#but couple of cocktails probably wont kill me

[ncstings]

#31 a kiss on the palm: maggie & vincent.

she’s still shocked at how good he is at talking to strangers. it’s like she steps away for two minutes and he’s already made a new best friend. it’s both horrifying and inspiring.

she wanted to go out. that’s how it always starts. sends a text in the morning after going to work. let’s go out tonight. and then by the time he’s home she’s already dressed to go out. she curls her hair and wears the lip gloss he likes. puts on the low cut top she knows he’ll get caught up in. the kind of look she can’t wear to work.

it was some passing thing they’d found together while on the phone during lunch break. they weren’t like goergia and ben--- clubs were sweaty and a bit too close for maggie. she didn’t want to wear some skin tight dress and have drunk twenty one year olds spill their vodka tonics on her. but this was something a bit cooler. some hidden gem on the edge of town that was hard to find unless you’d heard about it. still sounded like a club from the description, but it was worth the trip.

when she left him to go to the bathroom, vincent was already leaning against a post talking to another a couple. they looked about ten years younger than him, and when she approached them, she heard him let out a low laugh.

“hey.” she coos, sliding up next to him.

“hey babe.” he grins, wrapping an arm around her waist. “this is lindi and byron. i just came them after i overheard them talking about that show we just finished.”

“yeah, vincent has good taste.” the one maggie assumed was lindi spoke. she had a deep voice, and sounded effortlessly cool.

maggie knew her boyfriend was more on the hipster side, but these people were at the far end of what she imagined hipsters were. heavily inked, the drooping beard, tight yet baggy clothes. they smelled like spices and were drinking craft beers.

“they were telling me about this cool yoga studio in our neighborhood.” he nudges her. “did you know we had a yoga studio nearby?”

“yeah.” she nods. “i went there a couple times.” she also remembers telling vincent that she hated it.

“isn’t it the best?” byron smiles. “i really feel my energies get cleansed when i go there.”

it was the exact reason she hated it. maggie didn’t really want to get cleansed. she just wanted to feel nice.

she hums and nods.

she stands beside vincent as they continue talking. it’s very clear she has little to contribute to the conversation. not that that was a terrible thing. vincent can definitely be a lot more outgoing than her, and he’s one of the friendliest people she knows, so she has a hard time reeling him in without feeling bad.

“---- and then we went to an orville peck concert and did shrooms. i swear it was a life changing experience.”

“who?” maggie finally blurted, her eyes squinting.

“orville... peck.” lindi looks around. “have you not heard of him? i mean he’s a new legend.”

maggie looks up to vincent for help, but he just shrugs. not very helpful here was he?

“how old are you guys?” maggie looks back at them.

“lindi just turned twenty-two, and i’m twenty-four.” byron nods.

she’s internally slapping her palm to her face. the girl across from them just barely finished college and here they are striking up a conversation. “i think i’m going to get another drink.” she gives vincent a pat on the chest before walking away, heading to the bar.

he’s quick to follow, meeting her there just a couple minutes later. she’s sipping on her cocktail when he slides next to her. “they were nice.”

“they were so young, vinnie.” she says in a hushed tone, slapping his stomach. “we are probably the oldest people here right now.”

“so?” he shrugs. “they were cool.”

“yeah, baby, i know you thought they were cool but like, doing shrooms at an orbel perk concert? we’re not those people. yoga studio? when have you ever cared about a yoga studio.”

“i don’t know.” he shrugs. “it was just nice chatting to them.”

“i know, i know.” she touches his arm, sipping her drink. “just didn’t know how to react is all. those are the people we really spend time with so i’m just not used to it.”

“sorry.” he reached out to brush over some of her hair. “i know you wanted to go out. i didn’t mean to stop that with chatting up the club.”

“it’s okay.” she shakes her head, giving him a smile. “i don’t own you. just a bit jarring you know? i love you to death but sometimes i forget we’re still different people.” she gives a crooked smile. “i don’t think i could stand another minute talking to them, but i understand you’re a bit more tuned to that stuff.”

maybe he was also just more “hip” than she was.

“but don’t you dare ever ask me to do shrooms with you.” she presses a finger into his chest.

he grins, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm. “you’ve got a deal then.”

she takes a step closer to him, her arms pressing to his chest. “i can’t believe i’m dating a hipster.”

“i believe you’d be one too.” he wraps an arm around her waist. “look at what you’re wearing.”

she looks down, and how he’s clearly referencing the cowboy boots he bought for her one one of their trips to his friend’s cabin. the boots she begged him for. “i can’t believe i’m a hipster.” she whispers.

“you were like that when i met you, so don’t start blaming that on me.”

she laughs, pressing her forehead into his shoulder. “i never want to be as bad as them. please kill me if i do.”

“i think i’d rather watch and let you live with it.”

she groans. “you’re so evil.”

his finger traces up and down her spine, his lips pressing down onto her neck. “and yet here you are.”

“it’s not my fault you made me fall for you instantly.” she pulls back to look at him. “you just had the most dashing smile and looked at me with that look and i was helpless.”

“what look?” he says, smiling down at her with his eyes crinkled, hand rubbing her back.

“that look.” she looks away, feeling heat climb over her body. “i swear every time it just catches me and i feel naked.”

“i always look at you like this.”

“now you know how i feel all the time.” she blushes. “still makes me feel nervous sometimes.”

he steps closer into her, pulling her against his body. “you know you make me nervous sometimes.”

“when do i make you nervous?” she reaches up, brushing his hair back.

“like when you get dressed in the morning. it’s still... shocking how beautiful you are and then i get overwhelmed by it and i’m just nervous. like suddenly you’ll see what i see and you wont bother with me.”

she bursts out into a laugh. “that’s ridiculous.”

“it’s true. when i’m making breakfast and you’re doing your hair i strategically plan out what i’m going to say to you when you come out so it sounds right.”

“you do?” it’s a shocking confession. after all this time, he still has to rehearse what he’s going to say.

“yeah.” he laughs. “because i need you to think i’m cool.”

“but you’re not cool.”

“i know, but i can’t let you figure that out. like to the point that i’m so uncool you don’t want to be around me. like even now? hating hipsters like those guys? so unbelievably cool, you’re just so cool on another level i don’t know if i can hang.”

“you can hang.” she nods and gives him a reassuring pat.

he lets out a sigh. “that’s reassuring. that will hold me over until tomorrow morning when i start this all over again.”

she laughs, leaning up, taking his face in her hands to give him a long kiss. one she can’t let get too carried away, considering they’re in public. but hell, if they weren’t, she’s certain she’d be showing just how that sentiment makes her feel. “you’re something else.” she mutters when she pulls away from him.

he grins, rubbing her back. it’s a long look. one that carries her away. it’s hard not to get breathless when he looks at her. as much as he says he gets nervous, those looks make her just as nervous. he sees something she’ll never see. she doesn’t know what it is, but she knows it’s in a place she can’t reach. only him. but she feels so exposed when he does. at this point, it’s the most comforting exposure she’s ever known.

[rosebramblewolf]

the piña coladas are from asric & jadaars bar that they opened in the fanfic i wrote for nanowrimo when cataclysm dropped that i never finished or posted anywhere.

thats another thing i lost when my hard drive took a shit. ah well.

as i remember it heres how the story went:

asric & jadaar are starting to get sick of hanging out in the snow at the argent ren faire when asrics long lost older sister, my first dk ortaine, shows up with a couple of people from her 25 man raid to capitalize on their fame from killing the lich king. she gives asric shit about his big blue bf (which asric categorically denies) and proceeds to hit on jadaar, greatly alarming him, but its okay shes kidding ortaine only likes girls. specifically the legions of beautiful butch orc women lining up to warm her bed since she (and 24 of her closest friends) recently saved the world.

a&j realize theres no reason to stay where they are since the opportunity to prove themselves heroes is now gone. ortaine covers their flight path back to dalaran and goes off to get laid. their disreputable appearance gets them kicked out of the legerdemain lounge & they go drink in the sewers until they run out of money and, shitfaced, decide to leave northrend for somewhere warm. theres discussion of where they can both go that wont get one of them locked up or killed on sight, including asrics ill advised suggestion of painting jadaar red & trying to pass himself off as a super powerful warlock. in the end they go to the violet citadel and take the caverns of time portal, slog their way through the desert (harried by scorpions, wastewanders, and overzealous great lift guards) from goblin town to goblin town looking for work, and finally split up in ratchet when asric wants to swab decks for passage to booty bay and jadaar is ready to build a shitty beach hut and subsistence fish rather than take one more step on the hope there’ll be jobs in the next town.

there may have been a shouting match. i think asric declared his intention to open a cocktail bar on the beach and make a killing because goblins cant mix drinks? and something about dont come crawling to me for a job because i wouldnt even make you a busboy.

asric makes his way to booty bay & opens a bar which he creatively names asric’s. to do this he takes out a predatory loan from the goblins at the bank, but since he mixes a good cocktail & doesnt massively overcharge his customers the place quickly becomes super popular and he’s not only able to pay it off early but soon hes hiring extra workers.

meanwhile jadaars fishing hut has been seized by the ratchet municipal government because he made the mistake of catching more fish than he could eat and trying to sell it within the city limits without the necessary licensing and permits, and they take basically everything he owns to cover fines taxes and fees. jadaar finally gives up and decides to work for passage to booty bay and see if its worth groveling to asric.

it turns out jadaar makes an excellent bouncer and the goblin waitresses love him. the place is thriving, asric gets a permit to put some tables outside & serve drinks on the boardwalk, and thats when the tsunami hits.

everyone evacuates to the other side of the peninsula, back around the mountains where the pirates hang out. thankfully the city has a good warning system for these kinds of things and no one is hurt but the place is wrecked, and asric sends one of the goblin employees down to file the insurance claim immediately because the company probably wont be able to cover them all.

a bunch of adventurers come through to help fix up the town, and asric happily gets them all drunk and rakes in the cash, and then he hears about a place called uldum where theres supposedly a bunch of ancient treasure.

these idiots decide to go slog through the desert again. it doesnt go well.

thats as far as i had written and so i wasnt entirely sure how exactly uldum was going to go tits up but the tol’vir werent going to take to them and there was going to be a sandstorm and at some point there would be attempted making out in an oasis leading to serious misunderstandings about who did or didnt have feelings for whom and they would eventually grumpily pack it in and go back to booty bay.

eventually their friendship recovers from the oasis misunderstanding and then they decide to take a vacation in nagrand, at which point i feel like they were going to solve the apple seller murder? and get offered their old jobs back. and decide not to take them, because it turns out that running this cocktail bar together makes them happy.

two dudes sitting dangling their feet over the edge of a sky island watching the sunset, holding hands & necking cuz theyre super gay. the end.

[whenyouwriteyouwrite]

sunrises are better with you

Word count: 4,347

Characters: Nona, Mezuma

Warning: implied sexual acts.

First | Previous | Next

Unknown number: ‘Escorting Mikla back. Be there at 11:30.’

Unknown number: ‘This is Nona.’

Mezuma was back stage in between sets when she got the texts from Nona. She smiled to herself, saved the number in her phone, and sent back a quick ‘i figured ;)’. It must’ve been noticeable how excited Mezuma was about their date tonight because as soon as she looked at her phone, a couple of the other dancers were gathering around her.

“Who ya textin’ Mezzie? Gotcha a new fella?” A tall, curvy, light purple demon with deeply colored horns peered over her shoulder at her phone.

“Ain’t a new fella, Keeks.” Mezuma swatted her away playfully.

“Ooo a lady then?” A deeper purple demon with long curly hair and 2 sets of eyes wrapped her arms around Mezuma’s shoulders. “What’s she like? How long ya both been goin’ steady?”

“It’s our first date tonight, actually.” Mezuma shyly tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

“I knew you had somethin’ goin’. You kept lookin’ out that door last night like you were waitin’ for someone.” The horned demon accused.

“Oh, Keeks be nice.” the other demon swatted at her. “I’m real happy for you, Mez! I hope the date goes well.” Lileth yelped when she heard her name being called, and rushed out with Keeks behind her, leaving Mezuma to finish changing into something less stage ready and more walking around the club ready. High wasted, high cut shorts, with a boat neck crop top.

Sometimes customers just liked having pretty girls to talk to for a little while. Mezuma didn’t mind doing that. She liked talking to people, she was good at it. And you really only had to talk to them for a couple minutes. But sometimes customers would get lost in the atmosphere of all these pretty girls giving them attention. That’s usually when they get handsy and Mezuma has to break some fingers. This happens two to three times a night. Now it hasn’t happened yet, so the chances of it happening with the next person Mezuma spoke to were getting higher and higher.

This guy she was talking to seemed nice at first. Very friendly, just making quick conversation with her. He was sitting in one of the booths near the bar so Mezuma was standing by him, leaning up against the seats behind him, just chatting. It was very subtle, but he somehow got his hand around her hip and was grabbing at her ass without her even realizing it. However, there was no hesitation when Mezuma grabbed the back of his head and slammed it on the table.

“Mez!”  Malii hopped over the counter of the bar and pulled Mezuma away from the customer. “You okay, kid?”

“Moron was gettin’ handsy.” she waved over one of the bouncers, who stomped his way over to the customer. “I got it covered.”

“Alright, killer. I’ll deal with this you go watch the bar for me.” Malii pushed her off towards the bar so he could help the bouncer get the guy to his feet and escort him out. Lileth was finishing her set, so Mezuma was watching her from the far corner of the bar. She didn’t even notice when Nona slid into the stool behind her, until Nona gently touched her arm making her spin around in surprise.

“You’re here.” Mezuma smiled, holding herself back from climbing Nona like a tree because she was wearing that dumb leather jacket again with a solid black button up shirt underneath with gold lining around the collar.

“I saw what happened. You okay?” Nona said, lowering her head so she was speaking next to Mezuma’s ear.

“I’m fine. Told ya I could handle myself.” she grinned and relaxed up against the bar. “Hi.”

“Hello.” Nona smiled at her. “I really want to kiss you, but I don’t want to disrupt you while you are working.”

“Yeah, customers tend to see the dancers significant other’s as other customers. So they tend to get a little jealous when we’re kissin’ our partners and not them. Definitely later tho.” Mezuma winked at her.

“Thanks, Mez.” Malii returned to his place behind the bar and grabbed a glass to get himself some water. “Can I help you?” he asked, eyeing Nona.

“This is Nona, Malii, she’s takin’ me out tonight.”

“Secret body guard number 3.” Malii gulped down half his glass of water and almost choked. “Wait isn’t she Big Bad’s body guard?”

“Yup.”

“Mezuma you can’t be serious. She’s with Big Bad.”

“Saying his name wont get you into trouble.” Nona rested her arms on the counter. “Despite what you’ve heard.”

“Behave.” Mezuma warned the both of them. “I have to go get changed before we go, kay?” she squeezed Nona’s arm before walking to the backdoor of the stage.

“I imagine I’m not that intimidating to you.” Malii said after a span of silence between him and Nona.

“Not in the slightest.” she responded honestly.

“Still, Mezuma is like a sister to me. I wanted to kill that mook Kozic myself for what he did to her. And this will probably fall on deaf ears but if anything happens to that kid cause of you, I’m willin’ to take the risk and try to beat your ass.”

“I assure you.. I have no intention of hurting Mezuma in anyway. But I will keep what you’ve said in mind.”

“What uhh..” Malii cleared his throat nervously. “What ever happened with Kozic?”

“You needn’t concern yourself with him anymore.” Nona replied ominously. Mezuma appeared from the backstage door again, only having changed her shorts into white pants, and grabbed her fur coat and purse. She smiled again when she saw Nona and practically skipped over to her.

“You two playin’ nice?”

“She’d kick my ass, why would I want to mess with her.” Malii half joked.

“You wouldn’t kick his ass, would you?” Mezuma whispered.

“Not unless I was prompted to.” Nona answered. “But I could. Very easily.”

“Don’t. He’s my buddy.” Mezuma made grabby hands to Malii, who willing leaned over the counter and allowed her to squish his face.

“Take her away.” Malii pleaded to Nona, who chuckled and took a hold of one of Mezuma’s purse straps and guided her outside.

“What did Malii and you talk about?” Mezuma asked once they were outside.

“Nothing particularly interesting.” Nona took Mezuma’s hand in hers as they walked.

“Did he give you his ‘big brother shtick’?”

“A variation of it, yes.”

“That’s kinda ballsy threatenin’ you, all things considerin’..”

“He meant well. He knew of his own limitations, but he cares much more about your well being.” Nona brought the other woman’s hand up to her mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. “I respect that about him.”

“That’s good.” she let go of Nona’s hand to grab her face and bring her down more to her level so she could press her lips on Nona’s. Not entirely surprised, Nona willing went and wrapped her arm around Mezuma’s waist. Humming in victory, Mezuma gently nipped on Nona’s bottom lip and was reward with the taller woman pulling away from her.

“You’re terrible.”

“You’re one to talk, have you seen what you’re wearing?”

“I.. had help.”

“Did Mikla help you?” Mezume asked as she slid her hand into Nona’s again and urged them to continue walking.

“He insisted on helping me. He kept saying my normal attire wasn’t date worthy.”

“Doesn’t matter to me what you’re wearing. I’d rather you not wear anything if I’m bein’ honest.”

“This is why you’re terrible.”

“I know.” Mezume winked at her again. “So where are you takin’ me on this big fancy date?”

“It’s not fancy. And it’s a place called Atlas.”

“Whoa, Atlas? Atlas is plenty fancy, Nona. I’m completely under dressed and under class for somethin’ like that.”

“No one will care, Mezuma. I promise. If any issues are made, I will handle them.”

“I can handle myself, Nona. This is just a.. a Hell of a first date.”

“I suppose it is mostly for my benefit, if I am to be completely honest. I’ve never dated.. Most of my interests have been one night stands. And as I’ve said to you before, it’s different with you. I like.. experiencing these new things with you. It’s enojyable.”

“I ain’t against the goin’ out parts. I just don’t need to be treated to a fancy place. We coulda had take out at my place and I would’ve been happy with that.”

“We could do that.”

“Nope, I’m committed now. I wanna see the looks on these snobs faces when they see me walkin’ into their fancy place.”

The restaurant wasn’t too far from Club Crimson. It only took them a twenty minute walk to get there.

The hostess was a prissy looking, deep green demon, who was not at all pleased at Mezuma’s attire but refused to say anything considering who was accompanying her.

They were brought to a booth tucked away in the back, per Nona’s request, and left alone with menus as soon as they were seated.

“I’m starved.” Mezuma announced as she scanned through the menu.

‘Order whatever you like.” Nona said as she looked through her own menu.

“Nona this place charges more then what I spend on groceries in a week for their steak.”

“I promise the offer still stands.” Nona assured her.

“You mind if I get a drink?”

“Go ahead.”

“You really know how to treat a girl.” Mezuma teased.

“You deserve nice things, Mezuma.”

“I know.” she sighed. “I have rich girl taste on a poor girl budget.”

“How may I help the both of you this evening?” Their server finally arrived.

“Can I have the steak? Well done. And an Aviation cocktail with 3 cherries?” Mezuma ordered.

“Of course. And for you miss?”

“Steak. Medium rare. And a water. Please.” Nona handed the waiter both menus and he scurried off to fill their orders.

“They don’t really like you being here.” Mezuma commented once the server was gone.

“My presence makes people uneasy if they know who I am. But the owner, Lokuwi, is the head chief here and an old friend of Oserious. He owned another restaurant that was purposely burned with him in it. I managed to save him, so now he insists on paying me back, even tho it is not necessary.”

“Nona, the killer with a heart of gold.”

“He did nothing wrong to deserve death. And if I have to opportunity to help someone, I will help them.”

The server returned carrying a tray with their drinks on it. He set the cocktail in front of Mezuma and the glass of water in front of Nona before scurrying off again. Mezume plucked one of the cherries floating in her drink and ate it off of the stem.

“So tell me, Nona.” she put the stem on the napkin under her glass. “How come I hear more of these bad things about you and not these good things?”

“It effects people more, I suppose.” Nona took a sip of her drink. “We had an incident, several years back, with a small gang Oserious was associated with, One of the members decided to steal some of the weapons his gang ordered and tried to sell them off to get more money for himself. Oserious was then blamed by friends of his for the horrid way he was treated after he was caught.”

“He stole weapons tho, that’s his fault.”

“People often don’t see fault in others close to them. His friends saw him as someone who was down on his luck and doing whatever he could to make money. I often get blamed for similar things after doing what it is that I do.”

“I mean, I kinda see where they’re coming from. But you don’t betray your gang like that. My father got killed because of that.”

“Your father was in a gang?”

“Yeah.” Mezuma sighed and ate her second cherry from her drink. “I got a lot of Uncles on my father’s side. They were all apart of this gang growing up together, it was like a right of passage on his side of the family to be in this gang. When he met my mom and they had me, we became apart of this.. almost like this huge family. It wasn’t just blood relatives, it was other gang members I was callin’ Uncle and Auntie, ya know?

“So, I grew up in this life. My dad had this buddy in the gang, they’d been friends for years. One day he comes home, sayin’ he overhead his buddy makin’ some sort of deal with a rival gang to give them a list of names from our gang in exchange for money. Even tho it was his buddy, it was for the protection of our gang that he said something to the boss man.”

“He was betraying them.”

“Yeah, all for some big cash.” Mezuma rolled her eyes. “Well, he didn’t take it well. He accused my dad of betraying him, sayin’ he wasn’t gonna give them his name or mine or my ma’s cause they’re friends. But he was about to give away the rest of the gang. And they’re family, yanno? So everything dies down a couple days after that. Until one day, his buddy shows up at our door and he..” she stopped and stared quietly at her drink.

“I’m sorry.” Nona said softly. “How old were you?”

“Eight.” Mezuma looked over at Nona. “He popped both of them in the head in front of me.” she sighed. “I was raised by my Uncles after that. They taught me how to defend myself and how to fire a gun. I don’t sleep unless I got a gun under my pillow at night.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said your life was dangerous before.”

“That’s why you don’t scare me.” Mezuma grinned and squeezed Nona’s knee with her hand. “I’ve seen way scarier things than you.”

“I can only imagine.”

Their server came back carrying a tray now with both of their plates of food. He set down the corresponding order in front of each of them and left in a hurry once again.

“So what about you? Any family?” Mezuma asked before taking a bite of her food.

“None that I know of. I woke up alone in the Wastelands and that’s about all I can remember.”

“What about Oserious?”

“I consider him an old friend more than family.”

“Mikla?”

“A tolerable annoyance.”

“What do you do for fun?”

“I... work.” Nona took a bite of her meal and sighed. “I suppose I’m not very interesting.”

“You’re plenty interestin’.” Mezuma pinched one of Nona’s cheeks. “What’s your favorite color?”

“What a strange question to ask.”

“Everyone’s got a favorite color, Nona. Mine’s pink if it weren’t obvious enough.”

“Very obvious.” Nona chuckled.

“Gold too. Pink and gold look good together.”

“I don’t have a favorite color.”

“You wear black a lot.”

“To blend in.”

“Okay.” Mezuma huffed and sat up straight, determined now. “You’re wearing black now, you tryin’ to blend in?”

“No..”

“Then why are you wearin’ it?”

“Mikla picked it out.”

“Did he pick out other outfits or just this one.”

“There were others..”

“So why this one.”

“I..” Nona glanced down at the black button up she was wearing trying to figure out why out of all the other shirts she was offered, she choose this one. “I suppose my eyes were drawn by how the gold looked on the collar.”

“Black and gold do look good together.” Mezuma smiled and rested her elbow on the table. “I think those might be your colors.”

“I suppose so.” Nona chuckled softly. “You took this very seriously.”

“Well, I don’t think you know a lot about yourself. And how can I learn more about you if you don’t even know your favorite color?”

“I didn’t know that.. interests were a desirable thing to have.”

“I bet Mikla has a bunch of interests.”

“His interests do not interest me in the slightest. He likes being around other demons.. in loud places with copious amounts of dancing.. and heavy drinking.”

“No, I couldn’t imagine you having fun at a dance club.” Mezuma laughed. “We’ll cross that off the list of possible future date ideas.”

“So.. this date is going well then?” Nona asked sheepishly.

“I’m havin’ a steak I can never afford, one of my favorite drinks, and spending uninterrupted time with you. It’s going very well.”

“I’m glad.” Nona finished off her meal and gulped down the last of her water before motioning the waiter to come over.

“You’ll walk me home?” Mezuma asked fluttering her lashes and taking another sip from her drink.

“Of course.” Nona handed the waiter a card from her pocket and he walked off again. “I wouldn’t make you walk home this late by yourself, that would be rude of me.”

“And they say chivalry is dead.” Mezuma finished off her drink and ate the last cherry from it. Nona became distracted from signing the bill when Mezuma licked cherry juice from her finger.

“Please behave.” Nona handed the bill back to the waiter and slid out of the booth.

“I’ve been on my best behavior all evening, Nona.” Mezuma took the hand offered to her and Nona helped her stand from the booth.

“You’re a menace.” Nona replied with a chuckle and guided Mezuma out of the restaurant. “You must know how difficult it is to show restraint around you.”

“I know.” Mezuma laced her fingers with Nona’s while holding her jacket close from the wind. “I had to do the same when you walked into my work. But that’s different. You should’ve been ravishing me the second we left Crimson.”

“Mezuma..” Nona got very quiet and serious looking as she leaned into the smaller woman’s space to press her lips softly against her ear and whisper, “I wont be able to stop if I put my hands on you in anyway.” Mezuma felt heat rush to her face and swallowed with an audible click in her throat.

“Oh baby please tell me you can stay at my place tonight.” Mezuma whined with a pout.

“I was waiting for you to ask.” Nona smirked and tugged their joined hands forward to continue their walk.

“Thank Gods, I thought I was going to have to beg or something.”

“Begging wont be necessary, I assure you.” she replied with a smile. “You could’ve had me two days ago but it was-”

“Complicated.” They said simultaneously. Giggling, Mezuma rested her head on Nona’s shoulder. Nona’s response was to press a kiss to the top of her head before walking them both across the street.

The remainder of the walk was silent. Not an awkward one or a forced one. It was purely the both of them just enjoying each other’s company as they continued on their journey to Mezuma’s apartment.

Once they reached their destination, Mezuma fished her keys from her purse to get them both into the building. As soon as they were up the three flights of stairs, Nona crowded Mezuma up against the wall next to the door to her apartment. Surprised, Mezuma dropped her purse and keys and stared up at Nona with wide eyes.

“Nona..” she was practically speechless, Nona was staring at her with such an intense look that it burned a fire in her stomach. Nona could almost feel Mezuma’s heart beat, she was standing so close to her. She brought a hand up to Mezuma’s face and titled her chin up to look at her properly. The pink haired demon whimpered when Nona pressed her thumb against her bottom lip, causing her to wrap her arms around the taller woman’s shoulders, bringing her down to her level and kissing her. Humming, Nona could taste the cherries on Mezuma’s tongue and greedily chased after it. They stayed in the hall, for longer than they should have, just exchanging slow kisses. It wasn’t until Nona started moving her lips along down Mezuma’s neck that she realized this would be better to do inside the apartment.

“Now you’re the one bein’ distractin’.” Mezuma pulled on Nona’s ear to get her to stop what she was doing, then gently pushed her away so she could grab her purse and keys. Nona sighed and waited patiently for Mezuma to unlock her apartment.

It was cleaned, just as Nona had promised earlier. It didn’t even look like Kozic was there last night or that he was thrown through the living room table, which happened to be replaced with a new table, not that Mezuma had to know that.

“Go make yourself at home, I gotta lock up.” Mezuma shooed Nona into her room and went back to the front door to lock it up properly. Nona glanced around Mezuma’s room, finally getting a good look at it.

There was more decoration here than at her own place. Mezuma also had more furniture besides her bed. She had two dressers, a nightstand, and a vanity littered with make-up and brushes. Deciding to take Mezuma’s advice, she removed her jacket, put it on the chair in front of the vanity, then sat on the bed to untie her shoes.

“Comfy?” when she was finished removing her shoes, she glanced up at Mezuma’s voice from the door. The smaller woman had also taken off her jacket and shoes and was standing leaning against the door frame looking very casual and smiling.

“Yes.” Nona pushed herself off of the bed and went over to Mezuma, who was anticipating her actions and welcomed her into her space for another kiss.

~~~

“I’ve never done this part before.” Nona confessed softly, sometime later. The sky was already beginning to brighten outside, casting a small glowey haze into Mezuma’s bedroom.

“What part?” Mezuma asked, rolling over onto her side to press a kiss into the other woman’s shoulder.

“Staying.” she breathed out a small chuckle.

“Ya never cuddled with the people you banged?”

“Don’t call sex that.” Nona scrunched up her nose in response.

“Sorry.” Mezuma laughed. “Did the deed then.”

“You’re awful.”

“I know.” she pressed a quick kiss to the other woman’s forehead. “Why’d you never stay?”

“I had no interest in ever knowing those people I had sex with. I was using them only for the purpose of sex, it made no sense for me to stay around after. The after part always seemed more personal and intimate to me.”

“Makes sense.” Mezuma rested her head on the same pillow Nona was using. “You ain’t leavin’ me, are you?”

“I’d like to see someone try and drag me away from you.”

“Good.” she curled up against Nona’s side and ran her fingers along Nona’s back. “Did you know you have symbols on your back?”

“Mhm.” Nona response sounded muffled from where her face was buried in the pillow.

“What do they mean?”

“We’re not sure.”

“She continues to be a woman of mystery.” Mezuma mused. “They look old.”

“I don’t think I’m that old.”

“I meant that the symbols themselves look old. I got an uncle who knows this kinda stuff. He had tons of books layin’ around.”

“What kind of books?”

“I never really understood them, they were in a language I couldn’t read. I just recognize a lot of the symbols from them.” she relaxed into the pillow with a sigh and ran her fingers up along Nona’s spine to scratch at the buzzed part of her hair. “Hi.” she said softly, looking at Nona with a smile.

“Hello.” Nona answered back with a smile of her own.

“Your horns are short again.” she cupped the back of Nona’s head and ran her thumb underneath where her horns protruded from her skull.

“I would poke a hole in your pillow if they weren’t.”

“So thoughtful of you.”

“And it makes it easier to sleep.”

“Sleep sounds amazing right now..” Mezuma quickly sat up to look around her room for one of her blankets. In the midst of their previous activities, they were all knocked off the bed. Luckily, one was in reaching distance, so she didn’t have to get up to grab it. Blanket obtained, she threw it over herself and Nona before curling up next to the other woman again.

“Amazing..” Nona whispered in awe as she carded her fingers through Mezuma’s short hair and watched her as she slowly fell asleep.

~~~

Hours later, Nona slowly woke up to her head being rubbed and it was one of the best ways she’s ever been woken up. Somehow, during the night, she ended up draping herself over Mezuma’s small body and slept on top of her. So her face was half smooshed in the other woman’s neck when she finally opened her eyes.

“What time is it?” she asked, muffled against Mezuma’s skin.

“Almost noon.”

“Mmm.” Nona cracked her shoulders and propped herself up on her elbows so she was now looking down at the smaller woman. “Am I crushing you?”

“In all the best kind of ways, yes.” Mezuma carded her fingers through Nona’s hair and brought her down to kiss her. Nona framed her face with her arms and kissed back, lazily.

“Hi.” Mezuma pulled away with a small smile.

“Hello.” Nona pressed another kiss to her mouth, then cheek.

“Your phone’s been goin’ off for the past 5 minutes.”

“Has it?” with a sigh, Nona begrudgingly rolled over onto her back and sat up. At some point, she had lost her hair tie, so her long hair was strewn about everywhere. Standing up, she ran her hands through her hair, and gathering it up so it was cascading down her bare back, and not getting tangled in the sheets.

“You have freckles on your butt too.”

“Thank you, Mezuma.” Nona chuckled and picked up her discarded undershorts and slipped them on. A quick search around the room, Nona located her pants and pulled her phone from the pocket of them. “Mikla.” she mumbled, looking at her phone screen.

“Duty calls?”

“Unfortunately yes..” Nona sighed and stepped into her pants.

“Why so glum?”

“This was what I was afraid of when I wanted to pursue you.”

“Do you see me complaining?”

“Not now, but you must admit, later this will be an inconvenience.”

“Life wasn’t meant to be convenient.” Mezuma hopped out of her bed, put on a large shirt she had folded on her dresser, and picked up Nona’s shirt from the floor. “At the end of the day, it’s you I wanna be sleepin’ next to.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

“Then don’t worry about it.” she handed the shirt to Nona and quickly kissed her. “We’ll make it work.”

“You make this terribly easy.”

“I’ve been in enough relationships to know what not to do and you’re a lot smarter than most of the people I’ve dated.” the smaller woman wrapped her arms around Nona’s waist and tucked her hands into the other woman’s back pockets. “Cuter too.”

“I am not cute.” Nona protested as she buttoned up her shirt. “And you’re distracting me again.”

“Can’t a girl get one more kiss before you leave me?”

“I’ll be back.” she promised with a kiss.

“Tonight?”

“Yes, tonight.”

“Promise?”

“Have I lied to you yet, Mezuma?”

“Just makin’ sure.”

“I’ll be here tonight.” Nona wrapped her arms tightly around Mezuma and lifted her up into a hug.

“Good.” Mezuma laughed when she was gently set down on her bed. “Is Mikla picking you up then?”

“He’s already at my place.” Nona typed quickly on her phone. “It would be easier to summon me. Plus I would like to change my shirt.” she sighed again. “He’s going to have a field day with this.”

“You’re doing everythin’ in your power not to have us meet.”

“I am trying to prolong it yes. But it is inevitable, I suppose. You both are very important people in my life.”

“Aw, Mikla is important to you.”

“He’s my partner and Oserious’s nephew, I feel a responsibility to him.”

“I think you two are friends, you just have a weird problem admittin’ it.”

“I don’t have a problem.”

“You do. And it’s cute you don’t think you’re friends, when you clearly.are.”

“I am not cute.”

“You are.” Mezuma laughed again and grabbed Nona’s face to kiss her. “I’m honored I’m up there with being one of the most important people in your life.”

“You are.” Nonas looked at her phone when it beeped again and she stepped back from Mezuma to create space between them. “I’ll see you tonight.” a cloud of smoke erupted, engulfing her in the middle of Mezuma’s room. When the smoke cleared, Nona was nowhere to be seen.

[allofusandco]

Habits of my heart

with @elenamgilbert

Elena, singer, likes Liv, bartender.

Elena:

She’s a walking stereotype.  Elena’s thought about it before.  An indie singer with a low, crawling, raspy mezzo soprano who likes skinny jeans, chucks, and writing about her feelings in elaborate, metaphorical ways?  She plays that part all too well–not that she’s particularly concerned.  Rather unremarkable, as well, she’s more engrossed with the piano and with word-crafting.  One can argue she was born to do exactly this, or that she’s the reason for the rule, et cetera.  Either way, she’s at another bar on a Saturday night (much to her agent’s chagrin), determined to lie low with the people she enjoys most. Though she has a label and a following, she tends to deviate from tour life.  She enjoys the smaller venues, the intimacy of the bar setting.  It also doesn’t hurt that this bar in particular has one the most beautiful bartenders she’s ever seen.  The moment Elena and her band walk in, Elena’s got her eyes on the curly-haired blond bartender who looks like she could beat the shit out of someone who would then promptly and with the utmost respect, thank her.

There’s some downtime before she needs to be at the soundcheck, so she makes her case for a little R&R at the bar, and her bandmates disperse amongst themselves.  Meanwhile, Elena makes a casual beeline straight for the cute bartender, trying her best to appear nonchalant, but failing miserably as she is so often wont to do.  She’s terrible, at best, around attractive women. (At her worst, she’s downright embarrassing.) But, she digresses.

“On a scale from one to ten,” she begins as she deposits herself onto one of the stools, jaw working at a piece of gum that she wishes she’d discarded almost an hour ago. “how lame is it if I come crawling to the bar for a glass of water?” One eyebrow ticks up while the right-side corner of Elena’s mouth hints at a smile.

–––––

Liv:

“What time do you get off? And… what time do you want to get off?”

The boy at the bar looks like his mother still irons his shirts for him. No, he looks like his mother has his clothes dry cleaned for him and delivered to the world’s most embarrassing frat house. Really, Liv would be insulted is it wasn’t so completely hilarious that he thinks she might stoop to… but he is serious!

She laughs out loud, and has to cover her mouth, rinse her hands before she starts lining up shot glasses.

Elena slips in the door, and Liv tries not to look up.

“I’m not even going to joke about the circumstances under which you might every get your hands on me,” she says, pouring tequila. “It’s just never going to happen. And by the way – if you’re thinking about sitting up the back there guffawing through the upcoming performance – I’ll advise you to drink the fast, settle your tab, and find somewhere else to drink.” She smiles sweetly, for about a second, and drops it again. “And don’t forget the tip. Twenty-vive percent, since I didn’t make a crack about penis size.”

Clean down the bar, run another load of dishes, double check the speed rack, basically do anything but stare at Elena, who has just sat and the bar.

Liv smiles, and pulls down a hurricane glass.

“Scale of one to ten – usually I’d give you an eleven.” Some ice, and nice cold water, twist of lime peel just because it’ll take a moment. And a mermaid hanging off the side, under an umbrella. “But I guess you get a pass, since you’re on the job.”

For now. Liv votes gin and tonic later on. Several of them. After the bar has closed, and the cash registers are reconciled are done, and she’s sent everyone else home.

She sets the water down like a cocktail, with a very suggestive wink, and starts polishing glasses, pointedly looking anywhere but at Elena’s hair. So of course she ends up looking at the flyer standing on the bar.

“Cute photo. I always look like I’m planning to kill someone in photos. I don’t know why.” Sigh, polish, rinse, repeat. “We’re expecting a big turnout. You need me to show you the green room or can you still remember from last time?”

–––––

Elena:

Elena does little to hide her interest.  Then again, she’s always been a horrendous liar.  There’s something about brown eyes and their inability to hide secrets, she supposes (but that’s just the easy way out).  As the drink is placed in front of her, Elena thinks that she probably winks, but doesn’t dwell on the possibility for to long—lest she want to curl up into a ball and die, because who even does that anymore?  

Her, apparently.

“You?  Murder?” Elena scoffs as the glass touches her lips, still amused at the very idea of it.  This is obviously not because she thinks Liv incapable, of course.  After all, Elena had shown up just seconds following a grievous murder in the first degree of whomever that sad fellow who’d been barking up her tree was.  Rest in peace, Mr. Blue Balls.

“If I lie and say I don’t remember just so you can show me again, does that make me better or worse than the guy who just tried to pick you up?” the corners of her mouth twitch up.  She’s feeling bold today, a sentiment she can only chalk up to the pre-performance adrenaline.  Elena is otherwise useless around attractive women. “Kidding,” she swirls the ice around in her water, watches the lime peel rock back and forth.  Elena rolls her lips together, dark eyes on Liv once more.

“But who knows?  Maybe I’ll get lost after the show,” the suggestion hangs in the air between them only briefly as Elena produces gratuity, which she leaves in her wake.  Sure, water is free, but Liv’s time isn’t.  If Elena knows anything it’s that bartender’s deal with enough assholes and spend the vast majority of their time skating the line between compulsory kindness and an impulsive for grievous assault.

Elena shows herself to the green room and begins her usual pre-show routines.  She’s rather calm, despite her issues with anxiety, and when it comes time for the performance, she’s settled into that easy swagger, encourage by the subtle gaze of a certain, beautiful bartender.

The set is a mixture of slow, sultry, gothic tunes and faster-paced melodies with darker implications.  Elena’s voice is a lower mezzo soprano with more alto inclinations; there’s a slight drawl to it, leaving it with a rustic, earthy exposure.  By the end of her performance, it’s clear why she hadn’t chanced the aid of alcohol.  The adrenaline is more than enough to intoxicate her, drawing out the lascivious persona of the alternative indie singer with numerous undisclosed issues with relative ease.

All the while, her eyes can’t seem to stay away from Liv Parker (a name she’s collected from a band-mate whom she enjoys coercing into doing her harmless, somewhat hilarious dirty work).

By the time, the crowds disperse and after conversing with several attendees, she makes a point to linger near the bar, eventually finding herself at a stool herself.  The adrenaline remains, but she’s got a taste for something a little stronger, now.

“So, inquiring minds…” she trails off, once Liv is in ear-shot. “Are you more of a bourbon and whisky kind of girl, or maybe… a gin and tonic?  You don’t strike me as a wine type.  Though, I don’t think you’re against it, either.“

–––––

Liv:

It’s the age-old question: are you flirting with me? And the age-old follow-up: also, do you flirt with everyone? Impossible to come out and actually ask, but when Elena is batting those criminally long eyelashes at Liv, Liv gets kinda stupid. It’s annoying.

“I don’t think anyone’s as bad as that guy,” she says. Also, she will cheerfully show Elena the green room, with privileges, if she likes. “But I think he’ll stick to trolling 4Chan for a while, until his ego builds up again.” She is, admittedly, slightly pleased Elena heard that.

Just show her to the fucking green room, Liv.

But she’s gone, leaving Liv’s obnoxious heart beating slightly fast in her wake.

The gig is superb, of course, but Elena always is. Liv thinks to herself that it’s not going to be long before they can’t book her, in a place this small, anymore, but it’s a horrible thought and one she doesn’t entertain long. They get busy, between sets; she has two competent bartenders on tonight and the six hands work tirelessly, though there is very little trade while she’s actually playing, because contrary to available evidence, the entire clientele are not uncultured swine.

“She keeps looking at me,” says Australian Alf, so named because he was christened Alfred by unflinchingly cruel parents, and is Australian, with an accent so thick Liv can’t even understand him when he’s drunk.

“No, she’s not,” she says.

“It’s my accent. Works on all the ladies.”

“Trust me, it doesn’t,” she says, ignoring his disappointed horror, and gets back to polishing glasses.

––

A glance at the clock; it’s midnight. She’ll have to close out the tills but the boys can manage the dwindling customers. Liv gives Elena a smile, and unties her apron, folding it and dropping it on the end of the bar.

“I drink whatever’s free,” she says. “But if it’s up to me, definitely whiskey. Not Scotch. Irish or bourbon, mostly. Don’t mind a gin and tonic, in the summer. Wine’s alright.”

“So what can I get for you? I can usually guess. You seem to keep me guessing, though.” She tilts her head, and examines the speed rack, and the shelves behind her. “Whiskey sours,” she says, and reaches for a couple of lemons, deftly slicing them in two to juice. In a handful of moments, she’s made two ever-so-slightly dirty whiskey sours, and placed one in front of Elena.

She pulls up a stool, and sits kitty-corner to her favorite songstress. She is going to figure her out tonight.

“You were amazing,” she says, raising her glass to clink gently against Elena’s. “But then, you always are. Go away, Australian Alf. Find someone else to bother. Shoo.” She takes a sip, and puts the glass back on the bar.

–––––

Elena:

While Liv may or may not realize it,  it is indisputable that she has Elena utterly captivated.  The sad thing is, Elena can’t even chalk it up to performance adrenaline or alcohol.  She’s just looking at this girl—this beautiful woman—and all she can think of is all the sloppy, unoriginal one-liners she wants to use on her and all of the truly heinous acts she wants to commit to and with her.  

Typical Elena.

“Perfect,” she doesn’t object to Liv’s drinks of choice nor the selection decided for them.  (Honestly, though, Liv could have said, ‘here, drink this piss water’ and Elena would have asked for that with a second of pickle juice—the poor sap.) Tucking some of her own hair behind one ear, she raises her glass to collide lightly with Liv’s.

“Thank you,” there’s a genuine smile that follows, humor igniting behind her eyes as Liv bats away a heart-eyed coworker. “Oooh. Another suitor?” she teases, knowing full well that isn’t the case.  Not that she thinks Liv has any lack for suitors, of course.  On the contrary, Elena imagines she herself is one of many.  

“I love playing here,” she elaborates, swirling her drink casually in its glass. “Something about the atmosphere, the people…” Elena trails off purposefully, lips cradling the rim of her drink again so that she can take another sip.  A certain look passes from her to Liv, and while she’s not sure how obvious it is, she can only hope that Liv is privy to it. At this point, Elena’s played here so many times, her band’s all but threatened her to go on strike if she doesn’t make a move on the gorgeous bartender that Elena just can’t seem to stop talking about.

“It’s always nice, too… seeing you.”

–––––

Liv:

“Australian Alf is under the mistaken impression that he can have any girl he lays eyes on; he’s got some idea that accent cancels out the floppy hair. I’ve told him repeatedly it doesn’t, but his self-esteem is bullet-proof.” Sometimes, she envies him that, but mostly, she just finds him annoying.

Liv sips her whiskey sour, pleased beyond all reason that it is perfectly balanced and definitely just the right amount of dirty.

If this was anyone else, Liv would stop questioning her instincts. She’s no stranger to being flirted with, though most attempts end with some poor sap cradling his balls in a jar of ice and wondering what the hell just happened to him. But Elena is, as the kids would say, low-key famous, and it’s not exactly the norm for Liv to catch the eye of anyone whose gorgeous, smiling face might grace a poster that would turn heads in a record store.

(There is, in fact, a poster in the record store down the street that Liv can’t walk past without cartoon birds showing up to provide a soundtrack.)

It’s not as if this is the first time Elena has shown her some attention, either. And yet. Liv might be brash, but her self-esteem isn’t what it once was; possibly due to the overall derailment of her life and intentions.

“Are you flirting with me, Elena Gilbert? Or am I having an Australian Alf moment? See, I’m a little rusty, and I also get stupid when I see a pair of big brown eyes. It seems improbable, but not impossible. I do have some very perky… curls, and I make a mean whiskey sour.” Her tone is dry, but her heart is racing. It’s not exactly a blush, but she feels a warmth over her cheeks, the back of her neck, her décolletage; she glances at Elena, and back at her drink, and then commits herself to eye contact.

“Because,” she says, sweeping her eyelashes up very deliberately, “if you are flirting, then I’m about to start flirting back.”

–––––

Elena:

“It’s okay.  One day he’ll flirt with the wrong girl, and she’ll set him straight.  It’ll be brutal.  Probably savage.  It’ll be a shame that we won’t have front row seats,” Elena begins to imagine the moment, setting the scene with ease in her head.  He’d approach some woman who’s clearly a solid nine out of ten (and that’s just being modest), and she would destroy him from the bottom up.  He’d walk out of that conversation not even a half-quarter of the man he arrived as.

A smile presses onto her mouth, and she dispels the imagery from her mind’s eye.  This leads her eyes back to Liv, where they are more than happy to rest, quietly indulging in a bit of casual appreciation.  (Elena does what she can not to stare too hard, but damn it if Liv doesn’t make this extraordinarily difficult.) Truthfully, Elena’s lucky she doesn’t forget where her mouth is every time she brings her drink to it.

But just as quickly as she thinks she’s being halfway decent at flirting, Liv’s onto her (or, probably, has been this entire time).  She has to laugh out loud, because it’s so funny.  Elena has to have known better.  When it comes to women, she’s hopeless—always has been.  Women like Liv?  She may as well be catching streams of water with her hands in the dark.

“Maybe a little,” she confesses guiltily, eyes diverting to other places as she considers what angle she should take this.  Honesty seems like the best route. “Or a lot.  Depends on… which makes me look like less of a dork.” Her eyes meet Liv’s again, and her heart does something funny.  It almost feels like a palpitation, but it’s nicer and without the ‘I’ve just missed a step at the top of the stairs’ anxiety.

This is, of course, until Liv’s batting her eyes and suggesting that the flirting can, maybe, become a two-way street.  Then, there Elena goes, face-first down a flight of stairs.  Liv could have asked her to do anything in this moment,  and she would have down it without hesitation.

“In that case,” she decides to use a brief moment of bravery to pursue this endeavor. “What are your thoughts on laser tag, video games, and chili cheese fries?  Not necessarily in that order.”

–––––

Liv:

“He flirts with the wrong girls every day, gets his ass served to him, and goes back for more. I’ll say this for him, though, you tell him to get lost and he does.”

That laugh. Liv would like to make Elena laugh like that every day. She shakes her head, and takes another sip. “Maybe I like dorks,” she says, with a shrug. “It’s nice to know someone like you can be a dork, trust me.” Now Liv sounds like a dork. Not too fussed about it, though. Elena looks so sincere, and so fucking pretty it’s hard to look at her without just leaning in for a horribly premature and probably very awkward kiss. The bar is emptying, but it’s not empty.

Liv’s main approach to flirting, her entire life, has been to tell everyone, no matter what she thinks of them, that she wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole, and then let the ones who survive that court her very fucking slowly and respectfully. But she doesn’t want to do that here. She pretends to think, and takes a deep breath.

“Chili cheese fries are disgusting,” she says, “but tasty, and addictive. I love salt. As long as they’re not crazy hot; I’m not as tough as I make out.” It’s true. No point in pretending or she’ll have a repeat of the habanero sauce incident of 2013, and no one could survive that humiliation twice. “Video games are good, as long as it’s not sports, because what’s the point of that when you could go outside? Give me hot elf warriors or zombies to shoot at, I’m happy. Laser tag is a definite yes. But not paintball. Those things sting.”

She tilts her head and catches Elena’s eyes again.

“Alright, two can play at this game.” She’s about to throw in stand-up comedy as a foil, because she hates it, but skips right past because she’d have to be drugged and chained up to be dragged to a stand-up show. “Bowling, in completely unironic bowling shirts and rented shoes, the aquarium, and breakfast in bed? Specifically waffles with bacon and maple syrup, but I’m flexible.”

~complete~