#lorcan and elide | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

live-the-fangirl-life · 2 years

Note

“The legend said it only goes after virgins…so sucks for you I guess.” for elorcan 👀👀

Tell Me S’more

Elide Lochan x Lorcan Salvaterre

“The legend said it only goes after virgins…so sucks for you I guess.”

Halloween Dialogue Prompts

Masterlist | Read on Ao3 | Halloween Collection

Warnings: Language, Scary Stories

2003 words

*******

Elide stuffed another marshmallow on the skewer and held it over the fire. She half listened to the conversations and bickering around her, occasionally putting in her two cents as she focused on getting her marshmallow a perfect golden brown. She hated when the flames caught and scorched it and left it a crumbling charred mess.

On another night, if her marshmallow burned, she could’ve given it, albeit dejectedly, to her boyfriend who for reasons she couldn’t comprehend liked his marshmallows burnt. But not tonight. Tonight, Lorcan was sitting on the opposite side of the fire from her, separated on each side by their friends. Tonight, she couldn’t give him a burnt s’more without the confused or shocked looks from their friends. Because tonight, she and Lorcan had to pretend like they haven’t been secretly dating for a month and a half.

So, tonight, Elide focused on her marshmallow.

“Okay, okay, here we go,” Aelin sat next to Elide and grabbed a flashlight from her bag before turning it on and holding it beneath her face. The light caught on her cheekbones and cast shadows over her skin. “Who’s ready to have nightmares tonight?”

“You don’t need to tell a story for that, Galathynius,” Lorcan smirked. “You’re disturbing enough.”

“I think you mean delightful, Salvaterre, not that you’d know what that is.”

Elide cringed inwardly. This was why she and Lorcan were keeping their relationship to themselves for now. She loved Aelin, and she lo—really liked Lorcan, but Aelin and Lorcan could be at each other’s throats on a good day.

Rolling her eyes, Elide nudged Aelin with her shoulder. “Come on, watch’ya got?”

As her friend began to tell the story, Elide caught Lorcan’s eye. His dark brows had raised a bit at her interjection, and he flashed her a quick wink as she discreetly rolled her eyes at his amusement. She lost track of the story as she kept her attention on her boyfriend. It really was a cruel joke of their own making that she wasn’t sitting next to him, curled up into his side. By the look that flashed across his face, she knew he was thinking the same thing and cursing the fire that separated them.

“Virgins? Really?” Fenrys interrupted, drawing Elide’s attention and earning a glare from Aelin. “That’s so cliché.”

The blonde opened her mouth to reply but Lysandra beat her to the punch. “What, not interested anymore knowing it isn’t coming after you?”

“Fuck off, Ennar,” he scoffed but any annoyance was negated by his self-satisfied grin.

The story went on, and even if the tale itself was lackluster, Aelin had a way of captivating people’s attention. It wasn’t long before everyone was leaning closer to the fire, listening to a story about a horrifying creature that lived in the very woods to their backs.

“A creature that fearsome and bloodthirsty doesn’t need to be clever. Anyone with a lick of common sense may just outwit the monster, but its prey rarely survives long enough to try. It doesn’t have a name. The lucky, or unlucky, few who do escape its clutches are never the same; only lucid enough to recall its jagged claws and gruesome teeth, warning others about the beast that prowls these woods. Don’t go looking for the monster, it very well may be the last thing you ever do.”

Silence stretched out around them as Aelin turned off the flashlight…only to be broken by Fenrys wetly blowing into his palm, eliciting a loud fart noise. “Is that the best you can do?” He laughed as he narrowly missed the flashlight flung at his head.

Elide knew Lorcan was about to chime in and she tried shaking her head but he continued anyway.

“Where did you find that?” He mocked. “From some kiddie Halloween book?”

Elide arched a brow at him and replied drily, “Yeah, ‘cause a kid’s book would have a monster who specifically attacks virgins.”

“Exactly,” Aedion argued, but used her point oppositely, “it goes after all of them. Scary.”

Lysandra nudged his shoulder with an eye roll, “Most of them wouldn’t even know what virgin means.”

“And that’s,” Rowan nodded, “where the story turns scary for the adults who have to bullshit their way through that explanation.”

“That’s convoluted,” Elide scoffed and met Lorcan’s amused stare over the fire.

“Maybe,” Her boyfriend shrugged before turning back to Aelin, “Doesn’t matter though, ‘cause it still sucks.”

Scoffing and crossing her arms, Aelin countered, “Like you could do better.”

“Better than a half-wit monster?” His voice dripped with condescension. “Yeah, I think so.”

Individual voices rose and bled together as everyone chimed in with their own opinions. Marshmallows were thrown across the fire in between insults and laughter, and while everyone else was focused on arguing, Elide found Lorcan’s gaze again. Truthfully, he’d barely taken his eyes off her – she could feel the intensity of his stare on her skin and prayed she didn’t look as flushed as she felt. If she did, she could blame it on the fire.

He was smirking at her and Elide’s eyes darted around the group ensuring no one else noticed. When their eyes locked again, his smirk was impossibly wider. She rolled her eyes, biting back a grin of her own. As much as she wished they weren’t pretending, it was exciting having a secret just between them.

Snap!

A loud cracking sounded from the woods.

The conversation immediately halted, and everyone’s heads swung around towards the noise. Nervous laughter jumped around the group as they shifted uneasily. It was just a story, but it was also dark and Halloween. Murmurs of there’s nothing out there echoed.

Another branch snapped loudly from the darkness, followed quickly by a second, louder snap, once again silencing the group.

“Aelin, are you doing this?” Aedion asked uneasily as he shifted in his seat and side-eyed his cousin. “Did you set this up?”

Lysandra scoffed and lightly hit his shoulder.

“Nah,” Lorcan disagreed, “she isn’t that clever.”

Sometimes Elide thought Lorcan goaded Aelin just for the fun of it… and because he had a death wish. Before Aelin could bite his head off, Elide arched a brow and leaned forward before taunting, “Why don’t you go see what that noise was then?”

Lorcan turned towards her and beneath the annoyance that he wore for show – mostly for show – she could see the heat simmering there. He shook his head, scoffing, “Right, because I’m going to walk into the supposedly haunted forest. I’ve watched horror movies; I know how that ends.”

As if on cue, more snaps and cracks echoed through the trees. This time, they were followed by birds cawing before a dozen or so of them flew out of the forest, their silhouettes visible against the moonlight.

Laughing to herself, Elide brushed herself off and stood. “For fucks sake, I’ll go check it out.”

All eyes focused on her, but no one else made a move to stand.

“Why does anyone have to check it out?” Rowan asked incredulously

Lysandra pulled her jacket tighter around herself and scoffed as she looked pointedly at Aedion, Lorcan, Fenrys, and Rowan.

“Really? None of you men,” she teased, “have the balls to go in there? You’re gonna let Elide go all by herself?”

Lorcan and Aedion rolled their eyes good-naturedly as Fenrys scoffed, “Excuse you, but as a feminist, I refuse to believe Elide isn’t capable enough to go by herself.”

Rowan added, “And as someone who’s met Elide, I refuse to believe that any monster would stand a chance against her.”

Aelin nodded sagely, “She is small, but she is mighty.”

Rolling her eyes at her friends, Elide rounded the fire and aimed for the woods. She turned to walk backward and joked, “I could be walking to my death right now and you’d all be laughing it up around the fire.”

Lorcan had turned to watch her walk away. “Get back over here, you’re the one who volunteered.”

“After your scared ass refused.” She retorted making Aelin laugh.

Huffing and crossing his arms, Lorcan continued to watch her with raised brows. “I’m not scared of a few broken tree branches.”

Elide grinned. “Could’ve fooled me.”

With his face turned away from the group as he looked at a retreating Elide, they couldn’t see the way his brows furrowed at the sight of her getting farther away, or how his eyes darkened at the amusement on her face, both of which only fueled her more and pulled her grin wider.

“Oh no,” she teased, getting farther away from the group and the fire. “I hope I don’t find the beast and lead it back here.”

If any of their friends were surprised at how reactive Lorcan was being, they didn’t show it. Or maybe the two were too focused on each other to notice.

Elide saw his face twist into a smirk and for a second worried about what was about to come out of his mouth.

“That’s not a threat, Lochan” his words dripping with provocation. “The legend says it only goes after virgins…so sucks for you.”

Elide’s brows shot up in disbelief as trickles of laughter sounded from around the circle. It was true she wasn’t as open about her exploits as her friends, but of all people…

“Mm,” she waited for the laughter to die. “It’s a good thing you aren’t going; the legend says someone only needs a speck of common sense to best it…so that’d suck for you.”

Aelin snorted hard enough to choke on the marshmallow she was eating. Loud laughter trailed her as she finally made it to the forest’s edge.

Just before she could step past the tree line, she heard the unmistakable sound of Lorcan grunting as he rose from his seat and walked towards her. “Let's go.”

She chose to ignore the cheering and whistling that followed them into the woods. They stayed quiet as they stepped over dried leaves and fallen branches, staying careful to not trip over something and end up injured and sprawled on the forest floor. It wasn’t until they’d walked far enough that the fire was no longer visible, and a minute more, before Lorcan wrapped a hand around her hip and pulled Elide backward so that her back was resting against a tree trunk and Lorcan was standing in front of her.

Both of his hands fell to her waist, and she lifted hers to the front of his jacket. One of his thumbs draw light circles across her skin as she toyed with his collar. But when he dipped his head down, trying to connect their lips in a much-anticipated kiss, she pressed on his chest to stop him an inch away from her.

“Virgin? Really?” she asked with an unimpressed raised brow, unintentionally echoing Fenrys earlier criticisms of the story.

“Blame my apparent lack of common sense,” he chuckled low and leaned forward as her resistance lifted, pressing his lips against hers in a way that almost had her forgetting why she paused him in the first place.

When they broke apart, Elide grinned and laughed softly. Lorcan offered her a small smile exclusive to her and tucked a rogue lock of hair behind her ear. She wound her arms around his middle and asked, “Wanna go break some branches and scare the shit out of the scaredy cats?”

His smile turned wicked, and his eyes lit up with dark amusement. “Oh, I absolutely do. But they deserve to worry for a bit; let ‘em stew”

“Good thinking,” Elide’s grin matched his. “What do you think we should do with the time?”

Lorcan leaned his head down so that his lips brushed her ear, bringing one hand up to graze her jaw before sliding around to cup the back of her neck. She could feel his breath on her skin as he spoke, and it sent shivers down her spine. “I can think of a few things.”

*****

Taglist:

@acourtofsnakes @allthebooksunderthemoon @astra-ad-mare @becarefuloflove @booklover41802 @charlizeed @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @danibutterr @doubt-less @emily-gsh @enormousbooklover @foughtconquered @fromthelibraryofemilyj @hakunamatatazz @i-have-but-one-brain-cell @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jorjy-jo @lemonade-coolattas @mariamuses @mayhemories @midsizewitch @rowaelinrambling @morganofthewildfire @nerdperson524 @rowaelinismyotp @rowansfirebringer @sayosdreams @sheharahu @sleeping-and-books @stardelia @story-scribbler @superspiritfestival @elentiyawhitethorn @swankii-art-teacher @tomtenadia @westofmoon @whimsicallyreading @moodymelanist @realbookloverproblems @gracie-rosee @julemmaes @yesdreamblog @the-regal-warrior @rowanaelinn @thestoriesyoutell @autumnbabylon @sunflowermoonshinewrites @maastrash @annejulianneh111 @the-lonelybarricade

192 notes · View notes

live-the-fangirl-life · 1 year

Text

The One Where Everyone Finds Out

The Court - Throne of Glass x FRIENDS - Fic Series

S5, E14 : After Lysandra finds out Elide and Lorcan are secretly together, she, Aelin, and Fenrys plan to get the couple to confess. Meanwhile, Rowan finds a new apartment that’s too good to pass up.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Read on Ao3

Warnings: Language, Nudity (non graphic)

8093 words

A/N - I don’t know if I love this but I was more than halfway done and I couldn’t not finish it, so let me know what you think lol. This is the first piece I’ve written in a few months and I’m trying to shake myself out of this slump.

*******

Cartons of Chinese food were scattered across the coffee table still pleasantly warm despite having been brought back in take-out containers. Lysandra’s voice cut through the chatter that seemed to always fill the apartment as she stood by the large wall of windows overlooking the building beside them.

“Oh hey, you guys, look” she chirped, moving to get a better view, “Ugly Naked Guy is putting stuff in boxes.”

That was enough to encourage everyone up from their spots in the living room and leave their food to join her. All except Lorcan; he kept eating, like popcorn for a movie, as they watched the man they’d all come to know pack away his things. Well, as much as you can get to know someone by spying on them in the nude for years without actual conversation.

Aelin crouched down and moved so Elide could see too. “I'd say from the looks of it, our naked buddy is moving.”

“Ironically, most of the boxes seem to be labeled clothes,” Rowan snorted, crossing his arms and squinting as he read what was scribbled onto the cardboard.

“Aw,” Aelin crooned, “I’m gonna miss that big old squishy butt.” As weird as it was, the view had been a strangely comforting constant in all the years she’d been around.

“Aaand we're done with the chicken fried rice.” Lorcan’s groan of disgust earned him some chuckles that he rolled his eyes at as he tossed aside his meal.

“Hey!” Rowan glanced around with a small grin as an idea came to him. “If he's moving, maybe I should try to get his place!” It would make his life so much easier. A chorus of yeahs and oohs and good ideas quickly answered him before he added “It would be so great to live across from you guys.”

Nodding, Fenrys chimed in excitedly, “Yeah! Then we could do that telephone thing! Y'know, you have a can, we have a can and it's connected by a string!”

Before the blond could even finish talking, Lorcan closed his eyes and sighed heavily through his nose. “Or we can do the actual telephone thing.”

“Taking all the fun out of it,” Fenrys muttered under his breath, reaching around Lorcan to steal his discarded food as they wandered away from the window.

***

The next day, Aelin and Lysandra joined Rowan for a tour of the prospective apartment. Most things had already been packed away, but there was still enough left to make you feel like it was a reals living space. The familiar couch sat in the middle of the living room along with another chair and side table, and a large cabinet nested in the corner.

“Gods, I love this apartment.” Rowan walked around the surprisingly spacious living room in disbelief. “Isn't it perfect? I can't believe I never realized how great it is.”

Aelin agreed, scoffing as much to herself as any of them, “Ah, well, that’s because your eye immediately goes to the big naked man.”

He pointed at her and nodded. Approval shone on his face as he kept looking around the place. He could clearly picture where he would set up his own furniture, where he’d display souvenirs and knick-knacks…he could even paint the walls and make it feel brand new.

“It’s amazing!” Lysandra agreed as she paced behind the sofa. “You better hurry up and fill out an application or I'm gonna beat you to it. Aedion and I could use a bigger space.” She muttered the last bit under her breath, but fondness shone through her tone.

Rowan chuckled good-naturedly until Lysandra made to walk out the door and then he quickly hurried out before she could. The brunette’s huff of a laugh followed him around the corner.

“Well, I never thought I’d say this,” Aelin mused, “but I'm gonna go use Ugly Naked Guy's bathroom.”

Lysandra watched Aelin giddily walk away before getting a closer look at the window that up until now had been their only glimpse into this surprisingly interesting apartment. It was tall and wide, letting in lots of light, and offered a clear view of the building next door…of Elide and Lorcan who stood in their own apartment a little above Lysandra’s eyeline.

“Oh, look! There’s Ellie and Salvaterre!” Her voice carried to Aelin in the other room as she grinned and tried getting her friends’ attention. “Hey! Hey, you guys! Hey!”

Despite yelling and waving her arms trying to get them to notice her, they remined oblivious to their unwitting audience. She was just about to pull out her phone to call them and say ‘hey, look out your window, it’s me!’ when they moved.

Lysandra’s excited grin wiped clear off her face, leaving her to watch in horror as Elide and Lorcan grabbed at each other at the same time and pulled themselves into a fierce kiss while simultaneously unbuttoning and pulling off the other’s clothes.

“Oh!” She shrieked, the sound laced with shock, gaping at what she was seeing. “Oh no! Ahh-ahhh!”

Hasty footsteps echoed behind her as Aelin rushed to see what was causing Lysandra’s horrified screams. “What?” It only took a second to register, and then blue-gold eyes flew wide at the scene.

“Ahh!” Lysandra screamed again, pointing frantically at the couple. “Elide and Lorcan! Elide and Lorcan!” It was like a horror movie she couldn’t drag herself out of.

“Oh my gods!” Aelin added her voice to the screaming. Lysandra’s hysteria serving only ramp up Aelin’s own panic, more horrified at the display itself than the pair doing it.

“ELIDE AND LORCAN!”

“OH MY GODS!”

Lysandra finally tore her gaze away when she was flashed a glimpse of Lorcan she’d never, ever wanted to see. “Oh! My eyes! My eyes!”

She scrambled backwards away from the window as Aelin quickly followed and tried to get a hold of her.

“Lys!” Aelin grabbed her shoulders, urging her friend to stop freaking out. “Lysandra! It’s okay, It’s okay!”

“NO!” she screamed, turning back towards the window, pointing an accusatory finger at it before immediately remembering why she’d looked away in the first place and clamped her eyes shut again. “THEY’RE DOING IT!”

“I KNOW! I KNOW!”

“YOU KNOW?!”

“Yes, I know!” Aelin hissed frantically. “And Fenrys knows! But Rowan and Aedion don’t know so you have to stop screaming!”

“What going on?”

Both women whirled to find Rowan in the doorway.

Aelin leapt forward and spun Rowan around so his back was towards the view and a still reeling Lysandra, and plastered on a wide grin as she did her best to divert his attention.

“What? What?” He tried turning again but Aelin’s hands on his shoulders kept him in place.

“Nothing! Oh gods, we’re just so excited you might be getting this apartment!” she exclaimed and kept clapping and laughing.

His shoulders relaxed and he carded a hand through his hair as the corners of his mouth twitched up. “Actually, it looks really good.”

As he tried turning once again, Lysandra finally snapped out of it and started screaming excitedly, drawing his attention to her with an almost manic look in her eyes. Aelin quickly joined her and amped up the distraction by jumping around to keep Rowan’s gaze off the very clear, very indiscreet window.

“Ahh!” Incoherent cheering filled the apartment as Aelin and Lysandra desperately tried to keep Rowan focused on the moment.

Too caught up in the weirdness to wonder why his friends were being so odd in the first place, Rowan let Aelin tug on him to be excited too. With a bewildered shrug, Rowan quickly thought fuck it, this place is awesome and started jumping and cheering along with them.

***

Back in Cadre Coffee, Aelin felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she finally got to tell some else about the ‘secret’ relationship. She and Lysandra carried their coffees to their favorite couch - it really was amazing how it always seemed to be empty – as Lysandra kept asking questions about their friend’s sneaking around.

“You mean whenever Elide and Lorcan were like, y’know doing laundry or going grocery shopping, or—Oh! All that time Elide spent on her phone with sad Molly from camp?”

Humming along as Lysandra talked, Aelin nodded and corrected with a bit of smug satisfaction, “Uh-huh, doing it. Doing it. Phone doing it.”

“I can’t believe it!” The brunette leaned back against the soft backing of the couch. “I mean, wow, that’s great! For him.” She shrugged half-jokingly, “she could do better.”

Aelin snorted into her coffee as the bell above the door jingled and Fenrys walked in.

“Fen! Come here!” Aelin waved him over to plunk down into the chair next to them

“What?” He shrugged off his jacket and furrowed his brow at her urgency.

Grinning brightly, Aelin said, “Lys just found out about Elide and Lorcan.”

He shot her confused glare and said in an entirely unconvincing tone, “You mean how they’re friends and nothing more?”

“No. Fen, she knows!” Aelin rolled her eyes at him but explained. “We were at Ugly Naked Guy's apartment, and we saw them doing it through the window.” Fenrys’ sharp inhale cut her off midsentence, but she went on. “Actually, we saw them doing it up against the window.”

“Okay,” Lysandra interjected, “so they know that you know, and they don’t know that Aelin knows?”

Fenrys nodded. “Yes. But you know what? It doesn’t matter who knows what. Now, enough of us know that we can just tell them that we know! Then all the lying and the secrets would finally be over!”

“Hold on a second,” Lysandra’s brows pinched together and confusion flitted across her face. “Why are they keeping it a secret?”

The three shared a look before Aelin shrugged and guessed, “Maybe they didn’t want to mess things up if it didn’t work out?”

“Sneaking around is hot,” Fen offered instead.

“Thought we’d judge them?” Aelin suggested. “I mean, we are, but it’s not like that’s gonna stop them.”

“Okay, fine,” Lysandra brushed past it. “Doesn’t matter why, it just matters that it used to be a secret and now it’s not.”

“For us. Rowan and Aedion still don’t know.”

Both women shot Fenrys a flat look for adding that obvious clarification. Aelin refocused. “Okay, so, we tell them that we know?”

A feline grin spread across Lysandra’s lips as her eyes twinkled with delight. “Or, we could not tell them that we know and have a little fun of our own.”

“What do you mean?” Aelin asked skeptically. She been on both sides of Lysandra’s ideas before; she knows that glint in her eye can only mean trouble. Or hilarity; its all about perspective.

“Well, y'know every time that they say that they're like doing laundry we'll just give them a bunch of laundry to do.”

“Ooh, I would enjoy that!” One thing Aelin didn’t like about the building was the lack of in-unit washing machines. If she could avoid trekking up and down from the ground floor and have a little fun messing with her friends, it was a no-brainer.

“No, no no!” Fenrys cut them off with a shake of his head. “No, wait, Ael, you know what would even be more fun?” he dropped the faux interest and deadpanned, “Telling them.”

“Mmm, no, I wanna do Lys’ thing.”

The man groaned. He knew a losing battle when he saw one, but couldn’t help bemoaning, “I can’t take any more…”

Lysandra shook her head and reassured him, “No! You don't have to do anything! Just don't tell them that we know!”

“No, no. I can’t take any more secrets!” With wild eyes he looked to Aelin, “I’ve got your secrets. I've got their secrets. I got secrets of my own y'know!”

“Oh, you don't have any secrets!”

“Oh yeah,” Fenrys scoffed. “Well, you don't know about Moony, my bedtime furry friend.”

A beat of silence passed during which Fenrys sunk back into his chair and looked like he wanted to crawl inside it. Taking pity on him, Aelin refocused on Lysandra.

“So, how are we going to mess with them?”

They both ignored Fenrys’ annoyed groan.

“Well, you could use your position y'know as the roommate.” Lysandra suggested.

“Okay.” Easy enough.

“And then. I would use the strongest tool at my disposal. My sexuality.” She threw both her friends a wink. But her expression faltered. “ I would…if y’know, if I wasn’t married to your cousin.”

“Right…” Aelin hummed. “And how set in stone are you about that? I mean, do you like like him?”

“Do I like like my husband?”

“Uh huh.” At Lysandra’s exasperated sigh, Aelin lifted her hands placatingly. “Fine, fine, you’re the one suggesting we mess with Elide and Lorcan, I’m just wondering if you’re not fully committed.” When she met her friend’s eye again, they had a silent conversations consisting of raised eyebrows, quirked lips, and head tilts. Then they both swung around to look at Fenrys. She opened her mouth to ask—

“No. Don’t look at me. I mean, it would totally work, I could charm the hell out of ‘Lide,” he pointedly ignored the double snort. “But no, nuh-uh, this is your scheme, you do the dirty work. I will sit on the sidelines and watch happily as this all blows up.”

“Alright, blondie,” Lysandra and Fenrys both turned to Aelin, “its up to you to ‘charm the hell’ out of Salvaterre.”

A long pause settled around them as Aelin blinked at her friend.

“Absolutely not—”

“Oh that is so not going to work…”

“Hey,” Lysandra shook her head and cut off both interjections. “What happened to being fully committed?”

“Not happening– ”

“…not even believable…”

Spek of the devil – Lorcan chose that moment to stride into Cadre Coffee, effectively cutting off the trio’s conversation. He greeted them quickly before stopping at the counter to order. With his attention elsewhere, he didn’t see the looks his friends were erratically exchanging.

Lysandra kept jerking her head towards Lorcan with wide, adamant eyes while Aelin glared daggers at her and shook her head furiously. Her silent scoffs at her friend’s stubborn nods only emphasized how ridiculous she thought the plan was. All while Fenrys looked between the two with mixtures of disbelief, amusement, and skepticism.

The women’s intense silent conversation finally ended with Aelin jabbing a finger in the brunette’s face, sighing deeply, and plastering on a fake smile.

“You owe me big time. Big. Time.” she hissed. Then Aelin shook her head and loosed a breath. “Okay, watch, learn,” her eyes flicked towards Fenrys, “and don’t eat my cookie.”

Standing up from the couch, Aelin made her way to the counter where Lorcan was waiting for his coffee. She summoned up a bright smile and inwardly cringed because there was no way this was going to work. Lorcan was never going to believe she was into him. She couldn’t sell that. And even if she could, he knew she would never do that to Elide. But he didn’t know she knew about Elide…which is why she was doing this at all…but it didn’t matter because she would rather kiss her cousin than Lorcan and that was something that made her want to vomit, but if she vomited on Salvaterre? Well, then all this wouldn’t be in vain, but—

“Hey,” Lorcan’s deep voice cut through her spiral and she managed a blink and a sly quirk of her lips.

Fine.

“Hey,” she leaned closer to him and swept her eyes over his figure, hoping she was putting on as a good a show as she thought. “Oh, wow that jacket looks great on you.”

He lifted a dark brow and squinted in confusion. Yeah, this was stupid, Aelin should drop it and move along and forget she even tried. And get back at Lysandra for even suggesting it.

“Really?” He drew out the word with the level of skepticism she expected from him at her unexpected compliment.

Okay, fuck it. If Aelin was going to put on a show, then she would bring her best performance. “Yeah, the material feels so soft,” she stepped closer into his space, ignoring the incredulous look he flashed her as she ran a hand up and down his arm. “—hello Mr. Bicep! Have you been working out?”

Fenrys choked on a laugh that he tried covering up as a cough and she subtly kicked the back of the couch.

Lorcan opened and closed his mouth completely thrown off guard by Aelin’s come-ons. She couldn’t blame him.

“Well, I try to you know…” he carefully answered, probably deciding whether or not to just go with whatever the hell she was doing. “…lift things.”

Her giggles hurt her own ears and he kept looking at her like she’d grown a second head.

“Are you okay?” Lorcan asked clearly disturbed with this whole interaction.

“Well, if you really wanna know, I’m—oh! ! I can't tell you this.” Aelin forced another light laugh and brushed his arm again.

He looked genuinely concerned now. She was acting so far out of off from her normal self that he honestly worried for her sanity. “Galathynius, you can tell me.”

“Well, actually, you're the one person I can't tell this to.” She stepped back and looked up at Lorcan although her lashes, batting them a few times for equal measure. “And the one person I want to the most.”

Lorcan kept watching her as he reached around for his finished coffee. Had she smoked something before coming here? What the fuck? “What’s going on?”

She sent a silent apology to Elide. And to Lorcan. And to herself. Aelin coated the sigh leaving her lips in longing and looked at a point over his shoulder.

“I think it’s just, y'know, that I haven't been with a guy in so long and how sometimes you're looking for something and you just don’t even see that it's right there in front of you sipping coffee—Oh no, have I said too much?” She feigned a gasp and for the first time had to hold in a laugh at the look of pure revulsion that settled on the man’s face. Don’t worry Salvaterre, feeling’s mutual. “Well, it's just something to think about.” She flashed him a flirty wink. “I know I will.”

With one last glance at Lorcan’s disturbed face, Aelin grabbed her coat and walked out of the café with an extra sway to her hips.

***

That evening, when Elide and Lorcan were about to go to sleep, Elide settled herself against Lorcan’s chest and absentmindedly drew patterns across his skin.

“You are so cute,” she crooned with a sly grin, “how did you get to be so cute?”

Lorcan rolled his eyes at her and scowled, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t stop the heat that lined his cheeks. “I’m not cute,” he grunted, “I’m manly.”

“You can be manly and cute, they are not mutually exclusive,” She argued. “Key example: you.”

He grunted again but Elide emphasized her point with a kiss that had him tightening his hold around her, pulling her more firmly into his space. “You know, that is a popular opinion today.”

At the sound his voice trailing off, Elide propped herself up on an elbow and arched a brow. “What?”

She waited as Lorcan scrubbed a confused hand down his face.

“The weirdest thing happened at the coffee house,” he furrowed his brows, still trying to make sense of the odd, and frankly disturbing, interaction he’d had earlier. “I think…I think Aelin was hitting on me.”

Elide snorted so hard she almost choked. “What are you talking about?”

Groaning again, Lorcan unenthusiastically explained, “I’m telling you, I think Aelin was coming onto me.”

“That’s not possible.” His girlfriend answered so fast that despite wholeheartedly agreeing with her—

“Ouch.”

“I’m sorry, its just,” Elide rolled her eyes again and sat up. “Aelin would never hit on you. She’s always accepted you as a necessary evil – her words, not mine – and sure, you’ve grown on her in the last few years, but in a, in a sexless acquaintance sort of way.”

“Oh y’know, I can’t hear that enough,” he deadpanned even as the corner of his mouth twitched up.

Chuckling, Elide brushed her hair over her shoulder and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Lor, I think you just misunderstood her.”

It’s not like he wanted Galathynius’ advances, but if he had to go through the disturbing interaction, then gods be damned Elide should too. Lorcan propped himself up against the headboard and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “No, I didn’t misunderstand, okay? She was all over me! She touched my bicep for crying out loud!”

His girlfriend’s dark brows shot up and she eyed the offending muscle. “This bicep?”

He let her fingers graze a path down his arm, waiting until she was halfway to his elbow to flex. She almost startled at the sudden strain of his muscle but instead flashed him a smirk and lied backdown. “I wouldn’t blame her,” she hummed, “if that had actually happened.”

With a resigned huff, Lorcan dropped it.

***

Aelin and Lysandra were spread out in the apartment’s living room while Lorcan sat in the kitchen. The blonde flipped through a magazine she had opened on the small coffee table. Elide breezed in from her bedroom and the sudden entrance made the other two women look up.

“Hey El, what are you doing today?” Aelin asked. “Wanna come see a movie with us?” she jerked her head towards Lysandra who waited for Elide’s answer.

The quick glance at Lorcan wasn’t missed. “Uh, you know actually, I was going to do some laundry.”

Aelin feigned nonchalance as she forced back an eyeroll, sharing a confirming glance with Lysandra. “Oh.”

Elide spun towards her not-so-secret secret boyfriend. “Hey Lorcan, wanna do it with me?”

“Sure, yeah, I’ll do it with you.” The large man pushed himself to his feet with surprising eagerness

“Okay,” Elide grinned back.

Aelin smirked and sprung up from where she’d been sitting on the floor. “Okay great, hold on a sec!” Before anyone else could chime in, she was in and out of her room, carrying a large bag of laundry. “Here you go! Oh you don’t mind, do you?” She opened her eyes wide and pulled her most grateful face. “That would really help me out a lot, thanks!”

It took everything in her not to laugh at the panicked look that dashed across her friends’ faces.

“I mean, uh, I don’t think I have enough quarters,” Elide shrugged, doing her best to look apologetic.

“I have quarters!” Lysandra jumped up and pulled a cartoonishly large sack of loose change from her purse and came to stand next to Aelin as her lips spread in a wide grin.

Rowan chose that moment to stride into the apartment and unknowingly saving Elide and Lorcan from having to come up with another lie. “Hey.”

“Hey Whitethorn, any word on the apartment yet?” Lysandra asked, sitting back down in her chair.

“Well, I called over there and it turns out Ugly Naked Guy is subletting it himself and he's already had like a hundred applicants.”

“Oh.”

“Oh man.”

“No, no,” He waved off their sympathetic groans. Rowan had a smug air about him as explained. “I got the edge. I know it's not exactly ethical, but I sent him a little bribe to tip the scales in my direction. Check it out, you can probably see it from the window.”

Rowan aimed straight for the large paned window followed closely by his curious and nosey friends. The apartment across the way was filled from floor to ceiling with treats, toys, and trinkets. Rowan’s shoulders started to slump when Elide squeezed closer asking, “Oh is it the pinball machine with the big bow on it?”

“No.”

“That new mountain bike?” Lorcan guessed.

A beat. “No.”

“Well, what did you send?” Aelin asked, wincing at how Rowan kept deflating with every question.

“…A basket of mini-muffins.”

Lysandra squinted. “But there’s a whole table of mini-muffin baskets. Which one did you send?”

Loosing a long groan, Rowan rubbed his eyes and mumbled, “The small one.”

“What?” Aelin snorted. “You actually thought that basket was gonna get you the apartment?”

“Well yeah! Someone sent us a basket at work once and people went crazy over those little muffins.” He sighed wistfully. “It was the best day.”

Lorcan clapped him on the shoulder. “Your work makes me sad.”

“Damnit!” Rowan cursed himself as he walked back towards the door. “I was so sure that was going to work. There's twelve bucks I'll never see again…” His voice trailed off as he rounded the corner and the door shut behind him.

“All right babe,” Lysandra grabbed her coat and shot Aelin a look. “we’d better go if we wanna catch that movie.”

Elide waved them goodbye and missed the way Lysandra nudged Aelin towards Lorcan again. Inwardly sighing, Aelin made a point of brushing against Lorcan as she walked away.

“Bye, Salvaterre,” She shot him a wink and leaned in closer to tell him quietly, “I miss you already.”

For the cherry on top, Aelin smirked and planted a suggestive smack on his butt as she walked away. He whipped around so quickly she could feel the air shift as his hair fanned out. But then she was gone.

“Okay, did you fucking see that?!” Lorcan whirled on Elide, his dark eyes bugging out incredulously. “With the inappropriate, and the patting!”

More than confused, Elide slowly nodded and looked between him and the closed door. “Actually, I did.”

Lorcan carded a hand through his hair. “Yeah, so now you believe—”

“Oh, my gods!” Elide inhaled sharply. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes flew wide, gaze darting everywhere as she made sense things before finally meeting his incredulous stare again. “Oh my gods, she knows about us!”

“Are you serious?”

She nodded emphatically. “Aelin knows and she’s just trying to freak us out! That’s the only explanation for it!”

For all his love for Elide and toleration for Aelin, he was still a man. So he argued, “Okay, but what about my smackable ass and my biceps—she knows!”

***

“Fenrys!” Lorcan slammed his apartment door open and stormed in, Elide hot on his heels.

The man in question woke abruptly from the nap he’d been taking in the living room. Lorcan didn't have the energy to wonder about the wolf toy Fenrys hastily threw behind the recliner. Later, he’d tease him about it later.

“Yeah?” Fenrys’ voice came out higher than he expected. He cleared his throat and tried again, “yeah?”

“Aelin knows about us.” It wasn’t a question; it was an accusation. Elide crossed her arms in solidarity and glared at Fenrys.

He sputtered. “Well, I didn’t tell them!”

“Them?!” Elide hissed. “Who’s them?”

“Uhh, Aelin and,” Fenrys opened and closed his mouth several times before finally landing on: “Fenrys.”

His friends shot him nearly identical flat looks. Gods if they weren’t already together he’d be stupid not to try and meddle with that, but whatever.

“Fenrys.” Elide scolded again.

It didn’t take long to crack under Lorcan’s intensifying glare. Fenrys loosed a long breath and confessed reluctantly, “And Lysandra. I would’ve told you, but they made me promise not to tell!”

Again, nearly identical muttered fucks were the responses he got.

“I’m sorry. But hey, it's over now, right? Because you can tell them that you know they know and I can go back to knowing absolutely nothing!”

Fenrys’ relived smile fell as he saw the scheming glint in Elide’s eye. She was small but she was scary.

“Unless…”

“No!” he tried, “Not unless! Look, this must end now!” If he thought Lorcan would back him up against Elide’s plans, then he should’ve known better.

“Oh man, they think they are so slick messing with us!” Elide’s grin grew and Fenrys groaned and plopped back down in his chair. “But see, they don't know that we know that they know! So…”

“Yes.” Her boyfriend caught on and mirrored her sly grin. “The fuckers become the fucked with.”

***

“Would you stop that?” Aedion groaned to Rowan who was standing at the window in Aelin and Elide’s place with a pair of binoculars aimed straight into Ugly Naked Guy’s apartment.

“Yeah, Rowan, you gotta stop torturing yourself!” Lysandra added, nodding from her place on the sofa beside Aedion.

Aelin looked over her should at him, leaning back into the arm of her chair, “Yeah, why don't you just find another apartment?”

Rowan sighed but walked away from the window. “Look I've already looked at like a thousand apartments this month and none of them even compares to that one.” He knew he sounded like a broken record, but he couldn’t help it, that apartment was perfect.

Aelin tried a different suggestion. “Y'know what you should do?”

“What?”

“You should find out what his hobbies are and then use that to bond with him.” She nodded towards Fenrys who was walking back from the fridge. “Yeah! Like if I wanted something from Fen I would strike up a conversation about say umm, sandwiches. Or uh, or my underwear.”

Fenrys focused on her, “I’m listening.”

“See?” She spun back to Rowan, raising encouraging eyebrows.

“That is a great idea!” a spark of hope lit up Rowan’s face. “And! I know Ugly Naked Guy because we've been watching him for like five years—”

“—don’t lead with that.

“—so that gives me back my edge!” Rowan’s brows furrowed as he thought. “Oh, let's see now he had the trampoline.”

Lysandra hummed warningly “He broke that.”

“Well, he had gravity boots,” Rowan offered.

Aelin winced. “Yeah, he broke those too.”

Nodding sagely, Fenrys concluded, “So he likes to break stuff.”

Aedion snorted.

“No. Okay, I have to go but I will figure something out.” He was halfway out the door when he spun on his heal and looked back. “Hey, didn't he used to have a cat?”

“I wouldn't bring that up,” Lysandra grimaced, “it would probably just bum him out.”

Humming, Aedion muttered, “Yeah, poor cat, never saw that big butt coming.”

A few moments after Rowan left, the phone next to Lysandra rang.

“Hello?” she answered, waving off Aelin’s eye roll about answering someone else’s phone. “Oh yeah! Hold on a second.” Lysandra kept one hand over the phone’s speaker and turned her attention to Aedion, “Babe, could you run back to our place and grab that jacket I was telling you about?”

“Now?” he raised a brow.

“Mhm.” She waited for him to mutter a yeah, fine, sure “Thank you!”

Once Aedion left, and at the questioning looks from Aelin and Fenrys, Lysandra finally passed Aelin the phone, grinning maniacally and explained “It’s Salvaterre”

Aelin took the phone but mouthed I hate you back to her friend who simply grinned wider. She could hear Lorcan’s impatient grumbling before she used a soft, sexy voice. “Hello, you.”

Aelin pretended to gag just to make sure Lysandra knew how ridiculous this was.

“Gala—” he puffed out a short breath like he’d been cut off. “Aelin. I've been thinking about you all day.”

Any amusement Aelin felt instantly disappeared. She blinked assuming she heard wrong. “Huh?”

Her friends shared a confused glance at her sudden change in demeanor, but Aelin was trying too busy trying to process what Lorcan was saying to notice.

He cleared his throat but kept talking, “Well, you know that thing you said before – I’d be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued.”

What??

“What??”

“Yeah, listen, Moonbeam isn’t gonna be here tonight,” he dropped his voice even lower. “So why don’t you come over. We don’t have to talk. Better we don’t, actually. But we can still have a bit of fun.”

Aelin choked out, “I’ll have to get back to you on that. Okay, bye!” she frantically hung up and threw the phone onto the couch like it personally offended her. It had. She whirled on Lysandra with wide eyes and shrieked, “Oh my fucking gods! He wants me to come over a have a bit of fun.” She hissed out the last bit.

Her friends jaw dropped. “Are you kidding?!”

“No!”

Lysandra seethed. “I cannot believe he would do that— and with you of all people— to Eli—” she stopped, blinked, and slowly turned to narrow her eyes at Fenrys who was doing everything he could to avoid her glare. “Fenrys…do they know that we know?”

“No.”

“Fenrys.”

“They know you know,” he admitted.

“Agh! I knew it!”

Aelin felt waves of relief wash over her, but then growled “Oh, I cannot believe those two!”

But Lysandra was laughing, “Gods,” she faced Aelin who soon mirrored her near manic grin. “They thought they could mess with us?”

“They’re trying to mess with us?! They don’t know that we know they know we know.” They both looked towards the man hanging his head in his hands. “Fenrys, you can't say anything!”

“Couldn't even if I wanted too.”

***

Rowan spent ages trying to find the best way to connect with Ugly Naked Guy. It really shouldn’t be so hard, seriously, they’d been watching him for years now. There had to be something Rowan had picked up on that could give him the in. He needed that apartment.

When the idea finally occurred to him it stopped him in his tracks and nearly made him hit himself for how long it took for him to get there. He did know one thing about Ugly Naked Guy…

Deciding not to waste anymore time, Rowan headed straight for the building and knocked on the guy’s door. He pulled up his most charming smile and acted as if the sight of a middle-aged man answering the door fully nude while holding nothing but a jumbo-sized soda was the most normal thing in the world.

“Good evening, sir. My name is Rowan Whitethorn. I'm one of the people who applied for the apartment.” The guy simply kept looking at Rowan, waiting for him to get to his point. “And I realize that the competition is fierce but—I'm sorry. I can't help but notice you're naked,” Rowan made a show of clapping, hoping to gods it looked genuine. “I applaud you. Man, I wish I was naked. I mean, this—” he gestured to the man in question; the man who determined Rowan’s next living situation, “this looks so great. That is how the gods intended it.”

Because if nothing else, Rowan knew one thing about Ugly Naked Guy, and it had been staring him in the face the whole time.

***

“Ooh this is good! They’re panicked!” Elide laughed quietly. She and Lorcan had come back to hers and Aelin’s apartment after the fiasco of a phone call.

“They’re totally going to back down,” Lorcan agreed. There was no way Galathynius would go through with, with…with whatever it was they were trying to do.

While the couple was whispering to each other in the kitchen, Aelin and Lysandra were huddled on the couch discreetly making their own plans.

“All right,” Aelin said, half to Lysandra and half to herself. “All right! If he wants a date? He's gonna get a date. Okay, I'm gonna go in.”

The brunette nodded and gently nudged her friend’s shoulder. “Be sexy.”

“Please,” Aelin laughed. She tossed her hair over one shoulder in the way she knew caught people’s attention. Lorcan and Elide stopped their hushed whispers as they watched her approach. Aelin winked at Lorcan and noticed, to her immense satisfaction, the moment of disdain that crossed his face before he masked it with faux intrigue.

“So, Lorcan,” She batted her eyelashes and side-eyed Elide for good measure as the shorter women began stepping away. Sorry. “I’d love to come by tonight.”

He blinked, grunting, “Really?”

Oh, this was too fun. “Absolutely. Let’s say around seven?”

“Yes.” And though he tried, She could tell he’d spoked through gritted teeth and a forced smirk.

“Good,” she replied. And just to see him squirm, “I'm really looking forward to you and me having sexual intercourse.”

She wished she had a camera to capture his bewildered face. As Aelin walked away, she missed the alarmed and pleading look Lorcan sent Elide and her friend’s answering it’s okay we got this.

“Hey!” Fenrys’ laughing voice cut through the tension. “Check it out! Ugly Naked Guy has a naked friend!”

Most thoughts of fake dates and faking fake dates disappeared as the group crowded over at the window.

“Oh yeah!” Aelin huffed out a laugh.

“Oh, my gods!” Lysandra leaned on Aelin to get a better look. “That’s our friend! Its Naked Rowan!”

“Yeah, it is! Naked Rowan!!” Good for him.

***

“Show time!” Came Lysandra’s sing-song voice as they got Aelin ready.

Wearing one of her best dresses, Aelin went over her look once more. “Oh, Lys, get me perfume.”

“Okay,” she laughed and went to grab it.

“And Fen,” Aelin turned to him, “could you get me a bottle of wine and couple glasses?”

He grumbled under his breath and dragged his feet but turned form the kitchen table towards the shelf and reluctantly got what she asked for.

Lysandra came back and spritzed Aelin’s light lemon verbena scent around her, urging her to twirl and complete the preparation.

Across the hall, Elide was hyping her boyfriend up to fake seduce her best friend.

“All right, it’ll be great” Elide encouraged as she flattened out his shirt and handed him a breath mint. “You just make her think you wanna have sex with her. It'll totally freak her out!”

Lorcan slowed her down, “Listen, how far am I gonna have to go with her? Because I can’t pretend like I’m attracted to Galathynius forever.”

“Relax,” Elide waved it off, “she's gonna give in way before you do!”

“How do you know?!” he narrowed his eyes at her.

“Because you're on my team! And my team always wins!”

He just muttered a fucking hell under his breath before Elide pressed a quick peck to his lips and rushed to hide in the bathroom. “Go get some!”

In the hall, Lysandra and Aelin waited by the door.

“Okay, hon,” Lysandra grinned at Aelin. “I’m gonna try to listen from right here.”

“Okay. Oh, wait,” Aelin glanced down at herself and pulled the neckline for her satin dress to expose more cleavage. “Yeah?”

Lysandra nodded. “Perfect.”

They shared a glance and both women paused. “This is so weird,” the blonde muttered.

Turning towards the door, Aelin knocked with the hand that wasn’t holding the bottle of wine. Lysandra moved to stand against the wall so she wouldn’t be seen when the door opened but could still hear what was being said. She flashed Aelin one last conspiratorial smile right as Lorcan opened the door.

“Aelin.”

“Lorcan.”

Tension radiated between them, and the silence grew with each moment they stood there. Finally, Lorcan jerked his head backwards and stepped back to give her room to walk in. “Come in.”

This was happening. Aelin smiled seductively and tossed her head to the side, allowing her golden hair to effortlessly flip over her shoulder. “I was going to.”

He closed the door behind her and before he could interject, Aelin went on, showing off the bottle she’d brought. “I brought some wine. Would you like some?”

He nodded, a harsh jerk of his head, so she made a show of uncorking it and poured two glasses of the red wine with a flourish. “So, here we are. Nervous?” She asked.

Lorcan merely arched a brow looking rather unimpressed and picked up his glass. “Me?” he scoffed, “No. You?”

She eyed him. He eyed her right back. She lifted her glass to her lips and took a long sip. He followed suit and in a few deep gulps completely drained his glass.

“No, I want this to happen,” Aelin lied.

“So do I,” Lorcan grimaced and snatched the bottle off the counter between them and poured two more full glasses. Each trying to get the other to break, they kept up the ruse, watching each other for signs that the other was about to crack. Eventually, they both broke eye contact and each downed the rest of their wine.

The clinks of glass on the countertop broke through the heavy silence and Lorcan turned away, carding a hand through his dark hair. “I’m gonna put on some music.”

Damn. How much longer was this going to take? “Maybe I’ll dance for you,” she told him instead, slowly moving her hips to the music now echoing through the apartment

The corners of Lorcan mouth tightened as he held back scowl. He cursed his devious, beautiful girlfriend for convincing him to do this as he gritted out, “You look good.”

“Thank you,” Aelin crooned, making more of a show with her movements and raising her brows suggestively as she inched closer to him. “You know, when you say things like that it makes me just wanna…rip that…shirt right off you!”

Barely concealing a wince, she took great pride at the alarmed look that flashed across Lorcan’s face. But he disguised it so quickly she almost thought she’d imagined it. Almost.

“The let’s move this to the bedroom,” he suggested, smirking.

That brought Aelin up short. “Really?”

“Oh,” he took a giant step back and sounded far too innocent as he asked, “do you not want to?”

“No. No!” She shook her head vehemently. “Its just, you know,” she scrambled and dropped her voice lower, more husky, “I want to take off all my clothes and have you rub lotion on me

Lorcan’s responding gulp was audible but his face remained neutral. “That’d be nice,” the strain on his voice gave him away, “I’ll go get the lotion.”

He spun on his heel and beelined for the bathroom, startling Elide who’d been pressed up against the door.

“Listen, this is getting way too fucking out of hand,” He hissed to his girlfriend. “Okay? She wants me to put lotion on her!”

Scoffing, Elide waved off Lorcan’s worry. “She's bluffing!”

“Obviously!” he griped with an eye roll. “But she’d not backing down. She went like this!” he tried to mimic Aelin’s earlier dancing but only managed to look stupid and cause Elide to huff a laugh.

The moment Lorcan’s back had turned on her, Aelin had darted into the hallway and hissed to Lysandra, “He's not backing down. He went to get lotion.”

The door across the hall opened and Fenrys took one look at the women standing there and groaned. “Come on, aren’t you guys done yet?”

“Fen, look,” Lysandra huffed, “just look at it this way, the sooner Aelin breaks Lorcan, the sooner this is all over and out in the open.”

His face lit up. “Ooh, yeah okay. I like that.”

Back in the bathroom, Elide was trying to get Lorcan to keep up the ruse.

“You go back out there, and you seduce her till she cracks!” Elide told him. The bathroom door wasn’t very thick, and she could hear the entire conversation despite being hidden. Aelin was so close to breaking, Elide just knew it.

“Okay, shit, give me a second.” Her boyfriend scrubbed a hand down his face and absently looked around the small room. He looked at her again with a raised brow and said with some amusement, “Did you clean up in here?”

“Of course,” Elide admitted and shrugged with an air of obviousness. Then she nudged his arm to get him to turn around before pushing him out of the bathroom. “Now go!”

Throwing an annoyed look over his shoulder at his girlfriend who simply gave him a thumbs up before quietly closing the bathroom door, Lorcan walked back into the living room and paused when he saw Aelin at the apartment door.

“Oh, you’re going?” He asked, crossing his arms, and trying not to look so smug.

“Uh,” Aelin floundered for a second but then she slowly sauntered towards him. “Not without you, lover.”

Yikes.

Lorcan would never be into her like that, just like Aelin would never, ever be into him. She knew that. She knew he knew that. She knew that he knew that they were playing a game of chicken…but Aelin was the reigning queen; she had never, not once, lost a game of chicken. And she certainly wasn’t about to let Lorcan Salvaterre dethrone her.

He cleared his throat, but it sounded more like a strangled grunt. “Right. Get over here.” he had the audacity to look her in the eye as told her, “I’m very happy we’re gonna have all the sex.”

In any other scenario, Aelin would laugh at how ridiculous he sounded.

“You should be. I’m very bendy,” she said instead, taking a step closer. “I'm gonna kiss you now.”

“Not if I kiss you first.”

The pair eyed each other warily, silence stretching between them as they took comically slow steps towards each other. When they finally met in the middle, Aelin narrowed her eyes and lifted her brows in challenge right as she reached forward and placed a hand on his hip. His gaze shot down to the point of contact before carefully rising back to hers. Then, like she had, he hooked his hand around her opposite hip and pulled her closer. Never one to be outdone, Aelin used her free hand to reach behind him and grab his ass. Lorcan grunted, nearly seething. His remaining hand hovered over her breast before wisely deciding – for the sake of his life and sanity – to rest it on her shoulder instead.

“Well, I guess there's nothing left for us to do but kiss.” Lorcan gritted out.

“Mhm,” Aelin nodded, dragging out the syllables. “Here it comes. Our first kiss.”

They eyed each other and after a few moments concluded that the other wasn’t backing down. Incrementally slowly, Aelin and he leaned in. Closer, closer, so close she could feel his breath fan across her face. And then he was flinging himself away, shaking her off and finally dropping the act.

“Okay! Okay! Shit, okay! You win! You win!” His voice carried loud and clear to everyone. “I can’t have sex with you!”

“Ha ha!” Aelin shouted gleefully as her win continued, taking no small amount of joy as she goaded, “And why not?!”

“Because I'm in love with Elide!”

Triumph morphed into shock as she registered what he’d said. “You’re—you’re what?”

The front door swung open as Lysandra and Fenrys walked in with equally stunned looks. At the same time, Elide walked out of the bathroom, not sparing her friends a fraction of her attention as she kept her focus on Lorcan, a soft smile blossoming on her face.

“Love her!” Lorcan’s voice rose, his hands waving erratically like what he felt had all been bottled up and now there was nothing stopping it form overflowing. “That’s right. I love her! I! Love! Her! I love her.” He loosed a harsh breath and met Elide halfway, taking her into his arms and calming repeating, “I love you, Elide.”

Her words were thick with emotion as she looped her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Lorcan.”

She pulled him into a kiss, her hands raking through the hair at the nape of his neck as his found their home around her waist, gently but firmly keeping her pressed against him.

Their moment was broken by the cooing of their friends.

“I just,” Aelin started. Her eyes wide with surprise but happiness for them. “I thought you guys were doing it, I didn't know you were in love!”

“Dude,” Fenrys awed and shot Lorcan a grin and a thumbs up.

Lorcan jerked his head reluctantly towards Aelin. “And hats off to Galathynius. Quite a competitor.” He smirked at her and snorted when she smirked back.

“All right!” Fenrys clapped, looking overjoyed. “So that's it! It's over! Everybody knows!”

Elide slid to stand next to Lorcan with her arms still wrapped around his middle as he slung an arm over her shoulder.

“Well, actually,” she said, “Rowan doesn’t.”

“Or Aedion,” Lysandra reminded them.

“Yes, and we'd appreciate it if no one told them yet.”

Fenrys’ joy melted away. His lips pressed into a firm line as he leveled a cold stare at his friend.

Lorcan’s response? He shrugged.

*****

Taglist:

@acourtofsnakes @a-frog-with-a-laptop @astra-ad-mare @autumnbabylon @backtobl4ck @bankerfrog @becarefuloflove @camerooonchiu @captain-swan-is-endgame @charlizeed @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @doubt-less @earthtolinds @elentiyawhitethorn @feyretales @goddess-aelin @highqueenofelfhame @jorjy-jo @julemmaes @leiawritesstories @lemonade-coolattas @llyncooljones @mariamuses @moodymelanist @morganofthewildfire @nerdperson524 @rhysiedarling @rowaelinismyotp @rowaelinrambling @rowanaelinn @shyvioletcat @stardelia @superspiritfestival @sv0430 @swankii-art-teacher @thegreyj @the-lonelybarricade @the-regal-warrior @tomtenadia @westofmoon @whimsicallyreading

49 notes · View notes