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goddess-aelin · 2 years

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congratulations on 1200! may i request fluffy Rowaelin where Aelin pretends to be Rowan's girlfriend at a bar because Remelle's trying to hit on him?

Thanks for the prompt! :) You know that I love any opportunity to make Remelle the bad guy. And honestly, as I was writing this, Rowan the Simp just jumped right out and I can't say I'm sorry.

Masterlist

I’m still taking prompts so send them in!

Can I Buy You a Drink?

Word Count: 1.2k

Fluff, fluff, more fluff. ( I think I'm incapable of writing anything but fluff)

Rowan was tipsy. But not tipsy enough for the blonde that was currently draping herself over him. He thought that tonight would be a fun night out celebrating Lorcan's engagement to Elide. The two had been dating for two years and Lorcan finally popped the question. Rowan was actually surprised when his best friend told him. He always thought Lorcan would either be the last of their friend group to get married or just the one to never get married. Before Elide, Lorcan never seemed interested in long term relationships. But Lorcan was a changed man and the occasion certainly called for a celebration.

Which is why Rowan found himself sitting at the bar with Lorcan, Fenrys, Gavriel, Vaughn, and Connall. Elide and some of her friends that Rowan didn't know very well were across the bar on the dance floor, insisting their parties stay separate even though they were at same bar. It's also why Rowan was currently about to flip out on the girl who felt the need to touch him every five seconds.

Rowan knew Remelle from work, unfortunately. Perhaps that's why she latched onto him tonight. Maybe he was the only person she knew here and she just wanted to feel safe. That's what Rowan kept telling himself to reign in his disgust and anger. If she pet his arm one more time, just one more time, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Lorcan knew exactly what was going on but Lorcan also knew Remelle. He knew that Remelle didn't understand the word "no" and that no matter of telling her to leave Rowan alone would work. Especially since the victim in question was a single man.

Rowan tried to busy himself in conversation with his friends. He tried to distract himself with bathroom breaks and the excuse of needing to get another drink. But when Remelle leaned into kiss him, that was the final straw. Rowan was just about to storm out of the bar when a gentle hand wrapped around his bicep.

"Hey Buzzard. I was wondering where you went off to." He felt a quick kiss to his cheek and as he looked over, he was met with the most beautiful turquoise eyes. Rowan knew this woman was named Aelin and she would most likely be Elide's maid of honor, being friends with the bride-to-be since they were kids. He had never spoken to her before today, though, which sent him fumbling for an answer. It wasn't every day that Rowan turned into a blushing teenager, but it seemed that the ring of gold around Aelin's eyes took away any of his flirtatious talents.

Rowan had the good sense to at least give her a little smile and her own answering smile was dazzling. It was probably best that he couldn't think of words. Otherwise, he might spit out something completely stupid like "I think I'm in love with you," or "marry me." Rowan's hand came up to Aelin's back and he found only a smooth expanse of skin. Was this girl trying to kill him? The eyes. The backless gold dress. The fact that she was his knight in shining fucking armor.

"Aelin." He heard Lorcan grumble. Aelin's answering smirk to Lorcan was one that could have made Rowan's knees weak if he was standing. Thank the Gods he wasn't.

"My, my Lorcan. I can't say that I ever thought I'd see the day that you grew enough courage to pop the question. I have to say, I'm impressed." It seemed that all Aelin had to do to irritate Lorcan was speak. Rowan couldn't help but smirk at his friend's discomfort.

A throat cleared. Oh yes, Remelle. The reason why Aelin's body was currently pressed into his side and why his hand was making small strokes on her back. If Rowan was being completely honest, he totally forgot about the devil-woman in front of him.

"And who exactly are you?" Remelle asked with a raised brow, as if she owned him.

Aelin, in all her golden glory, smiled sweetly and held out her hand. "I'm Aelin, his girlfriend. Who are you?" Rowan greatly enjoyed Remelle's look of surprise and subsequent open-mouthed stare. Rowan wished she would just take the hint and leave him alone. But of course she didn't. Of course she couldn't.

"All this time working together, Rowan, and yet I've never heard one word about you having a girlfriend."

It was at that statement that Rowan finally found his voice. "Well, we don't really like to flaunt it everywhere. We're both fairly private people." He knew Aelin could tell that he was getting tense if the way she ran her hand up and down his back was any indication. This woman he just met was soothing him. And it was helping. No one was more surprised than himself. Rowan wasn't usually one to let people touch him casually. He'd prefer if people kept their hands to themselves. But with Aelin, it was different.

"Aww. How sweet. I guess you wouldn't mind giving us all a little kiss then? You know what they say, kisses from other couples to give the future bride and groom good luck." Rowan scoffed.

"I don't think anyone has ever said that. That doesn't even sound real." He was about to refuse further when Aelin's hands touched his cheeks and turned his head towards her.

"C'mon Buzzard, just one sweet, little kiss? For me?"

Rowan didn't need to be asked twice, even if he was surprised. His arm around her back pulled her closer to him and his lips met hers gently. Aelin's idea of a "sweet, little kiss," however, turned into the the best kiss of his life. She kissed like she danced, with fire and passion. It was over way too soon for Rowan's liking when Aelin pulled away. He was breathless and all he could do was stare at Aelin with half-lidded eyes. He figured that when they pulled apart, Aelin would turn back to Remelle but her eyes stayed on his. She looked just as wrecked as he felt.

Slowly, they gravitated back towards each other. He was sure that Remelle could see that that had been their first kiss but he didn't care. All he could think about was tasting the whiskey on her tongue again. Rowan lost all sense of his surroundings when his lips met Aelin's again. He was enveloped by her. Her scent. Her taste. The small sounds she was making. He thought at some point he heard Lorcan mutter a seriously? But he couldn't be sure. And he didn't care.

When they finally pulled apart seconds, minutes, or hours later, Rowan Whitethorn was wrecked. Aelin started giggling and it was so damn cute that Rowan did the same. He was sure they made quite the sight for anyone to see, standing at the bar and laughing like teenagers.

Rowan kept his forehead against hers. "I'm Rowan, by the way."

Aelin let out a huff of breath. "I know. I'm Aelin."

"I know." Another round of laughter hit them again.

"I think she's gone." Rowan was about to ask who she was talking about but then remembered the reason why they were flush together in the first place.

"Thanks for that. She's been after me for years and apparently doesn't know how to take no for an answer."

Aelin rolled her eyes but then let out a sheepish laugh. "I'm sorry that I sort of attacked you like that. Elide pointed out what was happening so I just sort of...acted."

Rowan laughed. "It's obviously quite alright. And hopefully I can buy my girlfriend a drink to thank her?"

"I'll do you one better. How about a drink and a date tomorrow night? If you're free, of course."

With his nod, she hopped onto the stool next to him. Rowan knew that they were here to celebrate his friend's engagement but he couldn't bring himself to regret staying in this little bubble with Aelin. And as they sat there the rest of the night, talking about anything and everything, neither of them saw the secret high five or smirks exchanged by the newly-engaged couple.

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan whitethorn #Aelin galathynius #tog #throne of glass #throne of glass fanfiction #tog fanfiction #throne of glass fanfic #rowaelin fic #rowaelin au #elorcan #my fics

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sunshinebingo · 11 months

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Dating My Neighbour, But Not Really

This fic is a birthday gift to @shadowsxgwynriel. Happy birthday for the hundredth time bestie. Love you loads ❤️❤️

CRACKSHIP ALERT

Pairing: Gwyneth Berdara/Lorcan Salvaterre (😏!)

Word Count: 8.5k

Warning: NSFW

Synopsis: Gwyneth and Lorcan started as neighbours and friends until a little misunderstanding led them to become more.

Snippet:

HIM

“Why did you tell him that we are together?” Lorcan complained to Gwyn as they made their way together to their apartment building. Great, he thought, not knowing himself if it was a good or a terrible thing. The woman he had been crushing on for two whole months was now his fake girlfriend. Fucking great.

“You begged me for help, remember?”

“I did not beg,” Lorcan retorted. “And I didn’t ask you to play my girlfriend.”

He did not even know what he had meant when he had asked Gwyn for help. He just wanted to get rid of Fenrys since he knew that his friend would insist on him being present tonight. And Lorcan was really not in the mood to sit and watch all of his friends being disgustingly in love on another Friday movie night. He had reached his limit when he had had to listen to the random kissing sounds that rose in the middle of the movie last time. Just thinking of their kissing orgy made him gag.

When he had informed them by text that he would not be attending tonight, Aelin, the brat, had immediately called him to remind him that movie night was tradition. As if some gods would be angered if they did not spend time together for once. She had also taken the time to make him a list of all the reasons why he should find himself a girlfriend if being the single one was starting to bother him. One of the first reasons being that he would no longer look like a lost puppy among the group.

Running into Fenrys had been a coincidence. One that had resulted in him accepting to meet with his friends. But also to walk out of the store with the best fake girlfriend one could wish for.

“How was I suppose to help you then?” the fake girlfriend asked.

“I don’t know,” he grumbled.

“Well you should have been clearer on how you wanted me to help Mr I-don’t-have-a-fucking-girlfriend.”

He looked down at Gwyn to find her looking at him with an exasperated expression. This was one of Gwyn’s expressions that his mind automatically conjured whenever he was about to say or do something stupid. He had known her for two months and she had already taken residence in his mind.

“I hate you,” he frowned at her.

“No you don’t,” she replied in a sing-song voice.

Lorcan did not know whether to be thrilled or scared at the idea of pretending to date her. It was probably a bad thing because after she would fake-dump him, it was going to be harder than when he was still pining after her.

“You know what, this could be a win-win situation for everyone.”

Read on Ao3 here

#Gwyn x Lorcan #gwyneth berdara #lorcan salvaterre #crackship #I love them ♥#so why not #🤷‍♀️#modern au #fake dating #idiots in love #acotar #acosf #throne of glass #tog #HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!!

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justreadertings · 2 years

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Coffee Shop Rules- Part 2

Ok I’m back! This is definitly going to be longer than one part lol. I’m already getting attached to them, whoops. Anyway, I’m excited for you all to read this, and I’m making a slightttt change to the original, only because I hadn’t planned for this to be multiple parts. Don’t worry, it’s only about Lysandra dating Aedion, which I’m erasing lol. (for now). In terms of Aedion, we have no Aedion.

anyway. Have fun with this chapter, and I hope to get more to you soon before my week in New York where I will be MIA fr. Ok I’ll stop rambling. All my love- Magee

Masterlist

3000 Words

TW: Cursing, mentions of domestic violence

Coffee Shop Rules

Rowan was in a shitty mood. He knew that, and yet, he turned into Fenrys and Connell’s driveway. He was only going to this party because he knew they were all going to be loose in the world come two months, and Aelin and his mother had teamed up to drove on and on about “savoring time together”. It had given him enough heartache at the thought of leaving his poor mother alone when he left for college, adding his friends to the mix was too much.

So he was going to this stupid party, bringing stupid beer. Rowan ran his hands over his face, tired. It had been a rough few days.

His father had died when he was three. He didn’t even remember him that much. But his parents had been maddeningly in love- so much so that his mother never even wanted to get back out there, even fifteen years after the fact. This all boiled down to his father’s anniversary being a rough day for his family. He’d bought his mom flowers, they’d planned to bake, he planned to pretend it didn’t bother him that much. Same as every year.

But when he and his mom were going to leave for the cemetery, he’d gotten a call from Aelin. She’d known what day it was. She wouldn’t have called if something hadn’t happened. And an oily feeling had swarmed in his gut.

As soon as he picked up, all he’d heard was breathing. Shallow, watery breathing. He had said her name, probably a couple of times, but in retrospect, it was all very blurry. She hadn’t responded at first, just more of that shallow breathing. His heart had nearly fucking caved in on itself before she finally answered. His mother’s sad, tired eyes had gone wide, waiting both for his attention and to know what was going on.

But Aelin had said, “I should’ve called. I’m sorry.” Her voice was muffled. She wasn’t talking quite right.

“What’s wrong?” He’d asked.

It took a long time before she said, “My nose. I think it’s broken.”

So instead of the cemetery, putting flowers on his father’s grave, he and his mother had spent the second part of their afternoon in the emergency room, where they set Aelin’s nose right. She had insisted that he go, that she’d done enough damage by ruining their day.

His mother, with her perfect, caring heart, only waved it off. Rowan wasn’t sure if his mother believed Aelin when she’d said she’d tripped. His mother had only asked her if her guardians were home, and Aelin had said he was out- it was all Sage Whitethorn needed before telling him to make for the emergency room, that they’d take her themselves.

Rowan knew that Aelin was lying, knew that he couldn’t tell, but still felt worthless. He couldn’t be with his mother on her hardest day, couldn’t help Aelin, because if they reported Arobynn she’d be moved across the state, again, far away from him.

Three months. Three months until she was eighteen. And then it was over.

Now, Rowan rested his head against the steering wheel of his old red truck. He was so tired of it. Tired of the excuses, tired of not being able to help. Tired of working so that one day, he and Aelin could get that apartment they’d always talked about. Tired of the things he’d started thinking about when he thought of his best friend. His brain was too full.

A loud bang on his side door had him startling, and he glanced out of it to see Lorcan. He was staring at him like he was crazy. Rowan shut off the engine, and popped his door open.

“What?” Rowan said at his friend’s expression.

Lorcan, with his dark features and deep voice, was the epitome of gruff when he asked, “what’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Rowan answered honestly.

Lorcan had taken the beer right out of his hands as they made their way towards the door. Rowan snorted as they approached the farmhouse, deep in the bellies of their farmland town. Music was already drifting from the open windows.

“Thursday?” Lorcan inquired. He was a man of few words. It made him a shit therapist, but a good listener.

Rowan shrugged. “Yeah, kinda. It’s complicated.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. Lorcan, knowing the day, just nodded, not bringing it up again. He needed the balance between Aelin- who he would spill his guts to even if it left him feeling deflated… and Lorcan, who could just get it, and nod.

“Party people!” Shouted their blonde host from the kitchen. Rowan and Lorcan shared a look. They enjoyed their alcohol, and they enjoyed good music- but they were probably the least “party” of all the people in this house. Which seemed to be literally every single one of their friends.

Manon and Dorian were already sharing DNA on the couch, Manon waving a hand to them without even looking, too caught up on Dorian’s lap.

Lorcan made a face, even though they were all used to their antics, though he and Elide weren’t much better. Rowan figured the face was probably due to the weird history between Lorcan’s girlfriend and Manon. Aelin had sworn him to secrecy when she’d told him that Manon and Elide were a thing their freshman year and Manon’s junior. Manon and Lorcan being the same age had always made Rowan feel strange, though, and it was all really none of his business.

He liked to call Aelin a busybody, but she only called herself a “journalist”. Rowan had laughed, even if he flicked her after, saying that writing everything down in her diary didn’t qualify her as a “journalist”.

Rowan waved to Chaol, Yrene, and Sartaq by the backdoor. He was glad that Chaol had fallen completely head over heels for Yrene after he and Aelin’s break-up. So much so that it had resulted in an accidental teenage pregnancy… but they were happy. Where their baby was on this random Saturday night, he had no idea- Rowan stopped himself. It wasn’t really his problem. Aelin was infecting his mind. Rowan had no space in his brain for other people’s drama. Where was Aelin?

He spotted Lysandra out by the firepit with her boyfriend- or was it ex-boyfriend this week?- who looked very… close. Rowan chose the kitchen instead, still looking.

Elide was sitting up on the counter of the white house, her heels digging into the old, wooden counters as she talked to Fenrys. At that height, she was level with her boyfriend for probably the first time in their relationship. She gave him a chaste kiss, then moved to lean her elbow on his shoulder.

Lorcan handed her one of Rowan’s beers, but Rowan’s hand was suddenly filled with a sugary, pink concoction. He lifted a brow at Fenrys, who was already padding around the giant kitchen, beginning to make another one.

“What the hell is this?”

Fenrys shrugged. “It’s Aelin’s,” he said, before he turned around. His blonde brows furrowed. “Where is your girlfriend?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Rowan responded, voice dark. He knew Fenrys was just messing with him, but he was still a dumbass. Fenrys just shrugged, and it made Rowan want to strangle him. He was always so flippant with his words. Rowan frowned down at the drink. “Why did you give this to me?”

Suddenly, the drink was pulled from his hands. “Because he’d know I’d need it.”

Rowan spun to where Aelin stood, looking perfect, as always. She wore a short golden sundress that made her look absolutely stunning. Rowan was actually starting to get uncomfortable with how good he thought she looked. Thankfully, Fenrys drew him out of his thoughts with a laugh.

“Gods, Ace, what’d you do to your face?” Elide reached over and punched his shoulder, her dark eyes assessing.

Rowan’s body tensed, but Aelin’s felt completely liquid as she leaned slightly into his side, already sipping on her fruity drink. “Clumsy me. As always.”

He knew everyone could see the little angry line across the bridge of her nose, but both Lorcan and Fenrys seemed to accept her answer. Elide’s eyes were still cut into little slits, watching Aelin closely. Rowan hated that Aelin refused to tell their closest friends, but he knew that she didn’t want to risk one of them getting emotional and reporting Arobynn or something.

Honestly, with that logic, he was surprised she ever told him- Rowan could barely wake up without the thought crossing his mind anymore. But Aelin wanted her friends- her family. She hadn’t had a family since she was a very little girl, and she needed their support for the many hours that she wasn’t at that house.

But her lie had him feeling protective, and he slipped his arm around her. Aelin offered him her drink but he just squinted at it. “Is that a joke?”

She poked his cheek. “Party-pooper.”

Rowan batted her hand away, and they fake fought with their hands before Fenrys’ snort had him pausing.

“What?” Rowan asked.

The blonde looked between them. “Nothing.” Rowan only glared at his long time friend.

“How’s work?” Elide offered. She was too perceptive for her own good, and Rowan didn’t want to admit that he knew she was saving him.

“Same old same old,” Aelin drawed. “Ugh, except for this absolute douche the other day. Do you remember that?”

Did he remember it? Rowan hadn’t stopped replaying that whole afternoon in the week since it had happened. Aelin hadn’t mentioned anything weird after, hadn’t acted any different, all through their shift and when he dropped her off home. Again- their boundaries were always a little shifty, but they’d only ever kissed for long, long goodbyes- like when he went to camp last fall break and was gone for two whole weeks. And yeah, it was all just those tiny pecks, more for closeness than anything but… it was just kinda out of nowhere. Or at least he thought so. Maybe he’d thought about it so much that his memory was now warped.

“Ro?”

When he blinked, he realized Lorcan, Elide, Fenrys, Aelin and… Nesryn and Nehemia were all staring at him. He hadn’t even seen the girls come in. How long had he been zoning out?

“What?”

Aelin was giving him a weird look, but pasted on that signature smile for their friends. “I asked you if you remember that guy from the other day?”

Rowan shook himself out of his thoughts, and casually said, “How could I forget? You made a your mom joke to him.”

Aelin, at that, cracked what he knew was a real smile. She laughed, her head tilting back, and he just watched her. That was normal, right?

“No!” Elide laughed with her.

“I totally did!” Aelin then went into the whole story, but Rowan was transfixed with watching her talk. He didn’t know how she did it, how she could laugh and smile with their friends after experiencing what she did every day. When something happened to him, he shut down. Radio silence. Aelin would never ask him to explain himself, though. She would just crawl on the couch and tuck her arms around his waist, holding him until he spoke.

Rowan wondered if he was ever able to give her a fraction of the comfort she gave him. He glanced at her, so lively as she told her story, watching for any glimpse of pain. Rowan didn’t know how she hid it so well.

Aelin was buzzed. She knew she was buzzed. But she couldn’t help it- it had been a shit week, shit last two days, and she needed to forget. She was squinting as Chaol was talking about his son, and she found herself without a filter, just responding with, “it’s so fucking weird.”

He’d given her that look, the one where he was trying really hard not to be judgy, but was pretty much failing. He asked, “what’s weird?”

“You have a kid!” She yelled back, before placing her chin back in her hand. “You’re like… a person. Like a real life human.”

Chaol actually laughed at that, and he told her himself that she was drunk. She’d just smiled, feeling dreamy. Her mind was racing, bouncing between the strangeness of her longtime friend and ex having a real, human baby, and the niggling idea that she should be somewhere else. She felt like that a lot, though. Like even when she was happy, she should be spending her time better, doing something more worthy of her time.

She was also contemplating if she could use a third (fourth?) of these pink drinks. Rowan had gone in to grab her water a few minutes ago, claiming that if her head was tilting at that far of an angle, she could probably use some sobering up.

Chaol was talking to Dorian then, who’d finally taken a break from Manon. Aelin was fairly certain the blonde was chatting up Elide, which she found weird. Aelin’s sober mind knew that it was hypocritical, as she was talking to Chaol, but that was different. She didn’t know why, but it just… was.

“What’s with the frown, Ace?” Lysandra said, coming to sit on the edge of her lawnchair. The fire was blazing, and Aelin’s fuzzy vision swam in it. When Aelin turned to look at her, Lysandra gasped and grabbed her chin. “Gods, how’d you get that?”

Aelin frowned and turned her head out of Lysandra’s hand. “Lemme go,” she pouted.

“Uh oh,” Chaol smiled. “It’s someone’s bedtime.”

“Is not,” Aelin said, crossing her arms.

Dorian just laughed, nudging Chaol. “She’s getting defensive, too. Where’s Rowan? He can go and tuck her in.”

“It’s not my bedtime!” She yelled, even though she knew she was acting like a toddler. Gods, maybe she was drunker than she thought. It occurred to her that that probably wasn’t a great thing. She had work in the morning

“Why are you sad, Ace?” Lysandra asked, speaking low. Aelin leaned into her touch, no better than a housecat. She couldn’t help it, though. She needed a motherly touch. Maybe she’d call out for Yrene.

“Rowan won’t tuck me in,” she said. “At least not at my house.” her words were muffled in Lysandra’s lap.

Her friend laughed, running her fingers through her cropped hair. They were all saying something, probably talking about her, but she was too tired to argue. She only heard Lysandra say, close to her ear, “are you sure you’re saying everything you mean to?”

She didn’t answer, didn’t know how long she stayed draped over Lysandra’s lap, near-asleep.

“Bedtime?”

She heard Rowan’s voice, deep and gruff. She smiled into Lysandra’s warm, soft legs. Aelin reminded herself to steal her friend’s moisturizer.

“I’m not tired,” she muffled.

Lysandra was messing with Aelin’s hair, stroking and braiding. Rowan was speaking lowly to her friend, but it was all so soothing until-

“Aelin!”

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain between her neck and her head. And then everything moved so fast, it felt like people were crowding, and she was starting to sit up, even though her drink had her feeling very dizzy. Her vision swarmed, but she felt Rowan’s warm hand on her shoulder.

Lysandra asked, “What happened to you, Ace?”

Fuck. Aelin didn’t think anyone would be digging around her skull tonight. Fuck fuck fuck. She felt literally blurry, but she forced herself to stand. Yeah, she was a lot drunker than she thought. Rowan was holding her to him, and she hated that she was swaying. Hated that she couldn’t depend on herself, hated that he wasn’t demanding to know what happened either. He was always so quiet, so patient. It used to bug her, and now, she was just envious.

“Gods, should you even be drinking with a mark like that?”

“Should I get Yrene?”

Aelin held out her hands, acting far more sober than she was. “Look, I am fine.” All of her friends, standing around the fire, were looking very doubtful. “You do not need to get our resident nurse. Ok?”

Dorian frowned at her, and she blinked over and over again to actually make him out. “So how’d you get that bump on your head?”

Aelin fought the urge to reach for it, tracing the bulging hurt there. “I fell, ok? I was cleaning and I was… indulging, and I fell. Hit my head on my dresser.” That wasn’t a total lie. Her head did hit her dresser…

“And your nose?” Chaol asked. He’d always been all careful and protective, but now that he was a father, gods he was becoming insufferable with it.

“I’m fine. That one was a sober accident,” she joked. Aelin ignored the way Rowan held her tighter to him.

Suddenly, the sound of the sliding glass door interrupted their silence. Fenrys’ voice rained out, loud, joking, “Damn, did I just walk into an intervention?”

All of her friends turned and glared at him. She turned, feeling a bit like she was in slow motion, to glare at him herself. She didn’t like that they were about two more incidents away from this party moving in that direction. Aelin cursed herself for not choosing another lie.

Fenrys held up his hands at their expressions, then turned on his heel and went back inside.

They were all looking at her again, but she only turned her head up to Rowan. “Can you take me home?”

A muscle in his jaw twitched, and she couldn’t exactly decipher the look in his eyes. But he nodded, once. She didn’t like how stony his demeanor was, so she circled in his arms, reaching up to hold his face. His green eyes were thoughtful and sad.

She hoped he understood that she was sorry she didn’t tell him, that it was just getting… embarrassing. She didn’t want to start every shift with an update of what new part of her body was aching.

Rowan stared at her a moment more, before saying, “let’s go.”

She was never more grateful for the safety she found in him- in his truck and his driving- than she did then, when she could just close her eyes against the seat, ignore the dull pain from where her head had been tossed against her dresser, and drift off to sleep.

Ok there it is. Hope you don’t kill me. more churning in my brain, so hopefully more to come!

Taglist:

@leiawritesstories

@tomtenadia

@fireheart-violet

@backtobl4ck

@morganofthewildfire

@rowaelinismyotp

@aelinchocolatelover

@thegreyj

@foughtconquered

@swankii-art-teacher

@booklover242

@stardelia

@numbers-colors-fashion

@bookcide

@viajandosinalas

#Coffee shop rules #CSR #rowaelin #rowaelin fanfiction #tog #sjm #tog fanfiction #sjm fanfiction #throne of glass #throne of glass fanfiction #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #coffee shop au

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transfenris-truther · 2 years

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I had really hoped that I had gotten into the dragon age fandom AFTER the shipping wars had ended.

This is exhausting to see. Comparing Anders and Fenris as a romance is a TRAP. Even if you've got good analysis or you think you have something to say, it's all been said before and at this point it's been said with a decades worth of bad faith BS.

Ultimately the romance you prefer is a matter of personal taste and not a matter of social justice or healthy relationships. Can we please stop letting Bioware's crap rivalry system trick us into thinking the only two opinions about DA2 are "Anders bad" or "Fenris bad" eleven years after the fact? So many of you have only ever played this game in a manner that gave you the best aspects of Fenris and the worst aspects of Anders or vice-versa. And you base your whole understanding on a version of events where you treat one character badly and then expect them to have a good relationship with your Hawke.

If Bioware had intended to make the Anders romance manipulative and unhealthy, then they probably should've written the friendmance way differently (I don't rivalmance, so Idk what that looks like). As it stands, he's a guy under a lot of pressure who is in a relationship that he's not sure is going to end well because his activism and identity puts him in serious danger. As a result, he's hot and cold. And like... Do I personally want to romance him? No. I don't like the "doomed romance" trope very much. But I acknowledge that's personal taste and not a sign that Anders is some kind of unhinged nightmare boyfriend.

And don't even get me started on the Fenris stuff. He's prone to frustrated outbursts. He has several lines about the other companions that are both unacceptable and also completely in-character. But show me one example of him "gaslighting" in his romance and I'll eat my DA2 disc. And do I want to date this guy? Not particularly! I see aspects of him that I find really compelling to think and write about. Thats it. It's fiction.

I'm begging you to stop treating ships like they're a barometer of your moral character. Or like a relationship in media has to be toxic or problematic for you to dislike it. More than that, just tag your hate if you gotta get it out there. Nine times out of ten you're not saying anything new and just picking at old fandom wounds.

#fenris #da2 #dragon age #Fandom drama #Anders #I get it #I am firmly not objective when it comes to my faves #Like obviously that gaslighting thing really got to me #And I get why the Anders people are upset #But I really don't want to compare these two anymore.#That's whst bioware wants you to do #To turn this whole thing into team Edward and team Jacob and make money off the merch

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blarrghe · 2 years

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Fic Author Self-Rec

Was tagged by @noire-pandora @tea42 and @potatowitch thank you all very much! I'm tagging @transfenris-truther @fandomn00blr and @inquisitoracorn

Pick five of your own fics to recommend!

Doing this in most-to-least words order.

Matchsies

Word count: 278 357 Rating: E Summary: Taren Lavellan, tattoo artist, is too many months out of a bad relationship to still be this lonely, and his friends only want to help. They set him up on Matchsies, the casual dating app that mostly results in unsolicited dick pics, and he's all but lost hope when one night he makes an unexpected match. Hype: This is my longest completed fic. I'm very proud of it. A lot of worldbuilding and character backstory and just character brain exploration went into this. It probably contains some of my very best writing. I'm obsessed with the relationship drama and the modern-with-magic universe and the found family and every single character in it. I set out to write something silly (as I always do.. as will be shown...) and wound up pouring heart and soul into it. Idk. It's really long and not quite done, because there's a sequel of sorts to write, but have some hype from the comments that have really made all that writing worth it: "This story is sexy and fun and smart and raw. I really like it and I'm eager to see where everything goes. Your character writing is the kind of thing that makes AUs worth reading and I'm so impressed that you can retain the color and texture of their cultures and lives without keeping the set dressing. It's just super great." - @transfenris-truther this comment will live in my head forever. "This is a story about loss and trauma and insecurity and magic and the family you choose and the love you give and, most importantly, that despite how scary allowing yourself to be known and loved can be, you have, and always will be, deserving of that love." - writingismycoffee on AO3

:')

Twelve Nights

Word count: 120 091 Rating: M Summary: Modern au fic where BusinessMan McMoneybanks Dorian Pavus meets LocalArtist Outdoorsyguy Taren Lavellan whilst on a business trip to a Fancy Ski Resort In The Mountains with his Terrible Father, and learns the True Meaning of The Holidays (it's love). Hype: I wrote this to be "the gay halmark movie I deserve". Had the silly idea to take a hallmark movie plot and make it pavellan, then I obviously got my heart all caught up in it. It's got love at first sight, it's got found family dynamics, it's got cute gay ski dates and holiday magic and a happy ending. It's also got a blatantly anticapitalist subplot and at one point Taren Lavellan punches a cop. Truly, it is the gay hallmark movie we ALL deserve.

All Hail West Thedas

Word count: 13 148 (so far) Rating: M (so far...) Summary: Dorian Pavus has run away from home, from a life of misery, from some unspeakable incident with his father, from Tevinter, from himself. He has run out of money, too, and now he is stuck way out here away from things. But maybe it's not so bad. Ehsaan is sweet, The Iron Bull is kind in his own way, and they both say that he can stay as long as he likes. Hype: I am writing this with heavy collaboration from @gaysolavellan, who is incredible. It stars his Ehsaan Adaar, who is also incredible. It's all very silly again, with copious Mountain Goats references and a fun modern AU cowboy ranch setting, but the emotional journey is what it's all about... I'm really excited to be working on it and I think it's gonna turn out great (:

I Hate You (and your little cat, too)

Word Count: 3985 Rating: G Summary: Anders' cat has found its way to his downstairs neighbour's balcony. Fenris is Anders' downstairs neighbour and he is unimpressed (but the cat likes him). Hype: I was torn between recommending this one or Anders Has Several Problems (just gonna sneak that one in here...) because I have two fics in this very specific genre of "Fenders Fic Based On Shitpost Style Nonsense Starring Anders' Cat". This isn't based on a shitpost, it's based on real life. I wrote it after having to retrieve my cat from my downstairs neighbour after said cat had the door to the apartment closed on him and so jumped down onto the balcony below mine.

This one is actually pretty silly, but there are some beats of real heart there, and I like it a lot.

Anders, Attraction, and Other Things that Start with A

Word count: 559 Rating: G Summary: It's one really good fucking kiss. Hype: This is the first Fenders thing I ever wrote. It came to me in a feverish bolt of artistic drive from the gods or something. I didn't even like Fenders before I wrote this at 2am one day. It's inspired and poetic and it will make you like Fenders. Trust me.

#my fic #my writing #dragon age fanfic #fenders #pavellan #tag games

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cumbiazevran · 2 years

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✨❤️‍🔥 About CumbiaZevran ❤️‍🔥✨

I’m Jules (they/them), and welcome to my DA blog. This is a sideblog so I will follow from @sunrisenfool, which is my main blog.

I’m 28, mixed latine and slav, and a person of colour. I like world-building and creating fake legal systems for fantasy worlds. My favourite class to play is rogues, and my favourite race are elves because that’s the fantasy race I decided to latch on as a person of colour to project feelings into the narrative. You know how it is sometimes.

Sometimes I have very particular opinions about certain things in canon, but if I ever talk about them please don’t take them as a personal attack because unless someone is being an asshole, harmful or both in my posts, I will never address things personally. I just think differently.

I have 2 primary worldstates (I have more, but these two are the ones I actually post about) and 2 primary WIPs. You can find information on them below, but feel free to ask me questions!

✨❤️‍🔥 The Worldstates ❤️‍🔥✨

Worldstate, Side A: ‘What is Right Over What is Easy’

Song: Thus Always To Tyrants - The Oh Hellos

Warden: 🌙 Juno Mahariel 🌙 (they/them)

Stats: Rogue, crowsbow sharpshooter. Nonbinary bisexual. Ranger, assassin and scout legionarie. Convincing. Dalish hunter, Warden-Commander of Ferelden. Best friends with Alistair, Morrigan (used to have a crush on) and Rahvi Brosca (@atypicalacademic), romances Zevran and Sahi Tabris (@atypicalacademic).

Protects the circle mages, crowns Bhelen and later supports Vijaya Aeducan’s (@atypicalacademic) coup. Does the ritual with Morrigan, slayer of the Archdemon with Rhavi Brosca.

Twin and youngest sibling of @atypicalacademic‘s Gaadha Mahariel and Eravan Mahariel. Recruits everyone but Loghain, whom they kill in a duel claiming the Vir Banal’ras. Keeps Duncan’s dagger until their death. Saves Amaranthine, their Keep survives. Helps rebuild the Wardens in Inquisition.

Dies a Warden’s Death.

Champion: 🎭 Rowan Hawke 🎭 (she/her)

Stats: Rogue, dual wielder. Nonbinary, bisexual. Duelist and assassin. Charismatic, helpful. Smuggler and Champion of Kirkwall. Bethany survives and becomes a circle mage. Best friends with Varric, Bela and Merrill. Romances Fenris.

Cousin of @atypicalacademic‘s Maxim and Milena Hawke. Does not help Anders but opposes Meredith. Eventually makes up with Sebastian. Is enemies with Aveline.

Knew Malcolm’s secret and would’ve taken it to her death were it not for the events of Legacy. Survives the siege of Adamant. Married to Fenris, helps him in his travels as the Blue Wraith - they are eventually known as the Blue Wraith and the High Red Queen.

Inquisitor: 🌿 Arviraven ‘River’ Lavellan 🌿 (he/they);

Stats: Rift mage, scholar of the veil and arcane physicist. Nurse and First to the Keeper. Believes in the reunification of the Dales under the elves. Never claims to be chosen by Andraste. Faithful to the Elvhen Gods. Known as the ‘Herald of Hope’, ‘Vassal of Dirthamen’, and ‘Keeper of Thedas’.

Sides with the mages, supports Briala, makes Leliana Divine. Keeps the Inquisition. Formerly friends with Solas and will stop him no matter the cost. If their people had value then, they have value now.

Arviraven is well known and well connected with various Dalish clans and some city alienages. More than a First or apprentice, Arviraven was raised to be able to take on the task of the reunification of the elvhen and the reclaiming of the Dales. Cheery, cheeky, honest and nurturing, a diplomatic scholar who sees beyond the world that is today into the world that could be tomorrow.

Nonbinary bisexual. Romances Dorian and Navin Cadash (@atypicalacademic). Eldest sibling of Viera Lavellan. Used to date Merrill up until the first year after Act I, during the events of Dragon Age 2. Best friend of Cassandra, Josephine and Eravan Mahariel.

Worldstate, Side B: ‘Blood and Tradition’ - This is both the mirror to ‘What is Right’ and sometimes coexistent with it. Both worldstates should be understood, if not together, in relation to one another, and cannot be understood without the other.

Song: The Tradition - Halsey

Warden: 🩸 Iraya Surana 🩸 (she/her)

Stats: Mage, elven, despises being called “of Kinoch Hold”. Trans and a lesbian. Blood Mage, Arcane warrior, Keeper. Romances Morrigan and Vijaya Aeducan (@atypicalacademic). Best friends with Tatiana Amell (@atypicalacademic) and Juno Mahariel, who takes over as Warden-Commander.

Protects the circle mages, crowns Vijaya Aeducan.

‘Disappears’, eventually comes back as some make-shift Keeper to a ragtag group of lost elves. Gets Mythal Vallaslin in her 30s.

Champion: ⛈ Carlota ‘Charlie’ Hawke ⛈ (she/her)

CW: Manipulation and gaslighting from a parental figure

Stats: Mage, mixed elven (doesn’t seem it). Bisexual. Blood & force mage. Despite being known as ‘Charlie Hawke’ she is an Amell. In my worldstates, when Revka disappears she takes with her the only child who has not been discovered to be a mage yet, who in this case is Charlie. To protect her, she convinces her life as an Amell was not true, asking Charlie to refer to herself as Charlie Hawke and to tell people Revka’s name was Leandra.

Charlie doesn’t remember her father. She also features as champion in @atypicalacademic‘s worldstate ‘Hell and High Water’, making her the sibling of her Amells: Claudia, Andrea, Xavier and Tatiana. Her Carver becomes a Warden.

Known as ‘Bloody Charlie’, ‘Bloodlust Carlota’ or ‘Queen of the Maleficars’, she is a highly demonised figure out of her usage of the mage rebellion to rise to power. Romances Anders. While originally angry about Anders’ bombing of the Chantry because it interfered with her rise to power (which matters to her more than anything), she supports the rebellion and claims herself in line to be Viscountess before it starts.

Romances Anders. Enemies with Varric, Aveline, Fenris and Merrill. Her only ‘friend’ is Isabela.

Inquisitor: ⚔️ Viera Lavellan ⚔️ (he/him)

Stats: Warrior, Dalish, First Knight of Elgar’nan. Reaver. Bisexual. Believes in the reunification of the Dales under the elves. Youngest brother of Arviraven Lavellan, hobbyist jeweller.

Conscripts the Templars, allows Arviraven to pass as him in Redcliffe, though most of the mages are lost as an Inquisition force. Romances @atypicalacademic‘s Sylvaine ‘Mesmer’ Seyras. Enemies with Solas and faithful to the Elvhen, even more so than their Gods, for he is a Knight of Elgar’nan.

He believes the most in Arviraven, thinking that his eldest sibling ought to make the political decisions. Keeps the Inquisition, abdicating in favour of Arviraven.

He’s best friends with Iron Bull and loves tormenting Dorian as his in-law.

✨❤️‍🔥 The WIPs❤️‍🔥✨

And The Lovers, Do They Dream? (Worldstate: What Is Right Over What Is Easy): A gothic romance meets magical realism retelling of the romance of Dorian Pavus and Arviraven Lavellan.

Also described as “Crimson peak with a happy ending meets Apollo throwing his pride-month-edition ball of prophecy at guy already on his way towards radicalisation.”

The Song of Dirthalath (Worldstate: What Is Right Over What Is Easy): He has had many names in history. Before he was disowned, he was Quenath’enal. Afterwards, he was known as Vir A’dirth Revas’an’dar or ‘Spymaster’. This is the song of a High-born ancient elf born into nobility, who lost everything and everyone, only to gain them again and lose them again. Over and over.

This is a story of the price of resurrection. This is the story that sings ‘Ara Ma’thalan Lethandar, Dirtalath Viradirth’, for we know of the Creator but not of what was supposed to happen to them: Dirthamen one day would rise in Elgar’nan’s place, with Abundance to his right and Will to his left. This is the story of the forsaken, should-have-been, Elvhen God of Will.

Alternatively: Prickly, ancient asshole with a heart of gold lives a thinly veiled allegory for the trauma of survival.

#worldbuilding.exe #this is missing the merry bands and merrier futures one which is my fully joint worldstate with kani my beloved #but worldstates! come get your worldstates!#navigation.exe

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moss-flesh · 2 years

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Varric! (for the character thing :3)

BEST BOY LETS GO

first impression:

okay so i played inquisition first and when is introduced i was like “WHOS THIS DUDE! I LOVE THIS GUY” hes making jokes and teasing cassandra, his crossbow has a name??? i was just excited to see what other funny stuff he’d say

impression now:

i adore this man he is my best friend. he is so caring and loving and comforting, i always think of him being a shoulder to cry on., i love that hes always asking if either hawke or inquisitor are okay. HE HAS SUCH A BIG HEART!! i just wanna lay on a couch with him and read while he does annoying paperwork.

favorite moment:

i mean fuck this is so hard coz he has so many iconic moments from his da2 intro to ‘chuckles, who is apparently an agent of fenharel, great.” but something that im sure almost everyone agrees with is his conversation with cassandra defending hawke is one of the best things ever. It shows how DEDICATED he is to the ones he loves “you people have done enough to her” IM NOT CRYING YOU ARE (i also really love his quest for his brother in da2 it breaks my heart man)

idea for a story:

hawke, fenris, and varric go on a date together and varric is the only one that really knows its a date. I just find it hilarious, like theyd be all obliviously romantic together and at the end varric is like “great date guys, one for the books 👍” and hawke and fenris are like……. wait…. that WAS a date wasnt it.

unpopular opinion: i honestly dont know if this is unpopular or not (probably not) but im not a huge fan of his relationship with bianca! something about it just feels weird? forced? idk why

favorite relationship:

him and hawke just ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️, but if i had to pick someone else i think his relationship with merril is so good. hes so sweet to her and i love that he gives her a ball of yarn so she doesnt get lost, and tries to reassure her that shes good. LOVE!

favorite headcanon:

homeboy fell in love with hawke a longggg time ago, but like doesnt really know ? how to go about it? coz he still loves bianca and has dedicated so much to her, but hawke is just something else.

#varric #varric tethras #asks

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135-film · 2 months

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stole this from an ask game because i have no respect for people and i don't think anyone cares about my opinion on characters. so meow. i'm just answering it myself idgaf

i'm gonna be talking about my babygirl (DA2 not awakening) cus hes on my mind frequently.

1. why do you like or dislike this character?

his transgenderism captivates me. and also the terrorism/treason

2. favorite canon thing about this character?

his everything. i literally think about him daily

3. least favorite canon thing about this character?

his hatred towards elves especially fenris. i like his asshole attitude until it comes to literal slaves but i don't even think bioware like, knows what slavery ACTUALLY is so. lol.

also i love bisexuals more than anything (bisexuals are the sexiest people aliveeee) but also the fact that he "is" bisexual even though he really. shouldn't have been. his interactions with female hawke are so insanely lackluster it hurts, but his interactions with male hawke are more than faggoty to the point real human people were mad about him being a faggot to them

4. if you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

nothing <3 i don't think about crossovers because i do not really care for them

5. what's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

i don't do music associations for anyone but IRL people and my kins so i do not have a single one.

6. what's something you have in common with this character?

we are both gay transgender terrorists

7. what's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

almost nothing. they make his stupid gay ass UGLY and also i hate dragon age fans (i am not joking)

8. what's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

when they bitch about him because hes an asshole or they make him super buff and cis and ugly. and they also like to pair him with fenris because le tensions or whatever, but i am literally begging people to use their fucking brains about that. (they won't)

9. could you be roommates with this character?

no. he would kill himself

10. could you be best friends with this character?

no. i would kill myself

11. would you date this character?

PLEASE ANDERS PLEASE CALL ME BACK PLEASE PICK UP THE PHONE I NEED YOU SO FUCKING BAD PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

12. what's a headcanon you have for this character?

his transgender cock is huge

13. what's an emoji, an emoticon, and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or that you think this character would use a lot?

i think this question is stupid but, without a single doubt in my mind: 😼

14. assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

miniskirts and crop tops. and shorts that show his ass. and a g string. and

15. what's your favorite ship for this character? (doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

just anders/hawke (either gender for hawke but M hawke is what i imagine), i don't really think about the companions dating outside of the pre-existing relationships (like iron bull/dorian). but i don't really think DA2 has many good options for him anyways, so unless he's making out with some random fucking NPC that only says "i'm so hungry and it's so dirty down here" i don't think he's getting anything

16. what's your least favorite ship for this character?

fenris/anders. i already said my reasons.

17. what's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite.

i like, almost never see any other ship honestly. i guess i did see a threesome fic that i liked with isabela, but they weren't a thruple they were just fucking lol

18. how about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

i think this question is worded so strangely. but i think a lot about justice and anders relationship a lot, and honestly karl and anders relationship too. i just lay here and go , man .

19. how about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

need i say it again. also, him and aveline should just relax a bit more tbhtbh

20. which other character is the ideal best friend for this character? the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter.

honestly i still think DA2 anders should be best friends with oghren. not that he WOULD be, but that he should be

21. if you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? what's something you don't like?

i literally only write porn fics of DA characters. (i have not shared them anywhere because they are old ass WIPs from like, ages ago.)

buuuut i don't like making him blond and i like melding his awakening personality and DA2 personality together because it's just what makes the most sense to me.

22. if you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? what's something you don't like?

pretty much same as above, and also the whole cis thing. i really cannot believe people don't see him as a nasty tranny

23. favorite picture of this character?

his concept art.

24. what's another character from a different fandom that reminds you of them?

uhhhh. probably nobody right now.

i haven't played BG3 but i've HEARD (from fandom spaces) that gale is pretty similar to anders in a few different ways. but i've also heard (from friends who know nothing about DA) that they don't think i would like gale, so.....truly who is to say unless someone wants to buy me a $59.99 (+$4.50 in state tax) game so i can learn more

25. what was your first impression of this character? how about now?

when i went into DA2 i was about 15 and had only ever seen fenris/hawke and that was what i wanted. until i saw anders. and then it completely derailed my course and i went fucking crazy for him. and now i cant NOT date him

#dook dook #someone needs to tell me to shut up but i wont listen #i have strong opinions about fandom because i do not like fandom. especially in 2024 where everyone is 5x the amount of annoying #and i am a fucking hater #but yeah im still gonna tag this anyways. FUCK BITCHES #dragon age #dragon age 2 #da2 #da anders #dragon age anders #da2 anders #dragon age 2 anders #um. whatever #its a big block of text so its your fault if you open it

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rowanaelinn · 3 years

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Strange Love

A one shot I’ve been working on for a few days to thank you for 100 followers!! I’m so happy to see people enjoying my fics, i truly love it.

warning: nsfw

“What can I get you?” The barkeep asked Aelin with his most charming smile. He was young and a brunette, exactly Aelin’s type, and according to his name tag he was named Chaol. If only she was less tired or if she was in Doranelle for her own fun she might have tried to flirt with him. “We’ll take two Sex On The Beach, please,” Fenrys, Aelin’s best friend, and coworker, ordered for them both. As funny as it was, whenever they saw each other they drank the same thing. They had met at a work conference five years ago, both of them were sitting at the bar, not in the mood to keep up with their boss, and both of them were drinking the same thing. it had become their ritual, that little thing that made their friendship special.

The waiter nodded and started preparing the drinks. When Aelin looked at her friend he had an eyebrow raised and a small smirk on his face. “What is it?” She asked.

“That guy is basically Sam with straight hair, you can’t keep seeing men that look exactly the same.”

“That’s not true!” It was true. “Besides, I wasn’t going to try anything.”

The look he gave her proved he didn’t believe her. When Chaol brought their drinks and winked at Aelin, she couldn’t help but laugh with Fenrys. “Okay, I may have a type,” Aelin admitted and Fenrys shook his head as he drank. “But there is nothing wrong with that!”

“Of course there’s nothing wrong with it, Ace. But having a type and dating the same guys in different fonts every time are two very different things. You need to spice things up!” He shook her shoulders and they both laughed. “You work your ass off all the time. For Mala’s sake, you haven’t got laid in two years.”

She took the little piece of pineapple hanging on the rim of her glass and threw it into Fenrys' head, right between the eyes. “I should never have told you this.”

Of course, the bastard just laughed, he never took things seriously, exactly like Aelin, as long as it wasn’t about her. “We are on another continent for four days, why don’t you go for it and have some fun.”

“I am at a club with you, I’m having lots of fun.”

“Unless you want to sleep with me again, I can’t give you the fun I’m talking about right now.” This time she took Fenrys’s piece of pineapple and this time he received it on the nose.

“Sleeping with you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.” Fenrys put both hands on his heart, pretending to be hurt by Aelin’s words. She shook her head as she laughed and looked around her. The club was quite crowded for a Thursday night, Fenrys and Aelin both had been lucky to find seats at the bar. “So you want me to take advantage of Elide and Lorcan’s wedding to have sex, that’s what you mean?”

“You'll meet a lot of people at their rehearsal dinner tomorrow or at the ceremony on Saturday. Many of them will be Lorcan’s friends that you will see only for two days.”

“I’m Elide’s bridesmaid, Fen. I won’t have time to flirt.”

“Elide told me Lorcan’s best man was hot!” he tried as he finished his first drink and ordered another one for both of them.

“He is Lorcan’s friend, I don’t trust anyone who pulls out with Lorcan’s bullshit,” She said and finished the end of her glass so that Chaol could take it back and put another one in front of her. “Besides Elide.”

“Amen,” Fenrys said as they clinked their drinks. Lorcan wasn’t Aelin and Fenrys’s biggest fan, and the feeling was mutual. Elide might see another side of this man when it’s just the both of them because Aelin didn’t know why else she would marry him. But Aelin never saw her sister happier than when she was with Lorcan, so Aelin was happy for her.

“Well since you don’t want to get laid tomorrow and Saturday, why not tonight? If you discreetly turn around you’ll see one of the hottest men I’ve ever seen staring at your back.”

Aelin was skeptical. Fenrys and her had similar tastes in women but not in men. She took her drink in hand and turned around slowly as if she was just looking around the club.

Her breath caught when she found a man with silver hair looking at her. He was sitting a few seats away from Aelin, and his eyes were fixed on her. She had dressed up well, she might not have gotten a lot of action lately because of her job but she still loved to be looked at. She was beautiful and she knew it, so she had no reasons to hide.

She had borrowed one of Lysandra’s dresses today, this one was gold. The dress was tight and exposed enough of her chest and back that she caught several glances at her tonight. The stranger was one of them. He had no shame in lowering his gaze to her breast and biting his lip. When his gaze descended again on Aelin's body, she arched her back slightly, crossing her legs to make her dress rise a little more.

As he drank in the sight of her, she marveled at the way his white shirt exposed his muscles. She even caught a tattoo on one of his arms, and with the way his head is turned toward her she could swear the tattoo went up to his neck. It was Aelin’s turn to bite her lip, she always found men with tattoos hot.

When Aelin looked back at his face he had a satisfied smirk, happy to catch her staring. She wouldn’t feel ashamed, not when it seemed he had to readjust his position in his seat after looking at her. She drank her cocktail down in one and delicately wiped her lips with her thumb, drawing the stranger's attention to them. Gods, it was almost too simple. Aelin loved the hunt, she loved to make things last. If she didn't have to fight for something it meant it wasn't worth it.

But the man wasn’t at her side yet, he was just sitting and seemed content to look at her. Most men would already be talking with her now or would be using their tongue in another way. But if Aelin learned something in twenty-seven years of life, it was that men didn’t like to wait. But maybe this silver-haired stranger did, maybe he was like her.

“You’re going to help me,” Aelin said as she took Fenrys' hand, he hurriedly finished his drink before getting down from his chair, following Aelin onto the dance floor. She slightly accentuated the sway of her hips, sure to have the stranger's attention on her.

“You’re the devil,” Fenrys chuckled as his hands slid on her hips and turned her around, pressing her back into his front. They started dancing slowly, both of their hips moving together. As her head fell back on Fenrys’s shoulder and one of his hands trailed up to her stomach, she opened her eyes to find the stranger staring at them.

If Aelin knew anything else about men is that they felt entitled to what doesn’t belong to them. So if she wanted to make him jealous to get what she wanted in the end, she would rather use Fenrys than a random man who could get violent for rejecting him in the end.

“With all the work I put into this I sure hope you'll ask me to join,” Fenrys said loud enough for her to hear as his lips grazed where the shoulder met her neck.

“Go find your own fun,” Aelin wasn’t shy in the bedroom but never had she done a threesome and she certainly wouldn’t have her first with a stranger.

The stranger’s eyes narrowed as she slid a hand on Fenrys’s blonde curls, arching against him. He tightened his grip around his glass of whiskey. Aelin's eyes were fixed on his fingers. She could imagine what they would feel like on her cheeks, breasts, stomach, tights or even inside her. Her inside twitched at that thought.

From the look on his face, he knew what had just been on her mind. Was this supposed to impress me? He seemed to ask as he arched his brow. He leaned in his seat and made a sign to Aelin to keep going. She couldn’t help but smirk and decide she liked this man.

Not one to back down from a challenge, Aelin winked at the man and turned around. She slid her hand around Fenrys neck and he automatically knew what she was doing. He laughed as he lowered his head to kiss her.

The kiss was heated, exactly the way it needed to be. One of his hands gripped her ass, bringing her closer to him while the other found her breast. She moaned, imagining the stranger's hands instead of Fenrys’s. Aelin opened her eyes to find him right in front of her, still sitting, staring at them. He was breathing heavily, eyes fixed on her. It felt so scandalous to kiss someone just for the show, just to provoke someone else.

She closed her eyes as Fenrys broke the kiss to start nipping at her neck. She threw her head back, still thinking about someone else's lips. Fenrys was good at it, but he wasn’t the one she needed now.

“Can I cut in?” A deep voice interrupted them as a warm hand slid on Aelin’s waist. She turned around to see deep green eyes staring at her. Her heart started beating faster at the mischief in these eyes, Aelin had no idea what she had just got into. Fenrys took his hands off her and kissed her cheek, murmuring to her to stay safe, to call him if she needed and he left them alone. Or as alone as they could be in a crowded club.

Having him so close to her made her feel many things but she did her best to keep a normal face. She gasped when he used his hand around her waist to turn her around, pressing her back to his front. Well, that wasn't exactly what she imagined herself doing once she spoke to him. “Don’t be shy, baby. You seemed to like dancing like a whore five minutes ago, didn’t you?”

She could feel herself getting wet at his crude words, this man was going to kill her before the end of the night and she wasn’t complaining. “Maybe I just don’t want to dance with you,” she taunted as her hips started moving with his. As she arched her back to feel more of him, she felt the evidence of his desire. Gods, he had gotten hard watching her. That might be the hottest thing Aelin ever lived.

“Is that why your eyes were on me when your tongue was down his throat?” One of his hands slid up, close enough to her breast for him to stroke the underside with his thumb. Her head fell back on his shoulder and she turned her head to find his eyes on her. She could see all his features now, and she’d been stupid to think every man she had been attracted to had been her type. Her type was him, nothing else.

She couldn’t answer, too overwhelmed. Looking at him as he touched her was too intense, she ground her ass harder on his erection, wanting to make him as desperate as she was. His hand slipped around her waist, holding her as close as he could, as the other one cupped her cheek, keeping her eyes on him. His thumb traced the curve of her lips, she opened her mouth and she stuck out her tongue to lick the tip of his finger in the most provocative way possible while keeping her eyes innocent.

He growled and inserted his thumb in her mouth, she closed her full, luscious, lips around it and turned her tongue around the tip. He leaned to her ear and whispered, tickling her with his hot breath, "You want me to fuck you, baby?"

She nodded eagerly, no longer caring that she looked desperate when his hand slid down to her thigh, just below her dress. He stroked her skin, if he moved his hand up a little he could touch her panties. “Are you wet?” He asked, making her clench around nothing. She didn’t have time to nod before his finger stroked her lace-covered slit. She moaned loudly around his thumb, suddenly grateful for the music. He slipped one finger under her panties and groaned at what he found. She closed her eyes as he caressed her folds, not touching either her entrance or clit. This man was a tease and Aelin loved it. “You’re so fucking wet, is it all for me?” he asked and let out a low laugh when she didn’t answer. “Does it turn you on to be touched in front of everyone?”

As if only remembering where they were, Aelin’s eyes shot open and she turned her head, trying to see if anyone was looking at them. Aelin’s mouth was left empty without the man’s thumb. He used his free hand to push her head back on his shoulder, forcing her to look at him. He had a satisfied smirk on his lips and didn't look worried about the hundreds of people around them.

“Nobody’s noticing you, baby. But you’re gonna have to stay quiet for me because I’m going to make you come right now and I don’t want anyone else to look at you.”

She wanted to protest, she really wanted to. But all she did was bite her lip when the stranger's thumb flicked her clit and another of his fingers plunged into her entrance. He didn’t wait before thrusting into her at the right rhythm to get her off. He added another finger and Aelin couldn’t help but let out another moan.

She closed her eyes, focusing on the pleasure but it apparently wasn’t in the man’s plan. “Look at me when I make you come, baby.” Too gone to care, Aelin opened her eyes and clenched around his finger when she met his eyes. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen and having them on her as she started rolling her hips against his hand was almost too much. “You’re so tight, I can’t wait to feel your cunt around my cock,” He whispered in her ear as he added a third finger. He circled her clit one last time and she fell over the edge, hiding her head in his neck as she bit her lip to the blood not to scream of pleasure. He didn’t stop thrusting into her, prolonging her climax. When her walls stopped spasming around his finger he stopped, pulling out his fingers.

Her legs were shaking and if he didn’t use his arm to hold her she would have fallen on the floor. “You did so well,” he praised her, kissing the top of her head. She just let a man whose name she didn’t know finger her in public and made her come faster than anyone ever did. She could almost laugh at the situation if she wasn’t still so needy.

“Join me in the bathroom?” He asked and she didn’t answer, only took his hand and started walking. The moment he closed and locked the door, she was thrown on the wall and his lips crashed onto hers. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, sliding her hands through his soft silver hair.

"What's your name?" She asked as he kissed her jaw and then her neck.

He looked back at her face, she was grateful he was holding her legs because she felt them weaken, pinned under his stare. “What’s yours, baby?” She wanted to say she asked first, but she knew enough about him to know he was in control.

“Celeana,” the lie rolled off her tongue easily. No matter how good this man was, he was still a stranger and Aelin was a woman. The less he knew about her, the better. “Yours?”

“You won’t need to call me anything else than ‘sir’.” He said with a proud smirk as he got her back on her feet and turned her around to face the mirror. He pushed her so her hands rested on the sink, the only thing holding her when he started kissing her neck.

“If I’m too rough you say red, understand?” He asked, looking at her in the mirror. She just nodded, leaning her back into his front. He pulled her dress up around her waist and spanked her. She bent over the sink, only held on her legs by the man's hold on her hip. The pain spread throughout her body, setting all her nerves on fire. “Use your damn words, Celeana.”

“Yes.” Not the answer he wanted because he spanked her twice, once on each ass cheek, harder than the first time. She couldn’t hold back her moans.

“Want to say something?” He asked, his tone mocking. She shouldn’t like this, shouldn’t like being treated that way. She had had public sex and been degraded for the first time in her life tonight, and the gods knew how much she loved all of it.

“I understand, sir.” She breathed.

“So you can be a good girl, that’s surprising.” He said as he stroked her ass. “You’d deserve to be spanked to the blood for kissing another man in front of me.” She moaned at his words. she arched her back, silently begging for more. He let out a soft chuckle and instead of giving her what she wanted, he took his hand off her ass. She cried out, mourning the loss of his hand.

He wrapped her long golden hair around his wrist, pulling at it. He made her look at him in the mirror as he slid the strap of her dress, exposing her bare breast. Aelin hated wearing a bra, and stopping wearing one did wonders for them.

The man took one in his hand, playing with her nipple as he used his other hand to pull harder at her hair. “Beg for it,” He commanded but Aelin didn’t. Unhappy with her behavior, he slapped her breast, hard. He took her nipple between his fingers and twisted, making her cry out in pain. “If you don’t beg me, you brat, your pretty pussy is the next thing I will spank and I won’t stop until you come.”

“Gods, please,” she moaned, a tear falling from her eye. “Please, sir. Fuck me, I need you in me, sir.” She didn’t care how pathetic she sounded, she would die if she didn’t have this man in her.

“Celeana?” He asked as he made her panties slide down her legs.

“Sir?”

“You’re not allowed to come until I tell you to, understood?”

“Yes, sir.” He bent her over the sink and unbuckled his belt. Aelin wanted to see his cock, he had felt so big against her ass.

His tip teased her entrance and then her clit. She didn’t care if someone heard her moan as he slowly entered her. He was big, bigger than any of the men she ever had. He buried himself to the hilt, groaning as her walls spasmed around him. It hurt to have him inside of her, but she welcomed and enjoyed the pain, and he knew it.

That’s why he didn’t wait for her to adjust and started thrusting into her, hard. Her eyes shut, focusing entirely on the feeling of him filling her.

She was shaking so much she didn’t know how her legs kept holding her. He pulled out and entered her again, hard, his balls slapping her clit. “Your cunt feels so fucking good,” He moaned, going faster, harder. His hand slammed on her ass, tearing another cry out of her. She was close.

He made her rise, hanging the angle of his cock, keeping her from falling with a hand around her throat. Delicately, he tightened his grip, and Aelin’s eyes rolled. His other hand found her clit.

“Sir,” she moaned, trying to hold her orgasm back.

“What is it, baby?” He was breathless. “Use your words, Celeana.”

“Please, can I come?” She prayed to every gods in the world he would let her come, but when she opened her eyes and found him smirking she knew her prayers were useless.

He only said “No,” and thrust faster in her, chasing his own orgasm.

Aelin wished she had a name to moan as she tried to focus on everything but the feeling of this man in her pussy and his finger on her clit. She cried, both in pain and pleasure as he kept going, hitting that spot deep inside of her nobody ever hit before

“Let go,” he grunted. “Come for me, Celeana.” His grip around her neck tightened even more and she lost control. She screamed, loudly, as she fell over that cliff of pleasure. Barely noticing she squirted. He kept thrusting into her and came a second later, spilling himself inside of her. Both leaned on the sink, trying to take their breath.

He pulled out of her and made her sit on the sink. Her back rested against the mirror, too tired to do anything by herself. He got dressed and took some paper to clean her up, she whimpered, too sensitive to be touched. He softly apologized, kissing her shoulder as he helped her get her dress back in place.

“Think you would want to do this again?” He asked, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. There was only curiosity and desire in his eyes, not demands.

“Sorry,” She gave him a small smile. “I’m not from here and anyway, I don’t really do more than one nightstand.” Gods forbid anyone ever gets attached. He only nodded and gave her a small smile full of understanding.

“Will I ever get your name?” She teased him, earning a soft laugh from him.

“I think I‘d like to keep some mystery.”

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

“We’re late,” Fenrys stated as they both entered the elevator.

“We’re fashionably late,” Aelin corrected him and he snorted. Both of them were past the point of fashionably late. Elide would be mad at her, she knew it, but Lorcan would be too and she kind of liked the sound of that.

“She’s going to kill you,” Aedion warned as he met them in the hall. Aelin quickly took him and Lysandra in her arms and started walking to the reception room.

“She won’t be physically violent, she won’t take the risk to ruin her bridesmaid look.”

“It’s Elide we’re talking about, it’s not physical violence I would worry about if I was you.” Lysandra chuckled, of course, she would find it funny. Aelin rolled her eyes but laughed along with her friend. Soon they were in the room, they were careful not to make noises, not wanting to drag attention to them.

She looked at her watch and sighed, one hour late wasn’t that bad, was it? At least, Fenrys would suffer from Elide’s rage if it came to that. Aelin took a glass of champagne and walked to Elide and Lorcan. Lorcan was talking to someone but she couldn’t see who because this bastard was just too tall. “Ellie,” Aelin started, taking the small woman in her arms. Maybe affection will make her less angry?

“You bitch!” Elide whisper-shouted, pushing Aelin away from her. Well, her plan definitely didn’t work.

“Elide, you look ravishing,” Fenrys winked and Aelin had to use all her focus not to laugh at Elide’s angry face. She was almost shaking as if it was taking everything in her not to yell at Aelin and Fenrys. If she laughed right now she was kicked out of the wedding, she knew it. Elide seemed to relax a little as Lorcan’s arms wrapped around her shoulders.

“Galathynius, Moonbeam.” He nodded. “So your plane didn’t crash.” She said with a point of humor but Aelin didn’t care and flipped him off. Fenrys just softly laughed and put an arm around Aelin’s shoulder, a normal way for him to show his affection.

“You two didn’t meet Lorcan’s best man.” Elide said as the man who talked with Lorcan turned around. Aelin’s heart stopped. No, no, no, no. “Rowan, this is Aelin, my sister. Aelin, this is Rowan, Lorcan’s best friend.”

This had to be some kind of sick joke, there was no way the man who fucked her last night was Lorcan’s best man. The universe really hated her. His eyes widened when he saw her and even more when Elide said Aelin’s name. Her real name.

Fenrys burst out laughing loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

—————

tag list:

@sheharahu // @morganofthewildfire // @thestoriesyoutell // @fromthelibraryofemilyj // @swankii-art-teacher // @itsforeverinnocent-blog // @becarefuloflove // @imnotsogoodatthis // @rowaelinismyotp // @a-court-of-milkandhoney // @feysand-loml // @surielandiareendgame // @live-the-fangirl-life // @story-scribbler // @loves-books // @fangirlprincess09 // @theysayitscrazy

#rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #rowaelin smut #rowan x aelin #rowaelin fic #rowaelin #rowaelin fanfiction #throne of glass fanfiction #throne of glass

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seasonofthewicth · 3 years

Text

Rowaelin Month - Day 9

prompt: co-hosts with chemistry

extras: podcaster!rowaelin, friends to lovers, tooth-rotting fluff!

word count: 2k

The podcast had originally been Lysandra’s idea.

She had deemed their regular conversations dissecting each of their dating lives too entertaining to keep to themselves and so it had begun. It hadn’t been very successful and they had only managed to wrangle a small number of subscribers, mostly consisting of their friends and reluctant family members. They’d had fun, but when Lysandra moved to the Southern Continent they hadn’t bothered to keep it up.

Then Aelin got drunk with Fenrys and his new roommate Rowan.

Her drunken self had thought it a fabulous idea to whip out her phone and hit record when Fenrys had begun to weave his story of the beautiful Asterin and her ruthless rejection, Rowan chipping in with quips that always made her cheeks feel a little warmer. That and the sparkle in his green eyes each time he looked at her.

She’d been intrigued by Rowan on day one. He was everything Aelin felt herself drawn to in one big package. Tall, handsome, tattoos, wicked sense of humour, didn’t take any shit, constantly gave her shit. She was charmed.

Until the podcast had taken off.

The inebriated episode featuring Fenrys and Rowan had landed her with a few thousand subscribers. And she had wanted to continue.

Fenrys had rejected her outright, claiming he didn’t need any more public humiliation, the Asterin story had been enough and she understood, but Rowan…

She’s not sure why she even asked Rowan. They weren’t friends, the episode they’d recorded had been the first night they met and they hadn’t spoken since but she’d laid the offer on the table anyway. Despite the fact that hearing all about Rowan Whitethorn’s dating exploits made her stomach twist.

What she knew of Rowan had told her he’d say no too. He hadn’t given her the impression of being particularly easy going, or that spending time with her in the absence of Fenrys would have been something he would consider. In fact, she’d wondered if he’d thought her desire to chat about something as frivolous as dating would be somewhat shallow or childish.

But then he’d said yes.

And so began their tradition. Every Thursday after his final class of the day and Aelin gets home from her office, she uncorks a bottle of wine and makes dinner. Rowan turns up at eight pm sharp each week, armed with a slice of chocolate hazelnut cake and his lilting and charming accent. They set themselves up at the desk in Aelin’s spare bedroom, each with a set of headphones and a microphone and they talk.

That started eight months ago.

Now they have hundreds of thousands of listeners, people who for some unknown reason like to listen to Aelin and Rowan. Aelin doesn’t get it, but here they are.

Aelin tucks her feet under her thighs and rests the arm holding her wine glass along the back of the sofa. They’ve just finished this week’s episode and she’s not ready for Rowan to leave just yet. He turns to her at the motion, a brow cocked in questioning. He looks good, very good.

The light from her TV highlights the cut of his jaw and plays off the silver strands of his hair, flopping onto his forehead. The green of his henley perfectly displays his golden skin and she’s desperately searching for glances of the swirls of ink that peek out of his neckline each time he shifts.

She thought that by spending more time with him her crush would fade. Except now she definitely has a thing for someone who has turned into one of her best friends.

“What’s up with you?” he asks, so aware by now of her moods. He knows when to wait and when to push her, when to joke and when to keep it real.

Aelin shrugs and the motion dislodges her neckline from her shoulder to part way down her arm. Rowan’s eyes dart down tracking the motion but flash back to hers once she speaks.

“I’m thinking about where we go next,” she says slowly. “I don’t know about you but I’m not dating very much recently and I wonder if I’m running out of funny dating stories.”

Rowan’s lips twitch and she uses the time before he speaks to desperately wonder what’s going on in his head. Then he moves his hand to her knee, his touch a comfort and a thrill, and her mind can only focus on that. Can only focus on how good it feels for him to touch her. She doesn’t have the capacity to worry where his head is at when his hands are on her.

“It’s not just you,” he says, on the same wavelength as her as always. “I don’t find myself on many dates anymore.”

He says it without even a whisper of shame, like he’s confident in why that is.

“I can’t tell if I’m thinking too much about the podcast,” she admits, “or if I just don’t want to do it anymore.”

He’s silent, which she usually uses as her prompt to continue, but his hand stays on her knee.

“I have an idea,” she says, shocked again as his eyes meet hers. “It won’t last forever, but I think it could give us a few episodes at least. We turn to other people. We get listeners to share their experiences, their horror stories, their life lessons, their advice, their failures. We give our comments, we compare them, we’re funny. I think it could work.”

She’s so nervous for his thoughts, his opinions matter to her, she wants his approval.

“I think it’s a great idea,” he says as a soft smile creeps onto his lips, tugging up his cheek and she wants to press her lips right there. “We can get people to submit their best stories, review them, add our own additions and commentary and we’re good for a while.”

He pauses, as though there’s more he wants to say. His hand on her knee squeezes and she craves more of his touch, wants his hand to slide higher, wants his fingers to entwine with hers.

Then he says, “I have an idea for an episode.”

She cocks her brow but he shakes his head.

“I need to think it through some more but I’ll let you know as soon as I have a more solid idea.”

It works and she’s relieved her lack of desire to date anyone who isn’t six foot four, silver haired and named Rowan Whitethorn hasn’t needed any expansion and hasn’t so far caused any major problems. Apart from the fact she finds herself getting lost when he talks, unable to respond right away because she’s too busy staring at his lips, his hands, his everything as he speaks.

She’s sure he’s probably noticed but he kindly hasn’t commented.

The idea to get content from their listeners leads her down a path she’s somewhat shocked to realise exists. She’s been trawling twitter to find their content and interacting with a lot more of their listeners and it’s led her to a small corner of twitter dedicated to her and Rowan.

She scrolls and scrolls through tweets that are convinced she and Rowan are either married, fucking or in love. Or if not yet already, they need to be. Aelin doesn’t disagree necessarily, but it’s weird to know people are thinking that, let alone tweeting it.

@/crochanqueen: Aelin’s laugh every time Rowan says something slightly amusing…. girl you’ve got it bad. He’s not that funny.

Gods, she hopes Rowan hasn’t seen these tweets. She needs to watch when she laughs.

“Next submission,” Rowan says, leaning forwards and speaking into his mic. He’s in his usual chair across from her and she has almost unlimited access to the sight of him in all his glory. No wonder it’s hard to concentrate when they record. “This guy says hi, I’ve got it bad for my best friend.”

Aelin swallows. She definitely needs to watch herself for this one.

“A tale as old as time,” she says with a breezy laugh.

“Right,” Rowan says, a tightness to his voice that wasn’t there before, before he turns back to his phone to continue reading. “We’ve known each other for a while now and we spend a lot of time together just the two of us and it’s as easy as breathing. We get along incredibly well, she makes me laugh and she makes me smile. She brightens my day.”

“Gods, this is so sweet,” she coos and Rowan gives her a tight smile. Okay, she’ll let him finish.

“She’s my best friend,” Rowan continues and Aelin bites her lip. “I want more but I don’t want to ruin what we have if she doesn’t feel the same.”

“Hm,” she says, twisting her hands on the table in front of her. She has to manage this one carefully, so as not to give too much away. “Is there any indication of whether she feels the same way?”

Rowan glances back to his phone. “He says; there are moments where I think she feels the same, there are moments where I think I could press my lips to hers and she’d kiss me back. There are moments she looks at me and it looks as though it would be impossible for her not to feel the way I do.”

“She sounds like a lucky girl,” Aelin says almost wistfully.

“You think?” Rowan asks, and she’s not sure his question makes sense.

“Don’t you?” she asks. “If they have these moments, moments where he could kiss her and she’d kiss him back, the moments where they get lost in each other's eyes, I don’t think those things can be made up.”

She ignores the way she always feels as though she catches herself in these moments with Rowan. She ignores them and plows straight on through.

“If he’s having these thoughts enough that they feel like a moment, they probably are.”

“Damn, Aelin.” Rowan smiles across the table. “Any advice for the poor guy?”

“Oh, it’s simple,” she says smoothly, “he has to tell her how he feels. Don’t waste any more time, if you’re reading her this way and she’s your best friend I think there’s very little chance you’ve got this wrong. If you’re listening to this,” she says leaning forwards so her voice is clear in the recording, “get the girl. Take a chance, tell her how you feel. Start small, ask her to go on a date.”

Rowan nods, the movement a sharp jerk but a smile plays on his lips. He looks up to her, his eyes meeting hers.

“Alright, Aelin. Go out with me. A date.”

She laughs, a bright sound, not allowing herself to jump to conclusions. “Is that what it says?”

His eyes flick back to his phone before he locks it and slides it onto the table. “It doesn’t say anything.”

“What do you mean?”

She’s very confused now. Is he playing with her? Has he noticed the way she feels? Surely Rowan isn’t so cruel to mock her like this.

“There’s no submission, it’s me, it’s you. Go out with me Aelin?”

Her mouth drops open.

“Go out with you? You like me?”

She’s stunned okay? Cut her a little slack.

He laughs, a hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck. “This was quite possibly not my best idea,” he says. “To go about it like this. I thought it would have worked well.”

“You’re serious?” she says, a smile creeping into her voice.

“As a heart attack.”

She pulls her headset off, needing to feel this moment just the two of them. Rowan does the same, vulnerability shining in his gorgeous, green eyes.

“Rowan,” she breathes. “I’ve been into you since day one. I thought there was no way you were interested in me.”

She stands, rising from her chair and almost floating over to him until she stands between his legs. She gently rests a hand on his shoulder as she leans down. His hands come up to her waist and pull her onto his lap.

She settles with a smile as she reaches up to cup his cheek in her palm.

“I’ll edit this out tomorrow,” is all she says before she closes the gap between them, pressing her lips to his, sealing it with a kiss.

#rowaelin #rowaelinmonth #i hated this at first lol #finally think i saved it #rowaelin au #rowaelin fic

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highqueenofelfhame · 3 years

Text

I’m not posting a tag list for this part because it’s late and I’m exhausted and wanna get it out for you guys. If it does poorly I’ll go back and tag but right now I’m just very over tag lists. Follow the “#hqoe f&f” tag or “falsehoods & fistfights” or “Hqoe writes” tags to more closely follow my work. You can also follow @highqueenofelfhamewrites and turn on post notifications if you want to be notified of my writing! I’m not doing this to be mean, I’m doing it to save time and frustration when the tagging system fails (as it often does)

Hugest shoutout in the world to @punkassbookjockey26 for being the best beta in the entire world. She helped so much with this update!! Give her a pat on the back.

Part One // Masterlist

Rowaelin // 5681 words

~*~

For the last several hours, the clatter of her clicking keyboard and the flipping of pages had been on a continuous loop. At some point, Aelin had opened Spotify and forgotten to turn on any music, clearly content to keep to her rigorous work pace in near-silence. The door to her office was closed, and no one had stopped by to bother her since she’d arrived. Only a handful of phone calls had disrupted her this morning, which meant she had gotten plenty of work done.

Except that it wasn’t morning at all— it was two in the afternoon, and she couldn’t quite figure out how the hell that had happened. She was still squinting at the time on her computer screen when a firm knock sounded at the door, and she called out, “Yes?”

“Have you eaten today?” At the sound of Rowan’s voice, Aelin’s head whipped toward the door. She was unable to stop the smile that spread wide across her face or stop herself rising from her chair to meet him. Aelin perched against her desk, accepting the brown paper bag he held in his hands. No, she hadn’t eaten, not since her half a bagel and cup of coffee before she arrived at work. She’d left a banana in her car for a snack but hadn’t wanted to run back down for it.

“Barely. I didn’t even realize it was past lunch,” Aelin sighed, looking back up at his face. Rowan was grinning down at her as she tore a bite of croissant off and popped it into her mouth. The man looked criminally good, wearing jeans that hugged his legs in all the right places and a white button-up shirt. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and her eyes lingered on his tattoo that swirled down to his fingertips.

“Can I kiss you in here?” His question caught her off guard, a laugh bursting from her lips. “Because this whole…” Rowan gestured to her outfit. “It’s really doing it for me.”

“You like librarian Aelin?”

“Yes,” he said, leaning down to press his lips to hers. The get-up he referred to was a pinstriped pencil skirt that hit just above her knees and patent black stiletto heels that had her only a few inches shorter than him. She had a red tank top tucked into the skirt and, at some point, had discarded her white cardigan over the back of her office chair. Her lips matched her shirt in a bright, matte, red lipstick that she’d neglected to touch up throughout the day. Still, when Rowan pulled away, his mouth was tinged with the outline of hers. “I like this a lot. Fuck.”

“For the record, you can kiss me anywhere you want to,” she told him. “Especially in my office, especially when the door is closed.”

“Noted.” Rowan tugged on her high ponytail before sinking into one of the leather armchairs in front of her. Aelin continued to munch on the variety of pastries he’d brought for her while his eyes seemed to be glued to her legs. Aelin wondered if he was thinking about laying her out on this desk and having his way with her here, but she also knew he wouldn’t let that be their first time. No matter how badly she wanted it to be.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Whitethorn?” She asked, nudging his thigh with the toe of her shoe. The way he raked his teeth over his bottom lip before looking up at her told her that, yes, he was thinking what she was thinking. The way he quirked his brow at her also told her that, no, it wasn’t going to happen.

They were kind of dating, in the sense that they had been on a handful of dates. They had shared many heated kisses against the door to her apartment when he dropped her off, but he was being such a godsdamn gentleman about all of it that they hadn’t had sex yet. Aelin would have fucked him in the bathroom of the bar that first night, and they both knew it. But something was holding him back. To be fair, she couldn’t place all of the blame on him. She was holding back as well. Whatever this was between them felt like something that could be extraordinary, and she didn’t want to be the one that fucked it all up because she couldn’t keep it in her pants.

“I have a fight on Saturday, and I was really hoping you would want to come. Obviously, I would give you tickets, plus however many extra you want to bring whoever.”

“Just Aedion, I think.” Her cousin would likely die to be personally invited to one of Rowan Whitethorn’s fights, the same way Aelin knew he’d been having a bit of a mental breakdown when he found Aelin with him at the bar.

“Not your friends’ cup of tea?” He teased with a grin.

“Not even really mine, but you get like, almost naked for these things, yeah?” Rowan’s head tilted back as he laughed, reaching out to catch her fingers between his own. He squeezed them, shaking his head at her. “I’m just saying, any female fans you have are not because they want to watch you fight. I Googled you.”

“Of course you did.”

“And if coming on Saturday,” she paused, fighting the twitch of her lips at the innuendo, “is what gets me to see you sweaty and naked, I will be there.”

“Apparently, you can find that on Google also.” Aelin started to jerk her hand from his, but he laughed again and tugged forcefully enough that she dropped into his lap, his arms settling around her hips.

They didn’t have sex on her desk by the time he left, but he did have a trail of lipstick down his neck and red smudges on his collar.

~*~

There had only been a few times where Aelin had seen Aedion this excited. He was practically jumping out of his skin, trying and failing to keep his wide grin at bay. The whole way there, he’d talked about Rowan’s stats and how likely it was for him to win this fight. Apparently, it was very likely, and according to Aedion, if anyone bet against Rowan in the gambling pools, they were going to lose a lot of money.

This version of Aedion was almost completely opposite the one that had shown up an hour late to the bar a few weeks ago, only to find Aelin perched in his personal hero’s lap.

By the time Aelin spotted a familiar head of golden blonde hair making his way through the crowd, Rowan had stayed true to his promise. He’d bought her not one but two drinks, and she had a very happy buzz flowing through her.

“Aedion!” She hadn’t bothered to get out of Rowan’s lap; she liked the way his hand felt on her thigh, the other twirling a piece of hair around his finger while he talked to the tall, broody one— Lorcan.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

“It’s okay; I made friends! And a fiancé!” Rowan laughed then, sticking his hand out for Aedion to shake.

“I’m the fiancé. Rowan Whitethorn. You must be the cousin she’s been waiting on.”

“I got held up at work. Aedion Ashryver, nice to meet you.” Despite the cool and collected exterior Aedion was giving off, Aelin knew without a doubt that he was dying inside. She spent several nights curled up on his couch while Aedion and his friends watched Rowan’s fights, though she’d never cared enough to pay attention. Usually, she disappeared to his guest room to read a book or snuck out after an acceptable amount of time to hang out with her own friends.

Aelin had heard about Rowan’s victories time and time again. When Aedion showed her different self-defense moves, he would say that Rowan Whitethorn took someone down with the same simple maneuver. To say that he admired Rowan would be an understatement. He damn near idolized him.

“Nice to meet you? That’s what you’re going with?” Aelin asked, mouth dropping open as everything Aedion had ever said about the man beneath her flooded her memory. Aelin looked at Rowan, shaking her head and pointing at her cousin. “All I ever hear about when you have a fight coming up is ‘Rowan Whitethorn this’ and ‘Rowan Whitethorn that.’ Yet now he’s here, and all he says is nice to meet you. Unbelievable.”

“Rowan doesn’t look like someone who particularly cares for fan service. Though if I’m wrong, correct me, and I will rectify that immediately. On my knees even, if he decides he’s interested in men at all.”

Aelin’s lips dipped into a drunk pout as she said, “I saw him first.”

“Technically, I saw you first,” Rowan interjected, a teasing tone in his voice. “And you rejected me.” A wrinkle appeared between her brows as she looked up at Rowan’s handsome face, disliking that she was already being ganged up on.

“I’m sorry— you rejected him?” Aedion sputtered in disbelief. Aelin flicked Rowan’s nose, and just like that, they settled into an easy banter that tugged on Aelin’s heart entirely too much.

Now, though, Aedion seemed to be nearly vibrating out of his skin with excitement. At will-call, they’d learned Rowan had set aside special floor seating just for them. When they walked into the arena, Aelin was pleased to see Rowan’s group of friends from the bar. She’d spent the most time with Fenrys than anyone else, and he welcomed her with a big hug, insisting she sit beside him instead of Lorcan. Aelin was more than happy to oblige, as Lorcan didn’t seem to have a taste for her. He didn’t even bother saying hello.

They settled into their seats, Aelin sitting between Fenrys and Aedion, both of whom had skipped the pleasantries and moved right into a conversation about the upcoming fight. Aelin leaned back into her chair and took in the surroundings. There were bits and pieces she remembered from her time barely watching matches with Aedion, but it was still different than what she expected. There was a large octagonal ring in the center of the room surrounded by black fencing that had to be about six feet tall. She wondered briefly if the fence was to keep people out or to keep the fighters in.

People were milling about, but Aelin realized that the arena itself was three levels high, and seats were piled around the room from floor to ceiling. There had to be thousands of them, and from the look of the crowds filing in, there wasn’t going to be an empty spot in the house. She hadn’t realized that MMA had such a following.

After about twenty minutes, the lights dimmed and the booming voice of the announcer filled the arena. People cheered wildly as the introductions for the fight were made and the sponsors were thanked. And finally, Aeling knew it was time. The announcer over-dramaticized the entrance for the first fighter and Aelin watched as a lean-muscled man walked up to the ring. He entered through a gate on the side, and people cheered as he made his rounds. Aelin sat on the edge of her seat for the announcer to start his next introduction, ready to see Rowan walking through the tunnel, when a different name was announced and a different man came strolling out. The confusion must have been all over her face when she looked at Aedion because he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

“Rowan is the main event,” he said. “Which means there are a few fights before his.”

“Seriously? You mean I have to wait?” Aedion nodded and her scowl deepened. “How long?”

“Looking at the schedule, Rowan’s fight is slated to start in about two hours.”

“Two hours?! I have to wait two hours!?”

“Come on, Ace. It won’t be that bad. Just try to enjoy it.” Aedion turned away and was immediately drawn into the fight that had begun in the ring just a few feet in front of her. Aelin pouted, remembering all the reasons why she never stuck around to watch these matches with Aedion previously.

“All I wanted was to see Rowan sweaty and half-naked. I literally don’t care about anyone else,” she grumbled, mostly to herself. Beside her, Fenrys chuckled and threw his arm around the back of her seat as she settled back. Aelin frowned down at her phone, opening Snapchat to get a quick photo of her expression, which she promptly sent to Rowan.

It took him a good ten minutes to reply back to her, and it seemed he knew why she was pouting because the text across his photo simply said be patient.

After that, she didn’t want to bother him, and whatever pre-match rituals he may have, so she settled for scrolling through various social media apps to bide her time. When she found herself restless, she gave in and opened her book app to continue reading a romance novel she’d started the day before. The male love interest may have been a boxer and may have been incredibly sexy, and she may have downloaded it after searching for fighting-related books.

She had just reached a particularly steamy part of the book when she felt Aedion nudge her arm. Godsdamn him, the leading male was just about to give the girl the orgasm of her life when he’d interrupted. Aelin scowled up at her cousin, but the expression morphed into one of incredulity and excitement when she heard Rowan’s name announced, and he walked out into the arena.

Aelin immediately perked up in her seat, sliding her phone between her thigh and the chair. Rowan strolled out like a king surveying his kingdom, and the cheers were deafening. He wore absolutely nothing but a pair of forest green athletic shorts that left little to the imagination and some sort of fist guards over his hands. A wicked grin formed on his lips as he jogged up to the ring and hoisted himself up over the side with practiced ease. There was a very dramatic introduction, one that had the entire crowd screaming and getting to their feet. Aelin couldn’t help but join them, giving a standing ovation to the man she’d spent so many stolen hours with lately. Beside her, Aedion was absolutely losing it. It only made her smile more.

Even as the arena quieted while the referee explained the rules, nobody returned to their seats. Everyone stayed on their feet, and Aelin could understand why. Once the fight started and the hits and kicks started to get thrown around, she found herself filled with a restless energy that she couldn’t push down. Every time his opponent’s fist swung toward him, her heart began to beat frantically in her chest.

But Rowan ducked and dipped out of reach almost every time. The way the muscles of his arms and legs rippled every time he took a swing at the other man, Cairn, her mouth went dry. She hadn’t walked into the arena tonight expecting to find anything about the fight beautiful, but it was. The way that Rowan’s body moved was like watching a dance unfold before her. Every swing of his arm or swift kick of his leg sending her heart racing just like it had when she’d watched ballets growing up. It felt like such a bizarre comparison to make, but Rowan Whitethorn’s body was nothing short of a work of art.

But there was also a ferocity in it. Where ballet was soft and demure, Rowan was a force of nature. His face was hewn from stone, each strike with his hands or legs precise and controlled, but with an element of chaos surrounding it. He unleashed himself on Cairn, throwing punches and kicks swiftly, so quick that Aelin could not keep up with where the next one was going to land. With brutal efficiency, Rowan managed to get past Cairn’s guard to deliver several painful-looking blows in quick succession that had the crowd collectively wincing. It seemed that Aedion’s idolization hadn’t been misplaced.

Rowan breathed heavily, sweat dripping down every inch of his torso. His abdominals flexed with every exhale, showing off every hard line and sharp curve. The tattoo that swirled down his left side glistened under the bright lights of the arena. He looked like a god, and Aelin discovered that she found it quite difficult to keep her mind from falling off into the gutter when he looked like that.

When he made the final blow, a hit to Cairn’s face that had him unconscious before he even hit the floor, Aelin was surprised by how wholly turned on she was. He dominated the fight and looked damn good while doing it. Rowan was announced as the winner, fierce triumph written all over his face as the crowd completely lost their minds. Pride swelled in her stomach, and she couldn’t help her wide smile as she cheered along with the thousands of people in the arena. Even though it was televised, it felt special when he made eye contact with her and grinned before exiting the ring and heading her way.

Of course, he was intercepted about a dozen different times by dozens of different people offering their congratulations. When he finally got to her, he dipped down and hugged her tightly to his chest, pulling her feet off the ground. She could feel the heat of his body through the thin layers of her clothing, scorching her skin. The smell of him, a musky scent of sweat and the pine body wash she had come to associate with him assaulted her nose and she breathed him in deep. She felt the want ratcheting up in the most delicious way and knew that she would no longer be content with a night of only being pressed against her apartment door. Their kisses, no matter how desperate they had been, wouldn’t be enough to sate the need she felt for him. She needed all of him, and she needed him as raw and unrestrained as he had been during that fight. He pressed a kiss to her cheek as her feet met the floor, and he stepped back.

“Sorry, I’m sweaty.”

“You were amazing.” Amazing didn’t quite cover it, but it was the only word she could think of that came anywhere close.

“Does that mean you’ll come out with me tonight? To celebrate?” She wanted to say yes immediately. But with him in front of her, covered in sweat and looking like the only thing she wanted her mouth to touch for the foreseeable future, Aelin shook her head as her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. The disappointment began to cloud his handsome face, but she shook her head faster as though it would dispel his negative thoughts.

“I was kind of hoping I could steal you away. Celebrate with you alone.” Her voice was low and sultry, and she almost laughed because she could see him calculating just what that meant. The two of them. A celebration. Entirely alone, with no one else around.

“I— yeah. Yes. We can— yes. I have to wrap up here and then we can go to my place?” At all of his stuttering, she couldn’t help the bright laughter that bubbled out of her as the usually confident man in front of her stumbled a bit. His attention was drawn away temporarily when Aedion clapped Rowan on the shoulder and began to spew his admiration and congratulations. Rowan took it with grace, thanking him for coming while trying to keep his eyes off Aelin’s face. The way she bit her lip clearly wasn’t helping because his eyes kept dropping down to her mouth.

When a member of his team told him he needed to hurry— he had a short press conference post-fight and still wanted to shower before— Rowan dropped a chaste kiss to her lips and headed back to the locker room.

Aelin waited not-so-patiently, standing on the outside of Rowan’s group of friends in the parking lot while they talked. Aedion fit right in, pointing out the highlights of the fight with renewed vigor. He still seemed to be riding the adrenaline high from watching Rowan fight , and Aelin was sure he would implement something of what they saw into her self defense training.

When Rowan finally came out, they all cheered and shoved him around their little circle in celebration. He was grinning from ear to ear as he reached for Aelin and pulled her into his side, dropping a kiss to her hair. It was impossible to stop the tug she felt in her stomach, something between excitement and nerves. Everything inside seemed to be tied up in delicious knots as she leaned into him, enveloped by the scent of his body wash, the smell of pine equal parts comforting and arousing. “Where are we going tonight?” Fenrys drawled, throwing his arm around Vaughan. The quiet, dark-haired man tried to shrug out of it, but it only ended with him in a headlock.

“I will actually be stealing him away,” Aelin said before Rowan could even get a word in. Rowan’s hold on her shoulder tightened as he squeezed, and she squeezed him back where she had her arm around his waist, secretly thrilled that he was as on board with this plan as she was. His friends groaned in protest but Aelin and Rowan laughed. Lorcan looked particularly displaced about the revelation and was the first to step backward out of the circle and bid farewell. It didn’t take long for the others to follow and for Aelin to lace her fingers through Rowan’s and tug him toward his car.

While their pace could be described as leisurely, Aelin felt anything but. Now alone, she felt that want from earlier return with a vengeance. Rowan squeezed her hand, and her mind immediately wandered to those strong hands touching elsewhere, all over. A quick glance up at him left her reeling when she caught his gaze on her, and swore she saw every dirty thought that crossed his mind. It excited her, knowing that despite his cool, calm exterior wrapped around all of that cockiness, Rowan Whitethorn was just as affected as she was by what was to come.

When they arrived at his car, a sleek, black sports car that was perfectly him, Rowan opened the passenger door for her, ushering her in. Aelin turned her head towards him, and under the parking lot lights, she could see where Rowan had taken a bit of a beating.

Ducking inside the car, Aelin turned to look at Rowan, her thumb coming to brush over a bruise that was forming on his cheek. It was already a blue-purple color, indicating that it would only look worse over the next few days. Luckily he hadn’t taken too many hits, so this seemed to be the worst of his injuries. There was one other place near his temple that had drawn a little bit of blood but it was already on the mend, cleaned by the medics backstage.

“I’m okay,” he reassured her, his hand coming over to rest on her thigh. Aelin pulled hers away, startled by the softness in his voice. Her eyes searched Rowan’s for the lie that he was more hurt than he let on, but she saw nothing. She supposed it should have comforted her that Rowan knew what his limits were, but still, it seemed crazy that this man before her was the same one that had attacked Cairn in the ring and ended the fight in the first round.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, her voice echoing the softness of his own.

“You just saw me get pummeled a few times and you’re worried about hurting me?” His voice dripped with disbelief, remnants of a laugh bubbling out. Aelin shrugged, cheeks stained a rosy blush.

“I don’t want to accidentally push on places that hurt.”

“I can assure you that anything you inflict upon me will be the sweetest kind of pain,” he promised, lacing his fingers with hers and bringing them to his mouth to press a kiss to her knuckles as he started the car and drove out of the dimly lit parking lot. Those knots in her stomach unspooled themselves into liquid heat as her bottom lip slipped between her teeth. “Don’t do that.”

His voice was rough with want, and it scraped over her, leaving small goosebumps on her skin. She shivered in anticipation, and ached to hear more in that deep, rumbling timbre. Reaching out a hand, she coyly ran her fingers slowly, softly up the taut skin of his arm. “Do what?”

“Bite your lip like that when I can’t kiss you.”

“If you drove faster, you would be able to kiss me,” Aelin teased, leaning over the center console to press a lingering kiss to his shoulder. Rowan’s knuckles turned white where he gripped the steering wheel, glancing over at her as the car rolled to a stop at a red light. Soaking up the opportunity they’d graciously been given by the gods, he deftly captured her chin and crushed his lips against hers, kissing her in a way that stoked the smoldering want inside her into an inferno. She felt the sinful slide of his tongue brushing against hers, of his teeth tugging over her bottom lip like he wanted to take a bite out of her. Aelin hoped that he would.

When he pulled away, Aelin’s eyes stayed closed, her lips stayed parted. A shaky breath tumbled from them, filling the tense silence in the car. It took everything in her to sit back in her seat and let him drive. If she were to do what she truly wanted to do, she would have him pull over and climb with him into the backseat, his apartment and privacy be damned.

Aelin wasn’t so sure that Rowan would stop her if she tried to coax him into it. How they had managed to go this long without tearing each other’s clothes off was a mystery to her. As she looked over at him, her eyes lingered on those strong hands gripping the steering wheel, hands that she wanted gripping her in the same way. She desperately wanted to have his fingerprints bruised into her thighs, to see the imprints of his teeth all over her chest. The idea of his back being covered with the marks of her nails only fed that growing fire within her.

The drive seemed to take an eternity, consisting of stolen kisses at stop signs and longing looks. It was hard to keep her hands to herself, and that seemed to be the case for Rowan, too. By the time they reached his apartment, his hand had drifted so high up her thigh that it was burning a hole straight through her jeans.

Rowan held her hand loosely while they walked inside the building and to the elevator. As soon as the metal doors slid shut, however, he was tugging her toward him and pressing her back against the wall. His hands slid from her hands to her waist, dropping down to her thighs to lift her up on the railing. Aelin couldn’t help the moan that she breathed into his mouth, her fingers twining into his hair while he tugged at her lip.

When the elevator dinged on his floor, Rowan was dragging hot kisses down her throat. It seemed to be too much for him because he had to take a moment before he pulled away. Rowan’s mouth stayed against her neck while he caught his breath causing goosebumps to rise all over her skin. The doors were beginning to close again when he finally pulled away and shoved his hand out to stop them.

Aelin laughed then, sliding down from the railing and tugging him down the hall toward his apartment. At the door Rowan fumbled with his keys, pressing kisses to the side of her neck as the lock tumbled and gained them entrance.

Any restraint he had left seemed to dissipate as soon as the door was shut and locked. Once again her feet left the floor as he carried her to his room and laid her down on his bed. Their kisses were hungry, starving as he lifted her shirt and tossed it onto the floor. His hands made quick work of the rest of her clothing, and before long they were just skin on skin, his mouth drifting lower and lower down her body.

All of it was pure ecstasy, almost too much for her to handle. It didn’t take long before she fractured beneath his mouth, her nails digging into his back, scratching desperately over his skin as he moved back up her torso to press his lips against hers.

When he pulled back to look at her, something had shifted. Gone were the frantic kisses, replaced by deeper ones that stole her breath from her lungs. An impossible feeling was tugging at her heart as their bodies moved together beneath the sheets. This time when she fell over the edge, Rowan went with her. Their bodies were so tangled it was hard for her to think clearly enough about where he started and she ended. Their gasping moans were a harmony she wouldn’t soon forget as he collapsed on top of her.

Aelin’s heel pushed down the strong muscles of his thigh, his calves, silently begging him not to move. His lips ignited sparks over her collarbones as he settled atop her while her fingers ran softly up and down his sides.

Eventually Rowan rolled off of her, and she would have frowned had he not tugged her into his side a heartbeat later. Aelin draped her leg over his waist and nuzzled her face against his chest, pressing a single kiss over his heart.

The last thing she remembered was the feeling of his hands in her hair and his low humming of a forgotten melody as she drifted off into a blissful sleep.

~*~

Soft kisses were being dropped over her bare back, leaving a trail up and down her spine. Aelin hummed in approval as a grin spread across her face. Her eyes were still closed, ignoring the rays of sunshine that were likely illuminating her face, when Rowan pressed a kiss to her cheek and the corner of her mouth.

“Good morning,” she said hoarsely, her lack of voice another reminder of everything that had transpired last night. She had woken Rowan a handful of hours after their first time, rolling on top of him and placing teasing kisses over his neck and chest until his calloused hands guided her into position. That time, Aelin had been control, her hands gripping the headboard through wave after wave of pleasure. There was an ache between her legs that made her want to beg Rowan to touch her despite how exhausted she was.

“Hi, baby.”

Aelin’s smile widened as she rolled onto his back and looped her arms loosely around his neck. Rowan kissed her properly then, long and slow until she was sure they were going to go for a third round in under twelve hours.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, fingers brushing her hair back from her face. Aelin wanted to snort in response, knowing last nights makeup was likely smeared around her eyes and she reeked of sex and sweat. But there was such reverence in his tone that she couldn’t bring herself to disagree, his green eyes bright in the morning sun as they traced over every feature of her face. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Her hand moved from his neck to the side of his face, thumb brushing lightly over the bruise that marred his skin.

“You saw me fight. You watched me beat the hell out of someone and you didn’t turn and run. You didn’t balk. You still wanted me.”

Aelin was positive the confusion was written all over her face from the downturn of her lips to her furrowed brow, but still she said, “Has that been a problem before?”

“Yes.” Rowan pressed a series of kisses over her face starting at her temple and ending at her jaw.

“It’s not a problem for me,” she promised, voice barely a whisper against his cheek. Rowan was quiet for a moment, turning his face to look at her. “You’re a fighter. That’s what you are. I wouldn’t want you to be anything but what you are.”

A mix of emotions fluttered across his face, whatever he felt being a catalyst for kisses to her forehead, her cheeks, nose, and finally her lips. When he pulled back, he looked hesitant and unsure. It was the first time Aelin had ever seen him like that and it felt raw. Like he was exposing a part of himself he seldom did. She was ready to ask him what was going on when he kissed her so thoroughly she’d nearly forgotten the conversation at hand.

“What if I wanted to be something else?” Rowan gazed down at her, teeth grazing over his bottom lip. Again, she swore she saw uncertainty on his face and in his tone as the question rushed out in a single breath.

“Like what?”

“Like your boyfriend.”

She couldn’t help the joyful laughter that bubbled up and out like champagne. Rowan grinned too, so widely that his dimples were deep in his cheeks. Her thumbs ran over them as she kissed him, both of their smiles making it almost difficult. It was too cute, the way he’d seemed almost nervous and bashful in his delivery. It felt like high school all over again in the most innocent way.

“You can be that, too.”

233 notes · View notes

whimsicallyreading · 3 years

Text

An angsty one-shot for your day. I stayed up way too late to write this.

CW- drinking

Aelin keeps the letters stacked neatly on her desk.

Each letter is stamped, addressed, and ready to mail. In tiny marks on the back, she writes the date every individual one was written. The envelopes are his favorite shade of green. A deep, pine color that she’d painstakingly scoured every stationary shop to find.

Delicately, Aelin seals the latest envelope and adds it to the growing pile.

My Love,

It’s almost winter here in Orynth. I know it’s your favorite season and you are probably sad to miss out, so I took a Polaroid of the clouds coming in over the staghorns for you.

Do you remember how we’d sit in front of Mistward every year and watch the first snow storm come in over the peeks? We would drink hot chocolate and talk for hours. About our families, our futures, anything and everything. It’s still one of my favorite traditions.

In fact, it’s where I am right now. Writing this letter to you. Just because you are overseas doesn’t mean you get to bail out. I bought two hot chocolates, but I suppose I’ll have to drink yours for you. What a shame.

Writing to Rowan was her weekly tradition since he got deployed. No matter how busy life got, every Friday she wrote him two full pages front to back. Whether she got to sit at her desk or had to scribble against the rusty bench at the bus stop, every inch was covered in her hand writing.

That was her personal rule. They had to be handwritten. Aelin felt it meant more that every piece of the letter was entirely from her. So she keeps a collection of colored pens handy for whenever the urge to speak to her husband grows to be too much.

At the bottom of the last page, next to her signature, Aelin always kisses the paper with red lipstick. Maybe it’s cheesy, but it’s the same shade she wore at their wedding.

You could see the ghosts of the color along his jawline in their favorite photos together. His beaming smile, the smudges of red on his face and the collar of his white dress shirt. A remnant from the happiest day of her life she thought would bring him comfort.

My love,

Winter is here! It’s so cold outside. You would say it’s this frigid every year, but it just feels different this time. Maybe it’s because you aren’t hear to snuggle up with and your side of the bed is empty? You were always so warm.

I keep your slippers by the couch. They are ridiculously huge on my feet, but I swear they still feel like you just walked in them. Your warmth is still there.

You would laugh if you saw me hobbling around the apartment in them. My toes slide all over the place. Truthfully, your feet are atrociously large, dear- Still they remind me of you, so I love them.

Aelin gets home late from work that night.

Humiliated tears sting her cheeks, even as she rubs them away. The feeling of that creep, Cairn’s, hands lingering on her ass.

She was used to fending off handsy patrons. What bothered Aelin is that when she complained to her boss, Erawan, he publicly berated her for instigating the customers.

None of the other waitresses would meet her eye when she looked for back up. Grave, the bartender, sniggered through the entire dressing down. Aelin could still feel their eyes on her skin as Erawan accused her of being provocative.

Rowan would have demanded she quit the job. He would have marched down to the bar and broken Cairn’s face. Possibly even held him back so Aelin could do it herself.

Aelin needs the money, though. Rowan’s accounts were frozen due to some stupid technicality at the bank. Without her paycheck, she would lose the apartment.

Sniffling, Aelin slides her feet into Rowan’s slippers and plops at her desk. It isn’t Friday yet, but she’s desperate to speak to him.

As her hand flows across the paper, Aelin knows she won’t describe the days events to him. He’s under enough stress without her work drama adding to his worries.

My love,

Yulemas is next week. Aedion is in Caraverre with Lysandra and our new nephew. Lorcan and Elide are going up from Perranth to stay with them, but the roads are so frozen in Orynth I may just stay here this year.

Besides, work is busy right now. They need someone to man the place for the people with nowhere to go for the holidays.

Maybe I’ll host a little celebration at the bar. Like we did that one year when we got stuck in the Hostel in Rifthold. We made the best of a bad situation, and it was the first time you told me you loved me. I think I’d like to relive a little of that this year.

I miss you. Please come home.

Aelin lays in her bed the night before Yulemas and sobs.

Ugly, guttural noises spill from her chest and she soaks their pillows with tears. The newest envelope is clutched against her chest, and the building stacks mock her from their spot across the room.

Her heart is so raw. Aelin knew it was a bad idea to count the letters, but there was so many. Curiosity got the better of her, and now she was bleeding for her mistake.

Fifty-six.

A full year of letters she hadn’t been able to send.

Rowan had only ever written her twenty before he was declared missing in action.

A year ago, she’d been hanging bobbles and decorating a tree knowing her husband only had a few weeks left of his tour.

Aelin had painted a welcome home banner, and her whole family made plans to come and spend the holiday with the soon-to-be-reunited couple.

She had his slippers waiting by the door. Rowan’s favorite blanket was laundered and folded on his side of the bed in case he wanted to lay down. Aelin had it on good authority that the bed would be one of the first places they visited when he arrived. Emerys had even given her a mixture of their favorite hot chocolate to make.

Everything was perfectly in place for his return.

That’s what when the soldiers arrived at her door and her world fell apart.

Lorcan came home a week later. He hugged Elide and she cried into his shoulder. Happy tears. So unlike the ones Aelin had been shedding. Her friend beamed ear-to-ear, as the love of her life gathered her into his arms and squeezed.

It was a touching sight, but Aelin could feel the hot knife being twisted in her chest. Elide’s happiness caused her physical pain, and it made her feel so selfish. She didn’t begrudge Lorcan his life, or Elide her joy- Aelin just missed her own husband.

Elide and Lorcan spent Yulemas together. Kissing and holding hands. Lysandra finally announced her pregnancy. Aedion’s expression when he opened the box with the baby onesie inside was priceless. Her cousin whooped and hollered, almost dancing with the prospect of becoming a father.

Aelin smiled. She gave her congratulations and celebrated with her family. They hugged, and laughed. Aedion took care to include her in everything, and she played her part even as she tried to ignore the concerned looks her family exchanged behind her back.

Aelin made it to lunch before she couldn’t take it anymore.

Fenrys was the one to find her having a panic attack on the bathroom floor. She hadn’t even known it was a panic attack. Aelin just assumed the pain of losing her soulmate was finally killing her. The tightening of her chest and the body aches felt enough like a heart attack to be convincing.

He gathered Aelin in his arms and counted breaths with her. His twin brother Connal was lost in the same fight where Rowan had gone down. Fen had seen the whole thing from the cockpit of his plain, and nothing he did could’ve saved them.

He shared his pain, and for the first time Aelin felt like someone understood her.

Fenrys let her lean on him as they excused themselves from the celebrations. They drove to some bar in Caraverre and spent the rest of the day wallowing over whiskey.

Aedion came to collect their drunken asses later that evening. Worry etched into every line of his kind face. It only made her feel ashamed that she’d rained all over their happy day.

He was going to be a father, and she’d forced him to spend his time fretting over her instead of reveling in that news.

Now here she was a year later. Aelin wasn’t going to subject herself to that again. Couldn’t. She wouldn’t force her grief upon anyone else this year, either. Just because she was hurting didn’t mean that everyone else had to suffer with her.

So, as Yulemas Eve came, and before she could finally distract herself with work, Aelin pulled Rowan’s blanket over herself. She’d spritzed it with his cologne, donned his shirt, and pulled his socks over her feet. Aelin did everything she could to feel surrounded by him.

Then, alone in their bed, she watched as the clock ticked down to midnight.

Rowan,

Wherever you are, I hope my words reach you and that you know you aren’t alone. I wish with every ounce of my being that I could trade places with you- would give anything, just to know where you are.

It breaks my heart, to be without you. Every breath seems pointless. I lied in my last letter. The roads aren’t frozen. I’m not needed at work. No one really needs me to be around them. I just couldn’t spend another holiday surrounded by happy people when the other half of my heart is gone from me.

When you come home, I will feel like celebrating again. I’ll wrap my arms around you, and we can make up for lost time. Just please, don’t make me wait too much longer.

Merry Yulemas, my love. We will be together again one day.

Until then, I’ll keep on writing, only so long as you don’t yield.

Sincerely, your loving wife

Aelin

#throne of glass #rowaelin #fanfic #rowan whitethorn #aelin galythinius #aelin #rowan #angst fic #write me #one shot #tog fanfiction #tog

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readerxlovestay · 3 years

Text

Fenrys x Reader

Part 2

Part 1

Summary: You and Fenrys are goaded into going on a vacation/double date with Aelin and Rowan. After a game of beach ball, she reveals that it was her who had set up both of you. Just a fun imagine with all of our favourite characters.

Ref: y/n - your name

Tw: none

Genre: Fluff, slightly suggestive

A/n: This was such a fun one to write! And I have written it as the part 2 of the Nightmare imagine (right here - Part 1) which totally fit right in. I hope you guys like it too! Oh and in the last imagine, the reader regarded Aelin as the Queen and in this, I've made them like best friends just so it'll be even more enjoyable! I think this is one of my good ones (even if I say so myself;) Follow me if you like content like this! Bye! Xoxo❤️

Summertime and Sunshine ((A day with Aelin & Rowan))

You shielded your eyes from the glaring sun above. It was a particularly hot day in summer. Which was perfect, you decided as you stepped out of your clothes onto the soft sand. Goosebumps prickled along the length of your arms. Fenrys whistled under his breath.

The one-piece you wore clung to every inch of your damp skin, exposing each curve and shape of your body. Hi sexy, came his voice through the bond. Don't I already know that. You smirked at him. He raised his eyebrows in appreciation. Sassy today, aren't we?

Padding over to him, you tilted your head up. "Keep up with me then" He looked speechless for a moment before his lips caught yours in a heated kiss, the one that made yourself want to jump on top of him and taste him all over. He pulled you close, erasing any distance between you both, while his tongue did wonders in your mouth. You sighed against the warmth of him. He tasted divine like honeyed wine. His callused hands gripped you hard against his muscled body, roving all over your needy form.

Before any of you could get any more provocative, Aelin called you from under the hood of the canopy in the distance. "Hey lovebirds save some for later!" The sound of Rowan's laughter could be heard from beside Aelin, where she sat on a blanket on the sand before the sparkling waters. You broke apart, smiling sheepishly.

Your mate leaned his forehead on yours. "Gods, you're beautiful", he breathed. You slid your hands away from his sculpted body. "So are you", you grinned while pulling him away from the shade of the house both of you stood by. He threaded his fingers through your hand in a habit of practice. You absolutely loved the feeling of his hand holding yours, safe and warm.

Aelin smirked when she saw both of you approaching. "Looks like swimsuit is doing what you exactly wanted it to do" You flushed to the roots of your hair, but mumbled something about how it wasn't just you and Fenrys who wanted everyone nearby to either cover their eyes or ears all the time. She laughed. "I agree that Rowan and I can be vocal sometimes but it's not like we're the newly mated here" She eyed Rowan who was sprawled on the sand, head on her lap. You grimaced as you sat down beside her. "I know" "It's going to be like that for atleast a month Y/n, there's no need to be embarrassed about it" She tapped your cheek. "Honestly, you're both so cute together, who would've known" You glanced at your mate, who tilted his head.

"Are you sure it wasn't just you playing matchmaker?", Fen asked, drawing patterns on your hand. "Cause the situation seems a little too easy if we think about it" You nodded along with him. "What was the probability of us going to deliver a letter to Suria and the only inn we found was crowded to the fullest?"

Aelin feigned innocence. "I don't very well control the weather you know"

"Yes but it was you who sent both of us on that mission, and if I'm not mistaken, you were the most excited when we announced our bond", you exclaimed.

She even looked shocked. "Am I not even allowed to feel happy for my friends?!"

You looked at Rowan. "You don't have say in this?" He shrugged looking bored "I think it was just a coincidence which ended in something happy" You rolled your eyes but smiled. "Coincidence, sure" He grinned back at you. Shaking your head, you turned to Aelin. "And top of all that, it was your idea for this vacation/double date" She smiled devilishly. "Fun isn't it?"

It was indeed Aelin who suggested the idea. Your mind opened a memory from a month ago.

"I have a mate", was your first words to Aelin when you returned. "And it's Fenrys" She looked surprised at first, then happy. "Oh my God congrats!" She proceeded to embrace you. You hugged her back. "Tell me all about it", she commanded, grinning. You chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Well there was this place..." You told her about the one room tragic and how it turned into something good. However you left out the part where Fenrys was under the throes of his nightmare. It somehow felt very personal and like a secret between the two of you. Instead you told her it was YOU who had a nightmare and was comforted by Fenrys. She listened closely to each and every word you said and jumped at the part where you kissed him. "That's so sweet" You nodded. "Yeah and then after sending out the message, here we are"

Aelin's eyes twinkled. For someone who was the Queen of all Fae, she sure was a good girl friend when it came to the matters of males and lovers. You had always came to her when you had problems with feelings or anything with boys. She had always been the sister you longed to have. "So now what?" You asked her, already knowing she had a plan in her head. She looked at you with that villainous smile. "Now we go on a double date"

It was almost like she was waiting for it to happen. And now here you all were, at the summerhouse, having the most fun you'll ever have. It wasn't a bad idea, just a suspicious one coming from Aelin. She was the most dedicated Queen and though you know she totally would've went on a vacation after all these years, she didn't. And now that you had a mate, she was suddenly super interested in a double date for atleast a couple of days. It was like, as if she was waiting for this moment where you had a mate or atleast someone that she already knew.

"What are you thinking about babe?" You came to reality with a shake of your head. "Hm?" Fenrys combed his fingers through your hair, pulling your head back just a bit, to kiss your forehead. "You're having this look which usually means you're thinking of something intriguing" You laugh at his predicament. "Well I'm planning how Aelin and Rowan's defeat is going to be when we play beach ball later"

Aelin looked up from where she was lying down with Rowan in her shimmering gold bikini. "You think so?" You raised an eyebrow, grinning. "I know so" She got up on her elbows. "What are the stakes?" You tilt you head ever so slightly. "Winners get the house for the entire night" Fenrys paused in his running his hand through you hair. "And the losers?" "Gets the outside with the soft, soft sand" Aelin chuckled rising up. "Hear that Rowan? Losers get the sand, I think Y/n and Fenrys should look more into how to stay warm on the sand" Rowan winked. "We could give you a few pointers if you'd like" Your mate pulled you up with him. "Let's see who gets what tonight", you say to them both. "It's on" Fenrys grinned.

-time skip-

Even though Aelin and Rowan had the upper hand, you and Fenrys played equally hard. Finally when afternoon hit and everyone was sweaty and laughing, it was declared that you and your mate were the winners. Aelin tried to scowl but ended up chuckling. "Good game", she exclaimed, giving you and Fen a high five.

"Since you claimed you had more experience of staying out in the sand with Rowan, its only fitting you both are the losers", Fenrys said laughing. You laughed with him. "That's true"

Aelin, however, was more concerned. "Haha it was a joke wasn't it? You are not really going to let us sleep outside in the cold, 'cause I hate the cold, you know that!" You smile wickedly just like her.

"Uh oh that's not good"

You flip your hair to one side of your neck, exposing the other side to the warm breeze. "Well I just might let you stay outside, but I can revoke it ONLY-" She looked at you expectantly. "-If you admit the truth that you set us up" She groaned. "Really? Am I that obvious?" You raised an eyebrow. "It was you" She put her hands on her hips. "Ugh yes. It was a hunch and I wanted to test it out" You grinned. "That wasn't so bad after all" She rolled her eyes. "Obviously" Still grinning, you put your arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards the summerhouse. "Don't be cranky now, you can have the house all you want" She shook her head but let you pull her along.

Fenrys and Rowan entered the house talking about the game, laughing and slapping each other's backs. You stopped Aelin in the doorway. She looked at you quizzically.

"Thank you Aelin. For whatever it's worth, you did us both a favour by sending us there" She smiled warmly. "Of course Y/n. Just don't forget to love him, that's all I want"

"With all my heart"

#dorian havilliard #tog #tog x reader #acosf #aedion ashryver #azriel #dorian x reader #rowan whitethorn #kaz brekker #six of crows #aelin galanthynius #fenrys moonbeam x reader #fenrys x reader #reader x fenrys #fenrys moonbeam #nessian #throne of glass

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manonblaqkbeak · 3 years

Text

The Reunion

Day 5--I had completely forgotten that I had written this lol. It’s more fluff as usual. Can’t wait to read everyone else’s later on!

Enjoy! :)

1.8k words

Rowan couldn't wait to get home. Today had been...exhausting, to say the least. He was a personal trainer, and with that came the territory that people would talk about their issues while working out. Which was fine, Rowan understood that letting out emotional issues when working out helped people to stay motivated. He himself had been known to rant about his issues when working out himself.

But today had been a lot. One of his regulars had put on weight over the Yulemas holidays and was beating himself up over it. Another regulars marriage was over and was dealing with that guilt. Someone had lost a favourite aunt. Another one had to break off an engagement because it was a loveless relationship. And on and on the issues piled up.

Rowan was good at compartmentalizing, but after a while, he ignored his lunch break in order to go to the park to just...not think for a while.

Being at the park cheered him up a little, but his break was soon too over. And he was back to work, and that was when the skies decided to open up and pour down buckets of rain. Making a bad day into a shittier one.

His wipers were on the fastest setting and he was driving at a snails pace when he looked away for one second, one fucking second, when he heard a thump and a feminine voice yell out “what the fuck!”

Slamming on the brakes, Rowan came to a speedy conclusion.

He was at a pedestrian crossing and he just hit someone with his car.

He just hit someone with his car.

“Fucking hell!”

Pulling up the handbrake, Rowan got out, not sure what to say or do when he came across a golden haired woman, her eyes spitting out blue and gold fire.

Rowan blinked at her, because despite being covered in rain and sitting on her behind, hand rubbing at her hip, she looked familiar.

But now wasn't the time to thinking about that. He had to see if she was okay. “I'm so sorry,” he got out, “I have no idea what happened. I looked away for a second, that was all. I'm so fucking sorry. Are you okay?”

“My hip and my ass hurt, and I suspect that I'm going to have a wicked bruise, but I think I'm okay,” the stranger said. “You should really watch what you're doing, though.”

“I know. I'm sorry, again.”

The stranger sighed, and even that sounded familiar. “What a fucking day I'm having,” she mumbled.

“Bad day?” He probably made it worse, too. He should also really get her into his car, but she starting ranting before he could do anything about it.

“The fucking worst. I'm facing a deadline that I can't finish, because I'm having dreadful writers block. My landlord is a fucking creep who came to my place today saying that my underwear 'accidentally' got mixed in with his laundry. My cousin's dad recently came back into his life, so now he's angry all the damned time and it's leeching into me. And you just hit me with your car.”

Rowan nodded in understanding, but only could manage to say, “Yeah, your day definitely sucks.”

She glared at him, silently telling him that that wasn't really the best way to respond, but he was having a bad day, also.

Which wasn't an excuse he knew, but Gods, it wasn't really his day either.

Rowan helped her up, her hands warm despite the cold and took her to his passenger seat and pulled over to the side. He couldn't help but notice that she smelled like jasmine and lemon verbena. A calming scent.

“I'm not sure what the protocol is,” he admitted after handing her a hand towel from the glove box. “Do we call the police? Or my insurance? I should take you to the hospital, I know that much.” Even if all she said was that she hurt her behind and hip, it'd be best to ensure that she didn't fracture anything.

When she said nothing after a moment, Rowan turned, noting that the silence from the woman was a little concerning, scared to death that maybe she hit her head and was going into shock.

Her blue-gold eyes were wide. “Are you okay?” he asked again. He really should get her to the hospital.

“Are you...? This is...you couldn't be. Rowan? Rowan Whitethorn?”

Rowan blinked, his concern turning inward. “Yes, that's my name. How did you—?”

“I, uh, it's me. Aelin Ashryver Gala—”

“Galathynius?” He finished for her. She nodded.

They sat in silence as Rowan stared at her, taking in her blue-gold eyes, golden hair, the lemon verbena and jasmine smell of her. Recalling the familiar sigh. All of it.

Rowan wanted to bang his head on the steering wheel when all of it came crashing down on him. He had just hit his high school crush with his car.

Rowan, for whatever reason that he couldn't name, wanted to laugh. He never would have suspected that he would hit Aelin Galathynius with his car ten years after high school graduation.

He was fairly certain that high school him had been in love with her from the moment he saw her. Rowan had wanted to ask her out at least a dozen times, but he was an awkward seventeen year old that didn't know how to talk to women that weren't family members and never gained the courage to do so.

It was one of his biggest regrets from his teenage years.

The last time he had seen her was at the after party of their graduating day. She wore a daisy flower crown and was sparkling in a golden dress. He had never seen someone as beautiful as her—even to this day.

Unbeknownst to Rowan, Aelin had felt the same way. She was confident back then as she was now, but every time she wanted to go up to Rowan to talk to him, to get to know him, the butterflies in her stomach threatened to strangle her.

So she never did ask him out. And here she was now, ten years later, in his car. He was still the most handsome man she'd ever seen.

She was still pissed as hell though that he hit her with his car.

It had only taken a moment, a single moment, for her to realise who it was she was sitting next to. The moment that the hand towel touched her face and she breathed in the pine and snow scent of it, she was transported back to the past.

“How have you been?” Rowan asked her after long minutes. His green eyes still as pretty as the day Aelin saw them. She was sure that was what she loved about him the most all those years ago. Other than Lysandra's, Aelin had never seen such a stunning green.

Aelin snorted, her fond memories disappearing at the inane question. “You were listening when I was ranting, weren't you? My day has been shit.”

Rowan gave her a small smile, and her heart skipped a beat. He still smiled the same. She had liked that about him, too. Still did, apparently.

“No, I mean how's life been since graduation? You mentioned writers block. Are you a writer then?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I write fantasy-adventure-romance novels under the name of Celaena Sardothien.” She had liked the animosity of it all, with none of her books containing a single photograph of her.

“That's amaz—wait. You mean to tell me that you're the writer of the 'Fireheart' series?”

Aelin smiled proudly. “That's me. Have you read them?”

“I have. It's one of my favourite series.” They were his guilty pleasure, really, but it felt rude to say that out loud, as if it was shameful.

Aelin blinked, taken aback at the confession. “Really? You mean to tell me that brooding Rowan Whitethorn reads romance novels?”

Rowan frowned a little bit at that. “I don't brood. Not anymore.”

“You're brooding right now.”

Rowan grumbled. Okay, maybe he was, just a little bit, however.

“How about you, though?” Aelin asked. “How's life been?”

“Busy. And right now, it's a bit shitty. I'm sorry for hitting you with my car, truly. We should get you to a hospital, though. Just to make sure that you're okay, please,” he added, when he saw that she opened her mouth to likely protest. “I won't be able to sleep if it turns out you need a hip replacement or something and I didn't take you to get checked out.”

Aelin truly doubted she would need a hip replacement, but nodded anyway. “Okay, you can take me to the hospital. And then afterwards, I'll give you my number and you can take me out to dinner.”

Rowan blinked at that and then smiled. He had always like confidence in a person. “Okay, it's a date.”

“I've never had a date after a hospital visit.”

“Well, then, I better make it great.”

Aelin smiled, warmth filling her. The day turning out a little nicely, despite it all. “You better.”

x x x x x

As Rowan lead Aelin to the dance floor, he couldn't believe his luck. Never in a thousand years did he think that accidentally hitting Aelin with his car would lead to this.

To their first dance as husband and wife.

It had been exactly one year to the day when he saw her again after ten years. It was very much an Aelin thing to want to have their wedding anniversary to match the date.

The story had been re-told by a slightly tipsy Fenrys as part of his best man speech, about how Rowan would be the only man in the world to meet his future wife by way of a car accident. The story always made people laugh, with people saying that the universe must have wanted to get them together and was sick of them taking too long.

Because as it turned out, when Rowan and Aelin's relationship grew and they learned more about their ten years of life, they were always somehow minutes away from running into each other. From when Rowan was starting his hike in the Southern Continent, Aelin had just finished hers and was going back to her hotel—the very fact that they were staying at the same hotel, but floors apart.

When Rowan had missed out on book tickets to a signing of her third novel in the Fireheart series, and he had to turn around and leave the bookstore since it was a private function just as Aelin was moments away from going on.

From going to the same concerts, to the same festivals, from seemingly everything that they had in common, they had missed each other by minutes.

They silently thanked the universe, even if the way they ran into each other was less than ideal. But they wouldn't change it for the world.

Rowan kissed his wife and thanked his lucky stars.

#rowaelin #rowaelinmonth #my work

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