#had to dip a couple of songs early to catch the train and ended the day in so much pain and so tired but that was so incredibly good

[doctorstethoscope]

In the Garden || A. Hotchner x Fem!Reader

hello babes! Something a little different today-- I didn’t have time to write a request that I was going to be pleased with, so this is something that’s been sitting in my drive for a while. Hope you like it! 

Submit requests here! 

contains: sexual innuendo, gun mention

wordcount: 2.4k

You can’t remember the last time you wore a dress, much less a gown like the one JJ was zipping you into now-- dresses weren’t practical for field work with the BAU, and even when you’d worked in the counterterrorism unit, you’d much preferred a professional blouse and pair of slacks. But the First Lady had decided to throw a ball in the White House to celebrate federal employees, and the Bureau was receiving an award, which the Director had hand-picked the BAU to accept. So, gown. Even though you’d much prefer to be changing into a pair of sweats-- you had been called on a case two days before the ball, and Garcia saved the day by running to everyone’s apartments and grabbing their nice clothes so you all wouldn’t be late. Which is how you found yourself squeezing into a sleek off the shoulder number in the Batcave, with Emily batting at your face with a makeup brush and JJ tugging at your zipper. 

“Babe, you look hot.” Penelope says as Emily and JJ step away from you, admiring their work. 

“All Emily’s work,” you deflected with a shy smile. 

“We’ll have that fight when we’re not running late,” Emily said, pulling you out of Garcia’s office, she and JJ not far behind. 

Derek let out a wolf whistle when he saw you all approaching, and you heard JJ’s windchime laugh from a few steps behind. 

“Hello ladies,” he said with an exaggerated leer. 

“Derek Morgan, you’re lucky that my thigh holster doesn’t go with this dress.” Emily spits out, and all of you burst out in laughter. 

“Chocolate thunder, you clean up good,” Garcia says, crossing to Derek, who moved to put his arm around her shoulders as Reid emerged into the bullpen. 

“Speaking of cleaning up good,” JJ says with a small smile, and you catch Reid blushing. 

“Did you know that balls like this can cost American taxpayers up to a million dollars?” He asks the group, and you smile.

“Maybe don’t mention that when the first lady gives us the award, yeah Spence?” You tease, and he treats you to a little chuckle.

You hear Hotch before you turn to see him and Rossi. “Alright, let’s go,” He says, leading the group out of the BAU and towards your SUVs. You end up in the passenger seat of the car Rossi is driving. 

“You doing okay, kid? You’re awful quiet this evening. Invitations to Federal Government Prom don’t come often, you know.” He smirks, and you half-ass a smile in return. 

“Yeah, I’m okay, Rossi. Just tired, you know. Would have preferred to get a night’s sleep in my own bed before we did this, you know?” 

He nods, but there’s no use in lying to a profiler. 

The food, you have to admit, is leagues better than the instant ramen you would have cooked up if you had gone home tonight. And the conversation isn’t half bad either, you admit to yourself as you lazily flirt with Paul, a junior fellow from the Department of Health and Human Services, just barely putting in enough effort to seem interested while allowing your mind to wander.

The sensation of a warm hand in between your exposed shoulder blades distracts you from your train of thought. 

“Excuse me,” Aaron’s deep baritone interrupts Paul’s nervous tenor. “I’d like to cut in for a dance, if you don’t mind.”

Paul sputters, and you laugh, because you know that Aaron was asking you, not this early-thirties politico type that he towered over, both physically and morally. 

“We’ll catch up later?” you said to Paul, with absolutely no intent to catch up later, before Aaron led you out to the dance floor. 

“Hotch, I’m gonna step on your feet.” You warned. 

“No you won’t,” he assures you. “Follow my lead.” 

You do as you’re told, and you’re surprised to realize just how easy it is to follow him, anywhere. 

“Aaron Hotchner, when on Earth did you learn to ballroom dance?” You asked incredulously. 

“Boarding school,” He answers with an easy smile.

“You’re joking,” you accuse. 

“Ah, yes, something I’m known to do.”

“You remain a mystery, Hotchner.”  You tell him.

“I don’t know. That might have been my last secret.” 

You roll your eyes, content to continue dancing, and finding yourself getting distracted again. 

“What are you thinking about?” Aaron asks, and you mentally curse yourself for letting your guard down in front of your boss. 

“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just tired. But really grateful to be here, of course, and--”

“I wasn’t asking as your boss, you can stand down,” He smirks, dipping you quickly and it takes your breath away. “You’re thinking of leaving.” He says as he lifts you back up, and it’s not a question. 

“How did you-- I can’t believe-- Damn profilers.” You harrumphed. 

“You’ve been distant, the past couple weeks. You’re in your early twenties accepting an award at the White House, by all accounts you should be ecstatic. That’s when I knew something was wrong. And when I saw you with Peter, or whatever his name was, who you couldn’t be less interested in, that’s when I knew it was us.” 

“See, and that’s exactly why I need to leave. Because I’ll never be able to do that.” You tell him, finally looking him in the eye.

“You will,”  He says in a self-assured tone that does nothing to assuage your anxiety.

“I don’t know,” you sighed. 

“I do.” 

“Maybe I’m not good enough, Hotch.” You confess carelessly. He’s already figured you out. Might as well fess up to your deepest insecurities while your boss holds you and stares you down with his deep brown eyes in the middle of the East Room.

“You are,” he says in that same tone, that you’re sure is supposed to be calming but is only infuriating. 

“But maybe I’m not! Maybe I’m one of those people who always wanted to do it, who always wanted to be an agent, but it’s like a pipe dream for me. I don’t contribute to the team the same way everyone else does. I don’t pick up on the things that seem so obvious to all of you, and it sucks. I can still do good work, but you know-- you change your dreams and you grow up. Maybe I’m one of those people and I’m just not supposed to be here. I just can’t stay knowing that I’m not supposed to be here-- I have to leave.” You’re not even sure if your soliloquy makes any sense, but Aaron pulls you a little closer, so he can speak the next few words lowly, directly into your ear. 

“You’ve been here eight months. It takes time. You are an incredible agent, and an asset to this team. I don’t need another profiler that sees the same things we all see-- I need you, and your observations, the things we missed-- those are the things that solve cases. I can’t-- I can’t allow you to change your dream. I can’t let you leave. I need you here.” 

You let his words hang in the air for a moment before he speaks again. 

“The, uh-- the team needs you. We all need you, and your observations, is what I meant.” He stammers. 

“Hotch?’ You ask, confused by the sudden change in tone. 

“Do you want to go get some fresh air? Get away from the crowd?” He asks, pulling away to look at you, and there’s an invitation in his eyes. Maybe a more seasoned profiler would know exactly what it was, but you were excited to find out nonetheless.  

“Yeah, I think I do.”

You’re certain that you’re breaking some sort of law as Hotch pulls you out of the ballroom and down a hallway, his fingers interlocked with yours. You try not to think about it too much. Your heels click against the marble floors as you follow Aaron’s brisk pace, and eventually he finds a door outside, opening it up and allowing you to pass through it first. It takes a minute to place yourself, especially under the cover of night, but after a moment you realize you’re in the rose garden. 

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” You say under your breath with a little laugh as you look out over the sprawling display of flowers and plants. 

“It definitely beats the Quantico courtyard,” Aaron agrees.

“Never thought I’d make it there, either.” You confess, not looking at him.

“But you did. It wasn’t meant to be easy, but you made it, and you’ll grow. You just need time.” He tells you. 

“How can you be so sure?” You ask, feeling your eyes well up. 

“I was young once, too.” He tells you with a self-deprecating grin. 

“You can’t play up the wise, ancient elder with me, Hotch. I’ve seen you chase Jack across a soccer field like you’re still in your twenties.” You laugh, but he can hear the emotions behind it.

“Hey, come on, I mean it. I’m not Rossi, but I’ve got my fair dose of wisdom to share,” he says, moving closer to you and placing a hand on your arm, trying to comfort you. “Let’s keep dancing. If you want to talk, you can talk. But you thought you couldn’t dance, and you could dance, right? So we can keep doing that until you believe me.” He said, pulling your hand up in his and placing his other on your waist. 

The two of you moved slowly, the orchestra from inside only barely audible from where you were standing. With Hotch’s bad ear, he could really only hear it when his body was angled just right in the direction of the East Room, but somehow he had perfect rhythm regardless. You move in silence for a song or two or three before Hotch speaks up again. 

“I lied to you, earlier.” He confesses, still guiding you effortlessly through a simple waltz. 

“How do you mean?” You ask, suddenly nervous that you were right, that you’re a complete failure of an agent, and that you need to pack your bags and head on back to Kansas.

“I lied when I said that I’d told you my last secret.”

“Oh,” you said, too caught up in your own head to try to understand what he was saying.

“And I lied when I told you that I meant the team needed you--” you felt that bone-crushing weight on your soul again-- “we do, of course, but that’s not what I meant.” 

“Hotchner, what are you talking about?” You finally asked, no longer able to tolerate the emotional whiplash of his conversation.

“When I said I needed you, I meant it.” 

“Oh,” you say, your face a portrait of shock and confusion, even though you understood him completely. 

“That’s selfish of me as a person, and wrong of me as your superior, and maybe that means that I’m outing myself as the kind of fucked-up person that isn’t worth another second of your time, but I needed you to know.” He stops dancing now, tries to hedge a bit of space between you without letting you go entirely. 

“Aaron,” you whisper, clinging to him more tightly as he pulls away, feeling his jacket wrinkle under your fingernails. 

“Yes?” he whispers back. 

“I’m glad you told me,” you tell him, and that’s all the permission he needs to take your face in both of your hands and kiss you, with a gentleness that makes you feel like spun gold, with the reverence of a man who knows that love is not a game, with the hunger of one who has been starved for months. 

He pulls away from you, too soon, and your eyes are wet. “My resignation will be on your desk by Monday morning.”

He takes a step away. “What do you--” 

“Goodnight, Aaron,” You tell him with a sad little smile, turning around towards the door you came from and leaving him in the garden.

You’re drowning your sorrows in a pint of Ben and Jerry’s when the doorbell rings the next day. You swing the door open grumpily, to reveal Aaron. 

“It’s Saturday, and you can’t turn in your resignation until 9am Monday. What can I do in the next forty eight hours to convince you that you belong here?” Aaron asks, still standing in the hall of your apartment complex.

You sigh, stepping aside to let him in. You can’t give him what he wants, but you won’t have this argument where all the neighbors will hear, either. “It’s too late, Hotch.”

“It’s not too late,” he argues, checking his watch. “I have forty six hours and thirteen minutes.”

“I’ll still be the girl who got this job on her back forty six hours from now.” You tell him, folding your arms.

“You’ll be what?” He asks, incredulous. 

“I know that you heard me loud and clear. 

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know that you slept with Erin Strauss. I didn’t think you were her type.” He says, and you let out an exasperated sigh. 

“You’re absolutely incorrigible!” You cry out. 

“Who implied that you got this job on anything other than your own merit?” Aaron asks, a glint in his eye that lets you know that they’ll be handled just as soon as he gets you to shred the letter of resignation you drafted last night.

“Didn’t I? You didn’t clear my promotion because you were attracted to me?” You asked.

“I cleared your promotion before we even met-- your interview was a bureau formality. Your reputation and the glowing recommendations from your peers in counterterrorism spoke volumes.”  He assures you.

“Oh,” you let out, your anger deflating. 

“If you want to leave because of my inappropriate behavior, please reconsider. I’m incredibly sorry for--” He starts, but you cut him off, placing your hands on his face and pulling him in for a kiss. 

“Nothing to be sorry for. Please continue to be inappropriate,” you tell him in between kisses. 

He smiles as he continues to place kisses across your face, your jaw, your neck, your collarbone. “Right now?” He asks, slipping a hand underneath your shirt.  “You want me to be inappropriate right now?” 

“If you’re really good at it, I’ll let you tear up my resignation yourself.” 

@romanogersendgame @wanniiieeee      @zheezs14      @greeneyedblondie44 @angelic-kisses13  @baumarvel @ssamorganhotchner  @ijustwannaread2k19    @rexit-mo @shmaptainhotchnersmain @qtip-blog @averyhotchner  @the-modernmary @itsmytimetoodream @choppa-style @hotforhotchner11 @infinite-tides @isthatme-thatsme @g-l-pierce @bakugouswh0r3 @ssahotchie @sleepyreaderreads @rousethemouse @scuttling

[hookingminor]

26 & 35 w josty from the list 1 fluff prompt

35. “Kiss me better.”

already got 26 w another request :(

one / three

-

You ended up joining Tyson in Denver in early August.

He left for his summer training camps or whatever in Toronto about a week after your poolside conversation, and you were surprised to wake up one morning to a text from him only a few days after he touched down in Toronto. He said if you were still interested, he’d be back in Denver after mid-July and that you were always welcome to visit.

After a couple weeks of sporadic texting, mostly Tyson sending you articles on things you needed to see in Denver before you’d even made up your mind, you worked out a time to visit.

Tyson picked you up from the airport, all smiles and sunglasses as he basked in the Denver sunshine. He engulfed you in a friendly hug before taking your bags and throwing it into his back seat.

You expected Tyson to go about the week doing his own thing. You knew he had a strict training regimen and probably had other friends to hang out with, and you didn’t think he’d actually want to do things with you. He had offered his spare bedroom to you and you thought that would be the end of it, but you were sorely mistaken.

The first morning after you woke up in his guest bed, Tyson was waiting for you in his kitchen with a fresh pot of coffee brewing and his best hiking clothes on.

“I thought we could hit up Pike’s Peak today,” he suggested as you poured yourself a cup.

“Oh, you’re coming with me?” You asked, and the smile on Tyson’s face fell.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” you backtracked hastily. “I just don’t want to get in the way of your schedule. I’m perfectly capable of getting around by myself if you have other plans.”

“Please, I have nothing else going on,” Tyson replied, a grin tugging at his lips again. “And what kind of host would I be if I didn’t at least show you around?”

And that was that.

The first couple of days were spent doing all the outdoorsy stuff Colorado was known for. You hiked what felt like a million different trails, but you didn’t mind the strenuous work. It was no secret Tyson was in much better shape than you, but he didn’t complain any time you needed to take a break to catch your breath or snap pictures.

Hiking, sightseeing, and hitting up shops were how you spent your days, with and without Tyson. Usually he needed to slip away for a few hours to either go to the arena or do whatever workout he was instructed to, so you spent that time wandering around his neighborhood. You found a nice little cafe with, probably, the best chai latte you’ve ever had.

At night, Tyson took you out to a new restaurant, ranging from expensive sushi to the cheapest, and greasiest, burgers you’ve ever tasted. Though, you did make him dinner one night to thank him for his hospitality. You got the feeling he didn’t do a lot of cooking in his free time if his pristine kitchen was any indication.

Near the end of your trip, Tyson thought it was mandatory for you to have at least one night out on the town. He even corralled a couple of the guys who were in the city to join them and convinced them to bring their significant others so you weren’t drowning in testosterone all night.

When you emerged from your room in an outfit that accentuated all your best features, Tyson had to mentally slap himself before he started drooling. It almost felt inappropriate to check you out and let his stare linger over your figure, so he only allowed himself a once over before forcing his gaze to your face.

“Are you ready?” He managed to cough out, and you nodded.

The Uber you took to the bar didn’t last long, but the place was pretty busy when you stepped into the crowded space. It was a Saturday night after all.

Tyson led you to the corner where a few of his teammates were already seated, and let them make their own introductions while he disappeared to get you a drink. You learned the names of JT and his girlfriend Sydney along with Mikko and his girlfriend Susanna and also Cale. You recognized Cale from earlier in the week when he stopped by to ride with Tyson to the rink.

Tyson came back a few short minutes later with a round of shots for the table and a vodka sprite for you. The first round passed quickly and were soon followed by three more, one on each of the guys.

You and the other girls danced for a bit, talked for a bit, and by the time midnight was rolling around, you were more than feeling the effects of the alcohol on your body. It was nowhere near what you knew your limit was, but it was enough for you to lean a little too far into Tyson’s side and let your mind drift to other thoughts that didn’t revolve around the topic at hand.

It took a lot of convincing on Tyson’s end to get you to call it a night; all you wanted to do was sing another karaoke song with Syd, but JT and Tyson declared they couldn’t take any more terrible singing from either of you. You had nearly passed out on Tyson’s shoulder during the ride home, but he didn’t mind the comforting weight of your slumped body tucked into his side.

The waters you had before leaving and the relaxing ride back helped sober you up, and by the time Tyson unlocked his apartment door, the fatigue was threatening to take over your body at any minute. Tyson’s arm steadied you as you kicked your heels off before you made your way to the kitchen for another glass of water.

“Thank you for this week, Tyson, I had a lot of fun,” you said, both of you standing against the kitchen island and downing water.

“Any time,” Tyson blushed. “It’s been fun having you here.”

A week’s worth of sexual tension sat between you now, sizzling your body from the inside out, and you took a quick glance at Tyson from the corner of your eye. He was already looking at you.

Maybe it was the alcohol in your bloodstream or the years of pining after him finally coming to the surface, but you set your glass down and moved closer to his body. Tyson stayed leaning back against the granite, motionless as you took a step in front of him and nearly pressed your front to his. He set his own glass down but didn’t let his hands touch you, opting to grip the counter instead.

With one final burst of courage, you leaned forward, giving Tyson a brief moment to turn away before capturing his lips in a soft kiss.

It took a second for Tyson to comply, moving his lips against yours gentle as ever, like he was afraid of ruining the moment if he pushed too hard. You had to grab his hand to place it on your hip, and he squeezed it at your act of reassurance.

“Kiss me better, Tyson,” you whispered, pulling back only far enough to get the words out. “You don’t have to be so gentle.” Your hands felt their way up his chest until they reached his shoulders.

“I just don’t want you to regret this,” he said, letting his forehead rest against yours. “You had a lot to drink tonight.”

“I’m not drunk, Tys. Just a little tipsy but definitely sober enough to know what I want,” you replied. “Now kiss me.”

He searched your eyes for any sense of doubt or any indication that you weren’t going to remember this come tomorrow, but he didn’t find any of that, only a pleading look that was begging you to kiss him.

So he did.

He crashed his lips against yours with renewed energy, the force taking you a bit by surprise while his hands brought your body flush against his. You could taste the remnants of beer on his tongue, but you drank it down greedily, bringing a hand to curl around the nape of his neck.

You made out like teenagers there in his kitchen, fulfilling every fantasy sixteen year old you had, and you felt Tyson harden against your stomach. He only pulled away when your hands drifted down to dip your fingers underneath the waistband of his jeans.

“As much as I want to, we can’t tonight,” Tyson said, his expression almost pained. “I want you, but I also want us both sober.”

You could understand that. Even if you were slightly put out that you wouldn’t be able to feel him, you wouldn’t push it. Tyson was too good of a guy to go into something like this without thinking about the consequences first. You nodded your compliance and made an attempt to step back.

Tyson only let you get a few inches of space between you, but kept his hands firm on your hips. “Maybe tomorrow I can take you on a real date, though? See where it goes from there.”

His suggestion had your stomach twisting, and you matched the smile he was adorning. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

[enjennie]

Take Care.

pairing: jaehyun x reader (x juyeon)

genre: angst. bestfriend!jaehyun and boyfriend!juyeon. one-sided love :[

word count: 1.4k

warnings: alcohol intake, cheating (i guess), kinda frustrating choices were made, not a happy ending for jh.

a/n: hi to any deobizens, sorry this wasn't that good but I had fun writing it :> enjoy!

The keys jingle in your hand as you twist its body into the keyhole, turning the doorknob once and successfully letting yourself into the tenth floor boys’ dorm. It was quiet, a rare thing to see in the usually chaos-filled house of the five boys.

On any other day, you would appreciate the quietness but today you came looking for it. The boys’ presence helped you forget any worries you had, and you wanted nothing but to spend the night with your best friends, preferably by drinking.

“Anybody home?” you called into the quiet house. It’s not long until you hear shuffling coming from the hallway, signifying signs of life before Jaehyun’s sleepy face comes into view. He squints at you in the dark, hair a mess with his pyjama set on.

“Y/N?” he finally recognizes you, eyes probably having adjusted to the dim room.

“Happy hearts day, Jae,” you give him a rather sad and unenergetic greeting as you kick your heels off to the side and close the door behind you.

The bottles of alcohol you bought from the nearby grocery mart found their place on the dining table along with a half-eaten take out cake you ordered from your favourite café.

Your favourite café which your boyfriend had just ditched you in.

“That’s a lot of soju,” your best friend comments, switching the kitchen lights on. “And aren’t you supposed to be with Juyeon?” he quizzically looks at your face.

It takes the boy at least a minute to catch on. “What? Again?”

You nod, beer already in hand and popping it open with the opener you found lying on the counter.

Jaehyun was grabbing his own bottle, and you toss him the opener. “What was the excuse this time?”

Taking a big gulp, you sigh when the bottle leaves your lips. “He’s got a schedule,”

Jaehyun’s face looked bitter as he pulled the bottle away from his mouth, gulping down a good amount of its content.

“Bullshit,”

A smile comes up to your lips at your best friend’s frank judgment. In the 7 years you’ve worked in SM, Jaehyun has been by your side the entire ride. From rookie days to debut, you and the rest of SR15B have been the closest of friends. They’ve watched you succeed, fail, enter and leave relationships and were there to celebrate or mourn with you.

“Jae, come on. He’s a great guy,” was your only defense.

You’ve been dating Juyeon of The Boyz for quite some time now. He was hot, charming and sweet. Everything you’d want in a man, and more. But maybe you didn’t cut it, because in the 8 months you’ve been seeing each other, he’s flaked on dates not just once but countless of times. Usually using excuses like schedule conflicts or practice and recordings.

This was getting way too repetitive already, even for you. The rest of the 127 boys have had enough of having you around after you’ve been snubbed by your boyfriend.

“Anyway, let’s forget it. I haven’t seen you in a while, and where are the others?” you crept around the living room, expecting to see its usual inhabitants Yuta or Mark watching TV. Empty, the living room was dark.

Jaehyun follows behind you and gets comfortable on the couch. “I’ve been filming for Dear.M, and they all went out for barbeque but I was too tired to go,” he replied. Jaehyun pats the spot beside him and you slip into his arms easily, cradling the bottle like a baby.

“That’s a pity, but I’m glad I caught you,” you expressed. He hums in agreement, pushing on the remote control button and watching the TV come to life. You've spent numerous nights like this, cuddling up to your best friend.

And yet, it's never led to anything. Feelings, or even kisses. Tonight, something felt different.

As if the universe hated you, your boyfriend’s face comes on the TV which has you choking on the drink that’s halfway down your throat.

Jaehyun pats your back to soothe the liquid down, before you settle back on the couch with him. “Well, at least he wasn’t lying,” you shrug. You couldn’t see it, but Jaehyun’s annoyance was evident on his face. The boy took a deep sigh, rolling his eyes.

"Y/N, that’s pre-recorded. We were at this event," he points at the TV screen. “Look, it doesn’t indicate that it’s live,”

You weren’t an idiot, you just hoped Jaehyun didn’t notice and would pity you less.

The truth was, you knew Juyeon simply didn’t want to spend time with you, so he’d stay at his members’ dorm... or someone else's place... to avoid your presence. Juyeon didn’t have the heart to dump you, especially since you’ve done nothing but give him love and support.

To make matters worse, you have 9 best friends at your aid who are the textbook definition of intimidating. Which was sometimes the reason why you found it hard to see other people. The 127 boys have always been so protective over you.

The ball was in your court, and it was your move. You knew that breaking up with Juyeon would be the only option, but you loved the boy so much it made it hard. Your heart ached. You didn’t want to think about it, after all you came here to forget.

“Y/N,” Jaehyun’s voice pulls you out of your deep thinking. You tilt your head up to look at the boy, and he meets your eyes.

“Hmm?” your eyebrows raise themselves in question. You weren’t listening to what he was saying anymore. Suddenly, his lips became the most interesting thing in the world.

The way it moved as he spoke, his words came in one ear and out the other. Jaehyun closes his mouth, realizing that you weren’t listening anymore. “I’m gonna kiss you,”

You snapped out of your train of thoughts, pulling away from him in panic. “What?” your voice had raised a tone higher. Jaehyun chuckled, bringing the bottle back up to his lips and taking a sip.

“Anyway, now that I have your attention back,” he says. You knit your eyebrows together, perplexed. It’s way too early to be saying such things, you’re both only on your first bottle of soju. But then again, Jaehyun was a bit more lightweight.

“I was saying… leave him,” Jaehyun states, eyes dilated and cheeks red. Yup, he was tipsy already.

You set aside your nearly empty drink, and take his from his hands. Or at least you try. He doesn’t let go, but instead pulls you by the wrist. You’re jolted close to his face and you let out a small gasp, heart racing.

“Jaehyun, give me the bottle,” you try to free yourself from his rather firm grip, which only causes the boy to pull you closer. “Y/N, I can treat you better,” his voice had dropped low, almost to a whisper.

At this point, you were pretty sure it was the alcohol talking. It wasn’t unusual for the boys to be saying careless things when under the influence, but Jaehyun was never this way. The words he was speaking didn't seem to be from drunken thoughts, but instead from his sober subconscious.

Your heart was beating out of your chest, going faster than it ever has on any workouts you’ve done. Only Jaehyun had this effect on you, and it was wrong on so many levels. Your eyes drift down to his lips, just as you’d done earlier.

Juyeon. The picture of your boyfriend appeared in your head, which made you jump up from your seat and out of Jaehyun’s grasp. This was getting all too much for you to handle, you’ve only had one bottle of Soju.

“You’re freaking me the fuck out, Jae,” you grab your bottle from where you’d placed it on the floor, frantically downing the rest of its content before heading to the kitchen to grab another. Jaehyun gets on his feet, taking you by the hand this time. Sparks. You face him, and he towers over you. “I’m sorry. Can I be selfish for once?” he asks, and you’re frozen in place.

Jaehyun answers his own question by dipping his head lower to meet your lips in a kiss. His lips are soft, and gentle against yours. It doesn’t take a second longer before you were moving your lips along with his, and the bottle had fallen from your hands and you've taken purchase of his shirt, using it as a leverage to keep you from falling. His kiss was intoxicating enough to have you stumbling back and losing your balance.

Juyeon.

Your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach as your boyfriend comes to mind again. You push Jaehyun away from you, guilt immediately washing over you like a wave. He looks at you, hurt and sadness clear in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” you run your hands through your hair in frustration. “I have to go,” you don’t spare Jaehyun another glance as you make your way back to the door, not bothering to go back for the cake or any of the alcohol you very badly wanted in your system.

The door closes shut behind you, leaving Jaehyun alone in the living room ironically enough listening to the song of the man you’d just left him for.

The next time you see Jaehyun is on Inkigayo. Coming to congratulate your boyfriend for their comeback’s first win, it felt like a slap to Jaehyun’s face seeing you there for someone else.

He’d left you a series of texts after that night, apologizing and asking to talk. All of which you ignored, as you wallowed in your own guilt at your own choice. Yes, he initiated the kiss but you kissed him back.

“Congratulations!” you wore your brightest smile, walking towards your boyfriend and his fellow members with a cake in hand after their stage. They all cheer and excitedly huddle around you to blow the single candle on the cake.

Since it was in the lobby, it was Jaehyun’s terrible luck that he had to catch sight of Juyeon’s arm coming around your waist and pulling you closer before planting a kiss on your cheek. Juyeon makes sure to let his eyes hover over Jaehyun as he did so. You told him everything the next day.

The rest of the people in the lobby cooed for the cute couple, while Jaehyun felt everything with a sting on his heart.

As your eyes wandered the crowd, your gaze lands upon your best friend. The one who taught you love, the one you would have chosen over anybody in the world. Time seemingly stopped, and it was at this moment that you saw Jaehyun give you the smallest of smiles.

If he makes you happy…

He turns to leave. Clearly, you’ve made your choice. And it wasn’t him.

I’ll let you go now.

[dvrlingrenjun]

MATCHMAKER ⚯͛

genre: fluff, hogwarts au, winter themed, kind-of soulmate au (not really).

paring: gryffindor!jisung x house-neutral!reader (gender neutral? idk) ft. hufflepuff!chenle & mentions of stray kids felix but doesn't have a huge role.

summary: chenle trying to play cupid for you and jisung was awful, but his efforts weren't in vain.

warnings: mentions of food (honeydukes), chenle dipping like every 5 seconds idk

wc: >1.6k

rose’s notes: hello! like to start off by, this imagine doesnt have too many details about hogwarts. so i hope people who haven't read/watched harry potter understands mostly everything :> secondly, my secret santa is @dreamiehrs ! ah i'm sorry jenna it's a day late ;-; i hope you like this small imagine nonetheless. and lastly, thank you @yongiefilms for stressing, staying up with me to finish both of our works, and proofreading. couldn't do anything without you bitch <3

the soulmate thing i tried was: "when you kiss your soulmate for the first time your entire body glows" but a confession instead (ง •̀_•́)ง

to be honest, you didn’t know what your relationship with park jisung. it was confusing to say the least. one week he would watch the stars with you in the astronomy tower and hold your hand while running away from mr. filch’s wrath for staying up too late. but the next week he acts as if he was annoyed by your presence.

unfortunately for chenle, he was both of your best friends since year one. he was stuck in the middle of this unfortunate situation, hearing both of you rant about each other simultaneously. the endless conversations started to get to chenle’s head to where he could no longer focus on one thing for too long, debating with himself on the matters between the two of you. he desperately wanted the whole problem to be solved already, simply wishing for the two of you to finally be together.

so chenle had come up with an idea for you two to finally confess to each other. to play cupid and so he did. what he planned.

his plan started when you three planned to go to hogsmeade. so here you are, outside of honeydukes, sitting on one of the benches. it wasn't snowing yet but all of the leaves had fallen down the trees. you and chenle were bantering about whether or not every flavor beans were awful or not. while jisung focused on his pink coconut ice, paying no attention to the two of you. chenle sighs giving up on the mini argument, when a certain blonde guy caught his eye.

it was like a lightbulb turned on in his head, chenle found a way to leave the two of you alone. the plan starts now. chenle thought.

chenle stands up from the bench all three of you were previously sitting in. he calls out felix's name hurriedly, the older boy turning around just in time to wait for him.

chenle starts putting away his belongings including his every flavor beans you two recently argued about, and speaks.

“hey i need to work on a partner project with felix, i'll head out first. see you guys at charms class.” he waves goodbye at both of you before jogging to felix.

you blink, not knowing what to do. turning around to jisung, who still was focusing on the pink coconut ice. you opened your mouth to talk but ultimately decided not to, assuming that he isn't in the mood to converse with you. you turned away from the light brown hair boy, opting to eat your chocoballs in the awkward silence instead. much to chenle’s disliking.

seeing how the first time, flaking on you and jisung didn't work, chenle tried the same tactic one more time. this time, you three were at the library, you sitting next to jisung since chenle insists on having the free chair next to him. you were studying subjects like arithmancy and some other subjects you guys weren't the best at. when changing subjects to potions was when chenle said he would go to the restroom, he never came back. making jisung had no choice but to ask you questions about magical properties of some numbers he was having trouble with.

you were done with chenle’s shenanigans. looking for your best friend through the corridors, you finally caught sight of him walking through the courtyard talking to felix. the older noticed you walking towards chenle, wanting to give you two some privacy. he said his farewells to chenle and a nod towards you as an acknowledgment, walking away after.

“what? planning?” chenle asked innocently after his coughing fit was over.

“oh you know, the one where you ditch jisung and i multiple times.” you deadpanned, letting go of chenle’s shoulder.

you shook your head, giving up interrogating the boy, as long as whatever chenle’s planning isn't hurting anyone. then you don't care, you suppose.

a few days have gone by and winter break was emerging, making chenle’s matchmaking plans come to a halt for now.

it was christmas eve morning when you woke up to a loud knock on your bedroom door. you muttered a soft ‘coming!’ before getting off of your cozy bed. thinking it was one of your family members wanting for you to wake up early again. opening the door, you hissed at the person,

“what do you want.” your eyelids closing on themselves from being just woken up.

jisung raises his arm in defense, “easy there tiger, i just wanted to hang out with you during christmas eve.”

knowing that all familiar voice, you shut the door. there was no way you would allow for jisung to see you like this. you didn't bother looking for your hair brush, as you started to untangle the knots in your hair, while looking at a mirror to see if you looked okay.

jisung continued what he was going to say, even if a door was in the way. “i asked chenle to come with me to jump you but he was busy spending time with family. oh yeah i already asked your family to go out and they agreed.” jisung added.

“okay! i’ll go get ready.” you spoke before looking at your wardrobe, thinking what you should wear.

when you wore the clothing to your liking, you finally decided to open your door, wearing some heavy clothes for the snow. you saw jisung waiting out there with his muggle phone at hand.

you and jisung headed to the front door, seeing family members in the living room. you said your goodbyes to your family and left on your way to…

“wait jisung, where are we going?” you asked, looking ahead at the small snowflakes lightly falling down.

“we’re going to an ice-skating rink! how does that sound?” jisung eye-smiled, moving his head slightly to the beat of the christmas songs playing in the background.

“oh that sounds fun!” you liked the idea of ice skating with park jisung.

feeling a sudden breeze, you shoved your hands down your pockets, even though you wore really warm clothing it still was just as cold, the harsh wind biting against your not so exposed skin

seeing you shivering, he stopped walking and reached inside the paper bag you noticed earlier.

“here, i was going to give this to you once we got to the ice-skating rink but i think you would like this now.” jisung pulls his hand out and gives you white mittens that have a cute snowman on one of the corners of the wool. you grabbed the mittens, looking at how adorable the mittens are.

“oh thank you!” you smiled, putting on the mittens. carrying onto the ice skating rink.

when you two reached the rink, you grabbed your respective shoe sizes and finally got to the ice. holding onto jisung’s arm to stabilize yourself,

“did i mention i have never gone ice skating?” you brought up.

"no, but it's okay. you can hold onto me.” jisung offered.

you nodded taking the offer, fixated on trying not to slip on the slippery ice. everything was going well so far with some minor hiccups, until you felt a small dip in the ice making you plummet to the cold hard ice.

of course with you holding onto jisung, you brought jisung down with you. jisung catching himself on top of you.

“ah.” jisung blushed mumbling, he stared into your eyes, noticing how close your faces are.

you and jisung laid there, the both of you being absorbed into the situation. you saw the sparkles in his eyes. something in your gut tells you to confess right now. right there. and so you do.

“i like you,” you breathed out, you felt like you were glowing, you felt like nothing can stop you. “i like you so much, park jisung.”

you and jisung finally became a happy couple after the ice skating rink incident. at the end of the holiday break, you walked hand-in-hand with jisung to station 9⅓ heading back to hogwarts. you two met chenle on the train, he smiles widely noticing the skinship between you and jisung.

“so did my matchmaking skills pay off?” chenle asked, moving his pet owl to the side of the booth.

blush paints jisung’s cheeks, trying to deny chenle’s statement. “absolutely not.”

but chenle knew they had and so did jisung and you.

[meimae]

Look at me, not being on time for my April Immersion Overview as is the usual. (・w・;

First, little blog updates to get out of the way:

I reached 100 followers! Got an influx of people checking out my 1 year update post, and got plenty of nice compliments on my data collection.

For those of you wondering just why I keep up with so much data, it's mostly because it can get really hard to notice how much you're improving in a language especially with something like immersion learning that for people who don't get it feels like a waste of time or a time sink.

Graphs showing consistency, improvement in reading speed, increasing vocabulary counts, and generally just seeing numbers grow turns language learning more fun and motivating for me, and if as a bonus, it encourages someone to try immersion learning then that would be cool!

With that said, whether you're here as a fellow language learner, graphs enthusiast (笑), or just want some Japanese media recommendations, ようこそ! 

Also, made a tiny DP change - it’s チト from 少女週末旅行. Pretty sure it’s the first manga series I ever finished in Japanese (not the first one I started since ちはやふる is still ongoing), and I always felt a bit of a ☆connection☆ with  her - between her book-loving personality and being a no-nonsense kind of person, there was no way for me not to enjoy her character. Great beginner anime/manga if you’re not into most beginner recommendations.

-☆-

April has been a pretty good immersion month, as I was able to dip my toes in a variety of media. A bit competitive, too! The club I joined has been pulling all the stops to get to the Top 20 Immersion Leaderboard in it’s first month. I was able to snag the 9th spot among a bunch of people of different comprehension levels (the majority being N1+ since they’re able to comprehend much more and in turn stand longer immersion hours). Lots of tiny complaints though of potential “whitenoising” content (”listening” and “reading” but not comprehending very well just to get a large number to post), but really what can you do? People lie all the time on the internet. Besides, it’s internet points that doesn’t do anything beyond being a little shiny I guess.

Enough about that, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details you came here for!

ANIME

フルーツバスケット

Might need to rewatch this one. Felt like I didn’t connect with the characters the way the rest of its fandom has. I’m kinda sad about it, since I normally love Slice of Life and Fantasy, and I know this is one of my friend’s diehard shows.

ラブライブ! School Idol Project S2

A filler anime to watch tbh. Nice and easy enough to follow for beginners. Pretty good songs. With regards to it being a show about music and moe, I still 100% prefer K-On! if I’m going to be honest, but for a show about non-toxic idols, it’s good!

魔法少女まどか☆マギカ

First read this as English translated manga when I was 13 or something. Mistakes were made. Let’s all just agree to throw キュウベえ into a pit of fire and never talk about it again. Great ending and a show that really reworked the magical girl genre. But seriously, I was traumatized by マミ’s death then and now, help.

四月は君の嘘

Already knew what was going to happen even before watching this so I didn’t ugly cry like I was expecting. Still got that awful sinking feeling though. 10/10 would recommend for a good cry. Also, I’m planning to read the manga, might enjoy that more, because I’ve always liked it more than anime actually. *shocked pikachu face*

ホリミヤ

Watched before I even finished the manga which felt like a mistake at first until I realized that it perfectly stops where I stopped reading. Nice and comfy anime, the kind I would have loved as a teen. Fun animation too, making parts very dramatic even though it wasn’t really that deep of an issue even in the manga. Just teens feeling feelings. Still salty that we lose bad boy styled 宮村, but I get why it had to happen.

AUDIOBOOKS

氷菓

Second re-listen. I understand it fine, but it’s very easy to drift off when you can’t catch all the words so I had to replay often. Will have to mine more from the anime/book.

君の名は

I mined from the anime, and was really pleased to be able to follow all 6 hours of this audiobook perfectly fine. Will need to read the book, because I realized just how seamless reading it would be after listening to it with hardly any issue.

BOOKS

キッチェン

Completed! Read my thoughts about it and see my stats on this post.

君の膵臓を食べたい

Still trudging on with this one. It’s not a bad story, it’s pretty well written actually, I just made the mistake of watching both the anime and live adaptation first, so I know exactly what’s going to happen and it’s killing my motivation to keep reading. I guess reading the book first before watching the movie still applies in any language with me. Really need to 頑張れ and finish so I can move on. 

三日間の幸福

Started reading towards the end of the month, mostly because I realized that every chapter is only 5000-15000 characters long, and I was able to read up to 40k in a day with Island most days. Only two chapters read so far though because I got distracted by manga, but it’s shaping up to be a really good plot and potentially a really sad one, too, so I’m interested.

DRAMA

花ざかりの君たちへ イケメンパラダイス

Heard this was a classic so I gave it a try. Loved 生田 斗真’s character in this one the most especially all his internal dialogue acted out. Also, 小栗 旬 in anything is bound to be a good watch. Simple and fun watch. They dragged the ending so much though lmao 

ごくせん

Look, I see 松本 潤, I click. Definitely the kind of show you should watch for some great life advice. Planning to watch the 2nd and 3rd seasons even if there is a terrible lack of 松本 潤, because I love my strong female protagonists, and man, ヤンクミ is such a great character. Need to read the manga, too, if I can find it.

極主夫道

Oof, this was kind of hard. The yakuza talk was throwing me off, but the rest of it was enjoyable. Not really plot heavy as I thought it was going to be. The comedy side of it was fun and predictable after the first few episodes. Overall, pretty good slice of life, family story with a twist.

MANGA

Read a bunch of manga this month, mostly because I am struggling to find the next vn to read.

おやすみプンプン

Read a couple of volumes (6-7). This manga is so good, but it’s so depressing I need to stop to take a breather every once in a while. Please don’t leave any spoilers. The club has been reacting to me reading this, and it has mostly been a lot of crying emotes. It’s both been enjoyable to see and really worrying. 笑

チェンソーマン

Club recommendation. Only read the 1st volume so far. I really need to get into more 少年 anime/manga. That’s currently my 苦手 genre which is awful because literally all the top anime/manga is 少年 help. I just can’t enjoy it much still even though it’s comprehensible to me.

ちはやふる 中学生編

Read Vol. 1, chill read to me at this point after reading 45 volumes of the regular manga. Look, it’s my favorite 幼馴染 manga in baby format, of course I’m going to read this! 太一 has been a flake way before season 3 confirmed. Don’t come at me たいちはや stans bc I also like his character.

約束のネバーランド

Volume 7. I’m taking my sweet time with this one, because I heard the anime for season 2 sucked, so I’m avoiding it like the plague. This is 少年 how am I enjoying this and not everything else what.

ヲタクに恋は難しい

Enjoyed the anime hated the movie why did they make it a musical that sucked (ps i normally love musicals hated this one) 

The オタク jargon is kinda hard to read suprisingly but I do enjoy this ship very much. It’s a lighthearted take to otaku culture which is great because seriously it’s scary out there.

ツバサ -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-

It’s my childhood ship, obviously I will read this again (read in English several years ago). Still as plot twisty as I remember it being (now at a bonus hard level reading it in Japanese 笑). Really enjoyed reading this one (I finished it this May).

-☆-

I’m starting to really dislike furigana in manga. It was a great help as a beginner, but now it’s like training wheels that you can’t take off. I feel like the gains I’m getting from manga is much lower than it was when I first started which makes me both proud of how far I’ve come, but also sad because I love manga. Sad that I might have to start choose VNs over it, because it’s not going to challenge me as much going forward. I mean it didn’t stop me from reading a lot of it this month, but you get the picture.

VISUAL NOVELS

ISLAND

Completed! See my stats and read my long spoiler filled post here.

ファタモルガーナの館

Picked up this VN and finished two doors (15 hours) before stopping. On the fence about it, because it has been kind of predictable so far, and I don’t particularly enjoy the horror genre. That said, this is more psychological than anything, so it’s probably not that that’s putting me off. The language is not exactly difficult, too - maybe some oddly specific words because it is after all historical fiction (which is one of my favorite genres, btw), and 敬語 is definitely interesting to read for once after encountering so many お嬢様 characters in anime/drama so far. 

I think maybe it’s the conversations that are kind of dull - dots (silence) every few clicks that keeps breaking the flow of reading. Probably judging it really harshly too early, because it’s rated so high everywhere, and I just have high expectations. Definitely not dropping it yet though, just taking a break and testing a couple of other VNs before I settle with whatever I end up choosing. It is, after all, going to be another 50+ hour read, and I just don’t want to not enjoy the process, because having fun with the process is a huge part of immersion learning.

Let me know if you’ve read Fata and if I should continue! 

-☆-

That’s it for this month!

If you have any suggestions on what to watch and read next, please send me a reply, especially for VNs because I’m struggling over here.

[the-great-imagines-of-1812]

La Vie En Rose- Bucky Barnes x Rogers! reader

Summary: By some miracle, Bucky Barnes doesn’t fall of the train on that cold day in the Swiss alps in 1945. He spend the rest of his days with his girl; you.

Song Used: La Vie En Rose // (The Louis Armstrong version)

Hold me close and hold me fast The magic spell you cast 

You remember the day your Sergeant first set foot in New York City after 2 years of fighting overseas so vividly. Two pairs of arms clutched each of yours; Rebecca, Bucky’s sister, on one side and Winnifred, his mom, on the other. 

Dozens on regiments have reached the US several days before, but because both Bucky and Steve were stuck on one last mission, something in The Swiss Alps, as he had expressed in a letter, they were due on the second to last ship.

But now you were here. Two years of tears, nail-biting anxiety, and exchanging letters back and forth had finally come to an end, and soon both your boys were coming home. 

If it weren’t for the three of you standing near the back, you wouldn’t have seen the ship due to all the people crowding the Brooklyn harbor. Thousands of wives, sisters, brothers, families and best friends all crowded together on that day were there were no clouds in the sky. 

It seemed like some sort of sign. All the madness of war had finally reached it’s end; and now the sun was welcoming the country’s men home.

The magic spell you cast This is "La vie en rose"

You didn’t see Steve or Bucky at first. Rebecca clutched on to you, the poor girl almost breaking out into sobs as the three of you had been waiting nearly an hour since the boat had come into sight. 

Winnifred stood on the very tip of her heels, hand over her eyes, in an attempt to block out the sun so she could get a better look at the soldiers walking down the gangplank. 

The shriek she let out could’ve made you deaf if you didn’t realize what it was for. Helping Rebecca up from the ground where she had collapsed, you clasped a hand over you mouth as the last of the soldiers set foot on solid ground, Bucky and Steve among them. 

Rebecca sped away quickly, her body crashing onto her brother’s in a tight hug. Walking up to them yourself, with Winnifred close behind, you gave Steve a tap on the shoulder and he turned around with a smile.

“Stevie, look at you! You’re so tall now. You’ll have to reach the flour on the shelf for me now.” you smiled, while he wrapped you in a now- tight - hug. 

“I have absolutely no problem at all reaching the flour for-” he attempted to answer you, but was cut off by Bucky.

“What m’ I,  dollface, chopped liver?” He said from behind you. 

Turning around and practically jumping on him, he wrapped two arms around your back. He was warm and smelled like fresh pine. Tucking your head into his neck, you felted grounded and safe. 

Because he was home. 

“Let go of the sister, Buck. She does live with me, and we oughta to all go home to catch a rest.”

“Oh shove off Steve. She may be your sister, but she’s my girl and I missed her.”

When you kiss me, heaven sighs And though I close my eyes I see "La vie en rose"

The day that Bucky got down on one knee with his mom’s ring in hand was one you’ll remember for ever. 

It was a year after he had come home, and Steve had put him through the third degree (despite being his best friend) when he stood at the doorway of the small apartment that you and Steve shared with a small bunch of flowers.

You had come out a few minutes later, with a dusty green dress, hair curled to perfection and a red lip.

Steve had demanded that he bring you home by 9, how he couldn't  hurt you, the regular stuff he would say when Bucky came to take you out on a date. 

The stars seemed to shine for only you two that night. There was a soft jazz tune playing throughout the park. The pair of you had just gone to dinner, and couldn’t stop giggling, which earned you a few stares from the elderly people trying to enjoy a quiet night.

But he sat you down on a bench, grabbed both your hands gently, while he got down on one knee, probably delivering what was the most moving monologue you had ever heard in your life:

“Y/N M/N Rogers, love of my life, doll-”

You knew what was coming. Tears streamed down your face in happiness. “Buck I-”

“Just please hun- let me say what I gotta’ say. We’ve known each other for a very long time now. And ever since I can remember, Steve always threatened to punch me whenever I did so much as look at you.”

This earned a laugh from you.

“But somehow, we made it work, and the three of us ran around Hell’s Kitchen like the mighty trio we still are. Hiding under the watchful eye of Steve in our late teens and early twenty’s was not easy- but here we are. And before I left for England, I promised I was gonna marry ya. And I’m a man of my word.”

He let go of both your hands to dig for something in his pocket. After a few seconds, he pulled out a little red box.

“This ring belonged to my mom, and now it’s mine to use. I hope you’ll let me give it to you. You are the love of my life. I might not have much, but I sure love you with everything I have. Will you marry me?”

You practically jumped on him, and if he wasn’t on one knee and hadn’t managed to maintain balance, he would’ve fallen over. Peppering kisses all over his face while he wrapped his arms around you. 

“I’ll take this as a yes, doll?”

“You bet, Sergeant.”

“Now let me put this ring on you, hmm?”

When you press me to your heart I'm in a world apart

You became Mr. and Mrs. Barnes in the fall of that same year. It was a small wedding, so there wasn’t much planning.

It was held in one of Howard Stark’s many residences, an small estate in Albany, which he offered to have the wedding held, and even officiated himself, as he had been a close friend of yours since you had entered a career in science, and had helped Bucky and Steve overseas. 

There weren’t may people in attendance, but that was exactly what you and Bucky had wanted. There was Steve and your soon-to-be sister in law, Peggy (which you had gotten along fabulously with), Bucky’s mother and father and siblings, Howard himself (of course) and his girlfriend, Maria.

The golden rays of the sun shone through the high windows, light bouncing off practically everything in the room. You had previously saved up enough for a dress, and maybe Howard had given you a bonus in the past couple of weeks just so you could. He didn’t tell you that, of course.

As soon as you had been pronounced man and wife, Bucky swept you up in his arms, giving you a quick spin, dipping you, which got “Calm down you two rabbits-” from Howard. Maria slapped him after.

Celebration soon followed in the dining room of the home, with a home-made meal, courtesy of Winnifred, Rebecca, Peggy and Maria all together.

You couldn’t have been more thankful.

A world where roses bloom And when you speak, angels sing from above

The Barnes Family had been blessed with twins two years later, in 1948. One girl, and one boy; Rebecca Margaret Barnes and Robert Howard Barnes. They lit up both you and Bucky’s life, and you both became involved in a much more domestic life, now moving to the suburbs, but still remaining in the state of New York in order to be close to friends and family, which now included your new niece, Sarah Y/N Rogers. 

Howard and Maria had yet to have kids, but they were in no rush to get married, either. 

Every weekday Bucky would come home from work at the bank, were he was finally able to make the money he had been dreaming of his entire life, and your worked from home, making many blueprints for Stark Industries, which you were now the co-owner of, and spent some days at your office in the city while Maria had offered to babysit numerous times. 

Fridays Bucky would bring home soda-pop for the entire family, which was then followed by a big dinner made by you, and dancing in the living room with Bucky till’ midnight, when the kids were already in bed. 

Saturdays were for the Rogers, Barnes and Stark families to get together and have a picnic in the park you, Bucky, and Steve had grown up in. Maria always had the habit of bringing the watermelon, you the apple pie, and Peggy with her famous  English biscuits. 

Sundays, Winnifred practically dragged three families to church, much to everyone’s protest, but it was always followed by a plentiful Sunday dinner.

Nobody ever complained about that.

Everyday words seem to turn into love songs Give your heart and soul to me,

The years had passed, yet none of these traditions faltered, even when all the kids were of age to leave for their college education. 

Minus one Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark, who had been born in 1970. He was the youngest of the bunch. 

As Rebecca and Robert Jr. had moved off to college in New Jersey at the same time, you and Bucky moved back to the city, not to far from The Starks.

The only one tradition that never faltered was yours and Bucky’s dancing on Friday nights, where you often danced to the song form your wedding- “Dream A Little Dream of Me”

You would love and cherish the small things. You knew that then, you knew that now. 

To love and remember, because as long as you and Bucky had each other, you would always- what was the phrase the French used? oh, right.

You would always see La Vie en Rose.

[guileheroine]

a sky full of song, chapter two

As her friendship with the Princess continues to deepen, a road trip to the Earth Kingdom compels Asami to reflect on her place in the world / Korrasami royalty AU / ao3 / chapter one

Asami exchanged eager glances with Miki and Khiem. Silaq stood by the door with his arms crossed casually, but they were all invested. As soon as the rickety panel separating them from the magic chamber slid aside and Korra emerged out, Miki caught her arm.

Asami caught the other one. "So what did she say?"

"Hey! That's between me and Mistress Meng." Korra winked, while Asami rolled her eyes. "Your turn, quick. She was meant to close fifteen minutes ago but I gave her a little extra so she'd do everyone. At the behest of the princess and all."

Asami almost expected her to wink again as she pushed her through the door. "We'll get dinner and head for the inn afterwards," she heard her say to the others.

Everyone meant the three waiting after Asami, so Korra must have paid the old woman handsomely indeed, and Asami expected to be rushed through the process. Instead she found herself in a smoky little tearoom, at the pointed end of a gaze glittering with curiosity.

"And who are you when the Princess isn't around?"

Asami coughed, eyes smarting in the smoke. "A blacksmith at the palace. One of her companions."

"I see. Married yet?" Mistress Meng posed the question as discreetly as possible, after her eyes had surreptitiously scanned Asami for any telltale glints of yellow gold.

"No, madam. I only wish." Asami bit the inside of her cheek and humoured the woman. This region of the Earth Kingdom was mighty superstitious, and the lady was smart to make a decades-long vocation of it. If Asami could see straight through it... well, Mistress Meng needn't know she was impervious to her airs.

"Very well." Mistress Meng pulled up her voluminous sleeve. "Drink of this vial and place your palm out for me."

Asami swallowed the sweet concoction she was handed and closed her eyes to protect them, while Mistress Meng put a papery hand under hers. She settled comfortably on the cushions, wondering what her fortune would hold.

Already life had taken a turn for the wondrous. They had been on the road for the better part of a week now, though it felt longer. The wedding of the Earth Prince was in another ten days, and Makapu Village here was one of their nightly stops on the great east road that would bring them to Ba Sing Se. Korra had convinced her to come along with her small hand-picked party, rebuffing the Lotus Guard that King Tonraq had offered. In the end, all Asami had to do was rush the final week of her apprentices' training and visit the palace dressmaker in between to have a couple of fancy gowns made—although Korra whispered in her ear, distractingly enough, that the finery was only for Ba Sing Se and they would wander free the rest of the time. So they had, riding down through the great forests of the north, crossing the choppy sea by ship, and camping in the mountains of the northern Earth Kingdom.

"My wisdom for you, dear," Mistress Meng pronounced dramatically, snapping Asami out of her reverie, "is that seeking true love is like asking for the moon…"

Asami's first faintly irritable thought was, that's not a fortune. The second, later that evening, quieter, would be, tell me something new.

"But," Meng drew the word out in a long croak, closing the other hand over Asami's, "it cannot come down from heaven, if you do not find the courage to ask."

Asami made a mental note, because the others would want to hear something as extravagant as that.

-

Early the next morning, they were dallying on the benches in the yard, mulling over whether to take a detour to the lake as they prepared to depart.

"Too cold to swim," said Miki dismissively, chewing on some berries she had brought out from the breakfast table, "even for me. And that one will freeze to death."

She had been chosen by Korra as part of the entourage for being one of the more intrepid and easygoing members of the staff, and they were good friends besides. She tossed a few nuts to Asami, who pulled her hand out from beneath her shawl just in time to catch them.

"You with the reflexes," Miki whistled, satisfied.

On the bench across from Asami, Silaq, bodyguard to the Princess (that was his official capacity), clasped his broad hands together over the map he had laid out. "Well, Mistress Meng did say I need to take some risks today." He winked at Asami, who scrunched her nose teasingly. He was a large and genial man, and had been kind to her since he was first tasked with helping haul her iron to the smithy from the ships that visited Agna Q'ela from the quarries.

"Wait, didn't she say that to everyone?" Korra piped loudly, directing her attention to the table and away from the innkeeper's son on her hip.

"She said that to everyone," Khiem said simultaneously. He had just finished saddling up their packs, and he stood tickling the reinmule's belly for a moment. Khiem took care of the Princess's dogs at home, and the pack animals on the road.

"Anyway, lake," Korra said with finality, and then softened it with a, "We're not in a rush, are we?"

It was settled. It wasn't that Korra was used to having the last word so much as everyone was generally in accord with her decision. Asami pulled the thick shawl around her, enjoying the crisp air. She had missed this—the kind of morning chill that made you shiver in relish rather than fright.

Korra had turned back to the innkeeper's son, who was being introduced to her mare. The child and the white-coated elk horse regarded one another with mutual caution. Asami sympathised with his wariness. It had taken her a while to warm up to the elk horses, who turned restless with cabin fever aboard the ship soon after Asami had first met them. But since then she had taken to the mount Korra and Khiem brought for her, a sable stallion who liked when Asami rested her face in the scoops of his ostentatious antlers.

"A show-off, like you," Korra said later, as they rode abreast, the lake behind them. "That's why I chose him."

Asami scoffed and laughed, not quite dismissively. She tugged the towel from her hair so that the midday sun could dry it. Asami had taken an inadvisable, yet irresistible, dip in the lake; her scream upon contact with the frigid waters had echoed through the forest bounding them, scattering the birds. Korra and Silaq, the resident waterbenders, had dove in without hesitation. It took a little extra effort to warm the waters as they swam, but polar people did it by instinct. Miki the non-bender had fought the cold valiantly, while Khiem abstained, laughing them off from the bank.

"I'm only moved by the spirit of adventure," Asami said, tossing her wet hair to her back.

The others rode a way ahead of them on the current path, a wide trail shrouded on either side by trees twice as tall as any at the north pole, strewn with their needles. The smell of spring came strong from the woods. Summer crept close on their tails.

"I wonder how they're doing back at the shop," Asami mused.

"You're not worried, are you?" Korra said, and before Asami could answer she corrected herself. "No, you're not. You've been having way too much fun this week."

Asami stared at her with a soundless laugh.

"And to think I had to drag you!"

"You didn't drag me! It's just that I was worried. But I didn't realise how much of a break I needed until we left." Over the week, Asami had provided some minor wheelwrighting services to those they met on the road, but for the most part she was blissfully free of strenuous work. Breathing in the clear air beyond the royal forge, she was sensible to sights and sensations she had largely been shut off from for a year, her escapades with Korra notwithstanding.

"Did you always know you wanted to be a blacksmith? I mean, did you choose such a gruelling trade?" Korra said.

"Oh," Asami said, staggering on the question while she caught up to Korra's thinking. "Um, actually, I'm not sure I ever thought about it—maybe I should have, huh? It's just what I was always supposed to do, growing up with my father."

"I know what that's like…" Korra sucked air through her teeth. Then she cocked her head. "For what it's worth, I'm sure there's a lot you'd be great at, if you ever wanted to switch things up."

Asami gave her a humble little mock curtsey, as far as possible on horseback. "And you? Have you wondered who you might be if you weren't the Princess of the North?" That was the title that always went before their company in these parts.

"Ah, not really." Korra sounded recalcitrant, like she didn't want to entertain the trail of thought for fear it might leave her wistful.

It wasn't a mood Asami wanted to encourage. "Well, then let me. First of all, it's quite easy to imagine the improvement on your personality we'd have if you weren't highborn—"

Korra wasn't hard to rile. "You're awful!"

Distraction achieved, Asami backed down. "And luckily, you really aren't," she countered without a beat, smiling her deference. She felt her own eyes soften when Korra returned the smile, disarmed and placated. Then Asami was humbled in sincerity, at the instant enhancement she had made on Korra's mood.

"You'd make a good princess," Korra said. "Better than me."

"No," Asami returned, "that's not true."

Though she meant it, she sounded less convincing to her own ears this time, because she was willing the bittersweetness out of her voice. "Your people love you," she added. "They don't see the slow parts. They see a warrior, passionate and big-hearted. And I know their trust means the world to you, even if you get impatient sometimes."

Some of the levity had dissipated, the air with all its scents was heavy now, and Asami wondered if she had overstepped. "Me," she continued, "I can't talk to someone on the street like I've known them my whole life."

After a long second, Korra said, "You could do the three hour round tables." It wasn't a counter to Asami's statement but a submission; and in responding so, Korra was gently accepting her kindnesses as well.

Asami concurred with a sigh. They would make a good team, then. They did .

The path was widening out now, but so were the trees, prickly branches curving into their way. A pleasant breeze rustled in them, softening the hard sunlight into an ideal haze. They both closed their eyes against it for a while.

"Well," Korra said, snapping off some needles from the branches pushing against her, "enjoy this while it lasts, because we'll probably have to sneak out at night if we want any freedom in Ba Sing Se."

"Uh-huh." Asami eyed her, brow arched. "Could it be that that's why we're taking the long route?"

Korra's eyes crinkled. "It's not a secret, Asami."

"Shh."

Korra threw her clump of twigs and needles at her, and they both laughed.

"You're kind of dreading it, aren't you?" Asami said. "Why… You'll be a great envoy for the tribes regardless of whatever the Earth elite think of us. And the King can't be too concerned if he let the council delegate to you... I mean, how hard can it be to attend a wedding?"

"You know, my mother's hoping it's going to provoke something in me."

"The mission?" Asami shielded her eyes as she gazed ahead to see where the others were. Accustomed to trips with Korra alone, she had forgotten to keep them in account.

"The wedding."

Asami turned back to Korra. "Is that right?" She pouted sympathetically. "She says that all the time. She's hoping everyone you meet with will magically infuse you with dreams of courtship."

"Well, this time, it's my dad, too."

"Oh… "

Korra gave her an exasperated look; Asami laughed, shaking her head.

"I mean, it's a funny thing to tell you when you're literally about to run away."

"That's what I thought! But I guess at least it means he thinks my sense of diplomatic responsibility has improved."

Asami got the impression that it wasn't that much of a bright side to Korra, and it coloured the air strangely again, but then she was startled into distraction. A butterfly had alighted on her nose, appearing from nowhere. It had been a long time indeed since she had seen one. Korra turned sharply at her gasp of delight. Gently, Asami coaxed it to crawl onto her hand, which she held out to Korra.

"These were my favourite! I used to plant flowers just to attract them."

"I see. So was that hard for you? Not being attractive enough for them all on your own?"

It took Asami a moment to understand her meaning, and then she sniggered. The butterfly wove around Korra and her stallion before flying off, and once they had watched it go, she said, "Hey, why are you in such a mood today?" She waited for Korra to return her pointed glance. "Tired of me already?"

Korra shook her head, sweeping her hand through the stallion's fur. "What? I adore you."

They did not look at each other then. Asami's knuckles tightened on the reins while the thrill of the words rose and abated. It was just a second in their familiar repartee, a long and blistering second. Korra fiddled with the bridle on her mount.

"Alright, well, since you're feeling so belligerent, why don't you race me?" Asami shifted on her mount. "We should catch up to the others."

It was for the best, because the farther they traveled from the Water Kingdoms, the keener the sense of possibility became, and the softer and more yielding the boundaries Asami knew, which meant all the more that she couldn't risk prodding them. And since the excitement she felt was for the fresh and familiar landscapes, not just from them, Asami directed her mind to that. Korra's spirits had been high and easy, too, from the advent of their journey—until today, it seemed. It occurred to Asami that Korra had never actually mentioned what Mistress Meng had divined for her.

-

In the town of Tenduk, it had been arranged for Princess Korra to open a new museum. Asami knew that cutting ribbons wasn't one of Korra's favourite activities, as it usually preceded a lot of sitting through—or worse, making—formal speeches. But the palace had arranged it upon request by the town, after the mayor learnt that they would likely be passing through that part of the kingdom when the museum was scheduled to open.

The night before, they arrived at the town's finest guesthouse. It was jam-packed, owing to the impending ceremony, but they offered Korra the final single room. Miki, however, was nursing the final strains of a back injury from a snowshoeing accident in the winter, and Korra insisted she take it with its softer bed. It left her to accompany Asami in the shared room. When they sat on the plentiful cushions over a nightcap of strong tea, they agreed it recalled Korra's apartments at home. Except the night outside was darker than it ever got with snow and ice around, and beyond was a foreign land that held them to no account, far from any castle, the room they lodged in belonging to neither of them. That made it different in a way they couldn't quite discuss aloud.

Once Korra was ready for bed, Asami shut the window, where she had been listening to the cicadas chirp in the moonless night. Korra turned out the smelly lamp. It was cool inside now, and the dark almost too eerie to sleep in. From the other side of the bed, she heard Korra sigh.

"Excited for tomorrow?"

"Sure. Asami?"

She was about to say princess, into the dark and thrumming night, but the circumstances might have carried it to an unfamiliar place, so she bit her tongue. "Hm?"

"Would you stay here, if you could?"

Here? Asami thought, before it dawned.

There was a beat before Korra spoke again. "In the Earth Kingdom. You miss it, don't you?"

"It's been a long time since I lived here. It was a long time before the war, even."

But it was a notion Asami hadn't realised she was nurturing, until Korra put it to words. It was true that the north was not the only place she could have made her post-war life—she'd simply taken the first chance that befell her to escape her father's legacy. In any case, the future certainly held other options, if the future looked the way she thought it might.

Korra didn't push, though Asami waited to see if she would ask again. Instead all there was was the dim whir of the cicadas, and the space on the bed between them.

"Maybe one day," Asami said finally. "Who can say?"

"Of course," Korra replied softly. The way she said it made Asami wonder, and suppress the immediate urge she had to reach out for her.

Korra cleared her throat. "Are you sleepy? I'm not."

"No." Asami sprang on the word, overhasty.

"Let's walk in the garden." Korra was out of bed no sooner than Asami had heard her words. "It looked so nice, and we probably won't have time tomorrow."

After a breakfast that included the fried cicadas Korra had begun to inquire about not five minutes into their stroll, they were led to the museum. Streamers hung from the building with the banners of all four kingdoms on them—it was the first public collection to open that brought cultural displays from across the world, a gesture of harmony after the war. After Korra cut the ribbon on the flagstones in front of a politely buzzing crowd, Asami and the others hung behind while she led the first patrons that had queued up inside. The impromptu tour that ensued, they later heard, had not been a part of the plan, but it proved a hit with the audience, who hadn't expected to hear the Northern Princess regale them firsthand.

"It must have been nice to put your royal history education to use for the first time ever," Miki commented, while they sat together picnicking afterwards. Korra spluttered her agreement, laying back on the mats they had loaned from the guesthouse.

"I just did the Water wing," she said, "so, um, the other hundred books could have been more useful."

"You can put some more of it to the test for the Earth Queen," Khiem said dourly, "impress her a little."

Korra struggled up and reached to steal some flatbread from his plate. "You want to feed me to the wolves!"

Asami giggled and followed suit, tearing some bread. Korra had done well, made the event her own. She was skilful now at knowing when to put her touch on things, how the line should be toed; a sense that served a figure such as herself well. Her mood, in turn, was vibrant today. Asami took the effort to gaze up at the sunset, away from Korra reclining in its glow.

Silaq was cutting persimmons from the trees around them, with permission from the warden that had scouted this spot outside the town for them. Some of the surrounding trees were blooming, while others were fat with fruit.

"Shake them!" Asami called. "You just have to shake them, and they'll fall."

Some of the fruit hit their heads on the way down. Asami took one of the blossoms in her lap and put it in Korra's hair as a token of congratulation, and Korra caught her hand for a moment as it left, beaming. As Korra stood to join Silaq in gathering the fruit, Asami thought that perhaps their moods had switched today. Korra's words last night had imparted an itch in the back of her mind. She bit into a persimmon and the silky cinnamon taste only intensified the nostalgic pang.

She turned to Khiem, who was a rare earthbender who had been born at the North Pole. "Khiem, how did you end up in Agna Q'ela? Did I ever ask?" She offered him the fruit.

"Same as you, I suppose," he laughed.

What did that mean? At Asami's creasing brow, he took a bite from the persimmon and continued.

"My father moved there from Yousheng prefecture to breed elk horses. The wild elk horses in the north… They're not suitable as mounts. When the King wanted elk horses for riding, my father was hired to take animals from the continent to breed with them so they could be domesticated, and to teach the royal stables how to keep them."

"Wow," Asami said. "I see—"

"Like your foundry."

"Yes, I got it," she laughed. "So he never came back?"

Khiem shook his head. "He fell in love with a northern girl." He handed the persimmon back; it was Asami's turn. "Are you planning to return? I hear your apprentices are shaping up."

"I haven't thought about it," Asami admitted. "But I think that thought will be due soon."

"Well, it's not an easy place to settle unless you grew up there. I doubt you have everything you want in the Water Kingdoms…"

No, indeed.

It was midday when they arrived in Ba Sing Se, sweaty and hungry. At the east gates of the Lower Ring, they were met by a representative of the Earth Queen, and another from the Water consulate here in the city, who took them up into the palace and housed them like all the other guests that had been filtering in from all four kingdoms. The wedding was tomorrow, and tonight they would soiree with the other guests, but they took their lunch with the Water consul in the Upper Ring.

The consul received them eagerly, and served them fresh seasonal fare, introducing the latest goings-on in the city.

"All the festivities down there are beautiful," Korra enthused. The party was already in full swing in Ba Sing Se; they only had one prince, after all.

"Wait until you see the fire show tonight," the consul said. "There's more than just gold in the Earth Queen's coffers. Gunpowder! They have the finest technicians working on it. That will be something to behold for us northerners."

Korra's face lit up at the mention of fireworks. Asami was ready to return her grin when she sought her gaze, as she passed her the bowl of sauteed greens. She smiled behind her cup as Korra told the consul all about her pyrotechnics.

"Your Highness," he said, when they sat in the veranda office and rested afterwards, "there is the matter of the wedding gift, and venue, and the list of attendees for the ball tonight with the Queen and the Prince… There are a number you should definitely meet with, the others I will leave to your discretion. The wedding itself will be at the Summer Palace in the morning... doubtless the Earth royals will be preoccupied, so make your acquaintances tonight and then enjoy the day, I say..."

While the consul engaged Korra on these matters, Asami turned to Silaq. "Will we all go tonight?"

"Yes, I think so. It's a party, not a meeting. Remember your titles, though."

"Titles? How will I know—"

He patted her shoulder. "For Korra, I mean. In the palace, in company, it will be your highness —or my lady, or miss if you're feeling brave… And we'll be her household, since we're all in the employ of the palace."

"That's kind of fun," Asami said, and they shared a quiet laugh.

Their rooms at the Royal Palace were lavish. Asami and Miki hurried through the halls once they were clear of any staff, admiring the thick tapestries and the ornaments of silver, jade, and cinnabar. Each object and surface seemed to heave with ancient grandeur. They slipped into their second finest dresses, the Water folk in shades of stunning and patriotic blue. Asami kept her hair down. She had been taking every chance to, since it was an impossibility when she was at work. The gathering commenced in a series of massive drawing rooms, the largest boasting a high, golden vault carved with star maps and scenes from legend. Asami could have spent all evening gazing up. While Korra met with various nobles, she and the others clung close to one another, drinking careful amounts and milling with the looser guests. After a while, they fell into a game of hunting the aristocrats, pointing and guessing discreetly from the seating map who each of the fanciest guests were. When it was time, however, they all had to be introduced to the man whose wedding they had come for.

"Princess Korra! You , my lady, look ravishing ."

Korra and Prince Wu bowed to one other; a shallower and stiffer movement than the one Asami was used to seeing in Agna Q'ela. He had removed the tasselled crown he first entered in, leaving his mantle of green silks to shine, which he wore over a matching tunic lined with gold brocade. If not for the top-notch tailoring, they would have swallowed him.

Korra held her hand out for him to kiss, and then when she kissed his cheek as customary, a look of daze befell the Prince that made Miki clinch Asami's arm and snort. In fact, Prince Wu kissed the hands of all the ladies once Korra had named them to step forward and bow—decorum be damned—and he even offered Silaq a rather shy pat on his solid arm. Korra's eyes were narrowed, lips pressed tight, caught between irritation and laughter. Korra didn't like the Earth Prince. Asami didn't think she would either, but he was certainly a character.

The prince's betrothed, on the other hand, while he did not turn heads, left a more curious impression. He was modestly but finely dressed—the seemingly plain cut shirt clearly made from the finest weave upon a second glance—but he spoke little and did not seem to capture any of the guests for long. Naturally, he was the first topic of conversation when they sat for a bite. Korra's party shared their table with a couple chatty ladies, daughters from some southern freehold, who seemed to know all there was to know.

"That man is a commoner," one of them hiccupped over her sweetmeats. "Nothing but a beautiful, common commoner."

Korra's head rose instantly and she set her chopsticks down halfway to her mouth. "Oh, really?"

"Rumour has it," her sister to her left leaned in with a conspiratorial tone, "he was born in the slums in the Lower Ring and abandoned by his hussy mother. He would have died if one of the maidservants here didn't rescue him and raise him as her own."

The final southern woman, clearly the elder, cast them both reproving looks, as if she was disappointed that they would relay this gossip before the Princess of the North..

"One of the staff I was chatting to in our foyer said he used to be the Prince's bodyguard," Miki said. "Far to go, huh?"

"Or close, I guess," Khiem said, next to Asami, elbowing Silaq suggestively. Korra scoffed at him.

"I wonder what the Earth Queen thought of that," she said.

The older woman answered cautiously. "I'd wager the Prince just pitched a fit until she relented. Love him or hate him, not having his way is a foreign concept to His Highness."

The youngest girl was bored of this now. She turned to Asami, who had noticed her hawkish gaze on her once or twice. "Are you from the Fire Empire, Miss? You have a look."

"I am," Asami said. "Though I was born here in the Earth Kingdom. But I'm a blacksmith in the north now."

"A blacksmith." The girl repeated. She looked ahead, and her chin turned up a fraction as she sipped. "My sifu defeated the master arrowsmith for the Yuyan Archers during the war, and he says Fire Empire smiths are deadly warmongers."

Asami's heart sank in a flare of regret. From the corner of each eye, she saw the girl's sister shooting her a warning glance, and Korra clenching her jaw. Korra, of course, was not above invoking her station to put an enemy in their place.

"It's alright," Asami said quickly. "He's correct, unfortunately. But I haven't been with them a long time. I'm making amends."

Korra grazed her arm under the table. She already felt guarded here and she knew that Asami felt doubly conspicuous in these grand halls. At least the young lady had the good sense to look contrite.

"You look like... a goddess of the forge," Korra said, her cheek in her palm, leaning back to assess the gown.

Asami snorted, her sharp stance before the mirror failing. They had risen early and were mostly ready by the time the sun was fully up. It would take a half hour by rickshaw to reach the Summer Palace, and they would need to get there long before the prince in his palanquin.

"Nooo, don't go all red. See, it's gone now."

"Well, it's warm in the forge," she retorted. "Are the others ready?"

"Almost. Khiem's shining his shoes." Korra rose up onto her elbow reluctantly, yawning. She turned to the little box of jewelry she had brought, which lay open on the bed. "Hey, come here. Do you want to wear some of this?" She held up an elaborate necklace of pearl and pink ruby. I think this matches you better… And you know, they like seeing this stuff, at least the Earth Queen does."

"Right, the heavier the gold, the more highly she'll think of you," Asami said, bungling a mantra someone at the party last night had mentioned. She smoothed her dress one last time, glancing at Korra. Korra was arrayed in deep and regal teals, stretching the dress code a little only as a comely and commanding young princess could. The code for the wedding was simple: green, the colour of the Earth Kingdom, the colour of spring. Asami's own jade gown was embellished with pink spring blossoms. It was oddly exhilarating for them to be in summer garb, and Asami, for her part, couldn't recall the last time her arms had seen the sun.

She knelt on the bed and examined the jewels in Korra's hand. Asami's own gold had been paid in reparations, along with most of the other assets her family had held, after the war. All she kept were a few pieces that had belonged to her mother. Asami cleared her throat.

"Is it alright for me to wear this?"

Korra nodded mildly no sooner than she'd asked. "Of course. It's mine. Turn around."

She climbed to her knees behind Asami and unclasped the necklace, pausing first to sweep her hair from her shoulder. Asami's skin pebbled before the cold metal touched it, and she made her exhale soft. Though she said nothing, Korra must have noticed because she placed a hand over Asami's shoulder while the other straightened the chain at the back of her neck.

"You wear it really well." Korra placed her other hand on her too now, almost down at her own hand. "You look beautiful."

Asami didn't dare look up into the mirror; instead she felt the cove of Korra's shoulders, tucked around her own, close. When she had rescued her voice, she managed, "Thank you." She knew what she had to say next— which one are you going to wear? —but it was impossible not to defer it another second, two seconds—

There was a pointed cough at the doorway. Korra's hands dropped; Asami turned and sat on the bed, retracting to one corner.

It was one of the palace staff; wearing the doormen's colours, albeit in what looked like a special silk for the occasion. She gazed in the middle distance and rattled off, flustered. "Your Highness and our esteemed guests are expected in the reception rooms in twenty minutes for departure." Before they knew it, she had bowed vaguely and scampered.

Miki materialised where had been. "Oh, good. We're almost done, no?"

"Yes," Korra said, searching for Asami's eye, and Asami nodded blankly.

"I'll—go put on my shoes then."

Korra put on a necklace and a glimmering silver coronet. Asami picked up the shawl that matched her dress. They were finished in minutes, ready to head for the foyer. Asami shut the door of her suite firmly behind her as they left.

[aaaa-mpersand]

OCtober Day 8: Festival

thank you @oc-growth-and-development for the prompt! these are my funky little lesbians, in an arranged marriage au, having some fun at the celebration, hosted to end in one of them getting engaged to someone else. My characters are Calisto Oriyen and Adriana Oshiane. @statistical-improbabilities character, Pallas Galvan, is mentioned several time. Best friends to lovers, fake marriages, and some dancing.   “Your highness.” With a bow that almost had her head touching the floor, Calisto extended a hand. “Could I interest you in a request for the first dance?”

The princess in question raised both of her dark brows, outlined in kohl to make them even sharper, yet despite the steady gaze and indifferent demeanor, it took only a moment more for her mouth to quirk into a smile. “I’ll have you know, I’m as good as a married woman.” 

Calisto looked up, though her position remained as close to the floor as she could without lying down. “I’ll have you know, you’re too good to be married to any man in this room.”

Through her lashes, she could see the princess staring down at her. Her dress was a majesty––a deep royal blue with embroidered patterns all over––but it was only her face that Calisto had eyes for. The outline of her father was carved in her square jaw, high cheekbones, and oak-brown eyes, features that might’ve been more suited for a son. Her dark hair had been tied and braided into an elaborate bun, silver pins and glittering jewels shining through it like the night sky. Cal had never met Adriana’s mother, and neither had Adriana herself. Still, she couldn’t imagine another person with as keen a gaze and as careful a smile, much less a woman to inherit it from. 

“Cal,” Adriana said, with patience, not moving a finger towards Cal’s outstretched hand. “I do mean it.” 

“Your father’s trying to intimidate Pallas.” She tilted her head in mock contemplation. “And I reckon we have about two more minutes before people staring and pitying the cramp in my neck from standing like this.”

Adriana didn’t turn to see if what Calisto said was true. Cal had seen her watching them herself, waiting with her ever-sharp gaze. Still, she gave Cal her first real smile of the night. “Did you plan this?” “Your father’s been eyeing Pallas like a hawk all dinner, and I thought, why not?” Cal shrugged. “You’re going to marry him anyway.” With a careful gaze and a purposeful movement, she took Cal’s hand. “I suppose I am.”

Cal straightened, felt the strain in her back loosen. Melodramatics aside, she was almost starting to think that she’d get a hunch in her back sixty years too early, standing like that. Still, she made no indication of that as she sent Adriana a winning smile. Adriana merely rolled her eyes as she led Calisto onto the dance floor. It took the crowd about five minutes to realise they were dancing, and by then, it was five minutes too late. They both knew the dance well––six years at court, and it was still the only part of court courtesy that she happily took part in. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the emperor scowl as he glanced towards them, away from Pallas. Calisto let a wicked grin split over her face. Your insult, my pleasure, you old bastard. 

“Are you going to sway there looking smug,” Adriana said, though her own smile was dripping in amusement as well, “Or are you going to dance with me?”

Cal’s grin only grew wider. 

The first dance was always a cheerful one, meant to get young ladies and lords on their feet as fast as possible. As such, it was usually the least formal. (though, Cal thought wryly, that was equivalent to calling someone the ‘tallest dwarf.’) Adriana took the lead, and though the steps were more unfamiliar to her, she’d been at enough of these damned things to know the basics. Cal took the ladies role with ease, putting her own flair into the steps whenever things got too slow or repetitive. Her quick feet made quick footwork, and her one-sided cloak––short and the same color as Adriana’s dress––was a colorful flag in the wind as she twirled, skipped, leaned into Adriana’s steady weight.

She was breathing hard, beads of sweat starting to form on the base of her collar, but that didn’t stop her from sending Adriana an exaggerated pout. “I thought we were supposed to be dancing.”

Adriana rolled her eyes, and started going faster.

Cal felt the ripples around them. The partners around the, realising that their steps were out of time with the princess. The moment of panic: did I step wrong on that last phrase? She felt it spread around them like a tidal wave. The musicians began to speed up as well, not wanting to be out of time with the princess of all people, and everyone else was simply dragged along. This whole time, Calisto never took her eyes off Adriana, a genuine smile working its way onto her face as she kept up with Adriana’s pace. “You are horrible,” she said, no doubt noticing the same things that Cal did. Still, this wasn’t their first time at these damned court celebrations. “You adore it,” Cal shot back. With a hint of satisfaction, she noted that Adriana didn’t deny it. “If their old creaking legs get tired, they can always go sit down.”

“Your creaking legs, you mean?” Adriana replied innocently.

Cal flashed a grin. The next sequence was a twirl, and when Adriana pulled Cal’s back close to her chest, she leaned a little closer than absolutely necessary. In the breath space between, she whispered, “Was that a challenge?” “Maybe,” was Adriana’s smooth reply, right as she pulled Cal into the next sequence. 

Going faster. 

The dancing had Cal’s heart beating fast, but it was the playful spark in Adriana’s eyes and the teasing edge to her tone that made her heart flutter. For a moment, she thought back to how it had been before. They’d been too young for anyone to consider them anything other than friends. The times when Adriana wasn’t too worried or too tense to truly relax had never been common, but they used to come around more often. A simpler time. No talks of marriage, at least, even if everything else was still the same.

But as the steps went faster, and Cal’s breaths came just a hair quicker, she knew time waited for no one. Mourning what had been would get her nothing, and in truth, there was nothing to mourn about the person in front of her right now. Adriana had grown into her full height, standing as tall as her to-be-fiance, though she was still built like a bird. Her strong jaw had filled out, her gaze sharpened, her hands more sure, and though she still held her heart guarded as ever, Calisto knew her spot right beside it better than she knew herself. 

Neither of them faltered in their steps, even once, though Calisto moved as quick and sure as outstretched flames, and Adriana as smooth as the dark ocean’s currents. Dancers around them peeled away one by one to rest their legs, or simply wanting nothing in the insanity of the musicians’ quickening pace, to match their princess’ feet. 

“Tired, Riana?” Cal said, chest heaving now. “Thinking of that glass of wine you left on the table, perhaps?”

“Not at all.” Adriana said, but Cal could see her running out of breath as well, perhaps more so than Calisto. Though she had less steps and longer legs, Cal was made of lean muscle and years of physical training, while Adriana was built as if she had a bird’s hollow bones, a pallor made from spending late nights in the library. “Well, I am,” said Calisto cheerfully. Adriana let out a breathless laugh, surprised by the sudden honesty, the strain in her chest momentarily forgotten.

There were only a few couples left on the center of the floor, and Cal knew the musicians wouldn’t be dragging this song any longer, what with everyone’s unamused looks and the emperor’s patience being pushed to the limit. She saw Adriana’s gaze flicker to them, a moment of guilt in that ever-sharp gaze, but Cal pulled her back to attention with a small squeeze of her hand in Riana’s.

To hell with them, she thought, but didn’t say, This is ours. They’ll have the rest of forever to dance with partners that don’t even matter to them. “Just one dance, for us,” was what she said out loud, barely loud enough to hear over their steps on the floor. But Adriana nodded, and didn’t take her eyes off Cal. It was just them, now. She could see the sweat on Adriana’s brow, the warm breath from her lips. It only made the heat in Cal’s chest burn, feeling it all the way from her flushed cheeks to the tips of her fingers. Adriana’s piercing gaze only made her feel more bold, more sure. The rest of the room was a blur; only the feeling of Adriana’s hand in hers and their movements in perfect sync were present in her mind’s eye.

And then, with a final twirl and dip, the music ended. 

Cal could’ve spent eons in that moment. Adriana’s flushed cheeks, stained red lips, their foreheads inches from touching. Silence.

No one clapped. 

So Calisto stepped out of their embrace and bowed anyway, though her head brushed nowhere close to the floor. Adriana remained standing and sighed, but held onto one of her hands. 

---

“How are your legs?” Adriana asked cooly, pulling them away from the center of the floor as people began to drift back there in pairs. 

Cal smirked. It had been nowhere near a workout, though Cal’s legs still strained slightly from a dance well enjoyed. “I’d worry more about yourself, Riana. You looked like you were about to faint when they ended the song. I would’ve had to catch you, and put your dearest Pallas to shame!”

“Thanks to you, I’m not going to have enough breath left to last me two steps into the next dance,” Adriana said, but the traces of her smile had yet to disappear from her voice and her face. “You’re the princess, Riana,” she said, in a silver-sweet tone she used only when teasing, “I’m sure no one would judge if your creaky legs were giving you tr–– hey!” Cal said, pulling her hand away as she felt the sting of Adriana pinching it. 

“Play nice, Calisto,” she said, as she walked back towards Pallas, the man she would be engaged to by the end of the night. Cal knew it didn’t mean anything–from both Pallas’ words and Adriana’s–but that didn’t stop it from feeling like a bucket of cold water and a harsh reality check. A few minutes of respite, was all they’d managed to save for themselves.  “Make sure to walk it off!” Cal called after Adriana, her grin never faltering. “Sitting down right after physical exertion is not good for your legs!” Adriana glanced back to smile at her as she left, and from the warm feeling that still burned in her chest, Cal knew those stolen minutes would be enough. 

[bluesfortheredj]

Modern Romance Pt. 15

The cake goes down a treat, it always does thankfully, and it’s one of the things I’m particularly good at which helps when trying to impress as well, then the rest of the day is spent lounging in the garden surrounded by my favourite people. Kelly, Owen, and the kids leave around 5pm thanks to school the next day and an early bedtime for the little ones, but not before I’m given some more brotherly advice of course, and when it’s back to me and (Y/N) now sharing a lounger in the garden, I realise that soon enough it’ll be time for her to leave as well.

“I should go,” she sighs as her hands run up and down my legs from her cosy position in between my thighs.

She tilts her head back onto my chest as far as it can go so she can see my face and I kiss her forehead as my arms tighten around her stomach. Everything inside my body sinks at those words, not just my heart this time, and I can’t find any words to say in response.

“It’ll be much easier if I get the tube to the station,” she adds.

“I’m driving you and that’s final,” I sigh, “can you spare one more hour?”

She checks her phone to see the time and groans at how quickly the minutes are passing, then slips it back into her pocket and nods.

“One more hour,” she agrees.

“So I have a question...” I trail off as we both relax into the seat.

“Mhmm.”

“Was the ‘girlfriend’ thing just because they said it earlier?”

“I’ll admit that it was a knee jerk reaction to what they said, but then I realised how nice it sounded a few seconds after you said it, and suddenly it felt right,” she replies, “even if it is a little quick.”

“Owen told me something worth remembering earlier, which makes a change,” I chuckle, “he said to not let what we think we should do stop us from what we want to do. No one is actually telling us this is moving too fast, or we’re doing things the wrong way around, it’s only what we think is right based on other people’s relationships.”

“Very true,” she agrees, “and we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others like that. This is us, and we’ve just been going with the flow so far which has worked out pretty well I’d say.”

“So, we’re official then?” I clarify with an excited grin already spreading across my face; thank goodness she can’t see me.

“Looks like it,” she replies, and I can hear her own smile in that soft voice of hers.

“So, just to make sure, if I get asked a question on the press tour that may require an answer that involves you in some way, then I can say ‘my girlfriend’?”

She turns to face me with a light laugh and nods her head as she bites her lower lip gently.

“Yes, yes you can!” she beams.

“I like the sound of that,” I grin back at her.

“This means I’m going to have to check youtube for all of your interviews just so I can hear you say it,” she laughs.

“Well I’d expect you to watch every single one of them anyway,” I wink.

“Guess I have to now, right?”

“Yep, it’s in the terms and conditions of being in a relationship with me.”

“Maybe I should have read over them before I agreed to this...” she teases, sticking her tongue out a little.

“You’re making saying goodbye very, very difficult for me,” I sigh.

Her face falls and just as I go to say something to try and lift her features, she gets up from the lounger and holds her hand out for me to take. Without a word I take it and rise from the seat myself, then let her lead me inside and to the couch where we both fall into a heap and she manages to find her way onto my lap, sliding her hands around my shoulders and leaning into me. My own arms waste no time in holding her close, and we stay in silence as we both realise that words wouldn’t be enough for how we felt right now. Suddenly our song starts to play, and the familiar bassline to another one bites the dust sounds out from her pocket as her phone rings.

“Sorry,” she chuckles, leaning back to get it out and answer it, “hello? ...No it’s alright, I’ll get something on the train… Okay, see you later… I’ll be leaving soon… Yep, will ring you when I get near… Love you, bye!”

“Your mum?” I ask, even though I heard her on the other end of the phone.

“Yeah,” she smiles, “right, where were we?”

“When did you change your ringtone?” I ask as we settle back into our embrace.

“As soon as I was on the train home last time,” she smiles against my t-shirt, “it’s nice to be reminded of you every time someone rings.”

“We really should get a more appropriate song...” I chuckle.

“Or we could just tell people it’s something else and keep this a secret,” she suggests.

“I like that idea...”

We fall into an uncomfortable silence as the two of us think about having to say goodbye soon, and the atmosphere turns heavy as we cling onto one another a little tighter than before. I can hear the clock ticking on the wall, every second that goes by taking away more and more of my happiness, and the repetitive sound soon starts to annoy me as the ticks get louder inside my head.

“Right,” she sighs, lifting her head from my shoulder, “I’ll go get my case.”

“Of course. I’ll, er, grab my keys.”

She walks upstairs slowly on purpose I imagine and when she returns with the case she looks as if she’ll burst into tears right then and there, and I really don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my emotions in check if she does. After she unhooks her coat from the hallway, she dips her head down and leads the way out of the front door, then I take her case and place it in the boot before we slide into the car with heavy sighs.

“I think you should take your black shirt with you,” she says quietly as I start the engine.

“Yeah?”

“For selfish reasons, obviously, just so you don’t forget about me really.”

“As if I would,” I scoff, “you really have no idea how much you’ve impacted my life, do you?”

“I like to imagine it’s close to the amount you’ve had on mine.”

“More.”

I pull away and drive as slowly as I can get away with to the station, but the journey still goes far too quickly for my liking and we end up sitting in the car for a while when we park up on a street near by. She’s first to open her door without saying a word and she walks around to the back of the car to get her case before I even have the opportunity to undo my seatbelt, then I jump out when she begins the walk away from the car; catching up to her within a matter of seconds.

“Wait for me,” I sigh as I place my arm around her shoulders and she leans into me immediately.

“I forgot to ask,” she gasps, moving away from me and standing in my path instead.

“What?” I smile.

“Do you have much planned when you’re back?”

“I actually have a couple of weeks off when I get back home, so no I don’t. What have you got in mind?”

“My parents are off on holiday the Saturday after you return… Would you like to come and stay? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, and I don’t expect you to stay all week, but I could take a couple of days off work and we could do something,” she rambles nervously, even though there’s no need to be because there’s absolutely no way I’m saying no to this and I’m staying for the whole week if she’ll have me.

“Absolutely, I’ll stay for as long as you’ll have me,” I grin.

“Don’t say that, because you’ll be stuck with me all week,” she giggles.

“I was hoping you’d say that anyway,” I wink, then bring her into a much needed hug.

“So almost four weeks apart then a whole week together,” she mumbles against my shirt, “I think I can cope with that.”

“Me too. But I’ll be messaging and calling all the time, so hopefully it won’t feel too much like we’re so far away from one another.”

“Good,” she sniffs, and I know the first tears have fallen, “right, I’ve got to go before I make a fool of myself again by crying on you for the second time.”

“You could never make a fool of yourself,” I whisper as I lean back and gently tilt her head to meet my gaze, “you know how I feel about you. It doesn’t matter if you cry.”

“Have a wonderful time Gwilym,” she sighs with a smile, “and I expect to see a bunch of touristy photos on your instagram feed.”

“Thank you, and you certainly will,” I chuckle, “I love-”

“Not until you’re back,” she says as she wipes away a tear, “but the feeling’s mutual.”

She stands up on her tiptoes to reach my lips and I feel the dampness from her cheeks transfer onto mine as we stand there and kiss as if we had nothing else to do. When it all eventually comes to an end and we reluctantly part, she turns away without another word and walks towards the same entrance as before; that same set of stairs that I kept staring at from my car last time as I willed her to hop back up them.

@painthatiusedto @winnielinleigh @queenslandlover-93 @excellentbecca @peachllobotomy @lovemarvelousfics @lovemelikeyou1997 @readinghorn @godohammers @timeandpixiedust @lv7867 @fuckyou-imspiderman @aynsleywalker @captainxholmes @the-baby-bookworm @leah-halliwell92 @chlobo6 @tenement-funstah

[itspixelberrychoicestime]

A date with a Ghost (HoBM x TF) pt. 4

Book(s): The Freshmore Series x Haunting of Braidwood Manor

Summary: After My Classmate’s (Ghostly) Girlfriend, Hannah (HOBM MC) and Eleanor decided to have a double date with Kaitlyn and Emily (TF MC). And things get weird.| Being put on the spot, Hannah and Eleanor lied about how they met. Kaitlyn is still going through songwriter’s block.

Rating: T

Genre: Crossover

Paring(s): Kaitlyn x TF MC, Eleanor x HOBM MC

Tags: @kennaxval @almogchoices @jbzxls @brooke-1515 @mfackenthal @helentwombly

Notes: PLEASE COMMENT/ REBLOG/ DM ME IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED IN FUTURE STORIES!!

Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 (You are here!), 5, 6, 7

Hannah and Eleanor stared at Emily with a blank face. “Shiiiit!” Hannah thought. 

“Emily...” Kaitlyn rolled her eyes, knowing that her girlfriend would be the one who would want to know everything. “Forgive my girlfriend, she’s a bit nosy.”

Emily playfully smacked Kaitlyn’s arm. “Shut up!” She chuckled, “This just something I was thinking about.”

“Oh!” Eleanor exclaimed, “Well, I am not the one who’s good at telling stories...”

“Oh man, I didn’t mean to put you guys on the spot!” Emily said, “Do you guys wanna heard ours?”

“Uh, sure!” Hannah replied.

“Okay, soooo this was back in Freshman year. It was moving day for Hartfeld’s students who were dorming, and that morning was a bit evenful with meeting another suitemate Chris and my “enemy” Becca. But when I got there, I saw her,” Emily pointed Kaitlyn. “I remember how you were flirting with me.” Emily grabbed Kaitlyn’s hand.

“I gotta say, I was totally damn suave,” Kaitlyn smirked. They both kissed.

Hannah awed, “That’s so cute, how did you guys get together?”

Kaitlyn replied, “We started dating in Winter quarter after opening night of Rosethrone Park.”

“Now, let’s hear about yours.” Emily persisted.

Eleanor gasped, “Oh! Umm, well it’s kind of a strange story...”

Hannah stepped in. “We actually met at the park before she had classes!” She looked at Eleanor, who signaled her to play along. “I was just chilling in the park and Eleanor was new in town. She was transferring schools.”

Eleanor nodded. “Yes! I was having trouble to find my way to the university.”

“I didn’t know you go to Hartfeld, I haven’t see you around.” Kaitlyn wondered.

“She has a weird class schedule.” Hannah explained. She chuckled sheepishly, “She would have some classes either early in the morning or in the evening, y’know.”

“What’re you studying?” Emily asked.

“Ummm... Literature?” Eleanor hoped the girls would fall for it.

“Oh! English lit!” Emily said.

Eleanor went along. “Y-yes! I just love reading the classics from writers like Jane Austen and the Brönte Sisters.”

Emily was impressed. “Well, I still have a couple of weeks to claim a major.”

“Anyway, I saw Eleanor having trouble finding the school and she was sure as lucky to find me there... chilling.” 

“Oh... How did you guys got together?”

Eleanor was stumped while Hannah kept cursing “SHIT” and “FUCK” in her head. Eleanor took a breather and said, “We got to know each other once I invited her to my house. She was having some personal problems along with school, so I was there when she expressed her trouble as much as I did mines.”

Hannah saw Eleanor looking down who had a small grin on her face. “When she told me that her brother died, I felt like I wasn’t the only one who lost someone...”

Kaitlyn and Emily were shocked. “I’m so sorry.” Emily said to the both of the girls as Kaitlyn nodded.

“It’s fine.” Hannah said.

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago, too.” Eleanor continued with her story. “Hannah helped me with facing my demons and I helped with hers. After sometime, we got closer and one day she asked out for coffee, that time when I ran into you and your friends.”

Kaitlyn remembered this. “Yeah, I was with Zack and Tyler. You two got together that day?”

Eleanor nodded. “She was so nervous, but funny enough I was too.”

Hannah didn’t say anything until Eleanor turned to her and asked, “Isn’t that right, sweetie?”

“Yeah... I asked her if she could be my girlfriend, and here we are.”

Emily wiped a nonexistent tear. “That’s so freakin’ adorable!”

Eleanor smiled as she kissed Hannah’s cheek. “Well, should we go on more rides?” She asked.

“Definitely.”

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

“WOOO!” Kaitlyn cheered once the ride was going through a steep dip. 

Emily was hollering in fear as Eleanor was holding Hannah’s arms. “OH MY GOD!” Emily screamed as the ride kept speeding through. As the ride came to an end, Kaitlyn got out of the rollercoaster with her arms pumping in the air.

“Man, that was so much fun!” She cheered.

“Uh, not really!” Emily frowned. 

Eleanor was shaken from the ride while Hannah was holding her to make sure she wouldn’t pass out of shock.

“You okay El?”

“I-I’m fine.” Eleanor said in her jitter.

---------

The girls were walking through vendors after going ride after ride. Eleanor kept looking at the large teddy bear that was up on display. She whispered to Hannah, “Do they make toys that big?”

Hannah explained, “People just like big things.” She suddenly realized what she said, and looked at her girlfriend.

Eleanor gave a doe eyed look. “Oh.”

Hannah giggled as she shook her head. “You want it, do you?”

Eleanor nodded and smiled. “It’s so big!”

Hannah walked to the vendor and slapped down a five dollar bill. With a smirk on her face, Hannah requested, “Three balls please.” 

The vendor set three balls in front of Hannah. She grabbed a ball and focused the position to hit the bottles. Hannah’s swing knocked all the bottles down from their position.

“Holy crap! How?” Kaitlyn exclaimed.

“I was the pitcher in my high school’s baseball team.” Hannah meekly smiled. She handed Eleanor the large stuff animal.

---------

Nighttime was the perfect time to go on the Ferris Wheel. The girls had just got on and by the time the ride started, Eleanor gripped the sides of the seat.

“Nervous?” Kaitlyn asked.

Eleanor replied, “Yes. I feel as if I could fall any moment.”

“You’re okay. I got you.” Hannah wrapped her arm around Eleanor.

Kaitlyn pulled out her phone and was thinking what to write for the band’s new song. She kept scrolling through her phone memos, but to no avail. She groaned annoyingly. She knew she had to find a way to finish this song.

“Kaitlyn,” Eleanor called her. “Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I’ve been having some songwriting problems.”

“You sing?”

“I’m in a band.” Kaitlyn replied. “I usually am the one who writes the songs and now, my band is competing for Battle of the Bands.”

Eleanor was intrigued. “Oh, well I hope you win.”

“Thanks, I kinda needed that since Loose Pins are also competing.”

“Loose... Pins?” Eleanor raised an eyebrow. 

Kaitlyn sighed, “My former bandmate and the former Gutter Kittens’ band member.” Kaitlyn cringed when she said her name. “Ugh, Natasha.”

“It’s a long story, but let’s just say Gutter Kittens disbanded once they got tired of Natasha’s ego.” Emily explained.

“More like her bitchiness if you ask me,” Kaitlyn muttered under her breath. “Enough about her, I need to have this song finish by the end of the day.” Kaitlyn was humming the melody until she was stuck by the chorus as always.

“See you in my dreams, feel you in the dark...” Kaitlyn muttered to herself. She typed in some lyrics until she deleted them. She did the same process until she got annoyed and shoved her phone back in her pocket.

Emily reassured her by putting her hand on top of hers. “Don’t worry, you’ll get through this writer’s block.”

Kaitlyn sighed. “I hope.”

The Ferris Wheel stopped on top where the girls looked the city in a high view. 

“It’s so pretty.” Eleanor whispered to Hannah. Hannah paid attention to her girlfriend. She kissed her on the cheek. “Definitely.”

Kaitlyn and Emily meanwhile took a selfie with the city in the background. 

After a moment to stopping, the Ferris Wheel resumed.

----------

Through the date was fun, something had bothered Hannah. In her conscious, she knew that they were telling part of the truth, but the story they told wasn’t true.

They’re were all about to leave the Fair to catch the train ride home until Eleanor stopped.

“I’m going to the bathroom, I think I saw one back there.” Eleanor said. “I’ll meet you all back.”

“Okay,” Emily said, “We’ll wait over here.” 

Hannah thought fast. “I-I’ll uh, go with you.” She followed her to the restroom, leaving the other girls to wait.  Eleanor handed the stuff animal to Hannah, entered one of the stalls and did her business.

Hannah leaned back against Eleanor’s stall. She sighed in exhaustion. 

Eleanor took noticed. “What is going on, Hannah?”

Hannah made sure no one was around or was listening. She said, “I don’t know.”

Eleanor got out of the bathroom and washed her hands in the sink. “What don’t  you know?” She asked, confused.

“That wasn’t true.”

“What wasn’t-”

“How we met.” Hannah interrupted her. “Of course, I came to your house, but... it doesn’t sound like us. Those couple of days of just meeting you and your family, my brother...”

Eleanor acknowledged it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to complicate how we met. I thought you wanted a story that would make us appear normal.”

“It’s not your fault. We just can’t tell them the truth.” 

“We can’t?”

Hannah shook her head. “They probably think we’re crazy.”

Eleanor pursed her lips and sighed. “Let’s go.” She grabbed her large teddy bear and Hannah put her arm around her.

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

On train ride home, the girls were resting from a long day of their double date.

Kaitlyn was focusing on the undeveloped song while Emily was sleeping. Hannah was resting her head on her hand and was looking at the streets they were passing through. Eleanor was holding on her teddy bear, trying not to doze off. 

The PA Speaker announced, “Next stop, Hartfeld University.”

Kaitlyn lightly shook Emily by the shoulder. She woke up and groggily asked, “We’re here?”

“Yeah.” Kaitlyn answered, “Do we have our stuff?” 

The girls made sure they had their stuff with them. The train stopped and the four got out.

“Thanks for inviting us.” Hannah smiled at Kaitlyn and Emily.

“Ah, it was nothing. We’ll see you two later.” Kaitlyn smiled.

Emily yawned. “Take care.”

The girls went to their separate way.

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

Kaitlyn couldn’t sleep. She was sitting in her bed with a guitar in hand while she was figuring out the chorus. Everyone else was sleeping in their respective rooms, so she couldn’t be loud. 

But she grew irritated with failed attempts and groaned.

“UGGH!”

Emily then walked to her room, and rubbed her eyes to wake herself up. “Kaitlyn..?”

Kaitlyn looked and shared an apologetic look. “Sorry, I’m just frustrated with this.” She settled her guitar down to its case. Emily sat next to her.

“Kaitlyn, it’s already midnight. You have band practice the next morning.”

Kaitlyn sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “Why can’t I get the right words?” She frowned.

“Well, if it helps, I had some problems when it came to finishing Vasquez’s novel.”

Kaitlyn didn’t exactly understood what she was saying. “Huh?”

Emily nodded her head. “I mean, how the hell was I, a freshman, able to finish writing a book by the end of the Spring quarter? Especially with everything happening with you guys? All I’m saying is, don’t stress yourself too hard. So you didn’t get the chance to finish your song today, but it matters is that it takes time for you to figure what do you want to write.” Emily grabbed the notes of Kaitlyn’s song and glance over the words. “See? You already got half it done-”

“But I still need the damn chorus.” Kaitlyn threw her arms up in the air.

“There’s that, but if you keep looking for that inspiration, you’ll hit the jackpot.”

Kaitlyn kissed her girlfriend. “Thanks babe.”

“Eh, just doing my job as your cheerleader.” Emily smirked and walked across the room to close Kaitlyn’s bedroom door. “And since I’m here...”

Emily jumped into Kaitlyn’s bed and the two began to make love. 

[lazymilkshakecolor]

Red tie

@kairi-chan I added something just for you!

Rated M

Summary: Boruto has been on a mission for a week after he and Sarada married two months ago, and they somehow have to spend the entire night of the day he came back without laying a a hand on each other, which as expected turned out to be impossible.

Boruto was practically seething, not because of some dangerous enemy he is unable to beat, not because of a stupid ANBU new recruit that messed up something,, it was because of one of the greatest evils known to man.

‘’Goddamnit!’’ Boruto cursed, fumbling with his tie again as his blood boiled even more.

‘’You okay Bo?’’ His wife called out from their dressing room.

He had promised Sarada that he will come with her to the dinner the five daimyo arranged, he normally hated these kinds of formal events, ever since he was a kid and his parents forced him to go, but Sarada asked him too, and he had a hard time refusing her something so simple when she barely ever requested anything.

A second later, she got out from their shared dressing room, and as Boruto layed sight on her from the mirror his blood boiled for another reason.

He turned around and red filled his vision.

She was wearing a long form fitting red dress with red high heels, together with her black hair and eyes, he thought it more than suited it her.

‘’This color suits you alot.’’ Boruto said, his eyes still roving Sarada’s body from head to toe.

‘’Took you long enough, I’ve been wearing it since I was six.’’ Sarada said, walking towards her husband of just a couple of months and undoing the mess he did with his tie.

‘’Not the same shade.’’ Boruto remarked, remembering the dull red she liked to wear on mission and comparing it to the striking vermillion she was wearing now.

‘’Red is red, and done.’’

Boruto turned around to look at the mirror, and saw that his red tie was properly tied around his neck.

‘’Thanks Sarada.’’ he said before dipping down and capturing Sarada’s lips with his own.

She reciprocated at first, but when he used his tongue to flick her lower lip she pulled away, but Boruto didn’t relent as his head dove to her exposed neck.

‘’Boruto, you ruined my lipstick.’’ Sarada scolded, but her tone was light as she raised Boruto’s head away from her neck, which opened the opportunity for him to catch a glimpse of her cleavage.

‘’Not my fault you’re so damn sexy.’’ he said catching her by the waist as she tried to walk towards her makeup kit.

‘’You ain’t a slob either Bo.’’

‘’You calling me sexy?’’ he whispered in her ear.

‘’Yes I am,’’ she said while pulling at his tie behind her,’’ but didn’t you say that you wanted to slow dance with me? Since it’s been since our wedding that we last danced?’’

‘’I desperately want to take you out for dinner and slow dance with you until the sun comes up, but I also want to grip your hair as I watch you writhing underneath me.’’

‘’The latter sounds tempting,’’ Sarada started before she tore away from Boruto,’’ but we’re going to be late and I believe you promised your sister a brother sister dance.’’

Boruto’s lips turned into a pout as he gave Sarada a pleading look, to which she laughed.

‘’Come on you big baby, and maybe after it’s over you’ll get a special treat.’’ Sarada said, winking seductively at him before she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door.

This is going to be hard, Boruto thought upon realizing that his wife’s dress is backless.

.

..

.

‘’You’ve been staring at Sarada the entire time, wouldn’t harm anyone if you paid attention to your sister.’’ Himawari grumbled, which tore Boruto’s eyes away from his wife’s form.

‘’Sorry Himawari, it’s just been awhile since I’ve seen her.’’

‘’You go on a mission for a week and you already miss her? Wow she really got you wrapped around her finger.’’

Boruto didn’t bother denying it as he twirled his sister, but his eyes were still on his wife, who was happily talking to the Kagura and Shinki, who were the next kage of their respective villages.

When the song ended, Inojin came over to Boruto and asked if he could borrow Hima, to which Boruto approved after tossing a glare at the blonde haired man walking away with his sister.

‘’Aren’t you going to ask your wife to a dance?’’

Boruto turned around to see his wife standing with a glass of champagne in her hand, a small smile graced her face as she took a step closer to him.

‘’Inojin is a good man.’’ Sarada said, putting the glass on the table beside them before taking Boruto hand in hers.

‘’I’m a good man too, and looked what happened to you.’’

‘’What? You love me and apply to my every whim while keeping me sexually satisfied? I call that a catch Bo.’’ Sarada whispered, careful for others not to hear their conversation.

But Boruto displayed the opposite reaction of what Sarada hoped.

‘’Do you think they’re doing it?’’ he whispered back, hint of urgency in his tone.

‘’Well she’s a healthy twenty one year old, I’d be surprised if they didn’t.’’

‘’Okay, I’m going to kick that guy’s as-’’ he was interrupted by Sarada’s finger on his lips as a slow song started, to which Boruto just sighted and put his hands on his wife’s waist.

‘’I missed you this past week.’’ Sarada muttered, putting her chin on his chest so she could look up at him.

‘’Yeah, the little birdie told me you spent two nights in the office.’’ Boruto said.

‘’Well that little birdie has to learn to keep his mouth shut or else I’m going to yack him by his ponytail.’’

‘’That sounds fun.’’

‘’You didn’t say you missed me too.’’ Sarada said.

‘’Of course I missed you, why do you think I finished the mission early?’’

‘’Cause you were horny?’’ Sarada whispered against his chest to which he held her on closer.

‘’I’m not going to deny that.’’ he said before his hand was being gripped hard, Sarada looked around quickly before dragging him towards corridor.

‘’Hey, where are we going?’’ Boruto said as he ran behind his wife.

‘’Remember that fantasy we had of having sex in the hokage’s office?’’ Sarada asked him.

‘’Yeah, and we did do it, but you were hokage by then so it wasn’t very exciting.’’

‘’Yeah, so how about we go up a little bit higher than hokage?’’ she said, stopping before a door, which seemed to lead towards the daimyo’s office.

Boruto looked at her then at the door, contemplating the idea.

‘’He won’t get back here until the part is over or till morning…’’ Boruto started.

‘’Which gives us at least a full hour of sex.’’ Sarada continued, smiling the smile that made Boruto stomach churn.

Boruto took a step towards Sarada, closing the distance between them as the only thing separating his lips from hers were a couple of inches he had on her with height.

‘’I would have never guessed sweet and pure Sarada would come up something so dirty.’’ he said, his head leaning down.

‘’Someone’s been a bad influence then.’’ she said, hands fiddling with the tie she tied for him earlier.

Boruto scoffed before bending down and capturing Sarada’s lips with his own, starting a slow but passionate kiss that evolved into a heated liplock as Boruto pushed the door open and guided Sarada inside.

Sarada tore her mouth from Boruto’s to look around the room, there was a couch on the corner and an empty desk in the center of the room.

‘’Desk.’’ they both said at the same time, which made them smirk before Sarada grabbed Boruto tie and pulled him towards the desk.

‘’You like the tie?’’ Boruto teasingly asked.

‘’I love it.’’ She said, sitting on the desk and pulling Boruto’s lips towards her own with one hard tug on his tie.

A minute later his hips were between her thighs, his tie on the ground and his mouth on neck, kissing her not as roughly as he’s like since she’s wearing a dress that doesn’t cover neck and shoulders.

‘’Geez Sarada, next time wear a dress shirt and pants, much more comfortable.’’

‘’But if I do that, I won’t have a place to hide my-’’

‘’Kunai?’’ he said, pulling a kunai from under her dress, locked on her thigh with a strap.

‘’Yeah that.’’

Her hands were on his pants, working at his belt while his hands fiddled with the back of her dress, looking for a zipper or something like that.

‘’Somebody’s in a hurry.’’ Sarada said as Boruto seemed to give up on the dress and reached his hand under her dress.

‘’Says the woman with her hand down my pants.’’ he answered, but he got a hard tug on on his hard on from outside his boxers.

She gave him a smug smirk but he paid her back by grazing his fingertips on the place he knew would bring her undoing.

‘’Now take that damn dress off.’’ he ordered, expressing his irritation of not being able to take off a simple dress, but in his defence he had drunk three glasses of champagne.

Sarada used the hand that wasn’t in his pants to slide the dress of her upper body, she reached to take her bra off but Boruto Boruto beat her to it.

A week without sex with his new wife, that was the equivalent of torture, and Sarada knew that as what was evident from the cocky tug of her head and the slow movements her fingers made against his throbbing cock.

He pushed her dress down until it was on the floor, and then he took her in, the blush that still appeared whenever he looked at her that way, her milky skin covering muscles hard earned from training, nipples hard inviting him to play with them while her strong thighs squeezed around his hips.

A second later his dove down towards her breasts, taking his freedom there being as rough as he liked as he bite and teased around her nipples, leaving red spots where his mouth was sucking and where his fingers were squeezing as her hands grasped at his hair, a grasp that tightened whenever he did something she liked.

His mouth trailed down until he arrived at her underwear, lacy black underwear in contrast to the boxers she usually wore, it was then that Boruto realized that she had been planning this even before they left the house.

He looked up at her and raised his eyebrow in response to the black lace, she just shrugged before giving his a shit eating grin which prompted him to rip the lace away from her hips.

‘’Hey! Those were-’’ her breath hitched as his mouth met her clit.

Her hands tightened almost painfully on his hair but he didn’t mind,  he took it as encouragement to continue as his tongue flicked at the sensitive numb he discovered two months ago.

Her hips jerked upwards in an attempt to get more friction but he steadied her using his hands on her hips as she fully laid down on the desk.

Over these past two months he picked up on the signs that Sarada was close, first her hips would start to jerk then her back will arch with his movements and her nails would scratch at his back and head.

He felt his head being roughly pulled up by her hands so he was directly above her, from the position she got him into, he knew what she wanted as his lips descended on hers, their tongues meeting and fighting for dominance as one of his hands slid between them and positioned his member on her entrance.

‘’You ready?’’ he whispered against her wet lips, when she nodded he pushed into her, and started thrusting, slowly at first, then he picked up pace as her grip on his hair tightened and her thighs squeezed harder at his hips.

‘’Go faster.’’ she said between quiet moans against his ear, and he obeyed, moving his hips faster as he buried his face in her neck, laying gentle kisses there as he heard the gasps and moans that tore through her throat.

Sarada has learned to pick up the signs that he was close too, the way his thrusts became faster and unrihimic, the way he moaned her name and buried his head in her neck or between her breasts.

‘’You close?’’ he asked and she answered with a yes, but as always he reached with his right hand towards her clit, offering extra stimulation to get her over the edge.

And it worked as her back arched and toes curled, moaning his name and fingers tightening on his hair.

He followed close, getting to his own edge before he laid limp over his wife, both of them taking deep breaths to try and steady their breathing, and a couple of minutes later they got up and started to get dressed.

‘’Can you help me with my tie?”’ Boruto asked his wife, who was putting on her heels.

‘’If I put it on now, I’m just going to have to rip it during round two.’’ She teased, taking it from his hand and putting it in his jacket pocket.

Sarada walked towards the door, and Boruto stared at her back, thinking of how beautiful she is and how lucky he is to have her.

‘’You coming?’’

‘’Yeah, right behind you.’’ he answered, running after her.

They both rejoined the part as if nothing happened, seemingly both forgetting the ripped black lace panties on the floor of the daimyo’s office.

[doctorstethoscope]

The Right (Excerpt) || Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Hello fellow boss-babes, it is @ssahotchswife soft hotch saturday again! I’m trying something a little different this week-- I hope y’all don’t mind! This week’s fic is an excerpt from a multichapter I’ve been working on for a couple months. It’s a bit of a slow burn, so this is their first date, roughly a quarter through the fic. 

As I’m sure you all know, your kind words always mean so much to authors, but on this fic in particular I’m looking to hear from you all! I want to know if there’s interest in me posting more chapters of this fic. Please let me know!! 

contains: first date shenanigans, brief, non graphic description of violence, alcohol consumption, aaron hotchner being soft, no gendered pronouns but reader wears a dress

wordcount: 1.5k

It was stupid to be nervous for a date with a man who already had feelings for you. You knew that, yet you still couldn’t tame the anxiety that had settled in the pit of your stomach as you did your makeup. Jess had kept Jack for dinner tonight to give you and Aaron the evening to yourselves, but you almost wished he was here begging you to play legos and superheroes with him. Blocks and make-believe, you were good at. Relationships? Not so much. 

You shook away that train of thought as you pulled a blue dress out of your closet-- a little satin blue number that hit below the knee and had a slit up the thigh. You slipped it over your head and checked yourself in the mirror.

You’re suddenly brought back to a different date night, one that had ended with you crying in the shower because Josh had insisted that the dress you’d picked out was too low cut. You looked down at your forearm as if the bruises from where he had gripped you might have reappeared-- they hadn’t. You can feel your breath catching as the memory of his hand around your throat creeps up from somewhere deep inside you. Aaron’s gentle knock on your door pulled you out of your train of thought. 

“You almost ready, dear?” He called through the door. 

“One sec! I just need shoes,” you said, grabbing a small black purse and slipping on a matching pair of strappy heels. You swung the door open and found him standing in the doorway, looking absolutely delicious in one of his black suits with a blue shirt underneath, no tie and the top two buttons of his shirt undone. Fighting against the urge to lick your lips, you fuss with his collar. 

“We match,” you tell him, gesturing to his blue shirt and your blue dress. 

“You look absolutely stunning,” he tells you, and you feel the heat rise to your cheeks.

“You don’t think it’s too much? I can change if--” 

“It’s perfect. If you’re comfortable, it’s perfect,” he said, leaning in to kiss your cheek. 

“Aaron Hotchner, and you haven’t even bought me dinner yet! I’ll have you know I don’t dare kiss on the first date,” You teased him, and he treated you to one of those smiles where the dimples popped up on both sides of his face.

“Maybe I’m a bad influence on you, then,” he smirked, placing a hand on the small of your back as he led you out the door and to the car. 

You shrugged. “Or maybe I’m just very willing to be influenced.” 

Aaron quirked an eyebrow as he opened the passenger door of his car for you, and you bit your lip as you climbed inside. He took your hand and drove the two of you into downtown Alexandria, Virginia, pulling expertly into a street spot on the cobblestone road in front of Nobu. 

“Sushi?” You asked when Aaron opened your car door. 

“Yeah, I thought you liked sushi. We can find something else if—“ 

“Sushi’s great, Aaron. Stop stressing,” you told him, wrapping your arm around his as the two of you made your way into the restaurant. Aaron had made reservations, of course, so you were swiftly taken to a back corner of the restaurant, tucked away in a private little booth. Aaron ordered a bottle of wine for you to share when the waiter came by to introduce yourself, and he looked at you with a fond smile as soon as the two of you were left alone again.

“What?” You asked after a moment, feeling suddenly insecure under his scrutiny.

“Nothing,” he told you. “I’m just thinking, is all.” 

You rolled your eyes. “Come on, Hotchner. Thinking about what?” 

“I’m just really happy to be here with you. I didn’t think I’d ever be brave enough to do this.”

“You’re the bravest man I know.” You tell him, genuinely. 

“That’s what they think, isn’t it? All these people we meet on cases. They see us put on our vests and break down doors and think we’re the bravest people they’ve ever known. They don’t know how scared we really are at all. How brave can I be when it took me this long to tell you how strong my feelings are for you?” 

“Aaron—“ you start, but he suddenly realizes how vulnerable he sounds.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“

“How long?” You asked.

“I’m sorry?” He asked in response.

“How long have you known you had feelings for me?” 

“I figured it out pretty early on. Sometime in between your first day and the day you ran into a house without a vest to save a kid from an unsub.” 

“You were so pissed. I thought for sure you were going to fire me.” 

“I probably should’ve. But that was also the moment that I realized I didn’t want to go back to work if you weren’t going to be there.”

You smiled into your wine glass as you took a sip. “You’ve been very patient.” You remarked. 

“I think you were worth the wait,” he responds with a shrug, but there’s nothing casual about it. You smile.

Dinner passes easily, the two of you laughing and smiling and eating and sneaking in a game of footsie just so that a moment didn’t pass where you weren’t touching each other. You settle the tab and Aaron leads you out of the restaurant with the now-familiar weight of his hand on the small of your back anchoring you. 

“I thought we could head down to the boardwalk if you’re not too tired?” He asked as you exited into the street. 

“Lead the way,” you told him, taking his hand in your own as he led you down the sidewalk. You ended up at the edge of the boardwalk, leaning against the rail and watching the sun set over the Potomac. Aaron stood behind you, his arms on either side of you and your back pressed into his chest. You settled into the warmth of him and neither one of you needed to speak, content in the presence of one another as the sun dipped over the horizon. You craned your neck to look at Aaron as the sun disappeared.

“I could stay here forever, but I imagine it’s about time for us to get home.” 

“Unless I can convince you to call out tomorrow, you’re probably right.” He agrees, stepping back to allow you away from the rail.

“Sure, because that wouldn’t be conspicuous at all,” you laughed as the two of you headed back towards the car. With the sun now gone, goosebumps appeared across your arms as a breeze picked up. Aaron slipped his jacket off of and wrapped it around your shoulders in an instant, warning you with a glance the moment you opened your mouth not to protest his chivalry. You didn’t. 

You realize how tired you are the moment you sink into the passenger seat of Aaron’s car, but it’s the kind of tired you feel after a day at the amusement park as a kid— you’re totally spent, but you wouldn’t change a thing and you’d do it all again in an instant. Aaron has a Beatles album playing quietly in the background of your drive and suddenly you’re wishing that he’d never pull the car back into the driveway.

Of course, he does eventually, and the two of you clumsily make your way back into the house. 

“Thank you, Aaron. I had a really great time tonight.” You tell him, handing him back his suit coat. 

“Can I have ten more minutes? I’m not ready for tonight to be over just yet.” He asks of you, his dark eyes shining in the low light, and you’re helpless.

“Of course,” you tell him, and he smiles, pulling his phone out of his pocket and fiddling with it for a moment before setting it on the counter. Some Ella Fitzgerald song is playing. You don’t recognize it, but it doesn’t really matter, because he has one hand wrapped around your waist and the other is holding yours and resting over his heart, and you’re placing your head on his chest as he gently sways you around the kitchen and you realize that everything is perfect. He’s holding you, and you’re safe in his arms, and it’s perfect. Your feet are killing you, and you can barely keep your eyes open, and it’s perfect. You’re picturing a life with him and it’s perfect.

All too soon, the music fades away, and you’re swaying in his arms in the silence, refusing to accept that your evening may truly be over. Aaron kisses your temple and moves to whisper in your ear.

“Good night, sweetheart. Get some rest.” 

You pushed yourself up on your tiptoes to meet his lips, one of your hands wrapping around the back of his head while his hand on your back pulled you impossibly closer. 

“Good night, Aaron.” You told him.

“I thought you didn’t kiss on the first date?” He teases you, smiling.

You shrugged. “I’m easily influenced.”

[ourfavcanadianshawn]

No Feelings Allowed|S.M|Chapter One {let the games begin}

Masterlist|Next Chapter>>

A/n: So I took a couple days off so I could start this series and make sure it was to it’s fullest potential! I hope you enjoy this series, thank you guys! Also a big thanks to @i-see-you-mendes for creating an amazing quote for this whole series.

word count: 2505

prompt: shawn and y/n have some unfinished business that they decide to…tend to

“Why do we keep playing this game like there are no feelings involved, when in the end that’s all there’s ever been?” { @i-see-you-mendes }

She walked into the party just a little after eight, still tired from her shift at the hospital. She wasn’t sure if she was fashionably late, or fashionably early. All she knows is that tomorrow is the weekend which means it’s a great time for her to get wasted. She was ready to feel like an actual college student again instead of some forty-five year old doctor.

A sea of bodies gathered in the living room, grinding and making out with each other. People were seated on the couch to participate in a game of truth or dare, each antagonizing each other when one of the players picked truth instead of dare. People lined the walls, either making out or trying to maintain their balance, or both.

She instantly got an uneasy feeling in her stomach, saying that it was a bad idea to show up here after so many years.

Her eyes scanned the room, hoping to land on someone familiar. Perhaps the person who actually invited her.

Her narrowed eyes landed on the other side of the room, a fiery redhead talking to a dark haired brunette. The uneasy feeling evened out after she found the host of the party, Brian.

“Well well well. If it isn’t little miss Y/n. Surprised you put down the stethoscope for once.” Brian spoke up as he saw her approaching him. A playful grin appeared on his lips. “Good to see you too, Brian.” She rolled her eyes at him, joining him and his friend. “Hey Y/n, how are you?” Matt, the dark brunette greeted with a big smile glued to his face. He inclined down to her to hug her after years of not seeing each other.

“Hey Matt! I’m good, how are you guys?” She gestured between the two men after the hug. “Nothing much. Just having fun with life.” Brian answered for the two of them. She finally noticed how different the two looked. Matt had longer hair than back in high school and seemed much taller. Brian well was still Brian.

“Can I get you a drink?” Brian lifted an eyebrow at her, pointing to his own drink. “Yeah, totally. A beer is fine!” She smiled at his nice gesture. He nodded for her to follow him.

He led her into the kitchen and brought her by the fridge. “How has Uni of Toronto been treating you?” Brian tried to make small talk as he dipped down into the fridge to retrieve her a beer. “Good. It’s an amazing school.” She shrugged, not really wanting to talk about school tonight. Brian closed the fridge and handed her a cold one. “I wish I would have went when I got the chance to.” He frowned, taking a gulp of his drink. “Why didn’t you?” She tilted her head to the side.

“My dad. He’s always wanted me to take over his business so I had to stay closer to his work in order to learn how the ropes work.” Brian crossed his arms, leaning against the fridge. “I’m sorry, Brian.” One of her hands found his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

“It okay. I really enjoy it actually.” He pushes off the fridge after a few seconds and gave her a smile. “That’s great!” She opened the beer can, smiling over at him.

“Yeah, my dad-“ “Brian, can you grab me a Moosehead?” Brian was cut off by another male’s voice. A little bit of a too familiar voice.

Brian and her turned their heads to source of the voice to see a very old friend of theirs. Her jaw mentally dropped, she didn’t even think he was in town. She thought he would be too busy dancing around a stage somewhere, far from here.

“Of course, Shawn.” Brian dipped back down into the fridge, grabbing a beer for the old friend of theirs. He looked a lot different from the last time she saw him. Her eyes traveled quickly down his body before anyone could notice. Long brown ringlets hung over his forehead, somehow making him look more older than he was. And a tight white teeshirt, defining his muscles perfectly. He had really bulked up since high school. And maybe he was a few inches taller than back then as well. But to sum it all up, Shawn had gotten hot. Sure he was cute and adorable in high school, but he looked like a Calvin Klein model now.

She felt as she was staring to long because it seemed like he finally felt it, causing his head to turn in her direction. She flushed pink and forced her eyes to stare down at her feet. She felt his eyes going up and down on her, checking her out.

“Do my eyes deceive me? Little miss Y/n finally stepped away from the operation table.” She heard him humorously remark, making her look up at him. “I think it’s my eyes that are deceiving me. Mr. Hollywood hotshot not standing behind a microphone, fascinating.” She fired back sarcastically.

“Touché, Y/l/n.” He let out the same angelic laugh as he had back in senior year. Brian handed Shawn his beer and joined in on the laughter. “You haven’t changed one bit, have you?” Shawn added on, opening his beer with one bang onto the counter top. His golden orbs sparkling at her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stick up.

“That’s for you to be the judge of.” She winked, her eyes staying trained on Shawn. Her eye contact became intense with him, both creating a tension in the air. She simply cut it off by turning on her converse sneaker and walking back to the living room.

“You invite her?” Shawn questioned Brian after she had left the room. Knowing anyone could have invited her. “Yep.” Brian chuckled, sipping on his beverage.

“Good call.”

“Alright, beer pong! Who wants to play?” Ian’s voice rang through the entire house. She stood at the other side of the ping pong table, palms flat on the table ready to begin. “I’ll play.” Matt ran up to the table with a bottle of beer in his hand. “We need another person.” Ian called out, looking around for a potential player.

She scanned the room, hoping to find someone good at this game. No one really seemed to want to play.

“It’s okay. I can take on the two of you.” She smirked, starting to line up the cups on her side.

“No, no. You need a-“ “I’ll play.” A hand shot up in the crowd, which belonged to the voice that had cut Ian off.

People started to move for the volunteer to come forward, and out of the crowd came one Mr. Shawn Mendes.

“Okay, cool you can be Y/n’s partner.” Matt smiled pointing over at her. “Gladly.” Shawn’s eyes stared at her as she lined up the cups as straight as possible. “Great. So I’m gonna lose.” She coldly remarked, turning to meet Shawn’s gaze.

“I wouldn’t be to sure about that, Y/l/n.” He smirked at her, making his way to her side of the table. She glared up at him, rolling her eyes, “Oh give me a break.”

“Okay so the dynamic duo, Y/n and Shawn back at it again versus Ian and Matt, the non-dynamic duo.” Brian called out, hesitating on Matt and Ian’s part.

“Hmmm, dynamic duo? I like that.” Shawn kept smirking down at Y/n. His hand stayed flat on the table, helping him lean onto it.

“Too bad I don’t.” She shook her head in disapproval, slapping his hand away from the table. “Hey!” He backed his hand away from the table.

“Alright Y/n call it heads or tails.” Brian pointed over at her, with a coin in hand.

“Ta-“ “Heads.” Shawn cut her off, and whispered in her ear, “Isn’t that right…partner?”

“Eat a dick.” She rolled her eyes and watched the coin flip.

“Heads.” Brian called out, “The dynamic duo will go first.”

Brian bounced them a ping ball each, Shawn grabbed both balls before they could even bounce a second time.

“Hey!” She called out after not being able to catch her ball. “Oh you want this.” He teasingly waved the ball in her face. She scowled up at him, clearly pissed.

“Hey, if you want the ball all you have to do is—CHRIST!” He yelled, dropping the ball in her hand after she kicked him in the thigh. “Try again bitch.” She chuckled lightly before turning to make a shot. “You have not changed since high school, I swear. Still very competitive.” He grinned down at her. She stuck her tongue out at him and made the ball into the center cup of the opponents.

“And you love it.” She grinned back up at him.

The party was pretty much over now. The left over people were gathered on the sofas in the living room, playing truth or dare. There was no more music, just a faint Drake song playing in the background. Solo cups were thrown all over the apartment, one was even somehow stuck to the ceiling.

“Truth or dare, Brian?” Shawn called out from beside her. “Dare all the way.” Brian hollered out, leaning forward on his knees.

“I dare you to, call McDonalds and ask if they’re open.” Shawn frowned at his lame dare. “You really were not meant for this game.” Y/n chuckled from next him. He looked over at her like a lost puppy. His eyes staring deep into hers, she just smiled and shoved him playfully. Everyone else in the room noticed the small interaction.

“Fine.” Brian sighed, getting out his phone to call McDonalds.

His call resulted in him sounding like a complete idiot to the worker, what’s new?

“Y/n, truth or dare?” Brian asked from across the coffee table. He gave her puppy dog eyes, puppy dog eyes pleading her to pick dare.

“….truth.”

“Ugh….what’s your best party trick?” His head fell back, annoyed from her picking truth. Everyone watched from around the coffee table as the gears in her mind tried to shift around. “I’m good with games?” She asked more than stated. Everyone had a confused expression painted on their faces. “Like what?” Ian smirked at her as she took a sip of her drink.

“Okay. Shawn, lets play fire truck.” Her head turned towards the slim boy right beside her. His eyes immediately switching to nervousness, “What’s that?”

“Just tell me when to stop.” She placed her hand on his knee, slowly making her way to his mid area. His breathe hitched as she was just a couple inches away from his crouch. His Adams-apple kept sliding up and down at a rapid speed.

He inhaled, watching her hand slide its way up his thigh, “Stop.”

Everyone around burst into laughter, Shawn still not catching on to the game.

Her hand left his leg and went to cover her mouth from laughter.

“What?” He knitted his eyebrows together, squaring his shoulders slightly.

“Fire trucks don’t stop, dumbass.” She breathed out, trying to control her laughter. “Yes they do.” He argued. “When?” She cocked her head to side, confused at his statement. “…when…when there are cars in the way.” He managed out, trying to sound smart but failing miserably.

“Jesus! You’re really the life of the party aren’t yah?” She squinted her eyes, calling him out sarcastically.

“I remember you used to do that to Geoff all the damn time in high school.” Ian breathed out, still trying to compose his laughter. “Oh yeah. I think I still have that picture of his face when you did it to him for the first time.” Brian hopped in on the conversation. “No way!” Her eyes shined more brighter than they already were. “Yeah. I’ll go grab it…the box of memories I go.” Brian stood up from the couch and marched his way down the hallway that leads to his bedroom.

“So that’s your party trick huh?” Shawn whispered over to her, putting an arm around her like old times. He leaned further back onto the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. “Why yes it is.” She leaned into him and crossed her legs. “Interesting.” He smiled down at her, he smiled even wider when he noticed how close they were. Everyone was in there own conversation. There was only four other people there including Brian besides them. She was the only girl besides Matt’s girlfriend who was currently sleeping on his shoulder.

“Okay, okay here it is.” Brian squeaked, skipping into the room. He set a large bin on the table and unlocked it. “Every high school memory of mine is in this box.” Brian began digging into the box.

“Ahh. Here it…” His voice trailed off. “Did you find it?” She cocked her head away from Shawn’s shoulder. “Yeah…and this.” He held up a small piece of paper with a (the letter your first name starts with) and a S. “That’s not what I think it is, is it?” Her mouth began to hang low.

“Yeah, it is.” Brian nodded after unfolding the paper and scanning though it. “It’s the contract…” He added.

“I thought I burned that shit.” Shawn’s eyebrows became knitted together, confusion striking his face.

“No…I kept it.” Brian handed Shawn the contract. Shawn snatched the contract and skimmed over it.

I, Shawn Mendes and I, Y/n Y/l/n do not have feelings for each other and therefore will not show any signs of feelings for that matter. If one of us does admit to having feelings for the other for whatever reason, the last one standing shall win something of their choosing.

Signed, Y/n and Shawn

This was it. The contract that was made senior year but never fulfilled due to them going their separate ways.

“Holy shit.” Shawn mumbled, still not believing the contract still existed. The whole room filled with silence. Everyone just staring at the two idiots who agreed to the contract.

“What if we renew the contract?” Ian mentioned, smirking at the two once best friends. The both of them looked at each other and then back at Ian. “No, dude that’s stupid. We don’t have feelings for each other.” Shawn snapped at him. “Really?” Ian pointed to Shawn’s arm around Y/n. “Shut up.” Shawn rolled his eyes, still keeping his arm around her. “So you up for the challenge?” Ian cocked a eyebrow at the two.

“Just sign by your name.” Matt gave Y/n and Shawn a pen. “You sure about this?” Y/n leaned over the paper, staring up at Shawn. “We don’t feelings for each other, right?” Shawn raised his eyebrows checking with his old best friend. “Of course.”

Both of them signed their names at the bottom of the contract and turned to each other. “All the same rules apply.” She added.

“Bet.” He held out a hand. She hesitated grabbing it. She blinked slowly up at him before grasping his hand in hers.

“Bet.”

[postcards-fromafar]

Portland

Dan and I decided to head to Portland for a long weekend to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. We had been to Portland once before, but only for a day (and it had been in January so not the best weather). We were excited to get back and do more exploring, go on some hikes, drink lots of beer, and eat some delicious food. Portland definitely did not disappoint! 

Highlights

-Staying at The Nines- Dan and I decided to stay in a fancier hotel than usual for this trip since we were celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary. And it was luxurious! Lots of pretty blue accents in the room, a super comfy bed, robes, gentle music, and great housekeeping...I’ve never stayed in a hotel before where they come back a second time to make sure your blankets are turned down and slippers are waiting next to the bed for you at night! The hotel was also centrally located in downtown Portland, which made it fairly easy to get to all of the neighborhoods we wanted to check out within a 15 minute drive. 

The hotel left us some fancy chocolates and a nice note for our anniversary...

-Hiking at Council Crest Park- We got up early our first morning and hiked for a couple of hours to the top of Council Crest Park and then back down towards the Portland Zoo. Turns out the hike we did is one “T” of the 4T trail (trail, train, tram, trolley). We took the train back to our hotel at the end to get a second “T” in. It was perfect hiking weather and made for a lovely walk through the woods and up to the top, where we had a nice view of some of the mountains. 

Below is one of the fancy houses we glimpsed through the trees as we hiked. 

-Exploring different neighborhoods: Portland is definitely a city of neighborhoods, and we made it our mission to check out as many as we could in our three short days there. On Friday, we went up to the Alberta Arts District, an artsy area packed with delicious food spots, beer, coffee, tea, and fancy boutiques. On Saturday, we checked out 23rd street (Northwest Portland), where there was more shopping (some independent spots, some more mainstream). That evening, we briefly wandered down Division St and Hawthorne St (definitely need to spend more time in those areas if we go back!). On Sunday, we did a little more wandering on Hawthorne St before heading to another brewery.  

-Oregon Brewers Festival- As luck would have it, we landed in Portland just in time for a massive craft beer festival (Dan was in heaven). They had 80 beers from 80 different breweries, 2 ciders, and 4 wines. For just $20, you could get a plastic tasting mug and 13 tokens (1 3oz sample per token, or a full glass for 4 tokens). We didn’t end up using all our tokens but were able to try a bunch of delicious different beers from various breweries. I’ve recently stumbled into liking sour beers, and they had an amazing selection there! Among the ones I tried were a Framboise Rose Gose and a Belmont Street Bramble sour (sour blond ales aged in oak wine barrels with red raspberries and tangerine peel). We were also able to hang with friends (more on that to come), which always makes things more enjoyable!

-Portland Farmers Market at PSU- This is the most INSANE farmers market we have ever been to. It takes place on the campus at Portland State University and is a hodgepodge of people selling delicious food (hello, biscuit sandwiches), exquisite produce (I so badly wished we could have taken some home!), gorgeous bouquets of flowers, and things like cheese and jam. There were lots of families strolling around, including a couple with sets of twins (Portlanders seem to be a fertile bunch). 

-Finishing up the Africa video- After being inspired by Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s music video take on the classic Toto song, Dan and I filmed a lot of footage while in South Africa and Morocco on our trip last year. We decided our 5 year anniversary would be a perfect time to release the video, so we (meaning Dan- I was moral support), spent a lot of time on Saturday at a brewery finishing it up. 

-Hiking at Mount Tabor- A relatively easy but beautiful 3 mile hike. We went early in the day before it got too hot and were treated to the sight of three beautiful red-tailed hawks up close.

Bummers

-Portland was AMAZING. We could not think of any bummers other than not having enough time... we will definitely need to come back.

Eats

-Fancy brunch fare at Proud Mary- Recommended as a favorite brunch spot by my coworker, Peggy, this definitely lived up to expectations! I got fancy grilled cheese, and Dan got a yummy potato hash dish.

Reba was not a fan of the fancy juice I got at brunch. (”Like old asthma medicine!”)

-Salt & Straw- This is hands down our favorite ice cream in the whole world. While we usually visit in LA (sometimes more than once in a trip) it started in Portland and has since expanded to California (LA, San Francisco, and San Diego) and Washington (Seattle). Dan and I had a Fresh Cheese and Strawberries flavor, which tasted like strawberry cheesecake! One of our favorite flavors is an LA classic- salted, malted, chocolate chip cookie dough (to die for- but unfortunately not available in Portland). 

-Tusk- Another recommendation from Peggy that totally paid off. We went here for our anniversary dinner to get yummy middle eastern food. We ended up over ordering and stuffing ourselves, but it was so worth it! Among the highlights were chickpea fries, man’oushe (a Lebanese flatbread), Albacore tuna, and delicious greens.

-Biscuit sandwiches at the Farmers Market from Pine State Biscuits- Fresh made biscuits, fried chicken, bacon, and cheese, slathered in apple butter (me) or gravy (Dan). 

-Food trucks- So Portland is known for its food trucks, which we have experienced before, but sadly we did not get to take advantage of this time- so many awesome food spots that we never got around to. Next time!

Drinks

-Kombucha from Townshend’s Tea House- Kombucha is a fermented tea that is apparently a popular thing in Portland. The strawberry one we tried was decent, but in general kombucha is a bit funky for me. 

-So. Much. Beer. In addition to the Brewers Festival, we checked out a few different breweries: Great Notion, Cascade, Rogue Eastside Pub & Pilot Brewery, and Breakside. My personal favorite spot was Cascade- they had an extensive list of sour beers on tap, and all were delicious. Among the ones we tried were an apricot sour and an barrel-aged wild ale called Ingmeyer Bergman that Dan loved.

-Wine at Southeast Collective- We barely dipped our toe in with the Oregon wine scene but did squeeze one wine tasting in. Next time we come back, we are hoping to rent a car and drive out into wine country to do more exploring. 

People

-Dan’s aunt Reba and her friend Lisa- Reba lives just over the state border in Vancouver, Washington, and she’s known Lisa for a really long time (they used to work together). The two of them were on their way to a weekend camping trip with friends but met us for brunch in the Alberta Arts District on their way. We enjoyed a lovely brunch with good conversation and lots of laughter. 

-Larissa, Kevin, and Lauralyn- Larissa is a good friend of ours from college, and we had not seen her in about four years! She has been living in Portland for the past few years, so we met up with her, her boyfriend, Kevin, and her little sister, Lauralyn at the Brewers Festival. It was great catching up with her, and we are looking forward to her upcoming return to the Midwest!

Observations & Insights

-All of the ride share drivers seem more friendly and chatty than we are used to- it felt like we had the same conversation about the humidity in Chicago about 14 or 15 times. 

-Style is very different than back home- there are many more tattoos and more people with fun colored hair.

-There are lots of homeless people in Portland.

Tips

-Carry cash- it seems to be king around the many eateries, markets and watering holes of Portland. 

-Samples are the way to go- there are so many beers at each brewery so no sense in getting a full glass. We recommend getting flights instead so you can try more options!

-If you are able to, try to spend a week or two in Portland! There is so much to do, and we just scratched the surface. We are definitely hoping to be back sometime soon!

[tomandharriet]

When two became three

Despite being a long way from our family and friends, it was a Christmas which kept on giving. Our next present, 2 weeks in the company of Rose! The race to a prearranged point in Bangkok was narrowly won by us, as we anxiously waited for Rose, who is good at most things which aren’t navigation related. Thankfully she had 8 hours in Chengdu to study our detailed instructions and hand drawn maps and as it turned out, we needn’t have worried. Arriving about 5 minutes after us, we were delighted to see her familiar face as she walked along the platform. We headed straight to our hostel, just off Khaosan Road (another infamous Thai destination). We kept up the theme of not really exploring much around us, spending the remainder of the day catching up over food and drinks.

The next day turned into more of the same. By chance we had 2 friends in Bangkok on the same day. Meeting up with Simon and Ollie (who’s birthday it was) for an early afternoon drink, turned into a day session on Khaosan and before we knew it we’d seen none of Bangkok, beyond the street sellers selling all sorts of wierd, wonderful and outrageously rude tourist tat.

We could’ve happily spent the whole night drinking White Russians with them and nearly did, when we came extremely close to missing our night train to Chiang Mai. This culminated with our pre-booked ticket turning up at our carriage door 2 minutes before the train pulled out of the station. We’d had a great day but that was about to get even better as Rose suddenly turned into Santa. We knew that she was bringing a few gifts out from Harriet’s family - but Rose had also secretly got Tom’s mums contact details, which meant we both had little stockings to open and hang at the end of our sleeper train beds! We actually nearly cried, it was such a lovely gesture and moment. We also knew how much it would’ve meant to our mums to be able to piece together the stockings. Nobody is perfect though and Santa Rose had one comical slip up, handing Tom a present which he excitedly opened, and then froze.. discovering a Fitbit, which he knew was intended for Harriet, but didn’t quite know how to react whilst being filmed.

We woke up the next morning, shortly before pulling into Chiang Mai, which was comfortably our favourite place in Thailand and actually one of our favourite cities on the trip. Chiang Mai strikes a perfect balance between having interesting things for visitors to do, whilst feeling like a genuine locals town, full of lovely people. We were fortunate to be able to meet up with James, an old family friend of Tom’s, who lives in Bangkok but was spending New Year with his wife, Mandy and her family in Chiang Mai. Mandy who was born in Chiang Mai, acted as our personal tour guide for the morning and we soon found out that she shares a love for Tom’s newfound favourite dessert, which will be covered in great detail later on! She also showed us some great coffee spots, filled us in on some of the history of Chiang Mai and gave us the background on why the King looks so unhappy in the giant billboard pictures of him, which are on display everywhere. It turns out he’s not as popular as his Dad was, largely down to his own actions, it seems!

We had heard lots of good things about Chiang Mai, but it was the New Year lantern festival which we were particularly keen to witness. We had a lovely meal out before heading to the old town walls, where along the moat, thousands of people were already gathering and beginning to release lanterns. Environmental concerns aside for now (our pangs of environmental guilt have multiplied as our trip goes on), the Chiang Mai lanterns are a spectacle that outshone (sorry) any firework display we’d ever seen. The sense of fun, togetherness and hope for the upcoming year was infectious, as friends and families gathered in small groups, wrote their names, stories or wishes on their lantern and then released them. The cumulative affect was stunning, as a steady stream of candle powered lanterns disappeared up into the night sky.

Waking late and predictably groggy the next day, we had lined up two events to see us through the first day if the new year. The first was a relaxing boat tour along Chiang Mai’s river With a pitstop at quite a random and underwhelming herb farm, The main event was an evening at the Thai boxing, as we seeked to continue our run of watching sports in each country. After some dinner and drinks, we headed to the stadium, expecting a bit of a buzz to surround the place. We were greated by 1 security guard and a very shut boxing stadium. Despite selling tickets for the night online, there was no scheduled boxing due to it being the 1st January. A knockout punch to our plans!

Our final day in Chiang Mai produced our best example of just how overwhelmingly kind the majority of people we have encountered on our trip, came out of a moment of misfortune. Rushing to get out of one of the cities red taxis, Harriet left her phone on the bench, realising too late as the taxi drove off round a corner. Still with her Indian SIM card in, there was no way of tracing the phone, but that didn’t stop a couple of passers by who noticed that Harriet was upset and pulled over to ask what had happened. They made phone calls, posted on local Facebook pages and prompted a local garage with CCTV cameras to trawl through the footage in an attempt to get the license plate of the taxi. After more than an hour of trying but ultimately failing to find anything of use, they then drove us back to our hostel and outright refused our offer of any money or alcohol as a thank you for their display of kindness.

Our next destination was Pai, a small town located near the jungle, a few hours north of Chiang Mai. Over the 3 nights we spent there, we came to realise that Pai town itself was a slightly odd touristy bubble. It mostly consisted of a main strip, offering some really good street food and some Groundhog Day-esque street performances ranging from children who clearly didn’t want to be there, dancing to pop or traditional songs, through to a Pharaoh driving a giant duck and turning the sale of customisable flip flops into an interactive show. Ok that was actually great and Tom is still wearing his yellow and black flip-flops which cost less than £3, show included! We also had some great evenings at the bars, most notably the rock-bar which after a string of fairly decent performers, had a local Thai guy who gradually emptied the bar without us noticing. Ok so he wasn’t great at guitar, and his pitch was way off, but his heart was in the right place and when he thanked the crowd (three of us sitting outside and the barman who was likely his mate) we were won over and demanded an encoure.

Oddities aside, we really enjoyed our time in Pai. Our hostel looked not dissimilar to a hobbit home and provided us with an excellent base. The highlight though was the surrounding area, which no doubt attracted the original visitors and is the reason for Pai’s boom in popularity. Using mopeds as our mode of transport for a few days, we visited several sceneic locations, including the stunning Pai Canyon, some waterfalls, a land split caused by an earthquake and some thermal springs.

We also took our chance to complete a day trek through the nearby bamboo jungle. Setting off early and driving approximately 90 minutes out of Pai, we trekked through difficult undulating terrain. The trek was well worth it thanks to a dip in a waterfall at the end and mostly down to an encounter with a family of gibbons. The gibbons were wise to the trekking route and knew that humans passing would likely mean some treats. But unlike the many overly bold monkeys we’d encountered who would grab anything at first chance, they were more timid, keeping their distance at first and preferring to catch their food - and their handling was impeccable, not dropping a thing. Feeding them bananas and then a few spare muffins, they grew more confident and eventually came to take food out of our hands, before retreating to eat it.

As our flight to Hanoi was from Chiang Mai, we had one final evening there. Round 2 for Thai boxing and this time it was on! Whilst we’re no experts, the standard of most bouts wasn’t particularly high and the evening drew to a strange conclusion when the final fight was contested between 12 year olds.

Food

One of the more interesting things we tried in Bangkok was a popular Northern Thailand dip called nam phrik ong. This is a really spicy dip made with dried chillies, ground pork and tomato. It was served with pork scratchings, sliced cabbage, cucumber slices and some fresh herbs. The combination of all of the different flavours and textures made this dip so irresistibly morish.

Chiang Mai was full of lots of cafes and restaurants selling delicious and fresh Thai food. However, one absolute stand out cafe we visited with Tom’s family friends James and Mandy was a place called mango tango. Every dish (and drink) on the menu contained their beloved juicy fruit. Naturally, we went for the trio option to try as many of the mango treats on offer, which amazingly felt so varied. One particular mango dish that Tom managed to trial pretty much every day we were in Thailand was a dessert (or in Tom’s case breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack) called mango sticky rice. The dish is made by letting the cooked rice absorb all of the sweet coconut milk. Once absorbed the gooey rice it is served on a plate with any remaining coconut milk drizzled on top and served with slices of the juiciest mangos you can imagine. The dish often had a sprinkling of crispy yellow mung beans to give it that little extra crunch.

Another delicious dish that was a Chiang Mai speciality and insanely good was khao soi gai. This is a coconut curry dish made with chicken thighs and topped with crispy noodles (and more noodles mixed in the curry) and pickled, chilli shallots. All served with beans sprouts, coriander and a wedge of lime. A comfort dish to warm all hearts, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Pai was pretty much just one touristy strip of street food. You could get anything from your typical Thai dishes to nachos, corn on the cob and even home baked pasta dishes. Although very exciting at first the novelty did start to wear off by day three. The overwhelming choice often resulted in Rose, Tom and Harriet being split across the length of the strip aimlessly wondering around slowly filling up on a random combination of food, kind of like you do at buffet. Although the fried dumplings were heavenly....

A final note that is not specifically recipe focused but one that can’t go without a special mention was on a post night out dinner date with Rose and Tom (Harriet had tapped out and gone to bed at this point). Tom managed to eat a mouthful of wasabi mistakingly thinking it was guacamole. Tom’s eyes were watering so much Rose was concerned the couple next to them thought she had just broken up with him.

Travel Jukebox - ‘Amajovi Jovi’ by Sandy B

We must start by apologising to Joe McTaggart for being the sender of the only album we rejected. This wasn’t because it was a bad choice. Far from it, Joe’s original choice of Grandbrothers was an album we had listened to repeatedly in the weeks prior to leaving. We knew we could rely on Joe to provide us with a unique album we’d never heard of and we wanted to give him a second pick for the jukebox. He didn’t disappoint!

Joe suggested we listen to the album when we fancied a bit of a party, so it’s only fitting we talk about it in the same post as Rose’s arrival, New Year and a time in our trip when the scales of cultural traveling vs boozey holiday, took a big swing in favour of being ‘Brits abroad’.

Originally released on cassette tape in 1994, out of apartheid South Africa, the album has an underlying tribal theme, with rhythmical beats and playful chanting throughout. It has a very satisfying simplicity to it too, focusing on simple hooks and drum loops. It’s the type of album you’d love to be able to go back in time to the release year, to be able to gauge just how groundbreaking it likely was then. ‘Party Time’ stands apart from the otherwise more club vibe tracks and feels like a nod to the growth of West Coast hip-hop at the time. The album finishes full circle with an instrumental version of the opening (title) track, a very satisfying way to round off this (as anticipated) unique album!

TLDR; Rose brings the party!

[dawningasalenna]

Having more days left for spring break, Tainan would be the perfect city to stay in for the rest of the days I have left without classes. There’s so much more left to see. Finally, I crossed out my other plans.

Anping District (04/06)

As a new day started, I woke up with the sun shining brightly. It was another perfect day for a bike ride. As Dennis recommended, I should head off to Anping District to see the treehouses. I immediately looked it up online and saw that the area is surrounded with a lot of attractions. I swiftly got out of bed, grabbed breakfast, and hopped on a bike.

Using Maps.Me for bike rides, I journeyed through the city for a 9KM cycle. It was not as fascinating as expected it to be since there were just plain buildings that looked the same. However, the dismay died down and my excitement rose upon the sight of the river. I went biking at the riverside until I reached the Zhahamuyuanzhumin Park (札哈木原住民公園). It was just across the Lin Mo-Niang Memorial Park (林默娘公園) which sat beside the scenic Fishermen’s Wharf (安亿桥下河底观景步道).

Walking past the bridge, one can easily spot the Anping Customs which is quite an interesting establishment.

Just a few steps away, the Anping Old Street is quite interesting to wander around. Filled with mini stands that sells various kinds of knickknacks, key chains, and other interesting items, the vendors stand by their booths with smiles reaching their ears.

As I’ve mentioned before, everything is close to each other. Walking was the best way to just see everything. I stumbled upon Fort Zeelandia, Zeelandia Museum, and Anping Old Fort who were side by side each other. All of these spots were touristy, but the walk and sightseeing experience throughout the fortresses was great.

Searching for more food, I found a little shop that sells fried vegetable pockets. I actually thought they were huge dumplings! They were tasty. (I had 3 of them!) Before heading further, I grabbed some shrimp rolls from a restaurant along the street near Anping Old Fort. They were so yummy! I went on for a walk to the Old Tait & Co. Merchant House since it’s where the Anping Treehouse was located. I was fascinated by how natured fused with man-made structures. It was not your typical treehouse. It took the definition of a treehouse to a whole new level. After long walks and going in and out of the museums, I eventually was tired out and napped in one of the parks.

Making my way back to West Central District, Dennis was having his Chinese Class at Cheffresh. It was great since I couldn’t pedal more to the east district, 6KM was enough. Getting enough rest, I came along to watch his basketball game with his Taiwanese teammates. Watching the game was so much fun! Goofy music, announcers, multiple courts, simultaneous games, and crazy players – it was very similar to the local basketball games in the Philippine provinces. We ended the night with a beers with the team. They actually won, unexpectedly – last-minute luck!

Chimei Museum (04/07)

FriYAY: last day of the weekday! Hearing great things about this museum, I decided to go on another 8KM bike ride. The great thing about the day was its weather. It was a bit cloudy, not too much sunshine. The guide led me to a path that was so refreshing. Rural vibe all over – bustling poultry areas, stretches of farmlands, abandoned streets, hidden forests; these were the sights that I’ve been surrounded about during biking. It made me really happy to be around nature rather than taking the highway fighting roads with scooters and cars.

After less than half an hour, I was at the Tainan Metro Park. I sat down for a while and started walking. I went up the viewing deck first to catch an overview of the whole area. It was huge: green fields, a stretch of lake, and the museum grounds were perfectly laid down on this whole space.

I first stopped at 觀景平台 which is the best spot to take a photo of the museum combined with the lake scenery. Seeing this view, I was reminded of Sun Moon Lake in Taichung. It gave off the similar aura due to its setting.

To enter the museum, I followed the signs that led to 丘比特橋 which bridged the path to the museum. Welcoming visitors is the Cherub Fountain where tourists flocked for photos.

Filled with excitement, I walked quickly to the museum’s main entrance. Upon entering this architectural fascination, I was lost for words in enchantment of how beautiful the interior is. The outside appearance was justified by its inner contents. The collection housed by the museum was definitely worth viewing. I easily spent about three hours inside by just walking and observing their displays.

As I exited the building, I was greeted by the Muse Plaza which was connected to the Olympus Bridge leading to the Apollo Fountain Plaza. Filled with the gods and goddesses we all know from Greek mythology, I sighted Athena. (Fun fact: My mom was supposed to name me Athena!) I sat beside her and took out the book entitled Everything and More by David Foster Wallace. (Check it out!)

Having the sun rise again, I went back the grass fields to look for a spot to lay down and read. Some of the visitors were having a picnic around the area. I grabbed some food from one of the stalls and the Taiwanese vendor exclaimed, “You’re Filipina!”  That made my day even brighter, it was actually refreshing to be recognized as a Filipino while traveling. Finding the perfect spot, I sat down below a tree which was situated by the lake where the ducks were all hanging out. I was able to read the book peacefully while enjoying the view. I even found time to take a nap. Chimei Museum easily became my favorite in Tainan.

Once again (I never learn.), my phone battery was about to die. I asked Dennis if he could pick me up from the Tbike station at the Baoan bus stop. The bus stop was actually a nice place to just sit down and read a book at. It has an interesting tree growth on a wall, similar to the treehouse.

After a few minutes, I hopped on the motorbike! Searching for Costco, Google Maps led us to the rural road. What a refreshing ride! The cool thing about riding at the rural area of Tainan is knowing that its vicinity to the city is so near. We did some grocery shopping for the traditional dinner since it was a Friday. For Jews, it was called Shabbat. (Both Dennis and Noah are Jews.) For the first time, I witnessed a Jewish tradition which was astonishing. They sang a few songs while the candles were lit firsthand. After the tradition, we ate some of the Challah (bread) with hummus then ravioli was served for dinner. Geshmak! Bringing people together, they played a couple of songs with their ukuleles as we drank beers and wine. The night passed swiftly. Indeed, another great day in Tainan.

Chiao Tou Beach Park (04/08)

For the lovely Saturday morning, we headed for brunch after lazing around the early morning. The Artful Dodger was a nice breakfast place where they serve great food. A few minutes after we arrived, Addy and Tina came to join us. Eggs, toast, salad, bacon, coffee, tea, and even fries – everyone had a great brunch in this cozy place that has good atmosphere. Bidding goodbye, we agreed to meet at the beach in the late afternoon.

Rest up! It was a chill Saturday. After napping, we headed off to Anping Beach.  It was about a 15 minute motorbike ride from the city to the beach. With only a few people walking around, we sat down to enjoy some beers with the scenery. People were relaxing through the afternoon in the ocean by kitesurfing and kiteboarding too. The beach might not have white sand, swaying palm trees, and pristine water, but it’s a nice spot to watch the sunset. It wasn’t bad at all. Dipping into the ocean, the beach was nice to swim at as well.

As the sun went down, we had dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant. Once again, I had a taste of Taiwanese food that I’ve never tried before! My favourite was specifically the shrimp with sprinkles on top. It was heavenly. Finishing off, we went back to prepare for the night. The destination: Legends Sports Bar. It was the night before Noah‘s birthday, so it was a time to celebrate! 小case – 樂團 was the band name of Dennis’ friends. This band is specifically different because they have a trombone player! It was quite interesting. As they started to play their music, the crowd gathered up near the stage to jam with them. Growing up listening to live bands, I personally enjoyed watching them and listening to their music. The vibe that they gave off influenced the crowd’s mood of having a good time. Great job!

For my last day in Tainan, we had brunch at Dennis and Noah’s place. (It was Noah‘s birthday!) Some band members of Xiao Case came over. Coffee, french toast, bacon, mushrooms and peppers, fruits – it was a nice meal. The whole noon till early afternoon was spent on chatting. Before everyone had to head to Taipei, we dropped by Mary B’s. It’s a cupcake shop owned by Dennis’ friend, Mary! She’s a really pretty woman with nice blonde hair and a great personality. Her cupcake shop was superb! As cuteness was overloading the atmosphere, there were food shaped pillows on the colourful sofa, random paintings of creative figures pinned against the wall, and the best part: bite sized cupcakes! We had coffee to wake us up and most had cupcakes. I wish I tried some, but my stomach was sickly the whole afternoon till the evening. Definitely would go visit Mary B’s again to eat a dozen or more of those cute yummy tiny cupcakes! (Check out Noah’s birthday video.)

As Sundays go, it was time to unwind. We visited a park and sat down to relax. I spotted a lot of Filipinos in the park! They were actually numerous. It was a nice afternoon. Saying our farewells, the band headed out to catch their trains going to Taipei. I decided to stay and just leave in the morning since my classes don’t start till the afternoon. Hanging out with Dennis and Noah for the rest of the night, we watched a couple episodes of Rick and Morty. A weirdly addictive show, it’s a good watch for when you want to have a good laugh while having your mind messed up. It’s absolutely hilarious. My sickly self enjoyed it a lot.

Concluding my spring break, I took a train back to Zhongli for three hours. Undoubtedly, I had a blast during my stay in this beautiful city. Immersing myself in culture, tradition, art, and music – it was a rejuvenating experience for me. It has been a long time since I acted as a “touristy traveler,” I surely liked being one for that whole week. If ever one visits Taiwan, Tainan is a city that must be on the list!

#DawningInTaiwan: Knowing Tainan Better Having more days left for spring break, Tainan would be the perfect city to stay in for the rest of the days I have left without classes.