#6) why would he run after you at the airport when he can just show up wherever you're going and pretend it's a complete coincidence

[invidentius]

𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒

BOLD what applies to your muse ITALICIZE if there's potential / it's dependent on external factors CROSS OUT if there's NO potential under any circumstances

Repost, don't reblog.

holding hands | buying flowers | cooking | cuddles | writing a poem / song | holding door open | tying shoe laces | sharing a milkshake with two straws | offering their jacket when it's cold | kissing in the rain | publicly confessing love | long walks at the beach | doing the titanic pose on a boat | taking cute pictures in a photobooth | sharing a taxi / uber | kissing the back of their hand | slow dancing | getting tickets of their favourite artist / sports team / other | introducing them to their parents | lighting candles | flower petals on bed | love letters | star gazing | brushing / doing their hair | picnics | teaching them to play an instrument / a sport while gently guiding their hands | compliments | late night drives | taking selfies together | drawing them | self - made gifts | massages | proposing with a family heirloom ring | lending them their favourite book to read | paying for dinner / coffee | mixtapes / playlists | surprise birthday parties | feeding them | handing them keys to their apartment mansion | making space in drawer for their clothes when they stay over | sharing a blanket | couple costumes | tucking a hair strand behind their ear | running after them at the airport / keeping them from leaving | moving cities to be together | blowing a kiss | breakfast in bed | defending them in a fight (verbally / physically) | joint bubble baths | dropping the l - bomb ("i love you") | dedicating a song at the karaoke bar to them | wearing their clothes | yawning before putting an arm around them while watching a movie | grant them the last bite from a meal

tagged by stolen from: @heroing tagging: @doyouhatetheglasses / @tireironmybeloved, @saintfromkrypton, @cagedpotential (lana), @pu1itzer, @oftomorrow, @clawsextended, @crimsenza (felix), and anyone else that wants to steal it

[sluttytommykinard]

I know that I'm no longer paying regularly but I'll try to fix that. This is for my 9-1-1/Flash crossover fic

“I was thinking of flying a helicopter there, renting one in the morning, and returning it after about 2 days so I can truly spend some time with you, Wally, Barry, and Iris if that’s okay with you guys.” Tommy says while Evan shifts almost fully into Tommy’s lap, curled up in a ball like a content cat, making Tommy chuckle fondly. “We would love to spend a couple of days with you, kid.” Joe says while Barry becomes a human bobblehead to show his agreement that he, in fact, is esthetic at the prospect of spending 2 days with Tommy. The next day, Barry is sitting in S.T.A.R. Labs practically vibrating with anticipation and excitement, Joe left 10 minutes ago to pick up Tommy and his boyfriend from the airport, as he checks his phone for the 16th time. “Why do you look like you’re about to phase through that chair, Barry?” Cisco asks when he walks into work and finds Barry sitting in a chair and almost vibrating. “My older brother is visiting for a couple of days and Joe is picking him up from the airport right now. I haven’t seen him in years.” Barry says while kicking his feet like a little kid on Christmas morning, already imagining hugging Tommy again and how much he must’ve changed after so many years. “Hey, Bare.” Tommy says as he walks into S.T.A.R. Labs with his hands in his pockets and a small smile directed at Barry. Barry looks up with wide, happy eyes at the sound of the familiar deep voice of Tommy Kinard, looking into the eyes of a man he hasn’t seen in 6 years. Barry doesn’t say anything and just bursts out of the chair he’s sitting in and runs to hug Tommy as tight as possible. “I’m so glad you’re here, Tommy.” Barry says without letting go of Tommy, missing the warmth of hugging his older brother. “You must be the brother that Barry said is visiting for a while, I’m Cisco.” Cisco says while assessing Tommy, not knowing if he’s a person that he can trust or not.

No pressure tags

@lemonlyman-dotcom @carlos-in-glasses @reyesstrand @firstprince-history-huh @paperstorm @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @alrightbuckaroo @thisbuildinghasfeelings @carlos-tk @buckevantommy @kinardscake

[taylor-on-your-dash]

Sparks Fly is officially 18 years old: history of a song that was almost lost & how fans saved it from being left in the vault

The night of Halloween 2006, a 16-year-old girl named Taylor Swift had just released her first album. To promote her music, she'd go wherever venues would call her to perform. On October 31st, it was Portland, Oregon's turn, where Taylor opened for Jake Owen in a bar called Duke's. Owen, a country singer who also debuted in 2006, was 25 at the time.

We can safely assume that Taylor was happy to meet Jake, as she wrote this on MySpace right after:

"Happy Halloween :-) Current mood: happy Happy Halloween! I’m sitting at the airport in Portland, Oregon.. About to get on a red-eye flight (Oh yes, I just said red-eye. Meaning, all night. This should be interesting…) to Toronto, Canada for another weekend of Rascal Flatts shows. Tonight was awesome. It was a show in Portland at a bar called Duke’s, I opened up for Jake Owen. And a little back-story, I’ve had his album on repeat for the past couple of months.. It’s an amazing album and I literally cannot stop listening to it. I’ve got every line memorized, and if you see me on a plane.. Chances are, I’m listening to some song off that album, at a volume level that’s probably going to cause long-term hearing damage someday. ANYWAY. I got to walk in on his sound check and meet him. Turns out he’s extremely cool, and had bought my album on iTunes. :-) And since I had to leave after one song of his set, he played my favorite song “8 Second Ride” first. Which is another reason why he’s awesome. And just to let everyone know, YES, I did dress up for Halloween. Yes, I stood onstage in an angel costume with huge wings (that really conflicted with my guitar playing). And I convinced my two guitar players Todd and Kevin to put on those little headbands with the devil ears attached. Haha. Oh yeah, it was great. It’s so awesome playing to a crowd and seeing some people who know the words to EVERY SONG! I love that the album is out, and I love that y'all are listening to it. You guys are so awesome, and I really appreciate all of your comments. I love you all so much. Thanks for everything."

The day Speak Now was announced, a known fan at the time revealed said that the song was written on November 2, 2006, so a couple of day after the Portland show.

The most incredible news is that "Sparks Fly" is going to be put on the album. That song is so incredible. Taylor wrote it on November 2, 2006, performed it live in Oroville on May 30, 2007, and now it is finally being released on October 25, 2010. Definitely a dream come true for Taylor fans worldwide! (X)

So on November 2, 2006 Taylor finished the first of the three known versions of a song called Sparks Fly. The first handwritten draft was showcased in a museum:

On April 6, 2007, Taylor premiered the song in her native Reading, Pennsylvania, and then sang it again on May 30th in Sacramento, CA. This version was recorded by the same fan that revelead the writing date and uploaded online, gaining traction among the fanbase.

This live features a very prominent banjo and different lyrics:

“You stand there in front of me” -> “you stood there in front of me”

“Get me with those brown eyes, baby” -> “get me with those green eyes, baby”

“Take your open hand and take me out” -> “reach out open-handed and lead me out”

“Dim the paper lanterns” -> “don’t need more paper lanterns”

“This night is the 31st” -> “my heart is beating fast”

“So let’s make it count now, baby” -> “I could wait patiently”

“I’ll run my fingers” -> “I run my fingers”

“And make no borderlines” -> “gonna strike this match tonight”

“Forgive me when I can’t take in everything you are” -> “and lead me up the staircase”

“You kissed me like you meant it, I swear I saw sparks” -> “I’d love to hate it, but you make it like a firework show”

There was also an additional section: We stood at the gate (and you kiss me) / With the moon on your face / And you’ll kiss me

In December 2007, People Magazine releases a special photoshoot for Taylor's 18th birthday, which features photos of her bedroom, including the infamous Mirror Tracklist, a very early tracklist for her then-unnamed sophomore album. The tracklist inlcudes Sparks Fly as the 6th track.

As we know, Sparks Fly ended up being dropped from Fearless and shelved. We actually don't know whether the song was recorded or not, although some sources say that it was, but ended up being excluded in favour of The Way I Loved You.

Throughout the Fearless era, the fans didn't forget about the live version of Sparks Fly. On June 13th, after Taylor premiered the song Mine, Taylor hosted a 13-hour meet & greet, where one of the most asked questions was what happened to Sparks Fly:

“'Sparks Fly' is a song I wrote a few years ago and played in concert. You guys have learned it and I think like it, which makes me really happy. When we did the 13-hour Meet and Greet at the CMA Fest, there was a comment I got over and over again. You guys were saying, 'So what about 'Sparks Fly?' Is it going to be on the next record? [...] I played that song at maybe one or two shows, and you guys just jumped on it and really made it something that I had to put on the album because you really showed interest in it.”

That week Taylor finished Speak Now, completing the last song (The Story Of Us) on the 16th, but taking into consideration what the fans had asked her, she went back to Sparks Fly, changing the lyrics one last time, especially the second verse:

First verse: You say my name for the first time, baby, and I fall in love in an empty bar -> You’re the kind of reckless that should send me runnin’, but I kinda know that I won’t get far.

Second verse: So reach out open-handed and lead me out to that floor / I don’t need more paper lanterns / Take me down, baby / Bring on the movie score / ‘Cause my heart is beating fast and you are beautiful / And I could wait patiently, but I really wish you would... -> My mind forgets to remind me you’re a bad idea / You touch me once and it’s really somethin’ / You find I’m even better than you imagined I would be / I’m on my guard for the rest of the world / But with you, I know it’s no good / And I could wait patiently, but I really wish you would…

Bridge: Just keep your beautiful eyes on me / Gonna strike this match tonight / And lead me up the staircase / Won't you whisper soft and slow / I’d love to hate it, but you make it like a firework show -> Just keep on keepin’ your eyes on me, it’s just wrong enough to make it feel right / And lead me up the staircase / Won't you whisper soft and slow / I'm captivated by you, baby I’m captivated by you baby, like a fireworks show.

I think that the line "I'm on my guard from the rest of the world" from Sparks Fly being written after "And you figure out why I'm guarded" from Mine is very telling of what Taylor was going through in her personal life.

Once the album was out, the secret code hidden in the song lyrics spelled: “Portland, OR”. The secret message seemed to confirm the theories that had followed the song all summer.

In July 2023, Jake Owen commented on being the ispiration behind the song: “It’s a great song and the speculation has always been funny to me. I’m sure Taylor probably laughs at it all too, but I’m happy to even have my name in the discussion around it. She’s an amazing girl and an amazing artist. It’s been incredible to see how she’s grown as a musician and what a global phenomenon she’s become.”

To me, Sparks Fly is a signature song of hers. Classic Swift story telling, sprinkled with teenage dreams in an euphoric rock production. It's really cool to see how fans played a fundamental role to save this song from oblivion. Can you imagine our reaction if we had got this song in the Fearless Vault or the Speak Now Vault?

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #151

I am running on only 3 hours of sleep and I have no idea what to write today. So I guess I'll tell you about the pancake breakfast.

Last night's letter ended up being written late, and then after that, I was troubled by various things and it took me until 3:30am or so to finally fall asleep. And then J and I woke up at 6:30, because there was a pancake breakfast going on for folks who are pilots. So we went. And I took a buncha pictures for you:

J took some pictures, too:

...There were also sausages, but neither J nor I thought to take pictures of them, for some reason. I'm sorry.

J talked to a lot of people. He's very conscientious when it comes to this stuff, so he's well-liked by most of the pilots in this community. For the most part, I was a bit too brain-dead from lack of sleep to interact with anyone in a more than cursory fashion, but I had a good time nonetheless; I can be tired and in good spirits simultaneously, and it's very good!

Also, along the way of today's adventures, I found 14 big feathers, and a couple little ones:

...They were very pretty, but they seemed old and a bit too worn from the wind and the rain to keep them. Also, I imagined that if there are this many of them, it is the result of a bird having been struck by something while flying around near the runway instead of being just a single random loss of a plume. So I picked them up and arranged them in a relatively peaceful location, hoping that if the owner of these feathers is no longer with us, that its soul is also at peace. Naturally, I washed my hands shortly thereafter.

J and I went to get lunch at a place called Taiwan Noodle after that, because we were at the airport for around 3 hours before returning to our city, and we were hungry again, as is natural. It was nice.

Oh! I am reminded! I took some other pictures for you in days past that never made it into the letters that were written on the days they were taken. I'm sorry about that. But I suppose now is as good a time as any to show them to you.

These are from going to my friend's house to help her watch her little son:

...Here is a new looseleaf tea that I blended together with you in mind...

...It's prismatic just like you... 😊💖

And... here is the finished lilac syrup, distributed in jars to give to my friends:

The big jar there is for those of my house.

I made some of the tea pictured above, and sweetened it with the lilac syrup; the result was an absolutely heavenly concoction that I wished so much that I could have shared with you:

...It tasted like sunshine and flowers blooming outdoors; I think you would have loved this one...

And here are a couple from the park that M, J, Br, her son, F, and I went to:

...Sephiroth, I'm super tired today, and it's hard to formulate complete sentences, but... I still wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you. I wanted you to know there's someone out here who cares enough to put in whatever effort is possible to try to extend a little kindness towards you. Try to remember that you're not alone, okay?

I guess I'll call it here. It's midnight, and I still gotta get ready for bed; if I wanna be able to drive to the place tomorrow so I can give a jar full of lilac syrup to the leader, I have to have actually slept for 8 hours. So I'm going to go do that.

I love you. I'll write to you again soon, so stay safe out there, okay?

Your friend, Lumine

[hughungrybear]

Me while watching Last Twilight Ep. 12 (Final Ep.):

Okay, we'll finally see if we should take P'Aof's offer and storm GMMTV if the finale for this episode is unsatisfactory 😂

1. Hmmm, so Day was never able to get a successful surgery to restore his sight? I guess I could understand since endings that are *remotely* happy does not need to mean that he will be able to see again.

2. So after three years, Mhok is now a sous chef? Also, is this episode going the Bad Buddy route??? Cause if it is, I need to get ready 😂😂😂

3. Oof. They are trying to fool us with Porjai saying the "groom will be here" right after they show Mhok trying to call Porjai's phone <after 5 seconds> There it is! Seriously, I would like Night to be loved and happy for the rest of his life as he truly deserves it 🥹🥹🥹

4. At least, they weren't fooling us with the location. They have indeed met accidentally on the escalators of a hotel, not an airport. <after 5 seconds> P'Aof!!!!! I almost thought you'll never appear in this series 😂😂😂

5. Didn't Day got sus with the "usher"? I mean, Mhok still smells the same, right? RIGHT???? <after a few irritating scenes of Mhok in denial> I knew that perfume will make an appearance eventually. I mean, pretty sure at this point it is an official GMMTV merch 😂

6. Aaaaaaargh. Day wrote a book entitled "Begin with same person"??? With him and Mhok at the top of that mountain as a book cover??? It even has Day's voice for the audiobook??? 😱😱😱 No wonder Mhok's smile is from ear to ear.

7. I'm beginning to hate (affectionate) Mhok and Day 😅😅😅 What kind of flirting is this??? ��😂😂

8. Night saying out loud that he is not paying for Mhok's "excellent care service" sends me 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I kennat 🤣🤣🤣

9. If looks could kill, Porjai would be dead on the spot 🤣🤣🤣 Night and Porjai playing cupids is the dream tag team lol

10. Mhok is freaking relentless 😂😂😂 Also, Day, you can go with Mhok to the US. I mean, you're rich enough to hire an assistant for your book shop. 😂

11. Don't worry Mhok. I also did not get why Day broke up with you lol (not until I read the series' writer's thoughts about Ep 11). <after 5 seconds> Ngl, that's a good conversation between the two. 🥹🥹🥹

12. Glad that Mum have accepted Porjai without difficulties 🥹🥹🥹 Their scene did managed to activate my tearducts 😭😭😭

13. Oh? Dad is also here. Will Mum and Dad have a fresh start too? I mean, Mum looks a bit shook and concerned at the same time. Also, why is Night just calling people to give improptu speeches? 😅

14. Oh, boy. NightPorjai's wedding is just full of happy tears and I have feelings 😭😭😭

15. Ugh. I hate it when the self-reflection is so late, it ends up with them rushing to the airport (or a bus terminal) to catch their romantic partner before they go away for good. But then again, Night and Porjai running in their wedding attire to look for Mhok is effing epic (even Porjai lying to the airport's information counter get Mhok is just 🤌🤌🤌) 😂😂😂

16. Wait, if Night knew that Mhok returned to the hotel, why the fvck did they all run in their wedding gear all throughout the airport looking for Mhok??? Does Porjai know about this? 😂😂😂

17. At least, it looks like we are going to get a happy ending. I really thought we are going to get an open ending based on previous events and the end credit song lyrics. Although, I am still not sure if this a good thing for the series as a whole.

18. Day can finally see (although again, it would have been more acceptable if he had stayed blind since a happy ending should not hinged on his ability to see). Also, Night hitting Day for being more excited to see Mhok rather than their mum (or him, for that matter) is 🤣🤣🤣

19. Oh? Is that Gee and August? Are they a thing now or just badminton partners???

20. Looks like they repainted Rung's car. I guess, it also symbolises a fresh start for it.

21. Two chefs in the family? I'm envious (and also hungry. I haven't eaten breakfast yet 😅). Also, Porjai's preggy again!

22. And they are back to the mountain top again. I hope it's much easier hiking this time around 😅. Also, Day, why are you lying? What d'you mean Mhok (Jimmy) is not handsome??? Lol

And it's ended. And it's happy (though a tad fairy tale-ish) 😭😭😭 Now, it was rumoured that 23.5 degrees will take the Friday time slot. I wonder if it's true. Can't hardly wait for it 😭😭😭

[likeadevils]

2014 Lover Diaries Transcripts

Jan 6, 2014- Los Angeles, CA

So I’ve decided I want to look at places in New York. I know I went through this phase months ago, but it has to mean something that I’ve circled back to it, right? You know what they say, if you love something let it go and if it comes back … blah blah blah. So I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. Dating is awful. Love is fiction/ a myth. I’m over it all.

Jan 25, 2014- Los Angeles, CA

It’s the middle of the night and I was at the Clive Davis party tonight which means … the Grammys are tomorrow. Never have I felt so good about our chances. Never have I wanted something as badly as I want to hear them say “Red” is the Album of the Year.

Feb 22, 2014- Los Angeles, CA

This week I’ve been in the studio with Max and Johan every day and it has been the most creatively successful and fulfilling time. The first day, Johan just made a really up tempo drum beat because we decided we needed something UP and light. We worked at it for a few hours before I just started singing “shake it off, shake it off.” And then the best way I know how to describe it is that the chorus just fell out of the sky. It ended up being this song about doing your own thing even though haters are gonna hate, and you just have to dance to your own beat. We all went home and I wrote the first and second verses and brought them in the next day. We wrote this chanty cheer leader bridge that I absolutely LOVE. We spent all day doing vocals and the next day recording background vocals. I think it’ll end up being the first single and Max said it’s his favorite song he’s ever been a part of.

Mar 24, 2014- New York City, NY

So in the last few weeks, I’ve completely moved into my apartment in Tribeca. That’s right, I’m writing this from my new bed in my new place, watching Law and Order with Meredith. Strangely, I’ve never felt more busy.

May 30, 2014- Shanghai

So we got to China at around 2pm and I knew it would completely ruin me if I slept when I got to the hotel, so I decided to work out. WHY IS THIS PEN RUNNING OUT?! Just went to my purse and got my own pen. So a crazy story unfolded in the last 24 hours. Last night, I had this vivid dream where the photo I’d chosen for the album cover wasn’t good enough, intriguing enough, artful enough. It woke me up. I couldn’t shake it and it stayed with me all day. Because that nagging feeling I’d been pushing back for weeks was now confirmed in my gut … It wasn’t good enough. I went to the venue, mind racing, wondering if I’d have to do an entirely new photo shoot … I got to my dressing room with newer versions of the “cover.” I looked at it and felt nothing. The team pulled up this new scanned file of the Polaroids we had taken during the shoot. I saw within 10 seconds. The shot. The cover. It’s a Polaroid of me sitting against a beige wall with a blue seagull swear shirt on. You can see my red lips, but the photo cuts off my eyes. From some reason unknown to me, it’s the most intriguing photo I’ve seen. I think it’s the mystery of not seeing my eyes. Maybe it just looks effortlessly cool. The craziest moment came when something caught my eye. The cover photo is photo 13. I kid you not. I played a sold out show in Shanghai tonight and the crowd was amazing. Tomorrow we go to Tokyo, where they’ll have the whole ticker tape parade at the airport. Smile and wave … Taylor

(2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 & 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 & 2017)

[midwestmade29]

A Labor of Love Part 2 💕

Part 2 was so fun to write! It’s a little lengthy, I just couldn’t help myself! 🫣

I don’t really have any disclaimers for part 2. It covers life after having a baby and a small amount of postpartum recovery, but that’s about it. Read at your own discretion.

Word count: 1,538

Divider is from @saradika

GIF is by @cowboyshit

Make sure you read part 1 before continuing 🙂

“The days are long, but the years are short...”

“I can’t believe she’s been here 3 weeks already…” I whispered to Christian as I scrolled through pictures of her on my phone. The 3 of us were laying in our bed, getting ready to sleep, but when I didn’t get a response, I glanced over at Christian and realized he had already dozed off. My heart nearly exploded when I saw our precious baby girl snoozing away on her daddy’s chest, I couldn’t help but to stare in awe. We were both exhausted from the drastic change in our sleep schedules, but this little lady was worth it. Fatherhood looked good on Christian. It suited him. I made sure to take a few pictures of this precious moment before scooting closer to Christian and gently kissing him on the cheek. I nuzzled my face against his arm, just watching the two of them sleep. If I could keep the 3 of us in this bubble of newborn bliss forever, I probably would. Christian started to come to and smiled at me when he caught me staring. “How long was I out?” he asked. “Not too long. You both looked so peaceful, I hated to wake you. Are you going to let me put her in the bassinet now?” “5 more minutes…10 tops.” Christian insisted. How could I say no to that?

Recovery after giving birth is not easy or glamours. It’s painful, emotionally taxing, things are squishy, and your body is continuously trying to get back to (a new) normal. Some days it’s like riding a roller coaster with all the highs and lows of recovery and being new parents. 6 weeks into parenthood, Christian and I run like a well-oiled machine. Teamwork makes the dream work, right? He’s been incredible caring for me and our little lady, showing us patience and love at every turn. Even though he won’t admit it, I know he’s been itching to be involved with AEW again. Christian wouldn’t trade these moments with his girls for anything, but I know working from home over FaceTime and phone calls/texts is making him a little stir crazy. I got our daughter situated in her stroller, all ready for a walk around the neighborhood while Christian was in his office on a video call with Tony Kahn discussing details about his return to AEW that was rapidly approaching in 2 weeks. I popped my head in the door to let him know we were on our way out when Christian held up one finger. He let Tony finish what he was saying before letting him know that they would have to continue their conversation later. “I’ll think about your ideas and get back with you to finalize everything. Thanks Tony.” He closed his laptop and directed his full attention to me. “Ready?” he asked with a smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your chat with Tony. I just wanted to let you know I was headed out for a walk. Why don’t you call him back?” “Y/N, Tony can wait. My girls come first, always. I’ll fill you in on everything we talked about later. Right now, I just want to enjoy time with you two. Why don’t we play rock/paper/scissors before we leave?” “What for?” I asked, confused. “Best 2 out of 3 is the winner and they get to push the stroller!”

8 weeks had come and gone in the blink of an eye! Our baby girl was now 2 months old, which meant it was time for Christian to return to work. We placed our bags in the car before making our way to the airport for our next adventure as a family of 3. It was obvious that we were both nervous about taking our little lady on her first airplane ride, amongst other things. “Are you sure you grabbed everything? Her favorite pacifier and purple blanket? What about enough diapers? Noise cancelling headphones?” Christian babbled on. I smiled at his concern before grabbing his hand and kissing his knuckles. “Check, check, and check. I’m positive we have everything we need baby. Even if we did forget something, I can get it from a nearby store or something. We’ll be fine.” I reassured him, but Christian still looked apprehensive. “It’s too soon for this, Y/N!” he said exasperated. “Too soon for what, Christian?” “I can call Tony right now and let him know that I can’t make it to Dynamite tomorrow. He’ll understand! They can scrap my appearance and add someone else! I don’t think I can do this, Y/N. Leaving you two is going to be harder than I thought…” “Whoa! Take a deep breath, Christian! Everything is going to be just fine and will fall into place! It might take some time to adjust to a new routine with you being on the road again, but we will make it work. We are traveling with you this time and will travel with you when we can in the future as well. You and I knew this day was going to come, and now that it’s here we have to embrace it. We’re in this together, every step of the way.” When my words sank in, you could see Christian visibly relax a little. “You’re right, Y/N. Just promise me when you two aren’t traveling with me that you’ll spam me with pictures and FaceTime calls?”

Dynamite day was here and in full swing! We arrived at the arena earlier this afternoon so Christian could get settled in and get everything for tonight squared away. Everyone that passed us by had to stop and meet our newest addition, and we both loved showing her off. “Welcome back man!” Tony said excitedly. “It’s great to finally meet the little one. She’s changed so much from the last picture you sent me! How are you doing Y/N?” “I swear she changes by the minute!” Christian interjected, causing Tony and I to chuckle. “I’m doing well Tony, thanks for asking. It’s good to see you!” Christian and Tony got lost in conversation, and the little lady started to fuss so I excused myself to our dressing room. I was sitting on the couch feeding her when Christian walked in. “Everything okay?” he asked. “Yeah, she was just getting hungry but we’re all good now.” I smiled. “It’s about time for you to get ready, isn’t it?” “I guess I probably should.” Christian sighed. “The fans will be excited to have you back. The night will be over before you know it, so please try to enjoy it all. She’ll be cheering her Daddy on from ringside and so will I.”

I was so excited that I was able to keep my surprise for Christian a secret this whole time, even when there was a close call when I had him get something out of the baby’s overnight bag. She looked so cute in her outfit I had put together specially for tonight! I could hardly wait for Christian to see it. I was escorted to my ringside seat during the commercial break right before Christian was scheduled to come out, baby girl sleeping peacefully in my arms with her noise cancelling headphones on. Security stayed close by the two of us to ensure our safety since she was so little, and I know having them around made Christian and I both feel better about me being there. Justin Roberts let the crowd know that we would be live on air again in less than 30 seconds which caused butterflies to flutter in my stomach big time. I just hoped that Christian was doing okay! The lights in the arena dimmed once we were live, and Christian’s music began to play causing the crowd to go wild. My face lit up the further he got down the ramp, my heart bursting with pride. Christian walked over to where I was standing, cameras surrounding us as he gave me a kiss. He placed his hand on our daughter’s head before leaning down and kissing her forehead, causing most of the crowd to “aww” in unison. As he was standing back upright, he noticed the surprise his little girl was wearing and started to smile and laugh. Of course, the camera had to get a close up of her, showing the crowd and the fans watching at home the tiny little turtleneck she was wearing, just like her Daddy was. Even though we were surrounded by thousands of people, it felt like it was just the 3 of us standing together enjoying this special moment. “Did you read it?” I shouted over the noise, pointing at the baby’s turtleneck. Christian mouthed the words, “My Daddy is Father of the Year” which made the both of us laugh even harder. “This is perfect, Y/N. I love you two, so much! I guess I better go conduct my business now…” he yelled before winking at me and making his way to the ring.

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Christian any more than I already did, I watched him become a dad. This surely is what dreams are made of 🩷

[wolfiemcwolferson]

if ur still doing spotify wrapped fics, 5 pls!!

This is more Del Water Gap - Alone Together. You didn't pick a pairing, but this is screaming Maxiel at me. This is angsty and a little bittersweet. Previous F1 Journalist Daniel and Driver Max. (This got out of hand.)

Sometimes Daniel is in an airport and he catches a flash of a Grand Prix on a TV in a bar or he'll be out with some friends and he'll run into someone he knew from college and they'll ask hey, I thought you were doing that racing thing and Daniel will shake a little bit.

Sitting on a barstool in LA, waiting to meet-up with one of the kid's on the American USA team, he feels it now, the ache where F1 used to sit - the ache where Max used to sit.

But he gave it all up when Max gave him up and -

The kid shows, fresh-faced and eager and shakes Danny's hand. The article will be good, of course. Daniel charms and weasles and prods at all the right places and that's why he gets paid the money he does - in America, for sports he doesn't actually care about.

It makes him sound so dramatic, he circles back around to thinking of Max that night in his hotel - like he always fucking does when he's alone.

Max working up the courage to ask Daniel out to dinner throughout the entire season - Daniel accepting out of pity - Daniel falling hard and fast and furious and then basing his life around him - the man that was going to bring glory back to Red Bull.

It didn't matter how many times Daniel laughed it off and said don't die while Max was sneaking out of his hotel room and it didn't matter how many times Max and Daniel said it wouldn't happen -

Max went off and needed to play house with some nice girl and Daniel spent three GP's in a row hiding from him and he knew he had to go.

Because Max was the missing piece of him or whatever romantic bullshit he used to think about the two of them - the mirror of his soul, the person who saw the worst in him and loved him anyways.

Because it was the worst in the end. Daniel begging Max not to go and Max telling him he had to just for them to switch positions the next morning. Daniel shouting at him to just fucking go while Max cried on his chest and Max and Daniel shouting the awful bits of hateful shit at each other they had gathered up over a three year relationship -

Daniel puts on his running shoes and goes down to the gym so he can forget forget forget.

After LA, Daniel goes to New York before spending a week in Nashville and then he catches a game in Denver before flying home - to Australia.

Grace asks him four times if he's seeing anyone and then Michelle asks much softer if he's talked to anyone from the paddock lately.

Daniel books an earlier flight to his...well, he guesses it's his home.

There's a cabin in fucking Montana. Everyone had thought it was a joke until he did it - bought the damn thing.

Daniel has a joke about how he had traveled for years in flashy circles, but the truth is that he's an idiot pressing gauze to an oozing wound.

It had been a thing with Max. My contract will end when I'm only 28. I could...we could escape to America. Live in the middle of nowhere Montana, yes? All this money has to be good for something.

No one knows, of course. Someone would have intervened, probably. Scotty. Scotty would have intervened.

He's here until Christmas. Alone and working on the book he's supposed to be writing and - he's here until Christmas and then he'll fly to Hawaii and get ready to interview some flashy American Football College Kid.

He tortures himself and watches the last race of the season - wakes up at 6 AM to flip it on and text steady, ribbing commentary to Sam about his own commentary and Max wins, of course.

Daniel turns off the television before the podium.

He's in town buying a couple of propane tanks and more rock salt and some food. He does have to do that occasionally when Janet asks him you know who bought Gerald's old place? Daniel frowns and shakes his head. Thought it might be one of your fancy athletes. Moving in here because you can't keep your trap shut.

It's gentle, but only a half joke. It took Janet a full year before she would talk to him in more than one syllable answers.

He goes home - works on his book. Ignores the text Scotty sends asking Daniel to call.

Max Verstappen on standing in his driveway, hands shoved in the pockets of a puffy coat at 10:28 on a Thursday. Daniel knows the set of his shoulders and the slop of his face even this far away. No one else will ever look like him. No one else will ever have this kind of intrinsic draw on Daniel's entire being.

Daniel steps out on his front porch, wearing socks and a hoodie, absolutely freezing.

"What do you want, Max?" Daniel hears how exhausted his own voice sounds and he wonders if Max can hear it too.

Max is still walking towards him. "Scotty talks a lot when he's drunk."

Fuck. "Yeah, well. Everything he says is shit." Daniel says - finally talking because Max is at the bottom of the staircase, head tilted up to look at Daniel. "What are you doing here? Where's your car?"

Max shrugs, hands still in his pockets. Daniel hears his coat make that slick crinkle noise. "Don't like to drive."

The pieces fall into place for Daniel now. "Gerald's old place?"

"If you're talking about that luxury cabin down the road, yeah. It's mine." Max laughs at his own joke.

Fucking Scotty. Daniel's socks are wet. "You'd better come inside. You'll freeze to death and Christian will have my head."

Max is knocking his snow boots against the porch and he gives a little dry laugh. "What was it you always said? I was selling my 20's? Well, not anymore."

Daniel spins two steps past the doorframe where Max is. They're too close. Far too close. "What."

"There's never been anyone else, Danny." Max says in that voice. The one that preceeded something that would wreck him entirely. "I know you don't - but, maybe if you still -" He shrugs again.

Daniel sees it there. In his eyes. The love they had managed to carve out together back then - before when Daniel thought love could conquer all, when he wasn't so bruised by the hiding and the secrets and the way they had beaten each other against the rocks of F1.

Before they had become the water that broke on that rock.

"Danny," he says again, slipping a hand from his coat. "I retired last week."

Danny breaks this time, curling his head down into Max's chest and heaving a great big sob.

"I didn't have the courage then," Max whispers into his hair, hand on the back of his neck. "But I think I'd like to have the courage now."

"I'm not moving into that house, Max. It's half haunted." Daniel chokes out in between tears.

Max brings his other hand out of the jacket, wrapping it around Daniel, finally bringing their bodies together. "That is fine, Daniel. I already set up the New York Times subscription for this address anyway. I can do the crossword and you can cook me real bacon now since I am not in training."

Daniel laughs now because it all may change, but damnit if it all doesn't stay the same.

[1310miles]

Bonus: Boston Revisited

I’m back at Boston. Yes, it’s my first repeat marathon. That means it’s my 45th race, but not my 45th state. I never expected to repeat a race, but after I ran Boston in 2022, I told myself if I ever qualified again, I would run it. The ’22 race wasn’t a great experience (basically the only race I’ve really felt injured) and I wanted to have a good memory of this epic race. I guess we can consider this a bonus blog!

I also wanted my kids to experience “the super bowl of running” with me. Both Eva and Colin traveled with me and I was so proud to show them the way the city celebrates runners. They were amazed with the size of the expo, the grandeur of the finish line area, and the number of runners milling all around. They also loved the special treatment we got at the hotel when I said I was a marathon participant. 

Wake up call on the morning of the race is early because all runners have to be bussed out to Hopkington (26.2 miles away) for the starting line, then the roads close, and the race can begin. This also accounts for why the starting time is so late (10:50am for me!). My bus was earlier than most participants because I took the private coach arranged with the Chicago Area Runners Association. The benefits are that it isn’t a school bus, you will be riding with your friends, you can stay on the bus once you arrive at runner’s village (otherwise you have to sit on the ground), and you have dedicated portapotties. It's worth it to get up an hour early. 

However, I almost didn’t get up. I leisurely awoke and rolled over to look at the time only to see that I overslept! But only by two minutes. My alarm was going off, but the hotel room AC was so loud that I couldn’t hear it! Not really a problem, but it could have been a lot worse. 

The kids wrote me the best letter ever and left it with my race gear. They will never understand how special it made me feel. I was all smiles as I got my hotel coffee, bagel at Dunkin, rode the train and got to the CARA bus. I sat with my friend Aaron, and he told me all about his adventures getting to Boston (forgot his driver’s license and had to testify at the airport to fly!). Once to Hopkington, we met up with other friends and waited the two hours until we were called to the start. 

Race start time was an issue because although the morning was moderately warm, temperatures were headed to the low 70’s by noon. Having trained all winter, this abrupt temperature increase had me worried. It was not in my plan to run in summer temps. Within four miles of starting, I had to throw away my top shirt. It was so unfortunate because Lululemon had gifted me the shirt and I really liked it. However, the extra layer, and frankly thinking about the extra layer, was just making me overheat. I hope someone found that lovely shirt that was basically brand new, washed it, and wears it. 

I was running great through the beginning. My lesson from the first Boston was that I had run too hard in the first 8 miles, which are a gradual downhill. This race day, I was working very hard to moderate my speed, but I was going faster than I expected. It took a lot of willpower to keep it “slow” while I felt so great. 

It was very obvious that I had to watch the heat too. At mile 2, I changed my hydration strategy. I had planned to get water and Gatorade every three miles (alternating the fluids). Based on the heat, I decided to drink at every single stop. I walked through the stops and that was also a welcome relief. By mile 6, I added to the aid station routine. I took 5 cups of water each time! One I drank, one I poured over my left arm, one on my right, one over the front of my head and one over the back. I basically showered every mile. It was totally necessary and totally refreshing. However, about halfway through, I realized my phone was in my back pocket and was probably continually getting drenched. I was dreading pulling it out to find it completely damaged, but thankfully, it was semi-dry and functional. 

The heat was as much mental as physical. If I had been used to the temperatures, it wouldn’t have been half as bad, but I just didn’t have any preparation time. I kept thinking about my legs cramping and having difficulties breathing, which I think led to almost a panic attack type response. I would get really anxious as I ran along, like I was going to hyperventilate. This is when those water stop breaks really became necessary every mile. All of this makes it sound like I was having a terrible race, I wasn’t! I just needed to be very mindful of my environment and keep my body in line. 

I definitely spent more time this race looking around and soaking up the route than I did the first time. The small towns that we ran through were adorable and packed with fans. There were points near the end that the cheering was so loud and constant that I wished we could get some quiet for a few miles. 

Just like the first time, when I ran through the Scream Tunnel at Wellsley, I got tears in my eyes. Those women were so excited for each and every runner, and they made me feel so incredible. They really do carry you for the whole mile. I had requested a sign be made, but I didn’t ever see it. I know they made it though because I was on the list. Instead, I did see the best sign ever: “I love lying to men.” 

My race pace strategy was going perfectly as planned and by mile 18 I was running as fast I would have without the heat. I was so pleased that my training had allowed for this. After mile 18, as with almost everyone in the race, I began to slow down. Of course, this is when the infamous “Newton Hills” arrive. I walked the hills to conserve everything I needed to get to the finish, and I did it with pride. At the top of Heartbreak Hill, I knew that those were over and it was time to put it into the final gear. 

Getting through those last six miles was difficult, but I had the excitement of seeing the kids at mile 25 to keep me motivated. The logistics of having them travel the course was just too much, so I asked them to be outside the hotel around 2pm to watch for me. I texted them when I was about a mile away, and could see the Citgo sign. Then I watched the sidelines looking for them. 

I guess I didn’t expect it to be so chaotic at that part of the course, but it was right where we enter the downtown commercial area, and right by Fenway Park. There were so many people I started getting very worried that I had missed them. I approached and then passed the hotel without seeing them and honestly was about to turn around and walk a block back to try to find them. Just then I spotted their two cute faces cheering for me! It was the best sight I’ve ever had. I was so proud to find them there being such mature young adults. And I couldn’t wait to finish and get back to them. 

One mile to go, and I was in a bad mood. I wanted to be done. I was really pushing because my goal was to get a Boston qualifying time in this race and with my slow down, I was going to be close. I had a difficult time smiling as I turned onto Boylston and hit the finish line tunnel. Lots of other runners were soaking it up but I was just putting one foot in front of the other. Unfortunately, one woman was much worse off than me. As I approached her, she had diarrhea running down both of her legs and she was just shuffling. I passed her and glanced back to see that she was collapsing. One very kind runner was helping her up and getting her to the finish. 

I finished less dramatically. I got my second Boston medal (finishing in a Boston qualifying time) and walked down the several blocks that they put you through before I could take a quick turn down into the subway. I got on a train to take me back to the hotel that was filled with worn out runners and their families. I was feeling good until I wasn’t and had to sit down. I started to worry I would pass out on the train, but the food from the finish line revived me. I got off the train and emerged to the mile 25 area I had run through just a half hour before. The crowds were still going nuts and it was fun to be on the other side. When I walked into the hotel lobby, someone shouted “congratulations runner” and everyone in there clapped for me. It was incredible! I felt like a star! It was even better when I found the kids in the hotel room waiting for me. They had been doing homework and had all their stuff packed. They even were watching the race on tv and spotted me!

[shesalewa]

Fanfiction or comic idea. Alternative universe where the SDC that live and die are switched and how Abdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin would react to Joseph, Polnareff, and Jotaro's death.

I'm so sorry I took a while. My art style wasn't looking right so if it looks weird then I apologize.

Now that we're here. Don't ask why Iggy looks weird. Just know that, that's Iggy. (I actually tried so hard to the point I just gave up.)

Okay so. Regarding this.

AVDOL would lose his arms in this process but Polnareff is the one that gets taken.

And because Avdol is fire and vampire's are vulnerable to fire. Ice gets weakened. Causing Avdol to win.

So how does Jotaro and Joseph die?

Well. Joseph and Avdol+Iggy team up to try and corner Dio.

Jotaro and Kakyoin go together.

Kakyoin tells Jotaro his plan on how they can find a way to reveal Dio's ability.

Jotaro finds out first that Dio can stop time. And as Dio tries to punch a hole into Kakyoin's chest/stomach Jotaro leaps and takes the hit instead 😱

Of course they both get thrown to the water tank, Jotaro tells Kakyoin to stay as far from Dio as possible, making star platinum throw Kakyoin off the building. While Jotaro himself breaks his wrist watch. And Kakyoin uses hierophant to go back to that roof top

Of course because Kakyoin cannot stop time. How does he win?

Well. A stand doesn't have an equal just a stand similar. And stands are created through life manifestation, and soul.

So Kakyoin decides to inherit Jotaro's will and desire. Kakyoin's soul becomes similar to Jotaro. And when Kakyoin was at the roof top star platinum. Confuses Kakyoin's soul for Jotaro. Grants Kakyoin the ability to move through time stop. (AHAHHA THIS IS JUST A HEAD CANON AND IT'S BASED OFF A FANFICTION, until I see you again by @blasphemings )

And Kakyoin not realizing that he can move time, stays beside Jotaro's dying body. And so Jotaro holds Kakyoin's hand, and hands him his broken Rolex watch, ofc Jotaro tells Kakyoin to run yet again. But they get interrupted by Joseph and whaddya know, Dio kills him without hesitance. Oof.

But what about Avdol? He lost his arms. And while planning he fainted due to blood loss.

Ofc Kakyoin and Iggy have to work together.

Then Kakyoin who still is clinging to Jotaro's watch, suddenly comes to a realization.

Then he realizes he can move when time stop is activated.

Of course Kakyoin would punch the living 💩 out of Dio. And use hierophant to rip Dio into pieces and let him die in the sun.

Then Kakyoin would call the SPW and wait for them beside Jotaro's dead body.

Ofc when Kakyoin goes back to Japan his parents greet him at the airport.

And as a spw car decides to bring him home Noriaki Kakyoin requests to visit Holly. And then Kakyoin does the Dogeza.

Dogeza (土下座) is an element of traditional Japanese etiquette which involves kneeling directly on the ground and bowing to prostrate oneself while touching one's head to the floor. It is used to show deference to a person of higher status, as a deep apology or to express the desire for a favor from said person.

Ofc Holly knew her father and son were dead. And scolded Kakyoin for apologizing for something he had no control of.

Of course. Polnareff was buried beside his sister.and Iggy and Avdol lived in France. Looking for arrows.

Kakyoin after graduating college. Works for SPW and helps Avdol. Iggy then dies of old age after 6 years.

And then. Morioh happens.

Omg omg omg omg omg. I was actually waiting for someone to ask me this. I've been having this au ever since I finished part 3. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee—

[avoteforme]

Chapter 3

'The flight was horrible,' Phryne tells him as she slips off her coat. Jack doesn’t try to stop her, he just goes to sit in his chair, watching Phryne as she toes off her shoes, stretching like a cat. 'I hate flying commercial,' she says tiredly as she perches on the edge of his desk.

Jack’s not too good with small talk but Phryne already knows that. 'Whiskey?' he offers.

Phryne tuts, 'Still drinking all hours of the day, very bad of you, Jack.' That’s not a no so he pours Phryne two fingers as he sits, pausing when he feels Phryne’s bare foot brush his leg as he does.

'Your file, Joan Jackson, aged nineteen, 5 foot 6, blonde hair, blue eyes, Australian citizen,' Phryne says flipping through the file rather perfunctorily. Jack isn't fooled he knows that Phryne has likely been through that file with a fine tooth comb already.

'She flew from Gatwick to Roissy airport at 1000 on the 15th February, alone, before renting a black Peugeot ‘19 registration. French police and eyewitnesses confirmed seeing her with a Caucasian man in his late-thirties. We’re running all possible matches, flight lists, and passport IDs to see if there’s anything.'

Phryne sighs, closing the file, she’s still speaking in a business-like tone but she doesn’t move her foot from Jack’s leg. 'A lot is going to come up, we need to wait till we get more on this man till we can track him, most of the in-depth eyewitness accounts are conflicting but that isn’t a surprise.'

Fucking eyewitness accounts- the blessing and the bane of every detective’s case. 'Did anyone report her looking harassed or distressed?'

Phryne shakes her head. 'No, most witnesses believed them to be a legitimate couple.'

Jack sighs, running a hand through his too shaggy hair then moving to rub at his stubble, 'Where are they heading to now?'

'I have people on it,' Phryne says. She looks good even after crossing several countries in as little hours but then she always does, certainly moreso than Jack currently does. There's a reason for that- though they’re in basically the same field, they work for very different people. For Phryne to get taken seriously, she needs to look this good or people won’t think she’s as smart as she is. Jack just needs to turn up some time in the day, no one giving a shit how he looks as long as he catches the next criminal. Not that this is any hardship for Phryne she loves being chic. 'The second they get more information on this guy, you can make your move,' Phryne continues on.

Had Jack been a different, younger and more naïve Chief Inspector, he would believe Phryne's statement, but Jack knows better. What he knows is the second Phryne gets wind of this guy, she’s going to try and bring him in on her terms, so she’s the one that looks good and gets the reward. It shouldn't matter to Jack if the guy gets caught in the end but somehow with Phryne it does matter and Jack feels frustrated about this although he can't verbalise why.

Jack tries to ignore the uneasy feeling that rises along with his frustration which is slowly building to anger which isn’t being calmed at all by the whiskey. 'Do you have a photo of this guy, anything I can show to family or friends?'

'If I had a photo, I’d have the guy’s name on the file, Jack,' Phryne doesn’t sound like she's got one over on Jack like the usual agents from Interpol, probably because Jack knows Phryne's just trying to help him in her own strange way.

But somehow his temper still gets the better of him as he says coldly, 'Surely you have footage?' He downs the rest of his whiskey and helps himself to another, noticing Phryne hasn’t touched hers.

Phryne surveys him for a few seconds before replying, 'You know how the gendarme can be.'

'Well, tell them to get a fucking move on.'

Phryne hesitates then, 'Jack, you need to relax,' she says, voice even and calm, and it just makes Jack angrier at being spoken to in such a way, like a child.

'I will when this is done,' he grounds out.

Jack's anger has never stopped Phryne speaking her mind before. 'You’re taking this case to heart.'

'I don’t want to hear it,' Jack says dangerously while glaring at Phryne, but she is hardly fazed.

'Jack,' Phryne says, voice soft and in it Jack can hear the echo of her once-upon-a-time words: the man who always does the right thing, the noble thing.

'I said,' he says, his voice also soft but dangerously so, 'don’t.' Phryne seems to know not to push it any further, though, she continues to stare at him while twirling a strand of her silky hair around her finger almost-mockingly.

[mfmm 212 pic by phrynefishersfrocks] [gif by lorelaigilmoure]

[anime-rambles]

"OMEGA STOP PART 1"

Pairing: Alpha Bakugou x Alpha Kirishima x Omega Reader

Type: ABO Dynamic, Angst, blood, SFW

Word Count: 2900+

A/N: Seeing how everyone is loving “Welcome Home Omega” I decided to do another omegaverse fic this time with lots of angst. Thank you so much for all the kind words, reblogs, likes and follows. Was thinking of making a Part 2 for this? What do you think?

Summary: Omega y/n returns home to her alpha’s after being away in Europe, thinking she would be able to re-join her alphas and be happy. Only to discover they move on without her.

Link to Part 2 = https://anime-rambles.tumblr.com/post/657712192264814592/omega-stop-part-2

************************************************************************

I collect my suitcase from baggage claim and make my way towards the arrivals gate. It has been an incredibly long 8 years since I’ve been back home in Japan. After graduating UA with all my friends, I decided I needed a new path, something exciting that didn’t include my alphas. Being away from my family and friends has been one of the most difficult things to go through and more importantly being away from my alphas. It was nice to be needed and not just because of my second gender.

After graduating UA, I joined Fatgum’s agency and from there I met Jackie one of fat’s previous partners on the drug squad. She needed a bright new hero that wanted to work outside of Japan and head off a special unit in charge of investigating quirk enhancing drugs. At first everyone was onboard and excited fir me but as time went on, it was becoming increasing hard to keep in contact with my busy alphas. So, one Christmas, two years into the job we all agreed to stop dating and put our relationship on hold, until I was finished with the special unit or until one of the alphas said enough, come home. I agreed happily, never thinking I would get the come home call, but here I am. I left Europe and returned home.

The doors of arrivals opened in front of me, I look around the barrier hoping to see either of my boys, Bakugou or Kirishima, but neither blonde nor red head could be seen. I walk the corner a small bit, thinking they might be hiding but nothing. I spot movement in the distant, a blur of pink rushing to my arms, knocking me off balance.

“YYYY/NNNN, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOUR HOME” Mina sobs into my ear. “Mina” I say back hugging her tightly. Out of everyone in UA Mina stayed in constant contact with my updating me on the group’s latest gossip and everyone hero’s ranking. “Come on, lets get you home” She speaks again, taking one of my bags and my hand in hers. I smile to her and gladly accept her hand. Mina is an omega like me, after UA her and Sero got together and currently have a beautiful house and a serval fluffy cats. Once we reach the car and start our journey. Mina tells me of everyone, what they are doing and what is planned for my coming home party tonight.

“Wait, slow down, where are you taking me first” I say, laughing at her excitement. With her hands on the car wheel. She says “Bakugou and Kirishima’s” I pause for a second. They must just be living together and not actually still together without, right? They wouldn’t betray me, would they? These thoughts are fully my head, maybe coming home wasn’t a good idea. I should have ignored the “come home” agreement. What if they just want to use me to have their kid and toss me aside.

“Y/N, please say something, you made me promise not to talk about the boys when were away and right now you’re kinda scaring me.” She presses.

“I’m… just thinking. So out with it tell me what has been going on, why are they living together.” I asked shifting in my seat to look at her and she drives down the straight road.

“Okay, so it started whe….”

Mina basically said what I thought she might after I left fully and didn’t come back like we agreed. Kirishima and Bakugou stopped for a while, they didn’t live together, socialise or anything but after Kirhisma was badly injured in a battle, they moved back in with each other and kept their relationship quiet, it’s been 6 years, that they been together while I have been alone.

“So that’s basically all of it y/n, I’m sorr…”

I cut her off, “Mina this is not for you to apologise for, you kept your promise to me and now I must face the music as they say in Europe.” We had arrived outside their house ages ago, but we ended up talking. I step out of the car and move to grab my bags. I look up to the house, it’s huge and white. Very modern and what’s looks to be very expensive. But what can you expect from the Number 1 and Number 5 heroes in Japan. Mina steps out and comes to my side of the car to hug me goodbye and to tell me the information for tonight. Just then the front door opens, Kirishima steps out with a huge grin on his face. He has changed a lot since I left. He is like a wall, thick with muscle and sporting a high red ponytail.

“There she is,” Kirishima says, holding out his arms as he makes his way down the path towards me. I drop my bags and run to him. I can be anger later, but right now I need this hug. “Here I am,” I say back to him, I took my face into his neck to breathe him in, he tries to do the same but it is unable as I have my marks and scent glands covered as Europe has different rules than us. I can sense the confusion and say I will explain later. Kirishima greats Mina and they discuss briefly about this evening's plans and Mina is off on her way, waving goodbye. With his arm around me, he guides me inside towards the kitchen. We each stand on opposite sides of the Island, not knowing what to say first.

“So, where’s Bakugou? I thought you would both be at the airport” I say frankly to him, showing my frustrations. “He had to work, but he should be back home soon,” Kirishima replies shuffling his feet. I stare at him, I want to voice my anger, I want him to know how much I hurt, I need to do this with Bakugou. “Okay” I reply looking at my bags, why did I come here, why did I think we could go back to normal. “He’ll probably be late like always though, why don’t show you to your room and you can get ready for this evening” He smiled at me, like he trying to form an olive branch between us. I nod and follow him out of the room and up the stairs. All around me are reminders, parties I could not attend, award shows I missed but right now I can’t dwell on that. My time in Europe was the best experience of my life and right now I want to go back. Kirishima leads me to a guest room and leaves me to get ready. I sigh, this is going to be difficult.

************************************************************************

Doing the finishing touches to my hair, I smooth my dress down as I look in the mirror. I’m wearing a tight-fitting black dress, that is off the shoulders. I rub my hands down my neck, wishing I could have had the surgery to remove my mark guards yesterday before I came home. Just to show them, that I kept my promise to them. I hear noises downstairs, Bakugou had arrived home ages ago but did not even come to say hello, just went straight to the shower. Although I know what Mina told me was true, I needed proof if I was to enter an argument with Bakugou. I walk a small bit from my room trying to stay quiet, I turn a corner and see a wall of photo frames, most are from UA and some are from Dates we three had together. The difference, I was no longer in the photos, I was cut out. You could see my arm or a sliver of my hair and maybe an eye. I felt rejection, my inner omega whined. Why would they do this to me? I ripped the frame from the walls and marched downstairs. My heels clicked on the floor beneath me. I rounded the corner and enter the kitchen not bothering to wait for their conversation to finished. I throw the frames onto the countertop and look up at both of them making eye contact. If I wasn’t so mad and hurt, I would be shocked at how mature and sexy they both are right now. Kirishima's hair is half up, half down being supported with braids and he is in a maroon shirt opened slightly. Whereas Bakugou wears a white shirt and supports an undercut. My alphas have matured, I suppose I have as well.

Kirishima looks at the frames and stays quiet. Bakugou does not dare to break eye contact with me.

“So, let me get this straight. I leave home, to become great in something that is bigger than me. I leave my alphas with an agreement, that we all would hit pause, and eventually I would come back or get a called from either of you to come home. I follow the rules, and it seems to me what I got in thanks was to be cut from your lives.” I raise my voice, guesting to the pile in front of me.

“tck…” Bakugou replies and looks at Kirishima.

“Don’t tck me Bakugou, it seems to me that I’m not even wanted here anymore, so why was I called home, let me guess you need an omega to have your child and then I’m to disappear,” I respond. “No that’s not why we called you back” Kirishima speaks up, slightly walking towards to appear less hostile.

“Funny how you call us your alphas but yet, our marks, our bond is no longer on your neck,” Bakugou responds, pointing towards me. “They are not gone, they are covered by a skin slip, in Europe is safer to have them covered in case you are kidnapped and forced to bond with someone,” I say back to him. “Omega, please let us explain, I understand your hurt, but we want you still, your part of our family,” Kirishima replies placing a hand on my elbow. I jerk away from him.

“So, all this time, when I was away, suffering through my heats alone. Omega depression after omega depression. You two, were what? Together happily rutting away.”

“Yes, how do we know you never had it off with anyone else,” Bakugou said leaning on the Island in front of me. “Bakugou, don’t say that -” Kirishima scolded him. “- we don’t think that y/n”. I stand there shocked; I can sense he is hurt but right now I will not be his vent.

“ah, I see, I was away fucking my way through Europe apparently and my alphas decided that instead of coming to see me and to tell me. They went behind my back” I stare at Bakugou not daring to back down. “How do we know you weren’t, how do we know you didn’t get our marks removed?” Bakugou asked.

I scuffed and turned out of the kitchen, towards my bags that were left at the bottom of the stairs. Both Alphas stayed in the kitchen and spoke to each other. I opened my bags and reached into it to find a wrapped plastic bag. I walked back into the kitchen, hearing Bakugou raising his voice at Kirishima, “I can’t Kiri, you almost died.” Kirishima hushed Bakugou as I re-entered the kitchen. I threw the bag at Bakugou.

“Go on, open it -” I say with my hands on my hips. “- There’s your proof” I stand and watch it. Bakugou opens the bag and pulls out two jumpers, one of his and one of Kirishima’s. Their scent has well worn out but mine could be smelled. Years of being alone, years of depression, laid in their hands. Kirishima’s eye watered. “This proves nothing, maybe if you weren’t lying about our mark being gone, we wouldn’t have this problem,” Bakugou said, dropping the jumpers on the countertop. “What do you want me to do, perform surgery right now, you know once you never doubted me” I laugh under my breath.

“Yeah well once, you weren’t such a slut, betraying your alp-“Bakugou responded but Kirishima stepped in creating a barrier between us. Tears started to form in my eyes, my vision blurred. Fine, if Bakugou wants proof right now that I was loyal then fine, I’ll give it to him.

I look at my nails and smile to myself, I thank whatever god is listening that I have long pointed nails today. Kirishima is currently speaking to Bakugou, standing in front of me. I can no longer hear him. All I know is, those skin slips have to go now. I take a deep breath in and dig my nails into my neck around where the stitched used to be. I whimper, both can smell blood and turn to look at me. I rip the slip from my skin, blood starts to pour from my neck but nothing that would majorly hurt me. I reach for the other and dig my nails in. “Y/n stop, what are you doing” Kirishima reaches to stop me, but he’s too late I pulled the other off and make eye contact with Bakugou. “You wanted your proof, here you are Bakugou, take a whiff I have NEVER BETRAYED EITHER OF YOU” I scream, throwing the slips onto the counter and storm off.

“Omega come back now” Bakugou shouts after me, I can hear him chase me and reach for my arm. I pull it forward and turn to face him. Tear are leaving my eyes, ruining my makeup, my dress ruined from the blood. “What Katsuki, you believe me now? What do you want from me, why are you mad?” Bakugou stands in shock, unable to talk. “ANSWER ME NOW,” I scream again. Bakugou reaches forward grabbing my arms, tears forming in his. Kirishima was leaning on the door behind him.

“HE ALMOST DIED, AND YOU WEREN’T THERE, I WAS ALONE, WATCHING HIM DIE AND YOU WERENT THERE, YOU PROMISED ME I’D NEVER BEEN ALONE, AND YOU LEFT ME ALONE WAITING FOR HIM TO COME BACK” he roared at me. I shoved Bakugou off me.

“I CAME HOME WHEN EIJIROU WAS IN HOSPITAL” I shouted back, both alphas heads shot straight up and looked at me. “I was there, I broke me promise to stay away until I was asked by either of you to come home. But I saw the fight, I saw Eijirou get knockdown and didn’t get back up. I hopped on the nearest flight and came home. You need proof, ask Fatgum, Denki, Tamaki, Deku.. anyone who sat in that waiting room.” I said looking into Bakugou's eyes. Kirishima walked forward to join us. Bakugou went to speak. “No you let me speak, I was there. Kirishima opened his eyes and called me an angel and then you shot into the room in a panic and threw yourself on him. Bakugou you looked in my eyes and didn’t say a word, so I stepped back, you saw me there, you. Don’t blame this on me. Knowing how angry you would be, Deku came and got me, promising to watch over both of you.” I stopped to wipe the tears from my eyes.

“How dare you hold that over me Katsuki Bakugou,” I say to him, Kirishima reaches for my hand as if to pull us all back together. I step back, I need to breathe to get out. I walk about the front door, grabbing my handbag. “I’ll see you at the party, some welcome home this was,” I say not looking back and slam the front door.

I walk down the path and reach for my phone, dialing Mina’s number. “Hey girly, I’m just about to leave for the pub,” Mina says down the phone. I start to cry and sit down on the curb. “Sero, wait a second” Mina whispers away from the phone. “Y/n, what’s happened, what’s going on,” She says again her voice has lowered. “Mina I need some help; I can’t see everyone looking like this,” I say back to her. I cry again, I can hear the door behind me open and I stand. I turn and see Kirishima, “Y/n wait please, come back in, we can sort this out,” he says, and I look over his shoulder. Bakugou is frozen in the same spot, staring at the floor. “I’m almost there, start walking to me,” Mina says and hangs up. I bend down and undo the straps of my heels, steeping out of them leaving them on the step. I start to run down the street, I need some quiet, I need to think.

“OMEGA STOP” Bakugou shouts behind me, but I can’t. I see Mina’s car and run towards it.

[warmaidensrevenge]

Eddie... honey

Pairing:Papa!Eddie Munson x plus!size reader

If you want to read my other work you can find it HERE

Authors note: I was working on this for a bit. I seem to have a bit of a writers block on this next chapter. So I apologize if its not everything its cracked up to be. So without further ado here she is. 

Warnings:18+ Smut, language, arguing, heart ache and not proof read and no word count.

Summary: It is happening. The long awaited release you and Eddie needed. But was it a mistake? It most definitely not, well not at first. Decisions must be made. But at what cost? 

Chapter 6: Suffering

👀💔🍼

Tonight is the night. It's definitely happening tonight. Eddie told himself over and over again. It was the week after Tina showed her face. Now he was no longer waiting. You had went to a union seminar that took you away for a total of 6 days 11 hours 37 minutes and 52 seconds. Yup he had been keeping track. You were about to come home and he was ready. Your place was ready to go. Flowers leading from the front door to the bed. He didn't think that you guys would make it that far so he put 3 condoms by the couch just to make sure. He put condoms in a kitchen drawer. There were condoms in the bathroom and in the hallway table. And a whole box on the bedside night stand.

He was waiting in his van ready to pick you up from the airport. He checked and double checked the glove box to see if the condoms he put in there that morning were still there. They were. He went to the back and fixed the mattress he put back there just for you. Just in case he couldn't make it to the house. He really was not messing around tonight. It was happening and that's it.

He looked at his watch and got out of the van and went inside the building. He had flowers in one hand and your favorite chocolates in the other. He was so ancy he was practically jumping up and down. There were a lot of people coming out of the gate and he didn't see you.

" Sweetheart...be here. You gotta be here." He said under his breath.

" I'm here honey."

He whipped around and there you were. Pretty as a damn picture.

" How-"

" I went to get my suitcase first.... Hi."

Eddie grinned. " Hi sweetheart."

He handed you the flowers and took your bag. He pulled you in for a kiss with his hand behind your head. Foreheads meeting after.

" Eddie honey. Where's our girl?"

" She's with Wayne for the night. It's just you and me sweetheart."

You looked up into his eyes and pouted.

"Alright. Just for a minute okay. She's probably sleeping already."

You kissed him on the cheek. Thank you honey. I missed her."

" Oh I see. You only like me for my daughter."

" Well duh silly. She's just too perfect. I'm working on her to love more than you so we can run away together." You teased

Eddie frowned until you gave him kisses and apologized.

" Okay we need to hurry because I can't wait for much longer." He said handing you the box of chocolates and led you to the van.

After seeing Rosie you guys went to your place. Eddie brought in your bags and helped you out of your jacket and shoes. He was going for your shirt when you stopped him.

" Baby. Please let me shower. I need to wash the plane off and I need to wake up. I'll be out in 5 mins. I also bought something to wear for you."

" Why sweetheart? I'm just gonna take it off. I want you butt ass naked in that bed in 6 minutes. And not a second more."

"Yes sir." You said before kissing him and went.

Eddie grabbed 2 bottles of Gatorade and some snacks for when you guys needed to build up energy. He put his hair up in a low bun because things were about to get hot. He already brought a fan in earlier so he turned that on. He looked at his watch and saw you had 3 minutes left. He was so giddy he could just spit. He lit a couple of candles and turned on some music. Careless Whisper was playing.

"Oh no. Honey that is not what we should be doing it to, for our first time. Can we have Judas Priest or Def Leppard playing instead?"

He turned to look at his amazing fiance. " See baby. This is why we're getting married. Your taste in music is impeccable."

" Why thank you." You yawned and went to the bed taking off your towel and laid down.

" No. Nope. Don't do that sweetheart. We have to do this tonight. I can't wait anymore." He changed the music and took off his clothes.

His penis looked angry. The tip was this brilliant shade of red that you felt bad for it. You moved the blanket back so he could get in too. His body was so warm. You wished he would just spoon you and you could fall asleep. But no you had to stay up for him. You guys had been waiting too long for this.

Eddie propped himself on one elbow and kissed you and massaged your breast. He started to kiss your cheek down to your jaw line and then down to your neck. He took your nipple into his mouth while his hand went for your clit. Your soft moans were making it impossible to not cum right then and there. But then your moans changed. He looked up and you were falling asleep.

" Baby no." He whined "Please wake up. I can't do this when you're sleeping."

You rubbed your eyes and looked at him. " I'm sorry honey. I'm up. I'm up."

Eddie narrowed his eyes at you. "Stay with me baby. Don't fall asleep."

"Okay honey. I promise. I'm up. I won't fall asleep."

Eddie went back to rubbing and sucking. He reached over to grab a condom. He hurried and put it on and positioned himself so that his face was staring right at your perfect little pussy. He just wanted to taste you for a minute. He licked up your slick swallowing it and enjoyed the sweetness only you could provide him. He hummed into you and stuck his tongue so deep into your hole that his nose was pressing against your clit. He moved his face to use his nose and an aid to get you off. He was enjoying himself so much that he didn't realize that you were completely knocked out.

" Mmm baby. I love how wet you get for me. You taste so good." He cooed

But when you didn't respond he smiled.

" Leaving you speechless huh?" He gave your clit one last swirl of his tongue before looking up.

" Aww sweetheart common."

He got to his knees leaning his ass on his heels. He hung is head when you turned to your side and curled up a bit. He huffed and took off the condom and tossed it. He laid down facing you and pulled the blanket over both of you.

" I'm really mad at you sweetheart. But I love you. Sleep tight baby." He whispered and kissed your forehead.

...

In the morning you weren't in bed when he woke up. But he could smell food. He got up and took off the hair tie and shook his head letting his curls fall down. He put on a pair of grey sweatpants. He was not happy. He went to take a piss and shave his patchy beard he had been growing for you. Just to tick you off. Before he went to the kitchen he lifted the toilet seat and smirked. He had to pay you back. You promised you weren't gonna fall asleep. He walked out to the kitchen and jumped up on the counter. You had your back towards him plating up pancakes.

You were wearing this red and black flannel the went a little past your your bum, with the sleeves rolled up. Your hair was in a messy high bun. If you didn't look so damn cute Eddie would have stayed mad at you. But he couldn't. He loved you. But he sure was gonna play like he was.

You turned around and frowned. He shaved his beard. Yup he was upset. How could you do that to him? Poor Eddie. How were you going to make it up to him? You went to stand in front of him holding up the plate of pancakes.

" I'm sorry honey. Please forgive me. I made you 'I'm sorry' pancakes."

Eddie huffed and looked away crossing his arms trying not to smile.

" No. How about I'm really sorry bacon?" You said putting down the pancakes and picking up a plate of nice crispy bacon.

Eddie uncrossed his arms and held on to the edge of the counter hanging his head. Crap he was really pissed. You sat the plate down and moved between his legs, cupping his face and lifting it.

" Honey how about I'm really really sorry kisses?"

You lifted to your toes and kissed his cheeks and his nose and chin. He put his hands on your waist to pull you closer. He wants your lips so he hopped down and found them with his. He grabbed your ass and smiled to himself. You didn't put on any underwear. He was instantly hard. You pulled off his sweatpants and he pulled you scrunchie out gently. You guys were on the floor in seconds.

Eddie was going for your buttons on your flannel but was frustrated trying to get them off. He grabbed either side and was about to rip it open.

"No don't honey. I like this shirt."

" I'll sow them back on sweetheart. I promise."

You were mid nod when he ripped open your shirt and your tits bounced. He sat up and immediately put one of your nipples in his mouth. He cupped the other and rubbed your nipple with his thumb. He reached over to a drawer and pulled out a foil wrapper. You looked at it and smiled.

" how many do you have in there?" You leaned to look in the drawer and smiled.

" Sweetheart. I need you to focus." He said with a piece of the foil between his teeth.

He quickly put on the condom and went back to massage your breast showing them both equal attention with his tongue.

Your hand was guiding his member to your warmth. Eddie helped you to your knees so that you could put him in. He laid down as soon as his tip went His eyes rolled back from how damn warm and tight you were. You sank down slowly trying to take him as much as you could before you had to stop and get used to his stretch.

"J-jesus ba-baby " Eddie choked. " Fu-"

The moment he was in you, your whole body tingled. The feeling of his tip pushing it's way into you was something you really couldn't explain. You had sex before but it never felt like this. The feeling of him gave you goosebumps, like when you hear that favorite part of a song that sends chills to your arms and legs

You couldn't believe how you got all of him in you. But here you were. Your bundle of nerves were being tickled by his short and curlys. His tip smashing into a spot deep inside you that made your body shivered and jerked. The bitter sweet pain made you ache for more. You lifted a bit but pushed down harder releasing a silent gasp. Your eyes snapped shut as the wonderful shooting pain radiated deep in your core.

Eddie's fingers dug into the meat of your thick thighs. He raised his hips just a little to push further into that soft pillowy spot. His loud groans caused you to quiver. You rocked your hips slowly to prolong your orgasm.

"Oh fuck sweetheart... shit."

Eddie's hands moved to your hips to move you faster. Once he did that you were done for.

" Eddie...I'm so..I'm..so...close."

" Fuck! Cum. Cum. Baby...I'm cumming."

Your hips jerked as Eddie's bucked. He could feel his hot sticky cum surrounding his cock. You kept moving until his body tensed under you. You sat there for a moment to catch your breath. You looked down to see Eddie shaking his head.

" Jesus H Christ sweetheart. I can't...fuck!"

" Good?"

"Other worldly."

You giggled causing Eddie to sit up and hug you.

" Don't laugh. I'm not ready to go again yet. Give me like 3 minutes."

He kissed you deeply and rested his head on your chest. You held him stroking his back.

" I'm hungry." Eddie's voice was muffled due to his face being buried.

You got off of him giving him one last kiss before putting your buttonless shirt back on. Eddie pulled on his sweats but stayed sitting on the floor. You gave him his plate and laid down so that your head was rest in his lap. Eddie fed you some of his pancakes. He was going on and on how now he couldn't wait to get married. You just looked up and admired his enthusiasm.

Eddie gasp. " Let's move in together."

"Umm honey, wasn't that the plan after we get married?"

"Yeah but I'm talking about like next week. Let's get a house!"

...

" A house?"

" Yeah sweetheart. Let's do this."

" Ok but it's gonna take much longer than a week to get one. Are you sure?"

Eddie bent down to kiss your forehead with sticky lips. " Absolutely! I'm so excited... Mr. And Mrs. Munson."

You giggled and touched his jaw. " I like the sound of that."

He grinned at you and lifted a brow. " Okay. Keep looking at me like that and we are gonna go at it like bunnies."

"Look at you like what?"

" Like you love me."

" But umm I do. With all my butt."

" With all your butt?" He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at you.

" Yes. I would say with all my heart but my butt is bigger. But I love you with all my heart too."

" Oh you. You are so fucking cute. I swear."

" No you. But ummm I'm ready when you are" you gave him a sly smile.

" Oh shit! Let's go sweetheart."

Eddie and you were shopping around looking for a place. It was about a month til the wedding and you were so nervous. So much was happening so fast. It was natural to be anxious. But things turned when you missed your period.

You and Eddie had sex a lot. And when I mean a lot I mean a lot . In your car, in his van. At the lake and in the parking lot at work. In a gas station stall, at skull rock, on the old bench in the woods. In the morning before work and after Rosie would pass out. You guys learned quickly how to be quiet. Eddie's insatiable need to have you anywhere and everywhere was exciting. But you were late and started to freak out. You should have talked to him about it but you really thought it was the stress of moving and the wedding. Rosie was in her terrible twos and she was putting you and Eddie through the ringer. She only wanted to be held by you and you tried. But between working and everything else it was hard to comfort her as much as you like.

She was really giving Eddie a hard time. She constantly smacked him and cried. She would refuse to eat until you would feed her. Eddie was also having a hard time at work. He had gotten a promotion and moved to the maintenance department, working on broken machines and what not. The job wasn't hard but the classes he had to take on the electrical part was. He had to pass a test in a few weeks so that he could get the highest wage. The money was good but the studying was overwhelming.

He would spend hours at the trailer while you and Rosie would be at your place so he could have peace and quiet. You enjoyed the mommy daughter time you had with her but you missed Eddie. He worked a lot more now leaving you to plan the wedding. It being too much for you to handle alone. You enlisted the help from Dustin and Wayne.

You had decided that you wanted a simple wedding and chose not to wear white. You were trying on a bunch of dresses for the guys. But Rosie was screaming her head off because she wasn't in your arms. You took her into the dressing room and picked out a matching light yellow dress. It fell down to your ankles and had a lace wrap. It was really beautiful. You looked in the mirror hold Rosie on your hip.

" Oh look at you sweet girl. You look so pretty."

"Ma- mum" she babbled smacking your chest lightly.

" Yes princess. We look so pretty. Just two princesses waiting for our knight in shiny leather jacket....I miss your daddy sweet girl." You bounced her and almost cried.

You went outside to show Dustin and Wayne.

" Oh my god! You look great!" Dustin smiled.

Wayne smiled and nodded.

" I think this is the one." You grinned

" Definitely." Dustin agreed.

You stood there rocking Rosie. " What do you think princess? Will daddy like it?"

She was too distracted with your necklace to pay attention. That's when you started to feel sick. You handed her to Wayne as your rushed to the bathroom. You could hear her screaming as you closed the door. You were vomiting like crazy. You washed your mouth out and stared into the mirror.

" No. This can't be happening."

There was a knock at the door.

" Miss are you okay? Do you need water?" The lady who was helping you pick out dresses asked through the door.

" I'm uhh I'm ok. Can you ring me up for the two dresses?"

" Of course."

You heard her leave and took a deep breath. You went back and grabbed Rosie.

" Is everything alright kiddo?" Wayne looked worried.

" Umm yeah. Im just not feeling well. Can we call it a day?"

" But we need to go to the flower shop." Dustin claimed

" We can go later. I think I'm coming down with something."

They both nodded and you and Rosie went to change. After dropping off Dustin you and Wayne were driving back to the trailer.

" Mr Munson, can we stop at the pharmacy before we go back?"

" Sure thing."

Once back at the trailer you put Rosie down for a nap and grabbed you pharmacy bag and went to the restroom. You had told Wayne what was going on and he sat patently in the living room for you. You were sitting on the toilet waiting for the results of the pregnancy test. You were biting your nails as your knee bounced. You were losing it. This couldn't happen. You looked at your watch and you had a minute left. You were praying that it was negative. God you couldn't be pregnant. You guys had been so careful.

You walked out and sat next to Wayne. The hand that was holding the test was shaking. You didn't have to say anything. Wayne just knew. He hugged you as you cried into his chest.

" It's okay y/n. Everything is going to be alright."

" Wayne. I can't have another baby. I just can't. What if I lose it? Eddie is so stressed out lately and he's gonna be so mad. He would never forgive me and I can't lose another one."

" Y/n he won't be like that. Did you guys ever talk about what might happen if you did?"

You pulled back to wipe your tears away. " No. We've always been so careful."

Wayne sighed. " Well let's get you to the walk-in and make sure that's right. We'll get you checked out and then we can go from there." He pointed at the test.

You sniffled and nodded. Wayne hugged you and rubbed your arms. " Everything will be just fine. I know my boy. He won't be mad."

...

Eddie busted his ass today. He had a hands on test today and he passed it with flying colors. It was just the written part of it. He had seen less of you and Rosie since he started this new job and he hated it. On his way to the trailer he was looking forward to seeing you. Imagine his surprise when he didn't see your car there. He jogged inside to see his uncle sitting on the couch.

" Hey old man. Where are my girls?" Eddie went to wash his dirty hands before grabbing a beer out of the fridge.

" They went to y/n place."

" Damnit I really was hoping to not have to drive over there tonight."

" Son I need you to come and have a seat."

" Don't tell me. Y/n didn't find the perfect dress because Rosie was throwing a fit and now she wants to call off the wedding." He smirk.

" No. She found a dress. Her and Rosie looked so beautiful."

Eddie smiled. He could just imagine you and Rosie dancing together at the reception in your pretty dresses.

"Son. Sit down."

Eddie tilted his head and furrowed his brow. " Are they ok?!"

Wayne gave him a look that worried him. So he went and sat in the recliner with the beer in his fist.

"Eddie, I know that I shouldn't be the one to tell you this. But since I was here the last time. You need to be here instead of with y/n."

" Okay enough with being cryptic old man. "

Wayne sighed through his nose. " Y/n is pregnant."

It was silent for a minute then Eddie laughed. But it stopped as soon as he realized it wasn't a joke. He clenched his fist and stood up slamming his beer on the coffee table.

" HOW THE FUCK?! WHAT THE HELL?! NO. NOPE. NOT POSSIBLE!"

" Son-"

"HOW COULD SHE DO THAT TO ME?!" He punched the wall.

"She didnt-"

" NO! WE CAN'T. I'M NOT READY." He paced the small living room.

He was so mad. Why did this have to happen now? There was already too much going on. He went outside to smoke sitting on the porch.

" FUCK!"

Wayne followed him and stood in front of him. " You need to calm down."

" How?! This has got to be some cruel joke. We aren't even married yet....How did this happen? We always wore-" he stopped talking when he realized when it happened. " One broke....FUCK ME!..When did she find out?"

" Today. I told her to go and rest. She's uhh. She's not in a good place right now."

Eddie's heart sank. How could he only think about himself right now?

" I need to go to her." Eddie said putting out his cigarette.

" Wait. There's more."

Eddie looked at him. He felt a wave of concern wash over him.

" You know that stuff she takes for her depression?"

Eddie nodded.

" Well." Wayne cleared his throat. " It can cause a premature birth....and the baby can be born with persistent pulmonary hypertension. It's when too much blood flows through the baby's lungs. It's not curable....son, the survival rate with treatment is between 7 to 10 years."

Eddie's knees went weak and he fell back onto the steps and buried his face in his hands. How could he let this happen to you? How could you be alone right now?

" How common is it in newborns?" His voice was shaky and his body trembled uncontrollably.

Wayne went to sit next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. " In premature babies it's up to 23%. But because of the medicine it shoots up to 56%."

Eddie started to cry. How could he fix this? Just a minute ago he didn't want another baby. But now he did. He had to go to you. He needed to be there to comfort you. Hold you. Tell you everything will be ok. Tell you that he loved you.

...

Eddie walked into your place and everything was off and it was so quiet. It was already late so he knew Rosie was asleep. He took off his jacket and his shoes at the door. He walked slowly to the room and saw Rosie in the crib and you on the bed. He went to give her a kiss. He rolled out her crib quietly into your son's room that you had made up for her. He came back and took off his shirt and pants and closed the door. He climbed into bed and looked at the back of your head.

" Hi" you whispered as you turned to face him.

" Hey sweetheart"

You gave him a half hearted smile. " Did you have a good day?"

" Yes. And you?"

You were quiet for a minute before you started to sniffle.

" Eddie....I..." Your voice broke. " I'm so sorry Eddie....I... I'm...I'm pregnant."

He cupped your face with one hand. " Don't be sorry baby. It's okay."

" No it's not. I can't-"

He shushed you and pulled you into his arms. " I know. Wayne told me....it's okay. Everything is going to be alright."

" Eddie, I want this baby." You cried

He held you tighter and rubbed your back. " I do too."

" W-what if the baby is sick?"

" Then we will handle it. We will love them no matter what."

" I can't lose -"

" You won't. Baby I promise. You won't."

"... Eddie I can understand if you don't want to be with me-"

Eddie turned you so that you were laying on your back and his face was hovering over yours.

" You listen to me y/n. Don't ever think that I don't want you okay. I understand that things are hard. And this isn't the only time we're gonna struggle. And we're probably gonna fight sooner or later. But baby you're worth whatever comes our way. I will never give up on you, no matter how hard it gets. You got me. Through good days and bad. I will always be by your side. We are going to get married. We are going to get a house. And we are going to have a baby. We're gonna be one big happy family. Because I love you."

He wiped your tears away and kissed you with such love that he nearly melted. He looked over to the baby monitor to check on Rosie and she was sleeping like a rock. He looked back to your beautiful eyes.

" I love you Eddie. I love you so much."

" Can I make love to you sweetheart?"

You smiled against his lips. " Anything for you honey."

He placed his lips on you again and took off your underwear and then his boxers. He leaned on one arm to hold himself up.

" Should I put on a rubber?"

You moved his hair behind his shoulders and smiled. "Can't get anymore pregnant."

He grinned and tilted his head. " Baby, I have super sperm. It could be possible."

You giggled and kissed him. Your laugh was the best sound he had ever heard. Your smile was the most beautiful thing to ever exist on this planet. He loved you so damn much it made his stomach hurt.

He went to guide his dick up and down your slick folds. Collecting your wetness and stroked himself to spread it. Once he centered himself to your entrance he put his tip in and used both hands to hold himself up. He dipped down to kiss you as he pushed through your warm slick walls. A sob left his chest at the amount of pleasure you were allowing him to have.

You had to move your lips away from Eddie's in order to bite your lip to stop a loud moan from leaving them. The first thrust is the absolute best. Feeling every throb of him in your aching sex. Making your toes curl and your back to arch. Eddie always felt so good since the very first time. And this time was no different.

Eddie cupped your chin and turned your face back to look at him. He lost himself in your eyes. He leaned lower and rested on his elbow, hands wrapped around your shoulders. His forehead met yours as his thrusts moved from painful slow to delicious hard. Every time his hips smashed into yours, he would wait a second before pulling out to his tip, then slowly went back in until he was about 3/4 of the way and he would ram the rest right in. This making your whole body jolt upward.

You had to grab a pillow to cover your moans. Eddie was really giving it to you and you couldn't hold back anymore. But Eddie needed to see you. See all the pretty faces you made. But he definitely didn't want to wake Rosie with all these wonderful sounds. So put his hand on your mouth.

" Baby please. You have to be quiet. If you don't Rosie will wake up and I have to stop." He whispered in your ear.

" I'm.... trying" you mumbled and moaned behind his hand.

" I know sweetheart. I know. I'm almost there."

Me too. You tried to say but Eddie's hand covered your whole mouth and chin.

" I know...I can... ugh. ...I can feel....fuck...fuck...feel it."

He removed his hand from your mouth and white knuckled the pillow under your head with his other hand mimicking the other. You pulled him gently into your neck to muffle his whines and groans that were now way louder than yours. It was just a few more thrusts when you felt your release coming. That's when you felt Eddie's body trembled and hunched his back as his warm cum shot deep inside you. Yours mixed with his made you incredibly slick.

After you both came down from a satisfying climax, Eddie just laid on top of you kissing your neck and your cheek. He looked into your eyes and just fell in love all over again. He leaned in and kissed you ever so gently. Meeting your forehead with his. He moved to the side pulling out his flaccid self and laid on his side. He moved his hand on your tummy and slightly stroked with his thumb. You smiled snuggling up to him.

...

It was a week before the wedding and things were completely overwhelming. You were at work passing out the new enrollment packages for next year's health insurance. Eddie was at the labor temple taking his written test to be a certified mechanic. So it was just you and Wayne in the tiny union office. Wanye was just recently voted president and you had been voted as his secretary.

You were going through the finished paperwork to enter them into the system when Wayne asked if you were hungry. You nodded and he left to get you two lunches. You have been craving a lot of sugary foods lately and hoped he would bring you back cookies or a big slice of pie. He was only gone for a few minutes when a coworker busted into the room looking enraged.

" Hey John. What can I do for you?"

" Can you tell me what the hell is this?! Why are the premiums going up on this?"

You looked over and he was holding up the folder you gave to him a while ago.

" Umm well it's one of the negotiations the union had agreed upon. I know it's a lot. But it will come in handy if something should come up."

" THAT'S BULLSHIT!"

You jumped at his sudden bluntness. " I'm really sorry."

" DON'T BE SORRY JUST FIX THIS!"

You felt your heart begin to race and your palms began to sweat. " I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do."

" FUCK YOU! WHERE'S MUNSON?!"

" John please...calm down."

" NO! THIS IS RIDICULOUSLY!"

"Please-"

" I AM NOT FILLING THIS SHIT OUT!" He screamed throwing the papers in your face.

" HEY THAT'S ENOUGH! YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN AND STOP BEING SO DARN RUDE!" You yelled. You had started to feel a pain in your tummy when you were finished. You held it trying to soothe the pain. You had been feeling off all day. But his yelling made it so much worse.

"EAT IT YOU BITCH! EVER SINCE YOU JOINED THE COUNSEL YOU'VE BEEN ACTING LIKE A REAL FUCKING CUNT! AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON ALL THE FAVORITISM YOU AND WAYNE HAVE BEEN SHOWING OTHERS. JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE FUCKING THE MUNSON BOY DOESN'T MEAN HE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN THAT MAINTENANCE POSITION!"

The pain in your stomach got worse and you felt a warmth building between your legs.

"LIST-" you tried to speak when Wayne came in.

"HOW DARE YOU TALK TO HER LIKE THAT! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU JOHN?!"

John wasn't expecting to hear Wayne so upset. " I-I"

Wayne set the trays down on the floor and picked up John by the collar of his jumpsuit. "NO ONE IS PLAYING FAVORITES. MY BOY GOT THE JOB FAIR AND SQUARE BECAUSE HE IS GOOD! AND IF I EVER CATCH YOU NEAR MY DAUGHTER IN-LAW AGAIN. I WILL BEAT YOU WITHIN AN INCH OF YOUR LIFE!....NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

Wayne tossed him out of the office and slammed the door. He was so angry you could swear you saw steam coming out of his ears. You had never heard him like that.

" Wayne." You whimpered

He turned around and his anger turned into fear. He saw your hand covered in blood and blood coming from between your legs. He went over to hold you.

" It's ok. I'm calling you an ambulance."

...

Wayne tucked you into bed when you guys got back from the ER. He kissed the top of your head.

" Rest kiddo. If you need me just holler."

You nodded. He left closing the door just enough to leave a crack in it so he could hear you. He went to your living room and sat on the couch. He sighed heavily. You and Eddie couldn't catch a damn break. He waited there until Eddie came.

Eddie had Rosie on his hip when he walked into your place. " Hey what're you doing here?"

Eddie went to put Rosie in her play pin and turned to Wayne who was standing now.

" Let's go outside. Y/n is sleeping."

Eddie looked at his watch. " This early?"

" Yes. Common let's talk."

They both went outside and Eddie left the door open so Rosie could still see him.

" Son, we had to go to the hospital today."

" What?! What happened? Is the baby ok? Is she okay?"

" Yes. Yes. They're going to be fine. Y/n just needs to rest. She's just been too stressed out lately and it's effecting her and the baby."

Shit. He knew he was spending too much time away from you. He hated that he was working so much. He knew it would bite him in the ass. But he had to do it. He had to give you and Rosie and the new baby a life he would be proud of. You deserved everything and he was going to give it to you. But not if he was going to lose you. There was nothing in this world he wouldn't do for you or Rosie. Now you guys have a little one coming too. Yes it was a lot. But as long as he had you, he could take on the world.

" Son, you need to be with her tonight. I'm gonna take Rosie so you guys can be together."

Eddie swallowed the lump that was building in his throat and blinked away the tears. " uhh yeah alright."

Wayne hugged him. "It's okay. Everything is going to be fine. Just make sure to take care of her."

" I always will." Eddie's voice broke.

When Wayne and Rosie left, Eddie paced the hallway. He had to make a decision for the both of you in order to cut back the stress you had. He couldn't lose either one of you. He wanted so badly to marry you on Saturday. But you were hurting and he couldn't let that happen anymore. He really fucked up by not helping you with this. So he made the decision to call off the wedding and hold off on moving in together. Not that he wanted to, but he had to. For the baby, for you.

He took off his jacket and shoes and went to lay down with you. You were sound asleep and he spooned you. He put his hand on your belly and caressed it. Tears fell and he held you and the baby.

He whispered" Common peanut. Be nice to mommy...I need her."

@salenorona23 @mrsjaderogers @b-irock @browneyes528

...

You gripped your steering wheel hard as you drove as carefully as you could to the Munson's trailer. It was the day before the wedding and Eddie had been keeping Rosie away from you. You were so upset from the information you got this morning and you were going to confront Eddie about it. Tears streamed down your face as you constantly grabbed your tummy and wiped them away.

Finally pulling up to the place Eddie was outside smoking. When he saw you he put it out the cigarette quickly and got to his feet. You got out and looked awful.

" Sweetheart, you're supposed to be in bed." He came towards.

" Why did I just get calls cancelling the flowers and our slot for the chapel?!"

"I uhh..." He rubbed the back of his neck.

He had meant to tell you. But he was scared that this was going to be your reaction. He didn't want to stress you out more.

" What? You don't want to marry me anymore?" Your lip quivered

" Yeah I do. It's just-"

" What?! Is this too much now? Am I too much?"

" No no baby. I just thought it would be better this way okay." His eyes filled with sadness.

" Better this way? What not being together?!"

" Please baby, I need you to calm down." He put his hands on your shoulders but you pushed them off.

" No! I know what you're trying to do. And I love you for that. But you can't just cancel everything because of it. Can't you see. Instead of making things better, you're making it so much worse. Keeping Rosie away, telling our realtor to not look for houses anymore.

" Sweetheart, common let's just go inside and calm down and we can talk about this."

" I don't want to talk about this. I want to get married tomorrow! I want to see my daughter! And I want you to stop smoking!"

" I-I"

" Figured out what's really important to you because if you want to be with me. I'll be the one in the dress at the chapel."

You opened the car door and got in.

" Baby please. Don't leave. Don't go like this."

" No Eddie! My heart hurts too much to look at you right now. How could you cancel everything without telling me?! Am I not important enough for you to just talk to? We were supposed to be a team. And you decided this without me. If you would have just said something. We could have come to a compromise. Not just you calling everything off." Tears rolled down your face.

" I mean it Eddie. I will be there tomorrow...please be there too. I need you to be there."

His heart broke when he watched you drive off. How was he going to do this?

[live-the-fangirl-life]

Cusco, Peru

A World Away Part 6

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn - World Travelers AU

Travel Tip #67: Be aware and respectful of the history around you—in the long-treaded paths, the ruins of lost civilizations, and in the people whose ancestry can be traced back to both.

Part 5 | Fic Masterlist | MoodBoard | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language

11,091 words

*******

The weather was balmy, and Aelin could feel a rivulet of sweat run down the side of her hairline as she kept her phone pressed to her ear.

“I just grabbed my bag. Where are you?” She asked into the speaker, spinning in place as she scanned the small, bustling airport. Without waiting for a response, she followed the flow of people out of the building and towards the eager hordes of taxi drivers, all gesturing to travelers and calling out to say they could drive them wherever they needed to go.

Adjusting the strap of her backpack that was digging into her shoulder, Aelin kept her cellphone pressed close so she could still hear over the hum of chatter around her while she continued to look for a familiar face.

“Keep walking, I see you,” a deep, accented voice responded. “We’re at the end of the row.”

“We?” she asked, confused, carefully avoiding running into anyone’s bags and suitcases.

The sun and heat were welcome changes from the ever-too-cool airports and obnoxious fluorescent lighting that had defined her last day and a half. Not to mention how much she appreciated getting to truly stretch her legs. Navigating the maze-like airport terminals wasn’t as refreshing as stepping out from baggage claim and into whatever world she’d ended up in.

“Luis and I,” he clarified before saying something in muffled Spanish, “He’s the cab driver I got earlier—insisted on coming back when I explained you’d be flying in now.”

Aelin sped up to pass a family of slow walkers, and as she moved around them and back onto the sidewalk, she spotted a tall, silver-haired man with a cell phone pressed to his ear.

The small smile he wore widened into a grin when he caught her eye and hung up the call. Matching that grin, Aelin quickly shoved her phone into her pocket before hurrying over towards him.

Unlike last time she’d seen Rowan in person when he’d been taken aback by her unexpected hug in Dublin, this time he was the one to approach her, wrapping his arms around her before she could barrel into him. Aelin laughed into his shirt, suppressing her surprise at his unprompted show of affection as she returned the hug.

Her brain felt too tired from the exhausting hours it took to arrive in Peru—the flights, connections, and layovers—to think too much about why she suddenly felt so comfortable. She allowed herself another moment to hang onto him before pulling back and grinning again. “Buzzard! Would you look at that, we’re in the same place and not by accident this time!”

His face instantly morphed into that of long-suffering amusement. Rolling his eyes, Rowan carded a hand through his hair and Aelin had to use more restraint than she expected to not stare at the way his sleeves stretched over his muscled arms. Damned travel exhaustion. He chuckled, seemingly oblivious to her momentarily dilemma, “One of these days, I’m going to come up with a name for you that’s just as awful as Buzzard.”

“Promise?” She winked, laughing.

He shook his head exasperatedly but smirked.

Aelin was thrilled at how natural it felt to talk to him. Despite their frequent conversations—after she’d given him her number, he quickly became the person she spoke to the most on a regular basis—it had still been practically four months since they’d seen each other in person.

She kept him updated on where she was headed next, and he told her all about his projects and where he’d be flying to on any particular day. Neither one could be counted on to be in the same time zone from week to week, sometimes leaving hours between the shortest of messages. But, in a way, their disjointed conversations were more reliable than those she had with her parents or friends back home, because she knew that despite unpredictable schedules, she and Rowan could keep a conversation going for days at a time.

“Buenos días, miss. My name is Luis.” The cab driver came around the hood of the car and greeted her warmly in an enunciated, Peruvian accent as he held out his hand for her luggage. “I can put your bags in the back.”

Noticing his dubious expression when all she handed him was her large backpack, she shrugged and explained, “I didn’t want to worry about dealing with a suitcase,” she shared an excited glance with Rowan, “with our plans and all.”

They slid into the back of the small car, Rowan wincing slightly at the way his long legs were squished behind the driver’s seat. Aelin leaned over and playfully knocked his shoulder with hers. “It’s good to see you, Rowan.”

His face softened a fraction, and his smile was small and genuine. “It’s good to see you too, Aelin. Even if you do ridiculously insist on naming me after a bird.”

Her snort was cut off by Luis grinning at them in the rearview mirror as he nodded to the land around them and began driving away. “¡Bienvenido a Cusco!”

***

The rest of the day was a blur. Between jet lag and the anticipation for their plans in the following days, Rowan didn't pay nearly enough attention to their exploration of the city center as he should have.

It may have also had something to do with the woman walking alongside him—and sometimes ahead of him, hurrying forward when she saw a shop or cart she found interesting, always waving him along to join her.

He and Aelin walked through the lively mercado, stopping to listen to music and maneuvering around locals and tourists moving from one garage-door storefront to the next. They ended up at a small restaurant half inside, half outside that gave them the perfect vantage point to people-watch.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Aelin asked him with an excited grin as she sat back in her chair and took a sip of her passion fruit juice, unable to keep the giddiness from her voice.

Rowan hated how infectious her excitement was as he forced his smirk not to blossom into a wide smile. He arched a brow and stretched his arm over the back of the chair next to him. “Am I ready to spend three days on foot hiking the Inca trail through the Andes mountain range?” he paused deliberately slowly to take a sip of his water before cracking a smile and nodding at her expectant look. “Yeah. I’ve always wanted to see Machu Picchu.”

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “I am so excited; it's gonna be incredible. I’m trying my best not to get my hopes up because I know it won't look like all the pictures online, but hopefully, it’ll be better.”

He chuckled as their food was brought out. “As someone who takes those kinds of pictures that end up online, I guarantee you it won’t look exactly the same.”

Aelin nodded as she took a bite of her ceviche peruano, startling him as she closed her eyes and moaned at the delicious citrusy fish.

Rowan cleared his throat and discreetly shifted in his chair as he tried to ignore the sound that just escaped her lips. Focusing on the people wandering past, he added, “But, uh, I’m sure it will be amazing, nonetheless.”

They spent the rest of their meal going back and forth between what they were looking forward to that week, and what else they’d been up to since last seeing each other—that the other one didn't already know. It was so easy to talk to Aelin that he lost track of how many hours went by, the time only passing by their desert orders and drink refills.

After her third yawn in as many minutes, Rowan looked at his watch and asked, “You want to call it a night? We have an early morning tomorrow.”

She nodded, finishing the last of her drink. It wasn’t a long walk from the café to the apartment they’d rented for the night, and the cooler evening air was nice. The apartment wasn’t huge, but it had a bed, a pull-out sofa, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. They were only staying for a night; it didn’t need to be luxurious.

Aelin insisted on taking the sofa, arguing that it was too short for Rowan and that she didn’t want to spend the next day listening to his old man complaints of a bad back. He took the soft bed and extra pillow without argument purely out of spite for that insult.

After double-checking his bags and triple-checking his chargers, Rowan fell asleep—excited for their trek and to be traveling with Aelin on purpose.

***

Normally, Aelin wasn’t someone prone to carsickness, but that particular day was proving her disastrously wrong. She and Rowan were two hours into a four-hour bus ride taking them from Cusco to the base of the mountain where their tour group would begin their trek to Machu Picchu.

In between the sharp turns and windy roads, she watched as they passed towns and villages nestled into the crevices of the mountains surrounding them, filling all the steep inclines and plateaus as if the buildings had been poured onto the uneven terrain like water to determine where the settlements ebbed and flowed. As they passed by a particularly steep mountainside of houses, Aelin had the brief thought of someone stepping out of their front door and falling down the face of the mountain.

Rowan sat in the seat across from her and was trying to take pictures of the scenery around them, cursing under his breath each time the bus jostled just as he set up a shot.

Aelin took a steadying breath as they took yet another turn and thought back to that morning before they got on this godsforsaken bus. She and Rowan had met with their tour group, bleary eyed but excited, before four in the morning to meet the dozen people who’d be traveling with them for the next three days. They piled into vans and drove just outside of the city to stop at a small, family-owned farm for breakfast.

While they sat near a large stone oven, getting to know some of their fellow trekkers, a short woman came around with a large, ceramic jug. Her skin was darkened and weathered from constant work on the farm, and the crinkles by her eyes deepened as she smiled at Aelin while pouring her a cup of tea.

“Please, if you’d like, drink some Coca tea before we get on the bus.” Their tour guide, José, encouraged in a lilting Peruvian accent. “It will help with the higher elevations.”

Aelin drank it without hesitation. She’d tried it before and despite its weak taste, she would take anything to help with the impending hike.

“Coca? Like cocoa—chocolate?” Rowan murmured, leaning closer to ask quietly as he sipped at his own glass.

“No.” She shook her head, finishing her’s and setting the cup back down on the table. “Coca, like cocaine.”

He sputtered, spraying a bit of his tea onto the front of his shirt. Chuckling, Aelin handed him a napkin and raised a brow in amusement.

“What?” he hissed incredulously.

“Don’t worry so much, Buzzard, it’s just from the same plant. You might feel a slightly more awake, but it’s so diluted that you can’t get high.” Aelin rolled her eyes, sitting back and watching as he eyed the glass warily. “Trust me, I’ve tried.” She laughed. “It will help with altitude sickness though.”

Despite his hesitation, he finished his tea by the time they were ushered onto the bus that would be taking them into the mountains.

Four torturous hours later, when Aelin felt like she wasn’t about to lose her stomach, she followed Rowan off the bus with their backpacks in hand.

They were near the middle of the Andes mountain range; the giant, snow-capped peaks reaching towards the sky and encompassing them within its walls. The air was chilly—and stayed chilly despite the sun arcing overhead.

One of their first pointers was about always remembering to wear sunscreen. For those not used to the sun exposure near the equator, it was important to take precaution or else you’d end up shivering with a burnt nose.

Just before they set out, they were each handed a set of walking poles. She was dubious about taking them, figuring they would just get in the way. Sharing a smirk with Rowan, she knew he thought the same, but they thanked their guides and took the poles anyway.

It was a good thing, too, because she used those damn poles every single moment of their hike.

“You holding up?” Rowan teased, smirking as Aelin huffed out another breath and drove her sticks into the ground at her feet. The group slowly separated, some people walking faster ahead and others trailing behind, but Rowan kept pace with her the whole way. Aelin wasn’t sure to be grateful for his company or bitter about how seemingly effortless he found it.

It seemed her proclivity for carsickness—and Rowan’s lack thereof—was also apparent in being affected by the increasing altitude. Coca tea be damned.

She blew a hair out of her narrowed eyes and shot Rowan a glare as he snickered at her huffing and puffing along the trail. She wasn’t out of shape, but godsdammed this altitude was making her struggle.

“Perfectly.” She answered, pointedly thrusting her stick in front of her next step. “Why the hell aren’t you out of breath? Totally unfair.”

He chuckled, lifting his camera towards his face. One perk, she decided, of having a professional photographer as a travel buddy, was that the pictures would always be perfect. Aelin managed to get Rowan to promise to be the photographer for both of them during this trek, but she suspected he’d already assumed that despite his exaggerated complaints every time she asked him to get a picture of some bird or view.

“My stamina’s never been an issue.” He smirked and tossed her a devilish wink.

Aelin snorted and almost missed her next pole landing, deliberately keeping her gaze straight ahead and refusing to glance over in fear that her flaming cheeks would be evident. After a few paces in mutual silence, she finally looked over and noticed the tips of his ears were a bright red and that he too was staring ahead of them, his eyes fixed on the path.

***

My stamina’s never been an issue? Seriously?

He’d said the words before his brain could process what he was saying. For a moment, he contemplated finding a way to hurl himself off the mountain but then Aelin laughed, and he decided he didn’t want to miss any of that, so he fiddled with his camera and kept his gaze on the trail instead of looking her in the eye.

Rowan deliberately shortened his stride so as not to get too far ahead of Aelin. Occasionally they would stop for a drink, pulling out one of many water bottles they had with them. Donning hiking boots, long fuzzy socks, leggings, jacket, hat, and sunglasses, Aelin had fully committed to the wear layers advisement. Her large backpack was almost as big as his—his only surpassing hers in sheer size because he needed his extra camera equipment.

As they followed their guides up, over, and back down the mountain trails, the clouds seemed to form around them, creating an unusual misty layer that lasted until they were closer to the base on the mountains.

They passed by a few farms sporadically set up near the path. They were small and very traditional; not a lot of modern technology, besides electricity, and most of the foods and plants were grown using older, passed-down methods.

The group stopped for lunch at one of these farms and Rowan overheard a couple whispering about the Andean people who lived out here in the mountains.

“Do you think they have Wi-Fi?” One girl asked her friend in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know. But you saw all the telephone wires out here.” The other said, shrugging. As Rowan sat down at the tables set up for them, he noticed Aelin’s lip twitching as she eavesdropped too.

The first girl gasped as if just thinking of something, turning to her friend and hissing, “Do you think they even know who Taylor Swift is?”

Aelin hid her snort in the cup of water she’d been drinking.

“Please tell me,” Aelin said to Rowan as they were all ladled out bowls of deliciously smelling soup, “that not all Americans sound that…” she paused trying to find the right word. “unaware when we talk?”

He flashed her a smirk, “How often do you tell people you’re from the States when you travel abroad?”

At her wince and shrug he laughed. Aelin mirrored his grin, lifting a spoonful of soup and pointing at him. “Touché.”

Once they’d finished their meal, Rowan took his and Aelin’s bowls towards the washing station. When he came back, she wasn’t in her seat at the table, but rather she’d gone to talk to the older couple who ran the farm. She was smiling and gesturing around her while trying her best to compliment their food and thank them in her less than perfect Spanish.

It amazed him sometimes how easy it was for her to strike up a conversation with anybody. Even the very first day he met her, nearly a year and a half ago—gods, had it really been that long? Seventeen months, give or take a week, he supposed. But that day when he’d blown her off in Florence, she’d made friends with the people standing in line behind them. Or in Marrakech how she seemed so at ease haggling and chatting with people in the bazaar.

But, maybe, that’s what all this traveling was for. Not just to see places and experience things, but to meet people. To live, if just for a day—for a moment—in someone else’s shoes. To try to understand how someone else lived. Someone who speaks a different language, who lives in a different climate, who eats and grows different foods than you do.

That was what Rowan had been missing.

He’d been hiding behind his camera, looking at everything through a screen. But that changed. He was changing. Rowan wasn’t sure exactly when it started but he was sure that the laughing woman ahead of him had something—everything—to do with it.

And gods be damned if that didn’t scare him.

***

By the end of the first day, Aelin wanted nothing more than to take off her backpack and fall asleep. The sun had set a few hours ago, and because they’d once again dipped between the mountains, the sunset was merely a fading blue sky rather than any reds or golds on an invisible horizon.

The group ended up at a little campsite that she was sure had been decorated with tourists in mind. Their guide had explained on the way in that the huts they’d be staying in were built to emulate traditional Andean tents…minus the modern mattresses, lights, and access to plumbing, of course. A series of stilted huts, their thatched straw roofs reflecting hints of moonlight shining through the trees, were arranged in a semi-circle surrounding a large fire pit.

She and Rowan found seats on a log as the rest of the group did the same until they were all sitting around the pit. There weren’t that many other people traveling with them—a few college kids on some study abroad trip, two older couples who seemed to be enjoying retirement and who hiked at surprisingly fast paces, and a few other travelers like them who just wanted to explore. Not to mention their guide and two cooking staff who had helped make their meals during the trek.

For dinner, they watched as roasted cuy was prepared over the fire—the guinea pigs larger than Aelin expected and spiced to deliciousness.

“Now that we are fed and happy, I have here the keys to the huts behind you.” José told them, thanking the cooks once again for the meal. “Let us see...”

Aelin scooted closer to Rowan so she could look over his shoulder as he scrolled through his camera at some of the pictures he’d taken that day. He tilted the screen so she could get a better look at the image of a colorful bird springing away from a branch. She leaned her head against his shoulder, pressing her cheek into the rough martial of his jacket. She felt him stiffen, but when she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, their guide called their names and held out a key.

“Galathynius and Whitethorn,” he said, reading off a list. “Number four.”

Aelin got up from the log and walked towards José as Rowan turned off his camera and picked up his bag. When she walked back towards him, he was holding her own backpack out for her which she took with an appreciative nod. Without another word, and in an oddly awkward silence, they strode across the grass and towards the small hut with a carved number four on its door.

Why was she suddenly nervous? She knew she’d be sharing a hut with Rowan tonight—it was either that or bunking with a stranger and, really, there was no choice to it at all.

Aelin got to the door and used the key José had given her to unlock it. She shuffled into the dark room and chuckled, “Watch out for the door,” she warned, and laughed louder at the sound of a thud and Rowan’s cursing. “It wasn’t built for giants like you.”

Dropping her bag to the floor, Aelin blindly waved her arms out in front of her searching for the dangling chain to the single lightbulb they were told would be in here. She let out a quiet grunt of triumph as she found it and pulled to turn on the light.

Rowan’s bag hit the floor with a thunk, and Aelin was caught between laughing at the dumbfounded expression on his face or cringing at their apparent sleeping arrangement. Arrangement—singular. As in, instead of the two cots she’d been promised when they booked this trip, Aelin was staring at the singular bed that took up most of the space in front of her.

Well shit.

Neither spoke for a moment as they both stared at the bed. This was the exact opposite of what she needed. She was already struggling enough to contain her gawking every time Rowan’s sleeves stretched across his chest or arms, or control her amusement at nearly every rare joke he made. She did not need to spend a night mere inches away, wrapped up in the same blanket together.

Forcing a deep breath, Aelin told herself that one night sleeping together—sleeping; getting shut-eye; catching some Zzz—would be fine. Totally fine.

“Did you know there would only be one bed?” Rowan asked, breaking the silence in an oddly strangled voice, avoiding her eyes when she swung her head back to look at him.

For some reason, sensing that he was just as fazed by this as she was, gave her a sudden burst of confidence. Aelin snorted. “Oh no. You caught me” she deadpanned in a flat, unimpressed voice “I staged a transcontinental, isolated, mountain trek just to get you into bed with me. However did you figure it out?”

He jerked his head towards her and for a fleeting second, he looked like a deer caught in headlights, before raising a brow and silently questioning her.

“Oh my Gods,” she huffed and rolled her eyes, hoping that the heat in her cheeks wasn’t visible. “No. Relax. When I booked this trip, they told me there would be two beds in here.” Aelin insisted at Rowan’s still-flustered expression. “It must have just been a logistical mix-up.”

He still looked dubious, but she caught the way his lips twitched up in amusement.

She arched a brow and crossed her arms, slowly smirking at the way he was eyeing the bed as it personally offended him. Which it did, she supposed. “And, for the record: if I was actively trying to get in your pants, Whitethorn, it would take far less work.”

Rowan scoffed, finding snapping out of his reverie and scrunched his brows incredulously. “You think mighty highly of yourself, Galathynius.” He returned her smirk and carded a hand through his hair.

Pleased to have gotten some response out of him other than disbelief, she picked up her bag and approached the edge of the bed. Forcing nonchalance, she mused, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

He was nodding excessively, and she was trying not to just shout out Tell me what you’re thinking! Why do you look like you have to pep-talk yourself just for having to sleep next to me?

She could practically see the cogs in his brain spinning as his eyes darted around the cramped space. “If you’re about to volunteer to sleep on the floor,” Aelin rolled her eyes, walking around to one side of the bed while Rowan hadn’t moved from his spot near the door. “Then I’m gonna point out that there isn’t nearly enough room for your giant ass to lay down without contorting yourself around the bed posts. And I am not giving up my chance to sleep on a soft mattress after our hike today.” Sitting down on the blanket, Aelin began untying her boots. “So, unless you plan to sleep standing up, stop making a fuss and take that side.” She jerked her chin to the edge closest to him.

They got ready for bed in silence, taking turns leaving to go to the washing rooms on the other side of the campsite. She had crawled into the surprisingly comfortable bed by the time Rowan came back to the hut, flipping through her Spanish and Quechua translation book.

He wore a light shirt and shorts, not too unlike the outfit she had on—she had anticipated sharing a room with him, if not a bed, so she couldn’t very well wear her preferred nightgown unless she wanted to give Rowan a heart attack, but, gods, if one of her nightgowns would shock him out of his newly reserved self, she almost wished she’d brought one. He pulled the chain, turning the single lightbulb off and groaned when he realized how bright the hut still was.

“If a little light is gonna keep you awake, I hate to break it you about the clucking chickens and stray dogs barking at each other.”

“Just gets better and better.” He muttered under his breath, rubbing a hand down his face, and carefully lifting the blanket.

Aelin set down her book and shifted in place, trying to get comfortable which was more difficult than she thought it would be. After a minute of endless moving, she stilled when Rowan sucked in a breath and looked like he was about to say something.

“You better not kick me in your sleep.” He drawled, settling into his side.

Aelin could feel the heat radiating off his body across the short distance separating them. If she lifted her knee, she’d graze his leg; if she tossed an arm overhead, there was a good chance it would curve around and brush against his hair.

“No promises.” She quipped back, turning to lay on her side with her back facing him.

It was to the sound of his soft laughter that her exhaustion pulled her into sleep.

***

The first thought in her conscious mind was that she was exceptionally comfortable. And warm. Why was she so warm? Aelin squinted her eyes against the faint sunlight streaming in through the open seams between the walls and door. She tried to roll over but found she was stuck. Why was she stuck?

Oh, that was why.

The heavy arm thrown around her middle, keeping her in place.

Wait—arm?

Aelin’s eyes snapped open, and her head jerked around to see the sleeping face of Rowan Whitethorn behind her, his deep breaths floating over her exposed neck. At some point during the night—between the incessant animal noises and rushing streams—they’d become entangled, her back pressed against his chest with his arm banded around her waist and their legs intertwined together.

Her next coherent thought was: this is nice.

Aelin squeezed her eyes shut, allowing herself to savor the comfort of the moment. To allow herself to wonder if this might not be the only time she would wake up like this.

She wasn’t blind—or oblivious. It had crossed her mind that Rowan was attractive, and intelligent, and once you got past his grumpy, asshole-like first impression, a genuinely good guy. It also wasn’t lost on her how much she enjoyed their time together. The near-constant messaging between them had been something she looked forward to every day in the four months since she’d been in Ireland. He also understood her desire and need to travel, hell, he did the same for a living.

She knew in her bones that traveling was something she had to do for herself, but despite that…it got lonely traveling solo.

She was rarely alone. Always surrounded by new people and exploring new things, but…it didn’t change the fact that she always bought one ticket, asked for one single bed in a hostel, registered as one participant…

And then she met Rowan. And then she became friends with Rowan. And then suddenly she didn’t feel as alone. She had someone to talk to who understood—

Someone who would say yes to the chance to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu with her because she was gifted two tickets, not one.

It felt almost like a figment of her imagination to have this friend who she sporadically met around the globe. It felt unreal, but it also made the world feel not so big at times when all the travel became overwhelming.

So, selfishly, she didn’t want to risk that.

Selfish to who? Herself? It wasn’t her fault that the last time she met a guy at a bar and went home with him, her mind conjured up silver hair and pine green eyes.

A part of her wanted the possibility that was Rowan. She couldn’t lie to herself.

The other thought that had crossed her mind on more than one occasion was that she could always just fuck him. Make him her elusive, international fuck buddy. But that didn’t feel right. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—minimize whatever they had to whatever that was. Something told her if she tried it would only hurt them both in the end.

And…

It seemed special, their relationship. This unimaginable bond that formed because they were in the right place at the right time so many times. Was it bad that she wanted to cherish that for what it was and not push for more only to have it blow up in her face?

Life was so unpredictable. She took each day in turn, only planning as far to her next destination. It was exciting that way. It was also easier that way, to pretend she didn’t have to deal with life’s responsibilities. And Rowan, well, he travelled for work, but usually to places he was told to go. She didn’t think she wanted to put her own spontaneous traveling dreams on hold, and she hadn’t let herself contemplate what a worldwide long-distance romantic relationship might look like.

Would she be willing to commit to that? Catching spare moments between assignments and trips that could end up being months apart? A friendship like that was one thing, but something more…

Or yet, if she decided to offer that, would he really want to limit himself to something so distant?

Aelin’s mind turned over those thoughts as her body fell back into sleep.

***

Rowan woke up to the sounds of people milling about outside. Opening his eyes, he reached overhead to stretch only to realized one of his arms was stuck under a body and his legs were touching someone else’s. He sucked in a sharp breath as he realized he’d been spooning Aelin in his sleep. His brain may not have noticed, but some other part of his body certainly did.

Careful to make sure she was still asleep, he carefully extricated his limbs from her body and hastily grabbed a fresh change of clothes before awkwardly slipping out of the hut, pausing only to silently curse as he knocked his head on the beam over the door.

By the time he got back, as fresh as he could be from an outdoor communal restroom, Aelin was awake and packing her backpack for the day’s trek.

“We’re getting fresh coffee this morning,” she said in greeting, and Rowan hoped she had been completely oblivious to the fact that he’d been using her as a pillow last night.

“What?” he blinked in confusion, willing his brain to stop replaying that moment when he woke up with her in his arms. A fruitless effort, really.

“The coffee plantation, remember?” Aelin tied her shoes and hauled her backpack around her shoulders. “That’s our first stop today, and I don’t know about you, but I would kill for a cup of coffee right about now.”

He laughed, shaking his head and grabbing his bag, following her out into the crisp morning air. “Then let’s hope we leave soon because I’d rather not die on the Inca Trail.”

Rowan busied himself on the way to the plantation by taking an excess number of photos along the hike. As long as he focused on establishing the correct aperture and composition for his shot then he wouldn’t focus on where his thoughts had gone that morning.

Was he purposefully shoving himself back behind the camera? Maybe. Was it a complete waste of effort because he somehow always kept gravitating back towards Aelin? Absolutely.

Gods, get it together Whitethorn, he berated himself.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the coffee plantation—a large, almost village-looking site with dozens of people milling about. Aelin kept throwing him odd looks during their presentation about how the beans were harvested and roasted.

“You okay, Buzzard?” Aelin whispered after having to nudge him to attention when they were each given cup of the roasted coffee.

He cleared his throat. He wasn’t going to spend the rest of their trip dredging up what ifs and maybes; he was here in Peru, hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, with Aelin. That’s all he needed to think about. Rowan met her inquisitive stare and smirked down at her cup, “Dandy. Are you going to be able to drink that or do you need to drown it in sweetener? Because that might offend the nice people who spent the time making it for us.”

She looked at him for another second before rolling her eyes and scoffing, “I can drink this no problem,” she insisted.

He raised his steaming cup and inhaled the rich, acidic aromas of the brew. With a sardonic little grin, Aelin mimicked him and lifted her cup. She kept her gaze locked with his as she gulped down two, then three mouthfuls of the scalding coffee.

Rowan’s grin widened as he saw her noticeably try not to grimace. “Did that taste good?” he asked, amused.

“Delicious.” She hissed, gritting her teeth.

“Did you burn yourself?”

“I can’t feel my tongue.” Aelin admitted matter-of-factly.

He tossed his head back and laughed, leaning over to grab the water pitcher, and slid it towards her.

***

“Aw, Rowan, I think it likes you.” Aelin snickered, taking his camera from around his neck and stepping back to get both Rowan and the large parrot on his shoulder in the picture.

“Just take the damn picture, Galathynius, so I can get rid of this thing.” He grumbled, shifting on his feet as the bird settled more sturdily onto his shoulder.

“Hey, it is not a thing.” she mockingly scolded before grinning, “He’s practically family, so don’t be rude.”

He looked at her incredulously, trying to jerk his head away from the beak that kept snapping a little too close to his ear. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Parrot, buzzard…there’s some distant relation there.” Aelin explained, cackling as his face fell into a scowl.

“You’re a menace is what you are.” he grumbled, finally handing the bird back to its owner.

Aelin laughed, scrolling through the pictures she just took to show him. “I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you very much.”

After leaving the coffee plantation, the group hiked for another few hours before stopping at a small rest stop near the train station. There was a train from the city to Machu Picchu, which they would be taking the opposite direction on their way back, but at one of its stops there was a small market with souvenirs, easy-to-eat food, and a very popular parrot. Their trekking group actually followed the path of the train tracks for a while in the afternoon until they arrived in Aguas Calientes.

The town, commonly referred to simply as Machupicchu, came to life only a few decades ago as a tourist center when Machu Picchu was discovered and opened to the public. The town was the closest habitable place to the ruins—just a short bus ride away.

That night, she and Rowan bought their early morning bus tickets so they wouldn't have to wait in line the next day. Then they dropped their bags off in the hostel they’d all be staying at. Aelin kicked herself for the unwelcome wave of disappointment she felt when she and Rowan walked into their room and each had a twin bed on opposite walls.

Her disappointment was irrational. Impractical. Unnerving. She shoved it down.

Despite both their exhaustion, she and Rowan found a place to eat and enjoyed some chicharrón, washing down the fried pork rinds with a citrusy pisco sour. It felt weird to see restaurants and nightclubs after being in the isolated villages for two days.

“You get to add one more achievement to your list.” Rowan told her as they walked through the dark streets, tourists still wandering about despite the late hour and lack of sun.

“My list?” she asked with a single golden brow arched.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, blowing a stray strand of hair from his eyes. “Your ever-growing list of interesting and amazing things you’ve done.”

“If I didn’t know better, I would think you sound impressed.” Aelin grinned as she kept pace with Rowan who looked over his shoulder every few second to make sure he didn't run into anything.

“Do you? Know better?” The moonlight shining down highlighted strands of his silvery hair as he cocked his head to the side.

“I think…” she countered, pausing in her tracks as she scrutinized Rowan. He stopped walking too, not fidgeting as she contemplated, “you are a little impressed. Envious, too.” She said in a soft non-judgmental but simply matter-of-fact voice, lifting a hand when he tried to reply. “And I think you still roll your eyes at me a bit for being able to go wherever I want, whenever I want. Because that’s what you want to do. But you’re too good of a guy to outwardly resent me, at least not since Marrakech, I think. So instead, you mock my list when, really, you wish it was yours.”

She hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but she wasn’t going to apologize for being able to add to her list.

Rowan was quiet as he held her stare and she watched as something indiscernible flashed across his face. He stepped closer until she had to crane her neck up to continue holding his gaze.

“Maybe you’re right,” he murmured, and she blinked as his breath fanned over her face. “But you’re wrong about one thing.”

“Oh?” she breathed, overwhelmed by how completely he overtook her senses. “What’s that?”

Rowan lifted a hand and slowly, carefully, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I haven’t felt like that since Santorini, not Marrakech”

Her eyes widened as she remembered that their meeting in Santorini was a whole seven months before they crossed paths in Morocco. More than a year ago.

“And,” he added, in a low voice, “I’m not impressed. I’m in awe—of how utterly, entirely, and unwaveringly you know how you want to spend your life. And every day, you keep finding new ways to accomplish it.”

She sucked in a sharp breath and he finally stepped back. Aelin didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Today, it was hiking the Inca trail,” he explained, beginning to walk again and she had no choice but to walk alongside him. “Tomorrow it will be visiting Machu Picchu.” He gave her one last meaningful look before turning around so she could no longer see his face, “I can’t wait to find out what comes next.”

***

It was another early morning as Rowan followed Aelin towards the bus station after picking up the packed lunches their guides had made for them. He tried not to think too much into it as she leaned herself against him during the bus ride as they passed hairpin turn after hairpin turn, barely avoiding the buses travelling back down the mountain.

After his unrehearsed speech to her last night, they had walked the rest of the way to the hostel in silence. If he wasn’t focused on how his heart was beating out of his chest and the way blood was pounding in his ears, he might have noticed how Aelin’s hands kept accidentally brushing his.

It also didn’t help that when he woke up this morning his immediate reaction was to look across the room at a still-sleeping Aelin and come to the inevitable realization that the previous night’s sleep, the one where he’d woken up with her in his arms, had been one of the best night’s sleeps he had had in a long time. Definitely better than this one, in a twin bed across a room that could’ve been an ocean for how far the distance felt from her.

When the bus dropped them off, they were lucky to be one of the first groups of people to arrive at the site that morning. It gave them almost unbothered access to the sights.

Cresting the hill, he and Aelin got their first true look at the ruins of Machu Picchu. They had climbed and climbed, and yet more mountains rose above them.

“We made it.” she breathed, stepping up beside him and beaming as she rested her hands on her hips as she surveyed the view before them.

Masses of walls and building foundations stretched across the terraced ground. The structures were in remarkably good shape, their window openings mostly preserved, and their angled walls still prepared to hold up roofs. The layered stone features were clustered together around a wider central green space. From the way the settlement was built, it felt like they were all perched atop these mountains, protected from the world.

He and Aelin walked through the pathways between buildings, stopping to take pictures every few minutes. The morning soon became lighter, and by nine am the sun peaked out above the mountains and they saw their first true sunrise in days.

Rowan had done a fair bit of travelling in his life, but he’d never seen anything like this. The ruins were a glimpse back in time—wholly different from the way those in Europe felt. Anytime he set foot in a long-abandoned civilization, whether it be in Greece, Italy, Egypt, or in this case, Peru, it was entirely surreal.

They took their time walking through the terraced levels of grass and crumbling stone. The mountain surrounding the site was actually a mass of mountains that transitioned from one to another. At one end of the ruins was Huayna Picchu mountain, taller than Machu Picchu mountain and on the rightmost side of the formation. It was a climb they paid a little extra to take.

The pair kept towards the mountain’s face as they ascended the steep staircases both carved into and placed along the natural rock.

“Whatever you do,” Aelin twisted around to say to him while they paused and let a few people pass them back down the stairs. “Don't fall.”

Rowan scoffed and rolled his eyes. “No shit, Sherlock,” he replied, but kept a firm grip on the ropes drilled into the sheer surface of the rock. They were the only support to hold onto walking up the uneven steps; the other side had nothing to prevent someone from falling off the edge and down the steep drop.

He could hear her snickering as she resumed walking, and Rowan tried not to feel like a total creep with the way his eyes unconsciously kept straying to her ass. In his defense, she was walking ahead of him up a set of stairs, so he was really just looking forward and it just so happened that she was wearing fitted athletic leggings that hugged her round cheeks with every step she took.

“Shit!” he cursed again as his toes hit another of the mismatched stairs, making him stumble, and thankfully pulling his thoughts in another direction.

“I was serious about the not falling thing, Whitethorn.” Aelin said as she waited for him to right himself before she started walking again. “I don't want to explain to your friends back home how I lured you to a different continent and somehow you ended up dead. That's not a good look on me. When I get accused of murder it’ll be for something I actually did.”

They hiked up a few more stairs and past the wary eyes of someone walking the opposite direction who overheard their conversation before Rowan stopped her. “Can we address how you said when you get accused of murder?”

Aelin laughed and wiped the sweat from her forehead, shooting him a wink. “Don't get your feathers all ruffled, Buzzard.” Her grin widened as he rolled his eyes. “I have too many things I still need to see before I risk jail time.”

“That makes me feel so much better.” he deadpanned, trying and failing to suppress a smirk.

***

Aelin was surprised at how many people could fit on the top of a mountain.

She and Rowan walked around to the different lookout points, finally being able to stop and enjoy the view. They’d risen above most of the ruins, now able to see the foundations from a new perspective.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, allowing the sounds of voices behind her, the smell of the rocks and earth, and the feeling of the person standing beside her to ground her in the moment.

Aelin could see the mass of ruins perched onto of the mountain crest, its layers of terraces and structures casting shadows throughout the site. It was easy to understand how it had been hidden from the outside world for so long. As she lifted her face to bask in the heat of the sun, she felt, now for another instance in her life, the pure magic that encompassed her with the understanding of where she was and how fortunate she was to be there.

It took a couple of nudges from Rowan to bring her back into the moment and notice the people behind her, eagerly waiting their turn to see the lookout. She stepped aside and followed Rowan slowly around the viewing space.

“One thing I’ve noticed,” Aelin pointed out, “is that there are no such things as universal safety standards.”

“What do you mean?” Rowan turned to face her, lifting a hand to help block the sun.

“Like, if we were in the States, so much of this would be roped off with security watching and we wouldn't be allowed within five feet of any of these ledges.” she glanced pointedly down to the staircase they’d come from. “A lot of places I’ve seen, like the cliffs of Moher,” she nodded at him, “are all ‘proceed at your own risk’ without any other ropes or guardrails.”

He leaned against the post beside him, crossing his arms across his chest. “I can't tell if you’re excited or disappointed by that?”

Rolling her eyes, Aelin looked back down the sheer side of the cliff face. “Mildly intrigued. But, unlike some people, I don't trip when I walk up stairs.” She laughed when he discreetly flipped her off.

“Come on,” he suddenly urged, grabbing her hand, and leading her back towards the stairs.

“What are you—”

“Just trust me, I saw something on the way up.”

Her curiosity won out and Aelin allowed Rowan to pull her along. There, down a few steps and off to the side was a flat, slanted rock that jutted up and out from the side of the peak. It looked like it aimed for the clouds because from her perspective, she couldn’t see any of the ruins or mountains beneath them beyond the tip of the rock.

“There’s no one over there, let’s check it out.” She jerked him back before he could hop over the jagged crevice between the stairs and the rock.

“Rowan, there’s probably a reason no one is there. It doesn’t look like we’re supposed to go out onto it.” She reluctantly reasoned because the longer she looked at it the more she wanted to see what the view was like from the edge.

“If that’s the case, then someone will tell us, and we’ll get down.” He argued.

Blinking up at him, it took her a second to comprehend that it was Rowan suggesting it while she was trying to be the voice of reason, and not the other way around. The Rowan she met a year and a half ago would never have suggested it. A wide smile stretched across her face until her cheeks hurt, the look of happiness and excitement mirrored on Rowan’s as she realized how far he’d come out of his shell.

She was nodding before she realized she was doing it. “Okay. Wait! Give me the camera and I’ll get some pictures of you on the rock from here.”

Handing over the camera, Rowan rolled his shoulders back and jumped over the crack between the rocks.

“It’s steeper than it looks.” He muttered, crouching down to crawl on his hands and knees up to the top.

Aelin swallowed her giggles as she got shot after shot of Rowan crawling up the incline. She also quickly deleted the photo where she’d zoomed in on his ass.

Pausing at the edge, Rowan took a few steadying breath before pushing himself to his feet. Aelin brought the camera back up to her face and watched as Rowan stretched his arms out wide, the light silhouetting him against the blue and white sky. Very carefully, he shuffled around until he was facing Aelin with a broad, unrestrained grin.

After a few more pictures, he walked back down and rejoined her at the base of the platform. His hair was tousled from the breezed and he clamped his hands on her shoulders as he insisted, “You have to go up there.”

She mimicked his jump and crawl up the rock until she began to see the mountains beneath her. Like Rowan, she stayed kneeling on the edge as she looked around. Knowing he was staying quiet so as not to startle her, Aelin slowly stood up, keeping her arms out for balance until her legs were straight and she was staring out over the mountain range.

Uncontrolled laughter rose out of her. It was stunning. Terrifying—but oh, so worth it.

She understood how people worshipped these mountains—named them their gods. She felt like she was on top of the world, standing on the highest peak of a mountain that itself stood atop another mountain, and yet…she looked around and saw more peaks around her, reaching even closer towards the sun and sky.

Aelin knew she would never forget that view.

She insisted on getting a photo of her and Rowan in front of the rock.

He happily obliged.

***

When they made it back down the mountain and through the ruins once more, they ended up off to the side in a small patch of grass overlooking a section of building foundations.

Rowan watched as Aelin flopped down onto the grass and batted away the blades that tickled the side of her neck. He sat next to her, cross-legged with his hands braced behind him, and was already looking at her when she peeked an eye open to glance at him. She arched a brow in question, waiting for him to speak.

After opening his mouth and closing it, not quite sure what to say, she urged him on with the tilt of her head. “Thank you,” he told her before shifting his gaze towards the ruins, “for inviting me here.”

She shrugged. “I was given two tickets,” she laughed, sitting up. “And after that trek, I'm sure as hell glad I had a walking buddy.” Aelin smiled at him and bumped his shoulder.

Rowan nodded, bringing his knees up and crossing his arms on top of them. “I mean, you could have invited anyone.” A look he couldn't understand flashed across her face before she schooled it into neutrality.

She watched him for another second and then followed his gaze towards the mountain peaks and crumbling walls. “I’m not sure I know anyone else who would appreciate this in the same way you and I do.” She finally said.

He loosed a slow breath. There it was again—that notion that he and Aelin were connected. That they were similar in ways he hadn’t anticipated all that time ago.

“For what it's worth,” he said, “I don't think I could’ve come here at any point since meeting you and not have expected to see you pop out from behind some ruined wall.”

She snorted, tossing her head back and whipping her hair behind her. “I really kept you on your toes, didn’t I?” she teased.

He nodded, glad to see her smiling again and rid of that faraway look she’d worn a minute ago. Knitting his brows together in mock distress, he confirmed, “For a while, every time I saw some blonde woman, I thought it was you.” Truth. “And each time I had a split second to prepare myself for my trip to be ruined.” Lie.

“Ruined?” she scoffed, looking outraged. “I made each of those experiences wonderfully unforgettable.”

You have no idea.

At his shit-eating smirk, she rolled her eyes and huffed an annoyed laugh. They lapsed into silence once more, enjoying the breeze that swept through the mountain side.

“I have something for you,” Rowan broke the silence and Aelin’s gaze on him as he turned towards his backpack and reached into the protected inner side pocket. His fingers caught on what he was looking for and brought his closed fist around towards her. At her questioning look, he unfurled his fingers and sitting in his palm was her Claddagh ring

She sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes flew between the ring and his face.

“I—” she stammered. “What—”

“I found it in my car after you left at the airport.” he picked it up and held the small, silver ring between two fingers. “I thought you might like it back.”

Aelin blinked again at the ring, snapping her jaw shut that had dropped at the sight of it. “I thought I lost it…” she trailed off, slowly taking it from him. “I was so upset with myself because I wanted something to remember that day—” she abruptly cut herself off and cleared her throat. “Thank you, Rowan.”

He watched as she toyed with the ring, shooting him another quick glance before hesitantly asking, “Are you familiar with the meanings behind these rings?”

“Shit. That's what I was going to do.” he hissed, shutting his eyes as he remembered what he’d wanted to figure out before returning it to her. “Uh, no, I don't.”

She laughed softly and spun the ring in her hand before slipping it onto the middle finger of her right hand with the heart facing out. At his expectant look, she merely shook her head as a small, secretive smile appeared on her face.

“I believe this is a sufficient thank you for the invitation.” she decided, grinning at him, and gods be damned if that smile alone wasn't reward enough.

Their gazes held, unwavering, neither adding another word to the conversation. Something passed over her face as the rest of the world seemed to fade. Aelin opened her mouth to say something—

“Ah! There you are!” José exclaimed, walking out from behind a staircase, and gestured towards where the rest of their tour group were huddled around a small stage.

He and Aelin both blinked back to reality. With one last glance in his direction, Aelin sprang to her feet, grabbed her bag, and hurried off towards the group.

***

Try as she might, Aelin couldn’t pay attention to their presentation about the history of Machu Picchu. José’s words went in one ear and out the other. Each time she tried to focus, she would immediately become distracted by the way Rowan’s arm brushed her every time either one of them made a minuscule shift. Or the way her finger now felt unfathomably heavier. She had to tell herself it wasn’t an illusion, that it was real that she had her Claddagh ring back. That Rowan had given it to her.

Gods, if she had ever asked for a sign…

“I hope you all enjoyed your time at Machu Picchu and had enough time to see all you wanted to see.” José’s voice cut through her jumbled thoughts. “The bus will be here in a few minutes to bring us back to Aguas Calientes.”

Somehow, they cut it too close to the train departure from the tourist town at the base of the mountain, and she and Rowan found themselves running through the streets of Aguas Calientes, laughing, with their bags bouncing on their backs towards the crowded train station.

The train ride itself flew by. She and Rowan found seats in the viewing car so they could watch the scenery go by through the massive windows nearly stretching form floor to ceiling. It was interesting to see it from a different, and much faster, point of view than when they hiked through it.

After the train, it was another bus ride back to Cusco. With the seats fully booked, they squished their backpacks into the available storage space and found seats beside each other towards the middle of the bus. During this ride, thankfully, Aelin didn't feel the overwhelming carsickness and even ended up accidentally falling asleep on Rowan’s shoulder. The next thing she knew, he was gently shaking her, telling her they’d arrived in the city.

Deciding to forego rest and push through until later that evening when Rowan had to catch a flight to Lima, they walked from the bus station towards the city center, taking their time to look at the architecture, art, and sights.

As soon as they got with three blocks of the Plaza de Armas, Aelin spotted half a dozen different men and woman waving tourist over, enticing them with the chance to see and pet baby alpacas. After the third invitation, she looped her arm through Rowan’s and followed the colorfully-dressed older woman down the street towards a small group of children huddled around two fluffy crias—the little alpacas happily nuzzling the giggling kids.

“Adorable,” she gushed, carefully crouching near the animal so as not to startle it. Without warning, another woman, dressed in a similarly bright outfit, picked up the alpaca and handed it off to Aelin. Her eyes flew wide as she hastily fixed her grip on the calm creature.

“They love the attention,” the first woman insisted upon Aelin’s hesitancy. As if understanding what she said, the alpaca turned its fuzzy head to nestle against her neck.

Rowan stood a few paces away, insisting on getting a picture of her with the animal. He argued that she got one of him with the parrot—but she didn’t protest as he captured the moment the alpaca opened its mouth and tried to eat a strand of her hair. Laughing in shock, she gently set the animal down and thanked the women before she and Rowan headed back towards the mercado.

They took their time wandering down more streets of vendors and souvenir shops. Aelin hadn’t bought anything yet, but she kept eyeing the beautifully woven scarfs, each more vibrant than the last.

“How much?” Rowan asked one vendor, a middle-aged woman sitting on a stool and reading a book. He held up a dark wool blanket.

“One hundred fifty soles,” she answered, not bothering to looking up.

He had barely gotten his wallet out before Aelin pulled him aside, flashing the vendor an apologetic smile.

“Are you not even going to try to barter?” She whispered incredulously.

“What? No. Not a fan,” he grumbled. “Consider the higher price I pay the fee for not having to.”

She rolled her eyes, already toying with another scarf she was interested in, this one a tapestry of greens with golden embroidery. “That’s stupid. It’s basically expected for people to barter for a better price, that’s why all of these are marked up.”

He raised a brow but stood his ground. “You can barter for me if you feel so inclined, but I’m not going to try.”

She snatched the blanket he’d picket out from his hands with a satisfied nod. “Fine. I will” And then Rowan got to watch Aelin haggle down the price, finally only having to pay a fraction of the soles she was originally charged.

They were looking for something to eat when Aelin tugged him to a stop, telling him, “Hold on a minute,” as she darted into the nearest shop. Two minutes later, she came back out trying to stuff a bag into her backpack.

“What’s that?” he asked, trying not to sound too curious.

Finally managing to fit it in and zipping her pack back up, she smiled up at him, “A book. I buy one—”

“Each place you go.” He finished, remembering how she told him about her souvenir of choice while they had eaten dinner at O’Neill’s

“Right.” She nodded, surprised that he remembered that detail.

Mindful of how their new purchases were weighing down their backpacks, they soon found a few food stands surrounding a couple of open tables. Rowan walked towards the fresh acai bowls while Aelin opted for a bowl of hot shambar. She picked out a table and carefully set down her golden-yellow soup, its meaty aroma set her mouth watering.

They ate slowly, each letting the other try spoonful’s of their dish. She thought, maybe, they were both trying to draw this out as long as possible.

Rowan walked with her towards where she’d be staying that night, figuring that because he had everything with him that he could just call a taxi from there to bring him to the airport. Aelin was glad, she wanted to savor every last second until his taxi showed up. Which it did, far too soon for her liking.

“You know,” Rowan said, frowning as he hovered halfway between her and the taxi idling in the street, “I was so caught up in this week that I never asked you where you’re headed next.”

Her brows shot up she leaned against the door frame of the house, crossing her arms to shield against the sudden breeze. A small smile played on her lips. “Oh, you know,” she waved a hand around, “Here and there. I haven’t decided yet. Maybe I’ll head east towards Bolivia and check out the famous salt flats. Or down to northern Chile towards the Valle de la Luna.” She shrugged thoughtfully. “But next month I’ll be heading back home for a little while.”

“To New York?” He asked, having stepped closer to the taxi.

Aelin nodded, watching as he hoisted his bag into the open truck. “Yeah, I have some things I need to do there, and see some people who I haven’t seen in a long time.”

He walked back to the side of the car. “Until next time?” Rowan opened the back door and rested one hand on the roof of the car as he looked at her, waiting on her answer.

Aelin smiled, hoping it didn’t waver with her sudden rush of emotion; her feelings of disappointment at Rowan leaving were at least soothed by the knowledge that he was looking forward to their next visit as much as she was. Nodding without hesitation, she answered, “Until next time.”

The air between them was charged as their gazes held. Then he nodded and slid into the taxi, pulling the door shut behind him. A moment later, Aelin watched as the car turned down the road and vanished from sight.

She’d barely walked back into the building behind her when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Aelin pulled it out and felt her heart flutter as she opened the text from Rowan. There were no words, only a picture. It showed her and Rowan standing in front of that jutting rock atop Huayna Picchu, her arm was around his middle and his draped over her shoulders. They both beamed at the camera with overflowing exhilaration and adrenaline.

Noticing it was a live photo, she pressed down and waited. The clip began with Rowan grinning at the camera, but she was looking up at him with her face alight with happiness. Then the in-between moment captured in the still photo with them both staring at the camera. And then, finally, a moment later showing that while she didn’t move, Rowan glanced down at her with that same look she snuck of him the second before.

Until next time.

***

Part 7

*****

Special thank you to my amazing friend/roommate who allowed me to interrogate her about her time in Peru. This ch would not be here without her

Taglist:

@acourtofsnakes @allthebooksunderthemoon @astra-ad-mare @becarefuloflove @booklover41802 @charlizeed @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @danibutterr @doubt-less @emily-gsh @enormousbooklover @foughtconquered @fromthelibraryofemilyj @hakunamatatazz @i-have-but-one-brain-cell @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jorjy-jo @lemonade-coolattas @mariamuses @mayhemories @midsizewitch @rowaelinrambling @morganofthewildfire @nerdperson524 @rowaelinismyotp @rowansfirebringer @sayosdreams @sheharahu @sleeping-and-books @stardelia @story-scribbler @superspiritfestival @themoonthestarsthesuriel @swankii-art-teacher @tomtenadia @westofmoon @whimsicallyreading @moodymelanist @realbookloverproblems @gracie-rosee @julemmaes @yesdreamblog @the-regal-warrior @rowanaelinn @thestoriesyoutell @autumnbabylon @sunflowermoonshinewrites @maastrash @annejulianneh111 @the-lonelybarricade

[gretavant-garde]

Unpacking My Bags - Josh Kiszka

cw//: smoking & drinking 

“Hey… hey! wake up!” you whispered softly while peppering Josh’s face with kisses. He starts to stir and groan, struggling to open his still tired eyes. He stretches while squeezing his eyes tightly shut. Eventually he’s able to pull them open to a half lidded look and as soon as his eyes meet you, the edges of his lips creep up into a bashful smile. Him and the boys had been playing a few scattered shows here and there and it had been a few weeks since you had been able to see him but finally - he was home. You had picked him up from the airport earlier that morning and as soon as you guys got home, he crashed out on the couch for practically the entire day. You didn’t mind, you knew how exhausted he must be and you figured it would give you enough time to unpack his bags for him and do some laundry. It was now 6:43 pm and the sun had almost completely set. “How did you sleep? How do you feel?” you ask while running your fingers gently through his mess of curls that had gotten even frizzier in his deep sleep. “Better, now that I can see you”, he smirks pulling your waist closer to his body. “Oh whatever”, you say while rolling your eyes as you grab one of the throw pillows, tossing it playfully at his head. Josh had always been a bit corny with you and although you would never admit it, he knew you secretly liked it so he continued. You both just take a moment to stare at each other. You lovingly scan his face, taking in all his features. It had been a while since you had gotten to get a good look at him. You had missed him so much but you tried not to show it while he was away. Not because you wanted him to think you didn’t care, but because you didn’t want to worry him. He was always worried about how you felt when he was gone, but you assured him you were fine. Despite your words, in this moment of exchanging stares, he knew you had been lying all along and missed him more than anything. “You know I missed you… a lot”, you stated firmly while looking down, fidgeting with the rings on your fingers. Out of your peripheral you could see a big grin make it’s way across Josh’s face. He softly puts his fingers to your face, lifting your chin up to meet his gaze. “I know.” He smiles. “I missed you more.” You can’t help it so you place a hand on each side of his face pulling him closer and kissing him with gentle force. After a few seconds, you pull away and tuck yourself into his chest as you intertwine your fingers together. “Damn did I sleep the whole day? What time is it?”, he asks while looking around the dimly lit house. “It’s almost seven. Are you hungry?”, you ask. The answer was always yes. “Yeah but I don’t want you to have to cook. Maybe we could just order a pizza?”, he suggests. “If that’s what you want. I’ll cook you dinner tomorrow, I know all you guys have been eating is junk on the road”, you say while brushing your fingers against Josh’s. He chuckles,” Yeah there’s only so much McDonald’s a guy can take.” You look up at him as an idea pops into your head. “Ooh why don’t we have a self care night?”, you ask excitedly. “Like what…?”, he questions cautiously. “We could order pizza, turn on a movie and oooh maybe we could do face masks! It’ll be nice since you’ve been traveling for so long.” You jump up enthusiastically and look at him. He pauses for a moment pretending to think. “Fine I suppose.” You knew he loved this kind of shit. You grab your phone and place an order for your pizza to be delivered. You get up to grab a glass of water when you remember something. You open up the refrigerator and pull out a bottle of your favorite red wine. You originally had bought it for yourself while Josh was gone but he didn’t need to know that. Holding up the bottle up in the air you suggest, “Hey we could drink some of this too!”, with a playful look plastered across your face. Josh looked up and fired back with a shrug, “Or we could drink the whole thing.” You liked that idea so you poured two heaping glasses for the both of you. Both of you clinked your glasses together in the air for a cheers and began the night ahead of you.

You both decided to change into something a bit more comfortable so you put on a pair of sweatpants and one of josh’s hoodies that he left you with when he’s gone. He decided to wear some sweats and no shirt - which was a common thing for him around your house. “Psstt.” You hear from behind you. You turn around and see Josh holding up your bong with a face that’s asking if you want to smoke. Of course you do. Plus, it’s been a while since you’ve gotten to smoke with him. You sit on your bed while he packs a bowl - a gesture he always loved doing for you. Once he’s done he hands the bong to you. As you put your lips to it Josh starts lighting it and after giving it a few seconds he pulls it. You inhale the hit and exhale as the smoke slowly dances up your walls to your ceiling, catching the light perfectly in the dimly lit room. He smiles lovingly at you. He always thought you looked so pretty when you smoked. He takes a hit and you two go back and forth a few times. The two of you sit on the bed exchanging some passionate kisses while having little conversations about tour. “He pissed behind his amp during the show?”, you ask him while giggling uncontrollably. “Yes in front of everyone… I think they thought he was getting a drink or something”, he said while rolling his eyes. It warmed your heart that they still acted so much like brothers despite getting older and more famous. Once again you guys found yourself in a staring match only this time you both had low lids from being high. “I fucking love you”, he stares at you intensely. “I love you too”, you grab his hand pulling it up to your lips pressing a soft kiss to his palm then taking his hand into yours. “No like when I'm gone- you’re all I think about and my chest aches.” You felt the same exact way but it felt really nice to hear from him. “I think about you too. Especially because when you’re gone I have to grind my own weed”, you tease. “Yeah life’s real hard for you”, he shoots back with sarcasm. Just then the doorbell rings. You walk into the living room and open the door to give the pizza guy the money and give a quick thank you. You think you’re the one most excited for the pizza until Josh comes running in grabbing a piece immediately. You guys turn on a stupid cartoon and just veg for a bit. Once you’re both done eating, you decide it’s time to get the face masks. You have Josh sit on the bed while you get everything together. Once you make your way over to him you sit in front of him with your legs around his waist. You put a fluffy headband on him to keep his lions mane like hair out of his face. He loves this. You then start applying the face mask with your fingers. When you’re done, Josh looks at you funny. “What?”, you ask feeling self conscious. “Hold on i think you have something in your eye,” he says as he leans in close enough that you can feel his breath on your lips while he’s studying your eyes trying to find something. As you’re about to open your mouth Josh grabs your face with both hands and smooshes a messy kiss on your lips. The green face mask transfers onto your nose and around your lips. You gasp and playfully push him. “Oh I’m gonna get you”, you say with a devilish grin. “Oh yeah? I don’t think so.” He blurts out as he quickly smears more all over your face. You say fuck it and grab his face pushing it against yours while starting to roughly kiss him for a minute or two until he pulls away abruptly. He burps loudly and blows the disgusting leftover pizza aroma into your face and before you can catch him he’s running into the bathroom. You chase after him but only end up hugging him from behind, resting your head on his back. You missed this. He was the light of your life and without him, everything is bleak.

You both finish washing your faces before heading back into the living room. You both fall onto the couch and you guys are a little cross faded. You try to compromise on a movie to watch but just end up settling for one of Josh’s favorites that you’ve both seen a million times. You’re laying on top of him as your eyes start fluttering out of tiredness. He notices this and places his hand on your head to slowly run his fingers through your hair. Before you fall asleep, you make sure to look up to get one more look at him.

-  🧩

[writernomore]

Can you do soulmate au headcannons for feral Bois + Wilbur please?

You are my Other half|| Feral boys + Wilbur

Please do not publish my work/ content to different websites and platforms, I only post my work here on tumblr and wattpad

A/n: I must say these were like the cutest ever QwQ

Gender Neutral! Reader

Dreamwastaken.

Okay for Dream's soulmate headcanons I like to picture that you have a specific sentence/ words written on your wrist that your soulmate would say to you.

Now, I like to think that you've met your soulmate but! You don't know that yet because of the words on your wrist.

Here's how the situation will go, so basically your a streamer (Naturally) and your friends with Dream! (Shocking :0) .

So you've recently been getting undeserved hate because of the way you play a certain game or people just don't seem to like you, sure there are your loyal fans cheering you up and all but there's just sometimes going to be someone who'd take their comments too far and it just gets to you.

So right now your on discord with Dream ( I don't if you guys want it to be the both of you are in face time so I'll leave this part vague so you can imagine which one you prefer.) and you are just venting/talking about your situation with Dream and you come to stop saying that you couldn't handle it anymore and that you didn't know what to do anymore.

Dream has experience to what your encountering, putting yourself out there and becoming a sort of influencer and gaining fame is that there will always be people to bring you down and love to see that they have left and effect on you.

" You don't need to listen to them, clearly, they don't know how amazing you are."

"Thank you Clay, you're really great too, I don't see why people seem to hate you too."

It was silent at first but then you came to a sudden realisation of the familiarity of the words Dream just told you, quickly pulling up your sleeve your eyes widen to the exact words Dream said imprinted on your wrist.

Looking up at your Monitor, you were breathless, there was a sudden change of mood and the both of you were just silent before Dream spoke once again.

"Hello, Soulmate."

Georgenotfound.

Okay, I think this one is cute but I always think Soulmate Au's are cute so here's George's Soulmate Au!

You have a clock timer to when you meet your soulmate and it's just the perfect one for this idea in my head.

So basically, your on your way to meet an online friend of yours, George or going by his online alias Georgenotfound.

You had been streaming for about a while now and you've met such wonderful people, along with George and other nice streamers on the platform.

You were looking out the window of your plane, as you were nearing to the UK, glancing down you notice the timer on your wrist had sped up and that it shows that you might meet your soulmate here in London.

You were ecstatic at the idea of meeting your soulmate at the airport, just like some cheesy RomCom you've watched before.

Going down the stairs of the airplane you go through scanning and you grab your luggage and look for George, taking out your phone you text him asking where he was and he texted back sending where he was standing, pocketing your phone your clock seems to have gone faster and that you might encounter your soulmate soon before you get to meet up with George.

Walking around you glance to see where George is, ocassionally looking at your wrist, but then you spot the man holding up a welcome sign you walk over to him but just as you were about a few feet away you put down your luggage and make a sprint running to him, to attack him in a hug.

10...

9....

8....

7....

6...

5....

4...

3..

2..

1..

You hug George as he carries you and spins you around, the both of you laughing as you look up at him and smile, it was finally that moment you got to meet him.

He sets you down and you look down to your wrist that your timer, you brush your hand over it and George grabs your wrist to look at it, as he examines it you look up at him in surprise, your soulmate was the person you were so desperate to meet.

He looks up at you and smiles even wider as he pulls up his sleeve and showing that the his timer to had gone off, he encases you in a hug and you chuckle wrapping you arms around his shoulder.

Sapnap.

Okay, so this one I like to make this that you and Sap are strangers in this one because, why not? And it would be perfect for the soulmate Au I chose for Sapnap.

Your Soulmate Au with Sapnap is You're deaf until you meet your Soulmate, and the first thing you'll be able to hear is their voice.

So here's how your situation goes, so given that your deaf, you had to learn ASL language to communicate with people(I make it that everyone has different Soulmate Au's, ex: your friend has the red string.) and it's sometimes hard to be able to get your bearings considering your deaf.

And hearing aids don't work as well, there's nothing you can do about it, so you just wait for your soulmate.

So, you're walking down the street after getting groceries, and you try to balance all the bags in your hand but they were to heavy and you were really desperate to not drop the groceries.

So you hug the groceries close to your body but you stiffen at the hand on your shoulder, you turn around to look at the person and they smile at you, raised their hands to sign if you needed help, dumbfounded you try to say something but you couldn't hear what you said but it was clear he did because he had this look of surprise.

And he puts a hand over his ear and looks at you and opens his mouth.

"Can you hear me?" You had the same expression he had but you nodded and then everything seemed to be clear and the both of you can hear sound now.

The two of you just talk to each other about anything you guys come up with relishing the sound of each others voice whilst carrying your groceries.

Karl Jacobs.

Okay, so for Karl's Soulmate thing I picked where your hair would be the same as your soulmates if they dye it and vice versa to your soulmate.

So basically you've had this love for gaming and you practically have been entertaining the idea of streaming, you loved people who play games whilst they streamed, talking to the people in chat and just making people's days.

And you happen to want to do the same, so basically you wanted to be exclusive with your appearance so you usually just turned your face cam off, but when you did people would gush about how nice your hair looked because of the colors you pick out.

Your streaming career had really gone well and you were quiet well known and was doing really well, the people loved you! (excluding the people who bash on you).

You've met really wonderful friends and they're just the nicest and most wonderful people!

And you have this friend named Karl he was really the best, you met him through Quackity and the two of you just really hit it off from the on.

Basically, you and Karl would be streaming later but there was a problem it was when you were with other people or felt the mood you'd turn on your camera but your soulmate decided to dye their hair and now you had the same exact color (awww and you were really growing into the old color too.)

So basically, when you got ready you joined the call with Karl(But you had your camera off) and the two of you were just playing and then you started ranting how your hair changed because your soulmate dyed their hair, Karl just comforted you and then when you were going to look at chat people wanted to see your hair so you went to open your face cam showing your hair, ruffling it a bit.

Unbeknownst to you, Karl happened to have opened your stream on his monitor, You went to talk again with Karl but he was silent for a while, then he smiled and went to talk about how he dyed his hair and he wanted to show the stream, you told him it was nice and was just oblivious to Karl's doing.

People kept on spamming your chat to check Karl's stream and so you did, you pulled up his stream and there he was, with his hair the same color as yours.

You started screaming and just yelled in disbelief letting out little chuckles, you went to cover your face with your hands and chat was ballistic (Both yours and his chat) .

Quackity.

Okay, so for Quackity I chose the one where you write on your skin it would also appear on your soulmate's (and vice versa).

So for this you use this as a form of communication since you don't know each other, it doesn't get personal but just little details about each other.

I have a feeling Quackity would draw penises as a form of prank and you'd have wash it off quickly because you know, it's embarassing but alas, you can't erase it.

It only happens to disappear after time or when your soulmate erases it.

So basically as payback to the little penises he draws you draw these shapes on your face, there are hearts, stars, and little doodles along with the words Kiss me!

It was all fun and games between you guys, and you wanted to share your little 'prank' on instagram, taking a picture of your self smiling and along with a caption saying how you pranked your soulmate.

After you had posted that you just decided to scroll through instagram smiling, but then your smiled had dropped and you saw someone posting a picture, their face having the same markings as you had drawn but you just didn't do anything and liked his picture.

But for a while it had been eating at you so you went to go and message him about being soulmates.

So you just resulted to doing it the old fashioned way and grabbing your marker and contemplating what to write, you decided to write your username and just left it at that hoping he'd check it out.

It was about a few minutes before your phone vibrated, opening you saw someone had DMed you, going on to instagram it was him!

You went to check out the message it said:

"I never knew my soulmate would be so beautiful/handsome."

"Hello to you too, Soulmate."

Wilbursoot.

Mister Soot, your soulmate Au with him would be that you have the same mark as your soulmate, it isn't some random shape but it's a specific mark that you and your soulmate would have.

I don't know how I'm going to be able to write this one so basically this is just how Wilbur found out you were his soulmate, Wilbur would be about a year or 3 older than you and it was your 21st birthday that when your soulmate mark would appear, Wilbur had already gotten his before you.

So the two of you are counting down by midnight in video chat talking and waiting for the clock to strike 12, you had been so excited, you've waited for 21 years for this moment to arrive, when the clock had striked 12 you quickly checked out what the mark was.

It was a white music note, it was cute and it was placed on your wrist, you smiled and look at Wilbur, raising you arm up to angle it so that the camera could see it and show Wilbur what the mark looked like, "Check out my soulmate mark." you found Wilbur silent but then he started giggling, "What's so funny?" You asked him frowning as you looked down to your wrist.

"I guess I finally found you, and you were just right under my nose." Wilbur giggled again.

You held a dumbfounded expression before looking down at your mark and back up again before shaking head, "I guess you found me." You said smiling.

----------------------------------------------------

I'M SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG AND THAT I WAS INACTIVE FOR SO LONG😭😭.

But if you guys want, I have a discord server It was so that I could interact with the readers of my wattpad book but it could be that you guys could see what I'm working on! Discord server.

Anyways, if you guys like my writing, why not and consider giving me a follow? ;)