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pricemarshfield · 3 years

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for candia

Written for Day 1 of @acocweek: Fluff + Theobald. Read on AO3 here.

Theobald, as always, is the first awake.

Things are different than they used to be, of course. He wakes up with a marauder curled into his side murmuring violent nothings in her sleep and a licorice snake biting his hand affectionately, rather than alone. The guards are made up of a mix of Tartguard and North-Gumbian Knights and Saccharina's collection of nobodies that Theo has yet to corral into training. Saccharina lets him sit at her side during every meeting--encourages it, actually, wonders aloud about round tables and councils and more democratic processes of enacting law in front of visiting dignitaries who stare at her staff with wonderment and fear.

There's also still a tangible air of mourning around the place, too. One of the Tartguard started wailing when he saw Princess for the first time, and they'll be repairing the damage to the castle for years.

But what a job to supervise all of this!

"Limey," Theo says with a nod to his new second-in-command, who salutes. "What news do we have for the day?"

"Nothing much, sir," says Limey. "Her Majesty the Queen Saccharina continues to insist we don't need to salute her, but we've maintained proper etiquette anyway."

"Fantastic," Theo says. "Continue on."

"There is one thing," Limey says, and his tone is more confused than nervous, so he doesn't reach for the battle pop. "All of the left shoes in the barracks disappeared overnight."

"...what?"

"All of the left shoes in the barracks disappeared overnight, sir," Limey says. "No one saw anything, and while that's not an especially expensive thing to replace, it is worrying that someone was able to slip past our defenses."

Ordinarily, Theo would be incredibly worried about someone who could sneak into the barracks and out without being spotted, especially carrying what must have been dozens of shoes. But he hears a familiar snort from somewhere above him. When he looks up, no one's there, but that's to be expected. She's good.

"I'll retrieve those shoes posthaste, Limey," Theobald says. "Tell the men not to worry."

"They're not, mostly," Limey says, but Theo's already wandered off, holding his arm out so Princess can keep an eye out, too. She doesn't seem to be especially invested, snoozing on his arm and hissing when he tries to lower it.

"Ruby," Theo calls. "I know you're nearby. Come on."

No response, no sound of footsteps, no flickering shadows. This'll take the big guns.

---

"Ruby did what?" Saccharina says, lounging on her throne, and bursts into a fit of giggles.

"My Queen," Theo says, a familiar headache already forming behind his eyes. "This is serious."

"Sure, yeah," Saccharina says. "All the left shoes in the barracks? Even Jon Bon's? Oh, that's gross. Wait, is everyone just hopping around? Also, just call me Saccharina."

"My Queen Saccharina," he says, and she frowns at him, fiddling with a small magical trinket she'd found somewhere in the castle. "The morale of the men is important. We were able to take the castle without heavy losses, but not without losses entirely."

"Hm." The Queen stands up, shakes her head when he automatically moves to kneel. "She is the Imperial Princess now, and I don't think pranks are gonna hurt morale. Tell whoever's in charge of it that I authorize new shoes to be bought. I've got this whole treasury now, anyway, what else would I do with it?"

Theo takes a deep breath. "I think--" Saccharina waits, raising a brow at Theo's pause. He doesn't normally get this far. "I think that Ruby should probably apologize. And return the shoes."

Saccharina's mischievous smile looks a lot like her sister's. "Sure. And you can tell her that if you can find her."

There's a sudden laugh from behind him, and when Theo swings his head around, he sees only the back of the throne room.

He sighs. In for a long day, apparently.

---

The Imperial Princess Ruby of House Rocks doesn't have tutors here. She's on vacation, officially and in practice. Well-deserved after the war, of course, even if Theo doesn't understand the appeal of a week or month or two without structure. He'd have thought, after everything, that pranks were beneath her, that perhaps she'd even take an active role in governance!

Instead, Ruby seems to have decided Saccharina's challenge for Theo to find her cannot go unmet.

He hasn't seen her all day, even though the Bulb is high in the sky, but the impact of her actions is everywhere. Frosting along the floors that he slipped on, causing a Tartguard pile-up. Little bursts of sparks set to trigger when he opens doors and windows that startle him enough that Princess bites him. The worst offender is when he turns down a hallway only to see piles and piles of shoes, because when he gets back, they're all gone. The other Knights of North-Gumbia, to their credit, are completely understanding.

"The princesses were always fond of japes, weren't they, sir?" Limey asks. Princess hisses and curls around his neck in what he thinks is an affectionate gesture.

"They were," Theo says. Once, he'd woken up, sat up, and stretched only to get a tray of whipped cream directly to the face. Jet and Ruby hadn't been half as good at stealthing away as Ruby is now, but it'd taken him long enough to wipe it off his face that he'd only seen Jet glance back and snort with laughter.

Nothing had happened. Caramelinda had been visiting House Meringue for a family wedding and Amethar had found it hysterical. They had apologized in their own way, after--no escape attempts for an entire fortnight.

He shakes himself of his nostalgia with the help of Princess biting his ear, and as he gently untangles her from his helmet, he says, "Right. Well, keep the search up. She can't hide from us forever."

---

Two days, six hours, and roughly thirty minutes after he makes that statement, he's not so sure. No one's admitted to seeing Ruby, though Saccharina's eyes had sparkled with mirth and kept glancing up to a corner behind him as if daring him to break court etiquette and check. He's checked the secret passages he knows, he's enlisted the help of the marauders (Swifty had only threatened to stab him once during the conversation, so he thinks they're genuinely looking), he's used every spell he knows and considered looking up new ones.

New pranks pop up around the castle, of course. A few meeps let loose in the hallways, frightening a visiting dignitary. Flooding one of the kitchens with cola. Cushions that make it sound like you're farting on every chair except the throne.

"Ruby seems to be sparing you from her onslaught," Theo says to the Queen, watching as Annabelle Cheddar stares at herself in one of the room's mirrors, hair turned a bright Candian purple.

"Yeah," Saccharina says with a wide smile. "She is! It's really cool! I've never had anyone comfortable enough around me who cared me enough to do pranks without me being the target!"

Theo, not knowing how to respond to that, is incredibly thankful for the sixth prank of the day: an explosion of scraps of paper that covers every inch of the room. The paper seems to be mostly made up of old letters from the other nations. They're important, and them being destroyed is terrible, and they will have words about it later, but he can't bring himself to mind too much right now.

Because with all the paper everywhere, he sees the little breeze she makes in her escape, and the direction she runs in after.

---

If he chases after her now, he'll lose her, and who knows if he'll ever get another lucky break like that again. So he waits. Endures waking up covered in Fructeran vino, deals with diplomats' outrage at not being greeted by the Imperial Princess herself, keeps checking secret passages in entirely different parts of the castle just to throw her off the trail. He doesn't say anything to anyone about it, because he's not especially good at deception.

The final prank: a veritable army of chocolate frogs released while Saccharina holds court. It explains why she's been holding back laughter the entire time, but that's a problem for later. For now, he sprints across the room, vaulting over one of the Tartguard, and heads in the direction he'd seen her run before.

There's a few secret passageways this way, but he's checked those. When he reaches a dead end, he looks around, thinks--casts knock on the wall. Sure enough, it pushes open, and on the other side is Ruby Rocks, mouth open in shock.

"Ruby!" Theo calls.

"Damn it," she says. "How'd you even--it doesn't matter."

"You have many things to apologize for, your Imperial Highness," Theo says, walking over to try and pick her up and carry her back to the throne room. She could escape, probably, but it's at least a start.

"That's not true!" Ruby says. "I've been helping a ton of people."

"What, people who needed specifically left shoes? Annabelle secretly asked you to dye her hair purple?" Ruby snorts. "See! Come on, Princess."

"No, seriously," Ruby says. "Look, I did this because it's funny, but it's bringing the mood up around here! Morale!"

Theo blinks at her. "What? Stealing people's things? Ruining their day?"

"Pranks," Ruby says with a nod. "Look. Pay attention to the way people are acting and talking about all of it. I'll be back here in a few hours if you still wanna try and get me grounded."

"Your sister's not going to ground you," Theo says, and Ruby grins up at him.

It's definitely a trick. He's fallen for similar tricks before. He shouldn't this time.

"If you're not back here," Theo says, and Ruby laughs, half-tackles him in a hug, runs past him, and jumps out a window. He doesn't hear a thud or yelp of pain, so he assumes it's probably fine.

He hadn't even thought to check outside, had he? Hopefully, she'll keep her word and he won't have to. Not much else to do now that she's already escaped.

---

When he walks back to the throne room, Saccharina's holding a chocolate frog with a look of fascination and disgust, Primsy's already got one in a box that she's attempting to feed sugar-grass, and Liam is visibly holding himself back from target practice, hands twitching towards his crossbow.

"I must say," he overhears one of the Tartguard say as he takes his place by Saccharina's left side. (Gooey's at the right, still. Had very, very easily won that argument.) "While these pranks are quite improper, you can't deny they're incredibly humorous!"

"Good sir!" says another Tartguard, and one of the marauders behind him rolls her eyes, but has a smile on her face too. "I have to say, I agree. It was nice to have a bit of liveliness around here!"

One of the Fructeran diplomats is upset, but soothed easily after his partner reminds him that he can tell this story before the Imperial Court, always so focused on adventures. The Dairy Islanders seem more excited to avoid courtly talk than anything. One Meatlander is holding a chocolate frog with a look that can only be described as adoring, even as it shits in his hand.

All-in-all, the atmosphere of the room is rather...jovial. Not at all like the quiet mournfulness of the first week of their reign. There's still the holes in some of the walls from their siege, and there's still the palpable loss of the chancellor and the princess, but people seem happy. People are laughing.

When he goes back to the secret passageway--opened apparently by twisting a statue of Sapphria so that she's facing the window--Ruby's there, shifting on her feet.

"You do have to return the shoes," Theo says, and Ruby's shoulders slump. "But--"

"Yes!" Ruby says. "I knew you'd get it. Well, I hoped you'd get it. Gooey's mellowed you out."

"I--that's--we're not talking about Gooey," Theo blusters. "The shoes need to go back."

Ruby snorts. "I did that so we'd get new shoes. Dad told me all about trench foot."

"What?" Theo says. "That's not even a little bit of an appropriate topic for conversation. Especially at court. If you'd just go to your lessons--"

"I don't even have lessons here," Ruby says, and he's so distracted by responding to that with an emphatic 'you should' that he doesn't notice the tray of whipped cream until it's already in his face.

"Bye, Theo!" Ruby calls, already dashing away from him.

He sighs. "Bye, Ruby."

#acocweek #theobald gumbar #ruby rocks #a crown of candy #dimension 20 #my fics

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caffeineivore · 4 years

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The Taylor Swift Concert Hijinks

This is dedicated to the lovely @mygeekycorner and @minakosaino and follows the last thing I posted. M/K and a Taylor Swift Concert. Please don’t kill me, Swifties! Rated PG/PG13. Romance/humour.

The corporate office of Ainsley-Hart Holdings, LLC is not exactly her favourite hang-out spot, ever, but Romina Catherine Ainsley-Hart, “Mina” to everyone but her parents, still breezes in as though she has nowhere better to be at half-past four on a Thursday afternoon, carrying a cup-holder from Starbucks bearing no less than four drinks in one hand, a stylish oversized Gucci handbag in buttery red leather in the other. She plops the first one down at the desk of Janet, the formidable office receptionist, with a winning smile. “Grande soy flat white?”

“Your father is off-site until five.” Wise to Mina’s wiles, Janet accepts the drink, but looks askance at the tray. “I was under the impression that you had a prior engagement-- drinks with some of your sorority sisters this evening? Shouldn’t you be uptown by now if you want to make it on time?”

“Well, Una has the flu, and Cassie bailed on me at the last minute because she has a hot date with Miguel Rivera-- you know, the buff Pro soccer player she hooked up with the last time she went to Cabo for vacation. He looked her up because he’s in town. So no drinks for me, no ma’am, so here I am! I’m just going to go on back, but I promise not to bother anyone or break anything!”

Janet humphs as though she doesn’t quite trust Mina’s word, and Mina pouts for a moment even as she sails off towards the elevator in the back. She’d jammed the copy machine one time, all of ten years ago, and the old battle axe still held a grudge! But no matter. She had more important fish to fry, so to speak. Her father’s office is empty, as per Janet’s report, but she sets down the espresso macchiato in the middle of the desk, with a post-it note scribbled “Mina was here!” with a smiley face tacked on as an afterthought. The four drinks now down to two remaining ones, she makes her way down the hall to the last door on the right. It’s open only a sliver, bearing a plain placard with the name “Kenneth Knightley, CFO” engraved on it. The quiet sounds of keyboard tapping alerted that her target is indeed inside, though from the looks of it, has his back turned to the door as he crunched numbers in a spreadsheet on the computer. Mina raps her knuckles on the door frame for a split second before she invites herself in.

“Hey, Kenneth! I brought you coffee.” Kenneth, never Kenny or Ken, had been working for her father since her college days, though they rarely exchanged more than the usual pleasantries. Smart, driven, serious and good-looking in the unapproachable chiseled-jaw alpha-male way, Mina had always been quite certain that he had exactly zero use for the likes of her. That she knew bits and pieces about him that he’d never exactly told her himself-- his coffee order, for example (Grande Triple Americano, one non-dairy creamer, no sugar)-- was beside the point. But there was the not-small matter of the Taylor Swift concert tickets currently burning a hole in the bottom of her handbag, which had been discreetly dropped in there at some point after the gala masquerade. Exactly in the way that her infuriating older brother, Zander, had prophesied. And if he’d been right about that, then…

Kenneth’s shoulders snap straight, and he takes a moment to turn around, but by the time that he does, he’s schooled his face into polite neutrality. “Good afternoon, Mina.”

She’d insisted on their first meeting that she would not answer to ‘Miss Ainsley-Hart’ and only her mother called her ‘Romina’, and generally when she was not behaving herself. It had still taken him a good six months before he’d started calling her ‘Mina’, and she wasn’t above feeling a thrill of gratification whenever her name was spoken in those grave, collected tones. “You busy? I can just sit here and drink my own coffee until you finish. I got a caramel frappuccino with extra whipped cream and cinnamon dolce sprinkles on top. It is delicious.”

“I will take your word for it.” He saves whatever spreadsheet he’d been working on, then closes out of it, courteously. “What brings you here today?”

“Well, I thought I’d say hi, and you know Janet almost didn’t let me back here because I think she hates me, but you’re free tomorrow night, right? For the concert? Because you are so going with me since those are your tickets and I am so thankful that you thought to give them to me but it would be wrong if you didn’t come with, seeing as to how you paid for them. So I came to set up the plans so we can go there tomorrow and have a great time and I am so going to treat you to drinks beforehand so you can be good and tipsy before dealing with legions of screaming fans, which I’m sure is completely not your scene. So, yes. Do you want to meet at my place, or yours? Five o’clock?”

“I…” Kenneth blinks, apparently caught off-guard. “You don’t have any friends who you’d want to go with you to that concert?” He doesn’t try to deny the fact that he had, indeed, bought expensive-ass Taylor Swift tickets and dropped them into her purse. But then again, she’d never known for him to be less than scrupulously honest about anything.

“That’s not the point!” Mina has a tendency to talk with her hands, and this time she has the wherewithal to set her sugary coffee concoction on his desk first before launching into her schpiel. “You do not have to give me concert tickets just to be nice! And while it’s a sweet gesture on your part, I could at least also get to enjoy your company while at this concert, you know? I insist. You’re going or I will give these tickets away to someone else. And then I would be sad, because they’re TAYLOR SWIFT TICKETS. So, where do you want to meet? We’ll have an hour before the concert begins and we can get drinks before then. My treat, of course. You do drink in moderation on social occasions, right? Oh of course you do. Glenfiddich and soda, if I remember correctly. From the last company Christmas party.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees him carefully pull a Kleenex out of the box on the desk and place it, coaster-style, underneath her frappuccino cup, and curses herself for not thinking of it, but soldiers on nonetheless. “So yes. I think we can meet at my place. It’s a bit closer. And there’s a great little bar called Dazzle right by the venue which certainly has your Glenfiddich as well as a nice wine selection, since I’m pretty sure Scotch would put me out on my ass, and you don’t need me embarrassing you on top of everything else. Please don’t stand me up? I know this is probably not your idea of a fun time, but…”

Perhaps the faintest note of uncertainty makes it into her voice, because Kenneth finally cracks the tiniest of smiles, and faint though it is, it transforms his whole face. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Well, maybe it was a good thing he didn’t smile often, because there was no point in being turned into a babbling incoherent mess just by the random side observation that his eyelashes were a few shades darker than his hair, curly and surprisingly long, and that his eyes softened from the colour of the sky before a thunderstorm to a pleasant cashmere-charcoal. Mina meets that faint smile with a blinding megawatt one of her own and picks up her half-melted frappuccino. “So, five o’clock it is. I’ll let you get back to work and see you tomorrow, then. I’m so excited!!”

True to his word, Kenneth does not stand her up, and the doorman of her building calls her at 4:59 on the dot to tell her that she has a visitor. Mina spritzes on perfume and gives her hair one final once-over in the mirror before opening the door for him, and really, it’s not fair. She knows, intellectually, that he’s tall and built in such a way that no stodgy numbers-crunching finance guy has any right to be, but it’s easy to forget when he’s usually hunched over a computer at the office. Here, standing in front of her in pressed gray slacks and a white button-down, he towers over her even in her sparkly Jimmy Choos.

“Good evening, Mina. You look… nice.” If he’s a bit disconcerted by how glittery her dress is, he doesn’t say it. He does hold out her coat for her to slip into, and offer her his arm. It’s not a date, not exactly, but that doesn’t mean that Mina’s not about to make the most of it. She may or may not be vibrating with excitement, but keeps up a steady stream of conversation as they spend an hour at the bar over his Glenfiddich and her Riesling. Kenneth doesn’t talk too much about himself, seeming content to inquire, in his grave, polite way, what she’d been up to the last week.

“Well, there was wrapping up the stuff with the fundraiser, of course. Una bought the Dior dress, and it looks beautiful on her, and Matthew is going to swallow his tongue when he sees her in it. And I saw Zander off to the airport. He was a bit distracted after the party, which bears further investigation, but he’s in Vancouver now, so it’s hard to get all up in his business while he’s so far away. I’ll still call him later, because at least it’s Canada and not like, Madagascar or something, right?” Zander had also been the one to clue her into Kenneth’s possible intentions, and that has her staring into the pale golden surface of her wine, uncomfortably aware that she’s blushing. “Anyway, there’s the tax forms for the fundraiser to get filed, but I’m pretty sure they just got slapped on your desk by my mom the morning after. In which case, I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right. I sort of get paid to handle stuff like that.”

“You’re paid to handle the real estate company’s finances, not this nonsense, and don’t try to pass it off as no big deal, because I did minor in econ at NYU, and non-profit is a whole new breed of pain in the ass to deal with from an accounting point of view. But thanks for handling it.” Mina plays with the slim stem of her wine glass, then glances up at him through her eyelashes. “The first time I met Dr. Miller, before the fundraiser, she cut the meeting short to Face-time her hospital in San Jose to talk to one of her patients. I sort of hung around. He’s a six-year-old boy who wants to be Captain America when he grows up, which… is a one in a hundred chance. She talked Avengers with him for ten minutes, and I’m pretty sure that’s not her type of movie. I almost cried.”

“She does important work, and so do you, for helping those like her get their funding.”

Mina beams, and when the bartender moseys on over, cheerfully orders both of them a refill before asking for the check. “I’m so glad you think so. So many people think that only ditzy rich girls work on fundraisers, and don’t have any idea how hard it can be. Do people think that Dior exclusives commissioned for A-listers just fall out of the sky or something? Anyway, we have time for another drink before we should get going. Figure I should let you get as tipsy as possible before Tay-Tay. Which… what type of music do you like, anyway?”

She had never seen him at a loss before this very moment, but this is most certainly the most deer-in-headlights look which had possibly ever crossed Kenneth Knightley’s face in the history of ever. He takes a long swallow of the Scotch and soda that has just been set down in front of him, then clears his throat. “I’m not much of a music guy.”

“Oh, surely you listen to something? It’s okay if it’s embarrassing. Opera? Trance techno? Death metal? I won’t judge, even if nothing trumps Tay-Tay.”

“No, nothing.”

“What do you mean, nothing?” Mina blinks, her wineglass halfway to her mouth as she stares at him with not a little confusion. “Surely you listen to something. In the shower, or on the subway. Everyone does. No one actually talks to people on the subway.”

“Umm. Usually NPR, though I follow a few podcasts as well.”

He looks so glum and embarrassed at this admission, as though not being a music guy would disappoint her on a personal level, and though her mind sort of boggles at the idea of anyone who would listen to NPR while showering, she grins at him over the surprise and gives his arm a quick squeeze, noting at random that the bicep underneath her fingertips is solid and firm as a softball.

“Well, you’re in for a real treat, then. Tay-Tay is the GOAT. Just you wait and see.”

An hour and a half later finds Mina with a brand new sparkly white-and-gold Taylor Swift concert tee thrown over her equally sparkly dress, jamming and singing along with “I Knew You Were Trouble When You Walked In” next to a petite dark-haired girl with a nose-ring who, in typical concert fashion, was now her new best friend. Kenneth’s face looks much like that of someone in the waiting room of the dentist’s office right before a scheduled root canal. As there is a seven-foot-tall linebacker-sized man in a top hat and a legit Taylor Swift onesie dancing with at least equal enthusiasm to Mina and her new friend on his other side, she supposed that she couldn’t blame his discomfiture too much.

The pop star goes on to something slower a few songs later-- All Too Well, a ballad about lost love, and the dark haired girl lets out a few hiccuping sobs at Mina’s side, so Mina wraps both arms around her and they hug it out for the duration of the song. Like magic, the melancholy mood vanishes when the next song comes on, and they’re belting along with “Shake It Off” and dancing around Kenneth in a way likely designed to give him whiplash. But for all this behaviour is undoubtedly outlandish and completely incomprehensible to him, Kenneth looks as though he could be persuaded to crack a smile if he’d only let himself relax a little more, so Mina redoubles her efforts, likely yelling out “Haters Gonna Hate Hate Hate Hate Hate” loud enough to annoy everyone around them. But it does bring a tiny smile to his mouth for a second, and she finds, to her surprise, that she’s okay with him finding amusement at her ridiculousness. That had never, ever happened before with another guy.

“Are you having fun?!” She shouts at him over the applause and cheers as the song comes to a close. “Isn’t Taylor the best ever?!”

“It’s… catchy, I suppose. The music, that is.” It seems as though he had to think hard to find the correct word, but Mina forgives him even as she links her arm through his.

“I’m glad you’re having fun, because we still have the backstage passes and we get to MEET HER IN PERSON! I am having the best time EVER!”

Much to his credit, Kenneth doesn’t say anything, though the sigh that he lets out says it all for him.

They hit up a 24 hour diner after the concert, and this time, he insists on paying for her greasy hash browns and slightly burnt coffee, and though she knows quite well that he has likely been up for close to twenty-four hours at this point, he is a consummate gentleman and doesn’t mention that fact, and lets her excitedly run through a blow-by-blow of the concert that they’d just attended as he nurses his own coffee.

“And she is so nice isn’t she? And so so pretty! I wish I was that tall. Legs for days. Then I wouldn’t have to jog to keep up with tall people, or they wouldn’t have to slow down their stride like you’ve been doing all night, don’t think I haven’t noticed.” Mina nibbles on a hash brown and gulps coffee adulterated with a good half-cup of sugar and cream. “Did you have some fun, though? At least a little? I hope I haven’t irritated you too much.”

“No, you didn’t irritate me, and you’re fine just as you are. You don’t need to be any taller.” It’s not exactly the most poetic or flowery of compliments, and yet Mina feels the stilted words warm her from within. Now, post-adrenaline-rush, a bit tired and content, somewhat cold from gallivanting about in a tiny dress all night and letting second-rate greasy food warm her back up, she absolutely can’t think of a better way to spend her Friday night. Undoubtedly, her usual crew is out at some place a great deal fancier, and having a blast, and yet… she takes a second hash brown and smiles up at Kenneth.

“So, should I get you a Taylor Swift album for your next birthday? I love her new one, but the old ones are where it’s really at.”

“You don’t have to get me anything for my birthday. But I should get you home, yeah? It’s getting late, and you’re probably cold. That coat’s still bound to be drafty with that dress, and you’ve been wearing it unbuttoned half the time.” Almost as though on impulse, he buttons it up all the way, then jerks his hands back like he hadn’t meant to take such a liberty.

The traffic is reasonable by New York City standards when they share a cab to her place, and he walks her all the way to her door, gentleman-like. Mina turns to him with a smile, and-- is he leaning towards her just a little?

He is, one hand held out towards her, and she launches herself at him, wrapping both arms around a broad back firm with muscle underneath his black pea-coat, but he freezes, stiff as a board, and belatedly she realizes that he probably meant to shake her hand rather than give her a hug, and she’s quite certain that the heat of her cheeks is warm enough to start a fire in the hallway. But there’s nothing to do but roll with it, and she stands on tiptoe, leaving a whisper of Tom Ford Lavish against his jaw as she air-kisses him.

“Well, good night. And have a good weekend. I’ll see you around. Probably.” Uncomfortably aware that she’s babbling, like she has been all night long, really, she unlocks her door while managing to avoid his eyes, and all but jogs in, heels and all. She leans against the door after it’s locked back up behind her, and lets out a windy sigh as she pulls up Spotify on her phone.

Lovelorn ballads by Taylor seemed to be in order, possibly played on repeat, the neighbours be damned.

Mina takes four days to talk herself into visiting the office again, and even then, makes a point to shuffle her own schedule for the day, getting up at an ungodly hour of the morning to sweet-talk a contact in Milan to donate couture evening-wear for a charity fashion show-- proceeds to benefit victims of domestic violence. That phone call, which was originally slotted in for early afternoon, freed up the rest of the morning to visit the salon after a shopping trip to Bergdorf Goodman-- it was never too late, after all, to get her parents the present for their upcoming anniversary, and she went with the traditional 35th anniversary gemstone of emerald for both-- finding matching platinum-and-emerald cufflinks for her dad and earrings for her mother. She has both presents wrapped and sent off to her place, and then leaves herself at the tender mercies of her stylist, Adrianna, whose surgeon-steady hands snip off the split ends of her golden hair and refreshes the layers without taking off so much as a centimeter more than necessary. In the very least, she knows, she will be facing Kenneth looking her absolute best. Not that he was the shallow type like that, but still.

“That’s a boy-related frown, and boy-related frowns cause wrinkles.” Adrianna’s voice floats, matter-of-fact, above her head. “I’m double-booked like a mother-trucker this whole week because of the ills of holiday over-indulgence which apparently I’m supposed to wave my magic wand and handle, and don’t have time to deal with wrinkles today, sweetie, so you’re either just going to have to jump him or get over him.”

“I don’t know if jumping him is in the cards, and there’s no getting over someone who never exactly-- well. It’s weird, is all.” Mina starts to pick at her nails, a bad habit from her middle school days, but a stern look reflected in the mirror stops the fidgety movement in its tracks. “Am I so obvious?”

“Sweetie, I’m pretty sure I’ve not seen a boy-related frown on your face since I did your updo and makeup for senior prom, and had to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t tell you that any boy who told people to call him ‘Ace’ with a straight-ass face is clearly on next-level rom-com antagonist levels of douchebag. But all I can do is make you look gorgeous, not that you’re not already, and wish you luck. Please tell me he at least has a normal name.”

“His name is Kenneth, and he has an MBA from Columbia, and he works for my dad, and he has absolutely no use for me whatsoever.”

“Oh, nonsense. If he found some use for you, he’d probably have lobbied for you to be on daddy dearest’s payroll, and then where would we be? Wearing some ugly blazer and god-awful follicle-destroying chignon. My suggestion is to get a stupidly large box of chocolates, of course. The damned things are already getting put up in stores in preparation for Valentine’s Day, of course. Either the boy is not interested, and then you can self-medicate with chocolate endorphins, or he is interested, and you can share the chocolates, in bed.”

The deliberately crass suggestion brings Mina out of her funk, as it is intended to do, and she laughs helplessly even as Adrianna finishes blowing out her hair, fussing with it until it gleams like sunlit silk. Mina thanks the stylist and leaves a generous tip, and then stops at a boutique bakery en route to the office. She does buy the stupidly large box of chocolates, but also a fancy box of assorted macarons in numerous pastel shades.

This time, when she arrives at the desk of the formidable Janet, she doesn’t do much more than hold out the delicate cookies as a peace offering. “I’m just going to go on back.”

“Good for you. I’m too busy to chit-chat anyway. Take your cookies and be off. Close the door behind you when you have it out with him, will you?” Janet doesn’t even look up from the computer screen, the phone receiver cradled between her shoulder and jaw as she clacks away at the keyboard. Mina looks at the solidly-built brunette with a little bit of consternation, but Janet simply waves an irritable hand in dismissal. Put squarely in her place, she makes her silent way to the elevators, and makes a beeline towards Kenneth’s office.

It’s almost deja vu when she gets there. Door slightly ajar. The man seated at his desk, typing away at some spreadsheet. She knocks, then lets herself in. “Hi.” To her annoyance, her voice seems to have gone all breathy and low.

Kenneth still takes his time to turn around, but this time, when he does, his expression is almost soft. As with the last time, he closes the Excel spreadsheet and gives her his full attention. “Mina. What brings you here today?”

“I… cookies? That is, do you want cookies? I thought I’d come and say hi. Hopefully you’re recovered from being surrounded by Swifties. Are you busy?” Belatedly, she remembers Janet’s injunction that she close the door, and gives it a hasty shove. The slam sounds overly loud in this quiet hallway, and she blushes. “I know my dad usually schedules his meetings in the mornings, so I figured this would be a better time.”

“Yeah, he’s off-site. A late business lunch with some guy from an architectural firm. And you didn’t need to come and make sure I’m all right. I… I had a good time that evening. Really.”

“I should’ve brought you something for lunch rather than cookies, probably, but they looked so good. Not practical, though.” She, too, wasn’t the practical type. Taylor Swift and sparkly dresses as opposed to NPR and spreadsheets. What was she doing, really? Without anyone here to stop her, she sets down both cookies and candy box on his desk and picks at her cuticles. “Anyway. Glad you didn’t hate it. I should probably go. I’m sorry if I bothered you.”

For such a big man, he moves with incredible speed as he stands up and comes around the desk, blocking her way to the door before she’d registered that he’d moved. “Mina. Are you all right? You seem out of sorts, and in the… six years, seven months, two days and… an hour and a half?... that I’ve known you, you’ve never been like this.”

She blinks up at him, then crosses her arms. “Six years, seven months, two days, and three hours and fifteen minutes. I know exactly when I met you.”

“No, your dad introduced you to me before taking you out for lunch that day at eleven o’clock. It’s twelve twenty-six right now.”

Mina, if she closes her eyes, can see that day as clear as if it were yesterday, down to the navy blue tie knotted just a little too tight on the man standing across from her. He’d filled out a bit since that internship when he’d started working at the firm, and his ties were both more expensive and more expertly tied nowadays, but… She raises her chin stubbornly. “Yeah, that’s when my dad introduced us. But I actually met you before that, when I was running to make the elevator and you held it open for me, remember? I said hi, you said hi back. I remember thinking, when my dad introduced us, oh, it was nice to have a name to go with the hot guy I’d run into on the elevator. But you sort of didn’t have any use for me, and you still don’t, not really, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy each other’s company, right? Maybe not at another Taylor Swift concert, if that’s truly not your thing, but I…”

“You remember that?” She’s not quite sure how he got so close, but he’s standing right in front of her now, and when she looks up, she’s eye-level to his chin. She tilts her head up, and the expression in his face is something she’s never seen before, and it gives her enough courage to finish.

“I remember a lot of things about you, Kenneth! You just don’t know, because you don’t pay much attention to me, which I guess we don’t have too much in common, not really, but just because we don’t talk that much doesn’t mean that I don’t know, just like you must have known how much I wanted to go to that concert, and being there with you was the best time I’ve had in forever, though you can’t tell Una that, because she’ll be sad and look like a kitten left out in the rain, and I was just trying to work up the nerve to see if you wanted to spend some more time together and…”

She’s cut off mid-sentence by a pair of strong arms, bare to the elbows with the sleeves rolled up, hauling her up just a little off her feet and pulling her close. She has one breathless moment to register that he smells really, really good before she’s being kissed, and there’s nothing placid about it at all as one hand fists in the glossy hair that Adrianna had just so painstakingly blown out and the other lands at the small of her back, hot and wide through the thin material of her dress. She can do nothing but clutch at his wide shoulders and hang on for dear life, but a moment later, she gives as good as she gets, lips parting under his and soothing the tiny nip that she inflicts on his lower lip with a flick of her tongue. A moan breaks the silence of the office, and she belatedly realizes that it escaped from her lips as his mouth shifts to the sensitive skin of her jaw, giving both of them the chance to catch their breaths.

Mina slides her fingers through the silky hair at the nape of his neck and leans her head against the crook of his shoulder, where it seems to fit perfectly. “Don’t you dare start to regret kissing me.” The words come out forcefully, but with a bit of a tremble nonetheless which she tries to hide by muffling it against his neck. He’d have lipstick on his collar, but it couldn’t be helped.

A faint, slightly breathless chuckle escapes him, rumbling through his chest underneath her ear. “No. I regret not kissing you that night, though.” That statement is delivered in a shockingly frank, matter-of-fact way even as he tilts her face back up. Her fingers, of their own volition, link together at the back of his neck, and she’s sure that her smile is both goofy and excessive. It was quite likely that she would not be eating that box of chocolate in its entirety in boy-inflicted angst, after all.

“Well, I can invite you to dinner tonight, and we can make up for lost time afterwards. Unless you’re busy. If you’re busy, we can resche--”

His mouth stamps over hers, cutting her off mid-sentence, but the kiss is sweet and gentle this time, and she’s sighing with the romance of it all by the time he pulls back. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Okay.”

The giddy thrill of it is not unlike something that would be touched upon in a Taylor Swift song, she decides, but she keeps that thought to herself for the moment. Maybe in another six years, seven months, two days and however many hours, she’d bring that up again. Surely by then, she could teach him to enjoy the finer things in life, such as jamming to pop music in the shower.

#m/k #senshi/shitennou #sailor moon #fanfiction #fanfic #mygeekycorner #minakosaino

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so-taylorswift · 7 years

Text

Be my girl? | Tomlinswift

CHATZY PARA// LOUIS & TAYLOR GET TOGETHER. WITH// @louistomlinsonx

Taylor: When Taylor poked her head around the door of her bedroom and into the hallway, she felt like a child again. It took her back to when she was younger and she'd wait until her parents were asleep before sneaking out or creeping down to the kitchen to get snacks to accompany her whilst she stayed up all night writing lyrics. This time, she was just waiting so that she could get out of her room and make her way down the stairs and across the house to the guest wing to join Louis. In many ways it was weird for a twenty seven year old to be doing this still, but she couldn't deal with explaining to her mom and dad why she was having her friend stay in her room. Too weird. Taylor padded through the house wearing her tank top and flannel pajama bottoms whilst carrying a sweater - she had other plans for the night, if Louis was still awake. Approaching his door, she knocked gently a few times before poking her head around and whispering a "Lou?" into the darkness.

Louis: His brain had been all over the place. The little talk he had had with Taylor, where he finally told her that he really did like him even if she probably already knew, it had opened a world of ideas inside the boy's mind and now here they were, running about in his brain and keeping him up at night. Luckily, he had friends in LA and New York who were texting him non stop and kept him busy, but as soon as he heard the door knocking, his head bolted to the side instantly to see a head of blonde hair peeking through the open crack of the door, making him chuckle "Yeah?" He asked, kicking his feet to the side of the bed and flicking a nightstand light on and standing up, walking towards the door to open it more for her, his hands instinctively going around her waist and pulling her in for a kiss on the lips "What's the matter, love?"

Taylor: Happy that he was awake and ready to take her rightful place as the main focus of his attention, Taylor moved into the room as he opened the door and let her arms find their way around his neck. "Nothin' much," she mumbled against his lips, kissing him again quickly before pulling back to look him in the eyes. "I just wondered if you wanted to go on an adventure tonight? I mean - I say adventure. More like. Did you want to get out of the house for a little while?" Tay knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep after the conversation that they'd had that day, and if she was going to be awake for hours then naturally she wanted to be so with him by her side. "There's this place like, a ten minute walk from here and since it's not too cold out, I just thought I'd ask.?"

Louis: Louis had her back in his arms, there was nothing that could ever go wrong now. He continued kissing her softly, trying not to get wrapped up with his feelings, before she pulled away and proposed the night out. "An adventure?" He asked with a quiet scoff, nodding his head and smiling "Alright, I'm always up for an adventure, let me go get a jacket" He said, kissing her one last time before going to the small closet where he had hung up one of his hoodies. Grabbing that and slipping on a pair of Vans, knowing he'd probably freeze but he'd deal with it, he turned back to her and reached down to find her hand, bringing it up to kiss the back of it gently "Lead the way"

Taylor: "Yes. An adventure, Louis. This is supposed to be an exciting thing," she said in response to his scoff, although she couldn't help the smile appearing at how easily he gave into her. As he walked away, she used the freedom of her hands to pull her own sweater over her head before turning to look out of the doorway to make sure that she couldn't hear that anyone had come downstairs. As he took her hand, she squeezed it a little before nodding and making her way down the hall and guiding them towards the lounge area. Taylor grabbed one of the big blankets that sat on top of the couch on the way through before approaching the door. "We just gotta make sure they don't hear the door, otherwise they'll kill me." It wasn't so much the issue of Taylor going out at night - it was more the fact of her going out at night, no security, wearing her pajamas.. her parents would worry. She shuffled her feet into her shoes because she was far too lazy to bend down and put them on properly and let go of Louis' hand so that she could deactivate the alarms and open the front door like she had done so many times before.

Louis: These were the things he liked about her, how she made a whole adventure out of something so little as taking a walk outside, and how excited she sounded, she was like a five year old so ready to go to the playground. It was that smile in her face when he laughed that kept him coming back for more. Lou followed her closely as they walked through the house, trying to make little to no noise possible. Once she deactivated the alarm, opened the front door and took a step out, waiting for her to leave the house as well and close the door shut with a very quiet click. Taking her hand again, he waited upon further instructions, taking the blanket from her so he could carry it "Where to now, adventure queen?"

Taylor: "Are you mocking me, Tomlinson?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him accusingly as she walked down the front porch steps. Moving a little quicker so they could get out of the sight of the house, Taylor didn't answer his question until they had started their way down a pathway outside the Swift family's gates. "It's just down here a little, it really isn't far. It's just a really peaceful space far enough away from any light that you can see the stars pretty clear." Was she taking him to a romantic spot? Kinda. But she wasn't going to have Louis in her hometown without taking him to at least one of the places that she'd frequented a lot growing up. She'd written a lot of songs there, and one of the appeals of buying her parents the house that she did was because it was so close to the little area that meant so much to her. There was only a small breeze, the air not as chilly as you'd expect for October as she linked their fingers together and swung their hands a little between them. "You not used to adventures, hm?"

Louis: "Me? Mocking you?" He asked her, looking at her and trying to give her the same accusing look as he was recieving, chuckling lightly before bringing her in closer to him again. It was something that he couldn't help, wanting to be close to her. Having to sleep in separate bedrooms after Steven's party had really been taking a toll on him, and having to pretend that he wasn't eyeing her every step she took because her parents or Austin were in the room had been hard, but when he got to saw her co-exist with her family, see her that happy, he took that as a happy punishment. Following her along, he laughed a little bit at her question "My adventures used to involve at least three or four more of me mates, two six packs of beer and a random place where we could go drink and throw pebbles at shite... Ah, the life of a Donny chav" He said with a laugh, shrugging his shoulder and smiling "I'm sure you were one to sneak out and cause all kinds of trouble"

Taylor: Being pulled in next to him like that as they walked along felt like it would have kept Tay warm even if the weather had been freezing. Sneaking down to see him during the night hadn't really fulfilled her need for him to touch her in the slightest, mostly because of the fact that she'd gotten everything that she wanted from him a couple nights ago and she hadn't been able to have it since. It was some kind of modern torture method, but she just tried to keep her attention on the fact that Louis was hanging out with her family and that was everything to her. Confusing because he really had no obligation to do so what with them not being together, but it made her happy nonetheless. Laughing, Taylor looked up at him, "a Donny chav?" she asked, the phrase not sounding right in her American accent. "Well unfortunately I don't have beer. Or pebbles. My sneaking out was always more going out with Abigail to talk about life troubles, or sometimes sneaking out with guys.." she paused to think for a moment, then joking, "I guess not much changes in ten years, huh?"

Louis: Louis looked sideways at her, laughing as she repeated what he had said before. The way she said Donny chav with her American accent brought him to tears, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pressing a kiss on the side of her head "Oh dear, they're gonna eat you alive back home, love" He said with a wide smirk. Hearing about her childhood made Lou smile, gasping when he heard about her sneaking out with boys. Taking a step back, he placed himself behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist, his lips instantly finding her neck "You snuck out to meet lads out past your curfew, Swifty?" He asked, pressing chaste kisses over her skin. A part of him was doing it as a joke, but another part really needed to be close to her, the hand around her waist daring to sneak his own fingers under the waistband of her pijama pants with a quiet smirk.

Taylor: Tay pouted a little as he laughed at her but, as always, his laugh was contagious and she found herself laughing along with him within a couple of seconds. "Oh God, don't say that," she spoke as her laughter stopped, "they'll have to go easy on me out of pity." When he disappeared from her side it caught her off guard but before she could turn to see where he'd disappeard to, she already felt him behind her. The kisses to her neck made her lose her train of thought, a few moments passing before she responded, "maybe I did. You didn't realise you were dealing with such a rebel, huh?" she asked, her voice low from feeling him on her skin. Her hand reached up over her shoulder to push under the material of his hoodie to rest at his neck and hold him close to her, "but to be fair my curfew was always like, 10pm. Not a hard one to break. You telling me you never snuck out to see girls?" she asked, turning in his arms to face him before grabbing his hand and walking backwards a few steps. They had to get moving or a ten minute walk would turn into half an hour, knowing Lou.

Louis: Louis smiled and reached to press a kiss on her cheek with a smile "As if I'd ever let anybody do anything to you. They'll go easy on you or they'll deal with me afterwards" He said with a smile. What was wrong with him, why couldn't he keep his hands off of her... His lips, the way her hand went back to find his shoulder under his hoodie, he was really starting to feel something tense up inside his boxers and he had to think of the cold he was feeling in his feet thoroughly to get himself relaxed again "Oh, I never would've know, no. You're Miss gold curls, guiar strumming princess of country, but you're nothing like that, are you?" He asked, teasing her as she turned around hands going to her waist and his eyes over her shoulder so that she wouldn't trip or fall. They needed to keep on walking because if they stopped for even just a kiss, Louis was sure he'd take her right there in the middle of the pavement. "Of course I did, girls snuck out to see me, I'm a filthy boy" He said with a smirk, lips going over to find hers for a quick kiss to catch her lower lip and tug at it before allowing her to walk the right side forward again.

Taylor: Hearing him be all protective over her, even if there was the possibility that he was only joking, made Taylor feel endlessly happy. "Princess of country music by day, ninja sneaking out of the house by night," Tay said proudly as she walked backwards, trusting Louis to be her eyes so that she didn't end up flat on her ass. The way that he spoke was hot, his accent always a turn on for her as she slowed down her backwards walking and leaned forwards to kiss him back. "Present tense?" she asked teasingly as she turned back around, realising that he hadn't said that he used to be a filthy boy. Taylor felt like she had to keep it together, guiding them to where they were going and not let herself get lost in kissing him like she so often did lately.

Louis: He smiled when he noticed her go back to her silly self, biting on his lower lip, holding himself back from just grabbing her face and kissing her senseless, which is what he wanted to do half of the time he spent with her. "Yeap, that's what's gonna go on ye gravestone, I'm sure" He said with a chuckle on his throat. He allowed her to look to the front again, his arm just snaking around her waist to bring her closer to him, his hand finding a small spot where her sweater had hitched up so he had access to her skin, the skin that he had kissed and bit all over and was dying to do it again "Past, present... Who knows, maybe once a filthy boy, always a filthy boy" He said with a cheeky smirk, winking his eye at him, pulling himself back from kissing her again "Much more to go?" He asked, looking around and realizing how out of his element he was.

Taylor: She easily fell into stride next to him, willing to sacrifice her warm skin to the open air if it meant that she got to have his hand over it. Every time he touched her it was like she was spun into a flashback of the other night after the masquerade party when her skin had been mapped out by his hands and lips. It made her get lost in her mind for a moment, brought back to reality by the sound of his voice. "Hmm maybe. But I'll be the judge of that." They'd walked quite a way down the road by now, lit only by the moonlight as Taylor's parents' house had been quite isolated anyway, the streetlights outside fading fast into Nashville countryside. For the past minutes or so, her blue eyes had been fixed on the bushes next to them and she stopped as she found the gap in them that she was looking for. "Through here," her fingers intertwined with his as she stepped through the gap and a short distance away were a few trees sat a little way away from a lake. No artificial light, the stars pretty clear aside from a few annoying clouds and grass short enough to be comfortably flattened by their blanket. "It's nothing special, I hope you didn't have your hopes up for something extraordinary with like a private band and a red carpet."

Louis: Louis' smirk turned into a full out smile as he heard how she'd be the judge of that. Filthy or not, she wanted to stick around, and to be honest, that was the best thing he'd heard the whole night, that she wanted him around for longer than just this mini holiday they were having together, which was gonna stretch out until Vanessa's party, and when he had to go back to England. Maybe she'd come with him... Focus on now. He got snapped out of his own thoughts when he felt Taylor's fingers find his again, turning towards the side and finding themselves in a small clearing of grass right by a lake. "I... Think this is wonderful" He said with a smile. Stretching the blanket out, he took a seat and allowed her to get comfortable next to him "You used to come here? With Abi?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pushing a kiss onto her temple.

Taylor: She wasn't getting cold yet, but she knew that she soon would now that they'd stopped moving. Taylor watched as he rolled the blanket out on the ground, taking the closest opportunity to tuck herself into his side close enough to share his body warmth and take his hand back into hers. She nodded down at their hands, her fingers playing with his absent-mindedly, "all the time. We didn't have a lot of friends at school, and my mom would worry. I used to tell her that I was going out to a party or going to the mall with a group of friends but really, me and Abi used to hang out here a lot. Kinda lame." The blonde couldn't help but smile a little to herself - if only she could go back in time and tell fourteen year old Taylor that she'd be sat here in thirteen years time with possibly the most attractive guy she'd ever met who made her ridiculously happy and actually liked her. Thinking of how good looking he was made her look up at him, their faces close because of how they were sitting, "she'd kill me if she knew I brought a guy here. Don't tell on me, 'kay?"

Louis: Feeling her get curled and cozied up next to him made him smile down at her, reminding himself of that night on the couch, the first night, where they both wanted to be like this but they just... Decided not to. God knew why they waited so long, what took him so long to realize that maybe he shoudl've done the first move back then. But he was glad he hadn't, for some part, because the perfect moving actions had driven him here, and now he was sitting in the grass, hearing Taylor's life story, and all he could think of when she stopped speaking was to beg for more. Looking down at her, she surprised him when she turned her head up, her request making him chuckle slightly, kissing her lips quickly "My lips are sealed, baby" He said with a soft smile, his eyes finding the lake again, the water moving around barely. "You don't mind it, right? If I call you that" He said with a slight worried look on his face "I've been used to call people love and darling, but I just... With you they're different, and I just... Wanted to be sure you were alright with it" He asked her.

Taylor: Where his kisses usually made her short for breath and desperate for more, his quick little kisses that he scattered here and there just made her heart flutter madly. Such a simple movement, but it had such an effect on her that she'd never want to admit out loud. She smiled back at him, eyes staying on him as he looked away from her purely because she couldn't bring herself to look away. The guy had all but burst into her life, the amount of things they'd done together in the space of a month being something that Taylor hadn't predicted. From Los Angeles to London to Nashville, soon onto New York.. they'd travelled so much to be together but neither of them ever said out loud why they did it, not really. Tay had to fight the smile on her lips that came about as she realized that the guy who'd had sex with her was worried she wouldn't want to be called 'baby'. "I like it. I want you to," she said simply, yet again following their rule of saying things and doing things for each other without explaining why.

Louis: A slight weight was lifted off Louis' shoulder when he heard her saying that not only did she not mind, but she also wanted him to. That she liked it... She liked him. Boy, in which universe was a girl as good as Taylor Swift liking a boy like him. Sure, he was a great lad, but he wasn't really the best with dating, always going back to the same two girls, he had gotten a one night stand kid, he really wasn't the best prospect for the 27 year old singer who was at the peak of her carreer. But she did. And it was amazing. "Good, beacuse I ddin't want to stop" He said with a smile, leaning his head over hers and taking a deep breath "Alright. Question game. Completely random" He proposed, lookign down at her briefly before resuming his gaze to the water "Which one of your senses would you rather give up if you really had to?"

Taylor: Taylor sunk into the moment, their heads resting together and she couldn't fight the smile on her face. The truth was, he could probably call her whatever he wanted to and she wouldn't mind it coming out of his mouth with his accent. When he said 'alright' it caught her off guard, making her turn to look at him as he asked the question. Not expecting how ridiculous the question would end up being, she laughed for a moment before letting out a thoughtful 'hmmm'. She'd always been the type to put way more thought into these kinds of questions that was probably necessary, "probably taste. Because then I might actually stand a chance of eating healthy. And it's the most irrelevant one - right? I could live without any of them other than sight and hearing, I think." She fell silent for a few moments again before she gave a nod, signalling that she was locking in her answer. "My turn - okay, urm.. if you had to have a superpower, what would it be? And bonus - are you pro capes? I think you'd look cool in a cape."

Louis: He looked at her as she answered the question. This is what he wanted, to get to know the inner workings of her brain, what made Taylor Swift tick, he wanted to know everything. Every little thing that made her the incredible young woman he was falling head over heels for. Hearing her answer, Louis shrugged and smiled "I'd keep my touch too. Scent and taste, I think we'd be all good without it" He quipped into her answer, the idea of not being able to feel her skin, hear her voice, smell her perfume, see her face and taste.. Well, absolutely everything of her, would drive him crazy. Her question put him in a small mind place "Superpower would be telekinesis. The idea of not having to move ever again, everything just comes to you is brilliant. And bonus question, yes, always go for a cape" He said with a laugh. "If you ever got into any trouble and you couldn't call your family, who'd you call?"

Taylor: She could feel Louis looking at her, but she wouldn't let herself look back. There had to be some point where she was pretty much just staring at him, so instead she focused on their surroundings - the leaves on the ground, the barely-there movement of trees in the far distance - whilst still listening to every word that Louis said. "Good. If you didn't like capes - that's a dealbreaker, I'd have to take you back and erase your memory so I could have my secret spot back." She picked at the corners of the blanket as he asked his next question, trying not to sound like too much of a smartass as she spoke, "I'm guessing the cops don't count? Probably Karlie - she's so smart that she'd know the best way out of trouble. 'Kay - you can only eat one food for the rest of your life, so what would you pick?"

Louis: Letting himself lay back, he somewhat dragged her down with him so that they were both looking up, lying down on the grass. He took a deep breath as he pulled her in "Yeah, Karlie does seem like a smart one. And you don't need to erase my memory, told you, lips are sealed, beautiful" He said, looking sideways at her as she came up with the next question, a scoff coming out of it as if he had been asked an obvious question "Sunday roast, and yes I mean all of it because it's like... A meal, so it counts" He justified himself before she even told him that didn't count. "If I showed you a video and told you to answer the question at the end, could you do it?"

Taylor: Lying down beside him, her eyes now focused up at the sky through some branches as she tucked herself into his side. She felt legitimately happy - so at peace with the world that it felt like it had stopped spinning and put itself on pause so that they could enjoy this night together forever. "I'm trusting you, Tomlinson," her voice was soft and it very much sounded like she wasn't even talking about the secret spot anymore, but more talking about everything in general. "I don't think I've ever had one - which I'm guessing is unacceptable to you Brits, I know -but I'll have to take your word for it." His question confused her and her brows furrowed a little as she tried to figure out if this was some kind of trick question, ".. yeah?" The confusion was laced in her voice, and she was going to move on and just ask her next question until she realized how weird what he'd asked was, "wait, what?"

Louis: He really had planned something different, but things rarely went out as planned for him. Reaching down, he picked his phone out of his pocket and pulled the YouTube app. Typing a quick few words, a tune started blasting out. Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl's guitar riff started, and Louis coulnd't help it but start moving his feet with the beat, one of his favorite songs and the one way he knew for a fact that he'd ask the next girl he was falling for how to be his girlfriend. The song had it all covered, and as it went through, the last line happened. He knew maybe she didn't really get it, or it just went over her head, so he turned to her and shrugged "So... Are you gonna be my girl?"

Taylor: Feeling Louis move next to her, Taylor shifted a little so that he could pull out his phone and she watched his face as he typed something in. She was beyond confused, lost in whatever he was doing but letting out a small laugh as it started. Taylor recognised it straight away, mind jumping ahead to the end and she wasn't sure if he was joking or being serious so she just let the song play out into the quiet of the night and she couldn't take her eyes off of him throughout. Tay knew he was smooth, but this was beyond that. The way he'd so casually asked her to listen to the video, his feet tapping, the way that he shrugged at the end.. he was so chill, effortlessly cool and it was a huge contrast to the way that Taylor was battling a massive, goofy smile off of her face. Not wanting to jump to any conclusion regardless of how clear the song had been, she waited until he'd asked before instantly leaning over to bring their lips together and wrap her arm around him. "I'm your girl, Lou."

Louis: There was a brief second of silence after the video was done, Louis really didn't know what to expect, so he was really thankful he really had asked her once again after the song ended. And by her reaction and the way she kissed him, he was taking it as a yes. Dropping his phone by his side, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back gently, biting on his lower lip when she pulled away, kissing the corner of her lips and her cheek gently before bringing her in for a hug and turning around just enough for her body to end up laying completely on top of him, his arms wrapped around her waist "My girl" he repeated quietly.

Taylor: Taylor had spent so much time stressing herself over whether she was falling for him too fast and if he even returned her feelings that it was strange how when it came down to it, she knew exactly what was right as soon as he'd asked her. As soon as she'd recognized the song, really, she knew that her answer would be a yes without any hesitations. When you know that your heart wants someone, sometimes you just know it's right. And that night just felt like everything was the most 'right' that it ever had been. The hug was big and warm and just so much better now that she knew that the man she was hugging was hers. Her boyfriend. No one else's. Most of her limbs were weak from shock as he pulled her on top of him, only able to nod when he spoke before she kissed him again. It was slow and meaningful, Taylor now relying on her kiss to say everything that she couldn't because her brain was in such a fuzz. Trust him to turn some game of twenty questions into something so perfect.

Louis: She took the idea away from him when she kissed him. His arms were snug around her waist, and he felt his eyes fluttered close the moment their lips made contact. One of his hands went up to frame her face and get most of her hair out of his face, since pesky gravity was doing its thing as always, while his lips worked against hers gently. They had no rush, nothing. Well, except... "D'you think your parents will kill me if I just keep you here all night?" He asked between kisses "We should get back to yours, girl" Again spoken between kisses, trying to stop himself from letting them go deeper.

Taylor: Tay didn’t want to go back home. She wanted to stay with Louis out here where everything was so great and she had nothing to worry about. Having such bad relationship history, she wanted to protect this relationship with Louis whilst it was fresh. Whilst it was untainted and argument-free. She wanted to pause it in a moment of pure happiness so she could stop anything from happening that could try and pull them apart. But he was right. They had to get back to the house eventually, no matter how much either of them wanted to. Taylor nodded in agreement, kissing him a few more times before she forced herself to pull away properly. “Let’s go, boy.”

#&. ⸢l.tomlinson⸥#&. ⸢be my girl⸥

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213hiphopworldnews · 5 years

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The Music Podcasts You Should Be Listening To Right Now

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Music is an art form that enhances everyday life in innumerable ways, but sometimes you crave listening to something a little different while away the hours on that morning and evening commute. Over the last decade, podcasts have risen to become one of the new, dominant mediums for intelligent conversation, impactful interviews, and new discovery. Favorite hosts become something like reliable friends you can return to and check in on at any time to seek out their wisdom or humor.

While there are thousands of podcasts that touch on nearly every topic under the sun, the options for music lovers are patently overwhelming. With that in mind, here are 15 of the best music podcasts to help you discover new artists, or go deep on old favorites.

Related: The Best True Crime Podcasts You Need To Listen To Right Now

Celebration Rock

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Okay, maybe there’s a little bias going on here, but Steven Hyden’s podcast Celebration Rock deserves top-billing in any ranking exercise strictly on the merits. Whether it’s his in-depth interviews with the likes of Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, Father John Misty, or Courtney Barnett, his back and forths with esteemed critics like Rob Sheffield, Amanda Petrusich, Ian Cohen, or Chuck Klosterman about rock releases both past and present, or his multi-part series on Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam, Hyden always makes for incredibly engaging listening experience.