#I guess this could also serve as a Christmas special if you change the holiday a bit

[cindersfireplace]

4town Valentine's Day 💘

Jesse, Taeyoung, Aaron T, and Aaron Z walk through the hallway to their hotel room after taking a stroll around the neighborhood:

Taeyoung: There's nothing like bird watching on a calm afternoon.

Aaron T: I'm just glad there was an ice cream truck. That was one of the best chocolate cones I've ever had. Thanks for helping me chase it down Z.

Aaron Z: *walks behind him exhausted* Anything for you buddy 😊

Jesse: You good Z?

Aaron Z: *gasping * Yeah when I catch my breath next week I'll be able to function again 😮‍💨

Jesse: I wish Robaire came with us. It's good to get outside once in a while.

Taeyoung: I'm sure he has his reasons.

*Jesse opens the hotel room door*

Jesse: Yeah probab- sweet cheese and crackers! What's all this!?

*The room is decorated with heart, banners, balloons, pillows, roses, and LOTS of candles*

❤️🌹🕯️🕯️🕯️

Robaire: Welcome home my friends! I thought I would put up some decorations for Valentine's Day. *Sigh* Love is in the air.

Aaron Z: I didn't know love smelt like *sniffs* vanilla and *picks up a candle* … Late winter breeze. Whatever the heck that smells like.

Jesse: We were gone for like an hour? How?

Robaire: I'm very efficient when I'm passionate about something.

Taeyoung: So that's why Jess is always yelling at you to do your taxes.

Aaron Z: Were you not efficient enough to get any cookies or candy?

Robaire: That will be for the gift exchange.

Aaron T: Why can't we just buy cards?

Robaire: Because first of all the 4town best friend Valentine's super special gift yearly extravaganza exchange -

Aaron Z: I still say we should shorten the name.

Robaire: -is a time to appreciate each other's gifts and is a testament to how well we know each other. I love giving gifts and I put a lot of thought into them.

Jesse: And I very much still appreciate those custom ‘Art Dad’ oven mitts, but shouldn't we be focusing on our gig that day? The 4townies are so excited to see us perform One True Love live for the first time next week, and after the show I want to go to bed.

Robaire: Then go right to bed on another day of the year but you have to be there for the opening of gifts. Besides we've already drawn names for it so no going back now.

Jesse: Fiiiine if I must.

Robaire: That's the spirit.

Jesse: Uh I think a spirit is what we'll be if all of these candles stay lit. This is most definitely a fire hazard. I'm only agreeing if I get to put half of them out.

Robaire: Fiiiine. If I must.

Aaron T: We've known each other for a while shopping for each other should be easier. Right Z?

Aaron Z: Totally….

*Skip to the day before Valentine's Day at the mall*

Aaron Z: …Not.

Jesse: Come on Z it'll be fine.

Aaron Z: Not when I'm shopping for Robaire it won't. I don't know what to buy and he's definitely gonna try to one up us with his amazing gift.

Jesse: Does anything else in this world motivate you quite like your need to be better than Robaire?

Aaron Z: Absolutely, this is just a continuous priority of mine.

Jesse: So no then. Got it.

Aaron Z: I will search through every isle of this mall if it kills me. I will be victorious.

Jesse: Or you could breathe and let it go…and he's gone. Valentine's is gonna be fun.

*The next day*

Taeyoung: That must have been our best performance yet! Everybody was so excited, and despite my mild fear of heights trying to convince me otherwise, the rising heart platforms weren't so bad after all.

Robaire: Told you it would be incredible!

Jesse: Anyways now that that's over we can open gifts now.

Aaron T: Yeah guys the sooner we get this over with the sooner old man Jesse can take his nap.

Jesse: I'm not ol-

Aaron Z (whispering to Aaron T) You just want to get candy from your gift don't you?

Aaron T (whispering back): Shhhh I just care about Jesse's health…and my blood sugar.

Robaire: Anyways, who wants to go first?

Taeyoung: Me! I got T! Here you go! *Shoves present box into his hands*

Aaron T: YESSS! *Opens package* *gasp* It's a book of skateboard tricks! These are some of the most advanced out there and….a box of chocolate. Thankyou *hugs Taeyoung and whispers* This is why your my favorite.

Taeyoung: No problem at all.

Aaron T: So I guess it's my turn to give and I got Jesse *gives him a very messily wrapped package with 50 bows on it*

Jesse: Geez this looks interesting *opens the box* *gasp* ITS THE SUPER SMOOTH 3000! I've been trying to find this blender for months! My fruit smoothies will be so much better now! Thank you *lifts Aaron T off the ground in a hug*

Aaron T: Your *cough cough* welcome. Could you please put me down now?

Jesse: *Drops Aaron T* I'm next and I got Taeyoung. So here you go?

Taeyoung: *Carefully takes the box from his hand and opens it* Woah! Bird watching goggles! They even have little doves on them! Thanks Jess. I'm gonna have so much fun taking these to the park.

Jesse: I'm so glad you like them. They were some of the best I could find.

Aaron Z: I guess Robaire and I are last. You can go first Ro 😊

Robaire: No, I insist. You go first 😁

Aaron Z: Well this day means the most to you so you should go 😊

Robaire: And I like to share that joy with my friends so you should go 😁

Aaron Z: You.

Robaire: You.

Aaron Z: YOU.

Robaire: YOU!

*While these two keep going back and forth Taeyoung and Aaron T give each other a look and then open the presents themselves (whilst Jesse has too little sleep in him to deal with this)*

Taeyoung: Wow Robaire this is a really nice Destiny ‘s Child record.

Robaire: That's the exact one we listened to when we first met 🫢

Aaron T: Dang Z you got this cool basketball trophy. It even says ‘best basketball player I know ‘. Nice Sentiment.

Aaron Z: That was one of the first things I told you that I dreamed of receiving 😯

*They hold the gifts in their hands for a moment appreciating them*

Aaron Z: *clearly struggling* Th-th-th-

Robaire: Are you trying to say thank you?

Aaron Z: Nah I'm trying to say ‘That's all folks’. Yes I'm trying to say thankyou. Anyways thank you … for … this.

Robaire: Then I guess I want to say thank you too…I guess.

Jesse: Awww this is too sweet.

Aaron T: Maybe it wasn't about who got the best present after all?

Robaire: Mhm. Even though we all know it was me.

Aaron Z: Wh- if anything it was me!

Robaire: No you didn't!

Aaron Z: I got you the record that you sorry self was too BROKE for when we first met!

Robaire: I got you a CUSTOM TROPHY 🏆! Do you know how much that is in this economy?!

Aaron Z: But did I ask-

Robaire: But my-

Aaron Z: No but Robaire answer the question. Answer the question! Did I ask though? Did I?

Robaire: No but you can't just throw that in my face when I'm trying to be nice.

Aaron Z: Clearly not nice enough to admit I'm better…

*Senseless arguing continues in the background*

Jesse: T! They were this 🤏🏻 close to having a nice moment.

Aaron T: Sorry, I was just trying to bring some positivity.

Taeyoung: I'm positively sure they will be arguing for a while so I'm just gonna go now.

Jesse: Agreed. *yawn* 🥱 I'm going to sleep.

Aaron T: And I shall consume all this chocolate within the hour. I love Valentine's Day!

*Later that night Aaron Z and Robaire go to bed setting their gifts down on their night stands smiling at them and then turning the lights out to sleep*

❤️

[kouyou-arc-when]

helloo!

this is just based on a passing thought I had so it's kinda random 😅

may I ask what you HC or think about Dazai's birthday during his port mafia days? Like, do you think Mori gave him presents, did the Buraiha trio greet him, etc?

Hey there, thanks for dropping by! <3 Again, apologies for not replying earlier <3 So, this is inspired by things I've seen in Mayoi and other supplementary material, like how Osamu appears to react to holidays in general. In Mayoi Dazai has this Christmas card. In it, Mori forces him to come to this Christmas party or some sort of event like that, and Dazai looks so fucking done that he has to attend - I swear, he looks like a wet cat whenever he's upset, which is so adorable. However, he later hangs out with Ango and Oda and seems cutely happy about it. Osamu goes like "oh, we managed to gather". You can definitely see that's his comfort place - he really looks adorably peaceful in that one animation Aside from that instance, in the letter you receive when purchasing volumes on the BSD anniversary, Dazai mentions that time holds no significance for him, implying that he doesn't celebrate or enjoy anniversaries at all. I got the impression that he feels the same way about birthdays, perhaps because they serve as a reminder that he doesn't want to continue living and how much time he has spent being alive, yet not much has changed regardless. In some way, all these normal human activities people do to celebrate life are probably painful and suffocating to him. My guess is that Dazai doesn't really care much about his birthday, and it all probably meant even less to him during the Port Mafia era when he was much grumpier. He strikes me as the type of person who wouldn't even disclose his actual birthdate to others just so they wouldn't bother him. I mean the guy used to live in the most impersonally decorated shipping container in SB. However, secretly, I imagine he would make sure to spend time with Oda and Ango on his bday. He would appear more cheerful than usual, simply happy that they were able to meet. His friends wouldn't even be aware that it's a special day, but he would know, and that's all that matters. Quality time definitely feels like his love language. My guess is that the only person who'd know it's his birthday would be Mori, who would give him the most proper gift ever - a tie, suit, something of that type. Dazai would be so done with it, but he'd probably use whatever he gets, since he tends to hold onto stuff people give him? (he wore the coat Mori gave him, and cared enough to burn it, then there are the matches too). I can't imagine Mori giving him something Dazai wouldn't use - considering how classy Mori is with his gifts and lifestyle (like the guy goes everywhere with a limo).

I could also envision him using "it's my birthdaay~" as an excuse to tease Chuuya - with the latter trying to be nice to him one day of the year. He would do his most™  to be super fucking annoying and try to get away with it, saying things like "you're so mean to me on my birthday." Chuuya would probably try to tolerate him more than usual, and Dazai would keep pushing until Chuuya finally loses his patience. It'd probably be super fucking amusing to Dazai to see how much Chuuya could tolerate just because it's his special day. But yeah, I feel like Dazai would have a mix of emotions on his birthday, and he'd want to spend the day with the only people who remind him why life is actually good - Ango and, especially, Odasaku. this was a fun question to think about <3

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers VANDEAD CARNIVAL ;; Present from Mukami [PART 1]

ー The scene starts in Yui’s bedroom

Yui: Today’s Christmas Eve, huh...?

( When I was still living with Father, we were always extremely busy during this time of year with preparations for the Christmas Mass. )

( We would decorate the church for the Mass...or make tons of sweets to hand out to the children as gifts... )

( Somehow that feels like part of a distant past now... )

Haah...

ー Kou enters the room

Kou: Heya~! M-neko-chan~!

Yui: ...Kou-kun?

Kou: No need to act so surprised, right? What’s wrong? You seem kind of down?

Yui: Um, could you please knock on the door before entering? I’d really appreciate it...

Kou: Eh~~? Why bother going through the extra trouble?

Besides, I live here, remember? My house, my rules, no?

Yui: H-Hm...That might be the case, but...

( I have a feeling he won’t understand... )

So, why are you here? Is there anything you need from me...?

Kou: Hm~~? I only came to hang out because I was bored~

Yui: I see. Are you off from work today?

Kou: Exactly! Today’s my first free day in a long time!

Anyway, more importantly, M-neko-chan. You were talking about how it’s Christmas Eve today earlier...Right?

Yui: Yeah...I had a bit of an ‘oh, right!’ moment.

Kou: ‘Oh, right’...? You’re talking as if you only just noticed.

Yui: Yeah...But I really did recall only now. It totally slipped my mind...

Kou: To think you’d forget about such an important event! Is everything okay, M-neko-chan?

Yui: I mean, you guys don’t celebrate Christmas, do you?

Kou: Hmー Well, we’re Vampires after all. We obviously don’t feel like celebrating it, nor are we interested.

Yui: ...Figured as much. There aren’t any Christmas decorations inside the house either...

Besides, I haven’t gone out much as of late either...

Kou: Now that you mention it, you’ve just been going back and forth between here and school without making any additional stops, huh?

If you were to head out, you’d discover that the whole city is in a Christmas mood. 

There really is no way to look past it, whether you like it or not...

Yui: Yeah, but I haven’t gotten a chance to go look...So I completely forgot...

Kou: Hmー...

Ah, say, M-neko-chan? How have you spent your Christmas Eve in the past?

Yui: Eh...?

Kou: I mean, I don’t know how normal families celebrate the holidays.

Yui: Hm...Right. My personal experience might be a little different from the standard though.

Kou: Heeh? In what way?

Yui: You know that my Father works as a Priest, right?

Kou: Ahー I feel like I heard that somewhere before.

Yui: We hold a Mass at church on Christmas day, so we have to prepare for that the night before.

Kou: Prepare? Like the Christmas lights they put up in town?

Yui: Yeah. Ours weren’t quite as elaborate, of course.

On the day of the Mass, the visitors light a candle, take a seat and pray...

Then afterwards we read passages from the Bible.

At the very end, someone will play the orgle and everyone sings together.

It creates such a lovely medley of singing voices...I loved that part.

Kou: Hmm, I see...But is that actually fun?

Yui: Yeah, it is. It is an important day to me after all.

( It’s a day full of memories of the time I spent with Father as well, after all... )

Kou: Hmー So that’s how it is. I mean, I don’t really understand but...Oh, I know!

The other day, this one person at work told me that Christmas Eve is a special day you should spend with your lover. (1)

Have you ever spent Christmas Eve with a special someone before?

Yui: No...I was always helping out for the Mass at Church after all...

Kou: I see...

ー Ruki enters the room

Ruki: The two of you are making a ruckus. At least close the door when you’re talking.

Yui: Ah, Ruki-kun...Yuma-kun and Azusa-kun as well. What’s the matter?

Yuma: We just happened to run into each other in the hallway. Ya guys were talkin’ hella loud.

Yui: S-Sorry...

Azusa: Eve and Kou...The two of you seemed to be having a fun chat.

Kou: Really? It wasn’t anything special though.

Ruki: Anyway, Kou, come with me. Livestock, you stay in your room.

Yui: S-Sure...

Kou: Eh~~...? Oh well, whatever. I got to learn something new at least.

See you later, M-neko-chan~!

ー The four of them leave

Yui: They left...

( Somehow it suddenly got quiet. )

( ...Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded talking for a little longer... )

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Kou: ...Say, say, Ruki-kun. Why don’t the four of us throw a Christmas party?

Ruki: Haah...I was wondering what you would bring up all of a sudden.

Kou: I mean, M-neko-chan seemed kind of sad, you see~

She was raised at a Church, right?

So it seems like Christmas and such brings back a lot of memories for her.

Yuma: So that’s what the two of ya were talkin’ ‘bout earlier, huh?

Azusa: ...Say, what is...Christmas?

Kou: Ah, are you interested, Azusa-kun?

Christmas itself is on the 25th of December and the day before that is called ‘Christmas Eve’.

It’s the day on which they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ~

Azusa: Heeh, then...Today is the 24th so it’s...Christmas Eve...right?

Kou: Exactlyー! So I was thinking we could hold a little celebration?

Ruki: Azusa, did you not celebrate Christmas back when you were still human?

Azusa: ...We did not have that kind of celebration...

Ruki: How about you, Yuma?

Yuma: Hmー... Now that ya mention it, I do feel as if the city was a lil’ more lively ‘round this time of year...I think...?

I might have celebrated it back when I was a child, but I forgot.

Kou: I’m pretty sure my answer should be obvious but...Ah, you must have celebrated it, right, Ruki-kun?

Ruki: Well, yes.

Kou: Makes sense. You are a rich boy after all~

Azusa: Say, Ruki? How exactly do you celebrate it...?

Ruki: You decorate the inside of the house, say your prayers to God and enjoy a meal with the whole family.

There’s special foods and snacks which are only enjoyed on that particular day of year...

Also, you would exchange presents...I suppose that about sums it up.

Azusa: ...Exchanging presents...I honestly don’t care about the exchanging part. I’d much rather just be on the receiving end of all the punches...

Kou: Ahaha...Putting your wishes aside for a second...

Don’t you want to try and hold a Christmas party?

We’ve never really done something like that with the whole family, right? Come on, why not?

Ruki: Family, huh...?

Yuma: That bein’ said, Vampires celebratin’ the birth of Christ is kinda fucked up, no?

Kou: Should we not? Do you think he’ll be upset with us?

Ruki: ...Well, while I doubt he will be thrilled about it, that man has connections to the Church of his own, so he might understand in a sense.

I doubt he will condemn us if we hold a small celebration at home.

Kou: Right~? In that case, let’s get this party rolling~!

Ruki: Yuma, Azusa. What do you two think?

Yuma: ...Ahー...

Azusa: ...

Yuma: Oi, Kou. The Sow’s havin’ a rough time, right?

Kou: Yeah, she is.

Azusa: I...personally don’t care much about the party itself but...I don’t want...Eve to be sad...

Yuma: Nnー Well, it’s not really for her sake, but I don’t see any harm in doin’ this sorta stuff for once?

Ruki: ...

Kou: Fufu~ In that case, we just need permission from Ruki-kun...~!

Ruki: Haah...You’ll all be helping out, including during the clean-up, understood?

Yuma: Oh! Which means...

Ruki: Exactly...I suppose it will make for a nice change of pace.

We haven’t really spent much time together as a family up until now after all.

Furthermore, pleasing Livestock is part of our duty as her masters.

Kou: Hooray~~!!

In that case, we need to get started with all of the preparations!

Azusa: ...

Ruki: Oi, Azusa. Where are you going?

Azusa: I figured I’d go...tell Eve that we’ve decided to hold a party...

Kou: Eh!? You’re going to tell her?

Yuma: Aah? Should we not?

Kou: Hmー Don’t you think this is a perfect chance to make it a surprise?

Yuma: Surprise...? The fuck’s that?

Ruki: It means to catch them by surprise. In other words, you keep it a secret until the very second they arrive at the party...

Kou: I’m sure she’ll be ten times happier than if she already knew about the party beforehand!

I’m an idol, remember?

So I’ve had people throw a surprise birthday party for me before. 

I felt so happy back then!

Yuma: Hm. Is that how it works? Well, fine by me.

Ruki: Azusa, you’ve heard us. You don’t need to go inform her.

Azusa: Mmh. Understood...

Kou: Hmー Holding a Christmas party is fine and all but...

Yuma: The problem’s how to prepare for it. We need to decorate the place, but I have no fuckin’ clue which decorations to pick.

Azusa: I wonder what kind of...dishes we should serve...?

Kou: Let’s leave that part to Ruki-kun.

Ruki: Right. Just leave the cooking up to me. Which leaves...

ー The scene shifts to Yui’s bedroom

Yui: ( Hm...It’s a little chilly in here... )

( I’m pretty sure quite some time has passed since the others left as well. I wonder what they’re up to...? )

( Right. I suppose I’ll check up on them while I go grab myself a hot beverage. )

ー The scene shifts to the hallway

Yui: ...

Kou: Let’s leave that part to Ruki-kun.

Ruki: Right. Just leave the cooking up to me. Which leaves...

Yui: ( Ah...Kou-kun and Ruki-kun’s voices... )

( I wonder what they’re talking about...? )

Excuse meーー

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Ruki: ...Oh...

Kou: Eh? M-neko-chan!?

Yuma: ...Ya sure have the worst timin’, huh...?

Yui: Eh!? I’m sorry. Should I not have come in...?

Azusa: No, it’s fine...We were just talking about throwing you a surprise Christmas party

Yui: Eh...?

Kou: Waiーー!! Azusa-kun! What are you saying!?

Azusa: I mean...It’s not like we can still cover it up at this point. If we try and hide it...We’ll only end up making her uncomfortable. ...Right?

Ruki: Yes, Azusa, you are absolutely right. We could have always sent her back to her room, but I’m sure she would have been worried about us secretly scheming something behind her back.

If we upset her, we’re basically rendering our intentions null.

Yuma: Haah, I mean, that’s true but...We could have at least tried to keep it a secret...

Kou: Haah...Guess there’s no point now...

ーー And with that being said, we shall now commence with the preparations of the Mukami family’s very own Christmas party~!

Yui: Eh...!? We’re holding a Christmas party together!?

Yuma: That’s what we said earlier, remember? Are yer ears still workin’?

Yui: No, they are but...I’m just shocked...

I’m just wondering if it’s okay for you all to celebrate Christmas even though you’re Vampires?

Ruki: You don’t need to worry about that.

Kou: Exactly! Don’t fret over the small details~!

Are you not happy? You get to celebrate with us!

Yui: Of course I am...! I’m just surprised, that’s all.

Kou: I don’t think there’s any time to be surprised though? We have to hurry up and  prepare or Christmas will be here before we know it!

Yui: Ah, right!

Kou: Okayー! Let’s get started with these preparations right away!

Azusa: Eve...We’ve never held a proper party before...Can you tell us what we should do...?

Kou: First off, it’d be a great help if you could give us some pointers on how to decorate the house.

Yui: Well, we have to make actual decorations first...

Ruki: I assume it would be much quicker to just head to the store rather than explaining it here first.

Yuma: Good point. I doubt I’ll understand from some explanation alone.

Azusa: ...Yeah...

Ruki: There you have it. We are heading out at once.

Yui: Sure!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the department store

Yui: ( I never thought I’d one day go shopping with all of the guys like this... )

( That alone counts as a Christmas miracle. )

Yuma: Whatcha been grinnin’ ‘bout this whole time?

Yui: Ah, right. I’m just so happy we’re all able to go shopping like this...

Yuma: Heh, you’re gonna find yerself lost ‘gain if ya keep yer head in the clouds like that. Wouldn’t be the first time after all.

Yui: I...I’ll be careful.

Kou: Fufufu, so you’re aware of it at least.

Yui: Y-Yeah...

( It’s not that I actually walk away by myself though... )

Ruki: The food’s next on the list, huh? Oi, is there anything in particular you’d like to eat?

Azusa: ...I’d like something doused in plenty of red chili powder...

Ruki: ...Azusa, let’s try and stick to Christmas food this time.

Azusa: ...Fine...

But what exactly is ‘Christmas food’...?

Ruki: Hm...

Yuma: ...We don’t know if our personal preferences fit the holiday spirit after all.

So shouldn’t we just leave that choice up to the Sow?

Kou: Exactly. That’s why we called her over, so the two of you should talk it over and make a quick decision.

Ruki: ...I suppose it cannot be helped. That seems like the most time-efficient solution. 

Livestock, what did your family eat for Christmas?

Yui: Let’s see...I suppose Turkey or Roast Beef are both staples on any Christmas dinner table!

Ruki: You’re only naming meat...

Yui: Of course, we eat salad as well? Mixing in vegetables cut into cute shapes and such...

Yuma: The fuck does that mean? All veggies are the same, right?

Yui: You can use cutters to shape them like hearts or stars. I guess you’ll get an idea if we go to the deli counter...?

Yuma: Ready-made dishes?

Yui: Ah, I didn’t mean we have to buy anything, but I figured we could gather some inspiration.

Yuma: Geez, I thought ya were gonna take the easy way out. It’s a party after all.

So we’re obviously gonna make everythin’ at home from scratch, right?

Yui: Yeah! Of course.

Ruki: I suppose it’ll give us an idea of what we can make. Well then, let’s go buy the ingredients first.

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: I’m glad we got our hands on some delicious-looking meat!

Ruki: Yes. I’m looking forward to preparing it.

Yui: ( I managed to buy everything I need for the cake as well, so I’ll try my best at making it! )

( I hope they’ll like it... )

Kou: Say, let’s go pick out a tree next! The biggest one they have!

Yuma: Geez, are ya a lil’ kid or somethin’?

Yui: Fufu, you’re interested in decorating it, right?

Kou: I mean, it’s all sparkly and pretty, right? Just like me, no?

Azusa: Let’s buy lots of star-shaped decorations...

Kou: Come on, Azusa-kun. Don’t ignore me.

Azusa: Eh...? Ah, yeah...Sorry...

Yui: Do you like stars, Azusa-kun?

Azusa: Yeah...They’ve got these sharp and pointy ends...So I’m sure they’d hurt a lot...

Yui: S-So that’s why...

Ruki: Azusa, you better not think of tainting those stars with your blood.

Kou: Exactly! Today’s Christmas after all, a day you are meant to enjoy with your family!

Well then~ Which one to buy?

ー Kou runs off

Ruki: Oi, Kou. Don’t run off by yourself. 

I won’t allow for any extra purchases. We’ll only buy the necessities.

Kou: Eeeeeh~? Whaaat~? You cheapskate!

Ruki: I don’t mind being a cheapskate. This is important money we’ve received from that man.

I can’t be wasteful with it.

Kou: Well, I get where you’re coming from but...

Yui: ( Everyone seems to be having fun. )

( Like this, it almost seems like we’ve become an actual family... )

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Phew, we bought more than I anticipated.

Yuma: That’s ‘cause Kou kept on wantin’ to buy all this shit, right?

Kou: Eeh~? You’re blaming me? Fufu, I won’t deny it. However, we didn’t buy anything we didn’t need, right?

Yuma: I mean, we didn’t, I guess...

Ruki: Let’s go over everything one more time. Is this pretty much everything we need for the tree and decorations...?

Yui: Yeah! We’re all set!

Yuma: We’ve got the vegetables I grew at home as well, so this should do.

Kou: Aah~ We’re actually celebrating Christmas. I can’t wait!

Ruki: Kou, you’re being way too excited. Mind your manners.

Kou: Oh come on, let me be! I never got to experience this as a child after all!

Yuma: Well then, we’re gonna be busy once we get home~!

Yui: Speaking of which...Where did Azusa-kun...? Ah, there he is!

( I wonder why he’s just standing there? )

Azusa: Say, Ruki...

Ruki: ...? What’s the matter?

Azusa: I want this knife...

Yui: K-Knife...?

( Why is he holding a knife...? )

Kou: Hold up, Azusa-kun, where did you get that?

Azusa: ...Why not? I want this to give me pain... 

Yui: A-Azusa-kun! What are you saying...!?

Ruki: Azusa, go return it to the store.

Azusa: Please? ...The shape of this blade is so pretty, and it looks very sharp as well...

Ruki: No means no. Azusa, you have to put it back where you found it.

Azusa: No way....But I want it so badly...I can’t give up on it...

Yui: Azusa-kun...

Azusa: ...Come on, I want it, no matter what...

Kou: Azusa-kun! You don’t need a knife on a fun day like this!

Azusa: No...This is special...

Yui: ( What to do? Azusa-kun’s not giving in at all. )

Yuma: Oi, at this rate we’ll never make it back home.

Azusa: Then...Can we buy it?

Yuma: Just listen to Ruki for today. Ya can buy that crap whenever, right?

Azusa: ...

Yuma: God, listen up...

Ruki: Azusa.

Yui: ( O-Oh no...Ruki-kun started getting angry as well. )

U-Um, Azusa-kun...

Yuma: Ya stay out of this.

Yui: B-But...

Yuma: Geez, guess it can’t be helped. I’ll go bring it back with him.

Ruki: My bad, Yuma.

Yuma: Yeah. ...Come on, Azusa, let’s go.

Azusa: ...No.

*Rustle*

Yui: Ah! Yuma-kun! If you grab him by his collar like that, you’ll hurt him....

Azusa: Ah...It hurts...I can barely breathe...Haah...Amazing...Uu...

Yui: ( A-Azusa-kun is...happy? )

Ruki: Azusa, don’t cause Yuma too much trouble, okay?

Azusa: Yeah...

Yuma: Che! Ya say that but you’re already bein’ a pain in the ass! Come on, walk by yerself already!

Azusa: Nn, but...It’s suffocating...

Yuma: That’ll fix itself if ya just use yer own damn legs, no?

Azusa: It’d rather stay like this a little longer.

Yui: ( He’ll be okay, right? Yuma-kun’s with him after all... )

ー Yuma walks away with Azusa

Ruki: Let’s go. We’ll head back first and get everything ready.

ー Ruki starts walking away

Yui: Eh? Don’t we need to wait for them?

Kou: Yuma-kun may be with him, but knowing Azusa-kun...

Yui: ...?

Kou: Azusa-kun has a hard time letting go of things once they pique his interest.

Yui: I see...

( It might take a while until they get back... )

I hope it won’t turn into a fight.

Kou: Hmー I guess that’ll depend on Azusa-kun’s behavior?

Ruki: What are you two doing? Let’s go.

Kou: Roger~!

Yui: ( Yuma-kun’s actually quite good at looking after others, so we can leave this up to him, right...? )

*TIMESKIP*

 ー The scene shifts to the living room

Kou: Phew~ These were so heavyー

Ruki: Good grief, I’m exhausted...

Yui: ( We’ve got quite a lot of bags... )

Ruki: Well then, we’ve got no time to lose. Let’s start preparing.

If we procrastinate for too long, we’ll only waste time.

I’m heading towards the kitchen to get started on the food.

Kou: Gotcha~!

Guess I’ll get started with the decorations then.

Ruki: We’re counting on you.

Kou: Roger!

Yui: Ruki-kun, I’ll help out as well!

Ruki: Yeah, that would be great.

Kou: I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll make for us!

Yui: Mmh! I’ll try my best to make something delicious, okay?

*THUD*

Yuma: Honestly, I went through fuckin’ hell and back!

I’m never cleanin’ up Azusa’s mess again!

Yui: S-Sounds like they’re back. He seems really upset though. I wonder what happened...?

Ruki: I assume Azusa threw one of his stubborn tantrums. Oi, Livestock.

Yui: Y-Yes!

Ruki: Go pass on this message to them. Please tell them they should get started with their own tasks.

Yui: Yeah, sure. I’ll go tell them.

ー The scene shifts to the hallway

Yui: Welcome back, you two.

Azusa: If I don’t get that knife, I’ll...I’ll...

Yuma: Aah, let it go already! What’s so damn nice ‘bout that knife anyway!?

Azusa: ...

Yui: ( Seems like they don’t even realize I’m here. )

( That being said, if I leave them be, they’ll run late with their preparations. )

Um, you guys! Welcome back!

Azusa: ...Wah...You startled me.

Yuma: Aah? The fuck, Sow? You’ve been standin’ there this whole time? 

Yui: Yeah...Um, Ruki-kun has already started preparing everything, so he’d like the two of you to help out as well. 

Azusa: But, the knifeーー

Yuma: Ya really don’t know when to give up, huh? We’re done talkin’ ‘bout that!

Azusa: ...You blockhead.

Yuma: Speak for yerself!!

Yui: ( O-Oh no... )

( I can’t leave things like this. I have to stop them somehow... )

U-Um!!

Azusa-kun, Kou-kun has started on the decorations, so can I rely on you to help him with that?

Azusa: ...

Yui: Both me and Yuma-kun understand very well just how badly you want that knife...

But we have to get on with the Christmas preparations now, so I’d really appreciate it if you could help out...

Azusa: ...What about you?

Yui: Eh?

Azusa: What will you do?

Yui: I’m going to make the Christmas cake.

Azusa: ...Okay. I want to try your cake, so I’ll forget about the knife...For a while, at least...

Yuma: ‘For a while’, my ass! Forget ‘bout that thing forever!

Yui: Shh, calm down, Yuma-kun.

Azusa: I’ll go help Kou then.

Yui: Yeah, good luck.

ー Azusa walks away

Yuma: Heh. You’re really startin’ to get the hang of how to handle that guy, huh?

Yui: Y-You think so...?

Yuma: Well, whatever. Anyway, Ruki’s already in the kitchen, ya said?

Yui: Yeah, I think he’s getting everything ready to start cooking.

Yuma: I’ll go get some veggies from the garden then.

Yui: Ah, Yuma-kun! Could you maybe let me have some fruit to use for the cake?

Yuma: Roger. I’ll make sure to grab a few, so ya get yer ass over to the kitchen ‘kay?

Yui: Yeah, thanks!

ー Yuma walks away as well

Yui: Well then...

( I’ll try my best to bake the best cake ever as well! )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) While the holidays are often associated with family in the West, Christmas and especially Christmas Eve are strongly linked to couples in Japan. 

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[ Part 2 ] →

[biggest-stupidhead]

Bad Timing (Levi x reader) Part 11

Summary: How do you tell your friends that you’re falling for your big brother’s best friend? 

Word Count: 8.2K (longest one yet) 

__

The next few days flew by in a snowy blur. Most of your time was spent wrapping gifts and packaging baked goods to deliver to family friends. You grunted as you leaned heavily on top of the Tupperware container as you shoved in more sugar cookies. This particular batch was going to Erwin's coach and his family. The sound of wrapping paper tearing made you cringe, turning around you saw Hange holding up the two uneven lengths of paper. She smiled sheepishly at you before shrugging and taping the pieces together once more. Your mom and Erwin were currently out shopping at the mall, which was a good hour away from the hick town you lived in.

You and Hange had already been out shopping the other day. It had been very stressful shopping for all your friends and family. You were glad to have gotten the ordeal over with. Although it was stressful, you had enjoyed picking out the perfect gift for your loved ones. Some highlights included: a camera lense for Armin, a set of chain necklaces for Mikasa, a turkey hat for Sasha, a safari hat for Connie, and your personal favorite was a set of fancy tea cups for Levi.

You really had outdone yourself this year, even going as far as buying Erwin supplies that he would need for College. For Hange you had purchased her a fresh set of glassware for her experiments, since she was majoring in Chemistry and enjoyed doing work outside of the classroom you thought it was a fitting gift. Hange held up her finished product proudly, judging by the size of the box you guessed it was a pair of shoes.

"I can't wait to give these to him!" she gushed as she set the box to the side and began folding a sweater that the two of you had purchased for your mom.

"Yeah I'm sure he'll love them." you agreed. You weren't the only one who had splurged this year. Hange had bought Erwin a fresh pair of cleats for his freshman season at college.

"I hope so!" she chuckled as she boxed the sweater and the pair of earrings for your mom.

"What did you ask for this year?" you asked as you set the stuffed container of cookies to the side.

"Oh nothing special." Hange waved her hand dismissively. You weren't surprised, she wasn't exactly interested in possessions. She valued knowledge above most things, so the closest you could get to filling that need was to give her books or items that helped her learn and shit. You had learned that the hard way, a few years ago you had given her a nice bracelet, which was currently collecting dust on her dresser.

"Well what about your parents, are they doing something special this year?" you inquired, you knew that she had learned to appreciate knowledge from them. They used to go on trips and spend Christmas soaking up the culture of wherever they went. One of their most notable trips was to South America, Hange's favorite trip to date. They hiked in the jungle and learned about the environment and shit.

"Aw sadly no, they wanted to take a break and focus on their research here." She shrugged as she wrapped the box in snowman wrapping paper.

"Really?" you mused, although Hange's family was unconventional you admired their free spirit.

"Yeah, I'm particularly interested in my mom's project, she's studying these penguins in South America right now-" she continued to ramble on about her mother's studies and her father's work. Both of her parents were very active in the zoology community. Hange's rant was cut short by the sound of her phone ringing, she apologized before answering the call, walking out of the room for some privacy. Which you thought was odd, she usually wasn't so private with her phone calls, which at times could be annoying. You brushed it off as most likely being a conversation about gifts. You picked up your phone, taking the opportunity to answer the text that Mikasa had sent you earlier that morning.

"We'll be over around 7." her text made you feel giddy with excitement. Although this year would be a bit different you were still excited to see all your friends.

"See you soon!" you responded, you realized that it was probably a good idea to start dinner for your mom. She should be home any minute but still you set about preheating the oven for the casserole and the ham. Thankfully the Jeagers brought dishes as well, Carla made a mean pumpkin pie. You weren't expecting Kenny to bring anything other than booze. You fell into an easy rhythm as you prepared the vegetable casserole. It couldn't have been more than an hour later that your mom and Erwin stumbled in the door and dropped the bags down by the card table where we had been wrapping gifts. Your mom was quick to wash her hands and start the mashed potatoes as you checked the ham. Hange had began to set the table with Erwin, a christmas playlist had been playing to set the mood.

The Jeagers arrived right at 7, just in time. Grisha's arms were full with gifts, Carla toted two pies, Eren held a board game, and Mikasa had two bottles of red wine with ribbons around the necks of the bottles. Hugs and formalities were exchanged as they entered and put their gifts under the tree. Carla joined your mom in the kitchen to finish carving the ham. You and the other teens finished setting the table as everyone trickled into the dining room.

Just as the ham was placed on the table and glasses of wine were poured, the doorbell rang once more. Kenny had arrived, surprisingly only thirty minutes late. He had a huge bottle of vodka and another sizable bottle of whiskey. Your mom greeted him, taking the liquor from him and pointing him to his seat. Now that all guests were accounted for you began to dish out food and recount the past holidays that your families spent together. It didn't go unnoticed that Kenny was a tad uncomfortable, but thanks to Grisha's easy going nature and Carla's friendliness, he slowly eased up. Of course you and the other teens had your own conversation separate from the adults.

"-Do you remember that one year that I creamed you guys in Just Dance?" Hange gloated as she waved a forkful of ham in Eren's face.

"Ugh yes, but only because that was the year that Mikasa's ankle was sprained." Eren deflected, lifting his own fork to push hers from his face. Mikasa blushed and shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.

"Well I guess we'll just have to see if that was the real reason after a rematch!" Hange teased before biting into the hunk of meat.

"I guess we will." Eren narrowed his eyes as he watched Hange chew the meat.

"We should play Mario Kart first, I want to redeem myself." Armin was quick to change the subject. Always quick to avoid possible conflict.

"Yeah I totally creamed you last time!" you gloated a cocky smile on your lips.

"W-What! No I had the most wins!" Eren's eyes were alight with anger. He was too easy to piss off.

"Wrong!" you said in a sing song voice.

"Knock it off you two." Erwin scolded from across the table, Eren's cheeks flushed when Erwin scolded him but you simply rolled your eyes. In the last few months Erwin had taken to hovering over you and your friends. It was strange, he had never shown so much interest in your social life until recently. At first you had been eager to tell him what was going on in your friend group, but now it was becoming annoying.

"Lay off Erwin, it's all talk." you scoffed with a roll of your eyes. Erwin's eyes hardened at your snarky tone, your guests eyes flickered between the two of you as you glared at one another. Until finally you snorted and looked away with a shake of your head.

"Uh...so who wants pie!" Armin, ever true to his anti confrontation nature filled the thick silence between the teens. Meanwhile the adults had continued to yammer on about all the hot hospital gossip.

"I-I would." Eren played into Armin's excuse to change the subject.

"Yeah sounds good." you sighed, defeated. Armin scrambled out of his seat and ducked into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with the pies. He dished out three pieces onto you and Eren's plates before serving himself. By the time he had returned, Hange had already changed the topic to the party the following day. You sat in silence as she rambled about the logistics for the party at your house.

"I think that Nanaba is bringing mac and cheese, Mike is probably going to bring those snicker doodles that he always makes-" You tuned her out, not interested in her current rant. Tomorrow's party wasn't the party you were really excited for. So you instead turned to Mikasa, hoping to talk about your plans for the 26th.

"So what time are you going to Annie's? Would you like to ride together?" you asked as you angled yourself to face her to better tune out Hange.

"We are heading over around 9, and sure I'm driving." Mikasa responded as she stretched to serve herself a piece of pie.

"Perfect, are you spending the night there?" you quizzed, unsure if you also wanted to spend the night there.

"No, we were going to go back to Armin's but I can drop you off here if you want." Mikasa answered as she took a bite of pie.

"Alright that sounds good!" you agreed, knowing that Mikasa was always a reliable designated driver.

__

Dinner had gone relatively smooth, despite the tension that now hung in the atmosphere between you and Erwin. The rest of the evening was spent in the living room opening gifts with a Christmas movie marathon playing in the background. The Jeagers left around eleven, which was later than they usually stayed. Kenny took the guest bedroom in the basement, since he was spending Christmas day with your family anyway. You checked your phone with a heavy sigh, already it was twelve am. You contemplated texting Levi to tell him happy birthday, but you weren't sure he would be awake. It was already six in the morning in France, and usually he got his three hours of sleep between four and seven in the morning. But you decided that if he didn't answer you could leave him a voicemail or shoot him a text. So after you changed into your pajamas and had snuggled beneath your covers, you pulled up Levi's contact, your thumb hovering over the small phone icon. Finally you just said 'fuck it' and pressed the button, the phone rang three times before he answered.

"Hey." his voice was thick and gravely as he spoke, immediately you felt bad. You knew that you must have woken him up and you cringed internally.

"Hey happy birthday!" you greeted, making sure to keep your voice low so you wouldn't disturb Erwin and Hange.

"Tch thanks." Levi mumbled, you pictured him running a hand down his face as he tried to wake up.

"you're welcome birthday boy." you teased as you fell back onto your pillows.

"shut up." Levi scoffed, you could hear his footsteps as he walked through the apartment, presumably to get his morning cup of black tea.

"you know you love it." you sighed.

"keep telling yourself that." Levi's voice was becoming clearer now that he was more awake.

"I think that I will." you answered with a light laugh.

"you still going to that party tomorrow?" Levi interrogated, you groaned. You had almost forgotten how he liked to stick his nose in your business, even when he was across the fucking ocean.

"Yeah what about it?" you huffed, feeling a bit defensive.

"Shouldn't you stay with your family or some shit." Levi sounded frustrated.

"My mom said I could go." you pouted childishly.

"Whatever." Levi grunted, and you frowned, unsure of where his frustration was coming form.

"Aw come on no need to be jealous, I'm sure you can find some rager in Paris. Not like you'll be missing much here." you chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hmph." Levi scoffed, you could hear the tinkling of his spoon as he stirred his tea.

"So....when are you due to be home?" you asked, deciding it was best to change the subject.

"Next week." Levi's tone was clipped.

"I'm so jealous." you sighed dreamily.

"Yeah Paris is way better than Shiganshina." Levi responded nonchalantly, you weren't sure if he was being serious or sarcastic. Either way he was telling the truth.

"No need to rub it in my face." you chuckled.

"Tch." He scoffed, you liked to imagine him smiling as he did so, even if he wasn't.

"Well I hope that this next week goes by fast, as much as I hate to admit it I've... missed you." you confessed, the tips of your ears scorching hot with embarrassment. The silence was deafening as you waited for him to say something, hell anything even if it was making fun of you.

"Whatever." he huffed, the butterflies in your stomach fluttered at the sound of his baritone voice.

"Just don't stay out late tomorrow." he quipped and you frowned, why did he care how late you stayed out?

"No need to worry about me, I'll probably just stay sober with Mikasa." You told him, only half honest.

"Never said I was worried about you." Levi sighed.

"Hmph fine be like that." you scoffed and rolled your eyes, not surprised with his response.

"Be like what?" He asked, genuinely curious what you meant.

"Like an ass." you quipped.

"Tch I'll quite being an ass when you stop being such a brat." Levi snapped, clearly you were approaching dangerous territory.

"Okay okay chill." you muttered, backing down before things got too heated.

"You're the one that brought it up.." Levi pointed out.

"Yeah and now I'm regretting that" you sighed, wishing he wouldn't be so stubborn for once. He sighed as well and you heard a small clatter on his end of the line, you figured he was starting the dishes.

"Look I've got some shit to do, I'll call you later okay?" Levi's voice was a tad strained and in the moment of silence you heard the sound of Isabel and Farlan bickering in hushed tones.

"Y-Yeah sure of course." you couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

"Happy birthday Levi." you wished him once more.

"Thanks, talk to you later brat." and with that he hung up, leaving you totally alone in your dark room. You plugged your phone in and rolled over onto your side, he could be so annoying. You inhaled sharply and decided that you would enjoy the party tomorrow to it's fullest. What he didn't know wouldn't kill him.

___

"Hey can I borrow your lip gloss?" you asked Mikasa as you leaned forward to apply another coat of mascara to your lashes.

"Sure which one?" she asked as she pulled her hair into high pigtails on top of her head.

"The cherry one." you answered after a moment of contemplation. She finished her hair before reaching into her makeup bag and pulled out the tube of clear gloss.

"Thanks." you said as you took the make up from her. You didn't usually put this much effort into your appearance when you went to parties but you figured since it was the first time you would be going to Annie's that this was a special occasion. Also you had a sneaking suspicion that two of your exes would be there and you at least wanted to look hot if you were going to get black out.

Plus Mikasa was also dressed up, she wore a tight fitting black top with long sleeves and a low cut neck line that showed off her pale collarbones and neck. She had chosen to wear a choker that had metallic studs surrounding the black leather along with some other layered necklaces. To match her top she had selected a red plaid skirt and some torn tights. You weren't dressed nearly as edgy as she was, but you too had gone for a grungier look. You'd opted to wear a tattered pair of mom jeans along with a black cropped tank and an oversized flannel to cover your shoulders.

You sighed as you finished applying the gloss and frowned, Eren and Armin were in the next room over blasting Post Malone. You assumed that Eren was on aux since Armin usually listened to Surfaces or Khalid.

"You ready?" Mikasa asked as she pulled on her Doc Martens and double checked her earrings.

"Yeah." you assured her as you stood up to grab your small backpack with an extra change of comfy clothes in case you ended up staying the night. The two of you left the room and knocked on Eren's door that was down the hall.

"Just a minute!" Armin's shrill voice sounded a bit panicked but Mikasa simply shrugged and headed towards the kitchen. The Jeager's house was a ranch style house with one main floor and a nice basement. The two of you waited patiently in the kitchen for the boys, it was already well past nine. You scrolled through your snapchat, most of the stories were the regular group picture of friends having a sleepover, the druggie kids showing off their weed, and of course Sasha and Connie posted a video showcasing the house party at Annie's. From what the short video showed, her house was dark except for some LED lights that flashed through multiple different colors. The music was deafening, and the kids that you could see seemed to be swaying to the pulsing music.Sasha spun the camera around as she knocked back a shot with her arm around Connie who blew a puff of vapor at the camera.

"Looks fun." Mikasa scoffed, you knew that she preferred more low-key parties.

"If you end up not liking it we can always dip." You shrugged, knowing that this wasn't exactly your speed either. Mikasa hummed in agreement and turned to look down the hallway as Eren's door opened. The boys emerged from Eren's room, Eren wore a pair of black jeans and a dark forrest green long sleeved shirt. Armin wore a baby blue knit sweater with a collared shirt underneath and black jeans as well.

"All set?" Mikasa asked as she turned to pull out a bottle of titos with a cute little sweater over it. You smiled at the cute accessory and nodded.

"Yep!" you said popping the p as the four of you all made your way out to Eren's car. You slid into the back seat next to Armin who was fiddling with the hem of his sweater nervously. Eren resumed his hype music as Mikasa backed out of the drive way. Eren pulled out his puff bar as soon as the car was out of the drive and took a long drag. Mikasa scoffed and cracked the window for him. He blew the billow of smoke out the window and reached to turn the music up. He reached back and dangled the puff for you to take, after a brief moment of hesitation you accepted it and cracked your window before taking a hit. Armin watched with wide eyes as you inhaled and blew the vapor out the crack.

"Since when did you vape?" Armin asked, his mouth agape in awe.

"I don't...at least not regularly." You admitted sheepishly.

"That's what they all say." Eren chuckled, smoke curling out from his lips as he smirked.

"Shut up I'm serious!" you snapped a playful smile on your face. Thankfully Annie's house wasn't far away, about a twenty minute drive. You pulled up to the house, it was huge. Standing at least three stories tall, with a long winding driveway. Mikasa pulled up behind one of the many cars in the drive way and parked the car. Mikasa led the way around to the side door, which was unlocked, piled of shoes littered the hallway. The sound of loud music greeted you as you walked into the kitchen on the main floor to set the alcohol you'd brought down. The real party was in the basement.

The lights were off, leaving the only source of light to be the flickering LED lights, you couldn't even tell who was who. The air was heavy with the mingling aromas of cologne, vapes, and weed. Armin practically clung to you as the four of you waded through the crowd to get to the seating area in the center of the room. As you got closer the overpowering scent of weed assaulted your nose. There on the large L shaped couch was Annie, she held a large bong to her lips as Bertolt held the lighter under the weed, she inhaled deeply and the bong bubbled. She pulled back and blew a puff of smoke right in Reiner's face, the blonde's face scrunched up in disgust as he turned away to cough.

"Yo." Annie greeted Mikasa who leaned down to dap her up. Once Annie had greeted Mikasa she turned her attention to Eren who was eyeing the bong.

"You want a drag?" Annie offered, patting the sofa next to her. Eren nodded and dropped down between her and Bertolt, who once again struck the lighter for Eren. Mikasa rolled her eyes and waited patiently for Eren to finish his drag. Once the bong was out of the way she lowered herself down onto his lap and pulled her puff bar out to take a long drag. Armin shifted awkwardly behind you and tugged on your sleeve.

"Want to go get something to drink?" he yelled over the booming music, you glanced at the bong longingly but decided that Armin needed you right now so you nodded in agreement.

"Sure." the two of you pushed through the crowd to the minibar where an impressive amount of liquor was waiting. You poured some Bacardi into a glass of and added some pineapple and orange concentrates before handing the cup to Armin. He thanked you and quickly got to work on finishing the mixed drink. You poured yourself a rum and coke and then two shots of Malibu for you and Armin to take. The two of you knocked back the shots before wandering back over towards the couch. The crowd had thinned out a bit, something about watching a movie in Annie's in home movie theater.

"-No that's bullshit, I know for a fact that you pissed your pants in the second grade Eren!" your eyebrows shot into your hairline at the words leaving Annie's mouth.

"Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I don't notice shit." She huffed as she lifted the juul in her hand to her lips and took a long drag.

"I-"

"Just take the L Eren we all remember." Bertolt shook his head and chuckled at Eren's flushed cheeks. You glanced at Mikasa, usually she would defend Eren but she seemed content to let him struggle through this one on his own, still perched on his lap.

"We've all had accidents before." Armin said with an awkward chuckle as he sat down beside Annie, who looked at him with a blank expression.

"Like that time you tripped down the stairs and broke both your legs in fourth grade?" Annie quipped, a small smirk curling onto her lips. You choked on your drink at Annie's remark, she was an absolute savage.

"Exactly..." Armin flushed, lifting his own cup to his lips. Your phone buzzed in your pocket, but you were too invested in the conversation to be bothered to pick it up.

"Want a hit?" Annie offered the bong to you, you nodded. Although you'd never had weed before, you'd tried asking Levi for some of his but he always denied you. Annie held her hand out to Bertolt who placed the lighter in his open palm. She packed some more weed into the bowl before handing you the bong.

"You ever done this before?" She asked as she kneeled in front of you. You shook your head,

"Okay so I'll tell you when to inhale, and you've got to take a huge breath so you can get the smoke in your system. But then you'll have to take another breath to get it in your lungs." she instructed as she pressed the weed deeper into the bowl.

"Okay." you agreed, she nodded and struck the lighter, holding the flame over the weed in the bowl. You pressed your lips to the mouth piece and waited for her instructions.

"Inhale." she said once the weed was lit. You sucked in a big breath and the water in the bong bubbled. The smoke burned the insides of your throat as you inhaled it, you pulled the bong off your mouth and sucked in once more to get the smoke into your lungs. She nodded in approval as you coughed, smoke curling out of your mouth.

"Not bad for your first time." she commented as she took the bong from you and passed it to Mikasa who took a long drag before passing it to Bertolt.

"Thanks, that stuff burns." you coughed, Annie sat down next to you on the couch and draped her arm over the back. You felt the buzz from the weed and the shots you'd taken earlier, making your head spin a bit. Annie's thigh brushed against your own, you tried to focus on what she was wearing, a pair of grey sweats and a cute cropped peachy colored tank top with spaghetti straps.

"I like your top." you complimented, her hand fell from the back of the couch to your shoulders.

"Thanks." she said, turning to gauge your reaction to her touch. You swallowed a bit nervously, you'd known Annie since kindergarten, but you'd never really been friends before, she was always so quiet.

"I always thought you were a good kid." Annie smirked, her eyes a bit playful.

"What made you think that?" You giggled, shuffling closer to her.

"Your brother is like the school's golden boy, and you are always in all the honors classes." she shrugged, you frowned. You were used to people coming up with these assumptions. She was right though, you did take honor classes, but that didn't mean you couldn't party!

"I guess...But that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy partying." you countered.

"I suppose." she chuckled, taking a hit from her juul and blowing the smoke away from your face. Your phone rang in your pocket and you frowned, as you dug it out of your pocket. Your frown deepened at the sight of Hange's contact lighting up your screen.

"Hang on I should take this." you apologized, moving to stand up to find a quiet place to answer the phone. Annie snatched your wrist and pulled you back down on the sofa, the room spun as you fell back down and slumped against her shoulder.

"Slow down there sweetheart." Annie chuckled as you leaned against her.

"I got to go answer my-"

"Nah just stay here, enjoy yourself." Annie pulled you closer, but your head was too foggy to protest, thoughts of your phone already fading into the back of your mind as Annie held the bong to your lips once more.

__

"She's still not answering." Hange chewed on her knuckle as she glanced at Erwin who was gripping the steering wheel. His brows were knit tightly together with worry, Levi shifted in the back seat, tapping his fingers impatiently.

"This is stupid, she can wait until tomorrow to see me." Levi huffed, trying his best to sound indifferent.

"Oh don't say that Levi." Hange frowned as she looked back at Levi, her eyes deep with worry.

"Don't worry about it." Levi grunted, turning his attention back to his phone. He opened snapchat, and scrolled through the stories. His eyes widened slightly when he stopped on Sasha's story, the video of the party played, he found himself looking for your silhouette among the swaying bodies. He tapped on his screen, expecting to move on to the next story, only to find a new video, added to her story less than ten minutes ago. A video of you with a red solo cup in one hand, and a juul in the other. You were leaned up against a blonde girl who was pushing a bottle of Pink Whitney against you, the pink alcohol sloshing in the glass.

"Come on (Y/n) finish it off!" Sasha encouraged as the other kids on the couch picked up on her chant.

"Finish it, Finish it." the crowd cheered as you sat down the cup and took the bottle from the blonde. You looked at the camera as Sasha shuffled closer.

"No pa-paparazzi please." you giggled, hiccuping half way through your sentence. You lifted the bottle to your lips and tilted your head back, the liquid spilled down your front, making your skin glisten in the colorful lights as you chugged the alcohol you managed to get in your mouth.

"Fuck yeah!!!" Sasha jeered, spinning the camera around to her face. The video ended and Levi felt his blood boil. He'd never seen you so out of it before and he hated it. He hated how easily you had given into doing something so stupid, he hated the sight of the juul in your fist, he hated the way the girl's arm was tightly wrapped around your waist, but most of all he hated that he wasn't there.

"Wait, I think Sasha's snap map is on." Hange mumbled, her phone screen casting a pale glow over her glasses as she zoomed in on Sasha's bitmoji. Sure enough Sasha's bitmoji was on the map, surrounded by at least twenty other bitmojis gathered in one location.

"Okay let's head that way then." Erwin sighed as he started the car and backed out of his parking spot in the airport parking lot. Erwin pulled out of the small airport that was about thirty minutes away from your town and set off towards Annie's house. Thankfully Annie lived on the outskirts of town so it wasn't as far of a drive. It wasn't long before Erwin was pulling up a long winding drive that was full of cars. He parked at the back of the line of cars and got out of the car with a heavy slam of his door. Levi slammed the back door of the minivan as hard as he could, the two of them marched up the driveway silently with Hange following nervously.

"You guys please slow down it's icy out here." Hange begged as she slipped on one of the steps to the side door. The three of them piled into the house, Hange knew it was bad when Levi didn't bother to kick his shoes off before continuing towards the basement steps. Erwin stormed down the steps, the music getting louder as they descended. Erwin paused at the bottom of the steps to take in the scene, cups littered the floor, the room was hazy with smoke from juuls and the scent of weed clung to the air. A group of partygoers was crowded onto the couch, Levi's eyes narrowed onto the back of your head.

"Yoooo that's ice cold." Eren's loud voice could be heard over the music as the teens passed the bong between one another.

"No it's the truth." you slurred, the empty bottle of alcohol still in your fist.

"Well sorryyy that I forgot that I had gum in my mouth." Connie said, waving his hands in front of his face.

"You're an idiot." Sasha laughed boisterously as she shoved a handful of pretzels into her mouth.

"damn straight." Annie agreed, taking the empty bottle from you and setting it on the coffee table. Erwin stalked across the room and stood behind Bertolt, who was now on the floor. The conversation came to a halt at the sight of the uninvited guests.

"Woah I think I'm seeing things." you said, tilting your head downwards as you tried to understand why you were seeing your brother.

"Me too." Reiner agreed, his own distant gaze honing in on his team captain.

"Get up we're going home." Erwin's voice was cold and commanding as he glowered at you.

"I don't wanna leave." your eyes hardened with denial. Erwin stepped over Bertolt, once he had moved your eyes landed on Levi, who was glaring at you with those dark eyes.

"I'm definitely seeing things." you grunted as Erwin pulled you off the couch and away from Annie's warmth.

"Hey man she said she didn't want to go." Annie snarled, jumping to her feet, her icy blue eyes sharp.

"Yeah well she's drunk as shit and doesn't know what she's saying." Levi snapped back at Annie, who had a hand clamped down around your arm. Hange shifted nervously behind the couch as she watched the scene unfold.

"You need to leave." Annie growled, pointing a finger at the stairs.

"That's what we're trying to do dumb ass." Levi growled, taking a step closer to the circle of teens.

"Leave her alone she can make her own decisions." Reiner quipped, rising to his own feet.

"Stay out of this Braun." Erwin ordered, releasing you so he could turn and face Reiner.

"I'm just saying, she chose to come here on her own and she's enjoying herself so let her be." Reiner shrugged.

"She's had enough tonight." Erwin countered, shifting his gaze back to you as you swayed on your feet.

"No I haven't" you frowned up at Erwin.

"Yes you have. We're leaving end of discussion." he said with finality, once more reaching for your wrist.

"I'm not leaving Erwin." you protested, pulling yourself free from his grasp. He snatched your wrist once more and tugged you away from the circle. You gasped and stumbled after him, the protests of your friends echoing loudly in your head. Erwin hauled you up the stairs and out the side door, Levi and Hange close on your heels. He only slowed once you were walking down the driveway. You wrenched yourself free once more with a strangled cry.

"I said I don't want to leave!" you screamed, a few tears sliding down your cheeks.

"You always embarrass me in front of my friends just give me this one night!" you cried, the cold air making your face beet red.

"You'll thank me later." He said simply before turning to continue down the driveway.

"No I won't I'm going back inside." you turned on your heel and marched back towards the door, only for Levi to catch your wrist.

"You've had enough for one night." He scolded as you struggled against his hold. Hange chewed on her bottom lip with worry at the sight, this was not how she planned your reunion.

"Levi let me go." you said with finality as you met his eyes.

"No, you're going home." Levi's voice was tense.

"No I'm not."

"(Y/n) you're going home and that's final." Erwin sighed, running a hand down the side of his face. You spun around and glared at him.

"You're not my fucking dad Erwin so quit acting like it! Jesus it's so annoying I'm tired of it!" you screamed, your chest heaving with frustration, your breath coming out with puffs of vapor. Hange and Levi stood deathly still, knowing that the topic of your father was a sensitive one.

"Fine be that way." Erwin snarled and marched to the van and climbed in with a slam of his door. Hange rushed to get in the car without a second glance over her shoulder. Levi remained firmly rooted to the ground, his hand still wrapped firmly around your wrist as you cried.

"Get out of here Levi." you sobbed, shaking your arm to throw his hand off. He finally let you go, his head tilted down to the ground. You huffed, wrapping your arms around your chest before turning on your heel and stalking back towards the house. Levi stood there a moment longer just listening to the sound of your receding footsteps before he padded back to Erwin's car and slid into the backseat.

__

Your head was spinning as you pressed your back against the bathroom door, your lip quivering as you tried to contain your tears. You knew that you'd hurt both Erwin's and Levi's feelings, you also knew that they were only trying to help you. But there was only so much help you could except from them without them toeing the line between helpful and overbearing. You slid down the door with a whimper, you hugged you knees to your chest and rested your chin on top of them. A knock startled you out of your moping,

"(Y/n)? You in there?" You groaned when you recognize Jean's voice.

"Open the door please." He said softly and you felt more tears fall down your cheeks as you reached up for the knob to unlock the door. The lock clicked and you shuffled to lean agains the wall so he could open the door.

"Hey" he said as he stuck his head in, his amber eyes soft with worry.

"Hey" you sniffled, turning your head up to meet his gaze.

"What's wrong?" He asked, slipping into the small bathroom and closing the door behind him. He crouched down in front of you, his elbows propped on his own knees as he got onto your level.

"Well for starters, you kissed someone else when we were talking." you said a bit venomously. He cringed and plopped down to sit criss cross applesauce instead.

"I'm sorry I know that I shouldn't have done that but, I've been really confused....like sexually I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and your frowned.

"I know, but it still hurt my feelings." you mumbled, a few fresh tears falling from your watery eyes.

"I shouldn't have led you on like that, it was a real jerk move." Jean agreed, his eyes still soft and comforting. You'd missed being his friend you realized as you sat on the cold tile.

"I've missed talking to you." you spoke your mind, managing a small smile.

"Me too, let's be friends again?" he proposed, offering his hand to you. Your smile grew wider as you extended your own hand to grasp his. You shook hands briefly.

"So are you and Marco a couple now?" you asked.

"Sort of.." Jean chuckled.

"You want to go back to the party now?" He asked, jutting a thumb towards the door. You nodded, although now you were beginning to sober up. He stood and offered his hands to help you to your feet. You accepted his hands and he pulled you to your feet. The two of you walked slowly down the steps to rejoin the circle of teens in the living room. Jean stopped at the bottom of the stairs his hand held loosely in your own. He squeezed your hand, asking for your attention. You turned and faced him, a questioning look on your face.

"You've got some-" He chuckled, lifting his thumb to his mouth and licking it before wiping away some rogue mascara off your cheeks. You gasped in mock offense as he wiped away the makeup.

"You're not my mom." you teased, pulling your face free as you turned to head back into the fray, trusting that Jean got all the black marks off your face.

"Nobody could replace Angie." Jean agreed as he followed you into the basement. The group of previously rowdy teens was now subdued due to your brother and his meddling party crasher friends.

"Hey look who's back!" Reiner greeted, causing all the heads to turn back to you. You smiled sheepishly and dropped back into your seat next to Annie.

"You alright?" She asked, her eyes scanning you meticulously for any signs of injury.

"Yeah I'm- I'll be alright." you stumbled over your words as the group watched you carefully.

"You want a uh beer or something?" Connie asked, lifting up an unopened can.

"No she doesn't you idiot!" Sasha snapped, elbowing Connie harshly.

"Ow well I was just trying to make her feel better!" Connie cried, turning to tackle Sasha. The two began to tussle, rolling around on the floor grunting as they struggled. You smiled, the pair never failed to make you happy. Annie draped her arm over you again as the boys began to place bets on who would come out victorious.

"If Sasha wins you've got to drink one of Connie's mixed drinks!" Eren said, leaning over to Bertolt who scoffed, his boyish features contorting with disgust. Connie was known for making the worst mixed drinks.

"You're on Jeager." he reached over Reiner and the two shook in agreement before turning their attention to the scuffle.

"Come on Sasha!" Eren jeered as Sasha bit down hard on Connie's hand. The boy yelped and tried to desperately pry her locked jaws off his hand. He gave up quickly and resorted to hitting her head with his closed fist, his face wild with panic.

"Tickle her neck" Mikasa suggested as she lifted a red solo cup to her lips. Your eyes widened in surprise, Mikasa usually kept quiet during these scuffles, unless of course it was Eren being thrown around. Connie's free hand flew down to Sasha's armpit and immediately Sasha released his other hand to roll away from him. Connie regained the upper hand, pinning Sasha beneath him as he tickled her ruthlessly. Jean groaned and slapped a wad of bills into Reiner's open palm as Sasha slapped the ground in defeat. Connie threw his hands into the air and rolled off Sasha who was fighting for breath.

"Traitor" she moaned, her brown eyes glaring at Mikasa who shrugged indifferently. Eren groaned and frowned at Mikasa.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked as Bertolt looked relieved. Mikasa shrugged once more a sly smile on her face as Eren pushed her off his lap.

"So" Connie jumped to his feet and clapped his hands together.

"About that drink." he turned and strutted over to the mini bar, followed by a sulking Eren and a smug Bertolt. You turned to Sasha who was now straddling Mikasa her hands around Mikasa's shoulders as she jostled the girl.

"Come on Mikasa why'd you sell me out like that?" she whined as she shook the girl, Mikasa's drink sloshing in her cup. Mikasa smiled as her eyes drifted to the group of boys, Connie had a large bottle of Tito's and a two liter of Mt. Dew in his hands as he inspected the two, his face scrunched up with concentration.

"Come on Sasha it's not like you wouldn't do the same if it were me." Mikasa scoffed with a roll of her eyes. You snorted at Mikasa's response, knowing that she was indeed correct. Sasha gasped and shook Mikasa harder.

"I would never do that to you! Besides you would win in any fight you fought." Sasha objected, leaning back on Mikasa's lap her arms extended.

"Psh whatever." Annie scoffed, a playful smirk on her lips.

"Not all of us are masters at kickboxing." Sasha pouted as she climbed off Mikasa's lap and dropped onto the empty space next to her. You knew that Mikasa had participated in the sport for the past few years, but you were confused when Sasha looked between Annie and Mikasa.

"What you didn't know?" Annie asked with a smirk. You shook your head,

"No I guess I don't know." you laughed as Annie licked her lips and she threw her arm back over your shoulders.

"Mikasa and I are on the same kickboxing club." She shrugged as you settled back into her side. Your mouth opened into an 'o' shape in realization as Annie dug her juul out of her pocket and took a hit. Mikasa nodded in agreement, her eyes shifting back over to the boys, who were laughing loudly as Eren chugged a cup of mystery liquid.

"Really? I had no idea." you said as you followed Mikasa's gaze. Eren was now leaned over gagging as Armin patted his back with a worried expression.

"-You dodged a bullet there!" Reiner quipped as he patted Bertolt's back as the tall boy watched with a disgusted face.

"Hey where did Ymir and Krista run off to?" Sasha asked, whipping her head around to look for the pair.

"Probably making out in some corner." Reiner scoffed as he dropped back onto the sofa, the rest of the boys rejoining the group as well. You nodded in agreement, it was no secret that the pair had been seeing each other recently.

"Guess so." Sasha sighed, slumping back into the sofa, throwing a glare at Connie who was now seated next to her with an arm over the back of the couch. Eren and Armin were the only once unaccounted for, you assumed that they had fled to the bathroom given the state Eren had been in after drinking Connie's concoction. Jean had managed to slip away with all the commotion, probably to return to Marco. Annie sighed, glancing at her phone with a frown, it was well past three at this point and you were starting to feel the fatigue.

"Well I think that I'm heading off to bed." Annie yawned, the others seemed to be mellowing out as well.

"You guys can crash here or my brother's room is open as well as my sisters rooms." She said as she stood up. You immediately missed her warmth as she lingered by the couch.

"I call Eric's room!" Sasha perked up, also standing up to run towards Annie's younger brother's room.

"No fair!" Connie yelled, giving chase. Mikasa sighed and stood up as well.

"I'd better go check on Eren and Armin." She mumbled as she stalked off towards the bathroom.

"Are you staying the night then?" Annie asked you as you also stood up, not sure if you should go after Mikasa.

"I'm not sure, Mikasa was going to take me back to her place..."

"You can sleep in my room with me." She offered, tilting her head towards the stairs. You bit your lip as you weighed your options. Mikasa had been drinking and smoking and you knew that she wasn't stupid enough to drive so you figured that you weren't leaving any more.

"We'll sleep in Sarah's room." Reiner said as he and Bertolt began to retreat up the stairs. Leaving just you and Annie in the basement living room, she raised a brow as she waited for your answer.

"No pressure." She said as she began to walk towards the stairs.

"Yeah I'll sleep with you." you blurted as you jogged to catch up to Annie. She smirked at your wording and you flushed.

"Not like that!" you slapped her arm as she led the way up to the top floor which was a maze of closed doors. She slipped into one of the closed doors, into a large bedroom with a queen sized bed in the center of the room. She emptied her pockets before climbing into bed, pulling the covers back for the both of you. You slid into the open side and sat your phone on the bedside table. Annie sighed with relief as she nestled into the covers, scrolling through her phone as you closed your eyes in an attempt to sleep. After a few minutes Annie put her phone down and rolled over, now her front was facing your back.

"You awake?" She whispered, you rolled over to face her as well.

"Yeah" you answered, resting your head on your arm as you focused on her features as best as you could in the dim lighting.

"You wanna make out?" she asked, your eyes widened in shock. You weren't sure if she was being serious or not.

"For real?" you blinked rapidly as Annie shuffled closer and pushed a lock of hair out of your face.

"I mean yeah." she huffed a shy smile on her face. You pursed your lips in thought, you had never kissed a girl before, and it wasn't like the thought of doing so had never crossed your mind. You shrugged and leaned slightly into her touch.

"Yes or no." She said as she propped herself up on her elbow so she was looking down on you.

"Sure." you agreed, she leaned down as soon as the words left your lips. Her lips were so soft compared to the boys that you'd kissed in the past. Her hand that had been in your hair now traced over your cheek bones as she licked your bottom lip. You opened your mouth for her to slip her tongue in, the taste of weed and pink whitney mingling on her breath. You met her tongue a bit timidly as she licked your bottom teeth. She pulled back after a moment to readjust herself so that she was now laying down on top of you, caging you in her arms as she leaned down to kiss your chin.

"You're so cute." she mused, her lips pressed against the corner of your mouth.

"You're really pretty" you breathed as her lips hovered over your own once more before connecting her lips with yours once more.

[astarryon]

Promise Me

Red is a Wondrous Color

Warnings: Gentle jealousy

Chapter Summary: Spencer knew he started wearing scarves for a reason.

Masterlist

Chapter One: You’ll Always Have Me

It isn’t often that Spencer is left feeling powerless.

It happens on occasion. As unfortunate as it is, it’s a hazard of the job and comes with the territory, and, more out of necessity than anything else, Spencer has gotten very good at recognizing that there will always be those certain situations that he can’t control. His genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, always dancing at the back of his mind, the possibility of what awaits him in the future a constant taunt he’s never quite been able to ease. That nasty drug habit he’d picked up all those years ago, one he hasn’t acted on since finally getting clean but that his nerves always ache to feed when he gets just a little too stressed to cope. Those particularly difficult cases where the unsub turns out to be little more than a kid and he can’t seem to find the right words to get everyone out of a hostile situation safely, the results of which usually manifest in someone who the world didn’t try hard enough for dying right in front of his eyes.

But just because it doesn’t happen often doesn’t mean it never happens, and as Spencer wraps his scarf around his throat before exiting Quantico into the abnormally wintry air, his eyes fall upon your form standing in the distance, and — not for the first time where you’re concerned, though recalling how many times it’s actually happened is just a little too embarrassing to stomach for the night — he stops dead in his tracks in awe.

Red is Spencer’s favorite color on you. It’s taken some time for him to figure that out. Flashy as it is, you never have the chance to wear much of it in the field, which is a loss he takes the time to mourn whenever he recalls the team’s last Christmas party at Rossi’s, when you’d been clad in a dress of silk and crimson and insisted he sway along to Billie Holiday with you in the living room despite his meek protests. Something about that dress brought out the rose blush in your cheeks, set your eyes off with mischief and delight, made the fringe of your lashes appear that much darker. It also made his mind wander with thoughts he’s still not entirely sure he’s allowed to have, so he’d gazed at you as respectfully as he could and tried not to focus too much on the feel of your breath against his neck.

It’s a wondrous color, red. An enchanting color.

And you’re wearing it now as you stand with your arms crossed over your chest to serve as protection from the cold, though he’s not really sure how much that’ll help with the expanse of your legs, moonlit and glittering, bared to the wind. You’re also bawling your eyes out, and it’s noticing this that finally stops Spencer standing there like an idiot with his mouth hanging open and starts his feet carrying him toward you at a pace that would make Morgan proud.

“Are you okay?” Spencer asks, and he immediately has to squash the urge to kick himself. You’re standing here, alone in the cold, dressed like that and openly sobbing. It doesn’t take a profiler to see that nothing is okay for you right now.

Your eyes widen at the sound of his voice, and he might take the time to marvel at how cute you look when startled if he wasn’t otherwise preoccupied with concern for your well-being. “Oh,” you breathe, hands instantly reaching up to swat at the tears trailing messily down your face. It won’t do you any good, not with the black streaks of mascara staining your skin, but Spencer knows enough not to point that out. “H-Hey, Spence. I thought you’d have gone home by now.”

“Yeah, I was supposed to,” he responds, trying for a kind, reassuring smile and remaining unsure of whether it actually appears. Try as he might, he can’t bring himself to care. He doesn’t want to pretend not to notice your pain, even though he knows you probably rather he do. What he does want is... something he doesn’t think he can have. “I got a little caught up going over my closing report. What about you? You left a couple hours ago, didn’t you?”

“I did,” you sniff, and Spencer is suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to reach up and wipe the rest of the tears from your face himself. “Um... I had a date, actually.”

“Oh,” he says, making a concentrated effort to keep his voice light. “And you... came back to the office?”

A bitter laugh escapes your lips, though it comes out more as a garbled choke. “Yeah, I guess it didn’t go so well. I was going to go home, but at some point I turned around and kind of just... ended up here.” You shrug, your eyes falling to the ground, and Spencer follows your gaze down to your red toenails, gleaming in the lamp light and contrasting starkly against the black of your strappy heels. “I just didn’t think I could handle being alone right now. So.”

It’s difficult not to make assumptions in that moment, and though he tries, he feels his chest swell with an inappropriate surge of protectiveness. Again, it doesn’t take a profiler to read the implications of this situation, or to know that something has to have gone terribly wrong in the three hours since he’s last seen you. He can’t do much about the crying — he’s never been good with tears, no matter who they’re coming from — but his mind tumbles violently with the possibilities of what all could have gone wrong on your date, and his limbs itch to track down whoever’s responsible for getting you to this point of emotional distress and... and... telling them off with some strong vocabulary at the very least.

But there’s no use in that. He can’t change what’s already happened, and he doubts you’d let him go and yell at whoever’s done this to you. Anyway, you’re standing here in front of him, wide eyed and shivering. He might not be able to do much about the crying — he might not even be able to do anything about the reason for your crying. But... maybe there’s a chance he can soothe the pain, at least a little.

“What about you?”

Your voice startles him out of his reverie, bringing him back to full consciousness of the situation at hand, and he’s embarrassed that he’s gotten so caught up in thoughts of defending you that he actually has no idea what you’re asking him. “Me?”

You nod, a wobbly smile edging at the corners of your ruby red lips. So much red. It really does suit you wonderfully. “Yeah, you. You don’t have any plans tonight?” He furrows his brow, searching your face for any hint of your meaning. Three seconds later, and his obvious cluelessness manages to pull a more substantial laugh out of you. “It’s Valentine’s Day, Spencer. Don’t tell me you forgot.”

“I didn’t,” he defends, and it isn’t untrue. Morgan spent the whole day detailing his extravagant plans for the night, Will had sent in quite the rose bouquet for JJ, and even Hotch had been quite a bit more preoccupied with his phone than was typical. Valentine’s Day. Reid knows it’s a special day to the calendar, but it doesn’t hold any significance for him. “But, no, no plans. I was actually just on my way home to skim over Dante’s Inferno.”

You scrunch your eyebrows in a sarcastic manner, and Spencer’s just relieved that he’s managed to cheer you up enough that you let your eyes wander back to his face. “What is that, like, the sixth time this week?”

He shrugs a shoulder, unsure as to the reason for the flush of embarrassment creeping up his neck. “Classics never get old.” And then, because he’s an idiot with an ironically one track mind where you’re involved, he adds, “I... like your dress. You look really beautiful tonight.”

“You’re sweet,” you murmur, unsuccessfully attempting to conceal another sniffle. Not at all, actually. ‘Sweet’ implies deception. ‘Sweet’ makes it sound like he’s just trying to soothe your ego with flattery, which couldn’t be further from the truth. He’s not saying it because he thinks you want to hear it, he’s saying it because it’s the truth and he knows it like he knows the sky is blue and the earth is green. He wishes he could convince you to see it that way. “Shame it’s going to have to go to waste, huh? Guess there’s always next year.

“Well it... doesn’t have to,” he stammers. “Go to waste, I mean.” He’s not sure where the bravery for his outburst comes, and he doesn’t particularly care to pursue figuring it out. His senses are screaming at him, going into shock with the sudden uptake in adrenaline pumping through his body, but he only swallows and forces himself to finish. “Not if you don’t want it to.” You only blink at him in silent confusion, trying to puzzle together his meaning. His heart hammers against his chest so hard it’s a wonder you can’t seem to hear it. “There’s a planetarium in town that’s staying open late for the night. When you lay back in the seats under the projector and look up at the stars you lose your central sense of gravity and trick your body into experiencing a floating sensation. It can be kind of off putting at first, but it helps to hold onto something. Which—“ He should really quit while he’s ahead —  “you could hold my hand. If you wanted to. And we could, we could go to the planetarium. Together.”

He watches as you blink, once, then twice, then three times, and all the while his heart’s pace never deadens for even a moment. When your eyes finally focus back on him, eons have passed and stars have expanded into supernovas, all within a few short moments. “You’re… Spencer, are you offering to take me on a date?”

Yes.

No.

... Yes.

The wind picks up suddenly, ruffling your skirt in the breeze, caressing the loose tendrils of your hair. The scent is so intoxicating that it nearly stops Spencer from noticing you shivering once again, and before he even knows what he’s doing, he’s unwinding his scarf from around his neck and taking a confident step toward you.

“Well, it’s like you said,” Spencer responds, wrapping the scarf over your bare shoulders. It’s grey wool and it doesn’t match your dress in the slightest, but he likes seeing you in something of his, and he especially like the way you instantly curl into the garment, inhaling his scent as deeply as he’d been inhaling yours off the breeze. “I don’t have any other plans, and it would be a shame for that dress to go to waste.” He offers his arm for you to accept, unable to pinpoint where this sudden burst of confidence is stemming from. He almost wishes Morgan were here to see it. “Would it make a difference if I promised to have you home by midnight?”

Again, you’re silent, save for another bout of sniffles. Spencer is horrified to see fresh tears brimming in your eyes, coupled with a wobbly frown, and is met with the sudden fear that he’s managed to screw this up — because he always screws things up for himself, even when he’s not trying and even when he’s actually just trying to find more reasons to smile. He’s made you cry now, too, which makes him no better than whichever monster ruined your night in the first place. Any second now you’ll recoil from his offer and tell him to get lost, at which point he will only be able to clutch his wounded pride, and—

You nudge his arm aside and barrel forward to wrap your arms around his middle instead, clutching him close and tight and squeezing just enough to make him feel like an offered lifeline. Well. If you hadn’t been able to hear his heartbeat before, there isn’t any way you don’t hear it now.

“I love you, Spence,” you murmur into his shoulder, and he’s so mesmerized by the perfect fit of your cheek against the base of his throat that he almost doesn’t totally register what it is you’ve just said. “I don’t tell you that near as much as I should.”

Butterflies. You’re prompting butterflies to flutter through his stomach. Like he’s nothing more than a twelve year old schoolboy with a crush on the sweetest girl in class.

“Let’s get going,” he chuckles, smiling down upon you with fondness as he steps back and winds his arm around yours. Huh. Maybe Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be so easily written off after all. “We don’t want to keep the stars waiting, do we?”

“No,” you laugh — actually laugh! — as you rest your head against his shoulder. “I don’t think we do.”

And as the two of you walk down the street, arm in arm, excitement and giddiness charging each and every one of your steps, Spencer can’t help but ponder the fact that he’d left work expecting one sort of inferno for the night and stepped out only to find himself engulfed in a different one entirely.

It’s almost kind of poetic.

—

Chapter Three: In the Name of Dry Shoes

[voldemorts-tap-shoes]

Written for the Romione Discord Secret Santa exchange for @honouraryweasley12 - Ron & Hermione’s first Christmas together!

The Best Gift 🎁

Hermione bounded off the Hogwarts Express and straight into Ron’s waiting arms, kissing him deeply before either of them got a single word out. “Oi, could you two get a room?” Ginny teased as she followed a few steps behind. “Where’s Harry?”

Ron’s lips left Hermione’s to answer, but their arms stayed firmly around each other. Two months was much too long to go without her; he was going to have to make sure to arrange his schedule to allow for more Hogsmeade weekends in Hermione’s last term. “Still at the Ministry. Finishing up a report.”

“Left him with all the paperwork, did you?” Hermione asked with a sly smile.

“Might’ve done,” Ron grinned back.

Ginny groaned and hauled her trunk up to start walking down the platform. “You’re such a prat, Ron.”

Ron rolled his eyes and took Hermione’s hand in one of his, her trunk in the other. “Oh, relax, he’ll meet us at the Burrow. He’s probably already there.” Ginny made a rude gesture over her shoulder as she picked up her pace. “You’re sure your parents are alright with you spending Christmas with us?” he asked Hermione.

“Yes, they said that they’re quite content to avoid a London winter for the holiday this year. Apparently my dad has already got himself some reindeer patterned swim trunks for the occasion, if you can imagine.” Ahead of them, Ginny ducked into the phone booth that served as the station’s apparition point, and Ron and Hermione waited a moment before following. “Besides, it’s nothing short of tragic that I’ve never had a proper Burrow Christmas, between one shenanigan or another over the past seven years.”

“You’re going to love it,” Ron promised. “And everyone’ll be here; even Charlie’s coming in.”

“Doesn’t he usually?”

Ron squeezed Hermione’s hand tightly and apparated them to the outer edge of the Burrow’s wards. Ginny had already plowed ahead of them, and their mum’s squeals of greeting drifted out from the kitchen into the yard. “It’s hit or miss with him. But this year...I guess we really all needed to be together, y’know?” Hermione nodded knowingly as they walked toward the house through the lightly falling snow.

After dinner, Harry and Ron set up the chess set by the fire while Ginny and Hermione sat close by their sides. Harry was resetting the pieces after his second defeat when Ron squeezed Hermione’s leg and asked, “So when d’you want your gift?”

Hermione looked up at him perplexedly. “You’re not giving it to me Christmas morning?”

“Well, then it’d be in front of the whole family, and I wanted to give it to you in private.”

“Ew,” Harry and Ginny chorused, causing Ron to roll his eyes.

“It’s not that kind of present,” he retorted.

“It’s not?” The jovial disappointment in Hermione’s voice morphed their best friends’ expressions from mild disgust to twin looks of pure revulsion.

“Well, we could...I mean…” Ron felt his ears turning pink as Ginny mimed gagging across from him. “No, it’s not that kind of present.”

“Hmm. Well, whenever you think is best then, I suppose.”

Ron had spent a lot of time this year picking out Hermione’s gift. It was their first Christmas as a couple, so of course he wanted to get her something special, but they had also had some pretty rubbish Christmases in the past, the two of them, so he felt like he had some making up to do. He had the perfect present, he was sure, so now he just had to think of the perfect way to give it to her.

Of course, he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

He wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t dreaming when Hermione crept into his room, later that very night. “What’re you doing up here?” Ron asked as she shut the door behind herself and tiptoed to his bed.

“I’ve decided you can’t just tease me with such an intriguing gift and then not let me have it,” Hermione whispered back. She sat down gingerly beside him and nodded over to the camp bed. “Harry asleep?”

“No,” Harry replied sleepily, though his back was to them.

“Well, could you just bugger off for a bit, Harry?”

Harry half rolled over and gave Hermione a bleary-eyed glare over his shoulder. “What for?” he asked indignantly. “I thought it wasn’t that sort of present.”

“Ron said his wasn’t, I didn’t say anything about mine.”

“Ugh!” Harry threw back the covers and reached for his glasses. “Enough said.” Hermione grinned at Ron while Harry made for the door, adding as he left, “Don’t forget a silencing charm.”

“So, you’ve gotten me something naughty, have you?” Ron asked, reaching a hand out to his girlfriend.

“No, I just said that to get rid of Harry,” Hermione replied as she scooted closer to him. “Your gift is down in my trunk.”

Ron sat up and fixed Hermione with a half-hearted glare. “Wait a minute, so I’ve got to give you your present now but I don’t get mine, and we’re not having sex?”

“Honestly, Ron, of course we are, but the idea that I would need to gift you with acts of sexual intimacy is preposterous and unnecessary seeing as we have an equitable and mutually fulfilling physical relationship.”

She made his head spin sometimes, she really did. Ron leaned over and kissed her. “You’re bloody mental, y’know?”

“I know. I’m not sure if you love me in spite of it or because of it,” she teased.

“Bit of both,” Ron grinned back. “So I’ve got to give you your present before the curiosity overwhelms you, is that it?”

Hermione shrugged. “More or less.”

Ron gave her another quick kiss on the cheek as he climbed out of bed. “It’s not really that interesting,” he told her as he rummaged in his dresser. “I just wanted to be able to give it to you without everyone taking the mickey over what a sentimental sod I am.”

“Oh, now I’m even more intrigued. There’s nothing sentimental about the training planner I got you.” Ron glanced over his shoulder at her. “Kidding.”

Ron rolled his eyes and pulled the tiny package out of the middle drawer. “Alright, here you go.” He handed it to her and sat down beside her as her delicate fingers slid under the seam of the wrapping. She was always a careful unwrapper of gifts; Ron by contrast was a tornado of colorful paper on Christmas morning.

Hermione tossed the wrapping aside and gently lifted the lid, revealing the silver charm bracelet inside with a small gasp. “Oh, Ron,” she breathed, “it’s beautiful.”

“Look at the charms,” he encouraged, and she tenderly lifted the bracelet, which had seven tiny charms attached in a neat row on the left side.

“A pumpkin...the cat, must be Crookshanks…is that an otter? And this one...” She was fingering the brilliant aquamarine gemstone on the end, and when she looked over at him, her eyes were glossy, making Ron glad they had done this alone. “The ball of light?” she whispered. Ron nodded. “It’s...it’s us. On a bracelet.” She held it out to him. “Help me put it on?”

He took it from her and fastened the clasp around her wrist, then held her hand in both of his. “There’s actually, um...a bit more to it.”

“What do you mean? Is there a spell or something on it?”

“No, actually, I got it from a muggle shop. Paid with real pounds and everything.” Ron glanced up at Hermione with a smile, then cleared his throat, remembering what he needed to tell her about her gift. “Well, you see how it’s only got a few things on it?” Hermione nodded. “I wanted to leave space. You know, to fill in...over the years.” He met her gaze, suddenly nervous.

After they had finally gotten together in the spring, their relationship had progressed quickly in a lot of ways. They had said “I love you” the day the war had ended, at Hogwarts, and their hands had started roaming that same night, in Gryffindor Tower, and it had only taken them a couple of weeks to work their way up to sleeping together...but then reality had set in a bit, and between the funerals, and rebuilding Hogwarts, and finding Hermione’s parents, and a million other little things, they had been very much rooted in the present. It wasn’t that Ron didn’t think about the future—he thought about it quite a lot, actually—but they definitely hadn’t talked about it. And he wanted to change that, wanted Hermione to know that she was it for him, everything he ever wanted.

Hermione threw her arms around him suddenly, and he leaned back, pulling them both down to his mattress. “That’s the best gift you could ever give me,” she mumbled into his neck. “A future.”

“Well, I couldn’t fit our entire future into a box, but this was the next best thing.”

She pulled back slightly to look at him. “Do you have to have a witty retort for everything I say?” she asked, half glaring at him and half smirking.

“Yeah, ‘course. Do you love me in spite of that or because of it?” Ron teased.

“A bit of both,” she sighed contentedly, laying down and snuggling back into his side. “Definitely a bit of both.”

[kiras-sunshine]

tarlos valentine 2021 day 1 prompt: “babe please sharing is caring” + blanket hogging

words: 5111

summary:

“Are you seriously reading a WikiHow article about how to stop hogging the covers?”

"Yes"

read on ao3

or

”This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” TK declares as he takes yet another forkful of the chocolate cake that Carlos has baked for his birthday.

He cannot remember when someone would have baked an actual cake for his birthday. They celebrate everyone’s birthday at the firehouse, but usually those are bought from the supermarket and they taste and look exactly like they cost less than five dollars.

His dad has threatened to bake something every year, but after the year when he served the dairy, butter and sugar free cake, TK had banned him from birthday related baking.

“Seriously,” he continues, gesturing towards the almost empty plate with his fork, “this cake made me fall more in love with you and I didn’t know that was possible.”

Carlos shakes his head, clearly in amusement, as he bites down his smile. He looks delighted and pleased.  “I’m glad you like it.”

“Like is an understatement,” he remarks and reaches over the narrow kitchen island to press a quick kiss on his lips.

The cake tastes amazing, rich and sweet, and the texture is fluffy, but firm. It looked gorgeous too, as if it were straight rout of the high-end confectioneries of Manhattan. He had asked where he had bought it before Carlos admitted, rather timidly, that he had baked it from the scratch.

TK hadn’t been expecting anything other than the supermarket cake, and honestly, he thought his birthday would be just grouped together with the firehouse annual Christmas party. Being born in December usually meant that it got joined with Christmas celebrations and it didn’t get to be a separate thing. TK is fine with it. It bothered him more when he was a child, but now he doesn’t mind that much.

Hoping that one day would be about him feels like a dumb, childish and selfish wish.  

Carlos had been uncharacteristically quiet about the upcoming birthday or any plans related to it, and TK had been almost convinced that he had forgotten the whole thing. It would have been fine if it were the case, but obviously, he hadn’t forgotten. Instead, he had gone all out.

TK knows he should have suspected something when Marjan had asked all slyly if he had any plans for his birthday when they all had been gathered around the firehouse dining table to eat the pathetic looking supermarket cake.

He had said no, and everyone had smiled like they knew something he didn’t, but he had brushed it off.

TK reaches scoop a forkful of the cake from Carlos’ plate, because his is almost empty, and he grins at him brightly. “Babe please, sharing is caring,” he chuckles.

Carlos rolls his eyes, but the fondness is too visible to make him seem even a tiny bit annoyed.

“You’re lucky I love you,” he mumbles. There is no heat behind his words, and he pushes the plate closer to TK.

It’s obviously meant to be a joke and his voice is light, but still TK is aware that it is the closest thing to the truth anyway. He feels lucky, incredibly so.

Carlos is a kind, caring and loving person in general and it is evident in the way he does his job and the way he treats people around him, and TK is fully aware that he would be lucky to get just a fraction of the love Carlos has to give, but the fact that he has decided that TK is worth of all of it makes it a whole another thing.

Lucky doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Privilege, maybe.

He has started to notice lately that the English language doesn’t have nearly enough words to describe what he is feeling for him. But that doesn’t stop him from trying.

“I know,” TK eventually replies, several beats too late it to be counted as banter anymore and the fondness in Carlos’ eyes just grows.

He does steal another forkful of his piece of cake and lets his gaze wonder around the small cabin.

Instead of forgetting his birthday, Carlos had rented a cabin for three days. It is a couple hours away from Austin, located near camping-area, and while the cabin is small, it is still objectively really nice and fancy for a log cabin.

He looks at the dark brown wooden walls and the shiny marble kitchen island. He tries his best not to think how much money he has spent on his surprise.

Carlos had also coordinated it so that they both have the three days off around his birthday, and he had listed his whole crew’s, and his dad’s help, to do it, several months in advance. TK guesses there are certain perks that his boyfriend gets along with his family like a house on fire.

Carlos yawns. He blinks a couple of times, before focusing his gaze back to him. He smiles and it is warm and genuine one, but TK can see the redness of his eyes and the dark circles below them. He looks exhausted, even though he is trying to hide it.

“You should go to sleep,” TK points out, softly, as he places the fork on his own plate.

“I’m fine,” he insists.

In his opinion, it is a small wonder Carlos hasn’t collapsed already. He had pulled an fourteen-hour shift with some over time on top of it. After that he had still driven them up to the cottage and cooked him a huge dinner. It’s a bit unclear to him where he found the time to bake the cake, but the point is, he knows that he is tired.

He would know it without having all the details. They have been together for year and a half, and TK likes to think that he can read him. Understand all the little cues from his facial expressions and behavior. At the moment, everything he picks on screams that he is fatigued.

“You look like you could pass out from exhaustion,” he remarks.

“It’s your birthday,” Carlos argues, a little flatly, but he is poorly attempting to repress yet another yawn.

“I’m aware,” he says, amusedly, as walks around the kitchen island and reaches to take his hand into his own. He presses a soft kiss on his knuckles. “All of this is really nice, and I love it, but it also pains me to see you so tired.”

He blinks slowly, but his smile is lopsided, but still full of adoration. “I wanted to do something special for you.”

TK remembers faintly that he had told him on his last birthday that his birthday rarely was a priority, always getting entangled to the preparations of the holiday season, and he had certainly not meant anything with it. But Carlos, being a strong contender for the title of most considerate person in the world, had hung on his words and decided to indulge him on his silly wish of having a proper birthday.

TK had snorted when they had picked up the keys of the cabin and the receptionist had frowned when she clarified that there would be no Christmas decorations, per request, but Carlos had just grinned at him.

“And it is,” he reassures, squeezing his hand slightly.

It makes his stomach flip as he thinks how much effort he has put into the whole thing, just so that he would feel loved and cared for.

“Maybe,” Carlos admits softly, “but going to sleep before eight wasn’t really part of the plan.”

Carlos lets go of his hand, but places both of his hands on his waist and pulls him closer. TK has no objections against that, and he loves the feeling of their bodies being pressed together. He loves the closeness of it, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world to be so up in each other’s personal space.

“Yeah, just one of the many perks of dating a first responder,” he deadpans, resting his other hand on his bicep.

Carlos huffs amusedly. “Because there are so many of them.”

“Our never matching schedules,” he offers. He lets his other hand run along his spine and settles it to hold the small of his back.

“Monthly hospital visits.”

TK glares at him. “They aren’t monthly.”

“Bi-monthly,” Carlos corrects himself with a shit-eating grin and it makes his nose scrunch, and it is one of the most adorable things TK has ever witnessed.

“Constant fear and worry,” he adds.

He knows he should be almost used to it. Since early childhood, he has had to learn to live with the fact that one day his dad might not make it to home, and now almost everyone he loves and considers family risks their lives on daily basis to help others.

He should be used to it, but the truth is that he isn’t. The fear and worry still sometimes knock him off his feet and take over every part of his body, but he can cope with it. Most of the time. Although, he loathes the fact that his standards for a good day have been lowered to the simple rule of if they both make it home in one piece, it’s a good day.

Carlos nods and presses a soft kiss on his forehead. He doesn’t immediately pull away. “The way you smell like smoke,” he murmurs against his skin.

TK lets out a surprised laugh and the ghost of his kiss still lingers right above his eyebrows when he pulls away. “I could always shower again.”

He has gotten into the habit of showering at the firehouse when the shift ends, because Carlos does have a point about the smell hazards. Most of the time he reeks after the shift and he had rinsed his skin today too, and the shift hadn’t been terrible. Only one fire at the 24-hour diner when their deep fryer had caught on fire, but that was hours ago.

“You’ve smelled like it since the day we met,” he points out, “I’m not sure a shower is going to help.”

“Hey,” TK protests, but he doesn’t bother to hide his grin.

“I wouldn’t change any of it for anything,” he says under his breath, “apart from fearing for your life.”

Over the couple of years, he has known Carlos, he has noticed that certain things happen when he gets thoroughly exhausted. His accent becomes thicker and he becomes sappier than usually and he starts to lack a certain filter. It’s mostly just amusing and endearing, and he loves that side of Carlos just as much as any other, but he also wants to take care of him.

It makes a certain kind of knot of uneasiness to form in his stomach knowing that he is burning the candle from both ends for him.

“I know, me neither,” TK reassures, softly, but pushes him a little backwards, “but seriously, you should go to bed. And you don’t even have to go alone.”

He is also a little weary after the shift. His muscles are achy, and he wouldn’t mind sleeping around the clock. And as always, seeing Carlos yawn, makes him sleepy, too.

“Your pickup lines are terrible,” he retorts, but takes a couple steps backwards towards the bedroom.

TK snorts. “They worked well enough on you.”

He still keeps walking backwards, his left shoulder only slightly bumping against the doorframe as he enters the bedroom. “They didn’t. I didn’t need pick-up lines, it was that damn smile.”

He ought to add getting complimented by him to the list of things he should be already gotten used to, because Carlos does it a lot. It’s a casual comment here and there, and it definitely isn’t always about his looks, but still no matter how many times he hears them, they always make his stomach twist in a best way possible.

Even now, the bubbling feeling of happiness settles into his chest and his lips are curling into a smile, and he knows it’s giving away everything he is currently feeling. The happiness and adoration mixing into together and spilling out as a soft and bright smile.

“That’s the one,” Carlos whispers, contently and almost in awe, and few seconds later his fist is full of the soft fabric of TK’s grey sweatshirt and he is pulling him close again.

“Yeah,” TK finds himself saying, but he cannot tear his gaze away from his lips and judging by the glint in his brown eyes, he has noticed it too, despite the sleep deprivation.

Sometimes, most of the time really, it is like electricity humming underneath his skin when Carlos looks at him. It feels like it now, too, and while they established very early into their acquittance that they are into each other. It was painfully obvious from the way they glanced each other while dancing and from the way they ended up hooking up within an hour.

Still, TK cannot help but marvel the that the feeling of sparks and electricity is still there, but it is still different. All the rush and fumbling are gone because there is more certainness now, of that the other is not going to disappear and that any of the lingering touches would be the last ones.

Now, every moment is like a small declaration of love.

He tugs the hem of Carlos’ shirt and gently yanks it upwards and helps him to undress it and Carlos helps him to get rid of his sweatshirt and tosses it somewhere on the floor. Suddenly, his lips are on his again, and the kiss is soft, but it still makes TK’s heart beat faster and toes curl up with want.

He runs his hands along his arms and squeezes his left forearm slightly. “Mmh, not when you’re that tired,” TK mumbles against his lips.

He knows where it is heading unless he breaks it off, and while he wants to, it still defeats the whole purpose of his grand plan of Carlos getting enough sleep.

Carlos immediately takes a step back, like he always does when he lets him know he is not up for something, and his smile is mischievous, but still a little flustered. “I’d not fall asleep on you,” he adds, as he takes off his sweatpants, but this time he folds them neatly and picks up their shirts from the floor.

“You have,” TK points out, kindly, as he gets rid of his own pants, “and you probably would now, too.”

Since their schedules don’t always match, they tend to take up any opportunity that arises, but a couple of times, after double digit shifts, Carlos has fallen asleep before they have even properly started, and it’s no big deal. TK knows he has fallen asleep on him too.

He mostly finds it endearing, but it also means to him that Carlos trusts him enough and is comfortable enough to fall asleep without a second thought to it.

Carlos just hums amusedly as a response and gets into the way too huge bed.

The bedroom is tiny, and the bed takes a ridiculously big part of it, but he is surprised to find it to be incredibly soft and comfortable. Still, as TK sits on the bed, he pushes his pillow closer to his because he is not sleeping twenty inches away from him.

He settles down, lying right next to him and Carlos immediately drapes one arm over him, resting it on his chest and nuzzling his shoulder. TK’s hand fumbles a little until it finds Carlos’s other hand and curls his fingers around his.

“I’m--,” Carlos starts, quietly, but TK cuts him immediately off.

“Don’t you dare apologize again,” he says, softly. “This is all I ever wanted and it’s perfect.”

He runs his fingers along his forearm. He hopes that he knows that he doesn’t mean the cabin or any of it, but just that he gets to spend his birthday with him.

Twenty-year-old TK would have laughed if someone would have told him that his best birthday would be in rural Texas, but there he is, more content than ever.

“How did you know what I was going to say?”

He glances at him. “I can hear you think.”

Carlos exhales softly and TK can feel his breath against his bicep. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. You deserve all of it and more.”

It has been a long process to learn that he deserves nice things and to be loved, because of everything and despite of everything. He has Carlos to remind him about it occasionally, but still he cannot help but wonder what he has done to end up with more love than he could have imagined a couple of years ago.

He turns his head to press a gentle kiss on his temple. “Why this place?”

TK has wondered about it since the moment they arrived. He has never heard about the place before and albeit, his knowledge of anything about Texas outside of Austin is a little wobbly, but the whole place seems to be quiet and has a little hole-in-the-wall feeling to it, like you would have to know about its existence to find it.

“It’s a dumb story,” he murmurs against his shoulders.

“I wanna hear all of your dumb stories.”

Carlos shifts a little. “We came here with my family when I was maybe thirteen,” he starts, slowly and absentmindedly tracing some sort of pattern against his ribs. “I loved this place, and we had great time, but it still filled me with dread ‘cause the place was full of happy couples and families, and I was pretty convinced at that age that I couldn’t ever have any of that on my own.”

His heart breaks a little as he listens to him. He meant his words that he wants to hear all of his stories, dumb or not, but now he regrets a little of ever asking because he knows that his coming out process hasn’t always been the smoothest and deep south hasn’t been the most forgiving place for him to live and grow up.

“But,” Carlos continues, “I had this dream that one day I’d bring here someone I’d love.”

TK breath almost hitches in his throat. It’s almost too much, but in the best way possible. To know that he has had that idea in his head for years and that he decided that he would be worthy of being a part of that. It makes his heart soar.

“I did try to warn you it was dumb,” he mumbles, taking his silence in the wrong way.

“It’s not dumb,” he rushes to say, “it’s actually really sweet.”

It’s not the most eloquent response, but it’s too difficult to pinpoint anything he is currently feeling or to put them into comprehensible words that would reflect any of the love he has for him.

“Yeah, well, you’re the only one I’ve brought here, so there is that too,” he adds, his gaze focused on his jawline, but he looks up to his eyes too, with the softest of smiles.

He is convinced his heart is going to burst. “Thank you for sharing it with me,” he whispers, right below his ear, “and for including me in it.”

They lay there for a moment, in silence, only listening the steady breathing of each other’s, but eventually TK sits up to reach the corner of the duvet and tries to settle it so that it covers both of their bodies.

“Are you going to hog all the blankets again?”

Carlos has closed his eyes already, but his voice is light and teasing.

“I don’t hog ‘em.”

He sputters out a laugh, and it’s warm, happy and genuine, and TK loves to hear that particular laugh.

“Oh, so I’ve been sleeping without one willingly for a year and half,” Carlos asks, quizzically, but it looks like another fit of laughter could erupt from him at any given moment.

“What?”

“You always steal the blankets, even if there are two,” Carlos explains, sounding almost fond as he looks at him.

“I don’t?”

TK hates how it sounds like a question to his own ears, too. He is aware that he moves a lot in his sleep, and his ex-boyfriends have given him so much shit about it, which is also why he tried to avoid staying the night when he started seeing Carlos.

Nothing is more charming than elbowing significant other in their sleep or kicking their shins. Still, Carlos has never said anything about the way he sleeps.

He knows that their bed is a goddamn mess every time they wake up, the blankets are usually disregarded somewhere, and they are not in the same positions as they fell asleep to, but he had no idea that he was the main cause of it.

“Mhm, you do,” Carlos hums, his eyes closing again.

TK shoots perplexed glance at him. “Why haven’t you woken me up?”

He is a little more than appalled that apparently he has been doing it since the beginning of their relationship, but he is only hearing about it now.

Carlos opens one of his eyes, squeezing the other one shut. “Yeah, wonder why I haven’t woken up my boyfriend, who on regular basis pulls twenty-four-hour shifts,” he mumbles, but there is nothing but kindness in his voice.

“You could have,” he argues, flatly.

“I’ve tried to steal them back sometimes,” Carlos admits, his gaze landing back to him, and his eyes are gleaming. “But there’s no point. You just steal ‘em back. I’ve extra blankets, too, but there is no limit to how many blankets you hog in a night.”

Not for the first time around Carlos, TK finds himself to be a little loss for words. This time it is because of completely different reasons, he is a little too stunned and confused to talk.

“The way you clutch to them and collect them is almost adorable,” he adds with a low chuckle.  

“So, every time you have said you sleep better when I’m there with you has been a blatant lie?”

He almost wants to laugh. It’s a bit more than ridiculous that he is only learning about his own nocturnal habits now, and Carlos has told him multiple times that he sleeps more soundly and deeply, that he feels safe, when he is around, and he has always found that a little more than endearing, but now it feels impossible to wrap his head around that it would be anywhere near the truth.

“Nope.”

“You really expect me to believe that the best sleep of your life happens without blankets?”

Carlos blinks, but the look he gives him is soft and laced equally with love and fondness. Still, he gently pokes him in between his ribs. “Am I in the habit of lying to you?”

“No.”

“Then there’s your answer,” he replies, easily and effortlessly, as if he has accepted the fate of sleeping without any blankets, ever.

TK grunts and picks up his phone from the nightstand and starts typing.

“Are you seriously reading a WikiHow article about how to stop hogging the covers?” Carlos questions, as he peaks the article he started suddenly to browse through.

“Yes.”

He cannot put his finger to what actually bothers him about this small revelation so much. The unnamed feeling in his chest grows and it starts to resemble something similar to guilt, even though some logical part of his brain is telling him that there is no reason to feel that way.

He can admit that it makes him uneasy to know that Carlos has stayed silent about it for so long, especially when it must have affected the way he sleeps, too.

Carlos chuckles, softly. “It’s not that big of a deal, Ty,” he whispers, pressing a kiss on his shoulder.

“Apparently we could sleep separately,” he reads aloud as he scrolls through the surprisingly long article.

“Out of question,” Carlos replies, without missing a beat.

He huffs in some sort of agreement. It’s not the solution he would be eager to try any time soon, but he wants to find something tangible to make the uneasiness in his heart to go away.

“Somehow trap the covers underneath the mattress, smaller bed, bigger blankets--,” he continues to slowly read as he makes through the list, until Carlos gently yanks the phone away from his hand and places it face down on his chest.

“We don’t need to do any of that,” he reminds, “I sleep perfectly fine. You cling like an octopus and you’re like a walking radiator, I don’t need a blanket. And above all, I like sleeping with you.”

It’s a tiny confession, but he sounds sure of it and there is genuine fondness in the way he says it, and he cannot help but believe that he means it.

TK loves the way they sleep. There is so much closeness in it. Their bed is pretty wide, but every time he wakes up, they are close and touching each other, in one way or another. A hand resting on a thigh, fingers against hip, face pressed against shoulder blade, entangled legs and arms.

He is pretty convinced there are no moments when they are not touching when sleeping. He sort of likes that. That they drift towards other, even when they are completely unaware of it. They move in their sleep. Carlos always falls asleep on his side but ends up lying on his back. He moves around a lot more, but the fact that they always wake up pressed together, means that they move together.

When the other moves, the other follows. Invisible string connecting them in their dreams. Like magnets pulling each other in.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier,” Carlos continues to fill in the silence, “I knew you’d get stuck in that beautiful mind of yours about it, but I didn’t know it’d bother you this much.”

There is a question hidden, and he knows he is giving him the space not to answer, but he wants to.

TK groans, quietly and softly. He places the phone back on the nightstand and rubs his own face. “It’s just that—you simply decided to put up with it,” he tries to clarify, still trying to make sense of the emotions that keep bumping against each other inside of him, “instead of telling me to do something about it.”

He knows that he cannot control what he does in his sleep, but he would still like to try and make it better.

“I get that, but sayin’ that I’m putting up with it makes it sound too negative,” he says, exhaustion leaking back into his voice just slightly, “and I’d have told you if truly bothered me, but it doesn’t.”

“Yeah.”

He strokes his side, in slow moments, with his thumb. It sends small shivers along his spine. TK glances back at him, but his eyes are closed again. “I love you and I’ll gladly sleep without a blanket for rest of my life, it’s a small price to pay.”

Silence follows, and TK can feel how he tenses up slightly next to him. It’s a small change, but he knows him well enough to spot the difference.

“That’s pretty much wedding vow material already,” TK jokes, planting another kiss on his forehead because he wants him to know it is okay, and that he is not freaking out about any mentions of their shared future, and that he can say stuff like that to him.

That he wants to hear it.

Some of the tension immediately leaves his body when he pulls away from the kiss.

“I know,” he slurs, sleepily. “I should write it down.”

“Height of romance.”

He laughs, even though he manages to make it sound tired too, but it is still a beautiful sound. “Damn right it is.”

“I’m gonna buy a bigger duvet when we get home,” TK declares.

“You don’t have to.”

“No, but I want to.”

It might not help anything, and Carlos does seem pretty content with their current arrangements, but he still needs to do something. To try, at least, even if it is something as small as blanket hogging.

Carlos opens his eyes again, clearly fighting off the sleep. “Promise something.”

He is a little surprised by his words, but he cranes his neck on the pillow so that he can get a better look at his face. “Anything.”

“Don’t start to overthink it, the way you sleep isn’t something you should actively think about. You’ll only lose sleep,” he tells him.

TK knows he has a point. It’s definitely an easy rabbit hole to fall in, and to become too self-conscious about every moment and not being able to relax and just be. Maybe he should take Carlos’ word for it.

“I’ll promise I’ll try my best to get over the fact that I’ve forced you to freeze your ass every night for over a year.”

Carlos’ eyes are shut, but the grin that forms on his lips is bright and brilliant. “We live in Texas, it’s hot and humid most of the time, my ass is fine.”

“It is.”

He laughs again, mostly against his fluffy pillow. “How did we end up having this conversation?”

“About us, the blankets, the future or the future of our blankets?” TK asks, deadpan, just to mess with his sleep deprived brain.

“Any of it?”

“I don’t know, you started it,” he tells him, amusement shining in his soft voice

“I’m too tired,” he half-slurs, but the smile still lingers on his lips.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” TK points out, kindly, and moves his other hand to run through Carlos’ hair, massaging his scalp soothingly.

“You’re right,” he breathes out, and TK can hear the smirk in his voice, “just this once.”

He laughs quietly, trying not to stir him any more than necessary, and he thinks he might have already fallen asleep, and he almost startles when he hears his voice again.

“Ty?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t need any blankets, just need you.”

He would have expected his voice to be light, teasing and joking, but it sounds surprisingly sincere and like it half-accidently escapes away from his exhausted mind, but it sounds still so goddamn sincere that it makes TK’s heart flutter.

“Smooth,” he remarks, quietly, unsure what to do with all the happiness that keeps bubbling inside of him, but the only reply he gets is the quiet and steady breathing.

[yandere-society]

The Ultimatum

Synopsis: Valentine’s Day has rolled around once again, and just like last year, you plan on spending it with none other than your emotional support dog. What you don’t know, however, is that you have an unexpected visitor awaiting for you at home.. and not only does he have a loaded gun on his hip, but he also has your beloved pet in his lap.

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Word Count: 6,000

Admin: @tatertotthethot​

Valentine’s Day Event Masterlist

Trigger warnings: yandere-themes, signs/mentioning of mental disorders such as: anxiety, depression, PTSD and dissociation; Mentions of gang violence; Depictions of gore; nonconsentual kissing (nothing sexual); no dogs were harmed in the making of this…

“Here you go, guys.” You said as you handed the couple across the counter their drinks. You returned their smiles and bid them a good day, but as soon as they turned away and linked their fingers together on the way out, your expression settled into one of disdain.

Baley, your manager, noticed it. But like always, she chose to ignore it. She’s very much use to your secretive, albeit bitter distaste towards romance. She’s been working along side you for two years now, and knows that you’re a big advocate for holiday decorations. You’ve decked the place out on Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas��� even fucking Saint Patrick’s day. But for Valentine’s Day, all you did was slap some heart shaped stickers on the window and didn’t even look too happy to be doing that, either. But she’s never been one to push.

“Guess what I’m doing this evening,” She hinted, hanging the ‘closed’ sign on the door.

“Hm?” You asked, having zoned out while rinsing your shot glasses out.

“I’m gonna eat the rest of my edibles and read some alien erotica.”

Not expecting anything less from her, given her personality, you only choked out a laugh and shook your head. It’d be more amusing if you knew she wasn’t kidding. Baley has a weird obsession with aliens and you never took her serious about it until you bought her a tentacle dildo as a gag-gift on her birthday, and instead of laughing about it and going off into a banter like you were anticipating, she started screaming and jumping up and down like you just handed her the last Golden Ticket to the fucking chocolate factory.

“What about your boyfriend?” You asked, forcing yourself to engage in conversation to keep you from spiraling.

“He’s out of town. So I’ll be thinking of him as I read about the alien king abducting me and using my tenta-holes—“

“Never mind.” You cut her off, trying to let that lighten up the mood. You appreciated the effort, but it didn’t work. You just wanted today to be over.

It’d be a whole lot better if only you could tell her the truth and come clean about your past. But it’s not like she’d believe you, even if you had the guts. But in all honesty, her fantasy about alien abduction was more believable.

You’re a barista making $10 an hour, living paycheck to paycheck and inhabiting the house your grandmother left you in her will. You have no car, you rely on public transportation; all your clothes are from goodwill and when you’re not working at this shop, you spending your life in confinement of those walls with your dog, as a recluse.

If you even dared to tell Baley that, just three years ago, you were living in a million-dollar mansion in South Korea, and had a luxurious wardrobe from big-name designers and that you didn’t even own a pair of fucking socks that were under $100.. she’d look at you as if you were the alien. She wouldn’t entertain the bigger half of the story, about how you were engaged to a man who’s now serving a life sentence and could possibly be put on death row for committing a robbery that left one of the international banking systems short 23-million won— which would amount to be approximately 20 million dollars in America... you would’ve lost her at the word Fiancé.

It’d be easy to prove, though. Your associations to the crime may not show up in your background check, being as you’re back here in America and was never detained, and the news isn’t relevant enough to circulate here. However, a simple google search would reveal it all, even with pictures of you two in public.

But not even you wanted to look up his name to know what was going on with his case. You were still ambient to forget about him, in a way. You wanted to ignore his existence. You fucking loath that man.. you swear, you do.

You had fallen back into a brooding silence again without even meaning to, and although you were busily cleaning up off muscle memory, you were detached. He still has that effect on you. And truth be known, the first year you spent in lonesome isolation after leaving Korea was just a change of scenery but not very different from the lifestyle he had subjected you to. But even still, it was so much better than living with him at the estate. And now, with your dog Sweetpea there, you feel safe again. At least you were in the same place you grew up, and felt closer to your grandmother—

Fuck, you missed her so much. He wouldn’t even let you visit her in person before she past. The man owned his own private jet and it never had any maintenance problems until the one fucking night you needed to go back home. You only got to speak with her on the phone, and bawled your fucking eyes out and spewed out an incoherent apology just hours before her heart gave out. That’s when she told you that she left you the house, and how sorry she was for kicking you out of it because you didn’t pursue the career field she wanted you to go for.

If only they would’ve arrested Taehyung a month prior, you could’ve been there for her. You could’ve hugged her and the two of you could given each other the apology you both deserved.

“Hey..” Baley’s voice suddenly came to your left ear, the only one that you could actually hear out of. Your right one, despite being 80% deaf even with a functioning hear aid, was faintly ringing from the emotional tangent you had accidentally drifted into.

You looked over at her, and broke down. Although she could never fully understand, she still gave you an empathetic frown and was pulling you into a hug before you could sputter out an apology— not that there was any use for one.

You had secrets that still haunted you, and will always impair your daily life— much like your botched eardrum and this shitty device you spent way too much money on. That’s another thing you only had Kim Taehyung to thank for, along with your fucked up shoulder.

You had to carefully elevate your arms but eventually returned the hug and cried a little harder, not able to help it. Sweetpea was a great reciprocate for affection and did a swell job with distracting you, but as far as human comfort goes, you haven’t had so much as that in.. well, seven fucking years. Tae was always big on affection, and also comforted you when you needed it. But it was redundant and didn’t have a sincere effect, being as he was the very one that initially caused the hurt it derived from.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on with you, I never do... but I want you to know that I can see how strong you are. You’re doing a great job at making it through each day...” she muttered, rubbing your back as it shook with each silent sob. You felt bad when you heard her own voice beginning to thicken, but that was no surprise. She was a sympathizer and a little bit emo in general. Seeing others cry was enough to jerk a tear out of her, and you loved that about her. She’s a weirdo, but she’s pure, and she’s very good hearted. You could even say that you may have deeper feelings for her as well, and they may even be mutual, but you were no good for her. Hell, you were already putting her in enough danger just by being an employee at her shop. If you were to let your relationship stem past being friendly coworkers, or even hung out with her outside of work, that could pose an actual threat to her safety.

So, even though you wanted to lengthen the embrace, and longed to tighten your arms around her even more, you pulled back and wiped at your face, giving her a weak grin and a nod instead.

She squeezed your shoulders one last time before taking a step back, recollecting herself.

“You go home. I got everything else.”

You sheepishly nodded again, thanking her one last time before collecting your things and booking it out of there. Had you not felt so broken and defeated in that moment, you would’ve refused. But her show of affection triggered a deep, dire need to give and be given more comfort.

Fortunately for you, though, you had a special someone for that. Your dog is the only living creature on this planet that can be trusted with the revelations of your past. She’s the only reliance you have for receiving unconditional love and support without any judgment... probably because she doesn’t even understand what the fuck you’re saying half the time, nor can she repeat the shit you say, but as far as comfort goes, it’s always a guarantee.

— That’s just in her nature, like most pets. Pitbulls, however, are very sensitive and attentive to certain emotions— especially depression and anxiety. They’re just as good with protecting their owners, as well as they are with babysitting them. Everyone knows pitbulls have a notorious and misguided reputation for being aggressive. But little do most know, before dog fighting became a popular thing and defamed their personalities, pitbulls were primarily referred to as ‘Nanny dogs’. They’re great with babies in general, and very domestic and charismatic by nature. But despite being big, loveable goof balls themselves, they can literally sense stressful emotions and will know what type action to take in order to sedate them.

Sweetpea may not have professional training and certification but it is by her true nature and personality that you call her an Emotional Support Dog. When you’re having another one of your episodes— panic attacks, senseless paranoia, nightmares— she’s running to your aid and doing anything she can to distract and get you to play with her. When you’re depressed and spiraling into another breakdown, she licking at your face and sitting in your lap, not even seeing the problem with her being three times bigger than the average lap dog—

“Kneehemplamaforseeking?”

You sucked in a breath and blinked over at the PetsMart employee, smiling a few away from you. You probably looked lost, and in a way you quite literally were. You hardly remember walking in the direction of this store, let alone entering it. But this a common thing for you, so you easily just went on about your way despite the sudden worry of missing your bus... again.

“I’m sorry, what’d you say?” You had asked, turning your good ear towards her and watching her lips move.

“Do you need help looking for something?” She repeated, carefully annunciating her words this time, now that she could see the device in your ear. In today’s age, most people mistake it as a bluetooth— which has unknowingly saved you from accidentally talking to yourself in public, more than you would know.

You shook your head in response to the lady, and checked the time on your phone. You had 30 minutes left, thank God.

“No thanks. I’m just here to get some treats and waste some time before my bus comes. It’s windy as hell outside.”

“Ah, it certainly is,” she agreed, making her way to the next aisle. “Be safe out there!”

“I’ll try.” You muttered to yourself, grabbing a bag of bacon strips off the shelf— the very thing you had ultimately came for. It should’ve taken you no more than 5 minutes to grab and go. But it wasn’t uncommon for you to take much longer and aimlessly wonder down multiple aisles only to get one or two things from the same aisle, though. You do it at every store you go to, if you can stand to be outside of your home or away from work.

After checking out, you made it a mission to stay present until your bus came. By the time you got home, you were more stable.. up until the bus driver— a sweet elderly man who’s been transporting you on this route for last couple of years, handed you a rose on your way down the stairs.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, young lady.”

You had the strength to give him a genuine smile, but as soon as you stepped off and the doors closed, and the bus engine picked back up and left you with a gust of wind, you broke again.

Taehyung always gave you a bouquet of blood red roses for Valentine’s Day. He knew you were a sucker for them. And you still are, but sentiment wasn’t the only emotion to come now. They brought on an ache. A pain. A worry. A twinge of longing, but a fuckton of resentment.

You wanted to throw it on the ground and stomp at it.. better yet, you wanted to set it on fire and watch it burn while smoking a much needed cigarette. But first, you need to see your dog. You know she’s just as anxious to see you.

You trudged up to your door and was quick to unlock it... but frowned when you didn’t see her on the other side. Maybe it was because your ears were ringing again from how worked up you’d just gotten. But usually, the mere sound of your key twisting at the lock would have her running to the and practically beating it down, and you’d opened to see her gleefully wining out and wagging her tail.

But she wasn’t there.

“Sweetpea?” You called out, making it a point to swing the door shut behind you. Still, nothing—

Whimpering. You heard her whimpering and your head snapped over to the hallway. Your heart began to race. Your bed door was open, as always, and you could hear her in there but she wasn’t coming out. Only whimpering for you to come to her.

Fearing the worst, thinking perhaps she’d hurt herself to the extent that she couldn’t move, you barged down the hallway and listened with a sickening sense of uneasiness as her whimpering turned to muffled howls.

“Sweetpea, wha—“

You screamed. Sheer horror and white-hot adrenaline erupted through your veins and scorched your nerve endings, leaving you numb in the limb to the impact of the floor beneath your kneecaps. All you could feel was the volcanic eruption of despair in your chest and the strain in your diaphragm.

Sweetpea was okay, but very much in danger. She had a muzzle on, and her big, canopy-like ears were peeled back and her big, doughy eyes were wildly beading dead at you as she struggled and pawed at the carpet, watching you fall to you fall out. She was so worried to get to you but she couldn’t, do to the death grip of the man who was holding her by a leash. She couldn’t even interpret the lethality of the weapon that was also aimed at the back of her head— a glock you specially recall being the weapon of choice when Taehyung pistol whipped a man’s head open before emptying all twelve rounds in his magazine into his face.

Now, all you could envision was the same being done to that sweet face and big, bulbous head.

You screamed out and wailed even louder, not even looking at the intruder or registering who it was. Because you already fucking knew and in your mind it was too late.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” He roared, making you and Sweetpea flinch. You stopped screaming but your breath was ragged beyond your control. Your vision was bouncing between his fierce scowl and Sweetpea’s fearsome one. You dove forward, intending to crawl and beg but two pairs of shoes stepped out from where they’d been standing behind the door, and their hands gripped you by the biceps before hauling you up to your feet. You didn’t even try to resist them. You knew better than that. But fear still had you discombobulated and speaking out to yourself, feeling incredibly dizzy and disarrayed.

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”

“You’re not dreaming.” Taehyung snarled, palm itching to slap some sense into you. But even within the three years he’s spent in bitterness, it didn’t change the morality he did have in relations to you. He’d never hit you out of anger.

But then he realized the real reason why you were saying that, when your knees suddenly gave out and the hold his men had on you became the only thing keeping you up right as you fainted out. He didn’t realize you still had that problem, and it hurt him to see that now.

Back when he had you in his possession, you had accidentally witnessed an execution down in the basement of his mansion. It was the first time you fainted, a d your body came toppling down a good ten-or-so steps, which were made of cement, and you were lucky to have only broken your nose and dislocated your shoulder.

Guilt crashed over him, suddenly. He meant to terrorize you in a way that wasted little time to gain submission, but he didn’t mean to trigger your PTSD— although he knew it was likely. Given the resolve, he put the gun back in its holster and stood up, beckoning for Yoongi to take the leash. Jungkook easily held you up by the waste and waited to pass you off to your fiancé before bringing your wrists behind your back. You slowly came to as he did so, and your head lolled back up only for your entire body to snap back into attention all at once, now that you were face to face with the Devil himself.

“Come on, you fucking idiot!”

Your head snapped over and you began to panic again as Yoongi fought with your, trying to drag her over to her cage by the leash. She was putting up one hell of a fight and audibly wheezing from the choke, her eyes now bulging as she looked at you.

You bucked against the both of them, your maternal instincts causing you to go feral as you saw red.

“QUIT! YOU’RE FUCKING CHOKING HER, YOU FUCKING PRICK! PICK HER UP!”

“She’s too squirmy!” He shouted back, the shock of your outburst causing him to lose tension and Sweetpea lunged the both of them forward. Tae was shouting at Jungkook to hurry with the restraints and squeezing you tighter, but you were kicking and flailing like a fish out of water now.

“MAKE HIM STOP!” You cried out, but was forcefully silenced by the gigantic hand that grabbled around the entire bottom half of your face— including your nose. Having been in this situation before, knowing his antics, you knew he wasn’t going to let you breathe again until you did as told. So you were forced to settle down but was still desperately pleading with your eyes, crying as your dog continued to heave against the menstruations.

“Yoongi, for fuck sake, the dog is 50 pounds. Just pick her up and put your in the kennel.” Tae stressed, eyes still locked with yours.

With a grunt, Yoongi tackled your dog and trapped her in a bear hug, snatching her up off the ground. You wanted to scream at him again but you were actually starting to struggle for oxygen, chest jolting with an involuntary attempts to inhale.

“Alright, they’re on. I just gotta link them.”

Tae’s hand finally dropped and you hacked out, swallowing as much air as you could. Now that Sweetpea was safely in her cage, you had time to worry about your own safety, but the look on his face wasn’t giving off such a merciful vibe.

“You do whatever you want to me. I don’t care. I won’t fight back... but if you hurt my dog—“

“If I hurt your fucking dog, it’ll just be tough shit for you. I’ll still do whatever the hell I want and unless you need me to prove that, I suggest you stop with ultimatums..” he chuckled, but it sounded so cold and twisted. He was on the verge of snapping, and was fighting to keep as much composure as he could right now, for your sake.

But he was on a heist right now, you readied yourself for the unknown when he punctuated his sentence by grappling your throat with the same, vandalized and accessorized hand he just smothered you with— fingers digging in at the sides. Your breathing was once again constricted and your eyes reddened in strain, your voice dying out.

Tae may not beat you, but he knows your worse fear is dying by suffocation. Hence, why he’s so big in breath play.

“Can you?” He reiterated, snarling his teeth at you and revealing the top and bottom pair of golden, fang-shaped plates framing his pearly white canine teeth. Back in the day, you found them so extravagant and tasteful, but now you found them all the more threatening.

He waited until your eyes began fluttered back before letting go again, and Jungkook’s body was the only thing that saved you from falling back. You never understood why, but for some reason, Jungkook was the only person Tae allowed to be in closer range of you, even when it wasn’t necessary. He even reminded you of that when Yoongi had stepped a little too close and Taehyung shot a glare over to him that had him taking a couple steps back. But Jungkook was apparently free to stand there, holding you up even as you regained your footing. You feared that one day it will all make sense, but for now, you were thankful that he was there to at least to save you from collapsing.

It’d be great if they weren’t even fucking here, at all.

“Go put the kennel in the car— not on the seats, though. Hobi will kill me if I fuck up the interior.”

“Please let me rehouse her.” You begged, cringing as his eyes returned to you. They looked even more colorless than before. “I’ll come with you, but I don’t want her there with us.”

“She’s fine. As long as she doesn’t shit and piss everywhere and doesn’t chew any of my shit, or try to attack me, I’ll let you keep her.”

“You were just holding a fucking gun to her head, Taehyung. Please let me rehouse her. My friend Baley will take her. All I gotta do is leave her in the cafe with a note— I have the keys. I’ll even let you write the fucking note yourself and we can go...” It was significantly getting harder to speak, now that your airways were irritated and your unsteady emotions were only making it worse.

You had already accepted your fate, but had a twinge of hope left that he’d at least hear you out on that request. His features had softened into a crestfallen display of guilt, and remorse. But your faith in him shattered all over again when he stubbornly shook his head and reached for the gun again. You were just about to throw another fit until he pulled the magazine out and showed it to you.

It was empty, until he pocketed it and pulled out a fully-loaded one and clipped it into place, before putting it back in the holster.

He tricked you, and although it was still pretty fucking evil, you were relieved. He never intended to shoot her and wouldn’t have been able to, even if his finger applied enough pressure on the trigger. But you were still very much in the midst of an abduction, and you still hated this man for what he was doing to you now.

“Why are here?” You croaked.

“To come get you and our new pet,” he announced, faking the enthusiasm before reinforcing his glare. “I’m... incredibly pissed about the fact that abandoned me.. but even more so offended by the negligence to stay updated.”

His eyes then caught the flash of a blue light at your ear. Your hearing aid was dying and faintly peeping in your ear. The remembrance had his entire demeanor shift to a sullen one, like a switch.

“But at the same time—“ his voice had fallen into a lower pitch, almost to the point of being a whisper as he stepped closer and easily molded his hands around your face. You suddenly felt fragile, but not in a way that made you giddy, like it use to. Now, you had to swallow down the bile in your throat and fight against the nausea as his suddenly lips came near.

“—It’s really hard take that out on you, when I can’t even blame you for it. But It’s been three fucking years, honey. Three. How could you not even have enough concern for my well being, to not even send a fucking post card? Did you really think you‘d never see me again, and that you had snuck away from me? I knew what you were doing, and where you were going before you even boarded your fucking flight.”

“You’re suppose to be in jail. I thought you were letting me go.”

“First of all, you didn’t even know the original plan to think that it had failed. All my charges have been dropped and the suspicion of my involvement dismissed. Namjoon has been found guilty and is now serving that sentence, like I had initially plotted from the beginning. You never knew shit to fucking assume anything!”

You glared at him despite the jolt that came with his drastic notch in volume, and not your tongue as he went on.

“But I did allow you to leave the country, but only to give you space and to let you touch base with... whatever the fuck it is that you still find valuable here. I didn’t think I’d have to clarify the circumstances of your stay, but for you to not even reach out.. and the fact you got some shitty, minimum wage job on top of it all, when you still have access to the saving account I’ve put in your name.. You really thought we were over? You haven’t even checked the news articles to see any updates on the case. I’ve been out for a week!”

He was still holding your face but his hands were shaking and the pressure was increasing again. He always pulls back and regains control over his temper before inflicting harm, but it’d be foolish to not expect him to one day lose that control. He’s hurt you on ‘accident’ before. He’s slaughtered many people, more than you’ll ever know to keep count. Nothing is sacred.

But now, you are a lot more contempt and able to tolerate the fear of him hurting you on impulse, being as Sweetpea was out of harms way and no longer in the room. You were still shaking though and had closed your eyes, bracing for it. But the jerk of shock only came when his suddenly lips covered your’s, and Jungkook finally backed away.

The kiss only lasted about three solid seconds before he pulled back, and was heavily panting through his nose. You dared to look up and caught a glimpse of the physical pain marring his features. His eyes had gone watery and his jaw began ticking like a time bomb, nostrils flaring and chest rising. He pressed his forehead against your’s and snaked his fingers into the hair at the nape of your neck, trying to fight off his own sobs and choking on them more and more with each second.

“You hate me.. you haven’t even missed me.” His voice was so thickened by his emotions that it deepened the natural richness he already had, making it sound contorted and almost inhuman. A tear dropped down his nose bridge and hit your quivering lips, and for the life of you, you couldn’t fight back the heart wrenching burn it inflicted on you.

How could you still feel anything for this man? It can’t be. It just fucking can’t be..

But it was. You were so bewildered and petrified by the oncoming sympathy that it stunned you into a froze state of shock. He kissed you again, thinking it was a show of fear for own safety— and he was right to interpret the fear, but it was with different cause. He was steadily conjuring up feelings that you wished you could’ve watched burn, like you had intended to do with the rose your bus driver gave you. But here you were, heart bleeding for him.

You still didn’t reciprocate the kiss but it brought on more involuntary anguish.. you cried harder and so did he, and as he leaned your head back to kiss at your neck, you stared in perplexing awe at the gigantic bouquet of roses sitting on your nightstand.

“It’s okay. I‘ve missed you too fucking much to punish you now.” He calmed, and took a good 30 seconds to regain his composure. There was still a groggy undertone in his next words, but once again, he was back in his domineering mindset. “But I ain’t cutting you that much slack.”

You yelped when he suddenly shoved you back, straight into Jungkook for the nth time. He heatedly wiped at his eyes and stepped back, and it was the first time you took in how much more muscular and rigid he’d become over the years.

Before, he was a lot more slender and you’re certain that the very shirt he’s wearing now use to be at least 2 sizes too big on him before.. however, the black silk was skin-tight and clinging to the humps of his biceps, and straining around the buttons between his pectorals. His skin was more pale than ever before but now you could see a tattoo curving along his temple, arcing aside the edge of his pierced brow. The word that was written in elegant, cursive writing made your heart palpitate and your stomach twist even more.

Honey. That was your signature endearment. That was the name you’d given him in place of your real one the very night he met you, and asked for it.

This crazy motherfucker really is obsessed with you. How he can lie to you, deceive you, punish you and drive you fucking bonkers and stalk you down only in the act of what he calls love.. and for it to actually be a form of true—albeit dangerous love, was beyond you.

The scripture on his handsome, albeit matured face distracted you for a few seconds. You snapped out of it when Jungkook suddenly hauled you up by the midsection and slammed you down on the bed, pinning his hand down between your shoulder blades and rendering you defenseless.

“What are you doing? Taehyung! Please! Get him off of me!”

“If I could trust you to stay still, I would.” His voice was neutral again, despite a offhanded sniff. You struggled to look back, but it was no use as he was standing out of view.

“Stay still for what?”

“Do you still have your ring?” He asked instead, ignoring you.

“It’s in my nightstand drawer. Now tell me—“

“Told you she kept it,” Jungkook finally spoke— and just like it was back then, it was a very rare occurrence for when he did speak on your behalf. That’s another thing nobody else dared to do, unless asked. But knowing that he was the one stalking you for Taehyung made you all the more disturbed with him.

“Fucking creep. You’re hurting me!” you screamed at him, and he had the audacity to increase pressure. Tae said nothing, nor did he stop his friend from retaliating.

“I also know about your little affair with your coworker. Since when did you start swinging both ways?”

“What are you talking about?” You growled, and he only snorted in response.

“She knows you like her. She knows you stare at her ass every time she bends over and that you bend over on purpose to make her look at yours. She knows you like it when she slaps it.”

You, one again, went unmoving.

Jeon Jungkook is her fucking boyfriend.

“What does Jk even stand for?”

“Jackson. But he doesn’t like to be called Jackie, and you know how I am about nicknames. So I call him JK.”

“Don’t you fucking hurt her, Jungkook. You leave her alone. Tae, don’t you let him—“

“Don’t you worry about me.”

“BALEY?!”

Baley walked into view, an unreadable expression on her face. The mere realization of what was happening finally over filled your mental tolerance and you brain suddenly launched you away from reality.

The beach. You were at the beach with your cousins, all of you a little over the age of 18. You were on spring break your senior year in highschool and talking about the future. Graduation. Prom. College~

“She’s zoned out.” Baley said, and Jungkook finally let go. You were indeed paralyzed and had completely dissociated, talking to yourself. Taehyung, with a fully-loaded syringe in his hand, leaned over to look at your face. Your pupils were dilated, eyes stargazing in general, lips softly moving as you babbled nonsense. He hated knowing that it was coming to this, but he swore he’d earn your forgiveness.

“I’m gonna get your ear fixed.. or at least get you a better device. We’re gonna be okay. We’re so fucking rich now, I don’t even know what to do with all our money— only to turn it into more. I won’t have to work as much. We can get married, have the best fucking honey moon we can imagine. We can get started on a family. I’ll win your dog over, too. I promise.”

He sank the needle into your bicep, and you didn’t even flinch. Only blinked in rhythm as a tear fell.

“I’m gonna be a forensic scientist, like Mawmaw wants me to be.” You incoherently muttered, having said that to your friend, Jessica, on the beach.

It was insensitive, but he couldn’t help but crack a grin at that. Whatever memory you were reliving at the moment, was quite sometime before you actually began your classes for such profession. He bent down and kissed your cheek one last time as he injected the entirety sedation serum into your system and pulled it out. But you were oblivious to it all.

“I think I’m smart enough...”

”You’re very book smart, baby. But you’re probably gonna drop out after three semesters and become a bar tender at a strip club, because you’re not fit to be a homicidal investigator. You’re too soft.”

“I’m not..”

“You sure?”

“I’m gonna be a forensic scientist, like Mawmaw wants me to be.”

“Well, you’re gonna become my wife before you become anything else.”

“Ew, don’t even play like that. You’re my cousin.”

“Jeez..” Baley muttered. “You really have driven her a little bat-shit, huh? This is way more disturbing than I anticipated—“

“Babe, lets go sit in the car. Come on,” Jungkook hurried, pulling her out of the room.

Taehyung continued to whisper sweet nothings into your deafened ear, but the last night you heard before it all went blank was the perfect, bittersweet saying that bidded you goodbye for the night.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Honey.”

[timebird84]

🎄 PotO Advent Calendar 2020 🎄

By @frostydaae​

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

It was two days until Christmas. The main streets of Paris were lined with shoppers and merchants alike, dressed quite festively in colors of red, green, and white.  Two young men and a young woman made their way down the road of merchants.  At a glance, one might easily mistake the three for siblings.  The two men were in fact brothers, but the young woman they were escorting had no interest in sharing the brother’s De Chagny title. The younger of the two men led the group in the direction of a jewelry shop. While the young, blonde girl made her way inside, the oldest brother, Phillipe, held his younger brother back for a moment.

“Raoul,” said Phillipe, cautiously.  “I know I have asked you this many times already, but are you sure that this is the path you want to choose?”  Raoul gave a light chuckle to his brother’s concern.

“Phillipe,” replied the youngest, “I am certain.  She is what I have been missing for all of these years.  I lost her once before, and I do not want to risk losing her again.”  Phillipe heaved a sigh and Raoul placed a hand on his older brother’s shoulder.  “I know that things will be difficult.  I know that she is not considered to be a ‘proper match’, but I am ready to deal with any torment that may be thrown my way, and shield Christine from it as well.  I just hope that you can support me in this decision, no matter your stance on the matter.”  Suddenly, a chipper voice was heard from the doorway.

“Come along, you two.  We haven’t got all day!”  Raoul had asked the young ballerina to come along with him to pick out a ring for his (hopefully) soon to be betrothed.  He had figured that since the two were best friends, Meg could serve as a proxy for Christine’s taste in style.  It also didn’t hurt that the two friends had very similar bodies, hopefully making the ring sizing a bit easier.

The two brothers entered in behind the young ballerina, making their way to the various counters, each filled with rows of jewels.  From behind the counter, an older gentleman met them and began to speak.

“Is there anything in particular you gentlemen are looking for today? Perhaps for a nice, young lady?”, gesturing towards Meg.  Raoul chuckled at this comment.

“Yes sir.  We are actually looking for a very special ring.  I am hoping to propose to my love on the upcoming holiday.” Raoul informed the older gentleman.

“I see…”, the older gentleman, Maurice said.  “I suppose you are here to give a woman’s thought then?” He said, addressing Meg once more.  Before Meg had a chance to utter a response, Phillipe butted into the conversation.

“Yes sir, and I’m afraid we are in a bit of a hurry.  This was somewhat of a last-minute decision and my brother’s train to Perros leaves in 4 hours.”  Phillipe said, hardly taking a moment to breathe.  

“Ah, I see.  There is some urgency behind this decision.  Give me just a moment then.”  Maurice disappeared behind the counter for a moment, only to come back with a small tray of jeweled rings.  “These are some of my most lovely selections.  On your left, a princess cut on a silver band.  Here in the middle, an oval cut on a gold-plated band. And on the right, another gold-plated band with a round cut opal.” Meg audibly gasped at the fine jewelry.  Raoul felt himself begin to feel even more nervous about his decision.  

“These are all lovely,” Raoul told the older gentleman, “but our relationship is not as traditional as expected.  I feel like she should have something that is unexpected, just as unexpected as to how she reentered my life.  Phillipe looked at his brother, a bit puzzled at his remarks.  Maurice gave Raoul a look, almost as if he was calculating an equation in his head.  After a moment, he finally spoke up again.  

“Give me a moment to run to the back.  I have something I think may fit the description you’re looking for.”  The three watched as the man disappeared once more, this time for a longer amount.  When he reemerged, he was holding a closed velvet box in his hands.  He sat the box down on the counter and slowly opened it.  Inside was the most perfect opal cut sapphire, sitting on a simple silver band. Raoul instinctively reached out for the item, staring in awe.  

“This ring is one of a kind.  I made it by hand myself over 50 years ago. I proposed to my wife with this ring, and it stayed on her finger until the day she died.” The older man sniffled, and it was apparent that he was holding back a few tears.  “It has been nearly 15 years since her death and I have kept it on my desk every day since.  However, I can tell that your young lady means as much to you as my Charlotte meant to me.”  Tears filled the eyes of the four in the room.  “It is time for this ring’s legacy to live on.”

“Monsieur, are you quite certain?  It is absolutely stunning and would be perfect for her, but I can’t simply take such a prized possession from you.”  The older gentleman chuckled.

“Young man, this ring has been collecting dust for nearly fifteen years now. It would be my privilege to pass it onto you.”  The two men engaged smiles.  “Mademoiselle, I assume you are here as a stand-in for the soon to be bride?”  Meg nodded her head enthusiastically. “Let us see if the ring is a fit then, shall we?”  Meg held her dainty hand out as Maurice took it in his, sliding it onto the young blonde’s finger.  The four all gasped at the near-perfect fit that was before them.  “I believe it is settled then, Monsieur.”  Meg slipped the ring off her finger, handing it back to the elder gentleman who promptly placed the ring back into its box, and the box into a separate bag.  

The two brothers and the not-sister exited the shop, quite content with the purchase they had made.  Meg bade them farewell, wishing Raoul luck as she left.  The two brothers rode in a carriage back to the family’s chateau, where Phillipe helped make sure that everything was ready to go for his brother’s trip to Perros.  

During this time, Raoul slipped the box out of the merchant’s bag, promptly slipping it into his own coat pocket.  Over the entire duration to Perros, Raoul methodically brushed his hand over the box in his pocket, checking every minute or so to make sure that it was indeed still there and had not all been a figment of his imagination.

As the train came to a stop, Raoul felt his heartbeat begin to quicken. He knew he was not even going to propose to Christine until the next day as the clock struck midnight, but the very thought of the event being so soon made him feel anxious.  He retrieved his luggage and ordered a carriage to take him to the Valerius residence.  

As the carriage rolled up to the grounds of the widowed Madame Valerius (or Mamma, as she would insist), he noticed bright green eyes peering out the window, like a child on Christmas morning peering at the white snow.  The carriage rolled to a stop and Raoul stepped out, paying the driver as he removed his luggage from the back.  Before the carriage could even pull away, the young brunette came running down the entryway to the house, tightly embracing the love of her life as if they had not seen each other in decades.  Raoul returned the embrace, just as tight.  

“Raoul!” Christine exclaimed, “I can’t believe that you’re really here! You know you didn’t have to visit me over the holiday.  You could have stayed with your family.”  The two let each other go as two servants began to bring Raoul’s luggage inside the house.  

“Christine,” Raoul said, taking hold of the young woman’s shoulders, “there is absolutely nowhere else I would rather be for Christmas than right here with you.”  As the servants made their way inside, the two shared a brief kiss.  

“Oh Raoul, you being here is present enough for me!”  Raoul once again felt as if butterflies flew around his stomach, knowing that a much bigger present would be coming her way.  The two made their way through the front door, where Raoul was eagerly greeted by Mamma Valerius.  The three shared pleasantries in the doorway before Raoul excused himself for bed.  It had been a very long day, and he would certainly need his rest for the day ahead of him.

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

The next morning, Raoul was awakened by his own senses.  The curtains were still closed, but he could see the sun peeking its rays through. He wagered a guess that it was somewhere close to noon.  Feeling his stomach grumble, Raoul quickly dressed and made his way down the stairs, where he saw the two women sitting down for lunch.

“Good afternoon, sleepy-head.”  Christine giggled at her own comment. “We were wondering when you would join us.”

“My apologies, ladies.  I’m afraid the train ride must have been more tiring than I had expected.”  Raoul sat down at the table, joining the ladies in enjoying their wonderful lunch.  After lunch, Christine and Raoul decided that they would like to walk around the small, village-like area.  Dressed quite warmly, they went on their merry way.  

Making their way through the light snow, they ended up venturing a bit beyond the village, making their way into the main town square.  They visited the various shops and made a stop at one of the many cafes, deciding to each get a cup of hot chocolate while enjoying each other’s company.  After leaving one shop, they found that the doorway had been marked with mistletoe as they shared a kiss underneath.

Time grew later and the world became darker as the two journeyed back to the Valerius estate.  Mamma Valerius was already rushing around, preparing to leave for Christmas Eve mass.  Raoul looked at his watch, noticing that the time was just close to 7 o’clock.  They had most definitely not meant to spend that much time out, but they were both grateful for every moment of it.  The two made their way to their respective rooms, changing into different clothing, more suited for a church setting.

After finishing, the two made their way down to the dining room once more, where Mamma Valerius was waiting for them to join her for dinner. The three took their time, enjoying their delicious dinner.  As the sky grew to be fully dark, Mamma Valerius made her way outside to order a carriage to take them into town for Christmas Eve mass.

As the carriage pulled up, Raoul realized that he had left his coat upstairs in his bedroom.  He ran up quickly to grab it, checking once more to make sure the ring remained in the pocket.  The three made their way to the church as many gathered outside of the doors.  For some reason or another, the main church in Perros decided that they would hold their Christmas Eve mass earlier in the evening; perhaps to allow families with small children to still be put to bed at a reasonable time.  

Mamma Valerius sat between the two hopeless romantics during the service, and Raoul could not be more grateful for it.  He could not seem to stop squirming, checking the pocket of his coat as it lay next to him seemingly every other second now.  The three joined in hymns, Christine’s voice noticeably shining through the chorus of those in worship.  There were a few different times that Raoul simply stopped singing to enjoy the beauty of Christine’s voice.  To him, there was no one else in the room but her.  As they were seated again, the two caught a glance of each other, both blushing as they settled back into their seats.  

The time neared 11 o’clock as the service let out.  Many stayed behind to chat with each other, whereas Raoul was determined to make his way back to the estate with time to spare before midnight.  The three rode in the carriage back to the estate, as time seemed to move in slow-motion for Raoul.  He had now gone from not only checking his pocket for the ring box but also checking his watch every few minutes.  Thankfully, Christine had fallen half-asleep, rested against his shoulder, and did not notice his nervous behavior.  

As the carriage jolted to a stop, it took all of the self-control Raoul had to not burst from the carriage and run inside the property.  He remained calm as he escorted the two ladies inside the house.  By then, Christine had woken up a bit more than she had been in the carriage.  As Mamma and Christine made talk about various people they had seen at the service, Raoul excused himself to go and dress for bed.  As he changed into his nightclothes, he sat by the door, eagerly awaiting Christine’s footsteps.  

After a few minutes of waiting, he heard the pitter-patter of delicate footsteps making their way up the large staircase.  He knew that he needed to give Christine a few more minutes in order to change into her own nightclothes.  Raoul made his way to the balcony of the guest room, looking up at the night sky.  He had taken the ring out of his coat pocket and inserted it into the pocket of his pajama pants.  He took it into his hands once more, opening it to look at the beautiful sapphire jewel that sat on top of the silver band.  He thought back on the older gentleman that had parted with such an important memory of his departed wife and Raoul wished that he could be everything that Christine wanted and needed to have his wife adore him as much as Maurice’s wife must have.  Raoul looked to the sky once again.

“Monsieur Daae,” he began, hoping the soul of Christine’s father could hear his words.  “I know I have already spoken to you on this matter, but tonight is the night I am going to ask your daughter to marry me. I know I cannot even begin to replace the role of being the most important man in her life, as I believe that position will belong to you forever.”  Raoul lightly chuckled before becoming more somber. “Monsieur Daae, I love your daughter so much.  I cannot even begin to put it into words the feelings I carry for your sweet girl.  I only wish you were still with us so that I could speak to you, face-to-face.  So that you could share in what will hopefully be her excitement, as well as being able to walk her down the aisle.” Raoul heaved a great sigh.  “I only hope I can make her as happy as you once did.  Thank you for allowing me to do this sir.”  

Raoul suddenly realized how bitterly cold it was outside, so he made his way back into the room, shutting the balcony doors behind him.  He supposed that Christine must be dressed in her nightclothes by now, so he checked his pajama pocket once more for the ring box as he turned the handle of the door.  He made his way across the hall to Christine’s bedroom.  He noticed his hand shaking as he raised it to knock on her door.  He took another deep breath, hoping that would calm him down a bit more, knocking lightly on her door.

“One moment!” Christine’s light voice echoed into the hallway.  She opened the door to reveal herself in a beautiful flowing nightgown colored in the shade of light rose.  “Raoul!” She exclaimed, quickly closing the door.  Raoul became very confused at this but was relieved as the door reopened a few moments later, Christine now wearing a white dressing gown on top of her beautiful nightgown. Raoul cleared his throat.  

“Ch-Christine, would you care to join me downstairs for a cup of tea?”  Raoul asked, a slight quiver in his voice.

“Now?” She replied, a bit surprised.  She glanced back into her room to see her clock.  “Why Raoul, it’s nearly midnight.” Replied Christine as she feigned concern for propriety.  Raoul began to stammer and shuffle a bit.  She giggled to herself and said “Raoul, I jest.  I would love nothing more than to enjoy a cup of tea with you.  Raoul let a sigh of relief out, hoping he had not let onto what he had planned for the evening.  As Christine closed her bedroom door behind her, Raoul held out his arm as Christine took hold of it, making their way down the stairs.

By the time the two had reached the kitchen, Raoul was finding it even more difficult to keep himself from shaking with anxiety.  Christine poured them each a cup of tea as Raoul took a seat in the parlor. For a final time, Raoul brushed his hand across the pocket to check for the ring box.  A moment later, Christine made her way into the parlor, carrying a tray with the full teacups, sugar, and milk, setting it down on the table in front of them.  Christine poured a tiny bit of milk into her tea as Raoul sipped his, hoping to quench some of the thirst his anxiety had brought upon him.  After a few moments of silence, Raoul finally found his voice once more as he cleared his voice.

“Christine…” He stopped in his tracks before he could say any more.  What if he messed this whole event up?  What if he couldn’t find the right words?  As these thoughts entered his mind, he heard a voice that was seemingly behind him say:

“Do not worry so much, child.  You know Christine as well as I do.  Your heart knows the words you want to say.  Lead with your heart.” Raoul whipped his head around, searching for the source of the voice.

“Yes, Raoul?  Are you alright?”  Raoul turned back to face the woman that he loved once more.  

“Yes, my love, I thought I heard something is all.”  Raoul cleared his throat once more.  “Christine, I promised you many months ago that I would guide, guard, and love you forever.  I know they may have seemed like simple words of a fool in love, but I want you to know that I meant every word that I spoke that night, as well as every word I have spoken since.”  Christine looked lovingly into his eyes.

“And I as well, Raoul,” she said, smiling sweetly.

“I am glad to hear that you return the sentiment..  Oh, Christine…” Raoul said as he stood from the couch, walking across the room, his eyes on the clock, which was now only a minute away from midnight. “What I am trying to say is that…” he searched for the right words to say once more.  “Is that I am completely enamored by you and everything that you do.  Your smile, the way you love others, the way you love me.  The way you find a way to turn any situation into a positive one.”  He turned around to face her again as the clock struck midnight.  He stared at her in awe, fishing the box from his pocket as the chimes rang through the parlor.  As the chimes subsided, he made his way to kneel in front of the beautiful woman that he loved.

“Christine Daae,” he began, “will you marry me?”  By this time, tears were streaming down Christine’s face as Raoul opened the box for Christine to see.  She gasped when she saw the ring inside.  It was absolutely perfect in her eyes, although Raoul very well could have presented her with a piece of twine and she would have been just as happy.  For a moment, Christine could produce nothing but sobs from her mouth.  Tears now fell from Raoul’s eyes as well.

“Yes,” Christine whispered. The word was so faint that Raoul swore that he had merely imagined it.  He knew that it was not so as he heard the word many times following the first.  “Yes, yes, yes, yes yes!  A million times yes!”  The two continued to cry as they joined together for a kiss.  This kiss was unlike any other they had shared before.  This kiss was nothing but the purest form of love and affection two people could ever have for each other.  After what felt like a heavenly eternity, the two pulled apart.

“Oh, Raoul.  I didn’t think that this holiday could get any better.  All I wished was for you to be with me.”  She smiled so much that it nearly caused her pain.  “I feel guilty though,” she said as Raoul removed the ring from the box, revealing a perfect fit to Christine’s dainty finger.

“Why is that, my love?” Raoul questioned with a worry in his voice, wiping another tear from his new fiancee’s cheek.

“I have no gift for you that can match what you have given me tonight.” A few more tears fell from her eyes as Raoul wiped each one away, kissing her soft forehead.  

“Christine,” Raoul leaned in for another kiss, which Christine gratefully accepted.  As they pulled apart, Raoul continued to look deep into Christine’s emerald eyes.

“You are my gift.”

[sxvxrxssnape]

Snolidays/Snapemas: Day 2

Chestnuts & Christmas Cards // pre-PS/the years between. Minerva & Severus friendship aka Minerva McGonagall’s personal mission to make Sev love Christmas part 2. 

Yesterday’s snowfall had turned to ice overnight. It crunched underneath their boots, leaving behind a trail of sunken footfalls as they crossed the stone bridge and moved towards the tall, wrought iron gates that secured the ancient school. 

The wind wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but Severus still took a moment to adjust his hat, pulling it down over his ears to keep his hair from flitting about in his face. Beside him, Minerva had her hands tucked into the pockets of her woolen cloak and together they made their way towards the waiting carriage that would take them into Hogsmeade. 

Hogsmeade was a special little town that sat nestled between crashing ocean waves and giant boulders, an endless expanse of pine trees, and the outline of an antiquated castle perched high above the cliff sides. It was home to a quaint collection of little shops and taverns, and judging by its newly renovated state, a smattering of wizards who seemed to love Christmas just as much as the deputy headmistress standing beside him. 

“December literally just started.” Severus groaned, as he stepped out of the carriage and looked around the main street that stretched out before them. 

Bundles of garland and red ribbon decorated every light post and rows of twinkling lights and colorful baubles hung from all the nearby trees. Even the air smelled festive and Severus’ lips thinned as he made out the scent of warm cinnamon and ginger - out of contempt or poorly hidden delight, he would never confirm.

Minerva chuckled softly beside him as he eyed the snow-covered rooftops with their dripping icicles that couldn’t be intentional - it was the weather’s doing, for Merlin’s sake - but still seemed intentional against the decorated storefronts that it made him think of gingerbread.

“You don’t have to look so put out,” Minerva teased, leading the way further into what he was now seriously debating was even Hogsmeade at all, “If you want, we can start decorating the castle as soon as we return. I’m sure Albus won’t mind.” 

Severus glared at her in return,

“I’ve changed my mind,” he decided, as they passed the stone statue of the town’s founder confirming this to, in fact, be Hogsmeade and not an asinine Christmas village Minerva had secretly tricked him into going to, “I can just owl-order the things I need, from the safety of the castle.”

Regardless, he continued towards the waiting apothecary because he could not - would not - owl order potion ingredients. He couldn’t trust the shopkeeper (or the blasted school owls for that matter) to fully understand why it was so important for his bicorn horns to be the exact shade of pale yellow he needed or the fragility of bursting mushrooms. 

And contrary to his current attitude, Severus Snape didn’t hate Christmas. He could appreciate a finely decorated tree and he found himself looking forward, and dare he say, a little excited about the upcoming staff holiday party. He wasn’t the bitter, old man inside that Minerva seemed to think he was, all bah-humbug and scowls when it came to anything remotely festive, he just didn’t understand the point of overdoing it and turning the whole town into a fragrant - wonderful smelling - gingerbread village two days into December. 

For Merlin’s sake, he was only twenty-five. That wasn’t enough time for him to turn resentful of the holidays, even if almost every single year had been...less than stellar, by all accounts. It wasn’t like he had never tried to have a good Christmas either, but after so many spectacularly failed attempts, he had decided he was better off not celebrating it at all. 

In fact, he had been quite content the last four Christmases working at Hogwarts and only acknowledging the aforementioned holiday party and maybe the changes to the menu, because yeah, he might feel a little indifferent towards the holiday but he also wasn’t a heathen who didn’t gladly indulge in rum-spiked eggnog and fresh baked gingersnaps. 

Severus shook his head, trying to dislodge the sudden influx of thoughts. His inner dialogue was beginning to sound a little bitter, even to himself.

“Coffee?” he asked loudly, speaking over the first syllable of whatever Minerva had been about to say, no doubt inferring something too close to accurate about his innermost thoughts from the look on her face, and stopping in front of the smiling wizard standing behind a market stall. 

“Afternoon,” the portly man tipped his head at the two, gesturing towards a charmed menu that was currently rewriting itself with the daily special. “What can I get you two?”

They ordered the special at Minerva’s insistence, and handed over a pair of sickles each before continuing on their quest. The coffee was strong and hot, tasting of dark chocolate and peppermint and Severus grimaced at the realization that she had inadvertently (advertently?) found another thing for him to like about Christmas. 

Minerva one, Severus zero. 

He shook his head again; he wasn’t trying to hate Christmas. He didn’t hate Christmas! He was just stubborn to a fault and after Min’s declaration that she would make this year the best yet, a small part of his mind was determined to rebel against it. 

Their time inside the apothecary was quick. The shopkeeper was used to Severus’ particularities and kept to herself as he sifted through bins of precariously piled ingredients and filled his basket with perfectly selected bicorn, jobberknoll feathers, and no less than thirteen jars of things he definitely hadn’t come here for. 

After he paid - and thank Merlin he had secured a position that provided room and board - Minerva led them into the paper and quill shop next door. She had a Hogwarts-sized order of parchment and spare quills to put in, so Severus went to browse the new display that had been erected in front of the store window. Red fabric was spread over the round table laden with gaudy, ribbon-trimmed quills and pots of glitter-infused calligraphy ink. He reached for one of the plastic-wrapped bundles stacked in the center, adorned with all sorts of festive symbolism and sighed as he realized what they were. 

“You should purchase some,” Minerva suggested, coming up behind him and making him jump. He hated when people snuck up behind him. It had once meant certain death and while the threat of an evil, megalomaniacal wizard behind his shoulder was no longer tangible, the sharp tendrils of fear that spiked into his chest had yet to go away. 

He forced himself to relax. 

“Christmas is all about spreading cheer, you know.” Minerva continued, thankfully ignoring the way his breath had seized, but clearly not unaware of it given the way she took a step back and appraised him carefully. “By making others happy, you make yourself happy. Perhaps you’ll benefit from it.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Are you implying that all my traumatic childhood Christmases can be attributed to the fact that I’ve never sent out Christmas cards?” he asked dryly. 

“Yes.” Minerva deadpanned. 

He blinked, taken aback by her frankness before he noticed the glint in her eye that indicated she was mostly joking. He looked down at the packages of cards and selected one with a more wintery scene - painted snowflakes and white-dusted evergreens over the eclectic mix of colorful baubles - with a look of feigned resignation, “I guess I’m sending Christmas cards this year.”

“Excellent.” 

They left the stationary store after that and headed for the Three Broomsticks. It was a new part of their routine that Severus had found himself looking forward to - Hogsmeade trips used to be rather anxiety-inducing, lonely and quite dull affairs without anyone to quip with, but now they promised good company and a quiet meal away from the bustle of students. Part of it was due to the genuine friendship they were forming, but another part of it was self-serving - for both of them. 

They were both aware of it, they just elected not to mention their unique combination of post-war trauma and newly created grief that kept them confined to the safety of the castle and feeling more than a little discombobulated in the small town just outside of it. 

The Three Broomsticks was nestled in the midpoint of Hogsmeade, a cozy-looking tavern made from polished wood and frosted windows, that boasted a warm bed and a strong drink to any desiring witch or wizard. The inside was just as quaint and rustic looking, but now it displayed a cascade of twinkling lights and a modestly decorated tree next to the wiped down bar. 

“Afternoon, Rosmerta!” Minerva called out to the barmaid and landlady who was topping off a stein of butterbeer with a healthy splash of firewhiskey for a waiting gentleman. They took their seats at a small table in the corner that Severus had long since dubbed their table and shrugged out of their cloaks.

“Afternoon, you two.” Madam Rosmerta greeted them as she approached them. Her strawberry blonde curls were gathered at the top of her head in a loose bun pinned in place by her wand and Severus internalized a scowl at that. He had seen a few witches - and wizards - use their wand for a quick updo, but he had yet to figure out how it was done and he absolutely refused to ask for help. She was carrying two ceramic mugs filled to the brim with a deep burgundy drink.

“Mulled wine,” she announced, setting them down and Severus noted the orange slice and cinnamon stick steeping in the red wine. “Made it last night.” 

“I really do believe the drinks are the best part of the holiday season.” Severus mumbled, picking up the warm cup and taking a long sip. 

“Come now, they can’t be the best part.” Rosmerta scolded, summoning a menu from the bar and setting it down on the table. “There’s so much more to Christmas than just good wine!”

“Nothing worthwhile.” Severus said simply, picking up the menu and skimming it. He always ordered the same thing, found comfort in stability, but he also couldn’t resist holiday menus when the time arrived. 

Minerva looked apologetic as she ushered the barmaid away after a quick scan of the menu and turned to glare at the now scowling potions professor. “Severus!”

“So, do you have a list you’re working from?” Severus asked mildly, picking up his wine and focusing intently on the red-tinted pulp of the orange floating in his drink. “Or are you simply making things up on the spot?”

“Pardon?”

“Your mission to make this year the best Christmas ever.” he specified. “Are you working from a list? Is there a schedule we’re following and can I be made privy to it, so I can plan my potion brewing around it?” He picked up the package of cards. “Or are you just forcing me to take part in things as they come up?”

Minerva eyed him carefully, picking up her own cup. “A little bit of both.”

“Do I get to hear what you do have planned?”

“Some of the classic activities I suppose - decorating the tree, going to look at the lights, maybe visiting Christmastown, baking cookies, go caroling -”

“Caroling?!”

“- maybe decorate a gingerbread house.”

Madam Rosmerta returned before Severus could say anything else, guiding bowls of butternut squash soup and a plate of cheese toasties onto the table with her wand. “There you go, dears.” she smiled, setting down a smaller plate piled with iced gingersnaps. “These are on the house - first bake of the holiday season. Should help get those spirits up.” She sent Severus a pointed look that he deftly ignored and Minerva glared at him again.

“If you’re going to glower at me every time we go out this month, I might just stop going out with you.” he bristled, picking up a toastie and dipping the corner into his soup. 

“Maybe you should stop being so bitter then.” Minerva returned.

“What, because it’s Christmas?” he asked, pausing to take a bite. “Oh, such a joyous time of year! Look how absolutely delighted I am to share a room with wine-drunk wizards,” he gestured a hand towards the bar, where a pair of cherry-faced dwellers were singing the words to A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love, “and a goddamn tree!”

“Severus!” Minerva admonished again and this time, Severus hunched his shoulders at the tone. He had gone too far, he could tell from the way her face had smoothed out entirely, giving her a look of cold indifference. 

“I’m sorry.” he muttered, swirling his spoon through his soup. 

Minerva didn’t say anything and they ate their food in awkward silence. At one point, a pitcher floated over to their table and refilled their mugs before making its way back to the bar. When they were done, Severus eyed the gingersnaps and wondered if it would be considered poor etiquette to reach over and help himself. The mood at the table didn’t feel particularly deserving of cookies. 

Then again, he had once attended dinners at the Malfoy’s with The Dark Lord sitting at the forefront and the ambience of those days didn’t stop anyone from helping themselves to an extra piece of focaccia bread. He winced; it felt wrong to compare past - genuinely traumatic - dinner events to the silence before him. Minerva wasn’t an enemy, he was simply a bastard. 

“I don’t hate Christmas,” he finally broke the silence. “I just find myself wondering over the point when every Christmas I’ve tried to celebrate properly has ended in disaster. I’m perfectly content with not bothering over it anymore. The lights are pretty and the food is good, and I look forward to watching Rolanda drink everyone under the table later this month, but I’ve stopped putting merit in the holidays. It’s less disappointing that way.”

Minerva pushed the plate of cookies towards him, like some sort of reward for  opening up. Which, he supposed, it sort of was. She picked one up and took a bite and only then did he grab one too.

“I don’t get why you’re so determined to fix that.” he added, shrugging. 

He bit into the cookie, savouring the meld of flavors - ginger, molasses, warm vanilla. He couldn’t imagine a more perfect gingersnap and he found himself raising the cookie in a gesture of appreciation as he made eye contact with Rosmerta. 

“Elphinstone loved Christmas.” she said simply, taking another bite of her cookie and shrugging as if she hadn’t just dropped a bombshell of emotional manipulation by invoking the name of her dead husband over a plate of cookies on what had started as a pleasant Monday afternoon of running errands after class. 

“I-” Severus began, but then stopped. 

“We weren’t married for long, I know, but I knew him for 23 years.” she continued, as if he hadn’t spoken. Her eyes seemed a little faraway now. “We would always make the most of his vacation days - see the lights, visit the Christmas market, decorate the tree, roast chestnuts and drink hot cocoa. He loved carolling, had a good voice for it.” 

Severus looked down at his cookie, scraping at the white icing with his thumbnail and effectively crumbling away the hand piped snowflake. 

“I’m not making you celebrate Christmas with me because I’m lonely.” she clarified, eyeing him sternly. “If you don’t want to do anything else on this list, I won’t make you. I just don’t want you going through life thinking it’s all bad and that good things can’t happen to you.”

“I don’t -” 

“Yes, you do.” Minerva scolded. “Don’t think I don’t see you wallowing every time you catch sight of yet another reminder that this is supposed to be the happiest time of the year. You don’t have to be the cheeriest person to ever walk the earth, for Merlin’s sake, Severus, but you’re letting bitterness take a hold of you and I won’t stand for it.” 

Severus tried to scowl back, but Minerva could see right through him. 

“Do you know why I accompany you to Hogsmeade?” she asked and Severus grimaced. They weren’t supposed to talk about it; this was one of those stones better left unturned things. 

“Don’t say it please.” he whispered, feeling dread curling in his stomach. He hated to think himself as weak and his inability to enter Hogsmeade alone - any bustling wizard town, at that - was only utter proof that he was. 

“Your paranoia is valid.” Minerva said quietly, saying as little as possible and yet too much at the same time. “Don’t be ashamed of having trauma, but don’t let it turn you into a bitter, shriveled up, old bastard either.”

“Are we still talking about Christmas?” he asked ruefully. 

“You know we aren’t.”

Their empty plates and half-filled mugs suddenly got up and floated away only to return as a pair of traveling paper cups topped with more wine and a splash of something stronger. They nodded their thanks at Rosmerta and shrugged back into their cloaks. They kept a tab at the Three Broomsticks, so paying wasn’t a concern as they exited the building and headed towards the castle in silent agreement to skip the carriage ride. 

“So, roasted chestnuts?” Severus brought up, as they crunched over the dirty ice that coated the path back home. “Like, in the song? That’s a thing?” 

Minerva nodded. 

“Can we do that, then?” he asked casually, trying to make amends. “I noticed the apothecary had a basket full of them. Perhaps we could return and pick some up.”

“Already taken care of.” Minerva replied, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small burlap sack bursting with its lumpy contents. “You were too busy holding jars of lacewing flies to the light you never even noticed.”

“Roasted chestnuts then.” Severus nodded, ignoring the jab towards his particularness. “And uh, thank you for accompanying me to Hogsmeade,” he added, trying to sound indifferent to it, like it wasn’t such a difficult thing to admit aloud. “I know it's hard for you too.” 

The witch smiled softly, as if being reminded of her - what, only three months now? - deceased husband and her old life living in the small town was a pleasant memory. And perhaps for her, it was. Perhaps he was letting grief turn him bitter. What did the deaths of his only friends and both his parents have to do with Christmas? Years had passed since both and yet the newly-created widow walking besides him was coping far better than he could ever hope to. 

“I think we should talk about Christmas present shopping.” 

“I was just going to -”

“And don’t say you were going to owl-order them.” Minerva interrupted, narrowing her eyes at him. “There’s nothing personal about circling a few things in a catalogue.”

“What do you propose then?”

“We’ll go gift shopping together. Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” Minerva confirmed, taking a sip of her drink. “It’s too early in the month for most people, so Diagon Alley won’t be crowded at all, let alone on a Tuesday. Shouldn’t make you too uncomfortable, yes?”

Severus offered a smile at the unexpected accommodation and nodded. He cradled his paper cup of mulled wine close to his chest, feeling a warmth that came from more than just the hot drink. 

--

a/n: oops maybe got carried away with this one? it would mean the world to me if you told me what you think of this bc im v proud of it. 

[quicksilversquared]

A Christmas Liar

After Ms. Bustier mentioned the annual school charity fundraiser in class, Lila seems determined to raise funds for her own "charity", aka herself. There's no way that Marinette is going to let that fly, but how successful will she be in taking Lila down in time for the holidays?

links in the reblog

It started with a normal morning in Ms. Bustier's homeroom class.

"As you all know, it's fast approaching the holiday season, and our collège always does a fundraiser for a charity before Christmas," Ms. Bustier told the class, smiling widely. The first few cut-out paper snowflakes had appeared in the classroom window that morning, and they all knew that the collection would only grow as December went on. "So remember to remind your parents to check their emails for details soon! Our student representatives have been hard at work brainstorming what to do this year."

Marinette smiled, even as she kept drawing in her sketchbook. Jagged Stone had commissioned an outfit for his Christmas present to Penny from her, and wanted the design ready to be sent to his seamstress as soon as possible so that he could have it ready in plenty of time. He had told her not to rush, of course- "you have so much going on, and I don't want to put you behind in your studies!"- but Marinette wanted to try to get things done early.

After all, akumas could appear and eat up her free time without any notice, and so she was going to take advantage of any extra time when she could.

"Oh, a charity fundraiser?" Lila asked from the back of the room, and Marinette mentally sighed before setting her pencil down. Clearly she wasn't going to get anything done now, if she had to deal with Lila's nonsense, and her nonsense-o-meter was going wild. "That's so wonderful! Do you think that- oh, no, I suppose it would come off a little self-appreciating, never mind..."

"No, go ahead!" Ms. Bustier reassured her quickly. "What is it that you wanted to ask, Lila?"

"Well, I was wondering if maybe I could put forth one of my charities to be considered for the fundraiser's proceeds," Lila told the class, and even without turning around, Marinette could picture the way that Lila would press a hand to her chest delicately, doing her best to look bashful. Adrien's eye roll from in front of her told Marinette that her mental picture probably wasn't very far off. "But I suppose that could come off as, well..."

Ms. Bustier perked up. "Oh, how could I have forgotten that we had someone in our class who had done so much charity work before? I don't think it would come off as self-serving at all! In fact, it could add an extra connection and an element of interest to the whole thing if the school picked one of your charities. Marinette, could-"

"Student council has already settled on a charity for this year's fundraiser," Marinette said at once, not even bothering to look up. She could see exactly where this was heading, and she was going to put a stop to it. Now.

In front of her, she could see Adrien's hastily-hidden grin out of the corner of her eye.

"But this is special, Marinette," Ms. Bustier implored. "Surely they'll understand and want to support a fellow student's charity efforts! This is a pretty unique opportunity!"

"We've had multiple meetings about it, thinned our selections down, did all of the background checks and verification on our final pick, filled out all of the paperwork to submit to Mr. Damocles, and let the charity know so that we could get more information to post around," Marinette informed her, because seriously? Ms. Bustier was going to fall for it, just like that? Also, she was super glad that she had pushed for the council to make the decision early this year, because at this time the previous year, they had been working on finalizing everything still, which would have made a last-minute change like this possible. It wouldn't have been fun, or easy, but it could have been possible. "We can't change it now."

Lila let out a small sigh from the back, and Marinette turned around just in time to see her shoulders slumping. "Oh, that's really a shame, then. For a minute there, I was picturing how much good I- we could do for the children in Africa with a bit of extra funding, but I suppose if they've already picked a charity..."

Ms. Bustier glanced from Marinette to Lila. "Marinette, do you think that we could do two charities instead of one, perhaps? It would just be so nice to be able to support Lila's charity!"

Marinette was honestly going to scream.

"I'm afraid that that would make things too complicated," she said instead, politely as she could and with as little teeth-gritting as possible. "We had a couple fundraiser activities in mind- which we agreed was important, in case an akuma attack keeps people away from an in-person event- plus a couple volunteering opportunities that we wanted to offer. Plus, there would be all of the paperwork and the background checks that would have to be done to add in another charity, and that's not exactly a short process. It's a lot of work."

There was also the fact that Lila didn't have any charities, and any money they earned would- if she managed to sneak her way through their careful screening process- no doubt go straight into her own pockets.

"Oh, I could fill out paperwork so that you guys don't have to!" Lila offered eagerly. "I don't mind, it's for the kids-"

"And the email letting parents know about our fundraiser and our selected charity is already scheduled to go out today," Marinette continued, raising her voice just ever-so-slightly to drown Lila out and making a mental note to talk to Aurore to actually get that email sent over lunch. It had originally been planned for tomorrow, actually, but Marinette wasn't going to give Lila any ins. "So the deadline for any changes has passed." She pasted on her best fake smile, trying not to let any signs of a smirk through as she looked back at Lila. "It's just not possible for this year, I'm afraid. Maybe you can bring it up for consideration earlier next year."

"I suppose that's fair," Ms. Bustier agreed. She smiled over at Lila. "It's my own fault for not bringing it up earlier, it just slipped my mind. Hopefully your charities will still get plenty of support! But right now, we're going to move on to today's lesson. If everyone could please get out your notebooks, we're going to start with a quick video..."

Marinette smiled to herself as she put her sketchbook away and opened up her notebook to a fresh page. This probably wasn't the last that she would hear about Lila's so-called "charities", but at least Ms. Bustier had dropped the subject and she wouldn't be getting pressure from that angle.

Now she just had to be ready for Lila's other attempts to get her hands on charity money.

  "I am so glad that you already had stuff all finalized," Adrien said in Marinette's ear as they headed for their next class. Lila was ahead of them, surrounded by several of their classmates. "I got worried for a minute there when Ms. Bustier hopped on the Lila's charity thing."

"I'm just glad that it's a school-wide thing, not just a class-wide fundraiser," Marinette admitted, glancing around to make sure that no one was going to overhear them. She had managed to get out of being blamed for deliberately denying Lila's "charity" a chance to get more money because she wasn't the only person in charge of the fundraiser, and she didn't want anyone in their class mishearing and blowing things out of proportion. Again. "I mean, it's obvious that Lila jumped on that because I'm class representative and she wanted to put me in a bad spot, but she couldn't when I'm just one of the people involved in that process."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah. I was so sure that she was going to drop it after you mentioned the background check and verification thing, though, and then she didn't. Which is...weird, honestly."

"Not really. If we tried going forward and I was the one doing the check, she would probably just say that I was making stuff up about her charity out of jealousy or spite and that was why it failed or something." Marinette had thought the same, honestly, but it became apparent pretty quickly what Lila was up to. Lila wasn't nearly as sly as she thought she was. "I'm surprised that she didn't jump on that and complain that I was just making the background check thing up because I was doubting her. Ignoring, of course, that we want to have statistics in our flyers and posters and emails about how the money is used, and how much work they get done, and their rating by a charity watchdog. That's standard."

"Which is why she wanted to do her own paperwork," Adrien added. He made a face. "I bet that she's still going to try to piggyback off of the fundraiser somehow, or at least rope people into donating some of their own money. I already heard Rose bringing it up, and Alya mentioned something to Nino about posting something on the Ladyblog."

Marinette winced. That wasn't good. She would have to forward the link to their charity watchdog site to Alya later on, maybe under the guise of providing a resource to get all sorts of charity statistics at once to put in her posting. That didn't guarantee that Alya would look at it, of course, but it was worth a try.

(Also, she could use her throwaway account to point out the charity's questionable status, and then- well, hope that other people would see her post and upvote it.)

"She's really going too far now," Adrien said after a moment, pulling Marinette out of her brainstorming of how she could keep Lila from pocketing a bunch of charity money. "I mean, she has been for a while, especially when she tried to get you expelled, but this is just the cherry on top of a heap of awful. I just don't know... I mean, she's sunk her claws in really deep now, I don't know how to fix it. I guess I should have recognized it earlier, but..."

"Well, there's no point in worrying about what we should have done earlier now," Marinette said as they went through the door for their next class, though she couldn't help but feel a bit validated, since she had wanted to stop Lila's lies ages ago. "We can brainstorm later, if you can get away for lunch. I was going to talk to Aurore then anyway."

Adrien looked puzzled for a moment, then caught on with a grin. "Aha, right, since she's on student council too. Is she the one in charge of submitting paperwork?"

"No, that was me. She's in charge of sending out the emails to families." Marinette grinned up at him. "And I bet that we can do a bit of damage control with that."

-0-0-0-0-

Aurore was all too willing to bring her lunch over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery instead of eating in the school cafeteria. After all, she told them as they headed upstairs, her lunch was leftovers and best served warm, and the cafeteria microwave was gross.

Marinette could believe that. Aurore had already floated the idea of setting up either a roll of paper towels near the microwave so that people could cover their dishes to keep the contents from exploding all over, or going the more environmentally-friendly route of having microwave plate covers instead, which could then be washed daily in the industrial dish washers that the cafeteria kitchen had. Clearly it was a Big Deal for her.

"You said you wanted to talk about the email right?" Aurore asked finally, finishing her grumbling about someone who had apparently microwaved fish and ugh, the smell was awful. "I thought it was meant to be going out tomorrow? I have a draft that's almost complete, I was just going to review it tonight to make sure that it was perfect, but do you need something changed?"

"We had a situation come up in our class this morning," Marinette told her, leading the way into their kitchen. Her mom had left out food for her and Adrien, it just had to be warmed up and assembled. "I don't know how much you've heard about the new girl in our class..."

Aurore frowned. "Lila? The one with the questionable stories?"

Adrien laughed. "Okay, so we aren't the only ones with working brains in the school, that's good to know. Yeah, her."

It didn't take long to get Aurore caught up, and predictably, she was furious at the idea of Lila trying to hijack their fundraiser funds.

"This is going to go one of two ways, I know it," she told them, pulling out her laptop and getting it set up next to her on the table. "Either this girl is going to make up a charity- name, mission, and all- or she's going to find a charity that already exists, and then she'll claim credit for it. The first one is easy enough to disprove, because no one will be able to find anything about the charity. We could just put a reminder in the email about checking charities out before donating to them, and then enter that link we've been using. But the second one...well, she could use their rating and reputation to collect money, and then- if I'm reading her character right- keep it all for herself."

They all thought about that.

"Well, if Alya posts anything on the Ladyblog, in theory any donations would have to be electronically, though a website," Marinette pointed out after a minute. "As for in-person donations, I would say that people should use checks instead of cash, but I don't know how many people use checks anymore, and besides, that's not going to stop her from cashing them if she wants."

Adrien made a choked, horrified noise in the back of his throat. "It- it won't? How do you even know that?"

"But it might deter her, since that's a traceable crime," Aurore pointed out, her eyes gleaming. She snapped her fingers. "And as for the Ladyblog- if she's capable of creating a website that looks decent, she might give Alya a link for that. So that's still a problem-"

"-unless we notice that and bring it to the attention of the police!" Adrien exclaimed, sitting up straight. He winced. "I'd hate to get Alya in trouble, but otherwise people will be thinking that they're doing something good and helping people in need when actually, they're just giving Lila spending money. And if she told them that Lila gave her the link, then she'd get off pretty fast."

Marinette nodded. Alya would probably be a thundercloud that they had gone to the police first instead of her, but she couldn't say that they hadn't warned her. She just never listened when it came to Lila.

"So we can put in a line reminding people to check charities before they donate and to make sure that any links they follow for charities go to the actual website," Aurore finished. Her fingers tapped away at her keyboard. "My older brother is a computer whiz, so I can text him and ask about things people should look for to make sure that a site is the real deal. Then I can get that typed up and sent during study hall, so it'll go out today."

Marinette could only grin. Maybe Aurore could be hotheaded at times, but there was no denying that she could really pull through. "That would be great."

  Unsurprisingly, Lila sold a sob story to Alya about her charity's website being down at the moment, so she couldn't provide a link right away.

"We're working on it, of course, because this is the best time of the year to get donations and we're going to fall so far behind with every day we miss, but the entire system is down and our tech guy is having trouble," Lila told Alya, looking positively wilted. "It's so upsetting! The longer it's down, the fewer people find out about our work, and the less budget we have to work with next year."

"That's terrible!" Alya exclaimed, frowning, and Marinette exchanged an exasperated look with Adrien. "I just wish there was a way to help..."

"Maybe you could post about our school charity instead, for the time being," Marinette suggested dryly. "Since Lila's charity is on the table for next year anyway."

"But we need budget for this year!" Lila repeated, and- yep, she was gritting her teeth. The glare that she flashed Marinette left no question that she had been trying to set up some sort of fake website and the email the night before had thrown her off. Either she was trying to make a more convincing website or- more likely- she was just hoping to wait until the reminder to be careful had faded from people's minds. Or she had had to abandon the online idea entirely in favor of throwing a pity party for herself in hopes of getting cash donations with the help of their classmates, if that hadn't already been the plan all along. "If we wait for a maybe next year, we could go into debt and collapse!"

Alya was looking worried now. "Marinette, are you sure that the student council can't switch charit-"

"It's all set up. We can't change anything, Alya, we established that yesterday." Marinette spared a glance at Lila, who was clearly working to keep a poker face. "Maybe Max can help you with your website issues, he's quite good at stuff like that. We wouldn't want you missing out on donations, after all."

"Oh, I couldn't," Lila simpered, glancing towards Max as well. "We, uh- well, my tech guy is back in Italy, so they wouldn't be able to work together, and he's quite protective of the system. Plus we were in the middle of upgrades when everything crashed, so that makes everything more complicated."

"We'll figure something out, Lila," Alya promised, patting the other girl's arm. Marinette took that as her cue to leave, but she wasn't going to go far. She needed to be able to overhear, after all. "We don't want those kids in Africa to suffer, after all! We can brainstorm before class."

Adrien caught Marinette's eye as she came back to her seat. "It sounds like she's just going to go another way, but isn't about to give up."

"No, she's got the idea of getting money into her head, and she's not about to give it up." Marinette kept her voice low, so that no one would overhear. "Which means that we need to come at the problem at a different angle. Any suggestions?"

Adrien looked unexpectedly delighted at being consulted, but then he paused, clearly not coming up with any ideas. "Uh."

"My first instinct would be to try to warn Alya and Rose and whoever else is going to get sucked in, but we all know how well that would go over," Marinette said, just to fill in the space. "They would clamp down and refuse to listen."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah. But I like what you did yesterday, where you made it sound like you would have gone along if you could and suggested trying next year. Then everyone thought that you weren't fighting against her-"

"-and was actually willing to listen!" Marinette finished, smiling. It was an approach that Tikki had suggested, and she was glad that it had worked. Well, sort of. It had worked in the moment, but just- apparently- pushed the problem off for later. "Yeah, that was nice."

"Maybe we could do something similar now," Adrien suggested. "And offer to be helpful by providing that link still. Like, it doesn't need the website, right? Just the charity name."

Marinette grinned. "Right. And there's no way that she can get around not telling anyone her charity's name. And if she does...well, either it's made up, or she's going to pick a real charity and we can find the real website."

"And congratulate Lila on her site getting back up so quickly," Adrien added with a small laugh. "It's a pain to deal with her, but I'm actually curious about what she's planning on doing going forward. Like, how long can she play this game? She's going to run out of escapes soon enough."

"Yeah, I don't know..." Marinette trailed off as Alya slid into her seat, and she and Adrien exchanged one last look before he turned back to the front, greeting Nino as his best friend entered the classroom.

"Man, I can't believe what bad luck Lila has, to have her charity's website crash at a time like this," Alya said glumly, sliding into her seat. "Lila is stressed about it, of course, but she has so many other obligations for her other charity work that she can't go out and do a collection, not that it would be easy with her throat still recovering from her laryngitis surgery. She can't be out in the cold for more than ten minutes without it causing a ton of pain, which can't be fun at all."

...Naturally.

"I want to help, but if we don't have a working link to put on the Ladyblog, I just don't know..." Alya trailed off. "I mean, we could do a door-to-door, I guess, but that only ever gets fairly minimal donations. And there's so many people who set up near the Eiffel Tower, we wouldn't have a chance. But- oh!" Alya perked up as another thought hit her. "We could put posters up at school, so more people know about it and maybe help us!"

Yeah, how about no.

"That's actually against school rules," Marinette said idly, flipping through her notebook as she waited for Ms. Bustier to call for a start to class. "All posters posted in the building have to be approved by Student Council normally, so that the walls don't get too cluttered, but there's an amendment to that that say that if the school is doing a charity fundraiser, posters promoting other charities can't go up during that time. I think it's to keep the effort from getting too splintered and distracted."

Alya slumped. "Oh."

That was not actually a lie, though clearly Adrien thought it was, if the slight frown on his face was anything to go by. Marinette had picked through the guidelines to make sure that she knew every rule that she could use to turn Lila's attempts aside, and apparently the Student Council had come up with and voted to implement that particular rule at some point in the past.

"Maybe you could do a surprise collection," Marinette suggested. "As a Christmas gift to Lila." She was improvising, admittedly, but this would be a good way to keep Alya and Rose and whoever else was getting sucked in from asking Lila too much and giving her chances to control the narrative. "If you ask her what the name of her charity is, and then you can use the website that we were using on Student Council to look at charities- it has all sorts of stats that you could use, information about charities and their work. That way, you don't need to bother Lila for all that when she's so busy."

"Oh, good idea!" Alya exclaimed. She grabbed Marinette's arm. "You know, none of the rest of us has ever organized any sort of charity fundraiser before- if we put you in charge of that-"

"I'm already busy, Alya," Marinette pointed out. She wasn't about to go make a fool of herself collecting money for a charity that didn't exist, not when she had a million other things to do. "The fundraiser for the school is already going to take up all of my time. I can send you the link that we used, but that's it."

"Oh, but-"

"She already said no, Alya," Adrien cut in, so Marinette didn't have to. "Marinette was telling me about that entire process yesterday, and it sounds like a lot of work and planning to pull something off at the level the school is planning. Asking her to plan another thing on top of that for you, instead of doing it yourself- that's not fair to her."

"I just thought that it might be a good way to repair the bad blood between the two of them!" Alya objected, frowning. "Since Marinette wasn't very welcoming when Lila first arrived."

Marinette narrowly withheld a snort. Gee, I wonder why?

"But if you're busy, I guess you can wait to try to mend that bridge later," Alya added. She sighed. "We probably won't be able to raise as much money, though, since we don't have your experience."

"Mmm," Marinette managed noncommittally, ignoring the clear attempt at a guilt-trip in favor of checking her email on her phone. Alya really had been spending too much time with Lila if she was starting to act just the same. Hopefully she would cut that out after Lila's lies had been exposed and everyone realized what a manipulator she was.

Marinette's phone lit up with a text, and she didn't hesitate to open it at once.

Adrien: Remember, if you commit homicide, you won't be around to gloat when people discover the lies.

Marinette snorted in amusement.

Marinette: I'm going to gloat for a solid MONTH after she gets found out. I wasn't very welcoming? Try SHE was a bully from the start and I wasn't about to tolerate that.

In front of her, Adrien's head gave a tiny nod as he put his phone away, just in time to start class. Marinette locked her phone and put it away, resigning herself to what was probably going to be a week of poorly-concealed efforts to get her into the extra fundraising before Alya either dropped it or realized that something was up with Lila's "charity".

At least now she had Adrien on her side.

  The school fundraiser was going well as they marched steadily closer towards the holidays, their online portal showing just how much money had already been raised by people going through the link that they had both sent out and posted on the school site. There was going to be a bake sale before the break too, with each family asked to donate two dozen cookies for them to sell at their booths near City Hall and (courtesy of Chloe) in the Grand Paris.

Marinette was really happy. People were being generous, and it really was a very deserving charity to receive the funds. On top of that, Adrien had asked for her help in baking his family's two dozen cookies, so they would get to hang out together.

(She was going to ignore the fact that Alya had tried to convince her to make another extra two dozen cookies because Lila "wasn't going to have time" because "all of her charity work"; that attempt had fallen flat when Marinette had just point-blank asked Alya why, exactly, Alya didn't just do that herself. At least with Adrien, he was just a novice baker and was going to be actively participating in the baking, but he just wanted help to be sure that his attempt turned out edible and it was a good excuse to hang out with one of his friends.)

And possibly best of all...well, Aurore's tech-savvy older brother had pulled through for them again.

"I was looking at the email that we had on file for Lila, and something about it just didn't seem right," Aurore told them as they sat together in a private study room in back of the library over lunch. "The domain on it, to be exact, because it was '.net' instead of, oh, I don't know, something actually related to the government. And my brother agreed, so we did a little searching."

Marinette was pretty sure that her jaw was on the ground. Next to her, Adrien wasn't doing much better. "You mean she was keeping her mom from finding out about everything school-related? I wondered how she got away with skipping so much school! And she was probably emailing as her mom, too, to confirm whatever stories she was telling."

Aurore grinned. "Exactly. So we did some digging, and found Mrs. Rossi's actual email. It's almost the same, just with a different domain. So I'm trying to think of what to send that wouldn't sound weird, because obviously we need confirmation that this is the right address so we can get Mr. Damocles to change it for the school system, but I don't want to come off as accusing or anything and have her tip Lila off accidentally."

Marinette exchanged a look with Adrien as she thought about it. "Well, we could just send the fundraiser email again with a comment about how we think that maybe her email was mis-entered before and is this one the correct one that we should be using. That's pretty straightforward and it asks for a response, and she might not even think to say anything about it to Lila."

"Ooh, I like that." Aurore typed that in at once, giving it a quick once-over to make sure that there weren't any errors and that the email had been entered correctly before sending it. "So, what else is going on in Ms. Bustier's homeroom? Anything new with the not-a-charity?"

"Alya's been confused about why our watchdog site doesn't list anything about Lila's 'charity'- she decided to go for the make-one-up route, apparently- and she's still been trying to find stuff on it just on Google, but apparently no connection has been made," Marinette told them, trying not to roll her eyes. "I know she and Rose were talking about trying to just go ahead with a collection of sorts anyway, so I forwarded an email talking about the importance of keeping track of how much money they raised, down to the last cent, in a ledger sort of thing." She couldn't hold back the grin. "Which Rose is really into. So even though they're trying to collect money for Lila still, at the end she won't be able to keep any of it because there'll be record of how much money they collected."

"Which, if we get in contact with Mrs. Rossi, we can make sure that that gets paid back in full!" Adrien exclaimed, scooping Marinette up in a hug for a long few seconds. Marinette prayed that she wouldn't turn red and make things weird. "Genius!"

"As long as Rose doesn't give that to Lila," Aurore pointed out. She raised an eyebrow at Marinette's head-shake. "No? You've already taken care of that?"

"She'll give Lila an electronic copy, but not the hard copy. I suggested that she might want to hold onto that to show what she did for future charity work. Which I still think is a good idea, even if Lila's charity is a sham. It doesn't change the fact that she was doing all of the bookkeeping."

Aurore made a face. "I am so glad that Samuel is doing our bookkeeping for the non-online donations, because that stuff is not fun. It's really fiddly, and if anything gets off..."

Marinette nodded. Things had gotten off fairly early on, and she had head Samuel- another member of Student Council- complaining about having to go through everything to figure out where his mistake was. Since then, he did regular, frequent checks so that he wouldn't have to go through absolutely everything again, just the most frequent donations. Admittedly, Rose was working with much smaller amounts of money- most people wanted more information on what they were donating to than just the name and "helping kids in Africa" if they were going to toss more than an euro or two into the collections basket- but it was still good practice.

Aurore's computer let out a ding, and she pulled up the student council email at once. "We already got a response! Mrs. Rossi says that yes, this one is correct, please keep using it and thank you for catching the error and were there any other recent emails that she might have missed. I'm going to forward this to Mr. Damocles with a message to note the change in email address, just a second- and done."

"Nice job," Marinette told her, leaning across the table to bump fists with Aurore. After a second's thought, she fist-bumped Adrien, too, so that he wouldn't feel left out. "That's one more thing off of our plates."

  Their fundraiser finished right before holiday break with a silent auction, with all of the items up for purchase having been donated by parents, teachers, extended family members, community business owners, and- in the case of an array of signed CD cases and posters- Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, and several of their musician buddies, after Marinette had approached Jagged Stone with the request.

And of course, everyone was invited. Posters had been put up outside of the school and emails had been sent out, reminding everyone about the time and date and their charity, plus attaching a list of the items up for auction to get people's interest.

"My mom so wanted to make it, but work came up," Lila told several of their classmates when she arrived at the auction, looking sad. "And there were several things that she was really interested in, like the-"

"Ooh, barf, I can see what you mean," Aurore said, materializing at Marinette's side and wrinkling her nose at Lila. "That's a pretty obvious ploy to get people to buy things for her, isn't it? Or at least to pitch in some of their own money to help her, so that she won't have to pay them back."

Marinette nodded. It really was disgusting, but at least now Lila was moving off with the group towards one of the items so that they didn't have to hear her. She was steering clear of the signed Jagged Stone things, oddly enough, but maybe that would be a dead giveaway that she didn't actually know him. After all, Jagged Stone would sign anything put in front of him, so her going out of her way to buy a signed item when she was supposedly on great terms with him would be pretty strange.

"Do you think her mom actually can't make it, or Lila just assumed that she wouldn't know about the auction and didn't tell her?" Adrien asked. His arm was tucked through Marinette's, though she was pretty sure that it was just so that he wouldn't lose her in the crowd. "Is the fake email still on the list?"

Aurore nodded. "Yeah, up until this morning. I cleared it off so that there wouldn't be any confusion going forward."

"And I would place bets on Lila assuming that her mom doesn't know anything," Marinette added. "She wouldn't want to risk anyone asking her mom about her charity." She grinned and pointed as she noticed someone new stepping into the school. "And look, over there."

The other two looked. There, standing in the entryway and looking around, was Mrs. Rossi. She really didn't look much like Lila, but it was easy enough to recognize her from her official embassy photo.

(Her official embassy photo, where she wasn't listed as the actual ambassador, but just one of the embassy staff, but that- well, that was an interesting little tidbit that Marinette was going to sit on for a little bit longer.)

"Oh, she's spotted Lila," Aurore said gleefully, craning her neck to follow Mrs. Rossi as she wove through the crowds. "And- whoops, Lila sees her!"

Marinette hastily smothered a laugh. If Lila's expression was anything to go by, she definitely hadn't realized that her mom was getting emails from the school and was going to be coming. She had never seen the other girl look so pale before.

"I'd ask if I should go get some of that amazing-smelling popcorn that they're selling so that we can watch, but honestly, I kind of just want to let things take their course and find out later," Adrien said, glancing down at Marinette. "There's some pretty cool items up for auction that I want to check out."

Marinette considered that. On one hand, she wanted to watch Lila's downfall. On the other... well, she had been keeping an eye on the whole Lila fiasco for a while now, and she was kind of tired of it. It would probably be a bit awkward to watch, too, and there was no guarantee that it would happen right away, and they were too far away to hear anything besides.

...yeah, her decision was pretty well made.

"That sounds like fun," Marinette told him, before glancing over at Aurore. "What about you?"

"I might go point Mr. Damocles in her direction," Aurore commented, glancing around the crowd. "Or maybe that can wait until later, since I don't want to throw everything at Mrs. Rossi at once and disrupt the auction with an akumatization." She sent them a slightly sheepish grin. "But you know I like my gossip, so..."

Marinette had to laugh. That was so very Aurore. "All right. We'll bump into you later, then."

Aurore grinned in return, and then was off. Marinette watched her go for a moment, then let Adrien lead the way off into the crowds surrounding the tables. It was amazing to be able to sit back and relax after the past weeks of planning and making sure that everything, from the online link to the cookie sale to this, was going to go off without a hitch. They were well on track raise more money this year than they had any other year, and that was amazing.

And to think that she had had a hand in setting all of this up...well, Marinette just couldn't be prouder.

It was fun investigating all of the donations with Adrien, even though- as part of Student Council and also part of the team that had photographed and logged all of the donated items- she had seen them all before. Marinette couldn't help but peek at the bids despite herself, grinning when she saw some of the higher ones.

"This is amazing," Adrien commented once they had made the rounds and had gone to browse through the assorted refreshments available for purchase. "There were a lot of nice things donated. And people are definitely bidding plenty of money."

"Yeah, some people will spend more to win the prize than it's worth," Marinette told him. "Like with the voucher for stuff from our bakery- the top bid right now is for more than the value of the voucher. It's interesting, but I think that people see it as buying the item, and then making a donation on top. Or something, I don't know."

"That's really cool," Adrien commented, then pointed. "Oh, look, Nathalie and the Gorilla are here! They said that they might show up and do some shopping. I honestly thought that Nathalie was just saying that to be nice, because she's been sick and hasn't wanted to go out, but I guess she's been feeling better lately."

"Oh, that's good," Marinette said, before a memory made her frown. "Wait, I thought you commented on her being sick, like, three months ago. Is she still having problems?"

Adrien shrugged, but he was frowning, too. "I don't know. She had been having these weak, dizzy spells like Mom used to before she disappeared for a bit before I commented on it at school, I think. Maybe whatever treatment she was getting finally kicked in, I don't know."

Marinette frowned even deeper. Nathalie had been showing the same symptoms as Adrien's mom before she vanished? That was a really weird coincidence. And for both of them- presumably both, at least- to have those same symptoms for an extended period of time?

If Mrs. Agreste and Nathalie had been related, Marinette might have guessed that it was a genetic thing. But since they weren't- again, that was an assumption- then the chances of them both separately having the same condition...

"I cannot believe that I fell for such a manipulative, thieving, disgusting liar!"

Alya materialized at Marinette's side, clearly steaming. Rose, Mylène, and Juleka weren't far behind her. Rose looked like she was close to tears, and the other two just looked lost.

"Pardon?" Adrien asked politely, but Marinette could see the amusement glimmering in his eyes.

"Lila's been leading us all around by the nose, making up stories about her life and about her nonexistent charity- and I've missed a dozen akuma attacks because I was wandering around in the cold, trying to raise money for her! I offered to make a posting on the Ladyblog so that I could put up a link to her site to raise more money! She was probably just planning on pocketing it all!" Alya scowled deeper. "I can't believe we fell for it! And aren't you even surprised?" she demanded when neither Adrien nor Marinette reacted. "At all?"

"Are we meant to be?" Adrien asked dryly. "After Marinette's spent so long calling Lila a liar?"

Alya faltered for a moment, then scowled deeper. "You- you knew, but you didn't warn us?"

"Yes, because pointing out the obvious lies worked so well the first several dozen times I did it," Marinette said, adopting the same dry tone that Adrien had used. "And I gave you the watchdog charity link to use. I rather thought that its complete lack of anything about Lila's charity might tip you off."

Alya faltered. "Oh."

"But we still gave Lila money that was meant for charity," Rose said tearfully. Juleka pulled her to her side, trying to comfort her. "And it was a decent amount, too."

"You have your log, right?" Marinette reminded her. "If you tell Lila's mom how much Lila got for her 'charity', then I bet that she can get that money back to you and you can donate it to another charity."

Rose perked up at once, tears drying up magically. "Oh, that's right! We can still put that money to good use! I'm glad you suggested that we keep track of everything, Marinette."

"Yeah," Juleka agreed. "Lila sucks, but at least we can get the money back."

"We should go talk to Lila's mom before she leaves," Rose decided. She dug in her bag, pulling out the ledger notebook that she had been using for their charity collections. "Aha! Yes, I have the amount we gave Lila yesterday written here. C'mon, let's go make sure that Mrs. Rossi knows!"

"Well, all's well that ends well," Adrien said cheerfully as the other girls headed off. "I bet this isn't how Mrs. Rossi saw her evening going, and Lila definitely wasn't expecting any of this, but at least now the adults can figure everything out and Lila can actually see some consequences. And hopefully next semester, there'll be less drama now that she'll be restrained- or gone, if Mrs. Rossi or Mr. Damocles decides that Lila staying here wouldn't be a good idea."

"Hopefully," Marinette agreed. She grinned over at Adrien. "But that's enough worrying about Lila and her nonsense for tonight. I think we should just sit back and enjoy the evening, don't you?"

Adrien beamed back. "I couldn't agree more."

[nanakyun0j0]

Cinema Rose

Hello! This is Nana here with my secret santa gift for @softsungchan! It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, and this is not proof read ;-; but I really hope you enjoy this. Have a super merry Christmas and a happy new year! I’d also like to wish @lucaswithnoshirt and @bumblebeenct a really wonderful Christmas and say thank you for organising this awesome event :D.

Genres: Fluff, comedy (I really tried)

Word count: 2024

Warnings: A few swear words, mentions of a heart attack, and old cinemas? (I am not very good at these, if you find anything else I should add,

lease let me know and I’ll put them in ^^).

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Remixes of old christmas songs blasted from the speakers around him, and Taeil sang along quietly while he made his way to the old cinema at the end of the shopping district.

It hadn’t been long since school had ended and he’d been too bored to stay at home and too tired from the school year to make plans with others.

So, he decided to walk around the places he always went to, but never paid any attention to. Like the shopping district he walked through on his way to school.

He’d heard from Taeyong, a junior he knew from middle school, about an old cinema that played christmas movies during the holidays for free. Taeil was skeptical at first. Playing movies for the whole month of December for free?

After some reconnaissance (read: asking his parents), he’d found that the place was apparently so old that the carpets smelled like caramel popcorn and old socks, and the lights flickered if you stayed after 7pm. They were surprised that it was even still open because of how decrepit the outside looks.

So, his initial impression of the old cinema hadn’t been the best, and he’d shrugged away any thoughts of visiting it.

Until today, that is.

His parents were out on a gift buying spree for their relatives, and his younger sister had been dragged along, which she wasn’t happy about, judging by her fierce grumbling as she slammed the car door shut when they were leaving.

So that meant that he had escaped the drudgery that was Christmas shopping, but he’d also been left at home alone with effectively nothing to do.

He’d finished playing all his games during the school year, instead of studying of course. There was also no way he’d actually be responsible and look over material for next year so he could get ahead of his classes. Which left him with only a few options:

He could go back to sleep, or restart some random game and play it all over again, or he could just wander around outside and find something to do.

‘Right.’ He thought to himself as he grabbed a jacket, his phone and house keys,

‘Guess I’ll just walk around.’

—————————————————————-

He’d walked around most of his neighbourhood, and without realising it, his feet lead him on the familiar path of the local shopping district. It was usually a bustling place, full of loud voices calling out to customers, and children playing around.

Today was no different and Taeil, who’d spent his whole holidays so far inside, found the change of pace refreshing. Despite the chilly weather and the fact that he really wasn’t wearing nearly enough layers for how cold he felt, he was enjoying the vibrant atmosphere of the street.

Shutting his mind off, he was content to explore the streets around him.

——————————————————————————————————

You stood slouched at the counter, face blank and head rested in your hands. You drummed your fingers against your cheeks and let out a long sigh.

Burying your head into your hands and groaning softly, you wondered to yourself why you got yourself into this in the first place.

When your uncle had asked you to work at the old cinema for the holidays, you’d initially been okay with it.

After all, it was quick money and, knowing how bad the sales were, you wouldn’t need to interact with people that much.

You valued your space after all, and serving customers was never really something you felt happy doing. Plus, it was fun to have the place to yourself for most of the day, and you were never low on snacks to eat.

In hindsight, you should have predicted the boredom that would come with standing around for the whole day. Even with your phone, there were only so many times you could refresh Twitter and Instagram and find something interesting to look at.

Day in and day out, you were stuck in the dark cinema with flickering lights and musty carpets, and it was slowly driving you insane.

You bit your lip and creased your eyebrows, mulling over if it would be that big of a deal to just leave the counter and go home. It was nearly closing time anyway, and you couldn’t imagine what poor fool would come to this dusty cinema when it was almost Christmas.

‘Everyone’s busy with decorating and gift buying, no one’s even gonna come here.’

You told yourself.

With your conscience cleared and stomach empty, you gathered as much popcorn as you could fit in the largest container, locked the counter and headed outside.

——————————————————————————————————

Taeil stared at the sign in front of him.

‘Cinema Rose’s Merry Christmas special event! For the whole month of December, watch a movie for free!’

It read.

He wondered how he managed to end up here, of all places. Especially after he’d promised himself so many times that he wouldn’t bother. Then he wondered if he even remembered the way he came.

‘Shit,’ he thought to himself

‘How am I gonna get home?’

He took a deep breath and looked around frantically, trying to find a familiar looking path. All of the streets looked new to him.

Finding nothing he recognised, he was about to pull out his phone when he heard the entrance to the cinema open.

His head whipped to face the doors and he saw a girl around his age in a baggy uniform carrying an obscene amount of popcorn in her hands. Her back was facing him and she looked like she was trying to lock the door.

‘She must work here! Nice, I can ask her for directions!’

So he mustered up his courage and cleared his throat and called out to the girl.

“E-excuse me, I’m a bit lost, could you please help me?” He cursed himself for his shaking voice.

The girl turned around and stared at him for bit with a confused expression, then blinked and replied,

“O-oh, yeah, sure! Where did you want directions to?” Her soft voice was gentle when she spoke to him, and Taeil was a bit flustered. She wasn’t only pretty, but had a cute voice too?

The same could be said for you.

You hadn’t noticed him standing in front of the cinema at first, so you were a bit startled when he suddenly spoke to you.

You turned to see who it was, and nearly had a heart attack. A boy around your age you’d assume, with a large puffy jacket and kind looking eyes. He’d appeared so suddenly that you were surprised.

He was so pretty you were shocked stiff for a few seconds, but you snapped yourself out of it and hurried to reply.

You cursed yourself for stuttering and hoped he didn’t notice. His blank face at your reply made it seem like he didn’t. You thanked the heavens above and waited for him to continue speaking.

“R-right.” He cleared his throat and you stifled a snort. You both seemed to be nervous around each other.

“Do you know the shopping district near the local all-boys school? My neighbourhood is around there so I just wanted to know how I could get to that area?” He explained.

You nodded at his words.

Despite being a homebody, you did like to go on walks quite regularly, and you lived close to the cinema so you knew the area like the back of your hand. You were about to tell him the way when your brain stopped you.

‘Wait, _____,’ It said to you.

‘If you just give him directions, who knows when you’ll see him again! If you’ll see him again! Don’t lose this opportunity, you’re already lonely enough as it is!’

Your brain made a compelling last minute argument, and you couldn’t help but agree. Your family had been here for a long time, but you had grown up in a different city for most of your life.

You’d only come here to spend the holidays with your aunt and uncle because your parents were away on business. You hadn’t managed to make any friends, so all you could do was stay at home or walk around the cinema or your house.

You at least wanted to try to make friends before you left, then it wouldn’t be so hard to be in this town while you stayed until school started again.

Taeil was staring at you with a worried expression while you were going through your little crisis, and he tried calling out to you to get your attention. It didn’t work, so he stepped closer to you and waved a hand in front of your face, causing you to flinch and shout out in surprise.

“Woah! What the heck?”

“Sorry-“ Taeil said with wide eyes and a small frown on his face,

“I called out to you but you wouldn’t respond so I- sorry…” His voice was quiet and apologetic and you felt bad.

“No! No, not at all, it’s my fault! I just got distracted because I was trying to remember the way, sorry about that.” You told him. He seemed to believe your poorly thought out lie with the way his eyes brightened in understanding and his head nodded along.

You inwardly wiped the sweat off your forehead and tried to make the most friendly expression you could muster after a whole day of standing around with nothing to do.

“I’m not very good with explaining, so would it be ok if I just showed you the way? My house is nearby too, so it wouldn’t be out of my way.” You said to him cheerily. You hoped he’d buy this lie too.

He smiled widely at you, and you almost felt a bit bad about imposing your presence on this boy you’d just met.

‘But this is all for friendship! Maybe more, but don’t get so ahead of yourself!’

“That would be great, thanks! If you’re sure it won’t be a bother!” He chirped. You nearly melted inside at how polite he was being with you.

Returning his smile and asking him to follow you, you lead the way out of the cinema and made your way to the shopping district, trying your hardest to think of something to talk about. Which wasn’t as hard as you thought.

For every question you could ask, Taeil had an answer. You quickly learned that he was really easy to get along with, and he was great at carrying conversations. He was awkward at first, but you soon found a rhythm while talking and before you knew it you made your way to the shopping district near his house. Your footsteps slowed and you both halted at the entrance, a lull now forming when you both stopped talking.

You stayed silent, not knowing what to say, stuck in your head with worries that he might not want to talk anymore after this. That he only continued conversations with you because he was bored.

Taeil’s voice broke through your thoughts. His voice soft and nervous again as he asked you for your number.

Your face heated up at his straightforward request bit complied, albeit with shaky hands. After you both put your phones away, Taeil spoke again.

“Hey, ____. I had lots of fun with you today. So uh-“ He fumbled with the strings of his hood,

“Do you wanna meet tomorrow as well? I get that you have work, but I could go to the cinema and we could hang out there? O-only if you want to!”

His eyes looked anywhere but you and you could see in his smile that he was worried about you refusing.

You grinned and shook your head.

“I’d love to see you tomorrow, Taeil. I really had fun today too!”

You spoke in the most sincere tone you could and hoped he could sense it. With the way he beamed at you after you replied, you were sure he understood you.

With that you both parted ways, and walked home with smiles on your faces, and chests so warm no amount of snow could make you feel cold.

[missytearex]

I can’t believe the first month of 2020 is nearly over. Time flies when you’re reading good fic I guess. Here’s this month’s list. Under 10k fics are under the cut. Remember to leave kudos and comments. 💕

After Dark, After Light by @becomeawendybird --- [fic post]

larry | 71k | explicit

Harry Styles is the laird of Clan Edwards who is just trying to keep his clan afloat when they get word that the Mackenzies have been cutting a swath through the Midlands and beyond, and their sights are set on the northern Highlands next. In an attempt to garner extra protection for his clan, Harry sets out to mend his father's past wrongs and ally with their neighbors to the west, Clan Sutherland.

Louis Tomlinson is the mysterious commander of the Sutherland army sent back with Harry on orders from his laird to help shore up Clan Edwards' defenses. As the winter draws nearer by the day, the two are thrown together to prepare for the invasion that they expect as soon as the ground thaws.

If You're Out There (I'll Find You Somehow) by @jacaranda-bloom --- [fic post]

larry | 55k | explicit

Harry looks so intensely into Louis’ eyes it’s as though he’s reaching in and touching his very soul. “I never thought… I never… I’ve been searching for so long, Louis, but I never gave up. I couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop trying,” Harry says, bottom lip trembling as he strokes the backs of Louis’ knuckles. “I just knew that if you were out there, I’d find you somehow.”

OR the story of how one man’s love changed the world.

Listen To Your Heart by @chloehl10 --- [fic post]

larry | 35k | explicit

Louis has always been comfortable being Harry’s one and only. When Harry starts to branch out, Louis has a hard time letting him go.

Harry is very lucky to have someone who listens to what he has to say, despite the fact that he’s deaf. He’s finally feeling like he’s coming into himself, but Louis seems bothered by his newfound confidence.

Sisterwives by @jaerie --- [fic post]

larry | 32k | explicit

This was it, the moment Louis had been waiting for his entire life. Giddy excitement bubbled up as he held hands and stared up at his soon-to-be alpha and husband and grinned. The ceremony was small and simple, but Louis didn’t mind. Fresh flowers pinned into his hair and a brand new outfit was all he needed to feel special in front of their few witnesses. It was just some members of his family and a few of the church elders in attendance as was customary for any marriage beyond the first wife within the faith.

First wives were the ones to have elaborate weddings with the whole community involved. An alpha’s first wedding was a celebration of an their coming of age, his first steps into fulfilling God’s prophecy. There were many glories for an omega that came with being a first wife but also many responsibilities. Louis had never aspired to be a first wife or even a second. He wasn’t experienced enough to be the leader of an alpha’s many wives and children and he didn’t think he’d be up to the task.

Louis was just fine in the position he was stepping into as the seventh.

Or Louis thinks he's getting everything he's ever dreamed of. Harry helps him find what makes him truly happy.

From the Start by @allwaswell16 --- [fic post]

larry | 32k | explicit

Louis has no idea that one act of kindness will cause his life to spiral out of control. But that's what happens when his new friend fake proposes to him and a video of it goes viral.

Access Economics by @bitter-leaf --- [fic post]

nouis | 25k | explicit

When Louis moves to a new city for a new job with a big economics firm, he’s charmed by Niall, his colleague and new housemate. However, when things turn physical and feelings get involved, they find themselves in a risky game of supply and demand.

But Now Together, We're Alone by @becomeawendybird --- [fic post]

larry | 22k | mature

It's a stroke of good luck when Harry Styles, a man who grew up on the small island of Martinique, is offered the position of tutor to the Dauphin and his sister.

When he arrives at the palace, he is dragged into a world of opulence, courtiers, whispers in the shadows, and illicit affairs. But he is also introduced to the king, the most intriguing man he's ever met.

Caught By the Sun by @metal-eye

larry | 19k | mature

Harry and Louis meet every summer at the lake.

Can't Forget You by @writsgrimmyblog --- [fic post]

tomlinshaw | 13k | explicit

Nick wakes up in hospital and discovers he's lost several years of memories, including getting together—and breaking up—with Louis Tomlinson, the owner of the local café that Nick's being trying to pull for ages.

As he tries to work out what went wrong, Nick falls in love with Louis all over again.

Just Want To Be Loved By You by @londonfoginacup --- [fic post]

larry | 11k | teen and up

Harry loves Liam like a brother. Liam loves Zayn. Zayn comes with Louis. Louis doesn't trust anyone, and Harry is terrified of hybrids.

Weekend Rockstars by @clumsykisses --- [fic post]

tomlinshaw | 10k | teen and up

Told backwards in time, we see Nick and Louis get married after going through a difficult time, then we see Louis serving time for dealing cocaine, and finally we see how the two met. So it's an angst sandwich.

Strangers In The Night by @kingsofeverything --- [fic post]

larry | 9k | explicit

Louis never thought he’d meet his soulmate. Harry never thought he’d meet a vampire.

To Fall Down At Your Door by @magicalrocketships --- [fic post]

tomlinshaw | 9k | teen and up

Nick has failed to pay attention in any of the meetings leading up to him filming a documentary in the Scottish Highlands, mostly because he's just been dumped and he's in the middle of some very important wallowing. This does not entirely explain what Louis Tomlinson is doing there filming in the Highlands with him, and it absolutely does not explain why the world's press seems to think that they've just got married without telling anyone.

He's fairly certain none of this is actually his fault, but it doesn't change the fact that everything has suddenly got a little bit weird.

if we can make it through december by @march-z5 --- [fic post]

larry | 9k | explicit

Louis runs into his ex at a holiday party, who talks loudly about Louis being single to embarrass him. Harry saves the day by kissing Louis’s cheek and pretending to be his significant other even though Louis has never met him before... has he?

Meet Me Underneath The Mistletoe by @evilovesyou --- [fic post]

larry | 8k | general audiences

Louis flies out to Chicago for business just before Christmas... His flight home is cancelled because of a snow storm and he ends up going to his colleague Niall's Christmas party where he meets the most gorgeous man he's ever seen. And if they end up under the mistletoe within less than an hour then that's nobody's business but theirs.

We're Driving in Your Fast Car by @sadaveniren --- [fic post]

larry | 6k | explicit

Louis and Harry are car thieves about to pull off a million dollar job

lettuce be together by @zarrycats --- [fic post]

ziall | 5k | teen and up

“Do you go because you like the food or because of the sandwich boy?” Harry asks, grinning at Zayn like he already knows the answer.

Zayn takes a bite of his sandwich to avoid answering. He does enjoy the food. He’s always been impartial to sandwiches but they’re growing on him a bit. Subway might not be the moan-inducing establishment that Trevor made it out to be, but it’s good. And Niall working there and being cute and pretty and nice is simply the cherry on top of everything else.

Maybe Zayn does have a crush on him, a little bit, but it’s harmless. It’s not like Zayn’s going to dive across the counter and beg Niall to take him right there next to the shredded lettuce, so what does it matter?

We Had a Good Thing (Going) by @phd-mama --- [fic post]

larry | 4k | teen and up

Sometimes things fall apart.

Sure Feels Good To Love Someone by @loveislarryislove --- [fic post]

larry | 4k | general audiences

“You thinkin’ of adopting today?”

Louis shakes his head. “No, not today I’m afraid,” he says. “We’ve always said we wouldn’t get a dog until-”

He stops, suddenly, clarity hitting him like ice water to the face. They’ve been together for nearly four years now, living together for two. Why shouldn’t “until” become “now”?

“Until?”

Louis shakes his head, looking down at the puppy in his lap. It seems to have curled itself even tighter, but one dark eye is peering up at Louis, soft and warm. His heart pounds.

“Until now, apparently,” he says.

Niall’s face breaks into a wide grin. “Good choice,” he says. “You’re picking the white one, I presume?”

Louis smiles down at the bundle of fur in his lap. “He’s picked me, mostly,” he says. “But I suppose it’s mutual.”

Thank You (To the One Who Let Him Get Away) by @fallinglikethis --- [fic post]

larry | 3k | not rated

Louis' soulmark says "Will You Marry Me?". In all scenarios where Louis has imagined hearing those words, he never could have dreamed it would go like this.

your eyes are like starlight now by @farfromthstars --- [fic post]

ziall | 2k | not rated

drunk friends, a forced christmas duet and one touch is all it takes.

Angel in the Snow by @warpedtourniall --- [fic post]

ziall | 1k | teen and up

For a big city, New York is a small town.

The Stupid Striptease One by @jiksax

gryles | 1k | mature

Harry takes his clothes off and accidentally says the wrong thing.

[petri808]

Precious Occasions

my story for @furubabigbang​  a Kyoru Family fic. with art by @theredwateringcan  LINK TO ART

Summary: Just a few years ago, Kyo and Tohru would never have imagined the way their lives had ended up. They found each other, saved one another, and now they were happily married.  Kyo could have gone on forever in this bliss, content with the gift of life that Tohru had given him, but now...  She was pregnant with their first child!  This should be a time in their lives filled with all of the special moments and wondrous occasions that accompany it, but all he could feel was the churning knots of anxiety.

Follow along with Kyo and Tohru through all the ‘Firsts’ of parenting.  This story will feature four seasons, from pregnancy to Hajime’s first day of Kindergarten.  *note some of the storyline does not follow either Fruits Basket or FB Another, in this one Arisa and Kureno have a son.  8k words

He stares wide-eyed at the imposing wall before him wondering why, just why was he even standing in this aisle?  Except for the cool AC during this August heatwave, being in a bookstore was not where he wanted to be.  Maybe he should have taken the store clerks offer of assistance, or ‘maybe I should just google it like everyone else does in this day and age!’  But Tohru wanted a real book of what to expect when you’re expecting.  Kyo couldn’t remember if that was the title or just the type of book she wanted.  He groans and clenches his fist, ‘there’s just too many to choose from!’  Oh, wait, his eyes land on a spine.  ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting.  Tch, figures.’  

Last month they’d registered the pregnancy as soon as they found out.  The local city hall had provided them the first set of information they needed with the Maternal and Child Health Handbook.  It only covered the basics, check-ups, etc, but was necessary in order to get a birth certificate later.  The book he walked out of the store with had been recommended by Arisa.  She and Kureno already had one son, so aside from Hatori who also has a daughter, they gave the new mother any information that might come in handy.  Luckily for Tohru, the morning sickness that had plagued her best friend hasn’t reared its head.

It was too early to tell how things would progress, Tohru being in her third month and barely showing yet.  Japan was still coming down from the summer heat wave this September, but the small room air conditioner Kyo installed kept her comfortable.  She was so nervous and excited about being a mother, hence the book he’d found for her among other things, but he knows she will be an amazing one.  Him on the other hand, as the normally less excitable one was turning into a bit of a worrier.  Tohru is on the klutzy side, there’s no way around it, so he focused mainly on her safety and that included no more working as soon as she had started to show.  Maybe a bit of overkill, but the dojo was doing well financially and since they could afford it, she would stay home for now.  Winter was on its way in a couple of months and the last thing he needed was for her to slip and fall somewhere on ice.

It was amazing how much her belly grew in the short span of months.  By November, the bump had been barely noticeable, but now it was the first thing that caught Kyo’s attention- cute and round- like the little spark of life he knew was inside.  He couldn’t help but slather her with affection every time he looked at her.    

“How’s my beautiful wife feeling?” Kyo cradles Tohru in his arms and runs his hand over her growing belly. “Ready to head to the train?  The taxi is here.”  

“Yes,” she smiles, “just need my coat.”

“I’ll get it.”  He moves around and kneels before her, placing a soft kiss on her stomach, before moving away to grab their coats and gloves.    

The commuter train was partially empty during this time of the day, which was well and good.  Bumping along in a packed train would be uncomfortable with Tohru’s growing belly.  They were nervous and excited for the 5-month check-up, because today they would find out the baby’s sex.  Not that they cared either way, boy or girl, this child was going to be loved regardless.  All of the misfortunes of their own childhoods made up for in this bundle of joy.

As the train comes to a stop, Tohru pulls her coat tighter around her and adjusts her gloves, Kyo doing the same, double checking his wife’s for good measure.  The snows had yet to come, but for November, the air was already growing chilly and sure enough when the doors open, a bluster of icy winds slam up against them.  Kyo wraps his arm around her shoulders, guiding her out and past the awaiting travelers, to lend his additional body heat.  Tohru lets her hands rest against her belly and allows her husband to lead the way.  It was maybe a two-block walk from the station to their obstetrician’s clinic.  

After a brief wait, the couple is led into an examination room, where Tohru is prepped for the simple ultrasound procedure.  Kyo waits patiently on a seat next to her, holding her hand.  He squeezes gently and kisses the back of it.  “Are you ready for this?” he smiles at his wife.

“Mmhmm,” she beams back.  “Are you?”

“No,” he chuckles, “but I’ll be fine.”

Ten-minutes later, the doctor begins the scan as the couple eagerly watches the monitor.  The doctor points and explains images as she goes along, taking measurements, and other needed information for the chart.  The fetus was an average size for the 22nd week, growing normally, with no signs of any distress.  They coo over the little digits of its fingers and button nose, or how the arms and legs look so strong already.  Finally, the moment arrives as the doctor zeroes in.  “It’s a boy,” the woman announces.  “Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Sohma, you have a healthy baby boy coming along just perfectly.”

Tohru looks over to her husband at the news, quickly flushed with pride at their creation.  Kyo was struggling to contain his elation, but she knew better.  She squeezes his hand to gain his attention.  “Kyo, it’s okay, you can let it out,” Tohru smiles, knowing he was on the verge of tears.  It reminded her of the day she’d learned of his true self, when he’d broken down in her arms.  All those emotions of happiness overwhelming him, when he’d realized it was the beginning of a new chapter in their lives, just as this was again.  They were bringing a new life into this world, and one that symbolized the very love they felt for one another.  

“Thank you,” was all Kyo could manage as the tears broke free and he hugged his wife.  She was doing it again.  This beautiful soul always managed to take his breath away.            

For as hot as August had been, December’s chill was becoming unrelenting and it wasn’t even the coldest month of the year.  “Are you warm enough?” Kyo wraps his arms around Tohru as she stirs a pot on the stove, letting his hands rest over the ever-expanding curve of her stomach.  “The weather is getting really chilly.”    

“Mmhmm, yes,” she smiles, “the heater is holding up, though I heard the snow by the end of this month will be growing heavier.”  

“It might be best not to attend the Sohma’s Christmas Eve dinner if it’s too heavy.”

“Aww!  But I was looking forward to seeing everyone,” Tohru pouts.  

“I know,” he kisses her cheek, “we’ll decide when it’s closer to that date.”

“O-kay.”

He chuckles at her whine.  “Why don’t you go rest and warm up under the kotetsu?”  Taking the spoon from her hand, “I’ll bring the dinner out.”

“Are you sure?  Aren’t you tired from training all day?”

“Nah,” he flexes his biceps with a grin, then shoos her away.

As he plates the dishes and piles them onto a serving tray, Kyo hears the television turn on and the sounds of a variety show spilling out.  Tohru rarely watched tv, but those shows were her favorite because they made her laugh.  Christmas music, so it’s begun he chuckles.  The holiday was still three weeks away but everywhere you turned companies were in full swing taking advantage of the Western tradition.  

“Would you like hot tea with dinner?”  He asks as he places the first set of dishes onto the table.  

“That would be wonderful,” she beams back.  “Is the heater sufficient for you, I could turn it up.”

“It’s perfect.  I’ll be right back with the drinks.”

Before sliding the door to the kitchen closed, he looks back at his wife and sees her swaying gently to the music.  It brings a smile to his face to see her so relaxed and content, but as his eyes glance over to the shifting snows outside the window, he sends out a silent prayer that the weather closer to Christmas clears.  His family had a big surprise instore for her and he really didn’t want to dash her hopes of attending the Christmas Eve party.  Akito had offered for them to move into one of the houses in the compound, but they’d declined for the time being.  He rather enjoyed the freedom of being outside on their own, and besides, this was much closer to his dojo.  Maybe one day, but not now.  

“Lookie, lookie Kyo!”  Tohru waves her husband over to the window.  The morning of Christmas Eve was gearing up to be a gorgeous break in the weather.  She presses her palms and face against the cool glass taking in the beautiful scene on their front garden.  The sculpted trees that were covered in melting frost sparkled brightly against the sun’s rays, and the white snow-covered ground gave up pockets of dormant zoysia grass below.  The blue sky above only held pockets of fluffy white clouds to let them know it was weather to last for a while.  

It was like a child excited to get their first puppy, the way she was practically bouncing with energy.  “Looks like we’re going to the party,” he chuckles.  Guess his prayer worked.

That afternoon, they pile luggage and bags with gifts into a taxi and head over to the Sohma compound. Gates that were once kept shut were now open, bringing a dramatic change to the very energy the place gave off.  It used to be such a cold and uninviting world that made Kyo’s hair stand on end, but now he could tolerate it.  First through the outer compound, the car makes its way towards the inner sanctum where Akito and Shigure lived, and where the banquet hall, turned general party room was located.  Kyo checks his watch to see it was just past 5pm; perfect timing.

Dutiful servants meet them at the door and help them with their bags.  Because it was an evening party, rooms were already prepared for attending guests who lived outside of the compound to stay overnight.  In their case, they had plans to stay through the New Year festivities so Tohru wouldn’t have to travel if the weather turned sour.  Luggage is taken to their room, while another servant leads them to the banquet hall.

“Surprise!!!”

“Oh, my goodness!” Tohru jumps back in shock, but having anticipated her reaction, Kyo had been waiting to keep her from stumbling.  

The room was filled with the entire family and their closest friends standing in a group holding balloons and spinning party favors, noise makers and other celebratory devices.  It may have been a holiday party, with the room decorated with lights and a tree, but mixed in were baby shower themed décor.  A large, “It’s a Boy!” banner hung on a wall above a table that held a diaper cake and gifts.  

“W-What is this?”  Tohru stammers.  She had no idea what a baby shower even was.  

“It’s the latest trend,” Kyo whispers in her ear.

“Come now, sweet Tohru,” Ayame struts closer with his head held high, “progress is advancing, and this Western tradition is growing here in Japan, which means we must take part in it!”

“He means any opportunity for a party,” Yuki chimes in, causing others to chuckle.

“Oh hush,” Ayame’s wife Mine bounces over and sticks an over-embellished, sparkling blue tiara on top of Tohru’s head.  “Nothing wrong with having as many celebrations as possible.”

“Yes,” Ayame brushes up against his brother, “and when will I have the opportunity to lavish my own niece or nephew with gifts?”

Yuki flushes, but keeps his mouth shut and simply slinks away.  Yes, he and Machi had been talking about it, but they didn’t need to know that yet.  

Once the initial shock was wearing down, others rush up for their opportunity to congratulate the couple properly.  The women surround Tohru and usher her over to the gift table, cooing over her belly, and chattering away at how lucky she was.  Dinner was yet an hour away, so the room stayed abuzz over the impending pregnancy.  Kyo watching from the side as he talks with the other males and leaving his wife in the hands of the women.  She was glowing not just from the pregnancy hormones, but pure happiness at being with her friends again.

Typical gifts include items for the baby, clothes, toys, even a beautiful carrying sling, but others were meant to help the parents cope with the stresses once the baby was born.  Tohru almost breaks down in tears at some of the gift certificates for housecleaning services and free grocery deliveries because it reminded her that with all the happy parts, there is struggle too.  Her friend Arisa hugs her.  “You’ll be fine, if I could do it, you can do it too.”

Tohru couldn’t help starting to feel a few pangs of despair.  Tonight, was supposed to be a festive night, not a sad one.  Even surrounded by people that loved her and accepted her as family, she still wished her mom and dad were still alive to see her child.  She grows quiet while keeping a faux smile on her face, half listening to the conversations around her, picking at the dinner that had been served, family buffet style. Why now of all the times for this emotion to surface, was it the hormones?  People told her that sometimes pregnant women’s emotions go crazy because of the hormones, happy one minute, sad the next.  Maybe the holiday season wasn’t helping either.  

“You okay?” Kyo leans over and whispers, “are you getting tired?”

“I’ll be okay,” Tohru smiles at her husband, “just… zoned out for...”  

Kyo watches as his wife stops mid-sentence and her hand quickly moves over her stomach.  Concerned, “what?  Is something wrong?!”

“He kicked!” Tohru gasps.  She grabs his hand and covers where she is feeling the movements.  “I felt a couple of kicks!”

“Wow!” Kyos eyes light up as he feels the light movements too.  

“Is this the first time?” Machi asks.

“Mmhmm,” Tohru smiles.    

Those closest to the couple lean over hoping to see something, a few of the women begging to touch her stomach too.  What amazing timing, Tohru reasoned in her head.  Had the infant known his mom was feeling sad and decided to act in the only way he could to pull her from that mood?  Such a sweet idea triggers a big blush and beaming crinkle to her eye, this child really was a gift from the gods.

The rest of the evening went well, her mood brightened once more.  After dinner, everyone exchanged gifts and opened them while conversations continued.  By 10pm, a few started to leave, by 11 the last guests were saying their final goodbye’s.

In their guest room, Kyo snuggles Tohru to him.  “Did you enjoy seeing everyone?”

“Yes,” she murmurs, eyes closing with sleep.

“I’m glad.  We’ll be here for a week, so you should spend as much time with everyone as possible.”  He kisses her cheek, “goodnight Tohru.”

“I can’t… wait.  Goodnight Kyo…”

By February, the snows in their area were starting to melt away.  Spring was coming, and with it a reprieve from winter’s grip.  Up until January, things had been easy during the pregnancy, but that changed as Tohru’s belly grew.  It was all a part of the process their doctor had advised.  Her body was preparing for the birth and with that, came discomfort.  Her joints ached, the skin of her stomach was tight, muscle pain and fatigue, even shortness of breath.  Not to mention she was constantly hungry and needing to pee.  

The Braxton-Hicks contractions had started as well, a clear sign, the time would soon be arriving.  She had known all about the false contractions through reading about it, but its appearance brought a new wave of anxiety.  Kyo made sure to get her bag packed and ready at a moment’s notice, despite there being another month to go.  

There were other amusing developments as well which to Tohru’s annoyance, Kyo couldn’t help but take advantage of.  

Tohru was developing a waddle when she walked.  

“I’m sorry,” he chuckles as his wife pouts and stomps her foot.  “It’s just adorable the way you walk!”  

She didn’t care that this was just another part of the whole ordeal, or that her hips were shifting to accommodate the birth canal.  She felt like one of those fat little penguins they saw at the zoo.  

“But,” Kyo chuckles and hugs his wife and kisses her forehead, “a cute penguin nonetheless.”  

Tohru stays stiff in his arms, mumbling, “It’s still not funny.”

“Of course, it’s not funny,” he kisses her again, “adorable.  My little penguin wife.”

“Oof!” she hits his chest a few times.  “So, mean!”

That only sends Kyo further into hysterics.  “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He kisses her hand.  “Come on, it’s time for bed.”

“But, I’m hungry again.”

“Why am I not surprised.  What would you like to eat, I’ll bring it to the room while you get ready for bed?”

“Hmm, something warm, maybe miso soup.”

“I think we have the instant type.  I’ll go make you some.  Anything else?”

“Some koko?”

Kyo’s nose scrunches, “you want pickled vegetable now?”

Tohru shrugs, “I just feel like something salty.”

“Okay.  You go get ready for bed and I’ll bring them in a few minutes.”

“Thank you Kyo.”  

“Anything for you,” he kisses her and heads to the kitchen.

Not the weirdest craving he’s heard of women having.  Miso soup and pickled vegetables was no different than a traditional breakfast.  If he remembered correctly, Kureno mentioned Arisa asking for things like pickled ume plums and sardines or ice cream and dill pickles.  What was with the polar opposite type requests?  Kyo chuckles to himself as he prepares the soup.  Sweet and salty mixtures.  He’s also heard some gain cravings for ice or even dirt which is a symptom of lacking a mineral like iron in their body.  Thank goodness Tohru wasn’t craving dirt, he chuckles inwardly, that would be too strange.

He finishes the dishes and takes it to their room where he finds Tohru fast asleep.  Kyo shakes his head, ‘figures she’d fall asleep.’  But he wasn’t upset and instead packs the items away in the fridge for the morning.  

As he lays down beside her, Kyo takes a moment to appreciate all that she was going through.  Men had the easy part of this deal, women are the ones that are putting in all the blood, sweat, and tears to bring a baby into this world, and for that, Kyo had no problem doing everything he could to make things as comfortable for Tohru as possible.  If she wanted something to eat in the middle of the night, he would get it for her.  If she was sore and needed a good massage, he would happily turn into a masseuse.  He was lucky in that his wife was healthy and so easy to care for.  

He brushes away her bangs and notices a slight dampness on her brow.  It seems that her temperature was a little elevated.  After doing a simple check by placing the back of his hand over her forehead, Kyo realizes it’s not a fever.  More likely, she’s just warmer than normal.  ‘Well things aren’t normal at the moment,’ so it was completely understandable.  Other than the elevated body temperature she seems fine.  

‘We’re almost there.’  Kyo gently slips in under the covers, so as to not wake his wife, closes his eyes, and dreams of the new possibilities.

It was the first time in months that they were finally able to walk outside in comfort.  Scatterings of snow still litter the ground, but the concrete sidewalks held no ice that Tohru might slip on.  That eased Kyo’s mind when she’d asked to go walking just around the neighborhood.  Being cooped up in the house for so long was boring, and it was hard to resist a pretty sunny day.

Kyo held her hand as they walked along the pathway, passing houses, and occasionally waving to neighbors.  Tohru was radiant in her ninth month of pregnancy.  She almost glowed against the sunlight if that was even possible.  It was moments like this one that made him pause and thank the stars that she came into his life.  

They were almost home when Tohru pulls Kyo to a sudden stop.  

“What’s the matter?”

He follows her gaze as she looks down to see liquid trailing along her legs.  

“I think my water just broke, but, there’s no pain,” she looks back up at her husband, “isn’t there supposed to be pain?”

“How should I know!  C-Can you still walk?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, let’s get to the house, grab your bag, and get to the hospital.” He’s already on the phone dialing a taxi service as they walk.  “They’ll be here in a few minutes.”  Kyo sits Tohru down on a bench in front of the house, while he runs in to grab her travel bag.

On the way to the hospital, he text’s Arisa and Saki to let them know Tohru had gone into labor because he knew they were the two people she’d want to be around for her.  He also texts Kazuma and asks him to let the rest of the family know.  

“How are you doing,” Kyo holds her hand through the car ride.

“I’m…. I’m okay, just scared.”

“I’ll be with you through the whole thing, I promise.  And your friends are on their way to the hospital too.”

“Thank you Kyo…”  Tohru suddenly hunches over holding to her stomach, “K-Kyo I think…” and her face contorting, “the contractions j-just started.”

He can clearly see his wife grimacing through the pain.  Panic sets in and all the lessons they’d learned from Lamaze class fly right out the window.  What was the pattern of breathing again?!  Deep breaths?  “J-Just…. I-I think, okay focus on me Tohru,” he pulls her chin up a little, “inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth, and focus on something other than the pain.  Me, focus on me for now and squeeze my hand if the pain is too much.”  

She does her best to let Kyo guide her, just like the Lamaze instructor taught them to do.  It wasn’t always easy to focus against the pain.  It was like getting hit by a freight train.  One moment nothing, and the next second, strong pains that came in waves.  They could visibly see her stomach tightening and relaxing after a few tense minutes.  As soon as they arrive at the hospital, the orderlies bring a wheelchair and admit her to the obstetrics ward.  The nurses hook her up to baby and contraction monitors, fluids, and ask if she’d like anything for the pain.  

“Yes,” she squeals through another bout of waves.  Since the onset of the contractions, the pain had only grown stronger and deeper.  Her whole body hurt, her lower back was killing her, and the pressure in her pelvis was completely uncomfortable.

Their doctor arrives just as the nurses prepare and administer an epidural.  The doctor checks Tohru’s situation and informs them she is only dilated to 5 centimeters, or that she’s half-way there.  The monitors show the baby’s heartbeat as strong.

“It may be a few more hours, Mrs. Sohma.  We’ll be checking you periodically to see if you’ve dilated further.  In the meantime, the epidural should make things a little more comfortable for you pain-wise.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Tohru ekes out a grimaced smile.  She could feel the pain medication starting to take effect.  

“Thank you, doctor,” Kyo add in, “is there anything else I can do to make my wife comfortable?”

“If she’s still feeling a lot of muscle ache and pressure after about 20 minutes, and is able to roll onto her side, sometimes massaging her lower back can help with the pressure she’s feeling in the area.  Just be careful to work around the epidural tube.  She may get thirsty, so you can give her ice chips to help with that.”    

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur.  It took another 4 hours for Tohru to dilate to the full 10 centimeters, before they could start the second delivery stage.  To pass the time, Arisa, Saki, and Kyo did their best to comfort and keep Tohru’s mind off the pain.  While the epidural was taking most of the contraction edge off, Arisa knew that once the delivery stage began, they would remove the epidural to allow the body greater feeling to help in moving the baby through the birth canal.    

It was agonizing for Kyo to watch his wife suffer.  She looked so tired, so exhausted with the whole thing and ready to get the baby out of her.  He held her hand as the doctors and nurses guided them through the delivery, telling her when to breathe, when to push.  And she did.  Regardless of how much it hurt, Tohru fought and pushed through it all.  Kyo was positively proud of her.

And when they heard the first mewling cries from their son, Tohru and Kyo broke down in tears.  Sweat beads still clung over her skin, yet through her exhaustion, she never looked more beautiful to him.  Kyo takes a cool, wet towel a nurse hands him and wipes his wife down.  “You did wonderful,” he kisses her softly.  

“Do we get to see him?” she asks curiously, and dreamily.

Kyo looks over to where the nurses were cleaning up their son, then back to his wife, “soon.”

“Yay…” her eyes crinkle.  She was extremely tired but fought to stay awake.  

They move her to a fresh bed and after a few minutes, a nurse comes over with their son bundled up in a blanket.  With Kyo’s help, Tohru shifts over and turns on her side.  Then the nurse places Hajime in Tohru’s arms.  

“Hello Hajime,” she beams at the little baby who slept peacefully, placing a little kiss on his forehead.  The baby mewls, shifts, but settles again into sleep.  

Little Hajime was beautiful.  Kyo couldn’t help but marvel at their creation.  A tiny tuft of orange hair peeked out from beneath a beanie.  His little digits were curled in a fist and every so often the babe would move his lips.  Kyo smiles as Tohru also doses off with the child nestled tightly in the crook of her arm.  He crawls onto the bed, turning on his side to face his wife and child, then pulls the blankets up around them.  It had been a long journey, but this part was now over.  Let her sleep tonight, for the morning their new life will begin.

It’s been a month since Tohru and Kyo’s son was born and all the preparation they had done to get ready paid off.  Their family and friends were also a true blessing, along with those gift certificates from the baby shower.  While Kyo was at work, Tohru became the primary caregiver.  Others like Arisa stopped by often to lend a hand as well as experience for the first-time mother since she knew just how difficult it could be.  They were lucky that Hajime wasn’t a colicky child and his eating and sleeping patterns fell into a routine fairly quickly.  But that still meant feedings every 2-3 hours round the clock, and after a while, the lack of sleep was taxing on Tohru.  Again, family stepped in, dropping by during the daytime to give her a chance to catch up on sleep.

The air was crisp and warm on the July afternoon, sun shining but not yet reaching the stifling hot temperature late August will bring.  A light breeze kept the midday heat to a minimum, creating just a perfect day for a little picnic at the park.  It was within walking distance, so Tohru bundles little Hajime in a sling wrapped to her body along with a small diaper bag.  Kyo holds his wife’s hand while carrying a blanket and the food in the other arm as they make the short walk.  

Once they arrive, the park held a scattering of other families just like them.  Children playing while parents watch from the sides.  The Sohma family finds a shady spot under one of the big maples that dot the landscape and spread out their blanket.  This was the first time the young family had taken Hajime outside of the house, except for doctor’s visits.  Tohru passes their son to Kyo who holds him steady in his lap, as she sets out their bento containers and drinks.  

Hajime was doing well holding himself up with help, and so Kyo uses his thigh’s as additional bumper supports while giving the child a bit of freedom to test his developing muscles.  “Did you bring a toy for him?” Kyo asks his wife.  She nods and pulls one out of her bag, handing it to the child who grasps onto the ringed toy.  

She giggles, “he really likes that one.”

“I don’t know why,” Kyo grumps.  It was just an orange tabby-shaped plush doll attached to a ring that can be hooked to a stroller.  Shigure had said it reminded him of Kyo’s ‘old days’ and couldn’t resist buying it for their son.  But aside from the teething ear part, the toy didn’t do anything else.  He helps the infant bring it closer to his mouth, and Hajime promptly starts gumming on the toy’s rubber ear.  Kyo can’t help but laugh but assumes this was just the onset of the child’s teething phase.      

Tohru smiles and shrugs, “it keeps him busy.”  

Which was a good thing.  As they eat their lunch, the child focuses on his toy all content to turn the fluffy fabric into a soggy mess from his drool.  Hajime wasn’t showing any pain or discomfort yet, but according to what she’s read, the beginning stages could just be a strange and new feeling that bothers the child.  For the breast-feeding mother, it was exciting and scary to know his teeth would be rearing its head soon enough.            

“That was a great lunch as usual Tohru,” Kyo pats his belly and smiles.  He moves Hajime from his lap and places the infant on his back onto the blanket, then lies on his side next to him.  Tohru stretches her legs, leaning back by supporting herself with her arms counter to Kyo like a yin and yang, to create a channel between them for Hajime. Their son may not be able to crawl yet, but he could hold his head up and was starting to turn over on his own.  It was safer this way just in case he decides to pick now to move.  

Kyo props his head up with his hand, while his eyes half close.  Tohru promptly chides him about falling asleep.  “I can’t help it,” he chuckles, “I’m so full I want to take a nap.”

Seeing his father laugh, Hajime tries to lift or turn his head to look at his father.  But not satisfied with the angle, the child makes almost a grunting sound of annoyance.  This makes Kyo and Tohru chuckle more.  They watch as Hajime fusses, then rolls onto his side to face his father.  A look of satisfaction washes over the infant as he stares at Kyo.  

“See,” Tohru giggles, “Hajime is telling you not to sleep either.”

“Okay, okay,” Kyo sits back up.  He picks Hajime up, holding him under the arms and letting him put weight on his legs without bearing the full burden.  “You, little man are wide awake, so if daddy wants to nap, that means making you want a nap, huh?”  Hajime laughs and blows a small bubble of drool at him which sets Tohru giggling again.  “Oh, yeah,” Kyo teases and bounces the child up and down a couple of times gently, making Hajime giggle even more.

The back and forth between father and son continues for several more minutes while Tohru just chuckles and watches, even snapping a picture or two with her cell phone camera.  It was one of the best parts of motherhood to watch the two loves of her life enjoying themselves like today, playing and having fun.  It made all the stress and worries, the pain and discomfort worth going through again.  Someday, when they’re ready for another…                    

By the ninth month mark, Tohru and Kyo had managed to find a routine that worked for them.  They were also a lot more comfortable caring for their son now, with those first month jitters a thing of the past.  He was a strong little baby, but not much of a babbler.  Hajime was rolling over and half crawling by the 8th month ahead of the typical milestone charts.  Tohru loved teasing Kyo about it, saying their son was going to be strong like him.  Of course, Kyo would say he wasn’t that strong, but Tohru would politely disagree.  Their doctor also assured them that just because he wasn’t making a lot of ‘talking’ sounds, in intellectual milestone tests he scored as average, explaining that some children are just quieter than others.  That helped to allay Tohru’s worries.  

“Besides,” her friend Arisa teased during a visit, “just wait until he’s walking, you’ll have your hands too full to worry about whether he’s a chatter box!”  

Time had slipped past and the weather was growing warmer by the day as winter’s grasp eases into Spring. Tohru dabs the sweat from her brow.  With all the activity going on, the dojo had heated up.  Most of the room was already set up for the party, thanks to a handful of Kyo’s students helping the mother out.  She was delighted that Kazuma had graciously allowed them to use the spare rec area to host Hajime’s first birthday party.  Tables and zabuton cushions were placed for guests to sit and eat on.  Tables for the food and gifts, along with a small receiving area set up, and all that needed finishing was the decorations.  Kyo and Kazuma had left to pick up the catered food and drinks while she worked on the final touches.  It would be mostly adult family or close friends in attendance, maybe a handful of children, so Tohru decided games wouldn’t be necessary.  

Once, the décor is complete, she opens a sliding door that leads out to a small Zen garden area to allow the room to cool down.  It was time to take a break.  Tohru sits down, letting her legs hang off the raised walkway that surrounds the room, and closes her eyes for a moment, taking in the sweet smell of nearby cherry blossoms wafting by.  She loved seasons, every one of the four having their own melody and rhythm to them.  Spring was all about renewal and rebirth after Winter’s fading light.  Summer a time of remembering to enjoy life and Fall a reflection of change.  But those blossoms.  The sweet, sweet scent of the cherry blossoms relaxes her like no other flower.  

“We’re back!”

Tohru hears Kyo calling out to her.  And just like those blossoms’ short life span, so was her break time.  She chuckles and stands up, stretching her back.  “Coming!” she calls in through the open doorway.  

Kyo and Kazuma bring the boxes filled with catering trays and places them on the serving table, setting out each pan into the warmers.  Once that’s done, Kyo kisses Tohru on the cheek.  He smiles, “when is Arisa bringing Hajime?”

“Should be soon.  They’ll be here before the other guests start arriving.”

“Good,” Kazuma chimes in with a chuckle, “been waiting all day to play with my grandbaby.”

“Hey, no hoarding him all day,” Kyo teases the man.  “I think you’re getting too soft in your old age.”

“Old age?!” Kazuma cackles and throws a jab at Kyo, “this old man can still kick your butt!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kyo grumps with a smile still plastered on his face, while Tohru laughs.  He really didn’t mind, just wanted to tease.  Hajime loved the man.  The child’s eyes lit up whenever grandpa Kazuma was around and that always brought a smile to Kyo’s face.  He remembered being the same way once he’d warmed up to the older mentor.  As far as Kyo was concerned, Kazuma was his father, and the grandfather to his son.  

Arisa arrives 20 minutes later with Hajime and her own son in tow, and sure enough, Kazuma sweeps the boy up before Kyo or Tohru can get to him.  In fact, the only reason they knew their son had arrived, came from the sounds of loud giggles.  They see Kazuma throwing the boy gently in the air and catching him to elicit all the laughter.  Alright fine, Kyo teases the man from across the room, he was on babysitting duty for the rest of the party.  Of course, Kazuma’s response was to grin and walk away with Hajime.

Guests began to arrive shortly after, and soon Kyo and Tohru were busy greeting everyone.  Tohru sees Yuki and Machi walk in and immediately squeals.  It was the one person she was excited to see today.

“Machi!” Tohru rushes over to say hi.  “How are you?!”  The woman was 7 months pregnant with her and Yuki’s child, and since the last time they saw her was two months ago at the baby shower, she was excited to see how far along Machi was progressing.  She could only imagine after going through this herself how uncomfortable things can become in the third trimester.

Machi Sohma smiles at seeing her friend.  “Hi Tohru,” she rests her hands on her stomach, “oh, doing as well as any,” she laughs.  

Tohru laughs too and helps the woman to a table while Yuki follows and Kyo stays behind at the door greeting other guests that have arrived.  Tohru sits next to Machi.  “Have you guys picked out any names yet?” She asks Machi and Yuki.

“Mutsuki,” Machi answers, “for ‘harmonious’.”

“Ehh!”  Tohru squeals, “that’s a cute name!”

“Where’s Hajime?” Yuki looks around the room.  “Is he here?”

“Yes,” Tohru laughs, “Kazuma is somewhere around here with Hajime.”

For the rest of the day, the former zodiacs spend the time catching up and musing over the latest edition to their growing numbers.  They eat and sing and laugh the time away.  Some of the guys even start a betting pool on which of the zodiacs would be next to have kids.  Hatori had been the first, then Kureno, Kyo, now Yuki.  Based on age they decide it had to be between Shigure and Haru.  The women focus more on Machi, asking the woman how things are going and if there was anything they could help with.  It was a wonderful sight to see everyone coming together to help each other out as a family.        

By the end of the party, Tohru and Kyo were exhausted.  With the help of some students, they clean up the dojo then head home for the night, while Kazuma babysits a little longer to give the couple a break.  

“That was fun,” Tohru snuggles to her husband with a yawn slipping through.  “But I’m so tired.”

He chuckles and kisses her forehead, “then go to sleep silly.”

“Hajime is already one…” her eyes slipping closed, “time passes by so quickly….”

In just the one year they’d experienced so many firsts, from an infant that couldn’t move to a child now walking and talking.  Kyo remembered the first time his son sat up on his own or crawled.  His first steps, or the first times he said mum or da.  You could have knocked him over with a feather with how excitedly surprised he had been.  Hajime already looked like a miniature version of Kyo, but it was too early to tell what kind of personality he would develop.  

“Yes, it does,” he sighs, shifting closer and closing his eyes too.  ‘It really does…’  There were so many more first to come as well, from school to eventually other relationships.  All he could wish for was that his son would always be happy and healthy no matter the path he chooses.

Tohru questions the kindergarten administrator.  “But Hajime is only 2 and half, are you sure it’ll be okay for him to go to the kindergarten class?  He’ll be younger than the other students.”  This administrator woman herself was a distant Sohma relative and had come to their home by request of Akito now that Hajime had reached a certain age.  The school is a private kindergarten that has been used by the Sohma family for many years.  

The older woman adjusts her sitting position using the kotetsu table to balance as she shifts her legs.  It was uncomfortable at her older age of 60 to sit for long on her knees and shins in the traditional style.  “He won’t be an official student until he turns three, but for the Sohma’s we always make an exception.  By coming for a few hours, a day, he’ll be able to integrate into the class more smoothly once he does become a student.  I wouldn’t say Sohma’s are given special treatment, but because of their generosity over the years, we make exceptions to get them prepared sooner than the average child for school life.”

Tohru turns to Kyo to ask what his opinion is.  He’d been quiet through the whole meeting so far, and that was unusual.  She sees a look of apprehension, with his brown slightly furrowed and his arms crossed.  “Kyo?”

But the man was lost in his own thoughts.  He remembered this school alright, even the woman sitting in front of them, though a 20 years younger version, and while he couldn’t say the teachers were bad, the memories of that time were not the greatest.  As the cat zodiac, any of the Sohma students there would shun him, which in turn meant other students hoping to gain their favor would follow suit.  His years were lonely ones.  Of course, that didn’t mean it would be the same for Hajime, in fact he knew logically it wouldn’t be, but that didn’t stop the memories from creeping up.

Tohru taps her husband’s shoulder this time, “Kyo?  What do you think?  I think it would be good for Hajime to be around other children.”  The mother-side of her wasn’t thrilled with seeing her son growing up and starting school, but at the same time she was excited.  For the next 6 months, Hajime would only be going from 8 in the morning until 11, and the school welcomed parents to volunteer.  

“It’s fine…  it is a good school…. I’m sure Hajime will do well there.”

The pause in Kyo’s words causes Tohru to stare deeper at her husband.  She knows if she asks if anything is wrong, he won’t speak up with the lady there, so she’ll ask later.  Then it dawns on her, Kyo may have attend the school.  She knew that his experiences as a child were still a sore spot in his heart, could that be what was troubling him?  Tohru places a hand on her husband’s arm and smiles when he turns to her, “Hajime will be fine.”  

Kyo places his hand over hers, sighing but smiling back, “I know.”  He couldn’t let his fears project onto his son.  He’s come a long way since the curse had been broken thanks to Tohru and he never wanted his children to ever have to feel what he had gone through.  When the boy is older, they’ll tell him about the Sohma history, but not anytime soon.  Right now, he just wanted Hajime to worry about being a kid.  

“And to think in another year Mutsuki will be able to join him at the school.”

That makes Kyo chuckle, to think the sons of once two sworn enemies could be friends.  The children are still very young, but Hajime and Mutsuki got along since Mutsuki had been born and he hoped it stayed that way.  Rin Sohma was still in the first trimester, but they recently learned that she and Haru were expecting twins.  Everyone was doing well and really starting to settle down into family lives.  He truly hoped their past would stay a distant memory as they all move forward.  

The female Principal smiles at the couple, “When you bring Hajime, we’ll get him fitted for the uniforms and introduce him to his class.”

On Monday morning, as Tohru readies Hajime to go to the school, the anxieties creep up from nowhere that, it really was happening, her son was going to school.  The days of spending her life revolved around this first-born son will soon become just a memory.  Hajime had meant so much to Kyo and her.  He was the product of their love, a second chance for the both of them to provide a child with a better life than either of them had ever had.  To lavish him with all the love they could give.  

Tears gather in her eyes, and she wipes them away before grabbing his outfit from the dresser.  Don’t be sad, she chants to herself, it’s all a part of growing up.  Was her mother sad when she’d gone to her first day of school?  Tohru couldn’t remember something so long ago, but she was sure that her mom had been.  Kyoko Honda worked many long hours, especially after her father Katsuya passed away and there were many days when she’d only see her late at night coming home from work.  They never had much, but that woman always gave her as much love and affection as she could.

Memories of all the hugs and laughter bring a smile back to Tohru’s face.  ‘I hope I’m making you proud mom.’  She was sure her mom was smiling down on her.  How could she not be a good mom to her son, she’d had a great teacher.  

With Hajime ready and bundled in his jacket, Kyo takes the child’s hand and Tohru the boy’s other hand as they set out from the home.  Kyo took the day off because he didn’t want to miss this big moment.  It was his son’s first day of school, and he wanted to make sure his son would be okay.  Hajime knew where they were going.  Frankly, the child seemed excited to be going once they’d mentioned other children.  He was a smart, curious child, so the idea of learning new things intrigued him.  

The weather was mild for the early Fall season, growing chilly, but the snows were still another month away.  It was a beautiful time of the year and one that Tohru delighted in seeing with the color changing leaves.  Because it was early enough, most of the leaves had not fallen and were still on the trees.  Fiery reds and oranges, dark browns, and bright yellows in a kaleidoscope of color.

It was a short walk from their home to the school, just a handful of blocks away.  Cutting through a park would shorten the time, so they chose the scenic route.  It was early, so the park didn’t have many people around, except for other commuters like them.  As they walk along a path through on their way to the school, they swing the giggling child between them.  They’d prepared him as best they could explaining what school was, and that this was the first-time mommy or daddy, or a family member wouldn’t be around for a few hours.  At first Hajime was confused, but once they got him to focus on playing with the other kids, it perked him right up.

“Are you excited Hajime?” Kyo asks his son.

“Yeah!” he giggles.  “Meet kids today!”  

Tohru chuckles, “Yes, meet lots of kids today.  Remember, mommy will pick you up after school, so listen to the teachers, and play nicely with the other kids.”

“Mutsu there?” the child questions.

“No, honey, Mutsuki is still too young, but next year he will be at the same school with you.”

“Yay!”  Hajime pulls down on their hands again, signaling his for them to swing him more.  

Kyo laughs, and he and Tohru oblige.  Based on how happy the child seemed, he was starting to think that this new arrangement would be tougher on them than it was for Hajime.  He glances over to his wife, who returns it with a knowing look.  They’ll get through this just fine, and of course, they could always have another…

[purplesurveys]

1057

survey by lets-make-surveys

1 - When was the last time you had a roast dinner? What kind of meat or vegetarian option did you have with it? That’s not really a thing we do here, but for our noche buena dinner we did have roast chicken with rosemary as one of our dishes. It was surrounded with bangus (milkfish), lumpia with cheese, callos, baked macaroni with cheese, and mashed potatoes with gravy. My family has never been traditional when it comes to Christmas food and I’ve never tried hamon or queso de bola.

2 - When was the last time you drove or travelled for over an hour? Where did you go? It is for sure going to be today because we’ll be driving to Laguna to visit my dad’s family wearing our face masks, face shields, equipped with alcohol and hand sanitizer, and ready to follow social distancing.

3 - What’s your favourite kind of coffee to order (eg. cappuccino, latte etc.)? I’ve been ordering caramel macchiato in the last...6–7 years. If a coffee shop doesn’t serve it, the next thing I go for is whatever sounds like the sweetest drink on their menu, like a chocolate chip truffle frappe or something like that.

4 - When you get old, are you going to let your hair go grey or dye it instead? I will probably dye it for a bit, like what my grandma used to do. But I guess it’ll also depend; I might end up liking grey hair and not feel the need to change how it looks.

5 - What genre was the last book you read? Was it any good? I can’t remember which one it was but it was definitely a wrestler’s memoir; I must’ve read around four this year. The best ones I read are always of Chris Jericho since he has fantastic stories but he also knows how to write well. A lot of wrestlers have great stories, but are so-so in writing.

6 - Did you ever wear braces on your teeth? Yeah, briefly from the end of middle school to freshman year of high school. I need to get braces again, though.

7 - When was the last time you were relieved about something? What caused you to feel that way? Continued from earlier today. We brought both dogs to my dad’s family’s place today and I was glad that they were fast asleep on our drive back home and that neither felt bad and puked.

8 - Where was the last place you went that required you to wear a mask? Are you used to having to wear one now? Everyone is required to wear masks as long as they find themselves outdoors, period. I wear one even if I’m just walking one of my dogs in our backyard. I’m definitely more used to it now, compared to months ago when I had just started going out again and would be forgetful when it came to masks.

9 - How often do you receive calls from unknown numbers? Do you ever answer them? I get them a lot more often now that I’m working and have to coordinate with third-party people...I get unknown numbers once or twice a week. As much as it irritates me, I have no choice but to answer all of them now.

10 - What’s your favourite condiment to have with sausages or hot dogs (or the vegetarian equivalent)? Whenever I have a sausage/hotdog in a bun, I’d be glad to simply have mayonnaise on it.

11 - Which fictional character can you relate to the most? Is this a character from film, TV or a book? Monica Geller from Friends.

12 - Do you groom your eyebrows? If so, how? Nah, haven’t in a long time. It’s just not something I’ve ever particularly cared about. Whenever I have to, I just shave them. I also haven’t had a trichotillomania episode with my eyebrows, which is a relieving thing to realize.

13 - Did you get “told off” for anything the last time you went to the dentist or was everything okay? My last trip went smoothly. I just had a tooth extracted and there wasn’t really anything to reprimand me for since the tooth was already damaged.

14 - Would you rather get a starter or dessert? Have always been more of a savory girl than sweet, so I’ll go with the starter.

15 - Have you ever been involved with the police? Did you find them to be helpful? I mean...I guess? Kind of? I wasn’t arrested by any means, but I was a journalism student, so *shrug* pretty self-explanatory lol. There was one time in one class where we were all required to write a story covering the police beat, so I had to stay at a police station in Manila and wait for any tips or leads to come in. I was in freshman year and was absolutely scared, but I did have a classmate/friend with me ‘cause we were in the same class and she needed a lead as well.

16 - Are you tired at the moment? Is there a specific reason you feel that way? I am extremely tired and would pass out in a second if I let myself. But I had been out all day and didn’t have the chance to do anything I wanted to do whether it was doing embroidery, watching 2 Days 1 Night, or taking a survey, so I’m making up for all the lost time and powering through this survey.

17 - Are you big on colour coordination? Does that just apply to your outfits or to the rest of your life as well? It rarely comes to mind. It’s not something I feel the need to maintain, precisely because I’m very inconsistent with maintenance. Even though I know I possess the necessary effort and patience to organize a group of items by color, I also know it would be disorganized in less than a week.

18 - What shoes did you last wear? How long have you had them? Puma sneakers. Yep, I’ve had them for the past two years.

19 - When was the last time you wore make-up? What kind of make-up was it? September, for my first job interview. My items were simple; just an eyeliner pencil and some lip gloss.

20 - Have you ever slipped or skidded on the ice? Did you end up getting hurt? Continued from last night because I’ve been so sloppy at taking surveys lately, loooool. I’ve slipped a few times on ice skating rinks before. I don’t know if it’s the same experience, but whenever it happened to me I usually felt more embarrassed than hurt. It only hurt quite a bit when the cause of my fall was crashing into someone on the rink.

21 - Do you wear glasses or contacts? I wear glasses, but I already need to change mine since my eyesight has gotten worse and the lens that are on my current pair aren’t for me anymore.

22 - Do you own any photo albums? Are they dedicated to special occasions or just a random selection of photos? My mom made several photo albums for her kids from our childhood days so each of us have lots of photos from age 0 to about 7 or 8. I haven’t made a photo album just for myself, though I really should. Making memories with a film camera and having them developed still sounds very appealing to me.

23 - What was the last reason for you using a spoon? I was mixing my coffee to make sure all the granules are mixed into the water.

24 - Did your state/region go into lockdown or similar back when Covid hit in March? What did you do to pass the time while you were stuck at home? Of course. I would be more surprised to hear of a city or region anywhere in the world that did not go into lockdown. March was a livelier, more optimistic time, so I tried out lots of new things while the lockdown was still fresh and no one had any clue for how long it would actually pan out, and continue to pan out until the literal end of the year. I played the Switch for longer hours, tried making dalgona coffee, watched Descendants of the Sun, pulled more all-nighters, revisited computer games from my childhood, and did my thesis chapter by chapter with Andi.

25 - What’s your favourite meal of the day - breakfast, lunch or dinner? In my family, lunch and dinner are very identical so I’d go with either of them.

26 - Who was the last person you texted? How do you know that person? I have not touched my phone in a while, believe it or not...I haven’t needed it much during the holiday break. I think it was my cousin? He’s a relative, so I’ve known him since birth.

27 - What was the last thing you put in a sandwich? A hotdog.

28 - What was the reason behind the last time you shouted or raised your voice? I was at my dad’s family’s last night and I had ordered four boxes of empanadas from their business, and I was trying to hand over the P500 bill to my aunt (the total was like P300, but I gave them bonus to serve as my treat and my gift). I kept trying to give it and she kept rejecting it and putting it back in my pocket hahaha, so it became like a game for me to see which tiny space in the house I can squeeze the bill in so she can stop retorting. It turned into a funny cat and mouse situation and I ended up raising my voice a few times.

29 - Are you a citizen of more than one country? Would you ever use that advantage to move abroad? No.

30 - Do you know how to change a tyre? Could you do it without help? HAH, no. I am fucked if it ever happens and when it does, I really hope luck would be on my side that day and have a kind stranger that knows how to change tyres walk or drive by.

[ryqoshay]

How to Handle a Nico: Pomme d’Maki

Primary Pairing: NicoMaki Words: ~2.4k Rating: K with just a hint of T Time Frame: Late during Maki’s 2nd year and Nico’s 4th year in college. Story Arc: Stand Alone

Author’s Note: I’m late for my timezone, but it’s still the 14th somewhere in the world! So... yay? Happy Velentine’s Day!

“Ne, Maki-chan.”

“Mmm?” The named redhead looked up from her book to see her raven-haired girlfriend leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Got any plans for the 14th?”

“The 14th?”

Wait for it. Nico knew Maki was in studying mode and it would take a moment for her to register the significance of… oh, there she goes. That’s the reaction she wanted.

“I thought that much would be obvious.” The younger girl stated.

“You thought what would be obvious?” The older girl couldn’t help teasing.

“Mohhh…” Maki protested. “It’s obvious that I’m going to go on a date with my girlfriend.”

Nico had to admit she was impressed Maki made it through the statement without stuttering. Of course, she also blessed Nico with an adorable blush as well, which always made the teasing worth it. Even after over a year of being together, officially, Maki would still get embarrassed when talking about their relationship, and Nico couldn’t help exploiting that fact for her cute reactions.

“Just like last year.” Maki added.

And technically, the year before that. Nico thought to herself. And the year before that. And the year before that…

“I thought Maki-chan didn’t have time for dates.” Just like last year. And the year before that. And…

Maki shot her a deadpan look. Cute.

“I suppose I could just stay in and study.” Maki stated flatly.

And that was exactly what Nico wanted her to say.

“You know, staying in might not be such a bad idea…” Nico pondered, complimenting her contemplative tone by putting a finger to her chin and glancing upward.

“Wha? Wait, I thought…” Maki protested.

“Valentine’s Day is to celebrate romance and couples and lovely dovely stuff, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

“But Nico is an idol, so Nico can’t be doing that kind of stuff.”

Now Maki tilted her head to the side. She had been able to return fire for the initial volley of teasing, but now she was confused. “We’ve been dating for over a year…” she pointed out.

“And we’ve gotten off lucky so far, but Nico can only make so many excuses.”

“Have your producers been accusing you of anything?”

“There are always going to be rumors, especially about the two of us, since we’ve been so close, even before we started dating.”

“So… do you not want to go on a date on Valentine’s?” There was no mistaking the disappointment in Maki’s voice.

“Of course Nico wants to spend time with her favoritest Maki-chan on Valentine’s.” Nico assured. “But maybe keeping a low profile this year might help me combat some of those rumors?”

“I suppose…”

“So, this year, how about we celebrate here?” Nico suggested. “I’ll make a super special Valentine’s meal for us. And you know, tomatoes are red and that’s one of the big colors of the holiday so…”

The change in demeanor was immediate. A home cooked meal made by her favorite chef and using her favorite ingredient was a temptation Maki seldom passed up. “I guess it can’t be helped.” The younger girl decided, turning her prior disappointment into some return teasing.

“I’ll be sure to decorate this place.” The older girl offered. “And we can still dress up. Maybe you can see what else your friend has in her closet?”

“You know I moved some of my own stuff from home. A while ago, in fact.”

“Well Nico can’t wait to see what Maki-chan chooses.” A timer going off caught her attention. “Oh, dinner’s done. Help me set the table.”

Maki nodded, closed her textbook and followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

“Welcome home!” Nico called from the kitchen as she heard the door open. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” She added, knowing the identity of the new arrival without needing to see her.

“That smells delicious, Nico-chan.” Maki replied from the entry as she removed her shoes. “And the decorations are very… you.”

Nico chuckled at the observation. “Just trying to match Maki-chan’s Christmas zeal.”

Though delivered in a teasing tone, there was a lot of truth in the statement. Nico’s passion for the holiday had historically been strictly idol related, until she fell for Maki and it took on a new meaning for her. Then they started dating and it became her second favorite holiday overall, edged out ever so slightly by Maki’s birthday.

Nico smiled as she heard her girlfriend take a deep breath as she entered the kitchen.

“I’d tell you not to peek and ruin the surprise, but Nico knows she has more cards up her sleeves than just what you see here.”

“Tomato soup?” Nico could practically hear the salivation in Maki’s tone.

“Not just any tomato soup; Provencal tomato rice soup.”

“French?”

“Yup. Home of the pomme d’amour.”

“Home?” Maki closed the distance between the two and slid an arm around the other girl. “I thought tomatoes came from the Americas? Southern and Central?”

Nico giggled. Of course Maki would know her tomato history. “Yeah, but France is where they got the name.” She explained before turning her head to accept the kiss she knew her girlfriend wanted. “And Valentine’s is a day to celebrate love, thus pomme d’amour. Oh, and these are real pomme d’amours.”

“Pommes d’amour.” Maki corrected. “The apples are the plural, not the love.”

“Nico’s love for Maki-chan is plural.”

“I-I… I don’t get it?”

Nico laughed at her girlfriend's adorable reaction. “But as I was saying, these tomatoes are actually from France.”

“You had tomatoes shipped from France?”

“Well, their seeds at least. They’re a hybrid based off the Marmande and are called Marbonne.”

“You grew them?” Maki’s glance found the living room and drifted toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “Where? In Nozomi’s room?”

“At Eli’s. Hey!” Nico swatted Maki’s hand away. “When did you get that spoon?”

“I just…”

“You’ll be able to have as much as you want in a moment.” Nico pointed to the table. “Go sit down and I’ll bring this out and we can have a proper meal. No pouting.”

Maki pouted anyway.

“Alright, let me just get this off…”

Without a word, Maki’s reached up to beat Nico to the bow securing the cook’s apron. Nico relented and let her girlfriend untie the strings. She resisted the urge to tell Maki to be careful with her hair as Maki’s hands moved up to her neck. Thankfully, Maki seemed to realize that Nico had specifically chosen the apron with and adjustable neck strap and thus slowly and carefully worked the clasp loose to avoid the need of pulling it over Nico head.

“Had your fun?” Nico smirked once the apron was off.

“Some…” Maki admitted.

“Well we have all night to continue that kind of thing. But right now, Nico is hungry and knows Maki-chan is as well.” She glanced down, expecting confirmation from her girlfriend’s belly.

“Maybe if I could just taste…”

“Maki-chan is incorrigible.”

“Only because Nico-chan’s cooking is irresis…” Maki cut off as the inevitable growl finally came.

“Table. Now. Go.” Nico shooed the other girl away.

Maki took the hint this time and made her way to her chair. Nico followed with the soup.

“And now for the first course of Nico’s Super Special Valentine’s Day Tomato Banquet!” the raven-haired girl announced, ladling out a serving for both her girlfriend and herself.

“Tomato Banquet?” Maki’s interest was piqued. “You mean…?”

“Yup, you’ll soon find that tomatoes are not just in the appetizer.” Nico took her seat. “Bon appétit!”

Maki wasted no time in grabbed her spoon, filling it with soup and bringing it to her lips. “Mmmm… that’s so~ go~od!” Her eyes closed and her shoulders pulled up as she savored the aftertaste.

Nico felt herself smile as she watched the redhead go for another spoonful. Sure, Nico would agree that her cooking was superb, in fact she often bragged about her skill, but watching Maki’s reactions was far more enjoyable than eating it herself. As such, she was barely halfway through her own bowl when Maki was finished.

“More?”

“Please.”

“Alright, but be sure to leave room for the main course.”

Maki nodded enthusiastically before draining her second serving.

“Alright, on to course two.” Nico got up and made her way back to the kitchen. There, she retrieved a pan from the oven and moved its contents to a prettier serving plate. “Turkish style stuffed tomatoes!” She announced, bringing the food back to the table.

“You grew tomatoes from Turkey as well?” Maki asked in amazement.

“Yup!” Nico placed a couple tomatoes on each of their plates. “Diamontino is apparently a popular kind there, so it was easy to get the seeds. I wanted to find out more about them, but I guess there is a movie with that title, so I kept finding reviews about that instead of the tomatoes.”

Maki chuckled before slicing off her first bite. As far as Nico was concerned, Maki appeared to be on cloud nine as she savored each mouthful. Conversation was light and as tomato themed as the meal, but that was fine as both girls were happy; Maki with tomatoes and Nico in watching Maki.

“Ready for course three?”

“There’s another?”

“Dessert!”

Maki blinked. “A dessert made with tomatoes?”

Nico grinned before retrieving said dessert from the fridge. “Southern tomato pie from the United States.”

“Tomato… pie?”

“It’s popular during tomato season in the southern states.” Nico explained, dividing up the pie. “Obviously, February is a long way away from then, but when I’m growing them myself inside, it’s always tomato season.”

“And the tomatoes are… green?” Maki inspected the slice she had been given.

“Cherokee Green, in fact. They’re ripe even if they don’t look like it.”

“Interesting.”

“Yeah, I was skeptical at first, but the author of the recipe I found liked them, so we’ll see.”

Though initially seeming hesitant, Maki brought a sizable forkful to her mouth without a tasting nibble first. Her eyes told Nico everything before she spoke. “This is amazing, Nico-chan.”

“I’m glad.” Nico replied. “I must admit I was a bit worried about this one, but a tomato is a fruit like any apple or berry or whatever else you might want to put in a pie, so…”

“Tomatoes are actually berries,” Maki pointed out “unlike many things we call berries; strawberries or raspberries for example.”

“Of course, Maki-chan would know such things about her favorite food.” Nico laughed. “And now it’s time for the pièce de résistance!”

“There’s more after dessert?”

“Sort of.” Nico went to get the final item. “It’s edible, sure, but it’s more a gift than part of the meal.” She handed a colorfully wrapped box to Maki.

“Is it a chocolate tomato?”

Nico almost snorted. “Just open it already.”

Maki did as she was instructed. “Pomme d’Maki?” She read the label attached to the stem of the tomato within.

“The fruit of Nico’s labor.” Nico proclaimed proudly. “Literally. That is no ordinary tomato you are holding, Maki-chan, but a unique, special hybrid made by me.”

“You… bred a new cultivar of tomato… for me?” Maki’s voice wavered a bit.

“I first cross-pollinated the Cherokee Green with the Diamontino and the Marbonne with some local Momotaro, then did the same the two results, which lead to the creation of the Pomme d’Maki!”

“That’s… three generations…” Maki thought aloud “At least, assuming you didn’t have issues with the cross-pollination. And with each generation being…” She looked up at Nico “You’ve…” She swallowed. “You’ve been planning… this…” She choked on the last word.

“Pretty much since Valentine’s of last year.”

“Nico-chan, that’s…” She cut off again, this time reaching out and pulling Nico into a hug. From her sitting position, she buried her face in Nico’s chest. “That’s so amazing…” She managed to get out while trying valiantly to hold back the tears. “… no’ fair…” Nico could barely make out the murmur.

“Nico sometimes has to think outside the box when it comes to getting gifts for someone like Maki-chan.” Nico admitted, patting her girlfriend on the head.

“…an’ you…” Came a muffled thanks.

Nico chuckled. “You’re welcome, Maki-chan.”

It took a good several minutes before Maki was able to compose herself again and slowly pulled away from Nico.

“Say, uhm… I hate to ask…” Maki’s hand went up wipe the moisture from her eyes before she started to twirl her hair as she thought about how to phrase her question. “What happened to all of the other tomatoes?”

“Don’t worry, Maki-chan.” Nico laughed. “They didn’t go to waste. Some I gave to Eli and Nozomi in thanks for helping me tend to the plants, but most I used in my cooking here.”

Maki furrowed her brow. “But I would have tasted the difference with the Marbonnes or seen the color of the Cherokee Green.”

“I figured your discerning taste would figure it out if I used them on their own, so I blended them with the Momotaros you’re used to.” Nico explained. “There was a reason I chose that kind as the fourth for the cross-pollination process.”

“Wait, you told me you found a better supplier and that’s why the tomatoes tasted better.”

“Technically I did find a better supplier; me.”

Maki opened her mouth as though to protest, but closed it again, realizing Nico had made a good point. “Anyway, d’Amour shouldn’t be abbreviated since the romanization of my name starts with an M.”

Nico knew Maki was just covering her embarrassment from her emotions earlier and not actually criticizing her gift and so she just shrugged. “I’m not French.”

“Yeah, but… oh never mind.” Maki stood up and pulled Nico in for another hug. “Thank you, Nico-chan. This has been an amazing Valentine’s Day. But I kind of feel bad that all I brought for you in return are chocolates.”

“The same chocolates you’ve given me since high school?”

“Yeah…”

“I love those chocolates, Maki-chan. And I love that it’s become a tradition that you give them to me every year.”

“I love you, Nico-chan.” Maki leaned down.

“I love you too, Maki-chan.” Nico tilted her chin up to accept the kiss. “So,” she said, pulling away after a moment “what do you want to do next? We have plenty of the evening left for a movie or… ah!” She gasped slightly as she felt a tug on the zipper on the back of her dress. “Or I suppose we could pick up where we left off with the apron…” She decided, pushing back up for another kiss.

Author’s Notes Continued in Followup Post