#Although I don't celebrate Christmas on the 24th

[estcaligo]

Have a joyful merry christmas with sebek!! And have a more joyful new year! 🎄⚡️🐊🎉🎆🎊

Aww thank you! You too, anon!!💚💚

[magics-neptunes-things]

A Year of You

Hi guys!

This is a part 2 for "A Baby for Christmas" that I wrote months ago. It took me a long time to write because I wanted to have different ideas and not to write something to get over it.

So please enjoy this one ♥

December

Charlie being born on December 8, her first Christmas is naturally celebrated a little less than two weeks after her birth. It was normally up to you and Leah to throw the party, but Amanda seemed to think your daughter’s arrival gave you a valid excuse to skip your turn. It took a few years of adaptation, but you and Leah managed to find a twist between your two families, so that you could spend time with both of them. The Williamsons have invited your loved ones to come and celebrate with them several times, and that is the case today.

Usually you celebrate the 24th with Leah’s parents, her brother and girlfriend. On the 25th at noon with ALL Williamson and the 25th at night you are at your parents where you sleep and also spend the day after.

This year, however, to avoid complicated journeys, the two families are reunited and it suits you very well like that. You came home from the maternity ward after three nights, finding your bed and Leah’s arms to sleep with relief. Charlie is a rather calm child, it’s only when she is hungry that she gets angry and you don’t hesitate to tease Leah by pointing out that she already takes from her. She answered that if it was right, Charlie would only eat ham sandwich.

For sleep, she always has the rhythm of a newborn. That is, she falls asleep anywhere and anytime, waking up after four hours since her last meal. And since your daughter’s arrival in your lives, you’ve been wondering which dumbass invented the phrase "Sleeping like a baby" to mean you slept well.

"Is the most beautiful girl hungry?" coos Leah sitting next to you on the couch while you hold Charlie in your arms.

"No I'm okay, thank you" you answer with a sarcastic smile.

Leah laughs softly and puts a kiss on your cheek, although you had time to see a hint of guilt in her eyes. She nevertheless hands you the bottle that she has skillfully prepared for Charlie and you don't waste time before proposing it to her. She calms down quickly and you smile when you hear her gurgling with pleasure.

"I love you" Leah whispers to your ear, putting her two arms around your waist.

You leave Charlie’s face to look at your wife tenderly. With her elf headband and Christmas sweater, you find her particularly adorable. You answer her "I love you too" in the same way before kissing her tenderly, determined to enjoy a little of her. The world revolves around you, trying to digest the main course before tackling the army of desserts planned by your mother-in-law. Your parents are talking to Leah’s father about their last trip, the cousins have embarked on a game of Uno and the youngest enjoy the gifts they received.

"Oi, you just had a baby, maybe this is not the time to try to make another one"

The couch pops up next to Leah when her brother drops down next to her, interrupting your moment. If it amuses you, Leah gives him a cold glare.

"You better hurry up and make one, so my daughter has a cousin to play with."

January

Despite the fact that Alessia, Lia and Katie drove Leah to the maternity ward, none of them have had the chance to meet Charlie yet. It must be said that this little lady was born during the holidays, many people returned to their families. So, when Leah’s first practice of the year takes place, your decision to go surprise her and officially introduce Charlie to everyone was not hard to take.

Maybe a little helped too by the trouble Leah had leaving you both this morning. You almost had to throw her out, after promising to send her regular photos of Charlie.

"We’re here, Buba" you tell your daughter, using the nickname Leah gave her.

The baby has just eaten and slept almost all morning, so it’s relaxed and awake that she gets out of her car seat to get installed it in her stroller. With her fox onesie and her beanie with fox ears, you could eat her alive. Her eyes don’t leave your face when you go to the training field, the time of the lunch break being over since a few minutes.

Also, you didn’t expect to practically rush into Alessia who seems to be running to catch up. The shock of the almost collision passed, she gives you a big smile that gets even bigger when she realizes that you have Charlie with you. In two seconds she is leaning over the stroller.

"She’s so tiny" she whispers

You smile and look with amusement at your daughter looking at Alessia with a mixture of mistrust and skepticism.

"She inherited Leah’s glare and frown. It's kind of scary" mumble Alessia before getting up to look at you with hope. "Can I take her?"

You accept without hesitation, gently taking Charlie from her stroller to tender her to Alessia. You are perfectly confident, despite her chronic clumsiness you know that she will be very careful.

Alessia puts a kiss on Charlie’s cheek and looks at her smiling for a few minutes, before giving her back to you.

"Let’s go, we’re not gonna deprive Leah of a few extra seconds with you."

You follow her to the gym where the sports machines are, learning with joy that the girls will not return to the field until tomorrow. The training was adapted with the weather and it seems that snow is announced in the middle of the afternoon. You continue your chatter, until Alessia opens the door of the room.

"Late, Russo!"

You smile when you hear Leah’s voice sound, but Alessia is the first to speak again.

"I have a good excuse. Look who I’m bringing you"

Busy pedaling on a bike, Leah raises her head with curiosity, her face lighting up when seeing you. It only takes a few seconds for her to jump off her bike and join you, passing her arms around your waist to drop dozens of kisses all over your face, making you laugh.

"What are you doing here?"

"Charlie missed you" you maliciously pretexted.

"Ooooh is it right Buba? Did you miss me?"

Leah smiles softly and leans over the stroller, once again taking Charlie out to take her in her arms. She starts talking to her while rocking her. You smile softly, letting them have their moment and take the opportunity to greet the teammates of your blonde. After a few minutes they are all arguing about which one will have the chance to have Charlie first and you watch them do it while laughing softly.

You are not surprised to see Leah opting for Lia, the reassuring calm of the Swiss inspired as often trust. In the meantime, you’re sure of one thing, Charlie has an entire team to rely on in case of trouble.

February

Leah growls as she hears your daughter’s crying sound in the night, for what it seems to be the tenth time, turning on her stomach to hide her face in the pillow. For your part you sigh with despair, you have not even had time to fall asleep since her last awakening.

"What the hell is happening to her?"

Leah’s voice is muffled by the pillow and you rub your face as you get out of bed.

"I don’t know" you whisper, completely lost.

Usually, Charlie only wakes up once in the night to get a bottle, two if she ate not enough during the day. Which is more than reasonable for a three-month-old baby. But tonight, something doesn’t seem right and you don’t understand what. She ate well, had a good day and everything was fine yesterday. She fell asleep as usual except tonight, something’s wrong.

You checked her temperature, offered a bottle, water, changed her diaper several times and even undressed her from head to toe to make sure everything was okay. You had the misfortune of falling on the story of a baby who lost a toe because a hair had wrapped around it. Since then, you’ve been carefully examining Charlie’s ten toes several times a day.

Arriving in your daughter’s room, you take her out of her cradle once again to take her against you and rock her, installed on the armchair in her room. Like other times she finally calms down and looks at you at length with her blue eyes before finally letting herself go in sleep.

You realize you fell asleep too when you feel Charlie being gently removed from your arms. Your first reflex is to tighten her against you, but Leah’s whispered voice gently reassures you.

You watch her do it, dropping a kiss on Charlie’s forehead before turning to you to lift you from the chair and carry you a little bit the way she did with your daughter. Smiling tenderly, you put your arms around her neck and let her bring you back to your bed. She lies you on it and lies on you, her head in your neck.

"Don’t take this position for what it isn't, I’m too exhausted for anything to do with sex" Leah mutters against your skin.

You laugh softly, fondling her long blond hair tenderly.

"It was worth marrying a professional athlete" you point out by yawning.

"Tomorrow" answers Leah already half asleep.

"Sure"

You’re amused and close your eyes. Leah’s comforting warmth against you allows you to fall asleep faster than before and you are already almost gone when you hear your wife speak again.

"Love you"

"Love you more" you manage to whisper before sinking completely.

March

Becoming a parent has brought a lot of positive things into your life, you can’t say otherwise. Ever since Charlie was born, you’ve discovered a form of love you never knew existed. But you also have to admit that you miss spending quality time with Leah alone. So you took advantage of Leah’s birthday to ask your mother-in-law to look for your pretty princess for the night, to have the opportunity to offer Leah an evening.

Amanda obviously accepted without hesitation, idolizing her granddaughter. Leaving her at home wasn’t easy, however, especially for you. You never left Charlie for more than several hours, when Leah was looking at her for you to go for a medical appointment or a haircut.

"Will you let us know how it's going?" You whisper in Amanda’s ear saying goodbye, Leah covering Charlie’s laughing face with kisses next to you.

"Sure." Amanda smiles at you before fondly tapping your cheek. "Take good care of my daughter, I’ll take care of yours."

You can’t help but smile at her remark and you take a look in the direction of Leah and Charlie, to be once again invaded by a wave of love for the two human beings in front of you.

A few hours later, you enter the restaurant you booked. This is the first restaurant you shared with Leah and the smile on her face is enough to make you understand that she remembers it too.

"Very good choice of restaurant" teases Leah, once installed at your table.

"I thought it would be good to go back to basics"

Leah smiles and you thank the waiter who brings you the menu cards before taking your choice of drink. The beginning of the meal goes quietly, conversations passing from football to Charlie, to your work and the holidays you plan to do this summer.

"Do you remember what you said to me after our first date?" Leah suddenly asks while poking a French fry with her fork.

"Mmh?"

You have a full mouth and are therefore unable to give her an answer right away. Anyway, you have the impression that Leah wants to formulate the sentence herself.

"I’ve been warned of your flirtatious temper. I don’t want to be another scratch on your bedmarks. If you want something from me, it must be something serious."

You smile at that memory and Leah seems amused too. You quickly fell in love with the blonde, how could you have done otherwise anyway?

"You’ve been running your boat pretty well so far" you’re joking mischievously.

"And right after you threw yourself at me to kiss me"

That too, you remember perfectly well, obviously. Far from being calculated, this kiss had been intense. The first one you two shared.

"I was afraid you were less interested in me than I was in you. I wanted to leave you a little memory."

"By slamming the door of your apartment in my face right after?"

Leah’s face is laughing, amused at the thought of teasing you for your behavior. But you can’t blame her, you’re even laughing now.

"What do you want me to say? I just panicked."

Leah mixes her laughter with yours and you smile softly, still loving to hear her laugh. People sometimes define Leah as serious and narrow-minded, what she is. But she’s not just that. You love the gentle, relaxed, tender Leah.

"It didn’t prevent you from writing to me a little hour after actually" you point out while bowing an eyebrow.

"Contrary to what you seem to think, I’ve always been the most in love between the both of us"

Bowing your eyebrow at her, you point your fork in her direction. She is about to revive a long debate between you two. And her dirty kid's smile tells you she knows exactly what she’s doing.

"Don’t start here, Williamson."

Throughout the meal, you receive occasional news from Amanda to inform you of the evolution of Charlie’s evening. You received a photo of Charlie in her bath, a photo of Charlie with Amanda’s dog, a photo of Charlie with her uncle Jacob and a photo of Charlie deeply asleep in her bedroom at her grandmother. You’ve repeated several times that it’s not necessary to have a room made for Charlie at her place, but Amanda is as stubborn as Leah.

"Aren’t we going home?"

Leah’s surprise voice pulls you out of your thoughts, for once she’s the passager princess. You look at her quickly to stay focused on the road, smiling at her.

"Who do you think I am? It’s your birthday, we’re not going to end the evening with a chamomile in front of a soap opera"

You’re a little more relaxed than at the beginning of the evening, relieved to learn that Charlie fell asleep without being difficult to her grandmother. She has finally regained her sleep habits after a short spell.

"Where are we going?" Leah said, standing up on her seat and looking out, as if signs were going to give her the right answer.

You end up stopping your car at a palace in the Westminster district, in which you booked a suite with a balcony offering you a magnificent view of London. This is one of the few times you find yourself facing a silent Leah.

"What do you think?" you ask timidly after joining her on the balcony.

"I don’t know what I did to have the chance to have you in my life, but know that I don’t intend to let you escape one day" Leah whispers in response, putting her two arms around your waist to hold you tight.

"I really think that I'm the lucky one but never let me go" you mumble against her lips, passing your arm around her neck.

"Never let you go" she answers before kissing you hard, promise of a more than pleasant end of the evening.

April

The first time you took Charlie to see Leah play, it was primarily to support your wife who play today on her national team. To say that Charlie didn’t see much of the first half is an understatement, but she's now a great sleeper.

So that you can enjoy the game, your mother and Leah’s mother volunteered in turn to watch over Charlie who was peacefully napping inside the VIP corner, away from the cold in the bleachers. Awakened at halftime for her bottle, she is in your arms when Leah put the ball on the net, cheered whit the crowd around you. You gently take Charlie’s hand in yours and make her say hello to Leah who sends you a big smile.

Dressed in a panda jumpsuit on which you passed a jersey obviously flocked with Leah’s number and your last name, Charlie is particularly adorable. Well, you’re not impartial. But since you’ve had all the families of Leah’s teammates come to see Charlie, you don’t think you’re the only one who thinks so.

The game went great and the spring sun allows you not to be cold. You can’t tell what Charlie sees from the game, but her attention seems to be focused on the pitch. Even if sometimes she seems more attracted by the images that pass on the big screen. Charlie stays on your lap for the rest of the game and when the whistle rings to announce the end of the game, Leah goes straight to you.

"My Love" coos Leah taking Charlie in her arms immediately.

"Ouch. That hurts." you grumble in a low voice

Amanda next to you laughs and puts her arm around your shoulder. Leah gives you an apology smile while dropping kisses on Charlie’s cheeks making your daughter pat Leah’s cheeks. You can’t be angry for real obviously, especially when you feel your heart melt when you see the scene.

Leah is quickly joined by some of her teammates, Alessia at the top of the list. She’s taking Ella with her and you can see that Georgia isn’t following very far behind. If Charlie looks at Ella and Georgia with a scepticism that can only be linked to her genes, she smiles a big smile at Alessia.

"I’m her favorite" she proudly says, reaching out to Charlie.

Leah rolls her eyes and gently give her your daughter. Over time, Alessia seems to be more comfortable with Charlie. She developped a sweet spot for your daughter, asking you from time to time if she can join your afternoon stroll.

When Leah turns to you, you hurry to remove your smile from your face and look at her with an arch of an eyebrow.

"Are you sulking Williamson?" Leah mischievously pinched your ribs.

"Absolutely" you answer by wriggling to escape her attacks.

Leah smiles as you try to get away but doesn’t hesitate to put her arms around your waist to take you against her. You let it happen, of course. She understood that you're not really angry when you said you were. You smile in her arms, passing your arms around her neck.

"I’m proud of you, Lee" you say in the hollow of her ear.

You feel Leah’s smile against your skin and she puts a kiss in the hollow of your neck. The glance she throws at you and the caress on your cheek are largely enough to make you understand that you too are "Her Love". After releasing you, Leah turns to her mother and yours to exchange a few words. For your part, you turn towards Charlie who is still in Alessia’s arms.

"Beware the…" you begin, before Charlie grabs Ella’s hair in full hand to pull it, triggering Ella's cry of pain and Alessia's laughter. "…hair."

May

"Baby she's doing it again!"

Hiding your smile, you leave your work on your computer to go to Leah and Charlie in the kitchen. Your daughter started to eat vegetable puree and everything went great until Kyra came on time during Charlie's lunch and show her how to spit her food.

"I'm going to kill Kyra" Leah mumbles, giving you the little spoon and Charlie's vegetable.

"Alright but wash the carrots before, maybe" your smirk.

You hear Leah grunts before heading to the bathroom and you turn yourself in Charlie's direction. Arching an eyebrow, you look at your daughter with seriousness before pointing her with the plastic spoon.

"No spitting, baby Williamson!"

Charlie give your one of her toothy smile and you can't help yourself but smile too. She definitely have you wrapped around her little finger, but you still tries to set her boundaries and rules, not wanting Charlie to become one of those unbearable children who listens to nothing.

You carefully give her a spoon that she's swallow easily before opening her mouth again. You feel yourself relax as the spoon were eaten easily and some minutes after Leah is back in the kitchen with a new shirt.

"Thanks baby" she says, kissing your cheek before taking back the spoon and the bowl.

"You're welcome. Can I go back to my office now?"

"Yep" Leah says, popping the p of the word.

"Be wise with Mum, Baba" you say to your daughter before going in your office again.

After your pregnancy, you didn't start working again. It was to hard for you to leave Charlie for now, maybe you will start again after she start school. You had a long discussion with Leah about it, not wanting to be the one using the other's money. Leah was shocked that you thought that she can think about you that way, saying that she didn’t mind you taking care of your daughter for the first few months of her life.

In exchange, you offered to take care of all the administrative papers of your couple life and this is what you are currently working on.

At least you try, because five minutes later you clearly ear the characteristic sound of a baby spitting.

"What the... Charlie!"

June

You might have thought that having a child would take you and Leah away from your friends, but over the months you’ve found out that you were wrong. Charlie having the facility to sleep everywhere (you like to emphasize that she must take this from you), Leah and you have no difficulty in making her sleep anywhere and moving her without her waking up in her car seat, then in her bed. You know it can make some parents jealous, but it's your reality.

The proof again tonight, at the party organized by Viv and Beth at their home. Charlie is deeply asleep in her stroller, her cuddly llama tight against her, after taking her last bottle of the day. The temperature of the day allowed you to eat in the garden and this is still where you are. You rock Charlie’s stroller mechanically from time to time, despite the fact that Leah made you sit on her lap after the dessert.

"So when do you give us a second one?" asks Beth with a little a smirk.

"Clearly not right away" Leah replies immediately, making you smile.

It was a discussion you had a few weeks ago, to know if you wanted to have a second child and when. You were a little afraid to admit to Leah that you didn’t see yourself with a second child at the moment, but when Leah told you it was the same for her, you were very relieved. Charlie is adorable, easy and it’s a pleasure to have her by your side. But you want to enjoy it and honestly now that you have found a functioning that seems to suit to all three of you, you would be afraid that it would change if had a second child so quickly.

"Just make one yourself" you add with a mischievous smile.

Viv almost chokes on her drin, causing the amused laughters of the people around you.

"We have Myle, it’s going very well like this" Viv replies as Beth gives her little pats on the back.

"Did you just compare my baby princess to your dog or am I dreaming?" said Leah with a frown.

Feeling the argument getting ready when Beth in turn frowns and bends over to Leah to answer, Lia jumps on her legs and takes the blonde with her to help bring more water. Wise decision in your opinion and you mask your amused smile by laying a kiss on Leah’s cheek.

July

For your first summer family vacation, you and Leah decided to take off in the sun so that Leah could rest a little after a rather tiring season. You chose Spain and one of its islands. And the least you can say is that Charlie seems to acclimatize very well to the Spanish climate. Luckily for her, she doesn’t seem to have inherited Leah’s English skin, which is hard to tan.

You’re actually fighting with Charlie who hates sunscreen prodigiously and pushes your hands back every time you approach her face with it. She tolerates when you put it on her body, but on her face you have to arm yourself with patience. A distraction is however quickly brought by Leah, even if you would have done without it.

"What the hell are you doing with a giant inflatable llama?" you ask skeptically.

"He’s so handsome! And Charlie loves llamas"

That’s right. Her favorite to sleep is actually a soft, hairy llama that was given to her by Leah’s brother. You cowardly take advantage of Charlie’s distraction to quickly spread sunscreen on her face before letting her crawl to the llama. She skillfully climbs on it before sitting on it and applauding.

"See?" Leah smiled big before taking Charlie under one arm and the llama under the other.

"And where are you going?" you ask, with an amused smile.

"Having fun. Go back to your lame reading"

Leah pulls her tongue at you and you roll your eyes with an amused smile before sitting on the sun lounger decorated with sunscreen. But you don’t lie there, preferring to watch Charlie and Leah play in the water from afar. You make some photos and videos that you send to each of your mothers before deciding to join them.

The two blondes greet you with big smiles and you simply sit down next to her in the sand. It's impossible for you not to smile when you hear Charlie's laughter mixed with the laughter so recognizable and that you adore from Leah.

While you admire them both, you can’t help but wonder what you’ve done in your life to be so lucky. And you’re not just saying that because Leah’s swimsuit allows you to get a great view of her abs.

Your eyes are quickly intercepted by Leah, who addresses you her famous cocky smile.

"Haven’t you finished staring at me like that?"

"Never" you answer with a smile.

Leah laughs softly and you stand from the sand in which you sat, finally joining them in the water. One hand in Leah’s back, you kiss her. The blonde smiles tenderly, tightening against you but your moment is quickly interrupted by Charlie. Until then sitting on the llama, the little blonde seems to have suddenly decided to get on all fours and almost fall in the water.

"We’re going to have to work on your survival instinct, Baba" Leah says after preventing her from falling head first in the water.

September

Like every Sunday night, your meal consists of pizza since it's Leah’s cheating meal day. This lunch, also like every Sunday you don't have a football game, you went to eat at her parents' for the famous Sunday roast. When you got home, Charlie taking her last nap in the car, you bathed her before you ordered pizzas over the phone. Margarita for Leah and all cheese for you.

Meanwhile, Leah sat in the living room with Charlie and turned on the television to watch the Arsenal men’s football match. Dressed in her pajamas in the colors of Arsenal, Charlie is sitting next to her mat. Why sitting on something comfortable when you can have something cold? And she puts the shapes into her toy by lifting the plate rather than passing them through the holes, but nothing surprises you with this young lady anymore.

"Pizza orders" you tell Leah by sitting next to her

"Great baby" Leah says without leaving the screen.

You roll your eyes with a slight smile, watching Charlie continue to play. You enjoy watching your wife play with her teammates, but that’s not what made you want to watch other people play. Well, until you…

"Leah" you almost shout abruptly by grabbing her arm abruptly.

"What" jump the blonde.

You don’t answer, searching for your phone on the couch without leaving Charlie with your eyes. Leah quickly turns her gaze in the same direction as you, only to realize that Charlie has risen. And that she is walking.

Her first steps.

That you manage to immortalize with a "What the f…luff" from Leah in background. On the rest of the video, we see Charlie turning towards you with an interrogative look. But it's quickly erased by her big smile when you rush to take her in your arms.

December

"I can’t believe she’s already a year old" Leah whispers from behind you, her arms around your waist.

"I know" you sigh softly as you let yourself go against her.

You both watch Charlie sitting on the floor with Kyra and Alessia, playing with one of the toys she received as a gift. Even though she seems to have enjoyed the idea of tearing off the gift wrap more than anything else, the game finally seems to catch her attention.

You set up her first birthday party and probably exaggerated a bit about things, but Charlie seems to have enjoyed her day. Your close family was there, as were some of Leah’s teammates who eventually also play the role of aunties to Charlie.

Your daughter probably received too many gifts and seems to have taken a malignant pleasure in destroying the cake planned for the photo shoot. Photos you’ll cherish in a few months.

When you gently turn your face towards Leah to kiss her, you realize that tears are visible on her face.

"Are you crying?"

Well, maybe the question is stupid. Anyway, Leah is burying her face in the hollow of your neck before answering.

"No"

You smile softly, touched by your wife’s emotion. Leah’s breath is hot against your skin and it makes you shiver. Turning in her arms, you pass your arms around her.

"Come here, you big softy"

You lull her tenderly against you, happy that all the attention of others is on Charlie or on the remains of cakes that are still on their plates. If Leah likes to give an impression of mastery and distance in everyday life, her friends and family know that her sensitivity is one of her main characteristics.

"I love you" whispers Leah after a few seconds. "So much"

"I love you too" you smile tenderly.

When Leah pops her face out of your neck her eyes are dry but her cheeks still wet. You gently wipe them with your thumbs and kiss her tenderly, as you wanted to do at the base.

"And well done for the organization" Leah continues after your kiss. "That was perfect. Thanks for organizing that."

"Of course. But you helped me too"

Leah laughs at your amused smile. It’s true that she helped you a lot, especially when she learned that you had an appointment with a pastry chef to taste different mixes of tastes for Charlie’s birthday cake.

Your eyes turn to Charlie walking in your direction, leaving behind Alessia and Kyra who continue to play with her animal zoo. Since she took her first steps, the times you have seen her on all fours are counted on the fingers of the hand.

"Hi Baba" you smile as you lift her off the ground to take her in your arms.

You kiss her cheek and Charlie laughs when Leah does the same on the other side of her face.

"Photo!" cheerfully makes your mom when she appears suddenly in front of you.

You just have time to turn to her before your mother capture the moment. A photo that will end up enlarged above your television, then followed by many others when time will continue to offer you millions of other good moments and memories with them. All your life.

[diaconicon]

Could you write a connor stoll x daughter of Athena reader. Where connor watches the reader and another person do romantic kareoke and he gets jelous because he think the reader likes that person.

⬆️This was an anonymous ask, which I unfortunately lost because I accidently deleted it😭 I'm so sorry to whoever requested this, I hope you still find it in some way!

All my Loving

connor stoll x daughterofathena! reader

Summary: basically what the request says, made it a bit christmassy because its in less than a week (2 days now), and i miss the spirit

Warnings: none (I think), probs ooc everyone. We're just gonna ignore the fact that the Camp has the barrier that stops it from raining inside okay? I kind of forgot don't hate me love you guys xoxo. English isn't my first language, so there could be some errors

22nd of December. It was almost Christmas, and Camp Half-Blood was in a fuss between Christmas decorations, some of the campers packing to go back to their families the day after for the Holiday, and the preparations for the 24th and 25th for the other campers who would stay, everyone had something to do and somewhere to be, not leaving a lot of free time to wish everyone goodbye and a Merry Christmas.

Here came the Hermes Cabin, as always, to 'save the day' - as said by its residents. They decided to host a karaoke night on the 22nd as a sort of pre-Christmas celebration, so everyone could also enjoy it with their friends who would go away the next day.

Of course, everyone was invited - although it was still a mystery how the Hermes Cabin was always capable of pulling out all these big parties without getting in trouble - but you were still debating on whether to go or not, not being the most social type, and definitely not very inclined to be singing, but after contemplating for some minutes, you decided to cave in and go. Most of your half-brothers and sisters wouldn't be there, but, after all, Connor did ask you personally to come, saying that 'you would really do him a favour' because 'everyone was just so boring and no fun to be around', and you just couldn't say no to him, you were, besides, quite fond of both him and his brother and it would be rude to just not go.

I mean, you wouldn't have to sing anyways if you didn't want to, right? You could just go, have fun with your friends, have a few drinks, watch other people sing and, most importantly, spend a bit of time with Connor before you went back home to your family for the holiday's.

Well, you were wrong. Almost everything was going perfectly. You arrived at the cabin, said hello to some of your friends, poured yourself a drink, and then, as planned, you went to search for Connor, who you found in a corner next to his brother, who scattered away (not without tripping at least a few times) almost immediately after greeting you with a quick "Oh hello there, how are you? Everything okay? Hope you're enjoying yourself. Oh, just a minute, will you? I think someone's calling me - and then turning to his brother - catch you later, Con."

And that left just you and Connor alone, in an awkward silence. Although you were usually so talkative with him, it really wasn't so hard to open up when he was around. He always let you feel so comfortable without even trying, you guessed it was in his demeanour, the way he walked, the way he acted, you didn't know exactly, but he definitely wasn't much of an awkward person as you were, quite confident of himself, but quieter than his brother, calmer, which made him more likable in your opinion. He was fun to be around, very animated, but when needed, he could also be very sensible and almost a shoulder to cry on. He was just so.. warm, almost like the sun, or an oven! You weren't sure how to put it, but he did really remind you of freshly baked cookies, who were still warm ones out of the oven, but that you had to wait for to cool down before eating, otherwise it would be 'bad' for your stomach (at least according to your dad).

But maybe it was something in the air that night, the music was really loud and you already could barely hear yourself over the others singing, maybe it was Travis' abrupt disappearance, but neither of you said a word, not even a 'hello' or a 'how are you?' After some seconds, what must have felt like minutes, you decided to be the first one to break the silence, then you saw that he too wanted to say something, and opting to let him take the word instead, you leaned in to hear him better. But just then, some of your other friends called you, wanting you to come sing with them and even after making it pretty clear that you had no intention whatsoever of participating, they still dragged you out to the karaoke section, pretty much forcing you to sing at this point. Maybe you were exaggerating - well, you were definitely exaggerating - but at that moment, it felt like being processed to death, tragically waiting for a guillotine to cut your head off.

You didn't know how it happened, but you ended up having to sing a duet with some Apollo boy you didn't even know well, although quite cute in your opinion, you couldn't even seem to recall his name.

Not quite as bad as you thought it would be, the song went by really fast, and you could even say you had fun. After chatting a bit with the Apollo kid, finally remembering his name, and him suggesting to spend more time together once in a while, having enjoyed himself, you bid goodbye and immediately went back to find Connor, still a bit embarrassed by the public scene, which you still wished to have avoided.

Though, not being able to find Connor anywhere, you decided to ask his brother if he had seen him.

"Connor? I think I saw him going outside just a few minutes ago. If you see him, tell him to come inside quickly, will you? It's like freezing out there, and I don't even think he took his coat with him"

You thanked Travis, grabbed Connor's coat, which he left in the cabin (by demand of his older brother), and went outside as well, hoping to catch up with the latter, wherever he went to.

Travis was right. It was indeed freezing, and in the time you spent in the Hermes Cabin, it also had begun to snow. Realising this, your heart couldn't help but to warm up a little. You absolutely loved snow, especially in this time of the year, only adding more to the Christmas spirit already strong around the Camp.

You eventually found Connor after a while near the beach, the sand now mixing with the snow that was falling, secretly thanking the Gods that he didn't go into the forest or it would've been probably impossible to find him.

He was sitting on a random trench, with his back to you, looking out in the distance, to the stars or the sea you didn't know which, still not having noticed your presence behind him.

So, you carefully went up to him, anxious of approaching, like reaching out for a baby deer who would otherwise get scared if you were too loud. Not only that, but you were also anxious about what to say. He looked upset, and you didn't know why. For how much you tried, you just couldn't think of what could've made him so distressed. Was it something you said? Well, you didn't exactly say anything... was that it? Did he expect you to have said something? Had he wanted to tell you something before you were dragged away by your friends? Maybe it was just the change in the weather that affected him so much. It was always pretty warm at Camp anyway. Maybe it was something that had been going on all day, and you just didn't know. You only first saw him this evening, and he already looked pretty off.

Whatever it could've been, you decided to just go and rip the band-aid off. You would've to ask him directly what was wrong, so you could try and help and comfort him.

You were now not even a few steps behind him, but he was still oblivious of you being there (sometimes you asked yourself how he was still alive with how bad his hearing and reflexes were), so you extended your hand towards him, the one with which you were holding his coat, and poked him on his shoulder, finally capturing his attention.

'Here, put it on, your brother is going to kill us both if you don't', you said, referring to the jacket, trying to relieve some of the tension around the air.

He didn't protest and grabbed the jacket, but he still didn't say anything and turned away immediately, his face impassable.

You set next to him, and for a while, just looked at him, not saying anything. Anxiety filled your stomach up to the point you thought you were going to feel sick. He didn't look only upset anymore but actually mad. Angry. And you were so scared it had to do with something you did. In the fraction of time you used to contemplate on what to say and how to start the conversation you were clearly about to have, he beat you to it and started first.

'Well, thanks for the coat. You can go back now if you'd like', he said, irritated, not once looking at your direction but keeping his eyes fixed on a vanishing point which you still couldn't figure out.

'Is something wrong? You know if something happened you can just tell me, I'm here to help you you know. Just.. please, I don't like to see you like this. You know if it's something I did, I'm sorry, I didn't realise. But just tell me, okay? I'm so sorry if I hurt you in any way.' You were desperate at this point, just hoping this would end soon. You'd never seen Connor this upset, and it quite frankly scared you a bit.

But just then, his gaze softened. He just couldn't stay mad at you, not like this, not seeing how much stress this caused you. He wasn't even mad at you. He could never be mad at you, not even if his life depended on it, he thought.

'No, I'm sorry, okay. Really. Just forget about it, I'm overreacting. It's nothing'. Although his voice was sincere, he felt like he needed to say more than that, much more, if he wanted to make it better. 'Look.. it's just that.. well. Just give me a moment, will you? I need to think of how to say this right.' It was now his turn to feel anxious, and he started picking at everything he could find to keep calm. His nails, the wood on the trench you two were sitting on, the zipper of his jacket, and so on.

You weren't doing much better, shaking your legs up and down, picking at the skin of your lips, and basically dying of anxiety. If you were exaggerating before, now you definitely weren't. You would've preferred the guillotine over this at any moment.

'Yes, of course, take all the time that you need. I'm here for you.'

And after that, it fell silent. The only sound you could hear were the waves of the sea and the snow falling on the both of you, and in the distance, a bit of the long forgotten party going on in the Hermes Cabin. You were now only waiting for Connor to start speaking. You wanted to say patiently, but it was eating you up inside.

A few minutes went by, and you couldn't take it anymore. You were about to say something before he beat you to it again.

'Okay, so this isn't going to be easy to say, but I want you to listen to me until I'm done. Please. I know I'm not the best speaker in the world, and I really did want to make this more worthy of you, more meaningful, but I'm probably gonna mess things up, so I'm sorry in advance, but just try and listen, okay?' He began, carefully, and you just nodded, following his instruction and waiting for him to continue.

'Okay so, well, I thought this was honestly kind of obvious already - he said this with a smile - but I really like you, and I mean really, since at least a few years I think already. And seeing you with that Apollo kid, I don't know it just made me mad, I thought I couldn't stand a chance against someone like that, so much more talented and what not than me. And not only him, I mean everyone. You're just so perfect in every sense, and I know you could do so much better than me, so I got a bit self-conscious, but that's it. I'm so sorry for worrying you. It really wasn't my intention to be such a dick, but my emotions got the better of me.'

You were left speechless. You really didn't know what to say. Not even a sound could come out of your mouth at that point. Luckily, it didn't have to because Connor went on before you could even think of anything to say.

'No, wait, don't say anything yet. I'm not finished. I want to say it better. This is definitely not how I imagined this. You know I made up so many speeches in my head, practising on what I would tell you if ever came the right moment. But I forgot all of them now, so I'll just have to figure something out,

'I am every second more infatuated by your presence, by your kindness, your beauty. You leave me without breath every time that I see you, and every time, just a bit more than the day before. Every time I look up at the stars, I'm reminded of you, perplexed on how the Gods didn't take you as the inspiration of such creations. Every time I look up at the moon, I can't think of anything else other than how your beauty surpasses even hers, how the reflection of the moonlight on the water isn't just an allegory of you. Because it's something so beautiful that you just can't take your eyes off it. How honey isn't scraped directly from your voice because it's even more sweet and warm than a cup of tea. You fill me with joy of which I've never experienced before, which I didn't even know was real. I'm at every second more and more confused on how all of nature doesn't revolve around you, on how it wasn't created for you and because of you, for at every thing I look at I am every constant reminded of you. If I ever was to meet Aphrodite, I know she would take your appearance and, although I can't dare say you are more beautiful than her or you know what would happen, I can say that in this world and all the universe you are one of the Gods' most beautiful creations. That if it weren't for Prometheus, I would steal the fire just for you, and you only, to keep you warm from days like this one. To keep you warm like you do constantly to me, by just your mere presence, by just an insignificant conversation you could have with me, which I hold dear forever and never forget. What I'm trying to say is that I don't only like you, no... no. I would hold up the sky full of stars and galaxies for you, I would go up to the moon to retrieve your lost items for you, even just to see your smile, to see you happy, to know that you are content. For you have already stolen my soul and hold my heart, I couldn't sell it to the devil, but I would, just to let him promise me to always keep you safe, that nothing could ever touch or hurt you. For you only I think and plan, for you only I ever want to live on. I love you, I really do, and I only hope for you to love me back at your own pace and time. But I could never force you to do anything. If you don't reciprocate my feelings, let's forget about this. Just go on with our daily lives. A simple no, or just a shake of your head, will silence me forever, I won't ever bother you again, I promise. But if there's even just one chance, a little bit of hope that you could give me a try, please don't let me wait for too long. Because how I am to take even one second longer of this I do not know.'

And with this, he stopped talking. He went completely mute, now only waiting for your answer, for a little hope.

But you didn't know what to say, how could after such a speech, such a confession? Anything you would say, even if meaningful, would never compete to something such beautiful and utterly captivating as this.

So you opted for saying exactly that.

'Connor.. I.. I'm really speechless, I don't know what to say, no, everything I would say could never compete with what you just did. I'm so sorry, but I really don't know how to own up to that.' You said with the biggest smile you ever had, which started growing since Connor began to speak.

'No, don't worry about that, just tell me, please. A yes or a no would be sufficient enough.' The poor boy was so stressed, but you couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't you mocking him or anything like that. It was a genuinely happy laugh, like you've never had before. He also started laughing at this, being influenced by you.

'Stop laughing, I'm serious. You're making me sweat cold here.' He said, finally lighting up from his serious stance.

'I'm so sorry, but I just really can't see how you could've become this worked up only because I was singing Last Christmas with some guy. Like, really, from all the songs Last Christmas, that's not even classifiable as a real love song.' At this point, you just couldn't stop laughing, completely captivated, almost not being able to breathe anymore.

'Hey! That's not true. It's one of the greatest love songs ever written. And I'm honestly quite offended you didn't sing it with me, okay. You know how much I love Wham!' Saying this, he also kicked your leg playfully. Finally, the mood was completely lightened up. Now, the interaction being like one of the many you had every day.

'Okay, now on a serious note', you began, and you could see Connor tensing up again, 'yes. And a million times, yes. I really like you, Connor, and I've had probably since I came to this camp. I could even say that I love you too.. but maybe for that, I do need a bit of time. But I do want to give it a try, and more than one if need to. Just don't make anything like that up anymore. Otherwise, I'd just look like a bad girlfriend, okay? I can't even come up with a good speech to convince my dad to let me adopt a cat, even think of confessing my undying love for you. I just think I need a little bit more time than you, but I'll get there eventually, I promise. Just wait until you'll get a Jane Austen type letter under your pillow.' You finally said, as sincere as you could. You were truly so happy, and you think you've never been this happy ever in your life (at least not until your dad would finally cave in and let you get a cat).

Connor, too, was happy. Oh, so happy, he thought he could break out in some type of dance right there and walk up to the sky to get a handful of stars to gift to you. But that was impossible, so he opted to wrap an arm around you and let you rest your head on his shoulder.

And like that, you stayed for a while, just you two together under the snow looking up at the stars and into the horizon.

'Don't worry, if we ever move in together, we're gonna adopt not one cat, but at least twenty, be sure of that.' He said.

Okayy this is it! I really hope you like this. omg, it came out so much longer than I was expecting. Also im so sorry it took so long to write but I was really busy with school! Also im honestly very happy about the ending. Hope you guys like it!

[ellie-24]

USS Randall Ramblers Part 6

This is a birthday present for one of the coolest people I know @whositmcwhatsit . She had a wonderful birthday present for me earlier this month and then cleverly reminded me that her birthday is coming up as well. Wink wink nudge nudge say no more.

I ain't much but it's honest work and I hope you enjoy it.

Also thanks to @thatbanditqueen for beta-ing and helping me transform this into proper English!!

And thanks to the wonderful writing support group @be-my-ally @vintageshanny @from-memphis-with-love @lookingforrainbows @missmaywemeetagain @powerofelvis @shakerattlescroll @peskybedtime

Word count: ~7.4 k

Warnings: smut so 18+. MDNI

Previous Part

Bad Nauheim, December 24th 1958

It all just felt like a dream. A surreal dream.

Mary was only supposed to come over and visit him in Bad Nauheim for his 'Welcome back' party after his maneuvers in Grafenwöhr.

She was supposed to be back in Frankfurt to celebrate Christmas with her family.

She was supposed to sleep in her own bed in her own room at Hotel Grunewald.

Now, after a very long, nerve-racking phone call involving her, her father, her mother, Vernon Presley and of course Elvis himself the previous day, she found herself staying until Boxing Day.

And even though she wanted to obey the rules her parents had laid down before she went, she somehow found herself sneaking into his bed after dark every night.

There was no denying that being the centre of his attention had to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. Who was she to say no to him when he'd give her those puppy eyes, which he knew made her knees weak every time, and ask her to spend Christmas with him? Or to spend the night in his room, in his bed?

But for now, she wouldn't want it any other way. And although it was wrong, something about the way he'd pull her close to him in his sleep just felt right. Consequences didn't matter when she could feel his pillowy lips press against her forehead while she was drifting off to sleep.

She could just live this dream forever.

With an irritated sigh Mary raised her arms to shield her eyes from the horribly bright light suddenly shining right into her face, disrupting her peaceful slumber.

When this didn't have the desired effect she began to blindly wave around, in an attempt to slap away the flashing sensation. Her hand promptly hit something cool and hard with a dull thud and she let out a small gasp at the stinging pain in her wrist.

"Careful, Cherry, you're gonna break it."

"Huh? Elvis, I was asleep." She mumbled with a frown while rubbing her aching wrist.

"You're awake now honey, that's perfect." He held out a flashlight to her. The very one he'd held right into her face before. "Do me the honor, please."

"What?" She muttered, pressing her hand against her forehead, trying to make sense of his words. Her eyes fluttered closed again.

He shuffled closer, making the mattress bounce up and down for a second. "I wanna show you something, come on." He insisted and started tugging at her wrist before handing her the flashlight.

"What?" Mary repeated while squinting her eyes at him, still feeling disoriented.

He snorted. "You're asking an awful lotta questions honey, just trust me."

Mary reached out and grasped his arm, slightly pulling him towards her again, wanting nothing more than to just cuddle up against his chest again.

"It can't wait till morning?" She asked with a hopeful tone and tried to stifle another yawn. Unsuccessfully. The thought of leaving his cozy and most importantly, warm bed already made her shiver.

As if on cue, damn his psychic abilities, he pulled the blanket off of her. "Come on, Cherry, don't be no party pooper." He insisted with a small grin.

"I don't see a party." Mary grumbled, goose bumps all over her body as she got up, the flashlight still in her hand. "Okay, you won." She offered, playfully swatting at his chest.

Swiftly dodging her attack he wrapped his arms around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. "Thanks baby, now come, won't regret it."

It was one of those situations where she was asking herself how she ended up here. Sneaking through the dark corridors of the hotel at four in the morning for who knows what reason.

Well, actually she knew exactly how she ended up here. Being with Elvis always involved some kind of nocturnal activities. He didn't sleep much, that much she'd gathered in the time she's spent with him already. And he didn't like being alone.

He still had his arms around her as he guided her down the first flight of stairs. Suddenly, he let out a snort and stopped at a random guest's door. "Watch this." He raised his hand to knock, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Elvis, don't you dare!" Mary hissed and glared at him, once again remembering the talk she had with with had with Otto, the hotelier, regarding Elvis and his friends’ behaviour. Especially Red and Lamar who, in their free time while Elvis was at the base, had nothing better to do than test his patience with one childish prank after another. More than once Otto had considered kicking out the entire entourage. And to be honest she didn't blame him.

"What exactly did you want to show me?" She asked quickly to keep him from really knocking at that damn door.

He lowered his hand and nudged her forward with a smirk, down the next flight of stairs. "Otto has told me all about the ghosts haunting this place, honey, it's some scary stuff, I'll tell ya. There's the one about that young woman falling off the balcony a hundred years or so ago. Apparently her name was Mary and she also happened to be the prettiest girl in town, just like you, honey."

"Not funny!" She didn't want to sound scared, but those creaky old stairs and the flashlight in her hand, though very bright, being the only source of light made her feel like she was in a Hitchcock movie.

"Not to mention the Christmas spirits." He continued.

Mary stopped and raised an eyebrow, facing him. "You really think I'm gonna believe you? Sorry Elvis, I don't believe in ghost stories."

"Careful honey, starting to sound like ol' Scrooge."

"And you're sounding silly. Why are you ruining the holiday with ghosts? I've always loved Christmas. Look-" She gestured outside the large window next to the stair landing, looking at the snow covered street at the old light pole adorned with milky white Christmas lights. "It's so pretty."

It was peaceful, silent for a while as she simply watched the snow fall, it was hypnotising. Silent Night.

"Boo!" Elvis' hands wrapped around her waist from behind, scaring her.

Mary let out a soft shriek and felt the flashlight slipping from her grasp. Knowing what was about to happen but unable to do anything about it with her bad reflexes, a small curse just left her lips as she squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears, awaiting the inevitable bang. When the flashlight collided with the carpeted floor, a dull thud echoed through the hallway. It gave out, shrouding them in complete darkness.

For a few seconds neither one dared to move, both frozen and awaiting someone coming down the stairs and scolding them like they were two kids sneaking out of bed to steal some candy. After a few seconds of undisturbed silence they agreed with a mutual sigh of relief that the noise apparently didn't rouse anyone from sleep.

"Great, E!" She finally whispered with a small breathless laugh, a hand over her rapidly rising and falling chest, her eyes only slowly adjusting to the darkness. She stretched out her arms, not wanting to run into the wall on accident as he bent down next to her.

"Cherry, did ya have to throw the damn thing away?" He chuckled, though there was a hint of frustration in his voice while he was looking for the now broken flashlight.

"Did you have to scare me?" She shot back with a snort. "Can you find it?" She asked after a while of him crouching on the floor.

The only answer she got was a low hum.

"What is it?" She inquired when she suddenly felt his feather light touch on her exposed calfs, making her gasp. "Elvis?" She asked, an edge to her voice.

Elvis didn't respond - instead he slowly lifted the soft, white fabric of her knee-length nightdress and threw it over his head in a swift motion.

"Elvis!" She nearly squealed, scandalised, before looking around frantically and pressing herself against the wall behind her, kind of hoping to just melt into it.

"Hmm?" He hummed, his nose brushing almost carefully against her thigh.

"Oh god, what are you-" A quiet moan escaped her when his hands ran over the back of her thighs, inching higher and higher until they rested right beneath her butt.

"Someone's wearing no panties. Naughty."

"Well I didn't expect-" Mary let out a little cry when he pressed a small kiss to her inner thigh, her toes curling against the carpeted floor.

"Gotta be quiet, otherwise everyone will hear ya." He mumbled, his hot breath fanning over her bare skin.

"E, that tickles!" She whispered, trying her best to sound stern.

"Just want a little taste of my sweet Cherrypie." There was this pleading tone in his voice that would just transform her into a puddle. Mary actually thought her legs would give out as he lightly nibbled at her soft skin, his big hands now fully sprawled over her butt, pressing her closer to his face.

"But, you can't-" She breathed as her back arched against him. Treacherous body.

"Can't show my favourite girl how much I'm smitten with her? And her legs? And her-" Mary's hand shot up to muffle the shriek escaping her when his lips brushed over her mound.

"Oh god! Not here!" She argued weakly, her voice as shaky as her legs.

Mary's eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness and she saw his head appeared from under her nightgown. He grinned up at her. "I won't tell if you won't, honey." He drawled nonchalantly.

A huff escaped her - frustrated and excited at the same time. She was at such a disadvantage with him and they both knew it. But she couldn't say she didn't enjoy the power he had over her. A word, a touch and she was at his mercy, but she trusted him. So she decided to just let herself fall into his touch.

He sensed her silent agreement and tightly gripped the back of her knee before lifting it over his shoulder, supporting her weight - and giving him easier access. Then he used both hands to slowly, agonisingly slow, push the soft cotton up her legs, only to pause and consider, his full lips pursed. She made her impatience known by pressing her calf against his strong back, urging him closer.

He clicked his tongue with another smile and shook his head before swiftly gathering the fabric and bunching it up at the center of her stomach. He looked up at her, his eyes twinkling. "Mind holding that for me, Cherry?"

She nodded mutely, then shook her head, not sure about the correct way to answer his question. Everything seemed a bit hazy as she closed her fist around the fabric.

He tapped the side of her thigh and winked at her. "Just have to look at ya, honey." His voice was just above a murmur as he took in her body for a moment, illuminated just the tiniest bit by the dim streetlight and the reflecting white snow. That concentrated look was back on his face as he rested his cheek against the side of her thigh. He did that quite often when they were close like this, like he was trying to take a mental picture.

The thought did nothing to diminish her arousal and she couldn't resist running her hand through his soft hair until it rested on the back of his head. With a wanton sigh she tried to push his head towards her, needing to feel his touch, his lips.

He obliged and leaned forward. Eyes closed in anticipation, she shuddered when his nose bumped against the soft flesh right beneath her belly button. He placed a few kisses right where the waistband of her panties would be had she worn any till his eyes found hers again. "I'm real glad you're here, Cherry. Don't know what I'd do without ya."

She nodded, his words only increasing the building pressure in her lower belly, her hips rolling in an effort to get some friction. He chuckled as he got her message. "Gotcha, no more heartfelt talk. I'm a man of action after all.” He started teasingly running his tongue over her slick folds.

"Don't stop, god, please don't stop, E." She chanted, holding onto the wall behind her, fingers dragging over some weathered paint that had begun to peel off.

"You're so wet for me." He groaned, his lips closing over her little nub. His hand roamed over her hips, over her stomach as his searing touch making her body convulse. Nerves and excitement mixed together, each little sensation and fluttery touch intensified by the notion that someone could walk in on them any second. Somewhere deep inside she was still rather scandalised, both by his sudden advances and her own lack of ability to care about it.

But all coherent thoughts were abandoned when he cupped her breast, squeezing lightly. A flick over her nipple with his thumb made her buck against him once more, her mouth hanging open in a silent cry. He suckled on her, increasing his speed, churned on by the way she was letting herself fall more and more; Literally - judging by the pressure on his shoulder where her thigh rested he had to use his hand to hold onto her hips or she'd collapse under his touch. It just took a few more strokes from his hot tongue and his strong hands squeezing her soft flesh until she came undone, stifling a loud moan that would surely give them away.

She finally sank down on the floor next to him, her chest heaving. "Elvis, please I want you." She breathed, not really recognising her own voice.

He caught her by her waist as she attempted to straddle him and carefully set her down again before shaking his head and kissing her forehead. "No, Cherrypie, not like this, not now."

"When?" She urged, her hand on his cheek, making him look at her.

He turned his head and kissed her palm. "Soon. For now I just want you to stay as you are." Upon seeing her frown he grinned and tapped her nose. "Now, don't give me that look."

She shook her head and leaned in to press her lips against his. With a dreamy sigh she opened her mouth when she felt his tongue urgently gliding over her bottom lip. Again, he didn't allow her to take control as he explored her mouth. She could taste herself on him and couldn't help herself but smile into the kiss. Eventually he pulled away from her. "Easy, not trying to win a race here."

Mary wrapped her arms around him. "So, was that what you wanted to show me?" She whispered, still breathless, cradling his head to keep him as close as possible.

"When I was down there, I just couldn't help myself honey."

A bashful laugh escaped her at this admittedly charming way of dodging her question.

"And look what I found." He proudly held up the broken flashlight.

She threw her head back. Silly man. "So much for your supposed 'ghosts'."

He licked his lips with a grin. "Don't know 'bout you, but I sure as hell heard some moaning."

"You're impossible!" She gasped, then let out a small laugh. "But I do love you, E."

"Love you too, Cherrypie. Come on now." He got up and held out his hand. Instead of leading her back to his room he made his way down another flight of stairs until they arrived in the hotel lobby.

The large christmas tree in the corner and it's decorations cast a warm glow over the room. She tapped one of the wooden nutcrackers hanging off the tree, reminding her of her favourite ballet, while Elvis made a beeline towards the connected dining room and peered out of the window. He craned his head as if looking for something specific, his hand perched up against the glass.

It slowly dawned her that whatever he was doing right now was probably the actual reason for their little nightly excursion.

"I knew it. Of course that tramp is still here." He muttered after a while.

Mary came up to him and tried to follow his gaze. "Who?"

"It's her damn car." He gestured outside.

Oh. Dee Dee.

"Daddy's probably gonna make her leave before everyone's getting up, thinking he's real smart about it." He started pacing around while Mary just helplessly stood in the corner watching, not knowing what to do or say to him.

Elvis continued, his face contorted in anger. "First he invites her to my party the other day, now they're doing, hell, I don't wanna know what they're doing." He threw up his hands and plopped himself down on the couch with a sigh. "Next thing you know, he's gonna move her in here and I gotta pretend to be all happy about it. As if I got no other fucking problems to deal with."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could help you somehow."

"Man, I just don't have the time for this kinda bullshit." He ran a hand over his face. "Colonel's been going on and on about damn publicity photos in uniform, that Christmas in Berlin picture he's already planning with Hal Wallis, trying to save what's left of my career-" His breath hitched for a moment in a humorless chuckle. "-Then I gotta worry about us getting kicked outta here-" He slaps the sofa at that. "And I somehow gotta serve my country at the same time."

She sat down next to him and exhaled heavily through her mouth. Again and again she was confronted with problems that seemed way too big for her. She could understand that he felt overwhelmed and alone. But she didn't have the slightest clue what to say to him to make him feel better. Maybe it was time to make peace with the fact that the best she could probably do was just listen to him and be there for him as best as she could.

"I'm here for you, anytime you wanna talk, I'm here to listen." She reassured him and placed a hand on his chest.

"I know honey. I appreciate it." He grabbed her calves and promptly placed her feet in his lap. "Damn, like little icicles." He let out a little laugh and started rubbing them absentmindedly.

She smiled at him and wiggled her toes. "Well, I was rushed out of bed as if the world was ending."

"Sweet Cherrypie, always makin' a big fuss outta nothing." He playfully pulled on her big toe and she had to resist the reflex to kick him.

"You're-" She huffed out a laugh but remained silent with a shake of her head. It was quiet for a while until she decided to open her mouth again, her face apologetic. "Sorry about your flashlight though."

"Honey, don't worry, already made up for it." He winked and ran his hand from her ankle up her leg. "It's nice just being here with you. I wish you could be here with me all the time."

"I know." She agreed.

"You should move here."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"Think about it, I hate you being so far away from me."

"Frankfurt's only an hour away, E."

"Pretty much the other side of the damn planet, honey. You're not here when I need you."

"Elvis. You know I'd love to be with you. All the time. But it's not that easy."

"Of course it is."

"I got a job, my family. My life is... in Frankfurt right now. I can't even afford my own place on a secretary's salary. A learning secretary. And who says I could find a job here?"

"You'll work for my father. He'll take you under his wing, he needs a secretary. And you can move in here, live with us."

She blinked, not entirely sure how she felt about the idea of working for him.

"Elvis, I don't know-"

"You'll move in here. And then we can always be together." He repeated, reinforced his point as if that'll just change her mind. To her own confusion she actually found herself considering it. "It'll work out, honey, you'll see." Upon seeing her hesitation he comfortingly brushed over her hair. "I just want ya close to me. I wanna take care of ya."

Mary leaned into his touch and sighed, overwhelmed at his proposal. It was madness. And working for him might effect their relationship. The one they hadn't even officially defined yet. Her understanding was that they were still dating and now he wants her to move in. Under the premise of working for his father.

Now it was her turn to run a hand over her face - in confusion. She knew she wanted to say yes. At least that's what her heart wanted. It didn't take much to convince her to leave everything behind and stay with him. Still, she tried to be rational about it. "Elvis, I'm really not sure-"

He placed his finger against her lips and shook his head while shushing her. Her eyes drifted down towards his beautifully puckered lips. "Nah, stop it, baby. At least think about it. Don't say no right away, that ain't fair."

She opened her mouth only to close it again, not sure how to put her thoughts into words. It might mess up everything now if she asked questions, but she willed herself to go through with it. "What would this mean for us?"

He leaned in closer and she nearly had trouble holding eye contact with him. "What are you talking about, honey?"

Mary raised her eyebrows and gathered her courage before trying once again. "I mean for our relationship."

He smiled, albeit looking a bit bewildered. Either he really didn't understand or he just straight up refused to. "We'd be together way more often honey, don't know what you're getting at." He shrugged with a frown. As if she started talking Chinese all of the sudden.

Mary inclined her head. "It wouldn't be weird?" A pause. "We haven't been dating for too long." She added, her voice small, almost not wanting him to hear it.

He sat up straight, setting her feet onto the ground. "Honey, I just don't understand where this talk is coming from now."

She guiltily eyed his fingers, how he was fiddling with the ring on his pinky finger. He seemed tense and agitated, his posture reminding her of a soldier standing at attention. That's the last thing she wanted right now. In an attempt to appease him she carefully explained. "I'm only saying we should think and properly talk about it before rushing to a decision that we might regret."

Suddenly he shot up from the couch and turned away from her. So much for defusing the situation. "Damn, I can't talk to you right now. Not making any goddamn sense, woman! No one's making any goddamn sense."

Mary panicked at his sudden outburst, not wanting to upset him. "Elvis, I'm sorry-"

"Nuh-uh!" He pointed his finger at her and she froze. "Need to clear my damn head." He muttered and turned, making his way back upstairs.

She slowly got up as well, successfully blinking away the tears that were burning behind her eyelids. The silence as she followed him was nearly unbearable, but she didn't dare saying another word. As he opened the door to his room, she turned the opposite direction, towards her own room.

"Now where do you think you're going?"

Mary released the door handle as if she had burnt herself and faced him, feeling caught for whatever reason. She thought it was obvious that she wasn't gonna join him now. "Uh, I thought-"

He sighed. "Cherry, just come over here damnit."

"...Okay." She whispered, utterly perplexed and at a loss for words.

However, his behaviour made sense to her when she awkwardly laid down on her back, careful to keep a safe distance and he scooted closer to her - not so close as to fully press his body against hers, but so that he could rest his hand on her stomach. As much as he apparently didn't want to deal with the confusion and worry he felt, there was something else that he undeniably hated more. Being alone with those thoughts.

Mary spent the next morning like every morning; helping Mrs. Presley in the kitchen, who insisted on cooking and cleaning despite the hotel having staff for that. She was a tough one and Mary looked up to her, talking to Minnie Mae was a source of comfort to her, their talks often trivial and relaxed. Maybe that's what she liked most about their time spent together.

This morning however there was a certain edge, a tension in the air. At first she thought she imagined it, still a bit shaken by Elvis' and her last interaction. That was until she realised it was Christmas Eve and everyone was, indeed, rushing around and being busy preparing tonight's dinner party.

The presence of Red and Lamar didn't necessarily help the uneasiness she felt. Most of the time she tried to avoid them as best as she could, trying not to let on that the two men always kind of intimidated her and she'd just rather stay off their radar. They were currently lounging at the kitchen table, the topic of discussion was, unsurprisingly, Elvis, she didn't really hear them talk about anything else. She'd listen but hardly contribute. Right now they were wondering about his dismissive attitude during breakfast this morning.

Mary dried her hands on her apron and paused for a second. She didn't even hear Elvis getting up and leaving for the base that morning. He couldn't have gotten any sleep, after all it was nearly morning when they went back to bed. Why did she feel bad? He was the one that woke her at four in the morning, god knows if he's gotten any sleep before that.

Loud shrieking and laughter on the street outside suddenly caught her attention. Thankful for the distraction from her spiraling thoughts she turned her head towards the noise.

"He's back." Red announced without even looking up, pulling a thread from the tablecloth in front of him.

Indeed, he was. Outfitted in his full army uniform, Elvis got out of his white BMW and raised his hand to greet his devoted fans who were waiting - in the cold- in front of the hotel. Mary watched the scene, taking in the wonder and adoration on everyone's face as they gathered around him. The unbridled love they had for him and the enjoyment he got out of did warm her heart momentarily. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

He was like a magnet, putting everyone under a spell he didn't quite understand himself. It seemed like all the people in his life wanted him, claimed him for themselves. And she saw that he did his best to accommodate everyone, striving to fulfill everyone's needs without really considering his own. There were so many people expecting something from him, wanting something from him and she wasn't sure how he navigated all that pressure.

His outburst earlier made a lot more sense now that she saw him trying to please as many people as possible at the same time. He was taking his time, trying go give everyone his attention, shaking hands, giving hugs, signing whatever they asked him to.

When he linked arms with two pretty girls and walked them up to the front porch she told herself that she wouldn't let it bother her. He must doing something like this all the time. It was just part of who he was. She had to get used to it, whether she liked it or not.

"Oh he never takes the girls inside." Mrs. Presley exclaimed, putting down the silver spoon she was busy polishing.

"Must be feeling that Christmas spirit." Red offered.

"He's a giver ain't he." Lamar added, turning the page of his newspaper that he was pretending to read for nearly an hour now.

Mary felt her face grow hot and pursed her lips. He led the giggling girls inside, settling right in between them on the couch, where they'd sat last night. She refused to get upset about the fact that he hadn't even come over to greet her. He'd definitely seen her as he walked past her.

From the corner of her eye she saw him leaning towards the girl on his right, his fingers buried in her hair, playing with her fancy updo, while she was exitedly saying something to her friend in German.

Mary dried another plate and put it away before fully glancing at him. He shot her a pointed look before leaning in and kissing that brunette's cheek, who was now giggling uncontrollably.

She felt like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. And again, her thoughts went back to last night's argument. Or whatever it was. She herself wasn't a hundred percent sure what it was. All she knew now is that suddenly, in that very moment, she felt more far away from him than ever. Did he do that on purpose?

It felt similar to that day where her friend Helga showed her an article in the Bravo magazine about his supposed girlfriend, Anita Wood, he left behind in the States. Her initial reaction was shock before she told herself to get it together. He would've told her something like this, she was sure of it. She wouldn't put the tabloid's drama over his word. On the other hand he didn't tell her that Elisabeth was supposed to be at his 'Welcome back' party. But she was just a friend, right?

Again and again she was reminded that he could never truly only belong to her. He was a superstar after all. When she was alone with him she tended to forget that very important detail. She knew she had to be tolerant in that regard if she didn't want to lose him.

After a deep breath she turned back to Mrs. Presley, asking if she could help her with polishing the cutlery for tonight. It was hours later after the two girls left with signed photographs and him retreating back to his room without even looking her way that she couldn't take it anymore.

Making her way upstairs and knocking at his door strangely felt like admitting a mistake, but his silent treatment felt decidedly worse. "Elvis?"

He had changed into a white knitted cardigan and black dress pants and she stood up a bit straighter when he leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, looking down on her with an unreadable expression on his face.

Mary eyed him carefully before clearing her throat putting on the most nonchalant tone. "How was your day?"

"Spent the day at the base decorating the company Christmas tree and singing Silent Night until eventually the last poor fella in that building got tired of it"

Apparently he had no interest discussing last night's incident, preferring to just act like it never happened.

For now she'd accept it. For now she'd come to the conclusion that she's overwhelmed him as much as he'd overwhelmed her. She figured giving it all some time would be the best course of action.

"I could never get tired of hearing you sing." She answered truthfully, looking at him through her lashes.

He gave her a quick once over before breaking into a smile. "Aw, little one, always knows what to say. Come here, missed you." He opened his arms, inviting her into his room. After giving her a quick peck on the lips he held her close to his chest.

Both relief and confusion flooded her at his unexpected response.

"You missed me?" She asked in a muffled voice, her face still buried in his sweater.

He hummed, the vibrations of his chest against her cheek. "Very much."

"You were in good company from what I saw." She stated, taking a step back.

He followed her and put his hands on her cheeks. "Aw, honey, those girls, they mean nothing. You're my bestest, favourite little girl, you know that."

Mary shrugged with a frown. "They're your fans, I guess I understand."

"You don't have to be jealous, Cherry."

"I know." She quickly answered, her tone firm.

He grinned. "The look on your sweet face says otherwise, you know that?"

"I'm not pulling a face!"

"You are! Right here-" He pecked her forehead. "And here!" Another peck to her lips.

"Okay, okay-" She chuckled, playfully pushing him away. "I got it! Jesus."

He cupped her chin, rubbing his thumb over her bottom lip. "Keep that happy face for tonight, wanna show you off."

"You do?"

"And I want you to look extra pretty tonight." For some reason his tone made the question feel like an assignment.

Mary blinked and looked at herself in the mirror before mindlessly playing with a few strands of hair, twisting it between her fingers before gathering it at the back of her head, feeling reminded of the times she had to present something at school with hardly anything prepared. "Oh, you know, I thought I could try this updo-"

He pressed a quick kiss to her exposed neck, making her giggle. "Honey, I'm sure you got that all figured out. What are you gonna do with your face?" His fingers softly grazed over her cheekbone.

She blinked at his statement before frowning the slightest bit and dropping her hair back down. "What's wrong with my face?"

"Aw, absolutely nothing, honey, it's perfect. My little baby's pretty as a picture, yes she is." He assured her while squeezing her cheeks and making kissing sounds as his face inched closer to hers.

"Silly." She giggled before quickly glancing back at the mirror, a questioning look on her face.

"No need to pout, Cherry. We left that behind us, remember? It's just, uh, your eyes are so expressive, I just want everyone to notice them. And I happen to know how to make em' look real good." He explained with a shrug.

Mary pondered his words for a second, still feeling a bit uneasy from his sudden mood shift.

"Come on, let me do this. Gonna look so pretty."

Upon seeing his pleading face she broke into a small smile and with a nod she leaned in to plant a quick kiss on his full lips. "Alright... but please don't make me look like a clown, okay?" She joked.

He pretended to consider it for a moment, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, before breaking into a grin. "Tempting, gotta admit that, Cherry."

As he gathered all the supplies from a small leather bag he'd retrieved from his drawer, Mary sat down on the chair, fiddling with her hands in her lap.

"Okay just look ahead baby, look at me." He instructed. Before he started he lowered his head and gave her a stern look, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, hold still now, would ya?"

Mary shakily exhaled, feeling nervous all of the sudden and nodded when he cupped her chin, his thumb softly caressing her skin. He leaned in closer, his scent completely surrounding her, making her heartbeat picked up in a second. She had to look down, feeling bashful under his intense gaze.

"Eyes on me, honey, look at me."

"Sorry." She quickly cleared her throat before focusing back on his eyes. However it didn't take very long until her gaze drifted to his full lips and she was utterly cativated by the way they hung open the slightest bit in concentration. It didn't take long for him to let out an impatient sigh. He lowered the brush and tapped her nose to get her attention. "Cherry, I need ya to look ahead for this to work."

"Okay, okay, alright, I'll do my best now." She mumbled, failing miserably at sounding determined. The fact that her face felt like it was on fire didn't really help. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the snow covered park across the hotel, yet she was convinced there were beads of sweat running down her back.

He cooed and lowered the brush. "Aw, I love it when you're all shy like this, honey. But ya got no reason to. It's just me, you know that."

"I know." Just you. Just Elvis Presley, she thought.

"Now close your eyes." He whispered softly.

Her eyes fluttered shut at his words and she nearly jumped when he carefully started applying the eyeliner on her upper lid.

"Cherryyyy, stop moving around." He gently chided her.

"I'm trying." She answered, suppressing a laugh. "It tickles."

Even though she couldn't see it, she could almost feel him smirking at her statement. Those were the same words she'd uttered the night before in a very different context, a shaking mess under his touch.

"You want me to help you keep still again?" He put a hand on her thigh and gave her a squeeze, making her gasp.

"I think I'll manage." She nearly squeaked in response.

After a few minutes that felt like hours he leaned back, finally finished, his eyes roaming over her face. "Oh, look at you, looking all pretty." He cooed and brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen over her eyes.

Mary blushed and inspected herself in the mirror, touching her face and blinking a few times. She raised her eyebrows and saw the finely drawn black wing. Her eyelashes fluttered, the mascara making them look impossibly long. "You're really good at this."

"Lips, honey."

She laughed when he retrieved a red lipstick from the bag. "I understand the mascara and eyeshadow but why on earth do you have this lipstick?"

"Might have sent Lamar to get it, should've seen his face."

"Oh god."

He cupped her chin again, his eyes narrowed, assessing his own work before moving closer again, making his chair creak slightly. She blushed as he reached out to apply the lipstick and had to fight yet another smile.

"Don't ya move now. I mean it, Cherry." He warned as he noticed the corners of her mouth twitching. A muffled sound escaped the back of her throat in a weak attempt to defend herself, but he quickly shushed her. "No talking either, I know that's hard for you, but I'm not done here."

Mary narrowed her eyes at his comment, but took a deep steadying breath, willing herself to do as he said while fighting a grin. It never ceased to amaze her how he could say something like this, yet remain utterly charming. It was almost scary how much he'd wrapped her around his finger.

Her expression became blank however as he actually started working on her bottom lip. It suddenly hit her how intimate the whole situation was and the tension was nearly too much for her to handle.

Mary's sudden compliance pleased him, she could tell by the way his gaze suddenly drifted from her lips towards her eyes with an almost unnoticeable quirk of his brow.

"There, cherry red lips for my sweet Cherrypie." He gently patted her cheek as he finished.

She let out a deep sigh of relief at finally being able to relax her face and breathe normally again and leaned closer to the mirror. With a tilt of her head from one side to the other she examined his work, still in disbelief that the woman in the mirror was actually her. A small smile spread across her face. "Oh wow"

He looked down at her with a satisfied smirk and promptly licked his lips when their eyes met. "Quit looking at me like that honey, or I'll make a mess of your lipstick."

With a blush she looked back at her reflection once again, appreciating how her blue eyes did look more expressive and how the bold red colour on her lips made her feel like a famous singer or actress. Someone with confidence.

"Aw, you look so beautiful. I could just eat you up." Elvis leaned in to playfully nibble at her neck.

"Thank you." She breathed, feeling her cheeks and neck get hot, as she squeezed his arm that was sprawled over her chest. They looked nice together, she thought, before he carefully tapped against her hips, urging her to get up.

"Now, baby, get changed, yeah? Put on your prettiest little dress, okay?"

When she returned to his room, still grateful that she had shamelessly over-packed her suitcase, she saw him sitting in front of the mirror, busy fixing his own hair.

Mary stepped closer and sat down on the edge of the bed, right behind him. For a while she just looked at him, admiring the way his nimble fingers gently held onto the comb in a practised grip. The way he just ran it through his shorter-than-usual hair with ease looked almost graceful and Mary couldn't resist scooting a bit closer to him until she could wrap her arms around his middle. She hoped she didn't bother him too much when she laid her chin on his shoulder. It seemed like their argument never happened.

"Anything you want, honey?" He asked eventually, a small gleam in his eyes.

"Why are your eyelashes longer than mine? It's not fair." She sighed, her fingers lightly dancing over his arms.

"They come in real handy, I'll tell ya. Making aaaall the pretty girls swoon." He drawled before reaching behind to lightly pinch her waist with a wink.

Mary giggled and leaned forward to press her her burning cheek against his cooler one. "They are swoonworthy." She agreed and continued studying his face in silent awe, once again marvelling at how utterly perfect he was. It was infuriating.

He smirked at her through the mirror when he felt her breasts pressing into his back. She felt him shift slightly. "Trying to start something, little one?"

His sultry voice sent delicious tingles through her entire body and she smiled briefly before shaking her head. "I love you." Her tone was gentle as she rubbed her hands over his dress shirt, slowly caressing his belly.

Her whisper made him coo and he slightly turned his body to face her. "I love you too, sweetheart. So much. See? We're made for each other, Cherry." He softly nuzzled her nose with his. "That's why ya should stay here. With me. It's easy like that."

Her mind involuntarily drifted to Elisabeth. And Anita. "It's not as easy as that." She answered, withdrawing just the tiniest bit, trying not to look remorseful.

He quickly shook his head. "No, no, no, just a second ago ya were being so sweet and now this again. Don't ruin it now."

"I'm just being honest." She shrugged.

"Me too." He insisted, pulling her close to him again.

A mean 'Are you?' nearly escaped her but she quickly swallowed before actually saying it out loud.

"I love you. That ain't enough for you?" He asked and furrowed his brows, his hand softly caressing her.

Mary bit her lip and lowered her head. After clearing her throat she looked up into his eyes again. "Of course... And it means so much to me that you want me here with you. Believe me, there’s nothing I’d rather do than just move here and spend every minute with you.” She smiled carefully and leaned in to hug him tightly. “You just surprised me, and leaving my family is a big deal. I’m sorry.” She mumbled into his shoulder.

“Aw, Cherry, it’s alright, don’t worry.” He held her close to him, gently rocking her back and forth with him. “And I-I know it’s a lot. Just want the best for you, gotta get that in your stubborn little head.”

She opened her mouth but he shushed her. “Just trust me on this. Let’s not talk about now, though, Cherrypie. It’s Christmas Eve.”

Mary nodded in agreement, but she knew they’d have to come to a decision soon. After all, as much as it felt like one; it wasn’t just a dream.

.................................................................................

Taglist: @karel-in-wonderland @kingdomforapony @richardslady121 @18lkpeters @godlypresley @everythingelvispresley

[eden-writes-stuff]

Christmas 1971

Tags: James "mom friend" Potter, platonic Prongstail, Peter is a cutiepie, Sirius' first Christmas, Peter has parental issues </3

Peter had never been this stressed about Christmas before.

Getting presents for his parents had never been an issue for the 11-year-old, but presents for his friends... If he messed this up, they probably wouldn't let him hang out with them, so it had to be perfect.

Remus was easy. He could get him a year's worth of chocolate and the boy would be satisfied. But Sirius and James?

Maybe an album for Sirius, but Peter had no clue where he could get the records and had a very different taste in music than the Black Heir.  And then there were the girls. The girls, who Peter never really talked to - although at least Lily seemed rather nice -, but Remus was close friends with and Sirius and James at least tried to be friends with, so Peter had to get them something as well.

When he felt a tap on his shoulder, he quickly tried to cover up his list of ideas with his school books, before turning around to see James.

"Are you okay? You seem stressed." "I'm fine", he said quickly, "just... you know, homework." His friend nodded understandingly. "Want me to help you?" Peter shook his head, although he really could have used the help, but the others didn't need any help either.

"What are you getting Sirius for Christmas?", he asked then and James seemed to understand. "I got my mom to find the new Bowie album and send it here. It only came out a few days ago." "Any other ideas?" "You can always get him new t-shirts. Or a few prank things. You know, dung bombs, smoke bombs, anything that makes people sick..." "But how do I get them? We're not allowed in Hogsmede yet." "Just bribe one of the older students", James shrugged.

"You're brilliant!" Peter beamed, practically jumping out of his chair. "What about the girls?"

Now James didn't look quite as sure. "I got Mary some hair ties. Cute ones, with little flowers and butterflies, you know? For Marlene, I got a shirt from the Irish Quidditch team because I forgot her favourite Regional Quidditch team and I thought it was the safest bet." Peter quickly scribbled down the ideas on his paper.

"What about Evans? Are you doing something special for her?" James' cheeks took a deep red. "I got her a necklace with a rose on it." "Okay, I'll find something very ugly for her so that you can shine with that necklace", Peter grinned, "You are my saviour..."

"Oh, don't mention it. And it's fine if you don't find anything for me. I don't need anything. Take care of the others first, alright?" "What? No! You're my best friend. Of course, I will find something." James smiled at him warmly. "Of course. I just wanted to mention it... Are you coming to dinner?"

~

James had been the biggest help.

In the next three days, Peter had managed to get a T-Rex shirt for Sirius, three matching bracelets for the girls - red for Mary, green for Lily, and pink for Marlene - and for James, who was eager to make the Quidditch team next year and was already just a little obsessed with the sport, the had gotten a broom-care-kit 'including the most important materials for maximum aerodynamics and steady wood'.

Because it was Sirius' first Christmas, they had decided to use all three days for celebration.

The 24th was dedicated to foods. They managed to sneak at least four of everything there was in the great hall into their dorm room, where they laid it out to a huge buffet on the floor.

Sirius, naturally, took care of the music, while James and Remus unpacked the biscuits their mothers had sent, and Peter set everything up in orderly stacks that were certain to be ruined at least twenty minutes into the meal.

They tried everything and then rated it on a big chart, which had been Remus' idea. "So we can remember what we like and don't like for the next years." "You're a genius, Lupin", Sirius had beamed, immediately summoning a roll of parchment and his quill.

It took them all day to rate and taste everything and when they were finally done, Peter felt like he wouldn't be able to eat anything until next year.

The 25th was of course dedicated to presents. It was also the day Peter noticed, that the girls weren't even there. "Oh, yeah. They all went home over the holidays", Remus explained, already digging into his new stack of chocolate.

"So I went through all this stress for nothing?", Peter complained, while setting up the new pocket-size chessboard James had gotten for him. In the background, Sirius had started playing the new Bowie Album.

"I'm sorry. I thought you knew. You know... since they weren't here", James said. Peter shrugged "Probably should have... Well, at least now I don't have to worry about it for the next weeks."

Peter hated being the last one to know something. It was the same as at home. His parents keeping secrets from him, always telling him he was too young to understand anything.

"So how about that snowball fight?"

Immediately everyone was up on their feet, looking for their jackets and gloves.

The 26th was dedicated to 'hanging out'. They hadn't really clarified what that meant, but the main point was for Sirius to have a third day, and to keep Remus from studying.

So they ended up in the mostly abandoned common room in front of the fireplace, reading, listening to Hunky Dory for the fourth time and talking about Merlin knows what.

It was then that Peter knew. What they had would last a lifetime. They would argue and fight and scream, but in the end the four of them were meant to be together.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki SSL～sweet school life～ 『Christmas Weekend』 2016 SS

Well, I've decided that this is going to be my last Hakuoki post for the year. For December, I plan on working on that Collar x Malice Xmas short story that I've been putting off for a while and the next Deemo chapter... and then I'll probably try to do something about my non-existent queue since I really don't think I'll be able to translate much in January or February because of my exam... though I swear that I'll at least put in some effort. Also I do want to get back to Hakumyu Hijikata-hen's extras. Been sitting on those for a while because life's been busy... 😅 ehehehe.... (facepalm).

Anyway, this translation is originally from a story that was posted by Otomate in 2016... and I am 70% sure that this image was published with it. Unfortunately, I can't check since the link it was posted to no longer works, and I also can't check where I found the tl for this story (unlike most things, I know where it was located... but it was on blog.sina and I can't do anything about unviewable content). Still, I had this image in my drafts for years with a note blurb about the the 2016 SSL Xmas story so it probably is the right one?

Enjoy~!

Hakuoki SSL～sweet school life～

『Christmas Weekend』

Translation by KumoriYami

——Saturday, December 24

This year, a Christmas event was to be held on the 24th of December, between 3 consecutive days of vacation.

Although the 23rd is a Friday and a holiday, [since] the 24th fell on a Saturday and the 25th fell on Sunday, which resulted in a 3 day consecutive holiday, it was a rare occurrence to have such a Christmas holiday in recent years [SSL is set in 2016 [or so the tl note said]…. which had December 23rd, a Japanese national holiday which celebrates the birth of Emperor Akihito, fall on a Friday]. Therefore, it is very meaningful for those who had people of significance to them such as family, loved ones, and close friends who enjoyed such holiday activities.

However, there were also people who couldn't be included among them. Those who were working for example, who were unable to celebrate or find time to spend together with their partners, and those who did not make plans for Christmas, or even the holiday… Yukimura Chizuru was one of those people.

Chizuru did not originally intend to spend Christmas like this.

However, her father, Yukimura Kodo, was on a business trip at an offshore island and hadn't returned, while her older twin brother, Nagumo Kaoru, the adopted son of the Nagumo family, was spending Christmas with them.

Additionally, since the holiday this year had consecutive days, according to the usual conventions, Principal Kondou asked that the school activities be kept simple. Of course, Chairman Serizawa did not hold any Christmas activities.

It would have usually just been girls… Chizuru had originally thought that, but Suzuka Sen and Suzuka Kosuzu, who she had good relationships with, also had three consecutive days off, so they had gone back to their hometown in Kyoto to spend Christmas, and Chizuru had just seen them off yesterday.

Then her friends from junior high school were apparently going to an event by their new high school to play with a group and some boys. Chizuru was also invited, but as she was the only student from another school, even she participated, she would still experience anxiousness [tl says stage fright… so w/e], so she didn't go.

In this way, the 24th became a day without any plans.

So, what were the boys at Hakuo Gakuen who had good relationships with Chizuru? She didn't know why, [but] she hadn't hadn't received any invitations from them. She had already asked her childhood friend, Toudou Heisuke, indirectly, but he had refused and said that he had something else happening that day. In addition to Heisuke, it appeared that everyone else had a similar reason.

( It was just, the "something" Heisuke mentioned definitely had nothing to do with other girls! Chizuru tried to persuade herself about this.)

(That's right… For 3 consecutive days off, everyone else must have their own plans. Yet I….)

Thinking this, Chizuru had a sudden realization. Because she had realized it was the Christmas holiday, she had a strong desire to spend it with someone, even though it was simply 3 consecutive days off… As long as it could be thought of as a normal weekend, it wasn't strange that there was nothing to do.

（——Hm. Although it's a bit early, the end of the year is approaching anyway, so it wouldn't be bad to do a lot of cleaning.)

Just as Chizuru thought that, she received a text message on her phone, with the sender being Toudou Heisuke. She thought he wanted to call her for something so she picked up her phone and looked at it——.

----------------------------

Subject: Danger

Sender: Heisuke-kun

Message: Even if something happens, don't leave home!

----------------------------

………………

Chizuru stared at her phone's screen and tilted her head in confusion. What danger would there be on a calm and peaceful Saturday afternoon? But if what Heisuke said in his text message was true, there apparently was some sort of danger 【outside her home】, which was why she had been told to 【not go outside】.

She tried to get him to reply about if he had made a mistake or meant something else, but she received no response. Although she did try to directly call him, she only received a voicemail.

(What should I do? Maybe something happened to Heisuke-kun…)

Anyway, let’s go to Heisuke’s house next door first. She thought about this while she recalled the content of the text message he sent.

(It's just next door… there shouldn't be any problems, right?)

Just as she thought that, a message notification rang out in the silent room. She hastily got to checking her phone, but its sender was not Heisuke. The sender this time was Okita Souji.

----------------------------

Subject: Because it's dangerous

Sender: Okita-senpai

Message: You're a good kid, so you should stay at home

----------------------------

(……Okita-senpai is also saying this, what on earth is going on?)

Just as she was feeling baffled from what was on her cell phone, the sound of a a message notification rang in Chizuru's hands again.

----------------------------

Subject: (none)

Sender: Saito-senpai

Message: Regardless of what happens, stay where you are and don't move

----------------------------

Subject: It's alright [basically the tl here can be interpreted as 'it's fine', or 'no problems']

Sender: Harada-sensei

Message: Just bear for it a while longer, and keep staying at home

----------------------------

What could be learned from the text messages received was that something was happening to everyone. And the contents were almost the same, Not only were the contents were almost the same, they were all instructions for her to not leave her home… However, Chizuru was incapable of honestly staying home as everyone was saying. She grabbed her coat and hurried towards the entrance, not bothering with how her shoes were only half-on, and only wanted to open the [front] door and go outside. Accompanying the sound of being hit by the door, Chizuru was then pushed back into the inner entrance [uh, something like that?].

"——Why!? Why!"

Chizuru re-confirmed that the door was already unlocked again, and once again tried to open it, but the door remained motionless. It was as if someone was forcibly holding the door from outside, deliberately making it impossible for her to open the door.

Since that was the case, she could just use her body to press against the entrance with all of her strength to push it open. Just as Chizuru was about to do that, a voice spoke from the other side side of the door.

"Yukimura, I'm sorry… I cannot let you go outside."

"……This voice is Hijikata-sensei!? Why are you here…. that doesn't need to be mentioned now, what happened?"

She was pushing against the door while speaking to him, but it didn't work due to Hijikata's suppression from outside.

"Just lock up all the locks…… stay inside your home. After that…… Until one of says you can open the door, absolutely do not…… open it….. for anyone of us….."

Then Hijikata's voice disappeared midway. At the same time, the suppressing heaviness on the entrance hall also disappeared.

"Hijikata-sensei——!!"

Chizuru used all of her strength to push against the door, and the heavy door finally budged a bit, so she squeezed through the crack in the doorway that large enough for a single person to pass through and went outside.

Then what Chizuru saw was——.

"You've finally come out? My wife, you're late."

Dressed in a bright red Santa outfit, while also holding a large white bag and a bouquet with dozens of roses, was Kazama Chikage.

Then there was Toudou Heisuke, who was tightly holding onto Kazama's legs, Saito, who was grabbing Kazama's arms from behind him, and Okita, who was watching the two with a smile.

There was also Harada, who was sitting not too far away, looking a bit helpless, and Hijikata Toshizou, who was sitting against the door, motionless.

"Uh…what happened? Also, why is Kazama-senpai here?"

""Of course, I came to welcome you to this young master's Christmas party at the Kazama family home!" [I couldn't figure out how else to say this… lol.]

"Then everyone else is…"

"They were seemingly trying to prevent me from approaching you, but that wasn't able to stop me."

"Um…. did I make a promise with you…?"

"Of course this is a su-r-p-is-e [the tl had サ。プ。ラ。イ。ズ to accentuate "surprise" i guess]. However since you've come outside, doesn't that mean that you have already prepared to go out with me? Then just follow me——"

As Kazama spoke, he extended his hand towards Chizuru, and upon seeing this, Heisuke immediately ran over.

"Hold it——！ Don't joke around——！"

"I didn't expect that so many of us wouldn't be able to stop him…"

"His strength is still as outrageous as before."

With a serious expression, Saito tried to pull Kazama away from Chizuru. Okita muttered helplessly.

"Is is possible that everyone saying that there was something they were busy with today meant…"

"Ah, that's right! In order to prevent Kazama-senpai from coming here, we started monitoring him in the morning!"

"I-I hope you're not misunderstanding anything. We were monitoring Kazama, not your home."

"Wait a moment Harada-sensei. Even though you are resting, please come and help me me—"

"I'll leave the physical/hard work to you."

"Hey, Yukimura! We'll definitely drive Kazama away, so just stay at home and wait!"

"Ahahahahahaha!! Even if you struggle, it will all be futile! My sincere love is incapable of being stopped by anything! Surrender to my power of Christmas!"

With six adults arguing in front of house and making a racket, it was inevitable… that passers-by would stop and whisper, while people nearby would open up their windows to watch the fun…

"Please….. Please stop stop it——！！"

Because she was feeling heartbroken from this argument that seemed like it would never end… and more importantly, since Chizuru was more concerned about her neighbour's gazes, she therefore suggested holding a Christmas party inside her home, which finally got both sides to call a temporary truce.

"Wait a second, where did all of this food and decorations come from?"

"Of course, this is the result of the Kazama family's efforts, so be grateful."

"I'll say this beforehand, we didn't invite you, and simply couldn't leave you outside and bother/cause trouble for the neighbours."

"Didn't my wife ask everyone to come inside together?"

"Nn… Is this the inside of Yukimura's home…" "Well, if we had planned to find a place to hold the Christmas party from the beginning, there wouldn't have been that commotion. Speaking of which, who was the one to suggest it?"

"The person who said that they wanted to stop Kazama-senpai's plan, was Heisuke."

"Hey, wait a sec! Souji and Hajime-kun agreed too!"

"……You guys, just shut up. I am rarely able/You are seldom able to spend Christmas with my wife [no subject in this part so I don't know who is referring to whom here], so just enjoy this day and this moment."

"For Kazama to say such kind words… then let's just enjoy ourselves as much as we can. Got it? Yukimura?"

"Yes!"

「Merry Christmas！！」

Christmas 2016.

Chizuru, who originally had no plans, happily spent Christmas with everyone until deep in the night.

END

----end---

original link (no longer works): http://www.otomate.jp/xm2016d3tm4m/cri_ssl.html

The tl I found said that Otomate themselves probably said "Unauthorised reproduction of the text and images on this website is prohibited." or something to that effect of that, which is one of the reasons why I don't make Otomate stuff rebloggable.

[aggold15hi01]

Life update-23rd/ 24th December 2024

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the pictures and none of them are mine.

Credits to Bella Alarie, Allisha Gray: Juju Watkins: GQ via YT: YT and everyone else whom they had worked their magic behind the scenes both in person and online.

*Mele kalikimaka- Merry Christmas in Hawaiian Language

*Wahine- Woman in Hawaiian Language

Aloha everybody,

Although sadly I couldn't do a Fan Fiction project to celebrate Christmas unfortunately however I do wanted to share something on here despite how sadly this isn't a Christmas Post as what everyone had expected unfortunately.

Anyway for those who are celebrating; wishing everyone a safe; happy, secure and steady yet an unconditionally supportive 'mele kalikimaka' or Merry Christmas with your loved ones.

But if anyone who isn't celebrating; I'm so sorry to hear that: sending you loads of unconditional prayers to make sure god bless you in every steps of the way as equally as possible in an unconditionally steady, sincere: and a safe way no matter how tough life does truthfully gets to be honest in general.

Anyway, I've decided to share those pictures of my favorite wahines whom they are either playing or coaching (in Bella's case) as part of the WBB community obviously.

Also, in other words; mele kalikimaka: happy holidays and merry Christmas to everyone out there! May god bless you, protect you; support you and love you in every steps of the way endless no matter how tough and difficult life can be at certain times as I believe god does has your back no matter what exactly you are going through.

Anyway; take care of yourself; have a safe, steady and an unconditionally supportive Christmas and same goes for the holiday season as well.

[justmultifandom]

Kidge winter event

Day 6: Mistletoe/Movies

Christmas didn't exist in Altea, so Coran was very surprised when Lance asked him if they could celebrate it with their families at the new Castle of Lions. Keith remembered how complicated it had been for all of them to explain each tradition to him, and since they came from different cultures, each paladin had different traditions for that joyous day. He remembered how Lance boasted about the gifts to give to everyone, while Hunk talked about the cooking competitions with his family, while Pidge explained the religious reason in which she had been rigorously educated by her parents. Of course, Keith also had traditions that had been passed down to him by his father, and which he had continued to do after his death. However, Coran liked the idea, so he immediately nodded and accepted the proposal. For a week, the castle was in total commotion as robots hung pine garlands, branches, and fairy lights throughout the castle. The ballroom had been decorated and illuminated, and in every corner one could find small or large Christmas trees, and for a moment, although he hated large parties, he thought it was a nice thing to get all together on a day that it was Allura's commemoration.

December 24th arrived quickly, and all the families and important friends of the paladins showed up at the Castle of the Lions elegant and smiling. The foods that Hunk had carefully cooked together with his and Romelle's group accompanied the buffet of appetizers full of laughter, smiles and harmony, and for a moment everything seemed perfect in Keith's eyes. At least until the Holt family arrived, late, but not without smiles and elegant clothes; and as soon as he saw Pidge in a gorgeous, elegant green dress… well… that was more than perfect for him. The dress was a simple green dress with thin straps, a skirt with layers of tulle that fell above the knee but reached the calf at the back, a V-neck and stockings that perfectly reflected the color of her pale and warm complexion . She smiled and sat at the table apologizing to everyone for being late, while he watched her move around the room. Hell, it took Hunk to lock his jaw shut! But only then did he realize that, damn, she was now twenty years old and no longer a little girl, but it had taken such an elegant, tight and feminine dress, that it had surely been Colleen's idea, to make it for her. note? Apparently yes, but apparently that stupid reaction of his made someone else understand something else, even if in fact it didn't take him long to understand it. His cheeks colored every time he looked at her from behind or in front, even though he didn't have this effect with the other girls, who were dressed more or less the same.

Lance had approached him while he was drinking a glass of champagne in the corner of the party a few minutes after eleven while everyone else was dancing, an evil smile on his face.

“How's it going?” He laughed, wrapping his arm around his shoulders.

“Good…”: Keith replied, shrugging and taking a sip of the yellow, gaseous liquid, hoping it would stop the slight blush on his cheeks, while he looked at her from across the room talking to Matt and Curtis.

“Pidge looks beautiful tonight, doesn't she?” Lance chuckled, hitting that sore point Keith had hoped he wouldn't mention, and in fact he almost choked on his champagne.

“W-What? Well, in short... It's the usual Pidge...": he stopped his embarrassment by wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Do you really hope that I believe you? Poor naive person, we all saw that as soon as she entered on your face exploded little hearts ...": he sighed, shaking his head.

"Everyone?": he turned pale: "Even her?"

“I don't know, either she's the only one who hasn't noticed or she's too kind to pretend nothing happened”: he replied.

“AH”: Keith nodded: “So what should I do now…?”

“You definitely can't miss her, I mean, look at her! She is smart, strong, smart and beautiful! Once upon a time, I admit, I would have questioned the fact that she was cute but now, man...": he interrupted the sentence, but the other immediately understood where he was going. For Keith, beauty was a subjective thing, and after seeing different alien races in so many physical aspects they had made him believe that, rightly, beauty wasn't that important, but then why was he now so attracted to her in that way? Once, as paladins, he was amazed at her strength and speed, her ingenuity and her mentality, perhaps it was that attraction that returned to the surface after all that time that made him react that way?

“You can't escape from love…”: his father always repeated every time he placed a mistletoe leaf on the ceiling. He always said that he did it because his mother liked that tradition, and that therefore for him it was like a symbol of hope that she would return. This had always made baby Keith cry.

“I didn't mean that…”: he shook his head: “I mean… How… How do you conquer a woman?”

"Oh! Wow! I never imagined I would have to give this speech to lone wolf Keith Kogane!”: Lance laughed.

“Just answer!”: he whispered, embarrassed and with his face on fire. Lance simply pointed to a small archway at the end of the room, where there was some mistletoe tied with a red Christmas bow.

“Are you kidding!?”: Keith shook his head, feeling his cheeks as red as his former uniform.

"Why not?"

“Because that's in front of everyone, you idiot!”

“Oh, well, then what's another one in the corridor before the stairs and the bathroom, almost no one ever goes there!”: he explained.

“Okay!”: He grumbled, rubbing his cheeks to reduce the blush. He looked back across the room at Pidge, who was standing up and giving Matt the glass of water. From her lips and how she pointed to the door he could assume she was going to the bathroom, perfect.

“It's your time!”: Lance exclaimed, giving him a pat on the shoulder that almost made the champagne fall. He growled for a moment, then sighed and with slow steps headed towards the door. Once he crossed the threshold he could see a short corridor lit only by the classic blue neon lights of the castle and by a few light lights on the stairs to the left, which had a small mistletoe plant on the ceiling at the beginning. He was alone for the moment, although he could hear the water running from the bathroom not far away, so he decided to lean on the start of the stair railing without rushing and waiting for her. Pidge came out a short time later waving her hands at the ground as if to dry them and when she looked up she jumped slightly.

“Keith, you scared me!”: she laughed, approaching him and leaning on the pillar as well.

“It's been a while since we talked, alone and as friends I mean…”: he sighed, and thanked heaven that the alcohol was finally having its effect, making his tone much calmer and sedate and his cheeks less reddish.

“Yeah…”: she nodded: “I've been pretty busy with the Garrison…”

“I know…”: he replied, looking up once again towards the mistletoe. After all, it was he who told Coran to put a few leaves hanging here and there around the castle, after all it was his tradition, and each paladin had been pleased with an important piece of their culture: Lance had embellished the tree and the gift packages with colored shells, Hunk had shared much of the traditional food on the menu, Shiro had bought lights of all kinds and Pidge had managed to steal an old nativity scene from her mother.

“Anyway, I was surprised to hear that your Christmas and your traditions are different from everyone else's…”: Keith confessed, looking at her.

"What can I say? My parents are very religious and then the traditional Italian Christmas is much less complicated than the American one. There's no mistletoe, Christmas Eve parties, stockings hanging on the fireplace...": she sighed: "You only see all this in those horrible Christmas films..."

“Have you really never imagined a kiss under the mistletoe?”: he asked.

“A kiss under the mistletoe? We don't even use mistletoe...": she shook her head.

“Oh, well, it kind of sucks… I thought everyone did that…”: Keith admitted.

“But, now that you make me think about it, it would be nice…”: she thought, thinking out loud: “It seems romantic…”

“It is…”: he nodded.

“Have you ever tried this?”: Pidge asked.

“No, I've never had the opportunity, like you…”: he shook his head.

She sighed, looking at him and then moving her gaze to the green leaves above his head. She looked around the empty hallway as loud sounds of music and laughter could be heard from the front door. Sometimes you could even hear someone yelling about the Christmas countdown.

“What if this was an opportunity?” She finally found the courage to speak, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really? Would you like it?”: he asked shocked.

“Well, yes, just to try, and then we can just forget everything…”: she shrugged, moving away from the column and opposing him.

“What does it tell you that I want to forget?”: He followed her example, approaching her and looking down at her; she had grown and stood tall, but he still towered over her.

“And what does it tell you that I don't want to forget either?”: she replied in the same way. They both smiled as they slowly approached, moving backwards slightly so they were completely under the mistletoe. Shouts could be heard from the main room, probably the countdown had started.

“5!”

Her arms wrapped around his neck, gently massaging his tense muscles and jaw, adjusting the collar of his red shirt. Likewise he grabbed her waist, pulling her as close as possible and studying her hips with his fingers through the delicate fabric of her green dress.

“4!”

His hands moved from her hips to her cheeks, stroking them gently and looking into her eyes. With a slow gesture he moved her glasses, moving them above her head, definitively freeing those golden and shining eyes of hers.

“3!”

She looked into his eyes, drowning in that work of art of purple colors and shades. Maybe that was the only way she could tell that part of him was Galra. She wet her lips slightly, and, even though she had never done it, she didn't feel scared or embarrassed. Maybe it was Christmas that gave such a magical atmosphere?

"2!"

They came closer, again and again, closer each time. His hands fell to her sides again, while her arms wrapped around his neck as she moved on tiptoe despite the small heels she wore, and he bent over.

“1!”

Their lips joined with heat and passion, carried away by each other's taste as they gave impetus to what they had desired and hoped for for years.

"Merry Christmas to all!"

[being-worthy]

Christmas

I kind of completely screwed up my Christmas this year, mostly because I celebrated it prematurely.

Starting with preparing the food (which was such one dish I didn't want to cook lots of food if it would only be me eating it) on the 23rd December! It's been so freaking long since I had a proper Christmas that I mixed up the dates!! Maybe it was because I had so many naps these past two days and I haven’t had a proper Christmas in I don’t know how long that I confused the days.

On Friday, 23rd December I prepared Hawaiian pizza pasta from Taste of Home (yes, I'm a person that thinks that pineapple does belong on pizza 😜). Since I'm not a big fan of eating meat during the holidays, and although I loved it when we had salmon as an appetiser back when I had a family to celebrate it with, I wanted to have some food that combined some of my favourite foods (pineapple and pizza).

It was good, not spectacular as I initially thought it would be but edible. Nevertheless, if I make it again I'll stick to only one type of pasta. The recipe recommends using fusilli pasta and I tried to get the tricolore one. It's one of the healthier and tastier kinds but it's quite difficult to find in the stores. So, I combined it with the farfalle tricolore pasta I still had left but I think I added too much. Furthermore, I'd recommend adding more spices, otherwise, it barely won't have any taste. This is how it looked:

I had like a 1/4 of it on Friday and the rest throughout 24th December. If you've some left the next day, make sure to warm it up a bit first.

Today, on Sunday, 25th December I had a very healthy and tasty poke bowl which you can buy already prepared in the store and I made the dessert which I initially wanted to make on 24th December, which was baked apple roses following the recipe on AllRecipes.

Again, for dessert, I wanted something that had puff pastry, apples, cinnamon, and chocolate. I've got quite the sweet tooth. I started doing this like around 8pm or so.

The two first pics are before baking and the last one is after baking them (I might have baked them a bit too long). It's delicious! One apple was enough for three roses, it might be possible to make four. Next time, I'll melt the chocolate and add it on top, I bought some chocolate chip chunks and added them on top afterwards in the hopes it'd melt which it didn't. 😆

You'll have a lot leftover of sugar mixed with cinnamon and if you're like me and don't like wasting food, I recommend using less sugar with the cinnamon than what the recipe recommends, it's too much and eat it with a fork and knife or it can be messy. Moreover, if you've got a muffin tray use it! I tried to find one and went to four stores and none of them had one, so I had to improvise.

[lost-highwayy]

Ahoy!

That's quite alright, I completely understand - and sorry for me responding so late too, I'm constantly out and about, rarely ever left alone to go on Tumblr... But I'll try my best to be more present throughout December!

It was a great week, I was hanging out a lot with friends old and new! The weather has been mostly very wet, like the worst kind of fall weather. But we did have some snow too, especially out where I live! We actually have snow right now too, although it is melting.

Oh, so he is a rescue! Krampusz is too, sort of. We took him from the neighbour who was abusing him when he was younger. He's been with us since.

I'm not very familiar with all the different lineups of Deep Purple, aside from being aware of the fact that their lineup has changed a lot. Is the change of singer the reason their first three albums are so different from what comes after?

I don't think I ever listened to Come Taste The Band and In Concert with the London Orchestra (though I'm sure I've heard bits of the latter) - maybe I should get around to it!

Yeah, Disco Elysium is amazing. I finished playing it less than a week ago, and I already want to start over...

I usually just thrift for whatever I like, though I do tend to enjoy more vintage styles. I go to charity shops a lot, because I enjoy that they aren't so curated. They don't try to decide what I might or might not be interested in, this way I stumble upon real gems others would pass on. Lately my favourite find is a long chain necklace with lots of colourful little stones on it. It is perfect for me. Do you ever go thrifting?

Oh, you have coloured vinyls? That is so cool! One day I wanna get into collecting vinyls too!

Oh, I'm feeling a lack of progress with my guitar playing too - I hope we get to go past this stagnation soon!! 😁

I'm often not sure who plays what instrument in songs - with of course some exceptions. Maybe I should start playing more attention. Do you have any favourite bassists?

I absolutely love movies that kind of bend reality, such as Perfect Blue or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I do like some more feel-good movies too though, like Whisper of the Heart or Stardust. None of these are really Christmas movies though, and I don't really like seasonal movies anyways. Last time I watched a movie for Christmas, it was Die Hard, and only because my family really wanted us to watch it together haha.

Do you have any favourite movies? And do you like watching movies for holidays?

I usually celebrate Christmas with my family - we kind of clean up the living room. We set up the tree together with my dad and brother on the 24th while my mom puts together a wonderful dinner (which always contains some fish). Where I'm from we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, so after dinner we give gifts to eachother. There's usually a wider family Christmas on the 25th or 26th too at my grandma's place. I guess the perfect Christmas would just be really peaceful, whith large snowflakes falling outside quietly.

How are your Christmas traditions?

Whoo, at this point the music I listen to is quite chaotic, the number of genres rose significantly. The most surprising is a lot of cumbia on there - I never used to care for that genre but hey, we all change. I'm especially into Chico Trujillo, I really like Ahora Quién by them for example.

Do you have any unusual music saved?

-⛄

hiya! ❄️

everything is fine! December is a pretty tough month and we don't always have enough time. I'm also late replying to you, to my shame, because I'm sick and my head is just splitting.

oh, I'm so glad you had a great week! What do you like to do with your friends? do you like board games or anything like that? sounds like super autumn weather haha. how was this week?

oh,I feel so sorry for little Krampusz. I'm so glad you got him!

i think the change of singer definitely affected Deep Purple's styles because each of them was great in their own way and with their own characteristics. oh, I think you'll like some of these! I really like You Keep On Moving from the CTTB album and Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming from the orchestral album.

thats so cool! I think that necklace looks amazing. I really like going to thrift stores, I often find t-shirts with my favorite bands that are no longer for sale.

yeah i have a lot of colored vinyl! and oh shit i wanted to take a picture of a couple of cool ones from my collection for you and forgot. my brain just doesn't want to work while i'm sick. i think you'll definitely enjoy collecting vinyl if you want to!

we'll definitely make it with the guitar i believe in it! by the way what guitar do you have? it's normal not to hear some instruments clearly in songs because when we just listen we enjoy the music but as we progress in playing the instrument this starts to happen. i started to hear the bass clearly only after a few months of playing haha! my favorite bass players are geezer butler from black sabbath, cliff burton from metallica and john paul jones from lz.

wow perfect blue! i googled it and it seems pretty cool i especially liked the soundtrack. i should definitely check it out. whisper of the heart is my fav! die hard is definitely a classic for the christmas holidays. my favorite movie is forrest gump it's not a christmas movie at all but it's always shown on tv during christmas holidays and it's associated with that time for me. and also some weird 90s comedies like twinsitters.

oh this is so cute and cozy! a real family magical christmas! what is your favorite Christmas dish? do you have a favorite christmas decoration? favorite christmas music? (not necessarily festive)

usually new year is celebrated more in our family it's usually very noisy and festive we cook a lot of food with grandma we wrap presents and in the evening we watch tv and listen to a lot of music. christmas is quite quiet like a nice family dinner with symbolic presents.

oh i listened to chico trujillo! judging by the intro of the song i thought it was some old band from the 70s but then it sounded like something really new and it sounds very danceable! i liked it! i would call charli xcx's latest album unusual for me haha! usually i don't like this kind of thing but brat sounds pretty cool!

have you been to concerts of your favorite artists? if not, which artist's concert would you go to?

what do you usually associate winter with and do you have a favorite winter hobby?

[izartn]

I feel like my understanding of catholics as a sort of atheist in Spain, is very different than that of most of usa-people here on tumblr.

There are the weirdos ultra-catholics who do go to church on Sundays, are the minority, and are the sort of people to vote PP or Vox. May be passionatelly many -ism or the casual sort that hasn't thought beyond themselves on their lives. Honestly, there's a weird disconnect between right wing thoughts and actual religion here; most of the right wing thinking is a result of Franco being a catholic dictator but nowadays almost nobody goes to church, so being a bigot doesn't mean you go to church or believe in God, although your ideas are very much originating there.

There are the run of the mill, calls themselves catholics bc they got baptized and did the communion, may or may not married by the church bc aesthetics (and this is honestly the reason most of the time kid you not. To be fair, the church are gorgeous so I get it XD), cries on Holy Week seeing their virgin, Jesus or othe Ron the procession, doesn't give much more of a thought to doctrine except when they get stupid about it. Honestly kinda hilarious, and the big percent of religious people in Spain, for a certain definition of religious.

May or my not be baptized and may or may not done the communion, but they're anti-church and/or atheist which means they only get out to see the procession on Holy Week because it's folklore and traditional, and look it's all very emotive and spiritual anyways. To be fair, those are very pretty and the music or the silence (depending on the hermandad) is amazing and specifically made to get to you. Go to YouTube if you don't belive me. Will sing villancicos to baby Jesus without much thought in 24th December. Will also go through the motions of all the catholic celebration bc. Why not? Will maybe think about the whole contradiction of a pais laico and the mayor holidays being catholic festivities, but not eat their heads overmuch.

Has been born into a atheist family, which given Franco died on the 70's, has probably also a story of a little political leftist activism. Or their parents where on the third tier and didn't bother with getting their kids baptized or into the religion class at school, so they're going through the motions of Christmas and Holy Week through a weird lens of "this is a funny tale we commemorate just because". This kind most likely sees Holy Week as super annoying for urban mobility reasons, looks at costaleros as if they're insane for the damage they do to their backs voluntarily, at the penitentes as if they're crazy for letting church police them with guilt and generally admit the whole thing may be beautiful aesthetically and a valid expression folklore, but it could be done more sensibly and without causing national collapse, and you could extend the same treatment to other big religious minorities, but they usually don't have many alternatives for a spring break, so Holy Week for the whole country it is. May celebrate Christmas bc its family time but not connect it to religion or know much of the mythology. Ah the glories of being somewhat culturally catholic but not religious in Spain. <-btwen the previous and this is me, yay!!!

The third and forth tier, and maybe half on the second recognize religion at school as it is now is stupid, but as most things in this country, the issue is plagged by lethargy and kids are still given catholic religion since age 3, even though it's optional so like. Ugh.

Those same tiers are the ones most likely to have on a church or cathedral for art or history turism reasons.

As this post is about the catholics in Spain I finish it here. There are lots of other people too, but I don't now much about them so. Not getting there.

This is my subjective opinion as someone who lives in Andalusia and got such a whiplash on the bautism on my young cousin on my father side, that I went 0.0 what. (I really didn't recognize or identified anything of the ritual, so it was very novel for me. Very anthropologist approximates a new culture approach to the thing).

If you think I overemphasized Holy Week, I want you to come here to see a city here on la madrugá del cautivo and tell me that again to my face. Wild.

[game-set-canet]

I love Christmas and every year i can't wait for December and Christmas because somehow the Christmas holidays are something really important for me. I love to spend Christmas in a quiet way with my family and every year i write a little letter to my closest friends of how much they mean to me. And i want to do the same here on Tumblr:

Dear mutuals, dear people i love to see on my dash bc you make me happy, dear friends,

my year wasn't easy. There was so much happening in my life in 2022 and a hugh part of it wasn't that positive or beautiful.

But as funny as it might sound i think you guys really helped me through this whole sh*tshow disaster: sometimes with your really sweet and caring dms, sometimes with encouraging comments under my posts, sometimes with very creative and funny asks or just because you made me smile a little with one of your posts.

I love loging on to Tumblr because i know i won't get judged because of things that i do or things i don't do. I know i can be quite ✨special✨ sometimes and i can be really annoying or i don't make any sense. And i know that it's not always easy with me (since i tend to open dms, read them and forget to answer them or stuff like that but i want to say i appreciate every single message you send and i love talking to you).

So i want to say thank you: thank you for listening to my (sometimes really uninteresting) person rambling (and still liking it), to my motogp/2/3 followers: thank you for dealing with my tennis obsession (sometimes I'm not aware that a third of my blog consists of Alcaraz, Rublev and all the other tennis players), to my tennis follower: thank you for dealing with my motogp/2/3 (and Rinaldi) obsession (and sometimes I seem to forget that another third of my blog already consists of posts about how much I love Canet, Bezzecchi and Rinaldi), to my wintersport-fan-followers: thank you for following me although i seem to forget that all the wintersport athletes still exist in summer and don't post a single word about them.

Thank you for making me laugh with your posts, comments and asks. Thank you for often encouraging me when things aren't going so well.

So, to those who celebrate it: Merry Christmas! Apart from that, I wish you all the best, that your wishes and dreams come true and also (although today is December the 24th) all the best for 2023.

Every single one of you deserves the world and I probably wouldn't have made it through the year without you.

Yours, Mira

thank you to everyone who follows me and therefore reads this!

and a special 'thank you' for your dms/asks/comments or just that you are on Tumblr and post:

@waru-chan8 @colourful--bubbles @lxndonorris @bwehdal @andreyrublevs @lewizhamilton @tam-is-blogging @vivalaxnda @melissa-leaf @augustofernandez37 @soronya @ryoyukobayashis @aliceinqueensland @melxncholyman @charlitosalcaraz @thedutchgirl46 @collecting--stardust @racingmuppett @hola-felicidad @kodachromatics @worldchampionpeccobagnaia @ofbooksandstardust @bahattinscar @acrazybayernfan @kuumaasikas

I'm a 100% sure that i forget someone and i'm terrible terrible sorry! Feel hugged! You're very important to me!

[ricciardonorrisleclercgasly]

You Can't Spend Christmas Alone || Daniel Ricciardo

12 Days of Fic-mas - Day 4

Click here to see my master list

Not my photo

Request?: No

Pairing: Daniel Ricciardo x Reader

Warnings: bit of angst mainly fluff

After Covid ruins Daniels Christmas plans you insist he can’t spend Christmas alone.

December 24th 5:36pm. You closed down your computer and started to pack away your things, it was finally the start of Christmas Break, although the season finished at the start of December you still had a lot of work to do. People often thought that the formula 1 teams got the whole of winter break off, this wasnt the case, there is still so much to do. But now it was time for a well deserved two week break, to celebrate Christmas with your family. You walked through the hallways seeing all the empty offices, most people had called a half day today but you still had some things to do. You walk past the canteen, so dimly lit you almost didnt see him, you noticed someone sat at a table in the corner head in their hands. As you approached quietly you realised who it was, "Daniel?" You said, shattering the silence. He glanced up at you, a glazed look in his eyes. You had gotten to know Daniel over the course of the season, he was a delight to be around, so happy and cheery, that's why seeing him like this stung a little in your chest. "Are you okay?" You asked him, sinking down to his level. He shook his head as a tear slipped down his cheek, "my flight got cancelled due to covid, so I'm here for Christmas. Again" he sighed, trying to wipe his tears so you didn't see him upset. "Ah Daniel that's awful" you said ruffling his hair, "What's your plan now then?"

"Go to my flat, eat a pizza and cry to some crappy Christmas movie" he shrugged.

"Dan you can't spend Christmas alone!" You exclaimed.

"I don't have any other choice Y/N"

"Of course you do, come and spend Christmas at mine. My mum always cooks to much plus my little brother loves you" you smiled. You and Daniel had never been that close, he was great to work with and a genuine guy but you'd never hung out outside of work, but that didn't change the fact you didn't want him to spend Christmas alone.

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude" he said looking up at you with a little hint of joy in his eyes.

"You're not intruding, your my guest. But we've got a couple of hours drive to do so lets get going"

"Haha, want to take my Mclaren" he laughed, of course you did, you nodded your head and followed him out.

After a quick trip past your house to grab your bag, you headed to Daniel's to get his things. You waited in the car whilst he ran inside and you called your mum.

"Hi mum"

"Hi my baby girl! Are you leaving soon?" She chimed back

"Yes, in about 5 minutes. Im just letting you know I'm bringing a friend home this year, he was going to be on his own for Christmas"

"Hmmm is this a boy.. friend?" She giggled.

"No mum! Its a friend from work" you protested.

"You know me honey, the more the merrier, we'll see you soon. Love ya"

Daniel came back out of his apartment complex carrying a big bag, 2 bottles of red wine, a tin of chocolates and wearing a Christmas jumper. "I couldn't show up empty handed" he beamed, putting it all in the car. "Okay let's go!" He turned on the satnav and you started the journey back to your family home.

You and Daniel chatted away in the car, really getting to know each other. Not just the formula 1 driving Daniel, but the mountain biking Daniel, the living on a farm and blasting music out to the early hours of the morning, the real Daniel. You sang and danced along to the music together and really enjoyed your time on the drive.

9pm, "and its just the next drive on your right hand side" you pointed, Daniel pulled onto the drive. Your house wasn't much, but it was your home and you loved it all the same. You grabbed your bags and Daniel's gifts out the car and lead him up to the front door. "Is it weird that I'm nervous now?" He giggled following you through the front door.

"Mum we're here!" You shouted through the door, kicking your shoes off and heading into the kitchen.

"My baby girl you're here!" You heard your mum cry as she came to find you, "Woah and my baby girls handsome work friend" she said as she came round the corner and spotted Daniel standing next to you.

"Hi I'm Daniel, thankyou for having me this Christmas" he smiled sticking out his hand, your mum grabbed his arm and pulled him in for a hug, "we're huggers in this house Daniel" she laughed making him blush.

"No. Freaking. Way. You're Daniel Ricciardo!" You heard your brother's voice, looking to see him jaw hanging low and eyes wide at the kitchen door, your dad joining him.

"Guys this is Daniel, his flight back to Australia got cancelled so he's spending Christmas with us, Daniel this is my Mum, Linda, my dad, John and my little brother Charlie" you pointed at everyone.

"It's nice to meet you all" Daniel smiled at everyone.

"Y/N. Take Daniel to unpack his bag and I'll fix you both a snack" your dad said, waving you both upstairs.

You led Daniel upstairs to your room, you didn't have a spare room but you'd make do.

"You can sleep on my bed and I'll take the couch" you showed him into the bed room.

"No no no, dont be daft, you've already done so much for me, you sleep on the bed, ill sleep on the couch" he insisted.

Later that evening , after eating pizza with your family and crying over love actually, you decided to call it a night. Daniel got changed in the bathroom and you quickly changed into your pyjamas and got into bed, he came back into the room in checked pyjama bottoms and no shirt, you'd never really looked at Daniel like this before but damn need he look good. "I don't like to sleep in a shirt, I hope that doesn't bother you" he said running his hands through his hair. "Not at all, Goodnight Daniel" he smiled at him. "Goodnight Y/N, thanks for bringing me home" he said climbing onto the sofa.

-------------

The next morning you woke up in a daze, as your eyes adjusted to the room around you you saw Daniel still asleep on the sofa his long limbs falling off around him.

You gently shook his shoulder to wake him up. "Merry Christmas Daniel" you smiled, "Merry Christmas Y/N" he threw on his Christmas jumper and you both headed downstairs. Your mum, dad and brother sitting there waiting for you. Breakfast was already on the table, croissants and pastries with orange juice and apple juice on the table in front of you. You dug into the food as your mum brought in 4 large present bags. "One for John, One for Charlie, one for y/n and one for Daniel"

"You really didn't have to Linda" Daniel smiled.

"Mum how did you do all of this" you said giving her a hug.

"When you called last night to say you were bringing a friend I ran to the shops, no one should have nothing to open on Christmas day" she smiled hugging you back.

The day went on, you opened presents, you ate a lot of good food and drank lots of wine, all in good company.

"Im just going to ring my parents before the go to bed" Daniel said excusing himself and heading upstairs. About an hour later you walked upstairs to check on Daniel, you quietly popped your head round the door and saw him sat on the couch, facetiming his family. He noticed you there and gestured you in. "Mum, Dad this is Y/N" he said turning the camera to you "she brought me home for Christmas so i didn't have to spend it alone" he patted the seat next to him and you sat down.

"Merry Christmas Mr and Mrs Ricciardo" you waved.

"Oh Daniel she's beautiful!" His mum gushed down the phone, clearly quite drunk.

"Shut up mum!" Daniel blushed. "Im going to go now, goodnight i love you"

He put the phone down and sat back in the chair.

"She's not wrong you know?" He said softly placing his hand on your knee, you shivered under his touch, "you are beautiful Y/N' he wrapped his arm around your shoulder and pulled you towards him, leaning his forehead on yours. You stayed silent, just focusing on your breathing, looking deep into his chocolate brown eyes. "Daniel.." you muttered. He cut you off, pressing his lips against yours, you gasped in surprise. His arms snaking around your back and deepening the kiss. "I'm sorry I just couldn't help myself" he mumbled against your lips. "That's okay, I'm glad you did" you blushed, lacing your fingers in his hair and pulling him back in.

[xerohourcheese]

🎄❄️MERRY CHRISTMAS⛄🎁 

IF YOU CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS THEN ANSWER THIS WITH THE 6 THINGS YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS

THEN SEND THIS TO THE 6 TUMBLR BLOGS YOU LOVE THE MOST (ANON OR NOT)

NOTHING WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T SEND IT BUT IF YOU DO YOU YOU WILL SPREAD HOLIDAY CHEER

Our tree lights, especially Tonka's reaction to them being on on Boxing Day morning, as growing up her 'mother' refused to have them on after Crimbo day.

All the Christmas/Holiday Specials we watch throughout December.

Today, December 15th, Apple In A Barrel Day. Growing up, I had the same advent calendar every year (no treats in it, just pictures behind 'doors') and the second largest 'door' (after the 24th) was on a big barrel of apples on the 15th (obviously) behind which was a pic of Father Christmas with a speech bubble saying "Only 10 Days Until Christmas Day". So we have a fancy tea (steaks tonight) and watch my fave Disney film, Moana.

Going out to pick up a Pizza Hut takeaway on the 23th, (we get enough to have some cold for Crimbo Eve breakfast, then cabining up until the day after Boxing Day

Going out for a drive on an evening, (especially the 23rd, see above) to look at all the exterior decorations.

The opening of the pressies on Crimbo morning. Although we mostly know what the 'big' pressies are, we always get each other small, silly surprise presents. Amongst Tonka's faves, were a huge metal ladle that we use as a year round room decoration.

[disco-deaky13]

I'm bored so here's some questions to get to know me better 😌

1. When is your birthday?

24th July 🤙🏻

2. What is your favorite animal?

Ducks or hedgehogs 🥺

3. What do you do for a living? Are you in school?

I'm going into uni and I'm a conservationist in my spare time 😌

4. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Tenerife!

5. What was your favorite school subject?

Music 😅

6. Do you have a small or big family?

Pretty small

7. What genres of music do you like best? Do you have a favorite song?

Well genres is obvious, anything that falls underneath the 'rock' umbrella. My favourite song right this second is probably Terrible Thing by The Killers 🕺🏻

8. How do you spend your free time?

Writing, reading, playing guitar and drawing. Oh, and studying 😔

9. Are you a morning or a night person?

Neither. I hate both. 💀

10. What is your favorite food or meal?

Ribollita and focaccia 😋

11. What's your favorite color?

I don't really have one, but I like pastel colours.

12. What's a fun fact you know?

Hedgehogs can inflate! They are prone to something called “balloon syndrome,” where gas gets trapped under their skin, causing them to inflate, sometimes getting as big as a beach ball! No one’s sure why this happens, although injury is probable. The only treatment is giving the hedgehog an incision to release the gas!

13. What is your favorite movie or TV show?

Movie: The Linguini Incident

Series: Good Omens

14. Who is your celebrity crush? Or your favorite actor or actress?

..Brian May 😋😋

(does David Bowie count as my favourite actor? 👀)

15. Do you speak more than one language?

Yes! English, Italian, Spanish and various bits of multiple other languages 🤙🏻

16. What is your biggest pet peeve?

Pen tapping/clicking 😵

17. What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas, the vibes it has are amazing and everyone is always so happy.

18. Where did you grow up? What country?

Italy! I grew up in Ferrara, a place near Bologna which was where I saw Q+AL for the third and final time this year.

19. What is a skill that you would like to learn?

To be able to sing 😭

20. What do you value most in a friend or partner?

Humour and honesty.

21. What is your biggest irrational fear?

Cliffs 😬

Feel free to ask me any more questions! And if anyone wants to have a go at these questions go ahead!

[fonulyn]

I should also add in addition to liking Piers/Leon I love the ot3 too, something else I really enjoy is Wesker/Leon but there aren't many of those that I really care about which you can probably understand if you've ever looked in that tag, but I love love the way you write Leon and the others (I do clearly have a favorite) and I love reading your writing, I don't really read resident evil stuff anymore but I check back on you when I can, always excited to see what you're posting and I hope you're having a good day and happy holidays if you celebrate anything -💜

I'm happy to hear you enjoy both Piers/Leon and the ot3! :D ahh I have checked out the Wesker/Leon tag yes (although some time ago) and it doesn't really have that much that'd interest me, personally. although I gotta admit, there is something intriguing about the pairing!

and I'm so honored to hear you enjoy my take on Leon 🥺💖 characterizations are very important to me, and I am always so very pleased to hear someone the way I do it! :D

I'm just about to go to bed so I'm ready for tomorrow and all the presents :D in Finland we celebrate Christmas (those who celebrate it at all) on the 24th so tomorrow is the big day! and 25th is then quiet lazy family time haha. but thank you!! I hope the rest of the year is filled with joy for you! 💖