#i was on vacation picking up seashells like hmm How can i make this about my fictional lesbians instead

[kaogens]

no longer on hiatus im baaaaack yayyyy ^_^

[awakendreamersworld]

And here's the final chapter! Let's Stay Together

It was late at night and Doria was sleeping after a long, hard, busy day. Maria got up and packed her personal items into a crab shell bag and set a note on the her bed and started sneaking out out her home, but before she left, she decided to bring Alberto's record player along so they could listen to music together. Before heading above depth, she took one last look at her home and smiled, "I promise I'll be safe." She said and started swimming above depth out of the kingdom towards the current. Maria went inside the current and started swimming through it back to Italian Riviera, where Alberto was.

Alberto woke up the next morning quickly running down stairs and running up to Giulia before she headed out to take care of fish deliveries with Luca. "Hey Giulia, mind if I speak to you for a sec?" He asked grabbing Giulia's arm and heading back upstairs to her room, "What is it, Alberto?" She asked "I wanna get Maria something really special. Like something that means a promise or that we'll stay together no matter what happens!" Alberto said, "Like... and engagement ring?" Giulia said "YES!... What's an engagement ring?" Alberto asked "Its a ring indicating that the person wearing it is engaged to be married, its like a promise to stay together forever." Giulia explained, "Yes, that's perfect!" Alberto shouted "Where can I get one?" "I know someone in town that sells jewelry, maybe they can help you get one." Giulia said, "Perfect! Let's go!" Alberto said grabbing Giulia's arm again and racing downstairs to her bike and hopped on, "We'll be right back, guys! C'mon, Giulia!" Alberto said and Giulia quickly hopped on her bike and started riding up the hill the the person that sells jewelry. Giulia parked her bike by the door and went infront a building with a tent outside on top and a window with jewelry separated in boxes at the bottom, "Ciao, Mr. Miguel, my friend here would like to buy an engagement ring." Giulia said, "What kind?" Mr. Miguel asked, he was bald with scars on his face and a muscular chin and wore an eyepatch over his left eye and was wearing a avocado green shirt with white shorts on and slip on brown shoes. "Well? Which one do you prefer, Alberto? Giulia asked "Hmm, do you have any ocean-like ones?" Alberto asked, "Ohh, I have plenty, Amico. Be right back." He said disappearing into his store. A few minutes later, he came back with a medium sized box of rings, some were silver with ocean blue diamonds on them and some were gold with sapphire blue diamonds on them. There were so many to choose from, they were really pretty too, Alberto had no idea which one to choose, he put his hand inside the box and started moving some of the rings around so he can see what else was underneath them. At the very bottom, he found a ring that Maria might like, Alberto grabbed it and took it out the box, "That's my goddess of the sea ring. You want to buy?" Mr. Miguel asked, Alberto nodded and Giulia gave Mr. Miguel the money to pay for the ring, "Let me get a beautiful box you can put the ring in!" Mr. Miguel said and once again, vanished into his dark home to scavenger around for the perfect box for a perfect ring.

A few miles off the coast, Maria swam up to the surface to see if she was heading the right way, she looked and saw the two islands, one separated and one bigger than it with buildings on it. Yep, this was the place. Maria took a deep breathe and swam towards the island with the town while still holding Alberto's record player with the magical singing lady. Maria's shadow hovered past Luca who was putting his fish herd away, Luca looked up and saw Maria and started swimming towards her. "MARIA!" He yelled excitedly hugging her, "Hehe, hey Luca! Sorry I was gone for so long, my aunt kept worrying about my scars and was trying to keep me home until they were 'ok' on her side." Maria said "Its so good to see you again! Alberto's been missing you, like REALLY missing you." Luca said, "Oh, uhh, well, I'm here now! Where is he?" Maria asked "He's with Giulia, they went to get something I think." Luca said, "Ok, c'mon!" Maria said and started swimming to town with Luca.

Once on shore, Maria headed towards Giulia's home and went inside. Massimo was in the kitchen preparing some food, "Hi Massimo!" Maria said, "Welcome back, Maria. How's your wounds?" He asked, "They're all healed and well!" Said Maria, "That's good, you must be hungry after a long trip back. Please, sit and eat." Massimo said. Maria sat down at the table setting her stuff and Alberto's record player down on the ground and began to eat her pasta. Once finished, Maria went to the tree to decorate it to surprise Alberto. She put seashells around the edges of the wooden bed and set down the record player right in the center, she thought it was perfect and that Alberto was gonna like it. Maria started climbing through the window into Giulia's bedroom and began heading downstairs. Luca went outside and saw Giulia and Alberto heading their way back, he panicked and quickly ran to Massimo. "Alberto's back! Quick, take him with you to catch fish!" Luca said, "But Maria's here. He would want to see her first." Massimo said "Its a surprise! Maria doesn't want to spoil it!" Luca said and Massimo headed outside to Giulia and Alberto setting down the bike, "just in time, Alberto. Come, we have some more fish to catch." He said. Alberto put the boxed ring in his pocket and followed Massimo to the docks and jumped onto the boat and started heading out to the open water. Giulia went inside and saw Maria standing next to Luca, "Maria! Your back!" Giulia shouted in excitement and hugged her, "Hehe, its good to see you too, Giulia! Where's Alberto? Luca told me he was with you." Maria asked, "Oh, he's with my Papa hunting for some fish." Giulia said then looked down at Maria's dress, it had ripped holes from the shark bite and was stained with blood, but Giulia seemed more worried about the dress then Maria's wounds. "Aye, Maria! Your dress! C'mon, lets head back to the tailor. He'll make you a new one." Giulia said grabbing Maria's hand and heading outside to her bike as they hop on and started heading back to the tailor. They hopped off the bike and placed it near the entrance and headed inside, "Ciao, Chipo! We're back!" Giulia said, "Welcome back, Mia- DIO MIO! What happened, Amica!?" He said looking at Maria's ripped bloody dress, "She was attacked by a shark, but she's ok now." Giulia said "Sorry about the dress, do you think you can make a new one?" She asked. "Of course! Anything for a friend! And you need to be careful out in the waters. It may look pretty, but there's all kinds of predators down there!" Chipo said to Maria, "I'll be sure to be more careful next time." Maria said following him to the back so he can make a new dress for her.

Doria woke up and headed to Maria's room to wake her up for school, but her room was empty. There was a note on her bed, she picked it up and it read: 'Dear aunt Doria, I left early, by the time you read this I'm already at Italian Riviera with Alberto! Relax, I'm fine :).' Doria shook her head and smiled then set the note down and put on her crab gear, grabbed her weapons, and headed outside to go start her job on protecting her kingdom.

Massimo started pulling the net up when he noticed Alberto looking inside a small box. "Is that for Maria?" He asked, "Yeah, its an engagement ring! I'm gonna ask her to stay with me." Alberto said and showed the ring to Massimo "I'm sure she'll love it." Massimo said smiling, "I think so too!" Alberto said closing the box and putting it back in his pocket. They continued pulling the net up with another load of fish and started heading back to shore. After waiting a few moments, Maria came out wearing a 1950's light blue rockabilly polka dot Audrey retro vacation summer dress. "Whoa, you look amazing!" Giulia said "Thanks, you think Alberto will like it?" Maria asked "Of course he will!" Giulia said while heading back outside "Thanks, Chipo!" Giulia said waving goodbye to the tailor "Bye, Giulia! Come back soon! And be careful!" He said and Maria and Giulia hopped on the bike and headed back home.

Alberto and Massimo went inside and set the net full of fish down in the corner, "I'll prepare dinner, you go on upstairs to your friend." Massimo said. Alberto went upstairs to Giulia's room and went through the window to the tree, when he was in the tree, he saw his magical singing lady gift he got for Maria and there were seashells around the edges. His eyes widened open to think that Maria was here, Maria headed upstairs with Giulia and the window was open, Maria climbed through the window to see Alberto checking out her decorations. "Do you like it?" Maria said and Alberto turned around and saw her wearing a new beautiful light blue polka dot vacation summer dress, "Whoa, nice dress! Sorry about your old one..." He said "That's okay! Sorry for being gone for so long..." Maria said "... You know how protective my aunt is." "Yeah, I remember..." He said remembering her warning that if he's not careful with protecting Maria, she's coming after him. "Luca told me that you and Giulia went and got something, what was it?" Maria asked, "Oh, right!" Alberto said and grabbed Maria's hand and they both sat down on the wooden board next to the record player.

"Maria, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for 'kinda' faking being in love with you. I just wanted to hang out with you to forget my jealousy of my best friend Luca, he's been hanging out with Giulia all the time and it made me feel isolated. But then meeting you and realizing how much fun I had with you made me realize how much you mean to me, how happy I am with you." Said Alberto,

"Me too! Back at home, I was kind of this kid who breaks the rules and wrecks everything... I even ruined Emily's friendship with her long-time friends. I was just... an outsider... I thought that's how my life was gonna be, just a reckless kid who never learns. But then, I met you! You made me feel like myself again! And I haven't felt like myself in a while, but you helped change that! You showed me that staying with you I'm free to be myself and do whatever I want! And I thank you for that. And when you went after me down into the Midnight Zone, I thought I didn't deserve the rescue since I've done very little to earn it, especially from you." Maria said and smiled "And I'm happy to be with you too."

"Then let's make it official, to stay together forever!" Alberto said pulling out a small, royal blue box and opening it revealing a sterling silver ring with a mermaid on it. "This is a goddess of the sea engagement ring I got from Giulia's jewelry seller friend." He said putting it on Maria's ring finger and holding both of her hands. "Maria, will you stay and live here with me in Portorroso?" Alberto asked, "Yes, of course!" Maria said and hugged Alberto. "Ok... Silencio Bruno..." He said sighing, "what're you doing?" Maria asked "I saw human couples do this, and honestly, its nerve-racking." Alberto said blushing "What?" Maria said. Alberto took a really deep breathe "Silencio Bruno!" He said and quickly kissed Maria on the lips. Maria was surprised, but went with it and kissed back while hugging Alberto, "Ti Amo!" Alberto said ((I love you)), Maria giggled and spoke in her siren language, "Lu fow, that means 'I love you' in Murine Siren language." She said smiling. Alberto smiled back, "Anyways, wanna get some ice cream? My treat!" "Hehe, sure!" Maria said and they stood up and hopped down from the tree and opened the wooden gate to go and get some strawberry ice cream while holding hands.

When they got their ice creams, they went and sat over by the water at the docks and watched the sunset, "I'm really happy to be staying here with you, Alberto." Said Maria, "Me too." Alberto said, "Ah, how nice of you two fish freaks to enjoy a relaxing sunset pretending to be 'normal' when your not." Ercole said walking up to them. Alberto sighed, "Do you mind going someplace else?" "Do YOU mind taking a bath once in a while?" Ercole said while pushing Alberto into the water and he transformed back into a sea monster, Ercole started laughing, "Talk about swimming with the fishes!" Maria then went down to help Alberto up and dragged Ercole down into the water and he was all soaking wet and screaming, "'Talk about swimming with the fishes,' huh?" Maria copied and she and Alberto started laughing. Ercole started getting out of the water, "You will pay for this!" He said and ran off. "I wanted to go for a swim anyways, what about you?" Maria asked Alberto "Yeah, me too. Race to my island? I still have stuff there I want to show you." He said, "Sure." Maria said and they both dove underwater and started swimming towards Alberto's island, Alberto showed Maria all the human stuff he collected and Maria was impressed with the stuff he had. They brought the record player with the magical singing lady and played it, Alberto took Maria's hand and started dancing with her.

"What are you doing?" She asked

"Its called dancing! I basically invented it." Said Alberto twirling Maria

Maria giggled, "How do I do this?"

"Just let the music control your body and it makes you dance." Alberto said

Maria started spinning and skipping like it was a ballet as Alberto watched in amazement. He then grabbed her hand again and they both started dancing with each other spinning, skipping and twirling.

After a few hours of showing Maria all the cool human stuff, they swam back home and ate some pasta. They went back up to Giulia's room and climbed through her window to the tree and layed down together looking at the starry night sky. "This was the best day ever." Maria said happily, "I know, right? And are you sure that you aunt isn't gonna come here and take you back?" Alberto asked nervous that her aunt would return to check if he's taking care of Maria or else, "Don't worry, I left her a note this time. I'm sure she won't come back here." Maria said snuggling closer to Alberto "That's a relief." He said and kissed Maria's head "Goodnight, Maria." He said "Goodnight, Alberto." Maria said and they both dozed off into a deep sleep with Alberto's right arm wrapped around Maria and Maria's head laying on Alberto's chest while hugging him.

Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9

[moved-to-anthotnio]

enamorado de ti

Commission for @yesmooshoe | Pepper/Tony | 2.4k words | fluff, romance, falling in love, love confessions, hurt/comfort, pepper needs a hug, tony is a very soft man, latine tony

•••

They're in the workshop when it happens the first time. It's been a fairly long day, with Pepper helping him figure everything out now that the weapons division in Stark Industries has been declared closed by Tony's word on live television only a couple days before. The SI Board isn't happy at all, to say the least, so Tony has to go through a lot of paperwork to ease their minds for a bit as he tries to clear his head enough to determine how to proceed with his decision.

And Pepper, God bless her soul, is still here with him. Even after all this years as his personal assistant, even after deciding to become Iron Man, after literally putting her hand inside his chest and sending him into cardiac arrest for like five seconds, she's still here. Sitting in front of him with her brows furrowed, one hand on her chin as she reads the papers in front of her, her red rimmed eyes more focused than ever even though they've been here for almost two days surrounded by empty coffee mugs piled one on top of the other and different stacks of paper that Tony wants to set on fire - because, oh my God, why couldn't they send this through e-mail or something similar? This is literal torture. Oh. Well. That explains it. -, and the sun rising just behind her back.

So really, no one can blame him. He literally can’t help it, he just can't. It hits him like a ton of bricks, the epiphany making the world shift around him with a new, wonderful perspective. And just that realization has eased all his worries, because suddenly nothing but Pepper’s existence matters. So he really, can't help it, it just slips past his lips and there's no way to stop the words.

“Estoy enamorado de ti.”

I'm in love with you. And he is. He is utterly and irrevocably in love with Virginia Potts.

She looks at him, confusion showing on her face, her beautiful blue eyes set on him with a warm exasperated affection that only she can convey, and says, “You know I can't understand Spanish, right?”

Tony grins, “Well, yeah, that’s kind of the point.”

She smiles and it’s a precious little thing that makes warmth blossom in Tony’s chest. She stands up, almost throwing the papers in her hands, and and flexes her arms over her head, stretching the cramps she must be having away. She sighs deeply before asking, “Want some café? I feel like hell and I need some right now or I’ll just drop dead right here.”

“God you sound like me,” Tony replies, nodding eagerly. Coffee sounds great about now. He definitely needs more, nevermind the mugs laying empty around them. God, what would he do without this woman in his life? “Wait, didn’t we run out of coffee beans this morning?”

“Yeah we did. But I have an idea.”

“Great. You always have the best ideas, Pep.”

She just rolls her eyes and goes over to the coffeemaker, taking a couple of mugs from the pile and rinsing them out before pouring cold coffee in them and putting them in the microwave because that’ll have to do for now.

Then Tony catches up and smirks, “Finally learning some Spanish are we?”

She comes back with the mugs and hands him his with a mischievous smile playing at her lips, “Well, Mr. Stark, having to listen to your nonsense after all these years in English and Spanish has to pay off for something, doesn’t it?”

“But Miss Potts, I thought my money and charming personality were enough,” he replies, looking at her with feigned offence with one hand splayed over his chest, as her laughter fills the air.

“Nice try Tony, now let’s get back to work.”

Yeah, he’s absolutely in love with her.

•••

The second time it happens, they’re snuggled together on the living room couch. Pepper is sick, the exhaustion after working so hard for the past few weeks finally catching up to her. Getting sick due to exhaustion happens often enough to both of them after particularly long work binges that they already have a schedule figured out: sleep, have breakfast, take meds, snuggle through a movie, eat lunch, take meds, and so on. Might seem a bit boring and monotonous, but it works wonders for them. Plus, they get their much needed rest, and are there for each other through it.

So yeah. Pepper is sick and currently lying on the couch with her head on Tony’s lap, as he passes his fingers through her long strawberry blonde hair. Her forehead is hot, and Tony wonders if maybe she should take a lukewarm shower to lower her temperature, but her eyes are focused on the movie and she seems really into it.

By the time the movie is ending, the sun is setting behind New York City’s skyline. The dying rays lighting up the living room with warm, soft yellow light. Tony asks JARVIS to turn the TV off as soon as the credits starts rolling, and pats Pepper softly on the head to wake her up. She turns around with a soft, tired smile on her lips and takes his hand, placing a small kiss on his knuckles.

“Come on honey, let's give you a bath,” he says softly. “Your temperature is too high. We need to lower it a bit.”

She frowns at him, and rolls back again, pressing her head into Tony's thigh, “‘m not hot, just need to sleep.”

“Miss Potts,” comes JARVIS’ voice softly, “I never thought I'd ever say this, but Mr. Stark is right.”

“Hey!” Tony exclaims with indignation.

Pepper laughs softly, the sound muffled by Tony's thigh where she presses her head into his thigh as a makeshift pillow. And even though she's giggling at his expense thanks to JARVIS - damn traitor -, the sound is like music to Tony's ears.

“The bath is ready, Sir.”

“Thanks, J,” he says, and then turns to Pepper.

“Come with me darling,” he murmurs, pulling her up from the couch as she wraps and arm around his neck. “The bath will do you good.”

Pepper just hums as Tony takes her to their bathroom, one hand on one for her hips and the other holding her hand, after she refused to be carried. She's so sleepy she looks like she might just stumble and fall, but Tony is determined to not let that happen, so he hovers close to her. He lowers her to perch on the lip of the tub and helps her strip off her sweaty clothes. She carefully pulls off her shirt off while Tony tugs off her pants and socks. She stands to lift her feet, and Tony slides the rest of them off, along with her underwear.

After they finish, she turns to the foggy mirror, standing there fully naked. She scans her body up and down with her eyes and grimaces at her reflection, “God I look like shit.”

Tony rolls his eyes, and places a light kiss on her freckled shoulder, placing his hands on her hips, still holding her up gently. “Impossible,” he whispers softly against her ear. “You ever looking like shit is unrealistic. You're always gorgeous.”

She raises her eyebrows at him through the mirror, “Oh really? Way to sugarcoat that I do look like shit while sick.”

“No sugarcoating,” he promises, turning her around so they're face to face. “You're beautiful in every way, mi amor. You're sick, and do kinda look like a mess, so what? That doesn't strip you of your beauty, which goes further than your physical appearance. You are beautiful, mi corazón.”

Pepper blushes, the redness of her cheeks coming from Tony's statement hiding among the redness caused by the fever she's suffering, but Tony doesn't miss it, and kisses her cheeks softly.

Once inside the bathtub, she relaxes, her whole body going limp in the water, the accumulated tension leaving her body slowly. She's nodding off as Tony takes it upon himself to clean her body and wash her hair, but Tony makes sure that her head stays above the water.

Later, after she puts on a clean set of pajamas, and they both curl up together in the large bed. Tony says it again, softly, as she falls asleep between his arms.

“Estoy enamorado de ti.”

He hopes that one day he can actually tell her.

•••

The third time it happens, they're on a vacation in México for their six-month anniversary of dating. Tony wanted to show her one of the places he used to visit a lot during his childhood, especially this one, since it's one of the only places in México he ever got to see with his mamá.

The beach is deserted when they arrive. Miles and miles of golden sand stretching along the bay, and nothing but the sound of the seagulls flying above them, and the soft, soothing lap of the waves rolling onto the shore, the warm water licking his feet and ankles. The sun hasn't risen yet, hidden behind the horizon, but the first rays of sunshine are showing already, lighting up the scenery in a mix of orange and pink light.

Pepper sits on the sand, so close to the shore that the waves reach her legs. The hem of her summer dress gets wet when one particular wave rolls higher than the others, sand staying on her skin after the water retreats. She looks beautiful, and her quiet presence makes the scene look as if it were out of a wonderful dream.

Tony sits beside her and hands her her mug of coffee, as they quietly watch the sun begin to rise above the skyline, “Here’s your coffee, honey.”

“Gracias, Tony.” She takes a sip from the mug, and hums with delight. “Hmm, oh my god what did you put in this?”

“A little bit of leche condensada,” He says smiling. “I couldn’t find any milk, so I used a little of the condensed milk we bought to make my mamá’s mango ice cream.”

“This is good, thank you darling.”

“No problem, querida.” Tony takes a big sip from his mug, and stares at the water swaying in front of them.

He tells her stories of his childhood, spending the summer here with his mamá, chasing the water and picking up seashells along with his mamá. Here he learned to make homemade ice cream, learned how to swim, and how to appreciate the little moments with his mamá. Now, as he recalls all the stories he has to tell, everything feels like a lifetime ago.

An idea pops in his mind, and he turns to Pepper, barely hiding his grin. “Hey, are you ready to try again?”

Pepper looks at him, a little confused. But then what he’s asking seems to click in her brain, and he can see the excitement already shining brightly in her eyes, “When am I not ready?”

Tony laughs, and puts his mug of coffee down beside him before taking her hands between his, “Okay, so. Let’s see if you remember the words I taught you on the way here. First, arena?”

“Sand,” Pepper says with confidence, and he knows the game is on.

“Mar?”

“Hmm, sea.”

“Amanecer?”

“Sunrise.”

He eyes her with suspicion, “You're sure?”

“I'm… sure.” Pepper raises her eyebrows at him, amusement clear on her face, making her cheeks shine a soft red color, her freckles standing out. “You’re tricking me aren’t you? Asking me just to confuse me.”

“Got me there,” Tony smirks. “But hey, three out of three, you did alright.”

She nods, grinning at him. He leans in and presses his lips to her in a chaste kiss. He can still feel her grin through the kiss, the soft touch of her lips intoxicating as she whispers against his mouth, “Teach me a little more…”

“God, you’re insatiable.”

She shrugs, all smug, “What can I say? I’m a fast learner.”

Tony rolls his eyes, and thinks of the words he’s gonna say next. “Calor?”

“Heat.”

“Anoche?”

“Last night.”

“Azul?”

“Blue.”

“Ámame?” Tony asks, with a little more feeling that he intended.

Peppers face softens, her lips curving in a beautiful smile that lights up her face, “Love me.”

Tony smiles back, the pressure in his chest growing, the words screaming to get out. “Perhaps I do.”

Her expression shifts, surprise and amusement shining on her face. She smirks, “Well then, how do you say kiss me?”

“Bésame.”

And she does just that. She leans in, her lips on Tony's as she climbs onto his lap. Her hands find their way around his neck, her fingers tangled in the soft curls at the nape of Tony's neck. She breaks the kiss, and leaves butterfly kisses along his jaw and neck, smiling softly against his sun kissed skin. “How do you say hold me?”

Tony pulls her close to him, his arms around her waist. “Abrázame.”

She leans close to his ear, and her voice is barely a whisper. He's not even sure if he was meant to hear the words or not, but he answers anyway.

How do you say I'm in love with you?

“Estoy enamorado de ti.”

She leans back so fast that she almost falls backwards, and Tony watches her face shift with the realization. Tony knows Pepper has heard this words before, has memorized them and has asked him about them several times. Yet she never built up the courage to look them up on her own, or ask anyone else, because she knew they were special and for her ears only. 

And now she knows, and her eyes are shining brightly. She leans back in and kisses him with a feeling that words can't convey. But he understands, he knows what she means, just like she knows what he means, and it feels like the world shifts and rights itself again, all the pieces finally falling back into place, just like when Tony realized he was in love with her.

Tony knows now, his world is moved by Pepper Potts. And now? Now she knows too.

[riley1cannon]

A Mother’s Day fic

This is from a couple years ago...

Daisies

RileyC

Summary: Alfred keeps a memory for Bruce; Damian shares it; Clark helps him make new ones...

I.  Past

Alfred Pennyworth fished the gift box out of the trash. It was a rather bold red, secured with a pink polka dot ribbon. There was to have been a daisy, Mrs. Wayne’s favorite, pushed through the ribbon along with a card when Master Bruce presented it to her this morning.

Afterward there was to be brunch at the club with Dr. Wayne, followed by an afternoon at the ballpark, “So Martha can watch her damn Knights,” Dr. Wayne, lifelong Yankees fan, had mock-grumbled, well within earshot of the lady.

“Hah!” Mrs. Wayne had returned. “You just watch, this is our year,” she declared. “Bet you anything.”

“Oh?” Dr. Wayne had looked at her with interest. “What will you bet?”

“The moon and the stars.”

“Hmm, nope, no good. I’ve got those already,” Dr. Wayne had said as he’d taken Mrs. Wayne into his arms.

Alfred had discreetly withdrawn.

He sighed now, thinking of all the plans that had been made, everything that would never be now.

He undid the ribbon and lifted the lid, shook his head with sorrow at the treasure nestled against a bed of cotton stuffing. Although he had helped tie the ribbon Alfred had not been witness to the gift young Master Bruce had placed within. Now he understood where that bottle of glue had gone, not to mention the smell of fresh paint that had puzzled the household a few days ago.

It was a picture frame, painted sea foam green, or as near as made no difference. Seashells had been glued around the frame with precision. A more precise brush had been used to add miniature starfish and an approximation of a coral reef, complete with octopus, down at the bottom, and a flourish of To Mother at the top. If the artist’s skill was a bit unrefined, Alfred had no doubt Mrs. Wayne would have perceived no imperfections, and would have counted it among her treasures indeed.

The picture it framed was from a tropical holiday the family had enjoyed this past winter. After a busy day on the beach spent recreating Wayne Manor as a sandcastle--”We don’t have a moat, darling--or a drawbridge.” “A gross oversight.”--the family were posed with their fantastical creation, smiling as broadly as though they had unearthed the remains of fabled Atlantis.

Alfred understood why Master Bruce had thrown this away. He’d want it someday, though, when the pain had ebbed and memories would be welcome.

He’d keep it for him until then.

II.  Present

“That’s Grandmother?” Damian took the old picture frame back from Bruce, examining the image preserved there forever in Kodachrome.

Damian had seen photos of his grandparents, to say nothing of their portrait, but those were all formal and a bit remote. Vacation snaps were something else entirely, and Bruce suspected that was the fascination for Damian. He could remember going through a photo album and being shocked at how young his parents were in those old snapshots and the bizarre things they were wearing. His mother in miniskirts and go-go boots? His father in bell bottoms and a Nehru jacket? Young minds were easily boggled by things like that.

Maybe it was time to haul out those old albums again? Always assuming Damian hadn’t already unearthed them in his excursions through the mansion.

“That’s her,” Bruce confirmed. He hadn’t seen this picture frame in, well, forever. He would have sworn he’d thrown it away, in fact. Didn’t take the world’s greatest detective to work out who must have found it and kept it all these years. “Where did you find it?”

“In a box in the attic.” Damian turned the frame this way and that, casting a sideways look at Bruce every now and then, as though comparing himself to the image of Bruce in the photograph.

Bruce spread cream cheese over a toasted bagel.“Was the box locked?”

“Not really.”

Which no doubt meant that while a padlock may have been in place it had presented a piffling challenge.

“Did you make the frame?”

“I painted it and glued on the seashells.”

Damian ran a thumb over a clam shell. “And it was a present?”

Bruce nodded, sipped his coffee, part of him hoping the questions would stop. Of course they didn’t.

“Did she like it?”

Elbows propped on the table, Bruce rested his chin on his hands and tracked Alfred’s progress as he appeared with Damian’s waffles. “I never found out.”

Damian gave him a curious look, glanced at Alfred and seemed to gather something there. Understanding glimmered in his eyes at any rate. “Oh,” was all he said. He set the frame down and concentrated on his waffles.

Bruce sighed, caught Alfred’s eye, tried to interpret the silent message Alfred was sending him. “It’s okay to talk about it,” he said after a moment. Getting the words out hadn’t even been difficult. Maybe the old wounds had begun to heal. Not ripping them open again every five minutes probably helped. “I think she would have liked it.”

“I’ve no doubt at all,” said Alfred, quick with a napkin when Damian started to dribble syrup on the tablecloth. He was still trying to telegraph something to Bruce. “Mothers are like that.”

Attention still fixed on the waffles, Damian asked, “All mothers?”

A bell went off for Bruce then. Good thing, too: Alfred might have started in on semaphores next. “I’m not sure about all mothers,” he began carefully, venturing further at Alfred’s encouraging look, “but I do think most of them get a kick out of any homemade gift from their children.” Granted, he had a hard time picturing Talia gushing over a Popsicle birdhouse. Still, she had been known to surprise him. And knowing Damian, it wouldn’t be a birdhouse anyway.

Gaze locked on the waffles again, Damian nodded. He picked up the picture frame again, considered the old photo. “Maybe we could visit her.”

Bruce nodded. “We can do that. Shall we take her flowers? She always liked daisies…”

III. Later

“Alfred said I’d find you here.”

Ah: So that’s what that whoosh was awhile back. Bruce shifted a bit as Clark sat down beside him in the grass. “Thought you’d be in Smallville today.”

“I was. Now I’m here.”

“Hhn.” His fingers plucked restlessly at fresh, green shoots of grass as he watched Clark pick up the bouquet he and Damian had brought to the grave. It was a gaudier mix than Bruce might have picked out on his own, pink and white daisies jostling with yellow and blue primroses. He thought Damian’s grandmother would approve, however.

“You okay?”

Bruce breathed out, nodded. “I am, actually.”

“Maybe someday that won’t surprise you.”

He gave sideways look at Clark, sitting there and watching him so seriously, a hint of concern in those blue eyes, and smiled. “Maybe.”

Clark set the bouquet back down and nudged his shoulder against Bruce’s. “Should anyone be concerned that Damian’s working out how to make a crossbow with Popsicle sticks?”

Bruce’s lips twitched with another smile. “Probably not.”

“Okay. Thought I’d check.”

It was a beautiful Sunday. Starting to grow cool now, late in the afternoon, but with no hint of the rain forecasters had predicted. A good day to share memories. A good day to make them?

Clark nudged him again. Bruce turned a grumpy look on him. “What?”

“Introduce me.” Clark jerked his chin at the graves.

Bruce stared at him. “Introduce you?”

“Umm hmm.”

Bruce shook his head, rolled his eyes, humored the lunatic. “Mother, Father, this is Clark Kent. He’s a dork.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “And…?” he prodded, mobile eyebrows trying to convey something more.

“And we work together sometimes.”

Clark gave him a hard stare. As there was no glimmer of red, Bruce wasn’t worried. “It’s okay,” Clark said in a confidential way, addressing the graves. “He’s sensitive sometimes. The first time I saw him all dressed up I teased him a little bit and he was a long time getting over that.”

“That had nothing to do with being sensitive,” Bruce grumbled. “You pinged my ears and said they were cute.”

“Well, they were.”

Bruce didn’t know why he wasted time glowering at him. It never made an impression.

“I guess you could say we got off on a little bit of a wrong foot,” Clark was continuing. “But it worked out in the end. He’s my best friend now. Well, that’s not quite true, actually. We’re engaged to be married. I hope you and your husband approve, Mrs. Wayne. I love him a lot, even if he is the grumpiest thing that ever grumped.”

Bruce snorted.

Clark carried on. “Has he ever told you how it happened? I bet he hasn’t. Well, there was this cruise and he’d found out the Riddler was planning something. The only way to stop him, according to your son,” Clark looked at him, so much radiance in his smile Bruce had to turn away, “was for the two of us to go on the cruise undercover. Guess what our cover was?” Clark reached over and caressed the nape of his neck. “You never will. I couldn’t have. He decided the only way to catch the Riddler was for us to pose as a honeymooning couple.” He paused, nodded as though listening to a a reply. “No, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me, either, Mrs. Wayne, especially when it looked like he could have picked a lot of other people.”

Bruce looked back at him then, reached to catch Clark’s hand in his. “It made perfect sense, and no one else would have been suitable.”

Clark’s thumb rubbed over his knuckles, warming stiff joints. “Anyway, one thing and another, we wound up falling in love for real. Although to tell you the truth, Mrs. Wayne, I was more than halfway there already,” he confessed as Bruce leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth.

“It was a Love Boat cruise. All the passengers were couples. Nygma would have been suspicious if notorious playboy Bruce Wayne showed up by himself.”

“You had Cat Grant reveal footage of our secret wedding on Good Morning Metropolis.”

“It had to look authentic. Nygma’s not an idiot. You’re telling it all wrong.”

“Well you tell it then.”

“Fine.” Bruce let Clark slip an arm around him and pull him close. It was getting chilly, after all. “Edward Nygma, the Riddler, was running a scam aimed at parting a lot of wealthy people from their money, Mother. I needed someone to play the part of a gullible, naive country bumpkin who’d just fallen off the turnip truck, and the first name that came to mind was…”

                                                            ~*~

“So my being good at solving riddles was completely irrelevant?”

Bruce sighed. Again. “It was not irrelevant. It just wasn’t the deciding factor.”

Clark cupped his chin, thumb lightly caressing Bruce’s bottom lip. “What was?”

“I…” He paused, grumbled, glanced at the graves, lingered on his mother’s. He knew what she’d say. She would look at him and smile, eyes lit up with it, and tell him, ‘Go for it, Bruce, go for it!’ Granted, the times she had encouraged him with that had been when he was learning to ride a bike and other challenges, but he thought it applied here too.

“Bruce?” Those blue eyes were clouded with uncertainty now, and that couldn’t be allowed to stand.

Bruce slipped a hand up to curve around Clark’s neck, fingers playing with the curls at his nape. “You weren’t the only one halfway there already,” he confessed and watched those clouds clear, watched Clark light up again. “I thought I needed a reason to get you there, though.”

“And asking me out on a date never crossed your mind?”

He pulled a face. “I couldn’t imagine you’d say yes.”

“Idiot,” Clark murmured. He kissed him on the forehead.

“I think that has been established, yes.” He felt a drop of rain plop on his head, tipped his head back to scan the sky. “Looks like the rain’s coming.”

Clark nodded. “We’ve got time,” he said with farmboy confidence. He got up, lent a hand to Bruce. “I could fly us to the house.”

“Or we could walk.”

Clark waved an expansive arm. “After you.” He looked back at the graves. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Wayne. Mr. Wayne. I’ll take good care of him.”

Bruce rolled his eyes again.

“I think your mom likes me,” Clark said as they headed off along the well-worn path. “Not sure about your dad.”

“He probably thinks you’re an alien gold-digger.” Bruce slung an arm across Clark’s shoulders.

Clark slipped an arm around Bruce’s waist as they walked on. “What does my being alien have to do with it?”

More fat drops of rain plopped down. 

                           ======= 

The daisy’s message is one of hope and renewal…

[realityhelixcreates]

Lasabrjotr Chapter 21: What Only Lives in Memory

Chapters: 21/? Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Teen And Up Warnings: Mention of past sexual assault, Mention of past murder Relationships: Loki x Reader (Let’s try this again) Characters: Loki (Marvel), Reader, Brunnhilde(Marvel),  Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), Here Comes Self-Reflection, Reader Had a Rough Time During the Snap, Loki Tries to Figure Himself Out Summary: Loki moves things forward, while reader reveals the past.

“Hey! Hey, you kidnapping bastard! Give me my daughter back, asshole!”

“That's about the reaction I expected, yes.” Loki said, holding on to his composure in the face of your enraged father. He was an entire ocean away, and merely a mortal man of no consequence, but there was still some intimidation involved. Loki wanted a favor from this man; information. Also, there was something...important, about not being hated by your father, specifically. “Alas, I cannot. It's isn't safe for her, I'm afraid. Her health would deteriorate once more.”

“Yeah, the spandex squad said the same thing. They said it was some kind of magic? Sounds like bullshit to me.”

“You have lived through invasions by both extraterrestrials, and robots, yet you find magic difficult to believe in?” Loki pointed out.

“Yeah, well, you can punch an alien or a robot.”

“I dare say, one can punch a sorcerer as well.”

“Oho? She's been throwing hands?”

Loki cleared his throat. “Your daughter has been...most emphatic on several points.”

Your father drew himself up with pride. “Good. You best listen. And you'd damn well better be treating her right!”

“Actually, that is why I wished to speak with you. I would like advice on how to treat her more properly. Specifically, I will be remodeling her room into a more permanent residence, and I wish to know what kind of things she likes to have in her home.”

Your father remained quiet for a few long moments.

“So she's really not coming back.” He said finally. “Damn. I know all girls eventually leave, but she just seemed happy where she was...” He sighed. “Okay, fine. If it's gotta be up to you to take care of her now, then listen up. She likes doodlin' so get her some art supplies. She likes them little fairy lights. If you're getting her decorative things, she likes birds, and seashells, and flowers. No pets. She doesn't like having little things underfoot. Get her some houseplants, but only if they have bright colors, or make flowers.”

“How about toiletries? Does she have a preference?”

“Eh, more flowery stuff. Whatever's on sale, usually, but you can do better than that, can't you? The most flowery stuff you can find. Candles or potpourri, or whatever. Uh, she likes Pokemon. Don't know how much that helps you.”

“It would help me more if I knew what that was, but I'm sure I can find out.”

“It's some video game about fantasy animals. It's easy to find. Oh, and she likes space too. Stars and constellations and stuff. Likes learnin' about what's out there.”

“Oh, I know.” Loki said, perhaps a little too confidently. Your father glared. “But not too well.” He added. “Space. It is a good subject. There is much out there.”

Silence stretched out uncomfortably.

“How is she, really?” Your father asked.

“Distressed. That is why I am doing this. A great many things have happened to her in too short a time, so I am attempting to counter them with comfort. Her illness has all but disappeared, but we must remain within a mile or so of one another, and cannot be separated for more than a few hours at that distance before she begins to deteriorate. Were you told of the assassin?”

“Yeah. I was told she wasn't badly hurt, and that you caught the bastard.”

“Correct on both counts. She suffered a cut, but it has healed completely, and he will be facing justice eventually. I may still curse him into an early grave though, no matter what his sentence ends up being. Hmm. Perhaps forget I said that.”

“Nah, no one's hearing a peep from me.” Your father fidgeted as a gray cat peeked its head into the screen. “No Momo! Get down from there. Hey look, if she's gotta stay with you from now on, there's some things you oughta know. She's got some...problems. There were some major health issues that ran in her mother's side of the family; brain tumors mostly. Took her mom and her aunt while she was still pretty young. She hadn't shown any signs of it, but two or so years ago, she had this weird episode...Started insisting that everyone was dead, and the world was ending. The doctor didn't find any evidence of tumors, but said she was acting like someone who had gone through some kind of traumatic experience. No one could figure out what happened. She was fine one day, and the next, she'd completely changed. Got way more aggressive, kinda obsessed with food, has panic attacks over some of the weirdest things. And whenever something bad happens, she goes from one hundred percent ready to fight, to meek and numb in seconds.”

“I...have observed some of those behaviors, yes.” So this was what it looked like from the outside. Someone who had survived the Snap and remembered it must seem to others as if some great change had come over them. An entire year lived like that would not leave someone the same as they had been before. It was a shame Loki could not tell him what had happened. That your father would never understand you like he did. That he didn't even truly understand you.

You were just about as alone in this world as he was, weren't you?

“So if you've got some kind of magic health care over there, just keep an eye on her brain, okay?”

“As you say. I shall keep a special watch over her mind. I appreciate you telling me this. All of this. It will be most helpful.”

“Yeah well, as long as you take good care of her, I can't complain. Still hate you though.”

Loki smiled smugly. “I would expect nothing else.”

                                                                             *****

Loki spent his time between meetings searching through various storage rooms for furnishings. He'd found a very nice rug; blue and green and silver, patterned with knotwork and ravens. Bedding was a bit more difficult: you felt the cold more keenly, and needed either more, or heavier blankets. He was having trouble finding good matches, however. He didn't just want to throw things together like some kind of motley. You weren't a peasant anymore, and you should have better.

But just for now, maybe the brick red bed set didn't clash with the green and blue that much?

In the end, he was able to gather plenty of  bird-themed items, mostly ravens, eagles, and swans, and no shortage of floral décor. He commissioned a space-themed mural for one of your walls, though he knew it would take several weeks to finish. There were very few seashells to be had, but he did manage to procure a small hand mirror that was shaped like a scallop.

Perhaps this would do for now?

He called for Saldis and two others to carry things back you your room, stood back and supervised while they laid things out. Fairy lights and Pokemon would have to wait until he figured out what they were, and where he could get them.

As the servants put everything into place, Loki was drawn to your desk, and the little stack of books there. Astronomy, of course. That made perfect sense. A history of Iceland. Good idea. The collected tragedies of Shakespeare. Good stories, all of them, but perhaps not the best reading material for someone of your delicate mental state. Ah, there it was. World mythology.

Brunnhilde said you had mentioned something about a mythology book that had led you to believe some mixed up things. Well, what did it say?

He picked up the book, leafing through it as the servants moved around him, hanging artworks on the blank walls, a pair of flower-themed lamps replacing the old one, rolling out the rug.

The temperature began to fall while he read the entry about himself, stone-faced, but radiating a quiet anger that everyone in the room could feel. The servants slowly came to a halt, staring at him in silent worry.

“Sire?” One of them finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper. His eyes snapped up from the book to look at them, and all three flinched back.

“You.” He said, pointing. “And you. Out.”

Both women hurried for the door, throwing apologetic looks over their shoulders at Saldis, who stood in place, bewildered and a little frightened.

“Saldis...Odasdottir, was it?”

“Yes, your Highness!” She squeaked.

“You can speak English.”

“Yes, your Highness! Fluently, Your Highness!”

“A useful skill. More importantly, can you read English? I trust you know not to lie to me.”

“No, Your Highness! No more than a few words! I have Roskva translate for me!”

“I see.” He snapped the book shut with a loud clap.”So you know nothing of the contents of this book?”

“No, Your Highness! Seidkona _____ asked for English language books, so I just brought back all that the library had! I don't know what any of them are about!”

“This one is full of slander.” Loki seethed. Saldis began backing away. “Written by our enemies to defame us, clearly. I will be confiscating it.”

Saldis began stammering apologies, but Loki held up a single finger to silence her. There were no lies in what she said. She was no saboteur.“If you did not know, you cannot be blamed. However, I would be alone for a time.”

She took the dismissal for what it was, vacating the room in an undisguised hurry. Loki could just barely hear Andsvarr asking her what was wrong, as he stalked to his room and threw the book into the fireplace. Drivel! A poison of words, pouring into your eyes, into your mind. No wonder you were so frightened!

God of Evil? Ridiculous! Evil wasn't something one could be a god of; it was a nebulous concept that changed from culture to culture, and across time. Anyone was capable of it, but none could rule it. And that nonsense with the horse... He didn't even know anyone named Angrboda! Where had all that come from?

He had been to Midgard once before New York, when he was a child, long before these concrete forests had sprung up in the place of the wooden ones. It had seemed like a very different world then, the storytellers weaving magic into their tales, spinning their words into decorative knots. He'd learned of the concepts of kennings and flyting from them...Was this what they had seen in him, or did it have some symbolic meaning, lost over the centuries? Did they see him as evil?

Or was it what had happened after? The burying of the old ways under the name of another god? Was that what had painted him in such a dark way? Or perhaps the author of the book had written it after the events in New York. Humanity had plenty of reason to consider him evil then, and a great many still did.

It didn't really matter right now. What mattered was that this had been influencing your perceptions of him, and now he had to reverse that. The room would be a very good start, a step in making this a real, permanent home for you. He would find out everything you needed, everything you wanted. He was a prince. He was a god! He could provide.

He sat down on his fluffy rug, watching the book slowly blacken and curl. It did matter. It mattered because it was part of the reason you weren't here. And he felt it now, now that you were gone, every minute making him more and more aware that you weren't there. There was a little, human shaped hole in the world, that only you fit into, and you were out of place.

When had you become important? He could no longer deny that you were. Honesty with the self was among the coping exercises he and Thor had had to adopt, once they realized that they absolutely had to be in this together. It was quite possibly one of the hardest things for him to do, to admit everything to himself, to open himself back up to all the emotion.

In the beginning, after he had been returned from death, all his walls had come down. Those had been hard times; he was nearly inconsolable, everything he had been through in such a short time was all there, up front. All the grieving he hadn't been able to do, all the anger and resentment, the self-loathing and loss of identity. Everything he'd never gotten the chance to heal from had all come down on him, all at once, and he'd thought he'd never stop crying again.

But once he had been given the chance to confront all those things, to work through them, to finally, properly mourn, when he'd put himself back together, and run dry of tears-and when Thor had done the same-that was when they had both decided to take the steps necessary to be better than they had been. For the people. For each other. And for themselves.

Communication with the self was easily just as difficult as communication with each other. Neither of them exactly had the hang of it yet, and it led them to mistakes like this. Mistakes like Loki believing that everything was just fine between you and himself because he wanted so badly to believe that it was. Tricking himself into thinking that your actions and reactions were those of a person in need of support and comfort from him, instead of a person who was afraid of him.

Five years ago, he would have seen it for exactly what it was, but he had been trying so hard to leave that version of himself in the past, where it belonged. He needed to be better now.

He needed to admit that you were important. He needed to understand why. You represented something to him; some kind of redemption. If he could take care of you, he could prove something to everyone, including himself. What was that thing? What did he need to prove? That he could be responsible?

That he was what he said he was. That he was worthy of being what he said he was. A Prince. A Ruler. A Leader. A Provider. A Man.

Not a monster.

He could give you everything. And he felt that you might even deserve it, you who had lost your mother, and then your world, and then your health, and then your autonomy. He could give you everything, and he kind of wanted to. But he had to step back now and take a different approach. It had to be for you, as much as it was for him.

He watched the book burn until it was an unrecognizable lump, thinking of ways to be better for you. Then he left his quarters in search of his brother. He had an idea that would set at least some of your fears at ease.

He passed Brunnhilde on the way, the Valkyrie carrying a sandwich on a plate. He stopped, then followed her.

“Is that for her?” He asked. “Because she hates that.”

“What? Well then what does she like?” Brunnhilde demanded. Loki listed a few things off the top of his head, and Brunnhilde headed back to the kitchen. “Guess I'll eat this one then. Heard you terrorized some of the maids.”

“I suspected one of them might be a saboteur. I was glad to find otherwise. I discovered a source of _____'s fear. That book you said she mentioned; I found it and I destroyed it. It will trouble none of us again.”

“That might not look good, you know. Might look like you're trying to destroy the evidence.”

“What evidence?” He sneered. “It was worthless. It was...do you even know what it said? It was like a parody, and it was deceiving her. I will find her other books.”

“You can't just curate her reading material you know.” Brunnhilde said, making another sandwich. “Not if you don't want to seem so controlling.”

Loki added a cup of skyr to the plate, and a spoon of redcurrant jam on top. “I'm not going to. I'm thinking of taking her into the nearest town, and visiting a bookstore. She can choose her own books, and not be stuck reading the same few over and over. I've already seen to her room, and so all that's left is to let her get some things of her own choice.”

Brunnhilde nodded. “That's better.”

“So, how are the Valkyries coming along? You mentioned a Buridag demonstration?” Loki asked, following her back out of the kitchens.

“About as well as can be expected for only having a year of training. There's a lot of work to be done, catching them all up. Lucky for us, most of them naturally gravitated towards combat lifestyles. The twins have a long way to go though.”

“Twins?”

“Valda and Velda. They're only about three hundred years old. They're having to start from scratch, but I can see the power in them. They're the real deal. They are also tiny children who can barely lift their own swords, and definitely can't wear armor. We can't have a demonstration without them, but there isn't much they can physically do. Maybe if I play up how important standard-bearing is, they won't put up a fuss.”

“One can hope.” Loki said with a smile. “Sibling rivalry can be a tough thing to navigate.”

“They get along well. Just because you and your brother had a rivalry for the storybooks, it doesn't mean everybody does. Speaking of, did Saga ever get back to you?”

“Yes. She's chosen fully sixteen texts to translate, and she will be doing each of them in seven languages. She's so happy. I was thinking of asking her to expedite the English translations, but I wonder if that isn't a little too selfish.”

“Well, technically, you're thinking of someone else, so it isn't 'selfish' exactly...” They stopped outside Brunnhilde's rooms. “Well, your Highness. You have some work to do, and I have some mouths to feed, so here is where we part.”

                                                                     *****

“Dinnertime!” Brunnhilde announced, and you hopped up to receive it. Everything looked very tasty this time, and you tucked in without preamble. You'd worked pretty hard again today, not quite as hard as when you were practicing magic, but hard enough. The bath had been wonderfully relaxing on your sore muscles, but had done nothing for your appetite.

You should exercise now, eh? Surely this was a good start.

“So...” Brunnhilde said. “You're not a good liar.”

“Hrm?” You asked around a bite of sandwich.

“Whatever you told Borgljot, you've been in combat before.”

“Mrm.” You said, swallowing your bite. “Well, about that...I don't know if I would call it combat exactly...and besides, I didn't lie.”

“Oh? Oh. Because it technically didn't happen?”

“Yeah. Things went to hell during the Event, you know that. I can't imagine it was a walk in the park for you either.”

“Wasn't great. You wanna talk about it?”

You stopped eating. “I never have before.”

“You never had someone who believed you before either, did you?”

“Sure didn't.” You said quietly. “It's just, you know, everyone went a little crazy I think. You can't face a devastation like that and stay totally sane. And nobody really knew what to do. The guys were a pain in my ass, but there was this one guy specifically...his wife and kid turned to dust in his arms, and I think he just went completely insane. But quietly; no one noticed. He was always very nice to me, and normally, he wouldn't hurt a fly, but...he kinda started fixating on me.”

Everywhere you were, there he was. Being helpful. Complimentary. Said you reminded him of her.

“At first I thought it was a good thing. It kept the other guys from bugging me too much. See, out of three hundred and forty of us, only about sixty-seven made it through the Event, and only about a third of those were women. Some of those guys didn't even try to pretend that they weren't being predatory. But he kept the others away, and I appreciated it. For a while.”

Never saying anything creepy, but simply always being there, always ready to help out. You never found out how he scared the other men away.

“We had to try to keep farming in order to survive, but half the seeds had turned to dust too. We probably would have been okay, if the fields hadn't died, but we had almost nothing. Everyone was desperate. I was in charge of the potatoes. Had a good patch of them growing out in the East fields. One day, when I went out to tend to them, he followed me. Guess he just...finally hit that breaking point. Came onto me, using her name. When I told him off, he full-on attacked me.”

Mad-eyed, tearing at your clothes, sobbing and crying a dead woman's name.

“He wouldn't stop, so...”

Panic gave you the strength to knock him to the ground, desperation gave you the instinct to bring the sharp edge of your garden hoe down on his head.

“So I killed him. Chopped his head in half. I know what that looks like now.”

You didn't know when you had started trembling, but it was making your voice quiver.

“You were defending yourself.” Bunnhilde said. “It's a terrible, harsh edge of reality, and a shame that you had to see it. But you came through. Not gonna say it's okay, because it's not. But you came through.”

“It's...I think my problem is that I don't even think that's the worst part.” You said. “It's that, technically, it never happened. He's fine now. He's alive, his wife, his kids, all alive and well, and going about their lives. He's just like I remember him from before it all happened; sweet and harmless. He comes in to the bakery sometimes, after our cornbread. I'm sure he worries about me, because that's just the kind of person he is.”

“Well that's-”

“I hate him.” You interrupted. “I hate him so much. I should be glad that it all got erased. I should be glad that he's not a predator, and that I'm not a murderer. But I'm just so angry! He gets to have his family, and his sanity, and his life, and go happily about his business, and I have to remember what he did! What I did! It's horrible, isn't it? I shouldn't feel like this!”

“Honestly? I feel like it would be more wrong if you didn't.” Brunnhilde reached across the distance to take your hand. “None of this should be easy to accept. How long ago was it, that Thor crashed on this planet? Seven? That's seven years for your whole world to realize that there's more people out in the universe, get attacked by those other people, get nearly wiped out by one of those other people. Then a small percentage of you has to find out that even reality itself can be malleable. And then on top of that, you, individually, have to deal with mans inhumanity to man, and that is all a terrible burden to put on such small, human shoulders.”

“I'm going to be a seidkona.” You declared. “Just as soon as I figure out how. I'm taking this as an opportunity to leave that all behind. I never have to see that guy again. I don't have to hold on to the hatred. I don't have to project it onto other people, I can start moving forward again.”

“You don't have to push.” Brunnhilde warned. “You'll burn yourself out. Set your own pace. You don't have to do everything at once, in fact, you probably shouldn't.”

“Where should I start then?” You asked. Once you had decided something, you were always full of energy and raring to go. But maybe she was right. There was a lot to do, and if you tried to do it all at once, you'd get overwhelmed.

“What all do you have to do? What tasks and goals are on your mind?” Brunnhilde asked. “and out of those, what are the simplest or easiest?”

“Um. I've got to...I've gotta learn how to use this knife. And my magic, gotta learn that. I should learn the language. Gotta be ready for the trial, I'm pretty sure I'll have to testify. Kinda torn there, I mean, I want that guy to go straight to jail forever, but I don't wanna be in the same room with him ever again? I gotta... research seidkonas. Learn about the past ones, what they did, how they worked. I gotta...I gotta go back to my room. Make up with his Highness. I have to, but also, I want to.”

“You looked at your palm. “Gotta learn more about this thing, if there is any more to learn. Gotta...Gotta yell at Beli! He's the one that spread this whole seidkona rumor around, isn't he? Only him and Loki knew; I didn't even know! And then everybody knew except for me! That is not right!”

“Oh don't yell at old Beli.” Brunnhilde said, pointing at your food. You took the hint and began eating again. “For one thing, it's a waste of breath. So, out of those things, what is easiest? What will you start with?”

“Um. Well, you'd think going back to my room and making up with Loki would be easiest, but in reality, it's terrifying. Probably can't research if I can't read the language. The trial can't be prioritized; it'll just happen when it happens. So, looks like knife is the only choice.”

“Well, there you go. I also have a suggestion. You should have a better grasp of your surroundings. If you'd like, I'll get someone to show you around. Also, if you have hobbies, you know, something you just do for fun, then you should do that a little bit.”

“...I'd like to bake something, if that's all right? I used to do that for a living, and I really enjoyed it too.”

“I'm sure that can be arranged. Let's go do that in the morning.”

[anya-ackerman]

Noooooooo this is so fun oh my gosh! I love doing things like this for me and Levi!

Putting under a cut because this gonna be long probably because I blab so much lol

“The seaside 🌊 - What are things/aesthetics/feelings (Obscure or mundane) that remind you of your f/o in particular?”

Dark and Light Academia, rangercore/vagabondcore, the silence in museum galleries, the smell of coffee shops, being surrounded in a dense forest by massive and ancient trees, the smell of crisp early morning autumn air, big and thick wool sweaters after getting out of a warm bath in winter, horseback riding, the numbness in your fingers when it’s cold out at night, knights in shining armor, the smell of a bonfire, the taste and smell of blood, and the feeling of someone holding you as if to say “you’re home now, I’ve missed you”.

“Seashells 🐚 - What hobbies do you and your f/o partake in together?”

First and foremost is definitely tea! We both have an interest in tea! Levi and I love coming up with blends to make at home together. Levi also knows I love collecting tea cups and full tea sets so we have a lot of those now too!

We’re also both very physically active people! We go hiking together and camp out in the wilderness for a time. We’ll walk a nature path or Levi will take the boat out so we can go sailing and fishing. We do swimming, archery and fencing together. We also like going berry picking or apple and pumpkin picking! Just being outdoors is great!

We also cook together, when time permits with Levi’s schedule! He and I both love cooking! Levi knows a lot more intensive techniques than me, so I’m always learning from him! But Levi loves learning my favorite recipes and learning how to cook a lot of my comfort foods!

“The beach 🏖️ - When was the last adventure/vacation/mission you went on with your f/o?”

The last really BIG vacation we took was to Paris for our last wedding anniversary! :) I absolutely love the city and with Levi by my side made it all the more magical~!

We toured Versailles and had a picnic lunch in the gardens, we went to Ladurée for pastries and tea, we spent a few days out in the French countryside, we toured the art museums, had dinner on the Seine, Levi spoiled me rotten on the Champs Elysees…it was such an amazing time!

“Sunlit sea☀️ - What nicknames or terms of endearment does your f/o use for you, and which are your favorites?”

Heehee I actually made a whole post about this earlier! But as far as my favorites he uses? Hmm…well, honestly, I love all of them but my top three would have to be “mon ange”, “sweetheart”, and “darling”. And I do also really like when he calls me “a good girl” 👀👉🏻👈🏻

“Moonlit sea 🌙 - What nicknames or terms of endearment do you use for your f/o, and which ones are their favorite?”

Oh I have a lot of nicknames for him! I love giving him petnames because I can tell how happy it makes him feel, having someone so openly loving towards him! As far as his favorites, if I had to speak for him I think he’d say that these are his favorites!

“Darling” is my usual go to I use all the time and the smile he gets when I call him “my darling” just gets me so ❤️

Then there’s “honey,” which I love using because the first time I called him that he got all flustered! It was because he called me “bumblebee” and I told him “if I’m a bee then you’re my honey cause you’re so sweet~!”. I think I nearly gave him heart attack,,,,,, 😭

And lastly there’s “Captain”, though I use it teasingly most of the time~ I thought at first he wouldn’t like me referring to him as such, seeing as how he’s called “Captain Ackerman” all the time at work but, according to him, he likes when I say it because it sounds cute coming from me! 🥰

“Cool off 🍹- When was the last time your f/o made you laugh so hard you could cry? (Or vice versa)”

Oh my gosh, literally this week! Levi is so good at making me laugh. I usually hate when I get into a laughing feet because I get all gaspy and wheezy and I’m crying and I can’t speak without laughing even harder, I don’t understand why he loves making me that kind of a mess.

But literally earlier this week, we had the other Veterans and Levi’s special operations squad over for dinner and we all played a game of Cards Against Humanity once I put the kids to bed after dinner.

And Levi is SO UNFAIRLY GOOD at that game. Every time I was laughing so hard and poor Petra had to finish reading the cards for me because I had my face buried in Levi’s chest and laugh-wheezing.

I also remember being in a laughing fit and both Levi, Hange, and Nanaba kept teasing me and joking around and making me laugh harder. And Levi just laughed and kissed the top of my head and just said “God, I love you so much” 🥹

“Palm tree 🌴 - What was the last gift you and your f/o exchanged, and what was the occasion?”

See, the tricky thing with this is we give gifts to each other a lot of the time as little unexpected surprises. But as far as a mutual exchange that was recognized as such? That would be Valentine’s Day then.

Levi got me this beautiful bouquet of red roses, baby’s breath, pink camellia, and daisies. Levi and I both love and know flower language so the fact he picked so many flowers to do with love and loyalty just. I think I outright cried when he gave me the bouquet 😅 (thankfully Levi knows by now that I’m a huge crybaby)

He also got me this gorgeous necklace and earrings jewelry set he picked up in Mitras, some of my favorite chocolates and sweets and a little teddy bear. The teddy bear is a little tradition since a teddy bear was the first gift he ever gave me ❤️

For Levi, I got him a bouquet as well because men deserve flowers as well! I went more for his favorite flowers; poinsettias, yellow roses and chamomile flowers! I also got him a few tins of his favorite tea from this really high end tea house in Stohess! I also got him a couple antique rare books he’d been tracking down for a while now, a specially commission knife and some homemade chocolates!

“Coconut 🥥 - What are things your f/o does to express physical affection for you? (Or vice versa)”

Levi does so much! Most wouldn’t think it but he is so physically affectionate!

When I’m folding laundry or cooking/baking, he likes to come up behind me and wrap his arms around my waist and just hold me close for a while. Every time I take his hand so we can walk hand in hand, Levi without fail always pulls my hand to his lips and presses kisses to the back of my hand before we start walking. Oh! There’s also when he asks me to do something or when he asks me if I got through the chores I was tasked with today or if I did a hard thing, every time I tell him I did it and succeeded, Levi will smile and cup my face in his hands and kiss the top of my head and say “that’s my girl”

I’m sooooooo physically affectionate! I love to cling onto his arm as we walk when we’re out places, but if I can’t do that then holding his hand is fine. I love love love kissing him every chance I get, especially leaning up to kiss his cheeks! And any chance I get I will situate myself in his lap. If he’s in his office working on paperwork? I’m sitting in his lap (or sometimes on the floor with my head resting on his lap). If we’re cuddling on the couch? I’m in his lap!

“Shaved ice 🍧- What are things your f/o does that you find particularly/oddly attractive, that are usually unconventional or perhaps are strange to find attractive? (Or vice versa)”

Oh uhm hehe…I’m sure this probably sounds alarming but when Levi is covered in blood and angry and hellbent on destroying any and everything in the way of his goal? He is genuinely so attractive to me then. Maybe it’s because I know that rage will never be pointed at me, maybe it’s something else but all I know is he makes me so weak and breathless when he’s like that.

As for me? Well, I know Levi has mentioned off handedly that he finds my “innocence” and naivety attractive. He seemed embarrassed to tell me though, as if it would offend me or something. I wouldn’t say I’m innocent but he said it’s just the way I’m sometimes really scatterbrained and I just genuinely say what ever comes to mind, no matter how weird it is. Like when I just tell a dumb pun joke out of no where or come up with random shower thoughts through out my day.

He said I’m just so cute about it without even trying that he again, feels like his heart is doing backflips 😅

“Feathers 🦜 - What is something you look forward to in you and your f/o's relationship, whether big or small?”

It might sound cliched but, really, just spending the rest of our lives together. I can’t wait for us to be old, wrinkled and tired but still so much in love.

Our children and our grandchildren and even our great grandchildren asking us over and over to tell stories about how Levi and I met, our adventures through life together…to simply be with one another until the end and even after that and beyond.

“Fishies 🐠 - What is something your f/o has done for you that nobody else has?”

Loved me unconditionally. I know that sounds sad but the sad fact is that I’ve never…had that. With adults in my life, I kind of learnt early on that love was conditional of what I was able to achieve. And with friends growing up, I learnt that love was conditional on what I could give to them. I gave so many people so much of myself until I ripped myself apart because I felt that if I didn’t, love would be taken away. Because I wasn’t good enough.

Levi has loved me regardless of everything about myself that I still struggle with. Levi saw me tear myself apart for him because I thought I had to to keep him with me. Levi saw me ripped apart by someone who, in the end, was just using me for their own reasons.

And he held me and let me cry and scream and was there when things were darkest. He showed me that love wasn’t destroying yourself to prove you were worth being loved. That I was worthy of being loved and always had been.

Levi saw the worst of me and loved me regardless. Levi didn’t ask me to ever prove my usefulness to him or justify why he should love me. He just loved me. And he told me once that he just wanted me to be happy, even if it wasn’t with him.

Levi never shut me out or made me feel like things were my fault and he never said one thing to my face and then do something else entirely and then later tell me that he “didn’t tell me how he really felt because he was scared how I’d react”.

Levi has always been honest with me. Levi has always been patient with me. Levi has always loved me in the way love should be. Not conditional, not transactional, not as a convenience…Levi loved me. No matter what.

“Water gun 🔫 - If you could say anything to your f/o right now, what would it be?”

No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, and no matter what I have to do, I will always find my way home to you, Levi.

Seaside self-ship ask game! 🌊💖

The seaside 🌊 - What are things/aesthetics/feelings (Obscure or mundane) that remind you of your f/o in particular?

Seashells 🐚 - What hobbies do you and your f/o partake in together?

The beach 🏖️ - When was the last adventure/vacation/mission you went on with your f/o? Sunlit sea☀️ - What nicknames or terms of endearment does your f/o use for you, and which are your favorites? Moonlit sea 🌙 - What nicknames or terms of endearment do you use for your f/o, and which ones are their favorite? Cool off 🍹- When was the last time your f/o made you laugh so hard you could cry? (Or vice versa) Palm tree 🌴 - What was the last gift you and your f/o exchanged, and what was the occasion? Coconut 🥥 - What are things your f/o does to express physical affection for you? (Or vice versa) Shaved ice 🍧- What are things your f/o does that you find particularly/oddly attractive, that are usually unconventional or perhaps are strange to find attractive? (Or vice versa) Feathers 🦜 - What is something you look forward to in you and your f/o's relationship, whether big or small? Fishies 🐠 - What is something your f/o has done for you that nobody else has? Water gun 🔫 - If you could say anything to your f/o right now, what would it be? Remember to practice rb karma y'all! and to specify f/os to those who rb this! Keep in mind you don't have to send me, the creator of this, any asks as this is not my main. Also a very special thanks to my bestie @shinyeeveelynn for suggesting some of these fine questions before you!

[eravici]

VLD // One More Night - Ch 10

Title: Chapter 10 - Close Series: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Keith x Pidge | Katie Holt Rating: Mature Word Count: 5910 Chapters: 10/? A/N: Thank you, amazing @narycanary for beta’ing this for me! ♥ And a happy valentine’s to you all! Happy Valentine’s indeed... c: Close, oh Oh, so close, oh I want you close, ooh Summary: A promise is only the beginning.

AO3 | ff.net

Hours later, with the situation being handled by Allura and Coran, they broke it down to the rest of the group that they should be on their guard for the remaining duration of their trip.

While everyone had voiced concerns about the safety of their stay, they had agreed that they didn't want to waste the trip and would take precautionary measures should it happen again. The said precaution was that everyone would stick close together and be in pairs if they had to separate from the group.

Over those days, they each slowly relaxed and managed to have fun despite the worry. However, Coran made a promise that he would be the "chaperone" and "responsible adult" to take care of them. While they joked that they doubted those words, it still reassured them, and it was enough to ease them back into their vacation and enjoy it.

It was perhaps another two days into this routine that Pidge was paired up with Keith and they were heading down to the beach for a walk to look for some shells. Pidge knew that her mom would've wanted some as a souvenir. Matt had triumphantly stated that he had already found the perfect seashell to give her that it sparked a small competition among the siblings.

"You don't think Lance is doing anything weird lately, do you?" Keith asked when Pidge crouched down to look at some shells. Her gaze lifted from her hands to Keith, who trailed several feet behind her. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans, and his eyes were on the shores. "He's been… oddly not as annoying lately."

Pidge tilted her head before returning her attention to the seashells. Aside from the fact of what she told Lance on their way over to the beach house, there was nothing else to indicate that Lance was planning to do something.

No, wait, she took that back. Lance was always planning something but whether or not he'd let them in on his plans was her best guess. (Unlikely.)

Unsatisfied with any of the seashells she was looking at, she stood back up and dusted her hands off of sand to begin walking again.

With her hands behind her back, Pidge shrugged. "Honestly, Lance will do whatever the heck he wants and if that means he's a little less annoying—to you or to me or anyone—then that's pretty good. But, you're right though." She frowned. Lance usually liked to be nosey about all of their business, especially hers when it came to relationships, and surprisingly, he hadn't been as intrusive and nosey as he usually was. Though, she was outwardly relieved he wasn't nosey. She wasn't sure if she could handle Lance, Keith, her muddled feelings for Keith, and the news she had yet to give.

There was a pause that a breeze picked up and she continued to mull over how differently Lance had been acting lately. Warmth caressed her skin, and she lifted a hand to hold back one side of her hair. Man, back when she had short hair, she didn't care which direction her hair went in the wind. Part of her almost missed it.

Keith cleared his throat. "Well, if he's less annoying, then that's good for both of us and everyone else."

She glanced back, and Keith was rubbing his neck and staring determinedly at the ground.

Her brows knitted together. Now that they were alone again, maybe she can…

"Keith."

"Yeah?"

Watching his eyes slowly lift to look at hers had very nearly made her heart stop. (And suddenly, she wanted to die because what the heck was wrong with her?) She wasn't ready, not in the least, to have the conversation that she had been mindlessly rehearsing on repeat since she had been told the news. Instead, what came out of her mouth was the secondary curiosity that had been bubbling up inside of her since the moment he made it.

"What did you mean by 'making a promise,' Keith?"

His eyes went sharp and closed shortly after. She felt as though her heart was in her throat. Pidge watched him collect himself with a deep breath and opened his eyes again. "Pidge, can I ask you a question first before I tell you what it is?"

A curse word was immediately on a rapid repeat for several sharp and instantaneous seconds.

Not trusting herself to speak without sounding like an idiot, she nodded instead. Why was it that Keith was able to make her feel like stupid mush, she'll never know.

Keith took a step closer and pulled his hands out of his pocket. "What do you think of me?"

Oh god, please kill her now. Pidge was instantly grateful that the sun was setting. Otherwise, she was sure that Keith would be able to see how red her face was becoming. She could barely hear herself think, let alone even breathe, over the rush of blood in her ears and how fast her heart was beating. No, she silently berated herself. Keith didn't think of her in that way.

They were friends. They were only just friends, and her chest hurt. It was a dull ache that slowly became more prominent. That's right. Keith wanted them to be friends. At least, that was how Pidge saw it. How could they be anything more when he had been adamant that he'd never…

She looked away, trying to collect her frazzled thoughts together to form a coherent sentence, and looked anywhere else that wasn't Keith.

It was almost cruel how he had asked her what she thought of him, and it was stupid of her to get hopeful when she knew from the very beginning that they couldn't be together. And yet, she couldn't help but want it.

Still, it didn't stop the words that she could already feel was forming.

Steeling herself, to resolve to speak as a friend should, just like he did.

"You're my best friend, Keith," she said softly. "One of my very best friends so I think the world of you." She looked down at her hands and tried to keep herself focused from falling into the feelings that tightened in her chest. "You're smart, you're honestly pretty cool, and I think you're one of the greatest guys I know. And…" The emphasized word she felt was necessary to say was heavy in her chest. Saying it the first time hurt and she wondered how saying it a third time would be like.

Still, she lifted her eyes to face him and was startled to see a dark gleam in Keith's eyes. His eyes narrowed, and his hands balled into fists. Clasping her hands tightly behind her, she continued after taking a quick breath, "... and I'm proud to call you my friend. That's what I think of you."

What a liar.

She thought more of him than she thought of anyone else throughout her years of school, over any project, and of any problem she ever had before. Her heart broke saying such things and knowing that they could never be anything more than friends was more painful than she expected. Digging her nails into her wrist, she pulled her arms apart to begin walking away.

"Come on; I need to find a seashell better than Matt's—"

"You're lying, aren't you."

She whirled, turning to face him with her heart hammering hard in her chest and her ears. His voice was tinged with anger and hurt.

Wait, hurt? He's hurt by—how? Why?

Her mind was spinning. There was no way he'd be hurt by her words when he was the one that had wanted them to be friends in the first place.

He took a step closer. "Pidge, why are you lying?" He smiled darkly and shook his head. "I just asked for your honest opinion, and you give me that."

Anger lurched in her chest, her stomach, and warmed her skin. What the fuck?

Her eyes narrowed, and she set her jaw. "It wasn't bullshit, if that's what you're asking for," she snapped. "And I was telling you what I thought of you."

"But you're lying about something—you always were a terrible liar when it came to talking to people."

"Why would I lie about thinking and saying that you're a great guy, Keith? Why would I lie that I think you're smart and that I think so highly of you? That I think your opinion is important to me and I value you as both a friend and partner when we work on projects together? Is there any valid reason as to why I would lie about that?" Her hands placed on her hips, and her lips pressed into a thin line.

She didn't want to argue with Keith again. She didn't want to when all she wanted was to simply tell Keith about the pregnancy and get it over with. She tried to move on from Keith since it felt apparent to her that it was such an unrequited crush. Pidge was starting to second-guess her decision to tell Keith at all.

"You think I don't know when you lie to me? You don't do it often, but when you do, you flinch Pidge." He placed a hand on his hip and ran a hand through his hair. "And you're lying to me, your so-called best friend. Stop. Lying."

Fuck it. If Keith was going to be such an ass, again, then he's going to get a reckoning.

"Okay, you moron, why the hell do you think I'm lying then? Hmm? Care to figure out the reason why?"

His expression became a blank slate. "Because we're pretending that night never happened."

It was almost as if Keith had physically punched her in the gut and took all of her air and anger with it. How did he reach such a conclusion? While he wasn't wrong, but to say that in the middle of this argument was ripping open a wound that she had thought healed.

Shaken, she could barely manage a bewildered, "What…?" It came out as a whisper, a wheeze, and she wanted nothing more than to be able to find her footing again so she could talk like a human being.

"We're pretending like that night never happened," he repeated, closing his eyes briefly. It was a momentary reprieve from the intense gaze, to give her a chance to breathe, but she found that it was short-lived since it was as if those eyes had her pinned in place and took her breath away again.

Her head spun, unable to comprehend how he had made such a leap in his thought process to reach that conclusion and took a few steps back in confusion. But he wasn't wrong. After all, it was that night that Pidge had felt as though whatever chance she had with Keith had gone for the brief moment she had him. Even when her skin became heated at remembering that night, she tried to fight down her illogical attraction that was going to make her heart burst for the sake of sanity.

Use logic, Pidge, logic, she thought, grasping at the barest of lifelines for her thoughts.

"How did you—Keith, what does that have to do with anything that we're talking about right now?" She was grabbing for straws, anything to make sense of the situation. "What does this have to do with that night to what I think of you and—"

"Because I said some things that night and the next day that contradicted each other." He was determined to speak, and he moved another few steps forward. "And I think you're lying to me because of what I've said." There was a sense of confidence in his words. "You're always careful, and you've always been super careful about feelings. So, honestly, I don't know if you feel the same as I do."

Feel? Pidge was having trouble focusing on logic now since it had flown straight out the window. He had to be playing a joke, but she knew better than to think that. Keith never openly joked during a serious conversation, and this had never felt more real. But it had to be one. Keith liking her? No, it honestly couldn't be right. He was the one that said he'd never see her more than just a friend. He was the one that said that—

"—You're lying," Pidge whispered before she even realized she had spoken at all.

His eyes widened, and then it quickly narrowed. "Why the hell would I be lying to you when you're the one who was lying first?"

She was shaking her head. "Because you were the one who said you wouldn't have—"

"And I was wrong, Pidge, I was wrong."

Someone, please let her figure out what the heck was happening because it shouldn't be happening to her right now. She was fighting desperately against her denial of the situation and the illogical side that wanted to say that Keith was wrong. He couldn't be in love with her; let alone even like her more than just a friend.

Unfortunately, her denial was stronger and was winning. After all those tears, nights spent mending her heart, and rethinking their conversation from that night; she had resigned herself to an unrequited crush that wouldn't ever be mutual. Keith, the boy that every girl she knew sought after, liking her was as near impossible as the sun ever meeting the moon. The likelihood of her ever ending up with him was not something she had ever hoped would be in her cards.

"No, you're not—we're just friends like you said," she reasoned, and suddenly her grip on her own hands disappeared when she couldn't stop the shaking. She stared down at her hands and clenched them together. "You said that you wouldn't ever—"

"Pidge."

"No! This is a joke, clearly. Haha, very funny." Pidge turned on her heel, already walking away from the conversation.

But his hand grabbed her arm.

"Pidge, that was then." He pulled her close, his voice urging her to face him. "Shit, do I honestly have to say everything?"

She turned her head. "No, you don't—"

"But I will if it means you'll understand me. I promised that I'd tell you this anyway so..."

He dropped his hand from her arm to take her hands into his, and he shifted until he stood in front of her. She both hated and liked that she was comforted by the rubbing of Keith's thumbs over her knuckles.

"I've… Honestly, I think I'm going to sound stupid while I talk about… uh, feelings and whatever, but, hear me out." He paused, looking at her with an expectant gaze. She managed a meek nod, and he made a small smile, his hard features softening as he continued to focus his attention on their hands. She didn't remember his hands being so calloused before. They were rough, warm, and larger than her own; she would later admit that she really liked his hands. It just went to show just how much work he had between his work in the garage and the work he did for school. It made the little calluses and scars on her hands feel insignificant in comparison.

He took a deep breath. "So, uh, a few weeks back, when things were a little rough between us, I started thinking about us." Keith squeezed her fingers. "And I didn't like how we argued over what felt like stupid things, and it kinda hit me when you gave me my apartment key back." His hands' warmth seemed to be warmer, and if it weren't for the setting sun dyeing him in its colors of oranges and reds, she wondered if he would be blushing. He gulped.

"I—I liked it when you had my key. It was weird, but in the short time we were together in my apartment, and I really liked it that we were in that same space together." He gave her hands another squeeze, and she managed to squeeze back. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, but Pidge heard it, and she could barely keep track of her feelings.

He paused, his brows knitted together in what looked to be a mix of emotions that she had never seen on Keith before. But, he was thorough with his words when he opened and closed his mouth several times in rapid succession; however, no sound came out. It was perhaps after she gave him another squeeze that he blinked.

Clearing his throat, he continued, "I was trying to figure out what was going on and I—I don't do feelings well, but for you, at least, I want to give them a try. I like being with you and I—," his voice became softer, quieter, and he took a small step forward until he was close enough for her to wrap her arms around him if she had wanted to, "—I want to be with you."

One of his hands had dropped hers, his fingertips trailing up her arm to her shoulder and neck until it came to a rest on her cheek. The back of his fingers caressed her cheek and Pidge was struggling with tearing her gaze away. A small smile was on his face, his expression full of warmth and affection that she wanted to remember this moment forever.

"I'm not sure I'm going to be a perfect boyfriend, but—"

She felt her tears fall before she even realized that she didn't want to and wanted to blink it back.

His mouth opened, his eyes widening in surprise. "I—I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking—do you—"

"Keith," she whispered, closing her eyes and leaned into the hand that was by her cheek. Dropping his other hand, her own lifted to hold onto his wrist. Beneath her fingertips, she could feel his rapidly beating pulse that she could only assume was a mix of concern, alarm, and nervousness.

Opening her eyes, he bit his lower lip. After a few seconds passed, he finally braved answering with an apprehensive, "Yeah?"

"You're an idiot," she said with a slow curl of her lips.

He blinked before he frowned. "Oh, um, do you not like me that way or have I just—"

Alarmed, her heart lurched when his expression shuttered, and she had never seen a more vulnerable Keith that she held onto his wrist when he started to pull away. He hesitated, and she squeezed his wrist. "No, Keith, I—I didn't mean to, but—yeah, I… I want to. To try, I mean."

His fingers moved down her cheek, and his upturned lips made it feel like her heart was going to burst. But the smile faded when he looked down. "I know I said some things that day that should've said it differently, but I didn't want to take advantage or make it seem like it was anything when we didn't even know what had happened."

Pidge bit her lip. She remembered most of the night, this much was true, but the one memory that was as elusive as a cloud was the phone call she made to Keith. He had picked up, and they had a full-on conversation for at least ten minutes.

"But you had friend-zoned me," she said. "I thought you didn't… wouldn't look at me like that."

His beautiful dark grey eyes lifted to hers, and his lips twitched in a half-smile. "Honestly, it just kind of hit me." He seemed distant, trying to gather his thoughts, and was contemplative. His hand stilled on her cheek, and he murmured, "I didn't think we'd ever change, but… when you came out of my room, dressed and with red marks all over your neck, I… I don't know."

"It's okay, we can figure it out together," Pidge assured. And then her smile grew, unable to stop herself from the teasing words. "So, I take it that you like me?"

Focusing his attention, he smirked. "Well, I like you enough that I want to do more than just..." His hand angled under her chin. Her eyes widened in surprise, lips parting in anticipation.

He began to lean down and was close enough that she felt his lips brush hers before a shout came in their direction.

"Look out!"

For the second time in the last few days, they're denied and pulled apart as a ball came flying toward them. It bounced through where they were standing. A guy jogged over as the ball rolled to a stop. He's dressed in a white tank and bright, colorfully printed shorts with dark skin and bleached blond hair.

"Hey, sorry about that," he said with a sheepish grin. "My friend over there is a crap shot so… sorry again."

"It's no problem," Pidge replied hastily.

Keith waved a hand, watching idly as the guy walked passed to retrieve the ball. Something about him felt familiar, and she wasn't sure why. It was only when he ran back to his friend and began to play their game again did Pidge finally say something. She wasn't sure if she was paranoid, but there was something that bothered her.

"Keith, that guy felt familiar—like I know him from somewhere," she admitted when he returned to her side.

He pressed his lips into a thin line and gave another quick glance in the guy's direction. There was a look in his eye, but he took her hand and tugged her to continue walking down the beach.

"Well, if he's a bad reminder, I'll be sure to beat him into, what do you say, 'into next week'?"

She snickered. "Okay, well, I can't say I remember enough to say that he deserves one of those quite yet, but please do. Though, if he is one, I'll gladly beat his ass first."

He winced. "Oh, that's right. You'd probably take him down faster than I could."

"Not entirely—I mean, in an ideal situation, I could, yeah, but stuff like that is rarely easy." She shrugged. "I don't do physical as well as you think I could be. But—" she dragged out the word longer than necessary when Keith lifted a brow, "I prefer brain power over brawn, so it works out."

Keith smirked.

They continued to chat while they walked up the beach, holding hands, and looking over the seashells that would be comparable to the seashell that Matt had bragged about. Pidge relished the feeling of Keith's hand in hers, gently leading her forward with an easy smile that made her heart feel like it would explode. They looked for seashells together and sparked a challenge for them to find the shell among themselves to make this quicker. It ended with them in the water, laughing, and could only stumble to the dry sand with the winning seashell in hand. (It was the size of Keith's hand, and it gleamed like a pearl under any sort of light.)

With the sun already set beyond the horizon, it was pitch black when they headed back. The moment their phones started going off, they exchanged looks before they broke off into a run. They ran up the back patio to where everyone was setting up plates for a barbeque and Pidge triumphantly waved a seashell in front of Matt, smirking when he dramatically cried his defeat.

It was when everyone was talking excitedly about the food did she realize that she hadn't told Keith about her pregnancy and the above the clouds sensation slowly pulled her back to solid ground.

Instead, she had delayed it. While it was beyond surprising to find out that Keith was as affectionate with her as she was with him, she wondered if pidge she would be taking it away just as quickly if she told him she was pregnant. Her chest ached, wondering if he'd reject her if he'd be like what her worst dreams had said over and over again.

But it's Keith. She wanted to believe in him, but something was holding her back. Trying to balance her emotions and rationality, she knew that it was possible that the burden of a child might very well ruin what development their relationship had.

— x — x —

Keith was on an all-time high and walked on cloud nine. He confessed his feelings and had very well nearly kissed her. He could've tried again, but it just didn't feel right after two different interruptions. The sun had set, and the breeze was gentle enough—and perfect—on their walk that talking about the promise that he had made to himself to confess very well worth it.

He had never felt more at ease.

While eating and feeling as though nothing could ever go wrong, he was surprised to glance over to Pidge and notice that she looked pale.

His heart lurched. Was she all right? She was fine when they had come into the house just short of thirty minutes ago.

Keith noticed the concern and hard lines in Matt's expression, his head dropping to talk with Pidge in a low tone. He couldn't hear over the music that played in the background and Hunk's and Lance's voices talking about something that had to do with the game they were to play tonight. Shiro was talking with Coran, and the overlapping voices made it difficult to make out what Matt said.

Maybe he was being paranoid. Maybe he was just overthinking that something had happened with Pidge. And maybe he was just overly sensitive to the changes that he and Pidge were undergoing after their talk on the beach.

But he was worried.

Especially when even Allura made her way over to Pidge, and had that same look of concern on her face like Matt, he's concerned. He was sure Pidge could handle herself with whatever it was that was bothering her, he knew that when it came to her health—

He clenched his jaw. Could she have been lying about her health too?

He understood—with the subtle ache in his chest—why she had lied about her feelings. It was for the same exact reason why he hadn't acted until just a bit ago about his feelings for her. He was relieved that she hadn't said no and that she was kind enough that she was willing to give it—whatever this relationship of theirs was—a try. He didn't know if it was love or if it was just an infatuation, but he wanted to try.

His feelings for her was genuine—the origin of it was unknown, and he wasn't sure what to do with it. After all, he never had a proper girlfriend since high school, and even then, those girls had been mere moments of experimentation and genuine curiosity. Still, his feelings were new, and he'd like nothing more than to find out what they were with Pidge.

A hand was placed on his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Shiro regard him with a subtle lift of his brow. There was a silent question in his visage that Keith only nodded. It was minute, but he got the message and dropped his hand.

Returning his attention to the girl he tentatively could call his significant other, he noted the lack of food on her plate and how she only continued to drink water. He suppressed the urge to frown, or he'd draw attention to himself again. Recollecting how little she had eaten all day, it was unlikely that she would have had any snacks when they had been together all day with scarcely any food.

After downing the rest of the water in the bottle he held, he excused himself from the table and headed over to Pidge. When their eyes connected, she gave a weak smile. "Hey," she said with a small nod in his direction.

"Pidge, you're not eating—is something wrong?" he asked. He moved past her and picked up another water bottle that was in the cooler next to her and stood upright.

Without even looking, he could tell that she went still. Opening the water bottle, he took a small sip and waited after a gulp.

"I—I'm okay, Keith," she murmured.

He expected her to continue with her explanation, as she often did, but was surprised when she didn't.

When he turned to face her, a familiar angry heat curled in his chest and he squeezed the water bottle. She was averting her gaze away from him with a white-knuckled grip. No, she couldn't be. They literally just went over this.

"Pidge, what's going on?" he pressed.

She didn't answer for a moment, and she looked like she was having trouble putting words to her thoughts. "I'm not ready to talk about this."

It was as if she had punched him.

After taking a steadying breath, he spoke in a low tone, "Pidge, really, we're going there?"

Her eyes closed. "Please, Keith, I'm really not ready to talk about this."

Typically, he'd be okay with giving her the space that she asked for. Usually, he wouldn't be so quick to judge, but when they just had what he felt was a crucial moment that spoke about their feelings to each other and the effort to try their hand at a relationship, this was not a way for them to start it. It didn't help that his temper had a tendency of making him hyper-focused rather than let him be able to think things through with a clear head.

"Then when would you be ready?"

Her eyelids snapped open, and her eyes were flashing when her lipsset into a hard line. "Oh, like when you said you'd be ready to talk about why you ignored me for a week? Over something like focusing on yourself?"

The words were sharp, and he flinched. He immediately recalled that night in greater detail than he had expected. He didn't think she remembered or held a grudge over something as insignificant as that. But he was wrong, and it was too late to back out of this argument. (Not that he could entirely comprehend it when he was as irritated as he was.)

"So you're saying because I didn't tell you about what that was about, you're not going to tell me what this is about?"

He wasn't paying attention to anyone else but Pidge that he didn't notice how their friends had silenced their conversations. The only sounds that were in the room were the music that played in the background. Their voices had raised to the point that everyone could hear their conversation.

"Yes, Keith, so leave it be," she snapped. She turned and tried to end the conversation by storming off.

Keith took longer steps and grabbed her arm. "No, I won't because that week, I was trying to figure out what the hell I was feeling for you. You can't expect me to know, right off the bat, what it was when I just told you that it took me awhile to figure it out."

She wrenched her arm out of his grasp and was immediately facing him with a matching scowl. "Then you need to give me the same amount of space  I gave you. Don't just demand to know when—"

"But you're lying again. You're not really okay like you say you are because don't think for a second that I didn't notice how both Matt and Allura came to you, asking if you were okay."

"Guys…" Shiro stood up, but both of them weren't listening.

"Ha, and you were watching me, why? Do I need to tell you whether or not I'm doing okay when I said I was fine? No, I don't because I don't need a babysitter."

"I'm not trying to be and don't go putting words in my mouth! I was only asking because you tend to push yourself when you really aren't feeling better." His anger was as hot as it was painful to be talking like this, to her, and the feeling was only worsening with every word that left his mouth.

Her hands lifted and Pidge cried out in frustration. "Stop assuming that I'm just going to always lie about how I'm feeling! Only I know how I'm feeling! Only I know whether or not that I'm feeling okay!" She placed her hands on her chest. "I am my own person, Keith, so stop making it sound like you know me better when no one else can know me better than I know myself!"

Keith ran a hand aggressively through his hair. "For fuck's sake, I never said I knew you better than you knew yourself! I just said you have a tendency, Pidge, that's all!"

"Then leave me alone! Just leave me be!"

"No, I won't," he said through gritted teeth. "If I leave you alone, then you'll never tell me what was wrong."

"Seriously, guys—" Lance took a step forward.

"Ugh, this is why I didn't want to talk about this with you. Not until I knew what the hell was the right words to say because you'd either blow up like this or you'd just ignore me like you did that week when I didn't even do anything! And you literally just shut me out!"

Pidge was on a roll. Taking one step forward, she jabbed a finger against his chest with an angry fire in her eyes. Her words were hurting him more than the poking finger was.

"I didn't—"

"No, don't deny it," she cut in. "You always shut people out when we want to be there for you. Whether it's even Shiro or me—you just cut people off when it suits you just fine without any sort of consideration to anyone else!"

Another jab of her finger when Keith opened his mouth to speak, to defend himself. "Have you ever considered why I do that?"

"But you just shut down, Keith! You don't even try with any of us!"

It was another verbal slap, and the anger was boiling over for both of them. "And how would you know whether or not I'm trying? We just—"

"No, it's because you shut me out that week that made me think that you don't! Do you know how hurt I was that you just decided to shut me out like that? Do you understand that when you just push us away that we'd suffer just like you? Do you? And it still hurts because I don't know when you'd do that again! So why the hell would I ever tell you that I'm pregnant—"

Pidge's words stuttered to a complete stop, frozen in place just like Keith's heart suddenly became and everything was painfully silent. He couldn't breathe. It was as if his entire body had flooded ice for blood. His eyes grew wide as did hers and she took a step back.

"What—What did you say?" he breathed in complete and utter disbelief.

"No, I—" She shook her head slowly and took another step back. She was blinking rapidly, but he couldn't see beyond her words.

It couldn't be. It was only one time—

"Katie? Did you just—" Keith couldn't believe what he just heard. It was as if he was no longer in his body and someone else was hearing this.

He reached out to her.

And she ran out of the room.

[life-love-and-alcohol]

You know the shower pic from ED in which they're splashing water happily? I want the beach episode they cut from the show! (Victor in a skimpy speedo am I right??)

AAAA HELLO! I want you to know that the Skimpy Speedo!Viktor is the more accurate headcanon I had ever heard. 

I don’t know if you wanted them to be at Hasetsu’s beach…but I changed it a bit! They went on vacation together :D (honeymoon, maybe?) Thanks for requesting! 

“What do you meanit isn’t a nudist beach??“

"Viktor, we talked about this”

“But Yuuri…I don’t want to get a tan line!”

“Love, I don’t know where the nearest nudist beach is,but I don’t think it’s anywhere near”

“Any beach can be a nudist beach if you try hardenough”

“Please, Viktor, all I ask for is peaceful holidays. Idon’t want to get arrested”

“Well, I’ll take my speedo then”

“Honey, no”

 Viktor packed his favorite red speedo. The skimpiest one,with a material so thin it let little to imagination. And Yuuri felt readyburry himself some few kilometers under the hot sand.

“Yuuri! Babe! Look at Makka splashing on the water!!Take us a picture!!”

The entirety of the beach was staring at him. How couldn’tthey? Not every day you get to see someone as hot as Viktor fricking Nikiforovalmost completely naked. Unless, of course, you are his husband. And instead ofstaring, his husband was shamefully covering his eyes.

“Viktor, put something on please”

“What’s the matter?” he asked, titling his headinnocently like a little kid, but pointing at his crotch at the same time“it’s completely covered!”

“Viktor, it jiggles”

“No it doesn’t!” he snorted, completely ignoringhis husbands pleads, and the curious eyes of almost every other human at theshore’s area “Come on Makka!! Let’s go to the sea!!”

As Yuuri saw him running towards the water with the dog, heconfirmed that it did, indeed, jiggle.

 After a while though, when Viktor got himself deeper intothe sea and let the water censor his holy parts, Yuuri calmed down a bit.

Unlike his husband, he wasn’t really a fan of exhibitionism,and he preferred to stay clothed for the occasion. Of course he was wearing histrunks, but his short-sleeved sweatshirt never left his body, and the mysterynovel he had been reading never let his curious fingers.

“Yuuri, come swim with me!” Viktor called out forhim from the sea, spitting a mouthful of salty water “The water is lovely!Aren’t you hot?”

“Uhm not really” He kind of was though, and thesmall drops of sweat beginning to form at his hairline gave him away“Maybe in a while”

“Nooo but, babe! I want to swim with you!”

“And I want my butt to stay sand-less, thank you verymuch”

“Yuuri!!” The water was rather wavy that day, andas Viktor complained, a wave hit him on the back of the head and got himchoking on horrible sea water. Of course, Yuuri laughed “That’s not funny!”

“Believe me, it is” He said, putting his bookapart on the sand.

“Are you going to swim with me or what?” Viktorinsisted, and Makkachin barked behind him approvingly.

“I don’t know…”

“Come on!!”

Yuuri sighed, giving up, and taking off his glasses.

“Yes!! You’ll see how nice and fresh the wateris!!”

He let the cloth of his sweatshirt slide down his arms, andhe suddenly felt vulnerable. Viktor was right, any beach could be a nude beachsince, right then, Yuuri felt naked. He knew he wasn’t in a tight, flashyspeedo, but he also knew his body wasn’t as pleasing to look at as was Viktor’swas. Viktor didn’t have stretchmarks, Viktor didn’t have that little lump offat between his hip and his ribs he just COULDN’T get rid of, and Viktor’s skinhad neither pimples nor hair in awkward places. Viktor’s skin was flawless,pale and smooth, reflecting the sun with more intensity than the water, makinghim shine like some kind of treasure the current had pushed to the shore. Hewas beautiful. Waiting for him, with the water hanging around his hips, thewaves hitting his back every now and then and leaving a halo of white foamaround his stomach. White, but not as white as the blinding shine of his hair,and the perfect teeth of his heart-shaped smile.

“It’s cold” Yuuri shivered, head sunk between histense shoulders, and a foot beginning to test the waters.

“No it’s not!” Viktor reached his arms forwards forhim “Come on, don’t be a chicken!”

“Ugh I’m not a chicken” the way he wrapped hisarms around his own body, covering from both the cold and the stares, saidotherwise.

“Prove it, then” Viktor took his hand in his,slowly pulling him forwards and deeper into the sea “See? It’s not thatbad”

Yuuri hissed, from the cold of the water reaching thesensitivity of his crotch and his stomach, and the freezing skin of hishusband’s hands. Hands, that as soon as he was close enough, sunk their fingerson the flesh of his hips. Grabbing him, pulling him closer, forcing him intothe fresh embrace of the ocean.

A small wave raised the water’s level almost all the way uptheir chests, and Yuuri threw himself onto Viktor’s arms, clinging from hisshoulders like a kitten thrown in a bathtub, trying to keep himself as dry aspossible.

“Easy there” Viktor giggled, taking advantage ofthe situation by hugging him close against his chest “You’ll get used toit, you just need to…” he cupped a handful of water in his hand, andsplashed it on top of his dark hair “…get a bit wet!”

“Ah, fuck!” Yuuri yelped, jumping in his place,but never getting away from the embrace “I hate you!”

“You don’t” Viktor chuckled softly and pushed hishair back “You love me”

Yuuri hummed, clinging onto him with his life, wanting toabsorb the heat under his freezing skin.

Makkachin got out of the sea and shook the water away,deciding to nap on the warm sand instead,  yet always keeping a guardian eye on hisowners from afar.

“See? Even Makka is cold” Yuuri mocked.

“No he’s not. He’s just giving us some privacy” Hesmirked and planted salty kiss on his mouth, letting the lulling sway of thewaves rock them to their gentle beat.

Yuuri felt an awkward clash of temperatures, from thecoldness of the sea and Viktor’s icy skin, and its contrast with the swellingheat of his mouth and the blush beginning to spread on his own cheeks. Onlythen, pressed so close against him, feeling the naked skin of his thighsagainst him, he remembered they were almost naked. Only then, he began to getthe tingles of modesty in him. And, only then, he could allow himself to turnthat modesty into excitement, heat, the sensuality of the encounter and theroaming hands on his skin.

He deepened the kiss, greedily, wanting more of thatbittersweet shame that tasted so good on his lips. Of course, Viktor complied,kneeling a little bit and sinking their bodies further into the water, enjoyinghow Yuuri heated up the touch in response to the cold. He was overwhelmed.High, on the smothering hum of the ocean, the scent of salt and seaweed, submergedinto the surreal reality that was their wet, slippery skins.

When Viktor’s lips aimed for his neck, however, Yuuri had toprotest.

“Hmm, we should leave that for later” he saidagainst his own will “when we get back to the cottage”

“Why?” Viktor didn’t stop, at all, as he didn’treally got more objections “We are quite far from the shore”

“You never know when a snorkeling kid will pop up rightbeside you” They laughed and pressed the cold tips of their noses together“But I promise that, once we get back to our room…” he leaned intohis ear, and heated his breath on purpose as he whispered “…you won’twant to keep that speedo on any longer”

None of them was cold anymore. At all.

 When the sun began to set, the couple decided to go for awalk through the shore. They held hands, occasionally swinging their arms backand forth, or picking up the nicest seashells they came across the way. Becauseof the sandy wind (and maybe a bit of Yuuri’s pleads) Viktor had put on and oldshirt, long enough to cover the speedo. Needless to say, his husband wasgrateful. And  so they both enjoyed the dreamlikeparadise, that perfect entelechy: the roars of the waves and the coast’s windblowing on their ears, the soft sand under their feet, and the thin layer ofwater reflecting the sunset, making them feel like they were splashing on amirror. 

Makkachin was right behind them, his curly hair a mess, tangledand hardened by the sand.

They walked absentmindedly, way too lost in the moment tocheck the time. And, by the moment they realized, they were a few kilometersaway from their beach umbrella.

“Hmm, we should get back” Yuuri let go of his handto hug him by the waist instead, resting his head on his shoulder “nightis about to fall”

“Yeah, you are right” Viktor kissed the top of hishead, feeling the exhaustion of the day beginning to kick in, as they turnedaround to walk the way back. Of course, Makkachin follow obediently “I’msort of tired”

“Me too. I can’t wait to get to the cottage andbathe…I have sand literally everywhere”

Viktor chuckled, tracing his fingers gently through the skinof his forearm.

“Maybe we can shower together” he gripped hisshoulder tighter, massaging it a bit, sensually “How does thatsound?”

“Pretty good” Yuuri purred, looking upwards andonto the beautiful sunset. But he wasn’t looking at the sky. He was looking atthe glint of Viktor’s eyes, reflecting the last rays of sun. He was looking atthe pink and orange lights tainting his messy hair like watercolors. He waslooking at his smile, how genuinely pleased he looked, at ease, so much calmerthan during practices and competitions. He was suddenly filled with a randomsprout of love, bubbling and burning, almost painful, and he just had to stop middle track and kiss him.

He did it slowly, sweetly, titling his head to the side andletting his lips mold to Viktor’s, lose their shape and their shame, as hemelted onto the touch.

However, as he took his hands to cup his cheeks, heimmediately retracted them and broke the kiss, looking at Viktor with buggedeyes.

“Honey, your face!” he touched it again, this timewith his knuckles “It’s burning!!”

“Is it?” Viktor blinked, taking his own hand tohis forehead “I don’t feel it”

“Viktor…did you use sunblock?”

“Uhm…no?”

“Oh my fucking god” Yuuri sunk his head in his hands,already picturing his husband as red as a ripe tomato, not even beginning totell where the speedo ended anymore “Your skin will turn so red in a fewhours!! It’ll peel!!”

“It won’t, trust me! I know my skin!”

“Love, your skin is so thin and pale! It’ll hurt…a lot!”

Viktor snorted, rolling his eyes, and continued to walk hisway to the cottage.

“Nonsense”

“OUCH OUCH OUCH YUURI IT HURTS!!”

Yuuri didn’t know if he should laugh or cry out of theinevitable “I told you so” frustration, as he squeezed more aloe cream onto hishand and rubbed it on his husbands back. He decided to go for the first option,and laugh through all the process.

“Stay still, Vitya” He giggled. Was he teasing him? Viktordidn’t know, he just suffered “it won’t feel better if you don’t treat it”

“I look like a shrimp” Viktor whined, looking at the bright,furious read all over his skin. He pressed a finger on his arm, watching howthe white print of his fingers turned pinkish once again as he let go “Ouch! Ihate this!!”

“You said you didn’t want to get a tan line?” Yuuri took a mischievousfinger to the elastic of Viktor’s boxers, and pulled it down a little to reveala blinding-white pale butt.

“Hey!!” He tried to slap his hands away, but the contacthurt and his husband laughed even harder “You are so mean to me!!”

“You should have listened to me this morning when I told youto use sunblock” He fondly kissed his cheek, and watched the white stamp of hislips drawing on the hot skin “You still look cute though”

“I do??” Viktor smiled, full of hope.

“Well, cute for a shrimp”

“Yuuri!!!”

thanks for reading yay!

[legolasgoldy]

((Finrod + Rhys for the ship meme.))

// Thank you!!! :D @blind-mutant

Send me a ship and i’ll tell you                        

who hogs the duvet

They cuddle so close that I dont think thats a problem really, but Finrod definitely makes sure Rhys gets plenty of blanket around him to keep him snuggly and warm. Especially during the winter, Finrod doesnt like the cold but his body can regulate its temperature if he gets too cold even if it’ll sting his skin a lil from chilliness, he’ll make sure Rhys is all wrapped up. After all Rhys weighs less and need to retain more warmth. Altho, during the summer if their AC were to break it would probably be the opposite, they’d probs only use a sheet? He’d listen to hear if Rhys’ heart was beating to fast from being hot, or if he just felt he was too hot he’d pull the sheet off him a little and probably adjust his hair so it wouldnt be keeping him hot.

who texts/rings to check how their day is going

They dont have cellphones. Finrod may call during Rhys’ lunch break to make sure hes okay during the first week Rhys was at his job. Or if Rhys hadnt been feeling well the day before he’d check up on him. Or, also, If Finrod was having a bad day at work he’d call Rhys just to hear his voice. I feel like this could go vise versa, if Rhys needed to for what ever reason he could ask a coworker to help him use the phone and call Finrod.

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts

Well.. this is a tricky question. I think they are most creative in their own way. So its a tie. Rhys cant see what he wants to buy so most likely, he’d ask a neighbor ( or friend at school depending on time period) to help him. He’d have to feel things to know what he wanted to buy as well as a friend’s help, and hes not gonna buy just anything, its gonna be something he knows Finrod would love.

Finrod does the same thing essentially, he makes sure to get things he knows without a doubt Rhys would love, whether it be just something cute for him to have, or something to help him (like a braille watch, etc.), or something for them to enjoy together like books.

who gets up first in the morning

Finrod XD He gets up at around 6 am/6:30am depending and always lets Rhys sleep as much as he can so he’ll be well rested. He knows sometimes its harder for blind people to sleep at night, and Rhys doesnt like getting up early either. So, typical routines are listed below:

As teenagers, Finrod gets up at 6 am and gets ready for school and gets as many things as he can ready for Rhys as well, then at around 7 am he’ll lay back down next to Rhys and attempt to wake him up too, very gently. If they are just best friends he’ll probably put an arm around him and whisper to him, and move hair outta his face. If they are dating he’ll kiss his cheek along with that.

As adults living together, on days where they work, its very similar to when they were teenagers with school. Finrod wakes up at around 6 am and gets up, makes tea, gets ready, then crawls back into bed with Rhys around 7 am and tries to gets wake him up with soft kisses, cuddles, and whispers.

On days when they are off work he’ll get up at around the same time, maybe 6:30am, and he’ll make tea, take the cup back to the bedroom and sit on the bed super carefully, finish the tea, then lay back down with Rhys and stays there. He doesnt go back to sleep, he just snuggles Rhys like he had been doing before he got up and lays there for a while relaxing with his bf. Probably a good 4 hours or so around 8:45/9am he’ll finally start to wake Rhys up with his usual gentle kisses and whispers, although this time he’ll be asking about what Rhys wants for breakfast since they’ll have time for a lazy big indulgent breakfast.

who suggests new things in bed

Rhys lol. Finrod is a lil too polite to suggest things often.

who cries at movies

Finrod. He reacts to movies so much. He’ll cry, growl, whine, whimper, etc.

who gives unprompted massages

Well i think its safe to say they both probably would if they really wanted to? Although in all honesty, Rhys has never seen someone give a message but would try his best if he decided to give one, while Finrod is a bit.. afraid to give Rhys massages. He can control his strength super well now, but Rhys does bruise easy so he’d be extremely cautious. 

who fusses over the other when they’re sick

Finrod fusses over Rhys so much, even when Rhys doesnt like it. He’s gatta make sure his love is okay.

who gets jealous easiest

Ohhh XD What a queston haha.  Well.. this is trickyy. Probably Rhys. but Finrod does get jealous sometimes when they are teens.

who has the most embarrassing taste in music

Hmm considering the times, I would have to say Finrod. While everyone else is listening to the typical popular music of the 70s-80s ( and granted he does too) he listens to a lot of classical music sometimes. Like Mozart for example. He really likes classical instrumentals.

who collects something unusual

Um..I dont know of anything unusual that they would collect? Finrod collects seashells but most he has on display are ones they collected together at the beach. Finrod collects jewelry. The collection of books, belongs to them both. Rhys has a collections of bunny plushies that Finrod keeps buying him and other things that feel nice.

who takes the longest to get ready

Finrod, he fixes his hair, picks out an outfit, decides which earrings to wear, maybe a bracelet. Where as Rhys cant see to really do much, he gets dressed, brushes his hair, and brushes his teeth?. BUT Finrod always helps Rhys get ready, especially helps with his hair, and if Rhys wants a tiny touch of makeup sometimes he’ll stop everything hes doing to help him put it on.

who is the most tidy and organized

Finrod is, but always tries to include Rhys in on everything. They equally decided what goes where so its a mutual thing? Altho as for cleaning the house, Finrod does that.

who gets most excited about the holidays

They both do, but I think Rhys a bit more. He never really had that big happy family holiday thing, and ever since he met Finrod he suddenly has this huge family that loves him. It took a while to get used to, but by the time he and Finrod are dating everything would have become a bit more comfortable and absolutely love it.

who is the big spoon/little spoon

Rhys is the little spoon, Finrod is the big spoon. But they do switch sometimes during the night, and sometimes Finrod is the lil spoon too.

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports

They dont play sports, but they do have training together in school. They play chess too. Hands down, without a doubt, Rhys is the most competitive. Finrod is the push over who always lets Rhys win haha.

who starts the most arguments

They dont really argue, but one can say technically its Finrod. XD The only time they argue is when Rhys is sick and grumpy, and Finrod unintentionally aggravates him into starting arguments.

who suggests that they buy a pet

Finrod! He knows Rhys is worried about having them even if he does want them. So, Finrod suggests solutions to how both he and Rhys can both take care of the pet safely without having to worry. That way Rhys can actually have a pet for once. They get fish first and describes all the different kinds so Rhys can pick out which he wants.

what couple traditions they have

Reading

what tv shows they watch together

Rhys doesnt watch tv shows, so anything Finrod watches is sort of on a whim.

what other couple they hang out with

Well they’ve hung out with Finrod’s brothers and their girlfriends. When they’re living in their apartment they hang out with their neighbors. Oh, and probably as teens they hung out with Jean and Scott.

how they spend time together as a couple

Tbh i feel like you can get the idea from everything above haha. They simply just live their lives together loving one another. Finrod makes sure Rhys can live his life to the fullest now without being held back as much as possible. They take care of each other, and read, go on vacation, take walks through parks, have picnics, play with each others hair, just cuddle. And once older, certain daily things that the neighbors hear are added into the picture X’D

who made the first move

Hmm another tricky question but i’ll say Rhys. He turned to kiss Finrod first. The drunk encounter doesnt exactly count bc Finrod was extremely drunk and didnt really know what he was doing.

who brings flowers home

Finrod

who is the best cook

Finrod, Rhys cant cook XD.