#am i projecting bc i bite my fiancé all the time? sure but it’s still one of my fav things

[thefreakandthehair]

I’ve seen a lot about Eddie finding rocks and stuff and giving them to Steve just because he thought it was cool and trinkets is a love language but think about Steve not really getting it but wanting to show Eddie he cares too

(He’s an acts of service person but dammit he’ll do his best)

So then he starts looking for rocks and leaves and before he knows it he just sees Eddie everywhere, sees the little wonderful and weird things that make him think of him because Eddie is a magpie and Steve loves him

Eddie keeps every flower, every little gift, because even if Steve doesn’t get it, he GETS it, you know? And Eddie’s not really used to people not only accepting his odd tendencies but trying to reciprocate in his way (Gareth is used to Eddie sometimes feeling bitey, he is aware it can happen at any time, but he doesn’t bite Eddie back. Steve however, after being exposed to said biting, will, on occasion, be persuaded to bite him back if he pokes his cheek enough) but his jar of essentially gravel and bits of metal and sticks and bottle caps is one of his most precious possessions because all of it reminded Steve of him and that means the world to him

(Later, when they’re older, the jar is bigger and is filled with rocks from all the places they’ve traveled together. They each have a jar, really, and no one else fully gets it, but that’s okay, they know and that’s all they need)

crow-tendency Eddie being on the receiving end of learning-to-crow Steve would level him in the best possible way, maybe as much as it has me?! omg the first time Steve brings him a rock that reminded him of Eddie? and Eddie just stares at it, looking back and forth between the little stone Steve plops in his palm and Steve’s face? his brain is buffering! I’m—

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

41/50 for Luke and Tori please?

sorry this took me so long! i was having trouble nailing down a concept that i liked. of course that only led to me thinking too hard abt it

so without further ado, here it is! it’s mainly an all human! and crime!au, kept the greek names, with some mish-mash of other things thrown in there. idk really, it’s kinda a mess

half under a cut bc i’m a long-winded bitch

it’s not my Best, but the depression has hit hard and i have other projects i’d like to work on (if the depression will let me)

#41 first kiss#50 arranged marriage

Day 1

"Ugh, you expect me to marry a grifter." She said grifter like it was the worst of the four letter words, throwing the blond man across from her a distasteful look. And for a long time, he'd thought brown eyes always had a warmth about them.

He scoffed. "As if marrying into a house of fixers is any better." His ice-blue eyes shot the blonde woman across from him, his own glare. "Have you even been taught the tricks of the trade yet?" His voice had turned mocking.

Tori opened her mouth to respond with a biting comment, but her mother quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed painfully.

"It would be improper for her to be in such a state in front of her betrothed," Diana said with a perfected smile.

Luke rolled his eyes, missing the irritated look Tori had thrown at her mother.

"Why don't we talk about the details of the wedding in my office." Tori's father, Apollo, stood. Luke's father, Hermes, stood as well with a nod.

"We should let these two get better acquainted," Hermes agreed before shooting his son a pointed look, while Apollo did the same.

Diana stood. "Just as well, I will be meeting with a client soon."

"Yes, I also have a meeting of my own." May stood.

Soon the only two left in the room were Tori and Luke, both glaring at each other, refusing to speak.

Day 100

"Thanks a lot, asshole!" Tori picked up the nearest glass, which was only full of water and some ice, and threw it into Luke's face.

Luke gasped and shot up, his eyes freezing over as he glared at Tori. "What the fuck?" He shook off some of the water, his mark handing him a handful of napkins to wipe his face with. It didn't do much, napkins at clubs were horrendously small and thin. Across the table from Luke, a man also in a suit blinked in surprise and leaned away from Tori.

"You know this chick, Luke?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The people at the tables around them had their eyes trained on the three now, and were murmuring. The waiters had stopped in their tracks, shooting the three nervous looks.

Luke swiped up his napkin and started cleaning his face, while the other man stood and assured the rest of the restaurant that everything was fine and to go back to their meal. Either he was particularly persuasive, or they wanted to pretend nothing had happened because the patrons went back to their dinners and the wait staff began moving from table to table again.

"She's no one," Luke finally answered, eyes half-pleading, half-threatening, but Tori ignored that. She'd been outright threatened by worse.

"Actually, I'm his fiancée." Tori held out her hand, brandishing her engagement ring to the other man, who was still standing. It was something that their parents had decided on together. Luke hadn't even seen it until he'd given it to her. Luke's eyes blazed and he opened his mouth to yell at her, but his mark spoke first.

"You didn't say you were married." The guy looked her over, and any other day would've earned a solid punch to the nose, but she was busy glowering at Luke. "She's quite the catch."

Tori was dressed up, as well, as you'd want to be in such a fancy restaurant setting. Though, her dress were rather plain-black, fitting, and only went down to the tops of her knees. She wore a pair of glossy black flats, and her hair was curled, pulled over her shoulder and held there by a large clip, embedded with diamonds. (Luke vaguely wondered if that was another gift that he'd bought for her.)

"I can see you're in the middle of the something," Tori said sweetly, her eyes flickering over to the other man, "but my fiancé and have a few things to discuss."

"It can't wait until I get home?" Luke asked, punctuating his words.

Tori's smile dropped as she turned to look back at Luke. "No." She looked back at Luke's mark. "You best leave. Now."

The guy took the last swig of his drink before stepping out from behind the table and going to Luke to pat him on the shoulder. "Better luck next time." The nodded to Tori before making his way to the exit.

Luke stepped around the table, approaching Tori, but she held her ground. "What the fuck was that? You just lost me a mark." His voice was low, so as to not draw any more attention than necessary.

"I think you mean petty cash," she shot back. "Unlike you, I was actually working—meeting with a client."

"If he was scared off, maybe you should've been doing your job better," Luke retorted.

"I was doing my job, just fine until that cartel you pissed off last week showed up, looking for you." Luke's face paled, all anger at his soon-to-be-wife drained from him. He stepped back so he could scan the restaurant. Tori continued speaking, "Spooked my client, who took off, by the way. And now, they've come for you. I'd like to see you get out of this one, hot shot."

Just as she was finishing, one of the men came into view and immediately spotted Luke.

"We have to go." Luke grabbed Tori's wrist and started dragging her through the restaurant.

"There's no 'we!' This is all you!" She tried to pry her wrist from his grasp, but his fingers were locked like a iron vice.

"They know we're getting married. They'll hurt you to get to me. So yes, we." Luke rolled his eyes, annoyed he even had to explain this to her. What were her parents teaching her about the underworld?

He tried to drag her to a back exit, but another man appeared. So he quickly diverted his path to another possible exit, only, you guessed it, another man appeared. Luke was forced to enter the kitchen, pushing his way past chefs and some of the wait staff. They didn't make it a few feet before one of the men was in there.

Shots rang out. Luke and Tori instinctively ducked, and he pulled her behind one of the kitchen's islands. There screams as food went flying alongside pots, pans, bowls and plates. Those in the kitchen scattered until only shots rang through the kitchen, following the sounds of ricochet.

Luke didn't want to risk looking, but he guessed there were most likely at least two shooters now. And no way out. He and Tori were staring at a dead end wall behind racks of prepped food.

"We're trapped," he sighed, trying to come to terms with his demise. Who knew he'd go out cowering behind a table in a kitchen, sitting next to the one he was being forced to marry?

"I can take them." Tori said. Luke's head snapped over to her. She was grinning.

"Are you insane? Even if you had a way to stop them from shooting at us, more would show up!"

Had he had time to, Luke would've grabbed her arm and asked her if she was crazy again, but she moved faster than he anticipated. Faster than he'd ever seen her move, in fact. Although, it wasn't like he had paid much attention to her since the announcement of their "happy" engagement.

In one fluid motion, Tori pulled out a glock, already fit with a silencer, from her clutch and spun, staying behind the table but standing enough so she had a clear line of sight of the shooters.

It felt like Luke blinked, heard cries of pain, and suddenly the shooting stopped. Heart beating rapidly in his chest, eyes wide as a does, he carefully lifted himself to his knees and peered over the counter. No gunman to be seen. Tori had stood to full height, and was smiling at her work. Luke slowly stood, too, seeing that the gunmen were on the ground, groaning. Most likely due to the fact that they now had new holes in their knees.

"Mother is going to be very cross with me when she finds out you had to see that." Tori said, slipping her gun back into clutch. "Let's go husband, mine, before more show up." She started toward the back entrance of the kitchen, where two more groaning gunmen laid.

Luke followed in a daze, glancing down at the gunmen again as he stepped over them.

"You have…impeccable aim." He swallowed hard and was glad for the fresh air as he stepped out into the alleyway.

"Don't be impressed yet, my clip is low and more are coming. Let's go!" Tori grabbed Luke's wrist and began pulling him down the alley just as car lights flashed on them. The car screeched to a halt. Doors opened and shut. More gunshots rang through the air.

They broke out into a run as they exited the alley and onto a quiet street. Tori was leading him somewhere, but he was still a little stunned and was having a hard time gathering his bearings. They went through another alley, with footsteps hot on their trail. She took them a block down and down yet another alley.

"Are we going to lose them any time soon?" Luke asked, finally coming from his daze.

She glared at him over her shoulder. "You try running in a skintight dress. You're going to see me naked at some point in our marriage, I am sure of it, but I'd rather not it be in a dark alley surrounded by cartel members."

They kept running.

The men of the cartel somehow managed to keep up with them. They hadn't started shooting yet, but if they got even a foot closer, no doubt shooting would begin soon.

A few moments later, they were on a more populated and lit street. Houses lined the sidewalk, and cars passed perhaps a little faster than they should on a residential street.

Tori was scanning the apartments.

Luke glanced over his shoulder. He didn't see anyone, but he was sure they were only a step behind.

"I'm good picking locks, but I don't think I'll be able to pick one fast enough," Luke admitted.

"You don't need to. Come on." Tori led them up the steps to an apartment with a red door. "Take off your jacket and pull out your shirt from your pants." Luke did as she said, and she took his jacket, draping it over her shoulders before taking the clip out of her hair and putting it into the jacket pocket. She ruffled it, bringing it over both her shoulders. "Okay, now pretend to kiss me?"

"What?" Luke blanched. His blue eyes were wide and a blush was creeping up into his face.

"I know we hate each other, but right now it's life or death. So just…" Tori reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him forward, his head closer to hers. She inclined her head, but kept him a hair's breadth away from her, turning them so that anyone looking from the street wouldn't know they weren't actually kissing. She kept her eyes on the sidewalk, watching for the cartel men.

"Put your hands somewhere," she muttered. "On my hips. Caress my face. Do something with them."

Luke shifted and quickly put his hands on her hips, underneath his jacket that was precariously hanging off her shoulders.

And maybe he should've been more worried that their lives were at stake, and they were using a tactic that wasn't guaranteed to work to get away from them, but all he could really think about was Tori being so close. She was surprisingly warm, even though she was dressed in less. She smelled like honey. Her hair shined like gold in the streetlight. Messy curls was a good look for her.

They'd never been this close until now. They stayed as far away from each other as humanly possible, unless out. Then, they had to act like a happy couple, but at their shared home, Luke slept on the pull-out sofa. They rarely interacted, simply co-existing and skirting around each other, going about their respective jobs.

Standing there, adrenaline rushing through his veins, their breaths mingingly, so close he could feel the warmth of her body made him kind of regret not having taken up the opportunity to...act like a real couple when no one was watching. But that meant diffusing the animosity between them, and he wasn't sure that was going to happen.

Just as Tori spotted some of the men that were chasing them passing by, without really thinking about it, Luke reached up to caress Tori's face with one of his hands.

Tori blinked, startled, her brown eyes going to Luke.

"Luke, what—?" she started, but before she could finish he'd pressed his lips to hers.

Maybe she would've remembered that she hated him, if only because she was being forced to marry him. But his hand at her face was gentle. His arm that snaked around her waist and pulled her closer to deepen the kiss was firm and warm. His lips were a little chapped, but he was a good kisser. Before she knew it, she was curling one of her hands into his hair, the other arm wrapping around his neck to hold him to her.

And that was the first time they'd kissed each other, if you can believe that.

thanks for sending this in! it was fun to think abt, even if i had a little trouble deciding on my idea