#i wanted to send you the same ask but i worried it'd be too cheesy

[sugurouge]

sweetness, i’m here to ask how are you and noe celebrating new years? 💫

oh my god, the one and only who truly served ... in my inbox!? 😭🫶🏼 can you stop being on vacation pls imy but i adore your fits

i actually giggled when i saw the question because no matter how often noé sees fireworks, he still looks at them like it's his first time ever. like we don't get to see a blue moon in our world,smh. but hey, if it makes him happy :>

i don't share his excitement, but since he looks incredibly cute under all the lights in the night sky, i always agree to sneaking off to the human world to see their light shows

before that, it would most likely be a fully planned evening at a ball or other social gathering which is ... okay but the sneaking off part would definitely be our favourite. at least in the human world i'd get to shamelessly kiss him in public 🤭

the face he makes when i walk in with my new ball dress. don't be fooled, i drool equally over his slick back hair until i ruin it later

[shunshunrika]

> Yuuta Okkotsu, MEGUMI Fushiguro, Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Kokichi Muta.

The pain of being in love, when he isn't.

When you first saw him, it was as if the world had gained vibrance. Every color bloomed around him and when your eyes met, your heart bloomed too.

You'd find yourself trying to pluck the courage to speak. Speak to him. Find anything to say, a greeting, ask about his day. He'd reply with a smile and then hurry away to join his friends. You were left alone, blushing and smiling after him, wondering when he'll say 'Hi' back.

You had chosen the longer route so many times now, because you knew it'd cross with his usual route or his classroom. You'd keep your eyes and ears wide open, maybe you would hear his voice - his cackling laughter somewhere in the distance or just a glimpse of the top of his head among a sea of students. You'd go so many days without seeing him that you'd start worrying, only to see his shadow somewhere the next day.

You kept up with his social media. He was your most searched account. You'd stare at his pictures and wonder, when will you ever appear on his feed, hands intertwined, with some cheesy lovey caption - his friends teasing him about it. You wondered when he'd create a highlight story all about you. You wondered when your chats would be full of stickers and heart emojis and "I love yous" As it lay now, you stared at the empty chat window you shared with him, never having the courage to send the first text.

You'd never dare to ask him out alone so you'd come up with group plans. He would surely come if it was with a group right? But still. Still, some part of you wanted him to be only with you. Just once. Just once, so you could feel his being all by yourself. You wanted him to be only yours so bad. Yet, his eyes always seemed to look past you and beyond you. Group or alone.

When life got busier and you stopped seeing him around for months, you'd find him one fine day - same hair, same face, same smile. Maybe be grew slightly taller? Slightly buffer? You couldn't contain your happiness. He must want to know what you've been up to. He will probably sit down and talk. That's what he'd do right?

Yet, he chooses to be on his merry way after a simple nod as a greeting.

The pain of being in love was precisely that he wasn't.

[mangostarjam]

hehe Dearest Cheesy,

i needed to wait until i had time to go on my pc to respond, which really truly makes it feel like pen pals and i love that so much!

the thing my family gives me a pass on is baking, and that's just because none of them do it, so you've got a good point!! perhaps i will try a cuisine totally out of left field... though it's hard to think of one they wouldn't know/feel confident enough to offer unwanted advice for anyway lmao. maybe i'll just start evolving my baking skills instead!

i just had rice noodle soup this morning actually! with roast duck! the weather has finally cooled down enough that having a nice warm noodle soup hits the spot just right. growing up i tried all kinds of foods in order to make my grandparents happy haha so i'm sure i was offered some braised pork uterus and never asked what it was! but looking at photos now i'm like. yeah that looks really familiar!! i have a vague taste memory of it!! i love that your grandma lives on with you 🥺

my favorite foods... oh man. okay one of them we call "cha dalite" but looking it up, my best guess it's "stir fried opo with ground pork" and i have that with rice! and then there's japanese curry, crispy mochiko chicken, salaw majou saekgou, soy korean fried chicken, mmm grilled mackerel with miso soup and pan fried onigiri... the list goes on LOL but for desserts, while i am a fan of almost all kinds, my favorite (maybe because it's hard for me to find) is honey brick toast! and yes i LOVE crumble cakes!! give me texture!! what about you what are your favorite foods??

asdfkjgflk i absolutely did NOT reveal the basis of our friendship you are a pokemon go friend and that was enough for my mom especially to go "should we send her some lemongrass from our backyard?? can we freeze kreung and mail it??" and i had to explain that i call you "cheesy" and i probably can't write that on a usps package lmaooo

okay i need to inform you that i checked the new savant's website at least ten times the past week or so and each time i am delighted by checking another one of their candle descriptions. like i'm microdosing candle scents with my imagination. spreading out the joy of discovering a new favorite candle one at a time. you are so powerful avoiding the witching hour candle because that beauty sounds like it'd smell SO GOOD. fresh persimmons and dark plum!!

omg... i did not know this about bees that is so cute. i love watching bees bumble around but i was always worried as a kid that following me would tire them out if they were thinking i was some kind of flower and i didn't want them to stray off their path! (yeah, i thought they planned their flower routes LOL)

our beloved loser narumi!! he is actually so hot and competent he drives me nuts. i do think the type of person he'd fall for would be someone who appreciates that side of him. not in a "wow you're so cool narumi!!1!1!" way but in a quietly acknowledging way that doesn't necessarily call him out on how he hides how hard he works. someone who lets him come to them once he feels safe and secure enough to drop some of his guard. he's loud and silly and selfish but he also knows that he's one of the strongest people around and that he'll be on the front lines, always, and that responsibility weighs on him even if he revels in it at the same time. and of course his person would tease him and poke gentle fun at him! and he'd be shameless about pursuing them!! if he thinks they're hot and strong, he's Looking. he's on his knees begging for just one date. it'd be later, when he's caught off guard at the way they point out that he can cry, too, over [redacted's] death, that he starts to think maybe this person is special for even noticing that he's not unaffected

okay turns out i have some feelings for narumi i guess HAHA

i am heart eyes at you and your best friend!! my best friend, god i love her so much - we actually met on facebook doing some transfer student roommate searching thing and bc i was going in as an english lit major, she asked about my favorite books so i listed some "safe" boring ones and she listed one of those like, pulitzer prize winners and i thought she was soooo sophisticated and intelligent and then we ran into each other in the housing office on moving day and i blurted out "wow i didn't realize you were so short!" LMAO. great first impressions aside, she keeps me grounded in a way that makes me appreciate life so much more? she's always noticing the tiniest details about plants when we take walks, and she's not afraid to catch reptiles/lizards just to show me some crazy coloration pattern on its back or something. and she gets excited about things that i would otherwise think is mundane or i'd be too in my own head to notice. she has real bad anxiety but is willing to go with me on little adventures and i love taking her around places because we could literally be doing nothing and we'd still have a good time. she's also so fucking bad at directions and i'm not, so we complement each other there haha oh and one of the things about reading a lot as a kid means my vocabulary is kind of huge but i never said these words out loud, so she has a running list of words i have very confidently mispronounced and it cracks us up when i say something and she gets this facial expression like she's trying to decipher how i got to that pronunciation based on the letters lmao. i think one of our favorite words is "chic" because i said "chik" not "sheek" (in my defense that's not even english!) but her list must be a mile long by now. i admire her a lot!! we have both dropped everything to be there for the other at some point and i will never take that for granted! i feel safe talking to her about anything!

whoops. i can definitely go on about my best friend LOL after graduating she moved north for a few years so we were long distance for a bit but now she's moved back and it's been a blast!!

hahaha okay honestly i feel like you wouldn't even need food photography because the way you describe food it's like. already painting the image (and TASTES) in my mind!! please share what you've been making!! have you experimented with the persimmons yet?

for swim team my events were all the long distance free events lol and i haaaaated them because i'd get so bored and lose count of my laps but i was always put in them because i would swim so consistently pace-wise that it just worked out better for me to do long distance events. i also really loved backstroke!! my favorite event was the 100 free. i am simply not a sprinter haha. wait i also had asthma as a kid! that was literally why my mom threw me into swim lessons LOL something something "learn some breath control and your lungs will get better!" asdfkjla okay but i love that you've done so many sports!! before i got back into swimming i really wanted to try ice hockey and rock climbing. i considered roller derby too but ice hockey appealed to me more! the locations/facilities for these sports are just too much of a hurdle for me to overcome to know i'll actually go to them lol the reason my workout schedule is consistent now is bc i know that if i don't eliminate the hurdles i simply will not do them! but swimming and weightlifting and walking have been figured out now! also, the trail ragnar sounds fucking wild. oh my god. it's so fun getting to know you because you'll casually drop lore like this as if it's not a big deal but let me tell you. IT IS.

i don't have a preference for my emojis!! i love that the mango is prominent though hehe

i'm laughing because i also wrote full on pages in my friends' yearbooks -- starting in the typical signature pages, skipping to a random club photo set page, scribbled into the margin of an acknowledgements page, until it became a chaotic task to read my full message. thankfully i will not do that here because i also had to start a draft response so i wouldn't lose this message haha

big big hugs,

fuji

fuji!! how are you doing on this fine day lovely lady? i'm responding to our thread here bc idk what the etiquette is on reblogging long ass conversations on the same thread lmao so to be safe i'll just send u a new ask.

soupmates is so cute and i love when typos become canon jargon in friendships hehe. you've made me crave croissants again and i am wistfully thinking of how we have a rule that while we're in france, if one of us asks "what time is it?" the other is legally obligated to respond "croissant o'clock" and then we go find a boulangerie. this is how we end up eating 8 croissants/day whenever we're there.

wttcsms is on my deep dive list too!! every time i see them on my dash i'm like how does it feel to never be wrong? ack i've just been so busy that the only time i have to trawl tumblr is during my unhinged insomnia hours when i'm only half aware of what i'm keyboard vomiting lmao NO FILTER only screeching.

okay not mushrooms but this weekend i was busy running around the kitchen experimenting with my lil hoard of fig leaves! i made fig leaf syrup, fig leaf oil, and experimented with dehydrating and freezing the leaves for preservation. i also tested different ratios of toasted fig leaves and pandan in creme brulee and panna cotta so i could see how the flavors bloom in dairy in preparation for the idea i had for my cake. then i gave all the excess treats to baristas at our fave local coffee joints bc i'm not a huge sweet tooth and this was tew much dessert! after i found a ratio i thought worked, i made the cake except i'm afraid it's going to turn out hideous (it's still in its cake ring rn) but it's basically a first draft cake and i can refine it next time! you should see the notes i took on it. i always try to start with a neat plan and end up scribbling all over it with ideas and corrections.

tonight we've invited a couple of our friends over so i can do a fig leaf-inspired dinner with hamachi crudo with fig leaf oil, tomato bisque with fig leaf oil drizzle and crouton, slow roasted salmon in fig leaves (finished with a sear from our bernzomatic + searzall bc crispy salmon skin is life), and the fig leaf and strawberry cake. my friend also got cheesybf a new cocktail set for his bday so we can use the fig leaf syrup to make some nice gin cocktails or a fig leaf strawberry mocktail!

right now i'm munching on leftover crying tiger steak and nam jim jaew for lunch with jasmine rice that i steamed with some of the leftover pandan leaves for extra ~aroma. i still have a ton of leaves so i think i'm gonna make a pandan simple for my favorite matcha pandan lattes.

re: urls haha YES chopsticks are the best way to eat flaming hot cheetos and no one can change my mind. i always think of puffins when i think of my own username. those cute lil round birds. with like a lil cheese hat. i also associate you with apples now as we move into fall. but mentally my picture of you is a swirl of the colors in a kent mango, scented by mango skin by vilhelm and just a hint of kilian's apple brandy on the rocks. maybe a waft of mfk 724 and something like clean cotton or a soft white floral.

HAHAHA totally fair i just realized it was getting long maybe i should put my responses under a read more LOL

i'm responding a day (??) late (time is fake) bc i had to recover from how gorgeous your cake looked and sounded tbh. but i'm good!! my new assistant at work is picking things up quickly and has common sense which is sadly in short supply around here lmaooo

there's a vietnamese bakery in my hometown that makes the BEST croissants i've ever had in my life (though tbf i have not been to paris yet!) and they supply all the local taquerias with bolillo so they are Churning Out Breads but i cannot emphasize enough that it's like. a warehouse space. with a door on a side street and the price list handwritten and they only recently started accepting anything but cash. i love them. the croissants are huge and lightly buttery and delicious. i will now be declaring it's croissant o'clock any time we happen to drive nearby haha

wttcsms and dee my beloveds!!! on behalf of all writers though i will say no filter unhinged screaming comments/tags are GREAT to read. i hope your busyness is the good kind!! it's always lovely seeing you pop up on the dash or inbox or wherever but i hope you're having a good time here >ᴗ<

oh my goddddd your fig leaf experiments... divine. glorious. something about the description of "seeing how the flavors bloom in dairy" is just. dreamy?? you sound like a wizard creating your own magical spell book tome with your scribbles and notes and ideas (saying this in SUCH a complimentary way). crispy salmon skin IS life i just had some last night hehe i had to look up crying tiger steak and nam jim jaew but YOOO this reminds me of duk prahok... yum. and oh my god crying tiger steak is like. a summer staple for us. i never knew it had a NAME. not to over share but my family is from cambodia and i have so many recipes in my brain that i just figured were things my dad created LOL

AND I LOVE PUFFINS!!! in like second grade i did a report/presentation on puffins unprompted unsolicited to my class. i read a book about them and was obsessed i wanted everyone to learn about them (yes i am/was a nerd) (bless my teacher for letting me present lmao). and i do love apple scented things mmm. one of my favorite candles ever is autumn air from elder&co (notes of wild apple and pear and fallen oak leaves). i'm so glad it's getting cloudy and cozy season is coming bc i can light my candles without feeling too silly. do you have any favorite candles?? oh these other scents are SO GOOD. i love that!! brb going to find a way to smell these immediately

[echo-three-one]

Chapter 25

Make some dentist appointments after this chapter. (I'm not sure it applies to all)

Sorry for being late. It's my little sister's birthday today and I opted to eat food.

Table of Contents

Off the Grid

"Alex"

MacTavish Residence, Glasgow, Scotland

The worst part of being stomped on the face is that at the end of the day, your girlfriend would end up seeing it. This was what Alex was worried about the moment he heard the helicopter approached their location. But a part of him wanted to just lay down by the bed under Samantha's care. 

Alex expected Soap to be the first one greeting the women, but he wasn't around. He guessed that after all the chasing and the climbing, he opted to take a rest instead of facing them tired. The house was very accommodating on it's own. He didn't need to worry about entertaining everyone else.

Just as he expected, he already saw the frown on Samantha's face as soon as her eyes met his. The same frown from his imagination was manifested before him.

"Alex, Are you okay?" she ran towards him and touched his bruised cheek. Alex tried to look okay but he couldn't help but hiss at the pain.

"A little. I couldn't lie to you now, can't I?" he managed a chuckle. Samantha held his hair and that signaled Alex to lower himself a little so she could kiss him on the forehead.

"Let's get you healed up." She muttered.

"Not until I'm done helping unload these." He suggested. Samantha wanted him to skip out on helping but Alex's face was eager and she didn't want to argue with that.

"Fine."

"My room is the third door by the stairs… that is if you want us to stay in one room together."

"Of course I do, Alex." She smiled and blew a kiss on the air as his lip was too bruised to receive it.

Alex couldn't help but smile. He could feel his insides do a little dance of joy while he's carrying luggage to the second floor, placing both their bags beside each other. Inside their room, that they're going to share.

He knew they'd done this before, but the idea of getting the room all to themselves was different. They are able to move freely without worrying what they might do. And he wanted to hug her, kiss her and whisper soft words in her ear without making everyone else around them all judgy.

Dinner flew by and Roach took the girls out for a tour, Alex took this time to shower before Samantha would come nurse his wounds. He stood in front of the sprinkling hot water, his face looked up, letting the warm shower revitalize his tired muscles. It was no doubt relaxing as he closed his eyes, cleared his thoughts and let his mind ease a bit.

They're safe, Samantha's got her memories back, and they're together now. The New York attacks were over and both Shepherd and Nero were off the grid. They're planning something big and all they could do was prepare for the worst. He doesn't have to shoulder anything as of now and he should rest and recover.

After a few minutes of meditation, Alex was interrupted by a smooth touch that embraced him from behind. He could feel her skin sink against his as she tightly held him, her cheek leaned on his back.

"Alex." Samantha whispered, he couldn't barely hear it against the sound of the shower.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" she sobbed. Alex raised an eyebrow and held her hand, turning around to meet her beautiful face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, the question echoed against the glass walls and bounced to the rest of the bathroom.

"On the ride here. I took a nap… then I remembered something. Before I even got to that Russian hotel I…" she sobbed. Alex pulled her closer and hugged her, she didn't have to worry. They're going to fix this together.

"I gave them the I.P. Address…" she cried. Her tears mixed with the sprinkle of the shower. Despite being already wet, Alex still wiped it off with his thumbs.

"You didn't do anything wrong… You didn't give it away… They forcibly took it from you." Alex told her, his face was angry toward Shepherd. One day he'll finally get his revenge.

"B-but…" she tried to retort, but Alex cut her off by kissing her soft lips, his tongue immediately entered her mouth as soon as she gave him permission. He kissed her hoping it would soothe her worries away, making her feel that he was there no matter what. Her moans made him comfortable that he's doing the right thing, that he's telling her that he's going to be there. So he pushed her toward the cold bathroom wall, tilted his head and showed her what he really felt towards her.

The next morning Alex and Samantha were tasked to fly Nikolai back home. The guy was missing the colder environment and since they didn't have anything at the moment, it'd be best to let him go for now. The team still owed him a cargo plane which was left back at the S.A.S. base. They'll have to deal with that after all of this is over.

Alex didn't have anything to do regarding this task, Samantha just made a few special calls and the next thing they knew, they were already waving goodbye to the Russian.

"Glad we have him on our side." Alex chuckled, hovering his arm as it reached her farther shoulder. Samantha leaned toward him as soon as she caught him doing the gesture, as they took short steps, Alex's leg clumped against the cement.

"You okay with that leg?" Samantha wondered, looking down then back to Alex.

"I got used to it, really. It's not much of a bother once you get used to it." He smiled, wiggling the fake leg, almost showing off at how good he was using it. 

"Is there something wrong with it?" He asked. Samantha's cheeks started to blush red and Alex had no actual idea what was going on in her mind.

"No no. I'm just curious. That's all… Still… it must be hard walking like an incomplete part of a whole." She consoled to which Alex replied with a laugh.

"What's funny?" She asked as Alex used his already clinging hand on her shoulder to pull her closer for a kiss.

"You already complete me, Samantha." He said. His face was too serious to be joking and yet Samantha laughed.

"You know what?! All these corny and cheesy dialogue is my thing. You complete me too, Alex. I…" she paused, staring at Alex's eyes. Alex quickly saw through her gaze, there was a particular sparkle in her eyes. The same sparkle he'd been noticing every time they got intimate. It made his heart beat so fast that he could almost predict what she's going to say next.

He placed a finger on her mouth to stop her from talking. He wanted to say it first. He wanted to be the one whose life changed because of her and not the other way around.

"I love you, Samantha Coleman." he said. Tears. Tears were the first thing he saw once he let out those words. 

"How dare you… finish my sentence." she croaked. She had the idea of cracking a joke between the sweetest of moments. He really liked that about her.

"I wanted to say it first." He whispered, inching his face closer once again. Samantha's eyes were already half closed and Alex knew what he needed to do. He planted another chaste kiss on her soft lips, but this time, Samantha surprised him by gently biting his lip, making the former CIA flinch. He chuckled and kissed back once again, pushing her toward the gazebo until they found her pinned on one of its tougher beams.

"Oh." She giggled as Alex's hand trailed on her side, squeezing her soft skin gently. Alex's smile beamed wide as he knew her reaction. 

"Are we really going to cause a scene here? Mr. Alex-?" She teased, her train of thought paused after not knowing his last name.

He chuckled in a lower register, low enough that he could feel Samantha react to it.

"It's Alexander Collins. But please, just call me Alex." he muttered, planting a kiss on her neck, Samantha moaned inappropriately, sending Alex on an excited rush.

"All right Mr. Collins. I think we should stop now. Our audiences are feeling a little uncomfortable right now." she turned to France, Maxine and Roach, who were watching 'respectfully'.

Alex waved and smiled apologetically, noting the almost embarrassed expression on Maxine's face, the slightly smirking Francine and Roach's hidden thumbs up.

"I'm sorry guys. We'll be off now." he said, escorting Samantha back to the house.

The day went by and Alex was more than happy that he got to spend the rest of the day with Samantha. Hell, even the thought of waking up spooning her was more than heavenly. 

Now, he lay gently on his bed while Samantha was out to cleanse his bruises.

"Ow. Careful nurse, I'm quite vulnerable..." he winced playfully.

"Now, now, my little patient. This will just hurt a little." She played along, wiping a soft cotton ball on his bruised cheek.

"Will there be any sort of injection? I hate injections." he groaned, fake sobbing.

"Oh? You hate injections? I personally thought you were amazing administering them?" She teased, slightly blushing at her green joke.

Alex quickly caught wind of her joke about injecting and immediately burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you said that." he said, laughing in between his words, almost choking.

"Kidding aside… I almost forgot something…" She said, setting aside her medical tools. She got up and gently straddling on his body, making Alex groan a little and hold on to her waist.

"What could you have possibly forgotten?" he asked, his face full of curiosity.

She leaned in closer to him and whispered three words that made Alex smile in delight.

"I love you." she whispered and a kiss followed. Alex knew from that moment on that he was more than willing and ready to spend the rest of his life.

Next Chapter : What's Behind Door Number Two?

Notification Squad my Beloved

@samatedeansbroccoli @smokeywhalee @enderio @whimsywispsblog @ricinbach @beemybee