#also super happy to now have a pair of sunglasses... finally i have a counter for those really sunny days that my eyes hate 😎

[applesapp]

picnic date.! hanjisungxreader

Part two! The first part is above^^^ :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Y/N wakes up around 9:00 am the next morning, as she had no work in the morning. Her curtains were slightly open and a small beam of sunlight peers through the crack onto her face, waking her up. She stretches with a big yawn and her arms above her head and pointing her feet as far as they can go. Y/N rolls over to her side facing her bedside table. She picks up her phone and starts checking notifications. She sees one from Jisung. Y/N’s face lights up with joy from remembering the sweet boy she had met. The message reads…

“Hey! I’m not sure if you’re still sleeping yet but, wanna hang out again soon? You seem like a really cool person and I want to get to know you better :)” Sent 7:39am

Y/N jitters in excitement. She’s so happy he’s also interested in her, though she doesn't know if it's the same way or not. She’s not too sure herself if that’s how she feels about him either. She only met him the day before, but she wants to know where this will lead. 

“Hi! Yeah uhh, I just woke up haha. I don’t work on the weekends bc the store isn’t open. We can totally hangout! When are you available?” She replies back to him.

Waiting for a response, Y/N pulls herself out of her bed and heads into her tiny kitchen. She pulls out the bread from her pantry and takes out two slices and puts them into the toaster. She gives the toaster a couple hits to get it to start working. Her parents gave it to her when she moved out. She then makes her way over to her coffee machine and pops in a coffee capsule and starts her coffee. Y/N leans up against the counter, waking herself up. She gets startled by the pop of the toast coming out of the toaster. She grabs a clean plate out of the dishwasher and puts the toast onto the plate. She grabs butter out of the fridge and starts spreading it around the freshly toasted bread. She then grabs her coffee cup from the machine, puts some creamer into it and heads onto the couch to eat breakfast. As soon as she sits down, Jisung sends her a text back.

“Ahah no problem, I have to go to rehearsal today at 11 and it ends 30 min later, it’s not a super important one so it’s short. I can do anything after that though!”

“Oh cool! I’m down to hangout then, what do you want to do?”

“Uhhhhhhhh, we can go to the park downtown if you’d like?”

“Oh sure! That sounds fun, see you at 12.?”

“Yea that works! See you then :)”

Y/N gets butterflies in her stomach. She barely even knows him but wants to spend all her time with him already.

Soon enough, 11:00 rolls around. She gets up off the couch and puts her dirty dishes away. She heads to the bathroom and starts the shower. Y/N takes a long shower, making sure she is ready to meet him. She gets out and starts to dry her beautiful (Y/H). After she blows out her hair, she applies a little bit of makeup, not a lot, he wants a light coverage, only to accentuate her features. Y/N goes into her bedroom and chooses an outfit, she wants to look as flattering as possible.

She chooses a white, knee length, flowy summer dress with lavender colored flowers on it. She pairs it with a pair of sunglasses on her head, a simple gold necklace with matching earrings. She’s also wearing matching bracelets and anklets. Her anklets go perfectly with her tan sandals. She just got both sets of nails done for summer, and wants to show off what a beautiful job the nail tech did. She sprays on expensive perfume and grabs her bag. The clock reads 11:45. She shoots Jisung a quick text.

“I’m leaving my apartment now, see you soon!” 

Y/N grabs her keys and heads out the door, making sure to lock it behind her. She walks down the busy street of San Francisco enjoying the sun shining down on her. She finally makes it over to the park at 11:57. She looks at her phone to see a text from Jisung.

“Hey I’m here, I’m sitting at a bench at the left of the huge fountain.”

Y/N gets a huge smile on her face and texts back.

“Coming!!”

She hustles over there and looks around for him. She finally lays her eyes on him. His legs are crossed and his left elbow is on his leg with his hand holding his head up. His hair falls over his eyes, but she knows it’s him just by his stature. She runs over to him.

“Hi Jisung!” She says looking down to him waving.

He looks up from his phone confused, but once he realizes it’s her, he smiles and stands up.

“Hey Y/N, how are you?” He asks.

“I’m good, you?”

“I’m great! It’s really nice to see you again I uh- you look really great.” He says with a smile and faint blushing that Y/N notices.

“Hehe, thank you! You look great too.”

“Heh.. wanna walk around the park for a little bit?” He asks 

Y/N agrees and they start taking the path around. It’s a little awkward at first but Jisung speaks up

“Soo.. what did you have for breakfast haha”

“I had coffee and some toast with butter as usual, nothing special, you?”

“I had tea and a protein bar, not super exciting, but I did wake up late to get ready so I didn’t have much time to make food.”

They giggle and continue walking. As they walk they talk about random memories and funny stories they have that they think would entertain each other. They find a seat under a large tree creating shade. They continue talking and laughing. Before they know it, they both start getting hungry. Y/N looks at her phone for the time

“Oh boy, it’s 2:00 already! Ughh I’m kinda hungry too..”

“Me too! Want to go get something to eat?” Jisung asks politely. 

“I’d love to! I just.. I really don’t have the money for that.”

“Huh? That’s okay! I can pay for you!”

“What? No Jisung that’s too much really, I don’t need you to do that.”

“No really it’s okay! It’s my treat to you for spending time with me!’

Y/N reluctantly agrees and they head to a sandwich shop down the road from the park. Suddenly, Jisung stops and kneels to the ground. He stands back up with a flower in his hand.

“Y/N look! I found a flower that looks just like the ones on your dress, see?”

She turns around and puts her hand on her chest. She blushes and giggles.

“Oh yea! You’re right!” 

“Here-”

He walks over to Y/N and brushes her hair behind one of her ears and puts the flower behind it.

“It fits your outfit perfectly! I’m so good at this kinda stuff obviously!” He laughs and puts his hands on his hips proudly.

Y/N is shocked and amused. She is really falling for this boy. She looks into his glistening brown eyes and smiles.

“It really does, thank you.” She gives him a sweet smile and he gives her one back. They both start walking towards the sandwich shop again.

Y/N POV: 

Oh my gosh.. He’s so sweet! He makes me feel so special! Ugh I just can’t wait to get to know him better..

They make it to the entrance of the sandwich shop and walk in. 

[saintedbythestorm]

New glasses aquired! Man is it creepy in the beginning before your eyes get used to them though...

Also upped the difficulty this time by getting a light frame instead of just another black one... it feels so wrong. Gonna have go give it a few days to get use to it. Do like having a much bigger field of vision that is actually clear though.

Glad I decided to not wear them out of the store this time, have made that mistake before and jesus if that doesn't make me hella dizzy.

Also I didn't think I saw poorly before but when you switch to the new ones you can really tell a difference. It's in like the details and I notice now how everything was sort of a little fuzzy in the edges before. Oddly enough I think my eyes are also doing better now at switching between different distances when I look up from my phone and things like that.

All in all... so far so good with the new glasses!

[tomtenadia]

A Little Braver - 20

Even if I had a crazy day at work I did manage to do my Monday post as promise... but if you notice typos...I am sorry. I read it and edited but my brain  left with the boat tonight (I work for a ferry company, hence the joke)

This is the first of a few chapters where our bird boy is away and Hamel is causing problems to our gang.

Also, Aelin tries to cook... well... you can imagine how did that go.

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

After the trip to the base Aelin had taken home a very sad Elide and then got back to her own place and cried herself to sleep while hugging Rowan’s pillow. It was very late in the afternoon and it was her day off and she had no intention of leaving her bed.

Her head was buried under the pillow when she heard her phone buzz so she scrambled to get it and her heart raced when she saw it was Rowan.

“Hi,” she said with a croaked vice.

“Are you okay?” Rowan was already in fussing mode.

“Yes I just woke up.” She heard a lot of background noise “where are you?”

“Vulture’s row.” He activated his camera and showed Aelin the view of a fully functional flight deck. “Uh, wait.” He pointed the camera stern of the ship and showed Aelin a jet landing.

“That was so cool.” He turned the camera to him and she saw him with his sunglasses and his hair messed up by the wind. Then he switched off the camera and they went back to normal.

“Are you there yet?”

“We are skirting around. We still have a few hours before we are fully in enemy territory.”

Then Aelin heard a siren of some sort and Rowan swore “I’ll call you as soon as I can again. I need to scramble. Love you.”

“Be safe.” She managed to add before he closed the phone call.

She collapsed again in bed then decided to call Lysandra and Elide and organise a day out the three of them shopping. Elide needed cheering up as well.

The next day Aelin, Elide and Lysandra had decided to have a girls’ afternoon to cheer up the two ladies who had their boys away. They met at the entrance of the shopping centre and Aelin went to hug Elide first of all “how are you doing?”

“Lorcan gave me a brief call yesterday telling me they were on the ship and on their way, then he had to go.”

Aelin sighed “today we don’t think about our far away boys.”

“And maybe you can buy some very sexy lingerie as a present for when Lorcan comes back.” Commented Lysandra and Elide blushed.

“What’s the point?” Asked Elide “you are taking it off anyway.”

Aelin laughed and took Elide’s hand “remember the dress I had at the navy party?”

Elide nodded “it was stunning.”

“I was not wearing anything underneath. It drove Rowan crazy.”

“I have done it a few times with Aedion and I agree with Aelin. The sex afterward has been amazing.”

“How do I learn all these things?”

“Stick with us and we will teach you.”

“Let’s go for some food,” said Aelin, “I haven’t eaten yet.”

“How will you survive now without your sexy chef in the house?” Asked Lysandra.

“Oh, I’ll just go back to my usual order in and ready meals.” Shrugged Aelin who had no intention of even trying to cook anything.

Lysandra took Aelin’s hand and walked toward a restaurant “come on Elide, let’s get this girl properly fed.”

The three women got into the restaurant and sat down and Aelin started perusing the menu eager for some decent food and not long after they placed their order. Lys was right, without Rowan she would be lost when it came to food. Rowan had properly spoiled her.

“How are the wedding preparations going?” Asked Aelin.

Lysandra and Aedion’s wedding was not far away and she was excited to see her best friend finally having her happy ending.

“We are getting there.”

“Do you have a dress yet?” Asked Elide all excited.

Lysandra took out her phone and showed them her dress.

“That is gorgeous. Aedion will not be able to keep his eyes off you during the ceremony.”

“That is the plan.” Lysandra smiled wickedly “but the biggest question is who is going to be next?”

“My money is on Aelin,” chimed Elide “Lor is not emotionally ready for such a step. You and the captain on the other hand…” her eyebrows flicked in amusement.

“She is right, and the two of you basically live together.”

“Yes and no.”

“What do you mean?” Lysandra was confused by the admission.

“We haven’t covered the subject yet. He still has his flat and some of his stuff there. Even after I recovered he never left and I never pushed because I like having him around.”

“Will you ask him to move in officially?”

Aelin sighed “maybe. When he comes back. I don’t know. Things are going well and I don’t want to mess it up.”

“Do you think he’ll say no?” Asked Lysandra. Brainstorming with her friend was always helpful and recently she hadn’t done it enough.

“I don’t think so. But living together is as far as we can go just now. For many, many reasons.”

“Is it because of Sam?”

“Only partially.” She was not going to tell her friends Rowan’s story. She had no right. So she remained vague hoping the two friends would get the hint and not ask anymore questions.

“Still, my money is on you two.” Added Lys “Elide is right, Lorcan does not seem to have yet the emotional ability to commit.”

“Hey, he kissed her in public. And yesterday at the base he seemed quite nice to her.”

“Quite?”

“I don’t know, I was concentrating on Rowan I just cast a brief glance at them.” Replied Aelin.

“He was super kind.” Added Elide taking biting on a breadstick.

Their food finally arrived and Aelin was the first to tuck in.

“Does the captain know about your crazy eating habits?” Asked Lysandra amused.

“Yes,” replied Aelin, enjoying her food “he calls me his bottomless pit. When we had our first date he joked that he might need a mortgage just to feed me.”

Elide laughed “Sam used to joke and say that he needed a second job just for feeding you.”

“I move a lot,” replied Aelin with a grin “I have a big appetite.”

“I think it must be a firefighter thing. Aedion is the same.” Lysandra grinned “and we burn a lot of calories.”

“Eeewwww, I did not need to know that. He is my cousin.”

“Oh come one, as if you and hot captain do not engage in illicit activities. The whole squad guessed that the other night you two had sex in the shower after the call at the club.”

“I was just giving him a special goodbye.” Her hand gently brushed the spot where she could feel his tags. She did a bit of research and she was happy she had a copy. Having the real one meant he was gone and she could not think about that.

“Are you okay?” Asked Lysandra worried at her sudden change of expression.

“Yeah.” She added flatly, then gave them a big smile. It was their day off she should not spoil it.

“So, are we taking Elide lingerie shopping?” Aelin teased trying to raise the spirits of her friend.

“Yes, it’s going to be fun.” Added Lysandra all excited.

“Girls… there is really no need. What I have is okay. Lorcan is not fussed.”

Aelin took a bite of her food “oh but we will make sure he is fussed and also that he knows how sexy you are so he does not decide to…. wander.”

“How do I keep him? I am nowhere near as interesting as the two of you. He might get bored of me very soon.”

Aelin stared at her friend and it broke her heart that her horrible past left her with no confidence at all. Elide was brilliant at her job and she was an intelligent woman and she was positive she would make quite a few heads turn.

“Don’t you say something like that ever again.” Lysandra preceded her. She was even more protective of Elide than her “I work with you everyday and I know how awesome you are and I am positive that if we go to a club you’d have your share of men looking at you.”

Aelin nodded.

They finished their meal and went back wandering around the shopping centre and visited a few shops. In one of them Aelin wandered in the male department and spotted a couple of lovely jumpers. One of them was a deep green and looked very cozy and she realised she had no idea of when it was Rowan’s birthday.

Silly question, you never told me your birthday. She sent the text and knew a reply might take a long time to come. She grabbed the jumper and tried to decide whether it was the right size for him.

“That is a lovely jumper.” Said Lysandra joining her at her side “already thinking about useful presents? You are like an old married couple.”

Aelin laughed.

“But I think this one is really nice and the man seems to look amazing in green.”

“I am just wondering about the size.”

Lysandra grabbed the tag “this one will fit Aedion so you should be fine.”

A moment later Elide rejoined them, her face beetroot red “I feel so silly.” And showed the girls her bag with her lingerie purchase.

“Hey, Ace and I are joking. You didn’t have to buy it if it makes uncomfortable.” But Elide surprised them “I will buy just one pair for now and I’ll see how it goes.”

Lysandra laughed “Aelin is already buying presents married couple style and you are still in the sexy lingerie stage. My girls have grow up so much.”

“And what stage are you and Aedion?” Asked Aelin with a grin.

“The one where I go to the grocery store and I phone him to ask him if he wants beef or chicken for dinner.”

The rest of the afternoon went swimmingly and she loved spending the day with Lys and Elide. They didn’t do that nearly enough.

Now she was back home and in the kitchen trying to accomplish her new mission. She had bought a cooking book for beginners and she had decided she was going to try and cook dinner. Lysandra had told her to start with something as simple as a stir fry. So she had bought a few more kitchen supplies and a pan Lys had told her was called a wok. She had mused why she could not use the pot she already had and Lys had rolled her eyes. Aelin had also bought the ingredients and now they were all lined up in front of her, the book open and a fire blanket and a small fire extinguisher on the counter just to be safe it was her cooking after all. She took a photo and sent it to Rowan then started working. When it got to cut the onions she cursed herself for deciding to cook.

Her phone rang and put it on speaker “hey,” her voice sounded strained and Rowan went in full fussing mode “are you okay?”

“Yeah, cutting those blasted onions.” She sniffled.

Over the line she heard Rowan roar with laughter “what are you making?” He asked as soon as he stopped laughing.

“A chicken stir fry. Lys said it’s easy to do.”

“Why are you putting onions in it?”

“Because I like them, mr I know how to cook.”

“I even bought a wok. Apparently I cannot use my pot.” She added as while throwing the ingredients in the pan.

“Seriously, when I get back we are going to have a massive overhaul of your kitchen.”

And Aelin’s heart raced in joy. It sounded like he had no intention of going back permanently to his flat. Maybe when he got back she should ask him the question after all.

“Aelin, it’s a miracle you have cutlery and two plates.” She could hear the humour in his voice.

“How are things going?”

“I just came off patrol. I am on my way to my quarters to get changed. I don’t have the most appealing scent just now.”

“Shower without me, so what? Two minutes max?”

“That’s about it. The water supply is not endless.”

He finally got to his quarters and collapsed on his bed after removing his boots then lay down and activated the camera.

“Hi sexy,” she did the same and placed the phone against the wall in front of her so he could see her as well.

“I don’t see any smoke. That’s a good start, considering it’s you.”

Aelin gave him the middle finger and then showed him her small fire extinguisher “I am prepared.” She took a bit of her food “for now it tastes edible, but not as good as yours.”

She saw him give her a smug smile and her instinct was to wipe it off his face with a kiss.

“The answer is July 16th, by the way.”

Aelin looked at him not understanding his statement.

“My birthday? You asked me earlier on.”

That she did “That’s two months away.”

“And when it’s yours?”

“May 3rd.”

“Aelin, that’s in two days.” He added sadly “and it sucks I can’t be there.”

“Lys has planned to drag me out with the girls of the firehouse. It’s also her bachelorette party. I have to go.”

“I almost forgot they were getting married. That came around quickly.”

Aelin laughed “not when you have been around them for years.” Aelin placed her food in a plate and moved to the sofa, taking her phone with her.

“When is the wedding?”

“This weekend. The weather is meant to be gorgeous which is a good thing since they are getting married outdoors.”

She heard him sigh “I really, really wish I could be there with you.”

She did not add that she had been thinking the same. So she just took a bite of her food.

“Edible?”

“Fuck no,”Aelin spit the morsel back in the plate “I must have done something wrong with the spices. It tastes horrible.” She grabbed her house phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Clearly ordering in. I am not eating this.”

Rowan rolled his eyes “you should practice more.”

“Why bother? I am clearly not cut for cooking. I am hopeless.”

“Do I need to tell you the amount of times my food sucked when I was still learning to cook decently? I got better with trial and error.”

Aelin huffed “fine I’ll try again on my next day off.” Then she put her house phone down after placing the order “I thought you were going for a shower?”

“Eager to get rid of me?”

“No, I just was hoping to have a peek at that nice arse of yours.”

Rowan laughed “If you behave.”

“Do you have the quarters all for yourself?”

Rowan nodded in the screen “the perks of rank. Gav is sharing with Vaughan. The twins are on their own.”

“Is that wise?”

“This carrier has a nice number of female officers. No one wants to go anywhere near that room.”

“Remember I am jealous, Whitethorn.”

“Some of them are middies on their snot cruise, so very young. The others… still not interested.”

“Who is a middie?”

“It’s short for midshipman or woman. They are the lowest ranking officers in the navy, just above the cadets. And a snot cruise is their first time out at sea on a proper mission.”

“Are your students middies as well?” She loved asking all those questions that might have sounded silly to him, but he never made her feel stupid for asking. He was always happy to answer.

“No, my students are called pilot officers. Then they become Flying officers, then flight lieutenants which is what the twins are, then Vaughan is our squadron leader, Gav is the Wing commander and then you have me.”

“Sounds so complicated.” She definitely needed to do more research to understand his job a bit better.

“It’s like you guys. Aedion looks after one rig as a lieutenant, you are the captain and are in charge of the operations of both at the same time and Dorian will be in charge of all the engines in case multiples houses are involved. Am I correct?”

Aelin nodded impressed.

“Same for us. Vaughan looks after our small squadron, Gav two or three squadrons, which is called a wing. I look after a unit composed of different wings and then Lorcan plays god in the CIC.”

“Now it makes more sense. So I could be your wing commander.”

“Having you fly with us would be insane. We would not concentrate on the enemy.”

Aelin laughed, then the buzzer of the door went off “just a sec, buzzard, food is here.” She went to get her food and plopped back on the sofa resuming her call with Rowan.

“Is your ship nice?”

“I served on her before. Not as swanky as the new one, but she is decent enough.” Rowan sat back up “hey, I really need to take that shower and then it’s chow time. If I miss it I don’t eat until tomorrow morning.”

“Go. Sorry for keeping you.”

“You did not such things. I have been looking forward to call you.”

“I love you.” She told him, sending back the tears that had started forming.

“I love you too, Fireheart.”

Aelin waved him goodbye and went back eating while tears had begun flowing down her cheeks. It had only been two days and she hoped it would get easier being so far apart.

***

The next morning she arrived at the station bright and early, got changed and went straight to Aedion “Are you ready?”

The man nodded “Peter is covering you until we get back from the police and I got Manon in charge of the second rig.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

They arrived at the police headquarters not long after and Chaol met them at the reception area “Hi guys,”

“Here’s my favourite cop.” Aelin went to hug Chaol.

“Just because I keep reporters away from you.”

She gave him a huge smile back.

“Come, detective Ytger is waiting for you.” They followed behind him in silence and stopped in front of a door and knocked.

A female voice told them to go in and once in the office Aelin recognised the same woman at one of the arson cases a few months back.

“Captain, Lieutenant, we meet again.” The three shook hands and the detective sat back down and invited both cousins to do the same.

The detective threw a thick file on the desk “you two have just made a very powerful enemy.”

“The man is a bastard.”

“Believe me, captain, when I tell you that Hamel has been a thorn in my side for a very long time.”

“And why is he still at large? Two people died and the man did not care.”

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose “he has very powerful lawyers and always gets away with murder. We have been working on him for a long time but whatever piece of proof we bring in is never enough to get him behind bars for good.” Aelin could sense the tiredness in her voice.

“Did you close his club as I asked?”

“We did, but he owns almost all the ones in Orynth. And so much more.”

“Can’t you arrest him for murder?” voiced Aedion.

“No, his lawyers showed us the papers of the latest inspections and the place was deemed to code. He blamed the company that did the inspections for lying to him.”

“Detective, I hope you are aware that is a bullshit.” Said Aedion, fury burning under his surface.

“I am well aware.” The woman added almost apologetically “the closure is temporary. It will not stick too long.”

Aelin almost swore “Have the other clubs been checked?”

“We did some undercover recon but we don’t have the full skillset to know what’s up to code.”

Aelin smiled wickedly “well, it’s a good thing that you have a firefighter whose birthday is very soon and was planning to go to a club.”

“You are not dragging Lys and the others in this.”

“Calm down. Hamel does not know them, they are safe. I will wear a disguise.”

“I don’t like the sound of this.” He protested again but he knew Aelin could be stubborn.

“I am coming too.”

“No,” said Aelin “One: Hamel remembers how you lifted him up and he will not forget such act. Two: it’s Lys bachelorette party as well. So, no.” she paused “you can take the guys to another one.”

“What happens if we find both clubs not up to specs?” Asked Aelin worried that it was going to be a lost cause.

“We can start by closing them and gather a bit more time to have more material against him. We have other leads. We just need something significant.”

They discussed with the detective which clubs to hit and they left.

Once in the car Aedion made his displeasure quite clear “I do not like this.”

“Neither do I, but the police has no idea what to look for.” Replied Aelin.

“We are not cops.”

“And they are not firefighters.”

After that they drove in silence all the way back to the station.

***

Two days had passed and Aelin’s birthday had arrived. She arrived at the station and laughed at the scene. One of the rigs was covered in balloons and a sign saying happy birthday, cap and the second rig was for Aedion and Lysandra and the front of the truck had a long white sheet over it that looked like a bridal veil and two massive papier mache rings attached to the front.

She laughed and joined Ansel and Manon who were doing some checks “did everyone see this?” She pointed at the engine and truck. The two women nodded.

“Then let’s clear it. I do not want to go on a call in that state.”

“Yes, captain.” Said the two women in unison. 

The locker room was empty and she sat down on the bench and looked at her phone again. She was hoping for a text from Rowan or a call but nothing yet. She kept telling herself that he was busy and probably out flying. She removed his dog tags and hung them in the locker and stood and stared at the pictures she had hung up. It was some of the photos they had taken in Doranelle. With her finger she brushed a photo of him. He was standing and looking up to the sky. His eyes closed and a small smile painted on his face and his hair all tousled after she had messed it up. It was one of her favourite photos of him. “Be safe, please.” And she blew him a kiss.

Aelin got dressed and then reached the team who was having breakfast in the communal room.

“She is here.” Shouted Nox happily.

Luca grabbed her arm and pulled to the table where a cake was waiting for her.

“Chocolate hazelnut cake. Your favourite.” He cut a slice and offered it to her.

Aelin grabbed it eagerly “mmmmm”

“Get a room you two,” shouted Ress.

A moment later Manon came through with a man carrying a large box “he says this is for you, captain.”

“Thanks, Manon.”

Aelin grabbed the box from the courier and sat down on the sofa. It came from a shop in Orynth. Strange. She opened the box and when she peeked inside she saw a massive stuffed toy. Once she lifted it she realised it was a bird and she had a feeling she knew who it was from.

“A bird? Why a bird?” Asked Lysandra.

Aelin smiled, grabbed the stuffed toy and walked to her bunk to be alone when she noticed the letter inside.

Once alone she sat down on her bed and placed the bird at her side and read the letter

Happy birthday, fireheart.

I wish I could be there for you but I can’t and it hurts more than I thought possible.

If you are reading this, you have met your new friend. I could not find a buzzard but a toy shop in Orynth had a white-tailed hawk and since I have silver hair I thought it was the closest option. Do we look similar? He will keep you company while I can’t be there with you.

I will try and call you tomorrow if I get a free moment, but the guys and I have pulled alert crew duty for the day so no phone for me.

Have fun with the girls and leave the other guys alone especially if they are navy and army.  Aelin chuckled at the joke

I miss you already.

I love you. Madly. 

To whatever end.

Yours, 

Buzzard.

By the time she had finished reading the letter she was in tears. She hugged the soft toy and for a moment she hoped to smell his scent of pine and snow. She went to her locker, grabbed the dog tags and put them around the bird’s neck “you look after them while I am on shift, but then I take them back.” After that she took a photo and sent it to Rowan “I think I will call him Rowan.”

**

It was later that night and Lysandra and Elide were at Aelin’s place to get ready for their fun night. Aelin though, was not in the mood. Rowan had eventually called her but the phone call was cut short when he had go and scramble. Soft toy Rowan was on her bed, his dog tags back on since she would not be wearing them with her dress.

Lysandra was going through her wardrobe looking for a dress for the night.

“So, the captain does have clothes that are not uniform,” said the woman going through his clothes but Aelin glared at her and Lys went back to Aelin’s side of the dresser.

“Did he phone you?”

“Yeah.” Said Aelin flatly while wearing her dress.

“Lorcan said they were having a couple of shitty days.”

Aelin ignored her friend or she would end up in tears and ruin her make up.

“Did he give you his dog tags?” Asked Lys noting them pending from the bird’s neck.

“No, he can’t. He made a copy. And I don’t want the original ones until he retires.”

“Why?” Asked Elide while she was busy fixing her hair.

“Because it means he is dead. They are used for identification.” Replied Lysandra flatly. She had learned that from Aedion.

“Can we please change subject?” Snapped Aelin.

Lysandra grabbed a green dress “what do you think?”

“It will go perfectly with your eyes.” Said Aelin wearing her blue dress.

“I thought you loved the captain.” Said Elide.

“Uh?”

“That dress?” Added Lys pointing at her attire “it makes you look as if you are open to being chased.”

“Too slutty?”

“Ansel will be proud of you.”

Aelin smiled “I do love the captain and I have no plans on taking anyone home. My only companion in bed tonight will be bird Rowan.” Then she wore a wig of red hair.

“Why the wig?”

Aelin and Aedion had decided not to tell anyone about their plan for the night, so she had to lie although it hurt lying to Lysandra “just for some fun.”

They arrived at the club half an hour later and Manon, Asterin and Ansel were already there and apparently already having fun.

“You made it” shouted the red-haired woman. “And who is the hot red-haired friend?”

“It’s me, Ansel.”

“Captain, you look hot.”

Aelin laughed “thank you.”

“We got some drinks already,” said Manon.

“Happy birthday, captain,” said Asterin raising her glass “and congratulation to Lys for bagging the meanest lieutenant in the TFD.”

Their glasses clinked and then Aelin spotted Chaol in the distance. What the heck was he doing at the club? She nodded at him and he gave her a small nod back. Everyone knew Chaol and if the girls spotted him it could raise some questions so she texted him with the pretence of being the overbearing girlfriend checking on her man.

The girls went out dancing and she stood behind saying she was not in the mood when she was actually trying to check out the place. She was about to join Chaol in his hideout when a guy stopped at her side and blocked her way “aren’t you a stunning creature?” He said and Aelin cringed. She really hated clubs and the pigs that came with them.

“Of course I am.”

She felt his arm sneak around her waist and his body move closer to hers and she closed her eyes at the fact that those arms were not Rowan’s.

“What if I buy you a few drink and have some fun you and I?”

“You couldn’t handle me.” She said to him in a whisper.

“I love a good challenge. My flat is not far from here.” And his hand slithered up on her back.

Aelin scoffed “I’d never have sex with you even if we were the last two humans left in the world.”

She made to walk away but he grabbed her arm. She almost punched him but in that instant she felt someone hugging her from behind “it’s me, follow my lead.” He whispered in her ear and she noticed it was Chaol.

“Thank you for finding my girlfriend. I went to the gents and I lost her.”

“Sorry darling,” said Aelin caressing Chaol’s face.

The stranger walked away annoyed.

“Thank you.”

“You were holding your own anyway.” He commented.

“I was about to punch him and cause a scene and mess up the mission.” She whispered then grabbed his hand and pulled him to a quiet booth at the back of the club

“What are you doing here?”

“Detective Ytger sent me here as back up. Hamel’s minions know all of the detectives but not us beat cops.”

“How do you want to proceed?” She asked him.

“You are the firefighter, I am just here to make sure you get out okay.”

“Ok, I need to walk around. Just keep an eye on me.” Chaol nodded and Aelin walked away.

She went back to the bar area and smiled when Elide walked toward her “Ace!! Come on it’s your birthday, you need to come and have fun.” She also had a job to do but felt bad at abandoning her friends. So she joined them again and Lys grabbed her for some dancing.

“How how many hearts did you break?”

“Just the one but he was a pig.”

“Did you tell him you have a super hot captain waiting for you?” 

Aelin shrugged and turned to Elide.

“How many drinks did Ansel give you?”

Elide lifted three fingers in front of her face “two.”

Aelin laughed “no more alcohol for you.”

“Buuut I am sad and I miss Lorcan.” Aelin hugged her friend knowing full well how she felt.

“Still, no more alcohol, you just can’t hold it.”

She walked Elide to Manon “can you keep an eye on her please? And just water please. Elide has reached her alcohol quota for the evening.”

“Of course.”

Aelin smiled at the white-haired woman. She was very introverted and of a very few words but she did not care about that since she was good at her job. She was the complete opposite of Ansel.

Speaking of the woman…”where did Ansel go?”

“Last time I have seen her she was dancing with a brunette.” Aelin dragged a hand on her face “I am going to the ladies. Just behave, okay?”

She used the excuse to slip away and walk around as she was supposed to do. She wanted to try and take some photo as proof but covert operations were not her forte.

“You are back,” whispered Chaol at her back.

“I’ll pretend to be drunk and lost.”

“Be careful, this is making me nervous.”

She nodded and walked away from him. Part of her was glad she had not mentioned this to Rowan, he would have gone in full protective mode.

She kept pretending she was drunk and dumb and ended up in the kitchen “sorry,” she slurred, leaning against the doorframe “are these the loos?”

“No miss,” said one of the staff “they are down there and on your right.” She gave the man a goofy smile and a wet kiss on the cheek “thank you, sweet man.” The hug had given her the time to have a very quick look in the kitchen and note there was no safety equipment. That was enough for her to shut down that club as well. How could they run a kitchen that way? She really had to take down the bastard. She hid in the shadows of the club and and checked the fire doors without activating them and found them of shoddy quality. She was fuming. She had a good look at the club and realised even the numbers of people allowed in was probably over the limit. Those doors were for 60 people, she could only see three on ground level, which meant a limit of 180 people. There were probably over three hundred, all crammed and spread on two levels. It was a firefighter nightmare. She ran back to Chaol “go home. I have seen enough. Tell the detective this place needs to be shut down as well.”

“I’ll phone her as soon as I am out. She was waiting for news anyway.”

“Go, and say hi to Yrene.”

Chaol left and she ran back to her friends nervous that she was placing them in danger. She wanted to go but the idea of leaving all those people behind made her nervous. She texted Aedion and rage surged back when he told her that their club was the same.

The girls took her dancing in the middle of the dance floor and danced away ignoring a couple of guys basically dancing on her. She hated clubs so much and the music was horrible. She bit down her annoyance and went to hug Lysandra “how does it feel to be almost married?”

“Weird.” She looked at Aelin “are you having fun?”

“You know I don’t like clubs but I came for you, it’s your night after all.”

“It’s your birthday too.”

Aelin shook her head “I get one every year, you better marry my cousin and stick to him.”

“And you stick to the captain. I want to come to your wedding.”

Aelin laughed “we’ll see…” then she turned and saw Elide leaning against the counter half asleep “what if we take the party to my place? I am sick of this place.”

“Please,” said Manon in a hopeful tone. She hated clubs as well “we can get alcohol on the way home. If I hear another man asking me why my hair is white I am going to start snapping necks.”

“Hey Manon, no need to snap necks,” then Aelin looked around for Ansel.

“I’ll get her,”said Asterin when she noticed the woman in the distance.

The woman came back with Ansel in tow and moved closer to Aelin “the fire exits are not enough and one is blocked.” She whispered.

“I know, I am going to call Peter and explain the situation to him.” She took her phone out “take the others to the cars. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Aelin watched Asterin walking the group to safety then hid in dark a corner and phoned Peter explaining that they had to pretend they had an anonymous call and come and pay a visit to the place and shut it down. The man agreed after she explained him the situation in terms of safety. She was playing dirty but could not care less. People’s lives were at stake. Hamel could just go and impale himself for all she cared.

Quickly she left the building and she went to her car joining Lys and Elide. The remaining women were in Manon’s car.

They stopped for booze on the way and finally got back home. Aelin took Elide piggyback style as the woman had fallen asleep. Once in the flat she placed Elide in the spare bedroom and covered her with a blanket then went back to the rest of the group camped in her living room. A text from Peter told her that the club had been safely evacuated and closed. Apparently he had found even more infractions that she had not the time to spot. 

“Ok, ladies back to the party.” Aelin grabbed a mixed selection of glasses and mugs for the beer.

Ansel stood and went to use the bathroom and came back a few minutes later “why do you have guy’s stuff on the bathroom shelf? Do you live with the silver fox?”

Aelin sighed “Rowan has been living here since I was discharged from the hospital.”

“That was a while ago.”

“I know.” Aelin sighed.

“Yes!” Shouted Ansel pulling Aelin toward her “our captain is shacking up. I am so proud of you.”

After a few drinks, Ansel would become very friendly with anyone. It was a good thing they had left the club.

In that instant she got a text from Aedion saying that he had activated the fire alarm in their club and evacuated the whole place after he had spotted a shit ton of infractions. Well, that was probably another club down. Definitely not what they had agreed with the detective but they had to do something.

“Ok, since this is a bachelorette party as well, we can have a bit of spiciness.” Said Asterin while drinking her beer “unusual place where you had sex. We need to give Lys some ideas.”

“Do we?” Joked Aelin “Lys would definitely teach us something.” Then everyone looked at Ansel “after her of course.”

“I once hooked up with civilian pilot and we did it in his cockpit before he got to fly the plane”

“Where you flying as well?” Asked Lysandra curious.

Ansel nodded “it’s a long story.”

“Aelin, you are up. I bet the captain is wild.” Lysandra’s eyebrows lifted suggestively.

“He is pretty amazing but the strangest places have been a beach, the sea, behind a waterfall, a pool at the foot of two different waterfalls and almost on a military ship.”

“Almost?” Asked Manon curious.

“I’ll show you the dress.”

Aelin went to get her black dress and got back a moment later “and he knew I had nothing underneath.”

The group of women cheered loudly “that must have driven him insane.” Joked Asterin.

“That’s why the almost. We would have been in a lot of trouble if we got caught.”

“I have nothing left to teach you.”Ansel was sprawled on a chair and lifted her beer in acknowledgment.

“Lys?”

The woman blushed savagely “in a car wash. Aedion and I stayed in the car while it was getting washed and… well.. it was quick but fun.”

“Definitely nothing to teach you,” Aelin clinked her bottle with her friend.

“Asterin?”

“My previous firehouse, with one of my colleagues on top of a rig on a night shift.”

Manon gave a light chuckle “was it when you were at the Regional 2?”

Asterin nodded “he was some hot firefighter. We are still friends. We did it once and then it felt so weird and never happened again.” She explained.

Aelin sighed “The night of the mayor’s party, Thomas and I hooked up. We ended up at my place. We did it, realised it was rebound sex and finished the night with tv and junk food.” Thinking about him still pained her.

“No friggin way. More than the kiss?” Asked Lysandra shocked.

Aelin nodded “after you saw us kissing I left, he found me, we went back to my place.”

Aelin looked around and noticed that no one wanted to make too many comments, his death was still too fresh for everyone and he had been Manon’s and Asterin’s captain.

“Does Rowan know?”

“I told him and he is fine. We were nothing at the time and I was mad at him.”

In that instant Elide joined the group and Aelin stood and went to her “hey, how are you feeling?”

“My head hurts.” Replied the woman leaning against Aelin.

“I should take her home. We are working tomorrow we should all go home.”

“Lys is right,” added Asterin “another 24hrs shift ahead, we need some sleep.”

Manon and Asterin offered to take Ansel home and Aelin remained with Lys and a sleepy Elide.

“I am sorry the evening sucked.”

“Hey,” Lysandra placed her hands on Aelin’s shoulders “it didn’t, and to be honest we were all quite tired. All it matters is to marry that annoying cousin of yours.”

“Take Elide home, she is about to go to sleep again.”

Once Aelin was alone she finally shed the dress and opened one of Rowan’s drawers and grabbed a t-shirt. They were usually far too big for her but she loved them as pyjama. She went to the bathroom, got ready and then finally got in bed with bird Rowan and squeezed close to his pillow to inhale his scent.

She grabbed her phone and found a text from Rowan

I hope you had a nice evening. I wish I had been there with you because it’s bad out here. I hope bird me is keeping you company. Have a nice night, Fireheart. Love you.

Aelin’s heart sank at the anguish in his voice. She tried to call him but had no answer.

I love you, come back to me, was all she managed.

She squeezed bird Rowan and tried very hard to fall asleep.

TAGS:

@rowaelinismyotp​

@jlinez​

@swankii-art-teacher​

@courtofjurdan​

@whimsicallyreading​

@tillyrubes10​

@surielandiareendgame​

@aelin-bitch-queen​

@bruiseonthefaceofhumanity 

[oikawaplssteponme]

The Apartment: part 1

pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x fem! reader

rating/warnings: swearing

synopsis: You knew that living with your three best friends, Kuroo, Oikawa, and Bokuto, would be a wild ride. It’s never a dull moment with those three. Let’s just hope you can keep your huge crush on Kuroo a secret when he is only a room away.

a/n: AHH HIII💓omg im so excited to be writing a new fic!! this fic is gonna be different style than my last one but i hope you guys like it!! honestly, Kuroo, Bokuto, and Oikawa is the trio we all needed but never got. so enjoy my take on it ;) also there will be a new taglist for this fic so just lmk if you would like to be added! as always, requests and asks are open! okay enough from me, enjoy xx

•

One: Britney Spears poster

“Hey Y/N, can you grab this last box?” asked Bokuto. You nodded, picking up the box labeled ‘kitchen’ from the back of Bokuto’s car. Today was move-in day for your first off-campus apartment. You were beyond excited to start living with your 3 best friends: Bokuto, Kuroo, and Oikawa. From an outside perspective, your friend group would look chaotic and dysfunctional, and it was, but you wouldn’t trade those 3 idiots for anything.

“Okay that’s the last of it,” you said as you carried the box towards the elevator. You rode up with Bokuto and entered your apartment. Brown boxes covered the floor, music blaring from room to room.

“Oikawa turn it down or else we are gonna get a notice on the first damn day!” yelled Kuroo. You laughed as you heard Oikawa shuffle towards the speaker to lower the volume.

“Okay guys, everyone grab the boxes for their rooms so we can start putting shit away,” you ordered. The 3 stooges stood in front of you.

“Yes ma’am,” they called back, giving you a sarcastic salute. You rolled your eyes and grabbed your first box.

Living with your 3 best friends was something you never really thought would happen. You all had joked about it when you were kids but to have it became a reality was another story. You all grew up together so there was no surprise to how close you all were. You may have all gone to different high schools so college seemed like the perfect way to reconnect.

You and Oikawa shared a room while Kuroo and Bokuto shared the other. You and Oikawa had been glued to the hip since birth. You didn’t have many close ‘girl’ friends so Tooru was the next best thing.

“Jeez how many pairs of tiny sunglasses do you have?” you asked, looking down at the arrangement of color coded sunglasses.

“Well Iwachan got me them so I cherish them,” he explained. You laughed and continued to unpack your things.

Hours passed and your room was finally up to your standards. You went for something simple yet still your style. Kuroo and Bokuto had moved on to organizing the living room.

“OIKAWA!” yelled Kuroo. Oikawa jumped, giving you the ‘oh shit I’m screwed’ look.

“How many times do I have to tell you that the Britney Spears poster does NOT belong in the kitchen?” Kuroo clenched Oikawa’s Britney poster, almost to the point of ripping it.

“Oh so now you don’t like Britney but on the whole car ride here you were singing along-“

“OKAY we don’t need to talk about that,” interrupted Kuroo.

“She’s better than your stupid Periodic Table posters...” mumbled Oikawa. You tried to hold back your laughter.

“Hey you take that back! The Periodic Table of seasonings fits perfectly with the kitchen!” barked Kuroo. Oikawa rolled his eyes, snatching the poster from Kuroo’s hands.

“God you are such a nerd,”

“And you are such a tw-”

“DON’T YOU SAY IT!” Oikawa gave Kuroo the death stare. Their playful bickering was your favorite form of entertainment.

“Sorry sorry...twink” Kuroo ran out of the room and Oikawa was now chasing him.

“GOD DAMN IT KUROO!”

You bursted out laughing as you heard a crash on the floor, assuming that Oikawa was now jumping on Kuroo. Bokuto stood at the doorway of your room with a confused look.

“What happened?”

~

The four of you continued to organize your apartment until nightfall. Once everything was put into place, the boys crashed on the couch and turned on the TV.

“Should I pick up a pizza?” You asked.

“Is that even a question?” joked Bokuto.

“One cheese and one meat-lover?”

The boys nodded enthusiastically. You made the phone call and went to sit on the empty loveseat.

“It’s gonna be about 15 minutes,” you explained. The boys gave you a thumbs up.

“Guys we did it, we’re actually living together,” gushed Oikawa.

“Don’t go and get soft on me now Shitty-kawa,” you laughed. Oikawa turned to you and groaned.

“Y/N you ruin everything damn it. I’m trying to be a good, sentimental friend, and you just-“ you interrupt Oikawa by moving to the couch and jumping on him.

“JESUS Y/N I’M FRAGILE!” He complained as you sat on his lap.

“And you wonder why you’re a piece of shit,” you gave him a sarcastic hug. “But seriously, I’m so happy to be living with you morons. We’ve been dreaming about this forever.”

“Yeah, crazy to think we actually did it,” smiled Kuroo.

“I LOVE YOU GUYS!” yelled Bokuto. You laughed.

“Bring it in guys,” you pulled Kuroo and Bokuto towards you and Oikawa for a tight hug.

“Oh so when Bokuto gets sentimental it’s totally fine...”

“Shut up Shitty-kawa and enjoy the hug.”

~

“Who is coming with me to pick up the pizza?” you asked. Oikawa was asleep on the couch and Bokuto was very invested in the episode of ‘Gilmore Girls’ that was playing.

“I’ll go,” said Kuroo.

“Okay come on then. We’re taking your car,” you snagged Kuroo’s car keys off the counter and ran out the door.

“Y/N-chan there is no way I’m letting you drive my car!” you heard him yell from inside the apartment. You quickly pressed the elevator button and jumped inside. Kuroo’s voice trailed off as the elevator moved down to the first floor. You exited the elevator and thought you had gotten away with driving Kuroo’s car.

“Not so fast Y/N-chan!” Kuroo snuck up behind you, picked you up, and tossed you over his shoulder. He took the keys from your hand and carried you towards the car.

“Tetsurou put me down!” you begged. Kuroo set you down in front of the passenger door.

“If you wanted to win you should have taken the stairs. And I’m driving silly,” he smirked. You rolled your eyes before getting in the car.

You and Kuroo drove until arriving at the pizza place. You waited in the car while he went inside to pay. For some reason, you felt nervous about being alone with Kuroo. You’d been alone with him a million times before, so why was this time any different? Of course, it had nothing to do with the grey sweatpants he was wearing. Or the fact that he drives a stick shift car and his veins popped every time he would shift gears. Or because you have had a crush on him since you were 6-years old. No, that had nothing to do with it.

Kuroo came back, opened the car door, and handed you the pizzas to hold onto. You rested them on your lap as the two of you drove back.

“I’m glad we’re are finally living together,” said Kuroo. You looked at him, the butterflies coming back in your stomach. “All of us I mean of course,” he clarified.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be super fun. Hopefully, we all survive,” you joked. Kuroo chuckled.

“It’ll be fine Y/N-chan,” Kuroo smiled, giving you a pat on the head.

~

When the two of you got back to the apartment, Oikawa had woken up.

“We are watching ‘Mean Girls’!” argued Oikawa. He was practically climbing on Bokuto for the remote.

“We watched ‘Mean Girls’ last time! I wanna watch ‘Unsolved Mysteries’!” said Bokuto. You couldn’t help but laugh at them.

“Everytime we watch ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ you end up calling Akaashi because you get scared!”

“Pizzas here,” you announced. All fighting ceased the minute you said those magic words. You grabbed some paper plates and napkins and watched as each of the boys piled pizza onto their plates. You grabbed yourself two pieces of cheese pizza and went to sit on the loveseat. Kuroo sat next to you while Bokuto and Oikawa sat on the couch.

“I’m picking what we watch,” said Kuroo. He turned on a volleyball game and of course, there were no complaints.

After stuffing all your bellies with pizza, the four of you decided to head to bed. You said goodnight to Bokuto and Kuroo and were now nestled in your bed. Oikawa laid on his bed.

“How was picking up the pizza with Kuroo?” asked Oikawa. You rolled your eyes.

“It was good,” you muttered. Oikawa laughed.

“Still not over that crush yet are you?” he teased. You groaned. Oikawa was the only one who knew about your crush on Kuroo. You let it slip during one of your all-night sleepovers you two would have when you were kids.

“So what if I’m not, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

“You know that if you had just told him during high school, you two could be dating by now.”

You sighed.

“I don’t know. I don’t wanna ruin our friendship and he probably doesn’t even like me. I see no good outcome of him knowing,” you explained.

“You’ll never know unless you tell him.” As much as you hated to admit it, Oikawa was right. There was always the 1% chance that Kuroo would like you back. But, the friendship you two had didn’t seem worth risking. You just hoped that living together wouldn’t stir your feelings out of proportion.

[taglist OPEN: @vangoghmusings @vangoghpoets @lilnuances]

[black-dragon1998]

Kryptonian in the MCU  (chapter2)

summary: picking up were we left off.

part 1

Tony was hosting a party and with this amount of people in the house, you couldn’t help but wonder how they all fitted inside. The house was big but the number of people wanting to party with ‘the Tony Stark’ was just humongous. Natasha had to stay near Tony a lot but the hug crowd worked in your advantage at the moment. In the sea of people, nobody noticed that you stole a couple of kisses from his assistant.

“I’ve missed you.” You whisper in her ear. Natasha chuckled from where she was leaning against the wall and smacked your arm.

“you have seen me this morning. Besides we are working.” You sighed at that, as always, she was right. Not that you were going to tell her that.

“I know but, I got distracted by you in that dress. You know I can’t resist you in things like this.” You take one of her shoulder straps and make it snap against her skin. Normally this got her excited to go further. Not tonight though, tonight she simply smiles at you before giving you one last kiss and walks away. After that, the party goes down fast.

In his drunken state, Tony thought it was a good idea to put on his Iron Man suit and blast a couple of objects around the house. You don’t know why but the, but the drunken crowd loves it and is cheering him on and throwing stuff in the air for him to blast.

Rhodey takes that moment to enter the house and looks not happy at what he sees. He immediately leaves for the workshop downstair and instantly goes for one of the suits. You head her into Nat’s direction to brief her about Rhodey.

Being stuck at human speed sucked and takes ages so before you reach her Tony and Rhodey start having a massive showdown. When rubble start flying around you have to stop to protect the drunken partygoers before you can reach Natasha. It seemed like the only thing you do for Stark was to make sure he didn’t kill anybody. After knocking each other through a couple of walls the party stops dead in its tracks, and panic breaks loose.

From the corner of your eyes, you saw Natasha arguing with Pepper when a piece of rubbly is knocked their way. That is when you say, ‘to hell with it’. Super speeding toward them to protect them from the impact. The concrete crumbles on your back not even leaving a dent in your back.

“move it, ladies.” You grith out through clenched teeth as another piece of rubble hits your back. After using your supper speed things go a lot faster. Good too because Stark and Rhodey point their loaded lasers at one another like a sick game of chicken. Both too stubborn and arrogant to put their hand down, they fire.

You feel the shockwave coming toward you and prepare for it. If it hits any of the civilians, they could be heavily injured. You counter the shockwave by creating your shockwave. Clapping your hand together with all your force should do it. The blast destroyed the rest of the house, not that there was much left after the two kids had their showdown.

Tony was blasted into a wall and you saw Rhodey take off when the dust cleared. You flew after the metal coloured Iron Man suit know where it was going, otherwise, you were going to bend press Stark’s suit with him in it. Like expected Rhodey took it to military base, probably wanting to figure out how it worked. You turned back before they picked you up on their radar and send a couple of fighter jets after you.

 You and Nick find Stark sitting in a giant doughnut somewhere in the middle of nowhere. You had put on your all-black stealth suit and helmet. seeing him sitting like that brought back all the anger you had felled yesterday.

Without warning, you jump up and threw him on the ground. Fury looking down at him with.

“I was going to ask you to exit the doughnut, but it seems I don’t have to do that anymore.” Fury spoke looking at Stark, who briefly looks up from under his sunglasses. Somehow, they stayed on when you tossed him to the ground.

“I told you before. I don’t want to join your super-secret boyband.” Stark was hanging in his seat, probably having a major hangover, and suffering from it. Good.

“I remember. You do everything yourself. How is that working out for you.” Fury sassed taking a sip from his coffee. You couldn’t help but snicker.

“What is their problem?” Tony asked glaring at you from under his glasses. You didn’t respond just stared back at him through your helmet.

“Their problem is that they had to clean up your messes for the past couple of days. There were a lot of messes to clean up, so they aren’t your biggest fan right now.” Furry answered. You wanted to give him a piece of your mind, but Natasha chose that to walk up to the three of you. She stopped next to you.

“We have secured the perimeter, but I don’t think we should hold it for too much longer.” Natasha briefed. You were able to give her waist a little squeeze as a way greeting her, so it went unnoticed by Stark. He was so busy picking his jaw back of the ground. Natasha took a seat next to Fury. After the little introduction was made Fury went back to business.

“you made your girl your CEO, being given your stuff away. You let your friend fly away with one of your suits.” Fury started.

“he didn’t just take it.” Stark tried to defend himself.

“Wow, wow your Iron Man and he just took it?” Fury sounded very unconvinced, so were you.

“well according to mister Starks security database his suits prevent the use by unauthorized users.” You chime in, voice distorted by your helmet.

“what do you want from me?” Stark was getting annoyed and so were you. Luckily for him, Natasha led you away and the last of the conversation. You heard Fury tell him that he wasn’t the centre of his universe and that he had somebody who would happily knock him around until he got that.

“easy, we want him to work for us not pound him into the ground.” Nat teased when the two of you were out of earshot, making you slightly glare at her.

“easy for you to say, you don’t see what could have happened to over a dozen innocent people.” Instead of arguing with you, she gave you a quick kiss, making you visibly relax.

“Better?” she asked while pulling back, smirking when you didn’t answer.

“maybe another to be completely sure.” Nat went back to give Tony something to suppress his symptoms and that he needed to look deeper into what he was already doing in finding a cure. After that, a temporary base was set up at what remained of Stark mansion to make sure Tony was working on this. Coulson was the unlucky agent that was assigned to babysit him.

Natasha had to stay, so as not to blow her assistant cover. After the party, she wasn’t longer Tony’s assistant but became Pepper’s one. Biggest relieve was you didn’t have to shadow him every step of the way, leaving it to Coulson and his team.

  The free time gave you time to visit your favourite twins in Sakovia. You met them when they were around 10 years old and had just lost their parents from a bomb explosion. You were in the area on a SHIELD mission when you heard the explosion. After rescuing the twins you helped them to a rescue camp and helped them settle. You wanted to take them with you to the US, but your life was just too unpredictable to be razing two children, so you were forced to leave them there in an environment they knew. Promising yourself you would take them with you when your life became less hectic. Until that day came you had to settle on visiting them when you could.

 How they did it you don’t know but every time you land on the ground, they are either screaming from the deck or are already launching at you. Today seemed no different. Within the moment of landing, you had a Maximoff twin on each arm. A pair of matching mischievous grins look up at you.

“look at this, not even landed five seconds and already I have captured captain troublemaker 1.” Looking at Pietro. “and troublemaker 2.” Looking at Wanda. Both giggle as you set them down.

“How have you two rugrats been doing?”

“Pietro has been sneaking out to see Zrinka!” Wanda immediately rats her brother out and hides behind you. Pietro becomes a little red in the face before rushing over yelling at his sister.

“Wanda you promised to you wouldn’t tell anybody.” Before you know it is a tug and war around you. When it’s over you till the two up again and walk into the house saying hello to Maria. you make dinner for the two and after settle down on the couch with one of them on either side of you.

Wanda was the smartest of the two but a bit more reserved than her brother, but when she sets her mind on something, she goes for it. Pietro is more outgoing but also a bigger goof than her brother. Pulling the two of them always into trouble. That night they fall asleep on you while watching TV.

You were able to stay for a couple of days before Fury called you back. With a couple of tears, both twins say goodbye to you, and you promise to come back as soon as possible.

“Nat, I had to come back for Justin Hammer’s big fuck you to Stark at Stark EXPO.” You could not believe they had made you come back for this.

“yes, and I’m sorry but Fury insisted on it. Hammer is going to show off Warhammer tech and he wanted to be sure things could be handled if it went wrong and let’s be honest with Hammer their always something wrong.” She was dressed in a beautiful black dress that looked amazing on her. Even Nat’s amazing dress couldn’t stop your frustrated grown.

“fine. I want a vacation after this with no work for a month.” You look down at your girlfriend who grinned up at her.

“That sounds amazing.” Natasha gave you a final kiss before he left to meet Pepper.

 Nat had put you on the guestlist so you could get in without problems. You were taking your seat just before Hammer waltzes on the stage, trying to imitate Tony’s natural swagger. You at least had to hand it to him that he knew how to play and please the crowd. Everything went well until the drones had to demonstrate their capabilities. Stark flew in with his Iron Man suit and crashed the show and then out of Warhammer started attacking Stark and the drones started firing at the crowd and again all hell broke loose.

Stepping into a shadow where nobody could see you twitch your watch and your suit manifested over your clothes, tapping the side of your head to make your helmet appear. In suit, you didn’t have to worry about showing you powers.

“Zor-El the drones are remotely controlled, take them out while protecting the crowed. I’m going after Vanko.” Natasha orders you after she got all the information she needed from Hammer. You fly high into the sky to get a good look at where all the drones were. It seemed that most of them were after Stark and only a hand full were out causing mayhem. When you saw a building coming down you instantly reacted. You supported the crumbling building while the firefighters were helping the civilians getting out. After most people seemed to be out of danger you went after Stark and Rhodey.

“Base has been neutralized but Vanko is gone. Good news Rhodey has his suit back under control.” Natasha informed you. When you caught up with them it seemed like you missed the large fight drones were scattered all around.

Vanko had his energy wipes around their throats and saw them put up their hands to pull the same stunt they did at the mansion. Seeing it had not enough power you helped it a bit with your heat vision. Vanko went down but had one less trick up his sleeve and all the drones went into self-destructing.

Stark being Stark only thought only about Pepper leaving you to make sure everybody else got out. Using your superspeed nobody got what happened to them, but they were safe. After everybody was safe you landed on a nearby roof and looked over the destruction that had occurred. I reminded you of the destruction of your home planet, making sad memories resurface.

“Zor-El! Status?” Natasha broke through your string of thoughts. That woman always seemed to know when you needed to hear her voice.

“all clear on my end. You good?” not the first time she would hide an injury from you.

“All good. I think I’m going to ask Fury for a vacation too. What do you say we go somewhere remote just the two of us?” Natasha had become a lot more sluttery at the end and it made your knees weak.

“you bet I do. I just hope I don’t have to work with Stark anytime soon.” Both of you laughed at that.

TAGlist: @xjiasx​

[hawks-supremacy]

New Beginnings - Rejection

A/N: This had nothing to do with the story but have you listened to Nickleback’s Rockstar Sea Shanty? It’s kind of a bop tbh. 

Warnings: Swearing? That’s to be expected from me tbh.

Word count: 1.7k

Masterlist

You woke up the next morning with the blinds being torn open and three boys shouting. You sat up and groaned as you covered your face. “Shut up I have a headache.” You said as they all laughed at you. The pounding in your head only seemed to get louder as they started talking. You opened one eye as someone nudged you and you saw a glass of water and some headache meds, you let out a thank you as you downed them both. 

“You may have a headache but you also have work in an hour.” As Suga finished his sentence you shot out of bed, regretting the action immediately. You glanced at the clock on the wall before going into the bathroom and hurriedly changing into your work clothes. 

As you entered the kitchen you saw Saeko cooking lunch. “How the hell do you not have a pounding headache, I recall you drinking just as much as me.” You asked as you sat in the empty spot at the table, squinting at the bright lights. You heard her laugh and mention something about being a lightweight as she set a plate of food in front of you. You scoffed and quickly started scarfing down the greasy breakfast.

“Why don’t you slow down before we’re making a field trip to the er.” You shook your head at Saeko’s words, and Suga mentioned how you had to work soon and you were walking. “Why didn’t you just say so dummy. I can just give you a ride so calm down.” You slowly nodded and finished chewing your food before saying a thank you. 

You all finished eating and piled into Saeko’s car so she could drop everyone off at their respective places. As you got into the passenger seat she handed you a pair of sunglasses seeing the way you squinted at the bright sun, “Honestly Y/n, why don’t you just call off work. You look like shit and you can barely keep your eye open because of how bright it is. Lord knows what the fluorescent lights are gonna be like on your eyes.”

You shrugged and winced as she hit a bump in the road, “There isn’t anyone to cover my shift, I think Ukai leaves early and then it’s just me closing. Besides it shouldn’t be that busy and maybe he’ll just let me sit behind the counter and wallow in self pity.” Saeko laughed at your statement as she pulled to a stop. You said your goodbye to everyone as you exited the vehicle.

You mindlessly walked in and clocked in before you went into the back area to set your stuff down and put your apron on. Upon walking back out to the front you saw Ukai finishing up putting out the rest of the freight you got in. “You probably have a hangover, so you can just sit back all day if you want.” You gave him a look of confusion, how did he know you were drinking last night? “You don’t remember do you?” You shook your head and he let out a soundless laugh, “That’s alright, just sit at the counter and ring people up, it’ll be fine for today.”

“Uh thanks, I guess.” You sat down at the counter. You were thankful that Saeko let you keep her sunglasses for the day because she was right the lights are super fuckin bright. “So uh, I’m scared to ask, but what did I do last night? I mean how did you know I was drinking?” You decided to break the silence in the room after a half an hour of no talking.

He walked over and sat on the second stool beside the counter before talking, “You sent me some lovely texts last night. Full of gibberish, can’t even understand what you’re trying to say in them.” He laughed as you put your head in your hands and groaned. You let out a muffled sorry and it just made him laugh harder than before. “What were you even doing last night? Were you at a bar?”

Flashbacks to you and Saeko talking about your crush on the person sitting in front of you played in your mind. You felt your face grow hotter before speaking, “No I was at Tanaka’s house hanging out with his older sister. She had alcohol so of course we drank it. I guess we drank a little too much huh?” 

After three hours of talking Ukai looked at the time on his phone and got up saying it was time for him to go and walked into the back, presumably to leave for the night. You assumed he had errands to run. As he left to the back you got out your phone to see what exactly you texted Ukai. Upon reading the texts you realized that he probably could tell what you were saying and just chose to ignore it for your sake. You were extremely grateful for that. You glanced up as you heard him come back out a while later. You took in his nice appearance, “Where are you going so dressed up?” You asked out of curiosity.

He avoided eye contact as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I uh, have a date in a little bit, I’m about to go pick her up.” You felt your heart break a little bit with his words. You smiled brightly at him and told him to have fun. You waved as he walked out of the shop and you deflated. Obviously he would like you back, you were just someone he worked with who had a small schoolgirl crush on him. He could clearly decipher your texts last night so he knows you like him or at least find him attractive, so you took this as rejection. 

The last few hours of your shift went slow, but before you knew it you were home. You let out a sigh as you plopped down on the couch next to Suga. “Why do guys suck. Also why are you here? No offense.” 

Suga laughed as you leaned against him, “I don’t know why guys suck. To answer your question though I just got back from a date with your brother. Why do you say guys suck?” You whipped away from him as you turned to where your brother was frozen in the doorway. He slowly started to turn around to go back to where he came from before you jumped up and grabbed his arm. You walked back to the couch where you forced him to sit a spot away from Suga.

“You guys finally went on a date?!” They both nodded as they blushed and looked away from each other. “Are you together now?” They shrugged as they shyly made eye contact, having a silent conversation. You narrowed your eyes as they started to gesture and mouth words to each other before Suga looked at you and let out a firm “yes”. “Okay now that you guys are officially dating I need to have the talk with you,” as they both let out noises of disgust and protests you sighed, “not that talk. My god you guys are nearly in college I would hope you know about that talk. If you don’t, just google it. Anyway! Daichi if you hurt Suga I’m kicking your ass. Suga if you hurt Daichi, well he can handle it himself. Although I’m sure you won’t hurt each other. Now that that’s done, get out of my face. I’m very happy for the both of you. I was rooting for DaiSuga but I don’t want to be near a couple right now. I’m pretty sure I was just rejected, so.”

Daichi raised his hand before speaking, “I have multiple questions.” Suga put his hand down before telling him “not now” as he stood up and ushered you to your room leaving your brother very confused and slightly hurt that his boyfriend just ditched him for his sister.

“What happened? What do you mean you’re pretty sure you were just rejected?” Suga asked as he closed the door to your room and sat down next to you on your bed. You handed him your phone with it open on the texts you sent to Ukai last night. “Oh honey, who let you drunk text last night? He didn’t say anything though, so how was this him rejecting you?” 

You took back your phone and closed it as you plugged it in, “You dumbass, why didn’t you take my phone as the alcohol was being poured.” He shrugged and let out a small sorry before you continued, “And that wasn’t the rejection. The rejection was when I went to work today and he told me he couldn’t understand it when you clearly can and then he went on a date. So clearly he doesn’t like me back if he’s going on dates.” 

Suga hummed in thought, “Maybe the date was already planned and he felt bad cancelling. Or he lied to see how you’d react. Maybe he wants to see if what you said last night was true or if it was just you being drunk.”

You let out a sound of agreement, “Yeah but I feel like he would just ask, he’s not the kind of person to beat around the bush and drop subtle hints at what he wants. Whatever, either way I don’t wanna talk about it tonight. So when did you and my brother agree to go on this date?” You asked with a small smile.

He sighed dramatically as he fell over, “Noya and Tanaka talked me into it last night. While you guys were drinking in the living room they convinced me to call Daichi and ask him out. It was so embarrassing.” 

It was your turn to laugh as he covered his face as it turned red. “Regardless of how it happened I’m glad it did. Now I don’t have to hear your guy’s pathetic excuses for flirting or you guys both gush about the other person. I was getting tired of pretending like the sexual tension wasn’t suffocating every time we were in the same room.” You both laughed as Suga began hitting you with a pillow telling you to shut up.

Tag Lists:

@that-chick212  @elianetsantana @halesandy @katsuhera @ilauvcoldpizza @coffeeaddictedmay @sevenlol @1-800-sharpshootershifty @5sos-wdw @katxsukishima @kookie-doughs

[wayward-mikaelson]

Winter’s Doll--Chapter One

Word Count: 3105

About: A new recruit joins the team

Characters: Nadia “Nadie” Alekiev, Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers, Nikola Alekiev, Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Bucky Barnes, 

Pairing: None

Warnings/Trigger Warnings: Language, a little bit of angst, mention of death, flashback

A/N: There are some Bulgarian phrases such as Baba (grandmother)...,I used google to help me with these, and if I messed something up and you are familiar with these phrases please let me know. I am trying to just keep it simple since my character has Bulgarian background but isn’t fluent with the language except for a few phrases. 

*This work contains content meant for the 18 and up crowd.

**Please DO NOT copy and paste my work anywhere WITHOUT my permission and WITHOUT giving me credit. I work really hard on all my and would hate to have them stolen.

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*****Currently NOT taking any requests.

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Today was the day and Nadia Alekiev wasn’t nearly awake enough to take on the day. She was going to need all the caffeine she could get her hands on. Nadia had been awake since two in the morning wrecked with nerves and excitement. Maybe even fear, since this was such a huge step for Nadia. Every meditation technique she tried, it wouldn’t help her go back to sleep. So Nadia spent her time going over her ‘New Recruit’ packet. The packet was actually a binder that was super detailed. Whoever wrote it really wanted to make sure the reader knew what they were getting into.

Nadia was only allowed to pack one small suitcase of clothes and personal belongings. Everything else, would be boxed up by agents and donated while her small apartment would be listed as a safe house. Something that was hard for Nadia to agree to but, she had been trying to get into the Avenger program for two nearly years. So, she reluctantly signed it all over. Anything to get into the program, right?

As Nadia pulled a decent sized suitcase from her closet, a small shoe box fell to the floor. The contents spilled to the floor. Smiling ever so small, Nadia picked it up and stuffed the small contents back into the box. Nadia almost forgot that she had it stashed up there. It would now be accompanying her to the compound where she would now be living. The box was all Nadia had left of her dead brother.

Right on schedule, a knock came at her door. Zipping up the suitcase and slinging a bag over her shoulder, Nadia took one final look around her apartment before opening the door. This place had been her home for the last decade and had so many happy and painful memories.

When Nadia opened the door there stood a woman with shoulder length red hair and a serious look on her face. “Nadia Alekiev?” she asked, her green eyes were impossible to read. Her voice was professional yet slightly intimidating.

“That’s me,” Nadia gave a small smile shifted on her feet. She hoped to feel less intimidated by the woman standing in front of her.

“I’m Natasha, I’ll be taking you back to the compound while these two gentlemen,” Natasha gestured to two men dressed in black and wearing super dark sunglasses. They, too, were also intimidating. “Take care of the rest of your apartment. Shall we get going?” Down to business, Nadia thought. She nodded.

Natasha lead Nadia to a nice black SUV where the window tinting was just about almost illegal. Placing the suitcase in the backseat of the vehicle, Nadia got into the front seat and buckled in tightly. Natasha looked like one of those women that have a heavy foot.

Once on the road, the nerves started back up again. Nadia crossed her ankles and began to twiddle her thumbs. From the corner of her eye she saw Natasha’s green eye’s zero in on her actions. Nadia crossed her arms over her chest and stared out at the road in front of her. She hoped the nerves would calm down. She felt Natasha’s expression on her get hard and her eyebrows furrow.

“How much sleep did you get?” Natasha’s voice was soft. It helped Nadia relax some.

“Not much,” Nadia replied. “Is it that obvious?” she then asked looking toward the woman at the wheel.

Natasha quickly flashed a questionable like smile her way. There was also a sparkle in her eyes. “It’s my job to notice just about everything in my surroundings, Ms. Alekiev.”

Nadia looked down and started to twiddle your fingers again. Great, she thought, my first day and I look tired as fuck. She watched as her fingers played with each other taking her diamond-ruby ring off her finger and putting it back on and repeating the action again. The ring was given to her by her brother before his death.

“Can I ask you a question?” Natasha’s voice had Nadia look up. “With experience like yours, you would have had no issues getting into any program. Why the two years?”

Nadia turned her head back toward the red head. “Experience like mine?” She asked.

“I’ve seen your file,” Natasha gave a fast look at Nadia then her gaze snapped back to the highway in front of her. “You could have gone anywhere. Why the top?”

Nadia took a deep breath and straightened up. No one asked her that questions before. Not even during the brutal interview process she had endured the week before. She licked her lips before responding. “I believe I have a skill set that is worthy to help out the Avengers. I have combat experience and I am quick on my feet.” And my brother died two years ago in a bombing that had the military discharging me faster than anything without reason, Nadia wanted to say. But she didn’t think that something that personal would have mattered.

What happened next, was fast.

From the corner of Nadia’s eye, she saw Natasha’s free hand snap from her lap. Nadia’s instincts kicked into hyper drive. She twisted the upper half of her body to grab Natasha’s hand. She bends it back, causing her to drop the guns she had drew. Nadia picked up the gun and pointed it at Natasha’s head. The SUV hadn’t even swerved an inch off the road.

“Good, you are quick on your feet,” Natasha said calmly. “Well, quick to think on your ass.” She gave a sly smirk. “I like you.”

Nadia did lower the weapon in her hand. “What the fuck?! So that was a test?” she asked, her voice rose an octave. The adrenaline was acing through her veins and her heart beat a million times a second. “I could have shot you!”

Natasha’s teeth flashed when she smiled at her confused passenger. “But you didn’t and you passed.” Nadia lowered the weapon and slowly handed it back the woman in the driver seat. If she wasn’t a wake before, she sure was now.

They arrived at the compound twenty minutes later. Nadia was still on her adrenaline high while her entire stomach was being attacked by butterflies. At least she hoped it was butterflies. Nadia slid out of the vehicle and looked at the huge building in front of her. This was actually happening, she thought. I’m finally here. She pulled her suitcase from the back and followed Natasha inside the front doors.

“Welcome,” a voice said coming from the left. Nadia stopped in her tracks and watched as Captain America, himself, approached them. Wearing a dark tactical suit that defined his muscles better than his normal tact suit. Then the beard he had almost took up his face. That made Nadia weak in the knees. “You must be our newest member. Steve Rogers.” Steve held his hand out and Nadia took it and gave the super soldier a firm handshake. Oh thank God, she thought, I didn’t pass out.

“Nadia Alekiev,” she replied. “This place looks incredible.” Nadia gestured to the whole room around them.

“It is pretty amazing is it?” Steve crossed his arms. The muscles began to pull at the seams of his tact suit. “I’ll let Agent Romanov show you to your room. We have a meeting at noon in the conference room. Don’t be late.” With that Steve walked away leaving Nadia and Natasha alone.

“Alright,” Natasha motioned for Nadia to follow her again. “Let’s get you to your room. You can rest up and shower there. I’ll come back for you at eleven forty-five to show you where the conference room is. There will also be food and coffee there. Something Steve had done to make sure the team showed up.”

Natasha lead Nadia down to the living quarters and showed her around. It was furnished beautifully with nice furniture that looked like it cost hundreds of dollars. The kitchen and dining area was huge as well. In the far off left corner of the dining area was a fully stocked bar. Complete with bar counter and bar stools. Nadia already saw herself sitting there on the rough days.

“Food is first come and first serve, unless it’s marked down with a name,” Natasha said as she kept walking. Nadia was almost having a hard time keeping up with her as Natasha walked fast and with purpose. “Now here,” She continued back into the large living room. “This is where we all gather for Steve’s boring historical movie nights or Tony’s last minute game nights or whatnot. To the right, are the women’s rooms and to the left are the mens rooms.”

Before Nadia could get a word out, Natasha started her way towards the women’s rooms. “Um, Agent Romanov,” saying her name felt weird coming out of her mouth.

“Please, call me Natasha,” Natasha didn’t look back.

“Okay, Natasha, is the separation to help from other team members from sleeping with each other or something?” The moment Nadia asked that question, Natasha stopped at a room and unlocked it.

“Sort of,” Natasha pushed open the door and looked back at Nadia. “Not since Vision though. He walks through just about anything. But we keep our side cleaner than the boys. Unless your Steve. Steve’s sort of a neat freak. Now,” Natasha gestured into the room. “This will be your room. You have your own personal full bathroom. Bed is made of memory foam. Those guys from your apartment will be by later today to drop off whatever they could fit into a few boxes.”

Nadia’s head snapped towards the red head. “I thought I couldn’t have that stuff anymore? Fury told me nothing more than a bag or two.”

Natasha smiled. “Lucky, you have a team member like me who can pull strings and put the fear of God into anyones eyes.” The look in Natasha’s eyes had Nadia making a mental note to not get Natasha’s bad side. “Alright, this is where I leave you. Shower, relax, I’ll be by to get you at eleven forty-five.” With that, Natasha left Nadia in her room, closing the door behind her.

Nadia looked around at the lightly furnished room. It was very modern with some paintings here and there. It left a lot of room for personal decorating. Nadia wondered what of her belongings would make it and which ones wouldn’t. A lot of personal things Nadia owned were stored at her parents farm house. Gosh, Nadia thought, I haven’t spoken to my parents in almost a year.

Nadia set her things on the bed before checking out the bathroom. It was slightly bigger than her old bathroom at her apartment. The bathtub was separate from the shower. Something Nadia liked a lot since she wasn’t much of bath type of person. The cabinets were stock with top of the line towels and when Nadia touched them, they were softer than anything she had touched before.

Stripping down, Nadia decided to try out the shower. She flipped the water on and adjusted the temperature to what she liked. The pressure of the water hit her skin just right. It was super relaxing. Nadia slide down and sat with her knees to her chest. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

***

“I’m not going anywhere,” Nadia said to her brother as she peeked out the window. “I’m staying here until you can prove that what you said is right.”  

“When I have ever said anything that wasn’t true?” her brother looked up from the computer he was trying to get into. “Aside from the time I had you convinced you were actually speaking Bulgarian.”

“I still don’t forgive you for that one, Nikola,” Nadia gave a teasing smirk. “Baba look so confused as I tried to tell her about my runaway turtle.”

Nikola laughed. “Baba wanted to have Mom’s head on a platter because her grandchildren weren’t well versed in the Bulgarian language.”

Nikola went back to work on to hacking into computer in front of him. He had to prove to his sister that the government that they had signed their lives over to were selling off elite soldiers to underground domestic terrorist groups. Nikola knew that once he and Nadia had that information it would be time to fall off the radar and run.

“Nadie,” Nikola called his sister by her nickname. Nadia didn’t know that night it would be last she heard it. “If anything were to happen tonight, I need you to know that I am right about all of this.”

***

Nadia woke up in the shower. The water was still hot, but one look at her fingertips, Nadia knew that she had been in the shower longer than she should have been. Turning the water off and grabbing a towel, Nadia wrapped herself up and walked out into your room. You saw the clock on the wall, eleven thirty.

“Wow,” Nadia spoke to herself. “I was in there for a few hours.” She unzipped her suitcase, pulled out a decent shirt and jeans and threw them on. Then she quickly brushed through her hair and threw it up into a hair band. By the time she was finished, it was eleven forty-five. Perfect timing.

Nadia made her way towards the door and when she opened it there stood Natasha. “Very impressive,” she said smirking. “I also see that you got some rest. How do you feel?”

Nadia followed Natasha through the living quarters back to the main part of the compound. “Better than this morning to be honest,” Nadia said as she was now able to keep up with Natasha.

The two of them walked into the conference room. Three of the four walls were all glass, but not just any kind of glass, the strong kind that would most likely need a tank missile to break it. Just like Natasha had said earlier, there sat coffee on at a small coffee bar. Nadia went straight towards it poured herself a cup.

As she turned around she saw some people make their way into the room. They grabbed their coffee or food. Nadia recognized Tony Stark, as we took three muffins from the food tray and at at the table. A ginger haired woman saw Nadia and smiled at her as she patted the spot next to her. Nadia made her way over to the woman and sat next to her.

“I’m Wanda,” the woman said. “You must be Nadia.”

“How?” Nadia started to ask until she heard the chair next to her move and somebody occupy it.

“Wanda, here, she can read minds and move things with her mind and do this weird red light thingy.” It was a male. “It scares me sometimes, honestly. I’m Clint, the bow and arrow guy.” He reached his hand out and Nadia shook it.

“Weren’t you supposed to be heading home back to your family?” Wanda asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that was until Cap said I needed to stay until after the meeting and now I see why,” Clint took a bite of his muffin.

Nadia smiled some and turned to see Steve walk in, he had changed into a dark t-shirt and jeans. The person who walked in with him was just slightly taller than him. His hair was shoulder length and Nadia couldn’t help but notice that his left arm was completely made of metal. The way he smiled and nodded when Steve said something had Nadia mesmerized.

When he turned away from Steve his eyes locked with Nadia’s. His bright, clear blue eyes stared into her dark brown eyes. The smile that had been on his face, slowly faded as he lost himself in her look. Nadia felt like her breathing caught in her chest when this mans eyes slowly looked her over. Steve then tapped the mans shoulder and said something to him and he made his way to an empty chair. The man looked again at Nadia who gave him a small smile before looking down at the coffee that sat in front of her.

“Okay,” Steve’s voice was loud and firm. “As you all know, we recruited a new team member. Some of you already met her already or saw her as you walked in. She’s ex-military, special ops. Very well versed in hand to hand combat.”

“She’s also very quick to think,” Natasha threw in. Nadia thought back to when Natasha drew a gun on her earlier that day.

“Nat, please tell me you didn’t,” Steve’s voice trailed off and Nadia looked up to see him with a hand over his face. Nadia also didn’t miss that the man next to Steve still looked at her.

“Oh I did,” Natasha said. “She passed that part. Now to see her in a combat like situation.” Natasha leaned her arms on the table and her green eyes looked deep in Nadia’s.

“Okay, well, “Steve shuffled the papers in front of him then looked up at Nadia. “Avengers, this is Nadia Alekiev. Nadia, this is the team. Now, since today is a free day, we won’t have you show off your skill set.” Steve looked at Clint and then back at Nadia, “Well, maybe two hours with Clint before he goes.” Nadia saw Clint throw his head back next to her.

“Alright,” Clint finished his muffin. “But you owe my kids a laser tag game.”

“And I,” Nadia eyed Tony Stark getting up from his seat to snag more muffins from the counter. “I will have Pepper arrange a nice little welcoming party for Miss Alexis.”

“Alekiev, Mr. Stark.” Nadia said as she straightened her back. “I know it’s hard to pronounce, you can thank my Bulgarian parents for that. Next time just call me Nadie.”

“Mmm,” Tony looked over at Steve was eyeing the situation. Tony looked back at Nadia and took a bite of the muffin in his hands. “You know what,” he said with his mouth full. “I’m going to call you Alexis from now.”

“We’ll see how long that lasts,” Nadia rose an eye brow and smirked at Tony. Tony gave a small huff and walked out. Nadia followed with her eyes and didn’t miss the attractive small smile on the man with the metal arm who still looked at her.

Steve ended the meeting shortly after that. Clint stood up and with his hands on his hips he said “Let’s get this over with or my wife will find a way to kick my ass.”

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

prompt: “pilot.”  for the weeklong #ProjectTheresa fanfiction challenge!

this one ran away from me and got super long so I’m throwing it under a cut

“Douglas, if you could, would you mind checking on G-ERTI? I’ve got to see about these blasted NOTAMs...something about thunderheads over Dresden…”

“Certainly, Martin. No rush.”

Douglas closed the door. Walking down the ramp, he muscled a luridly-yellow safety vest over his shoulders. As he headed for the hangars, he absentmindedly ran the thin mesh between his fingers.

This, admittedly, ranked high in the listing of Strange Arrangements. Martin, though finally able to fly for a living, still considered aviation as a hobby—thus, the Arrangement. On the off chance that Swiss Air wasn’t busy sending him off on tours to the corners of God’s green earth, Martin would wheedle a jumpseat to England from a colleague, bring his royal girlfriend along, and fly with OJS to give Herc some semblance of time off. 

Douglas frowned a little as he passed by the first set of hangars. Speaking of...where was Theresa, anyhow?

He shook his head. She’d slipped away with a safety vest, expressing a desire to wander around the airfield. Douglas and Martin, meanwhile, had devoted themselves to filling out paperwork for the day’s flight—just like old days.

Passing the last hangar, Douglas looked both ways before crossing onto the apron. G-ERTI was on stand outside their hangar, gleaming in the morning light. Before, Douglas had definitely been the type of pilot to joke that he didn’t care so much about the plane’s exterior aesthetics since he spent most of his time inside of it, but now he had to admit: something as simple as a new paint job really did wonders. The old bird was nearly unrecognizable, looking half its age. Flying like it, too, if anyone was asking Douglas.

He crossed around to the fore of the aircraft, to start his inspection at the radome. As he went to face G-ERTI head-on, he noticed another figure in a safety-yellow vest, examining their number two engine.

Douglas peered intently at the figure before abandoning his walk-around and stepping closer. “Your Highness. Grüezi.”

Theresa whirled around and blushed a little. “Oh! Hello, Douglas.”

“You were interested in the engine?” Douglas indicated it with a jerk of his head.

Theresa nodded, looking back at it. She seemed a little embarrassed—or at least uneasy. The two of them hadn’t talked in person much since those terrible days when they’d thought that it was all over. And of course, he couldn’t forget the first time they’d spoken—over the phone at this very airfield—when he’d had a bit of a laugh at her expense.

But he also remembered that she—barely hours after they’d first met face-to-face—had covered for them when they were burning off fuel. She’d been there for the auction, gamely climbed into the back of Arthur’s van, and was currently here for Martin.

He sought to make her feel a bit more comfortable. “Martin’s told you about how we got this engine, yes?”

Her eyes lit up. “St Petersburg? Of course. Many times.”

Douglas stifled the urge to laugh a little. “I can imagine.”

“He also loves to talk about you. How you tricked...erm. Carolyn’s ex-husband.”

“Oh. Yes.” Douglas chose not to analyze too deeply, and managed a noncommittal shake of his head. “Well, I. You’ve seen it. I do have some tricks up my sleeve for such occasions.”

She smiled and turned her attention back to the engine. “You seem to have plenty of tricks up your sleeve for all occasions. Such is...such is what Martin tells me.”

Silence fell between them again. He focused on a Gulfstream taxiing to the runway.

“Er, Douglas…”

“Yes.” He pulled his gaze away from the plane and looked back at the princess.

“Is it okay if I touch it?”

“Touch what.”

“The...er. The blades?”

“You want to see if they spin?”

She blushed again, and this time the embarrassment was evident. “Yes.”

“Go on ahead.”

She reached up and pushed against one of the blades, startling a little when the fan began to spin slowly. 

“Didn’t expect that?” Douglas smiled at her surprise. 

“No, I didn’t. It’s that easy?”

“Yep. Now imagine it spinning at God-knows-how-many-revolutions-per-second at thirty-five thousand feet.”

She must have taken the command literally, because after a few long seconds, her eyes widened. “Wow.”

“Exactly.”

“Do you think of that...when you fly?” Theresa turned back to him curiously. 

“Want to find out?” Douglas shot back. She looked a little confused, so he clarified. “Want to learn how to fly?”

Her eyes lit up again. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’m sure I’ve got enough knowledge to indoctrinate—of course, I mean educate—someone who wants to learn.” 

“Really?” She turned up the voltage in her eyes. “I’d love to!”

“Well, but I can’t start now…” Douglas tried to bring her back down to earth. Enthusiasm. That was what she and Martin seemed to have in common when it came to aviation. No wonder, then, that they’d become close. “For starters, I’m not an instructor yet. A few classes, and I think I’ll be able to add the qualification to my license.”

Theresa nodded, looking a little chastened. “Of course.”

“And—well, there’s the arrangement,” he pointed out. “You’re not going to get a very consistent education, seeing as you and Martin only come here every so often.”

“Yes. That’s right.” She looked down.

“Oh, don’t look like that!” He hadn’t meant to discourage her, and he attempted now to rectify his mistake. “We can figure something out. There’s multiple ways to get a transport license, assuming that’s what you want. You could go about it in a modular fashion—no need to come into a classroom a set number of days per week or anything like that. In any case, you’d be smashing as a pilot. You’ve got Martin, first of all—I think he’d be happy to coach you through revising for theoretical examinations, so you’re basically set on that front.”

She nodded, fidgeting with the hem of her vest.

“We’ll figure it out.” Suddenly, Douglas remembered the task Martin had delegated him. “Actually, we could even start now, if you’d like. Have you ever been on a walk-around?”

—

Some months later, Martin and Theresa were back in England. By this time, Douglas had a flight instructor rating, a night instructor qualification, and  a multi-engine piston instructor qualification added to his transport pilot’s license and a fuel tester in his pocket.

They met in the main lobby of Fitton Airfield, fluorescent lights gleaming off the glass counter where logbooks and charts were sold. As Douglas warmed his hands with a styrofoam cup of coffee, Theresa picked out a black logbook with green pages. After bidding farewell to Martin, she followed Douglas out to one of the Cessna 152s the airfield kept for instruction.

“It looks so small up close,” she observed as they approached the plane. “So light.”

“That’s why we tie the wings down,” Douglas gestured. “The plane could, quite literally, fly away in a wind.” Noticing her shocked look, he smiled. “Yeah. The wings work, even on the ground. It’s not that noticeable in a bigger plane, like G-ERTI, and even more for the biggest planes. But the wings are working all the time.”

He walked her around the plane and explained what he was looking for, similarly to their last meeting. She pulled off the pitot cover as he explained to her that if the pitot was not adequately protected, the airspeed indicator could fail. Douglas pulled out the fuel tester and drew out some liquid from the bottom of the tank. He held it to the sky and called Theresa over to look for water with him, cautioning her against allowing water into the fuel tank. She nodded, eyes wide.

Finally, he opened the plane’s door. “Watch your head.”

Theresa climbed in eagerly, and Douglas set about untying the wings before following her inside. Until that point, everything had gone smoothly, but he somehow had a more difficult time squeezing himself into the small plane than usual.

“It’s not exactly G-ERTI,” he excused himself as he tried to find the room to place his legs without bumping into the yoke. Whoever had used this plane before was, evidently, either a hobbit or an instructor much shorter than he.

Theresa stifled a laugh, sliding on a pair of sunglasses.

Once he’d finally gotten settled, he got on his headset, handed the other to Theresa, and quizzed her on the instruments. Evidently, Martin had prepared her well—or she’d been waiting for this moment for most of her life.

They whipped through a checklist and had the engine started in no time, and Douglas decided it was about time to get into the air. “Let’s check the brakes. Push forward a little.”

“The throttle? I can touch that?”

“Go ahead.”

Theresa reached down for the throttle and gave the plane a little bit of power.

“Rolling forward. Good. Now take the power back. Brakes.”

Theresa did as she was told. “Good,” Douglas complimented her, and she smiled. “I’ll check the brakes on my side.”

They went over how to transfer control to each other, and at last, Douglas directed her to get the power up and turn onto the main taxiway.

Her hand instinctively went to her yoke.

“Rudder. Use the rudder,” Douglas advised gently.

“Oh. Yes, right.” She took her hand off.

“Good. Stay on the center.” He slung his left arm over the back of her seat and directed her.

“Okay.”

They taxied around the airfield until Theresa could comfortably turn and stay on the centerline without confusing the rudder pedals and yoke. “It’s not like driving,” he advised at one point. “The yoke looks a little too much like a steering wheel, granted, but that’s something you’ve got to overcome. Rudder pedal. You turn with the rudder.”

“So yoke for roll, rudder for yaw?”

“Precisely.”

Finally, Douglas directed Theresa toward the main runway, got in touch with Carl, and asked for clearance to take off.

Carl granted it with the bare minimum of dallying, and Douglas grinned. “Okay, Theresa, we’re going up. Follow the yellow line.”

“What! Already?” Her eyebrows climbed up her forehead as she looked at him.

“Yes. You’re doing wonderfully. I’ll help you. Keep following the yellow line.”

They checked that the horizon was lined up, and Douglas directed her to push the throttle forward. “Full power. Keep looking outside. Stay on the center line.”

“Okay.”

“Good.”

Their speed climbed. Forty knots, fifty knots…

“Sixty, sixty-five—Pull back. Pull the controls back. Gently. Go on.”

Theresa pulled back on the yoke, and the ground peeled away from beneath them.

“We’re off!” In Douglas’s headset, he heard a distant cheer from Carl in ATC—and, from the sound of it, Martin.

“I’m doing it!” Theresa’s exclamation sounded not unlike one Martin would make, and he suppressed a grin. He could feel them rolling a little, but before Douglas could tell Theresa to do so, she was correcting it.

“Good. Now adjust your pitch angle. We’re a little too steep and might stall. And as interested as I am in seeing how you handle your first, I’m not keen on doing it so low and so close to the airfield. Not to mention this is your first lesson.”

“Okay.” She lowered the nose.

“Perfect.”

They climbed to a thousand feet and went through the climb checklist. Douglas put his hands on his own yoke and adjusted for her. “Don’t forget to fly the plane, Theresa.”

“Oh, yes, right. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just keep flying. Our goal now is to get this plane stable enough so that you could take your hands off the yoke, and the plane would just keep going on its own. They’re designed to be stable.”

They climbed further to about fifteen thousand feet, and after a good round of coaching, Theresa managed to keep the plane stable enough to take her hands off. After congratulating her, Douglas had her turn a few times, climb twice, and descend twice before taking control and bringing them back to Fitton to land.

Martin was there to meet them at stand, smiling in his luridly-yellow vest. “How’d it go?” he asked as soon as Douglas and Theresa had finished shutdown and piled out of the plane.

“The landing was smooth,” Douglas lazily passed the pitot cover to Theresa.

“You landed,” Theresa retorted, grabbing it out of his hand. Douglas laughed a little.

“Really, though,” he stopped her before they all went back to the portakabin. “You did well.”

She smiled.

—

Over their next productive (albeit sporadic) meetings, Douglas managed to help Theresa master slow flight. Though she was not what others might call a “natural” at flying, she could certainly absorb information better than most. After their sixth or so flight, Theresa could talk to Carl, work the trim wheel, manage a stall, recover from a spin without too much difficulty, and land visually.

Douglas, overall, was quite pleased with Theresa’s progress, especially for someone who was mostly restricted to ground schooling. 

He’d told her that she could very well find an instructor in Switzerland that could help her better—one who could teach her in German and be more regular with flight lessons—but she’d insisted on staying under his tutelage for the time being, which slightly flattered Douglas.  

And—more importantly—over the past few months, they’d gotten to talking between teaching moments, and by this point Douglas could, with certainty, call her a friend. 

They were going up today, in slightly poorer weather than usual, to review some of the concepts they’d covered thus far in less ideal conditions. As far as Douglas was concerned, and based on the relative ease with which Theresa had been able to manage previous challenges, this was going to be a simple review flight.

“Golf Mike Bravo,” Carl told Theresa from ATC, “Piper Cub three miles on final approach. Cleared for immediate take-off.”

Theresa flicked the transmit button. “Cleared for immediate take-off, Golf Mike Bravo.”

“Good,” Douglas rubbed his hands together as Carl signed off. “Right, Theresa. Let’s get ourselves out of here before that Piper comes in.”

“Okay.”

In no time at all, they were in the air—but today, Theresa seemed to have a little trouble getting the Cessna into stable flight. 

“Trim back,” Douglas advised her. “The plane wants to go up; notice how you’re trying to fight to keep the nose down? Remember, we can’t get any higher and enter Bravo airspace.”

“I know that. I’m sorry.”

“You’re porpoising,” he said gently a few minutes later, noticing how the nose kept rising and dipping. Theresa was probably still fighting the aeroplane. “Now you’ve got to trim forward.”

“Right! Right. Got it. Sorry.” Her tone had grown a little more prickly, and he noticed that the hand that reached back for the trim wheel was shaking slightly.

“It’s okay,” he tried to soothe, “relax, just correct yourself and keep on flying.”

He had her climb, descend, and turn for a while, then had her complete a checklist while he kept a hand lightly on the yoke. 

“Theresa, we’re rolling a little. Watch your attitude indicator. I didn’t ask you to bank.”

Theresa nodded, but kept going through the checklist.

“Theresa. You need to scan.”

“Right, I’m going to.”

“One of your wings is higher than the other.”

“What?” Her hand flew to the yoke, and she corrected the plane.

“You need to scan,” Douglas admonished. “Remember the T.” He pointed to the instruments he’d drilled her on months ago, forming a T on the controls. 

“Right, okay, I’m going to.” The prickle was back, and Douglas tried to stand down.

“Okay,” he directed in what he hoped was a calm tone. “I’ll have you do one last climbing turn, and then we’ll go and find a field we can practice spin recovery over.”

He’d thought it would be easy enough—she’d certainly done plenty of them before. But for some reason, today was different.

“Theresa! Your climb angle is too high. You need to scan!” he turned fully towards her in alarm as a stall warning began to blare.

Evidently startled by both his outcry and the stall warning, Theresa abruptly let go of the controls and screamed.

The plane, being a Cessna 152 and therefore the epitome of stalwart reliability, corrected itself and carried on happily scuttling across the English sky as if nothing had ever happened. Douglas was left to stare at Theresa, who’d buried her face in her hands, completely ignoring the panel in front of her.

He stared at her for what felt like thirty nautical miles before he cleared his throat, something like disappointment curdling in his chest.

“My controls. We’re going back to Fitton.”

“What?” She looked up at him, her eyes wide with shock.

“We’re going back to Fitton. I have control.”

And without waiting for her to confirm the handover, Douglas took hold of his yoke, dialed up the Fitton beacon, and began navigating back to the airfield.

—

“Hey, Martin.” Douglas opened the portakabin door, poked his head inside, and knocked on the wall—all while blocking Theresa from entering. 

“Douglas, what—” she yelped from behind, bumping into him. 

Martin took off his headphones and looked up from his charts, face brightening. “Douglas! You’re back? Where’s Theresa?” His face took on a confused expression. “Everything all right? That was rather quick.”

“Martin, get me my jacket.”

“What?” Martin stared, mouth agape. 

“Douglas, let me in!” Theresa tried to squeeze past him. Finding that difficult as he’d wedged himself between the door and the doorway, she thumped him on his back. “I’m not a child.”

“Theresa?” Martin called out. “What’s happened?”

“I’m going to borrow your girlfriend, Martin,” Douglas said calmly. “Get me my jacket.”

“What!”

“Borrow me—Douglas, let me in—”

“Douglas! What do you mean, what do you want—”

Douglas sighed heavily. “I need my jacket.”

“You’ve said that already, something like three times. Will someone please tell me what is going on? And did you just say you wanted to borrow my girlfriend?”

“I’m going to debrief the flight.”

“What do you mean? You can do it in here.”

“I mean, Martin,” Douglas burst out, suddenly losing patience, “something happened up there today, and we need to talk about it like adults, so I am going to bring Theresa somewhere nice and relaxing to have something to eat and drink and then we’ll talk it out.” He held out a hand. “Won’t take more than an hour. Now please. I need my keys. Get me my jacket, will you?”

Theresa stopped trying to worm past Douglas, and Martin’s expression changed into one of stunned shock. He rose, grabbed Douglas’ jacket off a hook, and handed it to him.

“Thank you, Martin. Theresa,” he turned to the princess. With a single shocked glance at Martin, she followed him down the ramp. 

“What exactly are we doing?” she dared to ask as he walked over to his Lexus.

“Exactly what I’ve just said to Martin. We’re going somewhere nice to have something to eat and drink and then we’ll talk about what happened today.” As he unlocked his car he realized that he was commanding a Princess; the humorous irony of this moment, however, would have to wait for another time. “Have a seat.”

“You realize this looks a lot like you’re kidnapping the princess of Liechtenstein.” She gaped at him over the roof of the sedan.

“You’re the one walking into the car, not me,” Douglas pointed out. “I am, in fact, very courteously unlocking the door and opening it for you as you gracefully sit in my car. Now come on. We should go. We have much to talk about.”

A former colleague from Air England had set up a coffeehouse a town over that sold food and drink at a reasonable price, having been declared unfit to fly by his GP due to worsening astigmatism. 

Which was where he was heading now.

As he turned into the car park, he remembered that he was not in an aeroplane and wrenched off his tie, tossing it into the back seat. “Let’s go,” he said without looking at Theresa.

“Okay.”

They silently crossed the car park and Douglas opened the front door for Theresa.

“Douglas! Haven’t seen you in ages.” The man was drying a mug behind the counter and waved eagerly as they walked in.

“Morning, Jeremy. Just dropping in.”

“Sure. Who’s this?” Jeremy indicated Theresa with a tilt of his head.

“A student.” Douglas kept his replies short. “I’m debriefing our flight.”

“Gracious, you’re teaching now?”

“On a limited basis.” Douglas offered a chair to Theresa in the back corner. “If you don’t mind…”

“No problem.” Jeremy turned away.

Theresa nodded distractedly and sat across from Douglas.

“I’ll get you something. What would you like?” Douglas turned to Theresa. “Something to drink, something to eat…”

She twisted around a bit to look at the display case of various baked goods. “I think...erm. An éclair?”

“Nothing to drink?”

Strangely, Theresa paled a little. “Just water.”

“You’re sure?”

“Just...water,” she glared lightly, and Douglas was vaguely reminded of her barking, “I am Theresa Gustava Bonaventura, Countess of Sponheim and Protector Extraordinary of the Cantons of Nimes!” into G-ERTI’s satcom. 

“Okay. Okay, sorry.” He put his hands up in a gesture of deference and headed to Jeremy’s post to get some food.

Some minutes later, he sat back in front of Theresa and handed her the éclair and water she’d requested. Jeremy went to talk to another customer in order to give them some semblance of privacy.

“Thank you.”

Douglas waited until they were both about halfway through their respective coffee/pastry before he started speaking.

“So. Let’s unpack what happened up there today,” he kept his tone low and calm. In front of him, Theresa clammed up a little, but he forged on. “Can you tell me, in your own words…”

“Who else’s words would I use?” Theresa interjected, then her ears turned red. “Well…” She thought for a second, then continued. “I didn’t have a problem getting off the ground, but I was having trouble...I was having trouble getting the plane trimmed to...to equilibrium. Then I did some climbing and turning, and that was okay, but then you asked me to do a checklist…”

“Right, and what happened then?”

“I wasn’t watching the plane, and it came out of its equilibrium.”

“That’s correct. And then?”

“You asked me to do a climbing turn, and I did, but I made a stall warning because I wasn’t scanning, and then…”

She trailed off.

“Right. That’s all true.” Douglas took a sip of his coffee. “Now. I know you knew how to do everything I asked you to. This was supposed to be a review flight, remember? I wouldn’t have let you go up in today’s conditions if you didn’t know how to do what I asked  you to—the bit of cloud and all. So.” He put his cup down. “What’s going on that you don’t want to tell me about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean what was on your mind? Has anything happened between...has anything happened between you and Martin?” He dreaded to hear the answer. 

“What? No. No, we’re fine! Everything’s fine with us.” Her tone had abruptly grown defensive.

“Okay, okay.” Douglas tamped down the relief. “What I’m saying is, something’s probably set you off...Theresa. It’s like driving.” A thought occurred to him. “Wait, do you know...do you know how to drive?”

“For emergencies, yes. I was taught the basics a long time ago.”

“Well, you know how you wouldn’t—you shouldn’t drive when you’re unwell? Not just physically. Emotionally, too? Mentally?”

She nodded.

“Same with flying. You shouldn’t be flying if you’re not well. You shouldn’t have been up in the air at all today on that logic. Which begs the question.” He leaned forward. “You seem physically well. You’re mentally sound. Theresa...what’s wrong?”

Suddenly, she couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Come on, Theresa,” he urged. “We’re friends—at least,” he tacked on hastily, seeing the look that passed across her face, “a friend of Martin’s is a friend of mine, and you’ve—you’ve really been here for us, on quite a few occasions…” He sensed that he wasn’t getting his point across. “What I’m trying to say is…” He took a breath, reached across the table, and grasped her hand, which was lying limply next to her éclair. Her gaze whipped to him. “You can trust me. You can trust us. What’s happened?”

“Oh. Oh...I...Scheisse.” Theresa ripped her hand away and covered her face again. Douglas sat back and bit his lip, letting her talk when she wanted to.

Finally, she gulped, sat on her hands, and looked at Douglas. “Douglas. I…”

“Take your time. It’s okay.”

“Douglas...I think...I’m not saying, but I just think...I might be...Martin and I...well. I...might be pregnant.”

His jaw dropped. When the realization kicked in, he gasped and then grinned. The thought of a mini-Martin or a mini-Theresa was, frankly, incredibly endearing. “Oh my God! Congratulations—”

“No!” She shook her head rapidly. “Wait, no, I meant, not that I don’t want the congratulations, I mean no, it is not good, this is not good. Even though I’m only thinking I might...oh, it’s just bad! It’s really, really bad!” With shaking hands, she clutched at her curling hair like she was about to pull it out and looked at him, her hazel eyes desperate.

“What? How?” 

“We’re...Martin and I aren’t married! If we’re having a child, right now, it’s going to be regarded as an illegitimate child since we’re not married! And my family’s already angry enough at me—”

“Why would they be upset with you, for God’s sake? You’re running a microstate in your teenage brother’s stead, I’d say that’s more remarkable than a given person of your age—”

“Let me finish!” Theresa hissed. Douglas knew her frustration wasn’t directed at him, but his interruption wasn’t exactly helping. He fell silent with an apologetic, deferential nod. “Sorry. Yes, I know I run the country, but I’m just waiting for Maxie to finish his education and take it over—there was a constitutional crisis just to allow me to become his regent—they were going to give the state to a ten-year-old! I couldn’t possibly let them do that—but there are older...more...more conservative members of the royal family that...that don’t like that I’m doing this. And...I’ve never actually wanted to be...listen, I just don’t want to be…I don’t like politics. I never have, and you know I wanted to be a pilot. But I do...what I do! Because I have to…” 

Shakily, she picked up her paper table napkin and began to fidget with it. “And what’s worse...Swiss Air...Martin tells me they’re debating expanding to a hub in London, and...I want him to apply to be domiciled there. There’s a good chance they’ll let him, since he’s—he’s English, no matter how many times he reassures me that he’ll try to gain Liechtenstein citizenship…”

“Hold on. Citizenship?”

“Another problem. We talked to the archbishop of Vaduz. Martin’s not Liechtensteiner or royal, so one of those has got to give if we’re going to marry—and if any of our children are going to have any sort of claim to the throne. It’s not like I care about that last part, but the family’s going to make us suffer for it…”

“Wait, why would you want Martin to be domiciled here if Swiss Air opens a hub?”

“Because...I think it might be better for him. He’d be close to family, away from the worst of my relatives...not to mention close to you all.”

“And what about you?” Douglas stared across the table at her.

She sighed. “I...I would want to come with him if that happens. I've had...I have plans set up but I’ve never told anyone about them, not even Martin…I haven’t told anyone except Martin about me possibly being pregnant...”

“Again. Theresa. You can trust me.”

She gazed at him, openmouthed, then gave a “might-as-well-get-it-over-with” sort of shrug and continued. “Well, my next sister—she’s only a few years younger than me—she actually wants political life, she’s actually interested in running a country. She’d be overjoyed if I passed the regency to her. But after instating a constitutional crisis, I’d be expected to see the regency through, and that wouldn’t happen for...a few years yet. My God, it’s all so complicated, and I’m making no sense at all…”

By this point, the paper napkin was worried to bits on the table. 

Douglas sat there for a while, trying to figure out how to respond. 

“Theresa,” he began at last. 

“Yes?”

“Whatever happens...whatever you choose to do, and whatever you and Martin choose to do. You...you have a home here. Both of you. Really.” It wasn’t about flying now, this conversation. It wasn’t about mistakes, it wasn’t about pilot licenses or anything of the sort. This was different. This was family. “And if certain family members are being horrible...who cares about them? We’ll be your family. You have a—you have a refuge with us. You’ll be fine. You and Martin both.”

She looked dubious, for just a second, and then she looked relieved.

“That’s better,” Douglas soothed. “You’ll be fine. You will be.”

“Thank...thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do.” He stretched across the table and grasped his friend’s hand again—and this time she didn’t pull away. 

They smiled. 

A week or so later, after Theresa and Martin had returned to Zurich, he received a message.

I’m not pregnant. I’m okay, turns out it was a scare after all. I am truly sorry for the dramatics that day. Theresa

I’m glad to hear you’re okay. You are fine. You can always talk if you need it. Douglas

Thank you. Theresa

—

“She’ll be fine.” 

As Douglas scanned the horizon on the day of Theresa’s first solo flight, Carolyn elbowed him lightly in the side. “Hello, Captain Richardson? Do you happen to be in? She’ll be fine.”

He looked at Carolyn, who had endeavored to put on a reassuring look. “You’ve taught her well. She’ll be fine.”

“If I can say,” Herc interjected from Carolyn’s other side, “she’s done well for someone whose flying education has been so sporadic.”

“Yes. Loosen up, Douglas,” Carolyn admonished. “She'll be okay.” 

Douglas had let her take him up around Fitton twice before leaving her in the training Cessna to complete her first solo around the traffic pattern. In the distance, he saw her talking to Martin through the open door of the aircraft. 

Since their conversation a month or so previously, Theresa had made the decision to maintain her regency until Maxie’s coming of age. She and Martin were still discussing the idea of the domicile and marriage, but Douglas had faith that they would make the decision that was best for them. 

But that wasn’t important now, not when Martin had leaned inside and kissed Theresa, his vest stirred by the breeze, before he closed the plane’s door and walked over to meet the rest of the group, standing on the apron in front of the main lobby.

The setting was ideal—commanding a view of both the apron and the main runway.

“How is she?” Douglas asked a Martin anxiously.

“Relaxed, mostly.” Martin had his hands shoved into his pockets as he came to stand next to him. Douglas resisted the urge to laugh—Martin’s face was still a vibrant shade of crimson. “I suppose...mo-more relaxed than me.” He laughed nervously.

Arthur came trotting over as best he could with a plastic bucket in his grip. Water sloshed over the rim. 

“Arthur, dear heart—pray tell me why you’ve got that,” Carolyn turned and pointed at the bucket of water. 

“Ah. Well...I may have told Arthur of the tradition of a pilot’s first solo,” Herc replied a bit sheepishly. “The Americans cut off the shirt-tail—but we douse the pilot in water.”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, really?” Carolyn rolled her eyes. “And she’s got on a uniform for the first time too.”

“It’s a rite of passage.”

It was Martin—of course—that had suggested Theresa get a uniform for the occasion, citing his own experience going through flight school. Initially, Douglas hadn’t even considered it—until that point he’d just let her show up in whatever she wanted to wear. However, he and Herc had agreed with Martin, and they’d pulled together to surprise Theresa with a uniform much like the ones the three of them used for flights with OJS. Martin had had the honor of fastening Theresa’s epaulettes for her—one stripe for now.

Douglas knew he would not be surprised if that one stripe would grow to three or even four. 

“She’s starting up her roll,” Martin announced, ever the observant aviator. 

Douglas watched her initiate her checklist before pulling forward and taxiing towards the runway. 

Theresa paused at the mouth of the runway, and if Douglas squinted, he could see her take a deep breath before applying power. 

The Cessna rolled down the runway, leaving the piano keys behind, quickly gaining speed. 

“Rotate,” Douglas murmured under his breath. 

The front wheel lifted from the ground, and the little aeroplane rose into the sky. 

“Good start,” Herc assessed. Douglas saw him hold up his finger to form an angle with the ground. “Good angle.” Seeing Douglas watching, Herc looked over and sent him a grin. “You did well.”

“Hurrah!” Arthur jumped up and down excitedly. “That was brilliant!”

“Yes, well,” Martin said. “She’s got to come back down.”

Douglas nodded. The relief he’d felt upon watching Theresa take off was quickly replaced by a heavy feeling in his throat. Martin was right. For a novice pilot, taking off was easy enough—landing, not so much. 

They craned their heads upward. The little Cessna was following the standard traffic pattern for Fitton, turning and coming back to land. 

Theresa descended from the sky and approached the runway as Douglas had taught her. He envisioned her as he’d seen her so many times, as they practiced touch-and-go after touch-and-go after touch-and-go: correcting the side-to-side alignment, watching the PAPI lights on the sides of the runway, aiming for the touchdown zone...

“Flare,” Martin called out as Theresa tipped the nose up to increase the angle of attack. 

“Come on,” Douglas muttered to himself, watching her intently. “Power through the ground effect, don’t use up the runway—!”

Finally, the main wheels touched the runway, followed by the front wheel, and he knew Theresa was pushing the rudder pedals as hard as she could to get the plane slowed down.

Martin and Douglas cheered at the same time, and Douglas felt Martin cling to him and jump up and down. 

“She did it! She did it!” he chorused excitedly. 

“Well done to you too, Douglas,” Herc said warmly, thumping him on the back. 

“I must admit, that was exhilarating,” Carolyn added, a hint of pride in her tone. 

“Douglas, here!”

He turned to Arthur, who shoved the bucket of water at him. Some of it slipped over the edges and wet Douglas’s shoes. “You should have the bucket since you taught her! I’ll help you if you need it.”

“Arthur, dearest, I should think one is enough for that!”

Almost as if in a daze, Douglas accepted the bucket. Theresa had done it. Of course, there was a long way to go in terms of licensing, but the truth still stood—she’d defied everything that had stood in her way. 

She was a pilot now. 

Finally, she pulled in to stand and, after completing shutdown checks, left the aircraft to slip on the pitot cover and tie down the wings. 

Martin broke from the group and ran to her, and they followed. Douglas came last of all, heaving the bucket with him. 

Theresa came to meet them, accepting congratulations from Herc and Carolyn, laughing as Arthur tackled her into a soul-crushing hug, and kissing Martin on the cheek. 

Finally, she turned to Douglas with a brilliantly relieved grin, and he smiled mischievously at her. Luckily, she had her gaze concentrated on his face, and not the bucket he was trying to hide behind him. 

“You’ve done well, Theresa. And now, since you’ve shown proficiency as a pilot...I’ve got something for you…”

Splash!

“Agh!! Douglas!! It’s cold!!!”

[wayward-river]

My Heart

Reggie x Sweet Pea Sister!Reader 

AN: Alright this is part 2 to My bulldog you will want to check that out before you read this part! This was requested I hope y’all like it! All mistakes are my own. 

Warnings: Talk of violence. 

You woke up on Reggies chest, his arm wrapped around you tightly as he lightly snored. You looked up to him smiling until your gaze landed on his eye. It could be worse but it definitely didn’t need to be on your boyfriends face. You moved slightly trying to get out of Reggies grip, you stilled as he stirred mumbling something in his sleep. You held in your laugh as you stood up finally still in last night's clothes you grabbed a pair of shorts and Reggies hoodie. You quickly changed into the shorts throwing his bulldog hoodie over your head.

You opened the door as quietly as you could waking to the small kitchen in the trailer. You placed your phone on the counter, music quietly playing from it, as you got to work pulling out pans from cupboards and ingredients from the fridge. You heard shuffled feet on the floor you looked up from the sizzling bacon and frying eggs spotting your older brother.

He yawned rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he pulled out the milk carton from the fridge. You grabbed it out of his hands before he could get it open.

“Cup” You lectured him.

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes at you as he reached above you and pulled down a glass.

“Dang Mantle and making me use cups” He grumbled pouring his milk.

You plated the bacon and eggs, smacking Sweet Peas hand away. “This is for my boyfriend, not you.”

“Seriously now I can’t even eat around here?” He sassed.

“Make breakfast like you usually do Pea!” You sassed back, walking back to your bedroom. Your summer working at Pops helping the balancing of the plate while opening your door.

You looked up eyes locking with a sleepy eyed Reggie.

“Hey baby” You smiled at him setting the plate on the nightstand he was closest to.

“Awh babe you didn’t have to do this.” Reggie pulled you onto the bed a squeal leaving you.

You landed on Reggie your hands splayed out on his chest as he gripped you.

“Reg!” You giggled as he gave your forehead a sloppy kiss before moving you onto the open space on the bed.

“Really Y/N you didn’t have to. You also didn’t need to try and protect me like that.” Reggie glanced down at his admission.

You placed the tips of your fingers on the side of his face slowly moving up until your hand cupped his cheek. “I wanted to baby...on both things and I know you are this badass quarterback and super popular and you can protect yourself, but you are my heart…my whole heart and I protect the people that I love, I protect my own.”

“Baby, your serpent is showing” Reggie played off.

You pushed him playfully. “Way to ruin the moment Reg. Now let's eat and head to school?”

Reggie nodded sitting up and grabbing the plate both of you enjoying the breakfast and each others company before you both got up getting ready for the day.

“Hey babe?” Reggie hollered from your room as you were finishing up your hair in the bathroom.

“Good luck trying to get in there.” Sweet Pea hollered from the living room. “Y/N/N I’m leaving!”

“FUCK YOU SWEET PEA.” You yelled back as you opened the door, walking out to the kitchen. “Yeah Reg?”

“Can you uh- wear my hoodie today?” He asked you as he pulled you into him placing a chaste kiss on your lips. You smiled nodding.

“I wish you didn’t wear these sunglasses, let people know what he did.”

Reggie sighed. “I just can’t hurt my mom like that Y/N, but I promised I would stay here for awhile and I will, I promise.”

You nodded going up on your tiptoes placing a chaste kiss to his lips.

The ride to school was the best you’ve had in awhile with Reggie’s hand spread out on your thigh. That is until you pulled up to the school and Reggie parked. You shifted in your seat as your eyes locked onto Mr. Mantle waiting in his car in the parking lot. He stepped out when Reggie pulled in.

“Baby, you don’t have to talk to him.” You started.

“Y/N, just stay in the truck.” Reggie spoke.

“Reggie.” You began.

Reggie turned to look at you. “Y/N please.” He pleaded taking you back to last night,

You nodded, but eyed your brother and Fangs, as well as a few other serpents hanging around their bikes.

Sweet Pea locked eyes with you giving you the look he has given you your entire life, no words ever needed.

You shook your head no trying to tell him no but Sweet Pea being Sweet Pea never listened. You watched him hit Fangs and start walking your way.

“No, I hid once, he knows about me why hide me?”

Reggie put his head on the steering wheel. “There is no stopping this is there?”

“Nope” You replied popping the p. “You are my heart babe, my underbelly and I’m tired of no one sticking up for you.”

Reggie’s hand squeezed your thigh. “Okay.”

You opened the car door putting on a look of pure anger.

Reggie stepped out on his side walking over he reached his hand down intertwining his fingers through yours.

“Reginald I came to speak with you alone.”

Reggie went to speak before Sweet Pea and Fangs appeared by your sides.

“I think you need to back up, and leave Reggie here alone.” You started.

“I do not take advice from snakes especially the women all you are good for is getting down”

“I wouldn’t finish that fucking sentence if I were you.” Sweet Pea gritted out through his clenched teeth.

“You wouldn’t like what would happen if you did.” Fangs added.

Mr. Mantle scoffed. “Okay enough with the games Reginald send these...people away.”

You gripped Reggies hand tightly. “I am not leaving you alone with your son”

“I would never hurt my son-” Mr. Mantle started.

You stepped forward. Sweet Pea mirroring you,

“I haven’t seen someone spew so much bullshit before, and I’ve dealt with Ghoulies, and Penny Peabody.”

Reggie moved forward his arm coming out and pushing you back slightly. The over-protectiveness always coming out when it came to anything with you.

Sweet Pea and Fangs shared a look before stepping in front of you and Reggie.

“You see I know, so I suggest you leave before things get ugly.” Sweet Pea spat out.

“You wouldn’t protect a northsider.” Mr. Mantle chuckled.

“You see Serpents protect their own, and my sister here loves Reggie that makes him one of our own. So yeah we’d protect a northsider.” Sweet Pea informed him.

“Have it your way Reginald.” Mr. Mantle began straightening his suit out. “I’ll inform your mother of your betrayal, and unless you’ve rid yourself of this …” He looked around. “Scum, you won’t be welcome home.”

Reggie looked down before he took his sunglasses off. Making his father look him in the eye. “Once again, I love this girl.” Reggies grip tightened around your hand. “I think mom would understand if she knew what you did to her son.”

Mr. Mantle looked between Reggie, and the serpents surrounding him, before getting back into his vehicle.

“Well that was an exciting way to start the school day.” You breathed out.

“Wyrm?” Fangs suggested.

You looked to your side, eyes locking with Fangs. He gave a slight nod. You knew he had no problem with you and Reggie hell he was the one who you told first, knowing he was least likely to judge you at the time.

You let go of Reggies hand and hugged Fangs tightly. “Will you make sure Sweets behaves?”

Fangs let out a laugh. “I always do Y/N/N”

He released you and you turned to Reggie. “Want to go babe?”

Reggie gave you a nod as he watched your smile light up your face. You jumped up your arms going around his neck as he wrapped his arms around you tightly.

You kissed his cheek. “Thank you baby”

“Anything for you.” He whispered softly as he placed you back down on your feet.

“Alright love birds we’ll meet you there.” Fangs teased.

You flipped him off as you grabbed Reggies hand once again as he walked the short distance to his car.

You hopped in the car watching Reggie walk around the front and get in.

He looked over at you. “Thank you.”

You placed your hand on his arm. “I know you can protect yourself but I’m not the girl that will stand idly by and do nothing to help. I love you Reggie Mantle, and I’d well I’d do anything for you.”

Reggie smirked, leaning in and pressing his lips to yours, you both got lost in the kiss before you pulled away.

“We keep going like that and we won’t make it to the Wyrm.” You breathed out.

“Wouldn’t be a bad thing.” Reggie quipped back.

You laughed pushing him back towards the steering wheel. “Drive baby.”

“Okay, okay.” Reggie replied starting up his car. “You know you are my heart too right?” His hand splayed out against your thigh again.

You placed your hand on his. “I know baby, I’m happy you stood up to your father. I know that was tough.”

Reggie hummed as he pulled into the Wyrm parking lot. “I couldn’t have done it without you baby, thank you.”

[the-canary]

Home.

Summary: Home isn’t a place, but rather the people that have your heart. (Implied!Reader/Steve Rogers; Avengers!Friendship).  

Prompt: ‘Hygge’ – the cozy feeling you get when you’re enjoying good things in life with friends.

A/N: This is for @bucky-at-bedtime‘s writing challenge. this isn’t the best, but i thought it was cute and worked with the prompt. i’m sorry i couldn’t add some characters, but i’m still not very used to writing them, but i hope you enjoy it. 

Masterlist

Feedback is always welcomed.

It’s a little strange when Director Hill gives you the directive -- you will be joining the Avengers on a temporary basis. You blink in confusion, but nod as a strange feeling of pride and anticipation bubbles in your chest at the announcement.

“May I ask why though,” you ask softly but with all the confidence in the world that you could muster around someone like Director Hill.

“Captain Rogers and Ms. Romanoff are looking for someone with your talents,” Maria smiles.

She tells you to get ready to head to the Avengers Towers. As you leave the office and head back to your apartment, the anxiety starts to settle in -- what are the world’s mightiest heroes going to think of you?

 It’s the first week in and you still aren’t used to it -- living in a well stocked and airconditioned room compared to the little apartment with a broken heater back in Queens. Yes, S.H.I.E.L.D paid well, but not enough to get you something good in New York City. You’re adjusting well enough, but it still feels strange not to have to extra blankets with you and you slowly develop a pattern of getting up, doing some training in the gym on your floor before heading to get breakfast.  

It’s when you are heading down that you finally notice somebody coming back from their own run. You freeze for a moment, still unsure of yourself, as you do your best to give him a polite smile and nod.

“Good morning, Captain Rogers,” you states with a bit of a squeak, as he stops in the middle of the lobby.

“Where are you heading to?” Steve asks, not in that Captain American voice that you that heard in the few missions you had been in, but with general curiosity. You rub the back of your neck, like a kid caught sneaking out in the middle of the night rather than just leaving to get breakfast at 6am.

“Gonna see if I can find some breakfast,” you shrug while putting your hands in your hoodie pockets, “Though I still don’t know the area too well.”

“I know a place with some great coffee,” he starts off as your eyes lighten up at the mention, “Mean set of pancakes too.”

“That actually sounds really good,” you admit, feeling hungrier than before as the blond tells you to wait there, so he can change and he’ll show you the way.

Thus, you created a small routine of going to get breakfast with Captain Rogers, or Steve as he pushed you to calling him after the first couple of mornings together.

 Natasha.

You don’t go on missions often as most of the other Avengers unless the information calls for it. Your powers aren’t so much for fighting, as there are for scanning and collecting data, which is why you are paired up with the Black Widow for most of those first missions you are needed for.

It’s quite most of the time between the two of you as she controls the plane or car into  whatever Eastern Europe country you are going through for in order to collect more details on HYDRA . She’s naturally observing you, as you look at all the terrain around you, silent because your own powers take speech away from you. Your eyes flash and glow before you let out a cough.

“You okay?” is all she ever asks you, as you nod.

“HYDRA agents, 5 kilometers away,” you states before rubbing your sore throat,”Two squads of 4 with weapons.”

“You confident about that thing,” Natasha states as she picks up the speed of the vehicle just a bit, gripping the wheel a bit harder than before. You feel a rush of dread and confidence bloom in your chest all at once, as you nod.

“I will be, if you promise more of those Russian Tea cookies,” you laugh, trying to make the best out of the situation as the car starts to skee into dry ice and you grab on just a bit tighter to the side door. You prepare yourself with a deep breathe.  

“I promise you all the tea cookies in the world if we get out of this,” Nat says with a grin, as you blink once then twice before everything goes black.

You end up coming back with all the information that you needed and then some, along with a now defunct HYDRA base, and after your morning run the next day -- you are happy to see the largest box of those powdered tea cookies that you have ever seen placed in the kitchen countertop with your name on it.

It makes you think that you finding you own niche within the Avengers now.

 “Is she doing all right?”

“Yes, just like when you asked last time.”

“It’s just with her being new and all. I’m--”

“I know, know.”

 Tony & Bruce.

You wonder how the two scientists notice that your eyes have a sensitivity to light. You try not to wear sunglasses at all and contacts only sometimes, you don’t want to seem a liability to the group. It was a thing that ran back into your S.H.I.E.L.D training days and both men seemed to understand that, but there were also things that weren’t still understood about your powers and after talking to them for awhile, they finally got you to sit down in one of their labs to get your eyes scanned.

--Only for the scanner to break when your powers activated.

“Shit,” you yelp as the machine combusts and falls to the ground below. Bruce just shakes his head as Tony lets out a laugh, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Bruce gives you a reassuring smile.

“We’ve seen worse happen in this lab,” Tony adds in, as he flicks some screens away and over to the doctor, “But, does that happen often?”

“Me losing control or setting others machinery on fire?” you question apprehensively because the answer was yes -- you couldn’t really scan machinery before it exploded. Sometimes, machinery being activated near you automatically triggered your powers, though you had trained over the years to have better control over it.

“Both, knowing both is good,” Tony laughs, as you catch his reference before explaining what you know about your powers during your time in S.H.I.E.L.D, your discomfort dissolving in between as they decide to use the old way of checking out eyes and do different tests to see how far you can scan and detect things, as well as through what materials and methods.

It’s a tiring experience, but it is much better one that any S.H.I.E.L.D test you had done before.

 “ Those glasses you made seem to be working perfectly for her.”

“Of course they would, ye of little faith. Though it makes me wonder.”

“What exactly are you ‘wondering’ about, Tony?”

“Just how much attention are you putting in our newest recruit.”

 Wanda & Vision.

Wanda is the on the closest to your age and while you are both apprehensive about your powers -- the two of you just bloom around each other. She understood, more than you could ever know, what it was like to have powers that you couldn’t control all the time and in-between trainings you talked about your hobbies, likes, and little things you missed from back home. Sometimes, you even got to taste some of her cooking, though you learned that Vision didn’t quite understand the quantity of salt in a recipe before it was beyond human consumption.  

Then, they ask you to teach them a new recipe and you freeze for a second, trying to figure out what would be the best food to show them from your childhood — what happy memories and feelings would you allow yourself to unravel from things you didn’t really remember anymore.

It never really daunted on you that you weren’t even trying hide your past, if they didn’t already know, and surely Director Hill would frown at how bad of a S.H.I.E.L.D agent you were being.

“So, what do you think?” you ask leaning on the kitchen counter top, a large pot next to you as Wanda digs in, “My nana used to make this for special occasions all the time, though I don’t think I can ever make it as good as hers.”

“This is delicious,” Wanda states with a soft smile, as Vision keeps looking at the colorful garnishes that decorate the top of the dish.

She keeps eating, as she proceeds to ask more about your family recipes and you tell her everything you that can remember -- an easygoing smile and a completely open book, for the first time in a long time.

 “This is delicious. Who made it?”

“You already ate three bowls! Oh, she made it, an old family recipe.”

“It’s good, really good.”

‘They always said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach.”

 Sam (and Bucky).

“Wait! He dived out of the Triskelion without a parachute?”

You don’t know how you ended up here, but on the way to the recreation room --you were planning on catching up on a new series-- you had meet up with Sam and the mysterious Bucky Barnes. The man was visiting from Wakanda in order to do some testing with the researchers part of R&D for Stark Industries. While, you talked and connected well with Sam, you weren’t sure how you were going to get along with Steve’s best friend -- you didn’t want to make a bad first impression.

Though, you didn’t really have anything to worry about, as you ended up having lunch with the two men while trading stories of a certain super soldier and his crazy antics. Things calmed down for a moment, as both of them looked at you and went in for the kill.

“So, what do you think of old Stevie?” Bucky can’t help but ask, bright eyes and large smile as you pause for a moment. Sam shakes his head.

“Steve is a good man, I am grateful to have him as a friend,” you state with a soft smile and loving eyes, that has them speechless for a moment on how sweet you could be talking about the blonde, though Sam doubted you understood, but the potential was there.

“What other stories do you guys have?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard the best yet. We’ve got stories for days,” Bucky states before taking a bite of his lunch, as Sam moves to another story of when they were on a mission in Greece.

You let out a hearty laugh, as Sam and Bucky look at each other with knowing smile. A certain man watching from the doorway. Your eyes sparkle, as you look at them, though it’s due to the subject more than anything else. 

 "What have you and Sam been telling her?”

“Just some old stories about some crazy punk.”

“Seriously Buck.”

“What do you want me ‘ta do if a pretty dame keeps asking about you?”

 It’s a small party between all the Avengers as the year comes to an end and some of them leave to stay for their families and loved ones. A year ago you wouldn’t have expected to by in this type of position -- to be calling some of the Avengers your closest friends and while your tenure with them might be up soon, you knew the friendships would last beyond that. So, for now you were enjoying watching Sam and Bucky fighting over which were the best Christmas carols in front of the tree. Vision and Wanda were dressed in cute matching sweaters, as Bruce and Tony were caught in some discussion with Peter watching with wide eyes. Nat, Clint, and Rhodey were playing cards, while slowly devouring the gingerbread house amongst themselves.

It was a--

“A lovely sight, right?” the only person missing from the scene speaks, as Steve comes to your side. A mug of something warm in his hand.

“Yeah, it really is,” you agree as Steve hums in confirmation and for brief moment you wonder -- what Christmas was for the man in the 40’s? What they could have been if he had never been frozen all those decades ago?

You were thinking a lot of Steve Rogers recently, especially since talking to Sam and Bucky, even with him right in front of you.

“Are you going anywhere for the holidays?”

“Oh no,” you shake your head, blue eyes never leaving your face as you let out an awkward laugh,  “I have no real family to speak of. S.H.I.E.L.D is pretty much it for me, probably just stay in the Tower ‘til New Year’s.”

“So, if I wanted to finally give you that tour around New York?” Steve shrugs, trying to sound nonchalant, “What would you say?”

You blink for a moment, as he gives you a bright smile.

“I’d love to, Steve.”

Yes, there would always be danger and life-threatening situations as part of the Avengers, but for now you would enjoy the little blessings with the makeshift family you had been brought into — and the potential what-ifs of the future.

[crashdevlin]

Bottle- 15: Sausage With Peppers

Bottle Masterlist

Author’s Note: Originally posted to ao3 (This is an edited and improved version), I work in info from the comics (Like Hawkeye was married to Mockingbird and Red Skull had a disappointing daughter) and I took a few liberties with what the scepter could do (but not really because the Mind Stone was used to create the Twins so what I did is not that far-fetched). This is a lot more angst than I realized when I wrote it, but it’s compelling angst.

Summary: Cassandra Campbell is a Stark Industries lab tech with dubious genetics and a history with the new Director of SHIELD. She’s been working in New York since right before the Chitauri invasion. What does she have to do with Loki, and what will happen when he returns? Starts post TDW and continues to the end of AoU.

Pairing(s): Phil Coulson x OFC (Past), Loki x OFC (Non-con), Clint Barton x OFC, Steve Rogers x OFC

Word Count: 3539

Story Warnings: So many, worst (to me) are bolded. Younger woman/older man relationship,non-con, mutilation, torture, mind control, PTSD, depression, alcoholism, forced abortions, bad things (non-con) in a church, insomnia, memory manipulation, eventual consensual oral sex (female and male receiving),

Chapter Warnings: none

Cassie pulled the van into the parking lot of the Walmart and started at the building for a minute. "How is your first Avengers mission treating you, Joanna?" Loki's voice came from the passenger seat.

"You're not really there," she whispered, closing her eyes. She couldn't look at him, even a projection of him. After what she saw in Africa, she couldn't deal with that.

"True, but I am truly speaking to you. So easy to find when you open up your mind to me."

"I didn't do that. The witch did."

"Witch? I'll have to thank her, you've been practically begging to see me for hours."

Cassie shook her head. "No. This is not... I didn't call to you."

Loki laughed, a cruel sound that gripped her spine. "Joanna... it's perfectly understandable to miss me. With me, there is no doubt, just complete domination. You don't have to worry about who knows you're laying with whom. You don't have to worry about Stark's metal contraptions killing you. You just have to worry about me. And I was gentle last time."

"In Austria? Disguised as the priest who kept me from killing myself?"

"I wanted to see the fire in you! That place dulled you."

"That was the point! I didn't want to think, I didn't want to shine, I didn't want to blaze. I just wanted to be left alone to be. Just be. Exist without anyone paying any attention to me and somehow you and Clint both found me."

"You were suffocating in Austria. You were suffocating as Cassandra. You are still barely pulling air into your lungs. You long for the freedom Joanna thrives upon."

She looked to her right, finally allowing herself to look at him. His eyes looked green in this light. "Look, I'm not going to lie... it'd be useless to try that on you. I had fun with you. You let out a part of me that had been dying to breathe since SHIELD took me, and yes, consensual sex with a God is nothing to shake a stick at, but... I don't miss you. I don't want you. I don't even want to be around you. You killed my daughter."

"And gave you a son." He smiled softly and shook his head at her. "Do you know how I know you do want me around, free to see you as I please? You haven't told Thor what I did to Odin."

As the projection disappeared, Cassie looked at the instrument panel on the dash. Confusion washed over her. She'd found it amusing that the Allfather had been tricked by Loki and that Heimdall, who sees pretty much everything, hadn't seen it. She knew that she'd been too desperate to leave Playground when she woke up, but why hadn't she said anything since she'd been back? She hadn't forgotten: she just hadn't mentioned it. "Just means I'm nuts, not that I want you to drop in unannounced," she muttered, getting out of the van and walking toward the store.

"Talking to yourself already, Campbell? That's a sign of poor fortitude," a familiar voice said as she crossed the double doors.

She turned to the vending area and blanched at the sight of Nick Fury, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt and wearing dark sunglasses, drinking a Coke. "Director Fury."

"You aren't SHIELD and I ain't in charge anymore," he said, stepping toward her.

"I-I know, sir. I, uh, just thought... After the way I spoke to you last time... respect is due."

"You didn't say anything that wasn't true, Cassie. I am old and I have bad depth perception."

She couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at the use of her chosen name. "But you have so many years of spycraft under your belt."

"And you can carry Thor around as dead weight. Girl, you woulda kicked my ass."

Cassie smiled wider. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I figured Barton would bring you to the farmstead. Safe place, off the grid. I showed up right as you were pulling onto the main road, followed you. I came in here to get a drink while you argued with yourself in the van." Cassie looked down. "I know the Maximoff girl got you, made you see things. Loki?"

Tears came to her eyes as she just nodded, dumbly. Fury put his hand on her shoulder and waited for her to look at him. When she did, he smiled. "You're the only one who got hit by that chick and wasn't completely down for the count. Your teammates, who include the strongest woman I've ever met and a Viking God, had to extracted by you."

"Guess I have better fortitude than you think."

"Definitely better than you think. You know... Maria Hill sends me reports."

"About me?"

Fury nodded. "Among other things. She said you're putting a lot of effort in. You spend most of your free time training. Says you're ‘almost obsessional’ about being an asset."

"Just don't wanna get anyone killed because I can't handle myself in a combat situation. Fat lot of good I did against Ultron. Got shot in the back by one of Tony's legionnaires before I could touch him. Feel kinda useless."

"Useless?"

"What do I add? I mean, the Avengers already have a revved-up super soldier and an acrobatic weapons expert. I'm like a shitty knock-off version of both of them. I don't have anything..."

"You know, doubt is a perfectly normal, healthy thing, that you need to get the hell over, right now. This is not the time for it. Even if you were a shitty knock-off, you could put down some robots. You are more in control of yourself than some of the strongest-willed motherfuckers I have ever met, so pull your head up and move past whatever that witch made you see."

Cassie chuckled and turned, grabbing a hand basket as she headed further into store. "Wow."

"What?" Fury asked, keeping pace with her.

"No, it's just... I finally understand why you were in charge for so long."

"Why's that?"

"There is something oddly inspiring about a one-eyed man yelling at you to get your shit together." She stopped in front of the sausages and stared at them. "Guess I couldn't expect more than Johnsonville at a Wal-mart. Beer brats, I guess. And beer." She dropped three packs of sausages into the basket and walked toward the beer aisle. "So, how's Phil doing?"

"Don't think Barton would be very happy about you asking after your ex, do you?"

"You're kidding me." Cassie turned to him. "Hill knows about me and Clint?"

"Did you forget that you're working with spies? That you're sleeping with one? You remember what that entails."

"Oh, come on, Nick. It was totally different with Phil. We weren't trying to keep any secrets. It was the most honest relationship Phil had ever been in. He didn't have to hide anything from me. I mean, he did... some." She shook her head and grabbed a box of Guinness. "Clint and I just want something that's ours, you know? We don't want everyone talking and speculating and... being jealous."

"Jealous? You're talking about Steve?"

"I'm talking about Steve," she confirmed. "And Natalia and Phil. Also, there's a deep-seated fear that Mockingbird is still in love with him and she's gonna destroy me over this."

"Mockingbird? Natalia? You haven't just been studying your Ops manual, have you?"

"I started in on those SHIELD files while I was still in Austria. Everything I could learn would better my chances of evasion. Once I got back, it was more 'learn everything I can so that I can survive longer'." She started toward the bakery and stood in front of the racks. "Commercial American bakery's nuzing like Hohenheims bakery. Oh, vell." She grabbed several bags of rolls and headed for the registers.

"Are you coming back to the farm, Nick?"

"Yeah. I'll be right behind you. When you get inside, have the lovely Mrs. Barton send Stark to the barn."

"Yes, sir."

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

As Cassie walked across the grass toward the house, she smiled at Steve and Tony, who were chopping wood in the front. "Glad you're working up an appetite. I'm making lunch."

"Austrian diner food, right? Barton might've mentioned." Tony brought his ax down on one of the logs.

Cassie nodded and jogged inside, dropping the plastic bags on the counter. Clint was beside her almost immediately, he was freshly showered, smelled like a forest. "Hey, you made it back!"

"Today, even. Wanna help me cook?"

"Uncle Clint."

"Yeah, Li?" The little girl waited, a bit impatiently, for Clint to stop looking at Cassie. As soon as his eyes fell on the girl, she started to sign. Cassie watched it in her peripheral vision as she pulled a knife from a knife block and ran soap and water over it. "Yep... I think so... " Clint signed as he spoke his responses to her slightly fumbled sign language. The girl seemed frustrated with a word and resorted to signing each letter.

"Wait, who's Mary?" Cassie asked, slicing through the white onion she picked.

Clint turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "You know Sign?"

"Just the alphabet. There was an accident on 107, so traffic slowed enough for me to pull it up on my phone."

"And you learned ASL alpha in the few minutes you were stuck in traffic?"

"Like it's hard?"

"And now you're quoting Legally Blond at me?"

Cassie grabbed a red pepper and a green one from the fridge. "Never seen it."

He chuckled and turned to the girl. "Lila, we'll continue this conversation later, when there's no one around to eavesdrop."

"I weren't dropping no eaves, Mr. Barton, sir. I was just making lunch," she said, in her best Samwise Gamgee impression. Lila nodded and ran out of the room as Cassie started slicing the peppers. "It's a little early in the relationship for your family to be pushing us down the aisle, don't'cha think?" she asked, quietly.

"Eh, she wants a cousin. Thought you didn't Sign?"

"I caught the double Rs in 'marry', and she pointed at us. Not hard to follow."

"She likes you." Clint grabbed a slice of bell pepper from the cutting board and bit it in half. "And she knows I do, too. She just wants me to be happy, that's all."

"Uh-huh. Hey, Laura," Cassie called out. The brunette woman waddled in, hand secured over her belly. "Nick Fury is in your barn. He requests an audience with Mr. Stark, but Tony isn't one to just do what someone asks. Can you figure out a way to get Tony into the barn, please?"

"Yeah, I think I can do that," she said with a smile.

"Grab the sausages out of the bag for me and grab a pan, cast-iron if you have it, and a broiler pan."

"Broiler pan?"

"Every oven comes with one, Clint. Usually it's a two piece thing, slots in the top to catch drippings in the bottom."

"Oh, that thing. Gotcha," Clint said, digging into a low cabinet by the fridge to pull out a large roasting pan. He put it on the stove before pulling out a cast-iron skillet and handing it to her.

"Nice. Okay. Oil?"

"In the glass squeezy thing, there," Count said, pointing to the counter.

"So articulate, Hawk."

"What can I say?” He shrugged. “Obviously not much."

"Then, why do you talk so much?" Cassie said, clicking the burner on under the skillet.

"Hoping to say something to turn you red again. It's a good look."

"Ja, mein Vater seemed to think so."

"Ich finde dich süß when you mix up your languages. [I think you’re cute when you mix up your languages]” Cassie felt her cheeks heat up. "There's her color," he whispered, leaning into her.

Her eyes flicked towards the living room. "Back off, Hawk. This isn't the time," she said, pouring oil into the skillet. Clint leaned away again, but she could feel his eyes on her. "Put the sausages on the broiler pan. Single layer, like you know what you're doing," she said, grabbing the peppers and onions putting them into the skillet.

Cassie had the oven open, flipping the sausages over when Tony stomped into the house, Steve and Nick following behind. "Are you going to be eating with us, Nick? We've got plenty."

"I've heard good things about your cookin', Miss Campbell. It was one of the things Coulson felt comfortable braggin' on you about."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," she said, smiling as she closed the oven door.

"So... what's the thinking, Fury?" Banner asked as Lila ran into the dining room to hand Natasha a watercolor picture.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing," Nick said, walking around to the sink to pour himself a glass of water.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked, leaning against the wall.

"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

"He still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, throwing darts at a board on the wall.

"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway," Nick answered.

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."

"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that," Nick said, starting to cut the rolls Cassie bought for the sandwiches.

"NEXUS?" Steve and Cassie asked.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo. Every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on Earth," Banner responded.

"So, what'd they say?" Clint asked, examining the fletching of one the darts.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony asked, as Clint threw his darts at the board. Tony looked at him, exasperated as Clint just shrugged, before pulling all three darts from the bulls-eye.

"Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked.

"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our 'unknown'," Tony said.

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," Natasha grumbled as Nick finished cutting the bread.

"I do. I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up.  Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission and whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard," Nick said, sitting down with his water as Cassie pulled the sausages out.

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," Natasha teased.

"You know what, Romanoff?" Steve started, faux threateningly. Natasha just smirked.

"So, what does he want?" Nick asked.

Steve looked around as Clint came to sit at the table. "To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," Tony responded. "The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

Banner walked forward and examined Lila's picture. Natasha looked between the scientists. "When you two programed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."

"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Nick asked as he took a drink of his water.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

Cassie placed a platter full of sausage and pepper sandwiches on the table and sat next to Natasha. "So, what? Ultron is going to have Helen Cho make him a... a better body?" Everyone looked around at each other, nervously. "Guess we should eat." She reached forward and grabbed a sandwich, but she suddenly didn't feel very hungry.

Clint stood, grabbing a bottle of Guinness and handing it to her. "Anyone else? Might not have another chance."

"Don't talk like that," Natasha said, but she put her hand out for a beer.

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

Steve walked into the living room as he finished suiting up. "I'll take Natasha and Clint."

"All right. Strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS. I'll join you as soon as I can," Tony said, tapping at his wrist.

"If Ultron is really building a body..." Steve started.

"He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

"You know, I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me," Steve mused.

"I'll drop Banner off at the Tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" Fury asked.

"She's all yours, apparently. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope," Nick said, walking out of the house.

"What about me?" Cassie asked, walking up to Steve and Tony.

"Cass..." Steve started.

"No. Don't even think about leaving me behind. I may be pretty new to this whole 'superhero' thing and I didn't help much against Ultron in New York, but I've got more will, more fortitude than any of you. I pulled myself out of that fugue state..." *Or was the vision simply over* She shook away Loki's voice in her head and kept going. "...and I didn't sulk around about what I saw in that vision. I pulled myself together and then I carried your star-spangled ass off that ship. And then, I went back for Thor and carried his ass out. An action, by the way, that outed me as a superhero to the international news media."

She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Which is great, because Hydra is still looking for their lost legacy and Loki is still looking for his queen, so it's awesome to broadcast my whereabouts. And even with all that, with my worst fears playing in my head on repeat since that witch touched me, I still want to help, because that's what I signed up for. As soon as I decided 'Avenger' would look good on my resume, I signed up to put away my shit and focus on everyone else's. So, tell me, boss, where do you need me?"

Steve looked around, then cleared his throat. "Stark?"

"Ever been to Norway, blondie?" Stark asked.

"No, sir," she answered, standing straight.

"It's good. You'll love it. Might need some muscle, anyway. Can't wear the suit everywhere. Go grab yours," Tony ordered.

Cassie nodded and rushed for the room where she'd changed before heading to the store. Clint followed, closing the door behind him as she pulled her super suit off the floor. "Not the way I pictured the first time you grabbed your clothes off of my floor," he joked.

She turned to him and smiled, slightly. "Be careful. Please. Be careful."

"It's a milk run, babe." Clint stepped forward and pushed her hair out of her face.

"No. My trip to the NEXUS is a milk run. Tony's only taking me because I threw a fit. Ultron might be in Seoul. I mean, he's everywhere. So, he's probably gonna be there... with the Maximoffs. Clint... Wanda, she's..."

"I know, Cassie."

"You don't. I saw-"

"Loki. I know. And you liked it, right? That's why you're all messed up." Cassie blinked back tears. "You remember when we first met? Took you for a drink to celebrate and mourn? I know what you're missing."

"It's not missing the mindlessness, Clint. I mean, that's part of it, but... Joanna, I wanted to... to be with him. I had sex with him. I enjoyed it, being with him."

"That's your greatest fear? That you might've enjoyed sleeping with a demigod?" Clint chuckled. "He's a thousand years old and strong enough to give it to you good. I might've even liked screwing him," he joked.

"Clint... why are you so understanding?" she whispered.

"I've had a long life. Done a lot of bad, had a lot of bad done to me. I focus on intentions, mostly. And your intentions are good, even when you're Joanna. Your intentions as Cassie are... good, right?"

"You're amazing."

"Nah. I've just gotten good at hiding the un-mazing parts of me." Clint brushed his lips against hers. "I'll be safe if you will."

"I promise," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him into a deeper kiss. Her super suit rubbed against his cheek as their tongues pushed against each other.

"Where's my lab tech?!" Tony called up the stairs.

Cassie pulled away, balling her clothes up in her hands. "Hold your water, Stark, I'm comin'." She opened the door and bounded down the stairs, three at a time.

"You had plenty of time for that while the rest of us were showering. You chose to shop," Tony said.

"Shut up," she groaned. *Everybody knows.*

"Come on," Tony said, walking out of the house.

KITCHEN SINK TAGS @heyitscam99 @wonderlandfandomkingdom @unlikelysamwinchesteronahunt @mrs-meghan-winchester @henrymorganme @lonely-skys @allykat2108

[creamronald71-blog]

Our Cyber Monday Sale Guide

Happy Monday everyone!

How was your long holiday break? I hope it was a great one! We got to spend a lot of time with family, with both my mom in town and celebrating family birthdays on Neal’s side–it was so much fun!

I hope you’re ready to shop, because there are a lot of amazing Cyber Monday Deals to be had! If you’ve been popping by all weekend, you know the drill already–I’ll be updating this post throughout the day, so check back often!

You can shop this guide three ways: 

Our top 32 item gift guide for her and him–all on sale!

The best sales alphabetically by retailer

My personal items that I own on sale (including photos)

**PLEASE READ EVERYTHING CAREFULLY–you’ll find many items in here more than once simply because they fit in more than one category–scroll down to the bottom of the post if you’re looking for sizing details, etc! If I own it, it’s likely listed in the final section along with sizing!**

Post last updated: Monday at 10:20AM

Our top 32 gifts on sale for guys and girls:

Best on-sale gifts for her:

1. Madewell Transport Tote: $141 (25% off) 

If I were to pick ONE thing, and one thing only for you to buy your mom, sister, best friend, or any woman this holiday season, it would be this bag. The zip-top transport tote is seriously the bag I get the most wear out of, and it’s my absolute favorite. It’s so roomy, so beautiful, so well-made–I’ve never met a soul who wasn’t obsessed with this bag. Definitely get it at Nordstrom (they price match, so it’s the same as Madewell’s price) because today they’re offering $50 in e-gift card cash when you spend $250 or more!

2. Sperry Saltwater Boots: $99 (15% off!)

These are in my cart right now! I’ve been looking for a boot that I can wear in snow that is waterproof but not gigantic and bulky–these are SO cute, too!

3. Blondo Ellie Boots: $129 (20% off!)

I can’t believe these are still in stock in every size! Blondo boots are the #1 brand I recommend to everyone–they are the most bang for your buck, and they’re all waterproof. These look just like Stuart Weitzman’s 50/50 boots, but you never have to worry about ruining them!

4. J.Crew Tartan Scarf: 50% off!

I have this scarf and LOVE it! It’s so pretty, and it sells out every year–so grab it now before it’s gone! This makes a great gift, it’s super warm and soft and perfect for the holidays!

5. Oversized Cashmere wrap: 50% off! 

This is such a nice gift for your mom or MIL–it’s really chic, but cozy at the same time! She’ll get so much wear out of it.

6. Pom pom beanie: $19 (50% off!) 

Beanies are something I recommend having in every color so you always feel put together but warm at the same time. (There’s nothing worse than ruining a cute outfit with an ugly hat!) At less than $20, you can buy them for all your siblings!

7. New! Beautycounter best-sellers travel size products: 

Today, Beautycounter (my favorite beauty brand!) launched a travel size of their Cleansing balm and overnight resurfacing peel! I am in LOVE with both of these products (I use them weekly) and they make the perfect stocking stuffers and are a great way to sample the products at a much smaller price tag! By the way, are you on my clean beauty email list? You’ll definitely want to sign up if you plan to do any clean beauty shopping this season! Wink wink! 😉

8. Spanx Faux Leather Leggings:

The best leggings around–this is likely the last time they’ll be on sale for the holidays, so snap ’em up now for yourself, your mom, and your sister! They run TTS–I wear a small.

9. Capri Blue Candle:

Nordstrom sells a bunch of Anthropologie candles, which is great, because Nordstrom doesn’t have a free shipping minimum like Anthro does!

10. Anthropologie latte bowls–$4.25 each!

These are the BEST bowls. I love mine so much and they make the best gift, especially for a kid going off to college, recent grad, or newlywed! Same as above, I never shop Anthro online because they make you pay for shipping so I prefer to buy Anthro gifts at Nordstrom now that they sell them there! 😂

11. Dainty Madewell jewelry: 

Madewell makes the prettiest dainty jewelry that makes a perfect gift or stocking stuffer! I have these earrings that I wear pretty much everyday (and they don’t irritate my ears!)

12. Factory Pajama Set: $27 with the discount! 

The cutest little red pajamas EVER. Could these be more classic? They look so soft too! Can’t beat that price!

13. Ugg Bow Slippers: 33% off! Or J.Crew Men’s Slippers (50% off!)

I LOVE these slippers for women! They’re a more feminine version of the classic UGG slippers with the bow, plus, they come in this really pretty burgundy color this year! What an awesome gift for mom or sister! UGG slippers for men aren’t on sale but the J.Crew men’s version is $25 with the sale price!(Lot’s of slippers at J.Crew in general!)

Best on sale gifts for BOTH him and her:

14. Portable Keychain Charger: 25% off! 

For the guy or girl who is always caught without a phone charger–no excuses now!

15. Bluetooth Earmuffs: $40– 50% off! 

How cool are these earmuffs!? They’re Bluetooth enabled so you can keep warm and listen to music or a podcast on your commute at the same time! I think anyone would love to open these on Christmas. (Especially your brother who you have no idea who to buy for.)

16. Leather Commuter Laptop Organizer: 25% off! 

Mark and Graham truly makes the most beautiful, practical gifts, and that includes this leather commuter laptop sleeve. It comes with lot’s of pockets for all the essentials, too–and is great because it’s a catch-all that make swapping bags easy.

17. Dagne Dover Toiletry Bag: 25% off!

They have several colors so this is ideal for both guys and girls. Dagne Dover is a GG reader favorite, and this toiletry bag is awesome because it has lot’s of pockets and compartments to stay organized, plus, comes with a separate pouch for your toothbrush!

[Updated note: GUYS. I skipped a number 😂sorry. There’s no 18. I’ve been up since 4am. Thanks for bearing with me!]

19. Earbud Case: 25% off! (Under $30!) 

The cutest stocking stuffer ever!? This is great for both wireless or non wireless buds–it keeps them from getting lost or tangled! Comes in two different looks–great for girls and guys!

20. Ray Ban Sunglasses: 20% off! 

Let’s be honest, you should probably get a pair for yourself AND someone else 😜From Classic aviators to the round Icons (this is the pair I have)–pretty much every pair is 20% off!

21. S’well Tumbler: $30–25% off

I love the shape of these–they’re way easier to fill without spilling and fill with ice! They keep cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot and are a practical but stylish gift that anyone will appreciate. They come in tons of colors and more shapes, too! S’well helps bring clean drinking water to kids around the world, so it’s a feel-good purchase, too!

Best on sale gifts for him:

22. Vince Camuto Peacoat: $99 (50% off!)

If you’re looking for a quality and budget-friendly peacoat for your guy, look no further! (For nicer coats, definitely check out our Bonobos post from today!)

23. Levi’s Skinny Fit Men’s Jeans: (50% off!) 

Neal loves these skinny fit Levi’s that are slim but not TOO skinny–they’re good for even athletic builds!

24. Fleece Robe: 50% off 

The coziest fleece robe that would be great for dad, brother, etc!

25. Bonobos Brushed Italian 5 Pocket Pants: 35% off 

Neal loves these pants–they’re the perfect pant to dress up for the office but also great for a party or dinner date as well! They’re really soft and come in awesome colors!

26. J.Crew Henley: 50% off 

Neal’s favorite comfy shirts are always henleys! He loves the J.Crew versions especially, and they’re such a good price! Get one for every guy in your life!

27. Vince Chelsea boots: 40% off

Neal’s favorite boots are Vince (he has an older version from years past but this is the newer iteration). They’re expensive but they’re NEVER this discounted. Nordstrom has lot’s of pairs at various price points!

28. Sonos Voice Controlled Speaker: 10% off! 

We have these in every room of our house–they’re amazing and rarely ever go on sale. The sound quality is incredible.

29. Jack Mason Chronograph Watch: 40% off! 

Nordstrom has a lot of really nice affordable watches, but Jack Mason in particular is heavily discounted right now and they make very sharp looking watches!

30. Greats sneakers: 25% off 

Normally $179, these are marked down to $134 and are supposed to be amazing sneakers–they come in tons of colors–these have been on Neal’s list to try and I rarely see them marked down! Neal’s other sneakers, the GrandPro sneakers are also marked down!

31. Portable Bartending Tool: 25% off 

Any guy who is into cocktails will love this bartending tool–it’s 10 tools in one and will be a great addition to his bar cart.

32. Beautycounter Counter Man skincare set: $38.25 (15% off!)

**Above photo is old, just for inspiration to break up the text, haha–nothing in the photo is still available!**

Cyber Week Sales by Retailer

Abercrombie

ENTIRE STORE 50% off!! If you’re looking for super affordable jeans, I absolutely love my Simone high rise skinnies! They’re $39 right now! (Run TTS). Also your funny sister or BFF needs this cozy sleep jumpsuit ASAP. They also have amazing (and affordable) plaid PJS!

American Eagle: 

50% off all sweaters, 40% off everything else!Yes, Abercrombie and AE are back and I am fully embracing it. Like Abercrombie, they have incredible jeans at incredible prices! Their high waisted jeggings (run small) and Mom jeans (TTS) are two of my favorites! I also love their sweaters!

Anthropologie:

30% off everything + free shipping over $100! Anthro has the BEST gifts ever–honestly, I really only shop there when I’m buying gifts, but they’re always one of my top destinations when shopping for others! The discounts will be in the cart, FYI! If you want to buy candles, Anthro has the BEST candles–Capri Blue and Voluspa in particular are my favorite brands. They are absolute heaven! Seriously, you need to buy them in bulk. They also sell some of my favorite clean beauty brands, Supergoop and Caudalie, which are also on sale!

And Other Stories: 

20% off with code FRIDAYNOIR20! One of my new favorite brands. They make the most beautiful clothes that exude a french cool girl vibe, and the prices aren’t bad either. I highly recommend their shoes (I have their Chelsea Boots) and dresses!

Amazon: 

Lot’s of good deals! All the Amazon devices are marked down, and they have “Deals of the Day” that are really great (tons of electronics!) so you’ll want to act fast before they’re gone!

Dyson Vacuum still marked down!! Over $150 off!

Never happens! Their cordless vacuum is literally the best thing that has ever happened to me. It’s as light and easy as a broom and you’ll be able to vacuum your whole house in minutes. (At least, well, my house. Which is small. And has all wood floors, haha!)

Amazon Handmade:

Did you know Amazon has a whole handmade section of their website? I just found this out! You can find one of a kind gifts from small makers with the benefits of Prime shipping–HOORAY! For example, how cool is this rustic wood Echo dot holder? A great gift for guys who love their tech! There are so many cute handmade gifts for kids, and home goods, too!

Ann Taylor

50% off everything with code CYBER2018, includes free shipping!

Asos

20% off everything with code HELLO20

Banana Republic

50% off your entire purchase!

Beautycounter: 

15% off the entire site! Beautycounter will not be going on sale again until Memorial Day–so if you want to buy ANYTHING, buy it now! See my entire post here with all my favorite beauty products that are on sale! (So many good gifts!) They have free shipping with orders over $50! Are you on my clean beauty email list? Because I’m also doing a big beauty giveaway this week only to my subscribers 😘(You’ll probably want to sign up for that if you plan on buying anything from Beautycounter…just sayin 😉)

Bloomingdales: 

Take 25% off lot’s of items!

Cuyana: 

Not a sale, but 10% of all their proceeds today will be donated to those affected in the California Wildfires. Their travel pouches are my favorite and they make the best gifts!

Etsy: 

Cyber Sales Weekend: Discounts from tons of makers! Etsy is one of my favorite places for out of the box gifts. Your best friend or sister definitely need this “Home is Where the LaCroix is” doormat! Or what about a customizable map print for someone who just moved? I also love Etsy’s selection of dainty jewelry that you can customize!

Everlane: 

They don’t ever do a Black Friday sale, but instead, they donate proceeds from Black Friday to a very worthy cause. This year, it’s to clean up our country’s beaches. Proceeds go to the Surfrider foundation, and for every order placed, they’re donating $13 to Surfrider to fund beach cleanups across the country. They did the math, and one order will get a pound of plastic off the beach. Our goal: $260,000 (or 20,000 pounds). If you’ve been wanting to buy anything from Everlane this holiday season, do it today!!

J.Crew:

60% off sale styles + 50% off everything else! I think J.Crew has the best sale of all–and I know J.Crew is on sale a lot, but it’s not going to ever be this discounted again! Definitely err on the side of OVER buying, you can always return, but you’ll never get it this discounted again this season!

Some great gifts that jump out so far: These texting gloves (they have a little slit for your finger and thumb when you want to use them–I feel like these would be way more effective than tech gloves, haha!) This cashmere wrap, ADORABLE and cozy snow boots, and the BEST flannel pajamas!!  Among other things I list below 😜

J.Crew Factory: 

60% off site-wide, 80% off clearance, plus more deals on select categories! Use code ADD2CART! Honestly at this point they’re basically paying US to shop there so we should definitely take advantage 😂

LOFT

50% your purchase with code CYBER.

Lord & Taylor

25% off regular priced items and free shipping!

Macy’s: 

So many deals I can’t list them all! 60% off coats and men’s shoes, 20% off kitchen appliances like KitchenAid mixers, Instant Pots, and more! Save on apple watches, and more! Perhaps the most exciting of all though are the matching family pajamas starting at $19.99 😂Oh! Also, so many of you have been asking me for a lower-priced men’s top coat, and this Ralph by Ralph Lauren coat is beautiful and under $200!

Madewell:

25% off with code DEALWITHIT! Now includes new markdowns!

Mark and Graham: 

25% off everything site-wide, plus free shipping!

If you’re not familiar with Mark and Graham, they’re the same company as West Elm, Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn! They have the BEST gifts–really nice leather goods, monogrammed everything, and really unique but beautiful and practical items that are great for that person who has everything! A great place to start is their bestsellers section! Personally I think this phone charging bracelet is the coolest thing EVER! Their commute laptop clutch is an amazing gift for anyone who travels a lot or commutes for work–it has inside pockets for your phone, credit cards, etc, so you can have everything in one place (especially great for women because we switch bags so much and this is a catch-all for everything you need for work!)

Nordstrom

Up to 60% off!! SO much good stuff here, plus, if you spend $250, you get a $50 gift certificate!! (I’ve never seen Nordstrom do this…this is amazing!!)

Sephora: 

Lot’s of specials and markdowns and amazing gift sets like this one from First Aid Beauty and this little $15 stocking stuffer with Caudalie moisturizer minis! (Both clean brands I love!) My hair dryer, the T3 is included! (Also comes in a travel size!) My curling wand and straightener (I hardly EVER use it, but it works really well! 😂) are also marked down.

Shopbop:

Up to 25% off full priced items and 70% off reduced priced items! Also, buy more get more: 15% off orders of $200+, 20% off orders of $500+, 25% off orders of $800+ CODE: MORE18

My favorite brands to shop on Shopbop are: Madewell (faster shipping than on Madewell.com!) Levi’s, BB Dakota, Sam Edelman, Dolce Vita , Stuart Weitzman (yes, Lowland OTK boots are on sale as well as their famous Nudist sandals–I know you won’t wear them for awhile but they are NEVER on sale in the spring/summer!) Club Monaco, Citizens of Humanity and Splendid. Plus, they have the CUTEST gift guides! Also, if you’re looking for amazing gifts for little kids, Shopbop is my FAVORITE place for that, too! Check out their kids gift guide!

Talbots: 

50% off one item, 40% off everything else! I just got this red coat from them and it is SO CUTE! Also, I just got this French Bulldog brooch from there and I put it on my nicer coats when I go out 🤗SO FREAKING ADORABLE!! (You can get it for $25 with the discount!) I also love their scalloped leather touch gloves–they’re so pretty–as well as this festive cardigan and these cute little flats that are perfect for holiday parties! Talbots runs big in my experience in clothes, so size down, but shoes run TTS!

Best of sales by category:

Women: 

Women’s coats: 

J.Crew Cocoon Coat: My #1 most recommended non-puffer coat. It’s the warmest wool coat you’ll ever buy, and it’s 50% off and still fully stocked in both Grey and Red! It runs big! (Find more info on it in the below section!) NO IT IS NOT WARM ENOUGH TO BE YOUR ONLY COAT FOR CHICAGO WINTERS. LET’S NOT LIE TO OURSELVES HERE. But it will be your go-to NICE coat all winter.

Lole’s puffer coats: These are all truly incredible–they are the warmest and cutest you will ever find for the price. In order of warmth, I recommend the Emmeline, The Katie (on par with North Face in warmth, and 100x cuter because it’s fitted!) and Marybeth (on par with Canada Goose in terms of warmth–but less than half the price!) You will not be sorry you got these coats, I promise.

Women’s Jeans and pants:

My favorite J.Crew jeans are 50% off, as well as my favorite Abercrombie Skinny Jeans! Tons of Levi’s are also marked down at Nordstrom and Shopbop! Don’t miss Spanx leggings marked down at Nordstrom and Shopbop as well!

Accessories:

My favorite carryon suitcase is on sale at Macy’s. Ray Bans are on sale! I also love Mark and Graham’s toiletry bag and of course, my favorite tote ever, the Madewell Transport tote is probably my #1 gift recommendation for any woman!

Women’s Winter Boots:

ALL the best Sorel boots are included in Shopbop’s sale! (Note for Shopbop’s sale you have to meet the minimum threshold for the discount–it’s buy more save more, see above!) They are hands down the best heavy duty snow boots (that you absolutely NEED for a Midwestern winter!) I’ve got this pair in my cart right now, but the Joan of Arctic boots are the most popular! Hunter Boots are included in the Shopbop sale too!

If you’ve been looking for a winter boot that is warm and good in lighter snow but isn’t clunky like a Sorel, check out J.Crew’s Nordic Boots (50% off!) and Sperry’s Saltwater Duck Boots which are also marked down! Both are so cute!

Women’s Tall Boots:

These Steve Madden OTK boots are super popular, really pretty and are only $99 (20% off!) They come in both black and brown–I don’t own them personally but my friends rave about them! I also never talking about how amazing Blondo boots are–I have the OTK version but the knee-high version is on sale–they’re waterproof, so you never have to worry about ruining the suede! If you’re looking for riding boots, I always recommend Sam Edelman’s Penny Boots–they’re part of Shopbop’s sale! (Again, you need to meet the minimum threshold to get the discount.)

Women’s Ankle Boots: 

If you’re looking for a flat, suede bootie–Blondo’s are so cute, and like all their shoes–waterproof! If you’re looking for suede with a bit of a heel, I LOVE J.Crew’s Sadie booties. I’ve been eyeing a pair for months! My favorite pair is from Everlane, and while they aren’t on sale, a portion of their proceeds today go toward cleaning up America’s beaches!

Other women’s shoes:

Sam Edelman loafers are my favorite Gucci dupes, and they’re all part of Shopbop’s sale!

Women’s gifts: 

J.Crew always has the cutest pajamas and slippers (these bulldog slippers!! I die!!) They’re all 50% off too! Anthropologie and Shopbop are also two places that have truly awesome gifts that aren’t clothes. Mark and Graham is also my #1 recco for really nice personalized leather gifts, like their toiletry/travel bags!

Shop by category–Men: 

Jeans: 

Levi’s  are marked down at Nordstrom! He has both the 511’s and 510’s and recommends both–but you can’t go wrong with Levi’s no matter what cut he likes. Lot’s of pairs are also part of East Dane’s sale (which is Shopbop’s site for men!)

Shoes:

Neal’s Cole Haan ‘GrandPro’ sneakers are marked down at Nordstrom in select colors! They’re super comfortable and require zero break-in, plus they’re much nicer looking than most sneakers! Lot’s of great Chelsea boots are also reduced at Nordstrom–it’s Neal’s #1 boot pick because they can be dressed up or dressed down and they look really sharp! Nordstrom has them at every price point, but Neal loves Vince specifically and this pair is 40% off!

Coats:

This Vince Camuto pea coat is still full stocked and on sale for $99! Lot’s of Barbour coats are marked down at Bloomingdales and a couple others at Nordstrom.  If you’ve been looking for a nice coat, we highly recommend Bonobos! (We have a post going up on Monday with them!) Neal has both their car coat and their Italian glenplaid topcoat–both are 30% off today! This topcoat is also BEAUTIFUL!

Also, J.Crew’s topcoat is 50% off (normally $450 but now $225!) Their navy herringbone topcoat is beautiful as well and also 50% off! J.Crew’s Everyday Topcoat is now $124 with the discount!

Shirts and sweaters: 

Bonobos is Neal’s go-to for sweaters (he loves this turtleneck and this sweater for Thanksgiving) and button ups (he has this one in tons of different prints!) Also, J.Crew is a no-brainer. Everything is half off–you can basically knock out all the guys on your list for half-price! Neal especially loves their henleys (only $15 with the sale!)

Accessories:

This Mark and Graham briefcase is beautiful for those of you looking for briefcases, and it’s cool that you can monogram it with his initials.

Dagne Dover Weekender bag: (25% off!) If either of you have been needing a nice weekender bag, Jess says this is one of her top reader recommended brands. (Jess’ note: I never see Dagne Dover on sale, and you guys always rave about it! They’re beautiful AND practical!) The interior features include a 15″ padded laptop sleeve, a stretch key leash, a removable mesh pouch for your tech, a nylon shoe/laundry bag and two side pockets perfectly sized for water bottles. A handy pocket on the back of the bag is the perfect place to tuck away your passport or phone.

J.Crew is definitely the best when it comes to scarves, gloves, hats, etc.

Ray Bans are on sale (which NEVER happens!!)

Mark and Graham is also my #1 recco for really nice personalized leather gifts.

Tech gifts:

Nordstrom has Fitbit on sale, Macy’s has Apple Watches marked down to $330, Bloomingdales has tons of techy gifts marked down and Amazon has basically every gadget on sale today! Sonos speakers are also marked down! We have Sonos speakers throughout our whole house and the sound quality is unparalleled. If your guy is into techy stuff or music, the sound bar or voice controlled smart speakers are amazing gifts.

My personal favorite wardrobe staples on sale:

Madewell Bodysuit: 25% off! 

(See how many ways I style it in my Capsule Wardrobe Guide!) I’m obsessed with this bodysuit–it’s SO flattering, it’s so soft and comfortable, and it comes with three rows of snaps on the crotch so it’s adjustable based on torso length and it’s not impossible to get off 😂I went with small vs XS and I’m glad I did!

Madewell Track Trousers: 25% off!

I love these pants! They’re super lightweight and one of those magical pairs of pants that works great for the office but can be dressed up for a date or dressed down with a pair of sneakers! (Excellent for travel, too!) They run TTS.

Madewell Striped Sweater: 25% off!

This is one of my favorite sweaters! Sizes are going fast but I couldn’t not include it–it’s just so happy. I wear it all the time! Sizing is TTS.

My FAVORITE J.Crew Button-Fly Cropped Jeans: 50% off! (Less than $50 with the sale!)

You also saw these styled a lot in my Capsule Wardrobe Guide  but I wear these nonstop and they are so incredibly comfortable. They are super stretchy, very soft, and I love the cut–the straight leg crop with the raw hem makes every outfit cuter, and the high rise is super flattering!

Suede Moto Jacket: $125 (33% off!) 

I freaking LOVE my BlankNYC suede moto jackets. I own two of them and they are incredible quality–they seriously feel like $500 suede jackets and they are such an easy way to elevate any outfit–from adding an edgy twist to a classic dress or dressing up a t-shirt and jeans. My burgundy color as well as tan and this gorgeous dark green are 33% off right now!

J.Crew Sophie Blazer: $83 (40% off!)

One of my very favorite wardrobe staples (you can see it styled LOTS of ways in my Capsule Wardrobe + 30 Days of Outfits Guide! I know so many people who own this in three or more colors because it’s that great! Super versatile for work but just as cute with jeans or leggings! It’s as comfy as a sweater but put-together like a blazer!  This is a great gift for your friend, mom, or especially a recent grad who is looking for good wardrobe staples that will satisfy an office dress code! It runs TTS.

BlankNYC Corduroy Skirt: $24!

Another item in my Capsule Guide–another reason to download it because you can see me style this skirt 10 different ways! You’ll also remember it from this post yesterday! I love that it isn’t too short (I’m 5’6 for reference) and it runs TTS.

Ray Bans 20% off!

Okay sorry I know Neal JUST listed Ray Bans but in case you skipped over this–they NEVER go on sale! Mine above are the 53mm Icons (but they have a smaller 50mm version!) Pretty much every style is marked down though!

Leather + Velvet leggings: $78 (20% off!) 

Spanx makes the best leather leggings out there (they even have a subtle control top!) They also make my other favorite velvet pair–both are marked down right now! Both run TTS. (I order small).

Gibson convertible tunic sweater: $36 (33% off!)

You’ve seen this styled several ways in this blog post–this is seriously one of the softest things in my closet, and this was the FIRST thing I reached for when I switched my summer stuff out for my fall stuff–that’s how much I love it! I basically live in it and I love that I can wear it off the shoulder to go out and as a cowl neck when I want to be cozy! It’s almost sold out in the grey color but other colors are fully stocked! Runs big, size down!

Madewell Transport Tote: 25% off! 

My favorite favorite tote bag. This is THE best gift for any woman–I now own two of them (the open top version and the zipper top version) and I would recommend the zipper top the most, but honestly you can’t go wrong. They are the most beautiful, durable, classic, high-quality bags. They’re always one of my #1 gift recommendations! It’s available on sale at Nordstrom, Shopbop and Madewell!

Blondo boots: 25% off+

My #1 most recommended boot brand. They make several kinds of boots that are ALL waterproof! How amazing is that? The price point is tough to beat too, especially when they’re on sale! Their tall boots also have an elastic back so they stretch to fit any size calves (they even fit my child calves, but also fit friends who have wider calves as well!) 😂They look just like the Stuart Weitzman 50/50’s, but you won’t be scared to ruin them! Run TTS.

Budget-Friendly Packable Long Puffer: 33% off 

This coat was one of my best-sellers last year! Is it as warm as a larger puffer? No, but for the price, and the fact that it’s packable–it’s an amazing coat! This would be a great coat for Mom! This coat runs TTS!

J.Crew Cocoon coat: 40% off!

did you really think this wasn’t going to make my top picks list? 😜My #1 favorite non-puffer coat. It’s the warmest you’re going to get for a wool coat–and it’s 40% off. A lot of the colors are going fast but grey and red are still stocked in every size! This coat runs big, size down if you want it more fitted or order your regular size if you want it more roomy for lot’s of layers. I have a whole post that reviews it here!

Stuart Weitzman Lowland Boots: Up to 30% off! 

My favorite splurge boots–if you’ve been waiting for them to go on sale, you better get em FAST! They’re part of Shopbops Buy More Save More sale! These run TTS.

J.Crew Tissue Turtlenecks: $17.50 (40% off!) 

Another item you aren’t surprised to see here, but if you don’t go buy at least 3 of these I’m going to be mad at you. They are the BEST winter wardrobe staple–my #1 for ever and ever! With the sale they start at just $17.40!! Buy several for you and every woman you love! They will thank you! 😘These run TTS.

Leith long sleeved ruched t-shirt dress: $44 (25% off!) 

This dress is magic. It looks good on everyone! It’s so comfortable, can be dressed up or down (with heels or sneakers, with a moto jacket or a cardigan–the mixability opportunities are endless!) I would size up if in question if you don’t want it tight.

Leith faux wrap-front sweater: $34 (40% off!)

A few of you specifically have told me “I hope this sweater goes on sale for Black Friday!” haha! Well YOU’RE IN LUCK! It did! Note it is sold out in green (sorry!!) but it’s available in other really pretty colors that you’ll probably get more wear out of anyway 😂Runs TTS.

Sam Edelman Caprice Boots: $149 (33% off!)

These boots sold out during the Nordstrom sale and so many of you were so upset, but now they’re BACK, fully stocked (even in this tan color!) and they are my go-to boots that I reach for whenever I’m going out! They are seriously so pretty! (Just make sure you spray them with suede protectant!) They also come in black though if you’re worried about the lighter color! They are very comfortable (I walked what felt like 87 miles in them to a concert at Soldier Field recently 😂) Run TTS.

ASTR Lace Cocktail Dress: $66!

This dress is on sale in TONS of colors–the body does run snug but order your normal size–it’s seriously the most flattering dress I’ve ever owned! Perfect for any winter wedding or formal event!

Happy Shopping and make sure to check back again soon for more!!

Source: https://thegoldengirlblog.com/our-cyber-week-sale-guide-live-updates/

[shockcity]

DD #5 - Distance

Rating: T 

Summary: Matt owns a coffee cart. 

Category: M/M 

Pairing: Matt Murdock/Tony Stark

Warnings: none 

_____________________

The cart was passed down from Jack’s Uncle, who had owned and maintained his little business in midtown west for nearly twenty years until his death. The whole enterprise started when Jack came to him and said, “I don’t know what to do.”

“You could rent the cart,” said Uncle Mike. “I’ll give you a fair price, Jack, but you’ll have to give the Fixer the boot.”

Which was easier said than done. You didn’t just give the Fixer the boot, unless you wanted a boot to the ribs. Or the head. Followed by a bullet. But Jack knew that life wouldn’t get any better for him and Matty if he kept on legbreaking for Sweeney. He needed a way out, and it came in the bizarre form of Ajax Chemical Company and a broken hip.

“Your boy is blind, and we at Ajax extend our sympathies,” the suit said. “But what he needs now is his father, not a convict.”

“You wanna say that again?” Jack asked.

“Look, Mr. Murdock,” said the other suit. “Let’s be plain. If you go to the press, or file a complaint, or hell - get an attorney somehow – a little bird is going to tweet in the ear of the NYPD about your employment with the Fixer. Are we clear?”

So without a hope of retaliating against the company that had blinded his son, Jack fought every fighter thrown at him, from amateur to bum to underground brawler. It was hard on him, and it was hard on Matty.

Then Uncle Mike broke his hip.

“Rent the cart,” he’d insisted, when Jack hesitated to say yes. “Couple of years at it and I’ll give you the license. Fair and square.”

So Jack took up a coffee cart.

_____________________

42nd and 8th had been Uncle Mike’s spot ever since he took it from Freddy Four Fingers back in ‘78 in a poker game. It was a pretty standard coffee and tea cart, though it did have a stove for cooking dubious breakfast sandwiches for the adventurous.

What was different about this particular coffee cart was the giant ugly devil face painted on the side. Below it, it said, “Hot Coffee from Hell’s Kitchen,” with flames shooting out around the sides. It guaranteed some kind of special brew, though Uncle Mike’s coffee wasn’t any different than coffee from, say, Brooklyn. And his sister, Jack’s mother, hated it. She cried “sacrilege” and told Uncle Mike to go to church. (By the time Matt was in charge of the cart, the awful motif had grown on him).

Vendoring didn’t pay much, so Jack still had to box on occasion, but for some reason life seemed to look a little brighter after that. And when Mike gave Jack the license, it somehow became Jack’s little business in midtown west, and then later — it was Matt’s.

Later was now, and now there was an altercation.

“I am 18 inches, I am 18 inches,” said Rico from the fruit stand. He was crowding the curb, and the cop knew it. “I sell fruit–”

“I know you sell fruit, you listen–no, no, you’re too close to that building there. You’re too close to the building, hey–”

Matt hopped down from his cart. “Rico, you okay?” he called out.

“Get back in your truck!” hollered the officer, but Matt walked closer.

“Rico, what’s happening?”

“Hey, get back in the truck!”

“What’s wrong with Rico?” Matt clicked over, looking disheveled and worried. The cop moved forward, one had on his belt, and Lewis at the newsstand yelled out from behind his counter, “hey, man, he’s blind!”

“Is Rico ok?”

“He’s blind, man!”

“I sell fruit!”

“He’s blind!”

“Alright, alright!” the cop yelled. “When I come back, this cart is on the curb, understand? Stay away from the building, you hear me?”

“He’s blind, man, not deaf, heh heh.”

Matt went back to his truck as the officer left, and Rico and Lewis moved the fruit cart two inches to the left, but no closer to the curb.

“Nicely handled,” said Tony Stark, having watched the entire thing over the top of his sunglasses. “Flat white, and your phone number.”

“As always Mr. Stark,” said Matt, pouring espresso shots. “That’s a dollar fifty.”

______________________________________

Like clockwork, Samuel Chung arrived at 4pm to drive the truck to the garage and wash it down. “They fined Hassan again,” he said today. “A grand! Racist dicks.”

Hassan ran the hot dog cart on 43rd. “What did they fine him for?”

“Apparently he didn’t show his permit fast enough,” said Sam wrathfully. “And they got Chen the other day for littering while a little white girl dropped her empty coffee cup on the sidewalk. Right in front of him. I posted a link to my tumblr on twitter about it. Tell Foggy, man, he’ll rant with me.”

Sam was a social justice blogger.

Matt liked him anyway.

_________________________

Matt had a good business, good friends, and a good life. He should have been on top of the world. But he wasn’t. In fact, he seemed to exist in a continuous state of exhausted irritation.

And the problem was Stark.

He’d frequented the cart before even the Afghanistan incident, and when he got back to New York his habit of buying Hell’s Kitchen coffee hadn’t changed. Matt was in his early twenties back then (and Stark was way too old for him, honestly), and had sort of worried about the man when he’d heard what had happened. Then the whole Iron Man thing…well, Matt was concerned and really hoped Stark knew what he was doing. He made the mistake of not saying so.

“Flat white, Stark, or do you need a gas station?”

For some reason, Stark thought this was hilarious. “The suit doesn’t run on gas but thanks for thinking of me,” he said, grinning. “Did I ever tell you I have a thing for redheads?”

Matt’s jokes and his hair (apparently) were what made Stark a loyal customer, and Matt would appreciate that but Stark was different from Matt’s other regulars on account of his being supremely annoying. He also had a big mouth, and told everyone about Matt’s ass coffee. So business picked up, but Matt also got a lot of weirdos at his cart.

“I will partake in some of your delicious dark beverage, good vendor! Friend Tony assures me that you serve the best smooth black drink in the city!” Thor boomed, and everyone heard, so business picked up.

“A cappuccino is fine, none of that pumpkin latte venti skinny mad cow stuff,” said the guy in the bright purple suit. “Tony sent me, by the way, he wants your number. He’s kind of a perv.”

The purple suit did not scare customers away, oddly enough, nor did the sudden appearance of the Black Widow. Matt really liked her, and she told him to call her Natasha. He gave her his number. Stark made a big deal about that.

“Um, Tony sent me,” said Captain America, tone full of awkwardness. “Regular coffee, please.”

Matt handed the American national treasure a coffee. “Let’s pretend you appealed to me and I politely rejected the pleasure of whatever it is he’s offering today. You tried your best. That’ll be a buck fifty.”

“Thanks,” Rogers sighed, sounding very relieved.

Later, he caught Foggy before Nelson’s Meats closed and told him that he had met Captain America. Foggy was reasonably impressed. Matt not so much.

“They won’t leave me alone,” Matt grumbled. “And it’s not like they’re close. The tower’s on 5th.”

“Could be worse,” Foggy shrugged, slicing carefully. “The Hulk could want your number.”

Matt shook his head. Bruce came to his cart sometimes, always right before four when Matt had begun cleaning up and no one else was around. He asked for a chai tea and Matt charged him fifty cents less than everyone else. “I like his voice,” he explained to Foggy.

His best friend only sighed. “I don’t get anyone famous in here,” he moaned. “And no one asks for my number.”

“I don’t see why not,” Matt said. “Passing up a chance with you would be a miss-steak.”

Foggy chopped a section of the steak clear in half. “I hate being a butcher. And I hate you.”

___________________________

Matt was perfectly happy being a coffee vendor for the Avengers and victim of a persistent Tony Stark if it meant he could still live a relatively normal life. But it just wasn’t in the cards for him.

There was an incident with the Hand, and Stick blew back into Matt’s life, and he found himself in the middle of a fight with an ancient Japanese ninja clan. Matt hadn’t seen Stick since he’d failed his final test, so their reunion wasn’t too friendly.

“Matt, what happened?” asked Sam Wilson, one of Matt’s favorites that also got a discount. “Who did this to you?”

His face was pretty beat up, so Sam Wilson wasn’t the only person that was concerned. Stark had unfortunately come by that morning and had actually entered the sanctity of the cart to force ice onto Matt’s bruised face. “Do I need the suit? I’ll get the suit. Someone is going to hurt. Who was it?”

“No, Tony, leave it,” Matt told him. “I got mugged, it’s no big deal. Now get out of my truck.”

Unfortunately, this meant the Avengers came around a lot more, and to make things even worse – they began to patrol Hell’s Kitchen.

“This you?” said an irritated Jessica. “Captain America’s in my backyard, Murdock. Tell your friends I’ve got your back, I don’t like them hanging around our turf.”

But Jessica’s super strength wasn’t enough to reassure them. Just when it seemed like Matt would be stuck forever with a bunch of bizarre babysitters, an incident with Rico and the cops prompted a huge change in the life of street vendor Matt Murdock.

Or more like a change of heart, as it were.

_______________________

Matt had often considered becoming a costumed vigilante. If he’d had less control, less focus, the constant noise of murder and assault in Hell’s Kitchen might have driven him to take the law into his own hands.

But Stick had taught him well, and Matt kept up with all of his teachings despite not needing to ninjutsu anyone on the daily. He did it to drown out the sea of pain and hate, and also to keep his six pack. There was, after all, a very good reason Tony Stark was so persistent.

So when Stick asked for his help Matt was in good enough condition to do it, and it followed that when Rico and the cop pissed off a super villain, Matt was able to handle it without breaking a sweat.

“FOOLS.“ Matt heard Rico’s stand crash into the street, fruits toppling every which way. “Doctor Doom has no need of fruit! I generate adequate nutrition through the use of my mystic powers.”

“Hey, man, chill!”

“I am the master of the universe,” said Doctor Doom, apropos of nothing.

The officer that so often fought with Rico over his 18 inches came around the corner just as Lewis said, “you ain’t the master of shit!”

“Whoa, what happened here?” Rico’s cop friend asked.

“I demand satisfaction!” he shouted. “This pestilential creature accosted me with his foodstuffs. I require no fruit!”

“Jesus,” said the officer.

Matt figured it was time to leave his truck. “Rico? Who’s that?”

“Some nut in a cape with an ugly metal face,” Lewis called out. “He messed up Rico’s cart!”

“I am no nut.”

Before the nut in the cape began extolling the virtues of all the amazing things he thought he was, Rico’s cop moved to intercede. “Alright, alright, fellas,” he said, then in a whisper to Rico, “get your stuff out of the street while I call Richards over here.” But Doom heard and blew a gasket. “RICHARDS.”

Having had enough, Matt tapped over and reached down idly to pick up a few of Rico’s oranges. Then he straightened, cleared his throat, and chucked one at Doom’s face.

__________

“You had to have been there,” said Tony, to everyone in line for Matt’s coffee. “We’re in the process of recruiting him.”

Matt thought that this was rich, seeing as Tony only came along at the end of the fight (if it could even be called that) with Doom, and his one attempt at ‘recruiting’ Matt had been met with the silent treatment.

“Did you really beat him with your cane?” asked one of his customers.

“I tripped him,” Matt corrected with a sigh.

“I heard you set him on fire.”

Matt frowned. “Close. I threw hot coffee in his face.”

“You threw watermelons at him?” asked Steve Rogers, aghast.

“Oranges,” said Matt, wondering where people came up with this stuff.

While many of the superhero crowd just assumed that Matt was some sort of mutant, Stark was the only one that really asked for any specifics. Matt gave him the cliff notes version while trying (unsuccessfully) to remove Tony from the cart.

“Senses and training or not,” said Matt, “I’m not a superhero. I sell coffee.”

Tony considered this. “It is good coffee,” he allowed.

“Thank you.”

Suddenly holding up a finger in a gesture of ‘ah-ha!’, Tony said, “how about we keep you on retainer?”

“Draw up a contract and we’ll talk,“ he said, charmed despite himself and beginning to thaw.

And honestly, he’d been gradually warming up to the idea for a while now. Matt supposed that Doom’s tantrum had shaken something loose, and Stark just didn’t seem all that ridiculous anymore in comparison.

Seeing Matt’s soft smile, Tony grinned, sensing victory. “I wouldn’t screw you over,” he told Matt, and he probably wouldn’t. Stark was admittedly good people.

Oh man, when had he begun to actually like Stark? Was he flirting back? This was a disaster.

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Matt said cheekily, definitely flirting. Fuck it.

“Were you a lawyer in a past life?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.“ He smiled. “I could have been a costumed superhero instead.”

Laughing, Tony edged a little closer to him. Matt allowed it, tipping his head up expectantly

“Why not both?” Tony whispered, and closed the distance.

[delightfully-daisy]

Hell’s Angels || Titsy feat the Canard Boys

Daisy’s birthday was in a few days and she had already planned a brunch with a few of her friends and then a small, tasteful gathering before heading to Pixie later that night for Hermes’s show. She had everything planned out and it was going to be perfect, but oh, there was still about a week till that so she hadn’t really been thinking about it when she got up this morning. She didn’t have class till noon today, but was already dressed and ready for action by nine (hey, you never know when a story would call) and was wearing a cute pair of high-waisted jeans along with a light turquoise sweater. Her hair was pinned up, as usual, and right now, she was enjoying a morning latte (made with her own little expensive espresso machine) and reading over the paper, sitting at one of the barstools at her counter top.

There was a knock at the door.

Daisy froze, then darted her eyes towards the door.

“Who is it?”

“The pizza delivery guys,” said a voice she definitely recognized as not the pizza guys. (Also it was nine am).

Her face split into a grin and she immediately hopped off the bar stool and unlatched the door.

Standing in the hallway were her brothers. Nic, the oldest, was actually shorter by a few centimeters and was wearing an old-school aviator jacket that she had gotten him for Christmas and a blue beanie over his blond hair. He hadn’t shaved in a few days. Andre was younger but towered above the both of them, his own hair gelled into casual disarray. He was wearing a leather jacket, sunglasses balanced atop his head.

Nic immediately pulled her into a hug, while Andre bobbed behind him and then swooped in the minute Nic had let go.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked, in French.

“Happy Birthday, Daisy!” said Nic.

“But you know my birthday’s not till the 14th—”

“Yeah, well you know that we both have to go back to university,” said Andre, folding his arms over his chest. “So we figured we’d stop on by and give you your gift.”

“You could’ve waited till after, you know, when we go on our ski trip.” She named the annual Canard ski weekend that usually happened the first weekend of February. “That’s when you usually do it.”

Nic shook his head.

“Not this time, Daisy. We had to keep it a secret.” He clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go. It’s outside.” He started to tug her along.

“Wait, hang on let me look the door, Nicolas!” She laughed a little and then reached for her flat keys that she kept on a hook by the door and the leather jacket that she had on the coat rack, then closed her apartment and followed her brothers downstairs.

Andre bounded ahead of them, opening the door when he got to the bottom of the stairs and making an overly dramatic bowing gesture was Daisy walked through. He jumped aside as Nic walked through and the door hit him on the shoulder and Nic reached over to punch Andre in the side and Andre dodged it and laughed.

“It’s this way,” said Nic, gesturing towards the left. They followed. This time Andre got behind Daisy and clapped his hands over her eyes.

“What the fuck?”

“Trust me. This is a good one. You’re gonna want the anticipation.”

“I’m going to trip!”

“Stop being an idiot,” said Nic. “Uncover her eyes.”

Andre did so, lifting his hands from her face and making a dramatic “dun dun duN!” sound as he did so.

When Daisy saw what was in the parking lot, next to her BMW Z4, she clapped her hands over her mouth, gasping loudly.

It was a motorcycle—a white and black Triumph Bonneville T120, which was a good bike and all, but the reason that she was fighting so hard to stop tears from welling up in her eyes was because this particular motorcycle had a little red leather seat instead of the usual black and a slight nick on the side that was facing her. It was the bike her dad had bought her when she was sixteen, the one Nic and Andre had taught her on, the one she had been looking forward to bringing to uni, before her mama found out about it and yelled at her father and brothers for being so reckless and yelled at Daisy for not knowing better, and Daisy had been forced to sell it.

She took a step towards the bike, running her hand down the seat.

“How did you find it?” she asked.

“Oh it was all Nic’s idea,” said Andre. “We’d thought about getting you a brand new one for a while, but like, they’re not cheap and mama would’ve noticed if we used our cards, but then Nic tracked down the buyer of your bike and we told mama we would visit you and we actually drove to Brussels to get this thing—paid in cash too.”

“Andre drove it back,” said Nic. “It wasn’t just my idea.”

She turned to look at her brothers and couldn’t even think of anything to say—but there was a smile on her face so big and bright. She just walked over to Nic, who happened to be standing closer and leaned her face into his chest.

“I don’t even know if I remember how to ride,” she said, her voice muffled.

“Well, there’s one way to find out, Daze,” said Andre. “Get on it!”

“Get on it?” She pulled away from Nic and the moment she did so, Andre tossed her a light pink helmet.

“Here, we got it in your favorite color.”

“This doesn’t go with my outfit,” she said, looking at the helmet.

“Oh come on.” Andre rolled his eyes.

“We gotta take it to the shop to take a look at it,” said Nic. “We don’t know if the dude we got it from has done anything with it in the last four years.”

“Yeah, I’d get it cleaned in general and it definitely needs an oil change and you might wanna get the brakes checked, they were being a little weird when I was riding it.”

“Oh, that’s perfect—I needed to get the tires on my car looked at because of the snow,” said Daisy. “We can swing by the shop together.”

“Only if you take the bike,” said Nic. “We’ll drive the car.”

Daisy bit her lip. She looked at the light pink helmet and then back at the bike—her bike—and then nodded.

“Alright.”

Andre let out a woop and Nic chuckled. Daisy handed Nic her car keys and he reached in his pocket for the keys to the bike.

She walked over to it, took a deep breath, then, as if no time at all had passed, she swung her leg over it, situating herself comfortably on the seat, putting the helmet on her head and adjusting it. She stuck the key into the ignition and the engine roared to life, purring as she fiddled with it, like a sort of finicky cat that had finally been reunited with its owner.

Daisy smiled, backed out of the spot, and then revved the engine.

“Yo, take the long way if you want,” yelled Nic, who was already in the driver seat of her car. “We’ll meet you there.”

“Have fun!” called Andre.

Daisy lifted her hand up to wave and then kicked off.

Any drive in town was bound to be short and slow, so Daisy took a bit of a long way around the university, enjoying the hum of the engine and the thumping of her heart. She wasn’t going particularly fast now—for one, there was a speed limit and two, well, it had been a while since she’d done this. She was still learning. Thankfully it was like a regular bike and her body was used to balancing and maneuvering. It took little effort to remember how to move on this thing.

She pulled into the auto shop, already spotting her car and Andre and Nic talking to someone, and cruised in so that she was right by them.

“How do you not have the Gislaved North Frost tires for this year? Any idea when that shipment is getting in?”

She heard Andre’s voice, almost accusatory, as she kicked down the kickstand and swung her leg off the bike.

“Andy, it’s a small town, I’m sure we can order some for her,” said Nic.

“I just need snow tires, not super duper industrial strength snow tires,” said Daisy, taking off her helmet. She shook her head a little, to get the hair out of her face and was running a hand through her hair when she noticed just who her brothers were talking to.

“Oh!” she said, eyes widening, her cheeks flushing pink. “Uh, hello.”

It was Tito, of course, because of all the luck in the world he would just happen to be working the day her brothers came into town. He looked very much as surprised as she probably did and she took comfort in that and hoped that Andre and Nic attributed her now pink cheeks to the cold air or the general excitement of her bike.

“Also the bike needs a general touch-up, and also probably new brakes,” said Andre, gesturing, apparently not noticing Daisy’s reaction. “And maybe cover up the scratch on the side.”

“Oh, don’t touch up the scratch,” Daisy said. “That’s from when I broke my arm, remember? It’s a good memory.” She looked at Tito when she said this, a small smile tugging at her lips. “And then we told mama that I fell from a horse.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Keep the scratch for my sentimental sister,” said Andre, who hadn’t noticed how wide-eyed Daisy had just become.

Nic, however, seemed to notice something was up, and glanced briefly from Daisy to Tito then back to Daisy, who raised her eyebrows at him and he looked back at her BMW.

@newspaperburritos-forbreakfast

[justanothrdreaminggirl]

A few weeks late (or over a month, but who’s counting?), but it is finally here, my Antwerp haul!

So if you don’t know, my boyfriend and I went to Antwerp for 4 days last month. Now, before we went we decided that we wouldn’t shop that much, because we really didn’t need anything. Clearly we failed..

But I am very happy with everything I got, so let me just show you!

Sooo here is the first thing I wanna show you, and definitely my favourite. Which is good, because it will be on my body forever. But, as you could’ve read in my August Faves, I got my second tattoo! And I am so happy with it. I’ve been wanting a bird tattoo for a very long time, since before I got my first tattoo (a star on my ribs), but I wasn’t sure where yet, and how exactly I wanted it to look. For a while now I’ve been loving the idea of a small shoulder tattoo, so that’s why I decided for this spot. As for why I got it in Antwerp, my boyfriend and I had been joking about getting a tattoo as a souvenir, but I didn’t actually think we’d do it. However,in the afternoon on our last full day we were sitting on a bench in a pretty street eating cupcakes when my boyfriend told me he wanted to at least check how much the tattoo he wanted – a star on his arm – would cost. It so happened we were sitting across from a tattoo shop, so we went in, we asked, and because it so happened they had some time and it wasn’t too expensive, the bf decided to just get one. We went to dinner, and sometime during dinner I decided I was jealous so we went back to ask if they had some time the next day. But even better, they had time right then and there, again! So I got my second tattoo and I am over the moon happy. Definitely a good souvenir 🙂

Now on to the very first item I bought in Antwerp: these super cute fluffy pink slippers from Hunkemöller. Aren’t they cute?? They are soft and keep my feet nice and warm for the coming seasons, and they only cost me €7! (they were on sale). I’ve already worn them so much, and I am sure they’ll keep my toes warm all winter long 🙂

Another one of my favourite things I got are these jeans from Esprit. I have never gotten anything from that brand before, but I was in the store and saw these on the sale table, and I instantly fell in love. They are my perfect ripped baggy boyfriend/girlfriend type jeans. So comfortable as well, and I love that they are slightly cropped! Definitely will wear them until it gets too cold!

I’ll go over this book quickly because I already mentioned it in my August Faves, but I got Why fashion matters by Frances Corner in Antwerp after our visit to the Fashion Museum. It was such and interesting read, and I am so glad I picked it up! Also, I really like the cover!

I also got my very first Mac lipstick!! I’ve been wanting a Mac lipstick for a while now, because the whole internet seems to love them, and I knew I wanted a colour that was almost identical to my Hema Matte Lip Cream in Nude but in a solid lipstick form. So we went to the Mac counter, I told her what I was looking for, and she recommended Smoked Almond from their Liptensity range. And OMG I love it! It is, just as I wanted, basically identical to my Hema one, but a bit more nourishing. If this doesn’t make it to my September Faves, I don’t know what will..

On to the tops. My boyfriend didn’t like that I asked him to take this photo, but I couldn’t not show you my new favourite bralette. We went into the Björn Borg store because G loves their underwear, and whilst he was looking for the cutest pattern I spotted their bralettes on sale. I’ve never bought anything Björn Borg before because it is pretty expensive, but a) it was on sale, b) I didn’t own a basic nude bralette yet and c) it is sooooo comfy and cute as well! I am now hooked and want in in black and white as well. Also, I want one of their sweatpants because they are so flipping cozy!

Basic black cropped tank top. Can’t go wrong with one of those. I got this one at H&M and love it! However, I am kinda sad that I won’t be able to wear it for much longer has pretty much arrived. But maybe I can get away with styling it with some highwaisted jeans and a big cozy cardigan?

The other thing I picked up at H&M is this basic grey speckled t-shirt, because I am seriously lacking in the t-shirt department. I love this one a lot, It feels like pretty good quality and looks really nice as well. Great for work, for casual days, for layering.. Great for everything really. I also love the fact that it isn’t just plain grey, but has a little bit of detail because of the speckles.

This top I picked up from a store I had never been before, Subdued. I saw it and wanted to have a look inside, because their stuff looked cute. I actually got this top because G loved it on me, and I liked it a lot as well. I have yet to wear it though, because I feel like it is a bit too casual for work, but I haven’t reached for it on other days yet. However, I’m thinking paired with a highwaisted skirt, some tights and some cute booties – or maybe my loafers – it’ll be super cute!

My last thing is again one of my favourites, mainly because it perfectly shows of my little birdy. This off the shoulder top is from C&A. A bit different from what I normally wear, but I actually love the style! It looks so effortless and a bit sexy. It is definitely a summer top, but will also work great for those warmer fall days because of the slightly longer sleeves. However, I am mainly imagining it with a cute pair of shorts and giant sunglasses on a hot summer day.. Please please let there be a hot summer day next summer!

That is all I got in Antwerp! I think it’s a very acceptable amount of stuff, it all still fit in our bag when we went back home 🙂

I know this post was very late, but I’ll try to get back on a schedule now!

Anyways, thanks for stopping by ❤

-x

Antwerp 2017 Haul A few weeks late (or over a month, but who's counting?), but it is finally here, my Antwerp haul!