#i have to say stuff like this about eiffel on this blog every few weeks or so like a pressure release valve.

[commsroom]

eiffel is really, really into the idea of birthday sex, but he's got basic taste and doesn't even want to try anything different; hera is happy to indulge him, but she's like. i don't get it. i have sex with you all the time anyway. what makes it birthday sex. and he's like, um. it's my birthday?

[jadekitty777]

The Miraculous Tales of Luckybug and Qrow Noir

Anyone ready for an onslaught of fics from me for the next week? Because that’s what’s happening my friends.

(I apologize that my blog will also be running on super speed for the next week as I reblog stuff. I also apologize in advance that I won’t have time to read many, if any, fics. My own still need to be edited and finalized. Aaah lil’ stressed honestly).

Day 1: Flirting

Rating: K+

Pairing: Qrow/Clover

Word Count: 5600

Ao3 Link: The Miraculous Tales of Luckybug and Qrow Noir

Summary:  In the daytime, he was Clover Ebi. Just a normal college student, with a normal life. But there's something about him no one knows yet. Because he has a secret. A miraculous secret.

(AKA: The Miraculous Ladybug AU no one asked for)

~

“Voici, À Bientôt!”

“Merci beaucoup. Bonne journée!” Clover replied, taking the box from the smiling cashier.

As he stepped out of the bakery into the busy streets of Paris, he gave a sigh of relief. Though he’d been living in France for the past two months now for his Spring Abroad program, he couldn’t help but feel a little anxious every time he had to converse with the locale. His accent wasn’t the best and some words he just couldn’t remember the right inflection for.

Then again, as he got to Green Belt Park and took a seat on one of the empty benches, leaning back to enjoy the stunning view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, he figured being in such a beautiful city was a good excuse to remain speechless.

He set his bookbag down beside him, opening the flap, and then the top of the box, revealing two small slices of cake. “Okay Ruby, you can come out. It’s safe.”

In a flash quicker than lightning, a red streak zipped from his bag and into the box. A moment later, the kwami looked up at him with starry silver eyes and asked, “You got me two?”

He tapped her on the head, right between her antennae. “The strawberry is for you. The other is…”

“For Qrow, right?” As she looked up at him, he decided that the paragon of heroism should not have such a shit-eating grin.

“It’s not-!” He knew his face was getting hot. “We have to work on the sociology project this evening so I thought he’d appreciate it.”

Not fooled for a second, Ruby said between bites of cake, “You should just tell him.”

“I don’t think I should be taking love advice from an immortal being that transcends time.” He craned his head back, watching the thin clouds above drift along the sky. “Besides, it’s not that easy. Qrow is, he’s just so-” He pictured the other man, all dark hair, captivating red eyes, and shy, personal smiles wrapped around a gruff voice that belayed layers of emotion. Clover sighed longingly, “Wonderful.”

Even without eyebrows, Ruby rose one. “Ah-huh. I can see how you’re having trouble.”

He cracked up. It was nice to have her sensible perspective around. He had to wonder how different his life would have been if he never picked up that little black box with the note ‘You’ve been chosen’ left underneath it.

Having come into his life around the same time Qrow had, she’d been privy to a behind-the-scenes look to how his relationship with the other man shifted from strangers to close friends. She was the only one who heard his secret thoughts as that bond grew into intense feelings.

“I really mean it though. It’s always best to be honest with your heart.” The kwami told him.

“I know you’re right. But is it what’s right for Qrow?” At her head tilt, he explained, “He’s got a crush of his own, remember? The one he’s so vague about?”

“Maybe he’s so vague because it’s you?”

He snorted. “Only if he knows I’m Luckybug. He’s got blue eyes, remember?” That was one of the only things he’d been able to pull out of him, besides the gender. Which, after a simple process of elimination, meant it was either Qrow’s best friend Taiyang or James, the leading RA in their dorms back home. Well, or rich and prissy Jacques, but he knew Qrow had better standards than that.

“He could be colorblind to green?” Ruby offered hopefully.

He gave her another pat on the head. “I don’t think it works that way, but thanks for trying to make me feel better.”

She made a soft noise, before floating up from her bed of crumbs to sit on his shoulder instead. “He hasn’t mentioned this person the entire trip though, right?”

Clover started in surprise. She was right, he hadn’t – which was a huge change from the near weekly aside he’d give about whatever his ‘prince charming’ was up to. “You think it’s fading away?”

“I’m not sure.” She said, looking towards the city’s prized monument. “But I think it might mean this trip could be an opportunity to tell him how you feel. What better place to do that then the city of love?”

He mulled that over. When he found out his university offered abroad studies during junior year, he had been so excited. He’d always wanted to travel, but the prospect of going alone was also nerve-wracking. Qrow, facing much the same enthusiasm and inhibitions, had struck a deal that they would go together. That also meant they had been spending an exorbitant amount of time together, living together in the shared home with a few other students. Shared a room, even.

How many nights had they spent together, just talking about nothing and everything? Mapping out plans over train and bus schedules to fit in as many big sights as they could on their free weekends of tourism? Walked along the Seine at night, the city lights reflecting off the water, where Clover would inadvertently get lost staring at how gorgeous Qrow looked in the casting glow?

Maybe… he could…

“Clover, the sky!”

The sudden alarm in Ruby’s voice had his head jerking upwards. To his horror, the space above the tower was turning black with red lightning streaking across. The telltale sign of Omen at work. But she couldn’t be here!

But sure enough, from the depths of the portal, a large, winged Grimm appeared. It looked like a giant raven, with terribly sharp claws and razor-tipped feathers.

His kwami looked to him, determined. “We need to transform.”

He nodded and grabbed his phone, sending a quick message to Qrow, before stuffing it and the bakery box in his bag. After a cursory glance around, he ducked into the shadow of a tree trunk. “Alright Ruby, charm on!”

The clover-shaped brooch on his chest glowed and Ruby collided with it, and in an instant, he felt his civilian clothes disappear, replaced by a skin-tight, red and polka-dot suit and a mask that covered his eyes. His hair lengthened, his normal, spiked quiff falling into a messier comb over, some of the bangs tickling against his forehead. As the magic of the transition faded, he plucked the yo-yo off his belt and went racing across the park, throwing it at a rooftop, feeling the end latch onto a chimney. With a pull, it retracted and he went flying through the air, landing at the top in one smooth motion. He paused only long enough to leave his bag behind before he went racing along the rooftops towards the emergency.

“I don’t understand. How is Omen here?” Clover asked to no one, feeling panic begin to rise. Did something happen to the team back home? The thought made him sick.

Maria had been very strict about how many miraculous he could put on the field in his absence, not wanting to have another fall into the wrong hands like the Pegasus miraculous had. So, he – or more specifically Luckybug – left Yang the Dragon with Tai and Sun the Monkey with Elm, giving both specific instructions to protect San Francisco in his absence. He’d only called for their assistance a few times before when things got really hectic, so he was hoping Noir would be able to balance the less experienced miraculous users out.

But to think Omen may have defeated all three? That was too awful to imagine.

He looked up at where the bird was circling the tower, dread settling into a hard knot in his gut.

How was he going to do this alone?

~

“Your stinky fish, madame.” Qrow presented the sardines with a flourish.

Blake lit up immediately, diving for the can and fishing one out for herself.

He left the rest of the can on the desk in easy reaching distance, before setting back into his chair where a very blank word document was staring back at him. He gave an agitated huff. He’d been hoping to at least come up with a few research topics for their paper before Clover got back from his lecture in International Affairs. Which was, Qrow mentally reminded with a fond eyeroll, not a required course for the program they were a part of. But Clover just couldn’t help himself, saying it might come in handy for his GPA score as he signed himself up for the class.

Tch, overachiever.

The distinct feeling of being watched sent a shudder down his spine, and he gave the spirit beside him a look.

The cat kwami stared back, unblinking.

“Blake you’re freaking me out again.”

Her ears twitched and she went to fetch another sardine. “I was just waiting for you to get that dreamy look on your face again.”

He flushed. “D-Dreamy?”

“Mmhmm. It kind of looks like,” She gave an exaggerated sigh, placing a paw against her cheek and fluttering her non-existent lashes.

“I never look like that.” He deadpanned.

“Whatever you say.”

“I don’t! And, anyways, what’s it to you?”

She didn’t reply, taking the time to munch into her fish instead.

He sighed, focusing back on his laptop, switching over to the internet to check on the feed from back home. No new reports of any attacks on any of the news blogs. It was like their enemy had decided to take a vacation at the same time he had.

When Qrow had first became Noir, Maria had told him to be very careful with what information he gave, even to other miraculous holders. He intended to vaguely tell Luckybug he would be out. So, it had really been a stroke of luck when Luckybug announced first on their last mission together that a family emergency was going to keep him out of commission for a while – but that he’d left Tatsu and Timber in the wings in case he needed help. So, he never shared his own intentions. Instead, he placed Kali in charge of Weiss the Bee until he returned, knowing that the power team Lucky had left behind would need a more versatile and calculating fighter in their midst.  

(The role he normally filled, he thought with a sense of pride).

He’d been checking on things back at the home front regularly, knowing it only took minutes before social media was trending any new crisis, but it had been unusually quiet. He was sure Lucky was doing the same, wherever he was.

His heart clenched up, thinking about him. They’d been fighting the good fight together for over a year now, and it hadn’t taken much for Qrow to become smitten with the mysterious, masked hero. He’d thought he was everything he ever wanted; strong, daring, ambitious, with a dazzling smile and a baritone voice that was to die for. He was certain their time apart would be torturous.

Yet, it hadn’t been.

They said distance made the heart grow fonder, but it was more like his heart had forgotten. He couldn’t pinpoint when it was exactly that he’d become so preoccupied by Clover. How he’d grown to appreciate his gentle gestures and thoughtful words, his hearty chuckles and sincere expressions. It was as if stepping out of the war woke him from a stupor and gave him a chance to see things he’d missed, even when they were right in front of him.

Qrow sighed, placing his chin in his hand.

“This is my favorite part.”

“Huh?” He looked down at Blake, recognizing that mischievous gleam in her yellow eyes.

“The best story I get to witness is when one of my hosts falls in love.”

“I-I’m not falling in love!” He said immediately. “I have a crush.”

“Really.” It was her turn to deadpan.

He shoved himself away from his desk, offense all over his tone as he echoed, “Yes, really. You know how I feel about Lucky.”

He paced the length of the room, coming to stand by the window, staring down at the busy streets below. A moment later, he felt her weight on his shoulder, almost nonexistent, but there.

Her whisker tickled his neck as she turned her head towards him. “What do you know about Luckybug, really?”

Qrow leaned his arm along the glass, meeting his own reflection’s eyes. “I know he’s smart and funny and he’s always willing to put everything on the line to do what’s right.”

“But what do you know of him specifically? What’s his favorite color? What’s his family like? Does he like anchovies on his pizza?”

He snorted at the last one. “He’s my romantic interest, not yours.” His smile slipped away. “I know what you’re getting at. Unless we reveal who we are to each other, this can’t go any further.” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “I know that. But it still feels wrong, somehow. Are… my feelings that fickle?”

“Not fickle.” She levitated, hovering by his face. “They just had no room to grow. These things have to be nurtured, but if there’s nothing there to care for it, they’re only bound to wither away.”

That had been way too scripted. He gave a laugh. “That’s it, I’m not downloading anymore trashy romance novels on my phone for you to read.”

Her ears flattened. “If you make me sit through your boring lectures, I’ll break the sprinkler above your head.”

“Alright, I fold.” He held up his hands in surrender. Though he was almost positive it was an empty threat, he didn’t want to tempt fate with the kwami of destruction.

She softened. “Anyways, I think with-” She abruptly cut herself off, suddenly darting against the window. “What’s that?!”

He jerked around, spotting where the sky was darkening on the horizon, turning a deep, inky black. He’d seen it so many times before, the magic was unmistakable.

“You don’t think…” Blake trailed off.

“Omen.” Qrow finished, features smoothing into one of rigid resolve. He turned to the kwami, her expression matching his own.

He lifted his hand, the jeweled ring glinting back at her. “Blake, luck off.”

~

Clover landed in the courtyard, shouting as he ran. “Everyone, clear out!” He desperately tried to remember whatever French he could. “Fuir! S’il vous plaît!”

“Chanceux!” One of the locals cried, desperately trying to find their phone.

“Non, fuir!” He repeated.

A screech from above made him cover his ears, looking up to see the giant bird climbing down the Eiffel Tower, the vertical walk down unnerving somehow. He backed up as the bird landed on concrete, its impressive height daunting him. His fingers clenched around his weapon, backing up as the bird lowered its head. Its beak was big enough to swallow him whole if it wanted.

It seemed that, at least, was enough to make the people around him finally start to flee.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?”

The voice had him looking higher, spotting the speaker mounted on the beast’s back like a queen in her bed of feathers. Omen walked forward until she stood on the bird’s crown, lowering her sunglasses just enough to reveal crimson red eyes as she stared over the tops of the rims at him.

“What are you doing here?” Clover asked, pulling the yo-yo’s line out as a warning.

She only smiled patronizingly, as if he were no more a threat than a child. “That’s none of your concern.” She pushed her glasses back up, flipping her raven-haired braid over her shoulder. It fell like a horse’s tail along her back, between the wings the Pegasus miraculous granted her.

He felt bad for the imprisoned kwami being forced to do her bidding.

“Tell me, where’s your cohort?” Omen asked, giving a cursory glance around as if Noir would just pop into existence.

“I think I’m more than enough for you.” He instantly realized that had been the wrong thing to say as she laughed.

“You’re alone.” Fuck. “Well, that makes this even easier.” She gestured to the bird she stood on. “But as I’m a fair opponent, I’ll give you a choice. You can hand over your miraculous now, or you can resist and my little Nevermore can have a bit of fun first before I take it.”

As answer, he only started to rotate the yo-yo at his side, the device whooshing audibly as it swung in fast, heavy arcs.

Omen’s dark wings stretched open. “The fun way it is.”

She shot up into the air – but he didn’t have time to worry about her as the Nevermore immediately struck forward, beak opening to snap him in half. He jumped backwards, throwing his weapon out with a yell. It nailed the bird right in its head, the creature giving a sharp cry before it shook it off and straightened up. It opened its wings, the span of them covering a third of the courtyard, and gave a few hard flaps.

It was like being blasted by hurricane winds. Clover yelped as he was thrown off his feet and went tumbling across the concrete. The Nevermore, able to make up the distance in one bound, was on him in an instant. The wind whooshed right out of his lungs as a taloned foot came down on top of him, pinning him to the ground. He grunted, bracing his right arm between him and the appendage trying to crush him while sticking his left arm between its toes.

The bird jerked its head down for another strike, the razor-pointed beak filling his vision like a guillotine.

He swung his left hand upward, the yo-yo flying high and it was by pure luck he got it right in the eye.

The Nevermore gave a pained cry, hopping back. Suddenly, Clover could breathe properly again. He jumped to his feet, slightly lightheaded, throwing his line out again in hopes of tying the creature up and bringing it down.

Instead, with exact precision, the bird caught the end of the yo-yo in its beak, pulling it taut, and then threw its body around, bringing what was on the end of the line with it. Before Clover could process it, his body was yanked forward and he went flying through the air. Everything around him blurred into a mesh of greens, blues, browns and whites, blending together into a sickening cacophony.

He braced himself for the impact.

It was softer, and warmer, then he expected.

“Not having a great day are you, lucky charm?”

He gathered his bearings, realizing who had caught him and jerked his head up in surprise. “Noir?!”

Noir grinned back roguishly, winking one green eye at him. “You know, if you wanted to fall into my arms, you just had to ask.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Clover pushed a hand against his face, rolling out of his grasp to stand on his own. He retracted his yo-yo and studied his surroundings, taking note that he’d been tossed so far, they were underneath the Eiffel Tower. “What are you doing here?”

His teammate didn’t get a chance to answer, the bird giving another of those deafening screeches as it tried to shove itself between the legs of the tower. They both jerked away, before twisting around and running the other way.

“Could ask you the same thing!” Noir shouted over the noise. “Where’s Omen?”

“Lost track of her.” Which meant she was playing her normal A-game: Exhaust them by making them fight her pet so that it would be child’s play to steal their miraculous. Their goal was to defeat it – because if he could purify the contaminated feather within the creature, it would act like a direct attack against Omen, usually enough to weaken her into fleeing.

“Alright let’s – Watch it!”

Both of them jumped back when the corvid was suddenly in the path of their escape route, its gigantic foot missing them by inches when it was thrust under the tower, claws raking over the ground.

That was no good. Clover looked around, before pointing towards the ceiling of beams above them. “Up.”

Noir gave a nod, reaching out to grasp him around his waist and taking out his quarterstaff. He tapped it to the ground, and within seconds it shot them upwards as it extended. When it was high enough, they leapt onto the first section of metalwork, protected in the shell of crisscrossing steel. Noir compacted the weapon back into baton length, turning to him, “Alright, now what?”

“Now we just-” He started to say, raising his yo-yo, when the whole tower rattled as the Nevermore clamped onto the side they were hiding in. It gave a few wild cries, slamming its beak between the spaces as it tried to get to them.

Noir watched it warily before he called, “We’re safe for now, do it!”

Not wasting a moment, Clover threw his weapon up in the air with a cry, “Lucky charm!” The end of the yo-yo began to glow with the magic of creation, until it held the brilliance of a star. Then, with a pop, an item materialized, falling back down into his waiting hands.

It was a fishing rod.

Noir gave it, and then him, a dull look.

Clover was grinning. “Well, looks like-”

“Don’t-!”

“I’m giving fly fishing a whole new meaning.”

His partner groaned audibly. “You are worse than Tatsu.”

“No one is worse than Tatsu.” He joked. Tai’s never-ending set of puns really did fit the bill for cartoon-y superhero though.

Another slam from their enemy had dirt raining down on them from above.

Getting serious again, Clover rose both the rod and the yo-yo, saying, “You knock it off, I tie it up, and we end this.”

“Got it.” Noir nodded, pointing his staff towards the bird. “On your signal.”

He threw both lines upwards, yanking himself to a higher vantage point, running along the metalwork. They were so high up, it was like he was running towards the sky. Just as he got to the end, he yelled, “Now!”

At the same moment he jumped, the pole extended, slamming into the Nevermore’s chest. It was thrown off with a cry and both of them flew parallel to one another. He wound both weapons back then swung forward, the hook of the fishing rod and the ball of the yo-yo twisting around either wing of the bird. Flightless, it plummeted with another screech to the concrete, slamming down hard enough to shake the earth.

Clover’s landing was much softer, falling onto its chest and using the momentum to leap off of it like a trampoline, landing again several meters past its head. He held both the lines fast, ensuring it couldn’t get free.

“Cataclysm!” Noir came soaring out of the tower next, the power of his own destructive magic having taken shape at the end of his baton, glimmering black like an obsidian gem and curved like a scythe. As he came down, he swung it around, impaling the sharp end in the center of the monster bird’s chest.

It gave one last croaking cry, the ends of its wings curling up before falling flat as its body turned to dust, leaving nothing behind but a single, black feather. Clover threw out his yo-yo for it, the ball end splitting open like the shell of a ladybug’s wings, before snapping it up. He pulled it back in, hand open to catch it.

An arrow struck the end, knocking it off course.

In quick succession, another two arrows were shot off as Omen bared down for them, swooping in like a Nevermore herself. Clover swung the fishing rod, deflecting the one coming his way. Noir did the same for the one aimed at him with a quick spin of his staff, before using one end of it to vault himself upwards and meet their enemy half way.

As they grappled in the air, Clover took the chance to yank on his weapon in. With a flit of his fingers along the yo-yo’s surface, it glowed white, purifying the feather.

Omen gave a pained cry, before slamming the limb of her bow against Noir’s head. Clover’s chest tightened in panic, rushing forward as his partner fell like a stone from the sky. He just barely made up the distance in time to catch him in his arms, relieved to find him still conscious. They both looked up as they heard a scoff.

“Tch. Eventually your luck is going to run out. Nothing will stop me from creating a new world.” Omen sneered. “Until next time, boys.”

She shot an arrow above her, another red and black portal opening up. With a flap of her wings, she flew into it, gone as quickly as she had come.

Clover sighed, looking down at his partner. “You alright?”

“Ugh, gonna be feeling that one tomorrow.” Noir grunted, pressing a hand to his head, one of his leather cat ears being pushed down. His injury didn’t seem to hinder his ability to realize their position, because that telltale smirk overtook his face. “Though, guess I’m the one falling for you now.”

“I’m not above dropping you.”

“Are you always this mean to invalids?”

He loosened his hold just a smidge.

Noir clung to him. “Okay, message received.”

Clover set him on his feet, seeing the people starting to trickle back in to investigate the scene.

Time to go.

~

Once they were safely hidden on the rooftops, hidden in the shadows of a chimney, Luckybug turned to him with that million-watt smile. “Thanks for the assist. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Qrow lent back against the brick. As he spoke, his normally rough voice came out even rougher around the edges; the way it always did when he was Noir. “I’m sure you woulda figured it out lucky charm.”

“I’m glad I didn’t have to.” He replied, averting his gaze down. He spun the white feather between his fingers, frowning in consternation. “I still don’t understand how she got here though. Her portals shouldn’t be able to reach this far.”

Any other time, he would have been eager to ponder over the details of this latest attack with him, but he knew his time was running short and something more important was on his mind. “Could say the same about you. You got family out here?”

The frown became more defined. “Noir, you know I can’t-”

“Tell me, I know.” He waved off the excuse. “But that could change, if you told me who you really are.”

Lucky sighed, placing a hand on his hip. “Okay, what brought this all on again?”

Qrow met that blue-eyed gaze he’d once fallen in love with, feeling like everything between them was as thin as the wire of the other’s yo-yo. Uncertain and easy to break. If he wanted to make it stronger, he needed something more.

Now or never.

“Look, all that flirting I do? It’s not for show.” He pushed off the wall, clearing the few steps of distance between them. His heart raced in his ears. “I like you. A lot. I want to get to know you, the real you. But, I need to know if I even got a shot.”

“Noir…” He knew the answer before the other even spoke. It was all over his face, etched in his sad smile and downturned brows. “I’m sorry, but my heart’s already with someone else.”

“Oh.” He turned away.

Funny, he thought it’d hurt more.

A tentative hand rested on his shoulder. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.” Qrow replied, surprised that he meant it.

Before more could be said, both their miraculous started to beep in warning.

The hand slipped away. “Guess time’s up. I’ll… see you around?”

Qrow nodded, hearing Lucky retreat along the roof. Before he could leap away, he called, “Hey, that person of yours. Do they know?”

“I, uh.” Gravel crunched underfoot as his teammate shifted his weight anxiously. “Not yet.”

“You should tell ‘em.” He looked over his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile. “Anyone would be lucky to have you.”

Lucky’s eyes widened, and then he was smiling back. “Thanks. Someone’s going to be really lucky to have you too, one day.”

Qrow reached for his staff, heading his own way. “Well, duh. I’m incredible.”

The other cast his line, flying away with a laugh. Qrow watched him go, before dropping down into the alleyway. He ducked down behind some boxes just in time, the leather bodysuit falling back into his normal wear.

Blake collapsed into his hair with a sigh. “I’m going to need about fifteen more sardines.”

“Glutton.” He got to his feet, knowing his nest of black hair would hide her just fine as he headed for the sidewalk.

“Qrow? Are you okay?”

Answering it the second time around wasn’t any harder then the first. “Yeah. I just needed to know for sure. Now I know it’s okay to let him go.”

She didn’t respond verbally, but he felt the way she nuzzled his head, though whether it was meant to be for comfort or encouragement was hard to say. Maybe both.

It took about fifteen minutes to get back to the share house he and a half-dozen other students were living in for the duration of the program. When he stepped inside, he found it oddly quiet, the only noise a slight shuffling in the kitchen. A glance revealed his twin sister was there, hunched over the counter, nursing a cup of tea in one hand as she pressed her forehead into the other.

Heh, maybe she felt him get clonked in the head earlier. “You alright?”

“Yeah.” She mumbled. “Just a migraine.”

He lowered his voice, “You the only one here?”

Not up for talking more, Raven merely nodded.

Strange, Clover should have been back by now. “Okay, I’ll make sure to tell everyone to be quiet when they get in. Feel better, sis.”

She offered him a weak smile. He ducked out of the kitchen, heading back for his room. As Blake floated down to her still open can of tiny fish for a much-needed recharge, Qrow snatched up his phone to send out the group message, only to find two missed messages from Clover.

The first one was from nearly an hour ago. Sorry, running late!

On my way now. You won’t believe what happened at the Eiffel Tower. That one was from just a few minutes ago.

Qrow quirked a smile. If Clover only knew…

He tapped back a reply. I know. I went out to try and get a view of it. Forgot my phone.

He could see the other was replying, but he switched to the group text in the meantime, sending out a warning to be quiet for his twin. He’d just hit send, when another string of texts came through, one right after the other:

How do you forget your phone? You’re supposed to get photographic evidence!

Anyways I’ll be there in a few.

Also, noted.

Qrow headed for his bed, flopping across the sheets with a groan. The aches of the day were starting to set in, and he felt ready for a shower and a nap. He buried his pounding head into his pillow, shutting his eyes.

He didn’t open them again until he heard the bedroom door click shut. He rose up on his elbows, scanning the room quickly. The sardine can was gone, as was Blake.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Clover asked as he crossed the room, dropping his bag on his bed.

“Wasn’t asleep.” He ran a hand over his face, adding, “Much as I wanted to be.”

“You doing alright? You look pretty beat.”

Beat up was more like it.

“Been a long day.” He offered as explanation. It did little to wipe the concern from the other’s face. “I’m fine Cloves. We got that paper to work on.”

Clover ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Sure we do but we can take it easy for tonight. Can’t say I wouldn’t mind to turn in early myself.”

“You? Mr. Extra Credit?”

“Haha, very funny. I mean it. I have this terrible crick in my neck. Oh!” He dropped his hand so he could go digging into his bag. “But hey, I did bring you something that just might cheer you up.”

That got Qrow to finally sit up, trying not to seem too eager as the other procured a small, white box and held it out towards him. He reached across the space between their beds to take the gift. Once it was safely on his side, he pulled open the top.

“It probably got a little smooshed, but it’ll taste the same.” Clover was right about that – the cake had fallen on its side, and smears of icing clung to the top and sides of the box.

Qrow swiped a finger across one of them, gathering just enough to take a taste, and his eyes lit up. “Double German chocolate? You’re too good to me.”

“Nah, I can be better. Because I have… a fork!” Clover waved the plastic utensil around, winking his way. “What would you do without me?”

“Probably have less dorky interactions to deal with.” He replied, reaching out again.

Instead of grabbing the tines, he curled his fingers over where the other’s held onto the handle.

Qrow deliberately met his gaze, smiling as suavely as he could. “Thank you, Clover.”

Though his cheeks turned a little pink, Clover met him match for match with his own charming smile. “Anytime.”

As they both pulled back, they couldn’t help but think this was the start of something good.

Underneath their beds, unbeknownst to them both, Ruby and Blake shared knowing smiles.

[quicksilversquared]

Keeping Up With the Ladyblog

A reporter has to adapt and improvise. It's an important skill to learn, especially when one is a reporter who is still in school and can't skip out to film all of the akuma battles without getting grounded. So Alya gets creative and starts using old security camera footage of akuma attacks. It keeps the Ladyblog active and maybe, just maybe, she'll finally get her scoop of a lifetime.

links in the reblog

Initially, setting up the Ladyblog and getting a devoted userbase had been a bit of an uphill battle. Even though Alya had gotten noticed right away with her footage from the first fight, that didn't guarantee her a permanent position as the best-known blog on Paris's superheroes. Not covering a few fights would mean that someone else could sneak in and steal her spot, so that meant that even if she missed a little school here and there (or had to drag her sisters along during a fight), it was worth it. She had to stay on top of all things Ladybug and right then, that meant getting the best coverage of as many fights as she could physically manage and writing up good, thought-provoking articles for when there was a slow day or two.

(Of course, there were other problems that she had to deal with as well. Alya had to put together a functioning site that was user-friendly, could handle the traffic that she was getting, and offered everything that anyone could possibly want from an official superhero blog, because there was no. way. Alya was going to lose traffic just because some other blog had one option or another that she didn't have or because her blog went down from traffic overload at a critical moment. There were some places that she drew the line- she didn't accept fanfiction of the superheroes, because they were real people and therefore it would be weird, and only appropriate art was allowed- but she had to add all sorts of options so that people who visited the Ladyblog would come back over and over again. It was a lot of work and all had to be done fairly quickly, which meant that her homework sometimes got pushed off until later than it should have.)

Alya didn't consider setting up the blog itself to be that big of a problem, though. Software could usually be battered into submission if she worked on it for long enough, and as long as she didn't try any system updates to the Ladyblog when a lot of people were using it, short outages were usually not a big deal. It was the content that was more of a problem, especially now that her parents (and teachers) were on her back about not skipping school just to film attacks.

She just had to get creative.

Originally, Alya had considered trying to use her fame from being the sole moderator of the Ladyblog to see if she could get a get-out-of-class-free card during the attacks. Her teachers could just check her blog to make sure that she wasn't abusing the pass, she figured, and it wasn't as though most of her classes would be that hard to make up. But it didn't take long before Alya realized that that was just a pipe dream. No teacher would just let her go whenever just so she could keep up a blog when there were professional reporters out there as well that could film the attacks just as well (though Alya would argue with that). Besides, she sometimes had to bike across town to try to get footage, and there were times when it took so long that Ladybug and Chat Noir were already done when she got there. Without any footage, it was a waste of her time.

She had to play it smart. She couldn't just take footage from news channels, but what if there was other footage out there, unseen by most of the public? The Ladyblog already used fan submissions. People took pictures and videos of the superheroes all the time, and most didn't have any interest in starting their own superhero blog but were willing enough to share their superhero content online. Alya always spent a chunk of time every day sorting through the submissions and organizing them by akuma for easy reference.

Still, that wasn't quite enough. Alya had to go above and beyond if she didn't want to be replaceable.

Asking Mr. Kubdel about getting security camera footage from the Louvre partway through the year was a stroke of pure genius on her part. Getting it was a combination of luck, her fame as the Ladyblogger, and the fact that she knew Alix.

"They don't have the best angles in the world," Alya told Nino three days after Mr. Kubdel agreed to her request. She had just gotten the footage from all of the security cameras for the time frames of the last few akuma attacks that had gone through the museum, and digging through the video to find clips of the actual fight was taking a while. Some parts she could just fast-forward through, since the superheroes didn't go into that particular room, but she couldn't go too fast or she could miss the superheroes flashing by. "But I can't really complain. No one has any video of any of these fights yet, so this is incredible."

"It was super-nice of Mr. Kubdel to agree to it," Nino said as he watched the video over her shoulder. "Are you- whoop, there goes Chat Noir."

"Am I what?" Alya asked as she marked down the time Chat Noir entered and when he exited. "Ooh, look, that's a cool akuma!"

"It is a pretty cool design," Nino agreed. "Are you going to ask other places if you can get security camera videos from them, too? Like, there's some places that seem to have a lot of akuma fights go through them. School, the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Paris-"

Alya's eyes lit up at the mention of the last place. "Ooh! D'you think I could wrangle some footage of Chloe as Antibug? I kind of want to see some footage of her getting her ass handed to her by Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Nino cringed slightly. "...yeah, I wouldn't phrase it like that when you ask Mr. Bourgeois about it if I were you. He might say no just because of it." He considered that for a second, then added, "Actually, come to think of it, a lot of the akuma that pop up at his hotel tend to be after Chloe, right? So maybe he would say no if most of the footage you get is of Chloe being tormented, no matter how funny you find it. And he's not going to have anything from inside of the guest rooms, just the hallways and dining areas and whatnot."

Alya sniffed. "I'd be professional and include as much of the fight as I could find. Any compilations of Chloe being pursued by angry akumas would be completely unofficial and only posted to an anonymous YouTube account. Which I would then share with you guys, of course."

Nino laughed.

"I think I could persuade him to help, though," Alya decided, going back to the Louvre videos. "He's nice enough when Chloe isn't pushing him around. I'd just have to ask when Chloe isn't there. Maybe I could ask Sabrina's father for help to get footage from other places." She squinted at the screen, then stopped the video for a moment. Nino looked over and saw that it had gone all blurry and pixilated.

He frowned. "Uh, what happened to it? Is the file corrupted?"

"I don't know. It's happened a couple times before on other files, once near the start of this fight and twice again near the end of the first fight I looked at. I don't know what causes it." Alya rewound a little so she could get the last good frame of the superheroes and record the time so she could cut it there. "And... I know I kind of gave up on exposing Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities on the Ladyblog, but I kind of thought that I might catch them detransforming on the security cams. I wasn't going to post that part online, of course, but still..."

"Maybe they're just really good at moving out of the area first," Nino suggested. "That's gotta be tough, actually. I never thought about it. But there's so many cameras in buildings like that nowadays that they have to be super-careful so they don't get seen by others or by cameras!"

"They're bound to slip up sometime," Alya grumbled, opening another file and starting to fast-forward through it. "I really hope I don't miss an attack when I'm working on this. Like, it's gonna be great for my blog to have this footage and all, but it's the live stuff that people like the most."

  The first of the spliced-together security camera footage hit the Ladyblog almost a week after Alya got the first batch of raw video. There was an immediate spike of interest, though, as Alya complained to Nino as they waited for Adrien and Marinette to arrive to work on their group project, some people were whining about favoritism getting her the tapes.

"It was just because I asked first," Alya grumbled, scrolling through the comments. "Because I thought of it first. And- oh! I forgot to tell you! Mr. Bourgeois said yes, I just have to figure out the dates and times of old attacks myself and give them to his security people. And I talked to the principal too, and to Sabrina's father. Mr. Damocles said yes, and Sabrina's father said that he would ask his supervisor and also people at Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower about the security cameras at their individual sites." She was grinning now, momentary irritation gone. "It's gonna be a beast going through everything and getting my homework done, but it'll be worth it."

Nino frowned. "Are all of them gonna give you footage from past attacks? Some might discard video once a certain amount of time passes, or they might think that it's too much work to go back that far to get you the files."

Alya shrugged, face dropping slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, going through the past stuff I do get plus new stuff is gonna be hard. At least spring break is coming up soon. Ish. Kinda. And then I can really plow through stuff once it's summer."

"You're gonna vanish into your room and never come out again," Nino joked. "You'll get all pale from lack of sun."

"I still gotta go out for livestreaming attacks," Alya reminded him. "And once I don't have homework to do, I don't think it'll take that long to mark and edit stuff. I can get through one per day for sure, maybe more. I can do it while I babysit my sisters, as long as they don't want to go anywhere."

Nino snorted. "Right, and the chances that they won't want to go out to the park or on a walk?" He shook his head at her. "But I can help with the timing stuff, so you can just focus on the splicing things together."

Alya grinned and leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. "That would be great, Nino! Thank you so much!"

"You'll have to tell me how you want it done sometime before I start, but it really shouldn't be a problem," Nino assured her, grinning as he returned the kiss. "Though maybe we'll have time for you to show me before Adrien and Marinette arrive. Where are they, anyway?"

Alya just shrugged. "Who knows. I texted Marinette ten minutes ago to remind her we would be meeting, but no response yet. She might be in the middle of a project, and if she is, I don't wanna startle her. Last time I called her when she was busy sewing, she got started by her phone ringing and stabbed herself with a pin."

Nino cringed. "Ow. Yeah, I texted Adrien too, but no dice. No idea what he might be doing- oh, wait, here they come. Finally."

"And from the same direction too, hmm? Interesting!" Alya slid her laptop back into her bag and stood up, grinning as she watched Adrien and Marinette approach. "And neither of their houses are in that direction, either."

"We're here to study, not interrogate them," Nino reminded her. "Midterms, remember?"

"Oh, but come on-"

"You can interrogate them after, once we've gotten our studying done," Nino pointed out, grinning. "But I actually want to pass my classes, thank you very much."

  There were times when Alya almost regretted starting to post the security camera footage. It was a lot to handle and process, and it ended up cutting into her article-writing time, which, well, she really liked writing those articles. It was one of the things that set the Ladyblog apart. But the old footage was popular, particularly when there was no good news coverage of the fight, and she could always prioritize which fights to edit together and which could maybe be set aside until she had more time.

It was after Alya was first tapped to become Rena Rouge when she realized how great of an idea it had been to start including the security footage from attacks on the Ladyblog. She couldn't cover her own fights- well, not that she was called for many of the akuma attacks, really- but she could still provide that footage, and it wasn't as though she had only started with that kind of footage after she became a superhero, so it wasn't going to raise any suspicion.

Well. Much suspicion, at least. There might be a few people who wondered why she could never cover Rena Rouge's fights, but there had been few enough of them so far that the pattern wouldn't be apparent. And if it continued- which, well, she hoped that it would- then she could always use her much improved video editing skills to "interview" Rena Rouge in person.

She was sure that Ladybug would let her borrow the Miraculous for a little extra time if she mentioned the need to throw people off of her trail. After all, Ladybug was very big on secrecy.

Most of the time, though, Alya loved her stroke of brilliance. It had been worth the security checks to make sure that she could be trusted with the security footage, and she had managed to shore up her views again. Future employers would see that she was focused and willing to put in the work, and well, she had gotten herself a fabulous reputation at the Louvre after she had spotted a shoplifter on the footage and let them know about it right away. It made her feel like a detective of sorts, discovering things that she wouldn't have otherwise.

And, well, summer was coming. Soon, she could get all caught up, and then Alya was sure that it wouldn't be quite so overwhelming.

  "I figured it out!"

Nino glanced up at Alya as she slid into the empty spot at the table he was sitting at. From the other side of the table, Adrien and Marinette looked over at the reporter as well.

"What did you figure out?" Marinette asked, gaze immediately going to the tablet Alya was holding. She looked interested and inched closer. "Is it something to do with the Ladyblog?"

"It is!" Alya held up her tablet. "So you know how I've been putting together footage of the akuma fights from security cameras?"

Nino nodded. Both Adrien and Marinette looked puzzled. Alya groaned at them.

"Seriously? Have neither of you looked at the Ladyblog in weeks?! It's my big new thing!"

"I've been busy," they both claimed at once, before shooting each other startled looks. Alya narrowed her eyes at them both.

"Too busy to even glance at the Ladyblog once in a while, even now that school is almost out? Really?"

"I've glanced, but not looked into the archives at all," Marinette corrected herself. Then she frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, security camera footage?"

"Huh, I guess I must not have mentioned it to you before, either," Alya said, looking thoughtful. "Hm. Anyway, I've been contacting people at the Louvre and at the Eiffel Tower and Chloe's dad and Sabrina's dad and the principal to ask if I can get the raw security camera footage from the akuma fights that go through there, and they all said yes! So I've been going through that and splicing together stuff from different cameras to try to get as much of the fight covered as possible."

Now Adrien was frowning, too. "Really? They just happen to know which cameras Ladybug and Chat Noir have gone past?"

Now Nino snorted. "Of course not. They just basically give Alya all the footage from the cameras for the duration of the fight and she- well, we, I've been helping- have to go through and find which cameras Ladybug and Chat Noir went past and when."

For some reason, both Adrien and Marinette now looked deeply alarmed.

"Anyway, we've been noticing some weirdness on some of the clips," Alya told them. "It get corrupted for a bit, mostly near the start of the fight before the superheroes show up or after the akuma's been defeated but sometimes in the middle, too. I've been puzzling over it for the longest time, and I think I've finally figured it out!"

"Really?" Nino asked, interested and finally distracted from his strangely pale friends. "How?"

Alya grinned. "It was some comments on the Ladyblog that finally got me to notice the pattern. The corruption is either before Ladybug and Chat Noir show up or right after they vanish- or, in the middle of the fight, if one of them has to go recharge, then it happens then, too."

Nino blinked, then caught on. "So you're saying that somehow their magic is interfering with the cameras and protecting their secret identities?"

Alya pointed at him. "Exactly! I thought when I started all this that I might accidentally catch them transforming or see someone where they weren't meant to be, but their magic just means that they can't be caught on camera. It kind of makes me wonder if they always have that effect on cameras when they aren't transformed, or if it only pops up when they're about to transform or just detransformed."

Nino was so caught up in thinking about it that he completely missed Adrien and Marinette's identical sighs of relief as they both slumped in their seats. "It's gotta be the latter. Otherwise how would you explain people never getting a good picture of you, if it happened all the time?"

"Maybe Juleka is Ladybug, then," Marinette offered, giggling a little. "Remember, she was convinced that she had some sort of photo curse?"

"And now she's figured out how to manipulate the magic so that she can get normal photos again," Alya joked, sounding serious for a moment before she laughed. "Nah, she can't be, she was akumatized and fought Ladybug and Chat Noir. Remember that?"

Nino shuddered. "How could I forget? I was stuck in a skirt and high heels for ages!"

"I rocked the platforms," Adrien bragged. He grinned at Nino's raised eyebrow. "What? Sure, they were hard at first, but with a little practice..."

Nino just shook his head and groaned. "You would, dude. You must have been hidden, though. I couldn't find you after Reflecta left."

"Yeah, the outfit and the makeup would do that, probably," Adrien pointed out with a laugh. "I mostly decided to stay out of the way. And that fight didn't last that long. Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated her within an hour."

"Okay, fair."

"What would you do if you found something that told you who Ladybug or Chat Noir are?" Marinette asked, pulling the conversation back on track. "I mean, you can't see them transforming or detransforming, but if..."

Alya waved a hand. "Oh, I would destroy the footage as fast as possible. Hopefully I wouldn't recognize them-" though she wasn't certain about the probability of that, considering that Nino had been picked as a temporary superhero, too. What were the chances of that happening if Ladybug at least didn't know them to some extent? Unless of course it was a coincidence since she was the well-known Ladyblogger and Nino had already been out in the middle of the fight before Ladybug grabbed him- "and so it wouldn't matter if I saw them for two seconds."

Adrien looked astonished. "Really? I thought that was your dream, to figure out who they are! Not that I don't support the deleting thing," he added quickly. "That's probably safer for them. But what made you decide to change your mind?"

Well, she had become a superhero herself, for one. She had realized that she didn't really want the city to know her identity, because what if the akumas targeted her family and friends? And then Nino was a superhero, too, and what if people knew that and she became a target? She had figured that if she didn't want the city knowing her secret identity, she should probably extend the same courtesy to Ladybug and Chat Noir. And Heroes Day had proved that even superheroes knowing the secret identity of other superheroes wasn't necessarily safe. But instead of saying any of that, Alya just said "Well, I realized that it wouldn't be safe for them. And I figured that we should probably respect our superheroes' wishes since they've done so much for the city."

Adrien grinned. "That's very mature of you, Alya."

Alya just shrugged. Really, there had been so much more to it than she had let on. He was probably giving her too much credit, considering it had taken her being in the superheroes' shoes to realize what she had. "Yeah, well. I'll get a big scoop someday. I just refuse to have it at the superheroes' expense."

  With the start of summer came more free time, and Alya attacked her backlog of footage with gusto. It was slowly shrinking as she and Nino dug into it with occasional help from Adrien or Marinette, deleting the superhero-less footage out and discarding it. It had become a bit of an obsession now that she had plenty of free time, and Alya had finally- finally!- figured out how to have several streams going at once on her screen and how to pause the others and switch to just one when there was footage that she wanted to watch more closely.

It made things go a lot faster, that was for sure. She was getting through a couple akuma attacks per day, and she finally had to start queuing things up so that the Ladyblog wouldn't get overwhelmed. One per day would be good, maybe two if they were short fights. Alya prioritized newer fights, too, knowing that the old ones were interesting but also old news. The newer fights generated more views and more interest, but it wouldn't be long before the next wave of akumas took over public interest.

Still, Alya loved having that old footage. She loved watching Ladybug and Chat Noir facing up against the akuma, and she loved seeing Ladybug's creativity when faced with a strange Lucky Charm. Their teamwork was so strong, and the way that they absorbed the occasional extra teammate and worked in those powers- yeah, it was pretty obvious why they had been chosen to be the city's main superheroes.

She was digging through her folders of akuma fight footage when she spotted a particularly large one. Alya frowned, puzzled- what, had the entire city been involved in the fight?- when she noticed the date. It was from Heroes Day.

"Oh yeah," Alya said eagerly, grinning as she clicked on the folder. This had been one of the battles that she really wanted footage for. All five superheroes at once in the boss battle? Yes please. All of the existing footage of the fight had been filled by possessed people, so it would be great to get literally anything else.

It was going to be difficult to piece together all of the bits of footage that were bound to be all over the city, but hey, it was summer and Alya could probably rope her friends into helping. And hey, if she could get Adrien roped in, he had several computer monitors. He could use all of them at once and have a ridiculous number of feeds going all at once. But Alya was impatient and wanted to get another look at the fight, so she flipped through the camera files until she found a set on the Eiffel Tower. They opened right before a fox-themed supervillain got there- and ugh, Alya immediately found herself annoyed. Another Volpina? Why were there so many people in Paris who seemed to have some sort of design on the Fox Miraculous?

Ugh. She was going to scour the footage to see if she could get a glance at this new Volpina's unakumatized identity. One Fox villain before Rena Rouge had showed up was one thing, but again? Nuh-uh.

Alya watched as once again, chaos descended on Paris. Volpina detransformed- uh, could Hawkmoth recall akumas? Then why had the baby akuma actually happened at all?- and revealed- uh, was that Lila? What was Lila doing in Paris? She had told the class that she was out of the country and wasn't going to be returning yet!

Okay, something was definitely up there. Maybe Marinette was on to something when she said that she didn't trust Lila. Especially when- they had talked to Lila on Heroes' Day, hadn't they? They had video chatted with her as a class. She had said that she was abroad, and it had looked like she was, too.

Strange. Alya was going to have to do some digging there for sure.

On-screen, the red butterflies descended on Paris. Alya winced as she remembered the terror that had reigned. They had been tricked by Volpina's illusions- and wait wait wait. Alya rewound the footage to when Lila detransformed and- oh, she looked disappointed when she was detransformed, as though she knew what she had been doing and had wanted to continue.

Even stranger. Also really, really concerning. Alya was going to put a hold on making any plans with Lila until she figured out what was going on there.

Alya continued watching. Red akumas found their mark, and Hawkmoth emerged, watching over the panic. Red bubbles bloomed into oversized akumas, and then... well, more chaos. There was screaming in the streets as people were turned into akumas and everyone else fled- well, there looked like there was screaming in the streets, at least. The cameras didn't pick up sound, which did take away from the experience, just a bit, but she could imagine what it would have sounded like.

The sheer amount of footage that Alya was getting from just the Eiffel Tower was astounding. She could only imagine how much she was going to get across the city, though the ice appearing now from the re-akumatized Frozer probably took at least a few of the feeds out. If she just played it all one camera at a time, it would be an insanely long video.

She might have to learn how to play several streams at once in a split screen. Hawkmoth would have to be shown at all times, Alya thought, and then she could do flashes of different akumas and also show the superheroes. They would fill the screen when they were doing an intense fight, maybe and-

Oh, Alya had so many ideas for the video already and she had only watched part of four streams so far. The number of akumas and the civilian resistance- which, by the way, amazing- meant that she could really play with angles and video cuts and oh, it was gonna be great.

It was also going to be a whole lot of work. Alya was probably going to spend the entire week picking out clips and then deciding which ones she wanted to use, and then it was going to be another few days of editing.

Hopefully her friends would be willing to help her out. They could blast through mostly-boring feeds in no time and get stuff trimmed down for her to review. Maybe she could even get Max to help her with the split-screen editing stuff, since he understood all of that technical talk.

Smiling widely, Alya turned back to her computer. Most of the footage at the moment was just Hawkmoth standing up on the Eiffel Tower with his two singers- and boy was Alya going to rake him over the coals for that, it was ridiculous- and so she had to wait for Ladybug and Chat Noir to head up like she knew they had. Thankfully the camera on that level wasn't iced over at all, like the ones on the lower levels were. This time, she had a front-row seat (abet at a bad angle) as she saw Lila get akumatized again (and boy was it interesting that Lila didn't look at all alarmed about the butterfly approaching her- she looked eager) and Volpina conjured up a second Hawkmoth while the real one hid.

And boy, was that ever an anxiety-inducing experience, watching Ladybug and Chat Noir approach the decoy while the real Hawkmoth hid down below, ready to surprise them from behind. Somehow Ladybug noticed him creeping up on them- and how, Alya had no idea how, she and Chat Noir seemed a bit distracted by trying to get Hawkmoth to do the right thing by turning over his Miraculous- and then they were fighting. Hawkmoth's cane-sword went down, but he didn't go down with it.

Alya sat up and watched as the three secondary users re-joined the fight just in time. She wondered where they had gone wrong, where they might have messed up and could have done better. The next bit was also the only example they had so far of the mysterious Peacock user's powers, and they needed to know what to expect in case they came into play again.

It wasn't that the Peacock's powers seemed that dangerous, at least not from what they had seen so far. Their team had just been taken off guard, and that gave Hawkmoth enough of a distraction to run off like the coward he was. Alya watched the giant moth vanish after Ladybug hit it, and she wondered if it would have vanished so easily if Ladybug had hit it when Hawkmoth was still there. Had the Peacock backed off as soon as Hawkmoth had retreated?

On one of the streams, the superheroes glanced around, trying to figure out where Hawkmoth had gone. Meanwhile, a Hawkmoth-shaped blob limped- had he been injured? They should have looked for him!- past one of the iced-over cameras, and then slumped down against a wall. Alya leaned forward, eager, as Hawkmoth sat there for a few seconds, likely shaken by the whole run-in.

Was he going to detransform? Had they really caught Hawkmoth on camera, after nearly a year of attacks? The ice on the camera would make it hard to see exactly who it was, but Ladybug's Miraculous Cure was bound to come zipping past any moment now. Was this her big scoop-?

"Ugh, and there's that distortion," Alya complained, flopping back in her chair as the already-fuzzy footage got even worse as a burst of purple lit up the screen. "C'mon, really? Can't his kwami not provide magical protection for him? The dude doesn't deserve it."

Alya sulked at the screen as a rush of red went by, clearing off the ice but doing nothing for the magical distortion. She could make out a bit of a shape on the screen, and colors- red and white- but no details, and static regularly cut across the already blurry picture. The static stayed there for longer than normal, and then the blurry, pixilated shape of civilian Hawkmoth finally got up, heading for the stairs. It was only once he had fully exited the frame that the picture finally snapped back into focus, one last bit of static cutting across the screen before the picture stabilized for good.

"Oh, come on," Alya groaned, flopping back on her bed. "That's so unfair that we were so close, and this freaking arse just- just waltzes out of there? Just walks away down the stairs and off of the tower and- and- ugh!" She slapped her fist down on the bed next to her- and then she froze. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. He walked off of the Eiffel Tower. There have to be more cameras on the staircase and at the bottom. If he didn't detransform in front of those, would they have gone out, too?"

She didn't know. She had never really tracked other cameras from the area after the fights ended, so she didn't know if they had caught the civilian Ladybug and Chat Noir or not and she wasn't going to go back and look, not now that she knew now how dangerous it could be to have other people knowing a superhero's secret identity.

But now? There was absolutely no downside to finding out Hawkmoth's secret identity. It would be the biggest break of Alya's journalistic career.

Re-energized and laser-focused, Alya clicked back to her files, looking for the other cameras. It took a few tries for her to find the footage from the stair cameras and then she fast-forwarded to close to the end. There was a minute of anxious waiting, where Alya scanned the entire screen in case Hawkmoth had tried climbing down the side of the stairs or something ridiculous like that, and then a pair of feet appeared, headed slowly and almost unsteadily down the stairs. Before the feet could go down any further, though, the footage came to an end.

Alya let out a frustrated snarl and rewound the video a few seconds, pausing it right before it came to an end. Only a pair of perfectly white shoes and the hem of bright red pants came into view.

Those... those pants looked really familiar. Alya frowned as she stared at them. She couldn't quite place them, but maybe Marinette could, if Alya brought the footage over the next time that she went to Marinette's house. But that was stupid, Alya decided after a moment of mulling it over. Maybe they knew someone with pants like that, but there were several million people living in Paris. There was no guarantee that there weren't other people making the same (awful) fashion choices.

"So close," Alya complained aloud, glaring at her screen. If only Mr. Raincomprix had sent footage that was a few seconds longer! Except- oh, that was it! All she had to do was email him and ask for the footage from the lower-level cameras running from maybe a minute before the end of the fight to several minutes after the current end time. That would be sure to get her lots of footage of Hawkmoth, and surely he would be recognizable in some of it.

She had to hope that the footage still existed and it hadn't been written over at all. It would be close- it had been over two months since that battle- but Alya knew that she had gotten older footage from the Eiffel Tower before.

Hopefully that stuff hadn't just been saved for longer because of the akuma attack.

Excited, Alya turned back to her computer. If she was going to file a request for more footage and hoped to get it in a reasonable amount of time, she needed to have all of the information possible- what the camera IDS were, the exact date and times that she wanted were, everything. Just to be sure, Alya checked her other files to see which cameras would be focused on either the place where Hawkmoth detransformed or the stairs that he had gone down, writing the code for every last one down. Once she had that, she folded up the list and stuffed it in her pocket as she raced for the door.

"Alya, remember that you're going to be babysitting the twins in two hours," he mom called out as Alya raced past. "You'll be back by then, right?"

Alya had to bite down the frustrated noise that nearly escaped because even though this was critical, this was huge, it wasn't as though she couldn't wait a little longer to review the footage. And she could review the footage while sitting out at the kitchen counter with her sisters watching a movie in the living room, it would just be harder. "Yeah, I'll be back!"

And hopefully, she would come back with the footage that would change everything.

  Officer Raincomprix was all too willing to bring Alya over to the Eiffel Tower to get more of the footage, all without her having to explain anything. He showed her to the people she needed to talk to and then trotted off to deal with a littering teenager while Alya was ushered inside of the office. The staff were all helpful, and soon Alya was leaving with everything she needed, with no questions asked.

She supposed that it was good that all of the adults were so busy, because she didn't exactly want to explain. Really, Ladybug and Chat Noir should be the first ones to know about Hawkmoth's identity.

Alya jogged back towards her family's apartment, memory stick clutched tightly in her hand. On it, she hoped, would be evidence that would show her Hawkmoth's identity. She was nearly back to her building when she ran smack-dab into a very familiar figure.

"Yo, I was just looking for you!" Nino exclaimed, pulling Alya up. He bent back over to grab the memory stick that she had dropped before the passing pedestrians could kick it away and handed it back to her. "I was trying to text you earlier, but I didn't get any response."

Alya winced. "I'm so sorry! I just got really distracted by my video editing. I opened up the folder for Heroes' Day and I got really distracted."

"Oh, that was a crazy fight. I bet there was a ton of footage. Well, until everything got all icy, at least." Nino glanced down at her as they continued down the sidewalk. "So can I ask why you were out? You look out of breath."

"Not out here," Alya warned immediately. She didn't want a passerby overhearing and trying to grab the memory stick to grab the discovery for themselves. "Come inside with me. I can tell you there, and at any rate I have to be back in-" she checked her phone- "fifteen minutes anyway to babysit my sisters."

Nino followed without question, looking interested.

"So did you find something interesting in the footage?" Nino asked curiously. "You must have. Or was there footage missing, was that why you were out?"

"Not quite," Alya told him, grinning. "I needed more footage, yeah, but it wasn't during the middle of the fight. It was at the end, because I almost had Hawkmoth's civilian self on tape."

"You- what?" Nino asked, freezing for a few seconds before jogging up the stairs alongside her again. "You think you have Hawkmoth on tape? I thought that the magic messed with the cameras!"

Alya grinned. "It does. But where he detransformed- he had to go down the stairs, and there's another camera there. Before, I could see his shoes and the hems of his pants, but now I have an extended clip of the video! It should show him coming down the stairs into sight."

Nino looked impressed. "Oh, that is amazing. But what if it's not someone you know? I mean, there's a lot of people in Paris."

"Well, I'll turn the video over to Ladybug and Chat Noir. They can decide if they want to get the police involved. They might recognize the guy, too." Alya was assuming that she wouldn't recognize Hawkmoth, but she supposed that it was a possibility. "Or we could help by asking Max if he can run some sort of face recognition thing, so that they don't have to go to the police. I'm worried that the police might try to take over themselves and end up getting really hurt by underestimating him."

"Yeah, they might try to do that. Freaking adults, thinking that they know better than the actual experts." Nino shook his head, disgusted. "But do you think Max can do that? I mean, I know he's good at computers, but face recognition- that sounds like he would have to tap into files from, like, ID cards or something."

Alya shrugged. She supposed that was true, but Max was crazy smart and also had Markov. She was sure that if she asked, he would try to see what he could do for her.

"So are you gonna look at the footage now?" Nino asked as they reached her floor. "I thought you said that you have babysitting to do."

"I do, but I wanna at least look at the footage first, if I can." Alya pulled out her keys to open the apartment door. "And I was planning on just putting on a movie and some snacks for my sisters so that they stay out of trouble while I work. They should stay out of trouble that way."

Nino gave her a supremely dubious look. "Your sisters, staying out of trouble?"

"I'd still be in the room! And it's not like I would have headphones in or anything."

"...would you like me to stay there while you do your video stuff?"

"That would be amazing," Alya told Nino, leading him into the apartment. She waved to her mom as they headed down the hallway. "But I still have time to get this done before my mom has to leave!"

Nino glanced at the clock on the wall. "Uh, babe, you only have ten minutes."

"Do you really think I can't get this done in ten minutes?" Alya led the way into her room and wriggled her mouse, waking her laptop up. "You know me better than that. I know exactly where to look in the footage."

"And you really think you'll be able to focus on looking after kids once you've seen Hawkmoth's face?"

...Alya had to admit that that was a very good point.

"I can show you the footage leading up to the end while the computer recognizes my memory stick," Alya told Nino as she plugged the new flash drive in. She rewound the footage. "See, here's Hawkmoth escaping- but he didn't go far!"

"That ice on the cameras is annoying," Nino commented as the footage played. "Is all of it like that?"

"A few cameras were spared, I think," Alya told him. "Including the one on the main level, thank goodness. I mean, there's a few blurry spots from where the ice extended onto the lens a little bit, but it's mostly clear."

"Oh, and now it's worse," Nino added. "He detransformed right in front of the camera, holy cow."

"Yeah, I was really hoping that the distortion would go away since he seemed to be hanging around, but no such luck." Alya watched as on-screen, the ice cleared away and Hawkmoth finally got up, heading for the stairs. "So watch here- there's no one besides him and the superheroes on the Tower, right? Well, them and Lila, but that's beside the point. It got evacuated pretty fast, and anyone who didn't get off got akumatized or hit by Dark Cupid. So he's headed for those stairs."

"So whoever comes down is Hawkmoth, right," Nino agreed. Then he paused. "Wait, you said Lila? But she was abroad!"

"Apparently she lied." Alya stopped the tapes right where Hawkmoth's feet appeared on the stairs. "Okay, so the stuff that I got should start about thirty seconds before the end of these, so there's some overlap."

A tension rose in the room as Alya got the new files set up to play. She kept glancing at the clock while things loaded, watching as the time for her to move into the living room ticked closer and closer.

She wouldn't be able to stand it if she had to stop at this point. Even if it was only for a short break while she said good-bye to her mom and got the twins set up with their movie and their snacks, she couldn't. She was so, so close.

This had to work.

"Loaded," Alya announced as soon as the program was ready. "And here we go!"

She and Nino leaned forward as they watched the feed from the stairs on the screen. There were thirty seconds of anxious waiting, and then Hawkmoth's shoes appeared on the stairs. They headed down unevenly, revealing the red pants cuffs once again.

"Oh, he's shaken," Nino murmured, a grin evident in his voice. "Super shaken. Serves the asshole right."

Another step, more of the pants were revealed. They watched in anxious silence as the red pants gave way to a very familiar ivory jacket, then a striped necktie, and then Hawkmoth took one more step down the stairs, head hanging down as he made his way down the Eiffel Tower.

And much to Alya's surprise, she recognized the face that went with those atrocious fashion choices, even at this angle. And from Nino's sharp inhale, she knew that he had, too.

"Well," Nino managed after a minute of trying to find his words. "This is bad."

And with that, Alya could only agree.

[janebennetts]

jily gbbo au

lily is slightly drunk when she signs up for gbbo. her mum has just passed away and baking was their thing. lily would come home after a bad day and her mother would already be setting out things so they could bake a cake together

she works for a small online magazine and tells herself she could use the exposure, but really she knows she’s doing it because it would make her mum so happy

james is an teacher. his students love him, parents love him, his fellow teachers love him

he also makes the best scones in the entire world. sirius would marry one if he could

he, remus, and peter have definitely wrestled over which flavor james should make

sirius signs up in james’ name and announces it by spelling out “BAKE OFF” with jaffa cakes on their kitchen table

james cries, sirius cries, they clean up by eating every single jaffa cake in eight minutes

so the auditions are long and grueling but our kiddos are great bakers and they delight the producers and both earn spots on the show

when they come to film james’ intro on the show they think sirius is his husband at first

mostly because they call each other babe constantly 

they ask how sirius feels about his partner doing this and he starts telling this ridiculous story about how he baked twenty cakes in the shape of toilets they saw on their travels around the world for their wedding

and then remus calls from the other room, “they’re not married!”

everyone has dinner before filming so they can all get to know each other

james gets there pretty late bc when is he not and the only available seat is beside the most beautiful person he has ever seen in his life

she smiles at him and he dies right there

he’s so flustered that instead of introducing himself, he’s like, “so, have you ever baked before?”

she kinda laughs but just says, “yeah, i bake a little.”

lily shows up on the first day of filming with five bags of ingredients

james shows up with a pair of novelty darth vader oven mitts

the signature and technical challenges are pretty simple stuff, they’re both in the middle of the pack

but then, the showstopper

they have to bake 48 fairy cakes/cupcakes

james ices and arranges his to look like paul hollywood’s face

mel and sue are laughing so hard they can’t speak

paul LOVES it ofc and james gets his first of TWO paul hollywood handshakes

lily has it a little harder

paul and mary love the flavor of her grapefruit and white chocolate fairy cakes but say they could’ve used a few more minutes in the oven and she cries

it’s not a big deal, plenty of people did a lot worse, but she’s so upset

james feels awful so in the next episode he makes a big show of tripping as he takes his eclairs out of the oven, which destroys them

(he was going to start over anyways, but he hopes it might make her laugh a little)

she knows exactly what he’s doing, but she laughs anyways

lily slowly starts dominating technical challenges

james has somehow made every single thing from the technical challenges but he always forgets what they’re supposed to look like

paul hollywood laughs for a solid two minutes when he somehow turns the buttercream in his opera cakes bright green

“they’re delicious, but james… they’re green”

“yes sir that would be the mint i added”

“why did you do that?”

“i don’t… know???”

james is better at showstoppers because he’s so dramatic and loves building things

lily is really good at tiny details and piping too

they’re making sculptures out of biscuits for one showstopper and he’s making a 3D postcard of the world (yes, he’s dumb)(yes, sue knocks over the eiffel tower four times) and he calls lily over to show him how to pipe details on the Sydney Opera House better

their hands brush over the piping bag

things are getting truly wild over here

people all over twitter are thirsting over james. he’s this season’s tamal

but people also notice how james and lily look at each other as they bake

paul makes a face over lily’s pomegranate iced matcha shortbread bc somehow he doesn’t like the matcha flavor but he can’t taste it either and she just barely rolls her eyes

the camera cuts to james who high fives her as she walks back

he asks to taste one after judging ends and she picks one up and straight up feeds it to him

he starts moaning about how it’s the best thing he’s ever eaten

the camera gets it all and the next day, there’s two buzzfeed articles and many, many gifs

james steals chocolate chips from her constantly

he throws some to her and she tries to catch them in her mouth like jake and amy in “the bet” from brooklyn nine-nine

they lay on the ground together as they wait for things to bake and he braids her hair

y’all know james is star baker of bread week. he nails that focaccia! everything is perfectly proved and baked! another paul hollywood handshake!

lily makes a pretty good apricot and chocolate braided bread for the signature

while james’ loaf is proving she’s making her apricot spread and is like, “while you’re sitting around, come knead this for a sec”

so she finishes up the spread as he kneads her dough

he does that really loud slapping method too

-lily: “so that’s the method you go with? i’m prefer really getting my hands in there”

mel and sue tell them they’re putting them out of a job

lily cries when they say james is that week’s star baker

at the end of the episode they interview her and through her tears she keeps saying how proud she is and how much he deserves it

“he never shuts up about bread! never! i’ve never met someone so passionate about dough!”

the next week is retro week

she ties a scarf in her hair and makes the best black forest gateau anyone has ever had

she and james bump hips when they announce that she’s star baker

and finally it’s the finale and they’ve both made it along with a nice grandmother who’s good, if a bit old fashioned

they both swear the other will win

they’re rolling out dough in the signature and lily starts humming “wannabe” from the spice girls and james just starts singing along

and they look up and do the rap together and roll out the dough in sync

the final challenge is to do a tower of macarons

lily makes him close his eyes and taste her fillings so she knows the flavors are strong enough

“what flavors are you getting?”

“lemon???”

“yeah, but what kind?”

“what kinds are there?”

“i don’t know!”

she smears some of his face and he doesn’t wipe it off

they finish and go out to the big tea party. sirius, remus, and peter sit at a table with them and eat both

they do their interview together. lily smiles and says, “i don’t care if i win. either way, i think things are going to be fine.”

they hold hands as they wait for the winner to be announced. neither of them notice.

when they call out lily’s name she turns to james and kisses him

mel and sue are shook

“looks like we’ve actually got two winners today!”

they both become famous afterwards, and both have cookbooks

james remains a teacher but lily becomes sort of a lauren conrad type figure and has a wildly popular baking blog

they are revered on social media in the best way (with no weird fans), and often post pictures of bakes with the caption “guess who made this one?”

spoiler: it’s usually both of them

[raybansandcoffee]

I Want To Write You a Song (One Direction)

Seven Years Later… Annie

“Are you almost ready, Sugar?” Harry yelled from the other room as I slid the red lipstick across my lips. I replaced the lid, did one last check and walked towards the bedroom. “Ready,” I said as I leaned against the door frame. Harry was sitting on the end of the bed putting his boots on. He looked up at me, his hair hanging in his eyes. He flipped his head and I watched the curls move as if it was slow motion. “Fuck. Even after all these years you still know how to make my heart stop. When did you get this outfit?” I walked towards where he was sitting, my heels clicking against the herringbone wood floors in the room. I straddled his lap, my skirt sliding up before my fingers quickly ran through his long curls. His green eyes sparkled with the light that peaked in from the window from the city outside that transitioned in to night. He smiled and there it was, the gymnastics team in my stomach. Someone must’ve done a vault because I felt my heart get kicked to my throat as his dimples formed.

“A while ago. Lyla and I went shopping. Lizzy and Kim were at footie games for the kids. You were in meetings. So I told Lyla she was in charge of helping me find something that would drive you wild.” I’d opted for a short pale pink skirt that flared out from my waist and stopped mid-thigh. I had black tights, black heels and a black long sleeved top on. I felt his hands start to rub my thighs under my skirt. “Well, you look stunning. And I’m beginning to think we could be late to dinner.” He leaned forward finally kissing me as I felt his fingertips press hard in to my thighs. Just as my hands slid from his hair to the collar of his shirt there was a knock at the door. “Let's go!” Nate yelled. Harry huffed loudly and his head fell on to my chest. I could hear a small laugh sneak in to his heavy breathing. I kissed his neck and he whimpered softly. “After dinner. You. Me. This bed.” He was staring in my eyes. Those green eyes filled with lust and determination. “Deal,” I said kissing him and standing up. I pulled him off of the bed and quickly grabbed my phone and clutch from the table. Harry went to the armoire grabbing both of our jackets. I opened the door to find Kim and Nate waiting for us in the hallway. Nate was leaned against the wall next to the door checking email on his phone. Kim had a glass of champagne in her hand and was dancing to the sound of silence. “Already?” “You would too if you had my night last night. Nate’s little angel refused to sleep in her bed and would only sleep in bed with us. For being a three-year-old she kicks like she’s going to beat her older brothers for a spot with ManU already.” “I can’t even begin to say how proud I am that you can finally talk footie,” I said laughing. “Well, between he and Niall on Sundays and their plans for practice for a group of five and six year-olds to dominate their league, I can't even pretend like I don’t know. It’s upsetting. I’ve tried to get the boys to try basketball and they end up just hitting themselves in the head with the ball because they can’t get an arch to their shot. So they just kick it and proceed to play footie with their basketball, which is blasphemous.” “Mate, honestly that first trip here I never would’ve imagined you and Niall would be coaching a footie team of kids together,” Harry said laughing as he helped me put my jacket on and shut the door. “And I didn’t think you’d still be leaving the house with her lipstick smeared across your neck,” Nate said. I turned to see a red mark on Harry’s neck and couldn’t help but laugh as I reached to try and remove it. “But yes I also didn’t see Niall and I coaching footie together. But we are. I guess that is what happens when he marries your cousin. Which I also, never saw happening.” “Me either. But Lyla and Niall are quite adorable. Especially now that she’s got that tiny little baby bump showing,” I said. I watched Kim down the last of her glass of champagne. “Dimples, open the door and hide her empty glass in there.” Harry opened the door quickly and put the glass on the table inside the door. He took a peak in the mirror above the table at the lipstick on his neck. I saw him grab a tissue and wipe it off. “Does my lipstick look like I made that mark on you?” “Shockingly no. Somehow you don’t look like we were about to fuck, my neck however, did.” I laughed before lightly kissing his lips. “Good, now let’s go.” We headed to the elevator and I leaned in to Harry’s chest as he hugged me. “This is going to be our greatest trip yet,” he whispered. I glanced up at him and couldn’t help but smile. He looked really happy. “I know.” I turned to face Kim and Nate as they stood holding hands, her head rested on his shoulder. “So how many times have you checked in with Nana to see how the kiddos are?” “Only once, when we got to the hotel room,” Kim said. “We FaceTimed them so we could say hi.” “I may have text my Mum a few times on the train,” Nate sheepishly replied. “Loser.” Kim started to laugh at him. “Did she send pictures?” He nodded and pulled out his phone. “Aww look at Ollie!” Kim cooed as she looked at the phone. She flipped it and there I saw a picture of her youngest, Oliver, just six months old, covered in baby food. I could see his older brothers, Max and Jack, and sister, Evelyn, at the counter beside him. Nate’s mother had come down to London to stay with them and the kids’ nanny so we could go have this weekend getaway like we do every year. This trip was a few weeks later than usual and would be shorter than normal because Nate was in the middle of a big case. It had become tougher to get them away from their kids for long periods of time, four kids ages five and under meant that life was different for the Salsbury family than it had been when we first took this trip to Paris together seven years ago. “He’s growing so fast. I love that,” I said. Harry rubbed my shoulders. “He is pretty damn cute,” Harry said. “I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve seen him.” “Well, you two have been world travelers for a while,” Kim said laughing. “It’s been what a month almost two since you saw the kids.” “World Travelers?” Harry started laughing. “We spent some time in Los Angeles and she planned a trip for my birthday. We are less world traveler, more dual country dwellers” “I swear to you both. Next year for New Year’s everyone needs to not be pregnant and we need to go spend a week in Fiji. That was the best trip of my life. I literally just laid around in a bathing suit and watched him walk around shirtless. Well and there was sex. Fruity drinks with umbrellas and a lot of sex.” “I don’t need to hear about that,” Nate said pretending to gag as the door opened. We walked across the lobby of the hotel. I loved that we had come back to this hotel for this trip. It was where we stayed on our first trip to Paris, you could see the Eiffel Tower from the terrace off of our suite. The last several years we had rented flats so we had a kitchen and more space. This trip, being only Thursday through Sunday, we opted for the luxuries of a hotel. We stood waiting on the side walk for a moment until the car service that Harry had ordered arrived. It took off from the sidewalk and I laid my head against the window watching the city go by. People making their way in to small cafes for dinner or drinks. We’d come to Paris every year, sometimes more than once, and I was still mesmerized by everything I saw. “So Styles, did you get much work done in LA or Fiji?” “I mean….LA yes. Fiji not really. She got work done.” “I got a lot of the copy written for the book in LA and approved some of the layouts while we were in Fiji.” I was working on a book of my photography from over the years. I’d seen more of the world than I ever imagined and was approached by a publisher about my blog. We were putting parts of it together as a coffee table book with my photography. I had always kept my blog and been open about the relationship I had with Harry. We had several friends question if I should publish the book or even keep the blog, but I was excited. Nothing was going to be invasive in to our lives and we’d never felt like we had a negative reaction to sharing our lives through my blog. And to be able to show off the photos I’d taken over the last seven years of living in England and traveling around the world meant I was sharing my art, not just my life. “But he’s lying. He got work done.” “I wrote the introduction to the book, which I haven’t let her read. That’s all I’ve accomplished. I mean I got some stuff worked on with an artist in LA before we left. I maybe wrote a song or two while we were on vacation. Writing on vacation never seems like work, it seems like ‘the inspiration is there, take it!’ And she tends to just lay there reading so why not write if I can.” “They were great songs.” I turned to look at Harry and smiled as I squeezed his hand. “They were about you weren’t they?” Kim asked. I started to laugh. “You like every song he writes, especially if it’s about you. Conceited bitch.” I laughed harder. “Yes, me totally conceited.” “You do tend to love the songs I write about you,” Harry said. “Umm, excuse me, aren’t they all about me?” “Conceited bitch,” Kim said again. We all laughed. “Well, they are,” I said smiling. “I mean unless they are breakup songs in which case totally not about me. I’m not going anywhere.” “Good,” Harry said kissing my cheek. The car finally pulled up to the restaurant. I watched Kim glance out the window finally realizing where we were. She looked like her eyes got a little watery for a second. “Aww, how sentimental,” Kim said. “This is where we came for dinner our fist night in Paris seven years ago.” “And where I proposed to you,” Nate said as he helped Kim climb out of the car. “I love you,” Harry whispered in to my ear. “I love you.” I kissed him. “Now get out of the car, Dimples. It’s dinner time." “Yes, love.” He kissed me again and quickly jumped out of the car before reaching back and pulling me out. We walked inside, fingers intertwined as we always did if we went anywhere. Seven years later and we still looked for excuses to touch each other. We were quickly taken to the same private dining room that we’d eaten dinner in the first night in Paris on that first trip. We all sat in the exact seats we had sat in that night. I glanced around the room smiling. This tiny little dining room made perfectly for two or four people held a lot of memories for all of us. The waiter opened a bottle of champagne for us before leaving the room to give us time to look over the menu. “A toast,” Harry said. “To friendship, Paris, and love.” “Cheers,” I said clinking glasses with everyone and leaning over to kiss Harry. It was the same toast he’d made at our first dinner. That night he’d been determined that he was going to fit in to our group. It was early on in our relationship and a big night for Nate and Kim. Harry never had a reason to feel like he wasn’t a member of our little family, but I know there had been times where he was. He was younger, the new guy and trying hard to impress the friends of the girl he’d decided he was in love with. “You had something to do with this didn’t you,” Kim said looking at Nate after sitting her glass back down on the table. “I swear I didn’t,” he said. He held up his hands in defense and almost confusion. “Nope,” I said laughing. “For once Harry let me help plan. So I thought that it was appropriate to come back here for our first dinner this trip.” “Those two are so sappy and sentimental,” Nate said. “I know. It’s like they think we need help in the romance department. You’d think four kids would prove we still have a clue what we are doing,” Kim replied. I laughed and then felt the familiar feeling of Harry’s warm hand on my thigh. He was to my right which meant that I was using my hand to hold my champagne glass so instinctively he touched my leg instead of reaching for my hand. “Nah. It was a big night for us too. We got to travel together for the first time. It was the first time I saw Paris.” “It was the moment I knew you were it,” Harry said. He moved his hand to grab mine as I put the champagne down, kissing my knuckles. “I knew on this trip that I wanted to spend forever with you. That you were the missing part of my life.” “And you were mine.” “And you are nauseating tonight, as always,” Kim said. “We are the ones that are supposed to be reliving our engagement night, not you. You two got engaged in Lake Como. Not Paris.” Kim was laughing. “Hilarious that you got engaged that summer after you started dating and you still aren’t married. Slow pokes.” “Eh,” I said laughing. “What was the hurry? It’s not like either of us was going anywhere. Plus we’ve been busy. Everyone else has been having babies and he was busy with work.” We had gotten engaged in Lake Como. He’d been in Italy for tour and had a few days off. I wanted to be a tourist and go everywhere. I wanted to see the small town my great-grandparents left when they moved to America and started their new lives. I wanted to spend every second I could eating and sight seeing and enjoying Italy. He wanted downtime so he convinced me that we’d come back after tour, and off to Lake Como we went. We arrived to Lizzy, Frankie, Kim, Nate, Niall and Niki waiting for us. That first night, with our friends all around us, under the stars he proposed to me. It was the perfect night and the perfect setting. And just as he promised when he had time off we went back to Italy and saw everything I’d put on my list and then some. “You haven’t toured with One Direction in almost five years. You’ve spent that time acting and singing but not doing a lot of touring. And you,” she said pointing at me, “You’ve mainly just been traveling around, taking pictures, writing your blog and texting me about how hot he looks in nearly every country of the world. I’m pretty sure you could’ve found time to get married at some point in the last six and a half years.” “Probably,” I said laughing at her description of my life. I did text her often with descriptions of how hot Harry was in whatever city we were in. My favorite Harry, outside of ‘Anywhere in England Harry’ or ‘Los Angeles Harry’ was always either a city in Italy or France. Our best memories that weren’t normal every day life were somewhere in either of those countries. Whether it was travel or work, we’d spent quite a bit of time in both places. “It has just never seemed important…before.” “Before?” I watched Kim perk up in her chair. “Before,” Harry repeated. “What’s happening?” Nate asked. Kim smacked him. “They are finally gonna get married. When did you guys decide it was time?” “When we were in Fiji. I was laying there reading a book on our deck and enjoying the gorgeous weather and view. And he came out of the water after swimming, dripped water all over me and my book, then looked at me and said he was done waiting and it was time to get married. He wants my first book to be published with Styles as my name.” “So that’s part of this trip,” Harry said smiling at me before looking across the table. Kim and Nate were both sitting there with their jaws practically resting on the table in front of them. “We are here to get married. We had originally thought about it just being us and then realized that you two were the only people we wanted to have with us.” “WHAT?!” Kim and Nate both practically yelled. “Yeah, after all these years together we decided that it wasn’t necessary to have a large wedding. We just want to be married and we pretty much are already. This isn’t changing what our relationship is, just what my name is. So we are eloping.” “In Paris?” Kim asked. “In Paris,” Harry replied. “With just us?” Nate asked. “You’re our best friends, we couldn’t think of two better people to be our witnesses. We have a photographer in Paris that we know that is going to take pictures, her husband is normally her second shooter, but he also happens to be able to legally marry us. So we are getting married,” I replied. “When?” Kim asked. “Day after tomorrow,” Harry answered. “I figured that we should have a day in Paris to get you something to wear,” I said laughing. “So tomorrow we are shopping and then Saturday we are getting married.” “Holy shit. Congratulations,” Nate said leaning back in his chair. “That was not what I expected to do on this trip.” “We thought we should surprise you,” I said smiling. “So surprise!” “I’m so excited about this. Are you really going to publish your book as Styles?” Kim asked. I’d always been sort of adamant about keeping Catalano if I ever did actually get married. My family name meant the world to me. I had always thought that no matter where I was in the world if I was Annie Catalano it meant that I had my family with me. In the seven years that Harry and I had been together we had been through a lot and had changed my opinion about a lot of things, my name being one of them. “I am. I mean they don’t know that yet, but as soon as we are back in London I’m calling my publisher to let them know that they can publish this as Annie Styles. I know that the Catalano name has always been a huge part of my identity, but it’s time for Styles to be part of my identity too.” “It’s a big deal to give up a name. Leaving Scott behind was tricky, but at least I didn’t have to change any monograms,” she said jokingly. Nate just shook his head at his wife. They were still perfect for each other and always managed to even the other out. Whether Kim was in a weird mood or Nate was being too serious the other one always managed to center their relationship. “You’re still weird,” he said. “That’s clearly not going to change with age, unless I just get weirder.” “You do, Petal, you do.” Nate leaned over and kissed her cheek. “So no one at home knows about this?” “Nope,” we replied together. “Our parents do know,” Harry said. “They were supportive of this. They knew that a gathering of the Styles and Catalano families is always difficult to arrange so we are going to plan something at each home later.” “They knew as well as we did that we wouldn’t be able to get both of our families together in the next few months, especially based on our schedule.” “Your schedule?” “Well, Niall and I have been talking about it for at least a year. Louis and Liam are finally ready too. Life is settling. It’s time to go back in to the studio.” “You’re just trying to give me a heart attack aren’t you,” Kim said. “Pretty much,” I replied laughing. “The talk is that they go back in to the studio so that Niall is at home with Lyla for the birth and then the album comes out shortly after that. I also think it’s a trial run of having Freddie in school in London.” “And then we take the whole circus on the road. At least we are thinking of doing that,” Harry said. “Annie and Lyla are ready to live in buses again.” “I’m jealous,” Kim said. “I want to take the circus on the road, but members of our circus is likely not allowed in several countries.” “Yes, they are. Your circus is cute. You’ll have to bring them on the road or Aunt Annie will go through withdrawal symptoms.” “Deal! I could tour manage,” Kim said. It had been years since she worked at The Roundhouse. She and Lyla had opened their own business. They worked to curate an online store filled with the most desired items for people to give as gifts or buy for themselves. I’d gone on buying trips with those two and it was crazy the things that they got for free just so they would put a companies items in their store. They had just hit five years and thrown a huge party to celebrate. It all started in the kitchen of Kim and Nate’s first house as she was pregnant with the twins. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to return to the world she’d been working in once the boys were here. Lyla and Niall were planning their wedding and as we all shopped for the things Lyla needed the idea came to Kim. Why should people have to order these pieces from different places when they could put them all in one place? They were able to pick and choose what would be the next great housewarming gift or the go to new stuffed animal for a brand new baby. When you needed the perfect piece of art for your new office or the personalized gift to make your bridal party feel appreciated, theirs was the website you went to first. It was high quality goods shipped right to your door. They had even developed their own subscription service similar to Amazon Prime that offered expedited shipping to anywhere in England after the first year. At three years they had expanded to cover all of Europe. Last fall they opened their first few warehouses in the US so that the shipping option was now available to the US and Canada. It had been fun to watch them start this together. See them create this dream and build it in to the massive company it had become. Harry had tried to convince me to take their offer to be a partner with them when they first launched. He’d even offered to lend me the money to do it. When they became a million dollar company at two years I had slightly regretted my decision, but instead they allowed me to have my own curated section of their store and became the primary sponsor of my blog. The items I found when Harry and I traveled often ended up in my section of their store. I’d even done a few limited edition photographs that I’d taken and they had sold online. I was able to join them on their trips to meet with companies and take advantage of some of their freebies without feeling like I was in business with two of my best friends. They were in a position now where Kim had been able to take time off since Oliver was born, after this trip she was headed back full time so that by the time Lyla welcomed their first child she could the time she needed at home. “You haven’t dealt with musicians in a long time babe,” Nate said. “I don’t know that you have the patience for them. I sure as hell wouldn’t and I was in a band.” “I’m raising four kids under the age of five. I could handle the four children that make up One Direction.” I almost spit my champagne. “It would be a cake walk by comparison.” “You are probably right. Though we’ve all aged a bit since our last tour. I would think that Louis and Liam’s kids would cause a bigger stir than any of us would. We had dinner with Louis and El when we were in Los Angeles. It’s terrifying how much Freddie is like his Dad, he’s already a total smartass.” “How are Lou and El?” Kim asked. “Good. They are still enjoying LA, though you can tell they are both itching to get back home. I know it’s tough for them being away from their family as much as they are, but neither of them want to be away from Freddie just so they can live in England. I just wish Briana understood that without Johannah here that they try to have a much larger role with Louis’s brother and sisters and that by them being in Los Angeles the majority of the year they aren’t there for his family. But after several years she still doesn’t get it, so I’m not holding my breath.” “It’s hard,” Harry said squeezing my hand. “Louis will never feel like he’s doing enough for Dan and the kids. But Dan gets it, Freddie is who Lou needs to watch out for the most.” “Dan will always have support here and he is glad Louis is with Freddie. Lottie and Louise were in the office last week for meetings with Lyla and I. Their new line of lipstick and eyeshadow is getting ready to launch on the site. We will be the exclusive retailer for it. I’m excited. It’s geared towards brides and will launch in time for the spring and summer wedding season.” “That’s amazing.” “Yeah, so Lottie was telling me that she is finally settled in to a house. She’s literally across the street from Dan. She helps get the kids to school every day unless she’s on the road, but Fizzy is living with her now that she has a house. So Fizz is still helping out too. We should all go up and visit, we haven’t been up since last fall when Louis brought Freddie home to visit.” “We should. When we get home let’s look at the calendar and all go. Louis said they were going to be in England for a few weeks. I think they actually land tomorrow.” “That’s awesome,” Nate said. “Maybe Louis will be interested in helping us at tryouts for the footie team next week. I have been trying to get it arranged that the league the kids are in will let Freddie play when they are in the city and I think I finally get them on board.” “Oh dear god. Dimples, you are not allowed to start coaching with them. The four of you together is the worst nightmare of the women in your lives. And remember, we don’t have a child that is on that team.” “Kim told me I could pretend that Max was mine since he refuses to let her cut his hair.” “I tried to tell him that he didn’t have a choice and has to cut his hair. He keeps telling me that he wants to look like Uncle Harry. So, I’m going to start to petition you to cut your hair if he won’t budge. Everyone in my family is coming over Easter. If my oldest looks like he needs a man bun I might have a problem.” “I mean, I’d like to think that the kid doesn’t wear his hair a certain way just because I do. But if necessary I can have a talk with him about cutting his hair. Though he’s got some awesome hair.” The twins were the spitting image of Nate. Dark brown eyes, dark brown hair and curls for days. They were five going on 20. When they started school in fall they came home the first day to inform their mother and father that they each had three girlfriends and had already figured out that their teachers could barely tell the difference between them. Some couldn’t remember if Max or Jack had the long hair. They were already wise beyond their years and would be terrifying as teenagers. Evelyn was three and her mother’s mini-me. So much so that when she started talking Harry and I were positive she’d have a southern accent. There were times where her little posh London accent mixed with a y’all and I nearly cried laughing every time. I’m pretty sure her Uncle Harry tried to teach her these things when he babysat. Evie was just the perfect mixture of tomboy and ballerina. She chased after the football in the backyard in tutus and loved to be the center of attention at every gathering. She was her Daddy’s universe. Nate loved that right out the gate they had twin boys. Every man wants to see his family lineage carry on. But when they found out they were having a girl it was like his world changed. He drug me around home improvement stores until we found the perfect shades of blush pink and lavender to paint her nursery as a surprise for Kim when she was on a trip for work. Everything was pink or purple, despite this little girl’s mama’s favorite color being blue. And when that little girl came with her blonde hair and blue eyes, in true mini-Kim style, she came home from the hospital in a Kentucky onesie. It was pink at her Daddy’s request. We were all pretty sure that Kim and Nate were happy with their three kids. For the first year it was a struggle with three kids under three and the boys still being in diapers for the first part. Then one day she told me she was pregnant again and surprisingly didn’t look terrified at the idea of having another one in diapers again. And when little Ollie was born we all melted. This kid was beautiful, he looked like he should be on every diaper box or baby food jar. He was the child who was the perfect blend of Mom and Dad. Blue eyes and fair skin with Daddy’s dark curls. Kim was a rockstar with these kids, especially during the times where Nate had a case that took over his life, which had basically been the situation since Ollie was born. The times where we were home we always had a night with the kids. I jokingly called it birth control, but Harry just loved being with the babies. We’d discovered early on in our relationship that kids weren’t in the cards for us, so we decided to be the best Aunt and Uncle the world had ever seen. We perhaps spoiled our nieces and nephews, as well as our friends’ kids, more than we should. But almost everyone let us get away with it. It was hard for us to realize that we may never get to be a Mum or Dad to anyone other than the cat. But as with anything we’d faced in our relationship, we did it together and are stronger because of it. So we did what we could to spend time with the kids who were in our life. Our desire to be the World’s Greatest Aunt and Uncle meant on top of having a home in London and Los Angeles we also had a townhouse down the road from my brother and his family so that we could make trips to see the kids and not be stuck in hotels or my family’s houses for the usually extended trips. We tried to go home four or five times a year if we could. We were currently at the point where we had the longest stretch of the year, we went from Thanksgiving to my Dad’s birthday in March without going home. We would be home again in May for Mother’s Day and my Mom’s birthday, then in July for my niece’s birthday, then October for my nephew’s birthday and always back for Christmas and usually stayed until after my step-mom’s birthday at the beginning of December. It was always Christmas in England, which had been hard for my family to come to terms with at the beginning. But given that no one in Harry’s family celebrated Thanksgiving we were always in Iowa. It was perfect, we got to spend my favorite holiday with my family and Harry got to argue about American football with my brother. “Can we not let Max’s hair thing escalate to the point where Uncle Harry actually has to cut his hair? You know I get sad when it gets short.” “You loved it short the last time.” Harry winked at me. “Ugh, stop it. You could shave your head and still look hot. I just PREFER this length.” His hair was full of curls today, he’d actually refrained from putting it in a ponytail or bun before we left the house this morning for the train station. The first time he’d cut his hair while we were together was for his first movie role and since then it was the only reason he would cut his hair. Every time a role would require it I’d cry as I watched Louise cut off his hair and then spend the first month thinking I had this sexy new fiancé and then I’d start to miss the ponytail and the long curls. Luckily, his hair grew insanely fast. Our dinner tonight was magnificent. This had been a restaurant we visited over the years on our trips because of the sentimental nature for Nate and Kim. This was where he proposed to her. They’d been back together for a short time on that first trip but he wasn’t going to wait for her to realize that he wanted to spend forever with her. Harry had known that he was intending on proposing at dinner, which was why Harry arranged for our dinner to be in a private dining room. As we sat here tonight in between courses sipping on our champagne I couldn’t help but remember that night. We’d come for a late dinner after doing some exploring through Paris. Nate had been a little bit off but we usually took that as Nate being Nate. He had been distracted recently because of work and the new house. He had been putting together a proposal for his Dad to convince him that he should be able to work remotely while looking for a location to open a London branch of their firm so he didn’t have to live in a different city during the week. And then at dinner he opened the bottle of champagne and as he filled a glass for Kim dropped her engagement ring in it. He told us later that he’d hoped for some elaborate proposal but his nerves had gotten the best of him. So he put the ring in her glass. As she picked it up and Harry said his toast she managed to not see the large diamond staring at her. It wasn’t until she took her first drink and it hit her lips that she realized there was a ring in her glass. She pulled the ring out of the glass in her lips with the diamond facing out. Nate proceeded to get on one knee and stumble through asking her to marry him. He was so nervous and so completely in love. I cried, Kim cried, Nate cried, even Harry cried. That dinner was officially the shortest meal the four of us had ever shared. Nate and Kim returned to their hotel room to call families and celebrate in ways that normal people celebrate an engagement. Harry and I proceeded to have a night that felt like it was right out of a Richard Linklater film. We spent the night walking around and talking. I got to be amazed by the way Harry could fluently speak in French with any person who approached us. It was that night that we both realized that we were each other’s forever. I had known I loved him before we boarded that train at St. Pancras Station that morning but by the time we were welcoming in my 30th year on earth with a light dusting of snow and the sunrise I knew that he was it. We had continued this tradition often when we traveled. It was easier for Harry and I to walk around uninterrupted in the middle of the night and the things we were able to see and the conversations we were able to have remain some of my favorite memories.

Oh. My. God.

I can't believe I actually sat down and cranked that out this weekend.

I've always felt like there was an empty part of my heart because I'd abandoned this story. My life got complicated and I got lost from this world. But I knew I needed to come back at some point. And this weekend was some point.

I felt that it didn't fit to just pick up where I left off. Harry is 23 now and Annie would be 33. Advancing several years gives a chance for our characters to have grown as people. So we pick up seven years later partially reliving that first night in Paris for Annie's 30th birthday. We find out that Kim and Nate are happy. That Niall is married to Lyla! That Annie and Harry are as happy as ever and finally ready to get married, just not have a wedding. But what about Lizzy, Frankie, Patty, Niki and our other gang of misfits? Well they are going to get their deserved end as well.

My goal is to have this piece finished over the next few days or weeks. I have everything planned in my head and have already started the next chapter. And then pieces like Harry proposing to Annie, Nate and Kim's marriage, and how the hell Niall and Lyla ended up together may get told through Always In My Head if there is interest. So if there is please comment of message me to let me know. I love writing these characters but lost my drive for a very long time. Life got crazy. I fell in love and then unceremoniously fell out of love as so often happens in life. I landed my dream job and then was laid off from my dream job only to decide to just create my dream job. And in the midst of that I would occasionally pick up London Calling and hope that some day I'd be able to come back to this. And I finally have been able to.

So please. Comment. Message. Kik (raybandandcoffee). Twitter (@raybandsandcoffee). I want to know if people love where these characters are.

[whereintheworldisclairerans-blog]

Oops.

Hey there tumblr! (aka Mom) Sorry it has been almost a year... it’s true what they say, time flies when you’re having fun! I’m terribly sorry that I stopped keeping you all updated on my travels, but things got crazy busy! Plus for me this has always been a travel blog, not a “me living my life” blog, but now it turns out they are one in the same! I could type for days and days about all the trips I took over 2018, but here’s a brief overview:

After spending New Years in London with Hanna, Carmi and I went to Valencia to try some real paella. We hit the beach, rented bikes and visited their science museums and aquarium when it rained. A few weeks later I was off to Morocco with my coworkers. I almost bailed on the trip because I was afraid of spending so much time with people that I only kind of liked, but it ended up being SO MUCH  FUN. We visited my friend Sahar in Tangier for a day, then hit the “blue city” of Chefchaouen before driving a full day to Marrekech. Renting a car has become my new favorite way to travel, because even though it was a bit nerve wracking at first, it allowed us to see so much! In Marrekech we stayed in the most beautiful hostel of my entire life and I ate so so so much couscous. We wandered around the Medina, went to the botanical gardens and went into about a thousand different markets. The following weekend, Carmi and I decided to celebrate our birthdays by taking a girls trip to Paris. It was freezing but we treated ourselves to the fanciest macaroons and rooftop champagne. We saw the Eiffel tower every single day, sat in the gardens outside the Louvre and went shopping in the Galleries.

The traveling continued into March, when I went to Stockholm to visit Hanna and her sister for a weekend and saw Harry Styles in concert. It was also freezing in Stockholm, but SO PRETTY. It was a super quick trip, but l loved getting to see Hanna in her element, and getting to play in the snow! The weekend after, things just kept going. I got super lucky that Lizzie’s spring break fell during the same week, so she came out to visit for 10 days, and we explored Madrid, Toledo, and Lisbon! I LOVED Lisbon and tried surfing for the first time! My instructor was super hot though and I couldn’t focus on surfing long enough to stand up. I’ll definitely have to try again! Lizzie and I spent the rest of our days eating “Pastel de Nata” and walking up and down the huge hills, admiring all the gorgeous tiling. They say that Lisbon is like the San Fransisco of Europe, and it’s true! They even have the Golden Gate Bridge.Naturally things slowed down after spring break, as I had run out of energy and money! But for our last school break Carmi and I went to Mallorca and I tried cliff diving for the first time, and took a much needed spa day. It was a little bit chilly and we didn’t get to enjoy the beach as we would have liked to, but we rented a car and got to see some really amazing little spots on the island. 

Amidst so much traveling, I also tried to appreciate all that Madrid has to offer, and enjoyed many “menus del dia” with my coworkers ($10 meals that include two dishes, a dessert and a drink, I’m obsessed) and for San Isisdro, Madrid’s patron saint holiday, and I enjoyed dressing up with my coworkers in the traditional dress. Before I knew it, the year was coming to a close and I was packing up my room to go back home for the summer. It was sad to say goodbye to the city, but so so wonderful to see all of my family and friends. I had the warmest welcome at the airport and things didn’t really slow down from there. I stayed with Melanie, Anthony, and their new cat Humphrey. I spent my days sleeping in, working for my mom, and trying to spend as much quality time as possible with everyone, while keeping in touch with my people back in Spain and Europe. Being home for 2.5 months was a long time, and by the time mid-September rolled around, I was ready to head back. With all my stuff at Carmi’s house and no place set up to live, I was super nervous, but ended up finding an AMAZING apartment that I absolutely love. I’m a 10 minute walk away from the park and my gym and a 20 minute (although I love to cut it close and make it 15 minute) walk from work. I live with two Spanish boys who are super nice and speak English really well when I’m too tired to think. I spent my last two weeks before work getting settled back into the city, and officially declaring my relationship with my boyfriend Mario. I had met him right before leaving to go home for the summer but we continued to talk every single day, and needless to say I was pretty glad to see him when I got back. 

Spending three months without officially working was pretty tough, so I was very excited to go back to work in October. I’m the only auxiliar that returned from the group last year, and the first day back was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many hugs and kisses in one day. I don’t know who was more excited, the kids, the teachers, or me! Barely two weeks into being back at work, we had a long weekend, so Carmi and I took advantage and decided to go to the beach! We stayed in an AMAZING AirBnB literally right on the beach in Nerja (outside of Malaga) and spent two days swimming and snorkeling in the crystal clear water. The next weekend, I was back at it and jetted up to Gothenburg to see Hanna! We had a blast (as per usual) and spent our time getting caught up and then went to the amusement park! As always, time went way too quickly and I was heading back to Madrid. I’m so glad I went when I did, she’s accepted an internship in Uganda for three months! 

Now having been back for about a month, some of the charm is definitely wearing off and I am getting settled back into my rhythm. I like my new coworkers, but it has been adjustment from the diverse group last year to being with four other girls who are very similar to me this year. Being in a relationship is also helping me explore new parts of Madrid, but leaves me with even less time to keep you all updated. I promise that I will try to be better this year. I think Carmi and I are going to try to plan a quick weekend trip to Galicia next week, so I’ll let you all know how it goes. For now, here’s some representative pictures from the course of the year!

[shaledirectory]

Natural Gas NOW Picks of the Week – November 3, 2018

Tom Shepstone Shepstone Management Company, Inc.

…

…

Natural Gas NOW readers pass along a lot of stuff every week about natural gas, fractivist antics, emissions, renewables, and other news relating to energy. As usual, emphasis is added.

Europeans Waking Up to Value of CNG?

RealLeaders.com carries this fascinating little story:

What is the fuel cost of driving from Barcelona to Paris? Antonio Calvo, Head of Sustainable Mobility at Spanish car manufacturer SEAT, gets behind the wheel of a SEAT Leon 1.5 TGI to take on the more than 620 mile drive and calculate how much it costs to get there.

The catch? Calvo is attempting the trip in a gas powered car to evaluate consumption and cost. Compressed natural gas (CNG) is methane stored at high pressure and a fuel which can be used in place of gasoline, diesel fuel and propane/LPG. CNG costs about 50% less than gasoline and emits up to 90% fewer emissions than gasoline…

Upon arrival at the Champs-Élysées, the head of Sustainable Mobility makes his final assessment of the trip: “I covered a total distance of 670 miles and spent only $50, which amounts to an average of 8 pounds of gas for every 62 miles. The cost savings is certainly one of the many advantages of CNG. In fact, if I had made the same trip with a petrol powered car it would have cost me 50% more; and 30% more if it had been a diesel,” he concludes. Compressed natural gas cars are a growing trend, with more than 1.3 million CNG vehicles to be found on European roads, mostly in Italy.

Will politically correct Americans who think we should take our leads from Europe will now see the advantages of CNG? The Eiffel Tower looks a bit like a drilling rig, don’t you think?

And, California, Too?

It’s not only Europe’s eyes that are being opened to the benefit of CNG in lowering emissions:

The California Air Resources Board (CARB), the state’s lead agency on climate change programs, will consider a $483 million funding plan for clean transportation incentives, including natural gas heavy duty engine technologies…

NGVAmerica President Daniel Gage emphasized that “we have a product that was recently recertified in 2018 , so our product is ready right now.”

NGVAmerica Truck Example

…Gage cites the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit District as a major transit operator that has tried different alternatives, but more recently has decided to focus on converting its fleet to natural gas. Another metropolitan transit system in Albuquerque, NM, decided a few years ago to go all-electric only to decide that wasn’t working and is now using biofuel and natural gas.

Gas actually gets the job done; isn’t that exactly what we’ve been saying for a long time?

And, Even Bangladesh!

Natural gas isn’t just for snobby Europeans or trendy Californians, though. Poor nations such as Bangladesh are also getting more energy, more efficient energy and cleaner energy from natural gas:

Like many rapidly developing countries, Bangladesh needs more reliable and affordable electricity to power its growth. That’s why the South Asian country is racing to massively increase its power-generation capacity, adding 11,600 megawatts to reach 24,000 megawatts by 2021, according to the Bangladesh Power Development Board.

GE is now giving that plan a boost. The company, which already has 37 turbines in the country capable of generating 2,200 megawatts, said it would develop a new 600-megawatt combined-cycle power plant near Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital. The plant will use GE Power’s 9HA gas turbine as well as a steam turbine and a generator to produce electricity. When it comes online in 2021, the power station will generate enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 700,000 local homes…

Dhaka, Bangladesh

GE deployed the first HA turbine in 2016. As the most advanced gas turbines in GE’s portfolio, the machines are already powering the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plants. A European plant achieved a 62.22 percent combined-cycle net efficiency in 2016, a feat that earned a world record. A different plant in Japan scored a 63.08 percent combined-cycle gross efficiency earlier this year.

The efficiency of this proposed plant, at 62-63%, dwarfs solar and wind, of course, which are more often less than half as efficient. This is why natural gas is winning everywhere in the world. No amount of politically correct preaching about “clean energy” and no amount of foolish subsidies can change the facts; natural gas is the best energy bargain whether you’re measuring in dollars or clean air.

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The post Natural Gas NOW Picks of the Week – November 3, 2018 appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/natural-gas-now-picks-of-the-week-november-3-2018/

[perhapsvirginia-blog]

#005

Aaaah, I forgot all about this account. Again. But I was just thinking I needed somewhere to vent a little.

Last time I wrote was almost a year ago. Funnily enough, I think my stats are going to be around the same.

As I said in the last post, I was in Amsterdam! And Berlin. And Prague, Dresden, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, some little towns here and there, I don't even remember anymore. I mean, I have it all written down, I took a shitload of pictures, but it's a jumble in my head. Three insane, wonderful weeks. I was only maybe three days per city? Probably even less? I need to visit Budapest again at some point. That city is crazy beautiful. Words won’t do it justice, it's like a urban Van Gogh painting. The Danube made me cry. And Vienna has some of the best food I've ever had, and it made me realize Swaroski ain’t worth shit. 

I just... I love Europe.

So, venting.

Writing is hard now. My job changed so much since the last time I posted here. I work under a very good friend, which might sound great to some, but I'm not the sort to slack off, at least not deliberately, but I've been so stressed lately...

Ok, so I changed my diet because of the migraines I mentioned in the last post. Reduced sugar, stopped drinking and smoking. Started taking medication for my anxiety and insomnia. When I say my brain is weird I mean it; it doesn't work like most brains so all medication is hit or miss and it was A PROCESS. Exercise and meditating do jack shit. It's not psychological, I've been like this my entire life. I didn't even nap in daycare. Sleeping is hard. Chilling is harder.

But I got there eventually. Migraines... they don't ever go away but I've had like, one every two months or so. You learn to live with some pains.

So when I thought, "yes, I'm finally free" my body throws another fit and I start feeling... weird. I still don't know quite how to explain it, it's like I've been beaten up but from the inside. Like I have bruises all over the inside of my torso. And my stomach was acting up.

Yeah, remember my job changed? And my friend is now in charge? Our unit is just the two of us. Taking a break meant leaving her stuck with my workload which, between us, is so boring some days I want to die. A lot of days. I can feel how it's killing my creativity, bit by bit.

But technichally I'm still doing what I love, which is writing. And it pays well. And, you know, job security, all that shit. I'm 30, I don't have a degree and my body is slowly decaying. We take what we can get and we smile and we say, "thank you" because we are capitalism’s bitches.

Anyway, I go see a doctor who soon turn into doctorS. I get poked and proded. Doctors argue, because I'm fat so of course it's a fat issue but they can't find anything related to that but of course IT HAS TO BE THAT and I’m not even fighting it, I’m a sucker for authority figures. But nothing works. And then I end up with a wonderful doctor, PhD in obessity, told me right away I was fat, but "not that fat". She's blunt and kind and amazing and I love her.

I don't think anyone's reading this but just in case I'm not telling the diagnose because it's related to some sad, stupid stuff I did between ages 15-16 and I just don't want to get into it.

I get more pills. They're for protecting my liver and pancreas, helping their processes and things like that. Plus the ones for my brain, I'm taking two in the morning, three at night. When I have a headache or I take something for the flu I feel like... honest, I feel like I'm a doll and the pills are keeping me functional.

Sort of.

I don't know why but my main suspect is the sheer amount of medicine because even I know it's too much and like I said before, I’m not one to distrust modern medicine. 

I have a special diet now too. Very strict. And for some reason, at the start, when I broke it... it would all come back up.

I lost 10 kilos in a month. I felt like I was dying. And you know, all those pills? They're expensive and I still could work, you know, so I didn't go to the doctor, I couldn’t really afford to go, much less to be told to stop taking pills that’d cost me an arm and a leg so I just... kept going.

And I felt so, so lonely.

Because while all of this was happening, I was just freaking out internally. I don't know how to tell people these sort of things. I have no sense of shame, I have no qualms about asking for help but I don't know how to do it when it comes to this. Being sick. My boss-friend had first sits to the mess I became but even she didn't seem to notice the extent of it and I still don't know how much she knows or doesn't and I've never wanted to worry her-- working with friends is shit. I honestly hate it. I feel like we have a stress loop going on, because we're always worried about each other but we never talk about anything because it's work and... I don't know, she's not a very expressive person. I try to assume the best, my instincts tell me to assume the worst, she goes entire days not saying a word to me (but she IS a quiet person), I just...

It's hard. And when I got sick it got harder. And my family’s the one that raised me to keep quiet when you’re sick because they’re allergic to vulnerability. I didn’t want to worry my friends. I don’t. So I don’t really have anyone to tell all of this. It doesn’t really do any good either.

But sometimes you need to say things. Just to put them out there, in the world, instead of letting them rot inside you.

I got better, anyway. Last few days I started eating normally again, I could even eat some "forbidden" foods and keep them down. I'm pretty sure I've gained all the weight I lost, if not even gained some extra, haha. Eating is so great, guys. I hate diets.

But I hate being sick more, which is why I started thinking about ways to go back to following the doctor's instructions and I remembered this blog.

Another thing that sucked this month is that I'm broke AS HELL. I spent literally all my money on doctors, exams and medicine. It appears to be working so yeah. I just need to stick to the plan.

A friend and I are planning to travel to Europe in March or April. I think we're going to start separated-- I'll start in Paris, then meet her later in London and travel together up to Edinburgh. There're so many things we want to do! We've both been to London already but we haven't been to the same places. I want to take selfies with her in the Madam Tussaud and she wants us to eat in Camden Market. And I simply NEED to show her Oxford's botanical garden.

When I was in England I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to traipse around the country AND I had to be back at the host family's home by midnight. They were amazing and I had no curfew, but I'm irritatingly well-behaved so I only visited nearby locations I could see in an afternoon-- Oxford, Bath, Brighton, London, etc. Oxford and London were, of course, my absolute favorites. London has my heart in all its packed, dirty, (dis)functional capital city glory. I loved its stuffy people who got all weird when I got emotional (I get emotional a lot).

Ah, London. I can't even think about it without getting emotional.

So I might be going back in March/April. And if that works, I'll also visit Paris! The Eiffel Tower can get fucked, I want to cry about Les Miserables in the corner that used to be the Musain. I want to see the catacombs and the history of a city that has seen so many revolutions and I'm honestly DYING to see a french supermarket. DYING. Also, it's another capital city and I adore urbanization because I'm a child of capitalism.

I urgently need to polish my french though. Because I can read it, but I'm far from being able to produce a single sentence.

So yeah, new plans. BEHAVE. Obey the doctor's orders and diet. Exercise!! Try and save money (not likely until November but a girl can dream). VISIT EUROPE AGAIIINNNN!!!

Now I'm off to shower and then update my stats. It's almost 4AM because this is what happens when I don't take my sleeping pills. I probably won't sleep. Maybe I should go for a run? I did last week and it was super embarrasing but I felt a little accomplished. I want to be the sort of person who runs. It’s cool. It's still dark so it wouldn't be safe but maybe in a few hours. Maaaaybe.

Good morning! -Reggie

[purplesurveys]

239

What day of the week is it? It’s Tuesday. What does that mean you have to do? It’s 9:17 PM and I don’t have any more plans for the evening - not that I have stuff planned out this break haha. What are your plans for tomorrow? None really. Probably just binge-watch YouTube videos again as I’ve been doing the whole week so far. Where do you work? I don’t work yet. What was the last book you read? No clue.

Are you pro-choice? Yes, very much so. Are you a vegetarian? No but I want to give it a try when I’m a little older. I’ve found some vegan restaurants in the city and reeeeally want to check them out. Have you seen your #1 more than twice in the last month? OMG, MySpace. How old will you be in 2013? I turned 15 that year, but that was five years ago. When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? This is on every survey just like the nails questions lol. Astronaut, firefighter, and a vet. Have you ever been in someone's wedding? I’ve been to numerous weddings of relatives and my mom’s friends. Would you rather visit the Taj Mahal or the Eiffel Tower? Taj Mahal. India is my dream. Do you live in Florida, Nebraska, or Virginia? I live in none of those states. Have you ever been to South America? Haven’t been. Where does your #2 work? I’m just gonna go ahead and ignore the future MySpace questions that would show up because really. Did your last kiss mean anything to you? Of course it did. It was too long ago though, aw. If your house was on fire, what 3 things would you try and save? My dog, my phone, and my memory mason jar. What does your status say right now? I don’t post statuses on my Facebook. Have you ever ridden on a subway? No because we don’t have those. I did ride the train for the first time recently when I had to go to Manila for my journalism assignment! It was fun, but I’d never do it alone. Are your toenails painted at the moment? Just like what I said a few questions earlier.

Open the nearest book, turn to page 8 and type the first sentence: There aren’t any books here in the dining room. Have you showered yet today? Nope. Too lazy. What were you doing the last time 11 AM rolled around? I must have been watching WWE WhatCulture videos on YouTube. Recently started watching their list videos again; it’s a shame their best host turned out to be a dick to women and had to leave the channel. What do you plan to be doing in 2 hours? Gab’s coming home from Baguio and I want to stay up till she gets home so I think surveys and watching wrestling would keep me covered for the next few hours. If those don’t work, I would be in bed by then. What is your middle name? Andal. Do you prefer to write in pen or pencil? PEN. I haven’t written in pencil since fourth grade. Do you keep a journal? This blog is the closest thing to a journal I’ve got. I have a planner that I treat kind of like a journal too. Are you still friends with your best friend from kindergarten? I didn’t have a best friend in kinder, but close enough! I’m still best friends with my best friend from first grade. What did you do on your last birthday? I stayed up the whole night doing a news report, forgot what I did the whole day because I’m terrible at journaling, then hosted dinner for 15 of my friends. I only talk to like four of them now, hah. Would your #3 be more likely to see Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga in concert? What was the last movie you watched? I watched Eraserhead last but it was only so that I could get screenshots for my film thread on Twitter. Are you ticklish? Veeeeeeeeerrrrryyy. Everyone who knows me knows this. Are you shy? Yes, but I’ve been better at handling it. Are you hot-tempered? Being that I come from my mother’s bloodline which is filled with notoriously hot-headed relatives, yes. Was your mom over 30 when she had you? No, she was 26. Have you ever won more than $100 dollars playing the lottery? I don’t play the lottery. Have you ever played strip poker? Never. I don’t even know how poker works... What is your most memorable Halloween costume? AJ Lee!!! She retweeted me for it! It was five years ago but it makes me super excited every time I remember it. I was among the last she retweeted too, so my photo was on the top of her Twitter for a while. Is your #4 one of those people who can instantly cheer you up? When was the last time you ate popcorn? Sunday.

What color is the floor of the room you are in? Brown. Who is your 4th phone contact and how do you know them? HAHAHAHAHAHA the last dude to hit my fucking car is listed under ‘Asshole’ and is the fourth contact on my phone. My parents are way too nice and decided not to take action ugh. Have you ever lived in a dorm? No. I live too close to my school to ever apply for one. Do you live in an apartment? Nope. Wish I did. Are any of your friends pregnant? Not that I know of...jk, none of them are. Do you have any nieces or nephews? I have a godson, but no niece/nephew. Who do you trust with your secrets? Gabie and Angela. How short would you be willing to cut your hair? Collarbone-length. Do you wish on shooting stars? If they actually showed up where I live, I would. If someone made a movie about your life, who would star as you? Kristen Stewart. No other actress could play me. Is your birthday in winter? No, it’s in April. No idea what season that’s in since we don’t have seasons. What's the story behind your most noticeable scar? The most ‘noticeable’ which isn’t noticeable at all unless you’re like 5 inches from my face is on my eyebrow and it came from a distant relative hurling a glass jar onto my left eye. Is your car newer than a 2000? Yep, it’s 15 years younger than a 2000. Did you graduate high school within the last 2 years? Yep. Will you graduate high school in the next 2 years? No, I’ll be graduating college in two years. FUCKING CRAZY. Is there anything buried in your closet you wouldn't want anyone to find? Nope, my closet is open to everyone. What was the last song you listened to? It was a song by Charlie Puth I think. Where do you see yourself in the next 3 years? Earning money in a decent job PLEASE

[quicksilversquared]

Deal or No Deal?

Plagg has some Very Important information, and he's willing to share it- for a price. Will Adrien take his deal? (Refers to events that took place during S2E8 Dark Owl)

(FF.net) (AO3)

Plagg was being absolutely, insufferably smug.

Again.

"What do you want, Plagg?" Adrien asked as Plagg floated past him for the n-th time that morning, sniggering quietly under his breath. Adrien shoved his homework to the side and turned to frown at his smirking kwami. "Seriously, just spit it out."

"I know who Ladybug is," Plagg sing-songed, as though Adrien didn't already know that Plagg knew. He knew it full well, thank you, and of course Plagg was going to rub it in his face. "I know and you doooooon't."

"That's nice, Plagg," Adrien said with a sigh, doing his best to ignore his kwami again while he turned back to his homework. He had to focus, since several weeks of having to run after Mr. Damocles- er, Mr. Owl- every afternoon had put him behind. Now that he and Ladybug could be sure that the Owl wouldn't be getting himself in trouble as soon as they turned their backs, they could put a hold on any patrols until they were on top of their schoolwork again. It was kind of unfortunate- Adrien had rather liked running around the city with Ladybug when there weren't akumas to fight and hanging out together on rooftops just chatting- but ultimately it was for the better.

Principal-sitting was exhausting, especially when neither of them particularly had any time to spare.

"I could tell you who she is, given the right incentive," Plagg continued, draping himself over one of Adrien's computer monitors and peering down at his Chosen. "I'm thinking maybe three dozen rounds of Camembert and a dozen of Brie, plus a couple baked Brie rounds on top of that...and maybe a pot of fondue."

Adrien ignored him.

"Of course, I could be generous and decrease the amount of Camembert in return for some cheese bread," Plagg continued, rolling over and eying Adrien briefly before closing his eyes again, presumably to revel in visions of being surrounded by cheesy goodness. "And of course, you would have to promise to not act any differently around Ladybug or her civilian identity, because then she would get suspicious. But if you could do that, and if you greased my palm with a little cheese..."

"What would Ladybug's kwami say if I told her that you were trying to persuade me to bribe you into telling me who Ladybug us?" Adrien asked as he scribbled down an answer to a Literature question and started scanning his book for the answer to the next question. The eeping sound from Plagg made him smile. Apparently he had hit a nerve. Even with as sweet as Ladybug always said her kwami was, apparently she was also a force to be reckoned with. "I bet she wouldn't be very happy with you, would she? And stop drooling, you're dripping on my book."

"B-but you wouldn't do that," Plagg said, only sounding somewhat confident. "Because you want to know who Ladybug is, right?"

Adrien looked up and gave his kwami a deadpan look. "Plagg."

"What?"

"Hasn't it occurred to you that I could have figured out Ladybug's identity on my own when we were in that storage container?" Adrien pointed out. "I could have opened my eyes. I could have peeked then and done my best not to react- we were together and detransformed for over five minutes, it wasn't as though I was lacking for time- and it wouldn't have cost me any cheese at all. But I wasn't going to go behind Ladybug's back and abuse her trust to do that, and I'm not going to do that now, either."

Plagg's jaw was hanging open and he looked a little bewildered as his visions of swimming in cheese fled. "Wh- what?"

"Besides, Ladybug had a good point when she said that it wouldn't be a good idea for us to know in case we get our Miraculous taken or something," Adrien continued, turning back to his homework. "We've had far too many akumas with mind-control powers of one sort or another. It's only a matter of time before there's one that makes us blurt out secrets or something, and if one of us gets hit then, then we're both at risk."

Plagg was pouting. "Oh, come on."

"No, Plagg. Now go eat your cheese and leave me alone."

As he refocused on his homework, Adrien missed the narrow-eyed glare his kwami leveled at him, as well as the impish smirk that followed.

"Ladybug is really pretty as a civilian," Plagg commented in passing the next afternoon as Adrien worked on a Literature essay. Despite himself, Adrien's head popped up.

"She is? I mean, obviously she is, she's gorgeous as Ladybug, but- she is?"

Plagg smirked at Adrien and pulled a cheese order form out from behind his back and shook it out, waving it at Adrien. Adrien's eyes widened as he realized what Plagg was up to and then narrowed at his kwami.

"No, Plagg."

"I bet Ladybug would like seeing that," Plagg said cryptically as Adrien buttoned up one of the coats from his father's latest line.

"Plagg. Stop."

"I could tell you what Ladybug would really like as a present," Plagg hissed as Adrien paused to glance through the window of a small shop on his way to a photoshoot.

"Cut it out, Plagg."

"Do you think Ladybug would like- oh, wait, that's right, you don't know."

"Plagg."

"Did you know Ladybug-"

"Plagg. Cut. It. Out."

"I think you'll be pretty happy with who Ladybug is."

Adrien whipped around to level yet another glare at his kwami. The expression was starting to feel permanently present on his face, which wasn't a great sign. "Seriously, Plagg?"

Plagg tried for his best innocent expression. "What?"

"Are you trying to tempt me into giving you to Hawkmoth? Cut it out."

Plagg's jaw dropped. "Uh, rude!"

"Not if you deserve it, it's not."

"My kwami keeps trying to make me ask him who you are," Chat Noir mentioned offhandedly as he and Ladybug perched on the rooftops, scanning the skyline in search of the latest akuma. "He seems to think that I'll crack and give in to his ridiculous bribe demands somehow."

Ladybug shot him a startled look. "Bribe demands? And what do you mean, he's trying to make you ask him who I am? Our identities-"

"Have to stay secret, I know," Chat Noir finished. "I told him right off the bat that it wasn't going to happen, but he keeps hinting."

"And the bribes?"

"He wants a ridiculous amount of cheese," Chat Noir told her as they headed off towards the Eiffel Tower, still keeping an eye out for the akuma. "He eats a lot to start with, but he wants even more. And he only brought it up directly the one time, but every time I step away from my computer for a bit while I'm at home- if I'm in the shower, or someone wanted to talk to me for a few minutes- I come back and he has a bunch of tabs up with pages for cheese shops or recipes for fondue or cheese bread or cheese-themed blogs. And he never did that before Dark Owl."

Ladybug looked slightly alarmed.

"And then there's the torn-out cheese ads that he leaves on my desk, and the photos on my phone and- anyway, he keeps leaving out reminders that hey, here's this deal you can take any time now. I could have handled the cheese stuff, but he keeps dropping cryptic little remarks about you all the time to try to tempt me. I keep threatening to tell on him to your kwami and he plays stupid about what I'm talking about with the hints, but..."

Ladybug shot an impish look his way. "Want to detransform close by each other after the fight so my kwami can yell at yours?"

Chat Noir just grinned at her. "It's like you read my mind, bugaboo! That would be great."

Once they found the elusive akuma, they finished the fight off in record time. They waved good-bye to the akuma victim and the reporters that were starting to congregate before bounding off to find a proper alleyway. They didn't have to look far.

"We could hide on either side of that pile of boxes," Chat Noir said, pointing. "And we'd still be hidden from the street by that dumpster."

Ladybug grinned and led the way down into the alley. "Perfect!"

Five minutes later, Adrien was watching with an amused expression as Plagg cowered in front of a small red kwami as she chewed him out. As he had expected, Ladybug's kwami had been none too impressed with Plagg's coercion efforts and wasn't at all shy about letting him know. Loudly.

"That was unnecessary," Plagg grumbled after Tikki and Ladybug had finally left. "Cruel and unusual punishment."

"You're just a drama queen," Adrien informed Plagg, tossing him a small slice of Camembert. "And I did warn you what would happen if you didn't stop bugging me about Ladybug's identity, you just didn't listen."

"I just wanted my cheese," Plagg whined as Adrien stood up and dusted himself off so he could head back out to the street. "I was just taking advantage of the opportunity, can you really blame me?"

Adrien could only sigh.