#my family wants to plan a vacation apparently every year for the anniversary of my aunts death… pls calm down

[heartbreakfeelsogood]

i’ll be like i have no idea where i’ll be in a year and everyone around me will completely ignore that and try to make plans lol

[jamaisjoons]

the summer bucketlist | m.list

When the weather sees the return of sunshine and warmth, the joy and exuberance of summer is revived, and everyone rushes to enjoy the season to the fullest. Bonfire nights with your friends, seeing brilliant firework displays or laying under the stars on a humid night and watching the world go by. Learning to surf, or dive or snorkel or simply collecting seashells along the shore. Late nights at the amusement parks, thrilling roller-coaster rides or spectacular views on the Ferris Wheel. Skinny dipping in a lake after dark, attending a film or music festival, or even just visiting the popup street market in your city. Everything you had been dreaming off since the start of autumn, you can do once again. And who better to do it with, than the boys who bring more joy and warmth to our lives than summer itself?

Welcome to ‘The Summer Bucketlist’ - a writing event/author collab hosted by @jamaisjoons​

The Summer Bucketlist: BTS Edition - is an event in which various different authors can sign up to write a story based on traditional Bucketlist Items. Find their stories below!

⟶ song of the sea; knj ⇥ @jamaisjoons​       ➳ fantasy au. little mermaid au.            ↳   ⎡Take a Trip to the Museum⎦

« Captivated by the sight of you, he can’t help but watch you swim around his home. And when you turn to leave, he doesn’t know what overcomes him - but as if spellbound - he finds himself following you back to land. »

⟶ molotov cocktail; jhs ⇥ @yeoldontknow​      ➳ bartender au. arranged marriage au.           ↳   ⎡Take a Cocktail Class⎦

«  You met him January, on a night when you were newly single and newly wanting to break free from your father’s unyielding control. You left him in January, full of regret but full of purpose. You meet him again in July, and now you want nothing more than to run to the ends of the earth with him, to burn down the shape your life has taken in the hope of making something new. »

⟶ luminous; pjm ⇥ @luffles424​     ➳ summer festival au. tentacle monster au.          ↳   ⎡Watch Fireworks⎦

« The Busan summer festival is your favorite event of the year. You like all the food and things to do, but your favorite part is watching the fireworks at the end of the night, gathered with friends and family. It’s fun and joyous. Except this year you’re spending it without them. So you find a secluded spot on the beach to watch alone. Except... you might not be as alone as you thought you were out here.  »

⟶ sticky situation; kth ⇥ @jiminsfault​     ➳ camping au. established relationship au.          ↳   ⎡Go Camping⎦

« You hate camping, but Taehyung is determined on changing your mind on that. »

⟶ pull me in; jhs ⇥ @guccybangtan​     ➳ established relationship au.          ↳   ⎡Go to a Water Park⎦

« In the heat of the summer, there's nothing more relaxing than relaxing than a nice trip to the water park.  »

⟶ a beautiful epiphany; jjk ⇥ @onherwings​     ➳ friends to lovers au.           ↳   ⎡Join an Art Contest⎦

« Who would have thought that falling in love with your muse could either lead to something beautiful or bring you to your own demise? »

⟶ love grows where you go; myg ⇥ @rookiegukie​    ➳ arranged marriage au. pining au.         ↳   ⎡Watch the Sunset on the Beach⎦

« Determined to make you and Yoongi grow closer for your upcoming wedding in two weeks, your parents plan a trip for the both of you that lasts five days long. You know you should be ecstatic about it, considering your longtime crush on your fiancé, but by how you're positive that he secretly despises your whole being, you don't find this mini vacation with him something to look forward to. That is until things take an unexpected turn and suddenly, he makes it apparent he doesn’t hate you at all as you reckoned.  »

⟶ petrichor; pjm ⇥ @taetaewonderland​    ➳ strangers to lovers au. domestic au.         ↳   ⎡Go on a Picnic⎦

« There are smells in the world that can trigger your brain to think of a memory almost in an instant. »

⟶ sun cockblock; myg ⇥ @cremeandsuga​    ➳ best friends to lovers au. summer au.         ↳   ⎡Join a Sandcastle Building Competition⎦

« Cancún was always a trip to remember - sun, beaches, hookups and day drinking, not to mention the annual sand castle competition you entered with your best friend every year. Yoongi smells like Copper Tone sunblock and heaven. Entering a sandcastle competition with one of the least competitive people in the world was pure agony — but it didn’t dawn to you that your best friend wasn’t competitive because he was confident he would win. Upon your loss, he sees you trying to soothe the burn of it (and the sun) with the beach bartender. He may smell like Copper Tone sunblock and heaven, but he’s sure you feel like heaven.  »

⟶ rejuvenation; myg & jhs ⇥ @caught-in-a-seesaw-stigma​    ➳ spa owners au.         ↳   ⎡Treat Yourself to a Spa Day⎦

« You finally get a break from work and you decide to indulge in a little pampering and self-care. During lunch, your friend slips a card into your hand for an exclusive spa with a special referral discount. How can you resist? Let’s hope the Bangtan Blossoms Spa provides the relaxation & rejuvenation experience you desperately seek. »

⟶ just a taste; kth ⇥ @xjoonchildx​   ➳ pwp au.        ↳   ⎡Go Wine Tasting⎦

« He’s hot. he’s considerate. He’s refusing to make a move. weeks of sexual frustration come to a head at a wine tasting and -- this is going to shock NO ONE -- smut ensues. »

⟶ lollipop; myg ⇥ @ironicarmy​   ➳ neighbours to lovers au.        ↳   ⎡Attempt to make Ice Cream⎦

« It’s a hot summer day, he’s desperate, and your ice lollies taste like heaven.  »

⟶ carnival lights; kth ⇥ @taephilia​   ➳ haunted carnival au. horror au.        ↳   ⎡Visit a Carnival⎦

« With half of your friend group graduated and leaving your hometown to move to the city for work, you and your friends decide to have one last adventure together (in the words of hobi even though it’s only may and you see each other like every day). But things are always different in the nighttime and you never know what’s lurking between the funnel cakes. »

⟶ midnight menagerie; knj ⇥ @jooneggs​  ➳ friends to lovers au.       ↳   ⎡Go to a Botanical Garden⎦

« Like water, cradling your fragile soul, Namjoon has held the lily of your heart all your life and you wish you could let him know just how much that means to you. Coincidentally, it just so happens you can: in a week's time when you're stuck in the holiday of your life at Namjoon's father's Botanical gardens. Will you finally get to repay him in a bed of roses or will he be the one to make the bouquet for you? »

⟶ ferris drink; jhs ⇥ @salvejoon​  ➳ pwp au. established relationship au.       ↳   ⎡Ride a Ferris Wheel⎦

« Your boyfriend has a bucket list of places he wants to do the nasty and next up is a Ferris Wheel. »

⟶ hose wars; ksj & myg ⇥ @babybinnyboy​  ➳ neighbour au.       ↳   ⎡Have a Water Fight⎦

« Spending a summer in a little coastal town was supposed to be relaxing. It wasn't supposed to include a broken AC unit, record break heatwave, a hose, 2 ridiculously confident, attractive neighbors with an annoyingly low fence. »

⟶ cut shot; myg ⇥ @kimtaehyunq​  ➳ vacation au. established relationship au.       ↳   ⎡Learn to Volleyball⎦

« He hates the water, he hates the heat, and he hates the Sun. Any form of physical activity is a big no-no, yet Min Yoongi will go out of his way to show that he loves you on your mini vacation. »

⟶ eternal summer; pjm ⇥ @aiimaginesbts​  ➳ childhood friends to lovers au. vacation au.       ↳   ⎡Go Sightseeing on Vacation⎦

« Breaking up with my boyfriend leaves an empty spot on the overseas vacation that I had been looking forward to for a long time. I’m torn between abandoning the trip or going it solo when someone offers to tag along. However, having Jimin, my best friend go with me may not be the best idea — since my crush on him has never gone away. »

⟶ sway with me; knj & jhs ⇥ @minjoonalist​ ➳ established relationship au.      ↳   ⎡Take a Boat Ride⎦

« You love celebrating your anniversary, it was the only special part about summer that you looked forward to every year- But when your husband Is unable to make the availability due to his job- You thought why not make the best of it? »

⟶ ecstatic shock; jhs ⇥ @iluvstrawberry​ ➳ strangers to lovers au. abo au.      ↳   ⎡Host a BBQ⎦

« The garden party your parents throw every year is coming up. Seeing your conservative parents, is something you definitely don’t want to face on your own. But with all your friends being busy, you’ve decided to accept your fate and drown your sorrows at your favourite bar. Enter: Jung Hoseok, bartender, lifesaver and the most gorgeous guy you’ve ever seen. »

⟶ kaleidoscopic; knj ⇥ @boywivlove​ ➳ established relationship au.     ↳   ⎡Go Paintballing⎦

« You and Namjoon decide to blow off some steam and go to a paint balling range, one multicoloured blitzkrieg later; bruised, sweaty and victorious you celebrate your win. »

⟶ undercurrent; jjk ⇥ @jjungkooksthighs ➳ best friends to lovers au. post college au.     ↳   ⎡Go Diving⎦

« After a year and six months of sea fare and many more nights of sunken eyes that had been dotted with the black shadings of sleeplessness that you’d helped to nurse him because of, the fruits of your best friend’s efforts had earned him the completion of his mission to map the entire eastern seaboard. In all his work, though, Jungkook has not gotten the chance to dive at many of the areas scattered around the ocean in the vastness of the seas. You decide to take him to a previously unmarked, unmapped sector of the sea after following his own nautical charts. The catch is this: you’re afraid of the water. What happens when you find yourself following after him and into the arms of the sea after years of pent up sexual frustration that you blame entirely on him? »

a/n: this is incredibly late but onefgeoingoeitng i hope you enjoy reading all of these works! If you participated in the collab but your fic isn’t on here, it’s because it hasn’t appeared in the tags! please feel free to DM with the link to the fic!!

[luanagmteixeiraart]

Surprised by that unusual call, Saori, with her face a little red, replied with fright and at the same time with joy to him awkwardly:

– Seiya, is that you? I can't believe that after a long time without receiving a call from you, especially at this time of night and, and... Sorry! I'm still trying to process this moment, I really didn't expect this at all! – replied the woman, unable to describe the astonishment and how much she missed him – I'm sorry once again if I'm apparently clumsy and almost stuttering, but what I want to tell you is that I missed you so much, really! Every day you were always in my thoughts, you never got out of my head, I couldn't think of anything else except you... I... - Saori tried to express herself to her lover, but he replied right away.

– You don't have to say anything else, dear. I also felt the same way as you for these long almost 9 years. By the way, I miss you all day too, you have no idea how much I miss you by my side with me, like in the little old dating days - Seiya said trying to express his feelings too, despite being kind of embarrassed like that like her – To be honest, it's really hard to focus on my tasks when my thoughts are always on you.

And that's when they both started to talk relaxed and calmly. That was perfect for Saori, it had been a really long time since she'd spoken or received a call from him, at most it was by written messages, but they never stopped to talk, he also sent her some gifts, so as not to make the days more important (like her birthday, valentine's day and others) are left blank. But all this wasn't the same feeling in talking to him by voice, hearing that voice she loves so much, even though it's not physically. Soon, Saori's thoughts are interrupted when Seiya says something to her:

– Well, I called you now because I have news that I think you love - replied the man, he took a deep breath and said - so, Mr. Kenichi gave us 5 months of vacation, because according to him, the company is doing really well. And then, he wanted us to have a moment of rest, as if it were kind of a reward for our work.

– Gee, he was really nice to you guys.

– Well, it really was. In fact, he even knows that I miss you all the time, he and my colleagues always caught me wandering in my thoughts about you while I work, practically almost all the time, and he even understood me, why did he he also went through it, just like the others – Seiya continued remembering his moments at work, when everyone caught him thinking about the girl.

– So… that means you…!

– That's exactly what you're thinking! - Seiya replied and added - A nice detail of this is that our boss wants us all to have some time to rest and enjoy with our families, as I want now with you in 3 days.

– Seiya... I want these 3 days to pass soon, I want to see you soon! – Soon answered a super excited Saori, as if she had gone back to being a child when she received a gift, and one of the best of her life.

That's when Saori took another look at the calendar, and by a great coincidence, counting the few days in which Seiya will return home, it fell right on the day of their dating anniversary... And it was at this moment when that Saori thought of an idea, a rather special idea, but she didn't want to tell him, she wanted it to be a surprise...

– Saori? Are you still there? – said the curious boy.

– Oh, sorry Seiya! I was taking a look... In the pot of food I'm making in the kitchen! – informed the woman lying to him, so that he wouldn't notice the plan she was planning, just to avoid suspicion.

– But… did you like the news that I'm coming home?

– Of course I do! Why wouldn't I be happy with news like that? - protested Saori.

– I know, I was just to make sure you did - said the man laughing, finding his indignant beloved amusing - Saori, I need to hang up. I have to go now, I've spent a lot of time here, I need to see a few more things from work and then go to rest. I'm sorry you're alone with so many things, dear.

– It's okay, but at least I could hear your voice one more time. I can't wait for you to come home, Seiya!

– I say the same thing to you too! Well, good night, Seiya!

– Good night to you too, Saori! Now I need to rest, I hope you get a good night's sleep. We'll see you in 3 days!

Shortly after talking, the couple hung up their phones afterwards. That call was the best thing that happened that night with Saori, Seiya will return to their house in 3 days and she was euphoric, anxious and wanted him to come back as soon as possible. However, she wanted to do something for him when she got back and that's when a bright idea crossed Saori's mind...

– What if I had a romantic evening as if it were a "homecoming party"? Totally for both of us, especially for him... It's going to be the best surprise he'll have!

...

As every romantic night has and needs, she needed to think, plan and buy things for this very special day. Saori researched how she could set up all this magnificent romantic atmosphere for her love of life. And the results... were very satisfying, which left the woman very excited and excited. And without having much to think about, Saori started to write down everything she saw on the internet that she liked the most, so the next day she could take a look at the center and buy everything that was on her list. Saori slept very happy that night and at the sight of a dark-haired boy with brown hair that she loves so much in her dreams.

...

In the dream, it was a stormy night, Saori was in the room, alone in the double bed, the girl was trying to sleep, but that monstrous rain made her scared, practically representing her biggest nightmares. When she had tears in her eyes, she saw in front of her, a dark-skinned man with reddish-brown hair smiling at her, this was Seiya.

– Please don't cry... - said the boy lovingly, while wiping the tears that came out of his beloved's eyes. – I am here, and I will always be with you, my goddess.

– Seiya... - said the girl, not believing what was there in front of her - are you really? Or am I imagining things?

The boy smiled and pulled Saori towards him, so that she could feel that he was himself and hugging her in the process. Seiya continued:

– It's really me - Seiya answers while caressing the girl's angelic face - you know I would never abandon her. I will always be by your side for all eternity, because I love you, you are my reason to be!

– I love you too, Seiya! I want to live by your side forever!

And that's when Saori couldn't resist and glued her lips to the brunette's, and then Seiya returned his beloved's kiss with the same intensity, while the couple rolled over on the bed...

...

The next day...

It was barely morning, and Seiya was already in the building, trying to finish his last tasks so he could leave work as early as possible to see Saori again. When the boy decided to take a little break to eat something, as he didn't eat very well at home, and that's what he did. Seiya went in a room where he had coffee, breads and cookies and finally, a corner for the employees to eat, and he stayed there, just having his breakfast quietly, despite being anxious from head to toe. He suddenly overheard a conversation between his co-workers.

– Men, have you ever heard of an event that is happening worldwide? It's slowly arriving in Japan!

– What is it? I couldn't see it yet, what is it?

– If I'm not mistaken it's "i'am…" – said the man trying to remember – Damn! I don't remember, but it's "i'am" and something, if I'm not mistaken something that starts with the letter "j".

– All right, I understand. But what event is this anyway?

– So from what I've read, it's to help a guy who's in trouble with the government. And they, in turn, are going after him like convicts. And basically, people are impersonating this guy to literally outsmart his stalkers. I read it over the top, but that's what I understood - replies the impressed man. Seiya ends up listening to every conversation and thought to himself.

– Wow, it's actually a really cool thing they're doing to help this guy. Something that sometimes never happens to me, there always has to be something to stop me from staying by Saori's side… - thought the boy, reflecting sadly. When those same employees realized that there was someone else besides them there and they end up coming across the brunette in the next room.

– Oops, we didn't even realize you were here in the room, Seiya. Sorry if we disturbed you!

– It's all right! It didn't bother me, I just came here to eat a little more before I went back to work.

– So, Mr. Kenishi asked us to let you know that you need to take some folders to the document room, possibly you can get out of here as soon as possible, I think.

– Great! Thank you for letting me know, I'm almost done eating and I'll be back to my service - replied Seiya thanking his colleagues, and they soon returned to their rooms to finish their activities. Seiya thought of one thing.

– Hmm… document room, huh? The quietest room in the building… I had a great idea.

...

After having had a wonderful night's sleep after hearing Seiya's voice again after so long, Saori wakes up to a new day, this one in which the woman will gradually start preparing for Seiya's surprise before the 3 days are up. She gets up from the double bed to get ready, when she least expected it, the phone started to ring, and soon, it came to her mind that it could be the brunette. Saori thought of one thing:

– I had a great idea! I saw that on a website it told you to instigate the thought of your boyfriend before the surprise… So, why not? - Said the girl to herself and laughing in a naughty way.

And without getting involved, she soon answered and it was just like she had guessed, it was Seiya himself. And that's when the boy replied:

– Good morning, my angel! I decided to take the opportunity to call you to see how you are doing before I go back to work. Did you sleep well tonight? - replied Seiya lovingly to the woman, who soon released a sentence.

– Good morning, my love! Just dreaming of the two of us in one night, you kissing my neck, biting my ear, while I kissed you back and felt my body glued to yours...

And that's when Seiya was surprised and blushed with what the girl said to him, was she trying to provoke him? Then the boy reciprocates by saying:

– While I was imagining the day when I can finally make you mine, feel your sweet and soft lips, as well as your skin, your silky hair like a flower and feel your body worthy of a goddess totally naked and ready for me…

And then it was Saori's turn to be surprised and red-faced with what her lover just said to her at this very moment. Then she asks him:

– Aren't you in your service to talk about these things, you little bastard? - Asked the girl laughing with the boy's grace, Seiya laughed along with her and answered.

– I am yes. But luckily for me, I'm in a completely unguarded room, I came to keep some documents and there's practically no one here but me. So, I can talk about my dreams and fantasies to you as much as I want - Seiya calmly answers in a joking tone, making the woman laugh, he really was a box of surprises. Saori blurted out one more sentence to him.

– You are probably tired now, after everything we did in my dream tonight… But it was wonderful, it was the best night of my life, it was like going back to that time when you held me in your arms that night… If we could do this day again… – Saori said in a dreamy tone. Seiya ends up remembering this beautiful memory along with her and says:

– Saori… it's a very good thought. I want to try to make this a reality.

– As soon as possible?

– As soon as possible.

And when unexpectedly, Saori heard some voices on Seiya's call:

– Toshi, where's Seiya?! We need him to see an important business of a company! Where is he?!

– I do not know! He probably hid in the document room talking to that woman he can't stop talking about!

And there was no way around it, the brunette's face at that time turned red as a tomato while Saori almost burst out laughing, finding it funny that he hid just to talk to her.

– Seiya, did you really do that?

– Yes… And sometimes when I want to have a moment just for myself, when I… want to get some rest, I always have you in my head and… with these thoughts kind of…. - Said the embarrassed man.

– It's okay, my love. I'm very happy when you think about me, I feel loved more and more - Saori said affectionately, making the boy on the other side feel embarrassed. - Seiya, I need to leave, as much as I want to continue the conversation, and you also need to get back to work.

– This well baby. Well, until some other time!

The couple say goodbye and hang up the phones once more to do what they have to do, the woman got ready a little more before having her breakfast so she wouldn't leave hungry, as she would be busy with Seiya's surprise for a good time. A few minutes later, Saori was ready, she was excited and eager to complete her list of the romantic night.

[deobienthusiast]

forever have my heart

• pairing: lee jaehyun (the boyz) x reader ft. Jacob, Kevin, Sunwoo, and Juyeon + slight mentions of Sangyeon

• word count: 3,545 words

• genre: ex to lovers!au, angst, fluff

• rating: PG

• warnings: sad hyunjae, sad reader, crying hyunjae, basically all about hyunjae

• notes: if the warnings didn’t give it away i don’t know what will🤷🏾‍♀️

• requested: yes | no by anon

You remember that day like it was yesterday. You remember that entire year, and the year before that. It wasn’t hard to distinguish the day you met Lee Jaehyun, or Hyunjae as he liked to be called. Hyunjae was loud, bold, and out there. He loved having the attention on him, and he befriended people wherever he went. The day you met him was nothing short of a mere coincidence.

Valentine’s day, and you had been stood up. Lucky for you (or so you thought), so did Hyunjae. You both ended up at the same McDonald’s and ordered an oreo mcflurry. Low and behold, their ice cream machine was down. To say you were pissed was an understatement. All you wanted was to drown your sorrows in a large oreo flavored ice cream cup. Was that too much to ask? The boy sitting next to you seemed to sense your anger as he spoke.

“I know an ice cream place just up the way from here. If you want, I’ll take you.” The boy had offered.

Blonde hair covered his head and a grin made its way to his lips. You gave him a confused look as you spoke.

“Do they have french fries?” You asked him.

The boy nodded before holding out his hand. “I’m Hyunjae.”

That day, you shared a large oreo milkshake and some french fries. Hyunjae made you laugh until your stomach hurt and no more tears could come out of your eyes. You both learned that the other was stood up, and Hyunjae couldn’t have been happier. He used the time to cheer you up, and get to know you. That day you got Hyunjae’s number, and you two became inseparable.

Hyunjae became your everything. He exceeded your expectations on love. Making you smile and laugh was his daily mission. You were never alone, until you were.

It seemed as though things were going swimmingly with Hyunjae. You both told each other you loved each other, you had met each other’s parents and families. Everything seemed okay. You were madly in love with Hyunjae, and you were convinced he was the same with you. That was until he stopped showing up.

It started with dates that he’d start showing up late too. Hyunjae would never stand you up, until he did. You never got upset at first. Hyunjae was a busy man. His job required a lot of his attention almost every single day, and you were prepared for that. The time away from you that it took, however, wasn’t something you were prepared for. You pushed through it, though. You did it for love. You did it for Hyunjae, and you thought he would do it for you.

The day you two broke up was burned into the back of your mind. It was a day you would never forget.

It was your one year anniversary. Hyunjae had taken the day off, and he had told you that he prepared a day of excellency and he couldn’t wait to spend it with you. It was a day you were so looking forward to. Except when you woke up, everything went downhill. You tried to look past the silly mistakes that were made, and eventually you did. The day, however, just got worse. Arrangements had fallen through, Hyunjae had gotten called into work. Nothing was going the way Hyunjae had planned it. He did continue to mention a dinner that you two would have when he got off work. Things were starting to look up. You had gotten all dressed up in a new outfit with which Hyunjae had insisted you wear to dinner. Getting all dressed up wasn’t exactly anything you really cared for, but you did it for him. All for him to do the one thing he promised you he wouldn’t do, stand you up. For someone else, at that.

You had sat at the highly expensive restaurant for almost two hours, waiting, hoping that he would show up. Only for you to sit and eat a meal by yourself. You didn’t do much eating that night. The sight of other couples loving and doting on each other just made you sick to your stomach. Unfortunately for you, it only got worse. You had taken a ride to the restaurant that Hyunjae had set up for you, leaving you with no way to get home. Almost every car service was booked up for the night. This left you to call a mutual friend of yours and Hyunjae’s. A sweet boy named Jacob. Jacob was one of Hyunjae’s closest friends, and was the first person to meet you when you and Hyunjae got together.

“Thank you for this Cobie.” You had told the boy softly.

Jacob gave you a small, sympathetic smile. “No problem.”

You let out a sigh as Jacob spoke again. “So where is the man of the hour?”

You let out a laugh. “You tell me. Hyunjae had gotten called into work. I guess time just got the best of him.”

Giving Jacob a look, you noticed the confused expression he was wearing. “Cob, what is it?”

“Hyunjae never came into work today. He specifically asked for the day off, and Sangyeon isn’t the type of boss to call someone in on a day they requested off.” Jacob explained.

The car came to a slight stop before you recognized the front yard you were pulling into.

“What do you mean he never came in? Hyunjae told me he got called into work.” You exclaimed.

The quiet boy shook his head. “I had to work today. I had just gotten off when I got your text message. He wasn’t in the office at all. Come to think of it, neither was Juyeon. I remember them talking a few days prior about a guy named Sunwoo. Apparently he was supposed to be in town. Juyeon was trying to convince Hyunjae to come hang out with him and the guy.”

You hummed in response. You had heard about Sunwoo. An absolute party animal who was spoiled to no end. He never had to worry about a job because he had his parents inheritance to fall back on. Hyunjae always claimed Sunwoo brought out the worst in him. Whenever Sunwoo was in town, Hyunjae was off his rocker in an attempt to keep up with the younger counterpart.

“He stood me up, on our anniversary, to spend time with a boy that can’t even keep himself in a committed relationship for longer than a week. Everytime Sunwoo gets into a relationship, he’s convinced that this one is the one. Sunwoo still acts like a child. I’ll never understand why Hyunjae hangs out with him.” You yelled the last part as you hopped out of Jacob’s car, trudging towards your front door.

Jacob had followed you out before a car came barrelling into the driveway. As if on cue, Sunwoo, Juyeon, and Hyunjae got out. All three of them were laughing like there was no tomorrow. The sight of them made you want to scream. Hyunjae’s eyes were focused on his younger friend before they met your cold, desolate stare. He stopped in the yard, the two boys with him not realizing as they bumped into him.

“Yo, what did you stop for? I know we haven’t drank that much.” Sunwoo said with a laugh before he, too, met your gaze.

“You never told me Sunwoo was in town.” You called out across the yard.

It was at this moment that you were glad you and Hyunjae didn’t have any neighbors. The home you two shared lay at the end of a dirt road that only harboured one other house that was all the way at the entry of the road.

Hyunjae’s eyes left yours momentarily as he took cautious steps towards you, eyeing the boy next to you. “What’s Jacob doing here?”

Jacob looked between the two of you. “I provided transportation. That’s all.”

“Yeah. You know our anniversary dinner at the crazy expensive restaurant you booked? The one where you sent a car to drive me there? The dinner that you never showed up to because of him.” You pointed your finger at Sunwoo as Hyunjae gulped. “Jacob told me you never went into work today. The moment he mentioned Sunwoo, I started to wonder. Just how many days did you really put off for?”

Hyunjae shuddered at your tone. “I took my vacation time off. I had accumulated about a month of vacation time.”

You nodded at his words. Not bothering to say anything else, you had headed into your home, slamming the door behind you. You locked it as you heard Hyunjae run up the stairs. His fists slamming hard on the door. No listening to his pleas, you packed two suitcases before coming back downstairs. Laying them on the ground, you walked towards the door, opening it as Hyunjae fell inside. He lay eye level with the suitcases as he scrambled to his feet.

“What is this? What are those?” Hyunjae asked quietly.

He closed the door behind him as you spoke. “I can’t do this anymore.”

You kept your head down. “It has nothing to do with Sunwoo or work. It’s just you. I think we’ve grown apart.”

Hyunjae’s eyes widened as he was starting to pick up what you were saying. “No. No, I don’t think that. We haven’t grown apart. Look at me. You’re my everything. You mean the world to me.”

His voice cracked slightly as he continued. “Please don’t leave me.”

Tears welled up in your eyes at his words. “I’m sorry, Hyunjae.”

You remember picking up the suitcases, and having Jacob take you to a hotel across town. You made sure he didn’t tell Hyunjae where you were staying. That was the last day you and Hyunjae had seen each other. You didn’t feel like going back for any of your things. Everything you had, you shared with Hyunjae. That was almost two years ago.

You still remember that day, but you had managed to pick your life back up and move on. You had your own friends along with the ones you shared with Hyunjae. The only one you really kept in touch with was Jacob. He had helped you pick yourself back up. You eventually got a new place with a roommate. A funny, artistic boy named Kevin. Kevin, Jacob, and you became the three musketeers. Jacob even got engaged to the sweetest girl you had ever met. She was like a female version of Jacob, and he seemed so smitten over her.

“Hey! What are you wearing to Jacob’s engagement party?” Kevin asked you from outside your bedroom.

Opening the bedroom door, you were met with Kevin holding up different shirts. You laughed.

“Those are both absolutely horrible, Kevin.” You told him.

Kevin dropped both the shirts to his side as he whined. “Well help me then. I’m supposed to be one of his groomsmen and I can’t even dress myself for a proper engagement party.”

Letting out a chuckle, you followed Kevin into his room as you walked straight to his wardrobe. He fell back on his bed as you searched through his clothing. You pulled through each pair of pants and nice button up shirts he had before settling on a nice suit. Pulling it out, you laid it on top of Kevin’s body nicely as he lifted his head.

“See? This is why we’re friends. This is why I like you. Who else would help me get dressed for an engagement party?” Kevin said with a smile.

Shaking your head, you headed towards the door as you yelled. “Nobody! Now get dressed.”

You were excited for tonight. Jacob was over the moon in love with this girl, and he couldn’t wait for the chance to have everyone that loves him in the same room supporting him. Plus, Kevin and Jacob thought it would be a good opportunity for you to quote on quote “get back in the dating scene”. You never agreed, but you weren’t going to argue with the two of them because there was never any winning.

You got changed into your outfit of choice, fixing up your hair, and everything else that needed a touch up. When you were finished, you headed to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. You scrolled through your social media before hearing Kevin yell from the top of the staircase.

“You should’ve just become a fashion designer.” Kevin said as he made his way down the stairs.

His hands were fiddling with the bow tie around his neck as he finished tying it. You looked over his outfit before focusing back on his hands.

“Kevin, enough with the bowtie.” You told him as you headed his way, pulling his hands away from the garment.

You untied and retied the bowtie for him, straightening it out before dropping your hands. “Now, stop messing with it. Don’t touch it. Or I’ll let you walk around the party with a crooked bowtie until someone points it out, and you know someone will point it out.”

Kevin smiled at your words before you both heard a beep from outside the door. “That’s our ride. Time to go congratulate the bride and groom-to-be.”

Smiling, you kept a grip on the water bottle you had opened as you headed for the door. Kevin quickly ran back up the stairs and came back down with a bouquet of flowers as you laughed.

“Awe, Kev. How sweet!” You said before he pulled his hand back.

“Haha, very funny! They aren’t for you. They are for Jacob and Mina.” Kevin said with a smirk, making you roll your eyes.

The car ride to the venue Jacob had booked wasn’t very long as you and Kevin made small talk. He mentioned this funny girl he had met at work, and it made you smile like no other.

“I’m so glad that you like this girl. Did you get her number?” You asked as the car came to a stop.

Kevin shook his head. “I was too nervous.”

You laughed as Kevin helped you out of the car. He clutched the bouquet of flowers in his hand as he headed towards the entrance. Your arm was looped with Kevin’s as you both scoured the building, taking in all the people that were there. You were quick to point out Jacob’s family. His parents and brother were seated at the head table where the wedding party was to sit. You allowed Kevin to take you towards the table as Jacob noticed you two.

He came up to the both of you with a huge smile. “There you two are! I was wondering when the most important pair of my wedding party would show up.”

You and Kevin both smiled as Jacob pulled you both into a hug. He pulled back from Kevin as he walked off to hand Mina the flowers he brought.

“I’m about to go steal your fiancé.” Kevin said jokingly.

Jacob rolled his eyes at his friend as he turned back to you. You gave Jacob a smile as he pulled you in for another hug.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” Jacob said softly.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world Cobie. This is your second big day because the wedding is obviously going to be the true big day.” You replied.

Just as you said that, you saw him. Your smile faltered slightly as Jacob let his eyes follow your gaze. There, standing in the middle of the ballroom, was none other than Lee Jaehyun. He let out a sigh before looking at you.

“I know you still have your reservations about him, but I couldn’t not invite him. He’s my friend.” Jacob reasoned.

You shook your head. “I’m not mad at you. I can’t tell you who you can and can’t invite to your engagement party.”

Jacob smiled before stopping. “You should talk to him.”

Shaking your head, Jacob laughed. “Probably not.”

He went to speak again before someone yelled out to him. He gave you a smile before walking off. You took the opportunity to get yourself a glass of champagne as you looked over the decorations that were hung up. Pictures of every moment that had been captured in Jacob and Mina’s relationship hung up all around the room. Each picture with a date and sweet caption written on each photo. The captions written by both Jacob and Mina. You smiled as you heard someone speak from behind you.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it? Their relationship? I think it’s incredible.” Hyunjae’s voice said quietly.

You kept your back to him as he chuckled softly, taking the initiative to step forward so that he was beside you and visible in your peripheral vision.

Hyunjae spoke again. “You look amazing tonight. I mean, you look amazing all the time, but especially tonight. Of course, you’ve always stood out to me.”

You gave him a side eye look that made Hyunjae crack a smile. “What? Are you trying to woo me now?”

The boy shrugged. “I don’t know? Is it working?”

You shook your head, turning your attention back to the pictures hung up on the wall. Reading the sweet captions to yourself, you were pulled out of the moment you had created for yourself by the same boy.

“How have you been?” Hyunjae asked.

Shrugging, you caught the boy’s attention. “I’ve been okay. Found a job that I really like. I met Kevin, and he keeps me pretty busy.”

You turned to point at the boy who you had mentioned as he saw you and gave a friendly wave and a smile. Hyunjae watched the way your face lit up as he looked back at the same boy.

“That’s Kevin? He seems nice.” Hyunjae said.

You chuckled. “He’s incredible, in more ways than one. Should’ve given that girl his number.”

“Wait, he’s not your boyfriend?” Hyunjae asked.

The laugh you let out made Hyunjae laugh himself as you covered your mouth.

“Kevin? My boyfriend? Absolutely not. He’s great, but not my type. I’d much rather keep him as my roommate.” You told him.

Hyunjae felt his heart pick up as he spoke again. “Hey, can we talk outside? Just the two of us.”

You finally turned to look at him fully making Hyunjae lose his breath. You looked absolutely stunning. You just happened to get even more amazing as time went on. You kept your gaze on him and went to answer before being interrupted. The devil, himself, threw an arm around Hyunjae’s shoulders, throwing off the boy.

“Hyunjae! Man it’s been so long. I’ve missed you, bro.” Sunwoo said.

Not wanting to be in his presence any longer, you headed outside to get some fresh air. Sitting outside on your own, you let yourself get lost in the night sky before being interrupted, again.

“There you are. I’m sorry about that.” Hyunjae apologized.

Shrugging, you looked at him. “Still hang out with Sunwoo?”

Hyunjae shook his head, catching you off guard. “No, actually I haven’t hung out with him since you left.”

Your eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Oh. I didn’t know that. You know, you didn’t need to cut off a close friendship of yours because of me.”

“Yes I did,” Hyunjae started as he sat down next to you. “You are the love of my life whether you’re with me or you’re not. I know my crazy friendship with Sunwoo was a part of the reason you left. I was hoping that distancing myself from him would bring you back to me. Jacob rarely gave me updates, and you never really gave anything away on your social media. I just tried to do everything I could to get you back.”

His statement made you scoot closer. “Sunwoo’s your best friend.”

“And you’re my everything. No matter what, you forever have my heart.” Hyunjae told you softly, looking you in the eyes this time.

Your breath got caught in your throat. “I love you, too.”

“Y-you do? Even after everything?” Hyunjae asked softly.

You nodded. “I never stopped. I think that's why I never bothered to get back out on the dating scene. Despite how hard Jacob and Kevin tried, I didn’t want to be with someone else. I guess I was just always holding on to this hope that we’d be able to try again. Truth be told, Jacob invited a lot of his single friends because he wanted me to mingle with them.”

Hyunjae laughed. “Glad I got to you first then.”

You laughed alongside Hyunjae as he leaned closer to you, his hand now placed lightly above yours, both your pinkies interlocked.

“I missed you.” Hyunjae said softly.

You smiled to yourself as you turned to look at the boy. He leaned his forehead against yours as you took the first step, moving your head just enough to peck his lips.

“Does this mean you’re going to come home with me?” Hyunjae asked.

You pulled away as a mischievous smile made its way to your face. “You’ll have to go, and fight Kevin for me first.”

Hyunjae grinned. “Name the time and the place, my love.”

[bebepac]

Substitute Queen (Happy Birthday Queen Walton!)

This is a special edition of Fast Forward for my friend @queenwalton as she enjoys this series I've created a lot and it is her birthday! (Well a day early!)

I'm pretty sure you have been following along with me since I started writing on the fandom a little over a year ago. Thank you for your friendship and support. I hear from you after every chapter I post and I love it. Also thank you for being my trustworthy reader of infinite snippets. I hope you have an absolutely wonderful birthday my friend. 🥰🥰🥰🥰❤❤❤

A/N:  Thanks @dcbbw​ for bouncing some ideas around with me, and giving me a few to make this birthday fic even better.  Thank you girl.  

Summary:  Riley and Liam go on their first vacation alone since the events of Ellie’s kidnapping.  Maxwell and Taylor take care of all the children.  Maxwell throws a “Baby” Beaumont Bash.

Original Post Date: 03/24/21 at 11:55AM EST

The Book:  TRH and Beyond

Pairing: Liam x Riley  / Maxwell x Taylor 

Warnings:  None other than hilarious fluff

Word Count: 2425

Song inspiration for this chapter: Baby Shark (Trap Music Remix) 

I don’t own rights to this hilarious music.  

Liam saw Riley standing  in the study with her back turned to him.  The King of Cordonia shifted seamlessly into stealth mode as he crept silently into the study, surprising his Queen by pouncing on her like a lion, grabbing her and slipping his arms around her waist, and sensually planting a soft kiss to the sensitive skin on her neck.  He gently rubbed himself against her.  

“Take a break for a little while my love.”

He felt her body tense up.

“EEEWWWWW GROSS!!! NOT YOUR WIFE!!!  OOOOH GOD!!!!!!! NOT YOUR WIFE!!! PUT THAT THING AWAY!!!!!!  YOU HAVE FOUR KIDS!?!?!?!?!?  AREN’T YOU GUYS TIRED OF DOING THAT?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?”

Liam quickly recoiled from her.   Liam looked genuinely horrified when she turned to face him.

“I’m so sorry Taylor.  From behind, I swear I couldn’t…I mean I didn’t…..”  

“Bleh!!!! Don’t finish that sentence!!!!!!

Riley walked in the room seeing Taylor and Liam visibly uncomfortable.

“What did I miss?”  

“I need a bath!!!  Your husband thought I was you.  Apparently we look the same from behind.”  

Riley glanced at Taylor.  “I mean…. He’s really not completely wrong Tay.  Now that you had the twins, we really do.”  

Taylor scowled.  

“And that right there is why no one will mistake us for each other from the front.  Your scowl face.”

“Well this is a sufficiently awkward conversation, so I’m going to go, especially after I’ve completely embarrassed myself. Riley when you’re finished, please come by my study.”  Liam still had a flush on his cheeks and ears.

“For real, put that thing away Liam, it’s barely lunch time.”  Taylor grumbled.

“I will be there.”  She winked at him.  

Liam’s smile returned.  

“Can one of you keep it in your pants please?  You two are like horny teenagers.”  

“I’m okay with that.”  They both said in unison smiling at each other.  Liam left the room.

“Are you going away for your wedding anniversary?”

“We probably should, but we have our date nights, and we can always sneak some time alone now that the kids are a little older, now that everyone is potty trained and not on the boob anymore.  God I missed my boobs being mine, and now that they are again, of course they look like a dumpster fire after breastfeeding four kids.”  

“Well that’s one hell of a bra then.”

“Who are you telling? They would be dragging the floor otherwise.”

Taylor laughed.  

“Please don’t do that visual to our body.”

“It is our body right?”  

Riley and Taylor giggled.  

“You two should go away alone.  You two never get adult time… And I don’t mean just for that.  You two apparently get more than enough adult time for that.” 

“Tay, it’s just that we haven’t really been away from the kids.  Anywhere we go, we travel as a family.  I feel safer that way, so does Liam.”  

“Because of me right?”  

“Tay….”

“It is.  The last time you two tried to go on vacation was when I took Ellie, and you haven’t been apart from them a day since.  It’s my fault you two are afraid to be away from your children."

“Taylor, Liam and I have forgiven you for that, a long time ago.  We know that you’re not the same person you once were.”

“Prove it, you two take a trip, and it’s a trip you two desperately deserve. I promise the palace will be still standing when you get back.”

Taylor smiled at Riley.

“Please let me do this for the two of you. It’s been one thing after another, and you guys deserve a vacation. Let me and Max take care of the kids.”

“Tay… you do realize that would be your two barely crawling plus my four.  You two would be taking care of six children.”  

“And your kids are pretty self sufficient.  They can feed themselves.”  

“You’ll need some reinforcements, Tay. For real.  I’ll call Drake and Hana to help.”  

“I really think Max and I can handle it.”

“Tay…”  

“Riley, we got this.”

*^*^*^*^* Taylor and Maxwell *^*^*^*^*

“You volunteered us for WHAT?!?!?!?!?”

“Oh come on Max, they’re just kids.”

“Yeah, and we’ve been lucky to keep the two of ours alive so far.  We’re going to be outnumbered Softie. There’s going to be six of them and two of us. You have put them at an unfair advantage.”  

Taylor laughed.

“This is not a war Maxwell.”

“Oh, it’s definitely a war.”

A week later,  Riley and Liam were preparing to leave for their first vacation alone, since they had children.  

Riley kissed and hugged each child.

“Now you kids behave for Auntie Taylor and Uncle Maxwell.  I’m counting on you Miss Crown Princess for a report when I return. You know you’re first in command Ellie.”

Ellie stood up straight and squared her shoulders.  “I promise Daddy, we’ll all be good.”

Ellie gave a little salute.

Liam gave one back.

“As you were, my princess.”

Riley, still kneeling, smoothed down Liberty’s little curls.  Her little lip was already trembling.  

“Mommy loves you baby.”  She kissed her little cheeks.  

“Are you ready to leave My Love?”  

Riley stood up nodding.   Liam reached out her hand for hers.  

They started to walk towards the SUV.  

“Mama.”  

Liam felt Riley stop.  

“It’s okay My Love we can do this.”  

Riley’s eyes were quickly filling with tears.

Riley resumed her stride.

“Dada?”

The little inflection of a question in Liberty’s voice made Liam stop dead in his tracks. His grip tightening on Riley’s hand.  Liam took a deep shaky breath.

"Don't look back Liam, you know we won't leave if we do."

Bastien and Nico could see how the King and Queen were struggling to leave their children.

“Your Majesties, come this way.”  Bastien called out to them gently.

Both the King and Queen were in tears hearing their youngest burst into tears at the sight of them leaving, as they climbed into  the black SUV.

“It’s okay.  They’ll be fine Riley. They have reinforcements.”

“Taylor wouldn’t let me call Drake or Hana.”  

Liam hit a button on his phone. He put the phone on speaker.

“What’s your location?”  

“Already inside the palace.”  

“Olivia?”  

“And you fully understand the plan?”

“Let your tiny humans drive Taylor and Maxwell insane?”

“NO!!!!”

“I know the plan Liam! Not be seen and keep a watch on them, and only appear if they need help with the children. “

“Yes. Thank you Liv.”  

“I do this because we’re friends Riley.”  

“Liberty has a set of lungs on her, she hasn’t stopped crying since you two left.  I’m sure she’ll be fine.”  

“Thank you Liv.”  

“They’ll be fine, i’ll be watching. Enjoy your vacation already.”  

“Where are we headed? Since you wouldn’t disclose a location to me, I literally packed for everything including plagues and fire rain.”  

“For some fun in the sun on our own private beach.”

“Good thing I packed a bathing suit.”  

“You won’t be needing it.”  

Riley smacked Liam’s arm as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

*^*^*^*^*^* Meanwhile back at the Palace *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

“C’mon Libby it’s okay.   Mommy and Daddy will be back.”  

Taylor picked her up, rocking her in her arms.  

“Shhhhhh… it’s okay Libby.   Auntie Taylor is here, so is Uncle Max.”

Libby’s cries subsided a little but not significantly.

“Can I try?”  Ellie asked.

Ellie crossed her eyes and made a funny face at Libby causing her to break out into a fit of giggles.  

“We’re evening out the odds.  Three on three, I like those odds better Taylor.  We might actually survive this. They will listen to one of their own.  Ellie is like our super agent spy.”

By the end of day one both Taylor and Maxwell were exhausted, tending to and chasing around six children.  At least their two were relatively easy to catch, as they were barely mobile.

“Why did I think the children being self-sufficient was going to be a good thing?  I’ve never been this tired in my life.”  

“Is this what we have to look forward to when they’re older?”  

"Seems like it."

^*^*^*^* Liam and Riley *^*^*^*

“My Love?”  

“Yes Dear?”  

“You don’t have to cut up my food for me.”  

Riley had absentmindedly cut up Liam’s chicken into very small child bite size pieces. She had also ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead.

“Oh!  I didn’t even realize.”

Liam smiled at her, running his fingers through his hair.  “We’ve been parents for so long, it’s been a long time since you and I have been truly alone.”  

“You know what I want to do after dinner?” Riley inquired.

Liam raised his eyebrow with an intrigued smirk.  

“I think I might have an idea of exactly what you want to do.”  

Liam and Riley went to sleep after dinner.  Both stretched out in the bed.  Both had covers, and no kids arms, legs, feet, or hair  in their face.

Every night was like that Liam and Riley got the most sleep they had, had in years…. Well after other adult activities. Liam had even turned off his alarm living in the moment with Riley.

*^*^* Baby Beaumont Bash *^*^*^*

Taylor was feeding the girls when she heard loud thumping music. Taylor could hear jingling. Taylor glanced up, seeing the chandelier above her head was thumping to the beat of the music. Thank goodness the twins were used to Maxwell's antics, and Lily and Violet were sleeping right through it. She put Violet back in the crib and walked down the hall. The closer she got to the east wing ballroom the music got louder.

Taylor pulled the doors open to the ballroom, smoke bubbled down the hall.

There were multi colored blinking lights, a disco ball spinning from the ceiling and a snack table full of candy, sweets and soda.

Maxwell had a DJ station set up  playing a song on an endless loop, bobbing his head to the music with his headphones on.

And Riley's kids hopped up on kiddie cocaine (aka sugar) dancing and flailing around in what Taylor could only think to describe as a kiddie rave.

"Is that….. a trap remix of baby shark?"

"Heck yeah it is."

And the kids were loving it.

Maxwell let the music keep playing and he had a bottle of champagne in one hand calling Ellie and Adam over to him. He had a sword in his right.

"Adam you hold the bottle."

"You are not giving them champagne Maxwell! They're children!"

"I'm shocked at you Softie. What kind of Uncle do you think I am? It's just sparkling apple cider. Okay Ellie, you get the sword because you're the oldest. And what you want to do is slice just like I'm showing you. Oh, and don't kill your brother, that would be bad."

"I don't think Daddy would let us do this Uncle Maxwell." Ellie said wearily.

"Heck no he wouldn't.  Well not with Maxwell teaching you. If anyone is going to teach the crown princess to slice anything while someone else is holding it, it's going to be me."

Olivia appeared walking out of the shadows of an alcove.

"Have you been here the whole week?"

"Of course! You know Liam and Riley. And these kids are never going to fall asleep, if we don't have them dance the sugar out."

"I've got just the thing.”

 Max cranked up the music.

*^*^*^*^* Liam and Riley *^*^*^*^*

"Liam I miss them."

"We'll be home to see them by noon tomorrow."

"Liam I know you miss them too, log into Crown Cam, so we can see them."

Riley sat next to Liam as he logged into Crown Cam.

As they went to each room they noticed none of the children were in their beds.

"It's past their bedtime."

"Did you really think Max and Taylor would get all kids to bed on time?"

"No but…."

They clicked on each room, until they got to the ballroom on the east wing.

Both gasped at the scene. Liam clicked the button enabling the cameras to pick up sound in the room.

Both looked at each other, seeing their kids wildly dancing and flailing about. Libby was excitedly jumping up and down with a glow stick while Olivia sang on stage.

"Is Olivia really singing and rapping to Let It Go?!?"

Olivia's Rap

Liam nodded, watching the scene for a few more moments before slowly closing his laptop.

"I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for all of this."

*^*^*^*^*^* kiddie rave *^*^*^*^*

Taylor danced with the kids while Max continued at his DJ station.

"Olivia can flow, can you believe it Max?!?"

"OLIVIA!!!!! LANGUAGE!!!!!!! THEY'RE CHILDREN!!!!" Maxwell screamed.

"Are you serious with me right now?!? Language?"

Olivia rolled her eyes in complete annoyance.

"Of all the things you've done, LANGUAGE is your hard stop? You gave the crown princess a SWORD to slice a bottle out of her younger brother's hands, and instructed her not to kill him. That's entirely okay, but CURSING is where you draw the line in the sand? Seriously Maxwell?"

Both Taylor and Olivia glared at Maxwell for a few moments in confusion.

"Liv keep going!!! We have to tire them out!!!"

Olivia resumed her rap battle….with herself.

Within an hour it looked like a crime scene in the ballroom. Children were passed out everywhere.  

Taylor picked up a sleeping Ellie, Olivia, grabbed Adam, and Maxwell carried Jaiden and Liberty upstairs to their beds.  

"They need baths, their faces and hands are dirty with crumbs and sweets."

"We'll give them baths in the morning, before Liam and Riley get back." Maxwell was confident they could get it done.

They didn't. They all slept in instead.

When Liam and Riley arrived back at the palace, they didn't know what to expect.

They saw their kids, all lined up wearing yesterday's clothes, dirty faces, and wild chaotic hair, looking like they had their own kiddie walks of shame.  But each child had a huge smile on their face.

Liam walked up to Ellie.

"Your report my Crown Princess?"

"Daddy! I sliced a bottle top off a bottle while Adam held it."

"And I didn't die!" Adam screamed confidently.

"We had fun!" Jaiden exclaimed.

"Daddy did you know Auntie Liv is a gangsta rapper?" Ellie's voice sounded like she was in complete awe.

"Yes My Princess, we saw."

Olivia turned pale, then she knowingly nodded. "I should have known you two would access Crown Cam."

Riley turned to Maxwell.

"So you threw a Beaumont Bash…. for our children?"  Riley asked.

"Of course, gotta train them up right!! Little Blossom!"

"Sure, they're a little dirty, but at least the palace is still standing, what else would you expect from the Substitute Queen?" Taylor commented with a smirk.

Happy birthday! I hope you enjoyed this!

Tagging the comments

[redinkofshame]

Exotic Vacation

I based #2 on the AU list on my own honeymoon. I’m sorry the prompt never gets to the actual vacation part of the vacation… But if I added all the semi-public beach smex and threesomes this prompt would have been WAY too long.

So have some committed-relationship spice, with mirror smex.

2214 words, explicit

for @augustwritingchallenge

Read on AO3

Black Bikini Bottoms

Des and Solas hadn’t taken a honeymoon as newlyweds, as they had been new parents as well. They tied the knot at City Hall and promised each other they would take a trip for their first anniversary instead. But, between financial strain and Des’ separation anxiety, they’d called it off.

Now it was nearly their second anniversary and their daughter, Isla, was two years old, and Des was ready for a break. Cruise tickets for five days and four nights through Rivaini islands had been booked, plane tickets for her mom to stay here with Isla had been booked, and an appointment with a waxing salon so Des could get bikini-ready had been booked.

To be honest it wasn’t about the new bikini she’d packed so much as Solas seeing her in — and out — of it. Between work, parenthood, medical scares, and life in general, her and Solas’ s.ex life was all but non-existent, and she was hoping to change that, if only for the week.

The morning before was hectic — saying hello to her mother, goodbye to her daughter, and loading on the plane. They arrived late in Rivain and headed straight to their moderately-priced hotel room, where they both crashed. They did not have sex. (Thank goodness; she was exhausted.)

They were up before dawn on the day of their anniversary to begin the on-boarding process. Tickets, passports, suitcases, and a mandatory cruise ship safety lecture from the crew. It was after noon before they were free.

They managed to find their tiny windowless room well enough; it was on the lowest level and practically at the rear of the ship. After they’d checked that none of their luggage had gone missing in transit and settled a bit she sat on the bed. As it was practically the only place to sit her husband did the same. They chatted a bit, appraising the experience so far, and she scooted close, suggestively running her hand up and down his thigh as he commented on the excellent service and cheap booze.

Then a loud rumble started up, and they had to raise their voices to be heard.

He grimaced. “That must be the engine. I had not realized it would be so loud…”

Neither had she. Unlike Solas, she was a light sleeper and she was already starting to stress about the noise keeping her awake the entire trip.

But she was determined to break their dry spell. “It’s for the best,” she purred, running her hand along his chest. “Now we don’t have to worry about being too noisy.”

She pulled him into a kiss, trying to put heat into it. She wasn’t actually in the mood, yet, but she was sure she’d get there.

They kissed for several moments, nibbling on lips and necks. Neither mad a move to further, though, so they slowed to caresses. The longer it went the more painfully obvious it was that this wasn’t working for either of them. She moved her hand down and cupped hi, just to be sure, but she didn’t find anything significant.

She pulled back with a sigh and leaned her forehead against his.

He sighed as well. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired, we can still—”

“No, no, it’s okay. It’s not just you,” she admitted. She forced a smile and they stayed there a moment, heads together, eyes closed. Their hands found each other. She was trying not to get worked up over it, to blame herself, her body, to spit out something like ‘I guess we just don’t have sex anymore!’.

It was a shame. They used to have great sex. Like, really fucking good. Shouldn’t she be craving that? Would he, if she still looked like she did back then?

She reminded herself there was no reason to force themselves into some mediocre orgasms just because society said that their ‘honeymoon’ should be some kind of uber-romantic fuck-a-thon.

When she was sure she could open her eyes without getting teary she did so — only to find that while she was trying not to lose it the asshole was nodding off right where he sat.

“There’s a couple hours until our assigned dinner time,” she said, and his eyes popped open with a start. “Do you want to take a nap until then?”

“Yes. Very much so. But I would not

want you to leave you all alone on our anniversary…”

She waved it off. “I’ll nap for a bit, too, then I’ll just read. I brought a book.”

He didn’t need any more convincing and climbed under the covers. She got up and turned off the light.

She blinked.

“Holy shit.”

“Yes,” he agreed, sounding just as surprised as she was. It was dark. Like, completely lightless, even with elven vision. The blackout curtains in their bedroom at home had nothing on a windowless room under the ocean, apparently. “There’s no light from the hall; I suspect the rooms are water-tight.”

She hummed her agreement as she felt her way back to the bed. She didn’t bother setting an alarm; she never napped for more than an hour or so. With as loud as the engine was, she would be lucky to nap at all.

~~~~~

So, apparently, a cruise ship engine made for a wonderful white noise machine, especially when combined with the comforting darkness of the room. Des knew she’d over slept immediately. She didn’t bother trying to find her phone to check the time; they were out of service range and cross time zones. Instead she found the remote for the ceiling-mounted TV, which has a “channel” just to tell you the time and introduce you to the captain, as well as a few others explaining the islands they’d make port at in the coming days.

So much for a sixty minute nap; it had been six hours.

She hadn’t muted the TV fast enough and Solas stirred. “What time is it?” he mumbled. “Did we miss dinner?”

His tone told her that he already knew the answer.

“You could say that.”

“There’s room service, right?”

“I think they’re closed…”

“Well let’s try, at least.”

They did. The kitchen was closed, but uncooked meals were still available. Solas ordered a sandwich and she got the salad, and instead of eating a romantic anniversary dinner by the sea they ate in relative silenced in a room the size of a closet. At least wine didn’t require cooking.

C’est la vie. They went over their schedule for the next day, and which activities (‘excursions’ as the ship called them) they planned to hit. Once their plan was in place and the drinks were finished they went right back to bed.

With their good mood, full bellies, wine, and rest, Des thought they would ‘celebrate’ some more… But instead they wished each other a happy anniversary and went right back to bed. They did not have sex.

This time Des’ disappointment was genuine, and she allowed herself her tears. She might as well mourn the apparent loss of this part of their lives as Solas snored away behind her. Maybe they really were one of those couples after all. They had love, and family, and a life together, and sex wasn’t much of a part of that. And that was okay. But it also kinda sucked.

~~~~~~

The alarm woke them in the morning. Unlike the dinners that were scheduled in the dining room at the same time every night, breakfast would be buffet style for two hours on the upper deck, so there was no hurry. In theory. Des hurried anyway, excited to finally enjoy the view of glittering ocean for as far as her eyes could see as she sipped mimosas.

She was pulling out her outfit for the day (bikini included) when Solas invited her to shower with him. It was something they did pretty much whenever schedules allowed, so she didn’t expect any hanky-panky (and tried to convince herself she wasn’t disappointed when she was proven right).

He scrubbed her back and she watched him shave his head, checking him for missed spots. They got out and toweled dry.

She reached for her bikini bottoms but his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, grip noticeably firm. “Who said you’re allowed to get dressed?” he asked.

His wicked little grin was enough to send a tingle through her. “I can’t wait to see the incredible view,” she answered coquettishly. He didn’t bother with a response, just pulled her in and kissed her hungrily, almost immediately finding her tongue with his. His hands moved from her wrist to waist to grab great handfuls of her ass.

She tried to give as good as she got but she still had to wrap her arms around his neck just to keep her balance with the way her pressed into her, forcing her to back up until her butt hit the tiny vanity. She puled back to catch her breath, scraping her nails along his freshly-shaved scalp. He used the opportunity to go for her neck, sucking and biting as he pleased. She knew he was leaving marks on her but happily let him.

Des gasped lightly as his fingers traced to the apex of her thighs, teasing her. Fuck, it had been way too long… She canted her hips against his hand to prove how ready she was already, just in case it wasn’t super obvious.

It must have been because he hooked his elbow under her knee and lifted, speaking her open. She giggled in surprise but was cut off by her own hitching breath as he used his other hand to finger her. She buried her nose in the crook of his neck, clean and warm, until he murmured appreciatively in her ear, “Now there’s an incredible view…”

She turned to look over her shoulder only to see her own bare ass reflected in three different angles by the vanity mirrors.

Des smirked. She propped up her leg higher and leaned forward into Solas, arched her back to give him a pornographic view of his fingers disappearing into her cunt. He groaned and grabbed her ass with his now-free hand, lifting her higher still.

He worked her with those long, familiar fingers until she couldn’t take it anymore. He ignored her increasingly insistent noises of frustration — she knew he knew what she wanted, but the asshole always wanted to hear her beg for it. Finally she dropped all pretense and just said, “Dick. Now.”

He ignored her still, so she sunk her teeth into his neck, biting hard.

His surprise yelp was followed by a chuckle just before he grabbed her by the hips and spun her around. She met his grin with a smile of her own and bent over to brace her hands on the vanity table. She watched in satisfaction as his gaze dropped to her tits. Then she wiggled her butt to get him back on task.

He rook the time to run his hands up along her curves, all the way up to her shoulders and back, giving her ass a loud smack before finally aligning his cock up and — Fuck. Creators, she’d forgotten just how damn good when her husband fucked her with that big cock of his. The toys in her drawer at home had nothing on the grip of his hands pulling her hips to him as he thrust steadily into her.

She looked up at him in the mirror but couldn’t make eye contact as he was intently watching their bodies moving together instead. She’d been stupid to think he was tired of her body… He’d never said or even done anything to make her think he was no longer attracted to her, and the way he looked at her now was anything but disinterested.

She reached up to squeeze her own breast — that caught his attention. His eyes snapped up to hers and she continued the treatment, tugging her nipple for her own satisfaction, watching him watching her. Then she watched nothing at all as her eyes screwed up and she came for him, though she felt his heavy gaze even then.

He rode her through her orgasm, steady, controlled as always. Always, that was, until it was his turn. Once she opened her eyes again he dug his fingers into her and took her hard. She moaned with each thrust and it was all she could do to brace herself against the table as he lost himself, pounding into her fast, hard, deep.

She watched his face as he came at last, smiled when his eyes opened to meet hers. He smiled back and gave her ass another slap before pulling out. “Worth it for that view alone.”

She rolled her eyes and went to grab a washcloth from the shower, giving him one as well. Then her the bikini bottoms she’d been reaching for before, like a proper gentleman.

“Why thank you.” She grumbled as she started pulling them on, “Gonna get cum stains on it before I even get in the water…”

Solas cupped her face and pulled her into a long, satisfied kiss. Then he said with a smirk, “It won’t be the last time. Black was a poor color choice for our honeymoon.”

[1-800-seo]

1-800-𝗦𝗘𝖮'𝘀 𖣘 "𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻"

- 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝖩𝗈𝗁𝗇𝗇𝗒 𝗑 𝖸/𝖭

- 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: 𝗍𝗈𝗈𝗍𝗁-𝗋𝗈𝗍𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿, 𝗌𝗆𝗎𝗍

- 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀: 𝖽𝗂𝗋𝗍𝗒 𝗍𝖺𝗅𝗄, 𝗇𝗎𝖽𝗂𝗍𝗒, 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗂𝗌 𝗌𝗆𝗎𝗍, 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀, 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗍𝖾𝖼𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗌𝖾𝗑, 𝖽𝖺𝖽𝖽𝗒 𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗄, 𝗁𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗍 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝖺𝖼𝗄 𝗅𝗈𝗅

- 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀: 2245

- 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: 𝖩𝗈𝗁𝗇𝗇𝗒'𝗌 𝗎𝗅𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇 𝗍𝗈 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗉𝗈𝗌𝖾: 1) 𝖳𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝖸/𝖭 𝗍𝗈 𝖥𝗋𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾, 2) 𝗀𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗆𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗍𝗌, 3) 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗉𝗈𝗌𝖾, 4) 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾𝖿𝗎𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗀 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾 𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍.

- 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴: 𝖯𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗒 𝖥𝗂𝖼𝗄𝗅𝖾 𝖥𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽𝗌 - "𝘉𝘶𝘺 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴."

The warm summer air hits your face as soon as you step out the plane door. You and Johnny walk hand in hand to the bus that takes you to customs. “I never thought France would be so warm in the summer?” You proclaim, slightly astonished at the heat. “I know, me too! I’ve always thought France’s weather is like England but with less rain but apparently not.” He replies as he swings your hand back and forth as you go. The bus feels even more packed than the plane. Every passenger is crammed in like a sardine. This bus is a standing bus only, so someone’s backpack prods you in the side and a small child almost topples over as the bus swerves across the tarmac. It makes you squirm closer to your boyfriend to escape the crowd. You wonder why the driver is so vicious with his turns as you begin to feel a tad nauseous.

Before you know it, you’ve arrived at the French Immigration desks and are speeding through check ins with Johnny by your side. After explaining at length to the officer that you and Johnny are there for a holiday only, you claim your bags and both hop in a taxi to the hotel. Johnny had chosen the hotel, since this vacation was his gift to you for your anniversary. You’d expected something modest, maybe a cute family-run French hotel overlooking the Seine, not the 5 star marble-floored luxurious hotel that stood in front of you, however you weren’t complaining.

Once you’ve checked in, Johnny puts his warm large hands over your eyes. “W-what are you doing?” You ask, him making you slightly flustered. “You can’t see this part, it’s a surprise! Once we get to the room I’ll remove my hands and you can see what I have to show you.” He says, you can hear the giddiness in his voice. You obey his commands as he shuffles you from the lobby, to the elevator, and to the room all with your vision shielded. You hear the electric lock on the door click open and see the light that sheds through Johnny’s fingers. He positions you in the middle of the room.

“You can open your eyes now.” He says, removing his hands from your face and brushing a few strands of hair away from your eyes. “Happy anniversary!” The first thing you see is the hotel bed, freshly made with pink flower petals and delicate fairy lights neatly placed on top. In the middle lies a small multitude of assorted pink gift bags and pink boxes with bows on top. Your eyes light up and you swirl around to face your now blushing boyfriend. “Thank you so much!” He pulls you into a warm tight embrace and kisses your head. Once you release, he pulls your face towards him and smothers it in kisses. “I love you so much” he admits, “I love you so much too.” After you’re done smothering each other in affection you turn to the mound of gifts waiting for you on the bed.

You rummage through the gifts, like a kid in a candy shop, you treasure each and every thing there is to offer. You pull out a glossy blue prada handbag, delicate jewel encrusted earrings, a silky red dress (“you can wear that tonight.” Johnny had said with a twinkle in his eye, you’d replied “to where?” and he’d only winked in return), a pair of balenciaga trainers, a sneaky unopened box of who knows what from Victoria’s Secret, and an unopened box from Tiffany’s. You’d saved the best ‘til last.

“Care to explain these?” You taunt, as Johnny stands proud next the bed, hands in pockets, and hair tousled to the side. “You’ll have to open them and see, babygirl.” He replies, staring deep into your eyes. You couldn’t resist and turned back to the presents sat before you. You open the VS box first, lifting off the lid and unfolding the ruffled tissue paper. A pair of white lacy underwear lies folded in the box, a note placed with it reading “For tonight x.” Your insides heat at the thought and in shock you look up at Johnny with wide eyes and move on to the Tiffany’s box next to you.

You and Johnny had been together for two years now, both of you had never been so happy than when you spend time together. All of your memories together are sweet like honey and your future ahead feels rosy and inviting. You open the unassuming box, to reveal a silver ring with a glittery diamond peeking out. Johnny lowers himself to one knee and you meet his eyes in shock. One hand comes up to cover your mouth as he says the words. “Will you make me the happiest man on Earth and marry me?” You struggle to get the words out. This beautiful man had made you happy for the last two years and his last words had made you a blubbering mess. Tears left your eyes as you choke out the words, smile on your face. “Yes, of course I will!”

He takes the ring out of the box that’s in your hand and slips it onto your finger, he stands up and pulls you up off the bed, pulling your legs round his waist and arms round his neck. He spins you round and round, you feel giddy and never want this feeling to leave.

After your swarm of emotions, Johnny had you get all ready and dressed up in the silky red dress he’d so generously provided. He’d dressed up himself too and you both made your way to the secret place Johnny had planned for you. After the taxi drive to a quaint romantic building, he leads you inside and immediately up swirling marble steps in the lobby. After that, he takes you to a lift and closes the doors. The metal box rises to the roof of the building and the doors open to a beautiful tiled eating area. A laid table is surrounded by hanging plants draped with fairy lights and tea lights guide the way in candle holders. With one had around your back, your boyfriend guides you to the table and pulls a chair out for you to sit down.

From your seat you can see the whole of Paris sprawled out ahead, each building’s lights twinkling for miles. You turn your head to face your smiling boyfriend and reach out to grasp his hand. “It’s so beautiful, it’s unreal.” You gasp out, thoroughly in awe. “Well, of course, I had to take my beautiful girl to such a beautiful place. After all, it is our 2nd year anniversary, I had to make sure when I propose it was extra special.” His thumb circles the back of your hand, his comforting gesture.

“You don’t know how much you mean to me, baby. I’ve known for so long I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I just had to find the right way to express it. I wanted to make you feel special? Do you feel as precious as you are?” his kind words bring a heat to your cheeks and warm your heart. “It’s indescribable how precious I feel. You make me feel like I’m the only one for you. You do things for me you would never do for others and I can feel your love through all of your kind acts and kind words. I love you more than I can express.” Johnny has never had a bigger more contented smile on his face. He leans forward over the table and kisses you with passionate force, he didn’t know he could love someone so much.

Dinner flies past and you enjoy each other’s company to the fullest, you end the night giddy on expensive champagne and each other’s love. By the time you get back to the hotel room, you can’t keep your hands off each other. As soon as you close the door behind yourselves Johnny has you pressed up against the door and his hand is making a way up the skirt of your dress. You let his hand roam over your body and you kiss him tenderly. You pause the action and turn with your back to him, pointing at the zipper or the dress. His body replies by pulling the zip down with one hand and massaging a boob with the other. After your dress falls to the floor you are quick to rid Johnny of his shirt, frantically unbuttoning the buttons with him. Soon, his chiselled abs are revealed, etched into his caramel skin as if carved into marble. He gently pushes you down onto the bed, admiring the way your boobs bounce in the new lingerie he’d bought.

“You’re so sexy in lace, you’re so sexy in general baby girl. Are you going to show how good you can be for me?”

“Yes, Daddy.” You say as you position your bum towards him. He has a full view of your assets in those panties, “you look delectable baby.” He adds whilst pulling the fabric to the side. To test, he gently pushes a finger into your sopping hole and continues sheathing himself until he is knuckle deep. “You’re so wet, doll. Look at you, all worked up, and just for me.” He curls his finger upwards for good measure earning a moan from you and then pulls his finger out. You feel empty at this exit and whip your head backwards to see what he’s doing.

Johnny pulls out his long hard cock from his trousers and gives it a few pumps before pulling out a condom from his back pocket and gliding it on to himself. “You’re so long, Daddy. Are you going to make me feel good?” You ask with an innocent look on your face. “Yes baby, I’m going to use you all up and make you cum so hard you won’t know your name.” He replies with a smirk as he returns to his position behind you. You turn back around just as you feel him pull the lace to the side again and line himself up. The tip of his cock against your entrance makes the hot nerves smart and you’re already so needy for him.

He grips the side of your hip with his large hands and eases himself into you, groaning as he makes his way between your walls. You let out a gasp as he bottoms out and involuntarily you clench around his thick cock. After what feels like minutes but is probably seconds, Johnny starts thrusting in and out of your slick hole. You feel every vein of his large member as he pulls himself inwards. He uses your hips to stabilise himself as he gains speed, snapping your ass up towards him and hitting just the right spot deep inside of you. You let out a strangled cry as his cock head nuzzles your g-spot and you see white at the corner of your vision.

Johnny is hooked on the feeling of your tight entrance spasmatically clenching around him; he loves the way you fit just right for him and are so warm and tight on his cock. He is drunk on the sight of you loving the way he thrusts into you, the way your cheeks are all flushed with desire and how your eyes roll back into your head when he hits just right spot.

You feel yourself nearing as he roughly pushes all of himself into you, all of his length filling you up to maximum capacity. He’s so long and he uses all of his length and girth to make you feel heavenly, like you’re on another plane of existence. “Come on baby, can you cum all over my cock? Are you going to make a mess and look so pretty for me?” He coos as he feels his balls tighten and his end draw near. “Y-yes Daddy, you make me feel so good!” You exclaim, moans breaking up the words. Johnny speeds up his pace, he hears the slaps of skin as he feels so unexplicably close. With one last thrust he spills his seed into the condom with a loud grunt and grips onto your thighs with great strength as his orgasm rips through him.

At the sound of his orgasmic moan you tip over the edge and feel the blinding heat in your innards release. A great wave washes over you and you let out a scream at the feeling. Your whole body tenses and shakes as you cum so hard around his cock. After you both have calmed down from your highs, he very slowly pulls himself out of you and disposes of the condom. Whilst in the bathroom he soaks a washcloth and returns to the bedroom to clean you up.

He strips you of the sodden lacy panties and opens your legs before gently cleaning your folds of your own orgasm. You look up at him with such love and bliss in your eyes and he just about melts at the sight. “Thank you, my dear fiancée.” You say, completely enamoured with him. “You’re welcome, baby. Thank you too, you so graciously let me make you feel good and I repay by cleaning you up.” He replies; now passing the washcloth over your inner thighs. “You’re so kind.”

✰ 𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗌𝗈 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀! ✰

𝖨𝗍'𝗌 𝗆𝗒 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗆𝗎𝗍 𝗈𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖩𝗈𝗁𝗇𝗇𝗒 𝗌𝗈 𝖨 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾 𝗂𝗍'𝗌 𝗈𝗄 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒𝖾𝖽 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗍! 𝖥𝖾𝖾𝗅 𝖿𝗋����𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗋𝖾𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗀, 𝗂𝗍'𝖽 𝖻𝖾 𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖽. 𝗑𝗈𝗑𝗈

𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄 𝗆𝗒 𝖻𝖺𝖻𝗒 @cherriigguk 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗉𝗈 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖺𝗅𝗌𝗈 𝖻𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝗒 𝖻𝖾𝗍𝖺 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋! 𝖨 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝗈 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝗌𝗈 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖼𝗄 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗄𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝗌𝗁𝖾 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗆𝖺𝗓𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗐𝗋𝗂𝗍𝖾𝗋 ❁

[miamlfy]

Oh, Honey

A/N: This was requested by a fellow anon, I tried my best with this. This was my first time writing smut, so please be nice. Don’t be afraid to give me feedback, I will gladly appreciate it. Requests are still open, so continue to bring those in. Sorry for any mistakes. 

Pairing: Harry Potter x Fem! Reader

Summary: Harry and Reader celebrate on their wedding night. 

Warnings: SMUT! Unprotected sex and some dirty talk..? 

Word Count: 1,3K

Masterlist

Enjoy!

(Not my gif, credit to whoever made it)

The wedding was magnificent, fairy lights were dangling across the tent, flowers on every table, friends and family were chatting away finally getting peace they deserve, and lastly the love of your life, Harry, seated next you. 

You turned to him smiling, you couldn’t be anymore happier. After years of beating around the bush and the upcoming war, the two of never talked about getting together. Times were difficult and it wasn’t the time for a teenage romance. Harry and you didn’t get together until after the war and completing your last year at Hogwarts, although Harry didn’t go back he knew it was important to you and didn’t want to hold you back. 

Everyone was still grieving but you and Harry helped each other, whether it was with nightmares or the anniversaries of a loved ones death. 

It wasn’t very much help either when the press demanding interviews and sometimes even stayed outside Harry’s flat until they got something they wanted. After many of those awful encounters, you allowed Harry to move in with you. That decision made your relationship even closer, neither one of you regretting it one bit. 

After two years of dating, Harry proposed to you while on a date at a muggle restaurant. It honestly felt straight out of a romantic movie but you felt so happy and it didn’t matter if it was extremely cheesy. 

The planning was quite easy compared to other weddings, Molly and Hermione helped a lot along with Ginny and Fleur. Both you and Harry decided to keep the wedding on a down low, in case reporters got wind of it. Similar to Bill and Fleur’s wedding, yours was also at The Burrow. 

Everything was set up beautifully and you couldn’t be anymore grateful. Your dress was rather simple but also held character. Tables were set up, each having assigned seating and flowers from the gardens held up in vases were placed on top. 

One table was kept empty in memory of yours and Harry’s family who passed away during the first and second war. You wished they could all be there on your special day, they would’ve loved it. 

Now after the small ceremony, family and friends danced around the tent. Occasionally, you and your husband, Godric that felt good to say, would join them but as of right now the two of you were seated at your table watching everyone. 

Harry grabbed your hand, gently placing a soft kiss on it, “What are you thinking about, my darling?” He asked, placing your hand into his. 

“Oh nothing, just admiring everyone.” You sighed, “They all look so happy.” 

Harry squeezed your hand and played with your ring on your left ring finger, “Just as much as I am, Mrs. Potter.” He looked up, flashing a toothy grin at you. 

“You’re going to be much happier later tonight, Mr. Potter.” You winked. His cheeks and ears reddening a little. You giggled and stood up. Reaching down to him, you grabbed his arm, “Come my dear husband, it’s time to cut the cake.” 

The reception ended a few hours after cutting the cake, you and Harry said your goodbyes to your friends and drove off in a muggle car. Harry surprised you with tickets for a vacation to Italy, a country you always wanted to visit but never could. You were very excited but very nervous as it’ll be the first time you’d go on plane. 

You expressed to Harry that it could be a lot easier (and cheaper) to just apparate, however Harry wanted to experience the full honeymoon package. 

Arriving at the hotel, Harry picked you bridal style. Giggling, you wrapped your arms around his next. Once he managed to open the door, the first the thing you noticed was how beautiful the view was, you could see the ocean and hear the waves. Looking over to your husband, you smiled at him, “How did you manage to pull this off?” 

He shrugged, “I just pulled some strings.” 

Harry helped you unzip your dress, kissing your exposed skin softly. You sighed under his touch, letting his hands guide themselves around your body. 

He gasped slightly, his eyes roaming the red lace lingerie that is hugging your body perfectly and exposing all the right things to him. 

He laid you down on the bed, he placed himself on top of you. His eyes still roaming your body, “You look so bloody beautiful, you know that?” You blushed at his words, that man still made you feel like a silly schoolgirl at times. 

His lips made their way down to your neck, kisses were being placed below your earlobe, near your jaw, you moaned softly once Harry found your sweet spot. You felt Harry smirk as he began sucking and leaving love bites all over your neck. 

His lips found their way up to yours, his tongue grazing the entrance to your lips and inserting itself into your mouth. Both of your tongues now fighting, you ran your hands down to his trousers and palmed him, Harry groaned into your mouth. 

Pulling apart from the kiss, Harry placed soft quick kisses on your jaw and began traveling down. He groaned softly when he came in contact with your red laced bra, that was making your breast look ever so delicious. Unclasping the bra, he ran his thumbs over your now hard nipples. 

His mouth quickly attached to your left one, his tongue swirling all over the soft bud. You let out a soft moan and began slowly grinding on his thigh which was placed between your leg. 

Harry smacked your thigh, “Be patient, your pussy will get the attention it needs soon.” You groaned slightly, getting rather impatient. 

Harry dragged his lips down your stomach and stopped right above your panties. Taking them off, Harry took in your sweet, arousal scent. 

You moaned loudly when you felt him begin to suck on your clit. Your hands gripped his brown locks and your hips slowly rocked themselves as Harry French kissed your pussy. 

Harry inserting a finger in you, pumping it in and out. The sounds of him eating you out and his fingers making contact with your pussy, filled the room. Arching your back, you felt your orgasm take place and you were ready to release. 

Harry pulled away, sensing it as well, “Oh no my dear wife, if you’re going to cum then you’re going to be cumming on my cock.” You moaned at his words and bit your lip as he took off his pants and boxers. 

His cock was hard and throbbing, getting back on the bed he aligned himself with your entrance. He entered you slowly, both of you let out a shaky breath. He let himself stretch you out and allowing you to get used to his size, no matter how many times you two have had sex, his size still took you by surprise. 

“You’re so tight, princess.” He groaned, now thrusting in and out of you. Sounds of skin hitting skin and your moans now echoed throughout the room. 

“Oh Harry!” You moaned out loudly as he quickened his pace, his thrusts now becoming more rough, not that you would complain. 

Harry placed a sloppy kiss on your lips and groaned as he felt your walls clenched around him. He rubbed your clit with his index finger, your moans becoming louder which felt like music to his ears. 

“That’s it babygirl, cum on my cock.” He said, panting. Droplets of sweat running down his face, along with your yours. 

Both of you released at the same time, you felt Harry fill you up and pull out. Harry collapsed on the bed and looked over to you. 

“You did great, I love you, Mrs. Potter.” 

You smiled and laid your head on his chest, his arm wrapping around your waist, “I love you too, Mr. Potter, now let’s get some sleep.” You kissed his lips and closed your eyes, a smile still placed on your lips. 

[guswaters]

Bash

Paramedics arrive on scene after Kurt’s assault in Bash.

Canon fill-in fic for 5x15 Bash from the point of view of paramedics who attend Kurt after his assault.

Warning for: Discussions of gay bashing, mention of blood, description of medical procedures.

Read on AO3

James and Lisa were an hour into their night shift, the ambulance parked up on Bushwick Avenue. They sat in comfortable silence, watching the buzz of activity around them: families out walking, cabs blaring their horns, and groups of friends dressed up for an evening out in the city. They were in for a busy night.

“Did I tell you?” James asked. “I think Paul is planning something for our anniversary.”

“Go on.” Lisa said.

“Well, I’m just speculating. But he keeps asking me really specific questions about my rota. Like, he never pays this much attention to my shifts.”

“A vacation?” Lisa suggested.

James grinned. “Maybe.”

“Oh, you lucky fucker.” Lisa said, batting James playfully on the arm. “I consider it a win if my husband remembers our anniversary.” She rolled her eyes. James chuckled.

“Do you think - “ But James’ question was cut off by their radio alarming with a call.

“Here we go.” Lisa said, starting the ignition. “What we got, captain?”

“20 year old male. Unconscious, bleeding.” James read. “Just a couple of blocks away.”

“Oh, shit.”

Lisa turned on the blue lights and pushed their way onto the busy avenue.

***

They pulled up on scene - an alley in a less favorable neighbourhood of Bushwick. Stepping out onto the sidewalk they were met with the smell of cigarette smoke, alcohol, and blood. The patient, a young male, was on the floor in the recovery position. He was lying in a pool of blood, staining his coat and hair a deep red. A middle-aged woman stood by him, a look of immediate relief on her face on seeing the ambulance arrive.

“Hey. What’s your name?” He said to the woman, whilst crouching down by the motionless boy on the floor. He grabbed his wrist to feel for his pulse, which was strong.

“Andrea.”

“Hi Andrea. I’m James and that’s Lisa.” He said, gesturing towards where Lisa was still grabbing equipment from the back of the ambulance. “What’s happened tonight?”

“I have no clue. I was walking over to meet a friend and I heard shouting. Didn’t think anything of it - not at this time of night.” Andrea said. “Walked by the alley, and he was just lying here. Is he gonna be okay?”

“We’re going to look after him.” James reassured.

The patient looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, and had multiple wounds to the head and face. “Looks like an assault. Did you see anyone?” James asked.

“No. He was on his own.”

“Lisa, can you get the cops running please?” James called to his crew mate.

“On it.” Lisa called back.

James squeezed the boy’s shoulder. No response. “Hello? Hello? It’s the ambulance service. Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?” Trapezius squeeze. No response. “Let’s get some vitals going.” James said to Lisa, now approaching carrying their equipment. “I’ll try and get some more history.” James stood up to speak to Andrea, leaving Lisa to take over.

“Hi sweetie. My name's Lisa. I’m just going to do your blood pressure and a few other checks.” She said. “I’m going to have to cut your jacket and shirt to get to your arm, I’m sorry.” She deftly got the patient hooked up to the LifePak and took his temperature and blood sugar reading. Shining her pen torch to check his pupils, she could see the extent of the wounds and swelling on his face. “Oh, you poor thing.”

“I’m gonna look for some ID.” James said, crouching back down beside her. He rooted through the patient’s pockets looking for a bank card, driving license, student card, anything that might identify him. He found his iPhone in his coat pocket. Unlocking it, the home screen was a photo of the patient with another boy about his age. They were standing close, their cheeks pressed together. His boyfriend, he realised.

James felt a sickening feeling washing over him. He and Lisa had attended two incidents of gay bashing this month alone. Was this boy another victim of such a crime?

“Okay?” Lisa asked. James often joked that Lisa had a fifth sense for what he was feeling; a product of having spent so much time working together. He was so grateful to have a crew mate who looked out for him, especially with some of their recent jobs hitting extremely close to home.

“Yeah. Yeah.” James said. Emotions aside, they had a job to do. He put the phone back in his coat, and continued searching. In the patient’s pants pocket he found his wallet, and pulled out a bank card. “Ah. Kurt Hummel.” He read out to Lisa. “Nothing with date of birth though.”

“Kurt. Kurt? Can you hear me?” Lisa said, squeezing the boy’s shoulder again. No response.

“How are vitals looking?” James turned the LifePak to inspect the numbers on the screen.

“Vitals look okay, but I’ve got him at GCS 3.” Lisa said. “Pupils equal, size 3, a bit sluggish.”

“Okay. Let’s just get a neck collar on him and get him loaded.”

***

Once on the ambulance, Lisa and James were dancing around the patient reconnecting him to the LifePak, getting his wounds cleaned and dressed, and warming him up with plenty of blankets. Police had arrived and were outside taking details from Andrea and photographing the scene.

“I think I’ll give him a dose of Ondansetron, just in case he starts vomiting on route. Can you pass me a cannulation pack please?” James asked, and Lisa fished in the drawer for the small plastic packet, handing it to her crew mate. James tied the tourniquet around the boy’s bicep. He was clearly very fit and healthy and James had no trouble finding a vein.

“I’ll try a green please.” Lisa passed him the needle. He prepped the skin and easily inserted the cannula.

“Flush. And your Ondansetron for when you’re ready.” Lisa said, passing over the two filled syringes. “Ampoule is in the bowl.”

“Thanks.”

“Need anything else?” Lisa asked.

“No, let’s just get going.” James flushed the cannula, before inserting the smaller syringe to start administering the drug. He looked up at his crew mate, teasing. “Nice smooth blue light drive please.”

“For you, always.” Lisa smiled. “See ya there.”

She slammed the door, and James heard her talking briefly to the cops outside. He pulled out his phone, and dialled the familiar number.

A doctor with a heavy accent answered the phone. “Hello, ER.”

“Hi, please can I pass a pre-alert?”

***

Kurt remained stable on the journey, so James took the opportunity to write some paperwork before they arrived at the hospital. He tapped away on his tablet whilst keeping a close eye on his vitals on the LifePak screen. Suddenly, he heard a voice.

“Blaine.” It was just a mumble - it could barely be heard over the sound of the engine and the sirens.

“Kurt? Kurt, can you hear me?” James said, leaning forward to squeeze his shoulder. Kurt responded by opening his eyes.

“Blaine?” He said. “Where’s Blaine?”

“My name is James. You’re in the ambulance.” Kurt eyes darted around, taking in his surroundings.

“Are you in pain?” James asked. No response.

“Do you feel sick?” He asked. No response.

“I need to see Blaine.” Kurt whimpered. He was getting distressed - reaching up to tug at the neck collar and the straps securing him to the stretcher.

“It’s okay, Kurt. Just try and stay still.” He said, holding his right arm steady so he wouldn’t pull the cannula out.

“My head.” Kurt groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

“I know, buddy.” James took his hand. “We’re almost at the hospital.”

***

An elderly woman who had fallen in the park later, and James and Lisa were back at the hospital. After handing over, they had some time before clearing for their next call, and James wanted to check up on Kurt. He scanned the ER board to locate him.

Approaching the window of his room, he saw that Kurt wasn’t alone. A boy was lying on the bed with him, his arm draped over his chest and his face buried in his neck. The boy from his phone home screen, James realised. James tapped lightly on the door and the boy startled, sitting up. He was petite with dark, slicked back hair and an outfit straight out of a Brooks Brothers catalogue. He looked physically and emotionally exhausted.

“Sorry to disturb.” James said, stepping into the small room. “I’m the paramedic who brought him in, and I just wondered how he was doing.”

“I’m Blaine. I’m his fiancé.” The boy said, standing up to shake his hand.

“James.”

“Uh, he’s fractured his eye socket and has lots of bruising, but his scans were clear.” Blaine said. “No…uh, no bleed.”

“He’s very lucky.”

“Yeah. He is.” Blaine smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Do you know what -"

“He was protecting someone. Apparently a gay guy was being beaten up and Kurt just ran in.” Blaine shook his head. “Why would he do that? Put himself in so much danger.”

“Wouldn’t you have done the same? I know I would.”

“I just wish I had been there to protect him, to stop him getting hurt. I should have been there.” Blaine broke down then; his face falling into his hands, his body shaking with his sobs.

“Hey no, you can’t think like that.” James moved closer to the boy, placing a comforting hand around his shoulder. “You don’t think my husband worries sick every time I’m out at work? That I don’t think about him constantly when he’s out alone? But if we stop going out and living our lives - they win.”

“I just thought being in New York that we were getting away from this kind of thing. That we’d be safe.” Blaine sobbed.

“I know. We always think the big city will be perfect and easy for us. That’s what makes this so scary. But, and look at me Blaine.” James said, his hands on the boy’s shoulders. Blaine looked up at him, sniffing. “Hearts and minds are changing everyday. You think when I met my husband that I ever though we would be able to get married? Things will get better, Blaine. I promise.”

Blaine gave him a watery smile. “Thank you. And thank you so much for looking after him.”

“No problem.” James said. “I hope he makes a good recovery.”

Kurt stirred in his sleep, mumbling. Blaine was back by his side immediately, gripping his hand tightly. “Kurt? I’m right here baby.”

Blaine looked at Kurt with a tenderness that felt almost private. James took his cue to leave, slipping out of the room. Before walking away, he looked back through the window at the couple; Blaine was lying pressed up against Kurt on the bed, their hands entwined. They would be okay, James thought.

***

James climbed into the drivers seat of the ambulance.

“How was he doing?” Lisa asked.

“No serious damage, just a small fracture and bruising.” James said. “His fiancé was pretty shaken up.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” James gave her a reassuring smile. “Just, it sucks. I never thought I’d see these sort of crimes happening in New York of all places.”

“It’s awful.” Lisa shook her head. “Hey. If you ever need to talk about it - you know where I am.”

“I know. Thanks.” James smiled.

“Now, come on.” Lisa said, handing him the keys. “We probably have time to hit up Starbucks before clearing up. I’ll buy.”

[larryfanficwriter98]

Chapter Twenty-Four

*Falling In Love Through The Phone*

I got my new monitor and I finished editing this and decided to post it. TIME JUMP!!

Louis exited out to the balcony of their hotel room overlooking the Red Square and grinned.

“You know when you said we’d go to Moscow for Christmas I didn’t actually think you were serious.” Louis said looking over at Harry as he came up behind him.

“You helped plan the vacation.”

“You asked me which view I wanted of Moscow if we went. That is all I said.” Louis said point his finger at Harry who grinned.

“Alright. Fair. It was an early birthday present.” Harry said.

“This is my birthday present? What’s my Christmas present?” Louis teased wrapping his arms around Harry’s neck to press a heated kiss against his lips.

“I brought something with lace.” Harry said cheekily before he stepped away from Louis to look towards the view, “Shame you prevented me from proposing before our two-year anniversary. This would be a great spot to do it at.” He said casually.

“Don’t you even think about pulling out the ring box I spotted during travel.” Harry groaned but removed his hands from his pockets to encase them on either side of Louis trapping him against his body and the railing.

“You already know I have one so why not let me get on one knee…hell I’ll get down on two knees for this and ask the question that I think you’ll say yes to anyway.”

“I would say yes, obviously, but I…just don’t want to be engaged right now. I want to wait. You have to have patience, Love.” Harry groaned pouting slightly but dropped the topic and instead turned them around as he angled his phone for a picture. Louis looked up and over at Harry smiling widely at him before he pulled him down for a kiss. Two minutes in Moscow and Louis was already tempted to tell Harry the real reason he didn’t want him to propose…yet. Louis had been planning this ever since he had accidentally found out Harry had been planning their Moscow trip back in October. He hadn’t meant to it was just that Harry had a horrible habit of forgetting to exit out of his webpages and Louis happened to see Harry had booked them a hotel room for two weeks. So, Louis had started planning his own surprise. Tomorrow was his birthday, and he didn’t know what Harry had planned, but he knew that Harry had the entire day planned.

“Come on let’s get to sleep so we’re wide awake when we need to be. No sleeping in for this surprise.” Louis followed Harry into the bedroom and stripped down before they curled up into the bed together exhausted from their flight that they stayed up for so they could sleep during Moscow’s night cycle.

~~~~

Apparently the first thing on the list of ‘’Things to Do for Louis’ Birthday’’ was a blowjob then breakfast in bed. In that order. Then a long hot bath with expensive bubbles and scents and a warm towel wrapped around his naked body when he stepped out of the cooling water.

“Harold-“

“Shut up and let me spoil you.” Harry said as he guided Louis to their bags. He pulled out a large wooly sweater then helped him put it on. Louis grinned the entire time amused and endeared by his boyfriend as he treated him so gently.

“I’m older than you, you realize. I should by babying you.” Louis said

“You can baby me on my birthday.” Harry said as he helped Louis step into his black pants then even buttoned them for him. He then kneeled down and helped with his socks and winter boots before he stood up and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I’ll go get dressed. Stay right here.”

“I shall stay here.” Louis said sitting on the sofa and watching as he entered the bedroom. Louis waited only a few minutes for Harry to come back out in the exact same outfits making Louis laugh as he held up two of the same coats, “You’re joking.”

“I am not.” Louis stood up and let Harry put the heavy shearling lined suede winter coat on him. He put his hands in the line pockets and grinned when he pulled out gloves to match the suede.

“Are these my presents then? Louis asked with a grin as he pulled them on and adjusted the coat a bit, “Because I love them.”

“Some of them at least.” Harry said leaning in for another quick kiss. Harry then pulled on his own matching gloves and handed Louis a grey and blue wool scarf, “I have to keep you warm after all.”

“A good way to do that is to stay indoors and shag all day. I’m not opposed to that.” Louis teased.

“Well, I am opposed to it. You’ve bailed on every date night I have planned thus far since September. Our anniversary.”

“That’s because ever since that stunt your fans have been up our asses.”

“They’ve chilled out since we sat down with James Corden and explained.”

“Speak for yourself. Me yelling at you is still going around the internet.” Harry laughed as they intertwined their fingers together and left the hotel room.

“Well to be fair you are extremely cute when you yell.”

“I’m intimidating when I yell you mean.”

“No cute. I agree with the fans you’re a small bean when you yell at people. Besides half of them have no idea what the bloody hell you said.”

“My accent was not that visible. They done something to it...enhanced it.”

“No, they didn’t trust me. I barely understood you and it’s only my expertise from deciphering your vocabulary while plastered that I understood it at all.” Louis rolled his eyes as he pressed the first-floor button on the elevator.

“Whatever.”

“So, I have then entire day planned as I’m sure you know.”

“I figured. What’s the first thing on our list?”

“Zaryadye Park then we are going strolling then lunch and that’s all you need to know for now.”

***

Ice Caves, the underground museum, the media center, the river overlook, strolling down street markets decorated for Christmas, a beautiful (late) lunch by the Red Square, ice skating, and a lot of shopping later Louis was grinning widely as he flopped down on the bed. He was fairly sure his entire face was frozen, and he has had snot down his throat since early afternoon, but it was the best birthday he has had in a long time.

“Hey Haz...?”

“Yeah?” Harry asked as he untied Louis’ boots for him.

“I love you so much you know that?”

“I do. I love you too.” Harry said leaning over to kiss his leg briefly.

“Today was the best, tomorrow we’re staying indoors and shagging right?” Harry laughed pulling his boots off before crawling on top of Louis to kiss his lips.

“We’re exchanging gifts tomorrow then we will shag and then we have a tour of Kremlin and Re Square where we are taking cheesy pictures upfront of the cathedrals and Savior Tower. Then I am going to try and convince you to let me propose. It can be a long engagement. We can be engaged for ten years before we even thing about planning a wedding. I don’t care I just want to propose to you.” Harry pouted at then end whining slightly making Louis laugh as he rolled them, so Harry was laying on his back.

“Nope.” Harry pouted, but Louis didn’t budge.

“I’m still going to try. I’m taking you upfront of St. Basil's Cathedral after the tour and I’m proposing. You know that right?” Louis rolled his eyes rolling off of him and turning his back to Harry.

“Go to sleep then we can talk about it in the morning.” Harry wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist and hugged him tightly, “I love you.”

“I love you too asshole.” Harry said kissing his cheek, “I’m proposing. End of story.”

“In your dreams.”

“You bet it is.” Louis laughed elbowing him before snuggling into Harry, “Goodnight love.”

“Goodnight.”

*******

Louis grinned widely as he dragged Harry upfront of St. Basil’s Cathedral and went about adjusting him, so they were perfectly aligned with the building.

“If we’re going to get engaged upfront of the most famous landmark in Moscow we might as well get the best damn photo of it.” Louis said grinning widely at the photographer who was already set up for them. Harry laughed as Louis adjusted his stance and clothes. Louis pulled Harry’s hat off and tossed it away from them along with his own then threw some loose snow on Harry’s shoulders and hair.

“You planned my proposal to you?!” Harry asked shocked but highly amused.

“No…I planned my proposal to you.”

“What?” Harry asked taken back, his grin still in place, but falling from confusion and shock. Louis grinned and grabbed Harry’s hands before he went down on one knee and pulled out the white ring box he had kept better hidden than Harry’s black ring box. Harry stared wide eye and covering his face with his hands grinning widely when he met Louis’ eyes.

“I knew of your plans for Moscow since October and so I started planning this, you should really learn how to close your webpages.” Louis started making Harry laugh, “As I uh kneel here on one knee in cold snow I realize I never actually prepared a speech for this moment, but I’m going to wing it. I promise to support you in everything you decide to do in the future, I promise to love you no matter what happens, I promise to be there for you on your bad days and your good days. I promise to only flip off the really annoying paparazzi in Los Angeles two times a day instead of ten. I promise to listen to every song you come up with and tell you honestly what I think of them. I will love you for as long as you will have me by your side. I will love you whether you wear a dress or you wear a suit. When I look at you, I see the future and I see love and a family. I will never know why you chose me out of everyone you could ever have, but I promise to make sure it’s not a mistake. I promise to be there for you whenever you need me. I know these last few months, last year almost, have been really bad for you mentally and I am so proud of you for taking steps to see a therapist and being open about it. I am so proud to be standing by your side as you break gender norms and roles, and you express yourself more and more each day. I want to-“ Louis wasn’t able to finish because Harry kneeled upfront of him and kissed him while cupping his face making Louis laugh.

“I’m not done you needy bastard.” Louis complained pulling away from Harry laughing as he looked at him. “Fine. I was getting into it. I was on a roll.”

“Can’t I just say yes already?”

“Fine. Harry, will you marry me?” Harry kissed him harder knocking them onto ground making Louis laugh as he wrapped his free arm around Harry’s neck.

“Yes. Of course.” Harry said, his eyes shining with tears as he removed his gloves. Louis grinned as he slipped the ring on his finger, “I love it it’s-“

“As Louis Blue as I could get it.” Louis said with a smile as he kissed Harry again ignoring his cold and wet ass sitting in the snow. Harry cupped his face before pulling away and pulled out the familiar black box Louis has seen multiple times though he never actually seen the ring itself.

“It’s actually funny because…” Harry trailed off as he opened the box revealing a beautiful ring with diamonds and an emerald, “I got you an emerald.” Louis grinned widely as he removed his own gloves and watched as Harry slipped the ring on his finger, “There. Perfect. Let’s go home and celebrate.”

“Hold on. Hold on.” Louis said as Harry helped him stand up, “You go to the hotel and I’ll meet you there after I talk to the photographer. I remember you mentioning something lacey earlier?”

“Deal.” Louis watched Harry walk away staring down at his new ring on his finger.

[lady-divine-writes]

ACITW AU Inspired fic - “The Vacation Ultimatum” (Rated PG13)

Summary:

Sebastian wants to go somewhere different for summer vacation this year, but Kurt has his heart set on the beach house. He promises Sebastian he'll at least entertain other options. ... In his defense, he finds something very entertaining. (2316 words)

Notes: This is an ACITW inspired fic I started writing last summer before my computer died on me.

Read on AO3.

“So, babe, I was thinking …” Sebastian leaps over the back of the sofa to sit beside Kurt scanning the pages of the latest Vogue magazine.

“That’s dangerous. Real dangerous,” Kurt comments, not lifting his eyes from an ad for Gucci footwear. Kurt seems particularly interested in a pair of blue-and-black brocade loafers, checking the fine print for price and sizing information. Sebastian, knowing by now what Kurt’s long, thoughtful look (narrowed eyelids, scrunched nose, sucked in lips) means, takes note. “Didn’t we talk about that?”

“Ha … ha … ha. Anyway, what if this year, instead of going to the beach house for the summer …?”

Sebastian doesn’t get farther than that before Kurt drops his magazine and glares at him with the ice-cold burn of a lover scorned.

“Wh-what!? Not go to the …! Why!?”

“Babe…” Sebastian knew there was a chance Kurt would react this way from the second he opened his mouth. Kurt is always at his most deadly when he won’t let Sebastian finish a sentence. But Sebastian had hoped he might be persuaded to listen to reason, especially since he’d mentioned wanting to go on a pilgrimage to the House of Alexander this year. If anything could break them out of their summer vacay rut, it should have been McQueen. A jaunt across the pond would have been a welcome change from their usual trip to North Carolina. But apparently Kurt is too sentimental to break from their routine, even for a journey to the temple of his idol.

Sebastian had been hoping against hope … and he lost.

“Because we go to the beach house every summer!”

Kurt’s eyes shift left and right, waiting for a more compelling argument. “Yeah, and …?”

“And aren’t you getting a little tired of it? Don’t you think it’s getting old?”

Kurt’s jaw drops in silent gasp. “Who … who are you right now? How … how can you say that!?”

“Because over a decade of summers at the same beach house can get kind of stale, Kurt!”

Kurt shakes his head slowly, disbelief deepening fine lines around his mouth and the corners of his eyes. “You’ve known me for over a decade! Am I getting stale?”

“Do you really want an answer to that?” Sebastian jokes before self-preservation and common sense have the chance to shove his size nines in his mouth and stop him. Kurt’s mouth snaps shut with frightening speed, his teeth making a sound when they meet like the cracking of bone.

“If that’s how you feel,” he says, words short, over-enunciated, clipped at the ends as if with razor-sharp shears, “then I can go to the beach house alone this summer, and you can go somewhere fresher!”

Sebastian sighs. He should have known he wasn’t going to win this one. He was defeated before he began. “Kurt …”

“And while you’re there, maybe you can find yourself someone less hard and crusty since I’m becoming so stale!”

“Jesus Christ, Kurt!” Sebastian’s hands find his hair and pull in frustration. “Stop twisting things around! That’s not what I meant! Arguing about the same thing over and over is getting stale!”

“Then stop arguing,” Kurt poses with a wicked grin. “There. Problem solved.”

“I happen to have good reasons for not wanting to go to the beach house this summer!”

“And those are …?”

“For one thing, it’s nowhere near private.”

Kurt chuckles humorlessly. “It’s on a private beach! That your family owns!”

“Olivia and Brian drop in with the kids all the time, unannounced.”

“So? I love Olivia and Brian! And the kids!”

“So do I! But I also love being able to walk around naked and fuck in the kitchen!”

“No one ever stops you walking around naked here at home! And we’ve fucked in the kitchen so many times, we’ve worn ass marks onto the floor, the island, and the table! You can’t throw a robe over yourself and fuck in a bed like a normal person for one month?”

“Kurt! Don’t you think it’s nice to do something new every once in a while?”

Kurt carefully picks up his dropped magazine so that he has something to toss sassily aside and crosses his arms over his chest. “Have you met me?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sebastian says, mirroring the gesture … minus having anything to throw. Not that he didn’t look around him for something suitable, but the only things within reach are coffee mugs and Yankee Candles, and he doesn’t want to accidentally give Kurt a concussion. “You’re stubborn and annoying!”

“Exactly!”

Sebastian snorts at the word Kurt wasn’t quick enough to catch before it flew out of his mouth, turned around, and slapped him in the face.

Kurt closes his eyes on his own faux pas and shakes it from his head. “I mean, about being stubborn. How many times do I stray from the familiar? I wear the same designers all the time, I order the same dish at every restaurant, I’ve driven the same Navigator since high school …”

“Yeah …” Sebastian clears his throat before he accidentally guffaws “… by the way, that’s something we really need to talk about ...”

Kurt’s offended face becomes comically dramatic. “My life is stressful, Sebastian!”

Sebastian pauses his argument to look Kurt over from head to toe - his significant other reclining on the sofa in his pajamas and robe with his feet propped up … at three on a Thursday afternoon.

“Yeah …” He leans over, catches the end of Kurt’s untied belt, and flips it across his waist. “The rigors of your life must be crippling!”

“It’s my afternoon off, you deranged kumquat!” Kurt snaps, tossing the belt back and smacking Sebastian on the chin. “The point is I value our summer together. Most of all, I value the fact that I don’t have to stress out about it because I don’t have to put any energy into thinking about doing something different! It’s a no-brainer!”

“So you’re saying it suits you.”

Kurt points at Sebastian, very reminiscent of a circa 2000 Cooper Anderson. “Watch your step, Smythe, or you’re sleeping alone tonight.”

“Yeah, okay,” Sebastian relents, putting his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry. That one went a bit too far.”

Kurt breathes in deep, exhales long. “Look, when we first got together and divvied up responsibilities, you put me in charge of planning summer vacation.”

“Because I thought you’d send us to all sorts of exotic locales with clothing optional activities.”

“We do those over spring break! And on our birthdays! And over New Year’s! We’ve flashed more people than Tara Reid! I like going to the beach house in the summer! It’s tradition!”

“But we can go anywhere in the world!”

“I don’t wanna go anywhere in the world!” Kurt parrots in a whiny voice. “I wanna go to the beach house!”

Sebastian slaps his hands on his thighs and pushes up to his feet. “Fine. Whatevs. Just do me a favor. For me. Because you supposedly love me.”

Kurt rolls his eyes so far back in his head he glimpses his soul. “I guess …”

“Get on your phone and check out some other spots that you might want to go to. Any spot, regardless of distance or cost. Then we’ll compare, list pros and cons, and together we’ll make an educated decision. That way we’ll know one hundred percent for certain that there isn’t somewhere else that tickles your fancy.”

“I already know …”

“Just this once,” Sebastian says, cutting into Kurt’s grousing, “and again, because you love me.”

Kurt’s face pinches, his lips pulled tight to avoid creasing. He drops his head back on his shoulders in exasperation and reaches in his robe pocket for his phone. “All right, all right. But shoo. I don’t need any distractions.”

Sebastian leans in to give Kurt a kiss, grinning when he swats him away like an irritating insect. “Your wish is my command, oh benevolent dictator.”

“That’s Expedia God to you.”

***

Sebastian makes himself scarce for more than an hour running odd errands - one of which includes buying Kurt his favorite cheesecake from the bakery down the block. He’s both encouraged and relieved when he returns home to find Kurt still in the living room when he should be at yoga, bent over his phone, staring intently at something on his screen.

He missed yoga for this, Sebastian thinks. He must be taking it seriously.

Even more than that, Kurt is smiling, lower lip pinched between his teeth, his eyes positively glowing.

‘Yes!’ Sebastian cheers silently, slipping into the kitchen to put away the cheesecake while allowing himself a moment to daydream about spending this upcoming summer vacation on the French Riviera, which they admittedly did last Christmas. Or in Jamaica, where they’d gone two falls ago. Or, like he’d thought, London, which is where they’d spent Fashion Week. Sebastian stops with his hand on the refrigerator door, chewing his own lower lip in thought. Looking back on their lives together as a couple, they have done their share of traveling around the world, even if they do spend every summer in North Carolina. So … spending another one there isn’t exactly a big deal. They’d recently booked a flight to Rio to coincide with the start of the school year, winging over after the egress of promiscuous co-eds vying for one final fling before hitting the books.

Jesus Christmas!

Is he being a jerk about nothing!?

Sebastian pulls out his cell phone and checks his calendar. Nearly every box of every month is filled with meetings, assignments, appointments. But aside from that, it’s cluttered with trips they’ve planned - the Cape for their anniversary; the Poconos for Kurt’s dad and stepmom’s anniversary; Munich for Oktoberfest, which happens to be a tradition that Sebastian started - one that Kurt hasn’t always been so fond of. He can appreciate the food. He can appreciate the beer. He can appreciate the authentic costumes and the lively music and dancing.

But the second people start hugging and slapping each other, he gets a little skittish.

Last year, Sebastian flew Kurt to Milan last minute for Arbor Day, just to give him a reason to make the stupid day memorable. Thus is one of the perks of being rich. He’d planned on making that a tradition.

So that’s two of Sebastian’s traditions to one of Kurt’s.

Sebastian sticks his head in the fridge, smacking his forehead against the butter dish, and groans.

If Kurt wants to spend this summer - and every summer until the day they die - in North Carolina, is it really such a big deal?

But seeing Kurt stare at his phone with a huge smile on his face intrigues Sebastian. Even after everything, their whole argument, he did what Sebastian asked. He gave it a chance. What if he actually found somewhere else he wants to go? Skydiving? Spelunking? Scuba diving? Another hot air balloon ride?

Sebastian swallows hard remembering …

… they can do all those things in North Carolina.

He removes his head from the dairy section and closes the door. Then he strolls back into the living room, nonchalant smile on his face.

“You’re looking pretty focused there, babe. Did you find something you like?”

“Yup.”

Sebastian’s spine tingles with the possibilities. “Willing to share?”

“Well, in order for you to appreciate where I ended up on my journey, I’ll need to walk you through my process.”

“Do tell …”

“I didn’t have any particular locale in mind, but I knew I wanted to go to the beach, so I started looking up beaches.”

Sebastian nods. “Not venturing too far from the comfortable, I see, but still promising.”

“Tropical beaches, exclusive beaches, private beaches, beach resorts, islands …”

“A-ha …”

“I saw a link for this beach in San Diego called Dog Beach.”

“Very nice. Quaint. I’ve been there once or twice. Lots of nice little communities with bungalows …”

“I thought so, too. But I was clicking through the website and I saw the most amazing thing. Something I wouldn’t mind seeing in person.”

“Really?” Sebastian says hopefully.

“A-ha. It had pictures of a surf dog competition …”

Sebastian’s smile dips at the corners. His voice becomes a little tight. “Okay …”

“I clicked on it and …”

“Let me guess …” Sebastian drops his head into his hands, blunt nails digging into the cold spot on his forehead “… you’ve been watching videos of surfing dogs.”

“Yup.”

“For how long?”

“Oh, I don’t know. When was the last time you were in here?”

Sebastian’s arms drop to his side revealing his disgruntled expression. “You’ve been watching videos of dogs surfing for two hours!?”

“I guess. Time’s just … flown by …”

Sebastian watches in agony as Kurt switches to another tab on his phone, bringing up a YouTube video of a bulldog riding a skateboard. Kurt chuckles and shakes his head.

“How’d you learn how to do that?” he baby talks the screen. “You’re the goodest boy, aren’t you? 12 out of 10.” He scrolls down to the comment section to type that in.

Sebastian slaps his forehead. He turns on his heel and heads for the bedroom before he has the chance to go insane. To be honest, he should have known better. He walked into this one, what with his cockimamey ideas about going somewhere else over the summer. “Beach house it is.”

“If that’s what you think is best, dear,” Kurt mutters to Sebastian’s retreating back, deeply enthralled in another dog video. He waits till he hears Sebastian open the door to the bathroom, then closes out the video and composes a text:

To: Olivia

False alarm! We’re on for the beach house!

He giggles conspiratorially when a message immediately pops up.

From: Olivia

Thank God! See you there!

[hoboal87]

Some thoughts and a quasi fix-it on the Finale (SPOILERS)

I want to preface this by saying that I like the finale, if you didn’t, I completely get that, and if you just want to say nasty things, you can move on to the next post =)

I’ll try to keep my thoughts coherent, but no promises. Obviously, a lot of things had to change with this final episode of COVID-19, and I’ll try to address how I think they could’ve worked around it without changing the essence of this episode, which again, I’ll reiterate, I liked.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

As the episode opens, we see the boys living a “normal” life. They don’t have to worry about cosmic entities anymore, they can just do what they do best. I honestly loved this, the boys just being domestic: cooking breakfast, doing research, doing laundry, all of it. My one complaint about this opening montage is there is no clear passage of time. How long has it been since Chuck was rendered powerless? A day? A week? A few months? A year? In my opinion, it’s been maybe a couple of weeks, but I feel like the writers were trying to imply that it’s been a couple of months and it was just unclear. For me, that would have solved one of my few issues with the episode. So let's change it up a little =)

We open similarly, but in the background, we can see the date it is actually five years (or whatever amount) later. The boys are getting ready for their respective days, Dean is living in an apartment over a bar, and we watch as Sam returns from his run and enters a small house. Dean doesn’t just live above the bar, he owns it, finally having some normalcy in his life, this is what wants. He proudly displays pictures of Sam, Bobby, Mary and John, his own way of keeping them close.Sam walks into the kitchen and sees a note on the refrigerator.

“Gone to get supplies, see you tonight, Love, E.”

Sam smiles at the note as he twirls the silver band on his finger, taking in the black and white sonogram displayed prominently next to the note. We follow Sam through the house, and we see photos of his and Eileen’s wedding, and pictures of their families. His kids will never have questions about their pasts, about their families, Sam and Eileen are intent on that.

Dean opens his bar, it’s a steady crowd, flirts with some of the women, but isn’t really pursuing anything, he’s closed himself off to the idea of a wife and kids. He’s got a nephew that’ll be here in a few months anyway, and he’s already told Sam how he plans to spoil that kid rotten. We cut between Sam and Dean, watching them go through their day, Dean working at the bar, Sam with papers splayed in front of him, implying he’s gone back to school. They’re both content, finally getting what they’ve always truly wanted. They still hunt, that much is apparent as we see them at one point cleaning their weapons or doing research.

As Dean closes up the bar he sends Sam a message.

“You ready for tomorrow?”

Sam rolls his eyes playfully, “are you sure its the best idea?”

“Hell, yes. I was born ready, it’s my destiny. Tomorrow 8 am.”

This would be, maybe a 5 to 7 minute opening scene? Then we get the title card. The rest of the episode plays the same from here. Sam and Dean go on a mini-vacation, which turns into a hunt.

So about Dean’s death. I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Personally, I don’t think there was any other way to end the series. As a bunch of people pointed out, Dean’s been saying some form of “I die bloody” since the beginning of the show. Now, did I want Dean to die? No. Dean deserved to live a full and happy life, but as Michael said, “since when do we get what we deserve?”

I rewatched the episode yesterday, and I SOBBED like a fucking baby throughout Dean’s death scene. I will agree it was a little Wincest-y, but, honestly, is it really that surprising? Sam and Dean have only ever had each other. Dean raised Sam, Dean is Sam's parent in every way that counts. A user pointed out, I’m so sorry if you see this please let me know and I will tag to your post, Dean speech starts more as a father to son type instead of brother to brother.

Sam is in shock when Dean tells him that he’s hurt, immediately going with “I’ll get the first aid kit.” The look on Dean’s face is heart-breaking, and you can see that he has already accepted his fate, he’s known since the second that the rebar (NOT A FUCKING NAIL) went through him that he was not walking away. Sam is going through all the stages of grief in just a few minutes.

Denial – “I’ll get the first aid kit.”

Anger – “No, we are gonna get [the boys] somewhere safe.”

Bargaining – “I’ll find a way, I’ll find another way.”

Depression – “Don’t leave me. I can’t do this alone.”

Acceptance – “It’s okay, Dean. You can go now.”

All the while, Dean is telling Sam how proud of him he is, and that he “loves [Sam] so much.” Now, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that this is the first time that Dean has said to Sam that he loves him. I know we’ve heard him say it to other people and it’s definitely been implied, and the closest we got was in sacrifice, “don’t you think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you.”

Dean died in his brother’s arms, which to me, was beautiful. Can you imagine, though, Sam, carrying his brother’s lifeless body back to the Impala, setting him down gingerly in the back seat and driving back to the bunker?

I believe that we were supposed to get a lot of people at Dean’s funeral. Jody, Donna, Charlie, Bobby, Claire, (honestly, probably anyone who could be there.) But with travel restrictions into Vancouver, this had to change. It is not realistic for the writers/producers to ask people to quarantine for 2 weeks to shoot a half-day (if that) of filming. I did see that Samantha Ferris did say she wasn’t spoken to about the possibility of returning. I truly believe Shoshanna was supposed to be in this episode, but, her role was going to be very limited, and as much as I wanted to see her (obviously, from the above section) I firmly believe that she was supposed to be the woman Sam married.

Again let’s fix the second half of the episode:

Sam and Eileen give Dean a hunter’s funeral, and Sam quits the life altogether. He doesn’t want his son to ever lose him to a hunt. Eileen helps Sam through his depression, knowing exactly how it feels to lose your family. We get a similar montage, Sam takes over the bar, takes in Miracle, and keeps the Impala tucked away, for now, it’s too painful to even look at. Sam leaves Dean’s apartment as is for the longest time, afraid to move anything, what if he forgets where to put it back? We can see he’s just going through the motions, that is, until his son is born.

We see Sam cradling a newborn in his arms, Dean had joked from the moment Eileen announced her pregnancy that they should name the baby after him. Sam and Eileen laughed him off at the time, saying the world only ever needed one Dean Winchester. But now, Sam can’t think of any better way to honor his brother, than to name his son Dean.

Dean is in Heaven, greeted by Bobby who tells him all about new Heaven. Jack fixed it, and it is the Heaven that Dean deserves. When Bobby mentions Cas, Dean smirks, and Bobby assures him that Cas is around. Dean spots Baby, and tells Bobby that he's going to take her for a drive. Dean doesn’t know how long he's going to drive, but remembers Bobby’s words, “time works different up here,” and knows that eventually Sam will join him.

Dean watches from afar as Sam lives on, raising his son and daughter (cause honestly Sam would want more than one kid), he keeps them knowledgeable about the life, but they don’t hunt. On Dean Jr.’s eighteenth birthday Sam takes him to get an anti-possession tattoo, but it is more of a symbol to honor his family, Sam teaches Dean about the Impala, and how to take care of her, and he’s a natural mechanic just like his Uncle. Once a year, on the anniversary of his brother’s death, Sam sits in Baby, and feels connected to Dean, telling him much he misses him and how he wishes he was with him.

Dean watches as Sam grows old, and keeps his word, even though Sam didn’t know it, he’s been by his side the whole time. On his deathbed, Sam is surrounded by his children and Eileen (or an Eileen stand-in), who tell him it’s okay to go, and tells them all how much he loves them before letting go.

We cut to Dean, waiting on a bridge, the same one from his and Sam’s first hunt, and he can feel himself becoming whole again.

“Heya Sammy.”

[weaverlings]

Every Episode of WTNV with Carlos Mentioned

No, I did not keep track of how long I spent on this. Anyway.

Total series count: 89 episodes

In the main podcast, anyway. The list includes at least partial context; however I wasn't counting the number of times Carlos was mentioned per episode, just if he was mentioned at all. So if he came up more than once I didn't necessarily record each time. Still, there are definitely spoilers.

I can't like… guarantee that I didn't miss something, unfortunately. However, I used both "Carlos" and "scientist" all the time, and I additionally used "boyfriend" from 26 onward and "husband" after 100. So it should be pretty close, at least. 

I might go through and do live shows later. However, the answer for them is (almost) always yes, as most of them at least have a segment that Dylan Marron performs at some shows, so it'd be more a matter of checking for mentions of Carlos outside of that.

The reason I did this was to see if I was at all correct in my sense that Carlos has been mentioned less over time. My conclusion: well… sort of?

There actually was less of him than I thought in both year 1 and year 2 (year 1 in particular). However, years 3 and 4 had a LOT of him, and it has gone down from there through the end of year 7, when Carlos was only mentioned in 7 episodes total, with very few casual mentions by Cecil (vs when he had a particular role in what was going on). 

So the problem (or at least, I consider it one) hasn't been going on for as long as I thought in the grand scheme of the series. I now believe that a significant part of the issue is just… Well, it has at this point been almost three years since that decline. Plus listening live makes everything feel drawn out, so there's a lot of perceived time in between individual mentions. 

That being said, I think the actual conclusion is: it's maybe not as I thought, but I also wasn't completely imagining it, especially not looking at very recent events. We don't know what this year will hold, but year 7, as mentioned above, had the least of Carlos in it so far. There are also some significant gaps - Cecil mentions Carlos in episode 91, and after that the next time he comes up in year 5 is in 100 (!!!!)

He is mentioned in a solid majority of the series, but it's pretty front-loaded at this point. Also he has a few appearances in the first novel, and he's a central character in It Devours!

Finally, thanks so much @cecilspeaks because this wouldn't have been possible to do at all otherwise.

The complete list is as follows:

Year 1

episode 1: yes (well of course) 

episode 2: no

episode 3: yes (the Telly thing)

episode 4: yes (dissenting at the PTA meeting)

episode 5: yes (Cecil tried to ask him about the moon but couldn't find him)

episode 6: no

episode 7: no

episode 8: yes (Carlos wants to talk about lights in Radon Canyon, not dinner or weekend plans)

episode 9: yes (but in the context of Telly wandering the desert)

episode 10: no

episode 11: yes (Cecil asked about tectonic activity - Carlos is "distracted yet beautiful")

episode 12: no

episode 13: no 

episode 14: no

episode 15: no

episode 16: yes (basically the central plot of the episode)

episode 17: no

episode 18: no

episode 19 A+B: no for both

episode 20: no

episode 21: no

episode 22: no

episode 23: no

episode 24: no

episode 25: yes (absolutely)

Total year count: 9

Year 2

episode 26: no

episode 27: yes  

episode 28: no

episode 29: yes (Carlos has opinions on subway riders' DNA)

episode 30: yes (checking out the house that doesn't exist)

episode 31: yes (Carlos "promised a certain person dinner")

episode 32: yes (Carlos gave Cecil the watch for their 1-month anniversary)

episode 33: no

episode 34: no

episode 35: yes (Carlos is being industrious!)

episode 36: no

episode 37: arguably (Cecil mentions finding "someone that might make [him] feel better about what has happened today" which probably means Carlos, but he's not mentioned directly)

episode 38: yes (Carlos has scientific opinions about orange grove growth + Cecil almost texts that he loves him but just knocks the imposter out instead)

episode 39: no (but fun fact: Dylan Marron originally did the pre-episode announcements for this one. I don't have the file anymore sadly.)

episode 40: yes (Lauren brings him up though)

episode 41: no

episode 42: no

episode 43: yes (Carlos is looking into the house that doesn't exist again)

episode 44: no

episode 45: no

episode 46: yes (he's on the phone w/ Cecil about the oak doors)

episode 47: yes (but it's Lauren and Kevin talking about how they haven't found him)

episode 48: yes (Cecil doesn't know where he is)

episode 49 A+B: yes (and I don't wanna talk about it :( )

Total count: 14 (ish, because 37 is subject to debate and 47 is different as noted. So maybe 12.)

Year 3

episode 50: yes (people have been asking Cecil about Carlos)

episode 51: yes (he spends most of it on the phone with Cecil)

episode 52: yes (Cecil's been getting calls and snapchats)

episode 53: no (but Steve mentions Cecil had "softened in the right places" over the past year)

episode 54: yes ("A Carnival Comes to Town." that's it.)

episode 55: yes ("The University of What It Is." again. that's it!)

episode 56: yes (Cecil's been isolated w/out Carlos, Cecil talks to Diane about Carlos, and then Cecil has a dream about being w/ Carlos again and sleeps well…)

episode 57: yes (Cecil wonders if Carlos knew the list, and then discusses the "current context" of their relationship - a matter of space)

episode 58: yes (Carlos doesn't want Cecil to say he's trapped in the other world + Cecil misses him)

episode 59: yes (Carlos is on the phone w/ Cecil)

episode 60: yes (Cecil considering whether or not he can visit Carlos)

episode 61: yes (Cecil mentions Carlos to Earl and also wonders if science can help him process the events of 59)

episode 62: no

episode 63: no

episode 64: yes (this episode has the watercolor painting in it)

episode 65: yes (Carlos leaves a voicemail)

episode 66: yes (considering the logistics of the Dog Park)

episode 67: no

episode 68: yes (Cecil talks about visiting Carlos)

episode 69: yes (Cecil announces his "last" broadcast to move to be w/ Carlos)

episode 70: A; yes (but again, context - it's got Carlos still in the otherworld). B; yes, Cecil describes Carlos' return

Total count: 17 

Year 4

episode 71: yes (Carlos "participates" in the heist and is safe at home later)

episode 72: yes (Carlos can apparently sleep through anything!)

episode 73: yes (Carlos apparently tells Cecil not to worry about even catastrophic or paradoxical mistakes)

episode 74: yes (certain local radio hosts and scientists may have been using the Dog Park to go back and forth between Night Vale and a desert otherworld)

episode 75: yes (matching lycra shorts)

episode 76: yes (Carlos makes delicious fruit salad! also he's working on a solution to the flamingo problem)

episode 77: no

episode 78: yes (Carlos likes the gory parade + Earl is invited to dinner w/ Cecil and Carlos)

episode 79: no

episode 80: yes (Cecil tells his boyfriend he wants a beret)

episode 81: yes (Cecil spent time w/ Carlos between reeducation sessions)

episode 82: yes (sort of. Cecil mentions knowing what it's like in a long-term relationship, which is cute, and it's obvious who it's about, so I'm counting it)

episode 83: yes (Carlos does the shopping because Cecil has trouble with auctions)

episode 84: yes ("Hey there, Lonely Boy…")

episode 85: no

episode 86: no

episode 87: yes (Cecil considers the possibility of a tropical vacation w/ Carlos)

episode 88: yes (phone conversation, bunny nickname)

episode 89: yes (what Carlos is up to w/ the stranger situation)

episode 90: yes (Carlos is in the crowd against the dog/strangers)

Total count: 16

Year 5

episode 91: yes (Cecil reaches out to Carlos about the train, but he doesn't know :( )

episode 92: no

episode 93: no

episode 94: no

episode 95: no

episode 96: no

episode 97: no

episode 98: no

episode 99: no

episode 100: YES

episode 101: no

episode 102: yes (Carlos who Cecil is closest to other than Josie)

episode 103: yes (they're excited about going to the beach w/ family + they visited Josie together)

episode 104: yes (Cecil and Carlos go together to pay respects to Josie)

episode 105: yes (Carlos discusses dinner + TV viewing plans and has some concerns about the Smithwick house)

episode 106: no

episode 107: yes (Carlos arranges a task force regarding sounds heard under the earth)

episode 108: yes (tied into broken-reality weirdness)

episode 109: no

episode 110: yes (Steve brings him up - asked Carlos about space and Carlos skips away because he's so excited about science)

Total count: 9

Year 6

episode 111: yes (Carlos worries about having grown too used to Night Vale + the material testing in ep1 was an excuse to talk to Cecil)

episode 112: no

episode 113: yes (everything makes Cecil think of Carlos. Also he's out of town at a science convention)

episode 114: no

episode 115: yes (Cecil isn't concerned about robberies at labs or radio stations, but is concerned about librarian attacks on his family)

episode 116: yes (Strip uno… also "just the most vicious outfits")

episode 117: no

episode 118: yes (Cecil knows science… heck yes of course!!)

episode 119: yes (Carlos' hair is used to calibrate equipment)

episode 120: no

episode 121: no

episode 122: no

episode 123: no

episode 124: yes (A Door Ajar pt 1)

episode 125: yes (A Door Ajar pt 2)

episode 126:  yes (A Door Ajar pt 3)

episode 127: yes (Carlos and Cecil plan to hold a blood matter viewing party)

episode 128: yes (the viewing party starts + Cecil and Carlos have a houseguest)

episode 129: yes (everyone, including Carlos, is surprised by the depth of the blood matter)

episode 130: no

Total count: 12

Year 7

episode 131: yes (Carlos texts Cecil about a matter of scientific accuracy)

episode 132: no

episode 133: yes (Carlos has a concern about the time situation, and also there's the Telly ending)

episode 134: yes (Cecil and Carlos attend a high school football game together + with the rest of their family)

episode 135: no

episode 136: no

episode 137: no

episode 138: no

episode 139: no

episode 140: no

episode 141: no

episode 142: no

episode 143: yes (Cecil tells Carlos he's coming home but, y'know, no one can hear)

episode 144: no

episode 145: no

episode 146: no

episode 147: yes (Carlos has been studying the moon and… there's other stuff that happens)

episode 148: no

episode 149: yes (once again a lot of stuff but Cecil remembers by the end. It's "already forgotten" apparently)

episode 150: yes (Cecil discusses their anniversary; also Carlos discovers his clock working)

Total count: 7

Year 8 (ongoing)

episode 151: no

episode 152: no

episode 153: yes (Carlos' experiments get messy so he ends up working at Steve and Abby's place)

episode 154: yes (Carlos is continuing to run experiments at Steve and Abby's and is taken in for questioning when Steve is arrested)

episode 155: yes (Carlos is really the one who figures everything out tbh)

episode 156: yes (Cecil is anxious about death/separation from Carlos, and then gets excited when he thinks there's a way for them to be together forever)

episode 157: yes (Carlos has some concerns about the proposed solution and wants to talk it out w/ Cecil)

Total count (so far): 5

[eleanor-writes-stuff]

i don’t wanna break your heart (i just want a brand new start) - ONE-SHOT

Months after things go horribly wrong with Ben, Rey plans to spend what was supposed to be her first holiday season as a married woman sick, miserable, and alone instead.

Enter Finn and Poe, completely unwilling to let their friend go through with that plan and completely willing to go behind her back to make sure it doesn’t pan out.

Also enter Ben, with a ton of apologies, homemade chicken noodle soup, and every intention of taking care of his ex-fiancée.

This December, I'll be writing a collection of one-shots for the holiday season. Gift Fic #1 is a modern AU getting-back-together for Twitter's @ft_shipper, who writes some truly beautiful tweet fics that are 11/10 worth checking out. 

Also available on AO3. And hey, maybe check out my Twitter or Ko-fi?

“Peanut, you awake?”

Hidden under a mountain of blankets as she is, it takes Rey a while to make out Finn’s question. “Still alive,” she croaks back, and whines when he begins to tug at the covers. At least he has the decency to keep her curtains shut, so that she isn’t blinded by what little sunlight they’ve been blessed with this winter morning when he finally pulls away the last of her blankets to find her.

She can’t be a pretty sight, because Finn grimaces before a cool hand presses against her forehead. “Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own? It’s not too late for me to cancel, Poe can deal with his family on his own–”

It takes more effort than she’d like to bring one hand up and bat Finn’s away, every single part of her weak and sore with fever, but she’s not about to let him know that. “Finn, stop babying me and just go already. You love Christmas with the Damerons more than Poe does,” she reminds him.

“I do,” Finn shrugs, “but I love you more than Christmas. And Rey, I think if we threw you out into the snow right now you’d burn right through all of it. At least let us bring you to the hospital first, I’m sure Shara won’t mind us being late–”

Rey steels herself and uses one last burst of strength to yank the covers out of Finn’s hands and back over her head. “I’ll be fine,” she calls out through a yawn. “Now go before you make me get out of bed and kick you out of this apartment.”

She picks up on indecipherable grumbling even through the four layers that separate her from Finn, but eventually he relents with a heavy sigh and a pat on her shoulder. “Just… call me if you need me, okay? Promise me, peanut.”

His voice sounds like it’s coming from somewhere far away, maybe even underwater, as sleep drags her back under. Rey has one last fuzzy memory of giving in to Finn’s request, but she’s asleep again before he can say anything else.

A series of insistent knocks on their front door wakes her up just a few minutes later, though. It has to be Finn again, doubling back for something he’d forgotten. Probably his keys, since he’s knocking on his own door, but then how would he have locked the door in the first place?

“Oh,” Rey mutters to herself as she finally pokes her head out from underneath the covers. Thin beams of weak winter sunlight have snuck in through the cracks in her curtains, which means it’s definitely been more than a few minutes since Finn left, which means it’s definitely not Finn at the–

“Rey!”

Yeah, there’s that theory proven right. The voice calling out for her from the other side of the front door is barely audible here in her bedroom, but she can hear just well enough to know that it’s not Finn. He must’ve asked one of their other friends to stop by and check on her, but who’s still in town on Christmas Eve?

It’s a masculine voice; that much becomes clear when the call comes a second time as she slowly drags herself out of bed and across the small apartment. She’s making good progress, until he speaks again for a third time just as she’s passed the kitchen, just as she’s finally close enough to realize–

“Rey?”

The voice sounds suspiciously like… It can’t be, but there’s no way she’s wrong, no way she’s forgotten his voice this quickly, no way she’ll ever forget it. But why would he of all people be knocking on her door at – Rey squints at the novelty clock hanging above the front door – seven minutes past noon on Christmas Eve?

“Fever,” Rey reminds herself out loud, cursing her body for wreaking havoc on her senses and her heart like this. It’s probably just one of their many other guy friends, doing Finn and Poe a favor. Nodding to herself in approval of her theory, Rey finds the strength to continue her slow journey toward the front door and cautiously crack it open to see who her mystery visitor is…

… only to find that her fever-addled brain was right all along.

He’s got one hand up in the air, as if he’d been about to let loose another round of knocks, and his fourth attempt to call for her leaves him like a gentle exhale as they catch each other’s eyes.

“Rey.”

She, on the other hand, is too stunned to say anything in return. Because there, on the other side of her apartment door, stands Ben Solo – ex-fiancé and partner of five years, person who should have been her husband of two months and one week by now, man who broke her heart six months ago instead.

Seconds or minutes or hours pass – enough time for the shock to wear off and exhaustion to sweep back into her system. She clutches at the door a little tighter for support, and watches the way Ben’s eyes dart away from hers to observe the movement with a slight frown.

It’s enough to spur him into motion, apparently, because he lifts his other hand to reveal a lunch bag. “I brought soup,” he says quietly, his first words to her since the day he let her walk out of his life.

Rey thinks of asking him what the hell he’s doing here, what the fuck he thinks he’s doing waltzing back into her life like this.

She thinks of slamming the door in that stupid face she’s missed so much and ignoring his unwanted presence until he leaves her alone again.

She thinks of undoing months of so-called healing to rip open all of her wounds and resume that fight they never really settled, the one she’d chosen to walk away from instead.

But the thing is… Rey grew tired of fighting Ben Solo a long time ago. Maybe that’s why they ended up like this, why they ended at all. And that thought, more than the fever, more than anything else, drains her of what little fight she’d had in her to begin with.

So she opens the door with a sigh, and steps aside to let him back into her life.

❄ ❄ ❄

On an unusually sunny late October morning, Rey finds herself admiring the way beams of sunlight set the diamonds of her engagement ring ablaze and create little rainbows in their wake. Odd, how something she’s had for less than twelve hours can feel so much like a part of her already, so right.

A heavy arm slings itself around her middle as Ben rolls onto his side, pressing his face into her thigh. She tears her eyes away from the ring to shoot him a fond smile, running her free hand through his hair as he slowly blinks awake and peers up at her.

“Why’re you up?” Ben mumbles, warm lips brushing against her bare skin.

Rey shrugs and slides back down into bed so that he can hold her properly. “Too excited to sleep, I guess. I’ve just realized something, by the way.”

He’s fully awake now, a slow, lazy smile stretching across his face as he reaches for her left hand and draws it closer so that they can both admire the heirloom ring he’d slid onto her finger just last night, the ring he later admitted he’d been carrying around since their first anniversary three years ago. “What is it?” Ben asks softly, bringing her hand up to his lips to brush a feather-light kiss across her palm before he lets go.

“Weddings,” Rey tells him as she moves to mimic him, the both of them resting on their sides and facing each other. She tips her head back to give him a quick kiss before adding, “We’ve never talked about weddings. Do you have any idea what you want?”

Ben shrugs, but he’s still wearing that lazy smile and his eyes are bright too, lit up from within and without as more sunlight pours into their bedroom. “I want whatever you want.”

And that has to be the standard answer, the easiest answer for grooms who’d like as little involvement in planning their own wedding as possible, but somehow Rey knows that’s not why Ben is saying it. That’s never why he’s happy to go along with her plans for everything, even though he tends to have grander ideas for anniversary dates and summer vacations and dinner parties; he just really, really wants her to have everything she wants, and trusts that he’ll be happy so long as she’s happy. It’s worked out for them so far, but if a wedding is meant to set the tone for the marriage it gives birth to, then Rey doesn’t want them to do their usual thing this time around.

Her marriage to Ben will be one of the most important things in her life, Rey already knows, and she wants them to start it off the right way, as a team. “I don’t really know what I want,” she claims, a half-truth at worst; she’s entertained the odd daydream here and there in her four years with Ben, but it’s true that she hasn’t really decided on anything yet. “What about you? Did little Ben ever imagine what his big day would be like?”

She means to tease, to joke, but after a moment Ben furrows his brows in concentration and Rey suddenly finds herself eager for a real answer.

“I didn’t… I mean, I never gave much thought to the colors and the cake and all that stuff, but… I was three when my parents got married, remember?”

Of course she does; the highlight of her first visit to his parents’ place had been Leia breaking out the wedding album to show her adorable pictures of little ring-bearer Ben. There’s even a fuzzy old VHS of Ben toddling down the aisle with one hand carefully balancing a small pillow and the other clutching at his Uncle Luke for balance, tiny face scrunched in concentration as he kept his eyes on the rings he’d been tasked with.

“I don’t remember much, but I know there were a lot of people, so many people I’d never even seen before and haven’t seen since. And I just… I don’t know. That doesn’t seem right to me, that my parents – my mom – had all of these people who didn’t even really matter at their wedding, people who probably didn’t even really care about them or their happiness and were only there out of some sense of obligation. So I guess the one thing I’d want is to keep it meaningful, you know?” he asks, reaching out to tuck a few stray locks of bedhead behind Rey’s ear. “If this is about celebrating our love, then I only want to be surrounded by people who genuinely care for us and are happy for us. Something small, just close friends and family.”

A small wedding, coincidentally, happens to be the common thread running across all of her varying wedding fantasies. Rey rests her hand over the one slung around her waist, and laces their fingers together before giving Ben a small squeeze.

“That sounds perfect,” she tells him with a smile, and so it’s decided that they’ll surround themselves with love and only love on the day of their wedding.

❄ ❄ ❄

Ten minutes after she lets Ben back into her life, Rey finds herself leaning against her kitchen doorway and watching him from a safe distance as he makes himself comfortable in her kitchen and uses her stove to warm up his soup and goes through her cabinets for bowls and spoons. Well – her and Finn’s kitchen and stove and bowls and spoons, all of which Ben probably remembers from the numerous times Finn had them over for dinner throughout the course of their relationship.

A small part of her is irritated at how easily he navigates her space, but a bigger part just aches at the familiar sight of him putting together a meal for her. The soup is homemade from Leia’s secret family recipe – the one she’d made Ben teach her the first time he got sick during their relationship; the one that had become a staple in their shared household, a secret form of communication whenever one of them felt that the other was working too hard or needed more rest. She honestly can’t remember how many times they’ve made this exact soup for each other, and now she’s watching Ben heat it up and ladle it into two bowls for them while she tries to come to terms with the fact that her ex-fiancé is apparently here to play nurse and spend Christmas Eve with her.

She’s still struggling to make her peace with the idea when Ben finally turns around and sets two bowls down on the kitchen island-slash-dining table, and then looks across the room to give her a pleading look.

“Fine,” Rey huffs as she slumps into the closest bar stool and drags one bowl toward her. From the corner of her eye she can see Ben settling down and pulling his soup closer as well, but Rey doesn’t look up. It’s for the best, really, given that tears start welling in her eyes as soon as the familiar taste of the soup invokes dozens of cherished memories and reminds her of what she’s lost, of what he’s denied the both of them–

But that’s a dangerous path to tread in her mind, one that will only lead to more tears, and so Rey defaults to the mantra that’s kept her together since the day she turned her back on him: better mad than sad.

With that in mind, she decides to break their silence. “I’m surprised Snoke doesn’t have you slaving away on Christmas Eve this year,” Rey says through gritted teeth, barely suppressing the snarl that that name naturally draws from her.

Ben, to her surprise, merely shrugs and continues focusing on his soup. “I’m sure he’d like that, but I’ve made it clear that I don’t really give a fuck what he wants outside of office hours,” he says so calmly, so casually, as if this doesn’t change everything.

Rey, meanwhile, has to try really hard to keep her spoon from splashing into her soup. Her hand shakes as she takes a few careful sips to buy herself some time, blinking and processing and weighing potential replies until she finally settles on a relatively harmless one. “Good for you,” she mutters, just loud enough to be heard across the kitchen island.

For the longest time, the kitchen is filled with nothing but the too-loud sounds of her spoon accidentally scraping against the bowl a little too hard as she tries to put up an unaffected front. It’s only when Rey pushes her bowl away that she realizes Ben stopped moving a while ago, that Ben’s been watching her this whole time.

When she finally finds the strength to look up at him, he’s staring at her with the most heartbreaking look she’s ever seen on him, his eyes reminding her of pictures she’s seen of his childhood dog and its sad, pleading eyes during big holiday meals.

Still holding eye contact, Ben murmurs, “I wish I’d done it earlier.”

And Rey… god, Rey wants nothing more than for him to have done so too, for them to be able to go back in time and shake some sense into past Ben before he ruined everything and broke her heart and destroyed their future.

But she never gets what she wants, not really. The piles of unsent wedding invitations gathering dust under her bed are evidence enough. So instead of getting her hopes up, instead of giving him the power to break her all over again…

Instead of all that, Rey abruptly gets up with an ugly, painful scrape of her chair against the floor and turns her back on Ben as she makes her way out of the kitchen.

It’s oddly reminiscent of the last time she’d walked out on him, damning silence and quiet resignation and all. The thought weighs her down, stops her by the doorway.

“Yeah,” Rey sighs without turning back, “me too.”

She disappears into her room before Ben can say something in return – or worse, not say anything at all.

❄ ❄ ❄

According to Leia’s expert advice, it’s only polite to send save-the-dates six months in advance, especially since some of their friends and family will have to fly in for the wedding.

And so, a rainy April evening finds Rey and Ben and multiple versions of their potential guest list sprawled out across their living room in an attempt to finalize at least this one aspect of their wedding planning.

“Babe,” Rey speaks up with a slight frown as she comes upon a series of names that don’t ring a single bell. “Exactly how many Naberrie relatives are we expecting, and why do all of them have different last names?”

“Hmm?” Ben hums in acknowledgement, looking up from his own list of her guests. In a last-ditch attempt to trim the list down to their original idea of fifty or less, they’ve taken to scrutinizing each other’s guests to identify potential exclusions. “Wait, let me see that.”

He reaches out for the list, but Rey – sprawled out on her stomach with her legs crossed at her knees and her feet comfortably swinging in the air – decides to roll closer instead and face-plant into his lap. It feels unbearably silly, but at least it draws an increasingly rare laugh out of Ben. She doesn’t get to hear that precious sound much these days, not with Ben as overworked and tired as he is from all of those long nights and weekend meetings he keeps getting roped into.

Besides, she’s planning her wedding with the love of her life – Rey figures she’s allowed to feel silly and light and maybe even a little bit fluttery.

“Oh, those aren’t the Naberries,” Ben tells her as one hand instinctively moves to the back of her head to comb through her hair. “They’re some of our biggest clients and a few potential ones too, so Snoke figured it’d be a good idea to invite them.”

And just like that, all feelings of the silly, light, and fluttery variety vanish into thin air.

“Ben,” she groans, though it’s muffled by his tee shirt. “I thought we agreed on no work guests?”

They had, just two weeks ago when Rey first noticed their guest list had somehow ballooned from a manageable fifty-seven to a rather alarming ninety-nine. It’s why she’s crossed out a bunch of her colleagues, and has allowed Ben to mark several more for reconsideration.

He’s still running his hand through her hair, but it’s not as soothing anymore. “I know, sweetheart, but Snoke really thinks–”

Rey drags herself into an upright position so that she can look Ben in the eye when she scowls, crosses her arms, and says, “Well, if Snoke has such strong wedding guest list opinions, maybe he should save them for a wedding of his own.”

To her dismay, Ben simply laughs at the idea rather than take note of her irritation. “It’ll be okay, Rey, I promise. It’s only thirty people at most–”

“Thirty?��� she echoes with horror. “Ben, we’re trying to trim this back down to fifty. Thirty is more than half of that!”

“About that,” he hedges, setting the list down to give her his full attention. “I was thinking… maybe we keep the fifty quota for friends and family, and just count these thirty separately?”

She reaches for the list Ben’s just set down, along with all of the others marked as his guests, and takes a good hard look at them only to realize… “Ben, more than half of your guests are people from work. I thought we wanted something small and intimate?”

“Small went out the window the second you agreed to let my mother invite our entire family, Rey,” he tells her wryly, snatching the papers out of her hands. “Besides, what difference does it really make? It’s still just going to be you and me up there, we’ll just need more chairs at the ceremony and more food at the reception–”

The idea of being surrounded by strangers at her own wedding reception was bad enough, but the ceremony? Ben intends to have complete strangers bear witness to the most intimate moment of their lives?

Rey can’t believe what she’s hearing, what she’s seeing. How is this the same Ben who promised her the wedding of her dreams, the same Ben who hated his parents’ wedding despite barely remembering it? How is this still her Ben, when he consistently sides with and picks Snoke over her these days?

“This isn’t even a wedding anymore,” she snaps, more harshly than she’d intended or even realized herself to be capable of. But the more she thinks of it… “It’s a fucking networking event, Ben. And I’ve been to enough of those to know that I’m not spending my wedding surrounded by strangers and alone in a corner while you and your boss make the rounds.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Ben’s eyes soften, and for one beautiful, golden moment Rey thinks she’s finally gotten through to him, finally made him see sense, finally snatched him back from the jaws of that slimy old bastard. “C’mere,” he mumbles, holding his arms open. “That’s not going to happen, I swear. I won’t leave you alone like that.”

She’s just about to fall into his arms when he ruins it all. “It’s our wedding, Rey. We’ll make the rounds together.”

The world comes to a stop, and then crashes.

Rey yanks herself back and stumbles to her feet instead, ignoring Ben’s open arms and questioning look as she picks her way through the mess of papers scattered around them. “I’m going to bed,” she tosses over her shoulder as she storms out of the living room. “We can talk about this again when you get your priorities straight.”

In the morning, Ben’s already left for work by the time she wakes and she can’t tell if he spent all night working on the guest list or if he simply chose to sleep on the couch. But when she finds the updated list still cluttered with twenty of Snoke’s guests, she’s just angry enough to not care either way.

❄ ❄ ❄

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Rey can hear the sounds of Ben moving about in the kitchen, cleaning up after them and putting away the dishes. When the apartment finally falls silent, she squeezes her eyes shut and tells herself this is it, this is the moment he packs up and leaves without even a goodbye–

But then he shuffles past her slightly-ajar door, and not two minutes later she hears him turn on the TV and settle into Finn’s creaky old couch.

It looks like he’s planning to stay for a while, then – which is more than she could say of him during their last few months together, Rey grudgingly reminds herself. She’s spent too much time since that day wondering if maybe she’d overreacted, if things had still been manageable or salvageable, only to remember how awful it had been to feel alone around the one person who’d promised her she’d never be alone again. And sure, she’s lonely now too, lonelier than ever before maybe, but somehow it doesn’t hurt as bad, knowing that she’s choosing to be lonely rather than allowing herself to be forgotten and abandoned again while Ben slaves away at work.

Only… he doesn’t do that anymore, it seems.

With a cry of frustration, Rey puts an end to her thoughts going in circles by reaching for her phone for the first time since she was so rudely woken up by her unexpected ghost of Christmas past. She scoffs when she finds a flurry of texts from Finn and a handful from Poe as well, the earliest of which is timestamped just ten minutes after they were supposed to leave the apartment.

Finn: Okay, please don’t kill me but

Finn: It’s Christmas, peanut. I couldn’t let you spend it sick AND alone

Finn: Also Poe maaaybe still meets up with him sometimes and maaaybe let it slip that you aren’t feeling well and we won’t be around for a few days

Poe: IT WASN'T MY IDEA

Finn: And… I have to be honest, peanut

Finn: We all know how much you’re hurting

Finn: And Poe says he’s hurting too

Finn: Enough that the both of us thought maybe…

Poe: Okay fine maybe it was, but it’s a shared idea.

Poe: With Finn.

Poe: He needs to take AT LEAST 50% of the blame

Finn: Anyway that’s not the point

Finn: Just… please let him help? For me

Finn: I’m just worried about you, that’s all

Finn: We can talk about the rest when I get back

Finn: Love you, peanut

Rey… god, Rey doesn’t know what to feel or think or say. She knows they mean well, knows they only acted out of love and concern for her, but… a little warning would have been nice. And what were they even thinking, letting Ben ambush her like that? Oh sure, she believes he’s been hurting too, isn’t so blinded by anger or her own pain that she’d deny him his, but he was the one who ruined everything, he was the one who picked Snoke over her, who watched her walk away without even trying to stop her, who gave up after barely two weeks of trying to call and text and communicate through their friends.

Ben has known all along exactly what he needed to do to fix things, and it’s still taken him six months to do so. Even if he were to quit his job and tell Snoke to go shove his head up his ass, it would be too little, too late at this point… right?

“Don’t even think about it,” she mutters out loud, forcing herself to concentrate on the here and now instead of what could have been and what could be. The here and now is Finn’s desperate, pleading, well-intentioned texts waiting for a reply, a reply that Rey decides she’s not quite up to giving him just yet. She’s too soft-hearted to snap at him, but too hurt and betrayed to let him off the hook just yet. Besides, she doesn’t want to be held accountable for whatever she says in her feverish state.

So Rey does what any other person in need of a distraction would do: she scrolls through Instagram and likes a bunch of photos of all her friends spending the holidays with loved ones. And when that’s done, she goes through her messages and writes back to a dozen holiday wishes. And when those are handled, she taps on the Facebook app in an act of sheer boredom and desperation… and promptly regrets it.

Because the first thing she sees is Facebook’s oh-so-helpful reminder that exactly one year ago today, she’d posted a picture of her and Ben spending their first Christmas Eve together as an engaged couple.

Her phone is sent sailing across the bed, landing on her pillow with a thankfully soft thump. Rey pulls her knees up to her chest and curls into herself, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths until the moment has passed, until her tears recede, until the white-hot pain fades back into the constant, dull ache she’s grown used to.

And then, like the masochist she is, she reaches under her bed for a photo album.

❄ ❄ ❄

With only four months left before the wedding and everyone’s schedule growing increasingly packed due to a variety of work and personal commitments, the wedding party takes to having the occasional marathon planning session at Leia’s place, during which they typically knock a good chunk of planning and preparations out in one afternoon.

Their second marathon session revolves around the venue, and Leia starts by happily announcing that they’ve indeed managed to secure the Amidala Gazebo and its surroundings for October 17th. Despite the fact that the entire botanical garden itself is named and was built in honor of Ben’s grandmother, it’s popular enough that Leia had to pull some strings to make this happen. Now that it’s a done deal though, everyone is smiling and clapping and cheering in celebration – everyone except Ben.

“Ben?” Re calls quietly, hoping not to attract attention from the others. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just…” He makes the mistake of speaking at a normal volume, and suddenly the room falls silent as everyone turns to the two of them. “Does it have to be October 17th?” Ben asks the room at large, only to be met with blank looks.

It would make for a funny sight, especially since even Poe seems to have been shocked into silence, but Rey can’t quite pause to appreciate the moment as a familiar wave of dread begins to swell. “I mean…” she begins calmly, evenly, trying her best to give Ben the benefit of the doubt even though a part of her already knows. “Since that’s the date we told everyone to save, I’d say yes, it does?”

“It’s just,” Ben stops and darts his gaze to his left, and that’s when Rey realizes he’s had his phone right next to him all along, keeping tabs on work even on a Sunday, even as she sits right next to him trying to get his opinion on lighting options for the venue.

The wave of dread pulls Rey under, ushering in a familiar sinking sensation in her stomach that threatens to turn into nausea. “It’s just, Pryde is flying in that weekend for a meeting, and Snoke has me running point on the…” Ben trails off, finally reading the room or maybe catching sight of the stricken look Rey knows she’s wearing.

He reaches for her hand and gives her a reassuring smile. “It’s fine, forget it. Don’t worry about it, I’ll just get everything done in the morning and then rush over. The ceremony starts at four, right?”

And the worst part is, he actually looks like he’s trying his best, actually looks like he thinks this is okay.

Rey snatches her hand back while everyone else remains deadly silent.

“Rey?” Ben asks, the smile on his face faltering.

She takes a deep breath. “Are you seriously telling me,” Rey says quietly, biting off each word with deadly precision, “that you intend to go to work on the day of our wedding?”

“It’s just a half-day, sweetheart,” he says, and someone – Finn, maybe, or Poe – sucks in a sharp breath at him doubling down on this. Neither of them turn to see who it is, though, trapped together in a brewing storm that separates them from the others. “Don’t worry, I’ll be on time, maybe even fifteen minutes early–”

So he’s planning to leave her and his family and her friends to manage his work guests while he’s off handling even more work, and then waltz in maybe fifteen minutes before their wedding, and then spend the evening networking with clients.

“I’m done,” Rey announces as she stands up, looking around to see everyone else graciously pretending to be staring at their phones or their hands or their laps. “I’m fucking done,” she decides, and walks away.

“Rey!” Ben calls after her, and promptly gives chase. “Sweetheart, calm down, we can talk about this, I know weddings are stressful but–”

She whirls around so fast she nearly knocks into him, hot on her heels. “Not the wedding,” she snaps, because how is it possible that he still can’t see what’s happening here, what he’s doing to them?

What he’s already done to them, Rey realizes with a wave of quiet resignation as everything comes crashing down on her, every cancelled date and lonely night and entire weeks away at a time when they should be closer than ever–

“Not the wedding, Ben,” she says again, softer this time, though she can’t tell if her voice is calm or just small, weak, broken at the thought that… that… “Everything. All of it. I’m just… I’m done, Ben.”

And even after everything, she takes no pleasure in seeing the hurt she’s been carrying around on the inside for months finally reflected in his eyes.

“Rey…” he whispers, taking a step back as if her words have him reeling. The way he’s looking at her… god, it’s like she’s just taken a knife to his heart.

She wavers then, just for a moment, tells herself that maybe it’s not too late, maybe now he’ll finally understand what a mess they’ve gotten themselves into and work with her to fix it–

Their moment of silence is broken not by an offer of peace, but the Imperial March. It’s coming from Ben’s phone, which she realizes now is in his pocket, which he’d found the time to pick up even in his haste to go after her, which even now he automatically reaches for before he realizes what he’s doing just in time to stop.

The ominous tune plays on, Snoke’s custom ringtone for summoning his loyal servant.

Rey would know; she was the one to set it. She sees the way Ben’s fingers twitch, the way his entire frame is tense with the need, the instinct to respond to Snoke’s call, and gives him a small, sad smile. “I’ve been telling you for months to get your priorities straight,” she reminds him gently, too tired to summon any real energy or fight within her, too sad to wrestle with what she already knows is a predetermined outcome. “Moment of truth, Ben.”

The music finally stops then… only to start again seconds later. And this time, the siren call proves too strong for Ben to overcome. “Just a minute, Rey,” he pleads, looking her in the eye even as he pulls his phone out. “It’ll be just a minute, sweetheart, I’ll tell him to call back later–”

She’s already walking away.

“Rey, wait, Rey!”

And she doesn’t turn back to see if he follows, doesn’t even need to. Because the music stops and his voice replaces it almost immediately.

“Sir, I’m sorry but now is not a good– Oh. I understand. Yes, I’ll be there right away–”

The first wave of tears hit her then, as he lets her walk away without a fight, as he picks someone else over her again and again and again.

“What the fuck, man?” she hears Finn growl even as Ben continues to placate his boss rather than her, and seconds later her best friend is the one who comes after her, who drives her away, who lets her cry on his shoulder in the botanical garden where she and Ben will no longer be getting married.

❄ ❄ ❄

“Rey, can I get you more–”

It’s her fault, really, for not shutting the door. She’d just wanted to be able to keep tabs on him, to know what he was doing and when he was leaving, and so Rey had pushed the door almost all of the way closed instead of shutting and locking it behind her like she should have.

Now it swings open under Ben’s fist, only to reveal her curled up in bed with tear-streaked cheeks as she relives the better parts of their relationship.

The album had been an engagement gift from Leia, filled with candids their friends and family had taken over the years, instances when their love had shined so brightly the people around them were compelled to capture the moment in time.

“Rey,” Ben sighs once he realizes what he’s looking at, and she’s getting so sick of hearing him say her name in that pained voice when once upon a time he only ever said her name with a smile. He rocks forward almost instinctively, stops and slows himself down to hesitantly move closer as she admits in a defeated whisper–

“I can’t do this anymore, Ben.”

He stops cold, five feet of distance between them yet so much more. “I’m sorry,” Ben says, looking at his feet. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have– I knew coming here wouldn’t change things, I’m not here to pressure you into anything, I swear, I just… I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you to spend the holidays alone–”

“You left me alone a long time ago,” Rey points out – not accusatorily, not angrily, simply… a statement of fact, gentled by her resignation and acceptance and old hurt. He still flinches though, as if after all these months it’s somehow news to him that he broke his promise.

“All the times I had to show up to our friends’ places on my own because Snoke called you in,” she points out, because he deserves to know what he did wrong, because he needs to know what he did wrong if they’re– Rey stops there, doesn’t let her silly hopes get ahead of herself. “All the nights our bed was too big and too cold without you while you worked late. All the days I spent alone in the home we were supposed to share. Ben, you promised–”

She hadn’t planned on breaking down like this, hadn’t expected those memories to still hold so much power over her long after they’d done their damage. But her voice breaks, and her vision blurs, and a single sob rips past her lips as Ben closes the distance between them to pull her into his arms.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I’m so sorry, if I could do it all again, if I could change everything so that I never hurt you–”

Rey shakes her head, long past the stage of if and maybe, long past dwelling in circles and hypotheticals and daydreams. There’s no going back, she sees that now, but maybe, just maybe… there could be a way forward.

“I just…” She wipes away her tears and takes a deep breath, looks him in the eye when she asks, “I just want to know why, Ben. Why did you choose work over me? Why wasn’t I enough?”

And he knows, he knows exactly what it means for her to have to ask that, exactly what it means for him to have made her feel that way, because in the blink of an eye Ben is crying too. “Rey, no. You’re… you’ve always been enough, sweetheart. Always. Fuck, you’re more than enough, you’re too good for me, always have been. I’m just this huge fucking disaster of a human being with nothing to offer you, but I thought maybe… maybe if I made something of myself, maybe if I worked hard enough so I could give you everything… then maybe, maybe I would finally be good enough for you.”

Rey doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream at the fact that they’ve wasted all this time, gone through all this hurt, just because… god, they really are perfect for each other, aren’t they, the two lonely, broken kids forever thinking they aren’t worthy of each other, forever worrying that they’re not enough?

“Ben,” she says and laughs and cries, “Ben, you idiot.”

He freezes. “What?”

“You idiot,” Rey says again, and can’t hide the odd mix of despair and affection in her voice this time. “You’ve always been enough for me. You filled my life with love, you gave me a home, you promised me a future and a family. Ben, you already gave me everything I ever wanted.”

Ben stares at her for the longest moment, blinking at her like she’s just told him the earth is flat. “You… but I… that would mean…”

“You were enough,” she tells him with a nod. “That was enough, Ben.”

She watches as he closes his eyes, as realization gives way to regret gives way to grief gives way to…

When Ben opens his eyes, there’s the slightest spark of hope in them. “Rey, do you think maybe… I mean, would you… Could it be enough again? Just us?” he asks haltingly, hesitantly.

After months of waking up in tears in this very bed, chasing after dreams so cruelly ripped away, it takes Rey a moment to realize that they’ve actually found their way to this point. A moment’s pause, though, is all it takes for Ben’s eyes to grow dull again as he lets her go and stands to leave. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have… I don’t deserve a second chance, I know–”

Rey panics and reaches for his hand, yanks him back to her with what little strength she can muster from her heavy limbs. “I can’t do this anymore, Ben,” she tells him again, and watches as the fog in his eyes finally lifts. “I can’t be apart from you anymore. And that doesn’t mean I’ve completely forgiven you, doesn’t mean I’m not still sad and hurt and mad, but… but…”

But she’d rather be sad and hurt and mad with him than on her own, rather cry into his shoulder than her pillow, rather fix what they broke together than forge a new path alone.

And somehow, Ben sees that. “Rey,” he says, clutching both her hands as he drops down to his knees. “Sweetheart, I know I don’t deserve a second chance. But you deserve absolutely everything in life, and if you let me I’ll spend the rest of our lives giving you anything you want.”

His plea reminds her so much of his proposal, of his promise to give her everything in the world. But she’d never wanted everything, had she?

Rey hadn’t known the difference then but she knows better now, knows what they need to move forward. “All I want,” she tells Ben carefully, pointedly, “is you and us and our life together. That’s all I want, Ben. Nothing else.”

“Then that’s what you’ll have,” Ben promises her, all earnest eyes and sincere words, “and nothing else.”

It’s a good enough restart, Rey supposes, to a story that was never supposed to end anyway. “Good,” she says with a grin, and watches as a smile lights up his face. “Now get up here,” she commands with a tug at his hands, “because everything hurts too much for me to get down to you.”

The smile falls off Ben’s face immediately. “Wait, shit, I should’ve asked– are you on cold meds? Is this all for real, or should we talk again later, or–”

“Still an idiot,” Rey mutters with a smile as she leans down to silence him with a kiss.

“Your idiot, though,” Ben whispers between kisses, and all feels right with the world again.

. . .

Just a little past sunrise on December 27th, Finn and Poe cautiously tiptoe into their darkened apartment in the hopes of avoiding Rey’s wrath. Judging from the lack of communication they’ve had with both Rey and Ben in the past few days, their plan might not have worked out as well as they’d hoped.

Finn can only hope Rey will forgive them for their meddling before the year is up.

As terrified of his best friend as he is, he still makes a dutiful stop by her room to make sure that her fever really has broken as Ben had claimed in his single Christmas Day text to Poe. He cautiously twists her doorknob, slowly eases the creaky door open, and blinks a few times to make sure that his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him.

“It’s a Christmas miracle,” Poe whispers into his ear as he sneaks up on him, and Finn can only smile in response as a sleeping Rey shifts in Ben’s arms, the two of them still dozing with slight smiles on their faces as the winter sunlight bounces off a familiar ring on Rey’s finger.

[let-it-raines]

fic prompt for captain swan! "my flight was delayed so i'm sitting it the airport scrolling through tinder and the man behind me goes "ouch hard no for that one?" and i turn around only to see the man i swiped no on right behind me!" thanks :)))

She hates airports.

They’re basically like forcing everyone into a large (and yet somehow very small) room where germs are passed around, people are pissed, people are tired, and only a small amount are there to actually go on vacation where life is fun. Most everyone is there for work or to visit family, and really, what’s so fun about that?

Okay, so maybe she’s on her way to visit her parents in Chicago, and she’s not exactly happy to have woken up at four in the morning for her seven o’clock flight when it ended up getting cancelled because the weather in Boston and Chicago both seriously suck in February. Seriously. Snow is pretty and all, but she’s tired and wants to be sitting in her parents’ living room eating the breakfast casserole she knows that her mom is making for her right now.

And she’s stuck at Logan standing in the longest line in the world for overpriced coffee.

She doesn’t even really want coffee. She wants hot chocolate, but she really needs the caffeine.

She needs a lot of caffeine.

Sighing, she pulls her phone out of her pocket, figuring that she can at least use the free Wifi and pass the time by scrolling through the internet. And she does, making her way through all of Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Hell, she even goes through Facebook. She doesn’t even know when she last used Facebook.

It had to have been at least a year ago when Ruby and Dorothy got married, and she wanted to see all of the pictures Ruby had tagged her in. But that had definitely been the last time. She should probably just delete the account.

The line moves at a slow pace, and she’s convinced she’s never going to get her coffee, so as a last resort, she opens up Tinder, which is also something she hasn’t used in awhile, probably not since she was trying to find a date to Elsa’s wedding in June.

Why in the world are all of her friends getting married? What is she doing with her life? Woah, Emma, don’t go down that road. She’s fine. Everything is fine, and her mom totally isn’t going to hound her about why she’s not dating anyone while she’s eating the cold breakfast casserole that she’s missing right now.

Her mom is definitely going to hound her on it, especially because her cousin who is younger than her just announced that she was pregnant when they were all eating Christmas dinner. She could practically feel her mom screaming “baby, baby, baby oh” all Justin Bieber style.

Her mom is not as good of a singer as Justin Bieber…not that she would ever admit that…out loud. She’s twenty-seven years old, single, childless, and she can jam out to Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers if she wants to while she’s driving down the road late at night following a guy for one of her cases.

She’s a consummate professional. Always.

It takes forever to go through the profiles, a bunch of sleazy guys who pose shirtless in their pictures and write some of the dumbest captions in the world, and while she may not have always had the best taste in guys, she’s not about to go on a date with Matt from Boston who is looking for a “hot girl with an ass that won’t quit.” Her ass won’t quit, but her ass has standards. And it goes on and on like that, every single guy she sees just kind of looking like a douche, so she’s constantly swiping left simply because she can.

“Ouch,” someone groans behind her, right in her ear really, “so it’s a hard no on him, huh?”

She turns around, about ready to chew this dude out for looking over her shoulder, and it’s exactly when she sees familiar blue eyes and dark hair of the guy she just swiped left on.

Well, shit.

She’ll just walk to Chicago. Screw the snow. She’ll walk and then move there so she never has to run into this guy again.

Seriously, what are the odds? She needs someone super smart and good with statistics to figure out what exactly the odds are of having the guy you just rejected on Tinder standing right behind you in line at a Starbucks in Logan International. She’s also kind of regretting swiping left because, well, he’s hot, especially in person. His profile wasn’t bad, it was actually pretty good from the glimpse she got of it, but she was kind of on a roll of rejecting guys. It felt…powerful almost, and the more she thinks about that, the more she realizes that she really is tired if she thinks silently rejecting on guys is making her feel powerful.

But Matt from Boston totally deserved it.

“Seriously,” she whines when she looks up at him and the way his lips are stretched into an actual smirk. A smirk. In real life. And not on a Disney character. It’s insane. He’s smirking at her, his thick brows moving across his forehead, and she’s still considering just not going to visit her parents for their thirtieth anniversary party. “So I’m guessing you saw that.”

“I did just see you reject me without really even reading my profile,” he laughs, his British accent coming out stronger than it did when he first spoke. She didn’t even realize he had an accent at first. “I mean, come on, love. My profile is pretty good.”

“Obviously not if I just swiped it away like nothing.”

“Ah,” he sighs, crossing his arms over his chest and adjusting the backpack on his shoulders while his lips press together into a straight line, “well, maybe. Or maybe you were simply rejecting every man in Boston all while waiting in this ridiculous line. You were going pretty fast.”

“And you were invading my privacy.”

He shrugs, almost like he doesn’t have a care in the world while she feels irritation prick up over her skin. “I don’t mean to point out the obvious – ”

“Which is exactly what you’re about to do.”

“Aye,” he laughs, his eyes crinkling at the sides, and oh no, she will not find that attractive, “I am. I really didn’t mean to pry, but I’m a wee bit taller than you, and the way you’ve been holding your phone is directly in my eyeline while I watch the television playing. And imagine my surprise when a beautiful woman rejected me without even giving me a chance. I wasn’t planning on getting rejected this morning.”

“I’m guessing you don’t get rejected a lot.”

“It has something to do with my devilishly handsome good looks.”

“Oh my God,” she groans, rolling her eyes while he moves his eyebrows again. Why does he keep moving his eyebrows? “That is so conceited.”

“Or confident.”

“Conceited.”

He shrugs. “Whatever you say. So why the rejection of men on this fine Thursday morning?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would. That’s why I’m asking.”

“Flight’s delayed, I’m bored, and I really want coffee.”

“The same could be said for me, but I do feel like I would give your profile a chance.”

“Guess you’ll never know now.”

“Perhaps.” He smiles down at her before he uncrosses his arms and sticks his hand out. Oh wow. He’s really about to introduce himself to her. Maybe the guy really does have confidence. “Killian Jones.”“Emma Swan,” she says warily, taking his hand in hers and shaking it up and down three times. She definitely doesn’t notice how warm his hand is. Nope. “It’s nice to reject you.”

“It’s nice to be rejected.”

She and Killian talk as they move through the rest of the line. It’s awkward and stilted sometimes, but he’s a pretty persistent guy. And obviously he does not feel embarrassment because he powers through it all and chats away about his job at an engineering firm and then asks her far more questions than necessary about what it’s like to be a private investigator. He seems genuinely interested, and that may be the first time that has happened…ever. But he’s a nice guy, funny at least from what she can tell, and when she finally gets to the front of the line, she pays for his coffee.

She’s not really sure why she does it. Maybe it’s some kind of apology for rejecting him, even if she doesn’t need to apologize for that, and maybe she just figures there’s no harm in being nice. Plus, he drinks black coffee, so it’s not like it was expensive.

She was really scared he was going to order something complicated for a minute there. He seems like the type of guy who would do that.

He also seems like the kind of guy who would part ways after he got his coffee and leave her be, but he asks her if she wants to find somewhere to sit. She does, so she follows him until they manage to find a spot on the floor next to the windows, settling down on the ground and completely ignoring how disgusting this has to be.

It just has to be.

She’s sure of it.

Killian’s apparently flying to New York for a conference, something he’s not at all looking forward to, and his flight has been delayed until at least one. So really, he’s going to miss the entire first day of it, and a part of her feels like maybe the man is happy to be stranded in an airport.

She’s kind of happy to be stranded in an airport.

Yeah, this has got to be like that movie where the girl gets trapped in a romantic comedy? She doesn’t meet men in airports who are charming and funny, especially men who also use Tinder. She really can’t say anything. She uses it too. Maybe he was simply looking for a wedding date. Maybe he was looking for a hook up. She can’t blame him there either. Sometimes you just need to scratch the itch.

She does have a bit of a hard time believing that he has trouble finding someone to scratch the itch with, but hey, maybe he doesn’t always have a great first line like calling her out for rejecting him.

She wonders if people still even use pick up lines. She also wonders if they’ve ever worked. If someone walked up to her and said “Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?” she’d definitely have to hold herself back from slapping someone or tossing a drink.

She swears she’s not a violent person.

Maybe just a little.

“So tell me, Swan,” Killian begins, fiddling his fingers over his thighs and the suit pants that are stretched with the muscles, “you’re from Boston, correct?”

“That would be correct.”

He smiles, all of his white teeth on display, and she wonders what dentist he goes to. “And I assume that you’re single from your use of dating apps.”

“You’re a very smart man, Jones.”

“Oh, well that’s never been a doubt.”

“Stop,” she groans, reaching over and knocking her shoulder into his while she laughs.

“Never,” he promises, twisting a ring around on his thumb. It’s weirdly hot, especially since she knows it’s not a wedding ring. This conversation would have stopped before it started two hours ago because they have definitely been flirting, and she’s not going to flirt with a married man. It’s been awhile since she’s flirted with someone outside of work, but she knows how these things go. “So you’re from Boston and you’re single. It’s a funny coincidence because those two things happen to be true about me as well.”

“I’m glad we finally found something we have in common.”

“Aye, me too, even though we both have fantastic taste in comedic television.”

“That’s true,” she laughs, her lips stretching into a smile while her entire body buzzes with energy. She knows where this is going, and she likes it, which only surprises her a little.

“So I was thinking, maybe when we get back from our trips, you might like to go out to dinner with me.”

She hums, tilting her head back against the glass while Killian scratches behind his ear. “I think that might be a good idea. But I should warn you that you’ve already been rejected once, so I would suggest that you be on your best behavior. Or your worst. It kind of depends on how you want the night to go.”

“I’ll have to think on it. I do so fancy you when you’re irritated with me for peeping over your shoulder.”

“You’re a weird guy.”

“Who you’re going on a date with.”

“That I am.”

And it’s one date, then two, then three. And it goes on and on and on as she and Killian travel across all of Boston going to restaurants, museums, and baseball games. Eventually the fun dates slow down. They don’t stop, but they’re replaced by takeout at home, by a run down at the river on Saturday mornings, or by a cup of coffee in the morning before work when she’s staying at his apartment working on a case while he’s rushing off to do whatever it is he does as a civil engineer. She’s not entirely sure, simply because she doesn’t understand the mathematics of it, but she doesn’t really care as long as he’s happy doing it.

She loves him. She loves him a lot, actually, and it constantly surprises her how happy she is getting to have someone by her side who laughs with her and yells with her and who will let her eat all of the junk food in his apartment without complaining.

Okay, so he complains a little bit, but it’s really only when she eats his Doritos. It’s his favorite American snack, and he’s very protective over the cool ranch flavor. Anything else she can have.

She thinks it’s kind of weird, but then one day he’s at work while she’s at home doing research, and she really wants the chips. It takes some maneuvering, some climbing on cabinets because he put them on the shelf she can’t reach, and then she’s grabbing the unopened bag while making sure she doesn’t fall backwards and bust her ass. She doesn’t when she gets the chips, but she almost does when she spies a small green velvet box tucked into the corner. She knows what it is, wants to open it so damn bad that she almost does, but she restrains herself. She knows Killian, knows that he probably put a lot of effort into the ring and into his plan for proposing (holy shit, he’s going to propose), so she puts the Doritos back and pretends that she never saw it.

The weeks pass, and for awhile, she forgets about the ring even though something in the back of her mind is nagging at her, a little doubt trying to freak her out about why he hasn’t asked yet. But she does forget, doesn’t focus on it constantly, and they go about their lives.

It’s only when they’re at Logan again, two tickets in her wallet for them to fly to Chicago to visit her parents so Killian can meet them, that she realizes what he’s going to do. He somehow manages to get them in nearly the exact same spot on the floor as that first day, their thighs pressed together this time with no distance between them, and he hands her a diamond ring and whispers in her ear.

“I know that you swiped left on me the last time we were here, but I’d really like it if you put this ring on your left ring finger. Forever, preferably.”

Needless to say, she deletes the app.

[xxwritemeastoryxx]

High School Bites

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Damon Salvatore x Plus Size Reader

Word Count: 1.8K

Request:  can you do me a favor and do a plus size reader x damon? where he falls for her at school and he stands up to bullies for her? please and thank you in adnvance.- @lilacprincessofrecovery

Warnings: Bullying, some body shaming, that’s about it in this one. 

Author’s Note: This request hits home a bit. I so wish Damon Salvatore had been there for me in my moments of need like I’ve written in this. It definitely would have made for a better school experience. 

You hated High School with a burning passion. While High School was supposed to be one of the best years of someone's life, you strongly disagreed for several reasons. While you had a positive outlook walking through the front doors of Mystic Falls High on the first day of Sophomore year, that all changed the moment you had encountered the popular crowd.

Before Moving to Mystic Falls, you had never had a negative thought about your body. Sure there had been a doctor here and there that told you that you were 'overweight' and should try living a healthier lifestyle. But the words had always gone through one ear and out the other. Because at that point in your life you had learned how to own your curves in the best way possible.

Every outfit that you had purchased, you gave it a tweak here and there so that it hugged your body in the right places that had always made you feel confident in your own skin. Throw in a great hair day and a bit of makeup, if you felt like it, and you felt unstoppable.

That had been the plan that first day of Sophomore year. To walk into the school with the same confidence you held on a daily basis. That day had broken every confident thought you knew you had. You had heard the whispers, the laughter, even the disgusted looks that had come from the same group of people throughout the day.

From where you had walked in with your head held high, several classes later you had shrunken down and avoided eye contact with several people. You felt so out of place and you hated it. The first several weeks of school, you had learned to stay to yourself, trying as much as you could to be invisible.

Of course being invisible meant that no one was going to bother you, but that hadn't been the case. Throughout Sophomore year and Junior year, Katherine Pierce and her band of brainless minions always seemed to go out of their way to make you feel anything but confident. You look forward to weekends and vacations to spend a few days away from them.

It was also why you continued to stay to yourself and just focus on your school work. If you focused on all of that, you’d soon be able to graduate and leave Mystic Falls in your rear view mirror and not think twice about it. Of course once Senior Year started, things had began to change.

An old Family had moved back to Mystic Falls after leaving for several years. And from all the chatter you had heard on the first day back at school, the Salvatores were apparently a huge deal around here. You had even already heard that Katherine herself had made it known that Damon would be hers by the end of the day.

The words had just made you roll your eyes. It appears that founding families in Mystic Falls get the royal treatment when they came into town while those that weren’t a founding family was treated like crap, just as you had been.

The only thought that came through your head was that he was just going to be another one of the popular crowd that would just tease and bully you until you graduated at the end of the school year. Even more reason to make yourself want to be invisible.

But come Lunch that day, you sat in your normal corner alone and away from the others as, before someone approached the table and took a seat. Your eyebrow raised as you took in the guy before you. The raven black hair and the piercing blue eyes had actually made your heart skip as you looked at him.

“Can I help you?” You asked unsure of why he was there. As you sat there your eyes wandered around the cafeteria wondering if this had been a prank. Had Katherine set you up to be teased already?

“You looked like you could use a friend.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders as began to eat the food on the tray before him. “Plus all the other tables are crowded and I don’t particularly feel like dealing with people who are dying to become my best friend.”

“You must be Damon.” You said giving him a small smile even though you were still being cautious as to the possibilities of what could be going on in that moment.

“The one and only.” He said giving you a smirk. “And your name?”

“Y/N Y/L/N.” You said with a nod. “Of course not one of the founding families or anything.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you already.”

That had caused you to laugh and shake your head. “You should know that if Katherine sees you sitting here, it will ruin your newly established reputation in this school.”   

“I’ve never cared about that.” He said with a shrug. “Plus Katherine hasn’t changed one bit since the last time I’ve seen her. I’m not missing out on anything by not being her bestie.”

“You hate her.” It hadn’t been a question but it had surprised you. Everyone had loved and praised Katherine and there were very few people that you had come across that shared your opinion about her.

“Careful, Damon.” Speak of the devil.  “If you don’t watch your food, Y/N might just snatch it with in a blink of your eye.” She turned to you and gave you a glare. “And you may want to warn your parent’s that the Y/L/N Family is going around to the Founding Families asking to be the next charity case.”

Katherine’s words had made you shrink down in your seat. Everyone had known that your parents were currently struggling to keep their store afloat. But to hear Katherine make it seem like the only reason Mystic Falls had opened their arms to your family had been because they were a charity case, made tears form in your eyes. You could handle the harsh words about yourself but when it came to your parents you hated when anyone spoke ill about them.

Damon gave a scoff as he looked at Katherine. “Hey Kat, is your family still living of the Mikaelson Checks?” For the first time since you had meet Katherine, it was the first time you had seen her mouth drop open. “Or do your minions believe that your still working the same modeling gig for the last twelve years?”

There were whispers from the girls that stood by Katherine as they looked between her and Damon. Even you had sat there stunned as you watched the interaction.

“You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, Damon.” Katherine said through clenched teeth. “My parents work for a living and do just as much as your parents do to support this town.”

“That was after your parents made a deal with Mikael.” Damon said with a shrug. “If anyone is a charity case, as you so put it, its you. My brother and I may have left for a while, but we’ve kept tabs on what was going on through our parents and let me tell you, The Y/L/Ns have turned that store around from your parent’s disaster. So the next time you want to take a crack at Y/N for something you’ve been through, I suggest keeping your mouth shut.”

Katherine stood there wide eyes as she took in Damon’s words. While Mystic Falls had been a small town, the Pierces have done everything to keep their problems under lock and key, yet Damon was spilling them in a matter of seconds. It caused Katherine to glare at him before walking away.

“Like I said,” Damon said as he turned his attention back to you. “She hasn’t changed at all.”

“Thanks.” You said giving him a smile. “No one has ever stood up to her for me. I tried doing that on my own back when I first started attending here, but it failed miserably.”

“Given the right fuel, you’ll be able to fight back.” He said giving you a smile. “I’d be happy to give you that fuel.”

You shook your head, a smile on your face. “If it means I can finish out the school year without any more problems, I’ll gladly take it.”

He chuckled before his smile grew to a grin. “While we are making plans to finish out the school year, what is it you’re doing this Friday night?”

A blush crept up on your face as you realized what he was asking. “Whatever it is that you have planned.”

________

“Hurry up Y/N, we’re going to be late.” Damon said as he called from downstairs.

“I’ll be down in a minute!” You called back before looking back towards your young next door neighbor, Nikki. “Just make sure they are both tucked in for bed before nine.”

Nikki laughed giving you a smile. “I know the drill Mrs. Salvatore. You and your husband have a great anniversary. We’ll be okay tonight.”

“Thanks Nikki.” You said before giving her a smile before walking out of the room.

As you made your way down stairs, a grin pulled on Damon’s lips as he watched you walk down the steps. Much like you still continued to do with your clothing, the black dress you wore tonight had done wonders to your figure, making you as ever confident as you had been all those years ago.

Damon never once asked you to change after the two of you had began dating. He loved your curves more and more with each passing day. He loved that you had found the confidence in yourself one more. After Damon had put Katherine in her place, he had watched as you shined and found yourself as happy as you had been before you moved to Mystic Falls.

And tonight, it was your 10 year anniversary of being together. While you were coming up on your 5 year wedding anniversary soon, Damon never missed the opportunity to take you out. And just like all those years ago, any time someone had tried to badmouth his beautiful wife, he’d put them in their place.

“Have I told you how beautiful you look?” Damon asked as once you reached him.

No matter how many times he’d  ask you that, a blush still managed to make its way on to your face. “At least a dozen times tonight.”

“Oh you’ll hear it a thousand more times before the night is through.” He said before pulling you in to him and bring his lips down to yours for a quick kiss. “Now lets go before we miss our reservation.”  He said as he pulled away and escorted you out the door.