#how did i forgot that she loves lemon cakes and put it here *sigh*

[basims]

“Do you just oblige me?” Aldrik asked coolly. Vhalla laughed. “Of course not. I enjoy being near you, hearing your thoughts, spending time with you. You’re one of the best things that have ever happened to me.” Vhalla smiled at him, and she saw the prince relax. How had she never realized how insecure he was? “You’re so funny. Do I oblige you? Aldrik, I—” Vhalla stopped herself, her smile slipping in the wake of a revelation. “—I—” Love you.”

Vhalla Yarl Solaris | The Windwalker -  Empress Solaris Air Awakens Series by Elise Kova

[caelmewedd]

Daemon couldn't believe it, his brother was finally inviting him to his evenings. He wanted to share his passion for the history of their ancestors, how in the old days Viserys would talk to him, tell him about the ancient times over pink Dornish wine and maybe some small delicacies. For the first time since he could remember, his brother simply wanted him to be close to him. Just imagining the next time in the company of not only his king, but most of all his brother, made him smile and hope that he would take his rightful place in his brother's heart. "The wine will be nice, brother, but don't forget the lemon cakes. Lots of them." Daemon smiled playfully, knowing how much Viserys loved baking, just like him, which reminded him of how as a child they would sneak into the kitchen in the evenings and smuggle delicacies into their chambers. "And as for your figure collection, I was thinking of adding a Balerion figure, made of Dragonglass. Would you like one?" Daemon asked, wanting to add a more personal touch to Viserys' work.

Those really were wonderful days, which he hoped would come back to this castle. From the excess of joy, Daemon almost forgot about Aevon still hanging around his neck and her dragon nuzzling his chest. He gently put the girl down, then Nevermore also moved away from him and immediately turned to her owner and began to purr, asking for caresses. Aevon couldn't refuse her and immediately began to scratch the sensitive spot on her belly and under her wings. Nevermore narrowed her eyes, opened her wings slightly and purred loudly with pleasure. "They are strongly bonded, do you think brother?" Daemon wondered aloud what the secret was in the case of this girl and her dragon. It was always believed that only Targaryens and their blood could tame and ride dragons. Aevon did not have the features of descendants of Old Valyria, nor did she know that ancient language, and yet she managed to bond with the dragon. She spoke Common and the dragon understood and listened to her. It was wonderful yet mysterious, Daemon was more than willing to delve into the matter.

"I will certainly do everything I can to help Aevon, brother. Oh, where are my manners, brother, I present to you Aramil, this is Aevon's father and a mage healer. He and his family came from across the Seven Seas." Daemon corrected himself and formally introduced his guest to Viserys. Aramil nodded slightly in respectful greeting. He was not unfamiliar with the company of high lords and nobles and knew how to behave in the company of a crowned head, although it had been quite some time since he had been to the royal court. He knew that Aevon was too lively in such interesting places as the Red Keep, but he was afraid that her excessive energy and liveliness, and above all her directness, might not be to the liking of many stiff lords and especially ladies. Yes, Aevon was having fun and continued to do so, but he hoped that she and her dragon wouldn't get into any trouble here.

"It's a great honor and pleasure to meet you, Your Grace." Aramil replied, then began to glance at his daughter, who took a bowl of fruit from the table and began to treat Nevermore, who ate the delicacies with gusto. In his opinion, it was nice that the dragon that chose his daughter didn't require the daily killing of gods knows how many sheep or other game. A deep and prolonged sigh escaped his lips. He wanted his daughter to fulfill her path as a dragon rider, but he hoped that he himself wouldn't fall into madness, supporting her on the way to that goal. Now all he had left was to rely on Prince Daemon's help and that he would do everything to help his daughter. And that she was not in any danger.

"I am glad that Aevon can count on such competent help, but will your brother be able to handle such a volcano of energy and curiosity as Aevon, Your Grace. Sometimes she is difficult to handle." Aramil pointed out, trying to look at both the interlocutors and Aevon, who was treating Nevermore to a ripe, juicy pomegranate. The she-dragon gently took the fruit from her mistress's hand and enjoyed the feast. Daemon paid special attention to this, realizing how much Nevermore was different from the dragons he knew.

"I will. My niece was the same as Aevon. Your daughter is bursting with life energy and curiosity about the world. That's all." Daemon replied, guessing how much concern drives not only the mage, but above all the father. Viserys was the same for Rhaenyra, always, regardless of the situation and circumstances. He himself would rather go into Vhagar's flames than let her be hurt. Daemon could say a lot about his brother, but that he was a caring and loving father to Rhaenyra could not be denied. Too bad only for her. Daemon sat next to his brother, however, at a distance, and ordered his guest to do the same. Aramil relaxed a bit, but not completely, and Aevon, sensing his preoccupation, approached him when she finished feeding the dragon. Nevermore herself ate the leftovers left in the bowl. She also sat down between her father and Daemon, Nevermore, now full and well scrunched up lay comfortably on the ground at the girl's feet. A fed and pampered dragon is a happy, healthy and cuddly dragon with a full tummy.

“Please don't worry. It will be a pleasure for me. Aevon is very dear and is no trouble to me.” Daemon replied, then reached into a tray with a piece of lemon cake and handed it to the girl. He saw with what joy she accepted the treat and began to feast. She deserved a little feast after such an exhausting tour of the castle. “Thank you.” Aevon replied, tastefully finishing eating the sweet treat. She definitely liked the baked goods and wondered if she should go to the castle cook and ask him for the recipe. She was eager to bake a batch of pastries that she could eat with Not-So-Rogue-Prince after their training session with Nevermore.

“I hope you know what you're in for, my Prince, and you, Aevon, I hope you won't take this kingdom apart with Nevermore.” Aramil warned both of them, and directed this most to his daughter, who would indeed take dragon training seriously and not get into any trouble. He hoped he wouldn't have to go for treatment himself when he went crazy around his slightly crazy but still very, very dear child. “Don't worry, dad. This kingdom will stand as it stands. Nothing bad will happen.” Aevon promised, then began staring at the remaining lemon cakes on the tray.

The little girl, Aevon shyly entered a large chamber, where an intricately crafted model of Old Valyria stood on a huge table, and elaborate dragon figurines stood next to a carved city. She carefully picked up one of them and looked at it in awe. Whoever crafted such wonders certainly had great talent. Feeling an urge to play growing in her, she began to play with the figurine she was holding, imagining that she and her good dragon were forced to defend the city from evil dragons. She played until King Viserys came along. She wasn't afraid of him, as he looked very friendly, but she watched him with curiosity. Was he the one who was doing all these wonderful things?

"Uhmm…Hello, Your Grace…Did you create this city and these dragons?" She asked quietly, carefully putting the figurines down on the table. She didn't want to do anything wrong, fortunately she hadn't broken anything, but she hoped the man wouldn't throw her out of here in a very unpleasant way.

After all, she hadn't done anything wrong. She just wanted to play.

Viserys pet project had become a full blown hobby, what started as a history project to learn about the greatest city ever built in the world had now become the elaborate stone model on the grand table in his lavish bedchambers, it had grown so that he had enlisted the best stone workers to carve the models, the buildings, the dragons, everything to the specifications he supplied them from his readings of the ancient texts.

To the king it was a historical recreation of a city the world would never see again, though to a small child he supposed it would be an elaborate playhouse for a doll. He was returning to his chambers after a council meeting, he had slated the day to be spent with his hobby after the meeting. Though when he got there he found a child in his quarters playing with the model, he stopped for a moment and just watched the little girl play. He knew that eventually he would be a grandsire and knew that eventually his own grandchildren would be here doing the same thing, however he didnt know this child.

The king smiled at the child when she asked her question, he could tell that there was some worry about her, "No I did not, but I commissioned them to be made." he answered her truthfully, he wasnt shy to admit that the detail of the stone in the model was beyond his skill. "Tell me child, who are you?" he asked her curiously wondering who this child was and who was she a child of.

[schnitzelbutterfingers]

Baklava

Book/Pairing(s): The Royal Romance || Liam Rhys x F!MC (Jasmine Wilson) LAW STUDENT AU

Category/Warning(s): Teen || none

Word count: 2.7K

Premise: A different take on how Liam and Jasmine could have met. Liam and the gang search for baklava, and Jasmine is a law student and a talented baker, working in her mother’s bakery.

Author’s note: This is for the 200 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY WINNER #2: @texaskitten30 . Congratulations! Hope you enjoy :)

New York City is known for its culture, fashion, Broadway musicals. Its approximately 8 million people.

Maxwell sighs. “C’mon, Liam. There are so many other desserts. Pie, cake, cupcakes, those drizzled thingies...”

He is right. The deserts here are magnificent. Every one of them is fireworks on someone’s tongue, the rich flavor evading the mouth.

Drake surprises him. “For once in my life, I’m going with Beaumont.”

But there is one thing New York City seems to not have.

“No,” Liam responds.

Baklava.

Maxwell open his mouth, but then closes it, flabbergasted. 

“Who are you, and what have you done to Prince Liam?”

The prince chuckles wryly, a sarcastic leer taking place. In a few months, he won’t be able to do this again. In a few months, he will marry a noble with no love in between. 

In a few months, his freedom will be over.

He has to make those few months worth it.

And he will.

By finding baklava.

However, Liam almost gives up. Every bakery they went to in New York City had everything, including Indian sweets, such as laddu, gulab jamun, jalebi.

But they weren’t selling anything from the Ottoman Empire. They weren’t selling baklava.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees a small building. A bakery. It has a small cupcake on the top of the name. 

The prince clears his throat.

“We’ll stop in this bakery. If they don’t have baklava either, then we can go buy cupcakes and go to a bar.”

Maxwell fist bumping the air and Drake sighing of relief, tells him they are both comfortable with his plan.

One more bakery.

That’s it.

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

Slow Dough.

That’s the name of the bakery. Immensely creative.

The three men step out of their rented car, the sun’s rays showing off its magnificent light, creating shadows as they take each step towards the bakery.

They open the door, the jingling bells on it acknowledging their presence.

It looks beautiful. The inside of the store takes on a more pastel theme, the baby pink with white stripes adorning the walls. There are sky blue tables and chairs, adorned with a vase of pink roses on each table.

The front of the bakery has a glass counter-shelf, filled with delicacies. Cupcakes, cookies, chocolate, ice cream. You name it.

Maxwell seems to have that same idea because he says, “Maybe we can steal some cronuts and-”

“Maxwell!” Drake admonishes.

“Hello? What is the commotion here?”

A woman, probably in her fifties, with natural tanned skin, paces into the room from the silver doors ahead of the counter, which Liam assumes is the kitchen. Rather than taking a chiding tone, her voice is laced with concern.

Liam glares at his two friends, Maxwell sporting a nervous smile. Drake shakes his head at Maxwell’s antics.

What good friends he has.

“Apologies for the loud... conversation ma’am. We were searching for a dessert named baklava in New York City. We searched almost every bakery we could find, but left empty-handed. We were hoping we would find some here?”

The woman grimaces. “I’m so sorry, son, but we don’t sell baklava here.”

The prince sighs. 

He knew it. Of course he did.

After mentally calming himself, he sports a tender smile.

“No worries, ma’am. In that case, would you mind giving us three cupcakes? One vanilla and the other two chocolate, please?”

“Now that, I can give you.”

She smiles as she opens the counter, probably finding the best cupcakes she could find.

The woman is probably the most solicitous person she ever met during his bachelor party.

The men sit down on of the chairs, surprisingly more comfortable than Liam imagined. They fall into an agreeable silence, with Maxwell playing with one of the pink rose petals, and Drake glued to his phone.

And they are interrupted. By a soft voice.

A beautiful voice.

“Excuse me, sir, but... did you say baklava?”

He stands up immediately to turn towards the voice, addicted to the melody.

And hazel eyes meets blue.

The lady looks like an exact copy of the older woman, only more younger. More irresistible.

Striking.

Even with glasses on.

For some reason, his heart starts beating faster.

Silently scolding himself, he straightens up and nods his head affirmative.

“Yes, is there a reason why you ask?��

“I happen to know how to make baklava. Do you want me to make some for you?”

Shock rolls over him as he mulls over her words. An American tries to help him?

He glances back at Drake and Maxwell. In return, they give him an exact sense of a whammy blown on them. They are probably thinking the same thing, too.

Liam discerns the older woman slapping her hand on her forehead in an almost idiotic sense, walking to stand next to the younger woman.

Twins.

They are practically twins, if people count out the wrinkles.

“Apologies, son. She is my daughter. She knows how to make almost everything.”

Liam softly grins at the mother and turns to look at her daughter. 

A beauty.

As if she came from a painting.

Majestic.

As if reading his thoughts, she takes a glimpse of his face and smiles. He catches a glimpse of a faint blush creeping on her neck, even with the tanned skin.

Liam allows himself a quick smirk and hurriedly straightens his face to a more gentle expression.

“What’s your name?”

She clears her throat and looks at him straight in the eye. “Jasmine.”

Maxwell gives her a wide smile. “Nice name!”

Liam and Drake nod their heads in agreement, looking back at Jasmine. She grins from ear to ear.

Her smile is infectious.

And Liam just met this girl.

“I’ll get started. I can set up a mini cooking show for you guys. This might take over an hour though. So, are you sure?”

Before Liam can respond, Drake interrupts.

“We can wait. This dude, here, was acting like he was waiting for baklava his whole life. If he doesn’t get his hands on one, he’ll probably punch something.”

“Drake!”

Before he can give him a new one, he hears Jasmine’s laughter, music to his ears. He only knew her for about 10 minutes, and something makes him want to get closer to her.

He can see scars sprinkled on her chest.

She’s an air of mystery.

Mystery.

“I can most definitely understand that feeling. I’ll go gather the ingredients!”

She flees like a small human Sonic, and he infers for a second that she did track in school. 

Maybe she did.

Jasmine comes back with nuts, cinnamon, dough, butter, sugar, water, honey, vanilla extract, and a lemon. After buttering up a thick pan, she sprinkles in a bunch of nuts and cinnamon.

Just like those chefs gave him a show and made baklava for him back in Greece.

Maxwell starts speaking, most likely attempting to make small talk during the awkward silence.

“So... where are you originally from?”

She softly smiles.

“Queens, New York. We moved to the city when I was 10.”

“What made you move to the city?”

“Oh, well...”

Jasmine slightly hesitates.

“My father had passed away, and we had to do something for a living. So we started this bakery...”

A tense silence invades the bakery, Jasmine quickly swiping her eyes. Maxwell grimaces, and Drake takes over.

“We’re so sorry. We didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable...”

She shoots him a weak grin. “It’s okay. It still hurts, but we’re trying our best to move on.”

At this point, she places two sheets of dough into the pan, and butters it up. She then layers it with nuts and repeats the process. The prince makes a mental note to remember these steps the next time he attempts in making baklava.

He tried to make baklava once, but failed, even after searching the internet to find the recipe.

It had been proved to his friends how much of a bad cook he is.

Liam attempts successfully in changing the topic, in a way to console her.

“Are you a student or...”

“I am! Final year law student at Yale.”

His eyes widen. “Yale? That’s impressive.”

Her mother comes back from the kitchen. “Wait till you hear how she skipped five grades and will be graduating as a lawyer at the age of 21.”

The gang’s eyes widen.

Wow. 

They’re speaking to mini Albert Einstein.

“Mom!”  The law student covers her cheeks in an attempt to stop the light rose pink that’s flooding her face.

Maxwell smiles wickedly. “That's so COOL! Liam, here, is the same! He managed to even excel better than his tutors. One time, he was making fun of them because they got a calculus problem wrong, and he managed to solve it in less than five minutes! He skipped three grades, but always managed to make tutors mad and made them speak to his parents because of his smart mouth-”

“Maxwell!”

Drake chuckles.

“What? It’s the truth!”

She chortles again. That melodic laugh.

“It’s alright. I did that every time, too.”

Jasmine cuts the baklava into diamond shapes and puts them into the oven. She stretches her arms out, unsubtly displaying off her muscles.

Damn.

“Alright. This’ll take about 50 minutes.”

Comfortable silence flows through all of them, Liam enjoying the clock ticking surrounding the small building.

Drake cuts it off. “We forgot to tell you where we’re from. We live in-”

“Cordonia, I know.”

Liam's breath catches.

A part of him wants to berate himself for being so idiotic. For believing that maybe one person won’t know who he is. But he should have known.

He should have known.

Drake closes his mouth and opens it again, unable to say anything.

“Wait, so you know Liam is a prince?”

“Crown Prince, yeah.”

“Then, why didn’t you let us know and treat us like normal people?”

“Because I know.”

Turning to him, she says, “Liam, all you’ve ever wanted was freedom.”

His eyes widen. He feels like he’s being mind-read by a fortune teller. At that moment he should’ve felt uneasy, but all he wants to do is open more of himself to her.

And that petrifies him.

“How... how do you know?”

Jasmine’s expression turns stoic, indecipherable.

“Your eyes. They express everything. You feel like you’re being locked in a jail cell. I was once like you, you know so I know that look anywhere...”

Her eyes turn misty, but she quickly shakes her head.

“You do want to lead your people, but you want to be free in choosing someone at the same time. You want someone you’ll fall in love with.”

Her educated guess is mind-boggling. Straying his eyes back to his friends, they appear as if they’re seeing Liam in a new light. Shocked.

That they didn’t know anything about this, and they’ve known him for years.

Maxwell shakes his head. “Wait, but... if you knew who we were, why didn’t you address Liam as ‘your highness’? Don’t get me wrong, we liked how you didn’t...”

Jasmine snorts. “Because even through he has royalty flowing through his blood, he is a human, just like us. I don’t mean it to be offensive, I swear. While titles also show respect, they put more benefit for someone than for another ‘commoner’. And I don’t like that.”

Liam becomes curious. Jasmine is not one of those average girls who shrieks over a celebrity. She is one of a kind.

And that makes him want to know everything about her.

“Say if... you became a queen one day. How will you rule?”

The law student takes a deep breath before responding. She unconsciously touches her dark brown hair, and twirls a curl over her finger.

“I... I would never go by the rule book. While rules are good and all, sometimes... it would lead to injustice. As Princess Diana said in her interview with Martin Bashir, I would  want to become a queen of people’s hearts, not just for a country. I would be there to do good, not cause harm or difficulty over another citizen’s life. I’m not a violent person. Quite the opposite, actually. I would want to be treated as a typical person with a typical life. I would want to be treated as an everyday person. And... I would want everyone to reminisce me as a woman who did good works, not as a woman with a prestigious title.”

Everything is confirmed. Drake’s mouth opens and closes as he tries to respond to what Jasmine just said. Maxwell has a goofy grin on his face.

Liam, however, has a cheeky smile that one would actually say is of respect and admiration. He admires her.

Even as she now bites her lip, he wants nothing more press his lips to hers. 

And they’ve only known each other for about an hour.

The oven alarm lowers the mounting tension in the bakery. Jasmine jogs over to the oven and takes it. The delicious smell of baklava invades Liam’s nostrils, and he immediately wants to taste it. Looking at the pastry, the gorgeous crispy brown of the dough stands out, with green nuts garnished.

“Take caution! It’s really hot.”

Maxwell smirks slightly, already reaching for a baklava. “Oh, I don’t think it’s that- HOLY SQUIDS!”

The once smirking Maxwell now has a face of pain etched on his face, holding his right hand after it burned a little. Jasmine, seeing this, snorts.

“Told you so.”

Shaking his head, Liam -carefully- takes  a piece of baklava, blowing it slightly to soothe the heat. Once it is lowered to a considerable heat, he takes a bite out of it and-

My.

God.

It is scrumptious.

And it appears that Drake and Maxwell are thinking the same thing, their friends’ eyes filled with astonishment.

Jasmine bites her lip, most likely unaware of the action. God, if he could just-

“So, did you like it?”

Shaking off his dirty thoughts, he responds, “Like it? This is the best baklava I’ve ever tasted.”

Her wide eyes contain jouissance, Liam can tell.

“Thank you! Glad I didn’t mess it up!”

Jasmine blushes again, something Liam just knows is a rare sight for anyone.

Just then, her mother comes in, sauntering hurriedly up to them. Her eyes are tense and full of worry.

“So... how is the baklava?”

Liam smiles, hopefully soothing her mother with the action.

“I can reassure you, even the most famous chefs in Greece hadn’t made me this tasty baklava before in my life. It tastes like heaven, ma’am. Your daughter has talent.”

She sighs in relief. “Thank you, sons!”

Without hesitance, the mother kisses Jasmine on her cheek, and in return the daughter kisses her on her forehead. The act reminds him of his own mother, before she died.

“How much does this cost?” Drake interrupts.

“This? This is free.”

What?

Liam refuses. “Oh, that’s not possible, we have to give you something-”

Jasmine laughs. “I insist. First of all, this wasn’t even part of the menu, although we do need to add it to ours. Second, you deserve this. For the first time, other than my mother, I felt like someone else got me.”

The words make the prince look at her deeply into her eyes. Jasmine stares back, not one of them blinking. Finally, the law student breaks the contact.

Just then, Drake clears his throat. “I hate to interrupt but we have to leave. Is it alright if we take more of these?”

The mother smiles. “Sure, sweetie! Take as much as you need.”

As Maxwell and Drake grab more of the baklava, Liam goes up to Jasmine.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” he says, his tone with a hint of heartache.

She smiles wistfully. “Yeah.”

And they hesitate before hugging one another tightly. Liam closes his eyes, in what could be his last moments of freedom. He makes this time worth it. Jasmine reluctantly pulls back and clears her throat.

“But hey, something tells me we’ll see each other again soon,” she adds, with a hint of a smirk.

And just like that, Liam starts to have second thoughts.

Maybe New York City is not that awful.

Narrator: Jasmine was right in what she said. They will see each other again. And they marry, and they make babies-

Author’s note: First Liam x MC fic lol. I hope I did this some justice HAHA. Anyways, if you’ve made it this far, thank you! ♥️

Lmk if you want to be added or removed from the taglist! 🥰

Perma: @potionsprefect @gryffindordaughterofathena @maurine07 @missmiimiie @mom2000aggie @nezuzoned

Liam x MC: @kingliam2019 @jared2612

@choicesficwriterscreations

[jimlingss]

Sugar and Coffee [1]

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

➜ Words: 3.8k

➜ Genres: 99.5% Fluff, 0.5% Angst, Pâtisserie school!AU

➜ Summary: It isn't hard to be a pâtisserie chef, but it's not a piece of cake either. It seems like for you in particular, life keeps throwing in one wrench after another. It always finds ways to make your sweets bitter. The cherry on top is Jeon Jungkook — a rival with a sensitive sweet tooth who always finds ways to complain about you.

cr.

Baking is an art form. It takes more than just having ingredients and following a recipe. It’s the flavour, texture, taste, and the presentation. It’s knowing why when things go wrong and how to fix it. It’s knowing the right kinds of ingredients to pick, how much of each should be combined, what techniques and methods to use. Baking is therapy. Baking is scientific. It is art.   The ingredients are as follows: 

Fresh strawberries

Sponge cake

Sugar

Heavy cream

Vanilla extract

You slice the freshly washed strawberries into halves as the stand mixer whips the two cups of heavy cream and quarter cup of sugar into medium peaks. Once you’ve got your components prepared, you slice the cooled sponge cake into two layers and set the bottom layer on a cake board on the turning cake table. You spread the whipped cream evenly with an offset spatula and layer the strawberries with cream on top.    Afterwards, you place the other sponge cake on top and repeat the process.   You finish the shortcake with strawberries on top for decorative purposes and pipe flowers with a twelve inch piping bag.   “Very well done! Everyone give a round of applause for Y/N’s shortcake demonstration.”   The teacher claps and the students around the counter follow suit. “Now it’s time for the real test.”   She begins slicing the cake into pieces, but you’re not nervous whatsoever. You know you did a great job and your strawberry shortcake is worthy of salivating over. And as expected, while your classmates take careful bites and allow the flavour to linger on their tongue, there’s nothing but praise.   “Wow, the sponge cake is so soft and moist.”   “The cream is so smooth.”   “It’s so fluffy.”   “It’s melting in my mouth.”   Even the teacher is nodding as she eats. But of course—   “Isn’t it too sweet?”   Jeon Jungkook has his brows deeply furrowed with a soured expression like he bit into a fucking lemon. His fork is cleaned but he puts the utensil down with a noisy clank, not wanting another bite.    A muscle in your cheek twitches.   “Didn’t you say that last time?”   “Yeah.” He shrugs. “But you didn’t follow my advice. Obviously.”   “Maybe you just have sensitive teeth, Jonhson.”   “I don’t,” Jungkook deadpans, not appreciating how you pretend that you don’t know his name.   “I don’t see anyone else complaining.”   “Because they’re too nice to. If you can’t take criticism, then there’s nothing I can do, Y/N.”   There are eyes flickering around. This happens often enough that no one’s particularly surprised, but there’s still bated breath held amongst your classmates.    You open your mouth to retort. But the teacher eats with a thoughtful look, and then nods. “You’re right, Jungkook. You could lessen the sugar just a tad, Y/N. The strawberries are quite sweet this time around. Just goes to show that ingredients might always change, everyone!”   “Okay.” You force a smile. “I’ll make a note of it.”   “Alright class, now that we saw the demonstration, off you go! Watch that whipping cream! It shouldn’t be soft or hard peaks!”   Everyone turns to leave, but your glare connects with Jeon’s until he turns around all the way.    No matter what you make — Jeon Jungkook always complains that it’s too sweet.    He’s a fucking ass.   “What was up with that?” There are audible murmurs behind you. “I thought they were going to fight.”   “In the kitchen? No. Maybe outside — but you know how it is.”   “They still hate each other over the September incident?”   “Well Jeon almost got Y/N expelled….”   You turn around and once they realize they’ve been caught gossiping, they look away with big eyes and they quicken their hands. “So, uh, pass me the cream!”   “Y-Yeah.”   The teacher brings your attention back as she finishes marking the rubric. “Thanks for doing that demonstration for the whole class, Y/N. Job well done as usual. Just lessen the sweetness and you’re good to go.”   You’re given ninety five percent. Full marks lost because of that asshat.    You hope he can feel your glare on his backside.   Eventually class ends and with your station all cleaned, hands washed, and apron put aside, you leave.    Outside of the room, is the most handsome man on the planet waiting for you. The person who you love wholeheartedly. The person you’re most excited to see. Your person.   He’s dressed in a white turtleneck sweater that you got him last year for his birthday, black jeans, and that baby blue trench that’s always soft to the touch. His dark hair is brushed and he’s leaning against the wall casually. But the glimmer in his sheepish eyes betrays the nonchalant exterior he tries to put on.   And the corner of his plump lip pulls into a tender smile.   “Hey—oof!”   Laughter bubbles out of Seokjin’s mouth and his arms wrap around your frame after you quite literally leaped onto him. You barely manage to pull away from the man, having the strongest urge to stick to him forever.   “I missed you.”   You pout and he grins. “Missed you too, sweetheart.”   You lean in to kiss your boyfriend silly. He holds you by your waist and you greet his plump, soft lips that makes you melt in a chaste peck. After a moment, you break away and he wraps an arm around your shoulder. “Should we go?”   “Yeah.” Your steps sync together. “You won’t believe what happened to me today.”   “What happened? Tell me.”   The pair of you walk down the corridor together as the rest of the class continues to spill out. There are girls who caught sight of the heartwarming interaction and they hold their books to their chest as they sigh wistfully.    “God, I’m so jealous. I want to be in love too. When am I going to get a boyfriend?”   “At this rate, never.”   “Hey! Rude!”   “I’m kidding!” She giggles. “You just won’t get someone like Seokjin.”   “Let’s be real, no one is gonna get someone like Seokjin — he’s just...perfect.”   “They’re such a good couple, aren’t they? They’re gonna have such pretty…” Their voices fade, but Jungkook exits and hears their commentary. He turns to steal a glance at your backside down the hall.   Jungkook scoffs audibly.   “What?” Taehyung catches up to his best friend and swings an arm over his shoulder. The same-height brunette follows his line of sight and hums. “Jealous you’re not in a relationship?”   “As if. It’s just pathetic, is all.” Jungkook looks away and they make their own way to the dining hall.   “You really handed it to Y/N today.” Taehyung grins mischievously. “Like damn. I didn’t think her cake was half-bad. But you’re not scared it’s gonna come bite you in the ass, Kook? Y/N’s gonna hammer you down when it’s your turn for demonstration.”   “So what? Like she knows what she’s even doing.”   “Are you sure about that? She seems pretty decent at what she does to me.”   “Decent isn’t good enough,” he says blankly. “She thinks she’s the shit but she came here to follow her boyfriend.”   Taehyung whistles. “You still mad over September?”   “She just irks me. Always has.”   “Right, didn’t you guys go to high school together? You, Jin and her…”   “We never talked. Whatever, it’s not worth talking about and wasting our time. Hey, what’s on the menu for lunch?”   “You tell me. Jimin never texts us what’s new today. Dude just eats and then goes.”   “What class does he even have right now?”   “Bakery safety and sanitation.”   Jungkook grins, remembering just how nightmarish that class was. “Rip.”   The two of them turn the corner, moving the opposite way from you and Seokjin, and the hallway empties out. 

Anxiousness boils at the pit of your stomach. Today’s the day you’ve been waiting for ever since you found out your application was accepted into the institution and you were successfully enrolled. Whatever results appear, it might dictate where you’re headed in the near and far future. The experience that you gain in these two years will pave the path to your career after all.   “It’s today?” Moonbyul puts down her spoon. “Isn’t the paid internship in May? It’s only November.”   “The posting went up for us in November too,” Hani pipes up past a mouthful of eggs. “Remember?”   “Did it? It was so long ago, I forgot.”   “It was only last year.” Sandeul rolls his eyes. “You haven’t gotten that old.”   “I sure feel like it.”   “Well if anything, you sure look like it.”   “Umm, excuse me?”   “Okay, okay, guys,” Your boyfriend interrupts with a laugh. “You’re freaking out Y/N even more.”   They mutter apologies, but you smile. In an attempt to calm yourself down, you ask, “Where did you guys end up going?” After all, they’re a year ahead of you and they’ve been through the entire process. Any advice is helpful advice at this point.   “Sandeul and I got hired by a hotel,” Hani says, “The Marriott. It was a pretty sweet gig, kind of tough though. Out of the entire class, I think five of us went there in total, so we were pretty lucky that we knew each other. It was long hours, but I learned a lot.”   Sandeul scoffs. “Can’t say I did.”   “When do you ever learn?” Moonbyul bites back.   “My internship was at a private club,” Ken recalls, interjecting as the two of them argue again. “But all I baked was bread all day. It was awful.”   “Oh god.” You look to Seokjin. “What if I have to bake bread all day? I hate yeast.”   Jin laughs and he lifts his thumb to affectionately swipe at the corner of your mouth, getting the spaghetti sauce off your skin where you missed. “You’ll be fine. Promise. You’ll probably get hired at a catering company like I did. Or maybe a pastry shop.”   “God, I hope so.”   “Which did you apply to?” Hani asks, playing with her noodles.   “Just a bunch of them. Restaurants, catering companies, shops. I applied to I think ten.”   “Oh, you should be fine then.”   “But I heard sometimes they put you in ones you didn’t apply for.”   “That rarely happens. Don’t worry about it.” She bats the air with her hand, easing your worries a little more.   Your boyfriend smiles warmly. “See? Told you so.”   You nod and check the time. It’s five minutes to noon. And with that realization, you get up. “We should go.”   “Don’t they email you?” Sandeul asks, pulling himself away from his argument with Moonbyul and ignoring whatever half-hearted and playful insult she throws his way.   “Yeah, but the physical posting gets put up faster.” You’re jittery, hopping on both feet and Jin chuckles before he gets up too, taking your food tray and his to dump into the trash.   They wish you all the luck you need and you’re off with Seokjin by your side.   You’re excited and afraid, not exactly sure what to expect. You just hope you get your internship by the same catering company as the one Seokjin had. They liked him enough that they’ve ensured him a position after he graduates. If they hire you too and you do well enough, they’ll hire you back and you’ll get to work with him. It would be absolutely perfect.   You can already imagine it. A small apartment in the city. Working together. Coming home together. There’s not a better plan out there.   The hallway is crowded with lots of people pushing past to look at the posting. There are loud conversations, eager claps and cheers, to disappointed sighs and whines.    “Wait here, okay?” You turn to Jin, not wanting him to be stepped on or pushed by the crowd.    “I’ll be right here.” He squeezes your hand before letting go.    And you push past the horde of students. “Excuse me, excuse me. Sorry…”   “Aw man, I have my internship at a grocery store?! This sucks.” — “The hell is Dog World.” — “Oh my god, oh my god! I got into the East Wood Country Club! Fuck yes!”   Finally, you stumble out of the crowd to the very front. The list is grouped together by locations and you search your name on the paper posting. After an antagonizing minute, you find it. “Kim’s…..Wedding Cake Company….”   Blood drains from your face. It runs cold.   Jeon Jungkook is coming with you.   //   You stomp your foot and cross your arms. You’ve been pouting for the past hour. But you can’t help the distress — not when you were still unable to comprehend it. It was the worst news on Earth. You thought your eyes were wrong, that maybe the posting or printer made a mistake, but the email wasn’t any different either.   “I can’t believe I have to go with that jerk! It’s all ruined!”   “I know, baby.” Seokjin pouts with you, sympathizing with your situation. He pulls you in to plant a kiss at the top of your head. “But you’ll be okay. Promise.”   The way he says it calms your nerves, but that doesn’t mean you still aren’t frustrated to no end.   There was only one paid internship to be done. One that was supposed to pave your way, help with the rest of your career, teach you things that couldn’t be learned through lectures and classroom work. But your one shot is destroyed. In shambles. What should be a fantastic experience is going to be a dreadful one.   Why did things never go right for you?   “I just….I just really wanted to be hired at your company.” You look up at him, eyes stinging and glossy with tears that threaten to shed.    Your plans are ruined.   “It’s okay. You can always apply after graduation.”    “I know.” You sigh. “But of all people, why him?”   A few hours later, the pair of you catch up with your friends at the dining center for dinner, and they quickly notice the way you’re not necessarily jumping for joy, but rather grieving. “Not...good news, I presume?”   Moonbyul gasps. “Did you not get hired anywhere-OW!” She rubs the spot where Sandeul smacked the back of her head for being tactless.   “It’s not that,” you reassure them with a small smile. “My internship is at Kim’s Wedding Cake Company.”   Ken’s eyes are enlarged. “Oh shit.”   “Wedding cakes?!” Hani sharply inhales. “That’s brutal.”   “No, it’s not that either. I don’t mind. It’s just…” You steal a glimpse at your boyfriend. For one, you wanted to go where he went and secondly— “I’m with Jeon Jungkook.”   “Who?” Ken asks, brows furrowing.   “You know, the black haired kid,” Moonbyul says in an attempt to jog his memory.   But the man’s impassive expression doesn’t waver or alter. “You literally described at least a quarter of the population.”   “The one that looks like a rabbit, you idiot.” Hani makes grand gestures. “The deer-looking fellow. You know, the cute one.”   “Right!” He snaps his fingers, as if that was enough to remember him by.   You shake your head. “He’s not cute. He’s an ass. Steer clear territory.”   “Can’t you steer clear from him?” Sandeul asks before he slurps up his carbonara and then chews in his cheek. “There’s like what— four or five kids coming with you? You can probably avoid him if you wanted to.”   “No.” It dawns on you just how bad the circumstances are. “Apparently only two of us are going there. At least I didn’t see anyone else assigned to that place. It’s only going to be just him and I.”   “Yikes.”   “Not helping, Hani.” Seokjin gives her a look that makes her sheepish and mumble an apology. “It’s not going to be that bad.” He reaches for your hand underneath the table, a private place without the prying eyes of his friends. “It’s only for three months and it’s during summer. It won’t happen for quite some time.”   “Yeah.” You squeeze your hand tenderly with his.    It’s wondrous how effective Seokjin’s reassurance is. You feel like there’s no reason for you to be afraid, for you to dread the inevitability. He makes you feel like you could take on anything.   All plans have their obstacles. Maybe this is just yours. Things always have a way of working out after all. You’ll get your experience, do your internship without talking to him, and then apply where Jin will be working after. You just have a feeling — call it your intuition — that it’ll work out.   //   But you’re still somewhat unsettled. You wonder if there’s a way you could switch. At least it wouldn’t hurt to take your chances and ask, then you knew you tried and did all you could. So with a hopeful heart, you approach the office area and open the door. The secretary is gone from her desk, maybe gone to take a bathroom or coffee break, so you take a seat in the waiting area.   One second passes before you overhear a familiar voice that you’ve grown to detest.   “—don’t see how I’m qualified at all! I haven’t even learned about wedding cakes yet!” The frustration is tangible. “It’s a course for next year!”   “Then you’ll get a head start from your classmates, Jungkook.”   There’s an audible sigh and his voice becomes calmer. “Miss. Kang, please. I just don’t understand how I could be put in something I didn’t even apply for.”   “What do you want to do, Jungkook?”   “Pardon?”   “What is it that you want to do after you’ve gotten your diploma?”   “I want to be a chocolatier.” There’s a pause. “A Master Chocolatier. I want to compete in The World Chocolate Masters. That’s why I applied for Oliver’s and Tokyo Confectionery. Spending my time and my internship at a place that does chocolate is important to me. Not wedding cakes.”   “Well, you’re lucky then. I personally know the couple that runs Kim’s Wedding Cake Company. They’re good friends of mine and the man who runs the place with his wife is actually a chocolatier. He studied in Paris and has been in the industry for more than ten years. I feel like you could learn a lot from him, Jungkook. Remember, it’s not the place you go to, but the mentor that you have. Think it over. Give it a few days. If you still have concerns, we can talk about it.”   Jungkook huffs in exasperation and grabs his bag. He mutters a reluctant ‘thank you’ before leaving the office. He doesn’t take one look back but on his way out, he catches you staring straight at him in the waiting area. His steps slow but then he scoffs, looks away and walks out.   When you get a chance to talk to the lady organizing internships, it’s brief — she apologizes and tells you there’ll be no changes made. There’s no arguing, you know that much. Not when Jungkook quite literally tried every desperate plea in the book.   You end up leaving and at the same exact time, Jungkook exits the men’s locker area, changed back into his regular attire. The two of you nearly bump heads, running into each other.   “Are you following me?” he flat out asks when your eyes meet.   You raise a brow, freezing in the middle of the hallway. “Excuse me?”   “Are you following me,” he repeats with a sharp tongue, obviously still peeved over his previous interaction with Miss. Kang. But you don’t know why he’s putting it on you and making such outlandish accusations. There was absolutely no limit to his cockiness.   “Get your head out of your ass, Johnson. I don’t have the time or day to follow you around.”   “Then what are you doing here?”   “I don’t think I need to tell you where I am or what I do.”   “Whatever.” Jungkook rolls his eyes and brushes past you.   But you turn onto your heel and shout after him—   “Do you really think you’ll make it?”   “What?” He shifts around to glare. His thick brows are knitted, mouth downturned.   “Do you really think you’ll make it as a chocolatier?” You meet his eye and a smirk pulls on your features. A rush of air leaves your nose in a snort. “You? Really? You want to compete in The World Chocolate Masters? That’s cute.”   “At least I have actual ambitions and goals and I’m not here for the sake of my boyfriend.”   “Excuse me? What are you trying to say?”   “Don’t play dumb and act like you didn’t follow your little boyfriend here.”   “You don't know anything about me, Jeon.”   “I don’t? I know that you’re not passionate about baking, that’s for sure. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have fucking stolen—”   “Fuck you,” you spit. “I didn’t.”   “Yeah right.” Jungkook scoffs. “Get real, Y/N.”   He gets the last word. Jeon Jungkook turns around, walking away with his bag slung over his shoulder. You shout insults after him but he ignores it, making you look like the fool.   Tears sting your eyes and your teeth grit. He’s an asshole through and through. You don’t know why you even bother wasting your breath.    If Seokjin was the most patient, kindest person and the person that you love the most — then Jeon was the complete opposite. You will forever detest his very being.   //   Your hand is squeezed and you’re brought out of your thoughts.   “Babe? What’s wrong?”   You look to your boyfriend. That’s right — you love him and this man loves you. There’s nothing else that could ever matter more than this. “Nothing. I just had...a really long day today.”   Seokjin stops walking and spreads open his arms wide. He gestures to you. “Come here.”   A smile pulls into your features and you jump into him. Jin laughs, stumbling back as you cuddle into his chest. His arms wrap securely around your frame, shielding you from the cold, from the darkness of the night.   You feel safe.   “I love you.”   He hums and kisses the top of your head. You’re beginning to feel better already.

[anotheronechicagobog]

Antonio Dawson x Reader Begin Again

written by @anotheronechicagobog​

requested by: @lifesaclimb-buttheviewisgreat​

(I hope you like this one too!)

When your ex left it was like someone hastily dropped an anvil on your chest. Your marriage fell apart and he didn’t even want to try to fix it. He just... left. When you were going through divorce proceedings he wouldn’t even look at you. He tried to get full custody of your kids. It wasn’t until you saw him getting picked up by his secretary that you understood everything. The way she cooed at your children and slid her hand down his arm while smirking at you made you sick. 

The divorce proceedings were long and tedious and nearly broke you. Watching your ex and his secretary try and play house was hell. You had been so unaware that your husband didn’t love you anymore, that he had fallen in love with his big breasted blonde secretary, that you had been caught completely blindsided. 

Your kids, however, had been your saving grace. They questioned their father and his new girlfriend. They didn’t like her, just said that they sensed something fake about her. In the end, it had been their testimonies to the judge that won you full custody with your husband only getting minimal visitation rights. Shockingly when the judge made the decision it was your ex’s girlfriend, or mistress, as the judge put it when they accidentally admitted to being together for a year, lost her damn mind.

Meeting Antonio was really something different. You’d been on the subway heading to med to for an appointment when you noticed a girl, probably about 10 or 11 being harassed by a forty-year-old man. Your mama bear instincts kicked in, you marched over and glared and seethed at him, calling him a pedophile a couple of times, and made sure he kept his hands to himself until he left. The girl, Eva Dawson, was grateful for you scaring him away, and when you figured out that neither of her parents knew where she was or where she was going, you called into your doctor’s office to say there’d been an emergency and you were going to be late, before escorting Eva to the 21st police district.

“Eva! What are you doing here?! Does your mom know?” He ranted and raved for several minutes before his eyes narrowed on you. “And who are you?”

“My name is Y/N Y/L/N, I found your daughter on the subway and she looked like she needed help, so I offered to make sure she got here okay.” He nodded. “Alright, Eva, wait here, I’ll tell your mom you’re here. I have to go follow a lead, stay within eyesight of Trudy.” He then turned around and marched out the door of the precinct mumbling under his breath in Spanish followed by a man wearing a fedora. You sighed and watched Eva crying and curling into herself for a minute before you decided to inervene. You sat down beside her. “Hey, He could have said it better, and let you say your piece, but he has a point and it’s because he loves you. Your dad is a detective, you are never going to understand everything about him and his job, and that’s probably a good thing. He sees all of the dark and twisty things about Chicago.”

You ran into Antonio again when you went to visit your uncle/father figure at firehouse 51 while he was visiting his sister. He seemed a little tense at first when he recognized you, but warmed up to you when Gabby threw him a glare. You became quick friends much to uncle Chris’s chagrin, and a few months later your kids were making kissey faces at you whenever Antonio was mentioned.

It ended up being your and Antonio’s kids that got the two of you together. You’d all been hanging out at a first responders picnic when the kids started playing matchmaker. It had been a little embarrassing at first but after the third time you tripped and fell into Antonio’s arms you both decided to humour them. While neither of you intended to go as well as it had you couldn’t be happier about it.

You’d been dating Antonio for eight months when you got a call from Gabby. “Hey, is it okay if I dropped Eva and Diego off at your place? Laura missed picking them up and Antonio couldn’t but I’m still on shift.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Internally you were freaking out. You’d never been alone with them and your kids before. Twelve minutes later they’d been dropped off and you were nervously clenching and unclenching your hands. “So, do you guys want to play Mario cart?”

“That sounds great!” Eva, Diego, and your daughter Katrina, all sat very content selecting their characters and giggling. “I’ll make some snacks, before I forget does anyone have homework?”

Diego and Katrina shook their heads, they were in the same class and their teacher usually gave them twenty minutes at the end of the day to do homework. So it wasn’t really shocking that they didn’t have any. “Eva?”

“No, we’re learning about how to write essays right now so we do a lot of that in class. I’m really good at math so I’ve already done that, but if I could get your advice on a lab I did that would make me more confident in it.”

“Sure, how about after dinner?”

“Yeah, that would be awesome.”

“Mind if I join you guys for a few rounds before I have to start making dinner?”

Three wins and two losses later you got up and proceeded to start dinner. Just as you finished with a large Asian stir fry there was a knock on the door. “Alright guys, go wash up. Antonio should be here soon for dinner.” You hundred up your apron before making your way to the door and looking through the peephole. You smiled when you saw your boyfriend nervously standing outside your door with a bouquet of your favourite flowers. You swung the door open with a “hello handsome.”

“Hola mi amor.”

“Dinners ready, the kids are just washing up. I’m gonna go find a vase for these. Thank you, honey.”

“Dinner smells great. Don’t you guys think so?”

“Yeah, mom used my favourite rice noodles and she made it spicy so I’m really excited.”

“YES! I LOVE SPICY FOOD!”

“Calm down Diego, use your inside voice please.”

“Thanks for dinner, Y/N, it’s really good.”

“No problem Eva, I love having you guys over.” Diego went for his second helping as Eva and Katrina were talking about Captain Marvel when Antonio’s phone rang. All of your heads snapped to look at him, the image of him leaving to go to work popping into your heads. He sighed when he saw the caller ID. “It’s Laura. I should probably take this.” You looked at Eva and Diego, both of their heads were bowed and while Diego looked like he was about to burst into tears Eva looked like she wanted to punch something while shouting every swear word she isn’t supposed to know. He stood up from the table and answered the phone as he walked to the entryway, out of earshot. “I made coffee cake the other day and we have vanilla ice cream in the freezer, so we could do that for dessert if you guys are up to it. Diego and Kat nodded while silently and solemnly eating their food. “That sounds really good Y/N. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, sweetie.”

“Y/N?”

“Yeah, Diego?”

“The swim team is having a bake sale on Friday, would you mind making something? Mom forgot to make something for Eva’s cross country team bake sale, and she, you know, forgot us today.”

“Sure thing, what did you have in mind?”

“Your lemon squares are really good, can you make those?”

“Yes, absolutely, I’ll make some extra so that we can all have some too.”

“Thanks.” The kids started to smile again and the mood was lifting when Antonio came back. He was tense but started to loosen up when he heard the kids debating about who was cooler, Batman or Ironman. “Personally,” Antonio drawled out, “I prefer Batman.”

“What? Why?”

“Batmobile. Enough said.” You laughed, “fair enough.” You kissed him on the cheek, he looked at you tenderly, his face close to yours. He didn’t have to lean in far to kiss you soundly on the lips.

Antonio and the kids were cleaning up fro dinner while you were looking over Eva’s lab report. It was well-formatted, and while she did use some contractions her report was definitely worthy of a high mark. She beamed when you told her that her only mistake was using the word “couldn’t” instead of “could not”. She skipped back to the kitchen and back to her cake and ice cream. Antonio chuckled as he wrapped his arms around your waist from behind. “I talked to Laura, if you’re okay with it I’d like to list you as one of Eva and Diego’s guardians with the school and med. If you’re okay with it. You don’t have to-“

“Yes. That sounds great. You know I love them, I’ll do anything to help them.”

“Te amo mi amor.”

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #682: Valentine's Cards (Kingdom Hearts)

3:32 p.m. at Hayner's Usual Secret Spot......

Hayner: ('Heh' 'Heh') (Smugly Shows Roxas and Pence a Deck of Valentine Cards Given to Him) Read 'em and weep, boys!

Pence: (Somewhat Amazed) Woah.....You really weren't kidding when you said you got a lot of Valentine Cards today.

Hayner: I know, right? (Puts on a Smirk on his Face) This goes without saying, I believe I'm becoming a major hit with the ladies nowadays. Very impressive for a troublemaker like yours truly, I know.

Roxas: (Gives Hayner a Deadpinned Look on his Face) I never thought in million years that you, of all people, would care about this kind of stuff....

Hayner: (Shrugged) Me neither, but yet here we are. (Place his Arm Around an Annoyed Roxas) No need to be jealous, bud. It's not everyday that your best friend in the entire universe got a lot more Valentine Cards than you do. Hell, I bet you don't even have any at all.

Roxas: (Rolled his Eyes) Oh har har. (Shoves Hayner Off of Him) Very funny, Casanova. But in case you haven't noticed.....(Puts Out a Few Valentine's Cards of his Own From his Pants Pocket) I got a lot Valentine's cards of my own too! What you gotta say about that?

Pence: (Nodded in Agreement) That is pretty impressive if you ask me.

Roxas: Thank you, Pence!

Hayner: (Nodded as Well) Yeah. I agree. It is impressive and all. (Puts on a Smug Smirk on his Face While Crossing his Arms Together) But I bet two of them, Xion and your two dads.

Roxas: (Glares at Hayner) No they're not!

Hayner: (Raised an Eyebrow at his Bro)

Roxas: ('Sighs in Defeat') Alright, fine. They are. But they still counts! (Turns to Pence) What about you, Pence? You any Valentine Cards of your own?

Pence: Nah..... (Looks Down on the Ground in Sadness) I got nothing this year.....As usual.......

Hayner: (Immediately Starts Feeling Bad For Pence) Ah dude.....

Roxas: (Frowns at Pence) I'm sorry, man.

Pence: (Suddenly Starts Chucking Lightly While Looking Back up Towards his Two Friends) I'm messing with you guys. (Pulls out Something From Both of his Pockets) I got three cards and a chocolate bar.

Roxas: ('Sighs in a Bit of Relief') Oh that's good hear.

Hayner: Neat.

????: 'Sup, Losers.

Hayner: (Turns to See Vantias Making his Way to the Him and the Gang) Well, whaddya know! The man of the hour is finally here!

Roxas: (Puts on a Smirk on his Face) And here I thought you weren't gonna show up.

Vantias: Well, I would've been here sooner if a bunch girls didn't try to follow me everywhere.

The trio eyes suddenly becomes widened in complete shock from what Vantias told them.

Roxas: I-I-I'm sorry. But.... You're....telling us that-

Hayner: A BUNCH OF GIRLS WAS FOLLOWING YOU!?

Vantias: (Starts Getting Confused and a Tad Bit Weirded Out by Hayner's Sudden Outburst) Uhh....Yeah. I mean, they didn't follow me all at once, but.....('Sigh') Okay. So when I went to the burger place to get myself something to eat, this one girl was following me, all shy like. Once I turned around and ask what she was doing, she gives me her Valentine card to me and just ran off. Then, when I actually went into the place, four or five other girls tried to stare at me and look away back and forth and then eventually, come up to my table and gave those cards to me before they started running away and.... squealing for some reason. And then, just when I started to walk out, a bunch of other girls suddenly appear in front of me and do the exactly same thing!

Pence: So they followed you around just so they can give you their Valentine cards?

Vantias: Exactly. That and candy. Which reminds me....(Toss Bag Filled With Valentine Cards and Candy onto the Ground)

Pence: (Surprised and Amaze at the Bag Right in Front of Him and the Others) Woah..........

Roxas: Holy shit, dude. You really weren't kidding.....

Vantias: Well, duh. Of course I wasn't kidding about all of this. But anyways, if any of you nerds want some candy, then be my guess.

Pence: (Smiles Excitedly as he Get Some Candy Out if the Bag) Don't have tell me twice!

Roxas: (Smirk Comes Back on his Face) Thanks, man. Namine's right. You really do have a heart.

Vantias: (Rolled his Eyes from Roxas' Comment While Blushing a Little) Whatever.

Hayner: (Eyes Still Widened at Vantias' Bag) (How?.....How in the hell did Vantias, of all people, got so many girls admiring him so easily!? Was it because of his edginess? Did his edgelord looking appearance actually got all the ladies to fall over heels for him!? Or maybe he cheated this entire time! Yeah! That HAS to be-)

Vantias: (Turns to Hayner) Hey, spike boy!

Hayner: (Comes Back to Reality) Oh! Uhh....Yeah?

Vantias: You want some candy or not? Don't really care either way.

Hayner: ('Sigh') Yeah. Sure.

?????: I'm here.

Pence: (Turn to See a Very Familiar Face) Olette. You're finally here.

Hayner: Yeah. What took you so long?

Olette: ('Sigh') Sorry. (Make her Way to the Group While Wearing a Light Orange Sun Dress) I forgot bring the Valentine cards for you guys, at home earlier. (Gives Valentine Card to Each of the Boys) So I went all the way back there to get them. (Hands the Last Card Over to Vantias....In a Sudden Shy Like Manner) I even got one for, Vantias....

Vantias: (Eyes Widened a Bit in Genuine Surprise) Wait. Really?

Olette: Yeah. I-It's thanks for hanging out with and stuff.....

Vantias: Oh. Well, it's....no problem or anything. I mean, in all honesty, you really don't have to thank me for that at all, now that I think about it.

Olette: I know, but...(Finally Starts to Blush) I still wanna do something nice for you. So....p-please accept my thanks, okay?

Vantias: (Rubbing his Head Back and Forth in a bit if Confusion) Oookay....If that's what you really wanted.....You look nice by the way.

Olette: (Eyes Widened in Genuine Surprise as her Blush Slightly Turns Bright Red) Y-You really think so?

Vantias: Yeah. Not sure if orange's your favorite color or not, but I still think it suits you at least.

Olette: (Smiles Softly) Aww~ Thanks, Vantias. I think you look great too.

Vantias: You think so? (Looks Down at his Black Loose Button Collared Shirt Before Looking Back at Olette) I'm only wearing everything black today. It's not really that special.

Olette: Are you kidding? You look great!.....(Continues Talking to Vantias)

Pence: (Witness the Entire Scene with the Others) So Olette has a crush on Vantias all along, huh?

Roxas: Did not see that one coming....(Turns to Hayner) What do you think, Hayner?

Hayner: (Eyes and Mouth Widened in a Complete Shock and Stand Still)...........

Roxas: Uhh...Hayner?

Pence: (Wave his Hand in front of a Stunt Hayner) Roxas, I think he's broken.

Roxas: (Sighs While Rolling his Eyes) Of course he is....

Pence: You wanna try snapping him back to reality?

Roxas: Nah. (Makes his way to Olette and Vantias) He'll come back to his senses eventually.

Pence: (Shrugs) Okay. (Follows Roxas Behind While Leaving Hayner in his Place)

@khtext

@26shann

@keyenuta

@cyber-wildcat

@miki-13

@italian-love-cake

@albion-93

@ma-lemons

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

I want to tell you... (Part 7.)

Description: Nathan Drake is not the exact definition of an unhappy man. His job is steady, his friends still see him from time to time, he plays football, but his marriage is his main problem. Many things will change when a special person comes to his life.

Part Summary: It was becoming more and more obvious that something isn’t right between Nate and Elena, just as he was discovering how much of an amazing person you were.

A/N: A lot has changed ever since I started this damn series... It is MORE than a year old. And I still do love Nathan, he deserves all the love and cuteness, smut and attention his brother gets. Like... I love Sam too, and y’all know that, but sometimes you need the softness and love in your life. ♥

A/N: Just a quick reminder that this Nate is in his early 30s’ and Sully is in his early 40s’. It takes place after Honor Among Thieves, where Nate and Elena and Nate got married, but didn’t found the way to work the things out.

Word counter: 2.8 K

Tagging: @missdictatorme​, @peakymarvels​, @nemodoren​, @flavorishy​

Series master list: H E R E

Nathan’s car sing-along playlist: H E R E

Nathan couldn't believe what he had just done. His blue eyes were scanning the phone, his lungs weren't getting the amount of air they needed and his heart was racing. He had just called you. Asked you if you'd like to hang out with him. And you said yes. Nate breathed out steadily, and before he could stop himself, he was doing his happy dance.

Nathan, being a grown-up he seemed to be with his muscles and 5'11 height was a small kid inside an adult's man body. For starters, he was always singing and dancing when he was happy, or when he tried to kill some time in his car - and he wasn't a good singer at all. He had his happy dances when no-one could see him dancing. Another thing was that this man adored the movie Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and he cried every damn time he saw the movie. He loved to buy himself an ice-cream, was loud, and loved to laugh. He was dorky in his own, irresistible way as Elena often put it.

Oh, Nathan stopped. What would've Elena think about this? She would be most probably cool with him seeing a friend, right? Like, he went with Frazer for beers and stuff, why would be Elena worried about him going to play some Scrabble with another friend? A girl he had just met? A girl he was all over his heels for? Nathan shook his head as he stood in front of half-emptied wardrobe since El had taken most of her things with her, already dialing her number. She answered after a small while.

"Hey, hey, did something happened?" - She mumbled sleepily, having Nathan curse under his breath. He forgot about the time difference thingy. He was creating various looks on the bed, thinking about what is most suitable for the occasion.

"No, I'm fine, I don't have anything broken just yet, the flat didn't catch on fire, everything's fine here." - The man named every horror scenario he could think of, finishing it with a slight chuckle. Elena on the other side didn't find it funny at all, leaving a frustrated sigh to make her husband realize she isn't in the mood for his jests. - "But Sully has a girlfriend." - He mentioned just, by the way, settling on a dark blue t-shirt and khaki pants that made his ass popping as Chloe told him many times. These pants were old, but they were still presentable.

"And you're calling me at three a.m. to tell me that Victor found himself a girlfriend? Nate... I have to wake up early today." - Elena sighed, doing something in the background. She knew that once Nate had woken her up, she won't be able to fall asleep again, so she went to make her a cup of coffee.

"I am not calling you at three a.m. just to tell you that Sully has a girlfriend, who is at least fifteen younger, by the way. I'm calling you because a friend asked me if I wouldn't mind hanging out with her because her boyfriend is at work, so..." - He left out a small pause, rolling his eyes around, walking around the flat like a little boy.

"Nathan, let me remind you that you're thirty-and-something years old man who has the right to decide who he wants to hang out with." - "And won't you be mad ar me, or jealous, or something?" - "Do you want me to?" - Elena asked with a dry chuckle. Nathan didn't expect that Elena would be so cool about this. He expected a lot, but not such a calm attitude. Nathan had quite a time while trying to come up with an answer for Elena.

"Listen, I just wanted to let you know." - Nate sighed in the end, waiting for a moment before hearing Elena chuckle on the other side of the phone. - "Yeah, but you still woke me up this early. Unforgivable." - The woman joked and for a moment, Nate felt seriously bad about himself and the whole situation around you. - "I love you." - Nate whispered after a moment, waiting for her answer. But, just like the last time, there was no I love you said back.

"Enjoy the hangout and don't drink too much. You know how much you love Notting Hill when you're drunk. Bye." - His wife whispered in the end, ending the call. The man felt hurt for a reason he couldn't exactly name. Nathan was an endless romantic with his whole soul - he loved to cook surprise dinner for Elena when they were together, he brought her flowers at least once a week, bought her some sweets when he felt like the needs to sweeten her life a bit and he once even did the cliché thing with petals leading to the bed. This man needed to feel he's being loved, that he's being appreciated and cared for.

Yet Elena seemed to be super-distant even if she knew about it. But Nathan wasn't the type to pressure into doing things, he was too sweet for that. He cared for the woman and wanted nothing more than seeing her contained. And so far, it seemed she's more or less feeling happy in some way.

After ten minutes of preparations, like styling his hair with water and finding the best was to style his t-shirt, he set to go to the market, as he promised you. This man loved ratatouille with his whole heart. It was somehow reminding him of the days when everything was way simpler. When he was younger and he and Sam were traveling through the states, he was the one doing the cooking when they didn't have enough money for picking something at a Chinese restaurant. And ratatouille was simple and quick, not that much expansive. And his lemon cake? Jesus, you'll love it.

Nate was just arguing about the cost of the zucchinis when you texted him your address, telling him you somehow managed to clean the place up. Which filled Nate with new energy - so much that he paid a horrendous amount of money for a couple of fresh zucchinis. It wasn't too far from the market, so maybe, if you'd like to know where to get the best fresh goods, he could take you there. Nathan caught himself grinning and humming a song when he finally walked through your street - you lived in the modern, yet indie-feeling one. The houses were small, almost as if in a Mexican village and each of them had a different color. There was a bright, yellow one, then one with a blood-red facade, grass-green one, and your house had a color of the sky. It could be known that you're a student, as you told him because bands and independent artists were playing on the streets until the deep night, so the rant was significantly reduced and this was a part of the city young people lived in.

Yet it filled Nate with this sort of energy and it made him grin as he watched a guitarist serenading for some tourist, who was giggling. It made him feel a bit younger than he was... Well, he wasn't old by any means, but he still was a dude in his thirties, so he wasn't the youngest in the game either. But soon enough, he was calling you as he stood in front of the door, tapping his feet around nervously. Suddenly, he heard someone calling his name, and before he could say something, he saw you leaning down from your balcony, waving your hands wildly.

"Watch out for the keys!" - You cried out, pulling your hand out so he would see them. First, he chuckled and then nodded, so you let them fall. It was the first time you've seen someone catch the keys to their palm. It took him barely a minute to run the stairs up and dear Lord, he had this grin as soon as he saw you. You had this jean overall with one of the suspenders fallen off your shoulder, a white t-shirt and messy hair. Jesus, you were looking even better than Nate remembered you.

"Hey there." - You smiled goofily, stepping aside from the door, finding the man in. - "And welcome to my kingdom. Please, we hope you don't mind a bit of mess." - You giggled and stopped him when he wanted to take his shoes off.

"I don't mind a mess since I am a bit of one myself." - Nathan answered back playfully, finding this new sense of confidence inside of him. It made him feel good when you laughed out loud at the statement, shaking your head with an unbelieving smile. Your place was really cute and as far as Nate could tell, it suited you... And your boyfriend. Most of the things was still in the boxes, the furniture was unassembled and... - "Why didn't you tell me that you need help with painting the walls?" - Nate asked you.

Jesus, that didn't even cross your mind. Nathan was still a stranger to you, even if you called him a friend already. You met for this one afternoon a week or so ago during the storm, but you hadn't talked since that day. He didn't even text you or anything. So, naturally, it didn't come across that you could ask Nate to help you with accommodating the new household. The only thing you've had fully equipped was a kitchen - and that was because you already bought the flat with an equipped kitchen and bathroom.

"Calm your horses, I've had enough of a hard time to make sure the water is running so you can cook me the damn lunch. I'm starving." - A joke left you as you opened up the living room windows. Nate's expression was enough for you to start explaining. - "Mike usually does this stuff, I'm the worst technician you could befriend, so, don't ask me to repair stuff for you, okay?" - Oh shit, Mike. Your boyfriend. Right. Don't let your feelings get the best of you, Nate, the man spoke with himself.

"So, what does lunch, Scrabble, and painting your living room sound like?" - Nate asked and put all the vegetables on the table, smiling at you daringly.

"Oh, no, no, no. I asked you to hang out with me, not to slave work for me." - You marched right next to him, pulling out some knives, pans, and pots for him. - "And you'd ruin your t-shirt and I don't want to buy you a whole new one. I'll manage on my own." - This made the man chuckle as you still kept talking to him while chaotically running around, assembling the dishes for him. You were going through various boxes on the ground, having a slight furrow on your face.

"Yeah, I can see how you're managing with these tomcats all over the wall, good job. I mean it, I have a day off anyway." - The man answered you with a soft giggle at the end, already working with the vegetables. What surprised him was that you stood next to him in the next minute, helping him with the cooking.

"Your wife would be angry that you wouldn't be home for dinner. It must've already weirded her out that you're going to cook lunch for this random girl." - The topic of Elena made Nate gulp quietly, letting the playful grin disappear from his face. For a moment, you thought you hit the soft spot, but then the man bumped with his elbow to your upper arm.

"Elena... She's out of the states now. She's working on an article in Thailand, and for your information, she was proud of her hubby doing such a gentleman thing about not letting a girl starve to death." - Oh, crap. Nathan wished for the things to be as he was interpreting them. He wished to talk about with Elena, because maybe if their relationship would've been better, he wouldn't crush on you straightaway. But those were only speculations. What could Nathan know?

"Do you have her picture? I'm kinda curious about what she looks like. If that isn't... Too weird, of course." - You stuttered out. Nathan was caught off guard with your wish, but in the end, he wiped his hands and pulled his phone up, showing you a photo from their most recent vacation in Brazil. She was smiling into the camera, holding a glass of wine and her hair was let down. She was also beautifully tanned at the time. You opened up your mouth, smiling at the sight of Nathan's wife. - "Wow. She's like... Pretty. You're one lucky guy, Nate, I tell you." - As if, Nathan answered, but he did his best to nod and hum in agreement.

When this weird little thingy about Elena was off the table, you both concentrated on your cooking. Nathan could see why you told him that you're not the best cook either, but you were doing his best to help him. But the pie was even more fun to prepare than the ratatouille. First, you shoved the main course into the oven, making the sweet end after that. It was both looking miraculous to you since you would eat anything the man would serve you. And no matter how hot the food was, you had some appetite. Nathan hadn't seen anyone eat his food with such a passion for a long time - not even in the restaurant.

When the lunch was over, you pulled an old box with scrabble out of nowhere, putting on the table. - "Now, now, what you have to understand, Nate, is that this box is a relic. I wouldn't be surprised if it would be older than me... So, naturally, most of the letters are missing and you'll have to have hella imagination playing this game." - You presented him, putting the board down. This was a nice spent time while letting the food settle down inside of you - you were laughing a lot with Nathan and his main tactic. The man was trying to convince you that most of the words he made up were real. Soon, you pulled a dictionary, and Nate knew he's screwed at the moment.

When you proved Nathan you're actually like... Ten times smarter than him, it was the time to paint your living room. The sun was slowly setting down, so you lit up every light you could find and blasted some playlists on your laptop, making the man dance at once song. Which made you laugh from the bottom of your heart.

"What?" - Nate turned to you with the roll in his hand, already having paint on his face.

"This was... So... Terrible. I suppose you hadn't picked Elena on your dancing skills, huh?" - You mumbled, drying the tears off. Then, you stepped forward to take the paint from his face, still chuckling at the memory of him dancing. But Nathan's world just stopped for a moment when he felt your hands running on his face, your fingertips touching him gently. It made his heart jump a bit higher with joy, even if he had to fought the urge to lean into the warm touch.

"Unfortunately not, but, I am just a good dancer and you're jealous." - Nate teased you when he gained his consciousness back, making you stop as you watched his face unbelievably. With a burst of laughter, you smacked his shoulder playfully, leaning away.

"That's how it is?" - You asked, finding a different song in the playlist to show Mr. Drake how real dancers dance-like. - "Yeah, that's how it is." - Nate answered light-heartedly, looking at you already vibing to another song. With one daring look, you turned at him, making the craziest dance creations Nathan had ever seen. After a while of your theatrics, the man finally chuckled, continuing with painting the wall. He was leaving around eight in the evening, just a while before Mike came home from work and listened about your adventurous day.

On his way home, Nathan stopped at one of the artists, listening to the girl playing guitar and singing for someone she was deeply in love with. And instead of Elena, he was thinking about you when he was putting a few dollars to the guitar case. He couldn't wait to see you again.

[artificialqueens]

Lemon's Misadventures in Dating, Chapter 7  (Lemon x Life) - Mermelada

A/N: And she’s back, back, back again! I hope you all enjoy this one! Friendly reminder to drink in moderation and socially distance <3 tw for drugs and alcohol in this one, as always, I love all the feedback I’ve been getting! Thank you all, big kisses!

Saturday rolled around quicker than Lemon had expected, and she had a dilemma: Jan had a fancy dinner with her boyfriend’s parents; Jackie was still studying in New York; and Brooke Lynn was performing in Giselle every night for the next ten days. But she was so keen to go to Scarlett’s party - and not be stood alone like an awkward, well, lemon - that she had done something that was probably very, very silly. 

“So let me get this straight, you want me, a girl you hooked up with once on Tinder, to come with you to a party you were invited to by another girl from Tinder, and help you get laid?”

When she put it like that, it did actually seem very weird. “Well, not necessarily the last part, but yeah, it’s just a party, right? It’ll be fun!”

Kyne sipped her fruity cocktail, brow furrowed, not letting Lemon see any of her current thought process. The blonde’s eyes darted around the bar, smoothing her yellow skater dress along her thighs, as she thought of Plan E should the brunette say no. But on the plus side, she contemplated, trying to convince herself that her plan wasn’t completely doomed to failure, she did agree to come and meet me at short notice. And we’ve been chatting pretty regularly, so we can totally be friends, right? Her inner monologue was cut short when Kyne finally spoke up. 

“And there’ll be booze and lesbians, you say?”

“Yes, Kyne, I can guarantee you will be surrounded by booze and lesbians.”

The click of her high heels echoed through the bar as she jumped off her stool, grabbing her coat. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

***

Walking arm in arm as they navigated an unknown neighbourhood, the pair were able to laugh and chat like regular friends. Clearly having learned from her previous missteps, Kyne even appeared to be taking an interest in Lemon, asking about her life - she was even excited to find out about Lemon’s new job.

“Okay, okay, one thing I have actually been dying to know… is Lemon REALLY your name?? Like do your parents love fruit or something?”

Lemon turned and deadpanned her answer. “Yeah, I have a brother called Lime.”

She could see the cogs turning inside Kyne’s brain as her mouth rounded in a confused “oh”, but she could only keep her serious façade in place for a few seconds before she snorted into an easy grin.

“You bitch! You really had me thinking you were part of some fruit cult! So what’s your real name then?”

“Do you promise not to laugh?” pouted Lemon, shifting her eyes to the girl beside her.

“I promise nothing, but I’ll try my best.”

“Luisa.”

“That’s really pretty! Why would I laugh at that? But even bigger question now, where the fuck did Lemon come from?!” Kyne all but screamed as they turned the corner onto Scarlett’s street, the pair looking at every door to find the correct apartment block. Their plastic bag of recently-purchased alcohol and snacks (and a red velvet cupcake for Scarlett, it was her birthday, after all) swayed between them as they zig-zagged down the pavement, trying not to trip over the uneven surface in their heels. Lemon was so focussed on finding number 143 that she almost forgot to answer, until she felt Kyne’s elbow on her bicep.

“Oh, I don’t even know, I guess I loved yellow as a kid? Plus I’ve always been sour as hell.”

Looking up, they caught a glimpse of a girl with light-blue hair hanging out of a window, smoking, who noticed Lemon and Kyne approach the front door immediately. She tilted her head to the side and shouted loudly, seemingly at nobody. “Sissy! Whores at the door for you!”

Looking between each other, both panicking that they’d made a huge mistake, the girls stood on the front step, trying to ignore the glare of the girl above them.

“I’m scared, she’s mean,” mouthed Kyne, causing Lemon to reach out and hold the younger girl’s hand, also as an attempt to calm her own racing pulse. Before they could do anything else, the intercom crackled and buzzed, the door shifting slightly as it unlocked. Biting her lip, Lemon led the brunette inside, never letting go of her hand. The smell of weed radiated around the stairwell, the dull thud of a dancey bassline penetrating the concrete walls. Slowly, they climbed the stairs up to the third floor.

“Do you smoke?” Lemon asked, dying to break the silence and put the younger girl - but mainly herself - at ease.

“Sometimes”, she hesitated, tucking a strand of her wavy chestnut-coloured hair behind her ear. “You?”

“Sometimes.”

They eventually reached the source of the music, where a girl Lemon recognised as Scarlett stood at the open door, already clearly hammered.

“Oh my god, you must be Lemon!!!” she screamed, immediately engulfing her into a tight hug. She was a good couple of inches shorter than Lemon, but she was very, very strong. Scarlett smelled of a combination of weed and flowery perfume, and Lemon couldn’t help but notice how her tattooed biceps flexed as she gripped her. “You are even more beautiful in person, oh fuck, sorry, thank you so much for coming!” Finally letting go, she placed her hands on Kyne’s shoulders, staring deeply into her eyes like she was reading a sign. “Is this your friend? She’s gorgeous too, it’s not fucking fair!”

As if a switch had been flipped, Kyne was suddenly oozing fearless confidence, her demeanor reminiscent of the first time Lemon had met her. “Hi, yes, I’m Kyne, and I fucked her first.”

Lemon’s jaw hit the floor as Kyne smirked, before being enveloped in Scarlett’s arms. The birthday girl laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard, her hands wrapped tightly around the Filipina’s waist. “Oh my god! You are so funny, I love you! Welcome, welcome!” Taking a step to the side, Lemon produced the cupcake in its paper container from their shopping bag. 

“Happy Birthday, girl!”

Scarlett’s eyes suddenly became glassy, and she put an arm around each of the other girls as her bottom lip trembled. “Ladies… this is the nicest thing anyone has done for me today, you are both angels!” Lemon tried to hold the small cake aloft to avoid squashing it any more, meanwhile Kyne appeared to be biting her lip in a vain attempt to not laugh. Scarlett, however, showed no signs of stopping her emotional tirade. “My own girlfriend didn’t get me a cake! I mean she baked some edibles for tonight, but it’s just not the same, y’know? This really means something, so thank you so much.”

A cough at the door interrupted the moment, and from the corner of her eye, Lemon saw the blue-haired girl from the window earlier, quickly realising that she recognised her from her heart tattoo under her eye. Ilona.

“Sorry to interrupt, babies, but we should take this inside. Scar, our neighbours don’t need to hear this again.” She spoke curtly, and despite the smile plastered on her face, it was obvious to everyone how she was really feeling. She was mad.

As Lemon and Kyne detangled themselves, edging towards the entrance, Scarlett spoke up again, sounding much less merry than before.

“Oh I’m sorry, sissy! Fuck my feelings, eh? Come on, ladies, let’s go party!” And with that, the remaining three girls could only watch the short blonde hair of the birthday girl bounce through the front door, leaving them in an awkward stalemate. Luckily, Kyne spoke up first, addressing the burning question that Lemon wasn’t brave enough to mention.

“So are you two, like, a thing?”

Ilona’s face had completely changed, her vulnerability now evident through her knitted eyebrows. She sighed heavily, ushering the others inside. “Yep, one wonderful year of this,” she muttered as she gesticulated wildly into the air, closing the door behind her and all but stomping down the dimly lit hallway. “Leave your shoes and jackets here, smoke out the window, and don’t have sex on my bed.” 

This was definitely a bonding moment for Lemon and Kyne, the two giggling quietly at each other as they slid off their shoes, leaving them in the messy pile which had been erected by the door. Lemon felt Kyne’s warm hand brush against hers, so she took the hint and interlaced their fingers again. They smirked at each other, knowing that tonight would be interesting, no matter what happened. As they heard Scarlett’s strained voice shouting at her girlfriend from the room at the end of the hall, they padded along the wooden flooring, ready to see where the night took them.

***

“Hey! Kyne! Watch this!”

With slightly dilated brown eyes and a vacant smile focussing on her, Lemon slid her legs along the carpet, straight into the splits. She posed, grinning, with a ‘ta-da!’

“Wooooo! Go Lemon!! She’s a dance teacher, people!” screeched Kyne over the music, running over to Lemon with a bottle of Fireball. Both girls took a generous swig, laughing as the brunette took the blonde by the hands and attempted to drag her across the floor, legs still splayed. The party, so far, had indeed been interesting. Scarlett had disappeared shortly after they had arrived, so Ilona had joined them on the couch with a bottle of expensive-looking vodka and a plate of pot brownies. Lemon and Kyne had half-heartedly listened as she cried about nothing they knew anything about; then Kyne had cried about how she had started to develop feelings for her roommate, but how she was too scared to ever say anything; which left Lemon sat in the middle with her arms around them both, stroking their hair, waiting for their temporary downer to end. As quickly as it had started, they had both perked up again, and pulled Lemon onto the makeshift dancefloor, the alcohol in her system making her brave enough to pull out all her tricks. The blonde couldn’t help but notice that the unlikely pair were getting on rather well, Ilona’s hand never far away from any exposed part of Kyne. As she stood upright again, shaking off the strain in her groin muscles, she stood and hazily watched as both girls slid into the hallway, taking the bottle of orange alcohol with them. As Lemon pondered her next move, a voice from above knocked her out of her daze, with strong arms guiding her toward the kitchen. For the second time that night, Lemon couldn’t help but feel she recognised the dark-skinned woman. She wore her hair in two long boxer braids which swung down her back, her plum lips turned up in a smile.

“Come play with me, we’re doing gin pong!”

Lemon let the woman’s velvet voice encompass her, when her brain finally connected the dots.

“Tynomi?!”

The woman in the denim playsuit looked startled as she looked Lemon up and down, before having her own moment of realisation. “Ah, lesbian Tinder? Nice to meet you…?”

“Lemon! I’m Lemon!”

“Lemon, it’s a pleasure! I’m afraid I haven’t found you yet, otherwise I’d know you better by now.” She winked as she sashayed through the beaded curtain which separated the kitchen from the living room, Lemon following her like a puppy would its mother. She readily took the plastic cup Tynomi offered her, filling it with a potent-looking mixture of rum and ginger beer. “I don’t spend as much time in Toronto as I’d like, sadly, which means so many lovely ladies fly under my radar.”

Trying to hide her wince as she sipped the strong drink, she leaned towards Tynomi, who was busy preparing a drink for herself with at least six different types of alcohol in it. “That’s a shame, do you live out of town?”

“No, no, I live two blocks away actually! But I’m a flight attendant, so it’s hard to keep something serious going, you know?” She raised her glass to toast with Lemon, both women holding eye contact as they sipped. Before Lemon had the chance to ask any of the hundreds of questions running through her mind, Tynomi had already turned to the long table with cups set up at both ends, grabbing hold of a ping-pong ball. “Anyway, shall I start?”

***

Lemon had lost all concept of time and space by the time Scarlett reappeared, her pixie cut looking ruffled as if she’d just rolled out of bed - which, to be fair, she probably had - jumping around the kitchen excitedly, attempting to drum up support for going to a club. Looking around the packed room, there was no sign anywhere of Kyne or Ilona, and after three attempts she managed to unlock her phone to see if the younger girl had messaged. Thankfully, she had.

[22:04] Leeeeeedmon im ginna sleeo here tonight with alina hopw u get bsck ssfe txtx me luv u bye xxzzxxxxxxzx

Despite not fully understanding what she was attempting to read, she decided that Kyne was fine. Why not go out with Scarlett? She found the blonde back in the kitchen, chatting to Tynomi, when she wrapped her arms around them both. “Let’s go out out! You’re both, like, so cool, I wanna dance!” And in a blur, Lemon found herself being whisked into the back seat a taxi between the other two girls, singing along to Alanis Morisette at the top of her lungs.

How the bouncers at the front door decided they were fit enough to be let in, Lemon will never know. But here she was, jostling through the crowds, ready to order some more drinks with money she didn’t necessarily have, but she didn’t care right now. Tynomi and Scarlett had decided to stay outside for a cigarette break, but she had assured them that she was absolutely fine. Completely fine. She heard a sudden thud, and as she bent down to search for her dropped phone on the dark floor, a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Lemon?”

“OH MY GOD! RITA!!!!!!!” Grabbing the slippery device and clumsily skipping towards the area where Rita was standing with another woman - whose giant boobs were the only things Lemon could actually focus on - she threw herself head first into the Québécoise, not noticing the death stare she was receiving from the ashy blonde beside her.

“Who are you here with, mon chou? Are you okay?”

“We were at a party! I’m not sure where they’ve all gone, but oh my god, I can’t believe you’re here! I’m so drunk! Let’s go dance!”

Rita and her companion exchanged a worried glance, and both helped Lemon balance as she wobbled between them. “Lemon, this is my friend from work, Jimbo. Jimbo, this is my friend, Lemon.”

Despite the alcohol coursing through her system, Lemon still picked up on the way Rita’s mouth ever so slightly twisted into a smile as she looked over at her friend, or the way she maintained wide eye contact with her afterwards, wordlessly begging the drunk girl not to embarrass her or do anything stupid. She put everything together and realised that this was the woman Rita liked. But as she twisted in her seat to shake the other doctor’s hand, she was once again interrupted by a voice from behind her.

“Rita? Is that you?”

Tynomi approached the group, somehow still walking like a runway model, with her arms open wide. Rita immediately found herself enveloped in Tynomi’s embrace, the dark-skinned woman planting kisses on both of her cheeks. She held tightly onto Rita’s upper arms, looking each other deeply in the eye, leaving Lemon and Jimbo to feel like they were spying on an intimate moment. “Rita, you look amazing! How are you doing?”

“Oh, you know, the same really! How are you? It’s great to see you again!”

The tension hung thickly in the air as Rita and Tynomi chatted, not even Scarlett’s alcohol-fuelled attempts at speaking French could dissipate it. And as Lemon squinted her eyes to the tall girl beside her, a stiff arm around her waist still holding her upright, she noticed the angry scowl now painted on her face while she watched the others. Lemon may be completely and utterly wasted, but she knew that look well - she wasn’t lying when she said she was always bitter - and felt obliged to do something. After all, Rita had just helped her get a job.

“Jimbo, wanna come smoke outside with me?”

The blonde glared at her for a second, before letting go and walking straight towards the door, leaving Lemon to trot after her. She found her again standing against the front wall of the building, arms folded, lips still pouted like a child who didn’t get their way. 

“You like her, don’t you?”

Jimbo slid her back down the wall until she was crouching, allowing Lemon to sit beside her, no doubt getting her yellow dress covered in dirt and who knows what else. Jimbo groaned as she threw her head into her hands. “I can’t help it. It’s Rita, you know, she’s wonderful. But she goes for people like you and those girls inside, not some ugly, big-titted whore like me. I’m such an idiot, bad Jimbo!”

All too familiar with this narrative and in no mood to let the party mood be dampened, Lemon grabbed both of Jimbo’s hands, rubbing them softly with her thumbs, but it wasn’t enough to stop the tears falling from the other woman’s eyes. “Hey, no you’re not! You’re amazing! Rita definitely likes you too!”

But unfortunately, that only made her cry even more. “You don’t even know me! Why are you being nice to me? Who even are you?” Lemon continued holding her hands, shuffling closer so they could share body heat in the cool autumn air. Normally, when she was sober, she was pretty terrible at dealing with emotional people, but now she was feeling like a qualified therapist. How could it possibly go wrong?

“Look,” she began, moving her arm to around Jimbo’s shoulders, the other blonde leaning into the touch as she sobbed into Lemon’s chest. “I don’t know Rita as well as you obviously do, but I do know a lot of deep shit about her, right?” Stroking the long, blonde hair in front of her, she thought of how to best articulate her plan. “By the way, do you speak French?”

“I mean, enough to understand when she talks to herself in the office when she thinks no one else is there? Oh fuck that sounds so creepy, she hates me!” Jimbo was shaking with tears now, leaving black mascara marks on the front of Lemon’s dress. But that was a problem for future Lemon.

“Well, she turned me down a few days ago. Apparently I’m not her type. She said she liked someone else, from work, who speaks French with her, who makes her tea and compliments her lipstick, and makes her laugh every day with her silly impressions. Does that sound like anyone you know?” Lemon stopped touching Jimbo’s hair, allowing the voluptuous woman to look up at her, still crying hysterically. For a moment, Lemon almost panicked that she had horribly misread the situation and was speaking to the wrong person entirely.

“I… make…. her… tea…” she managed to stutter through jumpy breaths. Now it was her turn to grab hold of Lemon, squashing her head into her large breasts, Lemon making a mental note to ask later if they were real or not. “She… she always wears amazing lipstick, and I always tell her so,” she hiccuped, wiping her tears on the top of Lemon’s head. “She always laughs when I do my Joan Rivers…” Sitting up, she looked at Lemon in shock, finally appearing to have stopped crying. “Does Rita like me?! You’re lying!”

Lemon repositioned herself again, sliding her legs out in front of her, back to sitting beside Jimbo on the ground. “I’m dead serious, that’s what she told me!” She couldn’t get another word in before she was once again being dragged into a vice-like hug by the older woman.

“Oh my god, I am so fucking glad that work drinks got so messy tonight! Oh my god, what do I do now? Help me, yellow lady!!” Lemon managed to pry herself away, taking a deep breath to make up for all the breathing she’d missed out on.

“What do you mean, you dummy, just tell her!”

“I can’t just tell her! When has that ever worked?!”

“I told one of my friends once and we ended up dating for three years, so I…” Lemon’s words caught at the back of her throat, why did she have to say that? Of all the stupid things her drunk brain could think of, of course it had to be Juice. There was no point in fighting it, she just had to get her emotions out, even if she was a very ugly crier. “I… I loved her so much, Jimbo, why did it have to end?” Her trembling lower lip soon transformed into a loud sob, leaving Jimbo to hold her tight again and clumsily run her hand along her arm.

“Don’t cry, darling, she sounds like a total fucking bitch. Forget about her!”

“She wasn’t though! Why did I break up with her? Oh god, what have I done?” 

“No no no no no, don’t cry, you’re gonna make me cry again!”

And so the pair stayed sitting on the dirty concrete at the front of the bar, holding each other and crying for what could have been hours, not noticing any effects of the cold air or damp pavement against their bare arms and legs. They didn’t speak another full sentence to each other, communicating only through grunts and high-pitched wails, much to the amusement and confusion of the other customers milling around outside. Eventually, they felt the presence of somebody else squatting in front of them, the liquorice scent of Rita’s perfume and the grounding feeling of a hand on each of their knees bringing them back into the real world.

“Ohhhh là là, I am not nearly drunk enough for this. Let’s go back inside, ladies, Aunty Scarlett has just bought 100 Jägerbombs and we only have an hour to finish them all.”

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Top 6 Underrated Comedy Scenes in IPK

Version: Arnav Singh Raizada & Situational Comedy

After a certain Khushi Kumari Gupta entered ASR’s life, let’s say she’s given him many moments to laugh. But sometimes, fate wants to laugh at his expense too. Here are six underrated moments in IPK where life did not give Arnav any lemons to make lemonade. 

1. Banwari, The Dhobi (S3, E10)

The one day Arnav decides to do something right, the entire universe conspires to make everything go wrong. His day pretty much goes like this; Mission “Khushi, I am Sorry” Obstacle #1: Arnav can’t say sorry. Everyone can, but no one helps. Because Arnav never asks for help.

Solution - Just find Khushi. Obstacle #2: Ask Lavanya. Feign ignorance... feign ignorance... doesn’t Lavanya know who I’m talking about? Feign ignorance... she’s taken a vacation WHAT *fuck*.

Solution - Call Khushi

Obstacle #3: Can’t English when Khushi’s on the phone. Also, cuts the call himself, has the Rabba Ve wind, and facepalms himself.  But the moment of this hilarious day that takes the cake is when Arnav instructs JP on whoever is by the door, to send that person to his room.  Arnav (ready with the intense look): I need to speak to you

Someone with a voice that does not give him the Rabba Ve : Yes sir, tell me, anyways I’m used to the [scolding] Arnav (turns dramatically, intensity dead): WHO ARE YOU? 

Not Khushi: Banwari, aapka dhobi.  *sigh* We’re with you Arnav bitwa, we’re with you. Although you shouldn’t have yelled at Banwari ji. Banwari kinda predicted though. 

2. Oh Aman! (S3, E34)

Before Khushi, khushingly, threw the mitti (soil) all over herself which led to the gentle-hot-sexy-eye-blow-dust-shy Rabba Ve; the mitti was in her hands, in his pot, and all the way from Arnav’s room to the living room.

And here was Aman, being Aman, taking every meticulous note of what his sir was saying.

“Okay Aman, I was saying that our delegates are arriving tomorrow at Banglore. Prepare your team and give them-” Arnav notices the soil on the floor “-Mitti?” 

“Foreign delegates ko mitti dena hai, sir?” We should give the foreign delegates soil, sir? 

No Aman bitwa!

“Oh Shut up Aman!”

This moment is outright hilarious and one can literally see Aman blurting out the first thought in his head - and it’s too late - before he gets yelled at by Arnav.

Poor Aman though;

ASR: *asks for confirmation by asking Aman to repeat*

Aman: *repeats*

ASR: *says something stupid*

Aman: *repeats?*

ASR: Oh shut up *I was commenting on something you have no idea and I expect you to understand my stupidity as you are more worthy than me in several scenarios and I don’t think you are human*

3. The Newly Shadi Shuda Arnav Singh Raizada (S6, E31)

When Arnav Singh Raizada got hitched (more like forcing a woman to elope with him), one expected many hearts to be broken. After all, the kunwara krorepati - bachelor billionaire - was off the market! But the one heart that I never expected to be broken by Arnav’ marital status, was of Shukla ji’s! Alternating between an Arnav who had no idea that man before him existed, and the canteen waala who believes he is an intrinsic part of Arnav’s life - it is one of the funniest scenes in the show. Shukla: Sir, I was just gone for a day and-

ASR: Who the hell are you?

Shukla: Sir I’m Shukla, the canteen waala *cue ugly crying* I AM THE ONE who brings your daily morning tea, without sugar, and your daily evening coffee, without sugar, to you.

ASR: *invoking Kanan Biswa from MPKDH Pretentious Movie Review* Toh problem kya hai?

Shukla: Sir that’s exactly what I’m asking, if there was an issue with *sobs*

ASR: Come to the point

Shukla: Nobody wants the canteen food, they’ve all found a new lunch service *sobbing continues* This provides me the bread and butter for my home and YOU destroyed-

ASR: What the! What did I do?

Shukla: YOU. GOT. MARRIED

ASR: I got married, how is that a problem to you?

Shukla: *sobs and leaves*

ASR: Sabki problem kya hai yaar! it’s awesome seeing ASR say yaar Crazy people.

*If this scene does not make you laugh, I will be extremely judgmental of you* 

Also whoever played Shukla ji, your crying was epic. 

4. Presenting Lakshmi Nagar, by Manorama Raizada (S7, E1)

There’s one thing about going to your in-laws house, there’s another thing of somebody frightening you to no end about it.

Manorama and Arnav have the strangest friendship - they are both well aware of the other’s faults and are not hesitant to use those faults - but somehow believe the first thing that is out of their mouths.

This scene might have not been funny, if Arnav was not straight up terrified and believing everything Mami ji said (until she would say something completely obnoxious). One can see that Arnav literally hangs on every word Mami says *lol*

Arnav: *can handle a fashion empire, a sleazy brother-in-law and millions of rupees*

Mami: *describes food floating in oil at his in-laws house*

Arnav: *nearly shits his pants*

This scene truly works wonders because of the fantastic acting and chemistry between Barun Sobti and Utkarsha Naik.

5. Khushi’s Dream Man, Not Arnav Singh Raizada (S7, E3)

Arnav knew Khushi liked Salman, enough to put a poster in his room to annoy the hell out of him. But here he sees that she loves Salman. Honestly dreams about marrying him - in a cheaply cut out poster of him and her in a palanquin.

And even though he has been in her room several times before, this is the first team he notices the little things about her.

It is cute and hilarious because in one second Arnav has five immediate opinions about her.

Arnav: I have to see Salman here, too? That too six times?

Arnav: Certified crazy… wait… what’s that

Arnav: A wedding palanquin with Khushi and… what… Salman?! WHAT THE?

Arnav: SHE ACTUALLY DREAMS OF MARRYING HIM?

Arnav: She’s crazy, childish but adorable, loveable and oh my fuck this little cutie patootie asdfghjk ahh I need to stahp;

The mental ‘what the’ was loud enough to shatter the walls of Gupta house.

Also, Barun, you are a treasure.

6. Never Underestimate the Power of a Common Belan (& Bua ji) (S8 E9)

I cannot begin with what I love about this specific episode. It is AMAZING to see Arnav get roasted (sorry bitwa), especially by his in-laws for a very valid reason.

He forgot his wife’s birthday. And he realised that. While yelling at her. In her home. In front of her family *slow claps*.

The hilarious series of moments begin from Arnav stating he doesn’t want to eat, and Bua ji (oh I love her in these episodes) just comes in front of him - stares at him - and challenges him to leave the house without eating. #ToughLove #BuajiRoxx (Abha ji, you are amazing)

The day really isn’t cut out for Arnav. It isn’t.

How Not To Celebrate Your Wife’s Birthday  - Arnav Singh Raizada

On the night before her birthday, call her the biggest mistake of your life (don’t worry, if she wants to leave the house have something in handy to blackmail her with to stay back).

On the day of her birthday, yell at her, preferably in her house, where her family is present.

Oh, you still don’t know it’s her birthday.

Try to say h-hha...happ...ha

Don’t refuse lunch. Bua ji has a powerful belan.

Tell your wife hh..hh-hhaaa-- happy singh?

Notice what she’s missing, and buy the replacement (especially one that does not suit her style nor necessities)

Don’t attempt to pacify the family.

Eat 584219 puris, no questions asked.

Then look at your wife, ask for…. water.

Continue eating the puris.

DON’T ATTEMPT TO FLIRT IF YOU CAN’T GO BEYOND HA--HA--

Get served more puris. Win the family’s heart, oh fuck, not your wife’s though.

Give her the gift, selected and signed by your assistant. Oh, and don’t forget to say ha-ha---handsfree?

Act surprised when; she doesn’t believe the gift is yours, uses the bag what several middle class people use bags for, gets a heart attack on the price.

Oh don’t mention the price of the gift.

Forcibly feed cake, cut the cake, and attempt to flirt when she’s absolutely not in the mood.

Kiss her and give her the one meaningful gift, when she’s asleep.

Realise that you’ve fucked up and you’ll fuck up further. It’s a good thing you married her (oh shit and reminded her about the contract) and your cousin is her friend who can help you for the rest of your life.

With sincere What Thes, ASR.

Penned by NK. So that’s it for today - hope you all had a fun time reading this! And a big hug to all those who inspired me (you know who you are).

A big thank you to the scriptwriters and creatives for coming with these wonderful moments - comedy is one of the most difficult things to write!

[madamebaggio]

Notes: Previously...

***

Sansa fixed her dress before entering the restaurant. The Rose Garden was a famous place, since it had great food and beautiful decoration. It had a romantic, intimate vibe.

She gave her name to the hostess and was taken to a table. Theon was already there and stood up when she approached.

“You look gorgeous.” He told her.

“I went all out, since this could be a date.” She winked at him.

Theon chuckled, before sitting again, and she looked around. “So this was the place you used to bring girls you wanted to impress?”

“Yes.” He seemed embarrassed by his own confession. “Normally I’d have a reservation upstairs, because they have boots there are more… Cozy. But, if we went up your family wouldn’t be able to see us from that window.” He indicated said window.

“Do you really think they’re coming?” Sansa asked.

“Depends on how much money we’re talking about.” He shrugged. “But the waiter and the hostess are helping me keep an eye out.”

Sansa laughed at that, making Theon smile.

The sommelier came by holding a bottle of wine. “Good evening, Mr. Greyjoy. We haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Hello, Peter.” Theon grinned at him. “I know. This is my friend Sansa Stark.”

“Miss Stark.”

“Hello.”

“I brought your favorite.” Peter showed Theon the bottle.

“Thank you.”

He served both of them a glass.

“I’ll leave the bottle.”

“I…” Theon paused. “Maybe not…”

“Theon.” Sansa put her hand over his. “We’re having dinner, and we can take a taxi home. You can have the bottle.”

Peter looked from one to the other, clearly confused by the situation.

Theon sighed. “Of course. You can leave the bottle.”

Sansa waited until the man had moved away. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I just…” Theon cleared his throat. “You know I don’t drink as much as before.”

“I don’t either.” She told him gently. Nowadays both of them stuck to one drink, even when they were in her house having wine or going to pubs with their friends. “But it’s tonight, and, as long as we don’t go out looking for molly…”

“Don’t say that.” Theon asked holding her hand tightly. “Don’t even joke about that.”

Sansa sighed. “Theon… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. But I don’t blame you for what happened. We already had this conversation.”

“We did.” He agreed. “But don’t joke about it. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make light of those days.”

“Fine.” She conceded. “Let’s go back to you impressing me with your knowledge of this place.”

***

They had finished the main course and were deciding on the dessert, when the waiter came by and let them know that there were three people outside that might be their friends.

“I bet it’s Arya and Robb, at least.” Sansa said.

“Wanna put money on that?” Theon teased.

Sansa giggled.

“We’ll have my usual for dessert.” Theon grinned at the waiter.

“What’s the usual?” Sansa asked.

“It’s some kind of cake with chocolate and strawberry that girls love.”

“Right…” Sansa snorted. “You do know I prefer lemon, right?”

“Yes. But this looks sexier and we get to share.”

Sansa laughed again.

When the waiter brought the dessert, he let them know their friends were still there.

“Okay, showtime.” Theon slid his chair closer to Sansa’s and put his arm over it’s back. “Feeling cozy?”

Sansa rolled her eyes. “You’re worse than me.” She let him know. “Are you going to feed me?”

Theon laughed, but picked a spoon up. “Here comes the airplane.”

Sansa started giggling, so he had to wait, but he did feed her a spoonful.

They shared the cake making silly comments to each other, milking it for all it was worth. At some point Sansa forgot that her family might be out there and she was just enjoying the company.

“This was amazing.” She commented after the last piece of cake had been eaten.

“I know.”

She looked at Theon and giggled. “You’re such a messy eater.”

“What?”

“Here.” She used her thumb to clean the corner of his mouth.

And the most bizarre thing happened: Theon felt himself blushing. Blushing! Like a teen.

“Thanks.” He cleared his throat.

Sansa chucked him gently under the chin. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat again. “Do you… Any plans?”

“Do you want to watch something? We haven’t finished this season of ‘The Crown’ yet.”

“No, I might sleep in the middle. Let’s watch something lighter.”

“Like?”

“How about ‘Pride and Prejudice’? I like it well enough and you can keep watching once I fall asleep.”

“Deal.”

They paid their check and got up to leave together. Theon only realized his arm was around Sansa’s waist when they were waiting for a taxi.

But she didn’t say anything, so he kept quiet as well.

[geekprincess26]

Jon didn’t stay at the Wall.

After many months, he tired of his labors and fell back into a deep depression.  Seeing his distress, Tormund Giantsbane, leader of the Free Folk, sent a raven to Queen Sansa, his closest surviving relative.  After consulting her maester, she sent a secret missive back, along with a small vial of clear liquid.  Tormund duly fed it to Jon, whose heart slowly stopped beating.  The maester of the Night’s Watch declared him dead and asked Tormund and a few of the other Free Folk to handle his burial.  They promptly loaded him onto a wagon and escorted him back to Winterfell with Ghost.  Along the way, his body slipped out of the stupor into which the medicine had cast him, but he still spoke no words and would barely eat.

They arrived at Winterfell late one night and at once brought Jon to the maester’s quarters.  He opened his eyes just in time to see a flash of tears and red hair and feel the impact of Sansa’s overjoyed embrace.

“Your death has been marked in the annals of the Night’s Watch,” she told him.  “You are free to come and go as you please.”

The first words Jon spoke in nigh a month took the form of a croaked protest about Bran’s bargain with Grey Worm, but Sansa shook her head firmly.

“Grey Worm sailed to Naath long ago,” she informed him, “and those Unsullied who remain in Westeros have begun warming to their new home and king.  Some have even married and begun families.  A few have remarked on the harshness of your sentence, now that they have had time to reflect on it.   If you do not do aught to garner much attention to yourself, they will pay you none.”

Jon only shook his head, but he did eat the stew Sansa offered him.  Over the following weeks, his gaunt face and near-skeletal body filled out nicely, and his sallow cheeks turned pink with life.  He insisted on helping the people of Winterfell repair their home; it was his duty, after all, and he must earn his keep.  Sansa shook her head at that, but did not protest aloud.  Instead, she poured her energies into ensuring that he, like her other people, was well-fed.  She personally delivered stew and bread to him every noon as he labored under the spring sunlight.  She sewed him new garments and kept a seat open at Winterfell’s high table for him every night.  And every so often, she would ask for his counsel about refreshing the castle’s weapons stores, or handling a quarrel between two hot-headed young lords, or where he thought the new granaries ought to go.  Every so often turned into every day, and often into every night by the fireplace in her solar, where Jon would review her letters and charters and deeds over a cup of wine or ale.  Sometimes they said little.  Other times they laughed over their childhood memories.  Eventually, more recent events crept into their conversation.  One night, after a day of settling particularly fractious quarrels among her lords and ladies, Sansa’s wine cup shook in her hand as she admitted that she had never been more terrified than the day she’d gotten the raven carrying the news of the sack of King’s Landing, not even when she’d had to live with Ramsay.

“I couldn’t - I couldn’t lose you - or Arya,” she said, trembling.  The first tears she’d cried in months left her eyes then, and Jon gently took her by the shoulders.  She stared up at him, and he hesitated until she huddled against him and wept.

Not long after that, as they were walking through the glass gardens, Sansa showed Jon the budding fireflowers, and he turned white as a ghost and sat in the dirt with his arms wrapped over his head.  Sansa said nothing, but she sank down beside him at once, heedless of her fine dress, and wrapped her arms around him, stroking his curls gently with one hand.  It took him over an hour to rise and suffer her to lead him back into his chambers, and no sooner had he reached them than he collapsed on the bed, sobbing.

Sansa said nothing the following day, but every so often, Jon began alluding to the birds he’d seen flying past his prison cell window, to the shapes the sunlight would make on the floors, to any number of other fragmented recollections to which Sansa would listen with rapt attention.  Sometimes he would stop in the middle of a sentence and go silent, or even begin weeping, but slowly, as the last snow heaps melted and the violets covered the fields, he began finishing each story, even the worst stories - the ones about his imprisonment on Dragonstone and hatching his desperate plan to persuade her to come North, even at the cost of his honor, and then of his imprisonment in Winterfell, when he had briefly thought himself free of Daenerys before she threatened Sansa, then refused to let him speak of his heritage or to listen to his family, since they must all be plotting against her.  It took months more for him to speak aught of the day she burned King’s Landing and of the day his desperation and his conscience plunged his knife into Daenerys’s heart.  But Sansa always listened to him patiently and never shamed him for his reluctance or for the tears that occasionally escaped him, and eventually Jon took his own turn listening as Sansa recalled the month her heart beat like a bird’s so constantly she thought it would explode, starting with the day Varys’s raven had reached her, continuing through long nights of her writing missives and sending messengers and hastening with Bran to King’s Landing at such speed that they traveled overnight almost every night, only stopping for two nights on the entire journey.  Their nights in front of the fire got longer, and sometimes they fell asleep on each other’s shoulders.  More often than not, Jon would wake first and gently lift Sansa in his arms.  Sometimes she would start and gasp, but the sound of Jon’s voice rumbling against her ear would calm her at once.

When he had first returned to Winterfell, Jon had never even approached the seat Sansa always set aside for him at her table; but soon enough he forgot when he had last taken dinner in his quarters, as had been his wont. He never said much, but he often grinned into his stew as he watched Sansa charm surly lords or hand out lemon cakes to their children.  Once or twice, he cleared his throat and interrupted a conversation Sansa clearly did not want to have with a flirtatious lad too far into his cups.  Sansa always thanked him afterwards.  She teased him that his glare alone could stop men in their tracks, and he offered to do more than glare if any lord should need a sterner reminder about how to treat his Queen.

Once, on Sansa’s name day, he did do more than glare.  One of the visiting Riverlands lords leered at Sansa over dinner, then let his hand wander while they were dancing.  Jon cut in at once and shoved the man away from a wide-eyed Sansa.

“I’ll put you in the dungeons myself,” he growled.  The dancing had stopped, and several of the other lords, both Riverlander and Northern, had stepped forward.

“That is not necessary, Jon.”  Sansa’s voice was as firm as her face was ashen.  “Lord Dorrel is in his cups and shall leave the feast.”

Lord Dorrel’s men dragged him away amid many apologies.  Soon after that, Sansa left the hall.  She did not get far before Jon caught up with her.  She whirled and squealed with fright when she felt his hand on her shoulder; he supposed she must not have heard him call her name.  Wordlessly, he took her into his arms, and for a long time they stood there, Sansa trembling in Jon’s embrace as he stroked her hair and pressed his lips to her head.  At last, when her shaking had subsided, he guided her to her chambers, but no sooner had they reached the solar than she clung to him like a woman drowning and begged him to stay there with her, just for a few more minutes.

They woke as the first light of dawn crept through the windows.  Jon carefully lifted Sansa and carried her to her bed, but she woke as he set her down and whispered a sleepy “I’m sorry.”  

Jon tucked back a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes.  “There’s nothing to forgive, sweet girl,” he whispered, and Sansa’s eyes shone.

“The last time you told me that,” she whispered, “you said, ‘Where will we go?’”

Jon smiled at the memory.  “I thought you meant to go off without me,” he replied.  Sansa shook her head.

“I thought the same thing myself,” she said, and sat up to face him.  “I - I was so afraid you’d leave me.”

Her voice stumbled over the last few words, and Jon sank to his knees beside her.

“Never,” he whispered.  “I’d never have left you then, and I’ll never leave you now.  Not unless you want me to.”

His heart sank to his stomach and lower as he said it, but Sansa shook her head and clung to him once more. 

“Never,” she assured him, and raised her eyes, ice blue in the pale light of dawn, to plead with his.  “I never - please - no, never leave me, Jon; I lo - I don’t want you to go, not ever.”

Jon smiled and touched his forehead to hers.

“I’ll always be here for you, sweet girl,” he murmured, and lowered his lips to touch her forehead just as Sansa sat up straighter, causing his lips to alight on hers instead.  For a brief moment, Jon sighed against their softness, and for an even briefer one he almost tried to deepen the kiss, before he startled and moved back.  He thought Sansa would be angry, or at least as startled as he; but she was flushed and smiling, and she reached for him and took his lips again, and he cradled her head and kissed her and whispered again and again how much he loved her, how much he needed her, how she need never fear that he would depart from her again, Grey Worm or no Grey Worm, bargain or no bargain.

He repeated his vow to her the next month in the godswood, with the entire household of Winterfell as their witnesses.  Bran, of course, could not attend, nor could he acknowledge Jon as King; but Jon did not wish to be King any more than he wished to travel to King’s Landing himself, and Sansa smiled when he said it.

“You shall always be my King,” she told him, “and you are my home.  I promised I should never leave my home, you remember, and that is a vow I mean to keep.”

And she did.

[borathae]

↳ Index [#02 Remember Me]

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Wordcount: 8.317

Yoongi extents his hand for Hoseok to take, his previous jealous features morphing into a friendly smile.

“Hey man nice to meet you”, he greets him still waiting for Hoseok to take his hand.

Hoseok feels paralyzed, his beating heart ringing in his ears the only indicator for him that he was still alive. Your fiancé? Had he heard you right? Did you actually agree to marry this man? He swallows, blinking hard to try and get rid of the tears threatening to spill. Despite his mind telling him not to, to just turn around and run, he reaches out to take the other man’s hand.

“Nice to meet you too”, he says giving Yoongis hand a firm squeeze. He forces a smile onto his features now looking at you, “So I can see that you are otherwise engaged, I’ll excuse myself. I just remembered that I have some classes I need to teach in around ten minutes. I’ll see you bye”, he lies, getting the words out of his mouth as quickly as possible. He needs to go, his heart is nearly at its breaking point and he doesn’t think that he can take it any much longer. He turns around quickly descending down the stairs before your sweet voice makes him stop in his tracks. He snaps around racing up the stairs to get to you again, looking at you expectantly, hopefully even.

“You forgot these”, you say handing him the flowers back. Hoseoks face turns cold, the last bit of hope now truly gone. You smile at him apologetically hoping that this would be enough for Hoseok.

“Of course how could I”, he says, hesitantly accepting the bouquet. How can you look so calm and unbothered right now? Does your heart really not hurt for him anymore? Did you actually become so indifferent about him?

“Goodbye”, you say still smiling at him. He looks at you for a moment, drinking in every little detail of your face. It hurts him, he should turn around and just leave but he needs to remember you. He needs to burn your features into his memories.

“See you man”, Yoongi says stepping between Hoseok and you. He crosses his arm in front of his chest, his dark eyes telling Hoseok that he had been starring for too long. Hoseok clears his throat, blinking twice.

“Sure I’ll get going then”, he stutters clutching onto the bouquet with all of his strength. He turns around before finally running down the stairs and out of the restaurant. He keeps running, despite the burn in his lungs. He needs to get away from you as far as possible. He needs to keep running, he knows that once he stops the tears would finally fall. He doesn’t want to cry, he hates crying. He hates losing control over his emotions.

A strong gust of wind makes him finally stop in his tracks. He pants hard before looking up, hundreds of cherry blossom petals whirl through the air. His heart aches, it aches so much. He lets out a scream, throwing the flowers onto the ground. A young couple stops for a moment looking at him in utter shock. He doesn’t notice them, his eyes boring holes into the now ruined bouquet.

“Please make it stop”, he whimpers before his mind goes blank. He sinks down onto one of the many wooden benches underneath the cherry tree boulevard, hiding his face in his hands and letting his tears fall freely. He doesn’t care about the bypassing people sending him weird looks because of his loud sobbing. He just want the ache to stop, he just wants everything to stop.

“Are you okay princess?” Yoongi asks once Hoseok is gone. He puts his hand onto your back, gently caressing you. You nod, closing your eyes to stop yourself from staring down the empty stairs.

“Sure I’m okay, a little surprised that’s all”, you tell him, looking at him and sending him a reassuring smile.

“You know if you want to talk I am always here to listen”, he offers you, his eyes racing over your features in search for any signs of sadness.

“I know you are and I’m thankful for it, but I’m really okay”, you assure him taking his free hand into yours, “All I want right now is to spend some quality time with my fiancé before we both need to go to work again”, you tell him, leading him to the next best table, consciously avoiding table number seven.

“Okay if you say so”, Yoongi says, a fond smile appearing on his face. He pulls out the chair for you, padding your shoulder once you had sat down before sitting down opposite of you. He waves the waitress to your table and orders two glasses of water for the two of you and a cup of coffee for himself before turning to you.

“So I know that you said, that you want to spend some time with me, but I’m curious. That was your oh-so-famous ex? He looked nice, why did you guys break up?” he asks making you snort.

“So you are one of those guys who ask their girlfriends about their exes?” you scoff making him grin.

“I’m just a little curious that’s all, you don’t need to tell me your whole love story I just want to know some details. For example, why did you guys break up? And how was he like? But the most important question was he bigger than me?” he says looking at you with curious eyes.

“You are unbelievable Yoongi!” you gasp shaking your head.

“Hey! I’m serious, just tell me I can take it, I’m a big man, literally if you know what I mean”, he tells you, sending you a wink. You groan, staring down at the table with your hand pressed to your forehead.

“I can’t believe you”, you say before taking a deep breath, “but fine if you really are that curious. He was nice, made me laugh a lot and treated me great. So I can’t complain. The reason why we broke up is kind of complicated, but to keep it short. I needed some time for myself and to be honest I didn’t expect to meet you. I honestly didn’t, I don’t regret it though. I’m kinda glad I did”, you look at him. He is smiling shyly at you, his cheeks blushing. You take his hand, squeezing it lightly.

“And what about his size, give me the real details now”, he urges you on. You roll your eyes, sending him an annoyed glare.

“What is it with guys and their obsession with dicks? Honestly some of you straight men are even more obsessed with them than people actually wanting the get the D”, you say making him crack up.

“All I want you to do is boost my ego and tell me that he was smaller than me”, Yoongi states shrugging his shoulder.

You sigh, “Fine if it makes you sleep better, he was smaller than you.”

Yoongis eyes fill up with pride, a cocky smirk on his lips. He leans back in his seat, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I knew it. He had this aura around him. I could feel it”, he says. You roll your eyes, shaking you head.

“You got what you wanted can we now please concentrate on the important matters at hand? That is food”, you say, holding the menu into the air and waving it around.

“Sure, I’m satisfied. What do you want to eat today princess?” Yoongi says opening the red leather cover of the menu, “Wow they have Beef Tenderloin on their daily menu today! I know what I am going to order, just listen to it baby. As starters they serve you some fine onion soup with cheese bread, followed by Beef Tenderloin and as a dessert they offer some lemon cake. This sound delicious don’t you think?” he says looking at you expectantly.

“It really does, but I think I will go for the vegetarian option today. It has been ages since I last ate Ratatouille”, the last time being your second last date with Hoseok in this exact restaurant, but you keep this detail to yourself.

“Okay sounds good to me baby. But I want to try some then”, Yoongi says closing his menu.

“Of course suit yourself”, you say turning to the waitress, who had just arrived at this moment.

You order your food and turn to Yoongi afterwards. You smile at him, making him smile back at you.

“So how is work going so far? Did you get the song approved?” you ask him, leaning your head onto your hands.

“I am working on it. I sent it to my boss, but you know how she can be. I assume that she will answer me in around two weeks time, maybe even three weeks if she feels like it. But I am quite positive she will approve it. At least I hope so”, he says, scratching his head.

“I believe she will. You worked so hard on it and it turned out so good. I actually mean it, it’s one of my favourite songs you have written so far”, you tell him making him blush. He lowers his head staring into his coffee.

“You think so? You don’t think I overdid it with the bass?” he mumbles, taking the coffee spoon between his fingers to play with it.

“No you didn’t, believe me. I listened to it on my Bluetooth speakers, in Taehyungs car and with the headphones you got me. It sounded amazing, no matter what I used”, you assure him, patting his hand.

“Thank you baby, hearing that from you means the world to me”, he smiles, still staring into his coffee.

A fond smile creeps up your cheeks. Seeing him so shy and happy always manages to make your heart beat faster in your chest. Happiness suits him so well. It makes his eyes sparkle and his cheeks become this beautiful shade of pink.

“Have I ever told you how cute look when you are smiling?” you say to which his cheeks become even redder than before.

“What are you trying to accomplish here? Do you want me turn into a burning tomato?” he mumbles, cupping his burning cheeks in his hands to cool them down. You laugh, shrugging your shoulder.

“Maybe I do”, you tell him making him groan.

“Well, you are doing a pretty great job baby”, he says making you laugh even harder.

Soon your food comes and you get interrupted in your endless staring at each other. The instance the smell of the soup hits both of your noses, your heads snaps to the table staring hungrily into steaming bowl of soup. It tastes just as good as it smelled and looked and happy hums leave both of your throats. Despite it being hot, you just can’t stop eating it, blowing on your spoons with every bite you take and carefully leading it to your lips to test if it was cool enough to eat. This technique worked for practically eight out of ten times, both of you burning your tongue at least two times. Fairly quickly after both of you had finished your soup, your main dishes arrive. Yoongis eyes grow big, his pink tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth.

“I didn’t think that it would be humanly possible to top this soup, but seeing this steak in front of me now. Well, I guess I was utterly wrong”, he says before cutting a big piece out of the tender meat and taking it into his mouth. You watch him chew it, his eyes growing even bigger than before. “Yep, I was definitely wrong. This steak is amazing”, he mumbles with his mouth still stuffed with food.

“Then let me try my Ratatouille real quick and let’s see if I can also be convinced”, you say cutting a piece of the delicious looking dish and taking it into your mouth. It is hot as first, slightly burning your tongue, but soon the sweet taste of tomatoes and red bell pepper mixed with the rich taste of aubergines and courgettes takes over your senses. You close your eyes, enjoying the beautiful taste to its fullest.

“I am convinced, this dish literally saved me from all of the harm in this world”, you say taking another bite.

“Let me taste”, Yoongi whines, leaning over the table to get closer to you. You cut a piece for him, leading your fork to his opened mouth and letting him take it. He nods, chewing the food with big eyes.

“It’s really good”, he tells you still chewing. He looks to his steak before cutting a piece off of it and waving it in front of your eyes, “Do you want to taste mine too?” he asks to which you lean closer to his fork. You take the piece of steak off his fork before chewing it. It taste amazing, the meat is tender and perfectly cooked and mixed with the red wine sauce it gives you a culinary experience.

“Wow I have eaten many steaks in my life before, but this, this really is the one”, you hum, wiggling your shoulders.

“Then you have never tasted mine before. This is good I have to agree, it comes close second, but the best steak is the one I cook. My dad taught me how to make it and I refined it with some spices”, Yoongi says raising his finger.

“Oh, really? Well, if that’s so then I think I just have to come visit you very soon and see for myself”, you tell him to which he nods excitedly.

“Sounds like a plan to me”, he smiles before he averts his total attention to the food in front of him.

Once you have finished your main dish, the waitress arrives with the dessert and another cup of coffee for Yoongi. The cake tastes just as good as the rest of your food had, ending your lunch perfectly. Despite your desire to stay longer and just spend the rest of your day chatting with Yoongi about anything and everything, your watch tells you something different. You have around fifteen minutes to get back to your work, making you jump up from your chair and ripping your coat from the coat stand.

“What happened baby?” Yoongi asks, suddenly worried.

“I need to go it’s a quarter past twelve and I’m running terribly late”, you tell him to which he jumps up himself.

“Jesus Christ I’m late too”, he gasps, helping you into your coat.

“Well, at least we are both chaotic”, you snort rushing down the stairs with him following close by.

Once the two of you had paid for your meals at the counter, you storm out of the restaurant and to the closest bus stop. Yoongis bus arrives two minutes after you had sat down on the metal bench. He jumps to his feet turning around to cup your face and press a kiss to your lips.

“See you later”, he says pressing another quick kiss to your lips.

“I can’t later, I promised to go for coffee with Taehyung”, you tell him to which he pouts.

“Nooo why?” he whines. You laugh gently pushing him into direction of his bus.

“I promised, go now baby or else you’ll miss your bus. I’ll call you at night okay?” you tell him, still pushing him into the direction of the bus.

“Fine”, he says before jumping into the bus. He runs to an empty seat, throwing himself down to look at you through the window. Soon the bus drives off making Yoongi start waving furiously at you. You giggle waving back at him.

You pull your headphones out of your bag and put them into your ear. You decide to walk to your work, it isn’t far from the bus stop and walking would actually save you some precious time. You turn on the playlist with your favourite songs and start to walk.

Spring had finally decided to show itself. No single cloud was visible on the sky today and the sun shone brightly down on you, warming you. You smile an upbeat had just started playing adding to your overall good mood. You can already see your work building before you stop, the music turning silent in your ears and your smile disappearing. You had totally forgotten about the one single cherry tree in front of your workplace.

Hoseok.

Pictures of his heartbroken face come into your mind, making your chest feel tight all of a sudden. Had you been too harsh to him? You really did act like a total bitch back there. You sigh, sitting down on the stone edge of the big fountain, which surrounded the cherry blossom tree. It had been turned off the whole winter, for it had been far too cold for the water to flow. But the city had decided to turn it on again a few days ago, the water now dancing in the air. You rip your headphones out of your ears, the loud sounds of the city deafening to your sensitive ears.

You really didn’t want to treat him like that. But you felt like it was necessary for the sake of Yoongi. After all, you really had no idea, how he would have reacted if you had been nice to your ex. Is Yoongi the more jealous type of guy who would have threatened to beat up Hoseok? Or would he have become sad upon seeing you treat Hoseok good? You shiver, why are you so cold all of a sudden? You wrap your arms around your upper body, sighing loudly. Should you apologize to Hoseok? Maybe you could send him a message telling him that you were sorry. You pull out your phone, typing out Hoseoks phone number from memory. His name flashes onto your display.

My Hobi ❤.

Your heart momentarily stops in your chest. You had totally forgotten to change his name. Your finger hovers over the edit button for a second. You shake your head, no it can wait you have no time right now. You open your chat with him, your eyes instantly locking onto the last text message you had exchanged.

- My Hobi ❤ :  “See you tomorrow my angel. Hang in there!!! 💪 Sleep tight 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 I love you 😘❤”

Why did you never answer him? It’s not like you had been mad at him this day. No you can still remember it clearly. You had been stressed out because of the work excursion you had to go on. You had hated it the whole time, your colleagues had used their actual working time to get drunk and get nothing done. You had stormed off into your room to face time your boyfriend to find some stress relief. He had looked so happy once he had seen your face, greeting you with a happy “Helloooooo beautiful” and a wave of his hand, but his smile had dropped once he had seen your tear stained face. You had cried so much, mumbling about everything that had annoyed you the last three days. He had only nodded, probably only understanding around thirty percent of what you had told him for your sobs had made it hard for you to talk. Once you had finished and calmed down enough he had told you everything that he loved about you and how proud he was of you for fighting your way through these hard times. And then he had told you a joke so awful it made you instantly laugh out loud.

You chuckle, remembering the joke.

“What is blue and not heavy at all? Light blue!”

Your smile drops, your chest feels heavy again. Why did you never answer him?

You stare at his text message reading it over and over again. He really liked using emojis, you had totally forgotten that. Yoongi is different; he had not once used emojis whilst writing with you. A guilty bang in your chest stops your thoughts from sprouting.

Did you just seriously compare your fiancé to your ex? You shake your head to get rid of the thoughts and lock your phone. You are already late, so typing out a message would only take unnecessary time. You can always do it later.

You stand up from the fountain and stretch your back for a moment before taking a deep breath. Time for more important matters again! You walk into the building and storm to the elevator, which is open at the moment. You manage to slip in, surprising the person standing inside. You look up. Namjoon is staring down at you over the edge of his glasses, a guilty look on his face.

“You didn’t see me okay? I was on time okay?” he says making you chuckle out in relief.

“Don’t worry I didn’t, if you also didn’t see me okay?” you tell him.

“Oh, so you are late too? Well, if so then I don’t have anything to worry about”, he says letting out a sigh of relief, “Why are you late though? Did you miss your bus? Or did Yoongi distract you again?” he asks you, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Kind of a mixture of both”, you tell him making him snort.

“Why did I even ask”, he scoffs shaking his head.

The elevator announces its arrival and the doors slowly open. Namjoon is the first one to step out of the elevator, waiting for you to get to him. He starts walking next to you, looking at you.

“By the way did you get the designs from Taehyung? I talked with our boss and let’s just say he isn’t happy about our group being the last one to hand in our ideas”, he says nervously scratching the tip of his nose.

“No sadly I didn’t. I already told him around like four times to send them to me, but he either ignored me or told me that he would send them later”, you sigh shaking your head, “-but don’t worry I’ll meet him for coffee later and it’s going to be the first thing I’ll ask him”, you reassure him, slipping through the glass door, Namjoon had so nicely held open for you.

“Oh coffee? Nice, I haven’t been in a café in ages, I’m too stressed with work these days”, he sighs, a sentimental look on his face.

“Do you want to go with me soon? I’m always free on Friday evenings. Yoongi has to work late on Fridays, we could go this week”, you tell him to which he shakes his head.

“As tempting as your offer sounds, I really can’t this Friday. I promised Seokjin to help him with moving out of his god awful apartment. It’s about time he moves out of this shithole”, he says.

“Did he finally find a nice place to stay?” you ask sitting down on your table. Namjoon sinks down on his chair, looking at you over the edge of his computer screen.

“Yeah, Jungkook offered him his guest bedroom. You know, now that they are both colleagues at the same company. Also I think secretly Jungkook hates living alone, but you didn’t hear that from me”, he says turning on his computer.

The sound of both of your computers starting echoes through the silent room and soon the blue screen of your lock screen shines into your face. You type in your password and the project, which you had been working on before your lunch break appears on your screen.

You look over at Namjoon again.

“That’s so nice of Jungkook. Let’s just hope that these two idiots don’t burn down the whole apartment complex”, you say making Namjoon chuckle.

“I would bet twenty thousand won with you that they do, but I know you would also bet on the same thing, which would make the bet useless”, he says to which you agree with a nod.

The room falls silent after that, safe for the two of you typing on your keyboards and your occasional swears when something wouldn’t work out as you wanted it to. In the end everything you wanted to achieve this day, worked out perfectly. Given the fact that both of had been late at lunch time, you both work ten minutes overdue, ending your workday at the same time with a content sigh.

“Today has been productive again”, Namjoon says, a proud smile on his face.

“Totally, I even started to work on something I actually wanted to start tomorrow”, you say pushing the chair underneath your desk before taking your bag.

“Really? The poetry book of our newest author?” he asks to which you nod, “Amazing. Knowing your work, he will love the cover”, he says padding you on your back.

“You have to talk Namjoon. Your work’s always perfect”, you say to which he shyly looks to the ground. “By the way, what are your plans today? Do you want to join me and Taehyung for coffee?”

“No sadly I can’t today either. My mum’s caught a cold yesterday and I need to take care of her”, he tells you awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

You press the button of the elevator before turning around to look at Namjoon.

“That sucks. Pass on my get well wishes to her”, you say stepping into the elevator, which had arrived right this second.

“Thank you I will”, he smiles, pressing the button for the lobby. “Oh and by the way, I have time next Friday, if the offer for coffee still stands”, he says.

“Yeah, sounds good to me. I’m looking forward to it”, you smile stepping out of the elevator at the same time as him.

“Yeah me too, it’s going to be fun”, he says.

Once the two of you are out of the building, you can already see Taehyung wait for you at the fountain. He has his headphones in, nodding his head to the beat of the music. He doesn’t notice you approaching him at first, too immersed into the music, only snapping up his head once you tap onto his shoulder.

He takes his headphones out, smiling brightly at you and Namjoon.

“Hey guys, you are late, but it’s okay I watched some dancing videos Jimin just sent me. Are you joining us today hyung?” he says standing up to give both you and Namjoon a hug.

“Nope sadly not, I need to take care of my mum tonight, but I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow Tae”, he says.

“Oh yeah sure, no problem, see you tomorrow hyung”, Taehyung says patting Namjoons shoulder.

“See you tomorrow Y/N”, Namjoon says turning to you, to bow his head at you.

“See you tomorrow Namjoon. Be careful with your bike and send your mom good wishes from me”, you tell him. He nods before running off to his bike, which he had parked at the bike stand of the building. He unlocks his bike chain and swings his long leg over the bicycle seat and sits down. He turns around to you and Taehyung, waving at you with a bright smile before driving off.

Once Namjoon is out of sight both you and Taehyung turn your attention to each other.

“So where are we going to today? I actually heard about a new café in Gangnam-do. It’s on top of a roof with lots of plants and flowers. Do you want to go there?” Taehyung asks, whilst walking to his car with you following him close-by.

“Sounds interesting, let’s go there”, you say to which he excitedly claps his hands. He opens the door for you, throwing it closed once you had sat down on the passenger seat of his car and rushes to the driver’s seat.

He starts the car, the sound of the engine making your heart beat quicken in your chest. You had to give it to Taehyung, he really did make a good investment with this car. You normally don’t have an interest in cars, but when you have seen him drive to work the first time you couldn’t help your eyes grow big. It was a bright red Lotus GT430 Sport, a brand you hadn’t heard of before, until Taehyung had given you a whole lesson about Lotus one day at the cafeteria.

“You want to listen to some music? I bought some new speakers for my car and the music sounds amazing now”, he says after you had been driving in silence for quite some time.

“Sure why not”, you say, watching him turn on his radio.

Loud jazz music starts to play to which Taehyung lets out an excited gasp.

“Yes, I wanted this song to play. Wow my car knows what I want”, he laughs turning the music even louder, before singing to the song.

Your head snaps into his direction, your eyes growing big. You had known him for more than eight years now and you had never thought of him to be a good singer. His voice is deep and sultry perfectly fitting for the song which he is singing right now. You watch him the whole time, your admiration for his skills growing with every note he hits with so much precision that it sends goose bumps down your skin.

“What?” Taehyung asks, laughing awkwardly, looking at you. The song had stopped and your stares had become terribly obvious for Taehyung.

“Nothing. I just didn’t expect you to sing this good. Your voice is really nice. Did you ever think of becoming a singer?” you say to which he dismisses you with a wave of his hand.

“You sound like Jimin. But no I didn’t and honestly I don’t want to become a singer. Then I would have to keep my relationship with Jiminie a secret and I would never have time for him. Besides look at me, my face is average and I sure as hell don’t have abs”, he tells you.

“Did you just actually say that your face is average?” you scoff. He steals a glance at you, before nodding. “This was the biggest lie I have ever heard you tell. You could go to the next best entertainment company and they would literally beg you to join them just because of your face”, you say making him laugh shyly.

“You are embarrassing me Y/N, but thank you that means a lot to me”, he says steering his car to a free parking space. He turns the engine off before turning to look at you, “you actually think I could become a singer?” he asks looking at you with curious eyes.

You nod, “I do, especially with your voice. It’s really unique I bet a lot of people would love to hear more of it. Me included. But in the end, you are probably right, becoming a singer means giving up a lot”, you tell him. He nods to every word you say, biting his lip in contemplation.

“Yeah you are right”, he mumbles before turning around to get out of the car.

You get out of the car as well, rushing up next to him pumping your shoulder with his.

“Hey did I actually make you want to become a singer now?” you ask teasingly. He looks down at you shaking his head.

“No, I mean maybe a bit. But in the end, no. I really don’t want to change myself like that and act all single and stuff, I wouldn’t want to do that to Jiminie”, he says pushing the glass door to the café open.

It is warm inside and the smell of fresh coffee tickles your nose. You look around. It is a small premise with four tables in front of a stone counter, which displays a variety of cakes. The walls are painted white safe for the wall behind the counter, which is a red brick wall. Three black chalkboards are hung up on the brick wall with the menu written on them in white chalk. Minimalist paintings are hung up on the walls and big pots of plants are standing in one corner of the small room. Stone stairs lead up to a closed alabaster glass door. The walls are painted in a light brown colour with dim, yellow lights illuminating the staircase.

“I get you Taehyung, I also wouldn’t want to become a singer. Honestly I love my simple life”, you say whilst walking to the counter to order.

“Me too a simple life’s the best”, he says staring at the chalkboards. His mouth falls open, something he always does when he is concentrating before he turns to you, “Do you already know what you’ll be getting? I can’t decide if I want some milkshake or Matcha latte”, he says.

You nod, pointing at the coffee section on the chalkboard.

“I’m gonna order a caramel macchiato and some strawberry tiramisu it looks delicious”, you tell him to which he nods.

“Okay then I will go with a milkshake and a chocolate cookie”, he grins, already turning to the lady behind the counter to order for the two of you.

Soon your orders arrive and you turn around in the café looking for a free table.

“Come on let’s go up to the rooftop, there are no free table downstairs”, Taehyung says, grabbing your hand and pulling you up the stairs. He pushes the door open and the cold air of the spring evening hits your warmed up cheeks. The sun had started to set in the few moments you and Taehyung had spent downstairs to order your drinks and look for a table. The sky is glowing in orange colours with small pink clouds scattered all over the sky. There are more tables on the rooftops, ten if you had counted correctly. Nearly all of them, safe for two tables, are already taken mostly by couples meeting up for an after-work-talk. The owner of the café had hung up lanterns all over the rooftop, which gave it an orange hue and had put a variety of plants and flowers on every empty spot. Taehyung drags you to one of the free tables, the one closer to the glass railing, so you would be able to look at the setting sun.

“Aaaah that’s better”, he sighs letting himself fall onto the metal chair with white cushions.

“You really didn’t promise me too much Tae, it’s beautiful here”, you say looking around before letting your eyes settle on the setting sun.

“I’m happy you like it. I instantly had to think of you when I first saw it on Instagram. It fits your aesthetic perfectly”, he grins before taking a sip of his white chocolate milkshake. “Wooooah this is the best milkshake ever!” he hums making you look at him. His eyes are big, his boxy smile ever so present.

“Then let me try mine too real quick”, you tell him raising your cup of caramel macchiato to your lips. It is sweeter than you had imagined it to be, the taste of caramel very strong. “It’s so sweet I love it”, you say licking your lips to get every little bit of your drink.

“So I assume that we can come here more often now?” Taehyung asks, looking at you expectantly. You nod making him smile. “Yay the best news ever!” he exclaims, making you laugh at his exaggerated reaction.

“You are so funny Tae, if only you would be as punctual with handing in your work as you are funny”, you say, his smile being replaced by a guilty look.

He laughs awkwardly, scratching his head.

“Is that about the scripts I was supposed to edit?” he asks, still laughing embarrassed.

“You guessed it”, you say nodding, “Can you please think of them when you come home and send them to me? We really need to hand them in to our boss before he decides to fire us all”, you tell him.

He lowers his head, starring at his folded hands on the table.

“Yeah I will, sorry I know I’m chaotic, it’s just that I was so preoccupied lately that I totally forgot to send them to you”, he says nervously biting his lip. Suddenly he looks up at you, raising his finger, “but I promise that I have already finished them! I just always forgot to send them to you”, he says, grinning at you.

“It’s okay Taehyung don’t worry I’m not mad. As long as you send them to me tonight everything is okay”, you assure him, patting his hand.

“Don’t worry I will. It is going to be the first thing I do after I come home. After I kissed Jimin hello of course”, he says smiling fondly at the thought of his boyfriend.

“You two are so cute. How are you by the way, is everything okay with the two of you?”

“Of course everything is okay, more than okay. Everything is great. Jiminie got promoted last Friday and I couldn’t be more proud of him. He works so hard, he deserves it. Oh! And we got a cat yesterday he is so cute”, he says reaching for his coat pocket to pull his phone out.

“Oh a cat? I really thought you would get a dog first”, you say to which he shrugs his shoulders. 

“Yeah Jiminie convinced me to get a cat first. Seriously I’m mad he just pouted and I was putty in his hands”, he says shaking his head. You laugh picturing your two friends pouting at each other until Taehyung gives in.

He unlocks it, swiping through his gallery until he stops at the picture he wanted to show you. He turns it around and your eyes land on the small, white kitten spread on Jimins stomach. It has its eyes closed, obviously enjoying Jimins strokes through its fur.

“Oh my god it’s so cute. What’s its name?” you squeal, smiling brightly.

“Yūri . Don’t judge us okay? We started to binge watch Yūri on Ice recently and we are slightly obsessed”, Taehyung says before locking his phone and putting it on the table.

“I’m not judging, just slightly confused. The cat’s fur is white, why did you not call him Victor then?”

Taehyungs eyes grow big, his mouth forming into an o-shape when realising their mistake.

“Why did we not think of that? Oh my god we are idiots” he groans rubbing his eyes.

“Good job you two”, you scoff before breaking into laughter.

“Thanks Y/N”, he groans joining you soon after.

Once the two of you are able to speak again, he looks at you, suddenly serious.

“By the way, is everything okay with Yoongi? Jimin had told me that Hoseok arrived at the dance studio terribly late today completely tearstained. He told him that he had seen you today with Yoongi”, he asks making your heart stop in your chest.

You know that Taehyung hadn’t said it to make you feel bad, but still you couldn’t help but feel guilty all of a sudden.

“Yeah sure everything’s fine”, you tell him, trying your hardest to sound as neutral as possible.

He examines your face for a moment.

“Are you sure? You don’t look very well right now. You look terribly pale all of a sudden”, he says reaching over the table to squeeze your hand.

“Yeah I’m okay don’t worry, Yoongi and I are fine. I just didn’t expect you to bring up my ex right now”, you say brushing a fallen strand of hair out of your face.

“Aaah I understand. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it awkward right now, I just thought that maybe you and Yoongi had fought because of Hoseok. But now that I know everything’s fine, I feel assured”, he say squeezing your hand.

“Actually judging by your face I just made it worse didn’t I?” he adds once you don’t smile back at him.

You nod, nervously biting your lip.

“It’s just, I was so mean to Hoseok. He couldn’t have known that I was with Yoongi today, all he wanted was to talk with me and I treated him like he was a nuisance”, you say sighing loudly once you had finished your sentence.

“That sucks, it really does, but don’t beat yourself up. You were probably as surprised to see him as he was when he saw Yoongi.”

“Yeah I know, but still I panicked I shouldn’t have been that mean to him.”

“People do stupid things when they panic, don’t be mad at yourself. Knowing Hoseok, he will be back to his old happy self tomorrow morning. Don’t worry he is a grown man he can handle it”, he assures you smiling at you.

You sigh loudly before returning his smile.

“You are probably right, thanks Tae for listening to me”, you say squeezing his hand, which is still intertwined with yours.

“Of course I’m always happy to help you, that’s what friends are for after all”, he smiles. His eyes race over your pale features, his lips turning downwards. “Do you maybe want me to drive you home now? I know that you probably want to be alone now, don’t you?” he asks quietly, already pulling out his car keys.

You smile, nodding.

“You know me too well Tae. Sorry for ending our coffee date so soon, I’m just so emotionally drained today.”

“Hey don’t apologize I understand. This gives me at least more time to send you the files”, he says making you laugh. He gets up, helping you stand up by pulling out the chair for you.

The two of you walk to his car in silence, both of you lost in your own thoughts. The drive to your home is filled with just as much silence, until you can’t take it any longer.

“Taehyung I just need to ask you something or else it will eat me alive”, you break the silence making him look at you for a moment before he averts his eyes onto the road again.

“Sure ask away”, he says nodding his head.

“Is it bad of me to feel guilty that I treated Hoseok so bad. I mean he is my ex, I shouldn’t care about things like that. Also is it bad that I couldn’t stop thinking about him after seeing him again today?”

Taehyung is silent for a moment, probably thinking of an answer.

“No I think so it’s bad”, he starts shaking his head, “I think it would be more mean to not feel guilty. After all he is still a human being and feeling bad because you treated a person badly isn’t something to feel guilty about. And as far as the thinking about him part is concerned. I think it’s totally normal that you had to think of him today. I mean you literally met him after nearly eleven months of silence. I wouldn’t have been that calm if something like this happened to me.”

“Trust me I’m not calm. I’m in fact a bundle of nerves ready to burst every second now”, you say staring at your apartment building, which had appeared in your sight right at this moment.

“I feel you and don’t worry it will fade again very soon. I promise everything will be better, once you wake up tomorrow morning”, he says, turning off his car now that he had arrived at your apartment.

He turns to you, patting your thigh.

“It’s going to be okay, you are strong, you can get through this”, he tells you smiling sweetly at you.

You take his hand, squeezing it gently.

“Thanks I’ll try to believe you now. Also thanks for driving me home, it was nice seeing you again”, you smile opening the car door.

“It was nice seeing you, sleep tight and don’t rack your brain too much, it’s going to be okay”, he says.

You nod before throwing the car door shut. You wave at him making you wave back at you before you turn around and run up your stairs. Once you arrive at your front door you turn around to look at him one last time, watching him drive off still waving at you.

You unlock your front door, ridding yourself of your shoes and your coat the moment you step into your apartment. You throw your bag onto your couch and soon your sweater and skirt follows after. All you want to do right now is take a hot shower and fall asleep afterwards.

Once you are completely naked, you get into your bathroom to shower. The water is hot, you know that Yoongi would complain about it burning his skin if he would be with you right now, but for you it’s perfect. You need to feel the heat right now, it makes you think that you wash away every negative thought. You don’t know how long you have been standing in the shower, but when you get out of your trance again the water had noticeably become colder and so you decide that it is time to end your shower.

You wrap a soft towel around your wet body and walk to the mirror. It had fogged up and you have to rub over it with the palm of your hand to be able to see you.

“It’s going to be okay Y/N”, you tell yourself smiling at you through the mirror.

Once you had washed your face and brushed your teeth you are finally ready to fall into your soft bed.

You pull the soft blanket over your body before reaching for your phone on your bedside table. You look at the time, nine o’clock. Why do you feel so tired already? You sigh, you really aren’t in the mood to talk to Yoongi right now. All you want to do is fall asleep.

You unlock your phone. Hoseoks chat greets you and suddenly you feel wide awake. You had totally forgotten to write him. You type onto the chat window and your keyboard appears on your screen. Your thumb hovers over the ‘h’, shaking slightly. What should you even write?

“Hey Hoseok sorry for being a little bitch early today J best regards Y/N”?

“Hello I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for being mean to you”?

You sigh. This is a stupid idea. You tap onto the exit button and all of your chats appear on the screen. You tap onto Yoongis chat before typing your message.

- You: Hey baby sorry for writing you so late. Taehyung and I lost track of time. I just wanted to tell you that I can’t call you tonight. It’s so late and I have work tomorrow. I hope you understand.

You press send. You stare at the message before opening your keyboard once again.

- You: ❤

You press send, nodding satisfied with your decision to send him a heart. Maybe if you start to use emojis, he will too. Suddenly three dots appear making your heart beat faster. You stare at them holding your breath. What takes him so long? Suddenly your phone vibrates.

- Yoongibear ❤: It’s okay princess, we can still talk tomorrow at lunch. Sleep tight baby and I’ll try to meet you in your dreams tonight!!

You smile, that was sweet right now you can’t deny it, but where are the emojis? He is still typing, so there is still some hope.

Yoongibear ❤ sent a picture

You squeal, your cheeks instantly turning red. Yoongi had sent you a selfie. He is lying in his bed, the white blanket pulled over his head, so just his face is visible. His dark hair is hanging messily into his face nearly covering his eyes. He is smiling at the camera, holding up a finger heart. Your phone vibrates again.

- Yoongibear ❤: love you ❤

Your heart does summersaults in your chest at his message. You squeal throwing yourself onto your back to stare at the ceiling with the biggest smile on your face. Suddenly realisation hits you, your heart stinging.

Did you compare him again? You swore to yourself that you wouldn’t this morning. You groan grabbing at your hair. What is wrong with your mind today?

You lock your phone before putting it onto your bedside table. You stare at it lying there for a good second, breathing heavily. You are scared, scared that if you touch it again you will write something, or someone, that you will regret later. It’s best if it stays there until tomorrow morning, you think to yourself before turning of your lights. You press your eyes shut to force yourself to get tired. You will be good again. Tomorrow is going to be a new day and today will be forgotten.

You take a deep breath, throwing yourself onto your back to stare at the ceiling again. The orange light of the streets lamps outside paints the shadows of your windowsill plants onto your ceiling. They look distorted, big and scary, but they still manage to calm you. Your own self scared you far more right now.

You close your eyes again. You just need to sleep and everything will be good again. Today was Monday, nothing good can happen on Mondays. You are fine, you love Yoongi and only Yoongi. Yes, you love him and you don’t need Hoseok anymore. You sigh.

“It’s going to be okay tomorrow Y/N, just a lot of things happened today don’t be hard on yourself”, you whisper and to your surprise your words actually help you calm down and soon you find yourself drifting off to sleep.

[noreasonjustbored]

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Jealous

Part 3:

This dinner is a disaster thought Henry as he subtlety moved closer to Charlotte for what felt like the two millionth time in the last forty minutes.

They were sitting in a circular booth with all of the Game Shakers. Charlotte was on the end of one side while Henry was to her left and Babe was to his left. Every time he moved to the right to get near Charlotte (and further from Babe) it seemed like she mimicked his actions to be closer to him.

It was getting on his nerves that she was constantly touching him and giggling at things he knew for a fact weren’t funny. However, he didn’t know how to tell her to back off without hurting her feelings. He wasn’t the most tactful when it came to things like this. Also, it wasn’t typical that a girl hit on him when he didn’t reciprocate the sentiment.

And he truly did not return her affections. She was a nice girl but she was a little too naive and too hyper for him. Plus, the most amazing woman he had ever met was already his girlfriend. He needn’t look anywhere else because Charlotte provided everything he never even knew he wanted or needed in a mate.

Charlotte was truly his partner in every way. She was beautiful and smart and talented. She was confident and witty and compassionate. She was a goddess and he was lucky she even wanted to date a peasant like him. He 100 percent knew this to be true.

He also knew that Charlotte was starting to get agitated by Babe’s behavior as well. At first he didn’t really understand what was happening because Charlotte is always composed. But as the long night wore on he started to notice the cracks in her facade.

It started when they first showed up outside the restaurant. Henry was helping Charlotte out of the cab when he heard his name being called in a high pitched tone.

“Henry! Hey!” Babe waves enthusiastically.

She is surrounded by Trip, Hudson and Kenzie who all greet he and Charlotte with smiles and waves as they approach.

“So guys, this food is delicious and I can’t wait until you try it.” Babe says while linking her arm in the crook of Henry’s elbow and pulling him inside. At this action Charlotte raises one eyebrow but says nothing as she follows the group through the door.

When seated the waiter asks for drink orders and Babe proceeds to tell them that she wants a fruit punch and that Henry will take a lemonade because he loves lemonade sooooo much.

“Right Hen?” she asked while batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.

In the corner of his eye he sees Charlotte roll her eyes at the statement. Hen? Who told her she could call him that? 

“Right.” Henry coughed out awkwardly before the rest of the table gave their beverage choices as well.

After ordering their food the group chatted amicably while waiting for dinner to arrive. The dinner seemed to be going along fine when it suddenly all took a turn for the worst.

Henry was turned towards Char giving her some hints about a few of the events they would experience on their vacation when Babe interrupted their conversation.

“Ooh what’s this?” Babe inquires while picking up Henry’s hand and cradling it in both of hers. She was referring to the invisibility ring that Henry was wearing. She then decides to twist off the jewelry and place it on her own hand. She puts it on her left ring finger and then sticks the hand out for the table to admire.

“Looks good, doesn’t it?” she inquires.

Her friends murmur their agreement but Charlotte just scoffs lightly, gives her the side eye and sips her iced tea with lemon.

“That’s actually an invention from Schwoz, I’ll take that back now.” Henry says after letting her admire it for a few more moments.

He places his hand out patiently for the ring but Babe refuses to relinquish it. “Actually, I think I like it and I’ll wear it for the rest of dinner.”

Before Henry could reply Charlotte quickly butted in and said, “Actually, I think it’s Henry’s and you’ll give it back now.”

Charlotte then smoothly turned back to Kenzie who she was sitting across from and asked her another question about the game they were previously discussing.

Babe gave the ring back without further protest.

After they had finished their dinner, they were looking at the desert menu to decide which treat they each wanted. Henry was leaning towards the sundae or a piece of cheesecake. While he was deliberating, Babe turned to Henry and asked if he wanted to share a sundae with her. Henry politely declined, he definitely wanted his own dessert.

After deciding on a slice of cheesecake he asked everyone what they were getting. Trip and Hudson both decided on fried Oreos. Kenzie chose the chocolate cake and Babe chose the Brownie with a scoop of ice cream. Charlotte got the sundae.

After ordering their last course the waiter walked away and Babe turned to Henry for the countless time. She reached her arm up and touched the front of his hair.

To his benefit, Henry quickly pulled away and asked in an incredulous tone, “Uh...What are you doing?”

“Your hair just looked so soft, I just wanted to see for myself if that was true.” Babe replied.

“You could have just asked him” Hudson responds nonchalantly.

“Yeah instead of invading his personal space.” Char says lowly under her breath.

“Well is it soft?” Trip asks curiously.

“How did it feel?” Kenzie inquired simultaneously, drowning out Charlotte’s annoyed grumbling.

“Amazing” she sighs out with a small smile in Henry’s direction.

“Thanks? I guess?” came his weirded out response.

“You’re welcome.” She said happily.

Putting her hand on Henry’s shoulder, she leans up to whisper in his ear “But speaking of thanks, how are you going to repay me for my help Kid Danger?”

Lightly pushing her away, Henry asked if she needed anything in particular.

“Well I was thinking that maybe we could go out on the town, just the two of us.”

Clearing his throat awkwardly Henry started to reply, “Actually, Char and I are d-“

“Okay guys! I have the best part of the meal for you” the waiter says while bringing out everyone’s sweets.

At this point Charlotte has had enough. She has been understanding and accommodating all night. She has tried her hardest not to make a scene about this little girl’s relentless flirting but she was done.

When Char’s sundae is in front of her she takes a bite to calm her nerves and then turns her head to the left.

“Babe?” Charlotte asks coyly.

“Yes?” Both Henry and Babe reply.

Charlotte smirks. That’s the exact reaction she was hoping to garner.

“Do you want a bite of my ice cream?” She says while holding her spoon to Henry’s face.

Henry immediately takes the spoonful of ice cream without hesitation.

Charlotte then wipes some ice cream off the corner of his mouth and licks it off her finger.

Henry stares at her lustfully the entire time.

“Mm. Delicious.” She says while returning his heated gaze. Then she reaches for his hair.

“You know what Babe, Hen really does have soft hair.” Charlotte says while running her fingers through his blond locks.

“I almost forgot since I hadn’t touched it in a while.” Henry groans as Char lightly scratches his scalp and he leans into her hand, craving more contact.

Kenzie clears her throat, breaking Henry out of his reverie.

The table goes back to their eating their desserts eagerly after that. All except Babe, who is pouting and looks as if someone has kicked her puppy.

After quickly devouring his cheesecake Henry turned to Charlotte to ask for more of her sundae.

Charlotte complied with his request by spooning another bite and holding it to his lips again. They continued alternating spoonfuls until her dessert was finished.

Since his hands were free, Char took her left hand in his right. Henry interlaced their fingers on instinct. He rubbed her palm with his thumb unconsciously. Deciding to take it a step further, Charlotte unlocked their hands and played with his slim fingers. She slowly traced each of his digits up and then back down to the center of his palm before connecting their hands again.

Babe watched this intimate action with envious eyes. Hudson was still working on his Oreos obliviously. Kenzie looked on with a dumbfounded expression while Trip nodded his head, silently praising Henry for landing a gorgeous girl like Charlotte.

When the waiter came back to clear plates and ask how everyone was paying Babe responded that everyone was separate. Henry quickly cut in that he and Charlotte were actually on a bill together.

Gathering her purse, Charlotte gave Henry a lingering kiss on the cheek and told him that she was going to the bathroom really quick.

When she left, Hudson’s eyes widened in discovery. “Wait, are you guys dating?”

Henry rolled his eyes in response.

After Charlotte finished, she washed and dried her hands and was looking down into her purse for her lipstick when she heard the restroom door open.

Glancing up, she saw Babe approaching cautiously like a frightened deer. She ignored the girl and leaned closer to the mirror to reapply the fading burgundy.

“Heeeeeyyyy.” Babe said nervously.

“Hi.” Charlotte replied while taking a paper towel and blotting the corners of her lips.

“About that... whole thing. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you need to apologize to” she responds while throwing away the paper towel.

“U-ummm h-huh?” was Babe’s stammered response.

Zipping up her purse, Charlotte sighed before turning towards the brunette.

“I’m not the one you’ve hit on constantly since we arrived in New York. I’m not the one whose personal space you’ve disregarded and whose boundaries you neglected. I’m not the one who you threw yourself at wholeheartedly even though you received no reciprocation.” Char replies in a calm but commanding tone.

“I-I... But I- uhhhh... I wasn’t trying to- umm”

“But you did. You’ve made Henry very uncomfortable since we’ve been here and that’s not okay. Even if he didn’t have a girlfriend, you have got to learn how to pick up a hint. He just wasn’t into you.”

Looking down at the floor Babe said in a small voice, “I didn’t realize.”

Lifting up her head by the chin Charlotte looked into the younger girls eyes. “I know, that’s why I’m telling you. If a guy that you Didn’t like had done what you did today, how would you feel?”

Babe took a moment to think about the question seriously. “Creeped out. Violated. Disrespected.”

“Exactly. Why do you think it’s any different with Henry?” Charlotte replied before grabbing her purse and leaving the bathroom.

When she returned to the table everyone was signing their receipts and leaving their tips. Henry stood up and placed his hands on her hips. “Everything okay Char?”

“Everything is fine” Charlotte replied before briefly pecking his lips.

When Babe came out of the bathroom she noticed their simple kiss and then saw Henry helping Charlotte into her coat.

Babe couldn’t help but let out a large sigh in disappointment. I should have known that she was his girlfriend. He kept asking if I thought she would like certain events and saying that this needed to be the best trip ever for her. I’m so dumb. No one that hot is single.

As they all exited the restaurant and journeyed back into the chilly night air Babe asked if she could talk to Henry for a moment.

Stepping aside, Babe apologized to Henry for her behavior. She said that just because he was ‘Handsome Henry’ didn’t mean she needed to be ‘Basic Babe’. She also told him that he and Charlotte made a cute couple.

He chuckled and thanked her for the compliment then let her know that there were no hard feelings. After saying goodbye he walked over to Charlotte who was wrapping up her conversation with Trip, Kenzie and Hudson. Henry bid them goodbye as well.

As they walked in the opposite direction from the group, Henry slung his arm around Charlotte’s shoulder and asked, “What did you say to her? You give her one of your famous Char Chats?”

“Maybe. What did she say to you?” Charlotte inquires while reaching up to intertwine their fingers and wrap her other arm around Henry’s waist.

“She told me that she didn’t mean to infringe upon my personal space and was sorry that she made me feel uneasy.”

“Good for her” was Charlotte’s simple reply.

“Uh Huh. So you had nothing to do with that?”

“I may have given her a quick lesson on human decency. Possibly.”

“Well I know you definitely gave her a lesson on not messing with your man.”

“I have no clue what you are talking about.”

“You were jealous. It took me a while to notice. I wasn’t sure that you could even feel that emotion, if I’m being honest.” Henry laughed.

“Still not sure what you’re referring to.” Charlotte replied.

“Don’t worry, I thought that territorial display during dessert was super sexy babe.” Henry whispered to her before gently kissing the shell of her ear.

Charlotte bit her lower lip and looked up at Henry through her eyelashes.

“Don’t get used to it” she deadpanned.

[hufflesmonsters]

Baker and the Beast, Forever After

A/N: This has been months in the making, but I finally finished it! This story has a special place in my heart, and I can’t just casually mention an important chapter in Belle and Igrisz’s life without writing it out fully. 

The lake water was calm as you walked out onto your back porch, a coffee in one hand as you held a croissant in the other. The soft wind blew the wisps of hair that fell from your bun across your face as you sat down on the chair. Several alligators swam nearby, their reptilian eyes looking at you with disinterest. You felt yourself relax against the wood as you took in your surroundings. It wasn’t often that you were the first one up, Igrisz was always a morning person, er, lizard. Today was a rare treat indeed.

It was also a calm before the storm.

Your mother had expressed interest in meeting “whoever it was that is making you smile again”, and Igrisz, for some ungodly reason, was wanting desperately to meet your family. Which meant your mother, the mother who absolutely feared the infamous lizardman, and had absolutely no idea how you’d managed to “tame the beast”.  You took a bite out of your pastry. Your mother was likely to drop dead.

A strong hand landed in your shoulder, the thumb rubbing soothingly against your skin. You smiled and placed your pastry on your lap before reaching up and placing your now free hand over his. “You're up early,” Igrisz's deep rumble sounded as he sank into the chair on your left.

You looked over at him, accepting the kiss he placed on your cheek. “I'm enjoying the morning,” you said simply.

“You're worried,” he stated flatly. You smiled as you stared back at the water, after two years together, he knew you inside out. “It's understandable.”

“My mom is going to be here by noon, and I don't know if she's going to survive meeting you. She claims to have a frail heart, I don't want to see if it was a joke or not. And then your brothers.” You turned to look at your boyfriend. “Thraz and Irsosz? What are they going to think?”

Igrisz grasped your hand, rubbing small circles in the skin. “Let's worry about your mother,” he suggested. “My family won't care one bit.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

He snorted. “Trust me, I know.” He stood up, his large shadow casting over you. “Bruxo will be here soon, we have to go prepare the den for Thraz and Irsosz,” he leaned over and nuzzled your temple lovingly. “I'll be back before your mother arrives.”

You grabbed his hand and pressed a kiss to it. “I love you,” you told him. While you've told him that multiple times in the past, he never failed to loose the grace in his step. You watched, snickering in glee as he tripped backwards over his own tail and nearly fell into the water.

“I, uh, love you too,” he said coughing into his fist. He cleared his throat and straightened his back. “I’ll get going before you make me lose whatever dignity I have left. God knows you'll have plenty of time later on.”

“You promise?” You asked with a wink, chuckling when he tossed you a dirty look before jumping into the water. You shook your head as he immediately disappeared, the sap was probably hitting himself with a rock for getting so flustered. It was a good thing that he had a thick skull, otherwise he would have beat himself to death long ago.

You stood, grabbing your now empty mug and shoved the rest of the croissant into your mouth. You had a lot of work to do between now and noon, and most of it involved stress baking. You had your mother's favorite recipes all set out on the counter, hoping that when the news broke she'd be comforted by the sweets you'd shove into her face.

You set to work, putting your music on shuffle as you made your way into the kitchen. Aurora was coming by shortly to help out and to keep Bruxo out of your way. You loved him, truly, but he was a menace when it came to your baking. He was always sneaking pieces of cookie dough, slices of cake. You once caught him trying to get out of your house with two pies in hand. At least with Aurora here, you had a chance at keeping most of your goodies.

Your first recipe was a simple lemon brownie, both you and your mother loved them. You grabbed the bowl of lemons that you had bought the day before and grabbed your zester, resigning yourself with the knowledge that you were about to lose either some skin, nail, or sanity by the end of this. You were thankful that this particular recipe didn't call for much zest, only a teaspoon. But still, that took a lot of lemons.

Once you got the zest out of the way, and only lost half of your nail in the process, you quickly went to work on the rest of the recipe. You combined the dry ingredients, mixing in the butter after it was done. You whisked the eggs, lemon juice and zest in a separate bowl, possibly letting out your stress along the way who's to really say. You combined both bowls and mixed, pausing near the end to grease your pan. You finished folding the mixture, then slowly poured it into the pan.  You placed it in the oven and stood back up, hands on your hips as you debated which sugary treat to bake next.

You turned, and let out a scream as you came face to face with Aurora. The other woman jumped, blue eyes wide as she slowly lowered her hands from where she'd been gathering her hair.

“I did knock,” she said after a moment.

“I didn't hear you, when did you come in?” You asked as you recovered from the mini heart attack she had given you.

“Caught you when you were beating those eggs like they owed you money,” Aurora said. “Figured it was best to leave you be.”

You nodded, mouth pressed in a thin line. “I'm just, stressed I guess.”

“Completely understandable,” Aurora said easily as she looked at one of the bookmarked pages in your cookbook. “I'm freaking out and it's not even going to affect me.” When you purse your lips at her, shaking your head when she looked back up at you. “What? You know I’d do anything for you.”

“I know,” you said with a sigh as you grabbed the cookbook to see what to bake next. “Is Bruxo already out there?”

“Yeah, I made sure he was with Igrisz before coming in,”  Aurora confirmed. “Even waited an extra two minutes just in case he tried to sneak back up to the surface.”

“Good, the last thing I need is him trying to sneak away with something,” you ran a hand over your face before sighing. You began to flip through the book, “what do you think we should do next?”

“Ooh, the apple crumb cake,” Aurora said as she pointed to the recipe that you landed on. “You baked it that one time we had a fight and I forgot why I was ever upset.” You smiled as you remembered that day, your first fight with your friend. It wasn’t over anything bad, really. The two of you were literally fighting over whether or not Cap was going to die in Infinity War or not. You ended up winning, and baked the cake to help get yourself back on Aurora’s, and Bruxo’s, good side.

“It is my secret weapon,” you said in agreement.

By noon, the two of you had finished your baking marathon with a chocolate turtle poke cake, your personal favorite and made everyone’s day whenever you offered it in your shop. You didn’t have time to use homemade caramel, but you found that using the sweetened condensed milk version was better suited for this recipe. Lastly was the chocolate chip cheesecake that you often baked once every month, or for special events. It was a fan favorite, and your mother’s absolute fave.

You bit your lip as you looked at the trays, all covered to keep their warmth. You hoped this would be enough. You glanced up as Igrisz and Bruxo walked into the living room, Bruxo rubbing a towel against his scales as Igrisz placed his around his neck. The two lizardmen looked straight to the food, a loud grumble sounded.

You grabbed a wooden spoon and held it up to them in warning. “Don’t even think about it, Bruxo.”

“Why is he exempt from this,” Bruxo demanded as he looked towards his elder brother.

“Because he has a different threat,” you said as you narrowed your eyes to your boyfriend. Igrisz gulped, but nodded all the same. Your sweets were safe at the moment. “Now, my mother called, she’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“I’ll hide in the guest room,” Bruxo said, he turned to Aurora and held out his scaly hand. “My lady?”

“I’m staying out here, as moral support,” Aurora told him as she went over to your side, wrapped an arm around your shoulder as she drew you near. “But, yeah, hide please.”

Bruxo pouted, but did as he was told. He paused by his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder and nodded in silent support. Igrisz nodded at him, patting his shoulder before gently shoving his younger brother towards the hallway.

“I’ll stay here,” Igrisz said as he stepped towards you, reaching for your hand and pulling you in. His free hand laid on your waist as he pressed your hand against his chest. “I’m here,” he said again softly.

You smiled up at him, eyes tearing up despite the absolute cheesiness of the act. “You’re here,” you said in agreement.

“You two are adorable,” Aurora cooed, ripping the two of you out of your Notebook Moment. She smiled adoringly at the two of you, a hand over her heart before she grew more serious. “Your mother is driving up,” she said as she nodded her head towards the window.

You could hear your mother’s engine now, the hum sputtering a bit. You drew in a deep breath, and withdrew from Igrisz. You turned and faced the door, coming over and exiting to greet your mother outside. “Mom!” You said with a grin, reaching down and wrapping her in a tight hug.

“Ah, mija,” your mother said as she withdrew, her brown eyes sparkling as she took you in. “You look stressed, what is the matter?”

“Nothing, mama,” you said softly as you smiled down at her. “When you meet him, just, keep an open mind?”

“I always do,” you mother said, lying through her teeth. She never kept an open mind when it came to past lovers, always skeptical of what they were doing. Granted, some of her mistrust was from several men taking advantage of your self esteem, and some women who weren’t sure if they were gay or bi and had used you as a way to tell. As a result, your mother tended to dislike everyone you brought to her.

“He really loves me, mama,” you said to her softly as you turned to open the front door. You stood to the side, watching her as she entered the house.

“Ah, Aurora, how are you darling?” Your mother said as she spotted the blonde first. When Aurora smiled and said “fine”, she searched the room for your boyfriend. You watched, tense as her brown eyes slowly went from the kitchen, to the living room where Igrisz stood. “¡El diablo del agua! Corre, chicas corren! ¡No los tomarás, tirano flaco!” (1) You watched in horror as your mother tried to take off her shoe.

“Mom!” You placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her as Igrisz took a step forward.

“Ma’am-”

“¡No te acerques más! ¡Aléjate de mis bebés!” (2)

“Mama! He’s the boyfriend!” You cried as you took her shoe out of her hand before she could throw it.

“WHAT?!” Your mother looked at you in shock before looking back at Igrisz, who was unaware of just how close he was to losing a tooth via shoe throw. “When you said you were going to bake him into submission, I didn’t think you meant all the way to the bedroom!”

“I, well,” you paused. “Not into the bedroom, no.” Aurora let out a groan from where she stood, she hated hearing about your and Igrisz’s bedroom activities. You coughed as your mother looked at you with wide eyes. “I mean-”

“Your daughter won me over with her baking, and we formed a relationship a few months after that,” Igrisz said as he saved you from nearly spilling details about your sex life to your own mother. “I care for her greatly, and I wanted to meet the woman who shaped her into the person she is today.”

Your mother paused, gathering her thoughts, before standing tall and proud. Her head was held high, and her chest puffed out in pride. “Yes, I raised my Belle into a strong woman,” she said as she reached up and pinched your cheek.

“I can see where she gets her resolve from,’ Igrisz said with a chuckle as he came closer. “Did you know she yelled at me the first night we met?”

“Of course she did, she always was a little fighter,” your mother cooed as she finally let your cheek go. She turned to Aurora, “did you know about this?”

“She’s dating his little brother,” you said.

Your mother placed a hand over her heart as she looked at the two of you. “There’s another one?” She turned to you accusingly, like you were the direct reason as to why there was more than one lizardman.

“You want to meet him?” You asked with a raised brow, knowing that Bruxo was probably halfway out of the guest bedroom by now.

“Ay dios, mija, I don’t think my weak heart could handle that,” your mother said placing a hand over her heart.

“You were about to beat the shit out of my boyfriend with your shoe!” You said as you shook said shoe at her.

“Oh, give me that,” your mother snatched her footwear back. “I might as well meet my future in law,” she said in resignation.

“Bruxo!” Igrisz called, arms crossed as his brother emerged from the shadows. “Behave,” he growled in warning.

“I always do,” Bruxo said as he came over to your mother, brushing past Igrisz who’d moved to stand behind you, and leaned down to bring her hand to his lips. “A pleasure.”

“Good job,” your mother whispered to Aurora. “Good job, both of you.”

The two lizardmen chuckled as both you and Aurora nodded. “I baked you some things, in case it went south.” You lead your mother over to the counter where you unveiled the treats, your eye caught Bruxo sneaking over, and immediately grabbed the wooden spoon. “Mama gets first pick,” you told him in warning.

Your mother cupped your cheek, a fond smile on her face, before grabbing a slice of apple cake and a lemon brownie. “My sweet girl,” she said as she stepped away. You smiled at her as she took a bite out of her cake, relief flooding through you as you took in everything.

Aurora and Bruxo shared a slice of apple cake, the blonde giggling as he tried to feed her a piece, the crumbs falling. Your mother talked with Igrisz, looking laughably small as she stood by him. Her words were fast, her eyes alight as the two of them talked about you, and your relationship. Your heart swelled with emotion, your eyes misting as Igrisz glanced over to you, his red eyes alight in happiness. You smiled widely at him, you’d never been more happy and in love with this overgrown lizard.

Your mother left hours later, but not after officially adopting Bruxo and Igrisz into the family. You were half tempted to warn Aurora about your mother’s tendency to show up out of the blue with a freshly cooked meal in hand. But, after being teased for weeks by your friend, you were more than happy to sit back and wait for the day your mother decided that a seven foot tall, nine hundred pound lizard man was in serious need of “nourishment” for he was still a “growing boy”. Igrisz had to leave the room when she had said that, and you could hear him cackling from the bathroom.  

You sighed as you looked at the dishes in the sink, placing your hands on the counter as you contemplated whether or not you should do them now or later on tonight. You sighed as two strong arms wrapped around your middle, Igrisz nuzzling your cheek.

“You’re miles away, aren’t you?” He rumbled.

You turned and pressed a kiss to his snout, giggling when he licked your nose in return. “Partly,” you admitted. “This all went far better than I was expecting, I guess I’m just trying to accept it and focus on your brothers.”

“Ah, well, they’ll be here shortly,” Igrisz said as he turned you to face him, closing his eyes when Bruxo let out a gag in the background. “Brux, I will drown you,” he warned before sighing and looking back down at you. “Why is he here, again?”

“Because your brothers will be here shortly,” you reminded him with a smile. You shook your head and leaned against his chest. “And you’re sure that they won’t mind that I’m human?”

“Giving that Thraz’s girlfriend is currently halfway down our driveway, I would say, yes, I am one hundred percent sure that they won’t mind.”

“Oh, good,” you closed your eyes, only for them to shoot open as you pulled away from him. “What do you mean, Thraz’s girlfriend is halfway down my driveway?” You demanded, eyes flying to the window where you saw a jeep with the words “Everglades Sanctuary” on the side. “Who could that possibly be?” You left the comfort of Igrisz’s arms and walked over to your door, opening it as the driver got out.

She was beautiful, with a rich reddish brown skin that shone in the sunlight. Her long black hair was pulled up in a ponytail, with some strands that fell out swaying in the breeze. The woman shut her car door and stretched, a grunt escaping as she settled. She saw both you and Aurora coming close, and smiled widely. “You must be Belle and Aurora,” she greeted as she came over and shook your hands. “I’m Jasmine,” she added.

“A pleasure to meet you,” you said with a smile before cocking your head. “What brings you out here?”

Jasmine frowned. “Igrisz didn’t tell you that I was coming also?”

Realization hit you. “Oh god, oh no,” you sighed and shook your head. “He did, I thought you’d be, well…”

“Ah,” Jasmine let out a giggle as Aurora patted your back. “Not to worry,” she smiled at you warmly. “I thought you were going to be a lizardman as well up until before we departed from the sanctuary.” Well that was a slight relief.

“And where is Thraz?” Aurora asked as she peered at the jeep. “Did he not come with you?”

“He’s, ah, a tad bit too big to travel via car,” Jasmine said as she rubbed the back of her neck. She glanced behind the two of you, waving with a smile on her face, “hey Igrisz, Bruxo!”

“Jasmine!” Bruxo greeted as he leaned against the porch railing, his tail dipping into the water. He gave her a toothy grin as he crossed his arms. “Decided to ditch the old fossil?”

Before Jasmine could say a word, a large alabaster hand shot out of the water and latched onto Bruxo’s tail. In an instant, the young lizardman was dragged off of the dock and into the water with a loud scream, water flying everywhere as he landed into the water. Igrisz started cackling as two large alligator like forms rose out from the depths, one considerably larger than the other. Bruxo broke the surface, coughing and complaining as he swam to the shore, the other two following suit.

The first to leave the water was a massive lizardman, he had to damn near twenty feet long if you had to guess. Scars littered his face and body, showing just how hard he fought to live this long in the world. His amber eyes roamed from you to Aurora, before looking back at Bruxo who shook himself dry. He turned as Igrisz came walking up, and smiled. “Ah, little brother,” he rumbled as he threw an arm over Igrisz and drew him into a hug.

“Thraz,” Igrisz greeted warmly before stepping back as the second lizardman emerged.

He wasn’t as big as Thraz, more Igrisz’s height than anything else. He was white, his pearlized scales shimmering in the light as the water flowed off of his skin. Scars littered the side of his face and down his neck, the light pink contrasting nicely against his skin. His bright pink eyes glittered warmly as he spotted Igrisz, laughing as the two of them embraced.

“Babe,” Igrisz turned and held your hand, drawing your closer to the three of them. “This is Thraz, and his girlfriend Jasmine,” he nodded at the two of them. “And this is my twin, Irsosz,” he added as he nodded to the albino lizard next to him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” you said nervously as you looked from one giant to a smaller one.

Thraz tilted his head as he took you in, his amber eyes blank which spiked your nerves. Then, suddenly, he gave you a toothy smile and drew you into a crushing hug. “Good to meet the girl who put Igrisz in his place,” he said with a chuckle that rattled your bones.

“Don’t hog her,” Irsosz huffed as he drew you from the giant, engulfing you into another crushing embrace. “Thank you for choosing my insufferable twin,” he “whispered” to you, chuckling when Igrisz let out a indingant grunt. “Now, who’s this other morsel?” He asked as he focused his sights on Aurora.

“That  is my sugar pie, my cinnamon apple,” Bruxo crowed as he hoisted Aurora up several feet to present her to his family.  

“Hi,” Aurora said meekly.

Jasmine floated over to you, a smile on her face as the two of you watched as Thraz and Irsosz greeted Aurora. “I see Bruxo lives up to his reputation,” she said lowly.

“Oh, you have no idea,” you groaned as you pinched the bridge of your nose. “I’m glad to see that someone in the family isn’t so dramatic,” you added as you took in Thraz’s calm demeanor.

“Yeah,” Jasmine said as she looked fondly at her boyfriend. “I’d known him for years, it’s almost unbelievable that we’re together like this,” she admitted.

“How did you guys meet?”

“He lives at an alligator sanctuary I work at, he saved me from a falling tree one day and, well, things just happened after that,” she smiled at the memory. ‘What about you?”

“He punched through my window,” you said calmly.

“He what?”

“Yep,” you nodded as you glanced over at her. “Then I baked him some cookies and he suddenly didn’t want to make me leave anymore,” you snorted as Igrisz glanced over at you, red eyes pleading with you to let it go. “But, looking back on it, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Jasmine nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. “Sounds rather impactful,” she mused. “From what I heard, Igrisz used to be a huge hothead.”

“Oh he still is,” you said. “He still terrorizes the town, but Aurora and my mother, and me of course, are exempt from his tyranny.”

“That’s because this whole family is all sorts of dramatic,” Thraz cut into your conversation, his amber eyes rolling as his younger brothers protested. “I don’t know how they ended up like this, I certainly didn’t raise them to act like, well, this.”

“That’s rich, coming from the lizard who caught a tree like it was nothing just to flex,” Jasmine snorted, snickering when he sent her a betrayed look.

“Did you really?” Bruxo asked him with furrowed brows.

“Gods, and you call us dramatic,” Irsosz rolled his eyes.

“I want none of that from you all,” Thraz growled.

Aurora rolled her eyes as she was finally put back down on the ground, smacking Bruxo’s arm lightly. “Don’t act like you didn’t give me a heart attack on the night we met,” she chided. “Standing in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night.”

“Don’t blame him, he’s an idiot by nature,” Irsosz said as he looked at his younger brother, crossing his arms. “An idiot who tends to venture further downstream than he promised to when he first came down here.”

“I thought you’d like the company,” Bruxo said in his defense.

“I like your distance.”

You clapped your hands, smiling at the four lizards as they broke out of their brotherly spat. “Well, I don’t know if anyone would be interested in some dinner?”

“Oh, I am starving,” Jasmine said as she placed a hand over her stomach. “I’d be happy to help out.”

“Same here,” Aurora said as she joined your side.

“We might go hunting, if that’s alright, babe,” Igrisz said as he came over to your side. “It’s been a while since we’ve all been in one place.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” you said as you cupped his cheek and pulled him down, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before pulling back. “We can eat on the back patio, and you guys can come by when you’re done. How’s that?”

“Sounds good,” he said as he pressed another kiss to your lips before stepping back, glaring at Bruxo when he gagged. “Aurora, I might kill your boyfriend.”

“I’d understand,” Aurora said, closing her eyes when Bruxo let out a whine.

Thraz placed a hand on Jasmine’s head, a fond look on his face as the two of them shared a look that exchanged far more emotion than words could ever convey. He nodded towards you and Aurora, and then looked to his younger siblings. “Let’s go, I saw some cows on the swim up.”

Oh god, not Mr. Abernathy’s cows, you looked to Igrisz in panic.

“Let’s go a county over,” Igrisz suggested as he caught your gaze. “There’s plenty of cows and deer,” he added.

“Yeah, that’s where I saw the cows,” Thraz said with furrowed brows, rolling his amber eyes as he placed a hand on Bruxo and steered him towards the lake. “We’ll be back soon, ladies,” he said with a dip of his head.

The three of you watched as they waded into the water, and waited until they disappeared into the depths. Aurora clapped her hands, looking between the two of you. “So, let’s take a vote. Cook? Or order some take out?”

“If I have to cook again I will cry,” you said with a world weary sigh. “Count me down for take out.”

“Take out is good with me,” Jasmine said with a shrug.

“Pizza?” You asked as you looked around the three of you.

“Pizza,” came the answer.

The boys swam up three hours later, their eyes glowing in the setting sunlight as they floated down the river towards your house. You prayed to god that no one would link them to you, the last thing you wanted was an angry old farmer knocking on your door. You would absolutely die if that had happened. And then Igrisz would die for making you go through that. Jasmine and Aurora left shortly after the boys came back, taking their respective boyfriends with them. Irsosz left shortly after, bidding the two of you a good night before slinking into the water to go to the den that Igrisz had prepared earlier that day.

You smiled up at Igrisz as the two of you were soon left alone, leaning against his side as he settled down in the chair next to you. “This was a good day,” you said after a while, the two of you content to just sit there and watch the fireflies dance across the water.

“I told you they wouldn’t care,” Igrisz said as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders and held you close. “All that worrying for nothing.”

“My mother was going to knock out another tooth if I hadn’t have stopped her,” you snorted as you poked his side, smiling when he grunted. “But I’m glad it all worked out. This was a good day,” you said again.

“It’s not over yet,” Igrisz said as he stood, taking your hands in his and pulling you up. “I have something to show you,” he said with a nervous swish of his tail.

You raised a brow at his nervous tick, but nodded all the same. “Yeah, should I get in the boat?”

“Yeah, yeah, that would make it easier,” Igrisz said with a nod as he let go of your hands. He took a step back and walked with you towards the boat that floated off of the back deck. It was a little system that the two of you came up with when you first got together. There were places where he was eager to show you, and most of them were accessible via water only. Hence, the boat. Igrisz would grab ahold of the rope attached to the front of the boat and tow you to the place without much fuss.

You slowly climbed into the boat and yelped as a splash of water hit you as Igrisz jumped into the lake. He rose back up to the surface with a grin, barking out a laugh as you glared at him. “Sorry, babe,” he said as he grabbed the rope.

You rolled your eyes and settled into your seat as he set off, his powerful tail propelling the two of you across the water. You watched as the fireflies glowed against the twilight, the orange glow reflecting against the deep blue water. The spanish moss swayed in the light breeze, the owls were already beginning their nightly calls. The cicadas were loud and frequent, a sure sign that summer was truly here. You watched as the boat was taken into a cove, masked by two willows that covered the entrance.

It was a small little island, secluded near the edge of the lake closer to the forest than the roads. Trees masked the area from view, keeping it a secret between just the two of you. You waited until the boat was settled against the shore and took Igrisz’s hand as he helped you out of the boat.

“Do you trust me?” He asked as he kept a hold of your hands.

You smiled up at him and nodded. “I trust you,” you answered.

Igrisz pressed a quick kiss to your nose before turning you around and placing his hands over your eyes. “I’ll guide you,” he whispered into your ear as he slowly moved the two of you forwards. “Watch your step, there’s a log a few feet in front of you.”

You nodded and poked around with your foot as you took a step forwards, you paused as you felt the log and stepped upwards. From then on it was smooth walking, the two of you waddling as Igrisz took you to wherever, you really had no idea. This was new territory for you, Igrisz had taken you to everywhere else but this small little island. It was pretty exciting actually, you wondered what was in stow for you.

“We’re here,” Igrisz announced suddenly, stopping the both of you. His hands were removed from your eyes, settling on your shoulders as you slowly opened your eyes.

The area was beautiful, low hanging branches covered in solar lamps illuminated the area around the two of you. You gasped as you looked around the small clearing, the soft light casting a slight glow of the mushrooms that adorned the ground. A slight breeze rustled through the clearing, ruffling through your hair as you turned to face Igrisz.

“This is amazing,” you said, tone full of wonder. “How come you’ve never taken me here before now?” Igrisz rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, it’s a special place. I didn’t want to take you here until I was completely ready to.” He held your gaze now, red eyes boring into brown. “I’m ready now,” he said as he took a step towards you. He held something in his hand, fingers closed around it gingerly.

He paused, looking down at you with pure love in his eyes. While his demeanor was calm and collected, the slight twitch of his tail gave away the nervousness he possessed. “Belle,” his voice cracked slightly but he soldiered on, “when we first met I wanted nothing more than to see you leave forever. But then,” he cracked a smile as his free hand came up and cupped your cheek, “then you yelled at me, you stood up to me. It was humbling, and then your baking…”

“Focus,” you said with a slight chuckle.

“You brought out a new side of me, a side I never thought existed. You made me calmer, I felt peace for the first time around you. I looked forward to coming to your home each night, even to the point where I was patrolling around your home during the day time.” He slowly got onto one knee, the two of you now eye level. His hand came up and uncurled, a beautiful silver necklace with a pointed ivory looking pendant hanging from the end of it shown up at you. You looked between it and him, understanding finally hitting you. “I know it’s not a ring, but it’s the closest I can get you. Belle Gabrielle Dubois, will you do me the honor of being my wife? My mate?”

You wiped the tears away from your eyes, grateful that you weren’t wearing makeup for once. You nodded, a watery smile on your face as you gave him a quick, but passionate kiss. “Yes,” you rasped as you pulled back, giggling as he kissed you again. You took the necklace and inspected it, taking notice of the pendant. “Wait… is this an alligator tooth?”

“Well, uh,” Igrisz coughed slightly. “So, according to our tradition, we exchange scales to wear over our hearts. Since that’s not the case, I thought you could, still… wear something of mine…?”

“Is this that tooth you chipped when you slipped in the road and hit that motorcyclists two months ago?”

“That’s not important here,” he said with a couch. Which basically meant ‘yes’.

You gave him a smile, and kissed him softly. “I love it, a fond memory to wear forever,” you said as you pulled away, giving him a wink as you placed the necklace around your neck, the pendant settling right over your heart.

Igrisz rolled his eyes as he stood to his full height, wrapping his arms around your middle and lifting you up to his height. You cupped his cheeks and stared down into his eyes, a fond smile on your face as the two of you just stared at each other. Words couldn’t convey how happy you were, you literally felt like you were about to combust. You were in a new chapter in your life, one that you never thought would happen. And you were so happy that it was with Igrisz.

Recipes talked about

Lemon brownie

Apple crumbs cake 

Chocolate turtle poke cake

Chocolate chip cheesecake

Spanish:

(1) The water devil! Run, girls run! You will not take them, you slimy tyrant!

(2) Don't come any closer! Stay away from my babies!

[pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles]

She’s Not Afraid (Girls Talk Boys part 21)

She's not afraid of all the attention She's not afraid of running wild How come she's so afraid of falling in love She's not afraid of scary movies She likes the way we kiss in the dark But she's so afraid of f-f-falling in love 

A/N I’m afraid to post links on these now, but you can always message me. I’m still trying to figure out how to do a masterlist

“I can't believe Camille is making us do the shopping” Cher grumbled as they pulled up to the store.

“You lot are the ones making her cook on one of her busiest weeks of the year, whatever that means.”Ashton came around to open her car door for her. That was something Cher didn't know guys did in real life.

Ashton grabbed a cart and Cher pulled up the shopping list Camille made on her phone.

“She really could've ordered this online.” Cher was still pouting.

“I'm pretty sure she just wanted to get everyone out of her hair.” Ashton chuckled. “She even chased Cal away so she could work.”

Cher huffed pouting until Ashton came up beside her. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before murmuring in her ear.

“If you're a good girl today I just might reward you”

Cher felt her irritation vanish and she brightened up anticipating what kind of game Ashton might have in mind.

“Ok let me see the list.” Ashton took charge. “Potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery”

“Celery?” Cher made a face. “So gross”

“How can you hate celery” Ashton was amused.

“Celery is evil.” Cher put the veggies in the green cloth bag. “Any other produce or are we done with this one?”

“Yeah a bag of cranberries, two oranges, a lemon, 2 limes, and 3 green apples. What's with the different color bags?” Ashton was a bit puzzled.

“They're reusable so yay there's that.” Cher gathered up what she needed. “They are color coded so we know what department we need and where it goes in the kitchen. Green for produce, white for dairy, brown for deli meats. See these are insulated so everything stays cold. I can tell you we can skip the meat department because I don't have the yellow or red bag.” Cher checked the bag that held the bags.

“Did Camille come up with this?” Ashton asked clearly amused.

“She came up with the color system because she's paranoid about cross contamination. If you ever get that bitch started on e coli I will walk straight out of the room and leave you to your lecture. Once you get used to it it's really efficient.” Cher shrugged. “Ok baking stuff.”

She headed down the aisle.She grabbed the usual, flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and then a can each of condensed and evaporated milk.

“What's that for?” Ashton peeked in the bag.

“She's making a tres leches cake” Cher told him. “Ok it says oil but she isn't specific so I'm gonna get what's on sale. I never knew there were so many kinds. Coconut oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, almond oil. Wait isn't they what they used for our massage that day?”

“Let me see” Ashton stepped up behind her grabbing her hand with his as he pulled the bottle closer. For just a second he pressed his body into hers. It happened so fast she thought she imagined it except for the shiver that shot down her spine.

“Mmm maybe don't remember” Cher jumped at how close his voice rumbled next to her ear, but when she turned around he'd backed off and was studying the shopping list.

Cher frowned, perplexed but decided to keep moving. Ashton didn't stop. He kept touching her in little ways. His hand pressed just below the small of her back as he reached past her for the green beans. Little traces from his fingertips along her arms and wrists when he took the shopping list from her. “So what was your thanksgiving like as a kid? I know Cam has the big crazy family, but you don't talk about yours.” Ashton asked trying to make sure he didn't get sugar free Jello.

“Mom usually didn't cook. She did one time when we were teenagers and forgot to tell us. We didn't show up and she hasn't let us live it down yet.” Cher told him.

“You only have one brother right? Camille has two?” Ashton couldn't quite remember

Cher nodded. “A couple of times when we were in foster care we'd go down to the City Rec center and they'd have a big meal for all the kids in the programs. The food was actually decent and we always got a little present.”

She dropped a bag of pecans she was looking at. Ashton practically dove to pick them up the back of his hand brushing against her bare calf.

“What was that” Cher jumped at the touch.

“You dropped the nuts. You gotta be more careful with those” Ashton responded off offhandedly with the tiniest smirk.

“Mmm hmmm” Cher hummed her mind wandering.

“Are we getting a turkey?” Ashton motioned to the crowd forming around the employee bringing out boxes of birds.

“Nah, she ordered prime rib and a turkey breast from a butchers shop. I think she sent Calum to get that.”

“How do you like your new roommate” Ashton teased her.

“He's not over at our house that much really. They've almost got a schedule. Sunday night he comes over for football but doesn't stay the night because Camille works her ass off on Mondays. Tuesday is their day together usually at his place. Friday is date night. He bought me some kick ass noise canceling headphones so we're all good.” Cher shrugged.

She stopped abruptly when she saw a display for green bean casserole. Ashton, trailing behind, ran right into her. As he stumbled, catching himself by grabbing her arms, Cher felt the faintest touch of his lips against her shoulder. Or did she? It was maddening.

They finished shopping and loaded up the car. Cher was hoping Ashton might give her a hint at her reward. Instead he just turned the radio on and drummed his fingers on her knee along to the beat.

Getting back to the house Ashton had to admit the bag system helped in putting the groceries away. He also enjoyed that the kitchen was confined enough that he could “bump” into Cher several times while bending or reaching to get in the cabinets. It was killing him not to grin when he heard her little gasps when he touched her or saw the little glances she threw his way. He wanted so badly to pull her to the floor and take her right there in the kitchen.

He had to be patient. He had to keep her wanting. That was the only way to get what he wanted.

They'd just finished with the groceries when Harry knocked on the door. Cher was surprised to see him, normally he didn't get involved in the work side of the parties they threw. He'd volunteered to get the baked goods because he wanted Cornish pastries and sticky toffee pudding. Camille had agreed if he bought them she'd heat them up and make the sauce. She'd also gotten him to pick up a bag of yeast dough so she could make rolls.

It wasn't until Calum showed up with the butchers bags about 15 minutes later that Camille came downstairs. Cher was always amused when Camille came down from filming looking Hollywood from the tits up and couch potato from the waist down. Cher tossed her a bottle of cold water which she caught and chugged while making her way to Calum at the refrigerator. Camille gave Calum a kiss before greeting the other men.

“Harry thank you for getting this dough for me. I'm gonna make the sauce tomorrow just when these are heating up” Camille smiled at Harry.

“I hope you like the Cornish pastries” Harry grinned at her. “They're not easy to get out here.”

“I'm sure I will.” Camille peeked in the bag. “Ooh you got a chocolate cream pie. Cody is gonna love that.”

Ashton handed Camille a glass of wine.

“Thank you sweetie.” Camille turned to where he was standing next to Cher. “Ashton, thank you, seriously you're the only one I can trust with this.” Camille raised her glass before downing it.

“Guys seriously I have like five more videos to do and then I'm done for tonight. There are three games tomorrow and I have to do player forecasts as well as match up reviews. If y'all could peel and soak the potatoes and brine the turkey breast that would be awesome. I'm gonna finish filming. Give me about an hour and I'll be back.” Camille held her glass out for a refill before heading upstairs. Harry said his goodbyes and Calum followed Camille leaving Ashton and Cher in the kitchen alone again.

“You look really cute right now” Ashton smirked at Cher. He kissed her on her forehead “ok let's peel some potatoes.

Camille was touching up her makeup when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.  Calum entered and hovered by the edge of her bed.

“What's up sexy man” Camille met his eyes in the mirror.

Calum hesitated and Camille saw the frown on his face. She stopped and turned around. “What is it? What's wrong?”

“Well it's just, why did you say Ashton was the only one you trusted with this? You know you can trust me right?” Calum peeked up at her.

“Babe,” Camille stopped what she was doing “Did you want me to put you in charge of helping me plan thanksgiving?”

Calum shook his head.

“Ok so you didn't want to do it. I knew you didn't want to do it. You knew I knew you didn't want me to ask you to do it. If I asked you to do it you probably would've asked Ashton you help you right?” Camille raised her eyebrows and Calum nodded.

“Ashton and I have worked together before putting together parties and we're already talking about what we're gonna do for your birthday. So why don't you tell me what is really bothering you.”

Calum sighed and ran his fingers through his curls. He looked at her with those big brown eyes “it still bothers me that you're close to Ashton.”

“Come here” Camille told him and he crossed the room. “Ashton and I are friends. I'm dating his best friend and he's flirting with mine. You need to get past whatever this is.”

“Have you ever thought about fucking Ashton” Calum blurted out before biting his lip as if that could take it back.

“Of course” Camille shrugged “Luke too if I'm honest.”

“Luke? Seriously?” Calum's jaw dropped.

“I saw him run through the house naked and I've listened to him fuck so yeah Luke too. It was a moment. Both of them. I haven't tried anything. I haven't fantasized about them. I'm going to continue to be friends with your friends. That means Ashton.” Camille reached for the drawstring of his sweatpants.

“What are you doing” Calum's voice dropped lower.

“I think my jealous boy needs some attention so he knows he's the only one I want” Camille hesitated before sucking him off. “Just try to be quiet, please and don't touch my hair”

Thanksgiving day Camille had chased everyone out of the kitchen and had her music blasting. Cher and Calum were only allowed in for brief visits. Ashton had the prime rib in his oven. Luke had the turkey and Camille was baking. She'd made the cranberry orange relish the previous evening while punching down and measuring off her dough for the rolls.

Camille had taken a break to do a live interview on the day's games. Finally with work and the food finished and everyone slightly buzzed they could sit down too eat. Camille sat at one end of the long “table” they'd managed to cobble together. Calum sat to her right. Beside him was Mikey, Crystal, Nick and Cody. Harry occupied the other end with Luke, Cher, Ashton, Tom and Lucy sat in order.

Lucy asked if she could say grace and then during the meal she suggested they go around the table and say what each one of them were thankful for.

Lucy stood up the pre dinner wine making her sway just a bit. “I'm thankful to have such good friends and my sweet baboo Tom”

Tom was next “I'm thankful for my career, my friends and my lovely Lulu.”

Then Ashton “I'm thankful we have new music coming out and that you girls showed up to make the place interesting again.”

Cher stood up “I'm not good at stuff like this. Ok let me think. I'm thankful for my Cody I'm so glad I'm out here with you. Vexxed is taking off and I'm friends with all of you which is crazy.  I've only been here since August but I never want to leave. Thank you Camille for dragging me out here.”

Luke was next “I'm thankful for my band, my Petunia and all the wonderful people I've met this year.”

Harry kept it short. “I'm thankful for finding decent Cornish pastries.”

Cody was more animated “I'm so glad you bitches moved out here. Y'all are killing it.”

Nick mumbled out “My career, um my boyfriend

It's been a good year.”

Crystal got choked up when talking about the past year but she managed. “Michael, for being my rock, my sweetheart, my everything.”

Michael followed that with talking about the adorable kittens they were fostering. “My band is fucking awesome, I have the best girlfriend I'm thankful to just be me right now”

Calum stood up leaned over and kissed the top of Camille's head. He looked at everyone and simply said “Her” before sitting back down.

Everyone looked at Camille. She stood up her knees weak. She didn't dare look at Calum. Releasing a shaky breath she found her voice. “When we moved here I never could've imagined all of this. I can't believe this is my life.” She looked at Calum “I can't believe any of this is real. This isn't supposed to happen to girls like me. If this is a dream y'all better let me sleep because I will hurt the person who wakes me up” She was interrupted by the alarm on her phone.

“Oh shit that's the rolls be right back” Camille ran into the kitchen.

After dinner and dessert most everyone hung out to watch football, have a few drinks and digest. Camille was yelling at the tv. Tom, Lucy and Calum were laughing at Camille. Luke had taken off to meet up with Summer who'd spent the day with her family. Harry, Mikey and Crystal were upstairs in the studio with guitars and gars. Cher wandered out back to find Ashton sitting by himself. She passed the blunt to him watching his fingers and lips as he held it and inhaled. His wrist wrapped around hers and he pulled her into his lap.

“What are you doing?” Che giggled with a sense of deja vu. Isn't this how it started with Luke?

“Giving you your reward kitten” Ashton whispered in her ear. His fingers gripped her hips. This definitely was NOT Luke. Luke had been giggly and shy. Ashton was smooth and very sure of himself.

“Straddle my leg doll, I want you to ride me “ It wasn't a request.

Cher hesitated looking back towards the kitchen.

“Do it now, before I change my mind.” Ashton dug his fingers in.

Cher adjusted herself as Ashton reached up under her skirt. His thumb brushed against her clit making her moan. He positioned her so that as he moved her hips back and forth she could feel her nerves brush against the bunched up fabric of her dress as he jiggled his leg. Cher whimpered and leaned her head on his shoulder. She could feel her orgasm start to build as she rocked back and forth.

“That's it kitten, you look so hot right now.  Make yourself cum for me.” Ashton kissed her neck making a moan escape her lips. “If you're not quiet I'll stop.”

Cher bit her lip and closed her eyes losing herself in the feeling.

Ashton pinched her thigh. “Eyes on me doll. I want you to look at me.”

Her brown eyes met his hazel ones filled with lust and amusement.

Ashton gripped her harder increasing the speed of her movements. He could tell she was getting close.

“That's it, let go baby. I wanna see you cum for me.” Ashton growled.

Cher felt herself tipping over the edge. Ashton watched her face as she climaxed trying not to cum himself.

He held her while she rode it out and then as she

came back to earth.

“Damn Ashton” Cher sighed when she could speak again.

“I told you kitten. It's daddy not Ashton, or next time I won't let you finish”

@biba3434 @vfdsstuff @babygirlcashton @toofadedtofight @kiiiimberlyriiiicker1995 @slimthicccal

[am-i-invisible777]

Tea Party

Cute lil Marvel and Reader(sorta) Fic

This idea came to me, like, two or three months ago. Then I completely forgot about it. Then I remembered it at 3:20AM and frantically wrote this dumpster fire you see here. This was written in 30 minutes, I am very tired. Might come back to someday if someone wants me to. Many mistakes throughout this thing, I didn’t proofread it, did I mention I was tired? Probably better in my head. I’m sorry. No shipping unless you try very hard to make it a shipping thing. Let’s just pretend that all the Avengers are alive and BFFs and live together, kay? Lol, first Marvel fic, go me. 

Summary: You have a Tea Party with the Avengers. Fluff and ridiculous attire up ahead. Set in the first person. (Oh, and you have levitation powers, what are those called? Telekinesis?)

“Mr. Stark, would you like some more tea?” I asked as politely as possible, trying to hold in my giggle. The billionaire gave me a smile and adjusted the comically small, bright pink hat that adorned his head.

“Of course kid, I’d love some.” he said while holding out his teacup. My smile widened for a second before it shifted along with my mood. I concentrated on the teapot sat in the middle of the table, eyebrows furrowed and tongue peeking out, I put all my energy into focusing on the one object. Holding both my hands out and flexing my fingers, I was able to slowly lift the pot up. Shaking slightly, the white and purple pot moved carefully towards Tony before I was finally able to tilt it gently, pouring a generous amount of tea in his cup.

“I did it!” I excitedly breathed, beaming to myself. I was a bit too excited since I almost spilled the rest of the tea into Tony’s lap.

Almost. 

He seemed proud of me though, nodding in approval as he took a long sip of the drink. His approval was something I always strived for, making sure he was around when I practiced and perfected my powers. I still wasn’t good, couldn’t control them well, and was banned from going on missions until I had a full grasp on them, but I knew I was getting better.

“Mr. Sam?” I turned to look at the man sat beside me, not particularly looking happy or upset. Still, he chuckled lowly while fiddling with the large gold feather boa I insisted he wears.

“You do know you can just call me Sam, right?”

“I don’t want to be impolite.” I whispered to him with wide eyes, speaking as if he suggested I arm-wrestle the Hulk. My reaction caused a few giggles at the table, allowing me to smile along with them and stop shaking my own teacup.

“Alright, alright, gimme some more tea.” Sam said, rolling his eyes and pushing his cup forward.

“Sam, ask nicely.” Steve said curtly, holding his cup with both hands and taking a small sip. Sam dismissively shook him off and I could tell the captain rolled his eyes, even behind his gigantic white sunglasses.

“May I please have some more tea, our dear sweet hostess?” Sam asked sarcastically. I gave him a short nod and dragged the pot over with my powers, shaking slightly less as I poured his cup and set the pot back in the middle.

I think was learning.

“Bucky, do you want some honey?” I asked as sweetly as I could.

“No thanks, doll, I-”

“Oh...I-I wasn’t referring to you, Mr. Barnes…” I quietly interrupted him, wishing I didn’t after I saw how his face fell.

“...then...who were you…?” he trailed off before his eyes landed on the Bucky Bear I had sitting right next to me in a pink highchair. The teddy was the only one at the table I let have the cookies and other treats I baked. Sam was struggling to hold back his laughter while Natasha wasn’t, laughing at the disappointed looking Bucky in a cowboy hat and red tie.

“What did the bear say in return?” Thor asked, staring at the plush intently, as if he was waiting for it to move.

“Brother, for the last time-” Loki sighed, bringing his scarf down to talk and explain to Thor for the umpteenth time that the teddy bear doesn’t actually speak. Thor cut him off by waving his pirate hat in his face and telling him to ‘shush’. The God of thunder nodded for me to continue, as if Loki had cut me off before I could answer. I looked down at my bucky bear, leaning down and pretending that he was whispering something into my ear. I nodded and smiled, sitting up to look at Thor.

“He said he’d love some honey.” I responded, starting to levitate the small jar towards me. Thor nodded slowly, eyes never leaving me as I struggled to open the sticky honey jar.

“Fascinating. Your ability to communicate with these creatures while no one else can amazes me.” Thor said with a proud smile. Bruce snickered into his cup beside him, he was the one who told Thor that the bear could speak but only I could understand it.  

Loki rolled his eyes and brought the scarlet scarf up to cover his mouth again while I gave my Bucky Bear two dollops of honey. Seeing as the real Bucky still wasn’t smiling, I set the honey down and pursed my lips.

“Um...Mr. Barnes? Would you like…” I trailed off, looking for something to offer the winter soldier. My eyes landed on the plate of treats that I had given the teddy. “...a cookie?” He gave me a small smirk in response.

“Are you sure the bear wouldn’t mind?” He asked, causing me to smile at him.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind sharing one cookie, right Bucky Bear?” I leaned over to pat the animal on its fuzzy head.  

“...what did it say?” Thor whispered, causing Loki to groan.

“Bucky Bear is a gentleman. He doesn’t mind sharing his snacks.” I answered, putting a cookie on a plate and giving it to Bucky with my actual hands.

“Such a generous kid.” Rhodey commented from under his princess hat.

“Yes, yes he is.” I quipped.

“Hey, wait. No, hold on!” Scott started, giving me an incredulous look ever since I handed over the cookie. “That bear’s been hogging all the snacks the entire time and now he’s suddenly charitable?!” he nearly stood up from the table, causing some of the glitter on his body to disperse everywhere.

“Suck it, Scott.” Bucky mumbled, or at least I think that’s what he said. He currently had a mouthful of cookie and wasn’t exactly using any table manners at the moment.

“Hi, yes, I’d also love dessert?” Tony jokingly said, raising his hand.

“I’ll drink to that.” Natasha agreed, finishing the rest of her tea.

“I swear, that lemon pound cake is just calling my name.” Bruce joined in, moving his St. Patrick's Day shades to his forehead to wink at the plate.

“...I thought we were just supposed to wait until she offered it to us…” Rhodey said quietly.

“Favoritism.” Scott pouted and sat down as I was making no effort to hand anyone anything.

“Ha-ha.” Bucky teased while wiping his hands on his pants, smiling wider now--much to my relief.

“Hey, guys? Can we stop ruining her tea party?” Steve asked, politely setting down his now empty cup on his plate.

“This tea is cold.” Sam commented, looking down in his cup.

“I am Groot.”

“Wait, I’m confused, are we getting those treats or not?” Wanda asked, looking at the rest of the table.

I couldn’t help but laugh at everyone. Moving the plates containing the sugary sweets to the center using my powers, I stood up and gently lifted the now surprisingly empty teapot with the same hand. I gave a side glance to Dr. Strange who had been suspiciously quiet for a little too long. He averted my eyes for a moment, tapping one finger on the rim of his cup, but the smile he had on his face told me everything.

“I’ll go get more tea guys...is that okay?” I asked, having a chorus of different affirmations tossed my way before heading towards the kitchen. My pace quickened once I heard Sam and Bucky start to argue over who would get the apple fritter.

These kinds of moments, kinds of days...they don’t happen often. I swear I could hear the thunderous laughter from my spot in the kitchen. A small smile tugged at my lips as I prepared to make another pot of tea.

Another successful tea party.

Bonus:

“Hey Peter.” I greeted the boy as he walked in. He smiled widely at me and bumped my shoulder playfully.

“Hey...where is everyone?” he questioned, setting his backpack down on a table.

“My room, we’re having a tea party.” I said nonchalantly, watching the kettle heat up.

“Oh, okay then.” he said and started walking over when he suddenly stopped and turned around. “...wait, a what?”

not tagging mutuals since I don’t want ya’ll to see this, watch me delete when I wake up.