#and the look with that sweater is so cozy 12/10 looks good for hugging

[kenobion]

Andrew Garfield for W Magazine

[warmblanketwhump]

sick day

A coughs roughly, bracing themselves against the aisle after another fit of hacking left them gasping for breath.

It hadn’t been that bad this morning. They’d woken with a scratchy throat, achy limbs, and a tickle in their nose, but nothing unmanageable. Besides – they needed the money. Badly. Living alone was expensive, but they didn’t know anyone else in the city, and they were barely keeping their head above the water as it was.

So they’d thrown on an extra sweater, ignored the chill deep within their bones, and headed out to work.

4 hours into a 12 hour shift, A would have welcomed the sweet embrace of death. Or any embrace at all - something to stop the shakes in their limbs or still the spinning world.

As if by divine intervention, a hand reaches out and gently clasps their shoulder. “Hey, are you feeling alright?”

B had never seen anyone that sick still standing. Pale. Forehead slick with sweat. Shaky hands. Wearing one too many layers in the stuffy, crowded air of the grocery store.

A had only been working at the store for a couple months. but B couldn’t recall a time when A wasn’t working, morning or night. And it showed - in the dark smudges under their eyes, and the way they leaned heavily against the boxes of spaghetti they’d been trying to stock. Another round of coughs sent them reeling, and B rushes to their side and grabs their shoulder. “Hey, are you feeling alright?” A jumps, startled at the touch, and B drops their hand instantly.

“I’m...I’ll be fine,” A rasps, wiping their nose with their sleeve. They cross their arms, trying to hide the shiver that hunches their shoulders and rattles their teeth.

“A, you look like death warmed over. At the very least, you’re going to decrease pasta sales by a factor of 10 because you coughed all over them.” B smiles ruefully, but it doesn’t reach their eyes.

A tries to laugh at the joke, but a wave of dizziness swirls their vision, and they weakly grab at the shelf. Instead, they feel another body catch them – B’s solid, warm body which gently steadies them in a sort of hug.

“Easy there,” says B as A gasps for air, clasping weakly at B’s waist as B rubbed their back. In a matter of minutes, A is whisked back to their boss, and after a tense conversation in hushed whispers (of which A hears nothing) they’re out on the snowy streets, in B’s warm car, headed home. “There’s no way you’re working today, bud”, B says, slowly navigating the route to A’s apartment as A protests that they’re fine, to tell their boss they’ll come back to finish their shift after a quick nap.

As they help A navigate the creaking stairs of their cold, damp apartment building, B’s heart twists - no wonder A’s so sick if they’ve been living in a place like this in a winter this harsh.

They enter A’s dark, freezing apartment, and B gently deposits them on the threadbare couch and drapes a nearby blanket around their shoulders.

“Thank you...you didn’t have to bring me–” Another round of coughs cuts A’s rasping voice short, and they tug the blanket tighter around themselves and shiver helplessly. 

B frowns and gently feels A’s forehead (burning up) and slips their hand down to A’s neck to check their lymph nodes (definitely swollen). A draft from the window sets A’s teeth chattering, and B scans the sparsely furnished apartment, searching for another blanket. Eventually, they settle for shedding their own jacket and wrapping that around A, too.

“A, it’s freezing in here. Where’s your thermostat?”

“Won’t matter - it doesn’t work most days.” They cough again, longer this time. B rushes to A’s side, placing a hesitant hand between their shoulder blades and rubbing slow, deliberate circles until A finally catches their breath. A leans back and closes their eyes, breathing heavily, a single tear tracking down their cheek. B can tell that they’re exhausted, and their heart cracks at A’s huddled form.

B chews their lip, worried. The last thing they want to do is insult A, but staying alone in this awful apartment will only make them sicker. Their mind pops to their own warm, cozy apartment, their fully stocked medicine cabinet - and to the extra room, recently vacated by their roommate who had just taken a new job in another city.

You haven’t even known them that long, warns the rational side of their brain. Why should you worry yourself over them?

But even though B doesn’t know A well, they like them - the two of them made a good team, and although A was quiet, they had a fun sense of humor and seemed to genuinely care for those around them, always helping where they could, always quick with a compliment, a kind word, or a smile for someone else. 

And B knew how terrible it was to be sick alone. Two springs ago, they’d caught a bad cold - and nothing could truly capture the miserable feeling of dragging yourself out of bed, feverish, half alive, desperately hoping that someone would stop by and check in on you. Finally, B takes a deep breath.

Just ask. If they say no, you leave. That’s it.

“Say, um...look. I don’t want to be - you know, creepy or anything,” B stutters as A turns to meet their eyes. “It’s just...well, my shift is basically over by now, and I was just going to go home after this anyways, and I know your heating’s out so if you wanted to come hang out where it’s warmer until it’s fixed or something, you can. And I’ve got medicine and stuff at my place too, and my roommate just moved out so it’s just me and it wouldn’t be any trouble. If you want.” B let it all out in a single breath, hoping that they hadn’t sounded as awkward as they felt.

---------------------------

A’s eyes well up with tears, and they inhale a shaky breath that has nothing to do with their coughing fits. They had no reason to expect such kindness from someone who barely knew them, what they’d been through, how hard they’d been fighting, how long they’d been alone without anyone who cared.

They knew what B was really asking. B knew damn well that A’s heating wasn’t coming back on any time soon. They knew B likely suspected that A had spent the last few winter nights shivering themselves to sleep, and that this embarrassing, freezing apartment was all they could afford on their own, even after all those extra shifts.

And yet B still gave them the dignity of asking.

If you want. And they did.

“I’d like that.” A says quietly, voice rough from coughing.

B smiles, relief evident in their eyes. “Good. Let’s get you ready, then.”

10 minutes later, they head back down the stairs, B holding them steady and gently rubbing A’s arms to get some warmth into their still-feverish body. And despite feeling absolutely drained, A smiles. Maybe things would be okay after all.

[youralternantpersonality]

Thanksgiving

Paul x Reader: Thanksgiving

Warning: Child Protective Services (CPS) and Adult Protective Services (APS) involvement mentioned. Death of elderly, and implication of abuse and neglect are written

Takes place LONG after the war with the Volturi; Renesmee is 16 and Jake JUST imprinted on her. Not when she was a baby. Let’s just act like Bella didn’t almost die when she had her and they just moved away until recently, okay? Cool.

Also like I said before, all the imprints are the same age as the guys. No pedophilia bs is EVER in my stories.

***

I met Leah in my Sophomore year at Washington State. I was going into Development and Family Structure whereas she was going in to be an RN like her mother. We met in a Health and Sex class that was considered as an elective course. Because we had to travel across campus to make it to this class, we always ended up sitting in the back of the class together. Eventually creating a friendship that you’d rarely see develop and stick together. Now, we’re Juniors and I am currently packing to head to La Push with her and her boyfriend Lajohn for Thanksgiving since I didn’t have a family.

I was lucky if I’m honest. I was given to the state at 12 after CPS finally indicated that my parents weren’t fit to take care of me and my grandmother. Unfortunately, it took the death of my grandmother for anyone to do anything. Although I was given to the state at 12, I didn’t leave until I was 18. The likelihood of getting adopted after 10 is slim. I was happy for those who did, but it hurt to see some of them come back. You realize through others that just because the idea of parenting is wonderful, being a parent is completely different. I was lucky enough to take advantage of resources that were provided for me and some of the other kids that lead me to this point.

I got my first job at 16 and worked from then onward. I applied to college and financial aid as fast as I was able to so that I wouldn’t be alone. I receive enough grants and scholarships for my associates and now working on my bachelor's. My previous roommates were, well, trash; which motivated me to get a job and move into the nearby apartments. My roommates now are chill, we all just don’t talk to one another. Which lead me back to this moment at my apartment.

“I don’t know what to wear!” I said looking in my closet for a perfect outfit to bring to Thanksgiving.

“I don’t know why you’re stressing about it. I told you, no one is going to care. But, if you’re that worried, wear the ripped jeans and the black off the shoulder sweater shirt. Oh! And the booties!” Leah said going through my closet. Even though she says and acts like she doesn’t care about fashion and appearance, I know deep down in the pits of hell that we call her soul, that she really and truly still doesn’t, but she has a soft spot for it.  

“Thank you! Oh, and I’m mad at you, you bitch.” I said packing up the outfit.

“What, why?”

“You got your eyebrows done without me! You see mine looking like Chewbacca over here!”

“I’d say more like baby Chewbacca…”

“That’s not the point!”

“Sorry, look, it should be around 12:30 or 1 by the time we get to Seattle, we’ll stop there. I promise.” She says smiling while hugging me. Bitch.

“Fine. Now let’s go before Lajohn comes up here like a brat crying.” We laugh and start heading towards the door. We have a long seven and a half hours to get to La Push. Let’s see how this goes.

~

We stop to get something to eat, fill up, and get my eyebrows done. Lajohn took that time to fall asleep in the car because knowing us, we’d get sidetracked and find some shit for everyone. But we resisted! Mainly because our paychecks don’t come in until next week and I’m barking on this dinner and the leftovers (if there is any based on what Leah tells me about her brothers) to last me until then.

 Paul’s POV

“Alright guys, now Leah is bringing her friend Y/n. can we please not repeat what happened when she brought Lajohn over to meet us.” Sam said, looking directly at Quil, Collin, and me.

“I swear I didn’t start it!” Collin tried to defend himself.

“It doesn’t matter who did or didn’t start it! We can’t have y/g knowing what we are. Lajohn is Leah’s imprint, she’s just her friend. Got it!” Jacob stated. I rolled my eyes but said nothing. I won’t lie though, I haven’t seen someone run as fast as he did, especially when he is almost as big as us and just as human as the next person.

“We won’t, I promise. Scouts honor.” Making a joke about this situation.

“You weren’t in boy-scouts Paul,” Jared said.

“That’s beside the point. Look, we’re not going to do anything to out us again.” I said with a smile. Not one person believed a damn thing I said, hell I don’t think I did either. But it’s worth a shot.

“Well now that we have that settled, we have to meet up with the Cullen’s. There’s going to be some unwelcome visitors stopping by in a few days, and the last thing we need is to deal with this on Thanksgiving.” Jacob said. We all got up and begrudgingly met up with the leeches. Can’t they give us a break?

Y/n POV

We pull up to this cozy small house with a swing set on the porch. A lady who I’ve seen in Leah’s room steps out of the house to greet us. I can positively assume she’s Leah’s mom.

“Lajohn! How are you!” She says, ready to embrace the giant man twice her size. Compared to Ms. Clearwater, he was a good foot and a half above her. Compared to Leah, a half a foot maybe. He was “6’7”, black hair in a fade, soft brown eyes, mocha skin, slim yet buff, and a complete gentle giant. He and Leah met in their anatomy class. She said she walked into class late after getting lost and the only seat available was in the front. The bad news was, she had one of those teachers who was a stickler and a petty asshole. He made it hell for her. The good news was, she met Lajohn who was good at the class and had no problem tutoring her. It was “Love at first sight” for both of them.

“Sounds like some hallmark bullshit. Let me guess, it was raining, you were soaking wet, and by the end of class he gave you his jacket and you looked into each other eyes and BAM! Instant connection.” I laughed. She rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up Bunny. One day, it’ll happen to you. $20 says it will”

“What, falling in love or love at first constipation?” she gives me a look, and I just smile.

“Love you too Leah-bird” I laugh.

I snap back to reality to Leah joking around with another person coming out of the house. He looked just as big as Lajohn but resembled Leah and her mom. I can assume this was Seth. I step out and walk over to everyone as Lajohn goes to the car to get our luggage.

“Mom, this is my best friend-”

“Holy shit, Leah can make friends!?” Said the babyface giant.

“Will you shut up Seth! Yes, I can. Can you get a girlfriend? No, you can’t. So, hush.”

“Ouch Leah. That hurt.” He says folding his arms over his heart and rolling his eyes with a sad look on his face. I just want to make him cookies and tell him its okay.

“Anyways, this is my best friend Y/n. Y/n/n, this my mother Sue and my annoying-”

“Yet handsome.”

“-Little brother, Seth.” She says, ignoring him completely.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you guys. I’ve seen pictures of you guys back at Leah’s apartment and she talks about home all the time.”

“It's nice to meet you too Y/n. Come on in and let the guys get your stuff.”

“Yeah, Seth, chop-chop little puppy,” Leah says clapping her hands to rush him. He just looks at her and gives her the finger when their mom isn’t looking and walks towards the back of the car. I can hear him and Lajohn talking about some pack of cold ones. I don’t think Seth is old enough to drink…

The next day: Thanksgiving

For the rest of yesterday evening, Leah and Ms. Sue (who keeps on insisting I drop the Ms. Part; I will not, my grandmother taught me to always say Mr., Ms., and Mrs.,) showed me around town and I was able to meet Emily and Sam, and Jacob and Billy. They seemed welcoming. Emily especially, although, Sam, Jacob, and Billy seemed on edge with me. I told that to Leah and she reassured me that their faces and attitudes are always like that with everyone. Lajohn eased my worrying saying they were worse with him because he was dating Leah. He was more scared of Seth and their mom out of everyone though.

Currently, Leah, Ms. Sue, Lajohn, and I are on our way to Emily and Sam’s place. When we pull up, we’re greeted by her and a few other girls from the reservation. We walk up and I’m automatically hugged by this small “5’8” girl with wild layered hair with streaks of color in it.

“Hey everyone! Y/n, this is my niece Clair. Sorry, she just gets excited about meeting new people. And this is Halulah and Kim, Embry and Jared’s girlfriends. Come one inside, the guys will be back in an hour or so. That should give us enough time to finish the turkey and dessert.” I waved at them and we all went inside. That time was short-lived until we heard wolves howling in the distance and Sam and Lajohn were out the door. I was about to ask what that was about but was cut off by Leah shoving plates in my hands to set up the table.

A little while later, we hear laughter and thumping of footsteps coming from the front door.

“HONEY I’M HOME! Ouch! Jared! What was that for?!” one voice said.

“For being a dumbass, that’s why.” I assume is Jared’s voice.

“Language!” said Seth followed by a loud punch and a yelp from him.

“Ouch, damnit Paul! That hurt!” said Seth.

“LaNgUaGe!” said, who I can assume is Paul with a bolstering laugh. Emily rolled her eyes and looked at Sam, who looked at them before they turned the corner. A choir of “sorry” and “my bad” was said before they showed themselves.

“Y/n, I’d like you to meet my children for all intended purposes. The boy who is giving Clair a piggyback ride to is Quil; the boy hugging Halulah is Embry—the one I told you about. This is Jared, Kim’s—godforsaken—boyfriend.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad!” she ignores him.

“Jake should be here with his girlfriend Nessie in a little bit, and the one behind us thinking I CAN’T SEE HIM STEALING THE TURKEY! Is Paul.” I looked behind her and catch a red-handed guilty-looking, Paul.

“Hey, at least I tri-” he stops mid-sentence as our eyes connect. I felt like I was in my apartment room reaching cloud 9. Everything around me blurred and all I saw was him. I felt my heart skip a beat and was knocked the air out of me. I couldn’t move, didn’t hear a sound, and kind of dizzy. I snap back when I hear laughter.

“Aww! Bunny! See! I told you it would happen!” Leah says laughing. I look at her confused then looked back at everyone else who was laughing too. Paul coughed and I looked at him. His expression went from being shocked, angry, sad, then content and surprised. He looked at Sam then walked over to me. Standing in front of me, he smiles and introduces himself.

“Hey, I’m Paul. What’s your name beautiful?” Damn, I guess I owe Leah $20.

[canonicallysoulmates]

Hey! You can feel free to ignore this since it is a big ask but. As someone who dropped off the show by s8 and doesn’t really care about following the big plot points, can you recommend to me all the good Sam & Dean episodes that have happened since? (Not just angst or drama even, even just episodes with funny little moments or details?) I am like, solely here for these two being codependent and soulmates and not much else. <3 (Sidenote: thank you for your tagging system!)

Hi! Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to this; as you yourself said this was a big ask, lots of episodes to go through and remember but hopefully you’re still interested in my answer. 

Now the following are not every episode where there’s a brother moment for example the s8 premiere had a great brother hug where the boys reunite, episode 3 of that same season drew parallels between the boys and a couple, if I remember correctly,  but those episodes are not included on the list because I didn’t just wanna recommend every single epi that had a brother scene just because it had a brother scene. I took into consideration if it had moments, what they were, enjoyability of the episode and if the moment or moments were big enough to make a bad episode worth recommending, I don’t wanna recommend something to you without thought and have you spend an hour of your life just to see and enjoy a flash in the pan moment you can enjoy just as much or more through gifs and clips. 

In complete transparency I will also add that I did this mostly from memory so there is the chance that an episode with good moments slipped through the cracks and for that I apologize. 

I don’t know at what point of s8 you stopped watching or if you stopped before the season so I am starting this with s8. 

Season 8

Episode 4: Bitten. This epi doesn’t have a ton of moments or even a big one but it does have two students saying Sam and Dean give off workplace-romance vibes, and I’m a sucker for the boys being compared to or thought of as a couple.  

Episode 10: Torn and Frayed. Not gonna lie, not the biggest fan of this episode, but it does have the brothers choosing each other over Benny and Amelia so….

Episode 11: LARP and the Real Girl. I said it before in another post that to me this is the turning point of the season for the better, and it has the boys having fun. 

Episode 12: As Time Goes By. I wouldn’t call this one a Sam and Dean episode as in SamandDean packed with brother moments but we and the boys get to learn more about their legacy as Winchesters so if that’s something you’re interested in...

Episode 14: Trial and Error. This one has emotional brother moments with Dean wanting Sam to be safe and have a normal life and Sam asking Dean to believe in him, and praising him. 

Episode 17: Goodbye Stranger. To be honest, I don’t remember if this epi has other brother moments but I am solely recommending it because this is the one where Dean learns the trials are making Sam sick and at the end there’s a scene where he tells Sam to let him help carry the burden. 

Episode 19: Taxi driver. Great epi filled with protective!Dean, he kills Benny to save Sam, a beautiful brother hug. 

Episode 20: Pac man fever. They argue like a married couple and Dean’s fear is shown to be losing Sam. 

Episode 21: The Great Escapist. Pretty much the whole episode has little moments of Dean taking care of Sam. 

Episode 23: Sacrifice. “Don’t you dare think that there is anything past or present that I would put in front of you!” This is the ‘if you watch nothing else from this season’ episode to watch. If you watch nothing else from the s8 sections of recommendations, watch this one, it has one of the best, most emotional Sam and Dean moments in the show’s history.

Season 9

Episode 1: I think I’m Gonna Like It Here. “I made you a promise in that church. You and me, come whatever.” “There ain’t no me if there ain’t no you.” I live for the codependency and for these two going to extremes to save the other including tricking into letting an angel possess the other’s body, and I refuse to apologize for it. 

Episode 5: Dog Dean Afternoon. Okay, I’ll admit this one definitely falls more under the fun episode type but it does have Dean being all worried about Sam, clutching to him and threatening to lick his face if he doesn’t wake up. 

Episode 7: Bad Boys. We learn more about young!Dean and see him choosing Sam over having a normal life.

Episode 15: #THINMAN. This one is an angsty one and not just because it’s the last time we see the Ghostfacers, this takes place after everything goes to shit in the boys relationship with Sam finding out about Dean’s betrayal and it contains parallels to what Ed and Harry are going through in their relationship, a protective worried Sam over Dean possibly being killed (which let me tell you is delicious to witness after all the angst and Sam acting like he doesn’t care about Dean anymore), and a bittersweet moment of the boys reminiscing about their past.

Episode 16: Blade Runners. This one is being recommended because it has some protective!Dean and because Sam being Dean’s Colette bringing him out of his MOC induced rage. 

Episode 23: Do You Believe in Miracles?. The “I’m proud of us” moment, need I say more.

Season 10

Episode 1: Black.

Episode 2: Reinbach.

Episode 3: Soul Survivor. These three episodes are all being recommended for the exact same reason they have demon!Dean, and Sam going crazy trying to save him/find him. Plus, Soul Survivor has demon!Dean following Sam around the bunker. 

Episode 4: Paper Moon. It has a flashback showing us just how far Sam was willing to go to get Dean back plus some emotional conversations between the boys. 

Episode 5: Fan Fiction. I know people who like this episode. I know people who hate this episode. Personally, I think it has its good parts, it has some brother moments and some nods to wincest.

Episode 12: About A Boy. This one also falls more into the category of fun episode with Dean being turned into a teen, but it also has some good brother moments. 

Episode 14: The Executioner’s Song. The fight scene between Dean and Cain was amazing and it has Dean collapsing into Sam’s arms. 

Episode 18: Book of the Damned. Love this episode, this epi is probs the best example as to what I enjoyed the most about s10; usually we see Dean being codependent and going to extremes to save Sam but during this season we see the opposite and this episode really highlights that with Sam telling Dean he can’t lose him, telling Charlie he understands hunting is his life but he can’t do it without his brother, going behind Dean’s back and seeking help from Rowena to try and save him.

Episode 19: The Werther Project. More Sam being desperate to save Dean, protective!Dean, and Dean saying he and Sam are stronger together than apart. 

Episode 23: Brother’s Keeper. Sam and Dean literally choose each other over the world and Dean kills Death over Sam. 

Season 11

Episode 4: Baby. One of the best episodes, just our boys, the open road and all told from Baby’s POV. A must watch in my book. 

Episode 8: Just My Imagination. The last flashback episode we ever got -  *hits 15.16 with a shovel* like I said last flashback episode we got; it’s fun, has good Sam and Dean moments, we learn more young!Sam, Sam gets some love and praise, the boys wore cozy sweaters, good epi. 

Episode 10: The Devil in the Details. It has protective!Dean and Lucifer point out to Sam that he and Dean have chosen each other time and time again because they can’t stand to lose one another. What can I say, I like when the codependency is brought up. 

Episode 11: Into the Mystic. Here’s the thing with this episode, I have become sort of embittered towards it due this being the introduction of a character with whom there is an attempted romance in s15 which I heavily dislike but I can’t deny that before that I really did like it, it has some good brother moments and it has Dean telling Sam he forgave him for not looking for him in Purgatory which is major. 

Episode 15: Beyond the Mat. Another epi on the fun list, mostly being recommended because it has the boys having fun and that’s something we rarely get to see. 

Episode 16: Safe House. Protective!Worried about Dean!Sam!

Episode 17: Red Meat. What can I say about this iconic episode? It's one of the best episodes in the series, absolutely soul crushing, codependency times 1,000. Have tissues with you when you watch it because you will sob your heart out. They turned Sam and Dean into Romeo and Juliet but better. 

Episode 20: Don’t Call Me Shurley. Regardless of what a certain showrunner ended up doing to the character I do still love this episode and it has some great Sam and Dean content with Dean preferring to possibly die with Sam, telling him he’d never leave him and the return of the Samulet. 

Episode 23: Alpha and Omega. Emotional brother hug, Dean saying he and Sam need each other.

Season 12

Episode 5: The One You’ve Been Waiting For. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t remember much of this episode other than I enjoyed it and that it had some fun moments between the boys. 

Episode 9: First Blood. I’m truly only recommending this because it had,  Badass!Winchesters.

Episode 10: Lilly Sunder Has Some Regrets. Funny thing about this episode was it was supposed to be all about C but it ended up being enjoyable and filled with little Sam and Dean moments including some protective!Sam. 

Episode 11: Regarding Dean. Jensen’s acting in this episode is next level, and it is filled with little brother moments. 

Episode 18: The Memory Remains. The only reason I am recommending this one is because it’s the one where the boys carve their initials on the table which was a major moment. 

Season 13

Episode 8: The Scorpion and the Frog. Another fun episode that’s filled with little Sam and Dean moments. 

Episode 11: Breakdown. For so long I talked about Dean being Sam’s knight in shining armor it’d be wrong for me to not bring up the episode where it happened. Also, Dean tells Sam he’s there for him. 

Episode 12: Various and Sundry Villains. It had some fun brother moments. 

Season 14

Episode 4: Mint Condition. Fun Hallooween episode with fun,  little moments. Absolutely loved this one. 

Episode 11: Damaged Goods. This isn’t really a Sam and Dean episode, or at least I don’t consider it one but the ending scene between the brothers where Dean tells Sam he’s the only one that could have changed his mind about throwing himself into the box was beautiful. 

Episode 12: Prophet and the Loss. The brother hug to end all brother hugs. Absolutely amazing episode, packed with brother moments including what’s probably the best brother hug, will sing its praises till I die and then I’ll continue singing them in the afterlife. 

Episode 13: Lebanon. The 300th episode. It has some moments between the boys as well as some touching scenes of the boys with their dad. 

Season 15

Episode 4: Atomic Monsters. Is this partially on the recommended pile because Jensen directed it? Yes but nonetheless it’s a pretty good epi that while not super packed with brother moments does have them. (Also, this is the last season and I’m sad to report we are scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to find Sam and Dean content in this dessert.)

Episode 11: The Gamblers. Good brother moments and the boys get called heroes which I love. 

Episode 13: Destiny’s Child. The sole reason I am recommending this episode is for AU!Sam and Dean, they are the funnest thing this show has done in a while. 

Episode 14: Last Holiday. While this doesn’t really have Sam and Dean moments with the exception of Sam telling Dean he should have called him to let him know he was in trouble, it does have the boys being taken care of and getting to have some fun and that’s something we so rarely get to see that I am including it. 

Like I said, this is not a definitive list of every single episode that has Sam and Dean moments there’s episodes like the most recent one, 15.17, that had a beautiful moment between the brothers but I didn’t list the epi here cause I don’t think it’s necessary to watch the whole episode for it when it can be seen and enjoyed just as much by watching it through a clip. Which while I don’t recommend the whole ep I do highly recommend looking up the end and seeing the brother moment; point is, similar to 8.01 or 15.17 there were other episodes that had moments that weren’t included due to seeing the whole epi not being necessary to enjoy the moment.

[kayliemusing]

30

1: Name - Kaylie

2: Age - 23

3: 3 Fears - Spiders, failure, loss

4: 3 things I love - Reading, writing, Taylor Swift

5: 4 turns on - Kindness, nice hands, humor, someone who has a really warm heart.

6: 4 turns off - Arrogance, moustaches lmao, narcissism, basket ball shorts *shudders*

7: My best friend - Her name is Megan (but also my mom lmao)

8: Sexual orientation - Heterosexual

9: My best first date - I have never been on a date.

10: How tall am I - 5'2

11: What do I miss - My childhood mostly

12: What time were I born - 2:45 pm

13: Favorite color - Red, but sometimes a nice summery, pastel yellow

14: Do I have a crush - no

15: Favorite quote - I have so many that I can't say my utmost favourite, but one that I always think about is from Richard Siken "He was pointing at the moon but I was looking at his hand." I'm not even sure how this is supposed to be interpreted, but I just love the detail of this. Of someone looking at the moon and pointing at it, but you're looking at their hand because you're that consumed by them and also they're like your moon. anyway-

16: Favorite place - My house lol

17: Favorite food - Cheesecake

18: Do I use sarcasm - Yes, but very dryly

19: What am I listening to right now - Nothing actually. I'm just sitting in the quiet.

20: First thing I notice in new person - I used to think it was physical, like eyes or their smile, but I think it's actually their demeanor. i.e., confidence, if they're laid back, talkative or quiet, etc. Or even just how they handle things. Like when I'm at work and I meet a new co-worker I'm always noticing how they are with people.

21: Shoe size - 6.5 US but I can manage a 7 US too.

22: Eye color - Grey

23: Hair color - Ashy blonde, but I usually get it highlighted to be a brighter blonde

24: Favorite style of clothing - I'm super into the French girl vibe right now (elegany, classy, ribbed sweaters tucked into high waisted jeans or dress pants, a blazer thrown over and a nice gold necklace) but I'm also really into a summery boho look (flowy maxi dresses and skirts)

25: Ever done a prank call? No

27: Meaning behind my URL - On this account, it's just my name and then 'muses' because this account is just me talking to myself tbh. My main account is called autumnsletters which is just a combo of my fav things: autumn and handwritten love letters, and finally, my embarrassing taylor swift account is called sixteenavenue which is a lyric from her song I Think He Knows where she mentions her heart skipping down sixteenth avenue.

28: Favorite movie - I feel like i don't have one answer bc I always have a different answer to this question lmao. I think it's called A Christmas Carol (the 2009 version w/ Jim Carrey). It just makes me feel cozy and warm inside. Also: Clueless.

29: Favorite song - All Too Well by Taylor Swift I think.

30: Favorite band - Of Monsters and Men

31: How I feel right now - I actually feel really happy today, which is a change lol. I had an awful week last week, but over the last couple of days I've just felt more creative and happier.

32: Someone I love - My mom

33: My current relationship status - Single

34: My relationship with my parents - Excellent.

35: Favorite holiday - Christmas

36: Tattoos and piercing i have -0 :'(

37: Tattoos and piercing i want - I want to get my ears pierced again bc the holes grew over. Low key want a nose piericing and low key want a tattoo on my collarbone (or somewhere around there)

38: The reason I joined Tumblr - Because everyone else had it and I felt left out LOL

39: Do I and my last ex hate each other? - I don't have an ex

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? - No

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted? - No i've never been kissed rip

42: When did I last hold hands? - never but it's ok bc i can hold my own hand

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? - Depending on what I'm doing. If I showered the night before and I'm just doing a very low-maintenance look, roughly 15-20 mins. On a normal day in which I shower in the morning and am trying to actually be presentable, roughly an hour.

44: Have I shaved your legs in the past three days? - Have YOU shaved MY legs? No. Have I shaved my own? Yes

45: Where am I right now? - My room

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me? - Most likely I'm not drunk, but IF I WAS, it would be my friend, my mom, or my sister (my sister would probs make fun of me and film me tho tbh)

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? - Loud if I'm jamming with nothing else to do but sing along. If I'm trying to do something, I'll turn it down bc I can't focus with loud music (especially if I'm trying to write something/talk to someone/text someone)

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad? - My mom bc my dads dead

49: Am I excited for anything? - My sister and I are going to Banff in about three weeks so I'm excited for a getaway.

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to? - No

51: How often do I wear a fake smile? - I work in retail so

52: When was the last time I hugged someone? - I don't know. I think I hugged my mom at some point this week lol

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me? - Bye bye babyyyy

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not? - my cat

55: What is something I disliked about today? - I had to go to work

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? - Taylor Alison Swift baby

57: What do I think about most? - Probably Taylor Swift.

58: What’s my strangest talent? - I can make stomach gurgling noises with my mouth closed.

59: Do I have any strange phobias? - Nah, pretty generic ones

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? - Behind the camera

61: What was the last lie I told? - Some lady asked if a product was good and I said yes so I wouldn't have to help her find another one

62: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? - Neither what the hell

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? - Neither

64: Do I believe in magic? - No

65: Do I believe in luck? - No

66: What's the weather like right now? - It's calm, but a little cloudy. It was really warm and sunny earlier, but it's gotten a little grey.

67: What was the last book I've read? - I just finished this series called The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski and it was so good but so stressful omg. Still 5/5 stars.

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline? - Yes

69: Do I have any nicknames? - Not really, but sometimes my coworkers call my Kayls

70: What was the worst injury I've ever had? - Oh my god when I was like 10 I fell during grounders and the bar hit me right on the cooch. Most painful event of my entire life.

71: Do I spend money or save it? - Spend it bitch

72: Can I touch my nose with a tongue? - No

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feet from me? - yes!! my blanket!!

74: Favorite animal? - I love hippos and I don't know why.

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM? - Reading on my phone to avoid sleeping so I could prolong not going to work

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is? - Devil. Kind of like Satan The Devil is his full name

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? - Shake It Off

78: How can you win my heart? - Learning Taylor Swift's entire discography for my sake

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone? - tbh I really don't know

80: What is my favorite word? - Wonderstruck

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr - n/a

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? - stream fearless taylor's version

83: Do I have any relatives in jail? - no

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power? - Healing

85: What would be a question I’d be afraid to tell the truth on? - N/A

86: What is my current desktop picture? - it's a misty forest

87: Had sex? - no

88: Bought condoms? - no

89: Gotten pregnant? - no

90: Failed a class? - yes

91: Kissed a boy? - no

92: Kissed a girl? - no

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? - no but it's a dream

94: Had a job? - I've had two so far

95: Left the house without my wallet? - Yes, sometimes I do it on purpose so I can make my mom pay for something lmao (chill i'm talking something small like candy)

96: Bullied someone on the internet? - no

97: Had sex in public? - no

98: Played on a sports team? - no

99: Smoked weed? - no

100: Did drugs? - no

101: Smoked cigarettes? - no

102: Drank alcohol? - yes

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan? - no

104: Been overweight? - I feel overweight, but technically no

105: Been underweight? - No

106: Been to a wedding? - Yes

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight? - Yes, but not since I was younger. I'm mostly on my phone now.

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight? - Oh yeah lmao

109: Been outside my home country? - No

110: Gotten my heart broken? - Yes

111: Been to a professional sports game? - No

112: Broken a bone? - No

113: Cut myself? - Yes

114: Been to prom? - Sort of. I'm Canadian so I had grad.

115: Been in airplane? - No

116: Fly by helicopter? - No

117: What concerts have I been to? - Jonas Brothers when I was about 10 lmao and Marianas Trench when I was 15

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex? - No

119: Learned another language? - Tried to

120: Wore make up? - Yes. I do work at a makeup store.

121: Lost my virginity before I was 18? - no

122: Had oral sex? - no

123: Dyed my hair? - not a funky color, no

124: Voted in a presidential election? - Sort of; I voted for a prime minister

125: Rode in an ambulance? - Yes

126: Had a surgery? - No

127: Met someone famous? - No

128: Stalked someone on a social network? - No

129: Peed outside? - No

130: Been fishing? - No

131: Helped with charity? - Yes

132: Been rejected by a crush? - No bc I never fessed up to any crush lol

133: Broken a mirror? - No

134: What do I want for birthday? - A jewelry box

[hockeytrashgoblin]

Ice Cold ~Part 12

A/N: A much shorter one. Well not much shorter, only about 500 words shorter than average but it feels shorter? I don’t know I hope you enjoy!

"Are we there yet?" I groggily asked.

"Baby you can't keep asking that every time you wake up. It's only been 10 minutes since I told you we were an hour away." He laughed fondly at me.

"M'sorry thought I was sleeping longer than that."

"Are you gonna stay awake and talk to me now?"

"Probably no." I curled up further under my coat.

"You'd be warmer if you put your coat on and your boots."

"But then I wouldn't be comfy. Besides I'm fine, just want to be cozy."

"Baby you're cold." I said taking my hand in his.

"How do you even know? I'm still warmer than you are."

"But not as warm as usual. I can still feel different temperatures you silly girl."

"It's not that silly! I still don't know everything yet." I pouted, making him laugh and squeeze my hand.

"You'll know everything soon enough I'm sure. Mitch can't keep his fucking mouth shut no matter what you say and I will answer anything you ask. It shouldn't be long until everything is known."

"Hey when did you feed?"

"What?"

"Yesterday your eyes were pretty red and today they're bright blue but I was with you all day yesterday except the game."

"I went to Mo's last night after you fell asleep."

"You just left me there while I slept?"

"Well I didn't think you'd appreciate me waking you up just to tell you I was going to hunt. I wanted this weekend to be as human as possible without having to worry about all the shit that comes with me being thirsty."

"Well that's sweet but also rude. You could've just said you were going out beforehand, you didn't have to sneak out."

"I didn't think of it beforehand. I'm sorry, are you upset with me?"

"No I'm not upset. I just don't understand why you guys are so uncomfortable about it. I wish you weren't."

"I'm afraid that if I talk about it a lot it's going to become more real to you and you're not going to like it. Or you will get scared."

"William I won't. I've taken time to process. It is what it is. You are what you are and what I will eventually be. I'm not scared and I'm not going to be."

"I love how brave and courageous you are." He said kissing my hand.

"I love everything about you Will. I mean that." 

We were quiet and I ended up falling asleep again. I was exhausted. That's what William got for starting a 5 hour drive at 10:30pm. There was a big bump in the road and I jostled awake with a whine.

"You're fine baby. We just turned onto the road the cabin is on."

"Really?"

"Yes darling. You can go back to sleep and I'll bring you in if you want?"

"No! No I'm awake, I want to see it." I rubbed my eyes with my fists making him giggle. "Your giggles are so cute Willy."

"Woooah there, I do not giggle."

"You absolutely do. All the time. There's no other way to describe it. I love it."

"Are you trying to bother me?"

"What? No! Baby of course not! Your laugh is my absolute favourite sound, I don't want to bother you at all. I'm sorry."

"The only person who's ever described it like that is Kap and that was to bother me."

"If I wanted to bother you I'd do it better than that."

"Oh I know you would." He said rolling his eyes with a smile on his face. "We're here."

"William! This is beautiful, what the fuck dude! I'm in awe. Look at iiiit!" 

I jumped out of the car and stood in front of the most beautiful little log cabin. The lights were on inside so the windows let out a warm glow all over freshly fallen snow. It was truly incredible. William was suddenly beside me.

"I just rented a small one because I thought you'd like that bett-mm." I interrupted him by kissing him.

"William. I love it. It's perfect."

"You're perfect." He grinned and kissed me again, harder. "Do you want to go in and go back to sleep?"

"Are you tired?"

"I actually don't have to sleep, I just choose to. I could never sleep again if I wanted."

"Soo..?" I didn't know how to bring up what I wanted.

William had spent the whole week leading up to this creating the most unbearable sexual tension I had ever felt. It was mostly small things that no one would even pick up on. Lingering touches, intense looks, stuff like that. Other times it was really blatant. Like pushing me against a wall or aggressively making out or buying lingerie as a gift and leaving it for me to find when he was out. I had some revenge on him but I really don't think I had a fraction of the effect on him as he did on me.

"Come here." He pulled me in by my hips and kissed me, forcing his tongue into my mouth. I moaned and fought for control of the kiss. It didn't work but I tried. 

Before I knew it I was being dropped on the bed. He took his shirt off and climbed on top of me. His lips met mine in a deep kiss I felt through my whole body. I pulled desperately at his shoulders and waist. He pulled back and started pushing my shirt up. I sat up and whipped it over my head. He took his pants off so I followed his lead and took mine off too.

"Babe you're fucking gorgeous." He said between kisses.

"You're so hot. Look so good for me." I said as he kissed my neck.

"Are you ready?" He mumbled on my neck.

"Yes. I love you."

"I love you." He gave me a fiery kiss and started touching my body. We spent the rest of the night tangled up together until I was too tired to keep going and we went to sleep.

I woke up to a bright room and the smell of breakfast. I was alone in the room so I took a second to myself. I felt so wonderful and happy. I had had sex before many times with different partners but I'd never felt like this. This feeling was a whole new experience, it felt how everyone made losing your virginity sound. Magical, incredible, a real connection. I found his sweater on the floor and slipped it on. I smiled at the fact that the sleeves went so far past my arms. I left the room and looked around for the first time. 

I loved the wooden walls. It was so beautiful. I had always really loved all wood houses and cabins. They were just gorgeous. I made it to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway to take in the fight in front of me. William standing in his sweatpants with finished and half finished food around him. I was surprised at how human it felt. He turned around and smiled at me. I smiled big and covered it with the sleeve.

"Good morning my love, how did you sleep?"

"Gooood." I went over to him and hugged him. He reached over my head and flipped a pancake.

"I'm glad. You were pretty tuckered out."

"Don't look so proud of yourself." I teased flicking his nose.

"I love you."

"I love you too even though you're using the voice on me again."

"I'm not sorry." He smiled his sunshine smile and kissed me again making me laugh.

"Anyone ever told you smiling and kissing don't mix, Nylander?"

"You're in such a teasing mood this morning." He shook his head and put the last pancake on the plate. "I made all your favourites."

"God you're incredible. Thank you so much!"

"Go sit down in the breakfast nook and I'll bring the food over."

"Breakfast noooook!" I got really excited as I rounded the corner and saw a cute little nook with floor to ceiling windows beside it. "William this is so perfect! I can't believe you found literally the perfect place."

"It took a lot of looking but I wanted it to be exactly something you'd like." He put the food down and sat across from me.

"You're my favourite person."

"You're mine. How do you feel about going for a little skate on the lake after breakfast?"

"Will, you know I can't skate."

"I'm going to teach you. It'll be fun I promise."

"Fine let's do it." 

After breakfast was done I bundled up and we went outside. It was a mess. I wasn't good at it at all but the absolute joy that was present on William's face was completely worth falling on my ass a bunch. He left me on the ice to take pictures to prove he got me out there and I fell during them so there was a progression from me standing, to falling, to sitting on my butt, to laying flat on my back. William fell over laughing so hard. After he recovered and could help me up, I was freezing. We went back inside and sat curled up under a blanket by the fire.

"Do you care much for relationship milestones?" William asked out of the blue.

"It depends. Why?"

"Today is 5 months since we started dating."

"Awww that's so wonderful! 5 months has flown past."

"It really has."

"5 months really goes by quick when you're so happy."

"That's definitely true." He gave me a sweet kiss.

"Hey! Will I be better at skating when I'm a vampire?"

"You will. Your balance will be completely perfect once you change."

"Oh good. My balance is not good right now." I said, making him snort.

"Trust me babe I know. Today was proof enough of that."

"Hey!" I hit his shoulder. "I wasn't that bad! I was even skating without holding onto anything at the end! I got better."

"Still was not very good."

"Sorry we aren't all vampires good with knife shoes." I grumbled making him burst into giggles. "You're not nice."

"Babe, I'm plenty nice, you're just funny."

"Um yeah I know."

"Then stop complaining." He teased squeezing my leg before lunging at me and pulling me into a kiss.

[blankdblank]

Brother Dearest Pt 14

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4 – Pt 5 - Pt 6 -  Pt 7 - Pt 8 - Pt 9 - Pt 10 - Pt 11 - Pt 12 - Pt 13

Familiar sights after days of travel and stops along the way to fill seven more rolls of film came into view for the brothers to lean into your and Eddie’s sides to hear all about the city you both had missed. All at once you were in the bustling station and felt the passing people causing a billow of your polka dot skirt as your fingers smoothed over the vest covering your cuff sleeved blouse easing the temperature of the warm day. Bags in hand you walked behind Eddie, whose larger frame helped to split the crowds of Brooklyn. Out of the station you went and James’ hand molded into yours after your second glance back at the pair making him chuckle and say, “Still here. Gonna be hard to lose us.”

Victor chuckled after seeing the pair of children on the shoulders of their dad and uncle passing by making faces at one another and said, “Not a chance in hell of losing us. It always this crowded?”

Eddie said, “Just give it a few blocks.” Stopping at the corner to wait on the light in the growing then waning to a barely noticeable few as you crossed to your third block.

Shops came into view and between more scattered faces of people stealing glances at you. More and more it became obvious that people were staring at you and it wasn’t from the usual reasons. Clearly your face was familiar and people were trying to place it halting them in their tracks but it wasn’t until you passed a little old lady with a wheeled cart holding her groceries who turned, “Bunny Rogers, while I live and breathe. How have you been?”

“Good Miss Cahn. Been in Canada through winter.”

Her eyes skimmed over you and trailed up James and she asked, “Are you Catholic?”

James’ head gave a subtle shift, “No.”

“Mmm.” Her head turned and James couldn’t help but smirk in a glance at his boots then to her as she looked straight to Eddie, “And have you made anything of yourself yet, little Brock since the war ended?”

Eddie shook his head, “Been working in a pool hall.”

“Mmm.” Turning on her heel she added in a glance at you, “Mind your company Bunny. Someone has to steer you away from a fiery future.”

“Thank you Miss Cahn,” you and Eddie said making Victor snort behind his hand that smoothed over his face.

To the sight of her back he said, “Charming. That common?”

Eddie, “For her, yes.”

Victor, “I’m sure we can win her over.”

In a giggle you replied, “She’s was married twenty years and even he couldn’t win her over.” Making the pair chuckle to themselves. “Don’t worry about it. She’s far from the gossip center of town.”

Eddie nodded, “Yes, Miss Pepper is the one you want to win over.”

Another couple blocks over and on the way to more shops the still standing portion of the nightlife scene on the opposite end of town from the art district with homes between and all around the city. New faces mingled past you and in naming what you passed for the brothers Eddie led the way past a bouncer who made you smirk at his tossing a man out shouting, “Go home Ben, sleep it off.” Though when he turned to eye your group at Eddie’s pat on his shoulder a grin cracked across his face and in seeing your grin at him his intended hello to his boss’ kid cracked off and died in the air.

Through the door you walked into the smoke filled hall you strode and you could hear Eddie’s brother in law behind the bar saying to the bartender, “Who told you vermouth goes in a bloody mary?”

The bartender answered, “Bobby-,”

“Bobby scrubs the floors! He’s never even drank vermouth, can’t even spell it!” he turned around shouting, “Bobby! Spell vermouth!”

Bobby stammered and Eddie set his bag down saying, “Didn’t have much call for vermouth four years ago.”

Dave behind the bartender’s face dropped when he turned to see him and he said, “Eddie!”

Walking closer he joined the others in a series of tight hugs asking him when he got to town and why he didn’t call before Dave looked over the brothers behind him only to lower his gaze and say, “Bunny, just look at you. Year ago you were all sweater and hair. In the best way.”

A tight hug from the brother in law came and his eyes turned to the brothers and he said, “I take it you’re the brothers, Momma Brock’s gonna love to meet you.” He looked between them, and smirked saying, “Come on, you got it Dave?”

Dave nodded and said, “July I’m buying you a drink little lady,” Making you smirk as he said to those looking on, “Bottles up to our very own Sergeant Eddie and our girl, the very first woman NCO in Canadian forces Corporal Bunny Pear.” Unable to help it you giggled and turned in the round of cheers and whistles joining the brother in law as James grabbed your bag along with his. Out onto the street you went again and into the beginning of the long stretch of houses and apartments your names rippled and echoed through the streets from people you both named for the brothers. In the passing of a second friend of your mother stunned to see you Eddie pointed out your old apartment building behind them they memorized the for sale number and address on the sign out front.

Within a few minutes a blue shingled rectangle of a home with two walkways around it and a long drive to the garage in the back came into view. From those mingling inside it bustled with noise, trotting up onto the front steps you left your bags by the wall and the brothers smirked hearing the first elated scream before Eddie was pulled into the sea of relatives tugging him left and right. Lowly between the brothers you named each relative you recognized until the brother in law had crossed the room and in his usual move to kiss his wife Ambrose’s tilted cheek his fingers turned her chin and her mouth dropped open seeing you. “Bunny!”

Snapping your eyes back to her from Victor a grin eased across your lips in meeting her halfway in her trot over to wrap you in a tight hug. Gina was next in her waddle over making you giggle again as she said, “There you are! Welcome home!”

Melting into hug after hug with none tighter than Eddie’s mother’s ending in her stepping back to look you over, “Five years, my girl you’ve grown.”

“Not really, mostly the shoes.” Making her smirk at you then look to James and Victor who stepped forward at the brother in law’s signal.

Eddie, “Momma, this is Victor and James.”

They both nodded their heads, “Ma’am.” Shaking the hands of all who greeted them at your naming them.

Momma Brock looked them over and asked James, “So you’re the fella who’s been cozying up to our Bunny. About time we get to meet you. And Victor, heard good things.”

Ambrose inched closer asking, “What were their ranks again?”

“Victor’s Lieutenant Colonel and James is Colonel.”

Ambrose smirked looking them over and Gina asked, “And you won’t be stepping in on our Bunny’s education?”

Brows inched up and James answered, “Not a chance in hell. You have every right to be cautious about me, but you have my word I will never step in the way of Bunny’s education.”

Gina, “Even for babies?”

The corner of James’ mouth ticked up, “I have no problem staying home with the babies. Money’s not an issue and I don’t have any qualms about being the arm candy to her brains.”

A round of giggles burst form the women and the brothers chuckled in their being led around the house to see the framed pictures of you and Eddie flowing into albums ending with one from the stored pictures of your family. The picture of your mother proved where you had gotten your eye grabbing figure from and the pictures of Steve’s younger years and yours proved the two different men who had raised you. Though the clear heart clencher was the final picture of you, just as Dave said, all hair and sweater with a clearly younger Eddie beside you seated on your stoop in the beginning of your friendship. They wished they could have been there to help you seeing the clear fear and pain in your face that melted in the pictures as you aged with the Brocks.

Lunch was fixed and into the packed table you all crammed joking and sharing stories of all that was missed between proud glances at the pair of you in your safe return until you were crammed in an uncle’s car to be driven over to the waiting apartment he had saved for you. The double story duplex apartment fully furnished for you welcomed you cozily inside while cousins were off shopping for you hoping to let you get an early night for your trip to Brown University the following day.

Cleaning up from the simple dinner Victor hummed as you set another of the rinsed plates to dry, “Didn’t go so bad.”

Eddie, “They loved you.”

James grinned as Victor gave you a warm hug and kissed your forehead, “Now, off to bed. Get plenty of rest.” He looked at his brother, “Sleep.”

James rolled his eyes and led the way up to your shared bedroom while the others did the same. Stripped from their suits to pajamas they climbed into bed glad to know there would be a two day gap before your tour of Barnard allowing them a break from the trains back and forth. The steady undoing of buttons left him in his pajama pants and checking the heater along the wall on his way to climb onto the bed while you eased the undone bra from the arm hole on your slip after wiggling out of your garter belt. The pair of which fell on top of your stockings and chosen dress for the following day. Turning from them you hurried across the cold floor to climb across the bed straight to James when he turned off the beside lamp, who smirked wrapping his arms around you claiming a warm kiss and leaning back against the pillow.

Snuggly across his chest you draped with your legs tangling in his while he raised the blanket to your shoulders and rested his arms across your back. A warm kiss on your forehead later and his lips ghosted across the skin there in asking, “What Miss Cahn said, asking if I was Catholic, is that important to you?”

Stealing a glance up at him you answered, “No, is it to you?”

“No. Just don’t want to make you uncomfortable if it was important to you.”

You shook your head laying it back down against his chest, “I don’t think I can be Catholic anymore, my dad wasn’t.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t be you know.” Closing your eyes you nestled closer to him and he hummed, “I love you, think it over and take your time.”

.

Brown was lovely to visit but between the male alumni, their sons hoping to attend and staff you had spoken to about possible courses it seemed like the difficulties of reaching your goals were not worth facing after the three hour train ride both ways, had you decided to live in Brooklyn while studying after all. The apartment had been promised as yours if you ended up needing it after all. Tours of the city and even spots in Manhattan on the way back again came before a large full Brock family celebration where drinks were slid your way and in their own subtle pulls to the side asking if James actually knew about your powers. Each of them calmed however when you showed them the copies of your comics they delved through loving each and every one of them.

.

Past Tullivan’s Market again you strolled past the familiar endless line of stoops, trash cans and potted plants decorating the ends of the cement railings on the stoop two over from yours. James rumbled, “Doesn’t seem as awful as I pictured. Thought it’d be a match box with a tin roof.”

“Might as well have been for how cold it got.” That made James’ hand tighten in yours feeling your pulse picking up at the base of the stoop they could see your younger self practically living on.

“Sarah-,” The redhead passing by froze looking you over with mouth open in shock until you locked your eyes on her and her nearly identical daughter. The woman the same age as your mother and her daughter nearly your age looking over the men around you. “Sorry, I thought-,”

“It’s Bunny, Sarah was my mom.” Looking her over again you said, “You must be Trix.”

Her lips curled into a smirk, “She told you about me?”

“No, I found her yearbook.”

“So, you’ve been, where have you been? And where did you meet these handsome escorts of yours?” She asked with a try for an alluring tone only to see James’ hand in yours and him inhaling in a try not to scowl openly at the woman you might want to befriend.

“I was a Medic. Eddie and me got sent out from the same Hospital and this is James and Victor, met them there.”

Her daughter, “Medic? You mean Nurse.”

Your brow inched up and her mother asked, “Ooh, very well done, head off to help the boys in battle and snag yourself a fella, or two. And, uh,” she paused to wet her lower lip, “If you don’t mind my asking what rank is the fella you’re clinging to so tightly?”

Forcing a friendly tone to mask your discomfort you replied, “James is a Colonel.”

The pair said, “Ooh.”

A honk from a passing car had a giggling squeal from the mother who waved saying, “One minute,” she looked at you again, “Good to see you, Billie,” That made you force out a grin as she said goodbye to each of the men along with her daughter correctly naming them in their trot away.

Venom hissed from Eddie’s neck, “Hideous beast of a breeder.”

Victor snorted and laid his hand across your back nodding his head, “Come on, let’s go see your old squatting grounds.”

Eddie, “You plan on breaking in?”

James smirked, “Managed to catch the number the other day for the owner, who agreed to send their realtor.”

Eddie chuckled out, “As long as it’s not that Hildi Montbrooke-,”

Nasally with a following squeak the blonde with a mountain of a bun on top of her head tottered over in a pastel pink dress with matching heels and purse making you and Eddie flash a wave at her squeal, “As I live and breathe, Bunny Rogers and Eddie Brock! I have not seen you in, oh-!”

The pair of you replied, “Hey Hildi.”

Up to you she bounced and peered up at the brothers smiling widely, “Uncle Timmy said somebody called about the old building for a showing but I’d never dreamed it was you! But I s’pose it’s fate.” Her hand waved and she turned to trot up the steps, “Come on in! Can’t say it’s improved much since you left, old man Pierce went down over Midway and his son Kevin is trying to unload it to get back to North Dakota,” in a turn to glance at you after a snorting giggle when she unlocked the door, “Not that I can think of much to call him out there. Who could leave the city?”

Her shrug came and she stepped inside and the dimly lit main second level floor and stairs up to your apartment, just one in this five story building including the ground floor level acting as the basement level. Through the locking door you passed and eyed the mail boxes in the wall across from the big mail slot on the outer wall feeding into a large box the landlady used to sort for you all. The office now sat empty and the open room in the back usually used for bike and pram storage held a few scattered boxes of old tools the former maintenance man used to own now forgotten in his move when the place emptied. Taps on walls and testing bounces across the floors were taken.

Up the steps testing the weaknesses in each one the brothers made mental note of each repair to be made. The apartment first in view was open, formerly housing an old woman and her cats with the door paint peeling and wallpaper stained and in tatters ruining the floral design across it. Yellow paint was seen under it and the worn floor boards creaked and bowed under their weight with knocks on the wall and inspection of the kitchen and bathroom proved there was something wrong with the plumbing. Glances at the light fixtures gave hint of shoddy wiring surely needed to be pulled out.

Two more apartments on the floor were visually more appealing though just as in need of repair with broken windows leaving the bars around them the only means of keeping squatters out. Small two bedroom apartments were scattered with memories and hints of what they could be for you all. Hildi guided you through each one stating her own possible decorating tricks to freshen it up for new tenants after you got the coding back to an apartment housing again after the lapse leaving it a common dwelling again.

Heavily you approached the door of your old apartment you brushed wider and stepped through. The periwinkle of your skirt and shoes reminding you of the head scarf your mother tied into her ponytail before work on her last day stirring up echoes of her humming at the spot by the window opposite you with indents of her chair. Behind you the brothers spotted Eddie’s walk to your side smoothing his hand across your back shifting your crème blouse you adjusted one of the folded sleeves to cross the room while Hildi said, “A lot of the furniture is down in the basement. They tried to have auctions for it, the families who moved took everything but, Steve’s things, well nobody felt right taking them when you couldn’t be found. Hoped you’d come back I guess.”

You nodded and tapped Victor’s shoulder stopping him from touching the wall by him saying, “Pipe from the boiler right there. Heats up the wall.”

Victor looked at James saying, “Now that’s just idiotic. And against building codes.”

You shrugged and James murmured in French, “Perhaps not so far from a death trap after all.” Making you smirk at him and guide the way into the kitchen.

“Fridge flickers out of power even when we paid the bill. Stove doesn’t work except for the back left burner and the sink tends to back up when the people upstairs took baths.”

Victor shook his head leaving the room trying not to yell at how shoddy this place seemed by his initial run through. Your mother’s room was coated in dust from years of sitting untouched, almost like a time capsule with a heavy mirror propped against the wall and in the spacious closet you glanced up seeing her rosary still hanging from the bar you had left it on that ghosted across your raised fingers.

Hildi smirked saying, “I always loved that rosary, pink opals. Where did she get it?”

“My dad bought it for her. She never left without it, Steve wouldn’t let us bury it with her.”

Hildi asked, “Have you visited him yet? Steve? Military paid for his plot next to your parents.”

“No. Not yet.”

Releasing the rosary you stepped back at James’ asking through the door, “This one your room or Steve’s?”

Exiting the closet you left her room and met him in the hall facing the room behind him saying, “Steve’s. Why?”

James smirked stepping back to cross back to the floorboard he lifted to find a metal tin he pulled out and passed to you, “He left something.”

Accepting the tin you said, “Ticket stubs and his Glenn Miller autograph. Few other bands too,” opening the tin filled with slips of paper and a roll of film alongside the heavy yellow box reading ‘Kodak Vigilant Junior Six -20’ inside the camera sat with only a single picture left. “Guess he meant to come back for them.”

James claimed the tin while Victor inspected the rest of the room only to mutter a curse at the leaking spot in the ceiling of the closet. Into the hall again he went asking, “Where’d you sleep? We’re out of bedrooms.”

Eddie sighed leading him to the closet beside the double doored bathroom with broken cabinets and the same cracked sink beside the claw footed tub rusted around the fixtures and the leaking toilet. An accordion door was slid back and what should have been a pantry beside the kitchen had the brothers nearly biting their fists seeing the shoddy built twin bed frame still holding your mattress with barely four feet around it, not counting the built in shelves you used for clothes. James asked, “They kept you in a closet?”

You shrugged and said, “I wasn’t that big and it was always supposed to be temporary. Mom said there was an opening on the next floor up a month before she died. Get a whole other room and office.”

Your eyes trailed up and theirs did too seeing fully detailed sketches of constellations and galaxies you had drawn. Victor smirked humming, “Figures you’d want stars.”

“One thing Steve and I agreed on, we both were good at art. He was a cartoonist for the paper and used to sell sketches in parks when he went for some spare cash.”

Victor, “Let’s go look upstairs then.”

On top of the tin James left at the stairs Eddie set the rosary and they followed you and Hildi up the steps around the hole in one of them, from five apartments to four the floor had laid out and more empty rooms sat with scars of the lives once housed there with ample damage as well. Pipes leaking and huge chunks of the walls missing and a giant hole in the ceiling of the living room in the last one urging Victor up to the final trio of apartments to groan at the damage from the cracked beam bowing the roof in. “Oh this is going to be painful.”

James, “Not bad though.”

“What do you mean? This is going to be painful?”

The brothers smirked at Hildi’s squeak, “You’re interested?!”

Victor nodded, “We’ll need to tear it to the bones but let’s go see the basement then we can talk numbers.”

Tightly she hugged his chest and pulled back in an elated bounce on her toes. “Oh Daddy will be so pleased!” Leading the way to the basement for Eddie and Victor while James slid his fingers along your forearm to your palm stepping closer, a stolen cup of your cheek came with a gentle kiss ending in a tapping of foreheads.

Lowly to you he murmured, “We’re going to make this place a home for you. One you’ll be safe in, be loved in while you study.” In a sideways nod of his head he stepped back lowering his hand from your cheek and keeping hold of your hand in the other for the walk to join the others.

At the doorway of the apartment he paused at your tug on his arm and grinned through your stolen peck on his cheek. “Love you, you giant cuddly grump.” Lowly he chuckled and shifted to steal another quick kiss on your lips.

Behind the others you trotted finding Eddie holding the tin and rosary all the way down to the back room again on the main floor to a door in the wall Hildi opened and said, “I’ll wait up here, not fond of basements.” Eddie left the things by the wall outside and accepted the flashlight Hildi picked up from the shelf in wall that flickered on and lit your way down into the packed ground floor. A clear path between stacks of furniture led to the laundry room with coin powered washers and dryers across from the boiler with a far from up to code fuse box way too close to the boiler.

Victor using the flashlight said, “No wonder your lights kept going out. Built the damn thing too close to the boiler. Baked all the fuses.”

James, “Supports are good though.” On his toes on top of an old crate he peered through one of the high windows, “That grass?”

You nodded, “It has a back courtyard, bout the size of our old apartment. Not much but we could have a mini garden or something.”

James smirked turning around saying, “Or a dog.”

Victor smirked, “We’re getting a dog?”

Eddie chuckled, “Just none of those little yipping ones.”

James, “We’ll have plenty of time to pick one fixing this place up.”

“How long will that take?”

Victor, “Bout a week to strip it bare to the studs. Month maybe to swap out the pipes and wiring up to code before we focus on the heating and those fireplaces upstairs. Asked for a copy of the floor plans already so when we get back to Canada we can map it all out and plan ahead for what we’re doing.”

Eddie, “How would that work?”

James, “Well, basement would be laundry and maybe pool or card table, main floor more living areas, maybe communal kitchen, guest rooms. Second floor could be yours, more guest spaces, Vic would want the top floor and we could have the third. Suites and offices for each, small kitchens for each of us with large one for all of us.”

Eddie, “So we’ll be neighbors then..”

Victor chuckled saying, “In case we want to have private time together. Breakfasts and dinners would be communal maybe with date nights to eat alone. Not to mention the library and game room, and offices for our girl here.”

“Why eat alone?”

Victor smirked saying, “Because you need a date night, and me, Eddie and Squishy can distract ourselves till he finds some squeeze of his own.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, “Doubtful.”

James smirked patting him on the back in his move back to your side, “Give it some time. For now let’s go talk to Hildi.”

“You’re sure about this?”

James smirked saying, “This is your town, your old streets, you have family here. The bones are fine just need some elbow grease to get this place into something worth the title of home.”

“It’s got to be so expensive though..”

Victor smirked, “Now’s the time to buy, whole block is being switched to single or double dwellings. Companies are jumping in on an empty strip to make some scratch while they can. Town’s getting a facelift.” He nodded his head, “Let’s go get the paperwork started.”

Eddie, “Can you buy property in the States?”

James, “We have citizenship, stayed in Montana a bit after first World War.”

It didn’t take long at the office you were taken to for the official signing of paperwork and the managing of the trade of funds. For a week the property documents would be swapped over and the funds confirmed as traded with official ownership in all senses to belong to the brothers by the end of the month.

Pt 15

[let-it-raines]

Catch Me If You Can (21/?)

298 days. That’s how long Killian Jones was away from a baseball field. It’s less than a year, only part of a season for him, but it might as well have lasted a decade as he alternated between physical therapy and spending an excessive amount of time sitting on his couch.

But then he came back and won the World Series.

It’s something no one saw coming, and it’s certainly not something anyone who knows about his arm would predict. Now it’s a new season with new possibilities, and anything could happen. On-field reporter Emma Swan will be there to cover it all even if she is not his biggest fan right now.

Asking her out live on-air will do that.

Rating: Mature

a/n: I technically don’t have a horse in the race for the World Series that’s currently happening (tonight could be the last game 🙀), but since this lil’ universe exists because of @wellhellotragic​, I’ll be pulling for the Astros to actually win a game at home! 

@resident-of-storybrooke​ remains the best for reading these words, which include some more meeting of the fam jams! 

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

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Tag list: @eala-captian @galaxyzxstark @xellewoods @mariakov81 @ultraluckycatnd @royalswan @shey-starsfury​ @superchocovian​ @sals86 @iam2307 @ashley-knightingale @karenfrommisthaven @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @notoriouscs @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog@cs-forlife @andiirivera @jonirobinson64 @qualitycoffeethings​ @youraverageshipper​

-/-

New York City in the summer is both the best and the worst.

There are approximately a million things to do, which is pretty much always true for this city, but things seem to multiply this time of year compared to any other time. Well, maybe besides around Christmas, but then every street is so full of tourists that Emma can’t do anything for fear of losing her temper and yelling at a middle-aged couple simple trying to enjoy their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary trip.

Bah-humbug.

And as much as Emma likes the way she can wear her jeans with a cozy sweater and coat draped over her with a warm beanie covering her ears, summertime is pretty much the prime time for her with so many baseball games happening and with the US Open coming around at the end of August. But it is decidedly not the end of August since it’s more like the end of July, and all she feels right now is like a big puddle that’s ready to melt whenever she walks outside. Also, that she smells like garbage, but that’s more likely the city than her considering she showered this morning and used vanilla body wash that she can smell on herself.

As well as sunscreen.

And sweat. There is definitely some sweat involved despite the fact she is only wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top with a hell of a lot of deodorant. She literally has deodorant in her backpack next to her laptop and notebook full of stat sheets.

Her hair is really gross too despite the braid it’s in, and the game hasn’t even started. It’s going to be a long day. For a multitude of reasons.

David, Mary Margaret, and Leo walking toward her in the hallway is near the top of that list.

“Emma,” Leo gasps when he sees her, quickly running toward her and leaving his parents behind in the dust. He’s got on a Captain America shirt and the signed Killian Jones hat gracing the top of his head. They didn’t explicitly tell Leo that she and Killian are dating – kids being kids and not being able to keep secrets and all that – but he pretty much knows. And he’s definitely going to after this.

“Hi, bud,” she laughs, squatting down the slightest bit (he’s getting too tall) to wrap him up in a hug that she knows is far too tight. “Long time no see.”

“I saw you for dinner last night.”

“That is too long.”

“You’re clingy,” Leo scoffs before pulling back from her hug to look at her with those furrowed little brows of his.

“Clingy? Who taught you that word?”

“Mom said that about dad.”

“Hey,” Mary Margaret huffs, sliding her arm around Emma in greeting, “don’t be telling tales.”

“It’s true.”

“I’m clingy?” David questions, his forehead wrinkling when he raises his brows. “Since when am I clingy?”

“That’s a conversation for another time.”

“But I – ”

“Okay,” Emma claps, breaking up the argument that is very inevitably about to happen no matter how small it’s going to be, “so I’m going to show you guys to your suite before I have to go out onto the field for a bit.”

“Emma, I know my way around the stadium,” David grumbles like he always does when there is any implication that he does not know absolutely everything that he needs to know, but then he’s kissing her cheek in greeting and gently patting her back in that David way of letting her know that he’s teasing even when she already knows this. It’s, like, a whole full circle thing. “Why is it that you are taking us to a suite today instead of us just sitting in my seats?”

The scorecard keeps ticking higher on David mentioning his investment in baseball by mentioning his season-ticket seats, but honestly, she can’t even say anything.

“Because,” Emma sighs, wrapping her arm around Leo’s shoulder and pulling him forward, “you are a workaholic who needed to get out of the office and spend some time with your family, and I made some special arrangements for that. Also, it’s crazy hot outside today, and the suites have air-conditioning.”

They’re in one of the first suites that Emma comes to, and she unwraps her arm from Leo’s shoulder to flash her badge at one of the security guards in charge of the player family suites before a door is opened for them to go inside. Liam, Elsa, Anna, and Kris are already inside sitting down on the couches that are in front of the TV monitor, and Addy and Lucy are watching something on an iPad, pink headphones covering their ears.

“Emma, are those?” Mary Margaret asks, trailing off at the end.

“Yep, that’s Killian’s family.”

“But we haven’t even met Killian yet.”

“Oh,” Emma sighs, smiling a bit to herself at them reacting to this exactly the way that she knew that they would, “I know. He’ll be up here when he finishes with the game though, okay? I’m feeding him to the lion’s den while I’m working, but he’s going to take us all to dinner afterwards so that you guys can do your creepy interrogation like Liam did to me.”

“He did what now?” David fumes, reaching forward to gently grab her elbow while Liam himself turns around, finally spotting they they’ve entered the room.

Emma can’t help but roll her eyes while her stomach does that twisting thing that is pretty much becoming its trademark. All of these people are ridiculous. “It’s fine, David. It was a joke. But seriously. I might be in and out depending on how the game goes, but Killian is going to come up here after he finishes his cool down, and afterwards, we’re going out to dinner.”

“How is that going to work if you guys are keeping things quiet?”

Emma shrugs her shoulders, a little bit of nervous energy washing over her. It’s something she and Killian have talked about a lot in the past week now that everyone important knows about everything important, and while they’re still figuring things out, they’ve decided that it’s probably safe to go somewhere low key for dinner as long as they’re in a group. Maybe eventually they’ll be able to go to dinner with just the two of them without Emma looking over her shoulder. It’s not like Killian is Brad Pitt or anything, but her worries of being spotted are legitimate. She’s in a very happy little bubble right now, and even though a bit of it has been burst, it’s still holding strong.

She deserves this. Killian does too.

“We’ve got it figured out,” she tells David before walking toward Liam and greeting him with a hug and doing the same with everyone else. Killian’s family are a bunch of huggers, even for people they don’t know very well, and that’s something she’s figured out very quickly. “Okay, so I’m about to do some quick introductions, so everyone brace yourself.”

“David Nolan,” David interrupts, reaching forward to shake Liam’s hand in what Emma can tell is a far too hard handshake to show off some kind of weird masculine authority. “It’s nice to meet you – ”

“Liam Jones. And this is my wife Elsa, her sister Anna, and Anna’s husband Kris. The two munchkins ignoring us are my daughter’s Addison and Lucy, and I bet they will be great friends with your son.”

“How old are they?” Leo asks. “Because I don’t want to be friends with anyone younger than four.”

Elsa actually snorts while Mary Margaret’s intake of breath might as well be a sign that death is coming with how dramatic it was.

“Leo,” Mary Margaret admonishes, “that is not very nice. You should apologize.”

Elsa stops laughing to wave Mary Margaret away, a kind smile on her face. “It’s fine, I promise. I get it. The girls do stuff like that all of the time, and luckily for Leo, they are both a little bit older than that. Plus, Addy really likes Captain America too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why don’t you go over there and talk to her?”

Leo smiles and nods his head before sprinting over to the girls, plopping down on the couch hard enough that Addy and Lucy might as well bounce off of it.

“I’m really sorry about that,” Mary Margaret says again. “He was stuck with me working with a bunch of younger kids the other day, and I think that’s scarred him.”

“It really is fine,” Elsa smiles. “At least he’s a kid and there’s a bit of an excuse. Anna here sometimes says things like that, and she’s an adult.”

“Only technically,” Anna laughs.

“This is true,” Kris adds in.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to talk about me like that.”

“What? It’s true. It’s how you are. You have the enthusiasm of a kid with a bag of skittles. It’s wonderful.”

“Yeah, but you guys aren’t supposed to say things like that when we’re trying to make a good impression with Emma’s family. We’re supposed to look normal.”

It’s Emma’s turn to snort and shake her head before reaching forward to squeeze Anna’s forearm. “There’s no such thing as normal, which I’m sure you guys will realize as soon as I leave you all here to make some awkward small talk.”

“There isn’t going to be anything awkward about it,” Kris smiles before bumping his hip into Anna’s, “unless Anna keeps talking.”

“You are something else today.”

“You guys are all something else,” Emma laughs, hoping to everything that this is going to go well. This isn’t something she’s ever really had to do before, and it’s kind of terrifying. “But I trust that you can all get along with your spouses, since that seems to be a problem today, and each other. Now I’m going to go sweat my ass off outside, but you guys have a good time up here. And if they bring in those cheeseburger sliders, save me some.”

With that, she turns to walk out the door, knowing she doesn’t have time to go through proper goodbyes with all of them (she’d be there forever), and quickly makes her way to the elevator so that she can get to the tunnels that are going to take her out to the dugout. She always loves the days where she gets to spend some time in there, to really get a behind the scenes feel at it all, and while she’s a bit wary of some of the players now, she knows that it’s all going to be fine.

This is a game, but it’s also a job.

Al nods his head at her when she pushes open the door and walks toward her designated spot at the end with the water cooler and bat racks. August and Lance greet her, the rest of the guys sitting around ignoring her, and she’s thankful when she finds Jeff already in his seat.

“Hey,” he mumbles, his legs shaking up and down.

“Hey, why do you look nervous?”

“I’m fucking hot.”

Emma laughs and takes her seat next to him, and Jeff hands her the microphone pack and her earpiece, which she immediately turns on even though she knows Ruby is probably about to bombard her with questions.

“We can go inside for a bit when the first inning is over. I don’t plan on being out here the entire time.”

“Thank you.”

Emma knocks her knee into Jeff’sJeff’s,but he ignores her and turns his head to look out at the field. He’s always such a character.

“So,” Ruby teases, her voice breaking through the static, “how did the meeting go?”

“Fine. I bolted pretty quick, though. Also, Rubes, we can’t really talk about this stuff while I’m working.”

“Why not – oh, wait, never mind. I got you. There are a lot of people around who can hear you.”

“Yep,” Emma sighs, shaking her head a bit, “so tell me what kind of coverage you want me to get for this game. Jeff and I are already dying of heat.”

“Fine,” Ruby grumbles, and Emma can practically imagine the roll of her eyes, “I guess I will give you instructions for your job instead of gossiping about your life.”

-/-

Killian only pitches three innings, and while it’s a bit unusual, Emma doesn’t think anything of it. They’ve got their first road game in Boston next week, and she imagines Al doesn’t want anything to happen to Killian’s arm. And there’s no reason for him to overexert himself when they’re so easily winning and have already got this series in the bag no matter what happens the rest of the afternoon.

Plus, he winks at her when she finishes doing a quick interview with him after he’s pulled from the game, and the smile on his face tells her everything that she needs to know about how good he’s feeling.

She hopes that he feels that way after he goes upstairs and meets most everyone.

They probably should have eased everyone into it, but honestly, she thinks Killian will be more comfortable with his family around.

“Are you going to make me do one of those Instagram filters again today?” Will questions, as he plops down on the bench next to her, tilting the water cup back and drinking it down in one gulp. “Or am I playing twenty questions? Do you want to talk about my wedding? Or maybe even the game?”

“Shut up, asshole,” Emma laughs before reaching up to fan her face and wipe the sweat from her brow. “You’re the worst.”

“Um, actually, I believe you quite like me.”

“That’s debatable.”

Will hums as there’s some shuffling in front of them with Arthur King reaching around Emma to get his bat and helmet. Anxious shivers run down her spine when she sees him now, and her entire body stiffens until there’s a gentle pressure on her forearm from where Will is squeezing it.

“Hey,” he whispers, dipping his head down to look up at her, his goofy grin replaced with a soft smile that she usually doesn’t see with him, “you okay?”

She nods her head, wishing that her stomach wasn’t twisting like this. “I’m fine.”

“He’s not going to say shit like that again, Emma,” Will promises as his hand squeezes her arm again. “You are a member of this team, just like me and Killian and Rob, and we’ve got your back no matter what happens. I don’t let people talk shit about anyone but especially my friends.”

“Are we friends now?”

“Jones told me that we had to be.”

Emma scoffs and rolls her eyes, but she still knocks her knee into Will’s, a smile curving at the corner of her lips. Who knew that Will Scarlet was going to be so in her corner this early on? Or at all.

“Thanks. I’ll let you pick the filter you use the next time I do Instagram stuff simply because of that.”

“Sounds like music to my ears.”

-/-

Emma doesn’t get any chances to go back up to the suite during the game, but afterwards, when she’s wrapped up all of her work stuff and told Jeff goodbye, she finds herself walking through the suite doors only to find Killian standing at the counter wrapping sliders in a paper towel while talking to David.

Should she focus on the fact that she knows that Killian’s wrapping those up for her even though she asked everyone else to do it or the fact that Killian is talking to David?

Probably both.

“Hey,” she says slowly, stepping up to the two of them so that they both glance over at her, small smiles gracing both of their lips. Okay, good, that’s a good sign. “How are things going?”

“Just dandy,” Killian tells her, lifting his arm so that she can step into his space and press up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Dave is telling me about how he makes me look good on TV.”

“Dave?” she questions, and all Killian does in response is brush a kiss over the hair at the crown of her head.

“That is not exactly what I was saying,” David clarifies. “Killian asked me about work, and I explained it to him. Him thinking that he needs help to look good is all on him.”

“I mean, I get it. I help him look good every week when I could very easily make him look awful.”

“You are so kind to me, darling.”

“I know.”

Killian smiles down at her in that way that makes her heart stutter and her breath hitch, and there are so many emotions flying through her right now that she’s not entirely sure what to feel. There are also a million questions she’s going to have to gulp down, and Emma already knows that she’s going to have to ask Mary Margaret or Elsa for all of the details how everything went.

She really, really, really  wants Killian and David to get along. That’s, like, everything to her even if she didn’t realize it when this whole thing started. Ruth and Mary Margaret will like anyone who is nice to her, but David has seen so much of the shit that’s happened in her life that he’s a little bit more particular.

Okay, a lot.

“Are these sliders for me?” she asks even though she already knows the answer.

“Aye. I figured you’d want something to eat on the way to the restaurant since I didn’t see you eat during the game. Were you avoiding it so as not to get on camera again?”

“Kind of. It was also too damn hot to eat.”

Killian’s lips tick up on the right, his brow arching high on his head, and she knows that there’s a dirty joke rumbling around in there. It must be hard for him not to be able to say it, but they are most definitely not at a comfort level where he can talk about having sex with her in front of David. In fact, it’s probably best if they never get to that comfort level.

“Dad,” Leo groans as he walks over to the them, “Mom said to ask you when we can go eat.”

“I think we can go now since Emma’s all finished with work.”

“Thank goodness. I thought I was going to starve to death.”

“You know, kid,” Killian laughs, dropping his arm from around Emma’s shoulder, “you sound a lot like your aunt.”

What can she say? She and Leo like to eat.

They go to a low-key pizza place six blocks over from Liam and Elsa’s townhome. All of them are so spread out in different boroughs of the city that it’s pretty much impossible to meet in the middle, but Liam suggested the place since he knows that it’s quiet and that the girls like it a lot. Emma’s honestly pretty nervous walking inside, Killian following right behind her with his hand ghosting over the small of her back. It’s odd to have been dating someone for this much time and never really been out with them, but this relationship is never going to fall into the category of ordinary anyways. It’s always going to be a little off and a little funky, and that’s fine with her because it works. She’s never been one to need to be wined and dined anyways.

And maybe she’s also nervous because of the fear that someone is going to see them and that connections are going to be made, but Elsa quickly talks to the hostess and has them moved to a large corner booth in the back that no one else in the restaurant can really see. Bless Elsa. Honestly and truly. Emma knew she would be great for how Killian always talked about her, but Emma had no idea that she was going to so quickly hit it off with the woman so that they almost feel like friends now too.

It’s been a week since they met, but everything goes so naturally that it feels like so much longer.

This isn’t her or her life or the way things usually go. Emma doesn’t just make friends with people she meets and doesn’t integrate her life with others. The only constant friend she’s had over the past six years that isn’t somehow quasi-related to her is Ruby – toss Graham in there too – and if it wasn’t for Ruby pretty much demanding that she and Emma get along, Emma would probably still think of the woman as just her producer.

How different life would be.

So Emma is definitely not the type of person to have multiple people texting her throughout the day or asking about plans, knowing and understanding that the rigorous game scheduling makes those plans kind of difficult to make. But here she is at a table with ten other people where the conversation is easily flowing from subject to subject because all of these people are making an effort to get along for she and Killian.

She’s got some pretty awesome people around her, the man whose hand keeps inching up on her inner thigh included.

Emma twists her head to look at Killian and tell him to stop teasing her by squeezing her thigh, but instead of seeing the smirk she was expecting, his free hand reaches up to cover his mouth as he yawns.

“Are you tired?”

Killian nods as he keeps yawning, small tears escaping the corners of his eyes, and when the yawn finishes, he has to keep blinking the tears away. “Exhausted. I could go for an entire vat of caffeine.”

“Or get an IV of coffee in your arm.”

“What?” he questions, very obviously not getting her reference.

“Gilmore Girls reference, twenty-nine,” Emma sighs, patting his hand on her thigh. “Gilmore Girls. I know we’ve talked about it before. You should watch it when you have time. It’s, like, a peak early 2000’s show. But you can skip the last season.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when I inevitably forget about this conversation and the show.”

“Do you need to go home? We can leave whenever.”

“No,��� Killian promises even though he yawns when he says it, “I’m good for a little while longer.”

“Is it past your bedtime?” Lucy asks quietly from her seat next to Emma.

“Do you think your uncle goes to bed before you, sweetie?”

“He looks sleepy. Do you want my pizza?”

Emma’s not exactly sure where the correlation is there, but that’s kind of how kids are. It’s much more entertaining than talking to adults sometimes.

“No, Luce,” Killian promises, leaning over Emma to talk to her, “I don’t want your pizza, but thank you. That’s very sweet. I think it’s past your bedtime though.”

“It’s not Lucy’s bedtime for another hour,” Addy helpfully adds in, much to the amusement of everyone else. “Mine isn’t until eight because I’m older.”

“Mine is at nine,” Leo says.

“I wish I could go to bed that early,” Elsa sighs as she reaches down to pick up her glass of water. “You guys don’t know how good you’ve got it sleeping that much.”

“I don’t like to sleep,” Addy laughs.

“Me either,” Leo says back to Addy, giving her a high five.

Mary Margaret is probably already planning their wedding or something ridiculous like that for how much fun they seem to be having. Actually, Mary Margaret is probably planning hypothetical weddings for several people at this table, but that is not something Emma is going to start thinking about. Nope. Not anywhere near to even being close to being ready and the little thoughts need to chill the hell out. So, if Mary Margaret is going to plan creepy hypothetical weddings, it can be her son’s.

They’ll probably have Captain America-themed plates with baseball hats and stuffed animals from the zoo lining the aisle.

Okay, now Emma is the crazy one.

Maybe she’s a little tired too.

“So, Killian,” David starts, very obviously changing the subject, “I mean to ask earlier, but why did Al pull you out of the game so early?”

Killian’s hand squeezes her thigh, nails digging into the skin a bit roughly, but then he’s letting out a breath and releasing her thigh so that he can scratch at his jaw. “Ah, preservation for the Sox series. Nothing to worry about. I wasn’t feeling top notch, and it’s better not to risk it, you know?”

“That makes sense. I feel like I spend so much time simply making sure things run smoothly on camera that I never get to actually pay attention to the game, so today was nice.”

“See,” Emma huffs, looking between the two of them and pushing down that little feeling of worry over Killian not feeling well today. It was probably just the heat. “I told you that it would be nice. You got all defensive about sitting in the suite.”

“To be fair, I had no idea we would be meeting Killian’s family today.”

“Yeah, hon,” Mary Margaret sighs before picking up a slice of pizza and taking a bite, “we were blindsided a bit, and apparently everyone else already knew.”

“I didn’t want you to prepare questions or some kind of actual interrogation or something else ridiculous beforehand. You have a tendency to be a little too much on the friendly scale.”

“I do not.”

“You totally do.”

“How?”

“Marg,” Emma laughs, “you probably would have been like Ariel and tried planning a vacation for all of us before you even shook Liam’s hand.”

“I would not have.”

“I bet if I looked at your phone right now there would be flights pulled up to Aspen or something.”

Mary Margaret narrows her eyes at Emma, but then Anna is clapping her hands together and making everyone look at her. “Oh, I just love this too much! I think a group vacation would be the most fun.”

Everyone starts laughing, and Killian picks up his bottle of beer to tilt at Anna. “Emma was right when she said that you and Mary Margaret get along swimmingly. It’s uncanny, actually, how similar you are.”

“Friendly people make friends, little brother.”

“Liam, I don’t know how many times I have to say that there is nothing little about me. Ask Emma.”

“Oh my God,” Emma gasps, reaching back to slap his chest, “no. We are not talking about that. You’re an idiot. There are children here.”

“To be fair,” Kris starts, and everyone turns to him, “they got here by the either little or not-so-little attachments we’re alluding to.”

Nothing like alluding to dicks to make a group of people come together.

Okay, that thought could be taken a lot dirtier than Emma intended, so it’s a good thing she’s not thinking out loud.

They all quietly leave the restaurant half an hour later, the conversation and laughter not at all slowing down for the rest of the time there. Maybe it was the bit of alcohol that most everyone had or maybe it was simply hitting a stride in conversation, but it doesn’t really matter. All Emma knows is that her stomach hurts from laughing and she’s got this smile on her face that she hopes stays for awhilea while.

“Today was nice,” Mary Margaret sighs as the two of them stand outside the restaurant while David and Killian settle the bill inside. “I like Killian a lot. I really like that he makes you smile.”

Emma blushes, and her smile increases despite her best efforts not to let it. Who in the world is this woman who is smiling all of the time? This is not her. But maybe it is now.

“You are such a mom, Marg.”

“Literally I am.”

“You know what I mean, though.”

“I do, I do,” she sighs, wrapping her arm around Leo’s waist and pulling him closer so that he doesn’t wander off the sidewalk and into the street. “But you’re basically my first baby even though this one came so close after I met you. All I want is for you to be happy, and that man makes you happy.”

“Yeah, he does.”

“Emma,” Leo asks, looking up at her as the restaurant doors open behind him, “can I meet Will Scarlet now too?”

“We’ll see, kid,” Emma laughs. “We’ll see.”

“You ready to go, love?”

Killian walks over to her and moves to wrap his arm around her shoulder before stopping himself, eyes glancing to the few people around them, and Emma’s heart sinks at that. But she knows that this is for the best, and Killian not being able to wrap his arm around her shoulder when they’re about to get in the car isn’t that big of a deal. It’s really not a deal at all, and Emma pushes down her worries so that she can look up at Killian and smile.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

The two of them say their goodbyes to everyone else before walking two blocks over to find Killian’s car where it’s parked, Killian opening her door for her even when she insists that she do it herself so that Emma can quickly slide into the passenger’s seat.

“You and David took a million years to pay.”

“Did we?” Killian hums, very pointedly taking a little too long inspecting the gearshift.

“You did. Did he go all big-brother on you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Swan.”

“You, Killian Jones,” Emma scoffs as Killian pulls out of the parking spot and onto the street, “are a liar.”

“And obviously not a very good one either.”

Emma sighs as Killian twists his head and winks at her, a mischievous smile painted on his lips. “What did David ask you?”

“About my intentions with you.”

Groaning, she sinks down further on the leather seat, wondering if it’s acceptable to unbutton her shorts because she’s eaten pizza and cheeseburger sliders in the past three hours and has food babies inside of her stomach. Multiple. That’s how much she has eaten.

“Seriously?”

“Yep,” Killian laughs, turning the blinker on before reaching over to grab her hand and bring her knuckles to his lips to brush a kiss there, the charmer.

“What’d you tell him?”

“That I love you and am very much in this for the long haul as long as you’ll have me. Now do you want to go to your place or mine?”

“Mine,” Emma tells him as her heart stutters in her chest at his words and all of the implications behind them. “Let’s go to my place.”

[cherryeol04]

The Firsts

Summary: No one ever told him that living was going to be so difficult. That there would emotions get couldn’t label and distinguish. He’s just a young boy trying to navigate through life and its unexpected ups and downs.

Genre: Humor, Fluff, smut(?)

Pairings: Oc x Felix, Oc x Changbin, Changbin x Oc x Felix

Warnings: poly relationship, angst in some part, excessive fighting about the MCU.

Parts: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17

A/N: This story has a theme of Firsts. First love, first kiss and many other firsts. Each part can be read on their own and are meant to stand as oneshots. It’s basically a collection of oneshots (little snapshots into my Oc’s life. 😁)

Aiden didn’t understand why he was so nervous, standing in front of the unassuming oak door. It wasn’t a date, Felix had said so, despite all the teasing he had to endure afterwards. They were just watching movies for Aiden’s reputation. Otherwise, he would forever be teased about not seeing Marvel movies. He honestly hadn’t thought it was a bad thing to not be up on trends and the like, but now he had seen the true nature of his friends - the snakes - and learned his lesson. 

‘Just knock. Just knock.’

Aiden willed his hand up, fist formed a bit too tightly. Three raps in quick succession and Aiden swallowed thickly. From inside he could hear a very faint ‘coming’ and his heart began to race, a cold sweat breaking out. He wanted so much to just turn around and run, not show up and give some crappy excuse as to why he couldn’t make it. But before his brain could connect with his feet, the door was already opening and Aiden was graced with the most beautiful smile and the most handsome face he had ever seen. 

“Hey!”

“H-Hi.” Aiden kicked himself for stuttering - it wasn’t cute. He cleared his throat as he brought his hands behind his back and grasped them, thumbs twirling together in secrecy. “So, ready for our marathon?” He asked and Felix nodded his head quickly, stepping aside so Aiden could come inside. Aiden wanted to be amazed at the house, but it honestly wasn’t anything spectacular. It was similar to his own, modest for a small family - though a tad bit cleaner than his own. 

He was most taken by the sight of Felix alone, because outside of their normal school uniform, he hadn’t really seen Felix in anything else. His fashion style was baggy. Oversized everything that just looked so comfortable that Aiden wanted to crawl up in there with him and cuddle him. It didn’t help that Felix was adorning a bright fluorescent orange hoodie that had to be at least two sizes too big on him and gave him the cutest sweater paws he had ever seen. Aiden wasn’t sure if this was what love was, but he sure as hell knew he wanted to wrap his arms around Felix and paint his face with kisses. 

He refrained though, as hard as it was. “I got everything set up in my room.” Felix told him, the front door closing. Stepping around Aiden, he started for the stairs and Aiden followed obediently. “So we’re gonna start with Iron man.”

“Oh, so then I can date you?” Aiden instantly regretted the question as soon as he asked it, and quite literally facepalmed with a resounding smack! Felix paused on the stairs and turned to look back at him, amusement written across his face as he raised a brow. 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” He said with a laugh. It was joke, he was laughing it off but there was still a part of Aiden that was hoping there was something there. That maybe Felix would reciprocate. Felix turned back and Aiden silently followed the other up the rest of the stairs and to the room. This was going to be a long day. 

~*~

They made it through Thor when both boys realized the time. Including breaks between movies and dinner, the time had flown and it was nearing nine. Not nearly late enough to go to bed on the weekend, but early enough where Aiden should probably head home. And he would have if a hand hadn’t grabbed his wrist, pulling him back down on the comfy bed he had been resting on just moments prior. 

“Ask your mom if you can spend the night.” It was a soft suggestion, dare Aiden even think of it as a plea. The idea had crossed his mind many times during the day but he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, what with his emotions just hanging between them like a thousand-pound weight ready to collapse on them at any given moment. 

“Come on, Felix. I don’t think I can sit through another movie.” Aiden whined. A lie - boldfaced but his only logical excuse as to why he could leave. 

“We don’t have to watch anymore.” Felix said as he sat up from his slouched position against the wall. “We could watch YouTube or something and just hang out.”

Chewing on his bottom lip lightly, Aiden nodded as he pulled his phone out of pocket and shot his mom and quick text, asking if he could spend the night. The reply came only a few beats later and he smiled lightly. “She said it was okay.” 

“Awesome! I’ll find you something to wear!” Felix said as he scrambled off the bed and Aiden could feel his pulse quicken at the thought of wearing Felix’s clothes. Would they smell like him? Would they be just as comfortable as they looked on him? Felix dug around in his dresser, first tossing a pair of pants towards Aiden and then a shirt. “That should be good.”

“Thanks.” Aiden smiled as he picked up the articles of clothing and stood for the bed. He headed out of the room and to the bathroom just down the hall to change.  Aiden was actually surprised to find that Felix’s clothes for him rather well, and they were just as cozy as he imagined. There was still a little bagginess in the sleeves, but it was really nice.  He brought the front of his shirt up to his nose, sniffing lightly, a smile spreading across his lips at the honey scent that filled his senses. 

This was Felix. 

“God I’m whipped.” He muttered to himself with a shake of his head. He grabbed his clothes, folding them nicely before carrying them back into Felix’s room. Felix was laying in his bed, pillow clutched to his chest as he stared at the YouTube screen on his TV. As Aiden made his way to the bed, Felix lifted his gaze and smiled. 

“Oh my gosh! You’re so cute!” Felix squealed, sitting up. “I didn’t think you would look so cute in my clothes.” Aiden couldn’t stop the blush that spread over his cheeks, eyes lowering to stare at the ground. 

“Thanks.” Silence fell between them and Aiden wondered if Felix even heard him. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but Aiden wasn’t entirely sure what to do now and he blamed it on the fact he hadn’t been around Felix that much. Their interactions were sporadic but fun, yet being alone with him like this was different. Aiden was afraid that maybe he wasn’t that interesting to be around - mundane and boring. 

Arms wrapped around his waist and he jerked, head flying up and connecting with the side of Felix’s jaw. “Oh shit!” He gasped out, hands reaching up to cup Felix’s face and examine the already reddening skin. “I am so sorry!”

“It’s okay.” Felix spoke, jaw tense as he fought through the pain. “I shouldn’t have scared you like that.” He said as he reached up and tentatively touched the sore area. 

“I should have been paying attention. I’m so stupid.” Aiden muttered softly. His fingers lightly grazed over the area Felix had just been touching and he could feel the warmth of it. “That’s really got to hurt. Let me go get some ice for it.” 

“Or you could kiss it and make it better.” Felix offered and Aiden stilled. His eyes connected with Felix’s, wide and unsure if he heard right. Kiss it? Like actually kiss it? Put his lips on Felix? He was pretty sure that he was messing with him at this point. 

“Don’t be silly. That’s not gonna help.” He protested and lowered his hands. “I’ll go get some ice for it, okay? Just go sit back down.” He tried to usher Felix back to the bed,  but the other was being stubborn and not budging from his spot, which was annoying Aiden. All he wanted to do was help the other! Now was not the time for games. 

Felix let out a huff, hand grabbing his wrist and holding it tightly, grounding him in his spot. “Changbin wasn’t kidding, you really are a virgin.” It came out as a frustrated sigh and it left Aiden gapping in shock. “You can’t even tell when someone is flirting with you.”

“F-Flirting?!” Aiden sputtered incredulously. “Since when?”

“Since Iron Man 2 when I started cuddling you.” Felix stated matter of factly and Aiden just gaped at him. “I know you can be silly and little dense, but come on Aiden.” Felix said, head tilting slightly to the side and just gave him this look.

“Okay, but I’ve never...” Aiden trailed off, embarrassed by the words that wanted to fall from his lips. Everyone already knew he was “virgin” thanks to Changbin’s big mouth but it was actually embarrassing at how innocent he actually was - with the exception of the things he did with Changbin in the privacy of their bedrooms. 

“Cute.” Felix cooed and poked Aiden’s cheeks lightly, pulling a soft laugh from him as he tried to wiggle away from Felix, but the hand on his wrist kept him from going too far. “I like you.” 

Aiden felt his heart stop - it was just as dramatic as he was - before beating rapidly in his chest as those words slowly sunk in. Felix liked him? It couldn’t be. There was no possible way. “Like as a friend right?” 

“Well yeah.” Felix nodded and chuckled. “But I like you as more than a friend as well. And I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out sometime, on a date?” Suddenly Felix was shy, blushing and looking at anything but Aiden and it was just the cutest thing he had ever witnessed. It was an impulse - he wrapped his arms around Felix and hugged him tightly, pulling him close to his body. 

“Is that a yes?” Felix asked as he carefully wrapped his arms around Aiden’s waist gently, hands resting on the small of his back. 

“It’s a big fat yes.” Aiden muttered against Felix’s shoulder. He pulled back slowly and looked at Felix, smirking. “It’s because I watched Iron Man right?” He asked. 

“Totally. You made it to Thor, that means we can also kiss.” Felix said and leaned in to do just that, but Aiden dodged him, pulling back with a shy smile. 

“Aiden?”

“Not yet.” Aiden told him with a slight nod. “I wanna at least get to the Spider-Man saga before we kiss.” He told him. Felix stared at him and nodded, chuckling softly. 

“Alright then, it’s a date.”

“Perfect! Now let me get you ice for your jaw.” Aiden said and before Felix could protest, he ran out the room, heart still hammering in his chest at the confession. 

Did this make Felix his boyfriend? He sure as hell hoped so, he had wanted this for so long. To finally be able to date the guy he had been crushing on for so long, it was like a dream come true. He couldn’t wait to see what the future held for them.

[thewritewolf]

Eating Habits Chapter 11: A Dupain-Cheng Christmas

Marinette and Adrien move into their new apartment, but they aren’t there for long before heading over to spend a few days at the bakery for the holidays.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3.

Marinette wandered around the apartment that she had spent the last few months living in. Somehow, she had expected it to look bigger now that it was empty again, but instead it just made her wonder how she hadn’t noticed how tiny it was. With the excitement of living on her own faded away, the apartment’s flaws were huge and glaring. The faster she would be out of it, the better.

Just outside the door, Adrien was leaning against the wall on his phone. He looked up at her and smiled when he heard the door close and lock behind her. He fell into step beside her as she marched down the stairs.

“How’s it feel to see it for the last time?” He reached for her hand and wove his fingers between hers. “Nostalgic? Relieved?”

“A little nostalgic, but mostly relieved,” Marinette admitted with a shrug. “I didn’t make a lot of positive memories there, so leaving it behind isn’t that rough. Then again, it is my first place away from home, you know?”

Marinette turned to look at Adrien and saw the understanding in his eyes. Suddenly she wanted to smack herself in the forehead. Of course he knew! He’s been away from home for years now. If anyone could understand, it was him.

But to her surprise, he nodded and said, “Yeah, leaving the bakery was an… interesting time for me too. There is always something sweet about spending the night there.” He pressed a kiss against the crown of her head. “It isn’t the same without you, of course.”

“Something ‘sweet’, huh? Was that a pun, kitty?” She tried to ignore the way her heart fluttered - she couldn’t tell if it was from joy that he called her home his home, or from pain that he never saw his childhood estate as home.

“Maybe it was just a happy coincidence. Some Christmas magic in the air!”

She rolled her eyes playfully. “Speaking of Christmas, are you ready to spend a few days at the bakery?”

“Definitely! It’ll be nice and cozy and full of life.”

“And someone will finally be making food for you rather than you cooking, for once.”

“I do like taking a break every now and then. But I’m more looking forward to you getting a proper, home cooked meal.”

“And here I thought getting a special lunch everyday from my wonderful boyfriend counted as a ‘proper’ home cooked meal.” She looked up at him and smiled, watching with satisfaction as his face flushed. He was such a flirt, but he never was good at taking what he dealt out.

The conversation drifted through Christmas plans and promises to find time for their friends. It touched briefly on the upcoming semester, but they wisely avoided dwelling on it for too long. Marinette had only just finished the fall semester after all. She wanted to revel in her break without a care in the world for just a little longer.

They arrived at their new apartment just as the movers began unloading. An hour later, and the empty space was taken up with boxes of things. Marinette looked around at the boxes, her smile slowly turning into a frown as she noticed a unifying theme with the storage containers.

“Hey, Adrien? Where is all of your stuff?”

“Um…” His eyes roved the room quickly before settling on a few tucked away in the back. He stood beside them and let his hand rest on them. “This is it.”

She glanced between him, the five or so containers all stacked on top of each other, and then at the two dozen or so boxes of hers scattered around the room.

“I… I don’t really have a lot.” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I have some games and a collection of movies, but I gave most of that away back when I moved into the bakery. I don’t have a huge wardrobe anymore either. I guess I just… never really got much for me? Besides some pots and pans, I guess.” He shrugged, an uncertain smile on his face.

Again, Marinette looked at the boxes holding all her things. It wasn’t just the bare essentials, things necessary for her to survive from day to do. They were memories. Hobbies. Studies. The things that turned survival into living. She was suddenly gripped by a piercing sadness in her heart. A little teary eyed she turned back to Adrien, who was looking down at his stack of things with a thoughtful expression, fingers drumming on the plastic lid.

“It’s fine, really. I’ve never actually needed much and it does help cut down on stress while moving, so there is definitely a bright side to-” He was cut off when Marinette ran into him, arms clinging tightly to his waist as she buried her face into his chest. After a few surprised moments, he returned her hug.

“Don’t be afraid to take up space, kitty,” Marinette said into his shirt. “Let yourself live, okay?”

“Thanks, lovebug.”

After a little longer than strictly necessary, Marinette let him go and looked around at the boxes, frowning. “So… where do you want to start?”

Before he could respond, her stomach growled.

Adrien laughed. “Sounds like a plan. Let me just-” Adrien groaned when he opened the refrigerator, only to find it empty. “...How about some grocery shopping?”

-------------

“Are you sure you’ve got all that?” Marinette watched him dubiously as he walked out of the supermarket, each hand holding three or four bags of groceries. “Both of my hands are empty, you know.”

“Oh, right. That’s a good point. Give me a minute.”

Absently, Marinette held out her hand while she opened her phone, expecting him to pass her some of the bags. She blinked in surprise when he started holding her hand instead. Her eyebrows rose when she saw that he’d simply moved all the bags into his other hand.

“Adrien that’s not what I-”

“Come on, let’s go make our first dinner at the new place!” Adrien rushed forward, dragging her along with him as he broke into a light jog towards the bus station.

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh at his ridiculousness. It wasn’t even a full day that they’d been living together and she was already loving every moment of it.

---------------

After a week of unpacking, Marinette and Adrien finally had their apartment set up and functional… only for them to immediately leave to spend a few days at the bakery. Each of them carried a suitcase in one hand and held onto each other with the remaining free hand. They chatted as they walked through the snowy streets of Paris on the way to the family bakery, Marinette cuddling closer as the icy wind picked up.

“Look on the bright side, bugaboo,” Adrien said with a kiss to her temple. “It’ll be nice and warm and perfect when we get back to the apartment. We can just relax for the rest of your vacation.”

“Our vacation,” Marinette corrected. “The bakery isn’t open much around Christmas either, and I’m sure papa and maman won’t be giving you many shifts there while we’re getting settled in. Besides, it's not like being at my parents’ place is stressful or anything.”

“I suppose, but after a semester of running around and working frantically, I’d bet you just want to crash on the couch for a while.”

“You’re not wrong, but…” Marinette said as she squeezed his hand, “...spending time with the people I love is even better.”

She could see his teary smile as they approached the bakery, its lights reflected in his eyes. After walking out in the chilly late December air for the last ten minutes, the gentle warmth of the bakery was simply divine. And that was before taking a deep breath of the sugary air, a scent that immediately took her back to her childhood. It was as if she took the weight of the world off her shoulders and hung them along with her coat by the door.

“Marinette? Adrien? Is that you?” Tom’s voice called out from the living room. Soon enough, his giant self was emerging through the door frame, his face lighting up when he saw them. “Sabine, it’s the kids!”

Marinette had a brief glimpse of a garish red and green sweater before becoming lost in it as she was picked up off the ground and wrapped into a great big bear hug. Laughing, she squirmed in his arms.

“Papa! Let me down!”

Begrudgingly, he did so and looked at Adrien, giving him a strong pat on the back that jolted him forward. “Did you remember to dress for the occasion, son?”

“Did you think I would forget?” Adrien said with a smirk, taking off his coat to reveal a thick red and black wool sweater that Marinette had made for him a couple years back.

Tom glanced toward Marinette, who was wearing a matching green and black sweater. To everyone else, it would simply be a pair of Christmas clothes, but Marinette had known even back then how much Adrien loved wearing her colors. And if he was going to be wearing hers, then naturally she’d be wearing his.

“That’s wonderful!” Tom said, grinning. “I didn’t expect any less. Now come on, we were just about ready to make this year’s Christmas ornaments.”

They followed him into the living room, where Sabine was sitting with some tea in front of her. After giving both of them a tamer but no less loving hug, she passed them a cup of her seasonal brew. Marinette looked at the table, taking in the box of crayons, the blank glass bulbs, tweezers, and the two hair dryers. Not to mention a few more conventional art supplies, like brushes and paint. Her chin settled on her hand as she stared fondly at the supplies, a tradition that they’d been keeping alive for almost as long as she could remember.

A tradition that had evolved into something of a lighthearted competition once Adrien had entered the picture and they could split into even teams.

Her parents let them get comfortable in their seats and familiar with where everything was placed before Tom pulled out his phone.

“Same as usual, kids. One hour to make the most and the best ornaments, with the same grading standards from last year.” He waggled a finger at Adrien chastisingly. “Which means nothing that can start a fire hazard, alright?”

Adrien ducked his head bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“Alright.” Tom held up the phone’s stopwatch, his finger hovering over the enlarged start button. “Ready… set… Go!”

The four of them exploded into a flurry of motions, scrambling for crayons and bits of ribbon. Marinette became focused on what she and Adrien were doing, blocking out her parents entirely. The first ornament was very basic - the only crayons were some green and red and a bit of white. Enough to hand over to Adrien so he could start heating it up with the hair dryer, the longest part.

After she had several ornaments prepped with crayon color pallets, she began working on cutting tasteful amounts of ribbons to top the orbs with. Her hands moved almost by instinct, the long semester having seen more than its fair share of fabric cutting and measurements by eye. By the time she was done with that, Adrien had finished melting the wax of two of the ornaments and was methodically working on the third. The ribbons were quickly tied into a neat bow and she began delicately painting wintery scenes on the outside - white snowflakes featuring heavily alongside flowing script.

Once they got into a groove, they worked like the well oiled machine that they always were. By the time the hour was up, there were eleven finished ornaments in front of them. A quiet sense of pride filled her as she looked them over. Now that she wasn’t timed, she could enjoy how good they turned out. Maybe one of these years she could add them to her online store as a seasonal special?

She looked over at her parents’ side and noticed that they had managed to squeeze in an extra one somehow. After some playfully heated debate, they decide that everyone had won, though it had been especially close this year.

The Christmas tree was adorned with the newest ornaments, but Marinette didn’t manage to hang more than one before she got caught up looking at ones from previous years. Most of them would be given away to friends and family, but the best they kept. Whether it was because they were the highest quality or the ones that were the heaviest with memories, it didn’t matter.

Her fingers traced over a particularly old one, and a small smile warmed her face at the memories it stirred.

“Adrien’s first Christmas here, right?”

Marinette jolted a little at her mother’s voice appearing right beside her. The expression on her face must have been similar to Marinette’s own, eyes distant as if seeing back into that night, years and years ago, when the two of them had just started dating.

“Yeah… he made this one himself,” Marinette replied, turning back to the hung decoration.

It was pretty clear it had been his first attempt at anything like that before. The white and pink of the wax didn’t cover the inside completely and patches of bare glass were frequent. A stick figure with pigtails holding hands with a plain stick figure Adrien had promised was the two of them standing under a green splodge that she was assured was mistletoe. It wasn’t the prettiest thing he’d made - as the years wore on and he spent more Christmases at her home, he’d certainly gotten better - but it was always stayed her favorite.

Adrien groaned when he saw what they were looking at, his cheeks flushing as red as his sweater. “Do we really need to stare at that one every year? It looks awful!”

“It’s cute!” Marinette patted his back. “Little baby Adrien made that one just for me.”

Adrien grumbled and looked away, his blush spreading down to his neck. Mercifully, she let go of the ornament and walked away.

The rest of the night was just as eventful. They baked cookies and sang while they did it, ranging from peaceful lullabies to loud and off-key pop songs. Marinette didn’t realize just how much she had missed the home cooked pastries until she bit into one for the first time in months.

She has halfway through a plate when there was a loud noise from the kitchen. Her papa came out, his apron soaked, but still in good spirits.

“Something happen in there?” Marinette said, raising an eyebrow as she lifted another cookie to her mouth. She had to remember to leave some for Tikki or else she wouldn’t speak to her for a month.

“Oh, don’t worry, dear,” Tom replied. “The kitchen sink just needs some attention is all. Adrien, can you get the toolbelt? I think it’s time for us to earn our keep, hm?” He smiled and winked.

While Adrien left her side, she settled into the empty space he left and closed her eyes. She was glad she had a home to come back to - and she was happy that she could share hers with Adrien. A satisfied smile came to her face as she thought about their living space now, and how much better it would be now that they were living together again.

The snow started coming down hard outside, but wrapped up in a warmth that went beyond the physical, Marinette didn’t mind a bit.

[bo0zey]

Pick your favorite questions from the list.

i will do them all for u 0.o

1. Name cianna [see-ah-nah]

2. Nationality mexican irish german romanian hungarian french

3. Age 20

4. Birthday december 17, 1999

5. Zodiac sign (or your primal zodiac sign) sun: sagittarius; ascendant: leo; moon: aries

6. Gender female

7. Sexuality uhhhhhhhhhhhh idk but i will willingly kiss either gender

8. Your looks (add a picture or describe yourself) /tagged/my-face or u could just google pictures of fat rats

9. What do you/did you study? I’m currently a sophomore nursing major!

10. What's your current job like?/What job would you like to have? I’m currently a microbiology TA and I love it :) My dream job would be something with animals, like a vet tech or veterinarian

11. Your birth order i’m the oldest!

12. How many siblings do you have? 2 younger brothers

13. Do you have good relations with your family? my mom was my best friend, my dad and i get along better now that i’m in college, my brothers and i get along pretty well & we’re staring to get closer now that they’re getting older n growing up n developing their own personalities lol

14. How many friends do you have? errrr idk this is a hard question. i have a lot of acquaintances but i’d say i have maybe like less than 10 real friends??

15. Your relationship status single :D

16. What do you look for in a SO? funny!!!!!!!!!must be humorous!!!!and sarcastic and a little weird w darker sense of humor so we can laugh n be dumb together!!!!!!! also i would like them to be kind to me and those around them bc mean ppl suck. also they have to like animals. also i would like them to be loyal and trustworthy and 110% in love w me. and for physical stuff idk kinda attractive but NOT CONVENTIONALLY ATTRACTIVE like i personally don't really like the typically ‘attractive’ person??? 

17. Do you have a crush? currently in love w the cute chinese boy who lives across from my dorm room even tho i have never even spoken to him n he is totally unaware of my existence!!!!!!!! hahah oops :D

18. When did you have your first kiss? i mean technically 3rd grade i think but that doesn't really count so like maybe 16????

19. Do you prefer serious and meaningful relationships or casual dating/one night stands? i mean in the long term i would definitely like to have a serious relationship but at the moment i’m only into casual stuff bc my heart isn't ready to be broken again sknfkjdbnkjd

20. What are your deal breakers? errrr i’m not sure....cheating is a no no, ppl that are interested in fucking every single person they see is a turn off, DUMB PEOPLE like ppl you can't even have a proper conversation with bc they're so DUMB, and ppl who r mean/judgmental/arrogant

21. How was your day? ok! accidentally slept thru my math class but caught a glimpse of my crush across campus when he was abt to smoke a cig and i got chipotle n i online shopped a ton from shein

22. Favourite food & drink deep dish spinach pizza from giordano’s & orange vitamin water

23. What position do you sleep in? i fall asleep on my left side hugging a body pillow

24. What was your last dream about? ate a braid of hair and inside the braid was bacon

25. Your fears not going to make it thru nursing school, not being financially stable as an adult, not having a family of my own, probably more but those r currently top 3

26. Your dreams i don't have any idk....maybe having like a house of my own and having as many animals as i want?? and i would like a loving partner with a daughter of our own

27. Your goals survive nursing school and lose 40 pounds and don't die before my cat

28. Any pets? i have a dog named cherry Cola, a cat named Leto, and a betta fish named Perc

29. What are your hobbies? writing stories about people in love, listening to music

30. Any cool places in your area? in my college town??? NO it sucks. in my hometown??? Not really it’s a small lil village with only restaurants and parks. but at home i’m near downtown chicago so that’s cool i guess

31. What was your last awkward situation? the first thing that comes to mind is my FIRST and so far ONLY encounter with my crush. we live in the same dorm building and i was wearing my nursing scrubs and had no make up on and about to go upstairs to my dorm, and then i heard footsteps and i was like ‘hahaha what if its my crush’ AND THEN HE FUCKIGJNG appeared from down the hallway to go back to HIS DORM [which is RIGHT ACROSS FROM MINE] and i literally STARED at him, then threw open the door and RAN UP THE STAIRS LIKE I LITERALLY DIDNT EVEN HOLD THE DOOR OPEN FOR ME AND HE WAS LIKE SO CLOSE BEHIND ME I WAS JUST SO NERVOUS MY FLIGHT OR FIGHT RESPONSE TOOK OVER AND I FUCKING FLED I LITERALLY RAN AWAY FROM HIM I AHTE MYSELF SO MUCH IM SUCH AN IDIOT!!!!!!!!!

32. What is your last regret? errrrr idk i regret a lot of dumb things.......

33. Language/s you can speak English n a LITTLE bit of Spanish

34. Do you believe in astrological stuff? (Zodiac, tarot, etc.) i’m really into zodiac stuff and i have got to say they are pretty spot on in accuracy idk

35. Have any quirks? ummmm ofc!!i am the quirkiest person i know hajnjfxbkjx like if u asked my roommates/friends they’d probably be better at answering this than me bc i don't see anything abt me as quirky but they always tell me i am quirky and do weird things but idk man I'm just existing 

36. Your pet peeves err idk currently its ppl that constantly brag about dumb shit

37. Ideal vacation somewhere warm with me + the ocean + the loml + unlimited alcohol

38. Any scars? yeah :D both emotional AND physical!!!!

39. What does your last text message say? ‘ok thats a more than fair statement’

40. Last 5 things from your search history how many carbs should i eat, chipotle bowl calories, is the grim reaper the angel of death, ceftriaxone adverse effects, red man syndrome

41. What's your [device] background? lockscreen is a peach-theme background i made and home screen is my weight loss goals

42. What do you daydream about? the characters in my stories.................and being skinny 

43. Describe your dream home pretty brick house??? flowers outside??? 3 floors--main floor, basement and upstairs??? 3 bedrooms n 3 bathrooms maybe??? master bedroom has its own bathroom!!! and open concept main floor. big kitchen and very homey n warm all around. as for like an apartment i want something cozy and aesthetically pleasing and warm 

44. What's your religion/Your thought about religion i don't have a religion but if ppl do have a religion then thats not my business

45. Your personality type entj but only bc i got 3% extraverted; i am very closely related to intj tho n i think i fit that one better

46. The most dangerous thing you've done uhhhhhh probably operating a vehicle while high out of my mind. definitely the dumbest thing i ever did 0/10 would recommend anyone ever doing that

47. Are you happy with your current life? its ok but it could probably be better. i want to be done w college and skip to the part where i have a successful career and my own home and i can lay up w the loml every night

48. Some things you've tried in your life alcohol???weed??gummy edibles....

49. What does your wardrobe consist of? sweaters/sweatshirts/leggings

50. Favourite colour to wear? black, maroon, peach, purple, gray, idk

51. How would you describe your style? oh jeez idk i wear whatever i want so like e-girl when i really try and basic white girl when i don't care

52. Are you happy with your current looks? no i hate everything about myself lol

53. If you could change/add something to your appearance - impossible or not - what would it be? more freckles on my face....also be thinner n have longer hair

54. Any tattoos or piercings? my nose and septum are pierced!

55. Do you get complimented often? kinda by my friends but i always yell at them to stop so they don't compliment like as much bc they know i hate it but they still do it sometimes idk

56. Favourite aesthetic? i wanna be an e-girl yo!!!!!!!!! 

57. A popular trend that you dislike nobody has a crush on me and i hate it

58. Songs you're currently obsessed with? pied piper by BTS

59. Song you normally wouldn't admit you like. anything by BTS lol i used to like be embarrassed for how much i like k pop but now i don't really care lol #stanBTS2020

60. Favourite genre? rap/r n b/alternative

61. Favourite artist/band/genre? i listen to every genre except country sooooooo yeah i really like billie eilish, BTS, the weeknd, juicewrld, lil nas x, trippie red, post malone,

62. Hated popular songs/artists? i don't rlly like selena gomez or justin bieber or taylor swift

63. Put your music on shuffle and list first 5 only - RY X i.f.l.y. - Bazzi novacane - frank ocean jungle - drake bang! - trippie redd

64. Can you sing or play any instruments? no and no

65. Do you like karaoke? no but i like to sing along to songs when I'm alone

66. Own any albums? haha noooo i got apple music son

67. Do you listen to radio? What stations? errr RARELY i used to listen to r n b stations tho

68. Favourite movie/series? idk donnie darko?? i also just finished tharntype n that was really good. also i liked tokyo ghoul. AND GIVEN IS REALLY GOOD

69. Favourite genre of movies/books/etc i like horror/scary/paranormal/funny movies and i like love stories in books

70. Your fictional crush/es danny phantom, ken kaneki

71. Which fictional character is you? uhhhh idk...

72. Are you a shipper? List your otps, if so frerard, ryden, taekook, mewgulf

73. Favourite greek god? idk they all kinda suck but maybe hades

74. A legend from where you live that you like i don't really know any:(

75. Do you like art? What's your favourite work or artist? i like to look at art! i think van gogh is cool

76. Can you share your other social media? ig: ciannnna venmo: ciannnna

77. Favourite youtubers? i don't really watch youtubers but maybe shane dawson and emma chamberlain

78. Favourite platform? twitter

79. How much time do you spend on the internet? too much time

80. What video games have you played? Which one's your favourite? i once played GTA5 that was fun!

81. Your favourite books (manga also counts) idk i don't really read anymore:/ i was into the hunger games and the twilight series when i was young. now i kinda read online manga and i really liked BJ Alex and killing stalking. and like for online books the unholyverse series, a splitting of the mind, the anatomy of a fall

82. Do you play board/card games? no but i like to play checkers and uno and cards against humanity

83. Have you ever been to a night marathon in cinema? nopee

84. Favourite holiday halloween is cool also christmas is alright bc gifts

85. Are you into dramas? i’ve been getting into thai boys love dramas lol sue me

86. Would you use death note, if you had one? um YES.

87. What changes would you make in the world, no matter how impossible, if you had the power to? everyone needs to be a little kinder and have a crush on me

88. Could you survive a zombie apocalypse? absolutely not I'm not physically fit and don't have useful skills

89. If you had to be turned into a paranormal being, what would it be? vampire duh [or maybe ghost]

90. What would you want to happen to you after your death? i want to see my mom

91. If you had to change your name, what would be your pick? idk something cool ... i love the name Daisy

92. Who would you switch your life with for a week? idk probably kylie jenner

93. Pick an emoji to be your tattoo idk the alien? 94. Write 3 things about yourself - only one of them must be true -im very productive with my time management skills -my favorite color is purple -i don't get nervous when I'm alone in public

95. Cold or hot? cold

96. Be a hero or be a villain? anti-hero

97. Sing everything you want to say or rhyme? sing if i’m good at it but if I'm not good then rhyme

98. Shapeshifting or controlling time? shapeshifting

99. Be immortal or be immune to everything aside from natural death?immortal

100. ..... or .....? ......?

[booksviolinsandembroidery-moved]

okay I couldn’t help myself

OTP questions for Caphart (Diego x Sam) from this post.

1. Who likes to sit in the other’s lap?

Sam is petite so more often than not, Sam is in Diego’s lap. Diego might do it to make Sam blushy.

2. On a cold day, who likes to snuggle up to the other?

*banging on pots and pans* SAMMY IS VERY CUDDLY!! Definitely Sam, unless he’s already in bed and Diego isn’t... He would whine at Diego to join him though. He’s just really warm and Sam isn’t and why isn’t he holding his boyfriend already??

3. Who cooks the food and who does the dishes?

They share cooking and dishes pretty evenly, though Sam is the one who decides what to cook. Stuff like that becomes family bonding time where the kids help when they can with the cooking and then do most of the dishes because they need character building goddammit.

4. How would they describe each other to loved ones who haven’t met their partner yet?

Big oof okay two parts for this and I’ll write it from their point of view bc I’m extra: 

Sam- “Oh goodness, where do I even begin? He’s absolutely wonderful. He’s cute, and he’s funny, and he’s so flirty; ugh, I just love him so much. He loves dancing, and I love watching him dance. He’s just so elegant and I can’t handle it! Ah! And when he looks at me with those chestnut eyes, oh I just melt you know? Okay, I need to go find him now. I need him to kiss me.”

Diego- “Hah, Sammy... He is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He’s also one of the kindest. He would let you insult him and he would still worry about your well-being. He is also very energetic and it’s cute, but when he’s focused on something, it’s like he’s a completely different person. Hmm... He’s also very loving. I don’t go a single day without a kiss or a hug from him. To me, he’s perfect and I could not have asked for someone better.”

5. Who is more likely to kiss their partner on their forehead?

Sam. Yes, he’s shorter, but that won’t stop him from lifting up on the tips of his toes or catching Diego while he’s sitting, brushing away his hair, and planting a soft kiss on his forehead. Diego’s expression softens from a big grin to an adoring smile every. damn. time.

6. Who makes a scrapbook of all their memories to give to their partner for a special event? Ex- anniversary, birthday, etc.

I don’t really see either of them doing this. They’re both really busy as it is and every second they have free, they spend it with the other.

7. Where would they go to get away from everyone else and just be alone?

Outside. Why? Sam loves stars and the night sky. Diego will take him outside in the moonlight and just hold him as Sam lists off the names of constellations, the favorite stars, and obscure knowledge about them. They might also slow dance to the sounds of nature around them, no music. They don’t need music, they are already each other’s favorite song.

8. Who would want to take cute pictures for Instagram?

Sam is a very aesthetically oriented person. Definitely him. I see Diego as a person that would rather live in the moment and not really care about stopping to take a picture.

9. Who would most likely call their partner, dude, babe and idiot, all in the same sentence?

Probably Sam, but maybe not “idiot”. He gets very excited while talking about/to his bf. Actually... If Diego did something really bold like a public proposal with doves and roses and music, Sam might call him an idiot while recalling it, but very fondly with a soft smile on his face.

10. How do they let their loved ones know they are dating?

Diego? With a howler probably. “I HAVE A CUTE BOYFRIEND AND HIS NAME IS SAM!!” I feel like Sam would forget until someone asks, “So who was that boy that was holding your hand and making you giggle like that?” “Are you finally dating Diego? You’ve been pining for him for like a year now.”

11. Who breaks out in a dance when they hear their favourite song and who joins their partner dancing no matter what they are currently doing?

Sam gets excited really easily and can never hold still for any length of time, so you can bet your ass he would jam out to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen or Don’t Stop Me Now. Diego... that’s a little obvious.

12. If they each went to go buy an outfit for one another, what would they get?

Diego knows Sam likes cozy and warm things. He would probably get him a sweater or cardigan and something soft to go with it. Sam... wouldn’t really know because there are just so many things he wants to see Diego in and can’t decide.

13. Who still blushes when their partner compliments them?

.... SAMMY! Big shocker, I know. But Sam might be able to make Diego blush if he surprises him enough... It probably wouldn’t be with something the children should hear...

14. What memories do they share together that will stay with them forever?

Their first date together. I will write this eventually. Probably today/tomorrow.

15. Who would dedicate a song to their partner at a karaoke night? Bonus - what song would it be and why?

Diego, mostly because Sam is too shy to sing in front of other people unless it’s his friends (or he’s a little tipsy). Never Gonna Give You Up comes to mind, mainly because it’s the 80′s and Diego would totally sing Sam an upbeat, super sappy song.

[princepriestandpirate]

oc fluff for lael!!

1. What’s their go to pick up line/flirting tactic?

they don’t really Flirt per se, but when they’re into someone they really like... verbal sparring i guess? arguing but in a playful way i guess

2.Can they dance?

Lol not really, but they’ll dance sometimes when they’re drunk.

3. Underwear style?

plain briefs or boxer briefs

4. Crayons, markers, colored pencils or paint?

colored pencils! good for finer detailing in nature and machine sketches

5. What was their childhood stuffed animal of choice?

lael had a stuffed dragon as a kid! her name was meya and she has been completely destroyed by mud and lael’s childhood adventures, the poor thing

6. What’s their sleeping position?

they can sleep Everywhere and Anywhere but in bed they’re kinda splayed out with their limbs everywhere, maybe hugging a pillow

7. Do they snore?

no, but they talk in their sleep sometimes

8. What do they act like when drunk?

generally louder and more outgoing. they can be kind of an asshole because they have less of a filter than usual, and they’re also way more likely to do dumb reckless shit

9. Sweet, sour, salty, or savory?

in general, savory, but they have a weird taste for super sour stuff. they’re the type to just REALLY like warheads candies and sour gummy worms and stuff

10. Can they play an instrument? If so, which one(s)?

they can’t play any, they dont have much a talent for it, or any interest

11. What would their favorite book be?

i haven’t read it personally but i feel like the martian would be super up their alley

12. What is their guilty pleasure? 

they really like gardening but usually dont talk about it much because it gives ppl the wrong idea about them

13. If they got a new pet, what would they name it?

lael is absolutely terrible at naming things and is entirely liable just to name their pet after its own species (but like, probably in elvish). catch lael out here with a cat named “cat”

14. Beachhouse, cozy snowy cabin, treehouse in a forest or desert paradise?

cool treehouse workshop!!

15. What would their favorite board game be?

i’ve personally never played it, but they’d like mouse trap a whole lot

16. What do they smell like? 

a weird mix of dirt/grass and very metallic smells

17. What’s their favorite smell?

they really like nature smells, esp prairie right as its about to rain

18. If they were drunk, what would they get a tattoo of?

either a sketch of a huntsman spider on their lower back like a tramp stamp, or a tattoo of a mechanical snake on their upper arm

19. Describe their laugh.

when they’re laughing genuinely and not just making fun of someone (which is kinda a loud “ha”) it’s a loud laugh that’s a little ugly but just bc it’s them letting go. sometimes they snort. it’s cute

20. Hoodies, knit sweaters, wool coats or just a blanket to stay warm?

their dad had a knitting phase at one point so they just wear those sweaters a lot when they’re cold

21. Are they good with their hands? How do they deal with household-type maintenance?

they’re a magitech engineer so yes! they’re good with machines and hands-on stuff so they usually take care of any houshold maintenance by themself. they also live alone so they’ve kinda figured out the majority of chores by now

22. If they had a custom car horn, what would it be?

it’s just a bunch of random animal calls but VERY loud

23. Favorite carnival attraction?

they’d like looking at all the fun machine rides and being up real high in the sky on the ferris wheel

24. Showers or baths?

more showers, but the occasional bath can be nice

25. What’s their ideal day off like?

going back home to see their family and hang out with their parents, maybe hang out in the garden with their dad and help their mom with making medicine stuff

[khiphop-stories]

Umbrella - Chapter XIII

You can find all previous chapters here.

Lesson Thirteen: Go With The Flow

[Christian Yu, DPR Live]

You woke up to the sound of breathing that wasn’t your own. Blinded by the rays of sunlight that trickled in through the window, you forcefully shut your eyes again before making another attempt of opening them. You slightly turned your head to the side, peeking at the person next to you from the corner of your eyes. He was still sound asleep; his heart throbbed in accordance with his slow, rhythmical breaths.

“Fuck,” you cursed under your breath, overwhelmed with mixed feelings. 

It wasn’t just a dream. It really did happen. You actually let your momentary urges gain the upper hand. You made the one move that would change everything. The one move that would make everything complicated. 

Slowly and carefully, you lifted Christian’s arm that was wrapped around your waist and removed it from your body. You carefully rolled onto your side and pushed yourself out of his bed, letting your feet hit the cold floor. A shiver ran down your spine as you left the warmth of his body and the blanket.

Glancing around his room, you noticed the mess the two of you had created last night. Clothes and books were spread all over the floor. Clothes that you had carelessly tossed aside yesterday and books that you had knocked over in the heat of it, but didn’t care enough to pick up.

Your eyes wandered through the mess, but you couldn’t find your t-shirt; so you took your bra and panties and put them on.

"You're not trying to sneak away right now, are you?" His soft and sleepy voice broke the silence of the morning. With your feet rooted to the spot, your head shot into his direction. You bit down on your bottom lip, embarrassed that he had caught you right in the act.

"Busted," you let out an awkward chuckle, your eyes darting through his room, looking anywhere but him.

"Come here," he lifted his arm and waved you over to him.

With a long breath leaving your lips, you looked at him hesitantly. 

Stepping closer, you took the hand he had reached out for you, allowing him to pull you back onto his cozy bed. He took you in his arms and pulled the blanket over you.

"You smell good," he nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck, before leaving gentle kisses on your skin.

You turned your head to him and his lips brushed against your own. With your eyes fluttering closed due to the sensations he made you feel, you let him take the lead. His hands slipped underneath the blanket and you felt his firm grip on your hips. In one fluid motion he rolled you over, so now you were on top of him, sitting astride Christian. You rested your hands on his chest. Straightening your back, the blanket slid down your soft skin.

“Fuck,” Christian groaned at the sight of your exposed upper body that was only covered in your bra. His teeth pressed down his bottom lip as a smirk spread across his face. He pushed himself up, his strong arms wrapped around your back. His lips met yours again and you could feel his grip tightening around your waist.

“Fuck…Jenn, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered against your lips, earning a smile from you.

Suddenly, he pulled away. “Wait.”

“Hm?” You stopped your motions and looked at him with questioning eyes.

“I know I got the order all wrong, but…do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“Yes. No. Maybe.” You muttered indecisively, before swallowing down hard. You looked at him unsure with a trace of anxiety flickering in your eyes. His question had totally caught you off guard. Your mind was completely blank- it felt as if you were sitting for an exam and all of the sudden all the information you had learned was gone. Why did he have to burst the bubble by asking the one question you dreaded the most? Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut?

“You have to choose one,” he chuckled softly.

“I don’t know,” was your final answer. One he didn’t expect. You saw the disappointment spreading across his face like wildfire in the forest. He may have tried to hide it, but he did a horrible job.

“Christian...” You swallowed down hard as you reached out your hand, cupping his face gently. “Can we just go with the flow and not put any labels? Can we just keep things casual?”

“Does that mean—“



“Yep, we’ll still be having sex,” you cut him off with a laugh.



“That not what I wanted to say, but I guess I’m fine with that too,” he flashed a cheeky grin at you.

~*~

“It’s already past 10 o’clock?” Your eyes widened with stunned surprise when they accidentally came across the clock on the nightstand next to his bed.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" Christian groaned at the loss of contact when you shifted away from him.

"I have to be at the restaurant at 12." With his arms still loosely wrapped around your waist, you tried to wriggle out of his grip, but he wouldn't let you go.

"Ten more minutes," he muttered under his breath.

"I have to catch my bus at 11," you argued.

“Fuck the bus, I’ll drop you off,” he offered.

“I still need to shower and change my clothes though. Plus, I’m hungry.“

“We could shower together. It saves time,” he wriggled his eyebrows at you suggestively.

“Saving time? More like wasting time,” you rolled your eyes at him as a light chuckle left your lips.

“Then let’s just stay like this for five more minutes. You can shower after that while I’ll make you breakfast,” he tried to negotiate with you.

"Deal," you laughed.

~*~

When you stepped back into his room with only a towel wrapped around your body, he was still lazily lying in bed. You didn’t pay much attention to him, instead you bent down and picked up your clothes, so you could change into them.

“Didn’t you want to make breakfast?”

“Yeah, but then I realized I used everything I had in the fridge yesterday,” he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "we can just go grab something to eat on the way.”

Suddenly, you felt his arms around your waist as he gently pulled you against his hard chest. You let yourself sink into him, your bodies perfectly fitted together, like two pieces of a puzzle. Lifting his arm, he brushed aside your jet-black hair that fell on your shoulders like a curtain. He pressed a wet kiss against the nape of your neck while his grip tightened around your waist.

His eyes wandered along your back and that’s when he noticed an old scar right above your shoulders blades.

“How did you get this scar?” He hummed gently as his fingertips traced along the scar.

“What? I have a scar? Where? I didn’t know!” You chuckled, pretending to be shocked. Then, you swiftly turned yourself around with one of his arms still tightly wrapped around your body, meeting his eyes.

“Just kidding, I got it as a kid,” you said with a nonchalant shrug.

Christian leaned in a little closer until your foreheads touched. Your smell was flooding his senses now. It was the scent of his own body wash, yet smelling it on you was such a huge turn on for him.

Suddenly you shoved him away. Not expecting this, he lost his balance and plopped onto his bed.

“You stay there. I need to get dressed,” you warned him.

“Oh come on! This is unfair! Look!” His gazed dropped down onto his pants, the huge bulge visibly poking against the fabric of his boxers.

“I’m gonna get late for work, Rome.” You picked up your sweatpants, wanting to put it on when you realized you couldn’t possibly go out dressed like this.

“I need to go home and get my work uniform.”

“You wanna leave like this? Dressed in a towel?” Christian’s eyes widened at you. “Put something on first.”



“I live right across the hallway,” you chuckled.



“I don’t care.” He walked to his closet and pulled out a fresh sweater of his before handing it to you.

“When does your shift end today?” He asked as he watched you getting dressed.

“At eight. Why?”

“I’ll pick you up.”

“Don’t you have anything else to do?” You chuckled.

“Not really. I’m still waiting for confirmation on the new project, and as long as I don’t have it, I can’t really do anything. I can pick you up and we can have dinner together somewhere.”

“Sounds good,” your lips curved into a smile.

“It’s a date then,” he grinned from ear to ear.

Date. You didn’t like the sound of it. With a date came too many obligations, too many social customs that had to be minded, and too many expectations the other person had.

But strangely enough, you caught yourself feeling excited. There was this tingling feeling inside of your stomach that slowly spread throughout your entire body. You couldn’t wait to spend the evening with him.

~*~

[Time Leap]

Upon hearing the loud knocks on your door, you slowly made your way to the hallway. It was way too early in the morning. You literally just got out of bed, your eyes weren’t even fully open yet.

“Surprise surprise!”

Your jaw dropped open when you saw Dabin standing in front of you with a huge grin planted across his face.



“Oh my god! You’re back!” Your eyes widened in delightful surprise, your tiredness instantly disappeared in a blink of an eye. You threw your arms around his shoulders, giving him a big welcome hug.



“I’m here too,” Christian mumbled, holding up his hand, but you only rolled your eyes at him, before releasing a warm smile.



“You got so tan!” You remarked as you eyed Dabin up and down. Spending time with his family was really what he needed. The week before they left for London, he had been pulling all nighters in the studio almost every day since he wanted to get everything done before he went on vacation. His face slowly lost its color making him look like a zombie. But today he looked a lot healthier, the big bags he usually had under his eyes were completely gone and his eyes were glowing with joy.



“Yeah, we went to the beach almost every day! Do you wanna see pictures?”


“Yess!!” You clapped your hands together enthusiastically.

Christian who was standing behind Dabin just shook his head at the two of you with a chuckle. It was around 6 in the morning; the excitement you too had at this time of the day baffled him.

You invited both of them into your apartment. Dabin pulled out his phone and began showing you the pictures he took in Guam while you made your way to the living room with Christian following behind.

“Oh my goodness! It looks so beautiful. You actually grew up there? It looks like paradise!” You gasped in awe. The blue ocean water was so clear that one could even see the ground.

He then handed you the phone so you could scroll through the pictures by yourself. He would comment on a few photos, telling you the names of the people in it and where they were taken.

“That picture was taken on the day I landed in Guam.”

“Oh…and that’s Christian releasing his inner pole dancer,” Dabin tapped the play button on his screen and the video started playing.



“What?!” Christian’s eyes widened when he heard his name being mentioned. He looked over your shoulder, his eyes traveling to the cell phone in your hands.


“How come I don’t remember this at all…” He shook his head in embarrassment.

“Man, you were wasted. It was the last night in London when we went to some club.”



“Well, there’s one thing we know for sure now, you’re definitely not suited to become a pole dancer,” you laughed.



“Ay! Look at those moves! C’mon! I make a hella good pole dancer!” He said full of pride.

“Are we watching the same video?” You continued teasing him.



“You’re just jealous of my skills!”



“Oh I’m bet I’m at least a thousand times better than this!”


“Oh really?” The expression on his face changed and a little smirk curved onto his lips. 

“Show me-” he challenged you.



“Bro, I’m still here, stop eye-fucking her,” Dabin faked a cough.

“Sorry,” Christian chuckled.

“Tell me. I wanna hear all the stories. How was performing in London?” You turned your attention back to Dabin.

The three of you spent the whole morning talking about their adventures in London and Dabin’s family visit in Guam, until Christian grew too tired and went home to take a nap.

~*~

“Jenn...my plants.”

“I swear I watered them!” You held up your hands in defense. 

“I’m pretty sure you did...you drowned them in water!” Dabin shook his head at you while a chuckle left his lips.

“I’ll buy you a new one. In fact, let’s go now. There’s a flower shop nearby.” You rose onto your feet and motioned him to get up.

~*~

With a grin on your lips, you observed him silently as you waited for him to pick out a plant from the flower shop. It was like taking a little child to the toy store. His eyes literally brightened with joy when he entered the flower shop. You found his unexpected interest in plants endearing.

As you stood there behind him, watching him happily roaming through the aisles with so much ease and lightness in his steps, you noticed there was something different about him today. He had arrived at the airport at five o’clock in the morning, yet he showed no trace of jet lag or fatigue.

Squinting your eyes at him you gave him a suspicious look.



“What?” He let out a nervous chuckle.



“Are you seeing someone?” You asked him straight forward, clearly catching him off guard.

He stared at loss for words as his eyes grew wider and his jaw dropped open. Seeing how his cheeks flushed red, the corner of your lips twitched into a knowing smirk. His reaction gave it away.

“No, I’m not. I’m as single as ever,” he denied, hastily shaking his head.

“But you met someone, didn’t you?”

Dabin was an open book to you. Although you had known him as long as Christian, it was easier for you to read Dabin; whereas Christian was still a huge question mark to you. You couldn’t tell what he was thinking and sometimes his actions were confusing. Christian was blunt, he always said what he had on his mind, but why did you have such a hard time believing him? Why were you trying so hard to keep a distance? Was it his fault? Or did you build that invisible wall all by yourself? 

“Maybe…” He muttered under his breath, his eyes drifting away.



“Tell me! I want all the juicy details!” You grinned at him widely.



“There are no juicy details,” he blushed, by now his cheeks were as red as a tomato. “I met her on the plane. We were sitting next to each other….end of story.”



“That’s it? You’re hiding something, aren’t you?” You continued teasing him.

“No, that’s it..”


“Did you join the Mile High Club?” You wriggled your eyebrows at him suggestively.



“No!” His gaze dropped onto the ground as he was too embarrassed to look at you.  “We just talked….nothing happened.”



“Did you at least get her number?”



He shook his head in response.



“Why not?” You gave him a look full of disbelief. 



“I didn’t want to come off too obtrusive.”



“You’re such a coward!” You groaned as you gave him a light punch on his arms.



“Me? What about you and Rome?” He quirked his brow at you with a knowing look planted across his face.



“Don’t change the topic!” 



“I know you slept with him! I can literally see the sex glow on both of you!”

“So what? It’s not like we’re virgins,” you shrugged your shoulders nonchalantly.


“So? Are you dating? Friends with benefits?”

“I-I don’t know,” you shook your head, shrugging your shoulders again, “still trying to figure out what we are.”



“And you say that I am the coward,” he nudged your ribs playfully.

“At least I made a move,” you defended yourself as you poked your tongue at him.



“You like him, don’t you?”

“Yes.” You didn’t even have to think before answering.

You didn’t have to go to university anymore since you had finished all your class for the semester; so you had a little more free time on your hands. You still had a few papers to hand it, to write your final thesis, work at the restaurant, and intern at SK Technologies, but over all it was less stressful for you and the pressure on your shoulders became lighter. You had spent most of your spare time with Christian. The two of you would stay at home most of the time because it was way too cold outside, but nonetheless, you enjoyed being with him. He would cook for you, you would watch movies together, and talk about anything and everything. He would also proudly show you the projects he was working and sometimes he would just lay next to you while you were studying. Yes, you liked him. You liked him more than you would ever admit to yourself.

“Then why can’t you tell him?”

Because things were going so well now, and you were afraid that even the slightest change would throw everything out of balance. You were afraid the little ball of snow rolling down the hill would turn into a huge avalanche.

“Same reason you didn’t ask for her number.”



“Because we’re both cowards, huh?” He laughed.
 ~*~

When you took a step outside, the street and trees were covered in snow while silvery flakes drifted down from the sky.  With the wind blowing, the snow flakes danced in perfect synchronization before settling onto the ground.

You pulled up the hood of your padded jacket and began walking through the snow. Although it wasn’t rain, being here with Dabin and waiting for the traffic light to turn green, strongly reminded of the day you first met him. Who would have thought back then, within only a few months the suspicious stranger whom you coincidentally came across would end up being a friend you trusted and cherished.

“What was your first impression of me?” Dabin asked out of the blue, almost as if the same thought had crossed his mind.

“You really want to know?” You asked him teasingly. In response he nodded his head at you eagerly.

“I thought you were a creep or a pervert.”

“What? Why?” He gave you a look full of surprise.

“Oh come on what are the chances that some guy offers to share an umbrella with you.”

“I was being nice!” He interjected with a chuckle, “and you still walked with me though!”

“Yeah, ‘cause I didn’t want to get wet,” you laughed out loud as you poked your tongue out at him.

“Wow now I feel used!” Dabin lay his hand on his chest, shaking his head with feigned disappointment.

“What about you? What was you first impression? Why did you approach me?” You tilted your head at him as you inspected his face with curiosity glistening in your eyes.

Soft Christian and soft Dabin in one chapter? - You’re welcome! LOL Hahaha just kidding. I hope you liked this update, don’t forget to leave comments! :)

[tigereye771]

New Year, New Beginnings (Part 13/?)

Title:  New Year, New Beginnings

Part: 13/?

Pairing:  Jon/Sansa (Modern AU)

Notes:  Thank you very much for your patience in this next part.  As I mentioned a while back, my work situation changed dramatically a few months ago.  My boss passed away unexpectedly and I’ve been acting as the Interim Head AND doing my regular job, so as someone said, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends.  Literally the last few months have been a blur as I’ve tried to handle two jobs and do an enormous amount of traveling (right now, I’m sitting in a hotel room about to post this).  Fortunately, the workload, at least the travel bit, has eased a little so I’ve been able to catch my breath and update this story.  I hope you enjoy.

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12]

“Ms. Targaryen directed that your deliveries be put in the blue guest room.”

It took a moment for Jon to realize that the servant was talking about his purchases from yesterday. He had just walked into the house after Tormund had dropped him off at the front door, the bigger man saying he would take the car back to the garage and wishing his friend good night.  Jon had been ready to just drop into bed, feeling a little tired, but satisfied with himself, believing, despite Mance’s last minute improvising, that none of the Starks were any wiser to the fact that he had arranged for them to “find” that particular car for that very good price. Though, after watching Sansa and Arya tag-team haggle Mance, Jon wondered if his help was really even needed at all.

Jon nodded in acknowledgement of the servant’s information and started up the stairs to begin sorting out the various packages.  As he passed Ygritte’s room, not realizing that he no longer thought of that room as “theirs”, the door flew open.  Jon looked up in surprise.  When he left that morning she had not been around and he was not certain she would be here at the house this evening.  

She was dressed in jeans and sweater, not one of her expensive and somewhat revealing dresses she had taken to wearing for a night out.  Her feet were bare and her hair loose around her shoulders.  For a moment, Jon felt something clench in his chest as he remembered another time she had been dressed this way, in jeans and a simple sweater.  It was a complicated time as he pretended to be something he was not, but also a simpler time when their feelings seemed to be purer and more understandable.  In that moment, Jon felt as though they were back in The Gift and it was just the two of them in Ygritte’s cozy, rundown apartment.

“You didn’t meet me for lunch,” she said, not in an accusatory tone, but in a voice laced with hurt and a bit of resignation.

Jon felt a stab of guilt. He had said they would lunch together, but he completely forgot, so wrapped up in his plans to solve Sansa’s car issue, and feeling quite pleased with himself with what he thought was a rather clever idea.  If he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t thought of Ygritte at all today.

“I’m sorry, Ygritte,” Jon sighed.  “You have every right to be angry with me.  I just forgot and it was thoughtless of me to do so.  It’s just the Starks needed-“

“Jon!  I need you!” Ygritte cried out.  She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “Look.  I get it. You’re happy to be reunited with them and you want to help them out.  That’s great. I don’t expect you to do anything less. That’s just the type of guy you are, but Jon, I need you sometimes too!”

“Ygritte, they’re just kids! They need someone older to-“

“Jon!  Why did you bring me here if you were just going to ignore me?”

That stopped him short. He had been ignoring her, but not intentionally.  He had been dealing with his own jumble of confused emotions as he dealt with a new family and realization that he was a Targaryen.  It was not Ygritte’s fault.  Jon’s way of dealing with such life changing news was to shut himself off and ignore everyone else around him so he could focus on the issue in front of him. It was selfish and he could see how Ygritte could be feeling lost and alone because she was.  She knew  noone here and the few who did know her, Tormund and Edd, didn’t particularly care for her nor she them.

He reached out to gently put his hands on her shoulders.  “You’re right and I’m sorry.  Let’s-, let’s just wipe the slate clean and start over.  How would you like to meet the Starks?  I made plans to go to the movies with Bran and Arya on Wednesday. Come with us.”

He saw a flash of irritation on Ygritte’s face but it was gone in a moment and then she smiled at him. “And we’ll have dinner tomorrow and Tuesday night together?”

Jon nodded. “Yeah.  It’ll be good to talk to someone not associated with TI.  We’ll even go out so we’re not having dinner here.”

Ygritte’s smile widened and she hugged Jon who returned the hug warmly.  “Stay with me tonight,” she said softly in his ear.  “Not that we have to do anything.  I just like to feel you next to me and holding me.”

Jon nodded and let her go. He gave her a small smile and walked into her room, not seeing how Ygritte’s face fell slightly.  He didn’t find her request to simply sleep together odd, but she was specific about that and making sure there was no reason for her to disrobe completely in front of Jon.  At least not for a few more days.  The evidence of her rough sex with Ramsey still covered her body.

*/*/*/*/*

Mrs. Mundy, Targaryen Industries’ Executive Office Manager frowned down at the tray of delectable and elegant pastries that Sansa Stark had just set out.  There was nothing wrong with them and for the past two years, Highgarden Café had been supplying TI with the Monday morning catering for the weekly executive staff meeting.  This Monday was no different and despite the fact that this was Rhaegar’s son, Jon’s, a celebrated military hero in his own right, first day, Mrs. Mundy, per orders from Rhaegar himself, had not asked the Highgarden Café to alter the order in any way.

Yet, it was different. More than different, there were bear claws in among the pastries.  Not just any bear claws, but misshaped ones. If Mrs. Mundy were asked, she would say they look more like, well, giant paws.

Mrs. Mundy liked her routine and she liked everything carried out to the letter of her instructions. Not once had those girls at Highgarden ever made a mistake in the TI order, yet here it was staring her boldly in the face.  Three bear claws!  No one here ate bear claws!  It was why Mrs. Mundy expressly asked them to be kept off their order.  And they didn’t even look right.  

Sansa finished setting up the last coffee urn.  Gilly or Margery would come by later to pick up the Café equipment, but Sansa always did the delivery as she made everything fresh that morning.  She turned to smile at Mrs. Mundy but it started to fade when she saw the older woman frowning at her.

“My dear,” Mrs. Mundy began with a slight sniff of disapproval.  “I haven’t had any reason to complain since your little store has been catering these meetings, but I’ve explicitly told you not to bring bear claws, yet I see them here,” she gestured towards the platter on the table, “and I have to say, they are in the most curious shape!  Yet, even in their malformed state, I can tell they are bear claws!”

Sansa flushed.  “Well, I understood there would be some new people at this meeting and I thought someone might-“

“But I have been explicit in my directions,” Mrs. Mundy continued, fluffing herself up like an agitated hen. “I always give you precise orders and I expect them to be carried out.  You cannot go against what a customer wants.”

“No, Mrs. Mundy, but perhaps-“

“This is unacceptable,” the older woman continued, working herself in a righteous state.  She never wanted to go with Highgarden Café, but someone higher up insisted that they be seen as helping to support the neighborhood businesses and they did supply delicious pastries and nothing had gone wrong until now.  Mrs. Mundy had always thought such work should go to one of the larger catering firms and not a small operation run by two girls.

“I don’t expect to be paid for those additional pastries. The entire order is there, I just added three-“

“Unacceptable work, Miss Stark.  I’m afraid we’ll have to reconsider our arrangement.”

Sansa looked at her in shock.  “Just because of three bear claws?  Mrs. Mundy, I’m sorry I-“

“I don’t think there’s more to discuss.  I’ll have to re-evaluate this arrangement,” Mrs. Mundy continued coolly.

“But-,” Sansa began.

“Sansa?”

Both women turned their heads and saw Jon Snow standing there, with Rhaegar and Sam Tarly behind him.

“Sansa,” Jon said coming forward.  “What are you doing here?”

Still in some shock that Mrs. Mundy could pull the TI business from the Café, Sansa could only smile weakly at him.  “Good morning, Jon.”

All eyes were on the couple as they wondered how Jon knew the pretty redhead, Mrs. Mundy’s being especially sharp.

Jon frowned, taking in Sansa’s paler than normal face and the slightly bewildered look in her eyes. “Sansa?  What’s wrong?”

“The Café, it does the catering for the Monday staff meetings,” Sansa replied.  She glanced at Mrs. Mundy.  “Or it used to.”

Jon’s frown deepened. “What do you mean ‘used to’?”

“The order is wrong,” Mrs. Mundy intervened.  “We cannot have mistakes made.”

Jon glanced at the pastries. “What’s wrong with the order?” His eyes suddenly lit up and he leaned more closely to examine the platter.  “Are those-, are those?  Wolf paws?!”

Mrs. Mundy gave him a startled look at also turned to glance at the platter as Sansa smiled faintly.  

“They are.  I used my mother’s recipe.  I remembered how much you loved them and thought you’d like them your first day,” Sansa replied.

Jon gazed at Sansa in wonder and he could feel his throat tightened as he remembered lazy Sunday mornings as Catelyn Stark baked fresh pastries for her family and the lonely foster child they had taken in.  He had loved her “wolf paws”, bear claws that she had shaped into a wolf’s paw to symbolize the direwolf on the family’s crest.  Jon had loved how they tasted and it made him feel more like a part of the Stark family.  Every time he had some big test or some important sporting event or really anything he felt nervous undertaking, Catelyn would bake him wolf paws as a special treat for breakfast.  To Jon, wolf paws were just another way to show him he was loved.

“Thank you, Sansa,” he said softly as he gazed at the lovely young woman before him.

“You’re welcome,” she replied with a gentle smile.  Her eyes shifted over to Mrs. Mundy.  “I’m sorry you’re upset about the order, Mrs. Mundy.  I just wanted to make sure Captain Snow had something special on his first day.”

Jon whirled on the older woman and with a touch of his “Captain” voice, he said crisply, “I take it then there’ll be no more talk about canceling business with the Café as Ms. Stark was merely trying to please me?”

Mrs. Mundy stiffened and her jaw became tight.  “Of course not,” she replied.

“Well, well, well, Jon, are you not going to introduce us?” Rhaegar said as he came forward curiously. His son was a military man and used to commanding, but since he had known him, Jon was also unfailing polite and courteous, especially to women.  Yet, Rhaegar had just seen a flash of defensiveness on behalf of this pretty young woman that Jon had never displayed for anyone, not even Ygritte, before. And Jon had called her “Ms. Stark.” She had to be one of the Stark children, yet from how Jon had always referred to them, calling them ‘children’ or ‘kids’, Rhaegar, and more interestingly he was sure Daenerys and Ygritte too, believed they were barely if not quite adults.  Yet, here was a beautiful, young woman at least over twenty.

Jon tore his eyes from Sansa and looked at his father.  He nodded in what seemed to be a reluctant way and said, “Sansa Stark, Rhaegar Targaryen and Samwell Tarly.”

“Charmed and delighted,” Rhaegar said as he took Sansa’s hand and kissed the back of it.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jon stiffen and had to suppress a grin.  Rhaegar didn’t give Sansa her hand back, but clasped it between both of his.  “Jon has talked so much about the Starks that I’ve longed to meet you and your siblings.  Imagine my delight when he told me that you had reconnected.”  He looked soulfully at Sansa.  “But he never said how incredibly lovely you are, my dear Miss Stark.”

Sansa blushed and tried to pull her hand back.  Rhaegar made a show of reluctantly letting her go and noted with delight Jon’s lips thin and his eyes narrow. A very interesting reaction, Rhaegar thought.  The boy is very protective.  

“I echo what my son said,” Rhaegar continued as he looked at Mrs. Mundy.  “The tray of pastries look absolutely fabulous and we’ve only the best and most delicious things from the Highgarden Café.  In fact, I do need some holiday cookies baked for me.  Sugar cookies in various holiday flavors and shapes and colors.  Whatever you see best.  Separated out to two dozen in a box.  Make sure the boxes are festive yet elegant.  We give these boxes of cookies to various business associates.  I’ll need about 500 boxes by the second week of December.  Can you do that?”

Sansa’s jaw dropped and she blinked at Rhaegar for a few seconds before she said.  “I can work up a quote for you, Mr. Targaryen-“

Rhaegar waved his hand dismissively.  “I’m sure you’ll quote a fair price.  Just give Mrs. Mundy a figure and we’ll draw up a contract.  Mrs. Mundy, whatever Miss Stark thinks is a fair price, put that into the agreement.”

Sansa continued to look dazed as Rhaegar smiled winningly at her.  He could see Jon glowering at them.  “Just bring by a sample plate at the end of the week and I’ll let you know what works and what doesn’t.”

“Thank you, Mr. Targ-“

“Rhaegar.”  He positively beamed at her and his eyes danced merrily.

Jon grew more irritated.

“Rhaegar,” Sansa replied with a small smile.

Mrs. Mundy let out a loud sniff.  “Miss Stark, if you will come with me to my office, I’ll give you your check for today and we can discuss details about the new contract.”

“Thank you, again, Mr.-,” Sansa hastily stopped herself and said instead, “Rhaegar.  I’ll be sure to have a sample platter here on Friday morning.” She turned to smile at Sam.  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to talk, Sam.”  She turned to Jon.  “Sam comes into the Café for lunch quite often.”

Sam blushed at Sansa’s words and for one moment, Jon had the uncomfortable thought that Sam might be visiting the Café for more than the food.  He looked sharply at his friend and then sidled his eyes over towards Sansa. Jon would have to try to figure out if his suspicions had any merit.  However, Sansa was turning to him now.

“Jon, I hope you like the wolf paws,” she said.  “I remember how mother would bake them for you the mornings before you had a big test or something important for that day.  I just wanted to give you a little of something like that again.”

Jon couldn’t help it, and everyone in the room could see how his face relaxed and softened as he gazed at Sansa.  “Thank you. I’ll call you later,” he said in a soft rumble.

Sansa smiled at him and turned to leave, followed by Mrs. Mundy.  Jon gazed after Sansa until she was long out of sight.  It was only Rhaegar clearing his throat that brought him back to the conference room.

“So, that is one of the Stark ‘children’,” his father drawled out.  “Not very small is she?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Jon replied stiffly.  He glanced sharply at his father.  Rhaegar had a well-earned reputation as a womanizer.  Now single, he was often seen in the company of a multitude of beautiful women, some young enough to be his daughter.  Some as young as Sansa.  “She’s not someone you trifle with, Rhaegar,” Jon ground out.  “I won’t stand for something like that.”

“My dear boy,” Rhaegar replied easily.  “I never trifle with women.  I am most upfront and honest with them about the relationship.”

Jon bristled and Sam shifted nervously on his feet.  “I’m serious, Rhaegar.  Sansa has been through a lot in the last few years.  The last thing she needs is some older, rich man stalking her.  I swear, if you try to make her one of your play things, I’ll-“

“Jon, relax,” Rhaegar said in exasperation.  “I will leave the beautiful Miss Sansa Stark be.”  He grinned suddenly.  “Though, I cannot wait to see your aunt and Ygritte’s reaction when they meet that ‘child.’”

TBC

[my-job-is-to-fangirl]

This is such a random post, but I watch a lot of youtube and it’s the best distraction/ way to pass time. I watch a variety of channels, and I’m subscribed to over 80 channels, and have about 1900 videos in my watch later list soooo :))) enjoy. No particular order but I’m doing 20 channels because 2020 (which needs to end right now). I’m going to link my favourite video of theirs as well, so you’ll have something to start with if you’re interested.

fashion and lifestyle

1. bestdressed

I already talked about her in my light content to consume while in quarantine post, but I’ll do it again. She is hands down my favourite youtuber. I had this phase where I was watching clothing hauls nonstop for some reason, and then I found Ashley’s channel. I couldn’t stop watching her videos. They’re fun, they have actual content, and she talks about stuff like how youtubers make money, and she gives the whole truth. Her fashion videos are so inspiring, I love her style, I love how she pairs things that you normally wouldn’t and her favourite word (say it with me, kids) juxtaposition of pieces that would ‘normally’ not be paired together.

She puts in so much effort into filming her videos, and even more into editing them. She doesn’t just do fashion videos, she does apartment makeovers, real talks, everything, but overall a fashion channel. I’ve seen her channel suddenly blow up and I think she had 500k or 600k subscribers when I started, and now she has 3.1 million :’) I want to raid her wardrobe for her thrifted pieces. Anyway, here’s my video pick(s) for her channel-

how to look cute when you’re out of f*cks

the ultimate guide to closet essentials

2. Yoora Jung

I wait for her videos more than any other channel, she just has the most relatable content because her days comprise of (other than her work, which is a lot) scrolling through instagram, watching youtube, snacking, rolling around in bed and procrastinating- I love her. Also her editing is on another level, all her intros are unique and fun. She can literally sit in a chair and talk about grapes for 40 minutes and I’d still watch. Also when she speaks in Korean, its the cutest thing ever.

I followed Jungkook’s workout routine for a week // getting fit with yoora season 1 ep 1

Waking up at 5 AM for a week in college    (she works really hard as you can see. I’d never have the motivation to get up at 5)

3. ohnonina

neeeeeeen < 3 Watching her videos makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not to mention she gives a virtual hug at the end of every video :’) She does GRWM’s, k-pop, fashion, art, day in the life, studying and bullet journal videos. Everytime she hits a new 100k+ number of subscribers, she does a cooking with nina, those might be my favourite ones because she always does a korean dish. Also not really studying with nina I LOVE THOSE.

study korean with me but i actually study intensely | not really studying with nina 14

i made tteokbokki 떡볶이 (korean spicy rice cakes) | cooking with nina

4. ur mom ashley

She does fashion videos, but other content as well. She does thrift hauls, dressing out of her comfort zone type videos, and a lot of content with her siblings and boyfriend. Honestly, it’s a crackhead time when they’re around, especially her younger brother. She also makes what I eat in a day videos and I genuinely haven’t seen any other vegan person at least try to eat foods other than avocado and kale. She makes some nice recipes and eats good portions like a normal person, I really appreciate that.

what i eat in a week as a college student (vegan!!)

REVAMPING MY WARDROBE for 2020 (Princess Polly Haul)

5. Nava Rose

Firstly, I’d like to point out how much I love listening to her talk, I don’t know what it is but I love it. She has some great DIY videos, it is a DIY/ fashion haul/ hacks channel so ya. She does a lot of revamping/upcycling videos where she transforms men’s oversized clothes and makes them cute. I was very inspired by her and I did some myself! She has an amazing sense of style I wish I had some of her clothes.

50 WAYS TO STYLE DENIM | easy everyday outfit ideas!

6. Nuria Ma

She’s eighteen, lives alone some of the time and is possibly one of the hardest working people I’ve seen, juggling school and youtube. When I started watching her I think she just turned 17 and I was going mad wondering how someone could be so organized and put together at 17. She makes her own food- three meals every day, works out, studies for hours, does youtube, and what not. She’s genuinely amazing, also look how pretty she is.

KOREAN FASHION HAUL | Yesstyle

7. Erna Limdaugh

I found her channel only a few months ago, her videos are so calming and soothing to watch. She does a lot of day in the life type vlogs with her friends, morning/night routines and unboxings. She lives in Seoul that’s how I found her when I was looking for Korea content. Her fashion sense is amazing, and her cat, Yuri, is adorable *_*

A DAY IN MY LIFE – WHAT I EAT IN A DAY Life in Seoul | Erna Limdaugh

8. Jenn Im

I don’t watch her makeup and beauty videos because I don’t know much about makeup, but her vlogs, fashion, and book videos are great. I feel like she’s a wise older sister that I don’t have =p I especially love her cooking videos where she makes Korean dishes that her mom used to make. She has her own clothing line too, she does some promo videos and stuff, they’re cool.

What I Eat in a Day Easy Korean Recipes

9. Michelle Choi 최 혜림 (the seoul search)

She deserves so many more followers. Productive q u e e n. My friend and I are always discussing how the hell she can be so productive. She studies, does freelance design work, does assignments, cooks, does youtube, cleans, what is she?? Her videos make me want to be productive but instead I sit and watch more of them =)

(daily vlog) Finals Season: lots of coffee, cooking, + workspace tour!

food

10. Nino’s Home

Really yummy looking food, the babiest cat in a myriad of sweaters, and the funniest captions ever. No jokes, he’s truly hilarious. He has some really interesting recipes too, I think he takes from all over Asia, there’s a great variety of sweet and savoury.

Fried Milk Melt in Your Mouth

11. Maangchi

I legitimately call her maangchi aunty that’s how much I love her. Look how cute she is!!!!!! She has the happiest videos, they can brighten your mood in no time. Although many of her videos include meat, I still watch them so I can perhaps sub the meat for something else. She has a different headband/ head gear in every video, watch for that! I have tried three of four of her vegetarian recipes and I love them. I’ll link my favourite one, it’s become a staple at my house.

Vegetable Pancake (Yachaejeon: 야채전)

12. Pick Up Limes

Her videos are aesthetic, her recipes are easy, her voice can calm everything. It’s a vegan channel. I’m not vegan, I’m vegetarian so I can use her recipes by substituting whatever I want.

Cozy drinks to warm you up

13. Wil Yeung – Cook with Confidence

Also a vegan channel. I love his simple cooking and his style of narration. He doesn’t overdo it with the voiceover, he just says ‘medium sized pan’, ‘2 cups water’, ‘stir’. I’ve tried his gochujang and chili oil videos, they’re so good. I had to make do with what I had but still really good.

HOW TO MAKE CHILI OIL ***EASY 5 MIN RECIPE*** CHINESE HOT SAUCE

14. Zoe 조에

Her videos are so pretty to watch!! She works at her mom’s cafe so the videos are vlogs of that. They have beautiful desserts and drinks too. There’s always a montage where she shows their canning machine it’s mesmerizing xD

prettiest dessert cafe vlog on earth | Cinematography, Zoe, Blessroll (this was the first video that I watched)

Art

15. AmandaRachLee

Bullet journal videos, daily vlogs, productive days, organizing, doodling videos. I started bullet journaling in July 2018 and I follow her themes even now. I think I might have skipped two or three themes because I didn’t like them but bullet journaling is a huge part of my routine and I don’t know what I did before that. Also it makes me feel better about my stationery addiction when I watch her videos. She’s worse than me so I feel good. I love her stationery hauls.

Korea Stationery Haul! (HUGE Giveaway!)

16. cup of jasmien

The one and only art student I am subscribed to. She is SO talented, her paintings are great, but I appreciate her pen and ink pieces the most. Her videos are usually paint with me’s, a week/day of art school or travel vlogs.

before art school went online haha…

17. milkcloud

milk and cloud are two sisters xD They have painting videos, vlogs, lots of unboxings. Very nice to play in the background while doing something. Also they play k-pop piano covers for their videos.

finding joy in little things / a vlog

Books

18. BookswithEmilyFox

I watched a lot of book youtubers and she is the most honest one out there. If she hates a book she will say h a t e not put it lightly by saying it was okay. I read some of the books she recommended and I actually loved them, so I put her here because I can trust her reviews.

JANUARY BOOK HAUL 2020 + HUGE BOOKOUTLET UNBOXING! || Books with Emily Fox

Random

19. Banana Milk

This is so random but has provided me with several hours (minutes) of entertainment. She makes NCT crack videos they’re brilliant I swear. Please wait for the end of the video for the outro it’s the best part. Linked my favourite video.

Literally just NCT ruining twilight for two minutes

20. Buzzfeed Unsolved Network

Do I even have to talk about them?? I can binge their videos for hours, especially the supernatural ones. They’re freaking scary but I will watch them all. They go to real haunted places with their cool equipment (and holy water). I’ll link two of the ones that creeped me out the most.

Return To The Horrifying Winchester Mansion

3 Horrifying Cases Of Ghosts And Demons

    my favourite youtube channels (20) This is such a random post, but I watch a lot of youtube and it's the best distraction/ way to pass time.