#Thena liking hot cocoa

[valorandgold]

If Juniper Woods had any idea that any of those potential thoughts were running through the head of Apollo Justice, she would have scolded him and possibly even raised her voice over the matter, which likely would have terrified the poor man. She was always so gentle and serene...save for when she'd been keeping a strong and relatively stoic face upon first seeing Thena again (and first meeting Apollo as well). Those thoughts were not ones he wanted to give voice to.

Juniper had spent what had felt like nearly all day preparing. There were sugar cookies ready, the hot water had finished whistling for hot cocoa not long before Apollo's arrival, two mugs set out and still visibly steaming upon the coffee table, and she had changed her look up a little, letting her hair fall down naturally rather than braiding it and putting on a white dress with sunflowers printed upon it, and a single sunflower in her hair, styling it like she would as she usually did around Themis rather than the braids she was often sporting outside of the academy.

Her heart started to race as she heard a knock at the door, along with Apollo's familiar voice following mere moments later, and the very second the door swung wide open (quite quickly too, on Juniper's part), the man would find arms wrapped around him and the brunette he loved burying her face in his chest, not even managing a greeting before she'd given in and brought herself in close to the attorney. He probably couldn't even begin to know just how much she'd missed him.

@valorandgold

...Apollo forgot how long the trek was up to Juniper's house. Thank the goddess that he got more used to mountain hikes in Khura'in...it now dawned on him how long it's been since he was in America. Since he saw Juniper...

He did set it up with this reunion with her, of course: but what if she moved on? Maybe she found someone else? Was this her way of showing respect, breaking up with him in his face rather than over messaging? where were those nerves of steel when you need them?

Relax, Apollo. A deep breath in, and a deep breath out. If he could deal with a corrupt tyranny, he could handle talking to a woman.

I'm fine. I'm fine.

And with that, he knocked on the oaken door.

"Junie? Are you in there?"

[eternalowl]

Day 1 - Modern AU

Posted on ao3 with the title “Christmas Trees and Engagement Rings”

It was the morning of the 25th of December and the smell of hot chocolate was present throughout the entire house.

Thena had just woken up. She was still trying to open her eyes, and it was hard for her because of the light pouring into the room through the window. The snow that fell the night before wasn’t helping with the brightness at all. She finally managed to open her eyes and she looked next to her, only to find that the bed was empty beside her. Much to her disdain, she pried herself out of bed and dragged her feet along the floor to the kitchen. Once she got to the kitchen, she was greeted with the sight of Gilgamesh making hot chocolate. Once she saw him, it was as if she gained an instant boost of energy.

“Good morning, Thena,” Gilgamesh greeted as he pressed his lips against her forehead. “Here. Powdered peppermint and mini marshmallows, just the way you like it.” Gil then handed Thena a cup of hot cocoa.

Thankfully, it was already cool enough to drink, so Thena took a sip and let out a hum of contentment. “Just for this I’ll forgive you for not being in bed earlier.”

“Could you really stay mad at me though?” Gil asked, leaving trails of kisses from Thena’s forehead to her lips. Occasionally, he would lay a kiss on Thena’s nose just so that he could watch it scrunch up in that adorable way that it does as she laughs.

“I guess not,” Thena replied, still chuckling.

Gil then took his cup of hot chocolate and walked over to the Christmas tree with Thena. They sat down on the couch and Thena let her head rest on Gil’s shoulder. Gil let his head gently rest against Thena’s.

They stayed like that for a while, not speaking a word and just enjoying each other’s company.

“I got you something,” Gil informed as he walked over to the tree, pulled out a small, rectangular gift, and sat back down on the couch. He handed the gift to Thena and she ripped the wrapping paper off of it, revealing a small box. Thena opened it to see what was inside. The box contained many different colors of acrylic paint and a myriad of different brushes. “About a month ago you said that you were getting into painting, so one day I saw this and thought that you might like it.”

Thena wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you,” she said as she stuffed her face into his neck. “I got you something, too,” she said when she pulled away. She walked over to the tree and pulled out a bigger package. Not only was it larger in size, but it also weighed more. “Well, I guess I can’t take all of the credit. The others pitched in as well.”

Gil carefully undid the wrapping paper and revealed a fair-sized book, but this wasn’t just a regular book; it was a scrapbook. Well, an extremely glorified scrapbook.

Gil flipped through the pages, seeing photo strips from photo booths, small little quotes, and even aesthetic and mood boards for each of them; those were probably Makkari and Sersi’s doing. As he flipped through, he saw the memories that everyone cherished the most about each other. Whether it be someone shoving Ajak’s face into her cake on her birthday, Druig and Phastos trying to beat up Ikaris while Makkari cheers them on, Sprite pranking her favorite target who is better known as Kingo, or something as mundane, even though nothing with any of them involved could exactly be considered mundane, as a selfie of the group, it was there.

“In the back, there’s still a bunch of open pages, so we can still add to it,” Thena threw in, her head resting against Gil’s shoulder once again.

“I- I love it.” He truly meant what he said. “I have one more gift for you.” Thena hummed in confusion. Gil then stood up, holding Thena’s hands and bringing her up along with him.

“What gift? You didn’t need to get me anything extra.”

“But I did,” Gil said, caressing Thena’s cheek. She leaned into the touch. “I remember that, a few years ago, on this day, I fell almost hopelessly in love with you,” Gil chuckled and shook his head at that statement. “so I think that if I’m going to ask you this, it has to be on Christmas.”

“Ask me what?” Thena asked.

“Thena, you are the only one I can ever see myself being with. Years ago, I never thought I could ever feel this way about someone, but then you showed up.”

“What are you…” Thena was practically whispering to herself. Her hands then slowly drifted up to cover her mouth in surprise as Gil got down on one knee. Tears of joy started to shed from her eyes and clung to her eyelashes. Gil then reached into his pocket and pulled out a velveteen ring box.

“Thena, will you marry me?” Gil said as he opened the box, showing her the ring on the inside. The ring was a golden band adorned with a beautiful diamond.

So many tears had clung to her lashes that her vision was being blurred to the point where she could barely see.

“Yes,” she managed to get out between her sobs of joy. “Yes!” Gil slipped the ring onto her finger before she pulled him back up to his feet and passionately kissed him. When he returned the kiss, she let out a moan of contentment. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he let his hands drift to her back and the back of her head. She let one of her hands make its way into his hair.

They continued to kiss each other for a few more minutes before Thena spoke.

“The others don’t know about this, don’t they?” she asked, her lips still centimeters away from Gil’s.

“They don’t have a clue.”

[wintershieldedheart]

Thena & Margo - “I can’t feel happy. I feel anxious. Like there’s something out there, waiting. And unless I learn how to fight it… it’s going to really hurt.”

Thena’s words caused an ache deep in her chest. If anyone could understand exactly what she was describing, it was Margo, and yet, the idea of one of her favorite people experiencing something she was so viscerally familiar with made her heart ache. There was only so much Margo could say, and she wasn’t sure any of it would actually make Thena feel any better. However, she had to try at the very least. Margo would do anything to make her best girl feel better. Setting down the two mugs of hot cocoa, Margo knelt down in front of her girlfriend and put her hands on her knees gently, “Hey, look at me?” 

Margo cupped the other girl’s face, giving her a soft, reassuring smile, “That feeling is valid, and I think given everything, it only makes sense that it’s lingering. We’ve faced a lot of bad things, a lot of big things, and we’ve come out the other side. You’re not alone in this, Thena. You’ll always have me by your side,” she promised. Kissing her forehead gently, Margo refocused before continuing, “But you can’t let this fear consume you. If you do, you’ll spend every moment of your life waiting for the next fight and you’ll forget to live in all the moments in between, trust me, I know.” Using her thumb to brush Thena’s cheek, she added, “We can prepare for a fight six ways to Sunday, but the truth is, we can’t prepare for everything, as much as we’d like to.” 

Moving so that she was sitting on the sofa next to her, Margo pulled her against her chest so that Thena could lean against her. “Someone very wise told me that if you’re constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, you’ll never get off the ground. She’s pretty ancient, so I think she probably knows what she’s talking about,” Margo teased. Giving her a slight squeeze, Margo finished, “I love you, and I’m here - bad day or good day - I’m here.”