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#ts!rowaelin
evafoxz · 2 months
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— the tortured poets department (couple’s version) 🪶
like/reblog if you save or use.
art credits: @adhara_black on ig (evajacks), @elenana.art on ig (feysand), @only_miraculous_doodles on ig (rowaelin), @larissapsrt on ig (alizehcyrus), @gessueter on ig (romaniris).
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mariaofdoranelle · 2 years
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Golden Tattoo
Rowaelin Month 2022 — Day 1: Songfic (Dress by Taylor Swift)
I’m posting this exactly at midnight (in my time zone) because it’s TS inspired and she only gave us one word to prepare for the new album lol.
Anyway happy Rowaelin Month! (Is saying this a thing? Is it a holiday? TOG fandom holiday??)
Warnings: language, NSFW (very)
Word Count: 3,8K
⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹ .・。
“Fuck, Aelin, I can’t take this anymore.”
“Come on, Buzzard, just a little more.”
“We should take it easy.”
“But I want my arm to look just like yours.”
They were currently alone in their apartment, chewing an insane amount of bubblegum so Aelin could use their tattoo stickers. She was temporarily tattooed from the shoulder to mid-forearm, they had already gone through the worst part.
Rowan sighed and picked another bubblegum, but they both froze when Aelin’s phone pinged a very familiar sound.
He cleared his throat. “So... You’re still in the app?”
Aelin immediately blushed. It was completely normal to talk about your Tinder activities with the friend you have a crush on. No need to act weird.
“Hardly.” She read the lockscreen. “Ugh. It’s just Ilias. Can you believe he ghosted me for a week after I told him I don’t like fish?”
“Wow,” he said with raised eyebrows. “That’s one way to waste an opportunity.”
An opportunity, as long as he wasn’t the one taking it, right? Aelin didn’t even want to date right now, but she had to get over Rowan, and sharing an apartment with him wasn’t helping. Still, Aelin wouldn’t blame him for having unrequited feelings, she just needed to find someone else and get her friendship back on track.
“Well, Buzzard, at least I’m giving people an opportunity to waste.” She raised her eyebrows at him.
Rowan sighed. “I know what I want, I won’t find it on the app.”
Aelin unwrapped three bubblegums and resumed her chewing. Aelin wanted the best for her friend, but if he didn’t want to look for someone now, she wouldn’t insist on it. He just grumbled something about this being a terrible Saturday activity and went back to their work.
Rowan extended his hand at Aelin and she frowned, confused. Then he sighed and pulled her wrist to him, making her skin burn where he touched. He placed the temporary tattoo on her, and Aelin’s heart was going a mile a minute the whole sixty seconds he pressed the damp cloth against her wrist. Aelin was ready to mourn the loss of his touch, but they were both frozen in place.
A golden tattoo.
“We won!” She threw herself at him without further notice, which made him give on of his rare belly laughs.
He immediately started reading the tiny text on the bubblegum package. “Here it says that whoever gets a shiny tattoo must collect the prize at a official store.”
Aelin got up in a heartbeat. “Let’s go, then!”
“Now?”
“How long do you think the tattoo will last?” She arched an eyebrow.
Rowan just snorted and grabbed his keys. He knew better than to come between Aelin Galathynius and her bubblegum prize.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We’re here to collect the prize.” Aelin showed Grave, the bubblegum store’s employee, her tattoo with a wide grin on her face. Rowan was trying to hide his enthusiasm, but his lips would tug every time her voice got too bubbly or she got impatient to get there.
Grave barely looked at her golden tattoo before saying, “Fill out these forms, I’ll be right back.” Rowan mentioned to get the papers because he always did the bureaucratic part of things, but Aelin was too excited to just sit and watch. Indeed, the only thing that made her look up from the papers was Rowan’s chuckle.
When she looked up, Grave had brought a very tiny bicycle and a box. “The golden tattoo gives you all prizes, which are copper, silver and golden. Which means you get dinner at Luca’s, a bike and a Nintendo Switch.” Aelin would think about how dull he was for someone who gives prizes for a living if she didn’t have more important matters at hand.
“But these are meant for kids.”
“Not all of them.” Rowan frowned at her while sliding the video game closer.
Grave sighed. “Ma’am, you bought the kids pack of gum.”
Aelin looked at her tattooed arm. Just like Rowan’s, but there was no denying those tattoos were meant for kids. Her shoulders slumped, and Rowan was immediately on her side, one hand rubbing soothing circles on her shoulder and the other protectively holding his new video game.
“Maybe Elide can fit in this bike. Or one of your cousin’s kids,” Aelin muttered, “And we can go to dinner at Luca’s, right? There will be a lot of screaming children, but it can’t be that much different from a Whitethorn barbecue.”
Rowan chuckled. “Too scared of having dinner in a spaceship, Ace?”
Aelin anchored a hand on her hip and gave him a teasing grin. “I hope you’re as excited to go there as you sound. You should see the ice cream tower I’ll make you eat.”
There was no way of knowing if Rowan’s expression was amused or terrified, but he turned to Grave and questioned, “Isn’t Luca’s and Emrys’s from the same chain? I was wondering if we—“
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going to ask my manager. Stay here,” the man grunted.
Aelin needed a few seconds to process the information. She gawked at Rowan, in complete disbelief of what he had done. While Luca’s was the kind of restaurant you left with a major headache because of the screaming kids, Emrys’s dangers were much greater. Like bankruptcy. Aelin had never gone there, but she had reliable sources that their chocolate cake was dreamy.
Rowan was looking down, fidgeting with his game’s box when Grave came back once again.
“It’s an odd request, so I’ll have to call Emrys’s and let them know you’re coming. Can I make the reservation for tonight?”
After everything was settled for hers and Rowan’s non-date, they went home and Aelin started getting ready immediately. She was so happy she even pretended not to notice how Rowan played on the new video game for most of the time she was getting ready—while Aelin bathed, shaved, moisturized, curled her hair and fixed her nails—and then got fully ready while she did her eyebrows and makeup. No, this wouldn’t be the day to complain about society’s gender inequality and double standards. By the time Aelin was finally ready and had a picture posted on Instagram, Rowan was back on the living room couch. She had yet to decide if her heart was beating faster because he looked incredibly hot in his formal attire, or for how cozy and domestic he looked waiting for her dressed up in their couch.
“Buzzard, is this Animal Crossing?” she teased.
“Shut up, it’s relaxing.” While turning off the TV, he asked, “Are you ready?” and finally looked up. His body was frozen on the couch.
Aelin swallowed down her nerves. She loved to dress up just to feel good about herself, but her feelings for Rowan made it impossible not to think about him too. She got used of thinking about him in dressing rooms, at the hairdresser, in her bathtub. Aelin was absorbed on thoughts about Rowan when she picked this silk golden dress, so it was fair that she wore it for the first time with him.
She wondered what the flush he wore on his face now meant. Did she go too far and make him embarrassed? Can he see how starved she is for a different kind of attention from him? Does her dress makes him want to take it off?
Rowan got up and walked towards her with steps as careful as his eyes were intense. He tilted his head while brushing back her hair. “Fireheart.” Rowan slipped one finger behind her spaghetti strap and slid it down a little, making her shiver. His eyes followed the movement, but snapped back to her face after reaching the neckline. The dress wasn’t too daring, but it was definitely something. If she wasn’t as red as Rowan already, it definitely changed when he looked deep into her eyes and croaked, “You look breathtaking.”
She would think about how three words could undo her so badly the next time she could think straight. Aelin carefully placed a shaky hand on Rowan’s chest, and his heartbeat was as fast-paced as hers. He licked his lips, and she mirrored the movement. “You smell amazing too,” he said as his face came closer to her neck, which she arched for him. Rowan took a closer whiff of her perfume, and when his mouth was the closest from her neck it ever has been—
Her phone rang.
The loudest, most heartbreaking part of All Too Well by Taylor Swift started playing, and Rowan pulled back. When Aelin saw the name on her screen, she didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or scream.
“Hi, Rory. How’re things?”
The phone was on speaker. Aelin didn’t think Rowan could get any more flushed, but he did when he realized the person who interrupted their moment was his own mother. She could see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, and Aelin’s stomach dropped because there was a chance he was starting to regret it.
Oh, hi, dear. I’m good, how about you? Are you at the party yet? I hope I’m not interrupting. I just saw your Instagram post, you look lovely in gold!
Aelin wanted to scream in frustration, but she liked Rory too much to be angry. While she would sometimes go out of her way to get her best friend to notice her, his mom would randomly call just to compliment something Aelin posted online instead of commenting like most people do. Rowan offered to stop his mom multiple times, but Aelin’s ego would die without Rory’s calls by now.
She laughed, but it was a bit strained. “Thank you. It isn’t a party, Rowan and I are going to Emrys’s.”
Rowan’s taking you to Emrys’s?
His mother sounded so hopeful it hurt. Aelin would be too if she didn’t know better. She didn’t have the guts to look Rowan in the face now, but he sure was mortified. Just like he did every time someone in his family said something about the two of them getting together. Sure, they had a moment, but having physical attraction doesn’t really mean anything.
Aelin cleared her throat. “The dinner is actually a prize we won. It’s a bubblegum thing.”
Okay, we can chat another time. Be safe! Bye.
It didn’t take a genius to know why Rory ended the call in a rush. Rowan cleared his throat and took a step back.
“I’m going to request our ride.”
Aelin arched an eyebrow. “Are you drinking tonight, Buzzard?” she teased. Aelin needed to get rid of the awkwardness between them immediately.
He just sent her a tight-lipped smile. “I’m not turning down free wine.”
The restaurant was intimate and elegant. The pianist was Aelin’s favorite part of the restaurant, making her miss her pianoforte days. She had monthly wine tasting hangouts with her group of friends, and Rowan looked very proud as he used all the knowledge he acquired there into talking with the wine steward.
“Is this a piss-poor attempt of flirting with the sommelier? You know we’re drinking half of the wine list anyway.”
Rowan gaped, offended. “Do you have a problem with finding the perfect wine for this pizza?
Aelin giggled. “How many matches did you find? Because I can’t remember the amount of glasses I had so far.”
“It’s not about the glass count, Ace, it’s about the experience.”
“I do feel like the universe is balanced again by giving me back the pizza it stole,” Aelin mused, referring to the day they met. A mugger robbed Aelin’s pizza, Rowan saw it and threw a frozen chicken at him. They’d been best friends ever since. She noticed the silly smile he was wearing and gaped. “Is that why you ordered pizza?”
Rowan flushed, but he was grinning at her.
After making sure the chocolate hazelnut cake was as amazing as she heard (it was), Rowan requested their ride back home.
“Farewell, free dinner. Farewell, free wine,” Aelin said, waving at the restaurant as soon as she entered the car.
Rowan chuckled, draping an arm behind Aelin’s shoulders. When he started caressing her hair, she leaned on the touch and sighed, closing her eyes.
“Tired, Ace?”
The memory of whatever happened earlier that day, Rowan’s eyes on her exposed neck, and all the wine she drank made Aelin bold enough to rest her hand on his thigh. “Not at all,” she whispered with bedroom eyes. Rowan licked his lips, and the hand that was on Aelin’s hair brushed her arm. She shivered, hoping he didn’t sense how her traitorous skin burned for him.
Rowan held Aelin’s hand to help her leave the car and didn’t let go. When they entered the elevator, Rowan pulled her towards him with their conjoined hands and she wouldn’t dare breathe as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. His soft eyes searching for something she knew the answer for years. Aelin was sure he didn’t reciprocate her feelings. However, in that moment, she knew his body was feeling the same kind of pull towards each other, and that was all the cue she needed.
With embarrassingly shaky hands, Aelin gathered all the courage she had, cupped Rowan’s face and kissed him. She only had a second to be hesitant about it, because he grabbed her waist, pulling her closer almost immediately. If Aelin thought Rowan’s scent was intoxicating, that was because she had never tasted him before. As dizzy as their kiss made her feel, his urgent grip tethered her to the present in the best way. Everything she gave, Rowan took and asked for more. Kissing Rowan was perfect. He was—
The elevator doors opened, its sound shattering their moment.
Unfazed, Rowan took her hand and rushed to their apartment. Fumbling with the keys, he opened the door and pressed Aelin against the wall as soon as she entered home. Their kisses soon turned frenetic. When Rowan picked her up and snaked his hands beneath her golden dress, Aelin realized she loved the way he claimed her. Rowan’s touches were as possessive as his kisses.
“Are you sure?” he asked a little breathless.
“Very.” When she tried to resume the kiss, he leaned away again.
“But we’re drunk.”
“Sober Aelin wants you as much as Drunk Aelin.”
“Really?” His slow smile built like she’d just said the most romantic thing. “I feel the same. In fact, Sober Rowan must be really happy now.”
Aelin started fumbling with the buttons on his shirt. “Tell me more.”
“Sober Rowan.” He kissed her jaw. “Is aching,” he whispered on her ear, nibbling it too. “To do this.” And then he slid his thumb under Aelin’s underwear, running it across her slit and pressing against her clit.
Aelin’s brain short-circuited for a moment, making her do nothing but chase that friction. At least, until she moaned, “Take me to bed. Please.”
Rowan didn’t hesitate this time.
He sat Aelin in his bed and took her dress off himself. Rowan’s lips parted by the sight of Aelin’s naked upper body, and her heart was pounding when he pushed her into the bed, pinning her wrists. It was like he left trails of fire everywhere he touched. Rowan’s knee between her thighs. Rowan’s teeth biting her neck. Rowan’s tongue flicking her nipples. This was complete torture, the way he made her clench around nothing in the sweetest way.
“I need you,” Aelin breathed.
Rowan kissed her once more and started distancing himself from her face, but she stopped him by hooking her legs around his waist. Aelin couldn’t believe she was going to turn down oral sex, but there was a first time for everything. Just like fucking your best friend.
“Are you going to make me beg for your cock, Ro?”
“Don’t worry, baby. You won’t be begging much when I fuck that sass out of you.”
“Was that supposed to be a threat?” Aelin’s eyes sparkled as she rose to the challenge.
Rowan smirked, put on a condom from the bedside table in an instant, and carefully buried himself inside her. When Aelin watched his cock slowly disappear into her body, the only thing she could think about was how big he was and how long it had been since the last time she had sex. Rowan must’ve read her thoughts when he purred “Good girl” into her ear and started setting a pace.
Aelin kissed him between cries of pleasure, and she didn’t know how his back was taking her nails’s gentle stab. It was too much, and she still wanted more. Each thrust made her close to feverish, and even when Rowan slammed into her, they were never close enough. Rowan was the only thing she could feel, smell and see, but somehow it didn’t seem to be enough for neither of them.
“Oh my— Ro, I’m gonna—“ time slowed down as Aelin’s pleasure built and shattered on itself, making her cry out his name. Rowan held her and kissed her face until she recovered, and began chasing his own orgasm as soon as she recovered.
He kept a merciless pace this time, and Aelin wasn’t going to hide how turned on she was by Rowan using her for his own pleasure. Aelin’s muscles tensed, and they came down together, her shattered breaths hard to hear because Rowan was repeatedly whispering her name, praising her.
Rowan laid by Aelin’s side and tugged her close, breathing in the top of her head. Her face was resting on his chest, and she tried not to acknowledge the sound of his heart hammering against it. She wondered what he was thinking now. If he regretted it, or how long it’d take until he did. It was funny how Aelin would do anything to have post-sex cuddles with Rowan every day, except tell him how she felt.
Aelin mentioned to get up, but he pinned her on the bed and gave a long, tender kiss.
She brushed a few rogue strands of Rowan’s hair out of his forehead. “I need to shower.”
After having her shower delayed for several more minutes, Aelin finally went to the bathroom, but not without swishing her hips a little to make Rowan pay for it. When he joined her a few minutes later with a bottle of wine, she realized the three minutes they spent apart were the only ones of this night she didn’t enjoy.
Aelin started pouring a glass for herself, but it was a bit hard to hold the full bottle with only one hand, so she ended up spilling wine in the bathtub.
Instead of being mad, Rowan just laughed. “Are you still drunk?”
“I’m offended. You should try to pour a glass of wine without a table to help.” Except that he did. Without spilling a single drop. Aelin was giggling, but it became a full belly laugh when Rowan scooted closer to kiss her face, making the bathtub water slosh over the side.
He swallowed. “So. That happened.” It wasn’t hard to tell Rowan’s mood sobered up a little.
The neat freak Buzzard. “It did. I hope the water evaporates by tomorrow, I really don’t feel like drying it.”
Rowan shifted on his seat. “I mean us. Having sex.” He gave her a hesitant smile and sipped his wine.
Aelin could immediately feel her heart racing, but not in a good way this time. She knew they would have to talk about this eventually, but she hadn’t really thought about what she’d say. It was too soon for her, but delaying it was actually a stupid hope. Rowan was usually a careful person with his love life, and Aelin knew he wasn’t looking for a relationship. Despite her being terrified about telling him how she felt, she didn’t want to ask for too much of him and ruin what they already had. Even if it was just a tiny, earth-shattering sex bubble.
“You don’t need to worry,” Aelin blurted.
Rowan tilted his head. “How so?”
“Um,” Aelin stammered, “I— we’re not in a rush to define anything. Right? I mean, it’s fine. This happened, and we’re fine with it, right?”
His shoulders slumped a little, probably in relief, and he gave her a small smile. “Sure.”
Aelin had no idea how to make it less awkward, so she grabbed the first thing she saw to scrub her body and later realized it was his pine soap.
Rowan tapped Aelin’s side with his foot. “You’re too far.”
“Is that so?” she teased, thrusting out her chest so Rowan could see it above water. If everything went to shit, Aelin could always count with her bravado. Despite the last uncomfortable minutes, his eyes sparkled.
With that, Aelin was on her knees in front of Rowan, and she positioned herself until they were aligned, face to face. His eyes darkened in a heartbeat, and he kissed her while holding her hips, helping her sink in his already hard cock.
“You,” he muttered into her temple, “Are better than my wildest dreams.”
Aelin started moving, and they both moaned. The roll of their hips was languid this time, but the gentle pace didn’t ease any of the burning between Aelin’s legs. She was kissing, biting Rowan’s neck, and they way he started pressing her nub told her about how close he was. When Aelin went still and started crying out his name, Rowan started to roughly thrust himself from underneath her, not stopping until he emptied himself.
Still on the tub, Rowan was caressing her hair and stroking shoulders with his fingers. Aelin nuzzled her face on him. God, he gave such amazing cuddles. The three orgasms definitely drained her, Rowan wouldn’t even notice if she stopped to rest her eyes for a minute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aelin was sat, and her arms were being held up, a soft cotton fabric going around them. And then her head. Cracking her eyes open, the room was dark, but she could see Rowan’s silhouette in front of her. She grunted.
“You fell asleep on me, Ace.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Aelin couldn’t see his face, but the softness of Rowan’s voice was enough to soothe her drowsy worries.
Realizing she was already on her bed, Aelin adjusted whatever she was dressed in and laid down. She heard his footsteps, and saw a light coming through the door. “Ro?” The footsteps stopped. “Cuddles?”
The corridor lights being turned off. Soft footsteps coming to her. Rowan’s weight on her bed, and his arms pulling her closer. Aelin hummed, immersed in his pine and snow smell. Time to go back to sleep, then.
⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹ .・。
Part 2 is out! Or you can read how they met before the plot thickens.
A/N: I just found out I love making Rowan feel like an Augustine?? Am I a terrible person?
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morganofthewildfire · 2 years
Note
Hey :) how about a fic based on sparks fly?? You always write amazing ts song fics so I thought of you to ask, it’s just that whenever I hear “get me with those green eyes” I never fail to think of rowaelin. This song is a little ambiguous so however you would want it to go!
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Sparks Fly
your wish is my command 😁
~2k words
--------------------------------------------
Rowan Whitethorn was magnetic. Aelin didn’t know what kind of force it was, if it was fate, if it was just pure attraction, if it was something more, but for whatever reason, she couldn’t stay away.
She’d met him in the first year of high school, and hadn’t been able to get him out of her head. She’d walked into her homeroom midway through that freshman year, a new student at the school, coming from a background that only continued to separate her from everyone else, but he’d looked up at her and smiled. 
And his eyes, his eyes. A deep, pine green, so unbelievably gorgeous and enthralling she couldn’t look away no matter how hard she tried. 
He’d been the only one to introduce himself to her, essentially the only one who didn’t bully her, and he soon became her best friend. Even if right from the moment they’d met, she’d been hurtling fast into love.
Now, junior year of college, they were still just friends, but Aelin still wanted to be more.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Rowan’s voice drifted through her thoughts, something poking her in the arm, and Aelin blinked heavily, rubbing her eyes as she sat up, meeting those laughing green eyes sitting at the desk next to her.
Oh. She was still in class.
“Class ended a few minutes ago,” Rowan said, leaning over to grab his backpack, and hers. “You fell asleep about ten minutes in.”
“Shit,” Aelin grumbled, pushing herself to a weak stand. Luckily it was a lecture hall, and they sat in the back, so the chances that the professor had noticed were slim to none. If he’d even care anyway. “Any chance we can stop and get coffee?” She rubbed at her face again, trying to wake up. 
Rowan just snorted, slotting into place at her side as they headed out of the building. Spring was falling over Doranelle, and the University campus was beginning to bloom, warming up but still holding onto that lingering chill from winter. 
“Any reason why you’re so tired today?” He questioned instead of answering, and Aelin just shrugged, refusing to look at him. Truth was, she’d barely gotten any sleep the night before because she’d started crying over him and couldn’t stop. Aelin didn’t even remember what had triggered it, something she’d watched on TV that’d made her think of him, and sent her spiraling down into those thoughts of hopelessness once again. 
But she couldn’t tell him that.
It was getting harder and harder to pretend she didn’t feel the way she did, but she had to. Because she couldn’t lose him.
“Just busy studying,” she said instead, forcing a teasing smile. “I’m gonna beat your score on this next exam.” 
“Oh really?” Rowan said, cocking an eyebrow, a look that did terrible things to her body. “Are you sure about that?” She looked away, trying to hide the way her cheeks flamed. 
“Yep,” she said, “you’ll see in our epic study extravaganza tomorrow. I know everything.” 
The epic study extravaganza was something they’d started freshman year. They’d get a bunch of junk food, the only time Rowan ever ate it, and more caffeine than was healthy, and studied the entire day before the day before their exam. The day before, they relaxed, confident that they were prepared.
It was one of her favorite traditions, not because of the effectiveness of their studying, but because it was a full day with him, days that had caused some of their best memories. 
“About that,” Rowan said, and a pit of dread formed in her stomach. “You know that girl in my history class, Lyria?” 
Lyria. Right. That’s why she’d been crying her eyes out the night before. Lyria. A pretty, sweet brunette in Rowan’s history class, the one class they didn’t have together. He’d met her the first day of the semester, and had mentioned her a few times here and there. 
And he’d told Aelin yesterday that she’d finally asked him out for coffee, and he’d said yes. Yes. 
“What about her?” Aelin asked, kicking a rock as she walked down the sidewalk. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rowan string a hand through his hair, a clear sign of his nerves, but she still refused to look. 
“She can’t get coffee on Friday anymore, so she asked if we could go tomorrow instead,” he said, and Aelin’s heart squeezed painfully. 
“Oh.”
“I’ll still be able to come over after that,” Rowan hurried to say, and she just nodded absently. “Just not as early as usual. Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding her head. Even if her heart begged to say something differently. “No worries. It’s fine.” 
He looked at her like he didn’t believe her, and she couldn’t blame him. She didn’t sound convincing. But she couldn’t handle his concern right now.
“I just remembered,” she cleared her throat. “I have to meet Lysandra for something real quick. I’ll see you later.” 
“Ae-”
She grabbed her backpack back from him, not letting him finish as she turned and walked the opposite direction, heading anywhere but back to where he was standing, hiding the sudden resurgence of tears streaming down her face.
It was fine. She was fine. Right?
-----
The next day, time seemed to move exponentially slower than usual as she waited for any news from Rowan. Aelin had gone out to the store in the morning, gathering the junkiest junk food she could find, and a pack of energy drinks and coffee, pretending like everything was normal. 
Then she’d gotten back to her apartment and set out the stash of food on her kitchen counter, laying it out for easy grabbing. 
Then she’d turned on her speaker, jamming out to some Taylor Swift as she got her school stuff ready. It was the one day a year that Rowan would willingly listen to her music, though he’d stopped complaining when she turned it on in the car. He was a secret swiftie, and she was determined to get him to admit it.
And then, once all of that was done, she waited.
What was the point in starting without him? 
Noon rolled around, and then 1, and then 2, and she let herself eat a little bit of the food, glancing at the clock as she did. 
He was supposed to meet her at eleven, what could really be taking that long? 
She paced around her apartment, chewing her lip to shreds as she fought back yet another round of tears. 
3… 4…
She finally decided to try and study by herself, but she couldn’t concentrate, the words blurring on the computer screen. 
She shut the lid in frustration. 
5…6…
Aelin collapsed on her couch, staring up at the ceiling and letting the music soak her senses.
“Stupid girl, I should’ve known, I should’ve known,” taylor swift sang, “that im not your princess, this ain’t a fairytale-“
Aelin reached for her phone, shutting off the music. She couldn’t listen to it anymore. A single tear slipped down her face and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Was this her life? Was she damned to be a fool in love with someone who never even looked her way? Rowan never saw her like that, never. She was stupid for even hoping. 
A sob escaped her and she curled up in a ball, letting the despair take over yet again. 
And then, her phone rang.
Aelin hesitated for a moment, letting it ring out. But as soon as the call ended, it rang again. She sniffed and pushed herself up to a sit, reaching for the device. 
Rowan’s name flashed across the screen, and she considered not answering, but her traitorous thumb hit accept. 
“Aelin, I’m so sorry,” his voice came through the speaker, clearly distressed. Aelin just fell back onto the couch, rolling onto her back as she held up the phone. 
“It's okay,” she croaked, an absolute lie. 
“It's not okay,” he corrected, “I'm sorry it took me so long. We got coffee, and then we were both hungry so we got food, and then she needed help on something for class and I just got distracted and - im on my way now.”
She closed her eyes, a sense of clarity finally settling in her. 
“No, it's fine,” she said, “go back to Lyria, I'm fine studying by myself.”  She could practically feel his shock. “I’m not going to beg you to spend time with me. I'm worth more than that. So if you've found something you think is better, then I’m happy for you.” Her voice broke. “But I'm not fighting for second place.”
“Ae-“
She hung up, tossing her phone to the side. And then for the fourth time that day, she cried. 
——
Hours later, the sun had set and the clouds had rolled in, showering the world in heavy rain. 
Aelin settled into some sort of despondent state, laying there and fading in and out of reality. She’d spilled the truth, kind of. It was left to him to decide what to do with it. 
If he never spoke to her again, that was his decision. Yet, she couldn’t help but wish that he’d show up at her door in the pouring rain, and sweep her into an all consuming kiss on the sidewalk as she came outside. 
And just take away this pain.
Gods, was she quoting Taylor Swift now? This was the real world, it wasn’t a song. If Rowan wanted to do something, he would’ve by now. 
No, she was just left alone here, listening to the raindrops pattering against her windows. 
“Aelin!” A familiar voice yelled through the rain, paired with a knock that was apparently not the rain like she’d thought. 
“What the hell?” She said as he shouted her name again, pounding on her front door. She stood up quickly, hurrying over to the apartment entrance. 
But she hesitated before opening the door; did she want to see him? 
Yes. Always yes, no matter what he came here to say. 
But she didn't expect what came out of mouth the second she opened the door.
“You’re never second place,” he said, his green eyes breathtaking in the rain. “You’re never anything but the most important person in my life, Aelin. I love you.” 
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but stare into his eyes. His silver hair was flattened on his forehead, his clothes soaked with rain water that kept pouring down, crushing the bouquet of flowers he held in his hand. 
“You-“ she managed to say. “What?” 
“I love you,” he declared again. “I have for years. I thought it was hopeless, so when Lyria asked me out I said yes to try and move on, but it's always been you.” He shook his head, his voice cracking. “I stalled today because I couldn’t face you after wishing all day that it was you I was on a date with instead of her. But I-“ he loosed a breath. “I was an asshole for it, and I’m here to apologize and beg for a chance again, and if there is anyway you can maybe love me back I-“
She cut him off by stepping out into the rain and pulling him down into a searing kiss. 
Aelin had no words for the feeling that rushed through her at that simple kiss, like a thousand fireworks shining in the sky. 
Like sparks flying. 
She giggled at the thought, pulling away from the kiss. But she didn't let him get far, resting her forehead against his. 
“I love you, too,” she whispered, barely audible above the rain now soaking her. A blinding smile grew on Rowan’s face.
“Yeah?” He asked, like he couldn’t believe it. She nodded, smiling back.
“I love you so much,” she confessed, “so much.”
An incredulous laugh escaped him and he lifted her into his arms, kissing her deeply. And then he spun her around, rain flinging off of them both. 
“We’re idiots,” he chuckled as he set her down. Aelin smiled up at him, smoothing back a strand of his wet hair.
“Yes we are,” she agreed, “but we’re idiots in love.”
Finally.
----
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Text
Dorothea
I can’t believe I’m back! It’s been a little rough these past couple of months but I’m happy to be writing again and hopefully will bring it back to my daily routine! Taylor released a new album so of course I had to write something! I hope you guys enjoy, it’s just a little silly thing.
“We are a failure.”
“We have five Grammys.”
“We are a failure with five Grammys.”
Gavriel snorted at the same time Lorcan threw a piece of paper at Fenrys’s head. Rowan simply sighed, resting his head against the table and letting out a deep groan.
“Why can’t we release the album with twelve songs?” He raised his head, looking at his bandmates. “Every single song we tried to write this past week was absolute shit. I don’t want to shove some lame ass song on our album because my aunt feels like we should have thirteen songs like the last two albums.”
“Yeah, sure.” Fenrys snorted. “Why don’t you go tell Maeve that?”
Vaughan chuckled, putting the drumsticks down and walking to the table where Fenrys, Rowan, and Connall were sitting. Lorcan and Gavriel both sat on the ground nearby, ripping out bad half-finished lyrics from some notebooks.
“We need a vocalist, that’s why he won’t do it.” Vaughan singsonged, sitting by Connall’s side. “We have been trying to write the songs together, why don’t we try something each one of us wrote separately?”
There was a beat of silence. For the five years the band had been together, every single song had been written by all the members. Sometimes two or three of them would do most of the work, but out of their thirty eight songs, there wasn’t one that didn’t have a contribution from all the members. Yeah, they would write their own songs, but it was never really serious or even meant to be used in an album.
And because they weren’t serious or meant to be used in an album, they were either absolute shit or fucking personal.
Rowan held in another groan.
Lorcan shrugged, getting up and sitting by Rowan’s side. Gavriel did the same, sitting on the table head opposite to where Fenrys was.
“Ok, who’s gonna go first?” Gavriel clapped his hands. “Fenrys.”
“Why me?” He squeaked.
“Why not you?” Connall butted in.
“Yeah, why not you?” Vaughan backed his boyfriend.
“Rowan, this is a mutiny against me.” Fenrys turned his head to Rowan, pouting like a child.
Both Rowan and Lorcan smiled sarcastically, and the latter said, “you are not the one in charge. If it was a mutiny, it would be against Rowan.”
“Who asked for the vulture to speak?” Fenrys asked, eyes narrowing at Lorcan.
“Just show us a goddamn song, Fen.” Rowan sighed, rubbing his temples. A few years ago, he had insisted for Gavriel to be the leader of the band. The older man had refused profusely, and Rowan only found out why when he started being the leader.
He was surrounded by adults who had the money and influence of gods but acted like children.
It was like being a mother but without the Mother’s day gifts. No advantages, really.
As instructed, Fenrys presented three songs for the group. And then Vaughan did. And then Connall, Gavriel, and Lorcan.
“I don’t know how to say this politely…” Connall started.
“They are absolute shit.” Lorcan finished.
“Shit is a compliment.” Rowan nodded, letting out a straggled laugh. He scratched the stubble on his cheeks, a small sense of panic rising inside of him. It wasn’t that Rowan was shy— he had let go of his shyness a long time ago—, but that didn’t mean he liked to go around advertising his personal ideas to the world. Some lyrics drafts should remain just that— drafts. Not everything was meant to be heard by everyone. Gathering some of his courage along with the knowledge that an acceptable song was an absolute necessity, he sighed. “I might have something.”
“What is it?” Gavriel said calmly at the same time Lorcan grunted. “You have something and you let us go through the torture of listening to Fenrys’s ideas?”
“You hurt my feelings like that, man.”
Rowan ignored both Lorcan and Fenrys, turning to Gavriel. “It’s about a girl.”
The room was dead silent.
Rowan knew he wasn’t really the dating type, much less the type to write songs about love, but the absolute silence was a little offensive.
“Ok…” Vaughan said, a scary smile on his face. “That came out of nowhere.”
“You can love someone?” Connall asked.
“You can feel emotions?” Fenrys deadpanned after his twin finished his sentence.
Lorcan snorted and Rowan saw Gavriel biting the inside of his cheeks. Absolute regret washed over his body immediately, but it was too late to back down.
Rowan tried to play it cool, keeping any emotions out of his face. He shrugged, opening a notebook and tapping a pen against it. “Not anyone I’ve seen in years. I don’t even remember her real name.”
The Cadre exchanged looks.
“When I was a kid my parents used to send me to this summer camp. From ages six to thirteen there was this girl who also went every single summer. She was a year younger, but we were friends. Barely talked during the rest of the year, maybe exchanged a letter or two.” He continued, eyes skimming through the lyrics in front of him. “Childhood crush and all. I know her name started with an A… Maybe an E? The counselors used to call her Dorothy, and I thought it was Dorothea. Called her that for two months until she corrected me. The nickname stuck between us, so yeah, Dorothea is all I have. I was thirteen when I stopped going, so she was twelve. Probably doesn’t even remember me.”
“Oh, that’s cute… Tragic young love and all.” Fenrys was smiling like an idiot, and Rowan rolled his eyes. He had never talked to anyone about Dorothea, not even his parents, not even when he was a kid. Life at home was shit during the whole year, but the summers? They were for late nights, swimming in the lake, running in the forest. They were sunny, and easy, and the few good memories he had from childhood. And she was in all of those memories— the girl and that fucking dog. Dorothea was the purest thing about his childhood, and he never wanted to have her memory stained by telling about her to his parents or school friends.
“Let me see this.” Vaughan said, taking Rowan’s notebook before Rowan could react. His friend’s pitch black eyes skimmed rapidly through the page, mouth opening slowly. “Holy shit.”
“It’s shit?” Lorcan asked.
“No, I mean holy shit as in this is amazing.” Vaughan looked up, brows raised. He passed the notebook to Gavriel, making both Lorcan and Connall move closer to read it too.  “You had this song for two years now according to the date on the edge of the page. Why didn’t you share?”
Rowan cleared his throat, regret just growing more and more. “We write every song together.”
“If every song you write is like this, then we should probably let you take care of this task from now on.” Lorcan said, taking the notebook and throwing it to Fenrys.
Fenrys’s was probably Rowan’s best friend. They knew each other for the longest, and even though Rowan would never admit it out loud, Fenrys was the closest thing he had to a family and his approval was important.
Fen raised his head from the notebook, dark eyes shinning as a huge smile broke his face in half. “We’re recording this. Today.”
Connall and Vaughan laughed, and Lorcan clapped Rowan’s back. “Good job, birdie.”
Rowan didn’t know exactly what he was feeling, but somewhere between absolute fright and excitement could probably describe it.
—————
“Rowan Whitethorn!” A female voice rang through the room, and every member of the Cadre winced.
“Your aunt is gonna kill you.” Connall said, face washed with fear.
Maeve Whitethorn was the scariest woman to ever walk this earth, and so Rowan didn’t think Connall was completely wrong about that.
And yet, when Maeve entered the room she was…
“What the fuck.” Fenrys blurted out.
Smiling?
“She smiles.” Fenrys loudly whispered to Lorcan, receiving a punch to his arm.
“You, my nephew, are a fucking genius.”
“Yeah, ok, what the fuck.” Vaughan asked from the drums.
“What did I do?” Rowan asked cautiously, afraid that his aunt had actually gone insane.
“Dorothea, that’s what you did!”
“People liked the song then?” Gavriel asked from the couch. “It was a filler song, but good to know that’s not forgotten.”
“Oh, you’re not understanding.” Maeve laughed. All the boys’ jaws went slack. “People are eating that song up. And I mean trending everywhere, top in every single chart… Everyone loves Dorothea.”
“But how?” Lorcan frowned. “We didn’t advertise it.”
“Because people love a real life story of love.”
With that comment, Rowan’s body went taunt.
What the fuck.
No one in the band had told anyone what the song was about, nor that it was a real thing. For all the world knew, it was just another song that the band wrote together. And that’s how it should have stayed. Rowan hated being the center of attentions, and hated even more when his personal life was the topic at matter.
Dorothea had been his secret for so long, and he really thought that the song would be a secretive way to tell the story to the world.
If people knew it was real, if people knew anything about it, it was obviously not as secretive as he thought it was gonna be.
Shit, Dorothea wasn’t even her real fucking name. There’s no way anyone could know that.
Unless…
“Wait, she heard the song?” Rowan blurted out, a mix of emotions making his stomach drop. That also wasn’t on his plans.
Fenrys’s eyes widened. “Dorothea came forward?”
“Holy shit.” Vaughan let out a nervous laugh. Connall put a hand over his mouth, and both Lorcan and Gavriel looked at Rowan.
The boys knew how Rowan wanted this song to go. Knew he didn’t want the real story to go around like this. Because when stories went around like this, people would start making theories, and harassing the girl, and just shoving themselves in situations that did not concern them. Rowan loved his fans, loved the world he was in, but he was also the first to admit how brutal it could be. It would only take one slip up, one fact about this girl that the media didn’t like, for the whole world to attack her.
Rowan tried to protect her from his fucked up life during childhood just to throw her to the sharks later on.
And yet, another part of his panic had nothing to do with the media and the fans. It had to do with her. What if she hated the song? What of she didn’t want that story to be told? What if she wished for a calm life where her presence would never be noticed by the media? Rowan couldn’t stop thinking about her reaction, if she had remembered him the first time she listened to it or if it took a while.
He felt like his own body was trying to suffocate itself.
Fuck, he was gonna vomit. Or maybe pass out. Shit maybe even pass out on a pool of his vomit.
Ok, that was disgusting.
“It wasn’t the girl who came forward, it was her roommate. Posted a video online and then boom! Global success.” Maeve said, not even noticing her nephew’s growing panic. “Wait, I’ll show you the video!”
Fenrys grabbed Rowan’s shoulder, sitting by his side on the couch as Maeve plugged her phone to the projector. Lorcan sat between Rowan and Gavriel on the couch, and Connall and Vaughan sat on the ground. All of them looked expectantly at the screen, waiting for the bomb to drop.
He was gonna see her again.
After sixteen years.
Shit, it was getting hot inside that fucking room.
The screen popped up, and a beautiful woman with green eyes and long dark brown hair showed up.
“That’s not her.” Rowan blurted out. She could have dyed her hair, facial expression changed over the years but… That wasn’t the girl he met during the summer. No, he would recognize her eyes anywhere, and they sure as hell weren’t green like his.
Maeve rolled her eyes. “I told you it was her roommate who came forward. Now watch.”
The video started playing, and the strong and excited voice of the smiling woman on the screen started sounding through the speakers. “Ok, so I was driving home the other day, listening to the new album of the Cadre when the song Dorothea came up, right? And I thought that it was a little strange for the Cadre to put a rerecording of a song on the album since they had never done it before.”
The girl started to walk around her apartment, excitement lacing every single word.
“But then I found out that Dorothea is not a rerecording. But that doesn’t make sense, because I was a hundred percent sure I already knew this story. I don’t know any Dorothea, and I sure as hell don’t know Rowan Whitethorn, so it made no sense that I already knew the story being told in the song.” The girl let out a laugh, entering a room inside her apartment. “For days I would listen to that fucking song and keep asking myself why I feel like I know it. It’s not from a book, a movie…”
She started pulling out a box from under the bed, smile widening.
“And so yesterday my roommate asked me to grab an old box of VHS under her bed when I saw this box.” She filmed a huge box in front of her, the lid barely containing all the photos inside. “And that’s when I remembered where I know Dorothea from.”
The girl laughed again, opening the lid and running her hand through the pictures. “I knew the story because she had told me years ago. Dorothea wasn’t her fucking name, it was her nickname.”
As if in slow motion, the brunette took out an old picture from inside the box. Rowan felt all the air leaving his lungs as he stared at it. The picture was a little blurry, but there was no mistaking it. It was eight year old him in swim trunks, his arm over the shoulder of a shorter seven year old blond girl. Her biking was pink and full of frills, her wet blond hair sticking to her shoulders. She was holding a small black puppy, the dog obviously trying to wiggle himself out of the picture. The both stood before the lake, smiling brightly, a bunch of teeth missing. The girl in the video turned the picture, and right there, written in a fading blue pen was what made the song so famous.
Dorothea and Roro and Toto. Summer of 2000.
The girl in the video turned the camera back to her, smile not leaving her lips. “She told me that the nickname was Dorothea because the counselors used to call her Dorothy. As in the Wizard of Oz. The dog’s name was Toto, and so she was Dorothy. But then, he understood it wrong and just called her Dorothea. And…”
“What are you doing in my room?” A sweet, soft, and low voice interrupted whatever the brunette was going to say. She let out a yelp, letting the phone fall.
And the screen went black.
The room was silent for a few minutes after the video was over.
“Well shit.” Fenrys broke the silence. “What are the chances of her being as beautiful as her roommate?”
Lorcan reached behind Rowan to hit Fenrys on the back of his head.
“We should put a gag in his mouth.” Gavriel sighed.
“Oh, kinky.” Fenrys smiled seductively and winked at Gavriel. If it weren’t for the absolute shock raging inside of him, Rowan would have laughed.
“Is there a video of her?” Rowan quietly asked his aunt.
She looked at him for a second too long before nodding. “Just a second, there might be one. She isn’t really one for the cameras, but I do think she showed up in a Halloween video.”
She wasn’t one for the cameras.
Shit, shit, shit.
She wasn’t one for the cameras and Rowan had made her existence global knowledge.
Maeve took a few seconds to try to find the video, smiling again once she found it.
“This is still fucking weird. Your aunt can smile.” Fenrys said, and Rowan was glad for the words. Everything was happening too fast and too slow at the same time, and Fenrys’s stupid comments were a good way of centering himself. Looking at his friend, Rowan realized that Fenrys knew exactly what he was doing. “I thought she had lost the ability when she was, like, five or something.”
“That would imply that Maeve was ever a child.” Vaughan whispered from the ground.
Connall snorted, and Lorcan tried to contain a smirk.
“Here it is!” Maeve announced.
As if the screen was a magnet, all the eyes in the room snapped back to it. They all watched the screen expectantly, and Rowan thought Fenrys was even bouncing on his seat.
A petite woman appeared, clad in a black dress that matched her pitch black hair and eyes. If Rowan wasn’t so distracted, maybe he would have noticed Lorcan’s low, and yet sharp, intake of breath.
The pale girl was in the middle of two taller guys, one with inky black hair with a crown on top of it, sapphire eyes contrasting with the blood red of his cloak, and the other one with golden blond hair under a pirate hat. The three of them stared at a tall woman dressed in what Rowan supposed was a reaper costume. The white blond hair and golden eyes made her perfect for the part.
“He’s a cunt.” The reaper girl said, picking her nails with a scythe Rowan wasn’t absolutely sure was fake. The girl behind the camera— the brunette that recorded the video that exposed the real meaning of the song, Rowan supposed— chuckled as the two other guys exchanged a humorous look.
The petite woman smiled, obviously in agreement with her friend. “He is, but that’s ok. Did Tam end our three year relationship, six hours before Halloween, through the phone? Yes. Were we planning on a couple’s costume and I was left like an idiot wearing an Evie O’Connell costume with no Rick? Yes. But that’s ok because I have…”
“Me.” That same low and soft voice filled the room again, and as if she was always the center of attentions, all heads in the video snapped to her. Even though she wasn’t on camera yet, Rowan could hear the smile in her voice.
The blond guy rolled his eyes. “You have a thing for dramatic entrances, Aelin.”
Aelin.
Her name was Aelin.
“Reason why I live, actually. But come on. Don’t I deserve a dramatic entrance when I look like this? I look rather fucking dashing as Rick O’Connell, don’t I?”
“She does.” The guy with inky black hair nodded towards the blond guy.
“Don’t encourage her.” The other grunted, shaking his head but obviously smiling. “If my cousin’s head grows a little bit more she won’t be able to pass through the door.”
And then, as if time itself had stopped that second, the camera turned to Aelin and all oxygen left the room.
“Fucking shit.” Connall breathed, and Rowan saw Fenrys’s jaw going slack from the corner of his eye.
In his defense, so did Rowan’s.
The woman— Aelin— was exactly what she had just called herself. Fucking dashing.
Golden strawberry hair pulled back into one of those high, terribly made buns, slightly tan skin, and bright blue eyes, Aelin was every inch dashing she claimed to be. The costume was exactly what Brendan Fraser had wore the majority of the movie, and hell if it didn’t fit her perfectly. Aelin had grown to be the most beautiful woman Rowan had ever seen, and he felt his heart doing laps inside his chest just like when he was younger.
Well, fuck.
“If she was Rick O’Connell in the movies I would have probably paid more attention.” Fenrys muttered, dodging another hit from Lorcan. “What?! Look at her. The girl looks like the offspring of an angel and a supermodel.”
Aelin grinned, straight white teeth biting her lower lip. “Thank you, Dorian. And, I don’t need encouragement, Aedion. I am quite capable of being narcissistic on my own.”
The girl with blond white hair chuckled. “You were supposed to be a reaper with me.”
Aelin fake pouted. “Elide, my dearest cousin,” Aelin said pointedly, eyes narrowing at Aedion. Elide, the petite girl dressed as Evie, bit her cheeks to keep a smile in. “Needed me. Put a crown on top of your pretty head and do a couple’s costume with your boyfriend, Manon.”
Dorian sighed. “I tried convincing her.”
Manon simply crossed her arms. “I don’t do couple’s costume.”
Aelin shrugged nonchalantly. “Pity.”
And then, much to Rowan’s absolute panic and fascination, Aelin turned directly to the camera. She was obviously going to talk to the girl recording, but Rowan could barely hear the words as her full face came into view. Aelin was beautiful, but Aelin staring straight at you? Breathtaking.
“Don’t you think it’s a pity, Lys?” Aelin asked innocently, but a smirk graced her lips.
The smile in Lys’s voice was obvious. “Oh, yes. A pity.”
Aelin smiled, turning to Elide with a raised brow. Her cousin gave a less vicious version of Aelin’s smile. “Such a pity.”
It was obviously some inside joke, because Manon grunted, rolling her eyes. “Are we going or not?”
Aelin rich laugh drowned the room before the video ended.
“Well.” Vaughan said after a few beats of silence.
“Well.” Gavriel agreed.
“Well.” Another voice came from the door, and Rowan had to keep a displeased grunt in as Erawan walked into the room. The man was smiling sarcastically, eyeing the frozen image on the screen hungrily. Aelin had thrown her head back, mouth half open as she laughed. “Would you be pissed if I asked her hand in marriage, Rowan? Quite a beautiful girl, your Dorothea.”
Rowan would have gotten up and punched Erawan if Fenrys hadn’t literally sat on his lap before he could do anything. His friend turned to Erawan with a smile on his lips. “Unfortunately, Ewew, I believe the lady in question must prefer to stick to humans. She doesn’t really look like the I-do-demons type.”
Despite the obvious tension in the room, Connall took out his phone and took a picture of Fenrys sitting on Rowan’s lap. Lorcan had his arm behind both Gavriel and Rowan, and Vaughan was sitting in between Rowan and Lorcan’s leg. “You guys look like a strange ass family. This is gonna be this year’s Christmas card. I’ll photoshop myself in.”
Lorcan snorted, shaking his head before looking at Erawan. “Let’s leave the girl out of this, alright? If any of us wanted to use her for advertisement, we would have contacted her ourselves.”
“I’m your PR.” Erawan smiled. He was, a fact that the whole Cadre regretted. All pf them waited excitedly for the day Erawan’s contract expired.
Maeve was hard and cold, Erawan was a straight up asshole. Not even his aunt could put up with him for long.
“A very unfortunate fact you never let us forget, Earwax.” Fenrys said, nodding diplomatically. “Very, very unfortunate.”
“I don’t want her involved in any of this shit.” Rowan finally said something, voice low and threatening. Just the thought of throwing his childhood friends to the wolves that surrounded his life made his stomach turn. “You are my PR, so do your job. Create a distraction, release some rerecording, book us some interviews… I don’t care, but I want the focus away from her. I don’t want her involved in anything, Erawan. I mean it.”
The room was silent, tension threatening to suffocate anyone who breathed deep enough.
To Rowan’s surprise, and some gratefulness, Maeve took a step forward. She unplugged her phone from the projector, and Aelin’s image disappeared. “I believe it’s better if we keep the girl out of this. She’s very low profile, private accounts on both Twitter and Instagram. Dragging her into spotlight might not be a good option, specially since we don’t know how she behaves, what it would do to the image of the band. We have a love story, let the fans speculate, do some theories. Everything will die down in a month and she’ll be able to continue with her life.”
For all her harshness, all her coldness, Maeve wasn’t a bad aunt. She started taking care of Rowan when he was fifteen, and although they never had a close relationship, Maeve knew how to help him whenever he really needed it. It was the reason why he asked her to be the band manager, despite her obvious dislike of the human race. She was smart, cunning, and, at that moment, was using both qualities to keep Aelin out of what would become a huge mess.
“If we bring her in, there is nothing to terrorize. Her personality will be real, not something fans can stipulate and mold to their liking. She’s young and private, throwing her to the media would be a carnage. Leave Aelin out of this.” Gavriel tried to resonate with Erawan, voice low and calm as always.
Erawan sat on a table, a fake hurt expression overtaking his features as he sighed. “If only you had told me that before.”
The pit inside Rowan’s stomach grew.
“Before what.” Vaughan grunted.
“Before I contacted the girl.” Erawan smiled, as Rowan felt all the oxygen leave the room. He stared straight into Rowan’s eyes, a cruel smile overtaking his lips. “Would you like to see your childhood friend again, Whitethorn?”
.
.
.
.
.
Tags
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lemonade-coolattas · 3 years
Text
glitter
rowaelin month (!!!!!) day 1, prompt: “I just realized I’m desperately in love with you.”
modern au, very heavily inspired by taylor swift’s “new year’s day”
wordcount: ~3.9k
tw: language
Tumblr media
It’s an hour till midnight, and the hostess of the party is nowhere to be found. 
Nobody seems to notice, though, with the alcohol flowing and music blaring.
No one except Rowan.
“Hey, man.” He ducks into the kitchen area of the hotel suite that Aelin had rented for the night. He finds Lysandra leaning against the fridge with one leg propped up, and Aedion has one hand wrapped around her waist, the other braced on the fridge above her head. 
Considering he and Aelin have had a bet going for months, years on how long it would take Aedion to make a move, Rowan’s loathe to interrupt whatever they have going on, but he’s also been looking for the golden-haired man’s cousin for ten minutes with no luck. 
“Have you seen Aelin?”
Aedion doesn’t peel his eyes from Lysandra as he answers. “You know, I kinda miss when you two hated each other. Now whenever I hang out with either of you it’s ‘Rowan this’ or ‘Aelin that.’”
Lysandra pretends to pout up at Aedion. “Poor baby. You’re just mad that your cousin stole your best friend for herself.” 
Aedion scowls down at her, and there’s a beat where they just stare at each other while Rowan shifts back and forth on his feet, praying that the Aelin will somehow miraculously sense his discomfort and come rescue him.
No such luck. 
It’s their friend group’s yearly tradition, renting out a block of rooms at the downtown hotel for New Year’s Eve, and Aelin, who insists getting on the biggest and most lavish room of the lot, always hosts.
Usually, he can find his best friend at the center of it all, her laugh recognizable from any corner of the suite as she takes shots with Fenrys, or challenges Lorcan to a game of beer pong that he’ll inevitably lose, or sets up a makeshift photobooth with Elide. And at midnight, she’ll be the loudest person counting down and screaming when the clock strikes twelve. 
Not this year. 
This year, even before disappearing, she was distant, her smiles coming a beat too late, her shoulders slumped when she thought no one was looking. Even in the taxi on the way over, she was quiet, not even noticing when he squeezed her hand to announce their arrival. And now, she’s gone. He’s checked the bathroom, the living room, the balcony, the pong table, under the pong table (three years ago things got a little out of hand), and he’s about the venture into the hallway when Lysandra finally remembers he exists and chirps, “I thought I saw her head into the bedroom.”
He nods in thanks, darting out of there as quickly as possible, cursing himself for not thinking of it himself. 
He strides across the living room, dodging a tipsy Elide and an absolutely shitfaced Dorian until he reaches the bedroom door, knocking once before opening it and slipping inside.
In the room, all the lights are off, but the curtains are open, letting in light from the streetlight outside that is just enough to illuminate the figure perched at the edge of the bed who’s clutching her knees to the chest.  
“Aelin?”
She straightens and wipes at her eyes, and when he realizes she’s crying, he locks the door behind him and crosses the room, kneeling at the foot of the bed in front of her. 
She bites her lip. “Hey, Rowan.” 
He braces his hands on either side of her on the bed, not touching, but close enough for her to reach out if she needs to. 
“What’s wrong, Aelin?”
She juts her chin, stubborn to the end. “Nothing.”
He pins her with a look and waits. 
When she cracks under his stare, she laughs, and it sounds like it hurts her on the way out. She brushes her eyes with the back of her hands and plasters a wobbly smile on her face. “I’m fine. Just a sappy drunk, you know me.”  
And he does, he does know her, which is how he knows that not only is she only a sappy drunk when she’s drinking wine, but that’s she’s been nursing the same beer all night, so she’s not drunk at all.
So it’s something else, then, but he also knows not to push her. 
He just wishes she knew that she doesn’t have to pretend in front of him, wishes she would let him shoulder it. Whether it’s sappy or messy or angry, he’ll take it. And he knows she has her issues, just like he has is, but he doesn’t care—he just wants it all, wants everything she’ll give to him. 
What else are best friends for?
He can’t place the sour taste in his mouth at that thought, so he ignores it. 
“It’s just…” Her shoulders slump, like she’s just lost some internal battle with herself. “It’s been a really rough year.” The words are barely more than a scraping whisper, and her voice wobbles halfway through, so far from the fierce woman he knows, who’s passion and fire burns so bright, and his heart breaks, because he knows how hard of a year it’s been for her, and he should’ve thought of it, should have realized that maybe she’d have mixed feelings about celebrating the year when it had brought nothing but hardship for her.
First, her parents had passed unexpectedly in a car crash in the spring. And when she had finally put her self back out there after Sam had left three years ago, things with her and Chaol had ended in an absolute shitshow. 
“I know,” he says, instead of I’m sorry, because she doesn’t want his pity. “I know.” 
She nods, like it’s what she needed to hear. 
“I’m…” She coughs, turquoise eyes still red-rimmed, and he knows whatever she’s going to say next is important, so he leans in, so she doesn’t have to say it too loudly. “I’m grateful you were there for it all, though.”
Something flutters in his chest at the words. Of course, he wants to tell her. Of course I was there.
And then another thought, quiet, but just as persistent. 
I always will be, because I am desperately in love with you. 
The realization should scare him shitless, should strike him like lightning and render him speechless. 
Instead, it just makes sense. Instead, it blooms in his chest, unfurling slowly until it wraps around him like a second skin that’s always been there. It’s a truth so fundamental and familiar to the core of who he is that he can’t believe he didn’t realize it earlier. 
My name is Rowan. 
My eyes are green.
I am in love with you. 
But he can’t put that on her, not yet, so he just nods his head, letting his fingers brush against the outside of her legs, rubbing soothing circles in the silky fabric of her dress. A little of the tension seems to drain from her shoulders, and she relaxes into his touch. 
“Hey,” he whispers, a smile creeping across his face, which she eyes in suspicion. “How bout I go steal the last of the chocolate-covered strawberries, then we can watch Netflix?”
She brightens. “Only if it’s the Bachelor.” He rolls his eyes, but pushes to his feet nonetheless.
Twenty minutes later, he finds himself curled up on the bed with her under his arm, his hand on her chest, a Bachelor rerun playing in the background. He’s not paying attention though, too busy relishing the feeling of her next to him, pressed against his side.
“Hey,” she says again, softly, breaking the silence. 
“Mhmm?” He looks down at her. 
She smiles, and it’s genuine and bright, and some of that fierceness is back in her eyes, and his relief is so palpable he could cry. “Thank you.” 
He leans down to kiss her forehead, even if his heart kicks at her nearness. “Anytime.” When he pulls back, he just stares at her for a second, taking her in, and he wonders how he could ever be so stupid to think that he didn’t love her as more than a friend. 
The hollers and cheers from the next room over snap him back to reality. Somehow, in their discussion and the show that followed, they had missed the countdown.
It’s midnight. 
Aelin says as much. 
“Happy New Year, Fireheart,” he murmurs. 
“Happy New Year, Buzzard.” He cracks a smile at the nickname she gave him all those years ago, when they couldn’t stand each other. 
It’s then he realizes how close they’re sitting, his arm still wrapped around her, her fingers still knotted in the fabric of his t-shirt.
She realizes it, too, and her gaze darts to his lips.
Rowan is suddenly aware of every single place they’re pressed together, aware of the warmth of her bleeding like ink through his t-shirt.
Then, she leans forward and kisses him. 
He freezes. 
It’s nothing more than a light brush of her lips on his, but he still freezes. 
She feels him tense and yanks back from him as if burned. Panic, then absolute terror, flares on her face at his stunned expression, and she slides further back. His heart is beating an unsteady rhythm in his ears. 
“Oh, gods, I’m so sorry—”
He doesn’t let her finish, surging forward to capture her lips with his own. It takes a few seconds, but then she melts against him, hands tentatively reaching up to run her fingers through his hair, scratching lightly at the scalp, and the sound he makes in the back of his throat escapes without his permission. It’s careful at first, gentle, but then she runs her tongue along the seam of his lips, once, twice, until he opens for her, and it turns heated, teeth and tongues and it’s everything and he thought he wanted her before, but it’s nothing compared to now. 
It’s midnight, and he’s kissing Aelin, and he can think of no better way he’d want to start the new year. 
*
When Aelin wakes, Rowan’s arm is slung across her waist and his breath is steady on the back of her neck. 
She’s also wearing Rowan’s t-shirt, and his chest is bare. 
They hadn’t done anything besides making out and some heavy petting before they had both dozed off, but she hadn’t wanted to go to bed in her dress and risk wrinkles, so he had lent her his shirt, rolling his eyes as he pulled it over his head, like he knew she was just trying to get him shirtless, which she totally was. At one point, she had reached for the waistband of his jeans, and he grabbed her wrists to stop her, pressing his mouth to her ear to murmur, ever so eloquently, that when he fucked her, it wouldn’t be in a room where their dumbasses of friends were only next door.
She had squeezed her thighs together at that, and judging from his smirk, he knew it, too. 
The memory causes her cheeks to heat even now, and she wants to hold it close, lock it somewhere in her chest where it can never be tainted, where it can stay shiny and washed in the warm light from the streetlights filtered through gauzy curtains.  
She smiles, and allows herself exactly three more heartbeats to bask in the warmth of it all before the panic sets in.
Because holy shit.
She scrambles out of bed as gingerly as she can, careful not to wake him, and darts into the living room. There, she’s too busy trying not to hyperventilate to realize the disastrous state their friends had left the rest of the suite in. 
Kissing him had been perfect in the moment, serene, the most alive she’s felt in a long, long time, and she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t imagined doing it before. 
But once they leave their little bubble of a hotel room and the real world crashes back in, it’ll change, and he’ll realize what a mistake it was, and he’ll leave, like everyone else has left, one way or the other, and she doesn’t know why she did it and she also doesn’t know what to do. 
Almost absentmindedly, her feet take her to the kitchen, where she finds a roll of trash bags in one of the cabinets. She stumbles to the sliding glass door leading out to the balcony, where there’s streamers and a feather boa of all things draped along the railing. She tears them down, letting her body take over so her mind can go blank as she cleans the small area, before going back inside and beginning to clean the sitting area.
As she works, she finds a polaroid of Fenrys and Lorcan—taken by Elide, no doubt—where Fenrys is sprawled on Lorcan’s lap while Lorcan tries (and fails) to look pissed off about it. From their slightly glazed expressions in the photo, there’s no way that either them remember this. She can’t help but smile, and tucks it in her bra, for safekeeping.
(Or blackmail.)
She moves to the pong table, pinching empty beer cans and wrinkling her nose at the way her bare feet stick to the hardwood as she tosses trash in the bag. 
She frowns at the clumps glitter splattered on the carpet near the loveseat, but she’ll figure it out, might even welcome the task, anything to keep her mind off how royally she had fucked up her relationship with her best friend. 
She’s walking towards the kitchen when she hears movement from the bedroom, and she pauses. There’s the padding of the footsteps that stop in the entry to the living room, and she bites her lip, keeping her back to him. 
There’s no telling how he’ll react now, when last night, everything was glittering, edges gilded in silver and gold in the hazy light of a hotel room at midnight, when the space between them was warm from shared confessions and everything was sweet like chocolate. In the morning light, all the cracks she has so desperately tried to patch together are visible, and she knows he saw some of them last night, but who’s to say he’ll want them now that he’s had a chance to think about it? She waits for him to stumble back to his room down the hall, or for him to transform into a stranger before her very eyes, which might be worse, when he decides to tell her that last night was a mistake, that their friendship has been nice, but anything more than that isn’t worth it, that she isn’t worth it. She knows that neither of them were drunk enough to pretend that the alcohol had lowered their inhibitions, so there’s no way around it, no way this will end well.  
Stupid.
She can feel him watching her, waiting for her to look at him, to say something, so she forces herself back into motion, carefully keeping herself turned away from him as she continues to pick up streamers and plastic champagne flutes and shove them into the trash bag. 
Maybe he reads the tightness of her shoulders, the rigid line of her spine, because he sighs, and this is it, this is where he leaves—
She hears rustling near the couch, on the opposite side of the room from the door, and she whips toward him to find him still shirtless, silver hair disheveled, on his hands and knees, grabbing several plastic cups that had rolled under there sometime last night. He stacks them before standing and carrying them over to where she’s still standing, frozen, and drops them into the bag without saying a word, then retreats back to a different corner of the room to clean there.
She releases a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
They work like that for what might be minutes, might be hours, him picking up discarded bottles and scraping candlewax from the hardwood while she holds the trash bag open for him. He chuckles once when he finds another discarded polaroid, this one of Manon and Aedion, the white-haired woman on her cousin’s shoulders for gods-know what reason, but that’s the only sound either of them make until they finish scouring every inch of the living room, and the bathroom, and the kitchen, until the entire suite looks cleaner than it was when they arrived. 
It’s then she takes a step back from him, tying off the handles of the trash bag, and heads toward the door to bring it to the disposal down the hall. He’s watching her again, and she can sense him working up the nerve to say something, and she quickens her pace, hoping she can get into the hallway before he figures out what he wants to say—
He clears his throat. “Aelin.” His voice is rough, scratchy, and she wishes it didn’t cause heat to coil low in her gut, and gods damn her, but she pauses feet from the door and closes her eyes. 
He crosses the room to her, reaches for the trash bag and gently detangles it from her fingers before setting it aside, then places his hands on her shoulders to turn her to face him.
“Aelin,” he says again, dropping his hands to his sides, and where he touched burns like a brand under the thin fabric of his t-shirt. 
She keeps her eyes closed, still unable to look at him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. 
He sighs, and she thinks she might be a masochist, because she opens her eyes at the sound to peek up at him.
He’s focusing on a spot above her head, face carefully blank, and that’s exactly what she was afraid of—that she wouldn’t be able to read him when his face is often as familiar to her as her own. 
The silence between them stretches a beat too long, and she’s getting ready to bite the bullet and tell him she’s sorry, lie and brush it off and say that it was a mistake, to save some semblance of her pride, when—
“Do you regret last night?”
She stares at him. He think she regrets last night?
At her lack response, he starts rambling. “Because if you do, I understand, and I’m sorry. I know you were in a vulnerable place, and I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that, and—”
She cuts him off. “Rowan.”
He snaps his mouth shut, still refusing to meet her eyes. The few inches between them feel like miles as he works his jaw. 
“Do you think that I kissed you just because I was lonely? Because I was sad?”
Part of her still isn’t really sure why she kissed him herself, just knew that in the moment she had to, or she might’ve died, but she knows for sure it’s not because she was sad. 
He runs an agitated hand across his face. “I don’t know. No? I just don’t want you to think—”
“Rowan,” she says again, deciding to toss all caution to the wind, knowing there’s no going back, anyway. “No, I don’t regret last night.”
He lets out a shuddering breath and closes his eyes, and when he opens them, it’s not that unreadable Rowan, that stranger Rowan that she was terrified of, but her Rowan. Her heart lurches at the relief on his face, the quiet joy, and—
And she loves him, she thinks, and the thought is as easy and expected as the next breath she takes, like her body doesn’t know how to do anything else beside love him.
“Good.”
And that’s all he has to say for her to know his feelings on the matter. Good. She feels so, so light, and the relief crashes into her like a wave. 
She quirks an eyebrow. “Good?”
He nods, a small smile curving his lips, and reaches out to run his hands up and down her arms in soft, soothing strokes. “Good.”
And then he’s pulling her to him, and she’s wrapping her arms around his waist, squeezing like she can pull him so close that no one will be able to tell where she ends and he begins. 
It takes her a minute of them standing like that to realize she’s crying again, and she doesn’t really know why—relief, maybe, that she hasn’t screwed things up between them, and hope, that he wants her as more than a friend, too. 
He feels her shaking, and pulls back, tensing, but she holds him in place. “Sorry,” she mutters into his chest, words muffled against his bare skin. “Sappy drunk.”
He laughs, the sound familiar and comforting, and she can feel the sound rumbling under her ear, and she thinks it might be the best thing she’s ever felt. 
She loves him. 
She wants him to stay, today and everyday after. 
Staystaystaystaystay. 
Please stay.
And maybe she whispers the last part aloud, because he pulls her impossibly tighter to him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She clutches at him, nodding into his chest. 
He speaks again, softly, and she’s not even sure she’s supposed to hear this part but she does anyway. “You have me. You always have me.”
A sob gets caught in her throat, and she thinks if she could freeze this moment forever, she would. 
Of course, her idiot of a cousin has to ruin it. 
“Hey, Ae, have you seen my phone—?” 
Aedion slams to a stop in the doorway before the door has even swung all the way open. Her and Rowan’s heads whip towards the entryway, and they freeze. 
Aedion stares at them for a moment, slack-jawed, and she knows how it looks—her and Rowan a tangle of limbs, Rowan’s bare chest and her in his shirt. “Nope.” Aedion says, clapping a hand over his eyes. “Nope!”
“What?” Lysandra pokes her head over Aedion’s shoulder, and Aelin curses internally as the other woman’s eyes widen and she shoves Aedion forward, causing them both to stumble further into the room, Lysandra’s heels dangling from one hand. The four of them stare at each other for a moment, waiting for someone to break the tension that is suddenly making it hard to breathe.
Lysandra backhands Aedion’s chest. “I knew it!”
Aedion groans, and Lysandra squeals while clapping her hands together. “You owe me fifty bucks!”
It appears they’re not the only one that had a bet. 
Aelin’s still frozen, and she’s sure her nails are digging into Rowan’s shoulders, and a small, shriveled part of her expects him to pull away despite everything, knowing that whatever is going on between them, it might be too uncertain, too fragile to be subjected to the scrutiny of their friends.
As if hearing her thoughts, Rowan tightens his hold on her, drawing her closer to his chest.
She exhales a shaky breath and dares a look up at him. His eyes are soft, but bright. I told you, Fireheart, she thinks his face says as he bends down to brush his lips across her forehead, ignoring Aedion’s gagging in the background. I’m not going anywhere.
And—
She believes him. 
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elriell · 3 years
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Hey there!
I wanted to ask, have you read SJM'S other series Throne of Glass?
If yes, would you say her writing style kind of confirms she's heading towards the Elriel direction?🌹
Hiiiii ❤
I am up to QOS at the moment but I haven’t read it yet, but I think that it is comparing apples to oranges however I will this amazing post of Rowaelin vs Elriel which highlights how she writes her main couples that I think is amazing light evidence;
The amazing @suelky made it and it is phenomenal HERE please come back after you read it and let me know your thoughts!
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shirewalker · 6 years
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yoooo i was curious about throne of glass. all that stuff you said about rowaelin is kind of scaring me away from it and i guess what i want to know is, is there enough rowaelin content to make the whole series not worth reading? bc i don't want to read a series that will disappoint me with a love interest i cannot stand, if you know what i mean.
heya anon!
hmm, well if you are NOT interested in r.owaelin content then from book 3 onward they show a lot.
personally, I dropped the series after book 2 because of that, but you can still give the books a try, they’re still entertaining. but about r.owaelin: they don’t appear until book 3 and romance-wise it’s not until book 4. 
I know exactly what you mean, anon. I did stop because of that, among many other reasons. from my experience in reading these books, book 1 and 2 are still worth a go, from trustworthy friends, book 3 is good to read too, if your biggest concern is the ship in question.
I hope I helped!!
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gracie-rosee · 2 years
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so… a weird thing happened. you reblogged a legolas video and i don’t know a thing about lord of the rings so when i saw him i immediately thought “oh the hair okay maybe that’s why aelin called rowan legolas in it’s nice to have a friend… time for a reread.” but then i looked for it and it wasn’t there so i thought maybe i was going bananas and you didn’t write it. but then i went to a secondary blog i use only to reblog my favorite stories for safekeeping, and it vanished from there too. i still have a small hope it’s nice to have a friend is out there somewhere and i’m just being my dumb and embarrassing self but if not is it just a temporary thing? i don’t mean to pressure you in any way specially if having it out there makes you uncomfortable, it’s just that all your ts stories were incredible but it’s nice to have a friend is my favourite rowaelin one shot of all time so i’m a bit sad and panicked
You are definitely not going bananas my dear. You are correct, I did not write the amazing fic you mention here. But the good news is that I know who did! You actually have me confused with @louiseleblancdiggory! In her fic It's Nice to Have a Friend, Aelin calls Rowan Legolas because of their similarities in having gorgeous hair and liking to gossip lol 😂 thankfully, her fics have not disappeared and you can still go check them out along with her other ts oneshots!
Honestly I wish I could one day write as well as @louiseleblancdiggory can. She is amazing!
And don't worry, you can always send me panicked asks any time. I feel you 😆
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bookaboutabook · 3 years
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dress by ts= rowaelin
this might be long but i thought of it and it has to be done :)
“our secret moments in your crowded room they've got no idea about me and you”
okay so literally in QoS they communicate basically entirely in silence, like they’re the only people in a crowded room, especially at arobynn’s party they are basically flirting without anyone knowing because at the time things are basically all platonic to everyone else. no one knows that they’re growing feelings or having secret conversations. 
“there is an indentation in the shape of you made your mark on me, a golden tattoo”
this is EoS and KoA energy-- the claiming marks, and the tattoos that rowan gives aelin. ALSO the choice of the color golden screams rowaelin because as we know thats the nightgowns color and i feel like it comes up a lot when describing aelin-- golden eyes, hair etc.
“all of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation my hands are shaking from holding back from you all of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting my hands are shaking from holding back from all this ”
QoS is almost entirely sexual tension so i think this is very self explanatory. they were both holding back the way they felt about each other when they both clearly wanted something more. this gives me vibes of rowan needing to cool down from aelin’s presence and taking forever to fall asleep with her so near yet so far away.  
“say my name and everything just stops i don't want you like a best friend”
um please so several points-- 1.) rowan is the first person that starts calling celaena by her real name, aelin ( if i remember correctly i don’t think he really ever calls her celeana?? only aelin and she gets mad, but i may be wrong bc it has been a while since i’ve read HoF) he makes her comfortable with her real identity and helped her come to terms with who she was and her name. 2.) fireheart. that’s it. it’s who she was to her family and its who she is now to rowan. ALSO “i don’t want you like a best friend” their relationship goes from basically entirely platonic in HoF to something more in the late books. in QoS, it took them forever to get together bc they had to break through the past definition of their relationship which was strictly friends, carranam, and fighting partners. but they obviously wanted more, and started feeling more comfortable with their past trauma and relationship baggage to face that. 
“only bought this dress so you could take it off take it off  carve your name into my bedpost 'cause I don't want you like a best friend only bought this dress so you could take it off”
ALRIGHT HERES THE KICKER. so this is obviously referring to the golden nightgown that rowan requests. i KNOW that he technically doesn't even take it off her and they don’t go there but she literally only bought it for him bc he said he would love that color. in conclusion it still counts and the sexual tension was there so.
“inescapable, I'm not even gonna try and if I get burned, at least we were electrified”
SO i feel like they both know that they are inevitable and i think it kinda ties into the idea of the mating bond being something that you can’t break or avoid. they subconsciously knew that being apart would not work. AND we have a reference to aelin’s fire... she might burn too brightly, but at least she burned.
“i'm spilling wine in the bathtub, you kiss my face and we're both drunk everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about”
HAHA we have a little reference to aelin bathing rowan and washing his hair in that one scene. tbh this doesn’t really fit that well but it’s not too out of place-- i also may not be thinking of anything bc i havent re read them in a while. anyways, we also have another moment where rowan and aelin are kind of keeping what is blooming between them a secret from the rest of aelin’s court.
“flashback when you met me your buzzcut and my hair bleached”
their haircuts at the beginning of QoS... rowan cut his long ass hair and aelin had to dye her hair red to go undercover and not get caught... WHY DOES IT WORK SO WELL I--
“even in my worst times, you could see the best of me”
in HoF aelin was at the lowest point of her life. even though he was closed off was dealing with his own baggage, he saw the power aelin held. the light that had been snuffed out inside of her. he pushed her because he knew what she was capable of. and i forgot who said this, but rowan was never afraid of aelin the way chaol was. he saw every part of her and loved all of it. 
“flashback to my mistakes my rebounds, my earthquakes”
rebounds??? *cough cough* CHAOL AND DORIAN *cough* okay but for real these weren’t really mistakes but she had made plenty of other mistakes around that time. he helped set her on a better and clearer path. and i guess we could technically consider chaol a rebound...
“even in my worst lies, you saw the truth of me”
her keeping the mating bond from him? her keeping so many of her plans a secret? her pretending she’s okay and KoA and him seeing right through her? yea <3
“and I woke up just in time now I wake up by your side”
I think around nehemias death she was kind of in a trance where she felt like nothing mattered and her life was useless (the whole “i do not care” scene where she was lashing out is a good example), but he helped her out of that. she has that one quote that im gonna paraphrase about how he held her hand and walked back into the light with her. He essentially woke her up from the nightmare she was living and now she wakes up next to him. this literally also happens in HoF because he starts letting her sleep in his bed, which was a huge step in the right direction for their relationship. he started seeing her as a friend and he literally falls asleep with his hand over her heart bye. 
“my one and only, my lifeline”
mates are truly each others one and only and i think it’s beautiful that she says “lifeline” because that’s literally what it is to them. they are stronger together and even the forces of their existence are tied together <3
anyways if you read this whole thing thank u lol i just had to get that out:)
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charincharge · 4 years
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so i know that cruel summer is based on a TS song (i love TS so much i coudld die) and LET ME JUST SAY THAT YOU'VE DONE IT VERY WELL. Ever since I read that fic I can't listen to cruel summer without thinking of Rowaelin anymore. The lines "I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you" and "I love you ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?" makes me think of Aelin confessing to Rowan about her feelings. Thanks, i'm crying now. Cruel Summer will be rowaelin's theme song for me from now on.
I love this 💗💗💗 I could probably write a fic based on every Taylor song at this rate — she’s such a good story teller and the feelings are so raw and clear. Especially themes of loving someone you’re not supposed to... and falling in love with your best friend...
Hmmmm. Now I’m going to be assaulted by plot bunnies aren’t I?
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It’s Nice to Have a Friend
Ok, so here it is!! I would have post it yesterday but unfortunately I lost 3000 words and had to rewrite. I love the friends to lovers trope and I think that INTHAF is unbelievably underrated, so I wrote this!! There is a smut part that I had to cut out, but I promise that I will post it separately later! (It was getting too long). Anyways, enjoy!!
October 2000
Aelin Galathynius had a terrible temper.
Her mother Evalin, since she was only a baby, used to announce to everyone that he had gotten her father’s temper. Unfortunately, her father Rhoe would add, she has got her mother’s impulsivity. Her uncle would then finalize it by saying it was a terrible combination.
And it was.
She could still remember the first day of grade 3. She was only eight, the youngest of her class filled with nine year olds, and had to promise her dad that she wouldn’t get into an argument or fight with anyone during the school hours. Later that day, when she and another boy arrived all sweaty at home, she would tell her dad that she obeyed.
Technically, she got into a fight after school hours.
Everything was fine during the day, to be honest. Aelin was excited to be a third grader, and her cousin and best friend were in the same room as she was. Aelin had no problem staying calm throughout the day as she stuck to Aedion and Lysandra. They had their classes, lunch, some more classes and Aelin was ready to walk home and tell her dad how well behaved she had been.
Until she saw the new student.
To be honest, Aelin hadn’t found him interesting enough to talk to during the day. The only thing that actually caught her attention about him was the silver hair, but he was so quiet, brooding and aloof that not even his hair made him seem interesting enough to Aelin go talk to him. She would have gladly lived the rest of her life not talking to him, but as she was walking home after the school bell rang and saw some of the kids in the fifth grade picking on him, Aelin felt curious enough to approach just a little to know what was happening.
Only to listen and watch. Stay out of it. You promised dad you would stay out of fights.
She was resolute on that up until the moment she actually managed to hear what the other boys were saying.
“Is it true you don’t talk because your accent is so strong no one would even understand you?” Hamel asked, but there was no childish ignorance in his tone. He knew what he was doing.
“I hear you and your father had to run from your country because he killed your mom.” One of the boys, Archer, was saying. “Are you a freak like your dad?”
The silver boy’s cheeks turned red, and he tried to walk faster through the snow. It was only fall, but snow usually came early to Orynth.
“Are you mad your dad killed your mom?” Archer pressed, and before she could even control herself, Aelin was walking in their direction.
“You guys are idiots.” She announced, getting the attention of the three boys. Archer rolled his eyes, but Sam just stared at her. Aelin ignored both, turning to the new student. “He’s not a freak, and he talks. I heard it before.”
It was a blatant lie, but the boy just nodded, some red leaving his cheeks.
Aelin crossed her arms, staring at Archer. “Maybe he doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“Oh, yeah?” Archer imitated her pose, mimicking her voice.
Aelin felt that very bad temper stirring.
“Yes.” She said, matter-of-factly. “Because you look stupid, sound stupid and act stupid. No one wants to be friend with a stupid… asshole.” She said, putting in the last word and hoping that she was using in the right context. To be honest, she had heard her dad say it a few times but had no idea what it meant.
By the red now on Archer’s face, she had used it correctly.
“You little…” Archer started saying, coming on her. Thinking about it in the years after the event, Aelin would admit she could have handled the situation better, but at that time she had been only eight, almost nine, and a boy three years older was coming on her direction.
And so she let her mother’s impulsivity take over.
And so when Archer was close enough, she kicked him between the legs and ran like hell.
She could hear Archer’s grunt as she turned around, picked the new boy by the elbow and forced him to run with her. She immediately knew it had been a bad idea, and it would only cause Archer to pick on both of them for the rest of their school years, but she could worry about that later.
“You have to run.” Aelin grunted, pulling the silver haired boy with her. He hesitated for a second before gripping her hand and running with her. For the next four minutes, both ran all around the neighborhood, Sam’s steps not too far after them. Aelin hoped Archer was in enough pain to not come after them.
Despite the snow and the cold, Aelin felt sweat going down her back. She should have already been home, and as they ran, they just got further and further away from it. The new boy was breathing just as hard as she was, and they were too young at the time to be able to run much longer.
Suddenly, he pulled Aelin by the hand. The boy forced them out of the Main Street, taking a little path through the woods nearby. He ran a little bit more before arriving at a huge trunk. Breathing hard, he pulled a part of the wood away from the tree, revealing an empty inside. Without being told to do so, Aelin rushed inside, feeling her back pressed against the inside of the truck when the boy got in too.
They tried to remain silent as they heard Sam steps approaching. As in synchrony, they both let out their breaths as they heard Sam’s steps going away. The two kids waited an extra minute before leaving the inside of the trunk.
“Oh, I think I lost one of my gloves while we ran. Mom is gonna kill me.” Aelin turned to be boy, looking him up and down and then the empty tree. “That’s nice. You found it during the summer?”
He nodded.
“Ok…” Aelin said, somewhat uncomfortable. “Do you talk?”
He just nodded again.
Aelin felt her temper rising once more, and she crossed her arms, frowning at him. “Well, can you tell me your name then?”
The boy just stared at her in silence. He took a step forward, taking something out of his pocket and handing it to her. Aelin examined the black glove. It was like hers, even though a little bit larger, but she thought it would be enough to convince her mom that she had just swapped it with someone rather than have lost it.
“Well, thank you.” Aelin said, pocketing the glove. She stared him up and down again, shrugging to herself as she continued. “Wanna hang out? My cousin and best friend can’t go to my house today. Playing video game alone is boring.”
He immediately nodded, taking another step forward. Aelin turned around, starting to walk in her house’s direction. From the corner of her eye, she kept trying to analyze the boy. He didn’t seem like a shy person, so maybe he just didn’t like to talk?
“You know,” Aelin started, unable to withstand the silence. “You don’t have to talk. I can talk enough for both of us. But it would be nice to know your name. And where you’re from. I mean, I guess I would ask you some normal stuff but you don’t talk. I mean, you talk but don’t, right? You chose not to talk? I don’t think I’d be able to stop talking, it sounds boring. How do you ask for things? Oh my gods, what about when you need to go to the bathroom? Do you talk then? Why did you stop talking?”
Aelin stopped for a second when she saw the boy staring at her wide eyed. She blushed a little, realizing that she had babbled. Her dad would always laugh whenever she did that, and while Aelin didn’t mind it with her family, she didn’t know if this stranger minded her talking so much.
“Sorry.” She said. This time, when she started talking, she tried to go slower. “You know, if what Sam said was true and you do have an accent, I wouldn’t mind. I mean, I can learn to understand you. But if you don’t want to ever talk, I wouldn’t mind either. Did you have to learn to understand me? If you did, was it hard? Do you think we speak funny? How old were you when you came here?”
“My name is Rowan.” The boy— Rowan— said. He did have a strong accent, but Aelin found it rather nice how he pulled his Rs.
“You talk!” Aelin said animatedly. “Thank the gods. I mean, I could talk for both of us but talking alone is kinda strange. I think I would get used to it, though. Oh, or we could talk through notes!”
Rowan smiled a little at that, nodding. “I do believe you could talk for both of us. And it was strange to see how you all talked, but it’s normal now. I came when I was eight, but I’m nine now.”
Aelin nodded as if she understood even though she had never really interacted with that many people that spoke differently from her. Until now, at least. “That’s nice. Do you only talk to a few people? How do you communicate with people who you don’t like talking to? I have a cousin in Perranth who is mute, so the whole family knows how to use sign language to interact. If you prefer to use sign language, we can. Do you know sign language?”
“Aye, you talk.” Rowan said, but he didn’t make it sound mean. Actually, the smile on his face had widened. “I do not know sign language. I’m just really quiet around most people. If I ever need something I can ask, but normally I prefer not to.”
“Who do you talk to?”
“My dad. My cousins.” Rowan thought a little. “My friends back at home.”
“And now me.” Aelin said, as smug as an eight year old could be. “I’m the only person you talk here? Does that make me your best friend friend?”
Rowan blushed, looking down as they approached Aelin’s home. “You want to?”
“Of course.” Aelin said, frowning again. “Why else would I have invited you to hang out?”
“I—“
Rowan was interrupted by Aelin’s mom coming outside, scolding at her daughter. She took in the sweaty face, the clothes dirty because of the inside of the three and shook her head. “Not even a day, Aelin?”
“It wasn’t my fault!”
Her mom sighed. “It never is.”
“Ask Rowan!” She said, turning to him and narrowing her eyes. “Was it my fault?”
He shook his head, looking at Aelin’s mom. She raised an eyebrow at him, looking between the two kids.
“This is Rowan. He doesn’t talk to anyone here but me.” Aelin put her hands on her hips, smiling at her mom. “I’m his best friend.”
Evalin took in Rowan’s similar appearance, sighing again. “Gods help me.”
Aelin turned to Rowan, a smile on her face, whispering. “She likes you.”
He chuckled, smiling shyly at Evalin. She looked at him for a few seconds before giving a warm smile back. “I don’t know if that smile of yours means that you’ll keep Aelin out of trouble, if you’ll get into trouble with her or if you’ll be the person taking her out of trouble.”
“It’s Aelin. She’ll corrupt him for the second option.” Her dad said, coming from inside the house. He eyed Aelin and Rowan, a smile on his lips. “Let me guess, not your fault.”
“It wasn’t!”
Rhoe simply raised his eyebrows, shaking his head. “Never is, jellybean. It never is.”
Aelin crossed her arms, stomping into the house. She stopped a few steps inside, turning around to see that Rowan hadn’t moved a step. She sighed, imitating her parents. “Rowan, what are you waiting for?”
He looked at Aelin’s parents for a second before rushing into her house. He stopped near her, whispering so silently that only she could hear. “Can I call my dad?”
“Can he call his dad?” Aelin said, staring up at her parents. They looked at each other, confused, but nodded. Rhoe handed Aelin the phone, but she didn’t do anything with it. Instead, she just kept staring at her parents. “He only talks to me! You can’t be here!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Rhoe said, raising his hands. Her parents left for the living room, and only then Rowan called his dad. It was quick— Rowan let his dad know where he was and, surprisingly, discovered that his dad worked with Aelin’s mom.
“Thank you.” Rowan said, handing back the phone.
“It’s ok.” Aelin took it, running to the living room and giving it back to her father. “We will play video game. Do not go there! I’ll talk to Rowan and you can’t hear him talking.”
“Ok…” Her father said, but it sounded more like a question.
Aelin glared at him for a second more before turning around and going back to Rowan. She grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him to the TV room.
“What just happened?” Rhoe asked baffled.
Evalin, however, was sitting relaxedly on the sofa, a newspaper in her hands and a soft smile on her lips. “Your daughter found a new best friend. He doesn’t talk around strangers. Gods, man, it’s not that hard.”
———————
December 2003
“Ro. Ro. Ro!” Aelin tried whispering. “Rowan!”
Rowan turned to her from his seat, eyes wide as if to say “What?”.
Aelin merely smiled, handing him a note over his shoulder. Although years had passed since they became friends and Rowan was more comfortable around Aelin, he still preferred to not talk too much around other people. He was always polite and quiet, and Aelin honestly didn’t mind his silence in public. They had other ways to communicate. Because Aelin was so close to Aedion, her cousin and Rowan became friends with time. The same happened to Lysandra and, since all three of them had learned sign language since they were little because of Elide, the three of them taught Rowan how to use it too.
Most times, however, they just shared notes. Aelin would always walk with paper in her pocket, and Rowan usually had a pen.  They used sign language in more formal occasions, usually when her parents or his dad would tell them that bluntly sharing notes on the table while ignoring everyone else was impolite.
Rowan passed the note back, and Aelin smiled.
I can’t believe The Return of the King is out today. R u ready, Legolas?
Rowan’s terrible handwriting was right below hers. U only talked about this for six months. Ofc I am. And stop calling me Legolas.
Aelin eyed the teacher as she wrote a response, making sure that they weren’t calling any attention. It wouldn’t be the first time they got caught passing notes, and most times teachers weren’t really happy about Rowan and Aelin talking about The Mummy or The Goonies or anything else rather than learning math.
She passed the note to him, getting a response seconds later.
U love that I have nicknames for u. Shows the beauty in our friendship, Legolas. N Gods, u need to work on ur handwriting
U r a pain in the ass
Aelin was trying very hard not to smile, and was about to write another response when the teacher’s voice rang through the room.
“Aelin Galathynius and Rowan Whitethorn!” They both snapped their head up at the same time, and from the corner of her eye she saw Aedion trying to contain his laughter. “Again? I don’t understand how they let the two of you stay in the same classroom.”
Aelin heard Aedion snickering, and Lysandra too if the fake cough was any indication.
“The two of you are the bane of any teacher’s existence!”
“We don’t even talk out loud!”
“Galathynius!”
Aelin saw Rowan raising a fist to his mouth, faking a cough just like Lysandra had to hide his smile.
“The two of you are to stay after school today. If you’re so eager to play with paper during class, you can help me organize some files.”
Both Aelin and Rowan groaned, and Aelin was probably going to argue more had the teacher not turned back to the board. She continued the lesson as if nothing had happened.
It took less than a minute for Aelin to scribble something on the piece of paper, passing it to Rowan. When he saw the note, he shook his head in exasperation, but took it nonetheless. This time, when passing it back and forth, Rowan and Aelin were more careful to not call attention.
Can u believe it??? We r not even interrupting her
U don’t learn, do u?
Stop complaining. U r passing the not back to me. This is a group effort
Whatever u say, G.
Every time u play the bigger person in the friendship I want to shove my fist in ur mouth
:)
“Oh, Gods, I can’t believe it! Seriously?” The teacher shouted again, staring at both of them.
Aelin tried to give an apologetic smile as Rowan closed his eyes and groaned.
—————————
November 2009
“Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Galathynius.” Rowan said, walking into the kitchen and grabbing an apple. “How are you two doing today?”
“I’m ok, sweetie. You?” Evalin asked, a maternal smile on her lips.
“Aelin is not home.” Rhoe said, looking up from his newspaper.
Rowan smirked. “I know.”
“I’m gonna start making you pay rent, boy.”
“Will you believe if I told you my dad said the same about Ace?” Rowan mused, taking a bite from his apple.
“I miss when you didn’t talk to us.” Rhoe said, turning to Evalin. “Don’t you miss when he didn’t talk to us?”
Evalin hit her husband on the shoulder. “You adore Rowan, stop being grumpy.”
“Yeah, you adore me, stop being grumpy.” Rowan’s smirk only widened as Rhoe’s eyes narrowed.
“My daughter’s arrogance is rubbing off on you.”
“If you can deal with Ace, you can deal with me.” Rowan replied. He motioned to the stairs, walking backwards as he still talked to Rhoe. “Now if you’ll excuse me, your daughter asked me to water her plants.”
“And then you leave.” Rhoe grunted.
“And then I will have a movie marathon in here with Ace when she comes back from Lysandra.”
“I mean it about the rent.”
Rowan only grinned, winking at Rhoe. “I’ll be in your daughter’s room.”
As he went up the stairs, Rowan heard Evalin laughing at Rhoe’s curse.
Rowan had been friends with Aelin for months before her parents even heard him saying a word. In the beginning, when there were people around them, they would talk through shared notes. Since the day Aelin asked him to hang out with her, they spent most of their time together. Everyday they would go to his or her house after school, she was always around him at school and now, almost ten years later, both of them remained as united as ever. More, even. They had reached a point in their friendship that there was little to no thing that they didn’t know about each other, that they couldn’t tell each other.
She never made him feel uncomfortable, never pressured him to talk when he didn’t feel like it. Rowan had always been a quiet kid, and Aelin had found that to be more of an extra thing she liked about him rather than an impediment in their friendship. She would say he was the stoic and intelligent silence to her witty and unstoppable words.
Aelin became part of his daily routine, and so did her parents. Rhoe and Evalin had always treated him as if he was family— Evalin as the loving mom and Rhoe as the very witty dad. He had never thought he would feel so comfortable around people that weren’t his family, but the Galathynius had gotten through all his barriers during the years.
Rowan entered Aelin’s room, throwing his bag and shoes at the floor by one of her bookcases.
“You know, if Aelin wasn’t completely insane, she would be watering you.” Rowan mumbled to the plants as he watered them. While she was a messy person overall, Aelin was very methodical with some things. Her books were always organized, she had crazy rituals for random things and a very strict schedule to water her plants.
He finished watering the plants, opening the curtains to allow some sunlight in. Unceremoniously, Rowan laid on Aelin’s bed, taking his phone out of his pocket.
“Your stupid plants have been watered.” Rowan announced when she picked up the phone. He put it on speaker, setting the device down on top of his stomach. “Where are you?”
“Left Lys’s a while ago, I’m at the supermarket. Anything you want?” Aelin said mindlessly. Rowan could picture her with the phone in between her shoulder and ear, attention focused on the products in front of her rather than on him.
“Celery.”
“Ok, I’ll buy popcorn.”
“I said celery.”
“I refuse to have a movie night with you if you’re gonna eat celery. That shit is disgusting.” She complained. “Besides, you’ll make me self conscious if you’re eating celery and I’m eating a bowl of chocolate. Be a good best friend.”
Rowan huffed a laugh, resting an arm above his eyes. “I don’t like chocolate, Ace.”
“If you had told me that years ago, I would have let Archer beat the shit out of you.” Aelin huffed, throwing something in the cart. “I’ll buy your stupid celery.”
“You love me.” Rowan smiled.
“You love me.” Aelin mimicked, her voice sounding stupid. “Shut the fuck up. And take a goddamn shower if you’re gonna stay in my bed.”
Rowan didn’t even take his arm away from his eyes, didn’t even ask how she knew he was sprawled in her bed. “Also, buy vodka.”
“I don’t hate you enough to let you have celery and vodka on a Tuesday night.” Although she tried to sound impatient, Rowan could picture the smile on her face. Imagining it, Rowan smiled too. “And I mean it, buzzard. Go take a shower.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Also go to hell.”
“Your wish is my command.”
Rowan was laughing when she ended the call abruptly. He remained laying down for a few moments before getting up, groaning. He was only half awake as he went to the bathroom, picked the stuff Aelin usually left for him under the counter and took a quick shower. It was a good thing they had grown up together, because Rowan though it was very unlikely he would ever have a friend with as much intimacy as he had with Ace. Things like showering on each other’s house, sharing beds and spending most of their time together seemed strange to Rowan when he thought about it with anyone but Aelin.
They had been through elementary school together. Had made their class selection in middle school together so they would end up in the same classes. Now, in their last year of high school, they still tried to coordinate their schedules. Rowan and Aelin were applying to the same colleges, and although they were focusing on different areas, both we’re going to law. There was no Aelin without Rowan, or Rowan without Aelin. Neither of them minded, and things were so natural that it had never been a problem.
Rowan grabbed some shorts he had left at her house during the summer and one of the shirts Aelin had stolen from him, dropping on the bed again. He promised himself he wouldn’t sleep, that he would wait for her so they could start the movies soon.
However, when Aelin arrived at home forty five minutes later, she had to bite her lip to keep herself from smiling. Rowan was asleep and, despite her absence, he had kept to his side of the bed. Aelin sighed, throwing her shoes and backpack where Rowan had thrown his. She went into the bathroom, changing from her jeans and crop top into one of Rowan’s old t-shirts and a pair of basketball shorts.
Part of her wanted to wake him up. It was almost October and they had to make the Lord of the Rings marathon now, because they wouldn’t have time during the next month due to the 31 days of Halloween movies challenge they always did. And yet, Rowan seemed so tired and calm, that Aelin merely climbed up the bed and immediately fell asleep by his side. When she woke up again hours later, she noticed that it was already sunset, meaning they had slept for at least three hours.
Aelin groaned softly, rubbing her eyes and turning to face Rowan. She nudged him gently with her knee until his eyes fluttered.
“Let me sleep.”
“We’re watching Lord of the Rings. Wake your hulking ass up.” Aelin murmured.
“Sleep.” Was all Rowan replied, eyes still closed.
“Don’t you want to see Legolas?” Aelin asked, a sly smile on her mouth.
At that, Rowan opened his eyes. He glared at her, each second his glare worsening as Aelin’s smile grew.
“The joke is not funny anymore.”
“Yes, it is.” Aelin was smiling so much it hurt her cheeks.
“Is your whole personality based on acting like a bitch?”
“Yes, you should be aware of that by now.” Aelin said, sitting up. “Come on, Ro. Like old times? We make the tent  over the bed and watch the movies together. I’ll make Legolas jokes and you’ll sulk pretending I’m not damn funny. We’ll probably fall asleep during the last one and wake up tomorrow to find out the tent fell on top of us during the night. Just like when we were young.”
“You are not funny.” He grunted, but also sat up. He ran his hands through his hair, and Aelin watched every movement in silence. When he finally turned to her, she smiled at him. “And the tent always fell because you’re shit at following instructions and always set it up wrong.”
“I’m hilarious.”
“Nope.”
“You’re boring, I’m funny. It’s the very essence of our friendship.”
“No, I’m a prick and you’re an asshole. That’s the essence of our friendship.” He smirked a little at that, and Aelin narrowed her eyes.
“Remind again me why we are friends.” Aelin said sarcastically, getting up from the bed.
Rowan simply laid back, arms behind his head. “You kicked someones’s balls for me when we were eight. Always had a terrible temper.”
“My temper always helped your sorry ass.” Aelin came back from her closet with the tent sheets. “Little Rowan couldn’t throw a punch.”
“See?” Despite what Aelin was saying, Rowan grinned. “A fucking asshole through and through.”
As much as she tried to contain, Aelin smiled, a breathy laugh coming out. “Yea, sure. I’m an asshole. And yet you’re still here after ten years.”
Rowan’s grin became a soft smile, and he got up to help Aelin with the tent. “Of course I am. Can’t leave you all alone after a decade, can I, Ace? You wouldn’t know how to live without me.”
Aelin only rolled her eyes, huffing. She looked to the other side of the bed where Rowan was standing, holding the opposite side of the tent sheet.
Aelin then smiled when he winked at her.
———
June 2012
Since Rowan and Aelin had become friends, he had to hear that he and Aelin were each other’s half. He was what kept her grounded to Earth, and she was what kept him from having an awfully boring life. They were the perfect combination for best friends— one cautious and the other one reckless. Even Aelin would sometimes joke that Rowan was the prudent part of her.
In short, in their friendship, Rowan should be the smart one when it came to these situations.
And since he obviously wasn’t this time, it only made everything worse.
“I’m so happy to see you two!” Evalin said, hugging Rowan and then Aelin. “I feel like it has been ages.”
“Only a few months, mom.” Aelin said, a huge smile on her face. As much as she loved the freedom of living without her parents, Rowan knew she missed them dearly. “Me and Ro had so much to study, otherwise we would have come earlier.”
“College is a bitch.” Rowan added, earning a smile from Evalin and a wink from Aelin.
He quickly but discreetly averted his eyes from Aelin, looking at the house he had spent most of his time since third grade. His childhood and teenage years in that house had been happy and uncomplicated, only him and his best friend.
Things seemed everything but uncomplicated now, and Rowan wanted to punch himself every time he looked at Aelin and thought that maybe, just maybe, being more than friends wouldn’t be so bad. He couldn’t remember when the feeling started, nor could he understand how it could have grown so fast. He had always loved Aelin, but this was… it was different.
For most time, he tried to keep the feelings in check. He refused to distance himself from Ace, but he wouldn’t make a move either. They had been best friends for twelve years, and he wouldn’t throw all of that away only for the shot at a relationship.
“Me, Rhoe and Viktor will go out tonight, but we can all have lunch tomorrow.” Evalin was saying, looking at Rowan. He nodded, already knowing that from when he called his dad to let him know he was back in town. Evalin looked down at Aelin who was resting her head against her mother’s shoulder. “You two can stay here and order something.”
“Yeah, that was the plan.” Aelin said, leaving her mother’s embrace. She walked up to Rowan, resting her back against his chest. He tried his best to not perceptibly tense. He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to act casual. “Ro was thinking Thai.”
Evalin nodded, pointing to the kitchen with her thumb. “Jellybean, can you help me before you two go up? It’s something with the internet and you know how bad me and your father are with technology.”
Rowan smiled, and Aelin laughed. She walked up to her mom, turning around and walking backwards as she pointed at Rowan. “Don’t break anything.”
He rolled his eyes. “I have never.”
Aelin grinned. “Yes, you have.”
“That was you.” Rowan narrowed his eyes as Aelin entered the kitchen. “You broke it and put all the fault on me.”
She laughed, winking at him before disappearing.
Rowan stared after her, both glad and disappointed she wasn’t with him anymore. They were roommates and had almost every single class together, and so they spent most of their time with one another, meaning that Rowan knew that it was a stupid reaction. He shouldn’t be glad his best friend left, and he also shouldn’t immediately miss her.
Gods, he was pathetic.
Rowan’s head snapped up when he heard a chuckle from the stairs. When his eyes landed on Rhoe staring at him, he smiled.
“What’s up, old man?”
Rhoe’s smile turned into a grin as he went down the stairs. “Any reason why you were oogling my daughter, Whitethorn?”
Rowan’s heart stopped dead inside his chest, and he had to control his urge to cough, clear his throat, fidget or just straight up run. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Rhoe chuckled again, tapping Rowan on the shoulder. “You and Aelin were always terrible at lying when it was about your feelings for each other. Aelin was always great at pretending she hated the world when she was mad, but it was never convincing when she used to say she hated you because she was angry at you. It was all over her face and voice that it was a lie.”
Rowan shifted on his feet, crossing his arms. His restlessness made Rhoe smile even more. “You’re getting mad. Probably the age.”
“Don’t bullshit a bullshiter, boy.” He announced, walking past Rowan to the kitchen. He was almost at the door when he turned back to Rowan, eyes strangely serious. “She wouldn’t say no, you know that, right?”
Rowan didn’t answer, only adverted his gaze. It was obvious someone would notice at some point, and it made sense it was Rhoe. Aelin’s dad had spent so much time with them throughout the years that if someone was gonna pick up on a change, it would be him.
“Wouldn’t say no to what?” Aelin asked, coming out of the kitchen with her mom. She quickly hugged her dad, giving him a kiss on the cheek before walking to Rowan. “And who’s she?”
“No one.” Rowan said, not taking his eyes away from Rhoe. He only smiled, winking at Rowan before hugging his wife.
“We’re leaving.” He announced, pulling Evalin to the doors. He looked directly at Rowan when he said the next words. “Behave.”
Rowan felt his whole face heating, and he wanted to tell Rhoe to fuck off. By the smile on his face, Rowan’s expression had taken care of it.
“Twelve years and you still think you can lie to me.” Aelin crossed her arms, looking up at him.
Rowan looked right back at her, and his heart skipped a beat as always. Rowan had always known Aelin was beautiful— it had never been an opinion, but a fact. With blonde honey hair, flawless creamy skin and a mouth that always seemed to be inching towards a smirk, Aelin could have been a model. Her body was just as attractive as her face, even though Rowan made sure he was always looking somewhere else other than below her neck.
Aelin Galathynius was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And Rowan though she was also intelligent, and funny and wickedly interesting.
And he also knew that he was both very lucky and very unlucky. Lucky for having her as his best friend, unlucky for being completely in love with her.
Aelin usually wore heels, heeled boots or shoes that made her seem taller. Now, as she had discarded her shoes somewhere, she barely reached his chin. If Rowan ever had a death wish, he would tell her how adorable and non threatening she looked from his point of view.
“I have to keep trying, isn’t that right?” He grinned at her. She groaned, brushing past him. She started going upstairs, not turning around to see if he was following her.
Naturally, he was.
“Want to play twenty questions?”
“No.” Rowan answered, throwing himself at her bed.
Aelin crossed her arms, frowning down at him as she sat on the bed. “Stop being a little bitch.”
“The game is pointless. I know everything about you and you know everything about me.” Rowan noted, putting his arms in the back of his head. “What the fuck would you even ask?”
“What’s your favorite color?” Aelin asked, a grin on her face.
Rowan snorted.
“It’s ok, I know the answer. It’s me.”
“You?” He raised an eyebrow.
Aelin smirked, pushing herself to sit down closer to Rowan. Her hips were touching his waist, and Rowan was trying very hard to concentrate. “I’m your favorite everything, buzzard.”
Rowan merely laughed, not commenting on how right she was.
“Your turn.”
He rolled his eyes, but asked nonetheless. “You’ve been stressed out lately?” He smiled when Aelin groaned. She had spent the whole drive from the university to the house complaining about how stressful classes were and that she was about to drop everything and try to marry rich. “Yeah, me too.”
They were just making questions that they already knew the answer, exactly like Rowan had said.
Aelin raised her eyebrows suggestively, wiggling her shoulders. “Are you a virgin?”
Rowan choked on a laugh. He knew Aelin knew he wasn’t. “Yes, and I actually plan on dying one. College is already fucking me enough for a lifetime.”
Aelin guffawed, throwing her head back. Rowan smiled at her, his eyes trailing the slope of her neck. When she looked back at him, Rowan wasn’t so reluctant to keep playing this game if it meant Aelin would keep laughing. “Do you ever regret dating Cortland?”
Aelin groaned, and Rowan smiled. “Exes are prohibited here.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Stop smiling.”
“He was a bitch. I wanted to punch him whenever he went out with us.”
“Careful, Whitethorn,” Aelin mused with a grin. “Or you’ll start sounding jealous.”
Rowan scoffed. “Just ask your next question.”
“If you could take me anywhere in time, where would we go?”
Rowan stayed in silence for a few seconds before replying. “1999.”
Aelin’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Why?”
“I would have liked for you to meet my mom.”
Aelin felt her whole body constricting and warming at the same time. Through some nerve, she grabbed Rowan’s hand, sweeping her thumb gently on top of his knuckles. “I would have loved to meet her.”
Rowan very rarely talked about his mom, and Aelin knew him enough to know she shouldn’t push the conversation. In the twelve years they had been friends, Rowan only occasionally would talk about his mother. Aelin had so many questions about how she was, what their relationship had been like, but she also loved Rowan more than she was curious, so she never asked if h didn’t provide the information himself.
Rowan smiled up at Aelin, and it was filled with so much love and mourning that Aelin felt her heart skipping a beat. “You would have loved her. She was your type of person.”
Aelin smiled softly at him. Without thinking any further, she laid down in bed, resting her head on Rowan’s chest and their joint hands on top of his stomach. Rowan’s free hand started massaging her scalp, and Aelin closed her eyes as she breathed Rowan’s scent in.
“Do you think she would have liked me?”
“Oh, yes.” Aelin could hear the smile on his voice. “She would have loved you. You are exactly the type of person she wanted me to be close to. She always said I was too cautious, too calm. I needed some recklessness in my life, and since I mostly refused to go out during myself childhood and be reckless by myself, my mom thought that having a friend like that would be perfect. She would have adored your personality, and how important you were in my life.”
“She sounds amazing.��
“She was.” Rowan breathed.
“No wonder you turned out like this.” Aelin said and immediately felt Rowan gripping her tighter.
“Thanks, Fireheart.”
Aelin smiled, opening her eyes and looking up at him. Rowan was staring at her, and Aelin winked at him. “Whenever you need some ego boosting, Ro.”
He chuckled, still massaging her hair. “If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?”
“I like it here.” Aelin tried shrugging. She felt Rowan tensing, and a part of her wondered if she had said something wrong. She didn’t want to ponder on it, didn’t want to think about what it meant and how it would make her feel if it was true. Instead, she just changed the subject. “My turn. What were you and my dad talking about? And who is she?”
The question only made Rowan tense further, and Aelin raised, holding herself on her elbows as she looked down on him. “Nothing and no one.”
“Bullshit.” She spat, narrowing her eyes. “If you don’t want to tell me, fine. But don’t lie to me, Rowan.”
He sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “It’s nothing you would like to know.”
“Are you seeing someone?”
Rowan looked directly into her eyes, and Aelin resisted the urge to shift under his gaze. “Would that be something you wouldn’t like to know, Aelin?”
Aelin felt her heart beating stronger inside her chest, each beat sounding so loud that it was a wonder Rowan hadn’t heard it too. She refused to think about the question, just like for the last months she had tried ignoring every similar question when it came to Rowan.
No, she wouldn’t like to hear that. At all.
Instead of telling him that, she just shrugged. “Are you?”
“Careful, Galathynius,” Rowan repeated the same words she had said minutes ago. This time, however, there was no humor on his voice. “Or you’ll start sounding jealous.”
Aelin rolled her eyes, forcing a snort out. The conversation had taken a completely different path than she had originally intended. It was enough to get on the bad side of her temper, and before she could even think about what she was saying, she raised her chin and replied. “What if I am?”
Rowan’s eyes widened ever so slightly, and Aelin wanted to punch herself. He stared at her in silence for what seemed to be an eternity. “Are you?”
She had fucked up, she knew that. Rowan had been the closest person to her for more than a decade, and even if she lied and said no, he would know the truth. She knew that she should have kept her mouth shut, should have dropped the subject. She had spent months trying to make sure Rowan wouldn’t even suspect that she was interested in him in a more than friendly way.
And she had fucked that up with a stupid teenager game.
There was no going back anymore, and maybe because of this Aelin felt confident enough to do what she had been aching to do for a while now.
She didn’t stop to think about how things would be after this, didn’t stop to think about what Rowan’s widening eyes meant as she brought her face down and pressed her lips against his.
Rowan was like a stone under her, and Aelin moved her lips softly on top of his. There was a voice in her head screaming at her, telling her to pull back and try to fix the friendship. She was going to do just that when she felt Rowan raising his hands, putting them on her hair as he kissed her back.
Rowan rolled on his side, one of his hands sneaking down to Aelin’s back to pull her against him. Aelin laid on the bed, one of her hand going to the back of Rowan’s head, her fingers playing with his hair.
Aelin bit Rowan’s lower lip, moaning when he opened his mouth, tongue sweeping over hers. She pressed herself against him, one of her legs intertwining with his.
“Ro.” Aelin breathed, arching her neck as Rowan kissed the expanse of her throat and collarbones. One of his hands sneaked inside her shirt, palm cupping her breast as the other one gripped her hair more tightly. Aelin ran her hands through his back, coming back through his front until she was cupping his face.
Aelin raised Rowan’s face back to her, kissing him deeper than she had before. Rowan’s tongue entered her mouth, and Aelin’s mind emptied of any thought that wasn’t about him. About his hand against her breast, fingers in her hair. All her focus was on how he was making her feel, and Aelin felt completely intoxicated by him.
Rowan put one of his legs in between Aelin’s thighs, pressing it against her middle as Aelin grinded her hips softly against him.
“Ace, do you—“ Rowan was breathing against her mouth, but was interrupted when they both heard the main door opening and voices filing in.
“I can’t believe you forgot you wallet, Rhoe!”
Aelin raised her head immediately, eyes widening when she saw the bedroom’s door open and heard her parents coming up the stairs. She rolled over Rowan, almost falling off the bed as she ran to the door and closed it louder than she intended to. She closed her eyes, putting her back against the door as she heard one set of the footsteps going in the direction of her parent’s room. The other one stopped in front of her door, and a hesitant knock sounded.
“Is everything alright, Aelin?” Her mom’s voice seemed more curious than confused.
“Yeah.” She answered, trying not to sound too breathless. “You guys are already back?”
“Dad forgot his wallet. We just came to pick it up but we are already leaving.”
“You sure you’re ok, Ae?” Her dad asked, having come back from his room.
“Yeah, yeah. We’re fine. Rowan just has a terrible habit of not closing the door after his tail enters the room.”
Aelin heard her dad and mom laughing. “Ok the, jellybean. We’re out again, we’ll see you later or in the morning.”
“Love you guys!” Aelin shouted as she heard her parents’ footsteps going down the stairs. She remained with her eyes closed until she heard the front door opening and losing again, and only then she opened them again.
Rowan was sitting on the bed, eyes stuck on her face. His cheeks were pinkish, lips swollen and hair a mess. Aelin supposed she wasn’t too much better.
They stared at each other in complete silence until Aelin cleared her throat, pushing her hair back from her face.
“Well if this isn’t a fucking surprise for both of us.”
——————
October 2016
Aelin though that the rice on the ground looked like snow.
Among the screams all around her, she could hear the church bells ringing, the soft song playing on the background.
She looked to her right, watching her newly husband grin at some of his friends from uni.
They both had wanted a small wedding, but both Rowan and Aelin’s parents insisted that they needed a big ceremony, something big enough to encompass their whole relationship.
Rowan turned to her, grin only widening as he realized she was smiling at him. “What are you looking at?”
Aelin shook her head, eyes closing when she felt Fenrys and Aedion throwing more of that rice thing on them. “Nothing.”
Rowan laughed, hugging her as they walked to their car. “Sixteen years and you still think you can lie to me, Mrs. Whitethorn.”
Aelin held Rowan’s face in her hands, kissing him deeply and lovingly before drawing back, a smile never leaving her face. “I have to keep trying, isn’t that right, babe?”
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okay but what about a 'The Way I Loved You' by TS Au for Rowaelin with Punk!Rowan?? pretty please??
A/N: The way I rushed to post this. I have a bunch of fanfics to write before October is over, and now that I’m finally not sick anymore, I’ve been trying to rush and write them but this prompt.....
The Way I Loved You
--
“So I’ll pick you up at seven, right?”
Aelin smiled, nodding. “Yeah, seven is perfect.”
Chaol smiled back, putting a hand on her back as he bent down to kiss her. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, Aelin tensed slightly. She had been dating Chaol for three months now, and it wasn’t that kissing him made her uncomfortable, it was just different.
For two and a half years, she had been used to kissing a different guy.
A guy she could feel the stare at the back of her head.
Chaol withdrew, still smiling at her. Aelin forced a smile to appear on her lips, giving him a quick peck on the lips before taking a step back. She needed to go to her class, and even though she didn’t let herself turn around to confirm, she knew Rowan was still staring at her.
Part of her could understand the staring. They had broken up four months ago, and Aelin rushed to find someone new. Not to throw it at his face that she could, but just because she had felt so fucking bad at the end of their relationship, that she figured that the best cure was to jump right back at another one. It kinda worked most of the time. The other part of her, the part that felt like the solution wasn’t working out perfectly, wished he would just start ignoring her existence. Would stop looking at her, being in the same room that she was.
Preferably, stop being in the same continent that she was.
As she left the senior lounge— pointedly not looking back— she let her mind wander to months and months back when all this tension didn’t exist. Aelin had known Rowan since forever. He had been at her class from elementary school until high school, and she knew that they were also going to the same college when they graduated in two months. Until sophomore year of high school, though, Aelin had never exchanged more than three words with him. They had been different at everything their entire lives, and so both never showed any interest in having a single conversation with one another. In elementary school, while Aelin focused on the art classes, Rowan only ever showed a human reaction during music class. In middle school while she was part of every single club she could find, Rowan had been too busy avoiding every club that could find him. In high school, while Aelin dedicated her life to her grades, being cheer captain and part of the volleyball team, Rowan simply worked towards paying off his motorcycle, working at Lorcan’s dad’s mechanic shop, and almost getting arrested every now and then.
Honestly, it had been a miracle that they even knew about each other’s existence.
The only reason they actually met was because of Chemistry. Aelin had absolute no interest in the subject, but since her mother had been bothering her to take it, she relented during her second year of high school. As she had chosen to take it in advanced placement, they had a whole period of the normal class plus the addition of half a period of laboratory. To her chagrin at the time, she got paired up for the labs with the single person in the whole class she wasn’t friends with.
Rowan fucking Whitethorn.
She found some comfort in realizing that he was just as excited to work with her as she was to work with him, but since he was always polite during the labs, she didn’t find a reason to dislike him. He was coldly neutral, and, surprisingly, a fucking genius. If it hadn’t been for him, Aelin would have bombed every single lab, quiz and test they had in that godforsaken class.
Despite both of their reputations, Aelin found out that she had more in common with him than it looked, and that she also liked him a lot more than she would have ever thought. When comfortable around people, he was actually pretty chill and funny. One of the biggest things that made her befriend him, though, was the fact that he didn’t fucking care about anything that didn’t concern him. Rumors? He was too busy for that. Reputations? Nope. Social status? Couldn’t care less.
While so many people in the school saw her as an athletic bimbo, Rowan met her with absolute 0 preconceptions because he never fucking cared about them. Since the beginning, he met Aelin for who she really was, and not the person everyone at the school had a different perception of.
Maybe this was one of the reasons she fell so deeply in love with him.
Things had been normalish. They didn’t know about each other, they met, became friends and then started dating. Nothing too out of the ordinary.
The dating though.
Dating Rowan had been… wild. Not in the bad sense, no. It had been like a roller-coaster all the time. Like driving down an empty highway at 150 per hour, windows open, and screaming your lungs out. It had been fun, and it had made her feel so alive that she could still feel it when she closed her eyes. It had made her blood boil, every single nerve jump. And yet, at the same time, being with him never made her feel so calm, so comfortable. Rowan was what shook her world, but also what made her feel steady.
Loving Rowan Whitethorn had been the biggest adventure of her life.
Their relationship had been the perfect mixture of actual love and burning passion.
The passion was sometimes almost blinding, and it made her do things she would have never though she’d have the courage to do. Rowan encouraged her to push her limits— always safely, he’d make sure of that—, and Aelin enjoyed her life to the maximum. They went on a trip across the east coast on his motorcycle during the summer, went bungee jumping at the neighboring state to celebrate his birthday, and skydiving to celebrate hers. Aelin had asked her dad once, at two in the morning, to take her to the police station to bail Rowan out after he punched someone hard enough to make the other guy black out. The fact Aelin’s dad hadn’t killed her and Rowan after it had been a miracle.
The love, though, the love was her favorite part. Loving Rowan was so easy and so different from what she thought loving someone would be. She always thought that love was that blinding emotion, that easy thing that made you burn from inside out, but no. That was passion, and while it was good, love was… more. Loving him had been like sitting at a beach in the end of the afternoon, the wind on her face and the disappearing sun still warming your skin. Loving hadn’t make her feel like combusting, it had made her feel like home. It wasn’t always easy to be in love all the time, but she also found out that the hardships made part of loving.
Love, she learned, was choosing someone every day, the good and the bad, even when you didn’t feel like it. Love wasn’t always perfect, but it was always worth it.
But they fought. Oh, they fought a lot. Despite Rowan’s careless behavior, he was just as stubborn as she was. Their fights had always been filled with screaming, always making her blood boil in a different way. Even when fighting with him, Aelin had never felt more alive. In the end, however, most of their fights were stupid. They never fought about serious shit, and the screaming matches were usually about fucking nothing. They both had been too stubborn to see this, too stubborn to admit that both were usually wrong
The denial was what broke everything.
Aelin didn’t think Rowan would actually think they were breaking up. It was another one of their stupid screaming matches, and Aelin blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. She had been too proud to say she didn’t mean it, and so things ended because of nothing.
She could still see the whole scene. Could still see Rowan going still, narrowing his eyes and then shrugging as if it was nothing. Could still see him leaving. Could still hear her heart breaking. She knew since that instant that she should have gone after him.
She didn’t. He should have known.
And now he would be staring at her every now and then, would be like a fucking buzzard over her life.
“Hello, Earth to Aelin.” She felt a hand on her shoulder, a hand snapping its fingers in front of her face. She snapped back to reality, raising her head to stare at her cousin’s face. Her best friend, Lysandra, was by his side, staring at her with as much concern as Aedion was. “You ok?”
Aelin shook away from his grip, forcing a smile to her lips. “Never been better.”
————
Aelin waved Chaol goodbye, waiting until his car left her driveway to get inside the house.
She sighed, dropping her shoes down as she walked quietly to the kitchen. It was almost two in the morning, and she didn’t want to wake her parents.
Despite her efforts to keep quiet, she couldn’t help the scream that left her mouth when she turned on one of the kitchen lights and saw her father sitting there.
She put a hand to her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. “What the hell?”
“Was that necessary?” Rhoe asked, a smirk on his face.
Aelin scowled. “Why are you sitting in the dark?”
“Makes it all more dramatic.” Her dad shrugged, and Aelin rolled her eyes. She walked to one of the cabinets, taking out a bottle of water. “Aelin.”
She turned at her father’s tone, frowning when she saw his expression. “You’re the one that said no curfew.”
Rhoe shook his head, patting the seat by his side. “Come here, firefly.”
Aelin set the bottle down, cautiously sitting by her father’s side. He had a strange expression on his face, body somewhat tense. “What happened?”
“You like Chaol?”
Aelin frowned at the question, scoffing a little. “Yeah, he’s my boyfriend.”
“You used to have a different boyfriend.” Her dad said, and Aelin understood what the conversation was about.
“Seriously, dad?” She went on the defensive immediately, crossing her arms. “That was months ago. And I thought you didn’t even like Rowan.”
Rhoe actually laughed, a serene smile on his face. “Nah, I actually liked the kid. Despite the motorcycle, the black clothes, constant scowl, and the criminal record, he was a nice guy. And he made you happy. What else a father could wish?”
“Someone who doesn’t have a criminal record?”
Rhoe shrugged. “It’s not like I didn’t agree with him that time I had to take you to bail him out. Some guy harassed Lysandra, Rowan punched them.”
“You sound almost appreciative.” Aelin said, still on the defensive even though a small part of her smiled internally.
Rhoe smiled knowingly. “I am.”
Aelin scoffed, but didn’t say nothing in return. Her father let her gather her thoughts, and both sat in silence for a few minutes before Aelin said quietly. “Chaol is a nice guy.”
Her dad nodded. “He is.”
“He seems easy to love.”
Rhoe got up, pressing a kiss to his daughter’s hair. “No one is easy to love, firefly. That’s one of the main points of loving. We value it so much because it is hard to find, because it is hard to keep.” Aelin raised her head to look at her dad, and he smiled at her. “I’m not telling you what to do. You’re grown enough to take your own decisions. I’m also not telling you to go to a bad relationship, not in the slightest. If I thought something was harmful to you, I’d be the first intervening. But have in mind that people fight sometimes. Gods, me and your mother when we were younger? Like fucking cat and dog.”
Aelin huffed a laugh, vaguely remembering the stories her parents told her.
“But,” Rhoe continued. “It gets better with time, and I think you know that. You get more mature, learn to admit when you’re wrong. I remember when you and Rowan were younger and fought about everything, and yet it got better and better with time. The two of you barely argued during the last year.”
“I know.” Aelin whispered, resting her face against her father’s chest. He hugged her, rubbing her back like he used to when she was younger. She knew that he was right. Despite the fact that she argued a lot with Rowan, Aelin also knew that it had gotten much better. They fought less, and the reason of the arguments never got worse. It was usually childish and they’d laugh about it in the following morning. “I didn’t mean to actually break up with him. I never though he’d think I would break up with him over something so stupid.”
Even though she was whispering, Rhoe heard her. “I know.”
“And I should have told him that.”
“Yes, you should have.”
“I was wrong.”
“You were.”
“I’m not going back to him, though.” Aelin said, some stubbornness still in her. Rowan had absolutely left that day, and didn’t give her the chance to explain afterwards. They were apart for her fault, yes, but he wasn’t the saint in all this.
Rhoe groaned. “Really, Ace?”
Aelin crossed her arms. “He was very comfortable with the breakup. Why should I bother?”
“This whole conversation was for nothing?” Her dad crossed his arms, shaking his head.
“Not for nothing. I know now that I need to stop things with Chaol. I shouldn’t have even started dating him if I wasn’t going to commit completely.” Aelin raised her head to look at her dad. “Gosh, I’m a terrible person.”
“No, you’re young. Young people fuck up sometimes.” Rhoe kissed her head one more time before he started to walk out of the kitchen. He didn’t try to bring up going back to Rowan again, knowing that it would only make her more keen on not doing so. “But now that you recognize this, I hope you fix it. I didn’t raise you to be a liar, let that be by lying to others or to yourself.”
“Gods, you could have ended this conversation a little more lightly.”
Rhoe turned his face around, smiling at her. “Fix it, firefly.”
————
“Aelin? What happened? I left you at your house twenty minutes ago.” Chaol said, rubbing his eyes. He obviously was going to sleep already, and Aelin felt bad about doing this in the middle of the night but she had to get everything done already.
“I can’t do this.” She blurted out, an apologetic look on her face. “I’m so sorry.”
“What?”
“This. Us.” She signaled in between them. “I juts can’t.”
Chaol took a step forward, a frown on his face. “We’re going too fast? I can go in whatever pace you want but—“
“I know this is gonna sound like a shit excuse but it’s really not you, it’s me.” She said, cringing. It was terrible that she used the oldest breaking up method in the book, but it was true.
“Really, Aelin?” He crossed his arms, face morphing into anger. “This bullshit excuse?”
“I understand you’re mad, but I’m really, really sorry. I don’t want to lead you on, and you’re so nice and deserves someone who is completely willing to make the relationship work.” Aelin said pleadingly. “It’s not anything you did or didn’t do, I’m just—“
She wanted to feel as if her heart was breaking, but not even that. Instead, she was feeling relieved. The feeling angered her to no end. She should have been able to fall in love with a perfectly nice and calm guy, but Rowan’s presence had become like a ghost in her life and not even that was possible anymore.
“Not interested.” He finished, voice full of scorn. “If I’m oh so nice, why are you breaking up with me?”
“I—“ Aelin hesitated, not wanting to even mention Rowan. “I just can’t. I can’t be with you.”
“With me specifically.” Chaol said, grounding his jaw. After a second of silence, he let out an incredulous laugh. “Oh, I should have expected that. I’m the very nice guy, and yet you prefer the fucking asshole that Whitethorn is.”
Aelin felt a pang of anger. Of course Cahol would think that. “I’m really sorry. You are a nice guy, it’s really nothing with you.”
“Why don’t you just leave?” Chaol said, already closing the door. “And stay away from me.”
Aelin had the feeling that he didn’t want to hear to any more excuses, and so she just gave him another apologetic look before turning around and going back to her car.
Although breaking up with Chaol had been bad, she knew it wasn’t gonna be the worst part of her night because at that moment, Aelin was pissed enough to want to pick a fight.
And she knew exactly who she was going to pick it with.
As she drove to the apartment Rowan shared with Lorcan and his dad, Aelin went over and over what she was going to say when she got there. Knowing both her personality and Rowan’s, she knew that things would go south very quickly.
Her hands were sweating as she went up the stairs of the four stories building, fingers flexing over and over again as she gathered courage to knock on the door.
Part to her relief, part to her disappointment, no one answered. She knocked again. And again. And again.
On the sixth knock, the door opened violently, and Aelin found herself staring up at Lorcan Salvaterre.
His pissed off face quickly morphed into confusion, and he crossed his arms, leaning against the door frame. “Bimbo?”
Even being all pissed, Aelin rolled her eyes. Lorcan hadn’t like her in the beginning, but now both were actually close friends. Breaking up with Rowan made them separate a little, but good to know that he still liked her enough to use that stupid nickname. “Bully boy.”
Lorcan scoffed. “What have I done to deserve such visit at two in the morning?”
“Where’s Rowan?”
Lorcan tried to contain a smirk. “Why should I tell you?”
“Cause I’m your friend.”
“Nah, not good enough.” He said, letting the smirk appear. Aelin let out a breath, crossing her arms impatiently. “What do you want with him?”
“To talk.”
“You mean scream.”
“To talk.”
“About?”
“Stuff.”
Lorcan’s sarcastic smirk was widening more and more. “What stuff?”
“You’re fucking insufferable. Where’s Rowan?”
Lorcan let out a half cruel laugh. “ Don’t spew fire, baby. He’s in the shop, moping around while you go out with your jock boyfriend.”
Aelin rolled her eyes. “Thanks, could have said that a minute ago.”
“Nah.” Lorcan said, already closing the door. “Fix this mess. Rowan already has a shit mood, and it has only been worse for three months now.”
“You’re one to talk about bad mood.”
“Fuck off, Galathynius.” Lorcan said through the closed door, but Aelin was already rushing down the steps. The mechanic shop was by the end of the street, and she almost ran there.
The storefront was all dark, but the garage door was slightly open, light filtering through the opening. Without further thinking, Aelin crouched, entering through the opened bottom.
“Rowan.” Aelin said, crossing her arms.
Rowan immediately whipped his head around to look at her, eyes narrowing when he noticed her expression. “Why do I feel like you think I did something wrong?”
Despite all the planning, Aelin’s mind was blank. It was the first time she spoke to him in months. “I hate that we dated.”
Rowan let out a laugh, resting against the hood of a car. “You came all the way here, at two in the morning, to tell me that? The dedication is on point, Ace. But shouldn’t you have someone else to talk?”
Oh, he was jealous. Aelin could feel it in his voice. “You’re an idiot.”
“I’m the idiot?” Rowan crossed his arms. “If so, you should really get back to Prince Charming.”
“He’s nice.” Aelin said for some reason. When Rowan raised his eyebrows in mocked interest, she felt her blood boiling. It was because of this fucking asshole she couldn’t date anyone else. “He’s sensible and incredible.”
“Oh, I’m sure he is. All your single friends must be swooning over your relationship.” Although he was smiling, Aelin didn’t think he was finding any of that funny.
“And he calls me when he says he will. My mom thinks he’s nice, and today when he came to pick me up, he even talked to dad about business.”
“Really? I’m sure Rhoe and Evalin adore him.”
“He respects my space and limits, never asks me to wait. I, comfortable and I literally couldn’t ask for anything better.” The last lie tasted bitter on her tongue, but she didn’t take anything back.
“Wow, that sounds... fucking boring.” Rowan said, simply and with a smile. “And I bet anything you want that you’re fucking bored.”
“Fuck off, Rowan.”
“No, you fuck off, Aelin.” Rowan said, getting up. “You break up with me, you move on, you come here. And for fucking what?”
“You seemed very content in me breaking up with you, so don’t play the high moral ground card.” She replied defensively. “You wanna know what I just did, Rowan? I broke up with my amazingly normal boyfriend because of you.”
Rowan raised his eyebrows, letting out a laugh. “Can’t say I’m sorry.”
“Fuck you!”
“The girl I have loved for years just came here to tell me she broke up with her boyfriend because she still likes me. I’m so very sorry if I’m not currently crying.”
“You left.” Aelin screamed, and Rowan’s smile disappeared. She pointed a finger at him, taking a step forward. “You fucking left me after the stupidest fight we ever had. You fucking shrugged as if dating me wasn��t that important and you. Fucking. Left.”
“You broke up with me, Aelin. What the hell was I supposed to do?” Rowan spread his arms, shouting back at her.
“I don’t fucking know, but you could have showed any emotion that didn’t seem like satisfaction. You could have picked up my calls the following day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Could have asked me if I was serious when I shouted something stupid during a stupid argument.” Aelin’s voice was normal again. “And then Chaol comes and you’re right. I’m fucking bored. He opens the door for me, says all the right things and I’m fucking bored. Even when I feel perfectly fine, I’m fucking bored. I’m bored because I’m hung up over a guy who fucking shrugged when I broke a relationship of years. You shrugged, left and ignored me for days. So you don’t get to be happy about all this.”
“Aelin—“
“No. No, I’m talking now because you didn’t let me do it. I loved you so fucking much and you knew it. Loving you was a goddamn roller coaster and you knew I enjoyed it. And that’s the whole point. You knew the way I loved you and you didn’t let me explain. You knew it and you left, and then ignored me. I’m not saying this is your fault. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have screamed that I wanted to break up with you because I fucking didn’t, ok? I was fucking wrong, and we’re apart because of me. All I wanted was the chance to apologize. So now that you’re finally listening to me, you’re gonna let me apologize like it was the following morning.”
Aelin felt her heart beating fast, and when Rowan just stared at her in silence, she continued.
“I am so sorry I broke up with you. Of course I don’t mean it, and you’re acting like an idiot if you think I was for real. An absolute idiot because you should know I love you. You should know that I’d never break up with you over that. I’m so sorry that I even said that. I shouldn’t have, I let my temper get the best of me and shouted the first hurtful thing that came to my mind.” Aelin breathed in and out, trying to make her heart beat normally. “I’m sorry I even made you believe for a second I was for real. I never wanted to hurt you, and even though I hate the way you left, I understand. Please, please, forgive me and let’s go back to our normal.”
“Ace…”
“That was all I wanted to tell you when I called you a million times, Ro.” Aelin felt her throat twisting, the feeling of missing him for months hitting her straight to the chest. She knew she had been the wrong one in the situation, and even though she despised the way he left, Aelin knew Rowan enough to know that it was just a defense mechanism. “I didn’t even need you to accept me back, I just needed you to know that I was sorry and that I loved you. But you left and acted like everything was fine.”
“I’m sorry, Ace, I—“
“Gods, no. I don’t want you to apologize!” Aelin shook her head. Part of her wanted to hear it, the part that had been infuriated when ignored. The other part, however, the bigger part, didn’t want any apology. “I want you to accept the apology. And if you can’t do it, just say it and let me move on with my fucking life. Because if you can’t and this is it, I’ll have to move on with my fucking life. And I won’t bother you anymore.”
The whole room was silent, and Aelin was staring at Rowan as intently as he was staring right back at her. She could feel her heart beating, not fast anymore but so strongly she could hear it. Her palms were sweaty and, despite the fact that she hadn’t looked for Rowan with that intent in mind, she was hoping he’d accept the apology. That they’d talk and go back to being a normal fucking couple. A couple that no one really understood how it worked— Aelin being cheer captain, in the volleyball team, and every single club she’d find while Rowan was one step away from biting someone’s arm off if they talked to him.
“I was hurt.” Rowan started.
“I know.”
“And angry. And I wasn’t thinking.”
Aelin nodded hope and fear mixing inside her chest. “I guessed.”
“For two years I was waiting for the day you decided to break up with him after you realized I just wasn’t it.”
Aelin frowned, confusion clouding her mind. “What?”
“Oh, come on, Ace.” Rowan scoffed. “We both know you can do better.”
Aelin crossed her arms, eye narrowing. “No.”
“That’s a shit response.”
“Why the fuck do you mean by do better? Dating is not a sport or subject, Ro.”
“Don’t play dumb.”
“I mean it, tho. There’s no doing better. I love you and it is what it is. Nowhere to improve, you’re the maximum for me already.”
Rowan stared at her in silence, and Aelin wanted to say something else, wanted to maybe hug him. But he hadn’t said everything was fine, so she didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. She hadn’t been lying, though. She never imagined there could be anyone better for her, Rowan was just… perfect. What she not only wanted, but also needed. He had never been a missing part of her, but always someone who added up to who she already was.
“I’m sorry I didn’t let you explain.” Rowan said quietly.
“I said I didn’t want an apology.”
Rowan nodded, taking a hesitant step forward. “I love you. Have for years, you know that.”
Aelin nodded, face neutral even though she could feel her whole body relaxing. Worry slowly left her veins, relief and happiness substituting it. “And I love you too. Have for years, you know that.”
Rowan walked slowly up to her, hesitating again before raising his hands to cup her face. Aelin almost sighed in relief. “I should have listened to you.”
Aelin nodded, hope washing her whole expression. “So we’re fine? You forgive me, and we’re like before?”
Rowan bushed his thumb against her cheek, a small smile on his lips. “Yeah, we’re fine and there’s nothing to forgive.”
Aelin felt her chest bursting when he said that. She threw her arms around his shoulders, standing on her tiptoes to press her lips against his. Kissing Rowan after months was like coming back home, his warm and soft lips moving against her almost hungrily. Aelin opened her mouth, letting Rowan deepen the kiss as she hugged him more tightly. Rowan’s hands hugged Aelin by her waist, pressing her body against his as his mouth moved gently and yet hurriedly against hers.
Against his mouth, Aelin half sighed, half moaned in sheer happiness. 
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Text
TS!Rowaelin Masterlist
*Contains fluff
**Contains smut
***Contains angst
Songs can be requested through asks or personal messaging 
Taylor Swift
-
Fearless
The Way I Loved You 
Speak Now
Enchanted (soon)
Red
-
1989
This Love (soon)
I Know Places (soon)
You are in love (soon)
Reputation
King of My Heart (soon)
Lover
Cruel Summer*
Paper Rings (soon)
It’s Nice to Have a Friend
Folklore
The Last Great American Dynasty*
Epiphany***
Invisible String*
Illicit Affairs (soon)
Evermore
Dorothea
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lemonade-coolattas · 3 years
Text
how this is gonna go
rowaelin month day 5, prompt: “I accidentally hit you with my car.”
vigilante!Rowan & thief!Aelin au
wordcount: ~2.9k
tw: language, hella light violence?
part 2
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It was hour six of his stakeout. There was a crook in his neck from hour two, his stomach had been rumbling since hour four, and he’d had to piss for the past forty-five minutes. 
Needless to say, Rowan Whitethorn was not a happy man. 
All of that would be worth it, though, if the night panned out like he needed it to. 
Or, at least, if it ended better than the last time he thought he was closing in on Ardalan’s Angel. 
That night had ended in a trap, with the museum vault doors slamming down just as he caught a glimpse of a lithe figure by the entrance on the other side, covered head-to-toe in black, fucking wiggling their fingers at him. He’d had to escape by the skin of his teeth when the cops arrived. 
No, whoever the famed thief was, they were certainly not an angel. 
But this time was going to be different, he could feel it. 
Just like he knew, deep down, that this obsession of his was probably more trouble than it was worth.
But in the four years he had been doing this, the four years he had been on his little crusade of justice, nobody had evaded him as well as the so-called Angel had, or for as long as they had, and he couldn’t deny the thrill whenever he showed up at a crime scene just to see a pair of taillights disappearing in the dark, the way his heart raced when he deciphered their next move, the way he felt more alive than he had in years whenever he played this little chess match of theirs. 
Even more so when the thief had started taunting him, when they had started leaving not only their own calling card at the scenes of their impossible thefts—a small, carved wooden figurine of a stag, no bigger than his thumb—but also a carved hawk, like they were teasing him for the nickname the public had bestowed upon him. The Silver Hawk. He scoffed now just thinking of it, even while cursing himself for letting a civilian catch a glimpse of his bright hair when leaving a crime scene after he had deposited a criminal at the feet of the cops with them none the wiser. No pictures, thank the gods, but the nickname had stuck.
And it seemed his target had found it as ridiculous as he had, and he wasn’t sure if that kinship was thrilling or terrifying, but he knew he had to catch them just so he could one-up them once and for all. 
And get a little revenge for the whole museum incident.
Hence the six-hour stakeout in his car in the alley behind the jewelry store, heat blasting to ward off the winter chill, waiting for some movement from at the end of the alley. 
He had stalked the perimeter earlier, knowing that the only way out was the door in the alley, or the front gate, and the Angel wasn’t stupid enough to go with the latter. 
They might be bold enough, though. 
But whatever exit they planned on using didn’t change his plan. He would incapacitate them the way he had all his targets in the past four years—using as little violence and force as possible, make them turn themselves in to the nearest police station, and their little game would finally come to an end.
He tried not to think about how that filled him with a sinking feeling not unlike dread. Instead, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, trying to keep the yawns at bay. 
Where were they? Every one of their crimes had take place in the early hours in the morning, and it was nearing three a.m. 
He was getting antsy. After months, he thought he had finally cracked the pattern in the Angel’s hits while the police had done nothing but chase their tails, but as the clock on his dash kept ticking, he wasn’t so sure. 
He shook his head, running through what he had learned in the past eight months. While seemingly random, all of the Angel’s thefts had one common thread: veiled through layers and layers of shell companies, the targets were all owned by Arrobyn Hamel, and each theft, whether of jewels, gold, art, had been enough to bleed each place dry. Hamel was at the head of one of the largest crime syndicates in Rifthold, and while Rowan had tracked down a couple of his cronies over the years, he had never gotten close to the man himself. Just identifying this place as the next target had taken Rowan days of research, several bribes, and one break-in to the city’s record facility. 
Rowan cracked his neck. He had done his work, and he had down it well. The Angel would be here. 
As if on cue, a screech of tires on pavement interrupted his musing, followed a beat later by the blaring of alarms, and before he could blink, a car tore by the mouth of the alley way.
In all his planning, he hadn’t counted on the fucking roof, which the Angel had undoubtedly scaled down to get to their getaway vehicle. 
Which he should have thought of, because he had used roof-access countless times in his own missions, his own escapes. 
Stupid. 
Rowan cursed, and threw his car into drive, swinging onto the main drag, where a pair of taillights glared in the distance. 
He sped up. This could still work. He could trail from a distance until the Angel felt safe, follow them back to whatever little hidey-hole they crawled into, and grab them there.  His fingers flexed on the wheel, and he leaned forward in his seat, a grin splitting his face as he pressed down on the gas. This could work. 
The city was deserted, nobody out at such a late hour, especially with the bitter cold. Soon, the Angel slowed to a reasonable speed, likely considering themselves in the clear and trying not to attract any unwanted attention, while he cruised about a quarter mile back, only starting to close the distance when his target flipped their turn signal on, taking a right onto a different street.
Steeling himself, fingers tightening on the wheels, he turned right.
And let out a sigh of relief when he saw the outline of the same taillights in front of him.
He followed for another several miles, the city whizzing by outside his windows, keeping far enough back not to draw suspicion, but not far enough to lose them.
As the scenery changed, the city gradually bleeding into the suburbs, Rowan’s excitement grew, his left leg bouncing up and down. Close. We’re getting close. 
Sometimes, he thought that this was what he loved about what he did, his old promise to himself be damned. It was the feeling of his heart in this throat, blood pumping in his ears, as he did something, accomplished something, that made him feel free, alive.
And he would be damned to let the Angel take it away from him. 
At a red light near the outskirts of the city boundaries, the Angel’s car, a little red sedan without plates, rolled to a stop, and Rowan pulled up behind them, trying to calm his pounding heart, sure, somehow, that they would hear it. They were the only two cars at the intersection, likely the only two cars within a few miles’ radius. 
Rowan thought he saw the outline of the figure in the front seat glimpse in the rearview mirror. He averted his eyes, pulling the black cap lower on his forehead, and pretended to look out his window while keeping the car in his peripheral vision. 
A beat passed. Then two. 
Then, his target revved their engine, and before Rowan could realize what was happening, they whipped into the intersection, ignoring the red light and banging a u-turn to speed back toward the city. 
He was made.
Fuck, fuck. 
Rowan cut hard to the left, his back tires spinning out as he tried to get back onto the other side of the divided road.
 The Angel, likely seeing him in the rearview mirror, began to floor it, speeding down the main drag in an attempt to get rid of him.
Rowan only gritted his teeth and slammed his foot on the gas. 
He was so close, and he was not losing them. 
He sped after them, closing the gap between the two cars inch by inch, until the sedan cut a hard left. Rowan, going nearly too fast to follow, almost side-swiped a streetlight in his attempt to make the turn.
It was then that the car started weaving back and forth between lanes, and Rowan was immensely grateful there was no oncoming traffic from the other direction. The car whipped a few more hard turns, Rowan nearly snapping his steering wheel in an attempt to keep up, and as they neared the slums of Rifthold, where the roads were full of potholes and hard curbs, the first seed of doubt trickled in. He knew the streets of the city, his city, but still, without the easy, neat grid of streets of the downtown, it would be infinitely easier for his target to lose him in the tangle of streets in this district. 
Though Rowan wouldn’t make it easy for them. 
There were maybe a hundred feet between them now, Rowan closing fast, when suddenly, the car slammed on the brakes, and Rowan, swerving to avoid rear-ending them, overshot them by enough that in the time it took for him to turn back around, they had turned down a side street off the main drag. 
Then, the power of the few streetlights cut out—because of course it did—blanketing the street in an inky darkness only broken by the weak beams of his headlights and the stray lit window in the run-down apartment buildings bordering the road. 
So, then, whoever the Angel was—they weren’t not working alone, if they were able to cut the power like that, because there was no way in hell that was a coincidence. 
He caught a glimpse of red taillights just before the Angel, just out of reach of his own high beams, cut their own lights, disappearing into the night, and he lost a visual. 
Shit. 
He sped down the narrow road, swearing again when he came to an intersection where the road branched into three with no way of knowing in which direction the Angel had gone.
He paused, easing up on the gas and breathing hard, fists white on the steering wheel, trying not to let the weight of defeat crush him. He had just started to lower his head to the steering wheel when—
There, to the right, a flicker of movement in the dark.
As he rolled down the street on the right, he flicked his own lights off even though it effectively left him blind, hoping, maybe, to sneak up on them when they were vulnerable, when they were likely thinking they had lost him.
He knew the hours spent poring over maps of the city would come in handy, knew that this particular road went on straight for at least half a mile before he’d have to worry about the street curving west. He allowed a grin to cross his face as he picked up speed again to make up ground, knowing he could probably navigate with his eyes closed, so driving in the complete darkness was no different.
Which is why the unmistakable thump of his car hitting something caused his heart to drop. 
Fuck, fuck, fuck. 
He slammed to a stop and flicked his lights back on, taking in the crumpled form lying on the pavement in front of him, already trying to push to their feet.
Fucking shit.
A tiny, small part of him, a part he hated, wanted to keep going after the Angel, not wanting to let them slip through his fingers again. 
The louder, more human part of him screamed that he had just fucking hit someone with his car, and that the Angel could wait. 
With another litany of curses, he threw the car in park and braced himself against the slap of cold air as shoved his car door open and jogged around to the front, where the person—a woman, he could tell now—had finally pushed to her feet, though her hands were braced on her knees.
“Are you al—?“
She whirled on him, “What the actual fuck, man?”
He froze at the icy fury in her gaze, her turquoise eyes—the only part of her face visible with a beanie pulled low to cover her ears and a scarf wrapped around her neck—blazing. As he stared at her, he swore her eyes widened a hair, and he pulled his cap lower on his head, tucking any strands of hair that escaped under behind his ears.
He needed to dye his hair.  
He shook his head. “I’m so—“
“I mean, who the hell drives around at night without their fucking headlights?”
He shook his head again. 
“Are you—?”
“I should fucking sue you, asshole.”
His winced, and he jerked his head to the side, even as he took her in, making out the running leggings and a thermal long-sleeved tee in the glow from his headlights. She had one of those phone holders for running strapped on her arm and earbuds dangling from her ear. A jogger, then. And she didn’t appear to be hurt, even if she was holding herself a bit stiffly. 
Even so, she was stunning. And confusing as all hell.
“You should.” At that, a bit of the tension went out of her shoulders. “But, if I can ask, why the hell were you running around this part of town at this time of night when it’s fucking freezing out?”
The stare she pinned him with could’ve fried the balls off a man. “I’m sorry, who are you, my mother?”
He winced again, holding his hands up. “Listen, are you alright? Let me drive you to a hospital—“
She shook her head before he even finished, bracing her hands on her hips with her eyes aimed at the sky. “No hospital. I’m fine, you only caught my side. Will bruise like hell, but nothing I can’t handle.”
Rowan stared at her, and she shifted under the weight of his gaze, still not looking at him, her fingers drumming against her thigh. “I really think I should take you to—“
“Listen, man.” she looked anywhere but his eyes, almost like… almost like she was anxious. “I just want to finish my run and head home. Is that okay, mom?” 
No, it wasn’t okay, not when he was about to be sick from guilt. He could’ve killed her.
He began to shake his head, and she continued. “Let me rephrase. If you do not let me go home, I will sue you, or call the cops at the very least, and I don’t think that’ll be fun for either of us.”
He knew he shouldn’t relent, but the night had gone to shit as it was, and he didn’t feel like adding a lawsuit to the list. He nodded, and a bit more of the tension leaked out of her. She eased away from him, before pausing.
“Where the fuck is my phone?”
It must’ve been knocked from its holder in the impact, and they both turned in circles, looking for it on the ground. 
He spotted it first, the cracked screen glinting on the gravel at her feet. “Got it,” he muttered. He closed the distance between them to bend down to grab it, the scent of jasmine wafting to him, and he shook his head before he could inhale deeper. As he bent down, he caught a glimpse of the strip of exposed skin of her ankles above her running sneakers. 
His breath caught. 
Because, on one ankle, was a tattoo of a stag. The stag.
Which wouldn’t have been all that damning if it wasn’t for the gun strapped in the ankle holster on the other leg.
He froze. She froze. He swore he could hear her breath catch, and then, so low he knew he wasn’t supposed to hear it: “Fucking hell.”
Before Rowan could move, before Rowan could even think, the woman—fucking Adarlan’s Angel—was driving her knee up into his face, crunching his nose. He felt a gush of warmth leak down his chin as he stumbled back. He tried to catch his balance, vision blurry, but then his feet were being swiped out from underneath him, and he fell hard, breath getting caught in his chest. He forced himself to his elbows just in time to see the woman dive into his car through the door he had stupidly left open. She had barely slammed it shut before she was throwing the car into reverse, and peeling off in the direction he had came from, tires spitting gravel in his direction. 
Rowan could only stare after her. 
She must have dumped her car somewhere, thinking she had lost him for good, then posed as a runner to avoid suspicion should anyone run into her. Which he had. Literally. Only he would hit his target with his fucking car as she was making her getaway. And then get said car stolen by said target. 
Some vigilante he was. 
As her taillights—his taillights, really—faded in the distance, Rowan, ass still firmly planted on the pavement, dropped his head in his hands. 
Shit.
He was in such deep, unending shit. 
a/n: Rowan gets an A for effort. he tried his best.
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the last great american dynasty?
Ok...... So this is a little bit different from what I usually write but this is because it’s only the very beginning. This particular Rowan and Aelin’s story fits a bunch of TS songs, so I’ll have another part explaining their relationship since the beginning!! Enjoy this little thing tho
The Last Great American Dynasty
--
“Holiday house? This place looks like a tomb.”
“It has been closed for twenty years, that’s why.”
Kiara eyed her best friend, rolling her eyes at him. She knew that the mansion had been closed since her great grandma and great grandpa had died, and that no one from her family really bothered going there. Her grandma, Aurora, had spent her whole childhood in that house and when her parents passed away, it was too hard for her to move in once she inherit half of the house.
“No one from your family wanted it?”
“Not really.” Kiara replied distractedly, looking over the old furniture and paintings. “My parents passed away when I was young, and so I was raised by my grandma, but you already know all of that. When my great grandparents passed away, she was too hurt to even come back here. Granduncle Nino usually took care of everything, but I don’t think he ever stepped inside again. He died about five years ago.”
“And last year when your grandma died…”
“The house went for the last Whitethorn-Galathynius.” Kiara smiled at Gareth. “Me.”
He snorted, taking the sheets out of some tables and chairs in the house’s library. “Sometimes I forget your family is rich rich.”
“For generations. The wealth grew significantly when my great grandpa opened the GW industries and my great grandma became a famous artist.”
“Aelin Galathynius…” Gareth whistled, looking at one of the paintings. “Aelin Galathynius was your great grandmother.”
“The talent for painting certainly didn’t come from my father’s side of the family.”
“Aelin must be turning in her grave because of you comparing your shitty drawings with her beautiful sculptures and complex paintings.” Gareth joked, a saccharine smile on his face.
Kiara laughed, knowing that he wasn’t serious. Gareth had been her best friend since the first day of her freshman year in college. Now she was a junior and he was a senior, meaning that most of his time went to studying for the LSAT. Nonetheless, when Kia was notified about inheriting the Rhode Island mansion, Gareth didn’t hesitate in saying yes when she asked him to go with her.
She walked around, sweeping her fingers over the leather-bound notebooks on the bookshelf. They looked like journals of sort, and if Kiara decided to keep the house, maybe she would skim through some of them. She didn’t really knew if she would accept it, though. Yes, the house had been in the family for generations, but she also didn’t know if she wanted to come to Rhode Island and leave Pennsylvania.
Also, the house would need a lot of attention.
“She moved here at nineteen. She and my great grandpa, Rowan, eloped at eighteen and got married in Ireland. They moved here to avoid his family who was absolutely against their son marrying a snobby, rich wannabe artist.” Kiara grinned over her shoulder at Gareth. “Very scandalous, isn’t it?”
“Honestly, it explains so much about you.” He matched her grin. “Maybe being mad is in the genes of the women in your family.”
Kiara snorted, grabbing one of the small journals while Gareth took a bigger one. It looked like a sketchpad, and his eyebrows raised as he looked through it.
“I didn’t know she also drew. I knew about the painting and sculpting, but these drawings…” He murmured, looking through them with awe. Kia only half payed attention, focused on her own journal. She skimmed through it, stopping only when a photograph fell from it.
She grabbed it from the floor, eyebrows raising as she looked at it. It was black and white, even though it looked more brown because of the time. It was a woman, a small skirt and top hugging her lithe body as she rested against an old car. Her arms were spread wide, legs crossed. Kiara was almost sure that was Aelin, but she couldn’t be sure since her face had been cut. A heart shaped cut took her face and neck out of the picture, and Kiara swept her fingers along the edges of the heart.
“Where is her face?” Gareth asked, his attention leaving the skecthbook.
“In Rowan’s grave.” A female voice came from the door, and both Kiara and Gareth yelped. A red headed old woman was sitting at a wheelchair, her smile soft but not at them. At the journal and sketchbook. “He had a locket he always wore, her face was inside it. He wore since he was twenty-one when they met, and was buried with it. And you didn’t know that Aelin could draw because she didn’t do it for the public. Whatever drawing from her you find here, will be private and portray her husband.”
Kiara stared at the woman, her face familiar. However, Kia had never met her, so it was hard to remember from where she knew this woman. “You’re Evangeline. My grandma’s best friend.”
Evangeline nodded, gray strands catching the light. “Nino asked me to take care of the house after Aelin and Rowan died. Your grandma Aurora and Nino were my best friends since we were young, and the Whitethorn-Galathynius were my godparents.”
Kiara nodded silently, not really knowing what to say. Like her great grandparents, Evangeline had been someone she had never met, only heard stories.
Gareth, however, didn’t seem to have lost his words.
“How were they? I mean, everyone knows Aelin’s shameless and mad woman reputation, and Rowan’s serious businessman demeanor. Everyone knows about their tasteful and yet loud parties, about the time Aelin stole the neighbor’s dog and dyed it key lime green.” Kiara stared wide eyed at Gareth. She didn’t know he knew so much about her family’s story. Noticing her stare, he simply shrugged, turning back to Evangeline. “But how were they in private? Aelin was from St. Louis and Rowan was Scottish, weren’t they? How did the difference between cultures affect them? Were they actually in love?”
Kiara was about to tell him to shut the fuck up and stop bothering the old lady, but when she heard the last question, Evangeline smiled sentimentally. “I don’t think I have ever seen someone love another person as much as Aelin loved Rowan. Or as much as Rowan loved and worshipped her back. They both started a beautiful dynasty, and it doesn’t matter what others say about them, they adored each other unconditionally until their deaths.”
Kiara smiled a little at that. Her grandma had always told her stories about how her parents had loved each other. Since her childhood, Kiara had been looking for a love like Aelin and Rowan’s. They had eloped together in their early twenties and lived together in this house until he was a hundred and one and she was ninety eight. Aelin had died five days after Rowan passed, and although the doctors had said it was unrelated, both Aurora and Nino swore that she had died because her heart actually broke.
Swore that she had wanted it.
Had wanted to go spend the rest of eternity with him somewhere else.
Their love was too big for this life, her grandma used to say. There was no Aelin without Rowan, and no Rowan without Aelin.
“Would you like for me to tell you the whole story?” Evangeline said, approaching them.
Kiara was quiet, wondering if she wanted. Her grandma had always told her everything, but some part had been so vague…
“Our train is five hours away.” She said, taking a seat. “Why not?”
“Where shall I begin?” The old woman mused.
Gareth sat down too, crossing his arms and smiling. “From the beginning, please.”
Evangeline’s smile grew, excitement radiating off of her.
“Then from the beginning I’ll begin.”
To be continued with another TS prompt
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@in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jlinez @courtofjurdan @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @ladywitchling @lexflame @sleeping-and-books @annejulianneh111 @perseusannabeth @linshryver @mu-si-ca-l @camilamartinezdunne @dank-queen7 @minaidss @starborn-faerie-queen @booksofthemoon @loveofbooksandwine @jesstargaryenqueen @abookishfreak @faerie-queen-fireheart @morganofthewildfire @queen-of-glass @heirofthenightcourt @maastrash
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