#(this was NOT the original airbnb she booked but that one turned out to be Not Roscoe Friendly) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

third-eye-sky · 6 months

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LA AirBnb Fiasco

Let us start from the top. It's Friday and I arrive in downtown LA via surfliner before my other 4 friends arrive. We are all in town for a Euphonic Presents event where Emancipator, Mr. Carmack, Ardalan, Polish Ambassador, Yheti, etc. will be playing. I had myself a fun little journey to the Airbnb and took a Lime scooter from the train station, unemployed and very few cares in the world.

The Airbnb we booked was already questionable at best before entering- the amount of documents provided for check in, tedious instructions including registering all guests and needing to check them in with building security, required to provide photo ID prior to checking in, required to check in with security and show ID, a lot of reiteration on "this is not a hotel, people live in this building", threats of incurring fees if noise complaints are given, confusing verbiage for parking, etc, already had me on edge about the Airbnb. Originally the group max was 4 but one of my best friends Mia realized she would be able to attend and the Airbnb refuses any guest over 4 and she missed the registration period so we already had an added stress on figuring out how to get her up to the room without any hassle from security.

That first evening was great, we managed to get all of us into and out of the room several times before we needed to get ready for dinner - still had to go up to the room in groups of 2 and 3 so as to not draw suspicion because security was indeed checking in names and the room we were in. Thankfully none of us even needed to show ID's to security but we realized that when they change out for shifts, we may run into troubles because we'd have to reiterate that we are all checked in. The host uses this app called August that connects the deadbolt to a piece of technology that unlocks the deadbolt. We had no issues locking and unlocking the door up until 10 pm the first night.

We have an absolute blast at the event, getting attention from so many men that could tell we weren't from LA (bc I guess LA women do no give dudes the time of day). Our friend Ardalan actually played the event and to avoid issues with security at the Airbnb my friend Mia and I decide to get a head start back to the space. As we are walking out of the event we bump into Ardalan and he invited us to a little after hang in downtown LA and we figured why not, we assumed the other girls were going to stay awhile longer.

We pull up to the spot and it's literally 0.2 miles from our Airbnb, perfect. The second we get into the space and take a shot Mia and I get calls and texts from every one of the other girls asking where we are and that they're locked out of the Airbnb... they're livid at us. Of course, our bad, we definitely should have communicated what we were up to, especially since I am the only person with the app and the key to get us in the room. We walk back to the Airbnb to the girls pissed and sitting in the hall outside of the room - my friend Rileigh is stressed and has to piss. I use the August app, hold it up to the door, I hear the lock working, the app turns green and indicates that it is unlocked, I reach for the handle, the knob turns, and I am met with a firmly locked door. I try again, the app says it's locked, the app says it's unlocked, I try the door again.... it is still locked. *queue panic* We realize the app and the lock is not working. We go downstairs to talk to security who informs us he can't help unless there is instruction from the host. Mind you, it is nearly 5 am. I message the host but we all assume we're locked out until he wakes up which could be several more hours.

At this time, all 5 of us are nearly at each others throats in the lobby because two of them were still insanely mad and blaming Mia and I for this misfortune. In that moment, I got my period. There's no bathroom in the lobby and I start pacing around trying to decide if I just free bleed on the floor or find a place to put a tampon in. I end up going outside on the sidewalk to put in a tampon... this is where we are at (lol).

Since we aren't getting a response from the host, Mia and I present that we go over to this spot right around the corner we were invited to so we can hang out and be safe while we wait for the host to wake up. The three that were mad and Mia and I are dragging their feet and are still pissed at us. We decide to walk over to the other spot. The guys there were so accommodating and the space was beautiful, they were giving us drinks and free k bumps. Finally the girls warm up to the cards that were dealt and have a great time with these guys. Lowkey... Mia and my frowned upon sidequest was the savior of the night.

From the stress and the cramps I knowingly put myself into a k hole and let everyone else deal with the host as he finally wakes up around 6:30. He's telling us the app says the door is unlocked on his end. I come to from my k-hole and walk back to the Airbnb with Monica who has been nothing but a saint this whole time, she went full project manager mode on everyone trying her damndest to get us in our room. We walk up to the room, the app does the same thing... connects to the device and sounds like it's working but the door is still locked shut. We go down and ask security to please help us. He comes upstairs and who the fuck even knows what he does but uses a card, a coin, and strength, and with all his jimmying he heard a noise and said with hope in his eye - try it now. I try the app and for fuck sake we get in the room... finally.... at 7:45 am.

The host tells us he's "sorry for the inconvenience" then lets us know if we want ANY refund we pack up and leave now.... at 8 am after being on the streets all fucking night. We end up passing out and wake up to a locksmith banging on our door at noon. Dude fucks with the lock, screws some things, whatever, and he got it to work again. The lock was operational via the app as far as I could tell. We are so exhausted we don't muster energy to go to the buildings pool until almost 4 pm. We lock the door, walk 5 steps and realize we forgot the pool key, we go back to the room..... the app and lock IS NOT WORKING AGAIN.

Longest story short the host finally sends someone over to give us a physical key for the space but at this point, our stay is, while eventful... has somewhat ruined all our Saturday plans due to lack of sleep. I go back and forth with the host and Airbnb for weeks after our stay attempting to get a refund to which Airbnb says in their policy the host did everything he could and therefore there is no evidence to support a refund. The host questioned my intelligence, blamed intoxication, made up stories, and in general tried to make the whole situation seem to be a dumb bitch user error and not a serious mechanical issue with his lock.

Toward the end there it felt like a sex and class war... this dude (host) in a position of power that clearly has money (two units in this building he rents out) being defensive and blaming ME for the issues we had. He assumed I'd write a nasty review and said because of that his team (yes, this fuck has an entire team that still was unable to get us into the unit Friday night) would not provide a refund.

Airbnb also told me at the beginning of the week a refund would not be possible so I went ahead and wrote my review for the host. Straightforward and factual. I woke up to a message from Airbnb yesterday that said they would bring the case to someone higher up that may be able to help.... after telling me MULTIPLE times the case was closed. I literally am never using Airbnb again... between this and learning about their policies supporting apartheid and illegal displacement of Palestinians, I am more than done with their services.

Idk if anyone made it this far but if you did... kudos. Part of me wants to record myself telling the whole story as I'm sure it would be more entertaining.

#personal #dtla #writing #airbnb #nightmare #airbnb nightmare #story telling #story time

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ourtriptoportugal · 7 months

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Logos to Lisbon

Thursday 9/28 Today we are traveling from Lagos to Lisbon. And we will be staying in Lisbon for 9 nights.

After breakfast we walked over to the bus station, which is only 3 blocks from our hotel, to check on the status of the bus strike. The ticket person said the equivalent of “they’re maybe on strike or maybe not… you’ll know if your bus shows up”. Anyway we buy tickets for the 11:15 bus with the uncertainty of knowing whether our bus will ever show up. We go back to the hotel, check out and take our luggage to the bus station and wait.

Picture of empty bus station in Logos. Will the bus show up? No one seems to know.

It turns out there was an express bus at 11:00, but she booked us on a bus that takes 25 minutes longer and makes many stops. I am not sure if she didn’t like us or we just had a communication problem. Regardless, we cannot figure out the bus system in Portugal. There appears to be multiple bus companies, some owned by others, all using the same bus stations. We have not been able to find a web site that lists all the buses and their schedules, nor do they post the schedules at the bus station. You are at the mercy of the ticket person!

The good news is the bus does shows up and takes a different route back along a two-lane road/highway making multiple stops along the way through small towns and country backroads. When we originally came down from Lisbon to Logos, we came via a freeway. So we are seeing parts of Portugal that are off the beaten path and traveling mainly with locals on the bus. I think we are the only seniors and Americans on the bus. I find the bus more enjoyable than getting a rental car, as both of us can watch the countryside, sleep, eat and/or surf the internet and the bus has a bathroom on board.

The picture on the left below is Vila Nova de Milfontes, a small town we stopped at on a river that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The picture on the right is the bus stop at Porto Covo, which Is also located on the ocean.

The picture on the left below illustrates the color of most of the houses we saw on our bus ride… white stucco with either blue or gold trim with a terracotta roof. The picture on the right is the Águas Livres Aqueduct. It is one of the best examples of 18th-century Portuguese engineering.

We arrived in Lisbon around 3:30pm and took an Uber to our AirBnB. We, actually mostly MaryEllen, could not have picked a better location to stay in Lisbon. We are in the core of downtown Lisbon in an ultra modern 1 bedroom 1/2 bath apartment. Here are some pictures of the apartment:

Our apartment overlooks the Praça dos Restauradores and is about 50 feet from the Restauradores metro stop. It is a couple of blocks to the Rossio train station. Here is the view from our apartment living room and bedroom window. The apartment has double-pane windows, shutters and drapes, and when we shut them we don’t hear any street noise.

For dinner we both wanted just a salad, which we have found difficult to find in European restaurants, so we ended up going to the Hard Rock Cafe in Lisbon, which was only two blocks away from where we are staying.

After dinner we heard some loud music and commotion going on down the street so we went to explore and found an outdoor fashion show at Praça Dom Pedro IV, which is Lisbon’s central plaza.

The picture below on the left is a woman cutting ham slices for the invited guests of the fashion show. Others could watch from a distance. The picture on the right is from the show itself.

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michellefuller · 2 years

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here’s a list of things that went wrong this weekend so i can’t gaslight myself in the future into think that “it wasn’t that bad” or that i’m “being overdramatic” when i call it the worst couple of days of my adult life thus far:

before

• i had either really bad allergies or a small cold the week leading up to the flight (but after mcr) so i’m severely congested which doesn’t make the flight fun

•i almost passed out from the stress of anticipation… but like ooooh honey, you’ve got a storm coming

friday

•we left like 45 minutes late bc of the winds in vegas and bc of air traffic

•we couldn’t find the airbnb for a solid 15 minutes

saturday, day of wwwy

•my sister loses her drivers license the first time, so we spend 20 minutes looking for it and stressing about lyft possibly showing up before we find it (she found it and her debit card in her makeup bag)

•lyft shows up to take us to the hotel we were staying in the following night, she loses her if a second time on the walk from the door of the airbnb to the car. it fell out of her pocket. so we book a lyft back to try to find it again but we think someone probably picked it up. this is the start of some major problems

•on the drive back to the hotel, we see the fest has been canceled for day one

•my sister gets in contact with groupon, starting at 11am to try and modify the reservation and put my name on it so we can use my identification to check us in. they tell her to expect an email “SOON” with confirmation that it’s changed. it isn’t until 3:30pm that someone tells us it could take up to a week for the email to arrive

•we see if we could fly home that night. flights are at 6 and 7pm, but we don’t feel comfortable enough to book those bc of the loss of driver’s license problem. we were told you’re supposed to arrive 3 hours before the flight for tsa shit. so let me reiterate in different terms: had any of the SEVERAL groupon representatives told us even 30 minutes earlier about how long the email could take we could’ve flown home THAT NIGHT. so we scramble to book a different hotel for the night

sunday

•we get to the airport at 8am, our flight is at 12:16pm

•tsa takes her (and she takes my wallet??) i wander aimlessly around for 45 minutes, unable to buy some stupid entertainment or food

•they release her. it’s almost 9am, we kill time until noon.

•flight is delayed an hour and they move us from gate a to gate b, all the way across the airport.

•we kill more time, no one know where the flight crew is

• we finally board about 1:30 (two hours after original boarding time)

•we sit for 30 minutes before they tell us a nonessential part of the plane is broken after de-icing twice, but they’ll check if everything else is legal and safe for flight

• another 15 minutes, the deplane us, and move us back to the gate a side (?????)

•another 15 minutes: “hey folks, flight is CANCELED and our next available flight is friday” entire gate laughs at the audacity. the give us $200 vouchers + flight refund, supposedly FOR THAT NIGHT, but it doesn’t actually come through until today. two days later. and they refuse to help us get on another flight

•bc of the driver’s license situation, we scramble to to look for other flights because we can’t definitively leave the airport until we know we’re not taking a flight bc they told her they won’t let her back through tsa

•we also can’t rent a car bc i can’t drive. but i have a lightbulb moment and suggest amtrak. the idea takes, so we scramble for a second last minute hotel room

monday

•nothing went terribly wrong other than our bus started running an hour behind after we got into california, which turned a 10 hour trip into almost 12 (not accounting for the 2 hour trip home i still had to take after we arrived in my sister’s city)

-i’m writing this all down bc my body has only just now started to decompress and process 4 days of constant stress, so i started to cry a little bit and i needed to remind myself it’s okay bc i did go through a lot bc i kept vaguely tweeting about it on twitter and it sure people thought i was being over dramatic bc the silly little festival fucked us over

#michelleposts

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prettyboyjackhughes · 3 years

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-Draft Day- |J. Hughes|

“Char, you know as soon as they announce his name, you’re the first person he’ll try to find.” Trev says, messing with his tie. Tonight was the 1st night of the NHL draft. Jack is expected to go number one, Trev and Alex not far after. I was super excited for all of them but I wasn’t able to be in 3 places to sit with all of them. Trev and I had shared every little thing since we were born, might as well share this too.

“Well good thing he’s not that far away.” Jack says, turning around and smiling at me. Alex and Madi are in the row behind us. Madi and I had gone shopping for draft dresses a few weeks ago. I had bought a gray, short, off the shoulder sweater body con dress. Madi’s dress was a black, short body con dress with puff sleeves. She had paired her’s with nude heels and I had worn mine with black knee high heeled boots that made me almost as tall as Jack. Jack was wearing a blue suit with red stripes and a red and blue checkered tie. Trev had on a black suit with a light blue tie. Alex’s suit is my favorite. It’s light gray with a navy blue tie. Jack turns around and looks at me again.

“Trev’s right though. You’re the first one I’m looking for. So you’d better be ready to kiss me.” I laugh and lean in to kiss him.

“Baby baby! Not yet! I don’t want lipstick on my face when I get called up!” I roll my eyes and lean back in my seat, crossing my legs, my dress sliding up apparently too far for Jack and my brother’s comfort.

“Seriously Char? Pull it down!” Jack says loudly. Luke laughs and looks back at me.

“For real Charlie! No one wants to see that!” Trev says, pulling my skirt down for me. I roll my eyes and Madi laughs. The announcer comes on and asks everyone to take their seats and I reach over, taking Trev’s hand.

“Welcome to the 2019 National Hockey League Draft. Our first draft will be from the New Jersey Devils.” Jack shifts anxiously in his seat and Trev reaches down with his free hand to pat his shoulder.

“With the first pick overall, The New Jersey Devils are proud to select, from the U.S. program, Jack Hughes.” Jack stands up, the biggest grin I’ve ever seen on his face. He immediately turns around and almost falls over the chairs, reaching for me. I stand up and step towards him. Our lips connect and I can feel the smile on his face. After a few seconds, he pulls away. He hugs the whole Hughes family, Turcs, Trev, and Madi, and then makes his way to the stage. He had left his suit jacket on the back of his chair; leaving him in just his button up shirt. It hugs his upper body and arms in all the right places and shows off the muscles he’s worked extremely hard to get.

“Damn, he looks good in red.” I say, leaning back and patting Madi’s knee as Jack pulls the number 19 Devils jersey over his head, his hair sticking up adorably. She laughs and we all sit, waiting for Alex’s and Trev’s names to be called. We politely clap for every guy drafted but all I can focus my mind on is the fact that my boyfriend got drafted number one overall and was gonna be playing in the NHL alongside my brother and his best friend. Along with what will happen after all this is over, what Jack and I will do when we get home. Jack’s parents and Dukes were all staying at Quinn’s apartment in downtown Vancouver. My parents and Alex’s parents were all at a hotel about 20 minutes away from Quinn’s apartment. But since this is a big couple weeks for the boys and they would be coming and going so frequently, the parents all pitched in and booked the 5 of us an Airbnb for the next 2 weeks. While Trev was the third wheel to both couples, I’ve been woken up by him sneaking a few girls out at 4 in the morning before he thinks we’re all awake.

“You’re gonna get hell from all the girls in love with him.” Trev says as they announce the 3rd pick. I shrug, not worried about it.

“They’re not the ones sleeping with him at night. I am.” I say, smirking and laughing. Madi high fives me and I flip my hair.

“Wow, real humble aren’t we, Char?” Alex says, shifting in his seat and putting his arm around Madi’s waist. I smile and Alex gently tugs a chunk of my hair. .

“And with the fifth overall pick, the Los Angeles Kings select, from the U.S. National Development Program, Alex Turcotte.” Alex stands up and pulls Madi up with him. He pecks her on the cheek, not locking lips like Jack and I did. He hugs Trev, his parents and then reaches for me. I stand up, hug him and whisper in his ear.

“I’m so proud of you Turcs, love you.” He smiles and heads down to the stage.

“Madi that’s your boy!” I laugh as she snaps pictures of him.

“I feel like a proud mom!” She says, smiling. Trev’s gotten quiet during the last few minutes. I nudge him, waiting for a response as he stares at his phone.

“Huh? Oh I’m okay. Just, taking it all in.” I can see in his eyes he’s off but I’m not sure why. The management at the Anaheim Ducks had talked to him a while back and had mentioned if he was still there when it came their turn to pick, they’d take him. He was happy about that, since that meant he and Alex would both be out in California, but it also meant he didn’t really have anything to worry about. He’d be getting picked in the first round no matter what.

“And with the ninth overall pick, the Anaheim Ducks are proud to select, from the U.S. National Program, Trevor Zegras.” Trev looks up, almost shocked to hear his own name. He stands up, a goofy grin on his face. I stand with him, pulling him into a hug.

“Trev, I’m so proud of you! This is our dream! Now go!” He pulls away and goes to Mom and Dad, pulling them both into a hug. He finally escapes the row and heads down the stairs to the stage, the big grin never leaving his face. I take a Snapchat of him pulling the Anaheim jersey over his head and shaking hands with the general manager. I caption it ‘Proud of my Bubs❤️’ and post it. Soon, after what seems like hours of watching boy after boy get called up, teammate after teammate of the boys getting drafted, we are finally dismissed and get to go meet up with the boys. We head to the family waiting area and see the boys, all huddled in a group, waiting for us. Madi and I take turns hugging each of them. Jack suddenly pulls me away and kisses me. He kisses me, tongue automatically slipping into my mouth. After what seemed like no time, he pulled away.

“Sorry, I had to finish that from earlier. But anyways, the boys wanna go out. But we don’t have to. I know we had...plans.” He says, very obviously squeezing my ass as his arm sneaks around my waist. I smirk as I see Trev’s face, who obviously saw what Jack did. Surprisingly, he doesn’t come to say anything.

“I’d rather go home. I’m kinda tired plus, I really want it.” I say, “accidentally” brushing my hand against the inside of Jack’s thigh as I turn around to face him. Trev sees that too and finally does come over.

“Seriously you two! What is your deal? Our parents are literally right there! Why not just walk over and tell them you’re leaving to go have sex?” He says, attempting to keep his voice quiet but Madi and Alex still hear and excuse themselves from Alex’s parents, making their way over to us.

“Good lord Trev, keep your voice down! Besides, we all know you’ve been texting some girl all night trying to get her to come hook up with you when y’all go out.” Alex says, elbowing Trev. His face flames red and I almost want to put an end to the embarrassment he’s suffering on his big night but after what he said, I decide not to.

“Okay no need to expose me like that and it was one, okay two girls. So leave me alone.” He says, crossing his arms. We all laugh and Trev’s signature grin returns to his face.

“Okay kids, I need pictures.” Alex’s mom says, coming over and bursting our little bubble. Jack’s hand, which was safely in mine somehow escapes and travels back down to its original place. I roll my eyes and elbow him in the side. His hand goes away and instead, he wraps his arms around my shoulders. He’s going through a phase where he always has to be touching me, no matter how. From his hand in mine to playing with my hair, he’s always touching me. And I’m 100% okay with it.

“I want the boys first then we can do the couples and Charlie and Trev.” Turcs’ mom is a family photographer and really successful in Island Lake, where they’re from. Jack is in the middle, Alex on his left, Trev on his right. They all have the most genuine smiles on their faces. I pull Madi over to the giant NHL draft logo on the wall and we take a few selfies in front of it.

“Charlie, you know that boy is in love with you, right?” She says, glancing up at Jack and nudging me. I look up and catch him staring. I smile and he winks. My stomach drops and I get butterflies.

“Yeah I know, Mads. And I’m in love with him.” I say, smiling and hugging my best friend.

#nhl story #jack hughes #nhl imagine #hockey players #hockey #nhl #nhl writing #nhl draft

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wondersofdreaming · 4 years

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Free Bird

Characters: Henry Cavill x female reader

Word count: 1.552

Warnings: Neglect. Hurt. Anger-ish. Sadness. Regret.

Author’s note: Originally a request for @littlefreya, who asked if I wanted to write it. This is what I could come up with.

I do not own any characters in this short story, except the reader who is a figment of my imagination.

Tag: @katerka88 @littlefreya @hell1129-blog @mitzwinchester @mary-ann84 @valkavill @sciapod @henry-cavlll @luclittlepond @iloveyouyen @trippedmetaldetector @radaofrivia @omgkatinka @gothwhopper @fcgrizi @alyxkbrl @singeramg @onlyhenrys @henrythickcavill @madbaddic7ed @palaiasaurus64 @queenslandlover-93 @magdelen69 @shellbilee @mis-lil-red @vania-marie

Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list.

MASTERLIST

Feedback is appreciated.

Your relationship had started out as romantic and wonderful, as most relationships did. He would send you flowers, chocolates, take you out for dinners, movies. After months of dating and being given a lot of attention, he gave you a key to his house. He asked you to come and go as you pleased, hoping you would eventually move permanently in with him. You were elated. To begin with, you left a spare toothbrush and some clothes, but you never needed those as you always wore his. Little by little did you move your things into his house and rented your place out through Airbnb.

Months passed with the two of you being like two peas in a pod. Love was blooming between you, and he was even thinking of proposing. His dog loved you, his family adored you, his friends were ecstatic to have you in their group.

Then he got that job, and everything changed.

At first, he called every single day while he was out of the country during the pre-production. You would video-chat at night before bed, just because he missed you so much and couldn’t sleep without hearing your voice or seeing your beautiful smile.

“I miss you, sweetheart,” he would whisper while you both lay in bed with the computer next to you. His face illuminated by the blueish light from the screen.

“I miss you too.”

You had planned to visit him on set, but your boss had squashed those plans. You had been burdened with a mountain of work, and not even the saved-up vacation days could save you. So, you stayed back to work. Disappointed.

The phone calls and video chats became further and further apart. Henry would tell you that he was too tired, that it had been a long day, that he had an early morning. The excuses kept piling up.

You didn’t mind it at first. You understood that his job came first, it was his dream. One day everything had gone bad. You had slept through your alarm, you had stumbled through the house, stubbed your toes, scraped your knees, and banged your head. You missed the train and had to run from the station to your office, barely making it on time. You had forgotten to charge your phone, so when you turned it on back home, you had missed a call from Henry. He had left a voice message saying that he couldn’t make the call that night, but he would call again the next day. Ending the voice mail with an ‘I miss you’, not his usual ‘I love you’.

You tried not to cry but ended up wailing and sobbing yourself to sleep in his large blue hoodie with the rose print on the front.

The next morning you felt a little bit better. After you had taken a quick shower you saw that it was about time for his mid-morning break, so you decided to call.

“Henry Cavill’s phone, how may I help you?” A female voice answered.

“Oh… Ehm… Hi, I’m his girlfriend, may I speak to Henry?”

“I’m sorry, you just missed him. He’s gone back to filming; can I pass a message to him?”

“Oh… No, no thank you. I’ll just wait for him to call back.”

But he didn’t. He forgot. He called the day after, telling you he fell asleep. He didn’t even apologize as he had to get back to work. He promised to call that evening, but you asked him not too if he was too busy. He said he wanted to. So, you waited, and waited, and waited some more before falling asleep with a saddened heart.

He stopped making an effort to call or chat, or anything after that. You didn’t do anything on your end as well, as work was keeping you too busy to miss him, except for when you stayed at his house, there you were reminded of him everywhere. Your heart broke every time you stepped through the door.

You ended up sleeping in your own flat for a time. You told yourself it was better not to be at his place, where his scent was everywhere, where his face was on the photos of him and his family, where he had kissed you senseless and made you feel like the most precious woman on the planet.

Now, you felt nothing walking through the doors. You hadn’t heard from him in over two weeks. Not even a single text saying good morning or good night. It was silence from his end. You decided to do the same.

You packed up the things you had at his house, wrote a short note explaining why, and left his key with the neighbour. You were going to be a free bird.

What you didn’t know was that he was on his way home.

The next day Henry walked through the doors. A big smile on his chiselled face, while Kal was hopping excited beside him, as he unlocked the door.

The moment he stepped through, he felt something was off. Kal barked at him for not moving further inside.

“Good evening, Henry. So wonderful that you’re home,” his elderly neighbour said over the neatly trimmed hedge. “Your lovely lady left her key with me, I didn’t catch why, she was in such a hurry that poor dear. I think she’s suffering from horrible nightmares. She’s been crying herself to sleep for the past few months…”

Henry walked into his house, searching every nook and cranny. All your things were gone. Your books, your fuzzy socks, your scented candles. He found your note.

“Dear Henry. I wish you all the best.”

That was it. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Fuck!”

Henry crumbled the paper. He ran to his garage and started his motorcycle. It was past 8 pm. He knew you were home.

A few deep breaths later and he knocked on your door. He heard the lock being turned and your smiling face greeted him as you opened, but it quickly disappeared. It was replaced with a look of utter shock, and as tears started to form in your sorrowful eyes, he pulled you into his arms. The embrace was warm and familiar, something you had missed in all the months he had been gone.

You wanted to stay strong. To tell him to leave and never to come back. But instead, the only sound that came out of your mouth were sobs.

“I’m sorry,” his voice croaked as he himself was about to break down. “I’m so sorry.”

You tried to pry yourself out of his arms. Your mind and heart were fighting over your body. Mind wanting to throw him out, wanting to be left alone, never wanting to see him again. But your heart… your poor shattered heart wanted him, craved him and his soft touch.

In the end, your heart won.

Henry apologized profusely for the next week. He supported your decision to quit your job, as you weren’t happy there. He helped you find a new job, one that enabled you to travel with him anywhere in the world.

It took a long while before you could step back into his house. He had explained that the days on set had been gruelling as they were on a deadline. He had hardly gotten any sleep at all, as he kept on a tight schedule with little sleep and lots of training to keep his physique in top shape. He didn’t use it as an excuse, but rather as an example of what not to do in a relationship.

For filming the next season, he brought you with him. He would have been up for hours before you even would think of opening your eyes. There was always a red rose on his pillow with a small note attached to it with a quote telling you how much he loved you.

Some mornings he would still be in bed with you, holding you close to his chest, afraid you might be gone if he didn’t trap you in his muscular arms.

“Good morning, my love,” he would whisper in your ear. You would giggle and turn around to give him a gentle kiss on his soft lips. Sometimes he would become frisky and work you into a moaning mess, other times he would talk with you about everything between heaven and earth.

You would go with him to greet the horses, even ride with him on one of the gentle mares. Help him learn his lines while he’s in the makeup chair, having his face pulled and twisted for the wig.

Life became easier as you travelled the world with him. A day never went by without him telling you how beautiful you looked, didn’t matter if you had bedhead or were in a sexy black dress, nor would he forget to tell you that he loved you more than anything in the world. Every morning and every night.

At the end of filming season two, he had planned a special dinner for the two of you. The small square box had been sitting heavily in his pocket for a long time, and now was the time to give it to you. He prayed and hoped that you would say yes.

#Henry Cavill #This man #I need a drink #henry cavill fanfic #Fanfiction #Free bird #My story #Short story

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thesassenachswiftie · 3 years

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Lover - Chapter 10:”Cornelia Street”

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Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9

Summary: Claire and Jamie spend a night in the city. The next day, Jamie has a rude awakening and eventually our lovers head to Broadway to see Wicked.

Notes: As always, thank you for reading and leaving notes. Every time I get a notification is a small thrill and I really appreciate it. We have officially passed the half way point of this fic experiment! If you didn't figure it out from the way the last chapter ended, this one is more than a bit smutty. Smut is at the beginning and end if that's something you try to avoid. Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Cornelia Street

“I rented a place on Cornelia Street,” Jamie said casually in the car. “I was originally thinking since it’s early yet we could head to a bar down the street for a dram, but if you want to turn in for the night, I understand.” His blue eyes were twinkling with innuendo under the glow of passing streetlights.

“Hmm… I don’t think we need the assistance of alcohol tonight,” Claire raised her brow, catching his eye. “Unless you’re really set on it?”

“Nae, Sassenach, you’re more than enough for me.” he replied, stroking her thigh in the backseat. It was true, they were drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar. Now that the full force and truth of their love was unleashed, they were both in a state of anticipatory ecstasy. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other during the 15 minute Uber ride back to the subway station to pick up their bags and head to Manhattan. Neither of them could wait to get the other alone, enveloped in the privacy of the AirBnb. It was as if the streetlights pointed in an arrowhead leading them home.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk, Claire leading, eager to get to their destination. She turned around before she hit the subway tunnel, grabbing Jamie and wrapping her arms around his neck. They kissed passionately on the sidewalk, bodies pressed close, the promise of more a mere subway ride away.

Jamie and Claire emerged from underground just three blocks away from their destination. The nighttime autumn air was bringing a chill and a smattering of raindrops was starting to fall from the sky. Jamie draped his jacket around Claire’s shoulders, noticing that she was wrapping her arms close to her chest. Her smile lit up at the gesture. Although the warmth of their love should have, in theory, been strong enough to keep them warm, it was undeniable that the seasons were changing and winter was headed to New York.

By the time they arrived on Cornelia street, the rain had turned to a downpour and they found themselves running down the street, hand in hand to get to the warmth and privacy of their weekend abode. They dashed down the street until they stood before a building that appeared to be an old fashioned carriage house. Jamie punched some numbers into a keypad beside a side door and they heard a click as it unlocked. They scrambled through the open door and climbed up two flights of stairs where they were met with another door. Another code was entered and the door opened to reveal a spacious and airy apartment, well-appointed with cozy antique furniture and rugs, ornate light fixtures, modern artwork, and plenty of houseplants thriving among large, floor-to-ceiling windows. They were soaked through, their clothes clinging to their bodies. They dropped their bags on the floor as they entered.

“I’m freezing!” Claire squealed, reluctantly slipping Jamie’s jacket off her shoulders and slipping it on a hook by the door. She kicked off her shoes and scurried through the apartment towards what she hoped was a bedroom. Jamie found the thermostat on the wall near the dining area and turned it up higher than he normally would--but his Sassenach was cold and he wasn’t paying the bill. The heat kicked on quickly and the apartment began to fill with warm air. Jamie followed Claire into the bedroom and found it empty. He did however, notice a large armoire with a hidden gas fireplace (luckily he had read about this on the AirBNB website before booking), and took a moment to open it and turn the fireplace on. He then slipped around the corner towards the adjacent bathroom and stopped short at the sight before him. Claire had stripped off her wet clothing and was draping it over the shower rod in the bathroom to dry. Jamie caught a generous view of her backside glimpsing her through the bathroom doorway where he stood, taking in her beauty.

“I bless the rains on Cornelia Street” he lauded reverently, peeling off his own soaked shirt and guiding himself behind her, reaching over her head to drape his shirt next to hers, he moved his hands down her body slowly, settling them on her hips and pulling her close to him.

“Do you need help with those wet pants?” she hummed, turning her head towards him with a mischievous grin.

“Aye, that’d be bonny” Jamie replied. Claire turned around and put her hands on his chest, running them down to the waistband of his jeans. She unlatched his belt and slid it through the belt loops, tossing it aside where it landed with a thud on the bathroom floor. She crouched down to unbutton and unzip his fly, keeping her eyes locked on his face the entire time. She felt his hardness beneath her hands as she carried out her task. She slowly wriggled his jeans down to the floor and he stepped out of them. She picked them up off the floor, exaggerating her movements to give Jamie a full view of her arse, playfully leading him on a path there would be no going back from as she lifted them to the curtain rod, pressing her posterior against the rapidly growing bulge in his boxer briefs. “Why Mr. Fraser, I do believe despite the chill you are quite excited.”

“As if the sight of your arse in those jeans all day wasn’t enough to give a man a cock stand, to see it in its full glory… Christ Sassenach.” He’d had enough of her playing games, and spun her around to face him again, kissing her passionately as he scooped up handfuls of her arse, pulling her even closer to him. She slipped her fingers into the waistband of his underwear, edging them down gently with no small effort as they were wet from the rain. Once, they were also discarded on the floor, Jamie scooped her up effortlessly, hoisting her onto his hips as she wrapped her legs around his torso. They continued kissing, tongues dancing to steps only they knew, as he carried her into the bedroom and laid her down sideways on the end of the bed atop a soft, plush blanket, directly across from the fireplace. “Whatd’ya say I warm ya up Sassenach?” he growled as they came up for air.

“Mmmmhmm” was all she could muster out in response. The heat from the fireplace was already doing a good job of warming her, but she had a feeling it had more to do with being cradled in her Scots arms. He tented himself over her, rubbing his length over her folds, caressing her arms until gooseflesh arose. Planting hungry kisses on her neck and down her clavicle to her breast. He suckled ravenously, taking her soft pillow to his mouth, squeezing it reverently to his cheek before moving to the other breast as she bit her lip, taking in the sensation. When her wee noises indicated she couldn’t take his teasing anymore, he guided himself into her.

They gave themselves to each other fully, heart, body, mind and soul. It was a sacred new beginning for them after all they had said to each other just a few hours before. Jamie suddenly understood all that the church had taught him about marriage and sexuality. Although he and Claire were not yet wed, he realized the sacrament of marriage was not in the ceremony, but in the joining he and Claire were experiencing in this holy space. This was becoming their religion, he was worshipping the God who created this woman just for him and brought her to him safely. He also knew in this moment he could never again be parted from her. Each thrust was a commitment, to keep her safe, to love her, to see to her needs, to take care of her, to protect her from harm. He made these promises to her and himself silently, affirming each with a grunt to match her moans. He would make these commitments publically in a church someday, before God and loved ones, but for now they would stay in his head in the quiet of the room filling with nothing but the sounds of their heavy breaths and cries of pleasure. As he led them home with a final few thrusts, he cried out, “I love you, Claire. God, I love you.”

Jamie kissed Claire’s nose sweetly as they lay, wrapped in each other's arms, panting in post-coital bliss. “Now, I’m warm!” Claire exclaimed. She was flushed red, not only from what had just happened.

“Aye, so am I” Jamie agreed. The combination of forced air heat blasting from a nearby vent and the fireplace had made the room feel sultry and warm while Claire and Jamie were otherwise occupied. He was glistening with sweat, still above her, he rolled over and off the bed, and swung the window wide open, allowing the crisp autumn air to cool their skin. Claire rose to join him near the window, which looked out on an alleyway towards a brick wall. She wrapped her arms around him, bending her curls into the crook of his neck where she fit just right.

“I love you too, Jamie Fraser.” She said in a low voice as she kissed his shoulder. “Come back to bed.” She stepped away towards the bed, tugging at his hand. He cocked one eyebrow, staring intently at her.

“To bed, or to sleep?” he questioned. Claire simply eyed him with a mischievous grin and continued to lead him to the bed.

----------

Jamie, as he did the last time Claire told him she loved him, stayed awake with excitement into the wee hours of the night, softly stroking Claire’s curls and imagining their future together. Their future was a fresh page on the desk, and they’d fill in the blanks as they went, but he was certain that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Sleep took Claire much more quickly, worn out from a day of carousing around the city and a night of passionate lovemaking. Due to her restful sleep, Claire woke when sunlight started creeping into the room. She slipped out of bed as quietly as possible, tiptoeing through the room so as not to disturb Jamie. Much to her dismay, she stepped on a creaky floorboard, wishing she had memorized its location the night before. She paused, taking in the sight of Jamie's limp form on the bed. He was still fast asleep, smiling slightly and Claire paused a bit longer than she intended to, taking in the sight of him, so peaceful and serene, and all hers.

Claire continued into the kitchen, barefoot and started searching the cupboards to see if there was anything edible. She might have suggested they stop for groceries the night before, but her appetite was focused solely on a different set of urges at the time. She opened the fridge, but all that was inside was a Brita pitcher of water and a bottle of champagne--a rather expensive one--already opened, with a note on it that read: the last guests left this the other night, it’d be a shame to throw it out, so feel free to help yourself! That would be a welcome treat this evening, or maybe even for mimosas this morning, but she needed sustenance and she had no doubt that Jamie had also worked up an appetite last night in his exertions. Her still-packed bag was on the floor in the hall where she left it last night, she grabbed it and snuck into the guest bathroom to don leggings and a sweatshirt, brush the morning breath from her teeth and wrangle her curls into a ponytail. She grabbed her purse and left Cornelia Street to grab supplies to make breakfast. She hoped to surprise Jamie and be back before he even knew she was gone.

----------

Jamie awoke, reaching to pull Claire close to him, blindly feeling the empty sheets and pillow beside him. “Sassenach?” he called out into the empty room. There was no response. He reluctantly arose from the bed and walked towards the master bathroom, to see if she was there, but the door was open and Claire was not in there. He headed out into the living room--still no Claire--not in the kitchen or dining room either. He peeked out the window onto the small patio behind the apartment, which was also empty. Where could she be? He went to the hallway to retrieve his phone from his bag, where he had left it last night and his heart sank low as he realized his was the only one in the hallway. His face felt hot and he felt something deep within him shatter. Not again. Please don’t leave me. I don’t wanna lose you. He unlocked his phone, hoping for a message from her, some sort of explanation, a family emergency even, anything that would explain why she had left him the morning after saying “I love you” yet again. She seemed so genuine, so sure since their reunion. He felt so certain of her love this time around--last night he could have sworn their souls were aligned. He dialed her number, maybe she didn’t have time to send him a message. It rang and rang before her voicemail message responded Hey it’s Claire, leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Was this the last he would hear of her voice? He hung up, unable to leave a message, his throat was caught holding back tears, they were welling behind his eyes as his mind tried to work through any possible explanation where Claire still loved him. He ran a hand through his curls, pacing the floor as he thought about what his next move should be. He walked around the apartment again, looking for a sign, a note, glancing out every window, peering out to the street below, searching for her, but she was long gone.

He stooped in the hallway to his bag and grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and put them on, slipping out of the apartment and ascending the stairs to the rooftop patio. He hadn’t told Claire about it, and it was far too rainy last night to show her, but maybe she went exploring and discovered it on her own. With her bag, ya dafty? Face it, she’s gone, she played you like a card shark again, you eejit. When he found the rooftop empty as well he couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

He rushed back to the apartment, where he could sob freely away from anyone who might see. In his personal opinion, there was nothing unmanly about letting your feelings out with a good cry, but it was still embarrassing to be seen in such a state, regardless of gender. He collapsed on the couch and pulled his phone out to try and text Claire. The last text she’d sent him, a small pink heart emoji just a day ago, appeared on his screen and his throat caught again. Oh Claire, what did I do? He tried to compose a text: Claire, I’m sorry, please come back to me. No, too desperate, he hit the back arrow and watched the message disappear. Claire, I noticed you’re gone, I’m sure you didn’t mean anything by it. Call me. No, that wasn’t right either. Hey. No, if something was wrong that was too unfeeling. Maybe this would be easier if his mind wasn’t spiraling so much.

He wondered what time the bar down the street opened, he could use a dram or two to take the edge off. It was only just after 9:00, surely they wouldn’t be open for several hours, especially on a Sunday morning. He began pacing the apartment again, unable to keep still. The last time this had happened, he found refuge in a church, but the thought of crying out to God (and likely physically crying) amongst the Sunday Mass crowd in an unfamiliar church told him that wasn’t a good idea just now. Besides, he was angry with God. How could ya? How could ya take her away from me again? After I told ya I was committed to her, after I promised I’d cherish and keep her. How could you let her back into my life just so I could see her go again? It’s not right, it’s not fair, there’s only so much a man can take!

He went to the kitchen to get some water, and when he opened the fridge, he noticed a bottle of champagne with a note encouraging him to help himself. Don’t mind if I do. He desired something stronger, but it would have to do. He uncorked the bottle and took a large swig. If he cared for more than the emotion numbing power of alcohol right now, he would have noticed it was the best champagne he’d ever tasted, but all he could think about was how the entire bottle could possibly be enough to shut down his thoughts. As he took his second swig, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and felt a rush of emotion as a picture of Claire lit up the screen.

“Claire!” he shouted into the phone in a desperate voice.

“Jamie, I’m sorry I just saw you called, I guess I didn’t feel my phone in my purse.”

“Where are you? Is everything alright?” he was trying to hide the panic in his voice.

“I’m outside, I don’t know the code to get in”

A wave of relief washed over Jamie and he let out a breath he’d been holding. “Oh, it’s 79438.”

“Seven... nine… four… three... eight…” she repeated, Jamie could hear each number beep through the phone as she punched them into the keypad. “Be right up, see you in a minute!”

His heart was pounding with joy and relief. He left the champagne bottle on the counter and ran to the bathroom to splash water on his face, hoping to hide evidence of his tears. He would feel silly if Claire were to know how he reacted. He rushed back to the door of the apartment, opening it to greet her as she came up the last few steps, a reusable bag branded with the name of a nearby market in her hand. He pulled her to him as soon as they were back in the apartment and kissed her passionately.

“What was that for?” she inquired breathlessly when they pulled away.

“I just missed ya is all.” he replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Remind me to leave more often” she giggled. She noticed the look on his face when she said that, he didn’t look amused by her joke at all. “Are you alright?” she asked. She also noticed that the skin around his eyes looked puffy and swollen.

“I’m fine, Sassenach.”

She took in his appearance, not quite believing him, something was off about his demeanor. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he replied bashfully, running his fingers through his hair with one hand and nervously tapping his leg with the other. Claire raised an eyebrow, silently imploring him to continue. “It’s just that… weill, I noticed your bag was gone… and so I thought mebbe ye’d left me again.” he chuckled nervously, “It’s silly I know.”

“Oh, Jamie, no!” It was her turn to throw her arms around him. “I’m so sorry! I changed in the spare bathroom and left my bag there. I didn’t want to wake you; I was trying to surprise you with breakfast but there was no food here! Just champagne.” She held up the bag in her hand to show him.

“Aye, I noticed that myself.” he said, following her into the kitchen.

“Oh, I see you’ve started without me” noting the open bottle on the counter, she pulled a jug of orange juice out of the shopping bag “you know mixing this with orange juice makes day drinking more socially acceptable.” she chuckled, trying to clear the air with humor.

“It wasna really doing the trick anyway, mimosas sound great. Sassenach.” he drew her close again and planted a kiss on her forehead.

----------

After a leisurely breakfast they dressed for the show. Even Though it was a matinee, it was still an excuse to dress up and Claire had purchased a new dress for the occasion--a flowy low cut wrap dress in a perfectly ‘wicked’ shade of green. She decided to get ready in the guest bathroom, wanting Jamie to take in the full picture once she was all ready. Jamie got ready in the en suite, slicking his hair back and donning a black suit with black shirt. After taming her curls into what she hoped were sexy waves, and applying a smoky eye, she was ready. She stepped into the living room, where Jamie was already waiting, he rose from the couch upon her entrance and was looking better than she thought possible in his suit. They had similar reactions to each other--breaths caught, eyes stared, taking one another in, lingering long enough to be uncomfortable if it were anyone else. Jamie spoke first, crossing the room as if drawn to her by a magnet, “Are ya mad, woman? I can see every inch of you, right down to your third rib!” He scolded playfully, making it known exactly how wild the sight before him was driving him.

Claire hummed a laugh in response, “you cannot!” she replied flirtatiously. “Do you like it?” she exaggerated the sway of her hips as she approached him, causing the dress to float through the room dramatically.

“Like it? I reckon ya could wear a plastic bag around ya and I’d like it, but this…” he took both of her hands and took a step back, taking her in again. “You look phenomenal, Sassenach. I’m not sure I can control myself around you all day.”

She gave him a wicked smile, pulled him close and whispered a sultry bargain in his ear “If you’re on your best behavior today, I’ll let you see what I have on underneath.” she turned around coyly and headed towards the door to get her purse and jacket.

Christ, this woman will be the death of me. Jamie thought, as he tried to think of something, anything else that would help to stop the blood from rushing to his nether region. He stepped into the bathroom to splash water on his face for the second time that day, careful not to mess up his coiffed hair and met Claire at the door. Now that she had her coat on, it was easier to control his impulses, but God, he wanted her.

----------

Claire was enraptured by Wicked. Even Jamie’s hand frequently caressing her thigh wasn’t enough to distract her from the sights before them. The tickets Jamie had won were center orchestra seats and it was delightful to see the sparkling costumes and set pieces so close. If Claire was lucky enough to attend a Broadway musical she was usually up in a top corner balcony seat, which did have the benefit of taking in the whole stage at once, but it paled in comparison to this.

She couldn’t help but cry during the song “I’m Not That Girl”--the actress did an incredible job of conveying emotion and Claire recalled how she felt just a month prior. Don’t dream too far, don’t lose sight of who you are, don’t remember that rush of joy. She had convinced herself that since Jamie wasn’t a part of the plan, he didn’t belong with her, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. With every dream and memory of him during their separation, she filled with more and more regret. Jamie noticed her sniffles and gently stroked her hand, bringing it to lips briefly to kiss her knuckles. She felt his unspoken promise, you are that girl.

Her musings continued when the opening lines of “As Long as You're Mine” started: kiss me too fiercely, hold me too tight, I need help believing you’re with me tonight. Her heart broke as she thought about the sight of Jamie’s puffy eyes in the AirBNB that morning. Knowing her responsibility for the doubt that she had planted in his heart, that their time apart was her fault. She knew now that they were solid--but could he? Could he ever fully trust her again? She firmly vowed to make it up to him in whatever way she could. The crescendo of the song built up, increasing in passion and intensity as the actors pressed their fully clothed bodies against each other, staring into each other’s eyes. How, painted green and in a long sleeve full length dress, Elphaba could convey such clear implications of sex, she did not know. Claire was more keenly aware of Jamie’s hand stroking her thigh, making its way painfully close to where she truly wanted to be stroked. When the music faded, Elphaba confessed to feeling wicked and kissed her lover passionately, the final payoff to the slow burn of the song. Claire made eye contact with Jamie, and she knew they both had little else on their mind than each other. Thank God they were half way through the second act, it would be hard to hold back much longer, and she didn’t want to be that couple caught with hands down each other’s pants in a sold out Broadway theater. For now, they would have to content themselves with stroking each other’s thighs.

The conclusion of the play was an emotional roller coaster. Claire couldn’t help but notice the parallel in her own life to the story of Elphaba--being cast out by the society she found herself in, ostracized and called names that stung even though there was some truth to them. Claire, like Elphaba, didn’t make the best choices in how she had behaved the previous spring, and had so suffered more consequences than she may have otherwise. Jamie was attuned to Claire’s feelings throughout, knowing when he needed to grip her hand tightly, or gently stroke her thumb, when to wipe a tear from her cheek, or kiss her knuckles softly. During curtain call Claire stood, enraptured, beaming and clapping furiously as each set of actors took a bow, wondering if they could see from the stage how much she enjoyed it.

Jamie too applauded enthusiastically, he thoroughly enjoyed the show finding it to be an emotionally poignant production and entertaining spectacle all at once. Most of all, he enjoyed seeing Claire’s enjoyment. She seemed so happy, so unrestrained, and he was partially responsible for it. Feelings of admiration and pride swirled around his wame, but mostly of love and gratitude. He was so grateful that Claire was the woman by his side. He didn’t know how he could live without her. The scare he had that morning made him more keenly aware of it. He was terrified of her walking away again. He was so glad she had called and showed her true hand that morning. As he stroked her leg in a dark theater all he could think was I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends. That’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend.

They followed the crowd out of the theater and onto the streets of New York. Jamie was mystified by how the city seemed to scream Claire’s name, everything he saw made him think of her. He wanted to bring her everywhere--to the tops of all the tall buildings, the nicest restaurants, walks in the park, curbside hot dog stands, corner diners--everywhere big and small. Simultaneously, he wanted nothing more than to walk her back to that apartment and ravish her until she cried out his name. He did have dinner reservations at a nearby restaurant, but the thought of staring across a table at her cleavage in that dress, unable to do anything about it was not nearly as appealing as the thought of peeling it off her. The way she kept touching him, he had a feeling she had something similar in mind.

“So.” he stated matter-of-factly. “The plan is to get dinner at a spot around the corner.” He studied her reaction to his words and thank Christ for her glass face, he saw a twinge of disappointment that emboldened him to continue. “However, plans can be amended and if ya think you’d rather get back to Cornelia Street sooner…” The glass face perked up. “We could order takeaway and pick it up on the way back.”

“Takeaway sounds divine, what are you in the mood for?” he was keenly aware of the double meaning of her words--she was using that low, sultry voice that drove him wild.

He pulled her close, growling in her ear “you know exactly what I’m in the mood for, Ms. Beauchamp.” he sucked her earlobe, and trailed a line of wet, passionate kisses down her neck.

“So, Thai food then?” she eyed him coyly.

“Aye, that sounds bonny” Jamie pulled out his phone, first calling to cancel their reservation, then looking to Google with Claire to find a Thai place in the village with good reviews they could pick food up at. Once their food was ordered, he held her hand on the street and led her back to Cornelia Street.

----------

Once they were just inside the apartment, Jamie set the takeout on the floor and immediately pressed Claire against the closed door and took her fiercely to his mouth, pawing at the buttons on her coat, trying miserably to get it off her. Claire pressed her palm against his chest, gasping for air she pushed him back to arm’s length. He blinked, bewildered. She made eye contact with him as she tugged at the knot in the waistband of her coat, untying it. She then unbuttoned each button, painfully slow, taking her time with each one well he gazed intensely, breath heavy. Once she finished her task she slipped the coat off her shoulders allowing it to fall to the floor behind her. Jamie was back on her in an instant, planting kisses on her neck and down, down, down. He nuzzled himself between her breasts, kissing, sucking and playfully biting the soft flesh. His hands ran through her hair at first, then up and down her body settling on her arse which he kneaded and squeezed hungrily. Claire was already moaning and they were still fully clothed. She slipped his jacket from his shoulders, and he flung it behind him as quickly as possible in order to return his hands to her hind quarters. She began to make dexterous work of his shirt buttons as he lifted her thigh to his hip.

“Take me to bed” she breathlessly begged in his ear.

“Aye.” he lifted her other leg and walked backward into the apartment. Instead of heading to the bedroom, he took her to the living room, sitting on an oversized chaise lounge near the fireplace with Claire still on his lap, his face still buried in her fleshy pillows. She began to grind against him as he stroked her thighs, pushing the dress up to stroke the flesh underneath. He snaked his arm up her back, holding her firmly and turned her so she was lying on her back. “I’ve been wanting to take ya, right here, since I saw you walk inta the room this morning in that dress.”

“Hmm… is that so?” she hummed. “I believe I said I’d show you what’s underneath if you were behaved.”

“Aye, ya did. Was I a good boy then?”

“You” she confirmed, “were a very good boy.” she tugged at the tie of the dress and allowed the fabric to fall off her body, spilling around her in a pool of green as she lay on the chaise. She thought Jamie’s eyes would pop out of their head the way he looked at her so intensely. She was wearing black lacy bodysuit with a neckline that plunged all the way to the waistband of the bottom part of it. “Now, you can see--what was it? My third rib?” she smirked.

“Aye. I see it, right about… here.” He planted a kiss under her breast. “ I wonder what else I can see” he tugged at the fabric, pleased to find it was stretchy and revealed her right breast. “Mmm… now that is a sight to behold. He wrapped his tongue around her nipple.

“I showed you, now what do you have to show me?” she bit her lower lip and eyed him coyly.

“Fair’s fair I suppose.” He slipped his shirt off easily, as Claire had already unbuttoned it for him and let it drop to the floor. Standing, he slowly unbuckled his belt and slipped it through each individual belt loop. He wanted her, but he also wanted payback for the show she made of her buttons in the entryway. He made similar work of the button on his fly, and then inched the zipper down, painfully slow. He slid his thumbs into his waistband and nudged his pants down, swaying his hips in an exaggerated motion as he peeled them down slowly.

Claire was eyeing him with a desperate hunger and a naughty glint in her eye, biting her lower lip with anticipation. She decided to join him in the tease, sitting up and slipping her body suit off one shoulder slowly. She then made a show of the other side, peeling it off carefully so as not to expose her breast until the last possible second. They were playing a dangerous game, eyeing each other hungrily as they fought their own desires in order to tease each other. Claire stood before Jamie, the lower part of her bodysuit still covering the place where she was rapidly growing aroused. His arousal was still covered as well, although it was apparent through the fabric. They slipped their thumbs into each other’s waistbands, ridding themselves of the last stitches of clothing between them.

“I think you said something about taking me right here?” she inquired demurely.

“Aye.” he growled, and he did just that.

End Note: Poor Jamie! That we bit of angst he went through broke my heart to write. He loves her so much. Hopefully all the smut made up fo it. More smut next week as it seems these two can't keep their hands off each other!

#lover #outlander #outlander fanfic #outlander fic #outlander fanfiction #smut #a little angst #a little fluff #a lot of pining #jamie x claire #jamie fraser #claire beauchamp #inspired by taylor swift #cornelia street #new york city #greenwich village #broadway #wicked

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tortoisesshells · 2 years

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You booked an Airbnb for Christmas night through New Year's Day - a working lighthouse on Muir Bay. It's the perfect spot to ditch your squabbling relatives as Christmas festivities wind down and finally finish the dissertation that really has to be turned in January 1st. But when you carry your cat and your laptop and your waxed-canvas L.L. Bean zip-top tote bag to the top of all of those stairs, you're greeted by an alarmingly handsome man who also booked the lighthouse for the same length of time. No one will pick up the phone (it's Christmas!) to help you straighten this out so you gamely make plans to share the Only One Bed in the Only One Room. You discuss maritime disasters into the wee hours.

The next day you try working on your dissertation while your bunk mate is chopping firewood, visible from one of the many windows and really rocking the flannel and the beanie. You make great progress as you reward yourself with looking at him in between every thousand words you get on the page. You save your work to the cloud and to your desktop and send a draft to your advisor.

But that night, an EMP wipes out every electronic navigation system in the Atlantic Ocean and Eastern seaboard. You and hot bunkmate have to figure out how to use the antique, original fresnel lenses in order to safely brings the ships to harbor, and keep your cat from scratching up the dioptric prisms.

"You know," said Shells, looking up from her pile of peeled potatoes, "This happened to me once before."

"What?" asked her unexpected roommate. Shells thought he was trying to be gruff, but it probably took a sterner demeanor than his to be audibly grumpy while still half-obscured by the pot-bellied cast-iron stove that was to be their new best friend. Kitchen stove, furnace, and conversational object! Practically the Swiss army knife of interior decor!

But this was not germane to his question, so she went on, picking up another potato. "Getting double-booked. Not with AirBnB - just double booked for a room, generally."

"What happened?"

"Stormed in at Newark Airport, once. Booked a hotel room to avoid sleeping in front of an Auntie Anne's but the hotel had gotten overwhelmed and - well. No room for me."

Her new roommate emerged from behind the stove, looking more like a very dedicated coal miner than another holiday refugee, and so she threw over a kitchen rag with an apologetic smile. "Thanks for not making me sleep in the lobby."

There Was Only One Bed and fresnel lenses? truly, I have been spoiled. That's two for two on the "Lighthouses are Tortoiseshells's One True Love" scoreboard! The true meaning of Christmas was the coastwise traffic we saved along the way!

[tell me who i am in the HCCU (Hallmark Channel Cinematic Universe)]

#polkaknox talks #friend this was a perfect delight and I am giggling non-stop to myself #historically talking up maritime disasters has not been one of my more successful romantic bids but hope springs eternal

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lovesaadiqa · 3 years

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BBL Costs, Prep + Recovery

Im booked!! I talked to a few friends who I know either got this surgery or is getting this done. I wanted one since forever but I wanted my teeth done first. The deciding factor came down to my birthday plans.

Originally I was going to do a birthday tour. First weekend of October in Miami for carnival, 2nd weekend in Atl for Freak Nik, 3rd weekend in Bahamas and finally Nola for the finale. Well Nola was just hit with a storm so yeah that’s out. Once I totaled up the flights, hotels, food and spending money.. I was like hmm, I can get a fat ass and started this process. Immediately looked into surgeon and Dr. Pena was my favorite, his bodies come out so mf snatched, he’s located in Columbia. Columbian surgeons can take out way more fat than American doctors however, the fatality rate is stupid and ultimately the factor that made me choose an American doctor.

The next step was choosing the surgeon for the body I have and the one I want. I weigh 151 and im 5′6″ I’m considered a “skinny bbl”. I started researching doctors in Atlanta (so I could recover at home) and Miami (like duh). I chose to go with Dr. Desouza in Miami with CG Cosmetics for a few reasons. First, I love the look of his skinny bbl’s on other women with the same body type, weight and height as me. Secondly, he was having a special for the end of the year (lipo 360, bbl, jplasma for $6500 for the surgeon I wanted) this almost sold me but it was the surgery date!! Jplasma is skin tightening procedure to help with loose skin, you can only get this with lipo. When they perform lipo they created canals under your skin to remove the fat.. well those same canals are essential when getting Jplasma.

Ok so I decided on the surgeon, contacted the cosmetic group and had a consultation which is pretty much just front, side and back view pictures.. I think they use this to make sure you don’t need a tummy tuck prior to surgery. They also asked me questions about previous surgeries and if i’ve ever had anesthesia. The next step went pretty quickly, we talked about what would be lipo’d (abs, waist, back.. I wanted inner thighs, an additional 2k, but was advised to wait on my pre-op to decide), when I wanted to book and how I'd pay. My consult was on August 30th.. I bitched up when she attempted to take my payment. I am a money hoarder and spending that much money made me feel like I was being financially irresponsible. I called one of my Aunt’s who I felt wouldn’t judge me and also give me sound advise. We talked about my fears, why I was getting the procedure and of course money. My Aunt gave me excellent advice, reassured me and is a professional CNA who offered to accompany me so yeah I dare not turn that down, lol. August 31, 2021, I called my coordinator (the contact between me and my surgeon) and told her I wanted to book, she asked me when I’d be ready and I requested first available which was 9/20/21!! Excited is an understatement.. I'd be 24 days post op on my birthday. After I calmed down I paid in full for multiple reasons: had to in order to secure the date, all surgeries book in this year had to be paid in full, it was the only way to get the discount.. My coordinator gave me so much information I couldn’t see straight (I was also high as shit off life thinking about a fat ass and me in the same sentence).. she emailed + texted everything, congratulated me and we hung up.

I get the emails: “raise you hemoglobin with these vitamins” I purchased vitamin C $2, folic acid $2, iron $3 and floradix $35 - amazon, I take them as directed on the bottle and start eating my ass off (just to give my surgeon more to work with, lol). Talking to one of my gf’s I realize I have to be cleared for surgery?!?! What? I open my email and sure enough I have to have blood work done 15-20 prior to surgery, it was 9/3 and a Friday.. SHIT!! I fly over to an Piedmont Wellstreet urgent care facility as recommended by my friend (she started this process as well so I was crazy grateful for her experience and that she shared it with me). Urgent care was full but opened the next day, my ass was in that line at 7:32 am, I was the 13th person in line and they opened at 8. I get to the desk and my appointment is at 10:30 and I'd have to pay the office visit fee to be seen, it was $155. I came back at my allotted time and was told how much all of my labs would be.. $302. My labs were to be processed and faxed to my surgeon by 9/9 because Labor Day weekend so.. yeah.

I discuss accommodations with my Aunt and realize it’s cheaper, safer and more beneficial for me to go to a recovery house. I search high and low baby and most of them were booked.. found one regardless with lymphatic massages included called Flawless Recovery House. This wasn’t my 1st-6th option but the one with availability on my surgery date so I paid a deposit to hold onto my spot. Total was $1312 for 5 days with 5 massages, I paid a $200 deposit. Next, I booked my flight, round trip $116 with Delta. My surgery date is on a Monday, I have to have my pre-op done on the Saturday prior so I booked a hostel from the 18th-20th on booking.com for $66. I know I could have gotten an airbnb or hotel room but I wanted this experience. I want to go to Amsterdam and stay in a hostel so I need to know what to expect. Also I cannot party, smoke, drink or eat before surgery so fuck it.. a hostel will do, lol.

I smoke big fucking weed and watched someone else’s bbl journey today and realize if I fail the drug test, my surgery will be cancelled and it’ll cost me $1500 to reschedule. Boy the shit sent me into panic mode like I've never experienced before, only to find out the weed isn’t the issue nicotine is, it slows down your heart rate. I can smoke weed just not out of a wood or a rillo and nicotine takes 3-4 days to get out of your system so a bitch barely made it. I just won't be smoking until I get back home lol. Just to be super informative no alcohol, diabetic meds, cocaine, pcp or anything that will fool with your heart or makes your bleed. Today is 9/11 and im one week out from my pre-op... my body is a joke cause I haven’t gained a single pound and normally it’s nothing for me to put on weight. I took my acrylics off, when you’re put to sleep they monitor your oxygen levels with those clamps they put on your fingers and they aren't the most accurate when you have on dark polish or acrylics. I also cannot wear lashes cause when they go to fill this ass in I'll be laying flat on my face. I mean my hair didn’t have requirements but I figure since im naked I might as well be bald.. y'all should see me rn, I look very much like a young man but im hype. I’ll be back later to tell y'all what I pack and purchase prior to my flight. Imma put the dates at the end of each update.. today is 9/11/21

My surgery group send me list of supplies that I would need and the cost came to roughly $1100. Naive me was definitely going to purchase everything on the list from them until I saw Leslie’s (@prettyhaute - on ig) bbl vlog. I went on amazon and got away with murder. Below I’ll list what I purchased and the price I paid versus what the surgery center was quoting me.

Faja - I paid $74.69 - Quoted $160.50 || BBL Pillow - $26.99 - Qouted $42.80 || Arnica pills - $8.95 - Quoted $37.45 || Compression socks - $13.99 for 3 - Quoted $10.70 for 1 || Foams - $17.99 for 3 - Quoted $64.20 for 3 || Scar Cream $$29.82 - Quoted $80.25 || Arnica Gel - $7.92 - Quoted $21.40 ||

There a shit ton of items on the suggested list that I didn't purchase but way more items that wasn’t on the list I still need for instance:

Crocs, benadryll, robe, adult diapers, straws, earplugs, liquid iv, stool softener, antiseptic body wash, avocado float, back board, urinal, pineapple juice, throat calm, 3 moo-moo’s and a massage roller (the crocs are the only thing on this list that cost more than $20). My flight is at 7:15a tomorrow and im so damn nervous but excited. I will spend Saturday and Sunday gallivanting around Miami and then body , ody, ody, ody, ody, ody. I still have to send my entire itinerary to my aunt but I think im all set. 9/17/21

Pre-op was packed but I went on Saturday and was in and out in an hour. I was charged for a covid $80, 3 post-op massages $150 and a drug test $20. I went over my clearance paper work with a medical assistant who also took 9 before pics of me. Keep in mind, your surgery can be cancelled or reschedule if all of you labs aren’t at the surgery center on pre-op day. I cannot stress how important it is to take your labs with you!!! Mine were faxed over from urgent care but I was also provided copies which I took with me. The photos were sent directly to my surgeon to analyze before surgery. From my knowledge, I was also to be fitted for my faja but that never happened, do NOT leave pre-op without a faja!!! I paid for 3 massages from CG totaling $150 which I regret badly. I do NOT recommend getting massages from the surgery center. There are 4-5 different surgeons performing surgeries on any given day and they do at minimum 4 surgeries per day, that’s at least 15-20 different girls with the same surgery and post-op date. CG had 2 massage therapists to drain 15-20 girls. I was drained for 9 mins, your drain massages should last at least 45 mins for maximum drainage. I only used 1 of the 3 massages I paid for and was denied a refund. That is a huge downside to CG once they have your money good fucking luck getting it back! Ps. Ellie was a royal fucking cunt!!!!! She told my medical assistant that I didn’t need a faja so I was never fitted for one and woke up out of surgery with a binder on versus a faja like I should have. I wanted to slap the shit out of her and took the charge on the chin but I wanted my surgery so I refrained.. I was put on a 12 hour fast and contacted an hour after pre-op with my surgery address and time. My fast started at 7pm the day before surgery and my surgery time wa at 6:30a, there was a $300 for showing up to surgery late. All I could bring to surgery was compression socks and a faja (that I didn’t have), I was instructed to bathe with dial (the orange one) before surgery to make sure my incisions weren’t infected, no lotion, perfume, deodorant, makeup, nails, lashes, no jewelry/piercing or hair products and no personals ie, purse money, wallet also you will need a companion or surgery will be cancelled. I’ll upload all my paperwork at the end. Surgery day arrive at the surgery center at 6:15 am how about the entire fucking staff was late! Bitch I was outside in Miami alone with compression socks on and a moo moo, LIVID. No one arrived until 7:10 am, baby I wanted to kill everyone but fuck it, it was go time. I’m escorted to a room, changed into a paper gown, piss tested, my labs were reviewed again and finally my surgeon comes in! We were in the exam room alone which was weird cause I was asshole naked but he kept it 1000% professional, he asked me what I wanted and I say “the fattest ass” he looked me dead in my eyes without a single hesitation and said “it’ll heal like a diaper” LMAO. I showed him areas that I wanted lipo’d to death and he marked me up, I didn’t aka e picture of my mark ups but shit was rolling by then, he walked out I put my paper gown back on and the anesthesiologist walked in. I expressed my biggest concerns to him, I didn’t want to die and I didn’t want to wake up during surgery. He explain why the drug test was so important because certain street drugs will have adverse effect with the anesthesia. My anesthesiologist walked me up to the surgery room and I hopped on the table, they put massage boots on both of my feet and inserted an iv, the mask was put on my face and my heart rate went to heaven, I wanted to shit myself bro. The anesthesiologist told me to make a tight fist, I asked what time it was, 8:08am.. I woke up to a nurse helping me into a wheelchair with a binder around my waist and I was scream crying because my entire body ached, I didn't know where I was and the anesthesia is no hoe. I was escorted to my recovery house’s transportation van and taken to my damn bed.

I chose Flawlesss Recovery House with Ms. Opal. I paid a $200 deposit before 2 weeks before surgery and the balance the day I left. I opted for a 5 day stay. I loved it there bro and couldn’t imagine trying to recover at a hotel or air bnb! There were nurses there 24-7, I was roomed with one other girl but the house had a total of 4 bedrooms, one of which no one occupied and the door was always shut but my room was the only room with 2 beds, the others had 3 beds. I had a call button, it was love, the nurses came expeditiously when I rang it. They made 3 home cooked meals per day and I don’t eat meat, they accommodated me with no hesitation. I loved it man. So couple hours after surgery I attempted to use the bathroom on my own and blacked out, the anesthesia is really fucking strong and took an entire day to wear off (for me), the nurses helped me pee in a cup until then. Post op day 9/21/21, I went in to make sure I looked good, got a faja finally and received that lousy as drain. Back to the recovery house I was able to walk finally w/o passing out and in went my foams, I also could pee by myself with the use of a urinal. I was constipated for 2 days, first bowel movement was on post op day 2. I paid for an independent massage therapist named Tatiana, she used a ultrasound machine to massage me so I cancelled her. When I took my faja off for my massage it was washed and dried by the time I was done, I took a shower and put my faja on with my foams. I cancelled Tatiana because don’t let nobody use no machine on you until you are at least 2 weeks post op, hand massages only. All the girls were getting massaged by the literal best massage therapist (in my opinion) her name is Brittany, I could cry she was EVERYTHING, I was tender but she put the painful massage theory to bed! She taught me how to drain myself and how to open my incisions without the q-tip looking thing. In 45 mins she drained 5 of those doggy pad things worth of fluid off of me. I received 4 massages in 5 days. I left on Saturday 9/25/2021 on Sunday, back in Atlanta, I received my 5th massage and that when I was told I have not one but 2 seromas. I swear on everything I love it was because everyone wakes up from surgery with a faja on but not me (Fuck you Ellie, lil bitch) I had on a binder (its what they use for tummy tucks). The lady who did my 1st massage in Atlanta was Bri, not gone post her ig cause she did a damn good massage but when I asked her to syringe drain me the good sis stuck this long ass needle in my seroma but could get the fluid out, cancelled her too (the massage was good asf tho but nah). Tired and tried I bit the bullet and booked a packed with Dream Body ($455 for 5 massage, I think, don’t quote me look it up on there site and follow them on ig) because they are the biggest name in Atlanta, Jayda Wayda goes to them. The most painful massage yet, yes Michelle lil ass is so strong but she will get the fluid up off you. She made me tear up bad and no matter how much I screamed or even tried to push her off of me she understood the assignment, Michelle helped me get back into my faja after my massage and told me my faja was too big and to have it altered. She recommended a lady on ig @siri2sir but to know me is to know I altered my shit myself. Allow me to tell y'all, I look good asf!!!!!!! 10/4/2021

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adventures-or-death · 3 years

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Road Trip Notes 8/24 Thur 8/28

Covid put the kibosh on visiting my Dad in Florida so we canceled our flights, hotel and rental car and made a last minute decision to go on a road trip instead. It wasn't hard to figure out where to go because we love the beach and have road tripped from Las Vegas to California many times before. Our last road trip was to Newport Beach, California, which was nice, but it was crowded and touristy. Before the Newport trip we went to San Diego and stayed at the Hampton Inn near Seaworld, but the location was too far from the beach and I didn't feel good about the crackheads running around outside 24/7. We always take our dog with us on road trips. The last time we visited San Diego we found Dog Beach, which is a huge off leash beach dog park located in Ocean Beach. Shooter loved it and we loved watching him and all the dogs play in the sand and swim in the ocean. So going to San Diego again was almost a no brainer for us. I booked an Airbnb a couple blocks from Ocean Beach, which is right next to Dog Beach.

The goal for this trip was to chill out. No running around seeing the sights. We’ve done that before in San Diego. It's a gorgeous place and I love seeing the sights, but this time I needed some time to decompress.

Day 1

We arrived, plopped our bags on the bed and took the dog for a walk to get the lay of the land. Before going, I did a little research about Ocean Beach and learned that the town of Ocean Beach was laid out in the late 1800’s, but it didn’t really take off until the first decade of the 1900’s when electricity and paved roads arrived. It became a big vacation haven until the depression hit in the 1920’s. The town tanked for a while, but the 50’s came along and the population exploded. The 60’s brought in a heavy hippy surfer vibe, which still strongly remains today. I’ve been told that Ocean Beach is one of the only original California surf towns left in California that hasn’t changed all that much since the 60’s. The town motto is “Keep Ocean Beach Weird.” Perfect for us!

We left the cottage, walked the dog two blocks to the beach, made a right, and just past the rocks, Dog Beach begins. Dog Beach is one of the country’s first beaches for dogs to run freely off leash. Not many rules apply at Dog Beach except you must pick up your dog’s poop and make sure your pup behaves well with other dogs and humans. We’ve been to Dog Beach a couple times on past road trips and have never seen a vicious dog fight. Dogs of all breeds, shapes and sizes zip around the beach in harmony. It's fun to watch them smash in to waves while fetching balls and playing with each other in the water. After watching surfers ride in waves and exhausted Shooter with exercise and play, we made our way back to the cottage. Before going inside, I hosed Shooter down with fresh water and did the best I could to get the sand out of his coat. Once cleaned up, I went inside to do some organizing. The first thing I noticed when entering the Airbnb was the heat. I looked for the air conditioner right away and that's when I realized there wasn't one. How did I overlook this detail? I looked down and saw a small box fan and let out a laugh. Seriously? I looked up and there was one ceiling fan over the main bed. Oops! Thankfully San Diego weather is perfect almost all year around, but the heat inside the place was really noticeable. I also noticed no television. Great! I can't stand the TV on while on vacation. The place was quirky to say the least. It was decorated in a cute beachy way and had two queen beds, a kitchenette and a bathroom. The shower was almost too tiny for Mark to fit in to it. We laughed. Ocean Beach is old! The cottage floors sloped and felt spongy in some places. Outside we had a big picnic table, umbrella, barbecue and a thankfully we had a dedicated parking space in the back (This is extremely important in Ocean Beach). After unpacking and turning the fans on full blast, we walked a few blocks to a Mediterranean food truck for dinner. The falafel was great! We brought the food back to our picnic table and sat outside in the cool salty air talking the rest of the night away.

Shooter G.

Beach Cottage

Day 2

Went to breakfast at Day Break Island Grill on Bacon street. I had sourdough waffles and Mark ordered an omelette. We were the only customers so I worried about the quality of the food. Turns out the food was amazing. So much so that we went the next day and I ordered some delicious peanut butter, banana chocolate oat bread breakfast thingy that I wanted to eat every day for the rest of my life. The staff was laid back and super friendly. Businesses in Ocean Beach encourage you to bring your dog. It's probably the most dog friendly town I've ever been to. As soon as we walked in to the restaurant they plopped down a water bowl for Shooter and gave out menus for us and our dog. They have a doggie menu! I love that. After breakfast we changed and went to the beach. The Pacific Ocean is cold. Mark went in up to his waist and waded for a while. I stayed by our chairs and watched the world go by. The beach is my happy place. I practically grew up on a beach, so whenever I get the chance, that’s where I’m going. We walked Shooter in to the waves and all along the coastline. It was a pretty day.

After the beach we returned to the house, showered, rested for a while and went out for seafood. Shooter is the most well behaved boy! We're so lucky. He quietly lays under the table and watches things while we eat. After dinner we spent the majority of the time outside at the picnic benches then went to bed. The sun wore us out! Thankfully the cottage cools when the sun goes down.

Day 3 We went back to Day Break Island Grill and chatted with the waitress again. She was telling us about the town and how most of the people there aren't tourists. She said some of the homes are Airbnb's, but most are either owned or regular yearly rentals. It made sense because the area didn't feel touristy to me. It's extremely laid back and really quite. I expected it to be rowdy at night because I assumed all of the houses were vacation rentals, but I was wrong. You could hear a pin drop outside once the sun goes down. After the beach we grabbed some lemonade and walked through a tent festival where a bunch of legit hippies were selling all sorts of weird shit that only made sense to them. They had a giant bongo circle where twenty or so people slapped bongos while smoking giant blunts. The smell of patchouli oil was strong and the smoke was thick. I felt old. After getting a contact high at the festival we walked to the pier and around town to check out the sights. I didn't see one big box store. It was like the town was frozen in time at that 70's peak surf town time. Perfect.

Got home, took showers and slathered on as much lotion as possible to keep my skin from leathering. We hung out at our picnic table and talked a lot again. Yay for no television! Eventually beachy breezes fanned us to sleep.

Day 4

No matter how much sun block I slathered on to my body, I still managed to get a sunburn. I didn't bring an umbrella from home, but I still wanted to go to the beach. It was our last day! I called a couple surf shops and none of them rented umbrellas. Why would they? I took a shot and called an equipment rental place and they told me that they had one umbrella, but they didn't rent it out. They must have heard the desperation in my voice because they broke down and rented it to me for 15 bucks for 24 hours. Yes! The place was within walking distance so I picked it up. It was one of those big half dome umbrellas that you pitch like a tent. Even better! Mark wanted to check out Coronado Beach. We ran out of time the last time we were in San Diego so we gathered everything up and spent the day there. Coronado Beach sand has a mineral in it that makes the sand sparkle like there are diamonds in it. It's beautiful. The town is ridiculously rich. Nothing like Ocean Beach at all. The homes are in the multi-millions. Ridiculous. We pitched our half dome tent and went for a really long walk along the shoreline. Everything sparkled. The waves were big. Many were out swimming in the chilly Pacific. After our walk, we hung out under our half dome for a long time talking. Mark went in for a swim while I zoned out. Towards the end of our stay, we went for another long walk in the opposite direction. I didn't want to leave. Got back to the cottage in the late afternoon/early evening, took showers and walked to dinner to a Thai fusion place in Ocean Beach. The food was great. The air cooled down our sunburns. We ate outside and watched people pass. Shooter was under our table and was being the goodest boy. Sadness sunk in towards the end of our meal because we knew it was our last night. We had to go back to the Airbnb and pack up for an early departure the next morning.

We'll definitely go back to Ocean Beach. I hope the town stays the just the way it is and doesn't turn in to one of those instagram tourist traps.

Thank you for a great time Ocean Beach!

#oceanbeach #sandiego #socal #southern california #california #hippy #hippyshit #beach #surf #surfing

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risthebrave · 3 years

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lawn chair

free-form; airbnb au, backpacker louis, businessman harry, strangers to lovers

Harry opens the back gate, letting it swing on its hinges haphazardly as he stomps into the yard. He's scowling, shielding his eyes from the harsh glare of the sun with a single hand as he heads for the garden.

Liam's words replay in his head, grating at his insides uncomfortably. He does not need to loosen up, for fuck's sake. He's a perfect social and easygoing twenty-six-year-old who has plenty of fun in his free time. So what if he works extra hours? He's dedicated to his job, and that's not a crime. And he's got balance in his life - Liam doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

"Oh. Hey, Harry," a soft voice greets, jolting him out of his grumbling.

He turns to see Louis lounging on a lawn chair on the patio, then freezes. Because Louis is laying out on the chair and he's tanning. He's tanning in red sunnies and cut-off denim shorts that ride much too high on his thighs for Harry's self-control. Not to mention, he's not wearing a shirt. Inches of smooth, honeyed skin are out on display, looking achingly soft and tempting. Unable to help himself, he trails his eyes over the dip of his waist and his small pink nipples just begging to be played with.

Awareness spreads over him when he sees Louis smirk, followed by shame as he realizes what he's doing. He's ogling his rentee! Jesus Christ, what's wrong with him?

"Hey, Louis," he says belatedly, voice stiff. He averts his eyes pointedly and scrambles to gather himself. "Uh, I was just coming to water the plants." He gestures to the garden even though it's unnecessary, feeling like an idiot.

"Ah yes, the garden," Louis says. They both look at it for a moment and Harry winces, embarrassed by the state of disarray and lack of upkeep. He doesn't even know the first thing about gardening but Gemma had been adamant when she came to visit that he tend to it properly so he reluctantly maintains a routine of watering plants and picking weeds.

Despite his efforts, it looks like a mess. Herbs in one corner and rows of flowers in another. There's an orange tree too but in its entire four years of residence, it's only ever given Harry three oranges. In other words, it's embarrassing.

"You know, I garden a bit," Louis says hesitantly. Harry reluctantly glances back over to him and swallows when he sees Louis bring his knees to his chest, entranced by the delicate bones of his ankles and the curve of his bare feet. "And I've got a book that I could lend you with some tips for upkeep."

Tips of his ears red, Harry coughs, nodding. "Um, yeah, that'd be... nice."

originally posted on curious cat 09/18/20

#freeforms #word prompts #opocc #airbnb au

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rokutouxei · 3 years

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the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

ikemen vampire: temptation through the dark theo van gogh / mc | T | [ ao3 link in bio ]

The challenge seemed pretty simple: to try to befriend the university bookshop’s most sour employee, Theo van Gogh. As a literature major with a boatload of book recommendations on her back, it ought to be a simple task indeed. But as she uncovers what lies between Theo’s pages, the more she finds it harder to become closer to him without having to put the feeling directly into words. What can she learn from Theo about what it means to stay—and how can she teach Theo about what it means to let go? | written for ikevamp big bang 2020!

[ masterpost for all chapters ]

CHAPTER 18 OF 22

how intricately love crosses love; love makes knots; love brutally tears them apart. I have been knotted; I have been torn apart.

- Virginia Woolf, the Waves

Her phone receives three calls in the span of an hour.

The first one is from an old friend, who rings to ask her how she’ll feel like being neighbors again. Her friend is planning to apply to the university’s MA program, and that she’ll be dropping by within the next week to submit some requirements for the application. She’s asking if she’s free, and if they could hang out a little before she goes home. She bites the butt-end of the marker in between her teeth as they’re talking, scribbling out onto the date on her calendar tacked to the wall. It’s a great phone call.

The second one is from the school she’s going on exchange to. A lady with a thick (but lovely!) accent tells her that they’ve finished signing the paperwork she needs to submit for her student visa. That the document is in her email, and that they’ve forwarded the hard copy to the Office of Student Relations, saying that she should pick it up at their office by the end of the week. She nods and thanks them as they big goodbye. When the call ends, she flutters with excitement.

It’s that last call that’s a little more troublesome.

“Busy today, aren’t we?” Vincent comments with a small laugh, their little conversation about the finalized date for the exhibit cut short once more as she excuses herself to take the call. She awkwardly grins at him as she heads out of the studio, ducking into the living room.

“Yes?” A beat. “Oh, yes. Yes it’s me.” Silence. The smile that was originally on her face upon recognizing that it’s one of the OSR staff organizing her trip disappears quickly. “Is… that really the only schedule available, sir?” More silence. “Oh, no, that’s not—” a pause. “I see. I’m sorry. Yes, I understand.” She bites her lip, looks across the house through to the kitchen, eyes gluing distractedly onto the unwashed coffee mugs on the sink. “Of course. Yes. Thank you. This is noted. I’m sorry. Yes.”

She puts the phone down. Stares at the “ended call” screen before she looks up again, catching Vincent’s stare from the studio doorway. He smiles at her. She smiles back, but she feels so weak.

She turns back to her phone with a sigh.

She has a solution for at least one of the phone calls: the first one. She rings up her friend the next day and proposes a drinking party.

Says she’ll bring her other university friends to introduce to her, and they’ll hang out, then maybe share in the good energy (and the misery) of being in the same university—likely soon, we’re manifesting it!

They agree to crash at a place downtown for the night, everyone pitching in for an Airbnb in the middle of a school week. She invites Dazai, and Isaac, and Arthur; they each invite some other familiar faces, Napoleon, Leonardo, and Sebastian, of course—her friend’s brother.

She doesn’t know if she wants to invite Theo.

Only because it’s been… weird.

She’s sure she wants to invite Vincent, though, and inviting him is tantamount to inviting the other, so she does anyway. But because fate is a cruel tutor, the exact reverse of what she has wanted to happen, happens.

Vincent apologizes profusely, saying he’s in the middle of a rather time-sensitive painting (something about painting while the paint is not entirely dry, and his timer is set to just about tonight) so can she bring Theo instead?

And she knows the drill. Theo does not say no to Vincent.

Theo, of course, could just lie to his brother, a little white lie about coming with her to the little Korean barbecue drinking party they had planned tonight, to introduce her group of friends to her childhood friend, who was in the campus lately because she had applied for an MA in the very same department.

But Theo doesn’t.

He goes with them, just as Vincent had expected him to.

Gets in the small van and listen to Arthur and Dazai sing along to the annoying song on the radio way too loudly, the windows rolled down, she and her friend laughing at the boys making a ruckus, her friend’s quiet, stern-looking older brother focused on driving them out of the campus.

Theo wonders if he should’ve lied, after all.

But he knows that even if he knew that he should’ve, he would have come anyway. Because he knows himself. Knows that he will be lying to everyone else and denying it with his whole chest but in truth, he knows that he is just buying some more time with her. Even if that is time spent sitting at the end of a grill table flipping meat as the rest of the table laughs and makes a cacophony of noises, half-drunk on cheap alcohol. Even if that means just sitting next to her as the long night passes, silent in their fullness, not speaking, not breaking the illusion that everything is alright, that she won’t be leaving him soon, that there’s so much brewing in his chest and he still…

Doesn’t have the courage to tell her a single word of it.

Her hands are numb with her nerves, but the night goes… surprisingly well.

She and Theo hang around each other, passing barbecue and utensils, but they do not… have an explosive argument like she feared they would have. She reminds herself that they have nothing to argue about, that nothing had been done wrong. Still, she doesn’t want to make a scene out here. She’d told her friend she was going to introduce her university friends, and a shouting match in an airbnb isn’t exactly what friends do.

Instead, she pretends like nothing is different. Like nothing had changed drastically over the past few days. Teases Arthur and Dazai as they huddle each other and have excessive amounts of PDA that would have been unacceptable if they were actually a couple. (“They get a free pass because they’re fuck buddies?” “Mmhmm, somehow it doesn’t count.” “Who said it doesn’t count?! This is scandalous!” “Arthur did. …Wait a minute.”) Gapes at Sebastian and his very obvious mental hard-on for Napoleon, who is busy discussing with him something about a historical note on food rituals in the 1600s, or something—she really isn’t paying attention. Texts Isaac with a winky face waiting for him to finally get here like he promised he would.

Ignores the one person she wishes she could talk to right now but does not have the courage to.

And just as Theo makes his way out to the porch, maybe to sober up, maybe to get some time to himself, her friend, face already flushed with alcohol, a silly grin plastered on her face, elbows her lightly, “So, which one of these cuties is the one you’re pining for?”

“Give me a minute,” she says, as she gets up on her feet to follow Theo walking away.

Somewhere in between pizza and the first two or three rounds of beer, Theo goes out to the terrace for a little bit of silence. He’d expected her three usual suspects to come—Isaac, Dazai, Arthur—but he hadn’t expected a crowd, especially not of people he barely knew. The whiskey that Leonardo guy had handed to him was pretty strong, too. He’s still standing straight, but his mind is already spinning in circles.

On one hand, seeing her act so normal gives him some sort of relief. This is what he wanted for her. He wanted to step back, fold the dog-eared parts of his heart back onto itself so that he doesn’t notice them—the bookmarks of affection he’d left along the edges of their friendship’s pages. And sure, pulling away was a feat on its own, particularly because he knew she was leaving, and that made him want to spend even more valuable time with her, but—

This is better for her. He knows that. He understands that. And he’s willing to give that to her.

Besides, she said so herself. She no longer wants anchors.

But on the other hand, seeing her act so normal, so oblivious when he’s torn himself open to give her peace of mind leaves an undesirable taste in his mouth.

But it’s not like he could tell her.

Theo’s just about downed the rest of the whiskey in his glass when she comes out to the porch, the sight of her face like salt to the wound.

It takes him all his strength to smile.

“Mind some company?” she asks, and he shakes his head, leaning against the barrier carefully. “Too loud inside?”

He laughs. “The whiskey was crazy.”

She nods. “Leonardo has a ridiculous alcohol stash. A wildcard during drinking parties.”

She closes the door behind her and leans against the balcony next to him, taking a deep sigh. She’s close enough to him that Theo can smell the faint citrus of her perfume.

Theo doesn’t know what to say but he knows he wants to talk to her.

“Nice shirt,” he says, eyes trained on the pastel yellow linen of the off-shoulder blouse she’s wearing. “Color suits you.” She smiles—even if it hurts a little—and shrugs to emphasize them when he points it out.

“Thanks,” she says. “Finally the season to wear bright colors, you know.”

In his mind, she is still beige coat and black boots in the middle of fall. But even that feels like an entire lifetime ago. The months have gone by in a haze. Theo begins to feel the weight of regret—of letting it pass by out of his grasp—sink inside his gut.

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Theo says off-handedly, eyes turned to the ceiling. “Busy?”

“Yeah,” she says, with a half-sigh that’s dragged out of her. She takes a breath and leans her back against the veranda as well, but she looks downward, instead. At the corner of his eye, he catches her pursing her lips as if choosing what to say. “Paperwork.”

“Welcome to bureaucracy,” he jokes, and the two of them laugh.

But just a little.

As if they both knew they were hiding something else underneath the laughter.

“How’ve you been?”

It’s a simple question. One they’ve asked each other a million times before. One that doesn’t have to feel as heavy as it does right now.

“Okay,” she says, but her voice falters. “Could be better.”

Theo hums. She knows that means me too.

“But it’s going great, you know. For both of us.”

That makes him turn.

“With, with the exhibit, right?” she follows up, caught off guard by his gaze. “And with the scholarship, and you’re on your last class, aren’t you? Pre-thesis?”

“Hopefully,” he says.

She smiles at it. “Will be, I promise,” she says.

For a moment, the two of them stand there next to each other in silence. Which should have been normal and comfortable between them, but today…

Today is different.

With another sigh, she decides to just go for it.

“Can I just… get straight to the point?” she asks, as if cautious.

Theo nods, even when his heart is twisting into knots.

“Why have you been ignoring me?”

When she says it, it sounds like her voice is crumpling with the weight of the words.

Theo doesn’t dare look at her. Eyes open but still trained at the ceiling, he says, “I haven’t been ignoring you.”

Her face scrunches up, for the briefest of moments, into a potent kind of anger. An expression that clearly spoke then what the hell have we been doing?! without even a word. Then, it dissolves into something gentler, like defeat. “I’m not mad… just tell me if there’s something wrong?”

A plea for help. Theo hates how transparent he’s become to her, over the few months. Theo wonders if she has something she doesn’t have the courage to tell him either.

“Nothing is wrong,” he insists, closing his eyes as if it makes saying it easier. “It’s just been busy. Like you.”

“Then can I ask why you’ve been upset?”

“I haven’t been upset.”

Theo doesn’t like the feeling. The lie is acid in his mouth. He can avoid questions, he can dodge them, he can make up the most convoluted reasons to divert them—but he does not like lying.

He isn’t lying. He’s not upset.

He’s distraught, and that’s not the same thing.

“Arthur says you’ve been out of character.”

Somehow, the idea that she’s been keeping tabs on him doesn’t make him feel any better. “You know how Arthur is.”

“Arthur doesn’t lie.”

Theo quickly snaps, turning toward her with narrowed eyes. It makes her recoil. It’s an ugly feeling. Theo thinks he deserves it. “Are you saying I do?”

With a deep breath, instead of shouting back, she only shakes her head. “I’m not. You don’t.” She bites her lip as she turns her eyes back to the ground. “…though I kind of wish you were.”

“What?”

She doesn’t answer. Not right away, anyway. Theo looks at her and tries to figure out the expression on her face. It contorts, half-pain and half-pity.

He doesn’t know for who.

“I don’t want to leave like this, Theo,” she says after what feels like forever, her voice as fragile as snowflakes. “It’s like I’ve lost you. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t know where you are. Something happened that made you drifted away. I don’t know what it is. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what it is. I don’t—do you know how important you are to me?” She pauses, out of breath. When they make eye contact, they both look away. “You are important to me. So if something happened, tell me.”

Nothing ‘happened’, he wants to tell her. Something ‘happening’ implies that there was something that changed the way things are. But nothing changed. It’s always been like this from the start. That she was going to go, and he was going to stay.

Nothing happened, it’s just his stubborn heart refusing to shut up or speak up. He doesn’t know which is worse.

Theo doesn’t want to speak because the last time he had spoken they had fought over the one thing that is the most important to her. He doesn’t want to speak because he doesn’t know what it is that he can say.

She takes his silence as a denial.

“Does this just not mean as much to you as it does to me?”

“You’re my friend,” is what he says. Not an answer, but a response.

“Then why won’t you tell me?”

From the inside, there’s a sound of glasses clinking. Someone must have initiated another shot for everyone. But the cheerful laughter that rolls out the window does not lessen the weight of their conversation.

Maybe it makes it worse.

“Dazai says you don’t want me to go.”

The lilt of her voice says curiosity, not anger. That relieves Theo only the slightest bit.

He doesn’t look at her. “That’s a lie.”

“Then why did it make you so upset?”

“I told you, I’m not upset.”

“Not-upset enough to avoid me for weeks?”

“I wasn’t avoiding you.”

“Look, Theo, if you just—”

“You want to go away, so go away,” he says, sharply. He doesn’t like where this conversation is going. He doesn’t want to tell her. He doesn’t want to be someone holding her back. Maybe if he tears at the string holding them together hard enough, she’ll be able to sail away.

But what he said only makes her fold even deeper into herself, distress written plain on her face. Like something snapped inside of her. Guilt begins to tear at him, but this is the only way he knows how to do this. It will hurt, but these are only growing pains. “Are you still holding that against me?”

“I’m not holding it against you.”

“Yes, that’s probably exactly why you brought it up,” she says, her voice now louder. “All of that, all those days and weeks together and you’re still clinging on to that conversation at the rooftop, aren’t you? We don’t need to see eye to eye on it, Theo.”

“I agree, we don’t.” Every word she says in that broken voice makes it harder and harder for him to not just tell her the truth, but he knows he can’t. It will cost them both too much. “I’m still allowed to have my thoughts on it.”

“Right, right.” She laughs. A dry sound. “So you would feel bad, then, huh? That I got offered the finishing course? That I’m considering staying there. Forever. Finish my degree there. Maybe work there. Is that it? Are you going to get mad at me for that?”

For what feels like the billionth time tonight, he says: “I’m not mad at you—”

“Do you know how much this hurts?” she interrupts, but this time her voice is small, like it’s hiding in the back of her throat. She could shout at him all night but it’s this tone that makes Theo hurt the most. “I just thought you’d be a little more supporting, you know, you’re my friend, after all, but…”

“I do support you. I won’t be stopping you from leaving,” he says.

“Then why does it hurt?” she blurts, and it’s obvious on the look on her face that she hadn’t meant to. She turns her back to him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She takes a few shuddering breaths in the silence Theo doesn’t dare get in the middle of, and continues, “why did it seem like you were disappointed?”

Theo stops. Genuinely doesn’t know what to say, just stares at her back in front of him, feeling like she’s already disappearing out of his grasp. That if he reaches out to her right now he won’t be able to reach her—so he does, stretching a hand to see if he can still touch her, the soft cotton of her cardigan—

And he does, and it makes her turn toward him, anger in her eyes.

“I’m not disappointed,” he says. It’s all he can say. It’s the only truth that his mouth can form a shape around. “I’m very proud of you.”

And somehow—somehow that makes it worse. “Then act like it!” she says, tears already stinging the corner of her eyes. “Don’t just push me away and then expect me to be fine with it.”

“I wanted to give you space and let you focus on what you have to do.”

“I didn’t want to focus you out of my life, Theo!” she says. She looks at him like a wounded beast, pain radiating everywhere. “You don’t get to decide what things I add or cut off from my life, you do know that right?”

The thing is, he could admit right now. Could just tell her that he’s been running himself sick wondering if he should tell her. But he doesn’t want to tell her. Why would he, when all she’s ever really wanted was to go away? Why would he when all she’s wanted was to be free of anything that’s holding her down, and he doesn’t want to be that.

He wants her to go.

He does. Or maybe he doesn’t. It doesn’t matter, because he knows what he has to do.

He’s always been the one that stays.

Which is just a prettier way of saying he’s the one that gets left behind.

Her voice takes him back to the present, the sound of it sinking in his brain.

“Did you ever stop to consider what I’d feel about this?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re my friend, I wanted you to be by my side and—”

“I’m sorry.”

“—it’s not that I couldn’t have done it on my own, but—”

“I’m sorry.”

“—you don’t know what’s going on in my head all the time and I don’t know what goes on in yours,” she says. “Theo, what if I told you I loved you?”

He falters for just a moment, but then he says: “I’m sorry.”

Silence. She looks at him for a long moment, her eyes glassy. No tears fall.

Maybe if they begin to roll down her cheeks, she might just get him to say it.

The tears might get him to hold her face in his hands, wipe the tears away, tell her he loves her too, tell her he still wants her to go.

But before they can, she turns away from him and goes back into the room, shouting as she enters: “Oookay, I’m too sober! Give me some more of that gin!”, and the door closes behind her with a small click.

Theo stands outside on the porch in the late spring night, with no words left in him.

They stay away from each other for the rest of the night.

Theo wakes up just as the sun is about to rise. Napoleon, Leonardo, and Sebastian seem to have taken shelter in the house’s other bedrooms—but he, Arthur, Dazai, Isaac, her friend, and her have camped out in the living room to sleep.

Theo’s eyes scan the room. Professor Newton arrived late last night but joined in just as he’s promised. Her friend had clung all night to Newton like a flirty leech, and the usually-reclusive man had no choice but to stay still and… well, stay flustered; Theo wakes up to him draping his jacket over her friend, as he tries to leave ahead of everyone else to make it to his morning class.

Across the room, Dazai and Arthur are also already awake, watching something intently on Dazai’s phone, giggling and with their hands held together in between them over the blanket. Theo doesn’t know at this point if they are lovers or really just fuck-buddies, but he yearns anyway—to be able to have the courage to connect like that.

And next to Theo, she is asleep, huddled under a blanket with a silly print, a large cartoon penguin sitting on top of an iceberg. The penguin has its arms raised wide, open, laid upon her side like protecting her from danger. From him. And Theo—Theo is about to reach out his hand and brush off the stray lock of her hair that’s now dangled in front of her face, trying his best to not wake her up with his movement.

She makes a small sound, and Theo’s heart stops for a moment, but then she does not wake up.

She’s right there next to him, and she hasn’t left, and it’s still spring, so she isn’t leaving soon, but Theo already feels so lonely. To whom will he recite the interesting lines of poetry that he encounters? To whom will he discuss all sorts of philosophies with, sitting in the alcove, waiting out the rain? Who else will be at the bookstore every week, aggressively haggling for books that already are in set prices, who else will team up with Arthur to make his head hurt? Who else will ring their little bike bell when they pass the bookshop at odd hours of the day?

His hand grazes just the tops of her cheeks as he tucks the stray lock of hair away behind her ear. He imagines the flush of it, should she be awake. But she is not awake, and he gets to be alone in his loneliness. His touch hovers there for just a moment, memorizing her warmth, before he pulls his hand back, and turns away.

Across the room, Arthur is watching, and shaking his head in defeat.

#the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart #ikemen vampire #ikevamp theo

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maidenof-thesea · 4 years

Text

Snakes and Butterflies | Preface

Pairing: Jimin x reader

Genre: Soulmate Au!, Fluff, Angst, Smut (Maybe, still debating)

Words: 2.1k

Warnings: MC briefly mentions self harm but she recovers.

Note: So this is my first series, I sort of dabbled in writing when I was younger. so I’m no expert but feedback is appreciated. I always enjoyed reading fan-fictions and always wanted to try it myself. Hope you like it!

"So your room will be on the 3rd floor, facing the parking lot behind this building" I say to the couple in front of me as I hand them the keys to their hotel room. When they both reach for the keys I see their soulmate marks both matching arrows. I look up and feel my fake customer smile come on my face as I met their gaze. "Elevator is on the first hallway to your right as soon as you leave out the door. Dial zero if you have any questions." As soon as the couple is out of hearing range, I let out a sigh that Fernando, the security guard, hears.

"It's almost time till you get off," He says. "I have 7 more hours to go.."

"Oh you’re right" I say, as I look at the time on my phone. "Time to go home to the love of my life: my Yuki."

"Y/n, you need to go out and have fun like other girls your age," He says laughing and rubbing his beer pot belly. "You never know, you might just meet the love of your life...which would be nice in times like these.."

"Times like what?" I say counting out my last cash drop of my shift. "Did you see something on Facebook again? I told you so many times--"

"I saw this on the local news!" He says with red blotching his cheeks. "Young girls! Young girls around your age getting abducted! They turn up later on having no memory only that their Soulmate marks are gone!"

"Let me guess," I say printing out my paperwork and logging out of the system so that I could wait for my relief to come running through the door late again. "All these girls had a bunch to drink while having this so called 'fun' you say and this happened to them."

He stammers for words and in comes running my coworker who happens to work the graveyard shift. I saluted her and I gestured for her to hurry up and clock in since guests are pulling in the parking lot. She smiles and hurries to start the beginning of her shift, while Fernando walks me to my car.

"Okay," He starts when we reach my car. "Perhaps not now but later when this whole ordeal dies down." I hum in response ready to get in my car as I unlock it, but he stops my door from opening.

"I just worry about you, that's all y/n. Most girls either rebel or try very hard to find the one that matches their Mark but you.. you hide behind those sweaters and let no one near you, I've never even seen your Mark-"

“Fernando," I say grasping his shoulder. "There's no need to worry, I'm just letting fate decide for me. We've been blessed with this, surely fate means for me to come across them at some point in my life." I feel my other hand clench at the word 'blessed'. Surely to me it was a curse. I force myself to smile and I see that it works, he's convinced. "I just want time for myself. I want to grow into a person that feels like she's lived her life and is willing to open up and welcome someone." That wasn't a lie, that was genuine and I felt my voice wavering with emotion. Emotion I didn't know I still had. Fernando pats my hand and opens my door. I roll down the window after starting the ignition. I smile as I hear his radio go off, my coworker stating she needs him upfront.

"Alright then miss," he says smiling. "I will let you go now and get some sleep!" I wave at him, as I reverse out and start the short drive home. My smile fading off my face as I clenched the steering wheel, willing myself to force unwanted emotions and memories away and drove the short distance to my home.

The reason I decided to move out here to one of the beach cities was to escape. I found solitude in the sounds of the waves. My friend Jennie had recommended me to stay in this house alongside her family’s private beach, once I had told her my plans of moving out. She told me the rent would be really cheap which was impossible to believe but she told me that her family was planning on making it an airbnb during the summer and that they needed someone to manage it. She offered a wage but of course I declined, I just told her to hire someone to clean and I’ll manage the rest.

It had been a year since then and now summer was just peaking over the horizon again and I knew I was gonna have to take time off to get everything situated. As I got through my door, my beloved Yuki, my tonkinese cat greets me with her purring and rubbing around my ankles.

“Hello my precious, how was your night?”

She purrs and licks my petting hand. I go to take off my coat and shower before bed. As I strip my work clothes, my arms catch my glance and from the conversation from earlier, I am reminded just how much of a freak I am. Where there should have been a Mark, lied just my skin. Scarred skin, to be exact, scars that matched my finger nails.

Rather than face the questions and pity in people’s faces, I rather hide. Hide just how pitiful my life has been. As the warmth of the water envelops me, I don’t feel the need to hide, at least not here in my own home, well that is till the summer. I force the pity I have for myself away and hum a tune. After that I fed Yuki a late night snack and turned on the TV to watch some Netflix. Just then my phone dinged and I saw a message from my mother.

Mom[10:47 pm]: Have you seen this? Link: ww.foxnews.com/missingMarks

I clicked on the link and apparently the news I thought was just local made national news.

“Today in a small town in southern California, tragedy has struck for several young adolescents who were out enjoying their youth when their very futures may very well change forever.” I rolled my eyes at that. They’ll live. “These women were abducted and their Soulmate marks stripped from their arms. All of them have no recollection of their whereabouts in the last 14 hours. Here’s Nancy with one of the victims.”

The clip changes to a girl with her eyes blurred out but it was evident that she was crying as she kept wiping her face.

“I swear I just needed some air, I stepped out for a bit and I woke up at some park and this excruciating pain in my arm… my Mark was gone, almost as if it was burned off! How am I ever-gonna find them?!”

Once again I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes, although a part of me was reminded of my teenage years but now older me, thrives in independence. My phone dings again, indicating another message from my mother.

Mom[10:52 pm]: They think there’s some Neanderthals out there taking Marks away… is that even possible? I thought they were extinct…

Me[10:52 pm]: I thought that was just a bedtime story??

Mom[10:55 pm]: Seriously? It’s in the history books! Why would you think that?

Me[10: 57 pm]: You know why… I don’t really care for things involving those stupid Marks. Besides I learned that along with basic math, how am I supposed to remember that?

Mom[10:57 pm]: I know sorry. But you should at least know our history!

Me[10:58 pm]: Ok I’ll watch a documentary on it on Netflix right now

Mom[10:59 pm]: You just got off work! Go to sleep!

Me[10:59 pm]: yea yea goodnight <3

“Maybe we should just sleep Yuki?” I say as she jumps on my lap and continues to purr and make herself comfortable before I could even get up. “Oh well guess I’m not moving.”

I grab the remote and start Netflix and about to click on Stranger, a Korean drama that I binged in the night prior but a new planet earth documentary catches my eye. This time instead of endangered species it’s about Neanderthals, an extinct race of human beings.

“Would you look at that?” I say tilting my head in curiosity. “Guess I am gonna learn our history.”

As the documentary starts to play, I get a text from my boss that she needs me off for tomorrow so I could work a full shift the day after and I internally groan but realize I can sleep in tomorrow. The theme song of Planet Earth starts playing and I am reminded of my childhood when I see the photograph of the Neanderthals, they look more ape like than human. I begin to wonder if they really actually looked like that or if they were exaggerated or not. Would they still look like that or would evolution help them adapt among humans now? Assuming that they were still alive…

“Humans and Neanderthals have always had their differences and constantly were at war with each other. Evolution had blessed humans with the abilities to procreate faster by aiding humans to find suitable partners. Each generation of humans was more beautiful than the previous. The Neanderthals, unfortunately were unable to evolve like us human beings and they would rape and pillage humans in order to procreate. Thanks to our advancement in evolution, humans were able to develop better weapons and eradicate the Neanderthals…”

“Okay,” I said rolling my eyes, raising the remote control. “Enough of that genocide bullshit.”

“But what if that’s all a lie?” a man obscured in the video said. On the bottom where typically the name of professors or researchers would be credited, the name ‘John Doe’ was instead. This caused me to raise my eyebrows. This man did not want to be known. Of course what he just said is considered blasphemous. “What if I were to tell you that humans are not the apex predators-that we never were the apex predator? That our ancestors may have won the war but fabricated history for their benefit?”

“That’s quite possible,” I mumbled. “But how could you possibly obtain the evidence to prove that?”

“Of course there is no evidence left to prove that but I have dedicated my entire research into finding the remaining Neanderthals. Our ancestors could never locate the actual origin of the Neanderthals-”

“Seriously? I thought that place was just a myth!” I exclaimed, rousing Yuki from her sleep. With the flick of her tail she hopped off the couch and headed to my bedroom to sleep on my bed. “Sorry baby.”

The documentary went on and on about the possibility that Neanderthals may live among us. That everything we know is a lie, that Neanderthals were the ones who evolved, they were the ones that had Soulmate marks… but there was no evidence to support it.

I turned off the TV when the credits started to roll. “Well another documentary to piss off the republicans.” My eyes started to feel heavy and instead of going to my bed I just pulled the throw blanket over myself and fell asleep.

“Y/n look! Fireflies!” a boy with crescent moon eyes and Cheshire smile came running up to me with cupped hands. On his arm, was a Soulmate mark that wrapped around his entire arm, like a snake. It was the most beautiful I had ever seen. Most marks were abstract symbols but this was the first animal one I had ever seen.

“Can I see, Jimin?” another boy said excitedly running with buck teeth, almost like a bunny’s.

“No I want to show Y/n first!” and the boy called Jimin reached me and opened his hands.

The fireflies floated up the sky and both me and the other boy stared in awe. The other boy proceeded to try and catch the fireflies once more and when I looked back at Jimin, he was already staring at me with a gleam in his eyes. He reached for my hand and when our skin made contact, a shiver went through the both of us. When I looked at our joined hands, I noticed that instead of a snake tail on his wrist, the snake’s body seemed to morph into particles and the particles continued onto my arm and morphed into butterflies..like a puzzle piece.

“Y/N-”

Masterlist

#jimin #bts #jimin x reader #reader insert #soulmate au #soulmate!au #bts soulmate au #my work #kpop scenarios #kpop oneshots #bts smut #jimin smut

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