#And his choice of conversation. Dear lord hes so embarrassing and cute i want to punch walls

[boostrific]

#i think this is the best issue of a comic ive ever laid my eyes on #cutest booboos ever. who said that. anyway i want to kill him #teds choice of date attire is makign me see red #And his choice of conversation. Dear lord hes so embarrassing and cute i want to punch walls #is ted having a thing with his hair referencing something i cant recall #flash is so fucking funny #god. good god this issue is so good. booster being a car guy is really cute. help me #i frel so nauseous #the way these tags dont even make sense anymore cause i had too many screenshots for 1 post and only left the cute boosters

[0606-hyuck]

a letter to my lover | mark lee

♡  dear y/n, i’m writing you this letter in the hopes that it gets to you well. our relationship has been tumultuous, that’s for sure, and i thought it was high time i wrote you a letter detailing all the times you said "i love you" that are important to me. 

genre: mark x reader, fluff, supernatural!mark, changeling!mark

warnings: some violence and some profanity

word count: 3.5K

tagging: the lovely @roses-of-the-moon ♡ @mora134340 @ncteology + @nct-writers

To Y/N,

The first time you said “I love you,” you weren’t saying it to me.

When we met, I was working in a cafe as a barista. Trust me, I know how strange it was that I, a supernatural, all-powerful being, had a mundane day job. Hey, a man has to make his living somehow, even if he really isn’t as much of a ‘man’ as he appears. The cafe I worked at was a relatively unknown coffee house, tucked between a row of unassuming hand-made shops down a sleepy side alleyway. We saw enough customers that the cafe precariously stayed out of the reaches of liquidation, but a small enough number that I could easily recognise the faces of all our regular customers.

You piqued my interest because not only were you an unfamiliar sight in the quiet cafe, the first time you entered you almost jerked the hinges of the front door off as you rushed through the threshold. I was worried that you’d possibly been attacked or followed by a scumbag - lord knows there’s a lot of them in this town - but my mind was put somewhat at ease when you walked up to the counter and ordered a drink as if nothing had happened. It was the middle of winter, nearing -10℃, and you’d wrapped yourself up in a long black puffer coat and what looked like two scarves due to the blizzard currently blowing outside. I figured you were just in desperate need for a hot drink to warm your insides.

Although, you stunk. All humans have a certain scent that allows supernaturals to identify them, and yours was billowing off of you in massive waves. It wasn’t necessarily unpleasant, as I was used to being around humans all the time due to my job, it was just so much more overwhelming than I was used to. I guess it was my first indicator that there was something special about you.

I remember the way you leaned across the counter, close enough to my ear to murmur, “I would like a medium hot chocolate please - have here. When you call out my order, do you think you could pretend I ordered something else?” You then tilted back, fixed me a wide smile, and pulled out your card to pay for your drink. As I rang up your order on the till, I asked you, “what’s wrong with ordering a hot chocolate?” 

You shot me an incredulous look and replied, “do you know how embarrassing it is being that one adult that still orders hot chocolate? I love it so much but don’t particularly fancy being bullied for my drink of choice.” That was a fair point, I figured, and so I started to make your drink. Glancing around the cafe and seeing only a select few of other customers, I didn’t really feel the need to call your drink by any other name but I did so anyway because something told me you’d be upset if I didn’t.

“One medium cappuccino?” I called, and you walked up and took your hot chocolate happily. “Ugh, I love you,” you grinned. “For some reason baristas always forget to say it’s another drink, but not you!” I was somewhat surprised that you decided to take a seat at one of the nearby tables and, seeing as there were no other orders for me to make, I brought it up with you. I mentioned that you seemed like you were in a rush, what with the way you nearly broke the cafe door on your way in, and you started to tell me a story about how you were new to the neighbourhood and you’d ordered some furniture online but the delivery guys had left it in the lobby of your building so you’d spent most of the morning hauling pieces of furniture up to your apartment. You’d stopped for a warm drink but hadn’t realised just how cold it was outside, which is why you ran into the cafe panting like a dog. We chatted about the neighbourhood and I gave you suggestions on places and shops you should visit, and before we knew it you’d finished your hot chocolate.

You thanked me for the chat and introduced yourself as Y/N. I thought you were sweet, and so I told you my name was Mark, which it is. Obviously. I didn’t tell you that the dark skinned, tall, accented man in front of you was not my true appearance, but it didn’t really feel like a good idea to tell a complete stranger that I was supernatural - a changeling. In fact, it didn’t seem to matter because you ended up visiting the cafe a few days later anyway, as if you weren’t being real-life catfished.

The second time you said, “I love you”, you were begging me to stay.

After your first visit to the cafe I worked at, Y/N, you became my favourite regular. You always came in and asked for the same thing - a medium sized hot chocolate, with extra marshmallows. We naturally fell into this routine where, as soon as you walked in the door, I would start making your drink while you fumbled for your credit card. You would pay, grab a spare seat, and I’d put the finishing touches onto your drink, making sure to add a smiley face in chocolate drizzle. 

I’d call out your order as something other than what it was, and as we got to know each other the ‘fake drink’ became more and more bizarre. An iced coffee, when there was clearly steam swirling from the cup. A pumpkin spice latte, said in the most basic American accent I could manage in order to embarrass you. If I was feeling daring enough, sometimes your fake drink would be ‘goblin piss’, ‘rat breast milk’, or any other disgusting and clearly fake drink I could come up with. It became the highlight of my day seeing how embarrassed I could make you, because you were super cute when you were pissed off.

For some reason, you decided to stick around for the teasing, much to my relief. You always made my day brighter when you came in to tell me a funny story about your coworkers or the absolutely crazy thing your blind and incredibly sassy 70 year old neighbour said to you. You liked to pretend talking to me was such an effort, but you always made sure you grabbed the seat closest to the counter so you could chat with me while I finished off other customers’ orders.

One thing I noticed, even this early on, was how natural it felt to be with you, Y/N. We got on so well, and the usual anxiety I experienced when having conversations with strangers or acquaintances disappeared. There was never any feeling of “oh god, what embarrassing thing am I going to say next?” and if I did say something weird, you didn’t seem to mind.

Thus, it felt natural to me to ask for your number. It felt natural for us to hang out at your place, or for me to help you put together the last pieces of furniture for your apartment. It felt natural to go for dinner with you, to watch movies together, to go on strolls in the evenings. After a few months, it felt natural to hold your hand as we perused the shops, to kiss your cheek after walking you home, to hold you close when the nights were slightly too cold for our liking. We never put a label on our relationship, but we both knew we really liked each other.

So why couldn’t I tell you what I really was?

I wish I’d been honest with you from the very beginning, Y/N. It would have saved us so much hurt and heartbreak. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you I was a changeling, really. I was young, so maybe I thought you wouldn’t want to be with me when you realised my whole appearance was a lie. I tried to tell myself, “so what if I can change my appearance? Y/N isn’t that shallow that they’d stop liking me if I showed my true self,” but I knew the issue ran much deeper than just my appearance. I’d been lying to you about myself - my goddamn species - for months now that I would totally understand the betrayal you would feel if I told you the truth.

The day you found out I was a changeling was not when, or how, I planned to tell you. The underground club was seedy, my friends were seedy, the other patrons were seedy - it was the kind of place where supernaturals and humans with no morals tended to spend their time and money. There was no point trying to hide my appearance behind a facade that night, as keeping up a fake appearance in a darkened club would unnecessarily waste my energy. So for the first time in a long time I’d dropped my favoured appearance for my true identity - Mark Lee, young 20-something with tan skin, shaggy brown hair, and a cheeky smile. My friends had dragged me here, and I was begrudgingly trying my hardest to enjoy my time when I spotted you.

You were working late that night, which is why we weren’t hanging out together, but from the way your friends all crowded together it was easy to guess they’d convinced you to come along to the club for some fun after work. The problem was, this wasn’t a good club. This was the kind of club where disguised demons, vampires, incubi, and other supernaturals came to take advantage of unknowing mortals. Steal their wallets, feed off of them, sell their soul to the devil - that kind of thing. It was incredibly unsafe for you and your friends to be there, which is why I marched right over to you and told you so.

Only, I forgot I wasn’t disguised. While I was calling you your usual pet names and trying to convince you to come home and watch a movie with me, you had no idea who I was. You stared at me with wide eyes as I clutched your shoulders and pulled you close as I tried to tell you how unsafe it was here. You still showed no signs of recognition, so I assumed you’d already had too much to drink and were just inebriated to the point where you didn’t even recognise your own boyfriend. I said how my name was Mark and I worked at a cafe, and you always came in and ordered a hot chocolate but asked me to call it out as something else. It was only when you started calling me a “weird fucking stalker” that I realised my mistake.

I managed to pull you to a corner of the club and changed my appearance in front of you. I went from my true self - the real Mark - to the dark, green eyed, accented Mark you knew as your boyfriend. You watched in awe as my skin stretched, my nose shifted, and my face and body changed in this little corner of the club. I asked you to follow me and didn’t give you a chance to reply as I tugged you out of the club, narrowly missing a wild fist swung in my face followed by a shout of “dirty little changeling!” 

You were clearly confused and slightly freaked out, but we made it to your apartment where I finally explained the truth. How I was a supernatural, how I was a changeling, and how I’d essentially been catfishing you this whole time. Y/N, it was so devastating to watch the way the betrayal spread across your face - how your eyebrows crinkled downwards, your lips curved into a confused frown, and your eyes started to tear up.

We sat in silence for a few moments too long, and then you asked what that meant for us.

I told you that I loved you. But we couldn’t be together anymore. I couldn’t live with myself if I introduced you to this dangerous supernatural world and something happened to you. I loved you so much that I couldn’t put you in a situation where you could be hurt. You started crying and Y/N, oh god, it was the worst. I wanted to hug you and reassure you that everything would be fine, but how could I do that when I was breaking up with you? I still remember the way your voice cracked when you said “but I love you Mark, please don’t leave me.”

It was so tempting to stay with you, but I knew I couldn’t. You were a human and I was supernatural - as your boyfriend, it would be my responsibility to keep you safe, and how could I do that when I was so entangled with supernatural life? The fist swung my way as we were leaving the club was the perfect example. People hated me purely for my species, and I couldn’t, in good conscience, expose you to that kind of violence and hate.

So, we broke up.

The third time you said, “I love you”, it wasn’t you saying it to me.

A few months after we broke up, Y/N, the cafe I worked at closed down. I don’t even know all the details, but apparently the owner lost all their money on making poor bets and the cafe had to be sold off. Either way, I found myself working as a barista at a new coffee shop on the other side of town. Working at the old cafe hadn’t been the same since you stopped coming in, as seeing you was the highlight of my day, so I wasn’t that bothered about finding a new job. The new cafe was located in a more affluent part of town, where there were more humans than supernaturals, and I felt comfortable enough to be myself - the real Mark - and not hide behind a fake appearance. 

Besides, I’d ditched my other appearance shortly after we broke up. Everytime I looked in the mirror, I was reminded of how much you loved my rich green eyes, how you would fall into a giggle fit when I smiled in your direction, every time without fail, and the way you caressed my skin when no one was around.

Even though we weren’t together anymore, Y/N, and we hadn’t seen each other since that night, I still thought about you all the time. I couldn’t help but remember you when there was a heavy snowstorm, or when I saw someone wrapped in copious amounts of winter clothes. Whenever I saw couples strolling through the streets in the evenings, or when a young child ordered a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows, you were always in the back of my mind.

I tried dating other people, too. About a year after our breakup my friends convinced me to sign up for a dating app. I met up with humans, vampires, fae, werewolves, other changelings - literally any creature you could possibly think of - but it just didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel natural. Conversations felt forced, silences were extremely awkward, and no one understood my jokes the way you did. I tried my best to forget about you, I really did, but in the two years we were apart the lack of your presence haunted me like a ghost. It’s funny now that I look back on this time, because just when I thought my life would never get better again, you reappeared.

It was a Thursday, and I was nearing the end of my shift. The weather was nice for this time of the year, and I’d mentally made plans to take a walk down by the river and enjoy the sun while it lasted. I was giving the coffee machine a good clean when the bell over the door chimed, letting me know I now had another customer. The person who walked in was unfamiliar to me, meaning they weren’t a regular customer, and they sauntered over to the counter with an air of confidence I hadn’t seen in a long time. 

They leaned towards me to give me their order, and I remember getting a whiff of them - they were supernatural, and if I had to guess they were a changeling like me. They smelled familiar, vaguely like you, actually, but I knew that wasn’t possible. You were a human, after all, and a stinky one at that. Maybe this person had passed you on the street and your strong scent had clung to them? They cleared their throat and asked, “could I please have a medium hot chocolate with extra marshmallows? Also, if possible, could you please call out another drink, as if I had ordered that instead? I’ll love you forever if you do.”

I stood as still as (un)humanly possible as I processed your words. Firstly, there were no other customers in the cafe, why would I have to pretend the hot chocolate was anything but? And secondly, those words were almost an exact copy of what you said to me the first time we met, at my previous job. “Well, what are you waiting for?” the customer questioned, shooting me an unmistakably familiar grin. And then it all clicked into place.

God, the shock I felt when I realised the person in front of me was you, Y/N! I almost launched myself over the counter to hug you but was stopped when I remembered I’m not athletic enough to do that. You simply winked back at me and transformed into your true appearance right in front of my face - two seconds ago you were a stranger and now you were the love of my life, standing a few feet away. I ran to the door to flip over the open/closed sign and then gave you the biggest hug ever before I proceeded to make your hot chocolate the way I remembered you liked it and chat with you like the old times.

The last time you said “I love you” was exactly twelve minutes and thirty seven seconds ago.

When you explained to me how you’d hunted down a centuries-old witch and convinced her to change you into a changeling, I was utterly speechless. I didn’t even know that was possible! You said you’d done it to prove to both myself and you that you were strong enough to protect yourself from the supernatural, and what better way to do that than becoming a supernatural yourself? (your words, not mine). There was so much we needed to catch up on, and hanging out together again felt just as natural as it did the first time.

The way you invited me back to your apartment so we could chat well into the early hours of the morning felt so natural. When I told you that I’d never stopped loving you, despite not seeing you for two years, and you kissed me as if nothing else in the world mattered felt so goddamn natural. There was no protest from either side when we both decided to move into our own home together, only hilarious disagreements over the colour of our backsplash in the kitchen.

I decided to write this letter not to tell you how much I love you (because I tell you that about ten times a day anyway), but because I think our love story is a very interesting one, and it’s a rollercoaster of a ride to look back on. Actually, while I was writing this, you tried to come into the study but I have the door locked so you couldn’t. I don’t want you to know what I’m writing until it’s completely finished, and I can watch the emotions on your face as you read through my words. 

I think you were screaming about seeing a bug? A centipede? I jokingly replied and said I was too busy, although I was planning to come out and help you in a second, and you stomped off and returned a minute later saying, “I love you Mark, but you’re no longer needed because it turns out I can actually get rid of bugs by myself.”

I know you were being sarcastic, but it’s comments like that that make me smile and so thankful for the person that I’ve ended up with. It’s funny, when you walked through the door of the coffee shop for the first time two years ago, neither of us would have guessed this is what life would have in store for us. I can’t imagine what I’d be doing right now if you hadn’t burst into my life like a madman wrapped in multiple scarves that one winter day.

Here’s to the rest of our lives, my beautiful, supernatural, slightly crazy love.

Yours truly,

Mark :))

© 0606-hyuck 2021. All Rights Reserved.

#neowritingsnet #cznnet #nct-writers #dreamwritersnet #nct #nct dream #nct 127 #mark #mark lee #mark nct #nct mark #mark nct 127 #mark x reader #mark imagine #mark scenario #supernatural nct

[izabellq]

Costumes -> Tamaki Amajiki

summary: you accidentally match costumes with tamaki. prepare yourself for a whole day of endless shenanigans.

contains: MAJOR FLUFF, language if you squint (ik canonically, mirio is in 3-B, but for the sake of this plot, the big three are all in 3-A) also, i tried to make this gender-neutral, so if there’s any specified pronouns, let me know and i’ll fix it ASAP!

THIS IS MY HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! (im very much aware i posted this a day late oop)

UA had decided to hold a special event where students could wear their Halloween costume to school. You weren’t planning anything special or unique, just something to get the job done. So, you decided to dress like a cute puppy. It was only a simple onesie: topped with cute floppy dog ears on your hood, and a tail that attached from the bottom. You weren’t expecting to get a lot of attention, which was perfectly fine with you because you were never the type to seek the stage. You topped off the simple look with a black spot on your nose and one around your eye. And just like, you were good to go.

When you walked into school, you couldn’t help but feel a tad bit insecure. It seemed like everyone had decked out for this special occasion. You passed by some anime cosplay, food costumes, group oriented costumes — everything you could possibly think of. And as you made your way to your class, you wondered what Tamaki would be wearing.

You couldn’t help yourself. It was undeniably true that you had a rather large crush on him. Everything about him was enticing. He was so shy that it was usually you who initiated conversation, but that wasn’t enough to make you falter. You understood he wasn’t the most socially active person around. To be frank, it was rather comforting to know that not everyone at UA was a egotistical narcissist.

Finding your assigned seat, you scanned the class. Some of your peers also took the simple route which put some of your thoughts at ease. Others, the more competitive students, were quite impressive themselves.

You turn towards the doorway when Mirio’s booming voice gathers the room’s attention. He was wearing a... whoopie cushion? Oh dear lord. Mirio was a stickler for humor, so of course, he’d wear practically anything that could rise a laugh out of someone. Only, his jokes kind of sucked and no doubt would the class of 3-A be subject to awful fart jokes for the rest of the day. You weren’t so worried about that as you were worried about the two other students usually attached to his hip. One of them being Tamaki Amajiki.

The next one to stop into class was Nejire Hado who was absolutely breathtaking. Her costume, which was nothing more than a fairy, seemed to capture her true personality perfectly. Although, an angel would also be very accurate in her case. She turned towards the entrance way and stuck her head out into the hallway, “Tamaki! Don’t be shy! You look so cute!”

Your heart began to beat just a little bit faster.

“Mirio! Come help me out with him,” Nejire stomped into the hallway, the fluttering of her makeshift wings dissappeared, only to be followed by a laughing Mirio.

When they returned, their hands were clasped over Tamaki’s wrists, forbidding him from turning around and sulking out in the hallway. When you saw him, you’re taken aback. The smallest of gasps erupt from your lips when you notice his costume choice. A onesie, similar to yours, but instead of the dog ears; replaced with cat ones, and a longer tail attached to the back. He had the same minimal face paint (lined whiskers and a nose) as you did, curtesy of Nejire.

When he looked up, his cheeks were flamed with embarrassment. He found your gaze, and if it were possible, he became even more sheepish. You weren’t any different. The thought of having a matching costume with Tamaki, despite not having any prior arrangements, made you equally embarrassed. Now, all you wondered was, did he notice?

Well, if he didn’t before, he sure did now when Nejire spoke up, “Hey Y/N! Oh my– are you a puppy? How cute! Wait! You’re matching with Tamaki! Now you two look like an adorable couple!”

Her excitement, plus her lack of censorship, made the class laugh— everyone’s attention on you and Tamaki. “Nejire...” Tamaki muttered. He stared at the floor, wishing it’d just swallow him whole.

“You guys should take a picture together,” Mirio suggested, walking over to where you sat and giving you a hand. You hesitantly took it, positive that you looked about ready to vomit or pass out. Maybe both. In that order.

Dragged to stand next to Tamaki, you spare him a single glance. He has his left hand up to his face, doing a shoty job at covering his red cheeks. To you, he seemed... more embarrassed than usual? Perhaps he just didn’t wanted to match costumes with you. It saddened you, but it wasn’t like you could do anything about it now.

Nejire laughed, “Say cheese!”

Tamaki mumbled something that you could only assume was in response to Nejire. In a small pickle of confidence, you grabbed his hand and entangled your fingers with his just before the camera went off.

“Cheese!”

That was first period.

When lunch rolled around, Tamaki had face planted himself on the table.

Nejire and Mirio sent each other a knowing look before moving to console him.

“I don’t understand why you’re not happy, Tamaki! You’re matching costumes with them, you got a picture with them, and they also held your hand!” Nejire listed off the things that happened before the bell rang, signaling the start of first period.

“I am happy...” Tamaki muttered, lifting himself up from the table, “But they probably hate me now.”

“I wouldn’t say that!” Mirio added, “Haven’t I told you that they most definitely have a crush on you?”

“No offense Mirio... but I’m not too keen on taking advice from a literal walking whoopie cushion.” Tamaki propped his arm on the table, before leaning his head into the palm of his hand. The same one you had so eagerly held. He wished to repeat the notion a million more times. Only now, he was afraid he had messed up his one and only opportunity.

Mirio gasped, “I’ll have you know that I got many compliments today!”

Nejire giggled before turning back to Tamaki. “Why don’t we just call them over here?”

“I- um, no... I’d rather not do that,” Tamaki rushed out. He wasn’t sure if he could handle another awkward occurrence with you. You’d surely find him weird.

“Where are they anyways?” Mirio asked, not before sinking his teeth on the apple provided on his lunch tray.

“Oh I see them!” Nejire not-so-subtly pointed at you. Tamaki couldn’t help himself as he turned to look in your direction.

You were laughing at something someone had said before adding your own little quip. You were so cute, he thought. Nejire was the one who suggested he wear a cat-themed costume due to the running joke that he was a ‘cute little kitten’. He was prepared to arrive in his normal uniform but Nejire’s persistence was unwavering. And if he knew what you’d be wearing— would he have accepted the costume more easily? You deserved better than him, he knew, but a small part of him fantasized about the ways you’d love him in a way no one else had before.

“Earth to Tamaki,” Nejire sang, snapping him out of his thoughts. “They’re coming over here, straighten up!”

“Hey Y/N, care to sit?” Mirio asked.

Tamaki’s looking down by the time you got there, so he barely registers it when you sit beside him. Your shoulder rubs against his in brief contact and it makes him shudder. He hopes you didn’t notice.

“What’s up guys?” You brought over a juice box from your other table, sipping on the straw of your drink rather intently.

“Tell Tamaki that my costume is funny!” Mirio piped up, distracted from the match-making he was SUPPOSED to be doing.

You nervously giggled, “Well... your costume is certainly an attention-grabber!”

Mirio seemed pleased with that answer, not having considered the fact that you dodged the question the best way you knew how. Tamaki stared at you, adoration etched into his irises. He didn’t realize he had left out a soft laugh until you were staring at him.

He choked up, “Uh- sorry... I didn’t mean to laugh.”

You smiled, a picture definition of the word perfect. Everything about you, he loved. He just loved you in general. “You don’t need to apologize Tamaki! Your laugh is very cute!”

You pinched his cheek before continuing your previous conversation with Mirio and Nejire. Did you even realize what you were doing to him? He hid his face in his arms and rested on the lunch table. Tamaki knew his face was probably several shades of red and pink. He was only wondering how long it would take before you’d actually kill him with your presence.

And that concluded lunch.

The last period of the day came and went uneventfully. And soon enough, class 3A had returned to the dorms, agreeing to remain in their respective costumes until the clock striked midnight. Some students had decided to spend the night on a scary movie binge, while others payed no mind to the event by studying and finishing thier cumulated late assignments.

You on the other hand we’re stuck in the kitchen, preparing some coffee to get you through the night. Mirio and Nejire had wanted to pull an all-nighter as well, which meant you had to figure out a way to not fall alseep before midnight hit. You already had a messed up sleep schedule as it was, so one more added incentive should make the whole evening smooth sailing.

“Y-Y/N?”

You turn towards the kitchen doorway where Tamaki stood, a bit shellshocked from your presence. Still in that cat onesie, you could see his whiskers had become a bit smudged.

You smiled at him, an ache wrapped around your chest became noticeably present to you. “Amajiki! Shouldn’t you be up in Mirio’s room with Nejire? I’ll be up there in a second, I just gotta finish this.”

“Ah, well,” Tamaki moved into the kitchen, fidgeting with his fingers as he talked. “You were taking a while, so they sent me to check up on you. I’m glad you’re o-okay though.”

You hummed in acknowledgment, turning back to the light stirring of the coffee machine. Your fingers uncoordinatedly tapped the kitchen’s counter, a melodic beat strung to match your voice. Tamaki watched with amusement— nothing like the sight of you in your element could make him any happier.

Actually, there was one thing that would be slightly better.

Slowly, he approached you until he had occupied the space beside you. You noticed him almost immediately, but had pretended to take more interest in your coffee than him. Your heart rate picked up, leaving you to mentally curse your inability to remain calm.

“I have a question,” His voice was hushed, a bit unsure of itself. You turned to look at him but his vision remained on the counter.

“What’s up?” When the coffee machine stilled, you pulled your mug out and carefully placed it in front of you. The smell of the roasted beans infiltrated your nostrils and you couldn’t get enough of it.

“Do you- I mean... I think I’m... no that’s not right. I think it’d better if I just show you...” He bit the inside of his lip, whilst finally mustering the courage to look at you. You’re eyes were widened with curiosity, the reflection of the night settling in your skin.

He moves slightly closer, and when you don’t move away, he softly places his hand on your cheek, angling your face so your centimeters away from each other. Tamaki tries to speak, but he honestly didn’t even think he’d get this far. He’s left utterly speechless. Perhaps if Fatgum were here, he’d supply him with the confidence he needed to pull this off. His anxiety-prone thoughts began to take initiative and he starts to pull away, believing to have bit off more than he could chew. He really did believe you deserved better than him.

But your still there. You’ve always been there. In more ways than one. You grip the front of his onesie and pull him back to his previous spot. His hand recupped your face, and you take this opportunity of surprise to place your lips on his. Nothing more than a second long, only the brush of your lips before the tingling sensation had dissappeared all together.

It wasn’t enough. For either of you. You can’t remember who surged forward first, but it couldn’t have mattered less. The only thing that was being even remotely processed was the heat of your frenzied kisses. Tamaki poured all of his emotions into that moment; from the way he felt when seeing you in your puppy onesie to the butterflies that clouded his mind whenever he thought of you.

You were the first to pull back out of breath. You don’t care that your makeup is beyond repair, or that his is either. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you muttered six words into the smooth crevice of his skin, completely forgetting about the coffee you were prepping for yourself. “I love you, I always have.”

Tamaki smiled, though the nervousness hadn’t completely disappeared. “I love you too.” He admitted, feeling his heart flutter at the mutual affection. It wasn’t one-sided after all, not one bit.

Maybe he ought to take more advice from his friend the whoopie cushion.

Then again, maybe not.

“There waiting for us you know,” Your voice was a bit muffled, having been the after-effect of hiding your face in his neck. He understood you perfectly nonetheless.

“They can wait a little longer,” His arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you impossibly closer.

“Kiss me again,” You pleaded.

And so, he did just that.

CHECK OUT MASTERLIST HERE!

#anime #fanfic #my hero academia #fluff #my hero academia x reader #bnha #boku no hero academia #tamaki amajiki x reader #tamaki amakiji #amajiki tamaki x reader #mha tamaki #I LOVE THIS MAN OMG #gender nuetral

[xnchxntmxnt]

Happy 1 year, L!! So glad to be a part of your fan base >:)

I would like a male matchup from Haikyuu please!

Here’s the dress that I am wearing:

About me:

I’m an outgoing girl who loves to meet new people. I’m a theatrical performer, one of my major passions. I’m a leading lady and my vocal range goes from male tenor to female soprano. I’m also a photographer! I like to think that I’m very very skilled at it. It’s one of my favorite things to do.

I listen to all sorts of “weird” music. From sixties, to death metal, to lo-fi rap, I love most music.

I love to be outside and just in my element. My favorite activity is writing and playing games while it’s dark and raining.

I love to do little crafts with my hands like rainbow loom and cross stitching.

Random fun facts: I LOVE to watch soccer games, I’m a very very emotional person and cry at everything, and finally my go to arcade game is coin dozer.

Thanks for being here and blessing us with your content ❤️❤️

THIS DRESS KDNGJBDRG im in love w it i LOVE the color great choice

𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡... 𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐈 𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐀

his outfit:

good lord this man looks good in purple. also he's wearing slightly smudged eyeliner i cant find any good pics tho so. eyeliner

believe it or not, the dude doesn't dance much

not willingly

he'll take a mosh pit over a dance floor any day so don't expect him to be on the dance floor

no he's on the small stage set up for live music helping me out <3

im part of your night now <33 deal w it /j /j

so basically

he's a musician

idk where i would have met him im just saying i know him somehow

and i love doing live shit and its my ball so i can if i want to

so he's helping me out w the live shit

probably playing bass for me bc i suck at that

and we vibe

but we clean up instruments and stuff for the night so i can go back to internally panicking about if the night is going well

actually so we can enjoy the rest of the party

you come say hi to the cute bassist

Yours truly decides to play matchmaker because semi may think he’s smooth but someone from the outside could see in a heartbeat that he was interested

He thinks ur pretty <33

So when you guys get to talking about music and how long you’ve each been doing your own music stuff, the conversation is fun

Eventually it fades/one of you is dragged away from each other, but here enters my cue

I would take a minute to tease him about the pretty girl he was talking too and the dude is pretending not to be embarrassed but he is

But then would tell him in x amount of time y song that he likes is gonna play and how he should ask you to dance

Catch 22–he doesn’t like dancing

So I make my way over to you

You get the same spiel (turns out you both like that song) and I tell you to ask him to dance

Probably after some “does he actually want to dance with me” “yes dear” bickering you agree because I’m sure you’re better at talking to people than he is

So you’ve managed to drag the introvert into the dance floor, now what?

He hates dancing because he doesn’t know how

And it’s a slow dance and he’s embarrassed because he seems to be the only one who doesn’t know what he’s doing

Well maybe this wasn’t every theater kid but I learned how to waltz bc of theater so we’re just assuming you did too

So it’s a little unconventional (as is everything here), but you lead

He spins you later in the song as he gets more confidence and you see this little smile in the corners of his cheeks that makes you just. Swoon really

Song’s over, he wants to go back to being a wallflower, but he doesn’t want to let you go either

So you two exit out to a balcony that I just decided exists for this scene specifically

He says it’s for fresh air (which it partially is) but you can’t see him blushing when it’s dark out

So the two of you stand against the banister, snacking on the desserts that fit in your hands and talking the rest of the night away

He compliments your dancing, you compliment his eyeliner (and his eyes because they’re so pretty)

I don’t know if this is too far for just having met him that night but for the sake of the princess moment I want to say there was a kiss on the balcony

A light, sweet one

But a kiss nonetheless

And it was wonderful

P.s. he wears flavored lip balm and that night it was vanilla

#also ur so sweet wtf #<333 #anniversary event #//ɪɴʙᴏx

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 7

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 20,116

Chapter Rating: PG-13...ish! Me being the very easily flustered writer that I am, I can tell you right now that no OVERLY graphic sexy things happen and there is a fade to black at the end, so it is all still fairly tame. But still, there is a lotta sexy innuendo and talk of sexy, ahem… ITEMS. Just wanted to drop a heads up since the rest of my story up to this point has been fairly PG for the most part, so didn’t want to blind side anyone!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Baby, all I want for Christmas is you."

Rayne stumbled a bit as she pushed the double stroller along, blowing out an amused little pft through her teeth. "Please, please tell me he did not actually say that!"

I sighed, hanging my head as I kept stride next to her, "He did. When I asked him for gift ideas, those were his exact words."

Anna erupted into laughter beside me, gripping my arm for support. "Dear lord, have I ever mentioned what a friggin' cliché, cheesy cornball your man is?"

"Not to mention no help at all," I grumbled, crossing my arms. "This is like Lea's birthday all over again. I mean, I know the stuff he likes, but honestly... what do you get for the man that buys everything and anything he wants for himself the second he sees it?"

"Don't worry, pumpkin," Rayne reached over to pat a comforting hand to my shoulder. "We wander around here long enough, something's sure to jump out at us eventually!"

"I hope so," I grimaced, not feeling so confident myself as we pressed onward through the crowded mall. I'd just gotten off my morning shift at the Ice Palace not too long ago and was still in my uniform minus the hat. It seemed I wasn't the only one who had to do some last minute holiday shopping, for that was the exact reason my sister and best friend had met up with me here as soon as I'd clocked out. With Christmas only a week away however, Dusk Town Center was understandably packed nearly to bursting. Merchandise was all but flying off the shelves in every store. Even if by some miracle I did manage to find the perfect gift here today, with my luck it'd probably be completely out of stock and backordered for months.

Gah, I shouldn't have kept putting this off for so long! But I had been racking my brain for weeks now for what to get him and had come up with zilch. Still had zilch. Ugh…

Last-minute-panicked-impulse-shopping don't fail me now!

Anna suddenly gasped and stopped walking. I took a few more steps before I slowed as well, glancing back at her with one eyebrow quirked. Her eyes weren't focused on me however as a slow grin spread across her face. "...what if we took Lea's words literally?"

Rayne and I exchanged a quick look. She shrugged, seemingly just as in the dark as I was. As mall traffic kept flowing unperturbed around us, my gaze settled on Anna once more and I snorted with a shake of my head, "What, you mean just put me under the tree gift-wrapped with a bow for Christmas morning?"

"Something like that, Sis," she giggled, suddenly latching on to my arm once more but now with a surprisingly strong grip.

Uh-oh… that impish gleam in her eye was making me nervous...

"Oh-ho, I see where she's going with this," Rayne sniggered before shifting the stroller over to be in front of me instead. "Here, take this." I blinked, my fingers automatically closing around the handlebar. Then she had seized hold of my other arm.

Oh gosh, her devilish little smirk was making me really, really nervous…

The ladies nodded at each other in unison in some unspoken agreement then without warning took off sprinting. I gasped and tripped over my own two feet, but managed to stay up right as I was dragged along with them. The sea of people parted for the stroller bearing two laughing infants like they were a friggin' pair of tiny Moses and we had zero trouble getting through, making a beeline straight for-

My eyes widened, "Oh no."

"Oh yes!" Anna cackled, tightening her hold on my arm.

I futilely dug my heels in, trying to put on the brakes. "No, no, no!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Rayne answered in glee.

There was no use fighting it. This was happening. Like it or not, I had no choice but to charge headlong into a little shop known as…

...Esmeralda's Secrets.

I had just been forcibly manhandled into literal Underwear Hell. Everywhere as far as the eye could see, things were lacy… things were silky…

...things were fluffy.

Egads, the horror. The fluffy, fluffy, neon pink, leopard-printed utter horror.

I squeaked, squeezing my eyes closed and burying my face into my hands. I was almost surprised my palms didn't burn from how badly my cheeks were roasting.

I heard a chuckle from Rayne as I felt her trying to gently pry my fingers away from my eyes. "Don't play coy, sweetie, we're all grown-ups here! You act like you've never been in an adult happy fun-time store to buy some lingerie before!"

"Maybe because I haven't!" I dropped my hands to fix her with a hard stare. Instead, the recipient of my said stare turned out to be a mannequin in something skimpy, leathery and with far too many buckles. "Oh dear," I muttered, somehow managing to blush even harder as I looked away and held a hand up to block my line of sight to it.

"Really, Sis? You've never been in one of these places? Not ever, not even once?" Anna snerked, shaking her head. The sheer disbelief coloring her voice led me to believe that she had been in this type of store before. This was not a realization I was comfortable with. "But you're so…" she whistled, winking one eye shut as her hands traced an hour-glass figure in the air before me. "...and Lea's so…" now she trilled her tongue against the roof of her mouth, eyebrows bouncing as she mimed pouncing with curled, wriggling fingers. "...ya know what I mean?"

...was it sad that I did in fact know exactly what she meant?

Scrunching my eyes shut as I pressed my fingers between my eyebrows, I puffed out a low sigh. Then, rather awkwardly (scratch that... very, very awkwardly), I explained, "...while it's… true that we're quite, er… active in that, hrm… department… we, uh… r-rather, that is to say, lingerie is a particular… bedroom... adventure we've yet to have as of, um… as of yet."

I couldn't believe this was actually a conversation I was having with my baby sister.

She brightened. "Well then thank your lucky stars cuz I've just handed you the perfect Christmas present on a silver platter! You're welcome!"

I tipped my head to one side with a dubious frown. "...really?" Plucking a hanger bearing an intricate, ruffled bra from a nearby rack, I wrinkled my nose at it before putting it back. "Doesn't seem like it'd be the most meaningful, heartfelt gift…"

"Please!" Rayne batted a hand through the air with a snort. "It's not like it's an anniversary or anything, it's Christmas - a consumer holiday glorified by the big corporations to weasel as much munny as they can outta us! Not every gift has to be thoughtful and profound, you're allowed to just have a lil fun with it sometimes!"

"Still… I don't know…" I said slowly as my gaze wandered against my will towards a nearby case filled with… ah, hm… shall we say, recreational items? I quickly averted my eyes.

"How 'bout we just peruse a bit, 'kay? No harm in that!" Rayne grinned as she steered the stroller further into the store.

"Yeah, Sis, just let us peruse!" Anna beamed as she linked her arm in mine once more and tugged me into a stumbling walk.

I pressed my lips together into a thin line and said nothing as I let her guide me along. I mean, did I even have a choice? Really? Maybe the sooner I stopped arguing, the sooner we could get this whole embarrassing ordeal over with and leave.

As I let my eyes idly drift from one frilly garment to the next, I did have to begrudgingly concede that Anna and Rayne might actually be onto something here with the lingerie idea. Don't get me wrong, Lea had never made me feel pressured to, er… "dress up" for the occasion or anything like that. It was never even really a conversation we'd ever had, so honestly it wasn't something I'd particularly given much thought to before this very moment. That said, I could hardly see him being exactly opposed to the idea either. Far from it, in fact…

Thus why it might just make the perfect Christmas surprise.

Anna abruptly pulled us to an unexpected stop in front of another customer, drooping her eyelids at the individual as she informed him, "You know that'd be more of a Christmas gift for you than for her, right?"

The gentleman in question paled, choking back a startled, "Huh?" and looking rather guilty as he stood there with the sheer, sparkly spaghetti-strapped thong dangling from his fingers that'd he'd been mulling over.

Rayne stepped up beside us, parking her stroller with it aimed directly at the guy as she deadpanned, "For shame! My babies judge you!"

He blinked, glancing down at the infants. Cayde and Aria squealed and burbled back. Turning bright red and dropping the underwear, he made a hasty retreat out of the shop.

"Haha, yes! That was too fun, Ray-Ray!" Anna snickered, giving her a high five. As I pinched the bridge of my nose with a tiny shake of my head, Anna asked, "What?"

I grumbled, "Being in a lingerie store by myself would be mortifying enough, but it's just now dawning on me how utterly ridiculous it is that I'm in here with my sister and a mom who brought her two babies."

"Psh, they're fine with it," Rayne brushed off, redirecting her gaze to someone nearby who seemed to work here. "Excuse me, Miss, you're fine with my tots being here, right?"

The woman turned to face us with a warm smile. She had long, wavy raven hair, eyes as green and sparkly as emeralds, and the kind of figure that would probably be pictured in a dictionary next to the word "voluptuous." In short, exactly the kind person any boss who ran a lingerie store would be positively thrilled to hire as an employee. She hummed a soft laugh as she waved a finger in greeting to the twins, "Of course! I actually have a kid of my own back home… Djali looks to be just about their age, maybe a few months older. Anyway, I completely understand and have no problem at all with you bringing them in here."

"Told ya," Rayne smugly razzed her tongue in victory at me.

And this prime example of maturity was a parent, folks.

Rolling my eyes but fighting a grin, I then glimpsed the worker's name tag and furrowed my brow. "Wait… you're Esmeralda?" I blinked a couple times. "...that's not just a fancy name they put on the store sign?"

"Nope! I own and operate this lil business," the woman smiled proudly now.

"Well then, Esmeralda, I hafta ask…" one corner of Anna's lips turned up as she leaned to whisper conspiratorially, "What's your secret?"

A little snort escaped her nose before she gestured back towards the front of the store, "Not letting creeps like that get to me."

Looking out the shop windows back into the mall proper, we now all spotted a rather sinister-looking old man standing out there who seemed to be… protesting? He was holding up a sign aimed directly at this little boutique bearing in big, bold letters the words (and I kid you not): SINNERS, REPENT. Other mall shoppers were giving the man a wide berth as he just stood there a few feet away from the entrance into here, glaring. Gosh, how had we not seen him on our way in? Maybe he'd arrived after us.

"Ugh," Rayne scrunched up her nose in distaste at the sight of the man. "What's ol' Skeezy McSkeezerson's problem?"

"He's just some religious nutjob who thinks my little," up came her fingers to provide air quotes, "den of iniquity��here is ruining the wholesome, family friendliness of the mall. Ignore Frollo, he's harmless."

Anna raised an eyebrow, "You're chummy enough with that gnarly bag of bones to know his name?"

Chuckling, Esmeralda shrugged, "Kind of hard not to know it, what with him harassing me every morning when I come to open shop and every night when I lock up. Luckily, he's not brave enough to follow me inside, probably too afraid he'll fall victim all this sin and debauchery hanging on the racks. This place is my sanctuary," she glanced around with a contented sigh. Then she clapped her hands together once, flashing her best customer service smile now. "But that's enough talk about that! Is there anything I can help you lovely ladies out with today?"

"Perhaps you can assist my beautiful bestie here by helping her pick out some sexy underwear for her to show off to her man," Rayne beamed, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "You'll hafta forgive her, she's a tad clueless cuz she's a bit of a lingerie virgin."

"Hmmmmm," Esmeralda slowly circled me as she tapped a curled finger to chin. I felt a heat rising to my face once again under such scrutiny and I began fidgeting with my braid. "...yes, I can already picture a few of my items that could suit you perfectly. But first, tell me a little about your beau - do you think he could handle being subjected to some of our more…" she paused, a sly little gleam flitting across her eyes now as she smirked, "...risqué outfits?"

Forget him, I don't think I could handle being subjected to some of their more risqué outfits!

Before I could respond however, Anna chimed in with, "Oh don't worry, Lea can handle them! Trust me, he's as red blooded and virile as they come!"

"Anna!" I gasped, horrified as I strangled my braid harder.

She gave my shoulder a light, playful shove, "C'mon, Sis, you think I can't friggin' hear you two going at it whenever I spend the night on your living room couch?"

I nearly tore my braid straight out of my scalp.

Face? What face? No, I no longer had one and in its place now was nothing but a raging inferno.

"I- He- We- Tha-" I spluttered and stammered, unable to complete a coherent thought, much less sentence.

"Aw, I think you broke her," Rayne cooed with a little giggle, patting me on the head.

Esmeralda had already set to work, drifting from one rack to the next, seemingly knowing exactly where to find each thing she was looking for as she quickly and efficiently riffled through the garments, plucking up hangers here and there to toss over her arm before moving to the next one. Before long, she'd returned to stand in front of me with an assortment of delicates neatly stacked in the crook of her elbow. "I've picked out a few options for you for starters, just let me know if you see any you'd like to try on." With that, she held up the first one.

...I did not understand what I was even looking at here. Like, at all. Was she holding it upside down?

Though I made no comment, my expression must have told her everything. "Alright, not your cup of tea. Moving along," she smiled good-humoredly as she set that one aside and lifted up another one for me to look at.

Good lord, was that supposed to be lingerie or a net? The thing was more holes than fabric. Just how many limbs did they think I had?

Tucking that one away as well, she laughed, "Take it that one's a no too. Don't worry, I have a good feeling about this next one." She showed it to me and…

...actually? It wasn't too distressing.

No, it was actually a rather classy and tasteful kind of sexy, with its silk and its hint of lace and its overbust corset in a deep, rich blue.

I hesitated with a thoughtful frown before reaching a hand out to gingerly take it from her. Cheeks still simmering away, I pursed my lips to one side as I considered it for a few seconds longer, then mumbled, "You said something about being able to try them on?"

Esmeralda smiled brightly. "Follow me, I'll take you to a fitting room."

As she started leading me towards the back, I was suddenly halted in my tracks when I heard, "Sis! Sis!" My eyebrows knit together as I turned my head towards Anna's voice. I spotted her over by one of the wall shelves, holding something up high over her head and waving it about with an almost manic glee as Rayne smothered snickers into her hand beside her. "You should get this for Lea too!"

It took me a second to realize what it was she had in her hand, but when I did, every last drop of blood in my body came hurtling up into my face.

"No!" I shouted across the store. "No way! I am not buying that!"

I bought it.

But only because Anna wouldn't stop pestering me about the stupid thing until I did.

I hadn't been able to bring myself to gift-wrap it with the lingerie that I'd also ended up purchasing. Heck, I'd barely been able to bring myself to wrap the lingerie itself, but what exactly else could I have done? Surprised him with it by just walking into the bedroom wearing it? Please, as if I could ever be so bold - I'd practically burst into flames from all the blushing I'd been doing just wrapping the dang thing. As for the other thing, I'd just panicked and hid it away wedged between the bedframe and underside of our mattress for the time being until I could figure out something else to do with it.

Thankfully, I'd also managed to come up with a second gift to give Lea. In a sudden surge of inspiration out of the blue, I'd gotten the idea to get him a vintage movie reel projector. I could just picture him getting all excited about collecting all of his cheesy classics he loved so much in their original format so we could watch them "the way they were meant to be watched" or something like that. Finding one used online hadn't been all that difficult or expensive, not to mention thank goodness for overnight shipping! The device itself was big but not all that heavy, almost shockingly so - I'd easily been able to lug it around myself for getting it all wrapped and whatnot.

So there my two presents sat in the living room as Christmas Eve dawned, beneath a tiny yet festively decorated tree that we had to constantly keep Marshmallow from trying to eat. It was hard to blame the giant fuzzball though really - now almost fully grown, Marshmallow was bigger than the dinky little pine so was it any real wonder that he seemed to consider it his new favorite chew toy?

In any case, me getting Lea more than one gift seemed to have worked out for the best as it hadn't slipped my notice that he'd also gotten me a couple things that were currently nestled there at the base of that tree. Our small cluster of presents were really only there for the sake of appearances at the moment. We weren't going to be here on Christmas day itself. We were in fact just a few minutes away from hitting the road to spend the holidays in my family's sizable cabin tucked away up in the snowy mountains surrounding Arendelle. Luckily, the only actual relatives that would be there were Anna and Saïx, with the rest of the guest rooms being filled out by a handful of our friends we'd invited to join us for the holidays. In any case, all we had left to do before we departed was finish getting dressed, wrap up packing with a few last minute supplies, toss the presents into the car trunk, wrangle Marshmallow into the backseat and then we'd be off.

Thus my mild surprise when just as I'd finish rinsing my dish from breakfast, I felt Lea wrapping his arms around my waist to hug me from behind as he nuzzled my neck and whispered, "Hey, how 'bout we each open up one of our presents a day early? It'll be fun, whaddya say?"

I glanced over my shoulder at him and he flashed me a cheeky little grin. I blinked a couple times, then peeked over towards our teeny tree in the living room. More specifically, at the gifts beneath it. At one gift in particular.

You know… that gift.

I hastily averted my gaze, feeling my cheeks warm.

Drat, had he noticed which one my eyes had zeroed in on?

Clearing my throat as I set the dish in the drying rack, I asked casually, "Do we really have the time? We're already running a bit behind, we should've been on the highway ten minutes ago."

"We're already late, what's a few extra measly minutes?"

I tried again, "But today? Right now? ...it's not even Christmas yet."

"Pfft, what, like the holiday police are gonna bust us for bending the rules a lil?" he chuckled low as he gave my ear a playful nip before pulling away, spinning me around to face him. "Misbehave, live a lil! Being bad never felt so good! 'Sides, I'm just dying to know whatcha got me. C'mon, it's just one present each, we'll still have others to rip open on jolly ol' Saint Nick's Day tomorrow."

I had to resist the urge to look at that gift again.

Damn it, girl, be cool.

Instead, I smiled and relented with a small sigh, "Alright, fine. Only one though, got it?"

"Course!" he beamed, before gesturing a hand towards the living room with a slight bow of his head. "Ladies first."

I walked past him, exiting the kitchen and approaching where our tree stood guard over its little horde of presents. I considered them for a few seconds before picking out a bright red, flat-ish one decorated in nutcracker soldier printed gift wrap. Then I moved to the couch, making room by easing Marshmallow over a bit where he laid conked out in a deep sleep (on his back and with his tongue lolled out) before I took a seat on the middle cushion.

As I watched Lea approach the pile of gifts now to pick one out for himself, I couldn't help a small twitch as I suddenly began to regret every poor life choice I'd made that'd led up to me buying that stupid lingerie. I mean, seriously, what had I been thinking when I'd let Rayne and Anna talk me into getting that silly thing? What would I even possibly say when Lea unwrapped it? How would I- no, shush, relax, Elsa, it'll all be fine. Lea probably wasn't even going to pick that one. He was probably more curious about whatever the bigger, flashier-looking one could be - it was probably the whole reason he'd even suggested opening a couple right now. Yeah, that had to be it! There was no way he could be interested the measly, smaller, less fancy looking pres-

Fudge, he'd picked the lingerie.

Jerk probably had caught me staring at it.

"Are you sure that's the one you want to open now?" I blurted out before my mind could catch up. Noting the slight tremor to my voice, I cleared my throat and gave a tiny nervous laugh, my fingers absently picking at the tape on my own present. "The other one's bigger. Clunkier, you might even say. Could be a lot of work hauling it all the way up to the cabin, then hauling it all the way back. Maybe it'd be better if you just opened that one here instead."

"Nah, I don't mind lugging it back and forth," he laughed as he plopped down onto the sofa on my other side opposite of Marshmallow, settling the abomination that was my gift into his lap. "I could use the workout anyhow! This glorious physique don't just happen on its own, ya know!" he grinned, flexing one arm and kissing his bicep.

I gave a soft snort. "True, I suppose you have to burn off all that ice cream you consume by the gallon somehow," I poked a gentle fingertip to his belly.

"Hey now, maybe I wouldn't eat so much o' the crap if the girl working at the Ice Palace weren't such a cutie," he leaned towards me with a wink.

"Oh-ho, no," I waggled a finger in his face. "You were a sugar junkie long before I got a job there, so don't even try to blame your sweet tooth on me."

He smirked. "Who said I was talking 'bout you?"

I smacked him in the face with one of the couch's throw pillows.

"I mean, obviously I was talking 'bout you, babe!" He reached over to tweak my nose, "You're the cutest chick who works there, no contest! ...literally, cuz you're the only chick who works there, so that's not even really saying mu-"

I whacked him with the pillow again.

"I kid, I kid, c'mon, you know I think you're the most gorgeous creature in all of creation! Gimme that thing before you fluffily bludgeon me to death," he snerked, confiscating the cushion from me and tucking it away between the armrest and his hip before nudging my shoulder with his. "Now go on, open up my present to ya already!"

With a tiny shake of my head at him, I redirected my focus to the nicely wrapped gift in my lap and began carefully removing the tape. Once I'd made enough of an opening, I liberated a thin box from within. Raising an eyebrow, I lifted the lid off to discover two long, green slips of sturdy paper inside decorated with a logo on one half and lots of teeny printed text filling the rest of it. I picked them up with a little frown, squinting as I read them, then gasped and shot up to my feet, the box tumbling out of my lap down to the carpet. "How?! How did you manage to get tickets?! This musical has been sold out for months!"

"I have my ways," he sighed smugly, slouching down more comfortably into the sofa cushion. "We should be able to squeeze it in before the end of winter break, so figured we could take in the show, spend a few days in the big apple, make a whole trip outta it, ya know?"

"That… that sounds amazing, that-" I cut myself off, suddenly at a loss for words. Broadway was currently running my favorite musical - the one that song was from that I'd chosen to audition with for our community theater's Wicked tryouts. I'd been dying to go and Lea knew that, but tickets had been impossible to get. Not so for him, it seemed. I hastily sat back down, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and yanking him over to me to kiss him thoroughly. Smiling against his lips, I then drew back just enough to whisper, "Thank you… this means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it," he murmured back, gaze hooded as he nudged the tip of my nose with his. Then he pulled away, eyes lighting up a bit as he eagerly rubbed his hands together over his own present now. "Alright, my turn!"

I paled, heart all but flatlining in my chest. Crud, I'd completely forgotten. Here Lea had picked out something super sweet and thoughtful for me, and what had I gotten him in return?

Underwear.

Nay, not just underwear.

Friggin' frilly underwear.

"No!" I yelped, lunging for it just as he'd ripped some of the wrapping paper off one corner. Managing to snatch it out of his hands, I scrambled to stand and get it away from him. He stared blankly at me, one eyebrow quirked. Eyes darting wildly about, I said, "No, this… you don't want to open this one! This one's, er…" I hid it behind my back, biting my bottom lip, "...it's nothing really, it's- you know what? Let's get you the other one! Yes, that's the one you want, and this one you can open, er… never? Yeah, let's say never! In fact, let's just completely forget this one ever existed and I'll go get you the other-"

Just as I'd turned to make my way back over to the tree, Lea snaked one arm out and snagged the gift back with a chipper little, "Yoink!"

"Hey!" I tried to steal it back from him, but he'd stood up to his full height, holding it high above his head where it was easily out of my reach.

Curse him, his stupid tall self and his stupid, stupid long arms!

He chuckled as he pressed a quick peck to my forehead, "Now I know this is for sure the one I wanna open. With you getting all flustered over it, whatever it is has gotta be good!"

"But-"

"Ah-ah!" his finger booped me on the nose before he plonked back down into his seat on the couch. "Ya know it only makes me wanna open it more the harder you fight it, right? Just let it go, El, it's happening."

My lips pinched sourly before I huffed and sat down as well. I grabbed another throw pillow and hugged it tightly to my chest, burying my face in it just enough for me to peek out anxiously over the top.

Alright, fine. Let's get this impending trainwreck over with.

But I swear, this is the last time I listen to any advice Anna and Rayne give me ever again.

I tried not to flinch with each little tear he made in the gift wrap, the cartoony frolicking reindeers and elves printed on it seeming so deceptively innocent now when you considered what scandalous secrets lay hidden beneath them. All too soon, he was balling up the tattered remains and tossing them over his shoulder before opening the box, shifting the neatly folded tissue paper within aside and-

His whole body went still. Then he blinked once. Then twice. "Huh," was all he said at first. Then with a bemused little upward curve to one corner of his lips, he was delicately lifting the lingerie up out of the box in all its salacious glory. "...babe, I'm flattered, but blue's not really my color."

...oh god, the big clueless dope thought I'd given it to him as a joke for him to wear. He didn't realize-

Fudge, now I had to spell it out for him.

Having to wonder how my brain was not melting straight out of my ears at this point what with how badly my face was broiling, I set the pillow aside, folded my hands in my lap, sat up a little straighter and opened my mouth. Then swiftly snapped it back shut, cheeks cranking up the heat even further.

How… do I even put this?

Taking a deep breath, I tried again, "But it is… my color..."

He dropped the garment, eyes growing round and expression slack. "Oh." A pause. Then, "Oh, so you'd be the one who'd- oh." Picking it up again, a huge, lopsided grin spread across his suddenly rather flushed face as he eyed it in a whole new light now. "...oh, I see."

Fingers strangling the life out of each other in my lap, I looked away as I went on, "I know it's not as nice or as… sincere as your gift to me was, but I promise my other present is much better and-"

"No, no, none of that now, it's- I- this is-" Apparently struggling to find the right words to do justice to what he wanted to say, he instead settled for schooling his expression to be almost comically stoic as he gave big, emphatic nods with a thumbs up that then shifted into forming an O with his thumb and forefinger, signaling his approval.

I perked up a little uncertainly. "...you mean you like it? Really?"

"Oh yeah, trust me, I like it… really, really like it." Lea then cleared his throat, knee bouncing up and down as his fingers idly traced back and forth over the lace embroidered into the silky fabric. "Sooooo, heh… when do we take this baby out for its first test spin? ...now? Or say, I dunno, uh…" he shrugged, clearly trying (and failing) not to sound too eager as he repeated, "now?"

Down, boy.

I bit back a tiny smile. "No, now we should be on the road and making our way towards the cabin," I said as I rose to my feet to head towards the bedroom, snatching the lingerie from his grasp as I moved past him.

"Hey!" He vaulted himself over the backrest of the couch in the flash, hot on my heels. "That's mine!"

Crossing my arms as I spun around to face him, I said, "Yes, but I'm simply taking it to pack it with my things so we have it for the trip."

"Oh." Lea was grinning so big again now, it crinkled his guyliner. "I'll allow this."

"How very magnanimous of you," I snorted, turning to continue my journey to the bedroom once more. "I'm going to go finish packing and getting dressed, while you-" Just as I'd stepped through the door, I glanced back to discover he'd followed me in here. "...just where do you think you're going?"

He hunched down to my eye level, eyebrows bouncing over his half-lidded gaze. "To help ya get dressed, of course."

"Uh-uh. No," I planted a hand firmly to his chest, forcing him to walk in reverse and back out of the room. "I know that look. We don't have time for that look, we're late enough as it is. You stay out here, clean up the trashed wrapping paper, and get the rest of the gifts and Marshmallow out to the car."

"Aw c'mon, El, ya gotta lemme in there so I can help you," he insisted.

I gave him a flat look. "...do I? Do I really? Enlighten me then, please… why do I 'gotta' let you in here?"

"Er… cuz I'm a charming, lovable scamp with devilish good looks that you just can't say no to?"

I drooped my eyelids at him. Then I shut the door in his face, locking it for good measure.

Charm your way through that, scamp.

My cheeks puffed as I blew out a long breath, taking a second to fan my still very heated face with my hands. I then crossed the room, tossing Lea's gift next to where my almost fully packed suitcase laid open atop the bed. I set to work grabbing whatever else I needed - things like my charger and whatnot - and stuffed them into my travel case.

I then paused in a brief moment of indecision before sighing, rolling my eyes, and sticking my hand under the mattress to retrieve the other thing that Anna had made me buy from Esmeralda's Secrets. I frowned at it, then turned and held it up as I asked, "What do you think? Should I take it along?"

Bruni blinked back at me from inside his terrarium, cocking his head. Then can you guess what the little salamander did next? Go on, take a wild guess.

If your answer involved his tongue, his eyeball, and/or the swiping of said tongue over said eyeball, then you'd be correct.

I snorted. "You know, we really need to get you some new talking points as I feel you've pretty much said all you can say with that one at this point," I told him as I double checked he had enough food in there with him to keep him amply fed while we were gone. Then I gave the thing in my grip one final glance with a tiny shake of my head before tucking it away inside my luggage, burying it deep beneath several layers of clothing. Chances were good it'd never see the light of day, but why not bring it just in case? I mean, the lingerie had been such a hit and we hadn't even gotten to the fun part with it yet. I could imagine this thing would probably be met with equally rave reviews from Lea as well, should I muster up the courage to actually bring it out.

Now all I needed to do was pack the lingerie, get dressed, and go. I picked it up, dangling it before me as I considered it for a moment. My lips pursed to one side.

...an idea was beginning to take form in my mind.

A little wicked one.

A supremely stupid one.

One that was only asking for trouble.

Honestly, I don't know what possessed me to do it.

But I did it anyway.

"Everyone else is there already. I can't believe we're actually going to be the last ones to arrive," I muttered, narrowing my eyes at the text message from Anna on my phone.

"Bah, don't sweat it," Lea chuckled as he sped his car down the highway. We'd been on it for about twenty minutes now. He glanced over at me, tipping his aviators down just enough to wink over the rim, "Just means they'll have our hot cocoa ready and waiting for us in a couple o' steaming mugs by the time we get there."

My throat gave a small, noncommittal hmph. "Just be glad Anna's insisting on saving the master bedroom for us instead of calling dibs on it for her and Kristoff," I told him, pocketing my phone once more. Then I said, "I still think it was silly of Saïx to drive out ahead of us on his own instead of carpooling with us. He would've been able to sleep on the ride over."

He flicked on his blinker as our lane began to merge with the next one over. "Think he plans to bail on our lil holiday bonanza a day or two earlier than the rest of us. 'Sides, pretty sure he wasn't too keen on the idea of being the overstuffed fleabag's snuggle buddy on the whole drive over," he sniggered as he stretched a hand behind him into the backseat without looking to give Marshmallow a couple of affectionate pats to the head. "Hey!" he quickly snatched the hand back when his love was reciprocated with tooth hugs.

"Well then, his loss." I grinned as I twisted around in my seat to give the dog scritches under the chin, cooing, "Isn't that right, Marshmallow?"

Did that sound like an invitation to come sit in my lap? Because apparently to Marshmallow, it did. In the blink of an eye, he'd excitedly squeezed his way through the space between our two front seats to crush me under the mountain of white fluff that was him, tail thumping away at a mile a minute against the dash. Quite a feat considering there was barely enough space in the car seat to accommodate the colossal canine alone, much less the both of us. To this day, I'm still not quite sure how Marshmallow had managed to wedge himself up here with me.

After much cackling from Lea and wheezed coaxing from me, Marshmallow was finally persuaded a few minutes later to clamber back into the backseat once more, though not without a healthy dose of whining and puppy-dog pouting. Able to breathe again, I inhaled deeply as I began to straighten myself back out - the assault of doggy cuddles had left me in a bit of a disarray. I swept the few stray pale tendrils of my hair that had escaped back into my bun, smoothed the rumples out of my off the shoulder button-up blouse, and-

"Holy shit, is that... Under your clothes, you're already wearing it?!" Lea fumbled with his shades, perching them atop his head as his suddenly wide-eyed stare was now in a tug-of-war between my leg and watching the road.

With a start, I glanced down to discover that Marshmallow's little snuggle ambush had caused my knee-length skirt with a side-slit to ride up a bit, revealing the lacy garter (complete with a little blue bow) wrapped around my thigh that was holding up my black sheer stockings. Blushing furiously, I hastily jerked the hem of my skirt back down to hide it again and awkwardly avoided his gaze as I crossed my legs, mumbling, "...maybe."

Yes.

I was already wearing it.

"It" being the lingerie.

Which, by the way if you hadn't guessed by now, was the supremely stupid thing I'd decided to do.

Lea said nothing, just continued to gawk at me.

Gosh, if my cheeks burned any brighter, Santa would be asking me to guide his sleigh tonight instead of Rudolph.

Talk. I needed to talk. To fill this silence that was making me fidget restlessly under his gaze. Go on, mouth, just move and make with the words already. Any words. "...it's... actually rather comfortable." ...okay? "The lingerie, that is." Oh good. Thanks for clarifying the obvious. "Wouldn't think it would be. Would've thought it'd be more designed in favor of being, ah… aesthetically pleasing at the expense of comfort." Oh dear, where was I going with this? "I mean, I tried it on before buying it. Of course I did, it'd be silly not to at least make sure it- but, you know, I only had it on for a grand total of a minute in the fitting room, not really long enough to tell if- but now that I've had it on for an, er… extended period, I can say that it's, uh… it's quite comfortable. The silk is real nice, real… smooth against the skin." I take it back. Stop talking. Stop talking this instant. "Fits like a glove, as the saying goes, not… tight or restricting at all like I'd imagined it might be. The whole thing's really quite flexible with a plenty of give, actually…" Your license to speak has been revoked, mouth, you hear me? Zip it! "I shouldn't have any problems bending or twisting into any sort of posi-"

The car beside us suddenly blared its horn - apparently Lea had been a little too preoccupied by my line of discussion and in his distraction had begun to accidentally drift into the next lane over. "Fuck," he hissed, swerving us back into our proper lane. Clearing his throat as he shot the other vehicle a quick, apologetic wave, he told me, "Love, I'm dying to hear the end of that sentence, trust me, I'm highly invested at this point, but we're gonna hafta put a pin in it and circle back round to it later cuz this is a dangerous conversation to be having with a man while he's driving."

You heard the man, mouth. Friggin' cram it.

Pressing my lips firmly together, I tugged at the hem of my skirt again and gave a single curt nod, making no further comment.

We drove in silence for a minute as the trees of the forest around us blurred past our windows. Lea's eyes kept flicking to me out of the corner of his peripheral. He coughed into his fist and vigorously ruffled his fingers through his hair before returning his grip to the wheel. His knee began to jiggle up and down. Then, "Hey, uh… how 'bout we make a pit stop somewhere?"

I glanced towards him, my head tipping to one side. "A pit stop?"

"Yeah, so we can, ya know... stretch our legs… and other things," he wickedly smirked as he reached over the center console for my hand and brought it up to his lips, bouncing his eyebrows at me over my knuckles as he pressed a kiss to them.

A noise that was half laugh, half scoff escaped me. "There's not another rest stop for miles."

He shrugged. "I'm not picky. I'm sure a nice thicket could do in a pinch."

I gave him a flat look. "...a thicket? Really?"

"What? I'll make sure it's a romantic one! A classy one!"

"And how, pray tell, do you make a thicket classy?" I crossed my arms under my chest, arching an eyebrow at him.

"By keeping our pinkies raised the whole time!" Lea beamed, holding one hand up and wiggling his little finger.

Snorting, I shook my head. "No stops until we get there, understood?"

A harsh little huff emitted from his throat, "Fine." Then his foot pressed down harder on the gas and the engine thrummed louder as we started passing the other cars more quickly.

I hummed a soft laugh, "Oh sure, now you're in a hurry to get there."

"Well yeah! Ya said it yourself: we're late. Just trynta make up for lost time!" One corner of his lips quirked up as he added, "'Sides, the sooner we get there, the sooner I can unwrap my present."

"You know you're not allowed to open the other one until tomorrow morning," I tutted.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," he not so subtly eyed me up and down, leaving zero doubt as to exactly what he meant.

Suppressing the urge to squirm, my hands swiped the nonexistent wrinkles out of my skirt as I dropped a casual, "Goodness, all this fuss and you haven't even seen part two of your gift yet."

He shot me a double-take. "Jesus Christ, there's a part two?!"

I'm with him, there's a part two?! Mouth, what are you even-

...oh dear, I was talking about the thing tucked away in my luggage between my dresses and my nightgown, wasn't I?

Damn Anna to the bloody ninth circle of hell for ever making me buy that infernal thing!

Alright, mouth, we can still get out of this. Remember the three B's: backtrack, backtrack, backtrack! Just go on and work your magic.

"Guess you'll just have to wait until later tonight to find out."

...mouth, you're fired.

Lea gave a low whistle and grinned big. "Somebody musta told Santa that I've been a very good boy this year," he murmured, his gaze drifting towards me again. Then traveling downward. Searching. As if he could somehow catch a glimpse of the lingerie hidden beneath through sheer force of will alone.

"Hey now, eyes on the road, mister," I chided.

He pouted, but did as he was told.

I snorted, "What's with the face? It's not like you can see anything anyway, you don't have x-ray vision."

"And I curse my goddamn maker every day for such a heinous oversight," he grumbled under his breath as he slipped his aviators back down onto his face.

We ended up making it to the cabin in record time. It wasn't currently snowing, but a thick glittering blanket of white had coated everything around us, from the ground to the trees to the cabin itself. Lea parked us next to the other cars and as he shut off the engine and the heat with it, I shrugged into my long heavy coat. I probably didn't really need it, the walk to the door would take less than ten seconds and I'd never been one to freeze easily, but it would be one less thing to carry.

Marshmallow was making it abundantly clear he was ready to no longer be trapped inside the car as he pawed at the back door and whimpered. Chuckling and telling him to hang on, I reached back to clip on his leash before exiting the vehicle myself, my knee high boots sinking into the snow as I let him out. He nearly ripped my arm out of my socket when he tried to bolt to investigate his new strange surroundings with all its new strange scents, but I managed to keep him in check if only just barely. Lea, having wrapped a black and red checkered scarf around his neck and donned his own thick jacket, took it upon himself to grab our suitcases seeing as how I pretty much had my hands full maintaining control of Marshmallow.

"We're here!" I called out as I opened the front door and let Marshmallow pull me inside, Lea following us and kicking the door shut behind him before dumping our things on the floor. As I knelt down to remove the leash once more, Marshmallow's nostrils suddenly flared with a big sniff before his ears perked and he went very still, his eyes intently focused on the hallway that led to the main sitting room. Oh-ho, I knew who he smelled. The second the leash was unclipped, the big wall of fur excitedly charged off deeper into the house.

I shook my head with a tiny grin as I slipped out of my coat and folded it over the banister next to the entrance. Before I could follow in my dog's tracks however, I felt Lea's hand closing around mine. He gently tugged me back and spun me around to face him, backing me up against the banister as he planted his hands on top of it to either side of me, trapping me between it and his body. Then he was leaning in real close, eyes hooded as his nose brushed alongside mine, his breath tickling my lips as he purred, "Ya know what I was thinking?"

I gave a low hum, reaching up to straighten his collar before resting my hands against his chest, absently smoothing out any creases in the fabric as I asked softly, "What were you thinking?"

His eyes crinkled slightly as he dipped his head, nosing the sensitive skin just beneath my ear and making me shiver. "Was thinkin' you should help me take the luggage to our room."

Translation: he was eager to "unwrap his gift."

A smile tugged at one corner of my mouth. "I see. Well, here's what I'm thinking…"

"Mm-hm," he prompted distractedly, straightening up just enough to try and go in for a kiss.

He probably thought he could seduce me to our bedroom with the power of his lips alone. And you know, he might have been right. He was a really good kisser.

Which is why I clamped my hand over his mouth at the last second, grinned sweetly up at him and said, "I'm thinking I know how much you love being a gentleman and I would simply hate to rob you of this ideal moment of chivalry by offering any sort of help with our suitcases. You're welcome." I lightly patted him on the cheek before trying to slip free of his arms. I didn't make it far however before he'd snagged me around the waist, pulling me up against him. I sighed, "Come on, Lea, the others are waiting for us."

"And they can wait a lil bit longer while we…" that wicked curve to his lips resurfaced, "settle in. It'll be fine, we'll see them later tonight." A thoughtful pause before he waggled his eyebrows, hooking a finger under my chin as he began to lean in once more, murmuring, "Make that tomorrow."

"There you two are!" Anna suddenly came bursting into the room with her signature bubbly laugh. "Was beginning to think you got friggin' lost!"

Whew! Saved by the baby sister!

Don't get me wrong, Lea was making a tempting offer. More than tempting. It's just that we hadn't made the trip all the way up to this cabin only to just lock ourselves in a room together for god knew how long. No, I'd come here to spend time with my friends and family. It was rather rare that I actually chose to spend time with a large group of people, but something about the holidays brought that out in me I suppose. There would be plenty of time for that other stuff later after everyone had turned in for the night. Lea would just have to wait his turn.

His shoulders slumped and he sulked a bit at being interrupted, but Anna hardly noticed as she snagged my arm, "C'mon, everyone's in the living room!"

"Hold it!" Lea hadn't let go of my hand yet. "El's gotta, uh… help me find our room first!"

"Oh! Up the stairs, first one on the left, you can't miss it!" Anna happily chirped, not wasting another second to drag me off.

He reluctantly let my fingers slip free of his this time as he released a low, grumbling huff. I glanced back at him as I let myself be towed along, crinkling my nose in amusement. He crinkled his back, though his was oozing snark. Could a nose crinkle even be snarky? Because if it could, his was decidedly so. With that, I lost sight of him as I was yanked around the corner and down the hall.

I could hear the rumble of chatter and laughter growing louder as we drew near before we stepped into the large family room. Everyone was seated cozily around the large roaring fireplace. Sora had little Cayde (or at least, I thought it was Cayde… I was still getting the hang of telling them apart) settled in his lap while both he and Kairi laughed and made goofy faces for the baby. Riku was nearby, keeping his watchful dad eye on them while holding a conversation with Kristoff at the same time. Rayne and Aria were nowhere to be seen, but I suspected the latter had probably been in need of a change and so had been taken into another room to have that dealt with.

Marshmallow was exactly where I expected him to be - sprawled across Saïx's lap, whether Saïx liked it or not. It looked like there might have been a bit of a kerfuffle for Saïx seemed slightly ruffled, but in the end he'd apparently just accepted his fate and currently had his laptop settled on Marshmallow's back as he typed away at it, a mildly miffed expression twisting his face behind his glasses. Roxas and Xion were seated in armchairs close to him, snickering and shoving each other's shoulders over something.

"Look who I found!" Anna announced as she brought me further into the room. They all looked up and I was met with a round of boisterous greetings. Giving my arm one final squeeze before releasing it, Anna said, "Have a seat! I'll go bring in the snacks now that we're all here!"

I began, "Oh, I'd be happy to help with-"

"No, that's fine! I really only require the assistance of one big, handsome, strapping gentleman and I have just the perfect one in mind..." As she spoke those words, Kristoff perked up and turned his head towards her with a huge smile. "...Sora!"

"Huh, wha?" Sora froze mid-squishing his cheeks together for Cayde at the sound of his own name, blinking a couple times. Kristoff looked positively crestfallen.

Anna snerked. "Kidding! Of course I was talking about you, you big dummy," she planted a quick peck to Kristoff's chin, which seemed to mollify him. Then she gathered both his hands in hers with a chipper, "Now c'mon!" before tugging him off towards the kitchen.

I grinned after them before glancing around for a place to sit. Saïx and Marshmallow were the only ones on their couch and though my beloved four-legged friend did admittedly take up a lot of space, the two of them were on the far side of it and it was a long couch so there was still plenty of room left. I eased myself down on the opposite end from them beside where the "kiddos" had seemingly picked up their conversation right where it'd left off.

"'Lemme copy your homework, Xion. Do all the work on the group project, Xion,'" she was reciting in a voice that I believe was a mock imitation of Roxas's. Then she gave a scoff, albeit in good-humor, "I swear, Rox, I'm nothing more than just a puppet for you to boss around."

"That's right, dance on my strings, puppet!" Roxas cackled back, waggling his fingers in the air above his head as if to manipulate said imaginary strings and earning himself yet another shove to his shoulder.

I listened with half an ear, momentarily distracted as my eyes scanned the room. Where was it? I knew it just had to be here somew-

Ah-ha! There! Dangling from the archway Anna and I had just come through a moment before.

Mistletoe.

I silently filed away its location for later. It'd be useful. Trust me.

"Just be grateful winter break arrived in the nick of time to save your punk ass because I was this close to throttling you," Xion sighed, rolling her eyes before flashing me a long-suffering smile. "I tell ya, Elsa, one of these days this doof will no longer have me around to cover for him and he'll be a total wreck without me!"

He looked aghast, clutching his chest. "No! Xion, you could never abandon me!" A beat. "...who else will I have ice cream with?"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Lea's voice suddenly piped up, drawing our attention. Apparently all done toting our luggage up to our room, he now came striding in, mussing up both Xion's and Roxas's hair by way of hello as he passed them, "Look who got here early."

Roxas swatted his hand away, "No, you're just late."

Lea placed a palm on the back of the couch, catapulting himself over it to land heavily in the spot between me and Marshmallow. Slipping an arm around my shoulders, he declared, "The life of the party is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

"I'm sorry, why are you talking about Sora now?" Xion slyly teased.

"Yeah, he actually showed up on time unlike your late ass," Roxas sniggered before releasing a tiny, hissed "ow" when Lea delivered a swift kick to his shin.

Rolling his eyes, Lea sighed, "So what were you squirts talking about before I got here?"

Xion smirked over at her blond friend, "About how lost Rox would be if he didn't have me around to carry his lazy butt all the time. And we're talking completely lost. Bet he wouldn't even know who he was anymore."

He shrugged, "Psh, what are you talking about? I am me, nobody else."

"You're a chimp is what you are," she poked him in the cheek. "You're lucky you even know your own name, much less how to spell it. If it weren't for me, you'd of flunked outta college ages ago."

"Ooo, we're talking about college?" Anna chimed into the conversation as she came bustling back into the room precariously managing four mugs of hot cocoa, two in each hand. Kristoff was right behind her bearing a couple trays of Christmas cookies and pastries. One of the cocoas was sweetly delivered to me before the others were distributed and Anna sent Kristoff back to the kitchen to continue ferrying in more after he'd left the snacks on a coffee table. Happily flopping down into a nearby armchair, she popped one of the sweets into her mouth before continuing, "I can't believe I have less than a year before I graduate! Unlike some people…" Her eyes smugly drifted to Lea.

"Hey now, rude! Shit, why the drive-by? I'm working through my credits as fast as I can," he grumbled as he accepted one of the cocoas Kristoff had returned with and blew on it. Then one side of his mouth quirked up at he told Kristoff, "My my, she's got ya trained good, huh?"

His only response was a hand gesture that was less than PG. Lea just snorted at that.

"What are your plans after college? I don't think you've told me yet," I asked my sister, hazarding a slow careful sip. Mmmm, chocolate! I cradled it close in both hands, enjoying the warmth seeping into my fingers.

Anna grabbed a handful of holiday truffles, tossing one up in the air and catching it in her mouth with a huge grin before answering. "Thinking of going to work with dad at the company!"

I choked on the second sip I'd just been taking, coughing a bit. "R-really?"

I could picture Anna doing a lot of things. Some stuffy corporate politics job? Not so much.

"Don't act so surprised!" she laughed. "You know I've worked there every summer practically all my life! I like it, and I'm actually pretty good at it too! I think maybe I could run that place one day!"

"Ah, so good to see that the archaic practice of nepotism is still alive and well," Saïx dryly drawled, not looking up from his screen nor pausing in his typing.

My sister huffed, narrowing her eyes at him. "Shush, you! It wasn't handed to me, I've worked my sweet friggin' little butt off for this! Am still working my butt off, thank you very much! And I'll have you know one day when I'm handed the keys to the kingdom, there's going to be some changes around there! I think I could do some real good in the world once I'm in charge! So you can kindly shove it," she razzed her tongue at him before slipping three more sugary treats into her mouth with as much lofty dignity as anyone could do such a thing. It was actually rather impressive.

Saïx merely gave a low hmph at that, fingers still tapping away. Lea drooped his eyelids at him before shifting his leg over to nudge his brother's shoe with his Converse. "Oi. You seriously working right now, dude? C'mon, man, it's Christmas! Quit being such a scrooge, have a heart and let loose a lil!" As he spoke, I could feel his thumb idly tracing light circles in the hollow of my bare shoulder, probably missing having my braid to fiddle with.

"If I had a heart, this would be where I die of laughter," Saïx muttered, squinting at his screen with a thoughtful frown before pressing the backspace a couple times.

"Don't be silly, course you have a heart!" Roxas beamed and shrugged. "Small and shriveled, yes, but it's there!"

Xion rose, moving to instead take a seat on the armrest next to Saïx. "Yeah, you're not a scrooge, you're a grinch! We just need to give you some hugs and eggnog and that heart'll grow three sizes, you'll see!" she giggled, throwing her arms around his shoulders and squeezing hard.

"Ugh, will the intrusions never end?" Saïx huffed, trying to pry himself free of her vice-like embrace but to no avail.

"Shh, you know you love it!"

I had a growing suspicion Lea's interest in the current conversation had waned, for I could sense his intent gaze on me now as I bent forward to put my half drunk cocoa down on the coffee table and reach for the nearest snack tray. As I settled back more comfortably into my seat, he brought up a hand to tuck a stray wisp of my hair that had gotten free back behind my ear before ducking his head to trail feather light kisses down the slope of my neck that left little tingles in their wake. I turned my head to look at him through lowered lashes and he grinned, moving to close the distance between our lips and-

-I crammed a christmas cookie in his mouth.

Nice try, bucko, but you're not going to trick me up to the bedroom that easily.

"Ah! You two made it! Finally!" Rayne came into the room just then, toting Aria on her hip. "Yeesh, took ya long enough!" she smiled as I stood up and we hugged each other. Then she was offering me the baby with an abrupt, "Here, hold this."

I tensed, blinking a couple times, my hands twitching but making no other movements to accept the burbling infant from her. "I… er…"

"Here, I'll take her," Lea muffled out around the mouthful of cookie he was still choking down thanks to me, reaching up to pluck Aria from Rayne's hands and sitting her down in his lap.

I released a silent sigh of relief. Could you believe it had been weeks since the twins had been born and I had still yet to actually hold either one of them? Some godmother I was turning out to be. But dammit, babies were just so squishy and fragile! What if I accidentally broke one of them?

Uh-uh. No. Not on my watch.

Just keep the babies away from me and my klutzy hands. Really, it'd be in everyone's best interest.

"So, uh… have you finished getting their nursery all set up at long last?" I asked as I settled into my seat on the couch once more.

"Yes, finally!" Rayne grinned as she squeezed into Anna's armchair with her and my sister rested her head on her shoulder. "Since Cayde was an unexpected surprise, hadta do a lot of scrambling getting a second crib and other such things for him. Plus it took goddamn ages scrubbing and bleaching every last inch of your old room."

"Bleaching?" Lea echoed curiously, bouncing a laughing Aria on his knee. I couldn't help but notice however that his gaze had drifted to where the mistletoe hung, seemingly just now having noticed it. I could all but see the wheels turning behind those crafty green eyes of his.

My ex-roommate gave him a flat look. "Red, please. You used to spend the night over. A lot. No tykes of mine are gonna be playing somewhere you two used to do the frick-frack constantly without it being properly and thoroughly disinfected and sanitized first."

"Ah," was the only response he made to that. As Rayne then got momentarily distracted by her husband coming over to give her surprise smooches, Lea leaned closer to me, muttering low out of the corner of his mouth so only I could hear, "Take it we're not gonna tell her 'bout their living room couch then?"

Feeling heat creeping up the back of my neck, I cleared my throat and shook my head, answering a quick but just as quiet, "No."

"Or the kitchen countertops? Or that one time on the dining table? Or-"

"No. No, none of it," I hissed, face full on roasting now.

What can I say? Lea could be very, ahem… persuasive when it came to having his way.

"Oh!" Anna suddenly straightened up in her seat excitedly as it seemed she'd just remember something. "You auditioned for the Spring musical, right? Have they announced who got what parts yet?"

Grateful for the subject change, I eagerly nodded, "Yes, actually, they just posted the cast sheet yesterday afternoon." A surge of giddiness filled my chest as I bit back a grin. "...I got the lead."

"Wha- Seriously?! Oh my friggin' god! Sis! Congratulations! And you're only now telling me? You should have said something sooner, this is a big deal!"

Lea glanced up from blowing air raspberries for a happily squealing Aria to say, "That's what I kept trynta tell her."

"I'd hardly call community theater a big deal," I self-consciously brushed off, the pleased smile I was fighting growing wider despite myself. "...I am really excited about it though."

"And you should be, sweetpea!" Rayne reached for my hands in my lap, covering them with her own. "Community theater it may be, but the people there still know their shit! They've recognized your talent and are trusting you with more responsibility! Your first official lead! That's huge!"

"Today, community theater… tomorrow, Broadway… the day after that, the world," Lea intoned in a dramatic whisper.

I rolled my eyes with a small grin, "That's not exactly how it w-"

"Too late. Already said it. It's happening."

As I shook my head at him, Anna hopped up to her feet, struck a finger up in the air and declared, "This calls for celebration! Be right back with something to spike the cocoa with!" With that, she blurred out of the room back towards the kitchen.

I shyly accepted a few more congrats from everyone else before conversation gradually turned to other topics and I just contentedly listened for a bit. The chit chat began to fade into the background however as I glanced towards Lea.

Gosh, he was so good with Aria. How did he make it look so easy? Not to mention there was something so pure and comically endearing about seeing this absolute behemoth of a man with his mess of untamed red hair, guyliner, and black nail polish being so gentle as he played peek-a-boo with the tiny baby. I know I'd already thought he'd make an amazing father one day, but thinking it and actually seeing him in action were two completely different things. Watching the two of them right now-

Oh dear, it was doing things to me.

You know. Stomach butterflies, knees going weak, insides turning into mush kind of things.

Things that must have been as plain as day to read on my face for Lea happened to look over at me, blink a couple times, then quirk an eyebrow as his gaze flicked back and forth between me and Aria while he put two and two together. Then he smirked. Turning the infant to face me now, he took on a high-pitch, munchkin-like voice as he began guiding Aria's arms into flourishing gestures as if she were the one talking instead of him, "Come, m'dear, and let awesome, suave, studly Unkie Lea whisk you away to the bedroom to ravage you and introduce you to whole new worlds of pleasure."

I gave him a blank stare. "...are you seriously trying to seduce me with a baby right now?"

His grin turned toothy. "Depends. Is it working?"

Kind of.

Sort of.

Yes.

"No."

Liar.

Pretty sure he knew it too, what with the way he was squinting at me with that crooked little half-grin of his. His lips parted, but before he could utter another word, Anna practically bounced back into the room.

"We got Crème De Menthe," she held up a long, skinny green bottle in one hand, "we got Kahlúa," her other hand waggled a smaller brown bottle, "we got it all, take your pick! But first, I took a look out the window while I was in the kitchen and now I have a very important question for you." She set the booze down on the table, stood in front of me with both hands firmly planted on her hips and gave me her most serious expression as she stared down her nose at me. Abruptly, she broke out into an ear-to-ear smile, "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

"Hell yeah I do!" Sora finally tore his attention away from Cayde to enthusiastically shout across the room, causing Kairi to smother a snicker behind her hand.

"I'm in," Roxas was already on his feet and making his way towards where his warmer outerwear had been carelessly tossed onto some of the other furniture.

Xion was not too far behind him with a, "Me too! Bet my snowman will totally kick your snowman's frozen powdered ass!"

"Oh, it's on!"

Humming a small laugh, I nodded at Anna, "I'd love to."

Before I could rise from my seat however, I felt Lea's hand grabbing mine. "You sure about that, babe? You're not really, ya know…" his eyes briefly flicked down to indicate my clothes. More specifically, what was concealed beneath my clothes. "...dressed for cold weather and ya might catch a chill. So whaddya say we get you upstairs and-"

"Ah-ah," I pressed a fingertip to his lips, silencing him. "I'll be fine. You know the cold never bothered me anyway. I just need to snag a pair of gloves and go grab my coat from the foyer." I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before standing.

I'd barely managed to take a step however before Lea'd hastily dumped Aria into Saïx's unsuspecting hands and charged past me to stand in my path, right smack dab beneath the-

"Hold it!" he held his palm up in my face, then smirked, propped one shoulder against the inside of the archway he occupied now and pointed up with a smug, "Mistletoe."

I narrowed my eyes at the little sprig above his head, then crossed my arms as my eyelids drooped. "And I suppose you're expecting a kiss now?"

"Tradition demands it and who are we to scoff in the face of tradition? 'Sides, you wanna get your coat, you'll have to get through me first. So pucker up, schmoopsie-poo, cuz these lips aren't gonna kiss themselves!" He stretched a hand towards me, adding a low, "C'mere."

I considered his awaiting hand for a moment. Then I met his gaze, one corner of my mouth quirking up before I snagged the nearest thing - or rather, nearest person, which just so happened to be Roxas as he was running by. "You heard the man: those lips aren't going to kiss themselves!" I winked at the blond before giving him a little push towards Lea.

"You ready, big guy, because here comes some sweet, sweet sugar!" Roxas cackled as he latched onto him and made kissy noises.

"Get off, ya twerp!" Lea growled, planting a hand on Roxas's face and trying to wriggle free of his stranglehold.

"But, dude!" he muffled back against his palm. "Tradition demands it and who are we to scoff in the face of tradition?"

"I believe it's now someone else's turn to hold the infant," I suddenly heard Saïx dryly announce and I glanced back towards him to see him looking quite unamused as he held Aria upside down by one ankle at arms length. She giggled in delight as she reached for Marshmallow, who obliged her with a curious snuffle of her fingers. As Rayne gasped and rushed to take her from him, I shook my head with a grin and quickly slipped past Lea while he was still busy trying to extract himself from Roxas's grapple and thus was unable to stop me.

And to think… the holiday shenanigans had only just begun.

"Welp, that's game!" Lea declared with a clap. Rising from the couch, he pulled me up with him and tried to drag me off as he hastily added, "Was fun guys, but we're gonna call it an early night. C'mon, El."

"What?" I laughed softly, digging my heels in and bringing us both to a lurching stop. "That was just the first round. We haven't even scored yet," I chided as I started leading him back towards the sofa.

He let me, huffing out a low sigh as he grumpily plopped back down into his seat and muttered under his breath, "Whaddya think I've been trying to do this whole time…"

I narrowed my eyes at him, pinching his arm for the comment.

"Oo, the foreplay's starting early, huh?" he waggled his eyebrows at me.

I pinched him harder.

"Babe, ya know you're only encouraging me at this point, right?"

I snorted, shifting tactics and shoving the notepad and pencil into his hands, "Just figure out the points please?"

"Fiiiiiine," he made an exaggerated show of rolling his eyes before scratching the pencil across the paper, tongue licking one corner of his lips as he worked. I shot the rest of the group a tiny apologetic smile.

It seemed Lea was getting a bit antsy for his gift.

I suppose he had been being rather patient for a while now. We had all spent several hours out in the snow - for the record, Xion's snowman had indeed kicked Roxas's snowman's frozen powdered butt. Lea had tried to corner me once or twice out there for some, hrm… snogging, but a well-timed handful of snow to his face did wonders for cooling that fiery passion of his down if only for a moment. Several snow angels and snowball fights later and we'd all finally had our fill and come back inside to warm ourselves by the fireplace once more. We were well past lunchtime now, but we still had plenty of snacks to tide us over until dinner. In the meantime, we'd decided to get a game of charades going at Anna's request.

At least, that's what we were attempting to do…

Of course, it'd help if the scorekeeper was actually doing his job correctly.

Or, you know… at all.

"Alright, lessee here…" Lea mumbled, pencil still furiously scribbling away. "You, my love, have four points, I have negative seventeen, and looks like Riku's won with… hm, carry the one… one million points. Now that's game! Shucks, too bad, so sad, let's go, El." Dropping the pad and pencil to the couch cushions, he snagged my hand and hopped up to his feet once more.

"Sit," came my simple yet firm command as I yanked him back down next to me. Pushing the pencil and notepad squarely into his chest, I told him, "Do it right."

As Lea released a sigh through his nose, Riku snorted from where he sat in another couch snuggled up close with his wife. "Do you even know the score? Have you been paying attention at all?"

"Course I know it! Got it memorized up here in the ol' noggin," he poked the pencil's eraser to his temple with a grin. However it quickly faded into a frown as he squinted down at the paper, tapping his writing utensil against it a couple times. "...but, I mean… if anyone else'd wanna compare notes and tell me what they think the point totals are, I'd only be too happy to let 'em know if they're right or wrong."

"But I thought you already knew the score, Mr Got-It-Memorized," Kairi sniggered, mockingly tapping a fingertip to the side of her forehead.

"I do. That was a test, and one ya just failed, princess. Minus fifty points for Kairi," Lea razzed his tongue at her as he wrote that down.

Sora groaned, "I want a new scorekeeper!"

"And that's minus one hundred points for you, bucko!"

Oh dear. We'd given the doofus way too much power.

"I'll take over keeping track of points," Rayne volunteered as she smiled and shook her head at my boyfriend's antics.

"Treason! Minus one thousand points for Raindrop for the villainy, attempted mutiny, and-"

I snatched the notepad from his fingers and smacked his shoulder with it before tossing it to Rayne who chirped a little "thank you!" at me as she caught it. I tried to confiscate the pencil as well, but he held it up high and away from me. As I stretched across him to reach for it, he took advantage of my new close proximity to plant a small peck to the tip of my nose.

I drooped my eyelids up at him.

Fine then. Keep the pencil, you big dork.

Anna piped up now, "Alright, we'll just call that first round a warm-up! Points start now!" She glanced over her shoulder and called out, "You're missing out on all the fun, Saïx, you sure you don't wanna join us?"

He'd moved some time ago to a table on the other side of the room far away from the rest of us, still hard at work on his laptop with Marshmallow curled up at his feet. "There's nothing I'd hate more," came his flat reply.

"So sayeth Mr Holly-Jolly himself," Lea muttered, staring up at the ceiling now as he balanced the pencil on his nose. I tried to swipe it, but he was faster in grabbing it off himself and once again keeping it out of my reach.

"Since we're starting off fresh, how about some new teams? Gals versus guys?" Xion suggested. She then bumped her shoulder into Roxas's with a goading smirk, "Unless, ya know, you're too scared of getting your asses handed to you by a buncha girls."

He snerked, bumping her back harder. "Bring it!"

As the others began weighing in as well on the new arrangement for the teams, I felt it. This tiny tickle against my thigh. I glanced down to discover Lea trying to use the eraser end of the pencil to covertly lift the side slit of my skirt for another discreet peek at the garter.

I lightly slapped his hand away and stood up, quickly saying, "You know, girls against boys sounds like an excellent idea. I think I'll go sit with my new teammates over here." I squeezed into the other couch between Anna and the armrest, edging Riku out from the opposite end and forcing him to find another seat. Across from Lea now, I shot him a pointed look with one eyebrow arched and a small smirk.

He just sulkily slumped further down into his own seat, knee jiggling up and down as he began gnawing on the pencil.

Oh yeah. Definitely antsy.

But no need to pout there, buddy, you and I both know you secretly love the torture of being forced to wait.

...was it wrong of me to actually be kind of enjoying this newfound power over him so much?

"Alright! Now that that's all settled, let the games begin!" Anna beamed before her blue gaze settled on me. "Sis, why don't you start us off?"

I stiffened. "Wha- me?" I bit down on my lower lip, eyes darting to the left as my hands began to fidget with each other in my lap. "...are you sure? Maybe it'd be better if someone else-"

"Elsa," she interrupted me, placing both hands on my shoulders. "Sis. I love you. You know I do. But you royally suck at charades."

"Hey!" I narrowed my eyes at her.

She shrugged, "Don't you 'hey' me, it's true!"

My face pinched sourly. "...okay, fair. But still… cheap shot."

An unapologetic grin pulled at her lips. "So now that we've got that established, don't you think getting the absolute travesty that will be your turn out of the way first so the rest of the team can help us finish strong might be the best call?"

I fixed her with a dull stare. "Gee, thanks for sugar coating it."

"No prob!" she giggled before her eyes turned expectant. "Sooo…?"

"Fine, just give me my word and let's get this over with," I relented with a sigh and held my hand out. Anna's face lit up and she offered me the basket full of tiny folded bits of paper. I plucked one up without much consideration and rose, stomping a few steps away.

We all remember what a "fan" of charades I am, right?

Not.

Ugh, the things I do for my sister.

Was it too late to be dragged off by Lea so he could have his manly way with me instead?

Releasing another sigh as I took my spot, I turned to face the others with a steely look of determination now. I'd show Anna. Time to put all those acting classes I'd been taking to good use! My team was going to guess my word so fast, they wouldn't even know what hit them. I was going to own this word. I was going to charade the hell out of this word! But first… alright, you stupid word, let's find out what you are. I opened the little slip of paper and squinted down at it.

…ice?

…

What the frick was I supposed to do with ice?!

"All set?" came the sound of Kristoff's voice and my head shot up, eyes wide and skin drained of color. Does this look like the face of someone who's 'all set'?! "Good! Timer starts in three…"

Wait.

"...two…"

No.

"...one…"

Stop!

"...GO!"

Fudge.

He flipped over the small plastic hourglass and I…

...just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You got this, Elsa!" Anna called out to me. Oh sure, thanks for the vote of confidence now. Too little, too late, Sis. "...any time." No really? And here I was just standing around doing nothing on purpose because I figured that's how you win. "Just… just do it with your body!" Gah, I'm trying!

Okay, think, Elsa, think! Ice… how do I get them to say ice… Ice, ice, ice… ice...berg? ...Icicle? ...ice, ice, baby? Oh come on, Elsa, stop being silly and focus! Ice…

...cube!

Ice cube! Yes, I think I could work with that!

I suddenly snapped into action, my hands blocking out a large shape in the air.

"Oh, oh, square!" Anna said excitedly.

Rayne tipped her head to one side, asking, "A rectangle?"

Kairi chimed in with, "A box!"

I twirled my index finger sideways, indicating for them to keep going before I began outlining the same shape again.

"Television box!"

"Lunch box!"

"Juke box!"

Gah, move on from the infernal word box already, people!

Xion squinted and gave a doubtful, "...microwave?"

"Crate!"

"Toaster!"

"Croaster!" Anna shouted, bouncing up and down in her seat before freezing with a frown. "Wait… that's not a word…"

Despairing and not knowing what else to do, I kept miming the same shape in the air, just more frantically now.

As if doing it faster would somehow help the situation.

"Cube!"

Oh wow, it actually had!

I clapped and nodded vigorously, hopping on the balls of my feet. Alright, onto phase two, which…

...there was no phase two.

Crud.

I had zero idea how to get them from cube to ice cube.

I did not think this through.

Alright. Forget cube. Cube was stupid. Cube is out the window. New plan!

...got it! Okay, no, this was good. They were going to get it for sure this time. It was so obvious, I should've thought of it sooner. When you think of ice, you think of…

...ice skating.

Smiling and sure of myself now, I spread my arms out wide to either side of me and balanced on one foot, like a skater gliding on one blade across a frozen pond.

"Oh, ah… ballerina!"

"Tightrope walker!"

"Er… a tree? Maybe?"

A tree? I looked down at myself. How was this a friggin' tree?!

I locked gazes with Anna and stretched my pose out further for emphasis. Her face was scrunched up in deep thought. Come on, Sis, help me out here. You've seen me ice skate before, you know what it looks like. You got this. Two sisters, one mind. Suddenly her face brightened and she jumped up to her feet. Ha, there it is! I knew she'd get i-

"Michael Jordan!" she yelled, stabbing a finger in my direction.

...nevermind.

Kairi abruptly rocketed up beside her, "Gandalf!"

Anna shook her head, "Pffft, like Gandalf Cube is a thing!"

"And what, like Michael Jordan Cube is?"

Oof, I really shot myself in the foot with that whole cube thing earlier, huh?

As the girls began to bicker amongst themselves while I continued to wobble and sway on one foot, I glanced over towards the boys who were all quietly snickering at our expense. Well, almost all of them. Lea instead seemed rather fascinated by the way I'd stretched and arched my body into its current pose, his eyes half-lidded as they travelled down my curves, his head slightly tilted and teeth still idly gnawing that pencil.

I smirked, a new idea forming inside my head. The girls needed more clues, after all. Planting both feet back on the ground, I bowed at the waist as if reaching down to tie the laces on my imaginary ice skates. As I bent forward, I made sure Lea got just enough of a glimpse down the front of my blouse to give him a hint of something lacy.

He bit the pencil in half with a loud crack!

Okay, I really was enjoying teasing him way too much now.

I think all this power was going straight to my head!

The all-corrupting power of the lingerie...

A gasp suddenly tore out of Anna and she started pointing back and forth between Lea and me, "I saw that! You two secretly communicated! You're working together! Double agent! Cheater!"

My head rocked back and I stammered, "Wha-?! I- How would that even- I am most certainly not-"

"Ahhnnnt!" Kristoff loudly and obnoxiously made a buzzer sound.

"Oh come on, I can't be out of time already!" I told him, crossing my arms.

"You talked, and there's no talking in charades, so consider yourself disqualified," he chuckled, then added, "PS: you actually ran out of time ages ago, we just let you keep going because watching you epically fail so hard was too funny."

Blowing out a tiny huff through my nostrils, I returned to my seat where the rest of the ladies gave me pats on the back and shoulder squeezes to console me. As Anna side-hugged me with one arm, she said, "There, there, Sis, I'm sure the word you got just sucked. Lemme see it," she took the little scrap of paper from me and unfurled it, read it, then blinked. "Ice?!" she snapped incredulously. "You couldn't get ice?!"

I sunk further down into my seat with a groan, pinching the bridge of my nose and making no further comment.

Surprisingly, the game ended in a draw. What I lacked in being able to communicate a concept without the use of words, I more than made up for in my ability to guess what my teammates were acting out. And while I may have been my team's handicap, turns out Lea was theirs. Normally he'd have been one of their stronger players, but it seemed his head just wasn't in the game. Not if the way his eyes kept distractedly drifting over to me while the rest of the boys had to constantly yell at him to focus was any sort of clue.

A couple hours and several rounds later brought us to a point where more than a few stomachs were suddenly loudly grumbling. We decided it was high time to break for dinner, seeing as how cookies and candy canes just weren't cutting it anymore. As everyone else started making their way towards the dining room, I excused myself so I could go freshen up real quick.

As I finished up in the bathroom, I turned the faucet off and flicked my hands a few times to shake away the water before reaching for the towel. Fingers now dried, I took a moment to eye myself in the mirror before straightening my bun and smoothing out my skirt. With a little satisfied nod, I turned, opened the door and-

-came to a screeching stop, looking up and blinking a couple times. "...can I help you?"

Lea smirked back down at me from where he stood in the threshold blocking my exit. Without uttering a word, he just smugly pointed up. My gaze followed his finger and-

Fudge.

Guess what we were both now under?

That's right. He'd moved the mistletoe.

My eyelids drooped at him. "Well now, that's just cheati- mmph!"

His warm lips were suddenly on mine as he grabbed my face in both hands. Unconsciously, my body leaned into his, my hands grasping at his shirt and wrinkling the material as he kissed me long and slow and we just stayed in the doorway there for a few heartbeats, his thumbs tenderly grazing along my cheekbones. Then there was a shift. His breathing turned ragged, his lips more urgent and demanding as a low growl emitted from his throat and Lea started backing me into the bathroom once more, kicking the door shut after him. Without breaking the kiss, he fumbled a hand behind him to lock it then was pushing me up against the sink counter. Lea wasted no time lifting me to sit on top of it, situating his hips between my knees as he hooked his hands beneath them and pulled me up against him roughly. He then wrapped my legs around his waist, fingertips caressing along the stockings, up my thighs and hiking my skirt a bit.

At last he broke the kiss, redirecting his attention to nibble down the side of my throat. Breathless and face hot, I whispered, "Lea, maybe we shouldn't-"

My neck suddenly seared in intense pleasure as his teeth bit down hard at just the right spot and I gasped.

...okay, maybe we should.

He huskily chuckled against my skin, lightly kissing it now as he murmured, "You were saying, Love?"

Desperately trying and failing to unscramble my brain, I began, "I… I was…"

"Mm-hm," he prompted absently as his lips and tongue continued to trail a path down my neck while his fingers pushed the hem of my skirt up a tad further.

"...was saying that… that we, uh…"

"Mm-hm," Lea hummed again, pulling back slightly now with a sly gleam in his crinkled eyes as he reached a hand back over his shoulder, grabbed the back of his tee, and-

Oh wow, there goes the shirt. On the floor. Just like that.

Should.

Lea had just made an extremely compelling argument for should.

I'd mentioned how persuasive he could be, right?

I dazedly watched as he took my hands in his, pressing my palms to his bare chest now as he leaned in to hungrily kiss me again. My fingers took on minds of their own as they began to drift and roam, slowly tracing down the lines and contours of his leanly muscled torso. I shivered as I felt his fingertips skim over the hollow of my shoulder and along my collarbone before settling on the top button of my blouse, tugging to undo it and moving down to the next-

"Elsa!" Several loud, frantic bangs against the door abruptly startled us apart. It took me a second to recognize Sora's voice coming from the other side as he whined, "Hurry up in there, I really, really gotta go!"

"Occupied!" Lea shouted over his shoulder before grinning as he hooked a finger under my chin and bent forward, his lips brushing mine once more.

"...Elsa? Why does your voice sound funny?" Sora asked uncertainly, causing me to snort against Lea's lips. His shoulders slumped and he hung his head, cursing under his breath. The spell had been broken. We both knew it.

I gently pushed him away, scooting myself down off the countertop and snatching his shirt up off the ground to hand to him. Then I took a second to fan myself in a futile effort to cool my face before opening the door and immediately saying, "This isn't what it looks like."

Sora blinked at me. Then his gaze darted to where Lea stood behind me, eyeing Sora sourly as he pulled his tee back on.

...okay, it was exactly what it looked like.

But Sora didn't need to know that!

He blinked again, "Um…"

Deciding to save him from having to come up with a more sophisticated response than that, I simply took Lea's hand in mine and left the bathroom towing him along after me, his dark scowl never leaving Sora as we pushed passed him and headed towards the dining room.

On the way there, we bumped into Rayne in the hallway who was bouncing Cayde in her arms in what seemed to be an attempt to get him to settle down. She arched an eyebrow at me as we drew near. "I thought you were freshening up."

My brow furrowed at her. "...I did."

She eyed me up and down, then snerked. "Sure ya did," was her only remark as she wiggled her eyebrows, shifted the baby to rest against her shoulder and disappeared through the door to join the others for dinner.

I tipped my head to one side, then glanced in a decorative mirror that was hanging on the wall to my left. To say I'd been disheveled would have been the understatement of the century. My skirt was rumpled, my blouse skewed, and I was still bright red from practically head to toe. To top it all off, my hair was free of its bun and positively wild.

"When did you do that?" I narrowed my eyes accusingly at Lea as I did my best to gather and throw it back up into a haphazard bun.

Alright fine, I knew exactly when he did it. I just hadn't even realized he'd done it.

He pursed his lips to one side, shoved his hands into his pockets and gave a tiny shrug as I finished righting my clothes. I then noticed his eyes flick down, suddenly seeming highly fascinated by something. I followed his gaze to spot my top button of my blouse still undone and flashing a scandalous little sneak preview of the lingerie. Blushing harder (the exact opposite of what I wanted to be doing right now, dammit, cheeks!), I hastily re-fastened the button while Lea grinned wolfishly. I pinched his arm, wiping the smirk off his face before taking his hand in mine once more and leading him into the room.

Everyone was seated at the long wooden dining table already and were all too busy laughing and talking over each other to pay much mind to our entrance. As I quietly took a seat, I noticed most of the dishes of piping hot food had already been brought out to the table. Kristoff was bringing out the last of them with my sister's help.

"I'm so happy my man knows how to cook," Anna delightedly chirped as she set down a bowl of yams before giggling and pressing a smooch to Kristoff's cheek. "That way, I don't have to!"

I smiled at the two of them while Lea plonked down into the chair beside me. He laced our fingers together, his thumb idly rubbing along my knuckles as he settled his other elbow onto the table, heavily propped his chin in his palm and heaved a long, drawn out sigh through his nose. His eyes narrowed on Sora as he returned from the restroom and happily crossed the room to take a seat between Riku and Kairi, totally oblivious to the daggers my boyfriend was glaring at him the whole way. Lea then looked away, petulantly huffing out a second grumbly sigh.

It seemed somebody was still a bit pouty over our little interlude in the bathroom being interrupted.

We couldn't have that now, could we? Not on Christmas! Let's see what we can do to perk his spirits a bit.

I shifted ever so slightly in my seat, casually bumping my knee into his as if it were by accident. Lea glanced over at me, quirking an eyebrow. One corner of my lips turned up as I took our still intertwined hands and moved them under the table, releasing his so it could settle on my knee instead. He sat up a little straighter in his chair, his other eyebrow rising to join the first. I grinned coyly, averted my gaze and said nothing, merely waiting for him to take the hint as I reached for the cup of hot cider already waiting for me next to my plate.

Slowly, tentatively, his hand started to slide up my leg, brushing my skirt up with it as he went until he reached the garter. There he paused, his fingertips exploring, grazing over its soft delicate embroidery and toying with it. I could see Lea's face heating as he brought his other hand up to bite down on the knuckle of his curled finger. I just sipped my drink and smiled politely at the conversation the others were carrying on around us. The perfect picture of prim and properness. As if nothing even remotely untoward were happening under the table in the slightest.

Eventually, his hand began tracing the garter down to my inner thigh, discovering where one of the straps connected to it. His fingertips trailed circles over the clasp a couple times before then attempting to follow the strap further up between my legs.

That's when I snagged his wrist, stopping it dead in its tracks and shooting him a flat look.

Sorry, bucko, but that's as far as this little adventure at the dinner table goes.

His muscles were tense. His left eye twitched. But then Lea closed his eyes, released a low, shaky breath and his posture relaxed somewhat as with what appeared to be a considerable amount of visible effort, he willed himself to take his hand back.

"So hey!" Kairi suddenly piped up over everyone else, causing the chatter to die down a bit as all eyes turned towards her. "I brought a buncha Christmas movies with me! You know, all the classics. I was thinking maybe it could be fun for all of us to watch a couple after we finish eating. How does that sound?"

Lea cleared his throat, raking his fingers through his hair as he began, "Actually, El and I had other-"

"What a wonderful idea!" I chimed in brightly before turning to plant a swift peck to the corner of Lea's jawline. "We'd love to, isn't that right, Lea? Since we all know what a fan of the classics you are."

He pressed his lips together into a thin line and simply fixed me with a dull stare.

Oh yes.

No doubt about it.

I was definitely having way, way too much fun teasing him.

It was late. Little Ralphie Parker's father had just thrown aside fistfuls upon fistfuls of packing to liberate the infamous leg lamp from its crate in the movie. A quick glance around the dim room, lit only by the soft glow from the TV screen, revealed everyone to be cozied up together in one way or another as they enjoyed the film.

Rayne was curled up with Riku under a blanket, him turning his head to press an affectionate kiss to the top of her head. Sora was using Kairi's lap as a makeshift pillow, their hands joined and resting atop his chest as they watched. Anna was occupying an armchair with Kristoff seated on the floor before her, using her knees as a backrest while her nimble fingers plaited hundreds of thin, tiny braids into his short blonde hair. Roxas and Xion were taking their turn for some snuggle time with the twins who, even though it was now well past their bedtimes, were being quite obstinate about going to sleep.

Even Saïx had a cuddle buddy, although he was too busy snoring to realize it. It seemed being up during the daylight hours to power through getting all his work done had finally caught up to and taken its toll on him. Back on the couch once more, his laptop lay forgotten on his lap with the screensaver running while he'd conked out nestled into Marshmallow's plush fur beside him. Marshmallow's tail thumped quietly against the couch cushions as he too began to drift off into dreams.

Grinning, I returned my gaze to the movie and settled more comfortably into Lea's side as I laid my head against his chest once again and my arms hugged more tightly around his waist. I could feel him fiddling with a stray lock of my bangs that'd gotten loose, looping and twiddling it between his fingers. Then his hand diverted its attention to instead trail lightly along my bare shoulder, his fingertips drawing invisible patterns there against my skin. It tickled and I involuntarily squirmed against him a bit.

I heard him suck in a soft hiss of breath, shifting in his seat as he hastily removed his hand, fingers splaying and flexing before closing into a fist that he planted firmly on the sofa backrest behind my head now. His knee started furiously jerking up and down. I turned my head to look up at him. His whole body was rigid and his jaw set tight, the very fires of determination seemingly burning in his eyes currently as he focused hard on the movie (perhaps a little too hard), though his gaze kept flicking to the clock hanging on the wall every few seconds.

Frowning, I brought a hand up, brushing my knuckles tenderly over his cheek. Lea stiffened, his whole body suddenly going very still. I altered course to stroke his hair, gently running my fingers through it. His breath hitched as his eyes slowly closed and I could feel him quivering slightly. Then he abruptly snatched my hand, disentangling it from his mess of untamed hair.

I blinked at him.

He pressed a lingering kiss to the back of my hand before settling it on his knee as he ducked his head, bringing his lips right next to my ear as he half whispered, half growled, "Love, it's taking every last ounce of restraint I have not to just throw you on the coffee table and take you in a primal cavemanly fashion, so unless you want to give our friends a bit of a show, I suggest you stop."

...oh dear.

It seemed I'd made him wait a little too long and he was dangerously close to his breaking point.

Thus I decided to finally and at long last take pity on him.

It was time.

Time to let him unwrap his gift.

I stood up, spinning on my heel to face Lea. He stared up at my quizzically, probably leery of getting his hopes up at this point. Smiling sweetly, I reached down, taking his hands in mine and pulling him up to his feet as well as I announced to the rest of the room, "If you'll excuse us, Lea's not feeling too hot, so we're going to head to bed now." His hand still in mine, I led him out of the room and towards the stairs as the others called out a chorus of feel-betters and goodnights after us.

Reaching the second floor, I stepped through our door ahead of him and cast a brief glance about as I stood in the center of the bedroom, taking it in. The traditional rustic wooden walls decorated with a couple small pieces of hanging art here and there. The pair of plump armchairs in one corner next to a homey little fireplace, currently unlit and cold but with plenty of logs just waiting for a spark. The antique wardrobe and dresser off to one side, the door off to another leading into the adjoining private bathroom. The king-sized bed stacked high with blankets and quilts for fighting off the chill later on in the dead of night.

The muted click of Lea shutting the door behind us caught my attention, but I didn't turn to look at him, merely waited. There was a pause. One that was so long and quiet, I almost began to wonder if he'd left for some reason. But then I could all but feel him standing behind me, feel the warmth practically radiating off his body just a few short inches away from mine, sending a tiny chill up my spine and a small flutter through my chest.

His hands found their way to my hair, a simple tug pulling the bun free once more and sending my platinum locks cascading down my back. I shook it out a little more, resisting the urge to shiver at the pleasant tingling sensation brought on by him slowly, almost reverently combing his fingers through the strands. Then his fingertips were trailing along my shoulders and ghosting lightly down my arms where they came to settle comfortably on my hips. I could feel him nestling his face into my hair, pressing a kiss into it as he inhaled deeply, humming low in pleasure as his grip on my hips tightened and his body pressed more firmly up against my back.

At the gentle insistence of his hands, I turned and faced him now. Gosh, he was so tall. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but I wasn't. It was moments like these - moments where no words were spoken and there was so little space between us - that reminded me just how tall he truly was. Not to mention how handsome he was or painfully gorgeous those startlingly green eyes of his were, especially while they were hooded and swirling as darkly as they were now. My pulse couldn't help but pick up the tempo beneath his heated gaze.

The air felt charged between us, nearly unbearably so. I was almost surprised Lea hadn't simply pounced the second we were alone. The slight tremble to his hand as he brought it up to stroke my cheek suggested that might be exactly what he wanted to do but was holding himself back. Perhaps he was going slow because he was wary of this moment being snatched away from him yet again like they all had been so far today. Perhaps he simply wanted to take his time and savor this. Whatever the case may be, as his fingers tangled themselves in my hair and he leaned in now, there was no doubt in my mind all that was about to change. I knew the second his lips met mine, all bets would be off. That last shred of restraint he was barely clinging on to would snap and all that pent up frustration he'd been keeping in check all day would be unleashed and given free rein. My face burned and my heart hammered as he closed the distance, so near now that I could feel his breath warming my lips as he murmured my name and-

"TOOTHPASTE!" I suddenly blurted out loudly.

He jerked back, eyes wide and both eyebrows skyrocketing as if to ask, Um… sorry, who what now?

Which honestly? Couldn't blame him.

So, mouth? Care to explain yourself?

I stammered nonsensically for a bit, wringing my hands together before finally pointing a thumb over my shoulder towards the restroom and managing to get out, "For brush teeth… make m-mint fresh in mouth."

Ah yes, clear as mud now. Thanks, mouth. Your gift for gab never ceases to amaze and astound.

My oh so eloquent words hung in the air between us as we just stared at each other for a few seconds. Then I bolted into the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking it behind me. Pressing my back to it, I buried my face in my hands and slid down to sit on the floor.

Smooth going there, little Miss Casanova. Just really know how to set the mood, huh?

I groaned and banged the back of my head against the door.

Oh god, Lea was going to think I freaked out because of him. That I didn't want to, hrm… be intimate with him. But I did! I loved being intimate with him! It was something he was very good at! Very, very good! Amazing, in fact! But what did I go and do the second I had a chance to do exactly that with him?

I'd panicked and choked, that's what!

Because this time was different.

This time, lingerie was involved.

Putting it on and teasing him with it was one thing. But lingerie had implications. It set expectations. You were supposed to, I don't know… act sexy… be sexy… you know, that whole feminine wiles things! And my feminine wiles? Still a work in progress. Sure, it was something I'd gotten better at since Lea and I had started dating, but trust me, I still had a long way to go. And yet here I'd gone, riling him up all day and now that the moment had finally arrived where I had to deliver the goods, I'd…

I'd gotten a bit of stage fright, okay?! So sue me!

...maybe I was just being silly. Overthinking all of this. Putting too much pressure on myself for no reason. This was Lea we were talking about here, after all. I could go out there and do the least attractive impression of a sloth in a negligee doing the chicken dance while yodeling and he'd still probably find it sexy. (...dear lord, the fool honestly might. Not even joking anymore.) The point was that he loved me and I loved him, so this shouldn't be such a big deal. One teeny bit of silky, lacy fabric shouldn't be a big deal. Yeah, this was supposed to be fun.

So, missy, you march your little hiney back out there and have fun, dammit!

Nostrils flaring, I pressed a hand to the door behind me and pushed myself up onto my feet once more, turning to look at myself in the mirror. My reflection had fists balled at her hips, her shoulders squared, her head held high, and a look of ironclad resolve flashing in her blue eyes. I leaned forward, planting one hand on the sink countertop and using the other to jab a finger up against the mirror surface as I hissed, "Now listen up and listen good, me! You're going to go out there and… and… knock his friggin' socks off!"

She blinked back at me, visibly gulping with a tiny frown.

My shoulders sagged. "...I think."

Atta girl, that's the fire and can-do attitude we like to hear!

Face hardening once more, I gave myself a firm nod, straightened up and gingerly began unbuttoning my blouse. Once I'd shed it and tossed it to the floor, I slipped out of my skirt as well. Then I stood in front of the mirror inspecting myself, cheeks surely roasting hotter than the fires of Mount Doom. My lips pursed to one side. I awkwardly settled a hand against my right hip. Then I swept my hair forward over one shoulder. Only to brush it back again a second later.

Couldn't decide which way had a more 'come hither' look to it.

Narrowing my eyes, I whisked it forward again.

Then back.

Forward.

Back.

Fo-

Ugh, forget it and move on already!

Just then, I remembered something. Hesitantly, I turned my head, my eyes drifting almost unbidden towards our suitcases cluttered together in one corner of the spacious bathroom. Not really sure why Lea had put them in here when he'd dropped them off earlier. Maybe I'd asked him to and it'd simply slipped my mind. Maybe he'd just been looking for a place to stow them where they'd be out of our way in anticipation of tonight's activities.

Whatever the case may be, they were in here with me now. And that meant…

Inhaling and exhaling slowly, I approached them, locating mine and unzipping it. Flipping the lid open, I stared inside and paused in a moment of indecision. Then I grit my teeth and plunged my hand in, digging down deep past my clothes in search of the thing.

You know.

That thing.

The one Anna had made me buy.

I felt my fingers bump into it and I closed them around it, holding my breath before pulling it out. Then I stared down at what I now held in my hand.

A riding crop.

You read that right.

A friggin' riding crop.

Did I have the first clue what to do with it?

Not really, no.

Was I going to bring it out with me anyway?

...sure, why not?

I mean, I was already a bit of a nervous wreck over this whole ordeal, so it was hard to imagine this could make it any worse.

Go big or go home, as they say.

Heart pounding in my ears and insides twisting into a billion, quadrillion knots, I turned to face the door, chin hitched and back straight.

Slinky lingerie? Check. Riding crop? Check… apparently.

Operation Sexy Time was a go.

Let's do this.

I bravely charged forth.

And by that, I mean I opened the door just enough to cautiously poke my head out for a peek.

But I bravely poked my head out cautiously, dammit!

I spotted Lea dejectedly lying on the bed now, sprawled out on his back and smothering his face with a pillow. Heh… off to a good start here. Opening the door wider, I quietly crept a few steps into the room. With how high my blush had cranked up to at this point, it was a wonder I hadn't burnt to a crisp already. My empty hand stiffly found its way to my hip once more. I swept my hair forward again. Then grimaced, pushing it back. Then forw-

Gah, quit fussing, you stupid hands, and just get on with it already!

As Lea still seemed unaware of my presence and with me at a loss for how else to get his attention, I anxiously cleared my throat.

He didn't budge, just groaned into the pillow and muffled out, "What new way have you come to torment me with now, devil woman?"

Such a drama queen. Shaking my head, I began, "Lea-"

"Is there even really lingerie under there or is that just more of your cruel, twisted mind games to string me along and torture me?"

I rolled my eyes with a tiny huff of a snort and tried again, "Lea."

Face still under the pillow, he struck a defiant finger up high into the air, "Well not this guy! Nu-uh, no siree bob! I am done dancing to your sadistic whims! Begone, devious succubus, and tempt me no more with your-"

"Lea!" I snapped exasperatedly, unconsciously smacking my crop against my leg.

Oof, that'd stung a bit.

But it seemed to be what finally caught his attention. He hooked a thumb beneath his pillow now, lazily hoisting it up just enough for him to lift his head and look at me. Then he bolted up into a sitting position, back ramrod straight and eyes all but popping out of his head as the pillow tumbled to the mattress behind him. His wide-eyed gaze met mine. Then darted down to the lingerie. Over to the riding crop in my hand. Then he was madly scrambling to the foot of the bed, sitting on his knees there with his hands gripping the edge of the bedframe hard enough to turn his knuckles white as he heavily and rapidly breathed through his nose.

I just stood there, flushing more furiously and resisting the urge to self-consciously shift my weight from one foot to the other.

OhgodwhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdowhatdoIdowhatdoI-

In a state of mild panic, I abruptly thrust the crop towards him and blurted out, "Shirt. Off."

...sure, that works.

Not missing a beat and faster than should have been humanly possible, Lea yanked his top up over his head and chucked it across the room. Then his eyes fastened on me once more, seemingly eagerly awaiting my next instruction.

Uh…

Nowwhatnowwhatnowwhatnowwhatnowwhatnow-

"Knees," I pointed at a spot on the floor in front of me, "Now."

In his haste to comply, he stumbled and fell out of the bed, crashing into the floor but was quick to recover and prop himself up on his knees before me.

Fudgewhatnextwhatnextwhatnextwhat-

Swat your thigh with the thingie again!

...I'm sorry, brain, do what now?

Well, I mean… it seemed to be highly well received just a second ago, so…

Pulse racing, I hesitated for a split second before piercing the air with another sharp thwack of the riding crop hitting my skin. His muscles visibly grew taut and tense, but he stayed put, his throat emitting an impatient whimper.

...was it really this easy?

...this actually was kind of fun…

Feeling some of the nervous tension start to ebb from my body, I slowly began to circle him now, lightly tapping the lash of the crop into the palm of my other hand as I murmured, "Now… what, oh what am I going to do with you?"

Lea released a deep, throaty chuckle. "...I might be able to think of a thing or two…"

Coming to a stop in front of him once again, I bowed down to his eye level, using the riding crop to lift his chin as I grinned at him. "I'm listening."

For the record, zero sleep was had that Christmas night.

The lingerie did not survive Lea's ravenous onslaught.

We may have also slightly broken that antique dresser.

Oops. Guess they just don't make those things as sturdy as they used to.

Author's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR! And based on this chapter, have another (belated) merry Christmas xD Figures that my longest chapter to date had to be the friggin' lingerie chapter xD I am almost ashamed of myself… BUT NOT REALLY! No regrets, yolo! Lol, I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I had fun writing it :D

Fun Fact: This was actually the first bonus chapter idea I came up with for this story. It came to me about a year ago while I was still working on chapter… 17 I think? I wanted to immediately start writing it, but I restrained myself, wanting to finish the main story first. But having a whole year with this one-shot in the back of my mind is probably why it ended up being so long, cuz I kept coming up with more little ideas to squeeze into it xD Then of course, I started coming up with the ideas for the other bonus chapters that came before it, forcing myself to wait even longer to write it but aaahhhhhh, yay, I finally got to this one! And did I include Esmeralda's Secrets all the way back in chapter 19 specifically with this bonus chapter in mind? Yes, yes I did x'D Of course, I knew this whole time Esmeralda herself was gonna be making an appearance, but Frollo turned out to be a last minute addition that came to me as I was writing the chapter. But including him made me realize I had a missed opportunity: on one of Lea's and Elsa's many visits to the mall's clock tower which has BELLS, they should've bumped into a certain hunchback who's in charge of maintaining said bells xD Ah well, even tho they never saw him in the story, I've made it canon now: that is officially Quasimodo's job in this AU xD And he's always embarrassed about his adoptive father protesting with his picket signs outside the store of the cute girl he has a crush on xD Poor guy!

So many lines I snagged from the video games and the movies as references this chapter, I wonder if you guys were able to catch every single little one I slipped in? xD And obviously Elsa's fave musical that's playing at Broadway is Frozen 2 (since that's where Show Yourself that she sang back in auditions was from) but I didn't want to CALL it that in the story, but had zero ideas for a clever replacement title, so it didn't get a name xD And while I gave a few details here and there, for the most part I left the lingerie Elsa purchased vague on purpose - I figure some things are just best left to the imagination ;P Lea doesn't usually have such a one track mind as he did this chapter… or maybe he does and he's just usually more tactful about concealing it xD Either way, Lea ALSO isn't usually presented with the possibility of his very hot girlfriend dressing up in sexy lingerie for him, so can ya really blame the guy for being a bit of a horndog this chapter? I think not xP Worry not however, he'll be back to his normal, (slightly) more classy self next chapter xD You can bet tho that now that he knows Elsa has been to the dirty store in the mall, that he has since dragged her back there on more than one occasion now so they could make a few purchases as a couple, hehehe :3 But like I said all the way back at the very beginning, despite the main subject of the chapter, it was still all fairly tame, right? I haven't yet crossed THAT particular line… I may come right up to the line, dance wildly and with reckless abandon on top of the line, but not cross it xD I dunno if I'll ever be brave enough to write a full-on lemon, but maybe one day…. Hehehehe…

Anyhoo, tis with a sad and heavy heart that I must announce that this will probably be my last update for a while. Don't worry, there's more to come! I still have at least 3 more bonus chapters for this story planned! However, I've been working on almost nothing but this story for over a year now and I've finally hit a point where I need a break xD I think I'm gonna take a few weeks and have a breather from writing in general, but trust me, that won't last for long before the itch takes hold of me once again and I'll NEED to scratch it! When that happens, I'm not sure what I'm gonna work on next - it'll be Axelsa, without question, that's just my brand yo, it has bewitched my very SOUL xD But WHICH Axelsa story is the question! Will I update one of my older incomplete stories over on FFN/AO3 or will I get back to work on that new story I have the first 3 chapters written of that I've yet to share with you all? Guess we'll seeeeeeeeeeee xD I might eventually start posting some of my older stories here on tumblr too - they’re all incomplete currently tho and I was hoping to finish them before I started sharing them here, but I might not be able to resist in the end. I have commissioned a couple artists recently, so hopefully you’ll be seeing those soon! I’ll have more of my own personal fanart to share too in the hopefully near future, I just need to wait for my hand to recover as I sprained it being the irresponsible dope that I am and have had to put my doodling on hold while it recuperates xD All of that is to say, you’ll be hearing from me and my Axelsa obsession again in some form or another in the near future, you can count on it!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

#kingdom hearts #frozen #elsa #axel #fanfiction #lea #fanfic #kingdom hearts fanfiction #frozen fanfiction #kh fanfiction #kh fanfic #frozen fanfic #kingdom hearts fanfic #axelsa #fluff #romcom #slow burn #KH3 #my writing #ice cream and fire oven pizza #rare pair #crossover pairing #humor #snark #fake dating au

[2p-stuff-because-i-miss-them]

2p Russia boyfriend headcanons?

Yay, I luv my toll long nose boi

Lets say Viktor was being a little too cautious

You met at in an alleyway

Not sure what business EITHER of you had there but boy was Viktor not enjoying the awkward slow walk you two were taking to approach each other

I mean all you had to do was cross paths but lets see-

In your eyes Viktor is a 6’10 man whose relatively fit but mostly just thicc in a black trench coat with bags under piercing (and menacing) red eyes walking to you ever so slowly without breaking eye contact

On the other hand Viktors just a tall awkward beanstalk slowly trying to analyze your next choice of movement because he would rather be struck by the hand of God than accidentally choose the same different path as you and be stuck in a never ending loop of “oh I’ll just go this way- I mean this way- okay I’ll go right you go left- nO NOT THAT LEFT-”

At this point you felt the need to make some fast decision making “I’ll just move over to the right” you thought

Unfortunately, so did he

You were like “Yeah I’m prolly abt to get kidnapped” so you turn around to take a longer way to wherever the hell you were going, and Viktor almost started dancing with glee that he didn’t have to make that awkward human interaction, and he’d never see you again

Incorrect, once again you both just kept seeing each other, everywhere and this is where the plot thickens because after seeing each other over and over (+Viktors silent intense staring) You both conclude: “Oh...I’m being stalked…”

Yikes

So you both naturally try to figure out the other person (ofc, brilliant) and see what they want from you both

After about a week of high anxiety and paranoia it was you who decided to confront Viktor first and he was shook to his core.

It was in a library that he always “follows” you into, and just as he was sitting down at a small table to possibly enjoy his coffee in peace (and of course observing the premises to see where you were watching him) you slammed your hands down on the table and dear lord-

Viktor was so shook that he almost just splashed that piping coffee in your face, and you weren’t necessarily expecting to be so aggressive but heh, here we are in the future-

And so began the confrontation, you started off with the ally way till now, threatened to call the police, all of that good stuff and by the end of it Viktor was just like OJo.

He sort of panicked because now he was confused you thought he was stalking you? How much time do you think he has to waste on some rando. (Viktor you literally just thought the same thing-). So you argued.

And argued, 

And argued

Until you both finally realized that there was a huge misunderstanding and awkwardly uwu’d (uJu’d) apologies, nerds.

Viktor was about ready to leave and die from embarrassment however you decided to keep conversation. And you liked each others company, so you kept in touch

Viktor doesn’t really check his phone so you had to visit often. You guys bonded over semi unpopular topics every 3 weeks

then every week

Then every other day

Then maybe twice a day

After 1 month of feeling catching Viktor decided to wait an eternity (6 months) before asking you out just to make absolutely sure 

And boy when you started dating weren’t you close as hecc.

He kind of immediately wanted you to move in but he also hated that idea with a fiery passion

Because on one hand he wants to take care of you and be able to share each other's lifestyle together. On the other hand you just started dating and what if you decide to break it off after the 1st week, but you're all in his house now E W.

It takes him like 2 months before he’s truly comfortable in the relationship, he knows theres supposed to be an element of mutual trust but he’s so a n x i o u s

He does the most adorable things around you.

He’ll be like cooking dinner in a cute pink apron 

Or knitting a small hat for you

Or completely demolishing a gallon of vodka alone in his dark and cold room-

he's a gem cutter and jewelry maker so he’ll ask you to help him find precious stones and get your opinion on jewelry designs

He iCE SKATES AND BALLET DANCES PLZ GO TO HIS RECITALS AND SHOWS BECAUSE HE’LL NEVER TELL YOU ABT IT OTHER WISE 

Be gentle with him because he gets defensive if someone so much as drops a hint of a passive aggressive attitude towards him

But he’s passive aggressive all the damn time I-

He’ll easily tell you if somethings wrong, there will be no hints, just “s t o p”

He doesn’t rlly know how to be super romantic but he loves doing it so much and he’s trying his damn best

          ^“Viktor…why is there crumpled up trash all over the ground?”

            deafening silence

            “Viktor-”

            “They’re rose petals…”

            “Vitya…..these aren’t rose petals….”

            “I needed an alternative”

            “Painting pieces of newspaper red was your best alternative?”

            “Y      e     s”

            “W       h      y”

He uses you as a pillow for most things, and refuses to seek an alternative

If you’re in his way he’ll roll you over or lift you lol

He’s definitely paying for all of your everything and anything you want IN REASON

Hell wear super short shorts when it gets too hot and you best be taking advantage over those long luxurious legs-

          ^ Viktor: What are you doing?....stop, LEAVE ME ALONE-

            s/o: THICC audible smaccing

;)

He loves you lots plz take care of him

sorry this took so long anon I have many asks

#2p Russia #2p hetalia #2p! Russia #2p!hetalia #2p #2ptalia #2p headcanons

[the-lupine-sojourner]

Eijiro/Takara one-shot from Eijiro’s PoV [kind of a bonus chapter, but also kinda separate]

So...this is an idea I’ve had for a while, but @elite-guard-hardygal and I were talking and they did this challenge where you write something nonstop in, like, an hour or something, so I thought ‘yeah, let’s do it!’ and out came this last night but then I was too tired to post it so I went to bed. Take this thing as you will. 

Like the title says, it’s kind of a bonus chapter, but not really. It’s just my brain trying to explain Eijiro’s feelings and actions around Takara, and how they’re changing. Anyway, I’m also tagging @dailyojiromashirao , @souskena, and @fandoms-fandoms-everywhere99 but feel free to ignore guys! Next chapter of Takara’s Hero Academia is coming soon, okay!

Hope you all like this little one-shot! :)

God Bless and Good Day! 

~The Lupine Sojourner

Eijiro really wished he could Harden his stomach so he wouldn’t feel nauseous as he headed on to the bus for the practical entrance exam for UA.

But, alas, he couldn’t, so he climbed aboard and sat down in misery. He wished the test would hurry up and be over already. He didn’t really even pay attention when someone sat beside him. “Hey.” He mumbles, not really even looking at the person and not expecting anything to come of it, his small smile half-hearted at best.

“Hello.” It was a girl, apparently, and she was responding, so Eijiro continued to face her. May as well use this as a distraction, right? Besides, his mother raised him to be polite, so he extends a hand.

“I’m Eijiro Kirishima.” The brunette girl smiles. He notices her brown eyes have flecks of blue in them like sapphires dropped on the ground. He blinks. Where’d that come from?

=#=#=#=#=

Walking into UA as a student was a surreal experience for him. Sure, he put it down as his top choice and gave the exam his all (with that girl, Takara, right beside him. Teaming up with her was awesome, even if it felt a little like cheating due to her earth quirk vibration thing), but to actually pass and get into UA? That was something else!

He could only hope he’d see more of Takara in the future. There was something so...genuine and outgoing about that girl. She wore her heart on her sleeve and spoke her mind. She wasn’t afraid to do what she wanted and help those she could along the way.

Eijiro thought she was very manly, in her own ways. Like Crimson Riot said, manliness wasn’t dedicated only to males. It applied to any gender. And Takara...Takara was manly.

“Hey, Eijiro!” Speak of the angel and she shall- -angel?! Wha- -no, no, no! Contain yourself! Eijiro scolds himself internally.

“Hey, Takara!” He replies, swallowing the emotions bubbling up in him at calling her an angel, even if it was just in his head. She’s standing in the UA uniform, stockings beneath the skirt and looking absolutely made for UA. She definitely belonged here. Beside her was her father, Present Mic. It was...weird seeing him as a teacher, not some DJ or announcer, but Eijiro played it cool. Present Mic nudges Takara, whispering something that makes her blush and- -holy shit she’s so cute when she’s blushing!

Wait...no, no! Stop thinking like that! You just met a few months ago! Stoppit! Eijiro growls at himself, praying his face was still neutral as Takara hisses in reply before turning back to Eijiro, looking a little embarrassed. Damn, she was cute! Friends can think friends are cute, right?

=#=#=#=#=

Watching Takara as excited as he was for the rescue training was torture! How was he supposed to concentrate on the training ahead when she was sitting right beside him and positively bouncing in excitement?! In her hero outfit, too! That outfit looked outstanding on her like she was born to wear it. His outfit felt super lame in comparison, but Takara had liked it, even blushing a little as she complimented it, so Eijiro felt a little better about it.

Eijiro was admittedly surprised when Tsu compared Midoriya’s Quirk to All Might’s, but he could see the resemblance when he thought about it. However, there was a difference. Takara is first to point it out, smiling as usual. Izuku looks relieved when the spotlight was off him and Takara didn’t mind being the center of attention.

Eijiro envied that. He pretended he didn’t mind, that nothing bothered him, but the truth was he was camera shy and awkward when it came to being in the spotlight. Eijiro smiles, deciding to add to Takara’s note about All Might’s Quirk not damaging his body.

“Yeah, and that makes a huge difference.” Takara looks at him gratefully and Eijiro feels his heart swell a little. She was so cute sometimes. “Still, I bet it’s cool to have a simple augmenting type-a Quirk. You could do a lot of flashy stuff with it.” He was just thinking aloud now, holding up a hand and Hardening it. “My Hardneing’s super strong and can stop bad guys in a fight, but it doesn’t look all that impressive.” Takara shakes her head.

“Not true!” She counters. “It’s super cool! Makes you look like a badass!” Dear Lord she was too sweet! He bites his lip to keep from blushing. “I might draw attention using my Water or Earth Quirk, but I’ll take whatever damage I can’t dodge or block. You won’t.” He is surprised she likes his dull, boring Quirk so much, but he’s also not about to let her compliment him without something in return and says the first thing that came to his mind.

“But both your Quirks are so cool!” He blurts. Takara blinks. However, Izuku is next to speak.

“I think your Quirk looks really cool, Kirishima!” He says. “You’re definitely Pro material with a Quirk like that!” Eijiro squirms a little sheepishly.

“You really think so? Seems like it’d be easier if I had something flashier.” Eijiro couldn’t believe it! Two people, each with amazing Quirks of their own, liked his stupid Quirk?! His heart fills with happiness, and his eyes lock on to Takara.

“Nah.” She says, smiling genuinely at him. “It’s not what the Quirk is, it’s how you use it that matters. You can have pretty much any Quirk and still become a popular hero if you’re willing to work at it and learn how to use your Quirk better. Mom and Dad taught me that when we started working on my Quirks together.” Eijiro smiles. He was happy she had such an outlook, but it was hard to believe her when there was a lifetime of evidence that his Quirk wasn’t impressive at all. However, if Takara said his Quirk could be impressive, he’d put in the work to prove her right. He’d show her that she was right to believe in and support him.

“I’ve been wondering, Takara.” Tsu interjects, derailing the previous conversation, “I know the Yamadas are your parents, but...you don’t look like them.” Takara squirms a little and Eijiro is about to intervene to save Takara from an obviously uncomfortable topic, but Takara then clears her throat.

“We-well, Mom’s my godmother.” Such a simple statement, but what an impact it had.

The unspoken truth settled in Eijiro’s mind. She was once orphaned, taken in by her godmother and raised in a family she wasn’t born into. Suddenly, everything about Takara seemed a little clearer: why she didn’t have siblings, why her Quirks were so different than the Yamadas, and why she really didn’t look much like them at all. Eijiro found a new appreciation for Takara and looks at her in awe. She was so strong to have been through that and still come out smiling and happy and friendly!

=#=#=#=#=

When Eijiro saw the smoke villain suddenly appear in front of the class, only one thought rang through his head.

This will not be like middle school! I’ll actually do something this time! I won’t stand by!

When Eijiro leapt out at the smoky villain, he wasn’t all that shocked to see Bakugo leap out with him. What he was shocked at was Takara, though perhaps that shouldn’t have been that surprised, considering that she always was the first to defend her friends or help someone. Eijiro was happy he wasn’t alone, though. This was easily the most scared he’d ever been, regardless of the brave face he put on and the words he spoke.

When the smoke villain enveloped them in thick purple smoke, claiming their objective in attacking the USJ was killing All Might and the students, Eijiro instinctively grabbed Takara by the waist, hoping he could keep her with him and protect her as the wind from the swirling smoke intensified. This was nuts! How were these villains supposed to kill All Might!? It was clear they’d thought this out, and Eijiro prayed they’d survive.

When Takara was yanked out of his grasp, his heart shattered. He hadn’t made a difference. He’d only made things worse by provoking the villain with his idiotic attack! Damnit! He could only wonder where Takara was sent as he felt himself free fall into a concrete floor of a building, hearing Bakugo screaming in rage, pain, and shock beside him. That hothead was not Eijiro’s ideal pick for a battle buddy, but he’d have to make due, he supposed.

When Bakugo and Eijiro teamed up, they were virtually unstoppable, turns out. They had this unknown connection allowing them to defeat the group of baddies in the earthquake zone (he thinks it’s the earthquake zone, anyway) with relative ease. Throughout the entire fight, Eijiro couldn’t stop thinking about Takara. He couldn’t do anything about it, though, til he got through these bad guys.

When he got to the main square, following Katsuki to start looking for Takara, he was stunned by what he saw. These guys looked tough! A hell of a lot tougher than the thugs he and Bakugo had taken down. Worst of all, they had All Might! The hero was held by some giant human-like...thing, the smoky villain’s warp quirk allowing the huge thing to subdue the Symbol of Peace. Then Eijiro looked around.

When he saw Takara, he nearly gagged. She was covered in blood and her leg was bent unnaturally. Her chest seemed...off and he races over in the middle of whatever unimportant thing he’d been about to say. Takara was so much more important to him than showing off or fighting right now.

When he picks her up, he nearly puts her back down when she lets out a loud hiss of agony. Eijiro set off with her in his arms. Everything else can wait. He had to make sure Takara was okay! She’d been so genuine and amazing to him since their chance meeting on the bus, so long ago, he couldn’t imagine losing her like this. He shudders at the thought of what would have happened if he hadn’t gotten to her in time. He looks over his shoulder as he carries her and sees All Might now free from the grasp of that giant...thing.

When he asks what happened, Takara replies “Nomu.” Was that huge thing that held All Might ‘Nomu’? Was it ‘Nomu’ who did this to his Takara? If he wasn’t so worried, he’d run right back there and make that bastard pay! Takara’s groans and winces distract him from his thoughts of revenge and remind him of his task. He had to protect his Takara! (wait... his Takara?! When did he start thinking of her like that?! That’s not appropriate or respectful at all!)

When he apologizes for not holding on to her (being too damn weak to accomplish his goals), Takara is quick to tell him he’d have been hurt, too. He understands what she’s trying to say and doesn’t take it personally. He still feels shitty for not keeping a grip on her when they were separated, even though Takara tries to tell him otherwise.  

When he sees his teacher, in worse shape than Takara, something breaks in him. Mrs. Yamada had been so brave, leaping down to hold off the villains like that, and now she’d been nearly killed. Turns out, the thing that hurt Takara also hurt Mrs. Yamada, and Eijiro is furious but unwilling to stray from his mission to protect his best friend (best friend was a safe title right? Not like ‘angel’ or ‘his’ Takara). He had to get her away from the fight!

When the other teachers show up, he can’t help breaking down, trying desperately to keep it together long enough to get her up the rest of the godforsaken stairs. Now that the teachers were here, things would be okay, right? He wouldn’t lose Takara, right? He was allowed to cry now, wasn’t he?

When he gets to the top of the stairs, his tears flow as he sobs for help. He’d never admit it aloud, but the stairs were so long and he was already so tired from fighting that he couldn’t keep hiding his terror and fears. He was so tired, but he couldn’t rest yet. Not til he knew Takara would be okay! His efforts couldn’t have been in vain, right?!

When Present Mic sobs briefly over his daughter, Eijiro’s own tears are added to the mix. If he’d been there, he’d have been able to help. If he’d been stronger, this wouldn’t have happened...

When the Voice Hero charges Eijiro with looking after Takara, he takes it very seriously, making sure to stay with her in the ambulance ride to the hospital, where he reluctantly had to stay in the waiting room, the minutes ticking by slowly, every second torture.

When he’s finally let back to see her, he races to her room, stopping to compose himself before walking in. He didn’t want to appear too desperate or weird...even though she likely wouldn’t care. She was so sweet like that.

When he sees her, when he knows she’s okay, the painful worry in his chest lessens a little.

When he sees her, everything’s a little better. Just a little. He then sees her cast and bandages and feels the guilt and shame return full force and he can’t help voicing it.

When he expresses regret for not holding on to her again, falling back into those dark thoughts, she is there with soft, gentle words that lift the crushing guilt and shame he felt a little.

When she tells him ‘I’ll be okay’, he believes her.

#Fanfiction #MHA #BNHA #Eijiro Kirishima #OC #Original Female Character #Original Character #Eijiro Kirishima/OC #Eijiro Kirishima/Takara Yamada

[killer-barnes]

Get Out.

Peter Parker x Reader

Request: Yes

Summary: Deciding to stay in for a date, Peter and the Reader are faced with annoying and embarrassing comments from the whole team, who are unaware of their relationship.

Word Count: 2,428

Warnings: language, fluff, annoying avengers (??), embarrassed!Peter, embarrassed!Reader, cuteness, LOTR trilogy. (Let me know if I missed any)

A/N: Alright homies, I apologize it has taken me so long to upload something. I’ve been reaally stressed. So hopefully this is okay? For the anon that requested this, I hope you like it. I’d love some feedback, as always. Enjoy reading!

Dark, gray clouds blocked any source of light from shining through the big, thick glass windows surrounding every inch of the building.

The entire tower was filled with a solemn mood that spread into every corner and room.

Most of the team dreaded days like these, since it put a damper on their mood, (especially Steve).

You, however, cherished days like these the most.

It’s where you find your peace and inner self, no matter how depressing that may sound.

It helps you relax and release any stresses that corrupt your thoughts.

But the best reason of all is that you don’t have to leave the house, even if you had a date with Peter tonight.

However, thinking that idea through, you realized something.

The whole team would be here.

With Peter and you.

During your date.

Well, fuck.

Now, your dad, Tony, know you and Peter are dating, but when it comes to the rest of the team, you tried to keep it under wraps.

You hated all the attention and knew Peter most likely felt the same, since he barely did any PDA.

It’s not that you didn’t want to tell the team, you just didn’t want all the questions and embarrassing comments to surface once you do.

Like, for fucks sake, you were just trying to have a successful relationship, especially since this was your first.

And since it was your first, you had an advantage of being able to manipulate the team into thinking nothing was going on.

Smart pickle, amiright?

After reminiscing on these past memories and moments, you head towards the bathroom in your room and wash the filth that was covering your skin.

Once you returned out of the bathroom from the steamy, hot shower, you grab a simple pair of comfy clothes and continue downstairs towards the kitchen.  

Knowing most of the team, besides Bucky and Steve, are still sleeping, you try to be as quiet as possible getting some breakfast for yourself.

Pulling out a random box of cereal from the oversized pantry your dad insisted on buying, you pour it into a bowl and grab the milk from the fridge.

Putting everything away, you carefully walk towards the living room to watch some morning cartoons, as Steve and Bucky arrive back from their usual morning run.

Too focused on the show, you don’t hear Steve come behind you.

“Mornin’, Y/N.”

Grasping a hand over your heart, you set the cereal down carefully before exasperatedly replying, “Shit, Steve. I’d say good morning, but you made me almost spill my cereal all over me, jerk.”

Hearing Bucky chuckle from behind, you glare at him.

“Got somethin’ to say, Barnes?”

Laughing, he puts his hands up in defense, “no, doll. Continue bashing Steve.” 

Turning your attention towards Steve, you hear him sigh.

“Sorry, Y/N. Just wanted to see how you were doing since you’re up so early on the weekend.”

Internally groaning at how hard you were on Steve, you fill with guilt.

“No, Steve. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m doing okay, thanks for checking on me. H-How are you doing?”

Smiling and kind eyes glistening, Steve takes a seat beside you.

“It’s okay. But, besides this awfully depressing weather, I’m doin’ good. Buck and I just had a great run. Wasn’t too hot, which was nice, y’know?”

Returning the smile, you chuckle, “is that rain or sweat then? You need a shower either way, Cap.”

After taking a whiff of himself, Steve shrugs, “eh, probably both. Who knows. Do you have any plans today? I think Tony was talking about a mission or something.”

Sinking into the couch, you mumble, “most likely this. It’s too gloomy to do anything but binge movies. A mission? Hm, I haven’t heard anything from my dad.”

“You sure are living the life, huh kid? I remember on days like this, Buck and I would play some cards or go to this little diner that was at the corner. They played some good music.” His face full of glee, taking a glance at Bucky.

Placing your hand on his, you give him a sympathetic smile.

“Y’know, I wish I could’ve been alive during that time. Seriously, if I could go back to any time period, it would have to be mid 40’s or 50’s. I mean, besides all the war and stuff, the culture is what I’d love to experience.”

“I didn’t know you liked it so much, I would’ve ranted with you about it all the time! Well, how about once you have time, I’ll talk all about it. Okay, kid? Man, I can’t wait to listen to the music again.”

“That’s the best part, my friend!”

Conversations like these with Steve made your day shine brighter than before.

He felt like the older brother you never had and you were so grateful to have him, as well as the rest of the Avengers.

Most of the team knew you and Steve would talk about random things all the time, so no need for suspicion there.

As Steve left to take his shower, you cleaned up your breakfast and headed back into your room, unsure of what to do.

Opening the door, you realize how dark it actually is and decide to open your blinds to let as much light as the sky is willing to bring in.

Turning towards your bed, you see a lump that wasn’t there before.

As you get closer to inspect, you hear soft breathing and see the covers lift slightly.

The random “guest” moves to find a better position, causing the covers over their face to fall, revealing the one and only, Peter Parker.

Chuckling to yourself, you squeeze next to him and pull him into you.

Eyes widened, Peter blushes, “h-hey, Y/N. M-Morning, uh- I thought you would still be sleeping, but I came in and you were gone and I was just so tired tha-”

Silencing him with a peck on the lips, you add, “that you fell asleep on my bed? You’re such a dork, babe.”

The blush on his face burns against his soft cheeks as he looks down, mumbling, “d-do you still want to do the d-date? The weather is horrible outside. I had everything planned out, too!”

Lifting his face to yours, you see an evident pout.

“Hmm, what if we had a movie day here? We could have the theater room all to ourselves and binge whatever we want.”

“That sounds amazing,” Peter adds, “but, what about the team? T-They don’t know about us a-and I wanted to make our time special, together.”

Fuck, your words know how to melt my heart.

Dear lord.

You thought, looking into Peter’s chocolate brown eyes.

“It’s okay, I’m pretty sure they are all busy anyway. Steve said something about a mission.”

Sighing, Peter questions, “will we have to go?”

Playing with his fingers, you murmur, “hmm, I don’t think so. My dad would’ve mentioned it last night. He probably doesn’t want us going because of school and all.”

Peter scoffs, “yeah because he cares soo much about school.”

You smack him and chuckle.

“I’ll head to the theater, while you get the snacks, okay? Don’t look suspicious, Peter.”

“As you wish!” Peter exclaims, running down to the pantry in the kitchen.

After grabbing some pillows and fluffy blankets, you headed down to the theater, cautiously looking around every corner and turn.

Arriving safely, you set up the blankets in a comfortable position and open the cabinets that hold your dad’s array of different movies.

As you start browsing, you hear the door open behind you.

Coming down the steps, Peter’s arms are overflowing with snacks and drinks.

“I could’ve helped you, babe.”

Peter looks at you sheepishly, “what? No. I’ve got it, see? I’m Spiderman, I’ve go-”

However, Peter missed a step, causing the handful of goodies to fly above his head.

But somehow, somehow, he manages to catch everything with his web shooters.

“Bravo, bravo, my hero,” you clap dramatically.  

Peter smirks as you, “Spiderman is always here to save the day, baby.”

Once you two had settled down, Peter let you choose the movies to marathon since he always picks one of the Star Wars movies.

You too were a big nerd, so of course your first choice was the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Best 12 hours you’ll ever experience.

You thought, pressing play.

Peter had never seen them before, so this was the perfect chance to get him hooked and marathon with you in the future.

Plus, you need him to steer away from Star Wars and show him the rest of the nerdy movie world.

“Get ready for 12 hours of pure walking, my friend,” you mumble, with an excited expression.

“What?! They just walk? Y/N, babe. Noo-”  

Putting a finger to his lips, you hush him.

“Shut your cake hole! You’ll love it. Just watch, please?”

Turning his attention to the movie, Peter begins his own 12 hour journey.

The rest of the Avengers are spaced all over the tower.

Bruce, Tony, and Bucky are in the lab going over some new quirks to make on Bucky’s arm.  

Steve and Sam are in the living room playing cards, as the news is on low volume behind them.

Wanda is in the family room on the farther side, reading a book, while Nat is looking through some Cosmo magazine.

And Clint is bored out of his fucking mind.

“How are you guys not bored? This is hell. Pure hell.”

Steve chirps in, “well, want to join us in cards? Sam’s winning, but I bet you could kick his ass.”

Sam scoffs, “you can sure as hell try, arrow guy. But no promises.”

“Wait, whatever happened to that mission Tony told us about?” Nat spoke up.

“I guess it was a false alarm, or somethin’.” Steve answers.

Sighing, Clint gets up from laying on the ground, “I’ll pass, birdman. Bu- hey, where’s Y/N and Peter? I haven’t seen them all day…”

“I don’t know, maybe working on homework or something? They do have school on Monday and you know Peter..” Wanda interjects, looking up from her book.

“Actually, I think they might be in the theater. Y/N was saying something about a movie marathon this morning?” Steve questions.

“Without me? Geez, what have I ever done to you people?” Clint yelps, raising his hands in the air.

“They’ve been doing a lot of things together…” Nat comments, looking suspicious.

Sam is the first to get up and sprint towards the theater, “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to spy this one out.”

“I second that!”

‘Wait! I want to come!”

Meanwhile, you and Peter are already on The Two Towers.

So far, Peter enjoyed the first one, which made you happy.

“These are really fucking cool, Y/N! I can’t believe I haven’t seen them before. I’ve been missing out.”

“Hell yeah you have, Pete! There’s more to life than just Star Wars.”

Putting a hand over his heart dramatically, Peter replies, “ah, my heart! Star Wars is life…”

“Keep telling yourself that, babe.”

Tip toeing up towards the theater, the team cautiously avoids making any obnoxious noises.

As they get closer, they hear the character, Eomer, from the movie announce, “What business does an Elf, a Man, and a Dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly!”

“Why the fuck are they watching the Lord of the Rings without us?! Those movies are the shit! Oh, they’re so going to get it,” Clint exclaims over the loud movie.

He quickly makes his way up to the closed doors and barges in, however since the movie was so loud and the characters were bickering, Peter and you didn’t hear Clint enter.

Clint stomps down the stairs in the dark room illuminated by the large screen.

The team is slowly walking behind him, careful of each step they make.

As Clint reaches the row you are in, he stops dead in his tracks, the rest of the team bumping into him as they turn their gaze to where he is looking.

They all see you snuggled into Peter’s chest as he slowly places a kiss to your head, smiling.

“WHAT IS THIS?!” Clint shouts, gaining the attention of the two love birds.

His shout causes both you and Peter to jump.

“W-What? Uh- I- nothing, w-what?” Peter stutters, eyes blown.

“You’re watching Lord of the Rings without me? I cannot believe this.”

With a confused face, you quickly lie, “o-oh, sorry, Clint! I forgot to, uh, get y-you!”

Hearing Nat chuckle from behind, you give her a glare, which she just smirks at.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s have a marathon!” Clint exclaims.

Mentally slapping yourself, you think,

Well, this is officially the worst day of my life.

After a few minutes, you hear Nat speak up during a quiet part, “so, how long has this been going on, you two?”

Avoiding the real context of the question, you dumbly reply, “well, since it’s the second of the three, about 8 hours?”

Laughing, Sam interjects, “I think you know what we’re talking about, Y/N. Don’t play dumb with us.”

Looking to your left at Peter, you see him blushing and looking at you with a pleading look.

“A-Alright, we’ve been dating for, uh, 4 months.”

Hearing a bunch of ‘what’s’ and ‘the fuck’s’ you hide your face into Peter’s neck.

Peter laughs nervously. “Well, at least we got that over with, right…?”

“Oh, you wish, Parker. You are going to get an endless amount of shit for this,” you hear Nat tease.

Groaning, you wish you were dead.

Nothing is worse than this.

After a couple hours, you were on to the last movie, the Return of the King, your personal favorite.

However, you were getting sleepy due to the amount of food and snuggles you’ve been having with Peter.

Seeing your face contort into a huge yawn, Peter turns his gaze towards you.

“H-Hey, babe? Are you tired?”

“Hmm…? Jus’ a little, Pete,” you reply sleepily.

“Here, lay your head on me. I’ll wake you up when it’s over, okay?” Peter softly inquires, nuzzling his nose with yours.

“God damn, you two are so cute.”

“Oh my god, goals.”

“Tony is going to kick Parker’s ass.”

Turning to face the team, Peter whispers loudly, “GET OUT!”

Soon enough, they all scramble out of their seats and you two are finally able to finish your date in peace.

Even if you fell asleep.

A/N: Fuck, this is pure trash. I’m sorry guys. Forgive me on this one. I just kept blabbering on about nonsense. Yikes, anyways. Please let me know what you think. I need reassurance.

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #spiderman #spiderman x reader #spiderman imagine #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #avengers #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #marvel #marvel imagines #tony stark #iron man #steve rogers #captain america #bucky barnes #winter soldier #bruce banner #hulk #sam wilson #falcon #natasha romanoff #black widow #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #clint barton #hawkeye

[powerovernothing]

Different anon here: because I'm lame I crack myself up thinking of an au where yondu survives and travels with the guardians, getting to know them and slowly becoming more and mores done with his sons weird taste in friends.

Oh my, isn’t this a rare treat, and something that completely puts a massive smile on my face! To go from writing a super fun meta for one nice Anon based around our local space dad…and then to turn around and see that another lovely Anon has wandered into my askbox to discuss more Yondu things?

And not only that, but also share with me an adorable headcanon of him and his son post Vol 2 where everything is good and happy and nothing sad ever happened no matter what James Gunn tries to make us believe?

Oh, I am going to have a fun time with this~

(Lots of Yondad meta and headcanon under the cut, as well as a small drabble where Yondu and Drax get along and embarrass Peter! Prepare for feelings as well as silly things!)

First off, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The Guardians of the Galaxy fandom is just absolutely and all around lovely, and they certainly know their way to my heart with really great ideas coming from their really awesome minds!

Honestly, how could you not just adore this fandom and the people within it?!

Ah, but regardless! Hello there different, but equally as great, Yondu Anon! (Or would you rather me call you Yondad!Anon instead? Seems kind of fitting, yeah?) And thank you very much for popping into my askbox! Seeing all these messages from you guys just really makes my days all the more brighter; you just have no idea!

But there I go, getting off track; for shame! Anyway, you said that you make yourself giggle over a scenario where Yondu travels full time with Peter and his Guardian family after the events of the second film, and that he just, slowly but surely, becomes even more done with his son’s very bizarre choice of friends the more and more he gets to know them?

And, on top of everything, you somehow actually consider that idea to be lame?

Oh, but my dear Yondad friend! That is where you are sadly mistaken, because I don’t think that that idea is lame whatsoever! In fact, I think that it’s a very wonderful idea actually! And one that I, too, often think about in terms of post Vol 2 headcanons – be it silly or cute or just somewhere in between!

And actually, reading over your message reminded me of various ideas that me and my friend @packratofdenialism had in regards to Yondu’s relationship with the Guardians. The ones that come to mind first and foremost being that, other than Rocket and Groot, it would probably be Drax that Yondu would end up having the best kind of friendship with, before anyone else in the group.

And why him of all people, you may be wondering, and not someone like Mantis, considering that she is basically in some ways Peters’ adoptive sister, and Yondu has a thing for strays?

Well, honestly, the reasoning behind this is that Yondu and Drax are actually rather similar. Both warriors/killers with their own sense of honor, both fathers in their own right, both pretty bad with emotions, and yet ends up, after a massive tragedy, accepting a new family…as well as various others I’m probably not remembering.

And besides all that, there’s also the fact that both Yondu and Drax have one amazing ice breaker to spark their friendship. And something that would most certainly embarrass the hell out of Peter once he hears them talking about it.

That Drax was one of the first Guardians whom considered Yondu Peter’s father.

And since we’re all about giving out headcanons, and you had such an awesome one messaged to me above – how about I give you one in return? One that will give you all the emotions, possibly silly and heartwarming both?

(Inspired by late night conversations with @packratofdenialism​, love ya friend~!)

Because honestly, can you imagine the look on Yondu’s face when Drax pulls him aside and he begins to discuss just how wonderful the relationship that Yondu has with his son is? And how proud he must be to have raised such  a grand warrior, or how blessed Yondu should feel to see Peter grow and become a leader of his own crew?

I mean, it’s one thing to say it among friends, and have it be played off as a really big misunderstanding…

As well as have Peter totally deny that Yondu is the dad he’s always wanted, or that he ever called him Dad emotionally after he was saved from space, or how this is something that both father and son are still trying to get used to saying at all…but, dude, that’s only meant to be private sappy bullshit just between them! Not said in mixed company, or aloud, or ever! What the hell, Drax!

But to bring it up again, in a small ship where everyone can hear, and in front of Yondu no less! Peter isn’t sure whether to crawl under the ship’s controls or just smack his head repeatedly into the wall, because he knows well enough that nothing that comes out of this is going to be good, and he’ll probably never live it down…

I mean, just imagine!

“Ah, at long last! I get to go one on one with Quill’s father!” “Sure as hell hope yer not expectin’ the two o’us ta’arm wrest –” He pauses half way through his playful words; realizing slowly just what Drax said. “Wait, whadda’yer sayin’?”“You are indeed the true father of Star Lord? I know that your son tries to deny it with great enthusiasm, but it is surely so plain to see!”

So Peter would just groan aloud, because it was bad enough the first time around but now other members are listening in, and part of him just really hopes that Yondu will cut Drax off with some joke.

And yet, Yondu just smiles. Letting out that very asshole kind of laugh that is hidden with deeper emotion; because it may be slightly embarrassing to be considered Peter’s father by someone – as well as surprising, considering no one is judging him for said feelings…but somehow it just feels right.

“Hah, yeah, ah’guess ya could say ‘dat.”

And at hearing that Yondu isn’t angry, and is possibly going along with it, Peter just pops his head in and glares at them both with a massive blush on his cheeks.

“OH MY GOD YONDU NO. Don’t encourage him, ya stupid ass blueberry! Seriously, man, he’ll never stop at this rate and dude, we’re getting a damn audience here!”

And Drax interjects, because how rude of Peter to call his father a blueberry!

“Do not disrespect your father, Quill!”

And slowly, Yondu just looks over at Peter and sees his flustered look, because he knows that they were never the type for outward or open emotion. But after everything they went through, they could use a little bit of lighthearted teasing, and oh god it’s just so easy!

And he gives him a far too knowing smirk – like yep boy, ya wiggled yerself into dis, now ya gotta deal wit’it.

“Ey, ya heard him, son! Ya go on and treat yer daddy wit’ ‘sum kinda respect!”

And Peter just goes full on blood red, because oh my god Yondu why, and stomps out all the while screaming.

“THAT’S IT. IT’S OFFICIAL. I AM DISOWNING ALL OF YOU.”

Then Drax would look over at Yondu curiously; still hearing Peter squealing down the hallways.

“Is he always such –”

“A big ol’ drama queen? Hell yes. I mean, damn, th’ stories I could tell –” 

“Oh! Please share your tales, Udonta! I would be overjoyed to listen!”

Hours later, Peter comes back totally drunk, and being far too done with his new extended family of embarrassing people and dad jokes, and oh my god are those two still at it after all this time? If I turn that corner they better not be exchanging baby pictures, what the hell.

And Yondu is still next to Drax, and he has this massively proud smile on his face. And he’s explaining in detail about the first time that Peter tried to shoot the special blaster that that he had given his boy for his birthday, and how their training session ended with Peter accidentally shooting Yondu in the leg instead of the Yaka Arrow that was meant as the target.

And Drax is just laughing out loud, as he often does when he is happy, and Peter expects Yondu to still be angry because of the accidental maiming that happened all those years ago and yet –

“Boy gave me one helluva scar! Still got it too! And oh damn, was he sheepish! Thinkin’ I was gonna up and whup ‘im for doin’ it. Hell, lookin’ back I probably scared im’ cussa my shouting an’ all…but I was REAL DAMN PROUD!””As one should be! To know that your child holds the courage to take down his target no matter who it may be! That shows true strength!””And even’tho dat shit hurt like hell, I was just thinkin, durin’ his stupid ass apology, how ‘dat trick shot coul’ be used on the field! Git’im all backed inna corner, and hav’im hit his target when ‘dey least expect it?”“Ahaha! Imagine the look on your enemy’s face when they are taken down by such a small and frail child!”“Hell yeah! I mean, I always ‘igured Petey to be sumfin’ special, but after all ‘dat, th boy just kept on surprisin’ me!“

Maybe Peter assumes that half of this conversation is just his drunken mind playing tricks on him, because Yondu was, and is proud of him? And Drax is agreeing? And they’re actually getting along? And it’s not just at Peter’s expense?

Obviously he had one too many.

And yet, the more he continues to listen in secret, the more he sees his old man actually smiling, and sees him getting along with his team, and not having to worry about anything that Ego put on his shoulders, or Ravagers betraying him for daring to care…

And sure, maybe he’s still getting used to all of this; the thought of him having an actual family.

…One that is filled with talking raccoons and green skinned warriors, tiny trees that enjoys his odd taste in music and a blue skinned dad with a flying arrow, as well as a brother that still is loyal even though he doesn’t have to be after what happened with the Ravagers…

Okay, so maybe his family is a seriously weirdass one…but it’s still a family nonetheless. And the more that Peter thinks about it, the more he walks away from the conversation, and finds himself placing in certain earbuds from a certain Zune and playing a certain song to help him deal with his awful hangover…

…He realizes that yeah, embarrassing and mismatched and crazy as it may be, this family is still his – and it just feels right.

There you go, Anon! You gave me the wonderful idea of Yondu getting to know the Guardians and just wondering where he went wrong in Peter’s upbringing because SERIOUSLY SON WHY THESE IDIOTS. And in turn, I gave you an idea where everyone else slowly just becomes totally done with Yondu – mostly Peter, because THE EMBARRASSING STORIES, DAD WHY.

As well as some additional feelings on top of the silliness, because why not?

Thank you so much once more for coming into my askbox and talking Yondad related headcanons with me! I deeply appreciate it, always totally have fun with it, and I surely hope that you enjoyed my little mini fan fiction that I gave you in return! (If anyone wants that posted on it’s own without additional talk, just ask.)

Lots of hugs, hope you have a great day full of joy and fandom feelings, and I hope to see you around soon! Pop back in anytime!

#peter quill #yondu udonta #yondu #drax the destroyer #guardians of the galaxy #Anon~ #Ponnie Rambles~ #Long Post~ #Very Long Post~ #I'm really sorry that this ended up taking so long my dear sweet Yondad!Anon friend! #Honestly I just managed to lose track of my writing for a few days and forgot where I wanted this to go #as well as ended up fumbling my words many times to the point where I had to rewrite this twice. #Originally it wasn't going to include the small fan fiction -- but since you waited so long for a reply! #I JUST FIGURED. #WHY NOT. #Why not give you feelings and something nice to help you feel better about the wait #SO I DID! #And thus the drabble of Drax and Yondu bonding and Peter being embarrassed but coming to terms with his weird ass family #BECAUSE WE COULD ALL USE A LITTLE BIT OF FEELINGS IN A HAPPY AU WHERE NOTHING EVER HAPPENS RIGHT? #So yeah I hope you enjoy reading over my thoughts and my words Yondad!Anon! #Feel free to pop in again if you want! #And if you wan to have the drabble posted by itself so you can enjoy it without everything added on top #well just ask! #I'll be happy to do that! #Anyway stay awesome Yondad!Anon and have fun reading over this you guys! #Lots of kisses~ ♥

[queenofcats17]

Winter Solstice

Chise and Elias were going to a ball. Not just any ball, but a ball in Niflheim. Hel had cordially invited them, taking special care to put Chise’s name on the invitation with in her lovely hand. 

“It seems she remembers your encounter.” Elias said, looking over the invitation. Silkie was measuring Chise for a dress, despite the girl’s many protests. 

“Why do I need a special dress for this?” Chise asked as Silkie poked and prodded with pins and measuring tape. 

“It would be rude to show up in anything less than our Sunday best.” Elias said, sounding a bit offended. “Especially if we’ve been personally invited by a goddess.” As much as she hated it, Chise had to admit he had a point there. It would be rude to show up in her everyday clothes when it was a party thrown by an honest to goodness goddess. 

“I expect many important figures will be there.” Elias continued. “The Erlkonig is a friend of hers so he’ll likely be arriving, Titiania and Oberon for certain, perhaps even her father and brothers.”

“Who is the Erlkonig?” 

“A faerie of great power. However, I do not think you should be concerned by his presence. You should, however, be careful around Loki. He has a penchant for mischief that I would rather you not get caught up in.”

“Alright.” Chise smiled to herself at his worry. “You be careful too.” She was sure he was just as likely to get into some kind of trouble. It was then that they realized Silkie had moved on to Ruth, prodding him until he’d turned into his human form. 

“Ah, yes, it would be best Ruth come as well.” Elias said. 

“I don’t want to wear a suit.” Ruth said, rather matter-of-factly. 

“If I have to wear a dress, you have to wear a suit.” Chise said. “Besides, you’ll look great.”

.

Chise ended up in a simple red evening gown. Nothing too form fitting. Elias had remarked it reminded him of a red dress from a movie called Pretty Woman. Chise had then asked how he knew what that movie was and Elias had essentially gotten flustered and changed the subject. He himself wore a 19th century styled suit while Ruth went with a normal tuxedo. He hadn’t wanted anything too flashy. The three of them had been greeted at the entrance to Niflheim by a small dog that looked like a mix between a pomeranian and a husky. Chise couldn’t help but feel the dog should be a lot bigger. 

“Garm.” Elias inclined his head. 

“Thorn Lord.” A deep voice echoed out of the tiny tiny dog. Chise nearly jumped out of her skin. Ruth growled. Garm’s head snapped around and his tail wagged. 

“Friend? Dog friend!” His voice suddenly a lot higher and happier. “Sniff butt!”

“Garm!” Hel’s voice echoed out from the hall. “We do not sniff guests butts!”

“Yes mistress.” Garm’s tail drooped and his voice returned to the deep one. “My apologies. I was excited by the presence of another dog.”

“No worries. It was cute.” Chise leaned down and scratched Garm behind the ears. 

“You can pet him later.” Elias said. “We must get inside.” He ushered them in, leaving Garm to greet the other guests as they arrived. The main hall was swarming with people of all races and species. Elves, faeries, some creatures Chise had never even seen before. She spotted Hel making her way from guest to guest, greeting them and making conversation. Titania and Oberon were indeed there, off in a corner with some other faeries. Hel had just reached them and started up a conversation with Titania. Chise didn’t notice as Elias separated himself, heading for the refreshment table. 

“You’re a cutie.” Chise turned around to see a man grinning at her. He was small and a bit rat faced, with flaming red hair and the same green eyes as Hel. She could only assume that this was Loki. Ruth growled next to her. 

“Thank you.” She said, squeezing Ruth’s hand to calm him. 

“So, what’s a little human like you doing here?” Loki asked, a grin ever present on his face. “You’re not one of my little pumpkin’s wards.” She could see little scars around his mouth, as though thread had been pulled through the skin at one point. Ruth remained upset and wary. 

“I’m Elias’ apprentice.” She said, careful about her choice of words. “Hel invited us both.”

“Just Hel, huh?” Loki’s smile widened. “You must be the girl she met in the snow. She’d never let just anyone get away with calling her by her first name.”

“She didn’t tell me to call her anything else.” Chise immediately began to close herself off. “Why did you come over here?”

“I was curious about you.” Loki shrugged, his smile faded a little. “Look, I’m sorry if I freaked you out or anything. It’s been awhile since I got out.”

“Loki, you better not be bothering her!” A woman strode up to them, her arms folded. She looked like something out of a fifty’s pinup with her long honey hair and rosewood skin. She was dressed tastefully in a simple green evening gown, which complimented Loki’s green tuxedo. She made him look a little less ridiculous by association. 

“No, Sigyn, I was just saying hello.” Loki said, smiling in a tired but good-natured sort of way. 

“Well, alright then.” Sigyn held out her hand to Chise. “I’m Sigyn, Loki’s wife. It’s very nice to meet you Miss...?”

“Hatori.” Chise shook her hand. “Hatori Chise. And this is Ruth.” Up until this point, Ruth had been hiding behind her, almost becoming a shadow again. 

“Oh! You’re Elias’ apprentice! Hel has talked about you a few times.” Sigyn clapped her hands together. Chise flushed a little bit. Every supernatural creature she’d met seemed to know her. It was a little embarrassing since she knew virtually nothing about most of these people. 

“And I can only assume you’re her familiar.” Loki turned his gaze to Ruth. 

“Yes.” Ruth said. 

“You remind me of my eldest son.” Loki said. “He’s just like this with Hel. You two would probably get along pretty well.”

“Mm.” Ruth lapsed into silence, intent on staring Loki down. After a few minutes though he turned his attention back to Chise, beginning to discreetly fuss over her. 

“Yep. Just like Fen.” Loki laughed to himself. 

“It’s a shame he couldn’t make it.” Sigyn sighed. “He would have loved to see his sister. We should bring him some food after this.”

“Jorm too. Although maybe we shouldn’t wake him up. Wouldn’t want another tsunami.”

“Don’t joke about that, dear.”

“Alright.”

.

Elias stood off to the side, near the punch bowl. He thought it best to avoid Loki as soon as he saw the god darting his way through the crowd. The man always gave him a headache. 

“I apologize in advance for anything my father says.” Hel’s voice came from beside Elias, and when he turned she was standing next to him, a champagne flute held between her fingers.

“I’m sure Chise can take care of herself.” Elias turned his attention back to Chise and Loki. 

“Is that a hint of pride I detect?” Hel asked, raising an eyebrow. “My, you really do care for this girl.”

“Of course.” He took a glass and filled his with the beverage Hel had provided in the punch bowl. It turned out to be just that, punch. There was a mead bowl right next to it. The two of them made small talk for a few minutes, but Hel could tell there was something on the mage’s mind. 

“Something’s bothering you. What is it?” She asked. Elias fell silent, avoiding her gaze. 

“Would you be able to save her?” He asked, keeping his voice low. She should have known it would be that. She’d known this would come ever since she’d heard news of Chise’s illness. 

“Elias, my touch brings nothing but death.” Hel sighed. “Much as it pains me to say, I cannot give her time she does not have.”

“I had expected as much. You are nothing if not fair.”

“I take no pleasure in this, Elias. I know how much you care for each other.” Hel touched his arm gently. 

“You do not need to explain yourself to me.”

“Elias, don’t sulk.” Hel said. 

“I am not sulking.”

“Yes you are.” She pursed her lips. “You’ll find a solution, I’m certain of it.” Elias certainly didn’t feel any better though. He couldn’t lose Chise. Not now. 

#the ancient magus bride #elias ainsworth #chise hatori #hel #loki #sigyn #ruth #fanfiction