#ev ate and left no crumbs

[gmsrrn98]

Pumpkin Wonderland

I'm setting up Christmas decors so I thought it would be cute to write a Christmas fanfic. This is the first fanfic I've written since I've returned to Tumblr. @choicesholidays

PROMPT: You did what with the pumpkin pie.

BOOK: The Senior

PAIRING: Kaitlyn x MC

SETTING: Kaitlyn and Emily’s shared apartment, their first Christmas season living together. The snow outside has piled up on the windowsill, reflecting the glow of their string lights. Their tiny, ornament-clad tree stands nicely in the corner of the room. Tater Tot, their golden retriever, is sprawled on his back near the couch, squeaking one of his toys while Tofu, their cat, has claimed her usual perch on the windowsill, silently judging the Tater Tot and his squeaks. The air smells like cinnamon, nutmeg, and the unmistakable warmth of the holidays.

“Kaitlyn! The pie!” Emily’s voice calls out from the kitchen, her tone somewhere between laughter and alarm.

Kaitlyn peeks up from where she’s sprawled on the couch, a sheepish grin forming on her face. She's wearing a pair of red flannel pajama pants and a sweater that says 'Dear Santa, Define 'Good'?'

“What about it?” she asks innocently, though the fork in her hand and the crumbs on her sweater tell another story.

Emily strides into the living room, holding the now-empty pie tin, her reindeer antlers wobbling as she moves. “Don’t you ‘what about it’ me! I left this on the counter ten minutes ago to cool. And now…” She gestures dramatically at the tin, “…this!”

Kaitlyn sits up, still grinning. “Okay, okay, hear me out. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

Emily raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “You’re going to have to really sell this.”

“Well,” Kaitlyn begins, standing up and twirling the fork in her fingers like a baton, “I took a small bite for quality control. And then another. And… well, somewhere along the way, the smiley face just kind of… happened.”

Emily blinks, processing Kaitlyn’s words. “Wait, what smiley face?”

Kaitlyn gestures toward the coffee table, where half the pumpkin pie remains, the filling bearing a very lopsided smiley face, complete with two tiny eyes and a crooked mouth.

Emily stares at the pie, then at Kaitlyn, and finally back at the pie. A laugh bubbles up before she can stop it. “You’re ridiculous.”

Kaitlyn steps closer, a playful grin spreading across her face. “Ridiculously creative, you mean?”

Emily groans, though her lips twitch into a smile. “You ate half the pie, Kaitlyn! That was for tonight! Christmas Eve dinner. With our friends. You can't just steal it!"

Kaitlyn gently takes the empty tin from Emily’s hands, setting it on the counter. “Correction: I did not steal it. I relocated it. In my stomach. And I gave it a personality. It wasn't festive enough!"

Emily’s mock glare softens as she looks at Kaitlyn’s hopeful expression. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” she mutters, though there’s no real heat behind her words.

“And you’re lucky you have me to make life more exciting,” Kaitlyn quips, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Emily’s forehead. “Come on, Em. It’s Christmas Eve! What’s a little pie chaos between girlfriends?"

Emily sighs, shaking her head with a laugh. "Girlfriends where one happens to be a pie thief?"

Kaitlyn gasps, clutching her chest in mock horror. “Pie thief? I’m hurt. I prefer pumpkin connoisseur.”

Emily can’t help but laugh as Kaitlyn pulls her into a warm hug. “You’re impossible, you know that?”

“And yet, you love me anyway.” Kaitlyn smirks, her voice dropping into a teasing sing-song.

“Yeah, yeah,” Emily says, trying to sound exasperated but failing as she grins against Kaitlyn’s shoulder. “We're gonna have to bake a new one and you're in charge of the clean up!"

“Deal,” Kaitlyn says, taking Emily’s hand and leading her back to the kitchen. “But only if you let me sing Christmas carols while we work.”

Emily groans dramatically. “Fine. But if you start decking the halls with your rockstar riffs, I’m cutting you off.”

In the kitchen, the two of them fall into their usual rhythm. Emily measures out the ingredients with precision, while Kaitlyn sneaks little tastes of the filling and sprinkles flour everywhere. Tater Tot wanders in, hoping for scraps, and Tofu watches from a safe distance, flicking her tail lazily as she watches her servants do intensive labor.

“You know,” Emily says as she rolls out the pie crust, glancing at Kaitlyn with a soft smile, “this isn’t exactly how I imagined our first Christmas together.”

Kaitlyn, now covered in flour from an ill-advised attempt to toss dough in the air, leans against the counter and grins. “Better or worse?”

Emily pauses, considering. “Messier. Definitely messier. But also… better.”

Kaitlyn’s grin softens into something more heartfelt. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Emily says, meeting Kaitlyn’s gaze. “Because it’s us. Chaos, flour explosions, stolen pumpkin pies and all.”

"Relocated," Kaitlyn giggles as she steps closer, brushing a bit of flour from Emily’s cheek before cupping her face. “You’re my favorite chaos,” she murmurs, her voice warm and sincere.

Emily leans into Kaitlyn’s touch, her own smile spreading. “You’re mine too. But if you eat this pie before tonight's dinner, I swear…”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Kaitlyn says solemnly. “Scout’s honor.”

“You were never a scout.”

“Details, details." Kaitlyn laughs, leaning in to kiss Emily, slow and sweet, the warmth of their shared laughter filling the room as the snow continues to fall outside.

As the pie bakes in the oven, Kaitlyn and Emily curl up on the couch under a fuzzy blanket, Tater Tot nestled at their feet and Tofu perched on the armrest. The twinkling lights of their tree cast a soft glow over the room, and in that moment, everything feels perfect—pumpkin pie mishaps and all.

[arealphantommenace]

Jon Robyns and Eve Shanu-Wilson signed my program when I saw Phantom this week. I can die happy now.

Robyn’s Phantom was amazing. Beautiful voice and so much emotion into the character, as well as being completely unhinged.

Shanu-Wilson had a beautiful singing voice as well, gave me chills as soon as she started singing. She doesn’t get to perform as Christine much, so her performance this week was even more impressive. I would never have known she wasn’t the main if I didn’t know who the cast was. She was also very sweet and friendly when we met her after the show.

Matt Blaker as Raoul was great too. I’m always team phantom, but his portrayal of Raoul and their relationship was so adorable it was impossible to not love him. Me and who, really?

Entire cast ate and left no crumbs.

[gyubby99]

Eve: I'm very proud of you, Alistar.

Alistar: Could you maybe try and change your wording? I didn't understand any of that.

Eve, sighing: Wig has been snatched. You did THAT. Ate and left no crumbs. Slay.

Alistar: awww thanks Eve!

[riyathebibliomaniac]

Queen Humbled him quickly 👑💅

[evethemnm]

Eve Best after filming hotd:

[rhymesalot]

My Christmas Eve

The day was frigid with snow piles high; 

reindeer would never ever try to fly.

I hoped I wasn’t missed by Santa’s speeding sleigh.

Who can be called to postpone Christmas day?

~

I looked out the window at snow all day.

It was a day too cold to go outside and play.

Stores were closed and phone lines were down.

Street lights were flickering all over town.

~

Dad read some books and we played with blocks.

Mom knitted dad new Christmas knee-socks.

Our oven was warm so I sat close in my chair.

I was waiting for cookies for us all to share.

~

Our Christmas Eve had now just begun.

But supper was first before more fun.

The radio played softly out in the hall.

Eve, our shepherd chewed on her ball. 

~

While sipping cocoa, I got foam on my nose.

Dad told a joke about a nose that glows.

Mom stacked some presents, but just a few.

She put Grandma’s aside, I had two.

~

We all went to bed with our flashlights ready.

I got tucked in and snuggled with teddy.

I couldn’t sleep thinking of all the snow.

And how Santa could see where he should go.

~

But when he gets here, he’d need a rest.

A warm comfy chair would be the best.

Maybe more cookies will help him to sleep.

So I slipped out of bed without a peep.

~

I went down to the kitchen on tippy toe.

The night lights flickered from the wind and snow.

The hallway was dark, it seemed longer than before.

The handle looked higher on the old kitchen door.

~

With each step a creak that sounded like “nooo…”

Each step I take I thought I shouldn’t go.

But go I must for old Santa’s sake. 

Even Santa must need a break.

~

I’m sure he has other places to go.

How he does it I’ll never know.

But I’m glad to lend him a helping hand.

So he can have a rest that wasn’t planned.

~

Before I knew it the handle was near.

Reaching up I turned it without fear.

I opened the door and to my surprise, 

Eve stayed asleep and didn’t rise.

~

I stepped softly past her moonlit bed, 

then over to the cupboard just ahead.

I smelled the cookies hiding up there, 

too high to reach with just a chair.

~

I felt all around in the dark of night, 

looking for the stool with a height just right.

One more step and my stool was found.

I stubbed my toe but made no sound.

~

Eve stayed asleep on her warm cozy bed.

I quietly limped to the goodies ahead.

I climbed up on the stool so I could see, 

then reached for the cookies for Santa and me.

~

The night-light went out and I couldn’t go far,

my hand was stuck in that cookie jar.

But with a wiggle and jiggle and lots of stress, 

I freed my hand and with not much mess.

~

I put the jar back up high where it goes.

I closed the lid tight so no one knows.

Then I was frozen in that one scary spot, 

doing something I should have not.

~

The floor seemed far and I felt small.

Slowly I sat, afraid I would fall.

Then Eve’s wet nose nudged my back,

a welcome touch when all was black.

~

We both snuggled in Eve’s warm, cozy bed,

her big drooling mouth rested on my head.

I woke up wet but toasty warm.

I was happy we survived the storm.

~

  On the window sill our old cat lay.

She’s the first to see a bright new day.

She ate the crumbs I left on the floor. 

Then back to her sill when there was no more.

~

I gave Eve a hug and thanks for last night; 

she kept me safe when there was no light.

My cookies were crumbled all over Eve’s bed. 

Though meant for Santa, now Eve’s instead.

~

She gobbled her snack and left no trace.

And when she was done she licked my face.

Then mom rushed in, glad I’m all right.

I told her about my plan for last night.

~

She wasn’t pleased, that I could tell.

She gave me a hug when I thought she’d yell.

Dad soon came in scratching his head.

He asked us why we were all in Eve’s bed.

~

Mom told him the story of my planned surprise.

Dad listed the reasons why my plan wasn’t wise.

I said I was sorry and from now on I’ll be good.

And I’ll sleep with Eve every night as I should.

~

Mom and Dad said later on we’ll talk. 

Let’s first stand up and we’ll take a walk.

 I followed them quietly with Eve by my side.

We got to the living room and I almost cried.

~

Santa had come and saved Christmas day.

But the presents can wait, Eve wanted to play.

We played together and now I believe;

Christmas is best with my Christmas Eve.

~*~

SCK120821

[btsinwonderland]

A Drop of Poison - Ch. 5: Dinner

A Loki fanfiction!

Previous Chapter --- Next Chapter

Full Chapter List

Chapter warnings: bit of self-smut at the end!

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

As the stone gargoyle stopped, its last movement echoed through the Headmistress's chambers. At first glance, there was her desk, which seemed more the size of a bed than a table. On it were papers, books, bottles, and a large tray for her mail. Several trinkets and baubles were strewn across the desk, on the edge of which perched a beautiful phoenix bird that idly observed you and Professor Laufeyson enter the room. It ruffled a wing, and a small feather fell to the ground. You walked over to it and the creature raised its head, watching you. You stopped, and it clicked its beak once, as if giving you permission. Its eyes were very much aware and held an aura of deep intelligence. You picked up the feather and observed its gorgeous array of teal and aquamarine with flecks of gold at the tip. Professor Laufeyson smirked at you curiously before moving on.

Behind the Headmistress’s desk was a wall, where paintings of the former heads of Hogwarts hung, along with regional maps and a rather large painting of a giant tree in outer space. The wall blocked off an area of the room where you heard the clinking of plates and cutlery.

“Come in Loki and Freya!” You heard Headmistress Frigga’s voice. Your heart lurched when she said your name. Of course she knew you were there.

You followed Professor Laufeyson into the area behind her office. He took your book, despite your panicked expression, and placed it on a stool. You kept glancing at it as if it might disappear again.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be right here. No books at the dinner table,” he said in a low voice.

You sighed and reluctantly let your eyes wander. There was a beautiful oak table that was covered in glass. The slice of wood underneath had a blue light etched into it with violent streaks. You marvelled at the glow as Headmistress Frigga ushered you to sit down.

“This wood was captured at the moment of a great storm, and the pattern you see here was made by lightning. The light comes from the plasma itself, which has been preserved all these years with a sealing spell.”

You raised your eyebrows as you sat down and traced the rippling light along the glass. “It’s beautiful,” you said.

Professor Laufeyson sat down across from you and smiled at his mother. “Mother, what a pleasure it is to see you. You have not aged a day since I last saw you; your beauty is everlasting.”

“You must think I’m a piece of bread that needs to be buttered so thoroughly, Loki,” she said with a laugh.

He looked away with his mouth in a thin line. You concealed a smile. Perhaps this evening would be less mortifying than you thought.

Headmistress Frigga placed the last of the napkins on the table and looked at her handiwork. “Good, now we just need Thor.”

“Being on time was never his forte,” Professor Laufeyson said, casually picking a piece of lint off his shirt.

At that, heavy footsteps entered the chamber, and Professor Odinson walked in. His face was streaked in dried mud and his hair had chunks of dirt in it.

“Did you get dragged out of a pigsty?” Headmistress Frigga said sternly, waving her wand at him. He was immediately cleaned up as he patted his chest and arms, looking for smudges or marks.

“Thank you, mother,” he said. “No, it was a mess of a practice. The storm is only getting worse. There’s a Gryffindor-Slytherin match coming up this week and I need to get the students ready. The Wilson boy has joined the serpents team as their new seeker, and he’s very good.” He stopped talking once he noticed you and glanced at Professor Laufeyson. “Freya, I did not expect to see you here...at a family dinner.”

Your face warmed up, and you looked down at your plate, searching for the words. Professor Laufeyson interjected. “She’s my guest. A reward, for being such a prize pupil.” You glanced at him and he looked utterly serious.

“Prize pupil, eh?” Professor Odinson said as he sat down beside you. He smelled of earth and soil; a warm sort of scent.

“Well, your brother has deemed her worthy for my cooking at the least, and my dear, I’m not sure if that’s much of a prize,” Headmistress Frigga said as she waved her wand and a heavy looking white dish floated over to the center of the table.

The smell of meat and potatoes filled your nose, and your stomach rumbled loudly. You muttered an embarrassed apology. Professor Odinson laughed and patted your shoulder. “Too busy studying, I see! With that work ethic, you’ll make an excellent auror in no time.”

Headmistress Frigga waved her wand to dish out the stew on everyone’s plate. Professor Laufeyson raised a brow at you. “An auror, is that your goal, Miss Eves?”

You cleared your throat. “Well, I’m not sure. I’m still thinking about what I want to do…”

“Smart girl, there’s still time. You’re so young,” Headmistress Frigga said, as a warm buttered bread roll landed on everyone’s plate.

“It’s just what the ministry needs, more witches and wizards to indoctrinate,” Professor Laufeyson said.

Professor Odinson bit into a buttered roll. “The ministry isn’t indoctrinating anybody, they have rules, Loki. People need rules,” he said, pointing with the half-eaten roll in his hand.

“Now, where’s the fun in that?” he replied, leaning back. He gracefully popped a carrot into his mouth and you could not help but get caught in the subtle movement of his lips. He caught you looking at him and his mouth twitched slightly.

“The world would fall into chaos if we didn’t have any rules,” Professor Odinson said.

Professor Laufeyson smiled mischievously. “Perhaps the world needs a bit of chaos,” he said, eyes flashing.

“It is nice to have you both in the same room again,” Headmistress Frigga said with a gentle smile, looking at both her sons. She sipped a bit of wine and then took a bite of stew. “Oh bother, it seems I’ve forgotten the salt again.”

You continued to eat as they discussed mostly surface topics. Professor Odinson talked about the new Quidditch lineup for every country participating in the world cup this year. Headmistress Frigga mentioned news about the school; they were going to increase security since there were more students found out of bed despite the warnings to stay away from the Forbidden Forest. Professor Laufeyson very sneakily caught your eye and winked as she said this. This caused you to nearly choke on your potatoes and cough rather ungracefully, which earned you a chuckle from Professor Laufeyson.

You ate until you were stuffed and found yourself observing Professor Laufeyson as he talked to his family. He seemed attentive and present, yet there was something about his eyes that seemed distant; almost calculating. What went on in his mind was well beyond your comprehension and so you decided to concentrate on a newly conjured pile of rather delicious looking apple turnovers sitting on the side table.

Everyone had gotten up at this point while Headmistress Frigga cleaned up the dishes. Plates, knives, and forks floated in line into a dish tray, which disappeared with a flick of her wand once it was full. She went around the corner to find her shaker of cinnamon and cayenne for the turnovers while Professor Odinson and Laufeyson went back to the main office area. You wandered over to the wall, away from view, but within earshot.

“Why did you bring Freya here?” Professor Odinson said.

Professor Laufeyson laughed. “Are we having some sort of private meeting to discuss our sinister family affairs? You’ve grown so serious without my presence.”

You heard heavy shuffling of feet; it was Professor Odinson. “That was not of my choice, Loki. You left.”

Professor Laufeyson’s voice went cold. “I left because there was nothing here for me but lies.”

“What about us, your family?”

“What makes us family?”

You waited a few awkward seconds as their conversation went silent. Then Professor Odinson chuckled humorlessly. “This, brother, your contempt makes us family.”

“Turnover?” said Headmistress Frigga, right behind you, and you jumped.

She guided you over to the table where the turnovers were and you saw the phoenix perched beside it, pecking at the large crumbs by its talons. You had not even noticed it come into the room; it’s stealth was admirable. “What a beautiful creature,” you said.

Headmistress Frigga gently pet the top of its head. “Fawkes is bound to die anytime now, she’s been in a dreadful mood lately.” She glanced at you. “Professor Heimdall spoke to me, Freya.”

Your stomach dropped as you realized that the Headmistress must know nearly everything. It would not only be silly to lie to her, but it would be insulting. You decided to be honest. “Professor Heimdall told me that my visions were false.”

“And what do you think?”

You looked back to check if Professor Odinson and Laufeyson were still on the other side of the wall. When you heard their unintelligible voices, you turned back to her and whispered, “they were real.”

She sighed and brushed off some cinnamon from her fingertips. “Professor Heimdall warned you to stay away from Professor Laufeyson, and I’m afraid that I agree with him. My dear, I love my son, but he is a dangerous man now.”

“But, Headmistress, I think I’m getting these visions because I’m supposed to help him.”

Headmistress Frigga crossed her arms and put a hand to her chin. “Puzzling, indeed. You have us, your guides and teachers, telling you one thing. And then, you have your visions, your instincts, telling you the complete opposite.”

“And I don’t know what to do,” you said.

She put her hands on your shoulders and looked at you. Her hair was braided into intricate patterns and on her lips was a soft shade of pink. Just watching her. Anybody could tell that Professor Laufeyson was her son, adopted or not. Every look, every glance; it was just like him, though gentler. “You must do what you think is right. Look inside yourself and see. The trick is that you still might be wrong in the end. But regret comes from empty actions. If you go with a full heart, it will carry you through any circumstances. I cannot tell you which path is the right one, you will have to discover that for yourself.”

Professor Odinson came in and grabbed a turnover from over your shoulder, then popped it into his mouth. “Whatever she’s saying, it’s 100% right.”

Headmistress Frigga laughed. “A mother should be so lucky to have both her sons flatter her so frequently.”

“You will be at the game this Thursday?” Professor Odinson said to you.

“Valkyrie’s first game as captain? I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” You said with a smile.

He smiled. “She’s an excellent Quidditch player, perhaps even better than I was at her age.”

You saved that comment in the back of your mind to tell Valkyrie later. No doubt it would excite her for days on end.

“And where is our Potions master?” Headmistress Frigga said, looking past Professor Odinson.

He looked puzzled and glanced behind him. “He was just behind me,” he said.

Professor Laufeyson came around the corner with your book in his hands. “I was simply admiring our mother’s miniature obelisk collection. What a rarity it is,” he said. “Come now, Miss Eves, the hour grows late and we would not want to get you in trouble.” He handed you your book, and you felt the weight of another book underneath. You glanced at him and he gave you a hard stare. Do not say anything, his eyes seemed to say.

You nodded and turned to thank the Headmistress and Professor Odinson for dinner. She smiled at you. “It was a pleasure to have you, my dear. Remember our talk,” she said, sparing a concerned look at her darker haired son.

Professor Odinson nodded and glanced at his brother with a level of suspicion. He seemed to let it go since he said nothing when you both left. You clutched the books close to your heart as Professor Laufeyson walked with you towards the Hufflepuff common room. When you were far enough away, you looked at the book he had given you. The Writings of Odin Borson.

“These were the journals you’ve been searching for,” you said aloud.

Professor Laufeyson snatched the book from your hands before you could look inside. “They are my father’s journals. I have a right to them,” he said.

“Is that why you had to steal them?” You said and immediately realized that was a mistake.

Suddenly, he pushed you against the wall as he towered over your frame. His hand rested on the stone behind your head and he leaned in. “I have been very kind to you, Miss Eves, though you have been sneaking about the school and breaking the rules. Do not test my patience further.”

You trembled as you took in the entirety of his presence. His scent was a strange but alluring mixture of leather and flora. He enveloped you, and you could barely form coherent thoughts. His grey shirt pulled at the buttons near his chest and you could see the swell of his Adam's apple move as he swallowed. You stared at each other for several seconds. His gaze was intimidating, and yet, you did not want to look away.

He was domineering, but you found your voice. “You only brought me tonight to use me as a distraction, not because I’m a star pupil or because you hate awkward family dinners.”

He actually smiled. “Ah, Miss Eves, you do pleasantly surprise me when you catch on. I’m almost impressed.” He regarded you with a raised brow.

“What are you looking for in Odin’s journals? Is it the blue cube?” You blurted out.

His eyes darkened, and all levity fled. “Where did you hear about that?”

You did not respond, unsure whether to reveal your thoughts to him. He grabbed you by the shoulders and squeezed. “Where did you hear about the Tesseract?” His voice was almost a growl. You placed your hands on his chest, holding him there but not pushing away. He looked at you, eyes blazing with a conflicting sort of passion.

Someone cleared their throat in the hallway. “Is everything alright?” Said a voice just behind you both. It was Professor Fandral with crossed arms. He was glaring at Professor Laufeyson.

“Everything is just fine,” Professor Laufeyson said, not taking his eyes off of you.

“I was asking the student,” he said curtly.

You nodded and slid yourself away from Professor Laufeyson’s side. “Professor Laufeyson was helping me up. I nearly fainted, you see. Thank you, sir!” you said breathlessly, walking away from them, towards the Hufflepuff common room.

You were flustered beyond belief and looked back, seeing Professor Laufeyson regard you once again with a sort of surprise. Perhaps he was not sure why you kept covering for him. Your heart pounded out of your chest, though it was not from fear.

The scent of his body followed you, even if you were no longer close to him. The proximity at which he stood and the feel of his warm chest against your hands...Awakened a desire within that you had never thought about nor dreamed of. He had looked so cross, and though you felt a genuine fear, there was something else. Like a dim lamp across a foggy lake, you felt a part of you grow brighter around him. And tonight, it smoldered.

You returned to your room, burning with a need. It was a need that could not wait. You could not think of anything else but giving in to it. You passed your schoolmates with a subtle hello and goodnight and exhaled in relief to find your bedroom empty.

Hopping into the shower, you scrubbed yourself clean. Upon washing the soap off your body, you ran your hands over your chest and your stomach, in small spirals. You thought about Professor Laufeyson, from his blazing cold eyes to his illuminating smile. It felt so taboo for you to touch yourself, thinking of someone you knew and a part of it felt wrong. But you no longer cared. It was not something you could ignore, at least for tonight. Your body actually ached from the thought of him.

You dried yourself with a fluffy blue towel and slipped on a clean nightgown. It was by no means sexy, but speckled with green and orange dots. However, the cotton rubbed comfortably against your skin.

You checked outside your room for any sign of your elusive roommates. Most students were casually reading or conversing, and so you closed the door, returned to your bed and got under the covers. A deep sigh escaped your lips as you lifted your nightgown and ran your hands over your body. You skimmed your fingers over your thighs as you parted them. Your fingers went down a crooked path to your core and your breath hitched when you discovered how wet you already were.

You ran a thumb down your slit in slow movements, up and down. You imagined Professor Laufeyson’s hands on you. Would his tongue be cool or warm? His tongue ran along your neck in this vision, and he laid over you. He whispered unspeakable things into your ear and slid two fingers inside you. You let out a muffled moan. As your fingers pumped in and out, you envisioned him rubbing his hard body against yours. So close. Your skin heated so quickly. You came to the edge and when you opened your eyes, his name slipped from your lips.

“Loki!” you cried out as you climaxed. You ran your fingers over your slit as the aftershocks receded.

Your eyes closed, and you relaxed into your mattress like a stone. The burning need had been dealt with, but to your dismay, you felt the strong pulse of blood underneath your skin. It wanted more. Your body needed more. Stop it! You told yourself. You pulled down your nightgown roughly and switched off the lamp; frustrated despite pleasing yourself.

You gradually drifted away to sleep and in your dreams, Professor Laufeyson did things you hadn’t dared fantasize about. They were the kind of things that made you want to sleep forever.

[heywardsarchive]

a very burrow christmas {Harry potter}

Summary: Harry and his girlfriend enjoy Christmas with their favourite people, the Weasleys. This is a no voldy au so every one is alive and happy:')

A/n: this is written by me and @pregnant-piggy 

(he has no right to be this cute wtf)                                                    

"Harry," y/n said trying to shake Harry's grip off her waist. "Haaryyy" she said in a sing song voice poking his cheek. "Wake up Potter!" She picked him again. "Ugh, lemme sleep l/n." Harry grumbled pulling y/n closer in his arms. "Five more minutes." He said snuggling his face into her neck. "Fine." She sighed playfully and melted into his embrace, falling asleep once again.

They were woken up properly when sirius barged into the room screaming "WAKE UP." He saw the sight in front of him and he almost let them be and leave. Almost being the word here, instead he called out to his best friend very loudly. "Prongs! Your son is trying to make you a grandfather early!" There was a series of clangs and crashes and ran in James Potter with crooked and a slightly red face. "What? Where?" Sirius snickered and pointed at Harry and y/n who were now waking up due to the commotion. "What's going on?" Harry asked groggily.

"Nothing, just sirius being an arse. Now wake up and get dressed, you both have to go the burrow today." James told his son and his girlfriend.

Harry groaned and nuzzled his face in y/n's shoulder. She giggled and pushed his head away, ignoring the googly eyes Sirius and James were making. 'Come on, Harry. The Weasleys are waiting for us. And you know how Ron gets when he has to wait.' In the doorframe, Sirius and James chuckled, but one look from Harry was enough to send them away. He and y/n got dressed in silence, both lost in their thoughts. When they came down, James and Lily were sitting at the dining table, both a mug in their hand and a smug smile on their face. Harry grumbled something about 'embarrassing him with their stupid faces' and James laughed loudly.

Still slightly grumpy, Harry ate his breakfast quietly. "So y/n, when are your parents returning?" Lily asked Y/n. She put her galss of orange juice down. "Oh, they'll be joining us tomorrow for Christmas at the Weasley's house." Lily nodded. "That's good." "Alright kiddos it's time to go." James clapped his hands together. Both Harry and y/n grabbed hold of their bags. One by one they walked into the fireplace and flooed to the burrow.

Harry reached first. He stepped out of the fireplace and and a second later out came y/n. She dusted the soot of her clothes and smiled at Harry. As Harry turned around, he was immediately hit on the face with a blob of frosting. Y/n burst out laughing. "You look so stupid Harry." She said, still laughing extremely loudly. "What a horrible day!" Harry whined.

The culprits behind the frosting on Harry's face walked to them with sly grins on their faces. Ofcourse it was fred and George. "Hello Harry, did you enjoy your Christmas welcome?" They said in unison. "No." Harry grumbled. "It was amazing, good job guys." Y/n high fived the twins. "Are you my girlfriend or theirs?" Harry asked her feigning betrayal. He put his fingers to his face and removed some of the frosting and rubbed it all over y/n's cheeks. She gasped. "No you didn't!" "Yes I did." Harry said mockingly.

Y/n took the piping bag from Fred's hands and squeezed it all over Harry's unruly black hair. "You've started war woman!" Harry declared and snatched the bag from her and ripped it on her head. "Ewww." She groaned. By then, all the Weasley kids had gathered, hearing the commotion. "Er, hi guys." Harry and y/n said sheepishly. "You had a frosting fight, without me?" Ron asked in betrayal. "Join in?" Y/n asked him. "YES!" He cheered.

Everybody grabbed some frosting bags and started throwing it at eachother. "What is going on here!" Mrs Weasley arrived, looking at the mess created in her living room. Everyone froze in their tracks and dropped whatever they were holding. "I asked you kids to frost cookies, not each other! Now clean up the mess. Stat!" Her face was red. The room was silent. "Do not worry kids, we got this." Fred and George said. They whipped out their wands and muttered a spell and the room was back to normal. "You're welcome." They grinned.

With the very little frosting that was left, it was quickly decided that the cookies would taste just as good without decoration. After everyone was washed up they sat in the living room, calming down from the frosting war. All were happily discussing what gifts they hoped they would get, when Ron proposed to play a game. Chutes and Ladders was taken out and everyone sat around it.

What was supposed to be an innocent game, soon turned into a battle in which no one was spared. Loud laughter erupted every time someone had to slide back to the start and groans from everyone but the player came whenever they could ascend a ladder.

Harry was the first one to give up. He still had the same, although maybe a little less, mood he had had in the morning and when he had to go back to the start for the third time, he threw his pawn away and declared he was done with the game. He pulled y/n on his lap and rested his chin on her shoulder as he watched how she slowly made her way to the last box.

'I won! I won!' she exclaimed when she placed her pawn on the final box and she threw her arms in the air. Everyone laughed bittersweet at her victory, but y/n noticed nothing of it as she turned around to Harry and wrapped her arms around his neck. Harry chuckled and placed a kiss on her temple. She however threw all her weight in the embrace and together with her boyfriend she fell to the floor.

Harry's chest was rising and falling with his laughter and y/n was lying on top of him. She lifted but kept hovering over him. The look on Harry's face was so delicate that she couldn't but place a soft kiss on his lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and smiled into the kiss when he heard everyone around them groan and yell.

'MOM! y/n and Harry can't keep their hands off each other!' Ron screamed to the kitchen and y/n climbed off Harry, not hiding her smug smile on her lips. She looked at Harry and he winked at her, his cheeks as red as the hair of the Weasleys around him.

It was night by the time the game ended and everyone's stomach was growling in hunger. "Kids, time for dinner!" Mrs Weasley called out. Everyone ran to the table, mouth watering at the smell of the deliciously steaming food. Roast turkey, cranberry sauce, pie and chocolate cake among others was spread out on the table. Everyone dug in and relished the delicious meal. Mrs Weasley this is so good!" Harry said in delight. "Thankyou dear." She smiled. Soon all the food on the table was cleared and nothing but a few crumbs remained.

Since it was Christmas Eve, Hermione suggested that they sang Christmas carols. Ginny decided that they sang o Christmas tree. Everyone sang along singing off tune, but still the Christmas cheer filled the air. The burrow never failed to brighten the mood. After carols, everyone dropped their gifts under the giant tree in the middle of the living room. Fred and George tried to sneak glances at the boxes which had their names on them. They even almost ripped one of the gifts open before mrs Weasley smacked their hands away.

Around eleven pm, mr Weasley handed everyone mugs of hot chocolate as everyone sat in the backyard. It was snowing and one could see their breath in the cold. "It's so nice outside." Ginny muttered. Everyone nodded in agreement. Harry rested his head on y/n's shoulder and she kissed his forehead. "I love you." He whispered. "I love you too." Y/n whispered lifting Harry's chin to place a kiss on his lips. "Gross! Get a room." Ron teased. Harry stuck his tongue out at his best friend and he rolled his eyes teasingly.

It was getting very late and everyone started to nod off. One by one they retired to their rooms. The girls were together and Harry was to share a room with Ron. Y/n placed a kiss on Harry's forehead and followed Hermione into the house.

*****

Full from the food and the merry feelings, y/n found her sleep quickly. The soft chatting of Hermione and Ginny lulled her asleep and soon she was off in dreamland.

Harry in his shared room with Ron missed y/n's warmth and her embrace that he was used to fall asleep to. He kept talking with Ron until the little hours, but eventually he slept in too, the warmth and comfort of the burrow easing him.

If the next morning no one had woken from the rooster that was screaming bloody murder at the crack of dawn, they were woken by the enthusiastic and loud talking of the twins, who were the first ones to wake up and had no intention of letting everyone else sleep in on this Christmas morning. So while Ron tried to turn around in his bed once more, the door of the bedroom burst open and Fred and George jumped on their brother's bed. 'Come on, Ron, it's Christmas!' Fred exclaimed and he and George kept pestering Ron all the way down to the living room, where the rest of the sleepy family sat.

y/n was sitting in the corner of the couch, resting her cheek on her hand. Her eyes were almost falling shut when Harry slumped into the place next to her and rested his head in her lap. She raked her hands through his messy hair and Harry felt his eyes slowly closing.

'I can't believe it, I talked to him for hours last night and he wouldn't fall asleep. You put your hand in his hair and he is off,' Ron grumbled, though he didn't look annoyed; he had a smirk on his face.

'Well, what can I say,' y/n laughed. 'It's a Christmas miracle.' *****

After a delicious breakfast made by Mrs Weasley, everybody gathered around the tree to open the presents. As the last person sat down, James and Lily Potter came out of the fireplace, followed by sirius a few seconds later. "Sorry we're late." Lily coughed. "Someone forgot to do their present shopping." Sirius looked sheepishly at the ground. "But we're here now." He declared.

Gifts were being passed out and everyone was excitedly opening them. Mrs Weasley knit everyone a Weasley jumper with their initial on it. Mr Weasley have everyone gifts depending on their likes. Sirius gave everyone a joke shop gift. Fred and George were the only ones who appriciated the gift. Finally, Harry opened y/n's gift. She anxiously watched his as he carefully opened the wrapping paper. He then lifted the gift, it was a scrapbook that she had spent months putting together. Harry flipped the book open, on the front was a picture of them in their first year, after Harry won the match, then after that there were pictures and small handwritten notes on every page. "Do you like it?" Y/n asked expectantly. "I really do!" Harry replied hugging her.

The gifts were opened and the mess was cleared. The children sat down on the sofa and we're about to play exploding snap when ginny exclaimed, "it's snowing!" The game was forgotten and everyone pulled on their coats and went to backyard. It was the first snow that year and it felt magical. Lily put on a casette that played muggle Christmas carols. They were all wizards but something about the atmosphere felt even more magical.

"Dance with me." Harry extended his hand out to y/n. "Gladly." She took it. He pulled her close and they swayed to the music. "I love you." Harry kissed her forehead. "I love you too " she smiled.

Lily and James watched the two lovers dance outside and their hearts swelled. It reminded them of them in their youth. Y/n's parents had arrived by then and they too watching them dance felt their heart warm up. It was beautiful to see the two of them so young and in love.

Hermione pulled y/n away from Harry, telling him that she needed to steal y/n from him as they needed another team mate for their snow ball fight. Harry shook his head and stood beside ron who was watching Hermione with slightly red cheeks and a small smile. "You should ask her out mate." Harry told him. "I don't know who you're taking about." He said defiantly. "Sure man, I belive you." Harry nudged his shoulder and they both shared a small laugh.

Harry was still talking to Ron when he was hit in the face by a snowball coming from behind a fort of snow a little further in the yard. As the cold snow dripped of his face and ice cold drops of water made their way into the collar of his coat, Harry quickly ran to the fort of the other team. He crouched down behind the wall of snow and turned to George, who was captain of this team.

'Spy on them, while Gin and I get ready to attack them,' George said and he pushed Harry into the battlefield unprepared. A little lost he stood in between the two teams, but then he walked closer to the team y/n was on.

Her team hadn't noticed Harry yet. They were all bent over a drawing in the snow, that Fred was pointing at with his wand. Harry looked over his shoulder and gestured for George and Ginny to come closer. They approached the little hill of snow slowly and carefully. 'ATTACK!' George yelled and he and Ginny jumped over the 'fort', throwing snowballs at the persons behind it. Loud yells and screams erupted from the people behind the snow and a real battle, as the one with the frosting the previous day had been, erupted. Snow was thrown back and forth until everyone was cold and blue and Mrs Weasley called everyone inside for a hot chocolate.

After everyone was warmed up again by Mrs Weasley's amazing hot cacao, they stationed in the living room. Just when Ron was about to sit next to y/n,  Harry jumped in his place, forcing Ron to sit in the spot next to Hermione. Harry shot y/n a sly grin and she rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, while lied his head on her lap, silently asking her to play with his hair.

Y/n chatted with everyone around her while Harry's eyes started to droop. "Done go to sleep now, it's almost time for dinner." He groaned. "But you're comfortable." She flicked his forehead. "I'm up, I'm up." He said sitting up on the sofa. After a few minutes, food was set on the table, once again the table was filled with scrumptious food. Salad, sandwiches, mince pie, pasta and others were layed out.

Conversation flowed nicely on the table as everyone dug into their food. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day. As Harry watched y/n talk to Ginny animatedly he couldn't help but feel that he was the luckiest man on earth to be with a person like her. He held her hand under that table and she intertwined her fingers with his. They smiled at each other, eyes holding so much love that it almost overflowed.

Harry and y/n were a match made in heaven and neither of them planned on letting the other go anytime soon *******

taglist: @kashishwrites

[harrysweasleys]

Put A Ring On It

Synopsis: Spending Christmas at the burrow with Fred Weasley.

Warnings: none (maybe a lil bit of language?)

Word Count: 3,463

A/N: quarantine’s got me re-reading the harry potter series so my ideas are flowing right now and its great. also this was supposed to be a short blurb but it ended up being much longer than that. enjoy!

-

Fred knew what he wanted to get Y/N the day that he asked her to come join his family for Christmas. It was their final year in Hogwarts, and although yes, they were both seventeen and decently young, he knew there was no one else out there for him.

He stared down at the dainty ring in the box, overthinking his choice. Maybe she didn’t like the diamond cut. Maybe she didn’t even want a diamond. Maybe she didn’t even want him.

“Fred, you keep looking at that box and you’re gonna go mental.” George whispered, helping himself to some toast. Luckily Y/N, along with everyone else in the house, was still sleeping so he could stare at the tiny piece of jewelry in peace. Fred couldn’t fall back asleep after waking up at around five, his nerves getting the best of him, and George’s ‘twin instinct’ woke him up as well, leading to the two of them sitting in the kitchen as the sun slowly rose over the Burrow.

Today was Christmas eve, and tomorrow, Fred was going to ask Y/N to marry him.

“I can't stop looking at it, George.” Fred whined, tearing his eyes away from it and looking at his brother, “She’s going to be wearing this every day for the rest of her life, it has to be perfect, y’know?”

George sighed, sitting down next to his brother with a mouthful of toast and jam, “She’s gonna love it, mate. It’s Y/N.”

Fred knew George was right. Y/N wasn’t picky, she was simple and loved anything that Fred got her — she always had. But this was a whole new level.

“Oi, get your big mouth away from the food before you eat it all.” Ron’s half-asleep self came barreling down the stairs and into the kitchen. Fred closed the box and hid it in the pocket inside his sweater, not wanting his plan to be known by anyone other than George. Ron had a big mouth, Y/N would surely find out if he knew.

Ron eyed the twins suspiciously, “What are you two gits doing up so early anyways?”

Fred’s eyes widened and he plastered a smile on his face, “We’re shop owners now, Ronnie. We’ve had business matters to attend to. Owls to send and stuff.” George nodded, going along with his brother’s lie. If there was one thing these boys were good at, it was lying.

“On Christmas Eve? Sucks to be you, then.” Ron picked up a muffin, shoving the entire thing in his mouth as crumbs fell all over his shirt, adding to the already countless grease stains.

---

Within an hour, the whole lot had woken up and came down for breakfast. Y/N sat next to Fred, her hand intertwined with his under the table as she ate a strawberry, deep in conversation with Hermione and Ginny. Fred was supposed to be engaged in a discussion with Percy, but he was only half listening, his mind more focused on the nervous butterflies in his stomach that were slowly turning into aggressive wasps.

“You good, Freddie?” Y/N’s soft voice spoke from next to him, a genuine look of concern on her face, “Your hand is shaking.”

Fred grinned at her, “I had an extra cup of coffee this morning. Guess the caffeine is getting to me.” The lie rolled off his tongue effortlessly, he hadn’t had a drop of caffeine because he knew damn well that if he mixed it in with his already stressed out body, he’d be a train wreck.

Y/N shot him a breathtaking smile and Fred swore his heart leaped. Nearly four years of being together and he still couldn't get over how perfect she was. From the loose strand of hair that always fell in her face, to the light freckles grazing her delicate cheeks, to the way her eyes seemed to shine every time she looked at him, he was completely smitten and nothing could change that. He knew from the moment they had their first date that he wanted to marry her.

She returned to her conversation about books or something — Fred wasn't really paying attention — and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, calming his poor heart.

---

That afternoon, Y/N had left with Hermione and Ginny to go do some very, very last minute Christmas shopping after Molly scolded them for not getting it done on time, so Fred found himself outside playing Quidditch with his brothers to pass the time. (Molly had actually kicked them out to do some wrapping, but still.)

He was still out there nearly an hour and a half later, zooming around on his broomstick and letting the brisk wind blow through his hair when he saw the three girls arrive. His eyes immediately went to Y/N, her arms filled with bags and her cheeks tinted red from the cold air. Her eyes landed on him and she smiled, waving him over.

Fred swooped down to the point where he was next to her, his eyes scanning over her face, “How was shopping, love?”

She grinned at him, “Good! But don’t come inside, I got you a few things and they need to be wrapped first.” She pressed her lips to his, making him want to completely forget about the game he was a part of and run inside with her, but he let her pull away and head inside out of the winter air, a dopey grin on his face as he returned to his brothers.

“You’re obsessed.” Ron called out once Fred rejoined the game.

“Leave him alone,” George smirked, “Once you grow some balls and ask Hermione out you’ll know just how he feels.”

Ron flushed bright red, making his brothers burst out laughing as they continued the game.

---

That night after dinner, Fred couldn’t sit still. Y/N was cuddled into his side on the couch, watching the slow fire burn down as her eyelids slowly started getting heavier, meanwhile Fred had enough chaotic energy to go run a marathon. It took all his self control not to let his leg bounce up and down as a sign of nervous energy, because he knew that if he did, Y/N would question him. The last thing he wanted was for her to be suspicious.

“Freddie?” Her tired voice mumbled as she pulled her head off of his shoulder to look him in the eye, “I really am having a wonderful time here with your family.”

He smiled, pulling her forehead close to him so he could press a gentle kiss on her skin, “And I’m having a wonderful time with you.”

She grinned, placing a kiss on the tip of his nose, “I love you, my little goof.”

Fred melted, leaning even closer to her touch if that was possible, “And I love you, my little angel.”

“Should we head up for bed?” She whispered in his ear, despite the fact that there was no one else in the room. He nodded his head quicker than he intended to, but he knew that no matter when they went to bed, he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. By this time tomorrow, Y/N could be his fiancee. Or she could have crushed his heart in her tiny hand by saying ‘no’ and leaving him spiralling in a pit of self despair.

He grabbed her hand, ignoring his thoughts, and led her up the many, many flights of steps and into his room. Which was pretty much their room now, if they were being honest. She took off her large knitted sweater that Molly Weasley had made her last year and sat it down neatly on the end of the bed. That was another thing Fred loved about her. She was pretty much his opposite when it came to small things - while he would have just thrown his own sweater across the room and only looked for it when he was cold next, she gently folded it and placed it where she knew she’d be able to find and use it.

Fred smiled at the folded sweater, looking over to Y/N who was now untying her hair, letting the loose waves cascade down her shoulders. She really did look like an genuine angel.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” She grinned, walking over to him. Fred placed his hands on her hips, letting them slide slightly under the tank top she had on, his fingers rubbing against her soft skin. Y/N felt goosebumps rise under his touch and leaned in closer to him.

“You, you gorgeous woman.” He smirked. She blushed, trying to take the attention away from herself by running her hands through his hair, causing his eyes to flutter shut. She placed another quick kiss on his nose and took off to get ready for bed.

As she drifted off to sleep that night, her light breaths fanning over Fred’s shoulder, he couldn’t help but worry about tomorrow. He really, really wanted to marry her, but what if she felt like they were too young? Being engaged didn’t mean you had to get married right away, but what if she wanted to wait until after Hogwarts to start thinking about marriage?

He shook his head, not wanting to keep planting negative thoughts in his mind as he looked over to the woman sleeping next to him, her chest rising and falling with each breath she took. She looked incredibly peaceful and Fred wished he could be in the same position. He only wished that all his stressing could be worth it — that tomorrow night, at this time, Y/N would be wearing the ring on her left hand and grinning at it like a lovestruck fool.

She’s going to say yes, his subconscious nagged him, sounding as if George were saying the words to him and not his mind. He smiled. She was going to say yes.

---

“Freddie, it’s Christmas!” Y/N shook the ginger boy awake, startling him out of his dream. He scanned the room in a panic, calming down once he saw the dazzling smile on his girl’s face and the realization that there was, in fact, no immediate danger.

Today was the day.

“Merry Christmas,” he smiled lazily, pulling her back down against his chest. She giggled, placing a kiss on his shoulder, his neck, and then his cheek.

“We have to get up! It’s nearly ten, I hear your family downstairs already.” She reluctantly pulled away from him, already feeling colder than she was moments ago. Surprisingly, Fred gave off a lot of body heat, and she already missed it.

“Fine, just ‘cause it’s Christmas,” he grinned at her, figuring out a way to sneak the ring downstairs without her noticing, “Tell ‘em I’ll be down in a few.”

Lucky for Fred, she was too excited about the holiday to question why he wasn't going down with her. She picked up the neatly folded sweater on the end of the bed, threw it on over her pyjamas, and rushed out of the room. As soon as Fred heard her footsteps retreating down the stairs, he jumped out of bed and opened his nightstand, taking out the little velvet box and placing it on the bed. He then opened his dresser and grabbed the baggiest sweater her could find, throwing it on and hiding the ring in one of his little pockets on the inside, out of sight.  

He looked over himself once more in the mirror, “You got this, Fred.” And with that, he rushed down the stairs, tripping over his own two feet the whole way down. Once he made it downstairs without injury, he turned to face his entire family sitting around the Christmas tree, everyone had their tea in Christmas mugs that had been painted by the Weasley kids when they were younger. Gifts littered the ground around the large, overly decorated tree, the twinkling lights adding to the holiday ambiance.

Y/N smiled and pat the couch next to her, signalling she had saved that spot for Fred. He poured himself a quick tea and sat down next to her, placing his hand on her thigh to hopefully take his mind off of the events that were about to unfold. He tried hard to keep his mind away from what he would say and how she would react, but there was no way he could keep distracted for too long.

George looked over at him and winked, knowing fully well that he was the only one who knew what was going to happen. Fred tried to avoid the tinge of pink on his cheeks, turning his head down to face the carpet.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Harry (who probably arrived overnight as he wasn’t there yesterday), along with the rest of the Weasley family sat around the tree, all still talking, until Molly stood up and clapped her hands, a big grin on her freckled face.

“Shall we get started, then?”

A mumble of agreement made its way around the circle, so Molly went over to the tree and picked up the first box she saw. It happened to be a bunch of boxes, actually, because she handed one box to everyone, clapping her hands.

Y/N smiled at the box on her lap, waiting for everyone to start opening theirs before she picked at the ribbon, letting it fall to the ground and then ripping the paper off of it.

“Oh, wow, mum,” Ron forced a smile, unfolding the furry jumper with a giant green R on the front, “It’s almost the same as last year’s.”

Molly waved her hands, “Oh, Ron. You know they’re your favourites!”

Fred unwrapped his, eyes widening at the large baby blue sweater with FRED W. knitted into it with orange, “Mum, blue clashes with my hair.”

Y/N giggled, taking hers out next. Hers was the opposite of Fred’s, the orange knit with baby blue letters of her initials in the middle, making her grin.

She folded it neatly and placed it in her lap, “Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, I love it.” Fred gave her a look as to say ‘are you mental’ before tossing his behind him on the couch and using it as a pillow. Molly rolled her eyes at her son, smiling kindly to Y/N before walking back towards the tree.

“Wait, mum, I think Fred has a gift he'd like to give Y/N next,” George piped up, causing the colour to completely drain from Fred’s face. Everyone turned their eyes to him to see what the gift was going to be, making Fred nearly a million times more nervous than he actually was.

“Thanks for putting me on the spot, George.” Fred said through gritted teeth, turning his attention to Y/N next to him who looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. He pulled his hand away from her thigh, not wanting her to feel how clammy and sweaty it had become in the last five seconds.

“Go on, then, Fred, which one is it?” Ron looked under the tree, trying to find a gift with Y/N’s name on it but having no success.

“It’s not under the tree, Ron.” Fred glared daggers at his younger brother, his nerves getting the best of him.

He once again turned to face Y/N, who had her undivided attention on him. He was nervous as hell, sure, but when he looked into her eyes and the faint smile ghosting on her lips, he knew how badly he wanted this.

He wanted her forever.

“Y/N,” Fred started, his voice shaky, “I remember when I saw you for the first time. You walked into Potions class looking pissed off because Snape failed you on an assignment that you were certain you did perfectly. You walked in there, told him off, rendered the class speechless, and sat in your seat for the rest of Potions with this proud smirk on your face.”

Y/N giggled slightly at the memory, thinking it over in her head. She had later found out that a certain Slytherin who was on detention duty had hidden her assignment from Snape and that’s why she had failed.

“And I remember when I spoke to you for the first time. It was right before a Quidditch game, I bumped into you by accident and I was ready for you to go off on me with that same passion you had in Potions, but you were so quiet and shy, it was like you were a whole different person.” Fred continued talking, his voice still shaky but he barely noticed, all of his attention on Y/N.

“And then I couldn’t get you off my mind. I was obsessed. I asked you to come to Hogsmeade village with me one weekend and my heart was yours. There was no one else for me. Just you. We sat in the Three Broomsticks and talked for four hours about everything. I went to bed that night thinking of you.”

Y/N gazed into Fred’s eyes, forgetting about everyone else in the room. Her heart was beating faster than she’d ever felt it before, and her mouth felt dry, as if every word in the dictionary had vanished from her vocabulary.

“When you became mine, I knew it was meant to be. You helped George and I with pranks, you’ve supported my idea to open a shop, you've gotten along brilliantly with my family, and you’re the smartest woman I’ve ever met — sorry Hermione.” Fred turned to face the other witch for a quick second before turning back to Y/N.

Y/N felt as if her entire body was putty in Fred’s hands. She probably looked like a fish out of water, her mouth agape and her eyes bulging out of her head, redness creeping up onto her cheeks.

“What I’m trying to say is that — I can’t imagine a day without you by my side. Though the good, the bad, the ugly, you know the saying. I want you with me until my last breath.” Fred finished, standing up and taking the ring out of his sweater pocket, getting down on one knee in front of her.

Y/N’s hand flew to her mouth, and she could faintly see Molly Weasley gripping her husband’s arm for dear life.

“Y/N Y/L/N, will you do me the biggest honour in all the world and become my wife?” Fred asked, opening the tiny box and revealing the ring. His hands were shaking, and he felt as if everyone else in the room had vanished, the two of them being the only ones remaining.

Y/N stayed speechless, her eyes staring into Fred’s as if she could see her future in them. Which she could. She loved Fred with every ounce in her body, and didn’t want any one else by her side for the rest of her life.

“Yes.”

She had said it so quietly Fred wasn’t even sure he heard her.

“What?”

“Yes!” She jumped up, landing on him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Fred let out the biggest sigh of relief, placing the ring box on the couch and engulfing her with a hug. He could hear his family cheering around them, but all he could focus on was her. She pulled away from him, the biggest smile he had ever seen plastered on her face, her eyes shining brightly as if he had just given her the sun.

“I love you.” She smiled, leaning closer to him and pressing a light kiss on his lips. He smiled against her touch, reaching behind her to pick up the ring box off the couch. He held it in front of her and she smiled, holding out her hand for him.

He picked up the ring and slid it gently on her finger, his eyes locked with hers the entire time.

“Freddie, you put it on my middle finger.” she giggled, holding it up to him as if she were flipping him off, the dazzling ring sitting proudly.

“My bad.” he chuckled, sliding it off and placing it on her ring finger, where it belonged, and where it would be sitting comfortably for the rest of Y/N’s life.

“I only got you a notebook and a pen holder,” she smirked, admiring the jewel. Fred found himself laughing, pulling her in for a hug once more.

Molly stood up, clapping her hands, “Yay! This calls for celebration! We have a new Weasley!”

Y/N Weasley. Fred really liked the sound of that.

[adenei]

A Granger Weasley Christmas

Some tooth rotting fluff! I’m not sure I could have fit in any additional tropes if I tried, but for those anon requests, here it is in it’s full glory!

The bonus smut chapter I wrote that ties into this fic can be found here, should you wish to read it 

I hope everyone who celebrates has a very Merry Christmas! 🎄

**********************

Hermione stepped in through the front door of her home as she placed her bag by the door and hung her coat in the closet. She shook off the snowflakes that had fallen onto her hair as she chose to apparate home and walk up the lane, relishing in the peaceful, quiet Christmas Eve night. Her work at the Ministry had finally been finished, and now she could enjoy the next week off with her family. 

“I’m home!” she called as she finished putting her things away. She heard laughter and smelled something rather sweet coming from the kitchen. Hermione walked in to find Ron, Rose and Hugo working at the kitchen counter. Gingerbread pieces were piled high with white frosting acting as glue, and there were colored candies all over the kitchen counter. 

“What’s this?” she asked as she walked further into the kitchen.

“The school sent home a gingerbread house kit for families to do over Christmas hols. The kids have been begging to start working on it, and I could only hold them off for so long. I thought you’d be home an hour ago,” Ron explained while giving Hermione a look.

“I know, I’m sorry! I just needed to make sure things were wrapped up at the Ministry, and now I don’t have to think about work for the next week.” Hermione smiled as she kissed each of the kids on the tops of their heads. She ignored Ron’s eyeroll at her ‘not thinking about work’ comment. “I’m going to go change and then I’ll be back down to help, alright?”

“Okay, Mummy!” Hugo said as Rose nodded. She was far too focused to speak as she was placing a gingerbread square just right so that it stuck to the frosting and layered the way she wanted it to.

By the time Hermione had returned, Rose and Hugo had constructed a towering structure that was slightly lopsided, but amazingly held together. She had a feeling Ron may have slipped a bit of magic in to keep it sturdy to avoid disappointing the kids. 

‘Look, Mum, look!” said Hugo in an overly excited voice. 

“Can you tell what it is? Can you?” Rose added.

Hermione took another look at the tall gingerbread structure, but before she could guess, Hugo spluttered, “It’s the Burrow!”

“Hugo!” Rose sounded upset.

“Oh, my goodness! It is, isn’t it? How clever!” she said quickly, to avoid a meltdown.

“It was my idea!” Rose said.

“And I helped make it lopsided, like the Burrow is,” Hugo added proudly.

Hermione couldn’t help but laugh as she listened to the two of them explain which parts were theirs, and which parts they worked together on. She sat next to her husband as the kids set to work adding details with the frosting and the various candies. She wasn’t sure if more ended up on the display or in their mouths.

“I don’t suppose you had anything to do with enchanting the gingerbread house so that it hasn’t crumbled, hmm?” Hermione whispered into Ron’s ear.

“What they don’t know, won’t hurt them. Besides, we’ll take a picture of their masterpiece, and the magic should hold for a few days anyway.”

“Brilliant thinking. I take it I missed dinner?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, but I’ve left your plate in the microwave. You just need to heat it up,” Ron said as he leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Hermione watched the kids finish their Gingerbread Burrow as she ate her meal, and then noticed the clock. “Oh my, it’s almost eight. You know what that means!”

“Christmas Eve presents?!” Rose and Hugo shouted excitedly.

Hermione and Ron laughed. “Yes, Christmas Eve presents, but only after you clean up this mess. We’ll make sure the Burrow is displayed properly on the hutch, how’s that?” Hermione said as she carefully moved the kid’s creation.

The kids nodded as they began picking up their mess. Ron had moved the garbage can closer so they would make less of a mess transferring the piping bags of frosting and cookie crumbles. Soon enough, the counter was rid of the remaining sweets, and Ron was scourgifying it clean.

 “Alright, kids. To the living room!” Ron said in an energetic tone as he and Hermione followed them.

“Oh, no!” Rose said. “Dad, the lights went out!”

“Ah, so they have. Must be one loose bulb somewhere. Well, maybe we can all work together to fix the lights if it’s not too late.”

“Before we set out cookies for Father Christmas?” Rose asked hopefully.

“Only if it’s not too late,” Hermione chimed in. “Now, here go ahead and open these.” She handed Rose and Hugo identically wrapped packages.

“Yay! This is my favorite part about Christmas Eve!” Hugo said enthusiastically. Nothing could ruin the holidays for their youngest child.

Both Rose and Hugo excitedly unwrapped their presents to find matching Christmas pajamas. The shirts had cute reindeer on them and the bottoms were a checkered red, white and black pattern.

“Thanks, Mum and Dad! Should we wear them to bed tonight?” Rose asked. 

“That’s the plan, Rosie,” Ron said as he reached out his arms to accept a hug from his little girl. “Now, what do you say we get you two cleaned up in the bath so you don’t get any frosting or gingerbread crumbs on those new pajamas?”

~~~~~~

Ron led them up to the bathroom as Hermione picked up the wrappings and joined them soon enough. For once, bath time did not take as long as expected because the kids were too excited to help fix the tree and get the cookies they’d baked earlier that day set out for Father Christmas. He quickly found himself chasing two kids in matching pajamas down the stairs and into the living room where Hermione was waiting for them. 

“Do we still have time to help with the lights, Dad?” Rose asked. Hugo was showing off his best puppy dog eyes and pouty lip to help convince their parents to say yes. 

“I think if we all take a different section of the tree, then we may be able to solve the Christmas tree mystery. Hmmm, now who should take the top section? Hugo, you’re tall enough, right?” Ron joked as he tickled his son. 

“No, Dad, that’s your job! Rose and I can work on the bottom!” 

“Alright, alright, I suppose you’re right. Mum can take the middle section, yeah?” Ron asked as Hermione nodded and the family of four set to work. 

Hermione half suspected the kids to grow tired of the task fairly quickly, and honestly, if it wasn’t the night before Christmas, she’d have just suggested going out to purchase another string of lights to replace it with. Unfortunately, it was too late for that. Surely if they couldn’t figure it out, they could use magic to fix it, right?

As if on cue, Hugo asked worriedly, “Dad? What if we can’t fix it? Will Father Christmas not be able to find our house?” 

“Hugo, that wouldn’t make Father Christmas skip our house! Some of my friend’s families don’t even keep their lights on all night.” Rose argued with her brother.

“W-what? But he needs the light to see! How else would he know where to put the presents and which stockings to fill?” Hugo questioned.

Hermione gave Ron a quick look. They were too young to be having these questioning conversations about Father Christmas, but Hugo was so intuitive about everything that she shouldn’t be surprised. Ron returned her worried look with a reassuring one of his own. Hopefully he had a plan.

“You see, Hugo, Father Christmas is magical, too. I can tell you that he appreciates when the lights are on, but he won’t skip the house if they’re off or broken. Don’t worry, as long as you’ve been good this year, you have nothing to worry about!”

Hugo stopped checking the lights as he bit his lip. He was clearly worried that maybe he hadn’t been as good as he thought. 

“Hugo, don’t overthink it, honey, I’m sure Father Christmas won’t forget you. Remember, as long as you believe, you shall receive.” Hermione smiled at her son, who looked a bit relieved as he went back to trying his lights. 

They worked in silence for a little while, and all of a sudden the middle section lit up brightly again.

“I found it, I found it!” exclaimed Rose.

“Great job, sweetheart! And great teamwork everyone,” Ron said quickly when he noticed Hugo’s disappointment that it wasn’t him to fix the tree. “Should we go set the cookies out and then get ready for bed?”

This helped take Hugo’s mind off the tree as he jumped up and ran to the kitchen. “Mum, look! I made this one especially for Father Christmas!” They’d made classic sugar cookie cut outs that were caked with a heavy layer of icing. Hugo’s was a green Christmas tree with little globs that she assumed were ornaments.

“Wow, Hugo, you worked very hard on that! I’m sure he’ll love it!”

“Mine’s an angel, but I decorated his face to look like a gnome,” said Rose with a triumphant smile. “I got the idea because Dad told us about when Uncle George and Uncle Fred put a gnome on top of the tree at the Burrow when they were growing up.”

Hermione couldn’t help but laugh at the memory as Ron grinned, clearly happy that the kids had enjoyed his story. As they were arranging the cookies on the plate, Hugo asked, “What was your first Christmas together like, Mum?”

Hermione looked at her son. “Do you mean our first Christmas when we were together? Or..”

“No, your first Christmas after you met!” Hugo said excitedly.

“Why don’t we make that your bedtime story?” Ron suggested. “Rose, do you want to hear the story, too? We’ll tell it in Hugo’s room. Go brush your teeth and we’ll meet you up there in a few minutes.”

“What are we going to tell them?” Hermione asked Ron as they heard the kids running up the stairs.

“I reckon we should probably tell them the truth..” Ron said cheekily, earning a playful swat from his wife.

“You know what I mean,” Hermione said. 

“Well, we can explain that you went home, and Harry and I stayed at Hogwarts. Pretty uneventful, honestly.”

“Better than telling them we spent second year together at Hogwarts so we could use polyjuice potion to spy on Draco,” Hermione reasoned.

Ron burst into laughter. “Can you imagine the kid’s reactions if we told them you polyjuiced into a cat?”

“We are never telling them that story! Some things are better left in the past.”

“There’s a lot that they probably shouldn’t know about our Hogwarts years,” Ron said.

“Yes, and hopefully Neville won’t give too much away, either.” Hermione said.

“It’s not Neville I’m worried about,” Ron muttered as he motioned for them to head up the stairs.

They walked into Hugo’s room and sat on the edge of the bed. “So you want to hear about our first Christmas, eh?” Ron said as Rose and Hugo nodded. “Well, I’m afraid it’s not a very interesting story.”

“Why not?” Rose asked.

“Well, it was our first year at Hogwarts, and I went home to spend Christmas with my family, and your dad stayed at Hogwarts to spend Christmas with Harry since he wasn’t going home,” Hermione explained.

“You didn’t get any presents for each other?” Rose asked with a disappointed look on her face.

“Oh, I got your father some chocolates from Honeydukes,” Hermione said.

“And I got your Mum a quill from Scrivenshaft’s. It wasn’t much, but we were eleven,” Ron added.

“Twelve,” Hermione corrected him.

“Well, what about the story of how you met, then?” Hugo asked.

“Now, that’s a story!” Ron said with a chuckle.

“Ohh, tell us, tell us!” Rose begged.

“Please?” added Hugo.

“Alright, alright, settle down,” Hermione told them. “Well, we met on the train at Hogwarts. I was helping Neville find his toad, and I stumbled upon the compartment that Uncle Harry and Dad were in. He was quite rude to me, actually,” Hermione said playfully. “Tried to do a bit of magic, but it didn’t quite work as intended.”

“Yes, and then your Mum decided to tell me I had dirt on my nose and left,” Ron continued. “We didn’t get on very well in the beginning. A couple months in, she tried to help me cast wingardium leviosa, and I called her a nightmare.”

Rose gasped. “You didn’t!” 

“Did you apologize? You never let Rose or me call each other names!” Hugo seemed appalled.

“He did apologize eventually,” Hermione said. “I was so upset that I went to hide in a bathroom and missed the Halloween feast.”

“So she missed the announcement that there was a troll roaming the castle,” Ron said nonchalantly.

Both kid’s mouths dropped open. “A troll was roaming the castle? Aren’t they dangerous?” asked Hugo.

“Do they let trolls loose every Halloween?” Rose asked excitedly. Merlin, they had a Gryffindor on their hands if Ron had ever seen one.

“No, no! It wasn’t planned. All the kids were sent back to their common rooms and the teachers went to go find it. Well, Uncle Harry and I remembered that someone said Hermione was crying in the bathroom, and we figured we should go tell her. It was a good thing we did because the troll went right into that bathroom,” Ron went on.

“And you locked him in there with me!” Hermione interrupted.

“Yeah, but we went in after you when we heard you scream!” Ron defended.

“Yes, just before he was about to get me!”

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“What did you do?” Hugo said with wide eyes.

“Well, Harry jumped on the troll’s back to try and stop him, and ended up getting his wand stuck up the troll’s nose. I tried to throw a pipe at it, and then I managed to cast wingardium leviosa and levitated the club out of the troll’s hand.” Ron paused to make sure he had the kid’s full attention. “And then, the club knocked the troll on the head, and he passed out.”

“We were just about to get out of there when the professors found us and asked what happened. I covered for them, telling Professor McGonagall I thought I could take the troll on by myself, but they wouldn’t let me.”

“You did what? Rose asked.

“After that, your Uncle Harry and I decided to keep her around. She turned out to be a really great friend when she wasn’t nagging us to do our homework,” Ron said with a smile as he put his arm around Hermione and kissed her temple.

“Ewww,” Rose said.

Hermione laughed as she said, “I think it’s time for bed now. If you stay up too late, Father Christmas may not make it. You’ve got to be asleep for him to make his rounds.”

They kissed Hugo goodnight, and repeated the routine with Rose in her room before shutting their doors.

“I’m exhausted,” Hermione said.

“And yet, our night is just beginning,” Ron said with glee.

****************

“No, Ron, the bikes should be in the back by the window! Not in the front. Bigger presents in the back, smaller presents in the front,” Hermione chided.

“I still don’t see why Hugo and Rose are getting bikes to begin with. They’re magical, they should have brooms!” Ron shot back.

“They have brooms already!” 

“Yeah, but Hugo’s is a toy broomstick and Rose has got my old Cleansweep from school.”

“Next year that will be Rose’s big present, but this year it’s a bicycle for each of them. They have muggle friends at school, and they need to be able to play with them like muggles. Besides, learning to ride a bike is much like learning to fly a broom, and it will be a good skill for the kids to have.”

“If you say so..” Ron watched as Hermione finished rearranging all of the presents under the tree. He folded his arms and shook his head as he chuckled to himself. “You’re barmy, you know that, right? The kids aren’t going to remember the layout, you know.”

“Yes, but I will. And you secretly love it. You’re not fooling anyone,” Hermione said as she brushed her hands together indicating she was done, and walked over to him.

Ron wrapped her in his arms and leaned in to kiss her. Even after fifteen years together, his heart still skipped a beat every time their lips touched. Hermione seemed to melt into him, probably from a mixture of exhaustion and an eagerness for his affection. With two kids running around the house, it was a struggle to find time to be intimate with each other.

“Shall we head to bed, then?” he whispered against her lips.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Hermione responded in kind.

*******************

Hermione woke with a start at 4:30 in the morning, and tugged at Ron’s arm. “Ron!” she hissed. “The cookies! We forgot to eat the cookies!”

“Wha-?” Ron said in his still drowsy state. 

“The cookies are sitting on the counter,” she repeated as she hopped out of bed and pulled her bathrobe on. She let out a grunt of frustration as she saw Ron’s head hit the pillow again. “Honestly…” 

Hermione checked both the kid’s rooms to ensure they were still sound asleep before she tiptoed to the kitchen. The cookie eating was always Ron’s job. The kids had a knack for layering the frosting a little too thick, and Hermione couldn’t stomach all that sugar. She took a deep breath and picked up Hugo’s cookie first, and took the biggest bite she could muster so it would look like it was eaten. 

Hermione placed one half back on the plate and took the other out of her mouth, nibbling on a tiny corner before making her way over to the bin. She opened it and stuffed the cookie as far down as she could, strategically placing some discarded wrapping paper over it so the kids wouldn’t see. 

Then,she went back to the plate of cookies and panicked. What do I do, what do I do? She thought. Hermione spotted a piece of parchment on the counter and had an idea. She grabbed it and began scribbling in the messiest scrawl she could manage:

Rose and Hugo,

Happy Christmas! You’ve been so good this year. I hope you enjoy your gifts! Thank you for the cookies. They were delicious! The angel gnome was too creative to eat - I’ve never seen anything like it. Be good for your Mum and Dad and I can’t wait to receive your letters next year.

Father Christmas

There! Crisis averted. Hermione took a deep breath as she quietly made her way back up the stairs, and was hoping for a few more hours of rest before the kids woke up. Ron was already back to snoring.

****************

“Rosie, look! Look! A bicycle! Wow!” Hugo gushed as he skidded to a halt in front of the tree, Rose hot on his heels.

Ron and Hermione were cuddled up on the couch, mugs of coffee in hand as they watched the kids open up their presents. Both kids received a few books that Hermione knew the kids would enjoy, but aside from that, their presents couldn’t have differed more. 

In addition to the books and bicycle, Rose received a quaffle, broom care kit, and the furby she was begging for because everyone at school was asking for them. Ron had no idea why it was the hit gift of the year. They looked so creepy, and if an owl was what Rose wanted, he’d have gotten her one, but Hermione had insisted.

Hugo’s gifts included a small magnetic chess set, the latest lego set, and a playstation console. It was a used one, but would do well for Hugo who only liked a few certain games. Rose’s temper had caused an uncontrolled magic accident where their former console had shorted out and wasn’t playable anymore. Hugo was especially excited to have another gently used version to replace the other one. 

The kids received socks and a board game from Father Christmas, and their stockings were filled to the brim with both Muggle and Magical sweets. They thanked their parents profusely, and grabbed their own gifts that they’d created for their parent’s gift. Hugo had made an ornament with painted puzzle pieces glued together, encircling his school picture. Ron and Hermione both gushed over how creative it was.

Rose had made a Christmas tree out of string that was wrapped around small nails protruding from a small slab of wood, with the words “Merry and Bright” scribbled in her handwriting underneath. Aunt Audrey had helped her make it apparently, and Rose was very proud of the finished work. Hermione got up to put it on the mantle and Ron hung Hugo’s ornament on the tree. 

The kids hugged their parents. “Can we ride our bikes?” Hugo asked hopefully. 

Ron laughed. “No, Hugo, there’s too much snow on the ground. We’ll put the bikes in the shed, but I promise on the first nice day, we’ll get right out there. Why don’t you bring some of your presents up to your room and play while Mum and I make breakfast. You too, Rose.”

Rose nodded and began gathering as much as she could carry towards the stairs. Hugo followed her as Ron summoned his gift for Hermione from under the tree. “You didn’t think I’d forget your gift, now, did you?” he said with a smile. 

He handed her a small box, which she opened gently. It was a small jewelry box, which she opened to reveal a small silver bracelet with four stones. The two in the middle were sapphire and aquamarine. Next to the sapphire was a blue topaz stone, and next to the aquamarine, an alexandrite stone. It was stunning, and Hermione knew without explanation that it was their family represented by their birthstones.

“It’s beautiful, Ron, I love it,” she said as she clasped the bracelet around her wrist and then leaned in for a kiss.

She summoned his gift next and handed it to him. It was a simple envelope, and didn’t seem like much. He opened the envelope to reveal a weekend getaway for just the two of them next month in Egypt. It was the one place Ron had been that Hermione had not, and he’d always wanted to take her there. Once they’d started their family, opportunities for travel had all but vanished, so this was her way of helping him make good on his promise.

“Wicked!” Ron said. “I finally get to show you around Egypt, and it’s a holiday for just the two of us? I hope things are still the same as when I was twelve,” he said with a laugh. “This is brilliant, love, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. Shall we get on with breakfast, then?” Hermione asked. “I’m sure the gifts won’t keep them occupied forever.”

“Right you are,” Ron agreed as he led her into the kitchen.

“I still stand by my statement from last night. This is still the best Christmas ever,” Hermione told him as she leaned against the counter, watching him get ingredients out.

“I’d expect nothing less.”

[lilyvandersteen]

The Christmas Guest Chapter 6

Author’s Note: Chapter 6 is from Blaine’s point of view again. Bit of a filler chapter, but more exciting stuff to come.

Read Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, as well as the Interlude, here on Tumblr, or read the story on AO3 or FF.net.

Chapter 6: Tea and Cookies

Blaine was still mentally lamenting his poor life choices when he heard a polite knock, and Kurt came into the room with a soft smile and an enquiry as to why he’d stayed away for so long.

Well, he had a point there. It wasn’t very polite, when you stayed somewhere as a guest, to hole yourself up in your room and completely ignore your hosts.

So Blaine apologized, and got up to go downstairs again, but Kurt made no move to leave. Instead, they got talking, and straight up skipped the superficial stuff. Soon, they were unburdening their hearts to each other, to the point of ugly crying. Well, in Blaine’s case. There was no ugly where Kurt Hummel was involved.

After a cathartic crying jag and comforting hugs, they switched to more upbeat topics, but Blaine, exhausted from all the emotion, not to mention the snowball fight, was soon struggling to keep his eyes open, and drifted off to the sound of Kurt’s lovely voice.

When he woke up, it was dark in the room, and he heard someone stomp down the stairs.

I slept the afternoon away…

He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and noticed Kurt was lying next to him, still sleeping.

Blaine hesitated, but then gently caressed Kurt’s jaw and stroked his arm until he started to react.

Kurt blinked his eyes open slowly.

“Sorry for waking you,” Blaine whispered, “but if you sleep too long during the day, you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Kurt sat up, stretched and yawned.

Blaine saw his shirt ride up and lost his train of thought for a second. When he tuned back in to the conversation, he heard Kurt say, “… and I don’t even want to know what my father thinks we’re doing up here! Let’s go downstairs, we can help with dinner.”

But when they reached the kitchen, dinner was ready to be served.

“I didn’t know it was so late already,” Kurt said to Carole, sounding apologetic, but she waved it off as them being tired from the snowball fight.

During dinner, Finn announced he’d be inviting his girlfriend to come over the day after Christmas.

“Cathy’s coming?” Kurt asked. “Let us know what she likes to eat, okay? Her favorite dish and dessert, so we can make it for her. Oh, I’m so glad I finally get to meet her after hearing so much about her. How did her teacher training with the special needs kids go?”

Finn beamed and started to tell Kurt all about it.

Blaine smiled softly at their enthusiasm. He just loved the way this family was so supportive of each other.

After dinner, Finn started the first Die Hard movie, and Kurt offered to do stack the dishwasher and wash up the pots and pans. Blaine helped him bring everything to the kitchen and load the machine, and then grabbed a tea towel to dry as Kurt started washing up the rest.

“Finn will want to see at least two of those movies,” Kurt told Blaine. “And I don’t care for them. So I’m not going to hurry with the dishes. The more I miss, the better.”

True to his word, Kurt dawdled, telling Blaine about the oven dish that originally belonged to his great-grandmother – “Look, it has her initials and my great-grandfather’s” – and about how everyone in his family had fought to get it when she died, but it had been the youngest grandchild who inherited it, Kurt’s mother Elizabeth. “She had the same initials, you see, and her groom had the right initials too. That’s what Granny Eileen found most important. But the family didn’t agree, and some of them have never spoken to my mother again for the rest of their lives.”

“Just for an oven dish?”

“Just for an oven dish. It’s antique, and apparently worth a lot of money.” Kurt sent Blaine a mischievous smile and added, “I think my relatives would be horrified that we actually use it instead of putting it under glass as a museum piece.”

“I’m sure your Granny Eileen would be glad that you use it.”

“I like to think so too.”

The precious oven dish came very close to being broken when Finn startled the both of them by sticking his head inside the door and yelling that he wanted snacks, but Blaine managed to hold on to it with his fingertips. He carefully set it on the counter to continue drying it, while Kurt scolded Finn for scaring them and told him he’d have to wait until the dishes were done, and then Kurt would whip up a batch of banana oatmeal cookies.

Finn flashed him a smile and disappeared again with a “Thanks, bro, you’re the best.”

Kurt shook his head and rolled his eyes at his brother, but hummed happily as he finished the last of the dishes and then went to the pantry for the staples he needed.

“You can mash the bananas,” Kurt said, handing him a bowl and a fork. “Two bananas should do it.”

All that Kurt added to the bananas was two packets of quick oats and two handfuls of chocolate chips.

“No eggs?” Blaine asked. “No flour?”

Kurt grinned. “Nope. Easiest recipe ever. Just mix it all, put spoonfuls of it on a baking tray and flatten them into a cookie shape, bake for fifteen minutes and you’ve got cookies.”

“I need to remember this one.”

“Of course, we’re not going to tell Finn they only take twenty minutes to make, tops.”

“Right.”

“Or that I’m in fact making two batches.”

Blaine nodded slowly.

“And I’m going to make us some chamomile tea, and we’re eating the first batch before bringing the others to Finn.”

The mischief was there on Kurt’s face again, and Blaine couldn’t help laughing.

“Clever.”

Kurt shrugged. “Necessary. Finn would eat them all in five seconds and we’d be left with only crumbs.”

Kurt’s phone chimed, and when he checked the message, he whooped with joy. “Rachel is hosting a New Year’s Eve party again. Can’t wait to see everyone. Oh, I hope Mercedes will be there, it’s been too long! Finn! FINN!!”

Kurt ran out of the kitchen, presumably to go tell Finn about the party, leaving Blaine to scoop out the cookie dough and put it in the oven.

By the time Kurt came back, the cookies were cooling on a rack and the kitchen was spic and span. Blaine had also made a pot of chamomile tea, like Kurt requested.

“Oh, thank you, sweetie,” Kurt said, pouring them both a cup of tea and taking a cookie. “Sorry for disappearing on you, but I wanted to ask Finn if he’s going too. He’s an ex of Rachel’s, so I wasn’t quite sure. But he’s going. With Cathy.”

“So we’re going too?” Blaine surmised. “Who else will be there, other than Finn and his girlfriend? Tell me about them.”

Kurt needed no more prompting, and while he drank tea and ate cookies, Blaine heard all about a high school glee club with an obscene name, where Kurt had made life-long friends.

About half an hour later, Finn came to look for his cookies himself, seeing as Kurt had totally forgotten to bring him some. There were only six cookies left, and apparently, that wasn’t enough for Finn, who went rummaging in the pantry, resurfacing with a big bag of cheese puffs.

Kurt was still telling Blaine about all of his friends, and Finn laughed. “Better warn Blaine that they’re all a bit crazy. And nosy. You’ve never brought a boyfriend to one of these parties, but let me tell you, they won’t leave Blaine alone. They’ll want to know everything about him. How you met. When you’re planning on getting married, how many children you want, and bla, bla, bla. And Rachel is already on her high horse because apparently, you haven’t told her about Blaine yet, and she fancies herself your BEST FRIEND and can’t believe you would do this to her.”

Blaine looked at Finn with wide eyes.

Uh-oh. We had better coordinate stories.

Kurt shrugged it off. “I might have told Rachel if she’d listen to me for just five minutes, but she never does. Either she’s blathering on and on, and I can’t get a word in edgewise, or she’s in a hurry and has no time to talk. So it’s her own fault, and you can tell her that.”

“Nuh-uh. Took us long enough to get back to being friendly. I don’t want her to hate my guts again. You can tell her yourself.”

“Will do.”

Finn went back to the living room with his snacks, and Blaine directed his wide-eyed stare at Kurt now. “What are we going to tell them?”

[hopelessromanticspoonie]

A New Year’s Truth

Characters: Loki x Empath Avenger Reader

Summary: Reader is stuck at Stark Tower with Loki after the December holidays are finished. But each glancing touch with Loki speaks a truth that he doesn’t seem willing to face. Will the New Year change that?

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: This is only loosely edited, as I’m still very very ill. I will go back and further edit it once I’m better, but I wanted to get this out to y’all before the New Year. I hope you enjoy!

The time between the various winter holidays and the New Year was always a weird one.

It was as if the world was stuck in a holding pattern, waiting with bated breath for a new year with new expectations to begin. When was the right time to take down all the festive decorations? How long was socially acceptable to do absolutely nothing on the couch but watch cheesy movies from your childhood and pig out on chocolate-covered treats? All the stress and excitement died down to leave everyone in a trance-like state, shuffling in pajamas from the couch to the kitchen to bed and back again. For some it was a relief, to finally have the stress and familial obligations lifted from their weary shoulders. For others, that had never been a concern, and one day just melted into the next.

It was the fourth day that you’d worked on permanently etching a likeness of your backside into the couch while you binged Bake Off and ate your weight in the last of the cookies you had made for Christmas. They were left behind, as were you, after your teammates had all split off to spend the last of the year with their respective families - even Steve and Bucky had gone with Nat and Sam to relax with Clint’s family.

You wiped a stray crumb from your shirt when Loki strolled in from the direction of the kitchen. He was the only other inhabitant in the tower, choosing to stay rather than to go to New Asgard with Thor and play diplomat for a people lukewarm to him at the best of times. You didn’t blame him. He cast a critical eye at your disheveled appearance before folding himself gracefully into the comfortable leather chair he preferred, pulling a book from his pocket dimension to read while he sipped at the steaming mug in his hand.

You could practically feel the judgment pouring off of him in waves without looking at him. Groaning at your ruined relaxation, you rolled your head around to stare at him, quirking a brow. “Out with it.”

He mirrored your expression, although with much more disdain and arrogance than you could ever muster. “I beg your pardon.”

“I don’t need to go over there and touch you to know that you’re judging me. Spill it,” you muttered, sitting up and stretching, arching your back into it with a sigh you felt all the way down to your toes. You tugged your hoodie back down from where it had exposed just a sliver of the skin of your stomach, and Loki’s eyes quickly flitted from it back up to your face. Interesting.

“If you must know,” he closed his book, leaving it to rest on his lap, “I am honestly astonished that one could descend so far into a vegetative state without going comatose. I do not believe you have moved from that spot but to sleep or gather food in days.”

You stood, brushing cookie crumbs from your sweatpants absentmindedly. “And?”

“It is almost impressive, were it not such a waste. There is much to be done, and yet you are perfectly content to waste away watching others live their lives.”

As if he was one to talk, sitting there drinking his tea without a care in the world. “And what is there to be done exactly?”

“To begin, the decorations from Christmas and Hanukkah remain on display, and the kitchen is almost out of provisions,” he rattled off with a shrug.

Well, that second one certainly would need tending to. Normally the groceries were delivered twice a week from a food order that everyone contributed to, but you had forgotten about it when it hadn’t been brought to your attention. Perhaps a bit of fresh air would do you some good. You left the room without another word, quickly dressing and making yourself presentable to the public before coming back out into the living room with Loki’s wool pea coat draped over your arms.

“C’mon, Muscles. You can help me carry the groceries.” You held up his coat for him in invitation, shaking it lightly.

He rose, smoothing his hands down his white button-up shirt to come to a stop on his hips. There weren’t any wrinkles to be found on his outfit, but you would touch that body at any opportunity if given the chance, so who could blame him? “You expect me to accompany you to the market?”

You popped up a hip and mocked his rich, velvet accent that admittedly sent shivers of pleasure down your spine. “You expect to eat, don’t you?”

~

The once pristine glittering snow had morphed into a grey sludge that sucked at your feet with each step back from the store. Your hands were thrust out from your sides to maintain your tenuous balance as you trudged along behind Loki, who had taken the reusable bags full of food from you without protest excluding a well-executed roll of his dark eyes. His towering figure cut a path through the crowded New York City pedestrians who watched him with unabashed curiosity and trepidation as he passed. You were afforded mostly confusion as you inelegantly followed in his footsteps.

Until your foot slipped on a hidden patch of ice beneath the slurry, and a squeak of shock came from your throat as your hands flailed out wildly for something to grab onto. Concern rushed through you, strong and overwhelming, as Loki’s hands grasped yours to keep you from falling. When you looked up to him in grateful shock, and your eyes locked, tendrils of desire snaked out from his heart to wrap around yours and squeeze with the barest of heat. There wasn’t any mistaking the feelings he had at that moment, no matter how fleeting, and you both knew it.

“Thanks,” you murmured, awestruck in the face of such intense emotions that Loki worked to keep hidden.

He jerked back from you as if you had burned him, picking up the bags he had forgotten in his haste to help you. “Do not mention it. Come. I’m famished and you obviously are not suited for this weather.”

~

“Is this absolutely necessary?”

You looked up from where you kneaded the flour-covered dough against the countertop, jaw set in determination as you leaned into your work. “It tastes better when you make it from scratch. I figured someone with your impressive knife skills wouldn’t find it challenging to chop a bit of garlic and tomatoes for a simple pasta sauce. If I’m mistaken…”

Loki bristled, his eyes tightening as he made quick work of unbuttoning his sleeves before rolling them up the pale expanse of his arms. “I am quite capable of performing such a menial task.”

You dropped your gaze to the exposed skin, delighting silently in the flex of his forearms as he set to work doing as you had asked. It was quiet, calming, to work together in the kitchen. The rhythmic sound of his knife hitting the wooden cutting board timed with your rolling and kneading the pasta dough was almost musical, working with the pulse pounding in your ears at such a domestic scene to keep you very alert.

Not too alert, apparently, as when you began to cut the long floured noodles from your rolled sheet of dough, you managed to slice the pad of your index finger.

“Shit!” you cursed, dropping the knife and pulling the bleeding digit into your mouth. You quickly checked to make sure you hadn’t ruined the dough, eyes darting around the room for something to staunch the bleeding.

“Let me see,” Loki commanded quietly from behind you.

You turned to him to see his hands held out for yours, exasperation written into the firm set of his mouth. “You don’t have to touch me. It’s okay.”

“Let me see,” he repeated, gently encircling your wrist with his long, elegant fingers, pulling your finger from in between your lips.

There was that concern again, warm and soft as it wrapped around you like a blanket from where his hands deftly worked at cleaning and wrapping your hand in a band-aid. You weren’t used to people touching you, not of their own accord, not once they knew that you could feel their every emotion through the connection. It was an invasion of privacy, and more than that, it was opening them up to the possibility of you pushing certain feelings onto them - an aspect of your powers that you never used unless in dire situations on missions.

You would never do that to Loki, even with the desire that unfurled deep within your belly as you watched his calculated emerald eyes admire his handiwork. Anything that he felt, you wanted it to be authentic and coming only from him. Which was why the affection that teased just at the edges of your awareness made your breath catch in your throat, and your gaze drop to his lips as he wetted them with a flick of his tongue.

“Loki, I-”

“Perhaps I should finish the rest of the meal, so you do not risk ruining the pasta with your blood,” he commented dryly, leaving you empty as he released you from his hold.

You cradled your hand to your chest as if you could still feel the affection he had unwittingly shared on the stinging skin. “Of course. Just do what I was doing, without the stabbing part.”

~

You should’ve worn gloves for the party. Or perhaps a dress with sleeves.

The combination of so many bodies jostling around you, leaving you with just flashes of humor, lust, frustration, anger, sadness, and so many more emotions that you couldn’t name but could taste on your tongue, was too much. Tony had gone all out with the guest list for the New Year’s Eve party, and you felt positively ill at so many sensations washing over you in time with the pounding music and conflicting colognes and perfumes invading your nose.

The frigid wind on the balcony was a welcome breather, whipping around you and electrifying your senses to remove the lasting negative effects of the others from your person. Until you were just you again, as conflicted and frustrated as ever as you thought about Loki and Thor chatting amiably with amiably inside. The countdown was due to begin soon, and you didn’t want to see who the dark god paired off with to welcome in the new year with a kiss. That was one mental image you were perfectly content not to have engraved in your brain for the foreseeable future.

“The party not to your liking?”

Your chin lifted from where it had settled on your chest to watch the crowds below, all packed together and shouting their revelry into the abyss that climbed up the tower windows to reach your cold-reddened ears. “I didn’t realize it would be that crowded, and I’m not wearing sleeves.”

A coat, woolen and heavy and scented with cedarwood and spice settled over your shoulders to block the worst of the cutting wind. Your arms unraveled from around your waist to grip onto the lapels, holding Loki’s coat tighter to you. Loki stepped into your line of sight, regarding you with an unreadable expression as he leaned against the safety rail as if he wasn’t several hundred feet in the air. “That was poor planning on your part.”

“Yeah, but I look good in this dress,” you replied with a humorless laugh, swinging your hips back and forth as it to prove the point.

“You do,” was his warm reply, matching the slight upturn of the corner of his mouth as his eyes trailed down the length of your body slowly.

What you wouldn’t give to know the feelings behind that look, but you wouldn’t ever invade his privacy in that way. Not without permission. Thankfully, the cold air already turned the tip of your nose red and flushed your cheeks, otherwise the effect his searching gaze and thoughtful gesture would be much more clear. “Thanks for the coat. You always seem to be stepping up to help me, lately.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he replied in that crushed velvet voice that had just a hint of roughness to it as he took one step closer to you.

The crowd down below began counting down. You could barely hear the numbers over the roar of the wind in your ears and the pounding of your heart as Loki shielded your body from the cold with his own. His hands came up to settle over your upper arms, rubbing the soft satin lining of his coat into your skin.

And your eyes fluttered closed just before his lips brushed against yours at the last second. Love unlike anything you’d ever felt before matched the caress of his smooth lips over yours, catching in your heart and coaxing out a warm glow of happiness that you weren’t sure began or ended with the man cradling you in his arms. It was untainted by darkness, driven from the purest sense of adoration and affection that you had experienced from another soul.

His forehead rested against yours once he allowed you a moment to breathe, quite kind of him after having stolen the very breath from your lungs. Hope, sharp and bright, teased out from him and into you to make your fingers curl into his black suit jacket. “I am not one to easily speak my emotions freely with others. But you must know…”

You nudged your nose along his, your heart soaring at the physical contact and the shared joy that danced between you to the tune of your drumming heartbeats. “I do. You can’t exactly hide that from me.”

He gathered you into the warmth of his embrace, tucking your forehead beneath his chin with a relieved sigh. It was safety and contentment and promise and a love so new and bright that you hoped to never find its shadow. “No more hiding. Not in this new year.”

~~~

Little Bit o’ Loki taglist: @myownviperroom @grahoundart @darealbellabelleoftheball @boubouinscarlet @iamverity @rt8815 @lots-of-loki @otakumultimuseoc @ms-cellanies @rosierossette

Whole Shebang taglist: @yespolkadotkitty @nonsensicalobsessions @just-the-hiddles @vodka-and-some-sass @he-is-chaotic-she-is-psychotic @myoxisbroken @blah666 @brokenthelovely @myworddump @polireader @wiczer @littleredstarfish @the-broken-angel-13 @arch-venus25 @xxloki81xx @jessiejunebug @tinchentitri @sllooney @devilbat @vikkleinpaul @bouquet-o-undercaffeinated-roses @angelus80 @wolfsmom1 @kthemarsian @toozmanykids @claritastantrum @princerowanwhitethorngalathynius @sabine-leo @lovesmesomehiddles​ @peterman-spideyparker​ @wegingerangelica​ @bluefrenchfries604​ @catsladen @silverswordthekilljoy​

[the-pen-pot]

Aziraphale ran his fingers along the shelves, idly admiring the spines of the books that adorned it. Nothing so crass as dust settled on the smooth wood, and the sunlight would not dare fade the leather bindings. Not in his shop.

Oh, there were certain necessities, of course. Motes sparkled in the sunbeams that speared through the grimy windows, and the heavy scent of old paper embellished every breath. Humans had expectations, including the precise nature of old bookshops. This was no Waterstones, with its mass-market paperbacks and long-suffering staff. His would-be patrons did not come here looking for coffee and comfortable armchairs. They came here for rare and impossible volumes.

Of course, they invariably left empty-handed. As if Aziraphale would trust just anyone with one of his books! Who knew what could happen to it? Crumbs! Greasy fingers! Split spines and dog-eared corners! Heavens, no!

He smoothed a hand down his waistcoat. A very small part of him felt somewhat guilty for his, well, his covetousness. Practically a sin, but he was a guardian after all, and all this knowledge, this creation contained within the pages of mankind’s endless library – it had started back there, hadn’t it? In the garden?

Eve ate the fruit and understood good and evil. Now, her distant descendants produced reams of stories and philosophies, studies and prophecies. That first spark of knowledge had led to all this wonder.

All, he thought with a smile, thanks to a certain wily old serpent.

Read the latest additions to this collection over on AO3 ♥♥

[spine-buster]

Alone, Together | Together: Epilogue 5 | Morgan Rielly

A/N:  There are not enough words in the English language to express how I feel about your engagement with this story and the fact that it has finally come to its (writing) end, so all I can and will say is: thank you.

Christmas Eve 2031

Morgan’s heart was full as he stood at the kitchen island watching Andy and Maia finish decorating the small batch of gingerbread cookies for Santa Claus with Bee.  Both kids were sitting on the countertop, fixing Smarties buttons and faces onto the icing before Bee scooped them off of the baking sheet and onto the plate.  The entire time they had been working in the kitchen, there were giggles and kisses and singing, with Morgan sneaking bites of the dough, causing his kids to scream and want some for themselves (Bee digressed and let them have only a little bit).  There were four cookies in total – one prepared to look like each member of the family.

“There we go!  Our cookies are ready for Santa!” Bee exclaimed as she held the plate up.  “Do you think Santa will like them?”

“He’s gonna think they’re so y…yummy,” Andy smiled proudly at his work.  

“Mama…” Maia said.  “We need carrots for Rudolph and the reindeer!”  She looked towards her father for help.  “Dada, we need carrots for Rudolph!”

“C’mere Ladybug, come help me peel them,” he stretched out his arms, grabbing Maia so he could balance her on her hip as they walked towards the fridge.  He opened them, going for the baby carrots first playfully.

“No!” Maia yelled out.  “Rudolph and the reindeer are big!  They need big carrots!  They need those carrots!” she pointed at the big ones on another shelf.  “They will be hungry.”

“Okay okay,” Morgan said, grabbing a baby carrot in the bag with one hand before shoving it in his mouth, crunching loudly.  “Mmmmm, what if I ate all the carrots before Rudolph and the reindeer?”

“You can’t, dada,” Maia chastised her father.  “That’s no fair.  We need to be nice.”

Morgan smiled proudly at the words that came out of his daughter’s mouth.  “Yes, you’re right Maia.  We do need to be nice,” he affirmed as he kissed her cheek.  “You’re so smart Maia.”

“Smart like mommy.”

Bee looked over her shoulder, giving Morgan a playful look.  “You’re so smart like mommy” was in Morgan’s lexicon for both of his children for the last three years.  It was no wonder Maia picked it up.  “Smart like daddy too,” he grumbled playfully, giving Bee a look too.  “Okay, can you hand me the carrots so I can peel them?”

When all was said and done, Andy put the plate of gingerbread cookies on the coffee table, followed by Maia leaving the carrots.  Bee poured a cup of milk and placed it next to the cookies.  Andy even laid out a hand-written note signed by he and his sister, his near-perfect penmanship on display.

Dear Santa Claus

My name is Andrew Rielly and I am 6 years old.  My sister is Maia Rielly and she is 3 years old.  We hope you enjoy our cookies and that Rudolph and the reindeer eat the carrots.  Thank you for coming to our house.  Thank you for the presents.

Love

Andy and Maia.

“Okay…we’ve gotta go to bed now or else Santa Claus won’t come!” Bee announced.  “Who’s ready to put on their PJs?!”

Andy and Maia raced upstairs with each other, disappearing into their bedrooms and getting their special Christmas pyjamas in their drawers.  Morgan and Bee followed, taking them into the washroom to help them brush their teeth before bed.  Bee went into Maia’s bedroom first, helping braid her hair before tucking her into bed.  Morgan came in too, sitting opposite Bee on the bed.

“Mama?” Maia’s voice asked, the fatigue of the day finally showing in her voice. 

“Yes Ladybug?”

“Tomorrow, I can try flying like Rudolph?”

Morgan and Bee snorted at the same time.  “I don’t think so,” Morgan said.  “You can’t fly, Maia.”

Maia didn’t seem happy with her parents’ answer.  But she digressed, pulling the covers up to her neck – exactly how she liked it.  “Will Santa bring presents for Bruce and Maggie?”

“Of course he will,” Bee answered quickly.  “Maggie’s been a good girl, hasn’t she?”

Maia nodded her head.  “Maggie’s a sweet girl.”

“And Bruce?”

“Bruce too,” Maia said before yawning.  She looked at Morgan with her sleepy eyes.  “Dada, can we get another puppy?”

Morgan paused.  He looked at Bee, who was already looking at him.  Maia was waiting for an answer.  “Maia…we’ll talk about it later, okay?  You need to go to sleep or else Santa won’t come visit.”

“Okay…” Maia digressed.  “Goodnight Mommy.  Goodnight Daddy.  You the best mommy and daddy ever.”

“Goodnight my Ladybug,” Morgan bent down to kiss her.  “Sleep tight.”

“Goodnight Maia.  Mommy loves you,” Bee kissed her too.

“I love you too Mommy.”

Morgan turned off the light as they left her room, closing the door gently.  Bee gave him a look the entire time.  They made their way towards Andy’s room, who was already in his bed, though he was stretching over to his bedside table, adjusting his Funko Pops of John Tavares and Auston Matthews.  When he noticed his parents walk in, he stopped.  “Hi mama, hi d…dada.”

“You ready to be made into a burrito?” Morgan asked, to which Andy nodded his head.  Bee and Morgan tucked him in just how he liked, a giant smile on his face the entire time.

“Dada?” Andy’s little voice asked once they were done.  

“Yes my booboo bear?”

“Is S…S…Santa gonna visit my best friend Leon?” he asked, fighting with his eyelids to stay open instead of drop in their fatigue from the excitement of the day.

Morgan smiled as he caressed his little face.  “Of course Santa is going to visit Leon.  And I bet Leon will show you what he got from Santa tomorrow when he comes over with Aunt Angie, Uncle Mason, Nonno Rocco and Mémère Clarette.”

“And is Santa gonna visit J…J…Jace and Isabella?  And Noam?  And………Henry and Greta?”

“Of course.  He’s going to visit all of you because you’ve all been good boys and girls,” Morgan nodded his head.

Morgan watched as the gears in Andy’s head began shifting.  He loved that he was able to see Andy’s mind working in real time, even for the simplest things.  He was such an expressive boy.  Even though he had a bit of a rough start at school, everything was better now and Andy was in a much better place.  Andy’s brows burrowed and his face contorted a bit, all in an effort to think and not fall asleep.  “Mommy?”

“Yes Andy?”

“You know how Santa has r…r…reindeer?”

“Yes…”

“How do they fly?”

Bee couldn’t help but smile.  “I think if Santa told us, that would break the magic,” she said.  She leaned in and kissed his forehead.  “You’re such a smart boy, Andy.”

“I love you mommy,” he said softly, his eyes finally closing.  

“Mommy loves you so much Andy.  You know Mommy loves you?”

“I know,” he barely got out.  “I love you too Daddy.”

“I love you too, Andy.”

***

“We’re getting another dog, aren’t we?” Bee asked an hour later as both she and Morgan were downstairs on the main floor, putting out the presents from Santa.  Bee stuffed the board game and books under the tree, while Morgan worked on the stocking stuffers.

“They’ve been asking for a year, Bumblebee,” Morgan said, as if that explained everything.  “Bruce and Maggie are so good with the kids, and they’re good with animals…what’s another dog?”

Bee rolled her eyes playfully.  “Is that why our iPad always has sheepadoodle Instagram profiles open whenever I get to it?”

“Maybe.”

Bee shook her head.  “We’ll talk about it after the holidays.”

Bee watched as Morgan finished stuffing the stockings, making his way over to the coffee table before sitting on the couch and chomping into one of the carrots.  She stayed silent as he chomped down on the others, finishing one so there were only two left that were mostly eaten.  He then moved on to the cookies, taking dramatic bites and making sure to leave crumbs in and around the plate and on the coffee table.  He ate most of them, leaving only remnants.  

Bee couldn’t help the tears that welled up in her eyes as she watched him.  When he finally looked up at her, he noticed the tears automatically.  “What’s wrong?”

“You did that for me twelve years ago now,” Bee reminisced, her eyes welling up with tears even more.  Just saying how long it had been since he did that for her, one year into their relationship, was a lot for her to handle.  “Do you remember?”

“Of course I remember,” Morgan said, getting up from the couch and making his way over to her.  “I wanted to give you a normal Christmas.”

A lump in her throat formed at his words.  “You’ve given me everything I’ve ever needed,” she said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.  He instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist, squeezing her against his body.  “Look how far we’ve come.”

“Look how far we’ve come together,” he added, kissing the tip of her nose.  “Look at how much we’ve accomplished, how much we’ve grown, how much we’ve done, how much we’ve built…” he said.  “We’ve come so far.  And there’s still so much to go, still so much to do.  Together.  Because I love you, Briony Rielly.  Forever.”

“I love you too,” she whispered, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss him passionately.  “I love you so much, Morgan Rielly.”  She couldn’t let go of him.  She couldn’t stop kissing him.  In her dream kitchen, on Christmas Eve, with her two children sleeping soundly upstairs, her two pets sleeping with them, she didn’t want the feeling to end.  

To think of where she started to where she now was.  

Briony McTavish of Toronto, Canada.  Daughter of an alcoholic mother.  Raised in rooming houses, homeless shelters, and public housing.  Emancipated at sixteen.  

Briony McTavish of Toronto, Canada.  A Master’s student.  A poor, starving Master’s student.  A teaching assistant at the University of Toronto.  A graduate of the University of Toronto.  A junior financial analyst at Scotiabank.

Briony Rielly of Toronto, Canada.  A Master of Financial Economics.  A certified financial analyst at Scotiabank.  Wife to Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  A philanthropist.  A mentor at Alateen.  Co-founder of The Rielly Foundation.  Mom to Andrew John and Maia Claire.  

She was complete.

[fanfics4all]

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Request: Yes / No  the second is I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (basically Spencer abd the reader have kids and he’s dressed as Santa for the night for the kids on Christmas Eve. And then later that night the kids catch mommy and ‘Santa’ kissing under the mistletoe) @lemonypink​

Requests are open only if its CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY/ WINTER related<3 Have a nice day/night

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader 

Word count: 892

Warnings: Nothing, just fluff

Song:  I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL MY WORK, I WORK HARD ON MY FICS AND IT’S NOT COOL TO STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK! 

If you want to be on the tag list for anything (My series fics, specific character fics, or just all of them) All you have to do is send me an ask and I will add you! 

Masterlist 

(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

Spencer wanted to do something special for our little angel this Christmas. Our little Eliot, named after T.S. Eliot thanks to Spencer, was five and was really into Christmas. He wrote letters to Santa, left cookies and carrots for the reindeer, and he said he made some gifts for us, but we couldn’t see them till Christmas morning. So Spencer's idea was to dress as Santa and leave some presents. We both knew Eliot was going to try and sneak a peek to see Santa, so it was the perfect idea. 

Christmas Eve night had arrived and Spencer had slipped out of bed. He quickly got changed and went downstairs to walk back inside and place the gifts. I heard a loud thud and rushed downstairs to see Spencer had tripped over one of Eliot's toys. 

“Oh baby.” I smiled at him on the floor.I helped him up and shook his head. 

“I thought we told Eliot to clean up his toys.” He said and I laughed. 

“We did, we’ll make him clean him up before he opens gifts.” I said and he smiled. Spencer looked up and smiled. 

“What?” I asked confused. 

“Mistletoe.” He said pointing at the ceiling and I smiled. I forgot I had put that there. 

“Well then, pucker up Santa.” I said and pulled him by his jacket. 

Wow, mommy's kissing Santa Claus

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus

Underneath the mistletoe last night

She didn't see me creep

Down the stairs to have a peep

She thought that I was tucked up

In my bedroom, fast asleep

We pulled apart and I lightly tickled Spencer under his fake beard. I smiled at my husband and kissed him again. He was so special and I loved him with all of my heart. 

“Alright Santa, you better put the gifts under the tree before Eliot sees us.” I said with a smirk and Spencer nodded. 

“Ho, ho, ho, I’m on it!” He said in his Santa voice. I went back upstairs and went to bed. 

Then I saw mommy tickle Santa Claus

Underneath his beard so snowy white

Oh, what a laugh it would have been

If Daddy had only seen

Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night

That morning Eliot had woken us up and took us downstairs to see all the gifts under the tree. He rushed to start opening them but we stopped him. 

“First you have to clean up the toys we told you to clean yesterday.” Spencer said and Eliot looked down sadly. 

“And second you have to wait till everyone gets here.” I added and Eliot looked at me shocked. 

“But-” 

“No buts young man, now clean up your toys.” Spencer said and Eliot sighed. 

“Okay…” He grumbled and did as he was told. 

Later that day, everyone from the team had arrived, no one was able to get out to their relatives this year since they’ve been so busy with work. Eliot ran to them and Morgan picked him up. 

“Hey little man, did you see Santa last night?” He asked sitting on the couch with him. 

“Yeah and mommy kissed him!” He said and everyone’s eyes widened. 

“So mommy kissed Santa?” Morgan asked smirking at Spencer and I. 

“Yeah! Mommy kissed him I saw it!” He said and I blushed slightly. 

“Honey, I think you saw wrong.” I said and he shook his head. 

“No! You kissed him! Daddy she kissed Santa!” Eliot said crossing his arm and looked at Spencer. 

He saw mommy kissing, kissin', kissin' Santa Claus

I did, I really did see mommy kissing Santa Claus

And I'm gonna tell my dad

Spencer and I didn’t know how to deal with this. He must have heard Spencer fall too and went to see what it was. We didn’t want to tell him that it was Spencer because that would be a whole new can of worms to deal with. 

“Then I saw mommy tickle his beard and Santa put the presents under the tree and ate the cookies. Then mommy went upstairs to bed.” Eliot said to the team. Spencer and I were blushing like crazy, the team knew of Spencer’s plan so this was just gonna add fuel to their teasing. 

Then I saw mommy tickle Santa Claus

Underneath his beard so snowy white

Oh, what a laugh it would have been

If daddy had only seen

Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night

Oh, what a laugh it would have been

If Daddy had only seen

Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night

“Honey, I didn’t kiss Santa. I just helped him up and got a cookie crumb out of his beard.” I said thinking he’d believe it. 

“No! I saw you! Daddy really I saw her!” He said to Spencer. 

“Mommy wouldn’t kiss Santa bud.” Spencer said, but Eliot shook his head. 

“No! I really saw them kiss! Mommy kissed Santa!” Eliot said. 

“Whatever you say baby, how about we open gifts now!” I said changing the subject which luckily worked. For the rest of the night the team was teasing the two of us, and we knew it wouldn’t stop at just tonight. 

I did, I did, I really did see mommy kissing Santa Claus

You gotta believe me, you just gotta believe me

Come on, fellas, believe me, you just gotta believe me

Tag list: @les-bio-lie​ @tashy-bear​ @xrosesareredx​ @ashwarren32​ @hollie-blogs​ @schisbro87​ @lover-of-books-and-teas​ @nerdygaloresposts​ @alex--awesome--22​ @teenwolfbitches2​ @genius2050​ @drw0301bieber​ @pharaoh-of-time-and-space​ @lady-of-lies​ @simonsbluee​ @pettyjayy

[argylemnwrites]

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment - Chapter 21

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (Canon Divergent from Book 2, Chapter 15)

Word Count: ~4600

Rating: R (language)

Summary: Riley and Drake settle in for the next chapter of their lives.

Author’s Note: Wow. Just the epilogue is left. I can’t believe this story is basically complete.

This series diverges from TRR canon, where instead of waiting to discuss his relationship with Riley until their last night in NYC, leaving her a note while Liam is proposing to her, Drake tackles this topic as soon as possible after Tariq makes his statement and Riley’s name is cleared. To catch up on this series, you can find the previous chapters in my masterlist (link is located in my bio).

Drake heard the locks on the apartment door clicking open and the squeak of the hinges, pulling him awake. He had no idea what time it was. With the time zone changes and his numerous flights over the past couple of days, any traces of an internal clock were blown to hell completely.

He heard Riley, clearly trying to move through the small space quietly. He figured it couldn’t be too late, otherwise she probably wouldn’t be making that much of an effort to stay relatively silent. Of course, given the number of times he’d woken up last night, his body clearly having no idea what time of day it was, maybe she was just being nice and letting him sleep in. He was contemplating keeping his eyes closed and seeing if he could fall back asleep, but when she turned on the faucet, any possibility of him drifting off again went out the window.

“What time is it?” he asked, clearing his throat and cracking his eyes open. Riley was in the little kitchen area of her apartment, in front of the coffee maker which Drake heard gurgling to life. She was still in her glasses and her hair was thrown into a messy sort of braid over her shoulder. She was wearing a blue t-shirt with a red “ny” printed across the front, but oddly enough, was wiggling out of the jeans she was wearing. She glanced up at his question, giving him a warm smile.

“A little before 10,” she said as she continued to peel off her pants.

Alright, well he’d slept in a lot, but at least it was still morning. Maybe he’d be able to correct his sleep schedule in the next night or two. He stretched slightly and sat up in bed. “Not that I mind,” he said as he let out a yawn, “but why are you getting undressed?”

She laughed, stepping out of her jeans and turning to the radiator that was on the side wall, crouching down and turning it on. “It’s brick out today, so I’m gonna have to turn on the heat, but this radiator has two settings, off and insanely boiling. ”

“So your radiator works… too well?”

“Yeah, living here in the winter means a very minimalistic dress code. And don’t ever put anything on it to dry or you’ll definitely burn down the building.”

“Noted. Where’d you go this morning?”

She grabbed a little white bag off the counter and flopped back down on the bed, handing it to him as she propped her pillows up against the wall and settled in. “Grabbing breakfast,” she finally replied, nodding at the bag she’d handed to him.

“I would have made us breakfast. You could have woken me up if you were hungry.”

Riley smiled, but she shook her head slightly before she dropped it to his shoulder, “I want you to be happy here.”

Her statement caught Drake off guard. “I don’t mind cooking, Liu.”

“And while I intend to keep reaping the benefits of that fact, I want you to actually experience some of the fun things about New York.”

“And that means… bagels?” Drake asked as he peeked inside the bag.

“New York City bagels are special. Nowhere else in the world gets them right.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“I’m serious, Drake! Bagels in Cordonia are just not the same.”

“I’ll keep an open mind,” he said with an eye roll. “What kind did you get?”

“Sesame and everything,” she replied. Drake held the bag open for her to pick first, but she shook her head. “I like them both; you should pick.”

“What about ladies first?”

“Well, good thing I not a fucking lady,” she said raising an eyebrow. Drake just laughed and pulled out the sesame bagel before he passed the bag to Riley. She watched him expectantly as he took a bite. It was a damn good bagel, but he didn’t know if it was as life-changing as she made it out to be.

“So?” she asked once he swallowed down his first bite.

“It’s good, Liu.”

“Just good?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. It’s a good bagel.”

“Whatever, you just don’t get it,” she said, shaking her head and pulling the other bagel out of the bag. Drake smiled before he took another bite.

“Eating these in bed was a terrible idea,” he said as he watched crumbs and sesame seeds tumble onto the sheets.

Riley shrugged, “We’ll just do laundry later. I have to go through and clean some stuff out of the closet and dresser anyway.”

“Why?”

“So you can finally get some space for your stuff and stop living out of a suitcase.”

Drake turned his head to look at her fully. She was happily enjoying her bagel, checking something on her phone with her other hand. After a few seconds, she glanced up to look at him. “What?” she asked between bites of her bagel.

“Thank you, Riley.”

“You’re welcome, Drake.”

He leaned forward, dropping a quick kiss on her lips before he climbed out of bed, sliding on his boxers and heading over to the coffee maker, figuring the pot must be ready at this point. He poured two mugs of coffee and added cream to Riley’s before he came back to bed, handing her mug to her before he slid back under the sheets. Riley shifted slightly as he settled in, draping her legs over his knees.

“So, I wanted to get your opinion on something,” he said after he took a sip of his coffee.

“What is it?”

“When I was in Texas, my mom invited me to come down for Christmas. Or rather, she invited us, I guess.”

“Okay…”

“Well, what do you think about that?”

Riley took a second before she answered, “I think what I think doesn’t matter as much as what you think.”

She was right, of course. It wasn’t fair to put this decision on her. Drake was just really torn. He got the sense that his mom was trying to reach out with the invite. But at the same time, it felt like doing this all at the holidays was just a way to pretend things were totally normal. Like they were some happy, perfect family who got together at Christmas and drank eggnog and sang carols. And Drake just wasn’t at that point yet, he didn’t think.

“I think… I think I’m not ready to do a big family holiday with her again. Not this year. Not so soon.”

Riley nodded slowly, “Okay,” she said, “We can do Christmas here. Just you and me. New York is a pretty fun city around the holidays, even if the tourists are a bit much on New Year’s Eve.”

“Sounds good, Liu. I do want to take a trip back to Texas at some point, though. With you, I mean.”

She gave him a little smile, “I think that can probably be arranged.”

Drake ran his free hand over her legs as he brought his coffee back towards his lips, but before he could take another sip, Riley spoke.

“I have to tell you something, too.”

“Okay,” Drake replied, pausing and glancing at her. The statement sounded like it was something bad, but she only looked slightly nervous, and she was still drinking her coffee. He knew how she got when she had something to talk about that made her truly uncomfortable or upset, and it certainly wasn’t like this. So whatever she wanted to talk about, it must not be a massive deal.

“You know how we flew out to Cordonia and got that hotel for Constantine’s funeral?”

Drake held his coffee out in front of him as he carefully shifted slightly to face her a little better, “Yeah, Liu. I was there.”

She kicked her heel back lightly against his knee and rolled her eyes, “Anyway, I didn’t exactly pay for either or those things.”

Drake was sure he looked almost comically confused. He felt his brow furrowing as he shook his head slightly. “Then how-”

“Olivia paid for them.”

“Huh.”

“And I know you don’t like accepting favors from her, but I couldn’t see maxing out my credit cards when she was offering, you know?”

Drake nodded slowly, “So, you’re telling me that the hotel that we had for four nights, but only used for one, and the plane tickets that I only used one way - Olivia was the one who ate that cost?”

Riley smirked a little and dipped her head, “I didn’t know it was going to pan out that way.”

Drake just threw his head back and laughed, “This is great! Here I was feeling guilty that I wasted a bunch of your money, but instead I wasted hers.”

“Drake!”

“Oh, come on. You’ve been in her wine cellar, Liu. She’s not even gonna notice the difference.”

Riley shook her head, but she was smiling, so Drake figured she wasn’t too upset with his glee that Olivia had been the one to finance the travel plans that had ended up going completely sideways. “So, I take it you aren’t mad?”

“Not even slightly,” said Drake, sliding his hand down to her calf and squeezing it gently in reassurance. As they both continued to enjoy their coffee, they just talked, not about the serious, or the stressful, or the emotional. After last night, they’d both had enough of that for the moment. Instead, they talked about the mundane, the stupid, the silly, the bland, getting each other caught up on their days apart.

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

It had been just about a month since Drake last set foot in George’s diner. He cringed, thinking back on how he’d left things back then. How he’d been a sullen ass, consumed with guilt, angry at himself and the world. He hoped George didn’t fully remember the person he’d been, the way he’d behaved. 

He pushed open the door and entered, walking up to the counter. George was over serving an older man at the far end of the counter, but nodded at Drake in greeting, his eyebrows climbing his forehead just slightly. As soon as he’d taken care of the other customer, he strolled over to the register, reaching out to shake Drake’s hand.

“It’s been awhile, son. How are you?”

Drake paused for a moment before answering, “Better.”

George nodded at him slowly, wiping his hands on his apron. “Glad to hear it. You still looking for work?”

Drake shook his head, “No… well, not exactly. I signed with a temp agency last week. I started a few days ago with an insurance company, doing some data entry for the next couple of weeks.”

“Nothing wrong with that, son.”

Drake nodded. “I know” he said, “a paycheck’s a paycheck.”

He knew that most people wouldn’t view working as a temp at his age as a great thing, but Drake had been relieved after his first meeting at the agency. When Riley and him had talked about what he might want to do for a job, she’d suggested checking out temp work when he expressed frustration that he didn’t really know what he wanted as a career. It felt like something he should have a better idea of at this point in his life, but Riley had seemed utterly unphased by it. She’d mentioned temp agencies as a way to gain some actual work experience and make some money while he figured things out. Interviewing with the agency had been much lower stress than any of the other interviews he’d gone on last time, probably because, as Riley had told him, the agency wanted as many potential employees as possible since they got paid when their clients found work.

“I assume you’re here for some food and not just to chat.”

Drake chuckled, “I am. I actually called in a carry out order for Walker.”

So Drake paid up, chatting with George about Sam and the baby and how things were in his life as he got the order all bagged up. He waved goodbye and headed back to the subway, making his way back to the apartment.

He was getting better at navigating the city, or at least navigating Manhattan. Riley was right, the whole thing was a giant grid, so that much made sense. And he could appreciate that people here were blunt and direct. It was a nice contrast to the social games and doublespeak of court.

He didn’t know that New York felt like home at this point, but being here this time didn’t feel anywhere near as overwhelming as it did the first time. Part of it, he figured, was because he knew what he was getting into now. He also appreciated how much of an effort Riley was making to help him find aspects of New York he’d like. Every Monday night, when Riley was off, they’d gone out to some restaurant and bar. Riley assured him she was picking out places that she thought he’d like when he’d balked at some of types of cuisine she’d suggested, and she’d been right every time thus far. Besides, she’d told him there was little point living somewhere with every type of cuisine on the planet if he didn’t at least try some of them.

Their weekends had been a bit more variable, based on whether or not Riley was working. But this weekend she was off, and tonight was going to be a lazy night in. He knew Riley wasn’t really the type who liked to spend a Friday night lounging around in pajamas, but he appreciated that she understood him well enough to not push him to go out every night they could. Besides, tomorrow they were going to check out one of the city’s Christmas markets, something they were both actually looking forward to, it turns out.

The amount he and Riley were actually planning things was a little bit weird, considering she always talked about how impulsive she was and he knew he didn’t put much thought into the future or whatnot. But Drake realized that their combined efforts to not just roll along, with Riley getting up to eat breakfast with him a couple of mornings a week, with him going out for happy hour with a couple of his coworkers at the insurance company where he was posted, with both of them stepping out of their comfort zones just a little bit when it came to date nights, actually was making things a lot better. For him, at least. He hoped Riley felt the same way. He was pretty sure she did.

Drake exited the subway at the stop by the apartment and walked the couple of blocks quickly. It was December now, and the temperatures had really plummeted. Riley consistently referred to cold days as “brick,” which he’d found odd, but Luke at the office did the same thing, so he figured maybe it was a New York thing. He checked the mail and then climbed the stairs up to the fourth floor. He went to unlock the door, but paused for a moment. It almost sounded like the power drill he could hear running was coming from her unit.

He unlocked and opened the door, taking in what was going on. The first thing he noticed was, as always, the sweltering heat. Riley hadn’t been kidding when she told him the radiator ran very hot. He’d taken a peek at it to see if there was some obvious fix, but he was nervous to mess with too much, because Riley warned him the landlord would definitely assess them damages if it stopped working all together. Besides, he didn’t really mind the fact that both of them ended up wearing very little around the apartment these days.

The next thing that caught his attention, though, was Riley. She was indeed using a drill. It was a strange sight, watching her stand over by the window, dressed only in some gym shorts and a little tank top, attaching the legs to a chair. Drake wasn’t sure if he was more turned on or confused.

As soon as the whir of the drill stopped, Drake called out to her, “Liu, what the hell-” but she shrieked in surprise, letting the drill drop to the ground.

“Drake, you scared the shit out of me,” she chastised as she reached down to pick up the drill. Anderson abandoned his post on the armchair, trotting over to greet Drake.

“Sorry,” Drake said, crouching down to give the dog a couple of scritches, “Does he need to go out?”

“Nah, I took him out maybe an hour ago,” she replied, before she turned back to her project and turned on the drill again. Now that he knew he didn’t immediately need to go back outside, Drake started stripping off his clothing, getting down to his t-shirt and boxers and placing their dinner on the counter before he went and sat on Riley’s side of the bed, watching her work.

“As I was saying,” he continued the next time the drill stopped, “what the hell are you doing?”

Riley looked at him like he was stupid. “I’m putting together a table and chairs.”

“I see that.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“Where’s your desk?”

“I sold it online,” she replied before moving to turn the drill back on, but Drake reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

“You gotta give me more than that, Liu.”

“The desk worked fine when it was just me, but you sitting on the side of the bed and me sitting at the desk to eat was not sustainable. So, I decided enough was enough. Uskea was running a promotion, so I bought us a table.”

“Riley…”

“Now,  I picked a really small one, but does stick out a bit more than the desk did, so it’ll be a bit of a tight fit when you pull the chair back, but-”

Drake stood, grabbing her shoulders and kissing her roughly. After a few seconds, he pulled back, glancing down at the table and chair set she’d selected. A table and chairs that were meant for the two of them. It was such a tangible representation of a future with them together.

“I take it you like it?” she asked. He looked up and saw her smirking at him.

“Yeah, Liu. I do.”

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

Riley felt some faint butterflies in her stomach as she entered the restaurant, scanning the waiting area to see if he had arrived already, but she couldn’t find him anywhere. She checked the time on her phone. For once in her life, she was early. She could probably chalk that up to nerves.

Liam was in New York. He had let Drake know that he would be in town for three nights surrounding the UN Holiday Gala about a week ago, and had asked if the two of them would like to join him for dinner one night. The thought of hanging out with her live-in boyfriend and his best friend who happened to be her sort-of ex was a bit on the weird side already, but Drake had texted her this afternoon that his boss was making everyone stay late for some “bullshit,” so he would be coming straight from work and would probably be a bit late for the reservation. It meant that it would be just her and Liam, at least to start the night.

Deciding that a drink might help take the edge off a little bit, Riley made her way over to the bar and ordered herself a whiskey sour. She was taking her first sip when she saw a couple of men in crisp black suits enter and station themselves near the door. Sure enough, Liam was a few seconds behind them. Riley raised her hand, signaling her location. After a couple of seconds, Liam made eye contact and gave her a warm smile before he made his way over to join her at the bar.

She stood up from her stool, giving him a loose hug in greeting when he reached her. “Hey, Liam.”

“Hello, Riley. It’s good to see you.”

“You too. I was just grabbing a drink since we’ve got a little time before our reservation. Would you like one?”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” he said, before sitting down on the stool next to the one she’d been using. He flagged down the bartender and ordered himself an Old Fashioned.

“I’ve never seen you drink one of those before,” said Riley as she climbed back onto her stool, mainly trying to find some innocent topic of conversation to carry them through until Drake arrived. Not that Drake’s arrival was going to lessen the dredges of awkwardness, but at least there would be three people to fumble through conversation instead of just two, so there would probably be fewer moments of uncomfortable silence.

“Yes, well… I’ve been having them on occasion since my father passed. They were his drink of choice, you see.”

“Oh,” Riley replied, taking a sip of her own drink. So much for an innocent topic of conversation. “Do you find them… therapeutic?”

Liam tilted his head to the side slightly, “I guess they’re a safe way to remember him.”

“That makes sense.”

The bartender returned with his drink at that point. Liam accepted it with a smile and nod, taking a sip of it before he continued.

“I know my father wasn’t a saint, and in some ways I’ve come to terms with the man he was. The choices he made, both as a father and a king, that I cannot stand behind were a part of him, but they weren’t all of him. But sometimes I just want to think about him as the man I loved, the man I looked up to, without worrying about the harsher realities. Drinking something that always made him smile is an easy way to do that.”

“Well, I get that,” said Riley, taking a sip of her own drink.

“Is there something you do like that to reminisce about your mother?”

“Oh sure, I just shoot up a little heroin,” she quipped, taking another sip of her drink.

Liam didn’t say anything, so Riley turned her head and looked at him fully. He was staring at her, his drink clutched tightly in his hand. “I’m fairly certain you’re joking, but I don’t want to say anything insensitive.”

Riley laughed at that, “Of course I’m joking, Liam.”

He let out a sigh before he smiled and gave a little chuckle, “I just wanted to make sure. You see, it’s come to my attention that I may not have gotten to fully understand your sense of humor.”

She frowned at that, “What are you talking about?”

Liam gave her a little shrug, “Drake and I often seemed to have somewhat different perceptions of you, your attitudes, your opinions, that sort of thing. Given everything that transpired, I think it’s safe to say that Drake’s understanding of you is significantly more accurate than mine.”

Riley winced at that. He said it all so matter-of-factly, but it was so fricking uncomfortable to remember that time and how she treated him. “Liam, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not looking for an apology. I’m just looking to actually get to know you. The real you, not the version of yourself you felt the need to present to me before.”

Riley didn’t exactly know how to respond to that. Everything he’d said was painfully true. She’d been intimidated by him initially. She’d been so careful to not swear, to not be too sarcastic or judgemental in front of him. He was royalty, and she was a brash, potty-mouthed waitress. It’s part of the reason she’d started spending more and more time with Drake, even when he was still a rude asshole to her. She’d never had to pretend around him.

Even as time went on, she never felt comfortable enough around Liam to fully drop the act. I mean, he got flustered if she flirted overtly, he never teased her, always just finding little ways to agree with her when she teased him, and he pursued her like he was some cheesy romance novel character. It had always just felt like she had to keep playing a part with him. She just didn’t know how to tell him that without hurting him more than she undoubtedly already had. It wasn’t that his way of doing things was bad; it just was never right for her.

Liam shook his head at her prolonged silence. “Riley, I can understand why you felt the need to censor yourself around me. I had hoped I had made you comfortable enough to be your genuine self with me, but that obviously wasn’t the case. But at this point, I really just want to get to know the woman who’s dating my best friend, okay? If you’re going to be in his life, I want us to have an authentic friendship of our own.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“How about cursing?”

“What?”

“Drake tells me you have a rather colorful vocabulary. Well, I’d like to hear it.”

“I don’t know, Liam….”

“Trust me, Riley. I’m friends with Drake. I don’t think there is anything you could say that would scandalize me.”

She let out a rough breath and closed her eyes, not sure if his idea was mad brilliant or mad stupid, “Liam, do you really fucking think that hearing me call some of the fucking bitches at court annoying, petty motherfucking assholes with no goddamn common sense is going to help you get to know me? Because it feels like it might be a bunch of bullshit.”

She opened her eyes slowly, but Liam was just giving her a gentle smile. “Good. I think that’s a start at least.”

Riley smiled back at him, “Okay then. You asked for it. You get all the fucking profanities from here on out. Just remember, it was all your idea.”

He laughed at that, “No need to worry. I’ll remember.”

Riley was about to suggest going up to see if their table was ready, but she saw Drake dart through the door, scanning the waiting area, clearly looking for one or both of them, and then approaching the hostess stand when he couldn’t find them.

“Ah, shall we go join him?” asked Liam as he followed her gaze.

“Yeah, sounds good,” said Riley, hopping off her stool and falling into step beside Liam as they walked over. As they approached the entrance, she caught the tail end of what the hostess was telling Drake.

“- first from your party to arrive, but your table is ready if you want to follow me.”

Drake shook his head, “That can’t be right. I-” but he stopped talking when he caught sight of the two of them. “Oh, there you guys are.”

“Hello, Drake,” said Liam, walking over with his arms extended, exchanging a brief hug with him before stepping back.

“Hey, man. How are you?”

“I’m doing well. Did I hear our table’s ready?”

“Yes, sir. If you three could follow me,” the hostess chimed in.

As Liam fell in behind the hostess, Riley stepped up, squeezing Drake’s arm in greeting and sliding her hand down to his as she moved to follow Liam and the hostess to their table. But Drake tugged her back, so she spun to face him.

“What’s up?”

“I’m sorry I’m late for this. Was it… are you guys okay?”

She just gave him a smile and nodded, “Yeah. I think everything’s going to be fine.” She squeezed his hand to reassure him, then tugged him forward. “Come on, let’s go enjoy a fancy ass dinner with our friend.”

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