#she’d love Seven and Cardigan as well

[miss-andromeda]

It's Been a Long Time, Hasn't It?

Universe: TMNT 2012

Turtle of Choice: Donatello

Prompt: “What are you doing in my bed?”

Title: It’s Been a Long Time, Hasn’t It?

Song Used: seven by Taylor Swift

~

‘Of course we’re gonna do this again!’ Andi texted back with a little smile on her face, responding to her best friend’s text ‘We are absolutely doing this again because I missed this ❤’. She had just walked into her apartment after spending time at April’s, watching a movie and having dinner with her and her father. It was great to be able to spend time with them again, after the insanity that had come to define the last few months. 

It felt just like old times. 

She took off her shoes and hung up her cardigan, then switched off the androids and locked the front door, before deciding to head up to her room. She’d probably end up working on another project (except the laser gun, she was really considering scrapping that idea at this point), then change into her pajamas, continue reading War and Peace and-

And there was a turtle in her bed.

Her turtle specifically. 

She smiled softly as she heard the quiet whistle from his teeth (that gap was going to be the death of her), but then got past the cuteness factor and realized something. 

Why was Donnie not in the lair? And an even better question was, why was he asleep in her room? Did he need her for something, realize she wasn’t home, then just crash in her bed?

That was probably what happened, knowing him. 

She felt guilty for waking him up (she knew darn well the boy never slept; he was just as notorious for an inconsistent sleep schedule as her), but at the same time…she needed to sleep. 

And not just because she promised April that she would sleep this night as she left the O’Neil home. 

After a brief moment of consideration, she finally gave in. She crept over to her bed, gently shaking Donnie by the shoulder to wake him. “Hey…Don, wake up.”

He stirred and groaned, rolling over onto his right side. “Go away, Mikey…I’m trying to sleep…”

Andi rolled her eyes a bit and chuckled to herself. “Wake up, dummy. It’s Andi.” She gently told him, then smiled when he started to open his eyes. “Hi.”

Donnie offered her a sleepy smile. “Hi, enchantress. What are you doing here?”

Andi laughed a bit and shook her head. “Don, honey…you’re in my room.” She told him, then snickered when his eyes widened as he looked at the light pink comforter he was snuggling with, then mumbled an “oh…so I am.”

“Million dollar question is…what are you doing in my bed?” 

Donnie went quiet for a moment, his cheeks turning a dark scarlet. “Um…if I say the reason, promise you won’t laugh at me?”

Andi smiled at him, leaning forward to peck the corner of his mouth. “Promise.”

Donnie smiled lightly at that response, then took a breath - though the red hue on his face was still quite prominent. “I, uh…I missed you.”

Andi gave him a confused look. “We just saw each other yesterday, though. We worked on updates to the T-phones, more progress towards the retromutagen, then decided to stop after working for the whole day.”

“Yeah, I know…I still missed you.” Donnie admitted with a quieter tone. “I don’t like not seeing you every day…you went to school, then went back with April to her apartment and spent the whole day together. Which I’m not mad about, at all! I just…” Donnie’s eyes averted to the comforter again. “...I love having my lab partner with me, and without you…it just doesn’t feel the same.”

Gah, why did he have to be so cute?

Andi smiled softly and leaned in to give him a proper kiss this time. “Well, I’m here now. And I feel bad for waking you, but…maybe you could stay here a little while with me?” Now she was blushing a bit at the thought of the two of them spending time together in her room - at night - but she was willing to stay awake for longer if it meant they could spend some time together.

She practically melted at the sleepy grin Donnie gave her (featuring that gap again) as he scooted over. “Let me just…change into something more comfortable?”

She didn’t wait to see Donnie’s answer as she went to her closet, finding her favorite pajamas and scurrying off to the bathroom. 

They may have been dating, but she was in no way ready to let him see her like that.

She changed into her pajamas (giggling to herself at the little design on her breast), then brushed out her hair and put it up in her classic topknot. Grabbing her dress, socks and underwear, she reopened the door and threw the clothes in her hamper, then turned around to see Donnie sitting up and smiling tiredly at her, still rubbing his eyes. When he noticed My Melody on her pajamas, he giggled to himself as he looked at her. “Never perceived you as a fan, enchantress.”

Andi looked down at what he was talking about and huffed a bit, her face turning light pink. “Shut up, they’re cute.”

“Never said they weren’t.”

She merely rolled her eyes and got into bed, softening exponentially when he put his arms around her and propped her up next to him. “Mm…” She leaned against him with a little smile. “You may be onto something, Don…this is really nice.”

“Never underestimate me, my sweet.”

“And I take it back. Don’t want to give you a bigger ego than you already have.”

Donnie laughed and left a little kiss on her temple. “Aw, humor me a bit, Andromeda.”

“Never.” She followed it up with a little kiss on the corner of his lips, then smiled softly when he turned a light red. He always had that kind of reaction when she kissed him. 

And she had a feeling it would stay like that for a long time, regardless of the status of their relationship.

Andi met his eyes for a moment and smiled softly at how gentle they looked. She wished she could study them; how could a pair of eyes be so beautiful? So sincere and lovely? How could they always make her swoon? How could-

But her internal questioning was destroyed when he looked away from her and let out a yawn, making her laugh and him titter in embarrassment. “Sorry, Andi…”

“Don’t apologize for a natural reaction, professor.” She kissed his forehead to assure him further. “Are you still tired?”

Donnie nodded a bit, pulling her down to cuddle her in her bed - not noticing the red tint on her cheeks. “A bit. Do you think I should go back to sleep?”

Andi thought for a moment, but eventually nodded. “Probably. I’ll text Leo and let him know you’re gonna sleep here tonight, considering it’s now-” She lazily glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand. “-10:03 pm.”

He only nodded sleepily as he pulled her closer. She was like a teddy bear with how soft, warm and fluffy she was. And he absolutely loved cuddling with her, and he was so, so tired…

But he couldn’t just relax. Darn him and his Einstein-level intellect. 

“Andi?” He mumbled in between another yawn. 

“Mm?”

“This is a weird request, but…can you help me fall back asleep?”

“How?”

Donnie hummed for a moment to think, but in his tired mind, there was one thing that came to him. And the fact that it was nagging him told him to just ask for it. “Can you sing me something?”

Andi made a slightly strangled noise in her throat. “Don, are you sure? I sound like I’m dying when I sing.”

“I don’t care, enchantress. I just want to see if that will help.” He weakly opened her eyes, meeting hers with a rare pout on his face. “Please?”

Gah, darn him and his cuteness.

Andi sighed, but gave in nonetheless. “Fine. But it’ll be low so I don’t make your eardrums bleed from my singing.”

Donnie yawned again as he snuggled closer. “Your eardrums only bleed from extremely loud noises, Andi.” He mumbled sleepily.

“You never know. I could make a breakthrough in the medical world.” When Donnie didn’t respond, Andi mumbled to herself at what she could possibly sing. Something quiet, something relaxing-

Wait.

She had it.

She started to remember the lyrics of the latest song she listened to, and suddenly, it came back to her. Perfect.

“Please picture me in the trees

I hit my peak at seven feet 

In the swing over the creek

 I was too scared to jump in

But I, I was high, in the sky

With Pennsylvania under me…

Are there still beautiful things?”

She noticed the sleepy smile on Donnie’s face as he snuggled closer. Even if she thought she sounded terrible, he looked like she was singing the most beautiful song in the world.

And that made her heart nearly burst.

“Sweet tea in the summer

Cross your heart, won’t tell no other

And though I can’t recall your face

I still got love for you…”

She remembered this part of the song, and it always made her think of him. She brought him even closer and whispered the next few lyrics:

“Your braids like a pattern

Love you to the moon and to Saturn

Passed down like folk songs

The love lasts so long…”

“You sing so beautifully, enchantress…” Donnie mumbled to her, leaving sleepy kisses all over her cheeks. Maybe he was just delirious from sleep, Andi thought. 

But when he smiled at her, she could tell he meant it.

This boy was going to be the death of her.

So she kept going. Just for him.

“And I’ve been meaning to tell you, 

I think your house is haunted

Your dad is always mad and that must be why

And I think you should come live with me

And we can be pirates 

Then you won’t have to cry…”

She instinctively held him a bit tighter at that thought.

“Or hide in the closet

And just like a folk song

Our love will be passed on…”

She then left one more kiss on his forehead, mumbling an “I love you, professor” to him.

“Please picture me in the weeds

Before I learned civility

I used to scream

Ferociously

Anytime I wanted…”

She softly sang a drawn-out ‘ah,’ smiling to herself when she felt him smile against her. Knowing him, he was thinking about her meticulousness, even during something simple as lulling him to sleep. 

That was Andi. 

“Sweet tea in the summer

Cross my heart, won’t tell no other

And though I can’t recall your face

I still got love for you

Pack your dolls and a sweater

We’ll move to India forever

Passed down like folk songs

Our love lasts so long…”

By the time she finished the song, he was quietly snoring against her, the whistle from his gap making a triumphant return. When she heard that, she rolled her eyes affectionately and rested his head against her pillow, then managed to grab her phone and text Leo, ‘Hey! Sorry, but Don’s gonna stay with me tonight. Have the feeling that if waking him up is futile. I’ll see you guys tomorrow 😌’ She didn’t bother checking to see a reply as she put her phone aside, then put her arms around her love and closed her eyes.

Within minutes, she had fallen asleep as well. She would see the response in the morning. 

Right now, she wasn’t about to ruin the atmosphere. Not when Donnie was with her, wrapped up in her arms, and sleeping peacefully because of her. 

~

@thelaundrybitch @leosgirl82 @turtle-babe83 @post-apocalyptic-daydream

Here's my submission for the challenge! Hope it's good and everyone enjoys! 💜💜

#TMNT All 4-1 Challenge #tmnt 2012 #oc #donatello #writing

[writtenonreceipts]

for the @jilychallenge event this month! Prompt:  “Cause there’s so much of you I adore” -- “Walk” by Griff & Location: The Black Lake

partnered with @charmsandtealeaves​Warnings: slight angst, hurt/comfort

All There Is, Is Time

Year Seven

She needed to escape.

Strange really, considering Hogwarts already was her escape: the sprawling lawns, the glistening lake, the medieval castle behind her.  This was as much an escape as she could ask for.  She was literally living in a fantasy.

And it was too much.

As Lily left the castle she told her friends that she was just going to get some air and she’d meet them in the library later.  It had been too easy, too simple.  They’d all agreed and told her to come along soon.  Lily often did escape on her own without much else then veiled excuses.  This year was no different.

It was only two weeks into the school year.  Two weeks of back to classes and magic and mystery and…and it was overwhelming.  Even if this was every bit as miraculous as the first day she’d arrived from the train.  Even if she’d been appointed Head Girl.

She was seventeen years old and somehow felt the weight of the world on her shoulders.  There was a war waging just outside the castle--one that she would no doubt have a part in.  Not only was she threatened for her blood status, but her friends were too.  No matter what she did she had a target on her back.  She’d grown used to the cruel sneers and harsh whispers.  She’d grown used to distancing herself from people she used to know.  She’d grown used to too much.

A chilly breeze picked up as she walked down the walk to the lake.  Her cardigan was a little too thin for the weather, but she hadn’t wanted to waste time in going to grab a bigger coat.  In truth, she didn’t mind the change of weather that was happening.  There was something she loved about what fall would bring.

The castle grounds were delightful with the green lawns, the rolling little hills, the forest edge that was riddled with secrecy and promise.  The lake was close at hand as well.  She’d loved swimming while growing up and was immediately drawn to the glassy waters.

Until she saw the form already standing along the water's edge.  

It wasn’t hard to place him with his wild hair, gangly form, and the confident way that he skipped rocks. 

He moved with ease as he found the perfect rock on the ground and tossed potential candidates in his hand a few times.  And then there was the way he lined up to the water and flicked a hand out sending a rock in a perfect line across the water.

James Potter.

In the last seven years she’d become intimately aware of him.  Of his wild nature, his chaotic approach to life, his pranks, his insufferable ego.  She’d learned about his passion, his talent, the way he cared for his friends.  It took until last year for her to realize there really was a different side of James Potter.

After what had occurred after OWLs she hadn’t wanted to see it.  Hadn’t wanted to admit to it.  But she’d seen it come out in their sixth year enough so that when she’d learned about his being appointed to Head Boy, she wasn’t really that surprised.

Without really knowing why, she continued to the lake, when her feet crunched lightly on the rocky shore, James paused and glanced over his shoulder.  He tried, and failed, to give her that signature grin of his.

“Lily,” he said.

“James.”

She could remember last year just before summer break, when he’d first earnestly used her first name.  They’d been here at the lake then too.  After Gryffindor won the house cup, he hadn’t spent his time celebrating, rather, he’d come here.  And Lily, on an errand from McGonagall, found him.

My parents couldn’t come.  Too sick, y’know.

I don’t like thinking about life without them.

Lily? Thanks.

Lily came to stand beside him.  The two of them together was a strange idea.  What with how vehemently they’d argued in the past.  The way they’d struggled to understand one another.  And now they were coming together again, forced maybe, but it felt different from all the previous years of being in class with him or in detention or…

“How are your parents?” she asked.  

“Fine,” James said.  He shrugged, a bare smile flashing on his lips. “Dad provided Sirius and I with several copies of his signature with the assurance that McGonagall will accept them.”

Lily snorted a laugh.  Early in Second Year, Fleamont Potter had given only one permission slip for James and Sirius to go to Hogsmead to meet him and Euphemia for lunch one day.  It resulted in several attempts of James to either replicate or duplicate the signature to get out of detention or required readings.

“Well, I’m sure she’ll appreciate that,” Lily said.

They stared out over the Lake that had grown dark and gray as clouds converged overhead. Ripples formed along the glass surface as a stiff breeze rolled forward.  It was cooler than the past few days and truly felt like autumn was well underway.

Lily lifted her chin and let the cool air brush her face.  The feel of it made her feel more alive than she had a few minutes ago.

“My sister got engaged this summer,” Lily said, “she told me almost three weeks after it happened. And then only because my parents let it slip/./”

James shot her a look, frown on his face.  Lily chuckled weakly at the expression.

“She didn’t want my freakishness rubbing off on the news and spoiling everything,” Lily explained. “At least I don’t have to worry about being a part of the wedding planning.”

“Why are you telling me this?” James asked. “Not that I mind, but you don’t like me, Lily.”

Maybe she deserved that.  Probably.  The two of them had long danced around who they were to each other.  Or maybe it had always been her dancing.  Her, the one who was never certain of anything or what she could control.

“I couldn’t tell anyone else,” Lily said.  Her words came slow as she spoke, unsure of how to express herself. “My other friends--they wouldn’t get it.  They’d bitch and moan on my behalf, but not really listen.”

“Other friends?” James repeated. “Are we friends now?”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.  Never mind.”

It was stupid to have come to talk with him anyways.  She wrapped her arms around herself and made to step away.

“Wait, I’m sorry, that was--thank you for sharing that with me.” James reached out and snagged the sleeve of her cardigan.  She paused and looked back at him, brow raised. “You never talk like that, y’know?  You’re always so collected like you have your shit together, Lily.”

She looked away from the earnestness of his eyes. “I figured you’d understand--with things not really going the way we thought or wanted.  I don’t know anything about any of this, not really. Like, how are we supposed to be adults?  How are we supposed to do any of this?”

“You think I have any idea?” James chuckled. “Hell no.  Last week I had to try to convince Peter that he couldn’t live off of bacon alone for the year.  And Sirius keeps stealing my socks.”

Lily snorted a laugh.  “Ah yes, the big problems.”

“If I can’t keep those two in order I can’t do anything.” He grinned in that easy going way he had and Lily shook her head.

They stood in silence with only occasional bird chirping and the sound of the wind through the Forbidden Forest.  It was a calm day that finally allowed Lily to feel a little more at peace with the new school year.

“Nah,” Lily told him, “if there’s anyone that can keep those boys under control, it’s you.”

“We’ll figure this out, right?” he asked. “I mean, it’s going to be okay.”

“For better or for worse,” Lily agreed.

And they stayed there, staring over the lake as the wind picked up and the fresh scent of earth mingled with the promise of rain incoming.  

When James skipped another rock, Lily watched the way the rock left his finger and glided easily over the water.  It only made four skips before plunging back into the water.  Lily found her own rock to skip, ignoring James’ commentary on how he’d be more then happy to give her pointers.

It wasn’t until a light drizzle began and turned to a thick dirge of rain that they finally began running back up to the castle.  James made a poor attempt at casting a charm to keep them dry while Lily muttered cursed under her breath over not having a jacket.

Yet, Lily realized that the morning had been exactly what she needed to distract herself.  Something wild and unpredictable.  Something fun and easygoing.  And as she bumped shoulders with James when they finally made it to the castle, she felt a flicker of warmth burn in her chest.  Maybe this year would be something special. 

...

thanks for reading y’all.

#jily #jilychallenge #jily fanfiction #James Potter #Lily Evans #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #jily fic #canon #canon harry potter

[scheodingers-muppet]

hi y’all are getting another taylor album as ST because it’s all i can think about at the moment. today, folklore!

the 1: stancy, from Steve’s perspective. specifically when he’s starting to move on (ignoring what happened in season 4 cause like… what?) or if you want some serious heartbreak, i’m a “steddie was friends in middle school” truther and if you listen to it like that…

cardigan: byler!!! mainly from Will’s perspective. you can’t convince me Will didn’t come home from his first playdate with Mike and tell Joyce he was gonna marry that boy. he knew this whole time he loved him, and Mike used to show him how much he loved him back

the last great american dynasty: steddie. steve’s family would see eddie as a bad influence and blame steve “being where he is” on eddie (reality; steve is happy and loved and just got a place with eddie and his family views it as a downgrade). the town would still hate eddie, and blame whatever they could on him. also the line about the neighbor makes me think of the Eddie Munson TikTok Saga and i can see eddie stealing a dog just to get back at someone being slightly rude to steve

exile: jopper. specifically Hopper seeing Joyce with Bob. Hopper saw her with Lonnie through high school, has loved her since then. He’s loved Joyce through multiple relationships, on both sides. they’ve lived this movie before

my tears ricochet: max and billy. max didn’t deserve any of the shit billy gave her. “i still talk to you when i’m screaming at the sky” “i can go anywhere i want, just not home”

mirrorball: STEVE! that poor boy has Brett Hand syndrome and doesn’t even know his favorite color. he fully picked his personality to get friends when he was younger and he’s finally learning how to tear that down. he still “performs,” to get people to like him though, like still trying to flirt with all the girls in season 3

seven: Ronance. specifically Robin. i just know that girl is deeply nostalgic for her early childhood and brings Nancy to her grandmas house one summer, going off on 30 minute stories about all her favorite traditions and stuff and then getting to her favorite playground, where Nancy tells her she went on a trip here one summer with her family years ago and befriended a little girl at the creek and spending the day running around like this. Robin realizes she was that little girl and the pretty girl with the long braid she’d been talking about was her now-girlfriend. i also think robin would love someone in such a soft way, like with a childlike-sense of adoration

august: elmax. they’re in love your honor and if the stupid upside down would have stayed quiet in season 3, they would have had the best summer ever. they would have sleepovers every night, switching between their places. snuck out to the mall when one gets grounded

this is me trying: nancy. this girl needs therapy. she’s dealing with so much. also, “my words shoot to kill when i’m mad” “i got wasted like all my potential” “i was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere” “it’s hard to be at a party when i feel like an open wound” those are so nancy-coded

illicit affairs: steddie. them hiding it at first and then when eddie dies ends up in the hospital in a coma, steve sits at his grave hospital bed holding his hand, telling him how angry he is

invisible string: jancy. i think we as a fandom forget they likely grew up knowing each other pretty well. the way we see Joyce and Karen talking show us the families are close. it’s also not hard to imagine they’d be close with how close Mike and Will are. i think they’d have so many little things that ended up with them fitting together so well. also, i think them both being bi and the line “blues and that purple pink sky” is so funny

mad woman: Joyce. she’s painted to be the town-loon in season one. the town saw what they thought was a mother who just lost their child and decided she was crazy

epiphany: Hopper. that man lost so much and tries to just handle it by bottling it up. his ptsd from the war and all the upside down stuff, losing his daughter, the russian prison

betty: stancy, from Steve’s perspective after the movie incident

peace: Will and El (not a ship) “as long as danger’s near, and it’s just around the corner cause it lives in me” i just know these kids blame themselves for getting everyone involved in this (even though it’s not their fault) they’re able to find the solidarity in each other

hoax: platonic stobin. i think they definitely need to dive more into the dynamic now that their trauma bonded, but i think them switching off on being extra sad and the other taking care of them is extremely them

the lake: steddie, from eddie’s perspective. they get out of hawkins as soon as they can and live happily ever after

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #chief hopper #mike wheeler #taylor swift #ts folklore

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest Resident: Crunchsnow

Aliases / Nicknames: Crunch

Gender: molly

Sexuality: bisexual, demiromantic

Family: Lucky (mother), Pear (father), Charm, Flake (sisters), Cheerio (brother), Slatescratch (mate), Candykit (daughter), two unnamed sons

Other Relations: Mia (twoleg), Ice (Dark Forest mentor, abuser)

Clan: Kittypet, Lilacclan

Rank: den cat, assistant herbalist

Characteristics: insecure, strong connection to Starclan

Number of Victims: 6

Number of Murders: 6

Murder Method: fox wire, blood loss

Known Victims: Dustpaw, unnamed clanmates

Victim Profile: those who insult her, cats who her Dark Forest mentor manipulates her into killing

Cause of Death: blood loss from labor and a severed paw

Cautionary Tale: be careful to check up on new queens, because they might be going through a lot more than meets the eye

Story:

Ever since she was a kit, Crunch always had dreams about a shadow-cat telling her to go to the forest.

He called himself Ice.

She almost left a few times, but when her siblings were taken by twolegs—supposedly to find new homes—Crunch was alone with her mother, Lucky, and her sister, Charm.

Charm apparently was staying with their twolegs, and for a while Crunch thought she was too.

But alas there was a day where she was adopted, and the new twoleg took her to a small shop on the lakeshore. The fields stretched out as far as the eye could see.

The shop was a gift shop, filled with lots of things for her to explore—shiny, colourful rocks to line her nest with, soft cardigans to bury into, and her favourite item—rabbits foot keychain.

They only had one when she was a kitten, and they never got another shipment of them, but that memory of the soft dangling toy stayed in her mind for a very long time.

She was content, and loved her twoleg. Things were amazing until the shop caught fire one day, and Crunch got out.

Dazed and confused by the smoke, she wandered into the fields before collapsing from exhaustion.

Four wild cats found her, and took her back to their Clan.

Crunchpaw fit in well, and when she mentioned the prophetic dreams, they switched her to helping the medicine cats.

Except her dreams didn’t feel starry, and she’d told the shadowy cat many things about herself.

Ice mentioned that her Clanmates had very pretty paws, and that they would look good as the rabbits’ feet toys.

She was horrified, but he convinced her. Seeing all the amazing coat colours—the amazing paw colours—she got an idea.

She lured Dustpaw into the forest, down the creek to a fox trap she’d found. He stepped in, and she faked running for help. She hid in the bushes for hours, and was relieved when Dustpaw began chewing.

His paw was severed, and he bled out. She took the paw back to a small den she’d dug, and left it in the cool dirt.

She ran back to camp in tears, saying they were attacked by rogues and that the rogue had knocked her out and did that to Dustpaw.

Her Clan comforted her, and the next day she snuck back to the small den. The paw was soft and fun to play with, and she used a poultice over the open wound.

She did it again, and again. She fell in love with a warrior from another Clan who helped her keep the paws hidden, although he didn’t support her.

She was young, and now in the Dark Forest she would look back at it with regret, but she started expecting kits.

Crunchpaw was seven moons old, and going to have kits. Her Clanmates looked down on this, talking behind her back.

So more paws were added to the collection. Her mate’s paws joined the pile after he suggested she eat poisonous berries to get rid of the kittens.

Ice became her best friend, offering her advice on what to do. Who to target.

She didn’t even notice as the ideas fed to her became more absurd. He started talking about kitten paws. Tiny, soft kitten paws.

Crunchsnow earned her warrior name, and the same day a queen made a loud comment about how stupid she was. She ran out of camp, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of pain in her stomach.

She ran down the creek, the pains growing more intense. She turned to go back to camp, thinking something was wrong, but she tripped and felt something cut into her paw.

Crunchsnow yowled in pain from her stomach and paw, and turned to chew as she had the panicky realization that her kits were coming.

Unable to walk, her back paw holding on by a string of flesh and tendon, she pulled herself into the little den and shoved the paws as far away as possible, and hoped Starclan would spare her kits.

Additional Information:

--Submission by @wills-woodland-warriors​

--She NEVER would have hurt her kits, and she stopped communicating with the Dark Forest cat when he suggested it.

--The queen, Minnowthroat, wasn’t being rude to Crunch, she was talking about a queen from another clan who got pregnant purposely to spite her mate even though she had a health condition that almost guaranteed her kits and her would die in labor. Minnowthroat has a tendency to be dramatic, and when Crunch walked in on the conversation, she thought minnow was talking about her.

--Crunchsnow and her family were named after cereals! Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes, Cheerios.

--Her kits went to the Dark Forest because Starclan is a bitch.

--Two of her kits died in the Dark Forest after her Dark Forest mentor attacked them.

--”Yes, I misread her name as Crunchsnow and not CROUCHsnow. No, I do not care. She will forever be mrs captain crunchy snow.”

--”I wanted to note that I 100% do NOT support the whole rabbit foot keychains thing. A lot of those keychains aren’t always ethically sourced, and as someone with two pet rabbits I will never, ever support the making, selling, or buying of them.”

#child pregnancy #wc #wcoc #wc oc #warriors #warriorsoc #clangen #lilacclan #dark forest #warriors oc #warriorcatsoc #warriorcats #warrior cats #warrior cats oc #place of no stars #dark forest oc #dark forest resident #dark forest mentor #crunchsnow #minnowthroat #wc ice

[sunflowerhall]

sharon carter would be a fan of Folklore and Evermore and her favorite song would be No Body No Crime

this is now canon and marvel can’t fight me

#she’d love Seven and Cardigan as well #this is canon from now on #marvel #sharon carter #taylor swift #folklore #evermore #the falcon and the winter soldier #mcu

[yelenabelovq]

ten minutes | c.d.

summary: She was brilliant and golden. But nothing gold can stay. Based off The Next Ten Minutes from The Last Five Years.

playlist: ten minutes | c.d.

word count: 3k

rating: 18+

a/n: this is for @imaginearyparties��s theater challenge!! i’m feeling a bit like i’m submitting an assignment on the day it’s due minutes before the deadline (which is actually what i should have been doing this week while i was writing this, oops) posting on the final day of the challenge lol but ilana ily i’m so sorry this is so late

The First Ten Minutes

The woman was an aberration.

Blonde hair and brilliance. Independence and spontaneity. Recklessness and stubbornness and a penchant to always do right and be right. She was warm, made of fireworks and glory. Impeccably smooth. Skilled in terrifyingly triumphant ways.

She was golden.

And you, you were not.

You were messy, and a bit dull compared to her. Where she was suave, you were stumbling. Where she was confident, you tended to cower. You were… incredibly average. Compared to her. You’d been working in the same building going on what, seven years now? Pepper still continuously got your name wrong. You were nothing remarkable.

That’s why it surprised you so much. Her question.

She was leaning on the table where you had your work spread out in front of you, mountains of papers (even though Stark Industries had promised a long time ago to make SHIELD paperless, yet another thing Tony fell through on) and your laptop open in front of you with a million tabs littering the top half-inch of the screen. Messy. You’d had someone drip coffee on you on the way in this morning, so your cardigan was currently thrown over a chair with Maria’s promise to find a Tide stick. You’d given up on trying to look nice and opted for presentable. Your hair had gone back away from your face about ten minutes into this workload.

And she… Carol—God. When did the woman not look perfect? She was—Fuck. She was really, really hot. She’s wearing a black turtle neck and slacks. Instead of a blazer, she has a leather jacket slung over her arm. An odd combination on anyone else, but on her, everything fell into place.

You’d definitely been staring to long at her though. That’s not a good response to a question.

“What?”

That’s actually an even worse one, good God, what are you doing?

“Would you wanna go with me?” she continued.

You stared again. Miraculously, you regained control of your motor functions. “Go with you… To the…”

Real winner.

“That museum. I know it’s a tourist trap, but, y’know, when on Earth.” She smirked at you, crossing an ankle over the other as she leaned on the table. When on Earth. What the fuck. Why is she so cool.

“The Met?”

Her eyes skimmed you, and you felt your face flush. Wow, her eyes were so pretty. You loved brown eyes. “Yeah, go for an hour, meet the dinosaurs.”

You let out a laugh. Oh, God, you’re laughing at the galaxy’s strongest Avenger.

“Are you laughing at me?” She was laughing too now, and it sounded like the best thing you’d ever heard.

“Um, sorry,” you said, trying to stop. Or, hide it, at least. “The… The Met is an art museum.”

“So, no dinosaurs?”

“You’re thinking of the Smithsonian.”

“Well, how far is that one?”

“It’s in D.C.”

“And?”

“We can go to the Met,” you said, leaning forward.

“Alright, let’s go.” She pushed herself off the table and gave you a look.

“Right now?”

“Yeah.” She held a hand out. And you took it.

Maybe you were a bad New Yorker because, and in your defense, you moved from California only, like, eight years ago, you’d never actually been to the Met. You’d seen it. Read articles. Had a date on the steps (which you’re starting to realize was a very sorry excuse for a date).

Not that this was a date. No, surely not.

There was no way you were on a date with Earth’s Mightiest Avenger right now.

But—ohmygod, was she holding your hand?

No—yes. Yes, she’d just grabbed your hand, and now you’re walking through the rooms of beautiful and priceless artwork and your eyes are stuck on the smile she’s casting back at you. It was euphoric.

And an hour or so later, you’d been through nearly every exhibit. You wouldn’t be able to come up with a single interesting thing about anything you’d seen. Had you even really seen it? You’d seen her. Seen her wandering about countless pieces of art and been unable to stop the thought that she belonged there amongst them.

And then she was wondering towards the exit, and suddenly you were terrified to walk back through those doors because it meant today was over. She probably regretted asking you—you couldn’t have been much fun between ogling her and knowing an insufferable amount about fashion.

She led you down the steps before slinging an arm around your shoulder and then suddenly any logical thought left your mind.

“Do you have to get back?”

Were you staring? You might be staring. Brain to mouth! Say something!

“What?” Stellar.

“To the office,” she said, that smirk playing with her lips. You wanted to play with her lips. “I’m sure SHIELD doesn’t appreciate that I took their best agent during the middle of the workday.

You had left like that, hadn’t you? Crap, maybe you could swing an Avengers-pardon on Maria.

You opened your mouth to respond when your phone chimed. Speak of the devil, you thought, pulling it out to reveal a text from Maria telling you to meet you at a cafe she sent the address to.

You put on your best smile, trying not to let it reveal how dejected you felt. “Duty calls.”

“Where’s that?” she asked, motioning told your phone screen.

“It’s a cafe she likes. About a ten minute walk away.” You shoved your phone back in the pocket of your coat and looked up at her, noting that smirk has returned.

“So I have ten minutes?”

“What?” You were going to scrub that word from your vocabulary, dear God.

“You said it’s a ten minute walk away. I have ten minutes, then?”

“Ten minutes for what?” you asked as she offered you her arm and motioned for you to lead the way. You took that first step with your heart in your throat.

“Ten minutes to get you to fall in love with me.”

The Next Ten Minutes

Fall you did.

You’d been dating Carol Danvers for almost three years now. She was irrevocably perfect and everything you could have ever needed. In the last three years, you’d done more than you thought you would have done in this lifetime. Visited planets you’d never known existed, learned new languages, a few being alien, and—bought a house.

You owned a house with your girlfriend, the Avenger, Carol Danvers, in upstate New York.

Also, a massive promotion working with the Avengers Initiative, but you weren’t one to brag.

You were busy. You both were. You made time for each other, though. Few minutes here, couple hours there, a weekend in D.C. (Carol finally got to see the dinosaurs). You’d agreed: busy, but never too busy for each other.

Carol tended to take advantage of this rule.

You had been in the middle of working on a very important presentation. It was in mere days, and you were terrified and underqualified to be doing it. Maria had assured you over and over again that you were the only person for the job. The only option, maybe. But you weren’t one to argue with the woman. You did as you were told, and worked your ass off for the best damn career you could have imagined.

Carol loved it. She loved your dedication to what you were passionate about. She told you all the time. She loved your mouth. She really loved your mouth. She loved to watch you talk. The first time she’d ever seen you present for the Avengers, she’d taken you into a spare soon after the meeting and kissed you long and hard. It was the first time you’d ever made her come.

You were practicing your presentation when you noticed her watching you from the door. She was leaning against it, suave and attractive as ever. She’d pushed the sleeves of her shirt up to display her forearms. It was the first thing you noticed.

“Hi,” you said, stopping mid-pace. You were failing to hide your smile.

“Hi,” she said, pushing off the door and stalking towards you.

“Enjoying yourself?”

Her eyes were locked on you, sending a chill down your spine. “You have a sec?”

You turned back to your work, glancing at the clock on the desk. “Maybe a minute. Why, what’s up?”

“Give me ten.”

“What?”

“Ten minutes,” she said, grabbing your wrist and pulling you to her.

Fuck your job. No, seriously, who really needs a job?

Not when Carol is pressing you up against the door of your office and shoving your underwear aside and pushing one—two fingers in you.

You gasped, tightening your grip on her hair. She groaned, a low and throaty thing under her breath before attaching her lips to your neck and setting every nerve ending in your body on fire. You couldn’t help the whimper that escaped you as she twisted her hand, grinding into your clit.

You tried to say her name—say anything, but she brought her mouth back to yours and kissed you hard and long and suddenly you were dizzy under her. She pressed you harder against the wall, devouring every sound you made. You clawed at her jeans, attempting to get your hands on her.

Suddenly, she slid her fingers out of you, laughing at the whine you gave. You quickly shut up as you watched her bring her fingers to her mouth. She moaned, eyes fluttering close.

“I’ve gotta get my mouth on you,” she sighed, giving you this look before dropping to her knees.

“Car—“ You felt her at your hips, pushing your skirt around your waist before taking your thigh and hoisting it over her shoulder. “Carol,” you warned.

“Yeah?” she said innocently, casting a look up at you. She trained her gaze back on what was in front of her, then licked her lips.

Nope, nothing. Nothing at all.

Your soul was about to leave your body. Her mouth was glued to the apex of your thighs. She ate like a starved woman. Like you were the first appetizing thing she’d seen in months. Like she was trapped and the only way out was through you.

You were not going to last long. You hadn’t even had the chance to touch her before she’d buried herself in you.

Release nearly surprised you with the intensity. One moment you were clawing at her, hands buried in her hair and pleasure scaring away any rational thoughts (like how you weren’t sure the door was locked or that you should probably maybe be a bit quieter), and then you were coming hard on her tongue. It covered every inch of you like honey seeping into your skin.

Carol sighed, lapping up everything you gave her and sending aftershocks through you. Finally, she stood up, readjusting your skirt to cover your ass. You took a shaky breath, hand covering hers.

“Did you—“ You looked down then back at Carol, who looked like you’d imagine the expression “the cat got the cream.” “Did you rip my underwear?”

“It was in my way.”

“Carol!”

She just laughed, picking up said underwear from the floor. She shoved it in the pocket of her jacket before throwing an arm around your shoulders and trying to lead you out of there. You resisted, because you had a mountain of work and a very important presentation in a few days. But you can’t say you put up that much of a fight.

The pathway was crawling with lights. Everywhere you looked, something was lit up. You laughed as she led you down it. All the brightness, the glowing warmth reminded you of her.

“Car, what is all this?” You burrowed a bit into her side.

“A surprise.” She smirked at you.

“What kinda surprise?”

“The good kind.” She looked back forward, a muscle in her jaw flexing. Was she… nervous?

You let her lead you through the path of lights, tucked under her warmth. You let yourself get lost in the atmosphere as your feet carried you aimlessly beside her, until she stopped in front of a bench with something sat on it. A small box.

“What…” You looked from the bench up to her.

“Open it,” she said.

You picked it up, opening the little thing to reveal a ring. Your breath stuck in your throat. “Carol,” you whispered, barely managing to say anything at all.

She dropped to her knee in front of you for the second time that day.

The Last Ten Minutes

Date night was your favorite night.

It had been coming less and less often, but that didn’t mean you looked forward to it any less. The two of you had been making it work for five years now. Through thick busy schedules and thin poor connection with your off-world calls. She never truly ceased to amaze you.

Maybe she could be on time though.

Seriously, she was awesome. You loved her. But she also knew how much tonight meant to you and she promised she would be here. On time. Six pm is not an unreasonable time to be somewhere. It was nearing six forty now.

You finished off your glass of wine, glancing to the door, then to the timer you’d set for the cookies. Oatmeal raisin, her favorite. Who liked raisin cookies?

The timer still had fifteen minutes left on it. You’d put them in when you realized she was more than a few minutes late, maybe just to kill the time. Everything else could be reheated in the oven since it’d be already hot, right?

And yet, she still wasn’t there.

You paced for another minute before you heard motion outside the door of your stared apartment. Excitement was quelled by anger and annoyance as she walked in the door, still in her suit. Seriously, she didn’t even bother to change?

“You’re late,” was the first thing out of your mouth.

“Sorry,” she sighed. “There was a problem off-world. I tried to get back as fast as I could.”

“I thought you weren’t going off-world for a while.” You crossed your arms over your chest, steeling up. You’d been having this fight for a while now. She was too inaccessible off-world. You’d just lost a close friend, and you needed her to be here for now. She was always jumping to solve the problem the farthest from home. Why couldn’t she let someone else handle it? Or at least let you know before leaving, rather than showing up to the compound and having to hear about it from someone else.

Just once you wanted to be her first priority.

“They asked me to—“

“I asked you to be here.” You watched as she snapped her jaw closed, a muscle there flexing. “You promised you would be here for me, Carol.”

“Baby, listen—“ You rolled your eyes. “I have commitments, okay?”

“Am I even one of them?” you snapped.

“I married you, didn’t I?”

You laughed, a dry and humorless thing. “Don’t strain yourself trying to say it like it means anything to you. What, was I just some obligation you had to fill?”

“No, of course not. Those, out there,” she said, motioning to the door and beyond it. “Those are obligations. You, you’re a—”

“If the next word out of your mouth isn’t ‘priority,’ don’t bother.”

She looked away from you, clenching her hands into tight fists, a small glow appearing there. That used to comfort you. Her glow. Now, it’s the reason for all your problems.

“You’re a priority.”

“You sure don’t act like it.”

She sighed, scrubbing a hand over her face. “I’m trying, okay?”

“No, Carol, you aren’t. And that’s the problem!”

You didn’t notice when you started crying. You picked up on it sometime around when you started to feel your heart shatter.

She wasn’t looking at you anymore, just staring at the door like she wanted nothing more than to leave. How fitting, you thought. She couldn’t even try to pretend like she cared.

“What do you want me to do then?” she spat, throwing her arms wide.

“I just wanted you to be here. I needed you to be here.” Your voice was thin and watery now. It felt like defeat.

“You know the things I have to do. You know my job—”

“Carol, I work with you! I see Nat coming home to Maria every night, and Thor sustaining relationships here. You don’t get to blame this on anyone or anything other than yourself, because if you wanted to, you would!”

Her stare was blank when it fell on you.

“When did you stop wanting to?”

She just sighed and turned around. “What do you want me to do, then? I’m here right now. This is what you get.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

She huffed a laugh. “I’m trying to make this work.”

“How? How exactly? I asked you for something so simple, just to stay here. Just be with me for a while.” You wiped at your face, willing her to turn back to you.

Carol took a deep breath. “Maybe we should take a break,” she said levelly, reaching into your chest and pulling your heart out.

You gave a soft sob. Her hand was already on the doorknob. “Where are you going?”

“Out, away, off-world.” Finally, she met your gaze. “I’ll come back.”

“Sure,” you whispered, watching her shut the door behind her, taking your heart with her.

You didn’t have long to wallow before the timer on the stove went off and you looked over to see the cookies you’d made for her were done. The table was still set, and all the food you’d made was still sitting in their serving dishes for the dinner you were never going to have. You gingerly took the cookies out of the oven, wondering what you were going to do with the dozen cookies she’d left you with. This was just embarrassing.

That timer had told you it had only taken her ten minutes to ruin your marriage, and to break your heart.

#IVE BEEN TRYING TO POST THIS ALL DAY it finally posted thank god #no but actually ive been writing this instead of a term paper all week #lol its due tomorrow <3 #also sorry this is sad okay but idk how to write a fic (loosely) based on the last five years and not make it sad #ip theater challenge #carol danvers #carol danvers x reader #captain marvel #marvel #marvel fanfiction #carol danvers fanfiction #emmmaswrites #18+ fic #mcu fanfiction

[twilightdruig]

help?

pairing : george weasley x fem!reader

summary : “hi i’m your neighbor and while i know we’ve never spoken but you’re a single parent of two and my sister recently died leaving me to raise her infant and i have no idea what i’m doing, help?” au

warnings : swearing , mentions of character deaths , fluff , au where george lives alone with his two children in a cottage near the burrow , au where fred and cedric live.

words : 2.6k

a/n : this is my first fic so it’s probably gonna be shit (as you can probably tell i’m not good with titles either) but yeah hope you enjoy :> and i might do a little part 2 on this soon

holly l/n was loved by multiple. a sweet hufflepuff student who was favored by all the teachers and students. her sister, y/n was a scary and intimidating gryffindor who hung out in the library.

ever since the battle of hogwarts death eaters have been imprisoned in azkaban. but, that didn’t mean all harm was gone.

now here y/n l/n was, standing in the heat of the summer, her nephew connor l/n mourning the death of a family member.

the service was beautiful. a few hogwarts students came including luna lovegood and neville longbottom and professor sprout and professor flitwick decided to pay their respects. headmistress mcgonagall sent her condolences through a letter as well.

conner wasn’t old enough to go to hogwarts yet. there was no one else for holly to leave connor with. her husband, ronan died during the war, all connor’s grandparents died and the only appointed godparents were holly’s best friend cedric diggory and her sister y/n.

cedric diggory was now teaching first year flying at hogwarts and is married to cho chang.

y/n was currently doing nothing with her life. she wanted to live alone in a cottage, reading, stitching, picking apples and getting drunk on fruity cocktails. but now? she had to take care of her sister’s spoiled son.

y/n hated children more than she hated the people in her own hogwarts house. more so, she didn’t know how to take care of them.

she had to enroll her nephew in hogwarts, teach him basic life skills and other stuff like that. there goes her life goal on being that cool stoner aunt that hates love and children.

—

“shit, connor!” y/n exclaimed as her 3 year old nephew accidentally ate a ton tongue toffee made by the joke shop in diagon alley owned by the weasleys.

“sorry aunty y/n”

she was never close to the weasleys. all of them, stereotypical gryffindors, loud and chaotic and always the main characters.

the only thing she knew about them is that one of the twins live next to her. y/n didn’t know how to shrink his tongue and thought it was quite the convenience that he lives next door. he was a single dad with two daughters, maybe he could help her control her nephew and technically her adopted son, now.

she sighed. “put on your coat, we’re visiting our neighbors, ok con?” the little boy nodded in response

—

went the small cottage came into view, there were two little girls picking flowers on the front yard and a tall red-headed man on the porch watching them.

“hey! weasley!” she yelled with a small smile as she approached the small gate.

“l/n? what are you doing here?” george asked

y/n gestured to her nephew who was holding his now 3 foot long tongue. “he accidentally ate one of your products and i’m not entirely sure how to fix it”

“right, right” he laughed “come on, connor right? i’ll reverse that”

y/n felt a tug at her oversized cardigan. she looked down to see two identical ginger twins.

“hi there!” one smiled.

“hello!” y/n tried to sound as nice as possible. looking back at her teenage years she remembered laughing at kids who fell of their brooms their brooms when she’d watch first year flying. she remembered laughing at seamus finnigan when something blew up in his face. or when she’d laugh at any kid accidentally getting hurt.

“these are for you! they’re pretty just like you” the other twin exclaimed.

“i’m charlotte and she’s billie” charlotte giggled.

“how do u know our daddy?�� billie asked

“oh! um, we went to school together and i live just next door” y/n replied

“do you know our uncle freddie?”

“i know all your uncles and your aunt ginny, aunt hermione and uncle harry. they were all famous when we were in school”

“wow!” they both exclaimed

george and connor came back out. “look aunty y/n! my tongue’s normal again!”

“aunty?” george questioned. “holly. she died quite recently.”

“oh! i’m so sorry. i heard about her. yeah. i believe mum sent some flowers for the service”

“yeah we received them”

“i’ll see you around?” george inquired

“yeah, yeah. and i might need some parenting advice? you knew how i was back at hogwarts”

“i am flattered, dear l/n”

“oh hush. and they get along.” she pointed to the three children running around.

“they do. and yes, i would love to help you tame that little rascal” george laughed.

“thank you, george. really.”

“i’m just next door, yeah?”

“yeah” y/n smiled “come on, connor. we’re going home. but we’ll definitely be seeing these lovely ladies soon.”

“bye pretty lady!” y/n heard two young voices call after her

“daddy, who was she?”

“is she gonna be our new mommy?”

—

george and y/n had been hanging out for the past weeks. he had given her advice on taking care of connor and how to deal with children. they also spent time talking about family and their time back at hogwarts. she was told about the attack of death eaters at one of his brothers’ wedding and how his daughters were named after his brothers bill and charlie.

a knock at y/n’s door interrupted her reading.

“oi, l/n!” she heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door.

“weasley” she muttered.

connor recognized george’s voice and the twins’ giggles, he decided he would take matters into his own little hands. connor knew how stubborn his aunt was at the young age of seven.

“hi billie! hi charlotte! hi uncle george!” the little boy squealed.

“hey there, con!” george ruffled his hair while billie and charlotte ran over to y/n.

connor and the twins were two years apart. connor was going to hogwarts the next year. no doubt would he be trouble to professor mcgonagall but everyone knew they were always her favorites.

“aunty y/n! uncle george brought cookies!” connor yelled excitedly. y/n was never the type to bake or cook. she did try to but it always ended in almost burning the house down. she usually fed connor fruits or store bought food.

“you didn’t have to” y/n responded while taking the plastic box.

“oh yes i did” he teased “i heard you’ve been starving this poor little fellow”

“daddy didn’t bake those cookies” charlotte stated “grandma did” billie continued

“oh” she smirked at george then turned to the twins “tell your grandma i say thanks!”

“uncle george! i wanna show you something outside! the twins can come too!”

“connor, what are you gonna show them?” y/n grumbled.

“your paintings! they’re amazing” her nephew jumped.

“paintings, eh?” george smiled “okay, let’s go, champ. see those paintings of your aunt.” the two scurried outside, two redheaded girls following after.

y/n groaned and fell back into the couch, finishing her book.

—

it’s been a few days since george and the twins came with cooking to y/n and connor’s cottage. she wanted to throw connor a little surprise birthday party.

connor has loved the twins and george so much, he thinks of them as blood relatives. y/n decided to call up cedric and cho to look after connor while she’d do some errands.

the two arrived exactly on time as y/n was preparing to go out. she had on a simple cardigan and loose denim pants.

“ced! cho! hi, how are you guys?” y/n greeted as she saw her old friends apparate into the cottage.

“hi y/n!” cho greeted “hey nerd” cedric snickered.

she sent cedric a small glare before connor jumped at the two.

“uncle ceddy! aunty cho! you’re here” he shouted.

“yeah buddy! your aunt’s gonna run some errands and visit your uncle georgie?” cedric winked at y/n. she had been owling cedric about george and how he’s been helping her with connor.

“are you going out with uncle george?” connor asked, eyes twinkling.

“i don’t know, actually. i might check him out next door.”

“george weasley?” cho teased.

“yes, cho,” y/n rolled her eyes “but on that note, i have to go”

“bye, connor! behave okay?” she crouched down and squished his cheeks.

“bye, ced! cho!” her voice faded when she dashed out the door.

—

y/n passed george’s cottage to see if he actually might want to come with her and do errands.

she was standing outside the small gate, hesitating. ‘maybe he was busy’ ‘he wouldn’t want to do errands with me’ ‘maybe he would if i told him it was for connor’s birthday’ she thought. y/n didn’t know why she was overthinking her choices. the first time she was standing right outside the gate she bursted in and demanded george to fix whatever happened to her nephew. now, she was nervous. her palms were sweaty and clammy.

she pushed herself in and walked to the front porch. she knocked a few times and was met with a head of messy brown hair.

“hermione?!” she squealed

“y/n!” hermione jumped to hug her old friend.

there were overlapping voices in the background and when they pulled away she was met with multiple mops of ginger hair, a head of blonde hair and another with black hair behind hermione.

“l/n?” ginny weasley asked, quite shocked what she would be doing outside george’s door.

“oh! did i interrupt something? i am so sorry!” she said feeling a bit nervous.

“oh! you must be the dearest y/n george keeps talking about!” an old woman she thought was mrs. weasley approached her from behind her children.

“hi there!” y/n said feeling a little embarrassed she might’ve barged in on a family reunion.

“ah! l/n? i have heard of your family! muggle-borns right?” arthur weasley joined his wife.

“uh, yeah!” she pursed her lips “i am so so sorry i interrupted! i should go. tell george i’ll swing by next time”

“oh it’s absolutely alright, dear” molly reassured her.

“george! there’s a really pretty girl! get your arse out here!” fred yelled to george who was probably inside the house.

“is she here?” charlotte and billie ran to the door.

“hi girls! tell you dad i was here yeah? say i’ll come by next time” most of the weasleys came back in. she took it as her time to go on with her day.

“oi! y/n! wait up” the voice she recognized as george’s called after her.

“george, hey”

“where’r you off to?” george pointed to the small bag that was swung over her shoulder.

“errands. connor’s birthday is coming up so i thought i’d prepare something for him. first birthday without his mum, you know”

“his birthday’s coming up?” george looked as excited as a child on christmas morning.

“yeah. why?” she smiled

“you’re talking to one of the best party planners there is. you also did talk to another one of them… i think”

“fred?”

“oh yeah”

“i wanted to ask if you wanted to come but seeing as to your family is in your house… i’m gonna take a wild guess and say you aren’t available right now” she giggled.

“maybe if you went another day” he said sympathetically. george really wanted to go and prepare connor’s party with her. he treated him like his own and boy did he remind him of how fun it was to be a kid. he loved his aunt so much it was adorable.

“george. seriously, it’s okay. spend time with your family” she laughed.

“yeah, yeah. i’ll see you when you get back” he waved.

—

connor’s small birthday gathering was in full swing. y/n became acquainted with george’s siblings. bill, charlie, percy (whom she was actually friends with back in hogwarts), fred, ron and ginny. hermione was a very good friend of hers and so was harry. she recognized fleur from that day in the cottage as beauxbatons triwizard champion.

connor had quite a bunch of guests for his birthday. cedric, cho, luna, neville, fred, percy, ron, harry, hermione, bill and fleur and their little victorie. of course, billie and charlotte helped george and y/n fix up the party. mr. and mrs. weasley sent a small cake for connor when they heard about y/n not knowing asingle thing about cooking.

fred offered to take care of the twins and connor while george and y/n ran off somewhere. the two found themselves near a small creek. y/n explained how the cottage was where she’d go off exploring and the only person who knew was holly. she was overjoyed when her sister got the cottage she used as a hideaway.

george was surprised when there were lights and blankets and everything. the soft sounds of running water was calming.

the two were pretty intoxicated when they sat down; stumbled onto the picnic blanket. y/n was sober enough to not spill her deepest darkest secrets. george on the other hand…

“have i ever told you how pretty you are?” george mumbled next to her. y/n only snickered and blushed.

“um, can i hold your hand?” he continued, taking a look at the girl next to him.

“sure” she winked.

“you know” he started again “i actually fancied you a bit back in school”

“yeah?” she rolled over to her side “i wonder… what did you like about me?”

“i don’t even know. my heart just felt so full with you. still does, right now, holding your hand, under the stars by a stream.” he had this glint in his eye when he looks at her.

“hey,” she brushed some hair out of his face “these past few months have been great. and you’re a huge help with connor. you know i’ll always be there for you, right?”

“yeah darling,” he yawned “yeah”

“wait, george!” she sat up “no. don’t fall asleep!”

“fuck” she groaned before falling back down on the blanket.

“i think i love you” she whispered.

—

morning rolled around and they were still lying somewhere in the forest behind the cottage. some childish chatter and laughs were heard from where they were still sleeping soundly.

until, a red ant bit y/n and george’s intertwined hands. “ah shit!” y/n woke up from the bite. her yell also woke up the sleeping man next to her “what?! what happened?” he jumped.

“oh. did i wake you up?” she asked.

“no. it’s honestly no worries” he said “but i do have a killer headache”

“an ant bit me” she muttered, wanting to scratch it.

“hey, no don’t scratch! i’ve had a lot if experience with insect bites” he explained “want me to kiss it better?” he teased.

“oh, ha-ha” she rolled her eyes but blushed.

“we should probably head back” he checked his watch while standing up.

—

“ah! there the lovebirds are!” fred exclaimed.

everyone was cleaning up from last night. there were children running around while chasing balloons and each other.

“yeah,” george started “we, um, fell asleep”

“sure ya did” this time ron teased the two.

“i’m gonna clean up here,” y/n offered “you guys should go home. you know, get some rest”

cedric gasped “y/n l/n! are you kicking us out?” he said in mock offense.

“technically, yeah. i doubt connor got any sleep”

“maybe we should,” fleur said with her accent “victorie was very excited for the party she is very worn out”

george snuck behind y/n “i think i love you too” he muttered under his breath. he wasn’t sure if she heard it. she did.

“i’ll see you later, y/n!” he yelled “come on, princesses, we’re going home. we’ll see connor and y/n later”

connor and the twins hugged while y/n said thank you’s to all the guests.

maybe it wasn’t such a bad decision to ask for help.

#george weasley #george weasley x reader #harry potter #hogwarts #george weasley imagine #george weasley x fem #george weasley x fem!reader #george weasley x y/n #george weasley x you

[homoose]

Enter With Abandon: Part I

Summary: Reader accidentally orders three meal kit boxes. Spencer takes one off her hands.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader

Category: fluff

Warnings/Includes: none

Word count: 1.4k

a/n: I just love a good meet cute, you guys. This is part one of four. ☺️

———

She had come to terms with the fact that she was a terrible cook. She’d grown up just above the poverty line, with parents who worked long hours on odd schedules. That meant that she and her brother had gotten by on a lot of PB&J, hot dogs, and TV dinners. They certainly didn’t learn how to prepare and cook meals. So when she became an adult, with a real job and an actual salary and without a college dining hall at her disposal, she began ordering a lot of takeout.

It didn’t take long for her bank account to remind her that delivery four days a week was above her pay grade. As a compromise, she’d ordered a HelloFresh box. It was still kind of expensive, but it was a far cry from what she’d been spending on Postmates. She tried a Blue Apron box, and those were a little too advanced for her skill set, but she kept the account open just to look. HomeChef quickly became her favorite service— the meals were ridiculously easy and tasted pretty good once they were doctored up with various spices.

She had just started to level up into mediocre cooking territory when she came home to not one, not two, but three meal kit boxes in the mailroom. She frantically pulled up the apps to see that she had somehow missed the day to skip the box for the HelloFresh and BlueApron boxes that week. She now had nine meals to cook in the next seven days (five when accounting for produce freshness).

She hauled the boxes upstairs to her apartment and pulled up the app to check what meals she had even ordered. The BlueApron recipes were thankfully not too difficult, and she opened the box and unpacked the ingredients into the fridge. She did the same with the HelloFresh box, actually excited to try out a mahi mahi recipe that she probably wouldn’t have been adventurous enough to pick on her own. The recipes in the HomeChef box were fine other than a cavatappi recipe she wasn’t too thrilled about, but she ultimately decided that there was no way she’d be able to cook everything from all three boxes without something going bad.

Which is how she ended up in front of apartment 23, huffing out a breath. Apartments 20 and 21 had been… less than friendly. She’d never actually seen anyone enter or exit this apartment, so she wasn’t even sure anyone lived there. Still, she knocked three times and waited, box in hand.

There was some shuffling, footsteps, and the click of the deadbolt. She opened her mouth to start her spiel, but the sound died in her throat at the man in front of her.

Her neighbor stood in his doorway, all fluffy curls and glasses and stubble, and she forgot why she was even standing there. He was wearing a navy cardigan that looked incredibly soft, a white collared shirt underneath, the top two buttons undone, and heather grey slacks on his long legs. On his feet were mismatched socks— one bright green and the other rainbow striped.

“Can I help you?” he asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and drawing her out of her ogling.

“Oh— I, um.” She held up the box. “I’m your neighbor, um, unit 22. I—I do these um, meal kit boxes and I— well, I’m signed up for three different plans, and you have to remember to go into each individual app and skip the week if you don’t want a box delivered, and I thought I did that, but apparently I didn’t, and so now I have three meal kits and that’s way more than I need because I’m only one person so—”

She paused to suck in a breath. The very corners of his lips twitched into the start of a smile and she about spontaneously combusted. He waited for her to continue, one very cute eyebrow raised at her rambling. She gave herself a mental thrashing and a get it together before continuing.

“So. I’m trying to give away this box, because I don’t want the food to go to waste. However, as it turns out, people are not keen on taking food from a stranger, even when it’s in a sealed package from a reputable meal kit service.” She shrugged. “That said, um, do you want this box? Of food. For you.”

He huffed out a laugh. “I— I don’t know if I’m the best candidate for the box.” He bared his teeth sheepishly. “I’m not a very good cook.”

“Oh! Well, this is the easiest kit, actually. Like, they even pre-cook the pasta so all you have to do is add it in, which I think is kind of ridiculous because who can’t boil noodles? But you know, it’s good if you like, work long hours or whatever.”

He considered her for a moment. “Okay, I’ll take it.”

She was so shocked that he hadn’t closed the door in her bumbling face that her mouth dropped open. “You will?”

“Yeah, you convinced me. Do you wanna…?” He held his hands out and she nodded.

“Yeah, of course, sorry.” She handed him the box. “Thank you so much for taking it off my hands,” she said, dusting imaginary particles off of them. “My conscience feels a lot lighter knowing I won’t be contributing to our nation's issue with food waste. Like, did you know that the average person throws away 219 pounds of food per year, and that most of that food gets sent to landfills where it decays and produces nitrogen pollution, which causes algae blooms and dead zones?”

He pressed his lips together. “I actually did know that.”

“Oh. Well. Good.” She crossed her arms. “It—It’s good that you know that, because, you know, maybe you’ll be more mindful of your own food waste.” Her eyes went wide and she held out an apologetic hand. “Not that I’m saying that you’re not mindful or anything. I just—it’s—it can be good to know things.” It can be good to know things?!

“It certainly can be good to know things.” His lips were turned up in the sweetest smile, golden eyes crinkling at the corners, and she didn’t even care if he thought she was a complete idiot, because she just wanted him to smile at her like that for the rest of eternity.

“Absolutely. Knowing things is… awesome.” She wished the floor beneath her would open up and drop her straight into hell. “Okay. Well, bye.” She turned and took two steps, then did a 180 just as he was closing the door. “Oh, just— you might wanna add more spices than they write in the recipes. I think they write them with the intention of being kind of bland to appeal to a wider audience, but you know, they can end up being kind of… well, bland.”

He smiled again and she couldn’t stop staring. “Thanks for the heads up.”

“You’re welcome. Okay. Well, really bye this time.” She turned and walked as calmly as she could back to her apartment. When she heard the click of his deadbolt she dropped her head into her hand in complete and utter mortification at the sheer lack of chill she’d just exhibited. “What in the actual fuck is wrong with you?”

…

It quickly became obvious why she hadn’t known if anyone lived there— because he was hardly ever home. She listened a little more purposefully to the footsteps on the stairs and the noises through the wall. She wondered if maybe he worked odd hours or had a significant other whose apartment he stayed at.

She was busy enough with work and cooking the other six meals that she had almost forgotten about the humiliating encounter with the man from apartment 23. By the following Friday, she was so tired from the week that she didn’t even glance at his mailbox like she’d been doing all week, S. Reid scrawled across the label. She dragged herself up the stairs and across the landing, fishing her keys out of her bag.

She stopped in front of her door to see a small glass container sitting on her doormat. She looked up and down the hallway before bending to pick it up. There was a paper note taped to the top, written in the same chicken scratch from the mailbox. She saved the note, opting to pop open the lid on the pyrex to find four perfectly baked scones with some sort of citrus glaze. She balanced the dish in one hand and shuffled the note open with the other.

I’m not a great cook, but I’m a pretty good baker. Thanks for the box.

Spencer, Unit 23

P.S. You were right about the spices.

———

Permanent tags: @andiebeaword @averyhotchner @saspencereid @pinkdiamond1016 @shadyladyperfection

#spencer x reader #spencer x y/n #spencer x you #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid imagine #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds self insert #homoose writes

[collecting-stories]

Cardigan - Rafe Cameron

Request: heyy for the ts anthology, can u do one for cardigan with rafe? love ur writing🤍 

TS Anthology Series | Outer Banks Masterlist

_ . ◦ ⭐︎:*.☾.*:⭐︎◦∙._

The summer you turned thirteen was the same summer your dad showed up again. Driving the same lemon of a car that he’d pulled out of the driveway in when you were six, he looked like he hadn’t aged. Or maybe you just didn’t remember him all that well because his face felt the same but you were different. When you missed your best friend’s birthday, a trip to the gymnastics gym on the mainland and a towering cake with fondant replicas of all her favorite things, she was rightly pissed.  

Thirteen felt monumental, like the movie the two of you had snuck onto your mom’s Verizon bill, and you had both made a pact that you would be there for each other no matter what. That promise included birthdays and, more seriously, dads who showed up after seven years of radio silence because they didn’t want to “miss anything else”. But you didn’t mention your dad because hers was so great and you felt a little like you were floating on an island and no one could understand you enough to reach it. But then you missed her birthday and she swore not to speak to you and that felt more crushing than the dad thing until her brother stepped in. Always the one playing referee in when you fought, Rafe was a few years older and, in your mind, a lot smarter.  

It felt pretty important that an older boy would make the time to talk to you, especially when he had to know that his sister was avoiding you at all costs. He’d just gotten his permit and, like any good brother, showed up in the car he wasn’t supposed to drive with a minor in the passenger seat, to take you around the island for the afternoon.  

“My mom said she thinks we’re gonna move.” You mentioned, less casually than you would’ve hoped. The windows in the truck were rolled down and you had your legs up, feet placed precariously on the window ledge. There was a particularly nasty bruise on your knee from falling off your skateboard three days ago and a few short hairs you’d missed shaving. You were relatively new to both shaving and skateboarding so there were bound to be mistakes, you just wished they were less visible.  

“Off the island?” Rafe asked, concern etched into his tone. You assumed the concern was for his sister, what would Sarah do if you moved? Who would put up with all her antics?

You shook your head, “to the cut.”

“Why?”

“She can’t afford the house on her own anymore and my dad has been lousy with child support.” You repeated back all the things she had said to you. Why she didn’t take him to court like the other kid in your grade with divorced parents was beyond you. Rose told her that it was the only way to ensure he paid what he was supposed to but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to hold him accountable.  

Can’t believe you’re gonna be a pogue.” He said it like it meant something worse than you moving to the mainland.

“It’s not forever. My grandma’s house is there, we’re gonna stay with her until we can get back up on our feet.” You shrugged, “at least my dad’ll stay away then.”

But you dad wasn’t the only one who kept their distance. It felt like the distinction over your mother’s life choices held a greater impact on your friends than they had let on. A year into pogue life and Rafe seemed to disappear almost completely. It had always been an odd kind of friendship in the first place but you’d thought that it could’ve withstood a change in address.  

Sarah kept in touch, unbothered by labels or mailing addresses. She’d been to your grandma’s a hundred times before you moved and she continued to go there to see you after. The two of you played in the backyard, doing tricks on the trampoline until gossiping about kids at school became more important than cartwheels. You’d lay there whispering as if someone might overhear, telling each other stories from the week that you were separated. Rafe always came to pick her up, staying in the car and honking the horn for her but never coming over to see you.  

It felt a little lonely even though you technically retained most of your friends.  

-

In tenth grade you got the role of Eponine in the teen camp production of Les Miserables that the local theatre was putting on. You were technically sharing the role with another girl your age but you couldn’t help being excited nonetheless. The boy playing Marius was in two of your classes, a senior who had lofty city dreams and a nice smile. He flirted almost constantly with you, brushing your hair back, telling you how pretty you were, inviting you out after practice. You told Sarah you were “pretty sure” you were on your way to having your first real boyfriend.  

But maybe the ominous casting of Eponine over your life should’ve been hint enough that things weren’t destined to work out that way. The boy who played Marius had an actual girlfriend, home from vacationing with her family in time to watch her boyfriend on stage, and you were supposed to accept that he was just “connecting to the character” when he was with you. Either way, your On My Own struck a different chord in you and after the show was over you didn’t join the other cast members in the lobby to greet people.  

“So when you get to New York...do I get to leak all those videos of you and Sarah doing your Genie in a Bottle routine?” Rafe asked, pulling a chair next to you at the makeup table. Yours was halfway off but you’d stopped scrubbing at your face to stare at yourself in the mirror. Self-pity was a powerful procrastinator.

“You’re supposed to be in the lobby.” You pointed out, ignoring his comment, “I look like a ghost raccoon that just climbed out of a dumpster.  

“Now there’s an analogy.” He laughed and picked up the cotton pads you had sitting on the counter, soaking one in micellar water and turning your head to face him.  

You bit your bottom lip as you tried to keep your composure. It’d been a while since you and Rafe had been alone and last time he was just your best friend’s cute older brother. Too old for you and way out of your league but you were fifteen now and seventeen didn’t feel so far away.  

But Sarah was your best friend and she would be mortified if she found out that you had even entertained the idea of her brother, let alone had serious thoughts about it.  

“I’m sorry,” you said as he swiped the cotton pad over your cheek.

“What for?”  

“I know we’re all supposed to go out tonight for dinner but I kinda just wanna go home.” You replied.  

“Sarah might’ve let it slip about-”

You groaned, “don’t even say his name.” You weren’t sure if it was embarrassment at having let yourself totally believe he liked you but hearing Rafe bring it up made you feel even worse.

“Hey, you’re so much better than that loser,” He insisted, “I’ll beat the crap outta him though, just say the word.”

-

It was that same year, just as school was ending, that you turned sixteen. A short stay in the cut at your grandma’s house had helped your mom get back on her feet. A new job, better than the one that let her go, afforded a moderately sized house back on Figure Eight and a birthday with all the friends that had left the two of you behind.  

Sixteen felt a little more important than thirteen had, especially because, for two whole weeks, time suspended and you were technically only a year younger than Rafe. You still hadn’t told Sarah that you liked her brother, though she did seem a little suspicious when the crush on your co-star dissipated almost overnight. The boys of the past had no hold over your growing infatuation with Rafe. Maybe it was foolish but you couldn’t help thinking that maybe it wasn’t.  

Especially not when he showed up at your house the same way he had when you were thirteen, though this time he had his actual license and not just a permit. He told you it was birthday drive around the island, that he was in charge of stalling you while Sarah set up a surprise party at your house.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to tell me that it’s a surprise.” You teased, sipping at the iced coffee that Rafe had brought you when he picked you up. You swished the ice around once before sipping again.  

“It’s a party either way.” Rafe replied, shrugging his shoulder.  

“So, we’re just driving around until she texts you?” You asked. Rafe turned into the Island Club, circling the parking lot once and then turning back around.  

“I’m yours until Sarah says otherwise.” He said, the words erupting butterflies in your stomach. You could practically feel yourself heat up thinking about what those words could mean if he wasn’t just your best friend’s brother.  

“Well...then do you wanna go to the beach?” You suggested, “Jaxon showed me this really cool spot on the south side that’s practically hidden.”

“Jaxon?” Rafe sounded judgmental when he said the other boy’s name, whether he meant to or not.  

“Yea, we’ve been on a couple dates. You know him, he took me to prom,” you supplied, thinking of the way Rafe had sulked on the staircase while you and Sarah had gotten your pictures taken on the front lawn of Tanney Hill. The last picture in the bunch, despite his sulkiness, was of you and Rafe. You’d asked and he had obliged, coming down onto the porch to take a picture with you before everyone left for the dance.  

It was your favorite picture, even more than the countless ones of you and Sarah or the few of you and Jaxon. He was just a place holder anyway, someone to take your mind off the thing you couldn’t have. Not that it was working, especially when you were driving around with Rafe at the moment.  

“I remember him.” Rafe replied, “so this special part of the beach?”

“It’s so pretty.” You confirmed, “Sarah and I went there a couple weeks ago but she only ever wants to sunbathe.”  

“Don’t say it like you’re surprised.” He said, pulling his car off to the side of the road when you told him to.  

You were out of the car first, letting the door fall shut behind you as you headed up the wooden ramp to the beach. The drop off at the top was a little steeper here than anywhere else, the beach mostly desolate. You stopped at the top of the walkway, turning back to wait for Rafe. He was standing at the bottom of the ramp staring up at you.  

“Are you coming up or what?” You called.  

“Yeah,” he nodded, walking up the path to you.  

“I know Sarah’s planning a big birthday for me, but I’d much rather have this...” you admitted, “just like, coming out to the beach with you...”  

“Oh yeah?” He asked, grinning down at you.  

“Don’t tell Sarah,” you joked, “she’ll be mad-”

“Why, cause I’m your favorite Cameron?”

Maybe it was being sixteen or maybe it was that you were feeling particularly bold, out here on the beach with just Rafe, no threat of prying eyes to interrupt you. Either way, you had been thinking about telling him for a while now and it felt like the time...even if getting rejected ran the risk of ruining your birthday.  

“I know I’m just Sarah’s best friend but...I really like you Rafe.” You said, “and I know it’s like a million to one that you like me back but I just felt like I would explode if I didn’t tell you.” You waited a beat for him to say something and when he didn’t you kept talking, “Sorry, I know this is so weird-”

“It’s not weird.” Rafe cut you off, “I’m just shocked that you seriously think I only see you as Sarah’s best friend.” His tone was teasing as he brushed a piece of hair behind your ear and cupped your cheek. “You’re so much more than that.”

-

It was Sarah who told you, days before your eighteenth birthday. She’d seen Rafe with someone else when her family took a weekend trip out to Chapel Hill to see a game. There was a girl there, hanging all over her brother. He swore she was just a friend, told Sarah not to tell you, but Sarah wasn’t dumb and she wouldn’t help her brother cover up an indiscretion. So she told you flat out that her brother was cheating on you.  

When Sarah first found out that you and Rafe were dating, she had been as mad as her thirteenth birthday. How could you go behind her back and date her brother? The anger dissipated slowly, over the course of the summer it became clear that were not going to leave her in the dust for Rafe. She wasn’t wholly supportive of the relationship but she was supportive of you and if Rafe was who you wanted to be with than she’d be happy for you.  

But if she had to choose, it would always be you over Rafe.  

“I didn’t want to tell you, I really thought about not saying anything but...you deserve to know.” It was the justification she used as your face fell, all the giddiness from planning your eighteenth birthday fading in the blink of an eye.  

“He cheated?” And it felt like a punch to the gut. “Are you sure?”

“He said she was just a friend but...I don’t hang on my friends like that.” Sarah remarked.  

You fiddled with the phone in your lap, Sarah’s comments turning over in your head. You could refute them, tell her that you’d just talked to him the night before and he told you how excited he was to see you, how much he loved you. He’d used the word love...that had to mean something right? You could call him, ask him straight away if he was actually cheating, but you suspected that he would only lie to you. And if he wasn’t cheating, if he did tell the truth, would you believe him? Sarah was your best friend and once she had planted the seeds of doubt in you, they seemed to flourish there.  

You didn’t say anything else about it to Sarah that night and when Rafe called to talk, like he always did, you pretended that everything was fine. But that could only last for so long. A week before your party, on the same special part of the beach that Rafe had first kissed you, things ended. Rafe had sworn to Sarah that the girl at school was just a friend but he couldn’t lie to you, and he didn’t try to either.  

“It was a mistake,” he insisted, as if it was the type of thing you could brush off.  

“But you still made it.” You replied.  

“I didn’t mean to.” Rafe didn’t have any good reasons for why he had cheated on, only that he had and that, since you now knew, he was apologetic. “I don’t even talk to that girl anymore. She meant nothing to me.”

“Obviously she meant more than we did.”  

Rafe had been it for you for a long time. He seemed so out of your league and you had thought a million times that you would’ve done anything for him. He was the ideal for everything that you wanted and for a while, when you had it, had him, it had felt like a dream. But now you were waking up to reality and it wasn’t a sunset on the beach.  

“I love you.” He said it like it was something you were neglecting to remember.  

“Not enough.”  

#rafe fic #rafe imagine #rafe fanfic #rafe fanfiction #rafe x reader #rafe x you #rafe x y/n #rafe cameron imagine #rafe cameron fanfiction #rafe cameron fanfic #rafe cameron fic #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe cameron x reader #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks fanfic #outer banks fic #obx fic #obx fanfic #obx fanfiction #obx imagine #ts anthology series #collecting stories

[cupsofteandcoffeespoons]

assigning glee characters to folklore songs

the 1: i think tina would sing this about mike at the end of season 6, after she proposed to him but before the five year time skip. (maybe she performs at a coffeeshop gig to make money during college?) it would be a reflection on their relationship, and how even though she’s happy with how her life is working out, she still would have loved to be with mike forever. 

cardigan: i don’t know about timelines, but i want to hear marley singing this. she has such a lovely voice, strong but not overpowering in the way that some of the other female singers on the show could be, and i think she’d do a beautiful job with this song - especially the bridge!

the last great american dynasty: for some reason i can really see marley taking this one?? idk why but it just feels very fun and light, while also telling a really neat story at the same time, and i think marley would nail that balance. also, something about marley’s general vibe and vocals really reminds me of taylor - i think they both have a similar tone, sweet and simple and lovely - so i can definitely see her doing a rendition very similar to the original song. 

exile: this is perfect for finchel around the breakup. they’d sing it as a duet, ofc, keeping the male/female parts the same as they are in the original song. i don’t have much to say about this, honestly - i feel like it’s a pretty obvious fit, and i think their voices would suit the song better than any other couple on the show.

my tears ricochet: this would be such a beautiful klaine duet set just after the breakup - maybe around thanksgiving? i think their voices go really well together (most of the time lolol) and i think kurt’s voice in particular would lend a super cool vibe to the songs. 

mirrorball: i’ve seen people give santana this one, but this song just SCREAMS quinn to me. i envision her singing this either while she’s getting ready for prom (shot in the style of i feel pretty/unpretty) or while walking home after finn breaks up with her at jean’s funeral. to me, this song is about constantly putting on masks and doing things solely because it’ll help her keep finn, and thus her status and image. i think the lines “i’m still a believer, but i don’t know why/i’ve never been a natural, all i do is try, try, try/i’m still on that trapeze/i’m still trying everything to keep you looking at me” really fit quinn during late season 2 - she’s desperately trying to present herself as the perfect girlfriend, because she’s watching finn fall back in love with rachel and thinks that if she just tries hard enough, maybe she can keep him this time around.

seven: brittana duet alert! i’ve always headcanoned them as childhood best friends, and i can see them performing it in season one or very early season 2, reflecting on their early relationship and how it’s changed. it’d be a really sweet duet that would give their characters some backstory and grounding.

august: i think rachel would sing this after finn and quinn get back together during season 2. it’d be a classic rachel solo, the kind with super exaggerated emotions that make the rest of the glee club slightly uncomfortable.

this is me trying: this gives me such santana vibes. i think she’d knock this song out of the park, with a lovely mix of emotion and control, and i think it would have absolutely been one of the best solos on the show. it’s heartbreaking and she would really make it mean something, you know? i think it’d be gorgeous.

illicit affairs: while i didn’t like finn or fuinn, i think their one duet was really lovely, and i think this could have been a good song for them to pair up on around silly love songs - after they start their relationship, but before people start to find out about it. it’d be kind of like roots before branches in the sense that finn wouldn’t spit equal vocals with quinn, but would instead be more of backup for her. it’d play during a montage of them meeting up in empty classrooms and sending each other emotionally charged looks during glee club meetings, very classic secret relationship stuff. 

invisible string: i think this could be a really lovely klaine duet!! again, a season 6 song, maybe during the wedding - it’s the story of how they feel like their romance was meant to be, and that “invisible string” of destiny is how they ended up overcoming all the obstacles to come back together.

mad woman: honestly give this to all the og glee girls towards the end of season 3 as one last hurrah before they head to nationals. i can see them doing it in the style of shake it out - all sitting on stools, with dramatic lighting, fierce outfits/makeup, and lots of complicated harmonies. 

epiphany: i want to hear quinn and santana sing this song together. their one duet on the show (take my breath away) was absolutely gorgeous, with fantastic harmonies and a light, breathy quality that would suit this song incredibly well.  

betty: another quinn song!! she’d sing this in season 3, after successfully talking rachel out of marrying finn (the car accident/baby stealing shit didn’t happen in this world, because those plots were stupid). she’d perform in front of the club, with backup from brittana, and she’d use it both to come out and to admit she has feelings for rachel - changing “james” to “quinn” ofc ;)

peace: this is a weird one, but stay with me on this - let puck sing this song. i feel like this song really sums up the crux of the problem that i have with quick - other than beth, they didn’t have much in common, and they were never able to give each other what they needed for a healthy, lasting relationship. however, i feel like puck would nail the emotional execution of this song. “would it be enough, if i could never give you peace?” is THE question that defines quick, and so i think puck would be the best fit for this song.

hoax: why am i getting brittany vibes from this? i mean, it’s a little profound for her, but i think she could sing this in early season 2, when she’s trying to convince santana to come out and be with her, before she and artie start dating. santana doesn't want to be with her openly, and brittany is hurt by that, but is still in love with and incredibly fond of her, so the song is about her clinging to santana even though she knows the relationship isn’t going to last unless santana is willing to go public.

the lakes: this was the trickiest song on the list for me, but i’m going to have to give it to quinn. quinn was very much set up as one of the smartest kids in glee club from an academic standpoint; she mentions being on honor roll in season 1, gets into yale, and tells rachel she had a straight A average while pregnant (which is literally SO impressive y’all), so it seems fitting to me that she would be the one to perform this song, which has very complicated, intellectual lyrics. she’d sing this in season 6 - and dedicate it to rachel of course.

#glee #taylor swift #folklore #tina cohen chang #mike chang #marley rose #finn hudson #rachel berry #kurt hummel #blaine anderson #quinn fabray #santana lopez #brittany s. pierce #mercedes jones #noah puckerman #tike #finchel #klaine #brittana #faberry #quick

[serenasoutherlyns]

Not a Summer Crush Part Seven

a/n: It's heeeeere! The night before my classes start for the fall. There's a timeskip from the previous part-- Caroline, Alex, and Casey have all been together for about a month and it's the transition between fall and summer. This one features fighting and humor and lots of Jack McCoy. Any and all feedback makes my world!

Part Seven

The weeks passed in late nights spent in the same office, in morning lattes and afternoon runs (that often ended in the kinds of showers that don’t save water, with the almost frantic pulling off of clingy clothing, with breathy “god yes”-es and rushing to the door when either of you heard Alex’s key in the lock). Jack McCoy noted with pride how efficient it appeared your bureau had become since the summer started.

It was important to maintain a good amount of discretion. As progressive as the world may be becoming, you knew that the DA’s office had to keep up appearances; that it wouldn’t be good for you, and Jack (and, by extension, you again) for the media to get wind of your relationship. Besides, you wanted to keep it personal, special.

But oh. The thrill of the honeymoon phase is so irresistible.

A Friday night, one where the air began to have the kind of bite that previewed the coming fall, found you and Alex together in a candlelit restaurant waiting for Casey to join you. You had some sense, choosing a place not normally frequented by the Hogan Place set, in the opposite direction from your apartment. You set your glass of wine beside Alex’s and took her hand in yours, above the table this time. You couldn't resist leaning in, kissing her softly.

“Caroline,” she said as you pulled away, smiling at you with the same look you’d first seen months ago, that you hadn’t known was what it was until you’d seen it over and over as she pulled you tighter into her arms.

“Alex,” you said, enticingly, all but batting your eyelashes. She ran her fingers along yours in apology. “I know,” you said, placing your hands back on the table, leaning back against the booth seat. “We could always meet Casey when she gets to your place,” you said, looking at your phone. “Except she’s almost here.”

Alex laughed lightly. “You’re insatiable,” she scolded you, teasingly. You shrugged, knowing it was accurate. “And I’m hungry.” She picked up her menu.

Across the room, around the corner, sitting at a single table, Jack McCoy returned his focus to his book, trying to convince himself he hadn’t seen what he thought he did.

---

Jack was on high alert at the office. He had been too far away, he couldn’t be sure. And it was such an out of the way place-- he went there when he didn’t want every law student and defense attorney on the island to vie for a piece of his ear. So it couldn’t’ve been them, Jack thought. Who am I kidding? That’s exactly the kind of place they’d go. After all-- Jack knew from affairs.

He wouldn’t have expected this of Alex Cabot, knowing how in love she and Casey were. Though, now he considered the possibility, the two of you seemed to gravitate towards one another in a characteristic way. He remembered seeing her hand linger on your shoulder a beat too long in the courthouse hallway.

Who knows, he’d always expected Mike and Connie would go for it one day, and they still hadn’t. When Erika Keller and Anna Mikhailova had filed their disclosure he could’ve sworn he’d needed to get his eyes checked, having heard the way the two of them could argue. Maybe he wasn’t the best judge of things. Because I’m looking for myself in other people. He leaned in his chair. He’d do the introspection later. For now, he’d do what he could to keep one of his bureau chiefs out of a public scandal. Besides, they were too far away. It could’ve been anybody’s curls bouncing in laughter, could’ve been anyone’s impeccable posture. He hoped.

He made a point that Monday around noon to personally stop by the junior office on your floor, but found only Nick Anderson (who, he remembered, he needed to talk to about a possible change of bureaus) with his head buried in a journal.

“Mr. McCoy,” he said as soon as he realized he wasn’t alone, snapping the book shut harder than he needed to. “What can I do for you?”

“Hi, Nick,” Jack said, a little disappointed that he’d roused the guy from what was clearly riveting reading. “I was just looking for Caroline.”

Anderson’s face fell. Evidently, he was used to that line of inquiry. Poor guy. McCoy remembered the days when he’d given the least helpful junior ADAs piles of nothing to keep them out of his hair. No obvious changes, Jack noticed as he looked around your side of the office. No notes or photos or out-of-the-ordinary gifts. Though, someone needs to show this woman the value of an organized space, he thought. It’d be hard to notice anything among the pile of papers.

“Mr. McCoy?” he heard Anderson say.

“Yeah?” he replied, somewhat irritated.

“Oh um,” he said, what little confidence he had faltering. “I just said she was in Ms. Cabot’s office, sir.”

Jack’s stomach dropped. That may as well be “step one” in the old Jack McCoy playbook, get her in your space as often as possible. Oh come on, Jack. She’s her boss. They’re probably going over witness statements. Right. And how many witness statements did Sally and I review together while I was still going home to Ellen? He swallowed. “Thank you. And you don’t need to ‘sir’ me anymore. You’ve earned your desk.”

“Yes s-- got it, Mr. McCoy.” Anderson returned to his book. Jack continued down the hall.

---

“You really think she’s being honest?” Alex’s question was audible through her slightly-open door.

“She’s our witness!” you said, matching her tone. Somehow, the mood in the office was light even in your disagreement.

“Witnesses lie,” Jack said, surprising the both of you as he nudged his way in the room.

“When it’s in their best interest,” you said, acknowledging him with a nod in his direction. Jack liked how you didn’t let etiquette get in the way of your arguments. “Alex,” you said, pointing your gaze at her. I know that look. “What good does it do her to lie about who she was with?”

Alex fired right back at you, not bringing McCoy into the conversation. “She avoids embarrassment? Guilt? Fear? I’m not putting her on the stand unless we can verify her testimony.”

“Then we’re looking at an acquittal,” you said dryly.

“Because I won’t suborn perjury? O ye of little faith,” Alex responded. Jack caught a playful lilt in her voice. He was liking this less and less with each piece of evidence he uncovered.

“Do you know for certain she’s lying?” Jack said, breaking the intensity in the room.

“No, but--” Alex said.

“Exactly--” you said at the same time.

“Are you certain she’s telling the truth?” He asked. “This is People v Buckman?” he clarified. Alex nodded. You pushed an offending curl out of your eyes. “I would probably put her on the stand,” you smirked, “and when defense -it’s Elsie Campbell, right?- I’d have no recourse when defense tears her story to pieces.” You shrugged, never minding being the first to concede defeat.

“I’ll see if Detective Rollins is up for a coffee break,” you said, grabbing your phone and attache, but, Jack noticed, leaving your cardigan hanging on the extra hook. “Sometimes I wish I’d stayed in California,” you said, “reciprocal discovery would be pretty sweet.”

“Ouch,” Alex said as you walked out of the office. You waved a hand over your shoulder.

“Did you need something, Jack?” Alex asked, glad she’d known him long enough to be casual.

“Nothing,” he lied, and when she looked puzzled, said, “I was actually checking on the Buckman case.”

“I’m in no need of supervision,” Alex said under her breath. “Anything else I can clarify for you?”

Tell me I’m wrong about this, he thought. “No,” he said. “I’m sure you’ve got it under control.”

---

Of course, if Jack McCoy had been a more athletically inclined man, he may have run into you and Casey in the park two days before the restaurant, cooling down from the 5 and a half miles you’d done. He may have seen you tug on the hem of Casey’s tank top, seen her whisper something in your ear that made you blush and laugh, he may have caught the split second her lips met your jawline, seen the two of you heading off for the subway together.

And if he’d seen that first he may have tried to convince himself that it was another red ponytail and another person’s graceful lines. That there were so many people who jogged in that park, that it couldn't have been you.

He would’ve made a point to stop by the juniors’ office, maybe earlier in the day. Nick Anderson would’ve told him you were in Casey’s office and his stomach would’ve dropped. That may as well be “step one” in the old Jack McCoy playbook, get her in your space as often as possible. Oh come on, Jack. She’s her boss. They’re probably preparing for an admissibility hearing. He’d remind himself to schedule a meeting with Anderson for the end of the week.

He’d continue down the hall to find you and Casey sitting together, wordlessly handing one another documents highlighted in different colors. He’d remember the last time he was that in sync with an assistant and an undeniable flutter of recognition would’ve hit him.

But he hadn’t been in the park.

---

Your phone buzzed on the counter. You dried your hands quickly on the dishtowel, you turned off the tap. In the living room, Ashley was gathering the toys and books scattered about. Ramin was late at the office.

1 new message from: Alex to: you, Casey:

Alex: I just had quite the meeting with Jack.

---

“You wanted to see me, Jack?” Alex said, entering his office after most of the lawyers had gone home or

retreated to their own offices for the night.

“Actually, I’d really rather I didn’t need to,” he said. Alex’s concern showed on her face.

“Is this about the Buckman case? I know it’s going to be extra time to look into her statement,

but I really think this could be a break in the case, if she’s telling the truth or lying, so I thought it was justified. I could probably still make the argument without her, but it feels worth it--”

“No, the case is fine. Besides, it’s your case. I-- Alex we need to talk about… it’s maybe a more personal issue,” Jack said, shifting his hands’ position on the desk in front of him.

Alex’s eyes widened. “Are you speaking as my boss or as my friend?” Jack melted, remembering that they were friends, and that he could approach the topic as a friend. Though, usually, he wouldn’t have to confront a friend about their romantic life. Or if he did, it wouldn’t have professional repercussions. Electoral repercussions, he heard a younger, more emotional version of himself say to Adam Schiff 20 years ago. Sorry, Adam.

“Both, I hope, now that you mention it.”

Alex paused a moment, considering what to say. She had an idea what Jack was getting at, but no idea how he had come to that conclusion. He probably has some kind of sixth sense, she thought. “Start as my boss.”

Jack took a deep breath. “OK. I’ll tell you something Adam Schiff told me when I was in your position,”

Alex felt the need to stop him, to find out exactly what he thought he knew. “Wait. Before you reprimand me. What position am I in? What do you think I’m doing?”

“Jesus, Alex. What do you think you’re doing?” he asked. She didn’t answer him. “You’re having an affair with Caroline Haley.” He wasn’t asking her a question, and the disappointment in his voice was wounding. Alex took a deep breath. “You’re not going to deny it?”

“What makes you think we’re having an affair?” She was determined to out-wit him, get him to show her all his evidence before letting go of anything he was unaware of. Under New York law it is the prosecution’s responsibility to disclose any exculpatory evidence, she thought. And a lawyer who represents herself still has a fool for a client.

Jack looked at her blankly. Was she really going to make him spell it out? Well, he’d missed presenting cases. “I’ve noticed that she spends a lot more time in your office than her own,” he started. Alex’s poker face remained unchanged. “Your conversational style is, quite, amiable, ah,”

She couldn’t suppress a smile, then, biting back a laugh. “My apologies,” she said. “All you have as proof of this alleged affair is friendly conversation and spending time together?”

Jack tried to play into her humor. “I’ll remind you Ms. Novak Cabot,” he said, using her married name to see if it got a reaction (no luck), “that adultery is still a class B misdemeanor in the state of New York.”

Alex snatched that opportunity. He opened the door, your honor. “And how many three-month stays do you owe the good people of New York, Mr. McCoy?” He looked caught-out. The upper hand was hers. “Are you sure you’re not just seeing your old habits?”

“You know, it’s funny you should say that. Because after this coming election, I was going to ask you to be my EADA. But you know I can’t do that if there is even the slightest appearance of impropriety.”

“So this is about election results? You and I both know my patience for politics is--”

“Limited, yes. But don’t tell me you’re not the slightest bit interested.”

“I’d have to think about it, Jack,” she said honestly. It seemed to surprise him, which didn’t surprise her. He seemed to forget, often, that she’d arguably done much more important work (and he seemed to forget that Tracey Kibre had turned down the same position more than once, that some people enjoyed seeing their partners and the insides of their apartments every once in a while). “But that’s not why you wanted to talk to me, and you’ve yet to convince me that you have any idea about any affair.”

“Where were you last Friday evening?” Jack asked her, in full cross-examination confidence.

Alex flinched, her first misstep since she’d come in. She wasn’t going to out-right lie to him if disguising the truth would do. However he knew this (if he knew anything), she had no way of knowing how much he knew. “I had dinner with Caroline at a restaurant near her apartment in Brooklyn.”

“A working dinner?”

“I can’t be friends with my colleague?”

“Trilogy isn’t a particularly platonic place as far as I know,”

“You spied on me outside of work?”

“I happened to be there,” Jack said. Alex rolled her shoulders back, trying to let go of some of the anger she had at what felt like an invasion of her privacy, even if it had been public. “I saw her kiss you, Alex. I know.” Alex didn’t answer him. Jack, uncomfortable with the silence, said “I really do understand. I sympathize with what you’re going through, I know it isn’t easy.”

Her frustration gathered itself in her cold fingertips that she realized were gripping the arms of her chair, hard. “Actually, you don’t understand,” she said, quietly, as politely as she could. “You have an incomplete picture of the nature of our relationship.” Jack opened his mouth to argue. “I won’t say any more,” Alex said, certain, “except that Caroline has done absolutely nothing wrong, and if you go after her about any of this, you will have my resignation.” Jack nodded.

“You understand how something like this could look to the public? You understand that your position is at stake?”

“I understand.”

“I mean, just the power dynamic alone, disregarding the infidelity, and I hate to say it, but you know how rampant homophobia still is.” She clenched her jaw, but she didn’t look guilty.

“I know. Now, I’d like you to be my friend for a moment,” she said. “Please.”

He smiled weakly.

“As your friend, I’d tell you not to cheat on your wife,” Jack said. Alex looked serene.

“I won’t,” she said, rising from her seat. “Goodnight, Jack.” She left faster than he could return the sentiment. He’d hoped he had more comforting things to say. And he wanted to know what on earth she’d meant by “the nature” of their relationship. He trusted she’d take extra care now that she knew he knew. It was not going to be a fun secret to keep.

---

She didn’t tell you what the meeting was about, so you knew it couldn’t have gone well. Quite the meeting. You hoped it wasn’t what you thought it was. You said you’d be there soon. You moved through the apartment quickly, leaving the last of the dishes in the sink, snagging your keys off the hook, tossing them along with your phone into your backpack.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Ashley asked. You knew he’d been looking forward to catching up on episodes of The Bachelor, and you did hate to disappoint him. You looked up from tying your shoes.

“Alex and Casey’s,” you said. His shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry, I’ll make it up to you.” He rolled his eyes. “What?” you asked. “You can watch without me, you know, I don’t mind.”

“I don’t care about the show,” he said, returning to his tidying.

You stood up, crossing your arms. “Something you want to say?” He shrugged.

“No, no. Go have fun,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a whole lot of fun,” you said, trying to keep the worry buried. “Alex texted, she said that Jack had called her into his office this evening over something.”

“That surprises you?” Ashley said, his voice high-pitched.

You looked at him with your eyes wide. “I’m sorry?” you said, resisting the urge to raise your voice.

“What did you think was going to happen, Caroline?” he said, with a patronizing look that made your stomach turn.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” you said. Two could play at passive aggression.

Ashley laughed bitterly. “I mean, did you not think twice before risking your job, everything you’ve worked towards to be what, the third wheel in a relationship that existed far before you came across it?”

“Ashley,” you warned him.

“I thought you were trying to work on the self-sabotage, I mean, you’ve never even been in a relationship before,”

“That’s not exactly true,” you said. You were starting to feel nauseous. He knew you well enough to know that he was pushing right on all your insecurities.

“That lasted more than a couple months, then, which is hardly anything.”

“I think we’ve gone over that a couple times-- Just because you’re so morally invested in monogamy doesn’t mean it’s for everyone--”

“You really want to be the girl who sleeps with the boss? No, sorry, the girl who sleeps with both of the bosses?”

“It’s-- wow. Tell me how you really feel.”

It was quiet for a moment as the two of you dared the other person to talk first.

“I just don’t think you’re making the best decision,” he said.

“I thought you were happy for me,” you replied, and walked out the door.

---

You didn’t usually ride your bike after dark. It felt right, though, as you went, releasing your nervous (and sad, and angry) energy out through the pedals. Your arms came up in goosebumps, from the chill in the air or the trepidation in your spine. It started to rain.

---

You and Alex arrived almost simultaneously. She was accepting a cup of tea that Casey was offering her when you came in. You were a walking cliché with your hair stuck to the side of your face, shivering. “Hi,” you said, shakily. You hadn’t quite been crying. The insecure part of you felt small, out of place, intrusive: they had this cozy, tidy, warm apartment, mugs of hot tea in their hands; and you were shattering it with the chaos that followed in the wake of your personal life. You were being so selfish, so inconsiderate, bringing your own emotional baggage with you despite Alex being the one having a hard time. For a split second you thought about leaving with no explanation, dashing out almost as soon as you shut the door. Casey held up a mug for you. It was one of a matching set of three.

“Jack thinks we’re having an affair,” Alex said, matter-of-fact, as you slipped out of your shoes and made your way to the counter Casey was leaning against. Alex was pacing, slowly, how she often did when she was figuring something out. You took a sip of your tea, grateful for the warmth, then set it on the counter and rested your head on Casey’s shoulder. She jumped and you laughed, the relief spreading through you. She squirmed as you pressed closer, letting out a squeak at the feeling. You let her go, listening to the quiet creaking of the floor.

“Which us?” you asked, matching the seriousness of the subject again. “All of us?”

“Just you and I,” Alex said.

“How did he come to that conclusion?” Casey asked, knowing there were equal cases to be made for any combination.

Alex stopped moving, pushing herself up to sit on the counter opposite to you. “To begin, he was apparently at Trilogy last Friday night.” The goosebumps threatened to make a repeat appearance. This was your fault.

“I’m so sorry,” you said, your eyes lost in your teacup. “I was reckless.” Out of the corner of your eye, you felt Apollo the duck stare at you accusingly with the stone cold eyes he didn’t have.

“Don’t be sorry. I was there too,” Alex said, meeting your gaze as you looked up. “He didn’t stick around long enough to see Casey.”

“What did you end up telling him?” Casey asked, letting herself be the problem-solver for the night.

“Very little,” she said. “He doesn’t have the complete story. That he should hold off on any judgements unless and until he did.”

“Did it work?” you asked.

“Well enough, I think. You don’t need to worry about your job. I threatened him with my resignation if he said a word to you about it.” Your heart beat faster. Sacrifices for your sake, or the offer of them, made you uneasy.

“You don’t have to put your career on the line for me,” you said, the same shaky tone edging into your voice again. Alex blinked at you, like it was no big deal, like it was the obvious choice. Casey traced circles on your shoulder blade.

“Nobody’s career is at risk, Caroline,” Casey said. “Honestly, imagine the kind of headlines that would break if Jack McCoy fired someone for adultery.”

“I don’t know what’s worse,” Alex said, “Jack’s disapproval right now, or how he might react if we just told him what’s going on. He made it clear his objection had more to do with poll numbers than morality.” Ashley’s words echoed in your head. You really want to be the girl who sleeps with the boss-- both of the bosses? Your fear must have been more obvious than you intended. “What’s wrong?” Alex asked you.

You swallowed. “It’s nothing,” you said, stopping yourself from spilling every anxious thought that came to you. “I’m fine. It’ll be fine,” you said, a real smile making its way out of you. You held your hand out for Alex’s and squeezed. She slid off the counter, letting herself be pulled in, letting whatever you weren’t saying stay unsaid for that moment. She also jumped when she first felt your wet clothes against her skin.

“Now, let’s get you out of those wet clothes,” she said. Your mouth was open in amusement as she started off down the hall. You began to follow but Casey stopped you briefly, hooking her ring finger into your belt loop.

“Whatever he said, it isn’t true,” she said, starting to run her warm hands underneath your shirt.

“How did you,” you said, feeling seen. “I didn’t say anything about it.”

“Give me some credit,” she said then kissed you gently, her body warming yours. “I’m very perceptive.” She gripped the bunched-up body of your t-shirt and you slipped your head through the top. Casey placed her palms against your ribs, holding you steady.

“Thank you,” you said, deep and low, as you kissed her again. The two of you, now almost equally damp, joined Alex. Six hands moved slowly, purposefully. Nothing felt desperate, fleeting. Only warmth filled you.

---

taglist: (I'm tagging a couple of my moots who aren’t on the taglist, let me know if you’d prefer I didn’t!)

@addictedtodinosaurs @nocreditinthestraightworld @cmmndrwidw @hi-i-1 @lesbianologist @readerhermit @@alexlivdoncas @laezzzi @imaginaryoperagloves (thank you for your help!!) @swimmingstudentchaos891

#Alex cabot #casey novak #calex #casey x Alex #calex x eader #Alex cabot x reader #casey Novak x reader #not a summer crush #law & order: svu #svu #svu fanfic #jack mccoy #this was the most fun I’ve had with this fic since ch. 3 lmao #comment on ao3 if you love me #Oh emi never stop posting fics at 2 am #also: I kind of hate the last line of this so. Enjoy #this should be the second to last chapter I think? #The girls r fighting tho :( by which I mean ash and Caroline

[wannabe-fic-writer]

All Over Again - Chapter 9

Summary: What was lost can be found. 

Warning: 18+ Smut, Language, Violence. 

Ch. 8

* * * * * *

Each step against the pavement accompanies a quick exhale. The surrounding trees blur by, one single focus in mind. 

The compound comes back into view after the last turn. A group of agents, led by Steve, jogging by. 

The blonde man nods in passing, then quickly focusing back on the trainee group, and directing them down the path you’d just taken.

You stop just outside the compound doors, the glass giving clear view of the very reason you have been avoiding the compound for the past three days. 

New Years day had hit you hard in more ways than one. Saying goodbye to Lena always sucked, with the turn your relationship took though, it was even worse. While you knew it wasn’t goodbye forever, you still held her in your arms for as long as you could.

That sucky feeling amplified the moment you stepped foot back into the compound.

Spending half your time with Lena and the other half working meant little time to address what happened the night before Christmas Eve. Apparently though Natasha had had enough of your avoidance and waited up for you on New Years. 

Your ex-girlfriend was incredibly adamant on reassuring you that she had no idea that was going to happen and asked a hundred and one questions about how you felt and if you were okay and so on.

At the time you had no answer, then again, you don’t know if you have one now. Not that it matters, since Natasha notices you enter and part of what’s about to come is expected. 

She freezes for a split second and then eases out from her place between Bruce and the wall. The big green man frowns, smile slipping away as he eyes Natasha. Being trained as she is makes it easy for her to pull a mask of contentment and even easier to slip away from him and follow you down the hall with no questions asked.

“Y/n,” She calls. Light but quick footsteps sounding. 

Not looking back, you open your bedroom door and step in, knowing Natasha comes in behind you. A heavy sigh wracks your body,“ I still don’t have any answers for you Romanoff.”

She doesn’t miss a beat, quickly retorting,“ back to last names huh? Just a week ago you called me Tash?”

“Yeah well you weren’t engaged when I did that.” 

The comment is made without thought. Anger forming in an unexpected way. 

Conflicting emotions rise inside Natasha and present themselves as a frown. She’s glad it seems you’ve figured out how you feel. But also anxious beyond belief about this reaction. 

“So you do know how you feel.” 

You sigh, shoulder’s dropping,“ no I don’t and honestly I don’t know why it matters so much.”

She steps further in, green eyes damn near burning your profile,“ because I feel like this is going to make me lose you. . . again.”

“It won’t.”

Your words aren’t as convincing as you’d like them to be. It’s your way of brushing Natasha off and she knows it. 

Her hand falters as she reaches for your shoulder, then she pushes aside that hesitance, and rests it there,“ we both know that’s not true.” She squeezes a bit,“ there was a time when you promised me nothing but honesty.”

She watches as your head rises, gaze fixed outside the window as you gather your thoughts. You then shrug her hand away, and finally turn to face her,“ look Natasha,” her eyebrows raise as e/c meets green,“ I can’t tell you how this makes me feel because quite frankly there are far too many emotions for me to decipher right now. I mean I just- just, came to terms with you and Bruce dating. You can’t expect me to just be fine with this so soon.”

In a split second, a literal slip up, the redhead says something she wishes she hadn’t,“ if that’s the case don’t expect me to be fine with you all of a sudden dating Lena.”

Shocked, you resist the urge to back step, only because that would cause you to fall back on the bed. With a frown you reply,“ what are you talking about all of a sudden?”

Figuring there’s no turning back now, she says,“ I mean exactly that. You go away for like three days to play devil’s advocate for Stark Industries, and when you come back you’re all about Lena who you barely know.”

“For once Natasha you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about! Need I remind you, seeing as you didn’t know in the first place, I was in National City for two months. All of that time I spent with Lena, not to mention we kept in communication when I came back.” You are trying your damnedest to keep your upset in check but whatever this is she’s pulling, it’s pissing you off.

Her eyes roll and the single step back she takes makes you take a breath in,“ funny. It took you nearly seven years to even consider dating me.”

The look of absolute bewilderment on your face would be laughable under any other circumstance. Wide eyed, your hands raise to press against the sides of your head,“ wh- I- where the hell is all this coming from Natasha?! Genuinely what is the point of any of this! I’m sorry that I don’t have all the answers to your questions. I’m sorry that I can’t exactly come to terms with your engagement just yet but I would never do this to you.”

“Y/n I-”

“No Natasha I told you the first time you asked me that I just needed time and you haven’t given me that. And now you’re taking shots at my relationship.” With a heavy sigh, you push a hand up through your hair,“ I. Need. Time. And if I don’t get that then this friendship or whatever it is, won’t continue.”

Having said that, you brush past the redhead, and leave your own room. 

Thoughts speed through your mind like the goddamn Flash and it gives you the worst headache. 

Out of all the ways that little interaction could’ve gone that wasn’t what you were expecting. Honestly, you hated having to say that but you meant it. There’s only so much pushing you can take from her, especially on this topic. 

The fact that things had seemingly just fallen into place made this all the more sucky and you wish more than anything that you could either fix it all or get away. 

“Y/n! How was your-”

Wanda’s words are cut short when you throw your arms around her in a tight hug. 

The younger woman makes it a point to avoid reading your thoughts, or anyone else’s, without explicit consent. But your thoughts are so loud she hears them without even trying. She feels the waves of emotions crashing over you: confusion, anger, regret, hurt. All of it no doubt the reason you’re seeking comfort from her right now.

Carefully, she takes hold of your waist and turns you so that you’re both in the room, before closing the door, and reciprocating the hug. 

“Everything’s gonna be okay Y/n,” she squeezes you a little,“ even if it may not seem like it right now.”

A shaky breath fans across her neck and she prays to god you don’t start crying cause then she’ll start crying and usually when that starts it takes a minute to stop. 

Somehow, through immense frustration, you manage to withhold your tears. It’s not so subtle, as deep breaths and slight squeeze to Wanda’s shoulders clue her in to your restraint. But she just let’s what you’re doing play out, only moving when her legs start to grow tired. 

The witch eases you both on to the bed, maintaining her hold on you, and sporadically whispering a reassurance. 

Neither of you pay much attention to how long you’re there but being in the woman’s presence and on the receiving end of her comfort helps a lot. When you do move it’s cause you’d rather not be the reason Wanda’s entire left side goes numb. 

Luckily, since she’d heard your thoughts, that clear to you by the feeling of her presence in your mind, you don’t have to say anything about what happened. Nor do you have to express how you feel, but it comes anyway. 

Pushing yourself up, you rest against the headboard and look down at your fingers.

“Sorry for-”

“No.” Wanda’s hand quickly grabs yours and squeezes,“ don’t apologize. I’m always going to be here for you, no questions asked.”

You look at her for a moment, the younger woman smiling softly at you. Then you scoot down a bit to rest your head on her shoulder.“ Natasha won’t stop pressuring me. And then had the audacity, after I told her I needed time to get used to it, she started talking about my relationship with Lena. Like. . . things aren’t all of sudden. Right?” You find yourself frowning, a very miniscule bit of doubt rising in you. 

Wanda sighs,“ come on Y/n. Don’t let this disagreement make you question things. I’ve seen you with Lena, it’s real. Something like that doesn’t depend on time. I wouldn't've been surprised if you came back the first time saying you were dating.”

A soft chuckle falls from your lips at her words. 

Genuinely had your mind and heart not been so caught up on Natasha at the time you could see things between you and Lena happening faster. The woman is so incredible, which you knew from the very start.

Your best friend’s hand rises to your head and fingers run through your hair.“ You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah of course. Just, this sucks. It seemed like everything was perfect.” 

Refraining from scoffing, Wanda just shakes her head,“ well honey I hate to tell you but nothing’s perfect.”

A snort of a laugh leaves your lips at her term of endearment and she smiles brightly at being the cause of your partly lifted spirit. Why it caused you to laugh so hard you don’t know but it felt good to after everything that just happened. 

When you finally settle with a deep breath, Wanda raises her eyebrows,“ what’re you gonna do?”

You shrug.

“If you need a break I’m sure Lena would love to have you again.” She points out, nudging you with her elbow playfully.

With a sigh, you shake your head,“ as much as I would absolutely love to go see her, I can’t. One: she literally just left three hours ago and two: we have a mission to prep for. Cap said it’s priority so I can’t reassign.”

“Right.” She nods along, remembering. 

Silence creeps in and you both take it in. Wanda’s fingers continue to run through your hair and you absentmindedly pick at the fringe of her cardigan. This very position is where you stay for the next hour or two, conversation rising and falling about everything and nothing. Wanda ensures that she doesn’t mention Natasha or the situation at all. Which you’re grateful for. 

While the younger woman hates that you’re having to deal with this, she’s also glad to be spending some time with you. 

It’s not as though you’d neglected your friendship or anything, but with all your back and forth from NYC to NC, the amount of time you spent together was nearly cut in half. So when you end up turning the night into an impromptu sleepover there’s a smile all over her face. And it carried into the next morning where she gets to watch you make crepes for breakfast, the whole time spent joking around and singing Hamilton songs(yes she’s been learning the lyrics, especially to her favorites). 

The day is spent goofing off until you have to go train and then go over mission info. There was still a lot of information to be collected but that was for Bucky and Steve to worry about so after the meeting, alongside avoiding Natasha entirely, you go back to your room. 

Lying back on the bed, you pick up your phone to find the numerous messages from Lena and her friends, mainly Kara and Winn. 

An instant smile plays on your lips at the CEO’s text. In an instant you ask if she’s busy and the moment she says no you’re calling. 

“Hi.”

Just the sound of her voice alone makes you sigh.“ I miss you too much. I’m getting on a plane. I’ll be there tomorrow.” 

Her giggle sounds, racing straight from your ear to your heart, causing it to speed up in an all too familiar way. A way only Lena could make it race. 

“I’ll send the jet immediately.” She says in turn, both of you now laughing. Then ending with sighs, yours slightly heavier, which Lena picks up on. 

She could hear in your voice the second you spoke that something, whatever it was, wasn’t right. So she asks.“ Is everything okay love?” 

Another chuckle comes from you, this time humorless,“ am I that easy to read?” 

“No I just know you enough to tell when somethings the matter.” 

Little does she know her words make a new annoyance rise in you. Annoyance at Natasha for even having said what she did and annoyance at yourself for doubting for even a second. 

Your girlfriend gets more and more worried as the seconds pass. You can’t even see the way her hand rests gently against her desk as if she were resting it over your hand. She wants nothing more than to be there for you, physically. That isn’t an option though.

She settles for saying,“ Y/n you know you can tell me anything.” 

Which you do know is true. It’s why you tell her, at least a summary, of what happened with Natasha. Lena’s calm response is slightly surprising. Then again you have a much deeper reason to be upset at Natasha than you. 

“Well I imagine it must be pretty hard for both of you.”

Your eyebrows raise,“ uh- what?”

Lena chuckles softly,“ Y/n there’s a lot between the two of you, relationship and break up wise, stuff I’m sure you haven’t even told me. And I’m not excusing what she said by any means,” her tone takes just a bit of a hard tone when she says that then softens again,“ but neither of you should be expecting the other to be okay with everything.”

Taking a deep breath, you pause, and release loudly,“ is this what it’s like dating a genius.”

“Of course it is.” Her voice inflates a bit jokingly,“ Infinite wisdom is all I can provide.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. You have much more to offer Miss Luthor.” You’re quick to tell her, meaning it more than she could ever know. 

Quiet passes over for a moment, near silent breaths sounding before Lena speaks. Her words having not been heard since that first time on New Year's Eve. 

“I love you.”

A splitting grin hits your face and you feel overly childlike when you bury your face in the pillow beside you,“ I love you too Lena.”

Sadly your conversation can’t go on, both of you being pulled away, Lena by a meeting and you by Wanda. After two quick, softly spoken goodbyes, you hang up. 

The look on Wanda’s face as you both walk down the Compound’s hallways makes you raise a brow,“ what’s that look for Maximoff?”

She shrugs, looking off nonchalantly,“ I just like seeing how happy she makes you.”

“I-” heat rushes up your face,“ yeah. She does.” With a short chuckle you wrap an arm around her shoulders,“ you make me happy to Wan.”

“Oh I know.” She nods, smiling smugly.

Rolling your eyes, you both head to the common room for the usual team movie night. E/c lands on Bruce and Natasha cuddling and you look away, recalling Lena’s words and what happened earlier. 

This is going to be tough on both of you. How it ends you don’t know but thinking about it is too much, so for the time being you’re going to focus on what’s most important.

* * * * * *

Taglist: @username23345 @depressed-bi-bitch @fayhar @trikruismybitch @marvel-wlw @aznblossom​ @chicken-wang09​ @bitchtits15 @coxmicbabygirl​ @blackluthxr ​ @starlingelliot

#lena luthor #lena luthor x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #dcu #dcu x reader #mcu #mcu x reader #reader insert #all over again

[musicallibrarian93]

Under the stars (Gwynriel Fanfic)

It’s Azriel’s birthday, and Gwyn plans a little something special for him. Warning - Very fluffy :)

One shot from my Fanfic ‘Interruptions’. Read it here on AO3 - https://archiveofourown.org/works/30307776/chapters/74703369#workskin

Word count - 3.5k 

It was going to be his birthday soon. And Gwyn wanted to do something special.

Last year it had all been so new, this thing between them. Nonetheless, she had gotten him a gift and gone to their family meal, which Nesta had insisted on throwing for him since it was the first time, she could celebrate with him. He’d graciously accepted even though it wasn’t the kind of thing he’d wanted and had spent the whole night close to Gwyn.

Last year it had been so new, but it had also been kind of a secret. They didn’t go out of their way to hide things and of course her sisters and Cassian knew but they weren’t at the ‘screaming it from rooftops stage’.

This year, Gwyn got Azriel all to herself. Months ago, she’d asked his brothers if she could have him for the night. They’d been reluctant and Cassian had mumbled something along the lines of ‘You get him every night already’. Rhys had finally relented and recognised that it was a special day for the couple.

Gwyn liked to think she knew Azriel well. That maybe she even knew him in a different way to how his brothers knew him, but birthday planning had not been her forte. The only person she’d ever been close enough to want to throw a birthday for had been her sister and they’d shared a birthday, so they’d always planned things together. She knew she wanted to do something lowkey, something for just the two of them but still special enough to mark the day. Cooking for him was also off the table unless she wanted to accept the bond tonight.

Gwyn knew in her heart that they were going to accept the bond one day. Tonight, just wasn’t the night.

Once she’d decided what she was going to do she started to set her plan in motion. It wouldn’t require too much work, but she wanted to make sure it was all perfect.

——

The morning of Azriel’s birthday, she’d woken in his bed like she had for the past few weeks and turned in his arms to face him. She’d woken before him, which was incredibly rare, but she took the opportunity to start peppering his face with gentle kisses. The shadows that had fallen asleep on top of them stirred and danced around the crown of his head as his eyes began to peel open.

“Happy Birthday.” she mumbled onto his lips. His eyes shot open.

“Can we just go back to sleep for the rest of the day and wake up when it’s not my birthday anymore?” He said sleepily,

“But then you won’t get to see what I have planned tonight…” She kissed him again, but he didn’t seem so enthusiastic about what she’d said, “What’s wrong?” she asked,

“Nothing, I’m sure whatever you’ve planned is lovely…”

“But…” she goaded him on,

“But nothing,” a lie.

She raised an eyebrow,

“Fine,” he said, “I’ve just never really enjoyed my birthday.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy today.”

“I will, so long as I get to spend it with you.” He started to kiss her back now. A small kiss to the tip of her nose, then her forehead, and finally her lips.

They stayed in that little bliss, wrapped in each other for a little while, until Azriel’s shadows pulled the curtains apart letting Gwyn know it was time to go.

“I have to get ready for the morning service.” She said placing a kiss to his head. She moved away but he held onto her hand,

“I’ll miss you.” He said, brushing his lips over the back of her hand,

“Don’t let Nesta hear you say things like that, she’d tease you endlessly.”

He only rolled his eyes in response.

——

Azriel wondered what might be in store for him tonight. He felt honoured to have someone care about his birthday at all, but he feared he would be subject to an evening of attention on him. He loved family dinners and their small gatherings but an event where everyone might be staring at him might be too much. However, throughout the day Azriel had become increasingly confused about what Gwyn had planned for his birthday.

At training he’d overheard Nesta pester his mate about what she’d been planning. That had confused him. If Nesta didn’t know, did that mean it was a surprise to everyone? Had Gwyn orchestrated a surprise party so secretive that even the guests hadn’t known it was happening? Or had she kept Nesta out of planning it based on the shambles of last year?

Azriel loved Nesta like a sister but his birthday last year had just been crazy. Nesta had planned a lavish party for him which had been lovely but the combination of Feyre being able to drink again and Cassian with the bottles of wine in the cupboards of the house of wind hadn’t made it a peaceful party. The pair had been causing chaos and around 11pm they were found about to jump from the balcony of the house of wind, their wings already spread wide. Rhys had caught Feyre just as she jumped, and Cassian had fallen on his face before he could take off.

Azriel imagined that keeping anyone out of the party planning would have been a good shout.

Apart from the little Happy Birthdays the Valkyries wished him and the bone crushing hug Cassian had given him before breakfast, everything else seemed to be pretty much normal. Training had been lovely; They’d let him pick the drills they did today, and he delighted in watching Gwyn annihilate everyone in hand-to-hand combat. Gwyn had joined him for a small lunch before going to work in the library and then he’d had the afternoon to himself. He’d decided to go flying and then spent the rest of his time in his bedroom, reading or letting his finger graze over a few notes on the piano that Gwyn had dragged in from another suite in the house.

Gwyn had been cryptic to say the least with the plans she’d made, all he knew was that something was happening tonight. She’d given him no time frame either just told him to be ready for when she finished work in the library.

He tried his hardest to be excited. And he was excited but being so unsure about what was going to happen set him on edge. He was almost sure Gwyn had even asked his shadows to not divulge any extra information as they were strangely quiet around him.

Azriel must admit though for all his nervousness of what might come he had enjoyed the quiet day he’d spent. Had enjoyed just spending some time to himself to read a play piano and the thought of seeing Gwyn soon had his heart erupting into butterflies.

He had fallen hard for her, which was fortunate and almost predictable given they were mates, but he was so grateful that she’d wanted to take this slow. It certainly wasn’t the conventional thing, but it seemed so right for them. To just take the time to be a couple and learn about each other.

Azriel knew in his heart that he was going to spend the rest of his life with her, if she’d let him. Until then he was happy to just be with her.

Around Seven O’clock a soft knock sounded on his bedroom door. It almost made him laugh because Gwyn had been sleeping in his room every night for the past few weeks, she’d even started keeping a few of her essentials in a little draw on, what was becoming, her side of the bed. Yet she still treated it like it was his room and she was just a passing guest.

Nonetheless, he walked to the door and saw his beautiful Gwyn standing on the other side.

“Are you ready?” She asked with a sweet smile,

“Well, considering I don’t know what’s going to happen, I didn’t know what to wear.” He glanced down at his outfit, which had been a pair of comfier trousers paired with a smart black sweater.

“It’s perfect.” She spoke. He looked down to see what she was wearing and was happy to see she’d dressed equally casually with a pair of leggings and a nice chunky cardigan.

Gwyn held up a blindfold, “May I?”. Oh, okay so definitely some kind of surprise party. Why else would she blindfold him? He only turned and ducked so she might be able to reach around his head and tie it over his eyes.

Azriel wasn’t frightened for two reasons. The first was that he was sure he could navigate Velaris in a blindfold and second was because he was with Gwyn. He doubted he would be so calm about someone else trying to blindfold him.

She brushed the back of her hand against his knuckles. They’re slight asking for permission to hold the others hand and he placed his hand in hers in an instant. He felt the shadows dance around him now, they were excited about what was to come.

She silently led him out of his rooms and through the corridor. He knew this house like the back of his hand. And she led him right onto the patio.

She tugged on the tie on the back of his head.

“Surprise.”

——

Once Gwyn had decided what she’d wanted to do it actually hadn’t taken that long to set up. But she’d left Azriel to his own devices today largely for his sake. She guessed that might be part of her surprise, giving him some space today, as well as asking the others to keep the day rather lowkey.

They would have family dinner tomorrow night at the river house, but she knew that on the actual day of his birthday it might be too much to handle.

It didn’t make her any less nervous about what she’d planned though. What if he secretly loved big parties? What if he was getting sick of her? He might at least want his brothers. But Gwyn pushed the thoughts down and prayed he would like it.

“Surprise.” She said pulling the blindfold away.

——

It was beautiful.

Stunning even.

Gwyn had set up the patio into a comfy lounging area with blankets sprawled over the floor, big plush cushions scattered around. A chain of fae orbs lightly glowed along the walls of the patio illuminating the area and a picnic basket sat in the middle of the blanketed floor space.

“It’s not much…”

“Gwyn,” he said stopping her, “Are we going to stargaze?”

“All night if you want to.”

He stood unmoving. Oh no. Maybe he didn’t like it, maybe she should have done more.

“I know it’s a little cheesy to stargaze in the night court, but we’ve never done it before, and I got dinner for us and me…”

He couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. What she’d done. This was perfect. Just to spend the evening alone with her. And the kiss told her as much. She felt every ounce of gratitude; Especially when she felt his rest his forehead against hers.

“Come this way.” She said through the haze of the kiss as she held his hand and led him to the blanket, in the centre of the floor.

“When did you do all of this?” he asked taking in the gorgeous area she’d created,

“Merril let me off work an hour early and it took all my stealth for you to not hear me lugging blankets through the house.”

“It looks like our little stealth lessons are paying off.” He said with nothing but pride in his eyes. Yes, it was worrying Gwyn had gotten past him, but it was delightful all the same.

“I did persuade your shadows to keep it a secret.”

“My own shadows.” He said feigning the look of betrayal.

Gwyn sat down first gesturing for Azriel to sit opposite her. He sat with grace on the floor and his wings spread to one side in order to be comfortable for him while they sat. In his next breath he inhaled the scent of the food that was sitting in the basket.

“I requested a special delivery from your favourite little cafe from along the sidra.”

“Bluebells!” He said with his eyes lighting up,

“Yes,” she smiled as she pointed into the basket, “I got some of those pastries you adore as well as some other little bites and maybe later there will be some lemon cake.”

“Gwyn…” he said tentatively, and she knew why he was hesitant,

“This isn’t me… accepting the bond. Although considering how your face lit up at the thought of Bluebells, it’s certainly given me some ideas.”

He cupped her cheek.

“I haven’t touched any of the food,” She continued, “I don’t quite know how it works or the rules, but I imagine if you help yourself, then I haven’t exactly offered it to you so…”

“It’s perfect,” He replied, “You’re perfect.” She smiled brightly before pressing a kiss to the palm of his hand,

“Eat, or it will get cold.”

Azriel never thought of himself as much of a foodie. He grew up with the idea that just bare scraps were a luxury but when he’d stumbled across Bluebells a few centuries ago it’d been the first time he understood the fascination behind good food. Gwyn had been the first person he’d told about it when he’d taken her round Velaris and he was happy that she’d liked the little macaroons as much as he did.

Their little picnic was beautiful, and Gwyn had gotten him all his favourite items. He’d loved sharing it with her and how her eyes had lit up when he’d fed her his favourite sandwich.

After they’d finished and were completley full Azriel fell back onto the blankets surrounded by the pillows, “I’m impressed by your keen observation skills, Berdara.”

“What do you mean?” She said as she curled into his side. His arms circling her waist as her hand rested over his heart,

“I mean, you got every single thing that I love. We’ve only been to bluebells a handful of times, yet you knew exactly what to get.”

“Well, I’m no Shadowsinger,” she said with a smile, “but I know how to keep my male happy.”

He pressed a kiss to her nose.

“This day has been perfect.”

“I was worried it wouldn’t be enough.”

“You’re joking?”

“Well, I know you don’t love big crowds, but I thought you might miss being around your family.”

“We have family dinner tomorrow; I’ll see them then.”

“In addition, to selfishly wanting you to myself, I don’t have Nesta’s natural aptitude to plan parties either.” She said with a smirk that had him huffing a laugh,

“Sometimes our greatest weaknesses turn out to be our greatest strengths.” He said placing a kiss on her forehead,

“The Nephelle Philosophy.” Gwyn smiled,

“How do- You know about Nephelle?”

This had Gwyn rising from her position and grabbing a little package that he’d completley glossed over. She handed him the present wrapped in brown paper. Azriel sitting once more. It was just a touch larger than the size of a book, but delicate beneath his fingers.

“Happy Birthday.” She said as he looked at it with confusion,

“This wasn’t my present?” He said gesturing to the outdoor patio area and the picnic basket. She shook her head.

“Open it.”

Azriel couldn’t breathe. This was too much.

“Is this…” he started

“Nephelle’s own diary entry of rescuing Miryam.” For now, Azriel held a framed piece of parchment that had words written in Nephelle’s own hand the account of that day.

“How did you know?”

“Feyre may have mentioned that you loved her story.”

“I- How did you get this?” Azriel could barely get the words out.

“I wrote to her,” Gwyn said, “I told her that my mate admired her story and she responded with this. Along with a beautiful letter in which she spoke of how you inspire others too.”

“Gwyn…”

“I hope you like it.”

“Gwyn, this is perfect.” He smiled, silver lining his eyes, “You’re perfect.”

That had Gwyn crying too. She shuffled closer to him and his lips brushed against hers. Her hand resting on the back of his neck.

“I thought you could put it in your room, on top of the dresser maybe?” She said only a breath away from him,

“Our room,” He said suddenly, “Gwyn, will you move in with me?”

“To the house?”

“You don’t have to say Yes, or if you don’t like my room, we can find another one in the house that we like, but I would be honoured beyond reason to know I get to wake up next to you every day.”

She considered it for a second, “I guess it would make things easier,” Azriel hummed, “Nesta might like to live with another female,” she sighed, “And I sleep there every night already.”

“What do you say?” He asked again, his forehead meeting hers,

“Yes,” she whispered, “Yes. Yes. Of course!” She said getting louder. She peppered kisses all over his face before her lips connected with his once more.

It didn’t take long for their kiss to turn heated. Azriel’s hands trailing down her back before lowering her to the blankets and cushion on the floor. Their kiss was exploring and unhurried and driving Gwyn completley out of her mind. She wasn’t in control of her hands as they found there was to his hair that had slightly curled and pulled very gently. He moaned into her mouth and Gwyn forgot where she was only that it was her and Azriel. Her and Azriel forever. This was just the start.

“I love you so much.” She said, utterly breathless,

“I love you too.” He replied.

He lent in once more to kiss her again but stopped a breath away from her. She raised a brow, knowing the look in his eyes. His shadows were talking to him.

“Nesta and Cassian are coming.” He told her. And indeed, when Gwyn turned her head, she saw the mated couple walking onto the balcony with their own blankets and pillows bundled in their arms.

“I can see why you didn’t tell anyone your plans, Gwyn,” Nesta said with a smile, looking at the couple who had been caught in quite a comprising position,

“Hello, Nesta.” Gwyn said with a smile, while also raising her eyebrows as if trying to signal something to her sister,

“Happy Birthday, Az.” Nesta said with a bright smile,

“I tried to stop her.” Cassian said from behind his mate,

“Yeah, we were kind of…” Gwyn started, but didn’t know how to finish,

“You’re welcome to join us,” Azriel said, a bright smile on his face as he rolled off of Gwyn, she sat up to make room for his wings, “If that’s okay with you.” He said to Gwyn,

“It’s your birthday,” Gwyn said. And that was all Nesta needed to hear before setting up their own little blanket area on the patio. Cassian kept looking over trying to seem apologetic for the night they’d interrupted. Gwyn couldn’t hide she was slightly upset for him.

“It’s okay, my love.” Azriel whispered, sitting up, quiet enough that only she could hear,

“Yeah?” She breathed back,

“Well, I was immensely enjoying our evening so far,” he smiled, kissing her nose, “but, I guess we’ll just have to continue where we left off when we get back to our room.”

Those words alone had Gwyn forgetting the couple who had joined them as she took his face in her hands and kissed him like no one was there.

They were shortly interrupted by Nesta saying, “Get a room, you two.” But when Gwyn turned around, she saw the light dancing in Nesta and Cassian’s eyes, they were truly happy for them.

Gwyn still flipped them off.

Cassian let out a loud laugh at that. Surprised to see the priestess act so crudely, perhaps she’d spent too much time around them.

After that they settled into light conversation, Azriel pointing out constellations in the sky while Nesta nuzzled into Cassian’s side. It turned out to be quite lovely. Nesta and Cassian squirreled into the basket to find some of the left-over lemon cake, and Gwyn smiled when Nesta fed it to Cassian. So simple and casual but Gwyn was excited for the day she’d be able to do that with Azriel.

At some point she drifted off, the vibrations of Azriel’s low voice, singing her to sleep. But when she awoke the next morning she was in a large comfy bed. Her bed, she now realised. With her mate’s arms and wings wrapped around her.

#acotar fanfiction #gwynriel #Gwynriel fanfiction #Gwyneth berdara #azriel #Azriel berdara #shadowsinger #fanfiction #fluff #lots of fluff #Gwyn and Azriel #Gwyn and Az make my heart so soft #acotar #sjm #acomaf #acosf #silver flames #valkyrie

[melanielocke]

Lost in the Shadows - Chapter 25

AO3

Taglist: @nott-the-best @foxglove-airmid @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @justanormaldemon @styxdrawings @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised@alastair-appreciation-month

Previous Chapter: Chapter 24

Next Chapter: Chapter 26

Uncle Jem had brought several of the Carstairs family’s old notebooks, and the past week they’d spend studying them to see if there was anything interesting. They’d rescued Grace, but no one had been able to find Tatiana since, nor did they know what they were up against exactly and if they could defeat it. Cordelia believed cortana could kill it, but walking in with no plan would just get them all killed.

Thomas felt like they were running out of time. He hadn’t told anyone yet, but he felt tired lately, much more than usual. For Alastair that was normal, he guessed, Alastair was always tired and therefore Thomas had no reason to complain. Still, it was odd and sudden. Then he’d gotten a bit of a headache, and right now he struggled to finish his lunch, which was already much smaller than what he usually ate. He’d eaten much less than he usually did the past days, truth to be told. He just didn’t have the same appetite. He was feeling a little chilly too, but guessed he should just put on a cardigan.

‘Are you alright, Tommy?’ his mother asked. ‘You’ve been eating so little lately.’

‘Just nervous, that’s all,’ Thomas said.

The thing was, Thomas didn’t usually eat less when he was nervous. If anything he ate more, he’d always been a stress eater. Instead he figured he was coming down with something. Someone else might just have said, ‘I think I’m getting sick, I’m going to rest a bit’, but after a childhood of frequent illness and worrying parents Thomas couldn’t get the words over his lips. He’d make sure to rest a bit more, he told himself. But he didn’t want to worry anymore, and he especially didn’t want his parents to start taking care of him like they used to when he was young.

Instead, he returned his attention to Alastair, who had long finished eating and gone outside to read. A ray of sunlight fell on his cheek, illuminating his warm golden brown skin. His eyes were fixated in a journal so old it looked like it might fall apart any moment. Not in Alastair’s careful hands though. He was holding the journal with meticulous care, so no damage would come to it. With his free hand, he pushed a lock of hair behind his ear, but it was not yet long enough to stay there so it fell back in front of his face. Back in school, Alastair would slick his hair back with hair gel, always perfectly in order, not a hair out of place. Thomas, who usually took a comb through his hair and left it at that, had wondered where he found the time. Now it was falling in soft wavy locks over his face. At school Thomas would never have guessed Alastair’s hair was wavy, but it was loose now and Thomas had grown to love gently running his fingers through it. He’d always loved Alastair’s dark hair, he thought. Alastair had shown him a picture from when he’d dyed it blonde, and although that looked alright, Thomas thought his dark hair was much more beautiful.

‘Anything interesting?’ Thomas asked, sitting down on the bench next to Alastair.

A gnome came up to his feet. Thomas and his mother had been feeding them to gain their trust, and not long since the gnomes had learnt that Thomas meant a chance for food. He guessed there were still plenty of cookies he didn’t feel like eating at the moment anyway, but he also wasn’t motivated to go into the kitchen and get anything. Thomas guessed resisting that adorable smile was good practice for when he got pets.

‘Nothing yet,’ Alastair said. ‘But I think I’m getting to the part that described that witch. It might give us some clues about what else Lucie can do.’

‘Have you discussed with Cordelia where you’ll live after the summer?’ Thomas asked.

Alastair had confided in him that even if his mother managed to get back the house and could go and live there, he was considering moving in with uncle Jem for the time being. His father’s house held too many bad memories, and Thomas could understand it would not be good for his recovery to live there again. Alastair had not yet made a decision, but Thomas thought it might be good for him.

‘She has not yet decided what she’ll do,’ Alastair said. ‘She is a bit young to live without her mother after all. Besides, with our mother pregnant it would be better to have someone with her. If she doesn’t get the house back, I presume she would stay with Risa and with me gone there might be enough space for Cordelia as well. But I’m almost nineteen, I figured it might be time to move out. Even if I’m moving in with another relative instead of getting my own place.’

‘That’s just practical, living on your own would be expensive. Besides, Jem won’t be another parent, will he? So you’ll still get to practice your adulting skills in a relatively safe environment. Does Jem live far away from your mother?’

‘Completely different part of London, but still in the city,’ Alastair said. ‘Easy to travel to university from there. It’s a big house, so I’ll really have my own space and get to take care of myself, with Jem still there in case I can’t. I’ve lived there until I was about six. When I was still happy, there are no bad memories tied up to that place. I thought maybe I could be happy again there.’

‘Where does Jem live exactly?’ Thomas asked.

Alastair gently put the notebook away, closing it carefully and putting it down in his lap. He took his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, showing him a screen of google maps with a marker where Jem lived.

‘Oh, that’s not far from where my parents live,’ Thomas said. ‘Only a few stops with the metro. We live close to the station.’

‘I didn’t realize. Well, that’s convenient. Makes it easy to have sleep overs or go out together if we don’t live too far away.’

‘Precisely,’ Thomas said. ‘Would you like to go for a walk when you’re finished here? A short one, I am a little tired. But I’d like some fresh air.’

Alastair carefully bound up his notebook and put it on the table inside with the others, before coming with him.

‘It’s safer to bring Lucie,’ Alastair said. ‘In case we get trapped in between again.’

Alastair had a point, although Thomas would like some time alone with him. He was so busy at work all the time, ever since Jem had arrived he was preoccupied with the journals. Thomas missed their walks.

‘Alright, we’ll walk to uncle Will and aunt Tessa and ask her and Cordelia to come. I’m curious if uncle Gabriel and aunt Cecily are coming this way too. Jem said they were struggling to find a babysitter.’

‘Right, for little Alexander,’ Alastair said.

‘And Christopher,’ Thomas added. ‘My other cousin. He’s almost seven now.’

‘What’s he like?’ Alastair asked.

‘Different from Alexander, that’s for sure,’ Thomas said. ‘Alexander is a menace. Sweet, but fierce and hyperactive and if you don’t watch him for two seconds he’s swinging from the curtains somewhere. Christopher… he’s not as wild. He’s curious and is obsessed with science. He likes to do simple experiments, and we sometimes have to keep him from setting things on fire. I’m not sure he realizes “Don’t try this at home” applies to him as well. Fortunately, putting on a science show on tv usually keeps him from blowing anything up. Usually, my sisters and I babysit them when necessary, but he also adores uncle Henry, who is an inventor.’

It occurred to Thomas that Henry was Charles’ father. Sometimes children did not resemble their parents, he guessed. It had been a bit of a shock for everyone to learn that Charles had been Alastair’s former lover. Even if not everyone knew how awful he’d been to Alastair, they all had pieced together how much older Charles was. His father most of all had been horrified, since he’d known Charles since he was a baby. Thomas suspected he’d go confront Charles himself if Alastair hadn’t asked him not to. He knew Alastair was still ashamed of his past relationship and was still trying to make sense of it all. Thomas was glad he’d found trust in him and his parents, even if Thomas suspected Alastair still kept the worst of it to himself. Who could blame him? He wasn’t sure if Alastair finally believed his parents cared about him now, but at least he seemed to trust them which was a big step for Alastair. His mother had told him about her past and how she’d gotten her scar in an attempt to let him know he could talk about it and she understood.

‘As a child I had a phase where I liked science too,’ Alastair said. ‘I think I often had phases like that with different interests. When Cordelia and I were very young, we both loved architecture and played with all sorts of building toys and legos together. I also really liked math for a while. Then the animals from the forests in Devon. I lived there for a while in a small village. I think that’s when I grew a bit obsessed with hedgehogs.’

‘Christopher has been obsessed with science for some time now,’ Thomas said. ‘But we’ll see how it goes and what he’ll like in the future. He’s being assessed for autism and ADHD. He’s a sweet kid, but he struggles socially. Not a lot of friends unfortunately. I honestly think he prefers my company over his peers.’

‘I know what that’s like,’ Alastair said. ‘To be the child with the weird interests and never fit in with other children.’

‘You lived in Devon for a while. What was it like there?’

‘The scenery was amazing. The forests there are beautiful. The people… not so much, I prefer London.’

‘I lived in the countryside for a couple of years too when I was little, for my health. I think where I lived the people were nicer, more involved than in the city.’

Alastair made a face. ‘Not when you’re foreign and your mother wears a roosari. The people in Devon are mostly white. I don’t think Father really considered that when he moved us there, it was mostly about him. They might be kind if you’re part of their group, but they’re hostile to outsiders. Fortunately, we moved back after a couple of years.’

‘Ah, of course,’ Thomas said. ‘I’m sorry.’ He felt stupid for not considering that earlier.

‘Well, people are racist everywhere. But at least in London there are more people of color and people are at least used to the idea that not everyone’s white.’ My mother still gets dirty stares and comments for her roosari, but she’s not the only one who covers her hair. So while in Devon, I much preferred to spend my time in the woods looking for hedgehogs than with other people. I guess I still do.’

Thomas felt a bit numb in his head, shivering even if it wasn’t cold at all. Perhaps going for a walk wasn’t the best idea, but he wanted to spend some time outside just the same. He should have brought something warm to wear, was all. He wasn’t really sick, it was just not as warm as he’d expected. But Alastair wasn’t shivering at all, he seemed to enjoy the sun on his skin. Thomas did too but it didn’t bring him any warmth.

‘You need to go back for a cardigan?’ Alastair asked. ‘There are goosebumps all over your arms.’

‘Oh. No, I’ll be fine.’

Thomas felt faint in the head and by the time they made it to the Herondale’s house, his vision became a little blurry and he collapsed against the door. He was awfully nauseous yet didn’t feel like he was going to throw up. Alastair noticed his sudden movement and his reflexes were quick. He tried to catch him.

‘Why are you so goddamn heavy, Tom,’ he groaned, trying and failing to stop both of them from crashing into the door.

Leaning against Alastair and the door, Thomas pushed himself upright again, blinking a couple of times until he felt he could stand on his own feet again. Alastair’s soft fingers went from his cheek to his forehead, and Thomas immediately recognized what he was doing. It was the same thing his parents and sisters had done his entire childhood. If they didn’t have a thermometer at hand, they’d feel his forehead, his neck, and determine if he was allowed to go anywhere. Alastair was going to determine he was sick and then all that was left was for everyone to tuck him into bed and start taking care of him. Thomas had hoped to avoid that.

‘You’re burning up,’ Alastair said. ‘You should not be going outside, much less for a walk. Come, we’re here anyway, I’m sure you could use the couch.’

Alastair led him inside, one arm around his waist and the other in his hand, and packed him in blankets on the couch, fetching a thermometer and some paracetamol.

‘Alastair,’ Thomas said, trying to piece together words through the headache and light headedness.

‘Just let me get this,’ Alastair said, pushing the thermometer into Thomas’ ear.

‘Alastair,’ Thomas repeated.

’38,6,’ Alastair said. ‘Tom, you have a serious fever. Why didn’t you say anything? I’ll make you some tea, just relax.’

‘Alastair!’ Thomas yelled, startling the boy.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Please don’t. I can make my own tea, I can take my own temperature,’ Thomas said, trying to calm his breath. ‘I hate it when people take care of me. I told you about my sickness as a child. I don’t want things to be like that again, I don’t want to be taken care of. So please, don’t. Just let me do it.’

Alastair sat down next to him. ‘You were about to walk into the woods with a fever. I’ve seen how stubborn you are.’

‘Yes. I am stubborn. I didn’t realize it would be so bad. But please, let me make these mistakes by myself. I don’t want to be treated like a sick child again.’ Thomas paused, blinking away the tears in his eyes. He didn’t realize this would make him so emotional. ‘I always loved that about you, how you believed I could take anything. How you didn’t treat me as if I was fragile because I was small and used to get sick.’

Alastair sighed. ‘I was an ass to you, Tom. It had nothing to do with respect, or thinking you’re strong.’

‘I know, and it did hurt sometimes. But I loved that you believed I could take it. I knew you didn’t mean any of the things you said, and with me, it was always a bit more light hearted, teasing perhaps.

But you never forced me to go to bed and rest when I did not want it. Matthew grew up around me being sick all the time, and I think he learnt from a young age that I was fragile and to be taken care of. James too. But I never wanted that. I’ll rest, I promise. But I’ll make my own tea, alright?’

‘I’m sorry, Tom. You can make your own tea. Make some for me as well?’

Alastair settled onto the couch while Thomas went into the kitchen to put on the kettle, still wrapped in a blanket. He was too cold to go without it. While waiting for the kettle to boil, Thomas realized Alastair did have a point, he could barely stand upright. Still, he was determined to at least do this. If he wanted anything later, he could always ask Alastair. He picked out a selection of tea bags for Alastair and put in a herbal teabag for his own. Thomas didn’t believe herbal tea cured sickness, but it was worth a shot.

He settled back on the couch, wrapped the blankets back around himself and took two paracetamol, hoping that would at least lower the fever.

‘I really can’t believe you think of my being rude to you as something positive,’ Alastair said. ‘I made fun of your height all the time.’

Thomas shrugged from underneath the blanket. ‘I never minded when you called me pipsqueak or wee little Thomas, or, I don’t know, you had plenty to say.’

Alastair raised an eyebrow. ‘You certainly took your revenge.’

Thomas tried to find a comfortable position on the couch, blankets around him. Alastair did have a point with the paracetamol, and Thomas took two. Hopefully they’d lower his fever.

‘Perhaps I’ll start calling you pipsqueak,’ Thomas said. ‘The name suits you much better now.’

Alastair made an undignified sound. ‘I’m not that short.’

‘You’re plenty shorter than me,’ Thomas said. ‘I always kind of liked it, pipsqueak. It sounded sweet even if you meant it to be hurtful. Sometimes I feel like you never really did a good job at being mean anyway.’

‘I never wanted to hurt anyone,’ Alastair said, ‘and I did have a bit of a weak spot for you then. I can be even worse than what you’ve seen, but I save that for bigots.’

Thomas put his hand on Alastair’s cheek. ‘I always thought you were holding back on being mean, even if you could still be quite vicious. But pipsqueak is mine now.’

Alastair looked mortified. ‘I guess I can’t stop you, can I?’

Thomas lay down on the couch, head on a pillow. Why were all these blankets so small? His feet were still cold and he’d have to find a solution for that. Really, blankets should be made for tall people. Nobody short would complain about having a bit of leftover blanket.

‘It’s concerning, that you’re getting sick after all these years,’ Alastair said softly.

‘It’s nothing,’ Thomas said. ‘Everyone gets a fever every once in a while.’

‘I haven’t had a fever in years. Colds, at times, but rarely a fever,’ Alastair said.

‘You don’t get the flu?’ Thomas asked.

‘Not that I remember,’ Alastair said. ‘But I figured that’s just the age, as a child I would get the occasional fever like all children do, and I imagine I’ll get them again when I’m older.’

Thomas had gotten the flu a couple of time over the past years. Never anything serious or with abnormal frequency, but it had sent the entire family into a panic whenever it happened.

‘Please don’t tell my parents,’ Thomas said. ‘That I’m sick, I mean.’

‘How did you plan to keep it from them?’ Alastair asked.

‘Well, I was hoping I’d be better by the next morning,’ Thomas said. ‘I could sleep over here and then when I’m better pretend nothing happened.’

Alastair was skeptical. ‘I really don’t think you’ll feel better that soon, even if it is a normal flu.’

Lucie and Cordelia entered the room through the garden door, Cordelia turning her sword back into the familiar necklace. ‘Those are a lot of blankets,’ Lucie pointed out. She was right, and Thomas moved them around a bit so at least the biggest blanket would cover his feet, reaching up to his waist.

‘We wanted to revisit the ruins,’ Cordelia said. ‘See if there’s anything else that can give us information on Tatiana or the thief of souls. I was wondering if you would be coming.’

‘Thomas is sick,’ Alastair said.

‘Don’t stay behind on my behalf,’ Thomas said.

Alastair frowned. ‘You sure? I would gladly stay here with you.’

‘I think I’m going to get some sleep anyway,’ Thomas said. ‘Please don’t trouble yourself on my behalf. Go, I’ll still be here when you get back.’

‘Get well soon,’ Lucie said, putting her arms around him briefly. ‘You know how the tv works in case you want to watch a movie.’

‘I’ll be alright, Lu. Good luck with your mission.’

Thomas wanted to believe he had just caught the flu. Bad luck, nothing more. But perhaps that wasn’t the case. Perhaps he wouldn’t get better. Perhaps this meant they were running out of time.

#Thomas Lightwood #Alastair Carstairs #Lucie Herondale #Cordelia Carstairs #Thomastair #Lucelia #fanfiction #the last hours #tlh

[andrei-svech]

today, tomorrow and all of our lives | n. mackinnon

Word Count: 7.3k Warnings: Some smut in the middle, swearing, minor character death. Summary: Leah reflects on her relationship with Nate through a series of memories they’ve shared in the minutes before they say I do.  a/n: Full disclosure this is the first piece I’ve written in almost 10 years. It turned out way longer than expected and I am so terrified to post it but I hope you all love it as much as I do. Any and all feedback is appreciated, happy reading! 

As she looked into the mirror, running her fingers over the white silk lining her frame, all she felt was calm. Peace. She’d surprised herself in that regard. She’d expected nerves, expected anxiousness, but she didn’t feel either. She simply felt calm. Her fingers moved up toward the tulle settled neatly in her hair, then ran down the fabric of what had once been her grandmother’s veil. Her something borrowed. She thought of her grandmother then, of the relationship between her and her grandfather, one that had lasted almost sixty years before they’d left this life together, just months apart and still madly in love. The kind of love she’d hoped for as she watched them as a child, then as a teen, then as an adult. The same kind of love she felt she’d found when she met him. Her eyes closed, thinking back to the day she’d first laid eyes on him.

The excited little voices of the children filing back into her classroom brought a small smile to Leah’s face in an instant. Kindergarten had just finished art, and as she watched them come in and sit back at their tables, she silently thanked Mrs. Claskey for the lack of paint on their clothes and hands. There’d been a small (according to Mrs. Claskey, not so much to Leah) incident last week at the very end of art class that had somehow ended in Jack Ledger’s entire right arm and half of his shirt covered in brown paint. Of course the 5th graders had already been lined up at the door waiting to come in, so Mrs. Claskey hadn’t had time to clean him up. That’d been a fun afternoon at the sink for Jack and Leah. Once all of the children were seated, Leah stood from her rocking chair at the front of the room and raised her hand. Her students followed suit, having been conditioned to quiet down and raise their own hands when she did so. Their hands lowered as she began to speak.

“Alright, my friends. I know we’re excited, today’s a special day for us. We have new friends coming to spend time with us this week! Do we remember who they are?” As soon as she finished, little hands all over the room shot back up. Leah looked around, pointing to the tiny blonde in the far too large and, Leah suspected second hand, Avalanche jersey dead center. “Emory, who are they?” “The Colorado Avalanche, Ms. Brewer! They play hockey here, at the Pepsi Center! My dad says some day they’ll win the… the um…” “The Stanley Cup?” Leah supplied. That and what information Emory had spoken aloud was about all she knew of them as well, not really following the sport herself. “Yes!” Emory continued, “The Stanley Cup!” Leah nodded and clasped her hands together. “Good job Emory that’s right! Some of the players from the Avalanche are coming to meet us this afternoon. They’re just as excited to meet you as you are to meet them. But before we can do that, we need to talk about the rules for when we have guests in our classroom.” A small groan sounded throughout the room and Leah giggled under her breath. “Okay, okay. I know talking about our rules isn’t always fun, but we want to show them how kind and polite we can be, right?” Twenty-two heads nodded, so she continued. “Good! Okay, who can tell me our rules then? Thomas?” Her gaze fixed on the quiet boy in the back corner, smiling slightly at him as he straightened up in his chair. Leah had been subtly attempting to bring Thomas out of his shell throughout his time in her class. As she remembered his silence and lack of eye contact at the beginning of the year, she felt nothing but pride for how far he’d come. “We don’t leave our spot at the carpet unless you or our guest says that we can. We sit criss cross applesauce and don’t touch our friends while we’re listening. When we want to talk or as a question, we raise our hands until someone calls on us. And we always show kindness to our friends, our visitors and our teachers.” Leah felt a swell of pride at the last bit. She had a great group of kids this year, and though she knew she shouldn’t play favorites, if she’d had a list this class would be up at the top for years to come. Teaching at a school in a low income area of Denver wasn’t what she’d expected herself to do after graduation, but she adored it all the same, and the children she’d taught were all incredibly special to her.

“Good, Thomas! But there’s one more rule we forgot, the most important rule. I know we remember, so how about let’s all say it together?” “Have fun!” “Yes! Have fun! I don’t think it’ll be hard with these new friends.” She glanced up at the clock then that read one o’clock on the dot. “Okay friends, time to make our way to the carpet! Please find your spot in our circle.” As her students got up and made their way to their seats in front of the rocking chair, she heard multiple people enter her room and all twenty-three heads, including her own, turned toward the intruders. Leah studied them for a moment as they made their way through the desks toward the group. There were two of them, both in blue and burgundy jerseys graced with the numbers 29 and 92 and an A and a C, respectively. Excited gasps and whispers filled the front of the room. The first to reach them was 92, and probably the most conventionally attractive man Leah had ever seen in person. His perfectly straight, shining white teeth were on full display, a wide grin stretch prominently across his face. His attention was focused solely on the children, so Leah looked past him and settled her eyes on the other, 29. She was surprised to find his attention fixed on her. She was also surprised at the butterflies that filled her stomach when her eyes met his. The bright blue staring back at her was like a shock to her system. She felt herself blush and quickly averted her gaze down to the jeans, white tank top and baggy yellow cardigan she’d pulled from her closet that morning. ‘Probably would have been a good day to dress it up a bit, Leah.’ She quickly shook herself from her thoughts and smiled at 92, still unable to meet the eyes of 29. “Hi there! I’m Ms. Brewer. We’ve all really been looking forward to this, I know they have especially.” Leah gestured to her excited students, some of the visibly trying to stop themselves from squirming in their places. He smiled at her and took her outstretched hand, shaking it and then setting his sights back to the children. “Hi everybody, we’ve been really excited to meet you! I’m Gabe, and this is Nate.” He gestured behind him to number 29. Nate. The name bounced around her head like a stray pinball. Nathan Mackinnon. She remembered seeing his face plastered over billboards downtown, along with that of who she now remembered 92 to be, captain Gabriel Landeskog. The two large hockey players sat in the admittedly too small chairs in front of the group, and Leah quietly made her way to the corner of the room, plopping in her desk chair to watch the interaction between Gabe, Nate and her students. As they excitedly asked and answered questions and talked about school, hockey and life in general (as much as five and six year old children could), Leah found herself unable to look away from Nate. He wasn’t handsome in the way that Gabe was. His nose and teeth were slightly crooked, and his jaw a bit more squared, but she found him incredibly attractive all the same. He smiled brightly at the group of children in front of him and enthusiastically spoke with them, his laugh speeding up the butterflies she still felt. She again found herself shaking her from her own thoughts, looking down at the papers on her desk. Leah hadn’t dated anyone seriously since her disastrous relationship with Scott had ended just before her college graduation. They had met in high school and began dating junior year, when they were both far too young and impulsive to have actually found the kind of love that was meant to last. They were two different people from the start, Scott preferring to get plastered at a large house party, Leah preferring to spend her Friday night on the couch under a blanket watching bad television. They had somehow lasted through their first three and a half years of college together, though they spent large chunks of it arguing or in silence, before Leah had discovered that the last seven months of their relationship he’d spent in bed with a blonde he’d met in one of his classes. She’d been devastated, but deep down she’d known he wasn’t the man she was meant to marry. Following graduation, she’d packed her things, picked up and moved to Denver for a fresh start, and hadn’t looked back since. She blamed her lack of dating for her current thoughts about Nate. She’d been so lost in her thoughts that she was surprised when she heard one of her students saying her name, immediately turning her attention back to the carpet ready to answer, though she found Millie still speaking to Gabe and Nate. “-she’s the best! She’s so much fun, even when she’s making us do our counting worksheets. Ooh, she lets us sing our weather song every morning, that’s my favorite part of the day.” Millie turned towards Leah and spoke directly to her, “Ms. Brewer, can you sing the song for them! It’s so much fun, they’ll love it.” Leah blushed slightly but chuckled as all twenty-two excited smiles and two curious pairs of eyes turned towards her. “Why don’t we all sing it together? Show them how great we are at it.” Leah led the excited group through their morning weather song about the rain, the snow, the wind and the sunshine and as they finished (loudly) she once again looked at the two blonde men and found Gabe smiling widely at the class while Nate looked at her with a small smile of his own. Her face warmed yet again as they all began clapping and laughing at her as she grinned and took a small bow in her chair. Conversation between Gabe and her students continued, but for a long moment Nate’s gaze remained fixed on her. She looked down at the papers on her desk again, trying not to read too much into his glances that were frequently aimed at her. All too quickly the two men stood from the chairs and bid goodbye to the students and after a collective “aww” and a round of high fives, left the room to meet the fifth graders waiting for them in the gym. As Leah focused on getting her students back to their seats at their tables, she didn’t notice Nate casting one last look through the door as they left, his eyes only set on her. By three o’clock all of her students were gone and Leah made her way around the room, cleaning up leftover trash and wiping the crumbs from their end of day snack from the tables. She jumped as she heard the deep voice coming from just outside her door. “Hi, did you need some help?” Her head snapped towards the voice and her eyes again met the bright blue that hadn’t left her mind for the rest of the afternoon. The small smile she’d gotten before was present on Nate’s face as he watched her drop the wad of colored paper in her hands into the trash. “Oh no thank you, I’ll be okay here.” She silently willed the butterflies dancing around her stomach and the blush painting her cheeks to go away as he stepped further into the classroom and waved her off, starting to push the chairs into the tables as he spoke again. “It’s no problem, it’ll go faster if we work together. Besides, Gabe’s somewhere shooting extra footage with our media team and this’ll get me out of that.” They both chuckled at that and she nodded, keeping her eyes averted as she helped push in the chairs. “I’m Nathan. Mackinnon. Nathan Mackinnon. But, um, everybody just sort of calls me Nate.” “Nice to meet you, Nate. I’m Leah, Leah Brewer.” She knew there were nerves in her voice, but she didn’t know if she’d imagined the hint of them in his. They worked in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. “So, Leah, are you from Denver?” She shook her head. “No, I grew up in Murraysville. It’s in Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh.” He lit up a bit, turning towards her fully. “One of my best friends lives there, plays for the Penguins. Sidney’s his name, Sidney Crosby.” She shot him a playfully unimpressed glance as she stopped pushing in the chair. “Now Nate. I may not know much about hockey, but I can assure you, even I know who Sidney Crosby is.” She laughed quietly at the blush that tinted his cheeks and he chuckled along with her, shaking his head. “Yeah that was stupid, sorry.” They kept on cleaning up the last of the classroom until he plopped into the last chair. “So, what brought you to Denver all the way from the East Coast?”
 Leah figured that since he’d sat down, he wasn’t planning on leaving right away, so she made her way to her rocking chair. She thought for a moment before she answered. It wasn’t like she could come right out and tell him Scott had emotionally destroyed her, so she settled for the cliche, generic answer she gave most people when they asked her. “I graduated from college and just… needed a fresh start.” He nodded slightly, but by the look he gave her, she knew he was curious for more. He didn’t press her, and the small talk moved onto other things, her job, then his job and then their families and friends. The conversation flowed so easily between them. By the time she realized almost forty-five minutes had passed, they were laughing and sharing stories as if they’d known each other for years, not hours. “Oh, it’s almost four o’clock, you should probably get back to Gabe and the rest of your team.” He sighed as they both looked at the clock, like he knew she was right but also like he didn’t want to leave. “You’re right. It was really nice meeting you though.” He stood from the chair as she returned the sentiment and turned to leave the room. He’d made it almost fully out the door before he stopped and turned around asking her one last question. “Listen, I don’t… this might be a little forward, I- would you maybe want to go out to dinner sometime? With me? Like, as a date?” She stared at him in surprise for a moment and then thought about her answer. Sure, she hadn’t really dated much since Scott, but it had been three years and thousands of miles since then. And there was something about Nate that intrigued her, something that had caused the butterflies to erupt the minute they’d made eye contact. Something that made her answer fairly easy. “Sure, Nate, I’d really like that.” The memory flooded away as she opened her eyes and looked back into the mirror. One dinner date had led to another, which had led to a few more, then spending the night at her place and then his. She’d met Cox then, which she was glad had gone well because, as Nate had told her later, he couldn’t date somebody Cox didn’t like. That had led to her meeting his teammates and their significant others, and him meeting her friends. That summer when his season and her semester had ended, they traveled to Murraysville where he met her family, and Nova Scotia where she met his. Before they knew it a little over a year had flown by and they’d bought their first house together. She chuckled at that memory, instantly thinking back to the mess of hockey players that had filled their home the day they moved in. “Josty come on, man! The box says fragile!” Leah giggled from her place in the kitchen at the sound of JT’s voice echoing down the hallway, and then at Nate’s voice, floating in from his spot in their living room. “Don’t break any more of my shit, Josty, you know I still haven’t forgiven you and Z for the broken lamp from the Christmas party.” Mel snorted across the counter, Jackie shaking her head as Leah placed the last of the bowls in the cabinet. “They’re a fucking mess, the whole group of them.” Jackie and Mel laughed and nodded in agreement before moving to start on loading the cutlery into the drawers. Leah made her way from the kitchen into the living room, passing by Gabe, EJ and Naz walking to the front door to pull more of the heavier pieces of furniture from the truck. “Thank you guys again for helping us with all of this. No way Nate could have done all the heavy lifting himself the softie.” She smirked at the indignant ‘hey!’ that came from their sofa and the boys chuckled before assuring her again it was no problem and heading for the door, EJ jostling her on his way. She rolled her eyes but smiled at the toothless grin she got in return, passing them to plop down next to her boyfriend, leaning heavily into his side and closing her eyes with a yawn as he lightly kissed her forehead. “Tired, baby?” “Mhm.” As she opened her eyes again, she finally took the chance to look around their living room, the large bay windows bathing the room in sunlight. Boxes were scattered around, the television still waiting to be mounted above the fireplace and the shelves empty, save for one photo. Her eyes landed on it and she smiled fondly, one of her favorites of the two of them. It was taken in Cole Harbour on one of their last trips. They sat together on the boat, her leaning against his side with his arms wrapped around her, much like they were now. They’d gone for a sunset cruise with Sid and Kathy and Tyson and Emma who had also come back up north, just chatting and enjoying the company when Kathy told them to pose, that the sunset created the perfect backdrop behind them. As they leaned into each other and smiled at the camera, Tyson said something from just beside Kathy that had drawn her attention as Kathy snapped the photo. She’s laughing in his direction in the photo, still leaning against Nate who’s smile is directed only at her. The love between the two of them is obvious, which is exactly why it’s one of her favorites. Leah is drawn from the memory captured in the photo when she feels Nate’s lips on the top of her head again and the smile on her face grows even wider. She listens to the sounds of a pot clattering to the floor in the kitchen followed by Jackie’s voice scolding EJ and Gabe and Mel laughing, Josty, JT and Burky pushing each other around in the hallway and Nate’s slow, even breathing right beside her on the couch. As her eyes closed once more, she couldn’t remember if she’d ever in her life felt as happy as she did in that moment. Nate’s fingers ran through her hair and she pulled slightly out of his embrace, taking a moment to silently study the man she’d so quickly found herself falling madly in love with. “What’s on your mind?” he asks her, and she finds herself overwhelmed with emotion as she tries to put her thoughts into words. “I love our friends. I love our new house, but I love even more that we get to make it a home. I love this life that I get to build with you. I love you Nate.” The silent exchange that directly followed was just as meaningful, if not more so, than the words she’d just spoken. She could feel it. He’d felt it too. “I love you, too.” He hadn’t said much, but what he had said had told her everything she needed to know. She’s yanked quickly from that memory as the door to the bridal suite opens. Linnea flounced into the room in her white tulle dress, looking every bit the little princess they all considered her to be. Mel shuffled in behind her before the door is closed again. The soft pink of her dress perfectly complimented her blonde hair and pale skin, amplifying her beauty even further. Mel and Gabe were two of the best things to come from her relationship with Nate, quickly becoming some of her very best friends. Through every hardship or struggle she’d faced during her relationship with Nate he’d been right there beside her, but the Landeskogs had been right there on her other side. She still feels a jolt of happiness when she remembers finding out about Linnea for the first time, and the first time she got to hold her. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as they entered the room, fiddling with the small diamond bracelet Mel had given to her as a gift the night before from both her and Gabe, her something new. Mel snorted, joking “What, already thinking about the honeymoon?” Of course she hadn’t been before, but she started to now, and she quickly tried to ignore the tingle she felt between her legs at the next memory, one from just a few weeks ago.     “Oh fuck, yes.” Leah’s eyes were shut tightly, mouth wide open, one of Nate’s arms thrown across her lower stomach to keep her from squirming as his tongue slowly circled her clit. She was panting, hard, one of her hands wound tightly in his blonde hair while the other held onto their headboard. She’d already come once on his fingers, but he hadn’t shown any signs of slowing down. He groaned as he pulled away slightly, his mouth and chin covered in her wetness and let his eyes roam back up her body, flushed, until they met hers. “Fucking love your pussy, baby.” He dove back into her cunt then like it was a five-course meal as she tightened her grip on him and moaned loudly, her body thrashing and hurtling toward her second climax. She’d found out early on in their relationship that in contrast to how soft he was with her normally, in bed Nate was filthy. And she fucking loved it. They both shared a high sex drive, and when they first started dating, they’d gone at it like rabbits. In the morning in the shower before she left for work, on their couch when he’d gotten home from a game, one particularly exciting afternoon when he’d come home after practice and laid her out on his kitchen table. They constantly got each other off over FaceTime or Skype when he was on the road, and on their first bye week together they spent almost the entire five days of their trip fucking on every surface of the villa they’d rented. She’d been sore for almost a week. And after almost four years of dating, it hadn’t really slowed down at all. When Nate moved his tongue from inside her back to her clit, flattening it and shaking his head from side to side, she felt her orgasm crash over her. “Fuuuuck yes!” Her back arched sharply off the bed as she rode out the waves of her high, Nate continuing to lick and suck at her through it. As she worked to catch her breath, he kissed his way back up her body, biting down softly on her neck when he reached her sweet spot. “So sexy when you cum. Think you can give me one more, baby?” Though she was exhausted from the first two orgasms he’d given her, she still nodded enthusiastically and let her hand snake down his body, taking him in her hand and guiding him toward her center. She let out a sigh which turned into a quiet moan as he entered her. Of all the men she’d been with, which though admittedly wasn’t many, Nate was the biggest. His length was average, but he was thick, spreading her open and filling her better than any man ever had before. Their mouths met as he started to move inside of her, swallowing the noises she made. She knew it wouldn’t take much for either of them, her already sensitive from her first two highs and him keyed up from the reactions he’d gotten while giving them to her. As his thrusts picked up in both pace and in power, their kisses turned more into breathing and moaning into each other’s mouths before he moved back down to her neck then down further, taking one of her nipples into his mouth and biting before rolling it between his teeth. “Ah, daddy please, I need to come, I need to come.” She whined, rolling her hips up to meet his the best she could. He kept his pace and shook his head slightly. “Wait baby, wait for daddy. I’ll give you what you need, be patient.” He stopped for a moment and took her ankles into his hands, placing them up over his shoulders and she cried out as he began thrusting against her harder and faster, hitting a spot deeper in her than before. Her breathing went ragged and she struggled to get out anything but whines, which quickly turned into yells, then sobs. “Please daddy! Please, I’m gonna, I can’t- I need to cum!” she clawed at his back, her head lolling back against the pillows as she felt his hips begin to move more frantically and uncontrolled. “Yeah baby, fucking cum for me. Show daddy who makes you feel like this, who’s pussy this is.” She shrieked and seconds later felt her fluids gush around him, pulling a loud groan from him as he followed her over the edge. “Fuuuuuck yeah baby, your pussy feels so good when you cum around me. Fucking angel.” He grunted, filling her with his seed. They’d stopped using condoms six months in and he maintains it was one of the best decisions they’d made. She couldn’t help but agree with him as she felt his warmth pulsing inside of her.   When they’d both given each other everything they had, he dropped down gently over her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her as she trembled through the aftershocks of her third high of the night. Soft kisses were planted across her neck and jaw and she lightly combed her fingers through the sweaty mess of blonde on the nape of his neck. These were some of her favorite moments with Nate. Just after a round of great sex when they just laid catching their breaths in the silence, still connected and just basking in the warmth of being together. All she was capable of thinking about in those moments was the man laying over her and how much she loved him. “I love you baby.” He whispered quietly to her as he pulled away from his place at her shoulder, leaving her with a languid, toe curling kiss on her lips and feelings of love for him swirling around her body. It was Mel snorting again that brought her back to reality and she turned toward the other blonde, realizing she’d been biting her lip as she got caught up in the memory. “Jesus, I was kidding. My child is in the room.” Mel smirked and Linnea answered perfectly with a giggle from her spot in the corner, making both women laugh. She turned back toward the mirror to readjust her veil for what felt like the twentieth time since it’d been put in her hair. Mel continued. “Anyways, we just came by to tell you we’ve got about 15 minutes to go time. Maid of honor duties and all.” She winked making both of them laugh again before she swept Linnea into her arms, heading for the door “We’ll leave you alone now, see you in a bit.” As she exited the room, another woman entered. “My baby. Look at you, you look beautiful.” Her mother moved to stand by her side in the mirror, placing a hand gently on her shoulder, eyes filling with tears as they met hers in the mirror. “Your dad would be so proud, sweetheart.” Her own eyes filled with tears this time and as she closed them, she could hear the beeping of the heart monitor and smell the sterile scent of the hospital as clear as day. She couldn’t breathe. The only word to describe her in that moment was numb. Her eyes traced the wires to the white linen blanket, up to the machine that measured the slow heartbeat of the first man she’d ever loved. A face eerily similar to her own, her father had never looked thinner and paler than he did laying there in his hospital gown. ‘Brain aneurysm. Ruptured. Hemorrhagic stroke.’ The words the doctor had spoken to them rested like a weight in her head and in her chest as she stared down at their hands, hers clutching tightly and his limp and unmoving. She couldn’t cry. Not yet. She’d been holding onto hope for days now that he would wake up, that they could talk about how terribly their Steelers were doing and laugh about the clumsiness of her mother. That they could drive home together in his car, singing terribly along to the old Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin tunes he’d brought her up on. That one day he could walk her down the aisle (‘Not until you’re 30!’) and hold his first grandchild. No matter how many times she’d heard the words braindead and pull the plug, she held onto that hope, the same hope she was starting to feel slip between her fingers. The beeping was the only sound in the room aside from her mother’s sniffling and Nate’s steady breathing. Her parents had divorced just before her fourth birthday, but they’d remained great friends and worked together to raise her, something she didn’t realize how grateful she was for until she reached adulthood. It was only fitting that she, Leah and Nate were the three present at his bedside as two of them were what he always called ‘the loves of his life’ and the third one of his ‘favorite people out there’ as he’d called Nate just a few months before. The doctor entered the room again and when Leah met his gaze it was somber. She looked away almost immediately, knowing what was coming as he started speaking to them again. “I’m sorry, we’ve done all that we can, but we believe at this point it’s about a five percent chance he’ll wake, and if he does, we can almost guarantee significant brain damage. It’s in my medical opinion that you may want to consider pulling him off of the life support.” She felt it then, the first tear slip down her cheek where she sat in the chair by her father’s side. She locked eyes with her mother and they both knew what they had to do. This isn’t the way he would have wanted to live, and that’s if he did, and she wasn’t going to put him through any pain and suffering simply because it would make her happy. An hour later, after the three of them had all spoken their goodbyes and spent their last minutes with him, the machines were turned off. The beeping stopped, her father’s hand, still clutched in her own smaller, softer one went cold. Leah wept. She laid down on the bed beside her father’s body and held him, weeping as the last signs of life left his body. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t get through this. She didn’t want to live a life without her dad’s obnoxiously loud laughter and world famous bear hugs. She didn’t know how she was going to pull herself from the grief crashing over her in waves. Then a warm hand circled her ankle from its place at the foot of the bed, thumb softly smoothing over the skin there. Nate. Her rock, her stability, the calm to help her weather the storm. He’d be right by her side through it, just as he had been in everything else since the day they’d met three years ago. She knew when she felt the letters he was tracing onto her skin. I love you. It was strange but through all of her grief then, she felt the slightest bit of joy, because she also knew that her father had gotten to know and love the man she was going to marry, the love of her life. Her mother quickly pulled a handkerchief from her clutch, chastising both herself and her daughter for ‘ruining her makeup.’ She giggled as she clutched her mother’s hand and then directed a small smile at the pair of sapphire earrings she wore, a gift from her father on her eighteenth birthday and now her something blue. He was there with her, she knew that he was. Quickly wiping at her eyes, she handed the handkerchief back to her mother and went to gather her bouquet from the small table but stopped when her eyes landed on her engagement ring. One that had belonged to Nate’s grandmother, her something old. She floated away into yet another memory, and by far one of the best of her life. The air was crisp and smelled of the first signs of winter as Leah and Nate walked hand in hand down the lakeside pathway through Confluence Park. This was her favorite time of year, filled with memories of pulling out the Christmas decorations far too early with her mother as her father just smirked and shook his head at them. Memories of home games spent with her girls in the family box cheering on the men they loved. Memories of cold mornings spent curled up on the couch with Nate under the blankets, Cox at their feet as they fell in and out of sleep, watching the snowfall through the bay windows. She smiled as Nate gently tugged at Cox’s leash, willing him to slow down as they strolled lazily behind him. “This is my favorite time of year. I know I always complain about how cold it gets, but nothing beats a winter day like this.” Nate brought their joint hands up to his lips to place a kiss and replied, “I know baby. It’s one of my favorite times of year too, just because you love it.” She laughed at the cheesiness of his statement but leaned into his side, looking up at him as they slowed even more. “I love you, you know.” He didn’t reply immediately so she continued walking, only stopping when he did, turning to gaze at him curiously. It was only then that she felt the trembling of his hand still clasped in hers. “Nate? Why are we stopping, are you okay?” Cox whined behind her, probably wondering the same thing. “Yeah baby I’m fine, I just needed to say something and I wanted your full attention when I did.” This intrigued her even further but she didn’t answer, waiting for him to say whatever it is she could see was stewing in there. He stared at her for a moment longer before he started to speak again. “There’s something that I haven’t told you. I spoke to your dad on the phone a few weeks before he died. Spoke to him for quite a while, actually?” Leah was now incredibly confused, so she waited for him to continue. “You know how much I loved and respected him. I don’t know how but in three years he became another father figure to me and I wanted his opinion on something important so I called him to ask.” “What did you ask him?” her interest was thoroughly peaked as Nate’s hand dropped to his pocket, until he pulled out a small velvet box and both hands came to cover her mouth when she realized what was happening. She went completely still, tears already coming to the surface as he took a step closer to her, one of his hands still holding Cox’s leash and the other the box. “I asked him for his blessing.” He looped the leash around his wrist, but Cox was still then, sitting on the pavement at her feet, tail wagging furiously though she knew he had no idea what was occurring. How much her life was about to change. Then Nate took one of her hands from her mouth, her left hand, and held it tightly in his own. “When I was growing up, I watched my parents all the time when they were together, and you could see it in their faces when they looked at each other. It was this pure, real, genuine kind of love that doesn’t scream at you. The kind of love that’s just there, the kind that looks like making each other breakfast or bringing each other the morning paper, the kind that’s sitting on the couch together doing two completely separate things but somehow still being connected, the kind that looks like smiling through raising two children together. I saw other people find it, Mel and Gabe, Erik and Jackie, Sid and Kath. I always wanted that kind of love, but I never believed that I would have it, that I would somehow be lucky enough to find someone that loved me like that or that I could love like that. I think I realized on our third date that even if it wasn’t there yet, I could see that kind of love with you, and then it happened. There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not thanking whoever’s up there in the sky or wherever they are,” she giggled slightly through her tears at that bit, “that I got lucky enough to fall in love with you. You are everything. You’re kind, you’re witty, you’re intelligent, you’re incredibly beautiful and you’re so loving to everyone around you. But especially me. You’ve loved me through every bad game, through every hotheaded tantrum, through every argument, through every loss and every heartache. It didn’t matter what I was facing, what we were facing, you’ve loved me through all of it and I can only hope to spend the rest of my life giving that love right back to you.” At this point she was ugly crying, clutching his hand so tightly her knuckles were turning white, but he pressed on. “This kind of love, the love we feel for each other is special, once in a lifetime. It doesn’t come around often and my grandma always told me when you find something like it you have to hold on as tightly as you can and never let go. This was hers, actually.” He opened the velvet box then and Leah gasped as she saw the simple round diamond set on a silver band. “After I called your dad to ask for his blessing and he not only told me yes but that he couldn’t be happier not only that his daughter had found someone she loved so much but someone who loved her the way she deserved,” she wept harder at that “I called grandma and told her I had found it, the kind of love she told me to never let go of, and the next time we were in town visiting her she gave me the ring. This ring is from a marriage full of that love and I thought it might be a good luck charm for us, not that we need it.” She laughed loudly at that and he grinned at her, but his smile softened and she found tears to match hers in his eyes as he dropped to one knee. “You’re it for me, baby. My best friend, my soulmate, the love of my life. I’ll never need to wonder again if I’ll ever find this kind of love because hopefully I’ll get to have it with you and the family we’ll build forever. If you say yes, I promise to fall asleep a little more in love with you today, tomorrow and all of our lives. I love you so much. Leah, will you marry me?” She didn’t even need to think, she knew. She’d known for years, just as she was it for him, he was it for her. “Yes. Yes, Nate. I love you. I love you.” He slid the elegant diamond onto her finger and his lips were immediately on hers, kissing her through their laughter and through their tears, over and over again. If you’d ask her, there weren’t words she could put together to describe the love she felt for him in that moment. Everything, every moment and memory that lead them to this place was worth it for the reward of getting to call him her husband for the rest of her life. They spent what felt like hours but could only have been minutes kissing and laughing in that park, elated at the idea of spending their lives together. As they finally pulled away from each other Nate excitedly pulled her left hand forward, flashing it at their dog proudly, making her laugh once again. “Cox, she said yes! Mom and I are getting married.” The knock on the door shook her from her happiest memory, Gabe standing proudly in it’s frame offering her his arm. When she’d thought about who would walk her down the aisle that day, though they’d never fill the void left in her father’s absence, Gabe was the only choice. The older brother she’d never had but had found in him. “Ready to be Mrs. Mackinnon, kid?” The nerves still didn’t come, the calm and the peace remaining. She grabbed the bouquet and crossed the room to take his arm. “Never been more ready in my life.” (+ bonus:) Their bedroom was still save for her husband’s soft snores and the hum of the ceiling fan. The clock on the bedside table next to her that was illuminated by the soft glow coming from her reading lamp read 3:53 am, but she didn’t feel the sleep gripping her like she probably should. She took the quiet moment to glance at the man sleeping soundly beside her, the man she’d called her husband for the last two years but her best friend for far longer. He was the man of her dreams and though they’d faced challenges, she wouldn’t have wanted to face them with anyone else. She scanned quickly back through all the memories she had of their relationship and smiled when they brought back the feelings of intense love between them. And as she looked down at the tiny baby nestled softly in her arms, his eyes an identical blue to his father’s, she remembered the words he’d said the day he proposed. “I promise to fall asleep a little more in love with you today, tomorrow and all of our lives.”

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