#great designs for bells hells everyone looks amazing! such good details too

[stay-funky-ponyboy]

okay but. but. did liam and robbie coordinate having the sending stones on their respective character's art, bc that would be so cute. if they didn't plan it that's also incredible lol

[starryevermore]

paradise island: a review

A note before we begin: everything above the cut will be spoiler free and will just be my general feelings about the story as a whole, the writing, and if I’d recommend it. Everything below the cut will include spoilers to explain my feelings about the story.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Visiting the North Shore had been a bizarre and unsettling experience, to say the least, but when they got home after vacation was over, he was going to suggest to Colby that they make a video about it.

Hell, no. Even better. Write a book. Videos melted away after a while, but a book? Books and stories solidified on the conscious mind forever. (91-92)

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I generally enjoy stories like this, but there were a few moments throughout the novel where things just fell a bit flat. 

While I was reading, I made a few notes, the first being that there was a weird juxtaposition between talking about more adult topics (drinking, women, sex, etc.) but in an odd, almost kid-friendly way. Some of the word choices were interesting, such as constant use of “fancy-pants”, “hottie”, “goofball”, “oddball”, and “doofus”, as well as the one moment where Colby said he hated “dicky” people and the moment where Sam said Colby was about to have an “emo-ruption”. (Though I did laugh a lot longer than I should have at “emo-ruption”.) It felt like they were still trying to make the story appropriate for their younger fans by using more kid-friendly language, while also appealing to their older fans by being like “look!! we drink!! and ooh look, we talked about smoking weed 👀🤪”. I wish they would’ve committed to one or the other, because it added an odd sense of disjointedness to the story that could’ve been easily resolved.

The other big thing I made note of was that there was a lot of “tell, not show” throughout. There’s a heavy focus on dialogue to progress the story rather than seeing into the boys’ inner thoughts and using other means to find out information. (I’m not one to talk, though, since I also focus more on dialogue than description.) It sometimes made it difficult to fully get into the story. I struggled with developing a picture of what the Belle Estate looked like, or what the other characters (beside SNC, Nate, and Alex) looked like. In terms of the boys, it seemed very reliant on us knowing who Sam and Colby are and what they’re all about (which is fair, since probably 99.9% of people who bought the book are fans of them but, if they want success outside of their audience, it could’ve been more descriptive in that regard). 

As for the big twist at the end, it was a bit lackluster. I’ll go more in detail on this in the “spoiler section”, but it kind of diminished everything that had happened throughout the story and left me wondering “what was the point?”. 

I was excited when I’d heard that the story was told through both Sam and Colby’s POVs, but, I’ll be honest, I saw little difference between Sam’s chapters than Colby’s chapters. The most difference was the almost stereotypical portrayal of Sam being the logical one while Colby being the emotional one. Aside from that, they were almost indistinguishable from me and I often had to flip back to the start of a chapter to remind myself of who’s head I was in.

Since that was all critical, here’s some things I did like:

I feel like, while the inner monologues were a bit lacking, Gaby did make up for it by making the dialogue between the boys really realistic to them. In this regard, she really nailed the portrayal of them. 

The depiction of the paranormal things was really great. I feel like those parts were the ones I could get most into the story. The way Gaby wrote them was so interesting and pulled me in. I wish there was more of these moments throughout the story, because I think they really showcased who Gaby is as a writer.

The convo where Colby called Sam “Velma” and then Nate asked if Colby was “Fred”? I really enjoyed that because (a) Scooby is my favorite thing in the whole world and (b) I chose Sam and Colby be Velma and Fred in my moodboards a month ago so just a lil fun moment for me.

Just how meta the book was. Like, the quote I included at the top? I laughed for way too long when I read that. 

There was a nice sense of nostalgia throughout, specifically when they brought up their YouTube channel, their Vine days, them being arrested, wining a Teen Choice Award, and Corey and the Shadowman. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and reminded me of how proud I am for how far they’ve come.

*slight spoiler here* Speaking of being arrested, there was a moment where SNC were contemplating escaping to the beach and they had a conversation if it was worth being arrested again. I really loved that, especially with how much fans joke about them inevitably being arrested again.

This is more for the person who designed the cover, but holy shit?? I loved it so much?? 

I don’t know if I would have picked this book up if it didn’t have Sam and Colby’s name attached to it. I will say, though, I finished the book in one sitting, which is pretty rare for me nowadays, so it was engaging. I think, overall, it was a great story with a great concept but it could’ve been fleshed out more. In some ways, it almost felt like this was a draft rather than a completed novel. 

That being said, for SNC’s first book and Gaby’s first time working with the boys, it exceeded my expectations. If they were to continue writing books together, I imagine it will get better and better as they get more used to each other and potentially open up more so that their characters become a more accurate depiction of them.

Overall, the book’s not something you really need to race out to get. I think, if you have a gift card or there’s some sort of deal or you need to spend a little more to get free shipping, it wouldn’t hurt to pick up Paradise Island. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a great, top-tier novel in my opinion. That being said, if you do pick it up, I think you will enjoy the book.

Spoiler Avenue

The characterization of all four of the boys is a bit 2D. Sam’s logical and wants to keep the peace, Colby’s emotional and more of a wildcard, Nate’s focused on his schoolwork and flexing his vocabulary, and Alex? Well, I couldn’t get a good read on Alex until he sells out SNC at the end of the novel and even then, he didn’t feel so much like his own character, more like someone just present to further the plot.

Speaking of characters, the introduction of Trey was...meh. I wish we could’ve gotten more insight on why Colby was so adamant about not liking Trey and why Nate was so gung ho to ditch their plans to go to the North side of the island for this guy they barely knew. Finding out that Colby didn’t like Trey because he said college was the only way to success was such an odd thing? Like, undoubtedly there’s been many people who would’ve said that, so does Colby also dislike everyone who’s said that or is there a more specific reason he didn’t like Trey? Just...👏🏻 more 👏🏻 inner 👏🏻 thoughts 👏🏻 please 👏🏻 and 👏🏻 thank 👏🏻 you 👏🏻 

@golbrocklovely​ brought this up in her review but Colby’s fixation on the  mermaid statue of a 16-year-old was really odd. It probably wouldn’t have been as odd if Amy was aged up a bit to 18, but as a 16-year-old with the descriptions that were given? Yeah...not the vibe.

I also wasn’t a fan of how so many things plot-wise was just...told to the boys. They could’ve found some newspaper clippings or something, anything to make them put in a little bit of detective work. But for so much information to just be handed to them? It got old, and almost lazy. 

The big twist being that all of the paranormal stuff they’d encountered being a hallucination? God, that was so fucking annoying (though I did go back afterwards from the moment that they first arrived at the Belle Estate—starting as early as page 36—and it felt incredibly obvious knowing now that it was all drugs, so props to Gaby for dropping that many hints early on). To spend so much time making all of this scary shit happen just to turn around and say “HAHA JK THE BOYS WERE JUST TRIPPING BALLS” was such a cop out. It would’ve been more terrifying for it all to be real, make the boys question their beliefs and the reality of there being something out there that they didn’t quite understand. Though, there is something terrifying about not knowing you’ve been drugged and having hallucinated that vividly, but I feel like it didn’t quite fit in with the story. 

Alex betraying the boys? So interesting! This was one of the few things that made sense in terms of them being drugged. But then when he was betrayed when Pauahi (who’s name was misspelled a few different times in the book) escaped? Ugh, amazing. We love instant karma like that. 

Going back to the “tell not show” thing, I wish the sacrifice at the end would’ve been more detailed. For all of the paranormal stuff to be written off as a drug-induced hallucination, I would’ve loved if Gaby had leaned more into the horror of being used in a human sacrifice. There was more of a focus on Colby bargaining for his life, which is fair, but I would’ve loved to see more of the pure terror there.

That being said, the way Trey finally snapped out of it? *chef’s kiss* Loved that shit so much. And I loved the fact that Trey stayed behind in the end. It added a nice eeriness to the story that had been lacking since they debunked the paranormal shit as being hallucinations. 

Again, going back to my overall, thoughts, I enjoyed the book in general. Some things could’ve been fleshed out a bit more to reach its full potential. I wish they leaned more into the paranormal aspect and had more descriptions to balance out all of the dialogue, but other than that, I did enjoy the book and don’t regret buying it. 

[unfolded73]

How Do We Get Back (16/16) - schitt’s creek ff

Summary: In a literal alternate universe where the Roses escaped financial ruin, David and Patrick struggle with loneliness and a sense that something isn’t right. A chance meeting in New York and a terrible tragedy drive them to question whether the timeline they are on is the right one. Explicit, this chapter 4.6k words.  (ao3)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15

Notes: I know, I can’t believe it’s over either.  Thanks to everyone who supported me through this fic, here and on ao3 and particularly in the Rosebudd Motel. You guys make me need to go for a hike to sort out my tender feelings for you.

_____________________________________

Chapter 16

Patrick listened to the fifth message from David Rose again, unable to wipe the smile off of his face.

“The text cut us off. Anyway, the point was that I sell the items from local artists and vendors under the brand of the store. Which is my brand. And I’m not buying the products — I’m selling them on consignment — but Ray says I need more start up money, which I don’t have, and I guess I want a second opinion. So I have your card. Which, I don’t know why I have your card. Maybe you work for one of my vendors? Probably not the Mennonites, though? Although who knows, I’ve heard of weirder things.”

It went on like that for a while.

He looked at his calendar. He had two appointments with clients in the morning and then needed to stop by the Elmdale town hall to pick up some paperwork, but he could probably drive over to Schitt’s Creek after that and meet this David Rose. Despite the rambling messages, his business plan sounded legit. And what’s more, Patrick knew exactly how to help him. He supposed he could just call, but Schitt’s Creek wasn’t that far away from Elmdale, and it helped sometimes, to meet someone in person.

He’d been living in Elmdale for a couple of months, ever since he’d broken off his engagement with his fiancé and had fled his hometown. Elmdale was nice and he’d made a few friends, including a handsome barista named Ken. The way he’d found himself thinking about Ken had certainly helped Patrick realize why things had never felt right with Rachel, but Ken had a boyfriend and nothing had ever happened between them. He was pretty sure he was mostly over Ken now anyway, although he figured being gay was probably a more permanent state of being.

Patrick pulled up in front of Rose Apothecary just after 2:00 pm the following day, getting out of his car and looking up at the workers who were mounting the large sign above the door. He liked the lettering, gold against black, with roses on either side of the name. He turned in a circle, taking in the little downtown, with a café nearby and a pretty flower garden and a car repair garage across the way. It was tiny compared to Elmdale, but there was a hominess to it that pleased him. Taking a deep breath, he went up to the front door of Rose Apothecary. There was a sign proclaiming that the store was closed but when he tried the latch, it swung open.

The bell above the door summoned a tall man from the back. Patrick was immediately struck by how not of this town he appeared. He wore tight black jeans, the knees ripped in a way that Patrick assumed was by design rather than through wear and tear. He had a sweatshirt on in monochrome leopard print, his black hair swept up off of his forehead in a coif that looked like it took time every morning to get right. He’s beautiful, Patrick thought immediately, and then mentally shook himself. Where the hell had that come from?

“Umm, sorry, I thought you were a friend of mine,” the man said. “We’re closed.”

“Oh, yeah. I know, sorry.” Patrick approached and held out his hand. “I’m Patrick Brewer. You must be David?”

David’s eyes widened. “Hi. I didn’t know you were going to come here. In person.” He reached out to take Patrick’s hand.

“Well, Elmdale isn’t far,” Patrick said as their hands clasped together in a handshake.

*

They sat together at a pizza restaurant in Elmdale.

“What’s an appropriate topic of conversation for a second date?” David asked, his mouth turning up on one side and down on the other. It was one of Patrick’s favorite David Rose facial expressions, and David had a lot of facial expressions to love.

“Does this even count as a second date? Because you invited Stevie on our first date,” Patrick said.

“I kissed you,” David said, his voice dropping into a sexy whisper, and Patrick felt his whole body respond. Jesus. “It counts.”

“Uh, we could talk about the store?” Patrick suggested, trying to get his heart rate under control.

“We spend all day talking about the store. When did you realize that you liked me?”

Patrick flushed, unsure if he should admit the truth. He could say it was the day the store opened, when they hugged each other after. Or he could say it was the day David wore a shower cap on his head to protect himself from Alexis’ lice. That would be a cute thing to say.

“The day you walked into Ray’s. When you said it was a general store but also a very specific store. That’s when I realized I liked you.”

“You’re lying,” David said, but his eyes flashed with happiness.

“I’m not. I thought you were beautiful. That was the first thing I thought about you, that you were beautiful.” Patrick dropped his gaze and cleared his throat, trying to break some of the tension between them before he jumped over the table and climbed onto David’s lap. “When did you realize?”

David fidgeted with the shaker of parmesan cheese on the table. “I’m very good at convincing myself that I’m not feeling things, so it’s difficult to say. But when you told me you’d get the grant money, I definitely felt something.”

The way he said it made Patrick sit up a little straighter. “Felt what?”

“Nothing I’m going to tell you about in public,” David said with a sexy smirk.

*

“Nice to, ahh, meet you,” Patrick said, quickly letting go of David’s hand. He shook his head, trying to figure out why he suddenly smelled pizza and was imagining a sexually charged conversation with this man.

“You too,” David said, looking as shaken as Patrick felt.

“So, I got your messages,” Patrick said, trying to regain some control of this meeting. “And I listened to all of them.”

“Oh,” David said, and now he kind of looked queasy. “Sorry about that, I was—”

“Based on what you told me, you’ve got a good business model, David. Good enough that I wanted to come down here and see it for myself.” He looked around, finally taking in the interior of the store. It was clear that David was still setting things up, but it looked good. Patrick didn’t use words like aesthetic or, as David had said in one of his many messages, ‘branded immersive experience,’ but he could definitely see that David had an artistic vision for the place. “And if start up money is the issue, then I have some ideas for how you could get that.”

Now David looked very interested. “How?”

“There are grants you can apply for when you’re supporting local businesses. But I’ll need to know a few more details about your business model to make sure you qualify for them. Do you have time to go over it with me?”

David was eyeing him. “You don’t know me, and I’m pretty sure the messages I left you made me sound insane. Why are you so willing to help me?”

Patrick shrugged. “Just an instinct, I guess. Also I do expect you to pay me for my time.”

“Of course.” David went over to the counter where Patrick assumed the cash register would be set up. “I’ve been putting all the vendor information in here,” he said, pulling out a binder. “And also I have a file that another consultant put together for me. To be honest, I don’t understand all of it.”

“That’s no problem. I’m sure I can help with that,” Patrick said, noticing David’s hands as they curled around the binder, the way he had dark hair on the backs of them.

“I don’t have anywhere comfortable to sit, really,” David said. “Do you want to go get a coffee at the café? We can look through everything there.”

Patrick smiled, feeling a little bit giddy for some reason. “Sure. Coffee sounds great.”

The coffee wasn’t great, but they spent a productive hour going through everything in David’s files and discussing his plans for the business. Patrick thought his first instinct had been correct. David had a good plan and with a little more money, he’d be in good shape to succeed. Patrick neatly stacked Ray’s summary and put it back in the folder. “You definitely qualify for the grants, David. I’ll get the paperwork started right away.”

“And do you think if I don’t get the grants that my business is going to fail?”

“Oh, I’m gonna get the money,” Patrick said, holding the folder out for David to take. David reached for it, and their fingers brushed.

*

“So…” Fingers trailed up and down on Patrick’s bare arm, raising goose bumps. “Did it live up to your expectations?”

Patrick felt like laughing, because there was so much joy inside him that he didn’t know how else to let it out, so he did. He laughed. “Wasn’t it obvious?” His voice was raspy, and he was pretty sure the noises he’d been making should have left no doubt with David whether it lived up to his expectations. He hoped Stevie’s neighbors weren’t home.

“Maybe, but I want you to tell me.” David lowered his head, pressing his face against Patrick’s shoulder. “I guess I’m needy.”

“And fishing for praise,” Patrick said, but he didn’t mind, really. “So are you asking if sex with you lived up to my expectations? Or gay sex in general?”

“Are those different answers?” David asked, and Patrick had to stop him from looking so apprehensive with a kiss.

“It was amazing, David,” he whispered into the space between their mouths when they parted. “Nothing has ever made me feel as good as you make me feel.”

David hummed in the back of his throat. “That’s too nice a thing to say.”

Patrick reached up and stroked David’s stubbly cheek. “It’s true.”

*

Patrick shivered as David tucked the folder away in his bag, grateful that the table was hiding the fact that his body had started to respond to David. A brief touch of his hand, Patrick thought hazily, and suddenly he’s having sexual fantasies about the guy. What the hell was happening to him?

“I should get back to the store,” David said.

“Okay, I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear about the grants. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks. You’ve got my number, in case you need to reach me.” He felt the urge to flirt, just a little bit, so he added. “And if I don’t pick up you can just… leave a message,” he said, the last part coming out in a huskier timbre.

David nodded at him, his mouth doing a weird thing. “Thanks, Patrick.”

~*~

“He got the grants,” David said as he burst through the door to the motel office. “Patrick got the grants for the store.”

“That’s great news, David,” Stevie said, dragging her eyes away from her solitaire game on the motel computer. “Did he come by?”

“He texted me just now, but he said he’d drive over tomorrow with the paperwork. Why?”

She shook her head. “Just curious.”

“I’m worried about him coming by, to be honest.” David started pacing back and forth in front of the desk, his face tilted up toward the ceiling.

“Why?”

“Because we spent maybe a sum total of an hour together the day we met, and my mind was already creating some… elaborate fantasies about the two of us. It was bizarre and disconcerting.”

“Fantasies?” Stevie asked with a filthy leer.

“Not that. Well, okay, that, but also dating and… post-coital snuggling.” He grimaced as if he smelled something bad. “That’s not normal.”

“So you’re just really into Patrick,” Stevie said, keeping her voice even.

“I barely know him. Also, I don’t know what his preferences are. Also, he dresses like a guy who works all day in a cubicle. Also, I barely know him.”

“You’ve never been attracted to someone you barely know?”

David threw his hands up. “This was different from just being attracted to someone.” His phone buzzed, and David looked at it and his face broke out in a wide smile.

“Oh my god, you’ve got it so bad.”

“Fuck off, Stevie.”

~*~

“This is… not a small amount of money,” David said, signing and initialing everywhere on the government forms that Patrick told him to.

“I know, it’s good, right?” Patrick shot him a happy smile, and David suddenly wanted to think of more things to say that would make him smile like that. “You’ve probably got enough capital that you can hire some help.”

“Oh. Yeah.” David hadn’t thought he could hire help right away, but he’d figured he would eventually. “My sister Alexis knows some teens who are probably looking for work and could be trained to run the POS system.” Which reminded him, he really needed to get that set up. Which meant he needed to figure out why the internet wasn’t working.

“I was thinking of someone more specific.” Patrick cleared his throat. “Like myself. A business manager.”

David’s mouth dropped open. “You want to work here?”

Patrick jammed his hands deep in his pockets. “I don’t really have enough freelance work in Elmdale to pay the bills. And I think you’ve really got something here, David. I’d like to be part of it, if you’ll let me.”

The idea of Patrick being around every day made David’s heart hammer in his chest. Also the idea that someone would be able to help with all of the business stuff made him so relieved that he came over a bit light-headed.

“Well then, you’re hired,” David said. “Even though I personally think you’re making a very rash decision.”

Patrick shrugged. “I probably am. But something is telling me that I’m making the right call here.”

They were just grinning at each other now, and David groped for something to break the tension. “I’m just gonna go get a coffee,” he said, gesturing with his thumb at the café, “and then I guess we should discuss… details?”

“Sure. Would you get me a tea?” Patrick asked.

David nodded. “I will get you a tea.”

“Great,” Patrick replied, smiling that smile again and holding out his hand for David to shake. “I’m looking forward to working with you, David.”

David took Patrick’s hand.

*

“I know, I know, that took forever, sorry,” David said as he pushed through the door with Patrick’s tea. “There was a whole thing going on over at the café.”

“That’s okay,” Patrick said, accepting the cup and grinning at him. “What was going on over at the café?”

He tried to think of a flippant way to say it, but he was too full of happiness and love to even pretend to be cynical. “Ted and Alexis just got back together very publicly. It was a scene to rival any romcom.”

“Wow,” Patrick said. “That’s a strong statement coming from you.”

“Okay, maybe not Notting Hill. But almost any romcom.”

“Should I have waited and told you I love you in front of a room full of people?” Patrick asked over the lip of his cup.

“No — I like those things in theory, not in practice,” David said. “I’ll make a single exception for my sister. And for you singing to me on very rare occasions.”

Patrick set his tea down and put his hands on David’s hips, swaying into his personal space. “So a few exceptions, then.”

David leaned down and pressed his forehead against Patrick’s. “Will you say it again?”

“If you will.”

“You may not be able to stop me from saying it now,” David said, tears close to the surface. “I love you.”

“I love you, David.”

*

The thing with his juice just wasn’t fair.

They were opening in three days, and David did not have time to think about what Patrick’s neck looked like when he was drinking David’s juice, his throat working, all that pale, vulnerable skin on display above the collar of his shirt.

At least he could now manage to touch Patrick’s hand without his brain being flooded with fantasies of a relationship they might have. Which was good, because when they worked together to pot all of the plants that were on display in the front window, their hands had met a few times, and at the rate David’s brain had been going, he’d soon be envisioning them with a house and a white picket fence and 2.5 children. Which, ew. Fortunately, he was starting to get some semblance of control of himself around Patrick, or at least he had been until Patrick stole his juice and told him he had a sloppy mouth.

I’ll show you what I can do with my sloppy mouth, David thought.

“Hey, David, where do you want to display these wooden whistles?” Patrick was emerging from the storeroom with a box.

David made a face and shook himself out of his reverie. “Oh, I forgot about those. Unfortunately they were a package deal with the other wood carving that Mr. Cooper does.”

“Don’t write them off so quickly. People love buying rustic looking toys like these for children.”

David tilted his head to one side, considering. Patrick had a point. “Okay, then let’s put them on a low shelf, I guess? Where a child might see them?” Not that he wanted children in his store, but he figured he’d have to tolerate it on occasion.

“Good idea.” Patrick made his way over to one of the shelves. “Maybe we can move these bath bombs higher?”

“Okay.” David walked over, indicating another shelf that wasn’t yet full. “How about here?”

“Sure,” Patrick said, crouching down. It gave David a perfect vantage point on his stocky, muscular thighs, and he took a second just to stare before he had to focus on reshelving the bath bombs.

~*~

It didn’t take too much asking around town on Patrick’s part to learn that Rattlesnake Point was a nice hike. He had so much nervous energy about the store opening soon and about David that he felt like was about to crawl out of his own skin, and a hike seemed just the thing to settle his nerves. And at first, as he reached a gorgeous overlook and surveyed the vista below, he thought he’d been exactly correct to come here. He looked out over the town, thinking about how quickly David and the store had become the most important things in his life, and how badly he didn’t want to lose either of them.

He also thought that if he hadn’t figured out he was gay before, his feelings about David Rose would have left him with absolutely no doubts.

Everything looked so beautiful from up here, he thought, inhaling the fresh air. There were hawks wheeling in the too-blue sky overhead, the leaves of the trees rustling in a steady breeze, and for just a moment, that rustle seemed deafening. Patrick blinked and turned around, and suddenly this clearing seemed entirely, fundamentally familiar. There were flickers at the periphery of his vision, motion of people moving around, but when he turned to look, there was no one there. Just a memory (that wasn’t a memory) of black hair and black clothes and the scent of champagne on the wind.

*

“You taste like brie,” Patrick said, giggling and kissing David anyway.

“We’re eating cheese; what am I supposed to taste like?” David said. The rock they were sitting on was uncomfortable against Patrick’s backside through the thin picnic blanket and his foot was still sore but he didn’t care. He’d sit here forever if it meant he could keep living in this moment.

Patrick didn’t answer, opening his mouth wider and pushing his tongue into David’s mouth while he tightened his fingers on his plastic cup of champagne, trying not to spill it.

“You really want to marry me?” David asked. “Me and my sloppy mouth?”

Patrick looked at David, seeing through the attempt at a joke that was really a desperate request for reassurance. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, David Rose, and I want to stand up in front of our friends and family and make a vow that I will. That’s what I want.”

David started to cry again, and he pressed more kisses against Patrick’s lips, and Patrick’s happiness was so huge that he feared it might lift him up and carry him off the side of the mountain.

*

“How was your hike the other day?” Twyla asked when Patrick stopped in early at the café for a tea. It was the day they were opening the store, and he’d hardly slept a wink the night before.

“Oh,” he said, distracted by an older couple at one of the tables. The woman seemed like she was watching him but trying not to be obvious about it. “I don’t know, it was weird up there.”

Twyla put the lid on his to-go cup and slid it over to him. “Weird how?”

He chuckled. “I can’t really describe it. It was like… like déjà vu, I guess? And a little bit like being very mildly high?”

Twyla just smiled at him, unperturbed. “That’s this town. The windows to other dimensions can really make you feel loopy sometimes.”

“Ah, I see,” Patrick said, even though of course he didn’t see.

“It happens to me all the time,” Twyla went on, oblivious to his confusion. “I think other lives you’ve led, or are leading… parallel lives, I mean, I think they leave impressions that you can pick up if you’re in the right frame of mind. Especially in places that are important. Maybe Rattlesnake Point is particularly meaningful for you for some reason?”

He blinked at her, fumbling for his wallet to pay for his tea. “I don’t think so.”

Twyla took his money, shrugging. “Maybe in another life, it is.”

~*~

“Well, this was a success.” David said.

Patrick nodded, looking around at the store in the dim light. “Yeah, I’d say so. I mean, we’d be twenty-five percent richer if we’d just done a hard launch, but hey, I’m just the numbers guy.”

“Hmm. But if we hadn’t done a soft launch, we never would have lured in all those people.”

“Mm. I think the best thing is that we never have to talk about it again because we’re officially open,” Patrick said, setting his cup of wine down and holding his hands out.

“That’s true,” David said, looking around at the store and not at Patrick.

“Congratulations, man,” Patrick said, opening his arms wider. It felt like a moment when you would hug someone, right? Even business partners might hug after a successful launch of their business.

“Congratulations to you,” David said, meeting him for the embrace. One of Patrick’s arms was over David’s shoulder and one was around his middle, and he patted David on the back the way that men do. Men who definitely haven’t been imagining what a romantic partnership together might be like.

David’s hand stroked up and down over his shoulder and it felt really, really nice, and the hug was probably going on too long now but Patrick couldn’t bring himself to pull away. He felt the stubble of David’s chin against the side of his face and god, if this was what hugging David was like, anything else might kill him.

*

“I think my mother is drunk,” Patrick said, hands splayed across the back of David’s tuxedo as they swayed to the music. The fact that Patrick knew exactly which Mariah album this ballad was from was possibly one of the most powerful demonstrations of his love for the man he’d just married.

“Drunk is a strong word, but she’s definitely had more than her usual one glass of wine,” David said, and Patrick could feel his cheek move in a smile. “It’s cute. She’s hugged me three times.”

“She loves you,” Patrick said.

“She’s my mother-in-law,” David said as if the idea was only just now occurring to him. “Moira Rose is your mother-in-law.”

Laughing, Patrick pressed a brief kiss against David’s neck. “I know, David. That’s a natural consequence of me being your husband.”

David shivered. “Say that again,” he said, holding him tighter. “Never stop saying it.”

*

“David,” Patrick said, finally pulling back from the hug, his head swimming with everything the two of them had accomplished in just a few weeks working on the store together, and of how good it felt to be in David’s arms. His head swimming with these glimpses he kept getting of what a life with this man could be like. “Do you ever feel like… like we’ve known each other a lot longer than we actually have?”

David’s lips pressed together. The warm lights caught a hint of tears in his eyes before David managed to banish them with some rapid blinking. “A past life, perhaps,” David said.

“Can’t say I believe in reincarnation, but… yeah. Something like that. I just… I feel like I know you. Like I was…” Patrick chuckled nervously. “Like I was destined to be here. With you.”

Something seemed to break inside David in that moment. “Patrick, I feel like if I don’t kiss you right now I might literally die, so can you tell me if that’s entirely the wrong impulse? Because I think at this point probably all I can wish for is a swift death.”

Patrick lost feeling in his extremities. All he could hear was the pounding of his own heart. “It’s not the wrong impulse,” he managed to say, and then David’s hand was on his neck and David’s mouth was on his and he thought David had it all wrong. This is what would kill them. This kiss was what felt like dying.

“Definitely the right impulse,” Patrick gasped when their lips parted.

David grinned, a wide grin he almost never allowed to break out on his face, and kissed him again.

~*~

Two women paused on the street as they left the café, looking through the windows into Rose Apothecary.

“Does that mean everything’s fixed?” Twyla asked, smiling at David and Patrick in each other’s arms. She liked seeing people in love. It made her feel like the world was a fundamentally good place, if people could fall in love with each other like that in the midst of everything the world was capable of throwing at them.

Gwen pulled her sweater close around her, the summer night unseasonably chilly. “In this tiny piece of the universe, yes. But it’s a big, wide world out there, and a lot of things are still bad. Most things, in fact.”

Twyla looked at her with concern. “So what do we do about all those bad things?”

“We share our homes and our meals where we can. We work hard. We play games. We sing songs.” Gwen shrugged. “What else can we do?”

“In other words, we love one another,” Twyla said, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“Exactly so, Twyla,” Gwen said, giving her a squeeze on the arm before heading off into the night. “Exactly so.”

THE END

[vaguely-concerned]

UNCHARTED 4 REACTIONS

- uuuh can I just… find out who the FUCK looked at tiny beautiful baby boy Nate and decided to leave him with a bunch of nuns who don’t get why other kids telling him his mom’s in hell because she committed suicide would upset him??????? Like I don’t know who his biological father is but I feel a strong need to divest him of his kneecaps. (C’mon Sully with your con man expertise and my vengeful nature we could figure this out between us)

- Sam reminds me a lot of one of my uncles. I’m not sure what to do with that except applaud Naughty Dog on their eye for people ha ha. I guess everyone has that slightly sleazy and self absorbed yet periodically charming and decent man in their lives. (Can I point out how amazing his costume design is, in a way you rarely see? He’s one of those dudes who look rumpled wearing pretty much anything, everything is so unflattering on him it’s a miracle. Contrast his and Sully’s outfits in the Scotland section — what they’re actually wearing isn’t that dissimilar and Sully is like twice Sam’s age but looks a) stylish, b) warm and c) Incredibly American somehow while Sam looks like a bum and it’s  h i l a r i o u s.)

- When bb Nate’s face already does the thing where he goes from genuinely upset to dissembling smile… no… ow…  

- “You only pull something like this when you’re trying to make up for something” lasjfdlsakjfslkdjfalskj my soul has left my body and I am crying hot saltwater tears

- a) Nadine is just so incredibly, vibrantly beautiful and I feel like sending a thank you note to the offices of Naughty Dog for putting her face and overarms on my screen, b) she’s already completely done with everything and we’re not even halfway through the game, c) she’s awfully uppity about Chloe’s methods for someone whose instinctual approach to archaeology is ‘dynamite’

- NATE PLAYING CRASH BANDICOOT

THE MOST PRECIOUS SHIT

I’VE EVER LAID MY EYES ON

“THIS IS TAKING VERY LONG” THIS BLESSED ADHD BOY

- OKAY NAUGHTY DOG YOU’VE GONE AND DONE IT I’M ROOTING FOR THE HETS

- the note from Chloe in the attic :( :( :( I feel bad for her even though she eventually upgraded big time on the spouse material, she does like him a lot even if they didn’t make each other very happy.

Can you imagine if Nate and Chloe had actually stayed together tho. They’d have the smartest, snarkiest, most-unprepared-to-deal-with-emotions children in history lol just as well things worked out like they did, probably

- did u guys know… that I would die for nathan drake… I mean you all probably do by now because I never shut up about it but it bears repeating… I would….  

- oh no… nate no… don’t lie to elena she not only tolerates you she loves you despite the warning signs don’t throw this away

- It’s very impressive that they’ve managed to show that Sam genuinely does love Nate a lot while also making it clear how easily he tips into being a toxic influence — it makes all the psychological sense in the world that he’s trying to emulate the relationship they had when they were at their closest and only had each other, but purposefully trying to drive Nate away from the other people who love him is just… so perfectly the worst possible thing to do to him, jeeeeesus christ. No wonder he and Sully don’t get along — Sully is wonderfully protective without being possessive

- When Sam asks Sully why he’s there and it’s like… because… he’s HIS FUCKN DAD SAM???! YOU NUMBSKULL???!!? YOU ABSOLUTE FOOL??!?!

- All my fanfic wants for these games are so lame and low-key… like ‘the first time a teenaged Nate comes back to the hotel drunk as a total emotional mess, and Sully being like ‘oh wow… oh god… help… he’s like a tiny puppy I need to protect him being a parent is terrifying’... ‘Nadine and Chloe have a nice night in and make sweet character developing love, maybe braid each other’s hair and get in a fist fight with some dude’... ‘the gang go to an amusement park, have a good time, Charlie gets cotton candy and makes fun of Nate’...

(actually what I really, really want is a fic of Sully surreptitiously picking up the pieces of Nate after Sam ‘dies’, but, y’know. The heart wants what it wants and mine wants Nate to be taken care of)

- Sully’s face when he drops them off in Scotland… goddamn it he loves that boy so much ;___;

- The only illustration of Sam’s personality that matters is that he thinks  S u l l y  of all people might screw Nate over while thinking he can work with Rafe without it all going to hell

Just… the worst judge of character ever lol how’s that projection working out for you Sammy boy

- I played some multiplayer and Elena really has just the warmest, most reassuring presence, I absolutely see what Nate sees there ha ha

Also I love what they’ve done with her clothes, all her outfits are plausible and non-sexualized and look so chill and comfortable

- Nate’s high-pitched nervous laugh is everything to me, such a deeply endearing character tic

- Sam… you dumbass… when will you learn that the real treasure… is your little brother and his happiness…

- I have to applaud Troy Baker for his work here — he matches Nolan North’s speech patterns and timbre as Nate so well, you absolutely believe they’re brothers. (Also between them they’re like… 90% of all male characters in video games, it’s a wonder the fabric of reality isn’t fraying with two giants in such close proximity)

- Shoutout to my boy Charlie for getting one (1) whole reference in this entire game! Naughty Dog may have forgotten you but the face you pulled at Nathan in the scene with the torches will stay with me forever, you big British lug <3

- I LOVE that Nate and Sam still use ‘Father Duffy’ like you would ‘Goody Two-shoes’ or the ‘dad’ in a sarcastic ‘thanks, dad’, it’s an authentic-feeling kind of in-joke

- Nate’s journal entries are SO FUNNY in this one oh my god. I’m so happy they’re acknowledging that he’s actually an excellent artist, I hope he ends up with a sideline in making illustrated children’s books. (I have since learned they were drawn by Naughty Dog artist Alexandria Neonakis. From the bottom of my heart: thank you for everything, especially Lemur Sully)

- Gideon Emery is wasted — WASTED — in the role of ‘random goon #43’ yet again,  but whatever, at least I got to hear his voice

- Sam’s supremely shitty tattoos give me life

- I realized during the Madagascar opening that in all likelihood the person who taught Nate to drive was Sully and can I just say… this reinforces my theory that Sully is the real hero of the Uncharted games because can you imagine taking on that responsibility for Nathan ‘Adrenaline Junkie Whoops Everything I Touch Explodes and Collapses’ Drake? No, because you and I don’t have what it takes to live that life but Victor Sullivan does

- It feels like they went a bit more naturalistic with the dialogue and characterization in this one? (As naturalistic as you can go with great big undiscovered cathedrals/pirate recruiting hubs under Scotland, anyway. Scotland ain’t that big, yo, pretty sure someone would have spotted it lol) I actually enjoyed it — U3 is still pretty much an Indiana Jones-esque adventure story with some purposefully discordant notes when you get to know Nate’s real backstory and stuff like that, but this feels all round a bit more grounded in reality and characters and it works

- Sully ineffectually keeping a grip on Nate’s shirt while he’s scrabbling to get back into the driver’s seat after the car goes off the cliff ascended my soul to a higher dimension. Big mood.

Also genuinely laughed for five minutes at Sam, lapsed Catholic and born opportunist, getting in as many Hail Marys as he could just in case he was about to die. I’m an atheist from a half-halfheartedly Protestant country but even I am pretty sure that’s not how it works buddy

- Nate’s continual refusal to think ahead enough to carry his own matches (and being saved by surrounding himself with smokers) is one of the most satisfying running jokes in the series

- “Lemurs, Sully!” “Rabies, Nate” fsdajfkljdaskjhasjkhfasjdk

*cries helplessly like a little baby because I love everyone in this bar*

- I must say the clock tower felt like one of Nate’s most catastrophic onsets of… Nateness. That delicate complicated piece of machinery was still functioning perfectly after four hundred years and yet… Nate’s in there for five minutes and it crumbles like paper. I guess technically sinking the entirety of a city into the sand beats it, but… I keep coming back to the image of the cracked bell and then *high pitched giddy voice* “Hi Sully” JFC Nate ha ha

- *screams as Nate sends Sully and Elena away, literally turning to the adrenaline/treasure hunting madness he used to cope with trauma before he managed to work up to emotional intimacy with people who care about him because Sam is a jackass who knew exactly what buttons to press and is weirdly possessive of his little brother*

- You know… forgiving Sam is so hard when he repeatedly doubles down on his lies, making up further details unprovoked, because he knows it keeps Nate hooked and feeling guilty? Like Nate is far enough along in his character development at this point that just waving some treasure under his nose alone wouldn’t do it, you need that illusion that he’s saving someone he loves — the first person he ever relied on, who he thought he lost once because he failed him — to make him keep going, and Sam knows this and uses it and it’s so horribly, calculatedly cruel? I think there are a few times where he kind of wants to come clean (uh already too late because what the HELL he’s already fucked up all his relationships lol) only to be interrupted by Action but in the end it’s a deliberate, long con of assholery that it’s extremely difficult to look past. Ah well I guess he’s stuck as my ‘I will mercilessly yet affectionately mock you’ character, that’s something.

- Aaagh the scene where Elena’s like ‘who are you’ is so good because it must be such a blow, knowing this man she loves and (bravely, because he is a disaster magnet) made the choice to try to make a life with for the second time still thinks he needs to lie to her, like he’s been lying to the world at large for most of his life — his name is a lie, so much of his outer identity is invented, but hey she wouldn’t have married him if she didn’t think they were past that this time and trusted each other with honesty… and then out of the blue a dead-yet-still-somehow-smoking-a-sketchy-cigarette brother???? Normally the ‘what else have you been lying about’ line makes me roll my eyes but she is ABSOLUTELY right to wonder about that and it breaks my heart

as does Nate going ‘I’m just me’ in that voice aaaaaaauuuuuugh he does try but he’s not completely at the point where he thinks he can be acceptable and loved as he is, no need to hide the broken things, still that kid learning that it’s better to not be seen or tell the truth because it just makes things worse

(I feel it’s a good balance between ‘protagonist making some DUMB SELF-DESTRUCTIVE CHOICES LIKE AN IDIOT’ and ‘makes perfect, tragic sense considering their history’, ending up at sympathetic but still in the wrong and in need of getting it the hell together in a hurry. At least he clearly realizes he’s fucked up pretty much immediately, which is something I GUESS)

TL;DR Nate, listen to Sully and go talk it out with your wife, I’m real upset now I’ll go make myself a cup of tea ;____;

- Sam was straight up going to shoot Nadine in the head, huh. I mean… wow. I wonder why she doesn’t like you very much, bro lol

- I’m a Black Sails fan so whenever Anne Bonny shows up I’m like *golden retriever face* HI FRIEND HI sorry about the... poison

- ...is it weird that I want to write fix it fic for Evelyn and Ken

All his letters are so  c u t e  and loving and I am devastated

Puzzling their story together like that was super effective too — it was so cool that if you know what to look for you could find the Tokugawa armor he mentions in the first letter before any other clues, I was going ‘Oh she totally married that beautiful nerd’ right there and then ha ha. Evelyn’s design was wonderful, you could tell the force of nature she must have been in her prime.

Bonus points for Nate looking up at her like a puppy who’s found someone really cool to aspire to. Also their father looks nominally less of a rampant unrepentant asshole if he sold Cassandra’s things specifically to her mentor. Microscopically. I’d still like to kick his ass tho.

- I guess Sam is three to five years older than Nate, then, if he remembers (vaguely) going to Windsor before Nate was even born? Bit hazy on the timeline here, because Nate’s memories of their parents — especially their mum — must be quite hazy if, like Marlowe states in U3, he was surrendered to the state at the age of five and they moved around with their dad a lot even before that.

- Nate was the most tired-looking twelve year old I have ever seen and it hurts me

The fact that Nate started off looking exhausted and a little snub-nosed and grew into a very handsome and charming young man (ssssh I’m in no way biased here just because he’s my son) while Sam was sweet and bright-eyed as a teenager and now looks like someone who is low-key dealing drugs around the local high school… this game is truly a tour de force of character design

- So apparently Shoreline was already off to a bad start when Nadine took over? That makes it doubly sad that she’s judging herself so harshly for losing it when her father had already left it to her as a mess :(

- THANK YOU ELENA AND SULLY FOR SAVING THIS WONDERFUL FOOLISH BOY YET AGAIN. “I left my life for you”  D: D: D:

Also slightly sad that Sam has… literally nothing except Nate and Avery’s treasure? On the other hand that’s entirely his own fault so. Less sad. (Makes me immensely thankful Sully and then Elena found Nate when they did)

- Nate… using his words… cautiously expressing how he actually felt… Elena mulling it over… realizing part of why she loves him is that weird restless brain of his doing its thing……. coming up with a solution where they can solve it as partners in the ending………... I am clinically ded, go on without me

- Realest GPOY moment: Sully’s flat immediate ‘no’ to Nate going off to save Sam on his own. He’s so scared!!!! And so was I!!!! My soul bond with an American con man three times my age continues to be unbreakable

- Relieved that my sister was in control for the fencing bit, because I don’t know if I could handle being responsible for Nate’s safety like that

That said, how destroyed was I that Nate didn’t really start fighting back before Rafe threatened his family? Completely, though it does force me to take the words ‘ludonarrative dissonance’ in my mouth for the first time in my life — no way does he kill as many people in the reality of the story as you do in gameplay if he’s still this hesitant to respond to someone openly trying to murder him lol. I realize this is a game and they need some kind of pretense to keep it from being a movie with the occasional QTE, but Naughty Dog you can’t just… repeatedly show that Nate has a hard time killing in cold blood and then have him take out an army in the next breath

(Naughty Dog: We did and you’re completely willing to go with it lawl. Me: Oooooh I hate that you’re right)

- Nadine stone cold leaving those bitches behind Worked for me, you do you you beautiful disaster, see you next game with your excellent character development. Another wonderful thread they continue into The Lost Legacy: Sam being forever relegated to the back seat. Yes good.  

- Sully promptly semi-adopting a second Drake brother, arguably the tougher case. A power move if ever I saw one.

- I deeply respect Naughty Dog’s decision to make an epilogue to let me know everyone is safe and happy and it all turned out okay, but I also wish they wouldn’t have ha ha. The last scene with Elena and Nate perfectly set that up for me already, specifically spelling out one happy ending among the many that could have happened actually somewhat cheapened it for me? The ‘flash forward, now they have children, get immediately invested!’ move is already suuuuch a hard one to pull off and I think it did it about as well as they possibly could, but somehow I also begrudge Cassie for her position in the narrative and that’s not how I want to feel about it, y’know? Actually it’s fine, I’ll accept it, because their dog is named Vicky and Nate writes in his journal that he’d call his pet lemur Victor and it made my entire week

- Having played three of the games I can still say that Uncharted 3 is definitely my fave, but then parts of that seem genuinely tailor made specifically for me, so that’s not really a surprise ha ha

- Thank you, Uncharted, for being the emotionally intelligent yet light hearted adventure story with lovable characters I needed in this dark cold winter and making me spill over with so many flaily happy words. 

[stellalights]

Miraculous Ladybug: Trip to Disney World AU

i’ve seen this AU a ton but I wanna put my own Disney World experiences into this AU. Also I know it’s more logical for this to take place in Disneyland Paris but i don’t know anything about it so they’re going to Disney World let’s do this

*disclaimer: this is extremely long

So Marinette is a total Disney fanatic.

She has all the movies from Snow White all the way to the end of the Disney renaissance period on VHS and the rest on DVD.

Her family goes to Disney World every three years and they go all out.

I’m talking Disney bounding. i’m talking enormous collections of hats, Mickey ears, and pins. 5 filled autograph books. scrapbooks of pictures of Marinette meeting the characters. they are experts when it comes to planning a trip to Disney World.

So one year her parents suggest that she invites her whole class to go with them.

Marinette’s like “hell yeah” and the class is like “hell yeah” which means Marinette gets to be in her favorite place in the world with her friends and ADRIEN. so now Marinette is panicking because this trip needs to be absolutely perfect.

Marinette plans the entire trip from the resort to the dining reservations to the fast passes. She is completely on top of everything, making a schedule around the dining, fast passes, and park events. It all must be perfect.

Trip day arrives, and after they’ve landed and settled in the hotel (the Contemporary), the class takes a bus to Disney Springs to do a little shopping before they go to the parks in the upcoming days.

Everyone goes off to find some sweet apparel and other merch.

Adrien is like a kid in a candy shop since he’s never been to Disney World, but he adores all the merchandise, and Marinette is just so happy because he’s so happy??

Marinette helps everyone pick out their headgear. 

Juleka gets Maleficent ears, Rose gets Sleeping Beauty ones #girlfriends

Max, Kim, and Nino get Star Wars ones.

Ivan and Mylene get matching Minnie and Mickey ears

Chloe refuses to listen to Marinette’s suggestions and instead buys Rapunzel’s tiara

Alya gets the rose gold Minnie Mouse ears cause they are fabulous

Alix buys the Pluto cap

Adrien gets a simple Mickey hat with his name embroidered on it. Alya “Wingman” Cesaire tries to convince Marinette to get a Minnie hat with her name embroidered on it

Marinette freaks out and says no

Alya buys it for her (for the sake of love)

Marinette gives Alya the death stare as Alya places the hat on her head

Adrien is so happy to match Marinette

Next, they visit the art gallery which Marinette loves

Nathaniel admires every painting and even thinks of spending $600 on one of The Little Mermaid

Yes, it is that beautiful

They grab some dinner at The Boathouse which is amazing

Max suggests they all go to Disney Quest. 

Marinette reluctantly tells him that it just closed down. They share a moment of silence

Next day is the first park day: Animal Kingdom.

Marinette does not fuck around. 

She wakes everyone up at 6 am sharp because they need to get to Animal Kingdom before the park opens at 8 am so they can get to Pandora.

Marinette physically breaking into everyone’s room and ripping off their blankets

Even Chloe isn’t willing to test Marinette right now that’s how serious she is.

They take the bus to the park and head over to Flight of Passage (Best. Ride. Ever.).

Tom and Sabine go off and do their own thing (and do so the rest of the park days)

They hang around Pandora for a while, trying the food and watching the drum ceremony until their fast pass for the Na'vi River Journey is ready. 

Alya strategically sits Adrien next to Marinette. 

Adrien is in awe because he loves Avatar and he remembers every detail

Marinette continues to be so happy for him.

They ride the other rides

Adrien crying a little on Dinosaur as he flashes back to when Ladybug was almost eaten by Animan

Nino: “Adrien, dude, you know that ride was all animatronics, right?”

Adrien, traumatized: “Y-yeah I know.”

Rose holding onto Juleka during Expedition Everest

Kim holding onto Max during Expedition Everest

They do a little shopping, Marinette buying an Animal Kingdom pin just like every trip

Alix insisting they ride Flight of Passage one more time

Checking the wait time for it

It’s 225 minutes

Cue disappointed classmates

They watch the Rivers of Light show together, and head back to the resort

Next day: Epcot

Because the fast pass system sucks for Epcot, the class SPRINTS to Test Track before it gets crowded (or breaks down) because they had to choose between getting a fast pass for that, Soarin, or Frozen Ever After (and Marinette did NOT wanna wait on line for that so thus chooses Frozen Ever After for the fast pass slot)

Alya and Marinette bet Nino and Adrien that their car design will beat theirs and Nino and Adrien are all about it. 

Alya and Marinette's car exceeds in all the tests and they brag about it for the rest of the day cause power girlfriends™

Next is Soarin which is Marinette's favorite ride in the park. 

She literally cries from how beautiful it is

Adrien is kind of taken by how much she loves the ride and Disney World in general

He finds her passion inspiring

Time for world showcase! 

Marinette's favorite pavilion is Italy because the food is delicious and the Venetian Carnival Masks in the store are her favorite

She traditionally buys a new one every trip

When Adrien visits the store in Japan, he is in literal tears

Anime products everywhere. 

He spends $200 there on merch include a Sailor Moon keychain, a giant Pikachu plushie, and a Goku onesie

He also gets 6 different flavors of Pocky

Nino loves the Morocco pavilion (for obvious reasons) and he insists on snacking on the Moroccan food which turns out to be soo good. 

Frozen Ever After time!

Adrien sings “Let It Go” with Elsa and everyone giggles but it's honestly adorable and he's pretty good at singing too??

They visit the other pavilions, including France where they all have a mini photo shoot together

Cue the class posing like Ladybug and Chat Noir in front of a fountain

Marinette and Alya posing as Ladybug and Chat Noir respectively

Adrien, seeing them pose, and asking Marinette to take pics with him in LB and CN poses

Why are these kids so clueless: a novel by me

They also meet Belle and Adrien cries a little because she’s such a believable Belle and he feels unworthy to be in the presence of a real Disney Princess

Marinette buys her Epcot pin, following tradition

They finish the night watching Illuminations in the Canada pavilion

Adrien lowkey watching Marinette watch the show because wow she loves it so much?

Marinette glancing at Adrien

Adrien quickly looking away and blushing (these kids I can’t with them)

NEXT: Hollywood Studios 

Nino is SO HYPE. A park about film. It's everything he could want

Chloe insists on taking solo pics in front of Hollywood Boulevard

Everyone actually agrees

Adrien being the diva he is and Marinette close to fainting

First stop: Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster

Quick photoshoot in front of the guitar, posing like Jagged Stone

Second stop: Toy Story Mania

Marinette and Max going all out

Max surprisingly winning the game

Marinette claims her cannon was broken and therefore was the leading cause of her loss

Third stop: Tower of Terror

Everyone is lowkey scared to ride, even Marinette who has ridden it hundreds of times

Alix suggests that they all dab when the photo is taken

No one knows when the photo is taken on the ride, so they all dab like 5 times

The picture actually turns out super funny, and they buy it

Fourth stop: Star Tours

Nino, Max, and Kim fangirl so hard

Kim tries to join the Jedi Training show, but is #rejected for being too old

Alix steals a pair of 3D glasses from the ride

Fifth stop: The Great Movie Ride

Marinette ADORES this ride because it’s a tribute to classic movies

She loves everything about it from the cheesy tour guide to the montage of movies at the end

She ends up crying after the ride is over because she remembers that it’s closing in the upcoming weeks

Classmates comfort Marinette

Marinette buys a Hollywood Studios pin

They watch the Star Wars firework show and head home

Time for the most important park day of all: Magic Kingdom

Marinette does not hesitate, bitch

She needs this day to be the best of the best

Marinette wears her Minnie Mouse Disney bound which makes all the classmates’ hearts skip a beat

like she is so pretty in her red dress with white polka dots, yellow converse, block stockings, space buns, and bow in her hair

They get to the park and Alya insists on taking pics of Marinette in front of the castle

Marinette is a little embarrassed but she does it anyway

Adrien can not get over how cute she is like wow???

Alya catches Adrien staring at Marinette

Alya: “hey Mickey Mouse, why don’t you take a few pictures with Minnie?”

Adrien, caught off guard: “Wh-huh yeah sure!”

Marinette, using telepathy: “Alya, I will get you back for this.”

The pictures actually turning out amazing and Adrien makes one his phone wallpaper

Marinette once again almost passing out

They head to Space Mountain aka the best ride (before Flight of Passage was built that is)

Adrien loves it sooooo much he wants to ride it all day

but alas, the line is 110 minutes long after they exit the ride

They spend about an hour and a half in Tomorrowland

Next stop: Fantasyland, Marinette’s favorite area

Adrien finds the Princess Fairytale Hall and demands they get on line to meet Rapunzel, his favorite princess.

the line is 45 minutes, a bit much, but they let him

Adrien running up to Rapunzel and hugging her like a 5 year old child

He tells her how much he loved Tangled and that she is his idol

Rapunzel kisses his cheek and Adrien almost dies right there

Marinette gets a little jealous

Because it’s Florida, there’s a thunderstorm

The class quickly finding a place to take cover

Adrien trying to block the rain from Marinette so her outfit doesn’t get ruined

Marinette slipping on the wet ground and Adrien catching her

Cue insane blushing

They take this opportunity to see Philharmagic

Alix steals 3 pairs of the 3D glasses

Rose tells her to return them

Alix gives her a pair to keep her quiet

The storm clears out

3:00 pm: time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade!

Marinette singing the parade music because she knows it by heart

Flynn Rider winks at Sabrina

Sabrina actually fainting due to a mixture of heat, dehydration, and Eugene Fitzherbert

The paramedics come to take Sabrina to the infirmary

Sabine offers to stay with her 

The whole class in awe when Dragon!Maleficent breathes fire

After the parade, the class proceeds to go on the rest of the rides

They dab during the Splash Mountain photo

Ivan comforts Mylene during the Haunted Mansion

Everyone sings “Heigh-Ho” on the Dwarf Mine Coaster

Also singing during Pirates of the Caribbean

Snack Break!

Marinette buys everyone Dole Whips because they are amazing

More rides, more photos, more fun

8:00 pm: 1 hour until the fireworks

Marinette insists that they must get their spot now

They play Heads-Up on Alya’s phone to help pass the time

Sabrina and Sabine rejoin the group

9:00 pm: time for Happily Ever After

Marinette has never actually seen this show because it’s fairly new

The whole class is in awe

Halfway through the show, Marinette bursts out into tears because the show is just so well done

The music, the fireworks, the projections on the castle, it just brings back all her memories watching Disney movies

Adrien sees this and puts his hand on her shoulder

Marinette panics, but Adrien gives her a soft smile and she’s smiles back

The show ends, being the perfect finale to a perfect trip

On their way out of the park, Adrien realizes that Marinette never bought her pin from Magic Kingdom yet and decides to buy one for her on Main Street

They head back to their hotel and begin packing for their departure in the morning

Adrien knocks on the door to Marinette and Alya’s room

He thanks her for making the trip so amazing and magical

He then pulls out the Magic Kingdom pin from his pocket and gives it to her as a thank you

Marinette, face as red as a tomato, freezes for a moment

Alya is eating this up

Marinette takes a breath and hugs Adrien, thanking him for also making this trip amazing for her

I definitely would like to go into more detail about each individual day, but here’s a summary of basically all the points I wanted to hit! If you have any ideas/headcanons please send them my way I’d love to hear them :D

[nerdtrash-iteration]

(Re)watching Doctor Who: series 9

So this is where the infamous pair Heaven Sent and Hell Bent reside. You’ll see my feelings on the latter are rather lengthy. Let’s see how we did here. Series 9 (Twelfth Doctor)

9.X1: Last Christmas I loved this Christmas special. I thought it was a great homage to both the Alien franchise and Inception. The guest cast were really fun (especially Santa Claus), the plot kept me interested and there were many very sweet character moments. Loved Danny Pink’s brief return and the sleigh scene at the end especially. Bit awkward at the end with the fake-out of Clara leaving, you can really tell it was a rewrite. But I really enjoyed this one. 9.1: The Magician’s Apprentice Excellent opening episode. A cold open that immediately grabbed me, love the confirmation of Clara’s bisexuality and Missy is very welcome back. I wasn’t a huge fan of how they found the Doctor, felt a bit too contrived for my liking. Also wasn’t fond of his guitar antics and the whole notion of his last day alive. Felt a bit ehh. But I love all the character interactions here and the reveal of Skaro was fantastic. 9.2: The Witch’s Familiar A great 2nd part to the first story of this series. I adore Missy’s interactions with Clara, I highkey ship them but I do also ship Missy with everyone. It was also really interesting to see the Doctor and Davros have a civil-ish conversation. I still haven’t watched the classic era yet so I currently only know Davros from the series 4 finale. He didn’t really wow me there but I quite like this more complex portrayal of him. The Daleks are quite fun here, especially when Missy messes with them. It was a bit disappointing to see Davros double-cross the Doctor, I really thought they would try something different with him. Also sad that the Doctor just knew the whole time, made the interaction seem more fake. I feel the connection to the opening is a taaaaad tenuous with how old Davros is influenced by it, wish that had been a bit clearer. But I’ll allow it. 9.3 + 9.4: Under the Lake + Before the Flood I was so disappointed in this story. It’s hard for me to judge the two episodes separately so I’ll just talk about the story overall. I was quite bored throughout. Found the ghost design quite generic and not scary, the explanation of the mystery was absolutely batshit and I really didn’t care for it. I thought the plot resolution was pretty good and kinda cool how the Doctor transported himself to the future. Also cool that 2nd half took place in the past and ended up causing the flood. I love a good bootstrap paradox. But the reveal that his ghost was a hologram really felt like a cop-out. The guest cast were initially quite awkward but did grow on me in the 2nd part. I also was glad they wrote a deaf character with agency and made her the leader of the team. I saw Toby Whithouse wrote this, so I wasn’t surprised both the Doctor and Clara referred to the pilot as “he/she/it”. He has written some lowkey transphobic lines in the show before. That one isn’t that bad but just sounds so awkward. No-one uses the pronoun “it”. And just say “they”. Overall quite a disappointing story for me after that great first one. 9.5: The Girl Who Died I set my expectations a bit lower after that previous story. But this one was quite fun! Nice to have something a bit more light-hearted. Aschildr was fun but I didn’t feel she was very well-developed at this point. Kinda the generic “I’m not like other girls” trope used here. The Mire were an interesting race in how they survived on their reputation. The ragtag amateur feel of the finale was fun, with the use of electric eels. I thought Aschildr using the hologram technology to project the image of a sea serpent was a biiiit of a stretch though. Also some of Clara’s interactions just feel a bit awkward here. I thought the decision to basically make Aschildr immortal was very ethically dodgy on the Doctor’s part but I’m curious to see how it plays out in the next episode. 9.6: The Woman Who Lived Ah I loved this episode! It was so fun. I appreciated how simple its plot was and that it largely focused on the Doctor and Aschildr’s interactions. She was a lot more interesting in this episode, with some really great dialogue between her and the Doctor about immortality. Sam the Swift was really fun too. A really enjoyable episode. 9.7 + 9.8: The Zygon Invasion + The Zygon Inversion This is a very flawed story but one I still really enjoyed. Really felt like a proper sequel to the Zygon subplot in Day of the Doctor with how big in scale and budget it was. Really love to see Osgood(s) back and Kate Stewart. I really like the horror vibe the first part has especially with building in suspense. I think Osgood’s refusal to be defined as human or Zygon is thematically brilliant and her interactions with the Doctor are great. Love the Doctor calling Bonnie “Zygella”. I do find some of the plot details quiet frustrating though. Like the mechanism for the Zygons keeping a human form was very confusing. Also the radical Zygons’ plan just seemed really stupid? Like the humans outnumber you by a lot, they will kill you and your plan will be pointless. Also a bit disappointed in how Kate’s cliffhanger was resolved. Just shooting the Zygon in front of her, wow. But the speech at the end, damn. The two boxes and everything the Doctor said was amazing. Loved that. Overall a very enjoyable if flawed story. 9.9: Sleep No More Yiiiiiiiiiikes. I was warned this episode was underwelming and yeah, it be. It doesn’t make me angry though, just disappointed and confused. I absolutely adore the premise. Late-stage evil space capitalism not even letting workers sleep, absolutely brilliant. I can even roll with the idea of the change in brain chemistry making sleep dust into monsters somehow, sure. But all of the bonkers twists and attempts at being meta really frustrated me. It was just too many ridiculous ideas that we were expected to just accept and appreciate. Twists don’t necessarily make your story better, especially if you’ve just put one in to try and get a reaction from the audience. They work when they make sense in the story and add texture to it. The Doctor said it best: “None of this makes any sense”. 9.10: Face the Raven Oh faaaaaaaack. I hadn’t been watching Doctor Who for a while as I hadn’t been super feeling series 9. While I have enjoyed many of the stories up until now, I was frustrated by the lack of season arc. Felt like it wasn’t really focused on anything, besides vague notions of the Doctor’s confession dial and the Hybrid. Then just today I got in the mood to try to continue. Yeah this episode was a massive punch in the gut. I was immediately grabbed by the premise and the setting and having Rigsy and Ashildr back. I got so excited when they used trap streets!!! I just learned about them recently, they’re so fascinating. I loved the street itself and how Ashildr keeps the peace. It was really ruthless but narratively very interesting. I found the plot a taaaaaad contrived. Surely there were easier ways to get the Doctor and his confession dial and TARDIS key. But for character interactions were spot-on. Also I knew this was when Clara dies but the scene where they realise it left me a weeping mess. Like tears streaming down my face. Also the soundtrack in this episode was a bop. Fantastic episode, great way to pull me back in to Doctor Who. 9.11: Heaven Sent Okay so I’ve had this episode hyped for me for a good while. I’ve seen Doctor Who YouTube commentators call it their favourite episode. Personally there are episodes I enjoy more just because they tap into what I personally love in a story. But this still really impressed me. I love how good the episode looks, it really does feel special and cinematic. The twist is absolutely genius and I could not have predicted it. Everything about the harder-than-diamond wall was great. The ending montage was so emotional. Not my favourite but it certainly earns its reputation. 9.12: Hell Bent I was honestly tempted to just key-smash with this one because what the faaaaaaaaaaaaaack. In contrast to Heaven Sent, I’ve had others warn me that Hell Bent was their least favourite episode. And yeah, this ain’t it. I tried going in with an open mind but there are just too many things that annoy me. I personally really dislike the Time Lords as a presence in a story as they often do not feel like real characters. Just a vague annoying bureaucratic threat with very empty lore tied to them. “We must stop the Doctor, he bad, for reasons” is the feel I often get with them, it’s very annoying. The motivations of the various Time Lords and Sisters of Karn used here were also very unclear. One minute some are helping the Doctor, the next he’s against them all. Things were just happening too fast to keep up. Also why is there barely any significance made of the Doctor finally returning to Gallifrey???? Clara even asks “How did they get unfrozen?” and the Doctor says “I didn’t ask”. Just felt like the writers saying “Yeah we’re bored with this really important character arc that was set up all the way back in 2005, never mind”. I just thought the performance of the woman in the barn was really silly, with her wordlessly gesturing to the Doctor to come to the door to see the soldiers. I hated seeing a Gallifreyan crowd just surround the Doctor and silently applaud him like a hive mind for drawing a line in the sand. The whole thing with the soldiers going to the Doctor’s side one at a time just felt silly to me. That is a good idea in a story but something about the execution just felt off. It was cool to learn that the Cloister Bell in the TARDIS was likely linked with the basement cloisters on Gallifrey. But the cloisters themselves felt very underused and just thrown in there. After a lot of thought and seeking other hot takes on the episode, I see the Doctor’s real plan had feck all to do with the Hybrid (now a cursed word for me) and was just to save Clara. Which isn’t a bad idea necessarily but the choices so many characters make just felt so silly. Something about the script just didn’t work, like the actors were kids playing pretend and making up their own lines as they went. I really liked Clara as a companion (especially in series 8) but she had a good death in Face the Raven that fit her character, let her be. I really love the relationship between her and Twelve (especially how it’s the focus of series 8) but I think this is just a stretch. To shoot a Time Lord to kill, to go as far as he does, it just didn’t ring true. The rehash of the memory wipe from series 4 annoyed me, and there was a throwaway line as to why it was necessary and it just didn’t feel right. It just felt like “Ummmm we need a sad and dramatic end, this will work!!!”. And it just felt so unsatisfying and empty. Again like kids playing pretend and then they decide a character dies or gets amnesia to be dramatic. I was already not a fan of the series arc here (or lack thereof) and this really cemented it as the worst arc in revived Doctor Who so far for me. I see why RTD’s mystery box phrase might not be for everyone but at least they all led to something. “The Hybrid” was just a phrase that kept be dangled over our heads and ultimately meant nothing. It’s like a McGuffin but worse. It’s not an object to move the plot, it’s just nothing. “Oh no, Clara, through my selfish actions, I see now that I am the Hybrid!” No. It just felt like a contrivance made to get the Time Lords angry with the Doctor and it turns out they caused their own problems by bringing the Doctor to them and he ended up being their worst nightmare. There should be something poetic or ironic in that but it didn’t feel concrete enough for me to care. Ummmmm things I liked: -Another gender-swap regeneration, that was cool. Also T’nia Miller! I recognised her from Sex Education. -I always like seeing Ashildr and the Doctor muse over immortality. I liked seeing her at the end of the universe, even some of their musings over the Hybrid were kinda interesting. -Some of the Doctor’s dialogue before losing his memory was funny, like never eating pears. 9.X2: The Husbands of River Song This was quite a fun special! Definitely needed after how series 9 ended. The robot with the replaceable heads was fun, didn’t know this was when we first meet Nardole and it was nice to have River back. Her characterisation felt slightly off to me, like she was a bit too zany. But it’s probably just been a while since I’ve last seen her. Her not recognising the Doctor felt a bit too drawn out for me but the scene where she realises it is lovely. As is her ending scene, even if it sliiiiiightly goes against canon but whatever. I don’t know how to feel about her certainty that the Doctor never loved her. I myself did doubt their romantic connection as it more so felt like we were being TOLD they were a couple rather than believably showing it. I do believe the Doctor can fall in love but that it’s very rare and probably in a manner that humans might not appreciate. I think he was a monolith who loved her back but probably just not to the extent she wanted. So series 9 didn’t feel as cohesive in theme compared to series 8. I really liked many of the individual episodes but it didn’t feel like the series was really about anything. And that’s confirmed when we learn the Hybrid is basically nothing. I wish Clara got a better send-off, seeing her fly off in her own TARDIS with Ashildr just fell flat for me. We still got some great stories here if you just ignore the Hybrid arc.

[brainrattlers]

I Hope I Can Handle It (Part 5/?)

Summary: Sequel to “Think You Can Handle It?” - Reader is in a long-distance relationship, and is traveling for the holidays to see her man.

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x reader

Words:  3174

Warnings: Oh geez, fluff. Nervousness/anxiety in social situations, but not too bad. Mentioning of getting naked. (aww yeah!)  Still... PG-13.  I’m not comfortable enough to go past that phase (yet?).

A/N: For the amount of time this chapter covers, it is kind of long. But it was the most fun part to write so far. I hope you all enjoy!  Tags are open, and are at the bottom.  I haven’t edited this too much, if there is a missing word or two, I’m sure I’ll find them.

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

“Sebastian, I am so glad you made it!  I know it was so last second…” The woman kissed both of his cheeks, before turning to you.  “And this must be Y/N!”  Unexpectedly, she pulled you in for the same greeting.  Sebastian chuckled.  “I’m so glad you both are here, and that he’s giving me an opportunity to do something a little matchy matchy.  Shall we get started?”

You shrugged your shoulders.  “Sure?”

“Excellent. Sebastian, honey, your tux is in the back.  If you want to head back there, Miguel will be happy to help get things perfect.  And you, Y/N, Sebastian gave me a few ideas to work with, so I have a few designs to show you.  Come, come!  We’ve got a lot of work to do!”  Pulled away, Sebastian winked at you, blowing a kiss.

Being pulled into another back room, the designer grabbed a tape measure and a few sheets of newsprint, along with a few fabric swatches.  Awkwardly  being told to get down to your underwear to get measurements, she gave you a peek into the ideas that were brewing in her mind, getting your input along the way.  After about an hour of being measured and pinned, you imagined this is what the models feel like on Project Runway.

“Alright sweetie, I think Sebastian is done, and I’ve got what I need for right now.  I hope I’m not ruining anything but I hope you have a super relaxing afternoon… and I will see you for final tweaks on this dress right before you head out for the evening!  Have fun, honey!”

It was all a blur, but you thanked her for the time spent, and was actually excited to see what was going to come of it in just a few hours.  You went back into the main room of the store and met Sebastian.

“Hey baby girl, you ready for an afternoon of getting pampered and ready for the night?” He kissed your nose before heading back out to the street. “I hope you don’t mind, because, well, makeup and hair really aren’t my big thing, but I’ve got some appointments set up so you can get all dolled up… and I’ve got a meeting about an upcoming project.”

“No, that’s fine babe.  Besides, I think you’d probably be really bored waiting around on me getting ready, plus… I’m not sure what sort of makeup protocol goes with these sorts of events.  I’m glad you’re putting me in able, and far more qualified hands.”

“Okay good.  Well I believe your ride is here to whisk you off… enjoy your afternoon, my queen.”  Sebastian kissed your hand, and helped you into the car before doing an about face to get in the waiting car behind it.

The blush on your face stayed in place for quite a while.  Your driver dropped you off at a day spa, where a whole package of events was planned.  Starting with a massage, your stress of not knowing what to expect the rest of the day melted away.  Next was getting your hair done, and finally your makeup.  Not even when you got ready for the big dance in high school, or even your cousin’s wedding did you ever get this gussied up.  Turning around for a final reveal, you almost didn’t recognize yourself, and it took all of your will to not get teared up, and messing your makeup.

A stylist arrived with the designer, gown in hand.  You couldn’t believe the colors of the fabric, and how it felt beautiful sliding over your skin.  The stylist tried several pairs of shoes, finding the perfect look and fit.  A clutch was put in your hand.

“Damn girl, you look amazing.  But we’re missing something... “

“You’re right.  What could it be?”

Sebastian rounded the corner into your dressing area, and gave a long slow whistle as he eyed you up and down.  The dress hugged your curves in the right spots, and hid the others that you were iffy about.  You actually felt comfortable in your skin, the gown making it feel even better.

“You look…”  You could tell he was searching for the right words, smirking when he picked it out. “Phenomenal.  Gorgeous. Sexy as hell.”

Feeling quite warm at the compliments, you gave him a once-over, noticing the details.  Sebastian’s bowtie was the same fabric as your gown, and the shirt a complimenting color.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.  You know I love you in tuxes….”  Your tongue unconsciously  licked your lips.

“Ladies, you’re right, I think I know what it is missing though.”  Sebastian pulled a blue box from his pocket, opening it in front of you.  “I had a little help picking out what would accent this dress, but I think you make it look perfect.”  A thin necklace with a delicate pendant, encrusted in jewels was placed around your neck.  You fingered it gingerly, looking in the mirror.  Knowing that these events, celebrities often are showcasing items like dresses, tuxedos, and jewelry from various designers, you tried to not get down about having to give it all back at the end of the night.  As Sebastian fastened the clasp, he whispered in your ear.

“Did you just say you loved me?”

Your knees went weak. He said it in a tone that he KNEW would cause you to stutter.  He is the cat who loves playing with the mouse before going in for the kill.  The look you gave him was akin to deer in headlights. It was too early to say such things.  You didn’t just SAY that.  You even clarified with “in tuxes.” Trying to dig your way out of this hole that you were sinking into, he saved you at the last moment with another whisper in your ear.

“Well I love you in this dress, baby girl.”  He kissed the shell of your ear before grabbing your hand to do a twirl for him and the small audience.  The designer and stylist clapped and whistled, sending your confidence soaring.  You thanked them both for everything this afternoon, and said you hoped to do them proud tonight.  

You hadn’t realized just how much time was spent getting dressed, because you noticed it was getting dark outside, and Sebastian’s phone buzzed.

“Hey babe, it is time to hit the road, are you ready?”

You quickly hugged everyone involved in this amazing transformation, and were ushered outside to the waiting car.  Sebastian helped you inside, and then sat next to you, holding your hand.  Your other hand’s fingers idly fingered the pendant hanging from around your neck. For some reason though, you were a little nervous.

“Seb? What is our signal for tonight? I… I’m starting to get a little nervous.”

“How about... being cold? Maybe something like ‘I’m a little chilly, I could really use some hot cocoa’?”

You involuntarily shivered.  Nerves were starting to get the best of you.

Sebastian chuckled and kissed your knuckles.  “You’re going to do great.  Just remember the signal.  I’ll be there with you the whole time, if something happens to my queen, I will be within mere footsteps to save m’lady.”

You nodded, and squeezed his hand.  The car slowed to a stop at a fancy looking building.  A few photographers lingered outside, snapping photos of the arrivals to the event.  Sebastian climbed out of the car, and leaned in to help you scoot out, and make a graceful exit.  Upon getting upright, he offered his elbow as you looped your arm into it, smiling for the cameras as each hollered to look in various directions.  Sensing your literal chilliness, he nodded to the photographers and guided you inside the warm building with his hand on your lower back.  Shortly past the front door was a carpet and backdrop, with a number of other photographers waiting patiently to photograph all those who strolled along the carpet to the ballroom entrance.

“Sebastian! Over here!”

He offered up his million dollar smile and walked toward the carpet.  You’d helped at a few events, none of this caliber, but similar enough to know that plus ones stood off to the side of the backdrop, allowing photos to be taken, and questions to be asked about thoughts regarding the organization and the work they do, what they happen to be wearing, upcoming projects, etc. You held back as Sebastian’s hand guided your back again, but you held steady, shaking your head, then nodding to him to go ahead.  It was his moment, not yours.  He was the one they wanted to see, to have a moment of his time.

He smiled as the flashbulbs flickered, looking in random directions at various lenses.  His brow furrowed though, when he saw you standing alone, off to the side.  Even if the photogs didn’t care, he did, and stepped away toward you for a moment, pulling you to the carpet, and into his side.  

“Sebastian! Is this your girlfriend? What’s her name? What are you two wearing?”

“That gown is gorgeous!  Love how it matches!”

“Y/N Y/L/N! Are you excited to be in New York for Christmas?  Big plans?”

The question caught you off-guard.  You weren’t expecting someone to know who you were, but they were kind enough to include you in the craziness of the carpet.

You smiled to the cameras.  “It has been a wonderful visit so far.  I haven’t a clue what else is going on during my trip, but your city is lovely!”  

A journalist asked whom you were wearing, and asked you to give a 360.  You answered enthusiastically, giving a slow twirl and a pose for the paparazzi.  If you didn’t feel like you were absolutely glowing while the stylists were working on you earlier, you certainly were now.  Any negative butterflies you had waiting to go in vanished, and you felt like the belle of the ball, literally, with shutters clicking and flash bulbs snapping.

“Hey Sebastian, your lady here is stealing your spotlight!”

A round of chuckles came from the press as the flashes of light continued.  A round of “Awww!”s came from the crowd as he showed a little PDA, kissing your cheek before nodding at the photographers and guiding you off of the carpet.

“Alright my little ham, I thought you were nervous?”  Sebastian chuckled in your ear as you entered the event hall. People everywhere were mingling, chatting with yet more media types, and networking with everyone in various fields, all there to celebrate the cause.  Sebastian mingled, you on his arm, nibbling on finger foods and drinking champagne.  A few more photos happened with the both of you, including a few shots for Seb’s Instagram, tagging you and the designer.  You tagged your stylist as well… might as well give credit where credit is due, right?  You also took some selfies with Sebastian to send to family and friends.  This was the most elegant you had ever been dressed, and you knew everyone back home would get a kick out of it as well.

The half hour Sebastian recommended staying turned into nearly 3 hours, with a little bit of dancing (oh yes, he twirled you around the floor in a waltz, and even attempted a tango before turning bright red after stepping on his own feet repeatedly), more finger food, and meeting a number of Seb’s acquaintances, including a few in the hospitality/restaurant industry. After a little champagne, not only were you piping up into conversations, but you also were starting them.  You had so many questions regarding how it all works, inevitably telling stories about Mama J, and her plans, and how you wished to help.  You gained valuable insight, and even a few phone numbers/email addresses to talk further in a less-party setting.  For as cut-throat as the world may seem sometimes, everyone you talked to had huge hearts.  It didn’t really surprise you though, Sebastian always seems to surround himself with amazing people. Smart, funny, genuine people.  

In his eyes, you were one of them.  He was beaming, watching you come out of your shell after being so nervous on the ride over. Seeing that you were putting yourself out there, getting the info you were after, and networking. He was so excited, watching you get excited about helping out Mama J.  He noticed you intently listening, all while taking mental notes as you fingered the pendant around your neck.

The crowd began to thin, and you were collecting business cards and contact info from your new acquaintances.  You thanked everyone for their input, and profusely thanked Sebastian for giving you the opportunity to do this, despite your initial reservations.  As the car arrived to take you back home, you curled into his side, him holding his arm around your shoulders and resting his cheek atop your head.

“You have a good evening, baby girl?”  Sebastian whispered before kissing the top of your head.

“Yeah,” curling up tighter with him, “It’s kind of fun playing dress-up with all this.” Your fingers were lightly touching the collar of your gown, sliding over your necklace, and to the other side, feeling the fabric again.  “You know some really great people, Seb. And I feel like I got a lot of good info to help out Mama J.  I’m so excited, I just need to figure out how to make it all work, maybe save up a little bit extra for her to make it easier.” You bit your lip, thinking. “IF she’ll let me.”

“Mama J is lucky to have you.  Lot of people were asking about you, you made a pretty good first impression. So… I have another question for you then, Miss Popular… some friends of mine are having a little friends Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night. Would you want to come with? Much smaller than this AND you don’t have to get all dressed up, if you don’t want to.”

“You mean I can’t wear this again tomorrow?”

“Sorry baby girl, you can’t be seen wearing the same thing twice.”  You both laughed.

“Okay.  I’m a little sad I don’t get to play dress up again, but I’ll go.”

Digging the phone out of your clutch, you started scrolling through the notifications that had piled up during the event.  A few texts from Y/F/N came up, saying she wanted more photos of you in that dress, then another of “The two of you are trending on Twitter, some of the photos of you in that amazing gown already are online! You are such a show off!”

A few photos of Sebastian and yourself were being passed around on Instagram and Twitter.  You double-tapped, and commented on a few about what a wonderful evening it was, how it was a pleasure to be there.  You noticed a few candid shots of you that Seb slipped in. Not even sure when he shot them, you looked up at him, giant smirk on his face as he watched you scroll through.  Tears were threatening to escape your eyes. Profile head shots of you talking with people, full-body shots of you laughing while chatting with someone else.  You looked like you were meant to be there, like it was nothing new.

“So beautiful, she is my everything. I am so lucky. <3”

He pulled you in tight and kissed the top of your head again. “It’s true, baby girl. You look amazing tonight, more so than you always do.  I know you aren’t supposed to talk about exes,” Sebastian paused for a second, closing his eyes, opening them to meet yours again, “But in the past, I always was compelled to keep relationships quiet. With you, I want to shout it from the rooftops. I WANT to show you.. US… off.”

Without a second thought, you pulled his face down to yours and kissed him fervently.

Pulling apart, both of you shared a dazed stare, catching your breath.  Something set Sebastian off again, kissing you deeply, leaving you feeling like a couple of horny teenagers in the backseat of the car making out.  Between kisses, he whispered things in your ear, causing you to blush with every kiss.

“You are beautiful.”

“You are so smart, and funny…”

“You are my queen.”

“You are my everything.”

The last kiss lasted until you felt the car slow as it pulled to a corner, and you slid apart, smoothing out your hair and gown.  Sebastian hopped out of the car and ran around to the other side, opening the door and helping you out. Upon stepping on the curb, Sebastian shut the door and started guiding you toward his building, but stopping a moment.

“Hold on a sec, there has been something I’ve wanted to to do for a while…” A wolfish grin spread upon his lips.  He grabbed you around your midsection, pulling you up and slinging you over his shoulder, fireman-style. You squealed, laughing as he carried you to the building, your fists playfully smacking his back.  Getting you back, he smacked you on the bottom, making you gasp and squeal more.  

“How DARE you treat your queen in such a manner!” you feigned shock, but truly were aghast as he playfully turned his head and nipped at your gown-covered behind.  Reaching down, you smacked him on the butt as he carried you into the elevator. The two of you couldn’t stop laughing on the ride up the floors. Once the doors opened, he continued carrying you to the door, balancing you precariously as he unlocked the door.  As soon as he could get the two of you inside, he kicked the door shut behind him, carrying you to the bedroom.  Gingerly, he plopped you on the bed, crawling on top of you to continue the kissing that was going on in the car.  Things got pretty heated, until you pushed Sebastian back, giving you a concerned look.

“Babe, we need to get out of these clothes. I’d hate to rip that tuxedo right off of you…”

“Good point, don’t want to ruin that pretty dress of yours…”

Pushing Sebastian up, you undid his tie, sliding it from his neck and draping it over the chair.  Next came the jacket, and his shirt.  Sebastian couldn’t take it, turning you around to slowly unhook your necklace, placing it on the dresser, along with the gown, kissing your shoulders as they became bare.  Stepping out of the dress, you gently placed it over the chair, as Sebastian did with the rest of his tuxedo.  Immediately the two of you dove into bed, kissing and giggling.

“Do you have an early morning tomorrow?”

“Nope, Christmas Eve and Day are off, why do you ask?”

You kissed along Sebastian’s jawline, and whispered against his ear. “I think you’re in for a long night.  Think you can handle it?”

Sebastian’s eyes darkened, looking deep into yours.  “You have no idea what you are in for, baby girl…”

Part 6

TAGS: @dawn121, @sceaterian, @pennyroyalcreep, @karollbey, @discophony,  @imamoose​, @skatinginpr0gress, @bluebrrn, @goldwanderer

[seriouslyhooked]

Wedded Bliss and Asterisks (A Modern CS AU) Part 11/?

Emma Swan is an enemy of love who just happens to be an up and coming wedding dress designer. She’s convinced that a fairytale kind of romance is nowhere in her future but when she meets Killian Jones, whose magazine is covering the opening of her new boutique, things change. Suddenly Emma finds herself drawing up new plans for her life, ones that seem to all be leading towards her own form of wedded bliss. Rated M.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven.Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten. Also on FF Here.

A/N: Hey all! This chapter picks up the day after the last installment, and as promised we will have some closure for Snowing, a check in from some characters we haven’t seen in awhile, and then get back to business for CS. For those of you so anxiously awaiting Liam’s return, know that we won’t be getting that interaction until next chapter but I promise it will be worth the wait. Anyway thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

“I really can’t say enough about how great you all have been. I owe you all so much more than I can ever pay back,” Jasmine professed from the other side of the dressing room door as Emma and the others waited for her big reveal.

The dress that Emma had designed and given to Jasmine was finally completed after weeks of work and a rush order that came with a hefty price tag, but when Emma saw the finished product for the first time she knew it would be spectacular. She could already imagine it on Jasmine and was envisioning the moment when Jasmine would walk down the aisle to her man and make him so incredibly happy.

Aladdin had visited with Jasmine a few times at Bliss since they took her on as a client, but he never came on an outing when the dress was in question. Instead he saved his trips here for days when seating arrangements were designed with Mary Margaret or when Elsa was finalizing her vision for the wedding cake. He was funny and likeable, and just like Jasmine said, he seemed to roll with anything. No question was too inconsequential or too overwhelming. He was laid back, and watching him calm Jasmine into a similar state was always nice. The peace they had together was matched only by the fire that simmered underneath the surface.

“Oh honey you paid us plenty, trust me,” Ruby joked and everyone chuckled, but at that moment Jasmine stepped out into the showroom and shook her head.

“I really don’t think I did. Not for a dress like this.”

Everyone stood there totally awed of how it all turned out, and Emma had to admit she was damn proud of her work. A dress like this was no where near ordinary, and though she’d created some beautiful designs before, this one was definitely special thanks in no small part to the bride wearing it. Jasmine’s excitement was uncontainable and that excitement on her face and that sense of enthusiasm couldn’t be replicated. She looked radiant and ready to be married, and come this weekend she’d get the chance to do just that.

But even in that magical moment, when a bride Emma had come to truly like found the satisfaction that only a magnificent wedding dress could bring, a niggling thought played at the back of Emma’s mind: This might be an amazing gown and a one of a kind piece that Emma would long be proud of, but it still wasn’t one that spoke to Emma’s true heart. That dress, the one that Emma looked at and saw every good thing made real in, remained tucked in a drawer in Emma’s office where she took it out every once and a while, thinking about how it had once been lost and then later found by the only man Emma had ever been able to imagine a future with.

“So what do you guys think?” Jasmine asked, pulling Emma back into the present. Jasmine needn’t have asked though, since the answer to that query was fairly obvious.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that you look fantastic,” Tiana said, breaking through everyone’s silence with a thought they all readily attested to.

“Oh my god, totally!” Elsa agreed.

“This is really beautiful work, Ems. Truly fantastic,” Ruby replied and Emma smiled before a sniffle infiltrated into the room. Without even looking Emma knew it would be Mary Margaret, but one glance in her friend’s direction proved her right.

“That reaction from Mary Margaret is the best thing you could hope for,” Emma said and Jasmine smiled. “Seriously, Jasmine, it’s perfect and I don’t use that phrase lightly.”

“She really doesn’t,” Tiana confirmed. “With Emma there’s always one last adjustment or one final piece to tinker with.”

“Not this time. This time I got it right on the first try,” Emma affirmed and Jasmine twirled around to the mirror once more to take herself in.

“He’s going to lose it isn’t he?” Jasmine asked, and everyone in the room knew that she meant Aladdin.

“Yes,” they all responded in unison and Jasmine laughed, running her hand down the fine detailing once more before turning back to Emma.

“Part of me wishes I could just wear it home.”

Emma had heard that from a number of her brides in the past. She wouldn’t know that feeling first hand – truth be told she’d never so much as tried on a wedding gown herself despite her proximity to them – but she felt the compliment of such intense affection for an object she created deep in her soul. This validation was uplifting, but now Emma had to remind Jasmine that she was edging closer to the final destination, and that even if waiting was the last thing she wanted to do, it was necessary to get to that day they’d all worked so hard for.

“You say that now, but dry cleaning this thing is a nightmare,” Emma joked and Jasmine laughed again, moving off the little stage and back to the dressing room, but just when she was about to go inside, the energy in the room dramatically changed thanks to a new arrival in the store that no one was expecting.

“Mary Margaret?”

The call for her friend’s attention came from David, and immediately all other sound in the room faded. It had been less than twenty-four hours, but by now every employee in the whole shop knew about yesterday’s interaction. Though they’d hired good people who were kind and considerate, Emma knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that speculation about who David was and why all that drama had happened in the first place was circulating. To see him now, bearing a bouquet of crisp white roses and a look like he’d just fought through hell itself to get here, Emma had to admit that she felt for the man.

“David,” Mary Margaret’s voice said with more strength than Emma anticipated. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m doing something I should have done a long time ago – I’m winning you over. I’m making things right and I’m telling you that I love you, Mary Margaret. I’ve loved you for a long time and nothing is every going to change that.”

The silence in the room was deafening, and Emma debated either maneuvering Mary Margaret and David back to her office or leading everyone else out of this dressing room, but both Mary Margaret and David were too caught in the moment to give a damn. David was desperate for Mary Margaret to see his truth, and Mary Margaret was firm in her memories of where it had all gone wrong. The end result was the two of them sharing a whole lot more than Emma would have bargained for in front all of Mary Margaret’s friends and Jasmine.

“But you don’t, not really. If you did, you never would have chosen her.” The gravity of Mary Margaret’s statement portrayed courage Emma knew her friend was not feeling. Since the display yesterday, Mary Margaret had been a walking bundle of nerves, but right now she appeared so much more contained and controlled than Emma thought any one person could be.

“I never chose her. I’m choosing you. It’s always been you, Mary Margaret. Always.”

This would usually be the moment when Emma’s warning bells would sound if David were lying, but there was nothing like skepticism to be found in her heart. Instead Emma watched as this man she’d only known in passing set forth to lay everything on the line with her best friend. He was a man with a purpose who felt passionately and who was speaking from his heart. It was the only reason Emma even let this all continue. One hint of David having false motives and she would shove him out the door and tell him to get lost.

“Even if that were true, you have to see how bad this looks David. Breaking up your engagement? If word of that got out it could ruin this business. Can’t you see that?” Mary Margaret looked away from him for the first time, but her eyes moved to the floor and not to anyone around them.

“There was no engagement to break up, and I think you know that deep down.”

David pulled out a box from his pocket that Emma immediately noted was the perfect size for a ring. He didn’t open it, but Mary Margaret seemed to recognize the container and hope returned to her features again, letting Emma release a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“I told you once that the woman I married would wear my mother’s ring and I meant it, but Kathryn will never be that woman. She was wearing her grandmother’s diamond yesterday. It was all just a ploy to get a rise out of me, to what ends I don’t know.”

“Don’t you?” Mary Margaret asked quietly. “She loves you, David, and you love her – or loved her I guess - enough to be planning a future seriously with her.”

“I never planned for anything like what I really wanted with Kathryn. With her it was all arranged, a duty to my family. Every truly happy ending I could hope for needed one thing – you. No matter what she did, Kathryn couldn’t compare to you,” David confessed.

“That’s not what you said that night in the park.”

The park? Emma thought to herself, but she assumed that it must be a part of what went wrong all those years ago. The only park she knew of had been just outside of campus, and from what she recalled Mary Margaret and David had gone there sometimes to study.

“You mean about stringing you along as a kind of game?” David asked and Emma bit back a wince. That sounded rough, but before she could delve too deep into what Mary Margaret must have been feeling, David had an answer. “That wasn’t me. You have to believe that.”

“It was you, David. I saw you. Not only did I have to live through the moment of hearing you say all those terrible things, then I saw you with her… celebrating in it all, making a joke out of me and what I thought we had.”

Emma took a step towards her friend at the same time that Ruby and Elsa did. It was an instinctive move to protect Mary Margaret, but they were all halted by David’s earnest reply.

“You didn’t see me that night. You saw James.”

The look of shock on Mary Margaret’s face and the subsequent realization that their friend seemed to go through prompted Emma to share a look with Ruby and Elsa. Who the hell was James? And why hadn’t Mary Margaret let them kick Kathryn’s ass yesterday? Clearly she was the ‘she’ involved in all of this, and Kathryn needed a serious reality check about how to treat people.

“Your brother? But you said he was in Europe and that you’re father had cut him off and kicked him out for good. How did he…?”

Mary Margaret trailed off as David stepped closer to her, his eyes never straying for a second, and everyone else was completely ignored. Meanwhile Emma stood there almost laughing out loud. It was hardly a funny situation, but there was a certain kind of ludicrousness that came with a supposed familial misunderstanding like this. For Mary Margaret to be convinced that it was David all these years, they must look and sound very similar. Maybe they were even twins. This twist was straight out of a soap opera. Evil twins? Those couldn’t be real could they? Yet there was nothing resembling a lie anywhere on David’s person.

“Apparently all it took to seal the breach between my father and brother was the promise of making me miserable,” David explained.

“I don’t understand,” Mary Margaret said and David took a step closer again, his hand clutching Mary Margaret’s in his. Emma noticed that her friend didn’t pull back in the slightest and she knew then that all was going to be forgiven. Maybe not right this minute, but Mary Margaret was already starting to make peace with her mistake back then and now David had an opening to make good on the claims he’d walked in here with.

“A few days before that night in the park I broke it off with Kathryn for good. I told her that I didn’t care about what the expectations were or who our families were to each other. I was following my heart to you, and I told her that I hoped she could find someone who made her feel everything that you brought into my life. Even now, having not seen you in years, I still have that feeling like this is all that matters. You’re all that matters.”

“David,” The emotion of all of this started hitting Mary Margaret hard and David made quick work of tossing the flowers onto a nearby chair and wiping away her tears before continuing on.

“But instead of accepting things, Kathryn went to my father who reasoned that sacrificing your and my happiness was a small price for his idealized business plans. He got James on a plane and set the whole thing up, and I didn’t know until yesterday when I demanded the truth from him. I broke ties with Kathryn for good years ago, so my father knows that there is no longer any hope of a merger between us and he finally gave it up after enough prodding. I had no idea that they were going to set us up like that. I can only imagine what you must have thought and how it must have hurt. I know it killed me a thousand times over to have you walk away.”

“I’m sorry. David I’m so sorry.” Mary Margaret barely got out the words before her voice broke, but David rose to fill the silence, holding her closer as she stroked his cheek.

“There’s no way you could have known, Mary Margaret, but I should have. I saw James the next night. I knew he was in town but I never connected the dots. All this time we could have had was wasted, and it’s because of me, because of my family. Because I couldn’t believe the worst in three people who had shown me their true colors a long time ago.”

After all of these confessions, Emma felt a host of vicarious emotions. It was heartbreaking to think of all the time that had gone by, all the years that Emma had watched her friend try and move on, never finding someone who fit for her like David had. Now they were on their way to getting another chance, but they were still on shaky ground, either heading towards two mutual professions of caring for each other, or setting down definitively different paths. Emma hoped for her friend’s sake that Mary Margaret chose the first option, because Emma knew first hand how much better the world was when love was present.

“I’m not proud of the way I acted back then, Mary Margaret. It should never have been an issue. I should never have waited as long as I did to step up and be the man you deserved. But whether you meant to or not, you undid a lifetime’s worth of learning. You taught me that love is something I can afford, no matter the price. Now all I ask if that you look into your heart and honestly tell me if that love could ever be returned. If not, I’ll walk away. I’ll leave you to whatever it is that can make you happy. But if there’s a chance, even the slightest one, that you love me too, then I’ll never stop trying to show you that I can be the man you believedin all those years ago.”

A beat of anticipation past before Mary Margaret was in motion and pulling David down for a kiss Emma was sure was sweet for the both of them. Given everything, Emma assumed it would be their first one, but her gut was already telling her that though it might be the first, it would be one of many. Emma recognized the pulsing connection between Mary Margaret and David after all, and she hoped that the love they’d formed all those years got the chance to grow and evolve as it should have back then.

“So I’ll take that as a yes?” David asked when they pulled back and before Mary Margaret could respond, Ruby gave her two cents.

“Honey, you can take that as a hell yes! Sane women don’t turn down big gestures like the one you just made.”

For the first time Mary Margaret seemed to notice how public this reunion had just been and her cheeks stained deep red in a blush. Emma could relate to that though, for there had been more than a few instances where Killian brought that same level of distraction to her life. Without replying to Ruby, however, Mary Margaret confirmed the sentiment.

“I can’t believe this is real, but yes. We have a lot to figure out, but I do want that chance with you, David. I want to hope with you again. I went too long without it and without you.”

The pure joy on both Mary Margaret and David’s faces in that moment was impossible to ignore, and their happiness lit up the whole room. It was a beautiful thing to see, but when it looked like they were about to do more in terms of reuniting, Emma cleared her throat, pulling Mary Margaret’s attention her way.

“Maybe you guys want to take this somewhere a little more private?” Emma offered.

“Unless you’re cool with giving Ruby even more ammo than you already have,” Elsa said, backing Emma up.

“Hey! I take offense to that. Besides, Mary Margaret’s done for the day, so she can have all the privacy she needs.” That fact from Ruby seemed to surprise their pixie-haired friend.

“Done? But what about the three appointments I have this afternoon?”

“What can I say? I’m a great multi-tasker. I moved some things around for you because you’re otherwise engaged,” Ruby said shaking her phone and sending a wink to David who looked back to Mary Margaret with a big grin of his own.

“Well in that case maybe we could get to that discussion you were talking about.”

“Amongst other things,” Ruby quipped, and everyone turned their eyes to her. “What?”

“Let them have their moment, Ruby! Jeez,” Jasmine said, prompting a smile from Emma. Jasmine might be a new acquaintance, but she certainly fit into the fabric of this friendship and this moment over all.

“Alright I think that’s our cue to leave,” Mary Margaret said, taking David’s hand and accepting the flowers he retrieved once more from the chair. “See you all tomorrow.”

With that, the friends watched Mary Margaret and David depart, and once the door was closed behind them everyone broke out into a frenzy of conversation.

“Can you believe that just happened?!” Elsa asked and Jasmine shook her head.

“That was like a movie. I didn’t even realize moments like that existed,” she said.

“They do here,” Ruby responded before pointing Emma’s way. “And it all started with her.”

“Me?” Emma asked, surprised.

“Yes you. Did you think you falling in love wasn’t going to have an effect on all of us? When the cynical guarded friend finds her ‘one,’ it’s kind of a sign to the Universe to get it together for everyone else,” Ruby explained as if her logic was unimpeachable.

“So who’s next? You and Graham? Or has Elsa met someone I am unaware of?” Emma joked.

“Tragically no,” Elsa said, still looking a little dreamy eyed after all the love that had been on display just moments ago with their other friend. “But I’m comfortable being the one single friend if it comes to that. I’ll just rescue a lot of animals and bake cakes until I’m old and gray, treating all your grandchildren as if they were my own.”

Emma laughed at Elsa’s visions of her future as Ruby scoffed and rolled her eyes. She immediately waved away the thought of any such reality for Elsa.

“It’s only a matter of time. I’m telling you, I can feel it. Love is in the air,” Ruby professed.

“And that love you’re feeling has nothing to do with the fact that we work in this industry and get people hitched for a living?” Emma retorted.

“That’s purely coincidental,” Ruby said with a grin before turning back to Jasmine and leading the soon to be bride through some other last minute things she’d have to consider for the wedding this weekend. Emma took that as her sign that she was no longer needed, and when Jasmine had successfully changed, and Emma oversaw her dress being returned to where it needed to be, an idea came to her.

“I think I’m going to go out for lunch today,” Emma said to Tiana as she grabbed her jacket and her purse from her office. “I shouldn’t be gone too long. Just over an hour or so. Could you -,”

“Run things until you get back? In my sleep. You have fun and say hi to Killian for me,” Tiana said throwing Emma a knowing smile.

“I didn’t – oh forget it.”

Emma didn’t bother denying what her friend already knew and Tiana laughed, giving Emma one last goodbye before she headed out to see the one guy she wanted to chose, and the one who made her believe in second chances and potential happily ever afters. She just had one last thing to do to make sure all systems were a go. Emma pulled out her phone and dialed the necessary number as she walked out the front door.

“Hey Tink it’s me. Can I ask you for a favor...?”

……………..

As Killian arrived back from a meeting across the floor, he couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. Even though it had been a routine breakdown of advertising revenue, the meeting had him in a good mood. Profits were up and advertisers were bidding at higher intervals for spots in the magazine, but even that good news couldn’t take full credit for the grin across his face. No, that went to Emma and the parting words she’d left him with on the train today:

“Have a good day, dear,” she’d teased, but Killian felt that endearment down to his bones. It was a snippet of what life could be with Emma if given the chance, where they were more to each other than just boyfriend and girlfriend. God how Killian wanted that, but for now Emma’s light heartedness and easy flirtations were enough to make him feel like the luckiest man alive.

As he got closer to his office, Killian noticed that Tink was sitting at her desk with a big smile on her face. It seemed his happiness was going around today, and he stalled at her desk listening to her finish up the conversation that had brightened her mood.

“Okay great. See you soon!” Tink said before hanging up and then jumping when she noticed him. Well this was interesting – no one was ever able to sneak up on Tink. Something must be up.

“Someone special on the other end of that call?” Killian asked his assistant and the small woman smirked.

“Oh yeah. But don’t you have a letter to get to work on, Captain Nosey?” Tink said, straightening up in her chair and giving him a stern look before pointing to his office door.

“Aye I do. Thanks for the reminder.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Tink replied as Killian laughed. He moved into his office at a leisurely pace and laid his jacket on the back of one of the chairs, not caring to put it away.

He knew that he should get to work now on the letter from the editor that would be needed for the next issue of Citizen NY, but Killian had other thoughts swimming around in his brain, ones that involved a certain blonde temptress whose smiles lit up his whole world. Sitting back behind his desk, Killian didn’t bother pretending to draft his necessary piece and instead he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, thinking of the look of amusement on Emma’s face when he’d asked to see her tonight during their commute this morning. They were in a routine of seeing each other very often but he couldn’t assume that she would give him so much of her time. Emma meanwhile found it comical that he wasn’t already prepping a date, but she readily agreed, sealing it as a fantastic day in Killian’s book no matter what was coming down the pike.

A knock sounded through the room a moment later, interrupting Killian’s happy thoughts of Emma and his largely ignoring his work responsibilities. He looked up and found Will with a parcel in his hand. His friend studied Killian critically, but instead of making a joke about the state he’d found him in as Killian might expect, Will attempted a sorry excuse for a smile.

“Here’s that packet you wanted from the graphics department.”

Will tossed the materials onto Killian’s desk with more force than was needed, and the usually prevalent smirk on his friend’s face was nowhere to be seen. Killian sat up straighter, reaching out for the papers as his eyes stayed on his friend.

“Everything alright there, Scarlet?” Killian asked as Will grunted.

“Fine.” That hardly sounded reassuring.

“You sure about that?” Killian asked, taking note of Will’s clenched jaw and fists. When he looked back to Will’s eyes, Will caved and sat down in the seat across from him, exhaling a breath.

“No I’m not fucking sure. Actually I am – I’m certain that I’m a right idiot.” Well that had escalated quickly.

“What happened?” Killian asked.

“It’s more like what didn’t happen, mate.” Killian mulled the cryptic statement over for a minute and then it dawned on him.

“Does this have anything to do with a particularly bright reporter you’ve been avoiding seeing socially?” Killian nudged Will into the right direction, but his friend only put his face in his hands as his elbows rested on his knees.

“She’s found someone else,” Will mumbled.

“Beg your pardon?” Killian asked, convinced he hadn’t heard him correctly.

“She’s taken, mate! She’s spoken for! She’s invested elsewhere! How else can I say it?” Killian looked from Will to the door, glad to see his friend had closed it upon entering. Otherwise the whole office would have just heard that.

“Since when?” Killian asked, assured that if Belle was serious about someone the subject would have come up at some point.

“I don’t bloody know. Harrison asked her out for drinks yesterday and she told him she’s already seeing someone. I just overheard in the break room and I don’t know what to make of it. How did this happen?”

Silence descended between Killian and Will as Killian considered what Will had just imparted to him, but it was clear that he viewed the situation entirely different than his friend did. Harrison was a fine enough man, but there was nothing like chemistry between him and Belle, and Killian would guess that Belle might say something like that to let a man down easy. Until they heard it from the source herself, there should be no assumption of this being true.

“I ruined this, mate. I ruined things before they even had the chance to begin,” Will said in a defeated tone. Killian, meanwhile, couldn’t stand to see his friend this way.

“The way I see it you have two choices: walk away and live with the regret…”

“Or?” Will asked hesitatingly after Killian’s short pause.

“Or you fight for her. You tell Belle how you feel, you lay your cards out there, and you let her make a decision.”

“Are you mad?! And what if she is taken?! What if I make a mess of everything? It’d be awkward. It would starve away the little bit we do have together now.”

Killian knew it sounded crazy, and he recalled the way it had been with him when he was trying to approach Emma. The situations were different of course, but the core problem was the same: Will was too wrapped up in his own thoughts just as Killian had been, and if he hadn’t gotten his head out of his ass long enough to say hello and ask Emma for a date, Killian would have missed out on the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“Is this what you want Will? Are you satisfied with settling for a life as just her friend, nay her work acquaintance even? Because if you are then let things stand. Walk away, wash your hands of it, learn to move on. But if you’re looking for more and if you see a future with her you have to go for it, mate. You can’t just wait around expecting her to come to you.”

Will let the words hang there for a while, mulling them over and deciding what to do. Killian worried for a moment that his friend would choose the coward’s way out, and he didn’t want that for him. Will deserved to know one way or another, and Killian did believe in his heart that there was something more than friendly admiration between Belle and Will. But there was only so much that Killian could do. The choice had to be Will’s, because one way or another Will was the one who would deal with the consequences.

“As usual you’re right, but that doesn’t mean I bloody like it,” Will said standing up and wiping his hands on his slacks. “No one ever tells you it’s gonna be like this either. Everyone makes love seem a big mushy, easy thing. But this…”

“Is barely restrained chaos, aye. It gets better, mate. If she gives you the chance to make it real, it transcends everything else and anything is worth it.” At least it was when it came to him and Emma.

“If I were less self-involved I’d probably dissect everything you just gave away about you and your girl, but that’ll have to wait. If I don’t go now I’ll lose my nerve,” Will claimed uneasily.

“Now?” Killian asked, surprised that his friend would make a move like this during work hours, but before Will could start reevaluating and spiraling again Killian offered a smile and a final wish. “Well good luck. She’d be a fool not to choose you.”

“Here’s hoping,” Will said taking leave of the room and leaving Killian alone once more.

There was about a thirty second window where Killian attempted to study some of those graphics Will had brought, but then interruption came calling again in the form of another knock at the doorway. Not that Killian minded. He still wasn’t presently capable of focusing as he should.

“Change your mind so soon?” Killian asked but as his eyes moved up he found it wasn’t Will at all, but the woman who’d been on Killian’s mind since leaving her this morning. Emma was here, and instantly Killian stood up to greet her.

“I did actually. Lunch alone just wasn’t working with me today, so I thought I’d stop by, unless you’re busy…” Emma said, holding up a bag of food that she’d brought along.

“I’m never too busy for you, Emma.”

“Tink said the same thing when I called. Apparently I take easy priority over skype sessions with your LA affiliates.”

The final pieces clicked into place for Killian as he realized why Tink had acted so peculiarly before. He appreciated his assistant’s discretion though, for this was a lovely surprise and he made a mental note to thank her sincerely later.

“That’s putting it lightly,” Killian agreed and Emma chuckled to herself as he pulled her in for a kiss. God it felt good to have her here, and Killian was more than thrilled for whatever had happened in the world that led Emma to him right now.

The gleam in Emma’s eyes when they separated from the kiss, still a breath away from each other and both clearly wanting more, made Killian wonder exactly what had brought her here today. There were gears turning in that beautiful brain of hers and though Killian didn’t expect any ulterior motives on Emma’s part, there was definitely something on her mind. Yet Killian didn’t have to ask about it. Instead Emma freely said what she wanted to say.

“I just wanted to say for the record that I’m choosing you and this relationship, and that I’m really glad you broke the ice that first day. If you hadn’t…” Emma looked away and Killian tilted her face back up to look at him. He didn’t understand exactly what prompted her words, but the sentiment was one he wanted to immediately address.

“There was no choice to make, Emma. Some things you just know, and I knew I needed you in my life.”

Killian also knew even then that he loved her, or that he could love her very soon. It was the easiest thing to do in Killian’s opinion, as if he’d been born specifically for the task of giving his heart to one Emma Swan. Nothing felt as right as giving her everything he had, and no dream could outshine his one to always be with her. It had happened quickly to be sure, but some loves were like that. They started at first glance and evolved into something all the greater, and that, Killian believed, was what he’d found with Emma: a love that grew to so much more when given the opportunity to do so.

The confessions on both of their parts sparked another kiss, and the food was long forgotten. All Killian could comprehend was Emma. The way she gave herself so willingly, the way she was investing in him and their relationship together. It was incredible, and yet it was only the surface of what made Emma so miraculous. She was so complex and dynamic, a person he still didn’t fully know, but who he wanted to spend a lifetime trying to understand.

“You know the last time I was here I had this thought,” Emma whispered when she pulled back too soon for his liking. Her eyes stayed on his lips, her smile curving upwards. “I was thinking that your office has a lot more privacy than mine does and as such it lends more options for how to spend a lunch hour.”

The seductive tone of Emma’s voice and her hand on his chest teasing ever so slowly downward made Killian gulp harshly. He knew exactly what she was hinting at, and he’d never been even remotely tempted to steal such an interlude in his office. This was where he worked, and for his whole life up to now he had kept his romantic life as far from here as he could, but with Emma things were different. The idea of spending however much time they had here chasing some sort of pleasure made his heart pump loudly and his veins fill with a rush of adrenaline.

“And did these thoughts of yours have any more specificity, Swan?” Killian asked, his voice gruff and gravely. He hardly recognized the tone, but damn he loved the way Emma flushed at hearing it. She played the seductress so well, but she was just as far gone as he was and that was an aphrodisiac in itself.

“Some. But I’m always open to suggestions,” she replied breathily and Killian sought to take advantage of her current state.

“Lock the door, love.”

The fire in Emma’s eyes at the command made her all the more beautiful, but she heeded the request, getting up and swaying her hips with a bit more flair than usual as she walked to fulfill his request. When she turned around, her sinful smile had returned and Killian felt his hands clench into fists as an active attempt to not just grab her right now. Instead he waited until she was back with him before wrapping his arms around her.

“Now what?” Emma asked.

“Now you decide, Swan. Should I ravish you on the desk or the couch?” Emma blushed at the words, but her eyes never waivered, staying trained on his before she replied.

“Desk. Definitely desk.” The way she said the words made Killian groan. There was no doubt Emma had thought of this before, and he certainly had lost his train of thought more than once imaging such a moment as this.

With time not on their side, Killian had to fight with himself. His usual instinct when it came to Emma was to savor every moment and to elicit every last drop of pleasure that he could from her. It came back to the idea of proving himself worthy and showing her how good he could always make her feel. That he found his own immense satisfaction from satisfying her was a mere bonus. Typically his one-track mind was dedicated only to seeing her content.

Now though there wasn’t every option under the sun available to him. He couldn’t tease her like he wanted, or bring her to the brink and then pull back so as to elongate her eventual climax. No, this needed careful consideration and it would test the mastery he’d accumulated over the past few weeks of what Emma craved and what she most desired. The thought of needing to get creative made him impossibly harder.

“I should have told you when you walked in that you look beautiful today, Emma,” Killian murmured when she was perched atop his desk, her legs spread wider so he could stand between them. The hem of her black dress inched higher than was decent, but in here no one would see aside from him. He loved thinking that she was all his, and a possessiveness that he’d never had before her settled over him. Emma was his, and he would spend every last bit of energy in him to show her he was worth putting her faith in and choosing in return.

“You did tell me this morning remember?” Emma teased, her eyes searching his and then dropping back down to his mouth again, her tongue poking out to wet her lips and drive him mad. His hands on her hips tightened until one moved down to the soft skin of her thigh.

“Once isn’t enough, love. You should know it every second of every day,” he professed.

“That might get a little tedious,” Emma said, a sharp sound of need tailing the last syllable and causing Killian to smile wider. Just as he expected she was ready for him already. One graze of his fingers against the lace that covered her sex and he was certain.

“Ah, but the way I’d tell you isn’t with mere words,” Killian said as he delicately removed the fabric that separated them, taunting her a little more in the process before putting the scrap of lace in his pocket. “I think we’d both rather enjoy my showing you just how enamored I am with you more than simply saying it.”

Emma made a sound of agreement that turned into a quiet moan when he knelt before her. She no doubt knew of his intentions in that moment and though she shook her head and protested that they didn’t have time, her body arched towards him, pleading for the attention he was about to bestow.

“Just a taste now, Swan. Enough to drive you to the edge before I take you fully.”

Emma looked liable to speak again but she didn’t get the chance when Killian had her where he wanted her, perched at the edge of the table and opened to him completely. He didn’t tease in the slightest, but made love to her sex with his mouth, reveling in each frustrated sound Emma made. Her need to keep quiet was no doubt burdensome for her, but Killian knew a thing or too about disappointment. He wanted more than anything to take Emma over the edge like this. He knew exactly the series of licks and sucks he’d need to give her that completion but he pulled back and stood up again right when she was about to come, the taste of her arousal still sweet on his tongue.

Understanding his thoughts on what would happen next, Emma moved up and made quick work of undoing his pants, pushing them down far enough so he was free to take her as he wanted. With one quick thrust, they were both of them groaning, but they covered the sounds with a hungry kiss that was hard and demanding. The thought that this was dangerous was never far from Killian’s thoughts, and honestly it was the only thing keeping him in check at all. But soon enough Emma was crashing into her orgasm and taking him with him as she pulsed against him, and the release was just as satisfying as all the one’s Emma had granted him in the past few weeks.

“I think I can safely say that this has been the best lunch break ever,” Emma said, when she caught her breath again, her forehead resting against Killian’s and her eyes lazily opening and displaying every last bit of the pleasure she’d just found. He wanted to take her all over again when she looked like this, sated and happy and infatuated with him.

“And it’s not over. Not just yet anyway.” They still had a bit of time left, and Killian fully intended to make use of it.

The two of them cleaned up and got themselves situated, moving to the couch to eat their lunch, and though it was a bit more rushed because of their other chosen activities, Killian cherished every second that they had together. They sat close, sharing the two items Emma had procured for them with a familiarity that spoke to far more time shared between them than they’d actually had. Killian found himself wanting more afternoons like this and he was willing to procure them from Emma through whatever means necessary, but he held back on making that request as he learned about her day. He listened as she broke down the scene from Bliss earlier this afternoon that had prompted her visit, and he felt himself truly happy for Emma and her friend.

“So they found each other again in the end,” Killian acknowledged, watching Emma’s smile appear as he made the claim.

“Yeah they did,” she confirmed, intertwining her fingers with his in a quiet show of togetherness.

“Promise me something, Emma.” Emma looked back to him and took in his earnest plea. “Promise me that you won’t run if ever there’s some sort of misunderstanding. I would never hurt you, love, and the thought that you would think so…” Killian couldn’t bare to put those thoughts to words.

“I’m not going anywhere, Killian. I know what kind of man you are and I know that I can trust you.” Killian would be hard pressed to think of sweeter words that his ears had ever heard.

“That you can, love. That you can.”

They shared one last kiss before Emma took note of the clock along the wall and realized she had to get going, but saying goodbye was difficult for Killian, even if today’s visit had never been planned in the first place. Nevertheless he sent Emma off with a vow to see her later and as he watched her go, offering a friendly goodbye to Tink and some of the other staff around the floor on her way to the elevator, Killian felt himself falling a little more under the spell of this woman who brought so much magic to his life just by being herself.

Post-Note: I am leaving this chapter here hoping that you guys take as much enjoyment from all the fluff as I did. I know some of you might be thinking that there wasn’t as much direct CS engagement as you might like, but don’t fret. Next week and all the subsequent chapters there will be much more. As I said earlier, next chapter also brings Liam’s arrival (and some more intrigue on that front) and I can hardly wait. Anyway thank you all so much for reading and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day!