#12daysofchristmas2022

[darkacademicfrom2021]

Day 5 - 12 days of Christmas challenge (2022 edition)

Title: The hint

Theme: Reindeer (Dec 17th)

Fandom/Character(s):  Loki x reader

Warnings (if applicable): none

Word Count: 1200

December writing challenge prompted and organized by @12daysofchristmas

“So, who do you like?”.

Tony had a big fixation on this. He had been asking you who your crush was for the past three weeks. You wouldn’t give in —and he sure was stubborn.

“No one you know”.

“That’s a lie, right, Queen Elsa?”, he turned to Loki —who ever since came to light he could actually know when someone was lying, got treated as a lie-detector machine—. Loki simply rolled his eyes and tried not to pay any mind to it. Failing incredibly so.

“That’s a lie, indeed”, he said bitterly. “Now, could you let me read in peace?”.

“Yeah, you’re disturbing us, Stark”, you complained, pointing at the library sign of ‘please, keep quiet’.

Tony pressed his lips together and decided it was time to leave it there and come back to the subject later. He left you and Loki to read in the couches in peace.

“What’s with his obsession, Gosh?”, you sighed as you went back to your book. Loki knew the answer. He thought about it, hiding his face behind the thick book he was barely skimming through.

“He’s trying to play matchmaker and doesn’t know how to”, he finally sighs out. You put your book down, looking at him bewildered.

“Shut up”.

“You asked me to—”.

“No, it’s… an expression of surprise, are you serious? With who?”.

Loki raised his eyebrows.

“You don’t know?”.

“Know what?”.

“Everyone in the compound knows. Even some from the internet know”.

“Loki! Know what?”, you became impatient.

“Thor’s crush on you… and your crush on Thor, come on”.

“I…”, you choked out a laugh. “I don’t have a crush on Thor”.

Loki frowned.

“You don’t?”.

“Am I lying?”.

“You’re not. Which is weird”, he said. “Who’s your so secret crush, then? The soldier?”.

“Which?”, you asked, and then denied with your head, “it’s none of them anyway. No, I won’t tell you. Please, don’t become the new Tony Stark on this, thank you”.

Loki made a defeated pose by showing you his palms and went back to his book in silence.

And then it happened again in the middle of a training session. You dodged Bucky's hits and grabbed his wrist, twisting it and immobilizing him. He kicked you and you fell to the floor. He won.

Tony got closer to you and handed you a water bottle.

"You're distracted".

You didn't answer, and then muttered, "what?".

"I said you're distracted. And you just proved me right", he sat you down and Bucky felt a little out of place so he began leaving. "What's on your mind?".

You sighed.

"Since when do you want me to talk my problems out of me instead of training them away?".

"Sometimes we need to talk about them", he said, and you nodded and sighed.

"Loki said Thor has a crush on me. Is that true?".

Tony grabbed his face in pain.

"What the hell? Loki said that?" 

"Yeah".

"Why would he say that?".

"I asked him what was up with you and all the crush questions. He said you were trying to get me to date Thor".

"He's an idiot".

"I— wouldn't argue that, but—".

"Do me a favor. Tell me who on Earth is your crush so I can be over with it. I won't tell anyone, I just need to make sure".

"Make sure of what?".

"Is it Nat? Do you have a crush on Nat?".

"No! I mean, she's gorgeous, but she's not the one I fell for".

"So, there is someone. I knew it!", chanted Tony, and left in little hops, emphasizing his enthusiasm.

“Hey! Hey!”, you stopped him before he could leave completely. “I need to ask you this”, you said, and he nodded. You took a deep breath. “Are you playing matchmaker?”.

“Yes”, he said.

“With whom?”.

“I can’t tell you yet”, he was about to dismiss you but you stopped him again.

“It’s easier if you tell me, so I don’t waste your time and you don’t waste mine”.

“I can’t. I promised him I wouldn’t tell you and—”.

“And since when do you really keep your promises…?”, you said, and then it hit you. “You are scared of him. And it’s a he. Okay. That narrows it down a lot”, you chuckled. He became pale. “If you tell me without telling me, that means I figured it out, right?”.

“That’s not how it works”.

“It’s not been explicitly said otherwise, either”, you said, and Tony sighed, thinking you’ve spent way too much time around Loki. “Alright. Tonight’s dinner, you’ll give me three hints”.

“One hint”.

“Two”.

“One hint and nothing else”.

“Okay. You’ll give me one hint and I’m going to guess who it is. If I guess you drink a sip of champagne and that way I know I can ask him out if I want to”.

Tony thought about it.

“That’s brilliant”.

So that very same night, Christmas dinner, everyone was seated and eating happily the monstrous amount of food that had been served. Somehow, you were too focused on the hint Tony would give you at any time to even eat a bite.

Tony looked at you as he served himself some champagne and you paid attention. He was going to show you the hint now. He got up and grabbed one of the small ornaments in the tree —a reindeer.

A reindeer.

A fucking reindeer? That was the hint?

You scoffed and denied with your head, trying to mimic to Tony that it wasn’t fair, and that clue was too broad and weird for you to ever understand it. You must have looked pretty upset, because by your side, Loki grabbed your hand.

“Are you okay, dear?”.

“Yeah”, you chuckled, and then you took a good look at him. You had been so focused on Tony’s hint that you didn’t even notice your own crush had been sitting there, all gorgeous and regal by your side. He was wearing his leather black and green armor without the cape, and had managed to get a smaller set of his distinctive horns to match the outfit. “Wow, you look stunning”, you breathed out. His long eyelashes batted a couple of times, and, blushing slightly, smirked.

“You’re one to say it”, and then pointed at Tony with his eyebrows. “Is Anthony upsetting you somehow with that ornament?”.

“Yeah, it’s just a game. Hey. Who do you think…”, you began asking him, and saw Tony grab his face in desperation. “...of all of us, would look the most like a…”, you stopped in your words, as you noticed the most evident answer was the man with a pair of horns on his head.

A reindeer.

Is it… Loki?

“Most like a leather deer?”, chuckled Loki, looking at the ornament by Tony’s side. “What kind of game is this, the deer game?”.

“It’s a reindeer”.

“Well, the reindeer game, whatever”, he laughed it off. Your mouth was open in shock. You looked at Tony.

“It’s Reindeer Games!”, you exclaimed out of the blue. Everyone on the table turned around to see you. You, hopeful and nervous, waited for Tony to answer. He sighed in content and lifted his champagne glass.

“Cheers!”, and took a long sip.

Taglist: @lucywrites02

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[firstdegreefangirl]

Baby It's (not) Cold Outside

Theme: Day 11 - Music/Songs @12daysofchristmas

Fandom/Character(s): Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen (The Rookie)

Word Count: 1668

Ao3 link here!

It’s 11 p.m. sharp when Lucy shifts her head where it’s resting against Tim’s shoulder.

“I should … get going,” she says, chin digging into his bicep. But she makes no effort to get up, or even stretch her legs out. “It’s getting late.”

“It is,” Tim agrees. He runs his hand up and down her arm. “And if you really need to go, I won’t keep you. But I’m not sending you away either. This time of year, you know,” he grins. “It might be cold out there.”

“Tim, we live in southern California.” Lucy laughs, her whole body jostling against him. “It’s like 55 degrees out.”

“Eh, I’ve seen warmer Decembers.”

“Seriously.” He can hear the eye roll in her voice. “We both work in the morning. My uniform is at home.”

“Alright,” Tim pauses for a moment, considering. When he speaks again, it’s with a playful lilt. “But if you stay … I could start a fire, see what’s left to make of the evening.”

“A fire? In what fireplace?” He feels Lucy’s head turn as she looks around the room. In response, he slides his hand from her arm, down far enough to toy with the waistband of her leggings.

“Not that kind of fire …" He dips his head down to nose at her hairline, smiling against her skin.

Lucy laughs, turning her head and squirming. She reaches down to smack at his wrist.

“You are insatiable!” She giggles. Her head lands more squarely on his chest now, and she’s lying halfway across his lap. He relents, wrapping his arm loosely around her waist to slide her closer into him. Just when she’s settled in, he wiggles his fingers along her side, across the patch of bare skin where her T-shirt has ridden up. Lucy squeals again, and he tugs her the rest of the way across, until she’s leaning between his side and the arm of the couch, thighs stretched across his. She tucks her toes underneath the edge of a throw pillow and sighs.

And still, she doesn’t even try to get up. He’d let her, if she did. But they both know what she’s after, and he wants it just as badly, even if neither of them are willing to say it outright.

“Well don’t rush yourself,” Tim says, adjusting his hold so one arm wraps around her belly and the other drapes down her leg. His hand fits perfectly over her kneecap; they both smile when it lands there. “You’re right, it is getting pretty late.”

“Mmm, maybe just a few more minutes.” Lucy tips her head back and tucks her face into his neck. He kisses the edge of her temple lightly, then starts humming in her ear. He’s not sure what song it is, but it’s been stuck in his head all afternoon. Some festive jingle or the other, playing over the loudspeaker at the gas station where he’d spent three hours investigating a burglary. “But then I really do have to get home. Tamara will worry.”

“Last week she asked me if I was planning to ‘put a ring on it’ anytime soon, so I don’t think that’s true.” When Lucy’s shoulders go stiff at his words, Tim squeezes one gently and tacks on, “Not anytime soon. Right now I just want to enjoy the way things are.”

He doesn’t say any more than that, just lets Lucy relax again. She doesn’t need to know about the pretty emerald that caught his eye over the weekend, while he was shopping for earrings to give his sister. Not yet, not anytime soon.

Just … someday.

“Things are good,” Lucy whispers. Her breath tickles his jaw in hot puffs, and he kisses the side of her head again.

“They are.”

They sit like that, all tangled up, basking in each other and together, for a few minutes. Lucy only stirs enough to reach for her highball glass, dripping condensation onto Tim’s coffee table and return to her previous position.

“What’s in this again anyway?” She takes a sip of the cocktail, watered down from the melted ice, and leans her head against his shoulder. “It’s delicious.”

He could rattle it off easily, give her the secret to his spiced rum cider. It’s not even a secret, really; Genny had sent him the link in an email several years ago after a friend of a friend forwarded it on to her. There’s a printed out copy stuck in the cover of a bar guide he inherited from his grandfather. He could show it to her, sometime when she’s not sitting on top of him.

But where’s the fun in that?

“I could pour you another,” he offers instead. “If you … won’t be driving for a bit.”

It’s not his fault that the rum cider is strong.

Lucy sits up just far enough that she can turn around and look at him. From this angle, her eyes twinkle with more than just her amusement. He can see the reflection of the Christmas tree lights, the tree she’d insisted he needed for the back of his living room, countless little white dots sparkling beneath her eyelashes. They remind him of the dark night skies he’d stare at during his deployment days, the only source of beauty in a war-ravaged world.

Her hair is pulled into a loose knot on top of her head, and she’s wearing leggings and a faded-out college T-shirt. She’s nowhere near drunk, but a glass from his bar set hangs from one hand while the other trails a line up his shoulder. She reminds him of those skies, a bright spot in a year that needed more of them.

He’s seen her every which way: in uniform, pajamas, casual wear, dressed for a night out, in her finest formal attire, with longer hair and pointed nails, not wearing anything at all …

But this might be his favorite version of Lucy, he thinks. The Lucy that’s soft and comfortable in his space, pliant against him, with stars dancing in her eyes.

“What?” She asks, smiling fondly at him, and he realizes he must have been staring.

“Nothing.” Tim shakes his head. “Just … thinking about how beautiful you are like this.”

The easy honesty sends a flush up her face, visible even in the dimly lit living room.

“You are …" she trails off, and he hesitates for a moment before meeting her eyes. She sighs. “Something. You are something, Tim. I just want you to know that.”

She leans forward before he can say anything in response and fits their mouths together. He slides the glass out of her hand, groping blindly for the end table so they’ll have their hands free to hold onto one another. It’s his favorite kind of kiss too, slow and easy and endless feeling, until they break just far enough apart to breathe.

“I don’t want to leave,” Lucy murmurs into the space between them. Tim isn’t sure he was meant to hear it; other than how closely together they’re sitting. It feels like the sort of thing she’s saying to herself more than to him. He wants to tell her that she doesn’t have to, that she never has to leave unless she wants to, but that feels like too much for 11:30 on a Friday night, when she’s trying to convince herself to stay behind some line in the sand.

As if there’s a line they haven’t crossed together.

“I really should …" Lucy says again, loudly enough for him to hear.

“If you’re sure you’re good to get home,” Tim replies, meaning the late hour and the long day more than the alcohol.

“Yeah, I’ll be good.” Still, she doesn’t get up. “Of course, if we’re worried that it might be … cold …" She reaches for one of the drawstrings on his sweatshirt and twirls it around her fingers. “Maybe you should make sure I have something warm to wear.”

“Yeah?” He’s already reaching back to pull the sweatshirt over his head. Lucy laughs as she helps him untangle his T-shirt underneath it and keeps laughing as he tugs the sweatshirt down onto her shoulders. Her head pops through the opening at the neckline and she grins at him until he’s laughing with her.

When all is said and done, even sitting across his legs, the sweatshirt pools around her hips. He knows when she stands up that it will reach her knees. There’s something intimate and thrilling about knowing that even if she does go home tonight, she’s taking some physical, tangible part of him with her.

He traces his fingertips across her knuckles. Her skin is soft and smooth, and he knows that if he drew her hand to his lips, he’d be able to smell the floral hand lotion she rubs on every so often.

“It’s been a good night,” he says quietly. It’s an out, if she wants it to be, the beginnings of a goodbye. Or, it can be an invitation to let the night run on between them and keep a good thing going.

The choice is hers.

“It has been. It always is.” Lucy snuggles back into him. “If I stay … I have to get up early to go home before shift.”

“I’ll make you coffee,” he offers. “Carpool?”

“Sure.” She wraps both of her arms around one of his, holding it against her chest. “Probably better than driving home tonight anyway. Y’know, because you say it’s so cold out.”

“Yeah,” Tim kicks one foot up onto the coffee table. They should go to bed soon, if Lucy is staying, but he doesn’t want to make her move just yet. He hasn’t actually checked the weather, knows that what passes for ‘cold’ in LA is hardly a breeze in other parts of the country.

But he can’t imagine anything warmer than this, wrapped up in comfort and devotion and love.

And Lucy.

Compared to this, whatever the temperature is beyond his front door?

Baby, it’s cold outside.

[elitehunter]

Will Ospreay: Anything can happen on a snow day

Title: Anything can happen on a snow day Theme: Day 4 - Snowman for @12daysofchristmas Fandom/Character(s): NJPW/Will Ospreay x OFC Warnings: just some cursing, like a couple of f-bombs because it's Billy. Word Count: 1,191

On a snowy day, he finds himself face to face with her. Or, rather, the snowball she throws right at his face. He's been upset with her for so long for the way they drifted apart. But maybe he had it all wrong to begin with.

Read it on AO3

[12daysofchristmas]

Congrats to the winners!

A few days late, but I don’t want to go without acknowledging the writers who were able to complete all 12 days of this year’s challenge! @bookswrestlinglover22 @dulcito-on-ao3 @firstdegreefangirl and @thenerdybaker523, congrats on writing something for all 12 days!!! You’re an absolute inspiration; it could never be me 🤧

And of course, thank you to everyone who submitted something to this year’s challenge. It wouldn’t be possible without you.

Until next year,

Katie ( @zsjaywhite )

[thecagedsong]

Title: If it Makes You Smile

Theme: Santa Hat

Fandom/Character(s): Fairy Tail; Lucy/Loke

Warnings (if applicable):

Word Count: 500

Loke comes to a fight in a Santa Hat. 

@12daysofchristmas

“Open, Gate of the Lion, Leo!” Lucy called out. After a solo job, she was almost home when some jerks thought they could take advantage of her in the dark East forest.

Given they had shadow magic, it would have been a correct assumption if she didn’t have her very own light spirit.

“Wow, it’s dark,” Leo said as the light from his gate faded. He immediately lit his fists, pushing one of the attackers out of the shadows. Lucy roundhouse kicked him into Loke’s punch, sending him crashing into the nearby

“Crap, a fairy tail wizard.”

“Light magic too, let’s get out of here. Grab Dan’s legs.”

There was running and fussing.

“Want to chase after them?” Loke asked, turning to face her properly.

She had thought there was something wrong with his sillouhette, but had been focused on listening and feeling for magic signatures.

Lucy burst out laughing.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’?” Loke asked, raising an eyebrow.

She calmed down from her mad cackling to more contained giggles. “So-sorry,” Lucy giggled, wiping her eye, “I’m just not sure your Santa Hat goes with the suit.”

Loke touched his head, eye widening as he felt the fur trim. Then he grinned at her, “Well, tis the season. You called me during the Spirit World Solstice Festival.”

“Since when do celestial spirits celebrate the solstice with Santa hats?” Lucy chuckled.

“Since it made their pretty masters happy,” Loke said, offering his arm. “What, don’t I make a good Santa Claus? I’ll have you know I bring people excellent presents.”

Lucy laughed some more, taking his arm and letting him send out witchlights to mark the rest of the path to Magnolia proper. “I don’t think even you could pull off the tubby belly and long white beard. Capricorn might be able to.”

It was Loke’s turn to laugh, “It is my dearest pleasure to present you this gift.” He imitated Capricorn. “A scale, because I do believe you are putting on some extra weight, dear Loke.”

“When will he let that go!” Lucy cackled. “And what would Santa Loke give someone for Christmas?”

“Oh, it’s twelve gifts if you’re really doing it right, and the first one would be exhausting laughter,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “The rest will have to be a surprise.”

“Well then, I can’t wait for the rest,” Lucy said. “Are you going to keep wearing this?” Lucy flicked the puffball at the end of the hat.

“You want to try it on?”

“I think it looks too good on you.”

“Then I think I’ll wear it until Christmas.”

“You’re as old as grandfather Christmas.”

“Rude.”

“Good thing I’m terribly shallow and only care about your good looks.”

It was Loke’s turn to laugh.

[tatsueigo]

Advent Advent

Title: Advent Advent

Theme: Day three - Candles

Fandom/Character(s): All Elite Wrestling / Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson, William Regal

Warnings (if applicable): //

Word Count: 

NdA: @zsjaywhite

November 27th, first Advent of 2022. It has been long since Claudio has been to Switzerland over the last years, but he always keeps his traditions.

That day he had woken up early as always, going for his routine run and on the way back he had stopped at some bakeries to fetch something for breakfast for him and all his lovers. For Bryan vegan options of course.

Unluckily his wrestling life didn't let him the time to actually bake some German cookies for the others, with having to be on the road most of the time, but it would still work.

Humming he got back to their shared home and left all the pastries on the table, for each seat the favourite ones of each member of the stable.

He went to take a quick shower, enjoying the warm water sliding over his cold body; he liked it more when he could have a shower with one of his lovers, but they were surely starting to wake up.

As he got dressed and down to the kitchen, he found a still sleepy Yuta waiting at his spot, shortly after came William and Jon too. Bryan took some minutes to join them, but in the end they were all sitting at their places.

"This is the first Christmas we are going to spend all together, since I left Switzerland and then Germany I carried on this tradition leading to Christmas, so I just want to share it with all of you too. You're all really important to me and this tradition is important to me as well, so I want you get to know about it." 

William, Jon, Wheeler and Bryan looked at him at the same time and either nodded or grunted in response; Wheeler was genuinely curious, maybe because he was the youngest there? Who could know, but one thing was sure: he literally loved Christmas, so whatever had to do with it was interesting for him. The others were interested too, even Jon, who normally wasn't a Christmas person himself. 

Claudio stood up and took a lighter: at the center of the table there was an Advent crown, with four candles spread around it. The candles had different colors: maroon to represent Regal, white for Bryan, Red for Jon and black for their youngest member Yuta. Him... Claudio pictured himself in the white candle, zusammen mit Bryan, but those were for his lover, not for him. 

"So, for each Advent Sunday, we normally take a candle, light it and in the end we sing a nursery rhyme. Each one of this candles represents one of you, one of us." 

Explained the Swiss man, as he took the maroon candle in the hand and cracked a smile at his lovers. 

"Today it's the first Advent, so I'll light this maroon one, which represents our Lord, William. You are, apart from our lover, our mentor and kind of manager, so something like... a pillar maybe? Which is why I wanted to start by lighting your candle first." 

Did his reason have any sense at all? In his mind yes, but what if the others wouldn't get it? He softened a bit as soon as he noticed the smile on William's lips. 

"Master Castagnoli it is an honor for me, thank you. I appreaciate it."

Claudio nodded and took the lighter, so he could finally light the candle which he put before in the holder.

"Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt. Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier. Und wenn das fünfte Lichtlein brennt, hast du Weihnachten verpennt!"

None of them said anything, they all stared at him though. Yuta was totally in awe, even if he had only understood the word Advent. Regal was smiling, still honored that Claudio had decided to use his candle first. Jon had listened, hadn't understood anything, but he still liked it all in all. Bryan on his part was smiling proud: it was beautiful to hear Claudio speak German, sometimes he even spoke Italian to them, only some small words, but it was really interesting to hear him. 

"It was simply amazing, Master Castagnoli."

The rest of the day they passed it by training and going out, all happy to their core.

[lipstickonmylabcoat]

For the 12 Days of Christmas Writing Challenge @12daysofchristmas

Christmas with Katrine and Anna 🎄

A collection of ficlets from the two part World War II holosimulation episode The Killing Game of Star Trek Voyager featuring a f/f/f polyam relationship.

Chapter 1 - Bells

Prompt - 13 - bells

Title: Bells

Theme: Church bells, not regretting one’s actions, finding happiness

Fandom/Character(s): Brigitte (B’Elanna Torres), Katrine (Kathryn Janeway), Mademoiselle de Neuf/Anna (Seven of Nine)

Warnings: Rated mature for the whole collection but this chapter is not naughty at all

Word Count: under 350

Chapter 2 - Santa Hat

Prompt: 14 - Santa Hat

Title: Santa Hat

Theme: Encouragement, dressing up, kissing

Fandom/Character(s): Brigitte (B’Elanna Torres), Katrine (Kathryn Janeway), Mademoiselle de Neuf/Anna (Seven of Nine)

Warnings: Rated mature for the whole collection but this chapter is only a little playful

Word Count: under 350

[iheomaskitchen]

ON THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME A GLASS OF HEALTHY FRESH JUICE. #Iheomas_kitchen #12daysofchristmas2022 #iheomacooks #12daysofchristmasrecipes #12thdayofchristmas #delicious #pineappleandwatermelonjuice #healthyrecipes #healthyeats #foodporn #foodpic #food #foodie #nigeriandish #juice #pineapple #holidayrecipes #christmasrecipes #Christmas #freshjuice (at Asaba, Nigeria) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmlIKe0DAYO/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[darkacademicfrom2021]

Day 7 - 12 days of Christmas challenge (2022 edition)

Title: The one where Loki thinks he’s bitter and actually tastes like sugar

Theme: gingerbread (Dec 19th)

Fandom/Character(s): Loki x reader

Warnings (if applicable): fluffest fluff ever. Loki POV because I love his inner dialogue

Word Count: 400

December writing challenge prompted and organized by @12daysofchristmas

Loki doesn’t like sweets.

He actually hates them. He didn’t grow up with the processed sugar Midgard offered and definitely does not want to start obsessing over them now, like his brother does.

He finds more often than not different culinary marvels from Earth that are a delight to his posh palate, but they’re always small savory servings of exotic foods no one in the compound actually eats.

But here he is, bearing with you the insomnia and your hyperactivity, helping you bake the so-beloved Christmas cookies you insisted —at least three or four times before convincing him— on trying out.

It was your grandmother’s recipe and —although you lacked basic cooking skills and more than once you’ve had to almost evacuate the compound’s kitchen— you wanted to recreate it by taste alone.

“Here, try”, you reached up the spoon to his mouth and he frowned, pressing his lips. You said he looked adorable doing that so he has been trying to do it more often around you. Not for anything in particular, he simply enjoys making you smile. “You’re gonna like it”.

“I doubt it”, he raised an eyebrow.

“Come on, open up”, you said in between chuckles, and he licked the spoon with weariness. “Good boy”, you joked, and he almost choked on dough. “So? Is it good?”.

“It’s raw, I wouldn’t know”, he said, rolling his eyes. His face feels warm, is he blushing? Oh, Norns. He sure hopes he isn’t. “You’ve got to bake it”.

“I don’t want to ruin an entire batch”, you muttered, and licked the spoon too. You pondered for a few seconds and nodded. “Yeah, seems about right”.

“Why is it… spicy?”, he asked as you put on the mittens and opened up the stove. “Are sweets not supposed to be… just kindly sweet?”.

You sighed with a smile on your face, and looked at him as how one looks at a small duck, or a kitten. You must have thought he looked adorable, and he blushed again at the implication.

“Kindly sweet”, you repeated. Yes, he thought, as opposed to spicy sweet. Is that not the right way to say it? You sighed again and started sprinkling the gingerbread cookies with brown sugar as you muttered, “I love you so much”.

Loki doesn’t like sweets. But he allows himself to be sweet around you. He sure does like you.

Taglist: @lucywrites02

@louieboo87

@the-departed-potato

@jesuswasnotawhiteman

@idontknow296

@beksib

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[darkacademicfrom2021]

Day 9 - 12 days of Christmas challenge (2022 edition)

Title: Cultural differences

Theme: Mistletoe (Dec 21st)

Fandom/Character(s): Loki x reader

Warnings (if applicable): none <3 fluff with plot

Word Count: 1128

December writing challenge prompted and organized by @12daysofchristmas

“But won’t you look at that!”, you exclaimed as Loki passed by your side. He stopped in place and raised an eyebrow.

“What?”.

“It seems we’re both under the mistletoe”, you said.

He frowned.

“Yes, it seems so. Excuse me”, he said, and began walking away. Now you frowned. You grabbed the plant from where you had hung it and began following him to see what was up with him. He stopped once again. “Why are you following me with that thing?”.

“The mistletoe?”.

“Yes, are you trying to say something? Because I don’t appreciate you doing this to me. Especially you”.

“I— no, I just thought it would be nice to…”.

“Well, it clearly isn’t nice for me. Now, let me through, I have things to do”.

Your mouth was open but no words came out.

“Loki, I—”.

“See you later. Don’t bring that thing around”.

You sat on the kitchen island of the compound and sighed out in frustration. You knew you could be rejected by him at some point, but why did he have to be so rude about it? He usually was much nicer and kinder to you. You began drawing up some Christmas cards for the Avengers to wrap with their gifts, and left the mistletoe lying on the counter, thinking about throwing it to the fireplace once they light it up.

Later on, Cap and Thor walked in and grabbed some mead from the fridge, sitting in front of you.

“Hey pal, would you like some?”, asked Steve as he poured you a glass anyway.

“Sure”, you said, your tone slightly drowned.

Thor sat by your side and looked at the giftcards.

“Those look very nice”, he said, as he’d talk to a frustrated child. He was slightly older. Just slightly. Still, you chuckled sadly and let him go for it. “You seem sad, are you alright? Would you want to talk about it with us?”.

“Yeah, you can trust us”, said Steve, and looked at the mistletoe on the table. “Oh… you got rejected?”.

“Brutally rejected”, you nodded, and left the coloring pencils on the side to take a good spiteful look at that damned plant. Thor seemed confused.

“Can we know by who?”.

“Cap, I think you can figure it out”, you pressed your lips in a thin line. Everyone in the compound knew you liked Loki. And everyone also thought Loki liked you back, but none of you were ready to potentially ruin your precious friendship. Up until just now. “I didn’t expect him to be so mean about it. Maybe he got upset because I may have ruined our thing? He’s a big fan of unspoken things. Maybe he wanted us to be in this non-verbalized special relationship without putting more pressure into it—”.

“I’m sorry, what are you talking about? What does all of that have to do with that treacherous weed?”, interrupted Thor.

You frowned.

“You don’t know what the mistletoe means here?”.

“Yes, I certainly do. It’s a dooming sign. Why would you declare yourself with it near you? And to Loki?”.

You stood up.

“That’s not what it means at all! And I never said the words, I just thought he knew what being under the mistletoe means!”.

“What does it mean?”, he asked with a frown. You began walking around the kitchen island and fidgeting with the plant.

“When you’re both under the mistletoe you have to kiss. I just pointed out we were under the mistletoe. I didn’t even say anything about it. What did he think I was saying, then?”, you said, eyes wide and still pacing around.

Thor grabbed his face and then put his hand on your shoulder to stop you.

“In the myths, Loki starts Ragnarok by using a mistletoe to kill Balder. The literal end of our world! It’s a terrible augury, a horrible omen”.

You sat, bewildered.

“No wonder he got offended”.

Thor patted your back.

“I think you better mend it right”.

That same night, you knocked on his door and heard him pace around before opening up a small crack to see who it was. When he saw you, he sighed out.

“What do you want?”, he asked tiredly. His hair was tied up in a messy high bun, and had an unsharpened dagger through it. “I’m busy”.

“I’m sure you aren’t”, you tilted your head to see the accumulating pile of books on his bed and his unarranged bedsheets. He had been laying there reading all afternoon, you were positive. “I brought you something”.

“Did you bring a heartfelt apology with you?”, he joked. You chuckled.

“You know very well I don’t have a heart”, you said as you went through and sat on his bed. He looked down at you and smiled lightly.

“And you know better than anyone that’s not true”, he said, and then sat by your side. “So, what did you bring me?”.

You gave him a small box, and he looked at you quizzically, before opening it with curiosity. He unfolded the soft paper inside of it and found a fresh batch of his favorite type of cookies. He looked at you with glistening eyes.

“Mint and chocolate?”.

“Yup”, you smiled proudly. He jumped to hug you.

“Oh, thank you! You know I love these!”. You sank in his hug and hugged him tighter.

“I’m sorry about the mistletoe thing. I spoke to Thor about it and we both have very different concepts of it. I didn’t even know about the bad omen. I’m really sorry”.

He pulled out of the hug, but kept relaxedly holding you by the elbows.

“Oh?”.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have done it. It was a very stupid thing. Your friendship means everything to me”.

“That’s totally okay, I was taken aback because it seemed so unlike you to joke about something that would make me feel bad”, he admitted. “Hold on, so… what did you mean with that?”.

“Huh?”, you raised your eyebrows and cleared your throat. “Oh, yeah, I was just joking, you know. A midgardian normal stupid joke”.

“Hey”, he grabbed your face. “What was it?”.

You blushed to an extreme degree and Loki didn’t let go of your face, as funny as you looked. He stared into you with his usual intensity. Well, what was getting rejected twice anyway?

“It means… well, whoever two that end up under the mistletoe must kiss”.

Loki raised his eyebrows.

“And we ended up under the mistletoe together”.

“Yes”, you whispered, getting even redder.

“You said ‘must’ kiss. Not ‘can’ kiss”.

“I… guess I did say that, yeah”, your voice got thinner and thinner.

“We have no choice but to kiss, then”, he smirked slightly.

“I guess not”, you said, and he caressed your cheeks with his thumbs as he hunched closer to your lips.

Taglist: @lucywrites02 , @louieboo87 @the-departed-potato , @jesuswasnotawhiteman , @idontknow296 , @beksib , @geekwritersworld , @mysticunicorn7 @shadowolf993 , @joscelyn02 , @t00-pi , @selfship-mishaps , @sallymagnoliaposts , @deadgirl88, @vicmc624 @theaudacitytowrite @bi-andready-tocry @alorev @justasmisunderstoodasloki @theetoastyghosty @lokiprompts @sarahpaq08 @lostgreekgod @likeitloveitblogit @tsnelf7 @asgardwinter @lalalalokii @christineblood @asgardianprincess1050

[firstdegreefangirl]

Don't Hang the Mistletoe (you know how kissing goes)

Theme: Day Nine - Mistletoe @12daysofchristmas

Fandom/Character(s): Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen (The Rookie)

Word Count: 1189

Ao3 link here!

Who brings mistletoe to a work event?

And yet, here they are. Tim and Lucy, side by side, underneath a “festive” sprig.

They’d been doing so well, too, Tim laments to himself, as soon as the first colleague – some patrol officer he hardly knows outside of the roll call room – takes notice. All night, he and Lucy had managed to come off as friends, nothing more.

He’d brought her a drink, balanced carefully with his own and one for Angela, and made sure their fingers didn’t brush when he handed it off. They’ve stood next to each other, with a respectable distance between them, and chatted amicably about neutral topics.

Just when he’d thought they might be able to pull it off, spend an entire station Christmas party together without anyone noticing that they’ve been dating almost a month now, they wind up under the damn mistletoe together.

Everyone else has noticed now, and someone started up a chant of “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

He chances a quick look at Lucy, frozen in place with her drink raised just a little too high to be natural. Her eyes are wide, her mouth hanging slightly open.

She’s beautiful. Even like this, half-paralyzed with shock, it strikes him that she’s beautiful.

But he can’t tell her that now, and they can’t stand like this all day. So he nudges her forearm carefully with his elbow. She jumps a little bit, and turns to face him.

“Hey,” Tim whispers, quietly enough that only Lucy will hear, when he gets a better view of the panic on her face. “We don’t have to. We can … settle the score later.” He grins at the last part, trying to break the ice between them, but Lucy’s expression doesn’t change.

The crowd is still chanting, and Lucy seems to notice it a second later. She shakes her head, and the hand not holding her drink comes up to rest on Tim’s shoulder.

Her fingers dig into his skin, through the fabric of his shirt. She rolls up onto her tiptoes, and Tim’s breath catches in his throat.

Just for a second, he lets himself hope. It’s not how they’d meant to tell everyone, and certainly not everyone they’d meant to tell – a handful of people are missing, and there are some officers who don’t need to know everything about their private lives – but he hopes. Lucy is balancing herself against him, close enough that he can feel the heat coming off of her chest, and he hopes.

He hopes she’ll do it. He hopes he’ll let her. He hopes it won’t change anything between them, more than everything between them has already changed. And he hopes it won’t ruin either of their careers.

Then Lucy leans in and …

Brushes her lips across his cheek.

She drops back to her usual height and takes a step away, and Tim tries not to let the disappointment show.

This makes more sense, anyway. It would have been just as telling if they’d refused to play along at all, and kissing her the way he’d wanted to would have been a terrible way to disclose their relationship to the department. Lucy handled an uncomfortable situation perfectly, and he knows it.

Still, he’s a little bit heartbroken at the way he can feel the ghost of her touch on his face, her phantom fingers clinging to his shoulder.

A handful of onlookers boo, and someone – he thinks it sounds like Smitty, but he can’t tell for sure – calls out something about cheating. But for the most part, everyone turns their attention back to whatever conversation they’d been having before the crowd gathered around them.

Only Angela stops to catch Tim’s eye as he lets out a heavy breath. She tips her cup toward him, and her stare is filled with concern and compassion.

He smiles back, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. She nods slowly, and for a second, Tim wonders how much she knows. He hasn’t said anything, and he knows Lucy hasn’t either. But he gets the feeling that Angela understands the things he can’t tell her.

He raises his drink back at her and takes another deep breath.

Then he turns back to the party, mingling and making small talk like everything is fine.

“That went on forever,” Lucy complains an hour and a half later, trying to fit her key into the front door of her apartment. “I thought we’d never get to leave.”

She’s not drunk, but Tim knows the door sticks sometimes. He’s half-tempted to reach around her and pull the knob tighter, to see if that helps, but she gets it open before he makes up his mind.

“Thanks for walking me up,” Lucy says, lingering in her doorway, and Tim thinks back to a few months ago, a similar conversation under incredibly different circumstances.

“Anytime,” he replies, and they both know that it’s true.

“Do you … want to come in?” He wonders if she’s doing it intentionally, if those words are seared into his memory the way they are in his.

This time, there’s no hesitation when he follows her.

As soon as the door is closed behind them, Lucy is pushing him up against it. The element of surprise favors her over their difference in size, as she presses her chest against his. He catches her by the waist, but doesn’t dream of pushing her away.

Not here, not like this.

Not when their bodies fit perfectly together, and her mouth slots perfectly against his, and she’s kissing him so hard that he can’t come up with any words other than perfect to describe it.

Hot, maybe. Even for December, she’s hot against him, both hands cupping his face like she’s worried he might pull back.

Promising, how she drags one hand down his torso, through the tiny bits of space between them and toward the waistband of his jeans.

Earth-shattering, the way Lucy came into his life two years ago and somehow became the person he cares about most in the world, the person he’d do anything for and who’d do anything for him.

But he can’t come up with any of that when she finally breaks away from him. They’re both breathing hard, sharing the same air back and forth, clinging to each other for dear life.

For more than life, Tim thinks, before he pushes that thought to the back of his head. It’s only been a few months, they’re not quite ready for ‘til death do us part just yet.

That doesn’t matter tonight, though. He’d walk through fire for Lucy, just to see this sexy, sassy smile on her face.

“Well, what do you say?” She tucks two fingers into his belt loop, and Tim knows he won’t be able to find the words to answer whatever she’s about to ask. “Is the score even enough for you?”

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But that doesn’t matter either, because Tim pulls her in for another kiss. She smiles against him and he adds another tally mark to his mental list.

Moments he never wants to forget.

[firstdegreefangirl]

We're all Skating (on the same thin ice)

Theme: Day Six - Ice Skating @12daysofchristmas

Fandom/Character(s): Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen (The Rookie)

Word Count: 2000 (you have NO idea how hard I worked to pull that off)

Ao3 link here!

“Tim, if you don’t stop looking like Wesley kicked your kitten, I’m rescinding your invitation.”

“Why do I have to be the hypothetical kitten-kicker in this scenario?” Wesley complains. At least it distracts Angela enough that she doesn’t see they eye roll or notice when he mutters “is that supposed to be a punishment?”

He wraps his jacket tighter around his torso, but it doesn’t do much to cut through the chill in the air at the skating rink. Sure, he’d known it would have to be cold inside, so people could actually ice skate. But he hadn’t expected to feel the chill all the way to his bones, before they even made it to the rental counter.

“You’re sure you don’t want to skate, Tim?”

“It’s bad enough that you dragged me out here to freeze. You’re not strapping knives to my feet. I’ll supervise and hang out with Jack when he gets tired.” At the sound of his name, the toddler looks up and waves with the hand not holding onto Wesley’s arm.

Angela sighs, but only rents three pair of skates. Before long, Tim is leaning against the half-wall surrounding the rink and watching Jack find his footing between his parents. Angela and Wes each have him by one hand, helping him stay upright as they work their way around the edge of the ice.

Tim takes a few pictures, but he puts his phone away after a few minutes so he can tuck his hands back into his pockets. He never knew Los Angeles could be this cold, even if it is manufactured.

It’s more fun than he imagined, though, watching his best friend and her growing family build new holiday traditions. Jack is all smiles and giggles when Wes lifts him up and spins on the blades of his skates, and he blows a raspberry at Tim over his mother’s shoulder when she peppers his tiny face with kisses.

Tim returns the silly face, then turns around, sizing up the rest of the venue. Angela had promised him apple cider donuts, a treat in exchange for being part of the family for an afternoon, but he’s hoping for something with a little more substance than sugar.

What he sees instead is nearly enough to knock him over the wall, sprawling onto the ice.

Of all the places in all of LA, what are the odds …

Lucy Chen is walking back toward the rink, holding one giant chocolate chip cookie in each hand. She veers to the side before she sees Tim, but he watches as she passes the second cookie to Jackson, who’s sitting on a wooden bench with his legs stretched out in front of him. Lucy says something to Jackson, pointing at the concession stand; as soon as he follows her gaze, he starts unlacing his skates. She laughs at whatever he says next, but rolls her eyes as he gets up and goes over there himself.

Lucy watches Jackson for a moment longer, then grimaces in his direction and shoves her feet back into her own skates. She stumbles to the edge of the rink, but as soon as she reaches the ice, she starts moving in smooth glides.

Tim waits for her to be close enough to hear him before he opens his mouth.

“Hey, Chen!” She turns her head in his direction, her surprise obvious when she sees him. “You sure those are tied tight enough? Can’t have you breaking an ankle; we’re already stretched thin enough at work.”

“Tim!” She grins, skating toward the wall he’s leaning against. “What’re you doing here?” Her face flushes even pinker than the chill has already turned it and she starts stammering. “Not that … I mean … it’s not a priva … it’s a public rink, you can … I just didn’t know you …"

“I’m not.” He puts her out of her misery, pulling one hand out of his pocket long enough to point across the rink. “But Angela is, and I’m on Uncle Duty today. What about you, didn’t know you skated?”

“Here and there.” She looks down. “I try to come a few times a year. It’s fun.”

“Yeah, looks like Jack is enjoying himself.” He’s talking about Angela’s kid, but Lucy looks past him to the concession booth. Tim turns to glance, and sees Jackson standing off to the side, deep in conversation with the cashier.

“He’ll be over there all afternoon, I’m sure. All I did was tell him the attendant guy looked like his type. Now I guess I’m on my own for the rink today.” She sighs.

“Hey, I’m sure Angela would loop around with you a few times. Looks like Wes has taken charge of the baby anyway.”

“Maybe,” Lucy says, but she makes no effort to move. “You’re not on the ice?”

“Absolutely not. I’m here to hang out with Jack when he needs a nap, give mom and dad a break.”

“Not even for a few minutes?”

“Not unless you want to see an ambulance today.”

“Well,” Lucy laughs. “I guess it’s nice to see a man who knows his limits.”

“Believe it or not, I do have a few of them.”

“I’d never have guessed.”

The conversation flows easily from there, nephews and dogs and Tim’s sister and the best cheesesteak Lucy has ever eaten. Before either of them realize, it’s been almost 40 minutes and the intercom is announcing the end of skate for people with an hourly pass. Tim raises an eyebrow, and Lucy holds up her wrist, showing him an all day wristband.

“But I should probably go make use of it, at least for a few minutes.” Tim nods, and she skates off. Immediately, he’s a little colder again, which he decides is ridiculous as soon as he registers the feeling. He’s cold because it’s freezing in here, not because Lucy was somehow keeping him warm.

The solitude doesn’t last long, though. While Lucy is breezing her way through speedy laps of the inner rink, Wesley skates over to Tim. Jack is slumped against one of his shoulders, arms looped loosely around his dad’s neck.

“Hey, can you take him?” Tim extends an arm and they pass Jack over the wall. “Thanks. He’s out cold, and my arm is getting sore. I think Angela left the stroller over by the lockers.

“No problem. We’ll be here.”

He shifts Jack around, until he’s resting against the shoulder that’s never seen a bullet wound. The kid hardly moves, other than to burrow his face deeper into Tim’s neck. He rubs his back gently with his free hand, tucking it up the bottom of his little puffer jacket to keep his fingers warm.

Tim keeps watching the skaters. Somehow, his gaze always finds its way back to Lucy. She’s slowed down a little bit, but now she’s weaving back and forth, zipping between imaginary cones in her path. The movement are precise, careful and refined in a way that tells Tim ‘a few times a year’ might have been underselling her experience.

Then she starts spinning. She makes it look easy, effortless loops that keep her moving forward even as she turns round and round. It’s not a tight spiral, like he’d see on the Olympics, but somehow this is more impressive. She keeps twirling, never coming close to hitting any of the other skaters. When she comes closer to the edge of the ice, Tim notices how wind-bitten her skin has become, even more than it was earlier.

All at once, he looks between the lockers and concessions, and makes a decision.

After all, his arm is getting kind of tired. And Jack would probably be more comfortable sitting down.

He finds the stroller first, with the familiar elephant-print diaper bag shoved in the bottom, and gets Jack situated. The straps are more confusing than he’d anticipated, but he clicks every buckle into a latch and figures that it’s close enough.

Then he pushes Jack toward the concessions, where he takes up a position in the line on the side opposite where Officer West is still chatting up the second cashier. He doesn’t seem to notice Tim, as he orders and balances two paper cups between his hands and the stroller handle.

When he gets back to his spot along the wall, he starts watching for Lucy to come around again.

“Lucy!” This time, he calls her first name, and she skids to a stop. “Need a break? You look … cold.” He sticks one of the cups out toward her. “Uh, it’s cocoa.”

“Oh.” She shivers. “I guess I didn’t realize it until I stopped moving, but sure. It’s chilly out there.”

Tim points at one of the benches and she follows him over. When she sits down, she leaves the skates on, but unties the bows at the top.

Again, it’s easy to talk to Lucy, even though they’re not at work. She ends up with one foot propped on the front of the stroller, rocking it back and forth gently while Jack sleeps. They talk about her career and his, where he’s been and where she wants to go. He teases her with the suggestion of an LAPD skating division, a promotion with the promise of her leadership on the ice.

“Please, I’d never win a pursuit. It’s way more fun to do the twirly stuff,” she says, laughing along with him.

“Well it sure looked like you were good at it.”

“I was having fun.” Again, he notices how she undersells herself.

“You can enjoy things you’re good at.” He pushes. This time, when her face turns pink, he doesn’t think it’s anything to do with the cold.

At some point, Angela slides the stroller away from them, with a quiet hello for Lucy before she and Wesley disappear. Tim doesn’t think anything of it, until he realizes that the sun is dropping low in the sky and the rink is closing for the night.

“Well,” he stands up, and Lucy trades her skates for a pair of brown leather boots. “I rode with Agnela and …" He looks around. “I don’t see her, or Wesley.”

They both slides their phones out of their pockets. He’s got a waiting message from his friend, almost two hours old.

Yes, we left you behind. Looked like you were doing something more important than third-wheeling with my kid.

She's included a string of emojis that Tim can’t be bothered to decipher.

“Or, I got ditched.” He laughs dryly, and Lucy looks up.

“So did I. Jackson’s cashier asked him for coffee. Apparently selling it all day wasn’t enough.” She rolls her eyes. “At least I have the car keys.”

Tim barely resists a heavy sigh. He hates having to ask for favors, but …

“Think I could bother you for a lift?”

“Hmmm …" Lucy screws her face up, eyes shining mirthfully. “I dunno … what’s in it for me?”

“Let’s see … Jackson got coffee with a stranger, I suppose I can do better than that, given our established relationship. Can I buy you dinner?”

“Careful, Tim,” she grins at him. “A girl hears an offer like that, and she’s liable to think it’s a date.”

“And what if it is?” He’s on thin ice now, but he doesn’t need to think long to realize that if he’s going to fall anywhere, he wants it to be right here. Somehow he’s spent most of an afternoon talking to Lucy, on his personal time, and all he wants to do is keep it going for longer.

Hopefully, starting with dinner.

“If it is, then I think you should actually ask me.”

“Fine.” This time, he does sigh, long-suffering, like she’s asking the world of him. “Lucy, can I take you out for dinner? As a date?”

“I suppose.” She’s trying to keep a straight face, but laughing so hard that it ruins the effect. “After all, I am taking you home tonight. And that is a promise.”

[firstdegreefangirl]

Run, Run Rudolph

Theme: Day Five - Reindeer @12daysofchristmas

Fandom/Character(s): Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen (The Rookie)

Word Count: 1676

Ao3 link here!

“7-Adam-100, please respond to south side of Westfield Century City Mall. Security requesting assistance with an escaped reindeer.”

“Control, 7-Adam-100 respondi – Control, could you repeat the nature of the call?” Tim has one hand on the steering wheel, the other on his radio, and his jaw halfway to the floor of the shop as he processes what he thinks he heard the dispatcher say.

“An escaped reindeer, south side of Westfield Century City. Outside the Nordstrom at the time of call.”

He knows that voice. There’s only one dispatcher he can think of who would try to pull a fast one on him like this.

“Control, can you 10-3 to another channel for more information?”

“7-Adam-100, going to eight.”

Tim flips the dial on his radio until it chirps the new number.

“Nell, I swear to god, if you’re making this up …"

“Sergeant Bradford!” she gasps. “I would never abuse city channels for fun and games. Even reindeer games!”

“So you’re telling me that there’s a reindeer in the mall? What, is it some dude in a costume?”

“Mall security asked for animal control too, so presumably not.”

“How did the reindeer get into the mall?”

“I’m sorry, which one of us is the investigator?” She laughs, and Tim rolls his eyes, even though she can’t see. “So how about we both get back to doing our jobs, and you can fill me in on everything later.”

Tim glances over to Lucy, sitting in the passenger seat.

“What do you say? Up for drinks after work?”

“With Nell and Elroy? Always.”

Tim promises her a follow-up at the end of their shift, then switches back to the main channel, just a few blocks before they arrive at the mall.

“Control, 7-Adam-100 on location for the … fugitive reindeer. Entering Nordstrom now.”

He pulls the door open for Lucy to walk in ahead of him, one hand already resting on his taser. He’s not sure if it’ll do much against a reindeer, should the situation come to that, but it’s the best move he can come up with. As soon as they’re inside, it’s easy to figure out which direction they need to go, based on where the crowd is gathered and shouting loudly.

“LAPD!” They both shout, working their way through the throng of shoppers. Mall security is right outside the exit of the store, a middle-aged, balding rent-a-cop who’s trying to do crowd control without getting off of his Segway. He’s red in the face, clearly overwhelmed just from trying to keep shoppers in line. Tim looks around.

There’s no reindeer in sight.

“What’s the situation?” He stops in front of the security guard and folds his arms across his chest. “Dispatch said there’s a reindeer on the loose?”

“Thataway.” The guard points over his shoulder. “Last I saw, it was running toward the food court.”

“How did a reindeer get into the mall, anyway?” Lucy asks.

“Part of Santa’s Village,” he explains. “For an extra 15 bucks, your kid can touch a real reindeer after they meet Santa.”

“And how did it escape?”

“The guard onsite said some tyke screamed and spooked it. Broke through the plastic fence and took off.”

“Does anyone need medical attention?”

“Don’t think so. Not yet, anyway. My guys are trying to keep the crowd in check, but 911 said they’d send animal control for the dirty work.”

“They’re on the way,” Tim says, actively trying not to grimace at the suggestion of animal control being “dirty work.” “While we wait, Officer Chen and I will go see if we can locate the reindeer.”

“Snowy,” someone else chimes in from behind him.

“Snowy?”

“It’s her name. I’m Meredith, with Santa’s Season’s Greetings.”

“You’re the … handler?”

“I’m the reindeer control specialist, yes.”

“Great work,” he deadpans.

“She’s never done this before!”

“I’m sure she hasn’t. Ma’am, do you have any treats or anything for …"

“Snowy,” Lucy whispers behind him.

“Snowy,” he repeats.

“I had a full bag this morning, but we ran out. The pet-a-reindeer add on has been a huge seller this year.”

Before Tim can say anything else, there’s a scream from a few storefronts down. He and Lucy run toward the noise, and the small crowd of people pouring out of a handbag store.

“Get over there!” Tim shouts, waving them behind him with one arm. “Behind the security guard!”

At the back of the group is a reindeer – or at least, he assumes it’s a reindeer. Whatever it is, it’s a huge creature with giant antlers. She turns the opposite way out of the store, ambling away from the crowd.

At least there's that going for them today. The last thing Tim needs to figure out this afternoon is how to write up a reindeer stampede.

He and Lucy give chase, jogging behind the animal as she makes her way further into the mall. He’s not sure where she started out, but nothing they’ve passed so far looks like a Santa’s Village, so he hopes that maybe she’s going back where she needs to be.

But no, by the time they reach the winter wonderland, Snowy has picked up speed. The faster he and Lucy move, the faster she goes ahead of them, until everyone is running breakneck through the rotunda.

Tim knows they’ve got to get her slowed down – they're coming up on the food court and the outside automatic doors. The best thing they can do is keep Snowy – and the mall patrons – safe and contained until Animal Control arrives. He tells Lucy as much, and she slows down immediately.

“Lucy?” Tim drops his pace to match hers, suddenly worries. She doesn’t usually tire out this quickly, has run further foot persuits and hardly been out of breath.

“We’re scaring her. Or she thinks it’s a game or something. The faster we go, the faster she goes. I’ll double back and get the escalators, come down on the other side and head her off. Keep her moving, but look – she's already slowing down.”

Lucy is right: in the time they’ve been stopped, Snowy has returned to her leisurely stroll. Which is still faster than Tim and Lucy walk, but much better than the way she was running a moment ago.

He’s worried about letting her face off against a giant animal on her own, but doesn’t see a better solution. So he squeezes her shoulder, reminds her to be careful, and lets her hurry back toward the escalator they’d passed earlier.

From the rotunda, Tim is able to watch her go up to the second level, and run along the railing that gives way to the open center of the mall. She gets to the other side and comes back down, holding her hands out in front of her slowly.

By the time she’s back on the ground level, Tim and Snowy have almost caught up to where she’s at, taking slow and careful steps toward the reindeer.

“Hey there, Snowy,” she coos, in a voice Tim recognizes from the way she’ll play with Kojo after work. “Aren’t you a pretty girl? I’ll bet it was scary when you got screamed at, huh?”

“Lucy, stop trying to rationalize with the wild animals!” Tim calls toward her.

“Yeah, Sergeant Bradford is silly sometimes, isn’t he? You don’t want to hurt anyone, do you? You just got a little freaked out and wanted some time to yourself, right?”

Obviously, Snowy isn’t answering any of Lucy’s questions, but she is slowing down again, eventually coming to a stop a few feet away from Lucy. Snowy snuffles, and Lucy closes the space between them, resting one palm on her snout.

“That’s a good girl, that’s it, there you go.” Tim reaches for the taser again, ready to react if Snowy tries to get aggressive. But he has to admit, Lucy seems to have the situation under control. “You’re such a pretty girl, LA must be so new to you. You’re so far away from the North Pole, aren’t you?”

They’re really not equipped to move Snowy anywhere, and Meredith is nowhere to be found. Tim isn’t willing to leave Lucy alone with the massive reindeer to go find her, so they wait together for Animal Control. The whole time, Lucy keeps talking to her, in that same high-pitched voice. After a few minutes, she runs out of compliments to give, and starts telling Snowy stories from her time in the academy, riding as Tim’s rookie, anything else she can come up with.

She’s halfway through the secret to her homemade chocolate chip cookies – a splash of almond extract in the dough – when Tim sees the Animal Control officers coming up from the other side of the mall. He motions for them to be quiet and points at Lucy, who’s stroking Snowy’s face with both hands.

Lucy nods when she sees the Animal Control officers, and steps back slowly when they wave her back. She keeps talking to Snowy as they toss a lasso around her neck and start steering her back toward the other end of the mall.

Their work done, Tim and Lucy turn for the nearest exit, in silent agreement that they’d rather walk outside than deal with any more reindeer fallout.

“Control, 7-Adam-100,” Tim says into his radio, as he slides an arm around Lucy’s waist. “Animal Control is on scene. Um, suspect in custody? Show us Code Four.”

“7-Adam-100, Code Four.” Nell’s voice echoes between them. “I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

“That was fun!” Lucy says to Tim as he opens the door for her. “I’ve never even seen a real, live reindeer before today, and I got to pet her too? She was so sweet! Y’know, once she wasn’t so scared and freaking out anymore.”

Tim looks over at her, and when he sees the wistful look on her face, he cuts her off.

“Oh no. No, no, no.”

“What?” Lucy turns to him, blinking her eyes.

“I know what you’re thinking. Absolutely not, we are not getting a pet reindeer!”

[darkacademicfrom2021]

Day 4 - 12 days of Christmas challenge (2022 edition)

Title: What brings us together (Loki’s perspective)

Theme: Snowman (Dec 16th)

Fandom/Character(s): Avenger!Loki x scientist!reader

Warnings (if applicable): this is Loki’s perspective of Santa Hat (Dec 14th)

Word Count: 400

December writing challenge prompted and organized by @12daysofchristmas

Snow fell outside, glamorous and volatile —quite like himself— while the Avengers prepared the compound for the celebrations. Loki just kept on looking out the window without moving a finger, mesmerized with the light weight of the snowflakes, so unlike rain…

“So, is Rock of Ages not going to help at all?”, said Tony, setting up holographic illusions of colorful candles everywhere. Loki didn’t glue his eyes off the storm. Tony sighed and walked up to him, sitting by his side. Loki’s eyes glimmered with fascination. “You’ve never seen snow before?”.

“Once or twice, back in my true realm”, he admitted with bitterness, “but I didn’t have the time nor the energy to stop and admire it. And Asgard is too sunny, all the time”.

Tony nodded.

“Well”, he said, directing the attention of the entire room to him. “I say we play in the snow. The decorations can wait. What do you think?”.

He didn’t need to think twice. As soon as they left the building, he saw a big patch of snow and threw himself on it like a child. He laughed —surprising every single member of the Avengers; he didn’t even smile those days— and laid there with no greed for anything else in his life.

Well, except maybe one thing, he thought as he turned around to see you, doing the exact same thing he did. He composed himself, or tried to, and began talking to you as he could —it had been a while since he last spoke to someone that didn’t want him in a prison cell, as far as he knew of you.

There are few moments in his life he can remember in great detail after thousands of years. That first evening with you was one of them.

Well aware of the effect you had on him, he decided he wanted —actually, he had to keep you around. As soon as you turned around and said something among the lines of going back to work, he grabbed your wrist quickly and blurted out some words —hopefully in the right order— like;

“Let’s have dinner”.

You blinked in surprise and smiled and you had some snow on your hair and eyelashes and a redness all over your face and he, oh Gods, he definitely fell. He fell so hard.

Taglist: @lucywrites02

@louieboo87

@the-departed-potato

@jesuswasnotawhiteman

@idontknow296

@beksib

@geekwritersworld

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@christineblood

@asgardianprincess1050

[firstdegreefangirl]

If Only In My Dreams

Theme: Day 10 - Travel @12daysofchristmas

Fandom/Character(s): Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen (The Rookie)

Word Count: 1221

Ao3 link here!

Four things happen at once.

One: Tim comes back from an airport kiosk with two cups of overpriced coffee in his hand. He passes one of them to Lucy, who smiles up at him, and leans back against the window railing next to their carryon bags. She rests her head against one of his calves.

Two: The speaker above them crackles to life and spits out some garbled announcement from the woman standing at the gate counter. At least, he thinks it’s from her; she’s holding a radio.

Three: Tim burns his mouth on his first sip of over-roasted coffee. Six bucks a cup, and they burned it. Figures.

Four: His phone and Lucy’s vibrate at the same time.

Four things happen at once, which means that Tim is trying to comprehend them all at once, which in turn means that he doesn’t make sense of any of them.

The first thing he registers completely is the sudden chill on his shin where Lucy has sat up abruptly.

“Tim,” she says, panic edging into her voice. “Did you hear what they said? Was it about this flight alert? I think we got canceled.”

She passes her phone to him, standing up as he squints at the screen.

We’re sorry! Flight 272/Dec 23 LAX to CYS is canceled due to heavy snowfall in the destination city. Please see customer service for assistance/rebooking. We apologize for the inconvenience.

He’s reading the message for the third time when the speaker comes on again. This time, he closes his eyes and listens carefully to the tinny voice.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we regret to inform you that heavy snowfall has closed the Cheyenne, Wyoming airport. All travelers booked on flight 272 for service to Cheyenne, please see the customer service desk for assistance. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Shit,” he whispers.

“No kidding.” When Tim opens his eyes, Lucy is wringing her hands together and pacing in short circles. He stops her, catching her hands in his.

“Hey, it’s OK. We’ll figure it out.”

“Figure what out? They canceled our flight, Tim! You saw the website; there’s nothing else until after Christmas! The whole point of this was to spend Christmas together, just the two of us!”

She’s right: they’d spent close to a month trying to balance half a dozen holiday plans. Her parents, his sister, Angela, John, Jackson’s parents, a weekend at the retirement community where his mother lives, the list had gone on.

There was no easy answer, no plan that made everybody happy. In the end, they’d been frustrated and overwhelmed, sitting on opposite sides of Tim’s kitchen table when Lucy had looked up and asked who ever said we had to spend Christmas with anyone at all? What if we just take the holidays to ourselves, make the rounds when we get back?

It had been appealing right off the bat – no juggling, no hurry, an extended holiday season for everyone, with more days to celebrate. So they’d found a direct flight to southern Wyoming, and Tim had booked a private cabin outside city limits. That only sweetened the pot: six days, alone with Lucy, in a secluded, rural cabin.

The first real vacation they’d take together.

There are tears shining in Lucy’s eyes now, reflecting the harsh fluorescent lighting of the terminal. Tim pulls her into his chest, rubbing one hand up and down her back in wide, sweeping circles while she collects herself.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “But we’ll figure it out. We always do.”

For a moment, it feels like Lucy has accepted the reassurance. Her shoulders aren’t shaking anymore, and he can't hear her sniffles. When she leans back far enough to look him in the eye, it doesn’t look like she’s crying.

But then her eyes go wide and she sucks in a sharp breath. In any other circumstances, that expression would mean something totally different, but she starts rattling off questions before his body can react.

“Tim, what are we going to do? Do we go home now? We can’t spend Christmas in LAX. You hate the airport.” He resists the urge to laugh – that's the only reason they can’t spend seven and a half days sitting in crappy vinyl chairs and sharing three electrical outlets with 700 people? “If we go home, we have to pick someone to spend the holidays with. And what about the cabin? Can we get a refund? We took time off work for this. We—” He cuts her off.

“Hey, Lucy.” Tim lets go of her hands, bringing his own up to cradle her face gently. He draws his thumbs along her cheekbones, wiping away the stray tears. “Sweetheart. It’s going to be OK. Alright? We’ll figure it all out.” He sounds like a broken record, he’s sure, but it’s the best he can do right now. He doesn’t have the answers, doesn’t want to lie to her about that, but this is far from the worst thing they’ve endured together.

They’ll figure it out. It’s the one thing he knows for sure.

“Yeah …" She trails off, like she doesn’t quite believe him.

“We will. I promise, OK? Maybe it won’t be Wyoming, but we’ll come up with something. I don’t care where I spend Christmas, as long as you’re there too.” Tim tips his face down to rest their foreheads together. Lucy sniffles.

“You say that until you’ve spent it with my parents.”

“OK, so your parents’ is out. We can work with that.” He stands back upright. “What are you the most worried about?”

“Um …" Lucy takes a deep breath, looking around as if she’s going to find the answer right there in the airport walkway. “Checked bags, cabin rental, and … and I really don’t want to go home, but I don’t want to stay here if we don’t even have a flight.”

“Easy enough.” He rubs her arm soothingly. “I’m sure they’ve got a plan for the baggage. We’ll find out what it is. I’ll call the cabin people; they usually have some weather cancellation thing. What if we found a flight somewhere else?”

“I … I don’t know … where would we go?” She bites her lip, and Tim reaches down to squeeze her fingers.

“We don’t have to. It was just an idea, if you don’t like it, we’ll do something else.”

“I just … I don’t know.”

“That’s OK. Let’s not worry about a last-minute flight. We could drive somewhere.” But Lucy doesn’t look excited about that either. “How about this: we’ll figure out the bags, I’ll find us a room at a hotel for the week. Not too far away, but nobody has to know we’re still in town. We have the cabin through the 29th. I’ll ask them about rebooking if things open up in a few days. Even if they don’t, we’ll be together. Just us, yeah? Wasn’t that the whole point of Wyoming?”

“Yeah …" She sniffles again but looks a little cheerier than she had two minutes ago.

“Yeah, it was.”

“How do you just … solve everything? Thank you. For … solving it.”

“Anytime.” He smiles at her, pretty sure she’s talking about more than just their Christmas vacation. He knows he is, at least. “I mean it, Lucy. All I need is you, and it’ll be a Merry Christmas.”

[firstdegreefangirl]

My Gift is You

Theme: Day 12 - Presents @12daysofchristmas

Fandom/Character(s): Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen (The Rookie)

Word Count: 2336

Ao3 link here!

Tim wakes up on December 25th when he feels Lucy stretching and stirring beside him. She’s wearing the shirt she’d peeled away from his body last night, and nothing else.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

Before either of them can make use of the lack of clothing between them, though, he hears Kojo’s toenails clicking against the floor and a heavy harrumph when he reaches the front door.

“Hang on, buddy, I’m coming.” Tim sighs, leaning over long enough to press a lingering kiss to Lucy’s mouth before he rolls out of bed.

“Oh, I’ll come too!” Lucy follows him, eager to get out of bed for maybe the first time since he’s known her. “Give me just a minute, I bought something that’ll be perfect for this!”

They both step into sweatpants, and Tim trails behind her into the guest room, where he knows Lucy has been stashing her Christmas presents. It’s a good thing his sister moved back to California this year, because there’s not an inch of extra room on the queen-sized bed. He knows there’s a quilt on it, but it’s completely hidden underneath a pile of presents.

“Lucy … this is too much. I told you, I don't need anything this year.”

“What?” Lucy calls over her shoulder, rummaging through the stack. “Oh, no, most of these are for Kojo. Then there’s one for Nolan, Angela, Aaron, Nyla, there should be something in here for Leah and Lila, Jack, uh, a few for Genny and the boys. And yes, there’s one for you too. I know what you said, but I wanted to.”

That makes him smile; secretly he’s glad there’s a present with his name on it. He’s got something for Lucy too, and there’s a little thrill that goes through him every time she shows him just how much he matters to her.

She stands up, holding a wrapped package in each hand and making a triumphant noise. “Aha! Found them! I think, anyway. These should be the right ones.”

“Maybe if you didn’t buy out the entire pet store …"

“He deserves nice things.” Lucy shrugs and slides past Tim. “Kojo! Come here, baby, look what I picked out for you.”

Tim has never understood wrapping presents for dogs or babies. They have no concept of what’s in them, so it feels like a waste of time and tissue paper.

But now he’s watching Lucy, sitting on his living room floor and tearing the paper away from a present she’d wrapped herself. She’s cooing at the dog, who’s sniffing around in fascination.

Maybe this year, he gets the point of it. Just a little bit, at least.

“What is it, Koj?” Tim leans against the back of the sofa to watch. “What’d Mom buy?”

“It’s …" Lucy pulls at the last of the paper. “A new harness! Look at that, buddy, it’ll look so good with your fur!” She’s right, Tim has to admit when he sees the bright blue material. Lucy starts unwrapping the next gift. “And this one is … a matching -” she cuts herself off. “Gorilla?”

Tim leans closer to see, and sure enough. She’s got a stuffed primate in her hands. Until Kojo trots over and takes it between his teeth. He prances happily over to Tim, who reaches down to tug at the loose arm hanging out of his mouth.

“It sure is! But matching? What does it match with?”

“It was supposed to be a leash.” Lucy stands up, holding the empty wrapping in her hands. “I found a leash to go with the harness, so he’d have a whole new set for walks. It’s in here somewhere …"She wanders back into the guest room and starts poking at the packages again. “Maybe I should have labeled what’s inside of them? He doesn’t read, so it would have been alright …"

Tim comes over to help her look, standing close enough that their arms brush together. He shakes a couple of the presents, until he finds one that’s a little heavier and feels like something is coiled up inside.

“This one?” Lucy checks it and confirms.

“You help him with it.”

“He’s a dog, Lucy.”

“Exactly. He can’t open it himself.”

Tim rolls his eyes fondly, but sits down on the couch in front of Kojo.

“Here, buddy. It feels like a leash, but let’s see … yep, it’s a leash.” He’s not even close to matching Lucy’s enthusiasm, but she smiles anyway.

“Hold it up! Here, let me take a picture of you two!” Tim’s smile is genuine, when he sees how excited Lucy is to capture the memories of their first Christmas together. He straps the new harness around Kojo’s middle and clips the leash onto the metal loops.

“Alright, bud. Leave your gorilla here, you can play with it when we get back.”

Kojo is almost nose-to-nose with the front door, but turns around to look at Tim. The new toy is still hanging from his mouth. Tim tugs on the leash.

“Kojo, drop it.” He repeats the command again, but Kojo doesn’t listen, so he looks to Lucy. “You’ve spoiled him, you know?”

“Tim, it’s Christmas. He can take it around the neighborhood.”

There’s no way he can argue against two sets of big brown eyes, so Tim gives in. They walk Kojo around the block, gorilla clamped tightly in his jaws the entire time.

“Look how much he likes it,” Lucy says as they turn the last corner. She slides her hand into Tim’s, leaning closer to his side. “He’s having such a good Christmas.”

“He’s not going to know what to do with so many new toys.”

“Sure he will,” Lucy shrugs. “He’s very smart.”

When they get home, Lucy trades her sweatpants for a pair of fuzzy PJ bottoms while Tim fixes breakfast. He keeps the meal simple, since he knows Genny is planning a small feast for dinner in the afternoon, but when Lucy isn’t looking, he slides a bear claw from her favorite bakery out of a high cabinet and sets it on the side of her plate.

When she sees it, her smile is brighter than the star on top of the tree.

As soon as they’re finished eating, Lucy is back in the guest room, asking if Tim is ready for his present.

“Let me get yours, and we can exchange,” he replies, changing into jeans and rooting around in his sock drawer for her gift.

They come back together on the couch, sitting entirely too close together for how large the piece of furniture is. Lucy tucks one foot underneath the opposite thigh, sitting sideways so her shin presses against Tim’s hip and her other leg dangles down to the floor.

“You go first,” she says, as soon as he’s situated. She passes him a slim package, not quite flat but almost. It’s wrapped in solid red paper with a smooth gold bow. It looks like the sort of packaging they give out at department stores, but he never doubts that Lucy did it herself.

He slides a finger carefully underneath the tape at one end and shakes out a dark blue box. When he takes the lid off she leans into him, like she’s trying to see the gift.

Or the tears that immediately well up in his eyes, try as he might to hold them back. It doesn’t matter how good the gift is, he’s not going to cry about it.

But it is a really good gift. One of the best he’s ever received, if he’s honest. He reaches into the box and pulls out a shiny silver money clip. When he runs his thumbnail across the surface, it catches in the ridges of the engravings.

Lucy’s handwriting is etched flawlessly into the face of it.

Love, the best rookie you’ve ever trained.

She’s signed her name underneath, neat swirls forming the letters he’s seen written at the bottom of countless reports.

They’ve never felt so significant before.

“Lucy, I …" His voice is watery, and he can’t find the words to say. “Thank you. I’ll be right back.”

He kisses her when he stands up, taking her hand in his. He doesn’t let go until he has to choose between holding her hand and pulling her across the house with him.

It’s an excuse, a little bit, a reason to step away for a second and compose himself. But mostly, he wants to put Lucy’s gift to use right away.

He steps into the bedroom, turning blindly toward the dresser. Without having to look, he reaches for the top corner, where he knows his money clip should be sitting.

Should be, it turns out, are the operative words.

Because he reaches for his money clip, and comes up empty. He turns his head, looking at the place he knows he’d set it when they came home last night.

It’s not there.

The top of the dresser is empty, except the dealership keychain with his truck fob on it.

“Lucy?” He calls, backtracking a few steps toward the doorway. “Have you seen my money clip?”

“Of course I’ve seen it,” Lucy replies. “I bought it.”

“No, the old one. It’s not on the dresser, but I know I put it away last night.”

“Oh, the old one,” Lucy draws the words out. “No, I don’t know where it is.”

But he can hear the laughter bleeding into her voice. She’s trying to stifle it, but he’s known her too long.

“Lucy …" He turns her name into a warning as he comes back into the living room. “What’d you do?”

“Nothing,” she says, laughing way too hard for him to believe her now.

“You’re sure?” He’s onto her now, and he doesn’t mind giving that away. She’s sitting on one of her hands, and suddenly, he’s pretty sure he knows exactly where his clip is. “Let me see your hands.”

“I don’t see why that’s relevant.”

“Come here.” Tim steps up to stand right in front of her. He waits for a moment, to see if Lucy will give it up. When she doesn’t, he lunges forward and digs his fingers into her side.

She squeals and pulls her knees up to her chest, trying to curl away from his playful attack.

And sure enough, his original money clip is on the couch cushion, right where her leg had been.

“Officer Chen.” He tries to use his most authoritative voice, but it doesn’t work. “What’s this?”

“I’m sorry!” She cries, finally rolling away from him. “I’m sorry!”

“Oh, you are in so much trouble!”

“It’s not my fault!”

“I guess you’re going to tell me Kojo did it?”

“’Never tell a crook where you hide your money!’” Just like a couple years ago, she throws his words back in his face, and he wonders why he didn’t see this coming.

“Fine,” he sits back and holds his hands up. “Fine, I’ll give you this one.”

“You’re not giving me anything,” she argues. “I won.”

“I didn’t know we were playing.”

“And isn’t that half the fun?” She’s still laughing, but she curls back into Tim’s side when he slides the new clip across the folded bills. “Do you like it?”

“I love it, Lucy.” He kisses her again, and once more when she tries to pull away. “Your turn.”

Tim shifts onto one hip and pulls a little black velvet box out of his pocket. There’s a red ribbon wrapped around the lid, courtesy of the cashier on duty when he’d picked it up at the jeweler’s the week before. He turns to pass it to Lucy, and her eyes go wide.

“Tim …" She slides away from him, putting a few inches of distance between them. “I’m … this is … it’s only been a few months. This is … what we have is great. But it’s so new and I just … I don’t want to rush things.”

“What?” He reaches for the lid of the jewelry box, and Lucy covers her hand with his.

“I’m not saying no. It’s not a no. Maybe more like a … not yet.”

“Lucy, can I show you what it is first, at least?” He drops the box into his other hand and flips it open.

It’s a necklace, a tiny silver seahorse with an opal inlay on its belly. Three tiny diamonds adorn its fin, and there’s a dark blue sapphire for the eye.

“Oh.” She breathes the syllable as much as she says it.

“It’s not a ring,” he says, obviously. “I wanted to get you something. Something … meaningful. Do you know what the seahorse represents?”

Lucy shakes her head and wipes a stray tear from her cheek.

“Neither did I.” They both chuckle. “But apparently it’s protection, and luck; two things you’ve always given me, and I always want you to have.” He takes a deep breath, trying to remember the rest of his practiced speech. “Friendly and gentle too, just like you. And this isn’t a proposal, but the lady at the store told me they represent love too. They mate for life, build families together and … I don’t know about you, and I know it’s soon, but I think that’s where we’re headed.”

Lucy doesn’t say anything. But she reaches out with one finger, shaking just a little bit as she runs it along the delicate pendant. Then she turns around and pulls her hair over one shoulder.

Tim fastens the clasp around her neck and runs his hands down her arms. Instead of turning to face him again, Lucy leans back until she’s settled against his chest.

“It’s perfect, Tim. All of this, it’s perfect. You and me and Kojo and this and … everything. It’s perfect.” She reaches up to find the back of his head and pulls him down for a kiss.

“I’m glad,” he replies, trying to fit everything he’s feeling into just two words, when he’s used to using three.

“And yeah,” she says, in the moment before their mouths meet. “We’re headed that way.”