#small box.... reservation...... wedding bells????

[introspectivememories]

HE’S GONNA FUCKIN PROPOSE???????!!!!!!!!!

[katiemay-025]

I Know You Well

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Summary: The 3rd Quarter Quell twist has been revealed and after the initial shock wears off, you have a conversation with your lover and fellow victor where you both promise that no matter who gets reaped, there would be no volunteering. Johanna will make sure of that.

wc: 2.5k

Warnings: 18+ mdni, use of y/n, violence, ptsd, swearing, Ifem!reader think that’s it.

An: I should probably make a banner for Johanna or something. Also I think I sent this head cannon to someone’s ask but I don’t remember whom I sent it to. :/

This probably would have been better as a blurb but oh well.

~~~~~

Johanna sat on the couch rolling her eyes and groaning at the sight of Katniss’ wedding gowns being presented to the audience. Her feet were propped up on the coffee table that you made and she had nothing on except a pair of fuzzy socks. “Ugh disgusting! What flock of white geese had to die for that dress?”

You chuckle at her words as you were cutting the bell pepper for dinner. “Do you mean swans, honey?”

“Absolutely not, she does not deserve swans.”

There were a total of 6 dresses to choose from and Cinna announced to the crowd that they could vote for which dress Katniss should wear. Johanna made another snide comment about making the Girl on Fire walk out in a suit of mud and call it a day. “They would definitely like that.”

“Katniss would not. I’m not too sure she’d be as comfortable as you being naked.”

Johanna cupped her own breast with a smirk. “At least I show myself off instead of being bought for it. What are they going to do? They can’t take it from me if I give it out for free.”

You tilted your head in acknowledgement of her words. It’s something you learned as a victor, watching others do the same. Finnick acted cocky as a defense mechanism. Enobaria sharpened her teeth to defend herself from the Capitol. Hell, you had done it, fiddling with your pocket saw out in the open. It was effective in scaring people away but it also gave you horrible flashbacks to your own game. What does that say about your view of the capital if you decide to willingly traumatize yourself again? Even so, after years of doing it, you’d only get flashes of the dark memory instead of a full blown panic attack. Exposure therapy at its finest.

Anyway, immediately after Cinna finishes his campaign for Katniss’ wedding dress, Snow took the podium on the raised balcony overlooking the city circle. “Why the fuck is he on our screens? As if voting for a wedding dress isn’t torturous enough.” Johanna groaned.

You put your knife down. The living room was a good 50 steps away from the kitchen counters and you placed your hands on the back of the couch watching intently. To you, the twist wouldn’t matter, you’d still have to mentor who ever the twist catered too.

“Ladies and gentlemen, citizens of Panem. This is the 75th year of the Hunger Games. When the charter of the Games was written, it dictated that every 25 years there would be a Quarter Quell… to make fresh for each new generation the memory of those killed in the rebellion against the Capitol. The Quarter Quell was reserved for the Games of special significance.”

Johanna sat up in her seat fiddling with the hilt of her axe. You noticed the slow movement of her thumb over the wooden handle before she took a breath.

“On the 25th anniversary, each district was made to vote on the tributes who should represent it. In the 50th anniversary, as a reminder that two rebels died for every Capitol citizen, each district was required to send twice the tributes to the arena. And now on the 75th anniversary of the Rebellion, we honor our third quarter quell, as bestowed to us, by the signers of the Treaty of Treason.”

A small wooden box is carried onto the balcony by a boy dressed in white. You watch as President Snow opens the box and retrieves a yellow sealed envelope. “As a reminder that even the strongest cannot over power the Capitol, on this 3rd Quarter Quell Games, the male and female tributes are to be reaped from the pool of existing victors of each district.”

The room froze, you and Johanna not daring to break the silence. Your eyes widened and you forgot to breathe. Chills traveled down your spine. Johanna reacted first gripping her axe and swinging it at the television projector with a scream, smashing it to pieces.

Your heart plunged to the ground. You were going back. Tears welled in your eyes and a lump found its way to your throat. The walls closed in around you and before it could crush you, you rushed out of the house.

Your foot caught each other on the way down the steps and you caught yourself with your hands and knees. The bushes beckoned you to them and you crawled over before dispensing the bile caught in your throat.

The fall was so fast you didn’t notice the glassy rocks that cut your knees. Only after you crawled to the log storage did you notice them. Smears of blood oozed out of your wounds and sticky red liquid coated your fingers.

Your hand began to shake.

The First Kill was never something you could get over. Her name was Olive and there was a sponsor sent to you on the 5th day, she was nearby and tried to take the gift from you. She tackled you to the ground and after a few moments of tussling in the grass, you found your saw and lodged it deep into her neck. Her blood trickled down coating your fingers as you pulled on your weapon to slice her neck. She died choking on her own blood. Your hands stained red and no matter how much you tried to scrub it off, it always remained on your hands.

Even now, as you frantically scrubbed your hands in the shed sink, it wouldn’t go away. The harder you rubbed the redder your hands got. That was how friction worked but in your state of delusion, it all looked the same.

The cascade of water stopped. As you moved your hands to the faucet, gentle hands cradled yours. A small whimper escaped your lips. You were going back. You were in the pool of existing victors. But so was Johanna. Your head snapped up spotting the younger girl focused on your reddened hands.

“Johanna.”

She let out an unamused chuckle. “I fucking trashed the house.”

“I assumed so.” You whispered. “I rubbed off the skin on my hands.”

Johanna hummed as she traced her thumb over the injury. “I know.”

You raised your arms to her to hold her face. “I need you to promise me something. Do not volunteer for me.”

She met your eyes with her own fiery ones while tilting her head. “One of us has to go in. Like hell, I’m going to let it be you.”

“I can handle myself, that’s why I’m telling you not to volunteer.”

“If you don’t volunteer then I won’t volunteer.” Johanna bargained. You went quiet pressing your lips into a thin line. Just like you knew her well enough to know she’d volunteer, she knew you well enough to know you would to. It was hypocritical so you agreed.

Johanna kept her unwavering eyes towards you. You matched her gaze until you found a soft glint in her eyes. Your shoulders relaxed as you looked a way. A deep sigh escaped your lips. “Fine, whoever gets picked for the reaping gets picked.”

“Great but we’re training for this. I am not going to have a rusty tribute as my mentee.”

~

Your heartbeat echoed in your ears and thumped against your rib cage. Your legs were wide enough for Johanna to fit between them. She stood in front of you playing with your hair as you buried your ear into her chest. Hers was almost as fast as yours but there was comfort in wrapping your arms around her.

You didn’t want to let go of Johanna. The thought of having to watch from the sidelines where you physically couldn’t protect her. The pressure in your chest felt like a bubbling volcano, stress building up before an eruption.

Usually the silence with Johanna was comfortable being able to be in the moment, in her arms. This time, the silent air was heavy. The small ticking of the clock reminded you of the looming possibility of going back to the arena.

You loved her. You made a promise not to volunteer but you had to. You had to protect her. Blight and Old Spruce came to pick you up for the reaping. When they knocked, Johanna gave you one last squeeze to your hand to comfort you. She made it a habit to hold your hands when you slipped into a memory lapse to keep you from rubbing the skin off your hands. In return you stocked and supplied the wooden logs for Johanna to split when her anger rose.

You snuck her a peck on her lips before the four of you trudged to the town square where the entirety of District 7 awaited the victors. The hot July sun did nothing to ease your worries as it heated your arms. You rocked onto your toes as the escort stepped onto the stage. It was ironic being an eligible tribute again. Seven years ago you dreaded for the slip to say your name and now seeing all the faces of District 7 on this raised platform, you prayed it was your name being called.

“Ladies First.” You stood staring out to your home. After these next moments, your life would never be the same. Either you get reaped and survive the loss of your closest friends turned enemy, Johanna is reaped and survives, you are reaped but die or Johanna is reaped but dies. The loss of it all would turn anyone insane.

Technically, you didn’t promise, you only agreed because it would get Johanna to not volunteer. So you could and you would. To your right, you could see Johanna eyeing you and you returned a glare.

“The female tribute from District 7 is...” He paused for dramatic effect and your heartbeat rose in your throat. Let it be me. Let it be me Let it be me. “Johanna Mason.” Your heart plummeted before turning your head to the escort. You weren’t going to accept this.

Before you could even open your mouth to object, you felt a sharp pain on your nose and a small pop in your neck from the force. Your head hit the ground and everything went black.

When you came to, you were on the train staring straight at Blight across from you on the table. “What the fuck happened?”

“Oh she’s back.” Spruce called. “You were out of it for about 30 minutes.”

“What do you remember?” Blight asked.

“Johanna was reaped and then it felt like my nose exploded.” You say wincing at the pain on the bridge of your nose. You groaned holding your head.

“Doc says you got a broken nose and a concussion.”

“Where’s Johanna?”

“The peacekeepers restrained her in her room.” The escort called. “She knocked you out in one go. She must’ve been so pissed that she was picked.” You shared a look with your fellow victors. The escort hadn’t been here to watch your relationship with Johanna. Both of you were great about hiding your relationship during the annual hunger games.

“So which of you got reaped?”

Blight took a deep breath. He took a swig of his alcohol laughing at the ridiculousness of it. “Can’t believe they’re making me go back after 20 something years.”

“So you and I are mentors.” Spruce solemnly said patting you on the shoulder. “Should I take Johanna?” He asked keeping up with appearances. Ironically it was like the 71st Hunger Games again. Mentoring was set by priority. Old Spruce had said yes to mentoring while the others said no meaning you had no choice but to mentor Johanna. This time you could choose her.

“No. No I’ll talk to her.”

“Take things slowly okay, you took a big fall.”

“Yes dad.” You joked. Dad was nice, ‘Old Spruce’ was pushing 65. He had been your mentor during your games and continued to take care of you afterwards.

The walk to Johanna’s room was short luckily. A peacekeepers stood outside the door and you smiled at him. “Hi I’m here to talk to my mentee.” He looked at you and stepped aside. As soon as the door slid closed, you looked at Johanna. “You fucking bitch.”

She turned her attention to you from the fuzzes of green zooming past the window. A soft smile plastered on her face. “You promised you weren’t going to volunteer.”

“Technically I didn’t. I agreed so you wouldn’t volunteer. We didn’t shake on it or pinky promise or sign a contract so….”

“You were going to volunteer.”

“Yes.”

“Great I’m glad I know you well enough.”

“Decking me in the face was part of the plan?”

“Absolutely.” You stared at her unamused. “Don’t look at me like that. We both know we were going to break that promise to protect the other. Maybe you planned that all along or it was a last minute thought but I saw the look on your face. I anticipated it and knocked you out before you could.” Johanna told shrugging her shoulders as she walked towards you.

“You broke my nose.”

“It’s better than you dead.” Johanna countered. “I said I wasn’t going to let you go back in. I made that promise to myself and I kept it.”

“What do I do if I lose you? Do you think you’re the only one who loves in this relationship.”

Johanna held onto your waist. “First, avenge me. Second, none of us want the other to go in but someone is going to be forced to. I’m sorry, I’d rather it be me than you. You would be safer.”

“Safe is a relative term and when did you become such a sap?”

“Oh you know, since I started dating the best girl I’ve ever met.”

“Shut up.”

“Why don’t you make me.”

You closed the gap and let your lips meld with the younger girl. Slowly, the two of you walked towards her bed. She sat on her bed and you climbed on top of her with little room to breathe. Johnna wrapped her arms around the back of your neck to bring you in closer deepen the kiss. She flipped you over before nuzzling her face into your neck.

You held her in your arms playing with her hair. Lulling yourself to sleep. “Don’t die okay.” You whispered.

“I won’t.”

“I do hope you break your nose though.”

“Ugh get over it.”

“No! Although it was a smart countermove.”

“Thank you. I thought long and hard about it for all of 5 seconds after you first told me not to volunteer.”

“Well that’s the last time I trust you.” You joked.

“You love me.”

“I do. I know you do too.”

“Yeah, I do.” Johanna sighed. The both of you laid motionless embracing the other, enjoying the moment.

[kamosweasley]

I don't want to talk - Part II (George Weasley x Reader)

Description : To read the first part and third part.

Word count : 3.7K

Warning : mention of cheating, angst

It’s been two weeks since George kicked you out. These words may sound too violent for what happened but you really feel like he kicked you out of where you found a home. It's not so much about the apartment, it's above all living with him, being surrounded by his love every day. As cliché as it sounds, you've never felt better than in his arms, and knowing you may never be able to find your way there again makes you feel terrible.

A part of you tells yourself you deserve this punishment and a part tells yourself it’s ridiculous to lose everything (including the person who matters most to you) because you love two people. You mean, okay it’s not common to be in love with two people at the same time but you can't help it, and it hasn't changed your love for George. So losing him would destroy you, because you still love him like a fool and you don't know if you will ever be able to draw a line under the life you had imagined for the two of you. But there's still hope, George sent you an owl to tell you that he wanted to see you tonight after work. He asked you to arrive a little before the store closes so he wouldn't have to wait for you. The tone of the letter was far from warm or enthusiastic but it suits you, you didn't expect him to forgive you so quickly and you will have the opportunity to see him again and discuss all this with him. You're terrified but also full of hope, if he wants to talk to you that means he doesn't just want to leave you and forget everything, right ?

So here you are, in front of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, the heart at the edge of the explosion. You were so scared to be late that you arrived an hour early, leaving you looking at the window with undisguised anxiety. You keep nipping your lower lip, your hands are sweaty and you keep fiddling with the ring that George gave you a few years ago. It was to celebrate your coming out of Hogwarts and getting your NEWT's at the same time. He was so happy to offer it to you, even though you had only been together for a little more than a year, he already wanted to offer you everything he could. He gave you so many products from his store, you almost got all the new products just a few days before they went on sale. It was important for him to share this with you and it made you happy he shares with you this passion he has made as his job. By the way, you must have forgotten it in the apartment, you didn't think to take them with you. You should have.

The door opens with the sound of a bell, suddenly taking you out of your thoughts and making you jump. It’s George, with a cold gaze and an annoyed look on his face.

-What are you doing here ? You were supposed to arrive later.

-I was afraid I was going to be late, so I didn't really pay attention to my advance. Sorry about that.

-Come in, you're going to scare the customers by staring at the storefront like that. You look like a psycho.

He moves to let you pass. You enter timidly and you immediately have the feeling of entering hostile territory. Maybe it's because Fred looks at you badly as soon as he sees you come in, making you want to disappear. You've never experienced hostility with twins, it's always been the other way around, even more so when you were the girlfriend of one and the sister-in-law of the other. It’s funny that Fred always acted as if you were a married couple. He was the only one to call you Mrs Weasley, saying it should motivate his brother to ask you. Today you doubt he calls you by his last name as he used to. After all, you break his brother’s heart, you doesn’t deserve any sweet nickname.

-Since you're here, all you have to do is help us organize the shelves, you know how it works.

-Okay, what do you want me to start with ?

-I think there are almost no more love potions on the shelf, there's a whole box of them in the reserve.

He hasn't even glanced at you, already on his way to see a customer. You’re going to get that box when Fred passes close to you, saying the air of nothing that you do not need to steal one of them. You immediately understand what he is implying and you want to tell him to fuck off, that it’s none of his business. But you don't have the courage to argue with Fred when you came to try to patch things up with George. That would be counterproductive and you can't blame Fred for being upset with you.

A few minutes later, you put the bottles on their display, being on your guard. You know Fred well enough to know it's not impossible that he might play a bad joke on you to avenge his brother in his own way. It might even be an opportunity to demonstrate a product to customers, unless you're getting paranoid. You’re just so tired of all of this …

-Hello Y/N.

-Luna ! You surprised me.

-I’m sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. You came to see George ?

-Yes.

-Great, I’m happy to see you both. It's been a long time since I've seen him, and so have you. I haven't heard from you in two weeks. Were you sick ?

It's weird to see her again since the argument with George. Curiously you don't have that odd feeling like all the other times, you just want her to go away before George sees you together. It would probably make him mad, he might imagine you asked Luna to come or she came to try to stop you from talking to him. You have no idea what might be going on in his head but you refuse to waste your chance.

-Kind of. You should go before you get sick too.

-Luna, what a pleasure to see you !

You stiffen at the sound of his voice behind your back, suddenly so warm that his sentence sounds sincere. But he's angry with Luna even though he doesn't let it show. He knows it's ridiculous because it's Luna, she didn't do anything to make Y/N fall in love with her again and she may not even know about it. But he resents her because she took a part of the heart he desires entirely, just for him.

-Hello George. I was telling Y/N that it's been a long time since I've seen you. It's a bit sad, you're good friends and we see so little of each other.

-But you have seen Y/N a lot in the last few months.

-True, but not for the last two weeks. It was as if she had disappeared, I thought she finally asked you to marry her and the two of you have stayed together ever since. It could have been a secret wedding, I think that's your type. But she told me she was sick.

-What ? Ask me to marry her ? Why would she do that?

-Luna !

-Sorry, I thought you talked about it with him.

-You wanted to ask me to marry you?

-I don't think it matters now.

-I'm sorry I embarrassed you, Rolf tells me I should be more subtle when talking to people.

-Who is Rolf ?

-She didn’t tell you ? Rolf is my fiancé, he’s a magizoologist like me. We met at work, he is adorable and very nice. I'm sure he's going to love your products, I came to buy some for him. He's going back to England in a few days.

George feels lost, he had no idea Luna had gotten engaged. If he had known, maybe he wouldn't have been so angry with you, because he wouldn't have thought Luna could dump her fiancé to get back together with you while you were in a relationship. He knows Luna well enough to know she is not that kind of woman, no matter how she feels about you she would have pushed you away and told you to stay with him. She has always been so nice and fair while he feels terribly selfish. 

-Congratulations, I had no idea. It's wonderful news, you have ... have you picked a date yet ?

-Yes, we will soon send out the invitations, you will receive one of course. It will be this summer, dad is very keen on it. Don't hesitate to come in yellow, it will make him happy.

-I take note.

-I'm going to go pay, it's closing soon. It was nice to see you again, feel free to visit me anytime.

The blonde goes to the cashier after a smile. You've never felt so embarrassed in front of George, it was the weirdest conversation and you don't know what effect it had on him.

-Why didn’t you tell me she’s engaged ?

-What difference would it have made ? You said that no matter what happened between her and me, the problem is I had feelings for her again.

-Luna would never cheat on someone, least of all her fiancé.

-So you trust Luna more than you trust me. Great …

-You're not going to get offended when it's all your fault in this story !

-George ! Calm down, the store is not closed yet.

He almost screamed while there were a dozen customers in the store, most of them looking at you waiting for the next part. Can this day get any worse ? It hasn't even been 10 minutes since you walked in and it's only getting worse.At this rate George won't even want to talk to you anymore and you'll have to say goodbye to him forever before the store closes. Resuming his professional appearance, he clears his throat to regain his composure and walks away without a word. Then you go back to what you were doing before Luna arrived, putting the small bottles carefully. You feel tense, it seems like there's not much missing for you to break down and either burst into tears or go crazy. It's like being in the middle of a nightmare, you would give anything to make it stop and wake up in bed with George's arms around you and his breath on your neck.

Lost in your thoughts and anxiety, the closing finally arrives and Fred leaves the store for the apartment above, not without giving you yet another bad look before winking at his brother. Here we are, and you just want to run away.

George comes to you, always with his mask of indifference on. It’s only a facade, you know him by heart and in truth he tries not to show he’s in pain. You're both in pain but you're the only one to show it, that's the game. All means are good to make him understand this separation hurts you and you miss him. You’re sitting on a step of the stairs leading to the second floor, with desperate eyes looking at the ground like a punished child. It's not going to be a piece of cake, he's probably going to say some hurtful words, but everything has to be said and heard.

-What about the proposal ? Were you really going to ask me ?

-I really thought about it, I never lied when I said that I love you and you are the man I want to make my life with.

He says nothing, assimilating this information with difficulty. He's still hurt and angry about what you did, but he feels it's not as he imagined it would be. He thought the moment he threw you out, you had gone to join Luna and since then you had been consoling yourself in her arms. He doesn't doubt your love for him, he saw how you were that night, but he thought you would move on with time, with Luna. He imagined himself learning that you were moving in with her, and the day you were going to get married. It destroyed him from the inside, this image, this perfect happiness that you would live with her when it should have been with him.

-You are the most important person to me, since we have been together for so long, I told myself that I could be the first one to make the proposal.

-Sounds ridiculous …

-You know that I want your kids. We already talked of this, I want 4 children and you, 5.

-Stop it. I know all of this too, but we can't talk of our future anymore. I'm not sure of our couple anymore.

-I understand. But you asked me to come here to talk. I'm trying to make you understand I don't want a future without you. Isn't what I'm supposed to do?

He remains silent, staring at the display of love potions. He stands up straight with his hands in his pockets and again you can't read him. You hate it, feeling like he's already so far away from you when the breakup isn't official yet. You're afraid he won't want you anymore and say it out loud, that he'll move on and make his life with another girl. He would have the right, nothing obliges him to stay with you, but how could you survive it ? He's the love of your life, it's the only thing that's been going round and round in your head for the last two weeks. It's him and nobody else, Luna is nothing compared to him. The tall man sighs and raises his head to the ceiling, you can see that he is chewing on the inside of his cheek. This is not a good sign.

-You understand it changes nothing for us.

-Not even a little ?

-I don't think so.

-Why ? It must change something. We both want to marry each other, we want a home and a family to build together. I told you more than I can remember that I am sorry and I choose you for ever and ever. Why isn't it enough ?

-You're going to get angry now ?

-I do, because I don't understand ! I understand you need time and you're mad about me and you have all right. But I didn't do anything to get her, not a kiss, not a look, not even a word. I never wanted to do anything with her, I was lost in my feelings and you … you say you will never need me again. How I'm supposed not to be angry ?

Tears fill up your eyes, it's kind of unfair of you to put a blame on him for his choice but you can't handle it. This man is yours since so many years, you've already imagined what your future would look like, to the kind of grandparents you would be. You want to live so many things with him, like traveling abroad, laughing at your children's mischief, celebrating your wedding anniversaries in so many different ways, just laughing every day of your life with this wonderful man. He can't take that away from you without you saying a word.

-Everybody makes mistakes, there is such a thing as forgiveness and you have to know how to forgive the people you love. I'm not saying this to make you feel obligated but because I want you to do it, because I still love you. Do you know that saying, "Love cannot be divided, it can only multiply" ? That's exactly right, I didn't take a part of my love for you to give to Luna. It's an old love that has woken up, it's something totally different. It's more like loving a friend very much or wanting the last broom, it’s unreasonable, foolish and not that strong as the way I love you.

-Is that supposed to make me want to take you back ?

-Shut up George ! I’m falling ! There is nothing I wouldn't do for you, and you heard Luna, I haven't spoken to her in two weeks ! I’m ready to do anything for you, to prove you my love !

-And you think that makes you respectable and forgivable ?

It's the most frustrating situation you've ever experienced, it's like talking to a wall. No matter what you say or what you do, he doesn't want to forgive you. This sudden realization makes you cry your eyes out. You refuse to give up your story, but it takes two to make one more, and George is sinking the ship. You don't know what's more powerful between despair and rage, but you're falling apart again. So it's really over ? He asked you to come here to finish you off like this ?

-George, I’m begging you … Don’t do this … Please, don’t leave me …

-I love you from the depths of my being, I was ready to give everything for you. But I can't give you my forgiveness, and above all I know I can't give you back my trust.

-But I don't understand ! I didn't cheat on you, I didn't do anything with her, she doesn't even know what happened ! I ignored her, I left you alone waiting for you to come back to me to talk and try to make things right because we love each other and this story doesn't change anything about OUR story !

-It changed something.

-No it doesn’t ! Maybe you’re afraid and you don’t trust me like before, and again I understand it and accept it. You’re hurt because you feel betrayed, you wanted to be the only one I love and unfortunately this is not the case but you still want me. In spite of everything you feel and what you told me, you still want me to become your wife and to raise a family together. You still want to offer me your newest products in advance and find me every night at the apartment. Because you know as well as I do that we are meant to be together. We survived Umbrage, we survived the war, I was always there when you needed me and you did the same. This love that unites us, it’s different from the one I have for Luna, it’s much more powerful and indestructible. We can break up if that's what you really want, but you know as well as I do that this love will never die. And you'll miss me every day of your life because I'll miss you too. I’ll love you forever, and I can’t do anything against that. 

-You’re cruel. Do you really think I'm happy I have to break up with you ? I'm not because you are ... everything I've ever wanted. I've always felt lucky to have you, I was sure we would make it. I’ll love you forever too and that’s the problem ! I can't escape you while you are hurting me, you will make me suffer all my life because I will have to try to run away from you all my life !

-You don't have to run away. Especially if it means it will make you suffer for the rest of your life.

Neither of you has moved since the beginning, almost like statues with words. You are together on a path that separates into two other paths, and you don't agree on which one to take next. One is clearly a dead end while the other leaves more possibilities. But you can't force George to follow you, if he really wants to stop everything then you'll have to accept it. Even if it breaks both your hearts, you can't stop him from living his life the way he wants. You've already done enough harm, and his feelings will make him suffer for a long time if he chooses to break up, there's no need to add to it. But you're not ready to hear it so you try to save this love story that's falling apart.

-Why can't we at least try to work things out before we break up ?

-If I come back to you, I know I would forgive you and we would go back to the way things were, almost as if nothing had happened.

-And it would be a bad thing ?

-I talked it over with Fred, he told me not to be fooled and not to give you a second chance. He says I deserve better than a woman who can't love only me.

-Excuse me but we don't give a shit about what Fred thinks. He's your brother, your twin, your partner, but he's not the one living your life. You know me much better than he does, you know our history and you know if I'm honest or not.

-So why didn't you tell me about Luna ?

-See where that got us ? As soon as I realized, I was ashamed, and I knew it would lead nowhere because there is only you for me. She has never been an option, least of all when she is engaged and I was hoping we would be as soon. I know, it sounds cheesy and cliché but it's the truth. I just wanted to wait for it to go away.

-By continuing to see her every day ?

-What would you have thought if I had stopped everything suddenly ? And I really thought it was a kind of nostalgia for a time when it was simple and not painful. The more the days go by and the more I'm sure of it, I don't miss her as much as I miss you, her absence doesn't hurt as much as yours. It was stupid to go back to her like that, I know. I’m sorry George. For all of this, it’s my fault. I never meant to hurt you, but I did. And I can never apologize enough for that, I promised you I would never hurt you. I’m really sorry George.

These words ring true in George's heart, yet this is not the first time you have said these words and he already knows everything, even what you didn't say. All you've done is tell the truth you both know, and even if it hurts he can't deny it. This is the moment when he must choose between yes and no. This is the moment when no matter what his twin brother said to him, his heart beats reason. It’s true he has loved you for four years and he can’t see a future without you, that's a pretty good reason to give a second chance. 

-Come on, let's go home.

-What ?

-Come quickly before I change my mind.

Without a word, you get up in a hurry and leave the store to let George close behind. You don't know what to expect, but this opening draws you like a beacon in the night. He lets you come home, which means he wants to try. You feel like you're living again, breathing is suddenly no longer painful, everything seems a little better and a little less sad. 

-You’ll sleep on the couch.

-Okay.

-I promise you nothing.

-That’s fair.

-I hope it will work. It would hurt too much if it didn’t.

You walk side by side in the night, without holding hands as you used to do. It's strange but there's a glimmer of hope that's lit up for both of you. Maybe it’s not the end.

[pinkhairedlily]

Grab It Before It Passes

Chapter 10 of  The Spring He Came Back | 10 of 12

What was she thinking? She was late to work because she slept in. And why did she sleep in? Because she and Hitsugaya talked until morning. Nice sabotaging your business, Hinamori. She arrived in front of her shop, breathless from her fast cycling, and she was greeted by a small line of her constant customers. When the morning storm died down, she started to prepare reserved bouquets despite feeling lightheaded. It was already lunch time when she finished all her orders and walk-ins.

The bell on the door rang again, and she stood up from the counter to meet her next customer. Maybe I’ll skip lunch today.

“Don’t skip lunch today.” Hitsugaya was yawning as he entered the shop. Hinamori was thankful he got rid of the glasses and kept his old hairstyle. He waved her closer and indicated the bento in his hands. “Sorry for keeping you up until morning.”

If there were other customers right now, I’m pretty sure his words will be taken out of context. Well, we were kind of intimate last night. Hinamori soothed the forming ache on her temples. He rushed to her side and cupped her face anxiously. “Are you okay Momo?”

“Oh, am I interrupting something?” a supplier came in at that inopportune moment, a crate of azaleas in their hands.

Before Hinamori could go to them, Hitsugaya bridged the distance in quick strides and took the crate. “No, is this all? Hinamori has a headache so please let me get this.”

“Ah, Dr. Hitsugaya.” The supplier recognized him and instantly became awed at meeting one of Soul Society’s prodigies. “Of course, of course. Uh, wait, Hinamori, you’re still set for farm visit?”

Trying to control her blush, Hinamori smiled at her supplier. “Yes. I’ll see you at 4. Thank you.” She followed them to the door and placed a lunch break sign. “Please don’t do that again when I’m at work.”

“I’m sorry. I acted on instinct.” Hitsugaya placed the bento boxes on a nearby table and the aroma escaping from the box ushered her closer.

It didn’t occur to her that she should dwell on his statement. She was hungry, and she needed caffeine. She devoured her food and answered Hitsugaya’s questions on flowers in between bites. “Aren’t you eating?” she asked while she took a large bite from a tempura.

“I also woke up late so I just went straight to my lunch meeting at the academy. Too bad I wasn’t able to buy you tea on the way here.” He stifled a yawn again.

Hinamori finished the last of her meal, and set aside the box. She checked the counter once more before she gestured him to stand and follow her. “Let’s drop by quickly at my favorite café.”

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

“Black tea with an extra shot of black tea for Momo,” the owner, Yuki, called out. “And uh, iced americano for Hitsu-“

A visibly irked Hitsugaya took both cups from his hand. “Thank you. Now, Momo can we go?”

“Hey Yuki. Thanks again. You always have my back on tiring days.” Hinamori flashed him an apologetic smile which he shrugged off. He has a knowing gleam in his eyes, and he was obviously trying to send a message.

“What do you mean? You’re my favorite customer. Come again tomorrow?”

“You bet. I gotta go. It’s a busy day.” Hinamori was slowly getting annoyed by Hitsugaya’s impatient tapping on the counter. She didn’t know what set him off, but they rushed off from the café. “What’s wrong with you, Shirou?”

He walked along with her until they reached the flower shop. “I gotta go for another set of meetings. What time do you close?”

“I have to go by four. Now, please tell me what irritated you in that café because I needed my favorite drink and you’re making my headache worse.”

“He knows your favorite brew.” And with that, he shuffled away like his feet was on fire.

And now she too was pissed and exasperated by his childish behavior. Very Hitsugaya of him. “He is a barista. Isn’t he supposed to know what my preferred brew is?”

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

She was mounting her bicycle when he came around. Surprisingly, he bought a bicycle of his own. “Sorry Shirou. I need to go to the flower farm.”

“Can I go with you? I’m also done with the meetings for today.” Recalling that he was not able to reserve a hotel and would most likely go back with her to the compound, she finally agreed.

They arrived at her supplier’s flower farm after a 30-minute ride. Hitsugaya seemed to give her space as he stayed behind with the welcoming staff and answered their questions about his life abroad. She went with her supplier and surveyed the next batch of flowers she would pick for the next batch of delivery. The Peruvian lilies were not ripe for picking as it was still very early in the spring as well as the dahlias. She eventually settled on tulips, gardenias, and daisies.

“Hinamori, can you check on my peonies and gerbera? We have a bad outbreak of thrips this time.”

“No problem. I’ll look around a little bit more.” It was a good thing she bought her sampling kit. She constructed a makeshift laboratory in her room a year after she became a florist where she studied common plant pests. She would provide her personal concoctions from natural ingredients to deter continued onset. Inorganic pesticides have more lasting side-effects on the flowers’ blooming time which would inevitably affect her sales.

“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way.” They were shifting their feet nervously on the ground. “But are you and the professor together?”

Hinamori squatted down to the level of the flowers, checking the underside of the leaves for signs of the culprit. “No, we’re just friends.”

“He’s a really in-demand person with his recent re-appearance here in town, but he finds time for you.”

She proceeded to the next plot. There was a lot from her naked eye. “Maybe he’s just good at scheduling his tasks and it so happened that he’s relatively free today.” It was bad but not unmanageable.

“I heard he turned down speeches in museums and luncheons. Town gossip.”

Could they have been gossiping about their past? If he gets associated again with her and it backfires, what would she do? “It’s gossip so it’s not reliable either.”

The supplier was trying their best to get their point across. “I’m saying, he really looks out for you. It couldn’t be any more obvious, and it would do you good if you allow yourself to accept it.” Contented with what they said, the supplier retreated from her space and returned to the staff house.

She had a bad habit of repressing these discussions when she was occupied with something else, and would only recall them just as she was falling asleep. She pushed it at the back of her mind until she wrapped up with sampling. Finally done, she saw Hitsugaya in the middle of the azalea field. She quickly made a flower crown from the discarded flowers and went to him.

Quietly sneaking behind him, she successfully landed the crown of yellow, orange, and red daisies on his immaculate silver hair. She chuckled at the bright contrast. “Pretty boy.”

“Come here then.” He grabbed her hand and slid a bracelet of white azaleas on her wrist. He also added a small circle of twine with a lone flower on her ring finger. “Pretty girl.”

It couldn’t be any more obvious. Again, she pushed this memory at the back of her mind.

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

She was losing sleep for two days in a row. Baba accidentally destroyed the heater in Hinamori’s room, and in Hitsugaya’s room so they huddled together in her room. Baba was quite happy with the arrangement, but Hinamori was not. Not when her futon was beside Hitsugaya instead of Baba being in the middle. It also didn’t help that he would always turn in his sleep and reach out for her hand. She would be there lying, her hand warm in his, his sleeping face in front of hers, and her heart beating out of control.

Trying to have some semblance of normality in her life, she stopped seeing him for lunch, making up excuses that she was busy with accounting and meeting suppliers. But he dropped her off those two mornings, earning interested glances from her customers and showed up a few minutes before she closed shop. Hitsugaya showed up again, bringing cookies this time and her favorite brew in ice. He was spending an awful lot of time in her favorite café. “Yuki makes the best americano and the best oat cookies,” he said as he munched on one.

“Thanks, I need a sugar rush.” Hinamori was tired, she didn’t think much of it when she leaned in and took a bite directly from a cookie still in his hand. As any other moments recently, it was also the exact time when Rukia, Renji, and Rangiku entered the shop.

“Looks like you didn’t need our help at all, Professor,” Rangiku jeered.

And like any other moments recently, both of them would burst into intense redness. The 3Rs bought cakes for sharing and some wine. Rukia and Renji were full-time faculty in the academy and were officially together. They were set to be wed this year, but the two were still finalizing how they would break the news of wedding bells to Byakuya. Rangiku, on the other hand, became a freelance educator for the poor and disadvantaged in nearby towns. She was also recognized as an affiliate professor of the academy. Her work allowed her to reconnect again with her childhood friend, Gin. Hinamori was yet to meet the guy, but she guessed they were probably in the dating stage already. They were lucky – to have found friendship and love and have these requited.

Stop thinking about IT, Momo, she told herself.

“Hey, Momo, you’re up for a beach trip?” Renji asked. “It’s your day-off tomorrow, right?”

“I really can’t. I have to take care of Baba.” She hoped to sit out this one because these rumbling emotions were becoming too much for her to bear in silence.

“This one’s on you, Hitsugaya. Good luck.” Their friends snickered on the bet that he can persuade Hinamori to go.

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

For some reason, she cannot say no to him. Nor Baba. Her grandmother was left in care of two of the best medical staff and a neighbor who will send text messages to Hinamori and Hitsugaya every hour. Since she traveled an hour by train and was already here, she might as well enjoy it.

It somehow escaped her mind that she couldn’t swim so she stayed on the beach, perfectly fine in a summer dress and a slice of watermelon to cool off the heat. When she saw Hitsugaya running headfirst towards the water with his abs on full display, she almost choked on her fruit.

He really grew up. He’s not shorter than me anymore, and he has muscles. Why does he have abs? Hinamori was at the end of her wits, and the watermelon was not helping cool her down. She retreated to their space and laid down under the shade of the large umbrella. Maybe I should sleep my time away.

After a few minutes, she heard him calling her name. Acting asleep, she actively ignored him. “Momo, are you okay?” His figure loomed before her, the abs directly in her view. She fluttered her eyes open and gave the most annoyed look she could at the dripping Hitsugaya. “Sunblock please, Momo?”

“I’m trying to sleep here!” She huffed indignantly and pulled out her reef-safe sunblock, squeezed out a rather large amount and slapped it on his cheeks.

“You weren’t sleeping. You were pretending.”

“Shut up, I’m applying some protection on your face. Also you’re an idiot because why would you run to the waters first?” She held his chin on her hands and gently lathered the rest of the sunblock on his face. “Okay, you’re good to go.”

“I can stay for a few seconds. Doesn’t this take a minute to set?” His eyes were never left her face. What was this atmosphere?!

“Go get a room,” Rangiku shouted from the water. “I’m getting lonely in here.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea!” Hitsugaya shouted back to Rangiku. “Sorry about that Momo. I’ll leave you alone.”

What did just happen? Is this what they call flirting? Hinamori was truly exasperated so she set out on a walk by the beach. After a few minutes, Rukia joined her pace. Like her, Rukia didn’t know how to swim.

“It’s pretty confusing, huh?” was her first statement.

“Why is everyone talking as if they have the same topic in mind and I’m out of the loop. Am I missing something here?”

“Momo, you’re dissociating again.” She patted her back and smelled in the breeze. “It’s all out in the open and you just have to step forward and grab it.”

“Can you all stop talking in abstract?” Hinamori pleaded, tired from discerning and reading between the lines.

“From someone who noticed it only later in life, notice it now. We’ve seen it coming, but it’s different if you finally realize it. Grab it now before it passes.”

It was a fairly normal beach trip with lots of card games and a watermelon eating contest between Hitsugaya and Renji. By landslide, the watermelon master Hitsugaya Toushirou won. They ended the trip with sparklers, and Rangiku said they have to make a wish before they ran out. In her mind, she only wished for one thing. It was the one thing she should have said aloud when they were kids and when he left ten years ago. On the trip back home, they sat beside each other.

“What did you wish for?” Hitsugaya asked. His cheeks were flushed red from the sun.

She looked at him straight in the eye and said her wish aloud. “For you to stay.”

It has become a habit, him reaching out to touch her hand and her allowing his fingers to wound through hers. “You’re trembling.”

“Don’t go.”

He kept their wound hands inside his jacket’s pocket in an effort to keep her warm, mistaking her confrontation with her feelings with the remnants of winter. “Thank you, Momo.”

NEXT CHAPTER | 11 OF 12 | INTO THE WONDERFUL UNKNOWN

[eatfishies]

21

summary: You reminisce on the memories of you and Kenma when the both of you were still together. Who knew that the two of you would meet again during his night out to celebrate his birthday. note: features time skip! kenma + kuroo, lev and yaku. all characters in the present timeline is 21+. fem! reader. she/her pronouns. song: 21 by gracie abrams word count: 1,878 words warnings: swearing and alcohol use genre: angst arthie’s note: dedicated to best boy kenken who’s birthday is today! not rlly a happy fic because i love me some angst however i hope all of you enjoy it nevertheless ~~ i kinda saved this fic to post it on his birthday hehe ^^ the ending is an ambiguous ending btw ~ feel free to interpret it whichever way you’d like! o(>ω<)o ↳ main masterlist ↳ minor series masterlist «────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────» Kenma sighs as he takes off the headset, tossing them onto the table. He closed his eyes, feeling the strain from his eyes due to staying up late again. The silence lulls him into a deep slumber, all of his worries and frustration wiped out. Hours passed by and in his dreams, he sees her, smiling happily and calling out for his name.  “Kenma!” A hand shook him and he fluttered his eyes opened, blinking slowly at the bright light.

A disheveled bedhead comes into his view, Kuroo sighed. “You fell asleep in your gaming chair again.” He emphasis on the last word, displeased with his habits. Kenma rubbed his eyes lazily, “Oh.” “Did you forget what day it is today?” He asked, looking at his friend who’s yawning. He furrowed his brows, “I don’t remember.” Kuroo huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Kenma! How could you forget your own birthday?” He says, exasperatedly. “I don’t know.” His head bowed down, “I was too busy live streaming a few hours ago.” Kenma admitted, the lazy drawl in his voice as he glanced at the taller man who had a disapproval look. Kuroo rolled his eyes, “Well! Since I’m a good friend, I made a reservation today at your favorite restaurant.”  “What if I don’t wanna go?” He gasped, “You can’t!” He exclaims, “I have a huge surprise for you besides I already invited our friends.” “Ah... so bothersome.” Kenma muttered but it did not go unheard by Kuroo. “C’mon now, it’s your 21st birthday! We have to celebrate it.” He replied, walking towards the door and opening it. “Anyways, be there at 6PM or I’m taking away all of your games.” He threatened as he slams the door closed, leaving Kenma all alone with his intrusive thoughts. Kenma sighed (he seems to be sighing a lot these days.) This will just end up in a disaster, he thought to himself as he went up and trudges to his bedroom. Plopping down onto the soft mattress, his eyes droops as the air conditioning whirled in the background. ❏; ↳ 6PM He dressed himself casually, tying his hair up. Kuroo stood at the door, “You look the same as before.” He walks to Kenma and observed him. “Shut up.” Kenma uttered begrudgingly as he dusts off his hoodie.  Kuroo slung his arm around Kenma, “Alright! Let’s go to your party!” He cheered as the two head out into the night. When they stepped into the restaurant, their usual booth is occupied with familiar faces. “Oi Kenma!” Yaku waved. They sauntered over to them, Kenma sitting next to Kuroo as the latter sat next to Lev. “How are you, Kenma-san?” Lev questioned, a happy smile on sprawled on his face. “I’m fine.” He replied, breaking off his gaze to look down on his phone instead. Kuroo chipped in, “Actually, he finished a live stream hours before this. It was a charity stream wasn’t it, Kenma?” His voice playful and teasing. “Yes.” “Wah! That’s so cool! What charity are you gonna give it to?” Lev asked excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat, staring at Kenma with an enthusiastic interest. “Uh... a charity to help people with lung cancer.” Tapping idly on his phone. “My uncle had it before and I wanted to help people who are struggling the same thing.” He added. “Kenma, you’re getting more cooler these days, huh?” Yaku teased, holding a beer in his hand. He shrugged, focusing on defeating the boss in the game. The rest of them continued to chatter, often asking questions to Kenma to include him as well. His eyes twitched, someone is staring at me, he thought to himself before glancing up and meeting the girl he never expected to see. “I’m sorry that I had to do this.” She grips the door handle, “I love you.” As the door closes gently, taking away his heart with her and letting it shatter. Kenma felt his heart beat rapidly as he stared at the sight of her. She looked down, blinking furiously to stop the tears from spilling. She gazes back at him and smiled sadly before shutting the door closed and disappearing into the crowd. “I— I gotta go.” He said hastily, standing up and chasing after her. “Oi Kenma! Where are you going?!” He can hear Kuroo calling him out but he kept searching for her, ignoring their hollers.  His legs sprinted onto the direction of where the girl headed, eyes darting across everywhere, trying to catch a glimpse of the stranger he once knew. Minutes of running around, he stopped, panting as he heard Kuroo and Lev approaching him. “Kenma! Are you out of your mind?!” His friend aggravated, a hand on Kenma’s shoulder. Lev looked at him with a worried expression, “Kenma-san... you were chasing after her wasn’t it?” A hint of pity in his voice. The blonde haired man clenched his jaw, standing up tall. “Doesn’t matter. She’s gone now.” Kuroo and Lev shared a look of apprehensive before dragging Kenma back to the restaurant. When they were seated in their booth again, Yaku lectured on Kenma and displayed a concerned look. The latter decided to zone out, drowning in his thoughts instead of making pointless conversations. ⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆ Somewhere in a lonely apartment, a trembling hand reached out to the box hiding beneath the bed. With a pang of sadness that washes over her, she inhaled the chilly air, shoving her emotions down. Her phone vibrated, indicating a notification had been received. She pulls out her phone from her pocket, abandoning the box and read the message. (your friend’s name): Hey, I saw Kenma and his friends today. I think they’re celebrating his birthday. Biting her lip, she ignores the memories of the past, regretting her irrational decisions. A frame with a picture of her and Kenma on bedside table, smiling and dressed in formal clothing. It was taken at his aunt’s wedding, him in a suit and her in a white dress, looking like a married couple with their arms intertwined.  She lets out a shaky breath as she stares at the picture, guilt pooling in her stomach as she remembers the solemn look on his face when she announced the break up. Letting her head fall back, she sighed tiredly, feeling the weight against her shoulders sunk into her. The picture is blurry within her visions; a distant memory of what they used to have. From lovers to strangers, all of the sudden. All of this is my own fault. She blames herself, throwing a pity party as she reaches out for the bottle of whiskey near her.  Gulping down a huge amount of the intoxicated drink, she closes her eyes, laying on the cold wooden floor. Flashes of haunted memories of him flitting in her mind as her heart clenches at the mere thought of him. Meanwhile back at the restaurant, Kuroo smirked slyly, eyeing the half-drunk pudding head, spluttering out incoherent words. Kuroo managed to pick up the words “this fucking sucks” and “fuck my life” from him before he goes spewing nonsense again. “Alright!” He clamped his hands together, “I think that’s enough for tonight.” He glanced at his 2 other friends, one is passed on the table, drool drooping onto the wood exterior and the other one looking annoyed. “Yaku, I trust you to take care of Lev and get him back safely, hm?” The short man glared, nodding as he pulls Lev up with all of his strength.  Kuroo gazes back at the blonde haired man, still uttering out gibberish words and eyes fluttering, trying to stay awake. He exhaled, grabbing Kenma and hoisting him up, arm slung over his shoulder for support. Plop! Kuroo lets out a sigh of relief as Kenma lies on the bed, sleeping soundly. Before he could exit the room, Kenma’s phone flashed brightly, indicating a notification had come through. As expected from the sly man, he carefully snag the phone from Kenma’s grasp and opened the device without any problem, remembering the latter’s password at the back of his mind. 12 new messages from Y/n Furrowing his brows, he skims over the messages, all of which are drunk confessions to the pudding head. He huffed, these two stubborn idiots, he thought to himself bitterly before typing out a response. He knew Kenma’s gonna freak out about this in the morning but for now, he had to do a little intervention to help them both to reconcile, seeing as the two of them are both too far up their ass to realize their unspoken feelings for one another. Obviously, Kuroo is aware of what Y/n did to Kenma but he’s pretty sure that the former has a solid reason as to why she gave a lame excuse to break up. Mentally praising himself, he hoped that their encounter would be good for the both of them.  ⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆ Kenma awoke with a pounding headache, groaning, he sluggishly walked to the kitchen, making some tea to wake him up from the misery he currently feels. Ding dong! The bell echoed, signalling an arrival of someone in front of his house. Raising his brow in confusion, Kenma hurriedly goes to the door to see who’s the guest. A chill went down his spine as he stared back the figure standing in front of him, never would’ve he thought that she’d be here again. He made the right choice to leave the cup of tea in the kitchen counter instead of bringing it over with him, if not, the cup would’ve shattered onto the floor due to shock. “Um... Y/n.. what are you doing here?” He started, blinking rapidly to make sure that he’s not dreaming. She offered him a small smile, “Happy birthday Kenma. I’m sorry for everything. Here.” A box was presented in her hands, gesturing him to take it.  He grabs it, bewilderment obvious in his face. “What...?”  Licking her lips, she uttered out. “I can’t give you closure for now. Just know that I truly did love you and um— I hope you’ll be able to forgive me someday.” Before he could bombard her with questions, she quickly walked away, leaving even more confusion raking in his mind. Downing the tea, he laid on the couch, feeling his massive headache gets worse after seeing her again. Obeying his curiosity, he opens the box; filled with accessories for his gaming equipments, a decorated framed picture of him and his friends, records of his achievements and the white cat keychain that he had given to her when they first started dating. Kenma didn’t realize he was crying until droplets of tears fell onto keychain, staining it wet. He broke down in a sob, feeling his heart ache more than anything. In the busy street of the city, she heaved a sigh, shame swallowing her whole as she fights back the tears from spilling. Entering the enormous building, the lady at the front desk greeted her warmly. “Welcome, miss Y/n. Your appointment is ready, just head up to the usual floor to proceed.”  She nods, a small smile etched on her face as she makes her way to the elevator. Maybe someday.. I’ll be able to tell you the truth.

[peeterparkr]

limits of desire⤳t.h.||6

chapter 6: mail your save the dates

story summary: you met Tom a night he was trying to sleep with you, it didn’t work and you became best of friends. Wedding bells might be ringing for when you both realize what you really feel.

summary: the one with the blue box and the big question

pairing: fuckboy!tom holland x best friend!reader

warnings: swearing,alcohol mention, didn’t proof read

word count: 6.2k (whoops sorry)

OOF IT’S HERE. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! 

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series masterlist

December 1st. 

Tom’s room was a mess, several shirts were placed on his bed, with pants and underwear flying through the room. It was a warzone. Tom was a bigger mess. He was walking bare chest and with his wet hair flying as he was placing the dress shirts above his chest, trying to decide which one looked better. Dress shirts, t-shirts. Hell, what the hell was he supposed to wear? 

Gosh, was he nervous. He was shaking, and his hands were sweating. He had walked around his room for about an hour now. He hadn’t slept the night before and he had drunk coffee, not tea, coffee. Three espressos. He had showered twice and shaved the almost non-existent beard. He had brushed his teeth, three times and then combed his hair. Tom was an emotional mess. 

He was finally going to see her. He was going to finally pick her up, today. After all that time. He was going to see her. He had arranged a dinner with her and her mother, and he was dying to see her. 

Tom walked to Haz’s room, holding a lot of shirts. “I need your help.” 

Haz was only watching him, laughing about it. “Man, you need to calm down,” he told him as he followed him ever. 

“I can’t, how can I calm down? Would you be calm? I wouldn’t, I can’t be calm, I love her man, I haven’t seen her, what if she doesn’t like me anymore?” He was rambling. “How am I even gonna tell her?” There was Tom, placing shirts over his chest to see which one he should wear

“Black one--” Harrison rolled his eyes as Tom kept placing shirts over his chest. “What’s the plan?” 

But… alright, I’ll pick her mother up, and then we’ll pick y/n up from the airport, then we will go out for dinner...And I wanted to be alone with her,” Tom admitted. “But I guess her mother missed her, too.” 

“You guess?” Haz rolled his eyes.  “Well, you can spend tomorrow with her, right? Before the party.” 

“Yes, yes, I cleared out all my schedule,” Tom gulped. “I’m still nervous.” 

“Are you telling her today?” Haz questioned. 

Tom gulped. “Maybe? If the time shows up, I just don’t wanna tell her in front of her mother, but I want her to see I’ve… changed, you know?” 

“But you know, why don’t you tell Anna?” Haz suggested. “That you want some alone time.” 

Tom bit his lip. “I sorta told her, I told her that I wanted to...talk to her daughter and I told her I was taking her to dinner to tell y/n something very important and then she just said: uh yeah I’ll go with you, ” he said. “But I guess Anna isn’t that fond of me, you know, I’ve slept with her niece and…” 

“But she knows her daughter loves you,” Haz said.  “But, I wouldn’t blame her if she’s trying to protect her daughter.”

“You think?” Tom gulped. 

“So you’ve got a long way home, Tom,” Haz admitted. “You’ve gotta prove them both you’ve changed.” 

“I have, I have…” Tom looked down at the dress shirts. 

“Right, are you giving that to her today? That might show you’ve changed” Haz asked, looking down at the blue box on his nightstand. “If I have a guess of what it is...”

Tom had to stop as he looked at the blue box. He bit his lip as he took it in his hands. 

“It’s nothing.” 

“Nothing?” Haz raised his eyebrows. “You’re telling me that if I dare to open that box I won’t find an engagement ring?” 

Tom’s eyes widened. “No, no, of course not! Don’t be silly!” Tom gulped. “No, no.” he blushed. “No, it’s a necklace… a pendant, actually, a rose gold pendant with a small diamond,” Tom cleared his throat, he placed the box inside his drawer. “See? Do you...?” He cleared his throat. “Did you really believe it’s an engagement ring?” 

“Coming from you? Never,” Harrison laughed. 

Tom frowned. “Hey, shut up,” Tom ran a hand through his hair. 

“As if you would buy one,” Harrison laughed. 

“Maybe not now,” Tom cleared his throat and then shook his head. “What am I saying?” He laughed. “No, no, uh… I need...uh.”

“To get ready,” Haz reminded him. “It’s getting late.” 

Tom nodded as he rushed to spray cologne on himself. “Right, late, late, should I buy flowers? Yes, I’ll leave now...and,” he ran as he picked up his keys.  

Haz laughed following him. “Man, aren’t you forgetting something?” 

Tom had already walked out when he felt a cold breeze. “Ah, shit…” 

Haz gave him a black dress shirt since Tom had walked out shirtless, and his coat and he finally left.  He was going to see the woman he was in love with, so it was one big deal. He still had some time to spare, so he decided to buy the flowers. 

He went to a flower shop, and he struggled as he looked at the different flowers, roses, daisies, lavenders, tulips, gerberas, every single type of flower looked pretty. And he didn’t want to go to the cliché, he couldn’t. But red roses just had their special meaning, so he wanted to give it that a try. And of course, a bouquet of roses would right away yell at her he loved her. So it could be good. He remembered when they were talking back at the wedding. 

“I’d have sunflowers,” she started. “Yes, and daisies…Flowers are important.” 

Sure, roses had a big meaning. Red roses were the lovers roses, they meant passion, love. Everything that Tom was dying to tell her. Which had him very nervous, how was he supposed to tell her? 

He could make a reservation to have dinner at a fancy place, but he knew that it’d be too much. She didn’t like the conventional. Y/N wasn’t one to like that. He remembered how ti had gone with Andrew Jacobs when he took her to a big place. She didn’t like being in the spotlight. Not with Andrew, at least. 

y/n’s idea of romance, Tom knew, was simple. She didn’t need the big show or the rom-com like stunts. No, for her, it was the simple things. Like when that guy who had dated her and remembered she liked honey and lemon with her earl grey tea. 

Tom could be that. Tom could be that who remembered every small detail about her, like how she likes to curl up with that grey knit blanket while reading a book, or how she’ll always press her pen repeatedly when she’s nervous. How she likes to eat first all the red m&m’s, or how she hates when people walk slowly. How she ends up rewatching Friends whenever she’s feeling sad after hours of scrolling through the Netflix movies and shows. 

He knew her from head to toe. He knew her soul and he knew the way she would think. He realized it then, he was the one who guessed her thoughts before she could even think them. 

On his way he saw a flower shop he would visit quite often before, he didn’t remember why he had stopped going there. 

“Hello,” the florist said, as she grinned. “Oh my god, Tom Holland” 

Tom sketched her a smile, as he nervously approached her. He realized then, why he had stopped going to that flower shop. He had once slept with that florist who happened to be oh so in love with him. Tom turned red, as he gulped down every embarrassed sentiment he was getting. 

Tom chuckled nervously, as he turned around to catch his breath. Everything was paying off. He needed to be there, for y/n. He pumped up his chest and then turned back to her with a smile. It was weird now that he couldn’t go on flirting with someone. But the girl acted naturally.

“Eh, add some sunflowers, some daisies, and some… red roses,” he asked her. 

She raised an eyebrow. “Interesting combination, daisies mean innocence and purity,” she said as she was setting the flowers up. “The sunflowers symbolize adoration, loyalty and longevity,” she looked up at him and smirked. “And the red roses, huh? They mean passion, you know?” 

Tom rolled his eyes. “Those are my friend’s favourite flowers,” he defended himself. “Not any meaning.”  

The girl laughed as she finally gave him the flowers. It was perfect, perfectly balanced and arranged. Besides, it had roses, but not only roses so it was like a subtle way to declare his love. He paid for it and thanked her while leaving to pick up y/n’s mother. 

Anna, her mother, was staying at a hotel since she didn’t live in London and since y/n had been gone, she didn’t have a place yet. Tom wondered if it would be too inappropriate to offer his place to y/n, while she arranged everything. It would be nice, having her around, and starting off a relationship like that could be nice. They knew everything about each other, nothing could go wrong from that. 

“It’s weird not seeing you on your bike,” Anna said while she got into Tom’s car. She smiled looking at Tom but then bit her lip. She did look at the flowers and she stared at him, making Tom nervous. She had a sad look upon her face. 

“So, y/n’s finally back,” Tom tried to make conversation with her mother. 

“Yes, have you been speaking to her?” She asked Tom. “

“Barely lately,” Tom admitted. “We did text and everything, but I guess we have a lot to talk about, I’ve missed her so much,” Tom said. “Have you talked to her?”

“Yes, you need to talk… Has she told you about��?” She paused, Tom gulped. “I figure not,” Anna said, staring at the flowers, Tom scowled. 

“About what?” Tom bit his lip. 

“Ah, nothing, her...adventures,” Anna whispered. “And well, yes, she tried to facetime me every week,” her mother answered. 

“We tried doing that, but while filming, and with the different time zones…” Tom cleared his throat. “I just… can’t wait to see her.” 

Anna grinned. “I see you brought her flowers,” she pointed out. 

“Yeah, a nice way to welcome her, ” Tom admitted. “I know how much she loves flowers.” 

“She does, she says flowers make…” 

“Everything brighter,” Tom finished her line. “Yeah, yeah, they do, so I brought her sunflowers and daisies… and roses, I also brought her a coat, because I guess she won’t be used to the weather.” 

Oh gosh, if only he had told her about his feelings before, maybe he could’ve brought then only red roses, and he could’ve kissed her, and he could’ve brought something more. Maybe he would’ve visited her, maybe there would be more future. But maybe he would’ve still brought her sunflowers and daisies and roses. It would be just slightly different. 

 Time to time, from time to time. But he wasn’t going to wait, he was going to tell her right away. Of course, if he had time alone with her. It wouldn’t be as nice if he told her in front of her mother. He needed free time with her. 

Eventually, they arrived at the airport. His feet were shuffling as he was wearing a baseball cap.

“Are you alright?” Anna asked him. 

He gulped. “Yeah, yeah, just scared I won’t recognize her.” 

“You dressed up nicely,” Anna pointed out. “Too bad that cap brings down all the charm.” 

“Oh, right, right,” he took it off, scared that y/n wouldn’t like his appearance. 

“Tom?” Anna looked at him again.

Tom gulped. “Yeah?” 

“It’s late,” she sighed. 

Tom blinked. “Late? I thought we were on time,” Tom looked at his phone. 

Anna sighed. But the time arrived, Tom started to look out for her, his stomach jumping up and down and his heartbeat going fast and almost popping out of his chest. He felt like he had turned paled but at the same time, he felt like he was blushing. It made no sense. He had become dizzy as he tried to look out for her in the crowd. 

But then, he saw her, with her skin a bit tan, and her hair longer, she had a bright smile on her face, and even if she looked tired, she looked radiant, her hair was tied up in a bun and she had a hoodie. Tom felt like the whole world had stopped the moment she turned and locked eyes with him, her eyes and her hair, and her skin and her everything. Her smile widened and she didn’t care, she ran over to him. Tom opened up his arms to catch her as she jumped on him, he spun her around holding her tightly, admiring every single thing, taking her essence, and just letting her wrap herself around her. Time had stopped ticking. 

He whispered how much he had missed her on her ear and she just giggled. He kissed her cheek as he kept holding her, the hug lasted for more than expected because he just didn’t want to let her go. She tried to let him go, but he kept his arms around her, he stared down at her lips. He was crazy about her.  

“Hi,” she finally said as they were looking at each other. 

“Hey,” Tom sentenced as he was breathless, helpless, and hopeless. He just wanted to blurt out already. Hell, he could kiss her right away. 

“I missed you!” She squeaked. 

“I missed you too,” he leaned over to place a peck on her cheek, as he finally let her go, turning red and embarrassed. “Oh, sorry.” 

“No, it’s okay, I’m cold anyway,” she said, with a big smile. “Your hugs have always been warm.” 

“Right…This!” He placed the coat on her. “Uh,” he handed the flowers over as well. “These… these are for you.” 

“Thank you,” She blushed as she put the coat on. “Damn, it’s really cold.” 

“Aren’t you going to say hi to your mother?” Anna interrupted as y/n turned to her. 

“Mum!” She squealed as she hugged her mother. 

Tom couldn’t wait to tell her. 

They left to the hotel, y/n took a shower and changed to some warmer clothes and despite y/n being completely tired and hit with the jet lag, she accepted to go on dinner. The reservation was already made. 

They were laughing at her crazy stories. But all Tom could think was how he should be having his arms around her, and how his lips were supposed to be on hers or how they should be holding hands. 

She had her hand on her necklace, but Tom couldn’t see the charm it had on it. She kept hiding it. 

“I swear, in the beginning, I was really really confused by the language! But now I can say those Spanish classes paid off,” she answered. “And I learned a lot, even medicine stuff! I had a free day this day, and okay, I was with Miguel we were exploring, he helped me take some pictures.” 

Miguel, he didn’t like how that name sounded, but Tom smiled anyway, listening excitedly. He knew Miguel from her Instagram. He clenched his jaw. 

“Miguel… as in the guy in your Instagram?” Tom asked with the least poison. 

Y/N blushed as she took a sip of her drink. “Yeah, that guy, he’s a doctor,” she took a deep breath. 

Great, the guy saves lives. 

“So, they reached for us, a kid was ill, apparently he had eaten this plant…what was it? Well, I don’t know, but he was definitely not doing well, so we were in this town, if we can call it that way, in the middle of the jungle, trying to figure out what was the plant, but we spoke with some townspeople and we made this type of serum let’s call it that way, with the root of the plant, and we saved him! But can you imagine how difficult it was trying to figure out what to do without medicine? The poor kid, he was adorable!” 

“You’re a superhero,” Tom commented. 

“Yes, Spidey, I’m a superhero,” She winked at him. “Gosh, a lot of things happened, and I saw a lot of beautiful places.” 

“Indeed, you’re full of adventures, huh?”  Anna commented. “Have you told Tom about them all?” 

Y/N glanced at her mother. “Well, uh, not everything,”  but hey, that might be a good idea! What are you doing tomorrow, Tom? So we can fully catch up?” 

“Uh, I actually freed my day for you,” Tom grinned. “Because we truly need to talk.” 

“Well, that’s just….” Y/N stayed quiet as she turned to her mother. “But tomorrow,” she turned to her mother. “Would you… pick him up, tomorrow?” 

“Pick who up?” Asked Tom, y/n just side-eyed him, while Anna nodded. 

“Sure,” her mother agreed. 

“Pick who…?” 

“So, Tom! When did you come back from filming?” Y/N was sure to change the subject. “I mean, it’s been a few weeks right?” 

“Oh, er, yeah… yeah.” 

“Another Spider-Man movie, wow, remember when you were out of the MCU? Wow, that was such a hard time, huh? Good thing you’re back in!” y/n said condescendingly. 

“That’s something,” Tom added, looking down. “It’s time for a change.” 

“Yes, time for a change,” Y/N nodded, as she smiled at Tom, melting him with a single glance directed at him. He felt like all his shields were being tumbled down, he was weak around her. He had missed her, so so so much, and now that he had her, without taking her for granted, he realized how important she was in his life. And he couldn’t wait another day, he had to tell her. He wanted her to be his forever already, to hold her in his arms, to be able to kiss her hand, to be able to wake up beside her. 

But it had to wait until tomorrow, he needed to have a speech prepared. The night continued, Tom and Anna admitted they had had breakfast together a few months before because Tom was missing y/n that much so he had the closest thing to her. The conversation had a spectacular flow, listening to her adventures and her shenanigans in Mexico. Eventually, y/n’s eyes were struggling to stay open. 

Tom offered his place for both of them, but y/n was quick to resist it. So Tom was going to pick her up the next day. 

However, the next day early in the morning Harrison was laughing while Tom was cleaning up himself in front of the mirror. 

“What?” Asked Tom, glancing over at Haz. 

“Y/N texted me,” Haz answered. “You won’t have her for yourself.” 

“Huh?” Tom frowned. 

“She invited me over, said we should all hang out.” 

“Man, but I need to talk to her,” Tom bit his lip as he leaned against the wall. “Say no.” 

“I did, she said she’d drag my ass down if I didn’t,” Haz commented. “Look, you can invite her for dinner.” 

“I wanna tell her,” Tom whined. “I wanna just tell her.” 

“You can take her to that new pub you said you’ll go with her,” Haz insisted. “And well, she said she wanted to go shopping.” 

“Ugh, right, she mentioned she wanted to buy something to Lizzie, it’s her birthday in a few days,” Tom rubbed his face. “Alright, sure, we could spend it as we usually do, brunch,  shopping, uh… yeah, then, we can go to the bakery, I wanted to go for a walk in the park, that’s romantic, right?”

 “That’s so cheesy,” Haz teased. “But hey, anything to win her heart.” Haz continued. “So have you figured it out? How you’re gonna declare you love for her?” 

Tom grinned and then laughed. “Nope.” 

“Dude?” Harrison scowled. 

“I’m kidding, I kind of… have it figured it out,” Tom started. 

“But?” Harrison crossed his arms. 

“I need the right time,” Tom shrugged. “That’s why I needed the whole day, to figure out when.” 

“Tom, any time is the right time to tell someone you love,” Harrison insisted. 

“Fine, then I’ll tell her at the park, or at the pub, maybe I need some alcohol before telling her, at least a beer,” Tom felt nervous again, with his heart rushing and his blood flushing. “I’ll go, y/n, I'm crazy about you. I think about you all the time. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” 

“And then you’ll be happily ever after,” Harrison joked laughing. “I’m happy for you.” 

Eventually, Tom and Harrison were waiting at the hotel lobby, and when she saw Harrison she rushed to hug him. “Oh my god, Watson, I missed you!” 

“Missed you too, Sherlock!” He said. 

Then she looked at Tom, who opened his arms for a hug. 

She chuckled and hugged him. “Hmm, you’re wearing cologne again?” She asked him. Tom blushed. 

“I always do.” Tom cleared his throat. 

“No, I know,you always smell good, but… this one is your… fancy event cologne, and I mean that sounds weird but I know you,” y/n said, glancing up at him. “And you’re all dressed up.”

Tom winked at her. “So, let’s go for brunch,” Tom cleared his throat. 

“You’ll be joining us all day, Haz?” Asked y/n. 

“Oh, no, no, I have something to do later,” Harrison lied with a nod. “You’ll be alone.” 

“Oh, okay, because I have something very important to tell you both, but it can wait.”

“Can’t you tell us at brunch?” Tom asked. 

She gulped. “I…” 

The day had gone spectacular, however, it had been exhausting. They had followed their old amazing routines to spend the best day together. They went to the usual restaurant where they usually hung out, and Harrison came along. They ordered mimosas and she was laughing too much. 

She seemed nervous, too. 

“So, what’s that you wanted to tell us?” Haz asked. 

She then grabbed her necklace again. “Um,” she looked down at her phone. “I uh...I uh, started… writing a book!” 

“A book?” Tom grinned. “That’s amazing!” 

“Yes, and I will… continue working for BBC, I’ll be an official reporter!” She grinned, nodding, her hand still on her necklace. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Tom said. 

They continued to eat. 

“You look so different, y/n,” Haz said. 

“Yeah,” y/n chuckled. “The hair, maybe, got a tan,” she admitted. 

“You look beautiful,” Tom said, looking into her eyes. 

She blushed and chuckled. “Thanks, Tommy.” 

Haz criticized them for always ordering the same damn thing from the menu, then they, as usual, ended up ordering two desserts so they could both enjoy both of the sweet pastries while eating from each other’s plate (of course, Haz didn’t suppress his critics because a. That was too cheesy, and b. Who orders dessert in breakfast?). They went to explore together all the mall searching for a gift for Lizzie. Tom had used the day to tell her all of his adventures, shenanigans, and misconceptions he had had along his trip in the last months, and his adventures while filming. She had kept quiet, listening intrigued all his stories. It was unusual, she was quiet, not sad but different. Her sight was lost. 

Oh, Tom could not stop watching her, the way her fingers walked through the dressers, or the ways her eyes were riveted on the different gifts, it was the most impressive sight Tom had seen. He was seeing her with different eyes, or maybe, after all this time, he finally realized the right way to watch her. He was not blind anymore. 

After all that, finally both of them were alone, y/n and Tom went to the bakery. He guessed what she wanted to have but she seemed so...off. She didn’t guess what he wanted to have. 

But he kept asking her about her trip and everything. 

Tom was anxious, he guessed it had to be due to the fact of the last incident they shared together. 

Tom took her to the park, place where he had finally decided to take her. 

“We’ve never been to the park before,” she commented. Her eyes were glued on her phone. 

Tom shrugged. “Thought it’d be nice,” he commented. “I’ve come here all the time you were away.” 

“You missed me that much?” She laughed. 

“I did,” Tom admitted. “I usually came here to see the old couples, they’re adorable.” 

“Really?” Y/N chuckled. 

“Yes, they made me believe in love…” Tom said, glancing at her. “Maybe it does exist, maybe it’s been right in front of me.” 

Y/N wasn’t aware she was looking at him, she kept watching the couples. 

 “I… y/n, I think we left on bad terms and…” 

“No, no, that’s alright, all of it, it’s forgotten.” She looked nervous, Tom watched her clumsy and fast movements. She was now texting on her phone, with an expression that Tom knew perfectly, it was the look that hid something. Tom had not taken noticed how much he had missed her, and because of his recent realization of his feelings for her, it was a little hard work not to get dizzy or stunned by her.

He knew that it probably was the right time to tell her everything he felt for her, yes, it was time. These six months without her, him working and her in Latin America, it was impossible to contact her, so even if they had been apart for a while he knew it could work out, after all, they were the best of friends. But they had so much to tell. Yet, it was time. He did not know how to tell her, though, going: 'hey, I decided to leave my playboy life for you, because I realized that all this was an act to cover the emptiness I have, and oh, I have always been in love with you.'

“So, now we’re finally alone,” y/n commented.

“Yes, I needed this,” Tom said, reaching over for her hand. “You’re cold.” 

“Well, I mean, I’m not used to this weather, spent 6 months in Mexico in Quintana Roo, quite a hot place, so I’m..” Y/N nodded. “It was good.” 

“You’re tanned,” Tom smiled, as he watched her. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, her eyes flickering and the way her smile was lopsided. She didn’t need the red dress or all the makeup, all she needed was that smile she had.

“Yes, and you’re pale,” she chuckled.

“I…” He wanted to tell her. “I...missed you so much,” he said.

“I know,” she laughed. “I missed you too… Hey, so at what time’s the party?” 

Tom blinked. “The…?” 

“It slipped from Haz,” she chuckled. “I mean I can still act surprised when we arrive,” she laughed. 

“You were not supposed to know,” he rolled his eyes. “It’s later…” 

“Yeah, and I mean, Haz not wanting to hang out? And you bringing me to the park?” She grinned. “That’s a nice way to stall around.” 

Tom gulped. “Yeah, I guess.” 

“What’s got you all nervous, Tom?” She pointed out. 

“I mean, all this time has given me a lot of time to think,” he gulped. “I… feel like we truly have been avoiding this and I don’t…”

Y/N gulped. “Tom, you’re my best friend,” she said. 

“Yeah, yeah, and you’re mine,” he said. 

She stepped right in front of him, she was tense. “I need to tell you something.” 

“You do?” Tom asked, squeezing her hand. Her phone started to ring. "Look, that’s that’s… a coincidence, y/n there is something ..." That was a start.

“Wait, I need to take this…” She took her phone and walked away. Tom sighed. 

Suddenly, a big smile was on her face. “Tom, we need to get back to the hotel!” 

“Back to the…?” He frowned. 

“Yes, you’ll understand,” she said as she dragged him back to the car. 

She spent the whole ride texting. Tom wasn’t concentrating while driving. His heart was going to bump out of his chest. The ride was rather quick. 

They went to the hotel bar. They both ordered a beer. 

“Y/N, I really need…”He gulped. “I… y/n, you’re my best friend in the world, and this 6 months,” he started out again. But she kept her eyes glued to her phone. 

“What?” She looked up. “Sorry, sorry, what were you saying?” Y/N gulped. 

“y/n can you explain--?” 

"He's here!" She shrieked excitedly, as she looked down at her phone again. She sketched a mischievous smile, Tom looked at her confused as she made her way to the entrance where Tom observed she hugged a stranger. He saw Anna there as well, smiling. What was happening?

The man was bold and handsome, they were holding hands when they arrived, causing Tom to want to pass out. He saw him. He saw him. The hazel-eyed handsome boy he had seen on her Instagram. The tan big boy on her Instagram.  The guy who had had his lips on y/n’s. Jealousy was a word that fell short for what he was feeling. Tom decided to order a whiskey.

"Tom ... I want to introduce you, to the love of my life," y/ n's voice was shrill. "Miguel."

“The…? What?” Tom felt that his stomach burn, and he knew that he was going to faint at any moment. Clearly, it was not the time to declare his love for her.

"Hello," said the boy offering him a hand, Tom shook it surprised. "I can not believe I'm meeting Spider-Man."

And Tom could not believe whatever that was happening was happening. It must be a nightmare. 

He looked at y/n’s mother who waved a sad goodbye at him. 

"Would you give me a moment?" Tom wanted to go to the bathroom to throw water to his face so he could wake up from this nightmare, but when he turned around, he made a waiter stumble over him throwing away his food. It was a complete disaster.

"Sorry, sorry," Tom apologized, as the waiter shook his head cleaning it. 

Tom sat back, ignoring the panorama. "What ... what...where were we?" Tom said as the couple took a seat and the waiter brought him his whiskey, which Tom drank before the waiter had even left. Tom ordered another whiskey.

"This is what you wanted to tell me?" Tom asked, nervously, unbuttoning the collar of his shirt. 

“You haven’t told him?” Miguel grinned, wrapping an arm around her. 

"Something like that, well, well, I met Miguel in Mexico," Y/N explained, unable to take her eyes off the handsome young man. Tom listened interested. "It was so romantic."

"Oh, and why did I not know about this?" Tom asked with as little poison as possible.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, and I also did not have time to tell you, or no phone whatsoever," y/n continued. "Wait, I did tell you! It's the boy I met the day I got lost in the jungle ... It was raining, my truck broke down, remember? And I mean it’s not like you haven’t seen my instagram pictures."

"Ah, it's him." Tom gave her a fake smile.

"Yes, it's me," said Miguel with an accent that Tom guessed was making y/n sick or something, because she looked… flushed . He had intense green eyes that were accentuated by his tanned skin. "Well, I just helped her with her truck, and that’s it."

"You're the doctor then, huh?" Tom turned to Miguel.  “He is … he is the guy from your stories.” 

"Yes! But, alas, Miguel here likes to takes away the romantic part, he arrived like a prince to my rescue. "

"Princes do not normally ride motorcycles," Miguel teased sweetly. Tom wanted to vomit.

"You do," she said as he kissed her. Tom poured down his whiskey, and the waiter watched and caught the situation and quickly brought him another one. "Well, that day, I had a free day, I was gonna go out and explore the town, I borrowed this truck from this family, it wasn’t like a new one but I thought it would…” She laughed. “Well, it was very old, and it started to stop working, and I freaked out… It started pouring and suddenly, it was just me surrounded by mud and just no clue where to go. Of course, I’m in damn nowhere because we were filming in the...Selva Lacandona. There are no street signs anywhere and it's getting dark.” 

“I think she thought she was in some bad Indiana Jones movie!” Miguel laughed. 

Tom just smiled. He felt like he wanted to die right there. 

“So, anyway, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Miguel comes riding a motorcycle,  and asks me if I need any help! He came to my rescue because I was completely lost, and he took me with him to this hut in the village, this nearby indigenous town, where he bought me the best coffee I ever had, he took care of my cold, we started to hang out, and we realized that ... we were meant to be. We spent the whole time together.” 

Debatable, thought Tom .

“We didn’t like each other at the beginning,” Miguel admitted. “Well, she didn’t like me.” 

“Is that so?” Tom asked with a fake grin. 

Y/N nudged Miguel. “That’s not true, I was just stressed that he seemed to be making fun of me such a city girl,” she laughed. “But he managed to make me fall for him,” she kissed him again. “I mean, you can’t blame I was so stressed… But then when we arrived at the town and I saw how kind he was with everyone, I just…” She looked Miguel in the eyes and kissed him again.

Tom rolled his eyes as he looked away. 

“So what were you doing there?” Tom asked Miguel. “Why is a doctor in the middle of the jungle?”

“I uh, I decided to live in the jungle for a bit, they usually don’t have doctors there and I wanted to help the village out,”

“Isn’t he the best?” y/n chuckled. 

“Indeed,” Tom gulped. 

"But well, how couldn’t I fall for him?” She chuckled. 

“Of course, how couldn’t you,” Tom clenched his jaw. 

“Long story short…” 

"You fell in love," Tom finished her sentence, the waiter had already brought him another whiskey. He started to sip this one slowly. He was sweating. 

“And ...Then I realized that she was about to leave,” Miguel explained. “I realized we had so little time together.” 

 Y/N finally pulled out her necklace, without showing the charm. She took it off and hid the charm on her hand. Tom watched her carefully.

“So I just realized that I couldn’t let her leave,” Miguel said, looking her in the eyes. “Because I fell in love with her the first moment I saw her.” 

You and me both, Tom thought. 

Y/N smiled, not taking off his eyes from him. 

“So I did what any man with sense would’ve done,” he gulped. “I got down on one knee and…” 

“We’re engaged!” She finally showed the charm, which was an engagement ring. She placed in on her left hand. 

Tom almost spat out his drink.

"What? How?" Tom blinked repeatedly as he watched them.

"He proposed to me and I accepted!"

"Yeah, well, that's what ... What?" Tom was cold. This was an even worse nightmare. 

"We know it's soon but when I see her, I look at her and I know she's the only person I need in my life, she's the answer to all my questions," Miguel said before kissing her.

"Te amo," she told him and then turned back to Tom."Isn't he adorable?"

"Yes, yes he is ..."Tom gurgled. 

"Yeah, well, and I know it's soon ... But, thw wedding’s coming together very quickly actually, we’re gonna get married back in Mexico, small thing, we don’t expect a lot of people to book a flight overseas in a month…” 

“A month?” Tom frowned. “As in new years eve..?” 

“Yes! I thought it would be romantic, to start my new life with him,” Y/N said. 

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Miguel smirked. 

“Very,” Tom frowned. 

“And it’s in a very pretty place, near where we met, in Bacalar, Quintana Roo…”She continued. “But anyway, I was here to ask you ... I know you’ll never get married, but I thought, you're my best friend, the bestest friend in the world Tom, so ... "

Tom could not say anything.

"I won't ask you for anything else, so Tom, would you be my maid of honour?"

"You ..." Tom began to feign a laugh, as he stood up. "Your maid of honour?"

The waiter arrived with another whiskey, which Tom knocked down when he stopped.

"Man!" The waiter complained.

“Sorry, sorry, but… I…” Tom couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “Your maid of honour?”

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[etatmagique]

❝ screw that book, it was written by men. [...] we’re rewriting it. ❞

( jessica alba, cis woman, she/her ) · you know, the gossip in new york city is insidious and gossip about a pureblood like geneviève “gen” ramos-tremblay seems to constantly be afloat. what i know for a fact, though, is that they’re a thirty-eight year oldjournalist who graduated as a thunderbird from ilvermorny. apparently that inclines them to be a bit inquisitive and generous when she rolls out of bed in the morning. as a member of the resistance (inner circle), i feel bad that they’ve resorted to taking up the moniker mariposa. ( always doing the best for your kids, not only by helping them directly, but also by making the world a better place for them; always being the best listener in the room, and letting people talk rather than constantly asking questions; constantly trying to keep plants alive and yet never succeeding, no matter how much you appreciate them and try your best to take good care of them; keeping your wedding dress in a box at the back of your closet and looking at it every few months to remember one of the best days of your life & trying to keep up with all the current trends as you don’t believe that just because something was good in the past makes it better than what’s happening now / sam )

— ♡ CHARACTER PARALLELS ( MOST LIKE ) :: Helen Parr ( The Incredibles ) + Padme Amidala ( Star Wars ) + Martha Jones ( Doctor Who ) + Eragon ( The Inheritance Cycle ) + Princess Peach ( Super Mario Bros ) + Pepper Potts ( Marvel ) + Clarke Griffin ( The 100 ) + Matilda Wormwood ( Matilda ) + Nancy Wheeler ( Stranger Things ) + Belle ( Beauty and the Beast ) !!

— ♡ CHARACTER PARALLELS ( LEAST LIKE ) :: Nick Miller ( New Girl ) - Homer Simpson ( The Simpsons ) - Harley Quinn ( DC Comics ) - Gollum ( The Lord of the Rings ) - Tarzan ( Tarzan ) - Dwight Schrute ( The Office ) - Gina Linetti ( Brooklyn Nine-Nine ) - Sadness ( Inside Out ) - Patrick Star ( SpongeBob SquarePants ) - The Master ( Doctor Who )

TRIGGER WARNINGS THAT CAN BE FOUND BELOW THE CUT: None I can think of.

STATS PAGE + CONNECTIONS + PINTEREST BOARD

i’m too lazy to do a tldr at the end rn so if you want one, just ask me when we’re plotting and i’ll do one for you on the spot !

backstory.

Geneviève was born in Montréal, and has been trilingual (Spanish, French & English) ever since she was ten years old. English was the last of the three languages she learned, not having ever spoken it at home, but it was very important to her parents for her to be fluent in all three languages.

Her parents were artists. Her mother was a prolific French-Canadian author, and her father was a Mexican-American drummer in a wizarding band that had formed in Montréal. They always encouraged creative expression in their children, yet never pressured them to perform in a certain way or at a certain level. They just believed that creativity was one of the best ways to learn to interact with the world.

Geneviève is the oldest of three siblings, but her parents never made her feel like she was “responsible” for her younger siblings. Her mother was also the oldest of her siblings, and had grown up with a lot of pressure on her shoulders because of that, and Geneviève’s parents didn’t want to make her go through that, too. (Her siblings might be wanted connections; I’m not sure yet).

Always a curious child, Geneviève was constantly asking questions growing up. She wanted to understand not only the world, but the people around her. She talked a lot, yes, yet she also listened deeply when others spoke. Not when she was super little, of course, but as soon as her parents realized that she was very inquisitive, they started teaching her the way to listen well to the answers she got.

After Ilvermorny, she traveled around the world for two and a half years, wanting to learn about different cultures and make her own experiences. She dreamt of becoming a journalist, and she thought it would be a good way to expose herself to learning. Plus, she got a deal with a small magazine that paid a bit of her expenses in exchange for articles, and though she now realizes they kind of took advantage of her, she doesn’t regret the experience.

After coming back, she started doing freelance journalism, and did so for a little while. It wasn’t until the age of thirty-one that she settled down at one newspaper, The New York Ghost, preferring the way they ran their business.

Her wife proposed to her when she was twenty-three years old, a year and a half after the two got together. It was kind of funny, really, because Gen had bought an engagement ring for her girlfriend already and was also thinking of proposing. A year later, they got married, and are still together to this day. 

Her wife will be a wanted connection, but basically, she comes from money and inherited a Manhattan penthouse from one of her richer uncles when he died, where she now lives with Gen and their three kids. She also has a high-paying job, which explains why the two can afford to remain in such an expensive place.

They adopted their first kid when Gen was twenty-eight years old, and have adopted two more kids since. Their two oldest are currently studying at Ilvermorny, whilst their youngest lives with them all year long at the moment.

present day.

Gen and her wife adore their kids, and would do absolutely anything for them. The five of them are a very close-knit family, and Gen’s main reason for being so involved in the resistance, along with just wanting to do what she knows is right, is that she wants to make the world a better place for them.

Gen’s a giving person who tends to put others first, and though she’s learned how to prioritize herself with time, she still cares a lot about others, and shows kindness to all. Except for those who don’t deserve it, aka the kind of people who started this whole mess.

She’s maybe not the most skilled fighter, but she knows a good amount of defensive magic. Her strength, though, is definitely recruitment, and getting people together to discuss things. She’s also a pretty good diplomat during meetings of the Resistance, and loves getting as involved as can be.

personality.

Gen’s very inquisitive, not just on the job, but in general. She loves learning about others, and listening to what they have to say. She needs to understand things, and not just accept them as they are without an explanation. 

Quite stubborn, if she sets her mind to something, good luck changing it. She’s strong-minded, and will always stand up, not only for herself, but also for what is right.

She’s also very loving, and affectionate. Her affection is reserved to those close to her, though, but she’s still very kind to others. She won’t hesitate to call you out on your bullshit, though. She’ll just do it in a way that she hopes won’t hurt you. Unless, of course, you’re a dick.

[eveningstarcatcher]

Day 31: Auld Lang Syne

It was a gloomy New Year’s Eve, but nice nonetheless. Crowley had lit a fire in the fireplace and it was crackling away while Aziraphale sat on the couch, reading. The two had spent most of the morning unpacking, placing with care the items from their separate lives into a place of their unity. Crowley walked through the house, carrying empty boxes in his arms. He stopped in the doorway of the library and smiled. It already smelled right, the musty scent of old paper and ink, the light, dusty, scent of the antique wingback chairs and heavy curtains.

“You alright, dear? Need help with those boxes?” Aziraphale called from the couch.

“No, I’ve got it. Be back in a minute,” he called back, moving through the kitchen and through the back door. He set the boxes into the recycling bin and turned round, looking over the gardens. He had it all planned out, the rose bushes, the flowers creating rainbows of colors that could be seen from the kitchen table as they enjoyed their mugs of coffee or tea in the morning, the lights he would hang so they could enjoy long evenings outside in the summer, the rose bushes and apple trees that would line the property.

Yes, this would be a good year.

He headed back inside as he heard the phone ring. He flopped down on the couch next to Aziraphale, who was talking animatedly.

“Oh, yes, that sounds lovely. Thank you! No, we’ll be by. It’s no trouble at all! Oh, yes, and,” he paused with a side glance at Crowley and lowered his voice, “you may want to warn young Newton. You know how my dear husband drives.” Crowley raised an eyebrow and Aziraphale waved him off before he could comment. “Certainly, see you soon. Pip pip!” He hung up the antique rotary phone.

“Anathema?” Crowley asked.

“Yes! She and Newton have invited us to dinner! They’re still in London to celebrate the New Year and they hoped we would be able to meet them for a nice dinner. She expressed concern that we hadn’t had a proper meal, what with the moving. Isn’t that kind?” Aziraphale carefully placed a marker in his book, laid it carefully on the side table and began to walk about the room. “I told her we’d stop by to pick them up when we got into London. Anathema is making the reservations.” He glanced at the clock. “Oh dear me. We’d better get going. I’d like to stop and pick up a small gift for them. Maybe a nice wine? What do you think, dear?” He finally stilled, looking to his husband, who pushed himself up from the couch and crossed to press a kiss to Aziraphale’s forehead.

“I’ll be ready in ten minutes.” He crossed the room in four long strides, then poked his head back through the doorway. “And yeah, wine’s good. Red for her, white for him.”

Aziraphale phoned when they were about to leave, nearly and hour and a half later, so Newt and Anathema were waiting for them outside when the Bentley pulled up to the curb. They slid into the backseat and Azirapahle twisted in his seat and began to chat with them. He placed a hand lighty on Crowley’s arm to remind him to be more cautious in his driving. The two humans in the backseat would not simply be discorporated if there were an accident. 

Crowley obliged, but only just enough. Aziraphale noticed Crowley’s smirk when he took a corner a bit too fast and Newt yelped and clung to Anathema. 

“Crowley, we talked about this,” Azirpahale whispered.

“I’m not perfect, angel,” he shrugged, still smirking.

“Oh good, a parking spot!” Anathema said from the back seat, one hand patting Newt comfortingly on the knee, the other pointing to a spot ahead, just in front of the restaurant.

“This is an enchanting place, Anathema! I can’t believe I’ve never been here before!” Aziraphale’s eyes were scanning the menu

“Newt actually found this one!” 

“Yeah, got a bit turned around the other day, er, distracted you know, turned down this street and there it was!” Newt seemed to choke a bit on the attention, flushing.

“Distracted by what?” Crowley asked, head tilted to one side, grin playing at the edges of his lips. Aziraphale cast him a side glance, but didn’t say a word.

“Well, dogs.” Newt admitted.

“Dogs?” Crowley shot up in his chair and Aziraphale placed a hand on his arm.

“There was this dog walker and the dogs just got away from her and took off after me!” Newt explained, distressed at the memory.

“It’s okay, we got it all sorted out,” Anathema patted his hand.

Crowley roared with laughter, nearly knocking his water glass off the table, miraculously caught by Aziraphale, who gave Crowley a stern look, then laughed.

The restaurant was packed with families, couples, and groups of friends celebrating the new year, a happy buzz of conversation filling the air. The clink of glasses and raucous laughter celebrated the happy memories and milestones of the year past, while the losses and hard times were remembered with quiet moments, squeezes of hands, or heads on shoulders. 

This was exactly where they needed to be. To spend this day with humans, share in their joys and see them processing their pain with the support of those they love, being close with the people who have changed their lives, made them better. 

This strange little group gathered around this table, thrown together in the battle to protect their homes, now sitting together, toasting their victory.

“To the world,” Aziraphale lifted his glass.

“To the world,” the others echoed. Crowley took Aziraphale’s hand.

“Nearly eleven,” Newt observed as the four stepped out of the restaurant.

“Would any of you care for a stroll?” Aziraphale asked.

“Where to?” Crowley asked, offering his arm.

“Nowhere in particular,” Aziraphale smiled, taking his arm. 

“I think that sounds nice,” Anathema agreed with a nod.

The four set off down the crowded streets and wandered, with no destination in mind, and ended up in a park. They found an open bench and squeezed onto it, Newt on Anathema’s lap, her arms wrapped around his waist. He settled against her and let his feet kick into the air. 

“Any plans for you two?” Aziraphale asked. “What’s next?”

“Well, I’m thinking of buying Jasmine Cottage. I think it’ll be a nice place to start over.” She leaned her head forward onto Newt’s shoulder.

“Maybe a nice place for a wedding?” Crowley suggested, causing Newt to turn bright red and nearly tumble off of Anathema’s lap. She simply chuckled and tightened her arms around him.

“Maybe. We haven’t talked about it, yet. Still pretty early in the relationship.” She leaned closer to Aziraphale and whispered, “He can’t say the ‘l’ word yet. Nearly passes out every time he tries.”

“Poor thing,” Aziraphale laughed lightly, like a bell ringing through the night. “I’m sure he’ll work up the nerve one day.”

Ten

“What’s that?” Newt interrupted, standing and taking a few steps away from the bench.

Nine

“Are they counting down?” Crowley stood and joined him.

Eight

“Is it midnight already?” Aziraphale gasped.

Seven

“Must be!” Crowley held out his hand to the angel.

Six

“The start of a new year,” Anathema mused. “A new year with no prophecies, no rules to follow, just living life.”

Five

“No orders.” Crowley wrapped Aziraphale in his arms.

Four

“No fear,” Aziraphale added.

Three

“I love you, Crowley.”

Two

“I love you, Aziraphale”

One

They kissed as they heard the cheers ringing in the new year. The sound of singing filled the air as the cheers died down. Aziraphale lifted his head and joined in the song, his voice clear and strong. Crowley joined in, lower and rougher in Aziraphale’s ear. Anathema hummed along and Newt sang off key under his breath.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne. We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne.

“Happy New Year, my love.”

“Happy New Year, angel.”

[cchellacat]

The Checkout

Love All The Marvel Ships Challenge 

Day Seven ~ Shopping

Bucky/Darcy  Tissue warning.  I’m sorry.

Bucky hated crowds.  It’s why he’s grocery shopping at 3 in the morning in the 24 hour store five blocks from the Tower on a Tuesday night.

The place is quiet, only the cashier at the checkout slumped over the register, head phones over his ears as he bobs his head tiredly to whatever noise passes for music these days.

Although the range of produce to buy has multiplied exponentially since the 40’s he wishes things were simpler, trying to choose a breakfast cereal was a nightmare.  Rice, wheat, oats, chocolate, nuts, honey, sugar frosted?  Puffs, flakes, pillows….  Are they kidding him?  Who needs this much variety?  It’s just cereal.

The bell gives a muted jingle and he looks up and spies an oddly familiar head enter the shop, a riot of wavy curls swept up in a clip.  He’s seen her before.  She works down in the astrophysics labs at the Tower.   Daria or Dacey or something.  He ignores her, the girl’s not a threat, and goes back to searching the cereal.

“Hey there soldier, I know you have a bad ass rep as an assassin, but the cereal didn’t do anything, what’s the problem?”  It’s the girl, she’s peering up at him with tired eyes through rectangular frames.  She has a basket slung over her arm and is filling it to overflowing with a multitude of boxes of pop tarts.

He grunts, hoping she’ll leave him alone, he’s got no interest in talking.

“You know, answering me will be less painless than the cereal-killer jokes I’ll be making tomorrow if I don’t get context for that murder glare.”

He glances back down at her, she’s moved closer and there is the faintest hint of a smile in her eyes.  What the hell is wrong with her, didn’t she read the briefings all the staff in the Tower were made to sign?

“Tough crowd.”  She mutters with a roll of her eyes before reaching across him to grab a bag of muesli.

“Have you got a death wish sweetheart?”                                                            

This time it’s her that glares.

“Okay… One, don’t call me sweetheart and two, no, I’m just trying to be friendly.  Three, if you threaten me like that again I will tase you in the junk.”

He’s caught off guard at the abrupt indignation in her voice.  She’s all of five two and bristling at him with all the menace of a wet kitten.  He sighs internally, taking in the dressing down and reluctantly admitting he deserves it.  His mother would be rolling in her grave if she knew he talked to a lady like that.

“Sorry….  Still not used to being a person again yet.  I wasn’t threatenin’ you I just…  You know who I am right?”

“Well like duh, of course I know who you are.”

“You read the briefing packet on me.?”

“I may have skimmed it, sort of, the last page where I had to sign.”

“I’m dangerous.  You shouldn’t get too close or make any sudden moves around me.”

“What? Like you’re some sort of dinosaur?  And no disrespect, but the only thing in imminent danger seems to be Captain Crunch.”  She looks pointedly at where he’s clutching the cardboard of the box hard enough to have burst through the packaging.  Eyes rolling skyward asking for some patience he puts it back on the shelf and shuffles a few undamaged boxes to the front.

“Chill my dude and tell Darcy what’s the problem.  I’m good at this whole introduction to modern America, I managed to house train Thor for Jane, he hardly ever smashes his cups anymore.”

The image of Thor being smacked on the nose with a new paper and brought to heel by the tiny firecracker beside him makes him chuckle.

“See, you like me already!”  she chirps brightly.

“You’re mad.”  He tells her.

“All the best people are!  Now spill, what has the fearsome Winter Soldier all riled up?”

“Just want some cereal, nothing fancy.  There’s just too much and it’s all…“ He trails off, not sure how to explain his need for something familiar in all the chaos or brightly packaged breakfast goods.

Darcy bends down and grabs a plain white package and hold it’s out to him.

“I figure you’re the sweet and simple type, nothing has changed about the humble cornflake in a century.”

“Thanks, Doll.”  He takes it with relief, something he recognised at least and together they make their way to the checkout.

Being the gentleman he is he offers to carry the five bags she comes out of the store with and she happily agrees, hooking her hand in his elbow companionably as they make their way back.

It was an interesting beginning.

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

“You got the list?”  She’d called him just as he stepped out of the door.

“Got it.”

“Did you remember to take Sam off the list?”  He winces and presses the button for the elevator.

“Sam wasn’t on the list.”

“That’s just mean…”  the lack of sincerity in her tone is comforting.  She and Sam got on about as well as he and Sam, that is to say not at all.  She had Sam running in circles most days trying to work out why shit kept happening to him.  Darcy had Jarvis in her pocket and could count on him for technical support.

“Told you not to get him anything, he’s menace.”

“I ordered him a Make Your Own Cheese kit.”  Bucky draws a blank, make your own cheese?

“What the hell is he gonna do with that?”

“Keep up Tin-man, he’ll make cheese.  Publicly.  In the common kitchen and everyone gets to watch him fail or triumph.  I will be judging the shit out of it.”

He grins at the thought of Darcy winding Sam up with comments while he tries to cook.

“S’not a bad idea.”  The evelvator finally reaches the lobby and he steps out just as she cannon balls into him.  He grins down at her and pockets his phone before kissing her nose.

“Ready to go?”

“Am I ever, we are going to kick Christmas shopping’s ass and be home in time for dinner.”

“Okay, remember the plan?”

“Look as innocent and helpless as possible where appropriate and when not, let you do the not talking till they let us past.”

“You run into trouble, no starting a fight, you’re not allowed to taser people in New York, not even for being assholes.”

“Stupid laws…“  She mutters as he wraps an arm around her waist, guiding her out onto the street, it’s interesting to note that his presence has the desired effect she was looking for, there was a bubble of space around them at least three feet wide.

“I hate the crowds but the best deals are to be had out there and you my glorious Winter Shopper are going to be the best bodyguard/bag carrier I’ve ever had.  Now on a more serious matter, what does Bucky Barnes want for Christmas?”

“All I want for Christmas is you, Doll.”

“You keep saying that I’m going think you mean it.”

“What if I do?”

“Don’t be surprised at me showing up wearing nothing but a bow.”

He nearly runs into a lamp post and she pulls him out of the way just in time.

It’s the way she says it, both cheeky and with a touch of vulnerability that shakes his world.  They’d been friends for a while now, he’d certainly not missed how pretty she was and if this had been before he’d have had her in his bed months ago.  They stop in the middle of the busy street and she tips her head up to look him right in the eye, waiting for him to say something.  His hands cup her elbows and she holds her breath.

It’s like he’s at some fork in the road, two choices in front of him, the one he knows and the one less traveled.  He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and leans down till his lips graze the tip of it.

“Don’t mind how you wrap yourself up doll, just make sure the bow’s red.”

The way her eyes widen and the blush creeps up her cheeks he’d caught her off guard.  Then it’s his turn as she grabs him by the collar and pulls him into a kiss.  It’s the kiss that changes his life, on a snowy sidewalk in Manhattan.

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

They’d been in the store for what felt like week and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight.  He’s sure in fact, that where they are, is Swedish Hell.  He groans as she tosses another throw and a set of cushions into the trolley he’s pushing.

“Hey, Bucky, what’s left on the list?”

He digs around under some dishes and a set of towels and pulls out the neon pink paper and hands it to her.

“Hmm… looks like we have almost everything, just one more and then we can go”

“Jesus Doll, don’t we have enough already?”

“We need a bed Bucky, we did not think this whole thing through with the new apartment.  Come on, it’ll be fun.  You can test em out till we find the right one!”

Growling under his breath he pinches her side, sending her jumping a mile, right into a security guard that gives her a look for about point five seconds before his glare falls to Bucky who sends his best murder grin.  It’s the guard that apologises to Darcy then and he retreats quickly as she cackles with glee.

It takes them another two hours to find a bed they both like and agree should hold up okay even with his strength and her need to occasionally jump on it.

It’s lying side by side in Ikea that it happens.  One small moment that they can never get back again, a first that came from nowhere.

She’s peering over a pillow at him as they lie on the bed they’ve chosen, he can’t remember now what it was she said that made him laugh, but he remembers her shit eating grin and the way he wiped it off her face with the sort of kiss they usually reserved for the bedroom, but that’s when he says it.

“love you Darcy-girl.”  Her smile lights up the world.

“l love you too babe.”

They’re like a couple of teenagers going through the checkout, whispering and holding hands and kissing.  The cashier gives them an indulgent look and slips a wedding registry booklet into the bag as she helps pack them up.

That night they make love on top of his old mattress on the floor of their new apartment, still high on the declaration of new love.  

“How much do you love me Doll?”

“I love you all the muches and with much muchness.”  She tells him seriously as he kisses her slowly, hands trailing over her skin, mapping all the places he intends to kiss while she sighs into his mouth in happy languor.  Lying there in the dark later, he thinks about the wedding registry and pulls her closer.

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

The list pinned to the fridge also has a plastic bag attached.  At first he doesn’t think anything of it, he’s always happy to go to the store with her so when she texts him to bring the list from the fridge he’s on auto pilot as he grabs it, catching the clear bag in his metal hand as it drops when he tugs the list free.

The double take he then does at the item within makes him feel like the world just tipped sideways for a second.  He stares at the plastic wand in the bag, vaguely recognising it for what it is.  If the two pink lines don’t confirm it, the list she’d asked him to pick up does.

Crib

Changing table

Cloth nappies

Bugaboo stroller

Car seat

Onesies

Sling

It takes him four minutes to get down to the lab where she’s waiting for him, near sick with worry at what his reaction might be.  They hadn’t talked about it, never even thought about it, they’d only been married for six months.

He bursts into the lab and has her in his arms not a second later planting the teariest kiss he’s ever given her on her.

“We’re having a baby.”

“Yeah, we are.”

“Your gonna be the best Ma a kid ever had sweetheart.”

“Shut up and don’t call me sweetheart…  I know you’re gonna be the best dad ever Bucky Barnes”

“We’re having a baby.”

“We’re having a baby.”

It’s the happiest day of his life.

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

“Mr Barnes…   Mr Barnes?”

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Ahh… well if you could choose from the cherry or the mahogany…”  The woman trailed off and tilted the catalogue towards him again.  He flicked a quick eye over the page and scrubbed a hand over his face.

Briefly the thought that Darcy would know what to choose drifted by in his brain.  What a fuckin joke.

“Bucky?”  Steve’s voice was overly cautious and placating.  He really wanted to just punch him in the face.

“M’not make of glass pal.”  The tone was weary and bitter.

“Cherry.”  He tells her shortly and then manages to get through the rest of the choices without Steve making another noise.

Out in the street he lights a cigarette and inhales a deep draw.

“I’ll walk back.”  He tells Steve as the town car draws up.  “Alone.”  He reinforces the order with a brief shove of his friend toward the car.

He walks there unconsciously, or maybe consciously, he really isn’t sure.   There’s nothing very different about the place.  The police tape and the glass had been cleared up and replaced.  The grocery store looks just as it always has.

It was stupid.  The whole thing was stupid.  She’d only popped out to get milk.  He hadn’t even been there. He’d been upstate when it happened.  Training the new recruits for Hill.

When he’d reached the scene her body had already been moved to the morgue.   Some punk kid, high, looking for some easy cash had robbed the store.   She’d been at the checkout with the milk, minding her own damn business but some hero type had tried to stop the kid and the gun went off.  

He’d seen her body, the bullet had went straight through her heart.  From all accounts she’d been dead before she even hit the floor.  By the time the paramedics got there it had been too late to try resuscitating her or even to save the baby.  A daughter, they’d told him when they brought him in to view the body.  Tiny and perfect and beautiful, just like her Ma.

He stands there, looking through the window and remembers her handing him a box of cereal.  It ended where it began, in a store on the corner of East 42nd and Lexington.  His fingers fold around the list in his pocket and he draws it out to look at it again like had had a few dozen times since he took it down off the fridge.

Crib

Changing table

Cloth nappies

Bugaboo stroller

Car seat

Onesies

Sling

He holds the burning end of the cigarette to the corner and watches as the paper turns to ash, then he turns and walks away.  Away from the Tower and away from the life he’d been stupid enough to think he had.  He’s going home.

NEXT

SKIP TO FIX IT

@captain-rogers-beard

[chintadraws]

My friend @imekitty wrote a lovely Pink Astronaut drabble and I just had to draw something to go with it. And now you too can read it here with all its tooth rotting sweetness! Also, you should check out her other dp fanfics because they’re great. ♥ Enjoy!  

Home at last.  Paulina kicked off her shoes by the front door and stumbled into the living room, collapsing onto the sofa with an exaggerated groan.

“Paulina?”

She groaned again in response.  Danny’s hands were on her shoulders moments later, kneading out hours of tension.

“How was practice?”

“Brutal.”  Paulina’s head flopped back so she could look up at him.  “I don’t remember ever being this sore cheerleading in high school.”

“I guess everything’s just harder in college, huh?”

“I was going to say I’m just getting older, but your suggestion is much sweeter.”

“That’s starting already, huh?  Worried about your age?”

“Well, sure.  Isn’t it crazy how the past few years have just flown?”  She rubbed her cheek against the top of his hand.  “How long we’ve been dating now?”

His shoulder rub stopped.  Paulina looked up to find him staring distantly across the room.

“You’re right,” he murmured.  “It has been a while, and we are getting older, and time won’t stop going so fast.”  He smiled down at her, caressed her face with his thumb.  “And there’s no one better than you to spend all that time with, no one else I’d rather grow old with.”

Warmth blossomed in her chest, flushed her face.  A life with Danny, yes, a full and long and happy one.  That would more than make up for the quick passage of time, would make this ongoing race around the sun exciting and worthwhile.

His hands left her shoulders.  She whined disapproval until she realized he was moving to her side of the couch.  Her breath hitched when he lowered himself to a kneeling position right in front of her.

He wasn’t—was he—?

All that loving sentimental talk before, and now here he was—

They had talked about it, sure, had definitely planned on it happening in their future, but she hadn’t expected it to happen this soon.  But she was ready.  So ready.  If anything, he had waited way too long.  Didn’t he know she wasn’t really serious when she said they might want to wait until they both graduated?  Well, clearly, he could read between the lines after all!  Maybe he wasn’t as clueless as she thought.

“So, do you want—”

“Yes!”  She straightened up with a squeal and grabbed his hand.  “Yes, of course, absolutely!”

Danny blinked.  “Ah...okay.  I’ll get right on it, then.”

“Oh, don’t worry!  I’ve already got it all figured out.”  She bent down and threw her arms around him.  “Oh, I love you, Danny.”

She kissed the side of his face several times before planting a big one right on his lips.  She then jumped up and started pacing the room in a frenzy, leaving a somewhat dazed Danny on the floor.

“Um...what exactly do you have all figured out?” asked Danny.

“Everything!  But I’m happy to let you make changes or give suggestions.  It is our wedding, after all!”

Danny slowly rose to a standing position.  “Wedding?”

“I’ve got our colors picked out, the venue, bridesmaid dresses—”

“Paulina.”

“Oh, we’re gonna need to start booking everything right now!”

“Paulina, wait.”

“And we’re gonna need to find a really good photographer for our engagement photos!  But I already know exactly where I want to take them.”

“Paulina, please.”

He took her hands and squeezed them, raised them to his mouth and gently kissed them with a palpable melancholy that silenced her immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice, looking only at her hands.  “I...I wasn’t proposing.”  He hesitantly raised his eyes to her.  “I just...wanted to give you a foot massage.  Because you were so sore from cheerleading.”

His words didn’t parse right away.  His meaning didn’t register for some time.

But then it cleared all at once.

“Oh.”  Paulina’s fingers curled around his.  “Yeah, of course.  Sorry about that.”

Danny’s hands moved toward her arms to pull her into an embrace, but Paulina sharply broke away.  She started power walking to the kitchen, her briefly forgotten soreness returning with each step. He stayed in place behind her.

“So, what do you want for dinner?” she asked over her shoulder.  “Anything in particular?”

Danny made no reply.  Or maybe he did and she just couldn’t hear him over her pounding heart.  She threw open the fridge and pulled out anything and everything that looked like dinner food.  She’d figure out what to do with it all once she had it laid out on the counter.

Chicken or—

Bell peppers or—

Maybe she’d just start chopping things.  Whatever she grabbed first.  

Well, if he would just tell her what he wanted, this wouldn’t be so hard to figure out!  If he just told her what he really meant, if he could just see what she really wanted—

She paused, her knife raised over the chicken breast on the cutting board.

He did tell her what he really meant.  And he did know what she really wanted.  He just wasn’t as ready as she was, and that was okay.  It didn’t mean he loved her any less, and her feelings for him certainly weren’t any different.

But still…

She had been so excited just moments before, and to have all of her dreams dashed so suddenly made her realize just how much she wanted to be on his arm forever.

“Hey.”

She glanced behind her.  “Oh, hey,” she greeted Danny as casually as she could.  “I’m gonna grill some chicken.  That okay with you?”

“Yeah, but...um, can I say something?”

“Sure!  Of course.”

Paulina returned to cutting.  He was quiet for a while.  She waited, keeping her back to him.

And then he was beside her.  Paulina looked up at him, noted with a curious frown the one arm he held behind his back.

“Um, so…”  He glanced down at the floor, his mouth scrunching and pursing side to side a few times.  “I actually had a whole night planned for this.  Next weekend.”

Paulina froze, blade halfway through a cut of meat.

“I made a reservation at this really nice place downtown.  Like one of those places you have to book weeks in advance.  And I bought a new outfit for me and...a dress for you, too.  Like I actually went shopping with Star just to make sure I bought something that actually looked good.”

She set the knife down on the counter.

“And then I was going to take you dancing.  I’ve been working with Camila on memorizing a Latin dance so I could at least pretend I knew what I was doing for one song.”  He chuckled.  “But I guess that’ll just have to be a glorified date night now.”

She turned toward him more fully as he lowered himself to the floor on one knee, one hand still behind his back, the other reaching out for hers.  She let him take it but said nothing, too choked to speak, too afraid that this would also be a false alarm.

“I don’t want you to think I’m not ready because I am.”  He gazed into her eyes solemnly.  “I don’t want to let you go another week and a half thinking that I’d rather wait because I don’t.  There’s no point in waiting because I already know that I want you to always be in my life.  I don’t want a day to go by that I can’t see you or tell you that I love you.”

He pulled his arm out from behind his back and presented a small box with a ring in it that Paulina didn’t even need to look at closely to know it was the most beautiful thing she could ever possibly wear on her finger.

“So, if it’s not too awkward right now...”  He looked up at her with a shy smile.  “Will you marry me, Paulina?”

She stifled a sob, rising tears lining the lower edges of her eyes.  She joined him on the floor and placed her arms around him, burying her face against his neck and shoulder.

His arms also embraced her.  “So...is that a yes?”

Paulina chortled and pulled back with a nod.  He took her left hand and slid the ring onto a slender finger.  She admired it for a short moment before leaning into him for a kiss, which he returned with equal passion.

“So.”  Paulina sat back and smirked.  “You went shopping with Star, huh?”

Danny sucked his teeth.  “Yeah.  It was...an experience.”

“And you’ve been taking private lessons with Camila?”

“Yup.  Also an experience.”

“Show me.”

Danny furrowed his brow.

“Come on.”  Paulina stood quickly and searched for a swinging Latin number on her phone.  “I wanna see.”

“But I still suck!  I need way more practice.  And it was supposed to be a surprise!”

“Well, the surprise is already ruined, and I don’t wanna wait.”  Paulina turned up the volume to maximum and held out a hand to him.  “Come on, ghost boy.  Let me see your moves.”

His face turned redder and redder with each sultry beat of the song she had chosen.  He took her hand and allowed her to pull him up.

“Fine.”  He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her right up against him.  “But don’t get too turned on by how sexy I’m about to be, okay?”

Paulina pressed a palm to his chest, her engagement ring glittering in the kitchen light, her dancer’s knee reflexively bending and moving her thigh up the side of his body.  “You know I can’t make that promise.”

He dipped her low, pinned her in place with his mouth against hers, then brought her up again for a whirl, a spin, the start of another circle together around the sun.

[krsnlove]

Reunions

Note: Christmas prompt request by @alj4890 . It was only supposed to be one page and then of course because I be doing the most. This is the result.

This does take place in the While We’re Young and The Other Friend series 💗

“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” for Rashad x Hana

Rating: PG

Tagging: @alj4890 @carabeth @cocomaxley @darley1101 @rafasgirl23415 @dancetothestoriesinyoursoul

December 23rd

“You won’t be here for Christmas?,” he can hear the disappointment in her voice despite Alec’s overpowering babble in the background.

He sighs in frustration as he closes his eyes, picturing his wife Hana on the phone with their 3 year old climbing over her. A small smile comes to his lips but immediately falls as he realizes he won’t be seeing them anytime soon.

“No,” he tells her, “some clients flew in and I need to give them a run down of the contracts I drew up. Plus they’re asking me to fly back with them to Hong Kong at the end of the week to look over some other things.”

“You promised this would be a quick trip . . .,” she reminds him. Rashad had an early flight this morning and told her he’d be flying back home tonight. His schedule was unpredictable at best but somehow he made it work with juggling a career and family.

“I know Hana. I know. I’m sorry. This wasn’t expected. I-,” his words cut off when Hana’s voice suddenly interrupt him.

“No, sweetie. Don’t put that in your mouth. Give,” she says sternly. He lightly chuckles at Hana’s soft chastisement. He can hear Alec laughing, undoubtedly handing over whatever it was his mother was asking for.

She was so worried about being a mother. And like everything else she took on, Rashad thought, she excelled in everything. Especially being a Mother to Alec. It’s been over five years since he and Hana have been together. New year’s day would be the celebration of their fourth wedding anniversary together.

And he would have to miss that too he bitterly thought.

On the other end of the line, Hana places the wet remote high onto the kitchen counter, out of reach from her energetic toddler. She watches him run off in a state of merriment and smiles at the sight before her. As if being in love with the most wonderful man in the world wasn’t enough, three years ago they found out they were expecting their first child together. Alec brought with him so much more joy into her and Rashad’s lives. More than she ever thought was possible.

And now that feeling would be doubled she quietly thought as she began to rub her flat stomach.

“Hana?,” her husband’s voice brings her out of her thoughts.

“Hm? Yes?,” she answers quickly. Rashad has no idea and she was unsure of how to tell him. But over the phone while in another country definitely didn’t feel right.

“I’m sorry…,” its as if those are the only words he knew at the moment.

“I know. We are too. We miss you,” Hana tells him. She can feel her eyes lightly tear up at the thought of Christmas morning with Rashad far from home.

“I miss you both,” he says as he gazes longingly at the picture frames placed on his desk. One held a shot of him and Hana on their wedding day. Another held a picture of Alec on his 3rd birthday. The last frame holds a candid shot of all three of them with red pandas from their recent trip to China.

“I love you Hana. I promise I’ll make it up to you and Alec.”

Hana smiles upon hearing his commitment. “You don’t have to do that Shahzy,” shaking her head in amusement. But she knew it was useless to tell him that. Rashad is a man of his word, a quality she found endearing.

“So, tell me. What have you two been up to since I’ve been gone?”

December 24th

…”Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.”

Hana read out loud the last lines of The Polar Express book she and Rashad have been reading to Alec. Gently pulling the covers up to his chin, she places featherlight kisses on his head before whispering good night. Stopping before the bedroom door, she looks back to the sleeping toddler in bed.

It dawns on her that next year they would be reading to two children at bedtime. “You’re going to be a big brother sweetie,” she says quietly as she watches him sleep while simultaneously rubbing her stomach.

Leaving his bedroom door slightly closed, she makes her way to the master bedroom to finish wrapping the last of the gifts. Thoughts of reuniting with Rashad run through her mind. He would be back home after the new year and would be missing their anniversary. But it allowed her more time to come up with a way to surprise him with news of their growing family.

All her close friends came up with sweet ways to tell their significant others. Riley organized a scavenger hunt around the palace grounds for Liam. The treasure in the end of course was not one but five positive pregnancy tests. Just to be sure.

Amanda poured Maxwell’s morning coffee into a special mug. At the bottom of the cup were the words “We’re Pregnant”. In his state of excitement he dropped the mug, breaking it into pieces. Except for the words which were now in a shadow box full of other keepsakes Amanda collected for Nicky.

Even Olivia planned in her own creative way to tell Drake. She replaced his favorite whiskey bottle with a gallon of milk. She even went as far as replacing the shot glasses with baby bottles. Hana doesn’t remember seeing Olivia laugh as hard as she did when relaying the story to the group.

But with Alec, she didn’t have the opportunity to surprise Rashad. After several weeks of feeling fatigued and nauseous he was adamant about taking her to see the doctor.

The memory of waiting in the exam room with Rashad interlacing his hand with hers plays through her mind as she gift wraps the last of the presents. The look of sheer joy on his face when the doctor announced why she lacked energy and couldn’t keep her meals down is one of her many favorite memories with him.

After several minutes, Hana pulls back the covers of their shared bed and climbs in mentally preparing herself for a festive morning. She’s always had a hard time falling asleep when Rashad was away and tonight was no different.

December 25th 2:50PM

“Alec, sweetie, please come here,” Hana calls out as she gathers his belongings. It’s been a busy Christmas morning as she directs the live-in staff to pack the gifts into the waiting car. With the first wave of morning sickness over, she hurries to get herself and Alec into the car and on the way to the palace.

Christmas mornings were reserved for their families. But the afternoon and the evening were spent at the royal palace with everyone. A tradition that began when the children came. Hana checks the time and groans at the realization of being over two hours late.

Alec finally makes an appearance as he carelessly pushes the oversized toy car into the large foyer. He’s still dressed in the superhero mask and cape he had received as a gift from Santa that morning. She smiles at the shirt he has on underneath the cape.

“Come on my little Superman. We’re late,” she tells him as she scoops him up off the floor. Alec fidgets in her arms as she makes her way to the waiting car but gives in when she places him into his car seat. A small screen is displayed in front of him as it comes to life with images of his favorite show.

Sighing with contentment, Hana pulls her own seatbelt on as the driver moves the car off their duchy grounds.

December 25th 4:15PM

“It isn’t like Hana to be running late,” Rashad says out loud.

“Sssshhhh!,” Maxwell harshly quiets him. “You’re going to give away your position!”

Rashad stood behind a lofty shrub that easily hid his 6’4 build. Still fighting the jet lag from his flight that morning, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to surprise Hana anymore. She’d be just as happy to see him out in the open without a grand gesture. But Maxwell made him think otherwise.

“We’ve been out here for three hours now. She’s not even my wife! Why am I out here?,” Drake asks Olivia. She pinches the skin under his arm causing him to jump. “‘Liv!,” he scowls at her as he rubs his arm.

“He’s right Olivia,” Rashad’s voice echoes from several feet away.

“See!?”

For some unknown reason all of the close friends were outside waiting for Hana to reunite with Rashad.

“They probably want to be alone,” Liam observes. Riley shakes her head in amusement knowing he wanted to be inside to play with the toys Emerick received that morning.

“Am I the only one who cares about the reunion of our friends?,” Maxwell asks as he looks around at the faces of the group.

“Reunion?,” the sudden voice surprises them as they turn to find Hana standing a few feet away with Alec in her arms.

Amanda lightly slapped Maxwell on his arm. “You were supposed to be keeping watch!”

“Ow! I was trying to make sure everything was okay over here!?”

“What’s going on?,” Hana asks as she puts a fidgety Alec down onto the ground.

“Come on Alec. Let’s go see what your cousins are up to,” Riley says extending her hand to the small child as she flashes a smile to her best friend. Liam takes Alec’s other hand and the three of them make their way down the field to the other children playing with the nannies.

“Wait for us!,” Drake calls out to them as he and Olivia follow close behind.

Maxwell eagerly looks from Hana to the tall shrub, eyes widening in excitement. Amanda shakes her head knowing her husband was enjoying this maybe a bit too much.

“Maxwell we have to let them have a moment to themselves,” she says as she pulls away. The smile on his face falls as he realizes what she meant.

“But-, I wanted to see-,”

“Oh. Looks like Emerick is trying to give another gift to Nicky,” Amanda tells him as she watches the young Prince hand her a fist full of flowers.

Maxwell quickly turns his back in time to see Nicky accepting the sweet gesture. “Oh no you don’t,” he mutters to himself. “Sorry Hana!,” he yells out as he begins to run towards the group of children, pulling Amanda with him.

Hana watches in bewilderment as her friends gather around the children. This baby is already giving me pregnancy brain she thought to herself.

The sound of footsteps nearby cause her to turn in their direction when she is met with a tall figure holding a bouquet of flowers obstructing their face.

“Merry Christmas my Hana.”

Her eyes widen with realization as the figure brings the bouquet down away from their face showing Rashad flashing her a guilty smile.

“Shahzy!,” in a few steps her arms are promptly wrapped around him as he lifts her off the ground in a hug. “I thought you weren’t going to be home until after the new year?”

Rashad places a lingering kiss on her lips before answering. “I won’t be. I talked them into going home and enjoy being with their families like I am. So we rescheduled everything after the new year.”

“So you’ll be here?,” she asks quietly as they stand in each other’s embrace with his forehead resting on hers.

“I wouldn’t miss it my love.”

He breaks from her hold and retrieves the familiar plant nearby before holding it over his wife. She looks up at the mistletoe and chuckles at his gesture.

“I didn’t get to kiss you under a mistletoe today,” he explains. Hana shakes her head while still giggling. She pulls him by his shirt collar and catches his lips in a slow, sweet kiss.

“HANA! RASHAD!,” the sudden panicked voices bring them out of their moment as they look to see Maxwell carrying Alec and running his way towards them.

“Alec…,” Rashad says under his breath and hurries to meet his son.

“What’s wrong?!,” he asks Maxwell as he takes Alec from his arms.

“Shirt...wearing...under...cant…,” Rashad isn’t able to comprehend what he’s saying in his tired state. He looks over Alec, attempting to find an open cut or a broken bone but fails. Rashad goes to untie the cape that is hanging off his shoulders when he finally gazes upon the shirt Alec is wearing.

He blinks a few times to make sure he was reading it correctly.

“That’s...what...trying...tell...you…,” Maxwell finally says as his breathing begins to calm down.

Promoted to Big Brother. Start Date: Soon.

Rashad re-read the words over and over. Unsure if the jet lag was messing with his vision, he turns to face Hana who gives him an encouraging smile as she nods her head in confirmation.

He excitedly carries Alec in his arms and makes his way to her. Rashad pulls her in with his free arm and hugs his wife and son. Placing a sweet kiss on Hana’s lips and then to Alec’s, he closes his eyes as he stands in familial bliss.

“Merry Christmas my loves,” he whispers.

[ponydoyourhomework]

An Interesting Gift

Requested By: @skip-skip-hooray

I seriously loved writing this. Although halfway through it I realized I was writing in third person which I never do so that’s fun. Enjoy!

  Y/N sat there in the armchair, a little white box in her hands. It had been wrapped to look like an anniversary gift (even though her real gift to him was hidden in the back of the hall closet). She was in complete disbelief; after almost a year of trying, she was finally carrying her husband’s baby.

  Steve had called her on his lunch break at the shop, saying to be ready to go out when he got home. He hadn’t told her where they’d be going, so she just hoped she wasn’t going to make them late to any dinner reservations. Though at this rate, it was starting to look like Steve was going to be the one to make them late. He still wasn’t home from work and it was almost six.The door swung open rather dramatically and almost made her spill the glass of sun tea that she’d gotten up to pour herself.

  “I knew I said be ready but I didn’t expect you to be just this beautiful,” Steve said as he wrapped her up in his arms, “‘Cause baby, you’re just drop-dead gorgeous.”

  “Well thank you but you just about spoiled it comin’ in here all covered in grease and oil from work,” she teased, “And almost half an hour late too.”

  “What if I had an important errand to run before I came home? Think you could forgive me?”

  “Depends. I was about ready to send out a search party. Or worse- call Soda and ask where you were, I’m sure I’d get a kick out of his answer,” She joked, staring up into those dreamy blue eyes until she almost felt like she was drowning in them.

  “I was picking up your present baby, it just got in last night and I couldn’t have gone to get it then because you’d have seen the bag.”

  “Well then I guess you’re forgiven this time. I don’t know what time you planned on leaving here but I think you’d better start getting ready.” She said as she leaned back against the kitchen table.

  “Well I was thinking we’d leave around maybe seven or so. I just wanted to come home to you all dolled up,” he says as he gently kisses her forehead.

  “So we’re just gonna bum around here until then?”

  “Well we could go ahead and exchange gifts now since it’ll be the last thing on our minds when we get back tonight,” he suggests with a wink.

  She couldn’t help but chuckle at his flirty little comment. “Fine Stevie but go get ready I can’t wait to see what you got me.” He nodded before giving her a quick kiss and heading off down the hall.

  “But don’t even think about taking a peek at yours, Y/N. I mean it I want to surprise you.”

  She went back into the living room and sat down. She picked up the little white box- which almost seemed silly considering what was in it.An envelope might have been a better choice looking back on it-  and carefully lifted the lid. Inside was a small card. “Estimated Due-Date: February 19, 1969. Congratulations.” The note on the card was short, to the point, and quite frankly pretty bland, but the meaning was so much greater. She put the lid back on the box and set it all back on the end table beside her chair and tried to concentrate on the book she’d been reading earlier, and after about a chapter of The Bell Jar later, Steve stepped out into the room.

  “So I’m guessing you’re gonna want yours first, huh?” He asked, his signature light-up-the-whole-room kind of smile shining as brightly as ever.

 “Come on, quit stalling let’s do this already!” She responded excitedly. Steve hurried out to the car while Y/N grabbed his gift out of its hiding place. When she returned, she found him already seated in the chair across from hers, and a red and gold gift bag in his hands.

  “Oh I put the roses in a vase by the way. Happy anniversary baby, I’m not sure how I could love you any more than I do right now,” He said as he handed her the bag. She pulled out the tissue paper to find a velvet clamshell case, and inside it was the most beautiful set of pearls she’d ever seen. “Are those the same ones you pointed out that one day in the jewelry store window? If you don’t like them I can always take them back and exchange th-”

  “No they’re perfect. I love them!” She cut him off and gave him a swift, yet still passionate kiss. “Roses too? Can’t wait to see what you’ll do for our second.”

  “Just you wait, I’ve already got it planned,” he joked, “So does it matter which one I open first?”

  “Yeah, this one,” she said, handing him his real gift first. It was a real wedding ring. She’d been saving every spare penny she came across ever since the day they’d realized they couldn’t afford anything more than a cheap nickel one for him, even though Steve made sure that she was able to get whichever one she wanted.

  “Oh… Baby you really didn’t have to…” He said, even though she could tell how thankful he was that she did.

  “Don’t you think a real gold band makes it a little more official?”

  “We’re married, and that preacher would’ve done it with two loops of thread and it’d still count. I don’t see how anything could be better or more official than what we have right here.”

  “Wanna bet?” She mused, “Open up the other one.” He looked at her as he reached for the box. It was easy to see the slight confusion written across his face, and it only made the moment sweeter to her. He lifted the lid and read the card, but still looked slightly confused by its meaning.

  “Stevie… Honey, I’m pregnant.” Tears of joy started to well up in her eyes. The same happened for Steve when the words finally sank in.

 “I’m gonna be a father?” He asked in utter disbelief.

  “Not just any father, the best one in this whole world.”

[justanoutlawfic]

Back To You: Chapt. 2

Story Summary: 5 years ago, Belle left Storybrooke and became a New York Times Bestselling Author. Now, she's returning to Storybrooke to try to convince her husband to finally give her the divorce she's been begging for. However, the longer she spends in town...the more she realizes...maybe that's not what she wants anymore.

Chapter Summary: A look back into the happy times of Sampson and Belle’s relationship. In the present, Neal visits his dad so they can have a talk.

Also on AO3

7 Years Ago

 Belle stood in front of the mirror, adjusting her dress a final time. This wasn’t how she pictured her wedding as a little girl, there was supposed to be a big cake and the church her parents were married in. Sampson had already had the big wedding though, with Milah. He had said he’d be more than willing to do it again, but Belle could tell it wasn’t really what he wanted deep down. So, she had agreed to a simple backyard wedding at his place, with just her parents, his son, daughter-in-law and grandson present.

 She allowed her mind to wander back to the first time she had ever met him. She had been living in Storybrooke for about half her life, yet had never ran into the mysterious lawyer/pawnshop owner. A little after her 19th birthday, she returned from college and her roommate, Emma, decided to introduce her to her future father-in-law. Sampson was handsome, older and she fell head over heels instantly.

 Most of the town didn’t get what she saw in him, her father included. They missed the days when she dated Gaston Theroux, despite not knowing how unhappy she was in that relationship. Sampson made her smile, he respected her studies. She’d come home from Boston U every other weekend and he’d come visit her on the alternating ones. The proposal came the day she returned from her graduation and she couldn’t wait to become Mrs. Gold.

 “Honey,” Colette stepped into the room and paused, taking in her daughter’s dress. “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, Mama.” Belle turned to her and smiled. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. As long as this is really what you want.”

 Belle had to hold back a sigh. She loved her mother more than life itself, but they had such different ideas about the future. Belle wanted to be an author, but felt she could do it in Storybrooke. Colette wanted her daughter to leave this small town and never look back. Getting married so young is what she had done and now she was miserable. Belle didn’t plan to be, though. Sampson Gold was not Moe French. They were going to be happy, they were going to build a life together.

 “It is.” Belle took her hands. “I love Sampson and he loves me. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Colette let out a sigh. “Oh my darling Belle,” she whispered, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “Once you become a mother, you’ll learn that you always worry about your child.”

Moe walked in, interrupting the precious moment between mother and daughter. “Are you ready yet?”

“Yes, Dad.” Belle cleared her throat and walked over to him, taking his arm.

“Not too late to run.”

She rolled her eyes. While Colette worried about Belle’s safety, Moe just hated Sampson because he owned eighty percent of the properties in town, his flower shop included. “I’m not running.”

“I better go take my seat,” Colette said. “See you out there.”

 She left the room and Moe reluctantly escorted his daughter down the stairs and into the backyard. She didn’t even see the other people there, just her groom. He was wearing a tux instead of a suit that day and looked just as dashing as ever. When Moe finally let her go, she took hold of his hands and stared into his eyes. This was her future, this was what she wanted. Sampson was supportive, he cared about her and her dreams. He wanted her to become a successful author. They’d be Storybrooke’s power couple.

 She could hear their ordained friend, Archie, go through the vows, but she only listened hard enough to know when to say “I do.” She silently thanked him for leaving out the “If anyone has any objections” bit, not wanting to tempt fate with her parents.

 “By the power invested in me by the state of Maine, I now pronounce you two husband and wife,” Archie said. “Sampson, you may kiss your bride.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said with a bit of glee in his eye.

 He leaned in, kissing her and Belle deepened it, throwing her arms around his neck. It was official, she was now and forever, Mrs. Gold.

 Present Day

Emma made her way into the house, ruffling her son’s head as she walked past him. Henry was such a reading buff, it surprised her. She and Neal were more art than book people, but somehow the 10 year old could go through a dozen of them a week. She was proud of him, nonetheless, it was fun to brag to her friends that while most kids would be out causing trouble, her son could be found with his nose buried in a book. The first time she did that with Ruby, she realized she was becoming her own mother with her art…but strangely, she didn’t mind.

 She entered the kitchen and pecked her husband on the lips. He grinned and handed her the cup of coffee in his hands. “What’d Dad say?”

“He’s got no problem watching the kid.”

“Awesome.”

“But um, Belle was there.”

Neal arched an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

Emma nodded. “She came to get him to sign the divorce papers…I thought they were already divorced. Didn’t you tell me that?”

“I told you that Belle sent them to him.”

“Neal.”

He sighed. “I knew what you’d say, you’d bug him to sign them.”

“Well, it’s what she wants.”

“I know, I know. And to be honest, if I were him and had messed up so badly with you…I’d be willing to give you whatever. He has his reasons, though.”

“And they are?”

“That, I don’t know. I used to think that he didn’t want to be the man with two divorces, but he squashed that. Deep down, he just loves her.”

Emma frowned. “I get that, I do. Why did they even split up anyway? I know your dad was having some problems, but she was willing to be by his side.”

“Sometimes there’s only so much that a person can put up with. We didn’t see how bad he got until the accident. Belle lived with him every day.” He let out another sigh. “I better go talk to him.”

 Neal took Emma’s bug out and headed the 5 minutes down the road to his father’s. For so long, they were all each other had. Milah and Sampson divorced when Neal was 10 and his mother’s presence in his life was sporadic at best, especially after she got remarried to a navy captain. Which meant it was his father that supported him when Emma got pregnant when the two were only 19. He gave his blessing for their wedding and helped them with Henry, alongside Mary Margaret and David Swan.

 Which meant that Neal had no problem stepping up and helping his own father after everything went wrong. Even before Belle left, he must’ve spent a week at their house after the tragedy, trying to keep everything together. Then when she was gone and his father got hurt, he moved in with Neal and Emma temporarily so they could help take care of him. Sampson would never be alone, not if Neal had anything to say about it.

 Even if it sometimes was the opposite of what his father wanted.

 Gold was doing some paperwork when Neal walked in. He didn’t even have to look up to know it was his son. “Emma told you.”

“I would’ve figured it out eventually.” He plopped down across from him. “So, did you sign them?”

“What do you think?”

“Papa.”

Gold looked up. “Neal.”

“This is what she wants,” he said gently. “Don’t you think you should give it to her? It’s been 5 years.”

“I can’t. I can’t just sign this and let it be over.”

Neal frowned. “I know you love her,” he whispered. “Sometimes, that’s just not enough.”

“If I could see a sign, that this is really what she wanted…if I could feel it in my bones…then I’d sign.”

“What’s that going to take? Don’t you want her to be happy?”

“Of course I do! That’s all I ever wanted!”

“Then maybe that requires letting her go.”

 Gold looked down at his paperwork and blinked a couple of times. The truth was, he knew that Belle was happy. She had been happy before he screwed up and then when she left, she was happy again. And that hurt, because he knew there was no one else to blame but himself.

 6 Years Ago

They lived in a state of married bliss for a year. They had sex with the doors open, in almost every room of the house. The two were like rabbits, barely able to keep their hands off one another. He took her on a honeymoon to Europe so she could see some of the best libraries and read amazing literature. Back home, they went on a date night at least once a week, it was newlywed bliss and he never wanted it to go away.

 On their anniversary, he arrived home that night with a bottle of wine, a single red rose and a beautifully wrapped box. He found her waiting on him in the den, looking beautiful in her emerald green dress with some jewels on the neckline. She stood on her tiptoes, kissing him passionately for a moment. When she pulled away from him, she accepted the wine and set it down, before sniffing the rose and looking to find a vase to put it in.

 “I made reservations at the Italian place,” she said as she filled the crystal vase with water. “I didn’t feel much like leaving town, I hope that’s okay.”

“Whatever you want, it’s your anniversary.”

“Our anniversary.” She turned to him and saw the wrapped package in his hands. “Is that for me?”

“Do I have another lovely, sexy wife it could belong to?”

Belle giggled and accepted it from him, opening it to find a leather jewelry box. Upon flipping it open, she discovered a beautiful diamond necklace, her eyes widening. “Oh, Sampson…”

“I think it goes perfectly with your dress.”

“I love it, but it’s…it’s too much.”

“Nothing could ever be enough for you.”

 He held back her hair and clasped the necklace around her neck. She gave him another kiss before disappearing into the other room, only to return a moment later with three packages of her own. The first two included a silk tie set and a glass of his favorite whiskey. The last one, however, was the box he had put her engagement ring in. He cocked an eyebrow and flipped it open, finding a pacifier inside. Slowly, he tilted his head.

 “Belle…”

“I found out this morning,” she whispered. “It…it happened.”

 The two had been trying since their honeymoon to have a child. Yes, Gold had his son and he loved him, but he knew how badly Belle wanted to be a mother and there was no way he would deny her that. Besides, he had always wanted more children. Even if in this case, they’d be younger than his grandson. Still, nothing had seemed to work. Belle was getting nervous and had actually been making plans to talk to a specialist.

 There was no need for that now.

 “We’re going to have a baby,” he said, in awe.

Belle nodded. “We’re going to have a baby.”

 He swooped her into his arms, landing a kiss to her lips before resuming hugging her tightly. She hugged him tighter, tears of joy falling down both of their faces.

[delacruzlynn]

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Cat Peeing Gif

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Cat Pee And Bleach

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[kane-and-griffin]

“I Put a Spell On You“

A Kabby Halloween fic in three parts for the AU The Woman That Fell From the Sky, in honor of @brittanias‘ birthday! 

(Yes I know it’s 6 weeks away, but it’s her favorite holiday and I regret nothing)

PART 1: “Cara Mia” (Halloween 2004)

GOMEZ: “How long has it been since we’ve waltzed?” MORTICIA: “Oh, Gomez . . . hours.” --The Addams Family

Holidays for the first few years are muted affairs.

Clarke is four when they move to Massachusetts, and the move is as great a shock to her system as the loss of her father.  The entirety of her small young life, undone and turned inside out.  Neither of them have the stomach for Thanksgiving or Christmas that year; Jake died in April and eight months is not enough time for them to face the misery of attempting to replicate holiday traditions without him.  New Year’s, Easter, Valentine’s Day, their wedding anniversary, Father’s Day, his birthday.  The endless, endless repetition of moments for which Jake is supposed to be there, but isn’t.

Then, a year and a half later, the terrible thing happens, the worst day of all their lives, and Marcus arrives at their doorstep with ash in his hair and kisses Abby’s mouth like she thought no one would ever kiss her again, and something, ever so faintly, begins to click into place.

He’s still there a month later, when the leaves begin to turn from green to gold to crimson, and the town begins to don its autumnal finery for the fall festival.

Clarke and Abby did not go to the festival last year.  Jake had been the one who carved their jack o’lanterns every year, elaborately detailed masterpieces of witches on broomsticks and black cats arching their backs.  He had a box of delicate, fine-bladed woodworking tools he used only for pumpkins, something Abby had long ridiculed him for.  She’d brought the box to Massachusetts, only because she could not bear to throw it away, but it had been moved straight to the garage and she’d never looked at it again.  She’d put a bowl of candy on the porch for the neighbor children, in the interests of seeming neighborly, but that was as much holiday spirit as she could muster.

Marcus, however, has never lived anywhere that was not New York City, and the fall festival is a thing of wonder to him.  So, to appease him – and because once he says the words “free candy” it’s impossible to dissuade Clarke from adding her pleas to his – they walk down after dinner on Halloween, and Abby – against all expectations, and very nearly against her will – finds herself slowly giving in to its charms.

There are orange twinkle lights wound around the columns of the gazebo in the town square and a small hay bale maze for the children.  There is a long table of caramel apples and popcorn balls and chocolate truffles dipped in orange fondant with charming toothy grins.  There is hot spiced cider in big black iron cauldrons, steaming with dry ice and scented with ginger and cinnamon, ladled out by a line of moms in pumpkin-embroidered aprons.  (Marcus and Abby’s steaming paper cups get discreetly spiked with bourbon by Roan, the hardware store owner, who shoves the flask back in his pocket as Officer Pike pretends not to notice.)  Clarke is the only child not wearing a costume; tiny witches and vampires and princesses and Frankensteins abound, along with one particularly grotesque blood-spattered zombie, introduced to them as Octavia Blake from down the street.

Everyone in town knows Dr. Griffin’s story by now – knew it within hours after the “SALE PENDING” sticker went up over the “FOR SALE” sign on the old white house on Birch Street.  Vincent the realtor had stopped by Indra’s for coffee that morning and told her everything, so by dinnertime everyone knew.  They orbited her at a safe distance for the first year or so, treating her rather gingerly, as though she were made of glass.  Under other circumstances she would have found this profoundly irritating, but inside that cocoon of grief, the less she had to talk to people, the better.

But now she’s at the fall festival, she’s drinking cider and holding hands with a tall dark-haired man in a leather jacket and she’s letting her tiny blonde daughter race through the hay bale maze at full throttle, excited squeals of glee echoing through the night air, and she’s smiling, and this is the moment the town falls in love with Marcus Kane for the very first time.

Because he made the doctor smile.

He comes back for the fall festival the next year, and the year after that.  Abby still can’t bring herself to open the box in the garage, and says a gentle but firm no to Clarke’s pleas for elaborate decorations.  They put out a bowl of candy on the porch, as all the neighbors do, and they stroll down to the fall festival and drink their cider.  Abby lets Clarke wear a costume (a cat the first year, Belle the second), but declines to wear one herself.

By their fourth year in Massachusetts, Clarke is eight, and Abby’s lackluster commitment to Halloween becomes a bone of contention before school has even started.  Marcus let her watch The Addams Family with him one night over the summer when Abby had an emergency late-night surgery and he was on parenting detail alone.  Clarke loves anything Marcus loves, so she is prepared for his favorite movie to become her favorite movie before he even turns the television on, and she falls head-over-heels for the glaring, morbid Wednesday Addams.  Maintaining basic table manners, after this, becomes a trial (“Pass the parmesan cheese.”  “What do we say, Clarke?”  “MORE.”) which Marcus’ badly-concealed chuckles do not help.  But she sets her heart on dressing up as Wednesday Addams in July, and by the time September turns the corner into October, she has worn her mother down.

Abby does not sew.  Or, more accurately, she does not sew fabric.  (Her surgical stitches are a thing of beauty, but those skills do not translate to any domestic project more elaborate than repairing a loose button.)  But her neighbor Callie does.  Callie was Abby’s first real friend in town, inviting her to book club and backyard barbecues and brunch potlucks until she slowly began to get her feet under her again, and begin to feel marginally less alone.  Callie is the neighborhood’s resident domestic goddess; her flower garden is always perfect, her table settings colorful and elegant, her sugar-dusted loaves of holiday gingerbread appearing like magic on doorsteps up and down the street every Christmas morning.  And she can sew, because of course she can, so once she overhears Clarke at the supermarket staring covetously at the racks of polyester costumes and lamenting the lack of a Wednesday, she steps in immediately.

“Oh, I love The Addams Family,” she tells Clarke, smiling.  “I’d be happy to make you a Wednesday costume.  Easy as pie.  And your mom should be Morticia, don’t you think?”

And once the words are said, of course, there is absolutely no peace in the Griffin household until Abby finally, finally, finally heaves a weary sigh, walks across the street, knocks on Callie’s door, hands her a bottle of merlot, and says only, “I give in.”

Callie goes to work immediately, laughing Abby’s checkbook out of her hands (“don’t be an idiot, this is a gift”) and taking both mother and daughter’s measurements, occasionally leaning down to whisper conspiratorially in Clarke’s ear and making the girl giggle so hard her blonde curls bounce against her shoulders.   Two weeks later, two long flat boxes (wrapped in black paper with black silk ribbon, with the beheaded stem of a rose tucked in each, which makes Clarke shriek with glee) appear on the front step.  In Clarke’s, a crisp black dress with a starched white collar, black tights, little black boots, and even a black wig already combed sleek and braided into perfect tight pigtails; in Abby’s, a long black wig and a dress that makes her eyes widen when she puts it on its hanger and realizes how low the neckline plunges.  (“She’s bisexual,” points out an amused Marcus when she calls him that night, his voice sounding bitterly disappointed that he’ll be working that weekend and won’t get to see it.  “It’s a gift for you and for her.”  Marcus has always liked Callie.)

Clarke loves her costume so much she has to be forcibly restrained from wearing it to school every single day for the whole last week of October, and something of her giddy joy begins to chip away, bit by bit, at Abby’s reserve.  She remembers this herself, after all, she’s not so old that she’s forgotten the year she dressed as Princess Leia and grew out her hair all year so it would be long enough for her mother to braid into side buns, or the year she was six and it rained so hard she had to wear galoshes under her Cinderella dress instead of glass slippers and cried about it all the way to the first house on the block but stopped as soon as she was handed a Kit-Kat.

Jake has been gone for four years.

The box has been in the garage long enough.

On Friday, when the school bus drops Clarke off on the corner, she is momentarily disoriented, and for a second, she is unsure whether she has arrived at the wrong house.  Because it looks like Halloween, for real, it’s the Halloween house of her eight-year-old dreams, with pumpkins and hay and a wreath of dried leaves on the door.  And when she opens the door, she gasps so loudly Abby can hear her in the kitchen and comes outside, wiping her hands on her apron.  (Mom is wearing an apron?)  There are shiny glass pumpkins and pretty black candlesticks and pretend spiderwebs on the dining room chandelier.

“You were too little to remember,” Abby says, “but me and your dad, we used to love Halloween.  We dressed up and had parties in the apartment every year.”

Clarke looks around, eyes even wider, taking it all in.

“Did all of this belong to Dad?”  Abby nods.  “Did you not want to look at it before because you were too sad?”

Abby is startled, as always, by the depth of this small child’s perceptiveness; sometimes it’s like talking to a tiny grownup.  She nods, not quite trusting her voice yet, but Clarke doesn’t press her any further.  “I’m glad you’re not so sad anymore,” is all she says, and trots into the kitchen where her eight-year-old senses have unerringly detected the scent of cookies.

The next morning, after pumpkin pancakes (picked up from Indra’s diner, of course; Abby’s baking skills were maxed out yesterday in baking ghost-shaped cookies and letting Clarke decorate them), Abby takes her daughter by the hand and leads her out to the backyard, where she has laid old newspaper all over the surface of the old rickety picnic table, and two absolutely perfect pumpkins – round, sleek, glossy, their sunset-orange skins free of every blemish – sit next to a cardboard box duct-taped shut which Clarke has never seen before.

“Pick one,” says Abby, and Clarke can’t do anything but fling her arms around her mother’s waist.

 Sunday dawns crisp and clear, perfect Halloween weather.  Clarke is incandescent with eight-year-old glee, and even Abby is finding herself, surprisingly, getting into the spirit of it.   They eat dinner early, around four-thirty, and Callie comes over to help them dress.   The knock at the door, around five-fifteen, just as Abby is finishing her makeup, startles her.  It’s far too early to be children; the fall festival kicks off around six, with the trick-or-treaters beginning their rounds shortly thereafter, once their parents have each had time for a cup or two of Roan’s “special” cider.  Abby leaves Clarke sitting on the side of her bed, Callie winding her blonde ringlets into neat little pincurls so the wig will lay flat, and descends the staircase reluctantly, already feeling a bit ridiculous.  If it’s the FedEx guy, and she’s in a skintight black dress cut so low she can’t even wear a bra . . .

The door swings open while she’s halfway down the stairs, startling the life out of her, and she freezes in place.

It’s definitely not the FedEx guy.

“Cara mia,” says Marcus, who is standing at her door in a flawless Gomez Addams costume – pinstriped suit, slicked-back hair, his face clean-shaven save for a perfect pencil mustache – and Abby feels her heart crack open inside her chest.

She stands there, a little stupidly, not entirely convinced she isn’t simply imagining this, until he closed the door behind him and she finally collects herself enough to descend to the bottom of the stairs and meet him in the foyer.

“I would very much like to kiss you,” he says, fiery warmth in his gaze as his eyes travel up and down her body in the curve-hugging black dress, “but it looks like you just finished your makeup and I don’t want to ruin it.  So just know I’m saving one extra for later.”  But he does put his arms around her, pulling her close, pressing his mouth against the creamy bare skin of her shoulder, and she has to swallow hard over and over again to keep from crying off the perfect wings of black eyeliner that took her three tries to get right.

“How are you here?” she finally manages to whisper, but the mystery is solved before she can even finish her sentence.

“Clarke,” she hears Callie’s gleeful, mischievous voice from above her, “I believe your Halloween present is here.  Run downstairs so I can come take some pictures.”

“Pictures of what?” Clarke demands, little feet scampering out of her room towards the staircase, where she too stops short at the sight of him.

But Clarke recovers faster than her mother did, launching herself down the steps with lightning speed to fling her arms around him and let herself be lifted up and pulled close to his chest in a massive hug.  “You look just like him!” she squeals.  “You even have the mustache.”

Marcus sets her back down on her feet and examines her costume.  “Perfect,” he pronounces emphatically.  “She did great.”

“I told you I would,” laughs Callie, descending the stairs, camera in hand.

Abby stares from one to the other.  “Did you two cook this up together?”

Marcus and Callie grin at each other conspiratorially, like mischievous children.  “Maybe,” he says, refusing to elaborate further, then bows deeply at Abby and holds out his hand to her.  “Cara mia,” he says again, his low voice making her shiver even with Clarke and Callie standing right there.

“You’re staying the night, right?” she murmurs into his ear as they pose for photo after photo, so quietly that Clarke doesn’t hear her.

He chuckles, warm and low.  “That depends.  You don’t have to give the dress back, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Then I’m definitely staying the night.”

“I can’t promise you I’ll want to wear the wig any longer than I have to.”

“I’m willing to compromise on the wig,” he says, winking at her, and then pulls back and pivots smoothly on his heel to dip her dramatically in his arms, making Clarke giggle, and suddenly even the delicious thought of Marcus unzipping her out of the tight black dress is pushed out of her mind by the realization of what this is and what she’s doing.

They have matching Halloween costumes, so they can go trick-or-treating together.

Callie is taking family photos of them.

These are family photos.

They are a family.

She feels that old, familiar pang in her chest, thinking of Jake, but it doesn’t push the smile away or dull her happiness.  Not like it used to.

Jake always meant that box to be opened.  He always meant those orange paper Halloween lanterns to hang over the dining room table.  He always wanted this for Clarke.  He would want this for her now.

Perhaps it is possible, after all, to get back the thing she’d lost.  Something different, but no less real.

Because Marcus is family now.  She knows this, down to her bones.  Yes, he came to see her, and yes, she can tell from the way his eyes never leave her that the allure of Abby dressed as one of his favorite movie characters was a powerful draw.

But he did this for Clarke.

She knows this even before she makes him say it to her, out loud, later that night, as they stand in the white glow of moonlight streaming in through her bedroom window, as he steps in close to her and kisses the back of her neck to unzip the black dress.  She knows it as he leans over to steal a bite from Clarke’s candy apple, knows it every time he reaches out instinctively for her tiny hand as they cross the street to get to the next house, knows it as he lifts her into his arms to let her sleepy head droop onto his pinstriped shoulder as they make their way back home.

Every time he gets in his car and drives out of Manhattan and through the long stretches of forest-lined highway to pull up in front of her front door, it is not only Abby he’s coming home to.

“I just like to see her happy,” he says helplessly, when she asks him, and she does kiss him then, turning around in his arms, unzipped dress sliding off her shoulders, black wig and red lipstick gone, face pink and clean.  Just Abby and Marcus, alone in the moonlight, with a tiny blonde creature snoring two rooms away, sleeping the sleep of the candy-intoxicated, hair a wild golden cloud from Callie’s pincurls.  “I just wanted to see the look on her face.”

“I don’t know how to tell you,” she starts to say, but can’t finish the sentence.  She doesn’t have the words for him, for what it means to her.  He bought a suit for this, shaved off his beard for this, cut his hair for this, and drove four hours from Manhattan with a jack o’lantern in his back seat, just to make Clarke smile on Halloween.

He tilts her chin up to look into her eyes, and she sees that his are shining with tears.  “I like to see you happy too,” he says softly, and then bends his head to kiss her, and no one says anything for a long time after that.

He lets her sleep in the next morning, since it’s her day off, and takes Clarke to school himself.  She wakes around nine-thirty to the smell of nutmeg and cinnamon, and comes downstairs in her pajamas to see a pan of pumpkin-cinnamon bread pudding on the counter.  The kitchen is empty, but she knows he must be home; there’s a steaming mug of coffee on the marble island, with more in the pot for her, and his keys and wallet are sitting next to them, along with a little rectangle of yellow paper, creased like he’d folded it up and put it in his pocket.  But it’s unfolded now, and she can see the logo of Saint Henry’s Church at the top of it, which is unexpected enough that it prompts her to pick it up and read it.

It’s a receipt for a five-dollar donation.

She stares at it for a long time, bleary with sleep, puzzling it out, before she hears the back door close and sees him come up the steps, holding the glass votives he took out of the jack o’lanterns before putting them into the compost bin.

“Dia de los Muertos,” he says softly, as he enters the kitchen.  “Tomorrow is All Souls’ Day.  Clarke and I stopped by the church to light a candle.”

“For Jake,” she whispers, and he nods.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he confesses, coming closer and putting his arms around her.  “Any of this.  But I always want her to feel like there’s room for both of us – for him and for me – to live side-by-side.”  He kisses the top of her head.  “Is that okay?” he murmurs into her hair, sudden worry in his voice.  “Should I have asked?”

She shakes her head, face still buried in his chest, the cotton of his sweater warm and soft beneath her cheek.

“No,” she whispers.  “It’s perfect.  You did everything right.”

[princessweddingdresseslondo-blog]

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16 Cheap Budget Wedding Venue Ideas For The Ceremony ...

Table of Contents13 Of San Diego's Best Wedding Venues - See PricesAmerica's Best Wedding Venues - BridesBest Wedding Venues In Philadelphia - Top Wedding Venues ...Wedding Venues - Calaveras Visitors BureauNontraditional Outdoor Wedding Venues - Mayflower VenuesWedding Locations In The Pocono MountainsThe Best Virginia Wedding Venues For Washingtonian Couples

Your visitors will be welcomed to take a gondola ride up Aspen Mountain to an altitude of 11,212 feet, where they will certainly reach your ceremony at The Wedding celebration Deck or surrounding Aspen Mountain Club. Spectacular sights of the famous Maroon Bells and the Rocky Mountains will certainly mount the special memories developed on your wedding.

Spectacular 360-degree views transform from the Channel Islands beyond Santa Barbara to rambling canyons under old covers of Eucalyptus. Aromatic Magnolia and orange blooms perfume the landscape for a wedding celebration experience like nothing else. Santa Barbara, CA The Cattle Ranch at Rock Creek Miles of river, forest, valley, and view give virtually infinite possibilities for picture-perfect and awesome ceremonies, intimate breakfasts, and also cheery functions.

Below, you can wed at the Historical Barn, or claim "I do" in the middle of the wild blossoms as well as Huge Skies background. Philipsburg, MT Glenmere Manor Establish on 150 acres of lush landscape, Glenmere Manor delivers you to Europeonly 50 miles far from New york city City. The 5-star hotel permits buy-outs, so the residential property might become yours for the weekend break.

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Chester, NY Malibu Rocky Oaks Estate Vineyards This top-rated winery venue boasts breathtaking views of the Santa Monica Hills and also rolling hills of California for a sky-high experience like no various other. Pro pointer: the estate advises booking days from April to November for the very best weather and also greenest creeping plants. Malibu, CA AMAN Venice Establish in among the city's 8 amazing monumental palazzos on the Grand Canal, AMAN Venice embodies all that is superb and sensuous regarding La Serenissima (Northern Italy).

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Venice, Italy Daughters of the American Revolution Hall This desirable venue just blocks from the White Home features glorious views of the Washington Monument. Crystal light fixtures, antique home furnishings, and also glamorous Beaux-Arts architecture are simply a few of the reasons we love this historic room, whose indoor/outdoor alternatives are both classy and also picturesque.

Pippin Hillside Ranch & Vineyards Sweeping sights of rolling hillsides and also vineyards matched with a cooking experience like nothing else is all you require for an effective celebrationand Pippin Hill has you covered on all accounts. What's even more, the home is owned and also operated by Easton Doorperson Group, co-founded by one of FAIR Bride's Leading Wedding Organizers on the planet, Lynn Easton of Easton Occasions.

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It treads an equilibrium in between English sophistication and also playfully surrealfor some, Aynhoe Park is an eclectic playground of the creative imagination; for others, it's a study in improvement. For all, nevertheless, it is a retreat from the predictable and also a remedy to the everyday. See just how this couple wed at Anyhoe Park and merged the English countryside with Burning Man motivation to suit their design.

Go with an intimate ceremony in the church surrounded by frescoes, or benefit from one of the bigger locations on residential property (for approximately 500 guests). Delight in dinner outside in the gardens or inside your home at the Conventino, an old church inside the building developed into a great hall. Florence, Italy Haiku Mill A magnificent property situated on Maui's north coast, off the famous Road to Hana, you'll find Old Globe Europe satisfies natural Hawaiian elegance at Haiku Mill.

Maui, Hawaii Ritz Paris Paris, while called The City of Light, is also indisputably the city of love and also romance. As Well As the Ritz Paris is a jewel box in the facility of it all, with its sweeping views of the Location Vendme. With magnificent ballrooms, perfectly appointed collections, and also a few of the most quintessentially Parisian details in shop, it's not surprising that style brides around the world desire for wedding event inside its walls and in it's private courtyard.

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If you can't determine whether a lavish ballroom function, a countryside event, or a '20's glam after celebration feel is ideal for you, this place could house them alland more. Asheville, NC Flora Farms This farm-to-table place as well as restaurant is a Cabo fan-favoriteand permanently reason. With countless private outdoor areas for occasions, like a Mango Grove with a brick barn, a natural herb yard amphitheater, an attractive potting shed, restaurant, as well as extra, the variety of visitors as well as time of year assistance establish which area is best suited for you.

San Jos del Cabo, Mexico Atlanta History Center Assume Selected the Wind at this historical house in the heart of Georgia. With gorgeous style and gardens, consider the majestic grass at the Swan House Mansion or the rustic beauty of the Smith Family Farm and also McElreath Hall for your wedding celebration settingeither way you'll like its Southern style.

Offering an unique setup for any dimension party (huge or little), the dramatic clocktower is elegant, open, and airy. And also when you aren't eating in one of the city's best recognized structures, your visitors can enjoy all the dining establishments, tasks, as well as websites SF needs to use. San Francisco, CA French's Factor Make your wedding event seem like a vacation, a reunion, as well as a wedding all-in-one at French's Pointa stunning 14-acre place on the coast of Maine.

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13 Scenic Outdoor Wedding Venues In San Diego ...

Stockton Springs, ME The Frick Collection Stimulating the prestige of Opulent Age New York, The Frick Collection is an internationally acknowledged gallery as well as research center recognized for its notable Dutch Master paints as well as outstanding examples of European sculpture and also attractive arts. While numerous New york city City locations of this quality feel grand, expansive, and also a lot more suitable for a large guest list, this special area supplies a classy yet intimate feeling for any ceremony, reception, mixed drink party, or welcome dinner.

New York, NY, U.S.A. Domaine de Andols Exuding pure luxury in distinctive ways, Domaine de Andols features unique, contemporary villas for you and also your guests as well as a majestic centenary tree changed into restaurant at the base of the Domaine. Serving fresh and also neighborhood items at this suspended tree top terrace, the sight of the Domaine and the smell of the lavender areas are just a pair of the reasons you'll never ever intend to leave.

Saint-Saturnin-ls-Apt, France Taj Lake Royal residence Organizing previous clientele such as Jacqueline Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth, this regal and entirely romantic royal residence in Udaipur is second to none. The resort's striking white marble facade with views of Udaipur, the Aravalli mountains, as well as temples all over function as bryllupslokaler amager the ultimate backdrop for an intimate wedding event in India.

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Pro Idea: Right here, you'll likely need to schedule a certain variety of rooms for up to 60 guests, so see to it to verify your matter. Udaipur, India Four Seasons Lanai Breathtaking sights of the Pacific and also an authentic Polynesian social flair meet the ultimate in service, convenience, and quality at the 4 Seasons Lanai.

Lanai City, Hawaii The White Elephant A New England location with a preppy flair, the White Elephant harbor side inn hosts wedding celebrations on its well-manicured yard. For those aiming to throw a particularly lavish occasion, the entire resort (with space for 300 guests) is readily available for rental fee. Functions follow on the terrace ignoring the waterside, with enough oysters as well as mixed drinks to please also the pickiest of visitors.

The location comes complete with a selection of choices, both inside your home as well as out, like the sophisticated Light fixture Ballroom, which houses 8 custom Baccarat crystal light fixtures, as well as the 8,000-square-foot Wonderful Grass, with unlimited ocean views. Montecito, CA Cedar Lakes Estate This is where you should head if "down to Earth," "rustic," "nature-lover," or "contemporary bohemian" best explains you or your aesthetic.

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From a treehouse to lakeside event, this building satisfaction itself on just reserving a select varieties of weddings annually to concentrate on making each of them one-of-a-kind, special, and well-executed. Greenville, NY Nizuc Hotel & Health Club Simply outside Cancnand just ten minutes from the airportlies paradise, calmness, as well as nothing near to the spring break vibes you're used to in this part of the country.

Remain in a contemporary skyscraper with your very own personal plunge pool, or select a relaxing garden villa in the mangroves. Boasting two special beaches, an extravagant spa by ESPA, six premium dining establishments, as well as sumptuous accommodations, Nizuc is perfect for wedding events both big as well as small. Place: Cancun, Mexico Amangiri Amangiri, which suggests 'relaxed mountain', is located in Southern Utah and is a minimalist's dream.