited to see who it was.

I quickly fixed my hair and clothes, and he did the same.

“Well hello Mister Thorpe and Miss l/n.”

“Miss Weems.” we said in sync as we nodded to her.

“It is pretty late, so I suggest that the two of you get some rest.” the tall blonde stood with her arms ushering to the entrance as she stood in a silk grey robe and matching pajama pants.

“Will do Miss.” I sent her a smile as I grabbed the book that Wednesday needed as Xavier grabbed his sketchbook and pencils.

The two of us walked up the stairs with Weems following closely behind.

“Goodnight you two.” Weems said quietly once we reached the hallway, she then made her way down the opposite way of our corridors.

“I still hate you.” I muttered to Xavier then turned my heel to the girls corridors.

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mariaofdoranelle · 1 year

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Look at Us Now — Ch. 10

Fic masterlist

*Nods to Nonnie who sent me a prompt the other week*

Warnings: language, mentions of thiefs and orgies

Words: 3,7k

“OH MY GOD.”

Aelin’s screams made Rowan jump out of the couch, pulse racing as he sprinted towards the sound. He didn’t mean to fall asleep there, it must be the middle of the night already.

His shoulders dropped in relief when he found her safe, just whisper-yelling with her head sticking out the window.

“What’s going on?”

Aelin had her eyes narrowed, arms crossed. “We have a thief.”

“A thief?”

It’s not that Rowan thought she was lying, but breaking into anything military-related was a suicide mission. This house was as safe as it could get.

“Well, it has to be a thief, since he’s climbing into windows like one,” Aelin explained in a voice higher than necessary for Rowan to hear.

“Oh, come on!” Said thief protested from the outside.

When Rowan approached the window to assess the situation, his whole body froze. Obnoxiously shiny black hair, sapphire blue eyes and taller than he liked to imagine. Rowan hoped he’d never meet Dorian Havilliard, his baby mama’s ex-boyfriend, but there he was, about to climb Fenrys’ window

“Front door, now!” Aelin’s voice was commanding, and apparently her ex knew when there was no fighting her.

She didn’t wait for him to grab her snack bowl and storm down the hallway, which was good, since it gave Rowan space to strangle his roommate.

He elbowed his friend who’d just left his room and whispered, “What the fuck did you do?”

Fenrys had the gall to do a military salute. “I stole her man, like I promised you I would.”

Yes, he did promise that when Rowan was in jail. No, it didn’t make him feel better.

“Seriously? Of all the people in the world, him?”

Fenrys’ shoulders dropped like a child’s when being scolded. “But he’s so hot!”

Rowan could take this argument further, but that’d entail admitting Aelin’s ex was hot. Instead, he moved to the living room to find her bickering with Dorian.

Aelin had her arms crossed over her heavy bump. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know you were staying here!”

“Then why didn’t you just use the front door?”

“Fen told me not to!” Dorian pointed at his pants. “Do you think these were made for climbing windows?”

Fenrys moved closer to them and cleared his throat. “Aelin, I really appreciate your friendship, but I won’t apologize for stealing your man.”

Her eyes widened, and her head tilted back a beat later, a loud laugh booming out of her. She held a finger up for a few seconds, silently asking them to wait until she recovered. “Fen, I wouldn’t care if you fucked him when we were dating. I definitely don’t need an apology from you now.”

Dorian clutched his chest in a wounded stance. “Ouch!”

She rolled her eyes, chuckling. “Oh, come on.”

Rowan’s narrowed eyes darted between Fenrys and his boy toy. “So you two are a thing now?”

“Not really.” Dorian shrugged. “I’m kinda going through a slut phase now that I’m single.”

Aelin clamped her lips together as she tried not to laugh again. “You were always in a slut phase.”

Rowan crossed his arms, assessing those two. He knew they had an open relationship, but he was starting to grasp how open it was.

This was so hard to understand. If Rowan had the chance to tie Aelin down, he wouldn’t even give her time enough to see other people, let alone almost every day, like she did with Rowan months ago.

He wasn’t trying to judge their previous relationship, but it was really hard to understand someone who had everything in his hands and still seeked other people.

Now that Aelin seemed calmer, Dorian gave a pointed look to the snack she left at the coffee table. He inched closer and picked the food Rowan made for Aelin, inspecting it from every angle imaginable.

“Pregnant women are so weird.” He sniffed the dried mango with mustard and gummy bears and wrinkled his nose. “Is this even edible?”

Aelin drew a slow smirk and wiggled her eyebrows before saying, “Not the kind of edible we’d eat when we were residents.”

The ache from Rowan’s tense jaw spread to his other muscles as well. His hands twitched as he held back from grabbing Aelin’s ex by his shiny dark hair and—

It didn’t matter. Aelin was single, and she decided to do a friendly co-parenting thing with him. Her previous relationship didn’t matter now.

Rowan: What do you usually buy for Girls’ Night?

Rowan: I mean snacks.

Completely at loss, he wandered around the store closest to his home, only taking note of what was available until Aelin replied to his texts. Fenrys and Lorcan were currently at his home watching Maisie, and they had kicked Rowan here because, apparently, the snacks at his house were too organic and lame.

The thing is, Rowan’s never hosting parties, he’s usually dragged into them. But their therapist told him to do something with the sole purpose of having a good time, so there he was. Even though he didn’t know exactly why. He thought therapy was supposed to be about his family. Why was Yrene trying to give him homework that doesn’t involve Aelin?

Rowan felt his muscles loosening when his phone pinged with Aelin’s notification. It was torture to tone down his previous multiple calls a day, but at least she became more receptive when he reached out.

Aelin: can’t tell

Aelin: the girls’ night lore is exclusive to ellie and i

Aelin: but it’ll be passed down to maisie when the time comes

He trailed his eyes on the ceiling. She had to be joking, right?

Rowan: Please?

He frowned at his phone when she stayed too long without replying. Maybe that wasn’t a joke after all.

Rowan: Aelin?

Aelin: sorry

Aelin: i was driving

Rowan: And texting.

Aelin: just in the red light. don’t fuss.

Aelin: at least until i find some good dry shampoo. i can’t die with greasy hair.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard as an idea struck him. Rowan was pretty sure people bought those at pharmacies, and he knew the one she frequented the most is on the same block he was at.

Rowan: Are you close to home?

Rowan: I’m at the convenience store

Rowan: Maybe you could come by and help me out?

Yes, he knew she could very well just text a suggestion on snacks to buy. It fleetingly crossed his mind, but it didn’t sound near as nice as the idea he proposed.

It seemed like Aelin didn’t agree with him, by the way the typing balloon popped in and out of his screen many times.

Rowan: But that’s not very practical, now that I think about it.

Rowan: I hope you find your dry shampoo.

He pocketed his phone and focused back on the food shelves, trying to ignore the feeling of his dropping stomach. What was he thinking? Of course Rowan could buy drinks and snacks by himself. He was an independent man, he didn’t need Aelin to host anything.

After gathering half of what he needed to make a decent charcuterie board, the fridge with the drinks caught his eye. He’d follow the rule he established with Aelin and not drink while being in charge of Maisie, but maybe Fenrys and Lorcan would want some.

Rowan never knew how much pressure to apply to break the refrigerator’s vacuum seal, so he was met with the sound of bottles clinking together as soon as he opened the beer fridge. He used his hand to steady one of the shaky bottles when he noticed its design. Grabbing it to exam it closer, he noticed its unusually bright colors, and—

“Be careful, that’s a gay man’s beer,” an older man beside him warned, looking at the colorful beer bottle as if it was a bomb.

Nodding tightly, Rowan felt his body temperature rise. He knew he looked unapproachable to strangers, so it was a mystery why this stranger thought he’d be a good buddy to insult minorities together.

“That’s good, then.” Rowan schooled his body into a relaxed expression. He wore a lazy smirk while added some of the controversial bottles into his basket. “Because that’s not the gayest thing I’ll be putting in my mouth tonight,” he lied, but the horror on the stranger’s face was worth it.

The man blanched, his mouth opening and closing until he sputtered, “Um, sorry… yeah.” And left.

However, behind the stranger, there was a very shellshocked Aelin. Her eyes were bulged out of her face, mouth hanging open.

“I don’t think I was meant to hear that,” she said in a shaky tone.

he knew he needed to reply to her, but it was hard to gather words. Aelin was wearing a golden, metallic cropped top along with some tailored white pants. He swallowed, feeling his now erratic breathing worsen the warmth spreading over his body. This was some unusual attire, and his unusual reaction was proof of that.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.” She glanced around, scratching the back of her neck, before giving his basket a pointed look. “You’re doing great there, with the snack shopping. I’ll send you some pictures of Elide’s table from last Girls’ Night. You’ll know what to do.”

When Aelin turned around to leave, Rowan froze. She was wearing a bun, probably because of the dry shampoo situation, and Rowan could see every freckle on her back. His eyes widened with the sight and he flexed his hands, trying to get rid of a sudden ache there. Aelin wasn’t wearing a shirt, this was a scrap of golden fabric being held by three thin straps in the back.

Why would Aelin come here just to tell him that and leave? And why did she look so flustered after—

She didn’t think what he said was real, did she?

Feeling his heart beat out of his throat, Rowan fumbled with his phone, almost letting it fall at some point, to type the only thing he could think of.

Rowan: I am NOT going on a gay date

Rowan: Aelin

Rowan: Talk to me

Typing. Not typing. Typing. Not typing. Typing… Aelin was going to kill him like this.

Aelin: it’s okay, rowan! we can pretend this didn’t happen if you’d like. i’m sorry i overheard, you can talk to me about it when you feel ready.

He groaned, banging his head against the beer fridge.

˜˜

Fenrys cackling had always been a good indicator that Rowan was going through one of the lowest points of his life. As a rule, the intensity of his laughter was directly proportional to the amount of shit Rowan was in. Today was no exception.

“She-“ Fenrys held a finger in and grasped both knees, wheezing. “She didn’t know it was just us here?”

“I checked the text thread already. I didn’t tell her.” Rowan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Did Elide say anything?”

Lorcan shook his head. “Ellie refused to tell me about Aelin’s plans. She’s telling us to mind our own businesses.”

Rowan’s knee was bouncing as he stared at Maisie’s drawing of Aelin on his wall. He had been acting weird the entire night, and his friends called him out on it the second his daughter went to bed.

“So we still don’t know where she was going dressed like that.” Rowan didn’t meet anyone’s eye. He knew it was a silly statement.

Fen chugged his beer. “We all know what she’s doing. Like I told you the other day, she’s on the hunt for Mr. Right.”

Rowan’s chest was an adjustable knot, and it got tighter every time someone mentioned this in a violent tug.

Lorcan narrowed his eyes at Fenrys. “She’s not. Ellie would’ve told me.”

“Are you sure? Because the last time Elide told you something about Aelin’s love life, you didn’t waste a second before you opened your mouth.” Fenrys turned to Rowan. “Did you download Tinder? We might need to rush with the plan.”

“The what?” Lorcan blurted before Rowan could tell he hadn’t downloaded any dating apps yet.

Fenrys smirked like the devil and hooked an arm around Rowan’s neck, smudging his cheek with tomato sauce from the bruschetta he was eating. “Tinder. After six years, Hoey Rowie is alive and breathing.”

“Hold on, I haven’t made a decision yet,” Rowan said while cleaning his cheek with a napkin.

“That’s the worst idea Fenrys could ever come up with. Why would other women solve your problem with Aelin?” Lorcan clasped his hands together and supported his chin in the space between the thumb and index finger. He gave Rowan a look that was so hard to decipher, he wished he could be inside his friend’s head. “Dude, you should just talk to her.”

Fenrys lifted a finger. “And by her, he means the hot redhead I’m setting you up with.”

”By her, I mean Aelin.” Lorcan had his signature judgy look on. “Have you ever stopped to think about why he wants to go on dates?”

”Because he’s a single DILF!” Fenrys exclaimed, arms flailing. “Dude, you’re being a Love Grinch.”

Lorcan pointed at his wedding ring, eyes narrowed at Fenrys. “If anything, I’m the Love Santa. The only thing I’m trying to ruin here is this bad decision. I’m the Mistake Grinch.”

Rowan picked a mini bruschetta from the coffee table, carefully weighing his friends’ words. “So you think I shouldn’t date yet?”

Lorcan shrugged, but his earnest eyes portrayed all the concern he was trying to conceal. “If you want to date, you should do it for the right reasons. Have you even thought of the reason why you suddenly want to date again?”

Because Aelin said she wanted more kids, which implies seeing someone. He freaked out, and then freaked the fuck out when he saw her in a sparkly night outfit. But did Rowan want to delve deeper into why he was getting these reactions? No, not really. He’d just fall into a rabbit hole of heartbreak, and there’d be no going out, just painfully shutting out.

Today, Rowan was choosing slutty dilfhood instead of his usual pathetic single co-parenthood.

He cocked his head into Fenrys’ direction. “Tell me about the redhead.”

˜˜

When Rowan said he’d go on a date with Fenrys’ friend, he didn’t mean immediately. However, here he was. In Doranelle City’s new hottest spot, or so his friend—and the huge line at the front door—told him.

Apparently, his date knew people, so he gave his name at the front and was allowed to cut the line.

The music Rowan was being forced to listen to outside got louder when he walked in. There was a sea of people dancing, yelling, making out in the corners, and the place reeked of a mix of beer and sweat.

Rowan had been here for a matter of seconds, and he already missed the comfort of his home.

It was one thing to say he’d decided to date again, and another to actually go on dates. Worse, a date at a club. He needed mental preparation, but of course his extroverted slut friend wouldn’t understand that. Of course he’d schedule a date for the same night and ruin Rowan’s chances to rethink and potentially balk.

That was only happening because Fenrys stayed with Maisie, who was already asleep when he left, and Rowan would definitely be there when she woke up. Lorcan went home as soon as the date was set, asking, in his words, to be excluded from this stupidity.

A girl in a tight black dress, who looked very close to the picture Fenrys showed him, tapped his upper arm.

“Rowan?” She screamed through the loud music.

“Ansel?”

She smiled. “That’s me.”

Her brown irises had some red tones to it, but it was probably the strobe lights fooling his senses. He stared deep into her eyes for longer than was socially acceptable, more out of curiosity than anything else.

Ansel smirked. “At least buy me dinner first!”

Rowan’s eyes widened. “That was rude, I’m sorry.”

The woman cackled, somehow finding something to be amused at about him, and tugged on his arm. “Come on, I found a table in the back.”

Rowan’s shoulders loosened when he saw the back of the club. After the suffocating dance floor, there was this outdoorsy area with quieter music and actual tables with menus. This was a lot better.

The silence was absolutely painful after they ordered beers and fries.

“So.” Rowan cleared his throat. “How did you meet Fenrys?”

“At an orgy.”

The beer he was sipping went right back through his nose, making him choke on it.

Ansel’s laugh boomed through the open room, and she made soothing motions on his back as he recovered from the surprise. “Don’t worry, Big Guy. I’m not dragging you to one.”

“Thanks.” He coughed a little, clutching his chest. ”I didn’t mean to sound judgy. I narrowed my… activities down to two people after being done with university.”

Ansel reassured him she wasn’t offended, then silence stretched again. Conversation with Aelin just flowed so easily, and this was a painful reminder every date he went. Which was why Rowan had a reputation in his twenties. He wasn’t good at making conversation, but he was young and good-looking enough to skip that part, if the person was interested.

35-year-old Rowan didn’t find that option satisfying anymore.

He cleared his throat. “What’s your favorite color?”

She snorted. “You can talk to me about your ex if you want to. I’m a bartender, which means I’m the fun kind of shrink.”

Rowan opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. “How do you know there’s an ex?”

She shrugged. “Fenrys has a big mouth.”

“It wouldn’t be very nice of me to talk about someone else while on a date with you.”

Ansel leaned back on her seat, twirling the glass beer bottle in her hand. “I’m not looking for anything serious, so I’m not offended that you’re still hooked up on your ex. You can tell me about her, pay me a drink…” she swept an appreciative gaze over his body. “And we can still go somewhere else if we’re in the mood later, but I can’t offer you more than that.”

After debating this idea in his head for a moment, his conclusion was a big fuck it. He told her everything, from the night he met Aelin to the present day, and received back a lot more reactions than his certified shrink’s neutral expressions.

“Oh, boy.” Ansel blinked, mouth hanging open. “You’re so fucked.”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Don’t I know it.”

She slowly shook her head. “I mean, it’s been fucking years, and you’re still in love with her?”

Rowan’s pulse immediately picked up. “That’s not what I told you at all.”

“You said some deep love shit, man. Literally, everything but the words.”

This was a nightmare. Tonight was supposed to be about forgetting Aelin, but somehow he ended up discussing with his date whether or not his co-parent had feelings for him five years ago. Rowan ran a million worst-case scenarios for this date, but his imagination wasn’t near as bad as the real thing.

“I’m sorry, but I need to ask you something.”

Rowan sighed. “Go ahead.”

“It’s been five years, and not once you thought of asking her the reason why she left?”

“Being rejected was humiliating enough already.” Feeling his insides tighten, Rowan crossed his arms and carefully kept an even tone. “I don’t need details on how much she didn’t care about me.”

“She cared.” Ansel sipped her drink. “Did you help her out with the baby?”

Rowan nodded. “When I wasn’t at work, yeah.”

“I’ve never heard of a new mom who’d just reject help. If she didn’t care about you, she’d enjoy the free labor and let you be. But she asked you to leave, which means you probably fucked up.”

Rowan felt a lump forming in his throat, but he focused on keeping a steady face for this stranger. He took in the string lights and the distant sounds of a crowd yelling, scrambling his mind for something to say.

This wasn’t true. He remembered everything, and Rowan wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t do anything big enough to make her leave.

In the end, Ansel didn’t know him or Aelin. She wasn’t there to know Aelin’s feelings better than he did.

Rowan opened his mouth, but closed again. God, he never should’ve started talking about Aelin in the first place. He pointed at the direction where he could hear some occasional applause. “Is there another dance floor over that door?

“Oh.” She looked over her shoulder. “Fridays are karaoke nights. Do you wanna take a look?”

He’d do anything to avoid that awkwardness.

There was a small stage where people could sing and an employee in the corner taking care of the song requests. The place was cramped, a lot of people cheering and singing along with a guy performing a Spice Girls song. All of the tables were taken, but they managed to find stools in the bar near the door.

Rowan was begrudgingly admitting to himself that watching such an alive crowd was lighting up his bitter mood. But the thing that grabbed his attention the most was when Lysandra, one of the moms from Maisie’s soccer class, got up on stage. They weren’t exactly friends, but he caught her chatting often with Aelin and a few other moms during games.

“Oh, hi!” She waved at the crowd, then tugged her skin-tight green dress. “I’m trying to get my friend Aelin to sing with me, but I think she needs a little encouragement.”

Rowan felt his stomach bottoming out. The crowd erupted, but not near as much as one table by the front, full exclusively with women he recognized as soccer moms.

Aelin was easily spotted among them, cackling with her flimsy golden fabric that was definitely not a shirt.

Shit. He was in such deep, unending shit.

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#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #throne of glass #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #aelin x rowan #look at us now #rowaelin fanfic #throne of glass fanfic

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live-the-fangirl-life · 1 year

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Trust Me, it'll be Fun

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn

“It’s just a spooky clock chiming at the incorrect time while all the lights are off and strange footsteps are creeping up the stairs, in a house that won’t let us leave.”

Masterlist | Read on Ao3 | Halloween Collection

Halloween Prompts

2053 words

*****

Whoever had the brilliant idea of sneaking into the decrepit, supposedly haunted house the weekend before Halloween needed some serious help. Aelin.

Whoever forgot to give out snack instructions that resulted in no one bringing any food or drinks with them needed to get it together. Rowan

Whoever raided the cabinets and found an old bottle of Crème de Menthe and thought it would be a good idea to pass it around needed to find something better to do with their time than cause chaos. Fenrys.

Whoever complained the entire time that they needed new friends needed to suck it. Lorcan.

And somehow, that was how they ended up separated – Aedion and Lysandra off to the kitchen, Fenrys gods-know-where, and Elide and Lorcan finally joining Aelin and Rowan in the foyer, arguing about leaving or staying. The front door was open and she could see the steps leading down to the path outside.

“Fireheart, c’mon, can we just call it a night?” Rowan sighed, crossing his arms. “We’ve been here for hours now, it's just an old house. There’s nothing spooky about it other than the fact that it's falling apart.”

“Rowan, we said we would spend the night here.” She argued half-heartedly.

He huffed, rolling his eyes. “How are we supposed to stay here all night with no food or water?”

Laughing, Aelin stepped closer and rested her hands on his crossed arms. “You say that like we're stranded on some desert island.”

“At least on an island, we wouldn’t have to hear your cousin and Lysandra making out in the next room.”

“My cousin,” she scoffed, “your friend is only ‘my cousin’ he annoys you.”

The sounds from the next room came again and she winced as Rowan’s brows shot up in vindication.

“I’m with Rowan,” Elide spoke up, walking toward the couple with her fiancé a step behind her. “Let’s just go.”

“Really?” Aelin spun towards her friend who shrugged. “You too?”

“I didn’t even really want to come.”

“What? Why did you then?” the blonde asked curiously.

“Because you’re my friend,” Elide laughed and bumped her shoulder with Aelin’s. “And I thought you might die otherwise and I needed to see you in your last moments to give you a passable eulogy.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” Aelin smiled, ignoring the sound of Lorcan scoffing. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“I did.” Elide snorted. “And you said trust me, it’ll be fun!”

“Famous last words,” Rowan muttered, rolling his eyes and leaning against the wall next to Lorcan.

“I’m sorry El,” she really did look it. “I get ramped up with Halloween.”

“I know, babes,” her friend patted her arm with a small smile, “I know.”

“Are we leaving or not?” Lorcan cut it, earning a glare form Aelin and an eyeroll for Elide.

“Fine,” Aelin huffed. “But I’m doing this for Elide, not for you Salvaterre.”

“Goody,” he deadpanned.

She went to walk out the door but paused at the top of the stairs. There was something that she couldn’t put her finger on…

“Something’s blocking the porch,” Aelin said.

Elide stared at her. “What do you mean something’s blocking the porch?”

A gust of wind blew the door shut behind her and Aelin whipped around at the sound, backing up until her back hit Rowan’s chest.

“I mean,” she explained, wrapping her arms around herself and glancing warily around the old house. “I tried to walk down the porch steps and I couldn’t.”

“What? You suddenly forgot how to walk down stairs, Galathynius?” Lorcan laughed and rolled his eyes, leaning back against the wall and letting his head hit the wood.

“No, you little shit—” she whirled on him, pointing a finger.

Rowan stepped in between them before they could get any closer to each other. Aelin shook off her boyfriend’s exasperated stare and tried explaining again.

“What I mean is that I tried to leave this house, and something stopped me,” she looked around at her friends and stressed, “like I physically couldn’t get to the bottom of the stairs.”

Elide forced out a weak laugh. “Ha ha, okay, very funny. You got me. Now can we cut it out and leave?” She stepped closer to Lorcan.

Aelin met her gaze and repeated, “I’m not kidding.”

“I may be a wimp when it comes to Halloween, but I’m not an idiot.” The smaller girl huffed. “You’re really playing up the whole haunted house thing, and you know what? Props to you. You did good.” She began a slow clap that brought a smirk to Lorcan’s face. “Now drop it.”

Rowan walked past them straight for the door and pulled on the door handle. The wood creaked against the effort.

“Cut it out, Whitethorn,” Lorcan griped when the door didn’t budge.

“Uh…” Rowan tried again, this time visibly straining as he pulled on the old door. “It’s not me.”

“Fucking hell.” Lorcan gritted out, slotting Elide next to Aelin as he took Rowan’s place and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. He gripped the handle and used his entire body weight, but it didn’t move.

“What the fuck?”

*****

“’Let’s go to a haunted house’ they said, ‘It's Halloween’ they said,” Aelin began pacing around the hall. “’It’ll be fun’, they said.”

“Don’t you dare pretend like you weren’t the one saying those things,” Aedion barked at her. He and Lysandra found their way back to the front hall when they heard their friends’ yelling.

“Oh, shut up,” she waved off her cousin and tried to think.

“Has anyone tried any of the other doors?” Lysandra asked. “Or windows, or whatever?”

“Okay,” Aelin perked up. “Lys and Aedion take the second floor, Rowan and I will search this floor, and Ellie, you and your guard dog take the attic.”

“Oh fuck no!” Elide protested. “You take the creepy attic, Lorcan and I will take the ground floor.”

“Not gonna correct the guard dog thing?” Rowan smirked at his friend. All he got back was a deadpan glare.

“Fine!” Aelin threw her hands up. “You two take this floor; Rowan and I have the attic.”

“Why are we looking in the attic at all?” Rowan asked, crossing his arms. “Even if there is a window, and even if we can get it open, it would still be three stories up and way too dangerous to escape from.”

Everyone stared at him, blinking, while he tried to find someone to see his point. Finally, Aelin huffed, “This is no time for common sense, Ro.”

He scrubbed a hand down his face and grumbled, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Okay!” Elide chirped, looking a little manic. “We each take a floor, look for anything that can help, and we meet back here in twenty minutes, yeah?”

A chorus of yeahs and okays and I’m going to kill you when we get out of here, Galathynius echoed throughout the group.

“And for the love of god,” Rowan pleaded, “somebody fucking find Moonbeam.”

They all split up, taking a different section of the house. Aelin and Rowan took their time walking up the stairs to the attic, each shift in the wood sending nerves rocketing through them. When they got to the top, they shared a look before Aelin pressed her hand to the door and pushed, letting in swing in and immediately outlining the silhouette of a figure staring right at them.

Three different screams echoed in the small hallway, each higher pitched than the last.

“Stop hitting me!” Fenrys shrieked under the barrage of Aelin’s fists. At the sound of his voice, Aelin pulled back, heart racing and chest heaving, finally shining the flashlight they’d grabbed in her friend’s face.

“Fenrys?!” she hissed, “You almost gave me a heart attack! What are you doing up here?”

She could feel Rowan’s erratic heart beating from where her back met his chest, as Fenrys stared at the pair like they were the crazy ones.

“Looking for these,” he lifted his hands and she saw the two bottles he was holding. “I knew a place like this would have more booze hidden around.”

“And you thought they’d be in the attic?” Rowan asked incredulously.

“Obviously,” Fenrys rolled his eyes. “And they were, so,” he shrugged.

“Gods, whatever,” Aelin pushed passed the blond and walked further into the dark and dusty room. A single swinging light bulb illuminated the space as the three of them looked around.

“What are you two doing up here?” Fenrys shot back.

“Looking for a way out,” Rowan didn’t elaborate.

Snorting, Fenrys mimicked, “And you thought you’d find it in the attic?”

Before either of them could reply, a loud chime sounded from the dilapidated grandfather clock that was pushed against a far wall. They whirled around. Aelin ended up in front of both guys, her fists raised while Rowan reached for the closest weapon he could find and Fenrys cradled the bottle of whiskey to his chest.

They had barely had a chance to wonder how a broken clock was chiming when they heard the stairs begin to creak.

“What are you gonna do, Whitethorn?” Fenrys hissed, “Sweep a ghost to death?”

Risking a glance behind her, Aelin saw Rowan clutching a broom between his hands and gripping it like a baseball bat. She elbowed Fenrys and hissed, “A ghost is already dead, dumbass.”

“Hey,” he hissed back. “Don’t call me a dumbass what it was your dumb ass that got all of our dumb asses here in the first place, dumbass.”

“Will you please stop saying dumbass?” Rowan hissed.

Aelin shot a triumphant look at Fenrys. “Yeah, dumbass.”

“For fucks sake…”

The lone lightbulb began flickering, immediately shutting all of them up. They could still hear the stairs creaking, the sound getting closer and closer every second.

“We’re going to die,” Fenrys breathed.

“It’s fine,” Aelin’s voice came out tinny and shaking.

“The fuck you mean it's fine?!”

“It’s fine,” she said again in that same choked squeak. “It’s just a spooky clock chiming at the incorrect time while all the lights are off and strange footsteps are creeping up the stairs, in a house that won’t let us leave.”

She felt both sets of eyes land on her and knew that if she looked at either man they would be looking at her as if she had lost her mind.

“How. Are. You. So. Calm?”

She forced a laugh, but it sounded more like a strained grunt. “Oh, because, none of this is real.”

“Uh,” Rowan’s voice came from her right, “It’s very real.”

“No,” she repeated, clearing her through and drawing in a breath. “You see, if it were real then you would see a Me-shaped hole in that door. But we can’t leave this house, which means I can’t escape, which means that it isn’t real.”

There was a beat of silence before Fenrys said, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve been listening to myself speak for twenty-five years.”

Rowan breathed, “Your denial both impresses and astounds me.”

“Thank you,” she breathed just as quietly. Glancing quickly between them, she asked, “Run?”

“Run.” Rowan nodded.

Another best passed and the three of them raced down the steps, screaming at whoever was coming towards them. They made it to the main floor before realizing they hadn’t run into anyone on their way down.

*****

The twenty-four-hour diner’s fluorescent lights lit up the group of seven friends who were huddled together in a booth, silently replaying the night's events in their heads.

“So,” Elide’s voice cracked, and she cleared her throat before continuing, her soft voice sounding almost obscenely loud in the near-empty diner, “What did we learn tonight?”

Groans echoed around the table.

Aedion spoke up first, “Run if you ever hear Aelin say, ‘Trust me, it’ll be fun.’”

A quiet fuck you followed but was drowned out by Lysandra who added, trailing a finger down the side of her water glass following a drop of condensation as it hit the table. “Crème de Menthe and Absinthe look way too similar. Way. Too. Similar.”

“When a door won’t open it's probably a Push, and not being supernaturally barricaded by ghosts,” Rowan groaned.

“That next time we do this, we better have snacks,” Aelin mumbled, staring a hole into the table.

“Next time?!”

*******

@acourtofsnakes @a-frog-with-a-laptop @astra-ad-mare @autumnbabylon @backtobl4ck @bankerfrog @becarefuloflove @camerooonchiu @captain-swan-is-endgame @charlizeed @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @doubt-less @earthtolinds @elentiyawhitethorn @feyretales @goddess-aelin @highqueenofelfhame @jorjy-jo @julemmaes @leiawritesstories @lemonade-coolattas @llyncooljones @mariamuses @moodymelanist @morganofthewildfire @nerdperson524 @rhysiedarling @rowaelinismyotp @rowaelinrambling @rowanaelinn @shyvioletcat @stardelia @superspiritfestival @sv0430 @swankii-art-teacher @thegreyj @the-lonelybarricade @the-regal-warrior @tomtenadia @westofmoon @whimsicallyreading

#rowaelin #aelin x rowan #rowan x aelin #rowaelin fic #throne of glass #tog #rowaelin fluff #rowaelin au #rowaelin fanfiction #aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #rowaelin oneshot #halloween fics #halloween #halloween au #halloween prompts #haunted house #aelin galathynius x rowan whitethorn

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runningthroughthegarden · 2 years

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rowan laslow date headcanons <3

- just to start off, this man is alwaysss taking pictures of you. your insta is full of candids he takes because they are always perfect

- after school is out he would drag you away from the quad out into the forest. once you arrived you would see a blanket set up with all your favorite snacks. “i thought we could use a break from homework”. you two would spend hours out there just eating and talking.

- it’s winter and you’ve been dying to go ice skating. so one weekend rowan takes you out to Jericho’s ice rink. somehow rowan is the most perfect ice skater ever. you hold onto his arm the whole time while he helps you balance. “woah watch out there Bambi”. the night is spent out on the ice, your fits of giggles being the only thing keeping you warm.

- he convinces xavier to let him borrow his shed for just a night. when you arrive there’s to blank canvas’s waiting for you. you guys spend the night blasting music and making really shitty paintings. “okay well if you squint your eyes and tilt your head it looks good”.

- takes you to the carnival. spends the night winning you way too many bears. loves going on rides watching you scream and laugh. to end the night you guys hold hands while watching the fireworks. “yknow i still think you’re the prettiest thing ive seen”. he squeezes your hand just a little tighter bringing his attention back to the fireworks.

- bike rides to the thrift store. knows you always need a new wardrobe. loves going through all the clothes with you. always picks the ugliest shit and jokingly says you should wear it. “no i honestly think you’d look great in this”. let’s you pick out clothes for him cause you have the best style.

#rowan laslow #rowan x reader #rowan laslow x reader #rowan laslow x you #Rowan laslow head canon #wednesday addams

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writtenonreceipts · 1 year

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Rowaelin Month Day Three: Rowaelin as Teens @rowaelinscourt

This is a prologue of sorts, the rest of the fic will come closer to the holidays, hopefully—unfortunately my fic writing will be slowing down massively here in the next little bit. But, I’ve had this idea on the brain for a year now, so here we are! I’m hoping this’ll only be 3 parts total, depending on how part two goes…

Rowaelin Month Masterlist Main Masterlist

Warnings: mild (teenage) angst, references to parental death.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Like Best Friends Do—Part One

It was December eighteenth and the first snowfall had finally come to Terrasen.

Usually, the snow was a perpetual problem for the city beginning in late October and not slowing down until mid-April, at least. This year was different. And Rowan didn’t know how he felt about that.

He’d never been one for change if he were being honest with himself. Even at eighteen years old (his birthday only occurring a few weeks ago) Rowan had learned that change incited problems. Problems led to conflict. And conflict made way for misery. He knew the path quite well and was not welcome to any sort of change. Ever.

Which was why he sat in his beat-up Honda just outside of his best-friend’s house. Tradition demanded it.

He wasn’t waiting long when a shape dashed across the sidewalk toward him. With far too much energy and fervor, Aelin Galathynius threw open the passenger door.

“Sorry, sorry!” she said as she tossed a grocery bag across the console at him. “I know I’m late.”

Rowan caught the bag easily and shook his head. He couldn’t be mad, not at her.

Aelin stuck her head in the car and scowled. She wore a ridiculous winter hat with ear flaps, her blonde hair in a wild mess of waves beneath it. “I couldn’t find any marshmallows because I live with a bunch of heathens apparently.”

She then eased into the car taking care to balance two steaming thermoses in her hands. With her blonde hair flying about her face and the pink tint to her nose and cheeks, she looked far more angelic than he knew she felt. Though, Rowan wouldn’t say anything of course. He couldn’t.

As Aelin settled the thermoses between her legs, she closed the car door and buckled up. Then she grinned at him with that reckless abandon he was so accustomed to seeing.

“I am ready.”

For as long as Rowan could remember, he and Aelin had spent their Christmases looking at the lights. At first, their parents would make a carpool even of it. Holiday music blaring from the stereo, hot cocoa freshly made, and windows rolled down for the best view. For the young, impressionable kid in the prime of childhood: it was magic.

Then of course, Rowan’s dad died. That had taken some magic out of things. He’d been twelve and an only child. His mother, brilliant woman that she was, persevered. She ran the small family farm with grace and dignity, never once thinking about letting it go. She always insisted that change was just an opportunity to grow and she would grow right where she was, thank-you very much.

Still, Rowan had always hated change.

But even as Rowan struggled with grief over his dad—some things remained the same.

Ever since he’d gotten his license at the tick of his sixteenth birthday, he and Aelin often escaped on adventures of their own. During the holidays it meant it was just him and Aelin going around to look at the lights. It was always at her insistence and Rowan found it impossible to say no to her. The music and cocoa remained even when their parents no longer took them out themselves.

“What is all this?” Rowan asked. He poked at the plastic bag and sighed. Sitting on top was a giant bag of chocolate. Below he could see a baggie of baby carrots. Just for him. “Seriously?”

“Snacks!”

“I don’t like food in my car!” He knew it was a weak argument, the weakest of all arguments that could possibly be made.

She blinked at him with her big blue eyes and pouted. The streetlamps filtered through the windows creating a halo around her. It was impossible that one person could be so beautiful.

“Please? It’s Christmas!”

And Rowan, being in love with his best friend, sighed. “You’re insufferable.”

Aelin beamed at him and leaned across the center console to smack a kiss to his cheek. “I won’t make a mess, I promise.”

It was a lie and they both knew it. Aelin wasn’t the best at remaining organized even when she did try her best. To be honest, that combination was one of her most endearing attributes.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rowan said, though he couldn’t help the small smile that escaped him.

He pulled the car out onto the road and headed down the street to the first neighborhood.

They were seniors in high school and had spent the last two weeks busy with finals and essays. This was going to be a fun, easy way for them to relax before Christmas. And Rowan, knowing Aelin was also stressed out over basketball, wanted to make this the best round of Christmas lights possible.

He’d already done some scouting earlier in the week. He didn’t care as much about the lights himself, but there was something about watching the joy and wonder on Aelin’s face that sent flutters to his gut and brought a smile to his lips.

She always found joy in everything. She was someone who wanted to see good, to be good. He’d admired it about her for ages now and was on the list of reasons why he loved his best friend.

Not that he actually wrote anything on that list down. He wasn’t an idiot, anyone could come across it. But he kept a mental tally of all the things.

“How’s your mom?” Aelin asked as they drove. She sipped her cocoa and hummed happily. “Is she making it through alright?”

“Yeah,” Rowan sighed. “Summer was a good season, so we’ve got hoards of lavender and honey stored up to sell, so she’s happy about that.”

The farm had a few acres of lavender plants and three beehives which kept them busy during the summer months. Winter, however, was where the Whitethorn homestead made its money. Starting in mid-November the farm turned into a certified Christmas Wonderland. For the last fifty years it had been dedicated to growing Christmas trees. Something Rowan did not understand, but his mother loved it. Tradition. And Rowan was not one to step on tradition.

“You know, it’s kinda funny that you hate Christmas as much as you do,” Aelin mused.

Rowan rolled his eyes. “I don’t hate Christmas. I hate snow.”

“Which is even more funny, you were born on the coldest day of November, Buzzard, you should be thriving in this weather,” Aelin reminded him, as she so loved to do.

There was no arguing with her so Rowan only rolled his eyes and kept driving. His phone lit up with a text message but he ignored it. For just a little bit, he wanted to remain in this moment with his best friend. And maybe then it would imprint upon his mind for years to come.

“Oh, I love this song,” Aelin said suddenly. She turned the volume on high as Michael Buble began singing one of his famous Christmas songs.

“You say that about all the songs,” Rowan pointed out.

Aelin grinned at him. “Because it’s true. All the songs are the best.”

Rowan couldn’t help but return the smile.

As Aelin hummed along to the music, Rowan turned into the first neighborhood he’d found the other night.

Immediately, they were flooded with bright lights and inflatable machines. Aelin squealed and rolled down her window so she could lean out and get closer. She pointed everything out to Rowan as though he couldn’t already see it himself.

But he didn’t care. Not as she was singing along and laughing as she was.

They continued for over an hour going to as many different neighborhoods as they could. As it crept closer to ten and some houses began shutting off their lights, Rowan pulled them off in front of Aelin’s house, knowing that her dad would be watching for them. Best friends or not, the man had firm rules of where his daughter was and who she was with.

“What happens next year?” Aelin asked as a Nat King Cole song came on. She turned the volume down so it was a low rumble in the background.

“Next year?” Rowan frowned. Why would next year be any different?

“I’m going to Adarlan, you're going to Doranelle,” she reminded him.

Rowan sighed. He’d forgotten that. Different colleges practically at opposite ends of the continent.

“We’ll figure something out,” he said with a shrug.

Aelin sighed and hunkered down in her seat. She held onto her thermos, though Rowan was certain she’d finished her cocoa ten minutes into their drive.

“I don’t know,” she murmured. “I don’t like it when things change so much.”

Rowan reached over and took her hand, twining their fingers together. “I know.”

“You’re my best friend, Rowan,” she said looking up at him. There was panic in her eyes, Rowan could see. It was strange seeing something so out of control in a gaze that was usually so calm and confident. “And I don’t want to lose you.”

Rowan’s chest gave a painful tug. “Aelin--”

He cut himself off before he could say what he wanted. Because really, he knew that he’d never be able to tell her how he really felt about her. Though, maybe that was for the best. After all, if it came to having Aelin in his life versus not--he’d always chose the first.

His phone went off then with an incoming call before he had a chance to debate his inner thoughts further. Before Rowan could reach for it, Aelin snatched the phone up. They always shared their phones that it shouldn’t have been an issue. But Rowan knew who was calling him.

“Cairn?” Aelin asked, looking up. Her face was illuminated by the pale glow of the screen as the call continued to ring through and the dim green and red that bounced off from the lights on her house. “Why would he be calling you?”

Rowan turned away, out toward the street where snow was beginning to accumulate. The truth burned like acid in the back of his throat.

“It doesn’t matter,” he muttered, “he needs help in history.”

“Finals ended last week.” Aelin practically threw his phone at him. He could hear the displeasure dripping from her voice. “Seriously, Rowan? He’s an asshole. You can’t be friends with him.”

“We’re not!” Rowan dropped his hands from the car wheel and slouched in his seat. “C’mon Aelin, you know I don’t like the guy.”

“Then why’s he calling you? You know what he and Erawan said about Elide, what Cairn tried with her.” Aelin leaned back in her seat, simply staring at him.

“Which is why we’re not friends,” Rowan insisted.

The only reason Cairn was trying to call him was for something stupid, Rowan knew. They played basketball together which supposedly curated comradery between them. But Cairn wasn’t a nice kid. They way he talked about the girls in their class and they had tried to spike Elide’s drink at a party a few weeks ago. If Chaol Westfell hadn’t been the only sober one that night no one would have known…

But then Rowan had helped Cairn cheat on an exam so he could pass. If he’d flunked, he wouldn’t have been able to play in the state finals…and…well. Rowan never said he was a good person.

“Aelin,” he began.

But she was already throwing open the door, grabbing the empty thermoses and stuffing them into the now empty grocery bag.

“I gotta go, Rowan,” she said, not bothering to look at him.

“Aelin!” he yelled after her. She slammed the door and trudged back up to her house.

Rowan could only watch. He waited until she was inside and he saw the shadow of her silhouette pass the front window, followed by the outline of Rhoe rising from the living couch.

Only then did he start up his car and drive away.

It wasn’t thirty seconds later when Cairn called him again.

“What do you want?” Rowan growled.

“Easy Whitethorn,” Cairn said on the other end. He chuckled lowly and Rowan felt his hackles rise. “I just need a favor.”

“No.”

Another laugh followed by a shout from another person in the background. Probably Erawan.

“What else are you doing tonight, Whitethorn?” Cairn asked. “Damn, boy. You just wanna sit at home with your mama?”

The voice in the background spoke up louder. “Punkassbitch!”

Definitely Erawan. Another, cruder, stream of expletives trailed after.

“It’s almost Christmas, man,” Rowan said. He pulled his car over again, not wanting to drive and have this conversation. His ma would kill him if he got into an accident. “So, yeah, I wanna be at home.”

“I’ll bring you a blankie to practice,” Cairn said. Something clinked in the background; metal against metal that grated just a bit. “You owe me.”

Rowan cursed to himself. He wanted nothing more than to go back to Aelin’s, to pound on her door and beg her to let him in.

“Mr. Clark don’t like cheaters very much,” Cairn continued, “be a shame if someone told him what happened.”

“You’d be in as much trouble as me,” Rowan said. He shut off the radio as his skin grew hot and panic began to swirl in his stomach.

“You wanna bet?”

It took too much effort for Rowan to ease his breathing. Too much effort for him to calm down. Hell.

“What do you want, Cairn?”

…

The warehouse seemed familiar to Rowan but he couldn’t quite place it. They were in the cheaper side of the city, the side where everything was in disrepair and the video cameras were just for show. The cops didn’t care what happened and the citizens knew their voices wouldn’t actually be heard.

Only recently a few local politicians had been making an effort of improving the area. A few businesses had even tried moving in to give the lonely streets new life.

Hence the warehouse.

Why was it so familiar?

“Let’s go!” Cairn hissed. He prodded Rowan sharply in the back.

They snuck down a shadowed alleyway around the back of the warehouse. There was only one singular lamppost in the distance, but it kept flickering as though it would die at any moment. Snow fell from the sky in lazy flurries, barely coating the ground. The one time he would have actually been grateful for a snow storm. Maybe that would have driven Cairn and Erawan back home.

Rowan gripped a flashlight in one hand and a pair of heavy bolt cutters in the others. This was not going to end well. He already knew it. A chill swept through him in a mix of the actual cold weather and trepidation.

Erawan led the way to a chain link fence, cutting along one of the poles and yanking the metal back. Cairn ducked through the opening first, his own flashlight bobbing along. The two had come prepared for this. They’d planned it well too given how they moved. Rowan was just a random extra body. Someone to potentially blame this on if it all went sideways.

Erawan shoved him through the fence hole when he hesitated.

“Get off me,” Rowan hissed.

“Then move!” Erawan snapped. The stench of cigarettes and stale coffee wafted off of him.

Knowing better than to ignore the order, Rowan took off after Cairn.

“What’re we even doing? You can’t think breaking into a warehouse is a good idea.” Rowan tightened his grip on his flashlight and wondered how much trouble he’d actually get in if he decided to whack Cairn over the head with the bolt cutters. He was pretty sure he could out run Erawan if it came down to it.

Cairn didn’t answer, only led them to the side of the warehouse. When Erawan reached them, he dropped the bag he was holding, it rattled with a messy noise of battered abuse.

“Just having fun.”

Which was how Rowan found himself gang tagging the side of a warehouse at one in the morning. He shouldn’t have come, he knew. The reality of the situation was beating relentlessly against the side of his skull with each pass he made of the green spray paint. He should have told his mom what happened. Should have gone to Coach Brullo who trusted him. Should have—should have—

Erawan muttered under his breath as he spelled out a curse word in red paint, the c-u bleeding against the wall like a wound. Cairn was practicing his anatomy skills and doing a terrible job. And Rowan…Rowan just made splashes and slashes where he could. That didn’t seem to offend the others, just as long as he did something.

“We should go,” he said after nearly half an hour. A car drove by on the streets, slow and deliberate. In the darkness he couldn’t tell the make or model and it only added to his panic.

While this side of the city was sketchy at best—people still talked and eventually the cops would show up.

Cairn scoffed and was about to say something—likely a mockery of Rowan’s want to get the hell out of there—when a burst of red and blue lights erupted across the street.

Rowan dropped the spray paint he was holding. His mother was going to kill him. He looked around, desperate for an escape while Cairn and Erawan were already halfway across the abandoned lot. They didn’t get much further when a few uniformed officers flashed lights and their guns yelling for them to stop.

“On your knees!” One officer shouted. It took Rowan a moment to realize the order was directed at him. Coming up on his left was an officer, perfectly poised to take any necessary action.

Falling to his knees, Rowan’s mind blanked out. He did everything he was told to do, barely registering anything other than a muffled curse and an exclamation from one of the officers.

“They’re just kids.”

“Damn. Just get ‘um cuffed.”

It wasn’t until Rowan was hauled to his feet that he managed to catch a look at the messy display of vandalism they’d created. Only…Rowan finally latched onto the logo he’d noticed etched onto the metal door of the warehouse bay and his heart froze before his entire body seized up. He knew that logo and he knew the name attached to it.

Galacorp.

Aelin’s father’s company. That he’d just helped to vandalize.

“Let’s go kid,” the officer next to him said, guiding Rowan to his feet as he began to recite Rowan’s rights.

Rowan hardly listened. Couldn’t. Because in just the span of an hour his entire life turned over on its head. He let the officer guide him to the police cruiser only tripping up when he caught sight of a familiar black SUV with tinted windows and sleek specially ordered rims.

Rhoe Galathynius leaned casually against the back of the car, arms crossed over his wool coat. He watched Rowan closely with an unreadable expression. And Rowan knew that nothing would ever be the same after this.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

will reblog with tags. Please consider reblogging so others see it! <3

thanks for reading.

#rowaelin #aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #rowaelin month #throne of glass #tog

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chaoticcutiewhirl · 3 months

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Today is the first day since we discovered we were a system where it has been relatively quiet at the front, about 3, almost 4 months, of activity just for a day for it to not have someone cofronting for once... Its almost uneasy. I am the host of the system but even before realizing we never felt this way before atleast from what I know, giving us a full day where just one person is at the reigns and its not a constant cooperation, this feels just- wrong now that I have sat with others in myself to know who I am, what I am better. I miss the laughter and near constant giggling of Lucinda just bringing us joy near constantly because of how lively she thought of the world: I miss Dendro's quiet almost hums as we researched with her helping in keeping the door closed from others as our sort of gatekeeper: I miss Avarstia's dryness and genuine care for others, coming in with creative critique and helping us write as they are often her own memories that we are utilizing or brainstorming from: I miss Rowan's sort of fire and the passion she can bring as well as the general homebody aspects that she helps drives us to do like making meals instead of just snacking: I miss even Kade with his snarkiness when he wasn't being kinda hypersexual. As just myself, as Sylvia, it feels sort of lonely when I am all by myself even if I have a lot of creative drive.

With this I may as well also describe our headspace to show you that even while fronting, it doesn't feel like we can wholly communicate between front and back: The Front is sort of like a den, it is where the Snake goes to rest while it is too hot out, being a snakenest kind of hole that goes down into the earth, where it leads into a door that is staticy to think about but I know when in it, the main perspectvie is the body's sight, when others are up here we can look to eachother and whatever what someone who is co-concious is doing but we can't fully percieve it as it feels overridden by reality. When not fronting its rather big, being a large desert valley with tones of many oranges and browns with some greens, with this almost being like a large mixture of the Sonoran, Mojave, and Chihuahuan deserts, with it rising to mounatins around it. As a whole if I had to estimate, it is like 7-8 miles in diameter, around 5 miles purely in the valley and inclines and plateus leading into the peaks of the mountains. Things seem spaced out as well I will say, with everyone getting their own portion of the headspace: Avarstia has some sort of crack in reality for her portion which leads into the halls of the Citadel of Forgotten Life, basically the center of the Selathorn Underworld section by the name Anwyn where the gods of death would rule from, its not as big and most doors I believe are locked but there is still a weirdly large aspect with it: I have my own small house with an observatory for some reason closer to the southern ridges, wherein its very much a facet of writing and a lot of creative energy tied up to things within: Lucinda is closest within her own small home, while mine holds a Mission Revival architecture, her's holds a Pueblo revival architecture and inside is like art we have done in memory as well as like art we want to do, besides that what I do know is she has a lot of plushies in there: Dendro has her own entire oasis where she tends to plants at the center of the Valley and she lives there with Rowan, idk what Rowan does there but I do know Dendro mostly tends to plants and does some light reading, also maybe has some Fragments around the Oasis itself that haven't fully identified(?): Aaaaaand I have no clue where Kade is but I believe they are in the Eastern sections of the Valley. Either way its kinda weird how big it is but it makes sense when considering how long each of us normally fronts before not appearing again for a day or two but feeling their pressence, its like Arizona but less hostile to everything that isn't a car. or isn't a human within one of like 50 billion houses. I will say I refuse for this place to be like metropolitain lmao.

#plural system #plurality #plural #pro endo #Actually Plural #Idk but I just wanted to talk about this #Even if we leave Arizona we will be stuck here for our brain #Atleast there is not an overabundance of empty houses

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lifeofkaze · 10 months

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Scattered Stars

Saturday morning began early for Lizzie.

The sun had just begun to show its face on the horizon, its first tentative rays filtering into the dormitory, when she gently pushed her cat off her, quietly got dressed and slid from the room with her peacefully sleeping friends.

The Hufflepuff dormitory was close to abandoned, with only a handful of house elves wandering about cleaning out the fireplaces. Lizzie smiled as she passed them, even more so as her eyes fell on the other person who had just stepped into the common room.

“You’re up early, Captain,” she greeted Orion with a quick kiss on the cheek. “It’s barely even light outside.”

“What’s early for one is late for the other.” Orion inclined his head. “Care to join me to greet the rising sun?”

“If only I could,” Lizzie sighed, only partly as a joke. “I’ve got a full day ahead of me. There’s loads to prepare.”

“An evening of peace tastes much sweeter after a day’s worth of work.” When Lizzie didn’t reply, he tilted his head. “You haven’t forgotten about tonight, have you?”

A smile spread on Lizzie’s face. “How could I?”

Having given her a short but sweet kiss goodbye, Lizzie pulled herself together and fetched some parchment from one of the study nooks. For now, she would have to put the thought of her date with Orion aside; she had other things to take care of first.

Almost an hour later, Lizzie wearily put down her quill. Preparing the study material for her tutoring lessons had taken longer than anticipated, and the common room had begun filling with students in different states of sleepiness. Her stomach rumbling noisily, she stuffed her notes into her bag and joined the stream of Hufflepuffs headed for the Great Hall, her mind already on the next task on her list.

After a quickly gulped-down breakfast, Lizzie made her way to the Transfiguration classroom, where a flustered-looking Andre Egwu was already awaiting her.

“Where were you?” he called out as soon as Lizzie had closed the door behind her. “I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

“I’m only five minutes late, at most.”

“Five minutes we could have spent working,” Andre tutted. “No time for squabbling now, darling. The Spring Ball is in two weeks, and I have so many outfits to finish. I’ll be forever grateful you’re helping out with modelling but I do need to ask you to get undressed now. And stop laughing,” he added when Lizzie started giggling, “this is fashion, not fun.”

Over an hour Andre directed Lizzie to try on dress after dress, turning this way and that. They were still far from done, and way behind the schedule Lizzie had worked out for the day. When Andre was finally satisfied, both their patience had worn thin, as had Lizzie’s cushion of extra time. She hurried on to the empty Charms classroom, in front of which Penny was pacing back and forth.

“The meeting of the ball committee is about to start,” she called out as soon as Lizzie was within earshot. Hectic red spots were dotting her cheeks. “What took you so long?”

“I got held up.”

“By what?”

“Doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s get inside.”

The meeting turned out to be more of a chore than Lizzie had expected. The discussion turned from matters of drinks and snacks to whether Firebugs were a suitable means of providing ambience light. Lizzie grew increasingly frustrated with her peers’ unwillingness to reach any sort of conclusion and earned herself more than one irritated glance from Penny.

As soon as they were done, she shot out of her seat and from the room. When she arrived at the library slightly out of breath, Rowan had already piled up Arithmancy books and writing utensils all around her. She looked up with a frown as Lizzie slumped into the chair next to her.

“Where -”

“Yes, yes, where have I been, I know. Late, sorry.”

Rowan pushed her silvery glasses up her nose. “No, I meant, where is your bag?”

Lizzie looked down at the feet of her chair in astonishment, half-expecting to see her bag with her notes and parchment standing there. Realising she must have forgotten it either at Andre’s or Penny’s she cursed, which earned herself an indignant look from Madam Pince, and hurried to retrieve her things.

Studying usually came easy to her, but today, Lizzie had trouble concentrating. She was hungry and tired, and the topic Professor Vector had them cover rather complicated. When she was nearly done with her assignment, Rowan glanced at her parchment with a frown.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked, pulling Lizzie’s parchment toward her. “That’s different from what I have.”

“Of course I am,” Lizzie said, sounding more irritated than she had meant to. Rowan had broken her from her thoughts about her upcoming tutoring session. “I did it exactly according to the book.”

“The new part, yes,” Rowan said, shaking her head, “but the base calculations are all messed up.”

Lizzie snatched her parchment back, groaning when she realised that Rowan was right.

“I’ll change it tomorrow,” Lizzie sighed, rolling up her parchment and cursing quietly when she realised the ink hadn’t fully dried yet. “Looks like I need to rewrite it anyway.”

“We can revise it together if you like.”

“I know what I’m doing, alright?” Lizzie snapped. “It was just an oversight. And I don’t have time anyway, I have some tutoring to do.”

A couple of minutes later, Lizzie arrived at the Transfiguration classroom, once again late. The parts she had prepared in the mornings went well, but when it was time to improvise what she hadn’t been able to complete beforehand, Lizzie found herself becoming increasingly snappy with the hapless students trying to turn their mice into snuff boxes.

Everyone was glad when the lesson was over. On Lizzie’s part, the sentiment faded when overheard their students whispering among each other as they left the classroom.

“What was up with her today?”

“Snapping at Maddie like that for making a small mistake.”

“Have you seen her snuff box? I swear it still had whiskers.”

Feeling the strange urge to accelerate her steps and bump into the gossiping students from behind, Lizzie let herself fall back. When they were out of earshot, she slumped into one of the cloisters, fighting the tears welling up in her eyes.

They were right. Her Transfiguration had been awful, but she had still been thinking about what Rowan had said about her assignment, and Penny’s strong case for roses in favour of peonies, and all the gossip Andre had told her without asking and her head was so full that it felt close to bursting.

The rest of her day carried on much in the same fashion. Somehow, Lizzie was always late, always distracted, and wherever she went, her annoyance grew. Hungry, tired, and thoroughly fed up, she made straight for her dormitory once she was done and curled up beneath the covers to instantly fall asleep.

She woke hours later when the door creaked and light spilt onto her face.

“Oh,” Penny’s voice gasped, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were in here.”

“Where else would I be?” Lizzie grumbled, turning from the light and pressing her face back into the pillow.

“Don’t you have a date tonight?”

At that, Lizzie immediately sat up straight, almost falling over herself in her hurry to get changed. Hastily pulling fresh clothes from her dresser, she risked a look at the alarm on Rowan’s nightstand, cursing when she realised the time. Not bothering to give Penny a goodbye, she rushed from the dormitory and out of the common room.

By the time she reached the foot of the Astronomy Tower, she was breathing heavily. Heart still thumping in her ears, she tilted her head back to where the metal staircase in front of her spiralled upwards into darkness. Contrary to when she had first gone up there with Orion exactly one year ago, there was no moonglow lighting the way up but even from down here she could see the stars glittering through the openings in the walls.

Taking another deep breath, Lizzie began to climb. She had almost reached the top when footsteps sounded on the metal above her, prompting her to stop. A moment later, Orion came into view on his way down. A look of surprise crossed his face.

“Thank Godric you’re still here,” Lizzie blurted out before he had a chance to say anything. “I’m so so sorry for standing you up. So sorry. I just wanted to quickly lie down for a second because the day was so horrid and I must’ve fallen asleep and I… I…”

Before she could say anything more, the tears she had pushed away for the better part of the day finally spilt over. The end of her sentence got drowned in a sob, and Lizzie had never been more glad than when Orion took the last few steps separating them and closed his arms around her.

“I didn’t get to see you the whole day,” he murmured, running his hand up and down her spine in a soothing manner. “As fleeting as a gust of wind.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Lizzie sniffed. “You know I didn’t. I hope you know I didn’t because I honestly didn’t.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Nothing. Everything,” Lizzie said. She wiped at her eyes, furiously so when her tears wouldn’t stop coming. “Everything I touched today went wrong, and everybody is angry with me, and the only thing I was looking forward to was stargazing with you and now I’ve even missed that.”

“The stars will be here for a little longer, but when your mind is scattered like a pile of leaves you won’t have the mindset it takes to enjoy them,” Orion said gently. “I need you to pull your thoughts together, Chaser. I need you to be here with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I said. Come on.”

He took her by the hand and led her up the stairs until they stood on the platform of the Astronomy Tower beneath the starry sky.

“Look up,” he told her, doing so himself. “How far away they are. And yet, don’t they look so close?”

Lizzie dipped her head back, breathing in the cool night air. “As if you could touch them.”

“As if they’ve come to tell us something.”

“And what would that be?”

“Listen.”

Sceptically, Lizzie turned her face skywards again and became still. Having listened intently for several moments, she glanced at Orion from the corner of her eye.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Don’t you?”

“Not really.”

“Because I do. I hear the rush of the trees below. I hear the wind falling from the sky, blowing around the castle. I hear the beat of my own heart. Don’t you hear these things, too?”

“Sure, but…”

“That means you have arrived,” Orion said and pulled her into his arms, “right here, in this very moment.”

“Haven’t I been here before?”

“Do you think you have?” When Lizzie didn’t reply, he continued, “The whole day, your mind was torn apart, dwelling on things that lay behind you and in the future alike. Splitting yourself up like this, you won’t ever be able to live in the moment at hand, finding balance in all the small wonders surrounding us.”

“I just wanted to help my friends.”

“Have you, though?”

Lizzie hung her head. “I promised them. I can’t just go back on my responsibilities because I don’t feel like I can ‘appreciate the moment’.”

“I never said you should. A gust of wind can scatter leaves, or it can blow away the dust and leave behind nothing but clarity. It’s a matter of perspective.”

“I don’t know about this, Orion,” Lizzie sighed, resting her head against his chest. “I messed up, there’s no talking around it. We all have bad days. It is what it is.”

“One bad day shouldn’t spoil a beautiful night.”

“I’m trying, okay? It’s just not that easy to let go.”

“Then I know exactly what you need.”

He leaned in and kissed her, long and lingeringly. When he pulled away, Lizzie took an inadvertent step after him.

“I might need more of that.”

Orion laughed and turned from her, and it was only now that Lizzie saw that he was holding his wand behind his back. Before she could ask the reason, he’d already stepped towards the platform’s railing, where two slender shadows had appeared, hovering at knee level.

“You’ve summoned our broomsticks?”

“It appears to be so.”

“Why?”

Orion mounted his broom, pushing Lizzie’s towards her with his foot. “You’ll find out in a minute.”

Her curiosity sparked, Lizzie climbed onto her Silverswift and followed Orion as he steered his broomstick away from the castle. They flew down and away from the lights twinkling in the old windows, staying well out of sight, until they reached the shore of the Black Lake.

Much to Lizzie’s surprise, Orion didn’t land. He accelerated instead, going so low over the water that his feet would have gone beneath the surface had he stretched them. Confused, Lizzie did likewise. Wind whipping through her hair, she lay flat on her broomstick to become even faster, flitting over the surface of the lake until everything around her was reduced to a blur.

When they reached the middle of the lake, Orion stopped.

“Look around, Chaser,” he said, taking his hands off his broomstick and crossing them behind his head as he turned his face skyward. “Up is down. Down is up. Earth and sky, both the same.”

Still somewhat sceptical, Lizzie did as he had bade her, and the sarcastic remark on the tip of her tongue faded.

The wind that had blown around the top of the Astronomy Tower had ceased. The water beneath her feet was smooth and still, a perfect layer of black ink in which the myriad of stars in the firmament above were mirrored. The sight stretched as far as the eye could see, and as Lizzie raised her eyes, the sea of stars continued there, scattered everywhere around her, above her, below her, as if she were floating in the endless vastness of the universe.

“Up is down,” she whispered.

“The world is full of wonders, full of beauty and inspiration,” Orion said softly. “We only need to be present enough to see it.”

Lizzie pried her eyes away from the glittering star-sea, resting them on Orion and his patient, loving smile. Suddenly, her throat became constricted and she could feel the tears rise in her chest but this time for entirely different reasons. She flew closer to him, so close that she could lay her hand against his cheek.

“Thank you,” she whispered, “for everything. I didn’t know how much I needed this.”

“I wanted to show you this for a long time.”

Lizzie’s eyes went soft. “I love you, you know.”

If Orion was surprised at her admittance, he didn’t let it show. “I love you, too.”

Butterflies swarming in her stomach, Lizzie leaned in to kiss him but before their lips could touch, a sudden gust of cold water had them break apart. Too stunned to even squeal, Lizzie had just enough time to see the end of a giant tentacle vanish in a big ripple on the otherwise smooth surface.

Shaking his wet hair from his face, Orion burst out laughing.

“Something tells me the Giant Squid isn’t a fan of romance.” He chuckled at Lizzie’s dark look. “Let’s go back. This little universe around us may be beautiful, but it sure is also pretty cold.”

When they had reached the Quidditch pitch and changed into the training gear they had found in the changing rooms, Orion took Lizzie’s hand, intertwining their fingers as they made their way back to the castle.

“How do you feel now?”

Lizzie grunted. “Cold and wet.”

“And besides?”

Lizzie paused and turned her head so that she could see the surface of the Black Lake in the distance. The wind had picked up again, and it was bitingly cold and made her shudder, but it also made her feel the warmth of her cheeks, and Orion’s hand in hers, and how her body was thrumming with the heat of her blood as if there was fire coursing through her veins.

“Lizzie?” she heard Orion ask. “Are you still with me?”

“Yes,” Lizzie smiled, turning her back on the lake and its beautiful darkness and toward Orion and the light of the castle. “I’m here. Right here.”

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #lizzie jameson #orion amari #happy birthday lizzie #it's been quite the ride girl #but we're not finished just yet

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goddess-aelin · 1 year

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Antics

Made for Rowaelin Month Day 20: Drunken antics

@rowaelinscourt

Masterlist

Word count: 1k

Warnings: drinking, drunkenness

It all began when Rowan insisted Aelin needed a night out, something he absolutely should not have done. She had been working so hard in the year since the war, never taking a day off and doing her best to attend to the needs of every single resident of Terrasen. Until yesterday, when she almost half collapsed from exhaustion.

Rowan took it upon himself while she was resting to cancel all of her meetings for the following two days and adamantly insisted that Lord Darrow not speak to her the entire time. The latter alone would make her feel loads better.

All the while, Rowan played the part of doting husband. To anyone else, it just looked like he was taking care of his sick wife. But to those of fae heritage, he knew they could see the thin rope he was dangling from, fae instincts riding him hard, just moments away from stabbing someone if they even dared to come near his mate.

But that was okay, Rowan thought, since he got to lounge in bed with his mate all day. To his surprise, Aelin didn’t put up that much of a fuss about not working, something that was actually very concerning to him. When he said as much, she simply said that she’d rather be spending the day with her handsome yet overbearing mate than a bunch of stuffy old men. He wasn’t sure if he should’ve taken that as a compliment or not.

Once the end of the first day rolled around, Aelin was itching for something to do, he could tell. She had already read through the stack of books that he brought her and snacked away on enough cake that even she said she couldn’t possibly eat any more. And that was when Rowan decided it was time for a night out, just the two of them.

He knew that if they left through the front door, the guards would insist upon accompanying them, Aedion and Darrow would berate them otherwise. But Rowan didn’t want that. He wanted it to be just the two of them, a date of sorts. He could also tell that Aelin’s eyes lit up when he mentioned sneaking out of the castle, handing her a dark cloak and telling her they were going on an adventure. An adventure which ended with them in a fairly run-down bar, drinking the night away.

Rowan had a fairly high tolerance for alcohol so by the end of the night, he was barely tipsy. Aelin, on the other hand, not so much. If anyone would ever mention it to her, she would deny it to her last breath, but Aelin was a lightweight. And this delighted Rowan. Very, very, much. His Fireheart didn’t get to be the carefree young woman she was almost ever, so if he could give her this small slice of fun, of what life would have been like without a war, then his job was done.

And this was how he found himself half-walking, half-carrying the almost dead weight of his mate up the dusty road to the castle. There was absolutely no sneaking back in in their state, his large form supporting the stumbling and babbling Queen. Aelin typically had a lot to say on a normal day and when she was drunk? It was like a floodgate was opened into her brain. Anything she thought would make its way out of her mouth at some point, no matter the content. Rowan loved it. He loved her.

“You’re such a han-some buzzard. Di’you know that?��

With amusement, he nodded his head. “Only because you’ve told me 20 other times tonight.”

“Psh, I’m jus speakin the trusth.”

“Mmhm. And you, my love, are very, very drunk.”

Her contentment quickly turned into dramatic outrage. “No! No, I’m not! You’re the one who’sh dru–.” The statement was quickly ended by a stumble.

“See?” Rowan looked pointedly at her.

“Shut up, Buzzard. Jus’ carry me, damnit.”

“If I carry you, though, you’re going to fall asleep. And before you do that, we absolutely need to get some food into you. Otherwise, you’re going to wake up and regret every decision you made tonight.”

Aelin stopped walking and crossed her arms. “Hmmph. You’re a mean buzzard. You’re not my mate ‘nymore.”

Rowan chuckled at her grumpy expression. “I’m not sure that’s quite how this works but, sure.” He started walking away, knowing that as soon as he did, she would try to follow.

And follow she did, albeit crookedly and looking like a baby fawn who just found their legs. Abruptly, she stopped and stomped her foot. “Why can’t you just carry me?”

“If I carry you, are you going to fall asleep?”

She kicked her foot through the dirt guiltily. “No.”

He chuckled and walked closer to her. “Fine, I’ll carry you.”

A smile lit up her face and she stretched her arms out to the side to embrace him. But Rowan had other ideas to carry her, bending down and hauling her over his shoulder, her hair falling down his back and her ass in his face.

“Hey!! Put me downnn!” Aelin’s voice was a screech in his ear, probably loud enough to wake up the entire city, though definitely loud enough to catch the attention of the guards standing by the palace gates.

“Hey! You there!” Both guards turned toward Rowan, spears pointed. Rowan quickly pulled his hood back, revealing the silvery hair only a few in the entire world had.

“Your Majesty! I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it was you!” The poor guard looked frightened, probably ready to throw up at the prospect of what punishment he’d get for pointing a spear at the King and Queen. “Is she…is she okay?”

“No worries. She’s fine, just dramatic.”

“Hey!” she cried.

“Now if you’ll excuse us, I have to get this one,” he lifted the shoulder that Aelin was flung over, “back to the castle before she wakes up the entire city.” Indeed, Aelin was now jauntily singing a sailors tune, her voice loud enough over the unsavory parts to make the younger guard blush a deep tomato red. Both of the guards simply nodded and cleared the way for Rowan to enter.

“Hey where’r we goin?” Their path to the kitchens, at least, stopped Aelin from singing long enough to give his ears a tiny, much needed break.

“To the kitchens, remember? You need food.”

“Nooooooo, I sleep!” She started wiggling violently, causing Rowan to almost drop her when trying to set her down. He huffed a laugh. If he knew taking care of drunk Aelin would’ve been like taking care of a child, he never would’ve suggested a night out.

Who was he kidding, he’d deal with anything his Fireheart threw his way if it meant she was happy.

He took her hand, trying to pull her toward the kitchen, enticing her by naming all of her favorite foods. She tugged back with a surprising strength for someone who was heavily intoxicated.

“No, I sleep!”

“You need food, Fireheart.”

She put her finger to his lips, “Shhhh.” With surprising dexterity, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “No food, only sleep.”

He chuckled, once again trying to get her to relent. But unfortunately, drunk Aelin was just as stubborn as sober Aelin. “You will regret it tomorrow morning if you don’t get some food in your stomach.”

He felt rather than heard Aelin’s scoff. “Sleep is food. I sleep.” He could tell by the pauses between words that she was just seconds away from falling asleep on his shoulder. “Dream of meat. Meat on a stick!” Her laughter was maniacal. Yet a few seconds after it began, it abruptly stopped and he could hear her breathing even out.

Rowan let out a sigh. Looks like he wasn’t getting her to eat something tonight. Gently, he maneuvered her so he was carrying her in his arms again, this time bridal-style. She settled in, nuzzling his shoulder and curling her hands between their chests. The sight was so cute it almost made him stop in his tracks. He settled for a gentle kiss on her forehead and made his way back up to their suite.

To Rowan’s dismay, Aelin woke up before him the next morning, fit as a fiddle and ready to start her day. Rowan, on the other hand, had a splitting headache. Though it hurt, he just shook his head with a smile and was grateful that his Fireheart was happy.

A/N: I had at least two other fics before this that I was planning on writing but didn’t get to do keep an eye out!

Tagging:

@cretaceous-therapod @morganofthewildfire @tomtenadia @live-the-fangirl-life @charlizeed @violet-mermaid7 @euphoric-melancholyy @kritical24 @rubyriveraqueen @dealfea @wellofnothing @ayaashryver @moonknight-spector @leiawritesstories @whoever-you-choose-to-love @holdthefrickup @heirofflowers @thecrispypotatochip @shanias-world @rowanaelinn @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity @hanging-from-a-cliff @fantacysoup @swankii-art-teacher @thegreyj @fromthelibraryofemilyj @westofmoon @lovely-dove-zee @books4eva04 @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @backtobl4ck @dreamer-133 @elentiyawhitethorn @writtenonreceipts @shyvioletcat @aelinchocolatelover @captain-of-the-gwynriel-ship @athena127 @highqueenofelfhame

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fanfiction #rowaelin fic #rowaelinmonth2023 #Rowaelin month #rowaelin au #throne of glass #throne of glass fanfiction #tog #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #my fics #my fic

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fangirlies · 2 years

Text

Bestie Xavier

*Head-cannon*

A.N: feedback is ALWAYS welcomed. especially because this is my first ever head cannon! we’re advancing, fangirlies.

Weekly sketches of random things you’ve mentioned you loved through out the week.

You’re no artist but he pretends to like the drawings you made for him so he wouldn’t hurt your feelings.

“WOW Vincent Van gogh? Who’s that? I only know y/f/n y/l/n. This is amazing, you could probably sell it and make a couple hundred bucks-thousands even!”

Taking you on - as he would call them- “bestie dates” to your favorite places. Ice cream shops, picnics by the lake, the carnival in town.

Can’t forget, winning you the stuffed animal you desperately begged him to play for just to shut you up.

Bringing all of your favorite snacks to your monthly movie nights in his roommate-free room.

Braiding his hair in hopes he’d learn how to braid yours.

Lip syncing & playing air guitar/drums to your favorite bands (mostly Arctic Monkeys)

Sleep overs in his private art shed was his personal favorite memories with you.

He’d get defensive when Ajax, Rowan or Kent would call you hot so they stopped speaking about you altogether.

“What if we kissed right now”

“No Xavier, stop being weird”

“Ok but like what if”

“I can’t find any of my hoodies, how strange” he’d say out loud waiting for you to confess you’ve become their new owner.

He’d let you practice archery with him after class. He was secretly afraid of you around any sharp object tho.

Head-cannon requests are open friends! 🧚🏼‍♀️✨

#wednesday #wednesday netflix #xavier thorpe fluff #imagine #xavier thorpe #xavier thorpe fanfic #xavier thrope imagine #fangirlieswriting #percy hynes white #xavier thorpe headcannons

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streaminn · 1 year

Note

She's the man au, it's all fluffy right? Yeah. We like it that way. Cause if it wasn't, someone would die.

It could be Yoko, going into the woods late at night searching for Enid, she needed help on the Divina front. There was something super important about Enid needed to help her with to woo Divina. The vampire knows that Enid likes to take walks at night outside, she just doesn't know where. So she walks and walks, sometimes calling out Enids name, but she was on the opposite side of campus from the werewolf. The hyde was on the opposite side of campus from the werewolf. Enid likes to take her walks circling the school. But she didn't know to run, and so she was too late. There is a funeral held at midnight a week from then.

It could be Ajax, on his way to Jericho for a snack restock. He walks through the woods as the bus only runs on weekends, today was tuesday. He totes should have worn a another layer like Enid had told him to, it was freaking cold. As he walks a deer darts across his path, he watches it. He keeps moving. Why'd it have to be his turn buying snacks, it's freakin windy! He gets to the general store, and buys several bags of snacks. Enough to last the week. He texts Enid that he's "got the goods and trudging back". He gets half way until the forest is dead quiet. Another student on their way to Jericho finds the mess. And a funeral is held a week later.

It could be Bianca, running out of the fencing room after loosing against Wednesday again. She runs from the room and makes it to her dorm before she remembers she hadn't changed out of her fencing uniform yet, so she looks around her closet for something to change into. She finds her swimming gear and remembers how nice the waters are this time of year. She changes to some loose clothes with her swim gear underneath, deciding to leave her phone this time. She gets to the lake and takes a dip. It's relaxing, helps cool her head after Wednesday's nasty win. She's getting out when she spots a rabit, limping toward her from a bush. It seems to be wounded, a jagged mark across it's back. She watches is slowly exhale it's last breath. But she still hears breathing. Wednesday comes looking for her for a rematch. They hold the funeral a week later.

It could be Xavier, heading to the art shed after being embarrassed by Enid yet again. He just needed to paint away his anger and embarrassment. That would get rid of this blush. So he goes there and he paints. He paints Enid of course, he tries to paint himself besting the werewolf. It never looks right, something is always off about the painting. He does a solo portrait of his rival in love, and it is stunning. He needed to get some air, these paint fumes must be getting to him. So he takes a walk around his hut. He brings his notepad and pencil, maybe he'll draw something. He comes across a fallen tree. That's new, this tree was healthy yesterday. He draws it. Then he sees something in the distance. Eyes. And they're gone. He heads back to the hut. Grabs the handles. The doors are clawed up when Weems goes to the shed looking for him. They hold a funeral a week later.

It could be rowan, running late to his study session with Enid. He had wanted to grab some of the local plants to identify for their botany homework, Thornhill loved it when they provided samples. And he knew the best place to get the good stuff, having accidentally stumbled on it when helping set up the poe cup a year before. So he was coming back from crackstones crypt when he heard a rumble coming from up ahead, so obviously he rushed to get back to the crypt. Sprinting through the woods, he twisted his ankle just outside the crypt. He just barely gets in. Barely a grasp on the door. His control was slipping. He sobs and his telekinesis breaks. The door opens, and bugeyes stare at him. An unsuspecting couple find him just outside the crypt, not a drop of blood inside. They hold a funeral one week later.

It could be many, any of them. But not Wednesday, never her. Enid would save her. Right? It's not like the psychic would go foraging with Eugene, they go a little too far. And now it's dark, and there seems to be something circling them. Wednesday times it, has her knife ready in her sleeve. She can feel their stalker closing in. She whispers to Eugene, "when i say run, you run like your life depends on it". He looks confused, but then Wednesday whips around. "Shit, Run!!", and Eugene runs. He never disobeys Wednesday when she sounds like that. He sprints all the way back to the school, only looking back once he gets inside those walls. He finds a teacher and tells them what happened, Enid over hears. She practically flies through that forest, tracking Eugene's smell all the way back to a bleeding, half dead Wednesday leaning against a tree. By the time the staff get there, it's too late. They hold a funeral. One. Week. Later.

>:3

STOP

WHY IS THERE A POTENTIAL HYDE?? OR A SERIAL KILLER D:

thats horrible mate, i love the repeating in "they hold a funeral one week later" very ominous, very SDKAJDJASDLKA

then the way it starts getting more and more descriptive the more you read. That's horrible dude, good job :)

BUT SERIOUSLY, TYLER IS JUST WORKING IN THE SCHOOL CAFETERIA IN THIS AU. He aint that bad of a guy here, he's vibing. Then the way you got enid to watch as the girl she likes literally bleeds out infront of her, thats just cruel

#writing #she's the man au

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legacyshenanigans · 8 months

Note

Hello from the void friends ✨

What would Marvolo and Rowan do if they were at the grocery and had to wait on someone to move to get what they were going after, and the person was taking too long?

Hellooooo 😊

I actually love this hahahaha!! ❤️

Reactions to a slow person at the store🤣

Marvolo🐍:

Marvolo: *needing bread*

Old woman: *also looking at the bread he needs, but taking her sweet time, just staring at it, pondering*

Marvolo: .....*sighs quietly*

Old woman: *goes to pick some up...Then doesn't and looks over at some other bread*

Marvolo: ....*tapping his foot*

Old woman: *looks back at the bread Marvolo needs..Then back at the other bread...Then back at the bread Marvolo wants and goes to get it...But doesn't again, and looks back at the other bread*

Marvolo: *sighs loudly and walks over* Listen Love, we BOTH know you want THIS one, you've reached for it twice, so let me do you a favour *moves her cart out of the way, picking up the bread he also wants, and putting it in her cart* There..Now if you excuse me, as much as I'd love to stand here all day watching you ponder your loaf choices, I've got places to be *grabs the bread he wants and walks off*

Rowan🐺:

Rowan: *wanting a bag of Funyuns*

Kid: *in the way of what Rowan can see is the LAST bag*

Rowan: ....*staring at the bag, then the kid, then the bag, then the kid again*

Kid: *talking to his friend, still in the way*

Rowan: *mumbles under his breath* Damn, kids..Fuckin move...

Kid: *finally turns around back to the snacks and reaches for the bag of Funyuns*

Rowan: (?!) *hurries over and snatches them out of the kids hand*

Kid: (?!?!?!) *looking up at him*

Rowan: ...Mine *runs away out of the aisle*

Kid and his friend: (????)

#marvolo gaunt headcanons #marvolo gaunt #rowan the wolf

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fauna-flora11 · 2 months

Text

Enemies.... with benefits?

By the way: Part 3

MASTERLIST

Summary: Aelin and Rowan hate each others guts... Or do they?

Warnings: Swearing, Hate? sex, NSFW

Word count: 1.3K words

Rowan got up from his bed, yawning and stretching like a house cat. He took his time getting ready, wearing appropriate clothing for his job, and padded outside to the kitchen, since after-nap snacks were always superior. He came outside to the computer room, his new computer room, since his past base had been well and truly wrecked due to Aelin. He munched on a granola bar, speaking to Aedion with his still full mouth. "What are the updates?" Aedion turned, a frown on his face. "I'm not exactly sure right now, but mainly all signs point towards Hotel five, named for its perfect five star rating." Rowan snorted, sitting on a chair. "Sound like Aelin all right," He got up again, ruffling Aedion's hair. "Talk to me when you got a solid location, boyo,"

He scanned the room, frowning. "Where's Gavriel and Lorcan?" Fenrys replied with a snort. "Scouting, apparently. At the City's hottest and newest bar." Rowan rolled his eyes. Those two seemed to be the most innocent, workaholics but none of them could resist getting drunk till they couldn't walk anymore. "Well," He said, stretching his back, "I'm off to hotel five then," Both of them murmured their goodbyes, and he set off. He knew Aedion was right, anyway. He was their best tracker. Taking the long route, not only to avoid suspicion,but to avoid Aelin for as long as possible. The thought of her sent him fuming, hot and irritated. She had killed one of his citizens. He sighed, smoothing down his clothes. No use thinking of that now, he had to keep a clear mind. Especially when it had a habit of wandering where it shouldn't be.

He entered the hotel, completely ignoring the high, towering chandeliers and the exhilarating glass elevators. No, he went straight to the front desk, "Excuse me, Rowan whitethorn, reporting for duty. Suspected criminal in room 403,requesting access?" after gaining a key, he muttered the room numbers under his breath, finally reaching 403. The key card made a 'beep' noise as the door swung open. His breath hitched, he felt like he couldn't breathe. Aelin sat on the bed, smirking at him. But it wasn't that sight , no, it was the nightgown.

The golden night gown, shimmering in the light at every slightest movement she made, hugging her curves, leaving no room for imagination. It took every inch of self control in him to keep his expression non-cholant and to not, he reminded himself, not rip that gods-damned night gown off.

"Hello, Rowan," she smiled at him. "I didn't think you would fall for it you know, it's so easy to leave little kernels of information for you to think this was my warehouse." She sighed, looking up at the lush chandeliers and plush bed. "If only I was that rich," Rowan snarled at her, pacing the room. He turned to her, "You mean to tell me those days of tracking you were all useless!?"

"I'm afraid so," She got up, sensually walking towards him. "But now that you're here, we can do alot of other things." He was staring down at her nose now, and he prayed she couldn't hear his heartbeat. "What are you trying to imply?" she chuckled, "please, don't play dumb with me," he didn't back down. "I don't understand you, Aelin," she scrunched her eyebrows together, "Then you should probably leave, Rowan," He opened his mouth to - what, protest? Agree? - but before he could, a beet red Aelin pushed him outside, slamming the door and leaving him in the hallway.

His heart was beating so fast, by the wryd, he could barely breathe. He felt an ache, a need, that he had to fulfill. He couldn't. He was going to regret it. Alot. But he already regretted alot of things in life. What's one more? Taking a deep breath, he turned and heard once more, the mechanical beep of the door opening.

Aelin had barely pushed Rowan out the door before she leaped on the bed, screaming into her pillow. How the hell was he so unaffected!? Everybody liked her! Why was he the only fucking one, the only one she took an interest in, so uninterested!? He looked stoic and solid as usual. She had even worn her best nightgown, which cost a fortune by the way! And he hadn't even looked at it for a second! She huffed, sitting upright and hugging the pillow to herself. That regection was one of the most humiliating things she had ever heard.

She was about to lay down and pick up her phone, before she heard the beep of her door opening. Rowan's tentative head pops into her room. "About what you were saying earlier," he says "Were you joking?" She feels the corners of her lips tugging up. "Rowan whitethorn, I never lie about wanting to get laid." Aelin pulls him in, closing the door shut behind them, and kisses him. That kiss is her awakening, its warm and sensual, and everything she wanted. It's rough and full of hatred and desperation. None of them want it, but both of them need it. He pulls back, panting. "Are you sure?" Aelin nods. "We're enemies." "I know," "We're going to regret this," "I know that, too," and-not giving him another chance to speak, Aelin pulls him back in, moaning into the kiss. He runs his tongue against the seam of her lips, and she opens up for him, feeling herself unraveling. He pulls back again, "bed." The sound is guttural, a command that makes her weak in the knees. "Now." she can hardly get there fast enough. He un fastens his belt, pulling down his pants and shirt, stripping down to his boxers.

He crawls over to her on the bed, nearing his mouth to that flimsy strap on her shoulder. "I hate you," She breathes out. He bites the strap, pulling it down her shoulders. "Me too," and with that, he completely strips her, leaving her bare infront of him. Aelin leans over to remove his boxers, and almost moans at the sight.

Without any warning, Rowan thrusts in, earning a loud, needy moan. His pace is perfect, fast, efficient and so fucking good. They both know they shouldn't be doing this. This is getting the edge off, both of them want each other, and it's driving them insane. They're both using each other to dull that edge. He hits that spot, the one that she needs, and she whimpers, tightening her grip in his hair, "Fuck, Rowan-!" all the feelings she's been having drive over the edge, and she feels release, heaving and whimpering a sound that might be his name.

He continues, and there's something right, she thinks, something right in Rowan using her for his pleasure. His pace is relentless, and finally, he comes too. They both lay there, a panting, sweaty mess, but Aelin pushes him off her, getting on top of him and positioning herself above his dick. She pulls herself down on him, bouncing on it, and Rowan moans, "gods-Aelin!" She bounces on top of him, seemingly hitting all the right spots according to his continuous moans. She grins down at him, "What, already tired?" Rowan looks up at her, "Not a chance, Aelin," Proving his point, Rowan slaps her ass from behind and she moans, fastening her pace. Rowan continues to play with and occasionally slap her butt, all while Aelin moans on top of him, her chest bouncing along with her. This time, they both come at the same time,and their moans echo into the room.

Rowan glances at the clock on top of the fireplace, and swears. "I have to go." Without any further explanation, he runs into the shower, leaving in five minutes fully clothed and exits the room. Aelin stays in the bed, thinking.

Tag list:

@mariaofdoranelle

#throne of glass #aelin x rowan #rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #fenrys moonbeam #aelin ashryver galathynius

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tomtenadia · 2 years

Text

Sunday adventure

Hello!! Here I am again with a new cute Rowaelin. This one is set in the same AU as two of my DadRowan fics: Little Monkey and A trip to the Aquarium. For this fic I used a bit of the TOG folklore but also Celtic one. I do mention Tir Na Nog - in celtic mythology is the fairies otherworld. Also, the Fairy Glen actually exist (HERE) it’s one of my favourite places on Skye. It’s a magical place and Skye has a lot of connections to the fairies due to Dunvegan castle and the Fairy flag. The entrance of the glen is inspired by a place near where I live called Burn O’ Vat (the image should give you an idea of what I meant for the entrance).

I hope you will enjoy dadRowan with his family.

====

Weekends in the Whitethorn-Galathynius household were a busy affair. Aelin was home and the three always tried to make the most of it. On most occasions, it was their five years old daughter dictating the actual plans. The previous night she had confessed to her parents she wanted to go in the woods hiking. Rowan and Aelin had started taking her out to some shorter walks in Oakwald and the girl had quickly fell in love with nature. Rowan who, in his younger years had worked as forest ranger, had been more than happy to indulge his little girl.

He was now in the kitchen preparing their bags with all the provisions they needed. He would prepare lunch and a lot of snacks, together with coffee for the adults and healthy juices for Maya. Aelin would joke that they were not going for a week long expedition, but Rowan was always very serious when it came to outings in the woods.

“Dada, can I take Marvin?” His daughter walked to him while holding the giant stuffed penguin on one of his fins.

“No my love, he needs to stay at home.”

“Oh.” She added dejected. Rowan, who could not bear to see his daughter sad, kneeled in front of her and brushed her head “You can tell him all of your adventures when you come home.” A soft kiss on her silver hair “We can also try and spot the Little Folk.” Rowan had also started telling his daughter about all the legends from Terrasen and Aelin had bought her a few books that in turn they read to Maya.

The girl’s eyes lit up in joy and rushed back to her room to stash away the penguin.

Aelin appeared a moment later, all dressed up in the nice mountain wear he had took her to buy. She had no sensible clothing for Terrasen mountains so he made sure both his girls had all the correct equipment. He took the mountains very seriously.

“Where are you taking us today?”

He turned and folded his arms around her waist “nothing too complicated. There’s a lovely path through the forest that will lead to the Fairy glen and there’s a stunning waterfall waiting for us.”

“You know that Maya will try and chase the fairies, right?”

He kissed his wife “I want her to believe in the legends, grow up connected with nature.”

Aelin snuggled to his chest when a tiny hand patted them.

“Mama, dada I am ready.”

They both looked down and saw Maya with her bright green jacket, black trousers and walking boots. Rowan laughed when he spotted the mess she had made of the laces. She was still learning to tie her shoes.

He kneeled “let me fix the laces for you.”

At the same time, Aelin went to fix her hair and place a nice hat on her daughter’s head and then finished with a pair of sunglasses.

Once they were both done, Aelin took a picture of their daughter “you are our little explorer.”

Maya grinned lowering her sunglasses on her nose “Let’s go.”

The car journey had been the usual chaos and mayhem with Aelin and Maya singing out loud from a selection of songs ranging from cartoons soundtracks to rock music. Rowan just hummed along while he was busy driving.

It was a good hour later when they finally arrived and Maya was already agitated as she tried to remove the seat belts and climb off the car seat.

“Maya, we are almost there, wait for dad to park the car.”

“I want off.”

“Maya.” Rowan’s voice had enough hint of a command that the little girl calmed back down.

As soon as he parked, Aelin got off and freed their hyper daughter.

Aelin opened the trunk and got their backpacks while Rowan changed his trainers for hiking boots.

Rowan was the one with the big backpack, while Aelin had a smaller one with essentials for Maya and the wee girl had her own unicorn rucksack with her water bottle and a few toys she insisted on taking with her.

Rowan ready, he walked to his girls and took Maya’s hand “ready?”

His daughter jumped in excitement and Aelin grabbed the other hand.

The three of them left the car park and Rowan guided them through the marked path that disappeared in the forest. It was a lovely spring day and he was looking forward to a day with his family. He knew that part of Oakwald very well after his years as park ranger. The trail that were following that day was one of his favourites and he had been looking forward to share it with Aelin and Maya in a while but they had to wait for their girl to get more used to hiking. There was no actual ascent to climb, it was a very gentle stroll through the forest until they reached the glen.

“Dada, are there really fairies?”

He chuckled and smiled at his daughter “yes, but they love to stay hidden, so we leave them offering to thank them for looking after the forest.”

“But I want to meet them, like Mei in Totoro.”

“I admit that I’d like to meet a Totoro too and fall asleep on his belly.”

“The sìth in Oakwald are not as fluffy.”

Rowan was talking when Maya let go of his hand and ran quickly towards the trees “Deer, dad a deer.”

He walked to her “shhh… do not scare it away.”

Aelin took a nice picture and crouched at her daughter side. She loved seeing her daughter excited about new things. They lived in the outskirts and Maya was used at seeing squirrels in their garden but deers were a discovery.

“It’s so pretty, can I touch it?”

“No my love, we just observe. The fairies don’t want us to disturb the animals.”

“Ok, dad.” She said her goodbyes to the deer and grabbed her parents hands once more.

They walked happily while Rowan told them both about the legends of the place and both listened attentively at his voice spun wonderful tales of magic and wonders.

After a good twenty minutes they reached a clearing with a few boulders to mark the entrance to a new grassy path.

“That, “ he added pointing at the big rocks “is the official entrance to the Fairy Glen, but before we can go in we need to pay our respects to the guardians of the valley.”

Maya looked up at him with curiosity while Aelin admired her husband and she asked herself how it was possible to fall even more in love with him. His pagan, tree hugger nature was something that he kept hidden and only a few selected individuals knew of it. It was not something he shared easily as he had confessed her that on occasions he had been ridiculed for his beliefs. Aelin on the other hand had wanted to know more and she had been delighted when he had started to involve Maya too. She wanted her daughter to grow up a nature lover like her dad.

Rowan opened his backpack and extracted a couple of buttons and a few acorns and gently placed them on the boulder.

“Dada, what are you doing?”

“I am giving some offerings to the hidden ones. Buttons because they love to collect trinkets from humans and acorns because they love them.” He crouched down her level “we give them offering as a thank you for letting us through the forest.”

Aelin chuckled and removed the plastic pink bracelet she had around her wrist and placed it on the boulder near Rowan’s items “You never know… maybe they are into fashion.”

Rowan laughed and kissed his wife.

Maya removed her backpack and from it she fished out a green crayon. Rowan, lifted her in his arms so that she could placed her offering near the others “they can draw now.”

Aelin brushed her daughter’s head “they will be so happy.”

“Come on girls, let’s thank the hidden ones and continue.”

“Thank you fairy.”

“Bye bye fairy.” Added Maya walking quickly to her father.

The two boulders were side by side but in-between them there was an entrance. The path had smaller rocks and was covered in water “Walk on the rocks.”

When Maya struggled he took his daughter in his arms and passed the aperture then waited for Aelin to join him. At his side he heard a sharp intake of breath “Ro, this place is…”

He took Aelin’s hand and pulled Maya to him “welcome both to the Fairy Glen.”

The scene in front of them was otherworldly. Green land stretched in every direction, dotted with bumpy and oddly shaped hills, with the odd pond accompanying the landscape. On one side there was a rocky formation that looked like a castle. All around them the silence was only broken by the sound of water crashing in a pool from a stunning waterfall.

Aelin was speechless. The place was something she only had imagined in fantasy books. And it must have been truly stunning because Maya was silent too. Her daughter sat down at their feet and looked amazed at the landscape in front of them.

“Dada, do fairies really live here?”

Rowan nodded “See that rock formation?” He pointed at the ruins that looked like a castle “Legends says that’s the gate to Tír na nÓg.”

“Can we go and say hi? They can have my sandwich.”

Aelin laughed at her daughter’s need for adventure “I am not sure the fairies loves sandwiches.”

“But I want to see cinanoc.”

Rowan’s smiled at her daughter’s attempt to pronounce the ancient name for the fairies’ otherworld.

“We can climb and have a look.”

His daughter gave him the most stunning smile and started running freely shouting to all the fairies to come out and play.

“I think that she is scaring them,” joked Aelin, as her arm wound around her husband’s midriff “I love seeing her be so free.”

Aelin squeezed him “she loves nature just as much as you.”

He looked at his daughter with pride “come, let’s go and save the hidden ones from our daughter.”

Hand in hand they reached Maya who was now trying to climb the rock formation on her own. Rowan switched in fuss mode and joined her “easy, be careful, my love.”

“Dada I am a good climber.”

Aelin chuckled and accepted her husband’s hand to climb the first rockier part.

Maya, with the help of her dad, was the first one to reach the top of the ruined formation and started shouting in happiness declaring the glen beautiful and then counted all of the mounds “mum, dad, there are a lot of houses for fairies.”

Aelin took a lot of photos of the landscape but also of her daughter. She was working on a series of albums with Maya’s stages in life. She wanted to document her daughter’s life.

“Dada, waterfall?” Asked Maya, as soon as she was done with the castle.

Carefully, Rowan helped his family descend and once down Maya started running once again.

“If we are lucky she will be so exhausted that she will go to bed early.”

Rowan kissed his wife’s head “that’s wishful thinking. She has limitless energy like you.”

Aelin hummed in pleasure and with her hand in his she followed him through the stunning glen and along the path to the waterfall. Maya always in front of them, running from one side to the other all excited.

It took them a good half hour but eventually the waterfall appeared in front of them, tall and majestic, water cascading forcefully in the pristine pool below.

“Dada, water.”

Aelin looked at him and nodded “Yes, I have a set of spare clothes, just in case.”

It took them two seconds of distraction, that Maya was already at the bank of the pool, her hand reaching playfully for the water.

“Maya, darling, careful.”

“I am saying hi to the water fairies.”

Rowan laughed. He had read her stories of the water nymphs and their legends and now Maya wanted to say hi to them every time she was near water.

Aelin moved at his side and sat on the bank and removed her shoes, placing her feet in the fresh water “like this, Maya.”

The little girl followed her mother and clumsily tried to remove her boots.

Rowan kneeled and helped her free her tiny feet “Go, do like mum.”

“Hi nymphs, my feet are not smelly.” She admitted as she splashed happily and her parents laughed at her admission.

“Come on big man, join us.”

Rowan removed his hiking boots, rolled his trousers to his knees and stepped in the pool, the water barely brushing his calf.

“Me too.” Maya was about to climb in the water but Rowan grabbed her “Let mum remove your trousers, then you can splash too.”

Aelin removed the item of clothing from her excited girl and Rowan hugged her, her legs dangling freely and she laughed as he dipped her and then pulled her out quickly.

“Swim?”

“No my love, the water it’s too cold for swimming. We just play like this, okay?”

“Dada, fishes!” She squirmed in his arms and he let her down in the very shallow side of the pool, standing behind her for protection.

Aelin in the meantime was relaxing in the sun, watching father and daughter play.

“Mama, come in water with us?”

At her daughter request she stood and joined her family “Maya, let’s thank the water nymphs for letting us play in their water.”

“Thank you water fairy.”

By the time they finished their little adventure in the pool, Aelin had to change her daughter completely as she expected. Maya loved water and she and Rowan had soon discovered that it was impossible for them to keep her away.

While Aelin sorted out Maya, Rowan had started taking out their lunches. His girls would soon start screaming for food, and the bank of the pool was a perfect spot, it was secluded and stunning.

“Maya, now sit with your mum and let’s have lunch.”

“Food,” screamed the two girls and he. Laughed. He knew them very well.

He had prepared a nice spread of sandwiches and other healthy snacks and Aelin complained about the crazy amount of vegetables “Buzzard, we are out on an adventure, more chocolate and less veggies?”

He smirked and dunked a carrot in some hummus and passed it to Aelin who let her husband feed her “well, if you put it this way.”

“Our daughter is here,” he added at her sensual tone.

“As if the water nymphs had never seen us getting busy in a loch.”

Rowan laughed and kissed her lips “you are such a menace.”

“Maya kiss too.”

Rowan grabbed his daughter in a bear hug and landed on the ground with her in his arms, while he peppered her face with kisses. Aelin joined them a second later and Rowan enveloped her too.

Once the picnic was over, Rowan led his two women to his next destination. Maya had moved on his shoulders and Aelin was at his side, her hand always in his. She had tried to protest and swap backpacks, but Rowan was adamant that he could carry their daughter and the big rucksack at the same time.

As they got closer to the waterfall, the roar of the water grew in intensity.

“Pretty.” Added Maya once they were right in front of it.

Rowan grinned and kept walking until they reached a fenced path that took them right underneath.

The cave allowed them protection from the water, but the view was stunning.

Maya leaned forward to touch the water and Rowan allowed it and the girl screamed in excitement.

Aelin tucked at his side and looked up at father and daughter. Both of them with faces lit up but a beautiful smile. Rowan had sometimes the reputation of being a grump, but only she and Maya knew his true self. She treasured dearly the smiles he’d reserve to her and Maya. She looked at him and kissed his shoulder “love you.”

“Love you too mama.”

Rowan looked down in his wife blue eyes and mouthed an I love you.

They stood a few minutes, but as it got colder away from the sun, he prompted his girl to go the final part of the hike “Come on, there is one last surprise.”

Back on the path Maya started protesting to climb back down so Rowan let her free once more.

Not long after they arrived in a secluded clearing. Maya had sat on the grass and was staring at the scene in front of her.

In the middle of that patch of land stood tall ancient stones arranged in an almost perfect circle.

“Welcome to this ancient site dedicated to Mala.”

Maya looked up and smiled at her dad. She knew of the ancient gods and like her mother, she loved Mala the fire-bringer.

The little girl stood and went running and hugged one of the tall stones and her mother joined her a moment later.

Rowan laughed, took a picture of them both, knowing that it was going to become his new home screen and joined them.

“Legends say that she had a house in the woods and this area is quite famous among rangers for its higher numbers of stags, that as we know, it was the animal sacred to Mala,” he explained “when I was a ranger I used to patrol this area a lot. Stags are a sacred animal in Terrasen and it’s illegal to hunt them. Poachers would kill them just for their majestic antlers.”

“Bad.” Added Maya quietly.

Rowan brushed her silver hair “yes, my love.”

He took his two girl in the centre of the ring and sat down with them, Maya between his legs and Aelin tucked against his side, his arm around her waist.

The three of them stood as Rowan told them legends of the ancient gods or just folktales. He was in the middle of a tale about Mala, when a stag appeared from behind a tree.

Maya squirmed in his arms but he held her back, not wanting to scare the animal away.

The stag moved closer and Rowan extended his hand and the animal approached them allowing him to gently caress its head between the antlers. Maya and Aelin copied him and in surprise the stag licked their hand and Maya squealed in delight, then she reached for her backpack and took out a piece of her sandwich. She placed it on her hand and offered to the animal in front of her. The stag smelled it and then ate it quickly “She likes it.” Another few morsel, a last lick of hands, and then the stag walked away just as quietly as it had arrived. Maya looked at her parents in amazement.

“I think Mala likes us very much.”

They spent another good hour in the sacred site, then Rowan convinced them it was time to move and start to walk back towards the car.

By the time they arrived at the car park, Maya was asleep on his shoulders. He placed in her car seat and then turned to Aelin who was staring towards the waterfall. He embraced her from behind “She will never forget this, you know?”

Rowan kissed her head “I hope not,” another kiss “You are both my firehearts, and Mala today has shown me that she approves of both of you.”

Aelin turned in his arms and looked up in her husband beautiful green eyes.

“Yes, I am fool enough to pray to the goddess of fire to let me love a woman with fire in her veins.”

She stood on her tip toes and kissed him “I melted your icy heart.”

“That you did, my love.”

A soft kiss “come on, let’s take our little terror home, then I might take you up on the challenge you threw me at the loch.”

Aelin squeezed his arse playfully “hmm, you can tire me out all you want.”

Deep laughter left his lips.

As he walked around the car to the driver’s seat he cast a last look towards the woods and sent a silent blessing to the ancient gods and asked Mala to look after his family.

taglist

@rowaelinismyotp @swankii-art-teacher @whimsicallyreading @elentiyawhitethorn @aelin-bitch-queen @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity @mis-lil-red @thegreyj @sailorsassley @leiawritesstories @clairec79 @morganofthewildfire @sv0430 @heartless--aromantic @autumnbabylon @rowanaelinn @backtobl4ck @susumaus98 @gracie-rosee @mybloodrunsblue @tanvee1231 @avenrebekah @whoever-you-choose-to-love @theywillnotsingforme @universallytreepost @black-daisy-water @goddess-aelin @whispers-in-the-darkest-heart @lovely-dove-zee @athena127

#rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fanfiction #aelin x rowan #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #rowaelin kids #dadRowan #rowaelin #rowan x aelin

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lily-janus · 1 year

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Someone Like You - Chapter 5

Chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | next

Summary: Janus and his dad are both hurt and haunted by their past, it's time they'll talk about it with each other, and what's a better time than 2 in the morning?

Pairing: past anxceit, pre romantic roceit

Warnings: grief, mentions of past accident and death, regret, self deprecation, disability, insomnia. Let me know if there's anything I missed.

Word count: 1,416

Hey folks! Sorry for the late update, this week was hectic for me omg. But I'm here to deliver you another unhealthy dose of angst horray! @prince-rowan-of-the-forest

Just stop thinking about him…

Stop thinking about Virgil…

He doesn't matter anymore…

You don't need him…

Janus turned in his bed, it was hard enough to find a position where his left leg hurt the least, but now he was so restless he couldn't stop moving and turning.

Why the fuck did he agree to go there? What was he thinking? All it did was bring back all the pain he spent so much time trying to push down…

It's not fair how Virgil can hurt him even when he's not there while he gets to laugh with his new friends and kiss Roman's soft lips whenever he pleases and-

No, that's not the time to be thinking of this… he needs to sleep…

Ugh who is he kidding? He's not going to sleep tonight…

With a sigh, he got up and went to get himself some water and maybe a - he checked the time - 2am snack.

When he got to the kitchen, however, it wasn't as dark and empty as he expected. His dad was sitting at the table, looking at a photo that, even though Janus couldn't see it, was obviously of his mom.

So, it's going to be one of these nights it seems… great.

"Hey dad.." Janus said softly but his dad still jumped in surprise.

"Oh! H-hwy buddy! What are you doing up?" His dad put up a smile that wasn't fooling any of them.

Janus raised an eyebrow, "I can ask you the same question… been thinking about her?" He asked softly.

His dad let out an empty chuckle, shaking his head, "I always think about her… I never stopped… but yeah, I am.." he admitted, his barely-put-together cheerful persona falling away to reveal his sad and tired face.

He gestured weakly for Janus to sit next to him and they both stared at the picture in silence for a long moment. The three of them laughing and covered in mud on the floor.

Janus remembered that day, it was the day before the accident… it just finished raining and the sun was coming out of the clouds, making a beautiful rainbow. Janus' mom insisted they'll go out and take a picture with it so they rushed outside, his dad bringing their old camera and setting it up. They all posed but at the last second, Janus' dad slipped on the mud, making all three of them fall with him and they all burst into laughter right when the timer went down and the camera clicked.

Janus stared at himself in that picture, happy and healthy and… normal. Sometimes he forgets he ever was that… normal. His father's sigh broke him out of his thoughts.

"I should have been there…" he said quietly.

Janus held back his tears at the sound of his dad's regretful tone, "don't… it doesn't help anything… it just hurts you when you think like that… we can't change what happened."

"I know… I know you're right… but the feeling is still there… I yelled at her…" he trailed off with a sob, "my last moments with her were spent arguing over stupid things that don't matter… don't mean anything like you two mean to me…" he buried his face in his hands, taking shaky breaths. "What would she think of me now…"

Janus laid a hand on his father's trembling shoulders, "you're doing your best, she would love you for it… just like I do."

His dad relaxed back into the chair, leaning his head over his son's shoulder and relaxing slowly. "Thank you, son… that means a lot.."

They stayed that way for a long moment, before his dad lifted his head to look at Janus, "and why are you up?"

Janus sighed, he was hoping to avoid this question… "just thoughts… won't stop pestering me, ya know?" He tried but it was clear his dad wasn't buying it.

He took a deep breath, "...I went to Virgil's the other day…" he started. He never actually told his dad what happened between them, but the man was smart enough and knew him well enough to have a pretty good guess of the reason behind Virgil's sudden disappearance. "...and now I can't stop thinking about him again.." he admitted.

His father nodded in understanding, "I see… you never really told what happened between you two." He said carefully.

Normally, Janus would brush off the question, but his dad seems to need a distraction like this right now and it's not like it's some big secret… he can't stop thinking about it now anyway so might as well tell someone.

So, Janus took a deep breath, "there's not much to tell, really… one day he just stopped answering my texts… he stopped being in our usual meeting stops… then, a week or so later… I see him hanging with the popular group at our school. Not even meeting my eyes… I just can't stop wondering what I could have possibly done or said that drove him away like that… was he only my friend because he thought I was his only choice?"

Janus didn't realize he was crying until his dad reached out and wiped the tears from his cheeks, "I'm sorry son, that's awful." He hugged him gently.

Janus sniffed and sighed, "I probably deserved it…" he said quietly.

His dad pulled away to look him in the eyes, "no, you didn't, what Virgil did was not okay, you hear me?" He said firmly.

Janus nodded weakly and his dad gave him a comforting smile. "Come on, we both need to go to bed."

And they each got up and went to their rooms to try and get some sleep before the sun came up.

…

He woke up to his phone ringing.

Frowning, he pulled the phone off the charger and looked to see who was calling him.

He almost dropped his phone when he saw it was Roman of all people. Does it have something to do with their project? But it's sunday, couldn't that wait until they see each other at school on monday?

Mind racing, he nervously answered and put the phone to his ear, "hello?"

Silence.

"Roman?"

"...are you okay?"

Janus frowned, looking at the clock, "you woke me up at 8 in the morning on sunday just to ask me that?"

"Sorry I just felt really bad over what happened at Virgil's and I just had to see how you were doing…"

Janus was glad it was a phone call and that Roman couldn't see his blush, "w-what do you have to feel bad about? It's between me and Virg-"

"I know but I knew you had a history and I still convinced you to go and I'm so sorry, I didn't think it would be so painful for you…"

Roman started bubbling as Janus just sat there, stunned, "...you… blame yourself on yesterday?" He asked suddenly, making Roman stop.

"Um… yes? I guess it's kinda dumb huh?" He heard Roman chuckle awkwardly.

"No it's… actually sweet…" Janus thought to himself with heated cheeks.

"What?"

Janus suddenly realized he said it out loud and hung up immediately, heart racing. What the fuck is he doing?

He waited anxiously to see if Roman would call again, but when nothing happened, he sighed in relief and went downstairs to start on making breakfast for him and his dad.

…

"Someone is up early, it smells amazing here." His father greeted him a few hours later as he walked into the kitchen, "can I help with anything?"

Janus turned from the pan on the stove to raise an eyebrow at his dad, "last time you 'helped' I almost had to call the fire department."

"Hey! That was not my fault! The instructions were very confusing!" His dad protested with a grin.

Janus just shook his head with a smile and turned back to the pancakes he was in the middle of making.

They were just about to sit down to eat when a knock was heard from the door.

With a sigh, Janus grubbed his cane and went to answer it.

He was feeling strangely better today. He never imagined telling his dad what happened would make much of a difference but… it really did. It still hurt, but it was more dull than before… weird.

He opened the door and nearly dropped his cane when he saw who it was.

"Um… hey…" said Virgil awkwardly, "c-can we talk?"

#sanders sides #sanders sides fanfic #virgil sanders #roman sanders #janus sanders #ts janus #ts roman #ts virgil #past anxceit #pre romantic roceit #angst #tw grieving #tw death mention #tw disability #Lily writes #wip exchange #Someone Like You #chapter 5

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aces-and-angels · 1 year

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An It Lives Within Holiday Special: Amalia Edition 🎁

Title: Lemon Drops

A/N: Y’all ready for some besties turned lovers action? Because it’s time to show Amalia some much needed love♥ I started writing this fic so long ago. Technically, it was never meant for ILAW. But I figured since I’m done with Abel’s fic, I’d spruce up the draft I had for this beauty.

For Day 4: Favorite ship(s) @ila-appreciationweek

Pairing(s): Amalia x MC (M!Rowan), Connor x F!Devon (briefly mentioned)

Summary: A bonus scene for ILW by @itlivesproject; Set pre-finale (Blood Route); Rowan recreates an old memory

---

“$5.00 is your change. Do you need a bag?”

Rowan proudly held up his pillowcase. “No thanks. I brought my own.” His smirk was met with a quizzical look, followed by a careless shrug from the cashier. The cotton stretched as he packed everything into his ‘bag.’ Tightly holding the ends of the fabric in his fist, he slung the pillowcase over his shoulder. His foot was halfway out the store when a voice called out.

“Wait!” Rowan turned around, confused. His cashier jogged up to him, a large pack of lemon drops in their hand. “You almost forgot this.”

---

Bright headlights illuminated the dark road ahead as Rowan drove. It wasn’t long before he found himself parked outside the cabin. The spot where Connor’s car should be was noticeably empty- just as he intended. For the most part, his roommates were agreeable to staying elsewhere for the night. Though Devon did make him pay her $100 as an ‘entertainment fee.’

“Drinks are expensive, Burke. And so am I,” she reasoned.

“Sweetheart, we don’t need-”

“Connor, hush. A business transaction is in progress.” Rowan rolled his eyes, but complied. After a few quick taps on his phone, Devon’s phone chimed in her pocket. “We’ll be out by 6.”

Grabbing his pillowcase from the passenger’s seat, he made his way to the front door and knocked. A few seconds pass before he heard the floorboards creak from inside. “Ro, is that you?” Amalia called out.

“Yeah, I left without my keys again,” he lied, holding back a grin. His heart thudded with anticipation as her footsteps grew louder.

"I told you to check your...” her words died out when she took in the sight of him.

Standing in front of her, still in his pajamas that he’d left in, he gave a small, but hopeful smile. The contents in his pillowcase jostled slightly as he held it up to her. “Wanna have a slumber party?”

“I... you... what-”

“As much as I love leaving you speechless, it’s freezing out here,” he chuckled, his breath coming out in a fog.

“R-right,” she stuttered, stepping aside so he could pass. The heat inside the cabin instantly warmed his cold skin. He faintly heard the front door click shut from behind, but not another set of footsteps following him into the living room. Amalia stood frozen in place, her mouth slightly agape.

“A lady at the store gave me that same look,” he tried to joke with her.

“Huh?”

“I had to go to a couple of stores, actually. For some reason, none of them had UNO.”

“Wha-?”

“I know! It didn’t make sense to me either. Anyways, I bought all of the essentials.” He began to take out the snacks in his pillowcase, listing them off as he did. “I’ve got Takis, salt and vinegar chips, honey buns-”

“No,” she interrupted, her shocked expression unchanged. “I mean, what is all this?”

His shoulders slumped ever-so-slightly. Was this too much? He fidgeted with the edge of his pillowcase. “I just thought- I wanted...” he trailed off, unsure how to explain himself.

“You wanted to do what?” Her tone didn’t hold any judgement. It was soft, encouraging. She walked over to him, gently placing her palm on his cheek. He instinctively leaned into her touch, its comforting warmth easing the tension that had formed in his shoulders. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his head from the floor.

“I’ve been having these... thoughts,” he started, wetting his dry lips with his tongue. “My memories- they’re not really mine.”

“Ro, that doesn’t-”

“I know, Lia. In the end, I’m still me. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are gaps. Things that I only think are true.” He anxiously chewed on the inside of his cheek, glancing down at the pillowcase in his hand. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled out the pack of lemon drops. “I just wanted to remember, really remember, our slumber parties.”

Amalia’s eyes softened. Wordlessly, her arms circled tightly around his frame. He melted into the hug, burying his face in her hair. The sweet, familiar scent of lavender filled his senses. A content sigh escaped from his lips as she rubbed his back soothingly. “Is that why you kept asking me what snacks I liked?” Her words were muffled into his shoulder.

“I had to make sure I bought the right things,” he mumbled sheepishly. With their bodies pressed so close, he could feel her laughter through his chest. The joyous sound made his heart flip. She pulled away just enough to look up at him.

“You really have UNO in that pillowcase of yours?”

Stepping away from her hold, he took out the deck of cards. “Prepare to eat my dust de León.”

"We’ll see about that, Burke.” Snatching the box out of his hands, she made her way to sit on the couch. “First trip down memory lane: you were always shit at shuffling.”

His lips stretched into a playful smirk. “Did we also make each other draw cards until we got one we could put down?”

“That’s the only way to play, Ro. Now, sit down so I can kick your ass.”

Several rounds of UNO and many, many betrayals later, the two decided to set the cards down to preserve what was left of their relationship. Rowan’s arm draped over Amalia’s shoulder while her head rested on his chest. Her fingers absentmindedly traced random patterns on the back of his hand. A movie that neither of them were really invested in played on the television. “Wanna split the last honey bun, honey bun?” He snickered.

“God, that was awful,” she groaned, slapping him half-heartedly.

"Well,” he scoffed, giving her the most affronted look her could muster. “I don’t feel like sharing it now. Not after that.” He wiped a non-existent tear off his cheek.

“Too bad. Because I’m still hungry.” She moves off him, grabbing the last bun from the package. Her eyes gleam with mischief as she takes a large bite. “Mm- so good.” Rowan’s gaze follows her lips. They glistened from the glaze, her tongue jutting out to lick the crumbs from the corner of her mouth. She dances happily in place, her head bopping side to side as she hums with delight. Warmth pools in his chest as he watches her. A sudden need to be near her washes through him.

“I wanna try,” he whispers. Instead of taking the half-eaten honeybun, his fingers lightly pull her chin towards him. Closing his eyes, he kisses her softly. Amalia gasps, allowing him to slip his tongue between the small part of her lips, relishing the sweet, sugary taste from the dessert that lingered. “You’re right. It is good.” He rests his forehead on hers.

“Mm, glad you liked it,” she sighs. After a moment, she adds, “I’m still eating the rest of it.”

Rowan snorts loudly. “What happened to splitting everything 50/50?”

“You got to eat the last Taki. So I get the last honeybun.”

“What did you want me to do? Break a singular Taki in half? That’s ridiculous! Plus, Takis are smaller than honeybuns,” he counters.

“Them’s the breaks, Ro. We shook on it years ago.”

“Past me should’ve haggled for a better deal,” he grumbles, crossing his arms.

“I don’t know. I think things turned out all right for him,” she said, her gaze tender.

His breath hitches. He looks back at her, his expression cautiously hopeful. “You really think so?”

Amalia nods. “I know so.” There’s no stopping the smile that breaks out. She didn’t need to say it outright for him to know what she meant. Despite everything, he was still her Ro. And that was enough. The little details of his past may be hazy, but Rowan wasn’t upset about that. Not anymore. Because there was a whole life he had left to live. New memories to make. And he’d get to do it all with her.

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