#rowan laughs in Spanish

[rootsbe4branches-trolls]

Love: The heartthorb

Not only is she their neightbor, she is one of guy diamond’s moms and also a lesbian

If you can’t read the poem:

“Roses are red

Skies are bleu blue

I don’t know how to rhyme

I choked on an skittle yesterday

I like you”

He was grounded for 3 months

[queentala]

Random small headcanons for my fav SJM men

Those are totally random thoughts I had and just kept collecting, also I'll be adding new ones when I'll come up with something. Feel free to reblog and add yours <3

I think Gavriel can draw really well, especially with pencil. Like, you know, he's a really precise and detailed guy, plus thanks to his soldier skills he has really stable hands, and it just sits right with me

Azriel loves when you paint his nails black. Also once you made him wear eyeliner and he actually really liked the results, so now from time to time he lets you do it

Aedion has his ears pierced but doesn't wear any earrings (it was probably a dare, even more likely he was drunk then)

Ruhn likes to have a small, faint lamp put on when he sleeps. It looks like a white sparkle and doesn't cast much light but having it next to his bed makes him feel somehow more safe and comfy

Also, he loves being held while sleeping. When you let him snuggle to your chest and hold him tight... It's his paradise, he can stay like this for eternity

Cassian is very ticklish (especially on feet). It's actually his secret because, come on, he's the Lord of Bloodshed, how can he be ticklish? And of course you fully respect that, not wanting his reputation to suffer, however, when it's just the two of you... Let's say Cass has to be pretty alert most times as you love to take advantage of that

Fenrys always brings you a plushie from his travels to foreign countries. Actually, he brings you many different things like jewellery, dresses, combs, mirrors, gems... everything. But a plushie, is a must. You have a whole collection of small cute stuffed animals (mostly wolves) from different parts of the world. Every one of them has a name, personality and a back story which you and Fenrys always come up with

Aedion is a horse girl. He rides so well and just loved being around those animals since he was a little boy. Often he takes you on all day long trips around Terrasen. Also he has few of his favorite horses and he spoils them so much, they're just his babies.

He also probably has like six dogs and wants to adopt every one he sees on the street

Lorcan most of the times either doesn't cuddle or is the big spoon. However, after really hard day he loves to fall asleep with his face in your breasts and his hair stroked

Sometimes when Rowan is engrossed in his work, he hums songs mindlessly

Fenrys talks in his sleep, and this goes to the point where you can literally argue with him or have a whole conversation as he's asleep

Aedion swears a lot. Gavriel doesn't swear almost ever and his face when Aedion starts throwing curses he could never imagine is just priceless

However, Gavriel knows many langues. So, whenever he's angry and finally hit his breaking point, he starts shit talking and insulting everyone in a foreign langue no one knows (just imagine him aggressively talking to himself in Spanish while walking around and throwing hands in the air lol)

Cassian always sleeps naked and refuses (will literally get offended) to do otherwise, even if there are different people sleeping in the room (read: Azriel)

Dorian baby talks to his dogs. Sometimes when he does this he forgets that he is a king and then have the whole castle talking about it for the next week (people find it adorable though. some of them at least.)

Rowan always has some blades with him. Always. Dude could be standing in the room only in his boxers and still proceed to pull out a knife from gods know where

Also, he will never admit it but he has some of his favorite blades that he had named. But if you'd ever done this he would laugh at you

Once you've gotten Ruhn a bracelet for his birthday that was a guitar pick of his favorite guitarist on a black string and from then he doesn't take it off. Ever.

We know Ruhn has this very rare and useful ability to speak in people's minds, however his favorite way to use those abilities is to make the dumbest jokes in your head in the most random moments and watch you burst out laughing around all those strangers that have no idea what is going on

GAVRIEL HAS DIMPLES

AND SO FUCKING DOES AEDION

(he also got the big d genes from him but it's the topic for other post)

So, Fenrys is a master at coming up with the weirdest nicknames for his loved one, however, no one compares to Cassian in this matter. His creativity sometimes is more than flesh and blood can bear

Lorcan is actually the biggest girl dad

Let's be honest, Dorian has better skin care than any lady in the whole sjm universe

Cassian loves being called your pretty princess

Azriel loves puzzles. And Legos! There's no better way to spend your day off than building castles and forts, and then having an actual battle between your kingdoms

Bat boys are not really fond of thunder... I think they have bad experiences with flying during storm and it haunts them to this day. They always want to be the little spoons and be cuddled when there's a storm outside

Azriel has bat slippers and Fenrys has wolf or bunny slippers

Dorian loves wearing sygnets. He has so many and you're simply obsessed with them. He's a king, he has to look decent, you know, but Dorian loves wearing them even if it's just the two of you snuggling or sitting in the library reading. Or when he fucks you and you can feel them dig into your skin when he grabs your ass..

Lorcan enjoys having his hair combed. He just melts when you do it. And if you do a little braid somewhere on his head he will keep it and wear it for the next few days

Gavriel is the best dancer you will ever meet. On the balls he can easily make everyone's attention turn to the two of you. But he also likes to dance with you in your house or chambers, where there are no people or music, and to be honest both of you like those moments much better

To be continued....

[pynkhues]

Baby for the wip game…….

Still a little rough, and a lot more than a sentence, haha, but have a snippet from the weird cruising roleplay fic, haha.

-

“And you would do it here?” Lestat asks, lip curling just slightly as his own gaze travels from the dirt path they stand on down into the undergrowth below the sessile oaks and the beech trees, catching on the dead wood and the rowan and the spaghum moss. “In the dirt?”

“Sometimes,” Louis says, a grin finding his face when Lestat peers back at him with something between amusement and distaste on his face. He shakes his head, can’t quite swallow the laugh when he adds: “You seriously standin’ there right now trying to tell me you’ve never fucked outside before?”

But the thought sits - - somewhere. Rattles in Louis’ head like a sheet of glass loose in its windowpane, because the truth of it all is that despite christening every horizontal (and more than a few vertical) surfaces in their house and others, Louis had made a point of never taking Lestat down to the bayou in all those years in Rue Royale. It had felt important at the time, although Louis still isn’t entirely sure why it had.

Had contemplated it on occasion over the years when fantasies of Lestat had found him both in bed and out of it. Had wondered whether it had been out of a sense of obligation to protect those closeted gay men in his home city, who found sanctuary in the low hanging trees and the stench of stagnant water, chasing shadows and the sound of a belt unbuckled, for lord, hadn’t Louis been one of them once? Or out of his own insecurity that Lestat’s wandering gaze might catch on another.

Or - perhaps more truthfully - it had been simply the fact that he had swapped the shame of fucks and fumbles in beds of leaves below canopies of Spanish moss for lovemaking on Egyptian cotton, in a bed that cost more than any his father had ever owned, on a street his grandfather could never have dreamed of living on. A social ascent that bought privacy and painted the illusion of power, freedom, control in a way that had meant something to him once.

A pride that hadn’t felt quite as important when the years and the miles had wrestled the memory of the man he’d been once into submission.

“Ne sois pas ridicule,” Lestat says now, jerking Louis from his thoughts. “I have enjoyed the company of many in Mother Nature’s generous environs. In fact, in the Auvergne there were rarely places better to find yourself than between the legs of a peasant in the wheat fields, but has time not blessed us with its fineries and the fortunes to buy them? Why dirty your knees when you can cool them on marble floors instead?”

And it’s there, Louis thinks, despite himself, grin widening even as his chest tightens with something that feels alarmingly close to love, the thought that maybe Lestat would get it if he were to tell him why he never took him to the bayou. That maybe for Lestat, penniless aristocrat that he once was, getting to fuck inside a dressed up house, with both its comforts and its symbolic status, had meant something to him too. Still, dangerous territory, Louis thinks, at least for now, with them flirting with the fringes of real intimacy, so he laughs instead, the sound carrying down the dark path ahead of them.

“Take the prince out of his castle, but can’t take the castle out of the prince, huh?” he says, accent thickening even to his own ears as Lestat huffs in faux-annoyance, smile twitching at his lips. “Sorry, baby, I’ll make sure the cushions are plumped for you tonight. Call Doris right now and see to it.”

It’s enough to make Lestat roll his eyes back at him, but he sees it - - a curiosity, maybe, that click-sparks something in the air between them that leaves Louis a little warmer.

Send me a word and if it's in my WIP, I'll post a little something

[nothingnowheres]

Introduction.

If you're hearing My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski playing, you have to know Rowan Burke (She/Her, Cis Woman) is near by! The 28 year old teacher has been in town for, like, six months. They're known to be quite blunt, but being outgoing seems to balance that out, or maybe it's the fact that they resemble Adeline Rudolph. Personally, I'd love to know more about them seeing as how they've got those wide smiles, loud laughs, summer sundresses, and cherry-stained lips, and maybe I'll get my chance if I hang out around Brightside long enough!

Basics.

Height: 5'9"

Age: 28

Hair color: Dark Brown

Eye color: Brown

Gender: Cis Woman

Pronouns: She/Her

Occupation: French Teacher

Extras.

Languages: English, French, Spanish, Korean

Dominant hand: Right

Siblings: Quinton Burke

Pets: N/A

Relationship status: single, but complicated

About.

[ Car accident tw, death tw, pregnancy tw ]

Born and raised in France, Rowan is the youngest of the late Silas Burke and Jisoo Choi. Although their marriage did not work out, Rowan's childhood was happy and, to some, very cushy. She was deeply loved and cherished by her father and had a great bond with her older brother. Her mother, a former model, was more like a random visitor, but Rowan liked the adventures they went on every once in a blue moon.

Oscar was one of her constants. Rowan has very few childhood memories without him. He was always close and in the background of her childhood a love story unfolded. He was her father's best friend, then a pseudo-uncle, and later her stepfather in every sense of the word except legally.

Rowan, with the support of her fathers, made the decision to attend university in the states. She traded France for California and spent the next four years of her life traveling up the California coast between final exams and term papers.

Her graduation came almost too soon. Rowan walked across the stage to the cheers of the most important people in her life: her dads and her brother.

The plan after graduation was to return to France for one last, perfect summer. For the first couple of days it was exactly that: perfect. The weather was beautiful, the wine was decadent, and there were no responsibilities.

The car accident ended the perfect summer with a funeral and a stepfather who was just a shell of the person she always knew. Suddenly, Rowan no longer recognized Oscar and maybe, in a way, Oscar no longer recognized his children in his grief.

Life, unfortunately, goes on. Rowan returned to the states for work during the winter. She struggled to find enjoyment in the hazy mists of Seattle, but her job was a distraction. Maybe, she was too distracted to realize how much Oscar was struggling -- maybe, that's why she can't fully bring herself to hate him for what he did next.

Oscar's letter was a shock. Oscar was going to return to the states; at first, it seemed like an opportunity to draw closer together, but instead they just drifted further and further away.

A few months turned to a year, then two, then four, and now six. A lot has happened in those six years, things that Rowan has only shared with Oscar in bits and pieces -- like her pregnancy.

Her child's father had been a bit of a distraction. Some light slicing through the gray, but Rowan couldn't bare the idea of telling someone casual that she was pregnant only for him to leave, too.

So, Rowan didn't tell him. She told her brother and, by letter, she told Oscar. In her third trimester Rowan began to think more about Oscar. Her father was gone, her mother was never more than a fleeting visitor, but why would she deny her baby Oscar? Why wouldn't she at least try to mend what slowly broke?

It took some convincing (tears) to get her older brother to agree to the move to Hemlock Springs; the town on all of Oscar's letters. In the end, Quinton made the move with her. That was six months ago, and it's been three since her daughter, Poppy, was born; she hopes three more months will not pass until she works up the courage to let the only father she has, the only grandfather Poppy has, back into their lives.

[fox-buried-in-maple-leaves]

from true name to laughter, céfiro, amelia, and marilla

True Name. What is their name's meaning, origin, etc?

Céfiro is the Spanish version of the name Zephyr which means west wind. I wanted his name to be flighty, I can't explain it well. But I wanted it to be fluid in a way but not relating to water. So, wind!

Portal. What is a crossover you've done/thought about for this character?

It's actually kind of unfortunate cause the Destan-Mixtio kids don't actually exist in a lot of my ad vitam aus?? So I haven't thought of very many!!

Softly. Describe one of their dreams, good or bad (with proper warnings).

Céfiro has an unfortunate amount of nightmares about his and Araceli's time on the streets. Céf always made a point to protect 'celi, even if she didn't know it. And as a result he's seen/experienced a lot of things he doesn't talk about, they tend to haunt him.

Metamorphosis. Has this character evolved/changed since you first conceptualized them?

Nah Céfiro has stayed mostly the same.. Though I've fleshed out the differences between when we meet him as a teenager and how he is as an adult, but that's not really changing that's just.. growing up lmao?

Treasure. What is something they like/love?

Céfiro loooves tattoos.. It's why he becomes a tattoo artist lol

Home. Describe their relationship with someone in their family, friend group, with a QPP, a romantic interest, etc.

He and Araceli are inseparable. They cannot imagine a life apart, its why they ran away from foster care, so they couldn't be separated. There is nothing he wouldn't do for his twin,,

Role Model. Did you take inspiration from another character when creating them?

A little bit from Cirino tbh? But he's mostly on his own,, as an adult he's got very similar traits to Vesper and Alee as well though, but again parenting..

Laughter. What is their sense of humor, or lack thereof? (Bonus: What does their laugh sound like?)

He's a jokester, he lovesss pranks too! His laugh is loud, it always gets others laughing too.

True Name. What is their name's meaning, origin, etc?

Okay.. Lol. Amelia Johnson is her name and I chose it because it sounded really stereotypical white eng american.

Portal. What is a crossover you've done/thought about for this character?

Unfortunately same as above.

Softly. Describe one of their dreams, good or bad (with proper warnings).

She's laying in a field of wildflowers, sun shining on her skin, its warm, and the breeze smells like honey. She can hear her family laughing and there's a blanket underneath her and she is at peace.

Metamorphosis. Has this character evolved/changed since you first conceptualized them?

No not really! Same circumstance as the above where I've just changed how she acts between 18 and her mid 20s.

Treasure. What is something they like/love?

Amelia love loves caramels.. Guilty pleasure snack

Home. Describe their relationship with someone in their family, friend group, with a QPP, a romantic interest, etc.

Being Alee's biological child but not Vesper's makes her feel a tad odd sometimes.. She overcompensates in a way by spending a lot of time doing stuff with Vesper! She's learned how to clean weapons, how to help xem if xyr motorcycle breaks down, and she has a bunch of fun mixology books based on games/books/movies/ect.

Role Model. Did you take inspiration from another character when creating them?

Rowan made the picrew and then I went WILD, but for her personality and stuff no not really

Laughter. What is their sense of humor, or lack thereof? (Bonus: What does their laugh sound like?)

She doesn't laugh at childish stuff, but if you give her a really complex joke she'll laugh so hard she snorts for ten minutes...

True Name. What is their name's meaning, origin, etc?

Marilla means 'Shining Sea' and this is because I wanted a water based name to match River! Her middle name is based off of Cirino's name cause she isss named after him.

Portal. What is a crossover you've done/thought about for this character?

Criminal Minds au! but uh not many thoughts there, sorry..

Softly. Describe one of their dreams, good or bad (with proper warnings).

Marilla has this odd reoccurring dream where she doesn't have any fingers and then she wakes up and has to check her hands before going "phew!"

Metamorphosis. Has this character evolved/changed since you first conceptualized them?

She originally started as Alee and Vesper's adopted daughter in Criminal Minds au before becoming their first bio kid in canon. She used to not like them at all cause of being overprotective of River in that au

Treasure. What is something they like/love?

Her family, more than anything.

Home. Describe their relationship with someone in their family, friend group, with a QPP, a romantic interest, etc.

Her relationship with River is really sweet. She loves them dearly. She's protective of them and she'll do anything to keep them safe. Especially safe from what their respective clans expect from them. Hence her taking on the Mixtio mantle.

Role Model. Did you take inspiration from another character when creating them?

She is heavily based off of Alee's original personality before I changed him :) she is also supposed to share some similarities with Sienna/Senette.

Laughter. What is their sense of humor, or lack thereof? (Bonus: What does their laugh sound like?)

She'll laugh at anything if its said in the right tone lmao.. she's a huge giggler. a bit muffled cause she tends to cover her mouth when she giggles.

[live-the-fangirl-life]

I posted 1,545 times in 2022

154 posts created (10%)

1,391 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@morganofthewildfire

@writtenonreceipts

@shyvioletcat

@live-the-fangirl-life

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I tagged 243 of my posts in 2022

#asks - 56 posts

#rowaelin - 46 posts

#throne of glass - 30 posts

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#aelin and rowan - 27 posts

#rowaelin fic - 27 posts

#rowan and aelin - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 84 characters

#he would grumble and roll his eyes and act annoyed when she introduces him like that

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Cusco, Peru

A World Away Part 6

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn - World Travelers AU

Travel Tip #67: Be aware and respectful of the history around you—in the long-treaded paths, the ruins of lost civilizations, and in the people whose ancestry can be traced back to both.

Part 5 | Fic Masterlist | MoodBoard | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language

11,091 words

*******

The weather was balmy, and Aelin could feel a rivulet of sweat run down the side of her hairline as she kept her phone pressed to her ear.

“I just grabbed my bag. Where are you?” She asked into the speaker, spinning in place as she scanned the small, bustling airport. Without waiting for a response, she followed the flow of people out of the building and towards the eager hordes of taxi drivers, all gesturing to travelers and calling out to say they could drive them wherever they needed to go.

Adjusting the strap of her backpack that was digging into her shoulder, Aelin kept her cellphone pressed close so she could still hear over the hum of chatter around her while she continued to look for a familiar face.

“Keep walking, I see you,” a deep, accented voice responded. “We’re at the end of the row.”

“We?” she asked, confused, carefully avoiding running into anyone’s bags and suitcases.

The sun and heat were welcome changes from the ever-too-cool airports and obnoxious fluorescent lighting that had defined her last day and a half. Not to mention how much she appreciated getting to truly stretch her legs. Navigating the maze-like airport terminals wasn’t as refreshing as stepping out from baggage claim and into whatever world she’d ended up in.

“Luis and I,” he clarified before saying something in muffled Spanish, “He’s the cab driver I got earlier—insisted on coming back when I explained you’d be flying in now.”

Aelin sped up to pass a family of slow walkers, and as she moved around them and back onto the sidewalk, she spotted a tall, silver-haired man with a cell phone pressed to his ear.

The small smile he wore widened into a grin when he caught her eye and hung up the call. Matching that grin, Aelin quickly shoved her phone into her pocket before hurrying over towards him.

Unlike last time she’d seen Rowan in person when he’d been taken aback by her unexpected hug in Dublin, this time he was the one to approach her, wrapping his arms around her before she could barrel into him. Aelin laughed into his shirt, suppressing her surprise at his unprompted show of affection as she returned the hug.

Her brain felt too tired from the exhausting hours it took to arrive in Peru—the flights, connections, and layovers—to think too much about why she suddenly felt so comfortable. She allowed herself another moment to hang onto him before pulling back and grinning again. “Buzzard! Would you look at that, we’re in the same place and not by accident this time!”

His face instantly morphed into that of long-suffering amusement. Rolling his eyes, Rowan carded a hand through his hair and Aelin had to use more restraint than she expected to not stare at the way his sleeves stretched over his muscled arms. Damned travel exhaustion. He chuckled, seemingly oblivious to her momentarily dilemma, “One of these days, I’m going to come up with a name for you that’s just as awful as Buzzard.”

“Promise?” She winked, laughing.

He shook his head exasperatedly but smirked.

Aelin was thrilled at how natural it felt to talk to him. Despite their frequent conversations—after she’d given him her number, he quickly became the person she spoke to the most on a regular basis—it had still been practically four months since they’d seen each other in person.

She kept him updated on where she was headed next, and he told her all about his projects and where he’d be flying to on any particular day. Neither one could be counted on to be in the same time zone from week to week, sometimes leaving hours between the shortest of messages. But, in a way, their disjointed conversations were more reliable than those she had with her parents or friends back home, because she knew that despite unpredictable schedules, she and Rowan could keep a conversation going for days at a time.

“Buenos días, miss. My name is Luis.” The cab driver came around the hood of the car and greeted her warmly in an enunciated, Peruvian accent as he held out his hand for her luggage. “I can put your bags in the back.”

Noticing his dubious expression when all she handed him was her large backpack, she shrugged and explained, “I didn’t want to worry about dealing with a suitcase,” she shared an excited glance with Rowan, “with our plans and all.”

They slid into the back of the small car, Rowan wincing slightly at the way his long legs were squished behind the driver’s seat. Aelin leaned over and playfully knocked his shoulder with hers. “It’s good to see you, Rowan.”

His face softened a fraction, and his smile was small and genuine. “It’s good to see you too, Aelin. Even if you do ridiculously insist on naming me after a bird.”

Her snort was cut off by Luis grinning at them in the rearview mirror as he nodded to the land around them and began driving away. “¡Bienvenido a Cusco!”

***

See the full post

168 notes - Posted January 20, 2022

#4

New York City, United States

A World Away Part 7

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn - World Travelers AU

Travel Tip #79: For the best experience in any city, try to pair the excitement of a tourist with the know-how of a local. Both perspectives will enlighten the other.

Part 6 | Fic Masterlist | MoodBoard | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language

12,010 words

*******

“I’m so excited,” Lysandra beamed giddily to Elide who rolled her eyes but smirked in agreement. “We finally get to meet your mysterious, worldly man.”

The bustling sounds of Third Avenue were quieted by the terrace of flowers separating the outdoor tables from the rest of Manhattan. Aelin looked through the small spaces between half-open petals and watched as dark cars flew by, accented by the tell-tale bright yellow of a taxicab.

She snorted, going back to perusing the brunch menu. “He isn’t my anything. He’s just Rowan.” Aelin didn’t miss the sidelong glance her friends exchanged.

“I didn’t exactly mean it like that, but since you brought it up,” Lysandra drawled, sipping from her mimosa as a sly grin stretched across her face, widening at Aelin’s sigh. “This is Rowan we’re talking about. The same Rowan who met you halfway across the world for a four-day trek through the jungle.”

“It was not—” Aelin shook her head and put her menu down, but Elide cut in.

“The same Rowan with whom you spent an entire day in Marrakesh talking to,” The brunette raised a brow as Lysandra nodded fervently. “Completely blowing off your scheduled bazaar tour.”

“Okay,” the blonde tried to wave them off. “That wasn’t a big deal because I’d already been wandering around the bazaar—”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you spent hours catching up with a veritable stranger,” Lysandra retorted.

“He wasn’t a stranger. And it had been, like, seven months since we’d seen each other at that point.” Aelin argued, picking up her own glass of citrusy prosecco.

“Right,” Elide grinned. “Seven months since the two of you miraculously met in Santorini—”

“Technically we met on the boat to Santorini—”

“Where he was so enthralled by you,” Elide talked over her, trying to prove her point, “that he took your picture and used it as,” she turned towards Lysandra, feigning forgetfulness, and ignored the way Aelin sat back with her arms crossed, staring indignantly at them.

“His Enchanting Moment.” Lysandra finished helpfully.

Right. That had been a surprise. After Rowan had shown her the photo and brief magazine spread, Aelin went searching for the full edition. It wasn’t until a few weeks later while strolling through the streets of Barcelona that she found the magazine at a small roadside stand. She’d made friends with her hostel manager and got her to translate the multi-page article that held her image. Later, Aelin had found an English version which she bought as a keepsake along with a subscription to the magazine.

Aelin was saved from her friend’s prying by the waiter who came to take their orders. Once he’d walked away, she said, “Look, think whatever you want, just please don’t be weird when he’s here.”

Lysandra batted her eyelashes. “Why? Afraid we’ll embarrass you in front of your secret, jet-setting lover?”

Her friend laughed as Aelin threw a grape at her face. “I’m serious, Lys,” Aelin rolled her eyes, huffing a laugh as two of her closest friends teased her. “You too, Lochan. Rowan is my friend. Gods know it took us long enough to even get to that point. I don’t need you two meddling. And I really don’t want to lose my travel partner because you’ve somehow got it into your heads that there’s something between us.”

Her friends’ smirks softened, and they shared another look before Elide asked, “Is there something between you?”

That was complicated. So very complicated.

Aelin scoffed again but this time it felt a little hollow. “I’ve seen him a total of six times—”

“Tomorrow will make seven—”

“—in two years, El. And half of those were just us yelling and arguing with each other.”

See the full post

178 notes - Posted March 11, 2022

#3

Lucky Lady

Gwyneth Berdara x Azriel

“Surpri—oh shit, you’re not…” / “Oh my god! What the hell? Where are your clothes?”

Masterlist | Read on Ao3 | Valentines Collection

Warnings: Language, Nudity

997 words

*******

Azriel wasn’t totally sure what he was doing, standing in Gwyn’s apartment without a scrap of clothing, waiting for her to walk through the door.

He glanced towards her kitchen island where he’d placed a bouquet of roses into a tall vase. She had gone out to a girl’s brunch with Nesta and Emerie, letting him know that they’d left the restaurant and she would be free soon.

Azriel had let himself into her apartment with the key she’d given him a few months prior, wanting to be there when she got back so they could have as much time as possible to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

“This is a good idea, right?” he muttered to the stuffed animal perched on the back of Gwyn’s sofa. The light pink Pegasus stared back with unseeing, sparkly eyes as it held a small red heart between its hooves that said Happy Valentine’s Day.

The moment he had seen the toy, he knew he needed to buy it for Gwyn.

He heard the metallic sound of a key in the lock, and knew he didn’t have any more time to second guess himself.

Buck-ass naked, Azriel stepped between the living room and the kitchen, in direct view of the door. He grabbed the stuffed animal in one hand and the box of chocolates he’d bought for her in the other.

Squaring his shoulders, Azriel flexed his muscles and glanced down at himself smugly as he adjusted his stance.

Gwyn’s apartment door swung open.

He cleared his throat. “Supri—" he grinned, before abruptly cutting off in a choke. “Oh shit, Nesta? Fuck.”

He immediately dropped his hands to cover himself, the chocolates and Pegasus falling to the floor.

“Oh my god!” Nesta cried, her eyes flying wide before she clamped a hand over them and spun around so her back was facing him. “What the hell? Where are your clothes?”

His face aflame, Azriel hastily reached for the pillow on the sofa to use as cover. Then he threw himself behind the kitchen island so his lower half was completely out of sight.

“Nesta?” Gwyn’s frantic, worried voice called out as she hurried towards her apartment. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Azriel was speechless, utterly mortified as his girlfriend rounded the door, searching for the cause of her friend’s shriek.

“Nes—what?” She pulled up short as her gaze immediately found his. He watched as Gwyn looked at him, his bare chest—as much as she could see behind the counter—the chocolates and stuffed animal on the floor, and Nesta who still had her back to him.

The longer her teal eyes darted around, the higher her brows rose. When she caught his eye again, he noticed hers were twinkling with barely contained amusement. Then she pursed her lips together as she tried to hold in a laugh.

Gods, she was never going to let him live this down.

Without taking her eyes off Azriel, Gwyn said to her friend, “Thanks for lunch, Nes, but I think you should probably go now.” Her words were steady but he watched as her gaze darkened as she realized he was fully nude behind the counter.

Nesta nodded without turning around so all he saw was the bob of her hair. She took a step out of the apartment but stopped right next to Gwyn. She didn’t bother to lower her voice as she winked at Gwyn, “You’re a lucky lady, Berdara.” Then Nesta Archeron walked out the door.

Azriel closed his eyes in humiliation but couldn’t help the small swell of male pride. It vanished almost immediately though as he leaned forward and let his head fall against the cool marble with a thud.

The door clicked shut and he heard it lock before Gwyn’s bright cackle filled the room. He groaned as his girlfriend seemed to find the whole situation hilarious.

Azriel heard her move closer to him and pick up the gifts discarded on the ground. When he knew she was close he grumbled into the counter, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

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179 notes - Posted January 28, 2022

#2

Fake Fiancé

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn

Prompt from @backtobl4ck : Fake proposals at restaurants to get free food

Masterlist | Read on Ao3

Warnings: None

896 words

*******

“I’ll have a Tanqueray martini, stirred, with a twist.”

Aelin let her long coat rest over the side of the low-backed barstool she perched on as her gaze surveyed the dimly lit restaurant behind her. Everyone was dressed to the nines, draped in designer clothing and bedecked in jewels, herself included, which only exemplified the opulent atmosphere.

Low chatter dissolved within the quiet music filtering through invisible speakers. Candles lined the walls, illuminating the soft-toned paintings placed about.

She crossed one leg over the other, the silt in her dress falling away to expose smooth skin and toned muscle, and tossed her long golden hair over one shoulder. Her heel began to sway to the low beat.

“Thank you,” she murmured to the bartender who handed over her drink. Lifting the chilled glass to her crimson-painted lips, Aelin loosed a small, contented sigh at the velvety smooth cocktail. Her eyes closed for a moment while she sipped again, enjoying the light citrusy flavor of the lemon rind.

A chorus of applause caught her attention and Aelin twisted in her seat to look towards the side of the restaurant where a woman was rising from her kneeling position on the floor, beaming as she slipped a bright engagement ring onto her girlfriend’s—fiancés—finger.

Aelin felt the corner of her mouth quirk up at the obvious display of happiness and lifted her glass in gesture as more applause rang out. She hadn’t yet turned back to the bar when Aelin heard, what had to be the manager, approach the two women and insist their dinner be on the house while also offering a complimentary bottle of wine or champagne with a hearty congratulations.

She huffed out a soft snort and muttered “I’d get engaged right now if it meant getting that lobster tail comped.”

A deep chuckle to her right made Aelin whip her head around to see who had heard her, mouth already open to ask why they felt entitled to react to her obviously rhetorical comment. The words got caught in her throat, however, when her eyes landed on the man sitting two seats down from her.

His thick hair was so pale it looked silver under the glow of the warm lights. He was tall, he didn’t need to get up for her to see that. And muscled. The arms resting on the sleek bar were toned and strong, and a tattoo peeked out from beneath the sleeves of his dress shirt he’d rolled up to his elbows.

Aelin dragged her eyes back to his face and found him staring at her with piercing green eyes. He was smirking, obviously enjoying the way she had hesitated and checked him out.

Blinking, Aelin remembered why she turned to him in the first place. Arching a golden brow and taking a smooth sip of her martini, she asked, “Something you’d like to say?”

His smirk slowly widened and he lifted his own drink, an Old Fashioned by the looks of it, to his lips. She tightened her grip on her glass while he held her gaze before replying, “Only that I would've gone with the Wagyu.”

Her brow rose higher as the hum of chattering continued around them. Aelin shifted again, angling her body more towards his. “Is that so?”

She swept her eyes over him with deliberate slowness and let him see the glimmer of interest on her face. In one smooth move, he stood from his chair, grabbed his jacket, and took the seat directly beside her.

He shrugged with an irreverence that seemed to say, your choice, but tilted his glass towards her and leaned in. “The real question is would you accept the bottle of Zinfandel or Champagne?”

Aelin sat back in her chair, a smirk playing on her lips that grew when she caught his gaze stray towards them. “Well, seeing as the lobster would pair best with a Chardonnay, not a red, and if my fiancé was having the Wagyu steak which would preferably be had with a Barolo or Syrah, and not a Zinfandel,” she paused, sipping her martini and enjoying the slow grin blossoming across the man’s face. “I would opt for the complimentary bottle of Champagne to share.”

Nodding his agreement, he finished his drink and set it on the bar before extending his hand towards her. “Rowan.”

Aelin held his gaze, aware of how he kept his hand out in offering as she sipped the last of her cocktail and set the empty glass next to his. She smiled and placed her hand in his. “Aelin.”

Without breaking eye contact, he shifted their handshake so he lightly held her fingers and brought them to his mouth, pressing a lingering kiss to her knuckles. “Aelin,” he dragged her name out, and she instantly enjoyed the way it sounded coming from him. “How would you like to get fake engaged tonight?”

Her smile broadened and his soon followed. “I would love to.”

Aelin stood from her barstool and discreetly removed one of the rings she wore, sliding it towards Rowan and letting her fingers graze his skin for a second longer than necessary.

Standing to his full height, he pocketed the ring and winked at her. “After you,” he insisted and rested a hand lightly on the small of her back as they walked toward the dinner tables.

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189 notes - Posted February 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

ooh what about "I'm not drunk. Can a drunk person do this?" / "You're not doing anything." / "But...I sent you my love. Did you...did you not get it?" for rowaelin? definitely seems like an aelin thing to say 😂

Sending My Love

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn

“I’m not drunk. Could a drunk person do this?” / “You’re not doing anything.” / “But…I sent you my love. Did you…did you not get it?”

Masterlist | Read on Ao3 | Valentines Collection

Warnings: Language

2405 words

*******

“Are you ready for tonight?” Aelin asked, looking in the hall mirror as she put in her sparkling pink earrings.

Rowan grabbed his jacket and walked towards her. “Yes, Fireheart, I’m ready.” He showed her the remaining crumbs from his extra sandwich as proof. “Are you?”

She smirked at him in the mirror. “Of course. A little deception is exciting.”

He arched a brow and held out her jacket for her to slide her arms in, “You have the same look in your eye that you had when you were planning Aedion’s surprise party.”

She grinned, buttoning her jacket and turning towards him, “And you remember how amazing that turned out.”

Rowan snorted as he grabbed the keys and locked the door of their apartment behind them. “I have no doubt in you. Not when it comes to scheming.”

Aelin laughed and flashed him a wink as they got in the car and drove off towards Lysandra and Aedion’s house. Despite her confidence, she couldn’t help the anxiety that bubbled up.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? Should I have set out a bucket for you by the bed before we left?” She bit the side of her thumb, a nervous habit, and cast him a sidelong glance as they drove towards the house.

He scoffed but took her hand in his and brought their intertwined fingers to his lips, kissing her softly. “No. I can handle my drink. I’ve had a fair bit of practice. Besides, it’s not like we’re going out to a club, it’s just a small party with some friends, I doubt there will be that many drinks.”

She huffed a laugh and nodded. Rowan pulled up into the driveway and turned the car off, leaning over and pressing a firm kiss on her lips, breaking away when their smiles made it mostly teeth on teeth. He followed Aelin up the front steps. She knocked on the door and turned to Rowan. “Then let’s do this Mr. Whitethorn-Galathynius.”

His answering grin was equal parts determined and happy. “After you Mrs. Whitethorn-Glathynius.”

***

“To celebrating love,” Elide toasted, raising her flute of champagne.

Lorcan stood next to her, one arm slung over the petite woman’s shoulders, and muttered, “To overpriced chocolates,” but mimicked her gesture of raising his glass.

Lysandra and Aedion had just moved into their brand-new house and decided to throw a Valentine’s Day party in lieu of a housewarming. Their small group of friends arrived an hour before the party officially started to get the full tour and celebrate before the house would be filled with love-sick and sick-of-love people.

They stood together in the kitchen as Aedion had handed out glasses, Aelin laughing as she leaned into Rowan’s side and snagged one of the chocolate hazelnut candies off the dessert table.

She smiled as champagne was poured and felt the fingers at her waist give a little squeeze. There was the toast to Valentine’s Day, making Aelin snort into her bubbling glass as Elide elbowed Lorcan with rolled eyes.

Rowan turned, masked by the whistles and laughter from their friends, and pretended to glance at the door as he downed his glass, before stealthily swapping his empty one for Aelin’s. When Aedion came to give her a hug, she cheersed the empty glass in her hand with his.

It wasn’t long before more people filled the house, bringing bottles of wine and champagne or plates full of food and treats.

“Ooh, you’ve got to try this!” Elide came over to Aelin and Rowan with two deep red cocktails with sugared raspberries in hand. She handed one to each of them. “Lys calls these Love Potions. Cranberry juice, grenadine, and a shit load of vodka!” Elide laughed, but quickly spotted someone else and hurried away.

“It smells so good.” Aelin groaned as Rowan took a few deep gulps of his, only briefly wincing at the burn. She pulled one of the raspberries off and made sure it hadn’t been soaking in the drink before plunking it in her mouth.

“Trade you,” he took her drink and she grabbed his.

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192 notes - Posted January 31, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[premleague]

"That is if we get time off at all." Sometimes work trips build in a few hours for them to go off and do whatever they want in the cities that they're in; it's easier for them than it is for the men, some of whom are recognisable in every country, on every corner, but thanks to the built in misogyny that seems to come with sport, their team can go just about anywhere they want without much issue. That being said, they'll be on a bit of a fast turnaround, what with club preseason starting soon after, and Rowan does want to watch the Olympics [ even if only to watch the football and hope to see the downfall of the Spanish team that defeated them last summer ].

"If she idolises me, why does she act like such a little shit all the time?" Rowan really oughtn't complain about one of their teammates like this, but in their mind, Parker deserves it. If she acted a bit less cuntlike to them they wouldn't have to complain at all. "And don't get me started about Tartt." They don't want to talk about the men's game in the slightest, especially not Jamie Tartt. Her stupid brother idolises that prick. Like it or not, Tartt might be the best City Academy graduate currently playing. And like it or not, Jack's technically a City Academy graduate. He worships the cunt. Rowan's not going to thank a men's player for doing what they believe is the bare minimum of speaking about both sides of their game. "We can finish our tea first, idiot. But yeah. We can go laugh at the stupid rich people shit, and then go do our actual shop when we're done."

"you know me, i do fucking love gardens and cinnamon rolls." ursula returns with a slight smile, poking her fingertip at the teabag in hopes it'll stew a bit more, glancing over at them, thinking about them on the bench in that game, about how squinting over in that general direction when she got a second would put her at ease - mostly because she knew they'd be keeping a good eye on everyone's performances, she'd be able to ask them at half time what they'd suggest her do to keep their sometimes-unruly backline in place. one of the reasons ursula was so drawn to rowan (along with the obvious reasons) was because of their head for the game - she thought she had a keen eye, but theirs? there was a reason they were captain.

"that kid idolises you, s'fuckin' obvious, that -- dunno why she's gotta be such a little shit about it. maybe she spends too much time with jamie tartt." not that she knew jamie beyond their crossovers at sgp. yeah, he was a very outspoken advocate for their game, but beyond that? she thought he was a cocky git much like the rest. she takes a hesitant sip of her tea, shelving the thoughts of family, "we can go for -- yeah, you're right. by the way. we can go do a shop now? i mean - we've got.. i just made tea, didn't i? but that'd be good. i'll get you somethin' nice for dinner and everything. maybe go laugh at the stupid rich people shit? always cheers me up, that."

[severalforraelee]

The Babysitters: Prove It Short Story

Prompt: Can you please do one where the guys babysit Rowan for a day and its complete chaos and Lando just being Lando with the baby ❤️

Written by raelee / Posted July 6

Word count: 1,870

Masterlist

Formula 1 Masterlist

Prove It Masterlist

“We’ll be gone for four hours,” Max pauses, his grip on the nine-month-old baby tightening. “I can probably convince them to cut it down to three-””You already convinced them to change the time of the filming twice,” Y/N rolls her eyes at her boyfriend.

It’s the first time that the pair will be leaving Rowan alone with a babysitter. And not just any babysitter, Charles Leclerc.

When Charles had found out that they were looking for someone to take care of Rowan for a few hours while they filmed a video for Red Bull Racing, he immediately volunteered, adoring the little boy since he first set eyes on him. Y/N accepted his offer, knowing how much he dotes on Rowan when he’s in the Ferrari garage, but Max was hesitant. Max just doesn’t trust anyone beside him and Y/N with his son.

“He should get one bottle at two o’clock while we’re gone-””I know, eight ounces, give him to me,” Charles holds out his arms excitedly, eyes focused on a wide-eyed Rowan.

Max hesitantly sets the baby in his rival’s arms. “And check his diaper every hour. Unless you smell poop, then change him earlier.”

“What is this?” A Spanish accent calls from across the Ferrari garage. The three adults and the baby turn, seeing Carlos with his arms crossed, staring at the group. He approaches them, holding his arms out to Charles. “I want the baby.”

“No, I’m babysitting him now,” Charles responds, turning away from Carlos to make sure he won’t take Rowan.

“Hey, you’re letting him babysit? The kid’s named after me,” Daniel sounds offended, appearing beside the group. Max gets more stressed as more drivers appear, and he looks like he’s about to explode by the time that Lando pops up by Daniel’s side.

Max turns to Y/N. “Maybe we should just forget about this.”

“What? No, it’ll be fine,” she reassures him, “They’ll take great care of him. Look at how happy he is.”

They both turn to look at the drivers and their son, Lando playing peek-a-boo with Rowan, Daniel and Rowan laughing, and Carlos subtly trying to grab the baby from Charles’ grip.

“I guess,” Max responds unsurely. “Our phones will be on.”

The two leave, Charles making Rowan wave his hand until Max has to stop looking over his shoulder.

“Finally, I thought they would never leave,” Charles says, making Rowan laugh. “What? What did I say that was so funny?”

“I think it’s your accent,” Lando points out as Rowan laughs again.

“Oh yeah? Say schedule, Lando,” Charles instructs.

“Guys, we don’t have time for this, do you realize the opportunity that we have here?” Daniel asks. They shake their heads. “Max never leaves us alone with Rowan.”

The drivers’ eyes light up at the realization.

“Let’s go.”

“Wait,” a voice stops them from leaving the Ferrari garage. They all turn to see Mattia walking towards them from the other end of the garage, a red object in his hand. He sets the baby bucket hat on Rowan’s head with the Ferrari logo facing forward. “Now everyone will know who he belongs to.”

“Belonging to Ferrari my ass,” Daniel scoffs as they leave the garage.

“He spends so much time in the garage that he calls me Uncle Charles,” Charles defends.

“He’s a baby, he can’t talk, you muppet,” Lando quips.

While Mick calls the group over to the Haas garage, Daniel sneaks into the McClaren garage to find an unused child shirt.

“Are you coming out to the ranch over winter break?” Mick coos to the baby. Max had approached him during the summer break about taking Rowan to the Schumacher ranch over winter break, wanting the baby to see all of the animals up close.

Rowan squeals, a wide smile releasing his drool as he reaches out to Uncle Mick. Charles’ grip on Rowan tightens as Mick frowns, reaching out his arms to hold the baby.

“It’s okay, Charles, I know how to hold him,” Mick reassures.

“I know it’s just, I don’t want to let him go,” the Monaco native admits.

“Give other people the chance to hold the baby, mate,” Lando whines.

“You’re just saying that because Max doesn’t trust you to ever hold Rowan,” Charles shoots back.

Rowan tilts himself closer to Mick and Charles reluctantly hands him the baby. Rowan rests his hands on the side of Mick’s face, smiling up at the driver and giggling as Mick gently bounces him. Carlos scoffs, the rest of the drivers turning to look at him.

“He doesn’t look at me like that,” he states, offended.

As soon as the words exit his mouth, Rowan erupts into screams, face instantly turning red as tears make their way down his cheeks.

“And I’m glad he doesn’t look at me like that either,” Carlos comments.

“What happened?” Daniel questions, wide-eyed, appearing with the T-shirt in his hand.

They all follow Rowan’s line of sight to see Kevin standing there, dumbfounded.

“What did you do?” Lando shouts as Mick comfortingly rocks Rowan back and forth, slowing down his sobs.

“Nothing, all I did was wave at him!”

“Well stop that!”

Rowan gets handed off to Carlos, who gives Charles a look to not try to take him from the Spaniard, and the group leaves the Haas garage. As they walk down the paddock, Daniel slips the shirt that’s still a bit too big over Rowan’s head and his arms in the sleeves. Lando giggles, taking a picture to post on his Instagram story.

“What is that?” A voice calls out from the Alpha Tauri garage.

The group enters, finding Pierre and Yuki standing there.

“What is what?” Daniel asks.

“Why is he wearing that T-shirt?” Pierre questions.

“Because McClaren is his favorite team.”

The group erupts into an argument, countering each other on why the team that they drive for is Rowan’s favorite team. Once they calm down, Pierre reaches out for Rowan, who Carlos passes over.

“See, Charles, that’s what you do when someone wants to hold him.” Charles smacks Carlos on the arm at his comment.

“Oh, can you take a picture of us? The ladies love a man with a baby,” Pierre gives his phone to Daniel to take photos. He sets one arm under Rowan’s legs, the other resting on his torso over the ‘McClaren.’

“Good, now move your hand.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want McClaren on my Instagram.”

Lando scoffs, and before another argument can ensue, Yuki asks, “Can I hold him?”

Pierre nods, moving to hand Rowan to Yuki. Except, Yuki’s hand slips, Rowan’s leg falling out of his grasp. The drivers gasp in unison, knowing that if something bad happened to Max’s son, none of them would see daylight again.

“That was too close,” Pierre warns, making sure that Yuki is fully grasping Rowan before letting him go.

“If anything happened to that baby you would’ve been killed,” Charles warns.

“But Max isn’t here,” Yuki points out, aware of Max’s overprotectiveness of his son.

“Yeah, but we are.”

Yuki freezes, laughing nervously. No one else laughs.

The Ferrari and McClaren drivers leave the Alpha Tauri garage, Rowan in Daniel’s arms as the older man coos to the baby.

“Let me hold him,” Lando urges, reaching out for him.

“How come as soon as I get to hold my godson-””He’s not your godson-””Someone has to take him from me?” Daniel whines, ignoring Charles’ interruption.

The debate of who’s Rowan’s godfather is a heated one.

Daniel sighs as no one responds, passing Rowan over to Lando. As soon as the nine-month-old is in his teammate’s arms, the baby erupts into tears, squirming around.

“What happened?” Carlos asks, panicked.

At the same time, Charles’ phone goes off. “It’s Y/N!”

The group begins to holler, causing Rowan to cry even louder.

“What’s going on?” Alex appears over Lando’s shoulder, smiling down at Rowan before looking at the frazzled group with concern.

“He won’t stop crying,” Lando shouts.

“Well you shouting doesn’t help,” Alex responds.

“What if I just don’t answer?” Charles questions.

“You have to answer, you have her kid.”

Charles heaves a deep breath before raising the phone to his ear, answering it. “Hey, Y/N.”

“Is that Rowan? Why’s he crying?” Max instantly asks.

“Does he need a bottle?” Alex questions.

Lando’s face lights up at the realization, reaching out to grab the bottle from Daniel as he finds it in the diaper bag. He hands it to the baby, who throws it on the ground.

“Mate, you’re the one who wanted that,” Lando scoffs.

Alex rolls his eyes, grabbing the bottle off of the ground before taking Rowan from Lando. He puts the bottle in Rowan’s mouth, instantly soothing his sobs.

“Uh, yeah, he just saw Toto,” Charles lies.

“See, I told you everything would be fine,” Y/N snarks to her boyfriend.

“Lando, I saw your Instagram story. It’s either the onesie or the T-shirt, it’s too warm for him to be wearing both,” Max ignores her.

“Will do, boss.”

Charles ends the phone call, Lando looking to the Thai driver in relief.

“Thanks for saving us there, mate.”

Alex looks at the group skeptically. “How much longer are Y/N and Max going to be gone?”

“An hour.”

“Can I trust you with Rowan for the hour?” Alex questions.

Carlos makes a noise of offense. “Please, as Rowan’s godfather-””You are not his godfather-””I can take great care of him.”

Alex checks Rowan’s diaper before handing him back to Charles, who cradles the baby as they keep walking down the paddock. The group decides to take him to the empty lawn, wanting him to breathe in some fresh air and see new surroundings.

“Look, there’s Seb,” Daniel points to the older man, the baby following his gaze.

“Is this Max’s little man?” Sebastian asks, picking up an empty cup.

“Yeah, this is Rowan,” Charles introduces, bouncing the baby up and down to make him giggle.

He doesn’t, too amazed by the picker in Sebastian’s hand.

“It’s a good thing he looks more like Y/N,” Sebastian jokes.

As they all laugh, Rowan squeals, lurching forward, tiny hand resting on the handle of Sebastian’s picker.

“He wants to help you,” Lando awes.

“We’ll have to get you your own picker,” the Aston Martin driver grins at the baby.

His grip on the picker tightens as Seb reaches for a candy wrapper.

“Do you want to help me?” Seb asks the baby who gurgles. They pick the candy wrapper up together, putting it into a half full trash bag. “Great job, buddy.”

“We should be heading back, if we’re late Max is going to freak out,” Carlos points out.

“See you on the track in a couple of years, bud,” Seb calls to Rowan as the group walks away.

The drivers return to the Ferrari garage, seeing a pacing Max and Y/N scrolling through her phone, waiting for them.

“Hi bud,” Max coos once he sees his son, instantly taking him from Charles.

“How did he do?” Y/N asks.

“Oh, he was an angel. He was the spotlight of the paddock.”

[leiawritesstories]

You should do a small oneshot of Aelin moving back to college and seeing Rowan for the first time. To balance your own move back 😊 also good luck and I hope everything goes smoothly with your return to college!

this made me smile so big 😊 i love you 😊😊

word count: 990

warnings: language, small chaos 

enjoy!!

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

Fifteen hours of driving, several gas stations, two grocery stores, a handful of seed bathroom stops and one night in a cheap motel later, Aelin Galathynius pulled her beloved, if a little beat-up, blue Subaru into the parking lot of her apartment building and heaved a great gasping sigh of relief, slumping over the steering wheel. 

Why the hell had she chosen to drive herself here again? 

“AELY!” someone shrieked outside her car, the screech rapidly followed by a fist beating against her car window. 

Ah yes. That was why. 

“LYSSIE!” she squealed in return, energy flooding her as she jumped out of her car to catch her best friend in a tight hug. “I missed you!” 

“Missed you more!” Lysandra beamed, gazing at her. “Okay bitch, let’s get your stuff out of the car.” 

“I’m gonna check in first,” Aelin called, just grabbing her backpack and locking her car as she headed for the line of people in front of the building. Being a sophomore, she wasn’t required to live in the dorms anymore, so she, Lys, Elide, and Ansel had decided to get an apartment together. They’d opted to live in one of the on-campus apartment buildings, which, as it was owned by the university, was the most affordable option. And they didn’t have to pay separate utility bills, it was all one monthly payment. 

Once she’d checked in at the tent set up in front of the building, Aelin loped back to her car, unlocking the doors and pushing the button to raise the back door. 

Lysandra’s eyes bugged out. “Shit!” she exclaimed, “I thought you left a bunch of stuff here!” 

“Bitch,” Aelin laughed. “Yeah, I picked up the stuff from the storage unit before I drove here. This is it.” 

“And then some,” the brunette teased, smirking. 

“Oh shut it, you probably had more than this.” 

Lys was silent. 

Aelin cackled as she grabbed the first boxes out of her car. “It’s okay, babe, I know how much of a material girl you are.” 

“Shut up,” Lys groaned playfully. “If you’re mean, I won’t help you haul your shit.” 

“Guess I’ll just have to ask some hunky guys to help me, then.” Aelin fluttered her eyelashes. “Hmm?” 

Lys snorted, nearly dropping the boxes in her arms. “Gonna convince them with your winning charm, babe?” 

“You know me too well,” Aelin smirked, craning her head to see through the doorway. And groaning. “Stairs are gonna be faster, look at the line for the fuckin’ elevator.” 

“Shit,” Lys grumbled. “Time to get my steps in, I guess!” 

“Cheers!” 

~

Somewhere around 34 flights of stairs later, according to Aelin’s smart watch, all of her stuff was finally in the apartment and she began to unpack, her room rapidly deteriorating into a mess as she tossed clothes onto the bare bed, stacked things into the closet, and strewed empty boxes all over the desk and the floor. She grumbled a string of curses to herself as she picked up the mess of cardboard, deciding to head down to the recycling bins and dump the stuff rather than let it stay on the floor and create a worse mess. 

And she knew that if she didn’t take care of it, the mess would never go away. 

On her way over to the trash enclosure, the flattened boxes teetering at the top of the pile in her arms wobbled in the breeze and tumbled down to the parking lot’s pavement. 

“Motherfucking cabrón piece of mierda puta,” she growled, assorted Spanish swears mingling into her furious curse. 

Behind her, a distinctly male cough echoed. 

“What the fuck are you laughing at?” she snapped, whirling around to find--

Fuck. 

The guy was drop-dead gorgeous. 

Bright, forest-green eyes that were badly concealing his burst of laughter set into tanned skin, contrasting sharply with his hair, so blonde it looked nearly silver in the fading evening light, definitely over six feet tall, and strongly muscled, the guy’s full lips were pressed together like he was forcibly holding back another burst of laughter. 

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, his deep, husky voice carrying just a trace of a Doranelle accent. “I wasn’t laughing at you.” 

“Mhmm,” she deadpanned, as much sarcasm as she could muster packed into the syllables. 

“No no I swear!” the guy rushed. He quickly stooped down and picked up the boxes that had dropped, following her to the recycling bin and holding up the lid so she could dump her armload of cardboard into the bin. “I just--uhh, I heard you swearing in Spanish and god I know it’s awful of me but I know a tiny bit of Spanish and I thought it was funny?” His ears had flared crimson by the time he was done stumbling through his explanation. 

It was Aelin’s turn to stifle giggles. “I see.” 

“Oh, fuck,” the guy moaned, “you hate me!” 

She burst out laughing, she just couldn’t help herself. “No, no!” she wheezed, bracing her hands on her legs. “I’m sorry, it’s been a hell of a day and I can’t exactly control my reactions right now. I don’t hate you, I think you’re adorable.” 

His flush deepened. “Oh yeah?” 

“Yep.” She winked. “And such a gentleman. I’m Aelin.” 

“Not much of a gentleman for not introducing myself,” he laughed. “I’m Rowan. I live on the fifth floor.” 

“I’m on the fourth floor.” She smirked. “If you ever have a noise complaint, it’s probably my roommates, I’m the only one who stays sober and grouchy.” 

Rowan pretended to tip his hat to her. “I’m the cranky sober one too, cuz someone has to be around to pull Fen’s hair back when he’s hunched over the toilet.” 

“Fen?” she asked. “Fenrys Moonbeam? You’re his roommate?” 

“You know Fen?” Rowan’s brows shot up. “Shit, you’re Aelin!” 

“Yep,” she confirmed, grinning. “We could be seeing each other a lot this year, Rowan.” 

Yeah, he really hoped so.

~~~

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[camilamortem]

Introducing Camila Mortem

House: Slytherin

Nationality: Mexican / British

Sexuality: Bisexual / Demiromantic

Personality type: INTP

Blood status: pure-blood

Patronus: Hypogriff

Animagus form: racoon

Biography

She was born in May 8 1973, in a pure blood family, with blood supremacy ideas but nothing that can't be redempt, (every time she said mudblood Rowan made her clean her mouth with soap until she stopped).

Her father becomes a deatheater to protect his family, her mother was a healer that constantly sneaked Order of the Phenix members into the Manor to help them with their wounds.

Because of the war Camila and Jacob spent most of their childhood travelling from London to Mexico lots, learning about prehispanic cultures and traditions, so is something that she has very present and is very proud of. While learning to talk both were taught English by their dad and Spanish by their mom. (Their grandma tried to teach them nahuatl but didn't succeed that much, they only are able to read it)

When Jacob received his Hogwarts letter they move to England definitely, where they were more introduce in the blood supremacy and taught how they should act in order to proud their family, and were raised with their cousins Leo, Ares and Apollo, the five of them sneak out of their places to Diagon Ally to avoid any lessons their family obliged them to take, there they would get in any store asking questions and being told stories by costumers and owners. When Leo and Jacob started at Hogwarts Ares, Apollo and Camila stop doing it (Camila's favorite place was flourish and bolt's).

While Jacob was at Hogwarts he told Camila many adventures he lived with Olivia and Duncan but she thought he was just inventing them for her to have good night stories.

Their mother was murdered mysteriously, but Jacob was convinced that R had to do with it, so he decided to leave, after an argument with his father and making sure Camila won't wake up when he left.

The first time she talked after her mum's death and her brother disappeared, was when she met Rowan, and the first time she laughed was when she share the compartment with Rowan and Ben on their first year, those are the memories she uses to conjure her Patronus.

[elpida]

"didn't you see the news this morning? world is definitely ending." she was being sarcastic but then, joey invited her for coffee and that threw her, this idea that he'd teach her spanish. her lips parted to speak, not that anything came out for the first moment and what did come out, was stupid but it's all she could think of at first. "si." idiot. "to the coffee date." did she just say date? "if that is what you're asking me on. i like black and white, knowing where i'm at." she paused. "plus, if it's just a friendly spanish lesson and i've got this wrong, i don't have to go wasting my fancy perfume trying to impress you... muneca, that can stay though." she groaned as he brother put an arm over her shoulder, playfully. "zachary you do know i wont carry you home, right?"

if anything, eris was so relieved that joey took the sensible option of saying nothing when she stood at his side. cains jacket, large on her but it hid the blood staining her dress. there was a little on her hand that she knew joey clocked. she wiped her palm to get rid of it but she was very, very clearly flustered. "don't worry about it, not a big deal just an incident at work, it's fine for now and yes, i will let you scold me for not telling you or asking for your help, later. deal?" her eyes did however make a gesturing flick to sienna before squinting up at joey. "you'd look good together." she whispered as she leaned to have him hear her. "as for the station, don't mention it.." and yet the fact he'd thanked her for it, meant the world to her. "i mean, you go to prison and... i'd have half the rent to find." she kept her eyes cast forward but her smirk was showing slightly. it was far more than that, but of course she would play it off.

"oh, i'm already there, you're gonna have a hard time catching up to me!" winnie giggled quietly, her hand linked in jacksons arm. "who's the beef cake 'risa?" winnie tried to whisper and rowan craned his head round. "rowan." and he couldn't help but laugh. "well hi rowan, nice to have you here!" she tried to be friendly, tried. it was more drunk person being a little louder than she should've been and was soon shushed politely. "sorry." she mouths before nudging her arm into karisa's.

there was a part of edens heart that ached, hearing benji's acknowledgement of her gran and her brother, their absence right now.. there was no stopping how her eyes lingered on the two empty chairs that'd been for them. what snapped her back was the way he had to say it again, his wife. eden stepped forward and for a hot minute, had no idea how to speak to a crowd, until she was. "i know i have already said but thank you all for coming, it really does mean the world.. and now there's something else that, for me and my husband, is going to mean the world.. i umm.." she faltered turning to look at him quickly. eden gestured a waiter with a tray of drinks forward so she could take one for her, one for him. she wouldn't drink it, more for effect. "when i was a little girl, i didn't really know what family was, but i always wanted one, you know? the type you would see having picnics in the park, the playing catch on hot summer days, getting ice cream hand in hand and all of that.. but me and ben, we never had that. we just had each other, until my grandmother took us and that was it. i had this.. this personal picture of perfection because my grandmother was everything. she was every late sleepless night, every batch of warm cookies on rainy sunday afternoons, she was hot summer days with chopped strawberries on a tartan blanket." she huffs a little happy reminiscence. her eyes focused in on the empty chair. "and ben? ben was a kid, an annoying older brother... that became my rock. he didn't let me be a quiet kid. his friends were my friends.. and a lot of you are here today." the tears were there, but she was really trying to hold it together. "so, if you could all just grab a drink, and join me in raising it up in a toast to–" she looked heaven bound as she raised up her drink. she was blissfully happy for their news, and yet she had to say it in a way that commemorated them. "to ben o'connor.. who would have made an extraordinary uncle." she hoped people would catch on to what she was saying. "to millie o'connor, that was already an amazing grandmother, but would have made the most loving great grandmother." she couldn't help it, a few tears dripped down her cheeks. "and to clayton warren, who i'm sure would've been an amazing grandfather." she pauses, smiles over her shoulder to benji, even with her emotional tears she still smiled. "and to my lovely husband, who is going to be the greatest father to our child." her free hand, rested along her stomach.

joey bites the urge to laugh, shakes his head as a snort could be heard somewhere underneath his breath. "who would have thought you, of all people would be asking me for my number. world has to be ending." a tease, spares her a look and raises a brow, lips curving into a softer version of his usual smile. "it means doll." a quick answer, lowers his head a little bit so it's a more private conversation. "i can teach you spanish but," a shrug, casts his gaze back to the groom and the arlen's. "you'll have to meet me at eden's for a coffee." says it so suave that he isn't sure sienna is picking up what he means but he says it nonetheless, zachary manages to find himself besides sienna, arm around his sister's shoulder as he raises a glass to joey, handing him one of apple cider instead. a thoughtful gesture that joey accepts with a smile. "if it isn't my two favorite people in the world. what are we talking about?" a tease, usual behavior from the firefighter as tommy shushed him. "pops is comin', i don't want a lecture on how we don't have inside voices again." a mention to earlier conversation as the two had a very, very passionate discussion on who would be the drunkest.

it's almost unnerving how still cain stood, touch soft, compared to his usual demeanor. basking in the moment for what it is and what it could be. whatever came tomorrow, he'd handle it tomorrow. he had eris, here in his hands, and that's what mattered. whatever tomorrow had in store for them, didn't. if he worried about what could happen and not what was happening, he could never be happy. the soon to be sheriff, nearly leans into her touch, almost as if he's touch starved because he is. and for a moment, he's happy. not that he wasn't before but this . . . is a different kind of happy. a high he's still on when she pulls away and he steps back too. ensuring that she has her space as does he. hands come to rest at his hips out of habit as he presses his lips together, almost as if he's reliving their kiss. hand wafts in the air that he agrees with the idea, left in his own thoughts as he watches the door close behind her. "jesus." a drawn out curse almost as he looks at himself in the mirror. "really did yourself one arlen." he whispered to himself, white knuckle grip against the counter as he tries to gather himself. chest tight and breath quickens for a moment as he reaches for the faucet - allowing the cool water to touch burning skin. drinks some of it, uses the rest to wash his face and pats himself dry with handtowels. there was always this underlying fear that lurked beneath his cracked armor and it just seemed to seep out of the said cracks for a moment, trembling hands are closed into fists as he reminds himself to breathe.

free hand is raised to show his innocence, lips pressed together to conceal his laugh. "mouth is sealed. nothing is coming out of my mouth." he whispered to his sister, canting his head at her for a moment before speaking. "heard what you did, back at the station." joey's never said thank you a day in his life, not that he's a prideful person, he doesn't really know why he doesn't say it - just doesn't. "thank you." words feel foreign, but he says it anyways. karisa takes her best friend's hands and let's out a laugh. "well 'course he was, he's only been in love with you since the dawn of time shortstack, i couldn't see him having any other reaction." a short reassurance as she walks in step with her best friend, snagging a glass of champagne on the way in as she notices cain taking his sweet time to get to the crowd. "i'll meet you there? it'll only take a second." she tells the bride, turning to face cain who was clearly lost in his own thoughts. "you look like somebody stole your bike." karisa pointed out, brows furrowed as she sips her champagne. his own hand is rubbing against his chest, almost as if he's trying to soothe this panic that is spreading. "oh, oh," karisa says, throwing back whatever is left of her champagne and ditching the glass. "ain't doin' it tonight, cain. look at me, deep breaths and think about cassie. her, really silly drawings, her laugh and everything that drives you crazy. you know, like when she and nikki took crayons and colored the walls?" karisa asked, teases, laughs and cain shook his head. "not funny," but karisa merely rolls her shoulders. "whatever this is you're feelin' it'll pass, whatever's got you worked up. just think about tonight. whole family's here and we've got an announcement we're going to miss if you don't get your shit together now, come on." southern charm, little sister routine as cain laughed. "this used to be the other way around."

"things change," hands come to readjust his collar as she pats his chest, head juts to the entrance of the hall. "and i got a date, so, get it together, i owe him a dance and a glass of champagne, amongst other things." turning on her heel, cain face contorts into one of disgust. almost as if the two are teenagers again. "does the old man know? you're disgusting." childlike insults as he joins the crowd, finds himself next to his own brother as karisa manages to snag two glasses of champagne, steals rowan and places herself besides winnie and joey. "heard i've got some catchin' up to do." karisa whispered to winnie, eyeing joey and offering him a wink. sister's intuition. benji welcomed eden back with an open arm, pulling her close as mr. arlen finally takes a seat, mrs. arlen behind him with a hand on his shoulder. "you ain't ever goin' to believe what i just saw." samuel whispered to his wife. "cain and eris in the bathroom." a confession that brings camille's hand to her lips. "and, karisa brought herself a date, no introductions or nothin'. we got, jackie finally actin' on his feelings, joey's makin' a move on sienna. what isn't happenin'?" samuel continued, scoffed and turned to benji who had cleared his throat. "uh, i want to first say, thank you for coming here today and sharing our special day with us. there are times where, it's good to be surrounded by people who are important to you, and for us, me, this is one of those times. i hope that you're enjoying every bit as much as we are and i'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart." benji begins, eyeing the small crowd of friends who had ultimately became his family.

"unfortunately - it's not possible to have everyone we love here, with us today but we've got them here with us in spirit. and i know that, my dad, ben and grandma millie would've loved and been overly excited with uh, the news we're about to share with you all, so, uh, i'm going to stop talking and i'll uh, let eden, my wife, take the stage." a laugh as he turns to eden.

[fakeloveaskblog]

Janus, did you follow up with Remus on that invitation? Or are you too giddy with your new boyfriend?👀👀

(Words: 2578)

 Janus: “Oh yes Remus....I had totally not forgotten because I have been too busy being giddy about Logan. Totally not. I am afraid if I meet up with Remus right now I will simply be so giddy with so much love I will actually explode and die on the spot. But that is a risk I am willing to take!

Janus took a deep breathe. This was the third deep breathe he’d taken in a row and yet he kept being just as nervous. He’d hung out with Remus twice already, simply knocking on his door shouldn’t be making him this anxious. It was stupid. He was stupid.

He gave up on trying to calm down and knocked on the door.

The door opened. His breath hitched and he subconsciously straightened his back to look more alright.

To his surprise it wasn’t Remus that opened. At first glance he could have mistaken it for him. The person- the woman opening looked nearly identical to him after all. Same dark brown hair color, same brown nearly red eyes seeming to pierce into his soul, even the same birthmark above their lip.

Only difference being that her hair was longer, reaching her waist, and she wasn’t as skinny, in turn making her figure more full.

“Who are you?” She asked in a cold tone, it sounded more like a snarl.

“Janus” He reached out his hand “I’m Janus”

She slammed the door shut.

Janus let out a sigh. He’d spent the entire bus ride worrying about how badly Remus would react to seeing him but wow this was even worse. He was just about to go home and sulk when the door swung open again.

“Okay come in” The woman said while dragging him into the living room.

“t-thank you” Janus stammered out.

His cheeks heated up when he locked eyes with Remus who was sitting on the sofa. His friend quickly glanced away and crossed his arms over his chest.

The sofa had been made into a makeshift bed and suitcases laid littered over the floor. The lady sat him down on the couch before slumping over in a newly bought fainting cough. She had on a red robe while Remus had on a pyjamas with an octopus pattern on.

“So my dear eh demented Remus I am here to inform you that there is a giant seamonster in my bathtub so I had to go somewhere else...And I happened to choose this place...for tactical battle reasons!” Janus blurted out.

A weight lifted off his shoulders when Remus shone up into a smile at his made up story. Janus couldn’t help but stare at his sharp teeth. He knew him being obsessed with vampires as a teenager would bite him in the neck one day.

“Want me to kill it?”

Janus looked up from his mouth “What? The uh monster?” He put on his usual charming smile “Well of course darling. You only have to be ready to be eaten to death”

“OH I am ALways ready to be eaten to death. Trust me!”

“He got voted most likely to have a cannibalism kink in 10th grade” The woman added on. She was extravagantly fanning herself with a deliciously decorated fan.

“I was!” Remus exclaimed with a proud smile.

“Who- Who are you?” Janus tried to say in the nicest tone possible.

“She’s my frankenstein monster which I created just to bitch around and annoy me” “Life saw what kind of fuck up he was and made me out of diamonds and a lion’s pride to be the better version of him!” They said at the same time.

They glanced at each other before looking back at Janus.

“She’s my twin” “He’s my twin” They continued on at the same time again.

The lightbulb inside Janus’ brain finally lit up “Oh you’re Rowan aren’t you? I have heard many atrocious tales about you”

“The one and only” She moved her arms into some sort of regal pose while saying it “I’ve heard stories of you too you pitiful Janus. Re-re has told me he hates you and finds you awfully boring but you seems so lonely and sad he doesn’t want to tell you!” 

Remus’ eyes widened into panic as he shook his head “I never said that!! Lies!!! Defimation!!!!”

“Re-Re I was joking”

“Oh............ok”

He kept fiddling with his oversized shirt. He looked over at his sister while moving further away from Janus. Rowan nodded back at him.

“Sibling meeting!” She exclaimed as she abruptly stood up while dropping the fan. She grabbed onto Remus and dragged him into the bedroom.

Janus stayed with his hands awkwardly clasped between his thighs. He hadn’t known he would walk into his greatest weakness: Meeting new peopel!!!

He looked around the room and slowly realized that the suitcases weren’t even unpacked. Meaning Rowan must have just arrived. Meaning Janus had inserted himself into a sibling reunion.

Holy shit. He was a piece of shit.

He slumped down on the green covers of the makeshift sofa bed....wait....Remus’ stuffed octopus laid on the pillow. Meaning it was his bed.....so Rowan was using the bedroom.

It all clicked at once. The cheerful disney posters. The white fluffy pillows everywhere. The walls being painted gold and red. THE LESBIAN FLAG HANGING ON THE WALL.

This wasn’t Remus’ apartement. This was Rowan’s apartement which Remus had weasled himself into.

Holy shit. Janus wasn’t just a piece of shit. He was a stupid piece of shit. Remus was never going to love him back!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH-

Meanwhile Remus was looking around in the heaps of dirty clothes and trash that had piled up in the bedroom while Rowan had been away. His sister was standing over him with her hands clasped in front of her chest.

“Soooo Re-Re do you have a cruuush on him?” She had an extremly smug smile on her face.

“I would rather eat a burning stone than have a crush” He muttered back.

“He’s not even pretty”

“Ro-Ro you don’t think any guy is pretty”

“That’s not true!” She disagreed. She began to count on her fingers. “Tarzan”  That was it.

“He’s animated!”

“He still counts!”

Remus took a deep breathe “We shall savor this battle for another day and it shall be glorious”

“It sure will brother!” Rowan tightened her fist.

They made angry grimaces at each other for a few seconds before going back to being normal. Remus tried looking under the bed.

“He’s a total dork you realize that right? He isn’t good at hiding it either” She stated “So I guess he isn’t the worst guy to have a crush on”

“I don’t have a crush on him!”

She sent him another smug look “Oh really? I’m not so sure about that!”

“I’M NOT INTERESTED IN HIM!”

She held up her hands “Alright. Alright. I hear you”

Rowan patted him on the shoulder. He took a shaky breathe to calm down. He held up a binder. The reason he had been searching the bedroom in the first place.

“Could you help-”

“Yep”

“I don’t want him seeing me without it”

“Got it”

He took off his shirt and forced the binder down around his shoulders. Rowan made sure to only touch the binder as she pulled it down so it sat properly.

“I saw that my money has been getting sent to a therapist” Rowan said while leaning her chin on his shoulder “Proud of you”

“OHOHO It is not at all what you think it is. It’s as much therapy as you having that spiritual guide living here for a while was actually spiritual in any way and not you just your girlfriend”

She sighed “Still an idiot I see................ANd we did burn candles when we shared baths so it was really spiritual actually!!!”

Remus shrugged “I don’t need therapy anyway” She did a facepalm “Hey it’s true!! You let me live all on my own and look! I’m not dead in a ditch or addicted to ketamine or whatever you thought was gonna happen the moment you turned your back”

Rowan rolled her eyes “Sure dukey”

She went back out into the living room while he stayed to put on his shirt again. Janus sat still in nearly the exact same place they’d left him. As if he was afraid doing anything would ruin everything.

He looked at her with almost fear. It turned into definitive fear when Rowan walked up to him and grabbed onto him to shove his back against the couch. She towered over him and pierced her eyes right into his.

“Listen here you swept together ball of dirt” She snarled out “If you ever hurt my brother, in any way, I will make sure you have nightmares from what I did to you every single night for the rest of your miserable life! You’ll never feel peace ever again!” 

Janus gulped “Yes ma’am”

Rowan let go of him and shone up into a smile “Good! If you need me I’ll be in my room putting on a face mask!”

She walked off at the same time Remus came back. Janus sat even stiller on the couch. His crush slumped down next to him and rolled his thumbs.

“So whatcha wanna do?” Rem asked. 

Janus shook his head to relax “Whatever you want to do dear”

Remus shone up into a grin and dashed to pick something up “UNO!”

“Ah yes. I am of course a feared master of...uno” 

He snorted while sorting the cards between his fingers “Please say that again”

“Uno?”

The snort turned into a laugh “It’s just cute to hear non spanish speakers saying uno. That’s your whole vibe. Cute. Dorky. Smart dumbass. You’re like...the decaying corpse of a chipmunk!”

Janus took a moment “.....thanks. Best compliment I’ve ever gotten”

“No problem! Now I’ll make up for it by beating you in uno!”

It was a heated battle. Remus apparently had incredibly luck in all card games. Janus used the technique of distraction (!) and started talking about obscure conspiracy theories. It failed as his crush already knew the conspiracies. Which then started an even more heated debate about which conspiracy was the best all while the battle of cards continued.

Finally it came down to Janus having 1 card and Remus having 2. The snake let out a villanous laugh. After his crush’s turn the victory would be his!

But then Remus laid the card equivalent of slapping him across the face with both a sword And a dick. He laid a skip card! Janus fell back on the couch in exasperated horror as his crush laid his last card.

“WOOHOO FUCKER! GET KICKED IN THE BALLS BITCHASS!!” Remus yelled while getting up and running a few victory laps around the couch.

Janus laid in stunned silence. few times had he been beated this good. 

“I’ll destroy you in the next round” Jan shook his fist to be extra extra.

“Oh really now. You dare challenge the great Buttmaster420!? IN uNO? Truly brave” Remus replied with a cocky grin.

Another fierce match began. As did their conspiracy theory debate. 1 win for Janus. 1 for Remus. Somewhere along the line they made popcorn. A second win for the snake boy. 

2 wins vs 2 wins. This was it. Remus looked his friend up and down like he was a comboy about to shoot him in the heart as he laid a pick up 4 cards card. Janus gasped. The tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife.

The final card landed. Remus won. Janus pretended to faint.

They shook hands and exchanged looks of respect before bursting out into laughter.

“Alright alright” Remus chuckled out “Snakey since I won I get to decide what we do next!”

“Please not a satanic ritual. I already have that planned for Monday”

“Oh nonono! Much better! Y’know those ghost hunting videos on youtube??? Yeah I love finding really badly made ones and laughing at them!”

“Ah yes, because if there is one thing I am known to do it is laugh at others”

They sat on opposite ends of the couch while Rem searched deeply after the best trash. He found a 15 minute one where they were apparently being chased by slenderman.

They exhanged jokes and giggles over it but to be honest most of what Janus focused on was just being in his crush’ apartement. He tried to sneakily look around to aww at the drawings and storyboards pinned onto the walls. The small sculptures made out of trash laying in droves on the floor. It all made his heart flutter. His entire body yearned to make out until his lips hurt.

Meanwhile Remus was sneaking looks at Janus. His eyes was filled with the ace equivalent of lust.

“...Can...Are...Can I use you as a pillow?” He quietly asked. “You look soft”

Janus’ cheeks went red from blushing in an instant “...sure”

Remus moved closer and carefully leaned his head onto his friend’s stomach. He hadn’t cuddled a person who wasn’t his sister for over a year. Holy shit. This was comfy!

“You’re very doughy!....THAt’s a compliment!” Remus said.

“You really are pulling out your A game compliments today huh”

“Better than pulling out my massive dick!! No but seriously this” He pointed at them both in their cuddly positions “fucks!”

“Oh trust me darling the last thing I am doing right now is fucking”

Remus burst out into a cackle and flapped his hands “You’re gold snakey!!”

“I try my best”

While they continued to watch videos Janus gently moved his hand down to stroke his fingers through his crush’s hair. At first Remus flinched but then he relaxed into it and told him to keep going.

The popcorn bowl got emptied. They laughed at the videos until their stomaches hurt. Remus playfully moved his hands up to cover his friend’s eyes every time a jumpscare happened. Jan pretended to try and bite his’ fingers every time.

Eventually Remus let out a yawn. For a moment he relaxed and cuddled closer. He even let his eyes close. Before he suddenly flinched. His eyes were wide open as he sat straight up.

“I’m tired. You should go” He choked out.

Janus thought before deciding to not question his strange reaction. He sent him a warm smile “You’re right. It’s late. I can text you about meeting up later”

“For sure!”

A silence hung around them as they went over to the entrance door. Remus leaned against the door frame. Janus took a step outside the apartement as he put his jacket on.

They glanced at each other. Neither said goodbye. Remus picked at his skin.

“...I....Janny...I...Okay this might seem weird with me wanting you to leave and most of the time not wanting you to touch me....But I...I kind of trust you... More than most people. I mean it’s rare for me to trust anyone in any way....so yeah...I just wanted you to know that”

Janus fumbled after what to say “Thank you. That’s- I’m flattered....I trust you too....I wouldn’t let you see me when I wasn’t perfect if I didn’t”

Remus smiled at him. A small but genuine smile. “I’ll see you then”

“Yeah” Janus’ chest warmed “Don’t die when I’m not looking!”

“Oh nonono. If I die I’ll make it so dramatic you won’t be able to miss it!” His voice softened “Stay safe..please”

[live-the-fangirl-life]

Cusco, Peru

A World Away Part 6

Aelin Galathynius x Rowan Whitethorn - World Travelers AU

Travel Tip #67: Be aware and respectful of the history around you—in the long-treaded paths, the ruins of lost civilizations, and in the people whose ancestry can be traced back to both.

Part 5 | Fic Masterlist | MoodBoard | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language

11,091 words

*******

The weather was balmy, and Aelin could feel a rivulet of sweat run down the side of her hairline as she kept her phone pressed to her ear.

“I just grabbed my bag. Where are you?” She asked into the speaker, spinning in place as she scanned the small, bustling airport. Without waiting for a response, she followed the flow of people out of the building and towards the eager hordes of taxi drivers, all gesturing to travelers and calling out to say they could drive them wherever they needed to go.

Adjusting the strap of her backpack that was digging into her shoulder, Aelin kept her cellphone pressed close so she could still hear over the hum of chatter around her while she continued to look for a familiar face.

“Keep walking, I see you,” a deep, accented voice responded. “We’re at the end of the row.”

“We?” she asked, confused, carefully avoiding running into anyone’s bags and suitcases.

The sun and heat were welcome changes from the ever-too-cool airports and obnoxious fluorescent lighting that had defined her last day and a half. Not to mention how much she appreciated getting to truly stretch her legs. Navigating the maze-like airport terminals wasn’t as refreshing as stepping out from baggage claim and into whatever world she’d ended up in.

“Luis and I,” he clarified before saying something in muffled Spanish, “He’s the cab driver I got earlier—insisted on coming back when I explained you’d be flying in now.”

Aelin sped up to pass a family of slow walkers, and as she moved around them and back onto the sidewalk, she spotted a tall, silver-haired man with a cell phone pressed to his ear.

The small smile he wore widened into a grin when he caught her eye and hung up the call. Matching that grin, Aelin quickly shoved her phone into her pocket before hurrying over towards him.

Unlike last time she’d seen Rowan in person when he’d been taken aback by her unexpected hug in Dublin, this time he was the one to approach her, wrapping his arms around her before she could barrel into him. Aelin laughed into his shirt, suppressing her surprise at his unprompted show of affection as she returned the hug.

Her brain felt too tired from the exhausting hours it took to arrive in Peru—the flights, connections, and layovers—to think too much about why she suddenly felt so comfortable. She allowed herself another moment to hang onto him before pulling back and grinning again. “Buzzard! Would you look at that, we’re in the same place and not by accident this time!”

His face instantly morphed into that of long-suffering amusement. Rolling his eyes, Rowan carded a hand through his hair and Aelin had to use more restraint than she expected to not stare at the way his sleeves stretched over his muscled arms. Damned travel exhaustion. He chuckled, seemingly oblivious to her momentarily dilemma, “One of these days, I’m going to come up with a name for you that’s just as awful as Buzzard.”

“Promise?” She winked, laughing.

He shook his head exasperatedly but smirked.

Aelin was thrilled at how natural it felt to talk to him. Despite their frequent conversations—after she’d given him her number, he quickly became the person she spoke to the most on a regular basis—it had still been practically four months since they’d seen each other in person.

She kept him updated on where she was headed next, and he told her all about his projects and where he’d be flying to on any particular day. Neither one could be counted on to be in the same time zone from week to week, sometimes leaving hours between the shortest of messages. But, in a way, their disjointed conversations were more reliable than those she had with her parents or friends back home, because she knew that despite unpredictable schedules, she and Rowan could keep a conversation going for days at a time.

“Buenos días, miss. My name is Luis.” The cab driver came around the hood of the car and greeted her warmly in an enunciated, Peruvian accent as he held out his hand for her luggage. “I can put your bags in the back.”

Noticing his dubious expression when all she handed him was her large backpack, she shrugged and explained, “I didn’t want to worry about dealing with a suitcase,” she shared an excited glance with Rowan, “with our plans and all.”

They slid into the back of the small car, Rowan wincing slightly at the way his long legs were squished behind the driver’s seat. Aelin leaned over and playfully knocked his shoulder with hers. “It’s good to see you, Rowan.”

His face softened a fraction, and his smile was small and genuine. “It’s good to see you too, Aelin. Even if you do ridiculously insist on naming me after a bird.”

Her snort was cut off by Luis grinning at them in the rearview mirror as he nodded to the land around them and began driving away. “¡Bienvenido a Cusco!”

***

The rest of the day was a blur. Between jet lag and the anticipation for their plans in the following days, Rowan didn't pay nearly enough attention to their exploration of the city center as he should have.

It may have also had something to do with the woman walking alongside him—and sometimes ahead of him, hurrying forward when she saw a shop or cart she found interesting, always waving him along to join her.

He and Aelin walked through the lively mercado, stopping to listen to music and maneuvering around locals and tourists moving from one garage-door storefront to the next. They ended up at a small restaurant half inside, half outside that gave them the perfect vantage point to people-watch.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Aelin asked him with an excited grin as she sat back in her chair and took a sip of her passion fruit juice, unable to keep the giddiness from her voice.

Rowan hated how infectious her excitement was as he forced his smirk not to blossom into a wide smile. He arched a brow and stretched his arm over the back of the chair next to him. “Am I ready to spend three days on foot hiking the Inca trail through the Andes mountain range?” he paused deliberately slowly to take a sip of his water before cracking a smile and nodding at her expectant look. “Yeah. I’ve always wanted to see Machu Picchu.”

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. “I am so excited; it's gonna be incredible. I’m trying my best not to get my hopes up because I know it won't look like all the pictures online, but hopefully, it’ll be better.”

He chuckled as their food was brought out. “As someone who takes those kinds of pictures that end up online, I guarantee you it won’t look exactly the same.”

Aelin nodded as she took a bite of her ceviche peruano, startling him as she closed her eyes and moaned at the delicious citrusy fish.

Rowan cleared his throat and discreetly shifted in his chair as he tried to ignore the sound that just escaped her lips. Focusing on the people wandering past, he added, “But, uh, I’m sure it will be amazing, nonetheless.”

They spent the rest of their meal going back and forth between what they were looking forward to that week, and what else they’d been up to since last seeing each other—that the other one didn't already know. It was so easy to talk to Aelin that he lost track of how many hours went by, the time only passing by their desert orders and drink refills.

After her third yawn in as many minutes, Rowan looked at his watch and asked, “You want to call it a night? We have an early morning tomorrow.”

She nodded, finishing the last of her drink. It wasn’t a long walk from the café to the apartment they’d rented for the night, and the cooler evening air was nice. The apartment wasn’t huge, but it had a bed, a pull-out sofa, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. They were only staying for a night; it didn’t need to be luxurious.

Aelin insisted on taking the sofa, arguing that it was too short for Rowan and that she didn’t want to spend the next day listening to his old man complaints of a bad back. He took the soft bed and extra pillow without argument purely out of spite for that insult.

After double-checking his bags and triple-checking his chargers, Rowan fell asleep—excited for their trek and to be traveling with Aelin on purpose.

***

Normally, Aelin wasn’t someone prone to carsickness, but that particular day was proving her disastrously wrong. She and Rowan were two hours into a four-hour bus ride taking them from Cusco to the base of the mountain where their tour group would begin their trek to Machu Picchu.

In between the sharp turns and windy roads, she watched as they passed towns and villages nestled into the crevices of the mountains surrounding them, filling all the steep inclines and plateaus as if the buildings had been poured onto the uneven terrain like water to determine where the settlements ebbed and flowed. As they passed by a particularly steep mountainside of houses, Aelin had the brief thought of someone stepping out of their front door and falling down the face of the mountain.

Rowan sat in the seat across from her and was trying to take pictures of the scenery around them, cursing under his breath each time the bus jostled just as he set up a shot.

Aelin took a steadying breath as they took yet another turn and thought back to that morning before they got on this godsforsaken bus. She and Rowan had met with their tour group, bleary eyed but excited, before four in the morning to meet the dozen people who’d be traveling with them for the next three days. They piled into vans and drove just outside of the city to stop at a small, family-owned farm for breakfast.

While they sat near a large stone oven, getting to know some of their fellow trekkers, a short woman came around with a large, ceramic jug. Her skin was darkened and weathered from constant work on the farm, and the crinkles by her eyes deepened as she smiled at Aelin while pouring her a cup of tea.

“Please, if you’d like, drink some Coca tea before we get on the bus.” Their tour guide, José, encouraged in a lilting Peruvian accent. “It will help with the higher elevations.”

Aelin drank it without hesitation. She’d tried it before and despite its weak taste, she would take anything to help with the impending hike.

“Coca? Like cocoa—chocolate?” Rowan murmured, leaning closer to ask quietly as he sipped at his own glass.

“No.” She shook her head, finishing her’s and setting the cup back down on the table. “Coca, like cocaine.”

He sputtered, spraying a bit of his tea onto the front of his shirt. Chuckling, Aelin handed him a napkin and raised a brow in amusement.

“What?” he hissed incredulously.

“Don’t worry so much, Buzzard, it’s just from the same plant. You might feel a slightly more awake, but it’s so diluted that you can’t get high.” Aelin rolled her eyes, sitting back and watching as he eyed the glass warily. “Trust me, I’ve tried.” She laughed. “It will help with altitude sickness though.”

Despite his hesitation, he finished his tea by the time they were ushered onto the bus that would be taking them into the mountains.

Four torturous hours later, when Aelin felt like she wasn’t about to lose her stomach, she followed Rowan off the bus with their backpacks in hand.

They were near the middle of the Andes mountain range; the giant, snow-capped peaks reaching towards the sky and encompassing them within its walls. The air was chilly—and stayed chilly despite the sun arcing overhead.

One of their first pointers was about always remembering to wear sunscreen. For those not used to the sun exposure near the equator, it was important to take precaution or else you’d end up shivering with a burnt nose.

Just before they set out, they were each handed a set of walking poles. She was dubious about taking them, figuring they would just get in the way. Sharing a smirk with Rowan, she knew he thought the same, but they thanked their guides and took the poles anyway.

It was a good thing, too, because she used those damn poles every single moment of their hike.

“You holding up?” Rowan teased, smirking as Aelin huffed out another breath and drove her sticks into the ground at her feet. The group slowly separated, some people walking faster ahead and others trailing behind, but Rowan kept pace with her the whole way. Aelin wasn’t sure to be grateful for his company or bitter about how seemingly effortless he found it.

It seemed her proclivity for carsickness—and Rowan’s lack thereof—was also apparent in being affected by the increasing altitude. Coca tea be damned.

She blew a hair out of her narrowed eyes and shot Rowan a glare as he snickered at her huffing and puffing along the trail. She wasn’t out of shape, but godsdammed this altitude was making her struggle.

“Perfectly.” She answered, pointedly thrusting her stick in front of her next step. “Why the hell aren’t you out of breath? Totally unfair.”

He chuckled, lifting his camera towards his face. One perk, she decided, of having a professional photographer as a travel buddy, was that the pictures would always be perfect. Aelin managed to get Rowan to promise to be the photographer for both of them during this trek, but she suspected he’d already assumed that despite his exaggerated complaints every time she asked him to get a picture of some bird or view.

“My stamina’s never been an issue.” He smirked and tossed her a devilish wink.

Aelin snorted and almost missed her next pole landing, deliberately keeping her gaze straight ahead and refusing to glance over in fear that her flaming cheeks would be evident. After a few paces in mutual silence, she finally looked over and noticed the tips of his ears were a bright red and that he too was staring ahead of them, his eyes fixed on the path.

***

My stamina’s never been an issue? Seriously?

He’d said the words before his brain could process what he was saying. For a moment, he contemplated finding a way to hurl himself off the mountain but then Aelin laughed, and he decided he didn’t want to miss any of that, so he fiddled with his camera and kept his gaze on the trail instead of looking her in the eye.

Rowan deliberately shortened his stride so as not to get too far ahead of Aelin. Occasionally they would stop for a drink, pulling out one of many water bottles they had with them. Donning hiking boots, long fuzzy socks, leggings, jacket, hat, and sunglasses, Aelin had fully committed to the wear layers advisement. Her large backpack was almost as big as his—his only surpassing hers in sheer size because he needed his extra camera equipment.

As they followed their guides up, over, and back down the mountain trails, the clouds seemed to form around them, creating an unusual misty layer that lasted until they were closer to the base on the mountains.

They passed by a few farms sporadically set up near the path. They were small and very traditional; not a lot of modern technology, besides electricity, and most of the foods and plants were grown using older, passed-down methods.

The group stopped for lunch at one of these farms and Rowan overheard a couple whispering about the Andean people who lived out here in the mountains.

“Do you think they have Wi-Fi?” One girl asked her friend in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know. But you saw all the telephone wires out here.” The other said, shrugging. As Rowan sat down at the tables set up for them, he noticed Aelin’s lip twitching as she eavesdropped too.

The first girl gasped as if just thinking of something, turning to her friend and hissing, “Do you think they even know who Taylor Swift is?”

Aelin hid her snort in the cup of water she’d been drinking.

“Please tell me,” Aelin said to Rowan as they were all ladled out bowls of deliciously smelling soup, “that not all Americans sound that…” she paused trying to find the right word. “unaware when we talk?”

He flashed her a smirk, “How often do you tell people you’re from the States when you travel abroad?”

At her wince and shrug he laughed. Aelin mirrored his grin, lifting a spoonful of soup and pointing at him. “Touché.”

Once they’d finished their meal, Rowan took his and Aelin’s bowls towards the washing station. When he came back, she wasn’t in her seat at the table, but rather she’d gone to talk to the older couple who ran the farm. She was smiling and gesturing around her while trying her best to compliment their food and thank them in her less than perfect Spanish.

It amazed him sometimes how easy it was for her to strike up a conversation with anybody. Even the very first day he met her, nearly a year and a half ago—gods, had it really been that long? Seventeen months, give or take a week, he supposed. But that day when he’d blown her off in Florence, she’d made friends with the people standing in line behind them. Or in Marrakech how she seemed so at ease haggling and chatting with people in the bazaar.

But, maybe, that’s what all this traveling was for. Not just to see places and experience things, but to meet people. To live, if just for a day—for a moment—in someone else’s shoes. To try to understand how someone else lived. Someone who speaks a different language, who lives in a different climate, who eats and grows different foods than you do.

That was what Rowan had been missing.

He’d been hiding behind his camera, looking at everything through a screen. But that changed. He was changing. Rowan wasn’t sure exactly when it started but he was sure that the laughing woman ahead of him had something—everything—to do with it.

And gods be damned if that didn’t scare him.

***

By the end of the first day, Aelin wanted nothing more than to take off her backpack and fall asleep. The sun had set a few hours ago, and because they’d once again dipped between the mountains, the sunset was merely a fading blue sky rather than any reds or golds on an invisible horizon.

The group ended up at a little campsite that she was sure had been decorated with tourists in mind. Their guide had explained on the way in that the huts they’d be staying in were built to emulate traditional Andean tents…minus the modern mattresses, lights, and access to plumbing, of course. A series of stilted huts, their thatched straw roofs reflecting hints of moonlight shining through the trees, were arranged in a semi-circle surrounding a large fire pit.

She and Rowan found seats on a log as the rest of the group did the same until they were all sitting around the pit. There weren’t that many other people traveling with them—a few college kids on some study abroad trip, two older couples who seemed to be enjoying retirement and who hiked at surprisingly fast paces, and a few other travelers like them who just wanted to explore. Not to mention their guide and two cooking staff who had helped make their meals during the trek.

For dinner, they watched as roasted cuy was prepared over the fire—the guinea pigs larger than Aelin expected and spiced to deliciousness.

“Now that we are fed and happy, I have here the keys to the huts behind you.” José told them, thanking the cooks once again for the meal. “Let us see...”

Aelin scooted closer to Rowan so she could look over his shoulder as he scrolled through his camera at some of the pictures he’d taken that day. He tilted the screen so she could get a better look at the image of a colorful bird springing away from a branch. She leaned her head against his shoulder, pressing her cheek into the rough martial of his jacket. She felt him stiffen, but when she opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, their guide called their names and held out a key.

“Galathynius and Whitethorn,” he said, reading off a list. “Number four.”

Aelin got up from the log and walked towards José as Rowan turned off his camera and picked up his bag. When she walked back towards him, he was holding her own backpack out for her which she took with an appreciative nod. Without another word, and in an oddly awkward silence, they strode across the grass and towards the small hut with a carved number four on its door.

Why was she suddenly nervous? She knew she’d be sharing a hut with Rowan tonight—it was either that or bunking with a stranger and, really, there was no choice to it at all.

Aelin got to the door and used the key José had given her to unlock it. She shuffled into the dark room and chuckled, “Watch out for the door,” she warned, and laughed louder at the sound of a thud and Rowan’s cursing. “It wasn’t built for giants like you.”

Dropping her bag to the floor, Aelin blindly waved her arms out in front of her searching for the dangling chain to the single lightbulb they were told would be in here. She let out a quiet grunt of triumph as she found it and pulled to turn on the light.

Rowan’s bag hit the floor with a thunk, and Aelin was caught between laughing at the dumbfounded expression on his face or cringing at their apparent sleeping arrangement. Arrangement—singular. As in, instead of the two cots she’d been promised when they booked this trip, Aelin was staring at the singular bed that took up most of the space in front of her.

Well shit.

Neither spoke for a moment as they both stared at the bed. This was the exact opposite of what she needed. She was already struggling enough to contain her gawking every time Rowan’s sleeves stretched across his chest or arms, or control her amusement at nearly every rare joke he made. She did not need to spend a night mere inches away, wrapped up in the same blanket together.

Forcing a deep breath, Aelin told herself that one night sleeping together—sleeping; getting shut-eye; catching some Zzz—would be fine. Totally fine.

“Did you know there would only be one bed?” Rowan asked, breaking the silence in an oddly strangled voice, avoiding her eyes when she swung her head back to look at him.

For some reason, sensing that he was just as fazed by this as she was, gave her a sudden burst of confidence. Aelin snorted. “Oh no. You caught me” she deadpanned in a flat, unimpressed voice “I staged a transcontinental, isolated, mountain trek just to get you into bed with me. However did you figure it out?”

He jerked his head towards her and for a fleeting second, he looked like a deer caught in headlights, before raising a brow and silently questioning her.

“Oh my Gods,” she huffed and rolled her eyes, hoping that the heat in her cheeks wasn’t visible. “No. Relax. When I booked this trip, they told me there would be two beds in here.” Aelin insisted at Rowan’s still-flustered expression. “It must have just been a logistical mix-up.”

He still looked dubious, but she caught the way his lips twitched up in amusement.

She arched a brow and crossed her arms, slowly smirking at the way he was eyeing the bed as it personally offended him. Which it did, she supposed. “And, for the record: if I was actively trying to get in your pants, Whitethorn, it would take far less work.”

Rowan scoffed, finding snapping out of his reverie and scrunched his brows incredulously. “You think mighty highly of yourself, Galathynius.” He returned her smirk and carded a hand through his hair.

Pleased to have gotten some response out of him other than disbelief, she picked up her bag and approached the edge of the bed. Forcing nonchalance, she mused, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

He was nodding excessively, and she was trying not to just shout out Tell me what you’re thinking! Why do you look like you have to pep-talk yourself just for having to sleep next to me?

She could practically see the cogs in his brain spinning as his eyes darted around the cramped space. “If you’re about to volunteer to sleep on the floor,” Aelin rolled her eyes, walking around to one side of the bed while Rowan hadn’t moved from his spot near the door. “Then I’m gonna point out that there isn’t nearly enough room for your giant ass to lay down without contorting yourself around the bed posts. And I am not giving up my chance to sleep on a soft mattress after our hike today.” Sitting down on the blanket, Aelin began untying her boots. “So, unless you plan to sleep standing up, stop making a fuss and take that side.” She jerked her chin to the edge closest to him.

They got ready for bed in silence, taking turns leaving to go to the washing rooms on the other side of the campsite. She had crawled into the surprisingly comfortable bed by the time Rowan came back to the hut, flipping through her Spanish and Quechua translation book.

He wore a light shirt and shorts, not too unlike the outfit she had on—she had anticipated sharing a room with him, if not a bed, so she couldn’t very well wear her preferred nightgown unless she wanted to give Rowan a heart attack, but, gods, if one of her nightgowns would shock him out of his newly reserved self, she almost wished she’d brought one. He pulled the chain, turning the single lightbulb off and groaned when he realized how bright the hut still was.

“If a little light is gonna keep you awake, I hate to break it you about the clucking chickens and stray dogs barking at each other.”

“Just gets better and better.” He muttered under his breath, rubbing a hand down his face, and carefully lifting the blanket.

Aelin set down her book and shifted in place, trying to get comfortable which was more difficult than she thought it would be. After a minute of endless moving, she stilled when Rowan sucked in a breath and looked like he was about to say something.

“You better not kick me in your sleep.” He drawled, settling into his side.

Aelin could feel the heat radiating off his body across the short distance separating them. If she lifted her knee, she’d graze his leg; if she tossed an arm overhead, there was a good chance it would curve around and brush against his hair.

“No promises.” She quipped back, turning to lay on her side with her back facing him.

It was to the sound of his soft laughter that her exhaustion pulled her into sleep.

***

The first thought in her conscious mind was that she was exceptionally comfortable. And warm. Why was she so warm? Aelin squinted her eyes against the faint sunlight streaming in through the open seams between the walls and door. She tried to roll over but found she was stuck. Why was she stuck?

Oh, that was why.

The heavy arm thrown around her middle, keeping her in place.

Wait—arm?

Aelin’s eyes snapped open, and her head jerked around to see the sleeping face of Rowan Whitethorn behind her, his deep breaths floating over her exposed neck. At some point during the night—between the incessant animal noises and rushing streams—they’d become entangled, her back pressed against his chest with his arm banded around her waist and their legs intertwined together.

Her next coherent thought was: this is nice.

Aelin squeezed her eyes shut, allowing herself to savor the comfort of the moment. To allow herself to wonder if this might not be the only time she would wake up like this.

She wasn’t blind—or oblivious. It had crossed her mind that Rowan was attractive, and intelligent, and once you got past his grumpy, asshole-like first impression, a genuinely good guy. It also wasn’t lost on her how much she enjoyed their time together. The near-constant messaging between them had been something she looked forward to every day in the four months since she’d been in Ireland. He also understood her desire and need to travel, hell, he did the same for a living.

She knew in her bones that traveling was something she had to do for herself, but despite that…it got lonely traveling solo.

She was rarely alone. Always surrounded by new people and exploring new things, but…it didn’t change the fact that she always bought one ticket, asked for one single bed in a hostel, registered as one participant…

And then she met Rowan. And then she became friends with Rowan. And then suddenly she didn’t feel as alone. She had someone to talk to who understood—

Someone who would say yes to the chance to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu with her because she was gifted two tickets, not one.

It felt almost like a figment of her imagination to have this friend who she sporadically met around the globe. It felt unreal, but it also made the world feel not so big at times when all the travel became overwhelming.

So, selfishly, she didn’t want to risk that.

Selfish to who? Herself? It wasn’t her fault that the last time she met a guy at a bar and went home with him, her mind conjured up silver hair and pine green eyes.

A part of her wanted the possibility that was Rowan. She couldn’t lie to herself.

The other thought that had crossed her mind on more than one occasion was that she could always just fuck him. Make him her elusive, international fuck buddy. But that didn’t feel right. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—minimize whatever they had to whatever that was. Something told her if she tried it would only hurt them both in the end.

And…

It seemed special, their relationship. This unimaginable bond that formed because they were in the right place at the right time so many times. Was it bad that she wanted to cherish that for what it was and not push for more only to have it blow up in her face?

Life was so unpredictable. She took each day in turn, only planning as far to her next destination. It was exciting that way. It was also easier that way, to pretend she didn’t have to deal with life’s responsibilities. And Rowan, well, he travelled for work, but usually to places he was told to go. She didn’t think she wanted to put her own spontaneous traveling dreams on hold, and she hadn’t let herself contemplate what a worldwide long-distance romantic relationship might look like.

Would she be willing to commit to that? Catching spare moments between assignments and trips that could end up being months apart? A friendship like that was one thing, but something more…

Or yet, if she decided to offer that, would he really want to limit himself to something so distant?

Aelin’s mind turned over those thoughts as her body fell back into sleep.

***

Rowan woke up to the sounds of people milling about outside. Opening his eyes, he reached overhead to stretch only to realized one of his arms was stuck under a body and his legs were touching someone else’s. He sucked in a sharp breath as he realized he’d been spooning Aelin in his sleep. His brain may not have noticed, but some other part of his body certainly did.

Careful to make sure she was still asleep, he carefully extricated his limbs from her body and hastily grabbed a fresh change of clothes before awkwardly slipping out of the hut, pausing only to silently curse as he knocked his head on the beam over the door.

By the time he got back, as fresh as he could be from an outdoor communal restroom, Aelin was awake and packing her backpack for the day’s trek.

“We’re getting fresh coffee this morning,” she said in greeting, and Rowan hoped she had been completely oblivious to the fact that he’d been using her as a pillow last night.

“What?” he blinked in confusion, willing his brain to stop replaying that moment when he woke up with her in his arms. A fruitless effort, really.

“The coffee plantation, remember?” Aelin tied her shoes and hauled her backpack around her shoulders. “That’s our first stop today, and I don’t know about you, but I would kill for a cup of coffee right about now.”

He laughed, shaking his head and grabbing his bag, following her out into the crisp morning air. “Then let’s hope we leave soon because I’d rather not die on the Inca Trail.”

Rowan busied himself on the way to the plantation by taking an excess number of photos along the hike. As long as he focused on establishing the correct aperture and composition for his shot then he wouldn’t focus on where his thoughts had gone that morning.

Was he purposefully shoving himself back behind the camera? Maybe. Was it a complete waste of effort because he somehow always kept gravitating back towards Aelin? Absolutely.

Gods, get it together Whitethorn, he berated himself.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the coffee plantation—a large, almost village-looking site with dozens of people milling about. Aelin kept throwing him odd looks during their presentation about how the beans were harvested and roasted.

“You okay, Buzzard?” Aelin whispered after having to nudge him to attention when they were each given cup of the roasted coffee.

He cleared his throat. He wasn’t going to spend the rest of their trip dredging up what ifs and maybes; he was here in Peru, hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, with Aelin. That’s all he needed to think about. Rowan met her inquisitive stare and smirked down at her cup, “Dandy. Are you going to be able to drink that or do you need to drown it in sweetener? Because that might offend the nice people who spent the time making it for us.”

She looked at him for another second before rolling her eyes and scoffing, “I can drink this no problem,” she insisted.

He raised his steaming cup and inhaled the rich, acidic aromas of the brew. With a sardonic little grin, Aelin mimicked him and lifted her cup. She kept her gaze locked with his as she gulped down two, then three mouthfuls of the scalding coffee.

Rowan’s grin widened as he saw her noticeably try not to grimace. “Did that taste good?” he asked, amused.

“Delicious.” She hissed, gritting her teeth.

“Did you burn yourself?”

“I can’t feel my tongue.” Aelin admitted matter-of-factly.

He tossed his head back and laughed, leaning over to grab the water pitcher, and slid it towards her.

***

“Aw, Rowan, I think it likes you.” Aelin snickered, taking his camera from around his neck and stepping back to get both Rowan and the large parrot on his shoulder in the picture.

“Just take the damn picture, Galathynius, so I can get rid of this thing.” He grumbled, shifting on his feet as the bird settled more sturdily onto his shoulder.

“Hey, it is not a thing.” she mockingly scolded before grinning, “He’s practically family, so don’t be rude.”

He looked at her incredulously, trying to jerk his head away from the beak that kept snapping a little too close to his ear. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Parrot, buzzard…there’s some distant relation there.” Aelin explained, cackling as his face fell into a scowl.

“You’re a menace is what you are.” he grumbled, finally handing the bird back to its owner.

Aelin laughed, scrolling through the pictures she just took to show him. “I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you very much.”

After leaving the coffee plantation, the group hiked for another few hours before stopping at a small rest stop near the train station. There was a train from the city to Machu Picchu, which they would be taking the opposite direction on their way back, but at one of its stops there was a small market with souvenirs, easy-to-eat food, and a very popular parrot. Their trekking group actually followed the path of the train tracks for a while in the afternoon until they arrived in Aguas Calientes.

The town, commonly referred to simply as Machupicchu, came to life only a few decades ago as a tourist center when Machu Picchu was discovered and opened to the public. The town was the closest habitable place to the ruins—just a short bus ride away.

That night, she and Rowan bought their early morning bus tickets so they wouldn't have to wait in line the next day. Then they dropped their bags off in the hostel they’d all be staying at. Aelin kicked herself for the unwelcome wave of disappointment she felt when she and Rowan walked into their room and each had a twin bed on opposite walls.

Her disappointment was irrational. Impractical. Unnerving. She shoved it down.

Despite both their exhaustion, she and Rowan found a place to eat and enjoyed some chicharrón, washing down the fried pork rinds with a citrusy pisco sour. It felt weird to see restaurants and nightclubs after being in the isolated villages for two days.

“You get to add one more achievement to your list.” Rowan told her as they walked through the dark streets, tourists still wandering about despite the late hour and lack of sun.

“My list?” she asked with a single golden brow arched.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, blowing a stray strand of hair from his eyes. “Your ever-growing list of interesting and amazing things you’ve done.”

“If I didn’t know better, I would think you sound impressed.” Aelin grinned as she kept pace with Rowan who looked over his shoulder every few second to make sure he didn't run into anything.

“Do you? Know better?” The moonlight shining down highlighted strands of his silvery hair as he cocked his head to the side.

“I think…” she countered, pausing in her tracks as she scrutinized Rowan. He stopped walking too, not fidgeting as she contemplated, “you are a little impressed. Envious, too.” She said in a soft non-judgmental but simply matter-of-fact voice, lifting a hand when he tried to reply. “And I think you still roll your eyes at me a bit for being able to go wherever I want, whenever I want. Because that’s what you want to do. But you’re too good of a guy to outwardly resent me, at least not since Marrakech, I think. So instead, you mock my list when, really, you wish it was yours.”

She hadn’t meant to be so blunt, but she wasn’t going to apologize for being able to add to her list.

Rowan was quiet as he held her stare and she watched as something indiscernible flashed across his face. He stepped closer until she had to crane her neck up to continue holding his gaze.

“Maybe you’re right,” he murmured, and she blinked as his breath fanned over her face. “But you’re wrong about one thing.”

“Oh?” she breathed, overwhelmed by how completely he overtook her senses. “What’s that?”

Rowan lifted a hand and slowly, carefully, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I haven’t felt like that since Santorini, not Marrakech”

Her eyes widened as she remembered that their meeting in Santorini was a whole seven months before they crossed paths in Morocco. More than a year ago.

“And,” he added, in a low voice, “I’m not impressed. I’m in awe—of how utterly, entirely, and unwaveringly you know how you want to spend your life. And every day, you keep finding new ways to accomplish it.”

She sucked in a sharp breath and he finally stepped back. Aelin didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Today, it was hiking the Inca trail,” he explained, beginning to walk again and she had no choice but to walk alongside him. “Tomorrow it will be visiting Machu Picchu.” He gave her one last meaningful look before turning around so she could no longer see his face, “I can’t wait to find out what comes next.”

***

It was another early morning as Rowan followed Aelin towards the bus station after picking up the packed lunches their guides had made for them. He tried not to think too much into it as she leaned herself against him during the bus ride as they passed hairpin turn after hairpin turn, barely avoiding the buses travelling back down the mountain.

After his unrehearsed speech to her last night, they had walked the rest of the way to the hostel in silence. If he wasn’t focused on how his heart was beating out of his chest and the way blood was pounding in his ears, he might have noticed how Aelin’s hands kept accidentally brushing his.

It also didn’t help that when he woke up this morning his immediate reaction was to look across the room at a still-sleeping Aelin and come to the inevitable realization that the previous night’s sleep, the one where he’d woken up with her in his arms, had been one of the best night’s sleeps he had had in a long time. Definitely better than this one, in a twin bed across a room that could’ve been an ocean for how far the distance felt from her.

When the bus dropped them off, they were lucky to be one of the first groups of people to arrive at the site that morning. It gave them almost unbothered access to the sights.

Cresting the hill, he and Aelin got their first true look at the ruins of Machu Picchu. They had climbed and climbed, and yet more mountains rose above them.

“We made it.” she breathed, stepping up beside him and beaming as she rested her hands on her hips as she surveyed the view before them.

Masses of walls and building foundations stretched across the terraced ground. The structures were in remarkably good shape, their window openings mostly preserved, and their angled walls still prepared to hold up roofs. The layered stone features were clustered together around a wider central green space. From the way the settlement was built, it felt like they were all perched atop these mountains, protected from the world.

He and Aelin walked through the pathways between buildings, stopping to take pictures every few minutes. The morning soon became lighter, and by nine am the sun peaked out above the mountains and they saw their first true sunrise in days.

Rowan had done a fair bit of travelling in his life, but he’d never seen anything like this. The ruins were a glimpse back in time—wholly different from the way those in Europe felt. Anytime he set foot in a long-abandoned civilization, whether it be in Greece, Italy, Egypt, or in this case, Peru, it was entirely surreal.

They took their time walking through the terraced levels of grass and crumbling stone. The mountain surrounding the site was actually a mass of mountains that transitioned from one to another. At one end of the ruins was Huayna Picchu mountain, taller than Machu Picchu mountain and on the rightmost side of the formation. It was a climb they paid a little extra to take.

The pair kept towards the mountain’s face as they ascended the steep staircases both carved into and placed along the natural rock.

“Whatever you do,” Aelin twisted around to say to him while they paused and let a few people pass them back down the stairs. “Don't fall.”

Rowan scoffed and rolled his eyes. “No shit, Sherlock,” he replied, but kept a firm grip on the ropes drilled into the sheer surface of the rock. They were the only support to hold onto walking up the uneven steps; the other side had nothing to prevent someone from falling off the edge and down the steep drop.

He could hear her snickering as she resumed walking, and Rowan tried not to feel like a total creep with the way his eyes unconsciously kept straying to her ass. In his defense, she was walking ahead of him up a set of stairs, so he was really just looking forward and it just so happened that she was wearing fitted athletic leggings that hugged her round cheeks with every step she took.

“Shit!” he cursed again as his toes hit another of the mismatched stairs, making him stumble, and thankfully pulling his thoughts in another direction.

“I was serious about the not falling thing, Whitethorn.” Aelin said as she waited for him to right himself before she started walking again. “I don't want to explain to your friends back home how I lured you to a different continent and somehow you ended up dead. That's not a good look on me. When I get accused of murder it’ll be for something I actually did.”

They hiked up a few more stairs and past the wary eyes of someone walking the opposite direction who overheard their conversation before Rowan stopped her. “Can we address how you said when you get accused of murder?”

Aelin laughed and wiped the sweat from her forehead, shooting him a wink. “Don't get your feathers all ruffled, Buzzard.” Her grin widened as he rolled his eyes. “I have too many things I still need to see before I risk jail time.”

“That makes me feel so much better.” he deadpanned, trying and failing to suppress a smirk.

***

Aelin was surprised at how many people could fit on the top of a mountain.

She and Rowan walked around to the different lookout points, finally being able to stop and enjoy the view. They’d risen above most of the ruins, now able to see the foundations from a new perspective.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, allowing the sounds of voices behind her, the smell of the rocks and earth, and the feeling of the person standing beside her to ground her in the moment.

Aelin could see the mass of ruins perched onto of the mountain crest, its layers of terraces and structures casting shadows throughout the site. It was easy to understand how it had been hidden from the outside world for so long. As she lifted her face to bask in the heat of the sun, she felt, now for another instance in her life, the pure magic that encompassed her with the understanding of where she was and how fortunate she was to be there.

It took a couple of nudges from Rowan to bring her back into the moment and notice the people behind her, eagerly waiting their turn to see the lookout. She stepped aside and followed Rowan slowly around the viewing space.

“One thing I’ve noticed,” Aelin pointed out, “is that there are no such things as universal safety standards.”

“What do you mean?” Rowan turned to face her, lifting a hand to help block the sun.

“Like, if we were in the States, so much of this would be roped off with security watching and we wouldn't be allowed within five feet of any of these ledges.” she glanced pointedly down to the staircase they’d come from. “A lot of places I’ve seen, like the cliffs of Moher,” she nodded at him, “are all ‘proceed at your own risk’ without any other ropes or guardrails.”

He leaned against the post beside him, crossing his arms across his chest. “I can't tell if you’re excited or disappointed by that?”

Rolling her eyes, Aelin looked back down the sheer side of the cliff face. “Mildly intrigued. But, unlike some people, I don't trip when I walk up stairs.” She laughed when he discreetly flipped her off.

“Come on,” he suddenly urged, grabbing her hand, and leading her back towards the stairs.

“What are you—”

“Just trust me, I saw something on the way up.”

Her curiosity won out and Aelin allowed Rowan to pull her along. There, down a few steps and off to the side was a flat, slanted rock that jutted up and out from the side of the peak. It looked like it aimed for the clouds because from her perspective, she couldn’t see any of the ruins or mountains beneath them beyond the tip of the rock.

“There’s no one over there, let’s check it out.” She jerked him back before he could hop over the jagged crevice between the stairs and the rock.

“Rowan, there’s probably a reason no one is there. It doesn’t look like we’re supposed to go out onto it.” She reluctantly reasoned because the longer she looked at it the more she wanted to see what the view was like from the edge.

“If that’s the case, then someone will tell us, and we’ll get down.” He argued.

Blinking up at him, it took her a second to comprehend that it was Rowan suggesting it while she was trying to be the voice of reason, and not the other way around. The Rowan she met a year and a half ago would never have suggested it. A wide smile stretched across her face until her cheeks hurt, the look of happiness and excitement mirrored on Rowan’s as she realized how far he’d come out of his shell.

She was nodding before she realized she was doing it. “Okay. Wait! Give me the camera and I’ll get some pictures of you on the rock from here.”

Handing over the camera, Rowan rolled his shoulders back and jumped over the crack between the rocks.

“It’s steeper than it looks.” He muttered, crouching down to crawl on his hands and knees up to the top.

Aelin swallowed her giggles as she got shot after shot of Rowan crawling up the incline. She also quickly deleted the photo where she’d zoomed in on his ass.

Pausing at the edge, Rowan took a few steadying breath before pushing himself to his feet. Aelin brought the camera back up to her face and watched as Rowan stretched his arms out wide, the light silhouetting him against the blue and white sky. Very carefully, he shuffled around until he was facing Aelin with a broad, unrestrained grin.

After a few more pictures, he walked back down and rejoined her at the base of the platform. His hair was tousled from the breezed and he clamped his hands on her shoulders as he insisted, “You have to go up there.”

She mimicked his jump and crawl up the rock until she began to see the mountains beneath her. Like Rowan, she stayed kneeling on the edge as she looked around. Knowing he was staying quiet so as not to startle her, Aelin slowly stood up, keeping her arms out for balance until her legs were straight and she was staring out over the mountain range.

Uncontrolled laughter rose out of her. It was stunning. Terrifying—but oh, so worth it.

She understood how people worshipped these mountains—named them their gods. She felt like she was on top of the world, standing on the highest peak of a mountain that itself stood atop another mountain, and yet…she looked around and saw more peaks around her, reaching even closer towards the sun and sky.

Aelin knew she would never forget that view.

She insisted on getting a photo of her and Rowan in front of the rock.

He happily obliged.

***

When they made it back down the mountain and through the ruins once more, they ended up off to the side in a small patch of grass overlooking a section of building foundations.

Rowan watched as Aelin flopped down onto the grass and batted away the blades that tickled the side of her neck. He sat next to her, cross-legged with his hands braced behind him, and was already looking at her when she peeked an eye open to glance at him. She arched a brow in question, waiting for him to speak.

After opening his mouth and closing it, not quite sure what to say, she urged him on with the tilt of her head. “Thank you,” he told her before shifting his gaze towards the ruins, “for inviting me here.”

She shrugged. “I was given two tickets,” she laughed, sitting up. “And after that trek, I'm sure as hell glad I had a walking buddy.” Aelin smiled at him and bumped his shoulder.

Rowan nodded, bringing his knees up and crossing his arms on top of them. “I mean, you could have invited anyone.” A look he couldn't understand flashed across her face before she schooled it into neutrality.

She watched him for another second and then followed his gaze towards the mountain peaks and crumbling walls. “I’m not sure I know anyone else who would appreciate this in the same way you and I do.” She finally said.

He loosed a slow breath. There it was again—that notion that he and Aelin were connected. That they were similar in ways he hadn’t anticipated all that time ago.

“For what it's worth,” he said, “I don't think I could’ve come here at any point since meeting you and not have expected to see you pop out from behind some ruined wall.”

She snorted, tossing her head back and whipping her hair behind her. “I really kept you on your toes, didn’t I?” she teased.

He nodded, glad to see her smiling again and rid of that faraway look she’d worn a minute ago. Knitting his brows together in mock distress, he confirmed, “For a while, every time I saw some blonde woman, I thought it was you.” Truth. “And each time I had a split second to prepare myself for my trip to be ruined.” Lie.

“Ruined?” she scoffed, looking outraged. “I made each of those experiences wonderfully unforgettable.”

You have no idea.

At his shit-eating smirk, she rolled her eyes and huffed an annoyed laugh. They lapsed into silence once more, enjoying the breeze that swept through the mountain side.

“I have something for you,” Rowan broke the silence and Aelin’s gaze on him as he turned towards his backpack and reached into the protected inner side pocket. His fingers caught on what he was looking for and brought his closed fist around towards her. At her questioning look, he unfurled his fingers and sitting in his palm was her Claddagh ring

She sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes flew between the ring and his face.

“I—” she stammered. “What—”

“I found it in my car after you left at the airport.” he picked it up and held the small, silver ring between two fingers. “I thought you might like it back.”

Aelin blinked again at the ring, snapping her jaw shut that had dropped at the sight of it. “I thought I lost it…” she trailed off, slowly taking it from him. “I was so upset with myself because I wanted something to remember that day—” she abruptly cut herself off and cleared her throat. “Thank you, Rowan.”

He watched as she toyed with the ring, shooting him another quick glance before hesitantly asking, “Are you familiar with the meanings behind these rings?”

“Shit. That's what I was going to do.” he hissed, shutting his eyes as he remembered what he’d wanted to figure out before returning it to her. “Uh, no, I don't.”

She laughed softly and spun the ring in her hand before slipping it onto the middle finger of her right hand with the heart facing out. At his expectant look, she merely shook her head as a small, secretive smile appeared on her face.

“I believe this is a sufficient thank you for the invitation.” she decided, grinning at him, and gods be damned if that smile alone wasn't reward enough.

Their gazes held, unwavering, neither adding another word to the conversation. Something passed over her face as the rest of the world seemed to fade. Aelin opened her mouth to say something—

“Ah! There you are!” José exclaimed, walking out from behind a staircase, and gestured towards where the rest of their tour group were huddled around a small stage.

He and Aelin both blinked back to reality. With one last glance in his direction, Aelin sprang to her feet, grabbed her bag, and hurried off towards the group.

***

Try as she might, Aelin couldn’t pay attention to their presentation about the history of Machu Picchu. José’s words went in one ear and out the other. Each time she tried to focus, she would immediately become distracted by the way Rowan’s arm brushed her every time either one of them made a minuscule shift. Or the way her finger now felt unfathomably heavier. She had to tell herself it wasn’t an illusion, that it was real that she had her Claddagh ring back. That Rowan had given it to her.

Gods, if she had ever asked for a sign…

“I hope you all enjoyed your time at Machu Picchu and had enough time to see all you wanted to see.” José’s voice cut through her jumbled thoughts. “The bus will be here in a few minutes to bring us back to Aguas Calientes.”

Somehow, they cut it too close to the train departure from the tourist town at the base of the mountain, and she and Rowan found themselves running through the streets of Aguas Calientes, laughing, with their bags bouncing on their backs towards the crowded train station.

The train ride itself flew by. She and Rowan found seats in the viewing car so they could watch the scenery go by through the massive windows nearly stretching form floor to ceiling. It was interesting to see it from a different, and much faster, point of view than when they hiked through it.

After the train, it was another bus ride back to Cusco. With the seats fully booked, they squished their backpacks into the available storage space and found seats beside each other towards the middle of the bus. During this ride, thankfully, Aelin didn't feel the overwhelming carsickness and even ended up accidentally falling asleep on Rowan’s shoulder. The next thing she knew, he was gently shaking her, telling her they’d arrived in the city.

Deciding to forego rest and push through until later that evening when Rowan had to catch a flight to Lima, they walked from the bus station towards the city center, taking their time to look at the architecture, art, and sights.

As soon as they got with three blocks of the Plaza de Armas, Aelin spotted half a dozen different men and woman waving tourist over, enticing them with the chance to see and pet baby alpacas. After the third invitation, she looped her arm through Rowan’s and followed the colorfully-dressed older woman down the street towards a small group of children huddled around two fluffy crias—the little alpacas happily nuzzling the giggling kids.

“Adorable,” she gushed, carefully crouching near the animal so as not to startle it. Without warning, another woman, dressed in a similarly bright outfit, picked up the alpaca and handed it off to Aelin. Her eyes flew wide as she hastily fixed her grip on the calm creature.

“They love the attention,” the first woman insisted upon Aelin’s hesitancy. As if understanding what she said, the alpaca turned its fuzzy head to nestle against her neck.

Rowan stood a few paces away, insisting on getting a picture of her with the animal. He argued that she got one of him with the parrot—but she didn’t protest as he captured the moment the alpaca opened its mouth and tried to eat a strand of her hair. Laughing in shock, she gently set the animal down and thanked the women before she and Rowan headed back towards the mercado.

They took their time wandering down more streets of vendors and souvenir shops. Aelin hadn’t bought anything yet, but she kept eyeing the beautifully woven scarfs, each more vibrant than the last.

“How much?” Rowan asked one vendor, a middle-aged woman sitting on a stool and reading a book. He held up a dark wool blanket.

“One hundred fifty soles,” she answered, not bothering to looking up.

He had barely gotten his wallet out before Aelin pulled him aside, flashing the vendor an apologetic smile.

“Are you not even going to try to barter?” She whispered incredulously.

“What? No. Not a fan,” he grumbled. “Consider the higher price I pay the fee for not having to.”

She rolled her eyes, already toying with another scarf she was interested in, this one a tapestry of greens with golden embroidery. “That’s stupid. It’s basically expected for people to barter for a better price, that’s why all of these are marked up.”

He raised a brow but stood his ground. “You can barter for me if you feel so inclined, but I’m not going to try.”

She snatched the blanket he’d picket out from his hands with a satisfied nod. “Fine. I will” And then Rowan got to watch Aelin haggle down the price, finally only having to pay a fraction of the soles she was originally charged.

They were looking for something to eat when Aelin tugged him to a stop, telling him, “Hold on a minute,” as she darted into the nearest shop. Two minutes later, she came back out trying to stuff a bag into her backpack.

“What’s that?” he asked, trying not to sound too curious.

Finally managing to fit it in and zipping her pack back up, she smiled up at him, “A book. I buy one—”

“Each place you go.” He finished, remembering how she told him about her souvenir of choice while they had eaten dinner at O’Neill’s

“Right.” She nodded, surprised that he remembered that detail.

Mindful of how their new purchases were weighing down their backpacks, they soon found a few food stands surrounding a couple of open tables. Rowan walked towards the fresh acai bowls while Aelin opted for a bowl of hot shambar. She picked out a table and carefully set down her golden-yellow soup, its meaty aroma set her mouth watering.

They ate slowly, each letting the other try spoonful’s of their dish. She thought, maybe, they were both trying to draw this out as long as possible.

Rowan walked with her towards where she’d be staying that night, figuring that because he had everything with him that he could just call a taxi from there to bring him to the airport. Aelin was glad, she wanted to savor every last second until his taxi showed up. Which it did, far too soon for her liking.

“You know,” Rowan said, frowning as he hovered halfway between her and the taxi idling in the street, “I was so caught up in this week that I never asked you where you’re headed next.”

Her brows shot up she leaned against the door frame of the house, crossing her arms to shield against the sudden breeze. A small smile played on her lips. “Oh, you know,” she waved a hand around, “Here and there. I haven’t decided yet. Maybe I’ll head east towards Bolivia and check out the famous salt flats. Or down to northern Chile towards the Valle de la Luna.” She shrugged thoughtfully. “But next month I’ll be heading back home for a little while.”

“To New York?” He asked, having stepped closer to the taxi.

Aelin nodded, watching as he hoisted his bag into the open truck. “Yeah, I have some things I need to do there, and see some people who I haven’t seen in a long time.”

He walked back to the side of the car. “Until next time?” Rowan opened the back door and rested one hand on the roof of the car as he looked at her, waiting on her answer.

Aelin smiled, hoping it didn’t waver with her sudden rush of emotion; her feelings of disappointment at Rowan leaving were at least soothed by the knowledge that he was looking forward to their next visit as much as she was. Nodding without hesitation, she answered, “Until next time.”

The air between them was charged as their gazes held. Then he nodded and slid into the taxi, pulling the door shut behind him. A moment later, Aelin watched as the car turned down the road and vanished from sight.

She’d barely walked back into the building behind her when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Aelin pulled it out and felt her heart flutter as she opened the text from Rowan. There were no words, only a picture. It showed her and Rowan standing in front of that jutting rock atop Huayna Picchu, her arm was around his middle and his draped over her shoulders. They both beamed at the camera with overflowing exhilaration and adrenaline.

Noticing it was a live photo, she pressed down and waited. The clip began with Rowan grinning at the camera, but she was looking up at him with her face alight with happiness. Then the in-between moment captured in the still photo with them both staring at the camera. And then, finally, a moment later showing that while she didn’t move, Rowan glanced down at her with that same look she snuck of him the second before.

Until next time.

***

Part 7

*****

Special thank you to my amazing friend/roommate who allowed me to interrogate her about her time in Peru. This ch would not be here without her

Taglist:

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[themurderofcrowscollective]

In minutes you're getting your human appearance tailored to your preferences, whistling a tune as you check yourself out in the mirror. Ginger hair, a fair amount of freckles peppered on pale skin, green eyes and a small tooth gap between your two front teeth. " I almost look like my brother, Rowan. " You giggle a bit before you change the hair color to brown and give your skin a bit more tanner color. " Oh that looks a lot better. Alright, I need a new name cause Garret would just give it away. Jared? " You look at your cat who seems to squint at the name. " Not Jared, got it. Richard? I could go by Dick for short. " Midnight looks up and down at you before he shakes his head no. " Fuck. " Sitting next to your cat, you sigh and think of a name until you snap your fingers. " Terry! I can be a Terry, this is a Terry face after all. " Your cat seems to enjoy it, meowing happily as you pick up your bags you've packed and access your phone, giving a confirmation that you're ready for deployment before getting Midnight into a cat carrier. " You all good in there? " Midnight meows in content as he loafs, a portal opening up and allowing you to step through. - - - Your name is now Terry Gallagher, you were born and raised in Dublin, Ireland and you like fishing, hunting, and secretly reading manga because you're still a diehard fan of Japanese culture and reading manga is fun. And you just so happen to know quite a lot about the spiritual world, but you've got a secret you'll take to the grave. Once stepping through the portal, you are instantly placed inside a helicopter with no one else inside. You seem to recognize the pilot who knows very well what you are, but to play it safe, he addresses you as your secret alias. " We'll be landing on the tarmac in about 10 minutes, Lieutenant Gallagher. " You only nod at him, holding the cat carrier on your lap. " It'll be okay kitty, just a few minutes longer. " Midnight does not seem to be bothered by the helicopter sound, in fact he's asleep. This little asshole can sleep through anything really, so you're not worried. In 10 minutes you land, and as the door slides open, you get out and squint a bit due to the sun being in your fucking face before you put on your sunglasses and adjust your eyes to find your newest Captain waiting for you. You forgot what it felt like to be alive, to be around living people so you can't help but look around and see the other men and women of the base leaving for missions or coming back, conversing with each other as you make your way to Captain John Price. " Sir, it is an honor to be here. " You salute a bit before Price returns the salute and smiles. " Welcome to the team, Lt. Gallagher! Come on in. " As soon as you're inside, you feel chills go down your spine as you follow him. It's been decades since you've been on an active base so you're a bit excited to be here again. Despite your eyes allowing you to see the spirits of those who've passed (who also recognize you without the human disguise) pass you by and wave or say hi, you're excited to be around living beings. He leads you into the breakroom designated for the 141, a special team you've had the honors of getting to see in battle. So many Shadows died during Las Almas which meant you had to have help in sorting who went where during that time, and you sometimes peeked in on what they did. You have a good idea on who everyone is, but you don't fully know them enough to even be called acquaintances. In the far corner is Ghost, not too far from him is Soap. At least you had photos to go with names when you were busy packing your stuff, or else you'd be the laughing stock for centuries among your fellow grim reapers. You scour the room and add faces to names. Konig and Horangi are at the table drawing together, Roach is watching a video with Gaz, Alejandro and Rodolfo are definitely making love eyes at each other and mumbling a few things in Spanish that you'd rather not translate to anyone, and Nikolai is getting up and approaching you. Oh shit.

" Shall I have this dance? "

Ghost has danced with Death countless times and only watched Death take his friends and loved ones with no ability of doing anything to stop it even more. He likes to imagine he's Death itself, until the day Death arrived atop a black horse in his dream... or should I say vision?

- - -

You are Death, not in a 'I'm-so-war-torn-and-edgy' way but in a more legit way. You were once a man named Garret, you had been slaughtered in captivity of the enemy and then woke up to find yourself being interviewed by the former Grim Reaper who instantly hired you on the spot as the new Grim Reaper.

Your horse is apparently your old cat named Midnight reincarnated so when you found him, you two were happy to see each other and an old bond between you both came back from the dead.

Some perks of being the Grim Reaper is wielding the scythe, yes you'll admit you're still a dork, and getting to travel the world freely. Since you're as dead as a doorknob, you also get to see the spirit world so you're a frequent visitor to Japan for the festivals held by the Mononokes and Yokais.

- - -

Every Day of The Dead, you visit old friends who've long died and still use your skills of speaking Spanish so they don't get rusty. It's great partying with them, and speaking of languages, you've mastered every language before you were signed up for field duty.

One night after being a sweetheart to a lonely dying man, letting him cross over to the afterlife, you hear your phone go ding so you take it out and see you've been given a new assignment. What strikes you as odd is that this isn't your usual task of finding a certain person across the world to help them move on but... to find a group of people who need to stay alive.

You accept it anyway, whistling for Midnight who comes galloping with a whinny. " New task Midnight, I gotta keep a group of individuals alive this time. A little strange but I'm always one for something new. " The pair of you start heading off with a portal opening up quickly in front, which you both enter through.

Upon entering through, you're back in your personal room with a letter on your bed. Midnight morphs into a black cat and sits on your bed, meowing while softly papping the letter. " Oh, thanks Midnight. " You pick it up and start reading it.

" 'Dear Mr. Reaper, upon accepting this task you hereby are required to wear a human disguise and it is important you do so as to not startle anyone. You are still free to go about your other tasks but you cannot forget that your group of particular individuals are of great importance.' Wow they still always seem so posh in these letters. Anyways... 'Upon further notice, your records from your previous life will not be used but you will go under a new alias with a secret life. It is up to you to remain anonymous, and once your task is fulfilled, you will be free from this task and go onto other tasks.' " You notice there's another slip of paper so you swap it with the other letter. " 'Your task will last until the designated timestamps of each individual.' " Below is a list of names and the ages they die. John Price - Current age: 48 - Death age: 90 " Goddamn. " Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick - Current age: 28 - Death age: 86 John 'Soap' MacTavish - Current age: 28 - Death age: 84 Simon 'Ghost' Riley - Current age: 29 - Death age: 85 For a moment you think the last two names are going to die together until you find a little sidenote. 'Simon Riley and John MacTavish are to die at the same time. They are bound by the chains of Fate and their love is written in the stars.' Huh. You've heard of those kinds of deaths, where love continues to live on even in death. You know a few guys like that too, but you've never experienced it in person. There are other names too. 'Konig' - Current age: 32 - Death age: 80 Kim 'Horangi' Hong-jin - Current age: 31 - Death age: 79 Another pair bound by chains. Gary 'Roach' Sanderson - Current age: 27 - Death age: 75 Nikolai 'Nik' Belinski - Current age: 49 - Death age: 90 Alejandro Vargas - Current age: 42 - Death age: 83 Rodolfo Parra - Current age: 41 - Death age: 82 And that makes a fourth pair. You catalogue the four pairs bounded by fate and take a deep breath, folding away the letter and putting it in your pocket. Midnight meows at you softly. " I know, this'll be one of the longest tasks I've done. But at least it's not eternity. " - - - (Pairs bounded by fate are John x Nikolai, Ghost x Soap, Konig x Horangi and Alejandro x Rodolfo. Yeh.)

[seasonofthewicth]

quarantine questions

AN: this was inspired by the incredible @highqueenofelfhame ‘s fic everyone’s favourite teacher (which you can find here xxx and I 100% recommend). I absolutely adore that fic and couldn’t help but write my own spin on teacher Rowan and Aelin. 

p.s. one day I will write Aelin as something other than a teacher, today is just not that day. 

p.p.s. this isn’t a proposal fic I just can’t think of titles. Anyway, enjoy!

word count: ~2.2k

part 2 - part 3

------ 

Aelin loved her job, she really did, but Gods did quarantine make it difficult.

Normally she loved seeing the kids, they were great fun, and most of them wanted to learn and wanted to be in her classroom which meant the environment was positive and enjoyable. Even the kids that didn’t want to be there could usually be won over with a few tricks or promises of treats, which was always rewarding.

The interactions with the kids were what made her get up in the morning, the reason she had become a teacher in the first place was to satisfy her desire to help nurture children and to help them grow. But then the global pandemic had hit and the access to her students was reduced.

Not only did she have to adapt to trying to teach her lessons online, working out how the content could be explained using only her voice and a computer screen had pushed her in ways she hadn’t expected. While it was satisfying when she figured things out Aelin knew her lessons over zoom weren’t up to her usual standard.

That was the reason she had let her students know she would be at her desktop for an extra half an hour every day after school usually finished, for them to come to her if they had any problems or anything they wanted her to go through with them. Normally she would have operated her open-classroom-door policy, but a virtual replacement would have to do.

A good number of her students had taken up her offer of extra time to go through problems with her in the few weeks since she had started it, some came in groups for extra explanation for her lessons or some came individually for personal guidance.

As the clock struck 3:30 she joined the zoom call to wait for any students to join. It wasn’t long before a notification popped up telling her a student was requesting access to the call.

“Hello,” She called once the student had entered the call.

“Hey Miss G.” The student on the call was a young girl named Evangeline. 

Evangeline was an enthusiastic student and always tried her best. She sometimes struggled with the content, but her perseverance was what gave Aelin such a soft spot for her.

“Hey Evangeline, what can I do for you today?” She asked, making sure her tone was upbeat enough to invite questions.

“I just have a few questions about your lesson today I was hoping we could go through them?”

“Of course,” She said, grabbing her notepad and pen in case she needed to do any drawing of diagrams to aid her explanation, or make any notes for herself.

It didn’t take her long to go through Evangeline’s list of questions, they were all genuine and thought provoking, and it made Aelin smile knowing Evangeline had thought deeply about her teaching.

“Is that everything for today?” She asked capping her pen. “How are all the rest of your classes going?”

Evangeline took a deep breath, looking down below her computer screen and Aelin’s stomach turned nervously.

“They’re okay…” She started. “Most of them are fine, Spanish is even going well, it’s just Maths.”

Aelin shuffled where she sat, hoping the conversation wasn’t going where she thought it was as her student continued.

“I’m in Mr Whitethorn’s class, and his teaching in our lessons is fine, I’m just really struggling with the assignments. The class is huge too, so I don’t like to speak when I don’t get something.”

Mr Whitethorn.

Mr Rowan Whitethorn.

Aelin’s boyfriend of three years, not that Evangeline knew that, who was currently sitting in the room next door where he had been teaching his own zoom classes for the past few weeks.

She had met Rowan when she joined the school almost four years ago, she was newly qualified and nervous for her first proper teaching job. She had made friends quickly within her own department, the other history teachers Yrene and Elide were great fun and always up for a raucous night of drinking with Aelin. They had taken her under their wings when Aelin first started, which had led to her meeting Rowan.

The school was one of the largest in their district, meaning the different departments didn’t often mix, but one night Elide had brought along her boyfriend Lorcan, another maths teacher, who brought along his co-worker Rowan.

Rowan Whitethorn had not been what Aelin had expected. She remembered seeing him in the halls at school, dressed smartly in his button down and slacks, square framed glasses hiding most of his face.

In the bar Rowan Whitethorn had looked like a god. His tightly-fitted t-shirt highlighting his strongly-built arms and allowing her a long look at his intricate tattoo stretching down one of his arms that had previously been hidden. His silver hair shining in the bright lights as he towered over her to greet Elide.

He had flashed her a grin as he had taken the seat next to her and introduced himself and Aelin had been gone. Hooked on his slanted smile and the twinkle in his shining green eyes.

They had got along well all night, and he had bid her farewell with a chaste kiss on the cheek. The next morning she swallowed her pride and asked Elide if she could pass along his number. Elide had only replied with a phone number and a smirking emoji.

From there their relationship had been simple, but not boring. He drew out her fire and she loved him for it.

They had kept their relationship hidden at school, which had proven difficult once the quarantine kicked in and they had to hide the fact that their zoom lessons were taking place in the same house.

Aelin sighed, her attention only briefly drawn away from her student. “I’m sorry to hear that, Evangeline. Have you tried contacting Mr Whitethorn separately to let him know that you’re struggling? I’m sure he’d be more than willing to help you if he knew.”

She knew her boyfriend would be horrified to find out that a student was struggling and had been too shy to ask for help.

“No,” The young girl started, still blushing. “I’m not really sure what I would say.”

“I could help you draft an email if you wanted?” Aelin offered immediately and let out a soft sigh of relief as Evangeline nodded enthusiastically.

-----

Once her call with Evangeline had finished where Aelin had helped her to compose a draft email to Mr Whitethorn she shut her computer and left her office. She padded into the living room where she found her boyfriend lounging on the sofa, dressed in a pair of light grey sweats and a Doranelle University sweatshirt. 

Seeing him dressed so casually in their home sent a warm jolt through her chest, and an only slightly lesser rush of warmth headed somewhere slightly lower through her at the sight of him.

She flopped down next to him and burrowed her nose into his neck, breathing in his pine and snow scent.

“Hello, you.” His voice was soft as he pecked a kiss onto her cheek. “How was your day?”

She laughed, tilting her head up to face him. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him today; they coordinated their breaks to see each other throughout the days.

“Fine,” She said with a sly smile. “I helped one of my students draft an email for her ever so wonderful maths teacher, Mr Whitethorn, to ask for some extra help.”

“Oh Gods,” He laughed, a loud and bright sound, and tucked an arm around her shoulders pulling her in tight. “What a nightmare. He sounds like a great teacher to me.”

She snorted. “And modest.”

He poked her side. “I think he’ll get back to them tomorrow, he’s busy now anyway.”

With that he pressed a more meaningful kiss to her cheek and peppered them all the way down until his lips were pressed against her own. She leaned into the kiss, twisting her fingers through his thick hair to pull him closer towards herself.

It was incredible how he still managed to ignite her blood with a kiss, her skin burned where he touched. He slid his hands down her sides, tucking one into the crook of her knee and hitching her leg up over his own.

After a few minutes she managed to draw herself back for a breath. “He is very busy.” She pressed one last kiss against his lips. “Cooking his beautiful girlfriend her dinner. She’s very hungry.”

He growled, face pressed tightly against her neck and nipped the skin lightly with his teeth, a promise for later, but stood up, nonetheless. He held his hand out for hers and tugged her up to follow him to the kitchen.

-----

She knew Rowan had seen Evangeline’s email, and had arranged his own one-to-one session with her over zoom to go through her questions. They mostly tried to stay out of each other’s teaching, knowing that everyone had different styles and used different techniques, but they shared general pieces of information about their roles and their students.

She knew Evangeline was feeling better about his class now, she’d told her a couple of weeks later in another one of her post-school hours drop ins that she had spoken with him and he had offered her guidance on the assignment.

She also told Aelin that Mr Whitethorn had opened up the chat facility for students who weren’t confident in speaking aloud to ask questions during his lessons. Aelin had to bury her smirk at the comment, hiding the fact that Aelin herself had made that suggestion to a worried Rowan.

She was currently on an extended drop in session with around fifteen of her students going through one of the larger pieces of coursework she was setting for the class. She had tried to avoid setting large pieces of assessed work throughout the pandemic as she knew how difficult it was to work from home and she understood that not all students had a level playing field when working from home, but this one had been unavoidable.

This session had run way past the time she had allocated for it; they were over an hour into the half-hour time slot she normally used at the end of the day for the sessions.

She was listening to her students’ discussions of their ideas for the coursework, she encouraged group work and collaboration as long as the final pieces of work were completed independently.

She nodded along silently, until she heard a voice from behind her.

“Aelin, are you coming—” Rowan’s voice cut off as he froze in the doorway. 

She gasped, whirling in her seat, aware of the students on her call falling silent.

Her eyes flew back to her computer screen to check the small square in the corner that showed what her students could see of her.

Rowan was clearly well inside the frame where he stood behind her, frozen with his hand on the door handle, his mouth hanging open in an exaggerated o-shape.

She turned back towards him, her own eyes as wide as his as they met, neither knowing what to say or how they could explain his presence in her house with anything other than the truth. She knew there were too many students on her session for this to stay a secret too, the news would spread along the student network in no time.

Rowan’s mouth snapped shut and he began to inch backwards to where he had come from, but he was interrupted by a voice.

“Hey Mr Whitethorn.” Evangeline’s voice was clear over the zoom call, and it snapped Aelin out of her stupor.

“Hey guys,” Rowan’s voice was croaky. “I’ll just be—”

“Mr Whitethorn will be going now.” At her raised eyebrows he raised his hands in apology and crept back out of the room, pulling the door closed softly behind himself.

Aelin dropped her forehead to her hands and puffed out a laugh, before glancing back up at her screen.

At least five of her students were visibly on their mobiles, tapping away. Those who weren’t all wore mischievous grins. This was mortifying.

“I know why he was so helpful after our chat now Miss G.” Evangeline’s voice was smug even over the video call.

“Yes, well. Sorry about that, anyway, moving on.” She could move past this; she would move past this.

----

She left the room once the call with her students was finished, most of the awkwardness had cleared by the time the call had ended, but she had no doubt that there wasn’t a single student in the school who wouldn’t have heard about this by the next day.

She collapsed onto the sofa, her face buried in a pillow next to where Rowan sat, looking down at her sheepishly.

“I’m so sorry Aelin.”

She let out a muffled scream before taking a deep breath and looking up at him, a wonky smile spreading across her face.

“It’s not your fault,” She told him. “It’s this rutting quarantine.”

------ 

In regard to tags, I have so far assumed that anyone who has previously asked to be tagged had requested specifically for my new girl au fic, if you want to be added to a general tag list for things like this please let me know!

[featherymalignancy]

PART TWO — The Eyes of Texas: A Rowaelin Origin Story 🏐 🍺 ♥️ 

  Long before Cash and Nesta, there was Rowan and Aelin.

Rowan Whitethorn—a Navel academy graduate and recently discharged second lieutenant from the United States Navy—takes a break from studying of the police academy exam in Los Angeles to fly back to his native Hawaii and compete in a twos volleyball tournament with his ex, one of the best sand players on the amateur circuit.

Beyond Remy’s devious machinations to win Rowan back, the biggest impediment to victory is the so-called Ashryver twins, a pair of cousins from Miami with a reputation of their own. Rowan can’t help but admire the gorgeous and sharp-tongued Aelin Galathynius, who’s more than ready to give Remy a run for her money—both on the court and in the race for Rowan’s affection.

This takes place in the same AU-verse as my Nessian story In Vino Veritas, about four years before. 

This a two-shot, you can find  PART I here.

The Eyes of Texas, PART TWO

By midnight, Rowan knew he was in deep shit.

They’d migrated to another bar by that time, Aelin practically in his lap as they traded stories about college and their friends. Rowan found himself caught between despair and delight as he listened to Aelin speak, unsure if he should be reveling in the attention from a woman of her caliber, or fretting that it couldn’t last.

It wasn’t just that Aelin was beautiful, though he was admittedly so mesmerized by those blue eyes and that dazzling smile that he had to actively avoid staring.

She was funny, too.

And not “when a sexy woman makes a joke you feel oddly compelled to laugh” type of funny, either.

She was fucking hilarious.

She’d had him in stitches earlier with a story about getting the business-end of her grandmother’s chancla after she’d gone to Easter mass with blue teeth from her candy basket, and he’d hardly stopped laughing since.

Rowan had always been a somewhat serious person—even more so after Lyria’s death—but Aelin made him feel...younger. Lighter. And he might have felt guilty for that, except he’d had the oddest sensation throughout the evening that Lyria was there, laughing alongside him.

And—as if gorgeous and hysterical weren’t enough—Aelin was also incredibly bright. Despite the rigors of her volleyball schedule, she was a neuroscience and psychology double major, with plans to attend medical school and become a psychiatrist when she graduated.

It was an answer that Rowan hadn’t expected when he’d asked what she was studying, but somehow it suited her. The ambition, the focus—it explained in part why she was such an incredible athlete. Rowan knew better than anyone that it took more that height and muscles to be a success in the sport, and even among the juggernauts who’d completed in the tournament, Aelin had been in a class of her own.

She’d grown oddly bashful when he’d pressed her about her volleyball career, at which point she admitted she’d held off med school applications to accept a place on the AVP tour.

“They’ve offered you a spot?” Rowan’d asked.

Aelin’s cheeks had gone slightly pink.

“They called after the tournament,” she’d said. “A scout was there to watch me play.”

“Aelin, that’s incredible.”

At this Aelin’s smile had relaxed into something sensuous that had made Rowan’s stomach tighten.

“Couldn’t have done it without, guapo. ”

Now as Ro sat twirling the tail of Aelin’s braid around a tattooed finger, he tried to remind himself that he needed to shut all these bright and shiny feelings down. Aelin had been a danger to the comfortable numbness Rowan had been living in since the moment she stepped onto the sand of that volleyball court. Now, having heard her laugh and flirt and speak Spanish, she’d become lethal.

He told himself that if he was smart, he’d kiss her cheek right now and tell her goodnight. It would probably take him several days to extract her from pleasant place she’d settled under his skin, but he could stop the bleeding now. If he was smart, he most definitely would not sleep with her.

But apparently he wasn’t smart, because when she’d slyly tugged him to his feet and coaxed him into one of the private closets marked “For Staff Only”, he didn’t stop her.

He also didn’t stop her when she kissed him, tongue sliding effortlessly into his mouth and she hands tracked under his shirt.

It was a bad idea to want Aelin Ashryvver-Galathynius the way Ro did, but he found as her hands continued their exploration that he didn’t care. Even if he could only have her for one night, he would make it enough.

“Your body is insane,” Aelin breathed, tracing the ridges of his abs in a way that made him shudder.

He couldn’t help the self-satisfied smirk which tugged at his mouth as he kissed her again.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.”

At this Aelin paused to laugh, eyes sparkling with wicked delight.

“Was that a big dick comment?” She said. “I knew you had it in you, Whitethorn.”

Rowan debated going for the obvious joke about having ‘it’ in her soon before quickly deciding against it. He was tipsy; it didn’t mean he had to be a jackass, too.

“Let’s go, you little troublemaker,” Ro said, reaching for the door which led from the closet to the secluded hallway.

Aelin’s answering grin was staggering in its seductive force. She casually leaned against the door, blocking his exit as she pulled him towards her by the beltloops.

“Why, are you afraid of getting caught?”

He grabbed the hand that was attempting to slip into his pants, pinning it over her head and bowing into her so she could feel how hard he already was.

“No. But the kind of sex I want, you can’t give me here.”

This seemed to stun her into aroused silence, and he reveled in the victory of rendering Aelin Galathynius speechless. However, she recovered quickly, leaning in to nip his lip.

“Fair warning: I’m not easily impressed.”

Her wrists still caught in his grip, he bent to whisper in her ear, grinding a little against her as he did so.

“So you say, but I’m going to guess you’ve only ever been with boys, Aelin. You may not realize it, but I don’t think you have any idea how good sex can actually be.”

Her legs went slightly weak at that, and he slid his knee between her thighs to keep her upright.

“And you’re going to show me?” She asked.

All the things he wanted to do to her flashed in his mind, and Rowan had to fend off a groan as he hardened further. Much more of this and they would end up doing it in this closet.

“I am,” he replied simply.

Aelin’s answering laugh was husky.

“How are you the same guy who didn’t have the cojones to ask for my number this afternoon?”

He recognized the gesture for what it was: an attempt to gain back the upper hand in their continued tug-of-war for dominance.

Turned on by her bravura, he let her, adding with a shrug, “I guess I’m more of a ‘lady in the streets’ type.”

Still, unwilling to cede to her completely he shifted his thigh where it was still nestled between her legs. She moaned a little, moving against him almost involuntarily to get the friction she needed.

Despite the desire for privacy enough to make Aelin scream herself hoarse, Ro found the idea of her rubbing one out on him too hot to resist. Rotating his knee, he pushed up until she was practically riding his thigh.

Aelin’s nails dug into his forearm as the seam of her shorts hit the exact right spot. He increased the pressure, and she moaned again, the sound growing more fractured as he snapped open one her overall straps and squeezed her firm breast over the lace. God, her tits were perfect.

“Stop or I’m going to come,” she said, teeth gritted.

Rowan didn’t bother to fend off a self-satisfied smile.

“You’re this easy to set off, Galathynius?” He laughed softly. “God, the things I’m gonna fucking to do to you.”

“I thought you said we weren’t going to bang here.”

“We aren’t,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have an orgasm.”

“You seriously want my first one with you to be while I’m fully clothed?”

He glanced up to meet her overcome blue eyes.

“I just want to show you how many different ways I have to make you scream, Aelin.”

Taking a fistful of the denim jumper, he tugged up roughly until the fabric was splitting her. Even though all her clothes he could see what a gorgeous little pussy she had. The realization he’d soon be inside of her made Ro’s cock ache.

“Fuck,” Aelin said, hips canting forward as he used the back-and-forth friction to drag her closer to release. “This is not how I imagined things going when I brought you in here.”

Rowan kissed her neck.

“Better or worse?”

“Better,” she said. “So much better. Mierda .”

Her body tightened then relaxed slightly against him, and were he inside of her, he knew she’d be clenching around him right now.

“You have a gorgeous come face,” he told her honestly.

“I bet you do, too.”

He couldn’t fight a grin.

“Would you like to find out?”

“Yes please. ”

He pressed forward to kiss her again, their tongues tangling as he breathed, “let’s get out of here.”

Needing no further prompting, Aelin reached behind her to twist open the door before slipping out, Rowan behind her.

Taking his hand, she tugged him towards the exit, her phone already out with a map pulled up.

“Where are we headed?” He asked. “I might be able to help.”

Aelin’s answering smile was cryptic.

“It’s not far. The app is saying a 17-minute walk. Hang on.”

With this she dialed  a number before bringing the phone to her ear. Whoever she was calling—one of her cousins, Ro suspected—picked up on the second ring, and she began giving orders in rapid Spanish. After a minute she hung up, flashing Ro a simpering smile as she batted her lashes.

“Shall we?”

Rowan couldn’t fight a laugh.

“Did you just kick your cousins out of the room?”

“Suite,” she said with a growing smirk. “But who’s counting?”

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said. “We could have made it work.”

Her gaze heated, burning hot enough that Ro felt his cock stirring again. He watched as her fingers nimbly went to one of the long braids hanging over her shoulder, deftly undoing the plait.

“We don’t need an audience for all the filthy things I want you to do to me.”

He groaned.

“You’re killing me.”

She smiled, working the other braid free and giving her curtain of blonde hair a shake. Christ, he wanted to run his hands though it, then bunch in it his hands while he fucked that pretty little mouth.

She smirked as if she knew what he was thinking, even biting her lip a little in suggestion.

“Something wrong?” She said.

He only laughed.

“Completely the opposite.”

She smiled, tugging him down the street for ten blocks or so before making a left and heading towards a glittering glass building.

The Ritz Carlton.

Rowan let out a low whistle as they entered the marble lobby.

“You keeping secrets, Galathynius?”

She bit her lip.

“My dad is...not poor.”

“Define ‘not poor’.”

“He owns twenty-three luxury hotels in Miami?”

Rowan’s throat felt a bit scratchy.

“You’re a millionaire.”

Her grin was sheepish and slightly guilty.

“Kinda?”

He must have looked confused.

“I mean, yeah, with a b.”

Holy shit, her family were billionaires.

She studied him for a moment when he stopped walking, trying to take it all in. He wasn’t usually one to be embarrassed about money or his upbringing, but she was stupid rich. He suddenly felt out of his depth.

“This is why I didn’t tell you,” she said quietly. “It makes people see me differently.”

At this he glanced up, reading the sadness and loneliness in her eyes.

“It doesn’t change anything,” he found himself saying.

Dating a girl that rich, especially as a cop in Vice Squad—that could be complicated. But that’s not what this was; after tonight, Ro would likely never see her again. Besides, she’d made an effort not to make it a big deal, and hadn’t thrown money around to impress him even when she easily could have. If she could set it aside for the evening, so could he.

Also, he really wanted to fuck her. She was a girl begging for pleasure, and he wanted to be able to show her things she hadn’t experienced even in her wildest fantasies.

Aelin seemed to read the acceptance in his eyes because she tugged him towards the elevator, punching 36 before pushing him against the wall to kiss him.  Sliding his hands down her thighs, he hoisted her easily into his arm, crushing her against him.

When the door opened he didn’t bother putting her down, simply breathed against her mouth, “where?”

She gestured to the left and he headed towards the single door at the end of the hall. Producing a key from her back pocket, she slid to her feet before unlocking the door and ushering him inside.

Ro told himself not to gawk as they stepped farther into the palatial space, but it was impossible.

The lavishly-appointed suite was furnished with a living room, full kitchen, bedroom, and formal dining area, floor-to-ceiling window along the far wall looking out onto the Pacific Ocean.

There was a bottle of expensive Cuban rum and several glasses sitting on the marble island, half-smoked Monte Cristo cigars resting in a nearby tray. The Ashryvvers, it seemed, were no strangers to the finer things in life.

“Do you want a drink?” Aelin asked, trailing a hand down his back and observing him as he took in their surroundings.

He turned to her to say yes, but when he caught sight of the heat in her gaze he changed him mind.

“Later,” he said, walking her backwards into the wall closest to the bedroom.

“Thank god,” she said as he threaded a hand through hers to pull her arm above her head. “I don’t think I could bear to wait.”

Rowan chuckled, teeth grazing her ear as he said, “Does that mean you’re going to be a good girl and do as I say?”

Her blue eyes snapped to him, blazing with defiance.

“What makes you think I’m that type of girl?”

“In your everyday life, you like to be in control?”

“Yes.”

Rowan nodded.

“That’s why.”

“I don’t follow.”

“You’re used to responsibility and keeping all the plates spinning, but I bet deep down, you fantasize about being able to let go; you just don’t know how.”

She scoffed, through the sound turned to a breathy exhale as he kissed her neck.

“And what makes you think that I’ll be able to let go with you, a total stranger?”

He pulled back, kissing her softly on the lips.

“Because I am going to make you feel so good and so safe, you won’t have a choice. Do you trust me, Aelin?”

“I have no real reason to,” she hedged. “We just met.”

“But...” he said onto the sensitive skin of her throat.

She paused, muscles in her neck gorgeously taut as he tugged her earlobe with his teeth.

“Díos ayúdame,” she choked out. “Yes, I do.”

“Good girl,” he praised. “Let’s get you naked.”

Throwing the overall strap he’d previously unbuckled over her shoulder, he unsnapped the other. He knelt as he coaxed the whole garment down her hips, pausing to lave her tattoo.  He resisted the urge to venture between her legs, enjoying the way she bucked her hips towards the heat of his mouth as it pressed against her low belly.

“Patience,” he said, nipping the sensitive skin.

She settled slightly at that, and Ro ran his hands up her torso with with deliberate slowness, palms skating effortlessly under her lacy bralette and tugging it off in a single, fluid gesture.

He glanced down at her and groaned.

“Fucking Christ.”

Her breasts were flawlessly round and dark enough to suggest she spend a decent amount of time tanning topless, her tight nipples framed by matching diamond studs. He ran a finger over the jewelry, laughing at her shudder of pleasure.

“Are you crazy, Galathynius? You’re a D1 athlete!”

She chuckled.

“I tape them up to play. Why, you don’t like?”

He glanced up to meet her gaze.

“I didn’t say that.”

The truth was they suited her: elegant femininity edged in wildness.

“You approve then.”

He reached down to tease her, brushing a knuckle against her left nipple until it pebbled.

“They’re gorgeous.”

Aelin preened a bit at that.

“Tits this nice deserved a little something extra,” she said with a smirk.

Rowan was inclined to agree.

“These real diamonds, princess?”

“They were a gift from Aedion.”

At this Rowan stiffened, unable to smother the discomfort the idea inspired. Aelin only laughed, catching his face in her hands and kissing him lightly on the lips.

“I’m playing with you, tonto. Obviously he and Galen don’t know about these or they’d hit the roof. Besides,” she said, pert nose wrinkling slightly. “We don’t share things like that with each other. We’re close but...not that close.”

Rowan couldn’t hold back a relieved laugh, which only made Aelin’s grin widen.

“You should have seen the look on your face, though.”

“You’re trouble,” he told her.

“You love it,” she shot back, leaning in so her breasts brushed his chest.

Yeah he fucking did.

Crushing her into another kiss, her massaged her breasts, palms scraping her nipples. When they’d grown hard from his machinations he bent to taste them, loving the feel of her fingers as they wound into his hair and tugged.

“Take off your clothes already,” she said, breathless. “I want to know if your dick is as big as it feels.”

He grabbed her wrist and guided it between his legs.

“See for yourself.”

Deft as a snake, she had a hand down the front of boxer briefs, stroking him twice with a firm grip.

He planted a hand on the wall beside her head, breathing through his nose as he bowed into her wicked touch.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked as she unbuckled his belt and pushed his chinos off his carved waist until they hung low on his hips.

“You.”

“What about me?”

He bent to kiss her deeply again. God, he wasn’t sure he’d ever been this turned on.

“About what you’d look like on your knees with my cock in your mouth.”

She gave a sensuous chuckle.

“Dream on, querido. ”

He only grinned in response.

“No one likes a liar, Galathynius.”

“What reason would I have to ever suck you off?”

“The same reason you’d let me tie you up: you want to know what it’s like to let someone else be in control.”

“I never said I wanted to be tied up,” she said, voice turning to a groan as he pushed her underwear aside to dip two fingers inside of her.

“You didn’t have to,” he said, holding up his fingers so they glistened in the moonlight pouring in from the open balcony doors. “You’re soaked.”

She didn’t respond, merely leaned forward to licked the offending digits clean in a way that told him that not only did she want to suck his dick, she was going to be excellent at it.

He hardened at the thought, even as he forced a calming breath. If this was his only chance with her, he intended to savor every second.

He wanted tears— actual tears—of pleasure from her. He wanted to hear her beg. And not just some breathy “ please, more ” bullshit, either. He wanted to her to plead—for him, for release, for anything and everything he was willing to give her.

He wanted all of it and more, but to have it, he needed to be patient with her. It meant going slow, and sending her off the edge several times before he ever slipped inside of her.

Gently collaring her throat, he pressed a soft kiss to her lips before easing her off the wall and into the waiting bedroom.

“You are so beautiful,” he told her.

She smirked, eyes flashing.

“Bet you say that to all the girls you fuck.”

“I’ve never fucked a woman as beautiful as you.”

It was out before he could stop it, and he had to fend off the the twinge of guilt it produced. Still, he couldn’t regret saying it, because it was true; Aelin was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.

Aelin, seeming abashed by this declaration, responding by coaxing Rowan’s buttoned shirt open and over his shoulders. Chest to bare chest, her next kiss was soft and drugging.

“You’re...not ugly, either,” she said at last.

“Not ugly?” He repeated with a laugh.

“You’re...” she trailed off as he kissed her neck.

“I’m...?”

“Gorgeous,” she said finally. “But I think you already knew that.”

“Maybe, but it hits different from you.”

Aelin seemed pleased by that, and she rewarded him by dipping her hand into his unbuckled pants again and fisting him.

“I was also right; you’re enormous.”

Grabbing her wrist, he pinned it to the wall and put his hand between her legs instead.

“And I bet you’re tight,” he said, drawing lazy circles with his thumb that had her back arching.

“Are we going to fit?” She teased, but he could hear the concern underneath that she couldn’t quite hide.

The idea that some douchebag had pushed into her before she was totally ready—it made Rowan’s skin prickle in irritation.

He caught her jaw.

“After I’m done playing with you, Aelin, you’re going to be so wet that you’ll feel like my cock was made to fit inside you.”

She moaned.

“If you’re half as good as sex as you are dirty talk, I think this might be the best night of my life.”

Rowan was counting on it. What he hadn’t counted on was the fact it was shaping up to be one of the best nights of his as well. And not just because of the sex, though Rowan couldn’t deal with that right now.

“I bet you taste good too,” he said, grinding against her and living for her answering moan. “Don’t you?”

“I’ve never had any complaints,” she said, and he tried to ignore the twinge of jealousy at the thought of another guy’s mouth on her.

Her pussy was his, at least for tonight. He intended to make sure she never forgot how it felt to have him between her thighs.

Kneeling at her feet, he peeled her thong down her lean legs. He let his eyes drag up slowly, taking his time admiring the muscles in her quads before his gaze settled between her legs.

She was already wet, her thighs glistening with arousal. He imagined what they would look like dripping with his come instead. The idea had masculine satisfaction thrumming through him, even knowing it was a fantasy he couldn’t indulge. He wouldn’t put her in a vulnerable position by not wearing a condom.  Pressing a mockingly chaste kiss on her low belly, he rose to his feet.

“Get on the bed,” he said, guiding her hips towards the waiting mattress.

“Get naked first,” she countered, tracing the band of his Adonis belt before tugging him towards her by the waistband of his Calvin Klein boxer briefs.

He didn’t stop her as she skated her hands down the back to squeeze his ass before pushing them off his hips.

His dick was already rock hard, and it pressed between them. She leaned up to kiss him again before sinking down to sit on the bed. The movement bought her eye-level with his erection, and gripping him in a fist, she put her mouth on him.

He swore as she laved his length, cock twitching as she traced a ridge of vein with her  tongue. Threading a gentle hand into her hair, he took a step back, coaxing her off the bed and onto her knees. When she looked up at him, blue eyes overcome with want, he had to fight the urge to come right then.

Despite her earlier declarations, Aelin sucked him off like both of their lives depended on it, and Rowan could only hang on and enjoy the ride as her tongue worked miracles on his shaft and her hands found every pleasure point he craved.

He swore again as she massaged his stones before kneading the sensitive swath of skin behind them. As her touch grew more deliberate, he debated telling her she could push inside him before deciding it wasn’t exactly fodder for a one-night stand.

However, when her fingers trailed back to brush the tight ring of muscle, he couldn’t fight a groan.

“Yes?” She asked, keeping her touch light.

“Go ahead,” he said, breathless.

He didn’t think he’d never been so close to losing it as he was the moment she used her own wetness to coat her fingers before carefully teasing two inside of him.

His tattooed hand tightened in her hair, but he forced himself to otherwise remain still, to let her set the pace.

“Fuck, Aelin.”

Crooking her fingers to hit that perfect internal spot, she put her mouth on him again. Between her fingers and her tongue, he only lasted ten more strokes before he came hard .

Holy shit.

Rowan was no stranger to anything they’d just done, but he was fairly sure that was the best blowjob he’d ever had.

“As good as your imagined?” Aelin said with a smirk.

“Better,” Rowan said. “Way better. My turn.”

Picking her up, he tossed her on the bed before grabbing her ankle and dragging her towards him so her legs hung off the edge.

Wasting no time, he broke her legs apart and put his mouth right where he knew she needed him, sucking hard. However, he didn’t stay there for long, ignoring her attempts to manuever his mouth into position as he teased her.

“Rowan,” she choked. “You’re killing me.”

In answer he swirled his tongue around her bundle of nerves before alighting elsewhere.

“Rowan,” Aelin said.

He sucked on her this time, loving how she rocked her hips up to fuck his face. Still, he didn’t linger long enough for her release to find her.

“I’m going to kill—“

He glanced up at her, pressing a hot, open-mouthed kiss to the crease of her hip as she watched him.

“Beg me, Aelin,” he told her. “Beg me and I’ll give you an orgasm to make you cry.”

He laced her once, and she bucked.

“I don’t beg,” she said, even as he felt her contract once against his tongue.

The idea was turning her on.

“You haven’t begged before,” he corrected. “It doesn’t mean you won’t for me.”

At this he slid a finger inside of her, finding the right spot and applying pressure.

“Oh god,” she breathed. “More.”

Rowan pulled the finger out in response.

Aelin paused, heaving slightly as she considered before breathing, “Please, Ro.”

“Please what?”

“Please, give me what I want. I’m...begging you.”

Rowan slid two fingers inside of her, grinning.

“Really, this is your begging? Pathetic.”

“Harder.”

“Harder?”

He increased his speed, knowing she was right on the edge of where she needed to be. Still, he didn’t cross that line.

“Fuck,” Aelin said, voice almost a whine. “Rowan, I’m right there—just make me come.”

“If I do, will you beg me for my cock next?”

“I will give you anything you want,” she said. “Just...” she exhaled again. “Please.”

He bowed his head between her legs again, pumping his fingers as he tongued the spot he knew would set her off.

Driven the brink by all his edging, her climax seemed to shudder through her, muscles in her stomach flexing as she contracted against his mouth. He was careful to keep his touch feather-light as the orgasm crested and ebbed, knowing her body was too sensitive to be properly played with yet.

“Oh god,” she breathed, body still trembling slightly. “I don’t think I’ve ever had an orgasm that strong before. What did you do to me, Whitethorn?”

He crawled up to meet her, hands sinking into the mattress on either side of her head before he kissed her.

“Showed you what you’ve been missing, apparently.”

She arched her hips up to meet his, the contact making him harden again.

“Aelin,” he breathed, using both palms to scrape her sweaty hair from her face.

“Kiss me,” she said softly, gaze so sincere he had to close his eyes to avoid being overcome.

He did as she asked, keeping his touch gentle in an effort to to convey what he couldn’t bear to voice out loud: that this was more than just meaningless sex.

“I want you inside of me,” she said.

He rotated his hips against hers, cock brushing against her in a way that made her cry out softly.

“I need to grab a condom,” he said into her ear. “Don’t move.”

“And what if I do?”

He bent to kiss her deeply.

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

Rowan smiled, rising from the bed to grab a condom from his wallet before crossing to the window. He deftly unknotted the silk tie which had been used to hold back the curtains and holding it up for her to see.

Aelin expelled a noise of pleasure so finely edged it was almost a whine. Slowly, deliberately, she raised her arms above her head in invitation, eyes hooded as she watched him approach.

Sliding over her, he slipped the length of silk around her wrists before synching it to the  headboard.

Aelin tugged I’m experimentation.

“Too tight?”

“No,” she said.

Rowan gently collared her throat as he bent to kiss her.

“Good girl.”

Rowan drew a finger down Aelin’s torso, circling her tight nipples before tracing her navel and venturing between her legs.

“I’m going to have to make this count,” he said, sliding two fingers into her again even as he held up the condom. “I only have one of these.”

“I have some in my suitcase,” she said. “Lucky for you, I think they’re magnums. Dream big, and all that.”

He grinned, making her laugh.

“Never hurts to be prepared,” she said.

“No it most certainly doesn’t,” he agreed, putting his mouth on her again.

She bucked off the bed and he used his hands to keep her hips pinned as she twisted against her restraints.

“If only I had a spreader bar,” he told her. “I would really have you at my mercy.”

“I’m at your mercy now,” she said. “Take me.”

That, Rowan could not resist.

Quickening the pace of his fingers, he concentrated on her clit until she shattered again. Only when she’d settled back on to the bed, legs quaking slightly, did he tear open the wrapper of the condom, sheathing himself with a practiced hand.

“You’re probably going to be extra tight from the orgasms,” he told her. “So I’m going to go slow at first.”

She nodded, and he kissed her again before grabbing his shaft and sliding a few inches into her.

“Tight” had perhaps been an understatement. The pressure of her was mind-numbing, spine-tingling bliss. Still, he forced himself to pause and take in her expression.

Her brows were synched, breath ragged. He bent to kiss the tightened corners of her eyes before brushing his lips to hers.

“Talk to me, gorgeous,” he breathed. “How are you doing?”

“You’re—big,” she said, voice still tense. “I’m just trying to adjust.”

“Relax,” he coached, petting a hand down the tense muscles in her stomach. “Breathe, Aelin.”

At this she let out a shuddering exhale, even mewing a little as he reached down to play with her.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” he said, working her with the pad of his thumb. “Let me in.”

With that the some of the tenseness in her body loosened, and she moaned. He pushed in farther, kissing her deeply until she was forced to take another calming exhale.

When he shifted her hips and pulled her the rest of the way onto his shaft, she melted. He couldn’t hold back his groan of pleasure as he sank in effortlessly to the hilt, his stones brushing her soft ass.

“Fuck,” she said. “Why does that feel so good?”

He rose onto his knees, tilting her hips up on the process. She groaned.

“Because I bet no one’s hit this spot with you before,” he said.

Rearing back slightly, he thrust into her with delicious intent.

She bit her lip.

“Yours is deep,” he said.

Her answering laugh was husky.

“Are you trying to suggest you’re the biggest dick I’ve ever had?”

He smirked, unable to deny the smug masculine satisfaction that slithered through him at the thought.

“You said it, not me.”

He pulled back and thrust into her a second time. At this she squirmed a little, eyes firmly shut again.

“Yes, Aelin?” He said, repeating the gesture a third time.

She wiggled, trying to get more friction.

“Yes,” she said. “Oh god, yes.”

With that he increased his pace, loving the obscene sound their bodies made as they came together. Christ, had it ever felt this good?

He rode her hard but tried to maintain a pace that wouldn’t cause her an unpleasant amount of friction. From her moans, he was doing a better than alright job.

Rowan drank her in as she writhed beneath him, her body covered in a glistening sheen of sweat, her small breasts bouncing with the force of his thrusts.

When he reached a hand between her legs to play with her again, she swore, tightening around him.

“I’m so close.”

“Say my name," he said, left hand wrapping around the headboard for better leverage as he drove into her with increased force. “I want to hear you say my name when you come, Aelin.”

She surged forward, tongue tangled with his in a desperate kiss.

"Ro," she breathed. “Rowan.”

Rowan had to fend off a strangled moan at the reverence in her voice.

When he'd made the demand, he'd imagined her screaming it the way other women had, like it was a triumph that needed to be heralded. But hearing it whispered, as if it were a secret meant only for him, had been so much more powerful.

He instantly knew why: because this was so much more than mindless sex.

He felt the exact moment she came apart around him, loving the pressure as she squeezed him in a vice. Deftly he untied her bound hands, allowing her to wrap her arms around his neck as he kissed her.

He couldn’t hold back the pleasured groan which escaped as he found his own climax, hips nestled to hers as he drove in deep a final time.

God, what he wouldn’t give to come inside this girl for real. It was a selfish thought, but one Ro couldn’t immediately shake. He didn’t often think about babies of his own, but something about Aelin Galathynius made him want to have a million.

He shook his head slightly, desperate to rid himself of the notion of having children with a woman he’d just met. He kissed her instead, using the feeling of her lips against him to ground him more fully into reality.

When he felt he’d mastered himself, he pulled back to meet Aelin’s eye, mildly horrified to find that hers were glassy. Despite his earlier declaration about wanting to have her in tears, actually seeing them in her eyes had his heart dropping out of his chest.

“Oh god, you’re crying,” he blurted, quickly pulling out of her and touching her cheek. “Aelin, why are you crying?”

At this she snorted, the sound halfway between a laugh and a sob.

“Because that so intense I almost don’t know what to do with myself,” she admitted. “And when I get overwhelmed I always end up crying.”

He frowned, brushing her petal-soft cheek again.

“Good overwhelmed or bad?”

“Good,” she said. “Definitely good. That was just so—“ she blew out a shaky inhale, another tear slipping from the corner of her eye. “I came so hard I think my brain just stalled for a second.”

He couldn’t help but grin, even as he gently brushed the moisture from her cheek.

“I don’t think I’ve ever broken someone’s brain before,” he said. “Should I take that as a compliment?”

She laughed, the sound easier this time.

“Don’t be annoying,” she said. “You know how good you are.”

“What can I say? You inspire greatness in me, Galathynius.”

He bent to gently kiss her, his finger drawing a an ever-tightening circle around one erect nipple. Her back arched slightly at his featherlight touch, goosebumps breaking out across her small breasts.

“You are so gorgeously responsive,” he told her, bending to tug the opposite nipple with his teeth. “It’s like your whole body is a hot spot. It makes it impossible to stop touching you. I could seriously play with you all night.”

“It’s not usually like this,” Aelin admitted after a beat, threading her hand into his hair. When she spoke again, her tone was softer, more candid. “Most the time I’m too in my head, and it makes it hard to get turned on enough to let go.”

“What made tonight different?” Rowan asked, brushing the hair out her face.

He was fairly sure he already knew, but he needed to hear her say it, to take ownership of the feeling.

“I feel safe with you,” she said. “I don’t know why—you’re basically still a stranger—but I do.”

Rowan smiled, kissing her more deeply this time.

“I told you that you’d let go for me,” he breathed against her lips. “How did it feel, gorgeous?”

“Incredible,” she said, shifting her hips in search of friction as he settled more fully on top of her again. “I didn’t want it to end.”

Deftly, Rowan peeled off the condom and threw it into the trash.

“Who said it had to?” He asked grabbing her hips and rotating so he was on his back, Aelin nestled in his lap. “That was just round one.”

In response, She reached for his shaft to begin getting him hard, but he caught her wrist instead.

“It’s a marathon, Galathynius, not sprint,” he said, flipping her hand in his so he could kiss her palm. “And your body’s not ready for me to be inside you again yet.”

Aelin seemed a bit flustered at that, which left Rowan feeling torn. On the one hand, he hating thinking he’d embarrassed her or made her uncomfortable. On the other, the idea that he has the ability to make swaggering, sensuous Aelin Ashryvver-Galathynius bashful filled him with deep-seated satisfaction.

Seeming to read the intention in his gaze, she bent to kiss him, whispering, “you don’t have to.”

He pushed her back gently so he could look into her face.

“Don’t have to what?”

“Go down on me again. I know most guys don’t like to do it again once they’ve—“

“That’s amateur hour,” Rowan said, tone sharper than he’d meant it to be. “Whichever pin-headed prick told you that is a loser.”

She laughed, relaxing a little. At seeing this, Rowan settled more fully on his back, hands braced on her hips.

“Come here,” he said, voice rough with desire.

He was rewarded with a pretty blush.

“I’ve never...done it like that,” she admitted.

He smirked.

“Then I’m about to give you an important lesson in pleasure. Come here.”

Rising onto her knees, Aelin rose over Rowan until she was mere inches from his face.

“I feel like I’m going to suffocate you!” She said with a sheepish laugh.

“Then I’ll die the luckiest man on earth,” he said, gripping her ass. “Hold onto the headboard.”

She did, and he lifted his head just enough that the tip of his tongue brushed the most sensitive part of her.

Her whole body tightened in pleasure.

“Do that again,” she said, sounding more her confident self now.

“No,” he told her. “This position is about you being in control.  I don’t give you pleasure; you take it.”

When she still didn’t move, he added, “this should be no problem for an imperious little thing like you.”

He knew goading her would do the trick, and after a moment she relaxed her hips, body sinking down to meet his waiting mouth. He couldn’t stifle a groan as she rocked her hips against him in experimentation. Seeing Aelin in is position, vulnerable but in control, was hotter than her could have possibly imagined.

Rowan flicked his tongue against her and she swore.

“That feels good,” she breathed, rocking forward against his mouth again. “Really good.”

His hands on the back of her thighs, he urged her hips forward, grazing her with his teeth before sucking hard.

This proved to be her unleashing.

Using the headboard for leverage, she began swishing her lips in a rhythmic motion, panting softly through her teeth as she worked herself up to climax.

He kneaded the soft flesh of her backside while she rocked against him, trying not to imagine what it would be like to slide his cock into her tight little ass. He had no idea if she was into that sort of thing nor any desire to pressure her into finding out, but the way she rocked back into his hands—as if urging them to explore—was enough to make him curious.

Hands on her waist, he tilted her pelvis towards him slightly, waiting to see how she’d react. In response she scooted higher on his body, her knees practically touching to the headboard. In this new position, there was no part of her he couldn’t access, and when she leaned forward, the invitation was clear.

Using his hands to open her legs more fully for him, he brushed his mouth against an intimate spot that—judging by her deep moan—no one had even touched before. When he repeated the gesture and she didn’t tense or pull away, he split legs even wider and circled the tight ring of muscle at the back with his tongue.

“Fuck,” she said, voice devolving into a string of slurred Spanish. “Rowan.”

Rowan worked her in broader strokes, his free hand coming up to play with her clit. When he slipped a finger inside of her he could tell she was getting close. Not wanting to claim the victory of her orgasm with only his fingers, he pulled her hips down so his tongue could replace his hand.

Far bolder now that she’d been when they’d started, Aelin followed his lead. Her fingers twined in his hair as she rocked against him hard, and Rowan was happy enough to sit back and watch as she took her pleasure like he’d instructed.

Between the rimjob and the edging, Aelin’s orgasm—when it hit—seemed to last a blissful eternity. She was trembling slightly as she collapsed beside him, eyes still closed.

“That was the hottest thing I think I’ve ever seen,” he said.

He gently cupped between her legs, careful not to apply too much pressure when she was still so sensitive.

“You’re telling me that?” she said with a laugh. “I’ve done it that to other people, obviously, but I’ve never let anyone—“ she broke off with another laugh. “Apparently I’ve been missing out.”

Rowan smirked, if only to hide the twinging realization that after tonight, it would someone else making her feel good, not him.

“I hope I didn’t set an impossible standard,” he said dryly.

“Maybe not yet,” she said, eyes blazing with want. “But you’re well in your way, and the night is still young.”

She let her azure gaze snake down his body with exaggerated slowness. By the time it reached his cock, he was granite-hard.

“Where are the rest of the condoms?” he asked.

If he wasn’t inside of her in the next minute, he might actually lose his mind.

“Bathroom,” she said, rising to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”

Rowan didn’t have time for that. He rose from the bed to follow her into the lavish en-suite. Normally he might of gawked a little at the opulence—the marble countertops, the sunken tub—but his entire focus was on Aelin. The best he could do was shift the lens to the things in her periphery. Everything else was a blur.

She was just straightening—foil packet in hand—as he entered, and he didn’t even give her a chance speak before her grabbed her around the waist, spinning her so his chest was pressed into her back.

Taking the condom, he ripped open the package and slid it on with one hand while his other moved between her legs to ensure she was ready for him.

“How do you feel?” He asked. “Do you need me to—“

“Whitethorn, if I was any wetter I’d be Nile. Get inside me already.”

It was all the permission Rowan needed. Hand on her back, he coaxed her to bend, using his legs to push hers wider as he did. She yelped softly as her bare breasts made contact with the cold marble, and he ran a hand over the curve of her hip to settle her before sliding to the hilt in single stroke.

It felt better, even, than it had the first time. She clenched around the intrusion of him even as she moaned, and he only managed to wait a beat before grabbing her hips and setting a blistering pace.

He glanced in the mirror and their gazes caught in the reflection, her desire molten.

Wanting more, he coaxed her up until her torso lifted from the counter.

Yes, he thought with greedy satisfaction. This.

This was what he wanted. Her firm tits bouncing with each hard thrust, her hips rocking back and forth, and her eyes squeezed shut in pleasure.

Gently collaring her throat with his hand, he whispered in her ear.

“Touch yourself for me.”

She did, canting her hips forward for increased friction as she moaned.

As she increased the speed with her hand, Rowan increased his, fucking her hard through her orgasm as she tightened around him.

She collapsed against the counter as he pulled her hips flush to his for one final thrust before coming undone.

She wobbled when he stepped back to pull off the condom, and he deftly caught her around the waist before she melted to the floor like a newborn fawn.

“Easy,” he said, coaxing her into his arms.

She laid her head on his shoulder.

“I think your dick has mystical powers,” she said. “Because that was insane.”

Rowan chuckled, carrying her to the bed and laying her down.

“There’s a Harry Potter joke in there somewhere,” he said, brushing some hair off her sweaty cheek as her eyelids drooped. “I’m just too lazy to find it.”

“Harry Potter references,” she said, already half-asleep. “Are you trying to make me fall in love with you?”

She was out before he could even respond, but he did anyway, lips to her temple as he whispered, “I wish I could.”

XX

Ro woke up at sunrise the next morning, Aelin still fast asleep beside him. Not quite in his arms, but still close enough that he could feel her warmth. Christ, she smelled incredible. Like lemon and coconut.

He propped his head on a chin, admiring the way the dawn light set her skin and hair to glowing. She looked like a fallen star.

Rowan’s heart ached a bit as he studied her, trying to memorize every detail, knowing that their time together was quickly running out. Originally, he’d only planned to stay the night, promising himself that as soon as the dark was gone, he would be, too.

In the light of day, he knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Perhaps it was only asking for more trouble, but Rowan wanted to stay at least for the morning.

He could bring her coffee from that shop Cash loved; if Ro remembered correctly, it wasn’t far from here. He could go get it while she was still sleeping, and make her breakfast when she woke up.

He wouldn’t stay all day, he promised himself, just long enough that she knew she wasn’t some meaningless screw he’d fucked and then chucked. Surely she deserved that much, at least.

Unable to resist, he ran a hand down the silky mane of her hair, slightly tangled from their numerous romps the night before, before rising from the bed as quietly and creeping towards the bedroom door. He found his boxers briefs and shorts easily enough. He just needed to find his—

“Leaving so soon?”

He turned to find Aelin sitting up in the bed, that signature smirk painted on her pouty mouth. She hadn’t bothered to pull up the sheet to cover herself, and her breasts were fully visible, the studs in them winking in the crepuscular light pouring in from the window.

“Only to get some coffee,” he said, loving the way the tension which had limned her muscles disappeared. She’d been displeased with the idea of him leaving, even if she hadn’t wanted to show it.

Her next smile was far easier.

“I have coffee here,” she said.

“Not like this you don’t,” he said with a grin. “There is no coffee on earth better than the beans for the Kona Mountains.”

Her expression grew feline.

“You dare say such things to a Cuban?” She said. “If Galen were here, he’d have you tarred and feathered.”

Rowan recalled the coffee he’d had on a trip to Havana during the short period travel when from the US to Cuba had been permitted. She wasn’t wrong; it had been fucking delicious. Still, he wasn’t going to give up that easy.

“That’s more like espresso; not the same as having a full mug with you while you watch the sun rise.”

“The sun’s already risen,” Aelin said with a smile. “And coffee should be strong and decadent, and that’s what a cortadito is. You can keep your vat of hot bean water; a little is all you need. Just enough to whet the appetite.”

Rowan couldn’t help but grin.

“Awfully set in your ways for a person who’s so young.”

“I’m only five years younger than you,” Aelin pointed out. “And I didn’t hear any complaints from you last night.”

“That’s because I have none,” Rowan admitted. “You’re—“

He broke off, not wanting to embarass himself with verbose declarations now that they were both stone sober.

“I’m—“ Aelin prompted, standing from the bed. She was still naked as they day she was born, and it was an effort not to admire her.

“You know what you are,” Rowan said.

“I do,” Aelin agreed, slinking forward and draping her arms over Rowan’s shoulders. “But it hits different coming from you.”

It was the same thing he’d told her the night before, and he decided to indulge her the way she had him.

“You’re perfect,” he said, his hand slipping around her bare waist to tug her into him.

He kissed her softly, and he could feel her answering smile against his lips.

“Yes, I am,” she said, and he couldn’t help it.

He laughed, lifting her off her feet and heading towards the bed with her still in his arms. When he was close enough he tossed her onto the wrinkled nest of sheets and pillows before crawling over her.

“What am I going to do with you, Galathynius?”

She laughed as he playfully nuzzled her neck.

“Feed me? I’m starving after your thorough ravishing last night.”

“I think I can do that,” he said, bending to kiss her.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to get up right away. Instead he rolled onto his side so he was facing her, trying not to preen as she traced a whorl of his tattoo.

“We never talked about these last night,” she said, her featherlight touch making goosebumps appear on his skin.   “They’re...Hawaiian?”

“Māori,” Rowan said. “I grew up on Maui, but my family is originally from farming town near Auckland.”

Aelin’s eyes glittered with interest.

“Have you even been there?”

“To New Zealand?” Rowan shrugged. “We used to go every few years while my grandparents were still alive. At the time it seemed boring. Now I’m glad we got the opportunity.”

Aelin nodded, still tracing his tattoos. She’d moved from his shoulder to his chest, fingers trailing closer and closer to his heart. To—

“And this one?” Aelin said. “It doesn’t look Māori.”

Rowan’s throat ached a bit as she ran the tips of her fingers over the letters at the very center of the massive design, directly above his heart.

Λυρία

“It’s Greek,” he explained.

She glanced up at him, gaze full of emotion as she said quietly, “It looks like a name.”

He nodded, throat growing tight.

“Lyria.”

Aelin didn’t push for clarification, but after a beat Rowan found himself speaking anyway.

“She’s my—she was my—“

When he broke off, Aelin only nodded.

“What happened?”

“Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It was stage four by the time they caught it. She was gone within six months of her diagnosis.”

Aelin reached up to gently cup Rowan’s cheek.

“I’m so sorry, Rowan.”

He’d had people apologize to him a thousand times for Lyria’s untimely death, but something in Aelin’s tone was different. It was sympathetic but also...understanding, somehow.

“Have you ever lost someone you thought would be in your life forever?”

Aelin considered this before flipping her wrist and extending  it. There, inked in neat script, were three small letters Rowan hadn’t noticed before.

S-a-m

“We were high school sweethearts and went to UT together,” she explained. “My sophomore year we lived in an apartment together in West Campus, but we’d started to talk about moving after there had been a series of unsolved rapes in the neighborhood. We were on the first floor and Sam was worried about me being there when he was on the road for baseball season. The night I finally agreed we could start looking for another place, there was a break-in.”

She paused, brows furrowed as she continued to study the tattoo.

“The guy had a gun, and told Sam that if he cooperated it would be over quickly and neither of us would get hurt. But Sam refused, and he fought the guy off while I called the cops. He got shot while they were struggling with the gun, and by the time the paramedics got there it was too late.”

“Aelin, I...” Rowan paused, not wanting to saying the wrong thing. “That must have been awful. I’m so sorry.”

Aelin nodded, rubbing the tattoo with her thumb.

“Me too,” she said. “I miss him a lot.”

That, Rowan certainly understood. There wasn’t a day that went by that Rowan didn’t miss Lyria.

“Did they ever catch the perp?”

“Yeah, the guy’s gloves came off in the struggle and he ended up leaving prints. Cairn Macgory. Turned out he was a law student, top honors, no criminal record. The only reason they had his fingerprints was because of his application to take the bar. He was going to be a family law attorney. He already had a job lined up after school.”

“I hope he rots in hell,” Rowan said honestly, hating the haunted look that had crept into Aelin’s eyes.

“He’s honestly just lucky the cops got to him first,” she said. “My dad was ready to have him black-bagged back to Cuba and cut into little pieces.”

“I’m sort of sorry he didn’t,” Rowan admitted, and this—unexpectedly—made Aelin laugh.

“Aren’t you a cop? I thought you’d be all gung-ho for law and order.”

“Even cops can want revenge.”

Some of Aelin’s mirth faded at this, and she looked up to study him. It was an odd feeling to be so exposed, but Rowan found he didn’t mind it coming from Aelin. After a moment she relented, leaning over to rest her head on his shoulder.

“Sorry, that was sort of heavy for a one-night stand.”

Rowan strung an arm around her sturdy shoulders as he ignored the twinge in his gut.

A one-night stand.

He’d never stayed the morning with his previous one-night stands, and he’d certainly never told any of them about Lyria, so how could that be what this was?

Before he could damn the consequences and ask Aelin about it, she slipped from his embrace, grinning at him over a shoulder.

“Can I make you a cortadito, or have I scared you off?”

He grabbed her hand to pull her back.

“I’ll have coffee,” he told her rising onto his knees and she sank back onto the bed half-way. “And after that I’ll take you to breakfast.”

“You’re friends won’t be missing you?

Rowan traced her hipbones with this thumbs, everything he’d done to her the previous evening flooding back.

“They’re adults,” he said breezily, leaning forward to kiss the soft skin between her breasts. “They’ll be fine.”

Aelin drove a hand into his hair, her grip light and playful.

“You phones been blowing up for 20 minutes,” she pointed out.

“That’s just Cash being nosy.”

“He’s not dating anyone?”

“Not that I know of,” Rowan admitted setting back onto the bed and tugging her casually into his lap. “But Cash has always been full of secrets; it’s part of his charm.”

“What about the other two?” She asked. “The gorgeous one and the grouch.”

“Fenrys is more a serial dater,” Rowan said. “Mostly because his taste in men is garbage. He always falls for the haole fuckboys  then cries when they turn out to be assholes.”

“Haole?” Aelin said.

“Non-Polynesians, technically,” Rowan explained. “But most of the time Hawaiians just use it to mean—“

“Gringos,” Aelin said, grinning. “They do love to make trouble, don’t they?”

Rowan had to laugh at this.

“Fen would certainly say so.”

Aelin nodded, laughing as well.

“So that just leaves—”

“Lorcan,” Rowan said. “His bark is worse than his bite.”

“Aedion said he played him in Volleyfest last year in Miami. Why didn’t y’all compete in the men’s division together?”

Rowan rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s...complicated.”

“I assume this has to do with your ex?”

“She invited me to play in with her. Lor wasn’t even supposed to be here this weekend. He decided to surprise me last minute.”

“So there is a gooey center underneath the scowl!” Aelin said.

“To be honest, I think Lor is probably the most sensitive and caring of all four of us. He just—isn’t good at emoting. He’s also a fastidious believer in ‘boys night’, though I think that’s just because he’s not good at chatting women up.”

“Bet he wasn’t too thrilled with me last night then, huh?”

“He’ll get over it. And he still pulls like crazy, even with his terrible flirting. Usually women take one look at him and decide they don’t even care if he can talk at all.”

Aelin laughed.

“I figured as much,” she said, rising from the bed again. “I have a lot of follow-up questions, but I need a shower before we go. Care to join me?”

She was already halfway to the open bathroom door when Rowan found his feet again, and wasting no time, he quickly swept her up in his arms and carried her the rest of the way.

After they spent forty-fives minutes fooling around in the shower and another hour having sex against nearly every available surface in the suite, breakfast—inevitably—turned to lunch.

After lunch, they’d joined a pick-up “king of the beach” doubles tournament some of the previous day’s competitors had set up. They’d made such a good team that it was nearly evening by the time they lost a match and were finally bumped off the champion court.

Starving from the exertion, they’d gone back to the suite to shower before leaving again to go to dinner. Dinner had turned into cocktails on the beach, which had turned into beers  drinks at Bar 35 then tequila shots at Smith & Kings. The evening that followed was a blur of pleasure, as was the following morning, which they spend in bed together, naked and sweaty.

At every turn Rowan told himself he needed to leave, need to start distancing himself from Aelin so he could start trying to forget her. However, he’d known from the start that it had been a fools errand.

There was no forgetting a girl like Aelin Ashryvver-Galathynius. Her vivacity, her humor, her raw sexual charisma—Rowan had never met anyone like her, and he doubted he ever would again.

So how the fuck was he supposed to just let her go? It was a thought that plagued him all the way to the airport on the afternoon Aelin was due to fly back to the mainland. He’d agreed to accompany her for a last drink before her flight departed, wanting to wring every last second he could out of the weekend.

It was—he knew—only delaying the inevitable by continually putting off their goodbyes, but Ro couldn’t help it. Aelin was like the sun—vibrant and essential—and Rowan had found himself in her orbit.

Harsh realities aside, it was a painfully lovely place to be.

Ro definitely felt a shift in the vibe as he paid their tab and they headed towards the security gate. Things had gone from easy and playful to quiet and subdued, Aelin’s usual flair dimming as she continually adjusted the bag on her shoulder.

Rowan searched and searched for the words he would say to her when they were finally forced to part. They’d never even exchanged numbers; perhaps he could ask for hers and offer to call her if he was ever in Austin?

It seems so stilted and formal after everything they’d shared this weekend. He’d been inside of her, for Christ’s sake. In fact, they’d had so much sex that they’d had to buy more condoms. And she’d fallen asleep in his arms last night, and stayed there until they’d woken up this morning. That was worth more than some vague promise to “look her up” if he even came to Texas.

Still, Ro was burning daylight and he knew it. The security gate was visible now, and though they’d both seemed to slow their pace in an effort to delay the inevitable, it was approaching just the same. Finally they reached the short queue where agents were checking boarding passes and travelers were taking off their shoes and belts.

Aelin was busy on her phone as they slowed to a stop, almost as if she were avoiding looking at him.

“My cousins are already at the gate,” she said by way of explanation. “They said boarding is starting in twenty minutes.”

Rowan glanced at the security line then his watch.

“You’ve got time; things seem to be moving pretty fast.”

Aelin looked over at the line as well. Finally she dragged her azure eyes back to him, the sheer force of her gaze enough to stun him stupid. She paused, as if waiting for him to speak. He had nothing, though.

“Well,” she said finally, a small, tense smile playing around her lips.  “I would offer to shake your hand and say ‘it was nice to meet you’, but given the fact we’ve seen each other naked, I think I’ll spare us both the indignity.”

Rowan forced a laugh, even as a pit began forming in his stomach. Shit, should he give her a hug, offer to give her—

“Goodbye, Rowan,” she said, leaning up to brush a kiss just to the right of his mouth. “It’s been—“ she clearly her throat, glancing away for a second. “I had an amazing weekend.”

“Congratulations again,” he found himself saying. “For making the AVP tour. You deserve it.”

Jesus Fucking Christ, was that really the best he could do? Maybe Fen was right, and he was destined to die alone.

Aelin’s grin didn’t quite meet her eyes.

“Like I said, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Happy to help,” he forced out. “Have a safe flight, Aelin.”

She smiled, the solemnity in her eyes now limning her face as well.

“I put my number in your phone,” she said, beginning to walk backwards towards the TSA podium. “Call me if you’re ever in Austin.”

With that she turned, and Rowan’s heart was suddenly in his throat, beating two hundred times a minute.

His mind whirred with all the reasons he had to simply let her leave—she still in college, they lived thousands of miles apart, he was a cop in Vice Squad and she was a fucking billionaire—a perceived conflict of interest even if it wasn’t a real one. There was no way it could ever work. It was hopeless, fraught with problems, doomed to fail—

He could hear his pulse pounding in his ears as he continued to spiral, thoughts growing so jumbled that he could hardly make sense of them anymore. Then a single, cogent thread emerged through the cacaphony and chaos, spooling him back to sanity.

A voice.

“Anóitos,” it teased, the tone soft and airy. “What are you doing? Don’t just stand there!”

Fuck , he missed that voice.

It had been three years since he’d lost Lyria. Three years since he’d heard her laugh, or sing, or speak Greek.

Three long, terrible years since he’d heard her speak at all.

But even after all this time, her voice was crystal clear in his head. He often felt it was her absence—more than her memory—that he’d been left with when she’d died. In that moment, though, it almost felt as if Lyria were standing beside him.

“Go, Ro. I’ll be here.”

Rowan felt a warmth tingle through him, and as he blinked back to reality, Lyria’s voice seemed to fade. But where he’d been buzzing with doubt a moment before, Rowan felt himself suddenly brimming with clarity.

If there was anything he’d learned from Lyria’s sickness, it was that life was simply too short to waste.

Lyria had died with her would-be engagement ring still in tucked away in Ro’s dresser drawer. He hated himself for the cowardice, but when she got sick he couldn’t bring herself to ask her to marry him. He’d wanted to believe that if he put off giving her the ring it might somehow serve as a talisman to keep her from leaving him. It hadn’t though, and instead she’d died never getting to be his wife.

It was a mistake he couldn’t afford to make a second time. It was improbable that he and Aelin would get married, but he felt he owed them both the opportunity to find out.

His mind was made up; fuck, he was really doing this.

“Aelin!”

She turned, watching with bemusement as he jogged toward her.

“What—“ she began, but he cut her off.

“I don’t want this to be over,” he blurted.

Aelin sagged a bit, a genuine smile splitting her face.

“Oh thank God,” she said.

Setting down her bag, she started towards him and they met halfway. Rowan cradled her face in his hands and he bent to kiss her. She fisted the fabric of his T-shirt at the hips as the kiss intensified.

“So what does this mean?” Aelin said, slightly breathless as she pulled away. “I’ve never done this before.”

Rare for her to admit she wasn’t perfect at something.

“We’ll have to figure it out as we go,” Rowan said. “My detective’s exam is in two weeks, and then I get a week off. I can come to Austin then?”

She nodded.

“Are we...” Aelin paused, biting her lip. “I mean, do you want to be...”

“Be what?”

“Exclusive?”

“Yes!”

It was out before he could stop it, so he quickly amended, “but only if you—“

“Yes,” she said, smile easier now. “I want that.”

“And are we...using labels?”

She smirked.

“Three days in and you’re already trying to wife me up?”

Now it was Rowan’s turn to flush.

“Okay, no labels—“

“I didn’t say that,” Aelin said quickly. “I just don’t want to jinx a good thing by moving too fast. What if you get back to LA and realize you accidentally got a girlfriend you don’t want? You did drink a lot of tequila this weekend.”

“Never,” he said gently, taking her cheeks in his hands. “Doubt that I want you, Aelin Ashryvver-Galathynius. And I’m fine to wait, if that’s what you want.”

“But...”

He felt his lips tugging again.

“But it’s doesn’t feel soon, not to me.”

“So....labels?” she said.

“Labels,” he agreed.

She grinned, kissing him again.

“In that case, your girlfriend has to go or she’s going to miss her flight and turn into your live-in girlfriend.”

“Honestly, your boyfriend wouldn’t mind.”

Aelin scrunched her nose, even as she laughed a bit.

“We agree the third person thing is creepy, right?”

“Yes, thank you God,” Rowan said, laughing with her.

“Dame un beso,” Aelin said, grabbing the collar of his shirt in an effort to tug his lips closer to hers. “Or I really am going to miss this flight.”

Knowing his time was short, Rowan made the kiss count, teasing Aelin with his lips and tongue until she was slightly breathless.

“See you in three weeks,” he said, pulling away.

He set the bag Aelin had abandoned on her shoulder and kissed her quickly again.

“And text me when you get on the plane so I know you’ve made it.”

She grinned, kissing him a final time before jogging off towards security once again.

“Oh and just fair warning,” she said, spinning on a heel to grin at him as she joined the short line. “My cousins are not going to like this. Might want to sleep with one eye open for a while.”

“You tell me this now?”

“Te veo pronto, querido,” she said in response, kissing her hand in farewell before showing the TSA agent her boarding pass and disappearing into the concourse.

He waited several minutes before pulling out his phone to text her. As he did, his phone chirped to signal an incoming text.

Did I mention I also stole your number and put it in my phone? 😈 💋

Troublemaker, he wrote back. Did you make it?

Yes. Wish you were here to join the Mile High Club with me.

Before Rowan could even formulate a response to that, his phone chimed again, this time from a number he didn’t know.

This is Aedion Ashryvver, it said. Treat her right or I’ll break both your kneecaps.

His phone went off a third time, the new text also from an unknown number.

Not just your kneecaps, either.

Galen Ashryvver, if Ro had to guess.

Ignoring Aelin’s cousins, he replied to her instead, saying simply, Seems like good news travels fast

The grey ellipsis pulsed for a moment as Aelin typed.

Aedion said it was their price for letting us stay in the suite alone all weekend. Taking off now. Talk to you soon ✌️ ✈️

Then it was worth it, Rowan sent back. Have a safe flight. Call me when you get stateside.

Aelin sent back a heart, and Rowan had to fight down an annoyingly girlish fluttering in his stomach as he dialed a new number and put the phone to his ear.

It only rang twice before the line clicked.

“He lives!” Cash said in greeting. “Welcome back from the island  of puss—“

“Very funny,” Rowan interjected. “Where are you?”

“Hideaway. Where are you, honeymoon chapel in Vegas?”

Rowan rolled his eyes.

“Ha-ha.”

Cash scoffed.

“Ha-ha, that’s all I get? You’ve been gone for two days, brother! I want details.”

“I’ll tell you everything when I get there.”

“Just give me a quick teaser: do you have a girlfriend now?”

Rowan growled, making Cash laugh.

“I told you!” He said to someone on his end, presumably Lor or Fen.

“You’re seriously dating her?” Lor demanded a second later. “Like full-blown ‘exclusively-fucking, using-labels’ dating her?”

“Full-blown.”

“I KNEW IT!” Cash called, just as Lor growled, “fuck me, man.”

“You owe me a drink,” Lorcan told Rowan. “I just lost 200 bucks because of you.”

“I’ll buy you a shot of house tequila,” Rowan said, unable to keep in a smile. “Final offer.”

“Hurry up,” was Lorcan’s only response. “Before Kahukore explodes from the anticipation.”

“Getting my popcorn as we speak!” Cash called from the background, and with that Rowan hung up.

A short Uber ride later, Rowan strolled into the Hideaway Inn, his friends wolf-whistling as he approached.

Cash was on his feet first, grabbing Rowan by the shoulders an inspecting him head-to-toe.

“What are you doing?” Rowan said, playfully pushing out of Cash’s grip.

“Just taking you in,” Cash said with a disarming smile. “It feels like it’s been an age since we last saw you!”

Rowan rolled his eyes, and Fen added, “Pretty dark circles you’ve got there, lover boy. Galathynius keep you up all night?”

“I am not answering that,” Rowan said. “Or any questions about what she’s like in bed.”

“Why?” Cash cooed. “Because she’s your girlfriend?”

“You’re both clowns,” Rowan said.

“You’re the one dating a teenager,” Lor said. “So who’s the clown now?”

“She’s 21,” Rowan said. “And green isn’t a good color on your, Salvaterre, so just relax.”

Lorcan smirked.

“Jealous? Of you dating a Amazonian she-devil? I don’t think so.”

“That is exactly what a jealous person would say,” Fen pointed out. “Chin up, Lor, your time will come.”

Lorcan only snarled in response.

“What do we think Salvaterre’s  eventual lady love going to be like?” Cash chimed in. “Betting line’s officially open, gents.”

“Tiny,” Rowan and Fen both said at the same time.

“Fifty bucks says he ends up marrying a girl under 5’4,” Fen added.

“Grow up,” Lor said with an eye roll, though Ro had known him long enough to tell he wasn’t actually bothered by the conversation.

“Make me,” Fen said.

Lor jerked his head the pool table in the back corner.

“I beat you, you owe me fifty bucks and you shut your cakehole.”

“And if I win?” Fen said.

“You won’t, so it doesn’t matter. Let’s do this.”

Lor shot Rowan a quick, conspiratorial nod, and Ro realized Lor had done it on purpose, to give Rowan and Cash a chance to talk.

It was one of the things that Ro loved about Lorcan Salvaterre. He was perceptive in seeing what people needed, and not jealous or petty. Somehow, he’d seemed to sense Rowan’s need to talk to Cash alone, even if Ro himself hadn’t realized it until just now.

He gave Lor a grateful smile, and Lor turned to clap Fen on the back, leading him towards the billiards table in the back.

“So,” Cash said, flagging the bartender down and ordered two beers and two shots of whiskey. “Tell me everything.”

He clicked his glass to Rowan’s in salute and they both tipped the shots back. Rowan winced a bit at the taste before running a hand through his hair, trying to collect his thoughts.

He ran Cash quickly through the weekend’s events, skipping over the more X-rated content and ending with his and Aelin’s agreement at the airport.

“Damn,” Cash said when Rowan had finished. “Are you sure this girl isn’t a witch? Because she has you under a spell.”

Rowan laughed.

“She’s—” he began, breaking off with a sheepish laugh. “I really like her, man.”

“You’re smitten,” Cash said with a grin. “Look at you!”

Rowan opened his mouth to deny it before shrugging.

“Being with her feels different somehow. It isn’t just that she’s gorgeous or funny or smart, even though she’s all of those things. It’s more than that.”

Cash considered this, but he didn’t tease the way Ro feared he might. Instead he simply asked, “what of you mean?”

Rowan blew out a breath.

“There’s just something about her that’s almost... familiar . Like I’ve been looking for her my whole life, even without knowing it. I know that sounds crazy, but...”

Rowan shrugged again, tracing the rim of his glass.

“She’s just special.”

Cash’s smiled, a softer thing than his fiendish grin from before.

“I’ve never seen you like this, brother.” He paused, his expression growing more reverent as he added in a softer voice, “Not in a long time, at least.”

They were quiet a moment as they both silently recalled the memories that hung unspoken between them. Cash had been the first important person in his life that Rowan had introduced Lyria to, and over the years, Cash was the one who’d come to know Lyria the best; he’d been her friend in his own right.

He couldn’t see it at the time, but when Ro finally emerged from his own grief over Lyria’s death, it was realize that Cash had been grieving as well; he’d simply put his aside to focus on helping Rowan heal instead. 

It was hard to describe what that sacrifice had meant to Ro; the nice thing about a friendship as deep as theirs was that Rowan didn’t have to explain his gratitude for Cash to understand it. It was implicit in every conversation they ever had about Lyria, even this one.

“You want to know the weirdest part?” Rowan said finally. “When I was watching Aelin walk away, it felt like, I don’t know, like Lyria was there with me. Like she was telling me ‘go get her’.”

Cash smiled, his expression one of admiration tinged in sadness.

“She wanted you to be happy, Ro.”

Rowan nodded, throat tight as he looked into his glass.

“I still miss her, every day. Part of me worries that if things with Aelin ever got serious, I might start missing her less.”

Cash’s answering shrug was sympathetic.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t want to forget her,” Rowan said, marveling that he could admit that fear out loud.

“You won’t,” Cash assured him. “Ever. But you’re allowed to move on, brother; that’s what she wanted for you.”

There was something in his tone, an assurity and a promise, that had Rowan’s mouth going dry. He glanced up to meet Cash’s gaze.

“She told you that?”

Cash nodded once.

“The last time I saw her. She made me promise to look out for you, and to make sure you ended up with the right girl. And honestly?” He said, a smile beginning to grow on his face. “I think you might have just met her. I can’t let you mess that up by overthinking things, for Lyria’s sake as much for your and Aelin’s.”

Rowan felt his lips tugging up.

“You’re going to like her,” he said, and Cash grinned.

“Latin girl who can kick your ass in sports? I love her already.”

Rowan laughed.

“I’m going to Austin after my exam, but she’s planning on coming to LA sometime after that. If you’re free, you could fly out, I have airline miles—“

“I’d love to,” Cash interjected, clapping Ro in the back. “But I’m going to be out of commission for the next few months. I promise I’ll meet her properly soon, though. She seems cool as hell.”

Not to be put off by the diversion regarding Aelin, Rowan frowned, narrowing his eyes as he scrutinized his friend’s expression. Cash’s answering smile was cryptic and slightly wild. It was then Ro remembered what Cash had told him when he’d first gotten into town days ago.

“Fuck,” he said, running a hand through his silver hair. “I feel like such a dick, you said you had news. I totally forgot, I’m sorry.”

Cash laughed, the sound easy and unburdened.

“You just met the women you’re probably going to marry. I’ll give you a pass.”

Rowan thought to object to the notion he was going to marry Aelin after only three days together, but something told him not to.

“Well tell me now,” Rowan said instead.

His friend’s cryptic smile returned, mischief sparkling in his hazel eyes.

“The only thing worse than having too many secrets,” Cash always said. “Is having none at all.”

Ro had a feeling Cash was about to drop a big one on him right now.

“I’m moving to London.”

“Wait?” Rowan demanded. “Seriously?”

Cash grinned.

“Seriously.”

“Just for a change of pace?”

“Partly,” Cash said with a shrug. “But mostly to be a Master Sommelier.”

Now that, Rowan had not expected. He struggled to pick his jaw off the floor enough to speak.

“Like a wine expert?” He said, stunned. “I thought you didn’t like wine! You always ripped on your uncle for opening Merchant of Vino!”

Cash laughed.

“That’s because it’s a stupid name and Dev’s a hapless businessman.“

Rowan still couldn’t fully master his shock, though it was quickly being subsumed by an overwhelming pride.

“This is amazing, man,” he said, clasping Cash’s shoulder. “When did you decide to do this?”

Cash’s smile had grown slightly sheepish.

“When I first sat for the Level One Sommelier exam three years ago?”

“Three years?” Rowan repeated. “You’ve been sitting on this for three fucking years? Why didn’t you say anything? Every time I asked about your job you brushed me off!”

Cash rubbed the back of his neck.

“I didn’t want to tell you in case it—didn’t pan out.”

“Seems like it’s panning out just fine!” Rowan said with a laugh.

“It’s going alright,” Cash agreed with a laugh. “Considering I passed the theory portion of the Master Sommelier exam. I just have to complete the tasting and I’ll be one of 229 Masters Somms in the world.”

“Jesus Christ,” Rowan blurted. “That’s incredible. How does London fit into all this?”

“If I said the name Sadeghi, would that mean anything to you?”

“Persian billionaires or something?”

Cash nodded.

“The old man is from originally from Tehran, but the family has been in England for ages; they’re real estate royalty in the UK. Sadeghi put his son in charge opening a new hotel and restaurant in London, and I’m going to be the wine manager. Make the lists, relationship build with vineyards, that kind of thing. They’ve already hired a Michelin Star chef from Marrakech, so it’s...a pretty big deal. It’s also a good way to for me to grow my network while I study for the exam. I don’t want to be stuck in the restaurant business forever.”

“Cash,” Rowan said, grinning. “That’s amazing.”

Cash smiled.

“Maybe you and Aelin can come visit once I get settled,” Cash said in deflection, clearly at his limit for discussing himself. “You know, Aelin your girlfriend.”

Rowan had to laugh.

He had a girlfriend.

And—Jesus Christ—Cash was moving to England. It was almost too much good news for a single day.

“I’m happy for you,” he told his friend, giving his shoulder an affectionate squeeze. “And you deserve this. You’re going to crush it”

“I hope so,” Cash said. “The pass rate for the tasting portion of the exam is 32%.”

“You’re the smartest person I know,” Rowan said. “So that number means nothing.”

Cash grinned.

“You flirting with me, Whitethorn?”

“If you’re going to be friends with billionaires, you need to learn how to start taking compliments,” Rowan said with a chuckle.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Cash said, and Rowan could see the unsaid words shining in his friend’s hazel eyes. “Another drink?”

Cash turned to slip off the stool he’d been perched on, by Rowan caught his arm.

“Cash.”

Cash turned back, expression somewhat bemused. Rowan felt a lump beginning to form in his throat, but he pushed on regardless.

“It’ll be you, you know that right?”

“Be me?” Cash repeated, confused.

“When I get married—whoever I get married to—you’ll be my best man. I couldn’t have it any other way.”

Cash smiled, eyes sparkling. He considered this for a moment before pulling Rowan into a hug, one which Rowan gratefully accepted.

“Love you, brother.”

There were very few people Rowan considered worthy of this type of familial affection, but Cash was certainly one of them.

“I’m not drunk enough for this kind of thing,” Cash said, pulling away. “I’m going to get us another drink.”

Rowan’s phone buzzed with an incoming call just as Cash was sauntering away. He was surprised to find it was Aelin, and concern sluiced through him as he answered the call.

Before he could ask if she was okay, Aelin said, “Stupid flight attendant has been holding out on me. She waited until just now to tell me I could make calls on WiFi.”

Rowan felt amusement tugging at his lips.

“Should I be concerned that you’re calling from altitude? Nothing’s wrong, is there?”

Rowan could practically hear Aelin’s grin through the phone.

“No,” she said breezily “But I realized I never told you about the Cinnabon I had on my way to the gate. I figured I should call and tell you now lest I forget.”

“Oh yeah?” Rowan said.

He couldn’t help it; he was all-out smiling now.

“It was life-changing,” Aelin said.

Rowan glanced up to find Cash joining Fen and Lor at the pool table with a conspiratorial wink. When he mouthed ‘sorry’ and made to rise, Cash waved him off with a smile.

“In that case,” Rowan said, settling back on his stool. “Tell me everything.”

THE END

If you liked this story and want more Rowaelin, check out my Nessian fic In Vino Veritas, set in the same modern au-verse about four years later. If you want a sneak peak at how Lorcan’s romance check out the teaser for F*cking Lawyers, set within the In Vino timeline. ♥️ 

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