#Like I run my own business but haven’t worked in a traditional teen work place

[azrail-has-a-vendetta]

I’m applying for jobs and I’m somehow simultaneously overqualified and under qualified.

[stargazing-enby]

“I can’t believe you told them you were my fiancé” + Drarry 😘

Thank you @stavromulabetaaa @secretlycrazyhummingbird and anon for your prompts! I turned them into a New Years story, I hope that's all right 😁 

Thanks @april-thelightfury115 for betaing!

Drarry | 2k | Teen and Up | Fake Fiancés, Auror Partners, Locked Down Together, Love Confessions | Read on AO3

“...And we’re still unsure whether the situation will be safe enough for us to marry in spring, so that’s why we haven’t organised much yet. Don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know as soon as we have a date.”

Harry, mind still fuzzy with sleep, empty mug in hand, stopped in his tracks by the living room door. Had he heard right?

“We understand, Draco,” came Narcissa’s voice from the Floo. “But you must understand our concerns, too.”

“I do, mother. But you know this was necessary.”

“We do,” Lucius said. “The most important thing is that we’re all safe right now, even if we missed having you home last night.”

Harry didn’t hear the end of the conversation—didn’t notice Draco walking into the kitchen a minute later; he was too busy frowning at the kettle. 

“Morning,” said Draco from behind him. “Didn’t know you were up.”

“Didn’t know you were engaged,” Harry said without thinking—without turning around, without even understanding why he didn’t want to turn around; didn’t want Draco to see the whirl of emotions unravelling in his chest.

“Oh,” Draco said, voice low. “You heard that.”

Harry shook his head, eyes still fixed on the kettle. 

“Not on purpose.” His words came out strained, and he cursed himself inwardly. Why did he even care? It wasn’t like Draco’s personal life was any of his business. Sharing a flat didn’t make them friends, now did it? No matter how much Harry had grown to enjoy having the git around all the time, and watching him fall asleep while they watched telly together at night, and getting to see Draco’s tousled hair in the mornings—

Draco sighed—a slow, heavy sound—and leaned against the counter beside him. Harry did look up at him then, and the maelstrom of emotion probably still all over his face came to an abrupt halt when he realised Draco was holding back a giggle.

“I’m not engaged, Potter,” he said, grin widening. “You look really upset at the idea, though. It’s a cute look on you.”

Draco’s mirth was beautiful, and so, so good at softening Harry from inside out. Still, Harry crossed his arms over his chest with an indignant huff, grumbling, “Sod off, I thought you were keeping an engagement from me!” When Draco only laughed at him, he added, “Why on Earth do your parents think you’re engaged, then?” 

“I’ll tell you,” Draco said through another giggle, “but don’t murder me. I’m the best Auror partner you’ll ever have.”

Harry just raised his eyebrows at him—curiosity and concern mixing with a subtle hint of betrayal that refused to fade away just yet.

“My parents are…very traditional,” Draco started.

“I’d gathered that much, thank you.”

“Shut up, you giant prick. The thing is, they firmly believe people must live with their parents or on their own until they marry. Sharing a living space with anyone other than your spouse is…improper to them. I’m sure I don’t need to go into detail as to why.”

“You really don’t,” Harry said, grimacing. 

“So when I told them I was moving in with you temporarily, I sort of…kind of…had to tell them we were engaged, and the only reason I was moving in with you before getting married was that we wanted to wait until the pandemic was over to have a big wedding with all our loved ones.”

To Harry’s credit, he didn’t drop the mug full of piping hot coffee all over himself.

He did gape at Draco for a good three seconds, though.

“Your parents think we’re engaged?”

“That’s what I said, yes.” Draco had the decency to look sheepish, at least. “If it’s any consolation, they also trust me to remain chaste until my wedding night, so they don’t think you and I have—”

“Oh my god.”

“I would never, anyway. They raised me well.”

“Stop. Shut up.” Harry rested the mug on the kitchen table—sat heavily on a chair, gaze unfocused. “But didn’t you explain—”

“I did explain to them I was moving in with you because we work together and it’s safest to have you as the only person in my bubble so I don’t put them at risk, yes. They argued I had enough money to rent a place for myself, and I panicked and told them you and I had plans to marry anyway, so it wasn’t all that bad, since they trust me to wait until my wedding night to—” 

“Yeah, yes, got it.” Harry pressed his eyes closed, desperately trying to will images of a virginal Draco Malfoy draped over a white king-sized bed from his mind. “Were you planning on telling me any of this? You’ve been here for weeks…” 

“I was, of course.” 

Harry side-eyed him.

“It’s just—I guess…I was waiting for the right time to tell you, and it never really came up. And don’t give me that look! Remember how long it took you to tell me you weren’t dating Ginny anymore?” 

“That’s different!” Harry said. 

“Potter, you let me send both of you a Christmas card as though you were a couple and replied to it with her because it felt too awkward to tell me you’d broken up!” 

Harry took a sip of his coffee to avoid Draco’s gaze. 

“That may be true,” he muttered eventually, when he looked up at Draco again and found him still looking expectantly at him. “But this involves me directly. I mean, what if I’d answered a Floo call from them while you were in the bathroom and they’d brought up the engagement?” 

“Excuse you, I never schedule anything at bathroom hours!” 

“I...don’t want to know what that means.” Would it be too much for him to bury his face in his arms and fall right back asleep? “What are we going to do now?” 

“We wait until lockdown is over and pretend we’ve broken up and are no longer engaged, of course.” 

“What, so your parents hate me forever?” Harry asked. “No, thank you!”

“What do you mean, no thank you? The alternative, in case you hadn’t noticed, is to marry me, Potter!” 

“You’re making my year start with a headache,” Harry groaned. “I hope you’re happy.” 

“Very much so, actually,” Draco said. “Because you will pretend you’re my fiancé over Floo, won’t you? My parents have been asking to talk with you directly, and if it doesn’t happen soon, they’re going to start thinking you’re a bad husband…” 

“Fiancé! I mean—flatmate. Colleague. Ugh. Fine. Fine. I’ll do it,” he said when Draco just pouted dolefully. He couldn’t resist those puppy eyes, dammit. “But I’ll be cursing you to hell and back in my mind the entire time.” 

Draco’s grin was definitely not worth the sacrifice. 

***

“Harry! What a delight to finally be able to talk to you. Draco says you’ve been busy with work matters lately.” 

“Y-Yeah, it’s been chaos,” Harry said, resisting the urge to glare at Draco and hoping Narcissa couldn’t see the puzzle sitting on the coffee table or the stack of movies by the sofa through the Floo. “I’m really glad to see you, too.” Fuck, that’d sounded awfully awkward. “Happy new year, by the way—let’s hope it’s a better one.” 

“Oh, I’m sure it will be. The year an offspring gets married is always among the best of a mother’s life.”

“Right. Of course.” Add ‘upsetting Narcissa terribly’ to the list of reasons to curse Draco. 

“And I imagine it will be an even happier year for you two, especially if a future heir is in the picture by the end of it!” 

ADD ‘ALMOST CHOKING TO DEATH ON MY SALIVA’ TO THE LIST OF REASONS TO—

“Mother, please, I think it’s a little bit to early for that—” 

“I know, I know, sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry at all. “I’m just really excited for you, my Draco. You’ve wanted this for so long…”

Harry’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Harry, you are one very lucky man, I hope you know that,” Narcissa went on, oblivious to the look Harry and Draco were sharing—the colour drained from Draco’s cheeks, a breath caught in Harry’s lungs. “I do hope you will be taking the Malfoy name, too! It would be an honour to have you as a part of our family tree…”

She went on about the Sacred Twenty-eight for what seemed like forever, and Harry was only vaguely aware of Draco interrupting her with the excuse they had to get back to work and ending the call after a round of good-byes. 

For a moment, they both stared into the faceless flames. 

“You’re not going to buy it if I tell you I really do need to get back to work, right?” Draco said after a moment, voice low. 

“You know the answer to that.” 

Draco huffed. 

“Well, then, go ahead and ask what you want to ask. Don’t make me suffer for longer than necessary.” 

Harry sneaked a glance in Draco’s direction. Unlike a few moments before, his face was a dark shade of red, hand clutching the edge of the carpet, knees drawn close to his chest. 

“I don’t want to ask if you don’t want to tell me,” Harry murmured, looking back into the flames. 

“It’s not like I can Obliviate you,” Draco retorted. “You heard what you heard.”

Harry nodded. 

“That you’ve wanted me for a very long time.”

Draco didn’t reply. 

Harry glanced at Draco’s hand again, now playing nervously with the fringe of the carpet, and, after a moment of hesitation that faded with his next exhale, he reached out and rested his hand on it. Draco’s fingers stilled under his touch, and Draco’s eyes found his—wide, scared, vulnerable. 

He dared run the tips of his fingers over Draco’s knuckles, and his own breath caught when he heard Draco’s hitch. 

“Draco…” Harry started, not knowing what he was even going to say. “The past few weeks have been… they’ve been—”

“Don’t,” Draco said, voice strained. “Don’t. Just—” He looked away again. “Just tell me you just want to be colleagues and be done with it, please.” 

“Maybe that’s not what I want.” He slipped his fingers between Draco’s soft own; squeezed them gently. “Maybe what I want isn’t so different from what you want. You don’t know what’s going on inside my mind. You have no idea what the past few weeks have meant to me.” 

Draco didn’t move under his touch—didn’t seem to move at all, except for the quick, uneven rise and fall of his chest. When he talked, the words came out quickly, in a whisper, as though he was terrified to hear himself say them.

“What are you saying, Potter?”

“What I’m saying is I want more of this. More puzzles, and movies, and more of your way-too-salty chicken soup, and more evenings and mornings by your side. I’m saying I hadn’t realised until very recently how much I want more of you, Draco. But I do. Merlin, I do.” 

A sound somewhere between a whine and a choked cackle came out of Draco’s throat.

“You sound like I’ve actually proposed to you, you idiot,” he groaned. Harry rolled his eyes at him, squeezed his fingers yet again.

“I’m being serious!” he said, unable to hold back a laugh. “Don’t laugh at me!”

“I’m not! I’m just—this whole situation, it’s…”

“I know,” Harry murmured. “But it doesn’t have to be. Things don’t have to be so different now. I mean, we already work together and we’ve been having movie nights every Saturday for, what, three years now? And now we live under the same roof, we cook meals together, we fall asleep together on the couch…Merlin. We’re already like a married couple, aren’t we?” Harry said, horrified. “No wonder your parents bought the engagement story!”

“Wait till I tell you they were actually surprised it hadn’t happened sooner…”

Harry buried his face in his knees to stifle a groan.

“Come on,” he said after a moment, and stood up still holding on to Draco’s hand. “Let’s make some lunch and pretend like this wasn’t the most embarrassing conversation we’ve ever had.”

Draco’s fingers were still comfortably hooked around his as they made their way to the kitchen.

[mcu-fan-fics-blog]

The Helping Hand

This is a Repost from my Ao3 I wanted to bring it to Tumblr. I hope you like it Its currently 5 chapters I will be uploading the rest throughout the rest of the week.

Word Count: 2400 approx

Summary: Y/N Krast Illegitimate Daughter of Tony Stark. Product of an unwanted teen pregnancy. What would Howard Stark be capable of doing to assure his sons future? What will happen when Tony meets our Beautiful, young, genius, rich philanthropist.

Tw: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Drug use, Drug addiction, Teen Pregnancy. (If there are any I missed please tell me.)

Ch.1

The Prodigal Child Returns Ch.2

Ch.3

While it is true that you had a very comfortable life it was definitely not easy or by any means a normal one. The first 11 years of your life were full of injustice, abuse, trauma, and all because your parents made it so. 

At one point you completely gave up… The things that happened to you, the things that they did to you were unforgivable. Howard tried to get you to talk about it, but you never let him know that part of you. You didn't tell him because you were scared he'd think you were broken, that you were not worth saving.  

You've never asked about your parents and quite frankly you've never wondered. They didn’t give a second thought when leaving you in a fucking hospital, why should you. Your scars are things you're not proud of; they are a reminder of how weak and vulnerable you used to be.

You were sleeping on the plane when suddenly you're there again. The Gordon house they had a son… he had issues and they knew it but did nothing about it. This was your repeating personal hell… when you least expected it you're being hit and yelled at. You feel like you can't run away fast enough. Your body is not letting you get away from him. 

When he finally reaches towards you, you jump awake from the nightmare. "Right on cue." you say to yourself. You wake up in a cold sweat. You look out your window to see the new york skyline. The pilot informs you that you'll be landing within the hour. The perks of having a jet to take you wherever you want no hassles. 

You haven't seen New York since Howard's funeral 3 years ago. Another thing you haven't seen since you left was your friends if you could still even call them that. Once you land you decide to go to your favorite coffee shop… if you missed one thing it was the coffee. 

As soon as you walk in the cashier notices you and she looks awestruck, dare you say angry. Jenna… 

"Are you going to say hi or are you just going to stare?" You say lifting your brow. She snaps out of her thoughts and smiles at you. "Y/N the regular? Or have you acquired new tastes?" You smirk at her and she makes her way around the counter basically throwing herself at you.

"Wow, easy there you're going to give me the wrong impression." She keeps hugging you nonetheless. "I missed you too!" you say as you return the hug. As soon as she pulls away she slapped you not holding back. "I spoke too soon didn't I?" You say to her. 

"You didn't speak at all you asshole you said you were going to call. That was my only condition." You give her an apologetic look, but at the end of the day she understands. She goes back to the counter, prepares your drink, and hands it to you. "So what's new around here?" You ask, she simply sighs and leads you to a more secluded table. 

"Marissa and Rob broke up, lets see Angel moved to Washington he actually made it into politics I still can't believe it, and I, well I own the coffee shop now." She looks at you and smiles. "What about you, where did you go?"You tell her what you did where you went, all about David and Viv. "So how long are you staying here?" She asks. "I'm here to stay." You say. 

You finish catching up with Jenna a couple of hours later. You walk out with your drink in hand and immediately bump into someone. Your drink spilled all over you. "Shit… are you okay?" You say as you look up. Your eyes meet hers and you're hypnotized completely forgetting how to speak. 

"Yeah, are you it seems like that spilled all over you." She points out rather matter of factly pushing her deep red hair out of her face. "Well it would seem so… you know it wouldn't have happened if someone hadn't bumped into me." A smirk forming on her face.

"Bold of you to assume I bumped into you." She tells you, raising her eyebrow. You smile, extend your hand towards her and introduce yourself. "Y/N Krast and you…" she takes your hand and finishes your sentence. "Natalie, nice to meet you Y/N."

You chuckle lightly. "You say that because coffee isn't currently dripping into your bra." She huffs out a small laugh. "How could I ever make it up to you. I mean I would say dinner but that seems too soon." She says smirking. 

You smile and say "I'll see you around Natalie." You hand her your card and walk away. Not looking back you make your way to your old house. "And it begins you say to yourself as you enter your home."

What exactly is beginning you are unsure of but if you know one thing it's that they're all "going to pay." You were a kid and you'll never forget what you lived through.

The first night anywhere is extremely uncomfortable… for you at least. The jet lag didn't help you toss and turn all night. When you least expect the sun is out and you are pulled from your thoughts as your alarm rings. Great now you have to go to work on no sleep. 

You make it to the office on time… you left it in good hands. "Y/N? Long time no see, where were you?" You turn to see Logan, you meet him in the system, you gave him a chance when no one else would. "How's my company? It better not be in shambles." You say playfully he fakes an offended gasp. 

"Y/N it's doing great, I'd say that if we work a little harder SI might have some actual competition." You laugh, but the expression on his face doesn't change. He doesn't laugh with you. "Wait are you serious Logan?" He answers almost immediately "Yeah it’s crazy right!"

You and Logan spent the day going over your company's finances. "We are doing better than ever, and it's all thanks to you." You state. Logan takes your hand and says "Thanks to us, you might have been gone but you definitely helped." You smile. 

You hesitate but eventually cave. "Logan I need your help with something?" He looks at you, his posture turning serious, "What do you need?" He said almost immediately "You can say no and I will understand, but I need to know everything about the Gordon's." you say nearly a whisper that only Logan could hear. 

"Y/N why?" He simply asks with a calm demeanor. When you try to explain nothing comes out you just shrug. "I'll do it, but just be careful alright." Suddenly anger fills within you and you venomously spat "I'm not that kid anymore Logan I'm not scared of them if anything they should be scared of me."

Logan is quiet for a moment "I see… Is this why you came back?" Unsure of how to answer you shrug, and he walks towards you kneeling in front of you. "I'll follow you anywhere you know… they hurt you, hell they even hurt me." He grabs your shoulders making you look at him. "You'll have that file on your desk tomorrow… they deserve what's coming their way Y/N."

He leaves your office leaving you unsure but content with the fact that he understands why. Again you are pulled from your thoughts as your office phone starts to ring. "Y/N Krast who am I speaking to." You say somewhat confused as the call wasn't announced or scheduled. "Hi Y/N it’s Pepper Potts from Stark Industries." 

You almost drop the phone when you hear the words come out of the speaker. Pepper continues "I must confess Y/N you're not an easy person to get a hold of. Did you enjoy your sabbatical?" You're still at a loss for words but compose yourself quickly. "I did very much, forgive me but what is this call about?"

"Right, I am inviting you formally on Me and Tony's behalf to our annual Company investor and corporation cocktail party." Suddenly realization hits you in the face he wants to scope out the competition. "That seems great, when will it take place?" Pepper seems taken aback by your response quickly composing herself. 

"All the information will be emailed to you and how many passes would you like?" You quickly respond "Two would be perfect!" you say. "I'll look forward to meeting you Y/N." Pepper states. "As will I, and thank you for the invitation." You say and end the call cordially. 

As soon as the call is over you receive the information the cocktail party will literally be tonight! You run into Logan’s office startling him. “What's up… you look pale what happened?” He asked as he started to worry. You catch your breath and say “Stark wants to meet us. We were just invited to their annual Cocktail Party!” You say all in one breath you quickly add “And it’s tonight.”

As soon as Logan Processes your words he starts to pace back and forth. “Tony Stark… The Tony Stark wants to meet us? Y/N do you have any idea what this means?” He turns to you and you can see the eagerness in his eyes. “Of course I do Logan, but we’ve got to get ready to. We need to buy presentable clothes and talk strategy.”

“God this is a dream come true!” You move in front of him to prevent him from pacing and catch his attention. “Logan it’s not the time to get star struck okay… he’s still our competition we were invited for a reason and we’re going to make the best of it.” He slowly nods getting more serious, but you couldn’t help it, you’ve looked up to him most of your life. Almost screaming you said, “Fucking Tony Stark wants to meet us!” Logan just laughs and you join him.

The day goes by in a blur, you and Logan had a busy day starting off with wardrobe. You're rocking a beautiful red fitted dress with a slit that goes up your thigh. Logan of course wanted to compliment you and chose a traditional black tux. "You look amazing." He says. You smirk "I look hot. You're not looking too shabby either." You tell him, making him smile and blush a little. 

Later in the night you finally make it to Stark Tower. Presenting your passes to security outside they immediately let you in. "This place is amazing." Logan comments you only nod your head in agreement. As you make, your way to the party Logan takes your hand. 

You look at him… you both needed the reassurance. You continued walking hand in hand. You are greeted by a crowd of people drinking, talking, and having fun. This calms you a little as you are just one in a multitude of people. You and Logan make your way to the bar. You take a seat and sigh. You lean on Logan's shoulder as he orders you drinks. 

When you get your drinks you realize something but don't get that chance to mention it as Pepper and Tony walk up to you causing everything else to melt away. "You must be the infamous Y/N Krast and your Logan Smith." Tony points at both of you. You smile and say "Exactly." You say then directing your attention to Pepper. "It's nice to meet you, Pepper, you look amazing."

You and Logan shake their hands. "Y/N I must say you look stunning as well… and I'm so sorry for the short notice I'm glad you could both make it." You smile as if to say it was not a big inconvenience. Tony clears his throat catching your attention. "Well Y/N you must know that we are in direct competition." You nod unsure of where the conversation is heading. He continues. "I want to work hand in hand with you and your company. What do you say?" 

You smiled and turned to Logan who knew exactly what Tony wanted to do. "So this has nothing to do with the fact that Karst Industries is projected to surpass SI within months." You can tell you caught him off guard as he desperately tries to say something. "Logan and I would love to work with you, Tony. It would help both of us in the end." He looked relieved and pleased with your answer. 

"This merits some drinks." He calls to the bartender "Natasha bring some drinks over here." You turn to Natasha who is now walking towards you. And finally, all the pieces fall together you can't help but chuckle. "The Call… that's how you got my number, touché Pepper I've got to hand it to you." Pepper can only smirk at your comment, relieved that you're not angry or offended by it.

You greet Natasha. "Well, it's nice to see you again Natalie." She smiles and hands you all your drinks. "This is Logan, my business partner I've known him since forever." You introduce him to Natasha. This piqued Tony's curiosity asking "When did you two meet?"

"We met when I was 5 or 4 not quite sure." Pepper hummed and added. "Your parents must have been friends." You and Logan shuffle unconformable but you decided to answer. "Um… no actually me and Logan met in the foster system. It's okay though it's a part of us we are not ashamed of it." You stated quite confidently that you even surprised yourself. 

Natasha senses you and Logan are uncomfortable and change the subject. "So what did you do whilst you were on sabbatical?" You thanked her with your eyes and answered her question. "I went to Europe Sokovia to be exact I wanted to help so I moved there and opened a small practice." Tony jumps in again quite tactlessly asking "How old are you Y/N you seem young not offense." He quickly adds towards the end. 

You chuckle lightly and answer "I'm turning 22 in a couple of months." you say. He looks at Pepper concern flashing in his eyes and quickly dissipates as he notices you looking at him.

[no6secretsanta]

Don't Say It

Hello and happy holidays to you, @glorifiedscapegoat! I hope you enjoy this cheerful little modern AU fic I wrote for you! I always love writing Nezumi and Shion as carefree teens in a world that isn’t trying to destroy them (we all deserve some peace this year, even the bee boys), and I promise a happy ending!

<3 @weiselzelle

******

For someone who disliked Christmas as much as he did, Nezumi had decorated an awful lot of Christmas cookies, six dozen, to be precise. He’d also listened to the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack four times in a row, going on a fifth. Soon, he’d be watching an equally cheesy Christmas movie. It wasn’t by choice. Not exactly, anyway—

It had all started in kindergarten, the year he’d met Shion. They’d become fast friends, and the prospect of not seeing his best friend over winter break had been too much for Shion’s young heart to bear. As a solution, their parents had arranged a playdate over the holidays. Shion had been determined to celebrate Christmas with Nezumi as much as possible, so their day had included as many Christmastime activities as possible. The experience, quite frankly, had been exhausting. Unfortunately, it had only been the start of a long tradition.

Now, if Nezumi had things his way, they’d simply do what they always did when they hung out and nothing extra… but intentionally ignoring Christmas would make Shion sad, which defeated the entire purpose of spending a day together. That was why Nezumi put up with the whole ordeal year after year, and this time was no different.

“So, you still haven’t told me what you want for Christmas,” Shion said as he delicately placed some of the cookies into a shiny, festive tin. “And you can’t say ‘I’ll think on it’ this time, okay? Christmas is in a few days.”

Nezumi picked up a pinch of snowflake sprinkles from a dish and dropped them unceremoniously onto an iced cookie. “I’ll think—”

Shion glared at him before he could even finish the sentence, and Nezumi couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay, listen, I know I said I’d think on it, but the truth is, I forgot. You know how busy I was before break started,” Nezumi explained.

Shion’s expression softened and he returned to decorating cookies alongside Nezumi. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I didn’t bug you about it sooner. But I really do need an answer today.”

“Well…” Nezumi sighed and looked off. “How about you tell me what you want? I still have to get you a present, and maybe it’ll give me some ideas for what I want, too.” He normally prided himself— secretly— in coming up with clever gifts for Shion, but with Christmas in only a few days, simply asking seemed like his best option.

“Me? Um!” Shion seemed awfully surprised by the question. Judging by the growing blush on his face, however, it was more than just surprise.

Nezumi smirked and leaned closer to his friend. “You’re blushing, Shion. Is it something really dorky?”

Shion looked down, clearly hesitating. “Uh, you’d probably call it that, yeah…”

Nezumi waited for Shion to say more. “…Well? What is it?” he asked, and raised an eyebrow.

“Um…” Shion smiled nervously and tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, still not looking at Nezumi.

Once again, Nezumi sighed. “You’re going to make me guess, aren’t you?”

“I suppose you could try,” Shion replied quietly with a small shrug. His face was as red as ever.

Nezumi smirked. “I’ll take that as a challenge.” He rubbed his chin as he thought. “Hmm, something so dorky that you’d blush about it in front of me… This may be difficult.”

While Nezumi thought about where to start his questioning, Shion began to slowly decorate another cookie.

“Can it fit in a backpack?” Nezumi asked, watching Shion’s expression closely.

“No.”

“What about a locker, then?”

Shion blinked, his eyebrows drawing together slightly. “Um… no? I don’t think so, anyway.”

“And you think I can afford it?” Nezumi asked with a laugh.

“I mean—” Shion laughed as well, though rather nervously. “Y-Yeah.”

Nezumi gave a skeptical look. “You sure about that?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay…” Nezumi picked up one of the cookies he’d decorated and took a bite as he thought. “Is it… something I even know exists?”

Shion laughed a little again. “Yes.” It was the most certain answer he’d gotten yet.

“Okay, so it’s something I obviously know about, judging by that reaction,” Nezumi scoffed. “It’s something that could be put in a box, right?”

“W-Well, I guess so…”

Nezumi frowned. “I mean that it’s an actual object, not like the gift of going somewhere with you or whatever.”

“I guess we could go somewhere for my present,” Shion suggested with a smile Nezumi could only call coy. Of course, very few people even could recognize coyness from Shion. Nezumi knew, though. Shion was up to something.

Nezumi narrowed his eyes. “Second thoughts about challenging me?”

“We could go ice skating again. It’s been years since we last went.”

“We could not go ice skating again,” Nezumi retorted. “I’m not having you pull me down on the ice every five minutes.”

“You are taller than me now, aren’t you?”

Nezumi eyed Shion suspiciously. His latest growth spurt had been a bit of a sore spot for Shion, so why would he bring it up now? “I sure as hell am, you little runt.”

Shion’s blush fully returned and he averted his eyes. “S-So, that means I wouldn’t make you fall if I lost my balance, right?”

Crossing his arms, Nezumi leaned back in his seat. “I see… Finding the advantages to being your fun-sized self?”

“You know, I never made fun of you this much when you were the shorter one,” Shion said, slathering a bit too much icing onto a large, snowflake-shaped cookie.

Nezumi watched as Shion then dumped an excess of sprinkles onto the cookie. “Oh, come on. You always thought I needed to be protected or something when I was smaller than you, even though you knew I could’ve kicked your ass no problem. I’m going to enjoy this change as much as I wa—”

Shion abruptly shoved the cookie into Nezumi’s mouth, or at least as much of it as he could fit. As soon as it happened, Nezumi cupped his hand under the cookie in a desperate attempt to catch the sprinkles and dripping icing. While Nezumi struggled to eat the messy cookie that was now his responsibility not to get everywhere, Shion returned to decorating more cookies.

“And what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t care about your safety?” Shion asked, though he clearly wasn’t expecting an answer from Nezumi, not after shoving food into his mouth. “Anyway, I think ice skating would work out better now, so— ah!”

Nezumi smeared the icing that had dripped onto his hand across Shion’s cheek. “Here, you dropped something.”

Shion stared in shock for a moment before swiping a bit of icing from the bowl onto his fingertip. Nezumi had a good idea of where that finger was headed. As it drew closer to his face, he opened his mouth and caught Shion’s sugary finger between his teeth. The icing was sweet on his tongue, but Nezumi savored the expression on his friend’s face far more.

“Nezumi!” Shion squeaked when his finger was finally free.

“Yes?”

Shion gawked at his hand as if he’d never seen it before.

“…Yes, Shion?” Nezumi asked again.

“Um!” Shion blinked and shook his head. “W-We should both probably wash our hands before we decorate any more cookies,” he stammered.

Nezumi snorted out a laugh and followed Shion over to the kitchen sink. While he waited for his turn at the faucet, he bumped Shion’s hip with his own. For some reason, that always put a smile on Shion’s face. “Back to my guesses. Is it something I can buy?” he asked.

“Uh, n-no,” Shion replied, his eyes going wide. He turned away as he dried his hands.

“So it’s something I have to make, then?” Nezumi asked.

“N… No.”

“No?” Nezumi finished washing his hands and dried them off as well, thinking over what Shion could be talking about. If it couldn’t be bought and couldn’t be made… “Is it something I already have?”

“Uh…” Shion scratched the back of his neck and returned to the kitchen counter as if decorating even more cookies was an actual priority. “Technically?”

Nezumi scoffed and crossed his arms. “Technically?” he repeated. “What the hell kind of answer is that?”

Shion stared down at a star-shaped cookie he’d picked up. “Um… uh… I say ‘technically’ because…”

“Because…?”

“Well… technically you… have… what I want…” Shion mumbled, trailing off. He set down the cookie and smiled nervously, his eyes focused on Nezumi’s shoulder rather than his face. “Forget I said anything, okay? I like your ice skating idea. How about we do that for my present?”

Nezumi frowned to himself and ripped off a paper towel from the roll by the sink. “That was your idea, not mine,” he corrected, briefly running the faucet again to get the paper towel wet. He approached Shion and began wiping the icing off his cheek. “You forgot something.”

Shion shut his eyes while Nezumi cleaned off his face. “I did? Ha, oops, I guess I did…”

Somehow, exchanges like this made Nezumi dread their inevitable separation that would come with graduating high school. He didn’t like the idea of someone else helping Shion the way he did, taking his place… Would Shion even have him over during the holidays? How many more Christmases would they spend together?

“Hey, Shion?”

Shion peeked an eye open. “Yeah?”

Nezumi turned away to toss the paper towel in the trash and to avoid looking Shion in the eye. “You’re still going to invite me over for Christmas stuff once we’re in college, right?” he asked.

“Huh?” Shion blinked. “Y-Yeah, of course.”

“Good.”

Shion laughed a little and smiled sheepishly. “You know, I was starting to think you didn’t like celebrating Almost-Christmas with me. I’m sort of surprised, given how much you usually complain about Christmas…”

Nezumi let out a laugh as well and leaned his elbows on the counter. “I mean—” The gentle smile on Shion’s face kept him from finishing his sentence. He glanced away.

“Wait, Nezumi, do you secretly like Christmas?” Shion asked, just a hint of a giggle in his tone.

“What? No! I hate Christmas!”

The amusement left Shion’s face. “Oh. Um… Does that mean you don’t actually like doing Christmas stuff with me?”

Nezumi’s stomach sank. He hated seeing Shion sad. Why did he have to say that? “Okay, ‘hate’ may have been too strong of a word. I don’t hate Christmas. Not all of it, anyway,” he quickly explained. “I— Listen, I wouldn’t do this for anyone else, okay?”

Shion fell silent, staring down at the array of cookies before him and chewing his lip. After a long moment, he spoke again. “You know, we don’t have to keep doing the same stuff every year. Honestly, I just kept doing it because it’s what we’ve always done, and you kept agreeing to it, but I… I guess we don’t have to do anything Christmasy if you really don’t want to.”

“I mean, we are gonna hang out over break either way, aren’t we?” Nezumi said, though he knew in his heart that wasn’t what Shion wanted. Shion enjoyed the holiday season and all the pepperminty sweetness that it brought far too much to ignore it all with Nezumi. “Maybe if it’s just… a little less Christmasy,” he offered. His eyes darted around the room, searching for examples of anything seasonal that didn’t make him cringe. “Like… hot cocoa. I like hot cocoa. And I like eating Christmas cookies, just not, you know… decorating several dozen of them.”

Once again, Shion took a long while to respond. Nezumi might’ve been concerned if he didn’t know his friend so well; he knew it meant Shion was deeply considering his words. Besides, having Shion react logically rather than emotionally right now was preferable, albeit expected. After taking a hesitant breath, Shion asked, “Is ice skating too Christmasy?”

Nezumi breathed out a laugh. Of course their discussion had come back to this. “It’s an Olympic sport. I think that exempts it from being too Christmasy,” he replied. Skating really could turn out better than before, if Shion’s reasoning about his height was correct… Compared to watching a Christmas movie, it might actually be fun. “Listen, I’ll take you ice skating right now if it means we skip everything else on today’s itinerary.”

Shion blinked in surprise, finally looking up at Nezumi. “Y-You’re serious?”

“Completely.”

Shion gawked, then shook his head and said, “Um, right! I’ll— I’ll go tell mom what we’re doing!”

Nezumi laughed as Shion hurried out of the room. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” he commented, though he knew Shion had to be on the other side of the house, already and well out of earshot.

Before long, the two boys were buckling into Nezumi’s car, which was parked outside. Nezumi smirked to himself as he turned the key and started the engine. The satisfaction of having a license and a car had yet to wear off.

“It’s still weird that we can just drive places now, isn’t it?” Shion commented, running his fingers along the car door just below the window. “I’ve barely used my bike this year.”

“You mean that I can drive us places now?” Nezumi teased. “Seriously, when are you going to take your test?”

Shion shrugged. “I don’t know. Driving is kind of terrifying,” he said with a small laugh. “Besides, I kind of like…”

Nezumi raised an eyebrow, giving Shion an inquisitive look before pulling out of the driveway and heading down the road. “You kind of like what? You know you can’t just trail off like that.”

“Um.” Shion laughed a little again. “Well, I was going to say that I kind of like when you drive me around, but that sounds sort of entitled, doesn’t it?”

Nezumi scoffed. “Yeah, it kind of does.” Still, he couldn’t help but feel smug.

“I mean it as a good thing, though,” Shion explained. “Actually, I… I really am scared of driving. It’s not that it’s too difficult, it’s just— but—” His sentence sputtered to a halt. Shion forced out an exhale and tried again. “I’m afraid I’ll really mess up and hurt someone, or worse…” He shook his head to himself. “But… when I’m with you, I feel safe. I trust you.”

“Well. Maybe I like driving you around. So it all works out.”

Sure, Shion would eventually have to bite the bullet and get over his fear. For now, though… This was fine, perhaps even preferable. If Shion had a license, Nezumi could easily picture him having a personal crisis over a fender-bender or an unlucky squirrel’s demise. Yes, perhaps this was for the best.

Shion turned his head away, and Nezumi knew that meant either Shion was blushing or something very interesting that only Shion could see was on the side of the road. “Y-Yeah, at least until we graduate. Unless we go to college in the same place…”

They hadn’t discussed college much yet, surprisingly. Nezumi knew Shion planned to go to medical school to become a doctor, but that was about it. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to do, himself.

“I’m not going to med school with you,” Nezumi laughed.

“Well— just hold on a second, that’s not what I meant,” Shion protested. “I’ve been thinking about this. As long as the school you pick has a pre-med track, I’ll go there.”

They slowed to a stop at a red light. The contrarian part of Nezumi ached to argue with Shion’s suggestion, but he’d secretly been hoping for something like this. He hadn’t let himself think too much about going to college with Shion to save himself the disappointment, but now the possibility was very real.

“…Only if you want that, of course,” Shion added. Nezumi’s silence must have been a blow to his confidence.

The light changed, and Nezumi pressed his foot on the gas pedal. “You’re going to save me from the torture of rooming with a total stranger? Seems like a pretty sweet deal to me.”

“I— er, you mean you like my idea?” Shion stammered. “Really?”

Nezumi shrugged. “Yeah. Why not?”

Shion fiddled with the cuffs of his jacket sleeves instead of looking at Nezumi. “I… I guess sometimes I worry that you’ll get sick of me.”

“Unlikely.”

“What?” Shion looked up. “Really? Because sometimes you get really annoyed with me…”

Shion wasn’t exactly wrong. It had been much worse a few years before, when Nezumi was still grappling with the complicated mess of new emotions he felt toward Shion. It wasn’t the proudest time of his life. “When’s the last time I got seriously annoyed with you, though? I can’t remember,” Nezumi replied.

“Um… I believe it was last year, when we were discussing—”

“It was a rhetorical question, Shion,” Nezumi interrupted. “The point is, you’ve had over ten years to do anything truly unforgivable and you haven’t even come close, which makes you a pretty solid candidate for a college roommate, in my opinion.”

“What about that time at the homecoming dance?” Shion asked.

Nezumi blinked, furrowing his eyebrows. “What the hell are you talking about, Shion?”

“Back in eighth grade, I tried to do some kind of dance a bunch of other people were doing, and you looked me in the eye and said ‘truly unforgivable.’ Remember?”

“I—” Nezumi laughed and shook his head. “I may have overreacted. I hardly remember it.”

“So you aren’t even a little mad about that anymore?” Shion asked.

“No? Why would I be?”

Shion shrugged and sighed, which was a rather unusual gesture from his friend. “I know it hasn’t happened in a while, but you at least used to get mad at me for random stuff, sometimes for a long time. I can’t help but worry you might still be mad about some of those things.”

Nezumi was grateful for the excuse of watching the road so he didn’t have to look at Shion for this discussion. He’d thought they could just move on from that bumpy patch in their friendship without talking about it, but apparently that was not the case. He should have expected as much. “Would you believe me if I told you it was all just a lot of mood swings?”

“If you promised that’s the truth, then yeah, I’d believe you.”

Nezumi resisted the urge to sigh himself. “It’s the truth,” he replied. At least, it was the closest he was willing to get to the truth. He didn’t intend to give out any love confessions today. “I swear I’m not mad at you about any of that old stuff. I’m not mad at you about anything.”

“Really?”

“For now, anyway. I’m sure you could piss me off if you really tried.”

Shion giggled a little. “Okay, I’ll try not to worry about it.”

Nezumi turned into the parking lot outside the skating rink and easily found an empty spot. After they parked, Shion quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, but Nezumi locked the doors and kept his finger on the button to do it again if necessary. Shion looked over at him in surprise.

“Before we go in,” Nezumi explained, “you have to tell me what you want for Christmas.”

Shion gave him a grumpy pout. “I thought going skating was my present,” he argued, fiddling with the lock on his door. 

“You know what I’m talking about. Whatever thing I apparently already have that you want. If it’s a sentimental thing, there’s no guarantee I even have it anymore. I don’t save stuff like you do.”

“Well…” Shion averted his eyes, his cheeks growing pink. “I guess I already got what I wanted.”

Nezumi paused, looking ahead as he thought. “…Wait, you wanted to be college roommates for your Christmas present?”

“N-No, not exactly, but— well, yes, it’s basically the same thing.”

“Is it or isn’t it?” Nezumi unbuckled his seatbelt and turned more towards Shion, watching his friend closely. Either Shion was choosing his words carefully or he was planning to bolt from the car.

“I-It’s—” Shion hesitated. “It’s… Nezumi, all I want for Christmas is—”

The pieces came together as Shion spoke, and time slowed down as a terrible realization struck Nezumi. He immediately covered Shion’s mouth with his hand. “Don’t say it!”

The outburst shocked them both into a silence that stretched on for several seconds. Finally, Shion pulled Nezumi’s hand off of his mouth. “What?”

Nezumi felt heat rise from his neck up to his ears. This was going to be difficult to explain. “I-I… You were going to say the name of a Christmas song, weren’t you?”

Shion blinked, then replied, “Oh, y-yeah, I guess so. Um…”

Nezumi had to think fast. He hadn’t thought this conversation would be happening today, or even at all, and it was already off to a rough start. He wasn’t even entirely sure what Shion meant by that kind of request. “Listen,” Nezumi began to explain, though he didn’t really know what he was about to say. He kept talking anyway. “If… if, let’s say, this ends up being something people might ask us about later, I’d rather it not be a reminder of an annoying Christmas song. If what you’re asking for is what I think you’re asking for.”

Shion’s face had turned bright red and his wide, dark eyes were focused on Nezumi’s hands. “Um. What do you think I’m asking for, Nezumi?”

Nezumi almost passed the question right back to Shion, but maybe Shion really couldn’t bring himself to say it. The suave thing to do in this moment would be to answer Shion’s question with a kiss, but Nezumi’s doubts kept him from acting. He settled for a response somewhere in the middle. “It sounds to me like you want a boyfriend for Christmas,” he replied as casually as he could.

Shion didn’t respond, nor did he move. He sat there, frozen in place, clearly unsure of how to proceed.

“…Just nod if I’m right.”

Shion took a small, sharp breath and nodded ever so slightly. Nezumi had never seen his friend look so terrified in his life.

If there had ever been a time to kiss Shion, this was it.

Nezumi had never kissed anyone before, only stage-kissed a few people in drama class, but he reasoned it couldn’t be too different from the real thing. Gently lifting Shion’s chin with one hand, Nezumi leaned closer, lightly closed his eyes, and touched his lips to Shion’s. An odd thrill ran down his spine, which certainly never happened with a thumb in the way— or more likely, with anyone else. 

A second later, he felt a jolt of pain as Shion pressed back too hard, too quickly. Nezumi jerked away and pressed his fingers to his aching lip. “Ow—”

Shion quickly pulled back with a look of absolute horror on his face. “I-I’m so sorry!” he stammered. “I didn’t mean to— I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine,” Nezumi said with a small laugh. “Just— hold still this time.”

Ignoring the pain in his lip, Nezumi leaned closer again. Shion shut his eyes and held his breath. Nezumi lingered just inches away for a moment, then withdrew slightly.

“You… do want me to do this, right?” Nezumi asked.

Shion opened his eyes and looked up at Nezumi briefly before averting his gaze and nodding. “I— That is, only if you want to—”

They’d just crossed a new boundary together, and yet they were both afraid to take a single step further. Something about it was utterly ridiculous, but Nezumi couldn’t blame Shion for acting so nervous. After all, if this change ended up being a mistake, there probably wouldn’t be any going back. From what Nezumi understood about the world, lovers could rarely return to just being friends. Could he really risk their entire friendship? Was it already too late to turn back?

Why hadn’t he thought of this before kissing Shion the first time?

“Are you okay?” Shion asked quietly, meeting Nezumi’s gaze for only a split second. “You’re shaking.” His fingers carefully wrapped around Nezumi’s trembling hand.

“You’re shaking,” Nezumi whispered in retort.

“Y-Yeah, but it’s weird for you to be shaking like this,” Shion replied. He wasn’t wrong.

“So what?”

What kind of answer was that?

“Nezumi…” With a sad expression that was meant to be a smile, Shion turned his head away, breaking the tension and leaving Nezumi with an unpleasant sense of disappointment. “I… It’s okay if you don’t want to—”

“That’s not the— listen, Shion,” Nezumi argued. He didn’t dare pull his hand away from Shion’s gentle grasp. “What if this doesn’t work out? Then what? Do you really think everything would just go back to normal? That we’d just go back to being friends?”

A series of expressions crossed Shion’s face before he spoke, and Nezumi wasn’t entirely sure what any of them meant. “We’ve stuck together through everything so far, so I can’t imagine we wouldn’t be able to find a way to get along,” Shion said with a slight smile. “Besides… I really think… this could work out.”

Maybe Shion was being too much of an optimist, but Nezumi had considered that exact possibility before. Maybe they could get through anything together. None of their past disputes had been enough to damage their friendship. His doubts were losing their ground.

“And… what’s the point of acting like we don’t want more from each other now that we know?” Shion added softly, staring down at their joined hands as if looking anywhere else would cause him to lose what courage he had left. “I… I really love being with you, Nezumi.” He’d said that phrase to him many times before, but Nezumi finally understood what Shion was actually trying to say. “I always have,” Shion added, then let out a shaky sigh and briefly glanced up. “…Please say something.”

Nothing felt right to say, but Nezumi had to say something. He couldn’t leave Shion to doubt himself all over again in his silence. With his free hand, he lifted Shion’s chin so their faces were level once more. “Stay still, alright?”

Shion immediately complied, closing his eyes in anticipation of what was to come. If it wasn’t so cruel to make Shion wait, Nezumi would’ve taken a moment to enjoy the blissful expression on his friend’s face. Summoning his own courage, Nezumi leaned in and gave Shion a careful kiss. Shion’s fingers tightened around his hand in response, but he otherwise stayed perfectly still. Nezumi drew back and Shion’s eyes fluttered open, and slowly, a wide smile spread across Shion’s flushed face. Nezumi couldn’t quite stop himself from grinning as well. The thrill of the moment was still sinking in, even after it was over.

“So, um.” Shion sheepishly ducked his head and held Nezumi’s hand with both of his own. “What do you want for Christmas?”

“Hm. Pretty much the same thing as you, I think,” Nezumi answered with the casual shrug of a shoulder. The hand that had been touching Shion’s face came to rest on Shion’s knee, causing him to jump slightly, but neither of them moved away. An unexpected sense of freedom was settling in… the freedom to show his true affections after all this time.

Shion looked up with an embarrassed smile. “Okay, but I like giving you presents. Is there anything else you want?”

“Who says I don’t like giving you presents?” Nezumi scoffed.

“Well, you said you hate Christmas, didn’t you?” Shion replied, visibly confused. “And you’ve complained plenty of times about how trivial you think Christmas gifts are. I thought you would have just stopped giving anyone presents by now if you’re so against them.”

Nezumi sighed through his nose and glanced away. “It’s… complicated,” he tried to explain. “Overall, yes, I think Christmas presents are crap. But this is an exception.” Shion was the exception. Shion somehow always was the exception for him. “It’s… enjoyable to pick out a gift for you, and I know it’s not a wasted effort since you actually appreciate it.”

“I appreciate anything from you,” Shion said far too earnestly.

Nezumi laughed. This was exactly what he had been talking about. “Yeah, I know. It’s—” Instead of editing his words to be a playful jab, he allowed the rest of his thought to leave his lips, “—cute.”

Shion gawked at Nezumi, then covered his beet-red face with both hands. “I-I—!”

“Did I break you?” Nezumi asked with another laugh, using his newly freed hand to ruffle Shion’s soft, brown hair. Making Shion blush had yet to lose its appeal. “Sorry. Well, not really. Have I really never told you you’re cute before?”

“Um!” Shion kept his face covered as he spoke. “N-No, I think you’ve said that every time you’ve seen me dressed up for an event, but I know you were just making fun of me.”

Nezumi hummed thoughtfully. “Was I, though?”

“Wait, were you!?”

“Was I?”

Shion faced forward again and placed his head down in his folded arms on the dashboard. “Argh, which is it!?” he loudly groaned.

Nezumi rarely saw Shion this worked up. He wasn’t sure whether to be proud or sorry. “Is not knowing really that unbearable?” he asked.

“Kind of.”

Nezumi’s eyes scanned over Shion’s hunched, trembling form. His own nervous jitters had thankfully faded away, but Shion case seemed to be the opposite. “Serious question, though… are you going to be able to skate today? You’re shaking like crazy.”

Shion quickly sat up, placed his hands in his lap, and took a deep breath. “I’m fine!” he insisted, though his face was still awfully red and every inch of him shook.

“Are you sure?” Nezumi asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. “If you’re that tense on the ice, you’ll definitely fall. What’s the matter, anyway?”

“Nothing!” Shion quickly answered and took another deep breath. “Nothing’s the matter! I’m just— I’m— I’m really happy. And excited.” He let out an anxious laugh. “And a little nervous.”

Nezumi felt his own shoulders relax. Had he been tense, too? “Nervous about what?” he asked.

Shion laughed again. “Um. Well, I did kind of punch your mouth with my face a little.”

“It wasn’t that bad. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“That’s good,” Shion said, giving Nezumi a sheepish glance. “Um. But I’m nervous I’ll do it again. But I— w-want to try—” He looked at Nezumi again, this time with eyes full of hope.

Nezumi opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again and closed his eyes. When he still wasn’t kissed several seconds later, he gestured a hand toward his face and prompted, “Well?”

“What? Oh!”

Once again, Nezumi waited.

“Um, hold still,” Shion murmured and gently grasped both of Nezumi’s hands.

Nezumi complied. A moment later, he felt Shion’s lips gingerly touch his. It was over almost as soon as it happened, just a whisper of a kiss, but it somehow left Nezumi’s nerves buzzing long afterward.

“Was that okay?” Shion asked quietly.

Nezumi opened his eyes and smiled. “Completely painless.”

Shion beamed brighter than the sun overhead.

“Still nervous?” Nezumi asked.

Shion shook his head and looked away, still smiling. “No, not really. Only a little.” He gazed out across the parking lot for a brief moment, then grinned up at Nezumi. “Let’s go skating!”

Nezumi laughed, caught off guard by Shion’s abrupt enthusiasm. “You’re awfully confident all of a sudden,” he teased.

“It’s just that— I realized this will be our first date,” Shion replied. “It’s kind of exciting, you know?”

“You mean all those school dances we went to don’t count?” Nezumi scoffed, still smiling. He knew they didn’t really count. Nezumi had only been Shion’s date to keep him unavailable.

“Um— I didn’t think they did,” Shion said hesitantly. “Do they?”

“Not really, no.” Nezumi smirked as a thought crossed his mind. “Did I ever tell you that Safu called me ‘too possessive’ before the homecoming dance this year?”

Shion covered his face with his hands again and leaned his head against Nezumi’s shoulder. “Oh, jeez… No, you didn’t tell me. What happened?”

“She asked me not to ask you to the dance, and I told her that I’d already asked you and you’d already said yes. Apparently that wasn’t quite what she wanted to hear.”

“Thank you. Again,” Shion mumbled. “I only ever wanted to go with you, anyway.”

A part of Nezumi had always suspected as much, but actually hearing it from Shion gave him a smug sense of satisfaction. He slipped his arm behind Shion in a halfway embrace. “Maybe she’ll finally realize you’re not interested in dating her when she spots us making out at your locker.”

“You’re gonna kiss me at school!?” Shion asked in disbelief.

That wasn’t the takeaway Nezumi had expected Shion to get from his words, but Shion was always like that, surprising him in odd ways. “I might,” Nezumi replied. “You’d better watch out.”

Shion blinked, then smiled and stretched to press a kiss to Nezumi’s cheek. “Then I guess you’d better watch out, too.”

Nezumi turned his head away in an attempt to hide how much a little kiss on the cheek was making him blush. He was going to have to get used to this, wasn’t he? “…Noted.”

Shion giggled at Nezumi’s response, then grinned up at him. “Well, then. Shall we go in?”

“Sure. Let’s go.”

They both exited the car, Nezumi locking the doors before meeting Shion on the other side. They joined hands, and just to make things fair, Nezumi gave Shion a quick kiss on the cheek. For the entire walk across the parking lot toward the ice rink, Shion blushed and giggled while Nezumi wore a smug smile on his face.

If this was what celebrating Christmas with Shion would be like from now on… well, Nezumi certainly didn’t mind.

[go-events]

GO Rom Com Spotlight: @mia-ugly​

The delightful @mia-ugly​ (also mia-ugly on AO3) has claimed 10 Things I Hate About You to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About 10 Things I Hate About You: Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is beautiful, smart and quite abrasive to most of her fellow teens, meaning that she doesn't attract many boys. Unfortunately for her younger sister, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), house rules say that she can't date until Kat has a boyfriend, so strings are pulled to set the dour damsel up for a romance. Soon Kat crosses paths with handsome new arrival Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger). Will Kat let her guard down enough to fall for the effortlessly charming Patrick?

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @mia-ugly​ a little better!

* * *

goromcom: Let’s start with something about you. :) You know how if you open a Tumblr chat with someone you haven't chatted to before, Tumblr tells you two things they post about? I wanted to tell you that yours reports that you post "#ineffable co-stars au and #let's go". Let's go, indeed!

mia-ugly​: Haha, "let's go" is my pretty places to run away to tag. I didn't not realize that was such a significant part of my presence on Tumblr (I can have a little romantic escapism as a treat.)

goromcom: Heck, have a LOT as a treat. But let’s move on to your rom com. You chose to adapt 10 Things I Hate About You. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?

mia-ugly​: I remember loving the movie when I first saw it, as a grouchy teenager who over-identified with Cat and her excellent taste in girl rock. Also because of Heath Ledger's hair and Heath Ledger generally (the eternal queer dilemma of whether I wanted to look like him or bang him or if both things were potentially an option.) I also wanted to write a "Crowley seduces Aziraphale for dubious reasons" fic before the romcom fest was announced and 10 Things just seemed like a perfect fit for that storyline.

goromcom: Kat does have great taste! But let’s get specific for a moment. What's your favorite moment of your movie, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

mia-ugly​: My favourite moment is probably the Grand Romantic Musical Gesture in the bleachers: "You're Just too Good to be True." (The man can lunge, I'll say that about him.) This particular moment is getting changed in my fic, there is no lunging through the bleachers, but there maaaay be a spontaneous and helpless miracle that one of our lovestruck fools accidentally manifests. Of the musical marching band variety. And my tentative title for the story is "Heaven to Touch," so. The song is going to feature in it more than once.

goromcom: Oh, that’s a great line from that song! :) Other than your plans for that scene, do you plan to stick very closely to the beats of the original story, or make bigger changes?

mia-ugly​: I'm trying to stick fairly closely to the beats of the story, but this is also my first Ineffable Husbands NON-au (yikes) so there are major changes I'm making in the set up. I'm essentially mashing 10 Things and Good Omens together and hoping that it is a delicious, piquant stew and not just a mix of snow and rainwater.

goromcom: I can definitely see a lot of fun in store for that mixture, so it should be lovely. Let me see if I can get one more preview out of you before we risk revealing too much. What's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

mia-ugly​: I'm getting rid of Bianca! Sorry Bianca. So the impetus for the seduction comes from a very different place. Also two major characters are going to be... animals. Yes, Crowley goes full on Disney Princess and gets himself some animal sidekicks/spies. This sounds like a nightmare, here's hoping it works.

goromcom: I can’t wait to see that! It definitely has vibes of the deleted scene with Crowley and the rats, so that really tracks with canon for me. 

But let’s move on, before we give out too many spoilers. I am blatantly stealing this last question from The Good Place: The Podcast, but here goes: Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.

mia-ugly​: My pet is pretty great but I'm going to go full-on capitalist and throw some love at a business. So. 

I'm a Canadian white-passing Indigenous person (Yale First Nation, holla at me.) And throughout our education system here we're taught that indigenous culture is a thing of the past, and we need to grieve as a nation for the literal GENOCIDE that Canada carried out (as if that still isn't happening today) but we don't talk about indigenous culture as a current, gorgeous, growing thing. What always astonishes me and fills my heart with warmth are the indigenous creators and artists and designers taking traditional elements and shaping them and bringing them into the present. Because culture evolves, it isn't stable, and we're still the fuck here. We survived. We never left.

There are many, many examples of this throughout Canada and the United States and all over the world. But my particular good thing is: My childhood best friend and her impossibly lovely partner run a company called Indi City that celebrates indigenous culture and fashion and models  and you can BET I own their "matriarchy" necklace.  They made an electric light-up jingle dress, they are doing amazing work with incredible values and their jewelry is gorgeous as hell. As a person who works with a lot of indigenous youth, I love creators like this, who give youth an opportunity to see themselves reflected back as vibrant and important and thriving in our country. 

Not only still here. But leading us forward.

goromcom: That sounds like a great business working for toward an important goal of shining a light on those cultures and groups. I love it.

And speaking of love, you’re all gonna love the GO adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You, coming very soon!

[latibulx]

booyoung and byul ( not a lot of interactions between the two but i do be curious :O )

ULTIMATE SHIP MEME! ㅡ open ㅡ @pathwae

General:

Rate the Ship -   Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - I think they might have a few break-ups here and there; probably because of the distance between them that makes it difficult to maintain a romantic relationship. And also, perhaps because they both end up quite busy with their own work/passion. However, if they manage to find their rhythm and work on their own selves, I can see them growing old together.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - Okay, my headcanon is that they met through friends they have in common and they immediately hit it off and became friends rather quickly. Falling in love came naturally as they got to spend more time together and got to know each other better, most likely realizing how well they were fitting each other. I imagine it happened over the course of several months because neither Byul or Booyoung wanted to rush into a relationship and take the risk to ruin their friendship.

How was their first kiss? - I imagine that Booyoung would have invited Byul to see her perform because he had promised her that he'd come see her at least once. And, after the performance, instead of going back to their own place, they decided to have a late dinner together and take a walk by the Cheonggyechon river. And, Byul probably made her laugh while they were sitting, their feet in the water, and they were flirtingㅡ a little more than usual, both high on how perfect that night feels. And then it just came naturally, his hand on her cheek and her face leaning towards his; their lips meeting in a sweet, and a timid first kiss.

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Byul, because he knows that Booyoung is really romantic and she would definitely want a sweet proposal.

Who is the best man/men? - Byul's best friend or someone from his family he is close to.

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? - Booyoung's best friends and music partners!

Who did the most planning? - I can see them planning together but Byul being a bit lost at some point with everything there is to plan and take care of, haha.

Who stressed the most? - Byul, maybe? Booyoung would be mostly excited and all over the place because!! they're getting married!!

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 - I don't see them having a very fancy wedding and instead something more intimate, with only they people they care about. But because Booyoung's grandparents are attached to tradition, they still would have to wear hanboks and get married properly.| 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Acquaintances and friends they only hear about once a year, probably.

Sex:

Who is on top? - Depends of the mood! Mostly Byul, I'd say, but sometimes Booyoung ends up on top.

Who is the one to instigate things? - Once again, it depends of the mood. Once they've gone past their hesitations and embarrassment, they'll probably feel comfortable enough to show the other when they are in the mood.

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 - I think that when they are not countries apart, they want to make the most out of the time together and it does involve regular sex. But then it happens that even when they're in the same city, they're both busy and they have to work on finding a balance on their personal lives and their work. | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 - I see them as a rather vanilla couple who enjoy trying out new positions and maybe use some toys to spice things up but they mostly enjoy the connection making love brings between them. | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - It depends if they're tired or not. Or if they take their time or not. Perhaps between 30 min and one hour?

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Yes! I feel like it's important to them that they both give as much as they've received.

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time - while they might spice things up every so often, I feel like they are rarely rough in bed, because it doesn't really fit their personalities. | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 - every opportunity is a good opportunity to cuddle! especially when they haven't seen each other in a while. | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - they initially wanted to stop at two children, but then Booyoung unexpectedly got pregnant with twins, so they've got four children!

How many children will they adopt? - once their children will be all grown up, I definitely can see Booyoung suggesting that they consider adopting. So, maybe they'll have two more children, or maybe three.

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Byul! He's a very helpful father and doesn't hesitate to be on diapers duty.

Who is the stricter parent? - None of them are really strict.

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - Byul, because Booyoung is the one to encourage them to go on adventures, pft.

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - Booyoung, because Byul is the one dressing the kids for school. (If that was Booyoung, she'd undoubtedly make their kids wear hanboks!)

Who is the more loved parent? - no differences in this house, they all love each other very much

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? - both, they both want to be here for their children in every moment of their lives, including stressful PTA meetings.

Who cried the most at graduation? - Byul, because he's remembered how far he has come since he has himself graduated and he feels incredibly happy to be able to see his own children graduate.

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - I can see Byul doing that too! But, let's be honest, Booyoung would do anything for their children too.

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Booyoung. She's good with her hands, and her grandmother has taught her how to cook since a young age.

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - None of them are very picky, they even have similar taste so it's easy to choose what dishes they'll eat.

Who does the grocery shopping? - Together as often as they can, and if one is busy, the other will go alone.

How often do they bake desserts? - Rarely, they prefer to buy them directly at the bakery. At least they're certain to not be disappointed!

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - Meat lovers.

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Both! Booyoung is a romantic and definitely remember their anniversaries and would cook something very nice for dinner, but I also can see Byul making an effort and actually cooking dinner for Booyoung to surprise her.

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - Maybe Booyoung, especially on days where they are too tired to cook but don't want to order take-out food. And she'd always say that it always feels like they're going out on a date when they eat out.

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidentaly while cooking? - Byul? I'm not sure, haha. None of them.

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Both, we like sharing chores in this house!

Who is really against chores? - Both, too. They both have their days where they absolutely don't want to clean so the other finds a way to motivate them. Maybe with little smooches and sweet words.

Who cleans up after the pets? - Byul, probably. Booyoung isn't against it but she always manages to convince him to do it instead.

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - None of them, they like their house clean!

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - They don't really stress out unless Booyoung's grandparents are visiting and in that case both are stressed!

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - I can see Byul in that situation, haha.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - Booyoung, especially because she's always having a little concert while she's showering, haha. And if they're bathing together, it lasts even longer!

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - Both of them because it's relaxing to be walking outside together with the dog.

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - Booyoung loves tradition so... Every time there's a holiday coming around, you can be sure that the house will be decorated!

What are their goals for the relationship? - Communication and respect and love. I think they want a healthy relationship in which they aren't afraid to tell each other how they feel, even when they aren't feeling good.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - Before they become parents, both. Then, none of them. They forget what it means to oversleep, haha.

Who plays the most pranks? - Both! Honestly, they can be such kids at times, I can see them running around the apartment having a water fight or a tickle fightㅡ or even a random pillow fight when they're supposed to be watching something on TV.

[shes-an-oddbird]

Christmas at River’s End Mall

Summary -  A Christmas AU in which everyone navigates their seasonal jobs, relationships and Christmas spirit, or lack there of, through woven together tales inspired by holiday prompts.

Chapter 4 - Christmas Traditions

Summary - Elena impatiently waits for the single father she's been flirting with to finally ask her out. Unfortunately while she likes to move fast, he prefers to take things slow.

Prompt - Christmas Traditions Relationship - Mackelena (+Hope!) POV - Elena

“Elena! Come sit with us.”

Elena can pick out the familiar call of her name even through the rumble of dozens of chattering children. And if she couldn’t, Hope Mackenzie made it easy by standing up on her chair and waving excitedly while her father urged her to sit back down.

She grins at the pair and holds up one finger, she only needs a minute more to finish up with the families in line to meet Santa.

Elena enjoyed working as a translator. Many of the kids didn’t need her help and the Santas that worked for Coulson were all bilingual, so she finds herself most often translating the gift requests for Santa to the parents; the kids always assuming Santa spoke English.

She finishes up with her last family and the parents thank her several times before she rushes over to join Hope and Mack.

“Back again, that’s three times already.” She’s surprised, although she’s certainly not complaining.

“Well, it is tradition, we try to come as many times as we can.” Mack explains. He stands from his crouched position next to Hope and she marvels again at just how tall he is. The day she’d met the pair she had spotted them from all the way across the North Pole activity center. She knew she was torturing herself, stopping by their table to see if they needed assistance but her boldness was rewarded. Not only was he a single father with the sweetest daughter in the world but he was definitely interested.

“What’s your favorite tradition?” She asks Hope. The girl lifts the ornament she’s been carefully decorating with silver sequence, it spins, catching the light and sparkling. “Making a new ornament for our tree ever year, although that won’t be it for much longer.”

“Oh, why’s that?”

“The drone light show.” She says simply before returning to her intricate work without farther explanation.

Elena glances at Mack curiously. “It’s this big Christmas light show that’s done using drones, they fly around and flash in time with music, its actually pretty impressive stuff and River’s End is officially on the tour schedule for Christmas Eve, we’ve already got our tickets.”

“Sounds kind of cool, might have to check it out.”

“Maybe you could come with us.”

Hope’s eager suggestion is quickly followed by a warning tone in her father’s voice, “Hope – “

“Well, if you’re not –“ She starts to reply with a sassy tone.

“How about some Hot Chocolate?” Mack interrupts. But Elena puts another point in Hope’s favor. She’d already tried to ask her out three times on her father’s behalf including about five minutes after they met.  

“With Peppermint?” The young girl asks excitedly.

“Another tradition?”

“It’s the best one.”

“It sounds like all the traditions are the best one.”

“How about I go get the Hot Chocolate, I know the best place and that way you guys can finish your ornament.”

“You don’t have to.”

Mack starts to protest but she’s already up. “I’ll be back in flash.”

...

Elena didn’t mind taking the stairs all three flights up to Bobbi’s Coffee Shop. It was certainly faster than waiting for the elevator. She dashes into Mockingbird’s and is immediately warmed by the smell of strong coffee, festive holiday syrups and the faintest scent of tea. It’s quiet; a change of pace for the usually bustling café.  There is only a small group of teens situated by a big picture window at the back of the shop and, Elena is pleased to see, there is no one in line. She can make a quick in and out and get back downstairs.

Bobbi’s at the counter, setting aside her phone when she notices her.

“Hey Elena, what can I get you?”

“Three Hot Chocolates with Peppermint,” she orders and then after a glance at her watch she adds somewhat desperately, “and a triple shot with anything.”

“Long day?”

Elena sighs and leans heavily on the counter, “it was getting better but – “

“Mack still hasn’t asked you out yet.” Bobbi already knows. She’s an old friend of Mack’s and never hearing the end of not introducing them sooner.

“No, he is a stubborn Turtleman, I’ll be lucky if he asks me out by next Christmas.”

Bobbi laughs as she prepares the drinks, “he’s just being careful, it’s in his nature.”

“But why must he be so cautious, all I want is a date.” She thought maybe it had to do with Hope at first, but the little girl genuinely seemed to like her. And then she thought maybe she had misread his interest, but the occasional flirting was always very direct.

“You’re just impatient, it’s the caffeine, you should cut back.” Bobbi slides three paper to go cups across the counter to her. Elena looks up knowingly.

“Is that your way of telling me you haven’t fixed the espresso machine?”

“The part will be in tomorrow.” Bobbi confirms and Elena grumbles in Spanish that she knows the other woman understands.  

“Can’t you make it with that thing?” She gestures to the antique espresso machine that served only as a decoration in the café’s front window. It was an impressive piece, made in Italy more than a century ago. It was also Bobbi’s prized possession even if it didn’t work.

“I wish I could, do you know how expensive it is to refurbish one of those, and mine’s almost good to go, it’s only missing a part too, but I can’t pop online and have it here tomorrow,” Bobbi grabs the coffee pot and fills a fourth paper cup before loading them into a carrier, “here I brewed this strong just for you and Daisy.”

Elena take the drinks gratefully. “Gracias.”

...

“Here you go.”  Elena reaches over Hope from behind to place a hot chocolate in front of her.

“Thank you!”

“That was quick.” Mack looks impressed as she hands him his own hot chocolate. She struggles not to roll her eyes. Quick, impatient, he can call it whatever he wants if it get it to click with him. She wants to shake him, although she suspects he may not even budge if she tried.

“What can I say, I like to move fast.”

He nods and gives her a knowing look. It’s then she realizes he really does get it, even if he is still trigger shy. “I’ve noticed, you bounce back and forth around here like a yoyo.”

“That’s would be a good nickname, Dad gives the best nicknames.” Hope says distractedly as she puts finishing touches on her ornament. She lifts it carefully to inspect it.

“Is it done?” Mack asks her.

“Its almost done, we just need a ribbon.”

“I’ll grab some for you, what color would you like?” Elena asks.

“Red, like your sweater.” She nods. Their table is scattered with rolls of green and gold ribbon but no red. She has to snag some off the table clear across the activity center. When she returns Mack and Hope are cleaning up their supplies. She cuts a length of red satin ribbon and Hope carefully ties it through the loop.

“Perfect.” Elena looks between the pair as they stand and put their jackets on. “Will I see you guys for a fourth time?” She trying to buy time.

“I’m sure we will.” Mack says certainly and for a moment Elena finds herself distracted by his smile.

“Daddy, ask her.”

Hope’s gentle prodding breaks the spell.

“Alright, alright,” Mack turns back to her. “Hope and I would like to know if you would like to join us at the Christmas parade this Saturday, if you’re not busy of course.”

Elena fights the urge to roll her eyes. It’s not exactly the invitation she had been waiting for, but it was a start. “Another tradition?” They nod. “I pretty sure I’m free.”

“YES!” Hope jumps up and flings her arms around Elena’s waist.

“Calm down Sparkplug,” he places his hands on her shoulders and pulls her against him in a calming sort of way. “We usually get there early to get a good seat.”

Elena grabs a metallic marker and scrape of paper from the craft table, “here’s my number, just text me where to find you guys and I’ll meet you.”

“Will do, thanks again for the Hot Chocolate, you helped us check another box on the holiday season list, right Hope – Hope?”

Hope is staring up at with smile on her face. Elena looks up and sees a drone from the gadget store on the second floor flying over the balcony and racing around the Christmas tree.

“Daddy can we go back to fly the drone again?” She asks and for the first time Elena things the girl sounds shy.

“We went when we got here.”

“I know, I just really want to go again.”

“Alright, but just for a bit.”

“By guys, see you Saturday.”

“Saturday.”

As soon as Mack and Hope are out of sight, she hears a whisper in her ear.

“Did he do it?” Daisy sounds giddy and over-caffeinated. Not unusual for her this time of year.

“Sort of, I’m going to the parade with them on Saturday.” Elena reports to her curious friend. “Do I have the word ‘caution’ stamped on my forehead?”

“The way you run around here maybe you should.”

“Very funny.”

“Elena!” The pair turn to see Hope running up to them waving something in her hand that sparkles. “We forgot to give this to you.” She hands Elena the ornament they had been working on.

“But this is yours, you need it for your tree.”

“Nope, flip it over.” Elena turns the ornament over in her hands. Written in swirly glitter paint letters is ‘yoyo’. “We made it for you.”

“This is beautiful, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, we’ll see you Saturday!” She disappears back into the crowd. Daisy peers over your shoulder.

“Yoyo?”

“Don’t laugh, its progress.”

[sighingstarbeam]

Spies and Gods - Chapter 9

Summary: The reader receives some unpleasant news before a night out of town.

Word Count: 2,760

Chapter 8 | Chapter 10

The ride was far from silent. Thor sat in the passenger’s seat chastising his brother about what he’s done. Loki paid no mind to his brother’s words of discouragement as he gazed out the window arms crossed. It was another argument he couldn’t win, what’s the point in fighting back? He knew what he did and had his reasons. If Loki tried to explain it was for the safety of their people Thor would literally throw him out of the moving car. Perhaps if he didn’t perform a mass cloaking spell on the ship the governments of Earth would be helpful. However, last time an enormous ship landed on Earth almost half of New York was destroyed, it was highly doubtful that they wouldn’t shoot first and ask questions later.

You stared at your phone, listening to the one sided argument take place. Your phone vibrated with a text from Lilly inviting you to her birthday party at a local nightclub Saturday night. You responded you’ll try- no, definitely be there. It was time you got out of the headquarters that wasn’t via magic portal. 

Looking up Thor was still at it, Loki was still looking out the window, and Tony was annoyed at the both of them. You had ideas floating in the back of your head of how you could help the stranded Asgardians. You knew they’ve been here for a while, but going to a whole new planet with several different cultures, adapting would be difficult and having to watch your home be destroyed didn’t help. They needed to continue to be their own society but still adjust to their new surroundings.

“What if you guys build your own Asgard here on Earth?” You interrupted Thor’s lecture, earning a stare from both him, Loki, and Tony from the rear view mirror. “I mean, there has to be somewhere that has plenty of land or even abandoned buildings to start with.” You shrugged.

“It is kind of you to suggest such a thing, Lady Y/N,” Thor said, turning to get a better view of you, “however, where could we possibly rebuild Asgard that could fit our people? I do not mean to offend, but your people and our people’s lifestyle and traditions are vastly different.”

“Vastly, different.” Loki hissed. 

You ignored his remark, turning to Tony, “Don’t you know any governors, Hell even mayors that could help out?” 

Tony focused on the road, you couldn’t tell if he heard you or not. 

“Tony-”

“Does it have to be in America?” Tony asked. 

“What do you saying, Stark?” Thor raised a brow.

“Like you said, your cultures are really different than ours. But not entirely different than Scandinavia. I mean, they worshiped and wrote about you guys, didn’t they? I’m also great buddies with the Prime Minister of Norway, I’m sure they can find a place for some alien refugees.”

Thor and Loki exchanged looks as if they were communicating telepathically. Thor patted Tony on the shoulder, “You would really do this?”

“It’s just a few phone calls. But yeah. You can be in charge of the entire situation since you’re their king and all. On one condition,” Tony pointed behind him towards Loki, “this one stays with us.”

“What?!” Loki nearly lunged forward in his seat if it wasn’t for the seat belt.

“After your stunt we’re keeping an extra close on you. Plus Doctor Weird wouldn’t want you in a different country, not that it would be a problem for him to get to you, but if we allowed that he might request for you to be under his care. Hell I wouldn’t give a damn playing divorced parent for you to be under his custody. But like it or not you’re either our responsibility, the wizard’s, or the government. You can pick.” 

Loki tightened his jaw, slumping back in his seat in defeat. Great, you’re stuck with your neighbor longer than you anticipated. You should’ve kept your mouth shut. 

Not too long later you all arrived back to Avengers HQ. Loki nearly slammed the car door before he marched to his room, almost running Thor over. Thor didn’t think much of it as he considered Loki’s point of view. Still, he agreed with Tony on keeping him in the care of the Avengers while Asgard was being rebuilt. 

“I will alert my people immediately of your plan, Y/N.” Thor patted your shoulder, “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” You patted his shoulder back, although your hand probably felt like a pebble gently tapping on him. “I wanted to help somehow. The thought of an entire people lost on a new world bothered me.”

“It bothers me as well. But hopefully we can make a difference. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go on one of those computers and research your modern day Scandinavia. I’m sure it has changed in the last few thousand years since our people were last there.” With that Thor excused himself, the thought that Thor and Loki were over a thousand years old yet still looked good baffled you.

Tony hasn’t said a word since his promise to talk to the Prime Minister. “I need to get back to my meeting.” Tony blatantly stated. Before you could think to say anything, he went back into his car and sped away, leaving you alone. 

_______

The next few days were eerily silent. Everyone was constantly in and out with various missions and assignments. The life of an Avenger wasn’t as lavish or laid back as the media portrayed them it to be. Tony ignored you the day after you and Loki were forced a visit to Doctor Strange. The day after was a bit better when you helped him with his projects, but the cold tension in the air was so thick not even a knife could cut through it. After a while the tension faded, but Tony never explained his reason for being upset, or whatever emotion you could call it. Not only were you helping Tony in the lab, you started to work out again to fill in the time. You didn’t train with the others, but Natasha did spot for you when you needed it. It’s been a while since you worked out, not since you escaped from Hydra. As for Loki, you haven’t talked to him since that day as he was cooped up in his room. Now that you thought about it, you didn’t see him leave once, not even to get food. 

Saturday rolled in so fast you almost forgot about Lilly’s birthday. You did forget to get a gift for her, but you figured you could pick something up quickly before the party. You knew you needed the day to get ready. The night club you were meeting at was as Maya described it “the boujee-ist place in all of New York”, so you wanted to look your best. You already had your stylish yet sexy outfit planned out that you’ve been dying to wear out on the town ever since the girls helped you pick it out one day on a shopping spree. You never imagined you would have two friends taking you shopping, giving you a home, and being so understanding on your situation. 

You finished taking a long, steamy bath, admiring your not too shabby work shaving your legs. You put a lavender smelling lotion all over your body right before letting the towel from your hair fall to the ground. You admired how much your hair has grown the last few years after being shaved so many times since you were a young teen into your adulthood. From your hair you looked at your body, how much weight you were able to gain back from only getting the bare nutrients and calories, you looked more youthful than you ever did when you were younger. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of people talking down the hallway. You recognized one of the voices as Tony. He would be leaving tonight with Thor for Norway, so now was your chance to try and clear the air before he left. 

Drying your hair the best you can to stop it from dripping, you slipped on a bathrobe and opened your door. Tony was walking with a few other men wearing lab coats. You figured they helped him with other projects as you recognized a few they listed as Tony told them what to focus on this weekend while he was gone. 

“Tony,” you grabbed his attention after he was a few feet away from your room, “can we talk for a minute?”

Tony nodded to the other men, patting one on the shoulder before they entered the elevator down the hall, “What do you need?”

This was the most words he’s given you the last few days. You weren’t going to let him give you the silent treatment any longer, “Are you mad at me for something?”

Tony looked confused, “I’m not mad. Why would you think that?”

“I dunno,” you leaned against your door frame, “we haven’t had a real conversation with more than three sentences since before the other day with you know who.” You tilted your head in the direction of Loki’s room. 

Tony looked at Loki’s door, expecting him to make a grand appearance at any moment, “Listen kid, I admit I was more than… irritated, when I got the call that Loki was out of the building, but it wasn’t meant to be directed towards you.” It wasn’t much of an apology, but you figured that’s the closest you would get to one. 

“I get it. I’m glad we’re actually talking, but I need to finish getting ready.” You remembered you were standing in the hallway in nothing but your bathrobe.

“Um, getting ready for what exactly?” 

“I’m going out with my friends for Lilly’s birthday. It’s just going to be dinner and a few drinks.”

“When did you plan on telling me this?” Tony said, crossing his arms, his tone straying into strict dad territory.

“I was going to mention it when I got the text, but we were in the car and I never got the chance. Besides, you didn’t really need to know the second I got the invite.”

“Yes I did need to know, because you’re not going.” 

Your jaw dropped, “I’m not going?” You asked, starting to get pissed off at Tony yet again for something ridiculous.

“You heard right,” he said, “If I knew that day we could’ve made arrangements, but Thor and I are heading to Norway tonight and everyone else is busy.”

“There’s no way that there’s absolutely nobody else that can babysit. What about Steve?”

“Infiltrating a terrorist base with Sam and Bucky.”

“Bruce?”

“Not the best idea to have him watch over Hulk’s favorite rag doll.”

“Natasha?”

“Classified.” 

“Wanda or Vision?”

“Double date with Clint and his wife that they’ve been planning for months.”

“What about all those other agents, scientists, or whatever they are? You can’t tell me they’re all busy.” You started to raise your voice in frustration. 

“For the most part, yeah, they are. I can’t ask every single one of them. Especially with this short notice.” Tony raised his voice in return, “I also know for a fact that none of them would even volunteer, they don’t have the balls like you do. You’re on nanny duty. End of discussion.” You couldn’t begin another sentence as Tony left. You were completely dumbfounded that your night was completely ruined, all because of stupid Loki.

“Well, that was quite a conversation.” Speak of the devil. Loki’s head popped out between the door and door frame, blocking your view into his room. You always wondered what his room looked like, whether it was decorated in his style, or if he kept it clean and organized or in disarray. He did like chaos, but maybe living situations was an exception. 

“How much of that did you hear?” You adjusted your bathrobe, covering yourself as modest as possible.

“Just a fair amount.” He opened his door enough to show his full body, he was wearing a casual green button up shirt and black pants. It was a little weird seeing him in human clothes as you were accustomed to his Asgardian suits. “I heard you want to go to a party but your poor father wants you to watch over me, correct?”

You didn’t respond. You didn’t want to give him any satisfaction in whatever game he wanted to play. Instead your mind wandered to what you were going to do tonight. First you had to text the girls that you couldn’t make it, you’re sure they would understand given the fact they know you’re living with a literal alien psycho. Maybe you could get into your most comfortable pajamas and binge watch some shows you’ve been meaning to catch up on. “Good night.” You said to Loki, closing your door behind you.

“I could help you.” Loki stepped out of his room, walking the few steps to use his hand to stop you from closing the door.

“Help me with what?” You glared, not wanting to put up with anything else tonight.

“You want to go to this party, I can make it seem like you were here the entire time while you’re out doing, whatever it is Midgards do for fun.” Loki was close enough you could smell his aroma, a mix of cologne and lingering leather. From what you could tell from the way he looked at you he wasn’t going to leave you alone on this.

“What’s the catch?” You asked, “I mean, what’s in it for you? I’m sure you’re not doing this from the bottom of your heart.”

Loki gave you a playful grin, “Allow me to have one night of freedom outside of this building.” The moment he said that you tried to close the door, he pushed against your force, keeping the door open, “Wait, let me explain! All I ask is a single night. I’ve been confined here for weeks, I’ve already read every book or magazine there is to offer, and your ‘television’ is mindless.”

“That’s the point of TV.” You put in extra muscle in to get the door shut, but Loki’s extra human strength overpowered you, “I’ll get you some books another time.”

Loki scoffed, “So you’re going to follow Stark’s orders like a good child?” You stopped pushing on the door. Loki stumbled from your sudden lack of effort, but straightened himself back to his arrogant self. “You may be his daughter, but you don’t have to listen to his every will and command. If you do, we’re both prisoners here.”

You hesitated, processing everything he just said, “If this is going to happen, we need to make a few arrangements.” 

Again, Loki showed his wicked smile, “Go on.”

“First, we need to leave long after Tony and Thor are gone. We can’t let anyone see us leave, especially them.”

“Leave that to me. As you know I am the expert in trickery.”

“Second, we would need to be back before tomorrow morning when everyone else gets back. So no random hookups or sleepovers.”

Loki was disgusted, “Please, as if I would ever. Especially with a Midgardian.”

You pinched the bridge of your nose, closing your eyes as you exhaled annoyed. “And lastly, you’re not going off on your own.”

Loki’s mouth opened in shock, “What?!”

“If anyone found out I snuck out on babysitting duty, I’d be in for it. But if they knew I let you go roaming around the city, I’d not only be in for it, they’d have not only my head on a stake, but yours too. Are we clear.”

Loki thought about your bargain for a moment. Yes it would suck having a tagalong on a night you were suppose to have fun, but facing the wrath of the Avengers for ditching is way worse. “Fine. On one condition.” Loki finally said.

You raised an eyebrow.

“You must be my personal assistant for an entire month. Preparing my meals, cleaning my quarters, everything.”

Great, you were sneaking out with the guy now he wants to negotiate? “Make it one week.”

“Three weeks.”

“Two.”

Once again, he bared his coy smile. Loki held out his hand, “Two weeks it is.” You stared at his outstretched hand, then before you could go back on your word you took his hand in yours, giving a firm shake.

Why do you feel like you just made a deal with the devil? 

[wcrkofart]

* ↪ wong yukhei. he/him. cismale. ╱ i thought i saw arthur (art) huang  getting questioned by the police. the twenty one year old is in their third year at west bridge studying pre-med/biochemistry. they were at manon’s party because they’d never miss a good party. do you think they had something to do with her death? + hangover food at 4am, belly-deep laughter, everything falling into place. ◜

hello friends!!!! this is my baby art!!! it’s A again (hayden’s mun) and i can’t wait to get writing :0 i actually wrote up most of this a while ago bc i’m just way too excited 

this is a character of mine I haven’t played in ages so give me time to get the hang of him!!

life

art didn’t have the most normal upbringing; he never knew his mother (probably passed away from a drug O.D) and he was never sure what his father did, just that it wasn’t very legal, wasn’t very safe, and that he travelled a lot to thailand where he met art’s mother and brought her over (p.s triad-affiliated since a very young age, cornered into helping them in white collar crime after he rose to corporate jobs when he was older.)

as a result, he moved all over asia through out his life, born in Hong Kong and stayed for four years, moving to taiwan, until his father decided to finally get out of the triad life for good life, running off to southeast asia. 

finally, art’s father moved them to the suburban east coast. when he met an american woman from wisconsin, that’s when they decided to finally settle down for real. 

he was so excited to finally settle in the u.s!!! he was obsessed with teen american movies growing up so this was v cool

finally settled, art savoured everything he could about that life, kinda easing into the teen-film-american-dream... he loves his new mom, even if she doesn’t know the whole story of what his father did. he quickly adapted to become a typical suburban American teenager.

this is why he chose to stay in wisconsin near his new family !!

personality

when he was younger, he never had a stable community (at least, not a safe one), now that he does have it, he’s having all the fun he can

he’s the life of the party!!!!! all he wants to do is #yolo

contrary to his demeanour, he’s actually quite clean-cut; he doesn’t do drugs and keeps his space really organized. 

headstrong in calculating his long-term decisions in life but ultimately just wants a nice white picket fence life and have a family, may it be found or his own :((

wants to be friends with EVERYONE and wants to make EVERYONE happy it’s a big problem!!!!!!!!!

he loves loves love and wears his heart on his sleeve, tends to throw himself into relationships and friendships head-first and just wants to make sure people and their lives are ok :(( he just wants people to STAY 

it’s part of why he chose to work in healthcare; growing up, his father always kept him out of the dirtier sides of his life but occasionally would have no choice but bring his people home. wanting to be more involved life, art found it natural to help patch them up. 

empathetic and understanding to a fault because he doesn’t like living life hating or fearing anyone....

studies!

art actually hates school — would rather go straight to working as an EMT — but not only did his father want him to have a traditional formal education, but EMT training is faster and likely involves working in public hospitals (while his father’s been out of the business for a while, it’s not long enough to cut all ties).

still he got into WBU; he inherited the intelligence and photographic memory that allowed his father to pull off everything he did.

he’s that one guy in your class who never studies but maintains his 4.0....

manon incident

it’s not out of the ordinary for art to go to a party, but like...no one usually dies?? it wasn’t great for him; it was a flashback to when he was younger, when he saw most of the gore in his life, and he couldn’t do anything about it. he agreed to the pact even though he knew his father’s power would get out of it because he didn’t want to drag his father back into the criminal life they’d worked so hard to get out of. 

random facts!!

can speak at least five languages, two 100% fluently (cantonese with his father and english from international schools)

additional aesthetics: music from The Wrecks, red flannel, teen movies

he has a good relationship with his family now; only possible point of tension is art’s sexuality (he’s not openly bi to them) 

HYPER HYPER HYPER TALKS IN CAPS LOCK LIKE THIS 

wanted connections

step-sibling: maybe his dad’s new wife’s kid!!! 

close friend: art likely chose WBU because he had a friend there he just followed sdfsdfghj 

crushes: boy falls HARD and FAST 

someone he patches up: art is used to blood and treating people on the fly, so maybe your muse gets into a lot of fights ? idk ? 

ANYTHIng

first boy he was ever with, probably in his first year!! 

probably has had a few FWBs/one night stands he’s still on great terms with

WHEW finally that’s over...that was dark ! anyways like this or hmu on discord to plot!

[robronsecretsanta]

Under Atmospheric Haze, Just Some Stratospheric Strays

Aaron and Robert spend their Christmas Eve-Eve together at Leeds’ German Market.

Merry Christmas, @aarondingel 🎄

All it took was some gentle persuasion. Well, if you can call a quick fumble in-between meetings and a sex sated, raspy grunt of “suppose I’ll have to say yes now, won’t I?!?,” persuasion.

It doesn’t take much for Aaron to give in to Robert’s extroverted propositions. Especially when he’s flashing that famous winning smile with Aaron’s sparkly, satisfied eyes reflecting right back. The same was happening, now. 50ft in the air in the centre of Leeds. High on overpriced German beer, frankfurters in a bun too big to even fit your mouth round, fancy festivities, and a pre-snog in the back row of the Everyman Cinema like lovesick teens - because of course, on Robert’s agenda, it had to be the place with the plush, leather seats and a hefty price.

“You’ve enjoyed yourself tonight, haven’t you?” Robert proudly pried, slightly turning to the side where his spent husband had his red hood covered head leaning against his shoulder.  

Although he’s already wrapped a new novelty jumper for Aaron to open on the morning of the 25th and is internally screaming with giddiness just thinking about it, Robert had insisted he wore the Santa hoodie for the occasion. It carries bittersweet memories but it’s also a damn good garb in the name of all things Christmas and it’s no use stuck at the back of the wardrobe kept safe and collecting dust.

(Robert also sussed Aaron had clung to that hoodie as a way for him to privately recollect and draw comfort from it for a year straight, and that brought him double the bubble of warmth and contentment.)

“How did you guess?!”

Aaron met his eyes with an undeniable smirk painted on his face. There was no getting past this one.

“Hmm, not sure. Could be the fact I’ve not seen you this relaxed in a long time. Or could be your competitive streak I had the pleasure of witnessing during a game of ruthless Hook A Duck with a ten year old kid.”

That earned Robert a light slap to the stomach followed by Aaron cuddling inches closer, one hand let loose and the other nestling against his husband’s knee. Robert’s teasing always ended up being more endearing than insulting, that he can vouch for.

Aaron chose to overlook a witty remark back and that had a lot to do with Robert reciprocating his hand movement with a gentle thumb rub. He swore he lost control of a steady heartbeat in that standstill second. After all these years and marriage signed on paper, it still feels like the first time. It still feels so right he can’t focus on anything but the way their tips touch, the solid connection moulding his senses, the overbearing scent he’s grown to harmoniously depend on.

“Yeah, alright, it’s been nice.” He opted for a flippant eye roll and a blasé attitude. “Summat different innit?! Better than being at home dealing with teen problems and dodgy business when we should actually be prepping for our first Christmas in our family home in two days time.”

Miles better in fact. It’d been the most carefree and genuinely chipper he’d felt in weeks. Yeah, okay, walking hand in hand with zero inhibitions around a crowded winter village full of fairy lights and wooden stalls, finished with a cosy indoor log fire retreat reeking of stale ale and a ride on the big wheel, had been a whole lot of light fun and a boost to the ole spirit system - both the festive and the self-credibility kind - but he wasn’t gonna let Robert know that. He didn’t want to give him the benefit of the doubt and make his self righteous ego any bigger than it already was.

A soft stare and a lopsided smile was what Aaron was faced with when he lifted his head back up. Robert’s eyes had always been Aaron’s uttermost favourite feature for as long as he can remember - the mesmerising sapphire sea green shade setting his soul alive, stamping on his beating heart and rapid pulse - and now, beneath the electric hues of purple and muted lustre shadows, he recalled the intoxicating thrill washing through him when he first realised there was no other visual he’d rather wake up to for the rest of his life.

“Remind me to bring you back here next year,” Robert simpered with a hint of unabashed adoration flashed across his entire face, bringing Aaron out of his brief daydream. “If it’s gonna bring out this soppy side of you I’m already booking the taxi.”

“Shut up,” Aaron scoffed. Failing to hide the spreading flush of his cheeks even in the now moonlit sky.

“No, I’m serious. I’m glad you agreed to it, in the end,” Robert’s voice lowered and his expression earnest. “It’s rare we get to spend proper quality time together now. What with you running the scrapyard whilst I con Graham for all he’s worth. Plus, it’s our first Christmas as a married couple so we’ve gotta start it the right way.”

A mediocre market filled with tacky mementos, sickly sweet air pollution, and rowdy groups of work do gatherings wasn’t the imagined idea of the most high class, romantic Christmas Eve-Eve celebratory date. It wasn’t exhilarating but it worked, because he had Robert beside him. Robert with his windswept hair and goofy grin and gangling limbs and ability to make anywhere feel like home.

“Yeah,” Aaron delicately whispered.

To an outsider, the audible silence weaved between them could be misjudged as awkward but to them, it was laced with meaning. Responsive words weren’t always needed. Especially here, in their own intimate bubble; both metaphorically and legitimately. (They were lucky to bag a carriage of their own on a hustled and bustled Sunday.)

This moment here, so placid they were able to drown out the rest of the world as though they were the only two to exist; even above the noise of jingling bells, booming kids, and classic renditions of songs, was worth its weight in gold.

“So, family home, ey?” Robert’s the first one to break the quiet; nudging Aaron and raising his brows with a light chuckle as though his brain’s been overriding with deep thoughts and he’s attempting to disguise it. “Never thought I’d get to hear that.” Yeah, he definitely had.

“Mad innit?!” Aaron met his eyes for the second time. “Bit different compared to last year.”

“What, when I embarrassed myself in front of an entire pub and then almost met my fate in the hands of a car bumper?”

Aaron didn’t answer, again. Just shook his head frivolously. He knew it probably still affected Robert. He knew he still reacted sensitively and this was a chance for him to momentarily mull over the weight of the situation. How it played a pivotal part to where they are currently, in the here and now.

“You know, I was thinking. Maybe we’d be able to bring our own family here one day. Use the little ones as an excuse to have a go of the swings and the carousel without looking deranged.”

That cheeky demeanour with a hint of hushed emotion had returned. Robert tended to change the subject once he’d evaluated and moved along the lines of his thought pattern. Only now Aaron was the one to be stirred. A shudder travelling down his spine all the way to the forefront of his mind where he instantaneously imagined Robert holding the waist of their toddler, faces radiating with infectious glee and laughter as they waved to the video camera Aaron was holding. Protecting and nurturing, just like the brilliant dad he’d seen him grow to be.

“Maybe. But first can we just savour the peace and quiet whilst we still have it.”

“Good idea. As long as you can admit I most definitely made the best decision of having a night here and I was right to convince you all along.” Robert really wasn’t going to let this one go.

Aaron still wasn’t going to profess the truth, but he was right. Tonight had been a dream. A dream that had somehow converted to real life. Real life he’d have never panned out for himself. The PDA. The gorgeous husband. The aimless yet wholeheartedly significant conversation. The state of serenity and security allowing him to let loose and lap up the jovial atmosphere. The plans for the future. The man he desired and was unconditionally devoted to, returning that with twice the emphasis; looking at him like the stars had gravitated towards his entire being. Having everything he ever needed, right here.

Robert drew Aaron even further towards him so their proximity had reached its pinnacle. Aaron couldn’t help but notice just how perfectly well their bodies fit together as he leaned into the arm wrapped around his shoulder. Their bonded torsos was like a moth to a flame. Like a drug he couldn’t ever get enough of.

“Maybe I can convince you to spill with a trip upstairs when we get home,” Robert was still rambling on in the depths of defeat.

That caught Aaron’s attention, an unavoidable lip bite and a blood rush to the top of his skull right down to his toes, but he still wasn’t giving in.

“You really are a stubborn git, you know that?” Robert accentuated every last syllable. “Good job I love you.”

And with a puckered kiss to his temple, a smooth thumb running over his knuckles, Aaron breathed a sigh of ease with a soft snigger. “I love you too, idiot.”

Maybe, just maybe, he could get used to every Christmas being as traditional and timeless as this.

[justanoutlawfic]

Back To You: Chapt. 5

Story Summary: 5 years ago, Belle left Storybrooke and became a New York Times Bestselling Author. Now, she's returning to Storybrooke to try to convince her husband to finally give her the divorce she's been begging for. However, the longer she spends in town...the more she realizes...maybe that's not what she wants anymore.

Chapter Summary: Belle and Jefferson make a plan. At The Miner Day’s Festival, Belle gains perspective.

Also on AO3

Belle sat anxiously as she listened to the Skype call ring. She had never been this nervous to talk to Jefferson, ever. A part of her wondered why. Sampson had given her what she wanted, he had signed the divorce papers. Nothing was stopping her from accepting Jefferson’s proposal now. Her mom had asked if she was nervous if Jefferson still wanted to marry her, but it wasn’t even that. Whether he did or he didn’t, it didn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

 Was this really what she had wanted all those years ago?

 “Of course it was,” she mumbled to herself.

 She had gone to her mom in tears after the third time Gold had driven home from work drunk. It was nearly a year after losing Nellie and nothing had changed. She had gone to Dr. Hopper for help with her grieving, but Gold didn’t want to work on his own. He drank, he went to the shop and he’d come home long after he’d thought she’d gone to bed. She was terrified of losing him, terrified of losing the man he had once been.

 It took a pregnancy scare to knock some sense into her. She had loved him, of course she did A year prior, she had wanted nothing more than to be the mother of his children. The man he was then, though? She couldn’t bring a child into this world with him being a drunk.

 She couldn’t bring a child into this world, the same way her mother had.

 The way Colette had looked at her, with such fear, made her feel even worse. Her mom had worked so hard to make sure she had a better life for herself, even if it meant they’d have to be apart. She had given Belle what she needed to leave and Belle had promised her she’d never look back.

 So, she couldn’t start now.

 The ringing stopped and Jefferson’s face took over her laptop screen.

 “Hi,” she whispered.

“Hey.”

“I um, I don’t know if you’re busy…or…”

“No, I just got out of a meeting actually.”

“Good, good…” She paused. “So, my husband signed the papers.”

“Really?”

 There was a hesitance in his voice and Belle couldn’t blame him. She reached into her bag and pulled out the documents Sampson had signed, showing him the final page. A tiny smile of relief fell across Jefferson’s face.

 “Wow.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what came over him, but he finally did it.” Belle set the papers down. “I am really sorry I never told you about all this.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because, I didn’t think you’d want to date me. I have a lot of baggage, Jefferson. I promise though, this is the only thing I lied about. I’m still the same girl you fell in love with.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“It was an impossible situation. I’ve tried putting myself in your shoes a million times since you told me and I wondered what I would do. I want to think I’d be honest, but…I don’t know. It is a lot.”

 Belle slowly nodded, letting out the breath she had been holding in.

 “I still want to marry you, Belle.”

She nodded. “And if you asked me again, I could give you an honest answer.” She smiled a bit. “I’ll be home as soon as I can. I promised my friend I’d go to this festival with her tonight, but maybe I could catch a flight tomorrow…”

“Or Gracie and I could come up to you.”

Belle raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“We could get married there. All your friends and family, I’ll bring Jasmine and Ariel with me.”

“Oh, Jeff, I don’t know…”

“I always wanted to see where you grew up, this is my chance.”

“Don’t you want a big, fancy wedding?”

“I had that with my first wife. Look, it’d be fun. I’ll fly up in about a week and then we can start the planning.”

 Belle wanted to say no, she wanted to argue that it wasn’t enough time. Yet, deep down she knew that if Sampson could be so willing to sign the divorce papers, surely he’d have one of his judge friends sign off on it in the meantime. The only thing holding her back, was herself.

 “Um…sure.”

Jefferson grinned from ear to ear. “Great. A proper Maine wedding it will be.”

“Yay,” Belle said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as he did.

The Miner’s Day Festival was a long held tradition in Storybrooke. According to history, the nuns would exchange candles for coal with the miners and apparently everyone was so grateful, it became an official holiday in the small town. The weeks before the festival, Mary Margaret Nolan held up a fundraiser for selling candles and there’d be a big celebration at the end of it. It was a fun excuse to run around, eat fattening fair food and just get together. Belle’s last one had been right before she decided to get the hell out of dodge and it seemed like nothing had changed.

 She spotted Ruby sitting at a picnic table with Emma and Regina, which made her pause. She had talked with Ruby and Regina, but hadn’t seen Emma since the party the night before. She slowly walked over and hung back a bit.

 “Hey guys,” she said.

Ruby looked up at her with a smile. “Hey.”

Belle looked over at Emma. “I’m really sorry about last night.”

Emma shrugged. “Forget about it.” She turned to Henry, handing him some cash. “Go get Belle a hot cocoa.”

 Henry nodded and raced off, while Belle slid into the seat next to Regina’s. She looked around the festival, catching the eyes of familiar faces. If anyone was still upset with her about the party, they weren’t showing it and she was grateful. Small towns were notorious for being gossipy.

 She got a good sight of Gold and her heart skipped a beat. He had…cut his hair? Why would he do a thing like that? Sure, he had trimmed it over the time when she had known him, but now it was perfectly groomed, no stray hairs anywhere.

 “He claims it’s because he’s getting older,” Emma said.

“Huh?”

“Sampson’s hair. Don’t pretend like you weren’t looking.”

A tiny bit of blush spread across Belle’s cheeks. “I…I wasn’t expecting it.”

“He came around the house to pick us up and he about knocked me over with a feather.” Emma shrugged. “It’s not as if we don’t know the real reason.”

“He told you about that?”

“It was all over town by this afternoon. Leroy saw him handing you some papers in the shop,” Regina cut in.

Belle frowned. “I didn’t think it’d happen so quickly.”

“You know this town.”

“I just…I can’t believe he finally did it. I never understood why he wouldn’t.”

 Emma and Regina exchanged a look, almost as if they were having a silent conversation. Belle folded her arms over her chest.

 “What?”

“Sam went to New York, you know,”  Emma said. “It was right around the time he got out of rehab…”

“He went to rehab?”

“Yup. He got straight out and flew down to see you. He saw how amazing it was, though. He knew it was where all your dreams were going to come true. He knew deep down that he had to clean himself up a lot more before he’d win you back.”

“That’s why he wouldn’t sign the papers,” she whispered.

Emma nodded. “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”

“Guess not.”

 Henry returned, Neal and a few others not far behind him. Belle hung back for most of the night, watching the festival go on. Eventually, though, she got up and started wondering around. She moved far out of the noise of the festival, the pop music drowning out behind her. She made it to the well, the very same one she had stood at the day she left home. She had tossed a coin in, wishing for a sign that she was doing the right thing.

 “Penny for your thoughts?”

The sudden accented voice threw Belle off and she looked up. “What are you doing here?”

Gold shrugged. “Festivals aren’t really my thing, I like to come around here to think I guess.”

“This is where I came the day I decided I was going to leave you,” she whispered. “Wished for a sign.”

“Did you get one?”

“No. Still left, anyway.”

“Belle…”

“You know, I’m really happy in New York,” she mumbled. “Then I come here and, well, I find that I’ve missed it.”

“You don’t miss this place.”

“Don’t tell me how I feel. I miss a lot about it. I miss my mom, I miss my friends. I miss how peaceful it was, how it felt to go where everyone knew you.”

“You can’t have roots and wings.”

 Belle looked away, staring down at the well.

 “You cut your hair.”

“Felt time for a change.”

“And here I thought only teen girls cut their hair when going through a breakup.”

“Funny.”

“You ever gonna tell me what happened to your leg?”

“Car accident,” Gold admitted. “A little after you left.”

“Drunk driving?”

“Can’t tell a lie.”

She let out a shallow breath. “You could’ve killed yourself and you’d have deserved it too.”

“Oh trust me, I know. I was stupid. It was the wakeup call I needed.”

Belle finally met his eye. “I’m glad you’re sober, I really, really am. I can’t imagine how hard it was.”

“It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. I just took it one day at a time, like the prayer says.”

“The serenity prayer.”

“You know it?”

“It’s not just for addicts, you know. After we lost Nellie, I’d say it to myself all the time.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, Belle, not the way a husband should be.”

“Sam…”

“No, just listen. I was selfish and stupid. I knew you were going through a lot, but losing that baby…it just broke something in me. When Milah left, I nearly went off the deep end but I had Neal to keep me in check. When we lost the baby…I knew I had you, but I didn’t let that be enough. I wish I had chose you, that I had been the man you deserved. The man you married.”

 The crickets sang in the background, but for once it wasn’t out of awkward silence. Belle was looking at her soon-to-be-ex in awe.

“I’m so sorry, for everything.”

“I forgave you a long time ago,” she said, softly. “And I’m sorry too, for running away.”

“You did what you had to. And I’m so proud of you, Belle, you have no idea.”

“I bet you haven’t even read any of my books.”

“Oh really?”

“You always said romance novels were for the hopeless.”

“Well, I happen to think that Rumford is an idiot and that Lacey is my favorite character from book or screen.”

Belle bit her lip. “You did read them.”

“A big change from when you first started writing.”

“After the baby...just didn’t seem right.”

“You have to write what you know. And that’s what you knew.”

“Rumford was highly exaggerated.”

“No, he wasn’t. I was pretty bad. I didn’t blame Lacey for never going back, and I never blamed you.”

“You still didn’t sign the papers.”

“I had hope.”

 She was quiet again, running her fingers over the stone.

 “I just needed a new life.”

“And you got your wish. I’m proud of you, Belle. I wish I could’ve been the husband you needed.” He took hold of her hand. “I’m sure this next guy will be better.”

 Belle looked from his hand, to back at him. A part of her knew she should just leave. Walk away, go back to the festival or go home, go anywhere. Call Jefferson and tell him that she couldn’t get married in Maine, there was just too much damn history.

 Instead, she leaned in and kissed her husband for the first time in 5 years.

 And she hated herself for admitting that it felt damn good.

 She didn’t want it to end. Her hands went up to his cheeks and she held on for dear life as he deepened the kiss. For a moment, she was walking on Cloud 9 once again.

 Suddenly, he pulled away and she stumbled back a bit. He looked at her with the same love he had for all those years and she waited for him to beg her not to marry Jefferson, beg for her to go back to him.

 Instead, the next words out of his mouth were, “Go home.”

“Sam.”

“Go home, Belle.”

 She slowly walked away from the well, willing herself to not look back.

 Little did she know, someone had been witnessing the entire scene…

[olicitysecretsanta]

A Very Magical Christmas

Happy Holidays @nerdyandturdy! I know that you like fantasy so this is my attempt at fancy with a little magic. I so hope you enjoy! I would rate this fic between G and Teen. Thanks so much to @wherethereissmoak for proofing and helping with the magic!

A gift from @hope-for-olicity

Felicity Smoak looked around her bare apartment. Everywhere she went, places were decorated for the holidays. As she looked around the room she felt cold, she saw the throw she was looking for and called it to her. Suddenly, she was wrapped in warmth.

She pointed at her fireplace and a fire began. Felicity Smoak was a witch and proud of it, but in recent years she wished she celebrated Christmas. Growing up she was surrounded by other members of her Coven and they had their own Wiccan traditions, but the number in her Coven had lessened in recent years and she felt more alone.

Her aunts would tell of times when witches were accepted and seen as healers in society, but in Felicity’s lifetime she’s had to keep her identity a secret or risk persecution. She was still happy to be a witch, she ran her own shop where she sold teas, stones and crystals and was seen as eclectic, but not a threat. But this year more than ever she was lonely and wished she could celebrate Christmas.

****

Felicity was in her shop, A Little Bit of Magic, during the holiday season when she heard the jingle of door opening. She looked up to see the most attractive man she’d ever seen in real life. He had the most beautiful blue eyes and chiselled jaw. She could tell beneath his black peacoat he was probably built with broad shoulders. He wiped the snow off his shoulders and looked at her.

“Hello, it’s really coming down out there!”

Felicity couldn’t help but smile. “Well, I’m glad you came inside.”

“Thank you for providing refuge. Actually, I’m here for a reason. I’m looking for a present for my sister. I want to get her something special.”

“Well, you’ve come to the right place. Why don’t you tell me about your sister and I can make a recommendation.”

“Sure, she’s in her second year of university, she is kind, loves to help others, she likes fashion and chocolate.”

“She sounds lovely. Let’s see what I have.”

“How about some peppermint tea and this lovely rose quartz pendant. The rose quartz symbolizes unconditional love, like that between a brother and sister.”

“Wow, this is great! Thanks so much. You are remarkable.”

“Thanks for remarking. Let me just ring this up for you. Would you like it gift wrapped?”

“You offer that service?”

No, but she could work her magic, literally, underneath the table for this man. “Yes.”

“That would be great! I’m Oliver, by the way.” He held out his hand. There was something about this woman, he just felt like he had to know her.

“Felicity, Felicity Smoak. Nice to meet you.” She took his hand and automatically felt a current running between them. She looked up slowly to see if he felt it too and caught him blushing. She smiled; he didn’t seem the type to blush.

“I have a feeling we could be friends, I mean if you’d like that. I don’t mean you have to be my friend. You probably have plenty of friends.”

“Oliver, I’d love to be your friend.”

“Good.” He smiled.

“Let me just go in back for a second to wrap your purchase.” She walked into the back room which had a cloth curtain door, she pointed at the small box and it quickly wrapped itself with the various pieces of tissue paper in the back. Now, what to do with the rest of the time it would take to wrap a present….

“Felicity, I’m going to run across the street while you wrap and grab coffee. Be right back.” Oliver called out from the store.

“Sounds good,” Felicity called back. If she knew him better, she’d ask him to pick her up something. Oh well, she’d just make a tea once he left. One of the perks of owning a shop that sells tea.

Felicity shop wasn’t overly busy. Truthfully, she did most of her business online. Her aunts thought she was crazy using the Internet, but it had saved her business. She walked back out to the cash register to wait for Oliver.

Oliver was right, the snow really was coming down. Her store was on a cobblestone street that was closed to cars. It was decorated for the holidays with twinkle lights and garland, with the snow it was beginning to look like a snowglobe come to life. She smiled as Oliver came back inside carrying a tray of drinks.

“I got you some hot chocolate to drink.” He handed her a cup.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that! How, much do I owe you?” Felicity felt flustered. It wasn’t often people surprised her.

“Consider it a Christmas present.”

“Oh, I don’t celebrate Christmas.” She said before she could stop herself.

“Oh, that was rather presumptuous of me wasn’t it? I hope you will still accept the chocolate as a thank you for helping me with Thea’s present.”

“Okay, if you insist. I’d hate to insult a paying customer. Thank you.” Felicity smiled. Was this flirting? She’d never been very good at in the past.

“You are so welcome.”

They both smiled at each other like idiots for a moment before Felicity suddenly remembered she had a job to do. “Here, let me check you out. I mean ring you in.” She handed Oliver the wrapped present and he handed her his credit card. Why did she always say the wrong thing?

“OH MY GOD YOU ARE OLIVER QUEEN.”

“Yes, is that a bad thing?” Oliver was suddenly terrified that he had done something to offend her in the past. He’d really straightened up his act in the last few years, but there were some pretty wild party years before that.

“No, of course not. It’s just, you’re famous and I didn’t recognize you. I mean, I recognized that you were attractive but, I didn’t put that together with you are Star City’s most eligible bachelor. And now I’ve talked too much! I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable!” Felicity blushed furiously.

“Not uncomfortable. Flattered. Felicity, would you be willing to go out to coffee with me?”

Felicity couldn’t believe he looked worried about her answer after what she had just said! “Yes, I mean that would be nice.”

“Is tonight too soon? What time do you close your shop?”

“I’m actually closing up my shop now, you are my last customer and you have already bought me chocolate. How about we go for a walk and enjoy the Christmas lights?”

“That sounds great. If you don’t mind the snow.” He was a little worried, most of the women he dated were more concerned about their hair than experiencing nature.

“I’m not that sweet, I won’t melt.” Felicity winked at him as put her hat on and switched into her winter boots.  Oliver helped her into her coat. “Okay, let me grab my chocolate and lock up and we are good to go.”

*****

They walked in silence for a while both admiring the lights. “They are so lovely,” Felicity sighed. “Sometimes I wish I celebrated Christmas.”

“They are pretty magical. Well, I’m sure you can still enjoy the lights, decorations and maybe the food, right?”

“I guess I could, but I’ve never done it before.”

“Well, I hope I’m not being too forward but would you like to join my family and friends for Christmas?”

“Oh, I wasn’t fishing for an invitation!”

“I didn’t think you were. I mean it - why don’t you come out to the Queen mansion for Christmas. My parents are going out of town, but Thea and I will be celebrating, I’ve invited some other friends and I’m cooking.”

“You’re cooking? You know how to cook?!”

“Hey, I’ll try not to be offended as you haven’t tasted my cooking yet, but yes, I cook and I’m quite decent - if I have to say so myself.”

Oliver looked so proud, she wanted to hug him, but it was too soon for that. “Are you sure I wouldn’t be imposing?”

“Definitely not imposing. I’d really like it if you came. We have lots of room at the mansion, after all, it is a mansion. Why don’t I send a car to the store for you when you close up on Christmas Eve? You can pack a bag, stay the night. It will be fun.” He so hoped she said yes. It suddenly seemed like his Christmas would be ruined if she didn’t.

“Okay.” Felicity smiled. “Thanks so much for including me, I mean, I’m basically a stranger to you.”

“You seem like good people. I’m going to trust my gut on this. I’m in!”

They smiled at one another and Oliver began thinking this might be his best Christmas yet. At that very moment the Christmas lights in shop began to sparkle brighter, Oliver couldn’t help but think that was neat, he’d have ask Felicity where she bought them.

*****

Felicity took a deep breath, she could do this - no magic for the next forty-eight hours. She really wanted Oliver and his friends and family to like her. This is her one chance to experience Christmas and she would not let herself spoil it by scaring the muggles.

The car had brought her to the Queen Mansion’s door and she was just gathering her courage before ringing the bell. One last pep talk and she was all good. She was just raising her hand to ring the doorbell when the door opened.

“Please don’t leave. I promise we won’t bite. It just looks like you might leave, please don’t.” Oliver had watched her through the window as soon as the car arrived. He had seen her tell the driver she’d be the one to knock on the door and then she seemed to be having a conversation with herself. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and had rushed down to open the door.

Felicity didn’t know what to say. Oliver was standing in the door in his socked feet, dark washed jeans and a tight-fitted dark green henley that did wonders for his blue eyes AND he was begging her to stay. “Okay.” It was all she could force from her mouth.

“Here, let me take your bag.” Oliver leaned down to pick up her bag as though it weighed nothing, she knew that wasn’t true. “Follow me and I’ll take this up to your room and then give you a tour.”

Felicity stopped in the main foyer, there was a stunning fifty-foot tree full of twinkling lights. “Wow.”

“Yeah, I like that one too. Here,” Oliver grabbed a candy cane off the tree and handed it to Felicity. “Better get one now before Thea and I eat them all.”

Felicity took the candy cane and attempted to open the wrapper. Oliver watched her struggle for a minute. “It’s easier if you bite it.”

“Bite the plastic?” Felicity looked confused. If he’d stop watching her so closely, she would have had it open immediately but she was living magic-free.

“Yes, would you like me to do it for you?”

Felicity handed him the candy cane and watched. She could not lie watching Oliver bite into the wrapper gave her thoughts.

She shook her head and smiled as she took the opened candy cane from him. She put it in her mouth and licked. “Yum, these are good.”

Oliver had to stop himself from moaning out loud. He cleared his throat. “Your room is just this way.” He walked down the hall. “There is a guest wing, but Thea and I thought it would be more cozy for everyone to stay in the same wing.”

He opened the door on the left and they walked into a mint green room. “This is beautiful, Oliver. Thanks so much.”

“Glad you like it. I’m next door and Thea is across the hall. If you want to leave your bag here, I’ll give a tour of the rest of the house and introduce you to Thea. She just ran out for something, but should be back soon.”

*****

“So, how many Christmas trees do you have, exactly?” Felicity teased him as they made their way back to the kitchen.

“Fifteen, I think. Why, do think it’s too many?” Oliver chuckled.

“Nope. Sixteen might be too many, but fifteen PERFECT.”

“I’m so glad you approve.” They entered the kitchen. “Now, can I get you something to eat or drink? I was thinking of having a glass of wine. Would you like one?”

“Yes, that would be lovely.” Felicity took a seat on one of the bar stool next to kitchen island. The kitchen, like the rest of the house, was huge. It had light wood cupboards and floors and accented with copper pans and decor, which made it shiny and light. This was accentuated with shiny holiday decorations. Felicity was amazed this entire place had been Christmatized.

Oliver had just finished pouring glasses of red wine when they heard, “Ollie, I’m home and I brought guests.”

“Should we go out and meet her?” Felicity asked as she picked up her wine glass.

“Sure.”

“Please lead the way, I don’t want to get lost.” She joked.

Oliver was so relieved that Felicity was joking. He hoped he brought her the same type of peace that she brought out in him.

They walked into the foyer.

“Oh wow, you must be Felicity! So nice to meet you!” Thea rushed forward to shake Felicity’s hand. “Always nice to have another lady here.” Thea turned to the friends she brought. “Felicity, this is my boyfriend Roy Harper and our good friends John Diggle and Sara Lance. Guys, this is Felicity Smoak.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Felicity nodded and smiled.

*****

Christmas Eve focused on a lovely meal of spaghetti and meatballs made by Oliver and lots more wine and games. There were chocolates and chips and drinks - Felicity really could learn to love this Christmas thing. Before she could stop herself she yawned.

“Oh no, someone is ready for bed. Think we found the weakest link.” Oliver teased.

“Haha very funny, Queen. I think I just had a bit too much wine.”

“Do you want a coffee? I mean, is it too late for you to have coffee?”

“It’s never too late for me to have coffee, I’m one of those people who caffeine doesn’t affect much.”

“Well, I’ll go make you one. How do you take it? This is actually the reason I got you chocolate last time.”

“I’ll follow you to the kitchen. It would be good to stretch my legs.” Felicity stood up and swayed. She really had drunk too much wine. It was just so good. But it would not do to have her new friends think she was a lush.

“Here, let me help you.” Oliver put his arm around her waist and led her out of the room. Upon their contact, the lights in the hallway flickered. Felicity tried to shut herself down and willed her magic to get under control. This man made her feel things she had never felt before, and she was acting like a young witch with fresh powers. Oliver just looked at the wall lights curiously. and said “Huh, that is so weird. We’re going to have to call an electrician in after the holidays. You know how these old houses are.”

“I’m sorry, I must have drunk too much wine. Not very polite of me.” Felicity was ashamed.

“Hey, you clearly don’t know me very well. You are fine! What I mean is I used to drink a lot, I may have slowed down since becoming a serious businessman, but you never need to apologize to me.”

“Thanks, Oliver.”

They made it to the kitchen and she stumbled again and called the stool toward her. She got up on it and turned to face Oliver who looked at her shocked.

“Did you just move that stool with your mind?!”

“Now, who has had too much to drink?” She joked trying to cover up her mistake. She really hoped Oliver would go with it.

“I didn’t think I did, but really, how could you have done that? It’s not like you perform magic?”

“Exactly. I think we should both have some coffee.” She hated lying to Oliver, but she really wanted to stay for tomorrow and if he knew she was a witch that was unlikely to happen.

*****

Oliver and Felicity brought their coffees back to the living room, where the others seemed to be getting ready to call it a night as well.

“We will have to hang the stockings!” Thea rushed out of the room, presumably looking for stockings.

“They are in here Speedy!” Oliver called after his sister and Felicity took a step back. She had seen this Christmas tradition in many movies. She didn’t have a stocking, but would enjoy watching the process.

Thea rushed back in the room.

“Here’s your’s Thea,” Oliver handed Thea a stocking. “And here is one for you Roy, John, Sara and Felicity.” Oliver watched Felicity’s face for a reaction.

“Wow. Thanks. I’ve never had a stocking before. Thanks so much for thinking of me.” Felicity felt as excited as a child.

Oh, she was happy. Oliver was so relieved. He wanted to include her but not offend her and he couldn’t explain it, but making Felicity happy made him feel so much joy, he couldn’t stop trying.

Oliver’s happy thoughts were interrupted by Sara. “Okay, I think we should hang them. Sorry, I’m dropping on my feet guys and I have a feeling someone,” she looked pointedly at Oliver, “will have us up very early tomorrow.”

“Sorry, I can’t help it. I’m sooo excited.” Oliver smiled.

And it was in that moment, Felicity realized she was in BIG TROUBLE. This man made her heart flip-flop and he was not a warlock. She was suddenly very worried.

“Oh don’t look like that Felicity. I promise to protect your door. You are our guest.” Thea went over and put her arm around Felicity. “Oliver, you are not to wake our guest super early.”

“Don’t worry, Felicity. I’ll wait until everyone else is up before disturbing you. I have to put the turkey in anyway.”

“You are going to cook a turkey?”

“Of course!”

“Get me up! I want to watch.”

“You want to watch me cook a turkey.”

Felicity nodded enthusiastically.

“On that note let’s all head to bed.” Oliver led Felicity out of the living room and up the stairs. The others followed.

*****

Sara wasn’t kidding about Oliver getting up early. It wasn’t even light out when she heard a knock on her door and then a low “Felicity, Felicity do you still want to get up?” Felicity had been sleeping elevated above her bed, as witches tended to do sometimes, and she came crashing down with the knock on the door. She hoped she didn’t alarm Oliver with the noise.

“No! I mean, yes. I don’t want to get up, but I want to get up. You know, what I mean?”

“No, but that’s because you haven’t had coffee yet.”

Felicity stumbled out of bed in her Star Wars flannel pajamas and reached for her slippers. “I forgot my robe.”

“You look great! Come on.” Oliver took Felicity’s hand. Best Christmas Ever!

“I doubt I look great, but thanks for saying that. Now, please lead meeee to coffee.”

“Already brewing.” Before Oliver could stop himself, he bent down and kissed top of her head. “Merry Christmas, Felicity.”

“Merry Christmas, Oliver.” She gave him a quick hug before they made it into the kitchen. “Oooh coffee, come to me coffee.” Felicity took the mug from the Keurig and Oliver quickly replaced it with his own. “Coffee, I love you.” Felicity looked down at her coffee.

“Should I leave you two alone?” Oliver joked. They sat in companionable silence until Felicity finished her first cup. She looked so cute as made a pouty face while looking into the empty cup. “Don’t worry, I can make you more - it’s like magic.” Oliver grabbed her mug and turned back to the machine.

As the coffee came down, Oliver looked out the window. “The snow is falling again. I had half hoped to get out there and make a rink. My Dad used to do that for us when we were kids.” Oliver turned back and saw Felicity already had the coffee in her hand. She must have gotten up really quietly. But something seemed off.

“Okay, time to put the turkey on. Prepare to be amazed!”

Oliver explained how he had made the dressing yesterday and he was going to stuff it in the turkey using cheesecloth after he took out the turkeys insides. Once the turkey was stuffed and in the oven. Oliver let Felicity do the first basting with the stock. “I’m doing it. I’m cooking a turkey.” Felicity said proudly. Oliver just smiled, letting her have her moment.

“Okay, turkey is in. Let’s go wake the others. It is time to see what Santa brought.” Oliver raced up the stairs before Felicity could look at the time, but when she did, she noticed it was still very early.  She chased after him, hissing, “are you sure??”

But Felicity was too late, Oliver was walking down the hallway, loudly, knocking on doors saying “Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!!”

Only once all the doors were open did Oliver relent. Felicity loved watching him in action. “Come on, we can get the couch if we hurry.” Oliver grabbed Felicity��s hand. Felicity wasn’t sure what he meant, but it seemed important so she went with him.

They both landed on the couch. “Now, we have the most comfy place in the room.” Oliver smiled.

“You are amazing, Oliver Queen.”

“Why thank you, Felicity Smoak.” He looked down at her lips without thinking and then leaned in, Felicity met him halfway. The lights on the Christmas tree sparkled brighter as they kissed,but Felicity was able to pull her powers back before Oliver noticed and just focus on the way his kisses made her feel.

They broke apart when they heard throats clearing. “Jeez, you were the one who woke us up!” John teased.

“Let’s see what Santa brought!!” Thea quickly handed out the stockings.

Felicity was amazed to find her stocking stuffed with goodies. She really wasn’t expected this. Who did this? Was there really a Santa Claus?

Oliver watched the confusion play over Felicity’s face. “Just be happy Santa came. I hope you like your stuff.”

Felicity began taking out items one at a time, admiring each. Oliver sat next to her and dumped his out in a big pile in front of him. “Cool!”

After everyone, had taken the time to look at their haul, Thea proclaimed it was time to open gifts!

“Oh, wait a moment. My gifts are upstairs. One sec!” Felicity rushed out of the room.

Oliver followed her. “Felicity, you weren’t expected to bring gifts! You being here is the best present.”

“You mean that, don’t you?” Tears filled Felicity’s eyes.

“Hey,” He pulled her close. “I didn’t say that to make you sad. Are we okay?”

“Better than. I’ll get the presents. You head back and save our spot!”

“Of course!”

Felicity overheard Oliver say “Up!” in the distance and laughed.

*****

She had given everyone tea and chocolate, she figured it was safe for people she didn’t know. She was relieved when Thea loved her gift from Oliver.

Everyone was happy and eating chocolate when Oliver got up. “Pancake time.”

“Pancake time?” Felicity looked down at her stomach. “I swear, all I’ve done since getting here is eat.”

“That’s what Christmas is all about!” Sara smiled.

“I think I’m going to go out for some air before pancakes if that’s alright?” Felicity got up from the couch.

“Of course it’s alright. I’ll call out to you when the pancakes are ready.” Oliver smiled.

****

Felicity had put on some comfy clothes and head out. She felt all out of sorts and she knew it had nothing to do with food.

She was falling fast and hard for a man who would never love her. Not the real her. And she literally ached to do magic. She had never held back before and now everything just felt pent up.

She walked to the side of the house through the snow in her winter boots, leaving a trail. She breathed in the cold air. She had never been happier or more scared. Burrr. She was suddenly cold. She should head in but first. She quickly turned and made an ice rink for them this afternoon.

She went back in. “Guys, come see! Someone made us an ice rink!”

“What?” Thea rushed to look out the window. “Wow. I wonder who did that. Maybe there really is a Santa!”

Oliver came out of the kitchen to look out the window. “I swear, I didn’t see that this morning.”

“It was really early this morning.” Felicity pointed out.

“I guess.” Oliver smiled. “But no matter how it got that we can skate this afternoon!”

*****

After pancakes, everyone prepared to head out to skate. Oliver noticed Felicity wasn’t getting ready. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Oh, I thought I’d stay here. You know, cook the turkey.” Felicity was not her best on ice so she was proud of her quick excuse.

“The oven will cook the turkey, I just basted it. Come on, we should have skates for you too.”

“Okay.” Felicity looked dismayed.

Oliver leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll happily hold you up.”

Felicity smiled.

They had been skating for a little while when Oliver spoke in her ear. “You did this.”

“Did what?” He couldn’t possibly know.

“Felicity, I know.”

“You know, what?” She couldn’t keep the fear out of her voice. He was going to ask her to leave. She held her breath waiting for him to respond.

“Felicity, I know you have magical powers and I think it’s amazing.”

“You don’t want me to leave?”

“Leave? No, why would I want that? I have no problem with you being a witch. Oh, Felicity, you didn’t think this would matter, did you? You did.” He answered his own question sadly.

She nodded tears in her eyes. “It’s just I was having so much fun and I wanted to give something back. Most people don’t like…magic or people like me.”

“Well, those people are wrong. I have no problem with it. In fact, I think it’s amazing and just adds to the amazingness of you. I hope I’m not scaring you, Felicity.”

“You aren’t.”

“Because all I want for Christmas is you.”

“That’s what I want too. I mean I want you for Christmas.” She pulled him in for a hug. And when they pulled apart they noticed the trees surrounding the skate rink were now filled with sparkling lights. Apparently her feelings for Oliver only bolstered her magic

“Felicity, I think we should go in and check on the turkey - code for, I want to take you inside and kiss you senseless.”

Felicity turned to the others and yelled out. “Oliver and I are going to check on the turkey!”

Everyone laughed because they all knew better.

As Oliver and Felicity made their way back to the house, Oliver turned to her, “So what are you doing for New Year’s?”

[lovelifelivewise]

Starling Bank Review: Can It help you budget better?

Table of Contents Before we dive in on what makes Starling Bank a top banking proposition, let's look at where Starling Bank started and what it has on offer that might be of interest to you!  If you are just after an honest opinion on Starling's usefulness to budget, go to the Table Of  Contents above and select points 9 - 12 on the list where I share how I use it and my experience as a user.

What Is Starling Bank?

Starling Bank is a  fully-licensed bank, founded in 2014 by industry-leading banker Anne Boden, who saw how technology was evolving and how it could serve customers in a way that traditional banks were not able to do. They have since raised £323 million in backing and were voted Best British Bank three years running. All of Starling’s accounts are protected up to £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. To open an account go here.

How many customers does Starling have?

According to their website, in 2019, Starling passed one million customer accounts with £1 billion in deposits.

Who owns Starling Bank?

Starling Bank is an independent, privately-owned company and is not part of any other bank (Starlingbank.com). It is 24% owned by Anne Boden, employees and ex-employees and an employee benefits trust set up for employees. Other investors are: Harry McPike, a global private investor with a focus on technology and financial sector opportunities. He is represented on the board by two investor directors: Lázaro Campos, a fintech investor and entrepreneur and former CEO of SWIFT, and Marcus Traill, a senior investment management professional and director of QuantRes, a global proprietary quantitative trading firm. Merian Global Investors, a leading public investor in the UK.

Starling Bank Account Types

Starling Current Accounts Starling Bank offers four different types of bank accounts to satisfy everybody's needs, see below for details on each account type. Personal Current Account Applying is really easy and you can ask them to text you the app. To verify your identity, they ask that you take a picture (selfie) and send to them for verification together with a passport or driving license picture. Joint Current Account Perfect account for couples or friends that share financial commitments. You both need to have a current account and can apply via the app. Euro Current Account A great option if you have family in an EU country and transfer money regularly in euros, you can hold, send and receive euros for free with a Starling euro account. Teen Account You can easily apply via the app, just need a passport ID. Starling Business Accounts Business Account For limited companies and other business registered businesses.  Sole trader Account For self employed or even if you just have a side hustle. Keep your finances in check with this account. Euro Account For business transactions in euros.

Opening a Starling Account

Opening an account is very easy. You can download the app to your phone and apply via the app. You can also go to Starling's website and ask them to send you the app. If you have friends that already bank with Starling, ask them to refer you.

Starling Bank Top features

No monthly or joining fees Card controls: you can freeze your card and can block transaction types so you are better protected Instant notifications: get a notification each time a payment enters or leaves your account Round Up: round up your transactions and put the change into savings 24/7 UK customer support: need something? customer service is available 24/7 via the app, phone or email

Starling Bank Additional Features

In addition to the above features, Starling Bank offers other features that may come in handy when managing your finances. Personal overdraft: this overdraft is easy to apply for and comes with variable interest starting at 15% EAR . You can manage your limits directly from the app. Split the bill: you can split bills easily with Settle Up. In just a few clicks all is sorted via the app. Digital Wallet: connect your card to Apple Pay and Google Pay to Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay or Garmin Pay. Set Goals: this is a fun way to save money. You can set your goals and monitor your progress towards reaching them, all from a very visual app. Pay in cheques from your phone: you can deposit cheques under £500, just need a picture for ID confirmation.

Starling Banking Fees

As we said above, there are no charges for opening an account and monthly maintenance is also free, card delivery is free too. Personal Overdraft Personal overdrafts come with a variable EAR starting at 15% Personal Loan Fees If you have an overdraft with your current account, the loan interest will be lower than overdraft interest. Business Overdraft RATE (% EAR VARIABLE) starts at 5% for business overdrafts. Business Loan Fees Loans up to £25,000 have a representative rate of 7% APR (fixed). ATM Fees Starling  does not charge at ATM in the UK or abroad. Money Transfer Fees No charges apply for transfers within the UK. International transfers have a £0.3-5.5 fee.  currency exchange fees Starling also applies a 0.4% currency exchange fee to each transaction.

My personal experience with Starling Bank

I have held a personal account with Starling bank for over 2 years now and made it my main account after 6 months. Here I will detail what I like and what I like less about this account based on my experience so far.

What I like Notifications: I have notifications in both like and like less because there are two sides to them. I like that each time I make a purchase, I'm notified instantly. Most often I have not yet left the shop. Setting goals: this is one of my favorite features because you can set yourself challenges and track how you are doing. Reports: I like this a great deal better than having each notification. At the end of the day you can see in one screen what went out and what came in and it shows in a very visual way, clear and easy to digest. Round Up: this is useful if you like to save money and look for inventive ways of doing it. By rounding your payments to the nearest pound you save little by little and when you realize, there is a little fund there waiting for you. What I like Less Notifications: why are notifications both in like and like less? Yes they are informative but they are annoying too! I'm pretty sure you can turn them off, I haven't tried. I would much rather receive a reminder to check a daily report. These are preferences rather than really important things. Budgeting limitations: although you can set saving goals, there is no options allowing you to set targets per category so you can monitor your spend against your targets. Transaction fees: I have family abroad and as such being able to send money to my family is one of the things I look for and Starling's fees although not high, they add up when you transfer money often. When compared with Pingit, the app I normally use for payments, Pingit comes on top with no fees and better exchange rates in Euro transactions.

Can Starling Bank help you budget better?

There are several parts to a successful budget and you can do it in many ways and although Starling Bank does not have a tool specifically to help you with budgeting, it has some features that can help in improving your budgeting and the way you do it. So the answer to the above is not a resounding Yes because there is no one tool dedicated to budgeting but I'll exemplify below the steps I take to make it work for me and how I budget with it's help.

How you can make starling work with your budget

know your spending The first and most important part of any budgeting exercise is knowing where your money is going! This is so important I can say it until I go BLUE! If you want to learn more about the basics of budgeting you can read the posts below that explain in detail and show you how to plan. How can starling help? In the spending tab of the app you have the choice to see all your spending in two different ways by category and by merchant. You can use this information in different ways. I use it to see where most of my money goes in terms of the categories: transports, shopping, bills & services, eating out, groceries... I also use the merchants view to see where I can make cuts! For example, overall spending £70 eating out a month might not sound too bad but if those £70 were spent in coffee, that might sound a lot different. Starling gives you the information you need to make informed decisions but you don't have a tool to implement them neatly in the app! You can get my monthly planner here and use the notes section to write down what you are expecting to spend and what the actual spent was on those categories. This will easily show you savings and extra spending in each category and help you in planning goals to achieve the following month. Set saving goals You can set different saving goals directly on the Starling app and have the option to round up payments and save towards those different goals. This is a simple way to do it. You can also set other more specific goals based on what I described above Let's say that you want to bring down the coffee spend to £50 a month rather than £70. I would set that as a monthly goal on my budget planner and would use the app to track spending and savings made.

In Conclusion

With so many different options for online banking and the major banking players almost catching up with the new arrivals, it's easy to forget what to look for and judge how we can make banks work harder for us! I personally feel that a Starling Current Account can help you greatly with saving better and gaining a greater understanding of where your money is going every month. I hope this review helps you make savvy financial choices and consider what is important to you, to how You manage your finances and the goals you have in place. My free budget planner can help you keeping all your notes neat in one place, get it here.   You can read more about saving money below:  How To Start Saving Money Today  5 Simple Ways To Save Money Each Month! Let me know in the comments below ways you use to improve your budgeting and experiences (good and not so good) you have with banking providers!

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[awgeezitsthetoiletnator]

the truth

notes: this is for @its-all-for-this-family! ria, this is an idea i had last summer and i wanted to give you it as a present then but apparently it wasn’t in the stars (read: a ridiculously busy schedule and numerous drafts getting mysteriously deleted off my desktop). i hope you like it! i’ll edit this over once and post it on ao3 when it’s finished. this is the first part of two (i think).

summary: stan and dipper bonding! ft. a backwards g4g reveal, a fishing trip, and casual toying with the idea that a few years isn’t enough to completely fix a broken sibling relationship.

The minute the kids hop off the bus, something is wrong.

Stan Pines isn’t quite sure how he knows this. Maybe it’s the fact that they hug Ford before they get to him. He chalks that up to plain old jealousy - childhood feelings that still refuse to leave, even after all this time.

Maybe it’s just how different the twins look. Stan can still remember how small they’d looked getting off the bus for their first summer in Gravity Falls. But fifteen seems to suit them.

Mabel is braces-less, and smiling so wide that Stan is sure her teeth are gonna pop outta her mouth. He hides a chuckle when he realizes that she’s gained a good three inches on her brother since the last time he’d seen her. Dipper must be just ecstatic about that.

He’d grown too - just more out than up. The kickboxing lessons that Stan had gotten him for Christmas had really paid off. Who knew there was actually muscle inside those scrawny little twigs?

Maybe it’s the drastic difference between the kids’ attitudes towards him. Mabel leaps into his arms, gushing about every single thing she has planned for tonight, all the people she has to see, and just how fun this summer is going to be, while Dipper opts for a tight smile and a side-hug.

Sure, he’d always needed more time to adjust than his sister, but it continues for longer than Stan can explain.

Mabel plays a mixtape full of Top 40 hits in the car - she calls them “bangers”, Stan chooses to ignore this - and Dipper does nothing but chew on a pen and stare out the window. He has no reason to be embarrassed about singing, given the zombie fiasco from that first summer, the many times he’d caught him wailing after a shower, and the fact that Ford gradually begins to belt along to every song. But he stays silent anyways.

Dinner is just as bumpy. In an effort to break down whatever wall Dipper has put up, Stan breaks out a classic: 1000 Yuk ‘Em Ups: Uncle Approved! Mabel rewards him will pitying laughs and Ford rubs his temples, but Dipper doesn’t give him so much as a groan. He picks at his vegetables and keeps dangerously quiet, like he’s sitting on a bomb and waiting for it to explode, but Stan is the only one who can see it.

Stan tries one last time to reach out. It’s late, and quiet save for the gentle sounds of crickets outside and the occasional hoot of a nearby owl. It would probably be noisier when Soos and Melanie got done visiting her parents in Portland, but for now, it was calming.

He’s already half-carried, half-nudged Mabel to bed, carefully laying her between her numerous stuffed animals and her behemoth of a pig. She’d passed out on the couch not long after dinner, her scrapbook from the previous summer sprawled across her lap.

Ford has retreated to the basement, after muttering something about researching “gremlins” or “goblins” (or was it “gargoyles”?).

Stan walks into the living room, where Dipper is sitting on the floor, reassembling the journal Ford had given him at the end of the summer last year. It had become a yearly tradition; this was the third one so far.

However, although the two shared a love of the paranormal, it was clear that they didn’t share the same rigidness for journaling.

Unlike Ford’s precise paragraphs and intricate illustrations, Dipper’s journal was filled with frantic chicken scratch and leaking photographs, papers, and who-knows-what-else stuck in there with scotch tape and hope.

Stan settles into the armchair and turned on the TV, prepared for whatever garbage Gravity Falls Public Access had in store for him. Tonight, it was a marathon of a show called Post-Teen Mom, that centered around four pregnant women in their early twenties who all hated each other. He could excuse the ridiculous name and premise for the petty insults and nonsensical cat fights.

Every now and then, he would sneak a glance to Dipper’s project on the floor. The kid, along with his journal, sat in the middle of a fan of extraneous material that had been carefully removed, labeled, and placed on the floor, awaiting its return to the book. With every turn of a page, Dipper would pick out two or three pieces of related evidence, squeeze too much leftover glitter glue on the page and press them into the book with the heel of his palm as quickly as possible, resulting in the golden paste running down his forearm.

Stan snorts to himself. Dipper’s unnatural affinity for weirdness came from Ford and his unnerving methodical tendencies were certainly from his father, but the messy, determined creativity? All Stan.

Come to think of it, Mabel had gotten that from him too. He hadn’t noticed it at first, given how, well… out there Mabel’s artistic tendencies could be at times.

But Stan could remember a myriad of creative endeavors from his childhood that would be right up the twins’ alley - tiny caricatures he’d tried to sell one summer on the boardwalk, wide sandcastles big enough to run away to, home movies he’d made with Ford and -

Carla.

The thought of her hits him like a bullet. The snicker she’d let out every time she got him to blush, her hand gripping his while they strolled down the beach, a single carnation dotting the sea of brown curls…

Stan doesn’t think about her much nowadays, which means that every time he does, it hurts that much more.

He attempts to shake it off as quickly as it came. He had been in love with a girl and wanted to start a life with her and that just wasn’t in the stars for them. So what? It’s not like it had been the end of the world. It had barely had an effect on what his life had become. It certainly wasn’t the cause of the tears brimming in his eyes right now -

No. Stan took a deep breath, and exhaled with a grunt. Pfft. Who cared? Not him.

At least he and Dipper had something in common other than pervasive stubbornness.

Speaking of which…

He’s been waiting for Dipper to say something to him, but to no avail. The boy had either been too focused on his work (or at least pretending to be) to say a single word.

Stan turns his eyes back to the TV, where surprise guest Betty Anne “The Stomper” Lewis was about to unleash hell on Rachel-But-It’s-Pronounced-Rachelle. If Dipper wouldn’t talk, Stan would start the conversation…

…right after this fight.

But he doesn’t get the chance. He’s about to try to predict the outcome of the brawl (“The Stomper” had longer nails than her adversary, but she was also more pregnant) when Dipper gathers his materials and walks to the stairs.

He’s halfway up when Stan stops him, having followed him to the base of the stairs without much thought.

“Kid, hold up.”

Dipper turns around slowly. It’s a turn Stan had done many times in his own life, backed into a corner with his hands up. Stan had Dipper exactly where he wanted him.

But unlike Stan, who’d always accompanied the turn with a scowl and a string of obscenities, Dipper seems emotionless. He stands still on the step, journal wrapped in his arms, waiting for Stan to speak.

Stan crosses his arms and squints up at him.

“You haven’t been actin’ like yourself.”

The second the words leave his mouth, they feel wrong. And they must be, given the nearly manic expression that suddenly washes over Dipper’s face. “Not acting like myself?” he asks.

“Grunkle Stan, I’m not the one here who’s still acting like they’re a completely different person!”

Dipper’s tone is scathing, his hands are shaking, and his words reek of truth.

A fire has been lit in his eyes, one that Stan is all too familiar with.

It’s the same blazing glare behind Dipper yelling at Mabel to close the portal. It’s the same furious disappointment Ford had served him after learning about the fate of his science fair project. It’s the same devastating fury that another teenage boy had hurled at him at a unsettlingly similar conversation thirty years ago.

Betrayal.

Stan is sure that thirty years ago, he had an amazing reply to the accusation but now…

He’s lost his edge.

When Dipper realizes that Stan doesn’t have anything to say, he turns and quickly walks up the stairs.

Stan floats to his armchair and sinks down into it.

This morning, he thought there was something wrong with Dipper. But it was his old mistakes, back to haunt him again.

Because there was no way that Dipper didn’t know that Stan was -

Shit.

[kejserligt]

ToC: Hel Vanadis

Interview with Rock God Hel Vanadis  

She's known throughout SimNation for her work here in Idavallen with introducing music to us all. Having worked hard for many years, she has finally reached the top, and is now Rock God.

We meet Hel outside of Hel's Holy Harmony one cold winter morning. Hel, this is where everything started, right? It is. The Harmony is the first place I built after my house, to be able to bring the neighbourhood together and play some music. It's also here that people encouraged me to continue to make this my profession.

Music is important to you, how come? It's always been a part of my family. My mother Heid always played music for me and my brothers. She was a great violinist and tried to teach us the instrument. I'm more into piano to be honest, or guitar.

Like many of us here in Idavallen, you chose to come here. Can I ask about your reasons to? I think my reasons are well-known by now. I've always been ready for an adventure. As a teenager I moved to SimCity to try to "find myself". I guess I was just a typical rebellious teen, but it felt important to me. I met my future wife, Freja, and her brother Frej there. Freja has always loved her plants and I wasn't too surprised when she eventually became a plantsim. She however, was very surprised. And with the stigma of her brother's already green skin (they're half-siblings) she felt as if life in SimCity wasn't what she was hoping for. In my family we've always "known" about the different kind of sims there are. My brother Fenrir is a weresim and Jormungander has dabbled in magic, as did my mother. So when I found out about Gerd's plans to move here I figured we should join. And Gerd comes from an equally crazy family as I do!

And now you have a pretty big family of your own. Tell us about them. I have two children; Njord and Heid. Njord is married to Ragnar Yggdrasil and live over at their farm. Heid is a plantsim like Freja and as our daughter is the natural heir. I was very happy when she found Archie and they now have two children. We are of course hoping for a granddaughter one day.

You're a... matriarchal family? Yes. It's a tradition on my family's side, and Freja and I decided to keep it that way. It also turned out pretty well with Heid being a plantsim.

That's a bit different, isn't it? To decide who is going to inherit depending on their gender? For some sims it is, for some it's not. If Heid doesn't want to continue the tradition, she's free to do so.

Talking about Heid, you've left her a pretty big responsibility with all the different businesses you have running, haven't you? Indeed I have! We curretnly have this place, which honestly doesn't bring that much money but it's an important place to me anyway. We also have the nightclub which is becoming more and more popular. The Harvest is where we sell our vegetables and then I hope that my little tourist shop will gain income as more people travel here. The home business is currently selling toy robots that me and Heid produce.

I think it's important with these places. We have come a far way since we first settled down 35 years ago. We can't just stay at home and hang around an open fire, there need to be places for people to meet up. Most of our kids have been to school together, now they need to be able to feel at least somewhat like the teenagers or young adults they read about online or see on tv. If we can't offer it to them here, they will move back to SimCity.

I see that Hel's Holy Harmony has been given a bit of make-over, with the added top floor. Do you hope this place will inspire new Rock Gods? I really do! Working with music is the best there is. I hope this place can allow people to not only try out the "cool" drums or guitar, but also the more classical instruments. And being Rock God is such a fantastic job!

Written by Nikola Brisingamen for The Idavallen Correspondent

[breezytealy]

Can you pleeeeeeeease do Trunks for the character thing?! Pretty please?! 💛😊

(msg refs this post)HI NONNIE! (Who are youuuuu~~~~?) I’ve had half of a response in my drafts forever but finally got time to finish! Wow, it’s almost like everyone knows exactly the characters I want to write about :’DDone Goten, have Marron after this post…I’m going to do this mostly about present timeline Trunks rather than future timeline because that means I get the Terrible Trio done in these asks.Why I like themHe’s a little cheeky turd! Obviously I’m talking about Present rather than Future Trunks (who is a real softie). Trunks is such a manipulative kid, getting Goten to go along with his plans (in Buu saga Goten’s too young to argue back effectively, can see Goten just being chill later though). It makes sense he’d just expect people to follow his lead though. He lives in a house with staff and everyone probably agreeing with his Mum out of respect - and his Dad out of fear. He is a little full of himself and I love it. (More after cut)

Why I don’t…I’m legit trying to think of things and I can’t… if he was a real kid in my charge I would be so irritated by him. (Also Super has him too small, my eternal complaint).Favorite episode (scene if movie)The Mighty Mask stuff gets me every time :’D Trunks calling the shots and poor Goten just resigned…

Favorite season/movieBuu saga, and Broly movies for him just being such a rude shit, flipping the bird, the family hand sign.

Favorite lineLess a line and more a state of mind; every time in GT he got exasperated at Goku and Pan behaving like kids was my favourite. We know he’s a bit of a slacker in his presidential role in GT, preferring to go out flying (who wouldn’t) but he is ultimately quite responsible as an adult and adulty. 

Favorite outfitFuture Trunks not present Trunks but same body so stands to reason, that green jumper F.Trunks wore in the Black arc looked pretty good on him! I do like his green gi as a kid but not sure where that comes from? I wonder if he’ll switch to Vegeta’s Saiyan uniform when he’s older or keep the gi  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

OTPI am a stickler for canon ships (it’s like a personal challenge, don’t hold anyone else to it) so it looks like Trunks x Mai is going to play out in current timeline. I know a lot of people don’t like it, and even those that do usually stick with the Future timeline. But I find it /fascinating/ how Mai’s brain would work (it should be going through all the childhood developmental stages again) and how that relationship would develop. She must tell him her situation at some point. I picture Mai rejecting his advances as a young teen, and then explaining why before he goes to college when he’s old enough to understand. I’d see a bit of a distancing after that for him in particular to process though coming back together after as they do see something in each other, especially as he grows more responsible. With the responsibility I do see him as a little of an “old soul” for lack of a better term - (and I might be projecting my own partner onto him here but) the kind of guy who starts reading adult papers as a teen and is clued up about politics and genuinely likes music twenty years too old for him, so they just work well together. He skips the party stage and goes straight to the boxset on sofa stage.

I know a relationship between two people where there’s a huge age gap (it started when she was 18 and he was late 30s) and it’s the strongest marriage I know. Whilst that’s not as big a gap as Trunks x Mai honestly if it works then I don’t see a problem. Many of the problems with age gap relationships come down to power differentials and people being in different stages of their lives physically. If these aren’t there then who gives a monkey’s? As I said on the Goten one I do see some TruTen happening at some point due to the intensity of fusion but not sticking into a traditional relationship. I see Trunks as a true “all or nothing” prince charming romantic type (serial monogamist) and Goten not being able to maintain the intense romantic tendencies needed for something like that.

BrotpGood old Goten can it be anyone else? I do see them as having some form of intense soulmate-like relationship though which is basically an OTP but not in the standard way TruTen is depicted. Looking at them interacting you’d probably think they’re a married couple bickering half the time because the effect fusion has of making you see someone else more of an extension of yourself than separate. Sounds harsh but I actually see them as old men and can see one dying of heartbreak if the other goes first

Head Canon I have Goten being effortlessly friendly with people as he’s grown up in a mixed environment with people of all classes (he knows rich people from CC, he knows Gods and how to behave, interacts at markets with normal people). Trunks has been stuck at CC and so is used to the power differential in most interactions. I can see that really messing with him and it just… manifesting as him being an unintentional ass as he gets older (though I think his interactions with future Trunks might have started to soften that). Maybe insisting on going to public high school for a couple of years and it just not going the way he plans (you can’t organise people. Goten yes because he just rolls with things but not everyone else). Making few friends, growing suspicious of people and their motives because they’re just after money or influence… social stuff is more complicated than he thought. He can’t have been great to CC workers as a kid really, since he treated the place as a playground. I have him insisting on taking on a gap year before college (that way he can go with Goten (kinda forcing Goten to go in a way)) and wanting to spend it travelling in space. Vegeta and Bulma have other ideas and make him do a year’s internship at CC, rotating through departments and starting with the most aggrieved - maintenance. The staff treat it as a hazing and Trunks learns humility and how to interact with people better, they grow to like him, and when he takes up a position at CC after college there’s far less animosity towards him being gifted a management position. He’s still not that good in social situations without a framework like work to work with and he can come across a little awkward. He’s best when he just relaxes and is a really good earnest guy and easy to talk to then, but he’s more often second-guessing how some people are going to behave and how he’s coming across that he’s a bit hard to interact with with that wall up. When he’s chill he’s quite witty and is full of puns. Some of his jokes can be a little dark (mostly born from having a dad that threatens to murder you for every little thing) and he’s the kind of guy with intrusive thoughts (”I could kill everyone in this room”) but not the type to act on them obviously. It’s where Gotenks gets his mean, slightly cocky streak from. I see him taking on a lot of responsibility, seeing himself as the group leader and making the final decision on strategy for fights that the kids take part in. They look to him for it. Really though Goten is the glue that holds the group together and without Goten softening things Trunks’ leadership can be a little hostile. Still, he takes a lot on his shoulders and feels the weight of it often. He’s an analyst, good for engineering but breaking down every little problem and possibility can be tiring. He’s the person most concerned about keeping the public from finding out about the superpowers and makes them all use secure chats and code names when talking, he wears a beanie hat in public to hide his hair (rarely works). Public see him as a man of mystery though and have decided he’s some brooding amazing guy instead of a paranoid dork. That frown he inherits from his Dad is more from worry than his Dad’s trademark irritation. He tries to do too much with the business and training and can be constantly tired, running himself ragged, Bra takes some stuff off of him to help. Eventually he opens up the sword school with Goten after Gohan’s book’s released, leaving CC day-to-day management to Bra (who is far better at marketing and being extraverted and all that shizzle) and as they’re now open about their powers he can relax and enjoy himself and focus on spreading the responsibility through a group of enthusiastic recruits, aged 39. 

Unpopular opinionBeing from the UK I had the Blue Water GT dub. I haven’t played the games very often and I’m more likely to rewatch GT than Cell Games so my internal Trunks Voice is either KaiserNeko’s from Dragon Ball Abridged or Blue Water’s Matthew_Erickson. I like Vale’s voice as I had it for Future Trunks but I just… every time I write dialogue with adult Trunks it’s one of the two softer voices ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A wishBecause the kids haven’t aged in Super we’re missing out on the “generic teen phase” for the kids. Having Trunks rolling around in an unwashed hoodie talking about “how hard my life is” and “no one understands me and my genius” with all the self-awareness of a jam jar would be amazing. 

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happenA bit silly but please don’t have him be cool. Future Trunks was cool because of his skills and character rather than actually trying to be, in reality he was a bit of a cute dork and I hope that happens. The idea of Trunks trying really hard with interactions and failing (like trying to impress Mai with the sword) is funny, I just couldn’t take the blandness of him actually being cool with people and popular, you know? That natural charisma is more Goten’s domain to me. 

5 words to best describe themResponsible, easily-exasperated, romantic, strategist, “not good with strangers or people he knows” (to quote Father Ted)

My nickname for themI have them all referring to him a T (“Trunks” being a famous name you don’t want to bandy about in public because it would attract attention) and Goten calling him T-Dawg as some kind of ironic jibe.